It was pointed out to me that some people would benefit from a quick refresher about the Greek gods so that this doesn't confuse. (Don't worry, next project will be modern/non-fantasy I think). Appendix of the Naruto to Greek made in footnotes at the bottom. Shouldn't be absolutely necessary to read the story but will help the curious.

Quick Notes: Hephaestus, the smith god, (Gaara) used to be married to Aphrodite, the love goddess, (Karin) who cheated on him many many times with Ares, the war god (Sasuke). Adultery is legit grounds for divorce in ancient Greece so Hephaestus divorced Aphrodite and married the youngest of the Graces (after some other messing around which didn't fit in with Gaara's character so it's snipped here, plus it's kind of incest-y as most of the gods' interactions are and I'd like to avoid that as well). The marriage was a sidenote in Hephaestus' myths, but I wondered what this girl might think who has basically been thrown at this guy who was born with huge family and intimacy issues (Hephaestus was literally rejected by the personifications of love and motherhood both).

Hope that provides a little context for this romp. Man, what the heck am I doing?

Disclaimer: see part 1

Proaulia

"Trust Uncle Bumble to show up and go straight for the wine, he's just going to get sloppy drunk like all those other times we've seen him." Ino rolled her eyes in the direction of the Titan whose name she purposefully misused.

Sakura privately thought you'd drink too if all your brothers were dead or vanished for their various indiscretions against the current rulers of the gods. Privately she thought him being perceived as a harmless fool was the smartest move he could make.

"Once Asuma is back he'll take care of him, just give it an hour." Sakura examined the darkening sky and waved at it, as if Asuma could see.

Their aunt Kurenai was playing hostess to their unruly relatives in a hastily built residence under the shadow of the gloomy mountain that Sakura would probably be calling home soon enough. While only the women had been invited somehow their wine loving uncle had found the time to crash the party. Once Asuma finished tending to his duties at twilight he would come back and evict their rowdier uncle so the women could finish with their celebrations and ceremonies.

Sakura looked at the spread before her and realized how lucky she was that the Titans were as close as they were even after falling out of power. There was plenty of the expected nectar and ambrosia but the roast goat and pig, fine lentil and pea soups, leavened bread, and fresh fruits and vegetables showed that their uncle and aunt had truly pulled out all the stops to make this dysfunctional family happy on the feast day before her wedding. Kurenai was stoking a fire to reduce the chill in the air, and Sakura watched the light play on people's faces making them jolly or sinister in turns.

Noticeably absent were all the watery relatives, but many had sent notes with congratulations prior to her journey to Gaara's mountain. Plenty of women had showed up at any rate and many were talking and laughing together, comparing notes, or taking turns recounting stories of their weddings or other involvements. Hinata seemed to have a semi-permanent blush on as some of the stories got explicit in parts, particularly if Jiraiya was involved. Their mother had perhaps sheltered them too well for too long.

"You look really radiant tonight, Hinata." As patron of banquets Hinata had never been at a party where she wasn't looking pleased, but she was always nervous that things would go awry. Anxiety and the desire to please others plagued her constantly, so Sakura tried to reassure her even as she was the one that needed reassurance tonight.

"Thanks Sakura, everyone is having a good time and I'm not nearly as worried as I was an hour or two ago before they all arrived." A plate of uneaten food sat near her, and Sakura hoped Hinata's appetite would pick up once this mess of a wedding ended.

"Did you just hear that?" Ino, who had been listening to some aunts behind them, whipped her head around so fast to face them that she hit Hinata full in the face with her fat blond braid. "Truly did you just hear what they said? Ohhh man, if Naruto and TenTen heard that story they would both be so angry. I mean I knew the bones of it, pregnant for years and all, but it's different when their mom gets some wine in her!"

"Speaking of TenTen, did you remember to bring the offerings for her? I spent hours rooting around in our storage closet and all I found was one of those clay horses we used to play with. I don't think that's going to be nearly enough. You know she's all about quantity…" Sakura was actually a little nervous about that. Naruto was fond of the three of them, but making TenTen angry could result in an arrow or a dagger or who knows what exotic weapon shoved into something vital and he usually didn't step in when she was in a mood. "Hinata said you had found it all but now we need to go get it out of those packs and I don't know which one it is."

Ino waved a hand dismissively and popped an olive into her mouth. "Don't worry about it, I had already dug out all our old toys since less than half a year ago I thought I'd be getting married first." Sakura thought Ino was letting her sweat it out over the offering since she was a little peeved that Sakura was beating her to the alter.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru has to wake up sometime. And just think… you'll finally be someplace dear old dad has never seen." Sakura watched Ino's eyes brighten in glee. Never to be silently watched again by their all seeing sun god father was a dream come true. Shikamaru was her dream man almost based on that fact alone.

"I'm sure Gaara will be…" Ino stumbled over some adjective that would make Sakura feel better about all this.

Sakura took over for her quickly with something between a smirk and a grimace playing on her lips. "Rich? Good with his hands?" Ino laughed and Hinata blushed. "I can't imagine what he wants from me when he's got everything."

