Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Non-massacre. Sakura sets out to the Uchiha residence on a self-appointed mission.

Rating: T

Stun Tactics

It was an early spring evening on Sunday, when Sakura stepped out of her apartment in the center of the village, dressed in a beautiful red kimono with an elegant crane pattern winding around its sides. No longer was she a willowy teenager, that much was as plain as a day. The carefully selected outfit hugged her figure like a glove, accentuating the mature curves on the young woman's slender frame. Both Sakura's beauty and the surprise at seeing her in a traditional clothing for some unknown special reason garnered her a lot of attention from the villagers she passed by. Some gave her looks of admiration, some of envy, to all of which she replied with an easy smile as she strode down Konoha's tranquil streets, her steps filled with purpose.

This evening Sakura was a woman on a mission.

A courteous smile was still glued to her face as she entered the Uchiha district. While she was not an uncommon sight there, given her connection with the clan head's son, nevertheless she gained similar, though a bit more subdued reactions than the ones she had encountered earlier, mixed with a healthy dose of curiosity. The gossip-inclined women of the clan that she vaguely remembered seeing around once or twice didn't waste time to call out to her in a friendly manner and ask about her business in the district at this time. Sakura politely returned their greetings but managed to skillfully sidestep their nosy questions.

Finally, she reached her destination – Sasuke's house – and knocked on the door, however not too strongly as there was no need to be too loud. She picked this time to visit exactly because she knew that the whole family would probably be home and already after dinner. Sakura took in a breath, smoothed the hair she had placed in an artful bun, held up by ornamental chopsticks and waited.

Just as she predicted, after a short while spent in tension, Sasuke's mother opened the door.

"Sakura-san! What a pleasant surprise!" the woman gasped, delighted to see her.

"Hello, Mikoto-san," Sakura replied warmly. "Can I come in?"

"Of course!" Sasuke's mother quickly let her in and Sakura thanked her softly, slipping off her sandals at the entrance and neatly laying them in an empty space for shoes.

"Is Fugaku-san home? I have something to talk about with both of you," Sakura inquired.

Mikoto shot her a surprised look. "Yes, actually, we're all here, even Itachi. Is something wrong, Sakura-san?"

"Everything's fine. You'll know what it's about soon enough," Sakura reassured her.

Mikoto nodded, still dubious, but choosing to trust her son's teammate for a moment. Her gaze slid over Sakura's formal wear, brimming with curiosity, but she held her tongue somehow recognizing Sakura's unwillingness to engage in petty conversation at the moment.

The men of the Uchiha family were sitting together in the living room, a game of shougi laid out between the sons as their father observed their strategies with pride and satisfaction hidden in the focused frown. However, no matter how entranced in the board game, all three of them were instantly alerted when they felt another presence besides Mikoto's to arrive there.

"Sakura?" Sasuke called her name, flabbergasted, though he didn't omit to scan her features swiftly, his eyes widening at her choice in wardrobe. He'd never seen her looking so stunning before as she was now. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura didn't reply to him, her gaze settling intently on the oldest Uchiha. She bowed respectfully. "Good evening, Uchiha-sama, Itachi-san, Sasuke-kun," she greeted in a soft, modulated voice. "I trust I didn't intrude on anything?" Her eyes didn't stray away from the clan head's stony face.

"No, please sit down and join us, Haruno-san," he said. Sakura gracefully knelt in the seiza position on the pillow provided by Sasuke, deliberately taking a place right across his father. Mikoto also grabbed a pillow and sat by her husband's side, then whispered something in his ear. He nodded and drew his back straight again, giving Sakura an inscrutable, neutral look.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Haruno-san? Mikoto tells me you wish to discuss something with us. Should I send Itachi and Sasuke out?" Fugaku inquired placidly, but Sakura noticed right away that he was far more interested in what brought her there than he let on.

"They can stay. This concerns them too," she replied, gaining confused looks from the Uchiha family. Just what did she want with all of them?

The kunoichi gripped the edge of her robe and took a steadying breath, steeling her nerves. This was it. This was the critical moment and she would use all the eloquence, all the grace and all the diplomacy skills that she had obtained in her training with the Fifth Hokage to reach out for her goals. She came there for a reason and she would not leave without a positive result. Failure was not an option to her.

Her bright green eyes opened, blazing with the renewed determination. She could do it!

"The reason I visited you today, Uchiha-sama... is to ask for your permission to court your son, Sasuke."

In the stunned silence that filled the room one could have heard a pin drop. Ignoring the bewildered looks of the family, Sakura only concentrated on Fugaku's face. His eyebrows shot up, resting high on his wrinkled forehead as he regarded her incredulously. Using the element of surprise to her advantage, she immediately went for another punch, before his ability to speak was restored.

