A/N: Merry Christmas (Happy Holidays, Yuletide Greetings, Good Saturnalia, etc.)! Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen

Five.

Five Charas.

Katsumi, her wish to be outgoing, confident, and bold.

Setsuko, her wish to be more feminine, independent, and mature.

Mari, her wish to be brave, and protective, and strong.

Mitsu, her wish to be more loving, to be warm, and motherly.

Now Nanami – what did she represent? Sakura hadn't wished to be more or less anything, and yet here she was. She was smiling, her eyes full of laughter and life, and Sakura…Sakura saw nothing of herself in there.

"It's nice to meet you, Nanami," she greeted, taking in this Chara that did not feel like her own.

"I told you guys I was on to something," sang Mitsu as she hugged her younger sister. "She's the sweetest little thing, too!"

"Didn't she spend all day running from you?" asked Mari, laughing nervously as Mitsu huffed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, why did you do that?" she asked Nanami, who only shrugged slightly.

"I thought it would be fun," she explained, offering no further insight. Sakura tilted her head in confusion.

"Where…Where have you been? How long ago did you hatch?" she asked.

"A few weeks ago, and I've been staying with a friend," smiled Nanami sweetly.

"What friend?" the pinkette probed further.

"Me."

{-}

Ikuto groaned as he hauled himself up from Amu's bed. He noticed the food left on the plate for him, with the note telling him to eat if he was hungry. Feeling just that, the teen helped himself, handing Yoru the smaller portion.

"Well, at least she's finally feeding us, nya!" Yoru said happily, munching on his rice ball.

"Feeding…us…" Ikuto repeated slowly, pausing before biting again. He finished his food and sighed. "We have to go."

"Nya?" Yoru sounded, thoroughly confused.

With much effort, Ikuto managed to get out of the bed and stand on his own feet, though that alone took more out of him than he thought it would. Huffing slightly from the exertion, he paused to catch his breath before walking to the window, opening it quietly.

"We've been here too long," he decided.

"Okay, nya," Yoru nodded. "We going to Sakura's?"

"No," Ikuto frowned, recalling the smaller pinkette. "She…She doesn't need me around right now, not with her living situation. I doubt she'll care much for hiding me like Amu does," he mused with a smile. "I do…wish I could see her, though."

"Let's go, then, nya!" decided the Chara, floating out of the open window. "I can find Setsuko, and she'll be with Sakura, nya!"

"No," he hissed. "I need to leave her alone. This…dealing with me is the last thing she needs right now."

"Ikuto…" Yoru worried, watching his master struggle out of the window and down onto the street. Slowly, and with frequent pauses to catch his breath, Ikuto walked into the busier part of town.

{-}

"U-Utau?" Sakura recognised with some shock. "You've been looking after Nanami?"

"I didn't know she was yours, at first," replied the blonde, smiling as Nanami came to float over to her. "When I realised, I figured I could keep her safe for you. She got along with Il and El very well."

"Kinda strange, really," snickered Il. "Considering how different we are."

"Yeah, it is a little weird," agreed El. "It must be the power of love!"

"…Eh?" her sister grunted, grimacing at the announcement.

"You're both wonderful," praised Nanami with a slightly giggle. "It'll be nice to get to know my sisters now, though."

"I'll miss you," Utau sighed. "Remember to visit."

"All the time, too!" Il warned. "Not any of that once-a-month crap!"

"And we'll visit with you, too!" promised El.

"Of course," nodded the Chara happily. "Thank you very much for letting me stay with you!"

"Take care of her, Haruno," warned the singer as the three Charas hugged out their good byes. She pressed a grey egg into the younger girl's hand and turned.

"I will," promised the pinkette, watching in wonder as the blonde walked away.

{-}

"This is where we all live!" announced Katsumi as they walked into Sakura's house. "There're a few other Charas here as well, and they belong to Saku-chan's friends. They're really nice!"

