AN: So here's a new chapter. I know I neglected it for a while, but I was busy alright. We are progressing quite well though, if I say so myself.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this.
Onto the chap.
Little feet tapped nervously on white marble floors, small hands clutching a stuffed bunny in a death grip, almost mutilating the furry toy. Sakura looked up through glassy eyes at the still closed door of her room, waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to come through the door to fetch her.
She tugged at her black dress, sniffling as another wave of tears welled up behind her eyes. She pushed her bunny against her face, trying to muffle her sniffle and burning eyes lest her father sees it.
She should've been there, she sniffled again, she should've been there. She should've held her mother's hands and told her to stay with her. Told her to not abandon her, told her to not leave her alone in the cold, white place.
Or at the very least, she should've told her mother how much she loved her.
Little Sakura pushed her face further into her plushie, sliding down against the side of her bed and sitting on the cold carpeted floor, feeling so weightless and crushing under the weight of her mind at the same time. Her heart squeezing painfully and bursting from inside all at once.
This was too much, especially for a child.
Suddenly she heard tapping of feet outside her room, and looked up with glazed eyes, attempting to wipe away any evidence of tears. The door of her room creaked open, letting in the last person she would've wanted to fetch her.
"Papa." She whispered, small voice trembling and choked. The man looked at her blankly, bloodshot eyes staring straight through her soul and sending terrified shivers down her body. "A-are we going?"
The man stared at her for a moment more, doing nothing but just staring, but she noticed the minute tightening of his fist by his sides and his previously cold eyes turning menacing.
"Yes, we are." Sakura almost sighed in relief when he said that and took a step toward the door, only to freeze in her steps when a hand gripped her shoulder, tight. "I said we, not you,"
"P-papa?" Sakura whispered again, her grip tightening on her toy. "B-but mama-"
"You are not going." His voice rang with finality, turning around to leave her room. "You will stay here, still and quiet."
But before even Sakura knew what she was doing, her hand shot out to clutch at the man's sleeve. The man paused, slowly turning his head around to look at the trembling little girl. While the said girl was screaming at herself in her head, eyes fixed on the floor.
'WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!' her mind screamed at her, but she still held on. She will have to go, she needs to go.
It's her mama.
"Papa. Mama wants me there." She told him, digging deep within herself to fish out even an inkling of courage. She looked up at her father, and almost wished she didn't with how he was now glaring daggers. "M-mama said she would want me there."
"And who the hell told you that?" her father's icy voice seeped deep within her freezing her bones, his hand now gripping her wrist to pull it off his sleeve. "Did you forget whose fault all of this was?"
Sakura felt her eyes widen, heart near shattering at the reminder. For a moment she thought, like he said, why was she being so stubborn? She doesn't deserve to say her farewell.
But she relented. Even if he thinks she doesn't deserve to, she would see her mother one last time.
Just one last time.
"She would want me there. She told me." She whispered again, as if more to make herself believe it. But she made the dire mistake of looking her father in the eye.
He was not happy.
"You just don't know how to listen, do you." He gritted out through clenched teeth, his voice dark with anger, now pulling, dragging, her by her wrist. "Nothing but a petulant child, I knew you would be an annoyance."
"Papa! No please!" Sakura cried, trying to pull her arm free from her father.
He threw open the door of the closet of her room, almost breaking it off hinges, and pushed the little princess inside and shut the door before she could pick back up.
"Papa! I'm sorry! Please open the door, please!" Sakura banged on the door, her voice choked with tears, looking around frantically for the monster in the closet. "You will stay in this room and take this as a lesson." She heard her father from the other side, her vision, hearing, consciousness drowning in her own head. "You will learn to obey me. You heard that!"
A loud slam of the door indicated his exit, and then nothing.
Sakura remained laying in the dark, scary closet for what felt like eternity. She heard the loud bells ring outside, the last of residents leave the mansion and then hours later, return from the service.
But Sakura remained there, and never got a chance to say her goodbye.
It was an unexpectedly busy day at the café, and Sakura was almost regretting not taking the day off.
She was overworked, overstimulated, and exhausted, and the customer complaining for the fourth time about her cream pies taking too long to bake wasn't helping.
"Ma'am please wait a little longer, they should be done in a while." She was at her mind's end at having to keep up the smile on her face.
She returned back to the kitchen to check on the damn cream pies as a waitress came back from a table to handle the dessert station. Heaving a sigh, she tightened her apron and motioned for the waitress to line the cream pies and black forest pastries on the shelves. And a look at the clock reminded her that she still had another hour before she can clock out early. It was another thirty minutes later before she took her place back on the dessert counter, wiping the counter and arranging the paper bags in a line.
A minute later, the bell jingled to signal another entrance, and she felt someone stopping at her station from her periphery. "Welcome to Honeydew, how may I help you?" Sakura greeted with her eyes still on the paper bags, her back still turned toward the customer.
The deeper and smooth voice indicated to his identity as a male, "One blueberry tart and an iced americano, three cubes of sugar."
"Alright." She scribbled the coffee order onto a paper and sent it to Neji's station, before finally turning to the customer.
And the sight, gave her a pause, and her mouth almost hung open.
He looked too pretty, but he almost looked too familiar. Familiar enough for her to snap her finger in air and put pressure on her brain to remember 'just where has she seen him' but not enough to actually know of his identity.
