I am really sorry about the major delays here. I was recently diagnosed bipolar, and that's why I on and off these chapters. I seem to be getting my groove back now. ^_^ Thank you for your patience!

Eh, I forgot a little here, so it's going to be a little flashback-y for a mo. Tolerate me, please. For those who don't know, this story is tied up with the other ones, so I'm creating a little continuity here, but it will all work in time, I promise.

Sakura stared out at the horizon blankly. A light wind gusted her pink locks around her face. She didn't bother to contain them. Her hands gripped the edge of the banister tightly as the first ray of sun came up. She inhaled.

Sunrise.

She could feel him coming, even at a distance. The Emperor and his son, in her house. The cook had been working since last night. She shivered. She didn't like it, this game that men played with the lives of women, as if they were just pawns that handily popped out offspring from time to time. At least it wasn't the case with Sasuke. But if his clan hadn't been assassinated, who knows?

Sakura turned her sea foam gaze to Sasuke, who was sleeping soundly in a way she hadn't in years. How little he knew of this secret world of women. Granted, he was taking a very active part in saving Naruto and his would-be lover, but did he really understand what was happening?

Not long now, her subconscious told her. She shook herself from the memories of the sunrise, and entered this world of men.

O*O*O*O*O*

"Why is the Emperor here?" Naruto hissed, slipping off his shoes. The samurai outside had tried to cow him with fierce stares, and Naruto was prickled. He had squinted back at them in a childish fashion, so much so that they stopped their staring contest and had gone back to looking rigid and stiff in their armor.

"To talk to us," Kakashi said back in his usual blatant and uninformative way. A servant bowed politely to Kakashi's wave, directing them off to a room down the hall. Naruto gawped, awed at what Sasuke had done to the derelict house. The thing was a rotted piece of junk by the time Sasuke had gotten around to it. Now, cleaned and restored, it was a masterpiece of early Konoha architecture, a perfect replica of the mansion owned before the Uchiha lived in a district. Okay, so the house was right at the gate, and the rest of the Uchiha block was built behind it, but the whole plot used to be just a garden to the rich family's abode. For a guy brought up in a tiny apartment, this was nothing short of too much money spent in a weird way. Naruto mused he would have bought out the ramen shop for this kind of change, so he could have ramen at every hour of the day. This must have been Sakura's doing…

Kakashi rapped lightly on the shoji door. "Sire, I do believe that is the Hokage and his entourage." Entourage? Naruto looked at his falsified appearance. I don't get drugs for him in the middle of the night! Just as Naruto was about to let his words free, the door slid open to reveal a decidedly rigid scene. Naruto took in the sight; samurai and well dressed gentlemen sitting in rows around the tatami room, servants trembling at strict attention, Sasuke and Sakura sitting formally at the far end, and just beside the portal, a pair of human sized dolls. Naruto leaned in, curious. Sakura's vein throbbed at her temple.

"Ahem, Kanjo-sama, Mikado-sama, this is Hakate Kakashi, our Hokage, and his trainee, Uzumaki Naruto." The two dolls turned in unison to look at the intruders, and Naruto realized with a shock that they were the highest ranking men in the country, and maybe even the world. He froze, henge flickering.

Kakashi clapped a hand over Naruto's hair, reminding him to focus. "Forgive this idiot, my lord. That's what I get for taking pity on a little orphan boy." Kakashi smiled. The Emperor smiled back a little, but his son's eyes bored into him like a hot knife.

"As I say, never be charitable. It always gets you into terrible scrapes." Kakashi's visible eye smiled some more as the advisors chuckled at the Emperor's awful joke.

"Indeed, sire. May we be seated?" The Emperor gestured to the spot free on the nearest wall, diagonal from the pair. Kakashi grabbed Naruto's hair, dragging him with force to the spot indicated. Naruto sat as he was bade, but rubbed his scalp irritatedly. "I'm sure I was told, but my job as Hokage keeps me so busy…" The Emperor nodded in understanding, waving his fingers for Kakashi to continue. "But I don't remember an inspection being planned. What do we owe this great honor? Everything is well I hope?" Even though Kakashi basically just admitted he had been too lazy to even open the scroll sent to him, he had simultaneously expressed gratitude and concern for the Emperor. He's as slimy as a newt! Naruto decided.

