More shameless pimping of my LiveJournal account… I would really appreciate it if you people would let me know what you think… But whatever. Here's the next chapter. After all, that's what you're here for, yes?
- - -
Sakura's nerves were near exploding by noontime. She kept expecting Sasuke to show up at the door all morning, but nobody had visited.
The messenger she had sent the day before had returned, but he claimed to remember no such letter. Even as his eyes flickered nervously, gazing anywhere but her, his story never changed. He had been sent out for paper, didn't the mistress remember He'd been out looking for hours, just for her.
In a rage, Sakura almost dismissed him from his post, until she remembered his young daughter, his wife, and his mother – the elderly maid who had helped her with Itachi – and reined in her temper just in time. Closing her eyes in frustration, she sent him scurrying from the room.
Settling down on a settee in one of the various rooms in the Haruno residence, she massaged her temples and groaned softly in frustration. Itachi had refused her, and now this business with Sasuke… Briefly she wondered if this situation could get any worse. Chuckling sardonically to herself, she sat there for a few hours.
A shuffling noise in front of her brought her back to the present. She gazed up between her fingers and found the servant she'd sent out the night before, beckoning nervously to her,
"What is it?" she demanded testily. At his insistence, she followed him into a large, empty larder.
He turned and shut the door behind him. "My apologies, lady, but no one must overhear us. As my lady has no doubt realized, I was lying when I said I remembered nothing about a note. I can only offer my sincerest apologies."
Sakura raised an eyebrow skeptically. "And you just decided to tell me now?"
He gave her a slightly sheepish smile. "I wasn't supposed to tell you, lady, but the missus told me to tell you; and when the missus tells you to do something, you do it – especially when she has mother backing her up."
She nodded as comprehension dawned on her. His wife, though relatively young, had a fierce temper and a sharp tongue. "Go on."
Here he lowered his voice and continued sotto voce. "On my way to Lord Uchiha's home I was attacked from behind. When I awoke, I found myself facing – of all people! – the Duke and Duchess of Sixwood. The Duke told me that you could not marry Lord Uchiha. The letter was gone by then."
Sakura hissed in outrage. "The Duke attacked you?"
He shook his head. "His Grace was merely there to assist," he said slowly. "The real mastermind was the woman who took your letter, my lady."
"Who?" she demanded sharply. "Tell me! For God's sake, man, tell me!"
When he beckoned her closer and whispered a name in her ear, her eyes narrowed to slits and her hands clenched into fists.
"Summon the carriage," she commanded with a deceptively calm voice. "Then send someone for Lord and Lady Hyuuga. We leave in five minutes."
The manservant paled and swallowed. "You – you won't mention I told you, lady?" he asked, terrified by the look in Sakura's eyes and lips. "The – the Duke is a powerful man, and I would rather stay out of his path."
She paused at the doorway, looking back at him. "And yet you told me?"
"The missus scares me even more!" was his reply.
He gave a short, harsh bark of laughter as she swept from the storage room, a glorious avenging blaze of scarlet silk like a river of fire.
"You!" she shouted to a hapless servant outside as she threw open the doors. "Bring me my carriage!"
- - -
With her temper firmly held down by sheer willpower, Sakura lifted a daintily gloved hand and knocked on the wooden doors.
The gilt wood swung open and a servant peeked out. "May I help you?" he inquired, but shut his mouth under her furious gaze.
"Is your mistress home?" she intoned flatly.
The man gulped but nodded. "Follow me."
She drew to an abrupt halt in front of Sasuke Uchiha. Tenten narrowly avoided crashing into her by sidestepping neatly and yanking Neji along with her.
"You did not receive my letter, did you?" Sakura demanded brusquely.
"What letter?" This was answer enough, and she twitched her skirts into place with a snap and continued to stalk down the hall.
Sasuke strode after her, catching up quickly due to his longer legs. Still, he worked to keep up with her furious pace.
"Sakura, what is it?" he wanted to know.
She ignored him as she passed the servant, who held the door open, but took a step back as she registered the occupants of the room.
"Sakura." Itachi stood and padded silently across the room toward her. "What brings you here?"
Her eyes flashed angrily. "I would like to speak to your mother," she replied stiffly. It registered vaguely that this was the woman she had met on the streets a while back, but in her current mood it did not matter much.
"My mother?" Itachi looked at her, surprise laced with suspicion in his eyes.
