Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, merchandise, TV rights, ect… (I think you get the point.)

Summery

ONE SHOT – Pancakes…eggs, flour, milk and just a pinch of salt. A recipe for success or one for humiliation? (Sasuke/Ino)

Like all of my work this is just something that happened to float through the empty void inside my head. Like it or hate it please R and R as honest opinions are always welcomed, as are random acts of worship.

Lamb: Yeah another random holiday (for want of a better word) so another random one shot from me!! I would have had this up sooner but fanfiction was acting up.

Muse: How dare it!! The only one that gets to stop Lamb from writing is me.

Dedi: It's a funny sort of loyalty, but I guess it works. This fic is dedicated to kiwi4me, because her reviews always make Lamb smile. So kiwi4me, this is for you.

Lamb: As always sorry for any bad spelling and if you feel the need to throw things at me please wait until I've hidden behind the sofa kay!?

Muse: On with the fic!

It's been a while,
You're in denial,
And now it's too late,
The way she looks makes you hide,
All the warning signs,
Cus her blond hair, her blue eyes,
Makes you wanna die,

Battered and Bruised

The eight-year-old boy rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand and wrinkled his nose when the action caused a plume of fine white powder to fall from his hair. The horrid stuff really did get everywhere. The kitchen of the Uchiha main house looked as if it had been ground zero for the world's biggest flour bomb.

There were also broken bits of eggshell littering the floor and units and egg yoke, bright as a new sun, dripped from the edge of the table. Milk had been spilled over the floor and mixed with the flour to form a sticky past that clung to everything. And in the midst of the carnage stood the dark, not that you could have guess under the flour, haired boy.

He was going to have a hard time explaining this situation to his parents and his mother and her guest were going to be back at any moment. Which would also meant that she would be here.

Stupid Western holidays, he thought mulishly. It wasn't as if he cared about the stupid holiday and he most definitely didn't like eating sweet things, which was what pancakes normally were. Well traditionally on this day they were eaten with lemon juice and sugar and that by definition made them sweet. And Uchiha Sasuke didn't do sweet.

So why had he tried to make the wretched things in the first place, he silently asked himself. It was nothing but a stupid impulsive idea that had gotten him in a big mess and no doubt in even bigger trouble. So why?

Because of the warm tingling in the pit of his stomach when Yamanaka Ino had smiled at him, that was why.

Girls smiled at him all the time and he thought nothing of it. He was almost his big brother in miniature and there were always girls following Itachi around which gave Sasuke a fair idea of what his future would hold. He was also part of the main family of one of the most influential clans in Fire County, never mind Konoha as well as being the top student in his academy class. Yep, girls were always smiling at him.

But it was only the loud mouth blonde that had gotten him to smile back. Only her that made him feel as if his stomach was doing flip-flops. It was for that reason, wanting to see that smile again, that he was now covered in pancake batter.

No he didn't like sweet things, but Ino did.

He didn't have much time for western holidays, but Ino did.

And so when his mother has announced that Yamanaka Chouko would be visiting along with her daughter Sasuke had seen it as the perfect opportunity to see that smile again. But as it turned out it was looking like it was going to end up as the perfect opportunity for Ino see him completely humiliated. So not only would he end up covered from head to toe in batter, but his pride was going to take a severe beating too.

The sound of the kitchen door being pushed open caused Sasuke to spin on the spot, eyes wide with a combination of fear and embarrassment. He looked up at the impassive face of his older brother and wondered if Itachi could see his blush through the lair of flour that coated his skin. And then realised what a stupid thought it was, of course his blush would be visible, Kami-sama hated him after all.

"Oh Sasuke…" It was a sign of how deeply he cared for his little brother that Itachi didn't simply bust out laughing at the rather pathetic sight.

It was true that back in the days when he had been trying to impress his first crush he had done some things that now made him cringe in horror. Cooking, however, had not been one of them. But even as the sheer inanity of the situation hit him, Itachi could not help but be slightly moved by the lengths his brother was prepared to go to for a mere slip of a girl.

The Yamanaka brat had always come across as just that a brat. Loud and over confident, always jumping into a situation feet first without ever bothering to think. In years to come she would probably grow into an attractive young woman, but at the moment she was just a bossy tomboy. And yet she had somehow managed to get Sasuke all tied up in knots and in all likelihood she didn't even know she had.

