Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters, nor the stores or companies mentioned in this chapter, nor any shows mentioned.

Chapter 14: Wedding Jitters

"You know..." Sakura began, "I still question if I'm really ready to get married." Sakura looked at the scenery in front of her, which was one of the Uchiha Compound's very large, spacious, beautiful garden areas, this one being located right behind the compound they actually lived in (you could say it was their backyard, if anything).

"Well, there's no turning back now." Ino shrugged alongside her, watching as Mikoto worked her magic, yelling and shouting at random movers, and people they had hired to help set up for the wedding. As it turns out, the traditional wedding would be held there, and afterwards, the reception would be moved next door, to another garden area, yet bigger, right next to the beautiful lake that surrounded the compound.

"True 'dat" TenTen lounged lazily by the back porch of the house, Hinata and Nijiko alongside her.

"No, I'm serious, I'm getting doubts." Sakura said nervously, watching with half-dazed eyes as movers ran speedily, afraid to meet Mikoto's, (and Yuri's) wrath, doing this and that every now and then.

"Wedding jitters Sakura," Ino assured, "they're just wedding jitters."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course they're wedding jitters... I'm getting married the day after tomorrow, how am I not supposed to be scared out of my witts." she frowned, and then promtply scoffed. "What if I gained some pounds and the dress won't fit me? What if I look fat, or if I wake up and my hair is a disaster? And what if I mess up my lines? What if Itachi decides he doesn't want me, and inst-"

"You're rambling again, Sakura." Temari reminded kindly, amused by Sakura's jitters. This had been the fourth time that hour she had stated something similar to the lines of "I'm getting doubts", and then started rambling. Really, she was never this nervous before, not even when prepping for surgery on people who's own shoes of all things were worth more than a year's worth of the wage she got paid in a year.

Sakura inhaled deeply, and exhaled seconds later. "Right, right, you're definitely right Temari..." There was a moment's silence... "But what if-"

"Sakura, if you say one more word, I'm going to tell Itachi that you had been the one who snuck into his room and stole his boxers two years ago." she narrowed her eyes, and TenTen, Temari, Hinata, and Nijiko laughed at the comment.

Sakura opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more seconds later. "Hey, that had been because you dared me, Ino-pig." She glared, trying to somehow justify her actions all those years ago. "Besides..." she looked conspicuously down at her feet, playing with her fingers like Hinata used to do, "it sold great at the Itachi-Uchiha fan club site." she blushed a bright cherry red in embarassment. Hell, the pay she had gotten for that one, measley item had been enough to pay for a whole new outfit, jewelry and all. Would she say she regretted sneaking in and stealing his boxers, afterwards being caught by Sasuke, which had caused 2 horrible, painful months of black-mail? No, she wouldn't, just because the shoes had been so cute, and the shirt looked beyond perfect on her.

Yeah, it had all been worth it.

But that was beside the point, now.

"They're right, it's all just jitters Sakura. Just jitters. There won't really be any difference." she tried giving herself a pep talk.

"Hey there future Mrs. Uchiha!"

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin, shivering madly at the sudden name she had been called.

'That idiot.' Ino face-palmed herself. "Way to go, stupid Uchiha." Ino scowled at Shisui, as he frowned in confusion, coming into view as he approached them, coming from around the compound.

"But what did I do?" he questioned, looking at Sakura, who was as pale as a ghost now, her soul already escaping her body.

Nijiko and Hinata panicked as they began shaking her, and giving her air, ushering her to sit down on the porch. "Sakura!"

"Wedding... two days..." she kept muttering to herself, seemingly chanting it. 'Mrs. Uchiha... Sakura Uchiha... Mrs. Uchiha... Sakura not-Haruno... Sakura-head-of-the-Uchiha-Clan-not-Haruno...!' She began inwardly panicking more and more as the thought began growing. This was all just too much for her at this moment in time... much too overwhelming indeed.

Frankly, Shisui was still confused.

