Wallet
by Diana-san

Sakura was nervous. She had tried to play it cool when she texted him about getting coffee and then even tried to sound nonchalant when he asked her out for dinner. Truth was, she was beyond ecstatic to see his reply in asking her to meet up for dinner instead of coffee. That meant something right? That he wasn't overly freaked out by her bold move in approaching him?

Actually, it was a surprising move on her part as well. She never expected that she, herself, would do something like this. Guys had approached her often enough and it had gotten tiring to the point that she had lost interest in the dating scene. Men just seem like giant neanderthals to her and she had tried to maintain a relatively low profile in just focusing on her studies and ignoring all love calls.

So why was she suddenly so interested in this guy? Especially a guy who carried a picture of her around. She should be running as far as she can from this guy but here she was, running straight towards him with open arms. He was handsome, that's for sure. He was tall with model-like features and a quiet demeanor. Frankly put, he was certainly her ideal type.

So maybe that was why her heart was beating like a pounding drum as she approached the coffee shop where they were supposed to meet up. She didn't have time to change or even fancy herself up as she headed there straight from her exam. The best she could do was head to a nearby convenience store and buy a pack of mints for her coffee breath. Running her fingers through her pink hair, she tried to fix up any tangles as she smoothed out the bottom of her shirt with her other hand.

With a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the coffee shop and immediately, her eyes spotted him. Sasuke was seated in the same place she was sitting at last night and she immediately felt the rush of embarrassment from recalling last night's events with him finding out she had snooped through his wallet. He glanced up as she walked up to the table and for a moment there, they just stood in silence as they stared at each other in awkwardness.

"Um, hi," she said, finally breaking the ice.

"Hello. How was your last exam?" he asked with a pleasant smile.

"It went fine. The last part was a little tricky but I managed to finish in time," she replied.

Sasuke nodded as he stood up and gestured towards the door. "Shall we?" he asked her. She nodded as she followed him out of the coffee shop. They didn't walk far as the downtown area was small so all the shops and restaurants were compacted in one area. He had chosen a local Italian restaurant and when they went in, he gave his name and they were brought to a small table in the corner.

She didn't know what to say to him but there was one thing nagging at the back of her mind the whole time she was walking next to him.

"Um…" she began. He glanced up from the cloth napkin he was unfolding.

"Something was still on my mind from last night. You told me how you got my photo but… you never told me why you kept it for this long. You even trimmed it down from the original 4 by 6 to wallet-size," she added the last part quickly.

He gazed at her with a knowing smile as he placed the napkin down on his lap. "My brother saw your picture that day I found it. He teased me about it and said he wanted to meet you. We even made a stupid bet on it."

"A bet?"

Sasuke glanced away. "Nothing. It's stupid."

Before she could press on for more details, the waiter came to take their order. The rest of the evening continued on with pleasant small talk about school and their plans for winter break. He didn't ask her many questions and she did the same although there were a million questions running through her mind. She really wanted to know what the bet was but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to ask. It was like every time she thought to bring it up, her mouth clamps up and her hands start to sweat in her lap.

Honestly, she was scared to know. Knowing what the bet was, knowing his real thoughts about her, she was scared to find out the truth. What if he didn't think anything of her? Sakura didn't want the magic of that night to break.

When the meal came to an end, he paid and the two of them left the restaurant. "Are you going home tomorrow night?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "I'll make the drive tonight. I miss my family."

Sakura could feel her heart drop slightly as disappointment washed over her. She had planned to leave tomorrow night and was hoping there would be a reason to see him again tomorrow morning. "Oh," she could only say in response. "Have a safe drive."

He smiled. "You too. I had a fun night."

She nodded but inside she felt like this was the last of it. There was no more reason to see him again. He had given her the "reward" she asked for in returning his wallet. "Good night," she said simply as she turned away to head home.

"Wait!" he called out to her. Sakura turned her head slightly as her eyes glanced at him in curiosity and anticipation. He seemed to have something more to say but he didn't as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "N-nothing. Good night…Sakura."

Finals were finally over for everyone and many of the students have left the school campus to go home for the winter break. Sakura was excited to be back home in the small town of Konoha. She had big plans to do completely nothing over break and just relax and enjoy the upcoming holidays with her family. Maybe it would take her mind off of Sasuke.

