Chapter 1

I sighed as I walked into my apartment after a long haul mission. I stripped before entering the shower. It was cold for a moment before warming up. The water was good for my sore muscles; I had once again pushed my muscles to their limit.

Once I had changed into my nightwear, a white tank top and pink shorts, I checked the answering machine for any messages. There was only one. I pressed the play button and listened to the tones of my father.

"Sakura, I know that you are most likely on a mission at the moment, but . . . we need to talk as soon as possible. It is about a very important issue, to do with your future. Give me a ring when you get this message, I don't care how late it is. Um, hope to hear from you soon Pumpkin." The message then ended.

I dialled my parents' number, knowing that I should get this over with now. It rang a couple of times before being picked up. "Hello?" My mother's voice asked from the other end.

"Hi, it's me. I got the message. What's going on?" I asked interested in what was going on now.

"Um, I'd better put your father on the phone." She said passing the phone to someone, presumably my dad.

"Hey Pumpkin, you just got in from a mission?" he asked.

"Dad don't call me that, you know I don't like it." He chuckled at my response to his nickname for me. "Yeah I just got back in from a mission. Dad what's all this important stuff to do with my future that you need to discuss with me?" I asked getting straight to the point.

He sighed before replying. "Well I'm afraid that there isn't really anything to discuss, it's more to inform you of what's happening." Okay now I was really confused. "Sakura, now that you're 21 we think that it might be time for you to settle down in life a bit."

"What are you saying dad?" I asked, getting an inkling of what he wanted.

"We want you to get married, have some children. We're getting older, and so are you, you may not have long left, what with your line of work."

"Dad you know very well that there isn't anyone in my life at the moment, and probably not in the foreseeable future . . ." He then cut my off from whatever else I was going to say.

"Sakura, I'm not asking you to get a move on with life. I'm telling you that you must. We have arranged a marriage for you, and there will be no arguing. It is what we have decided for you. The family came to us and asked, we accepted."

"AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE?" I shouted down the phone. "I'm a powerful konoichi of this village. How can you expect me to marry a civilian?"

"No not a civilian." He said, cutting me off again. "He is a very respectable shinobi from this village. We shall talk about this more in the morning. I expect you to be here by 11:30am we shall discuss it in further detail then." There was a short pause. "Goodnight Sakura." He said before hanging up the phone.

I sighed and decided to try and sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.

OOO

I knocked on the door to my parents' house. I was only a minute late, due to waking up at 11:15. The door opened to reveal my mum. She hugged me before pulling me in towards the kitchen table. Seems like we were going to have a proper family conference, for once.

My mum sat next to my dad, I sat opposite both of them. "Just to make it clear, I'm not going to go through with the arranged marriage. I want to find love by myself, with whom I want, and when I want."

My father sighed. "I'm afraid that will not be possible. There is no way you can get out of this. You are to meet your future husband for lunch now. Get ready, we are taking you over to his family's house now." With that said him and my mother rose expectantly. I sighed before getting up from my chair and following them.

It wasn't long before a familiar building loomed before me. The Uchiha manor. "Ah Fugaku-sama, Mikoto-san." My father bowed in a respectful greeting, my mother and I followed his example out of respect.

"Sakura-Chan, it's wonderful to see you. We hope you and Itachi-Kun will get on very well." Mikoto-San greeted me, before ushering us all inside. "So Sakura-Chan, how do you feel about being married to Itachi-Kun?" She asked me as we walked towards the dining room.

"Um, I'm not sure. I've only just found out today." I replied honestly. Although I've never really liked Itachi, he was always emotionless and stuck up every time I met him. She nodded back to me as though this was something very normal, which in my opinion it wasn't.

As we sat down at the dining table Itachi walked into the room, looking like the self imposed prick he was. Of course he sat next to me, since we are sort of engaged now.
"Where is Sasuke-Kun?" I asked, even though I knew he was currently on a mission, just to break the silence.

"I am afraid he is away on a mission at the moment." Fugaku answered. The table fell silent again.

"When will the wedding date be?" My mother asked. I snapped.

"Doesn't anyone want to take my opinion into consideration? I never asked for this!" I stood up. "I'm going to take this to the Hokage."

"The Hokage has already been informed of this arrangement and has deemed it to be acceptable." Fugaku commented. I deflated slightly at that.

"Gomenasi for my behaviour. May I be excused?" I fled without even waiting for an answer.

OOO

I had fled down to one of the training grounds, and was now in the process of obliterating it. "Sakura!" I heard my name being shouted by my Shishou. I wasn't about to stop my destruction for her. I heard my name again. This time I stopped and just fell to the floor in a crying heap. "I'm sorry Sakura, I'm afraid that there was nothing I could do to stop it." She comforted me as I cried even harder into her shoulder.

Somehow we ended up back in her office, where good sake was produced. We drank for a while, comforting me from my recent news.