Author's Note: I know I said I wouldn't put any author's notes at the top of a chapter but I have updated two chapters in one day and I wouldn't want you to skip a chapter. Go back and read Chapter Thirteen if you haven't already.

Chapter Fourteen

Sakura was already feeling on edge because she was surrounded by a sea of dark haired and expressionless Uchiha. Naruto wasn't making it easier by fidgeting so much.

"I thought that this was a party," Naruto grumbed. He pulled at his orange tie, feeling trapped in his formal attire. He had never been to a wedding so when Mikoto had invited him to Itachi and Izumi's reception he was excited, a little crestfallen because he couldn't attend the ceremony but still excited nonetheless.

"I don't think the stuffed shirt elders 'party', Naruto. And stop messing with that." Sakura fixed Naruto's tie again. Iruka-sensei had helped Naruto dress earlier but Naruto kept ruining the desired effect of the articles of clothing by moving around a lot and pulling at the garments. Sakura wasn't sure where Naruto's jacket had gone. It had gone mysteriously missing within the past hour.

"It freaks me out how quiet they are. Shouldn't they be happy? It's a wedding." Naruto pulled away from Sakura's reach. He was fed up with being fussed with. "And why don't they serve ramen? I would serve ramen at my wedding reception."

"Yeah, good luck convincing the Hyuga of that." Sakura rolled her eyes. Naruto was behaving so childishly. She didn't call him out on it because she knew he was only acting out because he hadn't heard from Jiraiya in a long time.

"Yeah," Naruto mumbled. Sakura almost smacked her own forehead. She knew it was sore subject for him and forgot. It was easy to forget with supporters of his relationship with Hinata like Hanabi and Neji, but Naruto still wasn't well liked by the Hyuga clan. It was likely that Hiashi would look for a groom for Hinata amongst the Hyuga even though she was no longer his successor.

"Lee-san says that according to Neji-san that Hiashi-san has been showing more leniency. He's not as strict in following clan traditions. You shouldn't worry so much."

"Why are you talking to Lee?" Sakura and Naruto turned at the sound of Sasuke's disgruntled voice. At the sight of him, Naruto openly guffawed and Sakura flushed pink. "What are you laughing at, moron?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Sakura's pink face and smirked. There was some benefits to being forced to wear traditional formal attire. Making his girlfriend flustered was highly amusing. If he could get her alone he wouldn't mind letting her undress him.

"Wait, if you're here then…" Sakura trailed off as she spotted the bride and groom enter the courtyard of the Uchiha banquet hall. "They're beautiful."

Sakura stared in wonder at the dazzling smile Izumi had on her face. Being a bride suited Izumi well. Although Izumi had a smile that could outshine the sun, the real star of the show was the gentle smile on Itachi's face whenever he looked at Izumi. The smile was small and gentle but held so much warmth and love. It made Sakura wonder why they even bothered putting off marriage for so long. As shinobi it wasn't as if they were too young to be married.

"Should we go congratulate them now or should we wait?" Sakura asked but was answered by the group of people approaching them. It would be difficult to reach them at this point. "Oh no."

"What?" Sasuke looked over at his brother and saw the unmistakeable cherry blossom shaped hair of Kizashi and the blonde hair of Sakura's mother amongst the crowd of dark haired Uchiha trying to speak to the bride and groom.

"They stick out like a sore thumb don't they?" Sakura muttered in embarrassment. She could just imagine the jokes her father would try to tell and cringed.

"They're not that bad. He brought Izumi's favorite cakes so he's her favorite guest so far." Sasuke watched as Sakura wrung her hands together and took her elbow in his hand. It was meant to be a soothing gesture and Sakura leaned into his touch. "Where's the dobe?"

"I think he wandered back inside the hall to get food. I hope he stays away from the sake. Alcohol burns through him fast but it hits him hard while it's still in his system."

"Let's go stop him. I don't plan on babysitting him today." Sasuke went to lead her inside but was stopped by a dark blur coming to a stop in front of them. Shisui appeared, dressed in modern formal wear.

