Chapter 14:

Thankfully for Sasuke, his brother had kept his word and not referenced a certain incident to anyone else. Kami help him if any of his family members found out, or worse, his knucklehead best friend. While Naruto had gotten over his crush on Sakura years ago, he considered her to be like the little sister he never had. In other words, he would be pissed if he had found out what Sasuke was doing to his precious, innocent Sakura-chan. In Sasuke's opinion, Naruto was even more protective of Sakura than he was, which was saying something. Thus, during his lunch with Sakura, following their midnight rendez-vous at her apartment, they had agreed to keep their relationship under wraps until Itachi's wedding. Between the upcoming wedding, preparing to become police-chief, and navigating his change in relationship status, Sasuke didn't want to deal with Naruto's inevitable temper tantrum. This way both he and Sakura could focus on their current duties without nosy questions and weird glances, and they could let most of their friends and family know about their relationship at one time. The timing and method seemed to work well, in theory.

It didn't stop Naruto from bugging Sasuke during their spar about a certain pink-haired teammate.

"Sooooo….. are you going to have a date to Itachi's wedding?" the blond questioned with a smirk. In response, Sasuke rolled his eyes and flung a few kunai towards his sparring partner which the blond effortlessly dodged.

"Well, I think you should take Sakura with you! She definitely doesn't have a date, and I know you don't either," Naruto added. He charged at Sasuke with some punches and kicks.

Sasuke ducked and jumped back several yards.

"It's none of your concern," the Uchiha commented as he charged forward at Naruto.

"Yes! It! Is!" the blond said in between strikes. Like hell it wasn't his business. If Naruto didn't push Sasuke towards Sakura, Sasuke would end up a cranky old man living alone for the rest of his life.

Sasuke flipped over Naruto and unleashed his signature Lion's Barrage. It may be an old move, but the classics were the best in his opinion.

Naruto's arms shielded his face in defense. He tried to grab Sasuke's foot while Sasuke tried to continue executing his move. Neither were successful and jumped apart.

Panting, Naruto looked straight in the eyes and decided to give his emotionally inept friend a piece of his mind.

"If you don't get a move on, someone else is going to come along and woo Sakura. She's been waiting for you to get your head out of your ass for years and make a move! She won't wait forever," the jinchuriki contended.

Sasuke's frowned at the blond's words. He knew that, and it was exactly why Sasuke had made things official with Sakura and planned to make their relationship public in the near future.

"You're wasting your breath."

Sasuke smirked at his sparring partner and turned around to leave. Before Naruto could protest, Sasuke teleported himself home.

"Bastard!" the blond yelled with his fist raised. It was so typical of Sasuke to teleport away when faced with an uncomfortable topic. Oh well, Naruto gave it his best try to push Sasuke to Sakura in this instance. There was always the wedding, and Naruto could possibly use Shisui to make Sasuke even more jealous.

X

After successfully evading Naruto's interrogation, Sasuke let out an audible sign as he appeared in front of his house. He slid open the shoji door, and his senses were instantly invaded by the scent of his mother's cooking. Fugaku came home for lunch most days, so Mikoto would prepare something for him. However, Sasuke or Itachi would occasionally join them when they weren't on missions. Thankfully, today was one of those days. Mikoto's food never failed to satisfy Sasuke.

He entered the house and headed towards the kitchen. His mother was grilling some vegetables in a pan while his father sat at the table going over some case files.

"Hello Sasuke-chan! I'm almost done preparing lunch, so please sit down and relax," Mikoto said with a smile.

Fugaku looked up from his work and acknowledged him with a nod. Sasuke and Fugaku discussed a recent case as Mikoto joined them with food in hand.

" His alibi doesn't make sense. Why would he be on the west side of town late on a weekday when he lives on the east side? He gave a vague explanation about getting a gift in the boutique district, but I doubt most of the stores would have been open at that hour."

The Uchiha patriarch nodded and crossed his arms. "He's hiding something. I'm not sure if he's hiding a mistress or a connection to the killer," he speculated.

Both men continued to debate the possibilities of how the witness could be connected to the alleged killer until Mikoto cleared her throat.

