Chapter Text
"Good afternoon and welcome to Haruno's Bakery Service! How may I help you today?" Sakura's voice instinctively responded to the light chime of the bells that were set at the front door. They came in handy when everyone was in the back kitchen preparing their goodies and treats for customers.
They were especially busy around this time of the year as Thanksgiving neared, and the annual festival in the small town of Konoha. As one of the most popular-ranking bakeries, Sakura and her parents participated in the festival each year, producing a new recipe each time.
This year, the theme was 'Back to the Classics'. And what better way to celebrate the classics than with a good and old fashioned apple pie? It was one of Sakura's favorites, after all. However, it was up to her to create a new recipe for the traditional treat as her parents took care of the bakery and prepared what they needed outside of the competition.
It would have been fun, of course, if it weren't for their rivaling bakery service, the Uchiha's. Sakura despised them and their family. Each year, they would compete for the title of the best bakery, and while she and her family would always win in excellent services, they didn't always win when it came to the quality of the baked goods. They had now lost two years in a row against the Uchiha's.
Reaching up to wipe the bead of sweat off her brow, she smiled at the customer.
Hyuuga Hinata was a regular visitor. The two had first met in middle school, where they shared the same homeroom teacher. While she was quite reserved, Hinata and Sakura had quickly become close friends.
"Sakura-chan, how is the apple pie going?" Hinata inquired, inhaling the scent of fresh and crisp apples. She carefully selected a blueberry tart for herself, placing it on the counter as she reached for her wallet.
"Not so good, Hina-chan. Sometimes it turns out too sweet, and other times it is too tart," Sakura pouted, showing her the latest creation of an apple pie. It looked delicious and extravagant, but a true baker would know that it was a failed batch from the way the pie flaked at the edges and the crust was still too shiny despite the golden color.
"You'll get there soon enough," Her purple-headed friend smiled warmly at her, dropping in whatever loose change she had into the tip jar.
"Thanks, I sure hope so," Sakura's eyes softened. Even if she was the worst baker in the world, Hinata would still be by her side, encouraging her to keep going even if all seemed lost.
"Oh! I'm late to my business meeting," Hinata exclaimed as she took another dainty bite of her blueberry tart, pulling out a few bills from her purple wallet. "Keep the extra money and buy yourself some more apples!"
"By the time this festival's over, I won't ever want to see an apple again!" Sakura exaggerated her movements as she doubled over in feigned exhaustion.
The tinkling laughter of Hinata and the bell mixed together as her dearest friend left. And now, it was just her and the apple pie.
"Fuck this apple pie and fuck the festival!" Sakura threw her hands up in the air before reviewing her recipe.
"Okay, so now I need less butter for the crust so it isn't so shiny, but more egg wash to even out the contents. Oh! And I need to taste the apples before throwing them in. Heavens, they aren't even granny smith apples but they're so bitter and tart," She talked to herself as she scratched out certain words and replaced them with the new.
"Alright, let's try this one out. Actually, I'm going to add just a bit of vanilla and pumpkin extract. It should enhance the flavors."
And with that, Sakura once again busied herself with perfecting her apple pie recipe.
"Welcome to Uchiha's Bakery Service," A monotone voice called out as the whoosh of air signified him of a new customer's entrance.
"Hi, how are you today?" A kind, but flirtatious voice responded. Sasuke had to physically pull the scowl off of his face before looking up.
"I'm doing just fine, and you?" He asked back with no intentions but to be polite. If his workaholic parents and brother wanted to win the stupid award of best customer service, so be it. However, the woman in front of him seemed to get the wrong idea.
"I'm doing a lot better now that I'm here with you," She winked, leaning against the counter. "Do you have any cream pies? If not, I'm sure we can make one."
Sasuke blanched at the absolutely horrid pick-up line. "I'm sorry, but we aren't offering either of those at the moment."
"At the moment? So when will you be free?" The brunette crossed her arms, obviously pressing her assets together. Sasuke decidedly looked at her face. She had gorgeous green eyes that reminded him of Haruno's daughter. They were slightly darker, though, with an olive tint. The Haruno girl had bright, emerald green eyes.
