Looking up at the clock hanging on the Uchiha living room wall, she noted to herself that she had been waiting for Sasuke for 15 minutes already. Apparently his training session with Naruto must have gone over time and she figured they were probably still out in the fields exhausting themselves.
Sighing to herself, she placed her hands on the plain wood coffee table to steady herself as she stood up. Tsunade-sama had ordered her to retrieve some ancient scrolls from Sasuke, who failed to turn them in to Tsunade herself. They were to be picked up on this day, at this time, from the Uchiha residence. Since her student was the teammate of the family clan possessing the scrolls, Tsunade ordered Sakura to demand them from Sasuke.
When Sakura arrived at the residence, it appeared to be empty. She almost turned and walked away after knocking on the front door when finally, the door opened.
"A-ah! Uchiha-san!" Sakura greeted the older brother of Sasuke and explained why her presence was necessary at his residence. It wasn't until she looked down that she noticed that Itachi was holding a kunai in his left hand while wearing a white and rather, frilly apron.
"Sorry to bother you in the middle of cooking Uchiha-san! If you'd let me, may I come in and wait for Sasuke-kun to return? Tsunade-sama has been on Sasuke-kun's rear end recently for these scrolls but he just doesn't think these scrolls have any sort of priority in his life. I am supposed to meet him here today to retrieve them."
Itachi eyed her and moved out of the way to let her in.
"Thank you," Sakura sighed once more. The first reason why she didn't want to come to the Uchiha residence was because she didn't want to deal with Sasuke's older brother, Itachi. Of the few times she'd met him, she remembered him as quiet, calculating, and even more to-the-point than Sasuke at times.
"You may sit here until Sasuke-kun arrives. Pardon me, I have to get back to…cooking." Itachi walked into the adjourned kitchen and continued cooking. Sakura never thought Itachi was the type to cook.
'Okay, I've been here for over 20 minutes now and still no Sasuke-kun. Mission failed I guess. Besides it's so awkward sitting in this unfamiliar place by myself waiting for some duck-butted guy to appear. Maybe Itachi knows where the scrolls are at?' Sakura turned her head towards the kitchen and paused to contemplate if it would be rude to suddenly appear in their kitchen.
'Screw it!' She poked her head through the doorway and the smell of eggs hit her senses, 'He's…cooking eggs?'
Then she saw it. Plates of sunny side eggs, littered everywhere in the kitchen!
'What the! Is he cooking for a feast!? Why is there only sunny side up eggs? Oh no. Sasuke-kun's older brother, is he…some sort of crazy? I knew it.' She cringed and her eyes shot from plate to plate, trying to estimate just how many eggs were used.
"Is there going to be a feast tonight?" Sakura asked timidly as Itachi was scrubbing the pan in the sink.
"No."
"…?" She waited for an explanation but none came. 'I can see where Sasuke-kun got his one worded responses from now.'
"So…why so many plates of sunny side up eggs?"
"I'm trying to cook the perfect sunny side up egg," Itachi replied as he dried the clean pan with a towel and set it back on the stove.
"Isn't this…a bit too extreme, don't you think?" Sakura asked, trying to add a hint of cheer to her tone. She was really starting to think there was something off with Itachi. He turned on the stove, added oil and salt before grabbing a single white egg with his right hand. The kunai from earlier reappeared in his left hand and he posed, readying himself to crack the egg.
'What the heck is the kunai for?' Sakura wondered.
Itachi proceeded to crack the egg with one hand and in one motion, so fast that Sakura wouldn't have been able to see unless she was a ninja, he removed the egg shells from the falling yolk with the kunai as it fell into the pan. Sakura cringed, hard. Just what kind of crazy was Itachi?! She continued to watch as he covered the pan with the lid, allowing the steam inside to further cook the egg. Once he was done, he slid the egg from the pan onto a plate and just stared at it.
"It looks delicious!" Sakura commented with a smile.