" I apologize to Mikoto. I know how you like to keep business at work. How is the wedding planning coming along?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at his father's lame attempt to appease his mother. He was much more interested in talking about police cases than flower arrangements. Unfortunately, his mother tried to limit the discussion of police business during meals in order to facilitate more relaxation and family bonding.

" Thank you for asking dear! I just finished finalizing the decor design for the reception, and now I'm working on seating arrangements."

Sasuke tuned out the conversation as his mother continued to talk about wedding preparations. Meanwhile his father offered non-verbal response to show Mikoto that he was listening.

After finishing his lunch, Sasuke rose to leave the room.

"Sasuke-kun, I have a question for you before you leave. Are you bringing Sakura as your wedding date? I just want to know if I should seat you two together."

Fugaku looked up from his food and waited for an answer. He didn't know that Sasuke was that serious with Sakura. This was an interesting development.

Crap, Sasuke had momentarily forgotten that he needed to let his mother know that Sakura was his wedding date. He didn't want her to get stuck sitting with someone random. He'd also much rather sit with her than most people, including some of his relatives."Aa. Kaa-san, do you have a kimono or yukata that Sakura could wear that would match mine?"

"Of course! Just have her come over tomorrow for a tailor appointment. She can wear one of my older outfits," Mikoto supplied with a smile.

After lunch, Sasuke called Sakura and told her to meet his mother at the main house tomorrow for a fitting. While she was excited to have coordinating outfits with Sasuke, she was a bit nervous to spend some time alone with his mother. Mikoto was a very involved parent, and she was possibly more excited about Sasuke and Sakura becoming an item than Sakura. Anytime they ran into one another out and about after the Spring Festival, Mikoto always made casually coy remarks about them finally dating. It embarrassed but amused . She could sympathize with Mikoto's excitement. However, Sasuke was less enthused with his mother's comments as he wanted to keep their relationship on the DL at least until Itachi's wedding. He made a mental note to tell his mom to tone down the cooing when Sakura came over tomorrow.

X

Ring. ring. ring.

The sleepy individual rolled over and grabbed the phone. "Mmmm…. Hello?"a gravelly voice answered.

"Yo! Shisui. I need your help again!" Naruto had decided to call Shisui and enlist his help yet again before the wedding in three days. That also meant he had four days left before the bet deadline.

Shisui grumbled in annoyance."This better be good to wake me up blondie!"

Naruto scoffed. "Of course it is!" When Naruto got his idea, he had to tell Shisui right away. Unfortunately for Shisui, it was 3am.

"Anyways, we need to turn up the heat on Sasuke during Itachi's wedding," the knucklehead explained.

"Are you sure Itachi's wedding is an appropriate venue for your shenanigans?" While Shiusi wasn't your typical traditional Uchiha, he didn't want Naruto's antics to ruin or upstage his best friend and cousin's wedding.

"It will be fine! I just need you to dance with Sakura in front of Sasuke." He wasn't worried one bit. Contrary to Shisui's concern, Naruto thought that the Uchiha wedding would be the perfect place to push Sasuke and Sakura together. It would certainly bug Sasuke to see his womanizing cousin dancing with the only girl he's ever liked, and he wouldn't be able to do anything explosive with his family and Kohona elites present.

Weighing the tradeoffs, Shisui relented and accepted the blond's request. One dance with Sakura wouldn't kill him if it meant Sasuke could be happy. "I guess I could do that. If Sasuke murders me though, I'm holding you accountable."

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry. He will at least wait until after the wedding to get back at you."

Shisui shook his head and sighed. It was easy for him to say that he wasn't going to have to risk incurring Sasuke's wrath at a high profile event. The Uchiha reasoned that it was probably better that he was executing the plan rather than Naruto since the blond was not nearly as subtle or calm and collected. There was a reason that Shisui was an ANBU member while Naruto was not.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll see you later this weekend."

"Bye! Thank you for your help!" Naruto ended the phone call and patted himself on the back for a job well done. He was pretty confident of something coming of his plan for the wedding, but he only had four days left until the bet deadline. Since the wedding was in three days, he really only had to one day as a cushion in case Sasuke and Sakura didn't become official. In his experience, these types of things tended to work out in his favor, so it was best to carry on and not worry about it. The knucklehead padded over to his bedroom and plopped on his bed to catch some much needed shut eye.