I Do Not Own Uchiha
Uchiha
To be honest Sakura had never known how to get on with her in-laws.
She was just so… odd! Seriously! There should have been no way on the planet that Uchiha Sasuke picked her to be his wife. Her one-sided loved was just that, one-sided, and Sakura was the ultimate workaholic, seriously, she worked hundred hour weeks, twenty-five hours a day, eight days a weeks; she was an atrocious cook, she could and had burnt water. Also, she was not upper society material; Sasuke repeatedly told her she was annoying and had no filter.
See why she didn't understand her being Sasuke's wife?
She did not fit the mold for the Uchiha either, she had a monstrous temper; one she didn't always keep in check. She had outrageously pink hair; which was natural! And she did not have the manners to mingle with the upper class. So, one could see why she was a apprehensive about this Christmas after having had little to no contact with her husband's family.
She knew her husband was close to his grandfather, Izuna, and great uncle, Madara; both of whom Sasuke looked up to and respected greatly. He had an uncle, Obito, who was married to Rin; their son, Shisui was best friends with Sasuke's elder brother; Itachi. Sasuke's other uncle was Kagami, a man of great pride who had a daughter Naori. Sasuke's elder brother, was also a married man; Itachi had married Izumi. And then there were Sasuke's parents; his father, Fugaku, and his mother Mikoto.
All of whom, Sakura, had never met!
See, Sakura and Sasuke… well, they were an odd pair. She had met him in her ER when he had come in after having an old wound acting up, she had found him to have a Shuriken stuck in his back; not surprising with his given profession, but what was surprising was that it was only just then bugging him. Sakura had removed it and they had gone out for coffee after that.
Odd, yes, but Sasuke wasn't all that bad. Even if he was a shinobi.
Sakura was a rising star in her civilian field of work, and she was very pleased with herself, so when the Uchiha; a feared and respected member of the shinobi community wanted to talk to her to compare medical works she had agreed. The talk itself was fun, shinobi were so different to civilians, and he fascinated her.
They had started meeting up and talking regularly; now, she did not think he liked her, for he often times called her annoying, and would glare at her, and grunted for answers when she asked him questions. But that was alright! Sakura had never had a friend before so she could dish as good as she got from the Uchiha.
However, over the year of their meeting up she had been introduced to the shinobi world a little and she liked what there was to learn from them. And with Sasuke came his Team; there was Hatake Kakashi, who was captain of the team, the co-captain was Yamato, there was the odd one, Sai, and the loud one dobe (Uzumaki Naruto), and Naruto's girlfriend who was from one of the most prominent families in Konoha; Hyūga Hinata. Yes, Sakura found friends in them and the others they introduced her to.
Now, one may wonder why she and Sasuke were married when Sasuke just tolerated her; well, that was because he had come in to be a real friend to her in her hour of need.
See, life in the civilian world was a far cry different than the world the shinobi lived in; apparently, and Sakura was arranged into a marriage with a fellow doctor. It was expected in the civilian world which is why she wasn't overly concerned about it. Besides, she was legally required to be married by twenty-three, so the arranged marriage was for the best. At least that was what she was telling herself when she had been getting ready for her wedding nine months ago and was trying not to be kicked in jail by the current Hokage; Shimaru Danzō, who had created the damn law for civilians with the help of his henchman, Orochimaru.
What was expected of shinobi she didn't know, and she didn't care, she was a damn good civilian doctor, and she wasn't going to be pitched in jail for kicks. Nope.
So there she was, dressed in a plain white dress when she had walked to her partner's house. Walking in she had found Akasuna Sasori rutting shamelessly with Iwa Deidara. And that had led her leaving to walk right over to the only guy she knew who was single and she was comfortable enough to talk to, Uchiha Sasuke. He had offered to marry her to keep her out of jail; a marriage of convenience, and she had agreed.
They had married on her twenty-third birthday, it was then that she discovered she was four months older than him. Apparently she knew that little about her husband then.
Her wedding had been simple, quiet, they had gone to the Hokage's office, signed the papers, shared a dispassionate kiss and walked out as Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Sakura. she was just relieved not to be going to jail. Reluctantly she had moved in with Sasuke; reluctantly being a key word in that statement, but she had agreed when he pointed out that it was expected of them.
