Summary: Sasuke, a rock star, meets one of his fans as they were about to buy the same and last copy of a certain CD. Who says they can't fall in love since this is just one world after all. Completely AU. Mainly SasuSaku.
Pairings: SasuSaku, NaruHina, NejiTenten, ItachiOC (maybe), AnkoKaka
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and if I did, I would probably promote the pairings up there, save maybe the ItachiOC thing. I only own the OC who will be paired up with Itachi… if I ever plan on pursuing that thought.
Just One World after All
Chapter Two – They Meet
"Hum," murmured Sakura as she began clicking away in front of her computer screen. It had been three days since she met Uchiha Sasuke of the band Sharingan and his words about burning him a copy of the Phantasm CD and if she didn't, he'd hunt her down at the bakery stayed stuck in her mind. His card, the one he gave her before leaving, it was pinned to a smallish cork bulletin board in her room. Above that, she wrote a message in big, bold letters: 'Burn Sasuke the Phantasm CD.' "Wonder why he let me have the CD," she murmured to herself as she began the process of burning him a copy, "Oh well, either way, I've still got the original thing!" As soon as the writer began its work, Sakura stood up from her computer chair and walked over to her closet in order to pick out some clothes.
She had just arrived from work and finally had no more things to do other than to burn the rock star a copy of the disc. Groaning in physical pain, she went to the gym that day because in her words, she was starting to get fat, Sakura finally decided on wearing a plain white tank top and a pair of gray shorts that evening. Looking one last time at her computer's screen, which had just gone on screensaver mode, Sakura dragged herself to the bathroom where a long and hot-water shower would await her. Entering the bathroom, she locked the door so that no one would come in. It wouldn't matter if she did or didn't anyway. Hinata was her roommate in their apartment at Jade Stone Apartments and even if the door was unlocked, Hinata would always knock before entering. Regardless of that, she still locked the door out of pure habit because when she still lived with her parents, her cousins, boys no less, would always barge in her bathroom when she was taking a bath.
Undressing from her plain red dress with its white circles imprinted on it, Sakura began her preparations for a bath. While she was undressing, she had already switched on the tub because she wanted to soak in the lukewarm water for quite some time, so as to relieve the stress of her muscles. As soon as she had fully undressed and only had a towel wrapped around her body, Sakura switched the faucet off. Dipping her hand into the water to check if it was a good temperature, Sakura sighed in pleasure at the contact of her hand and the water. Deciding to stop stalling herself from life's simple luxuries, Sakura peeled the towel off from her body and entered the tub, letting her body soak in the warmth that the water in the tub had to offer her.
"This is the life," said Sakura as she began incorporating her vanilla-scented shampoo into her long pink hair, "Me, in a warm tub of water. It's just a great life." As she said that, she stopped scrubbing her hair so vigorously altogether. Letting her hands fall limp at her side, underneath the water, Sakura let the foamy shampoo stay on her pink hair, letting her long locks soak in the scent before she'd start draining the water then stand up. This was the way she always took a bath. She started with a warm tub of water then stay there for a few minutes. After that, she'd shampoo her hair with her favorite vanilla-scented shampoo then let the foamed shampoo stay there for a minute or so. Then, she'd drain the tub of its content, stand up, make the water come out from the shower head, rinse off the remaining of the foamed up shampoo then she'd soap her body clean.
Washing the foamy residue on her hands with the tub water, Sakura then unplugged the drain and stood up. As soon as the water was slightly covering her feet, Sakura switched the faucet on then made the water go out of the shower head, proceeding to clean the rest of her body.
Ten minutes later, Sakura was dressed up with her white tank top and gray shorts, her pink hair held in a makeshift turban using her light pink towel. A lot of people said that her hair would dry quicker if after rubbing as much of the water off with a towel, she'd put it in a makeshift towel turban. Sakura, satisfied with her handiwork of putting her hair in a turban, began brushing her teeth. Soon, she was done with all the things she needed to do in the bathroom, unlocked the door and exited it. To her surprise, she found Hinata on her bed, in her light violet pajama pants and shirt.