"If you aren't planning on ordering anything, please see yourself out," Sasuke annoyedly said, being sure to add ice to his voice in order for the woman to take the hint. She appeared to be in her late thirties, but here she was, flirting with a twenty year-old. Shameless.
"Well, I would like to order you, but you're being insignificantly rude! Good luck finding someone with that attitude of yours," She squawked, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment as she scurried out of the store.
"Sasuke-chan? What was that all about?" His mothers voice rang from the large kitchen. The level of concern in her tone was high as she understood the lengths that women in Konoha would go to in order to achieve either of her sons.
"It's that one woman who comes in every week and harasses me," Sasuke grunted, taking the brown, packaged box from her hands. "What is this for?"
"Oh! Itachi-kun is busy making the peach cobblers for this year's festival, so I'm just helping him out. I went out and bought a few peaches!" She replied, rubbing Sasuke's hair as a thank you to his services.
"A few?" The raven-head's eyebrow twitched. "Mother, this box is at least thirty pounds. How did you carry this here from the market?"
"I ran this bakery with your father for thirty years now, thank you," Mikoto quipped, smacking him on the top of the head with a wooden spoon that magically appeared in her hand.
"It's already been that long?" A deep voice wondered out loud as Sasuke gently placed the box of peaches on one of the spare counters.
"Yes, darling. Itachi-kun is twenty-five and Sasuke-chan is now twenty," Mikoto clasped her hands together in wistfulness. "It is quite difficult to keep track of time."
"Thank you for the peaches, mother. You didn't have to," Another voice sounded from the opposite end of the kitchen.
There stood Uchiha Itachi, Sakura's number one arch-nemesis. The two had never gotten along, even when they were innocent children. All Sakura would want to do was play with her dolls in the sun, but Itachi just had to run in with a garden hose. How did he get a garden hose in the middle of the park? Only he would know.
But all in all, it was quite safe to say that the two absolutely despised each other. From their young childhood up until their adulthood, they were always competing over something. Having already graduated from college, the long-haired male stood at the number one spot of Konoha University.
And Sakura being Sakura, she just had to beat his records and take his spot. And she did. And she mercilessly waved it in front of his face at her early graduation of two years. And then, she proceeded to ignore him. Since then, it had been nine months and they were now preparing for the annual festival.
With his long hair pinned back into a hairnet, Itachi walked over to examine the peaches. He kissed his mother on the cheek in satisfaction and took the box over to his little corner.
"Why does Itachi get to prepare the competition piece every year and not me?" Sasuke complained for the umpteenth time.
"Because, hun, you don't have any interests in baking like your older brother does," Mikoto gently chastised while reminding him of the kitchen disasters that he had created on multiple occasions as he attempted to create last year's piece, a blueberry scone. He had scornfully relented his position to Itachi soon after.
"Ah, that's right. I should get back to the front now in case somebody else comes in," Sasuke lazily waved at his family, sauntering towards the cash register. "When is something actually exciting going to happen?"
"Sasuke-kun!" A voice squealed.
"Ino, what are you doing here now? This is the fifth time you've visited in the past two hours!" Sakura didn't mean to whine about her blonde friend's appearances, but this was too much. She needed to focus on her apple pie and the real customers that walked in, not rushing out to greet someone to only meet one of her off-the-wall friends.
"Oh, but Sakura! I just visited the Uchiha bakery," Ino started. "Sasuke-kun is so dreamy, working in that nice, black apron of his. It hugs his figure so nicely and makes his arms look so strong."
Ino rambled about as Sakura merely rolled her eyes, tasting the apple pie that was fresh out of the oven. She gasped. This… this pie was perfect!
Practically slamming her fork back onto her plate, she stood. "Ino, it's perfect!"
Looking at the shiny baby-blue eyes in front of her, she watched as her friend broke out into a wide grin.
"Is it not! That's the perfect plan to finally get Sasuke-kun into my clutches!" Ino fist-pumped the air excitedly.
