I'd say about two weeks don't you think? Not too bad and just right before February, well happy reading!
Song 1 girls just wanna have fun by Cindy Lauper
Song 2 somewhere only we know by Keane
AH map (need to know)
Suna is off and is an island of its own, so is konoha but it is near Tokyo that's why they have kings and queens and royalty there, most of the parts of Japan to as well, to get to Tokyo people of konoha have to drive through a bridge similar to that of san Francisco, also when they need to get to suna and other countries as well.
Sakura finished zipping the second bag, then walked over to the other side of her room to get a small duffle bag filled with her makeup and other assorted items she would need for the week
"sakura! You almost ready? Gaara's waiting for you!" ino called from downstairs
She wiped her forehead and looked around to make sure she wasn't forgetting anything she'd need
"yeah I'm comin'!" she yelled back picking up her few bags
School was closed for the week for memorials and honor's in memory of all the kids who were killed the previous week, so gaara had taken the opportunity to take sakura to Suna to spend time with his family, so they could get to know her better
Also so they could get their minds off the recent incidents, by the time the week was over megami would be out of the hospital, they hoped
She stepped downstairs in a plaid mid thigh Gucci skirt, with a white tank top and long chest length necklaces
She set down her bags, ino, tenten, and hinata were also getting ready to leave, but for the hospital
"goin' to check on megami?" she asked, they nodded "naruto and sasuke haven't left her side since she finished surgery on her arms and legs, we're just gonna drop off a things and see how she's doing" tenten said
"well, give her my regards, that is if she wakes up, is gaara outside?" she said quickly, "yes, he's been here for the last ten minutes, you should hurry" hinata said strapping her shoes
They heard a car horn outside, she smiled and picked up her bags again
"I'll see you guys in a week!" she called, "have fun! Sakura-hime!" ino joked laughing
Sakura blushed at that as she stepped outside, she really would be a princess that week, in some ways, she had to do her best
Gaara had a black and silver Jaguar XFR with the hood down, he sat with one hand on the wheel, a black veil brides t-shirt, black and red shorts with new black Adidas shoes and black sunglasses.
"took you long enough" he said jokingly as she set her bags in the back, she smiled then bent down and kissed him "hi baby" she said sweetly, opening the car door and stepping in
As soon as she snapped her seatbelt in he sped off, the girls waved to her as she rode off, she waved back from a distance
When they were out of sight she sat back and took a deep breath
He glanced at her, then smirked "you nervous?" she raised a brow "n-no, why would you think that?" "well because you're usually the one nagging at me to have both hands on the wheel" he remarked
she looks over and saw he was driving with just his right arm, he was right, she would usually criticize that, "oh sorry, just a little spaced is all"
"Aa, I can understand that", they quickly passed by the school, which was covered in flowers, on the large tree was a steel plated carving with all the names of the murdered kids on it
She shook her head to get her mind off of it, then turned back to gaara who was silently focusing on his driving
She felt better about everything when he had asked her if she wanted to spend the week with him
"at the end of the week…we're having dinner with my father, he wants to get to know you better, is that okay?"
"that's cool, I can't wait to see your family again! I never got a chance to really get to know temari better"
"well you can thank her then, this whole thing was her idea" he said plainly, she nodded and turned to stare as they passed by, suna was an hour and a half away from konoha
They rode in a comfortable silence for the rest of the time, it got sakura thinking, she kept taking quick glances at him, it took her up until the 3rd month they were dating to realize that he had a tattoo on the left side of his forehead which translated into 'love' in English, which she thought was pretty cool, he had gotten it when he was only 8
They arrived to suna no later than 7 o'clock, to her surprise it was already dark in the town, she remembered how the lights shined throughout the city like Tokyo, she'd often studied the very place in middle school
She opened the door and stepped out, a cold brush of air struck her, she clutched her arms, it was freezing, ironic since the place was blazing hot most of the days
Gaara took off his glasses then his jacket, he put it on her "I told you to wear a jacket" he smirked grabbing her bags
"oh, you don't have too-" "it's cool, come on, we should get inside before we freeze to death" she nodded and grabbed her purse, locking the car
She was still in awe at the large mansion she'd only been in once, everything about it was traditional décor which she loved exploring, he set the bags on the floor, as if on cue 3 maids ran up and picked them up
"good evening gaara-sama" they said quickly then ran up the flowered curved stairs
She blinked, but before she could say anything temari stepped up
"sakura! Hey it's been a while" "hi Temari!" she smiled giving a quick hug like sisters, "I can't believe your still going out with this guy" she joked
Luckily gaara wasn't paying much attention
"hey, that's my boyfriend you're talking about" sakura joked sternly, temari smiled "yeah I know I know, hey, since your gonna be here this week we should do something, like tomorrow, you busy?"
She twisted around to gaara, he looked up from his phone and shook his head, then looked down again
"totally free" "great! Mani-Pedi's on me, then we could do lunch" she winked, sakura nodded "sounds fun"
"fab, oh crap I'm gonna be late! I got a date, I'll catch you tomorrow, enjoy the stay!" she called grabbing her coat and stepping out the door
Sakura took a deep breath again as the maids stepped down and bowed
"haruno-sama, your room is ready" they said in unison
She nodded
"you should start getting used to that" gaara joked, she nudged him "come on, lemmie show you your room" he took her hand and led her upstairs
He opened the golden door of a room at the end on the left side of the hall, her mouth gaped when the door flung to the side
"oh…wow" she said stepping inside
Almost everything about the room was golden, the king size canopy bed had silk clear wraps on the sides, with endless amounts of pillows
At the tall top was a sparkling chandelier, on her left was a longish oval stain glass window with a view of the front entrance, on her right was the already open walk in closet ready for her to dump her things into, right next to it was the closed door of her own bathroom
Next to the (way too big for her) bed was a golden dresser with a bright yellow heart shaped mirror above it, a chair in front
In front of the bed and her was a red square carpet with a sewn in jewel incrusted crown on it that completely stood out from the room
Ino would have died to see this place
"like it? Had it made for you" he said stepping in, she twisted around surprised "gaara! You didn't have too-" he held up his hand smirking smugly "no sweat, really…..it's late, you should get some rest, if you want you can go look around, my rooms right down the hall first door to the right if you need me"
She nodded frantically "if you need a maid just ring that bell on the side" he pointed to an actual golden bell hanging on the right side of the door, she nodded again
"alright, have fun" he slightly smiled turned and leaving closing the door behind him
She took a deep breath
Then smiled brightly, she turned around to the bed and decided to do something she'd wanted to do since she stepped in
She squealed extremely loudly and jumped on the squishy bed, sighing happily
Suddenly the door was opened
Gaara stood there leaning on the door, smirking "I knew you'd do that, but keep it down though"
She blushed, embarrassed, and slightly nodded
He winked and closed the door again
She opened up her laptop when she heard the footsteps stop, she instantly went to her playlist and clicked on one of her favorite songs, it felt like the right moment
I come home in the morning light
My mother says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun!
She opens one of the doors of the walk in closet to find a row of different colored dresses, from sparkly to silk, from royal blue to burgundy
She squealed to herself, she couldn't wait to rub it in ino's face
The phone rings in the middle of the night
My father yells what you gonna do with your life
Oh daddy dear you know you're still number one
But girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have!
She tries on each dress and poses in the mirror, some model poses some silly poses
She takes a few of her favorites and puts them on the bed, then goes back in the closet to find a drawer of accessories, gold, silver, ruby, white-gold, sapphire, diamond, etc. but her personal favorite was of course, emerald
Another drawer had hats, flowery one's, plain one's, straw even, another with sunglasses and a few other things
She picks up a few and again tries them on in the mirror
That's all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls - they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun!
She laughed at herself at the different styles to she picked, wishing the girls were with her to enjoy the silliness
Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world
I want to be the one to walk in the sun
Oh girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have
That's all they really want
Some fun
When the working day is done
Girls - they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun,
They want to have fun,
They want to have fun…
As the song came to an end she flopped on her bed and sighed, she closed her playlist page and opened her video chatroom page
She was relieved to see that tenten was online
She clicked on her
Cherryblossom has requested to video chat with weaponschick
. . . . . . . . .