"Ano, Sakura-chan," said Hinata as she twiddled with her thumbs, "Sorry to come inside your room without you knowing but I was thinking of putting another pastry or cake into the bakery's menu. It's been three months since we last did that and I was thinking of doing that now." Hinata was, obviously, her every-shy best friend. Even if they were best friends ever since they were in preschool, Hinata would still blush and act shy around her. They've known each other for eighteen years and yet, Hinata as still shy around her.
"Well, alright, let me just get the recipe files from my drawer," said Sakura as she shuffled over to her desk and opened one of the four side drawers. Grabbing a thick manila envelope and kicking the drawer shut, Sakura heaved the envelope over to her bed and plopped it down beside Hinata. "Oh, can you wait a few minutes more, Hinata-chan?" asked Sakura as she looked at the white-eyed woman, "I still have to brush my hair and check on how the CD burning is?" Hinata blinked and nodded as she began to take out thick wads of recipes from the manila envelope. Shuffling over to her bathroom, Sakura undid the towel-turban and began brushing her hair. Exiting the bathroom with her now-dry pink hair, Sakura sat in front of her computer and checked how much the writer was able to finish while she took a bath.
"Sakura-chan?" spoke up Hinata as she looked at her best friend, "What CD is that, exactly?" Hinata blushed at somewhat prying into Sakura's personal matters but asking what CD she had burned was no more personal than asking what she had wanted to eat for dinner. Hinata had an odd perception of what were personal matters and what weren't. The only things she thought weren't personal matters were what someone wanted, as in material things, and such while everything else was a personal matter, to her it was.
"A copy of Phantasm: The Best of," replied Sakura as she ejected the disc from her writer, seeing as it was done. Putting it in a case, Sakura wrote the title of the album on the writable, as in pen not data, part of the disc. Sliding in a piece of paper that said 'For: Uchiha Sasuke' on top of the disc, she closed the case and set it down underneath her cellphone. "Want to listen to Phantasm? And which album do you want?" Hinata thought for a while before replying.
"How about Illusionist?" suggested Hinata as Sakura began searching for her Phantasm CD rack; Phantasm had seven albums, three 'Best Hit Collections' including the one she had managed to get before Sasuke did and she had ten burned CD's that contained a mix-match of songs from the ten official CD's. Finding the sixth album the band had released, Sakura took the CD out of its case, put it in her radio and melodic tunes began playing.
"Good choice," said Sakura as she plopped down on her bed beside Hinata, "I was just thinking of playing that." Smiling warmly at each other, the two friends began sifting through the smaller stacks of recipes. They would stop, every once in a while, when they found a recipe that the bakery didn't have and thought that it would be a nice addition. A couple of cakes that they had thought of adding was a strawberry short cake, Honey Vanilla Cake, a vanilla-flavored cake with simple sugar frosting and honey and rice crisps on top and a Mocha Chocolate Cake, mocha filling sandwiched between two chocolate cakes and covered with a thick chocolate fudge icing. It was probably about eleven-thirty when they had decided on adding the Honey Vanilla Cake into the menu sometime next week. Good thing the café opened at ten in the morning so they would be able to have a full-night's rest.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 in the Morning, At the Bakery
"Hey, Hinata-chan," asked Sakura as she began whisking some ingredients together. They were already in the bakery and had begun baking. It was a Saturday so Ryuki, Sae and Nakuru, who was absent because of a migraine when Sasuke went to the bakery, were able to work the entire day. When it was a weekday, they, as in Ryuki and Sae, had only worked during the afternoon shift which was from 3:00 to 7:30 and over the weekend; they worked from 10 to 7:30. The afternoon shift was when more people came because it was time for an afternoon snack. Nakuru was a full-time worker there, as a pastry chef, because Sakura, Hinata, Ryuki and Sae couldn't handle baking and serving all on their own. Hinata cocked her head at Sakura's direction as she heard her name. "Do you think you can ask your cousin to give the CD I burnt last night to Sasuke? And why didn't you tell me you were related to him?"
