"HELLO ladies," Deidara leaned forward on the glass table and smiled foxily. "What can I get for you today, hmmm?"

Sakura Haruno looked up and inspected the blonde with undisguised disgust. She inched away from him and glared pointedly at her friend, Hinata Hyuuga, who just looked down at the chessboard black-and-white tiled floor shyly. She'd always been like this around guys, but ever since she and Sakura had decided to frequent the bakery, she'd taken a liking to the place's only waiter. It annoyed the heck out of Sakura, who found the guy utterly repulsive.

"Ew," the pink-haired girl declared. Deidara laughed and instead focused his attention on Hinata, flicking his blonde fringe in the process. Blushing, as always.

"An iced chocolate for you, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata smiled bashfully and looked up at him. "Okay," she said, her voice a whisper. Deidara smiled and turned back to the girl he truthfully liked a bit more. She was feisty, and had stuck in his memory ever since she first came. Deidara smiled wider at the memory. The clumsy girl had spilled her drink—a strawberry and white chocolate float—and Deidara had to go on all fours to wipe it up. At one point, he couldn't help but sneak a look at her legs, which were really in his face, considering his was under their table, and she'd seen him and kneed him in the face. The kneeing had caused an endless nosebleed, and Sakura had not even apologized when she knocked over the table, too, and broke it. It was at this point that Hinata handed him Deidara her handkerchief, and—

"Hello?"

Sakura waved her hand in front of Deidara's face, as if trying to swat a fly. "Are you there?"

God, could this guy get any creepier?

"Sorry," Deidara grinned widely and rolled up his crisp white sleeves. He flicked his fringe again. "What was that, un?"

"A mocha," Sakura enunciated each word carefully, as if Deidara was a small, difficult child, and she was trying to teach him. "And a slice of mud,"

As soon as the last word slipped from her mouth, she looked away from him and fixed her eyes on her friend. Deidara sniffed and walked away, a black serving tray tucked under his arm. He hummed a small tune and lifted up the counter, going around it and turning one of the knobs of the coffee machine. Behind him, metallic clangs sounded from the kitchen, and he heard low murmurs. He could tell one of the men in there were angry, but he shrugged.

Meh. Not my problem. He turned the knob back the other way and reached for the creamer.

Sasori watched Sai critically as he punched a well into the ball of dough.

"This is your third time," he said under his breath. "Do it well, or leave,"
Sai watched as his teacher walked away and opened one of their large commercial ovens. Unfazed by the heat that pulsated from within it, Sasori reached in and put a hand just over the small buns inside. Sai averted his gaze down to his dough and sank his fingers into it. He certainly did not want to disappoint again, despite his complete lack of EQ and general knowledge when it came to pleasing people. It was one of the reasons he'd applied for this place, and alas one of the reasons why Sasori hired him. Deidara had clearly been a mistake—the vivacious flirt he was—but it was unfortunate that the redhead had gotten too used to him and didn't really want to have him replaced. After all, a newcomer would only mean training, and training meant Sasori had to interact.

"We're out of mud cake, danna,"

Deidara walked into the room with the empty plate. There were dark brown crumbs scattered around its surface, and there was a smear of chocolate. Sai looked between the two. He'd always found it odd that, out of all things, Deidara called Sasori danna, but then again, who was he to critique the nicknames one gave another? Considering he was a walking blank page. Unthinking, unfeeling…but still, he often pondered how danna came about, considering he, Sai, was the apprentice baker. Deidara was just the person who managed the bakery's shop-front.

Sasori looked at Deidara placidly and walked over. He took the plate from the blonde, who was now very close to his height. Deidara smiled at him.

"Sleep much last night?" he chirruped, folding his arms. A nearby oven pinged. Sasori rolled his eyes slowly and turned away, sighing. He put the plate in the sink and opened the nozzle. A steady rush of water came out and he directed it onto the plate. He always wanted to ignore Deidara's questions, but Sai was as boring as they came, and Sasori had to admit he was kind of glad for Deidara's talkativeness, and that it was kind of fun berating him for no reason.

"Go back to work, Iwa,"

Deidara laughed shortly and shook his head, his blonde ponytail swishing. He waved at Sai, who didn't know what to do in response, and walked back out again. Sasori shut the nozzle again and walked over to the shelves. He took out a huge tub of castor sugar and glanced at Sai. He sniffed a little in approval and extracted a metal mixing bowl.

Deidara walked back out. Hinata glanced at him and reddened, both her hands grasping her glass tumbler. Sakura through him another dirty look over her shoulder. She had nothing in her hair for once, and Deidara wondered if he should tell her that she looked better this way. Probably not. She'd totally kick my a—

A bell rang and Deidara looked to the door. A black-haired male with heavy lines slashing across his cheeks from the inner corners of his eyes walked in. Deidara almost whistled to himself at the guy's obvious physical attractiveness.

"Good morning," he said. "What can I do for you?"

Sakura turned around and did a double-take. The guy standing there was…

…gorgeous. She bit her lip. Hinata just looked down at her cup, saying nothing at her friend's obvious interest in the newcomer.

Itachi looked around the store and inhaled the scent of freshly baked bread. His effeminate eyes scanned the curved glass display and behind them, the cupcakes, slices and biscuits neatly on show. He looked at the blonde dude who worked there and smiled dimly.

"I want a… to order a cake," he said softly. Deidara raised an eyebrow. Shy guy, or guy who doesn't like talking much?

"Sure thing," Deidara whipped out a notepad. We'll see. "What cake are you after?"

Sakura's eyes lingered on the Itachi's back before she turned back to face Hinata, who smiled at her knowingly.

"He's mine," Sakura whispered, a sparkle in her green eyes.