"Man, right when we were calming her down too." Temari laughed. "Uchihas really are brainless, aren't they?" she chuckled. From alongside her, TenTen nodded in agreement while Shisui raised an eyebrow, staring from Ino, to Sakura, to Temari and TenTen, and back to Sakura. He would beg to differ. Uchihas' were neither stupid nor brainless, for example, Itachi was beyond smart, and he would like to say he wasn't that dumb either (which shows how much they knew). But yeah, they weren't stupid; Sakura's gang of friends were just... weird...

With a frown of complaint, Shisui went up to Sakura and knelt down to her level, watching her shiver, as if frightened. "What's wrong with her anyway?" he questioned as he moved his hand over her eyes, only to get no reaction or response from her, almost as if she were in a trance. Still, it was rather amusing watching the usual fiery-eyed witch (in a good way) scared for once...

"Oh, they're just wedding jitters. It seems the it has barely hit her than two days from now, she'll be regarded as Mrs. Uchiha." Ino sighed, pitying Sakura as she leaned on the rail way of the porch. Poor girl never really understood what it meant to be Itachi's girlfriend until it came down to it.

"Not to mention she'll become head too..." Nijiko frowned slightly (thank god Sasuke wasn't the oldest, or she had a feeling this wouldn't have gone well for her...).

"Don't forget she needs to be pregnant as soon as possible too!" TenTen laughed slightly as Temari wolf-whistled.

"A-And that Mikoto is expecting f-five no less..." Hinata sounded slightly worried, looking at Sakura with a look filled with pity.

"So not... helping the cause..." Sakura merely muttered, as she began to picture herself pregnant, a belly as large as Naruto's after a ramen two-for-one sale, four other children by her side, all of which a mixture of black-haired green eyed kids, and a few pinks with dark green eyes.

"We're sorry Sakura, but you have to take it in anyway... might as well help you with the whole 'take-in' process, if you ask me." Ino laughed.

"Oh... so that's what has her so worked up..." Shisui looked back to Sakura. "You shouldn't worry too much, it'll all work out fine..."

"And how could you be so sure?" Sakura nearly snapped at him, raising an eyebrow, almost angered that he made her predicament sound so measley. Hello, he wasn't the one that was getting married two days from now...! 'Pshht, I'd love to see him if it were him about to walk down the isle.' Sakura mentally scoffed.

"Well... because..." he sighed as he sat down next to Sakura and put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "Itachi wouldn't have chosen you Sakura, if he knew you couldn't do this. He has all the faith in the world that you can, and will be able to stand alongside him and lead the clan because he trusts and loves you Sakura." That itself made Sakura blush, but Shisui didn't seem to notice as he kept talking. "There is no one else he could even think of standing beside him and ruling the clan with him other than you. And really, if you think about it, that's saying something, considering there are so, so many girls after Itachi and all."

It made sense. And it was logical. And it made Sakura feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside too. 'Itachi only wants... me...' Some sort of small realization sprouted inside of Sakura's self-consciousness as her mind began to lighten slightly. 'And if he thinks I can do it... shouldn't I be able to?' Sakura questioned herself.

"Wow... maybe the Uchiha isn't that stupid." Temari commented as a side note, half whispering to TenTen, who merely nodded in response.

"I heard that." Shisui spat venom as he turned around promptly and glared at the two kunoichi with his best take on the Uchiha death glare, which he himself couldn't do quite well, considering he was one of the most un-Uchiha like Uchiha there was (right under Karin).

"Hey, hey, you can't go around giving pregnant women the infamous Uchiha death glares! It's said they go right through the stomach and cause birth deformaties to the babies if they're early on in the development process!" Temari half joked. "Should we get Neji over here, Ten?" she talked loudly.

"Oh, I most definitely think we should, Tem!" they kept acting, Shisui quickly deciding that he shouldn't take his chances against the Hyuga heir. So instead, he turned back around, a little paler than before, and was just about ready to keep talking to Sakura, but he noticed she seemed a lot better than before.

