Title: Ink
Author: XxToToXx
Full summary: As an act of trying to gain peace and harmony between two warring clans, Sakura Haruno is to wed the son of the Notorious Uchiha clan. She's faced many battles, some tougher than others, but being the wife of Uchiha Sasuke can either make her or break her, and she'll be damned if it breaks her.
Prologue
"And this is...?" The leader of the Uchiha clan trails off as he continues to watch the video with concentration. His ebony eyes following one nin particularly as they led the others into the large battle against sound nin at the border. Dressed professionally in a black form fitting suit with the dark grey vest it doesn't take him long to realize he's watching the work of an ANBU Black Ops, a very skilled one at that, almost as skilled as Itachi.
"Haruno, Sakura." The Hokage says, almost proudly. "She is one of our top seven nin, and because of that, she is also the most wanted and feared, amongst our enemies. She is second in command under your eldest son. They go on a lot of missions with them being ANBU Black Ops.
"I see." Fugaku watches with slight interest. Her agility and obvious skill in aerobics, the way she is able to twist and turn in the air with ease. He watches in satisfaction as she cuts down her enemies left and right with little effort. It's a quite tough battle and she does sustain some injuries but her body heals on its own with a light green glow covering the , quite interesting. And she's pulling more than her weight, but it takes more than that to be a part of the clan. Her great skills as both a medic nin and a ninja can compensate her striking green eyes and even louder pink hair. She would surely stick out like a sore thumb amongst the black and hair and even blacker shades of onyx within the Uchiha family.
"She is also our most knowledgeable medic nin. She's even surpassed me with the strength card. Excellent chakra control and loyal to the death. Her friends, her family, her home... they're all her life. Records shows she's never left a man behind be them dead or alive. Don't get me wrong, she's given beatings but she's also taken her beatings, if you know what I mean. Being the Kyuubi's best friend she's also trained under him, though sometimes he holds back from her so not to harm her. She can hold her on perfectly fine. She's come from a little girl who couldn't properly throw a kunai to save her life. That shows dedication and perseverance. She's served us well." She presses play on the video and it resumes.
It shows the girl, or the woman rather, shouting orders to the others as they run forward before her into battle. "We know who to put on the battlefield for this war." Kakashi jokes from the corner of the room. When all eyes turn to him he shrugs his shoulders and laughs nervously. "She packs a punch." Fugaku leans back into his seat and folds his arms into his shirt.
"I have partnered with Haruno-San on many occasions. She is quite a formidable opponent on the battle field." Kakashi explains. "I was her sensei too, believe me when I say she hasn't even exhibited half of her potential yet."
Fugaku nods. "I see."
Tsunade stops the video and sits back behind her desk. She places the remote away in the drawer to her next, carefully avoiding the head Uchiha's eyes. She then clasps her hands on the desk in front of her. Right now she can't falter, being Hokage she's meant to keep it professional and even as possible. The terms between the village of Konoha and the Uchiha have never been good, it was even worse after the passing of Madara Uchiha. The Uchiha and village of the Senju always meet on the battlefield, never like this, never do civilly. Tsunade didn't know when or if this will ever end- both have lost both family and friends to bloody encounters with the other. Hopefully this will ease the tension between the two for a while if not forever. Fights have even started to break out between the two in front of the civilians. Things are really starting to get out of hand now so something has to be done to ease the ties between the two.
"Where is she now?" Tsunade doesn't answer that question right away. Sakura left away a month ago to start training with someone in Wave. Usually she would check in once she reached her destination but she hasn't done so yet. Tsunade, being the girls guardian since her parents were murdered years ago while she was away in a mission, can't help but feel a motherly attraction to her. She doesn't want to worry, she knows she shouldn't worry because Sakura is a smart girl but she secretly can't help it. "Surely I can meet her."
Tsunade was kind of expecting that. "She should be home either tomorrow or the day after the next." Tsunade replies without taking her eyes off of the calendar. When she does she catches Fugaku's cold eyes on her.
"I shall come back one day after tomorrow then." He says in an understanding tone. He stands from his chain and bows. "It was nice speaking with you, Tsunade-San."
"You too, Uchiha-Sama." She responds whilst standing and bowing as well.
Once the Uchiha is out of earshot Kakashi stands from the chair in the corner and closes his book. "Hokage-Sama, do you honestly think that this will be a good idea?" He was present when this idea was first presented to her and it was found fit that he would sit in amongst the discussion of Konoha's most wanted Kunoichi. He's known her since she was a little girl barely able to walk. One guesses you can say she grew on him as well, she definitely has that affect on people.
