Chapter Two: Pineapple Upside Down Cake

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Sakura shifted her bag and tapped her foot impatiently as she held onto the grab bar while the train barreled towards her station. She'd lost track of time while having an early dinner with her friends Ino and Tenten. It was her first chance to catch up with them after her breakup and neither woman was particularly upset for her, they felt it had been a long time coming.

"You clean up nice when you're not wearing those dreadful scrubs," Ino teased, peering at Sakura over the rim of her drink.

Sakura usually wore snug, form fitting scrubs. She thought she looked quite nice in them. Besides, they were either a pale green color or a dark blue. She looked good in both colors. She glanced down at her skinny jeans, silver sparkle running shoes, and white t-shirt with a pink cherry blossom tree graphic design. It was nothing special. Her ruby stud earrings had been a gift from her ex on their first anniversary. They were nice earrings, it wasn't their fault he didn't want her anymore. They were still supposed to be friends, so what did it matter?

Ino had demanded to take several cute selfies of the three of them sipping their happy-hour cocktails to post to Instagram.

"I'm telling you, he's still cyber stalking you. If you want him to come crawling back, suddenly ready to commit this is what you do — you act like you don't need him and that you're content and having fun without him!" Ino advised.

"And do NOT look at anything he posts," Tenten added. "In fact, give me your phone." She snatched Sakura's phone and deleted the app. "You can have it back in three weeks. You're only allowed to be posted on your friends pages. You're too busy living your life to update your own."

Sakura shook her head at her friends' antics. "I can just download it myself. It doesn't matter though, I am too busy for socials anyway." They didn't need to know she'd spent two hours the night before scrolling through old posts between her and her ex. He hadn't taken them down and neither had she, but they were set to a privacy setting where only the two of them could view them.

"Don't," Tenten warned. "You let us do the posting. How are things with that yummy paramedic friend of yours? Might be time to pursue things with Mr. October," she said waggling her eyebrows. "And if you aren't interested, then introduce me!"

Sakura took her phone back, glanced at the time, and slid it inside her messenger bag. "Shisui and I are friends. Plus, he's related to Sasuke. I don't want to make things weirder than they already are. Can you imagine?"

"What time is that baking class of yours? The one Mr. October signed you up for?" Ino asked, toying with her straw. "I think it's a good opportunity. I'm glad Director Senju refused your request for more shifts at the hospital."

"Fine. If Mr. October is off limits, can you ask him to introduce me to Mr. April?" Tenten asked, leaning close, fruity cocktail on her breath and an excited gleam in her dark eyes.

Sakura laughed and shook her head. Mr. April was Neji Hyuga — another very handsome man who was also a paramedic with the fire department like Shisui. "Sure, but I know Neji as well. If you really want to meet him I think I can set something up. Maybe we can do a family karaoke event?" It had been over a year since Sakura had done karaoke with her friends — she used to love going there with the girls and Naruto. Sasuke had hated it. He hated crowds and she tried to be respectful, but he didn't really try to spend time with her and her friends either.

Ino jabbed Sakura hard in the shoulder. "Stop that." She held up her dainty wrist and her digital watch displayed the time. "You better head out or you'll miss your train. You don't want to be late for your first day."

Sakura grabbed her stuff. "I'll Venmo you later for the meal, ladies."

Ino and Tenten waved her off and Sakura had taken off running, grateful she'd worn a pair of running shoes— even if they were the bling ones. She loved to bake, but her hips didn't love the sugar. So to compromise, Sakura had been a pretty avid runner since middle school. Her track and field days at university were what led her to meet her friends Naruto and Tenten. She and Ino had met in Medical School, the latter focused on Psychiatry where as Emergency and Trauma had caught Sakura's attention.

She rushed onto the campus and was glad to see she made it to class exactly on time. There were six long tables with room for two students to work. Each table had a pair of ranges as well as plenty of counter space to work and a sink. The walls were lined with refrigerators on one side and ovens on the other.

Of the six tables, only one had a student not already paired up. Sakura made her way towards the tall woman with the beautiful, long raven hair tied back in a low ponytail. There was still no sign of the instructor.

"Excuse me," Sakura said, pulling out the stool in the unclaimed spot. "I'm Sakura," she said, introducing herself and setting down her bag. Her heart constricted as her table-mate turned turned towards her and was very much not a beautiful woman. He also had on a pair of skinny jeans and his thighs were quite muscular, though his hips were narrow— leading to her mistake from behind. He wore a crimson t-shirt with a scooped out neckline that showed off a silver necklace with three circles in the middle and the evidence of a strong torso.

"Itachi," he answered, his onyx gaze peering through her from his regal, aristocratic features. He had the lean, muscled body of a martial artist. Dark hair, dark eyes, with an air of an arrogant prick — just her type unfortunately. "You're late."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue that she was exactly on time, when the front door to the classroom opened and Mr. September himself walked inside, his wild silver hair, dark gray eyes, and tall, lithe frame sauntering towards a smaller island than the students' tables.

His eyes crinkled. "Ah, you made it! You must be Shisui's friend. Try to get here a little earlier next week, hm?"

