thanks to planknojutsu for editing this oneshot. and for p96822 for giving me this idea *^*

Disclaimer: i own nothing of this

It was his fault. He should have seen that coming, what was he hoping for exactly, that he will have this courage to come to her and confess?

The moment he heard about it, he wanted to isolate himself from everyone. He wasn't ready to listen to any word anymore is heart felt heavier by the second, and he knew that he had to move on. It wasn't gonna do him any good.

his first step was to request a long mission. As soon as Tsunade saw him, she knew she couldn't change his mind. she let him go.

He was expected to come back after 6 weeks.

Her wedding was in 6 weeks.

He knew she will beat the shit out of him for not attending, but it would be worth it as long as she is happy.

As long as she is happy.

—

At present time.

He was running will all his might.

"She was looking for you" Kakashi's voice was echoing in his mind.

"She wasn't herself …" Ino's words were shattering him inside.

He shouldn't have left her alone; he shouldn't have went on a mission. He hoped she still had feelings for him, even if it was a small little room in her heart. He was taking his chances.

He had no plans in what he will do when arriving there. All he could think of reaching his destination. As soon as possible.

Doors slammed open; he did not care a bit at the crowd's eyes all on him. He was searching for her. He saw Sasuke standing, but his Sakura-chan wasn't there… Did he come before the ceremony even happened?

Was he that early?

But he was sure he was late..

"I KNEW IT" he heard Ino shout.

"Naruto what're you doing here!" someone in the crowd jumped. Naruto was too numb to pay much attention.

"So it wasn't just a brotherly bond Naruto, hm?" Sai confessed.

His husky voice betrayed him, but he cleared his throat "Wh-Where is Sakura-chan?"

Before the whole rookie crew started daggering him with questions, Sakura's mom emerged from a sideroom with a fearsome expression on her face.

"Sakura… Sakura is gone!"

—

It was done. She was done.

Sakura wasn't crying, not a single tear.

It was worse.

She was trembling, her hands were shaking, her heart was pumping. She was clutching the white fabric of her dress—the pearl white dress which now had mud and soil covering the bottom of it.

Sakura was sitting under a tree, her hands covering her face. She was muttering incoherent words—why did she have to drag everything to this point? Why did she listen to her mother in the beginning?

It was always like this, it would start with not trusting her gut feelings, and it would end with horrible situations. Like this one, for example.

How could she have run away? How pathetic could she have been? Sasuke must have been so embarrassed. He was so nice to her. He loved her.

But she was just not right for him.

She loved him, she wouldn't lie to herself, but it wasn't the love where you want to stay with the person for the rest of your life. Definitely not that kind of love.

What annoyed her to the core was that she stretched things to this point.

She remembered the night he proposed, she told him she will think about it.

It only got worse when her mom found out that he had proposed; she kept making remarks like "why are hesitating?" "He loves you." And then she slowly began to offer frightening alternatives, like "once people know you've rejected him, you'll have hard time finding someone, and then blind dates…"

Only Ino saw what she was feeling during that time. She told her that it was her decision. The reassurances sounded weird coming from Ino. Ino had been her rival; they had both loved Sasuke when they were kids, but she knew that this rivalry had died long time ago.

Her fears only grew further when she kept thinking how things would go after rejecting him.

Ugh. She hated herself more than ever. The worst thing was how hard it would be to see him after ditching him at their wedding. Their wedding!

What she had done have been totally out of her character. This wasn't her. This wasn't Haruno Sakura. But what had happened had happened. She couldn't go back and fix it. The idea of her trying to fix it sounded wrong, since it was entirely her fault. If she had just thought about it for a little bit before moving forward with the preparations. If she had just slowed down. But nooooo, the fact that he loved her made her feel that it was enough. If Sasuke loved her, it had to be right. Right? Even if her feelings weren't quite the same, it was still okay. Because Sasuke loved her.

You know, since he doesn't love her anymore. Because he left.

And since she had run from her own wedding, she might as well just leave the village. There was no way in hell she was facing anyone, especially Sasuke. Ugh, Sasuke! She shouldn't have done that to him! If she had just ended everything from the beginning—if she had done what her gut had told her—then none of this would have happened.

Sakura was in total chaos, and it was all her doing this time. She could either fix it, which she had no idea how to do, or she could run away and come back. Maybe in three months.

Yes, three months seem like a good amount of time for them to at least start to forget.

