Title: Wedding Day-jà vu
Prompt: SS wedding, with a dash of NaruHina/NejiTen, jealous Sasuke, and the Konoha 12
Prompt Submitted by: saucebaeandminatoomgcuties (I HOPE YOU LIKE IT D:)
Note I: Bless you for asking for a fic with Neji alive. ;A;
Note II: There's a scene in here that is kind of sketchy physics-wise, and I spent forever trying to figure out how to make it work, so just do me a favor and laugh at it. ._.
Note III: Semi-AU (because Neji's alive) and westernized wedding. Will write a more culturally correct wedding at a later date.
Disclaimer: Naruto, not mine since 1999.
"Oh my god, where did you learn to do hair like that? This looks amazing!"
Sakura watches the mirror, fascinated, as Neji braids her pink locks into an elaborate coif. His calloused fingers are precise and efficient as he pins her hair into place. Tenten reaches over and plucks the pins from his mouth so he can answer.
"Well," he pauses as he works through a particularly complicated twist, "when you live in a household with two female cousins who both have long hair, in fact everybody has long hair, it's a skill you learn out of necessity."
Ino giggles from the other side of Sakura as she applies eyeshadow to the bride. "Who knew that Neji had a feminine side?"
Tenten chucks the eyelash curler at her and blows her a raspberry. "Who do you think has been doing my hair all these years?"
Neji nods gravely. "Tenten has perfect hair. Luxuriously thick, but not bushy. Easy to manipulate and sculpt into any hairstyle." Tenten beams and leans over to kiss him on the cheek.
At that moment, the door to the room opens and Hinata appears carrying Sakura's bouquet. A whine outside the door causes her to flinch and close the door hard. Naruto can be heard shouting from the other side.
"But I wanna see Sakura-chan! There's no rule about the best man not getting to see the bride!"
"There is now!" Ino hollers back. The sounds of a scuffle can be heard outside along with what sounds like Naruto frantically apologizing. After a moment, there is silence, and Haruno Mebuki enters the room. She's immaculately dressed as mother of the bride, and not one hair is out of place.
She spends a moment critically inspecting Sakura's hair, and turns to Neji. "It's perfect. Have you considered a career in cosmetology?" Tenten snickers behind her fiance's back.
After declaring Sakura's make-up passable (at which Ino is disgruntled), she shoos them out of the room. "Out, all of you. My daughter's getting married and I need to speak with her alone."
On the other side of the hall, Sasuke is nearly strangling himself with his tie.
"I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be that tight, Uchiha." Kiba smirks and dodges a flying kunai. "And I'm pretty sure that's not even how you tie it in the first place."
The "knot" around Sasuke's neck looks nothing like a formal tie knot. In fact, it looks a bit like a stomped-on beehive. Growling, Sasuke yanks at the tie, only tightening the messy knot.
"I think he's just pissed off 'cause Neji's still over there working on Sakura." Choji mentions off-handedly, digging into his bag of potato chips.
Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose. "Can you please not say it like that?"
Chouji pauses mid-chip, confused. "Like what? I just said he's doing her-"
"DOING HER! HAHAHA!" Kiba slaps Sasuke on the bank, earning him a sharinglare and a free flight across the room.
Behind them, the door flies open with a boom. "ARE YOU BOYS DONE IN HERE YET? THIS WEDDING STARTS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES, AND IF YOUR ASS ISN'T AT THAT ALTAR, UCHIHA, I WILL CARRY YOU THERE MYSELF."
Mitarashi Anko is not a patient woman, and at the sight of her fierce glare, the guys scamper from the room. Her lip curls in scornful amusement as she catches sight of Sasuke's tie, and in less than thirty seconds she's marched over to him and fixed it in a blur.
"There. Now get your ass out there, Uchiha." She winks and flash-steps to the doorway, pausing to casually throw out, "By the way, Neji's done working Sakura over."
The mirror behind Sasuke cracks from the force of his radiating angry chakra.
At the altar, Sasuke is cool, calm, and collected. All traces of his former agitation are gone, and Uchiha don't get nervous, which is why he's not worried at all about Sakura changing her mind and deciding that he is in fact the scum of the earth who doesn't deserve her-
At least he's got a good poker face.
Beside him, Naruto is fidgeting and digging through his pockets. Sasuke doesn't know what he is so worried about, he's not the one who tried to kill several people in this room, including the bride, and oh god there she is-
The room hushes and the lilting noise of the music fades away as his eyes meet hers. Her lips tilt upward in a nervous smile, and suddenly Sasuke's tie is far too tight. A stray curl of pink falls over her eyes, and he wants to wrap it around his finger and kiss her forehead, kiss her eyes, kiss her lips, and why did it take him this long-
She's gliding down the aisle on the arm of her father, and her smile that was once tentative is now as wide as the sky, responding to whatever she sees in his face. His fingers twitch; they're not moving fast enough and he wants her here now, he wants to touch her and keep her and never lose her again because he was so damn stupid.