"I'm sure," nodded Nanami with a smile. They walked into Sakura's room and the pinkette moved to place Nanami's Egg on her dresser with the others, having to move them all closer to fit hers in.

"This is where the girls sleep," Sakura called over, gesturing to the cluster of eggs. "Yours is here too, now, I guess," she smiled awkwardly.

"Thank you," said Nanami gratefully, beaming at her mistress. With a small nod, Sakura approached the group of Charas.

"I'm making dinner tonight, so why don't you four give Nanami the lay of the land while I cook?" she suggested, her four older Charas agreeing enthusiastically.

With a small smile, Sakura left the room and headed to the kitchen.

{-}

Sasori and Kankuro stared over Sakura's shoulder throughout dinner, trying to work out just how this pink-haired girl managed to have five Charas. Karasu and Hikuro remained by their masters – when they weren't being ordered around by Mitsu – while Sakura's Charas floated all around her, chattering and giggling away.

"Oh, Sakura, you got a parcel delivered today," Temari said suddenly, handing a small package to Sakura over the table. Eye lighting up in excitement, Sakura tore open the paper and smiled.

"It's my old phone," she laughed. "Tsunade must have sent it."

"Why did Tsunade-sama have your old phone?" asked Kankuro, his mouth full of food.

"Long story," Sakura smirked, skimming through her contacts. 'Fujisaki Nadeshiko,' she read mentally, changing it to read 'Nagihiko', 'Hinamori Amu, Hotori Tadase, huh?'

There, on her phone, was the contact 'Jerk Face Heartbreaker'.

She blinked, recalling when she had changed Ikuto's contact to the before the thought really hit her.

'I have Ikuto's number.'

"Do you hear that?" asked Gaara suddenly, glancing in Sakura's direction.

"Hear what?" she asked, tilting her head away from her phone, placing it down when she realised how rude she was checking it at the table.

"I thought I heard…voices," he frowned. Sakura shrugged, though she was now looking at Gaara with interest.

'Is it possible?' she wondered, hope blooming in her heart. Nanami's eyes shot over to Sakura, holding her breath in anticipation. 'No way,' she rejected with a sigh. 'It would be too much of a coincidence for all three Sabaku brothers to have Charas.'

Unnoticed, Nanami sighed, shaking her head.

{-}

School the following day was remarkably uneventful.

Sakura managed to catch up with Amu, the taller pinkette telling her all about a new friend name Choco while they worked on their project. Apparently, this new friend liked to dress up in cat ears and pretend to be a super heroine, but Sakura shrugged off the strangeness. Just another day here, really.

They managed to get quite a bit done of their project before Amu noticed Nanami.

"Eh?" she gasped. "You have another Chara?"

"Yeah, her name is Nanami," Sakura introduced with a smile. "Don't you? We usually have them around the same time."

"No, I don't," Amu sighed. "I can't even get Dia out of her egg most of the time," she added, eyeing Mitsu enviously. A smug smirk almost escaped onto Sakura's face, but she pushed it down.

'Not so bad for ole' second best, eh?' she mused to herself. "She just kinda showed up yesterday, but she hatched while I was in Gakure. I somehow left her egg behind when I moved. Luckily, Utau found her and looked after her."

"Utau?" Amu repeated, shocked.

"I know, right?" Sakura smiled. "It was really nice of her. She still seems to be a bit on edge around me, though."

"That's because you're competition," laughed Amu, though she went quiet when she saw the look on Sakura's face.

"Hardly," she scoffed. "I still haven't seen Ikuto since I got back. I think he's avoiding me."

"M-Maybe he just doesn't know you're back yet?" suggested Amu, though she knew this to be a lie. Sakura just sighed, shrugging, her hand finding her phone in her pocket.

"Maybe."

{-}

Successfully dodging the Guardians, Sakura left the school building and pulled out her phone.

