A/N – HAPPY NEW YEAR! Heyyo my people. Guess who's back. I'll spare you the sob story. Sorry for making you wait so long for this but I'm really excited to resume my writing. I really do appreciate all the wonderful support you guys have shown to this story. Thanks for reading. I left a little thought-nugget for you guys at the bottom. Please drop a review and tell me what you guys think. - Aria

Chapter Eleven

After Naruto's initial yell to attract Sakura's attention, the general atmosphere around the group became doused in an awkward silence as tables were joined together to make one long table for the (in Itachi's opinion; unwelcome) newcomers. After everyone was seated, Sakura cleared her throat and began talking.

"So guys, thanks for coming. I guess most of you guys already know each other so it would be pointless to ask you to introduce yourselves."

There was a ripple of murmurs about the table, as if wondering, "Why the potato-shmurr would this pink thing even have wanted us to introduce ourselves as if we were pre-schoolers?"

Well, maybe not. But you get the idea.

"Heeyyyy, look Shika, a red head cutieee," slurred a droopy Ino. "Hey Gaara, maybe he's your long lost brother or something. But he's waaaaaayyyyyy hotter."

"Troublesome," Shika muttered looking a little more than peeved that his fiancé thought that someone other than him was cute.

Gaara just looked a little irritated but then again, it's Gaara. It would be impossible to tell.

"Is she….drunk?" asked Deidara.

"At seven in the morning, really Shika?" sighed Sakura.

"This troublesome woman pulled a Tsunade and drank all night while doing paperwork," he sighed.

"Shika, Shika looooookkkkk. She looks like meeeee. Hey, girly, are you my long lost twin?"

Itachi's more boisterous friends dissolved in laughter and the less raucous ones smirked. Sakura's friends took in the amusement and looked mildly confused.

Deidara's eye twitched.

"I'M A GUY,UN! And you must be that damn Yamanaka Ino that my mother keeps gushing about, yeah. The one that looks like me, un."

Well then.

That certainly explained the laughing. Some of them snickered.

"I'm not damned, am I Shika? Am I damned? Is that why I'm cursed to have such good looks?" Ino asked, really starting to tear up.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed as he proceeded to comfort his drunk, overreacting fiancé.

….

….

"Ahem. Well.

I called all of you guys here discuss a little vacation outing for us. Now, I was thinking – "

"VACATION?! WHOOT WHOOT. HAHA, I AM SO GETTING IN ON THIS. YES! WE CAN GO TO PARIS, OR HAWAII, OR BETTER YET – "

Sasuke reached up and harshly smacked Naruto on the upside of his head. "Shut up dobe. Let her finish."

"WHAT THE HELL TEME?! YOU CAN'T JUST HIT ME! IT'S ABUSE! ABUSE, I TELL YOU! "

"Hn. Dobe."

"DON'T CALL ME A DOBE!"

"Dobe!"

"TEME!"

"DOBE."

"TEM – "

"NARUTO! SHUT UP!" screamed Sakura.

The room became quieter than quiet. It was dead silence. Sakura's friends looked rather terrified while Itachi's friends wondered why exactly the younger group looked like they were about to drop dead from fear.

Naruto gulped and sat back down quietly while half of the group wondered why exactly Naruto looked like he swallowed a nail. Sasuke shot him a smug look before Sakura discretely shot him a glare that caused him to silently plead for someone to save his soul, should he die by the hands (or glare) of one pink haired terror. Silently of course, and outwardly apathetic. Because he's an Uchiha for god's sake. And Uchiha's don't shake in fear of tiny pink haired women.

Sakura took a calming breath. "Now, as I was saying, I thought it would have been a good idea if we took a drive up to Kirigakure. We could rent a cabin for the weekend, go swimming at the beach, visit the amusement park and just hang out and relax."

"S-sounds g-reat S-Sakura-chan," piped up Hinata.

"Yeah Saku. Finally decided to take my advice and take a vacation?" queried Temari.

"One whole weekend with your hot ass? Count me the hell in," voiced the ever vulgar Hidan.

The rest of the group just nodded in agreement.

"Yosh! When do we leave on this youthful adventure?" shouted Lee, striking a pose.

Sakura ignored them all and looked at the impassive Itachi. "Itachi? How about it?"

"Hn."