Now, in nine months of marriage they were more like roommates than husband and wife, they had only slept together once; there had been no sex involved, just sleep, and that was because they were drunk after Naruto's announcement that he was getting promoted. There had been lots of drinking and she and Sasuke had had a drinking contest. But that was it.
There was no sweet affection between them, there was no love, or warmth in their marriage, and there was barely friendship for them. But Sakura was alright with that; Sasuke did his own thing, and she did hers'. It was good.
At least it was until last week when she had heard a knock five minutes after waking up for a long shift at the hospital. Sakura had been completely expecting someone like her boss; Tsunade, at her door, but instead found herself looking into the onyx eyes of a startled older woman.
Uchiha Mikoto.
Funny thing was, Mikoto hadn't even known Sasuke had gotten married to her. Needless to say that that had been a very awkward morning for her and her mother-in-law; and it was even weirder when Sasuke walked in the door not an hour after she (bra-less, in her giant men's sleep shirt, and mini shorts still), and Mikoto had sat at the table and had tried to have a conversation.
Mikoto had then invited her and Sasuke to the family Christmas, and Sakura had paled.
Truthfully, since she and Sasuke had so little to do with one another she had never thought about meeting his family; a family of famed, and feared shinobi. Sakura felt like a sacrificial lamb being doused in blood and walked into a dragon's lair for the eating. Of course Sasuke had said they would be there and that was why she was standing here today.
"But… I can pick up a shift at the hospital if you… you know," Sakura argued as she looked through her closet, her husband was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling.
"Sakura, you're coming," he said indifferently.
"Yeah, but… I, do you really want to bring home a pink, village orphan as your wife, and say hey everyone I didn't announce my wedding and here's my wife; a civilian," Sakura asked as she found the kimono Sasuke had ordered her to wear.
"Sakura, it's just Christmas, and they don't bite," Sasuke scowled.
"So you say, but… I mean, come on Sasuke, you know how shinobi look at civilians," she sighed.
"And yet I married an annoying one," he sighed.
"I still can't figure out why you did that," she pointed out.
"Sakura get dressed, then we'll go to dinner and it'll be over," he said.
"But!"
"Sakura!" he shouted, she flinched hearing her normally quiet husband shout. "Kami you are denser than the dobe!" he sighed.
"I just… I… Sasuke, you can marry that Karin girl, she likes you a lot, and she's a shinobi; I heard someone say she's pretty powerful too," Sakura pointed out as she struggled with her obi. Sasuke was behind her then.
"True," he agreed icily. "Then what happens to you?"
"Well, I can pick a civilian to marry, I... there's a widower I work with, he's older, but I could work with him," she admitted.
"Sakura, just shut up and finish getting ready," Sasuke said as he left her and she sighed as she sat on her bed and dragged her fingers through her hair and stared at her lap. She didn't want to be responsible for ruining a powerful shinobi's life. After all she was nothing but a civilian.
Sighing she finished getting ready for her night with the Uchiha and she bit her lip when she walked out to see Sasuke dressed and ready to go. He stood up, his onyx eyes looked her over before he nodded and started for the door, she hurried after him. Oh Kami she was so nervous about this as they walked down the stairs of their apartment building and through the bustling streets of Konoha.
"What widower?" Sasuke asked abruptly.
"Senju Tobirama, I know he's old enough to be my father, but he's not all that bad," she shrugged.
"No," Sasuke snapped.
"But… I mean… wouldn't you like a wife you could, you know, love one day?" she asked as she pressed close to him in the crowd.
"Love is an illusion," he answered.
"I don't think so, before the Pain Attack, my parents, they were so in love and so happy and so connected, I used to want that," she admitted with a smile.
"Hn," he grunted.
"I wanted that, I wanted that so badly, I mean I actually craved to have that kind of love, the kind that's almost tangible. But it's… I guess, it's not going to happen for me, but there's no reason it can't happen for you," she lied. She loved Sasuke so much, even if they were nothing but something akin to roommates. "Besides, I don't think your family will like you being married to a civilian if they that big of a shinobi family."
"Shut up," he growled through clenched teeth. She stopped and stared at him.
"Sorry," she muttered.
