A/N: Hi all, here's part two of the prologue for this short story, and I apologize if the first chapter was boring. Sadly, this one is going to be more of the same. Normally, I try not to include this much exposition, but for the purposes of this fanfic, I think it's necessary to include the backstory on Sakura and Sasuke's relationship, as well as the origin and motivations behind her relationship with Choji. If you don't agree, then I'm sorry to hear that. You are of course welcome to skip the prologue and get right to the main story, though I'm not sure how much it'll take away from your reading.

Please try to bare with me as this is also the first time I'm writing a story that focuses solely on relationships without any action or subplots of any description. I don't consider myself a "romance author."

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy:

Four Years after the War...

Choji took several calming breaths as he stood in front of Sakura's apartment in the former Uchiha district on the outskirts of the village.

Before he left, many people still had trouble forgiving Sasuke for the damage he had caused during his tenure as a missing-nin. Driven away by less-than-friendly neighbors, he and Sakura moved to the outskirts of the village to escape. By the time her husband left for parts unknown, the pink-haired kunoichi was too settled in her place to consider moving. If it wasn't for recent breakthroughs in technology, Sakura would be even more hard-pressed to raise her daughter alone. The hassles of raising a two-year-old as a single mother led Sakura to invest in these machines and more to make things as easy as possible for herself and her daughter.

However, none of this was important to Choji at the moment. Today, he was going to confess his feelings to Sakura and damn the consequences! He just couldn't keep living like this! He couldn't sleep! He could barely eat! And he was becoming increasingly distracted with thoughts of pink hair, green eyes, and a kind smile.

Choji couldn't tell you when the exact moment came in which he started seeing one of his closest friends and comrades in a more romantic light, only that it was starting to interfere with his life. So here he was, standing in front of her door in the dying sunlight of the pleasantly cool autumn evening, trying to prepare himself for something that made an S-rank mission look like a cake walk.

With one final breath, and a nervous comb through his small beard, the husky, 20 year-old Jounin raised a large fist to knock on the door. However, before he could, the door opened and the object of his affection appeared with a bundled up two-year-old in tow and a troubled expression on her pretty face.

As always, the sight of her took Choji's breath away and caused him to freeze up for a second, causing Sakura to bump into him and Sarada to let out some unhappy sounds from the sudden movement. After calming her daughter with a few hushed words, the kunoichi turned her green gaze on him.

"Oh Choji! I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there! Why don't you come in? We were just on our way to see you!" she exclaimed, moving away from the threshold and holding the door open with her free hand.

Her voice snapped Choji out of his stupor long enough for him to focus on the single Mom and her toddler. "No, I'm sorry Sakura, m-maybe I should come back tomorrow if now's not a good time," he replied, his panicked mind not registering the fact that Sakura had just said she was coming to see him.

"N-No, please come in Choji!" Sakura wasn't sure if she was scared or glad that Choji had appeared unexpectedly. What she had to say would require some finesse and preparation, neither of which she had at the moment; now that the possibility of thinking on how to phrase it was removed. "Why don't you take a seat, I'll get us a drink, if you would keep an eye on Sarada," came the next stilted line.

With a mumble of thanks, Choji awkwardly lumbered his way into the apartment, trying to get his bearings back. He made his way, zombie-like to the couch, eventually becoming aware of the impatient Sarada trying to get his attention.

With another deep breath, Choji felt himself recover and spare a glance at the humble, but messy living room. A couple of Sarada's toys were spotted here and there, but were thankfully out of the way of the main pathways of the house for once. Food was still opened and uneaten on the dining room table, causing Choji to think that Sakura's decision to visit him was a spur-of-the moment thing. The Akimichi glanced over at the kitchen, eyes falling on the drawing-covered refrigerator as the single-mother scurried about. With some amusement, he realized that Sakura had thrown almost none of her child's artwork away; proof that a mother's love was present.

Eventually, Choji turned his attention to the dark-haired two-year-old, as she held out a page from what he guessed was a coloring book for him to inspect. The picture was of a cartoonish butterfly depicting a face and a wide smile with a sloppily shaded body where Sarada had attempted to stay inside the lines.

Despite most of the color falling outside of the butterfly's body, Choji still felt a sense of happiness as he realized that she wanted him to have it. While he had received a couple of coloring book pages from her before, it was clear that Sakura had helped her if the neatly shaded images were anything to go by. The butterfly picture before him contained nothing but the scribblings of a two-year-old.

O.O.O.O.O

Sakura had also calmed down as she returned to the living room with a small glass of wine for herself and water for Choji, knowing that the big man was not much of a drinker. She paused at the threshold of her kitchen to observe the interaction between Choji and her daughter, a rare smile on her face. He reverently took the food-stained and messily colored drawing that Sarada had worked on all day, not allowing her mother to help as she normally would, insisting on making it perfect for "daddy."

As usual, when the subject of fathers came up, Sakura's soft smile turned wistful as she thought about Sarada's real Dad, always off on some errand for the village or exploring some obscure part of the world.

Not for the first time did Sakura desperately wish for her ex-husband to just stay home so they could be a family. It's not as if Sasuke was a bad father or anything like that. Indeed, on the very few instances he did visit, it was easy to tell that he enjoyed being around them. Sasuke would wear that rare, but gentle smile that Sakura loved about him as he interacted with his only child. The three of them would always relax in the pleasantly cool house, usually lying stretched out on a bed or cozied up against one another on the living room couch. Sasuke would tell of his travels across the world. Sarada of course, was too young to understand any of the stories but the soothing sound of Sasuke's voice never failed to entrance her.

