The Perfect Princess

summary—"Sasuke, you have seven days to find a bride, or you lose the crown." Well, this was gonna be a royal pain in the ass. SAUSAKU. AU.

disclaimer—nnnnnnnnnnnnno!

first version; unedited.

.

notes—OHMYGOD YOU GUYS. THE DRAMA. Lol your response to last chap was amazing, thank each and every one of you! Like, legit, 50+ alerts and over 30 favs? OHMYGOD. So! Let's get on to the good stuff, shall we?

The Perfect Princess

Chapter 11

"Sakura?"

For a second, Sakura wasn't sure if her heart was either going to beat out of her chest or not beat at all. All she knew was the it was absolutely critical she get Sai off of her now. The girl finally shoved him off, wiping her mouth quickly and her face red.

"Sasuke—I, really—it's—"

"Are you serious, Sakura?" spat the Uchiha. He was so mad, it was numbing. His mind was blank, and it felt like he had no strength anywhere in his body.

"Are you serious?" he said again, and his eyes seeemed to look red. "I can't believe you. Yesterday, I told you everything, I asked you to marry me, and you said yes, then this?" Sasuke snorted, shaking his head slowly, and turning away in disgust at the pinkette.

Before walking away, he looked back. "You were right. We don't know each other, or else I would've seen this coming."

"Wait," Sai spoke up. "It was my fault—"

"You shut the hell up!" In seconds, the young prince was on top of the ex-royal, his fist connecting multiple times with his face.

"Teme, leave him alone," Naruto rushed over to the fighting duo, trying to pry Sasuke off Sai. He gripped the older teen's shoulders pulling back, but instead caused Sasuke to whip around and punch him as well. "Shit! My nose!" A slow trickle of blood trailed from it, the coppery taste filling his mouth.

That seemed to snap Sasuke out of his rage. "Are-are you okay, dobe?" A look of concern knitted his eyebrows together. "I-I'm sorry."

Naruto sniffed and wiped away the blood. His nose stung, but nothing unbearable. Besides, he could worry about his nose later; right now he needed to get Sasuke away.

"I'm fine. C'mon Sasuke, let's go."

Again, the red in Sasuke eye's appeared. Oh no, Naruto thought. If this continued, he knew that the end result was going to be far from pretty. Many years ago, an old witch cursed the Uchiha, that when under intense anger their eyes would turn red and they would become terrible creatures. The black tattoo on Sasuke's neck was a permanent testament to that curse.

Small black tomoe appeared around his pupils, spinning rapidly. Black flame designs creeped onto his face, occasionally glaring orange.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry!"

Almost immediately the desings receded, and Sasuke's eyes returned to their normal black. He faced Sakura, his mouth set into a hard line. "Don't waste your breath, Sakura."

"No, really." The pinkette approached the prince. Her green eyes were watery and her chin trembled. "I'm so sorry."

"No you're not. I can see that you obviously have something with this guy, something you and I don't have. I'm done, Sakura. I need to leave."

Sasuke reached into his pocket, pulling out something that glinted brightly in the sun, before making a disgusted sound at it and throwing on the ground.

"Oi, teme—" Naruto started to say.

"No." Sasuke cut him off. "No. I need to be by myself. I need to figure out how I'm gonna tell my dad that this has gone to hell and how I'm going to tolerate someone for the rest of my life that I don't even like being in the same room with."

He gave everyone one last look, before walking away in the opposite direction.

Naruto tried to give Sakura something along the lines of an encouraging look, but his eyes held what looked like disappointment. "I dunno what to say, Sakura-chan, but I gotta go."

He too walked away, in the direction Sasuke had left in.

Now, it was only her and Sai. The black haired teen had an unreadable expression, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants and turning away.

"My apologies, Sakura." he said.

And then, Sakura was left standing there, alone.

Was this garden the place he always went to when he was mad? Once again, Sasuke was sitting against the large lemon tree wondering just what was becoming of his life.

He sighed, running a hand through his long fringe and keeping it there, allowing him to see much more clearly, both literally and figuratively.

What he saw in town hurt him. A lot. It might not've been love, but what he felt for Sakura was something strong. Sasuke could easily see himself spending the rest of his life with her, but now that vision was shattered. It was clear she and Sai had something much more he and Sakura would.

Sasuke stood up, letting his hair fall back into his eyes. He walked through the bushes into the palace's lawn, entering the establishment via back door. The teen crossed the ballroom, striding up the stairs to his parent's room. As expected, Fugaku was on his bed reading a book; Mikoto was out with some noblewomen.

"Tou-san..." said Sasuke.

The king looked up from his book, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Even while relaxing, he still held that regal look on his face that immediately let anyone know he was a man of high power.

"Yes, Sasuke?"

The prince sighed. Although he had no idea how it should be executed, Sasuke decided it was best he let his father know about this immediately.

"My...my engagement...is off." Sasuke told him bluntly. There was no hiding it, no sugarcoating and certainly no beating around the bush. The raven knew there was no messing around with his father, especially with such a serious manner.

King Fugaku removed his glasses. "Sasuke..."

"Don't worry about it." the younger Uchiha cut him off. "You win. I'll marry Ino, end of story."

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

Sasuke paused. Just a few days ago, his father gave him an ultimatum: relinquish the kingdom to Madara, or marry someone in seven days. Could it be that he really did want Sasuke to be king, to marry someone that he really wanted to, of his own choosing? Sure, he was told that his future wife was pre-chosen, but was it more of a precaution and not just his parents forcing a huge responsibility unto him?

"What?"

"Do you really wish to marry Lady Ino? You...you seemed so happy about your engagement to this unknown girl, but it has dissipated so quickly..." he looked away, not sure how to continue. "I just..."

"It...doesn't matter." Sasuke said. "Tell Ino we're getting married the day after tomorrow."

Sasuke left his father's room, almost crying. Why? He acted like this was some kind of big tragedy, the worst thing that had ever happened to him. He didn't love her.

He shouldn't feel this way.

notes—The ending actually made me sad. Ugh. I'm having mood swings or something. Someone should give me chocolate. So, y'know how it said Sasuke's fam was cursed by some witch? That made me want to write a story based on that idea—meaning, if I did, would y'all read it? It would be a side project or something cause I really wanna do it now :3

Love you guys! Review!