*Obvious AU and out of character, characters. Please enjoy. Happy holidays (sorry its late)

Mustsleep Z.z*

Mall Santa

The job wasn't worth the money. There were trillions of snot-nosed children all of whom had some snot-nosed disease, which he had no desire to catch. His life sucked at the moment, to put it bluntly. The kids weren't even cute, or close to the cuteness his younger brother had been at their age. They all sucked their fingers then tried to touch his beard. And if he had to say: "Oh, ho, ho No no. You shouldn't pull Santa's beard little (boy/girl)" again he would take off the beard and ruin Christmas for everyone.

He sighed looking around the small, fire place setting for his elves… well one in particular. How was it his brother always managed to rope him in? The kid knew how to play him, even if he'd grown out of puppy dog eyes. He was still cute…. Even at eighteen.

"You're too skinny to be Santa." A little girl declared poking at his stomach.

Again. "Ho, ho, ho Mrs. Claus has me on a diet." This was hel-

"What's a diet?"

"Ask your parents…" Did Sasuke ask this many questions as a child? "Say Cheese."

"Cheese!"

"Now what do you want for Christmas?"

Joy… another child wanted the new Nintendo DS 5000.

Looking around at all the children jumping happily, he didn't remember Sasuke being so excited. Of course, Sasuke found out the truth rather early; thanks to their loud cookie eating father. Thinking of his dear little brother, where exactly did he run off too?

They were here for one reason and one reason only; to get his brother a date with a red haired female by the name of Karin. The woman was a tad overzealous with his brother, meaning he didn't really have to do this. The man was a dunce when it came to woman and instead of going over to his clear-headed, more life experienced, older brother he'd gone to a blond haired brat who had ADHD. The wired child, known as Naruto, had come up with the plan of 'love' that would not fail. Girls supposedly dug the whole 'kid' thing and 'Holiday Cheer'. Itachi wasn't quite sure exactly what the digging reference was to but the end result was a supposed 'date of youthful love which would last like the beautiful symbolism of a pine trees'.

No. Wait.

That hadn't been Naruto.

That had been the jolly green elf, who had yet to make a child frown. There was some uncertainty as to whether the children were laughing with him or at him. But he probably should have been the person in the red suite.

The fuzzy-brow had been a turn off to the mall's Activity Organizer, whose sultry, low riding top had almost revealed her entire show when she leaned in to whisper: "Mmm, you'll make a fine Santa." Talk about sexual harassment, not to mention the smell of alcohol on her breath.

He had decided this community service would be his last. Never again would he put up with any of this.

Another grubby hand grabbed at his beard. When did it ever stop?

A constant "Cheese" then "What would you like for Christmas?"

The babies were the best. All he had to do was 'ho ho' them. There was no need to ask questions or get them to smile. The green elf had done that for him.

"Alright kids!" A megaphone used by non-other than the mastermind behind the plan of pain. "Santa needs his cookie break; he'll be back in thirty minutes."

So with jingle bells in hand, ringing all the way, he made his way to the back room. Passing the line that was at least six hours. The parents at the back had their eyes narrowed in anger. Itachi began to wonder if mall Santas' were known for being shot at… Quickening his step, with the eyes of tired parents upon him; Itachi made it safely to the room.

As soon as the store room closed he noticed one huge, important fact. His brother was not there.

"The bast-ditched us!"

A sigh escaped Itachi's mouth. It looked like the red head was gone too, for there were two costumes left behind. Itachi opened his duffle bag and pulled out his cellphone. He expected a text; one either explaining Sasuke's departure or Sasuke's return, because if Mikoto were to be missing a child Christmas morning (tomorrow) he would be dead.

Skimming through the thirty messages left by his annoying cousin, Tobi, he found the one he was searching for.

'Going to party. Got a ride home.'

Good, those were the only facts Itachi really cared about. Well, not really. He'd probably worry about the driver being sober until his brother got home safely. Itachi sighed once more, the qualms of being an older brother.

