Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Plot elements borrow heavily from Amanda Quick's 'Seduction'.
Author's Notes: Thank you again to everyone who reviewed! I love hearing your thoughts on the story. This is sort of a transition chapter. Getting married is just the beginning for Sasuke and Sakura. Also, some lime ahead.
I'm still looking for a beta! Please PM me if you are interested!
Seduction
Chapter Six
"Sakura, please advise me if this is going to be a weekly thing, that way I can immediately make arrangements to migrate to another country."
"Oh, Tsunade-sama, don't be like that. I brought quiche!"
"I don't eat breakfast."
"It's true Ino-pig, it gets in the way of her being drunk."
Tsunade gave her prized pupil the stink eye. Sakura decided it best to clamp her mouth shut and smile cheekily at her mentor.
"Come now, Tsunade-sama, I'm sure you can push aside your enmity for me for a couple of hours so we can enjoy a little bit of girl talk with our beloved Sakura-chan here," Ino said with a saccharine smile.
"Fine, but explain to me why your husband seems to have mistaken my backyard for a beach strip." Tsunade cocked her head to the side where Shikamaru was lying down on a beach towel he'd brought along himself.
"I've told him about how you have a lovely view of the clouds from up here. I'm a very thoughtful wife," Ino answered.
Tsunade and Sakura just looked at each other and shrugged.
"So, anyhow," Ino continued on, "have you heard that Sakura actually gave Sasuke-kun an ultimatum that they aren't to consummate their marriage for three months?"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed into slits. "What are you an idiot? That's the best part of being married! Sex without worries!"
Sakura blushed, her cheeks matching her hair. "God, Ino-pig, you just had to blurt it out like that?"
"Yes, because you're an idiot," Ino said. "Why would you ever want to delay that?"
Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and felt a little bit self-conscious as she spoke. "Well, for one we're not exactly in love yet and it just feels disingenuous for two people to make love when they're not well, in love." It sounded stupid in her head, too.
Ino's eye sockets went white for a moment as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. "I bet you I can give fifty perfectly good reasons to have sex with someone for reasons that have nothing to do with love." She didn't wait for Sakura to respond as she pulled out a notepad and pen out of her little pouch and started writing. "Let's see, horny, break-up sex, make-up sex, revenge sex."
"Drunk sex, pity sex," Tsunade added helpfully.
"Oh, I bet Lee gets a lot of that."
"That's mean Ino!"
"Well it's true, Sakura! Let's see what else?"
"Nothing interesting going on with the clouds."
"Oh, Shika-kun, you're alive. I thought you had melded with the foliage. But thank you dear."
Shikamaru just grunted and went back to cloud watching.
Ino turned back to her list. "Anyway, miscommunication sex."
"What is 'miscommunication sex'?" Tsunade asked, looking genuinely curious.
"Oh you know, you're reaching for the pillow on his side of the bed and your hand accidentally brushes his bulge, he takes it the wrong way and you just go with it," Ino explained.
"Is that what happened last night?"
"Yes, dear."
"Then that's your next reason, she's willing."
"Perfect. My husband is so smart," Ino said, preening.
Tsunade snapped her fingers. "You forgot to get him a birthday present!"
Sakura slammed her palm against her giant forehead and wondered if it was too late to get some new friends.
Sasuke checked himself in the mirror to make sure that everything in his appearance was in order. His father always insisted they don formal wear during their bi-weekly family dinners and since Sasuke never really grew accustomed to the traditional kimono, he chose to wear his official Jounin uniform instead.
He heard a soft rap on his door. He turned his head away from his reflection and called out, "What is it?"
"Lord Uchiha, Miss Sakura Haruno has arrived," Sasuke heard the female maid Yuka announce.
Sasuke rolled his eyes. He had told her specifically that he would pick her up from her house and bring her here, as a true gentleman of his stature would, but she always insisted on doing things her way. He turned on his heel and walked towards the door. He walked past Yuka with an almost imperceptible nod to the young girl and headed downstairs to the living area where he was sure Sakura was waiting.