She must see the anxiety in him, because her eyes flicker in a way that only he knows how to read, and the beast inside him calms. They finally reach the altar, and her warm hands are in his, and he squeezes them to make sure she's real. He doesn't realize his are shaking until she reassuringly runs her thumb over his knuckles.
Tsunade, who is officiating the ceremony, begins a long speech, but Sasuke hears none of it. He hears Sakura's steady breathing and feels the fluttering pulse of her heartbeat through her fingers. Unconsciously, he leans forward, wanting to be closer.
Somebody coughs loudly beside him and breaks whatever hypnotic spell Sakura has over him. Sasuke looks up, annoyed. Tsunade is staring at him with an amused expression. "I realize that everybody in this room knows that you want to be married to her, Uchiha, but it would help if you would say it out loud."
Sasuke scowls. "Aa. I do."
Sakura confirms her answer as well, and Tsunade calls for the rings. When nothing is forthcoming, Sasuke turns around and glares at Naruto, who is waving and smiling goofily at Hinata, who's standing behind Sakura. "Dobe," he hisses, "where's the ring?"
Startled, Naruto blinks at him. "The ring? What-OH, THE RING. Um, hang on."
Naruto proceeds to dig through his pockets, coming up empty-handed. He grins sheepishly at Sasuke and searches frantically on the inside of his tux jacket. "Hang on, I know it's here somewhere..." Sasuke pinches the bridge of his nose while Sakura sighs heavily.
"Wait! I know where it is! Hold this, teme." He shoves his right foot into Sasuke's hand and rolls up his pant leg. A small shurkien holster is attached to his ankle, and Naruto pulls out the ring triumphantly. "I knew I didn't lose it!"
He leans forward to hand the ring to Sasuke, but he loses balance as Sasuke drops his leg at the same time that he pulls it back, and he goes crashing forward into Sasuke. They land in a heap on the floor, in a situation exactly reminiscient of a certain day at the Academy, mouths mashed together.
"Oh for the love of-NOT AGAIN!" Sakura throws her hands in the air before yanking Naruto off of Sasuke by the collar. Both boys are spitting and wiping their lips, horrified.
"DOBE," Sasuke punches his idiot best friend. Naruto, not one to take a punch from his rival sitting down, launches himself at Sasuke, throwing fists. Sakura covers her face with her hands, desperately pretending that she's not there. Behind her, Ino and Tenten roar with laughter while Hinata looks on in embarrasment.
Chouji and Shikamaru pull Naruto off to a safe distance while Kiba and Neji attempt to restrain Sasuke. Tsunade, who is furious, walks up to each of them and bashes them on the back of the head. "Now," she says through gritted teeth, "if the both of you are done being astronomically stupid, can we PLEASE continue this wedding?" She glares at Sasuke. "Though at this point, you'll be lucky if she still wants to marry you."
Sasuke flushes and glances at Sakura, who does not look pleased. He stands and approaches her cautiously, taking her hands in his. "I'm sorry," he mumbles. She glares at him. "You'd damn well better be. On our wedding day!" she hisses. "Now can we please finish the ceremony?"
He nods and looks around. "Dobe, where'd the ring go?"
"Uh oh."
Half an hour later, after every single person in the room has gone crawling on their hands and knees looking for the ring, Sasuke finally slides it onto Sakura's finger where it belongs. She smiles softly at him, and his heart skips a beat as she promises him forever with her own ring.
Tsunade smirks. "Alright, I know you've been waiting for this, Uchiha, so go ahead and kiss her already."
Sasuke shoots her a glare before turning to Sakura. As much as he does want to kiss her, he's never been much of a publicly affectionate person, and so he is mildly uncomfortable. As he leans forward, Sakura smirks mockingly at him.
"I'm not sure if I want to kiss you," she whispers, her mouth curling. "You were just making out with Naruto a few minutes ago." Her eyes twinkle with mischievious mirth.
Sasuke growls deep in his chest, pulling her in close and smashing his mouth on hers. It's much more heated than a wedding kiss should be, and when the pull apart Sakura is panting, her cheeks flushed.
It's Sasuke's turn to smirk. "And what do you think now, Mrs. Uchiha?"
She gives him a look. "I think you should kiss me again."