Weaponschick has accepted
"sakura! Hey what's up?" tenten said from the camera, she could tell she was in her room, a bowl of chips were next to her
Along with ino and hinata behind her, ino was trying on a new bra, hinata was reading a magazine sitting at the edge of tenten's bed
"hey guys!" she said brightly, "is that sakura?" ino asked putting her shirt on to see how it fit, tenten turned back and nodded
"hi sakura" hinata said smiling, "how was the ride?" tenten asked turning back to her
"pretty good, I'm up in my new room for the week, you guys gotta check this place out! Ino-pig I think you'd like this the most!" she laughed
Ino rushed over to the camera "oh yeah? Lemmie see"
Sakura picked up her laptop and let it scan the room, she could hear ino squealing "tres magnifique!" ino knew some French and just loved trying to say things in the accent
She smiled as she set it down and picked up the first dress, which was a knee length royal blue halter dress
"there's a whole BUNCH of these" "lucky!" ino frowned "send me over there I wanna be a princess!" she whined, tenten and hinata laughed
Sakura slightly frowned "I'm not a princess, but this is kinda magical, what's next a ball in my honor?" she laughed
Ino smiled "it's still really cool" "I'm still trying to process the fact that gaara's a prince" hinata sighed holding her right cheek gently
"yeah, nice choice" tenten joked, she frowned "you guys know I don't see him that way"
"we know we know, we were joking!" she laughed followed by the other girls, "well I'm gonna hit the showers then head to bed"
"lame" they all said giggling right after, she playfully rolled her eyes
"love you, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow"
"love yeah!" they all said
She closed her laptop and lay down on the bed staring up at the canopy see through ceiling, she sighed, she suddenly felt so out of place when they said princess
She looked at her wrist watch, it was only 9 but she decided to turn in early and get an early start the next day
She opened up her suitcase and began unpacking, after taking out a few shirts she got bored and set it down
"I'll unpack tomorrow…" she sighed to herself
She opened her second suitcase to take out her pajamas but only found pink lingerie and a note
She picked it up and unfolded it
In case you and gaara decide to get freaky! ;)
-ino
she crumpled the paper "ino-pig…" she growled to herself
yet ended up having no choice but to wear it
bright pink fur panties and bra with a soft pink sheer wrap, similar to the one from her birthday
when she was ready she shut off the light and climbed onto the large bed (obviously made for more than one)
she wrapped herself in covers, suna's street lights shined from the oval window into the room…
for the next hour she tossed and turned in the bed, when she wanted a hot spot she warmed it up but then she wanted a cold spot so she turned, but it only got warm again
she groaned after the first 20 minutes and decided to count sheep
by the time she got to 1000 she wasn't even remotely tired
she groaned and got up, "maybe it's just the thought of a new…bigger…bed" she whispered to herself
"I can't sleep…"
Then something popped into mind, she sighed and got up grabbing her favorite pillow from the pile on the bed, way too many for her taste
She opened her door and snuck down the hall, making sure she didn't wake up anyone who was in the rooms trying to sleep
Finally she got to the last room at the end on the right, gaara's
She carefully knocked then looked from side to side to make sure no lights came on, she didn't want to disrupt anyone on her first night
She saw the light in his room turn on, then footsteps
Finally the door opened
Gaara leaned on the door, his arms crossed, he was shirtless and wearing black jeans
He smirked at the first sight of her
She blushed (for both her look and his) and looked down, tightening the chest of the sheer wrap
"I-I c-can't sleep…I was thinking…c-could I m-maybe…uh…sleep…with you?" she bit her lip
He tilted her head up "sure, as long as you want"
She stepped into his room, it was almost the same as hers except the walls were red and his bed was black and completely neat to her surprise, as if unslept in
He had a double door window that lead to a balcony, outside of it was a chair, the moon was shining brighter than she'd ever seen
"you weren't sleeping?" she asked sitting on the edge of the bed
He shook his head "I don't sleep" he said plainly, she giggled "what it takes you a long time or-" "no, I have insomnia"
She closed her mouth
"oh…sorry" he slightly smiled "it's okay, make yourself comfortable, I'll be outside" he said putting his hands in his pockets
"wait!" he stopped and turned to her
"could I too?...like I said…I can't sleep" she whimpered, he smirked and motioned for her to come along
She nodded and got up
She stepped outside and instantly fell a cold rush of wind brush over her, she shivered
"damn you ino-pig…" she grumbled to herself
Suddenly she felt a weight on her, she turned to her side and saw a dark red blanket over her
Gaara was sitting on the chair his legs up on the balcony railing, his arms crossed, next to him was another chair
"don't you get cold?" she asked sitting down, he just simply shook his head
'I sure can pick em' 'HEY your no different miss. I used to cut myself!'inner sakura said
'shut up! No one asked you! Go to sleep or something' "I can't unless you do dumbass I'm inside your mother fuckin' head' 'well then stop talking, I was trying to think' 'you mean WE were trying to think'
'like I said, shut the hell up' 'stop telling yourself to shut up' 'bitch-!'
"sakura?" she snapped back to reality and turned to a confused gaara "you okay?"
She laughed nervously "yeah w-why would ask that?" "well for a second it looked like you were talking to yourself"
She frantically shook her head no
He slightly nodded "ok then…" she sighed in relief when he turned away
When she was calm she sat back and watched the moon, after a couple minutes of silence she sub-consciously laid herself onto gaara's lap her legs on the chair, he didn't mind though she could tell
Just staring at the moon helped her slowly…slowly drift…into sleep in his arms and lap.
Sakura awoke the next morning, the first thing that caught her eye was what she was laying on, it was gaara's bed, his silk pillows felt amazing and his mattress was so smooth
She didn't want to get up but she knew she had too, she had to meet temari in a few
She sat up, only to find gaara standing on the other side, dressed and ready as if to go out
"your awake" he said
She nodded "are you going somewhere?" she asked, he nodded "I'm going out to do a presentation in place of my father, I'll be back in a few hours"
With saying it that it made her realize and notice what he was wearing a burgundy prince military uniform, and if she did say so for herself, he looked stunning
She already knew the maids dressed him, that's just how it worked there
He looked in the mirror, adjusting his collar, he knew he looked good he just loved to tease her
When he caught her eyes on his he smirked "like what you see?" she instantly blushed and tossed a pillow at him
He blocked it with ease as she got up and walked over to him "good luck at the presentation" she said sweetly wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him closer
"have fun with temari, and anything she says about me it's a lie trust me" she giggled and kissed him softly, he returned it with a more passionate one that they kept for a few seconds before releasing
He looked at his wrist watch " I gotta go, I'll catch you later" he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek then slightly fast walked out the door
She took a deep breath
She was alone in an unfamiliar place and city, well, she hoped temari would make her feel more welcome
"temari! Temari help!" sakura yelled some time later
Temari quickly rushed to sakura's door, she heard scrambling inside, wondering what was going on
Then she opened the door, there stood sakura, naked with a towel wrapped around her, fighting off 3 maids with a chair
"what's going on here?" she demanded, the maids stopped and bowed, then turned back to sakura
"temari can you PLEASE tell them that I DON'T need their help to get dressed! I have two arms I can do it myself!"
"your highness it is our orders given that we must help gaara-sama's lover dress herself!" the first said
"wait! Lover?" sakura stopped, "my lady please put her at ease so we may do our jobs I beg" the second said
Temari looked to sakura, then back to the maids "if she doesn't want help getting dressed no is no, how DARE you question her? Can you not see she is our kingdom's beloved future queen?"
"say what!" sakura yelled dropping the chair, the maids gasped and bowed again "our apologies my lady, we shall not bother thee again" the third said
The maids quickly rushed out, not before bowing to temari
"why did you say that! I'm not a princess! I'm 18! I'm years away from getting married how do you know it'll be to gaara?" she questioned as she dressed herself
Temari just continued to smile "stranger things have happened…but come on its still early lets go get some breakfast then I'll show you around town"
Sakura weakly smiled, still thinking about what she had said
Sometime later they both sat in a suna diner, at a special reserved table that temari explained was always held personally for her
Sakura was still trying to get used to the special treatment even through it had only been a day. Everywhere she went (with temari) people would bow, even greet in the bathroom which she found weird
Sakura awkwardly picked at her omelet, she sat across from temari on a yellow and white leather booth next to a window
Temari frowned as she swallowed a bacon strip "sakura? You okay?" she quickly shot her head up then smiled "oh yeah totally! Sorry, just feeling a little home sick is all"
"oh really? Oh don't worry, before you know it you'll be used to this place, you practically live here now"
Sakura smiled softly "just think of this as your second home chika" she said taking another bite of her pancakes
'third…' sakura solemnly thought to herself
After breakfast temari kept her promise about the mani-pedi's
She took her to suna's best spa, which was located across from the court hall, were gaara was giving his speech
Sakura dreamily watched him give a lector leaning on a podium to a crowd, pictures snapped, his tone was dead serious, she did this as a woman filed her toenails
"you know staring is rude" temari smirked, sakura shot her head back "I-I wasn't staring!" "uh huh, relax you'll be able to see him soon, right now just" she sighed and laid back as she picked up a magazine "chill"
"that reminds me! Thanks for the offer tem, I guess I would have been pretty bored this week if it weren't for your idea" sakura said as the woman began to paint her nails and crimson red.