"Hey, Shrimp." Shisui went to ruffle Sasuke's hair. Sasuke growled and smacked at his arm. The nickname was getting old now that he was the same height as Itachi and only a few centimeters shy of Shisui's height. He was sure he would end up as tall as Shisui if not taller. "You look even lovelier today, Sakura-chan."

"Thank you." Sakura smoothed out her chiffon skirt and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Sakura was more confident in her appearance now than when she was younger but it still made her bashful to hear compliments.

"Walk around with me?" Shisui held out his arm for her to take.

"We were just about to go find Naruto." Sasuke cut in and took Sakura's arm and hooked it in his. He glared at his flirt of a cousin and led Sakura away from him as quickly as he could without making a spectacle of themselves.

"That's unexpected," Sakura whispered to him as they strolled through the gardens. "I didn't think you could get jealous."

"I'm not," Sasuke lied through his teeth. If you had asked twelve year old Sasuke about jealousy he would first think about the attention his father bestowed Itachi and Itachi's natural talent. Almost eighteen now and Sasuke realized that over the years he no longer felt jealous when it involved his brother but Sakura. It wasn't a feeling he liked but it did go away a bit when he and Sakura became involved romantically.

"Where are we going?" Sakura was puzzled at the route that Sasuke had taken them. They were moving away from the grand hall where the food and most of the guests were and down an emptier corridor.

"I wanted to give this to you some time today." Sasuke pulled out a pale blue rectangular box he had tucked into his obi. "My mother was crushed when she realized she accidentally set up the date on your birthday. Open it."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the almost commanding way he asked her to open her gift but did as she was told. Sakura's eyes softened when she saw five small pink diamonds surrounding and even smaller white diamond in the shape of a cherry blossom strung through a delicate rose gold chain. She beamed at Sasuke and immediately put it on.

"That's the cheesiest thing you could have ever gotten me," Sakura teased him. "But it's beautiful and I love it."

"I don't think it's that cheesy," Sasuke mumbled to himself, his ears turning red. He had a flashback to being thirteen and tucking away a white hair ribbon into the bottom drawer of his dresser. He still regretted never giving Sakura the White Day gift he had originally planned to give her before deciding against doing so.

Upon hearing Izumi gush about how gifts for White Day should be white he picked out a new ribbon for Sakura. Sasuke hadn't expected the hair accessory to trigger memories of the Forest of Death. All he could think about was petal pink hair scattered all over the forest floor and bruises and cuts on normally creamy and unblemished skin. The memories led to him thinking dark things about his feelings for Sakura. He stuffed the ribbon away and refused to look at it, resulting in the incident that happened on White Day because of Rock Lee's flowers.

He really sucked when it came to expressing his feelings when he was younger. A lot of it could be contributed to the cursed seal but upon reflection he realized he could have been just a little kinder to his teammate considering she wasn't like the girls from the Academy.

It was one of the reasons why he loved kissing Sakura. Besides the physical pleasure he got from the act, it helped him express a lot he couldn't say.

Knowing that if he kissed her now that he wouldn't stop, Sasuke took Sakura's long pink hair in his hand and kissed it instead. Sakura instantly flushed pink, pretty jade eyes going wide. Watching her get so flustered caused Sasuke's face to heat up as well.

"What was that!?" Sakura clapped her hands over her cheeks to try and hide the red of her face.

"I-I saw Aniki do it to Izumi once and I guess it's sort of been stuck in my head." Sasuke hid his face by burying it into her neck. It would have been less embarrassing to get caught kissing her by one of his relatives. He forgot that only Itachi would do something as old fashioned as that considering he took his father's words of waiting until marriage much more seriously than Sasuke ever did.

"I'm not sure whether I should find that cute or embarrassing."

"He calls her Zu-Zu when he thinks they're alone. I think embarrassing is the right thing to consider it."

"No, that's kind of cute. I didn't realize that your brother could be so affectionate."

"Neither did I."

