21- The Gala

So here we are…I came up with an idea on how to make the laws better—as that is the majority vote now—so I'm going to try it. The only problem is that this means that the story will be coming to a close very soon…

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The morning of the gala dawned bright and the sun was what woke Sakura. She moaned a little as she opened her eyes and then blinked at Sasuke. She took stock of herself quickly, still mildly disoriented with sleep. They were tangled together, connected at the seams with his cock deep inside her. How had they ended up like that…? Oh yea…they'd exhausted themselves with several rounds of sex and went to sleep like that.

It made her smile brightly, remembering that. She kissed him lightly to wake him up and gasped a little when his cock hardened inside her. Morning wood…she'd have to fix that before they went down to have breakfast with Hinata and Naruto.

"Sakura…?" She smiled at him and shifted a little. He groaned in response.

"One quick round before breakfast…?" She asked lightly and he was on top of her like white on rice, kissing her deeply and thrusting slowly into her. She moaned and wrapped her arms around him, completely content with the world so long as she and Sasuke were together. It wasn't long before he sped up and then released a load inside her. She followed in an orgasm and they got out of bed.

"Do you want the shower first?" He asked as he grabbed their bags and pulled out the clothes they'd packed to wear while she and Hinata were dress shopping and getting the boys tuxedos to wear to the gala. The gala…Sakura groaned a little upon remembering just why they were in that hotel room. "What's wrong?"

"The gala is tonight. Not only will it be a media swamp, but there's also…"

"Don't worry about it, okay? Just…look at it like going to a campaign dinner or something like that." It made sense. And when she looked at it in that light, the prospect of the event wasn't quite as bad.

"Thanks Sasuke." She kissed him quickly and went to the bathroom to shower.

XX

Hinata woke before sunrise and slipped out of bed carefully, so as not to wake Naruto. She headed to the bathroom and took a quick shower. When she emerged wrapped in a towel and her hair turbaned up in another, she approached the bed, thinking it was high time that Naruto woke up. So she pulled her towels off and tied her hair back in a sloppy bun and slipped under the covers. She closed her mouth around Naruto's cock and started sucking him. He woke with a groan.

"What…?" The covers lifted and he looked at her in surprise. "H-Hinata-sama?" She frowned a little and sucked a little harder, massaging his balls with one hand. He gasped and his head hit the pillows. "Hinata…!" He moaned and that was what she wanted to hear. She always hated how he continued calling her 'Hinata-sama' even though they'd both confessed that they loved each other.

She continued until he came down her throat with a small shout and his member softened. She then lifted her head and crawled up to put her cheek on his chest. "Why did you do that…?"

"Because I wanted to wake you up." She said lightly. "And thank you."

"For what?"

"Last night…finally dropping that honorific…" She kissed his warm skin lightly and made her way to his mouth. She kissed him deeply for a moment before getting out of the bed. "Come on. We need to get dressed and meet with Sakura and Sasuke downstairs." He nodded, dumbstruck, and got out of bed. "I've already showered, so you can use the bathroom if you want." She grabbed her bag and pulled out the outfit she'd brought. Tonight was the gala…the moment of truth so to speak.

XX

Getting tuxedos for Sasuke and Naruto was cake. But Sasuke officially hated dress shopping. And he determined that if he ever got the chance to marry Sakura, he would resolutely not be involved in any way with the dress. He just wanted to see it on her and then take it off at their honeymoon. He was sure that between Hinata and Sakura in the four hours they'd been in that dress shop the entire selection of non-wedding dresses had been in and out of the dressing rooms and on the girls.

Finally, close to lunch time, he and Naruto heard a deafening squeal from the dressing rooms. He wasn't sure if that was because the girls had shared with each other what he and Naruto had confided in each other earlier: that they had had sex the night before; or if they'd finally decided on dresses to wear. Sakura ran out in a beautiful red dress that had him staring. It looked perfect on her, as though it had been made with her in mind—form fitting to the ball-gown skirt with a colonial style to match her elegant features.

Hinata emerged in a much simpler pale, purple, drop sleeve, mermaid styled dress that had Naruto staring at her like a love-struck idiot. Well, Sasuke didn't have room to talk about that as he was sure he was wearing nearly the same expression at seeing Sakura in that dress.

"What do you think?" They asked together as though they knew the answer already.

"Perfect." Sasuke breathed, regaining his senses—and reigning in his newly found libido.

"Absolutely so…" Naruto said after a moment—probably having to deal with the same problem Sasuke was looking at. The girls laughed and headed for the dressing rooms again.

"We'll be right back." Sakura said lightly, disappearing.

"Then we'll go to lunch." Hinata said as she vanished in the back as well.

"Wow…" Was all Sasuke had to say in their wake. Naruto nodded in agreement and they exchanged a look before bursting out laughing. There wasn't really a reason to laugh. Maybe it was that they were just still processing that it was somehow possible for the women they loved to become even more breathtakingly beautiful.