"Sakura, can you run to the market and pick up some carrots and tomatoes for tonight's dinner?" her mother called out to her from the kitchen as Sakura saw her mother's head peek out.

She nodded as she grabbed her house keys and went out the door. Her parents were having friends over so had decided to cook up a huge dinner for tonight. Sakura was glad that her parents had made friends so quickly, especially in a new town. They had previously lived near the border of the country but moved around three years ago when her father got transferred over to a new job just as she was about to start college.

"Raspberries, blackberries, and…" Itachi read off the shopping list.

"Tomatoes," Sasuke said as he stopped the shopping cart in front of the tomato section.

"No, there are no tomatoes on the list," Itachi said as he glanced down at the list again.

"Mother probably just forgot to write it down," Sasuke responded as he began to pick up a few tomatoes to drop them inside a plastic bag.

"She didn't but I guess we can grab some for your gluttonous self," Itachi remarked with a grin.

Sasuke glared at his brother as he proceeded to add in three more tomatoes to the bag for that snide comment.

Itachi glanced away from the shopping cart as something else caught his eye instead. "Oh," he uttered as he smiled. "Well, if it isn't your girlfriend, Sasuke-kun."

"What? I don't have one," Sasuke muttered as he turned to glance at the direction Itachi was staring at.

Besides them was a familiar pink-haired girl picking out carrots. Sasuke nearly dropped the bag of tomatoes he was holding as he gaped at her. "S-Sakura?!" he croaked out.

At the sound of her name, Sakura turned around in surprise as she stared back at Sasuke. "Sasuke?"

"And I'm Itachi, Sasuke's older and more handsome brother," Itachi introduced himself as he held out a hand towards Sakura. She took it and shook it, much to Sasuke's displeasure.

"Okay, we have to continue shopping. Mother needs the ingredients for her pie," Sasuke said quickly as he pulled on Itachi's hand to hand him the bag of tomatoes to hold and effectively removing Itachi's hand from Sakura's. Itachi only smirked at the obvious attempt to part him from the girl.

"You should join us for dinner!" Itachi offered.

"We can't, we're going out tonight!" Sasuke quickly said. There was no way he was going to give his family a chance to embarrass him in front of Sakura.

"Ah, it's fine. My family has guests over tonight for dinner so I have to get home after this trip," Sakura said with a smile.

"Oh, groceries for dinner? Do you live around here?" Itachi asked.

Sakura nodded and Itachi smiled as he winked at Sasuke. "It's strange because I have never seen you at the supermarket before and we come here often to get groceries. Surely, we would have run into each other once or twice."

"Oh, well my family just moved to this area. Maybe you might have run into my mother. I was away at school so this is only the second time I've been in this store."

Sasuke pulled at the back of Itachi's shirt. "We should head home soon with the ingredients," Sasuke mumbled. He didn't want to stay in that store any longer. The awkwardness was already setting in and he could feel it and he know Sakura could feel it as well. After the way they left each other that night at dinner, things felt somehow unresolved between the two of them.

"We'll see you around, Sakura-san," Itachi waved cheerfully. "Enjoy your holidays."

"You too," she echoed back as her eyes avoided Sasuke's.

Sakura hummed as she got out the nice silverware for tonight's dinner. "How many people will be coming over, mom?"

"Set out four extra! Or was it three? Make it four just in case!" her mother shouted from the kitchen.

Four it was as she laid out seven place settings on the table. The doorbell rang and she could hear her mother let out a frantic yelp in the kitchen. "I'll get it," Sakura shouted into the kitchen, although she was sure her mother wasn't even listening. She walked to the front door and peeked through the peephole. It was a lady with beautiful dark long hair.

Sakura opened the door as she welcomed her parents' guests to her home. "Welcome to the Haruno residence."

"Oh, you must be Sakura!" the lady exclaimed as she held up a pie in her hand. "Sasuke, Itachi, bring the watermelon!"

Sakura froze as she saw Sasuke walk up the steps to her house. He stopped in surprise too as he stared at her. The watermelon in his hands almost fell as his hands wobbled underneath the weight but he caught it in time as he hugged it close. "Sakura…" he whispered.

