Fancy Footwork

Chapter 23: Snowfall

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah, My-chan. Won't this be weird and all uncomfortable for you?"

"I'd say it's better to wait a little."

Puffing her cheeks out, Sakura glared at Deidara, Itachi and Kisame all lounging around on the living room floor.

"You should all relax. You sound like overprotective mothers," Sasori sighed.

"YOU'RE THE ONE HANGING ALL OVER MY-CHAN! IT'S DISGUSTING, YEAH!" Deidara roared, pointing angrily. Indeed Sasori's arms were draped over Sakura's shoulders. He dangled innocently, his face a smooth mask of apathy. But for once, Sakura didn't get involved in the middle of their bickering. She glanced up to see Itachi scooting across the floor toward her. When he put his hand over hers, Sasori sighed and moved away to dig a fresh lollipop out of his bag.

"You don't have to push yourself. You have every right to still be angry," Itachi said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"I thought you were best friends with my mom," she responded. He hadn't bothered to hide that while Sakura had refused to speak to her mother, he had kept in touch with Kirie instead, updating her about Sakura's day and how angry she seemed.

"Sakura."

An incoherent noise of frustration escaped her mouth.

"Of course I'm still pissed. But it's still my mom. And she's not coming back to Japan for a while," Sakura groaned out. Sasori inched back over with a bright green lollipop resting between his front teeth.

"A while? How long's a while?" Sasori demanded while reaching over to pull Sakura's feet into his lap. He had quickly learned from Kisame that one way to prevent one of her rare outbursts of rage was to massage her feet. At this, Kisame, who had been lying on his back, sat up with an equally distrusting expression. He glanced over at Deidara who was scowling his suspicions.

"I think she said around two years?" was Sakura's response.

At the same time, four men all said: "Oh."

Because what else do you say in such a situation?

"Really? Two years? She's leaving you all by yourself for two years?" Kisame finally demanded after a lengthy pause.

"Not much of a change from the last several years. It's just that now she's not breaking any promises, yeah," Deidara muttered sourly.

"Dei-chan," Sakura sighed. But Deidara only threw his hands up in the air with an agitated whine.

"What? It's true!" he insisted without remorse. And though Sakura was still very angry with her mother, she felt some need to defend her. But even after some searching, she found that there wasn't much to defend her with.

"I'm just having dinner with her before she leaves. It'll be fine," Sakura firmly said, quashing any other protest that tried to bubble up. Deidara's mouth opened, shut, opened and then shut again under the weight of her stare. Kisame's lower lip jutted out in a pout but he didn't say anything either.

"It'll be fine," she repeated, this time looking directly into Itachi's dark eyes. It took a moment but he nodded almost wearily. Out of nowhere, Sasori managed to wriggle his way between them and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"You have the biggest, bravest heart. Do you know that?" Sasori suddenly said in that same monotone he always used.

"Saso-kun, you liar," she sniffed in response.

An hour later, Sakura stood in front of a familiar white door. Her eyes darted from the doorbell to the key resting in her palm. She had used it countless times before and it wasn't like the lock had changed. But the lights were on inside and suddenly Sakura didn't know if she was allowed to just barge in anymore. After some thought, she pushed the bell and waited. She could hear Kirie's footsteps pattering closer until the door swung open and she was met with her mother's tired face.

"Sakura," Kirie whispered. Her voice was so utterly relieved that Sakura didn't know what to say. Sakura was crushed in the second tight embrace of the day and she let out a little sigh. Her mother still smelled like floral perfume and ink from the fancy fountain pens she always used to sign all her big business contracts.

Sakura wasn't going to lie to herself. Years and years of being lied to weren't simply willed away by one hug. This person had stolen her father from her. But feeling her mom, all bones and thin limbs and weariness, Sakura realized that Haruno Kirie was all alone in the world without her.

"Hey Mom. Are you hungry?"

Over steaming udon and hot tea, the mother and daughter slowly learned about each other again. Kirie, still nervous and unsure as always, watched Sakura with wondering eyes as she moved around the kitchen with ease. She eyed the light blue apron tied around her waist with visible envy.

"Are you happy, Sakura?" Kirie suddenly asked. Sakura's fingers slipped, nearly dropping the cup she had been carrying to the sink. Eyebrows knitting together, she turned to face her mother.

"Yeah. Why?" Sakura slowly responded. Kirie's mouth pulled down.

"Even with your mother moving to America?" Kirie inquired in a lower voice. Letting out a tired sigh, Sakura placed the cup in the sink and leaned her hip against the counter.

"Let's be honest, Mom. We haven't lived in the same house for a long time," she replied. Not even looking sad or hurt, Kirie shrugged.

"I think I still managed to raise a pretty good daughter though," Kirie commented. A little smile appeared on the corners of Sakura's lips.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The next day, when Kirie's plane took off for Chicago, Sakura stood in the airport terminal. Staring out the window, she watched the plane become a faint speck in the clear blue skies with a soft feeling of loss. A quiet breath left her mouth as she pressed her palm to the glass.

"She made me promise to visit during summer break," she suddenly said. A familiar chuckle reached her ears. Itachi's arm looped around her waist to pull her against his side. She rubbed her cheek against the slightly rough fabric of his black pea coat. The sensation of his gloved hand on her arm through the thin material of her sweater made her shiver.

"You didn't have to drive us. We could have found a taxi," Sakura suddenly remarked. She knew Itachi was rolling his eyes.

"It's not entirely for you. Scoring extra points with your mother isn't exactly a bad thing for me," he replied with a hint of a chuckle in his tone. Eyebrows raised, she tilted her head back to look at his smug expression.