'Hey, maybe I'm not so bad at this whole 'cheering up distressed brides-to-be thing'. he seemed content with what he achieved. "Well, I see my work here is done." he stood up proudly, puffed his chest up (Itachi better thank him for this later), straightened out his Jounin vest, and began heading out. "See you kids later. I'm going to report to the Hokage's office for a mission." Without even waiting for a response, he rounded the corner and disappeared from view... And Shisui would later find, a couple blocks away from the Hokage's office, a very upset Hyuga (an heir in particular) staring at him with killer intent, and a less fiersome but still slightly deadly Hanabi, a vicious smile on her face as she sharpened a kunai (hey, what can I say, she had gotten closer to TenTen over the years).

Shisui sighed loudly. "Damn it, I thought they were joking!" So Shisui, obviously, promtply turned around, and ran for his life.

But that was all fine and dandy because really, Hanabi and Neji just loved 'the hunt'. It just made things so much better. Not only would they get to see their prey panic for hours on end until they captured him/them, but the tired and worn out adrenaline made them feel accomplished and gave them some training (in Hanabi's part, anyway).

Had TenTen forgotten to mention that the jewelry Neji had gotten her was also a speaker, so he could literally hear anything she said? (Neji had said "What if you're in danger and are unable to call for help? This way I'll be able to hear if you need anything at all times, so you have not to worry").

So after getting roughed up a bit, Shisui made his way to the Hokage's office, where he got roughed up even more, because he had made Tsunade wait for 30 minutes. 'Curse my luck' Shisui thought as he exited the Hokage's office, one of his cheeks swollen and taking a purple hue, while the other eye was completely swollen, making it seem like it disappeared. 'Curse Temari and TenTen.' he corrected himself. Yeah, it had been all their fault that his day had gone from wonderful to terrible.

And maybe it was just him, but at that sudden moment, he felt a sudden deadly aura directed at him. Turning around slowly, rigidly almost, he caught sight of Neji Hyuga, standing in a corner halfway behind a lamp-post, sharpening his kunai, his steady and leveled gaze directed straight at him. Turning around sharply, shivering almost, he began to walk almost robotically at a speedy pace. 'Holy crap, he can read minds too! The world is not safe with this generation of shinobi!" He began to panick. Konoha would surely meet its doom with such crazy teens running around the village, what with such terrifying kunouchi such as TenTen and Sakura (he had seen her in action, specifically, when she was lashing out on Naruto and/or Sasuke for doing something stupid again, such as peeping into the girl's hot springs or being careless enough on a mission to cause a grave injury, or just being annoying in general), and just freaky kids in general.

Shino, bug guy, get real! As far away from normal as one could be, if you ask him! Kiba, whose smarter half seemed to be his dog of all things. A Haruno with two personalities! A quiet, lazy genius (even smarter than Itachi) who some might think 'emo' because of his lack of communication with the world around him, and his wierd attraction to clouds (and not to mention deadly, fierce women such as Temari) and somewhat cut-off personality. A young, beautiful free-spirited, kind blonde who was well on her way to becoming head of the torture department, of all things! Sure, Ibiki was exceptionally proud of Ino (he had never seen such fine torturin' in his days of practice) but one could only wonder what she truly did in there... she wouldn't tell anyone...

A green spandex-loving freak who took after the freakiest of all, Gai, and had some crazy obsession with ungodly training, and wierd bowl-cut hairstyles. Oh, and don't even get him started with Naruto. Ramen-crazed, wacky, and injury-proned Jinchuuriki who seemed to just love putting his life on the line, especially when arguing with Tsunade about her not giving him an "uber-cool mission" or some other utter crap like that.

And last but not least, unhuman heirs who seem to always know what is going on around them. They could even read minds, and maybe, just maybe, if they really wanted to, put curses on people because they were upset, and maybe even alter reality. Yes, Neji Hyuga and Itachi Uchiha were not forces one should mess with...

But this was all beside the point right now...

He might not live past today if he didn't apologize to Neji's fiance as soon as possible.

