OMG wedding night! There are some good articles by classicists out there about how sexist the Greek wedding traditions were. Super fascinating. Definitely there was a lot of discussion about how the whole wedding procession is supposed to mimic abduction. They would even post a friend of the groom outside the door of the groom's home to keep the bride from running away (yikes). Basically it seems like the wedding night was generally set up in a way to freak the bride out from our modern point of view, but no one can say for certain if women back then bought into it or not.

Struggling the keep this T. Gaara and Sakura really want that M rating, but I want to keep this light and fun. My will is strong…

Next chapter is the last chapter

Disclaimer: see part 1

Gamos : Night

The purple hem of her gown was hiding the mud stains well, Sakura thought.

Kurenai walked behind her with a torch while Shizune helped steady Tsunade who held the other one behind Gaara. It was a good thing that Jiraiya had finally taken a hint and forced the rain to stop because Tsunade looked cranky enough as it was, torch sagging forward in her hands. As the torch dipped it looked dangerously close to lighting Gaara's clothes on fire, but as he worked in a volcanic forge Sakura assumed that being lit on fire would only be a minor annoyance.

"Do I look like I need help!" The stubborn queen straightened her posture, eyes flashing while somewhere in the crowd a lone man guffawed at her belligerent behavior. Only Jiraiya would have dared to laugh, but even he fell silent as Tsunade's narrowed eyes swept the crowd.

It had been generally decided on that they would circle around the outside of the mountain and up the steep path that led to Gaara's living quarters since they weren't about to march through his inner hallways and his forge. Everyone could use some air now that the banquet hall was stuffy and humid from so many bodies carousing and talking for hours. Some of the gods had run ahead to throw grain, flowers, and nuts on them as they passed. The scattered lines of people were laughing and periodically singing. It was supposed to be triumphant, but Sakura eyed the steep and narrow path and thought this was more precarious than anything.

"You're sure it's too narrow for a chariot?" Sakura asked Gaara once more.

"Have you ever reassembled a broken liquid metal horse's leg?" She tried to suppress an eyeroll at his growled response then allowed herself to do it anyway when she remembered no one could see her under the veil for at least a little while longer.

No going back after this. Once she crossed the threshold into his rooms and he lifted up her veil then she would well and truly be his wife. Off to the side, her father beamed proudly at her and she felt trapped all over again by her sense of responsibility. The plan up until now had been a ray of hope, but Gaara clearly wasn't letting her go and she wasn't about to run out on him and dishonor herself, disappoint her family, and cast a pallor on what had been a remarkably peaceable gathering of Titans and Olympians who normally would not have broken bread. There was too much to lose, and she needed to stop her selfish hopes of freedom.

Time to make the best of a bad situation.

"Well? Waiting for a signal flare?" Not that Sakura wanted to rush anything, but standing still was just making her antsy. Even if they moved slowly at least some exercise would warm her up and help her think.

Gaara gave her a considering glance and shrugged before he grabbed her wrist and began to lead her up the mountainside with his awkward gait. Naturally walking through a crowd only further emphasized his hated weakness. His walk was stiff but no one seemed to care. A small cheer went up from the first clustered groups. It wasn't a comfortable position being led by the wrist, she realized quickly, as Gaara was either walking too fast and jerking her arm or too slow and she'd almost run into his back. Once, at the start, he dodged a particularly enthusiastic throw of grain and Sakura got a face full of good cheer that was blocked well enough by her veil but still riled her.

At least she knew there was one person having less fun than her as Tsunade loudly proclaimed that this whole procession business needed to be revised when the groom lived entirely uphill. Sakura wondered how those diamond heels were working for her in the wet terrain and smiled to herself.

From point of light to point of light Sakura made the climb, and all the while staring at Gaara's back. She noticed that she could make out individual muscles and her traitorous mind wondered what she'd think of them later tonight. Kushina had warned them well enough of satyrs and unscrupulous male gods and what they wanted to do to careless females in enough medical detail that what was about to happen to her wasn't a great mystery, but Sakura also knew it wasn't the same when you were married. If Gaara had been a satyr then she was supposed to bring her knee up between his legs with a loud "no" and get help, (or wrestle him down and strangle him to unconsciousness as Sakura had trained to do with Naruto's unknowing help when she was younger). While it wasn't totally unheard of for a bride to run, it usually didn't end up well for her in the end and it was probably easier to submit to the wedding night with as much dignity as she was able. It might not be horrible. She had seen a racy vase or two in her day and the women in those may have been courtesans but they didn't look like they were having a bad time of it.

Hand her a ledger and she could balance it. Consult her on a personal problem and she had an answer. But other than lots of contradictory advice from drunk relatives, Sakura had no bedroom experience. The unknown was far scarier than the known.

Suddenly stopping, Sakura ran straight into Gaara's back as he released her wrist with a grunt. They might have gone down into a tangle of muddy limbs except the Naruto was there right by the door to keep Gaara steady.