"it's no problem, it's about time to got to know the family" she said not looking at her as she flipped through a vogue magazine. "speaking of family, where's kankuro? And your father? I haven't seen them yet"
She waved her hand nonchalantly "kankoru'll be soon, he took the yatch to go see some girl on some island, I don't know which I didn't care enough o keep listening. But my father you'll see him soon, don't worry he'll be back in time for the ball"
"BALL? What ball?" sakura said quickly sitting up "lady haruno please keep still"
She sat back, "didn't gaara tell you? We're having a ball for my father's return at the end of the week, he's coming back from sighing the treaty to India, everyone is attending" "no he didn't say anything about that, but that does sound fun I can't wait"
"the rest of the girls can come too but tell them they have to dress formal, like, prom dresses" "that should give me a chance to go through those dresses from that closet" sakura giggled
Temari shook her head "no way, I have the perfect dress for you, just wait" "can I see it after this?" "nope, you have to wait till the big day!" sakura sighed, she was rather inpatient and the thought of the dress just made her anxious
When they finished the mani-pedi's they headed out into the streets again, as they walked and temari talked she looked back at gaara who was still giving a lecture, people asked questions, he reasonably answered like a true prince who was serious about his work
How lucky was she?
She'd studied so long about historical figures now technically she was dating one! All those years of locking herself in her room and studying must have paid off
"a ball? Are you dead serious? Please tell me your not jacking my-" "YES! A ball" sakura giggled stopping ino from completing her sentence
From the video camera sakura could tell the girls were in the mansion the boys were behind them, doing their own thing, it was late over in konoha and afternoon in suna
"gaara told us about that, did we forget to mention it to you guys? Our bad" shikamaru said shrugging, the girls turned back and frowned at them, then turned back to the camera
"wait a minute! You weren't even supposed to know!" naruto boasted, "huh? Why not?"
He shrugged "gaara said not to tell you, I don't know why, you should ask him" he said sitting back down, she nodded, making note of it after she finished talking
"ball plus us equals dresses!" ino squealed tenten groaned, hinata sighed, then ino sighed happily "my life, is complete"
Sakura playfully rolled her eyes "I'm gonna go get some dinner, I'll talk to you guys in a few"
"kay!" the said
Like yesterday sakura knocked on gaara's door, she didn't know whether he was home or not, she hadn't heard anyone come up but decided to check anyway
She didn't get an answer, so she knocked again, she looked down and realized it was dark, his room light was off so he must still be out
She sighed in disappointment, deciding to head back to her room until something touched her shoulder
The touch was cold, making her slightly jump, she twisted around
It was gaara
"did you need something? And don't say 'it's nothing' you wouldn't be by my room if it was nothing" he said sternly, she noticed he was still in uniform, resisting from blushing she nodded
"do you want to go inside?" he asked pointing a thumb to his room, "yeah, sure"
He closed the door behind her as she stepped in, she sighed and twisted around
"gaara, why didn't you tell-" he had already proceeded to taking off his clothes, he stopped pulling off his shirt halfway when he noticed her, they both gave a surprised expression
"huh? What were you saying?" "gah! Please don't change in front of me like that!" she shielded her eyes, he gave a confused expression as he took the rest of his shirt off
"but you're my girlfriend, shouldn't it be okay for me…to…" he stepped up to her, she looked down and clenched her shirt "n-not like t-that!"
"then what?" she groaned, then bravely looked up at him slightly glaring "your enjoying this aren't you?" "more or less" he smirked
Now she really glared, he sighed "but anyways, what were you saying?" he asked walked in his closet to grab a shirt
"I wanted to know why you didn't tell me about the ball ahead of time!" she called "what! You found out?" he shot back
"yeah! Why was I not supposed to know or something?" he shook his head as he came out in a red and midnight blue striped shirt
"no I just wanted it to be a surprise, it's okay" he said plainly, she nodded "although it sounds fun, I've never been to a ball, the girls are pretty excited about it too" "you already told them? But wait who told you?" he asked sitting down on his bed
"Temari" he rolled his eyes "stupid question…" she giggled as she sat down next to him and clung on his arm, he sighed "I guess I can deal with this, but don't go focusing on this, it's still being planned, do some other stuff while you're staying here"
"you don't have to tell me twice, speaking of that I was wondering if we could go out tomorrow", he looked down "Aa, saki you know I want to but I'm busy, I have to fill in for my dad at a conference tomorrow, I'll be gone most of the day"
She groaned "then when can we hang out?" "I'm not sure, I might be booked all week"
She frowned and looked down, he used his index finger to tilt her head up "hey hey…we still have a whole week, I promise before we leave I'll take you out" he whispered softly in her ear.
She slightly blushed and nudged at him "okay…" she whispered back, with the chance he had he pulled back and kissed her, softly at first
She quickly returned it with the same amount of passion
As night fell he turned her over and laid her onto his bed, caressing her curves as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She didn't bother fighting for dominance, he always won
As he explored her mouth he traced down the sides of her body, making her shiver at his benign touch, something about the way he moved his hands on her body made her forget everything, so innocent
But it didn't take long to get rough with him, he slipped a free hand under her shirt, holding her up and leaning her head against the bed's backboard
He released from her lips and trailed down to neck, carefully and secretly unbuttoning her shirt
"gaara…" she softly moaned turning her head away her eyes locked shut
He trailed the hand from her chest down to her thighs, then to her inner thigh, she flinched when he touched a sensitive spot
He stopped kissing her neck for a second to smirk and say
"you like it when I touch you there…don't you" she answered with another soft moan
Her temptations were getting the better of her. She sat up, slipping off the shirt he had just recently put on
He slipped off her shirt as well, kissing her again, she laid back onto the bed as he got on top of her
She cupped his face with her hands, his arms were on both sides of her. They could both tell they were ready
Or, just deluded in the heat of the moment
"prince gaara, your bath is re-aaah!"
They both sat up, the maid was beat red "excuse me!" she yelled rushing out of the room shutting the door behind her
Gaara rolled his eyes "every FUCKING time" he grumbled, sakura giggled, then stared up at him
"we…should stop" he shook his head "I knew you'd say that" she frowned as he sat up and ruffled his hair
He picked up his and her shirt, he tossed it to her and proceeded to put his on
"whenever you ready…just let me know" he smirked
She turned blood red, hugging her shirt as she slowly nodded
"-it was right for your father to sign that treaty, although we might have to take up going to war with Arabia, so it's better we prepare military weapons before anything drastic happens, lady chiyo, please inform the military to ready their troops" elder miazaki said checking off a place on the paper
In the conference room, gaara sat at the head table with Suna's elders and military leaders, gaara was once again in a now black prince military uniform
"my troops just returned from Germany, I don't think it would be best to throw them out there again, if we're not confident about going to war we shouldn't go out again, it would brew trouble"
"prince, what is your opinion on this?" another elder asked gaara who was patiently sitting and listening
"if we push back the invasion we'll have enough room to add new and ready troops, we'll start military training next week. Baki, I'll let you handle that part, tell the recruits from Germany on sector 9 they can go home, they one's from sector 7 must stay and work with the new recruits"
Baki nodded, writing down the information on his paper
Miazaki cleared his throat "well that covers that. Next on the agenda, this ball you have arranged my lord, what is it for?" gaara slightly smirked
"a surprise…for my father is what my brother and sister and I are trying, all occupation will be handled at the palace, none of you need to worry, all you need to know is that your required to attend, information goes to the people today"
They all nodded, miazaki easily checked off the next on the list, "the next one refers to you as well prince." He set down the paper
"that girl your seeing-" gaara shot him a look, "we thought you had earlier engagements" "I dropped them in January" gaara said plainly
"I remember it being in this country when you become 18 your free to wed whomever you please" "and you choose to marry this girl?" another elder asked
"I never said anything about marrying her" "your becoming like that hyuga girl" he raised a brow "you have certain expectations if you choose to become king, so far you have shown no promise of that"
"key word: choose" gaara said sternly, them standing up "I think we're done here, meeting dismissed, I'll see you all tomorrow" it was more of a command to leave them a dismissal, but they all got up anyways
One by one exiting the door.
After they had completely left gaara straightened his papers and sighed, his face in his hands
He looked out the window, early afternoon in the sand village, people were roaming the streets
He wondered what sakura was doing
At that same moment sakura was wondering (out of sheer boredom) what he was doing
She lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling
"my lady, would you like me to run a bath?" a maid stepped in and asked, she shook her head without sitting up "no…I already took one"
"alright" she said walking away
Not but a few seconds later another maid stepped to her room, "lady haruno, are you hungry, would you like us to prepare you something?" "no…I just had a snack, thank you"
She didn't see it but the maid nodded and walked away. To sakura's dismay another maid stepped in
"your grace, would you enjoy a walk through town, proper dressing of course"
"I really don't-" she stopped herself, then sat up, smiling to herself
"could you get temari please?"
