Obligated to Love
by cacrulz
.:Chapter 1:.
"Think about it, Sakura, he's greatly respected and a clan heir no less. You should carefully consider this befo-""I REFUSE!"
"He is a Hyuuga, Sakura. You cannot refuse. I will not allow you to disgrace our clan like so. You will marry him."
"You cannot make me."
"You are obligated to your clan to marry him."
"I am obligated to myself to marry who I love!"
"You forget your place, daughter. If you disobey me, you are disobeying you clan. You know very well the punishment for disloyalty."
"I have connections. You cannot simply rid me with your methods. And even if you can, I would rather die."
"I'm sure you would. You've always been a spoilt stubborn girl with a morbid imagination. But trust me, I'm not foolish enough to threaten you with death. You forget, daughter, I also have my connections"
"Threaten me all you want. You cannot change my mind."
"Quite the contrary, I believe. You see, whether you like it or not, I am the head of the Haruno Clan and I do possess the political influence over the Elders of Konoha."
"You… You wouldn't dare."
"I do believe that the Uchiha traitor has come back to the village a month ago and is currently waiting for his trial. His fate is dependent on its outcome... whether he can live peacefully in the village or be sentenced to an execution befitting of his status."
"No-"
"Or that demon brat. I can personally make sure he can never pass the rank of jounin."
"You can't do-"
"Or that new member in your team. That one from root. I suppose it cannot be too hard to plant suspicion within elders of his treachery."
"You!"
"Hush daughter. You know better than to interrupt me. Especially in the delicate situation you are in now... That's better. Now, I know that this decision is important to you so I am giving you twenty-four hours to give me your final answer. I am certain that you will make the right choice."
"I… I cannot believe this."
"You are the daughter of the Haruno head. You are expected to behave like one. Please do not interrupt me again."
"…"
"Sakura... please rest assured. I am sure that your… friends will understand your obligations."
Her mouth hurts.
A lot.
And it still isn't over.
"Look this way, please. Ok… smile."
[FLASH] [FLASH]
"One more… ok? I just need you two to step a bit closer. Ok… that's good."
[FLASH]
"Ok… All done."
"Thank you for your services." A deep resonating voice reverberated from her left.
"Your welcome. That last one was good. It will make a brilliant wedding photo."
Sakura swiftly stepped off the raised platform and away from the source of heat that was radiating off that man's body. This day just wouldn't end.
The reception party had followed shortly after the wedding. Everyone had been ushered into a large ball room and somewhere along the way, Sakura had been dragged to the platform up in the front of the room to take her wedding picture. By the time that the photographer had finished taking the pictures – and boy, did that take long – everyone was already mingling and well on the way of getting drunk. All in honour of the happily newly married couple.
Oh joy.
She needed to get away from this. Away from anything that reminds her of this.
She slipped quickly through the crowds and around the decorated tables. Why are there so many people? Her dressing room where she had changed earlier had to be somewhere across this hall. She almost tripped over the young Hyuugan children running in their expensive formal regalia.
Exasperated, Sakura lifted the dragging garments – her wedding robes – another inch higher before resuming her trek. The door was in sight now. Just past that last wave of people.
"Sakura."
Sakura almost screamed out loud in frustration.
She whipped around ready to give the person a piece of her mind, only to freeze, realising who had called her.
"Sasuke."
"Hn."
Silence.
Sakura began to feel awkward when she realised Sasuke was not going to talk.
"I, err… I heard your trial went well."
"..."
"One year probation before regaining all your rights as a Konoha citizen."
"…"
"I'll… I guess I'll be going n-"
"Sakura."
"Yes?"
Silence.
Sigh.
"What the hell do you want, Sasuke?"
Sasuke raised his cup towards her.
"Congratulations. I wish you all the happiness you deserve."
"Oh. Umm… Thanks."
Sasuke gave a stiff nod before turning away and blending into the crowd.
