A/N at the end.

Enjoy! :)

Sometime in the past.

Sakura convinces Takeshi to join her and her friends.

She's sat with his friends a few times now and misses her regular table. Takeshi agrees without a fuss and they take a seat, throwing out greetings at each other.

Itachi sits across the table. Sakura feels wrong-footed. She's so used to having him by her side that it feels weird to have this distance between them. Ino sinks down in the chair next to hers, gossiping about their Biology teacher and her potential affair with their English teacher.

"I'm telling you, it's so obvious!" Ino says in frustration.

Itachi is riling her up by refusing to believe it. Shikamaru and Temari are laughing amongst themselves. Takeshi turns to her, whispering in her ear.

"I don't want to announce it," he says with amusement, "but I agree with Ino. I actually saw them once adjusting their clothes in an empty classroom after school hours."

Sakura giggles. "What were you doing near an empty classroom after school hours?"

Takeshi shrugs. "Ah – you know."

Sakura's blood throbs. She gulps down the nervousness, twisting her hands under the table. Does he expect her to–?

I mean, sure, they've made out a few times by now. But that was it. Takeshi didn't push, neither did Sakura. She wonders how long until that lasts.

Does she even want Takeshi in that way? The kisses have been good, yes, but she was content with them. There was no need to do anything more.

After school that day, Sakura says that she's walking home. Takeshi wants to know if something is wrong, but she assures him that she just feels like having a long walk. He kisses her once as he leaves.

Sakura is barely a minute away from the school gates when Shikamaru's car slows to a stop beside her. Itachi jumps out.

"Hey, why are you walking?" he frowns. He seems angry for some reason.

Sakura bites her lips. "Just felt like it."

"Where's Takeshi?"

"I told him to go home."

"Sakura," he says lowly, seriously, stepping away from the car and towards her. "Did he say anything to do? Do anything? Just tell me – I'll set him straight, okay?"

Sakura's eyes widen comically. "No! No. He didn't."

"Really?" he narrows his stare.

"Yes. Really."

Itachi studies her for a moment and then nods to himself, coming to a decision. He tells Shikamaru to hand over his school bag and tells him to leave. "I'll walk with her."

"Itachi, you don't have to do that."

"I know," he says. "Come on."

Shikamaru drives away. They walk in companionable silence for a bit.

"Is everything okay?"

Sakura shrugs, looking at her feet as she walks. "Just thinking about something."

"About what?"

She flushes. "It's embarrassing."

Itachi tugs on her elbow. "Hey, it's fine. Tell me."

When she doesn't respond for a good three minutes, Itachi begins in a slightly uncomfortable – but determined – voice.

"Is it – I mean. Does it have anything to do with – you know. Periods? Are you having – mood swings? Or cramps? Cravings? It's – you know – I can get you something if you need. Did Takeshi – I mean – does he not want – anything to do with it?"

Sakura's face is as red as a deep ripened tomato.

"No! That's not it! I'm not even on my – periods, okay? I mean, I do get them. But the date is – it's not that."

"Oh, okay," Itachi says uncertainly. "I hope you know that – even if it is – you can talk to me. About anything."

"Thanks," Sakura mutters awkwardly. Under the uncomfortableness of this whole situation, she feels a rush of affection for him.

She gathers her thoughts a bit. She wonders which is a worse topic to talk about with your best friend whom you have feelings for which are probably not reciprocated – sex or periods?

"Do you think," she begins eventually, "that it's possible to be with someone but not feel – attracted? No that's the wrong word. What do you call neutral-attraction?"

"Neutral-attraction?" Itachi says hesitantly. "What's that?"

"You know," Sakura waves her hand vaguely. "You might be okay kissing them but don't really feel the need to do more."

"You mean to say that there's not much sexual desire?"

Sakura wants to dig a hole and crawl in it until the end of time. "Yes."

When Itachi speaks next, he seems carefully cheerful. "Do you not feel sexual desire with Takeshi?"

"Maybe," Sakura mumbles morosely. "He's – you know. Nice. But it's fine even if we don't do anything – sexual."

Itachi hums thoughtfully. "You should talk to him," he suggests lightly. "See what he feels."

Sakura isn't looking forward to another awkward conversation but nods anyway.

Sometime in the past.

The five of them are taking a walk in Itachi's neighbourhood.

