Chapter Text
Sakura has been in love with Sasuke Uchiha ever since freshman year, when she first laid eyes on him. He was handsome, confident, and had that ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude that made him so cool. The only problem was his walls are built so high.
Sasuke didn’t really allow for people to get close to him and everyone that had the confidence to ask the aloof boy on a date was met with a look of distrust and a curt refusal. Sakura saw all of this and decided to take it slow and try getting behind his defenses before she confessed her feelings.
After two years of slowly getting past the iron wall he had around his heart, she could confidently say she was his friend. She has only gotten this close partially because of his childhood friends, Shikamaru and Choji, and she only met them because of their childhood friend Ino, who she went to elementary and middle school with.
She's been so patient, and it's been working. At least she thought so, it got to the point where if she got to the class first, he would naturally take the seat next to her. Every single time it happened a rush of excitement and happiness filled her. She feels like they've built enough of a friendship that if she were to ask him out, he would say yes, or at the very least not look at her like he looks at the others, with disgust.
Another reason she believed he would accept her confession was because she was one of the people he texts the most. She knows that he doesn't give his number to just anyone, and from what she could tell he talked to someone named Naruto the most and his brother the second most. Sakura only knew this information because she snuck a look at his phone once when they were studying together.
He went to grab some snacks for them as they were working on a project together and when his phone buzzed her curiosity was killing her. She really wanted to know if he talked about her to his best friend.
Their texts were mostly telling each other to get on some video game or trash talking each other. She snorted at some of the things said by this Naruto and quickly closed out of his phone before he came back and caught her. Mentally she made plans to befriend his best friend hoping they would be an ally to winning Sasuke’s heart.
Now that very person was back and was definitely not a guy like she originally thought, and Sakura had been living in a sea of jealousy since. Years of work to getting him comfortable sitting next to her was gone in one day. There was no assigned seating, but she always sat next to Sasuke, that is until Naruto showed up.
Sakura was sitting at their usual table for Economics class waiting for the guy that has held her heart for years, when said guy walked in with a pretty blond girl. Watching them talk, she felt a little bit sick to her stomach at the grin on his face as they sat front and center of the class completely ignoring her existence. Sasuke didn’t even look her way once.
Not having the confidence to try to join their bubble she decided to talk to his childhood friend Shikamaru who was sleeping in the back.
“Do you know who’s sitting next to Sasuke,” she asked after getting Shikamaru’s attention.
The lazy boy looked around and Sakura noticed an excited gleam enter his eyes as he took in the sight of the blond, “Naruto’s back.”
Sakura remembered the text messages and felt a little bit more sick at the knowledge of his childhood friend being a girl. Sitting back in her seat she tried to think of what that would mean for her plans of winning Sasuke’s heart.
The teacher came in and froze at the sight of the two of them together and Sakura was reminded that she was a childhood friend so of course his brother would know her.
Professor Uchiha was a no-nonsense type of teacher. He was strict but fair with students and his handsome face stayed neutral no matter what when on in the class. When it became common knowledge that he was Sasuke’s older brother, Sakura put forth her best effort in his class.
She tried to be both the top student as well as mature as possible, hoping that she can impress Sasuke’s brother so one day when Sasuke finally sees her, she's hoping to have a good relationship with his family.
The long-haired professor took one look at the two of them and said, “that's not going to work. I'm going to need to separate the two of you.”
Sasuke crossed his arms and said, “that's not fair. We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Yeah,” Naruto said as she leaned a bit forward, “you know I'd be good for you Itachi.”
The teachers face flushed a slight red, but to her misfortune allowed for the two to stay seated next to each other.
They were separated within a week for being disruptive.
Sakura was seething with jealousy the entire week.
After they were separated, Sakura was happy to be able to take her rightful place next to Sasuke, while Naruto sat next to Shikamaru. Itachi gave her and her new seatmate a look that Sakura couldn’t pin down, though Sasuke looked amused at his brother's reaction, so she just shrugged it off thinking those two were also troublemakers together.
Although they were separated, Naruto and Sasuke continued to be disruptive. They passed notes to each other in the shape of ninja stars every time the instructor turned around. Every time Sasuke had the note, he kept it out of her view as he chuckled at the words written. Sakura was dying to know what they were talking about.
Another girl who also had a crush on Sasuke was curious too and thankfully she snitched instead. She was jealous, but she didn't ever want to get Sasuke in trouble.
“Professor Uchiha, Naruto and Sasuke are passing notes.”
Said teacher looked like he didn't want to ask, but for everyone else who passed notes he made them stand up and read it off which stopped them from doing it so often and he couldn't give them special treatment.