"Why? Are you planning to propose anytime soon?" she teased. Unexpectedly, Itachi's face pinched into a frown.

"What do you mean planning?"

Catching a hint of something strange in his voice, Sakura pulled away from him.

"What? Are we going to break up once we get sick of each other?" Sakura demanded, trying to keep her voice light. She had heard about this sort of thing from Ino. Sometimes older guys liked to date younger girls just for fun before breaking up with them for "real" women. Itachi stared at her like she had just punched him in the face.

"Sakura, I already did. I proposed to you. I proposed to you last month," he slowly said. Pursing her lips, Sakura tried to think back, to recall if anything like that had actually happened. All the while, Itachi stared at her with horror and maybe even a little anger. And slowly, she recalled their conversation a few weeks ago. Eyes widening, she pointed at his nose.

"Wait! No! That was just a joke, right? Or like one of those 'sweet nothings' couples say to each other, right?" she exclaimed, drawing a few stares.

"Sakura, I wouldn't joke with you about something so serious. And it's not like I asked you to marry me tomorrow. I asked you to keep that on reserve for a few years," reminded Itachi, rubbing his face with his hands as he spoke. Exhaling noisily, he peered out at her past his fingers. Sakura stared at him, mouth hanging open.

"Oh…my… Wait, that was a real proposal? A few years?" she babbled.

"Sakura," Itachi sighed yet again.

"A few years? Like when? When I'm 21 or something?" probed Sakura with a scowl.

"Well, you'd have graduated from college by then and probably be entering medical school. That seems like an ideal time," reasoned Itachi, completely oblivious to Sakura's cheeks flushing bright red. But she wasn't embarrassed.

"And you're just assuming that's what I'd want?"

"Well you did say yes."

"I thought you were kidding. Besides, this isn't something you should decide all by yourself. Don't you think this is something we need to really discuss carefully?"

A loaded question. He blundered right into it.

"I don't see why you're so upset. Does something like that even matter?"

All the people walking around in the airport suddenly froze as a little teenage girl with pink hair balled her hands into fists and stood on her tiptoes to shout.

"Stupid! Your obliviousness really pisses me off sometimes!" Sakura yelled before she stormed off, purposely knocking into him as roughly as possible as she shoved past.

Absolutely stunned, Itachi stared at the spot Sakura had been occupying.

"What just happened?" he asked the air.

"HAHA! SO YOU GUYS HAD A FIGHT?"

"Don't laugh, Dei-chan! I'm trying to be angry!" Sakura whined, shaking Deidara's shoulder. Patting the top of her head, he pushed his slice of cake toward her as an apology. Her sulking lasted for all of five seconds before she scraped a thick chunk of frosting off with a fork and stuck it in her mouth. Humming happily, she proceeded to devour the entire treat along with the bright red strawberry resting on top.

"Hey, Sasori, what do you think, hm?" Deidara asked, jabbing his fork in Sasori's direction. Across the table, Sasori slowly lifted his head. He brought his hands above the table to reveal a startlingly accurate voodoo doll of Itachi complete with a ponytail. Sakura slipped out of her seat and instead sat down next to Sasori to carefully pull the doll out of his hands.

"Saso-kun. No," she said evenly.

"Not just one poke?" asked Sasori rather earnestly.

"No," Sakura replied just as solemnly with a little shake of her head. Shrugging, Sasori let the pin he had been holding drop to the table while Deidara stared on with horror. Eyes wary, Sakura moved back over to sit next to Deidara, carefully setting the doll out of Sasori's reach.

"I know you're mad, Sasori. But no need to murder Itachi," Deidara sighed as he shook his head. At this, Sasori raised his eyebrows, the only indication that he felt anything at all.

"Murder? I was just going to disfigure him just enough that Sakura-chan no longer found him attractive," responded Sasori. Sakura and Deidara stared at each other for a long moment.

"Well that's…sweet, Saso-kun. But I'll let you know ahead of time if that's ever necessary, okay?"

It was only when Sasori nodded that they let out a deep sigh of relief. After a long moment, Deidara peered down at his cooled coffee and raised an eyebrow.

"So?" he prompted before he took a sip of his drink. Sakura watched him arch an eyebrow at her while the rest of his face disappeared behind his mug.

"So?" she repeated with confusion.

"What did you fight about?" Sasori clarified with a nearly noiseless sigh. Sakura scowled. Crossing her arms over her chest, she shook her head.

"What? So you'll complain that you fought but you won't explain about what, yeah?"

She nodded.

"Idiot," Sasori and Deidara retorted in unison. But Sasori lightly poked her nose to let her know that he wasn't actually annoyed.

"So you want us to beat him up or something, yeah?" Deidara asked, propping his chin up in his hand. Nibbling on the end of her fork, Sakura shook her head again.

"You want more cake?"

There was a nod this time.

Chuckling, Deidara ruffled Sakura's hair as she hid her smile in her coffee. Sasori picked up a cube of sugar and threw it at Deidara's grin.

"Screw you, Sasori."

"I'll kill you, Deidara."

As Sasori motioned the waiter over to order more food, Itachi sat in his car, staring down at his cell phone. He was parked in the deck for his apartment building and had been for close to an hour. For the millionth time, he slid his fingers across the screen to check for anything new. But the only thing he saw was the last message she had sent to him the night before asking him if they had any rice left. With a tired sigh, he finally got out of the car. Rubbing his chilled fingers together, he waited for the elevator.

It wasn't like her not to contact him. Then again, this was the first time he had ever really witnessed Sakura losing her temper. Deidara and Sasori liked to brag that they had had the great privilege of seeing Sakura screaming and how terrifying yet adorable she was.