"No. It's not perfect."
Her smile was wiped off her face as he turned and placed the pan in the sink, washing it for the next round.
"It looks great Uchiha-san! I'm sure it tastes delicious-"
"I only allow consumers of my cooking to eat the most perfect dishes that I make. No defects are suitable." He began to soap the pan and rinsed the water off.
"…Say Uchiha-san, I'll help you make the perfect sunny side egg," Sakura offered. He shut off the faucet and glanced towards her.
"Here, let me have the pan," she extended her hand and, reluctantly, Itachi placed it in her palm. Slightly yanking the pan from him, she dried it and placed it on the stove.
"First off, you have to let the flames heat up the oil and salt before placing the egg on the pan." Sakura ignited the stove and poured in a bit of oil and a pinch of salt.
"Then, when it's hot enough, you crack the egg," and she did so with her right hand, "into the pan. Cover it for about 30 seconds, depending on how much you want the egg cooked." Itachi watched her cooking with his sharp eyes, noting how her cooking technique was different than his, even the way she slid her thumb to crack the egg was different than his.
"There! It's done," she slid the egg off into a plate, turned around and set it down on the dining table next to his 'defect' plate. "Let's have a taste test, shall we? Let's see who has the better sunny side egg."
She sat down in a chair and pulled out one for Itachi. He paused, before giving in to taste his defects.
"Okay. Now you try my egg first." She grabbed a spoon from the dish rack near the sink and sat back down.
"I'm sorry if it doesn't suit your standards." Cutting out a slice of the egg including the egg yolk, she motioned for Itachi to open his mouth. Usually she would be flustered to feed another male in this manner, but she just found the situation to be too adorable. He was acting like a little kid, making 'mistake' after 'mistake', and trying with all his might to cook the perfect sunny side egg. To be honest, she felt like she was teaching a kid how to make a sunny side egg. Suddenly he didn't seem so cold and harsh anymore, all she saw was a kid trying to perfect a useless technique.
He opened his mouth and she popped in her sunny side egg. Slowly, he chewed and for a slight second, his eyes became wide.
"How is it?" Sakura asked with a smile.
"…It's…perfect."
"Heh! Of course!" Sakura boasted and quickly began cutting Itachi's egg that he cooked.
"Now taste yours." He opened his mouth once more and allowed her to feed him his egg. His eyes slightly scrunched up.
"What's wrong with it Uchiha-san?"
"It's…a bit over cooked and not salty enough."
Sakura slyly smiled and a light blush formed on her cheeks. She seemed to be holding in her wide grin. Itachi frowned inwardly, 'She must be teasing me.'
"Cook it once more while I observe."
She couldn't hold it in anymore and began laughing.
"Why should I? So you could copy my technique with your sharingan activated? Too late, you should have done that the first time I cooked. I won't repeat it again." She had a smug smile on her face and leaned back in her chair.
"I beg of you, cook it once more. I need to perfect the sunny side egg." Itachi gave her a serious look and she gave him another wide smile in return.
"I just came to your kitchen to tell you that I've waited long enough for your younger brother to arrive and that I will be leaving." Sakura stood up from her chair and brushed off her skirt. Itachi stood up after her and followed her as she walked out to the living room. She felt him trailing behind her, all the way up until she reached the door.
"Good-bye Uchiha-san. Have fun perfecting your technique and don't waste too many eggs."
Itachi bit the inside of his lip and motioned forward to try and stop her from leaving before she began to speak again.
"Oh and I didn't cook the perfect egg. You, Uchiha Itachi, cooked the first sunny side egg dish that you tasted and described as perfect. I switched them while you weren't looking. Have a good day!" With that, she opened the front door and shut it closed.
Her words sunk into his head and he couldn't help but let out one of his rare smiles. This kunoichi, Haruno Sakura, is surely something. She had helped him realize that his technique was already perfect. He headed to the kitchen and began to erase all traces of his mistakes.