“Naruto, stand up and read what's on the note.”
Sakura saw the blond smirk as she looked directly at the teacher, “it says, I watched a ten-minute video online on how to massage hands, so how about after school I dip us some fruit in chocolate and treat you so good.”
“No, it doesn't dumbass,” Sasuke snapped out.
Both Uchiha brothers were bright red, and the class was in stitches laughing. Sakura looked at the teachers red face and felt pity, he probably didn't want to hear about his brother and a girl even if it wasn't true.
“Detention.”
Sakura's eyes were playing tricks on her because it looked like Naruto was excited about it.
Sakura decided she hates the new transfer. Naruto had been there for a few weeks and has pissed her off every day since. They've never held a conversation, but they didn't need to. She was going to be Sasuke’s girlfriend and Naruto just needed to back the hell off.
They only share Econ together and that was more than enough for her. Her jealousy has never been so high in the entire time she has loved Sasuke as it has been these past few weeks. The two were attached at the hip every time she sees them and the confidence she had at the beginning of the year that Sasuke would accept her confession had dwindled down to practically nothing.
Sasuke used to spend his lunch with the group, until his brother started teaching at the school, and then it was spent with him. Now it’s spent with both his brother and Naruto.
There was a teacher’s meeting so Sakura had assumed that he would join them again for lunch only to be disappointed. Sasuke was currently leaning back against the bleachers with a book in his hands and Naruto was laying in his lap while playing on her phone.
“Billboard brow you're going to chew a hole through that pen,” Ino said as she stole some of her food off her tray.
“She is working that childhood friend angle to death,” Sakura hissed her eyes stayed glued to the two on the bleachers, “can she get any trashier?”
Ino looked around excited for some gossip, “who?”
“Naruto.”
“I like her. She helped me out with a few jerks who wouldn't take no for an answer,” the blond said as she went back to stealing her food, “you know she has a black belt in.”
“Ooohh, who cares,” the pink haired girl interrupted.
“You sound like a hater Forehead, and you really shouldn't,” Ino said in a matter-of-fact voice, “Naruto isn't interested in Sasuke.”
“Yeah right,” she said as she gestured to the view, “look at her all over him.”
“I'm just not getting any vibes from them.”
“Whatever Pig. I'm going to talk to her.”
Ino snorted, “you are going to look so dumb.”
Naruto transferred halfway into senior year, so she was only able to join the Shogi Club, and that was mostly because they needed members. Sakura decided that was the perfect time to stop her to talk without Sasuke being with her since he had his own club activities.
“Naruto, can I talk to you for a moment.”
The blond tilted her head, “sure. Who are you?”
Sakura gritted her teeth, for as much as she has been obsessing over this girl for her to not even know her name was a huge blow to her ego, “Sakura Haruno. We have Economics class together.”
“Oh, Ino's friend,” the blond gave her a bright smile and Sakura could begrudgingly admit that she was very pretty, “what can I help you with Sakura-chan?”
“I want you to stop hanging all over Sasuke and back off.”
The blond looked like she deflated, “oh, it's about the bastard. Why does everyone care about that asshole so much?”
Sakura put on a confident face, even though her confidence has been shot down to zero since the blond in front of her showed up, “he's going to be my boyfriend.”
Naruto snorted, causing her confidence to take another blow, “look, let me stop you right there. No, he isn't, and I'm not going to stop hanging out with him to make one of his creepy fans happy. Now if that's it then I'm going.”
Sakura stared at the blonds back in disbelief as she started to walk away, “wait.”
She rolled her eyes but waited to hear what she had to stay. Sakura herself wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say either. In front of her was Sasuke’s best friend, arguably the one who knows him best.
“Why are you so sure he's not going to be my boyfriend? We're friends and he doesn't seem to hate me,” she eventually asked.
“You clearly have showed that you are interested, and you don’t have something stupid like an age difference standing in the way. Have you heard the saying, ‘if he wanted to, he would’,” Naruto said carelessly, absolutely destroying all the rest of her confidence with her words, “I'm willing to be the bitch if it means you will understand he's just not into you. Don't harass my friend just for selfish desires.”
After she finished talking, she walked away, leaving Sakura shell shocked in the middle of the hallway as she thought over her words.
Sakura invited Ino over for a sleepover to come up with battleplans to go against Sasuke’s childhood friend. She is convinced that Naruto is in love with Sasuke and made it impossible for anyone to get in between their friendship.
“That bitch is my enemy,” Sakura said as she went through nail polish options.
Ino was in the middle of putting on a face mask when she snorted, “Forehead, you are wasting your time.”