"Sakura, I choose to marry you, you did not make me, and yes, you're a civilian, but you're the best of your field, and that's fine. And just be yourself in this dinner," he said coldly.
"Why didn't you tell them about me?" she asked.
"Hn," he shrugged and she sighed.
No answer. Sakura just accepted this as an answer as she walked with Sasuke into the Uchiha compound.
"Sasuke," she looked over at a man with a squarer jaw than her husband, the same eyes, black hair, and a softer look about him.
"Itachi," Sasuke relaxed and she reluctantly followed her husband over to his brother. The men smiled at one another as they seemed to have a silent conversation with slight tells about their bodies before Itachi looked at her, his eyes wandered over her and Sakura felt very exposed as she stood there.
"Sakura, correct?" he asked.
"Yes, and you're Sasuke's big brother, Itachi," she smiled nervously as she clasped her hands behind her back.
"I can see why you picked this one," Itachi mused, Sakura frowned. "He's been turning down marriage arrangements for years."
"Oh." Sakura lamely replied.
"Sasuke," a sharp, hard, deep voice reprimanded. Sakura jolted at the sensation of someone just appearing at her shoulder.
"Ike!" she yelped as she stumbled back, an arm wrapped around her waist then as she stared at a man who looked eerily like Itachi, but with frown line etched around his mouth.
"Father," Sasuke and Itachi greeted. "This is my wife, Sakura," Sasuke introduced her then and she bow a bit.
"I see."
"Come," Itachi gestured for them as they followed. Sakura noticed that Sasuke's arm hadn't left her waist as they walked.
"He doesn't like me, does he," she whispered to her husband.
"Hn," he shrugged. She jabbed his side with an elbow and he scowled at her as she smiled innocently.
"Hello! You must be Sasuke's wife!" a beautiful woman with long black hair appeared and she had onyx eyes too, she smiled.
"Izumi, Sakura," Itachi said as he stood close to the young woman.
"Wow, you're so pretty!" Izumi giggled.
"Uh… thank you? You're gorgeous," Sakura admitted; and Izumi was. The Uchiha woman had a gorgeous, lithe, dancer figure, she had grace, and a beauty of the bones Sakura wished she had. "You're a civilian, right?"
"Yes," Sakura reluctantly admitted.
"Cool! Aside from Rin I've never met a civilian before," Izumi smiled.
"Dinner." Someone called and she walked with Sasuke for dinner. She was seated at the table, beside Sasuke, and at the end of the table. It was a quiet spot but as Sakura scanned over the faces she decided she was probably going to need a drink or two to survive this dinner. All of these people were like dragons, lethal, and intimidating; she was a bit nervous about this as she stared at the table and tried not to draw attention to herself.
"Who is that?" a sharp voice demanded and she stiffened as she dared to peek past Sasuke at the man at the head of the table.
"Uncle, this is my wife, Sakura," Sasuke said calmly and she smiled nervously at all the onyx eyes on her as she knew she stood out like a sore thumb. How could she not when everyone here had black hair and black eyes; all but one, and that one had brown hair and brown eyes with purple streaks on her face.
"Hi!" she waved a bit.
"Hmph, you finally got married?" the second elder by the one; she was guessing to be Madara, grumbled.
"Yes Grandfather, a civilian doctor, and star in her field," Sasuke said coolly.
"Danzo's damn laws," Madara growled.
"Um… yeah," Sakura said softly.
"He should stop meddling in private affairs, but at least Sasuke is married now, and to a beautiful young lady, tell me Sakura, who is your mentor in civilian medicine?" the brunette asked her.
"Senju Tsunade," Sakura answered. This seemed to impress the people at the table and dinner proceeded in a quiet affair. There were the occasional questions, but for the most part it was silent here. Sakura wasn't surprised for it seemed that every gestured, glance, move, body posture and head cock was a silent language all to the Uchiha clan. She wondered if she could study it enough to figure it because it was a quiet table. But there seemed to be a hell of a conversation going on around her.
It was after dinner that she was wandering the snowed gardens when a hand tapped her shoulder.
"Eep!" Sakura spun around and found herself looking at her mother-in-law.
"I apologize," Mikoto said.
"No… no, I just, I'm getting used to the silence," Sakura sighed.
