The ever busy Konoha was even more chaotic in the week before the wedding. Hundreds of foreign guests flooded the capital, some of them renting out villas or suites in the most expensive hotels the city could offer. The citizens were really enthusiastic as well. The details of the wedding were a constant topic between them. It was no wonder though; the last royal wedding was between Fugaku and Mikoto almost thirty years ago.

It was Sakura's and Kakashi's duty to greet each and every guest, as a form of gratitude that they'll attend the wedding ceremony. They were both annoyed by this ridiculous custom, but the Council was adamant on following each and every step of protocol.

Sakura was in the middle of organizing a few things in her room, when one of the servants told her that two new guests arrived and were currently waiting for her in the hall. Muttering illegible curses under her breath, she headed towards the hall, which was oh so inconveniently at the other side of the palace. To her surprise, Kakashi was already waiting for her at the stairs.

"Oh, how come you are so early?" She asked with a smirk, pretending to be overly surprised.

"Ha ha ha." He narrowed his one visible eye.

"You were nearby when the servant told you, huh?"

"That might be the case." Kakashi mumbled. He extended his hand, grabbing hers when she was close enough. They were starting to getting used to holding hands like this, in such kind of situations. It most definitely wasn't a romantic act or anything. Neither felt electricity surging through their veins at the moment of contact. Though, they didn't feel uncomfortable while doing so either. They had to hold hand so frequently, that the sensation of discomfort was long forgotten.

They went down the marble stairs, their guests slowly coming into view. Sakura's breath hitched at their sight.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be.

He was here.

Uzumaki Naruto was standing only a few feet away from her, with that trademark grin plastered on his face.

This was bad. So bad.

A barrage of thoughts flooded her entire being. One of the most dominant ones were those that wanted to kick Naruto out of the palace as soon as possible. The only reason why she sent him the invitation was because of their common past. To be honest, he was probably the last person she wanted to attend her wedding. It wasn't like she hated him or something.

In the invitation and letter she sent him, Sakura accidentally forgot to mention the fact that her engagement and marriage was an arranged one. Knowing Naruto, he would blow up at the news, and probably cause a scene, which could pretty much worsen her already dire situation. So yes, ignorance is bliss.

Not to mention that…that he…that both of them had certain unfinished matters. Matters that made her feeling nauseous whenever she got reminded of them. So yes, she felt like throwing up right now. Sweet.

Kakashi took a side glance at his fiancée. She was nervous…if her pale complex and the iron grip she had his hand in was enough proof. He started wondering about what kind of connection she had to the two visitors.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto started running towards Sakura as soon as she finished climbing down the stairs. He quickly enveloped her in a tight hug, knocking out the wind from her lungs.

"I'm glad to see you too, Naruto." She wheezed, patting his back.

"I came as soon as I heard about the news!" To her relief, his embrace loosened.

"Took you long enough." Sakura laughed.

"It's not my fault…Ero-senning had to stop at almost all of the bathhouses we came across." The blonde pointed at the white haired man at his back.

"Hey, an old man like me has to rest his aching joints once in a while."

"Of course." Naruto muttered.

"Jiraiya-san!" Sakura walked towards the older man with a smile.

"Hello there Sakura-chan." He smiled at her warmly. He grabbed her hand and kissed it tenderly. "You've grown into a really beautiful woman. Tsunade had a really good influence on you." This earned a chuckle from Sakura.

Leave it to Jiraiya to throw compliments right after greeting someone from the opposite sex. The man just loved to flirt

"Please forgive the behavior of my godson; he was born with the manners of a caveman." Jiraiya said to Kakashi, bowing.

"Hey, Ero-sennin!"

"I'm Jiraiya and he's Uzumaki Naruto."

Sakura snickered at Kakashi's shocked face after finding out that his favorite author was in the same room as him.

"I'm a big fan of your work, Jiraiya-san." Kakashi shook the older man's hand with much enthusiasm.

"It's an honor, Your Majesty."

"Have you decided yet about where will you stay in the following days?" Kakashi asked.

"We are planning on renting a room somewhere."

"Nonsense! We have plenty of empty guest rooms, you should stay here." The king stated.

"Oh, Your Majesty, you are far too kind."

"You are Sakura's close friends, so it's evident that you'll stay here. I'll tell the servants immediately to prepare your rooms." Kakashi was already walking down one of the corridors, searching for a servant.

"We were really surprised about the news, Sakura-chan." Naruto stated after some silence.

"Oh, really?" Sakura was as tense as a board.

"Yes." Naruto scratched the back of his neck with a bandaged hand.

"Your hand. What happened?" Sakura asked, with unmasked worry in her voice.

"Oh…I went a little bit overboard with training. It's nothing serious though."

Green eyes narrowed at his words. "That's what you said after breaking your arm. You might have gotten taller and older, but you didn't change even a bit." She shook her head with a knowing smile. "Come on, I'll treat it properly." She dragged him towards the infirmary.

….

This was bad…no, bad wasn't the right word to express the direness of her situation. Disastrous was a more fitting word. Yes, she'll settle on disastrous.

Sakura almost fainted when Kakashi told Naruto and Jiraiya to stay here.

Uzumaki Naruto, the man who didn't know the full details of her marriage was living in the palace. In the palace, where everyone knew about the real reason of her engagement. The common people, who lived outside of court politics didn't have the slightest idea about the truth. They still thought that Kakashi and her got engaged out of love, because they wanted to tie their lives together. Commoners still lived in the belief that everything that happened in court was because of true feelings and not because of contracts and agreements.

Well, Sakura wasn't that different as a child. She thought that the prince and princess fell in love before they got wed. And that the princess's opinion was counted, that she wasn't forced to leave her home behind. Unfortunately it turned out that fairytales were just that, tales. Just a faction of truth with lies filling out the parts that were omitted, since they were far too cruel for people to handle.