"What?" Sakura asked incredulously before shaking her head. "Nevermind, but here! Try this and let me know what you think!"
Shoving a forkful of the apple pie into Ino's mouth, she watched her chew thoughtfully before swallowing. Gulping, Sakura awaited the outcome.
"Forehead. This is the definition of perfect," Ino used the fork to cut into the apple pie, taking another piece.
"Is it really? That's great! I finally did it!" Sakura cheered, yanking her apron off. "I'm going to take the rest of the day off now, what time is it?"
"Forehead, what day are you referring to? It's already five in the afternoon, there's no day to take off!" Ino grabbed her pink-haired friend's wrist and dragged her up the stairs and into the apartment directly above the bakery. "And so, we're spending the night together. What do you think? Should we go to the club or just go out to dinner. Oh, is Hinata-chan free?"
"I think I'll have to pass this time, Ino," Sakura gently removed the hand grasping her wrist, smiling softly as a feeble attempt to soothe her friend's feelings. "My parents were out of the village today so I had to run the shop myself while arranging the festival's goods. You know how it is to run a shop by yourself."
Ino frowned as she recalled her own experiences of running her family's flower shop by herself whenever her parents were too busy to help out. It was stressful, managing the shop, customers, and incoming flowers while trying to maintain her sanity.
"Okay," She quietly relented. "But just this time! I'm taking you out next time for sure!"
"Sure, sure. Now let me get some sleep. I had to get up at four this morning," Sakura chuckled, pushing her friend away. "Actually, I'll walk you out. I have to close up the show anyway."
As Ino chatted about their next girl's day out with Hinata, Sakura listened intently. Even though the blonde was absolutely head over heels in love with one of her eternal rival's, she also understood that as a human, you couldn't help how you felt about something or someone no matter how hard you tried. And she knew that if it ever came down to it, Ino would choose her over Sasuke in a heartbeat.
"I'm by your side for a reason, you know," Ino sensed Sakura's sudden silence, nudging her arm.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Sakura kicked a pebble that had strayed onto the concrete back into the grass.
"I'm sorry if I talked about Sasuke too much today, but it's you that I'm giving all this information to. I can gossip, and you can use any good details for your competition," Ino offered a pat on the shoulder as she turned away to walk back to her house.
"Ja ne, forehead."
"See you later, pig," Sakura fondly answered in response, pausing on the way back into the shop to flip the open sign to close.
With years of practice under her belt, she easily untied the black apron that she threw on each morning. It wasn't her first choice of color, but the darker the color was, the less any stains would appear and be noticeable.
Throwing it into a basket full of other stark black aprons, she hung three new ones on the hooks designated for the cooking aprons, two for her parents, and one for her. Lifting the heavy basket, she let out a puff of air as she forced it up the stairs and loaded them all into the laundry machine. She chose her favorite sweet scent of peach laundry detergent and poured a generous amount in, starting the load on cold water.
Sighing, she went back downstairs into the shop. Picking up her phone from the little storage cabinet underneath and behind the cash register, she instantly called her mother.
"Hi, mom. I'm closing up the shop right now. Yes, I'm locking the doors. You could hear the keys?" Sakura jiggled the small set of keys by the phone speaker before locking the door from the inside. "That's a secret. I'll let you and dad try my latest apple pie tomorrow when you're home to see what you think. How is Sunagakure, has it gotten dark yet?"
As she lightly spritzed the windows with glass cleaner, she watched as the sun set in Konoha. Her eyes widened at the sight in front of her.
"Uchiha Itachi?" She spluttered, looking at the raven-haired male that stared straight back at her. "What? Oh, no. It must be my imagination. I'll see you and dad tomorrow. Bye, I love you."
In her state of shock, she didn't think to lower her phone from her ear even as it beeped in recognition of the call ending. The man standing outside didn't even look disturbed. Instead, he looked rather calm as he strolled towards the window she was currently wiping and mimed rubbing the glass.
Blinking out of her trance, Sakura noticed all the liquid glass cleaner pooling at the edge of the windowsill. Gasping, she wiped it up quickly before reaching into her sweatshirt pocket to retrieve the keys.