"I just got the feeling that we put Shisui in a horrible, horrible predicament." TenTen thought out loud suddenly, laying on the couch in Sakura's room boredly, flipping through the channel of the TV.

"Of course we got him in trouble TenTen." Temari rolled her eyes. "It is Neji we're talking about, after all." she lay on the floor next to the couch, flipping through a Victoria Secret's magazine. Hey, maybe it would help her get some ideas on how to at least rile Shikamaru up a little.

Ino chuckled, only paying attention slightly. "Poor Shisui."

"Don't worry. I'm sure he'll live." Temari dismissed it with a wave of a hand.

"Still... it is Neji... I hope he didn't go to harsh on poor Shisui." Ino replied.

"Poor Shisui? Poor me!" Sakura complained. "How the hell did wedding jitters lead to this... this... madess?" Sakura exclaimed rather loudly as she came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in some slutty lingerie (as she called it, because Ino, Temari, and TenTen called it clothes,) Ino had pre-ordered days before.

"Well, obviously Sakura," Ino began to clarify. "You're having doubts because you are starting to feel Itachi may be able to get someone better, sexier, stronger, smarter than you, correct?" Ino questioned.

"Well..." Sakura contemplated her response, "More or less." she finally settled on.

"Well, what better way to boost your self-esteem and get rid of your jitters than by making you sexy-"

"Extremely sexy." TenTen cut in to clarify.

"Right, extremely sexy, just to prove that there is no competition, Sakura."

"I don't see how this is helping." Sakura glared. Sure, she was dressed in a light-wash minnie skirt that couldn't get that much minnie-er, and a much too small little zip-up, green jacket (with absolutely no shirt under, mind you) that made her boobs look like they were about to pop out of there, and revealed much more skin than she wanted to (her whole belly button was showing!). And to top it all off, all-white sneakers, with her hair styled into a braid off to the side, her bangs framing her forehead in a sweet, childlike fashion almost.

"If only she had a cherry red lollipop she could be sucking on." Ino could imagine it clearly. It was like the whole 'innocently sweet with a sinful body behind all the heavenly sweet innocence' look. "Men go crazy for this look Sakura, I'm telling you." Ino nodded knowingly. From the sidelines, Temari and TenTen (the only ones that couldn't consider themselves remotely 'innocent' anymore) nodded, while Nijiko and Hinata just hung their mouths open in an 'O' shape, almost imagining what they would look like would they wear similar attire such at that.

"You know, this just isn't fair." Sakura pouted as she eyed Hinata and Nijiko. Ino couldn't mess with them because they still had an innocent air, and not to mention look, to them. All shy, sweet, and bubbly, and innocent, and everything in between that presented goodness. They nearly reminded her of Bubbles from The Power-puff Girls. And as you could guess, Sakura was right smack in the middle, not quite making it to the same level as Ino, Temari or TenTen, but not quite being marked as 'angel' among the group (but honestly, who could with that fiery attitude?).

"Oh yes, Sakura! The pout is working in your favor!" Ino squealed in delight. "I'm sure you'll have guys drooling over you." she ignored Sakura's previous comment completely.

"Ino, I don't want to get raped." Sakura said with distaste, glaring instead to at least try and prove her case.

"You're no fun at all Sakura." Ino frowned.

"I'm getting married, I don't need to pick anyone up." she ignored Ino. Anyhow, dressing like this wasn't going to solve her problem. Just because she would attract attention, she knew, didn't mean her fear would go away, and she had a feeling the girls knew that too. They just wanted to mess with her, those jerks.

"True... but, the least you can do is walk around the compound like that until Itachi sees the eye candy." Sakura didn't quite understand Ino's statement until she noticed everyone staring at her breasts oddly.

"They are rather large..." Temari commented.

"It's not fair, mine were always pretty small..." Ino frowned slightly, nodding in agreement.

Sakura flushed a deep red as she turned around, covering her chest with her hands. "Girls!" she complained loudly.