There was one joy about being ditched though. He was no longer obligated to do this anymore. He removed his beard and sat his hat on the table.

"B- B-But we can't. " Hinata, the loudmouth's girlfriend stuttered. "Wh-What about the children?"

"I know. We need more youthful people; did you see the line back there!"

He was stuck by some sick guilty inclination to continue. He slid his hat back on his head. This wasn't how he imaged he'd be spending Christmas Eve. In fact, up until five a.m. he hadn't even thought of the possibility. Then Naruto had called the only person that could put him into the suite with just a simple please. He was such a softy…

"I'll call in reinforcements!" Naruto cried picking up the phone. "Crap he went to Kiba's party."

That must have eliminated all of the goody to-shoes's friends. Itachi picked his cell back up. Who could he call?

Shisui? He was working late.

Kisame? No, the kids would run screaming. It would make the line shorter though, Itachi glanced at the costume. It would be too small.

Madara? No, it was best not to disturb him when he was spending quality time with his twin brother, Tobi, who had littered his inbox with messages of what the two of them were doing.

Sasori? Ha. The jerk would tell children the 'truth'.

Deidara? The kid would probably say something about the decorations not being good enough and waste time.

Hidan and Kakuzu? Both were out of the question.

Zetsu? That was asking for a lawsuit.

Konan? …. That could work.

Pein? No… not good and without Pein there would be no Konan.

Itachi glanced up at the others surfing their phones for friend, wondering if they were having the same problem as him.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelped out in happiness, phone on his ear. "Where are you?"

–

"Which mall?" The kid tapped his right foot like a dancer.

–

"Yes!" Naruto literally jumped for joy. "Look, Socky, can you do me a huge, big, awesome, believe it favor?"

"I need an elf."

–

"No, I need you to be an elf."

–

"Please…" The kid began sniffing. "Sakura there are kids out there and they need an elf to show them the true meaning of Christmas. I can see them now crying in their beds because the line was too long and the elves were to slow, so they never got to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Socky! They'll be scarred for life! They-"

–*Yelping could be heard over the phone as Naruto moved it away from his ear*

"Thank you Sakura, you won't regret this. I love-"The blond haired kid pulled the phone away so he could look at it. Obviously she had hung up on him. The kid shrugged it off before 'whooping', and then he started to kiss his girlfriend, who began turning a very dark red color.

"We need one more, "Itachi reminded them, "Preferably one male at about 5' 9."

"I shall call my youthful friend Sai!"

The jolly green elf raced from the room after learning the 'youthful friend' needed a ride but was close by.

Itachi turned towards his lunch. It was one Quizno's sub and an un-iced root beer soda. Five more hours of Santa Hell, after that the mall would close and he would never, ever see the red suite again.

Naruto and Hinata left to grab food, they hadn't thought ahead.

A loud knock came from the metal door before it opened. "Hello?" a soft, almost familiar, voice called out as a pink head poked through.

She definitely looked the part of a cherry blossom. He'd never truly met her before, in person. His brother had pictures of his three best friends and he'd heard her voice on the phone; but they'd never had the chance of meeting. How very unlucky, considering his mother said she visited quite frequently even before he left for college.

His eyes gave a quick glance at her whole before meeting her eyes. She was pretty, even bundled to the bone due to the snow outside. Her nose was pink and her eyes looked far livelier than they had in the pictures. Adorable and definitely seemed to have a more timid personality than the red haired girl his brother was currently with.

"Elf costume." Itachi pointed to the costume left on the chair as he finished the last bite of his sub. He quietly put his white gloves back on.

"It's green." She raised an eye brow at him.

He raised an eyebrow right back. "Yes."

"It's a light, off color, hideous green."

It was an elf costume; did she expect purple or a preferable black? "That it is."

She held it up to her body and he realized her problem. "There's no way I can pull this off." And she was right; the green didn't match her eyes and looked horrid with her hair. But she, no they, didn't have a choice. She may not be able to pull it off but she was going to have to put it on.

