Sakura – March 28th
11:00am
It was March the 28th and the males of team seven had taken it upon themselves to bake their female team mate a birthday cake. Well, Naruto had taken it upon himself and dragged Sasuke into the bargain, Kakashi had decided that after his team's last disastrous attempt at what they had loosely labelled "food", he had better keep an eye on them so as not to loose Sakura to food poisoning – the idea of free cake mix had, of course, nothing to do with it. Nothing at all . . .
And so, with the largest kitchen available in the Uchiha compound, and a stock of ingredients large enough to last a lifetime (or a day of team seven's attempts at cooking), the cake-making began.
The first batch was . . . interesting, and so as Naruto began to fill his cake tin with the suspiciously green cake mixture, Kakashi decided he would be forced to intervene at some point – or perhaps an act of sabotage might be more suitable?
They waited for the time allotted by the cookbook, and then, in a cloud of noxious smoke, they removed the cake from the oven. It was at that moment that an energetic youth, wearing a colour similar to that of the cake, dropped by the Uchiha residence in search of Kakashi so he might deliver a challenge to the masked man from his beloved Gai-sensei.
"Yosh! Naruto-kun, what a youthful looking cake you have baked" he cried, momentarily distracted from his mission
"It's for Sakura-chan!" the blonde replied in an equally loud voice
"Then I will bake one also! For I cannot loose Sakura-san to anyone! We shall make it a challenge! Whoever wins will be Sakura-san's love!"
Sasuke (who had been staring in a manner as horrified as an Uchiha was able) rolled his eyes at this and, as punishment, was made to referee the contest. This, as Kakashi gleefully pointed out, meant he would have to taste each of the cakes.
01:30pm
Two very long, very messy hours later, Naruto and Lee had almost finished their cakes. All that remained was to cook them. The oven, however, had suffered quite horribly from Naruto's first attempt and so the team (plus Lee and minus Kakashi, who had disappeared to read Icha Icha rather than fix the oven) began to ponder on how to cook them.
It was Sasuke who came up with the not-so-bright idea of cooking them with one of his favourite fire-jutsu. Needless to say the Konoha fire brigade were involved and all that remained was half a kitchen and some scary looking cake particles. Though the result hadn't been quite what he'd expected, it seemed to work in Sasuke's favour nonetheless.
"you both loose" he deadpanned, sending both brightly coloured boys off for a short spell in the emo corner of doom.
02:00pm
The defeated boys decided to call someone for help, but before they could, another of Sasuke's "bright ideas" attacked him like a pack of rabid squirrels.
After managing to persuade both Naruto and Lee to accompany him to the local cake shop and sitting them down in the corner with a selection of pastries, Sasuke managed to score himself a demonstration of how to create one of the most complex of all cakes.
So as the assistant began to show Sasuke how to "create!" he whipped out his Sharingan and refrained himself from emitting evil laughter. This, he assured himself, would end up on the list of MOST BRILLIANT PLANS OF ALL TIME.
04:00pm
Yet another two long hours later, Sasuke was putting the finishing touches to his very own . . .
"Wedding cake? You made Sakura a wedding cake?" Tenten asked in disbelief
"Burn it Sasuke. Burn it well. Burn it now." Neji added. The two of them had come in search of Lee to find him for training. Lee and Naruto however were lost in amongst the mini-city of the Uchiha residence.
Sasuke, only just fully taking in his masterpiece, turned paler than ever and unleashed his strongest fire-jutsu. Once again all that was left was half a kitchen and cloud of not quite so suspect cake particles.
"well done" said Neji, patting the shell-shocked and chakra exhausted Sasuke on the back.
04:15pm
"It's almost time to meet Sakura-chan!" the newly retrieved Naruto whined "and her cake still isn't ready!"
"There's only one other option" Kakashi said- he too had returned from Kami only knows where - "but you're not going to like it"
"What is it?"
"You'll have to ask for Ino's help"
All three boys froze in terror – long enough for Kakashi to transport all of them over to the Flower shop and Ino's house without resistance.
05:00pm
The process was not so painful as each had expected it to be, but all of them were bullied into buying very large and expensive bouquets. All but Sasuke that is, who picked up a Venus Flytrap for his pink-haired team mate. Ino winced at his choice, but shrugged nonetheless, thinking: It's the thought that counts . . .
She carefully placed the perfectly fluffy sponge with its fresh strawberry filling and whipped cream topping into a pink and white box, placing a perfectly cut pink marzipan Kanji reading "Sakura" on the top and tying the box up with white ribbon. She then handed it to Naruto saying "Don't let Chouji anywhere near it"
"Don't let me anywhere near what?" Chouji had appeared as if from nowhere. He sniffed the air experimentally "Is that . . . Ino's cake?" he sniffed again and the tension in the room grew.
"Uhm . . . no?" Naruto tried, a little too late.
Chouji's eyes narrowed and filled with flames, a battle was about to commence . . .
06:55pm
After the scuffle that followed, a particularly bruised but victorious group of Genin arrived at Sakura's house. The Cake was miraculously unharmed, as Shikamaru had arrived partway through the battle and managed to keep a hold of his pleasantly plump team mate while the rest scarpered.
And so, at approximately 07:21pm, after the present giving had ended with Sakura accepting Sasuke's Venus Flytrap with a bemused smile, Ino's cake was opened, and the best part of the evening began . . .
End!
ehehe hope you enjoyed it!
please feel free to message me or review with ideas for other character's birthday stories (the plot bunnies are getting dangerously hungry). 'tis all!