"Oh, I see," Mikoto nodded. "I came to speak with you mother to woman."
"Uh…?" Sakura lifted her brows but Mikoto held up her hand then.
"I have come to thank you," she said.
"Huh?"
"Sasuke is not going to say it, and he will sooner cut out his tongue than say this; as all Uchiha men would, but you make him happy, and I thank you for that. It has been a long time since I saw my son relax like that," she said.
"Um, Sasuke and I… we're not, we're… there's nothing there. I don't think he likes me, he tolerates me, and he's always like that when I'm around him so I don't know what you mean by 'relaxed'," Sakura sighed.
"Oh child," Mikoto smiled.
"Am I missing something?" Sakura asked.
"The Uchiha feel deeply, we do not express it, but we feel so deeply, and what you've given Sasuke is something I must thank you for, and I must ask you not to break his heart."
"Well, I don't have his heart, but sure, sure, I will treat him like the king he is," Sakura smiled and Mikoto gave a soft chuckle then.
"You don't even know what it is you have," Mikoto murmured.
"I have a friend in a shinobi, who has OCD or something and hand washes all the clothes so my clothes don't dye his pink; again," Sakura sighed. Mikoto snorted.
"Take care of him," Mikoto murmured.
"Of course," Sakura smiled.
"Sakura," Sasuke's voice rang out and he was standing there looking like he was itching to leave.
"Coming, it was nice to meet you all!" Sakura smiled.
"It was a pleasure to meet you as well, come by whenever you should need anything," Mikoto said and Sakura walked up to Sasuke's side as they left then. Sakura's hand bumped Sasuke's a little and she jolted back to reality. Suddenly her husband's fingers brushed hers', she stole a glance at him, he was looking ahead and she softly moved her hand into his. He entwined their fingers as they walked to their place again.
Sakura liked holding his hand.
Sakura didn't know why but it felt like a step in the right direction for them, and she wasn't going to question him about holding her hand because she wanted the moment. After ally, unrequited love sucked, so she was going to take her moments as they came to her.
Hesitantly she rested her head on his shoulder.
"Your family was… interesting," she murmured.
"Hn."
Sasuke didn't know what to expect the first time he had been dragged to the ER.
His back was acting up, right where he knew a shuriken was because it had been there for years, but he didn't really care about it, until the dobe got a lucky punch in and Sasuke had been on the ground seeing stars as it felt like the damn shiruken ripped through his back. So as he sat there glaring at the dobe on a gurny, not about to leave, as he waited for the doctor to come see him, he had been planning the fastest ways to kill the doc and the dobe.
Now, he'd never admit this aloud, but Sasuke had a phobia: Nosocomephobia, the fear of hospitals. It was his darkest secret, and his most heavily guarded secret. No one, and he meant no one, not his mother or brother, not even the dobe or Kakashi, knew of this phobia. And he was keeping it that way.
So, as he had been sitting there trying to simultaneously not freak out (thus revealing his weakness) and plotting the dobe's untimely demise. Then the curtain had been pulled back, and he found himself staring at the most ridiculous woman he'd ever seen; the dobe and hospital forgotten as he stared at her.
She had ivory skin, green eyes, and pink hair; not just any pink, that sakura soft pink that bloomed in the spring. Aside from the bags under her eyes she looked gorgeous and he couldn't look away. She was entrancing, and annoyingly distracting.
Dr. Haruno Sakura, her name was very fitting in his mind. She looked like a sakura blossom and spring.
After she shoo'd the dobe away he felt more at ease about everything, right up to her slicing his shuriken out. he'd left it there to avoid coming to a hospital the first time, and now here he was, she sewed him up, put a bandage on, said to have a good night and to seek medical treatment, and he'd asked her to coffee.
If he hadn't happened to hear himself ask her to coffee he'd have never believed it.
Sasuke was avoiding marriage, he was avoiding it like the plague, but there was a law in the shinobi world stating he'd have to be married at twenty-five, and while he wasn't near that age at the time, he knew he was about to be on a time crunch.
After their coffee he vowed he wasn't going to seek her out.
No, he swore that Dr. Haruno Sakura was off limits, even if she was bright, headstrong, temperamental, and annoyingly distracting. He had spent three hours listening to her babbling about her work, and he could say it was time well spent.
