Ino/Saku. Tenderness.🌸

Summary: The (not your average) Arranged Marriage AU I didn’t know I needed to write.

Rated: M (for adult content)

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Chapter One: The Broken Promise

He opened the door to the house that had been built for his brother, the house that should never have been his.

It felt more than wrong to take such comfort in it, but he was weary from his travels and toils, and the smell of the burning embers from the dying fire and the warmth they emitted enraptured him, pulling him into their snares as he crossed the threshold, leaving the world outside behind.

The Uchiha heir paused, the sound of trickling water in the next room alerting him that she was still awake. Her chakra signature hummed serenely, the feel of it like warm silk against the cold air that lingered in his bones.

His wife.

He exhaled slowly, taking his time as he unfastened his cloak and untied his sandals. He was in no hurry to face her after that brief audience with his father.

His throat was dry as he tried to swallow, their exchange of words still burning in his ears.

“So, you’ve returned.”

Sasuke straightened in surprise. It was odd to have his father greet him at the gate, he hadn’t done that since he was a boy.

“Is something wrong?” he found himself asking.

“I need to speak to you,” Fugaku told him with that quiet, stern tone Sasuke was all too familiar with.

His father then turned, walking ahead somewhere the young shinobi assumed was more private. He felt his shoulders fall in exhaustion, he had traveled all night without rest and wasn’t sure if he had the energy for this.

But, with a heavy sigh, he followed.

If Sasuke was anything, he was a dutiful son.

“What is it?” he asked as they reached the bridge at the far end of the village, trying to keep his agitation at bay.

Fugaku inhaled deeply as if summoning strength from some otherworldly source to continue, making Sasuke all the more concerned.

“…It is about your wife,” he told him.

He perked at that.

Sakura.

“Is she alright?” Sasuke felt his pulse quicken, worry gripping tightly at his chest.

“Yes,” Fugaku replied evenly, banishing his first and foremost fear, at least. “She is as healthy, strong and lovely as the day she first stepped into our home.”

Sasuke’s brows drew together at the fleeting memory.

The day everything changed forever.

“Then I don’t understand…”

“She is so well, in fact, that it is a great wonder to me and the other clansmen that she is still without child.”

his daughter is eight by the time his family starts talking to him again. he doesn’t really care to remember his life before he and sakura got married and before sarada came along. he has plenty of fond memories with his family, of course, but they all leave a bitter taste in his mouth when he remembers how callously they reacted to his marriage to someone that hadn’t quite been clan approved.

sasuke loves sakura, despite how awkward he is about admitting it, and he loves their little girl too. it was hard to walk away from his parents and his brother and all of their kin, but sakura was his family too and her love, unlike theirs, came unconditionally.

it’s been around ten years since they’ve actually had a conversation, so sasuke doesn’t really know what to say. and judging by the way his parents can’t even look at him, they don’t know what to say either.

what people assumed: sakura began to vehemently hate ino, they didn’t speak again until the chuunin exams, sakura let a man come between her and her best friend, very tragic 0/10 would not recommend.

what i honestly think: *the next day sakura’s banging on ino’s door* “INO-PIG!!!!!” INO PIG!!!! YOU SAID YOU’D HELP ME WITH HOMEWORK TONIGHT” “YEAH YEAH BILLBOARD BROW, I SAID AFTER YOU HELPED IN THE GARDEN, GO GRAB AN APRON- oh wait omg, did you hear about-”