The woman in question rose as well, smoothing out her sapphire gown. "I will hazard a guess at your reason for visiting," she said quietly. "I have been expecting you, but not nearly so soon. Your servants are very loyal." She smiled, confirming Sakura's suspicions.
"Or very submissive to their wives," she countered tersely. "What have you done with my letter? And what are your reasons?"
"Mother?" Sasuke interjected uncertainly, but both women ignored him.
"I could not allow it," Lady Uchiha stated serenely.
"And whyever not?" Tenten interceded, Sakura having briefed Neji and herself on the situation during the carriage ride to the Uchiha manor.
"You cannot marry Sasuke!" the Uchiha matriarch wailed suddenly, losing her composure. "You are so perfect for Itachi! Imagine my shock when I intercepted your letter to Sasuke instead!"
Itachi's eyes flashed. "Marry Sasuke?"
Sasuke growled. "Perfect for Itachi?!"
In unison, they turned to their mother. "Mother, what is this?"
It was Sakura who answered instead. "Listen before you speak," she cautioned them. When she had their grudging compliance, she continued. "After Itachi turned me down, I wrote a letter to Sasuke telling him that I accepted his offer of marriage." Both brothers looked thunderstruck, but said nothing. "My message was intercepted by Lady Uchiha, and therefore was never received." She straightened up and addressed said Lady directly. "I have just come to inform you that I will marry whomever I please."
Lady Uchiha shook her head slowly. "No, I am afraid not," she murmured as she looked at the pink-haired woman across the room.
Sakura cocked her head and lifted an eyebrow. "And whyever not?
"Because," Lady Uchiha replied, "I was visiting my oldest son one day when I overheard something very interesting… You will marry Itachi." The gleam in her eyes, coupled with her words, set off alarms in Sakura's head.
She gasped. "You were listening to our conversation!"
Lady Uchiha shrugged. "Only a few words, but enough. The public will force you to marry my son, you know. If you choose to ignore them, who will care for your parents?"
Suddenly, Sakura threw back her head and laughed, soft and chilling. "I do like your mother," she told Itachi directly. "I never would have expected this from her, seeing her outside her demesne."
"Most people do not," Lady Uchiha acknowledged cautiously, wary of the Haruno heiress' unexpectedly dark mien. "What has so amused you?"
"Only that, should you reveal what you have discovered, you will be making life difficult for your son and not me," Sakura replied firmly, completely sober now. "However, no matter what, you shall not threaten my parents." Her eyes, dark green with anger, were dead serious.
Lady Uchiha shifted. "Very well," she allowed. "Your parents will stay out of our conversation. But you will marry Itachi, one way or another."
Here Sasuke felt the need to intervene, daring to enter the palpable tension between the two females.
"Mother," he ventured, "just what is it that makes her 'perfect for Itachi'?" He only shrank back a little when both women turned their hard gazes onto him.
"And where have you been, my son?" Lady Uchiha cried impatiently. "She is well-born, gently-bred, and she is capable of standing up to not only me but to Itachi as well!"
"A miracle indeed, that she can face you," Itachi muttered (fondly) to himself, being very careful not to let his mother hear his words.
"And why can I not marry her?" Sasuke demanded of his mother.
Lady Uchiha's obsidian eyes, as dark as her sons', glittered in frustration. "She has already seen right through you, Sasuke! She must marry your brother!"
"And what is this conversation you overheard between the two of them?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.
Quickly, Sakura intervened. "Very well, Lady Uchiha," she sighed wearily. "I do not wish to make an enemy of you; I will concede. I will marry your son – but you must be the one to convince him. Neither your husband nor I nor the Duke nor the Duchess of Sixwood may help you. Only then will I agree. I would wish you good luck but…" she smiled thinly "…I'm sure you understand. Good day."
On that startling and utterly unexpected note, she turned in a swirl of fiery silk and majestically left the room, leaving all the others in a stunned silence.
As Tenten and Neji hurried after Sakura, Lady Uchiha dismissed Sasuke and turned her attention to her eldest son. Itachi, normally a man of sangfroid, winced as he met her eyes in resignation, knowing that it was too late to flee the room.
Her lips moved. "Itachi…"
- - -
"Sakura," Tenten panted as she finally caught up with her friend (having left Neji in the dust behind her, despite her fashionable corsets), "you really did not need to agree. You could have kept refusing, you know…"
Sakura sat impatiently as Neji climbed into the carriage at last before closing the door carefully.
Only then did she turn to face them; her angry marble mask dropped away, and her eyes sparkled and she smiled in satisfaction.
