Hello! Thanks to all of those who've read up to here. The best gift for a writer is knowing that people read his/her stories. Again, thanks to my beta, Chizune, who's really, really helping me with this.

Well, nothing else left to say. Just read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I probably wouldn't be writing this but actually making it come true!


"Sasuke, have you realized this is the first time a girl sleeps in your bed? Well, actually, it's the first time a girl aside from your mother goes into your room. Aren't you delighted?" his inner self was laughing at him.

"Shut up," he growled.

Sleep didn't take over him until very late that night. The last thought he had before falling asleep was;

"Why the hell didn't I leave her where I found her?"

--

Chapter 3: Marriage Is Troublesome

Light. Too much light. The light was too bright. Wait. Was there even supposed to be light?

Sasuke opened his eyes. He found himself in a room which wasn't his. But it was very familiar.

'Where am I?' he thought.

The light hurt his eyes. But he made out some details. The walls. The ceiling. The furniture.

'This is my living room. What am I doing here?'

Then, the events of last night came to his mind.

That's right. Sakura. The park. The cherry blossom tree. The map. The bed.

Why was there so much light?

Sasuke sat up. He looked at the window. It was early in the morning, and the sunlight was shining into the room, reaching the whole of it and creating dim shadows on the walls.

He had forgotten to pull the blinds down.

Oh. The windows didn't have blinds in first place.

Sasuke groaned. He hated waking up this way. He lay on the couch again. He was just about to try to go back to sleep when a delicious fragrance reached his nostrils.

Pancakes.

His stomach growled in response.

Sasuke sighed. His body was playing tricks on him. Even if he tried, he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now.

The Uchiha tossed the sheets away, and stood up and stretched his arms. He might as well try to enjoy breakfast, for would have to take care of some serious matters later.

He walked into the kitchen in a zombie-like state. Only his mother was there. She was cooking something on the stove.

He moved a chair, making a screeching sound in the process. She turned around.

"Good morning, Sasuke!" she said happily. "How come you're up so early this morning?"

"No blinds in the living room." He simply stated.

"Oh dear. We didn't think about that last night. I guess we will have to find an alternative solution in the meantime."

He just stared absently in front of him. Mikoto sighed mentally. His body might be awake, but his consciousness was probably still in dreamland. She put a plate with warm pancakes in front of him. Then, something clicked in Sasuke's mind.

"What do you mean, in the meantime?"

"Of course, you won't let her sleep on the couch, will you?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to give an "Of course I will" answer, but before he could, his mother gave a short laugh and said.

"Don't look at me like that! I'll probably be just a day, maybe two, until we get her room fixed up."

Mikot's younger son gave a sigh of relief when his brother came in through the door. Itachi was pretty much in the same dream-like state Sasuke had previously been in, his eyes fixed nowhere in particular.

You could certainly tell they were brothers.

He sat down. Mikoto put another plate in front of him.

"Well, it seems everyone is up early today!" she commented.

Itachi said nothing. He just looked at his plate. Then, his gaze fell upon Sasuke.

"Sasuke, you can close your mouth now. I know, my beauty is extremely stunning, but you don't need to be so obvious about it." He stated.

Sasuke then noticed his mouth was open. He closed it.

Itachi was so extremely obnoxious.

He and his brother ate in silence. Uchihas were famous for eating slowly, and meals were eternal. If a fly had gone by, everyone would have noticed it. It was so quiet. Then, for no appartent reason, Mikoto broke the silence.

"Itachi, I believe your brother has something to tell you."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. Sasuke had been in deep thought about nothing in particular. He snapped back to reality. He was now struggling to find the appropriate words. After eyeing his mother, who was looking at him mischievously, he knew what she wanted him to say. But how was he to tell his brother, his indiscreet, gossipy brother, that a girl was in his bed?

"Well, the truth is… what I wanted to say is…"

"Good morning…"

Everyone turned around. Sakura was on the doorstep. She was sleepily rubbing her green eyes. With her over-sized shirt, her long messy hair and that simple gesture, she looked extremely cute. Itachi raised an eyebrow in interest.

'Damn.' Sasuke thought. 'She had to choose the best moment to come in.'

'Well, after all, it's not like you care that much. Dude, haven't you seen her? She's hot!' his inner self whistled appreciatively. Sasuke got mad at his other self for letting his hormones control him, so he fired a mental fire ball at him.

"Good morning, Sakura! Come here, we are having breakfast. Oh, you haven't met Itachi yet, have you? Well, Sakura, this is Itachi." Mikoto put a hand on his shoulder. "He is my oldest son and Sasuke's brother. Itachi, this is Sakura. She will be staying with us for a while."

Sakura walked up to Itachi. She let her dreamy eyes fall on him. Not dreamy because of his beauty, but just because she was still sleepy.