"What're you doing Saku-chan?" asked Mari, leaning in closer as Sakura edited Ikuto's contact back to his name.

"I'm calling Ikuto," she said with a smile, dialling the number and holding the phone up to her ear. Nanami watched with interest as Sakura smiled softly, listening to the ringing.

"You've reached Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Leave a message."

Slightly stunned, Sakura pulled the phone away from her ear and hung up without leaving a message. She blinked twice before trying again.

"You've reached Tsukiyomi Ikuto –"

Hanging up again, Sakura frowned. Nanami bit her lip, glancing between the pinkette and the phone as she tried again.

"You've reached –"

She hung up with a growl of frustration, gripping the phone tightly in her hand.

"He won't pick up," she stated, though all of her Charas knew this already.

She held her phone towards her again, ready to try one final time, but she was interrupted.

Feeling that familiar jolt that signified a Nazo Chara, Sakura sighed, placing her phone back in her pocket. Nanami closed her eyes in defeat.

{-}

"I won't let you get in my way!" the cat-girl yelled as her strange dinosaur-monster charged at Amu.

Taking in the scene, Sakura was a little stunned to say the least.

Floating high above the group was a person she could only assume was Choco, Amu's new cosplay-cat-friend, though she was now a Nazo Chara. By her side was a giant toy dinosaur, which had been brought to life by the Chara magic, and it was now attacking Amu. Crowded around the taller pinkette were the newly arrived Guardians, just in time to save her from an attack.

"Holy Crown!" called a Chara-changed Tadase, blocking the monster with a flash of golden light.

"Sakura, little help?" asked Amu, having noticed her fellow pinkette as she turned to Ran, ready to transform. With a short glance at Nanami, Sakura smiled.

"Wanna?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at her youngest Chara, who nodded happily. "Watashi no Kokoro: Unlock!" Sakura yelled, her hands twisting in front of her heart.

After a brief pause, Sakura realised that nothing was happening, and she looked towards her Chara in disbelief. Nanami seemed just as confused, simply frowning sadly at her mistress.

"Saku-chi, what's the hold up?" called Yaya, who had just attacked with her duckies. With a worried frown, Sakura looked to Setsuko and tried again.

"Watashi no Kokoro: Unlock!" Sakura cried, twisting her hands in front of her heart, but still nothing happened. "Watashi no Kokoro: Unlock," she attempted with Katsumi, but it would still not work. "What's happened to me?" she whimpered, looking between her Charas.

"Sakura?" Nagihiko, the only one not transformed and battling the monster, called to her, having seen her trouble. She looked at him, fear in her eyes, before turning and running.

Sakura remembered the last time she had been unable to connect with her Charas. It was when she had the ring, and they soon became X-Charas. She was scared, terrified, that it was happening again.

{-}

When they all got home, Sakura sat on her bed, watching her Charas interact.

Katsumi laughed at something Mari said, her eyes closed in joy and Sakura recognised it as something she did from time to time. Setsuko was giggling quietly, though with a tilt to her head that the pinkette immediately realised she herself often did. Mari was crossing her arms, a smug look on her face as she soaked in all the positive attention, something Sakura was guilty of also.

Nanami sat, looking between her sister with a look of joy and wonder in her eyes that Sakura found completely foreign. Her smile was beautiful and contagious and nothing at all like the pinkette's small, half-grin. No matter how hard she looked, Sakura could not find anything of herself in the new Chara.

She saw a beauty she wished she could hold herself with, and an ease that she had never managed even to fake. She saw pure joy and contentment, and realised that she couldn't remember the last time she had felt either.

"Saku-chan?" called Katsumi, realising that her mistress was zoning out.

"Yeah?" Sakura replied, a little dazed.

"Everything alright?" questioned Mari, concerned now as well.

Sakura met Nanami's eye and saw her own reflected in the giant, joyous orbs.

She looked sad.

She had nothing of Nanami in her.