Sakura didn't know how long she stood there, staring. But she wasn't quite so angry as earlier when someone else tapped her on her shoulder. Sakura barely registered that it was one of the branch Hyuuga offering his congratulations and a cup of sake to drink to the future. Sakura numbly downed the drink in one go, feeling the soothing warmth in her throat.
I think I'm beginning to understand why Tsunade drinks so much…
"Sakura, you don't have to drink all the sake that is offered to you."
A groan. "Shut up."
Knock. Knock. "TenTen-chan? A-Are you in here?"
"Hinata! Come in and help me change her out of her uchikake."
A door opening. A quick shuffle of feet.
"What h-happened?"
"Princess here tried to get herself drunk. On her wedding day no less. Turns out she has a very high tolerance for alcohol. Where the hell is Ino?"
"She's outside s-singing. She's t-trying to keep the guests from noticing… noticing Sakura's…. absence." Sakura felt a hand on her back. "Are you okay?"
"She's fine. She's just sulking about going back out there. Here… hold on to this."
"I can dress myself."
TenTen rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, princess." She held out the bridal kimono up for Sakura. With the combined efforts of TenTen and Hinata, they managed to get Sakura looking presentable.
"Okay Hinata, you go out and help Ino out. I'll just quickly redo Sakura's makeup."
"H-Hurry... the guests are w-waiting."
"Yeah, I know."
The sound of Naruto's horrible singing filtered into the room as Hinata slipped out the door. TenTen picked up the powder and began to even out the colour on Sakura's face.
"I wasn't trying to get drunk."
A snort. "Oh yeah? Then what on earth were you doing?"
"..."
"I thought so. Now stay still for the next five minutes, will ya?"
Silence.
"Oh no you don't! Don't even think about crying. You're going to smudge your eyeliner."
"I just...I just don't want to marry him!"
TenTen gave a loud sigh before grabbing a handful of tissues and thrusting them to Sakura.
"Suck it up. Not everyone gets what they want. Now stop crying so I can put on your makeup."
Sakura gave a bitter laugh. "Suck it up? Oh yeah, sure… I'll just go forget that I've been forced to resign from being a kunoichi and into living the rest of my life imprisoned in a clan compound and to be the docile submissive WIFE of HYUUGA NEJI."
TenTen's ears began to ring from Sakura's shrieking.
"Geez! Melodramatic much?"
"You just don'tGET IT, do you? I'm never going to marry the person I love."
TenTen gave a bitter smile. "I'm not going to marry the person I love. You don't see me whining about it, princess."
Stunned silence.
"I... I'm sorry... I didn't... I didn't know..."
TenTen calmly wiped the smudges off Sakura's face.
"Why can't you marry him? I mean... if you don't mind me asking. Is it because... are you in an arranged marriage as well?"
"Ha! God no. My family's not important enough for me to get an arranged marriage. It's the other way around, actually."
Realization began to dawn on Sakura. "TenT-"
"So if you don't mind, Princess... stop acting like the world revolves around you and Suck itUP! Cause even if you don't like your situation, at least you were considered to be in it. I wasn't even good enough, okay? So just shut the hell up so I can apply the bloody lipstick."
"I'm sor-"
"Shush! I don't want to accidently stick this down your throat."
Sakura obediently shut her mouth. The murderous glare that TenTen was giving Sakura, quite frankly, scared her.
"Okay. All done. Get your ass out there. You're Prince Charming is waiting."
Sakura hesitated at first but, seeing her bitter look, she finally exited the room.
It was only until then that TenTen let go of the onslaught of tears that had been threatening to fall. It seemed almost too hard before, but she had done it. She had clung desperately to her pride, refusing to cry in front of her.
To be continued.
Hey, I'm sorry for not updating for so long, but I honestly had no idea where to go from the prologue. I've been tossing up between a chaptered fic to drabbles, romance-centric to maybe drama, etc, etc. And before long, I just got so confused and lost all interest. So... any suggestions/preference would be much appreciated!
I'm actually not too happy about this one, but I figured that I've let you guys wait more than long enough…
:::cac:::