A/N: Thanks for all your reviews! It inspired me to write faster Also thanks to those who have subscribed to or favourited this story…I will try not to disappoint. I know it's centering on Sakura a lot at the moment, but that's just to get the story going. All of the other characters will start appearing soon
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter Two
It's funny how unusually fast time passes, it was already the day of the grand ball and engagement. The entire kingdom was in a flurry over the preparations. Sakura was hardly excited, she hoped that the plan would work. She put on her beautiful dress of pale pink satin upside down. She made her hair look ghastly and applied makeup of mismatching colours in excessive amounts. She looked like a diseased clown. Kabuto was in for a nasty surprise. Sakura heard a sound behind her as Karin entered the room. "Oh, Sakura, I just met the boy of my dreams!" she said, a look of dreaminess upon her face, then she looked at Sakura's estranged getup, "Well that's certainly a fashion statement."
Sakura laughed uneasily. "So tell me who he is," Sakura said, smiling, all the while feeling like an ugly stepsister.
"I saw him as I was passing by the kitchens. He is gorgeous! He hath bright blue eyes, and angelic blonde hair!" Karin was saying, then she added as an afterthought, "I think he is the kitchen help, but his chakra feels as delicious as his ramen dishes!"
Sakura gasped. It was no doubt that Karin was talking about Naruto. She had to direct Karin away from Naruto or there would just be another complication. "Sure he is, but your mother wouldn't want you to marry the kitchen help," Sakura said, wincing at her own words.
"My mother won't mind, she got married to my father and he used to work in the garden!" Karin said with a melodious laugh. Sakura wished she were in Karin's position, free to make her own choices.
"But he is so unrefined, not even a decent gentleman," Sakura said, trying to think of who else was available to ward Karin off from Naruto.
"What about, Sasuke?" Sakura said in desperation, "He is very handsome, better than Naruto, and very intelligent too." Sasuke was going to kill her.
"Really?" Karin asked with sparkly eyes.
"Really! And he is from the famous Uchiha clan that possesses the sharingan!"
Karin smiled widely, "All right! I'll propose during your ball!"
Yip, Sakura thought. Sasuke was definitely going to kill her.
"Now if you will excuse me, I need to have a word with my mother," Sakura said, and she bolted out of the room and ran to find Sasuke, she had to warn him about Karin.
"Whoa, Kabuto will most certainly divorce you even before he marries you," said Kiba, who was doubled over with laughter at the sight of Sakura. She gave him a scathing look.
"Sasuke, there is something very important you should know," Sakura gulped.
"What is it?" he asked, a look of suspicion coming over his face.
"Um, well, I sort of told Karin that you were the one for her and now she plans to marry you," Sakura choked out.
Lee, Chouji and Kiba gasped.
"Why would you do a thing like that?" Sasuke asked her, his normally passive face looking horrified.
"Because she was after Naruto and I had to ward her off him. Please could you pretend to be interested in her until we get rid of Kabuto from the picture? Please!" Sakura pleaded.
Sasuke pondered it over for a minute, looking extremely unhappy. "Fine. But you owe me – big time."
"Thank you so much!" Sakura told him. Sasuke snorted. Sakura couldn't believe her luck. Sasuke, the high fidelity grump was actually going to help her out with this situation.
-X-
Many folk graced the ball with their presence and their presents. Naruto was busy preparing the most delectable dishes in the kitchen. Sakura was still worrying about the plan. Kabuto would be shocked and horrified but what will the guests think? Her mother wouldn't be too pleased with her decision either, Sakura would be lucky if she didn't get punched through the wall.
"Are you ready to go out there?" Lee asked her, "Prince Kabuto is already there. Unyouthful turd."
Sakura took a deep breath and headed down the stairs at funeral pace. The crowd was hushed as Sakura entered; a few people gasped and dropped their goblets of wine. Kabuto was looking, as Sakura predicted; mortified. Lee cheered and so did Kiba. Tsunade looked at them sharply. Kabuto straightened out his features and smiled at her, "That's my future queen!" he declared, "She has a wonderful sense of humour. Who wants a wife who is dull and boring?"
The crowd seemed to agree with him as they cheered.
Sakura, Lee, Kiba , Chouji and Sasuke looked at each other in dismay. If Kabuto put that ugly, giant diamond ring on her finger then that was the end. They needed another plan, and fast! There was only one hour left until Kabuto slipped that ring onto her finger.
While everyone was dancing, Lee walked up to Sakura who was dancing with Kabuto. "May I cut in?"
"Sure, fine young man, but don't take too long, I want to enjoy my fiancé," Kabuto said with an obnoxious laugh that made Sakura just want to punch the living daylights out of him. Instead of dancing with Sakura, Lee grabbed her hand and led her to where the gang was anxiously waiting. It was a lovely night outside, the moon was full, the stars were in their billions, strewn across the sky. It was also quite warm.
"Plan B, we need a plan B," said Lee.
"Quick, or else that moron Kabuto will come looking for me," Sakura said urgently, "And where's Karin?"
"I don't know. And, you're in big trouble because Karin said that right after you and Kabuto finish all your engagement rituals, she and I will perform ours! She even got the rings!" Sasuke said angrily.
"Sorry," Sakura said miserably. How could everything be going so wrong?
"What are you going to do now?" Sakura asked.