Sakura was sitting on the floral chaise with her knees locked together and feet set firmly on the wooden floorboards. Her hands were fisted in her lap as if she was readying herself for battle. She was wearing a light pink yukata with a matching pink obi. Her hair was tied back away from her face in a loose bun and rouge tinted her lips and cheeks.
"I thought I was going to pick you up at home?" he asked.
Her head shot up to watch him as he walked towards her. She shrugged her shoulders. "It didn't seem to practical to have you go all the way to my house only to come back to the Uchiha district again."
"There's nothing practical about being a proper gentleman," he said with a smirk.
Sasuke held his hand out to her and she promptly took it as she stood up. Sakura wasn't a short woman but he still towered over her.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"If I say no, are we going to skip the whole dinner?" she returned.
He shook his head and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Relax, my family's not going to eat you," he said as he squeezed her shoulders for assurance. "I might though," he added with a leer.
Sakura eyed him wearily. "That doesn't make me feel any better about tonight."
He grinned wickedly at her. "It was a good try, though." He hooked her arm under his and led her towards the foyer. He retrieved her thin jacket and that was hanging from the coat racket and helped her put it on. He insisted on closing the buttons at the front. The nights were getting colder as the winter months approached.
They walked side bye side towards Sasuke's parent's home, which was at the deepest end of the Uchiha district. The manor-like home loomed over the clan's village as if to further impress the family's status as the head of the Uchiha clan.
"I might feel a bit more confident about meeting your family if I knew a little bit about them. You've never really talked about them before, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said softly as her fingers fiddled with the strings of her small pouch.
Sasuke arched an eyebrow towards her. "My father and my brother are in constant competition on who could be the bigger ass and my mother has a tendency to squeal about things she finds 'cute'."
Sakura snorted. "It can't be that bad."
It wasn't that bad. It was worse. Sakura wondered how Sasuke had survived in this environment without ever stabbing himself. Sasuke's father, Fugaku, hadn't said so much as a word to her and had merely acknowledged her with a grunt. His mother, Mikoto, was much more pleasant. Sakura only wished the woman would stop fussing about her pink hair; it wasn't that interesting. Itachi, his brother, stared at her like she was covered in swamp goo. Itachi's wife stuck up her nose at everything and her face was twisted into an expression that made it seem like the smell of dog poop clung to her nose. Their children, two boys, sat stiffly in their chairs and Sakura was yet to be convinced that they're not actually stuffed dolls.
They were all sitting around the long dining table in the main dining hall of the Uchiha home. No one had spoken a word and Sakura wondered why they were even having a family dinner if they were going to act like the other didn't exist. Each chair stood three feet apart and two servants waited on them. They were on the third course when Mikoto finally spoke up. Sakura resisted the urge to jump up and give her a hug.
"Sasuke-chan, have you and your fiancée set a date yet?" she asked sweetly.
Sasuke swallowed the masticated meat in his mouth before he answered, "Sakura and I will be wed in a month's time."
"Well that's a bit quick. How are you supposed to plan for a proper wedding in such a short amount of time?" Mikoto asked, perplexed eyebrows drawing down her face.
"We've agreed to have a simple ceremony, with just our immediate family and our closest friends," Sasuke answered stiffly.
"Are you alright with that, Sakura-chan?" Mikoto asked, eyes shifting towards the pinkhead who was in the middle of chewing a rather stubborn morsel of meat.
Sakura almost choked on her food in her rush to swallow and quickly answered. "Perfectly, Lady Uchiha. I would much prefer a more intimate wedding," she said, a blush rising on her cheeks at having to stare directly at the immaculate face of the Uchiha matriarch. Fugaku was a striking man, even for his age, but it was obvious Sasuke got his aristocratic good looks from his mother.