Rushing to open the door, she paid no attention to him until she stormed out.
"Uchiha-san, what on earth are you doing, standing outside and staring me down?" She demanded, cocking her hip out, laying a hand delicately on it.
"Haruno-san, what a pleasant greeting," His indifferent voice responded as he walked towards her, stopping until all he had to do was look down and meet her eyes.
"It may have been much more pleasant if you had knocked civilly instead of acting like a creep," She crossed her arms defensively, tapping her right foot on the ground.
"I was just happening to pass by when I noticed that you were wiping down the insides of your windows when it is usually the side that is exposed to the outside world that require cleaning," He offered his advice.
"Ah, thank you for telling me something that I already knew. It was much greatly appreciated," Sakura dryly retorted. "Have a nice night, Uchiha-san."
"And to you, Haruno-san."
"He said that?!" Ino shrieked as Sakura hurriedly covered the girl's mouth with her hand.
"Girl, take your peachy smelling hands off my mouth, your parents are literally not home," Ino sassed, snatching away Sakura's panicked actions.
"Oh, you're right. I'm just so used to my mom trying to listen in for gossip," The pinkette rolled her eyes in exasperation of her mother's actions.
"Achoo!"
"Mebuki, you've sneezed at least five times now! Are you sure you're alright?"
"Sakura, that brat! I know she's gossiping about me right now!"
"Yes, yes. Because your life is just that juicy," Ino ruefully muttered before checking her nails to make sure they weren't ruined by Sakura's sudden outburst.
"Why are you here anyway, Ino? I'm about to open up the shop and you're sitting at one of the tables painting your nails white. You know what, at least they aren't purple for once," Sakura pulled her long hair up into a bun to keep it out of her face.
"Hey! White nails signify that you're single! Maybe with all the men that are going to be flocked around me tomorrow night, maybe, just maybe Sasuke-kun will finally notice me!"
"I'm sure he will, Ino. I wish you best of luck," Pulling out the fresh batch of blueberry muffins, Sakura's green eyes concentrated on the heated display bar that kept the goods warm throughout the day. She mentally cheered as she successfully slid the tray of muffins into the array without any of them sliding into each other.
"Thanks, Saku-chan! With your well wishes, I'm sure he'll pay special attention to me," Setting down the bottle of polish, the chair squeaked against the freshly mopped floors of the bakery as Ino slid back to stand up.
"I still can't believe my parents left me here to run the shop alone. And on the day before the competition!" Sakura groaned as she settled the rainbow-ed variety of macarons into a spinning and tiered tray, filling the bottom layer with mini vanilla and chocolate cupcakes.
"I'll run the cash register!" Ino skipped over to the counter, hands straight up in the air.
"We don't have any spare money for other employees, Ino," Sakura regretfully muttered as she pulled out her family's monthly budget clipboard. "Most of it was spent on the competition. You know, to enter, to perfect the recipe, to set up a stand, etcetera etcetera."
"Pay me back later or pay me back never," Ino delicately waved her fingers dismissively in the air. "This is the least that I can do for my best friend."
"I just don't want to take advantage of you whether it's now or in the future," Sakura sighed, but accepted her friend's help nonetheless, grabbing them each a set of aprons.
Peeling off her current flour-coated apron, she tossed it into the basket and pulled the new one on.
"For the customer's eyes," She explained to Ino, who more than likely already knew her reasoning for constantly switching out aprons.
"What else do you need help with?" Ino asked as she wrapped her waist-length ponytail into a bun that sat on top of her head. Releasing the blonde hair-tie with a snap, she tugged at her scalp to lessen the pain of the tightness of her bun before expertly wrapping the black apron around her waist.
"Can you take out the chocolate chip cookies in exactly three minutes? I'm going to go wash these apples really quickly," Looking over her shoulder, Sakura felt a rush of gratitude as her blue-eyed friend mock-saluted her and she mirrored the grin being sent to her.
Settling on the task before her, Sakura let out a muted sigh. She had at the very least two hundred apples to wash and another fifty that were being used as samples for today.