"I guess it means My-chan is more comfortable around me than she is around you, huh?" Deidara had leered, jabbing with his elbow. The pain in Itachi's side wasn't nearly as bad as the nagging jealousy rising in his gut.

The sound of the key sliding into the lock sounded hollow without Sakura chattering away in the background. The doorknob was cool in his palm as he pushed his way inside. There was no smell of dumplings frying away on the stove or rich aroma of the coffee maker brewing. Dirty dishes from breakfast were still stacked in the sink. Their laundry, tossed easily into the same basket, sat quietly on top of the washing machine.

Sakura hadn't come home yet. Because no matter how angry she was, she was the type to stomp around doing chores rather than ignoring them.

Pushing his shoes out of the way, Itachi tossed his jacket over the back of a kitchen chair and poured himself a glass of water. When he lifted the cup to his lips, his phone buzzed from inside his pocket. Nearly choking, he scrambled to retrieve the phone while trying to stop his coughing.

"Looking for someone?" a voice chortled out with evil glee. Still coughing a little, Itachi sighed.

"Cut it out, Deidara. Where is she?" he demanded. There was the clink of a cup against a saucer. Soft music filtered past the low hum of voices. And then, startlingly clear, he could hear Sakura's laughter. Her voice rose and fell, giggling while Sasori's monotone occasionally mingled with her tones.

"Sasori and My-chan eloped and right now we're at the reception- OW!" Deidara's words ended with a yelp.

"Sasori! My-chan punched me! She actually hit me, yeah!" he whined.

"What the hell! Why are you hitting me too, Sasori?" the blond snarled. After some crackling, Deidara's voice faded away.

"Sakura-chan won't tell us what you did but you're a phenomenal asshole and I'm going to pinch you next time I see you," Sasori announced before he hung up.

Itachi stared blankly down at his hand as he listened to silence.

Sakura came home an hour later. As soon as he heard the door open, Itachi whipped his head around so quickly that his neck cracked. Sakura stepped inside, her cheeks rosy from the cold wind outside. She glanced at him over the thick white muffler covering most of her face. He could see her eyebrows furrow as she most likely scowled at him before she busied herself unlacing her boots and lining them up by the door.

"Hold on one second, Sakura-chan. I just need to talk to your idiot," Sasori said. Before Sakura could say anything, Sasori marched inside, headed straight for Itachi, and grasped his nose between his thumb and his pointer finger.

"There. I pinched you. Now stop being dumb," the red-head calmly ordered. Then he serenely glided over to Sakura who stared at him. He lightly pinched her nose too before he headed out the door. Deidara stuck his head inside to wave at Itachi and then gave Sakura a one-armed hug before he was gone too. Highly confused and still rubbing his nose, Itachi looked over at Sakura who looked equally perplexed.

"I was half-afraid he was going to beat you up again," Sakura remarked while unwinding her scarf. Unbuttoning her coat, she walked into the kitchen to toss her scarf on the table. She dropped a blue box on the table from the café she had visited. Inside were far too many cakes for any one person to eat without exploding. Sakura highly suspected that Deidara was hoping eating cake together would help her and Itachi make-up.

"Sakura, about earlier-"

"Oh look! We didn't do the laundry yet!" Sakura loudly interrupted, pushing past him to get to the machine. She ignored his pointed looks, all his sighs. She pretended that she honestly had no idea what he was trying to say as she bustled around doing the most inane things. Eventually he stopped following her around and shut himself in his study to do his work. In response, Sakura cheerfully made dinner, ate by herself, and stuck his portion in the refrigerator. She studied by herself in the bedroom for a few hours before washing up and going to bed.

An hour later, she heard him enter the room. Without saying anything, he changed his clothes and slipped under the covers. They didn't touch at all. Her curled up on her side in a tight ball and him stretched out with his hands tucked under his head. They lay in silence for a long time before either of them actually fell asleep.

"What's up?" Sasuke asked one day as he walked into his friends' classroom. Outside he could faintly hear the yells of some freshmen girls and Karin arguing over who liked him best. He had a sinking feeling that whoever won would be particularly clingy and shrill for the next few days. Naruto and Hinata, as usual, were off in their own lovey-dovey corner. Ino was missing from their usual group but that was most likely because the blonde had taken to eating lunch with her new boyfriend in his classroom. ("BOYFRIEND. You hear that? Shikamaru's my boyfriend now!" Ino had squealed into his ear. Sasuke held back from shoving her into the street only because Sakura would be mad at him if she got hit by a car.)

Sakura was sitting on top of her desk, legs swinging back and forth with her eyes glued to the textbook in her lap. There was a box of strawberry milk in her hand that she occasionally raised to her lips to sip from. Behind her, Sai was calmly eating his lunch with headphones clamped firmly over his ears. Sasuke nodded at the few people who turned to greet him before he plopped down in Sakura's chair. There was a magazine inside her desk that immediately caught his interest. After he flipped through the first few pages, Sasuke tugged on the back of her blouse.

"Still Christmas shopping?" he asked, pointing at the various products circled in red marker. Not looking at him, Sakura nodded rather lazily.

"You done fighting with my stupid brother?" he asked again. This time Sakura turned to fix him with a withering stare.

It had been a full week since she had lost her temper with Itachi at the airport. They were on speaking terms but neither of them brought up the question of marriage again. And to say they were on speaking terms was a bit misleading. They spoke about the most superficial and stupid things. They talked while shopping for groceries or eating dinner but their bright smiles were disturbing enough that no one dared to ask what the matter was.