"Well, sure, I'll try to give it to cousin Neji," said Hinata softly as she began kneading some dough. They were usually here at 7 in the morning so they had 2 and half hours to bake more then, at ten, either Hinata or Sakura and Ryuki or Sae, when they were here, went up front to serve the customers. Nakuru and the other two who had remained stayed in the kitchen to continue baking some more. Sakura, Hinata and their part-time employees prided in always serving freshly baked goods. They started the day off with five of each kind of cake, they had six kinds, three batches of their pastries, they had nine kinds and they just made their hot drinks when people ordered them. They baked more of the cakes or pastries as they needed to and if ever they had extra, rarely did that happen though, they'd send some of the cakes and pastries with Ryuki, Sae and Nakuru to their own homes. The rest, they'd give to a nearby orphanage for the little children and people who worked there.
"Sakura-san," asked Nakuru who was the only full-time worker there, "Who is Sasuke-san?" Nakuru was three years younger than both Sakura and Hinata but four years older than Ryuki and Sae who were high school students. Sakura looked and blinked at Nakuru who had a childish grin on her face. "Sasuke of the band Sharingan, isn't he?!" Sakura nodded bashfully as her face became hinted with a soft red. "I love that band, don't you, Ryuki, Sae?" The two high school girls nodded as they giggled.
"Oh I just bumped into him and he said he'd let me have the last copy of the Phantasm CD I wanted if I burned him a copy of it," said Sakura shyly as she stopped her whisking and began pouring the batter into a buttered cake pan. "It's not such a big deal," said Sakura who had managed to stop looking so shy, "I mean; I'm not related to one of the members of Sharingan now am I?" Hinata blushed profusely as she realized she was being talked about.
"Sakura-chan!" said Hinata, stopping her best friend from saying any more. Sakura stuck her tongue out playfully at Hinata and Nakuru, Ryuki and Sae just giggled as they continued to work in silence. It was already 8:30 and they had only an hour to finish up whatever five people needed to do. It was Saturday so Hinata and Sae would be out first, serving the people, while Nakuru, Sakura and Ryuki finished whatever else they had to do. Luck was on their side because they had managed to finish baking all five of the Chocolate Fudge Cake and actually finished covering it in the fudge icing. Sakura was busy putting in the batter of the Honey Vanilla Cake they were adding. Ryuki and Sae were both putting the Banana and Mango Cream Pies into their own boxes and put them in the fridge. Nakuru was spreading the cheesecake filling on top of the graham crust. It was going to be another long yet successful day for the people of Blossoms Bakery and Coffee Shop.
------------------------------------------ Two in the Afternoon, Sharingan Band Members, Outside the Bakery
"Let's go to Blossoms!" cheered Naruto as the five of them walked in the Kyoto streets. Because most people were either out of town, it was a three-day-weekend for everyone in Japan that week, or just lazing around or planning to do something later that afternoon, not too many people were outside so surprisingly, they weren't mobbed or anything. Why five? Kakashi was with them, much to the protests of Itachi, Neji and Sasuke. Apparently, Naruto had invited him and the three aforementioned men were glaring mental daggers at Naruto until he suggested going to the bakery. Sasuke didn't want to but he had an odd craving for their coffee so he, he rarely ever did, agreed with Naruto to go to Blossoms.
"Is it just me or is everyone finally agreeing with Naruto?" asked Kakashi as he saw the three brunettes nod their heads, stiffly if he might notice. He wasn't around when Naruto brought that box of cake from Blossoms and every time they ordered from the quaint café. According to him, every time he was absent, he had a date. The four boys mumbled to themselves about how it was completely absurd and beyond them as to how Kakashi could even talk to a woman without fumbling his words. He couldn't even talk straight to Kurenai Yuuhi, the one who made their clothes every time they had a performance and basically did everything that had something to do with fashion and matching colors, for heaven's sake!
