Tied by Greed (ItaSaku - modern AU)

Chapter 8: Wedding Ceremony

"So what made you ao angry that you are not coming at the party?" Ino asked through the phone. It was almost 8 PM and Sakura was painting her nails a bright green while holding her cell phone between her shoulder and her cheek.

"Itachi. Itachi did. He showed up today at the graduation but I ignored him. I had better things to do than to keep him company. Like... Cheering for you, guys."

Ino sighed at the other end. "So this party will clear your mind."

"I should avoid parties or any risk from now on. People may not care about Sasuke, but the Uchihas have a reputation to keep, especially Itachi. And I am his future wife so I have to avoid anything sketchy. Otherwise, everyone will find out. And people sabotaging me to get money off the press will be plenty. " the pinkette mocked her mom's tone.

Her parents had a discution with her after the graduation. It seems like the Uchihas have a lot of enemies who would enjoy nothing more than to ruin their reputation. In any way. Or even worse, hurt her.

Now she felt like she was in the middle of two dangerous gangs.

She had no time to be worried about the control they had over her right now, nor to process how high this degree was, she felt tired. She felt like sleeping for seven days straight.

But tommorow she has to see her dress. Luckily, Mebuki and Mikoto took care of everything and there wasn't needed for her to taste foods or pick decorations. At least, the two families were considerate enough to let her enjoy her last days of freedom and focus on her friends and private life that didn't involve those snobs. Or it was Fugaku's wish of being always in control. It didn't matter. The graduation was perfect and she had the perfect day. She let nothing ruin it.

And this single thing made her smile.

"Okay. Just tell me what I should wear. Sai is picking me up in 2 hours."

"The purple dress with no straps. Should look fine." Sakura reassured her.

"Oh, thank you my dear. Well, I'm off to do my makeup. Enjoy your Netflix night or whatever. Love ya!" Ino chirped into the speaker.

Sakura laughed lightly and hung up.

She let herself fall back on the matress.

***

Wedding Day.

Sakura felt something strange in the pit of her stomach. It was out of disgust? Fear? Anger? She couldn't pinpoint the exact reason but it had everything to do with her unfortunate situation.

She wished that Gaara would have been here, at least. To comfort her. It would have been nice to have someone who is really romantically involved with her. It would have made the day less shitty.

The pinkette was sitting in the back of a Maybach sent by Fugaku to pick her up from home where her mom, Mikoto, a few hair stylists and make up artists worked all day to make her look flawless.

It was too much for her taste. Too much of flaunting the money that she lacks anyway.

The stars were already up in the sky. A night ceremony would have made it look more majestic, Mikoto thought.

But one thing Sakura was sure of: her future mother in law had marvelous ideas and tastes.

She wondered how her life would be from now on. Will she stay home? Will she be involved in the company? Will she have to be the maid?

She cringed at the thought. The traditional gender roles weren't made for her, less when she is with a repulsive man.

Sakura sighed.

She just couldn't shake this hatred. And it was weird, because she never hated.

"We are here, miss Haruno!" the old driver with a funny moustache announced, looking over his shoulder at the pink beauty.

The door of the car was opened from the outside and a hand was offered to her.

It was her dad.

She smiled faintly at him and grabbed his hand, letting herself be guided towards the garden.

"I am so sorry that it had to come here." Kizashi spoke truthfully, feeling guilty. "I should have thought this problem thoroughly and let you out of this."

Sakura didn't say anything.

"I just hope that one day you'll forgive me and your mom. We will try to do our best to pay back everything to the Uchihas and get you out of there, I promise."

Sakura pressed her lips in a thin line, feeling the matte lipstick like sand.

"We are very proud of you, pinkie." Kizashi said with his voice cracking.

When the light of the torches that were aligned, forming a corridor, appeared in thei view, Kizashi let go of his daughter's hand and offered her his arm.

She took it.

She felt numb.

This was it. Now it was time to lose herself, her identity and her future.

Sakura inhaled deeply.

The violins started playing and everyone stood up from their seats, turning towards Sakura and Kizashi.

Every person wore a huge smile, minus Sasuke and Fugaku.

Itachi analyzed her beautiful dress as she took small steps on the red carpet.

A huge arch of different flowers was completing the image in front of her.

She looked at all the faces and her friends were the ones who held pity in their eyes. But she tried to smile and be polite. Probably the entire Uchiha clan was here and they didn't know about the deal.

"She is so pretty!" Hanabi whispered to Hinata.

When Kizashi amd Sakura reached Itachi, Kizashi offered the Uchiha his daughter's hand.

He took it and squeezed lightly, aalmost making Sakura lose control.

They turned towards the woman with black hair and orange eyes while everybody took their seats.

Sasuke crossed his arms, moving his leg angrily.

Fugaku caught his knee and sqeezed harshly, keeping him in place.

"Thank you all for coming here tonight to assist the union between two souls that found their way to each other."

Sakura fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Love is a rare thing but it starts burning at the most unexpected moment. Love is worth fighting for and love is worth expressing. This is why we have gatherd here. To witness  love winning."

A girl with purple hair that Sakura remembered her name was Naori, approached them with a small, red pillow where the two wedding rings made of white gold were placed.

They both grabbed them, gently.

Sakura took a deep breath, remembering the vows amd she realized that this wedding was so fake that his family had to coordinate some vows to make it credible.

"Father. Smith. Warrior. Mother. Maiden. Crone. Stranger. I am hers/his and she/he is mine. From this day, until the end of my days." they finished the vow in unison, staring im each other's eyes.

They placed their rings on each other's finger.

"From now I declare you husband and wife!" the woman said happily with a huge smile on the face.

"You may now k-" Itachi raised his finger subtly, intrerruping her well known sentence.

He is gonna stop here about his father's wishes. His wish was the marriage not making Sakura uncomfortable or forcing her to do things that she didn't want to do.

Everyone stood up and cheered while Sakura's sad and almost teary eyes were staring hopeless into his.