The door opened to reveal the blond haired menace.

Sakura's eyes narrowed. "Naruto!" she growled. "How do you expect me to wear this?"

And immediately the timid shy girl turned into a ferocious pink haired monster that attacked idiots. In Itachi's books she raised several notches.

"Ahhh Hinata get Socky off!"

"I told you to stop calling me that!"

Itachi hoped the stuttering girlfriend would not separate them, the scene before him was almost worth hours of snot-nosed hands. He burst into a low chuckle.

The sound of laughter made the girl freeze in mid-punch. "Who are you?"

Naruto answered for him, "He's Sasuke's brother."

The girl's head perked up and her eyes scanned the room quickly before resting on him. "Is Sasuke here?"

Itachi gave a worried glance at Naruto, who was making weird throat gestures with his hands before answering her question. The kid was just plain weird. "No. That would be the reason you were called. He left to go to a party with Karin."

Immediately Naruto face palmed and the girl's mood drastically shifted. He could practically see her eyes brimming like a kicked puppy, still adorable but… He screwed up big time.

"Karin," she whispered in disbelief.

"I didn't know you two were going out." There had to be some way of fixing this. Perhaps he could say something along the line of 'she was his ride there' or they were just 'friends'. It seemed out of character for his brother to try and cheat a girl; maybe he had changed since Itachi had left for college.

The words broke her out of her dazed expression and she gave a pained laugh, obviously he'd just put her in a worse mood. "We're not."

"I- I- was just hoping-"the girl looked ready to break into tears. "Naruto," she turned to the boy, "I can't wear this I'm – I'm going to go."

If he started crying could he leave as well? It didn't seem fair to him. Itachi's eyes narrowed as his mind thought of a plan. If she was the type of person he thought she was; then it would work. Then maybe his guilty conscious would leave him be.

"You got the right idea." Everyone looked at him in confusion. "I'm going too." He began pulling off his white gloves. "This is pointless."

"What!" The girl's shrieking voice carried over Naruto's. "You can't! You're Santa Clause!"

"I was only here for Sasuke's sake; my obligations, there for, terminated with his departure."

"B-But the kids," Hinata started.

"I'm sure they'd understand that Santa needed to leave because there was an incident at the 'elf factory'."

The pink haired beast once more emerged, just like he'd plan. "Look you." Her gloved finger pointed at his face. She was adorable. "You Grinch. You can't steal Christmas from children!"

"It's Christmas eve." Itachi corrected her. This made her face turn flushed in anger, much to his amusement.

"It doesn't matter." She was snarling now, in low tones. "Those kids need Santa Clause to believe in. You're their hero. Didn't you ever just want to be in the presence of Santa Clause when you were a kid? Didn't you want to tell him exactly what you wanted for Christmas?"

"I didn't believe in Santa. The fact that a fat man was able to fit through a small chimney chute that I, as a five year old, go stuck half way in; was a preposterous idea." To everyone's wide eyes Itachi sighed. "To make a long story short, my older cousin believed that it would make a good hiding place for hide and go seek."

"Well it doesn't matter if you didn't believe. They do!" Sakura told him, her cute gloved finger getting closer to his face.

"Look," Itachi stated calmly. "Wouldn't it be better for all the children to tell them Santa had to go away or to give them false hope and tell them that time ran out so they have to leave; because without more helpers that is what's going to happen. I'm not being a Grinch, Sakura, I'm being realistic."

The girl grit her teeth together before snatching the ugly elf costume back up. "Fine," she snapped, "I'll go change!" After the door closed Itachi let out his famous smirk.

"Itachi," the blond haired villain of the day began, "you're just like your mom."

Itachi laughed as he slipped his gloves back on and re-attached his white beard. "Are we almost ready to go?"

"Aye, Aye Captain Santa!"

The kid was an idiot.