She saw his pale lips pull into a sly smirk, "May I know what is interesting you in me?"
Sakura would've blushed at his comment, had she not been running her mind in circles, "I don't know, but you seem very familiar."
That handsome smirk pulled into an even handsome smile and he folded his arms on the counter, long ponytail draped on one shoulder and deep-set eyes looking into hers, "Do you know Sasuke?"
Not a second later, an imaginary light bulb lit up on top of her head. Eyes wide in recognition, she pointed at finger at him that might've been considered a little rude, "You're his brother! That's why you looked so familiar."
Itachi chuckled lowly as he keenly watched her retrieving a purple tart from behind the glass shelves. "You are his friend from literature and poli science, right? I've heard him talk about you a few times."
Sakura minutely winced at the last bit of information, "I hope he didn't say anything embarrassing about me."
"Not particularly."
"That's great." And then as if remembering something, Sakura flushed in embarrassment. "Well, it's embarrassing that I don't even know your name."
Itachi smiled kindly, nodding his head "Itachi Uchiha. Pleasure to meet you." Sakura returned his smile with a bright one of her own, and held out a hand for him to shake, "Sakura Haruno. Nice to meet you, Sasuke's brother."
Sakura meant to shake his hand, but was greatly surprised, and embarrassed, when he softly took her hand, and brought it to his lips, barely a contact, but it still made Sakura flush. Even more at his sly smirk when he saw her light pink cheeks.
Sakura has heard from some of the girls in her classes, that Sasuke's brother was an almost perfect gentleman, with his sleek, crisp appearance, straight and graceful gestures and almost a princely charm. Sakura had thought that they might be exaggerating a bit, but seems like they might not be so wrong afterall.
"An Iced americano." The waitress delivering the coffee from Neji's station interrupted the moment, drawing her attention to the fact that she has a job to get done. "Oh here is your order, Itachi-san." She slid the brown paper bag with the pastry and the coffee cup across the counter to the awaiting man, "Just pay at the register, and you're good to go."
Itachi nodded his thanks and turned to leave while sliding his bill to the cashier, "I'll see you in the evening, Sakura-san." And with that, the bell above the door chimed and he was gone.
'Huh, that's nice.' She mused as another customer ordered a caramel pastry, and saw Neji prepping up to clock out. She should clear her station as well, or she might end up arriving four hours late. Flagging down her shift partner to the dessert station, she sighed and went inside the kitchen to put away the cookie batches and exit through the back door.
"Do you want a ride?" Sakura jumped a little when she heard the suddenly close figure speaking. "Oh Neji. You kinda scared me."
Neji smiled at her flustered expression before he jingled his keys in front of her. "I have my car; do you need a ride?" Sakura thought about that, she could walk back, but then she would have to immediately get into shower by the time she gets back and then rush through her makeup and hair. And she still needs to wrap Sasuke's present.
"Sure." She shrugged before following her companion to his car. She got into the vehicle and pulled out her phone to text Naruto. 'I'll be there by five.' Was what she got, even though she knows he will be at least twenty minutes late. The car revved into motion as Neji pulled into the main road, taking turns per Sakura's instructions.
"So when will you and Hinata be there?" the pinkette asked after telling him to take another left. "Probably by five. Hinata wants to pick up Uchiha's present from the store before the party." Was the response as he honked at the slow as snail car in front of them.
The rest of the drive was mostly comfortably silent, with occasional remarks and small conversations. Within the next ten minutes, the car rolled in front of the small apartment building.
"Alright. Thanks for the ride, Neji." Sakura waved at the Hyuuga, who waved back before revving up the engine again. "Has Naruto confirmed his ride for today? Otherwise, I can pick up."
"Don't worry about that, he'll be here by five. Or so he said." Neji nodded at her response and drove off the street. Sakura sighed and went up the stairs to her apartment and checked her wrist watch. 'It's three-twenty, I'll need to submit my history report in half an hour, iron my dress and make something to eat. I'll need to get it all done by four so I can start getting dressed. And I need to talk to Ino.' Heaving another sigh at the mountain of things she needs to get done by four, Sakura dropped her bag on the kitchen table and took out a packet of instant ramen to eat later.
She will get onto doing all her stuff, but first, shower.
The shower felt inexplicably good, and the vanilla scented shampoo and peach scented body wash did wonders in lifting up her mood. Her hair was still wet as she slurped on her instant ramen in her sweats, finishing up her history report and e-mailing it to her professor just in time with just three minutes left to her deadline.
She heard her phone lighting up on the table, the custom ringtone for a certain blonde reaching her. "What is it, pig?"
'Forehead! What shoes do I wear?!'
"Why the hell are you asking me that. Aren't you supposed to know that better than me."
'It's not matching! I thought about wearing the silver heels but they look so tacky, and the black heels are so plain!' Sakura heard dramatic sniffles coming from the other side of the line. She rolled her eyes at the devasting tragedy the blonde seemed to be going through. 'What do I do?!'
"Stop crying, God. Just put on your black heels- the pumps, not the sandals- and wear those silver anklets you have… No, no the single one, the ones that are in chains of three."
'Okay.' A last sniffle reached her from the other side, 'Do your makeup like you do everyday. I'll fix it up at Sasuke's house.'
"Whatever. Bye." A click signified the end of the call. Sakura looked at the time on her screen, notifying her that she better start getting dressed.