“Shut the hell up Pig. I know what I’m talking about,” she said as she picked out a color.
“I'm going to enjoy watching you make a fool out of yourself,” the blond said with a scoff, “what’s your plan?”
“I'm just going to have to go toe to toe with her. I’m at the top of the class, I'm pretty, and I'm heir to my parent’s business,” she laid out her good points as she started painting her fingers, “Yeah, my parent’s business isn't nearly as large as the Uchiha’s business, but it's impressive in its own right. How impressive is Naruto really? I need your super sleuth abilities.”
Ino pulled out her phone, “well, let’s learn more about the competition.”
After about twenty minutes of a basic background check of her social media, Sakura was laying on the ground pouting, while Ino was laughing herself to tears. The blond decided to summarize the bullet points of what they learned about the new transfer.
“So, on top of being Sasuke’s childhood friend,” Ino started still trying to get her laughter under control, “she is a model. Heir to the Namikazi empire. An actual Princess. Fourth degree black belt with multiple tournament wins. Plus, her social media is filled with her hanging out with A-list people. Oh man Forehead that's hilarious.”
She started to laugh again, causing Sakura’s pout to deepen, “shut up Pig.”
Ino tried to calm her laughter, “sorry, sorry, it's just you put yourself so high, only to learn you were on different playing fields.”
“None of this matters,” Sakura said as she sat up, “the only thing that matters is how Sasuke feels since he's going to be the one to choose who he dates.”
“After reading her bio, Sasuke might not be good enough for her,” Ino stated as she continued to stalk the girl’s pictures.
“Don't talk about my future husband like that,” she hissed.
This was starting to feel like an unfair fight.
The next time they saw her, Ino waived the girl down before class started.
“Hey, I found your profile. What filter do you use?”
Naruto tilted her head, “I’m not sure, I don't run my social media accounts. My friend Izumi does, so I will have to ask her and get back to you.”
“You have a social media manager,” Sakura couldn’t help but ask.
Naruto smiled, “yeah, I didn't even know that it was a job, but Izumi said it was perfect for a fangirl like her. She is happy and I love her.”
The warning bell rang, and she said she would talk to them later.
“She has fangirls,” Ino teased.
This really did feel like an unfair fight.
Sakura has become a stalker. As much as she has followed Sasuke doesn't compare to how much she has been following Naruto. The blond was at least touchy feely with all her friends and not just Sasuke.
Sakura was at her locker when Sasuke came up to her and she felt a smidgen of confidence come back when they started to talk.
“Where’s Naruto,” she asked even though she didn’t really want to know.
Sasuke looked annoyed, “she’s off being a dumbass.”
He then began to complain about all the ways that Naruto keeps messing with him. It was giving her more confidence that she has a chance compared to his best friend.
After a half hour of talking, he went off to a club meeting, and Sakura went to go confront Naruto again, feeling like she was doing the right thing after Sasuke’s complaining, only to walk in on her making out with Sasuke’s older brother.
Itachi pulled his hand out from under her shirt causing the blond to protest though his hand was still partially under her skirt she noticed.
Naruto pouted up at the instructor who only kissed her forehead and apologized, “sorry my love, but we have company.”
Naruto’s eyes narrowed at her, “maybe she'll stop harassing me about your brother.”
Sakura’s face probably matched the shock she was feeling at being faced with such a scene, eventually she stuttered out, “you're dating Professor Uchiha?”
“I'm married to him,” she said with a grin as she held up her hand to show off the ring that Sakura stupidly took for a purity ring.
“But you are in high school,” she couldn’t wrap her head around that fact.
Naruto wasn’t fazed by her words as she stared at the man in front of her, “I'm eighteen and I've loved him since I was seven.”
Itachi looked at her with just as much love as she was showing him, “you were such a brat.”
She grinned up at him, “I still am.”
There was a charged look between the two that had her feeling even more like an interloper.
“Fuck off Haruno,” Naruto said while never looking away from her spouse, “we only have twenty more minutes and I want every second to be alone with this man.”
She still stood there dumbly until Itachi shot a glare of his own, “it would be best if you find yourself somewhere else Miss Haruno.”
She all but sprinted out of the room but she didn’t go far. Her thoughts were a swirl of emotions, the main one being feeling stupid. All the previous interactions she’s observed are now clicking together now that she knows this information.
Mentally kicking herself, all she could think was, I am such an idiot and now my future brother and sister-in-law don’t like me.