"Better not be too tired, the night's not over yet." Naruto pointed at his lyre and Sakura let herself groan audibly. The remoteness of Gaara's home combined with the bad weather had led her to hope that the last and least appealing of the wedding traditions was not set to happen. Hinata, Ino, and some of her younger aunts and cousins, were nearby and she could see Ino was going to take every bit of revenge on Sakura for embarrassing them both at the feast.

"Don't worry Gaara," Naruto said. "I convinced Kankuro that I should stand guard at the door so I could play for the women who were staying to sing. He thought you'd want everyone to leave right away, but I know you want things done right!"

Sakura wanted to pummel her childhood friend. From the twitch Gaara's eye was doing she thought that perhaps she and her new husband were in complete agreement. Maybe that was a good sign.

"Thanks." The sarcasm in Gaara's voice sailed right over the cheerful blonde's head.

In full view of the procession Gaara turned to everyone, stepping in front of Sakura protectively and silently regarded them. Someone hooted from the back of the line. Another person tossed a handful of nuts that bounced off his chest. Turning her head she saw Naruto give her a grin and a thumbs up. Sakura was torn between wanting to be inside as fast as possible and delaying this just a little longer.

"It's done. Go home." With those unfriendly words Gaara pushed open the large metal door that led to his private rooms and dragged Sakura behind him once again. While everyone was largely silent, as soon as the door shut the hollering and the singing began again in earnest. The thick stone walls muffled the sound, but she knew the windows cut into the rock that looked out over the plains below would let it all in as if her friends and relatives were right there. There would also be periodic banging on the front door and yelling to keep away bad spirits, but Sakura suspected that was just structured to rattle her already well shaken cage.

Everything looked to be carved out of rock, thought how he did it so that it was perfectly straight and smooth was probably a trade secret. The courtyard in the center was open to the sky and straight ahead was the obligatory kitchen that, as gods, they never usually used. The bathing room looked to be to the right of the kitchen and a hot bath sounded like a fantastic idea when she was less exhausted. She could see to her immediate right the door to his workroom was open, and Sakura could imagine that's where he had constructed the necklace she now wore because small tools littered the table.

"Come into the light." Gaara was waiting for her in the middle of the small courtyard, where small puddles reflected the moonlight at odd angles. Up a set of stairs, just past him, Sakura knew there would be a number of bedrooms. Just seeing the doorways made her palms sweat. Her heart was beating fit to burst out of her chest, and if she had been cold a moment ago she was freezing now.

This made it official. He lifted the side of her veil, picking it up slowly and meeting her eyes finally without a barrier to shield them from one another. She refused to drop her gaze or even blink as Sakura finally saw him without the yellow sheen of the veil. He didn't stop with merely uncovering her face, he pushed the entire piece of fabric from her and the bridal crown fell behind her with a clatter as the fabric pooled on top of it.

"And?" Sakura said, glad there was no quiver in her voice to give away how truly nervous she was. Holding her head high she dared him to judge her.

Those eyes of his, so pale green in the moonlight they were almost clear, slowly scanned her from head to toe. His hand twitched and for a moment she thought he was going to move towards her as he shifted his weight. With the barrier to her own sight gone she had to admit to herself he had a terrifying sort of charisma. He was a fire god at heart, only focused by his smithing. In some places she knew he was still worshipped and feared in equal measure. Suddenly, she realized she had stopped shivering.

"Come upstairs when you're ready. Third door on the right."

He turned on his heel and walked upstairs. The breath that Sakura didn't realize she was holding escaped from her lips in a hiss. As she watched him retreat she was scared, not of the fact that they were officially married and this was their first night together, but because of how deflated she felt that he had made no move other than to unveil her.

Marriage, as it turned out, was a confusing new adventure.

Gaara was unaccountably proud of himself. It had taken a sheer act of will not to tear her dress off in the middle of the courtyard. Up close she was unreal, vibrant, with those diamonds practically glowing at her throat and a challenging look on her face she had seemed almost Amazonian. Where Karin seemed cunning Sakura seemed intelligent, where Karin was voluptuous and decadent Sakura seemed well proportioned and balanced. Karin he had dismissed because her stock and trade was desire and Gaara abhorred being manipulated, but Sakura was entirely ignorant of her appeal and somehow it made her irresistible to him.

He wanted to see her in nothing but that diamond necklace. Gritting his teeth he wondered if this was the feeling that people claimed was infatuation, or if it was just basic lust. Was there even a difference? It was too new to him, foreign, and he didn't really want to philosophically explore it.

Muddy shoes tossed in a corner, chiton half off his body, he slumped on the bed and set up for the long wait until his bride decided to show her face. If she never entered this room he wouldn't be surprised, but at the very least she would be compelled to do her duty and finish this farce. Snatches of song and the twang of the lyre accompaniment below reminded him they weren't truly alone.