All of them laughed simultaneously (all except Sakura, that is). "Come on Sakura, we're just having a laugh, chill." TenTen tried to calm her down.

"Yeah, we're only teasing." Temari agreed.

"Can I go take this off now?" Sakura glared.

Ino laughed. "Of course you can." Sakura felt relieved for several moments. "Are you crazy? It took me twenty minutes to get you into that thing!" her sweet laugh turned into a snappish-tone. "Now you are going to march that pretty little booty of yours downstairs and strut your stuff until Itachi gets back from who knows where the bloody hell he is." Ino nearly sounded like a sergeant general (way to go Ibiki, showing her how to act fiersome too!).

And so, seventy steps and one cherry lollipop later, she was leaning on the porch with the girls a distance away, looking as embrassed as embarassed can actually get.

Let's just say, some of the workers found it extremely hard to keep focusing on the wedding arrangements...

Oh, and one of them broke a cupid statue! (You better bet your ass Mikoto and Yuri gave him an earful!)

A man approached her, seemingly bored and uninterested in his job. "Ms. Haruno, Mikoto wants to know your opinion on the flowers. Red roses, or p-" he had previously been looking at his clipboard, boredly almost, but after looking up, and seeing the twins, he froze, all train of thought lost then and there. "Or umm... p-pink..." he tried regaining confidence, but failed horribly, as his cheeks became flushed. (Let's just say, it wasn't her face he was looking at).

"Red will do just fine."

No, this had not been Sakura who had replied.

And no, it hadn't been TenTen, Ino, Temari, Hinata, or Nijiko either...

No, it had been Itachi, and all his beautiful, gorgeous, deadly self.

All pairs of eyes turned his way, Sakura blushing, Temari, Ino, and TenTen, smirking geniusly, Nijiko and Hinata eager to find out what would happen, and a terrified, terrified man who seemed to be hiding behind his clipboard. Itachi just eyed the man, albeit, a little longer, (and perhaps deadlier) than needed to. "Is that all?" he questioned.

"H-H-Hai!" the man ran of, hoping he would live to see tomorrow.

Then, there was an awkward, eerie silence in the vincinity.

"T-Temari, I-I'm really c-craving some i-ice cream with ketchup and hotsauce." TenTen said nervously.

Temari laughed nervously, standing up rigidly. "W-Well, we better go get you some then, don't we? Let's go." And the two disappeared as fast as a pregnant lady and her companion could disappear.

"Oh, well, I just remembered I had a date with Kiba this afternoon, so I better go plan what I'm going to wear. See ya, Itachi, Sakura." Ino disappeared too.

"I have a clan meeting I must attend to in fifteen minutes too, so I should best be leaving too." Hinata, oddly enough, was too nervous to stutter.

"Oh, I'll accompany you Hinata!" Nijiko and Hinata both disappeared, jumping off the porching and fleeing after quickly bidding both Itachi and Sakura a quick goodbye.

And they were all gone in a flash, disappearing right before her very eyes. 'They get me into this mess and they bail out on me when he arrives?' Sakura glowered. This truly wasn't fair. 'I have the best friends anyone could ever ask for, don't I?' The sarcasm was practically dripping from her mental voice.

And Itachi just blinked at her.

And Sakura just blinked at him. Was she putting on an almost-puppy-like look while she looked up at him (she was sitting on the porch steps now)? Yes, because she didn't quite know how he would take this. "Before you say anything, Ino put me up to this." she decided to get that out of the way, hoping perhaps he would understand that this wasn't completely her doing (in fact, it wasn't her doing at all!)

"Ahh"

But, he didn't do anything, and just stared at her, no sly remark, or quick little quirk that showed some sign that he was upset, or at least befuddled by her actions, or to be more specific, her appearance.

"You're not mad?" Sakura, who had previously been flinching, looked up slowly, almost like a scolded child would do after finding out they would recieve no punishment.

"You were clearly put up to it Sakura." he said rationally. "Plus," he paused as he went to go sit beside Sakura, "something seems to be bothering you." he gingerly swept a hair behind her head, as it had slipped from her braid, which made her blush lightly.

