A/N: The first part of this chapter is a peek at Sakura's ancestry and early life. I figured I need to establish her identity and why she's so against loveless marriages for the context for the succeeding chapters to be clear. Feel free to skip this part if it bores you. Names of Sakura's parents are fictional.

Thank you to everyone who gave this story a chance.

Chapter 2

The Butterfly Effect

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Glamorous. Talented. Intelligent. Divinely beautiful. The little goddess, Haruno Sayuri, was a source of joy not only to her father, the Shogun, but to the people of Water Country as well. She was her father's most precious hoseki.

The Shogun held his daughter in such high esteem that he could not find it in his heart to let her marry anyone. Why should any man have her? Nobody is worthy of his beloved Sayuri.

Then the Shogun grew sick and he began thinking of his hoseki's future. What would happen to Sayuri when he's gone?

That was when Haruno Nobunaga—a young daimyo from Fire Country, newly come to his substantial inheritance—exploded into the scene of Water Country's high society. The handsome young daimyo was polite despite his kingly wisdom. Everybody only had good things to say about him but the Shogun was not convinced. He may be the best but Sayuri deserves perfection. The Shogun watched with critical eyes as the young daimyo multiplied his wealth and while he watched, his health worsened. He finally admitted defeat. His health cannot wait for perfection. The Shogun invited the young daimyo to his home to meet his daughter, the beautiful Sayuri.

Nobunaga excitedly accepted the invitation and rode the first ship going to Water Country. He has heard about the legendary Sayuri and the young man could not wait to meet her. Nobunaga, as expected, was well-mannered when faced by the Shogun of Water Country. He politely and comfortably questioned the Shogun's insight from time to time and unabashedly laughed at the senior's attempts at humor. His disposition was happy and pleasant. He would match well with Sayuri.

The Shogun has found the man for his precious hoseki.

Sayuri, on the other hand, was not as impressed. Nobunaga may be intelligent and polite and charismatic but he was so unbelievably naive.

Nobunaga also found himself disappointed. He expected the girl to be lively and smiling but for the duration of the dinner, she never smiled. She never laughed. She never met his eyes. She went through dinner quietly and gracefully but with no attempt at hospitality. Could it be that she was just nervous? Naïve Nobunaga decided that it's probably the truth.

So when the Shogun talked to him about a possible marriage with Sayuri, Nobunaga agreed with little hesitation. He was sure the lady would be more amiable when they are married. And with that, Nobunaga proudly announced his pending marriage to the most beautiful lady in Water Country.

When her father told her that he has arranged a marriage between her and the naïve Nobunaga of the Fire Country, Sayuri could do nothing but obey.

A year into their marriage, Sayuri gave birth to a daughter, Haruno Sakura. The little girl got her mother's carnation pink hair and her father's green eyes. Sayuri was smitten with the little girl and so was Nobunaga.

They both agreed that they have created something beautiful.

And they both admitted this can be the only good thing that could come from their marriage.

Nobunaga admitted that he could not love Sayuri anymore. Not when she never tried to reciprocate his affections. It was a subtle petition for her to change but Sayuri simply accepted her husband's decision and focused on her daughter.

When Sakura was grown enough to understand, her mother began her training. She was trained in singing, dancing, sewing, playing the koto, and calligraphy. Her mother taught her the different ceremonies especially for formal occasions. And every time Sakura complained, her mother would tell her, "don't you want to be perfect for the man you love?" And then she would run her grandmother's comb through Sakura's pink hair. "I want to make sure that when you find the man you love, he will never overlook you because he finds you lacking. You deserve the perfect man, Sakura. And the perfect man deserves a perfect woman. He will never settle for less and you will do the same."

Her father, on the other hand, taught her the science of economics and the art of business. And when she turned five, she was taught basic martial arts and how to handle weapons that she may defend herself. When she asked why she had to learn all these things, her father would only tell her: "so that you will never have to be dependent on a man, my dear. You would never have to marry for power or money or protection. You would only marry for love."

It made Sakura wonder if her parents have some lingering bitterness over something. Why is her mother indoctrinating her on never settling for less? Why is her father pushing her to marry for love? Did her mother settle? Didn't her father marry for love? She always thought her parents were in love. They were always so happy when they're in front of her.

Sakura learned the answers to her questions soon enough. A year after she started learning the art of self defense, she begged her parents to send her to Konoha Academy to learn more. Her parents, as expected, were not happy about their daughter's request but neither had the heart to deny their only child. Finding comfort in the idea that this was just a phase and that she will change her mind soon, they finally consented to send their daughter to Konoha to be educated in the ninja arts.