But the fact remained:
She was a Civilian, and He was a Shinobi.
They did not mix; ever, and yet he couldn't seem to keep away from her. It annoyed him to no end until he decided 'to hell with it'. Sasuke had felt like a stalker originally, but apparently Sakura didn't think so, he picked her up outside the hospital, walked her to a place to eat and walked her home and he repeated this when he wasn't on missions.
Sakura didn't question him or what he was doing; but Kakashi did. Sasuke was honestly baffled the one night he'd been at Ichiraku's with Sakura and Kakashi appeared all smiles as he joined them. After Sasuke dropped her off at home Kakashi interrogated him, and while Kakashi was like a father to him, Sasuke honestly had no answers to the questions he was asked. Mostly because he had no fucking clue what was going on here or why he couldn't stay away from her.
Sasuke tried to push the magnetic pull he felt to her away, he had even had a brief affair with Naruto's younger sister, Karin, to try to get the pull he felt to Sakura out of his system, but it didn't work. Karin wasn't what he wanted, and after a month of trying to ditch the pull he felt to Sakura, he called it quits with Karin.
Naturally Karin was pissed, she trashed his apartment, which had only had Naruto laughing telling him 'I told you so!' the entire time. Sasuke had punched the dobe and fixed up his apartment. Lucky for him the dobe and Karin's older brother, Menma, was out on a year long mission and might never find out about this fling with Karin; Menma was someone to fear. The next morning he had run into a sleeping Sakura, she was standing on the street, looking in a window, sound asleep on her feet, he had woken her up and walked her home. The scary thing was that the civilian doctor hadn't even known she was asleep when he had woken her up.
After that he made it a habit to bring her out and give her a social life, introducing her to his team, and she took to them like a duck to water. It was strange, but Sasuke felt she belonged in their group rather than a civilian, but he left the opinion unsaid, he just watched her in fascination. She was so easy to watch, so happy, so bright, so beautiful, and so innocent that it was mesmerizing.
Again he tried to resist the pull he felt to her, but it wasn't easy, she was so easy to be around, so easy to enjoy, and so happy and bright. Part of him whispered he wasn't good enough for her, and even listed out ever name of every target he'd ever killed, it pointed out that he was dark, he was tainted, he was broken, he couldn't even communicate on the most basic of levels, and trying to verbalize his thoughts or emotions or plans just never worked for him. but a tiny part of him didn't resist the pull to her because it felt good to bask in her light. It felt… forbidden as strange as that was. But it felt right.
The day he never expected came on a rainy March morning, there was a knock on his door, he opened it to see her dressed in a pretty, simple, white dress looking like her world was about to crumble around her.
It had been about a year of knowing her and he knew then he'd do anything she needed to get rid of her crushed look. Because she looked like she was about to die. He listened to her talk for a long moment, furious internally at the law that civilians were forced to live with, and internally gleeful that her partner was such an ass to do this to her because it gave him something perfect.
It served her up to him on a silver platter.
A part of him was appalled at the idea, the mere thought of getting married was horrifying, and the idea of using her in this way was disgusting. But the selfish part of him took exactly what he wanted, and he figured he could figure out the rest with her later. Once she was legally his though he'd never have to worry about another taking her from him and that was his only concern.
Their wedding had been simple, quiet and quick. After a brief chaste kiss he knew he could never have her.
Which was why he kept his marriage to her quiet, anyone who asked only knew he'd found a girl, and anyone who looked at her didn't see his wife.
The guilt he felt about this entire situation was enough to have him actively avoiding her, he didn't want to take advantage of her because she'd been in a bad spot and probably didn't see him as anything other than a friend; at the most. However, he was very quiet and content about her being an official part of his life, a permanent part of his life.
Nat that he had verbalized this; and perhaps that had been a mistake but hell!
He was NOT good with words! EVER! Any time he tried to say something about what he was thinking or feeling it came out very wrong and left him very baffled and the other party pissed at him. Itachi thought this dilemma amusing when they had been children, and had frequently assured him he'd grow out of it. But it appeared Itachi was wrong, because here he was at twenty-three with a wife he cared about, and probably loved, and he couldn't even put it into words.
