CHAPTER 26 COVER

Sakura is in a strapless ivory colored dress that flares out and reaches her knees, the dress has small red colored flowers on it and secured around her waist is a red ribbon tied into a perfect bow. Her hair is left down with her bangs brought atop her head in a poof. Her feet are covered by a pair of red colored stilettos. She is sitting on the floor; against the wall with her feet sprawled out in front of her, her dress was a mess around her. She's staring up, looking at you with her sorrowful eyes.

WANTED: A PINK HAIRED WIFE

Summary: Sakura gaped as she looked at the sign before doing a double take. Yup, she wasn't dreaming. There, on the sign in front of the mansion, was stating that Uchiha Sasuke needed a wife. And it was her lucky day she became the hired wife.

Disclaimer: Grr. xP

CHAPTER 26

Her eyes stared into his as he held her gaze tightly. She looked at him with hard eyes before letting a soft chuckle escape from her lips. She broke their gaze to laugh quietly to herself before looking back up at him. "What?" she asked him, her tone was sharp and her face was hard as she spoke to him through the thin air.

Sasuke looked at her jade green eyes questioningly, his gaze hard as hers as he matched her tone with his own velvety sharp tone. "What? You think it's funny?" he asked her in retort to her previous question. She looked at him in silence before letting out a breath, parting her lips and looked away from him, disbelieving.

"Are you joking with me, Sasuke?" she turned her head to focus at him, sending him a look that was entangled between hate and love. He did not reply and held her gaze steadily, this time not letting her look away. "You think a joke like this is funny? Do you really think asking me that question is funny?! Uchiha Sasuke! This isn't funny! Don't joke like this with me!" she screamed as her eyes began to water, her cheeks reddening with frustration.

He replied to her question by sharply grabbing her hand with his own and leaning over the seat to stare into her eyes intensely. She looked into his eyes, her breathing hard and heavy as he grasped her hand tightly. "I'm not joking with you. I don't joke." he responded coldly, his voice tight and left no room for comebacks.

She looked at him as if she didn't believe what he was doing right now. She tried to pull her hand from him but he held onto it harshly and she looked up at him, her eyes stone cold now. "Uchiha Sasuke, let go of my hand." she demanded, no longer being soft with him as she tried to pull her hand from him.

To no luck, his hands were much bigger than hers and so he held onto her smaller hand tightly. She looked at him, her eyes beginning to water. "Sasuke! What do you want?! Isn't this enough?! Why do you want to hurt me so much?! I'm tired of it! I'm tired of getting hurt by you! I'm sick and tired of it! You're engaged! Don't do this to me, please! Please…please, I beg you!" she cried out as she looked at him pleadingly.

He let go of her hand and she thought she was free as she sighed in relief. But she could only gape in bewilderment as he go out of the car and went to her side. He opened her door and before she knew what he was doing, he had dragged her out of the car and she looked at him, scared as she saw people around them starting to look at them.

He grabbed her waist with his two arms and held her close to him, not caring about the crowd that was starting to gather to look at them, noticing that he was Uchiha Sasuke. "Sasuke…what are you doing…let go of me, you're causing a scene…" Sakura whispered harshly to him, trying to get away, but to no avail, he had her trapped against his chest.

"Sakura."

The said girl looked up at him in response and she met his gaze fearfully.

"I regret it." he said blankly, stated so clearly and loud that he left the crowd around them to wonder what he was talking about.

Sakura looked up at him, her mouth dropped as she stared at him in surprise. "W…What?" she asked him as she blinked, wondering if he was crazy, saying things like this in public, in front of a crowd nonetheless.

He looked at her, not once breaking eye contact, firm and decisive about the words escaping his mouth. "Sakura. I regret asking Makoto to marry me. I don't love her." Sakura gaped as she sharply turned her head up to stare at him in astonishment. The crowd around them gasped, starting to whisper among themselves.

News had just been let out recently that Uchiha Sasuke was engaged to a new bride, one with features that weren't so eye catching as his previous fiancée. And now, newer news were just spoken out of Uchiha Sasuke's mouth himself, shocking news that no one would believe. No one would ever think that Uchiha Sasuke, always so reserved in public, would say such things in public.

Sakura blinked once, twice, before regaining her train of thought. She scowled and gave him a glare, "Sasuke! What are you saying?! That's not a funny joke." she repeated her accusation from earlier, trying to dismiss thoughts entangling the crowd around them. Sasuke didn't reply though and leaned his head down towards her.

"I don't love her. I regret proposing to her. I don't love her, Sakura. I don't love her. I don't want to marry her." he looked at her, blinking before firmly saying the next thing.

"I love you."

Sakura blanched before looking down at her feet. "…Shut up." she murmured, Sasuke looked at her, not saying anything as she lifted her head to look at him. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." she repeated to him, "Shut up. Shut up. SHUT UP!" she cried out finally, tears slipping down her cheeks.

