Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

I thought of posting two chapters, but the next one was taking so long, I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer :)

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A loud crash echoed through the halls of the palace, followed by screams and angry curses. They fell on deaf ears outside the door where the noise came from, deaf from fear, deaf from command and mostly deaf from habit. The guards stood in their places, holding their position without flinching a single muscle at the sound of devastation that erupted from within the room.

'How dare they!' Sakura screamed, the last surviving perfume bottle was flung at the broken dressing mirror, shattering as it hit the cracked surface. 'How dare they!'

The maids stood next to her bed, their heads bowed as they tried to make themselves invisible from her sight.

'Honey, calm down.' A slightly mature lady, with similar pink hair, tried to reach out to touch her, only to be squatted away angrily.

'This is an insult, mother!' She screamed at the lady. 'An insult to me! An insult to you! An insult to our land!'

Her mother looked at her helplessly, looking torn between wanting to approach her again and letting her vent it all out.

'A duel is no proper reason to deny father's proposal.' Sakura scoffed. 'How humiliating!'

'Honey, the king surely had a good reason, perhaps personal-'

'Does he not think I am good enough?' Sakura stood at her full height, trying to make every inch of her visible. 'Am I not, mother?'

'Sweetie, you are.' Her mother said sadly. Of course she was, her baby was far better than just good. 'You are perfect, my dear.'

'Then why did he…' Sakura clenched her fists and her jaws tightened as she was reminded of the reason for her present state. 'He rejected me. He rejected me!' She screamed again, her voice ending with a squeak due to the strain she was putting on her throat.

'I worked so hard.' She gritted through her teeth. 'I did everything to be this perfect. I can do anything and everything far better than any princess can. I have suitors from far away countries in numbers no other princess can compete.'

Her mother nodded eagerly in agreement to please her, slowly inching her way towards her in hopes that she might start calming down.

'There is not a single prince or unwed king out there who does not know my name. They all want me. They all desire me.' Her expression turned dark. 'And he rejects me, mother.'

Sakura grabbed her mother by her shoulders and shook her. 'He rejects me, mother, he rejects me!' She shrieked 'He rejected princess Haruno Sakura! How dare he!' Her face twisted with pure rage suddenly contorted into that of desperation.

'He said no.' Her lips trembled and sob escaped her lips. 'He does not want me, mother. Why?' The last word came out as a loud sob as her head fell on her mother's shoulders.

'Why, why, why…' she sobbed. '…why…'

The queen slowly wrapped her arms around her heartbroken baby and sushed her.

'We cannot question his decision, darling.' She gently patted her daughter's head. 'The Uchiha king is far too powerful. We cannot…it's best we accept his refusal graciously.'

'But I love him, mother.' She heard her daughter sob sadly against her shoulder. 'I cannot be happy with anyone else.'

The sadness in her daughter's voice broke her heart. Her baby was hurting and there was nothing she could do.

'Please don't give me away to anyone else.' Sakura lifted her head and looked up at her mother. 'It has to be Itachi-sama, please, it has to be him.'

'Sakura.' Her mother sighed. 'Honey, please…'

'No, mother, please.' Sakura begged. 'Please.'

'We cannot-'

'Then let me.' Sakura looked at her pleadingly. 'Let me talk to him, please.'

'Sakura.' Her mother tried to sound stern. 'We cannot let you throw yourself at the feet of a man, even if he is the Uchiha king. You are a princess and that is not how we raised you.'

'I only want to talk to him.' Sakura shook her head. 'I will not try to convince him to marry me. I only demand a better explanation for his refusal.'

'Honey, no, we must be careful not offend him.'

'I will not anger him, I promise.' Sakura looked at her pleadingly. 'I give you my word, mother. I will not do anything to upset him. I only seek for a closure, nothing else. I need to hear it from him, I need him to tell me personally so I can move on. Please mother.'

The queen looked at her precious daughter and her heart clenched painfully at how desperate she seemed. She was practically begging her. If only she had chosen someone else to fall in love with.

They had given her everything she had ever asked for. There was never a single request left unfulfilled for her baby. She hadn't left a single stone unturned in making her wishes come true, but this was one thing she couldn't give her daughter. This time they had failed her.

'Fine.' She nodded, brushing back Sakura's hair from her tear stained face. 'I will talk to your father.'