The 'youthful' Sai showed up several minutes later as Itachi was doing walking laps around the room. (Remember that Santa is sitting for five hours straight.) The youthful part was clearly exaggerated by the jolly green elf and the boy appeared to be quite rude. Well, rude was youthful, but Itachi believed that wasn't what Rock Lee was shooting for.

"You look like some fiasco, hobo Santa. Did di—less get you off the streets?"

"Please be more cheerful and nice this season Sai. You should be dedicating all of your efforts into making the children happy. Here," The jolly elf smiled, "this is you're elf uniform; wear it with pride."

"I believe wearing that would reduce anyone's pride."

"Hmm…" The jolly elf seemed to realize he was going to get nowhere. The kid turned to a 'Santa' bag and began to search through it. "Here," his hand had retrieved a reindeer head piece, "Put these on."

"No."

Itachi sighed; they needed to be out there in five minutes. "Sai," the kid turned around and shot Itachi an odd look, as in: 'how did the hobo know my name?' "You have three options. One, you wear the antlers. Two, you wear the green, freak uniform. Or, three, I'll force you into the fiasco, hobo Santa costume." An ultimatum always moved things along rather well.

"I'll take the antlers."

"Yes! The power of Christmas will revive your spirit and you will be able to lighten the lives of the children we meet today."

"Lee." Itachi sighed.

"Yes, Santa!" The kid was like a puppy whose tail was flapping about at being singled out.

"Put him on the printing station, where he can speak with the adults."

"Yes sir!" the odd ball kid saluted him.

"And Sai."

"Yes hobo."

"Pretend to be at least pleasant to the parents; because if they don't buy pictures then we will not get paid for this."

"At least pleasant?" The kid was serious.

"Be a salesman." Itachi sighed.

The blank faced kid nodded in thought, as though he was trying to figure out what that was.

"Never mind. Print the pictures and slide them into their pamphlets and give them to Hinata."

"Alright."

"Good." Maybe he should have called Sasori...

The door slammed open revealing a pissed off elf of pink hair. The green wasn't as bad as he once thought.

"Hello, ugly."

She was definitely not that. Itachi struggled to remain in head contact with her or look away but even his peripheral vision took in some of her smoother features. The elf suit was tight, but she had the body to show for it. It also made him realize how idiotic his little brother truly was. Karin had to pin back the suit. The girl before him had obviously let them out.

"There were reindeer headies; I want one of those instead!"

"Sakura, you look marvelous. A picture of perfection. A delicate newly buddy green lily. You are a glorious queen of elves." The kid bowed. "And I would be honored to work beside you tonight."

The kid hadn't even begun to tell it.

The girl laughed it off like it was nothing, and her voice sounded like jingle bells.

Wait.

No.

He'd just dropped his rope of bells.

He picked them up and rose. "It's time to go." He pointed at the clock. "Naruto and Hinata are already setting up the camera and printer. We need to get going."

To his surprise, he was actually starting to enjoy his time being Santa. Sakura was a heaven send. She had found hand wipes under the booth and with a reminder to the parents that the 'flu was still in season' she offered them to parents and children. Almost all used them. But it wasn't just that. It was nice to have something pleasant to look at besides squinted faces, once again, asking why he was so skinny. She was also entertaining, for she would randomly go up and hit Naruto across the back of his head; and that made all of his suffering worthwhile.

He actually got worried at some point when she just began to wail on him when he said something along the lines of: "He's definitely more appealing than his brother."

At the time he had been holding two twins, who enjoyed the fight scene as well; but even though he couldn't tell the difference between the two, Naruto seemed to be able to. Sakura was extremely angry with him, although he doubted the kids cared if one was more 'appealing' than the other. She blushed hard when she picked up the snot-nosed kids from his lap. But he was unsure it was from beating Naruto up or the embarrassment from comparing twins.

She and her jolly green elf got the children in and out. She also came up with the brilliant scheme of passing out the picture forms early so those in line at the register wouldn't waste time. She was far more productive than Karin, who'd deemed fraternizing with his brother the soul reason of her life, and his brother, who'd deemed scowling the soul reason of his life, together. This was good, because the other new guy was practically a drone.