The longer he waited the more he felt himself slipping back into his old mind. He hadn't started out a craftsman, that had come with time, he had been something primal and destructive once. Fear still fed his power and he could feel it rolling off of Sakura who was just outside the door by the look of her skirts edging into view. By the time she actually took a step in she had no clue that she was making him into the very thing she seemed to fear, and he ground his teeth and considered the benefits of allowing the monster to take over. If he relinquished control then at least he would have made a choice to do so, but if he allowed instinct to take over she'd never trust him. Why her trust was valuable to him was another perplexing issue.

"I think we need some ground rules." Her unusually firm tone was like a bucket of cold water. Gaara's descent into darkness was halted as he met her stern face curiously. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, as nothing about this woman had been typical or expected. Sweat that had formed on him from his inner struggle moments ago pooled uncomfortably at his lower back.

Seeing that she had his attention, her demeanor shifted towards nervous, but she rallied and continued. "If this," and she gestured back and forth from him to her, "is going to happen tonight I need to know that you aren't going to make it… unpleasant."

He wanted to groan, between the twanging and the singing outside and this conversion inside, bedroom activities in general were fading from his mind rapidly.

"Define unpleasant." He was annoyed enough to want to make her uncomfortable.

"Painful." She said after considering a moment. In the lamplight she was blushing as she added. "Or if you have some sort of peculiar preference I need to brace for…"

Nothing about this conversation was sexy. If she was worried about him ravishing her it would have been far more likely in the moonlight of the courtyard than at this particular moment when he felt tired and distinctly awkward.

"I'm going to take a bath." Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose as if that would kill the dull throb that was starting to take residence in his mind. He should have stuck to his first instinct: that marriage was a lot of trouble and he was better off alone. But when he had been talking with Minato, once more silently reliving the pain of betrayal followed by years of loneliness and his increasing appetite for destruction he had been surprised when Minato had suggested another marriage. Gaara didn't need anyone, but now that Sakura was here and with him he knew he didn't want to let her go either.

"You mean before we, uh…?" She couldn't even bring herself to say it. That actually made him smile faintly; finally she was running out of forthrightness.

"I mean I'm going to take a bath because I'm sweaty and tired." Rising from the bed, he walked by her and out the door as she threw a peculiar look at him. Not wanting her to feel like he was retreating, even if there was some truth to that, he grabbed her chin in his hand and brought his mouth down on hers suddenly. He'd wanted it to be a lesson, a warning, a promise, but as soon as their lips connected he felt lost.

His hand slid from her chin to trace her jaw and landed cradling the back of her head. Her recently shorn hair was softer than he thought hair could be, sliding through his fingers like water. Lips she had been chewing on just a moment before were parted in surprise and he traced his tongue over her teeth before they broke for breath.

You could join me. The words floated to the top of his mind, but saying them out loud would sound weak. He didn't want to face her indecision and possible refusal, so instead he brushed past her and back down the stairs. But he had to say that in all the time he was married before, Karin had never looked at him like Sakura had looked at him just then. That knowledge twisted his gut like slow acting poison.

Snatches of songs were what eventually snapped Sakura out of her blind panic. The stories most of the women had told her regarding the wedding night mostly started the same way ("I felt so sick with nervousness, but then it wasn't so bad", "Just grin and bear it, he'll get tired pretty fast") and ended the same way ("it gets more tolerable", "eventually they stop bugging you as much"). None of them had talked about wanting.

Good wives didn't want, that was part of what made them good. Desire was for women with loose morals, but the more she picked at that idea the harder it was to think that it made any sense. Her mother loved their father and she'd seen more than one embarrassingly enthusiastic kiss between them. Asuma and Kurenai didn't keep much distance from one another. True no one displayed anything outwardly, but was that to say that in their minds there wasn't something else going on?

Sakura needed it to be true, she needed validation that what she felt was normal otherwise she would be involved in the shamefully indecent state of mind of wanting to have sex with her husband. To discover at this stage in the game, with more than a century of life behind her, that she was secretly wanton would be a severe blow to her self-image. After such a long time of containing her inner self tightly, perhaps letting it out around Gaara had started some chain reaction. After all, she didn't even like the man! Not that she disliked him precisely, but when she thought of him there was definitely a confusing mass of issues to work through.

Only one person knew enough about love, husband-wife relations, desire, and Gaara to shed light on this problem. It was shameful that, even with everything that had gone on between them they hadn't dedicated even the tiniest of blessings to her. It wasn't uncommon for a new bride to ask for a blessing before the marriage was consummated…

So maybe when she asked Karin a question Gaara would not erupt into fiery anger when he inevitably found out.

As she made her way back to the women's day room, Sakura took a steadying breath. This would either be disaster or brilliance and Karin's capriciousness was legendary. Despite its expense, Sakura knew she was never using her veil again. Burning that would surely get Karin's attention in offering. The ornamental stove in the women's room was perfect and, as her delicate veil went up into a puff of smoke and she made her plea, Sakura put the bridal crown back on for good measure. Knowing her crown and necklace were in full glow, she straightened her shoulders to reflect confidence she wasn't exactly feeling.

Now, all she needed to do was wait.