"Big brother… help?" Even if he had had a heart of stone, which he knew he did not, Itachi would have been hard pressed to ignore his sibling's plea for help. Or was it rescue?

Yamanaka Ino was a brat, but Sasuke was his brother and he obviously saw something in the blonde would be kunoichi. Which meant that just letting the eight-year-old face the consequences of his actions, and the humiliation that would come along with it was not something Itachi in good continence could allow to happen. He just hoped that one day the girl would turn out to have been worth all the effort.

"Kaa-San," The pride of the Uchiha clan started and he turned to face his parent, effectively stopping her from entering the kitchen and also from seeing the state said room was in. "Why don't you take Chouko-san and go and sit down while I see about arranging some tea."

"Hmm?" The dark haired woman looked away from the blonde woman she had been conversing with and fixed bemused eyes on her son. "Oh no that's all right Itachi. Ino-chan is going to show her mother and myself how to make pancakes."

"Ino…" From feeling as if he might burst into flames from the heat of his embarrassment Sasuke went to feeling as if he'd suddenly been dunked in ice water. She couldn't see him like this. "Big brother, please?"

"Yes, but perhaps you might like to wait until you've rested…" Itachi continued, looking beseechingly at his mother, trying to silently tell her that she and her guest, or more specifically the daughter of her guest needed to go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Now.

Even though his back was to his brother, he could tell that Sasuke was pulling faces of the 'I wish the ground would just open up and swallow me' verity. If it had been any other situation, if it had been anyone other than his baby brother Itachi might have found the whole situation amusing. But as it was all he felt was his gut clenching and a pang of sympathy for his well meaning, all be it at times rather foolish, sibling.

"What…?" Mikoto's voice trailed off, as she looked at the faces her eldest son was pulling as realisation stated to dawn. "Oh! Yes I think that might be a good idea, a nice refreshing drink before we have to slave away over a hot oven."

Still prattling on in the same vein, Mikoto lead her friend back down the hallway. Itachi was up to something, or at least covering up something, which no doubt meant that Sasuke was up to something. They were both just very lucky that she trusted them, within reason at any rate, but sooner or later she would want answers.

Convinced that the trio of females were really gone Itachi turned his attention once more to Sasuke who was still blushing a deep scarlet under his impromptu lair of powder. And he had good reason to be so flushed. At first glance the kitchen had looked dreadful, but under closer examination the Uchiha heir was thinking that horrific might be a better choice of word. Though it still did not even come close to describing the scene of carnage which he faced. And smack bang in the centre of it all stood Sasuke.

"Now, would you care to tell me why I just did that?" It was an irrelevant question, as Itachi already knew full well why he had just done what he had. So his brother could save face in front of a girl he was crushing on.

"I'm sorry brother," Sasuke shuffled his feet which suddenly seemed to become very interesting, that is to say he didn't seem prepared to look at anything else. "It was just that I… you see the thing is… when she smiled at me… but now it's all gone wrong, and she'll never –"

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" The boy in question jerked his head up and froze in horror as he stared at the girl who had managed to sneak back down the hallway and slip past Itachi into the disaster area that had once been a kitchen. "You baked… that's so sweet!"

"Well I know that you like pancakes…?" He trailed off uncertainly but her bright blue eyes where shining as she fixed them on him. On Sasuke who was covered in pancake batter and flour, and gave him a dazzling smile.

"Thank you Sasuke-kun." Ino said, a light blush colouring her cheeks as she walked further into the kitchen, picking her way through the mess until she was standing directly in front of Sasuke. "But next time let me know Ok, and we can make them together."

All Itachi could do was shake his head at the absurdity of life as he watched the goofy smile that spread across the face of his baby brother. A split second before the boy had been on the point of having brake down because his plans to make a good impression had gone to hell and back. But all the young blonde girl had to do was smile at him and Sasuke immediately started looking as if his birthday had come early.

If all the girl had to do was smile to get such a strong reaction now Kami-sama help Sasuke if she still had the same effect on him when he was older. Hell, if in years to come Yamanaka Ino ever took his younger brother to bed Sasuke might just die of happiness before she even got her hands on him.

Lamb: Oh I love Itachi so much!!

Muse: Well there'll be getting no sense out of her now, she's gone into fangirl mode.

Dedi: just what the world needs more fangirls. Anyway, kiwi4me, we hope you liked it.

Please R and R I'd love to know what you thought.

Big love and inspiration

Lamanth