A/N: This is sort of a special chapter dedicated to my wonderful reviewers. Thank you guys!

And now…

proudly presents:

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Chapter 5: Cake Mix

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It was another day of missions for Team seven, and Kakashi was late, yet again. So when he arrived hours later, he expected the usual accusatory "You're late!" from Naruto and Sakura, but to Kakashi's shock, they showed not a single indication that they had even noticed him. This worried him greatly.

The usually hyperactive blonde was for once, very quiet. He was frowning, seemingly in deep thought. A few times, his face crunched up in an emotion that seemed to suggest guilt, for a reason Kakashi has yet to know. Sakura, who would normally be yelling at either him or Naruto and swooning at Sasuke, was currently crouched low on the ground hugging her knees and surrounded by a dark aura. Again, Kakashi wanted to know why.

Only Sasuke seemed to be normal.

As of now.

Sounds were heard in the woods behind Kakashi. There was a bark and soft giggling and someone shouting, "Get off of Hinata-chan, Akamaru!" Sasuke's eyes immediately darted past his head. Team eight had just passed by. A barely detectable blush adorned itself on the Uchiha's pale cheeks.

Kakashi nearly flipped out.

It was clear that the other two members had heard them too. Naruto stood rigid with his arms stiff at his sides, looking like he was ready to flee at any moment. The aura around Sakura seemed to intensify and when she looked up, Kakashi could see her eyes glowering. Best not to bother her, he decided.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Team seven was on a mission today. That allowed Hinata to have a day off from training with Sasuke, and she made good use of it. At early afternoon after training with her own team, the kitchen at the Hyuuga compound was cleared of cooks and only Hinata and her two teammates were there.

They were baking cakes.

Well, Hinata was. Kiba was the self-proclaimed 'taster', and Shino… refused to come near anything made with sugar. Hinata wondered why.

The kitchen table was filled with an amazing amount of ingredients that not a piece of the tabletop could be seen. Kiba and Shino sat on opposite sides, while Hinata was busily mixing the batter on the counter beside the sink. There was no room left for her on the table.

After she was satisfied with the batter, she handed a spoonful to an eagerly waiting Kiba. Akamaru sat on the floor beside him wagging its tail, apparently awaiting its turn. She watched as he licked the spoon and after a few moments, he grimaced and handed the spoon back to her. "Needs more sugar. Lots of it."

She sighed, grabbing the bag of sugar, and adding one full cup into the batter. Shino eyed her the whole time, or more specifically the cup of sugar. And was it her imagination or did he just become extremely tense? It was hard to tell behind that bulk of clothes he was wearing. Whatever his problem, she was determined to find out.

She was just mixing the sugar in when Kiba spoke up. "You know, Hinata,.." he paused, seemingly unsure if he should continue.

This piqued her curiosity. She urged him to go on, still stirring the batter.

Kiba averted his eyes from her and scratched his ears. "I… uh… heard you've been spending time with the Uchiha lately…"

Her eyes widened at the statement, and her hands stopped moving as bits of batter splashed on the countertop. Trying to compose herself, she turned her back from her teammates and concentrated on the batter. And of course, being Hinata, composure wasn't a strong point. "W-where did you hear that from?"

She swore she heard a small cough from Shino's direction.

"It doesn't matter where I heard it from, Hinata. Is it true?"

"I-I uh.." She swallowed hard, wiping off the sweat that rolled down the side of her face. Her arm was stirring the batter vigorously now, which didn't escape her two teammates' attention. "I-I've been training with him… That's all." Which was half-true.

Kiba shared a suspicious glance with Shino over the mountain of ingredients on the table. She thought there was more he wanted to say. Kiba was never quiet.

"Hey, you still like Naruto, right?"

For a quick moment, her eyes moved to his direction and back. "U-um…" It was still a sore subject to her. Her teammates weren't told yet. She guessed this was the right time. The sooner the better.

"H-he… rejected me."

Kiba and Shino tensed up and the atmosphere was suddenly awkward. It was Kiba who spoke for the both of them. "We're so sorry, Hinata-chan,…"

She threw them a smile over her shoulder, which didn't quite reach her eyes. "It's alright. Can we… talk about something else?"

The two willingly obliged. She sighed in relief and went back to her mixing.

"What about Sasuke?"