"-I needed some fresh air, I'm glad you could come with me temari, I would have felt weird walking around like this by myself, you're the princess here" sakura said later
She and temari walked through the sunny streets of suna, passing buildings, houses, stores and people
Both of them in classic yukata's and Japanese sandals, temari's yellow with red roses, sakura's of course pink with cherry blossoms which had already been made for her
Behind them were maids holding traditional Japanese umbrella's over them to block the sun. temari smiled "like I said, you can count as a princess here too-" she sighed "I guess I could have used a walk too"
"did we really need to dress like this though? And with the walkers? It's a little embarrassing" sakura said looking around, temari laughed "that's the perks of being royalty, you can do stuff like this, get free stuff, make commands you know, but the only person who takes advantage of this is kankoru I think he's gone out with almost every girl in the country" she laughed
"including sari" "sari? Who's that?" "gaara's ex girlfriend and…fiancée" sakura's eyes widened "really?" "mmm hmm, but he dumped her, one was because she cheated on him with kankoru" sakura frowned "but he found that out after he dumped her"
"but later after that incident he started going out with a friend of Sari's, matsuri" "I know her!" "yup, but a little later after that gaara found out he was engaged to sari, but then he dropped her as his fiancée after he turned 18, a couple weeks after he broke up with matsuri, guess the elders were hoping they would have fallen in love or something by them so gaara wouldn't drop her, that pretty much lowered his chances of becoming king"
"so then why did do it?" sakura asked confused, this time temari beamed, "well…
…because he met you"
Sakura unpacked the last of her things, putting up the picture of her and gaara taken at the teen club at the ski resort, soon after they started dating, right next to a picture of her and the rest of the girls in junior year, both which she took everywhere she traveled over a long period of time
She sighed sitting back on her bed, her head down "so all this…is my fault…I may have just caused a country size disaster" she ran her hands through her hair. She picked up her laptop from the side of the bed
Opening it she quickly went to video chat, once again tenten was online, she sighed in relief clicking the name
Cherryblossom has requested to videochat with weaponschick
. . . . . . . .
Weaponschick has accepted
"hey princess, what's up?" "hi tennie I need to talk to you guys, are the other girls there?" she nodded and turned her laptop to the side
Sakurs could tell they were in ino's room, both her and hinata were in her walk in closet
"hey forehead!" ino called waving while holding a random dress, "hello sakura" hinata said softly waving holding a necklace in her hand
"temari says you guys can forget about looking for dresses and jewelry, she's gonna take care of it all"
Ino groaned in relief "thank goodness! Do you have any idea how long we've been standing here searching for the right dress?" she giggled "I could guess a while"
"is that what you needed to tell us?" tenten asked, sakura frowned then shook her head "no…guys, huddle up?", ino and hinata sat down their items and walked up, then sat down next to tenten
"what's wrong?" ino asked getting closer to be in view. Sakura scratched the side of her hair "guys I just found out…that…that gaara was once engaged" only ino and hinata gasped, tenten remained calm "so? The key word here is once what's the problem?"
"no you don't understand, it was at his best chance to become king if he married her, but he renounced his marriage and gave it all up…for me, isn't that the dumbest thing you've ever heard!" she shot frustrated, then quickly covered her mouth
Gaara slipped away from her door, his face gave no expression just…blankness
"I don't think it's dumb sakura, it just means he has strong feelings for you, isn't that good?" hinata asked, "it's!...I…don't know, what does he get out of dating me?" "maybe he got something that you can't see, try to talk to him about it" ino assured "I'd rather not, maybe for the sake of it all I'd be best to keep my opinion's to myself, thanks though, I'll come back on later" "sorry sakura, we're getting ready for our dates, the guys are taking us out" hinata said
Sakura giggled "well alright, tomorrow them, night girls"
"night!"
She clicked the videochat close button, deciding to read her horoscope of the day
Aries, your 18th year has high expectations, but you will get through them with flying colors. It's time to deck down and get ready to show your true potential, all the work you've been doing will finally pay off
"final exams I'm guessing, along with collage exams and applications" she sighed at what she knew was coming up in the next few months
Bad: your dangers are not at an end Aries, there is always a way to escape your shell…
Good: how grand! some of your greatest wishes are bound to come true Aries! Patience is key
"yeah right…"
Love: ****
She smiled "wow, highest love stars I've ever gotten"
Wealth: *****
"probably because of the current position I'm in" she said looking around
Health: *****
"as expected from as a doctor's daughter" she smiled to herself
Love: Aries! It's time to open your heart to the new world! Don't doubt your qualities Aries in the end they'll help you,
Every. Girl. Is. A. Princess
With that she closed her horoscope page, "I guess horoscopes aren't always true…"
Kankoru was finally back the next morning, holding a new Latino girl in arm
Temari and sakura sat on the steps licking ice cream (strawberry for sakura and vanilla and chocolate swirled for temari). Watching him come in laughing with the girl who was way too close to him, he didn't seem to mind though
"wanna know another secret?" temari asked, sakura took a lick while nodding, "that guy is the one who showed those boyfriends of you and your friends (well most of them) how to be playboys"
Sakura laughed out loud "seriously?" temari nodded confidently, sakura held her forehead in disbelief "oh now that is something to share with the girls" "happy to help" temari said
"well well well, sakura it's quite a pleasure to see you again, so you couldn't get enough of me could you?' he smirked, the girl hit his arm "what?" he questioned
"actually I'm here for the week, my school's closed so I'm visiting here with gaara", he slightly frowned "to bad, be cool to have you around here, speaking of him where's gaara?" "gone, he went to a meeting with the imperial lords" temari answered
"what! I'm older than him I should be the one going!" "dumbass you weren't here, he had to fill in for you when you bailed on dad, besides there's no way the imperial lords would take you seriously" temari smirked, sakura giggled
He glared "whatever" he growled beginning to walk away with the girl again, 'I'll catch you later sa-ku-ra" he cooed, the girl on his arm hit him again once again he asked what was wrong as they disappeared into the kitchen
Sakura was still giggling "you have really interesting brothers, but I'm confused" she said her face falling "I thought you said kankoru had taken Sari in as his fiancée, why is he always with different girls?"
"taking her in doesn't mean he likes her, well he DID until he and gaara both found out what was happened, it's kind of a long story" temari continued staring off into space
"I got time, and ice cream" sakura smiled, temari nodded
"well…not too long ago, about last year actually gaara was dating Sari, you know he went out with a lot of girls so it wasn't a big deal for him, but later he dumped her and decided to go out with her friend matsuri being the playboy and all, sari acted like she was devastated when in fact while he was dating matsuri he discovered she had gone out with kankoru, gaara blamed kankoru who tried to explain who didn't know, he really didn't, kankoru's away a lot and they weren't dating for a long time, and since he switches girls so much he had no idea and doesn't really keep up, I don't either"
"but anyways while he went out with matsuri he found out the lords had put up an arranged marriage with him and surprisingly Sari, who he didn't know was a royal, I even thought she was just another girl. But he dropped as his fiancée and broke up with matsuri, he never really told me why just said he found another girl he was interested in and didn't want anyone in the way"
"really?" sakura asked finishing what was left of her ice cream then licking her fingers, temari was only halfway into hers, she nodded "the lords threatened to break all his ties to becoming king, but kankoru jumped in and took Sari as a fiancée, even after tossing her a while ago, anyways until gaara found a new love interest a.k.a princess"
"so we take it from there, those two don't tell me much…bastards" she grumbled "anyways that's as far as I know"
"telling stories again…temari?"
They both looked up, gaara was walking up to them, his hands in the pocket of his military uniform
"gaara! Your back early" sakura said as he walked up the first couple steps "no, I forgot my files, I came back to get them", temari scoffed "I wasn't telling stories I was just entertaining
A maid came down the stairs carrying his eyes, she bowed and held them out "gaara-sama" she said, he nodded holding his hand up, she scurried off back up the stairs. "alright them, don't tell to many now, I'll see you guys later" he began to turn around, sakura stood up and stopped "I don't get a kiss?" she said cutely
He smirked, then kissed her…
After a couple seconds he let go, but whispered "your lips taste amazing"
Sakrua was silently blessing the ice cream as he kissed her again
Temari rolled her eyes as she got up "when you two wanna stop eating each other's faces I'll be in the kitchen" she said quickly getting down the steps towards the kitchen as they made out
As soon as she stepped into the kitchen she grimaced, kankoru was in there, making out with the girl he had brought in, she was hopped on top of the counter, his arms were wrapped around her waist
She quickly left and headed towards the living room "yeesh is there no sanctuary here?...i gotta get me a full time boyfriend…hmm…wonder how shikamaru's doing…"
Later…
Sakura sat on a swing in the park across the mansion, behind her a few children were playing on a jungle gym, a cool wind was blowing, the sun was blazing, getting bored of sitting in the mansion all day
She swung back and forth, thinking about everything temari had told her the past couple days, wondering why gaara would give up EVERYTHING for a girl he had just met, and why it had to be her.