As carefully as she could be right then, she poured in the apples, one basket after another until they covered the bottom of the large sink that was placed at the very back of the kitchen. Luckily, her parents knew that they would need a six-by-six sink to do dishes and wash ingredients.
Turning on the high-pressure faucet, Sakura got to washing.
"You're going to rob them of their brown sugar," Sasuke commented as he watched his brother pile in the packets of sugar into his arms.
"Mother and father should have thought of that when we decided to enter the competition with peach cobbler," Itachi monotonously replied. He briefly paused to shove an armful into Sasuke's empty hands. The latter grunted at the sudden weight being pressed into him but didn't complain.
"Do you know what the Haruno's are baking?" He instead chose to change the subject to a conversation much more pleasurable than the one he would've faced if he had argued with his older brother.
"No," The long-haired raven distastefully responded. He had tried to peer into their shop window the night before. Alas, they had long closed since.
"Looks like you didn't get there in time then," Sasuke had a mocking smile on his face as he reveled in his brother's trivial failure. So small, yet so annoying. Itachi could do anything he wanted, except for that.
"It is no issue. We will find out tomorrow," Itachi hastily amended his mistake. There was no changing their entry, anyway, so there would be no difference. Annoyance pulled at the hem of his black t-shirt as he mulled over Sasuke's scornful tone.
"Whatever. My arms are getting tired. I told you to get a basket," Sasuke grouched over the brown sugar bags that were still being placed into his arms, the pile growing so tall that he could barely peer over the top of them.
"Let's go," Itachi agreed. The sooner that they got out of the small store, the better.
After paying for their ungodly amount of ingredients, they had also bought around fifteen pound of flour. Itachi had placed most of the load onto Sasuke to lug home to go to his favorite store that sold large bottles of vanilla extract. He still carried five grocery bags filled with brown sugar, though.
Not wanting to throw a fit in public, Sasuke gritted his teeth and teeter-tottered home. Even if it seemed childish, their mother would be hearing about this incident.
Paying no more attention to his younger brother, Itachi swung the bags by his knees as he cheerfully rounded the corner, meeting his aunt, who ran the most reliable bakery store in town. Wait, no. This wasn't his aunt.
"Itachi-san?"
Slightly rearing back, Itachi found himself meeting the eyes of Haruno Sakura. Well, there went his great day. Suddenly, he wasn't so cheerful anymore.
"Sakura-san," He greeted, his gaze lowering to the loads and loads of baking ingredients in her small arms. How was she carrying all of those?
"I'm a lot stronger than most people would think," She retorted, a fine, pink eyebrow raising at his odd question.
Oh. He had spoken out loud.
Flour, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, milk, food coloring, butter, oil, and were those eggs? It was a miracle that nothing had been dropped yet!
"Well, I should get going now. I left my friend to run the cash register. She probably stole all of the money by now," Chuckling at the jab meant for her friend, Sakura continued down the pebbled road like she was carrying bags of feathers in her arms.
Itachi sighed. He really shouldn't be doing this, but if those eggs dropped onto the stone road just like that, he was sure to be ridiculed for not helping the poor, small, lady who had just spoken to him.
Quickening his speed to a fast walk, he barely caught up with the pink-haired woman. "Let me take some of those."
Sakura's face contorted with confusion and slight judgment as she looked over at her archnemesis beside her.
"Go buy your own ingredients," She couldn't help but snap at him. Take some of her ingredients? Yeah, right. She had to be dumb to agree with that.
"I already did. I am only offering to help you carry those," Itachi argued with her.
Starting to get annoyed, Sakura trained her eyes onto the way home as she easily dodged an incoming cart filled with clothes. Itachi, however, wasn't as fortunate and tripped over a leg of the cart.
The woman running the wagon barely spared them a glance before continuing on her way. Gritting her teeth, Sakura turned back to Itachi.
"Don't try to take care of others if you can't even avoid being hit in broad daylight."
From then on, she marched away from the man, not wanting to spend another minute with him. She couldn't help but to cruelly laugh at the irony of his words.