"That means yes!" chimed in the Uchiha-fluent Naruto, now back to his usual jovial self after his near death experience.

Sakura threw herself at him in happiness. "Yay, thank you."

…

"Ahem."

Sakura flushed and moved away from Itachi.

"So, now that that's settled. I'll take care of the planning and you guys go home, pack and meet in front of my house in an hour after we leave here. Decide who will be taking their cars and we can just carpool. But first, breakfast!"

"Hey, doll, will you invite me inside? We can play dress up," purred Sasori from the other end of the table.

Sakura pointedly ignored him and he ignored the glares.

They ate a satisfying breakfast and started leaving to go get packed until there was only Sakura and Itachi left.

"Did you plan this just to get a vacation out of it?" came the silky voice from beside her.

She jumped and turned slowly to face him for the first time since she hugged him.

"No," came the quiet voice.

Itachi just looked at her.

"Okay look. I'm sorry if this comes across as weird, but your brother and I have been friends forever. And I was hoping that maybe we had also become friends in the last few weeks. You just work so hard. It's not healthy. You're in the prime of your life and every time you go out, it's work related. When is the last time you just hung out with your friends as friends and not as work partners? You need to have a little fun and relaxation," Sakura blurted out.

"I hired you to do a job as my secretary, not as my caretaker. Who or what gave you the right to mess with my work schedule?" Itachi asked impassively.

Sakura looked at him for a second longer then dropped her eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry. It was completely out of line. I'll call everyone and cancel. I didn't mean to upset you, Sir. I promise I won't ever do anything like it again."

Itachi studied her and sighed. "But maybe you're right."

Sakura's head snapped up. "Sir?"

"If I'm going to be spending the rest of my year talking to ass-kissing, social ladder-climbing snakes in suits, I'm definitely going to need a break sometime or the other."

Sakura's face broke out into a radiant smile.

One side of Itachi's perfectly sculpted lips tilted up. "And if I remember correctly, I specifically told you to call me Itachi."

"Thank you, Itachi. I promise it'll be worth it. I've already packed but you're going to need some beach-worthy clothes. So do you wanna go home and pack and come meet up with everyone at my house?"

"Already packed? You were certainly confident in your abilities," Itachi commented with a raised brow.

Sakura smiled sheepishly. "I was hopeful."

The two of them made their way out of the restaurant and parted ways. Itachi escorted her to her car and watched her drive away before making his way to his own car.

He slid in behind the steering wheel of his RX8 and just sat there for a moment. Itachi took a deep breath before gunning the engine. He couldn't comprehend the emotions that Sakura stirred in him. But he had lost too many things to let this one go without exploring it. He'd spend his weekend figuring out exactly why he let Sakura talk him, the impassive Itachi Uchiha, into this bizarre 'vacation'.

"Of course it'll be worth it, Cherry Blossom. Anything will be worth it if you're there."

A/N – So? Whaddu think? Please drop a review. Hearing back from you guys really means a lot. I had this just idling for such a long time. I hadn't written anything in over a year. And I'm so so happy that I can come back to this and it makes me smile to see people actually enjoying my writing. Thank you guys. – Aria

P.S – I'm being a little OOC but it's just a piece of advice for the New Year. Guys, I've seen and interacted with people that are so caught up in their problems that it just seems like there was nothing else to do but wallow in their sorrows and hit the repeat button on their program day after day. I want you guys to know that there is nothing healthy in that. Find a healthy outlet that allows you to get rid of the bottled up emotions within you without totally snapping and blowing your top. Everyone has their own problems or stresses, no matter how big or small. Maybe it's school, work, family, friends or something else. Or maybe you're perfectly fine and happy. In that case, I'm very very happy for you. But maybe you want a hobby.

There are so many things you can do to relax yourself. You can do what I do and write. It may not be something that you want to show others, like a journal full of your thoughts and emotions, or a journal full of crappy poetry. You can learn to cook, do yoga, dance, something that is outside of your routine that just relaxes you. I remember when I was in high school, whenever I would get too overwhelmed, I'd just stop what I was doing and go cook something. I didn't always eat it, but the cooking process just relaxed me.

In this New Year, I want to tell you that when it comes to health, your mental health is just as important as your physical health and sometimes, even more so. So be aware of your state of mind and remember to just space out and breathe once in a while. I wish you all the best for the New Year.

Best Wishes,

Aria