'This is more trouble than I thought.' Sakura cursed in her mind five minutes later as she attempted to keep the rollers in her hair from falling off as she ironed her dress. She only needs to make her hair look good, she could half-ass her makeup as the blonde would be there to fix it for her later.
But her hair was just not cooperating.
"Would it kill you to just stay put!" She yelled at the roller in her bangs falling down as if they could hear her frustration. "Fuck it." She quickly ironed the dress and put away the iron she will need to return to her kind neighbor, and took out the rollers in irritation, moving to stand in front of the dim sunlight streaming through the windows, letting the heat dry off the remaining dampness from her hair.
She put on her dress, still standing in the sun, cursing when some strands of hair got stuck in the zipper. She patted down her dress, smoothing her palms over silk covered bust and the dip of her waist, placing her hanging poofy chiffon sleeves in place and giving the dress a little twirl, feeling strangely giddy as the wide full skirt twirled along with her around her knees prettily.
When she sees dresses like these, silky and poofy, perfect to dance with a prince in a ballroom, she sometimes feels a twinge settle in her heart. Most of the memories of the dance halls in her mansion might not be pretty, but there were some when she felt happy.
Running around the Maplewood floor with a redhead chasing her around, or sitting in the garden bench drinking tea with a black-haired boy, or sneaking off from her dance lessons with a guard with silver hair covering for her.
Those moments might have been few and far in between, but they were cherished by her regardless.
A notification on her phone drew her attention from her melancholy thoughts. It was Naruto.
'I'm almost dressed. Be there in half an hour:)'
"Shit I need to hurry." She quickly picked up a brush, running it through her slightly curled hair that she knew would return to their straight texture in less than an hour. She dusted some powder in her face and lined her eyes with eyeliner, taking extra care to make a wing to give her eyes a feline-like look. She would've perhaps applied some foundation or blush, but she just did not have the time.
She quickly swiped some light pink lipstick and put on a pair of small dangling red crystal earrings. Opening her closet and digging through her clothes, she brought out a purse that she didn't even know she had, beating it free of dust and throwing her lipstick and Sasuke's present inside it.
"Perfume." A spritz of her cinnamon perfume, "Shoes" a pair of cream sandals, "And… the chain." For the first time in a while, she remembered the necklace.
Sakura opened the middle drawer of her bedside table, pointedly ignoring the top one, and reached into the deepest corner to gingerly bring out a small object. Wrapped in a silk handkerchief, was a small violet box. She opened the box, to see a small, shiny object nestled inside a violet cushion.
A small pendant, shaped by a flower. Pure, clear diamonds made the petals, the metal of the pendant was a pure gold, so was that of the thin chain.
Normally her hands would've shook at handling it, but this time it didn't. Her fingers didn't shake, her heart didn't get erratic and her mind didn't fog.
Nothing happened this time.
A loud honk made her flinch, and a second later an even louder voice was yelling for her. Quickly shaking her head free of thoughts and checking her appearance one last time, Sakura grabbed her bag and keys and ran for her door.
'Wait!' smacking her forehead for forgetting it, she reached for the little red box sitting on her dining table and ran out of her apartment.
"Sakura-chan! Are you ready?" She could hear Naruto yelling at her apartment window even as she was going down the stairs. "Naruto, I'm right here."
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned toward where she was coming from, and his jaw promptly dropped. Sakura flushed under the blonde's gaze when his eyes moved from the top of her head down to her toes, and back up. "What is it?" She asked in a mildly annoyed voice, a little flustered by his open inspection.
Naruto blinked rapidly, breaking away his gaze and awkwardly laughing, blush high on his cheeks "Nothing, Sakura-chan. You look really pretty today."
"Thanks, Naruto." She chuckled, open the car door to get into the passenger seat. "Are you trying to say I don't look good everyday?" She only meant it in a teasing way, but the way Naruto's face flashed with panic, eyes wide and hands waving around as he tried to sputter out an explanation, was so comical she just had to laugh.
"No no that's not what I mean, Sakura-chan! You look pretty everyday, you are the prettiest!"
"Just drive, you stupid." She chuckled, strapping on her seatbelt.
The drive to the Uchiha compound was uneventful, just a short distance away by car. Naruto told her about the gift he got for Sasuke, which was really just a really baggy tshirt with a duck printed on it. The blonde thought it was hilarious, but Sakura can guarantee Sasuke would never even go near that shirt. Naruto knew that too, but he would force him to wear that for pictures. Or so he planned.
Sakura has heard of the Uchiha manor being grand, but she has never seen it. But Naruto was not kidding when he said it was huge.
It didn't seem too big compared to the Golden estate, but it was still enormous.
Tall, imposing gates opened into a long driveway, leading to the large, white mansion, catching light of the dying sun and gleaming a golden hue. She could see that they were the last of the bunch to arrive at the venue, rows of sleek cars and motorcycles already parked outside in the parking. But there were way more cars than there were supposed to be.
"Is Sasuke's extended family also in attendance?" She mused aloud as Naruto pulled into parking and rushed out to open the door on her side before she could. "Who knows." Naruto laughed at the playful swat on his arm.
Even before she entered the house, she could already hear the music coming from inside. But even just from the music, she could tell it was not something any of them would like to listen to. "Oh the old people are here." She heard Naruto murmur in annoyance as the doorman opened the gate, bowing them inside.