"Forehead? What're you doing out there cackling to yourself?" Ino's blonde head popped out of the bakery, waving her closer. "You're going to scare away all of your own customers before they even come within a ten-foot radius of the shop.
Smirking, Sakura thanked Ino for holding the door open for her as she gently placed all of the ingredients onto the counter in the kitchen. "Oh Ino, have I got a story to tell you!"
"Sure, tell me while we put all of these ingredients away before they expire due to the heat," Ino's eyes glistened with curiosity before frowning. "How the hell did you carry all of this by yourself anyway?"
"Uchiha offered to help me but then tripped and got himself hurt," Sakura giggled as she recalled the event.
"You said what?" Ino shoved her face into the large fridge to place the butter and eggs into it.
"I was walking down the street with all of the ingredients and I bumped into Itachi. He had the audacity to ask me how I could carry the amount that I was when I saw his younger brother carry, like, twice his weight in brown sugar and flour on the way back," Sakura waved her hands around to dust away the flour that had puffed up from being placed onto a rack in the pantry.
"Okay, that's pretty hypocritical of him. But you said he offered to help you?" Ino incredulously asked in shock.
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying! I was just walking away when he ran after me and said, no, demanded I hand him some of the things I was carrying. But then this lady pushing this cart of clothes came by and while I dodged it, he tripped over one of the legs and fell," Sakura snorted at the horrified look that appeared on Itachi's face when the incident had happened.
"Way to eat his own words," Ino leered. "I hope Sasuke-kun gives him an earful for making him do all of that."
"Agreed," Sakura absentmindedly responded. "The poor guy was basically falling over his own feet from the amount he was carrying."
"Sakura-chan, we're back!" A female voice echoed through the bakery.
Perking up, Sakura called back. "Ino and I are in the kitchen, mama!"
"Your father and I had some wonderful apple pie and we just had to bring you girls back a piece," Rummaging through the grocery bag she had placed on the counter, Mebuki extracted two delicately decorated boxes.
Ino quietly squealed at the handsome scent emanating from the container and immediately dove in with a fork. She chewed for a few moments before gently placing it down.
"I think you're all set, Sak. Your apple pie's better than this one!" Ino exclaimed, her tongue darting out to lick off the remnant of the delicacy on her spoon.
"Oh, Sakura-chan! Have you finally figured out your apple pie recipe?" Sakura's mother excitedly bounded over to her, taking Sakura's hands in her own. In return, the pinkette grinned back at her mother, and in turn, her father.
"I was just about to make a sample batch for the customers. I'll let you try some," Sakura watched in pure amusement as her mother then ran towards her father, bulldozing him into a hug.
"Here comes the choo-choo train," Itachi blandly muttered, his floured hands raising a spoon of freshly baked goods to Mikoto's mouth.
"Ahh," She smiled. Even if he sounded like he didn't care, she knew that deep down, Itachi was worrying about whether or not his final product would be acceptable.
Her mouth clamped down on the spoon. A whirlwind of flavors bursting through her taste buds. The sweetness of the peach jam with the perfect note of tartness. The flakiness and buttery-goodness of the crust that melted on her tongue after the initial crunch of the peach. It was, in simple words, perfect.
"Itachi-chan, you did it. You finalized your very first creation and there is nobody else to take credit for it but you," Despite her calm words, Itachi couldn't ignore the brightness in his mother's warm eyes and knew she was telling the truth.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Itachi then took his first bite of his handiwork. His eyes partially widened in shock as he allowed himself to softly smile. The shot of pride washed over him in a wave of adrenaline as he gathered Mikoto into his arms.
"I'm so proud of you," Mikoto muttered, a stray tear blending into his shirt as she stepped back, her eyes reddened.
"What about me?" Sasuke's indignant voice called out from the front counter.
"Oh, honey! I'm even prouder of you for carrying all of those ingredients for your dear brother- Itachi, why are you limping? Did you hit your leg?" Her motherly concern took over her blatant teasing towards her younger son as she immediately bent down to roll up Itachi's right pant leg.