Could Itachi sense her trouble? Or could he simply read minds?

One may never know...

But right now, that was beside the point.

'Why is he so... perfect...?'

He respected her, was smart, strong, kind, loving, and knew his boundries...

And not to mention all that came with the HOT deluxe package too...

So... why was it he, the most perfect man in the world, was settling for her? Yes ladies and gentlemen, he was settling for her.

"Sakura, I am not settling for you."

Okay, perhaps he could read minds...

But at that moment, before Sakura could say anything else, or speak her mind, Mikoto came and dragged Sakura away, only telling Itachi that his father wished to see him, before she litterally picked her up and ran. "We'll talk about it later." Itachi managed to tell her, to which Sakura would have nervously smiled, had she not been carried away by Mikoto too quickly to utter words or even show signs of faint emotion.

"Yes, we are here to confirm the order of..." a man looked back at his clipboard, flipping a few pages, "50 white doves."

"Doves?" Sakura questioned, now having changed into some more decent attire, thinking deeply. No matter how hard she tried, she could not recall ordering doves... "N-No, I didn't order any d-"

Mikoto, appearing out of nowhere, giggled bashfully. "That was my doing, Sakura-chan." she put her hands on Sakura's shoulders. "Yes, the white doves were ordered in the deluxe package deal that came with the 35 white swans." she merely responded.

'Swans?'

What the hell was Mikoto ordering?

"Yes, that's right, so the total comes out to be..."

And this had been, for the most part, how the rest of Sakura's day went, as the numbers kept adding up. She was lucky the expenses came from the Uchiha family, or she'd spend the rest of her life trying to repay everything. Not only that, but she kept being surprised by the completely wierd things Mikoto had ordered (without her knowledge too, mind you) for the wedding.

Ice Sculptures

Carriages, horses included, along with their own driver, rented by the hour

Flamingoes

A full set of decorative swings, all white and cute-sy with decorative vines wrapping around them, sprouting cute little flowers of all sorts of colors (for the pre-wedding pictures, Mikoto assured)

Beautiful blue jays, and red jays, and yellow jays, and green jays, and even purple and orange jays, some she didn't even know existed (did they even though? Sakura was almost positive there was no such thing as half of those birds.)

Violin players, and guitar players, and singers and dancers (as entertainment for the reception, of course, but did they really need all those dancers?)

By the end of the day, Sakura had zoned out halfway through the "Should we get the deluxe pack that includes the cute little zebras?" and ended up just nodding her head numbly to whatever Mikoto was rambling on about, not only because everything was just too much to take it, but... the doubts were still plaquing her mind. "Whatever you think is best, Mikoto." Sakura just kept repeating throughout the day whenever Mikoto gave her that expectant look.

"Oh no, but it is your wedding Sakura-chan."

And her response to this, would be: "Yes, but you are my family, and I trust you know what is best for Itachi and me."

And that had been enough to send her squealing "Alright! We'll go with the deluxe pack!"

But now the brain-numbing, exhausting day was over, and as she literally tossed herself in bed, fresh and newly-showered in her comfy little pjs, she couldn't wait to fall asleep.

"Did Kaa-san go over-board once more?" Itachi watched with amusement.

Sakura, who had had her face stuffed in a pillow seconds prior, looked up with slightly narrowed her, almost as if stating "you're reall going to ask that question?" (of course Mikoto would go over-board. This was her first son's wedding after all) before promptly smushing her head back into the pillow. "Are you aware of the fact that there's going to be giraffes at our wedding?" she half-mumbled through her pillow. The thought of it being 'her wedding' sent butterflies to her stomach for the slightest of moments and her heart beat a little harder than needed to, because she had not yet talked with Itachi.

Her wedding

At the end of the day, the day after tomorrow, she would no longer be called Ms. Haruno, but Mrs. Uchiha

And she was still worried

"Say, Itachi?" she turned her head slightly, so he could see half of her blushing face.