"My apologies," Sakura answered, feeling two inches tall. She could feel the irritated glares from her fellow students, especially from her table-mate.

"As I said before, I'm Kakashi. We won't be using surnames in this class. I want to keep things loose and fun." He leaned his hip against the counter of his island. "Now, we all have professions. No one here is looking to be a professional baker. And if you are, this is the wrong class." He pushed away from his counter and opened a drawer to pulled out an apron — green with a pattern of black pug dogs on it. He dropped it over his muscular torso and Sakura wondered if for next year's calendar if he might just pose with that apron and nothing else.

"Stop ogling," Itachi hissed beside her.

"But, he's Mr. September," Sakura whispered, her cocktail earlier loosening her tongue more than it should.

"Oh? Do you recognize me?" Kakashi asked, stepping towards her and Itachi's table. "Why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves." He smiled at Sakura again. "Why don't you go first? First name and something about yourself, but not your job. We are more than our careers, okay?"

Sakura stood and turned to face her classmates, ignoring Itachi beside her. "Hi. I'm Sakura. And I enjoy running and baking." She smiled shyly and sat back down.

Kakashi gestured for Itachi to go next. "Itachi. I enjoy many things and like learning."

The table across from them had a dark haired young man Sakura recognized as one of Ino and Naruto's friends. His name was Shikamaru and the woman next to him was Temari. They were there because she thought it would help their relationship.

Behind Shikamaru and Temari was Choji and Karui. They didn't know each other. He was wanting to be more hands on with cooking and she was hoping baking would help with her anger management.

The last table on that side was a blond haired man named Deidara and a red head named Sasori — they were both artists. Directly behind Sakura and Itachi were Shizune and Anko. Sakura smiled at the former, recognizing her from the hospital —though Shizune worked more as a Hospitalist. They were dating and trying to find something fun to do. Behind them was Genma and Kisame.

"Alright, well, I don't really like any of you," Kakashi said. He walked towards Sakura and Itachi's table and reached for her head and mused her hair. "Except maybe for Sakura-chan here, my kindred spirit of tardiness."

"Suck up, yeah," Deidara growled, sticking his tongue out at Sakura, which she noticed from the corner of her eye.

"Still got a soft spot for the cute ones, huh, chief?" Genma called.

Kakashi raised a finger at the brunette. "Now, now, Genma. We're not at the station. Don't act so familiar."

Sakura glanced back towards Genma for a closer look and was treated with a wink from Mr. February himself. She smiled back shyly. Ino and Tenten would not even believe her if she told them who was in her baking class.

Kakashi turned back towards the front and started to remove various measuring cups, bowls, and utensils. "Today we'll be talking about measurements. And I'll be giving you a syllabus for the next lessons. I expect you to do your homework. Next week, you'll need your aprons."

"We aren't baking anything today?" Itachi asked.

"We aren't, but I am," Kakashi answered easily. "I'm baking a pineapple upside-down cake and you're going to watch and then you're going to sample it and we're going to talk about qualities that are important — can anyone name what is important for a cake?"

No one volunteered.

Kakashi turned his dark gaze on Sakura. "How about my favorite student? Sakura?"

She could feel her classmates staring at her and she wanted to shrink down on her stool, but Kakashi's gaze didn't waver. And when Itachi angled himself to face her, his face creased in irritation she found her courage. "Moisture content — don't want it to be too dry. The pineapple needs to be just the right balance between sweet and sour."

"Exactly right," Kakashi said, giving her an eye-smile that made her feel all of twelve years old. He shifted his attention to her table-mate, his expression intense. "Itachi? Anything to add?"

"Pineapple is one of the fruits that people are commonly allergic." Itachi scanned the room with his dark eyes. "Anyone allergic?"

There was a general negative consensus echoing throughout the class room."Timing is important," Kakashi added. "The cake bakes for 30 to 35 minutes, cools on a wire rack for five minutes, then you invert it onto a plate and let it sit for another 30 minutes before serving. The temperature range is crucial to avoid collapse. Preheat your oven to 350 degree F."

They watched as Kakashi walked them through the process of making a pineapple upside-down cake, carefully measuring the ingredients. The prep time took twenty minutes to arrange the 1 1/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 2/3 cup milk, 1/4 cup softened butter, one egg, one teaspoon vanilla, one tablespoon water, eight ounces of pineapple slices, and four maraschino cherries halved.

"You add two tablespoons of butter to thi 1/2 inch round cake pan and place it in the oven until the butter melts. You will then stir in the brown sugar and water. Then add the pineapple and cherries." He took a separate bowl and worked on the rest of the ingredients, using an electric mixer to beat it to the proper consistency. Then he spooned it into the prepared pan.

After he placed the cake in the oven and stepped back, tossing off his oven mitts he turned back to the class. "Now we wait thirty-five minutes. After you've had a bit more experience, you may want to experiment with spices adding a dash of this and a dash of that. I don't recommend it unless you have an excellent sense of smell and taste."