"I understand this is sudden. I heard you have had several proposals, some of them from major clans. However, I strongly believe I am the best woman you can find for your son. I'm the Hokage's apprentice, I have a stable, respectable job as the top medical ninja in Konoha, with a very good income, if I may add, so even if Sasuke was unable to work, I could easily support both of us. I don't have any diseases or allergies, nothing that could be genetically transmitted. And above all, I love Sasuke and I'll do anything in my power to make him the happiest man in the world." Sakura ended her diligently prepared speech with a shuddering breath and bent her back lowly yet again, this time in supplication. "Please give me your blessings, Uchiha-sama," she beseeched humbly.

After a short while she rose up form the bow and calmly surveyed the reactions of the Uchiha family. They all varied – Sasuke was openly blushing, yet too shaken to take notice and try to hide it. Itachi looked unmoved, as he must have recovered from the shock of her initial declaration fairly quickly, but she got a positive vibe from him. It was no surprise to her, really, he was always quite friendly with her whenever they ran into each other, mostly in the Hokage tower or in the hospital. Mikoto had an excited gleam in her dark eyes and she was surreptitiously shooting speculative glances both her and Sasuke's way. But the one whose reaction everything depended on stayed perfectly still, his eyes closed in consideration.

Fugaku coughed lightly, breaking the tense silence. "Haruno-san, I'm quite flattered, but you do realize that this is not how proposals work, am I right?"

Sakura blinked. "Well, yes, but in these circumstances I thought it would be for the best if I took the initiative."

"Circumstances?"

"I mean, sending my parents to talk to you would be for nothing, because they're both low-rank shinobi and terrible at negotiations so they would probably fail to convince you. My shishou doesn't like to be bothered by such trivial matters, besides her advice is always to go after my heart, which I just did. And Sasuke would take million years before he proposed," the aforementioned Uchiha made a strangled noise of protest, "so that leaves only me to do anything. Sending anyone else in my name would be unbecoming, anyway. I'm a kunoichi and I can take care of my personal business like this without help."

In Sakura's mind, her explanation was perfectly logical. Why were they looking at her so surprised? It was getting annoying, despite the small amount of entertainment she drew from eliciting such uncommon responses from these rather reserved Uchihas.

"Sasuke, do you have anything to say about this?" Fugaku asked, keeping up his poker face.

His son tensed up in his seat, still a bit red on the face, though he had done fairly well in suppressing his embarrassment. "Sakura and I... are close," he admitted stiffly.

"How would you define 'close'?"

"We've... been seeing each other."

Sakura would have been angry at him being so reluctant to speak about their relationship with his family, but she understood where he was coming from. Sasuke had a hard time going against them, particularly his father, whose approval he had been seeking ever since early childhood. His loyalty to the clan was so strong and absolute, sometimes it became detrimental to his personal affairs, just like now. She sighed quietly. It's not like she didn't expect it, him avoiding the issue as long as humanely possible until it went too far and they actually found a different match for him. That's why she chose to act now.

"For how long? And why didn't you tell us that you have a girlfriend?" Mikoto cut in, sounding equally hurt, baffled and disappointed. "Did you think we'd forbid you from dating Sakura-san?"

Sasuke lowered his eyes guiltily and stared at his balled up fists laying on his lap. "It's not like this."

Sakura gently touched his hand and he grasped it like a lifeline. Their gazes connected, crackling with energy as Sakura seemed to transfer some of her strength and conviction to him, awakening his own titanic reservoirs of resolve. Sasuke's rigid expression relaxed considerably under the influence of his girlfriend. With Sakura by his side, he was ready to face his parents head on, no longer letting himself be restrained by fear of their disapproval.

Sasuke inhaled deeply.

"Mother, Father, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Sakura. We are together and I wish to marry her at the right time. Please give us your blessing," Sasuke bowed and Sakura joined him, their hands still intertwined.

When they raised themselves again, Mikoto wasn't frowning, but smiling warmly, while Itachi gave them an encouraging nod. Sakura turned her hopeful eyes to the father of the family and awaited the final verdict.

Fugaku sighed and rubbed his temples, his mind made up.

"I guess there's no reason to hold you two back. I will agree to this relationship, though I will want some words later with you, Sasuke, about proper conduct. Sakura-san, please forgive my foolish son for putting you in this situation, when it was him who should have informed me and your father about his intentions in the first place."

"Yes, it was... no problem. Thank you, Uchiha-sama," Sakura replied and nodded dumbly as she was reeling from the fact that she actually succeeded and was now formally engaged to Sasuke.

Mikoto clapped her hands. "Well! This looks like a call for celebration! Itachi, come help me get the drinks and snacks!"

Her elder son got up and followed her to the kitchen without objection, knowing what this was really about. When they finally got there, Mikoto whirled on him.

"Did you know anything about that? Why didn't you tell me?" she hissed accusatorily.