There was a lot Sasuke had been learning about his brother within the past few weeks. He had never considered his brother to be anything but cool and composed but it turned out that Itachi had a side of him no one knew about until Mikoto started wedding preparations. Sasuke always thought it was the woman that usually went on a rampage but his older brother had turned bridezilla within the two weeks leading to his wedding, arguing with his mother about details that would be more fitting and would highlight Izumi's beauty better. Izumi never had to argue about what floral arrangements she wanted in the hall or anything. Itachi did it all for her and she just sat there smiling prettily.

Luckily, Sasuke got his normally composed brother back this morning when they got dressed and walked to Naka shrine to hold the ceremony. He wasn't sure how to handle a high strung brother anymore and avoiding him was getting harder and harder. He almost clapped when Itachi and Izumi finished taking their three sips each from three cups of sake.

Sasuke lifted his head up and looked at Sakura at eye level. She was so small in comparison to him that he was practically leaning over her to look her in the eye. Sakura smiled softly at him and moved to cup his cheek with her hand before they were interrupted.

"Ah gross! Are you guys having eye sex again?" Naruto had rounded the corner with a plate piled high with food. "I walk away for a moment and you guys start acting gross. Why don't you just fuck and get it over with already?"

"Naruto!" Sakura burned red but was beaten by Sasuke in punching Naruto in the gut. It was actually better that he had done it instead. There wasn't any guarantee of Sakura not causing property damage and she was sure the Uchiha wouldn't take too kindly to her sending Naruto through the walls of their ceremonial hall.

Sakura sighed as Naruto and Sasuke bickered. Some things just didn't change.

Izumi sighed contently, snuggling against Itachi's arm. It had been a long day of ignoring the sneers of old fools. She could handle anything the old bats threw at her. At the end of the day she was the wife of the man she loved since she was a child and that was all that mattered.

"It was a pretty long day huh?" She giggled as Itachi leaned all of his weight against her and dropped his head onto hers. He groaned and wrapped an arm around her waist, snuggling back. "I can't believe your mother got our marriage home ready so quickly."

"She almost didn't have it ready on time. I had her send almost half of the furniture back. Okaa-san was well intentioned but you wouldn't have liked some of the things she picked out at all."

Izumi laughed and slumped deeper into the plush couch of her new home. Traditionally they would have only needed their marriage home temporarily as they would have had to reside in the main house since Itachi was the next clan head but Itachi and she wanted to live away from his parents in a home of their own. Luckily for them, most would assume they would want their privacy as newlyweds. No matter how different their situation was from other couples.

"We don't have to do anything tonight, Itachi-kun." It was a discussion Izumi knew had to be brought up now that they were wed and people expected her to become pregnant now that Itachi and her would be spending so much time alone together. Izumi loved her husband and would never do anything to bring him discomfort. "We don't need to do anything like consummating our marriage. It's real to me and to you without having sex."

"I want to," Itachi said softly. He pulled away from her so that he could look straight into her eyes as he spoke. "I would very much like to be close to you in all ways, Izumi."

Izumi took Itachi's hand in her own and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. She brought his hand to her cheek and kissed the palm.

"If you are uncomfortable in anyway we can stop. We will stop because you will tell me. Okay, dear?" Izumi said firmly as she kissed his palm again. "I love you so much Itachi-kun and it is my heart's desire to make you the happiest man in the world. I only want your comfort."

"And it is for that reason I would like to become one with you in body as we are in spirit," Itachi smiled softly at his wife and led her to their bedroom.

"I hope you feel as safe with me as I do with you," Izumi whispered. Itachi squeezed her hand, knowing she didn't mean physical safety.

"I do," he replied, shutting the door of their bedroom. Shutting the door and shutting everything out from their world.

Ino frowned at her best friend and drummed her nails against the countertop of her family's flower shop. There was something different about her but she couldn't tell.

Over the past few months Sakura had lost even more baby fat from her face so her features were more angular and mature and she had decided to keep her hair long despite having said short hair was better as a shinobi. All of this Ino had gotten use to already so she wasn't sure what she was looking out for.

