And so it was that Sakura found herself in her living room, trying on her mother's ceremonial wedding kimono, a week before her wedding. Exactly where she wanted to be. She rolled her eyes as her mother wept tears of joy and gushed about how her baby was growing up while her father stood brooding from afar, but a satisfactory smile gracing his lips.
"Yeah... i'm growing up. Woo..." Sakura muttered, letting the over-long sleeves fall over her hands. The kimono was white, the traditional color of innocence, virginity. A light floral patten weaved itself throughout the costume, and an onyx sash was tied below her bust-line, accentuating her womanish figure. Whatever.
"Ok, lets go ahead and get this off. We must keep it perfect for your big day," her mother said briskly, shooing her daughter into the bathroom.
"We still have many things to do before the wedding," Sakura heard her mother say before she shut the door behind her. Ugh. She wished people would stop using that word. Wedding. What a stupid word. She shifted around, letting the kimono slip off and over her shoulders. It slid to the ground in a pile of silk. She dressed quickly, afraid that if she didn't, her mother would want her to try on some other ridiculous outfit. She dropped the kimono haphazardly into the box on her way out the front door. She barely heard her mothers angry calls after her as she fled into the sunshine, intent on living out her last free days as a woman in luxury and laziness. She walked aimlessly around her beloved village, stopping at a vendor here and there, looking at the things for sale. Finally, she reached the training grounds, which were mostly in disuse now that she and her peers had grown up. Not many of the new meat enjoyed practicing, it seemed. She wandered over the the small forest of cherry blossom trees and slid down the trunk of one, tilting her head upwards to stare listlessly at the blue sky. She sat like this for hours, watching the clouds go by as she let all thought escape her. That was why she didn't feel the pair of eyes scrutinizing her from afar.
X-x-X
And so it was that Hyuuga Neji leaned against a tree across the training grounds from his former girlfriend. His former love. His eyes scanned expertly the length of her body, drinking her in. He told himself he didn't love her anymore, she was fun while she lasted. But he was wrong, wrong and lying to himself. He did love her. He always had.
'Uchiha... what a stupid name. Bastard, I'll kill him,' Neji mused silently, closing his eyes briefly, as if the world's weight rested on his shoulders. He reopened them to a gap between the trees where his Sakura had lain. She had gone, left. The longer the seconds became as he stared at the spot, the larger the gap of his loss in his heart grew.
X-x-X
And so it was that Uchiha Sasuke decided that he hates marriage and all things associated with it. I mean, really, who had the time to learn the "right way" to do things. Walk down the isle, say "I do" and walk back down. Simple. But apparently, it wasn't.
"And don't forget, you must take only one step per second, not too late or soon," Sasuke's mother was chatting incessantly while Sasuke sat with a glazed expression on the couch, waiting to discard of his wedding robes. They were black, matching his own hair and eyes, the Uchiha Fan plastered on the back. He hated it. He had only a week left of being a single man and he was stuck trying on stupid wedding stuff. Where was the fairness in that?
"Sasuke are you listening?" his mother asked impatiently. Sasuke jolted to attention, turning his head back to his mother.
"Honestly, you can be so childish sometimes," his mother scolded before returning to her droning tips on the ceremony.
"And of course, there's the honeymoon to think of... if you're lucky, Sakura will conceive within those two weeks," his mother tossed out calmly. Sasuke's mouth shot open in protest of his mother's words, a crimson blush creeping up his neck.
"Don't be modest about such things Sasuke; such is a woman's job, you know. Bear many boys to succeed the Uchiha clan," she said sternly. Sasuke glowered at her but kept his smart mouth shut. Instead, he stood and shed the drab wedding garb and pulled his shirt on. His mother stood up quickly.
"Sasuke! Where are you going?" she said shrilly in a scandalized tone. Sasuke shrugged in response,
"Away from here," he finally sighed, exasperated with his life, his mother, the world.
