Title: The Ultimate Sacrifice
Summary: For her boys, she would make the ultimate sacrifice. Once -ONESHOT- -IMPLIED NARUSAKU- -COMPLETE-
Author: sunsun128
Beta Reader: sunsun128
Anime: Naruto
Songs: ??
Inspiration: A discussion of arranged marriages between myself and my friend
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. -goes off to sulk in corner-
Some notes
a) I based this off CHINESE weddings not Japanese (though it does have some Japanese aspects)
b) These are ANCIENT CHINESE TRADITIONAL weddings, so it's not just your 'I do' stuff.
c) I'm using the very end of the Chinese traditional weddings, so all the beginning stuff is already done in this story.
d) Yes, Sasuke may be OOC. I find him a very hard character to potray.
e) The legal age of marriage in Fire Country is 14.
She looked down at the amber wine in her cup and wondered how she came to this. How had she gone from carefree 15 year old to burdened wife.
Drip!
A ripple mars the calm surface of the wine.
She closed her eyes and remembered...
--BEGIN FLASHBACK--
"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!"
Sakura winced at the loud voice of her blonde teammate and readied her fist as he barreled into view.
"Sakura-chan," he panted, putting a hand on the wall to steady himself. "Sakura-chan! Baa-chan is asking for us!"
Sakura bonked him on the head and said, "Well, why didn't you say so? Let's go!" She grabbed Naruto by the collar and dragged him off toward the Hokage tower.
A few minutes and they were there, standing in front of Tsusande.
"Sakura. Naruto," she acknowledged, nodding her head at both of them.
"Why did you bring us here, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side in that adorable way that Sakura loved (but would never say).
Tsusande sighed, looking directly at Naruto. "We've recieved word of Uchiha Sasuke's whereabouts."
Chaos erupted.
"SASUKE-TEME! WHERE IS HE? I SWEAR I'LL BRING BACK THAT BASTARD!"
"Naruto! SIT DOWN!" Tsusande ordered, glaring at the noisy blonde.
Naruto meekly sat down.
Tsusande let out another sigh. "It's not that easy Naruto. He's being held captive by the Akatsuki. That's why I can't have you go after him this time. You know they want the Kyuubi. They communicated to us a few days ago..."
"There must be terms," Sakura butted in. "They know we want Sasuke back, so there must be terms that we have to fill."
"Smart girl," Tsusande said. "They want one of our best kunoichi."
Sakura stiffened, and she felt Naruto snap back to attention.
"Why?" Sakura asked.
Tsusande shrugged. "I can't read minds, but I'm guessing they want to become more powerful. With one of our best kunoichi, they can mix the genes of two strong people together to form even stronger children."
"What will they do if we don't comply?"
A silence.
"They will kill Sasuke and attack Konoha with the intent of capturing the Kyuubi."
Sakura swore.
--END FLASHBACK--
Another tear dropped into the wine.
Why, she wondered, didn't I take the love of Naruto?
Why? I...I loved him...
She looks up into emotionless onyx eyes so much like his brothers but different.
--BEGIN FLASHBACK--
Static...
Sakura nervously fiddled with her communicater.
Suddenly, the static cleared.
"Are you sure about this Sakura?"
Ino's voice, cracked with pity.
"I'm sure," Sakura replied, stepping into the Akatsuki base.
She is greeted by a blonde boy (or...is that girl?) who painfully reminded her of Naruto who was probably being restrained now.
"This way, yeah."
Sakura took note of his speech impediment and followed him deeper in.
He stopped suddenly and said, "Drop the communication device."
Sakura dropped it, and the man crushed it under his foot.
"Come on, yeah."
She followed him into the cells and there she saw Sasuke, weak but pissed off.
The man opened the cell door and motioned for Sasuke to come out. "You're free, yeah. Kisame will escort you out once you get down the hallway. Don't try to escape. There's no way, yeah."
"How?" Sasuke asked, voice raspy.
"This girl, yeah," the man said, jerking his head at Sakura.
Sasuke turned his eyes to Sakura.
Sakura turned away, almost afraid to see him.
"Thank you..."
It was just a whisper, but Sakura caught it nonetheless. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Hey, don't go crying on me, yeah!"
Sakura hurridly wiped away the tear. "I'm ready."
--END FLASHBACK--
She watched as her future life partner took a few sips out of his goblet.
She stared down at hers. She took a few sips.
They switched goblets.
She watched as the handsome onyx eyes man downed the rest of the honeyed wine.
She glared down at her goblet.
What am I doing? Sakura asked herself.
She drank down the wine.
I'm doing the ultimate sacrifice...
For who?
A red ribbon tying them together.
For my boys...
Who are you?
Salty tears streaming down her face.
I am the sacrifice.
I am Haruno Sakura.
OWARI!!
A/N: Wow! I don't know how I managed to finish writing this, but I did. I hope this gets some reviews, I think I tried hard to gain introspection on Sakura's choice in the last part.R & R please!
If you don't know who she married, well she married Itachi, so if I write a sequal, there could be possible ItaSaku.