"I'm going to make a run for it. I'm going back to the old Uchiha compound where the knights train," Sasuke said.
A new ray of hope dawned on Sakura, "I'm coming with you!"
"What?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. Sakura was getting more desperate by the second.
"Yes. Just for tonight, to prolong the engagement."
Sasuke was looking sceptical. Sakura running away with him would just cause extra problems. However, everyone else seemed to think that it was a good plan for now.
"I'm supposed to be serving the drinks, here, take these!" Naruto said, offering the tray laden with red wine to his friends. They each took a glass and Sakura downed hers in one go and took another one.
"Everyone meet me back here in ten minutes," Sasuke said, he was going to go inside and ask the musicians to up the tempo of the music so that more people danced and the less obvious their absence would be.
"Sasuke! Sasuke!" he heard someone call just as he was about to go ask Sakura to hurry it up. That someone was Karin and she was coming towards him.
"Oh, no," he said and raced up the stairs in the other direction, he bumped into a woman dressed in a beautiful silk lavender gown and the wine that he was carrying slopped all down her front. Sasuke looked up in horror at the woman, it was lady Hinata.
"Oh Hinata! Your dress!" Ino exclaimed. Sasuke felt someone nudge him.
"Come, let's away, I want to make a clean escape," Sakura said, she followed Sasuke's shocked expression and saw Hinata's dress.
"You didn't..." Sakura said slowly.
"I think I did," Sasuke said, "Look, sorry about your dress - "
"Let's go," Sakura said, frantically tugging on his arm.
Sasuke stole another glance at Hinata's face, she was staring wide-eyed at him and her face flushed but Sasuke couldn't tell whether it was from anger or embarrassment.
"Don't worry about Hinata's dress, I'll try and replace it if need be," Sakura said as they bolted outside.
"You shall. After all – you do owe me," Sasuke said with a smirk.
-X-
"Do you think Princess Sakura and Sasuke, a knight of Konoha, are eloping?" Ino asked Hinata.
"I – I don't know. I need to change my dress," Hinata said, wringing the fabric.
"Could be quite an interesting interrogation if we were to find out it were true, that damn Sakura! She gets a prince plus she is in love with your Naruto and now she's running off with my Sasuke too!," Ino said angrily, oblivious to Hinata's discomfort. Hinata didn't bother trying to point out to Ino that she had pretty much gotten over Naruto once she realised how he and Sakura felt about each other. Sure, she still felt pangs of sadness and loneliness, but she could deal with it.
The girls descended downstairs to the courtyard and found Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Chouji and Lee still in the palace grounds.
"Good evening Princess. Gentleman," Ino said, "What do we have here? Are all of you helping Sakura and Sasuke over there to elope and on her wedding day?"
"Me? Elope with him! I would never!" Sakura said, outraged.
"Well then, what is going on here?" Ino asked with an arched eyebrow. The others were looking down at their feet.
"I would think that it isn't any of your business," Sasuke said calmly.
"That may be so, but when it concerns our cousin, the welfare of this kingdom and you, Sasuke, I make it my business," said Ino, latching on to his arm.
"Please, Ino, Hinata, I don't want to marry Kabuto, I just can't! Can you imagine living out your life in a loveless marriage?" Sakura said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Not completely loveless," Chouji interjected.
"Yes – Kabuto loves you – or to be precise, he's head over heels in love with you," Kiba said with a chuckle.
"We understand your p-pain, but, Queen Tsunade will be f-furious if you choose to run away," Hinata said softly.
Sakura was playing with her sleeves, "I know, but this is just temporary, until I can get a better plan."
"Forget them and lets go or I'm going without you," Sasuke said, shrugging Ino off his arm.
"What is it that you run from, Sasuke?" Ino asked in a whiny voice.
"I don't - " Sasuke started.
"Karin!" Kiba yelled.
"Why did you tell her?" Sasuke snarled.
"No, there she is," Kiba said, pointing, "Uh, oh, she saw you."
He was referring to a scantily clad female a few yards away.
"Let's go!" Sasuke said, "Oh, sorry about your dress again," he added to Hinata as an afterthought.
"I-it's okay," she said, trying to block the stain with her small hands.
"Sasuke! Oh Sasuke!" Karin yelled, and with that, Sasuke and Sakura disappeared into the trees and eventually took the road leading to the old Uchiha compound.
"We best be getting back into the castle," Lee said.
Karin caught up to them, "Where is my Sasuke going?"
"Um...we don't know, but he'll be back just now. How about we get back inside the castle, you must be cold," Kiba said and with a wink, he put his arms around Karin's bare shoulders. She accompanied them to castle.
"Say, if you don't mind me asking, what is going on between you and Sasuke?" Ino asked curiously.
"I intend to marry him!" Karin said, her eyes twinkling behind her glasses.
Ino rolled her eyes, "Not if I can help it," she muttered under her breath.
"Lady Hinata..." a voice called from the trees.
Hinata whirled around and saw who was awaiting her. "Y-you go on. I'll catch up with you just now," Hinata told them, as she nervously walked away from the group. She started to feel more conscious of her dress that Sasuke accidently stained when she reached the silver haired Hidan who was leaning against a tree, looking intently at her.
A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this. Please review! Ideas and suggestions are welcome!
Also, check out my first completed story, it's called Konoha 12 vs. the Akatsuki!