Chapter 1, At Last

She glanced at her engagement ring for the umpteenth time that evening, then away. God, she hated how beautiful it looked on her finger. Sparkling and large, attached to her long digit only by a thin golden band. She used to love how mature it made her feel, to be engaged. Now, she felt as if the ring was mocking her. She couldn't wait for the night to be done and for her to take it off that evening. And forever.

Suddenly disgusted, she looked away while her other hand absentmindedly reached for her chilled drink. Her stomach rumbled; she ignored it.

"At Last" by Etta James sweetly strummed through the crowd as the wedding guests talked and ate at their tables. Naruto and Sasuke were in front of them all, at their own table, eating forkfuls of decadent cake, a syrupy sweet smile on each of their faces. On the other hand, Sakura was a distance away, sipping her fourth martini in the last 45 minutes. Her face was red, and her eyesight was blurring from the level of alcohol in her system.

Or maybe that was her eyes tearing up again. She dabbed them with a black cocktail napkin and cleared her throat. She couldn't cry yet. This wasn't the place for it, but…

She moved to take another sip of her drink.

Abruptly, a hand grasped her shoulder. She turned her head half-expecting to see Shikamaru, even though he was a city away, or her close friend Ino. They had been giving each other updates on the wedding preparation and itinerary for the last week. Instead, she saw Itachi. Beautifully dressed, and eyes trained on her.

His lips were thinned into a half-frown. She smiled at him.

"Hiiiii Tachi," her words looped together in a song-like fashion. Goodness, she hadn't drank this much in ages. Her insides felt all warm and fun, and also awful.

"Sakura, you're drunk."

She giggled while finally finishing her martini, "You bet your ass I'm drunk."

"Come on, you're a mess. Let's get you out of here."

"Whatever you say, handsome."

Itachi wrapped her arm around his neck to pull her from her stool at the empty bar she was sitting at. "Don't forget my clutch," she slurred, allowing for him to pull herself away from the row of empty crystalware.

The pink-haired maid of honor felt his body incline slightly to the side to reach for her black satin purse and then straighten again, her clutch in his hand.

"What's your hotel room number?"

"Why? Wanna get kinky," she asked, wiggling her pink brows suggestively.

Itachi sighed as he wrapped his other hand around her waist to better support her as he forced her to stand upright. He didn't seem interested in humoring her with an answer.

Sakura tried to match Itachi's slow steps as he discreetly walked out of the exquisite ballroom and then towards the lavish hotel lobby, but she didn't quite do a satisfactory job. The older gentleman began to more or less drag her from the crowd of his and Naruto's families as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other. A newborn horse would have been more graceful. She was lucky that few seemed to notice her sorry escape.

"You never answered my question," she said. He arched a brow, "Huh?" "Are we gonna 'toss the hay' when we get in my room?" she laughed. It was a joke. But his face soured.

"Sakura, you know I see you as a little sister. And also," his eyes lingered on her hand. Her diamond ring glittered in the light beautifully. Her stomach turned.

She wasn't surprised by his response but suddenly felt embarrassed for bothering him with her stupid joke. With little strength in her lower body but wanting to create a small distance from Itachi, she firmly began to move her legs, one in front of the other.

"Yea, yea. Save it. I don't need to hear that another man thinks I'm undesirable." She felt, rather than saw, her best friend's older brother glance at her with concern. She ignored the question that was likely burning in his eyes.

Slowly and awkwardly, he repeated his earlier question. "What's your room number?" Sakura furrowed her brow and licked her red lips in serious thought. "Ehm," she hiccuped, then puckered her lips in concentration.

"307, I think?"

She didn't sound convincing even to herself.

"Your room key in your clutch?"

"Haiiiiiiiii," her voice carried a little too loudly.

He sighed.

"Great."

The two stylishly dressed adults stepped into the black and gold elevator. Itachi carefully leaned her body in the corner of the elevator and opened her clutch. Within seconds, he pulled out her room key. "You were close, 207." "Point for me," she chimed sarcastically as he pressed the button for the second floor.

He pulled her room key from her purse once they were at her door and took a step inside. Her room was a little messy. She had been busy finishing the final touches to her best friends' wedding. She and Ino had been arranging the ballroom for hours on end, perfecting table bouquets, fixing disasters, such as the catering somehow mixing up the days of the wedding, and her just generally trying not to have a mental breakdown. Clothes were strewn about, various shoes from numerous days of simply kicking them off were all over the floor, and her vanity was in disarray, full of makeup, hairspray, and skin products. If Sasuke saw her room, he would have huffed and puffed and blown her away with a firm talking too. Thankfully, he was busy with his fiance during the entire trip, their other best friend, Naruto Uzumaki.

Itachi pulled her arm from around his neck and gently laid her upon her king-sized bed. Walking to her feet, he pulled her black stilettos off one by one. Suddenly forgetting her earlier embarrassment, she cooed in pleasure, giggling at the infamous Itachi Uchiha, most badass attorney in the country, tending to her like she was a child. "You need help with your tux?" He asked hesitantly.

Slowly she said, "Yea, can you take this bow thing off? I have this suspicion that I'll choke myself to death if I try to take it off on my own." Itachi sat at the edge of her bed and did as she asked.

For a second, Sakura looked at Itachi, marveled at his beauty and kindness, and suddenly felt ashamed of him being with her and not at his younger brother's wedding.

"I'm sorry."

Her voice was small; the earlier mirth from before was all but gone. "What for?" He asked, his dark brown eyes moving from her black satin bow tie to her face. "For this," she explained with a flourish of her hand. "For you babysitting me instead of being down there, with your family, while your only brother is getting married." "Sasuke is fine. Everyone is doting on him as is. Besides, you're the one that needs looking after." She snorted then suddenly broke out into a sob. God, she felt pathetic. Couldn't she have held things together for one more hour? If Itachi noticed, probably others did too.