The week was halfway over, friday temari was taking her almost out of town for a spa day, to prepare for the ball which was on Saturday
She would be leaving Sunday morning, and anything that happened in suna would be staying with it, she had another chance to really make a good impression on gaara's father after storming out the last time even though he approved of them
The girls would be arriving Saturday morning, the workers would start setting up on Friday. The whole week seemed to be racing past her, she was starting to get a little home sick, but didn't want to separate from suna.
"miss! miss! haruno-hime!", she turned her head around "I'm not a…" she was sick of repeating it to people, she sighed "yes?"
It was a little girl, about 5 or 6 years old, she was surprised at her hair, it was light fuchsia, also long, cut about the same as hers
"can I help you?" "can you tell Airi to give me back my ball it was mine!" sakura looked up, getting off the swings
"it is not! I had it first hotara!" she looked at the girl named sana, she had dirty blond hair, a little part covered her eyes
"come on you guys we have to finish the game!" sakura looked to the side, there was another little girl with brown hair tied in pigtails her hands on her hips, next to her were two another girls, one with black hair, another with short dark red hair
"no way sana!" hotara stuck her tongue out "not until I get the ball back" "no way!" airi yelled
"guys…were…gonna…miss…the…game…my…mom…is…coming…soon" the black haired one said spacing at every word which sakura found weird
The short red haired one sat on the floor, dirty "I'm bored lets go play computer games or something!" she cried, "shut up kameyo! Don't worry zumi we'll be done as soon as airi and hotara stop fighting" sana said
"when she give me my ball back!" hotara yelled "my ball my ball ugly!" "don't call be ugly dummy!"
"ugly!"
"dummy!"
"ugly!"
"dummy!"
Sakura busted out laughing, all 5 girls turned to her confused, after a couple seconds her laughs began to settle and turn into giggles
"what so funny?" kameyo asked giggling herself
"oh it's nothing…you all just remind me of…of…" "of…who?" zumi asked
She smiled "well my friends back home…anyways here" she walked over and around the jungle gym
After she came back to had a second ball in her hands, she handed it to hotara "aw gee thanks!" she said excitingly jumping up and down
"come on guys!" sana called rushing away with the other 2 girls, airi nodded and thank you and quickly jogged after
Hotata smiled up at her "thanks haruno-hime" "how do you know my name?" sakura asked bending down to her
"everyone in the village knows our new princess, don't you?" sakura gave a blank yet confused expression
She hugged the ball
"hotara! Come on it's time to go!" sakura looked up, hotara turned her head
A young woman and man were waving over to hotara
"oh that's my mommy and daddy, I gotta go, but I'll come back real soon, will you come to the park too? And bring your friends?"
Sakura smiled and ruffled her hair a little "sure"
Hotara nodded smiling as she turned and rushed off
Sakura sighed and sat back on the grass as she saw hotara's father pick her up and hoist her on his shoulders, her mother giggled as they began to walk off, the rest of the girls followed behind, waving to her
"enjoy it while it lasts kiddo…enjoy it"
"they look like us? Really?" ino asked while applying lip gloss, sakura rolled over on her bed "while sorta, they do have some of our features and personalities, it's kinda weird actually" she laughed
"sweet! We have doubles! I can't wait to meet them! You said everyone's coming to this ball right?" tenten asked, sakura nodded "everyone, I'm pretty nervous really"
"don't worry sakura, we'll be there with you, and gaara as well" hinata said as she brushed tenten's hair, she slightly sighed "I haven't been seeing much of gaara lately, he been going to conferences and stuff in the day and sometimes coming back when I've gone back to sleep"
"well you still have a few days forehead! Don't let it get to you" ino said clicking her makeup bag
There was a doorbell downstairs "what! The guys already!" ino gasped
"another date I'm guessing?" all 3 of them nodded, "here, come say hi" tenten picked up ino's laptop as the 3 of them headed down the stairs, sakura looked around, it felt good to remember home and her surroundings
They opened the door, the boys (except sasuke) stood there in casual clothing, a little startled at the laptop tenten was holding
"hey guys! Wanna say hi to saki before we head off?"
"troublesome…" shikamaru sighed "hey sakura wussup?" he asked scratching he back of his head in a tired expression
"hey shikamaru" she smiled "sup saki, you and gaara done it yet?" neij asked cockily "that's a personal question you dumbass!" she heard seeing tenten's arm hit him on the head "hey hey I was just asking!...whatever I'll ask him"
"hi sakura-hime!" naruto waved happily, neji growled at the enthusiasm, shikamaru sighed
Sakura giggled, she missed the everyday attitude of the boys, she couldn't wait until they were all together again
"alright them sakura we'll talk later" hinata said waving into the camera, the boys waved as well "later forehead!" "by sakura-hime!" tenten and naruto both said
She waved goodbye as their camera shut off, she closed the video chat page. She groaned, sick of the same old routine, she got up even though it was getting late she stepped out of her room.
After she passed a few doors she heard whining and moaning coming from what she had learned was kankoru's room, she raced passed it, disgusted, luckily it wasn't really near everyone else's rooms
She walked down the stairs, towards the kitchen now craving a late snack
She picked up a couple granola bars from temari's stash she said she could take from
Deciding to roam the halls of the mansion she'd never been through she started with an unfamiliar hallway, it was dark
At the start was a light on the right side of her, she switched it on, it revealed a long hallway, aligned with picture after picture on each side of the walls
She looked from side to side making sure no maid or anyone was coming, she wasn't positive if she was allowed in this part of the mansion but hey? Isn't boredom a good enough excuse
She her it was. She walked down the halls, looking at the pictures back and forth
The ones she passed she recognized were of temari, kankoru and their father, all when they were younger, yet she kept seeing some woman next to them, after a few pictures she started to see a male in the group as well, next to the woman
After some time she began to guess that the woman was their mother, since she didn't ever hear anything about her she guessed the obvious…
So gaara didn't have a mother either, maybe they were meant to meets, she thought
She didn't see any pictures of gaara until she reached the end of the hall, by now she couldn't see the start of the hallway anymore, too far off
He didn't have as many pictures as the others did, she guessed why. His were with his siblings, his father and the man she had seen earlier. His mother wasn't in them anymore
After a few pictures the man was gone just like his mother (she still guessed). "maybe something happened to him too…" she whispered
When she reached the final end of the hall there was a picture of just gaara, temari, kankoru, the last picture was of gaara, in a military uniform, this one was above a door, the only one in the hall
She noticed that he didn't smile in any of his pictures, but ignored it and stared at the door, "this has to be a private room…if it's all the way here…" she whispered again
But her curiosity was getting the better of her, she'd come this far right? How much trouble could she possibly get into?
It was a burgundy door with a golden knob she had her left hand wrapped around, she turned the knob, taking one more glance to make sure no one was looking she turned the knob fully, opening the door
The first thing that caught her eye was a large wooden desk in front of it, on that desk were neatly placed files and papers, a cup with a few pencils in it, a couple pictures at the right corner of the desk, the walls were burgundy, in front of the desk was a carpet matching the walls, somewhat like the oval office yet duller
She realized she was in the kings office, she gulped, she really wasn't supposed to be in here, better to leave
But something screamed at her to walk forward. Being the history nerd she was she walked forward, looking around. Just like in the hall there were pictures aligned, but these were of past sabaku's, past kings and queens
She was getting that out of place feeling again, she sub-consciously touched the famous desk, it was clear to her that it had obviously not been cleaned in a while, knowing the king seemed to have been gone for a while since it was so dusty. She knew a maid would have cleaned it, that is if they were allowed in there
'you should sit in the chair saki! Think about how that would feel since you've been studying this place so long'
Inner sakura said, she smiled but shook it of her head 'cha! Do you have any idea how disrespectful that would be? I'm already in enough trouble if I get caught!'
'just a suggestion yeesh don't bite YOUR head off…'
She rolled her eyes at herself, turning back to the desk
"quite the explorer…aren't you?"
She twisted around, gaara leaned on the side of the door, in his military suit smirking
Busted
"how did you know-" "next time you wanna sneak around, turn the light off" he pointed to the side as he walked in
"you know if someone had caught you in here without an escort we would have had some major problems" "I know, I-I'm sorry I was just curious"
He nodded "I know, but come on, let me show you a place a little more interesting" he held his hand out, she reluctantly took it as he led her out
"close your eyes…" was the last thing he whispered
I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
If felt like she had walked miles before they finally stopped walking, all through the walk she kept asking where they were going, he just continued to return with a simple 'you'll see', she loved and hated surprises, he knew that, some good some bad
Then he stopped her "can I open my eyes now?" she asked softly, "yeah…" he said
She gasped
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know
?
"gaara…what is this place?"