"I can't believe we're graduating," Ino remarks morosely. "I'm so not ready to become a responsible adult yet."

Temari hooks their elbows together in comfort. "You're going to be fine."

"I suppose. I mean – I've been working at the shop for over a year now. It won't be all that different."

"See? And we'll stay in touch."

Itachi and Shikamaru agree immediately. Itachi nudges Sakura lightly. "Won't you?"

"Yeah – yes. Of course."

Itachi grins. "Good."

"I hate the applications," Shikamaru complains. "I'm dead bored of writing essays."

Sakura mentally agrees. Almost all of her free time is spent going through colleges, degrees, filling out numerous forms, checking student loan options and so on. She is nearly sure that she would enjoy learning English Literature and perhaps any administrative course.

"Hey," Sakura tugs at Itachi's elbow. "Have you decided upon a major yet?"

Itachi shrugs coolly. "I was thinking a degree in creative field? I'm not sure." He laughs a little nervously, scratching his elbow. "Honestly, I really have no idea what I'd want to do. You must already be sure, yeah?"

Sakura snorts. "Not really. I'm going over courses every day now."

"You wanna check them out together?"

Sakura almost stumbles. "What?"

Itachi catches her, more out of reflex than necessity. "We can sit tomorrow after school and go over the lists. We might be able to help each other out."

"Yeah, I suppose."

"It's a date," Itachi beams. "I'll get my laptop."

Sometime in the past.

Itachi is staring at her with an intensity that makes her want to hide.

But she doesn't. She returns the gaze, wanting to drink him up as much as possible before they have to depart for their respective colleges.

Sakura doesn't know how long they stand there, in the middle of the crowd, with the music pulsing around the house in a loud staccato. The only reason she agreed to this random student's house party is because Ino promised she wouldn't have to drink if she doesn't want to. And well, Itachi pecked her cheek in a sudden move and then excused himself to make a phone call.

Sakura wants to believe that they haven't lost their chance. By now, it feels more like a fantasy than anything else, because even if it did feel for a minute there that Itachi wants to be with her just as badly as she does, they're literally going to different cities within the week. They'll build separate lives, with separate group of friends, different routines, schedules, and despite the promises Ino has extracted from them, Sakura is not foolish enough to know that the promises will stick.

There's a good chance that she's seeing him for the last time.

So yes – she stares with abandon, standing right there, for however long he does.

Sometime in future – Present Day

Sakura tries not to yawn.

The meeting is taking forever. The latest American addition to the Marketing Department is this sandy-haired man in thirties, trying to revolutionize the traditional Japanese ideas. The company hired him with the hopes of bringing in globalization – their newest strategy of growth – and to Sakura, it feels like an endless amount of discussions with no real output.

Her own department, which began as museum curators, has taken up new categories of clients such as educational institutes and start-ups. Which is the sole reason why she is required to sit here, for the third time in that week itself, trying not to lose her patience.

The twelve others in the meeting appear more or less the same.

Adrian – the American – doesn't notice the drooping environment. He's quickly losing the audience but prattles on and on, caught up in his own excitement, about tailored targeting.

When someone knocks on the door of the conference room, Sakura wants to sink in relief.

But it's her secretary, Jiji, nervously stammering out an apology, saying she has an urgent phone call for Sakura.

Every pair of eyes swivel to Sakura, half in accusation at being interrupted and half in gratitude for being interrupted. Sakura gets to her feet, trying to appear prim and proper under the stares, and nearly runs to Jiji, who is looking every bit terrified as the first day of her job.

"It's Mr. Uchiha," she says in a whisper.

Sakura frowns in confusion. They pull the conference door behind them and Sakura hears Adrian picking up his stream just before it closes shut.

Jiji hands her the phone.

"Hello?"

It's from the hospital, informing her that Itachi has been in an accident. Sakura rushes to the eleventh floor. Sasuke is going through some paperwork and looks up when Sakura enters without any warning.

"Hey – what?"

"No time," Sakura says in a rush. "I need to leave."

Sasuke is irritated. "It's the middle of the day. I can't let you leave without a proper reason."

"You might wanna join me." Sakura explains the phone call to him.

"Shit. Okay. Let's go."

The two of them wait impatiently for the nurse at the station to finish her call. Sakura is trying not to worry, but it's hard. If she sees him once, she'll be fine. Sasuke is faring better than her. He only snapped twice on their way and both the times had been Sakura's fault.