"Okay. I think I'll go with a dozen sunflowers." Sakura brought the bright yellow flowers to the counter. "I think Izumi-nee-san would like them."

As Sakura placed the flowers on the counter and reached for her money pouch, Ino caught the glimmer of something sparkly around Sakura's neck.

"What's that?" Ino reached for her pendant but Sakura was quicker and grasped it in her hand to protect it. "Oh, wow. Really, Forehead? I just want to see it."

"Careful," Sakura murmured, letting go so that Ino could get a better look. Ino let a low whistle and nodded approvingly.

"That is super pretty. And definitely expensive."

"Oh my gods, I hadn't even considered the price!" Sakura's eyes went wide in horror. She was in such bliss the past few days, so happy with receiving such a lovely gift she hadn't even considered how much Sasuke must have spent to buy her birthday gift.

"Oh, no. Don't you dare, Forehead!" Ino could practically see Sakura's brain working as she contemplated bringing up the matter to Sasuke. Ino instantly knew it had to come from the Uchiha since Sakura went into a minor panic as soon Ino mentioned the word "expensive." If Sakura's parents had bought it she wouldn't have freaked out as much because she knew she would have insulted her parents by bringing up the cost.

"But─"

"No buts!" Ino crossed her arms in front of her chest and brought herself up to her full height, taking advantage of her high heeled shinobi sandals making her taller than Sakura. "That man gave that to you with the intention to show you how special you are to him. Let. Him. Spoil. You. He has the money for it."

"I agree with Beautiful." Sai came in from the back room with a giant pot. He was wearing a Yamanka Flower Shop apron.

"Gods, do you guys do anything without the other?" Sakura gaped as Sai moved around the store doing some of Ino's duties.

"I mean, yeah but why waste our free time apart? I am a very busy woman, Sakura." Ino tossed her hair over her shoulder and held her head high. She was a busy woman considering she worked shifts at the hospital and at the flower shop in between missions and training to join Konohagakure's Intelligence Division as an interrogator.

Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by the sound of an explosion.

"What was that?" She asked as she, Ino, and Sai ran out of the shop.

Civilians were rushing through the streets in a panic as the sounds of more explosions filled the air.

"Konoha's under attack," Ino cried out as the three of them rushed to assist the village's non-shinobi population.

What's going on!? Sakura raced through the streets. Why would anyone attack Konoha?

Author's Notes: chapter fourteen complete. I'm sorry that this came out so quickly but it all just came out and I am really impatient about updating. I should have married it with Chapter Thirteen but I think it flows better separately. I wasn't originally going to go into any details about Itachi and Izumi's wedding and let it happen offscreen but I kind of wanted to include some moments since it was an excuse for fluff.

I'm sorry if it goes against anyone else's headcanons but I headcanon Itachi as asexual (If anyone is curious I also headcanon Sasuke as demisexual). I wanted to write that scene about Itachi and Izumi's wedding night when I decided to write anything about their wedding because I wanted to reference that.

I wrote it keeping in mind my own experiences as asexual when I first had sex with my ex-boyfriend. There's something about comfort and feeling emotionally safe that I wanted Itachi and Izumi to have. That was just playing in my head because in Itachi Shinden, the novel, Itachi chose to give her a peaceful death, letting her live out their lives together in a genjutsu.

Unfortunately for the next chapter, the invasion will mostly be in small flashbacks and in discussion. As you have noticed I am mainly a dialogue heavy writer and I feel as though any attempts to write action scenes would be done poorly. I am better at fluff sadly…

So sorry if anyone was hoping for action scenes. I will try but I cannot guarantee it. I wish I was good at action, it would be awesome to write some badass scenes for the characters. But to be honest I will probably focus more on the aftermath of the invasion and its effect on the Uchiha clan and other characters. I need to write more Naruto in this but I am failing at it lol…

Next update will be released in a few days. I am able to write often because I work as an office clerk always at a computer.