Somewhat pulling her from her thoughts, she felt her collar suddenly loosen. Itachi gingerly pulled the fabric he was fumbling with around her neck and rested it beside her head. "What's wrong? You only drink when you're upset." What was wrong? Well, her fiancé just dumped her; that's what was wrong. After years of dating, years of planning a wedding, her husband-to-be texted her that they were done.

"We're both always busy and have different wants. You don't want kids, you don't want to move from Konoha, and you don't want to cut back on work. You know that this isn't going to work out."

She knew he was right. Still, it didn't make her feel any better for recognizing as much.

Itachi thumbed her tears away. In doing so, she caught a whiff of his comforting scent. He and Sasuke both smelled the same, like sandalwood and pine. It wasn't cologne or anything like that; it was just them. Admittedly, it kind of calmed her down. Inhaling deeply, she admitted, "Shikamaru dumped me three days ago." Itachi blinked, confused and then suddenly angry. "What?"

Nobody thought it was off that Shikamaru wasn't at the wedding. He was often on call for major surgeries. His schedule was unpredictable. Consequently, his presence in her life was sporadic at best, nonexistent at worst. So, when Shikamaru failed to show up to the wedding of her closest friends, no one questioned it. At least there was this one small grace in her life.

"I'm sorry, Sakura."

She shrugged, feeling new tears fighting their way to her burning eyes. "It's okay. I guess it had to happen at some time." An awkward silence overcame the two as they stared at each other. Itachi was the first to look away. "Can I get you anything? Water? Aspirin?" "Both sound good."

Itachi stood up and walked away. With him gone, she suddenly felt very cold.

And alone.

This was stupid. She had made it through three days. Why couldn't she hold it together to the very end? Why couldn't she celebrate her best friends and their special day without selfishly feeling concerned about her own troubles? She could do this after the festivities. So why was she trying to drink herself into oblivion? WHY!?

A small tired voice inside of her answered, "Because the people you love most are marrying each other, and everything will be different. That, and you are officially alone."

She sobbed in the back of her hand. Of course she was scared to be left behind, isn't everyone? All of her friends were pairing off, starting lives that she didn't understand. They included her at times, but things weren't the same as when they were kids, or in college, or when they first started their careers. They were all splintering out into the world and away from her and each other.

She knew that it wasn't personal. That's how life went. However, it didn't make it any less scary. Or any less hurtful. Before Naruto's engagement was announced, she hardly saw Ino except in every blue moon. Choji, who she used to see often, was now constantly traveling for his foreign cuisine network show. Even Lee was putting in late hours at his family's dojo. But that was all okay because she had Shikamaru. She had someone to go home to, someone to eat with, someone to love, and someone to love her back. Now, she had to face these changes with her friends by herself.

And even worse, she had to tell everyone about the broken engagement.

It was all so humiliating.

The last few days, she had kept wearing her diamond ring. She knew people would ask questions if she didn't have it on. And so she wore the flashy accessory despite it feeling like violence, plastered a fake smile on her face, and diligently worked hard to make sure her best friends had a wonderful and perfect wedding. But she couldn't keep it together. She ended up drinking herself into oblivion because all she saw were her best friends having each other and her having no one. And because she was stupidly and shamelessly jealous of what they had.

She knew they would never leave her behind. And yet, she couldn't bring herself to fully believe that they wouldn't.

Her hotel room's door opened. She turned her head to see Itachi. In the crook of his arm, there was a silver basket of dinner rolls, and in the other, there was a pitcher of water and what appeared to be a bottle of medicine. She laughed, seeing her best friend's older brother try to balance the items in his hand while opening the door, then kicking it close behind her.

"Rolls?" She inquired, her voice sounding strange and broken. "You need some carbs. It'll help sober you up." She nodded, her head slightly spinning with the action.

"Think you can sit upright?" He asked, placing the items in his hand onto her nightstand. She slowly moved into a lopsided sitting position, her body feeling as if it were in a pool swinging softly side to side.

"Here, first drink this."

He handed her a cup of water. And after watching her drink the water till it was gone, he then gave her a roll. "You know, I don't think I've seen you eat anything all day." She smirked. "Watching me now, Uchiha?" She wondered if she looked as pathetic as she sounded. Crying had made her feel small and ugly. If she wasn't so close with Itachi, she would have forced herself to spruce up a little. Even if she was hammered.

"You take care of everyone else, but not yourself. Of course, I was keeping an eye on you." "I would have been fine," she lied.

Itachi poked her forehead, "Kiddo, you gotta take care of yourself.

She stopped in mid-chew and rubbed where he had poked. His smile was soft, teasing, and full of loving concern. She internally demanded her body not to blush.

It was a losing battle.

Itachi had always been like a big brother to her, especially when she was younger. In her high school and college days, he was always someone she could turn to for advice, to help her out of stupid situations, and support her if she needed it. And even though she was mortified of making herself out to be a fool this evening, she was glad that she felt pathetic with Itachi out of all people.

"I think I'm going to go to bed after I eat a few rolls. Thank you for your help." "Anytime." He stood upright and straightened his jacket. "I'll let the others know that you were tired if they ask where you are. Text me if you need me." She nodded.

He stepped away from her, over her discarded shoes and piles of clothes, to then open her door. Hesitantly she called out to him one more time, "Hey, Itachi?"

He looked over his shoulder, "Yea?"

With a shaky voice, she asked him, "Tomorrow, do you think I can take you out for breakfast. To thank you for saving my ass, I mean?"

He smirked, "If your hangover isn't too bad, sure."

She smiled.

He shut the door after himself.

And she took off her ring.