Mikoto seemed satisfied with her answer. "Have you given any thoughts to your dress yet?"
"Well, I hope to wear my mother's wedding kimono," Sakura answered, her tone sounded like she was asking for her future mother-in-law's permission.
She was rewarded with Mikoto's approving smile. "That's very sweet, Sakura-chan."
Sasuke gave her a wink from where he sat across her as if to tell her she was doing a fine job impressing his mother.
It was then that Fugaku spoke up from his place at the head of the table. "I expect that we'll be seeing an heir from you this time, Sasuke. Itachi has already honored this family with two strong Uchiha sons."
Sasuke's face had remained completely impassive but the grip he had on his fork tightened. "He'd had a seven-year head start on me, Father. We'd have to question his sterility if he had remained childless until now."
Itachi glared at Sasuke from where he sat on Fugaku's left.
Fugaku seemed unruffled by his youngest son's words as he continued. "If you hadn't been so foolish in choosing your first wife perhaps you would have heirs of your own by now."
Sasuke let out a disgruntled snort. "I had no idea starting a family was a race," he said dryly.
Sakura disguised her giggle with a cough and bowed her head down when Fugaku gave her a passing glance.
"Let's just hope you didn't pick up another dud for a wife this time," Fugaku's words echoed with malicious grace.
Sakura was just about to take off her earrings and tell Fugaku to wait just a goddamn minute when Sasuke abruptly stood up from his seat and threw his napkin on his half-finished meal. "Excuse me, I seem to have lost my appetite," he said curtly before he promptly stormed out of the room.
Sakura sprung to her feet and muttered, "I'll go check on him." She quickly followed him out of the dining hall, not deigning to look back at Sasuke's family. Once she'd stepped out into the hallway, Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. She noticed the door to the kitchen still swinging violently on its hinges and knew instantly where her future husband had disappeared to. She cursed the constricting yukata that slowed her down. She hoped Sasuke still had enough sense in him to wait for her; getting lost in the Uchiha mansion was not exactly part of her to-do list. She need not worry after all.
Seconds after she stepped through the threshold she was wrapped in Sasuke's strong arms. His back was leaning against the wall right next to the door and he buried his head in the junction where her neck and shoulder met as if he needed her scent to calm him. Her fisted hands were arrested between her soft breasts and his hard chest and she could feel the heavy beats of his heart.
"You shouldn't let him get to you," she whispered in his ear that was right against her lips.
"That's one jutsu I haven't mastered and I've been trying for the last twenty-five years," he said, his warm breath moistening her skin.
"Is he always like this?" she asked carefully.
"He's actually worse. He's holding himself back since we have a guest." He didn't have to tell her that she was the guest. She didn't mind though, technically she still wasn't considered a part of his family and after that display by his father, she wasn't sure she would ever strive to be.
"Does he lace your food with poison when no one's around then?" she said sarcastically.
Sasuke's chuckles reverberated through his ribcage. The sensation of Sasuke's muscles rippling under her hands ignited feelings in her that she was pretty sure wasn't appropriate considering the situation they were in. Thankfully (for her hormones' sake) he lifted his head from her shoulder so he could peer into her face. Callused fingers brushed pink hair that had rebelled against its bun away from her face.
"I'm glad you followed me," he said solemnly.
She looked at him oddly. "What else was I supposed to do?"
Her answer brought light into his usually dreary eyes. "Can you promise me something, Sakura?" he asked seriously.
"As long as it's not something sexual."
He threw his head back and let out a strained guffaw, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down his throat deliciously. He looked back down at her before he spoke again. "It's not, I swear to you," he said as he cupped her face and pinched her cheeks.
Sakura giggled softly, the sight of his smile was infectious. "What is it then?"
Sasuke sighed deeply and rested his forehead against her, their faces so close that she could feel the flutter of his eyelashes against her skin. "Promise me that when we have children, if I start to play favorites, you'll give me a beating."