"He asked me if you seemed angry at school. He didn't say anything else," Sasuke assured her when her suspicious glare only intensified. Placated, Sakura lobbed her carton in the trash but still made a point of fixing Sasuke with one last pointed look before she let the grumpy look drop.

"I'm just a little annoyed. He was being pig-headed and now I kind of feel bad but I don't want to apologize because I didn't say anything wrong," Sakura blurted out in one long breath. Sasuke stared at her for a long time before he shook his head.

"Idiot couple," he muttered.

Later that day, Uchiha Sasuke texted his brother:

Sakura's pissed off. You're both stupid.

Staring down at the simple message, Itachi couldn't help but agree a little.

Day nine of their fight was marked by Deidara and Sasori drilling intense stares into the back of Itachi's head. Kisame, frozen in a pike with just one arm holding him up and both legs in the air, watched the spectacle with glee. Next to him, Sakura tried to imitate him only to fall flat on her butt. As Kisame roared with laughter at the dumbfounded look on Sakura's face, Sasori used the noise as cover to slink over to Itachi and hiss one word in his ear.

"Fiji."

"Don't make me hurt you, senpai," Itachi flatly replied. But Sasori looked absolutely serious as he sat back down in his previous spot and went back to watching Sakura before she noticed anything amiss. She was too preoccupied with yelling at Kisame to notice Itachi's left eye twitch as he realized that Sasori's idle remark about eloping with Sakura to a tropical island might not be as harmless as he had thought. As he considered his options carefully, Kisame and Sakura's argument escalated until the large man threw her over his shoulder and began swinging her around to shut her up. Deidara looked on with the horrified expression of a panicking mother.

"Practice is over early," Itachi abruptly announced as he got to his feet. Kisame turned to look at him, nearly dropping Sakura in the process.

"Sorry!" Kisame yelped as he managed to grab Sakura before she landed on her head. Still draped over his shoulder like a sack of angry potatoes, Sakura gave him one good thump on back for revenge. Grinning sheepishly, Kisame gently set her back on her feet and patted the top of her head for good measure. Sakura stuck her tongue out at him to let him know that all was forgiven.

"Wait. What do you mean, yeah? We started like a half hour ago," Deidara demanded with a scowl. As he spoke, he stood and went to punch Kisame in the arm for potentially endangering Sakura. Kisame retaliated by shoving Deidara aside with his hip.

"Only because you took an hour to go buy drinks, Goldilocks," Kisame muttered.

"Come, children. Let the grown-ups talk," Sasori said, taking Deidara and Kisame each by the hand before they could start kicking each other.

"Wait, what? Who're the children? And what is he talking about?" asked Kisame even as Sasori led him out of the room.

Sakura watched Itachi without saying anything. She would have demanded to know what the heck he was up to if he hadn't looked a little bit lost himself. Pursing his lips, Itachi checked the time on his phone before he suddenly turned to her.

"What do you want for dinner?" Itachi asked. Without thinking, Sakura blurted out the first food that came to mind.

"Okonomiyaki*."

They wordlessly packed their things and headed down to his car. There was a nice little restaurant about 10 minutes from the university. The wooden tables were scrubbed clean and the waitress had a pleasant smile. Sakura's eye twitched when the voluptuous waitress turned her back to her to offer Itachi a flirty giggle while taking his order. Itachi caught her expression over the edge of his menu and Sakura tried to keep up her stern expression of disapproval when he quirked a smile. But while the waitress read their orders back to her to confirm, Itachi reached across the table to nudge Sakura's fingers with his until her frown evened out.

"How was your day?" he asked as he had for the past nine days. Their fingers laced together.

"Good. How was yours?" Sakura responded.

"Good," Itachi echoed back.

It was hard to really stay angry when he smiled at her like that.

Mikoto and Fugaku's anniversary was the next day so they stopped by Mikoto's favorite French bakery to pick up some petit fours. Sakura was too exhausted as of late to even cook simple dinners. They either ate at a restaurant or Itachi whipped together something (which was always surprisingly tasty). She felt guilty for not putting in more effort but Itachi didn't seem to mind, only pausing to press a kiss to her temple before they continued up the stairs to the apartment.

As soon as they stepped inside, Itachi tucked the box into the refrigerator and then watched as Sakura pried her boots off and flopped bonelessly onto the sofa. Her phone rang shrilly from somewhere inside her coat but she ignored it. On the fourth ring, Itachi walked over to the living room and easily fished the phone out from her pocket to swipe his finger across the screen.

"Good night, Deidara," Itachi firmly said before Deidara could get a word in. Ending the call, he set the phone on the coffee table. Sakura peered up at him through her hair before she tucked her knees up to her chest to give him room to sit. He graciously settled beside her, pulling her feet into his lap so she could stretch her legs out.

"You didn't tell them why we fought?' inquired Itachi as she sat up, hugging a pillow to her chest.

"I didn't think you wanted another black eye," she responded with a smile.

"I still don't really understand why you're angry with me," he admitted. Sakura's smile dimmed but she wasn't really mad anymore. Tapping her finger against the pillow tassel, she thought for a long moment.

"It's not that I wouldn't want to marry you ever. Being married to you would be really great, I think. And I really want to get married and be a mom. It's just… It's just that I want to do so many different things before I do all that," Sakura slowly explained, pausing as she tried to gather words that wouldn't set off either of their tempers. She knew it was a sensitive topic for him because Uchiha Itachi was a gentleman through and through and marriage was probably a big deal for the first son of the first son for however many generations the Uchiha family had been rich and famous. Which was probably a lot.

"Sakura," Itachi began, rubbing his face with his hands.

