Suki hummed a happy tune as she pulled out the last batch of cookies from the oven. The air in the home was practically dripping with the scent of freshly baked goods. Her kitchen counter had all sorts of delectable delights and decorating items.
Most of the treats would be going to different friends around town for the holidays. More would go to her employees at the bakery, and others would go to other areas of businesses that helped kept her little bakery alive. She would even take some to the orphanage, just because she loved to see the children's eyes light up as they received their treats. But there were even more batches that were for a special group all her own.
Well, the ANBU weren't her's. She just liked the idea of it because she was the only one, that she knew of, that would leave treats for them as a thank you gift. Really she could understand why people were afraid of the organization, since the ANBU were like the shadows themselves. Mysterious and unknown, the people in ANBU were the best of the best; faceless with their masks, and no one ever knew who a member could be.
She would be lying if she didn't admit she had the same sort of fear when she started doing this, or even if she was allowed too. She would have never even started doing this, if it hadn't been for her Aunt Tsubaki.
It was by complete accident that Suki found out her aunt was an ANBU member. As a young girl, Suki had been orphaned when her parents were killed in a fire. The only relative still alive had been her estranged aunt. From what Suki had understood, the civilian family hadn't approved of Tsubaki becoming a shinobi and because of it, Suki had never met the older woman until they had been forced to live together.
Of course it had taken a long period of adjustment for the two of them. It was during this time when Suki found out about her aunt being ANBU. The older woman had just been so used to living alone for so long that she just came right in while Suki had been home.
After months of getting over her worries and fears of her aunt, Suki saw that, at the end of the day, the older woman was just like own parents- always tired but wore a happy and worn out smile through it all. So Suki had done what she always did to comfort her hard working parents- bake.
With a help of a friend's parents, Suki had presented the first batch of 'Thank you' cookies to her aunt. It made her so happy when Aunt Tsubaki gained a bright smile at the simple gift.
From there it had slowly evolved, especially after the day Aunt Tsubaki had taken a larger batch to an ANBU meeting.
After, her aunt had let it slip about how popular they were, somewhere in the back of Suki's mind that meant she needed to make more for those hard working people. It got out of hand for a bit after until Aunt Tsubaki had put her foot down and declared the Suki was only allowed to make sweets for the ANBU the first weekend of every month. She even came up with the idea of setting out the plate of the windowsills for the members to take.
And so the tradition began. Once a month, she would bake treats- even more during the holidays because of friends. It continued for years, even after the Kyuubi attack that killed her aunt. In a way it was a way to keep memories of her aunt alive and, hopefully, giving the ANBU members something to look forward to.
She never met any of the members, or if she had, she never knew. And as a civilian, she highly doubt she ever would. But she liked the fact that these faceless men and women took some small pleasure out of her treats. She at least hoped so.
She set the freshly baked cookies down on the store to let them cool before going back to decorating her other treats. Once satisfied, she began arranging them onto plates.
In no time, she had five plates of sweets: four small trays with one large platter. On each dish there was always some little sign sticking out from on baked good that read 'ANBU, please help yourselves!'
Suki grinned as she grabbed the platter first and moved it to sit on a table near the back door that opened up to the patio. Before returning to her four other dishes, she opened the back door and then went around to some of the windows around the house where she would place them. One in the kitchen, one in the living room, one of the small windows that led upstairs, and, finally, in the laundry room. Once done, she returned to the kitchen to pick up her goods.
With her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth in concentration, she carefully stacked two trays on one arm before picking up the third. The fourth was already set up at the kitchen window. It hadn't been touched yet but she knew from experience that they moment she turned her back the tray would be cleared in an instant.
Indeed, the moment Suki turned her back toward the living room and took her first steps, there was the sound of spinning porcelain. She glanced over her shoulder with an amused grin to see the tray empty except for the little sign and crumbs.
She felt the anticipation in her gut rise as she turned her head back. Careful not to drop her plates, she kicked both her legs out, one after the other, to warm them up. Once satisfied, she nodded her head encouragingly and then raced off around the house.
It was a familiar path she ran. First she dropped off a dish on the stair window, then the living room, and, lastly, to the laundry room. She then rushed towards the back door and brought the platter outside on the outdoor table.
Although she was careful in making sure that none of them fell to the ground, she ignored how some of the treats were jostled as she put the platter down a little too quickly. That was mostly because she immediately spun on her heel and rushed back inside the house.
With the living room as the focal point of the house, Suki instantly saw that the plate there was already clear when she went to grab it.
She ignored how the crumbs and tiny signs fell to the floor when she picked it up and held it to her chest. She was more focused on whirling around and having a clear line of sight to the patio to see a quarter of the platter had already disappeared.
She moved but never took her eyes off the platter until she was forced to by getting the empty dish off the stairs. Again ignoring the mess she made, she came back down and saw another quarter of the sweets were gone from the platter outside.
She then stalked back into the living room, eyes on the patio. She stuck out her tongue out of the corner of her mouth, muscles tense, as the next part would be tricky. When she was at the hallway that led to the laundry room, the farthest point away from the living room, and sprinted off down the hall. In no time, she grabbed the dish and then ran back out toward the living room again.
She was a little out of breath by the time she made it back. She looked toward the patio only to see the platter was now completely empty.
Rather than be disappointed, she giggled hysterically with a big smile on her face. "Well at least I know they aren't slacking off," she joked to herself as she now walked towards the back door.
Suki had every intention to start her routinely cleaning when she paused at seeing a white folded piece of paper on top of the platter. She bit her bottom lip as she picked it up.
Her deepest fear about receiving notes like this is that ANBU would tell her to stop playing her childhood game that she never seemed to grow out of. More often than not it was just a small request like to make a special batch that had less sugar or a new type of sweet. It always made her fears seem silly but she always wondered when the day would come when they would tell her to stop.
Setting the dishes down to one side, she picked the note up and opened it. She blinked in surprise before a warm feeling grew in her chest that made her smile widely.
The stark black letters, in neat handwriting, of "Thank you" stared back at her. They were simple words but it might as well have been the best gift Suki ever had. She never received such a statement before; it was sort of implied with how fast her sweets would disappear.
But it was surprisingly nice to at least have her efforts to be acknowledged.
She was about to fold up the note and deciding where she was going to place it to keep it safe, when she noticed a short handed scrawl at the bottom. "P.S. Better luck next month!" At reading the words, Suki threw her head back in delighted laughter.
She called out when her laughter died down to a soft giggle. "I've almost caught a few of you before!"
She was unsure if any of the ANBU heard, or even if they were there. Regardless, she smiled at the air and waited for a moment. When she didn't receive any sort of response- and honestly she would have been surprised if she had- Suki shook her head as she slipped the note into her back pocket.
She picked the dishes then, and head back inside to clean while a happy tune escaped her throat as she hummed contently.