She slowly stood up, trying to find her balance in the duveteux dress. But then, as if on cue, she suddenly felt a distinct chakra heading her way. She held her breath, hearing only her heart thumping, and concealed her chakra. She slowly got up and then tried to run away as quickly as she could, but the damn dress was not helping at all. She still managed.

The chakra that she sensed seemed familiar, and when she recognized who it belonged to…

The last person she wanted to see was him.

—

The moment he heard about her disappearance, he had dashed out of the hall and start looking for her,

He had thank Kami that he came, maybe she was kidnapped? But Sakura was strong and wouldn't be defeated easily.

Did she run away? He didn't want to think of that thought. It bothered him.

Why would she run away? She was marrying Sasuke, right? She liked the Uchihateme.

Right?

The blonde checked every place in the village and she was nowhere to be found… he He can't couldn't sense her chakra. At all.

He knew that girl was an expert on in hiding her chakra signature, but if she is was hiding it, it meant that she did run away. He began to feel the twist of a knife in his heart. The thought of not finding her was not something he wanted to think about. He had loved her ever since Kami knows when. The boy shook his head, clearing any doubtful thoughts, and directed all his energy toward finding her.

—

"Naruto, wait" she pleaded.

"Sakura-chan, you didn't have to come" he barely looked at her, yet he was smiling.

"Huh?!"

" Of course I have have to come, did you expect that I wouldn't see you off?"

He gave a small laugh.

"Naruto I have something to tell you" he didn't pay that much attention to what she was her saying.

"I know. You have my blessing Sakura-chan" he didn't look at her, that knife sunked deeper in his heart, he took a deep breath.

She must've known, he didn't want her to feel like she had hurt him or anything. He didn't want her to worry, he hoped his blessing would make her happy with him.

"What?" She was surprised. What blessing? Was he already giving up? Was she too late?

"It's okay, I won't be long, I will be back to Konoha before you know it," he lied. He gave her his most reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

it was his limit now;, though he can't say anything else while still looking into her emerald eyes.

Sasuke found his happiness in her, and he had known Sakura's feeling towards him for a long time. He would never place himself in the way of their happiness, even if his heart were the price of that.

He loved so much that her happiness was above his, and that was a fact. He had clung to the idea that maybe one day she would love him the way she loved Sasuke, but this thought was killing him slowly.

He had to settle for what reality had given him. He had to accept it. He should be happy to have met her at all. He should be happy to have her in his life the way he did now. And to him that was enough. It had to be.

At some point he had hoped that she might like him more than a teammate. Her actions, her smiles, the fact that she stopped hitting him so hard… not to mention all those 'just-friends' dates that she had accepted willingly.

But that all went away when he heard that his best friend and crush were dating.

At first he thought he can handle it. He smiled it away, but his eyes said that he was hurting.

When he'd first heard, he went to the Hokage mountain. He couldn't accept it, He thought that it must have been a coincidence. He must have misheard. He couldn't handle what his heart was feeling, he felt as if the world had collapsed on his shoulders. He felt as if someone had thrown a shuriken at his heartstrings. as if they had missed the aim, yet the damage was fatal.

He was lying on the ground, his arms covering his eyes. He took deep breaths. maybe then the pain would attenuate the slightest. That was a maybe.

Sakura shouldn't see him in this state. Sasuke shouldn't see him in this state. No one should see him.

His first action was to go to baa-chan and ask for a solo mission where he could busy his mind with something else. And now he was leaving, but here she was, making it so hard for him to forget about her.

"It's okay, I won't be long, I will be back to Konoha before you know it" he lied.

And he left.

Tsunade sent some ANBU to make sure Naruto didn't do anything reckless.

It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it was the fact that his ability to keep himself to safe was questionable at best.

—

And now Sakura was missing. He never should have gone on that mission. He never should have gone.

He sat at the top of the Hokage Mountain and stating collecting natural energy. He would find her no matter what it took.

—

Sakura was still desperately trying to escape from the approaching chakra signature.

Her wedding had already been a mistake today. Kami knows what was coming next.

Even in sage mood, it would still be hard for Naruto to find her; he was dismissing his fears,. He didn't want to lose her, especially not when his last moments with her had ended on such a negative note. He couldn't live with himself if something happened to her.