"It's not like I'm going to stop you from doing any of those things. I'll be there to support you," he said, voice slightly muffled through his fingers. After a moment he lowered his hands and looked her full in the face. But Sakura was frowning again.

"It's different. Accomplishing things on my own and being married. It's a huge difference," she argued. They watched each other with equal wariness.

"I won't marry you until I'm ready. And that might take a long time," Sakura firmly said. Sighing, Itachi propped his chin up in his hand to regard her with a defeated smile.

"My stubborn little girlfriend. Fine. But I won't stop nagging you about it until you are," he relented as he reached over to take her hand. Sakura made a noise in the back of her throat like she was about to disagree but then she twisted her lips together into a little smile.

"We're going to fight a lot about this," Sakura guessed as she watched their fingers lace together. Itachi shrugged.

"And we'll make up a lot," responded Itachi. A little comforted by the idea, Sakura looked toward the refrigerator.

"We have cream puffs in the freezer," she mused mostly to herself.

"Should we make coffee for that?" Itachi asked, following her line of sight. Her nose scrunched up as she thought.

"We just had dinner," she grumbled even as she eyed the fridge longingly.

"Then I'll make coffee to go with them," he declared, rising. The creak of the sofa springs sounded almost like a groan. With her lip jutting out in pout, Sakura followed him with her eyes.

"When I get too fat to walk up stairs, you're going to carry me," she muttered while plopping the pillow down on the couch. To her surprise, Itachi set the kettle on the stove and then turned around to look at her. Elbows resting on top of the counter, he regarded her with a smile.

"Deal."

A few days before Christmas break, Sakura sat in the student council room. It was lunchtime and she knew Hinata and the others would probably be looking for her. But she had a couple of minutes and somehow the quiet of the room was very appealing at the moment. Taking a deep breath, she shrugged her blazer off and tossed it on top of her desk. There was no paperwork to be done. The financial report had been typed up by Inari and Sakura had checked it over. The freshman, though somewhat of a tsundere, was definitely thorough and Sakura wasn't so worried about what would happen to the student council when she graduated. The desks that the underclassmen used were neat too. No stray papers. Not even a loose rubber band.

Out of habit, Sakura opened the top right drawer to look at the collection of red stamps Neji had left for her. Alongside them sat his old name tag. They occasionally made it a point to talk to contact each other. He was busy studying to become a dentist and she was busy still studying for the entrance exams coming up next month but that didn't mean that they didn't have a few minutes to send a couple messages back and forth. Apparently Neji was doing quite well with Tenten despite their long-distance relationship with him studying in Tokyo and Tenten choosing to stay in Konoha to attend a small local college.

Surprisingly it was Deidara and Kisame who proved to be most helpful in her studies. Since Itachi and Sasori were too naturally smart, their attempts to teach ended up with Sakura feeling more stupid than educated. Though Deidara and Kisame weren't stupid, they weren't geniuses either so they understood that complex calculus formulas didn't just melt into the brain so easily. Most nights, after practice, they invited themselves over to help Sakura study and to mooch some free dinner before they excused themselves.

She wasn't nervous.

Okay, she was nervous. Failing the entrance exam would mean an extra year wasted studying until she could try again the following winter. It wasn't like her mother minded. And she was sure nobody would be disappointed except for herself. But Haruno Sakura didn't like failure. And she liked wasted time even less.

To add to her troubles, she had called her father who had returned home to his family in New York. His wife had picked up, all excitement and enthusiasm and just "so, so thrilled" to finally speak to her. By the time Ryu had gotten to the phone, Sakura was laughing. They chatted, still stilted and timing a little off, but it was getting easier and easier. Sakura found that she had a lot of her father in her. Rational, easily flustered, just a little bit of a dreamer. And then, out of the blue, he had asked such a strange question.

"Have you considered going to college here? In New York?"

She hadn't known what to say. But Ryu laughed, laughed in that way he did when he was embarrassed.

"Just think about it. You could stay with us. Get a new experience. And your mom's in America too, right? Let me know what you decide."

"Stupid dad," Sakura muttered, kicking at the air.

Sighing, Sakura stood, pulled her blazer on, and went to join her friends for a noisy lunch.

The one really good thing was that she had finally made up with Itachi and they were back to being sappy and lovey-dovey enough to make Kisame look a little nauseated at times.

"You know, I'm sort of glad we fought," Itachi remarked one night. Sakura sat on the floor trying to memorize chemical formulas while he sat on the sofa quizzing her. She looked up from her notes with a puzzled expression.

"Why would you be glad?" she asked.

"Because that's the first time you yelled at me. And you said exactly how you felt. Don't you think that means you're comfortable enough around me to tell the truth?" he said.

"Maybe," responded Sakura with a mysterious smile.

"Maybe?" he repeated.

"Next question please."

"Sakura, maybe?"

"Next question, you silly old man."

And so time passed and the day before Christmas, Itachi shoved his frozen hands into his pockets. Puffing out clouds of white, he craned his neck to scan the faces passing on the sidewalk. Beside him, Deidara was furiously texting away to his latest girl. His womanizing tendencies hadn't gotten any better even after Sakura had yelled at him but everyone just sighed and shook their heads and accepted that maybe Deidara would never change. Kisame jogged up to them with a toothy grin, gloved fingers tucked away in the pockets of his navy blue parka.

"Where's the missus, Itachi?" Kisame joked as he bumped his fist against his friend's.

"She said she was busy. Probably studying," responded Itachi as he looked up. It had started snowing earlier that week and the white fluff hadn't stopped piling up since. Of course Sakura was delighted. She loved Christmas and she loved snow just as much. Huffing a sigh, Itachi was silently grateful that he lived in an apartment building so his landlord would take care of shoveling the sidewalk.