The living area was large and bright, but no one other than a few butlers and maids were there. One of the maids ushered them down a hallway and toward another door, the only door in that particular hallway. And as they stood outside, the music was definitely coming from that room. "Young lord has been waiting for you." The maid opened the door for them and bowed.
"Oh my young lord." Naruto whispered in a mock girlish voice when the maid walked away, wiggling his eyebrows at Sakura in a way that made her giggle and follow him inside the hall.
Though the living area was nice, it paled in comparison to the party hall in front of her.
Maroon walls, marble floors, high arching ceiling leading to a large, shimmering chandelier in the center. She noticed the tall, ceramic vases of fresh bouquet of flowers beside every pillar, statues of what looked like almost nude female figures. 'Classic Greek romanticism enthusiasts' she thought.
There were a number of round tables around the hall, occupied by vaguely related dark haired, dark eyed, pale faced men and women. All Uchiha relatives, she deduced.
"Wow, they got money." Naruto hummed as he watched a butler walking with a tray of wine and champagne. "Real old money. And that bastard still wants to be cheap when I tell him to pay for my ramen."
"I think that's more out of spite than actual lack of money."
"Sakura-chan, why do you always take his side." He whined in her ear, following her around the hall. "I don't take his side, I'm just being reasonable." Sakura looked around for anyone that didn't look strictly like they belonged to a mafia gang. They didn't, she was sure, but they looked like they did.
Speak of the devil, she heard a loud call of her name.
"Sakura! Over here!" Sakura's eyes sorted through the sea of dark hair to see another platinum blonde head bobbing up and down, arm waving up to catch her attention.
"There they are." She mumbled, making a beeline toward the round table in the right side of the room. She was right in assuming that they were the most late to the party, since everyone else was seated.
"Oh hey Neji. You made it." Sakura waved at the Hyuuga, who was seated beside his cousin, the raven-haired girl shyly waving at her. Shikamaru was just about passed out, his head nestled inside his arms and Ino was close to ripping the pinkette's arm off.
"Forehead! Did you even look in the mirror when you left your house?!" She shouted at the pinkette, grabbing her cheeks and turning her face side to side to inspect her makeup.
"Where is the birthday boy?" said pinkette completely ignored the blonde who was currently fussing over her half-assed face painting job. "His mother called for him." the Hyuuga male answered, strangely pointedly staring at Naruto, who she did not get a chance to see the face of before she was being dragged by one hyperactive Ino to the hall bathroom.
"We need to fix you up."
Sakura doesn't even know what she did wrong.
"Did you wear your lipstick blindfolded?"
Sakura looked into the large mirror in the hall bathroom, turning her head side to side to see where she went wrong, and found absolutely nothing. "What are you talking about, pig? It looks fine."
Ino huffed, pausing in her rummage through her own bag. "Yeah, it looks fine. Not amazing." She seemed to have found what she was looking for and fished out a lipstick and a hairbrush. "And your hair also looks messy. Did you just not do anything."
Now that Sakura saw it, she kind of agreed. Her hair did look a little messy. "I was late in clocking out, and I also had to submit the assignment. And by the time I got onto doing my hair and makeup, I just did not have the time." Maybe she should've put the rollers first and then sat down to do her assignment. Then it would've had enough time to set the curls.
Ino huffed again, looking pleased at her admission. "Anywho, thank me for coming to your rescue. I knew you would be a slob so I came prepared." Sakura was offended at that. She was not a slob.
Ino quickly rubbed away Sakura's pink lipstick, applying some chapstick before getting to brushing through her hair. The half-set curls fell away into light waves and looked a little better than their previous state. "Did you not use conditioner?" Ino asked in annoyance as she worked through a tangle.
"No. Whenever I use conditioner, I just get handful of hair falling from my head. I scares me." Sakura mumbled offhandedly, hissing a little when the brush got stuck in a lock of hair.
"You really are a slob." Ino grumbled, putting down the brush and taking out a small bottle of serum from her large bag and pouring some in her palms. She ran her fingers through the pink hair, watching as the locks fell in large waves, cascading down Sakura's back and shining rosy in the warm bathroom lights.
"Turn around, forehead." The blonde rolled the tube of lipstick, cupping the pinkette's cheek to steady her face and glided the want over her lips.
"Done. Now look at yourself." Ino announced proudly, opening her phone to a notification and Sakura turned back around to face the mirror.
And she did agree that she looked better. Her hair looked shinier and smoother than she left her home with and the dark red lipstick matched so well with her crimson dress. If she had to name her look, she would say she looked like a vampire. A pretty one.
As she was running her fingers through her now smooth hair, she heard a gasp from her companion.
"Oh what the hell." Ino whispered in astonishment. Sakura raised an eyebrow at the blonde somewhat excited expression. "Ino, what happened?"
"Huh." She looked up from her phone screen, staring at her face before looking back at the screen. Ino shuffled closer to Sakura, whispering as if she was talking about some scandalous gossip. "You know the imperial family of eastern islands?"
Sakura froze in her shoes, hands pausing in their combing and eyes widened as she stared at Ino's face. "Wh- Your interest in eastern islands why?" She must be joking.
Ino was serious actually, if her expression and words were any indication. "The imperial family of the eleven eastern islands of Konoha held a press conference recently. The journalists say that the estates and legacy is soon to be passed over to the heir."