A smile finally split across her baby's face and she was hugged tightly with 'Thank you, thank you, thank you…' being whispered next to her ear.

If this is what it took to make her baby happy, then this is what she would let her do, even if it meant facing the wrath of the Uchiha king.

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'You used to actually fit into this.' Kakashi held up a small green shinobi vest, sighing as he allowed his mind to wander back into the memory lane. 'You were so cute back then, with your mini sized sword and your mini chidori…your mini scowl.'

A bigger version of the said scowl was directed at him but he ignored it as he held it against the large chiseled chest that at one time had fit into it quite perfectly.

'Kakashi, you either help me or you leave.' Sasuke pushed the vest away from him. Kakashi did this every time he went through his belongings.

'You know,' Kakashi continued as he ignored Sasuke's suggestion,' this might actually fit Naruto-kun.' He held it up again and looked at it from different angles as though imagining Naruto in it. 'It would look good on him.' He nodded.

Sasuke glared at him.

'What, I don't mean it like that.' Kakashi frowned as well. 'He's like a…he's your bride. I'm not a pedophile, contrary to popular belief.' Kakashi put the vest back in. 'Made popular by you.' He added chuckling.

'He's like a what?' Sasuke asked, rummaging through the chest of his old belongings, trying to sound casual.

'I meant he's family.' Kakashi shrugged, pulling out the mini sword he was talking about earlier.

'Family like a son?' Sasuke took the sword from him and put it back in.

'A son?' Kakashi raised his eyebrows. 'How old do you think I am?'

'Ancient.' Sasuke said with a straight face.

'Hey I'm not even in my thirties yet.' He tried to sound offended, but Sasuke merely smirked. 'I have, what Gai calls it, a lifetime of youth ahead of me.'

'Springtime.' Sasuke deadpanned.

'Yeah, well, springtime lasts a lifetime for me.' Kakashi pouted. 'If I had a son he wouldn't even be old enough to be in the academy yet.'

'But you wouldn't have one.' Sasuke scoffed.

'And why not?' Kakashi looked at him with a mock hurt look.

Sasuke almost bit his tongue as he quickly stopped himself from answering the question. The idea of Kakashi and Iruka being together had seemed so natural since Itachi had told him about them that day, that he kept forgetting it never happened. Also, Deidera had talked about how perfect a pair they made a little too often, it was very easy to forget that it was hypothetical. One wrong move and Kakashi would easily catch on.

He had promised Deidera, or rather Deidera had forced him to promise, that he wouldn't bring this up with Kakashi yet. Deidera wanted to 'plan the whole thing out' apparently.

'There was a letter from the village side, by the way.' Kakashi said pulling out yet another one of Sasuke's old belonging. Sasuke mentally sighed in relief at the change of topic. 'No mention of the emblem in the letter.'

Sasuke fell silent at the mention of the emblem.

It had been almost two weeks since he had sent the new emblem to Naruto, and he had been very distracted ever since. Naruto would be returning the day after tomorrow with Deidera and Iruka, and he hadn't received a response yet. He had never courted anyone before and he wondered if he was doing it right. Even worse, he wondered if it had been too early for him to be courting Naruto. The last he wanted to do was scare his new bride, especially when there was another man waiting for an opportunity to steal Naruto away from him.

As discouraging as Naruto's silence to his courting has been had been, he had decided the moment he took his first step in wooing him that he would not back down until he had either won Naruto's heart or received a complete rejection.

So far he had neither, so he would rather see the glass half full than empty. He would give Naruto all the time he needed, but he would continue showering Naruto with hints of his intentions

Sasuke was a patient man. He would wait for Naruto, no matter how long it took.

'Give him time.' Kakashi patted his shoulder. 'You're irresistible, he won't be able to say no.' He added with a chuckle.

Sasuke just shook his head and continued going through the heap of things in the chest. Kakashi was Kakashi, even when he was being comforting.

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'I'll miss you so much.' Aki pouted as he helped Naruto into his night robes.

'I promise to visit often, Aki.' Naruto giggled.

'Oh, you should come with the prince, Naruto-sama.' Aki suggested excitedly. 'It's been a while since he visited.'

'How long?' Naruto climbed into the bed and made himself comfortable.