Sakura stood on her tiptoes and kissed his forehead. "You'll never be like him, Sasuke-kun. You'll be a wonderful father."
The month leading to their wedding went by like a blur to Sakura. Even with the small wedding there was still so much to prepare and there were times that Sakura doubted everything would come together. At the same time she had to arrange her and her grandparents' move to Sasuke's house in the Uchiha district. Kakashi insisted to her that Grandpa and Grandma Haruno could stay with him at least for another month or so since Sasuke and Sakura should enjoy the first month of their marriage together alone. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Sakura thumped her former sensei's head and called him a dirty old man. He took offense to being called old. Nevertheless, she agreed to delay her grandparents' move. Kakashi thought of all of them as his family and she knew the real reason he'd asked her as much was because he wanted her grandparents to stay with him for just a little bit longer.
Sasuke had given her full access to his accounts and told her to spend as much as she wanted on the wedding. She felt quite uneasy being given free reign to a disgustingly huge amount of wealth. Ino was more than happy to step in. Although Sakura was forever present to control the blonde's impulses, like that one time she wanted to get a wedding cake bedazzled with rhinestones. How would one even eat those?
Sakura took out and cleaned her mother's wedding kimono a week before the set wedding date. The white had become somewhat yellowish and there were small holes in the in the seams. Grandma Haruno offered to darn the holes and bleach the dress. In the end it still looked a little rough but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Sakura was quite surprised with herself with how well she had been handling her impending marriage. There were no bouts of fear or doubt as she went about the planning. She felt serene as Kakashi, her surrogate father, gave her away while her grandparents watched from the front row. Even the sight of Itachi watching her like she was some sort of newt didn't bother her. And then the Shinto priest handed Sasuke the porcelain cup filled with sake. Sasuke stretched his hands towards her, signaling for her to drink next. All hell broke loose.
"Excuse me, I need a moment," Sakura choked as she scrambled up from where she kneeled in front of the Shinto priest. She could feel everyone's eyes boring into her back as she made a mad dash towards the side door of the wedding hall. The door swung open with a hard push of her small hands. She inhaled deep gulps of air as soon as she was outside
A litany of 'Oh my gods' fell out of her lips as Sakura realized she'd just been struck by cold feet right in the middle of the ceremony. The apprehension she had been feeling a moment ago was immediately replaced with the feeling of wretchedness as she realized how embarrassed Sasuke must be right now. Then that was quickly replaced with the feeling of fear as she pictured various ways Sasuke would kill her.
The door opened behind her and she turned around expecting Tsunade or Ino but was instead fazed with the sight of her half-husband.
"At least you didn't run away completely," he said, a lot calmer than Sakura had expected him to be.
Sakura bit her lip, tasting the bitter rouge on her lips. "Sasuke…"
"What's wrong?" he asked patiently.
Her mouth dropped open, unable to believe he would even need to ask. "This is a big deal, Sasuke-kun. We're getting married. Married!"
He frowned at her, thick black eyebrows curling downwards. "Well, yes that's what we've been planning for the last month," he said.
"Aren't you the least bit scared? You're going to be marrying me, you're going to be together, forever, 'til death do us part stuck with me!" she cried out hysterically.
He tilted his head to the side and regarded her fondly. "No."
Sakura blinked up owlishly at him. "Oh, it's just me then."
Sasuke sighed and looked down at his shoes. "We can still cancel the wedding. I'll inform the guests."
"No, wait!" she yelled before he could turn his back on her. "I said I was scared, I never said I didn't want to marry you."
He smirked at her, a smirk that was softened the sharp structure of his face. "Would it help if I held your hand throughout?" he asked her as if she were a small child.
Sakura nodded. "Yes, I think that would help very much."
Sasuke enclosed one soft, tiny hand in his large, callused ones. The only time he let go was when he cupped her face in his hands and kissed her for the first time as his wife.