Sakura was still shell-shocked, staring wide-eyed at her blonde friend who was still rambling about what she read in the news. "I was just reading that article posted by Konoha daily, and they were talking about the coronation day. But the thing is, that the prince said that the legacy is being passed over to the heirs. Not heir, heirs."
Sakura only nodded mutely at her, too tongue tied to say anything else. Ino took that as an incentive to continue. "The news outlets are going crazy. They're saying that she will be coming back. Can you believe how crazy that is!"
"I really can't." Sakura could only whisper, staring back at her reflection in the mirror, knuckles turning white on the wash basin slab. Ino continued to look further at the article, unaware to the inner turmoil raging through her pink-haired friend. "Hey pig, I'm going to freshen up a bit." Sakura said softly, her voice not raising any louder. Ino looked up from her screen and nodded, "Oh okay. I'll wait for you outside?" Sakura nodded in confirmation and locked herself inside the nearby stall.
She didn't even sit down, didn't even go anywhere near the toilet bowl. She just closed the stall and leaned on it, forehead touching the door and wide eyes staring at her shoes.
When she realized that her life is going downhill, she didn't realize it would be so fast.
She doesn't know how long she stood there, but soon enough Ino was knocking on the stall door. "Forehead! How long are you going to be in there?"
"Yeah, I'm just done." Sakura replied, reigning in the burn in her eyes and the logged ball in her throat. She rubbed at her eyes, careful to not mess up her eyeliner and swallowed before taking a deep breath and making her exit.
Ino was standing outside her stall, tapping her feet in annoyance. "What were you doing for so long?" Ino grumbled. Sakura rolled her eyes at her and walked toward the bathroom door, peeking one look at the mirror. "My dress was feeling itchy so was I fixing it."
"It took you this long."
"Just shut up." Sakura opened the door of the bathroom to the hall with now even more people. She decided that she might as well get used to having to face the eastern islands. She knew she will have to return, then why does she even bother avoiding it. Might as well just embrace the shit show her life has turned into and lessen the blow to her chest.
The confrontation is inevitable, she better stop pretending and dreaming for it to be fake.
"Sasuke-chan, meet your uncle."
Sasuke was at his mind's end by the time he was being introduced to his third uncle twice removed from his mother's side. He wants to go back downstairs and get away from his family that he has never even met before.
The older man nodded at him, roughly patting his back. "How have you been, boy? You've grown since the last time I saw you."
'Yeah, what a shocker.' Was on the tip of his tongue, but he just inclined his head and accepted the greeting. "Uncle Hiroshi. How is your health?"
He has been going through the same cycle since three hours ago; meet some uncle or aunt that he previously had no idea even existed, answer the same questions, listen to the same mind-rotting tales from his childhood and then move onto greeting the next one.
"What happened, Sasu-chan? Looking a little sullen today." He heard his cousin snickering in his ears as Shisui slinked next to him, swishing a glass of some cocktail in his hands. Sasuke eyes the alcohol beverage in his cousin's hands before looking for a plan to make an escape. "What do you want?" he drawled in mild annoyance, looking around the area to find nothing but more dark hair and pale faces.
The large balcony where his extended family were meeting him overlooked the hall that looked more like a ballroom that anything else and he had to beg his father to make a separate arrangement for the extended family, away from his friends and he still only got half of that since most of them were still downstairs around the table.
Shisui hummed, taking a sip of his drink. "Can a big cousin not look out for his little cousin without some nefarious intentions?" Sasuke almost snorted, ducking away from the line of view of another new relative he had no interest in meeting. "Sure they can. But it's you we're talking about, so clearly you want something."
"Fine." Shisui sighed in mock disappointment, "I wanted to tell you that I just saw Naruto arriving a few minutes ago."
"He's already here." Sasuke cursed to himself, "Was Sakura with him?" He wished she was. He has already been checking the ballroom every ten minutes for any smudge of pink for the past hour, but he still saw no sign of her. He was getting a little jittery at the worse implications. Was she not coming? Was she stuck somewhere or did she decide that she just didn't feel like coming?
He needs an out now.
"I didn't see her with him." Sasuke's prickled inwardly at the disappointment lacing Shisui's voice. He knew it was a bad idea to tell him about Sakura. Shisui has been grilling Sasuke about the pinkette every chance he gets, and it was getting on his last nerve. Curse his uncle for making his life hell.
"I'm going." He informed his cousin in a rush before making a run for the stairs. Whether Sakura is downstairs or not, he will not be mingling among these saggy old potatoes for even a minute more.
"Oi teme!" Naruto waved at him from the table, drawing the eyes of a few of his older relatives with his crude name. Shikamaru hissed at his loud tone, glaring at the blonde.
"Shut up dobe." Sasuke hissed at him, smacking a hand on the top of his head resulting in a loud yell from the blonde. "Where is Sakura?"
"Sakura and Ino went to the bathroom." Hinata told him, pulling out a big gift bag that she kept by her feet. "Happy birthday, Sasuke-kun." She smiled shyly, handing over the red gift bag over to the Uchiha who gratefully accepted it with a murmur of thanks. "Nothing from you Hyuuga?" He mocked the male Hyuuga making a face at him.
Neji scoffed, closing his eyes and sipping on his wine glass. "I wish I could give you something that you're in a dire need of, but alas, they don't sell intelligence at stores."