The Hokage sighs and raises her hand to her forehead. "I sure as hell hope so."
.0.
He grew up with her.
Always called her weak when he or naruto had to protect her.
Years ago when he was leaving towards the gates of Konoha to train more he'd basically threw her love confession into the wind... and kinda left her on a park bench. She almost got herself killed when she was about to try and stop sasuke's chidori and the dobe's rasengan. Hell, he still thinks she's annoying even though her behavior has been odd; suspicious even. She left the village without saying a word to anyone. She may have told Tsunade where she'd be going but he doubts that.
"Sasu-Chan. What's wrong?" He can recognize that voice anywhere. It's undoubtedly Shisui. Since he got seriously injured on his last mission the older Uchiha has been benched for a while. Shisui sits down besides him at the lake. It's where Fugaku would teach him the fire ball jutsu, so it holds a few memories for Sasuke.
"Nothing." He grunts.
Shisui smirks. "Why are you still like this? I've heard the good news from your mother, you should be-"
"I don't give a damn about that. Don't even bring it up." He says, obviously annoyed. Shisui grins and pats Sasuke on the head and ruffles his hair. Sasuke jerks away from him and stands up with intentions to leave.
"Why do so sore? It's about time you found a woman in all this time. I was starting to suspect you swing the other- ow!"
.0.
At dinner that night Sasuke broods in his spot next to Itachi, slowly picking over his food, appearing not to be either happy or happy at the moment. Usually he has a peaceful expression on his face but not it's contorted with frustration.
How? Just how the hell could they just marry him off like that? And to make things worse it's like he doesn't even have a say in the matter! They're all just happily talking amongst themselves and making light of the situation like it's a well anticipated event. He slams his chopsticks down and stands from the table, drawing all attention to him.
"What's wrong Sasuke?" Mikoto eyes his half eaten meal and looks up at him in utter confusion. Her eyes focus on his half eaten meal- his favorite, peppered Tomato slices, he loves tomato!
"Just.. how can you be here and think this is all just okay? Especially you, Kaa-San, I thought you'd be the main one objecting to letting your baby boy not only date, but to get married; at eighteen! Doesn't make it better that I barely even know her."
"Your father and I got married when we were sixteen, if it helps." His eyes narrow at her and she placing a hand in front of her mouth as if that'll stop him from seeing her laughing. "You sound like an upset child!"
Fugaku nods. "We got married young, she's right. Our occupations as Ninja of the Leaf and-"
"Tch. I don't even love her." This is preposterous! How can he love someone he's barely acknowledged over six years? Then she has pink hair and green eyes- she would totally clash within his clan.
Itachi opens his mouth to speak. "Sasuke-"
"I don't like her either. This is just a waste of time."
Mikoto's eyes get all glossed over with happiness. "Oh dear, could this mean that you actually want to get married but to someone you have big feelings for? You intend on being in love." She sighs dreamily. "That's so romantic coming from a boy I'm sure Sakura would love that."
The youngest Uchiha scoffs. "Shut up."
"What was that?" She demands.
"Nothing." He says back quickly after a chill runs down his spine from seeing his mother with red and black eyes. Fugaku watches on in mild amusement. It took long enough for his wife to be marveled by their second child. She was a doting mother since long before his birth, but as Sasuke grew older he always wanted to spend as much time with Itachi as possible. He always did the upmost in trying to land a sneak attack on him cook and clean or run errands for her in the village. He himself was always at the police station, early mornings and late nights. But he made as much time for his family as he could.
"Haruno-San really isn't that bad, Sasuke." Itachi says. She's on his squad when she isn't taking solo missions on her own. She's proven to be very reliable and talented. She's an amazing asset to his squad. "I understand your displeasure towards this but I assure you it'll turn out well. Plus your life expectancy is short, with you being a ninja and of the Uchiha Clan and all." What the hell? He's one of the top five Ninja in Konoha! There's him, Itachi, the Dobe, Sakura, the Hyuuga, the Inuzuka and Shikamaru. Really, Sasuke thinks that they should expand the amount of top nins they have. Out of all the nin in Konoha, they only have seven top nin? It's ridiculous.
