SasuSaku OneShots

🌸My Queen - Part 2🌸

[royal AU]

"Sakura, you've been avoiding me!"

"No, you've been avoiding me. What's up with you?"

"Well, what's up with you?!"

"Princesses shouldn't be avoiding people!"

"Maybe I'm not the princess you always read about it fairytales!"

Naruto crossed his arms, groaned, and rubbed his temple, "okay, Sakura... I don't think we can go through with this arranged marriage thing... It's driving me insane..."

"In a good or bad way?"

"No offense, but in a bad way."

"I figured." Sakura sighed, "I'm sorry, but it's just been awkward. If you can convince your dad to opt out of this marriage, then I guess we can set things straight again."

"Why don't you get your dad to do that?"

"Because my dad's the king. Do you really think he'd agree to it?"

"What other option do we have?"

Sakura crossed her arms and grumbled to herself, "you talk to your dad and I'll talk to mine... I really don't think this marriage is a really good idea."

"Not only that..." Naruto smiled, "I don't think you need to marry to be queen. That's just a stupid, sexist rule they're making up. It's pointless. I'm sure you can rule better than any other king before you, for all I believe."

Sakura chuckled, "You're just being modest."

"No, I'm kinda serious about that." He held his hands behind his head, "so anyway,  I'll go talk to my old man and see what I can do on my end. I feel like it's a bit of a stretch, but I hope your dad understands."

"Hm..."

He rose a brow at her, "you still have something on your mind?"

"I mean..." Sakura looked down at her feet, "it's not that I don't want to get married, but there's someone I'd rather marry instead."

"Oh, yeah." Naruto chuckled, "you don't have to say another word. I get that."

"You too?"

"Yeah...Kinda." He blushed, "anyway, I'm heading out. Good luck."

"Thanks. You too." Sakura turned on her heel and walked towards her father's bedroom, where she'd last seen him, "hey, Dad? We need to talk about this arranged... Marriage... Dad?!"

________________________

Three weeks had passed since Sakura found her father dead in his bedroom. It wasn't murder, but the autopsy only revealed a blood clot in his arteries that eventually led to a heart attack. It was during the funeral for their deceased king that Sakura and Naruto looked at each other in understanding and horror. The next in line for the throne...

Is Sakura.

And the only thing left for her to do is get married. Thanks to Naruto's dad, he was able to pull the plug on the arranged marriage for both Sakura's and Naruto's sakes. This left all open possibilities for Sakura to marry who she wanted before she's coronated as queen. Nevertheless, she still had to get married within the time-slot given to her by the parliament.

"One month at the most." The new head of Parliament, Jiraiya, cleared his throat, "Minato will help you, but you have only a month to get married before we can coronate you."

"As an eighteen-year-old, you can already be considered an adult, which is why you're allowed to be queen at this age. But a husband is still mandatory."

This sucks... Sakura groaned internally. Easy... If I need a husband, and Naruto's out of the running, I think I know...

"Hey, Mr. Namikaze?"

After the Parliament meeting, Sakura approached Naruto's dad and pulled him aside.

"There's... Someone I had in mind."

Minato nodded, "who?"

"Itachi Uchiha. He and I've always been wanting to get married when I was old enough, but ever since finding out Naruto would be my husband, we lost all hope. Now things happened and our chances are higher. Do you think... There's a chance?"

"I mean..." Minato scratched his neck, "I wish I could say 'yes', I really do, but... I'm sorry. It just can't work."

"Why not?"

"I promised I wouldn't say."

"Promised who?"

"Your father."

Sakura crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes shut, "so I have no say in this, is that what you're saying?!"

"N-no, Sakura. Anyone can qualify... Except for him."

"Then tell me why!"

"I-I can't!"

She clenched her fists, "this isn't fair, Minato!"

"Sakura, please trust me... If Itachi were to rise up and rule as king, the Parliament would never allow that. Please avoid the complications and just leave it be."

After a few deep breaths, Sakura finally calmed herself down, shook her head, and sighed, "I need to talk to Itachi about this... Fine. I agree to those terms."

"Okay." Minato looked down at her and set his hand on her head, "I'm sorry, Sakura. I really am."

"It's not your fault." She smiled sadly, "I'm going to go now."

"Yeah."

She turned around and walked towards her room, and just as expected, Itachi was waiting just outside her door.

"Well?"

Sakura shook her head and set her hand on his shoulder, "he couldn't allow it."

Itachi's expression fell at the news, "then... I'll kidnap you."

"No, Itachi, we can't do that. Who's going to rule if I just abandon the kingdom like that? My dad would never approve."

He blinked a few times, staring at her, then chuckled, "it's so like you to say that, Sakura. I'm surprised I never figured that out myself."

"I'm sorry, Itachi..."

"No, I am. I should've known." He wrapped his arms around her before turning and leaving the hallway.

"Wait... He should've known..." Sakura clenched her fingers into fists, "does he... Does he know why he's not allowed to marry me? I don't... I don't understand..."

She made her way down to the kitchen, passing the entrance foyer on her way there. Just as she passed, there was a knock at the door. The butler opened it and smiled at the visitor, "Hello, sir. May I help you?"

"Yeah. The Parliament is taking names to court Princess Sakura, correct?"

"As I'm aware of, yes." The butler looked at him, "are you interested?"

The raven-haired nodded with a smile, "my name's Sasuke. Just Sasuke. And I want to take Sakura as my wife." 

~~~

Random fan of the day: CherryblossomJelly

Written by xX_Fang_Xx