The old man waved his hand dismissively. "Everything is exactly as it should be, Hakate-sama. I am here to shake hands with the clans and to arrange my son's marriage." He indicated the stiff man to his left, who was glaring most intently at Naruto. Naruto stared right back, determined not to be intimidated by the high born's standing. "Mikado wished for more than just a princess." Mikado nodded sharply, not breaking the epic evil beam connecting him and Naruto.

"Ah, I see." Kakashi still smiled pleasantly. The silence was unbelievably awkward, the Emperor and Kakashi with mild faces, Mikado and Naruto glaring at each other, and the rest twitching uncomfortably.

"Neh, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto muttered out of the side of his mouth. "What's with this arrogant pr-" A hand clamped hard over the back of his neck. Naruto immediately froze in terror as Sakura leaned down with her face parallel to his. Her smile looked like a shark's.

"Excuse me while I take out the trash, Kanjo-sama." Naruto hung limply from her grasp, dragged like a wet blanket across the tatami and out. He was hauled to the modern looking living room, and was tossed carelessly towards the couch. Naruto was about to protest being called trash, when he got a good look at Sakura.

She was seething, pale except for two red splotches on her cheeks. A vein ticked rapidly, twins popping up all over her face. Naruto began to pray silently. She was clearly out for blood.

"M-Mou, S-S-Sakura-c-chan-"

"YOU!" He cowered as she stepped closer, arms raised out, ready to throw one. "YOU BAKA! Do you have any idea what you-" She growled, too incensed to finish. She clapped a hand over her eyes, sighing. "Please tell me that you at least remembered the wedding today." A green eye peered out between her fingers. Naruto turned white. "AAAARRRGG!" Sakura rumpled her hair furiously. She jabbed Naruto in between the eyes, baring her teeth like an animal. "You are SO lucky these are new floors! If they weren't, I would hesitate to draw and quarter you! I have enough to deal with right now, what with the Emperor showing up at the last minute and already agreeing to host for Ino's wedding, and then there's you!" Sakura brought her face close to Naruto's until he could see the little blood vessels on her eyes. "Go home, get your suit, and get back here in fifteen minutes. If you don't, I've got a couple of kunei with your name on them." Naruto nodded rapidly. "Now get!" Naruto got up as fast as he could to run, but he was still slow enough to get Sakura's well placed kick to his butt.

O*O*O*O*O*

"Dear God, am I glad I invited you to come over." Ino pointed critically at Hinata's face. Hinata touched her cheeks self consciously.

"What? What's wrong?" She blushed as every girl in the room stared at her.

"Disregarding the gigantic purple bags under your eyes," Ino prodded Hinata's chin. "There's that volcano forming on your face." Hinata squeaked, rushing to a mirror to check. Everyone crowded around to inspect her skin.

"It's a mosquito bite," someone said dismissively, but Hinata knew the truth: there was a junior Mount Fuji forming on her chin.

"No…" she moaned. Ino snapped her fingers sharply.

"Make up girl! We have an emergency!" The woman trotted over, a monstrous kit in hand. She cupped Hinata's jaw to analyze the pimple as the wedding party held their breath for the verdict. "Well? Can you do anything for it?"

After another tense moment, the woman nodded, causing a collective sigh of relief to rise from the crowd of girls. She broke open the case, removing a tube of cream from it. "Don't touch your face for the rest of the day, no matter how much you want to," she admonished seriously, daubing the sharp smelling ointment on Hinata's chin. Hinata felt an immediate cooling sensation.

Ino clapped her hands in joy. "You're a genius!"

