The next morning a loud knocking on the door awoke Naruto. It was probably Sasuke coming to get him. His alarm clock had broken a couple of days ago and ever since then Sasuke kept having to come and get him. He stood slowly and stretched his muscles before heading to the door and opening it. What he saw on the other side of the door actually shocked him. The baker that lived nearby was standing outside of his door with a white box held in his hand.

"Hello Naruto," the baker said with a sweet smile. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Naruto didn't know what he should do. He felt suspicious of the man, but he knew that if the man really wanted to do something to him he could just break down the door and Naruto couldn't really afford another one. Besides, he didn't want to be rude to the man. He nodded and stepped aside to allow him into his neat apartment.

"Thank you," said the baker. "I'm sorry to come so early, but my store opens soon so I had to drop this off now." He placed the box carefully onto the table.

"What is it?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

The baker laughed nervously. This situation was awkward for the both of them, but he was at least making an effort to make it feel like it wasn't. "It's a birthday cake," he said.

"For who?" asked Naruto.

The baker flinched. He had known that Naruto would act this way, but it still made him feel a pang of guilt. He was just trying to atone for the sins that he had done just like the rest of the village. He was just trying to make Naruto feel loved so that he wouldn't want to try to kill himself again. That's right, the whole village had heard of the event last night and they all felt guilty about what they had forced a young boy to do. "For you," he said.

"For me?" Naruto asked.

"That's right," said the baker with an uneasy smile. "Where are your plates?"

Naruto pointed to the area that he kept his dishes while he continued to stare at the box that held his birthday cake. He still couldn't believe that one of the villagers had done something like this for him. It had to be some sort of trick. Whatever was in that box couldn't be a cake.

When the baker opened the cupboard, he found dusty old plates that looked like they had never been used. He grimaced. There was no way that he would let Naruto eat off such a dirty plate. He quickly took down one of them and washed off the dust. Then he looked for the silverware and found them in one of the drawers. Thankfully they were completely clean. He took out a fork and a big knife and brought everything over to the table to place next to the white box.

The baker carefully opened the box to reveal a perfectly made seven-layer chocolate cake. "Do you like chocolate?" he asked. He hadn't known what to make for Naruto so the only choice that he could think of was to make his most requested cake. The one that he himself was the most fond of.

"I don't know," Naruto answered making the baker flinch once again. "I've never had chocolate before."

"You've never had chocolate before?" gasped the baker. "You have to try this cake then. I'm sure you'll love it." He cut off a slice, put it on the plate and handed it to Naruto. "Chocolate is very sweet and it tastes good with almost anything."

Naruto looked at the cake in his hand and began to prod at it with his fork as though he would find that it was poisoned just by doing that. The baker waited for him to take the first bite, but he just continued to prod at the cake with an unsure look on his face. Suddenly a look of clarity passed over the baker's face and he rushed over to grab another fork. "May I?" he asked as he leaned forward to take a bite off of Naruto's slice. Naruto flinched as the sharp object came towards him, but nodded his head in agreement anyway. The baker quickly took a small bite and popped it into his mouth without any hesitation. "Now you try."

Naruto prodded at the cake for a moment longer before he finally took a bite of it. Immediately he smiled as the tastes overwhelmed him. It was delicious. He continued to eat the delicious chocolate cake as the baker watched him with a satisfied smile. When he was done the baker took the plate and put it in the sink.

"Did you like it?" asked the baker as he quickly rinsed the plate off.

"I loved it," Naruto said happily. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," said the baker as he rushed out the door. "I have to go to work now before I'm late. I wish you a happy birthday."

This time it was Naruto who flinched. His birthday had never really been a good experience for him and he did not think that was going to change today.

When Sasuke arrived at Naruto's apartment the first thing that he noticed was that the baker was leaving. He immediately felt suspicious. The villagers only came here when they wanted to hurt Naruto. Naruto thought that he and Sakura hadn't noticed the way the villagers had been treating him, but they did and Sasuke didn't like it. He had even attempted quite a few times to get the villagers to stop hurting Naruto, but every attempt failed.

He rushed up to the apartment to make sure that Naruto was okay. The door didn't look like it had been forced open, but then the baker wasn't really the strongest man. He probably couldn't force the door open even if he wanted to. Sasuke opened the door quietly cursing about how it had been unlocked. He forgot that Naruto started doing that in hopes that the villagers would stop busting down his door. It hadn't worked, but it had made it easier for the villagers who weren't as strong to get into the house.

When he crept into the apartment he was actually surprised to find that Naruto was sitting peacefully at his table enjoying a slice of cake. A cake that was sitting pristinely on his table. "What is that?" he asked. There had to be something wrong with it. There was no way the baker would bring one of his best cakes to Naruto. Maybe it was poisoned. Sasuke stiffened at the thought, but Naruto seemed to be fine.

"The baker brought it," Naruto said. He seemed to be just as confused as Sasuke was.

"Is it good?" asked Sasuke. He was trying to ask if it had been poisoned, but he couldn't bring himself to sound as worried as he was.

Naruto seemed to know what he meant. "The baker had a bite before he left," he said.

"Can I try some?" asked Sasuke. He still didn't quite trust the baker. If the baker had poisoned the cake he could be rushing back to his bakery where the antidote would be.

Naruto nodded and handed him a bit of the cake. He took it cautiously. It was delicious, but he could detect no hint of any sort of poison or anything like the sort.

"Why did he bring it?" he asked.

"He said it was a birthday cake for me," answered Naruto.

Sasuke was still suspicious, but he felt bad for pressing the matter. This was the first seemingly nice thing that any of the villagers had done for Naruto. And it was on his birthday too. He would not ruin the way Naruto felt at the moment no matter what he thought. "We have to go to the bridge now."

Naruto nodded. Then he looked over to the cake. "What do I do with it? I don't want it to go to waste."

"Don't worry," Sasuke said. "Just put the top over it and put it in the fridge. It shouldn't get stale in there."

Naruto nodded and did as he was told before he and Sasuke left to head to the bridge where they were to meet their team members.

Thank you all who reviewed. I was not expecting to get 5 reviews so quickly.

I do have the next chapter written, but I'm going to post in on Saturday unless I get 5 reviews before that.