They were both at the highest place in the mansion, the rooftop balcony, which over looked the entire land of suna, all around the rooftop was a grassy ground surrounded by flowers
But that wasn't the best part, yes it overlooked all of suna, the lights were…intoxicating
The beauty, she couldn't put into words, but thought even putting Tokyo and konoha together couldn't compare, that must have been one of the best things about Suna.
"great isn't it?" he asked standing next to her, she was at a loss for words, she just nodded, he sighed "I used to come up here when I was younger, it was my most favorite place to stay at night…now…I want to share it with you"
"why?" he smiled and sighed, he leaned on the railing and looked towards the city, wind blew past them, softly going through his hair
"I don't know…I…really don't know" he said truthfully
She frowned
What made her so special to him? It confused her so much
"this is ours…whenever you need to be up here you can, no one…not any part of my family has been up here, I doubt they even know about this place" she smiled, the fact that he was sharing something so personal with her must have meant something, she just wanted to know what
She moved closer to him, taking his hand in hers, which of course he didn't mind
Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
So why don't we go
"so…this is our special place, to just…get away…right?" "you got it"
She leaned in and chastely kissed him "I love it…"
"I told you I'd take you somewhere special…" he whispered kissing her again
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know
This could be the end of everything,
So why don't we go,
Somewhere only we know,
Somewhere only we know,
Somewhere only we know.
"spa's have never really been my thing, but we need to get you prepped and pretty-er for that ball, so just relax sakura" temari said coolly as she was massaged
Sakura awkwardly had her feet massaged. Of course, since they basically owned it, both girls had gotten into the spa quickly
So far sakura and temari had had facials, mud baths, gotten and were currently getting massages, they were saving the nails and of course makeup for tomorrow, they day of the ball, and the day the girls arrive.
"temari, do you think we could go to the hot springs soon, I'm not really comfortable with the whole massage thing right now"
Temari looked up from lying down, from the look in her eye she could tell she was anxious, she smiled at that
"of course, just let me finish up here them we'll head there"
Sakura nodded, the nodded for the person to be done with her feet, he nodded standing up and picking up his things, she sighed
Being pampered sucked
"so…what happened to you last night? I didn't see you at dinner…come to think of it I didn't see gaara either" temari thought as they entered the woman's hot springs
Sakura turned red before they even stepped in, temari smirked "were you both doing what I think you were doing?"
"NO! of course not! Geez why does everyone keep thinking we had sex!" she slightly yelled covering her mouth then sinking into the water
Temari laughed waving her hand "sorry sorry, just an annotation, when do you guys plan on doing it?"
"I don know" she bubbled, then came up sighing "we've tried a couple times…but got interrupted"
"learn to lock a door sweetie, it helps, been there done that" temari busted out laughing, sakura smiled "I don't think I'm ready though anyways, I'm just glad gaara's patient with me"
They heard a scoff "as soon as he does he's gonna toss you, trust me"
They both turned around, the door swung open, there stood surprisingly, matsuri, and a girl sakura didn't recognize, long brown hair over her shoulders and matching eyes
"Sari…" temari grumbled, sakura's eyes widened, this was sari?
They both walked up, sari was smiling "you must be the girl who took gaara-kun away from us…flowergirl or whatever"
"the names sakura" she snapped already hating the girl "I don't remember telling you I cared, no matter we're just being patient until gaara finally comes to his senses, he always does"
"what're you talking about?" "sakura don't, let's just go to a different hot spring"
"you really don't get it? You're not anything special, if anything I should be the one with that bracelet on my wrist" sakura looked to the bracelet gaara had given her, the one she hardly ever took off
"eh em" matsuri went, sari rolled her eyes, ignoring her "it won't be long now before he tosses you like every other girl" "I'd really consider shutting up sar" temari said sternly
She ignored her too, sari and sakura continued to share glares
Sakura stood, wrapping the towel around her "your right temari lets go to a different spring…this one's contaminated"
She stepped up to sari as temari got herself ready to go "I'm not like you, or you" she said turning back and forth to her and matsuri
"I don't give a damn what happened between you too but he obviously doesn't carry any feelings for you so you need to get over yourself, so I insist on getting out my way before I do something you'll regret" sakura pushed her to the side as she and temari began to step out
"you don't belong here haruno! You have no chance peasants have never married in the sabaku clan! I'd give up now before you hurt yourself!' sari called
"tell your friends that too! It's only a matter of time before the guys drop you! You're not special you hear me! None of you losers are!" matsuri angrily yelled "your gonna regret the day you ever took gaara-kun away!"
Sakura sighed in an annoyed expression, not caring or listening to anything they said
"why does everyone keep talking about marriage, I'm 18 sheesh" temari smiled "you're really good at standing up for yourself, makes me proud to have a future sister like you"
Sakura rolled her eyes playfully "I doubt the chances of that happening, but confidence it what I was brought up to have, no one can take it away from me"
Sakura anxiously awaited the next day, pacing back and forth in the entrance hall early in the afternoon on Saturday
The workers were walking all around going back and forth to the ball room and the entrance hall were the guests would be first
The girls (and guys) would be there any moment, she was so excited to see her best friends again after a week she couldn't think straight, she'd put peanut butter in her cheerios and milk on her toast that morning
She jumped up and squealed when the door bell rang, not even giving the butler a chance to open it she ran up to the double doors and swung them open with so much force they almost broke off
"SAKURA!" the girls yelled, they squealed and jumped on her, pulling into a long needed hug
"hn, it was just week" sasuke said, annoyed
"I missed you guys so much!" "same here! Home just isn't the same without you" ino sighed
"but now were together again!" tenten said, "uuh, did you guys already forget about megami?" naruto asked
They turned red, "oh right…left her all by herself in konoha, she got put on medication so she's been asleep, we didn't even tell her we were leaving…oops" tenten said sheepishly, "but she would have loved this place" hinata said getting up and looking around
"you say that like she's dead" sakura groaned "no sadness! Come on I gotta show you guys my room!" she squealed, they nodded rushing upstairs leaving their overnight bags with the guys
"I think they did that on purpose" neji growled, the rest of the guys shrugged, a few maids came for the bags
Shikamaru sighed "come on, we should go find gaara"
"found him" naruto said pointing to the side, they boys looked to wear he was pointing to find gaara in plain blue jeans and a black T
"sabaku, wussup?" neji asked, "hyuga" he said slightly dryly, "what's this thing you got planned that we had to drive all the way to Suna for?" sasuke asked
Gaara smirked "a surprise"
"sakura…I hate you"
They all turned around to ino who was staring around in awe
"I hate you so much! Ohhh I wish I was a princess this place is amazing!" sakura sighed in relief, tenten laughed, hinata smiled as they walked around sakura's large room
Tenten jumped on her bed "whoa, this doesn't fit even half of you a little much don't you think?" sakurs nodded "I know but gaara insisted"
"ah yes prince gaara to whom our fair sakura is betrothed" ino sighed dreamily sitting down on the bed as well, "ino you do know betrothed means married right?" hinata asked sitting on her knees on the floor, ino looked at them dumbly "really? Well, that's news to me, I thought it meant dating or something"
Tenten and sakura rolled their eyes, sakura gasped "oh that reminds me! You guys gotta see this"
She motioned for them to follow her, they all got up and followed her to the doors of the walk in closet
She opened them, the lights automatically came on
Hinata gasped, "wow" tenten said a little alarmed, ino squealed so loudly they thought her head would pop off
She ran inside "look at this! Egyptian gold, oh oh! Parisian hand crafted diamonds! This ruby's gotta be at least a century old it's beautiful! I want! I want it ALL!" she pleaded jumping up and down
"funny how the only history she knows is the history of jewelry" tenten whispered "quite a gift if you ask me" hinata said
"you guys can pick whichever one you want for the ball" sakura smiled "NO!" ino demanded stomping her foot, they all looked confused "what? You don't like them anymore?" sakura asked
"it's not that, we have to know what out dresses look like before we select don't we? Where are the dresses?" sakura shrugged "temari said she'd come up with them in a little while, she went with a few workers to go and 'pick them up'" she said making quotation marks with her fingers
"oh poo" ino frowned flopping down onto a small leather seat. "so then, what do we do for the next couple hours?" tenten asked crossing her arms and leaning on a rack of dresses
Sakura smiled
"wanna go to the park?"
"lady-haruno! Your back!" hotara squealed bouncing up and down with the ball in hand, "who's this?" ino asked as the rest of the girls walked up behind here
"the girls I was telling you about yesterday evening" sakura said, "ohhh" the girls went, "she does kind of have your hair" tenten said tilting her head
"hotara come on! Bring the ball back so we can play!" sana called "yeah don't hog it this time buckteeth!" airi yelled laughing "shut up ugly!" hotara shot back
"guys…we…should…stop…fighting" zumi pleaded
Sakura giggled, "are these the kids you said reminded you of us?" tenten asked as the rest of the little girls ran up all excluding the short red haired one
Sakura bent down "are these your friends? I knew you'd come back to play!" she said sweetly
"guys this is hotara, airi, zumi, sana and-" she stopped "hey wheres your other friend?" "oh kameyo? She's sick she couldn't come today"
"ironyyy" tenten sang
"you guys wanna play with us? Then I could show you my bug collection, don't worry most of em are dead" hotara said, the little ones grimaced "no way! No one wants to see that hotara, we could go watch soccer at my house" sana suggested
"I wanna go shopping!" airi said "I'm…okay…with…whatever…you…guys…wanna…do" zumi added
The girls stared in shock, sakura smiled "creepy right?"