"You look like you're speaking from experience." Sasuke replied, sliding a chair to the table, "Looked for one for yourself before?"
"You wish."
"Are y'all done?" Naruto deadpanned, taking a plate of pasta from a rounding butler. "This is why it's a bad idea to keep these two anywhere near each other."
"It's a bad idea to keep you near anyone period." Sasuke looked around the hall for a flash of pink again. He was getting agitated by the lack of pink hair in his field of sight. "Where are those two again?"
"Why are you so concerned about that?" Sasuke was getting real annoyed at the tone of suspicion lining Naruto's question.
"Ah there they are." Hinata piped up, pointing towards the far corner of the ballroom leading the bathroom door. Sasuke turned around in his chair to look at where she was pointing, and at first only saw the blonde in her silky purple dress, but then she stepped to the side and he saw the pinkette standing behind her.
And felt his stomach lurch at the vision in front of him.
His wide eyes went up her cream sandals adorning her shapely legs, to the full knee length red skirt sinched at her curved waist and up her bodice, not lingering long enough in fear of being caught staring indecently, to her face and he felt the nape of his neck feeling way too hot and damp.
He ripped his eyes away from her and reached for the glass of wine, eyes lingering a little too long on her red lips. He loosened the cream tie around his neck and his ears unwittingly became hyperaware of every little click of the cream heels against the tiled floors.
"Sakura-chan looks a little different." Naruto remarked aloud as the pair of women drew closer. Sakura raised a brow at him, "The good kind or the bad kind?"
"The good kind obviously!"
Ino hmphed, flipping her hair and slid in a chair. "That's because I fixed her up so that she doesn't look like a wet racoon." Naruto looked offended on her behalf, gasping loudly and clutching at his chest. "She did not look like a wet racoon! Sakura-chan looked pretty, really pretty."
"Atleast someone's on my side." She mumbled before finally taking her seat, coincidentally between Sasuke and Naruto, right across Neji. She turned to Sasuke who was pointedly avoiding her eyes and smirked, "Birthday prince finally got some time to mingle among the peasants."
"Hn." He didn't reply further, not trusting his throat to not crack. Instead he stared at the pinkette who just stuck her tongue at him and turned around to face the front. A butler came by their table, putting down a large tray of appetizers. Naruto lunged first, snagging a plate of glazed fried potatoes for himself.
"What's up with so many people here? We didn't know your extended family will be here." Sakura remarked to Sasuke, digging in another plate of potatoes. "Or that you had so many relatives."
Sasuke grunted, scowling at the thought of someone coming down to fetch him to meet another family member. "Even I didn't know I had so many relatives." He scoffed, stealing a piece of potato from Sakura's plate, resulting in her smacking his arm. Sasuke smirked at her smugly.
The table lapsed into a comfortable chatters, easily ignoring the curious stares from the extended Uchiha family seated at the tables around the hall. They were the only really colorful bunch huddled together, full of loud laughs and excited chatters over the slow music and low murmurs from around the room.
"Sakura-chan, did you sign up for the annual performance concert?" Naruto asked the pinkette, mouth full of brothy noodles. Sakura winced slightly as she remembered that she, in fact, still has not signed up.
"No." She sighed, shoving a piece of garlic bread in her mouth. She has been so anxious about her impending doom hanging over her head that she has not gotten anything done. All her time that hasn't been consumed by her job or studies only gave her mind the free space to run through the worst scenarios of her fate.
Who was she even kidding. She's screwed anyway.
"You should do it quickly though. Hey, how about right now." Ino chipped in, sliding her phone across the table to her. Sakura looks at the screen, finding a form open on the college portal. She looked at the blonde questioningly, who only shrugged. "Why are you looking at me like that? Fill it up."
And she did just that. She filled in her name, year, date of birth, major, address; anything they asked. She pinched Sasuke's cheek when she noticed him peeking at her screen.
"The audition is in three weeks." She mused out loud. She will need to think of something for the audition. But she doesn't have anything; not a song, not a tune, no music. So unless she could miraculously come up with an original piece overnight, she will have to resort to a old piece.
"What are you going to sing, Sakura-chan?" Naruto piqued up, pushing away his bowl and waving for another, "You are going to sing, right?". "Yeah." Sakura sighed again, sliding the phone back to Ino. "I will sing, because that's literally all I know how to do. But I don't know what yet."
And before they could start another topic of conversation, the group was loudly interrupted by someone.
"Sasu-chan! Why did you run off?!" A feminine voice yelled, making the occupants of the table jump in surprise. Sasuke in particular, grimaced at what he knew was coming. They looked around toward the loud clicks of heels, steadily approaching their seats.
Mikoto stopped at her table, grabbing Sasuke by the ear to haul him from his seat, paying his loud hisses no mind. "Sasu-chan! Do you know how disrespectful it is to disappear in the middle of meeting your family, your aunties were looking for you. How could you just up and about run away-" Sasuke groaned at the long rant his mother was on, all the while trying to take his poor ear away from the punishing grip of his mother.
He glared at the pinkette snickering behind her hand, her eyes gleaming merrily, and resisted tugging at her pink locks. "You're finding this funny, huh." He mumbled lowly at her, continuing to tune out his mother's lecture.
"Hilarious." Sakura giggled as Naruto almost fell down in chair, clutching his sides.