The nurse finally puts the phone down. After a quick conversation, Sakura and Sasuke are directed to one of the ER beds behind the curtain on the right corner.

Itachi is propped up on pillows, his leg bandaged heavily.

Before Sakura can do more than rush to his side, the attending doctor arrives with an electronic tablet and a nurse. He says that there is a slight fracture in his shinbone, which would require a cast for an approximate of three months. He also says that they'd like to keep him overnight for monitoring, in case of delayed internal bleeds.

The nurse takes Sakura away to process the documents while Sasuke stays back to keep Itachi company.

After Itachi is moved to one of the private rooms, Sakura sinks in the chair near his bed. Sasuke is talking on the phone near the window.

Itachi looks exhausted, but otherwise okay. Once the police officers arrive to take his statement, Sakura finally hears the story of what happened.

Apparently, another car lost control and the corner of the front bumper crashed into Itachi's side, injuring his leg in the process. The driver of the other car is in the hospital, too, and Sakura asks the police if they found out why the driver lost control in the first place.

"He bent down to pick up his phone," the police says. "We see it quite a few times, unfortunately."

They explain the further procedure before wishing him well and leave.

Sasuke cuts his call short and joins them near the bed. Sakura fills him in and Sasuke throws a bemused glance at Itachi.

"Three months?" he confirms warily. "That's a lot."

Itachi winces. "Can't help it. I'll ask Deidara to make the site visits. I can work from home."

Sakura wants to tell him to take it easy but knows that once she leaves for office, Itachi will do as he pleases. Besides, she reminds herself, he only has to work on his computer and it should be fine.

Nearly two hours later, chaos ensues.

Sakura is taking an update from Rin while Sasuke is almost dozing off, when the door bursts open and screams follow.

Sakura jumps a foot in the air. Sasuke startles awake. Itachi positively beams.

"Daddy!" Their youngest six-year old twin, Akira, runs to Itachi's bedside, eyes watery and lips trembling. She places her hand gingerly on Itachi's arm, as though touching him would assure her that he's not dying from a deadly disease.

Akira's elder twin by three minutes, Azami, follows her head and joins Itachi on the other side. Sakura moves out of the way when their eldest eight-year old, Sora, broods near Itachi's leg, the one that is not in a cast.

"I'm fine," Itachi assures them. "What are you guys doing here?"

Naruto is the last of the lot, carrying a bunch of balloons with Get Well Soon written on them. He grins at Itachi, goes to Sasuke to peck him on the lips, and drops the balloons in the corner.

"The kids wouldn't listen to me," Naruto informs them cheerfully. "I told them you had an accident, broke your leg, got hospitalized – now that I think of it, probably makes sense they started to cry even when I tried to explain that you're not dying of a brain injury."

Sakura tells them that they should let Daddy rest as much as possible, so they crowd around her instead with Akira sitting on her lap, Sora flushing his chest against her back, and Azami tugging at her clothes.

Sasuke comes to the rescue. "Hey, kids, who wants to go with Uncle Naruto and me to eat? We can have a cheat day, what say? Double scoops of chocolate chip ice cream!"

Akira agrees instantly but Sora pouts, saying he wants to wait with Itachi. Akira blinks at her elder brother, immediately changing her mind. After that, she refuses to leave.

Sakura tells him and Naruto to go ahead. Once they leave, Sakura suggests sitting on the two-seater couch so Akira and Azami join her. Sora sits on the edge of Itachi's bed carefully, staring at him with wide eyes, the only child who has Sakura's green eyes.

"Come here," Itachi gestures and moves slightly to make room.

Sora jumps up. He tucks himself under Itachi's arm on the bed, ensuring his own legs are above the bedsheet.

"Girls, come on," Itachi invites with a grin. "Picnic on the bed!"

Akira and Azami somehow manage to squeeze themselves around Itachi's cast. Sakura giggles, clicking a photo of the four of them. Definitely going on the wall, she decides.

Itachi is free to leave the next day. The kids refused to go to school even so Sasuke and Sakura took another day off to get things under control.

After Itachi is settled in their house, the kids finally leave him alone to sleep. Sasuke goes home, promising to drop in later in the evening to check in. Sakura spends the day keeping an eye on Itachi, making sure the kids are not worrying themselves to death, does some laundry, and when it's early evening, sends the kids the to the backyard, encouraging them to play something.