"sure we'll play with you, but we have to get back and get ready for the ball soon, do you girls" hinata said, "aaaaw" they all went
For the next couple hours the girls spent time getting to know their younger versions better, tenten played catch with sana and told her all about sports game play she was too young to understand
Ino discussed fashion tips with airi, which confused her at first but she quickly fell into, and like most of the girls at konoha high wanted to follow in her footsteps, mentioned that she had always wanted to grow her hair out
Hinata talked to zumi about how to get over her shyness and spacing of every word so make sure she didn't say something wrong, zumi listened carefully, even commenting on her exotic eyes, ironically (again) zumi had pale blue ones but not like a hyuga's and almost nothing of a pupil
Sakura found out hotara loved to read, like her, and was slightly an over achiever, like her, yet sakura didn't mention anything about being motherless, it didn't seem a 5 year old was the right person to tell it too
Funny how at such a young age they resembled almost pure grownups
"guys! Hey guys what're you doing!" all the girls turned around, naruto jogged up to them, the rest of the guys closely following behind
"well…that's our cue" ino puffed a little sadly
Naruto ran up to sakura who stood up, hotara stared up at him "hey I know you…" she thought for a moment then snapped her little fingers "yeah your from that band airi's big siter loves so much!"
Naruto smiled "who's the kid?" he asked sakura kindly, "justa little friend"
"well, temari's back, she wants you guys to come up, it's time to get ready"
The girls stood up "aaw, you have to go?" sana asked, they nodded "sorry, we'll see you at the ball girls, then maybe we'll play another time" tenten said ruffling her hair
"yeah! Maybe next time we can come to your house!" airi squealed, the girls giggled "maybe" hinata said sweetly
They began to walk off as the little girls waved then ran off to play until it was time for them to prepare for the ball.
"finally! I've been waiting for this since the announcement!" ino squealed as they once again entered the room to find temari sitting on sakura's bed her legs crossed, one each side of her were two dresses covered in protective wraps
"hey tem" tenten said giving her a high five, sakura thought it was funny, they'd only met once and that was video chat, now they were all like best friends
"hey guys, alright, enough small talk, we only have a few hours to prep you up, that means hair, nails, shoes, accessories, make up and dresses, you ready?"
Ino held her hands together "is this heaven?"
Temari laughed "no, but it'll be hell if we don't get started quickly" she said deviously
The girls gave her a confused yet interested look
The makeover began
Time to party
Guests soon began to arrive at about 7:30, the party actually started at about 8:30 but everyone knew it wasn't good to be late and keep the royals waiting
Princess and princess form different countries come from all around, the people of suna arrived with honor, by the time the clock struck ate everywhere was packed
The girls were in puffy dresses or all different sorts of colors, but most the rainbow, very few in straight or a line dresses, the men of course in tuxedoes
Also by 8, the kazekage (aka gaara's father) arrived.
"ow!" tenten yelled "miss please hold still" the maid assured setting the eye brow pluckers down "we're already late", "then skip the eye brows" she sighed "I cannot, it's tradition…plus, you could use a could pluck" she mumbled, tenten's mouth gaped
The only one ready was ino, she was pacing back and forth applying lipstick in a strapless purple puffy dress, she kept pulling the front part up "ino…you look fine, stop pacing" sakura said sitting her legs crossed on her bed, she was the only one not dressed, everything was ready
Her nails and toenails were painted a warm pink, she had bright pink lipstick on, she had on a pink diamond necklace and earrings ino had picked out for her, gaara bracelet, shiny hot pink high heel shoes (the rest of the girls weren't visible because of the length of the dresses), light pink eye liner and the works, yet her hair remained the same.
She was irritated over the fact temari wouldn't show her her dress until the other girls left, which she didn't understand
"fine! I can't look fine! Now that I think about this is a high style ball I have to look PERFECT!" she boasted
"trust me, you do compared to everyone down there" they all turned, temari stood by the door in a puffy dark green dress, her spiky hair was down and tied behind her neatly yet the ends were still spiked, she was holding a small ancient looking fully decorated box
Hinata stood up, primped and ready, she had on a light blue strapless dress almost similar to ino's, her hair was wavy neatly in the back, her nails were painted a deep sea blue
"I'm ready" she announced "perfect" temari said stepping in, the girls were so busy finishing they didn't ask about the box
Tenten finally stood up ready, she had on a grass green slightly puffy dress, with darker green nail polish and a little makeup, pink lipgloss, her brown hair down and pressed, being left on the side over her left shoulder, tied with a green flower
"done!" they announced all together, "greeeat then can I get ready now?" sakura asked
"yup, you all need to get the hell out of here, sakura's…my job"
The girls nodded, eager to finally get out of the room and meet the boys
That left temari and sakura alone, "so, you ready to see that dress?" sakura took a deep breath "I've been ready"
The girls could hear noise downstairs before they started walked, "here goes nothing" tenten said as they began to take the first steps down the golden curved steps
Most people stopped and stared as they walked down, the boys below (expect sasuke) were in tuxes (as expected) waiting for them
They looked up, they're mouths slightly gaped, naruto did a spit take, luckily it landed on no one
"wow…" was all neji said as they stepped before them, ino curtsied and motioned for them to follow, hinata did, tenten crossed her arms "like hell"
Ino stood up straight and shot her a quick glare, then turned back and smiled to shikamaru, she held out her hand, her lazily but gracefully took it as they walked into the crowd
Hinata held her hand out, naruto took it and twirled her, she giggled as he led her
Tenten held her hand out, neji bent over and kissed it, she blushed because people had still been staring, still blushing as he led her away…
A couple minutes later a man in a tuxedo stood on the steps holding out a paper
"lord kazekage welcomes all of you to this unexpected ball courtesy of his children, in present to you, lord kazekage, congradulations on success with India"
The entrance hall clapped as the kazekage stood at the top of the steps, he waved to his people and his respectful allies as he stepped down the stairs
"next I present thy prince kankoru! Accompanied by his fiancée lady-sari-"
"temari…I…don't know what to say…" sakura said staring in awe at the dress, she ran her hands down her thighs
"don't mention it, I had it made especially for you, I knew you'd love it" "I do…I really do"
"feeling more like a princess now?" sakura didn't answer "oh I almost forgot!"
She ran over to sakura's bed and picked up the box, sakura turned to see what it was, when temari opened she gasped at what was before her
"temari, how-" "a princess deserves her crown, I thought id fit your best"
Temari took it off the leather and placed it on her head
The finishing touch
Temari shot her head to the clock
"I gotta go, whenever you're ready just come out, gaara's waiting for you!" she called rushing out the door holding the sides of her dresses so she wouldn't trip
"-now next our own princess temari!" he announced
Temari passed by gaara as she rushed to the steps, eh was pacing "temari! Where's sakura!"
"she's about to come out good luck!" she called standing at the steps slowly and gracefully coming down as all clapped
He slightly groaned, it was almost his turn, where was that girl?
"…..gaara?"
He twisted around, his shoulders dropped at her sight
Sakura, had a ruffled pink and white one shoulder dress, the one sided strap looked as if it were made of flowers, the back was slightly strappy, it surely stood out
A lot her head was a shiny sparkling tiara, at that moment she really looked the part of a princess.
"sakura…" he said
She was surprised at him as well, he wore a different black military uniform, fit with awards and badges, atop his head was a golden crown
"you look…uh…beautiful"
Her cheeks grew red "thank you…" she said a little quietly
"now finally presenting, prince gaara, accompanied by lady haruno sakura"
She took a deep breath "gaara, I'm kinda nervous" she looked down, "don't worry about it, if you start to worry just look at me, alright?"