Out of the blue, some of their friends from high school had decided to meet up for dinner. Itachi had considered inviting Sakura but he knew most of his friends were single and would probably spend the better part of the night getting drunk and bitter about being alone if she joined them. So he told her where he was going and gave her a quick kiss (or two) before heading out. With Deidara's stupid chuckling and Kisame's jibes, Itachi began to regret not having her there to keep them on their best behavior.

"You guys are early."

They looked up to see Kakuzu walking over to them. He had recently started interning at a big banking company and let them know by his fancy suit underneath his designer coat. Itachi heard Deidara snigger under his breath before they exchanged the usual handshakes and greetings.

It took a few more minutes for Hidan and Zetsu to arrive. Since it was starting to snow, they exchanged hurried words before they began walking the few blocks to the restaurant.

"So, where's Pinky? I thought she'd be here with you sad losers," Hidan promptly began. Only Kakuzu looked confused.

"Itachi got himself a pretty girlfriend. And a high school girl at that," Zetsu supplied with a sly grin. Deidara and Kisame scowled in unison.

"Don't talk about Sakura-chan like that. She's a good kid," Kisame grumbled.

"Yeah. Cod-boy's right," Deidara piped in. Laughing amongst themselves, they mock-punched and shoved each other the same way they had done in high school.

"She was kind of flat. Nice hair though," Hidan remarked. Stony-faced, Kisame pushed him off the sidewalk and into the street. Narrowly avoiding being hit by a car, Hidan jumped back up with a cheeky smile.

"Speak of the devil. Isn't that her?" he said, pointing into the crowd. Everyone rolled their eyes. He was probably pointing at some overweight old man and would laugh himself silly when he got everyone to look. But Hidan seemed genuinely excited. So, one by one, they followed his finger to a small convenience store. The glass doors slid open and out walked Sakura. There was a thick white scarf bundled around the lower half of her face and a black knit cap pulled low over her ears. But her pink bangs peeked out from underneath, giving her away. She was dressed in her favorite black pea coat over gray sweater tights and lace-up boots.

"Let's go surprise her, yeah," Deidara said, elbowing Kisame. Before the duo could sneak up on her, someone else exited the store to join her.

"Ah, it's Baby Sasu-chan," remarked Kisame. Almost immediately Deidara's hand flew to his mouth.

"Scandal! My-chan's fair heart is being stolen by the baby brother," Deidara teased, nudging Itachi with his elbow until Kisame's fist descended on top of his head.

In fact, it was Sasuke standing next to her. With his glasses and damp hair, it took an extra second to recognize him. Everyone watched as he handed Sakura a plastic bag and said something to her. Since the scarf covered her mouth, it was impossible to tell if she spoke in response until Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura shoved him with her hip and began walking down the snow-dusted sidewalk. While Deidara began shaking Kisame furiously, Itachi sighed and pushed through the crowd to catch up with the retreating duo before Hidan grabbed him by the back of his coat to stop him.

"I got a better idea, you stalker. Why don't we just call her?" Hidan suggested with a mischievous grin. Deidara stopped throttling Kisame long enough to listen. His azure eyes lit up and before anyone else could, he whipped out his phone and dialed her. Sakura picked up after three rings and Deidara immediately hit speakerphone.

"Hi, pretty girl. What's shaking, yeah?" he greeted her rather cheerfully. Everyone's eyes were glued to Sakura standing across the street. They watched her hook her finger onto the edge of her scarf and pull to expose her mouth.

"Dei-chan! I thought you were going out to dinner with the guys today," she responded in an equally chipper tone. As she spoke, she handed the plastic bag back to Sasuke who scowled but held onto it for her.

"I am. Just killing a little time before we go eat, yeah. You doing anything fun?" Deidara asked as casually as possible. There was no hesitation before Sakura spoke again.

"I was studying but then I had the weirdest craving for fried chicken so I ran out to buy some. Hey, are you laughing at me?"

Heads whipped around to glare at Kisame who had been snickering.

"Nah, My-chan. But it's dark out so you should be careful walking around. Wouldn't want dear Mrs. Itachi to get molested or something, yeah," Deidara chuckled. There was a brief pause before Sakura laughed too.

"You're so weird, Dei-chan. But I brought Sasuke-kun along as a guard dog. And he's glaring at me right now because he wants to eat so I've got to go. You have fun, okay?" Sakura said, turning her head to look back at Sasuke who lightly hit her leg with the plastic bag.

"Alright. See you around, My-chan," Deidara responded equally cheerfully before he ended the call. They stood in a small circle of silence for a moment before Kisame put his hand on Deidara's face and pushed him aside.

"Annoying. Are we done? I'm hungry," Kisame yawned. Crossing his arms behind his head, he strode down the street. Shaking his eyes, Kakuzu followed along with Zetsu who smirked at Deidara.

"Whose heart's being stolen? Stupid," scoffed Itachi before he went to join the group.

"I WAS JUST LOOKING OUT FOR YOU! YOU'RE THE STUPID ONE, ITACHI!" Deidara snarled as he ran to catch up. And across the street, Sakura turned around to the sound of a very familiar voice.

"What's wrong?" asked Sasuke, whacking her with the plastic bag again until she looked at him again.

"Nothing," she responded with a shrug.

After a loud dinner filled with lots of joking and beers to accompany the meat sizzling away on the grill, the group parted ways. Itachi dropped Kisame off at his apartment and made it home to find the smell of soap in the air. It didn't take long to find her curled up on the loft underneath a pile of still-warm laundry. Her notebook, filled with highlights and eraser shavings, lay open in front of her. Sakura stirred when he let out a faint huff of laughter. Rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands, she let out a huge yawn.