Itachi raised his arms defensively. "Calm down, Mother. Shouldn't it be more important that you know now?"

"No! I'm Sasuke's mother and I didn't notice anything different with him! Just how long was he hiding this from all of us? Is it something recent?" Mikoto was working herself into frenzy.

Itachi winced slightly, knowing she wouldn't like the answer.

She caught his change in expression and her eyes narrowed. "What is it? Itachi?"

"Well, as far as I know, Sasuke and Sakura have been together since Sasuke's jonin party. Maybe even longer than that."

Mikoto looked faint as she leaned on the edge of the counter. "That was two years ago! Two years and I didn't see anything... Am I that unobservant? My baby grew up and found a girlfriend and I didn't have a clue!"

While Itachi was busy comforting his poor, distraught mother, Sasuke grabbed Sakura's wrist and after excusing them from his father, he led her out on the porch to talk privately. The small frown he sported made her aware that he was, delicately speaking, angry with her.

"Sakura..." he began in a low, growling voice, "have you gone completely mad?"

She decided to play coy. "Whatever do you mean, Sasuke-kun? I am sane, thanks for asking."

"Coming here like that and demanding things from my father... that's what I call stupid and crazy! Do you realize what would have happened if he took offense?!"

"Well, it's no use worrying over it because he didn't," Sakura pointed out sensibly. She preferred to avoid speculation about such an unfortunate outcome. Yes, she had worried about that too, before she had made the decision to come and declare her interest in Sasuke to his father, but later she had just focused on obtaining her goal, which had apparently paid off, as she was now engaged to Sasuke. Sakura cocked her head to the side, thinking, then smiled brightly. "Besides it would be a bigger problem for him if he offended me. I assure you, I am a scary person when I want to be. So let's be thankful that everything went well, right?"

"You are unbelievable." Sasuke ran his hand through his hair in frustration, however in her eyes the gesture looked incredibly sexy.

"That's why you like me..." Sakura purred and licked her lips, already planning their late night activities. Finding a way to smuggle him out of the house and to her place shouldn't be too hard...

Sasuke caught her salacious expression and gulped, adjusting his collar. She was killing him and she knew that very well. He wanted to stay angry with her, but it was nigh impossible as she had a firm grasp on his stoic heart, holding an unimaginable power over him. Still, he couldn't so easily get over the fact that she had taken such a huge risk without even talking it out with him first.

Feeling his inner turmoil, Sakura momentarily gave up on the teasing and wrapped him in a gentle embrace. Only a a little shorter than Sasuke, she fit just right against him. The Uchiha leaned in and inhaled her sweet perfume in contentment.

"You weren't so bold in the past..." he murmured in her ear and she shivered at the sublime sensation of his warm breath tickling her delicate earlobe.

"Well, I needed to somehow keep up with you and Naruto. I realized that I should stop second-guessing myself, you know. I think it's a change in the right direction," she replied softly.

"Yes, it is..." Sasuke agreed, then lapsed for a few seconds of silence. "What would you have done if father had said no?" he asked suddenly, taking half a step back to look her in the eye.

Sakura smirked mischievously. "I'm a kunoichi. If diplomacy fails, there's also violence and trickery to fall back on."

"You would have fought my family for me?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Of course, Sasuke-kun. I would have also challenged any woman who would've tried to take you away until there was no more competition. If even that had failed, I would've probably kidnapped you and we would have eloped," Sakura revealed her back up plans with a shrug. "What? Don't give me that look. You know I could do all of this, don't even think that I couldn't..."

Sasuke didn't mean to question her capacity for beating up people, far from it. Instead, overcome with passion for this beautiful, fiery, his woman he just abruptly gathered her in his arms and muffled her with a hot, needy kiss, which Sakura eagerly reciprocated, pulling him by the back of his shirt even closer. The sensation of his heart beating right against her chest was making her feel dizzy and flushed.

The power she held over this man was most definitely mirrored by the power he held over her.

The Uchiha patriarch standing in a shadow behind the shouji screen shook his head ruefully at the young people, who were so absorbed in their romance that they hadn't sensed his hidden presence discreetly eavesdropping on them from the beginning of the conversation. They had still much to learn about being aware of one's surroundings, but he supposed it was good that his younger son finally found someone he could feel safe around enough to let go of the tight guard drilled into him by the clan training. Also, even before this evening and its revelations, Fugaku had already known Sakura-san was an exceptional kunoichi, which opinion of her was only reaffirmed by her brave actions this day. He had to admit that not many people in Konoha had the courage to approach him with such a personal request, along with the grace and respectfulness necessary to convince him to agree. Sakura made a very good impression on him and rightfully so.

Without the smallest rustle, Fugaku returned to the living room and took his seat, a secret proud smile brightening his usually haughty features in this moment of solidarity.

Yes, Sakura-san would be a fine addition to the Uchiha family.

The End