Chapter One: The Sign Up
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He surveyed the spread of ingredients — flour, sugar, free-range organic eggs, butter imported from Ireland, an array of spices including nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon. Of course, he also had honey that he'd collected from his last beekeeping class he'd taken a few months back.
Itachi Uchiha was a busy man. He was the number one lawyer at his Uncle's firm and proved himself time and again with his successes. Some might have claimed nepotism got him his job, but they'd be wrong. He'd earned his full academic scholarship to both undergrad and law school regardless of his family name. And he was also a career hobbyist - from beekeeping, quilting, crochet, gardening, and even a class on creative writing.
"Honey, I love you, but get out of my kitchen," Mikoto said, gently shoving her eldest son away from the white quartz island. "What are you doing here? Didn't you just finish the big Iwagakure case?"
"I was just going to make a tres leches," Itachi murmured. With a look of longing at the spices and ingredients he left spread across the island, Itachi turned towards his mother. "Yes, I closed the case. And now the paralegals are doing the leg work for the next few cases, so I'm in a bit of a lull. Uncle Madara doesn't have anything in particular lined up for me. He told me to take it easy for a few weeks. I thought I'd just do a little baking."
"Honey, I know you like to bake. But there's no way we can possibly eat all the treats you make," Mikoto chided, patting her son on the cheek. "Why don't you go check on your brother?"
"Sasuke? What's he doing here?" Itachi asked.
"He's in the game room with that friend of his, Suigetsu? He just broke up with that sweet girlfriend of his," Mikoto said. "I think her name was Rose?"
"Really? Why? Did you ever meet her?" Itachi asked, allowing his mother to push him out of the kitchen and into the hallway.
"No, but he said there were no hard feelings. They just wanted different things. She was hoping to settle down and he's not ready for any major commitments," Mikoto explained. "So they're taking a break."
"Ah." Itachi could understand that. He'd gone through a similar breakup with his high school girlfriend nearly a decade ago. She'd gone on to marry her college sweetheart and here he was — twenty-seven and still single.
He cast one last regretful look towards the kitchen and then jogged down the stairs to the family basement. He found his little brother and one of his Lacrosse friends playing a tournament-style fighting game.
"Itachi? What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, pushing pause on the game and angling his neck to look back at him.
"Mother has the double oven and I had hoped to unwind with some baking," Itachi explained. He had a perfectly nice condo downtown, but sometimes it was nice to escape to the family estate on the outskirts of Konoha. "How are you doing? Heard you just had a break up."
Sasuke shrugged. "It's not a big deal. Rose was talking about wanting to get married in the near future and I'm just not ready for something like that."
"Keeping it casual," Suigetsu sing-songed holding his fist up for Sasuke to bump.
"Exactly," Sasuke agreed, bumping fists and then turning back to his game. "You wanna play a round, Itachi?"
Casual was not a word Itachi understood. Why would you date someone without the purpose of finding a life partner? His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, smiling faintly at the caller ID. It was the Team Captain to his old Lacrosse Team from back at University.
"Kakashi," Itachi greeted, accepting the call.
"Why don't you just text?" Sasuke called. "You're so old, Itachi!"
"I can hear your little brother is as bratty as ever," Kakashi replied. "So….do you still like baking?"
Itachi wanted to ask if the earth rotated around the sun, or if the grass was green. The question was ridiculous. They'd been roommates back in college — they'd shared a four bedroom apartment along with two other members of the Lacrosse team. To unwind from the stress of tests, most of their buddies would go out drinking, but not Kakashi Hatake or Itachi Uchiha. Those two took to the kitchen.
After graduation, Itachi went on to Law School, while Kakashi had gone into the military. Now, Kakashi had finished his tours and had only recently moved back to Konoha. "You know the answer to that question, Kakashi," Itachi answered.
His friend chuckled on the other end. "I've taken a gig teaching a baking class. I need some students. Are you up for it? Shisui has been pretty good about getting the word out, but I still have two open slots."
Shisui was Itachi's cousin and had also been on the Lacrosse team and one of his former roommates. The fourth teammate/roommate had been Genma Shiranui. "First question, aren't you a firefighter now? And second did you already sign up Genma?"
Kakashi chuckled again. "I don't work every night saving Konoha from burning down. Though, I guess I do that even when teaching baking. And Genma was the first name on the roster. He thinks he'll find his next ex-wife in the class."
"How many does that make it now? Two?" Itachi asked, amused in spite of himself. Sasuke sent him a glare of annoyance, not liking that his videogame vibe was being disturbed by Itachi's casual conversation.
"Technically one. The other two women they broke it off during the engagement." Kakashi waited a beat. "So is that a yes? It starts tomorrow night. Every Tuesday."
"Yes," Itachi agreed. Kakashi hung up before he could ask for how many weeks. He sighed. Did it really matter? He stuck his phone back into his pocket and hopped over the back of the couch, forcing Sasuke and Suigetsu to make space for him. He snatched away Suigetsu's controller and then proceeded to destroy Sasuke's avatar. "Foolish little brother, you should know not to invite the master to play your little games."
"I demand a rematch," Sasuke snapped as soon as the round was over.
"Happy to defeat you again," Itachi said, smirking.
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OoO
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Working the ER didn't lend too much to Doctor Sakura Haruno having a social life outside of the hospital, but somedays she felt she hardly needed it. Today was one of those days, as she wrapped up her twelve-hour shift and was enjoying a cup of chai in the hospital cafeteria. A familiar presence in her life over the past year came to join her.
Paramedic Shisui Uchiha strolled in looking delicious as ever in his uniform as he sauntered towards her with a mischievous grin on his handsome face. He took the seat across from her, stole her chai and smiled at her over the brim after taking a sip. "So, how you holding up, kid?"
Sakura scoffed. "I was doing pretty well until Mr October from the Firefighters calendar stole my tea."
Shisui set the cup back on the table. "You know you love me. I mean, how you holding up with the breakup? I know my cousin can be a bit of an idiot. Hell, he couldn't even call you by your name. Why Rose? Sakura is not exactly a hard name."
Sakura shrugged. "He was trying to be romantic and it's fine. I'm just needing to keep myself busy is all. Hospital policy won't let me take any more extra shifts, so I have three free days a week." She was working four twelve-hour days instead of three. The hospital director was firm in her stance of limiting Sakura's hours to forty-eight per week.
"Sooooo my old college buddy, the one that was in the service? He's working at the station with me these days. He's teaching a baking class at the local community college on Tuesday nights," Shisui explained.
Sakura nodded. "That's cool. My parents have a bakery. I used to love helping them with wedding cakes and birthday cakes."
"Exactly!" Shisui grinned at her again. "Which is why I signed you up!"