Just a week after Sakura left for Konoha, she received a letter in her apartment telling her that Sayuri has gone back to Water Country to manage her father's household. She told her the truth about her relationship with Nobunuga and assured her that no matter what, we will always love you.

The pink-haired heiress rushed back to her childhood home to talk to her father but Nobunuga was not there. He was settling a dispute between two of his managers elsewhere. Only the oldest servant was at home to welcome Sakura back. The old woman has been Sayuri's governess since she was young but she had chosen to remain in Fire Country in service of Nobunaga because her body could no longer endure the strenuous travel across countries. She smiled at Sakura, begged her to sit while she served her tea. Then, assuming that Sakura was there because of her parents' separation, she pulled out an old picture from her robes and showed her a picture of a young, laughing Sayuri.

Sakura gasped. She's never seen her mother laugh like that before. And then the servant gave her another picture, this time of a young Nobunuga proudly holding a fish he caught.

"They used to be very happy people." The servant explained.

"What happened?"

"A loveless marriage." The servant held her hands in her wrinkled ones. "You will learn, Sakura-hime, that nothing can rob a person of happiness more than the pain from absent love. Your mother refused to return your father's affections because she kept believing she deserved better. Your father eventually grew tired of hoping she would love him back."

In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.

Sakura threw another stone into the river and watched as the water rippled where the stone disappeared. Ripples.

Consequences. Penalties. After-effects. Merriam would be proud of the extent of her knowledge on synonyms.

Sakura's chin landed on her arms currently crossed above her knees. She recalled her earlier conversation with the Hokage and felt cold fear creep on her spine.

What I am about to tell you is not a mission. What I am about to tell you is a request I never thought I would ask of you. I know your stand on this issue but I also know you'd prefer to be given the opportunity to decide if this is one service to Konoha you would like to do. Konoha needs you to marry the Kazekage of Suna.

Sakura, you are a kunoichi of Konoha. You are a med-nin of Konoha. But that's not all you are. Please bear that in mind when you make your decision. You have until tomorrow.

Her mentor explained the chain events that would follow should Konoha fail to nominate a suitable bride for the Kazekage and the impact of the Kazekage's marriage to a girl from Kiri on the international standing of Konoha. All the while Tsunade refused to look her in the eye. All the while Tsunade's voice wavered.

Part of her wants to feel resentful towards her mentor. She disclosed the secret of her ancestry to the council of Suna without her consent. She plotted to offer her as a sacrificial lamb. She was giving her away to Suna.

But for the most part, Sakura understood. Tsunade's been backed to a corner and forced to choose between Konoha and Sakura. And though her choice was obviously the former…

…she's still giving her a choice even when she knew the high risk of Sakura saying "no".

It was not a mission.

It was a request.

Sakura pressed her lips together and thought about her parents. Then she made her decision.

Never in her unmentionable number of years on earth has Tsunade ever felt as stressed as she is these days. This marriage thing is a mess. She hasn't had any decent wink of sleep ever since Sakura left her office yesterday.

I did the right thing. I did the right thing. She kept convincing herself that giving the girl a choice was in fact the right thing. But whenever her mind wanders off to the consequences of Sakura's decision (obviously she would deny the request), she gets goosebumps that have nothing to do with a full bladder and more to do with a full morgue. Kiri broke its alliance with Konoha ever since Konoha denied its request to access the properties of the Byaakugan. Then it declared Konoha its enemy when the village publicly executed the twenty-five Kiri shinobi caught attempting to kidnap children from the Hyuuga compound. The only things keeping Kiri from declaring war is its lack of allies and Konoha's infamous strength.

Suna, Konoha's known ally, choosing to align itself with Kiri through a political marriage would breed questions on why Suna would ally itself with Konoha's known enemy. Village leaders would not ask if it's because Suna needs access to Kiri's water resources. On the contrary, they would ask if it's because of a weakening alliance brought about by a weakening ally. It would cast a giant shadow of doubt on the real strength of Konoha and that would be like a public invitation for an invasion. If Konoha's other enemy villages would launch a joint attack with Kiri against Konoha…

Gaara's marriage to a girl from Kiri would cement an alliance between the two villages and in case of war, Suna would be forced to side with Kiri regardless of its standing alliance with Konoha. Blood is always thicker than water. And Kami, the blood that will run the streets of Konoha if Oto or Kumo joins forces with Kiri will be dark and thick and completely her fault.