"Nothing you should remember," said Itachi darkly as they walked to the quaint café. When they arrived there, it was still relatively busy, despite the fewer amount of people out on the streets. Entering the café, the five made their way to the counter where Hinata was currently on post. It was supposed to be Sakura in charge of the cashier but the pink haired woman pleaded for Hinata to take over while she rushed to the bathroom. Nature's call, she said. Not knowing how to say no, Hinata shyly nodded as she took over for a while.
"Hello, welcome to Blossoms, how may I help you?" said Hinata cheerfully, yet softly as she looked strait at the five men. Blinking, she saw her cousin and suddenly began twiddling her fingers. "Cousin Neji!" she exclaimed, her voice just slightly louder than it was earlier when she greeted them, "What are you doing here?"
"What does it look like, Hinata," said Neji calmly, "I'm here to eat." His white eyes squinted as he took a close look at her. She was doing well, as she always said when they had a family gather, but she never spoke of her current whereabouts as a pastry chef. Her father had strongly disagreed to her becoming a pastry chef but her mother had somehow talked him into letting her. Hinata, not wishing to displease her father any further, never spoke of her job. Neji knew that she was a pastry chef, everyone in their family did for that matter, but he had least expected her to be here, in a quaint café. "Why are you here, Hinata?" asked Neji, a slight air of superiority in his tone.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he looked at Neji and Hinata. They were cousins, you could tell, even if Hinata hadn't called Neji 'Cousin Neji'. It was their white eyes that gave it off. Kakashi knew that Neji had no siblings so it was plain and simple to figure out they were cousins. In all of Japan, in the entire world for that matter, the Hyuuga family was the only ones who bred children with white-colored eyes.
"I work here, Cousin Neji," she said softly as she bowed her head slightly, "I know how father was so displeased with me when I said I wanted to be a pastry chef so when he finally let me, I decided never to talk about it, so as not to further displease him." Naruto looked at Neji and back at Hinata. Why was Neji always mean?
"Bah! Anyway, let's order!" said Naruto, breaking up their "pleasant" conversation. He had spotted the piece of paper taped on the window that said to try their new cake, the 'Honey Vanilla Cake'. "I'll have a slice of that new cake… Honey Vanilla Cake, was it?" said Naruto as Hinata scribbled down his order. Grunting, Itachi went next and ordered a slice of their Hazelnut Cream Cake. Neji went third and ordered a Berry Cheesecake, preferably blueberry but if not, strawberry would have been fine too. Kakashi went fourth and ordered a slice of Banana Cream Pie and a slice of Mango Cream Pie; Naruto sniggered behind him and said that Kakashi would become fat with what he ordered even though Kakashi explained that the Mango Cream Pie was for take-out. As Sasuke was about to order, Sakura stepped out from the kitchen door, her hair in a ponytail, as it always was when she worked.
"I'll have a slice of the Graham Cheesecake," said Sasuke mutely, deftly ignoring Sakura who didn't seem to mind at all. With that, Hinata figured out how much they owed and told them. After paying, the five men shuffled off and sat in a table made up for five.
"I guess I can sneak in the CD when I give them their cake," said Sakura thoughtfully as she took out the Graham Cheesecake. "Don't you think I could, Hinata-chan?" asked Sakura as she eyed her friend who was currently plating Naruto's Honey Vanilla Cake. Sae, Ryuki and Nakuru were in the kitchen, currently baking more muffins, all three kinds, since they had just run out. Sakura and Hinata had decided that Ryuki and Sae help Nakuru out since they both enjoyed baking and they both took Home Economics as their elective in High School.
"I guess you could," said Hinata as she put the plate on the tray. Putting back the cake in the refrigerator, not the one where their display cakes were in, Hinata then took out the basic cheesecake for the Berry Cheesecake and the tin of blueberries that soaked in specially formulated blueberry sugar syrup. "You go get that CD," suggested Hinata shyly as she cut the basic cheesecake then spooned the blueberries over the cake, "I can manage from here." They had already finished plating three of the cakes; excluding the one Hinata was currently working on. Sakura nodded and took leave of the counter as she got the CD case with the burned CD inside.