However, despite Sakura and Sasuke's best efforts, their daughter would only call him "unca," or "nunca," unable to see him as anything but a distant relative, even at such a young age. It was clear that his extended absences were stunting the bond between father and child. That thought always broke Sakura's heart in more ways than one, and she could tell it bothered Sasuke too, though he could hide it a lot better. Sadly, despite her best attempts to get him to stay, he would find some excuse to leave them once again, chipping away Sakura's soul each time it happened.

Heavy feelings of heartache, desperation, and loneliness are what prompted her to conclude that she couldn't do this alone anymore; not with the stresses of working as a medical ninja, paying rent, managing a household, and raising a daughter by herself. There weren't many men she could turn to for help, not for something like this; which brought her to Choji; her closest male friend, closer in some ways, than even Naruto.

So, after handing him his water, sitting beside him on the couch, and draining her wine in a couple mouthfuls, she looked him in the eyes and said it: "I love you Choji, I want to marry you."

Sakura inwardly winced at how rehearsed it sounded, but was more concerned with the guilt she immediately felt for saying it. She was going to hell for this, no doubt about it. Having long since guessed Choji's feelings for her, and intentionally manipulating them to her advantage, she knew there was no other reward for her.

Still, it was getting to the point that she was hating life. Sakura knew that Choji was too blinded by his feelings to notice the physical evidence, but it was there, even if she was counting on his habitual obliviousness to work in her favor.

To the normal observer, she was noticeably thinner from the crushing stress of single parenthood and being torn between her personal desires and personal responsibilities. There were bags under her eyes from too many night shifts at the hospital or crying sessions from Sarada, and on top of it all, she just felt irritable, impatient, and depressed at almost all hours of the day, minus when Sasuke or Choji visited.

Sakura should have realized that she had more friends to count on than she knew, but her burned out mind, coupled with a shaken trust in men due to her husband's sudden divorce refused to see anything or anyone other than the man in front of her as a form of salvation.

Whether he knew it or not, Choji was the greatest anchor in her life and she depended on and cared for him far more than she was willing to admit, even to herself. However, she would also be the first to say that her main reason for wanting to marry Choji was stability and security as opposed to genuine love.

O.O.O.O.O

Choji blinked at Sakura's declaration and really took a look at her for the first time in what felt like a while. Tired but sincere green eyes stared back at him, as their owner awaited his reaction. Taking a brief second to look over her entire face, it finally occurred to Choji just how worn down she looked, even if he still hadn't realized it was from more than just a few days lack of sleep.

Finally, his mind registered her words and his eyes widened in surprise. Out of the many scenarios that played in Choji's head on how this visit would go, this was not one of them, not by a long shot!

Still, such a declaration deserved a prompt response, so in much the same fashion as Sakura, Choji just replied in a straight up and honest way. "I'm in love with you too Sakura, but are you sure you want to get married just like that?" Normally, he'd wonder why his friend would confess her apparent feelings out of the blue like that, but as Choji would later recall, he was too caught up in the fact that the girl of his dreams could feel the same way about him, thus allowing his well-known common sense to take a back seat. At the time, asking Sakura if 'she was sure' was more of a reflexive question as opposed to a genuine concern.

There was nothing more that took place that evening, since both parties could scarcely believe their wildest dreams were coming true, even if it was for different reasons. Choji and Sakura played with Sarada for a few hours, before he excused himself to go back home, promising to talk more about it the following day.

That night, Choji bedded down with a smile so big, that his face would ache come morning as he dreamt of family life with Sakura as his wife. Sarada's coloring page was attached firmly to the wall and framed in a place of honor above the small fire place of his bachelor pad in the Akimichi district of Konoha.

O.O.O.O.O

The day of Choji and Sakura's wedding couldn't come fast enough for the excited couple, but actually took place about a month after their feelings were made known to one another. Friends and family of the bride and groom attended and did their best to disguise their worry over such speedy nuptials. Everyone and their mother knew that Sakura and Choji had rushed into this wedding, but did their best to be happy for the new couple and offered their sincerest congratulations.

Predictably, Choji selected Shikamaru as his Best Man with Kiba, Naruto, Sai, Shino, and Lee as the groomsmen.

Similarly, Sakura chose Ino for Maid of Honor with the bridesmaids as follows: Hinata, TenTen, Temari, along with her master and fellow apprentice, Tsunade, and Shizune.

In the years following the War, Choji and Sakura also became something akin to mentors for Udon and Moegi respectively, having outgrown following Naruto around. As a result, they were the Ring Bearer and Flower Girl at the ceremony.

O.O.O.O.O

The entire thing was everything Choji and Sakura could have hoped for: food, friends, and happiness. Choji would later remark to Shikamaru that his face had hurt for days after from all the smiling and laughing he had done during the wedding.

The honeymoon was a whirlwind of passion and heat as both Choji and Sakura celebrated being married, but for different reasons. To the casual observer, they would seem quite happy and very much in love with one another as new couples are.

However, no one would ever guess that this was only true for one side of the equation. First and foremost, Sakura had married for stability, which Choji would not have the misfortune of learning for quite some time. It wasn't until years later during one of Sasuke's rare visits would a new understanding blossom between the new husband and wife…

A/N: Well, I hope it was okay. I'll admit it felt pretty awkward to write about pure romance, relationships, and fluff, but I suppose it's good to get out of your comfort zone. This one focused more on Sakura's character and I honestly hope I presented her in a believable way. I understand that the Naruto community is much larger and so the risk of criticism is greater.

As I may have mentioned in The Large Ashikabi, I'm open to criticism, as long as it's done in a polite way.

With that being said, see you next time!- Snakespur

Edited on June 6th, 2017