Sakura stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a simple, cotton nightgown that brushed the top of her knees. It wasn't anything special; in fact it was a bit old. It was her favorite thing to sleep in; it was cool and comfortable. And she just really needed something familiar in this wholly unfamiliar world she found herself in.
With another deep breath Sakura turned the knob and entered Sasuke's bedroom. That wasn't right though, was it? It was their bedroom now.
The lamps were turned off and the only source of light was the moon's glow outside.
Sasuke was already underneath the covers, blanket pulled up to his naked hips and his back propped up by three mounted pillows. As soon as he saw her enter the room he lifted the duvet on her side of the bed and patted the mattress to invite her in. His face remained blank but there was no mistaking the slight leer in his dark eyes.
Sakura sat at the very edge of the bed; if she had moved any further she would fall to the floor. She daintily removed her slippers and set them neatly underneath the bed so she could retrieve it easily in the morning. She slid underneath the covers and he arranged the blanket over her so that it was tucked tightly under her arms.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "We can sleep, I guess."
"That's it?" she asked.
The smirk was back on his lips. "Were you expecting something else?" he said suggestively.
She rolled her eyes in the darkness. "No," she said succinctly. "It just seems a little anti-climactic don't you think? After putting all of that together we're just going to go to sleep."
"It would have been a lot more climactic if you hadn't demanded to postpone the honeymoon," he teased. She didn't miss the double entendre.
"Ino says I should at least give you a blowjob," she said with a giggle.
"I think Ino is a very wise woman."
Sakura laughed heartily at that. Sasuke arranged his pillows so he could lie flat on his back before he turned on his side. He moved his head towards her side of the bed and led her lips to his. The kiss was soft and lazy, very different from the lustful and possessive kisses he usually took from her.
A satisfied hum left his lips when they parted. Her eyes fluttered open to watch his sleepy face right in front of her.
"Regardless, it doesn't look like we'd be doing much tonight. I'm absolutely knackered," he said as he opened his eyes and looked down his middle.
Sakura blushed at the insinuation. "It's strange, isn't it? It didn't seem like we really did much of anything, kneel before a priest, mingle with people and yet I'm so tired."
He yawned involuntarily. "It's the stress from the last month, you're probably just feeling it now," he said.
"That's true," she answered.
Sasuke scooted nearer towards her body and wrapped an arm around her waist. He tucked her head underneath his chin and seemed to have decided that it was time for them to sleep.
"Sasuke-kun?"
"What is it?" he grunted lazily.
"What's it like being married?" she asked carefully.
His chest rustled against her cheek as he took a deep breath. "I'm hardly the person you should ask."
"But you were married," she insisted.
Sasuke moved around so he was laid on his back. He easily pulled Sakura up so that she was lying on top of him and they were pressed together from the chests down to their feet. His hands rested on her lower back, right above her backside. She propped her chin up with her hands so she could look up to his face.
"The first time I met my last wife was on the day of our wedding," he started slowly. "I picked out her name from a stack of folders and entrusted a solicitor to make the arrangements. The day after our wedding I went off to Sound to continue my training under Orochimaru and left her here to make a home for us. I only saw her every other weekend and most of that time was spent socializing with other clan members or other prominent clans like the Hyuugas or the Naras. She had always been a social butterfly, she thrived on the attention showered upon her during these social events that she usually put together. Or perhaps she was just compensating for the attention I refused her. I'm quite certain that's not how a marriage should be."
Sakura frowned deeply, eyes tinged with sadness. "I didn't know."
He rubbed her cheeks with his thumbs. "You must've had an idea. The entirety of Konoha knew how disastrous my marriage was. I was always away at Sound as if I couldn't stand to be in the presence of my wife for longer than a day and she wasn't very discreet with her liaisons with other men. Everyone was making bets on how soon the divorce would happen."
"Why didn't you? Divorce, I mean?"
