Chapter 2: Engaged

Sakura stared out the window of her carriage as it carried her across the border of the Land of Fire and into the Land of Thunder. She thought back to the day when she'd gone to the Hidden Cloud Village with Tsunade. They were taken into a gigantic dim-lit room draped with curtains holding the symbol of the "hidden cloud" in the middle, and the Raikage sat in the middle on a throne-like chair. Next to the Hokage were two guards on each side of his chair, who were clad in grey and hid their faces with masks. Similar looking guards stood next to the door that Sakura and Tsunade just entered. The moment the two of them entered the Raikage muttered, "you know this is a big problem." His face was hidden by the triangular hat he wore and because of the shadows in the room.

Tsunade looked uneasy. She knew that the fate of her lands depended on her, any wrong moves would cause the entire village trouble. "We were wondering if we could come to some sort of agreement," Tsunade stated.

The Raikage examined her from head to heel and muttered, "it's going to be costly, it may be a burden for such a young hokage."

Tsunade smiled and said, "you know my real age. And yes, we are willing to pay a considerable sum of money for this."

Sakura remained silent as she stood behind Tsunade watching the interactions between them. She was wearing clothing that was a little more formal than usual, a red dress with no slits and sandles instead of shoes. Although her attire was more conservative than usual, the fact that she was hiding so much skin ironically made the outfit seem more provacative to people around her.

Tsunade and the Raikage decided on the sum of money that Konoha would pay to compensate, and all seemed to have gone smoothly. It wasn't until Tsunade and Sakura turned to leave that the Raikage blurted out, "Don't you think it would be wise, for the future I mean, to create some sort of connection between the Konoha and Cloud Village?"

Tsunade turned around and looked at him in a confused way, "what do you mean?"

"I mean a link, say through..." he paused for a moment and Tsunade and Sakura stared at the figure in silence. "Marriage."

"You want to get someone from our village married to someone in your village?"

"Exactly, sort of as a symbol of peace."

Tsunade turned so that he had a full view of her, she brushed her hair away from her face and said, "and who do you suggest the marriage to be betwen?"

"Well... I am still single," the Raikage stepped down at this moment, and the two of them got a full view of his face. He was in his early thirties and had jet black eyes. His hair wasn't visible because of the hat but they could see dark brown bangs that covered his forehead. "That girl you have with you seems like quite a well-behaved lady."

"What?" Sakura suddenly exclaimed, saying the first word she had in the room.

"What's your name?"

Sakura looked timidly at Tsunade, who just nodded while looking away. Sakura looked down and muttered, "Haruno Sakura."

"And what level ninja are you?"

"A genin."

"Are you engaged to anyone?"

"No."

"Then it's decided!"

Tsunade suddenly snapped back at the Raikage, "excuse me sir, I think I should have a say on what you do to my apprentice."

"You don't want war between our countries do you Hokage?"

Tsunade looked angrily at the Raikage, who just smiled. His white teeth shined in the small amount of light that was in the room. "I'll cut the sum of money to half of what you offered. It's decided, a marriage as a symbol of peace between the two villages. Perfect don't you think?"

Sakura looked up in panic at the Raikage, then at Tsunade. Tsunade looked down as though she had no other choice and said, "Sakura, we're going!" The two guards opened the heavy looking doors of the room and Tsunade stepped out into the light that shone in on them. Sakura remained stationary, staring at the Raikage from where she was standing. The Raikage smiled at her and said, "see you Sakura."

Sakura's mind went blank. The next minute she was running out of the door and up to Tsunade. She couldn't believe what was happening, it all had to be some terrible dream, a nightmare. But when she pinched herself it hurt, and it wasn't only her cheek that hurt, a pain grew second by second in her chest. After about a minute of walking next to Tsunade in silence she said, "Tsunade sama..."

"It looks like you have no choice," Tsunade muttered.

"Yes," Sakura said looking down.

"The Raikage is known for being stubborn and short-tempered. After the battles against Orochimaru and Akatsuki, the next thing we need is a war. You understand that right?" Sakura nodded. "I'll search for some other way, but I don't know if..."

"I should have lied that I was engaged," Sakura said dismally.

"He would have probably broken it up anyway, as I said he's known for being a major nuissance."

At the moment all Sakura could think of was Sasuke. She didn't know why it was him, she had feelings for him but it wasn't like he'd ever responded to her in any way. What would he say if she suddenly told him about this? What would he say if she suddenly disappeared? But there was no other way. It would probably be a good chance for her to forget about him. He would never love her anyway, and if it was for the village...

As Sakura remembered these things in the carriage, she felt tears forming in her eyes. She looked at her reflection in the window of the carriage. Her hair was made longer by a jutsu and tied up with about a thousand flower decorations. Someone spent two hours on her makeup that morning, and she was wearing the most glamorous kimono anyone had ever seen, which was a red print with silver flowers winding their way around. It looked as though the flowers were binding Sakura onto the seat of the carriage. Suddenly, the tears in her eyes reached an overflow, and one after another they began to spill out of her eyes and onto her cheaks. She sat alone in the carriage, and cupping her face in her head whimpered repeatedly, "...Sasuke kun..."

-TO BE CONTINUED-

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