She was a natural with kids too and as noon turned to night he learned she dedicated most of her time in the children's ward at St. Samuels hospital where her god-mother worked.

Slowly but surely he began to quietly curse himself as to why they'd never met before. She was beautiful, pretty, and witty. His brother was going to lose her, that was for certain; but to whom, that was unclear. Anyone who had an eye for people would snatch her right up. Although he doubted people like the elf would be the one to get her. After his eighteenth proposal in knight oaths, dates and marriages she finally began smacking him on the head as well.

Whoever got her was going to have to be quick or masochistic as well as doting. For the first time, he was glad his brother hadn't gotten such a good thing. She needed someone gentler and less… scowl-ish to be happy.

It was seven thirty when they wrapped up the last kids. Even though the last half had been better, everyone was tired. Yawning pitifully, the blond haired menace finally seemed to calm down as he sagged on his girlfriend. The cameras, printer and other loose articles were the only things to be packed away the setting would be taken down by the janitors. The job of collecting and locking up the items was given to the drone, who only had reindeer ears to take off.

By eight they were completely done and ready to go home. Itachi gave a tired yawn as he closed the box on the Santa costume. Never again would he ever put on the dratted thing. His eyes scanned the room as several cracking vertebrae could be heard from the other side of the room. The girl was, once again, completely bundled and looking adorable. It made looking at her more bearable.

Lee closed Santa's bag of costumes and then laughed. "Let's do it again next year."

Naruto's eyes widened, Sakura gave a snort, Hinata shook her head, and Sai replied, "Whatever."

Itachi gave a shiver, never again.

"Well, it was fun," the blond haired planner sighed contently. Then his eyes locked on Itachi then flickered to Sakura, who was currently staring down at the floor.

"Itachi?" Naruto smiled like Itachi's mother did when she fooled him into getting laundry done.

"Yes…" No, he was never playing Santa again.

"Doesn't your family stay up on Christmas Eve?"

Was the kid inviting himself to his house? "Just my mother and I. My father and brother pass out long before that."

"Hmm…" Naruto fingered his chin.

"Naruto…" Sakura growled before trying to whack him.

He dodged nimbly away. "Socky's godmother is working a non-stop shift till five a.m. tomorrow so Sakura doesn't have a ride and doesn't get to spend Christmas Eve with anyone. You think Mikoto might want some company?"

As long as the yellow haired menace didn't tag along as well then, "Yes. I'm positive my mother would enjoy some female company as she is usually completely surrounded by men." A clear clarification that no, Naruto was not invited.

The girl quit trying to hit Naruto and Itachi noticed her whole face had turned a vibrant red. "I don't want to intrude."

"You wouldn't be. From all the stories I've heard Mikoto would love to have you for the holidays." In fact, he believed his mother had actually thought about kidnapping 'Sasuke's lovely little friend' and he had no doubt that if one of his cousins had seen her in that elf outfit they'd want to kidnap her too. Heck, he slightly… No… He wanted to invite her for dinner. Kidnapping implied something completely different…

"Thank you," the girl gave a slight bow. She then turned to Naruto. "Your cookies will be late this year."

"Awwww." Naruto whined.

"Sasuke's too." Sakura added turning to Itachi.

"Cookies?" Since when did his brother eat cookies? "My brother hates sweets."

There he went again. Naruto face palmed and Sakura gave a sniff. "But he said he wanted me to make those snicker doodles every year."

Snicker doodles… As in the snicker doodles that magically made their way on the counter each year which he savored till mid-March. And the creator of such cookies was now standing in front of him. Kidnapping was a brilliant idea. "My brother may not enjoy sweets but I do."

Almost everyone (the exclusion being Sai) in the room took a step away from him, as his eyes slightly grew red with greed.