"Who are you talking to, boy?" Mikoto asked, whipping her head around the table to look at the faces of her son's friends, but her eyes abruptly stopped on one particular face.
"Hey, aunty Mikoto!" the boisterous blonde called out, waving his hand in greeting. She knew the son of her best friend and the best friend of her son, he has visited their manor on a regular basis. Always such a bright, loud presence, filling their room with his sunshine like personality.
But she wasn't looking at him right now.
"Hello, Mrs. Uchiha." The current object of her attention greeted her, bowing his pink head in greeting, green eyes never leaving her face. Mikoto nodded back, catching her lack of response and smiled at the girl. "Hello. I don't think I've seen you before, have I?"
The pinkette chuckled, shaking her head. "I suppose not. My name is Sakura Haruno, I'm Sasuke's classmate."
It took a moment, but the name rang loud bells in Mikoto's head.
"Sakura. Pink hair, green eyes, cute face. You know, your adorable little friend from uni."
"Sakura Haruno. She's in my poli science class."
"I see Sasuke following her around the halls all the time."
Mikoto felt her cheeks redden at the recognition of the name through her mind. Of course it's that Sakura, the pink hair should've been a dead giveaway. And she will have to commend Shisui on his accuracy, she really was adorable.
Sasuke groaned as he recognized the gleam in his mother's eyes and could only brace for what was about to come. "Mother, don't even-" but he didn't even get to finish before the almost startling squeak left the Uchiha lady.
"Oh, you are that Sakura." Mikoto cooed, almost out of breath. She grabbed the pinkette's hands, making her jump at the sudden contact. "I've heard about you from Sasuke-chan. What a shame he never brought you home before."
"Oh, did you now." Sakura sent a curious look at the suddenly rigid Sasuke who was looking everywhere except her. "I hope he didn't mention anything embarrassing."
"Oh no no, nothing of that sort. He told us you are really good friends, but he didn't tell us that you will be coming here today." Mikoto continued to ramble, still clutching the pinkette's hands and her eyes gleaming merrily. She suddenly halted mid- sentence, as if remembering something and smacked a palm on her forehead. "Oh, look at me, already getting carried away when I haven't even introduced you to the family."
"Huh?" the collective exclamation of surprise rose through the table as they looked at the youngest Uchiha for an explanation of the sudden change. And in that moment, Sasuke wanted the floor to just open up and swallow him whole. He covered his face with his palm, not daring to look at the questioning stare being cast on him by green eyes. "Mother, please." He groaned out, voice slightly muffled by his hand, "Let's not do this again."
"Oh hush." Mikoto dismissed his request before he could even say anything else, pulling a surprised Sakura to her feet, making the girl stumble a little at the sudden actions. Mikoto started pulling Sakura with her before she probably remembered that there were other people in the table too. "And what are you children doing sitting around like boring old people." She chastised fondly like an aunt would, shooing her hand at them, "Go and play with others."
"Play with… who exactly?" Ino slowly asked, looking around the hall and finding nothing but old, taut faces that looked at them with nothing but disdain. Mikoto shrugged before she tugged her son and the blonde Uzumaki with her too, "Then go around and sniff out mischief. I promise you won't get into trouble today." She winked at the table of college students, starting her way away from the hall and toward the grand stairs. "I'll deliver these three back in a bit."
"Is your mother usually like this?" Sakura whispered to the Uchiha as Mikoto chattered endlessly, still pulling her up the grand stairs. Sasuke looked at her with the most miserable expression, rubbing his hand on the nape of his neck and gazing apologetically at her. "Not… always. But she seems a little too excited today."
"And that's a lie." Naruto giggled, taking great pleasure in the Uchiha's misery. He draped an arm on the pinkette's shoulder, slyly grinning at the nasty glare he received from the Uchiha. "Aunty Mikoto is always like this, especially when she meets someone new. And since this is the first time she's meeting Sakura-chan, you'll kind of have to bear it for the time being."
Sakura nodded with an 'ooh', but then frowned, "But why haven't you introduced me to your family before, Sasuke? We have been friends over three years and this is the first time I'm ever meeting your family."
Sasuke groaned again, "Because I knew that she would get like this. Be thankful that I was saving you the trouble of having to endure her gushing." He then lowered his voice to a murmur and leaned in closer. "But trust me she isn't this extra. This one is new."
"Well, you certainly didn't do a good job at that." Sakura replied as they finally reached the upper balcony of the ballroom where she found even more similar Uchihas, but these ones looked a more aged and refined.
"These look like premium edition Uchihas." Naruto whispered exactly what she was thinking of, making her giggle as Mikoto led them further inside the crowd.
Sakura stiffened minutely as she felt dark eyes falling on her when she passed by the crowd. The hair on the back of her neck stood in attention at the stares being directed at her, rose haired and draped in red among the sea of black and white. Her companions probably felt the shift too as they huddled closer behind her.
"God these people are creepy." Naruto whisper, making Sasuke give him another smack on his head. "I feel like you think you are being quiet, but you're really not. Shut up." Sasuke glared at the blonde and the three of them slowed to a stop at a table in the center. "Wait here." Mikoto was weaving around the tables, looking for someone, it seemed.
"Sasu-chan!"
Sasuke whipped around to glare murder at the approaching figure, praying to God for the ground to just open up and swallow the curly-haired Uchiha.
Shisui grinned at his cousin, before his eyes slid to the red silk beside him, and his steps faltered into an almost stumble.