Curiosity blended into his face as he, too, peered at his leg. The throbbing pain had disappeared while he was baking, so he had completely forgotten about it. But now that it was over, the pain was immense.
"My goodness, your entire shin is purple!" Raising a hand to her mouth in shock, Mikoto mutely stood and ran to get her first aid kit.
"What's going on-!" Sasuke gasped as he walked into the kitchen, stunned by his brother's leg. He stopped in the archway before turning around. Itachi swore he heard the tomato-lover mention that he would be getting ice.
It was then, in slow motion, that Itachi watched a horror scene develop right in front of him. In his rush to leave the kitchen, Sasuke barely had enough time to skid to a stop on his heels as Mikoto ran back in. However, it was much too late.
Crashing into her son, the two of them toppled towards the ground. Itachi began running towards them, hoping to be able to slide underneath and catch them. Before he could even take two steps, he collapsed due to the pain of his leg, hopelessly watching the scene unfurl before him.
Sasuke was falling headfirst towards the hard, cemented flooring of the kitchen. It was then that Mikoto stubbornly decided that her precious son wouldn't be getting hurt. Itachi didn't know how it happened, but the woman had flipped them so she would be the one to hit the floor. He could hardly believe that his mother, with a figure as small as the one she held, could flip over Sasuke, who seemed to tower over her height-wise.
He couldn't help but to think of Sakura, who carried her groceries that seemed like her weight doubled. Clenching his fists together, he internally swore as he knew that with the tragedy destined to happen, they wouldn't be able to participate in the competition. For heaven's sake, he was handing the annoying Haruno the crown!
Bam!
Even though it was bound to happen, Itachi still winced at the impact. His mother let out a short scream while Sasuke laid on top of her, stunned.
"Kaa-chan?" He meekly whispered before immediately standing up. "Nii-san… look after her. I- I'm going to call an ambulance. Call father."
Sasuke scurried out of the kitchen skittishly, no doubt going to the front counter and using the phone there. Before he left, he had slid his phone towards Itachi's direction, asking him to- no. Telling him to call their father.
Itachi's fingers mindlessly wrapped themselves around Sasuke's phone.
"Hello, father."
"Mother, you cannot be serious," Itachi was about to pull his hair out. Thankfully, his hands were already occupied as they clung onto Mikoto's, who was currently resting in a hospital bed.
White bed, white blanket, white curtain. White walls, white hospital gown, white chairs. Itachi was going to go blind. Or insane, whichever came first.
"Itachi, does it look like I am joking?" Raising a stern brow, Mikoto stared at her eldest son.
"What would the point of a competition be?" The raven-haired male stared right back at her, awaiting her response.
"Do you truly believe that it is a contest? A contest to see who is best?" Mikoto simply retorted. "Think, Itachi-chan. Besides the contest, what are you truly doing?"
"I am creating the best peach cobbler that I can. Oh."
"That's right," Mikoto gently smiled as the realization dawned upon Itachi. "You're spreading your love for baking through the competition. It doesn't matter who comes out on top when you know that you have tried your hardest. It doesn't matter if you win or not if people still love your creation. So will you do it?"
"Yes, I will," Itachi had no other arguments. However, he could only hope that the other party had none either.
Itachi now stood in front of Haruno's Bakery, sighing. Now that he had finally learned the competition's true intentions, it was clear as day that Sakura had known all along. It had always been him attacking her with malice. She had only kept her distance from him to avoid further conflict.
He watched her as she happily smeared batter onto her friend's face, taking care to avoid her purple hair. Another one, Ino, also joined in by mock-slapping Sakura's face with even more batter. The trio had dissolved into giggles.
He had always known Ino to be flirtatious, especially since she had always pined after Sasuke. Perhaps they were only seeing their picture of the story. Perhaps he was completely missing what the story was truly about.
Taking in one final breath, Itachi walked in. He was stunned to the core to see Sakura smile at him. How had he never known that she never actually hated him?
"How may I help you, Itachi-san?"
How had he never known how beautiful she was?