Itachi smiled like a Cheshire cat. He took large steps before grabbing Sakura's scarf. Then, before anyone could protest, he pulled Sakura out the door behind him.

He casually put his arm around her shoulder, "Is there any odd ball ingredient that I would need to pick up at the market."

The girl blinked, several times at his hand then at his face as they strode through the mall. When she finally realized what the man before her was doing her face flushed. Her eyes narrowed and the look she gave him made him want to laugh.

"My recipe is top secret."

"I'm a very confidential person."

Her eyes narrowed a little bit more. "Nutmeg?"

Itachi smiled, "My mother has that."

They would have made it out the door without further incident if they had left earlier or little later but as luck would have it, Santa had one last guest.

Itachi turned as he noticed a tug on his pant leg.

He looked down at the little boy staring up at him, and glanced at his mother running towards them.

"You're not really Santa are you? If you were, you'd be delivering gifts by now."

Itachi blinked, taken aback by how the boy knew who he was and his deduction.

"I'm so sorry." The woman said grabbing the boy by his coat and pulling him back towards her. "He saw you go into the store room. We were late." She told them blushing slightly. Ashamed at failing as a mother.

Itachi sighed. One more good deed. That was it, then never again.

He kneeled to the ground and looked the kid in the eye. "You're right. I'm not Santa Clause."

The boy's mother mouth dropped open and she was at a loss for words. The kid's eyes grew wide, as if hoping, pleading that maybe he'd been wrong.

"Do you really think on his busiest day of the year Santa takes pictures with all the boys and girls?"

The kid shook his head.

Itachi gave a sad smile before continuing, "Santa's checking his list and do you know how many little boys' and girls' names are on that list?"

"A lot." The kid whimpered.

"That's right and do you know how many times he checks it?" Itachi wondered if the kid had heard the song.

"Twice." The cute little kid raised two fingers.

"And sometimes," Itachi whispered and everyone seemed to lean in, "three times." Itachi held up three fingers. The kid's eyes enlarged as if never dreaming of the possibility.

"Now, because only Santa checks the list he sends out his elves to malls, stores and wherever he is requested."

The kid's reverence broke with a snort. "Yeah right."

Itachi laughed and then turned to Sakura. "Remember back about three hundred years ago when kids were actually open to the possibility of elves being tall."

"Three hundred years." The awestruck look was back.

Immediately Sakura caught on and winked at Itachi. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and sighed faking an accent that Itachi couldn't place. "Aye, way back when."

… He almost blew the cover by laughing; it must have been a mix between Irish and some other English language. The kid bought it though, and that was the only thing that matter.

Another questioning light appeared in the child's eyes. "How does Santa know what we want then?"

"I report directly to Santa."

The child looked down at the floor for a second before glancing back up. "Is it too late?"

Itachi cocked his head to the side in thought. "I think I might be able to make an exception. But," Itachi held up a finger, "I cannot grantee." Itachi glanced up at the mom who nodded her head with a smile.

"What's your name?"

"Henry Jefferson."

"Henry, what would you like for Christmas?"

The child leaned into whisper and so did his mother; hoping to catch her son's wish. If the child was anything like Itachi at that age, Itachi knew the kid had kept shut about what he was going to ask Santa for.

"A bike."

Itachi turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "I am at least five hundred years old. Speak up."

"A bike." Still a whisper.

Itachi looped his ear with his hand. "I can't hear you, say it louder. "

"I want a bike!"

His mother beamed a smile; obviously she now knew what to get. All she needed was a little time.

"Now, Henry. Because you were a tiny bit late, Santa's going to have to double check his list for you. It might take a while but," Itachi looked up, "I think he might still drop by your house."

The mom smiled. "I'm sure he will. We'll leave cookies every night until he comes."

"And milk?" Children were so innocent.

"And milk."

Itachi patted the kid's before he and Sakura turned back towards the exit doors. Sakura closed in on the space this time giving a slight giggle.

