Hello my lovelies. I am back.
Warning: Mature(ish) content in this chapter. Reader discretion is advised.
How old are y'all anyways? Leave your age in a comment :)
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Laying down in her bed and staring at the ceiling, Sakura went through the same motions she'd been repeating for the past hour: staring blankly into space, slowly raising her palms to her mouth to mask the sound she knows is going to come, and finally, squealing like a little girl as she rolled sideways on her bed. She'd experienced quite a few moments, if not days of euphoria as of late, but nothing could compare to how she felt now.
She was getting married to Uchiha Sasuke. Her childhood crush, her team mate, her lover who'd broken her heart and put it back together. That Sasuke.
Sakura had told her parents about the news as soon as she set foot in her house. As expected, they were quite shocked but surely happy for their daughter nonetheless. As of this moment though, Sakura's mind was spinning with all sorts of questions, concerns, excitements, more questions and endless emotions, and she knew there was only one person whom she could talk to right now that would help lower the volume in her mind: Ino.
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"Eeeeehhhhhh?! You're getting married to Sasuke-kun?" Ino exclaimed a little too loud, she was receiving a few questioning gazes from customers walking around the flower shop. "Sakura, this is...this is..."
"Insane? Unreal? Unbelievable?" Sakura offered.
"Wonderful," Ino corrected. "Sakura, this is great news. You're finally getting what you wanted."
Sakura couldn't find the right words to respond to such a statement, so she just settled on a slight chuckle as she got lost in thought. She needed to talk to Sasuke again, and soon.
"Sa-ku-ra," Ino called out playfully. "Stop thinking so much. I'll take care of everything you need for the wedding, not just the flowers. I'll ask Sai too to--" Looking at her old friend fondly, Sakura jumped up and attacked her with a surprise hug.
"Hey! I didn't say hugs were allowed!" Ino said through amused chuckles. "Get off me and go grab that flower pot from over there. We have a lot to talk about."
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Holding her face in her hand with her mouth slightly parted, Sakura was dozed off again trying to absorb the giant load of information she never asked for from Ino. Ino, however, absolutely amused by how dumbfounded her friend seems, grabbed a bundle of sakura flowers, a vase, and a pair of scissors. Before cutting the bottom of the bundle, she took out a single flower, placed it close to Sakura's ear, and with the large pair of scissors in her other hand, she snapped the flower head right off to where it fell in Sakura's lap.
Although the sound wasn't very loud, Sakura was deep enough in her own mind that the snapping startled her, and seeing a clipped flower of herself between her legs didn't make things any better. "This is...INO PIG!" Sakura crushed the flowerhead in her palm as she made a fist and prepared to swing at Ino straight into her stupid smirk. "Shanna—"
"Sumimasen," a young boy called out suddenly from behind the counter, making Sakura freeze mid-punch. He was so short where the two women didn't even notice him come in. Whoever this kid was, Ino was grateful he popped up at the right time before Sakura brought down the entire flower shop with that incoming punch.
Nonetheless, Ino continued the teasing after the little boy left. "You crushed your flower," she said with a straight face.
"What are you trying to get at with me, Ino Pig?"
"Exactly what I told you earlier. You need to stop being a medicnin and worrying about other people's bodies for a second, and start worrying about yours. I mean, you're getting married after years of drowning yourself in work, studying, and training. Have you ever even touched yourself?"
"I—I...."
"Exactly. Now, you just got to remember what I said. Start with one fing—"
"Gahhhhh," Sakura responded before her apparently new sex-life advisor finished her sentence.
Ino was the one who initiated a hug this time. She held Sakura from behind, placing her chin on top of Sakura's head. "You love Sasuke-kun. Sasuke-kun loves you. I just want you to have the best experience together, because I know you both deserve it. You more than him, even. And as your best friend," she continued, "I reserve the right to stick my nose in the middle of your business until you and Sasuke are officially married."
Sakura let her childhood friend's words sink in for a moment, then she conceded to letting her head fall to the counter in a loud thud, accompanied by an even louder groan. "Ino, I am SO STRESSED OUT now."
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On her way back home, Sakura decided to take her time and go for a walk. She wanted to organize her thoughts yet again, so she took every detour she could, until she eventually found herself at the foot of Naruto's new house. The sight of the place paired with the thought of her old friend made her smile, so she decided she might as well knock on his door and see how he and his wife are doing.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto greeted her gleefully as soon as he opened the door. "You're here too!"
"Too? What do you m—" Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Sasuke standing in the living room across from her. "Oh, Sasuke-kun," she said, feeling suddenly self-conscious. It seemed that Sasuke felt the same way, as he called out her name softly, looking the other way for a quick second before looking back at her with a slight blush on his cheeks. He didn't anticipate seeing her again quite this soon.
Not realizing it, Sasuke and Sakura had been staring at each other for a moment too long while Naruto kept looking between them suspiciously. "What's going on with you two? You're acting kind of weird."
"W-what? Weird? We're not acting weird. Nothing's weird," Sakura responded quickly in a most unconvincing voice. Naruto squinted his eyes at her then walked over to Sasuke and did the same. A very pregnant Hinata walked into the living room and quietly observed the scene.
Sasuke let out a small sigh as Sakura came and stood next to him. "Well, there's no point of keeping this a secret anyways." Sakura's heart started beating a little faster and Naruto just looked more confused, having even less of an idea of what was going on.
"Sakura..." Sasuke started, "is becoming an Uchiha."
Silence fell in the room for a moment. Hinata's eyes widened then turned into a gentle smile. Naruto, on the other hand, started looking between his old teammates again, eyes blinking rapidly.
