Title: Wedding

Author: AppleL0V3R

Beta-reader: SymphoniaFreak

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: Sabaku no Gaara and Haruno, Sakura

Rating: T

Type: One-shot – Complete

Summary: "Did you know cathedral is derived from the word seat?" "Sakura, you're the one who wanted to go." "Well, you were going to be gone a while." "It's a wedding." "In a seat." "Sakura."

Theme: 50 Shinobi LJ challenge (#22 – Cathedral)

Word Count: 1,035

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

Edited on: November 6, 2011

When she got the news, all she could do was scream and jump around because her best friend was getting married. And to the young Haruno's brother, no less. There was just no way not to be overjoyed and Sakura knew that if she felt that way, then Ino must have been overwhelmed. But then again, it was Ino and it seemed like the blonde could handle anything, including her husband-to-be, Sasuke. Everyone in their group had seen this coming because the two made the cutest couple on the planet, at least in Sakura's opinion.

But then again there was Naruto and Hinata who were just adorable no matter what. They had gotten married just after high school though, so each year that they were together was just proof that soul mates did exist, could be found and lifelong happiness could be achieved.

And then there was her and her spouse. She loved him dearly; there was nothing that could ever change that, not in a million years. But the only draw back was that he was an important political figure and always seemed to be away on business, which left her with their house to herself most days of the week and sometimes most weeks of the month. But she was content with the knowledge that he was home more than he was away.

If only his career's timing didn't suck so much.

When Sakura had agreed to start helping with the wedding preparations because it would be in a mere seven weeks, she'd done so mostly in the time that her honey was away. Surprisingly, Ino hadn't been one of those horridly picky brides and so the whole thing had gone fairly smoothly.

Except one thing.

Ino refuse to budge on the place of marriage. She didn't grow up in an overly religious family or the like, but there was a cathedral that her mother had been apart of at one point. The staff there had been like a second family to the blonde with how many hours of her childhood she spent there and it was still her most favorite place in the world. Sakura couldn't fault her though, not with that kind of connection to the neoclassical era building that was absolutely breathtaking in its gothic styled glory.

Sasuke hadn't been too keen on the idea, but Ino had refused to budge and so the raven haired man had eventually agreed.

From there, the whole thing seemed to go as smoothly as possible. Naruto was going to be Sasuke's best man and Sakura would be Ino's maid of honor.

And then a week prior to the date of the wedding Sakura learned that Gaara would be out of the city. She was used to business whisking him away every so often, but she'd wanted him there with her at her best friends' wedding. True, it had been out of selfish intentions, but she was going to a wedding in a cathedral by herself.

Still, she'd merely sighed and nodded. Then kissed him and asked how long he would be gone. To which he replied with a casual three weeks.

Which was why, two days prior to the wedding, she was trying to find something to busy herself with for three weeks. She sifted between sites about local classes, but most of the ones she'd found were either too long, too schedule consuming or not interesting enough. Sighing to herself, she clicked on the page she had originally wanted to read. It was about cathedrals and where they came from.

Two obviously male hands settled themselves on her shoulder from behind. She didn't even pause as she kept reading the article off of the computer screen. "Did you know cathedral is derived from the word seat?"

"Sakura, you're the one who wanted to go." The hands tightened ever so slightly and she could smell the scent of him – it was the smell of wetted soil and boy did she love it; she could never seem to get enough of the smell – as he leaned down to hover over her.

"Well, you were going to be gone a while." Her tone was absent and she almost cursed herself for the giveaway.

"It's a wedding." Then the hands were gone completely as he rounded the chair to get in her line of sight and block out the computer screen.

"In a seat." It was the only thing she could think of.

"Sakura." She knew that tone. It was the 'you know I can't just decline going somewhere, even if it is three weeks you should be mature about it' tone. The one that made her feel like a chastened child who'd just been caught misbehaving.

So she tried to change tactics. Making her green eyes as puppyish as she could and jutting out her lower lip she responded with a simple, "Gaara."

He closed his sea foam green eyes for only a moment before he took the computer from her. Scooting the chair back, he placed his hands on her hips and leaned down once more. This time it was to kiss her.

It was pure reflex to immediately kiss him back.

After a long moment that seemed too quick, he pulled back a mere centimeter or two and looked her straight in the eye. "I will make it up to you."

Her eyes flickered to the direction of the hall where their bedroom was located and then back to his heated eyes. "Now?"

They seemed to darken as he pulled her up to her feet and then hoisted her body onto his person. A smile split her face in two and she kissed him again as he started for the hall.