"That went well, didn't it?" she remarked cheerfully as the carriage began moving. Tenten stared, open-mouthed in shock.
"You will never cease to amaze me," Neji mumbled, shaking his head in bewilderment.
Sakura laughed merrily, all troubles seemingly forgotten.
"I – I don't understand…" Tenten stammered. Neji put an arm around her, brow furrowing.
"Yes, Sakura. Perhaps you should explain for us just what exactly it was you did back there."
"Hm?" She gave an innocent look. "What was I doing? Obviating, of course!" At the uncomprehending looks she received following her explanation, she relented. "Oh, very well. Just a bit of reverse psychology, really. I want Itachi to marry me' he would rather not. However, he respects his mother – perhaps even fears her, at times – and now that she is (unwittingly) on my side, I will win. All it will take is a little time."
"And if she had not intercepted your letter to Sasuke?" Neji raised an eyebrow.
Sakura shrugged. "Then I would have married him."
"You would have married a man who regularly dallies with a married woman? With Karin of Hawkford, at that?" Neji blanched at the thought.
To his surprise, Sakura's eyes grew steely and even Tenten huffed. "Spoken like a true male," the brunette countess mumbled under her breath.
It was Sakura who elaborated on Tenten's scornful mutterings. "I was raised as a noblewoman," she reminded Neji. "My mother and father treat me kindly, but the fact still remains that I am expected to marry some nobleman and bear his children." She shrugged again, completely at ease with the facts. "If he is rich with a respectable heritage, he is acceptable. If he is handsome, good for me. If he is kind, even better for me. But society does not care for that. At least my mother finds suitors whom I can grow to like."
"These are the things that are engraved into every young noblewoman's mind from birth," Tenten murmured.
"At least I can easily manipulate Sasuke," Sakura added lightly. "But Itachi is even better; I would rather have someone who is my equal in intellect. And I simply adore his mother…"
"It rather sounded like you two hated each other back there," Neji interjected dubiously, but Sakura waved it away nonchalantly.
"She understood," was all she offered. "She is so eager to see her son wed that a little disagreement like that will only strengthen her resolution."
Tenten laughed dryly. "She could hold her own against you," she observed, eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth. "That is something not seen every day."
"I should think they are saying the same thing, only about you, in the Uchiha household," Neji chuckled, absently putting an arm around Tenten as he reflected.
Sakura looked away, sighing softly as she watched the scenery fly by through clouded eyes. "Now I must wait," she murmured to herself. "I always did hate waiting."
Hopefully, Lady Uchiha worked quickly enough that the wait would not be too long.
Her day's work finished, Sakura trailed listlessly up the stairs to her room.
"There; all finished with that," she told herself in satisfaction, glad that her plan had worked out.
She really did regret causing the poor servant so much trouble, but he was the only one who was more afraid of his wife than of the Duke of Sixwood.
The only other manservant with a fierce wife, a nondescript man with absolutely no distinguishing features, had been sent out earlier with an anonymous letter addressed to the Duchess of Fanshire, briefly mentioning a messenger from Lady Sakura Haruno whose destination was Lord Sasuke Uchiha's abode.
But what if it had not worked? She scowled at her doubtful mind.
Then I would have married Sasuke, she shot back. But – Sasuke was so… boring. So easy to manipulate, so predictable. And would she end up like Lady Konan, a master at the art of mind-manipulation? She shivered.
She didn't want to marry Sasuke, she realized with a start. She was willing to go to almost any lengths to marry Itachi.
The idea startled her, shocked her, frightened her. Why should she feel this – this need, this urge for Itachi to be the one she married? Certainly, he was handsome and rich and brilliant, but there were other noblemen who were just as rich and perhaps almost handsome and brilliant.
So why Itachi?
When the answer hit her, she froze. She liked Itachi. She enjoyed exchanging words with him, testing her wit, being matched word for word. She unconsciously looked forward to being in his presence.
Dear Lord, what was happening to her?
- - -
The mysterious woman is unveiled. Cookies to Juniper11, who correctly guessed Uchiha Mikoto!!!! …I guess I could write a oneshot for you, if you really want it. Just PM me, and we'll talk. (Am I really that transparent? I thought for sure no one would be able to guess it correctly… Oh, well.) So, then, I'll see you guys next time!
And if I haven't been the best at remembering to thank all of my reviewers and readers, I just want you to know that I'm always happy when I see my reviews. Ja!!!!