Hinata, Konan, and Sai show up with dinner. As they are plating the food, Sakura's phone starts to ring.

"Hey, mom," Sakura holds the phone between her ear and shoulder, handing the dinner mats to Sora. He dutifully takes them.

"Hey, I got your message," Mebuki says worriedly. "How is he?"

"He's fine," Sakura sighs. "He has to put on a cast for three months. Otherwise, he's okay."

"That's good to know. And the kids? How are they holding up?"

Sakura glances at them. Sora has placed the dinner mats and is now helping Hinata scooping the takeout food in containers for serving. Akira and Azami are speaking animatedly with Konan, wildly gesturing with their hands. Itachi chooses that moment to hop to the table with his crutches as Sai keeps his hands open as though to catch him, in case he loses his balance. Itachi notices her stare and raises one eyebrow in question.

It's my mom, she mouths back.

"They're okay," Sakura replies in the phone. "They were a little freaked out yesterday, but I guess seeing him helped. Now that Itachi will be home, they'll get to spend time with him."

Itachi began his private practice three years ago and recruited Deidara from his old firm. His team has three other people, young and fresh out of college. Sakura is grateful that he doesn't need to worry about his work too much. The others can take care of travel while he manages the rest from home.

Mebuki asks Sakura if she needs her to come and stay, but Sakura assures her that Sasuke and Naruto are close by in case of emergency.

Sakura takes a seat beside Hinata at the dining table. Just as she picks up her spoon to eat, the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it," Akira declares happily. She runs to the front door and then yells in excitement.

Akira returns, pulling Sasuke and Naruto with one tiny hand each. "Mom, mom! Can Uncle Sasuke stay with us tonight?"

"Aw," Naruto groans in pain. "You wound me, child."

Akira lifts her chin in defence. "You told us Daddy was dying, Uncle Naruto! I'm very upset with you."

Naruto flails his arms like a headless chicken. "What? No! Akira, come on. Don't do this to me. I thought I was your favourite uncle!"

Akira huffs. "I thought I was your favourite niece! You gave me bad news and made me cry! I don't like you anymore!"

Naruto continues to appeal to her good side throughout dinner. To Sakura's amusement, Azami backs up her twin just as defiantly. Sasuke doesn't bother interfering, smugly happy to be the Favourite Uncle Of The Night.

It's almost eleven when the house is finally quiet. The kids are asleep in their beds – they threw a fit earlier when Sakura told them Sasuke can't stay. They only accepted defeat after Sakura promised a road trip to compensate, when Daddy feels better.

Sakura crawls in their bed, head resting on Itachi's warm chest.

He plays with her hair. "Tired?"

She yawns. "Exhausted. How's your leg?"

"It's alright. The pain meds are strong."

"That's good," Sakura mumbles. "I have to get to work tomorrow. Will you be fine?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll set up my computer on the bed so that I don't have to move much. Will you be okay dropping the kids off at school?"

"Don't worry about it," Sakura presses a smile in his T-shirt.

Itachi chuckles. "Remember – Sora needs you to–"

"–hold his hand till the gate," Sakura says. "I know."

"And the girls–"

"–would much rather I don't show myself more than necessary," Sakura laughs. "I know. I'll kiss them goodbye at the car and stand back until they join the teacher."

Itachi hums. "Can't believe they're already so independent."

"They're taking after Sasuke," Sakura snorts.

"That's what I'm worried about," Itachi mutters. "If they start sneaking out of the house, I'll have a heart attack."

Sakura tightens her arms around his torso. "We'll just have to make sure they know what to do in case of emergencies."

"Yeah. I'll begin their drill training after my leg is better," Itachi declares. "I wonder if Sora will be interested."

Sakura laughs. "The Uchiha-Haruno Army."

"I like the sound of it."

The End

Dear readers,

Thank you for reading the story, following it, and favouring it. Every single review has made my day and I'm so glad you stuck with it until the end!

It's truly wonderful to be encouraged and motivated and loved!

This is the first time I've tried my hand at such a setting, but I feel content with how it's turned out. A good part of that reason is your amazing support throughout!

If you haven't checked out already, I have two other complete stories you might like.

1. The Nightingales (AH. OOC.)

2. The Girl on the Streets (AH. OOC.)

Thank you once again for giving this story a shot. Hope you had as much as I did writing it!