He looked at her patiently, taking off his reading glasses and putting the book he head previously been reading aside. "Yes, Sakura?" he asked patiently, adoring how the blush that framed her cheeks made her glow, almost. Ahh, that's right. As he recalled, there had been something the matter wit her (in fact, he hadn't been able to get it, what it as, out of his head).

Sakura looked up at him, almost endearingly confused, wasting no time to bring up what had been bothering her the whole day. "You could have any woman in the world, I'm sure of it." Sakura began. "Yet you choose me, a small, insignificant nobody... Why... why is that?" And it was partially true. Besides being the renown famouse apprentice to the fifth, she came from a family of pure villagers, having no real past of sorts. Just a boring little family, not in the poor side, but certainly not living like Sasuke was of all people. No clan, no secret, uber cool technique, such as a kekkai genkai, and no beauty higher than average, as far as anyone was concerned (but then again, that was all in her head).

Yes, this was what was bothering Sakura all along. She feared that he was simply settling for her, and she feared that he may find someone better (because surely there was someone out there who he was much better off with anyway) than her.

And at that very moment, Itachi wanted to, badly, tell her everything. Tell her how he wasn't settling, but how he was choosing only the best for him. A somebody who, though small, started with nothing and worked hard, harder than most, considering her family's status as plain villagers, with no real gift or talent, and worked her way up to where she was now: talented medical ninja with an increasingly gifted ability at chakra control and genjutsus. She was known across nearly all the nations (at least, all the important ones, anyway), and almost everyone had nothing but kind things to say about her. She was incredibly smart, strong, kind, and not to mention beautiful.

But then again, the look of pure awe and admiration practically told Sakura all she needed to know, because, let's face it, Itachi never shows emotion to begin with so to see that expression...

He cupped her cheek with his hand, slowly carressing it with his thumb. "Sakura," he began, as she gave him a small smile at the endearing gesture. "You have nothing to worry about."

And Sakura couldn't help but agree more, as she began to relax by merely being next to Itachi.

After all, Itachi wouldn't lie to her.

"Aren't you at all... nervous... or anything?" Would it be odd if she were the only ones feeling these emotions?

"Certainly." he confessed, and Sakura was shocked he actually cared to admit it (but then again, she was shocked that he would feel nervous to begin with). "Sakura, you know me well enough to know that I am not a very social person." Yes, that much was true. "I fear that I may not be a good enough husband. That one day, you will seek more affection and attention that I can bare to give in certain occasions. Most of all, I fear I may not be a good father for our future children." It was a rational fear, Sakura supposed. After all, Itachi himself had an image to look after, having to be the fiersome clan leader, so he couldn't be soon making goo-goo eyes at his children, or carressing his wife in public... but then again, Itachi wasn't a big fan of public affection as it was (but neither was she, too).

And at that moment, Sakura understood that wedding jitters did not just occur to the bride, but to the groom as well. Marriage was a completely new subject to both of them, and they were experiencing this together. Neither of them knew what was to lie ahead, for once.

But if there was one thing they were both sure of, it was that they had each other to lean on every step of the way.

Sakura smiled brightly at him, and brought her face to his, giving him a chaste kiss. "I love you Itachi." she smiled endearingly at him.

He gave her a small smile himself, kissing her once more. "I love you too, Sakura."

End of Chapter

Sooo, I want to begin by apologizing greatly for not updating in forever, and I DO promise that the next chapter will be posted up WAAAAYYY sooner than it took for this one to be

And as you may all guess, the next chapter will be the offical last chapter of this story O:! Can't believe I'm nearly finished with it [; Thank you to all who have stuck by me, and stuck it through while my lazy self was too, well, lazy, to update faster. You should all throw tomatoes and toasters at me. Wait, let me rephrase that, you SHOULDN'T throw toasters and tomatoes at me for not updating in forever, because that would hurt... but if you really must, at least I would uderstand it if you did xD

Anyway, and all feedback would be much appreciated people!

-Marzy-chan~~! :))