Title: family feud
Summary: They're tired of pretending.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Prompt: pretending to hate each other au
Rating: K
A/N: Royals!AU as well.

Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Sakura closed her eyes, relishing in the stillness of the night. Shrouded as the sky was and cold as the wind felt against her skin, it was peaceful here on this private little balcony she'd found, and considering tonight's events, it was more than she could ask for.

Heavens, she was tired of it all tonight. Of the pretense, the constant slandering; of the feud that instigated this whole petty rivalry too many decades past. She just wanted to be honest, for once.

"Already hiding?" a voice she knew too-well called, inducing pretty little flutters in her chest. Sakura fought back a smile. "It's barely been an hour."

"Well, you see," she replied, clasping her hands behind her back, already feeling her gloom washing away at his presence, "my mother is particularly relentless today. She won't stop creating opportunities to get me to tell everyone in great detail how much I hate you and despise your company."

He made a sound at that, something like a quieted huff of laughter. "Running out of lies to tell?" he asked, steps coming closer.

When he reached her side, she finally allowed herself to smile. "Running out of energy to waste," she replied, eyes crinkling with teasing mirth.

That made him smirk.

Nearly blushing, Sakura giggled lightly. It was almost unfair sometimes how devilishly handsome he could be, she thought to herself. Especially now, dressed in this custom made formal wear she had never seen before tonight, accentuating his very best features. He looked beautiful, as funny as that sounded in her head.

Not that she would ever tell him that.

("You're crazy," he'd tell her, snorting. "No man can ever be beautiful. That doesn't make any sense.")

"At least no one is trying to poison you yet."

His comment took her off guard, sending a burst of laughter tumbling from her mouth. She knew exactly who he was referring to. "Is my father scaring you again, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke wrinkled his nose with distaste, leaning his arms on the balcony railings. "He overheard me calling you annoying earlier, and the next thing I know, he's handing me a drink that smells funny."

Refraining the urge to laugh again, Sakura discreetly hid her smile with her hand, hoping he wouldn't notice. "Well you're lucky he didn't actually try to kill you," she said, turning her attention back to the steadily clearing night sky. Pretty. "He probably slipped some funny concoction just to make it taste bad. Trust me, if my father wanted to kill you with a poison, you wouldn't be able to smell it."

"Well that's comforting."

At the sarcasm dripping from his tone, Sakura fought back the urge to roll her eyes. "Oh, don't be such a pansy," she said. "Like my father would ever actually try to murder you."

"Hm."

Smiling, she shook her head and shifted her eyes to him, noting with fondness the tranquility to his features. Seemingly sensing her stare, Sasuke moved to look at her as well, gaze catching hers. He raised a questioning brow.

"I can't believe you're still going on about that, by the way," she told him, nudging him playfully.

"About what?"

"The annoying thing."

Sasuke lips tugged lightly, in the beginnings of another smirk.

"Well, you are—"

"Hey!" she interjected, pouting.

"—but not in the way they think," he finished, throwing her a look.

Her cheeks flushed again, lips splitting into a mix of a sheepish, bashful grin. "Oh. Well," she said, straightening her back to retain some propriety. She flicked her hair back in humor. "I guess you're not so bad yourself, then," she joked, feigning an air of vanity.

Sasuke responded with nothing but a playful shove of his elbow, sending her laughing again. "Kidding! You know I never bought into this whole Uchihas Are Assholes Who Must Not Be Trusted debacle. I mean you could be a real jerk sometimes but what teenager isn't at some point, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks."

"Always happy to be honest," she gibed, patting him with mock-sympathy.

Sasuke simply swatted her hand away, a faint smile slipping to his lips. They were quiet, comfortable, for a moment.

Then: "It's tiring to constantly have to pretend that I resent you, you know."

Her smile faded a bit. "Yeah," she sighed, "I know. It all just feels pointless. I mean what are our families still fighting about anyway, right? That feud that apparently disgraced us all—it happened over a hundred years ago. It has nothing to do with us."

Sasuke simply shrugged at that, picking at his nails. "They're good at holding grudges, I guess."

"I just want to tell them all to grow up, sometimes," she mumbled, smoothing down the thick, slightly too heavy material of her dress with a frown.

Tenderness swept sweetly over her heart, though, as his hand confidently reached out to grasp hers, twining their fingers together. Annoyance positively vanished, she watched as he brought up their linked hands to kiss the back of her own, inciting a smile to her lips.

Green eyes softened, she moved to press her form against him, leaning her head quietly on his arm. She sighed. "When do you think we could tell them we got married, Sasuke-kun?" she whispered, squeezing his hand with affection.

His response came in nothing but a snort. "Realistically? Never."

"Sasuke-kun!" she whined, pulling herself away from him. "Now you're just being depressing! You can't possibly thing we could hide this from them forever?"

"Why not?" he said, smirking. "They haven't noticed we've been together for the past four years."

Sakura could do nothing but bemoan in return.