Sunny Side Up
by Diana-san

Author's Note: For xchrispx, I have thought about a birthday cake story but decided to make it for Sakura so that Sasuke can join in the baking fun.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

04. Birthday Cake

"Sakura's birthday is coming up," Sasuke murmured to himself as he glanced at the calendar. He had just return from a week long mission and was resting now that he was back home. Sakura was still at the hospital working and Sasuke had come home to see his brother playing with Sarada in the living room.

"Papa! Come join our tea party!" Sarada cried out happily as she ran over to her father and proceeded to drag him from the kitchen to the living room.

"What are you wearing?" Sasuke asked as he saw the spectacle in front of him.

One of Sakura's sun hats was draped on top of Itachi's head and he was pretend sipping from a tea cup in his right hand.

"Nice of you to join us, little brother," was the only reply from Itachi as he set the cup down properly on the matching saucer.

Sasuke groaned as Sarada proceeded to put a plastic tiara on top of Sasuke's head. "You can match with me Papa!" Sarada said with a smile as she pointed to a similar tiara on top of her own head. Sasuke couldn't help but notice that Sarada's tiara was bigger than his.

Sasuke sat down across from his brother as Sarada came to his side to pour him a fake cup of tea.

"Sarada, mama's birthday is tomorrow. What should we do for her?" Sasuke asked as he glanced at his daughter. His hand subconsciously went for the teacup as he picked it up and brought it close to his lips before realizing that there wasn't actually any tea inside.

Sarada blinked her eyes as she reached over to grab at the plastic pieces of cake on the table. "Cake?" she asked as she held it out on the palm of her hand.

Sasuke and Itachi both glanced at the piece of cake in Sarada's hand.

"Let's bake a cake for Sakura," Itachi murmured. He stood up abruptly and the sun hat that was perching on his head fell down in a fell swoop.

Sarada glanced up in surprise. "No more tea party?" she asked.

"Sara-chan, wouldn't baking be more fun?" Itachi asked as he picked up his niece in his arms.

"I don't want you to burn the house down," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"Can we have strawberries on it?" Sarada asked.

Itachi nodded. "Of course. Lots of them."

"And chocolate?"

Itachi nodded again. "Yes, we can't forget about the chocolate."

Sarada smiled. "And dango! Mama loves dango!"

"Um, we shall see. I don't know if that will taste very good on cakes."

"Dangooooo!"

"Very well. We shall have that too."

Sasuke was worried. Knowing Sarada, she would probably try to put all her favorite foods on the cake and insist that mama would like them too. He kept quiet though as he followed behind Itachi.

For the first hour, the three of them had managed to bake a cake with the ingredients in the house. Sakura had always kept a full pantry stocked with everything that was needed to feed the family of three as well as Naruto's family whenever Naruto decided upon himself to visit. Sasuke had whisked together the flour and eggs along with the rest of the ingredients as Itachi prepared the strawberry frosting.

Sarada had been watching Itachi as she stuck her finger into the bowl to taste test the frosting to make sure it was sweet enough.

After the cake was baked to a golden perfection according to Itachi's standards, the three of them worked on frosting the entire cake.

Itachi carefully placed the strawberries on top of the cake in a perfect alignment around the center as Sasuke worked on writing "happy birthday" on a piece of white chocolate he broke off from a package.

"Dango?" Sarada asked as she watched her dad and uncle decorate the cake.

"Oh…right," Sasuke uttered a few moments later as he finished the piping of the chocolate letterings onto the white chocolate piece.

Sarada lifted up a jar of goldfish crackers she was eating from. "Mama likes fish," Sarada commented as she dangled an uneaten goldfish cracker on top of the cake.

Itachi's face twitched as he watched the goldfish cracker fall slowly from Sarada's hand and land precisely in the center of the cake. The head was lodged inside the frosting as the tail jutted out in a taunt to Itachi's perfected cake.

Sarada smiled some more as she reached into the jar to grab a fistful more of goldfish crackers before sprinkling them on top of the cake.

Sasuke sighed as he stared at the cake. 'I'm not eating that.'

"Surprise!" the whole room shouted as Naruto popped a confetti popper into the air.

Sakura laughed as she stepped into the house with her husband and daughter in tow. The three of them had ate out at a lavish restaurant for dinner and had now just returned to a surprise birthday party.

"Happy birthday," Sasuke murmured as he kissed Sakura on the side of her cheek. Sarada, who was perched on top of Sasuke's shoulders, bent down to also kiss Sakura on top of the head.

Sakura thanked everyone as she surveyed the room. All of her close friends were present as well as her former sensei and shishou. Sasuke lowered to one knee as he placed Sarada down on the ground. Out of nowhere, Boruto and Inojin popped up from behind the couch as they ran to greet Sarada.

The lights suddenly went out as a cake appeared with a single candle glowing in the center.

"Make a wish," Itachi said as everyone sang happy birthday.

Sakura blew out the candle and everyone clapped as the lights went back on. Itachi placed the cake on the living room table as the kids crowded around the cake.

"Why are there pretzel sticks sticking out of the cake?" Inojin asked as he stared at the cake.

"Ooh, goldfish crackers! My favorite!" Boruto exclaimed as he leaned over to pick one up and popped it in his mouth.

Sarada smiled as she tugged on her mother's dress. "I helped make the cake. With uncle Itachi and Papa!"

Sakura nodded and smiled as she glanced at the two said names. They returned an apologetic smile as Sakura glanced at the cake. Ino began to slice the cake up and serve them on plates.

"Thank you Sara-chan. Mama is very happy," Sakura said as she tousled her daughter's hair.

"I wanted to put dango but Papa forgot to buy some!" Sarada continued on as she picked up a plate with a slice of cake. That slice had the white chocolate on it and also what appeared to be extra goldfish crackers around the top. Sarada handed it to her mom and watched in anticipation for the first bite.

Sakura took the offer and lifted the chocolate up as she bit into it.

"You have to eat the cake mama! Not just the chocolate!" Sarada insisted.

Sakura nodded as she glanced warily at the goldfish crackers.

"And don't forget to get the crackers!"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke as her eyes locked with Sasuke's and saw how he averted his gaze from her. She smiled. "Mama loves Papa a lot so she will let Papa have the first bite."

Sasuke sighed as Sakura stuck the fork in his mouth and he could taste the salty goldfish crackers mixed in with strawberry frosting on top of vanilla cake.

Sakura giggled as she saw a bit of strawberry frosting at the corner of Sasuke's lips. Quickly, she kissed him as she licked the frosting off.

Sasuke smiled as he swallowed down the rest of the cake. For some reason, it didn't taste that bad.