"Hi. I was doing laundry," she mumbled, voice croaky with sleep. Without really opening her eyes all the way, Sakura simply held out her arms and waited for him to pick her up. As he carried her the short distance to the bed, Sakura inhaled the clean smell of snow lingering in his hair. She liked the crisp smell of winter air that could never really be defined as smelling specifically like anything else. It was just what it was.

"Sorry. I fell asleep. I was going to fold the clothes," she sighed when he pulled the sheets and covers over her. The soft cotton was just cold enough for her to miss the warmth of his arms around her.

"I figured," Itachi responded with a slight smile.

"What time is it?" Sakura inquired even as she turned onto her side to snuggle comfortably against the pillow. She vaguely recognized that the pillow smelled not like her shampoo but like Itachi's aftershave and soap. She was on the wrong side of the bed. Pressing her nose against it, she inhaled deeply and decided that she really didn't care.

"Almost 1. And don't worry about the laundry. I'll take care of it," said Itachi. He rested his palm against her cheek for a moment before he slipped away. Listening to him shaking out the towels before folding them was a reassuring noise to fall back asleep to. But soon she felt his lips ghosting over her ear before they pressed against her forehead and then touched her mouth. She sighed as his bare arm slipped around her waist. The edge of her shirt rode up just enough for her to feel the heat of his skin warming her cool back. Limbs sluggish and eyelids heavy, she let him pull her close until she didn't feel cold anymore.

As the snow that had been falling for days finally stopped falling from the darkened sky, Sakura drifted back to sleep to the soft thud of a heartbeat in her ears.

Christmas morning, there was no pounding on the front door, no annoying phone call to wake her. There was nothing but the gentle rumble of Itachi's breaths and the noise of her own exhalations. Sakura blinked once, so slowly that she almost fell back asleep. She almost always woke up first and admittedly she liked being able to see Itachi's expression as he slept. Not plagued by schoolwork and fatigue, his face was strangely childlike when he slumbered away so peacefully. Just his left eye slowly opened and focused on her with surprising speed.

"You're up?" he asked.

Sakura loved his voice right when he woke up. It was a little scratchy and a little too deep. But it was nice to know that this was a sound only she knew about. A greeting just for her. Smiling, she accepted his lingering morning kiss. His stubble tickled her until she giggled and had to pull away.

"It feels too early to be awake," she groaned, pressing her face against the collar of his soft t-shirt. He moved to grab the alarm clock from the nightstand to confirm her statement.

"You're right. Back to sleep," Itachi agreed, setting the clock down and turning back to her. Sakura blinked a couple times. Itachi seemed to consider something before he shifted his arm so she could rest her head on it. Sakura wondered if his arm ever went numb doing such a thing but whenever she asked he would just pretend not to hear her because he was such a perfect gentleman that it was almost annoying.

"Are you hungry?" he inquired in the barely audible whisper he always used in the morning. It was like if they talked too loud, this perfect time would have to end. So she spoke just as softly.

"A little. But it's so cold." She had fallen asleep in just a t-shirt and sweatpants the night before so her exposed arms were a little chilly. Scooting closer to Itachi, she rested her cheek against his chest and felt him put his other arm around her. Their cold feet pressing together under the thick covers, Sakura let out a tiny giggle.

"What's so funny?" asked Itachi against her ear. When he began rubbing his cheek against hers, she tried not to laugh as she pushed his face away. He chuckled, the sound deep in his chest as he rested his chin on top of her head.

"Nothing. I'm just happy," Sakura sighed before she fell back asleep. And just because he could, just because he finally had the free time, Itachi closed his eyes and slept a little longer too.

They woke again around 9. Sunlight slanted in through the blinds, warming Itachi's back and hitting Sakura's eyes until they both stirred. It was so comfortable and snug and there really wasn't much for them to do anyway so they decided lazing around in pajamas for a little while longer would be a fantastic proposition. So Itachi made pancakes, Sakura brewed coffee, and they snuggled up on the sofa together to watch the morning news while they ate. When Sakura stood to begin clearing the dishes away, Itachi caught her by the wrist and tugged her into his lap. They were distracted for a good while and it took another hour for them to finally get the dishes washed and put away.

"The three idiots want to come over for presents tomorrow. Should I tell them to buy something?" inquired Itachi when Sakura came out of the bathroom, fresh from the shower. She made her way to the kitchen, rubbing at her hair with a towel as she thought. Imagining Deidara and Kisame's heartbroken expressions at missing out on a home-cooked meal, Sakura let out a deep breath.

"If they buy the ingredients, I'll make dumplings and miso soup," Sakura relented. As Itachi texted her decision, Sakura leaned across the table to pick up the mail they had forgotten to look through the day before. The sweet smell of her shampoo filled Itachi's nose when he inhaled. The phone was thrown on the table, the letters went scattering, and Itachi threw Sakura over his shoulder to be distracted again.

When it grew dark, they sat on the living room floor, mugs of warm tea cupped in their hands as they watched the city flare up with millions of holiday lights. From the apartment, they had a clear view of the park across the street. Every year, the city put up twinkling white lights in the park's trees, making every plant glisten and glitter. Tucking her knees up against her chest, Sakura dug her toes into the rug.

"Merry Christmas," she suddenly said. Itachi, mug lifted to his mouth, lowered it, and then smiled.

"Merry Christmas," he responded. They slowly finished off their tea to wash down the curry they had made for dinner. Itachi stood to put the mugs in the sink and when he returned, Sakura was pulling a box out from under the sofa. It was wrapped in cheerful red paper covered in snowflakes along with a big green bow. Chuckling, he reached under the other sofa to pull out his own box wrapped with light blue paper decorated with penguins. They slid the presents over to each other.