As Sakura left, Hinata had just finished putting Neji's cheesecake on the tray. Sighing, she put back the tin of blueberries in the refrigerator, as well as the basic cheesecake, then took out both cream pies that Kakashi wished to have a slice of. Grabbing one plate and one box, Hinata set them beside the pies then proceeded to cut a slice from each of the pies. Putting the Banana one on a plate, Hinata put the plate on the tray and took out five forks and put one on each plate. Then, she turned her attention back to the mango pie. Cutting another slice, Hinata then put the slice into the box, put a plastic fork inside and sealed it. As Sakura came out with the light green CD case, Hinata had just put the two pies back into the fridge.
"I'll give the cakes and you take care of the next customer, alright?" said Sakura as she looked brightly at her best friend. Hinata nodded as she pointed to where she put the tray and the box. Sakura picked them up and strode over to where the Sharingan band members and their agent were seated. Much to her slight delight, Naruto yipped when she arrived with their cake. "Here you go, your cakes," said Sakura amiably as she began setting the plates in front of whoever ordered that particular cake, "And, Naruto-san, mind telling me, before I leave, how that cake of yours tastes? You're the first one to order that today." As she set the tray down near the tray-collection area, which they coincidentally sat down beside, Sakura was somehow able to slip Sasuke his CD before anyone noticed.
"It's good! I can't believe no one ordered it before me," said Naruto wholeheartedly. Sakura smiled and nodded before she took her leave in order to help Hinata. Sasuke, Itachi and Neji looked at him with strange looks on their faces. "It's true! And if I have to buy another slice in order to prove it to you, I will!" whined Naruto as he stood up and strode over to the counter in order to buy another slice of Blossoms' Honey Vanilla Cake.
"What's that in your hand, brother," asked Itachi after swallowing that particular bite of his cake, "What did that woman hand to you?" Sasuke grumbled as he heard his brother say that. Contrary to popular belief, Itachi's eye color was naturally crimson red and he did not have an incurable case of sore eyes because if he did, he wouldn't have spotted Sakura give Sasuke that Phantasm CD. As he asked that question, Kakashi's and Neji's attention was caught and luckily for Sasuke, Naruto was still waiting in line.
"That Phantasm CD," replied Sasuke smoothly, "I let her get that final copy but in return, she paid for my afternoon drink of coffee and since, surprisingly, she owned this, along with your cousin, Neji, I was able to get a free slice of cake as well."
"And you didn't ask for a whole cake?! Haven't I taught you better!" said Kakashi in mock surprise. Sasuke just rolled his eyes, refusing to answer. It was a good thing Naruto was slow at catching Sakura pass him the CD while she put the tray in the collection table or else he would have to answer or completely ignore, he'd do the latter really, his barrage of questions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To Be Continued…
Hum, I had no idea what to call this chapter so I settled on calling it 'They Meet'. The chapter title basically means that they meet, dah, and Sakura manages to slip Sasuke the CD. It can also mean that Hinata and Sakura meet Kakashi and the Sharingan boys and vice versa. Whichever you interpret it as, it's fine.
While I was writing this chapter, I made a menu, well, that's what you'd call a list of food offered, wouldn't you, for Blossoms since the café will appear quite often in the fic. And, if you have any problems with the pairings that I've chosen, don't go telling me what pairing to write and/or not to write. It's my fic and I'll decide who gets paired up with whom. If you're uncomfortable with the pairings, either skip the paragraphs about that pairing or don't read the story. It's up to you.
If you plan to review, please put in 'OC' at the beginning of your review so I can find out if you want Itachi to be paired up with someone! Hope you review so I can get down starting writing the third chapter as soon as possible!
Next Chapter: Chapter Three – They Go
Chapter Preview: "Come on, Neji! Itachi! Sasuke! Kakashi! Let's invite them over to the studio," said Naruto as he crossed his arms and fell on the floor, "I mean, we get cake and coffee from Blossoms a lot, don't we? And you can thank Sakura-chan for that CD she burned for you!" It was the same conversation all over again and apparently, Naruto knew about the CD but forgot to mention it when he stormed off to get that second slice. And also, Naruto had this self-declared crush on Sakura already.