"Sakura-chan's becoming an Uchiha...? How...? Wait—" Naruto moved closer to Sakura's face and stared at her. "Does that mean—EHHHHHH?!" Naruto suddenly screamed. "DID SAKURA-CHAN GET THE SHARINGAN SOMEHOW?? That means, that means—Oh no, she's going to be even stronger and scarier now! Kowai kowai kowai—"
Sakura and Sasuke stood there looking at their friend with straight, annoyed faces. "Honestly, Naruto, even after all these years and everything we've been through, your stupidity sometimes still never ceases to amaze me," Sakura mumbled.
"Baka," Sasuke growled.
Hinata started laughing. It was no surprise that she was fond of her husband's silliness, no matter how ridiculous at times. "Congratulations Sakura-san. You and Sasuke-kun got engaged, right?"
"E-engaged?" Naruto repeated. "That's awesome, congrats guys." He gave them that wide smile of his where they knew he obviously meant it from the bottom of his heart.
"Soooo, now that you guys are getting married," he continued, "that means..." Naruto wrapped an arm around Sasuke's shoulder and cheekily whispered loudly to him, "you and Sakura-chan are going to..."
Sasuke glared at his idiot comrade from the side of his eye and was about to give him a proper kick in the nuts, but Sakura was already charging at the knucklehead ninja with her fist. "NARUTO YOU PERVERT!"
"Minna-san, please calm down—" Hinata chuckled nervously before she suddenly felt a pain in her body and held her belly.
"Hinata! Are you okay?!" Naruto yelled, running to his wife.
"I'm fine, the baby has just been kicking a lot more lately."
"You should sit down," Sakura said taking Hinata's arm and then walking her to the couch. "Have you found out the sex of the baby yet? Did you get any checkups?"
"Not yet. We've been really busy lately, so I haven't had the time."
"Ne, Hinata, can't you just use your Byakugan to see whether it's a boy or a girl?" inquired Naruto.
Sakura sighed while Hinata laughed again. "It doesn't quite work like that, dear."
"You really are an idiot," Sasuke added.
"Well, I highly recommend you go to the hospital as soon as possible. I'm excited to find out about this baby too," Sakura laughed softly.
Watching the scene in front of him paired with the sound of Sakura's laugh, something unfamiliar stirred deep within Sasuke again. Before he could give it a thought though, Sakura was already asking him if he was about to leave too.
They said their goodbyes to Naruto and his now two family members, and once again, they were on their way, alone, together.
"Sasuke-kun, isn't your house the other direction?"
"I'll walk with you till you get home."
"Oh, uh, I was actually about to get some groceries before heading home. I'm kind of starving and looking forward to a huge meal," she chuckled.
"We'll do that then."
Sakura looked up at Sasuke and wondered what was going through his mind. He looked back at her and smiled, and she realized it didn't matter what he was thinking. He was with her now. He wanted to be with her, now. Sasuke was hers, and to be completely honest, she could really get used to this.
As they were walking, they saw Naruto again. Three of him, to be exact, each shadow clone going in a different direction jumping over the trees and rooftops. Sakura and the Uchiha simultaneously thought to themselves oh what is he up to now, looked at each other, and shook their head in sheer amusement.
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Uchiha Sasuke woke up from yet another peaceful sleep. He took a shower, changed his clothes, grabbed the book he was planning on finishing today, and opened the curtains to let the sun in and declare itself a new hope in the Uchiha house. He walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, one that was full of prepared, ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook meals and bentos, courtesy of his fiancé.
As soon as he sat down at his kitchen table, he sensed movement behind him. He clutched harder on the chopsticks in his hand out of instinct, but then he quickly relaxed.
"What are you doing here, Kakashi?"
"Ahh, Sasuke, it's good to see you. Enjoying your breakfast?" He asked, taking a seat next to his former student, not caring at all that he just casually let himself in Sasuke's private home. "Sakura make that for you?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Right...well, I came to congratulate you." Sasuke said nothing, and continued to eat.
"You and Sakura huh...at last..."
A number of bites later, Sasuke told Kakashi he got his congratulations, and was welcome to leave now.
Kakashi chuckled. Some things never change, he thought.
"To be completely frank with you, I thought I should come over and see how you're dealing or not dealing with the whole idea of marriage thing."
When Sasuke realized he wasn't going to have time for himself on this beautiful morning, he just decided to give in and see what his old teacher had to say. "What's there to deal with, exactly?"
"Well," Kakashi started, thinking of the best possible way to phrase this. "It definitely depends on who you ask....Sasuke. You have a reputation to uphold, you know."
This made Sasuke pause. "Huh?"
"Well, uh, you see..." Kakashi started scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously. "Uchihas are known to be great lovers."
Sasuke stood up quickly, and because Kakashi did have some sense left in him, he knew danger when he saw it and immediately was on his way—only, to his utter surprised, to be stopped by Sasuke's voice behind him: "Wait."
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"What the hell? How the hell do you even know this stuff?" Sasuke asked with peak annoyance.
"Ahahahahahaha," Kakashi laughed awkwardly, going on about how it's common knowledge amongst older adults and other nonsense. Sasuke really started to wonder what exactly was in those little novels Kakashi had been reading since he was twelve.
"Pervert," Sasuke muttered.
"Sasuke," Kakashi called out in all seriousness now. "I hope you understand that you really don't need to be worried about anything. You're getting married to Sakura, the person who has loved you more than any other soul on this planet. Just stay by her side."
Finally, the Sixth Hokage parted with those words, leaving Sasuke with many questions and feelings, even more apprehensions, but at the end of it all, the Uchiha found himself repeating just one word in the depths of his mind; a word like a prayer that always grounded him back to earth every time; Sakura.