Clutching the sides of her big white dress, Sakura jumped from one branch to another. Her hands were still trembling, and she needed to go further away. She couldn't stay here. Not after running from her own wedding. With that thought, her leg slipped. She immediately grabbed a branch, but her shaking arms let go involuntarily. The fall was high enough to have broken her ankle, especially with the shoes she was wearing. However, she managed to land safety. At least now she was in a safe distance away from everyone; now she could think in peace.

"Sakura, don't run" a voice came from the trees.

The runaway bride scanned her surroundings but saw no one. How the hell did he…

"I am in sage mode so I can feel your chakra even if you hide it" he said, seemingly knowing her thoughts. His voice was dead serious. It was the same tone he gave to his opponents.

The last person she wanted to see was him.

Meeting Naruto now was worse than meeting Sasuke because he was the one. He was the reason behind her confused feelings.

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "Why are you here?" Her voice came out a bit shaky. "What do you want" she added.

"Go back" he ordered.

"Who are you to say that?" 'since you left'

"You're hurting him" 'like you hurt me'

"I am sorry, but I can't. It's selfish and arrogant but I can't. It's for the better that I leave now instead of living a lie with him"

"Why can't you? Sakura why can't you go to him, didn't you love him?" he said it in a monotone, void of nearly all emotion. Except she thought she heard a quiet tremble of fear to his voice.

She looked him, he was wearing his orange black outfit, it had little cuts, his eyes had a layer of orange on the sides, so he was in sage mode. She couldn't look him in they eye anymore and turned his gaze anywhere but his.

"Love?" She huffed quietly. "I don't know what love is anymore, but I am sure that I don't love him, not as someone who I would marry"

"Then why? Why did you say yes?"

"You know we haven't even kissed." She ignored his question.

He was silent.

"I've been stalling my feelings. I don't think I can go back. I must have caused him terrible pain. I don't deserve him, or you." The last part came out more quietly, almost choked.

He still didn't say a word.

"Let's go back" he held out his arm for her to hold.

She hesitated for a second, then finally took his arm.

—

Everyone was looking at them. Despite all of the drama, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura had made it somewhere alone.

Sasuke was standing with his hands in his pockets, looking at the ground. Naruto was rubbing the back of his head, thinking about the situation they were in, and Sakura is next to him, her left hand holding her right arm nervously.

The situation was utterly awkward.

Then Naruto started to chuckle—it was so awkward—and Sakura looked at him, wanting to scold him. But all she could do was laugh as well, at the audacity of him laughing. Sasuke smiled, soon they were all laughing.

And then soon their laughs slowly died.

It was silent again.

Sakura took steps closer to the Uchiha prodigy. "I am sorry. For everything. For hurting you, for ruining your happy day, if I could do anythi-"

"Sakura," he interrupted. "It would be wrong to get married if you didn't love me," he said.

Naruto started laughing in the background.

Sakura glared at him.

"Dobe, you better shut up, you crashed my wedding"

"Its not like you were getting married!" He laughed even harder.

"Naruto why did you come back" she asked him severely, frustrated that he could laugh at a situation like this. She looking him in the eye.

Naruto's laugh slowed into a chuckle. Sasuke looked ready to listen to his explanation, and Sakura waiting for his answer.

"Well.. err… I knew something like this happen, so I had to come back.. hehehe"

Sakura sighed, she knew there was another answer, but she decided to ask him later, when things had settled down.

"So how about we get some ramen" Naruto suddenly declared.

The whiskered blonde dragged them both to Ichiraku's, ignoring their protestation.

At the shop, Naruto was slurping miso ramen. On his right was Sakura, blowing on the ramen before taking a bite, while Sasuke was on his left, quietly eating his food.

Somewhere not far from they were sitting, Sai was sketching them, while Ino sighed. "I worked so hard in choosing the right dress, and now Sakura is eating ramen in it."

"Finally" Shikamaru mumbled.

"So much for the Uchiha wedding." Temari was next to him.

Back at the reception hall, Choji was eating the wedding cake. Kiba and Akamaru took occasional bites from the cake "Guess we won't know the new uchiha bride, we need to start a new bet again."

"When did Naruto return anyway?" said Shino.

"I KNEW SAKURA DIDN'T LIKE SASUKE" Lee shouted.

"Cut it down Lee, there's been enough drama for one day" Tenten shook her head.

And so the wedding didn't happen, Naruto is back and kami knows what will happen next.

This story is brought to you by: HatakeKakashi.