She looked to the steps, where everyone was waiting, then turned back to him and nodded
He intertwined his right arm with her left, she wrapped her right fist around a piece of her dress to keep from tripping
Finally, they made their way down the steps
Everyone stopped and stared when they finally began to come down, some were in awe, some confusion, some just…stared
Somehow she managed to find the girls in the crowd, ino stared in jealousy, hinata smiled at her, tenten gave a thumbs up
At the bottom left of the stairs temari stood, smiling at the both of them, on the bottom right was kankoru he was smirking, sari refused to look
"everyones looking" she whispered, he smirked "good…now I can show you off"
Her cheeks burned red again, but it was unnoticeable due to the fatc everyone was paying attention to the shying tiara above her head
Whispers began to arise as they stopped at the bottom of the steps, the man at the mid steps announced for everyone to go on with the party until it was time to enter the ball room
The girls rushed up to her "sakura, you look amazing" hinata said "no time for that! You WON'T believe who's here" ino said
She turned around and pointed, on the other side of the hall was ami, Karin, kin, and suki in a line dresses talking and supposedly flirting with a few boys of royalty
"I'm guessing matsuri invited, sari probably let them in" sakura sighed, the girls looked at her in confusion "I'll explain later" they nodded
"well, we'll see you in a few saki, have fun" tenten called rushing back to neji, ino and hinata both nodded as they rushed back to shikamaru and naruto
After a few second the ballroom was ready to enter, inside it was golden from top to bottom
As soon as everyone was in soft ballroom dancing music began to play
"pineapple!" temari said pouncing on him, shikamaru twitched, ino blinked as he was just about to ask her to dance, he sighed "temari…"
Ino laughed nervously "you two know each other?" she asked confused, temari raised a brow "he didn't tell you? Well, we used to go out' she slightly giggled
"whaaat?" ino said demonically, "oops must have slipped out" temari said shielding her mouth, oh how she loved to mess with him, even broken up they were still friends
"ino wait I can explain!" he begged as she was about to pound on him
Temari chuckled as she walked away to look for a certain someone
It was tradition for the prince to dance with all the available maidens, but since he was seeing someone he gladly danced with sakura
The girls of suna and princess from all around fumed and sobbed as they watched the band dance with the girls, wishing to be in their place
Sakura twirled around on the dance floor in gaara's arms, aside from hip hop pop and rock the girls had also done ballroom style dancing competitions, such as salsa, tango, etcetera.
So she was fully skilled (along with the other girls) while she danced
Temari flopped down next to sasuke who was sitting, blocking out the fangirls, he stared at her with a blank expression
"for megami's sake, and to save you from being here alone, would you dance with me?" she asked sweetly, he thought for a second, she was a friend and it better her then a fangirl example: Karin
"hn….alright" was all he said, she smiled and held her hand out, he reluctantly took it as they got up towards the dance floor
After sometime it was time to switch partners like more traditional dancing in suna
Someone tapped sakura's shoulder, she let go of gaara and turned around, sari stood there smiling "it's time to switch" she said cutely, sakura could see the fake in her eyes
But, they didn't have a choice, the first person to walk up they must take
Stupid rules, sakura thought
She completely let go of gaara, nodding to him, sari took him in hand, still smiling
The girls had been switched as well, with other princes
Sakura sat back and watched as tenten danced with some boy, he whispered something, her mouth gaped, she stood back and stepped on his foot
He held it in pain as she stormed off, she couldn't help but laugh at that, yet hinata and ino were doing pretty well
She refused dance offers, she wanted to wait until gaara was finished with her
"must be nice….you know…having something that doesn't belong to you, especially when you don't deserve it"
She turned her head slightly in annoyance
As expected, matsuri stood there, her hand on her hips in a chocolate brown a line halter dress, behind her were the rest of the girls, there hand son their hips as well
"matsuri…what the hell do you want?" she asked in complete annoyance ignoring the rest of them
"your deaf?" she scoffed looking back from her to gaara still dancing with sari, sakura looked too, sari seemed to whisper things in his ear, he kept a blank expression
"how dare you even show up here?" sakura slightly gasped, she looked to the side, standing there were other princesses, they looked just as upset as matsuri and the others
"what?" sakura snapped
"look at you portraying yourself as a princess? You know everyone is talking about it, you're making a fool out of the sabaku royal family, I hope you don't expect to marry into the family peasant"
Sakura looked down, her bangs covering her eyes " shut up, get out of my face…" she mumbled
"it would be best if you leave girl your embarrassing yourself, anyone of us should be with gaara, why in the world would he pick you" another girl said
"I said shut up…" she mumbled
"your nothing here commoner girl, you're the one who needs to get-" sakura punched the first princess girl in the face
Some people stopped and gasped, the girl fell and held her cheek
She was breathing heavily, her fist still in the air, it slowly came down
"you want this!" she yelled taking off the tiara messing up her hair in the process
"TAKE IT! I don't want it anyways!" she yelled throwing it in front of her, finally turning and running back up the stairs shielding her eyes
"sakura!" ino called about to rush after her with the other girls, the guys stopped them
"don't…he'll handle this" neji said seriously
Sakura cried leaning on the rooftop balcony gaara had showed her the other day
Suna's lights were just as beautiful as she had see, but there weren't many since everyone was at the ball, only street lights rained
Tears fell as she leaned forward
Then she heard a door close behind her
She groaned "go a-away"
"….what happened…sakura?" gaara asked, stepping up to her
"what do you think happened!" she cried, she stood up straight and turned around "why did you bring me here! I'm so sick of all of this! Everyone's been calling me princess all week! 'oh sakura-hime' 'oh princess sakura' 'oh look at sakura your just like a princess now'" she cried harder
"I was actually starting to believe it! Now I turn around and find no one actually wants me here! I'm not cut out for this stuff! I'm not like you! WHY! Tell me why!"
He stood his expression blank as they'd just met "why…what?"
"why did you choose me! What's so special about me! Why did you perposly throw away your whole life for someone you'd just met! You can literally have any girl down there you want! Any princess! Why me!"
She sniffled, awaiting his answer, his expression stayed blank as he walked up to her, she leaned back on the railed
All he did was pull the tiara from behind his back, he straightened her hair about to place it on, she nudged his hand away "I don't want it"
"it belongs to you…sakura…I can't really explain why I did all those things, I don't even really know why, but what I understand is I never, ever once regretted it"
She made eye contact with him
"I don't know what it is, but after getting to know you obviously changed my mind and my view of my world, I was surprised when my father had accepted you, I thought maybe…it meant something"
She sniffled, but listened
"don't let them get to you, as long as your with me I'll never let anyone hurt you"
"gaara…" she whispered
"were going back down there…" he put the tiara back on her head
"because I have an announcement" he smiled
She hesitated for sometime before she nodded slowly
He led her back downstairs to the ballroom, everyone stared as they stood on the steps
"our prince gaara has informed me he has an announcement" the man once again called
Everyone listened carefully, sakura shyly stood on the steps, eh was a step ahead of you
Gaara looked proud and serious as he opened his mouth to speak, from anyone's view he had the perfect aspects of a king
"this girl, haruno sakura as you have come to know, I will not allow anyone to speak to her rudely or assault her! At this moment as everyone I suna listens I announce our official…engagement!"
Gaara's words were still ringing in sakura's head as she put the last of her bags into his car
She stood in a soft pink off the shoulder shirt with a white mid thigh loose skirt, it reminded her of the dress she had worn
The girls had left the previous night, of course ino wouldn't shut up about the ball and what had happened, she wondered if gaara had really meant what he said…
"gaara…this engagement you have announced, do you have any idea what this means? What this does? I fully expected this girl because I thought you were old enough, that you would make great decisions, I thought she would only last for a short period of time, now I know, you do realize if this keeps up she cannot become king, understand?"
"I already know that father, I don't care" gaara said as he stood in his father's office/study
He sighed "I can no longer make decisions for you…I hope you know what you're doing" he smiled, to his father's surprise
"I do…absolutely, goodbye father, give everyone my regards"
"there's always a chance to come back and change your mind gaara! I have not fully excepted this!" his father called
"mother would have!" gaara called back giving a slight wave, not turning back
His father sat back, in awe
"see you next time sakura, thanks for coming" "I had fun, thanks a bunch tem" sakura said as they hugged, she was also letting sakura and the others keep the dresses, for a rainy day as she had put it
"good luck with that guy…I know you two will make it in the long run" she smiled sakura sighed but nodded "thank you" temari nodded back "I gotta go saks, I'll eb seeing you!" she called rushing back, sakura waved as she watched her go in to the house, then gaara come out
"ready?" he asked as he stepped up to her, she nodded still beaming
He put on sunglasses and got into his car for the long ride back to konoha, she got in as well, as soon as she was buckled he sped off, just like last time
"gaara…?" "hm?" he asked
"why did you do that?" she asked "do you really want to marry me?"
"to tell you the truth sakura I don't understand myself, but every time I think about being with you everything I do seems okay"
She blushed for the final time, she stared out as they pasted parts of suna
"gaara…?" "hm?"
"do…do you love me?"
The answer caught him off guard he almost let go of the wheel, he smirked "another thing, just like how we started sakura…as soon as I figure out my feelings…I'll tell you"
She smiled and nodded, she was a patient girl she could handle it
She stared out the window, the wind blew over her and through her hair as they raced away from suna, and back home.
And so it continues…
What do you think? This is my second longest chapter the first being chapter 17 XD I hope you liked it, I really liked writing this one! Until next time!
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