"Hello, my name is Sakura Haruno. Pleased to meet you." she mumbled.

He raised a hand.

"Same here."

BONK!

"Mom! What was that for?" Itachi screamed, grabbing his head. A bump was starting to form on it. "It hurts!"

"Be more of a gentleman! Can't you see she is a lovely beautiful lady? Treat her as such!" she answered, shouting at him.

They started fighting. Not fighting in a ninja way, with justus, kunais and scrolls. No, that would have been a lot less destructive. They were fighting in the same way they always did, in a mother-son way. The sums they had to pay to repair the house after such battles were sometimes very high, due to broken furniture, wrecked doors, shattered chinaware, destroyed walls and other damaged properties.

Sasuke and Sakura sweat dropped. This was a rather pathetic scene. Sakura took a seat beside Sasuke and looked at him. He just raised his shoulders in a gesture meaning:

Whatever

'Well, girl, have you looked at him? You are so lucky!' a voice in Sakura's mind said.

'Um... who are you?' she thought.

'I am your inner self, of course! I am the part of you which will express your deepest thoughts and wishes. Girl, I wish I was in your shoes. Oops, I forgot, I already am. We slept in the bed of this wonderful specimen of a man! We're the best!'

Sakura sighed. She was sure she had gone crazy. She was talking to herself.

"Well, it seems everyone is in an energetic mood today!" came a voice from the doorstep.

Itachi and Mikoto stopped fighting. Sasuke stopped eating. Sakura just sat there, not knowing exactly what to do. After all, because Mikoto had been busy fighting, she didn't have her breakfast served.

"Father." Came Itachi's and Sasuke's voice at the same time.

"Good morning. You must be Sakura Haruno." He said, staring at her. "My wife has told me everything about you. I am Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Uchiha family."

'Remember to breathe,' her inner self said.

Sakura looked at the man in front of him. A strong aura surrounded him. An aura of strength and great power. He was the kind of man you certainly wouldn't like to mess with. Well, all of the Uchihas were that kind of people. But this man was different. He emitted feelings of peace and calmness.

Sakura remembered the most basic manners. When you are spoken to, answer. She had to remind herself to talk.

"Good morning, Fugaku-san. Yes, I am indeed Sakura Haruno. It is an honor to meet you," she bowed her head.

He smiled pleasantly.

It was a wise smile, full of knowledge and intelligence. At that same moment, Sakura was certain that Fugaku knew the real story behind her sudden appearance in the Uchiha household.

"The pleasure is mine."

Fugaku took a seat. Itachi, who was still in a fighting position, returned to his chair, with his head down in a gesture of embarrassment.

Five minutes later, the five of them were eating. Not a word was spoken. Fugaku looked around the kitchen from time to time. The fight between Itachi and Mikoto had been very short, and not a lot of things had been destroyed (just some plates and glasses). He tried to calculate the amount of money the whole of the new dishes would cost.

"Mother, father." Itachi's voice rose. "If you don't mind me asking, I would certainly like to know the reason why Sakura-san shall be staying with us."

Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably. Fugaku, who knew the truth, made no comments. Sasuke looked at his mother. He sent her a glance which meant:

Don't tell him the truth.

Mikoto sighed.

"Well, Sakura's family, the Haruno clan, is from the Lightning country. I was once a great friend of her mother, who lived here for a while. However, after she returned to her land, we lost contact over the years."

Sasuke was amazed. Had his mother been thinking about the excuse she would give?

"And then, we met each other again a few months ago. She happened to be on a trip here. And then, we started talking, and the matter of our children came up.

I told him I had two sons and she told me she had a daughter. That girl was beautiful, smart and hard-working. All the men in her village had proposed to her several times.

She also told me her daughter wanted to travel and know some places around the world. But what she wanted her daughter to do was to get married to a decent young man. She had an awful load of marriage offers, but she had refused them all. She said she wanted to marry a man she liked. Her mother was desperate.

So I told her, "Why don't you send your daughter to live with me and my family for a while? She can get to know another country this way. And, after all, I have a son which is about her same age. If you are worried about marriage, we can get the two of them engaged." Her mother was overly excited with this proposal. After all, the Uchihas are well known for their wealth and power. She thought my son would be a perfect match for her daughter.

And she arrived yesterday. Sakura will be staying with us for a while. She will help me out during the day. And, if she and Sasuke get along well, we will start thinking about having an arranged marriage between the two of them."

Marriage. Brains registered the information.

Sasuke choked on his last bit of pancake. Sakura blushed. Fugaku did nothing. Itachi raised an eyebrow.

'This is going to be interesting.' The older Uchiha sibling thought, patting his brother on the back, trying to get him to breathe.


Well, that was chapter 4. I hope you liked it. Please, read and review. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

COC