Dinner was filled with laughter and talk as the parents all had drinks. Itachi continued to pour for everyone and even took a few sips himself. Sasuke and Sakura abstained from the alcohol as they both sipped at their water, making eye contact only once or twice.

After dinner was dessert and apparently more drinks as they all reconvened to the living room. Sasuke and Sakura stayed behind to clean up and it was quiet with the exception of the occasional clink of glasses or silverware being picked up.

They carried the dishes into the kitchen as Sakura began to run the sink with water and soap. "You can just leave these here. I'll do them. You can go eat dessert with your family."

"No, I'll help you."

"Sasuke… we know you don't want to be here. So just go," she said softly, her back turned to him so that he couldn't see or read her face.

He placed a stack of dishes down on the counter as he stood next to her. "Who said I didn't want to be here?"

"No one. Your body language makes it quite clear. You didn't really want to do the dinner with me but I made you. You didn't want to stay and talk in the grocery store when we ran into each other. And you definitely did not want to eat dinner when you realized that the place you were going to was my house. And now, you just want to get your parents out of here as fast as you could so you can go home and forget you ever met me."

Sasuke dropped a plastic bowl into the sink as it made a loud clank against the bottom of the sink. "You're wrong. About everything," he said softly.

She said nothing as she silently scrubbed at a plate in her hand. She was sure she was scrubbing at the same spot over and over but she didn't want to do any other action than scrub. She was sure if she broke her concentration of washing that one plate, she would lose it and break down and cry in front of him.

His hand reached over to grab onto her wrist but she ignored it as she continued scrubbing. He then took her sponge and she began to use her hand. "Stop, Sakura," he commanded. She did. "Sorry," she whispered with her head still down.

She could hear him sigh and she sighed along with him. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I knew winter break was coming up and I didn't want to start anything with us being apart for two weeks. But I couldn't imagine that we would be living in the same town."

Sakura glanced up at him in surprise. "Start something?"

He turned to smile at her. "I.. I like you. A lot. I wanted to leave the grocery store not because I didn't want to talk to you, but because I was scared my brother would say something stupid and embarrass me in front of you. I didn't even tell you how I felt yet and I certainly didn't want my parents or brother to be the one to tell you for me."

"Your parents know about me?" she squeaked.

"Well, they probably don't remember you. They saw the picture I had of you but they didn't mention anything at dinner so I guess they forgot. My brother somehow remembers after seeing it just once like two years ago."

Sakura doesn't say anything as her heart beats quickly against her chest. He reached for the back of his pants pocket as he pulled out his wallet. As Sasuke opens it, she sees that her picture was placed in the front in a transparent picture sleeve. No longer were the photographs hidden in the inner pockets of the wallet. He smiled nervously as he caught her looking.

"I was hoping… that instead of having just a random girl's photo in my wallet… I could tell people that the girl in the photo… is my girlfriend."

Sakura's heart feels lighter than ever as she turned back to the sink and picked up a bowl. Her cheeks flush a slight pink as she begins to scrub at the bowl. She knows she should say something as he was expecting her to. It was silent for a few seconds as he waited patiently for a response other than her incessant need to wash dishes at this time.

She took her hands away from the sink as she wiped it clean against the kitchen towel hanging next to her. She took out her phone from her back pocket as she pressed a bunch of buttons before showing it to Sasuke. "If you do that, then I'll have to tell everyone that my wallpaper is my boyfriend," she said softly.

Sasuke chuckled as he sees that Sakura had indeed just change the wallpaper of her phone to the picture that she took of him at the coffee shop.

"Deal."

The phone buzzed in her hand and she is surprised by the sudden vibration. Sasuke peers at her phone. "You got a text from Naruto," he remarked. "Sakura-chan, can you ask Sasuke if he's mad at me," he read.

Sakura pulled the phone back as she read the text. "Are you mad at Naruto?" she asked.

He smiled as he held her hand in his. "No. In fact, I think I have to thank him profusely for giving away my number to you."

She giggled as the two of them stood in the kitchen with their hands both holding each other. Unbeknownst to the two, five pairs of watchful eyes peeked through the doorway of the kitchen.

"Will you look at that?" Mikoto whispered with a smile. Mebuki laughed. "I guess our children became good friends as well," she responded back.

Itachi grinned. "Oh, it looks a lot more than just friends, I say."