Going over everything she’s said to Naruto she feels like punching herself in the face. She actually told her not to hang out with her brother-in-law. She was shitty to Sasuke’s sister-in-law. All of the time she has put into trying to look good for his family was ruined within a month because of her jealous insecurity.
Sakura sat in front of the classroom and waited to talk to Naruto. She didn’t know what she was going to say, but something inside of her told her to do so. At the very least she could apologize.
After a while, Naruto walked out of the room looking pleased with herself and when she saw her clearly waiting her face turned teasing.
“Oh my, you pervert,” she said with a slight chuckle, “look as someone who was influenced by the man who wrote Icha Icha Paradise, I can respect your peeping tom ways, but let's go before my husband catches you. He's shy and I would like to repeat this act again sometime in the future. Preferably as often as possible.”
There was really no way to defend herself from the accusation of being a pervert, no matter how she flips it in her head she has stalked and harassed this girl. Waiting to talk to her even though she knew she was having an intimate moment with her husband, did make her a pervert.
Naruto led them away from the classroom and when they were alone in an empty classroom Sakura asked what she’s been most curious about.
“Why didn't you just say you were married to his brother?”
If Naruto would have just said that, then maybe she wouldn’t be kicking herself so much right now. She can’t believe she told Sasuke’s sister-in-law to stop hanging out with him. What if she tells him? What if she already told him?
“You never asked,” the blond said with a careless shrug, “all you did was demand I stay away from Sasuke. I'm sympathetic to unrequited love, but your feelings do not supersede his right to choose with who or how he spends his time. With these Uchiha boys you gotta let them spread their wings.”
Sakura furrowed her brows, “that sounds awful.”
Naruto seemed to crumple losing all of her peppy confidence that Sakura was used to seeing.
“Oh, sage it was. Do you know how much heart ache I went through? And Sasuke was zero help I'll have you know. Jackass just sat back and laughed for years,” she clenched her fist, “he could have been putting in good words about me but nooooo all I got was, no way my brother would be interested in a dumbass like you, move on to someone more realistic, or at least your parents think you're pretty. Just remembering that makes my blood boil.”
She remembered the text messages the two of them exchanged, “you guys really are only friends huh?”
She snorted, “nah, we are best friends. From the cradle to the grave. Now I'm his little sister like I promised him I would be when I was seven.”
Sakura was feeling both very stupid for her jealousy and guilty for her actions, “I'm sorry for my previous behavior.”
Naruto’s face softened, “look it would be hypocritical of me to say don't chase him, I chased Itachi down for more than ten years, all I'll say is get your own life. Having many hobbies and experiences under your belt will help pass the time of slowly cracking the Uchiha wall. Being married to Itachi is the most exciting thing to me, but it's the least exciting thing about me if you get what I'm saying.”
She started to walk away and leave her to think about what she said before she turned around with a huge smile on her face.
“You know what I'm a huge pile of love and happiness, you are invited to my wedding reception, you can even bring a plus one,” she pulled an envelope from her bag and handed it to her.
She looked at the shiny card in her hand, “it's casino theme?”
Naruto shot her a cheeky grin, “inside joke. Hope to see you there.”
Sakura decided to just take a walk around the school to wrap her mind around the things she just learned when she sees her crush putting his gym bag in his locker and decided to talk to him.
“Hey Sasuke. Just leaving practice?”
He closed his locker and turned towards her, “Yeah, what are you up to?”
“I just ran into Naruto with your brother.”
He made a gagging noise causing her to giggle, “I feel like I should be preparing for a niece or nephew sometime in the near future. Though her father will probably kill my brother if he gets her pregnant before she graduates.”
Sakura decided to confess her thoughts, “I thought Naruto was into you.”
Sasuke looked at her like she was dumb for a moment before shaking his head, “Naruto has never been subtle about her feelings for Itachi since she was a kid. It would be embarrassing if it wasn’t for the fact that it worked on Itachi.”
“Naruto invited me to the reception.”
He grinned at her, “then I’ll see you there.”
That was all the encouragement she needed to go to this party.
“Forehead, this is the greatest party ever,” Ino said as she looked around in awe, “I wish you would have told me it was a wedding reception. I feel guilty for not bringing anything.”
“I put your name on my gift,” she said as she tried to find Sasuke.
Sakura could agree that the party looked amazing. The place was decorated beautifully, there was a corner where guests could gamble if they wanted, and she has seen more than a few celebrities walking around.
They see the couple of the hour greeting guests looking like a picture-perfect couple in bridal attire and Ino started slapping her arm.
“Why didn’t you tell me Naruto was married to our teacher,” the blond then spotted her childhood friends from across the room at the buffet where there was made to order food, “better yet, why didn’t those two assholes tell me?”