"You were so serious. But… Why did you do it?" Sakura asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter if I don't believe. The only thing that matters is that they do."

Sakura flushed slightly at her words being repeated to her.

"Wait!" They both turned back to the little kid. "If we don't have a chimney can Santa still stop by?"

Itachi froze for a split second. Remembering how long he stared at the chimney wondering if Santa could even fit in the 11' by 13' hole he had measured. "He doesn't use the chimney anymore."

"Then how does he get in?"

Kid's never stopped asking questions did they? "He's got a key that opens any lock."

The kid pondered, then nodded, then smiled. "Thanks!" Back into his mother's arms he went.

The two 'elves' made their way to the snow covered parking lot.

"Did you have a good Christmas Eve, Itachi?" The cute, close bundle beside him asked.

Itachi shrugged. "I guess, I've had better."

The pink monster emerged and Itachi caught her hand right before she slammed the back of his head. He grinned wolfishly, "If you don't be nice I'll drive with the windows down."

The girl grinned back, "If you're not nice then you will never know my cookie recipe."

To say that Itachi behaved the entire car drive would have been hitting the red nosed reindeer on the nose. He was a perfect gentleman and to the surprise of both of them it wasn't awkward. On the way back to Itachi's home; they found they could debate several philosophical and medical issues and that their taste in music wasn't too different.

When Itachi parked the car in the drive way, both barely noticed anything other than their conversation. And when Itachi opened the door a horrible feeling hit him.

"Sakura stop!" A hoarse whisper.

But it was too late, and under the mistletoe they were.

Itachi put his fingers to his lips as he quietly kicked off his shoes. He motioned her to do the same and she followed his lead.

"Freeze!" A shrieking Mikoto jumped into the hallway with a camera, almost too late. A villainous smile played upon her face. "Now kiss!" His mother was one demanding creature.

Sakura flushed several shades of red but Itachi, a behaving gentleman for snicker doodles, only gave her a kiss on the cheek. The young girl blushed brighter as the camera flashed. Itachi smirked, she was beyond adorable.

"Better than nothing I guess…" the woman pouted.

Itachi walked over and quickly gave the woman a hug before she manipulated them into doing anything more.

"Is it alright if Sakura and I used the kitchen?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Right to the point Itachi."

"Of course, men will be men." Mikoto smiled at Sakura. "It's good to have you over for the holidays."

And it was. The kitchen was a busy place as both Sakura and Itachi worked on her two hundred cookie baking recipe. The whole house smelled of cinnamon and brown sugar.

When Sasuke wandered in, cutting it very close to midnight; he was very surprised that his spot, by his brother's side on the couch, had been taken by non-other than his pink-haired best friend. The girl also appeared to be making both his father and mother laugh. Sasuke blinked several times. And realized he became delusional if kept up past his bedtime.

But the story is not over because of Sasuke's bedtime.

At five-forty three a.m. after Itachi had returned from dropping Sakura off at her home; he walked into the living room and collapse on the couch. And it was just as he was dosing off, he heard the jingling of bells. Automatically, he reached down over the couch to pick up what he dropped, but quickly realized that he was not in possession of such bells.

So up with a start he then sat.

Looking hither and there for what could make a sound like that.

His eyes then rested, upon the Christmas tree,

Where one extra present happened to be.

With several quick steps he traveled the room,

Picked up the box and read who it was too.

Itachi Uchiha the little tag read,

From Great St. Nick, yes that's what it said!

So the interested Uchiha opened the box,

To reveal a red suite he'd wanted rid of and lost.

But he raised it out, in pure curiosity,

And a letter fluttered down to his feet.

He picked up the parchment

And read what it said:

Dear Itachi Uchiha

By your actions tonight

Of saving Christmas for Henry

I have left you a gift that should fit just right.

And just so you know.

I don't use a key

I instead use shrinking cookies.

And all was well that Christmas day.

**** Yes a tad bit bizarre but it's all in good fun:

Merry Christmas to all.

And to all a good night****