"I know," the girl said smugly, setting up powders, brushes, pencils, along with a paraphernalia of equipment that Hinata had never seen before. "Hold still, my canvas." Hinata watched Ino trot back to her table happily, offering her hands to another woman whom Hinata guessed to be the manicurist. Ino squealed as the woman nodded, indicating that Ino's hands were finished. Girls crowded around Ino to similarly gush over the perfection of her nails.

Hinata entertained herself by looking sidelong into the mirror, watching the makeup artist gob on the pastes and powders, recontouring her face, blending away imperfections. The zit had shrunk to only a fraction of its previous size, and thanks to the artist's perfectionistic ministrations, had all but vanished behind a thick layer of base. Once her face was a blank slate of ivory, the woman pulled back. "Now, what style are you wearing? You're not part of the wedding party, are you?" Hinata shook her head, unwrapping her cotton bundle to reveal her outfit for the day. The make up artist grinned, clearly pleased with Hinata's taste. "I see no one needs to teach you how to match color tones." She broke out a fresh set of brushes and colored powders. "I love it when I don't have to lecture people about why gold is different from silver."

"I am NOT getting a mandicure!" A brash voice echoed through the walls. Hinata blushed, instantly recognizing the speaker. Sakura, already perfectly made up and in her maid of honor kimono, turned red in fury.

She stormed out, muttering furiously the whole way: "Mandicure? !"

O*O*O*O*O*

"I am NOT getting a mandicure!" Naruto tucked his hands under his arms in protest.

"Have you seen the state of your hands?" Sasuke raised his eyebrow, buttoning up his shirt. "No girl is going to get near you with those. I think I got an infection just looking at them."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. "What would you know about girls, Sasu-GAY?" Sasuke rolled his eyes as he threw a tie around his neck. Naruto pointed accusingly at the silk. "See! No straight man would wear a pink tie!"

Sasuke snorted. "Yeah, but this gay guy gets a lot more pussy than you." Naruto flushed and sputtered like an old kettle. Sasuke tightened his tie, smirking. "Hey, now we're both wearing pink."

"TEME!"

Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing a fuming Sakura. Naruto instantly shrunk down into a smaller target. She stormed over, grabbed his hand, and held it close to Naruto's face without saying a word. It was only then that he realized they may have had a point. He had at least three hangnails, his thumb and forefinger were dry and cracked, and every crevice was lined with dirt and ink. Naruto grinned sheepishly, allowing Sakura to force him into a chair. The manicurist eyed him sternly as she plunged Naruto's fingers into warm water.

"Have you ever had a manicure?" she prodded gently.

Naruto blurted, "You're not going to put nail polish on me, are you?" Even Sakura giggled as the group of men busted out laughing. "What? What did I say?" Naruto sputtered, bewildered.

The manicurist chuckled, using a soft brush to loosen the dirt around his nails. "Not unless you want it." She laughed again at Naruto's horrified expression.

"Make it pink." Sasuke smirked.

"No! Nononononono-" Naruto began to pull his hands away, but Sakura clamped his wrists down, growling.

"No nail polish then." Naruto relaxed briefly. "You would have looked so good in pink though." Before Naruto could protest, Sakura's sharp fingernail stabbed the tip of his nose. Behind the finger, Sakura's face warned him against a single noise of defiance, or else.

After getting over the girlishness of the situation, Naruto peered with interest as his hands were transformed. While the sharp stick she used around his nails was painful, the rest was pretty pleasant. She carefully filled the sharp edges, rubbed a lemony balm into his cuticles, only to be rinsed away. Thus clean, she buffed the nails until they were soft, and massaged more balm into his scrubbed pink skin. As soon as she indicated she was done, Sakura seized his hand for inspection.

"You're a miracle worker." Sakura smiled, releasing the captive. Naruto sniffed his hands. He decided he smelled like food, and was well pleased with the results. "I have to get back." She gave Sasuke a peck on the lips, glared at Naruto, and left, muttering, "Seriously? Mandicure?"

Going to try to get better at getting these things out on time. Ja!