This drove Tsunade to spend the rest of the night and the following morning to look for workarounds in cases of conflicts of interests between allies in the archives. So far, her only idea was to convince Suna to find a bride from any village that's also friendly with Konoha. In return, she would offer them a portion of Konoha land where they could farm. It's not much but that's all she has. Tsunade forced her eyes to focus on the paper she was holding as she heard the door to her office open.

"You have reached a decision?" She asked. Her heart jumped to her throat.

"I will not enter a loveless marriage, shishou."

Tsunade looked up and swallowed. I should have just offered myself. "Very well, call Shizu—"

"Please let me finish."

The Hokage reclined on her seat and waited for her apprentice to continue.

"I have thought about it and realized that I fear the prospect of a loveless marriage. Not marriage itself. But a loveless marriage."

Tsunade raised a brow.

"I will accept the request on one condition: that I be given time to know Kazekage-sama and decide later if marriage is possible."

"You want to know if you can love Gaara?"

Sakura nodded. "And if he can love me back."

Tsunade snorted. "You do realize this is Gaara we're talking about."

"Yes." The pink haired kunoichi understood what her mentor meant. "The same boy who spent his earlier years looking for love and the same Kazekage who devoted his life in service to his beloved people."

The Godaime Hokage exhaled in relief and shook her head. She's not saying yes but she didn't say no either. "How much time do you need?"

"Two months."

"I will tell Suna's council that you wish for their Kazekage to audition for the role husband." She smirked and felt for the sake bottle she's hidden for special occasions like this, "fetch Shizune when you leave."

Sakura bowed and gave her mentor the barest hint of a smile before looking for her fellow apprentice.

Nara Shikamaru has first-hand knowledge of just how paranoid Suna's Councilmen can be. (Imagine, they intervened and halted his engagement and relationship to Temari because they were worried that, considering neither Gaara nor Kankuro has neither heir nor immortality, their future children could have a claim to the proverbial throne of Suna.) So when Tsunade informed him of Sakura's ultimatum to Suna, Shikamaru logically doubted Suna's favourable response.

Tsunade's apprentice and high-ranking Konoha kunoichi freely roaming in Suna for two months and they have no guarantee of getting anything in return?

He shook his head and listened. Tsunade tried to make Sakura's ultimatum as "rational" and "appealing" as possible but the councillors' frowns only grew deeper and deeper until their brows have connected and their pouts reached their noses. In the end, however, all of them just looked to the Kazekage for his decision.

Gaara was the perfect picture of IDGAF.

When they realized Gaara would not say anything, they excused themselves and deliberated on the merits of the Hokage's "proposal". Twenty minutes later, Shikamaru got the surprise of his life when Ebizo announced:

"The council hereby approve Haruno Sakura's stipulation."

And soon they began planning the details of her impending stay in Sunagakure.

Later, through Shikamaru's subtle questions, he figured out what pushed the councillors to agree. Apparently, the honourable coots have done their homework and researched Sakura's ancestry. Haruno Sakura was not only the heiress and daughter of the Daimyo of Fire Country. She was also the granddaughter of the Shogun of Water Country. They would not have to deal with the shinobi village (Kiri) of Water Country to gain access to water. It was enough to overlook the insult (not Sakura's intention when she laid down her ultimatum) and risk a potentially bad investment.

Everybody agreed that, for obvious reasons, it would be best for both parties that the real purpose for Sakura's stay in Suna be kept secret. Her cover: Haruno Sakura would be coming to Suna to retrain the staff and prepare the Suna Hospital for the coming Chuunin Exams the village was assigned to host. Nobody was able to propose a reason as to why the kunoichi would stay in the Kazekage Mansion so they just agreed she's treating the Kazekage for some made-up disease that requires 24-hour surveillance.

At daybreak the following day, the Suna delegation met at Konoha's gates. The Godaime Hokage and her apprentice were already there.

"Kazekage-sama," Tsunade warned, "I have agreed to your council's demand that Haruno Sakura be sent without escorts despite my reservations. I expect her to be returned to this village physically and emotionally unharmed at the end of two months."

Gaara nodded without looking at the quiet girl standing beside the Hokage.

"Then we understand each other. I wish you safe travel."

And with those words, the Suna delegation began their journey home as Sakura began hers to discovering love.

Author's note: I know Sakura's "exposure" in this chapter is little but I promise she will have a lot in the succeeding chapters. Thank you for giving this story a chance. REVIEWS are very much appreciated.