She sat up abruptly on her bed after commotion broke out at the other side of her door. The faint voice of two people arguing could be heard. Furrowing her brows, the pinkette walked towards the door. Just when she was about to wrap her fingers around the ledge, the entrance opened, almost smashing her face.

"What the-!" She exclaimed, preparing to reprimand the person responsible. Like honestly, the wedding was less than a week away and she was absolutely not in the mood to get plastic surgery done. Her words got caught in her throat at the sight of the person standing in front of her. It seems like today was the day of absolute surprises.

"Ino?" Sakura whispered.

"Hey there Forehead." The blonde chuckled.

Ino and her were calling each other names since they were little. Though, in the beginning they weren't words of endearment, but those of insult. It all began when they both fell for the same boy back in elementary school. They became rivals, constantly trying to undermine the other one's achievements. It all stopped when Sakura's parents died. Ino was the one to break the ice, knowing that the pinkette needed a friend more than a rival. However they still called each other Pig and Forehead.

Sakura hugged her friend immediately, tears coming out from her eyes. "I'm so sorry for not saying goodbye." She sobbed. "I thought…I…" She regretted for not saying goodbye before leaving Uzushiogakure. She was afraid that their friendship was over, that when Ino receives the wedding invitation it would end up in the trashcan. So, Sakura felt relieved when she saw the blonde on her threshold.

"Oh, don't cry. Because I'm going to cry as well." The other woman sobbed.

"I'm so glad that you are here."

"Me too, though I had to fight your maids." Ino laughed, pointing at the two women behind her. "They didn't believe that I'm your friend and have the permission to enter your room or something."

"Come in, I have a lot to tell you."

….

Ino stared at her with a slack jaw.

"So, let's revise, because this whole situation that you explained a moment ago makes no sense." The blonde closed her eyes, massaging her temples. "Naruto is currently in the palace, knows nothing about your marriage being an arranged one and you hope that it'll stay that way?

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up." Sakura pursed her lips.

"Are. You. Out. Of. Your. Mind? Like seriously, what were you thinking when you wrote that letter?" The pinkette winced at the sheer volume of her friend's question. Yeah, ear ringing and permanent deafness was definitely not something she missed about Ino.

"Well, you might have forgotten my past relations with Naruto."

Ino formed an "O" with her mouth; she looked like an enlightened person, someone who discovered the meaning of life, or something else of equal importance for mankind.

"Um, that partly explains a few things." She spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"Oh, I'm glad that you gave me your seal of approval, Pig." The pinkette replied sarcastically.

"Now, now, don't get so cynical. It was still a stupid decision in my opinion. Like honestly, how old were you when you made that promise? Four?"

"Six." Sakura mumbled.

"Same, same." Ino just waved if off. "And he left when you were thirteen. The very fact from him of considering that you'll keep such kind of promise is absurd."

"You are talking like you are expecting him of finding out."

"Oh, he'll find out. There's no doubt about it. He might not have found out had he stayed outside the palace, but it's just the matter of time when some person of high status mentions the circumstances of your marriage. Naruto might be dense, but he's not an idiot."

"I'm doomed." Sakura sighed.

"No, you are not. I think he took the news of the wedding quite well. I mean, considering his theoretical feelings."

"Do you think that he doesn't feel like that anymore?" She bit down on her lower lip. "The way he felt before leaving home."

"Well, an awful lot of time has passed since then. And you know, people change…he might've met someone during his travels. Who knows?" Ino shrugged, carefully eyeing her friend.

"You are right."

Blue eyes narrowed. "Then why are you making a face like someone kicked you in the butt?"

"Me?" Sakura jumped, looking up at her companion. "I…" She averted her gaze. "I might be…disappointed?"

"About what?"

"That he might've found someone else. Of course, it's really selfish of me for wanting him to feel the same way towards me as before. I mean, even I've been dating boys in the past couple of years, but still. I should be glad and happy, since he found someone. I-"

Ino put her hand on the pinkette's shoulder. "Forehead, you don't have to explain everything. I won't judge you or anything."

"Thanks." She smiled.

….

Naruto walked on the empty halls of the palace, not really having a concrete destination. He looked at his bandaged hand, a fond smile appearing on his face. The ugly, dirty he had his hand wrapped in was long discarded, a crisp white bandage being in its place. Sakura hadn't changed even a bit, if anything she has become even more beautiful.

The news of her engagement felt like a sucker punch. It was unexpected, something that he hadn't anticipated. He felt anger towards her, because she hadn't kept her promise to him. She betrayed him and it was unforgivable. How could she…

But then, after the fog of anger that clouded his vision dissipated, he saw clearly. Her betrayal didn't feel like that anymore. If anything, he blamed himself for everything. How could he accuse her of something like that? He didn't have the right to do so.

She was beautiful, caring, funny, and smart and the list could go on and on. Of course she found someone who she loved and felt the same way towards her. That man was one hell of a lucky guy.

"Don't you feel sorry for her?" He heard someone talking from one of the rooms.

"Why should I? It might be an arranged marriage, but she still gets to become the queen of the country. I would most certainly accept such kind of fate."

Two maids came out of the room, both holding laundry baskets. They looked strangely at the backside of the blonde man who was running down the corridor.

Hello there!

So Naruto is here with trouble in tow. The wedding will take place in chapter 11 I think so... It would've been in the next chapter but complications arose, so I had to rewrite my plan...

Thank you for reading. Thanks for everyone who reviewed, followed or put the story into their favorites!

Updates might be even more slower, since I'll be at an excavation for a month or so and won't have time to write... Sorry...