Sakura shivered violently, and not just because she was nervous. It was freezing and as cute as her outfit was right now, she wished she was wearing something else. When she'd been getting dressed, vanity and fashion had won out against practicality – it was a date, after all – and it hadn't seemed that cold when she had been getting ready. But there was no point wishing now because Itachi was on the other side of her door.
She took a deep breath and unlocked it. "Hi," she said softly.
"Hi, Itachi responded, and his smile was just as shy as she felt. He was dressed in similar layers but seemed to be impervious to the cold as he stepped to the side to let her out. "Shall we?"
It would have been a leisurely walk to the restaurant except for the wind. Sakura was glad she was moving and keeping her temperature up, but it also meant that icy air was continually blasting into her face, biting where her skin was exposed above her scarf. She had buried her hands in her pockets but they were already so cold that they remained icicles. Still, she was mostly successful in fighting down her shivers as she chatted with Itachi. Mostly, because on one particularly frigid gust of wind, she couldn't help the shudder than ran through her body.
Itachi glanced at her in surprise and pressed his hand to her cheek so smoothly, so quickly, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. "You're freezing," he said, dismayed.
Sakura could only gaze up at him in shock, relishing both the intimate touch and the warmth his hand brought. "Just a little," she stammered, though it was hard to downplay how cold she was when she was practically leaning into his touch.
Itachi started a little and stared at her, as if only now realising what he had done. He dropped his hand just a touch too quickly to be natural, though he immediately made up for it by reaching for her hand. "May I?"
She nodded and let him extricate both hands from their pockets, holding them together as he wrapped his fingers around hers. They were long and graceful, with the nails neatly kept, and they were blissfully warm as they surrounded her hands completely. Sakura sighed with relief as she began to regain feeling in her fingers. In fact, her hands weren't the only things warming up – her cheeks burned as she blushed, remembering how tenderly he had touched her face and at how close they were now.
"Is that helping?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"Yes," she squeaked out.
"That's good," Itachi said, smiling crookedly at her. There was just a hint of satisfaction in his gaze as he looked over her. "Are you ready to continue?"
Sakura nodded. With a gentle squeeze, he released one of her hands and carefully held onto the other, interlocking his fingers with hers slowly, as if giving her time to pull away. She didn't. They didn't speak for several moments, but Sakura felt him move closer to her until they were walking side-by-side, so close that her shoulder kept bumping his arm. The wind wasn't as sharp as it was before, and she realised it was because Itachi was angling his body to shield her from the worst of it.
"Thank you," she said softly, but it didn't seem like enough, so she squeezed his hand tightly for a moment. He didn't reply, but when she peeked up at him, he was smiling, and she couldn't tell if the pink on his cheeks was from the cold or something else.