This came as a shock to her. Of all the things Kiba could've chosen, why this?

"Wha-? What do you mean?"

"Well, Shino…" Kiba gazed pointedly at said teammate. "…and I saw you two together yesterday… alone."

Hinata sighed. She had been afraid this was going to happen. Her team wasn't called a reconnaissance team for nothing. She suspected it was Shino who did all the work. Leave it to him to do all the sneaking.

But still, she wanted to play innocent. "I-I told you, Kiba-kun. We were out t-training."

"Training huh?" It was obvious he didn't' believe a word she said. "In the middle of the night?"

Without missing a beat she said, "Yes."

She chanced a quick look at them. Kiba leaned back on his chair and placed both his hands behind his head. Shino sat quietly, still as ever.

"I dunno, Hinata-chan. You have been acting strangely the past few days."

"I-I have not."

"Yeah? What about when we trained this morning? You were so out of it Kurenai had to call it off early. It's not like you at all to daze off during any kind of training."

She had no answer to that. And before she could fully muse about what he said, Kiba grabbed the bowl of the over-stirred batter from her hands, taking a spoonful of the concoction into his mouth.

"Much better."

Akamaru was scratching his pant legs, and Kiba reached out the spoon to him. The dog wagged its tail in delight. "Heh, you like that too, huh? Hey, Shino, wanna try?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

With all the oddities of Team seven, their day wasn't very productive. They were given a D-class mission of painting someone's house. It would have been simple and quick if Naruto hadn't been so clumsy and spilled most of the paint. Sakura hadn't helped either, refusing to come near Sasuke, to Kakashi's great confusion. The Uchiha, on the other hand, was frequently in a daze and hadn't done much work. All in all, the mission was a wreck as well as the next one, and the one after that, and the next.

By the fifth time they failed, it was almost nightfall and Kakashi decided to let the team off for the day.

Without a word, the genin went their separate ways, leaving their teacher in a state of an ever increasing confusion.

xXxXxXxXxXx

After unsuccessfully coaxing Shino into tasting one bit of the sweet batter and with nothing else to do, Kiba joined Hinata with baking. She insisted he wear the pink apron, for sanitation, of course. And when he asked where the other non-pink aprons were, she simply said there were none. When it was clear that Hinata was serious, he begrudgingly wore the frilly pink apron embellished with a picture of Hello Kitty on the front.

From a corner of the kitchen, Akamaru let out a whimper seeing his master's plight. Shino smirked and Hinata suppressed a laugh.

Then, an idea struck her. Her giggles intensified. She whispered conspiratorially to Shino, whose smirk became wider with each giggle Hinata released. Kiba was suspicious now.

"What're you two-"

"I'll be back in a minute. I'll just get something from my room." And with that, Hinata exited the kitchen, ignoring Kiba's shouts behind her.

He turned towards his other teammate who played cool and didn't say a thing. Shino's collar covered his mouth, but it was clear he was sniggering. The buzzing from under his jacket indicated that the bugs were excited, often a sign that their master was laughing.

Just as promised, Hinata came back and in her hands was a camera.

Kiba immediately knew what she was about to do. "Don't you dare, Hinata!"

But she wasn't listening to him and when she lifted the camera and placed her finger on the button, Kiba leapt to reach for it. He wasn't watching where he was going, and as a result, smashed into the table, spilling milk, flour and eggs on the floor… and on himself.

There was a click followed by flash, and Kiba just stood there covered with batter from head to toe, spilling drops of the sticky substance on the kitchen floor.

Silence followed. Akamaru hid behind a red-faced Hinata who was covering her mouth trying to contain her laughter. And when it was clear that she wasn't about to say anything, Shino spoke the first time since entering the kitchen.

"I'm sorry you had to ruin your pink apron, Kiba. Those frills accentuated your curves perfectly."

That did it. Hinata burst out laughing.

Kiba turned towards his traitorous teammates, and glared hard. The Inuzuka thought he'd never kill someone from his "pack". He guessed this would be the first time.

oOoOoOoOo

A/N: I really don't know how to bake a cake. If I were in this story, I'd probably be Kiba… or Akamaru.

What is happening to Team seven?

Is Hinata actually falling for Sasuke?

And more importantly…

Why is Shino afraid of sugar?

More drama (and comedy) next chapter. Don't forget to review!