However, the first spark of jealousy and fury he had felt came when his mother had invited them to the Uchiha Christmas dinner; not something he disliked. But it had had Sakura in a panic and she babbled about divorce, marrying a nice widower who liked her, and he had felt something in him snap.
Here he had been trying, trying really fucking hard; not to take advantage of her, or her bad situation, and yet he had managed to make her think that he didn't want her. Sasuke internally fumed about it as he kicked himself for his lack of verbal abilities. He wanted her around, he needed her around. After a hellish mission it felt like home just to see her again.
Granted, he did understand her insecurities about her position in his life when he had forgotten to tell his family about her. Well, to be honest, he had forgotten to tell his family about her, he didn't know HOW to tell his family about her. Again, he was not a verbal person, and while most his clansmen were quiet by nature they all had the wonderful ability to at least put into words what they were thinking, doing, or feeling and then there was him. Thank Kami he was never going to be Hokage; Namikaze Minato was the next in line for that job, but the point was Sasuke could not talk and if he had to talk in public he'd have very little doubt about there being another Shinobi War. So, if he could barely communicate with his mentor, team, and best friend, how the hell was he supposed to talk to his family about a wife he wanted but couldn't talk to because he sucked at verbal communication!?
Sasuke was seriously beginning to contemplate writing his words down on note cards or something so he didn't have to speak ever again. This was just plain hell.
After the Christmas dinner he had a talk with his mother; thank Kami his mother never took offense to what he said and seemed to understand his dilemma about talking.
"She doesn't know at all then?" his mother finally asked after he vented his frustrations.
"No," he growled as his head fell back and he stared at the ceiling. Why did he have to be him?
"Sasuke, you're going to have to speak to her about this," Mikoto said.
"I will not say the right thing," he assured his mother, who merely sighed.
"No, I don't suppose you would, you're like Izuna that way," she muttered.
"Grandfather does not horribly say the worst thing all the time," he defended. Granted that was just a matter of his opinion, but the only one in this clan who got his talking dilemma was Izuna and he and his grandfather spoke often.
"Is that why you did not tell us about her?" his mother asked.
"No," he sighed. "I didn't know how to bring it up."
"If I didn't happen to know Sai was on your team I'd think you were the social retard," his mother mused, he scowled.
"Sasuke, just talk to her, explain it, even if she's a civilian she'll understand what you're saying," she assured him. he tilted his head to the side as he thought this over.
"I'd better speak to grandfather," he decided.
"Sasuke!" his mother snapped, he groaned.
"I don't know how to talk to her about this!" he spat out angrily. He'd tried for about the past month to approach the subject with her, but every time he got close he got baffled and said the exact wrong thing to say and they were on a different topic. The last time he had tried to talk to her they ended up on a conversation about buying a kitten! Love and relationships and kittens had nothing in common and he was still trying to figure out how they had gotten there.
"Alright, then show her," Mikoto said calmly.
"Hn?"
"Show her your interest in her, she might not see it yet but I can see you love her. So show her, you were always my more action oriented child, and Itachi was my planner," Mikoto smiled.
"Hn," he grunted.
"Sasuke, if there hadn't happened to be a marriage law in place I'd be having a very similar yet different talk with your brother about going after Izumi," his mother assured him.
He sighed.
"Perhaps," he muttered.
"Good, now show her you're interested, and she'll see it," his mother assured him.
"Aa," he decided as he stood up and left his mother behind. he was feeling a tad bit better about this, but he knew he was still screwed because he had no idea what he was going to do about this. It wasn't like he could just start courting his wife.
And yet… that's exactly what he was going to do.
Damn it, why did civilians and shinobi have to be so damn different?
He picked up some daffodils for Sakura on his way home and walked into their apartment to see her sitting at their table reading over three books at once and taking notes.
"Hi!" she smiled brightly, he held out the flowers for her and felt the tips of his ears heating up.
"For me?" she looked baffled as she took them.
"Aa," he nodded and took a seat across from her. she was smiling as she scented them and he decided that while he wasn't verbal, he might be able to handle this. He just hoped to Kami she caught onto what he was doing because he knew there was no way to verbalize it.
Part II; Flowers & Blood Coming Soon! ;)
That's all for now folks!
Enjoy Uchiha! =)