I'd like to explain the origins of this one a bit before you begin reading. I have a page-a-day calendar that has strange trivia in it and according to the calendar, Leap Day used to be the only day that women could propose to men back in England. Also up in Scotland, there were fines for men who did not accept the marriage proposals. I instantly thought of this idea, so without further ado, I give you:
Leap
By MadnessinmyMethod
Every four years, the month of February gains an extra day: February 29th. It's some strange astrological shit or whatever. A year really isn't three-hundred and sixty-five days or leprechauns fell from the sky and ate people… yeah, you think I'm on some kind of drugs. Maybe I am. But that's not my point… if I actually have a logical point at all. Some wonderful person decided that the Leap Day would be the only day when women are actually allowed to propose to men. (You know, marriage. Squee.) Point number two, Tsunade-sama, who has been Hokage for… crap, like fifteen years now, apparently has some sort of romantic side. Men get fined if they turn down proposals on Leap Day. So on to point number three. I, Haruno Sakura, am getting myself a husband today if it kills me. Well, hopefully I don't die. Marriage is pretty pointless if you are deceased.
Haruno Sakura's alarm clock rang Friday morning at 6 am like it did every day. It was also smashed to pieces by a furious fist like it was every only to be replaced from a large store of them that she kept in her closet for the next night. It was a good thing she had made jonin now with an increased pay, because those alarm clocks cost her a small fortune each year.
As she glanced at the calendar on the far wall she became instantly excited. "It's about damn time," she said loudly to herself. "If it weren't for that stupid mission, I would have done it four years ago!"
Sakura was of course speaking of her Leap Day plans to get a husband, which had been disrupted four years ago by a ridiculous mission into one of the smaller countries around the Fire Country, where the fines and customs of Leap Day did not apply. Not to mention her access to a particular person had been cut off most tragically.
She proceeded to carry out her normal morning routine without any further outburst, her usual wholesome breakfast and swift beauty regiment. She had been living on her own for the last ten years, so no tired mother called up the stairs to tell her to get a move on. With her alarm clock destruction, she could not afford to live in a house with stairs anyway. Sakura owned a small apartment in Konoha that was neither cheap nor expensive.
As occasionally happened every morning, Sakura's breakfast was interrupted by an explosive pounding on her door. "You know where the key is, idiot!" she shouted. The key was located classically under a plain welcome mat.
Naruto entered the apartment, with a ridiculous grin on his face. "I know, Sakura-chan, but I like to let you know I'm coming in first."
Sakura knew very well that she would be furious with him if he didn't knock. But she was always furious with him, so it didn't really matter. "Good morning, Naruto," she said. "Why are you up so early?"
"I don't know," Naruto admitted. "I just woke up and I thought I'd come over."
"Weirdo," Sakura muttered. "Well, I can't entertain you today. Go bother someone else."
"I have actually," Naruto said. "I went to bug Shikamaru, but he was too busy running away from girls to do anything. Lee wants to train obsessively. Shino, Kiba, and Neji are all away on missions…"
Sakura had stopped listening and fallen into one of her romantic daydreams about her groom to be. Sigh.
"Sakura-chan! Are you listening?" Naruto was snapping his fingers in front of her face. Her cereal spoon had slipped in her lax fingers.
"What?" she barked, swatting his fingers. "Get out!"
Sakura found herself standing outside his house about twenty minutes later. Well, to be more accurate, it was a mansion. "Tsunade-sama would make him poor if he refuses," Sakura told herself as she knocked on his door.
She waited for a minute or so before a servant greeted her. "I'm afraid the Master-sama is not home, Sakura-sama," he said calmly.
"Do you know where I might find him?" she asked.
"I am afraid he left no notice for fear of wedding proposals," the servant replied.
Sakura turned bright red. "I see. Well, if he returns, tell him that I'm looking for him."
"Of course, Sakura-sama."
Sakura walked away from the mansion a bit, watching as a curtain moved noticeably in one of the upper floors. "Not home, huh? Fear of wedding proposals?" She cracked her knuckles threateningly. "That man is getting my shoe up his ass!"
Quickly, she moved off down the street and circled around the mansion using some of the most questionable back alleys in Konoha. Sakura effortlessly scaled the rear wall and landed with a fair amount of grace in his garden. She had to move fast however as a battalion of guards clunked closer. Her refuge was a well-placed bush, a bit prickly and disheveling, but well-placed.
Her heart beat furiously as the guards passed by, but most importantly, they had passed and she was able to continue on the next leg of the journey up to the main house. It was far easier to sneak in than she expected. There was an open window on the second floor.
Sakura knew for a fact (because she had actually been invited into this house before) that his bedroom was two floors above her and that was where he was most likely to be. So as she snuck through the hallway she had managed to enter, she kept her eyes pealed for the stairs. "Where are those goddamn stairs?" she muttered, furious with the largeness of the house. "Ah, there!"
She ascended rapidly, blessing her luck that there were no servants or guards running around this part of the house to betray her intrusion.
Uchiha Sasuke, the last survivor of the Uchiha clan, looked up in alarm as a pink-haired woman who appeared as though she had slept in his backyard burst through his bedroom door in such a way that the door laid smashed to pieces on his floor.
"It would have been a bit more polite to knock," he said tonelessly, watching her with dark eyes.
Sakura was breathing heavily. "You could try answering your door too," she said.
"That was to avoid rather unnecessary things today. I did not realize that one of my good friends would be calling on me today," Sasuke said. "I should have left more explicit instructions to my staff."
"That didn't really sound like much of an apology," Sakura accused.
"I'm afraid it didn't," he agreed. "May I ask why you look as if you've slept in an arboretum?"
"I had to enter through your back garden and while I was out there I spent some quality time with one of your bushes. I daresay you know all this since you were watching out the window?"
"Perhaps," Sasuke said, a smile entered onto his lips. "Now, I suppose I should ask why you are here."
"I am here to ask you to marry me. Though it appears as though you'd rather not get married by the reception I met at the front door," Sakura replied.
"You mistake my intentions. I did not want to marry just anyone. I wanted to marry someone with more determination than to just show up at my door," Sasuke said.
"You're damn lucky I love you," Sakura said. "But you're still going to have hell to pay."
Sasuke nodded. "I guessed as much. Would you like the ring?"
"That and a hell of a lot more."
Sakura had seen very few smiles on Sasuke's face and never a one that was quite like this. He looked happy for the first time since she had ever known him. Ever. "Then you'd better come here," he said. His arms circled around her waist that had become more shapely in her later teens. Damn, this was what she had always wanted.
As he began to kiss her gently she whispered, "Yeah, but I'm still shoving my foot up your ass later."
Reviewing would be nice.