Ino then went to confront the two, leaving her alone in a room filled with people that make her feel a little star struck. Sakura sees Tsunade Senju from across the room and felt her heart rate pick up at seeing her personal hero in person. Sasuke could wait a little bit.
There was no way she was going to miss the chance to greet the woman, and she hoped she wouldn’t look like a total fan girl. She tried to calmly walk over to the woman and introduced herself, hoping she sounded mature.
“My name is Sakura Haruno, and I am a huge fan of yours. Are you here for the bride or the groom?”
Tsunade shook her hand before grabbing another drink from a passing waiter, “bride.”
She wasn’t going to let the short answer stop her from having a conversation with this woman, “how do you know Naruto?”
“We’re family. Though I’m still planning to kick her ass for putting me in charge of a country,” she said as she downed the drink, “now if you excuse me. I see a card table with my name on it.”
She felt a little disillusioned after meeting her personal hero, but also confused as to how an eighteen-year-old girl was able to get someone in charge of a country. The pinkette decided it was best to just go find Ino and find somewhere to sit as they announced for speeches.
Sakura didn’t realize just how impressive Naruto was until she heard stories from friends and family. The grooms side seemed to only have stories of Itachi’s educational accomplishments which honestly seemed boring compared to the story of Naruto punching the king of Suna in the face when she was thirteen, from the king of Suna himself. She is now starting to understand her saying being married is the least exciting thing about her.
Beyond that, it seemed like everyone had a story of how she shamelessly pursued her now husband, and her godfather gave everyone a copy of his book that he claimed was based on their love story. Naruto’s face was a mix between smug and proud as the best man was telling his story, while her new husband looked like he might melt into a blushing puddle after being subjected to over an hour of story sharing.
Sakura looked around the party and she could easily differentiate the bride’s guests from the grooms. Naruto’s friends and family all seemed to be just full of energy compared to the stiff members of the Uchiha family. Though as the night went on, the bride’s side had gotten the groom’s side to loosen up and more of them had smiles on their faces.
She was reminded of what Ino once told her, the best couples seem to consist of a one mature person, and a chaotic person. Sakura watched her stoic economics professor smile as he dragged his bride into a kiss causing a round of cheers to go through the building and thought it must be true.
She wants this. Wants Sasuke to look at her in the same way Itachi looked at Naruto. Wants to celebrate their love with a building full of people. Wants to sit next to a blushing husband as she is fully proud of everything she’s done to prove her love. Sakura wants to be half as brave as her classmate.
Sakura grabbed a drink off a tray of a passing waiter and downs it for liquid courage and walked up to Sasuke sitting at the main table, and said, “I like you and we can do this one of two ways, first you can accept me and we just be together and in love, or the second option is I can make everything she did look like child's play as I pursue you.”
Sasuke had a blush as he looked around the main table where his family had amused grins on their faces.
“Number two. Pick the second option,” the curly haired best man said as he slapped the table.
Everyone at the table was holding two fingers up except his brother who only held up one and Sakura thought she might be drooling from how hot Sasuke looked blushing.
Then the blushing boy kind of tripped as he decided to just escape the attention.
Naruto had a grin on her face as she said, “good luck.”
Sakura smiles at her, “I don't believe in luck. You two are a beautiful couple.”
The blonds smile got even wider and Sakura headed in Sasuke’s direction.
Itachi allowed himself to get pulled to the dancefloor by his wife, where he spun her around and pulled her closer as they started to slow dance to the song playing in the background.
“Did you invite Haruno to tease my brother?”
She had a grin as she answered, “he likes her, but I think I gave him weird expectations of how to get into a relationship.”
He snorted at that, “Shisui also said you ruined the learning curve of how he expected love to be as well.”
“That’s hilarious.”
“Naruto, do you remember when you first said you were going to marry me?”
She brought her hand up to play with the hairs on his neck causing him to shiver, “it was a long time ago. Remind me.”
“You said that you had beginners’ luck and since I was your first love, you were sure that we would get married and live happily ever after.”
“Damn I was cute,” she teased, “aren’t you lucky.”
He leaned down and let his lips playfully rest against her ear as he said, “I must have beginners’ luck too since you are my first love.”
Her face was a deep shade of red as he pulled away, “dammit ‘Tachi. I told you my heart can only handle so much.”
“I guess this means we are going to live happily ever after.”
Naruto pulled him into a kiss, “as if I would allow for anything else.”
He gave her a charged look, “want to ditch the rest of the party?”
She just started to pull him out of the venue instead of answering causing him to smile.
He was lucky indeed.