Wandering over with a wine stain running down the front of his chiton uncle 'Bumble' as Ino called him started to say loudly, "Oh I can tell you what he wants, the dastard!" swiftly followed by a fighting pose. As the women present suddenly turned their distasteful glares in his direction Asuma darted in to lock their drunk uncle's head under his armpit in a close choking grip giving them all a good view of a mop of black hair. He flailed and demanded a fair fight as Asuma greeted everyone warmly, gave his wife a wink, and withdrew from the home all while hauling the thrashing Titan. Sakura told herself to send Asuma a gift later after things had settled down.

"Let's go get those toys out." Ino said as all of their eyes followed the scene out the door.

"Remember when mom made us these dolls?" Sakura hadn't even thought about them in years. While it couldn't have been more than a hundred years since their actual childhood it felt like those times were far away. Everyone had been a child at some point, even Gaara, (but maybe not Temari). He had grown up in the sea and she had grown up in rivers and lakes, so maybe they could find some common ground there?

"I remember when you popped the head off of mine because you wanted the one with the longest hair." Ino said, trying not to sound bitter about old slights.

"And I remember how you cut all the hair off of mine to get even so don't pretend like you're so great either." Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Hinata pick up her old doll and give it a squeeze and a smile. Ino had remembered to pack the dolls, a yoyo that Sakura used to swing around her head like a weapon, a deflated water bladder that they used to inflate with air and toss to one another, and then Sakura had added onto the pile the wooden horse on wheels that she used to pretend was her steed. TenTen would have to be happy with this as it was all that remained of her childhood in any tangible sense.

Dusting off her hands, Sakura picked everything up and set it aside while they refastened the packs and pushed them back into a corner. Her wedding costume had been laid out earlier in the day, and all the aunts and cousins had come in to look at it and coo over how pretty it was despite the rush in having it made. The saffron colored veil and golden crown winked as firelight caught the metal.

"Are you really ok?" Ino watched her face, always the sister closest at guessing when Sakura was hiding something.

"I don't have a choice, I have to be ok."

"That's not a real answer! You're allowed to be angry! I'm furious for you if you refuse to admit it."

Gaara, will not known for being covetous, was certainly known as possessive. "If Gaara has decided I'm the one for him I don't think anyone short of Jiraiya or Tsunade could order otherwise! You think I like being powerless?" Sakura's voice rose with her temper and then fell as she became aware again of the party in the other room.

"What if Gaara didn't want you anymore?" Hinata's voice was just a murmur, cutting through the tension between Ino and Sakura in that placid way it always did.

The sounds of the party filtered through with spikes of laughter and song as it appeared someone had brought a lyre and begun playing. Both Sakura and Ino stared at Hinata, eyes burning with too many feelings and thoughts, looking to their usually timid sister for answers.

Clearing her throat and speaking only just loud enough to be heard she continued. "I mean, Gaara has never met you so he doesn't really know you. Not like we know you. What if… you weren't what he expected?"

It wasn't immediately making sense to Sakura but Ino went from stormy to amused in an instant. "You'll have a whole day with him before the marriage ceremony. Making you ugly is impossible, he'll know that's a sham, but if you just act with him like you did with me a moment ago maybe he'll think twice about this marriage idea…"

Finally catching on to what they were thinking, both sisters looking at her with more hope than they'd had in months, she felt trills of fear. They were grasping at dust in the air. "So you want me to act like an angry bi—"

"You don't have to be angry," Hinata interrupted. "Just take all those thoughts you always keep inside and… say them."

While Sakura had cultivated a calm, intelligent, controlled exterior her sisters well knew she had a whole other side to her that she hid from the outside world. Even their all-seeing father wouldn't have known unless he had taken the time to talk to her at length, and he was so busy she was honestly surprised he remembered their names sometimes.

It was risky. Gaara, like his volcanic homes, could use her misbehavior as an excuse to explode at her and wreak some sort of punishment. And even if she succeeded she would be tainted with her failed marriage for centuries. The alternative was to marry into an unwanted and undoubtedly dangerous unknown.

"So all I have to do is say what's on my mind? You think that would be enough to make him think he had made a mistake in choosing me?"

Hinata and Ino exchanged a glance and Sakura narrowed her eyes as they answered in tandem. "Definitely."

Their female relatives surrounded them as Sakura took the toys from Ino and placed them in the ceremonial fire. As they began to crackle, Hinata snipped a small lock of hair from the bottom of Sakura's long mane and tied it with a ribbon before she handed it Sakura who in turn threw it into the fire. As the hair crackled and burned the fire changed colors and in the distance an animal howled. It was a good omen, TenTen had accepted the offering quickly. Of course she must have been waiting for it as Gaara, while not strictly related to her, was close with her twin Naruto.

Fooling Gaara tomorrow meant fooling all these important and powerful gods. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach made her wish she hadn't had so much bread and cheese with dinner.

Mistaking her nervousness for the sadness of the loss of technical childhood, Kurenai came over to wrap her in a quick hug. The tiny bit of mothering from her normally distant aunt was comforting, and Sakura tried to bring herself back to the present.