"You don't say anything about nii-san getting married. Don't you think it's about time?" He retorts. He's never seen Itachi with a woman before, even though all the girls swoon over him he doesn't pay any of them any mind. The only thing he appears to be worried about is his place as the Uchiha Clan's top ninja, next to inherit the label as the leader of the Uchiha Clan. He's always been a prodigy in everyone's eyes, always had the spotlight on him especially when he achieved the most difficult missions.
"We're talking about you at the moment." Itachi calmly responds. Fugaku agrees.
"Hn. Whatever, I'm going to bed." He turns his back to his family and heads upstairs to his bedroom. This conversation is over.
When he's out of the room his mother yells out, "Sakura chan won't like that attitude!"
Fuck.
.0.
"Uchiha!" Sasuke sughs at his name is being hollered out. He thought he would have a peaceful morning and go to the training grounds to let off some steam but it appears to be out of the question now. He stops walking and turns to face the blonde haired idiot. He's standing a few feet from him with his arms crossed over his chest and blue eyes gleaming with anger.
Sasuke's brow twitches in annoyance. "What do you want, Dobe?"
Naruto points an accusing finger at him. "We need to have a chat!"
"It's six in the morning, why are you yelling? You never get up this early anyway." Naruto always sleeps as late as ten o'clock in the mornings. He hates mornings with a passion. Since he's here this early it must be something important. Yeah, that's right. He sees now, he's passed over Haruno. Sasuke forgot that they're best friends. When Sasuke left for three years to train they got closer during his absence. She tried to stop him from leaving but it didn't work. He's heard how protective he is over the pink haired haired nin, he was moreso protective over her when Sasuke left the village. He was doing what he had to do to become stronger- for the day he can fight Itachi and win.
"Cause I knew you'd be up to go training. Now what's this I hear about you and Sakura getting married. You're Don't you know when Ryuketsu finds out, if he already hasn't, he's going to take your head! And Sakura will pound you-"
The Uchiha's eyes narrow. "Is that a challenge?"
"For who? Me? You know I'd tear your ass up. Come on we both know whose strongest." He brags, even though it's not true. He and Naruto have had plenty of fights but every time no one would ever win- they're too equally matched. Naruto doesn't even have to go into Sage Mode or use Kurama's chakra anymore.
"A commoner like him is not a match for me and neither are you. I would fight him on any other occasion, but I won't fight him over someone that I don't want."
"Look, we all grew up together remember? The unstoppable Team 7! We're still that it doesn't matter what rank we're in. All I'm saying is..." he takes a deep breath and glares at his old rival. "- is that I don't approve of This, and Sakura-Chan isn't here to speak for herself yet. But if this actually goes through, I want you to take care of her. She's been through a lot and I don't want her going through anymore."
Sasuke looks blankly at him. "Hn. Whatever." He proceeds down the path to the training grounds, with Naruto's words echoing in his head.
—
She stops and looks at the village gates; brown eyes narrowed. "Something is wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"It just feels like something isn't right." She says. "I've already had the security tightened around the borders of the village since the last attacks. I had more nins stand guard at the gates though..."
Kakashi looks at her from his book. Then he feels the familiar presence as well. "Is that-"
"It is, and her chakra is extremely low." She's already sprinting to the northern gate before she finishes her sentence, with Kakashi hot on her heels. She knows this chakra anywhere, so she should've sensed it earlier. She can feel her chakra draining more and more! She hopes she's not too late. She was supposed to be back in the village days ago anyway.
They come to a stop at the open gate, that shouldn't be so. They're to be closed at this time of night. The guard shack is empty, it's not supposed to be like that, there's always supposed to be someone at the gates.
"Tsunade-Sama!" A man emerges from the darkness of the woods, he seems to be holding someone in his arms. Tsunade rushes over- and then stops dead in tracks at the sight of all of the blood. It's been years since she's been dealing with hemopobia, "it's Sakura, I sensed her chakra a few minutes ago it's extremely low. Kotetsu went to scope out the area for any signs of the enemy." Genma explains.
Kakashi puts a hand on her shoulder and steps in front of the Hokage. Still, despite what fear she's in she still cranes her neck to her badly injured former student. There are gashes all over her, Kunai cuts and burn marks. It's more terrible than it looks. At this rate she can die at any minute from her injuries. There's just so much blood everywhere, who the hell could've done this? Who could've gotten the best of her like this?
Tsunade takes a few quick breathes."We need to take her to the hospital right away, before it's too late."
"Right!" Genma and Kakashi dart off the hospital and Tsunade sits on the bench briefly to catch her breath. With war on the horizon and alliances thin, the blood in her mind is the least thing she should be worried about.
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