It felt like a slow-motion movie. Pink hair haloing out, green eyes falling on him as the figure half-turned to look at him. Shisui knew that he probably looked stupid with his lips parted and steps faltering, but it took him by surprise to see her so suddenly.
He watched her red lips spread into a smile as she waved at him, but his view was cut off by his own cousin jumping in front of her. "Oy, asshole. What are you staring at?" Sasuke hissed out, blocking Sakura behind him. Naruto joined him too, spreading his arms eagle and narrowing his eyes.
Shisui grinned widely as Sakura's pink head poked out from behind the two male's shoulder, waving at him. "Hey, I know you." Sakura pushed her way in front from behind the two boys, "You came to my café the other day."
"Oh, you do remember me." Shisui felt a butterfly fluttering in his stomach, his grin strained his cheeks from how wide he was pulling it. "I do believe I introduced myself as little Sasu-chan's cousin." He was keenly aware of the burning glare being directed at him by his little cousin for his nickname.
"Yes, yes you did." Sakura smiled at him. She jabbed Sasuke in the ribs to stop his glare and before she could continue the conversation, Naruto interrupted them.
"Wait, you two have met before?" He frantically looked between them, wide blue eyes sliding from to another. "Why did I not know that?"
"I don't think it's a news-worthy topic." The voice that answered was a new one and they turned to see Itachi approaching them with an older Uchiha following him close behind. They both looked really polished in their dark suit and black shirt, with Itachi opting out the blazer, in contrast to Shisui, who looked a bit more boyish in his grey shirt and black denim jacket and unruly hair. Sasuke was dressed somewhere between them, with a dark grey shirt and a cream tie hanging loosely around his neck.
"Hey there, teme's brother." That comment earned Naruto a sharp jab from the younger Uchiha. Itachi waved at both of them, "Hello, Naruto-kun." His eyes then slid over to the only female standing in the group, and smiled kindly at her. "Hello to you too, Sakura-san."
Sakura returned his greeting before looking at every Uchiha present in front of her, "Are Uchihas allergic to colors or something…" She didn't mean for her internal thoughts to be projected outside, but from the response she got, it seemed like they were.
"Not really, but prefer to stay away from them." It was the man behind Itachi. He looked a little too much like Sasuke, but much older and devoid of the boyish traits Sasuke possessed. Sasuke cleared his throat and his voice was almost reluctant in his tone, "Sakura, this is my uncle, Izuna Uchiha."
Izuna put his open palm forward, urging Sakura to take it in a firm handshake. "Hello, Izuna-san." Izuna nodded back, "You must be the Sakura Sasuke has talked about before. I was looking forward to meeting you." Everyone except Sakura and Naruto knew that there were some big ulterior motives in meeting her, but they didn't let anything show.
After that, it was mostly Izuna asking her about herself and Sakura just keeping the conversation going. She wouldn't say anything about it, but somewhere inside she felt like it was an interrogation more than anything else.
"So, Sakura-san, what is your major in university?" Izuna hadn't moved his eyes away from her even as he sipped on his red wine, and it was unnerving her a little. Sakura chuckled, awkwardly looking at Sasuke and Naruto, "My major is actually literature."
Something akin to interest lit up in Izuna's eyes. "Oh, really? I actually am a big enthusiast of classic literature." Sakura raised her brows in surprise, "Huh, that's great. I like poetries and sonnets more than full novels. What do you prefer?"
Shisui interrupted the conversation, drawing a somewhat annoyed look from Izuna, "I really like sonnets. I used to write little poems on sticky notes back in high school." The sigh of nostalgia from Shisui was accompanied by something that felt like a half-snort from his cousin. "Some girls in our class found those sticky notes falling from his locker and they thought that those were meant for them." Itachi chuckled at the shout of embarrassment from Shisui, "That particular week gave me endless amount of entertainment." Sakura could hear Shisui grumbling under her breath when she laughed out loud.
"Ah, are you all talking well?" Mikoto finally came back from wherever she was off to. She slid right next to Sakura, subtly urging her turn toward the door to the outside balcony. "Ah, there is actually someone you should meet."
'Who?' she mused to herself as she felt Sasuke stiffen beside her, not at all subtly blocking her view of the balcony door. "Who is it?" she whispered to Sasuke as she tried to peek over his shoulder.
"Sasu-chan, move it." Mikoto waved Sasuke out of the way, and she could still feel the youngest Uchiha panicking inside. Mikoto smiled at the pinkette, waving to someone at the balcony door, "I think you have met him before. Just turn around."
'Who?' Sakura was more confused as she turned around, her eyes weaving through the sea of black linen to look at just who the hell was standing at the balcony door. She looked at the table near the door, and found no one of recognition, then looked at the door itself, and found it empty.
But then she saw a figure walking toward them a little ways off the door.
And her heart dropped to her stomach.
Hair like a lion's mane down to the crisp collar of the three piece suit covering his broad shoulder, and lethal crimson eyes like that of the devil.
It was the guy from the café that other day. And he was an Uchiha?!
"Oh fuck no."
AN: Phew, that was a long one. Hope I made up for the time I've been away.
Anyway, here's the chapter, and just a little tidbit for the next chap, the tension between two people is reaching a fever pitch. So the next chapter is definitely going to be sweat-inducing.
See you next chapter then.
Bye!