"Open yours first," Sakura demanded, her eyes glittering with excitement. So Itachi obliged, carefully peeling the edges of the paper apart to reveal a boxed set of DVDs from his favorite television show. He had mentioned how hard it was to find them in Japan a few times so Sakura had gotten her mom to ship them over from the States. Then again, there probably weren't many people in Japan interested in a show about an alien running around in some blue wooden box.

"Yours?" prompted Itachi when he saw that she hadn't touched her present yet. It was a little on the small side. Sakura felt herself frowning a little. She hoped he hadn't bought her jewelry again. It wasn't that she ever disliked any jewelry he bought her. Sakura just hoped he wasn't spending too much money on her. To her delight, when she opened it up, what met her was a set of white headphones with bright circles of red on either side. Then her eyes narrowed.

"This looks expensive," she began. But Itachi reached over to tweak her nose.

"They were on sale. And I bribed my friend into giving me his employee discount," Itachi countered easily. He had obviously thought out his argument beforehand.

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'm very proud of you," Sakura declared, scooting over to drop herself into his lap.

So Christmas passed, warm and quiet.

The day after Christmas, however, was just as loud and ridiculous as one would expect when Deidara and Kisame were involved. Deidara and Sasori arrived bright and early at 8 in the morning, ringing the doorbell until Sakura, hair mussed and eyes barely open regarded them with a sour expression. They waved, Deidara stepping forward for a hug. She promptly closed the door on their faces, and climbed back into bed where Itachi patted her head on a job well done. Only when Deidara yelled that he had brought coffee and donuts did they let them inside. Deidara and Sasori seemed perfectly happy to sit in the kitchen while Sakura showered (pushing Itachi out of the bathroom when he suggested they shower together to save time) and dressed.

"We got the groceries for you, My-chan. We didn't know if you wanted minced garlic or whole so we bought both, yeah," Deidara announced when Sakura entered the kitchen. As she tied her damp hair up into a bun, Sasori took the ingredients out of the plastic bags and laid them out on the kitchen counter for her to inspect. Though the wonton skins were the wrong brand and the scallions were a little droopier than she would have chosen, everything seemed fine. Rolling up the sleeves of her dark blue sweater she turned the cold water on in the sink to begin scrubbing the Napa cabbage free of dirt.

Itachi joined them a few minutes later, hovering over Sakura's shoulder until, sighing, she handed him a bulb of garlic to peel. When Deidara and Sasori tried to offer help, she gave them both a stern look and sent them to watch TV in the living room. The last time they had tried to cook, they had put pickled eggs and mustard in ramen along with generous handfuls of hot peppers ("For flavor, yeah!" Deidara had defended himself as Kisame, mouth burning, tried to strangle him.). Needless to say, Sakura had effectively banned them from the kitchen. Forever.

Kisame arrived a couple hours later with a roll cake and a big smile. He laughed at how early the other two had shown up, winking and elbowing Itachi as he asked if they had interrupted something until Sakura scowled at him until he apologized and hugged her. Kisame then tried to hug Itachi too and ended up with a clove of garlic lodged in his left nostril.

Dinner was loud and a little hectic. Everyone scarfed down the crispy dumplings still glistening with oil from the frying pan. As usual, Deidara and Kisame locked themselves into another furious eating contest that ended because they burned their mouths on the extremely hot dumplings. And Sakura was smiling, smiling and smiling until Sasori suddenly pulled her aside when she stood to get more soy sauce.

"What's wrong?" Sasori demanded in a low voice, pulling her toward the refrigerator.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura, her smile fading for the first time that day.

"You look like you're about to cry," he said. Deidara and Kisame's voices abruptly faded and all eyes drifted to her. Sakura swallowed thickly. It had just been a tiny voice nagging at the corner of her mind. So tiny that it was easy to quash it down with louder laughter, with brighter grins.

"My-chan, what's wrong, yeah?" inquired Deidara. He put his chopsticks down, eyes wide with concern.

"My dad… he asked if I wanted to study abroad… in New York," Sakura finally breathed out. There was a very long pause.

"Well, the study abroad program at KU's pretty good. And that's free housing right there," Kisame finally said.

"But that would mean this might be my last Christmas with everyone," Sakura blurted out.

"What," said Sasori with a dead expression.

Bursting into loud laughter, Deidara hurried over to throw his arms around her.

"Stupid, My-chan. It'd only be for one year, yeah," he reminded her with a grin. Sakura shook her head.

"Everyone will have graduated. We'd all be spread out. It wouldn't be the same," she croaked, feeling hot tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

"Probably not, Sakura-chan. How about we promise to meet up for the Christmas after that, and the one after that until you get sick of seeing our faces?" Sasori suggested, crouching to peer up at her past Deidara's arms. At this, Sakura nodded furiously, face bright red from trying her best not to cry.

"Every Christmas, every single one until we're all wrinkly and grumpy and smell like old people," Kisame chimed in with a bright smile.

And Sakura cried and cried while Deidara laughed and Sasori watched her an expression of simultaneous relief and frustration.

Watching from the kitchen table, Kisame nudged Itachi's shoulder.

"Best Christmas present ever," he commented. Rolling his eyes, Itachi didn't reply.

Okonomiyaki* is sort of like a scallion pancake. But they put shredded cabbage and meat and vegetables and sometimes they even grill it for you depending on the restaurant.

Thanks for reading despite the long time it's taken me to update. Please leave reviews to let me know what you think!