"You'll find marriage will suit you." Kurenai said, "You always struck me as the most grounded of your sisters. If anyone can make this work, it will be you."

Guilt blossomed inside of her—actively sabotaging her own wedding would shame her family as well. But thinking back on all the misadventures of the Titans it would probably only be a minor story that would fade soon enough once someone killed someone else's demi-god child. As for the Olympians, Karin had cheated on Gaara for ages with Sasuke and nothing of note had happened to her. Not that she was a major goddess like Karin. Was she really about to roll these dice?

In the distance, Gaara's mountain home rumbled. No doubt it was announcing his arrival. Sakura's fear solidified into the grim decision to follow through with the plan. After all, all she had to do was be herself in a sense. Inner Sakura could take anyone on.

With all the tents and makeshift buildings near the small town at the base of his home, it looked more like a military campaign than a wedding. An act of war would have been more cut and dry than this wedding, and at least Gaara would feel less conflicted about it all. Successfully blackmailing Tsunade and Jiraiya to secure Karin as a wife had seemed like a coup ages ago, but now that was scorched earth. Instead of being thought strong for casting Karin out, the Olympians thought him weak for being cuckolded so completely. Damn her and Sasuke both.

For once the forges in his mountain home were not stoked, and the embers provided low light to his workshop. Collapsing onto the chair next to the small table that housed his schematics, he swept one arm across it and knocked everything to the floor with a clatter as parchment and pieces of joints and half formed projects burst on the rough floor. On the empty table he casually tossed a cloth bag that created a hollow metallic noise as it hit. Karin had never tried to make this place her home, and he supposed he was saved from having to destroy reminders of her when there was nothing to destroy. So he would destroy his own things, what did it even matter?

His assistants were in the outer chambers, where the heat was less intense as a rule, and were preparing the great hall for tomorrow's feast as well as laying out new furniture and decorations for his soon to be bride.

Laughing himself into hysterical breathlessness from anger at the past and desperation for the future, Gaara came back to himself eventually and pulled a necklace and bracelets he had made for his bride out of gold and diamonds from the pouch. Tradition demanded jewelry and he wasn't going to do anything by halves. He'd show everyone how rich he was, how well he could entertain, and then his new wife would fade into the background of his life.

"Well, why am I not surprised to find you here…" At the voice, Gaara quickly stuffed the jewelry back into the pouch. He wasn't afraid of anyone taking it, but even looking at it stunk of sentimentality to him somehow and that wasn't who Gaara was.

"Go find some party, there's plenty out there." Gaara, dismissive as always, didn't even make eye contact with Kankuro.

"I could make you enjoy yourself, you know." Kankuro wandered over and set a cup of wine on the nearly empty table while he drank from an identical one in his hand.

Gaara eyed the cup warily, ultimately choosing to cast a baleful glare at his 'brother' and sometimes friend, if he counted anyone a friend. "There are people below who would welcome your company."

Kankuro understood madness, if anyone did, having been cursed with it for a brief time during his younger days. Gaara wondered what it would be like to have that kind of perspective, when all he knew was his own dark thoughts. But he wasn't in the mood for Kankuro's flippant remarks tonight, and he didn't need any wine when he needed to be totally alert for tomorrow. It was all business, this wedding.

"I think I have something you want, though."

Gaara snorted in disbelief and pushed the cup farther away. Kankuro waggled his eyebrows, wine-purple tattoos about his face seeming to shift like snakes for a moment.

"Just take a quick look, they say there's truth in wine you know."

"That's because you started saying it." Gaara said flatly after a moment, but his curiosity was piqued. Pulling the cup closer he looked into the liquid, and as it settled from the sudden movement he saw an image of a girl. Green eyes, long pink hair, she seemed quick to smile and just as quick to smack the blond girl next to her who hit her right back. Pretty but not beautiful, too muscular to be fashionable, but he could feel himself being drawn in. He wanted to see more, he wanted to hear her voice, and as desire rose so did a deep loathing at his own weakness.

"Looks like you lucked out, eh? Pretty nice, if I do say so. I should have met these Graces earlier." Kankuro couldn't resist a pretty face.

Gaara was on to Kankuro's game. He wasn't going to get involved in anything so complicated as emotion. It had no place in his first marriage and this one would be no different.

"Are you done here?" Gaara emptied the cup onto the floor where the residual heat and porous volcanic stone dissipated it immediately.

The wine god laughed shortly and somewhat unpleasantly as he snatched back his wine cup. "I suppose I am. See you at the feast tomorrow. Try to figure out how to smile in the meantime."

In order of appearance:

i Epimetheus, brother to Prometheus and famously foolish = Gai

ii Eos, goddess of the dawn (actual aunt of the graces) = Kurenai

iii Astraeus, god of the dusk, husband to Eos the dawn (actual uncle of the graces) = Asuma

iv Apollo and Artemis, children of the Titan Leto = Naruto and TenTen

v Hypnos, god of sleep = Shikamaru

vi Athena, goddess of wisdom/war = Temari

vii Aphrodite, goddess of love = Karin

viii Ares, god of war = Sasuke

ix Dionysus, god of wine/harvest and madness = Kankuro