The girls emerged in their street clothes and gave instructions to the driver outside to deliver the dresses and tuxedos to the hotel rooms before they all headed for the nearest restaurant for lunch.

XX

Sakura fidgeted with her sleeve a little as she and Sasuke got into the elevator to head downstairs and to the car. It was finally the moment of truth—the ultimate test of her skills as a slaves' rights protestor most likely—they were heading for the gala. And that meant that they were just a short amount of time away from discovering what changes had been made to the slave laws. She wasn't sure if the fluttering in her stomach was because she was so nervous and worried about what was going to happen tonight or if it was just because her hormones were raging and yelling at her to jump Sasuke's bones—despite the fact that she was wearing a corset and hoop skirt that had barely fit through the elevator door and he was in a tuxedo.

It was probably a combination of both, she decided quickly as she reigned in her instincts with much difficulty. They arrived on the ground floor all too soon and headed out to the car with the others. They squeezed in and Sakura was glad she was the only one with a big skirt.

XX

Hinata watched from the wall with Naruto as the gala unfolded. She wasn't one much for functions like this…though she enjoyed the chance to dress up and she absolutely loved the jealous look that Naruto got when he saw the men at the event smiling flirtatiously in her direction. It just proved that he loved her. She also liked watching Sakura when she got a glimpse of her.

Despite how much Sakura seemed to despise politics and dealing with events like this, she was idly chatting with old campaign acquaintances and looking like a regular politician. And then the proverbial trumpets blew and the mingling stopped and everyone moved to the tables set up around the room. Hinata and Naruto sat down with Sakura, Sasuke, and Hinata's parents. Conversations started up as dinner started and Hinata grew more and more nervous as time passed.

About half way through dinner, Naruto put his hand on hers and smiled at her. She was apparently not hiding her nerves as well as she'd hoped. She smiled at him reassuringly and tried not to think about the impending announcements. She looked at Sakura and wondered how she did it. she knew that her friend was worried as hell—for one, the laws could have been changed so that recently freed slaves were forced back into slavery—but Sakura's expression was all but worried. She'd probably play a damn good poker game.

Finally, a glass was tapped on and all eyes turned to the head table. The head of the council stood and Hinata swallowed tightly, folding her hands in her lap to hide the nervous fidgeting of her fingers. Naruto grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly. The speech started and Hinata went into a daze, only catching bits of the words. She looked at Sakura and saw her taking notes on her napkin, her expression growing increasingly excited.

XX

Was she really hearing this? They were really going in the direction that she'd been hoping they would! The majority of the speech was just gab to fill in the spaces and time while they embellished the cold hard truth: it had finally gotten through their thick skulls that slavery was unreasonable. She didn't understand why it had taken them so long to get that.

Anyone could be sold into slavery, young or old. If your parents got mad enough at you, they could sell you off so they wouldn't have to deal with you. If your family 'needed the money' and you were in the way, whether you were a newborn or a hundred years old, they could sell you. And on top of that, there was the fact that even if you'd been really good friends with someone before slavery, the moment that collar was sized for your neck, they didn't have to have the decency to pity you—they could forget about you as though you'd never existed.

Slavery had gone from being something simple—in that people could only be born into slavery and they were able to be set free at any age after they hit puberty—to the chaos that it was today. Even if they were only changing the laws back to the way they were before…that would be good enough. Because almost all of the slaves that Sakura knew had been sold at young ages, but hadn't been born into it. And then it got to it. The major law that would change everything.

The tension in the room was almost tangible as the council head drew it out. The crowd was a mix of neutral media, anti-slavery activists like Sakura, and pro-slavery asses like Ino—and Sakura saw the blond sitting across the room with her parents and a much abused Sai. She hoped that they were forced to free their slaves then and there.

"The selling and buying of slaves is, in short, now illegal. Anyone found doing this will be prosecuted in the same way as they would for murder and prostitution." Sakura's inner self did a happy dance and she almost didn't catch the rest of the proclamation. "Slave owners may, if they choose, retain their slaves, but it is now recommended that all slaves are freed as soon as possible." Sasuke caught her hand and she squeezed it lightly, smiling at him. They both knew that the moment they got back to the manor, there would be a mass liberation of slaves. And that included Naruto and Sasuke. She looked across the table at Hinata to see her friend crying happily, clearly having a hard time resisting giving Naruto a hug.

And then she glanced across the room to see a small look of hope on Sai's face just in time for Ino to squash it with a harsh—but unnoticed by anyone but Sakura—squeeze of his crotch. Yea, Sakura highly doubted that things would change with Ino and her family. The speech continued, detailing minor laws associated with slavery and the changes made. She didn't really care much since they were only really listing off the former laws and how they were now changed. The important thing was that after this, slavery would be nearly nonexistent.

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So yea, it's a really short chapter, but this was the best place I could think of to stop this chapter. I hope you're all satisfied with how I did the laws!