"I didn't want to admit defeat," he answered without hesitation. "Itachi's wife just gave birth to their second child and my father was pressuring me for an heir. I thought perhaps if we had a child it would get better. But it wasn't in the cards for us. I suppose it's for the better, what kind of people would we be to bring an innocent child into such a hostile home?"
Sakura chewed on her bottom lip. "What if the same thing happens to us?"
Her question struck a chord within him and he pulled her into a tight embrace, squeezing her middle with such force she was sure it would bruise in the morning. "No, I refuse to make the same mistakes with you. Patrice and I, we were practically children when we got married. She did a lot of things to hurt me, but I wasn't a very ideal husband either."
Sakura looked up at him with determined eyes. "We'll work on this marriage together," she said in a solemn promise.
Sasuke leaned his head forward and kissed her deeply, his open mouth slanting against her pliant ones. Their tongues met and explored each other, remnants of the sake they'd had earlier giving Sakura that feeling of being drunk.
Sasuke flipped them over and pressed her body into the mattress, their bodies melting together until no light could pass between them. The heat of his skin burned her senses and it felt like he left a blaze of fire with every part of her body he touched. His hands snaked between them and squeezed her unbound breasts and her nipples peaked at his attention. His spiky hair tickled her chin as he moved his head downwards to worship the column of her throat with nips and sucks.
Sakura exhaled a loud squeal when Sasuke's mouth moved over her tits. He pushed the neckline of her nightgown as far as it would go, kissing the flesh he exposed. When it would go down no further he settled for encasing his hot mouth on one perky mound and licked her erect nipple poking through the thin cotton of her nightgown. A hand began trailing up her inner thigh in search of her virgin core.
"Sasuke-kun," she cried breathlessly. "Sasuke, wait!"
She pushed at his shoulders to get his attention. It took him a moment to realize that she had stopped responding to his ministration and his mouth let go of the tit he was eagerly sucking. His eyes were glazed and unfocused and his lips puffy and red.
Sakura calmed her beating heart, her body was still pulsing and begging for his touch but she wasn't going to let desire rule her. She had more control than that; she would like to think.
"You promised," she said simply.
Sasuke seemed disoriented and it had taken a while before the meaning of her words sunk in. He shook his head as if to whisk away his lust induced haze. They embraced each other in the darkness as they waited for their bodies to calm down.
"I was hoping you'd fall for my sob story."
She chuckled at his attempt at humor. "You would really settle for pity sex?"
"I'm a man, Sakura. If you're willing I wouldn't hesitate," he said without a hint of embarrassment.
Sakura guffawed and planned in her head to have Shikamaru and her husband meet, they may have a lot more in common than they realize.
Husband, Uchiha Sasuke was her husband. Her inner twelve-year old had died and gone to heaven.
"We should probably retire for the night. I'm not sure if I could stand any more of your seduction," he drawled casually with a kiss to her temple.
"My seduction?" Sakura scoffed with disbelief.
"Mm-hmm," he hummed tiredly. "You tease me with your very presence only to leave me hanging in the end."
"I cannot help my natural swagger after all," she answered him.
He snickered. "We Uchihas are a proud lot, aren't we?"
His words were in jest but she knew it meant a lot. Family was important to Sasuke and for him to openly give her his name meant that to him, she was already family.
"We definitely are."
He kissed her one more time before tucking her head under his chin, nose buried in her pink hair. "Good night, Mrs. Uchiha." His smile radiated from his voice.
She allowed herself a girlish grin. "Good night, Sasuke-kun."
To be continued…
Next Chapter: Naked hot tea talks. Sakura snoops and plays detective.
End Notes: So I hope you like that chapter. Lily Aldrin from 'How I Met Your Mother' has the copyright on the 'Fifty Reasons to Have Sex.' Hee.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING AND I WOULD REALY LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! PLEASE REVIEW! I appreciate everyone who put it on their favorites and alerts but it would be nicer to hear from you (: