Chapter 15:
Mikoto held Sakura's hair aside as the tailor finished making adjustments with the pins. Today, Sakura was getting fitted for her kimono which was previously worn by Mikoto when she was Sakura's age. She had insisted that Sakura wear it because it matched well with Sasuke's outfit, and she claimed it would be good luck for since she wore it on her introduction to Fugaku's parents before they married. The pink-haired ninja didn't quite know what to make of that comment, so she smiled and went along with the fitting.
Sakura was very appreciative because she did not have an outfit on hand that would coordinate well with Sasuke, and with such short notice she didn't have time to find a kimono and get it fitted. The dress was an older style, but it suited Sakura. The fabric was a deep navy, and the sash and collar were adorned with red and white lilies. The kimono was a little long for Sakura and needed to be taken in at the waist, but it fit her rather well.
"It's a good thing that you and Uchiha-sama have similar sizes. I'll have the kimono ready by tomorrow, so I can drop it off in the morning along with the other outfits," the tailor commented.
Mikoto clasped her hands together in appreciation. "Thank you Hikari-san, especially since this was short notice."
"Yes, thank you very much!" Sakura added with a smile.
The seamstress nodded with a smile and instructed Sakura to go to the restroom and change out of the kimono. The tailoring session had been much less painful than Sakura had anticipated since Sasuke complained endlessly about his previous fittings. Apparently, the sessions went on so long because Mikoto kept making suggestions for alterations. The no nonsense Uchiha didn't see why his mother made such a big deal over his outfit. It wasn't like it was his wedding, but he knew not to mention that to his mother. He wanted to avoid any arguments about the wedding.
After the fitting Sakura returned to the hospital for her afternoon shift. Since she spent her lunch break at the fitting, she didn't get to have lunch with Sasuke, so he suggested that he meet her at her apartment later with some take out. She was all too happy to oblige and have a night off from making dinner. It had also been several days since she had been alone with Sasuke. The last time they were alone was at her apartment when Itachi had interrupted them doing things. To make matters worse, Naruto made a few suggestive jokes about the pair during Team 7's training session yesterday. There was no way Naruto would know about them. Sure he knew about the Spring festival date, but they had played it off as a friendly outing as a way to re-establish their friendship after the hot spring incident. That's why Naruto's comments worried Sakura. She and Sasuke had agreed to wait until the wedding to tell people about their relationship[, save for their parents, that they were dating. Itachi was the only other person who knew, but he was not a gossip. She'd have to ask Sasuke about Naruto because Kami knows the whole village would know about them dating before they had a chance to tell anyone. Aside from being the number one knucklehead in Konoha, Naruto arguably was the number one worst secret keeper, almost in league with Ino, which was no small feat.
Flashback
Sakura and Sasuke were sparring while Naruto and Sai observed them. The first person to get pinned within the time limit won. So far, Sasuke had the upper hand. Dodging one of his fireballs, Sakura decided that she was tired of being on the defensive. It would take more than brute strength and speed to beat Sasuke, so she would need to use strategy. She had formed a plan, but it wasn't foolproof. She was relying on an experimental jutsu which was risky because it had a 50% chance of working the way she intended. Deciding to execute her strategy, she hit the ground with a chakra infused fist and created a large fissure. Sasuke was caught off guard and shielded his eyes from the flying debris. Sakura took advantage of his brief visual impairment and created several clones and attacked him from all sides. Sasuke would be able to see with his sharingan that they were only clones, but it would buy Sakura enough time to hide underground.
Sure enough, Sasuke saw through her ruse. He knew Sakura was sending out clones to distract him, so she could attack him from below. She had seen her use this tactic on Naruto, and it usually worked because Naruto was a dobe. After he quickly fought off all of the clones, they melted into a thick purple sludge that covered his feet . The mystery substance hardened into a clay-like material and rendered him immobile. Before he could use his Amaterasu to try to break free, the real Sakura sprung up from below the ground and tackled him flat on his back.
Naruto jumped up and down as he cheered on Sakura from the sidelines.
"Wooohooo! Sakura-chan won!"
"Looks like Ugly is the winner," Sai declared. Normally Sakura would react to Sai's rude nickname, but she was so happy and surprised that her new jutsu had worked that she ignored him. She sighed happily and grinned as she reveled in her small victory. She rarely beat Sasuke in one-on-one spars.
Sasuke was initially impressed with his girlfriend's new jutsu, but now he was uncomfortably aware that she still was straddling him in front of his other teammates. It brought back memories of a few nights ago when they almost got to third base, or so he hoped, until Itachi had ruined it. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person who was aware of their suggestive position.
Naruto sauntered up to the pair with a smug grin. Sai followed him.
"You two look comfortable. Familiar position?" he asked as he crossed his arms and looked down at the pair. Sakura blushed at the implication and sprang off of Sasuke. Sasuke's face remained deadpan. He was immune to Naruto's suggestive commentary.
"How could that be comfortable? Ugly looks like she's crushing Emo," the artist added while completely missing the euphemism.
Sakura growled at her socially inept friend's comment and focused her anger towards the knucklehead of the group. "Shut up you perv!" With a fist raised, Sakura was poised to hit him until Sasuke cleared his throat. Sakura glanced over at him and realized that she needed to help him get out of the remnants of her sludge jutsu. Naruto snickered and he watched her return to help Sasuke.
"Keep laughing. You're just lucky that I have to help Sasuke-kun," Sakura countered with a sneer. The kunoichi tended to her sparring opponent and used her superstength to break the casts around his feet.
"Come on Sai. Let's get some Ichiraku! We'll leave Sakura-chan to help Sasuke out," Naruto and Sai headed to the ramen shop leaving the couple alone. Sakura finished freeing Sasuke and helped him up.
"New jutsu?" the Uchiha inquired.
"Yes. I've been working on it for a few months, and this was the first time I used it in battle." Sakura stood up and wiped her hands on her shorts.
"I've never seen anything like it. It's impressive." Sasuke was very intrigued by this new jutsu.
"Thank you Sasuke-kun." Sakura tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at him. Sasuke rarely praised her battle prowess, so it was very appreciated when he did.
"If you're going back to the hospital, I'll walk you since it's on my way to the station." Sakura agreed to Sasuke's suggestion. She used the duration of the walk to explain how she was inspired to create her new jutsu. On her trip to Suna months ago, she encountered a nin with a similar jutsu except the sludge clones exploded. She wanted to develop a way to concentrate the explosion, so it would slow down or temporarily inhibit an opponent's movement. It was a work in progress as the jutsu worked about half of the time because the sludge was too thin to harden or too thick to spread fast enough to the opponent. Nevertheless, it was an effective jutsu when executed correctly. When they arrived at the hospital, Sasuke kissed Sakura's temple and departed with a promise of a dinner date later in the week.
X
Knock. Knock.
"Coming!" Sakura yelled as she rushed to answer the door. Sasuke had picked up take out for dinner. Sakura was all too happy to take a night off from cooking. Things at the hospital had been hectic with the training program wrapping up. Sakura was finishing making the graduation exam and needed to submit it to Tsunade by tomorrow afternoon in order to get her approval to administer it.
Sakura let Sasuke in and led him to her kitchen table. They unpacked the food and discussed any recent developments in their work. Sasuke seemed to be in a good mood since he had recently finished a large amount of paperwork for a triple homicide case. Since cases of that nature included a plethora of witnesses who were questioned, it resulted in more documentation. Now was her chance to bring up Naruto's joke.
"Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke looked up and in response.
"Naruto doesn't know that we're girlfriend and boyfriend, right? I'm just asking because he made that comment at practice a few days ago. He better not go blabbering about us and especially at the wedding. I'm so nervous to be formally introduced to the elders, and I don't want Naruto to embarrass me."
Sakura was terrified to meet the Uchiha elders. They were notorious for being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Whether it was disapproval of Sasuke's placement with Team 7 or resistance of Itachi and Izumi impending marriage, they always found a way to be an obstacle to anything that didn't fit into their ideals of tradition. They intended for Sasuke to be placed on a team with just Uchihas, and they wanted Itachi to marry a full blooded Uchiha - not someone mixed. If the elders were to find out that Sasuke was seeing Sakura from Naruto, it would give them another reason to be against their relationship since it was customary for significant others to be introduced to them before relationships became public.
Her boyfriend sighed. He was very cognizant of the elders being pains in the ass. Frankly, he didn't care what they thought since their opinions were irrelevant to the current time period. The opinions of close friends and family only held weight to Sasuke. He sure as hell wasn't going to let the clan elders antiquated views on marriage and relationships interfere with his relationship with Sakura. Introducing her to them was merely a formality. Naruto also knew how problematic the Uchiha elders were since they had made snide comments about the jinchuriki's friendship with Sasuke. Needless to say, he avoided them at all costs. Sasuke doubted Naruto would say anything to them.
"Dobe may be dense, but he knows to avoid upsetting the elders. Besides, he couldn't know that we're together. I haven't said anything to him. As for the elders, don't worry about them. I couldn't care less what they think. I'm only introducing you to them because it's a longstanding tradition in my clan." He hoped that his perspective would put Sakura at ease. She tended to worry about what others thought of her.
The pinkette frowned and picked at her food. She was still worried. If the elders disapproved of their relationship, would they be able to end it or make Sasuke's life difficult? She had long dreamt of being with Sasuke, but she wouldn't be able to live with herself if he couldn't take the police chief position because they were involved with each other. Sasuke had wanted to become chief of police since he was a young boy, and Sakura wouldn't stand in his way. The notion scared her.
"Would us being together preclude you from becoming chief of police?" she inquired softly as she kept her head down.
Sasuke's brows furrowed in confusion. "Of course not. The clan elders have no authority over the police station, and their opinion is not relevant to our relationship. The current chief picks the successor, and Tou-san is not going to change his mind because of my relationship status. Even though he and your mentor clash sometimes, he is supportive of our relationship."
Mulling over his explanation, Sakura still didn't fully understand what the clan elders actually did, but she was satisfied to know that they couldn't impact her relationship with Sasuke.
"As long as they don't get in the way of us I'm fine. I still don't understand clan politics though."
Sasuke chuckled dryly. "All you need to know is that clan politics are troublesome."
"You sound like Shikamaru," she replied with a smile. Any anxiety Sakura had about the future of their relationship evaporated. If Sasuke wasn't worried, she shouldn't be either.
Sasuke shrugged and continued eating his food. "Regardless, if my clan had some bearing on our ability to date, I wouldn't let them keep us apart."
The casual yet heartfelt admission melted Sakura's heart. She was incredibly lucky to have such a devoted boyfriend. For all of Sasuke's flaws, no one could accuse him of being non-committal or dishonest. When Sasuke said he would do something, he meant it.
"All I have to worry about is Naruto making a scene tomorrow at the wedding when he finds out that we're officially together, assuming he doesn't know already."
Sasuke smirked. "Dobe does not possess any deductive reasoning skills, so he doesn't know anything. And if he reacts poorly, there's always my sharingan."
Rolling her eyes at her boyfriend's extreme suggestion, she launched. Leave it to Sasuke to use his sharingan as a solution to his personal problems.
The pair spent the rest of the night drinking a bottle of sake to prematurely celebrate Itachi's wedding. Sasuke left soon after they finished the bottle because both he and Sakura needed to be up early to get ready for the wedding.
X
The big day was finally here. It was going to be the wedding of the century with how much time and money the Uchiha clan had spent. Mikoto was full of mixed emotions. On one hand, she was ecstatic that her eldest had the one after several years of showing little to no interest in women in favor of focusing on his career. On the other hand, she was sad to see him moving out. She was halfway to being an empty nester, and she figured that Sasuke would also marry and move out in the near future. There were many things she was looking forward to once she became an empty nester such as finally taking a vacation longer than a week, but it was the end of a very wonderful chapter of her life. Now Itachi, once her tiny baby, was all grown up and preparing to start his own family.
Today was a celebration, so she would treat it as such. Mikoto had gotten up early this morning to get herself ready before she and Fugaku supervised the ceremony and reception setup. The ceremony would be held in the courtyard while the reception would take place on the lake.
Konoha was lovely in summer, so it made sense to take advantage of the natural light and temperate climate with an outdoor wedding. So far, Mikoto was on schedule. She herself was dressed and ready for the wedding. The hair and makeup team had arrived and were currently attending to Izumi and the other female wedding party members. Much to Sasuke's chagrin, the Uchiha matriarch enlisted him to chorale the wedding party for photos and make sure the male half of the party was awake and presentable. The bachelor party was the night before the wedding, and any groomsman over 21 was present for club hopping. Thankfully, Sasuke was 18, so he was not obligated to attend and engage in what he considered indecent behavior. How Shisui convinced Itachi to have such a raunchy celebration was a mystery to all.
Currently, Mikoto was outside in the courtyard helping with last minute decoration touch-ups while the catering team arrived. A warm hand momentarily clasped her shoulder, and she turned around to face her husband.
"Almost done?" he asked.
Mikoto smiled wearily. "Yes, but I need to check over everything once the setup is done."
Obviously, his wife was having mixed emotions about the wedding. Of course she was thrilled when Itachi announced his engagement to Izumi, but as the wedding inched closer she became melancholy at the realization that Itachi would be moving out. There wouldn't be at family dinners as frequently. She wouldn't be the first person to greet him when he returned from his latest mission. His bride would come before everyone else, which is how a husband should his wife, but Mikoto was still adjusting to this transition. It was ironic in a way because Fugaku usually found himself having more trouble with change than Mikoto, but in this instance he was more than ready for Itachi to marry so he could step down as clan leader. His tenure as clan head had been full of war, fighting, and uncomfortable changes.
"This is difficult for you, but it's for the best. Itachi is getting the happiness and peace he deserves." Fugaku tried his best to offer her some consolation.
The Uchiha matriarch nodded. "I know, and I'm happy for him, but -" she paused, "planning the wedding has made me realize that we're past the days when the children were little. Now, I come home and wonder where the kids are and instead I have two young men in my home."
Glancing towards Fugaku, he showed concern.
"I do miss the days when they didn't talk back and argue with me," he added dryly with a smirk.
Mikoto giggled and replied "It's so hard to believe that Itachi, my forever baby, is a full-fledged adult and will start a family of his own. And Sasuke isn't far behind." It was apparent to her that her youngest had fallen hard for Sakura. Even though they had a rocky start to their romantic relationship, they managed to work things out. It was wonderful because Sasuke had been in a much better mood the past week or so. He wasn't temperamental or as sensitive as he had been during his preteen years, but he could be reactive and quiet at times. Now, he talked more freely and laughed more often. His relationship with Sakura was having a positive effect on him.
"They're grown men. It's only natural that they marry and move out at some point. Besides, now I can retire, and you don't have to be responsible for cooking and cleaning for two extra people." He was clearly looking forward to slowing down some. In fact, he had a special surprise for Mikoto to lift her spirits. Now seemed like a good time to reveal it to her.
The Uchiha patriarch reached down in his pocket and grabbed something as his wife looked on with confusion. He revealed two paper slips and handed them to her.
"Fugaku? These are ..."
She stood speechless as she gazed upon his gift. They were two tickets to a month long cruise in River Country. She had briefly mentioned her interest in the trip to Fugaku a few months prior. She was quite impressed that he had remembered and purchased the tickets on his own.
"I figured this would be a nice way to celebrate my retirement and all the hard work you put into the wedding," he explained with a casual shrug.
Mikoto beamed at her husband for his incredibly thoughtful gesture. He wasn't always the best with words, but he made up for it with his actions.
"Thank you. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you!"
Fugaku placed his arm on the small of Mikoto's back and leaned over her to whisper something. She blushed and stifled a giggle.
"I'm sure that can be arranged," she replied with a coy smile.
From the other side of the courtyard, Sasuke looked on with slight nausea at his parents' flirtatious exchange. Maybe it was the excitement of their eldest finally moving out, but they had been acting like a couple of teenagers the past few weeks. Sasuke did not appreciate it since he still had to live with them and thus witness their distasteful antics. He rolled his eyes and proceeded to usher in the rest of the wedding party for photos. After suffering through an hour of poses and lighting adjustments, the photography session was over, and the ceremony could finally begin.
X
Seated next to her best friend and his girlfriend, Sakura fidgeted with her sash. She was a bit on edge because she would be introduced to the Uchiha elders today. It didn't help that she was seated behind a few of them and could hear them express their displeasure with Itachi's bride.
"The heir to the clan, and he's choosing to wed a mut," an old woman muttered.
"What have the Uchiha come to? Letting someone who isn't pure blood marry into the head family could be catastrophic for the sharingan," the other elder commented.
It was unsurprising that the elders were still so upset about the wedding. They had a fit when Itachi announced his engagement to Izumi. First, they were offended that he hadn't sought their council before getting engaged. Second, and most importantly, they were livid that he had chosen a bride who was not a 'pure blood' as Izumi's father was not an Uchiha. Especially after suffering massive casualties in the Fourth Shinobi War, the elders were extremely concerned with preserving their bloodline limit. The chances of offspring obtaining the sharingan were less likely if their parents were not pure bloods.
Until now, Sakura hasn't even considered the possibility of the issue with respect to her and Sasuke. If they had children, would they have the sharingan? If they didn't, would Sasuke be upset? Would they be rejected from the other Uchiha? Maybe today wouldn't be the best time to tell the elders that she and Sasuke were involved since they were already in a bad mood.
Snapping her out of her stupor, Naruto elbowed her.
"You ok?" he whispered with concern.
Keeping her voice down she explained, "I just can't believe that anyone would be upset that Itachi and Izumi are getting married when they're clearly meant to be together. Why should your heritage matter?"
Her blond companion nodded in agreement.
"Well I think people should just marry who they love. The whole point of marriage is to devote your life to the person you love." In his impassioned state, he spoke loudly enough to garner others attention. The elders gave his distasteful looks, but before they could say anything the processional started.
"Naruto! You can't say stuff like that out loud here," Sakura admonished quietly.
He crossed his arms and huffed. It was ridiculous to oppose marriage on the basis of family lines. Bloodline limits weren't everything. Sure, they could be helpful, but there are plenty of powerful ninja that didn't possess doujutsu. People should marry because of love not because of genetics. In fact, marrying a relative was kind of weird.
The ceremony finally started, and it was beautiful and because of the decor or fanfare. It was beautiful because the love radiating from the couple was visible. Izumi was practically glowing, and Itachi had a soft gaze fixed on her the entire time. True to Itachi's style of doing things his own way, he and Izumi had written their own vows. Rarely did Itachi reveal his emotions, but today he did.
"Thank you for loving me for me, not my titles. I love you all the same as well. Your kindness, determination, and beauty are what made me notice you, not your heritage. I'm honored to get to spend the rest of my life with you. I can't promise I'll be a perfect husband, but I will always love you and strive to make you happy."
Itachi's words were sincere, and they gave Sakura hope that she and Sasuke would make it.