'Very long. The prince has not visited since…' Aki's expression suddenly turned somber. 'well, it's been very long, your highness.'

Aki grew silent and he quietly turned off the lights. Naruto waited as he walked up to his bedside table and lit the night lamp.

'I don't know a lot about the prince.' Naruto confessed. 'Only as much as Deidera-san tells me sometimes'

'These things take time, Naruto-sama.' Aki smiled at him. 'Though, you are married to him, so your curiosity is justified.'

'Why does he not visit anymore, Aki?' Naruto asked. He wanted to know everything about the prince, even if it was an insignificant detail.

Aki fell silent again and looked as if he was contemplating something. After a few seconds of looking down at his hand and biting his lip, he sighed in defeat and smiled.

'I don't know if I have any right to tell you, Naruto-sama.' Aki sounded slightly uncertain. 'But I doubt Sasuke-sama will bring this up himself.'

Naruto shifted in his place, pleased that Aki was going to tell him.

'Sasuke-sama was here, in this mansion, when he received the news of our late king and queen's accident.'

Naruto's eye's widened slightly. He knew about the incident, he had read about it in a book. All the countries knew about it.

'Every prince leaves the palace for three years for further training. Sasuke-sama had just arrived for his training when the news of…' Aki trailed off he swallowed thickly.

Naruto felt a pang of guilt in his chest. Aki obviously didn't want to recall such an unpleasant memory.

'But I didn't see him shed a single tear.' Aki smiled sadly. 'We were all so worried about him, and no one had the heart to break the news to him. You see, he had been very close to the queen. He was the youngest afterall.'

Aki smiled at that memory.

'No one came from the palace, save a messenger with a letter. We all thought it was a cruel way to tell a nine year old about his parents' tragedy, but Sasuke-sama was very calm about it. I realize now that he understood how important it was for Itachi-sama to be in the palace at the moment. He didn't complain or seek sympathy or comfort from anybody. Even at such a tender age he knew he had to place the country's needs before him, and he did.'

Naruto felt a lump in his throat as he listened to Aki. If he had met the young Sasuke back then, he would've wanted to hug him and tell him everything was going to be okay.

'We were very scared for the young prince.' Aki shook his head. 'He hadn't cried, he hadn't expressed any sadness, he simply continued with his training. But he spoke very little after that and spent most of his time training and studying.'

'Was Kakashi-sensei not with him?' Naruto asked.

'Kakashi-sama had to immediately leave for the palace when he received the news. The land was in a state of emergency and he was needed at the borders.'

Naruto nodded and felt his heart drop as he realized… 'He was alone?'

Aki gave Naruto a single nod confirming Naruto's suspicions.

'What about Deidera-san?'

Aki shook his head. 'Deidera-sama was in the country of mist at the time, but after a few months when everything was under control, Itachi-sama visited the prince and spent a few days here with him.'

'It's so…unfair.' Naruto said weakly. Naruto had lost his parents at a tender age of nine, but he didn't have to go through it alone like Sasuke. Iruka had been there for him and had cared for him even though they had been complete strangers. He had lost two very important people in his life, but Iruka had filled that space for him almost immediately. He missed his parents dearly, but Iruka never let him feel sorry for himself. He had been dearly loved.

It was hard to imagine how the prince was able to deal with it alone. He was suddenly filled with a strong urge to protect the prince. To pamper him, to spoil him…

To love him.

He would shower the prince with all the love he could give him until the empty spaces in his life was filled to the brim.

Yes, it was decided.

'The prince sent me this.' Naruto reached out for the velvet box on his bedside table and showed it to Aki.

'Oh, it's the prince's emblem.' Aki smiled in recognition, and then squinted his eyes as looked at it more closely. 'Something's different.' Aki's eyes widened. 'Sasuke-sama changed it ! But I don't get it. Why the swirl?'

'It's an Uzumaki.' Naruto blushed. 'My family name.'

'So that means…' Aki beamed brightly at Naruto, an expectant look on his face.

Naruto nodded shyly.

'Do visit us again Naruto-sama.' Aki said after a while of brightly grinning at Naruto. 'I would love to serve you and the prince together some day.'

'I'll be sure to Aki.' Naruto nodded. 'I promise.'

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Please review and let me know how you like it. The next one is going to be really long. Naruto and Sasuke finally meet ! so please look forward to it !