He crushed her to his chest in one swift movement and lifted her head up to meet him halfway as he leaned down and kissed her sharply.

The crowd gasped and many grabbed their cell phones, eager to capture the picture.

"What is this?!" Makoto screamed as she looked at the newspaper, her eyes nearly popping out of her sockets as she looked at it. She looked at the girl sitting opposite her in fury. She had barely come to Sasuke's mansion that morning, and was now eating breakfast with Shina, hoping to get to know her fiancé's family a bit better. She hadn't expected to see a picture of her fiancé kissing another woman on the front page of the newspaper though.

Shina snorted as she looked at Makoto. "Isn't it obvious? Onii-chan's kissing Sakura-onee-chan. Honestly, Makoto-san, the picture is huge. Surely even you can see what's on it, right?" Shina smirked inwardly to herself. She'd never liked Makoto, no matter how nice the woman appeared to be. The only one she saw fit to take on the place of her older brother's wife and her little Sachi's mother was Sakura, and no one else.

Makoto stood up from her seat, slamming her coffee down onto the table before rushing out of the dining room. She walked out to the entrance hall just in time to see Sasuke and Sakura entering the mansion. Makoto stared at them as they turned to see her. The couple stared at her as she looked at them disbelievingly.

Sakura quickly moved away from Sasuke as he sighed deeply, bringing a hand up to his forehead stressfully. Makoto didn't miss a beat to walk over to Sakura. She looked at Sakura, hate burning in her eyes as she stared at the pink haired girl. "Sakura. Haruno Sakura. What do you think you're doing with my fiancé?!" she shouted spitefully.

Sakura closed her eyes and let out a breath. Makoto looked at her one more time before bringing a hand up, ready to slap her when Sasuke's larger hand flew up to stop her. Makoto looked at him in surprise, "Sasuke! What are you doing?!" she asked him as she struggled to make him let go of her hand.

To their surprise, Sakura grabbed Sasuke's hand to let go of Makoto before she looked at Makoto straight in the eye. "Slap me. Slap me as hard as you can." Sasuke looked at Sakura in bewilderment.

"Sakura-!" he began but he was cut short when a loud sound resounded throughout the house.

((SLAP!))

"Otou-san!" Shina cried in horror as she arrived to see Fugaku's hand strike across Sasuke's cheek. Shina scattered on her feet over to her father and brother.

Sakura widened her eyes and Makoto gasped as she watched Sasuke breathe heavily as he looked up to stare at Fugaku. "Otou-san…" he muttered as he placed a hand on his cheek.

Fugaku looked at Sasuke firmly before switching his gaze over to Sakura. He sent her a hard stare before stating to her firmly, "Leave, Haruno-san." Sakura looked at him unblinkingly before she felt herself being pulled by someone. She looked in surprise to see Itachi looking at her seriously, pulling her away.

"Sakura. Let's go," he said quietly before pulling her out of the mansion with him. Sakura widened her eyes in surprise as she met Sasuke's gaze. She couldn't say anything as he disappeared from her view, the door closed between them.

Shina hissed in a breath as she watched Fugaku stare at Sasuke.

"Sasuke."

"Sakura…" Itachi finally spoke as he stopped the car by the hotel she was currently residing in with Tenten. Sakura sniffed once before looking at him, eyes stained with tears, red, and puffy. He sighed before smiling a small smile towards her, "It's going to be alright, little lady," he said comfortingly to her as he wiped away some tears from her eyes.

She looked at him, and smiled weakly before returning her gaze to her lap.

"Sakura." he called her name once more.

She looked at him in question.

He sighed before taking a breath and looking her straight in the eyes.

Her mind did loops until she felt like she couldn't think anymore, her breathing stopped as soon as she heard the question she was trying to avoid.

"Do you love Sasuke?"

This is a very short chapter because it's been a while since I updated and my skills are lacking terribly, so this short chapter is just to sort of re-up myself. It's awkward a bit to type since it has been a long time so I'm just trying to get used to the plot line again.

I'm very sorry for the long hiatus but I was out at college and it's hard, you know?

Well, in the mean time, I'm hoping to get the next chapter in by May. Yes, May sounds far, far, away, but trust me, time flies quicker than you think.

So please be patient with me, all my wonderful readers, and wait just one more month for another update?

I know it's a huge request, and with the amount of reviews you gave me (I hit over a 1000!), I can't thank you guys enough. You're all so wonderful and I love you all for waiting patiently. :) Your reviews encourage me, so please continue to do so by reviewing more. :)

I will be updating Best Dressed Heartbreak next, followed by Sayonara My Sanity! And then Heat Me Up should be last. I'm starting the prequel to Strawberry Wine, so it's going to be hectic for a while.

20 reviews, please? :)

Lots of love,

XOXO Kaze-chan