Kakashi walked over towards the large white board behind him and started to scribble some measurements. "How many ounces are in a cup?" He turned towards the class. No one volunteered. Sakura raised her hand just a smidge and Kakashi smiled at her and nodded his head. "For extra credit you can go further and elaborate."

Sakura gripped the tabletop tight. It wasn't a good idea to be a sucker, but she still felt she had a hole to dig herself out of showing up later than everyone. "Eight ounces are in one cup. And sixteen tablespoons are in one cup." She could feel Itachi turn his full attention to her as she continued with her recitation of measurement equivalents. "Two-hundred and thirty milliliters in one cup. And then two tablespoons equals one ounce and there are fifteen milliliters in one tablespoon, and there are three teaspoons in one tablespoon."

From behind her, she heard the slow clap and she looked over her shoulder to see the blond haired man, Deidara clapping and sticking his tongue out at her. His table-mate Sasori had a mildly impressed look upon his generally dispassionate face.

"Well," Kakashi said, giving her another eye-smile. "I'd give you an A+ for that, Sakura, but there are no grades in this course." He shifted his focus onto Shikamaru. "And you? Shikamaru? Can you explain pints, quarts, and gallons?"

Shikamaru sighed dramatically and slouched under the attention, but then his girlfriend Temari elbowed him sharply in the ribs and he straightened on his stool. "Two cups, or sixteen ounces are equal to one pint. Two pints equal to one quart, four quarters make a gallon. One gallon is 3.7854 liters."

"Ah, thanks for taking that to the fourth decimal," Kakashi added. "And a fun fact is that the human body needs to consume 67 ounces or 2 liters of water per day." He glanced down at the timer he set on the over. "And that took all over seven minutes. Why don't you all take a twenty-seven minute break?"

"Do you have our syllabus?" Itachi asked.

"Ah! Yes." Kakashi turned back to the desk in the far corner of the room and picked up a stack of binders and carried them over to Sakura and Itachi's table. He dumped them between them. "If you'll pass these out."

Wordlessly, Sakura took the half by her and started to give them to the students on the other side of the classroom. Most murmured their thanks without much notice of her. When she returned to the table, Itachi was already back in place having given out his half. He held out the final binder for Sakura.

"Thank you," Sakura said, offering him a faint smile.

Itachi nodded, but said nothing.

"We have about twenty-five minutes until the timer goes off, why don't you talk amongst yourselves," Kakashi suggested. He ambled towards his desk, and hopped onto his chair sitting cross-wise knees resting over the chair's arm. He pulled out a bright orange book and started reading, ignoring his class.

Sakura turned briefly towards Itachi, but he'd pulled out a bamboo crochet hook and yarn from his bag. Sakura gaped at him for a moment and he pointedly ignored her. She then turned to face the table behind her. "Shizune! I had no idea you were interested in baking!" She held her hand out towards Anko. "And Anko, I'm so glad to finally put a face to a name."

"Ah, so you're Sakura. Shizune talks about you all the time. And of course, I know all about you from…" Anko cleared her throat. "Anyways, I'm surprised you're both off of work!"

Sakura hadn't met the woman before, but knew she and Shizune had been friends since they were in high school. Shizune was a hospitalist, so she and Sakura crossed paths often, working the same shift schedule more often than not. Anko was a police officer. Not only had Sakura heard stories about the woman from Shizune, but also from Sasuke. She'd been his supervising officer back during his rookie year with the force. They'd talked before on speakerphone when she'd called Sasuke a few times in the past when they'd been on patrol.

"Where's your boy-toy?" Anko asked. "I'd assume seeing you dolled up for him in an apron would be his thing." She grunted when Shizune elbowed her harsh in the ribs. "What?" Then her eyes grew wide. "Right. Sorry. You're better off anyway. Men are over-rated." She turned her attention to Shizune and smiled in such a way that Sakura understood the women were more than just friends.

"Hey! Sakura?" Choji called out, waving her over.

"Excuse me. I know those guys over there." Sakura made her rounds towards Choji and Shikamaru, but caught the little wave Mr. February sent her way as well as the predatory grin from the large man sitting next to him.

"I had no idea you'd be in this class, Sakura," Choji said. "Have you seen Ino lately?"

"Hi! I saw her this evening. She's the reason I wasn't later than I already was," Sakura explained. Her cheeks pink at the reminder. "How much did I miss?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Shikamaru said. "Kakashi is just being troublesome. He barely got here two minutes before you did." He gestured towards her vacant spot. "He made Genma move from your spot before you got here. Said he was saving the front-row seat for you."

"For me? Why?" Sakura asked. Thought she was grateful, otherwise she'd be sitting in the back with Kisame. He was probably a nice guy, but he was a little intimidating. "Do you guys know Shisui? He's the one that signed me up for this class. He's friends with the instructor."

Shikamaru shrugged. "I don't know him. You need me to pick you up next week, so you get here on time?"

Sakura caught the glare Temari sent her way. "Um no, thanks. I'll make arrangements."

"Are you sure? You're on the way," Shikamaru pressed. "Or I can drop you off."

The weight of Temari's gaze was hard to ignore. "I'm sure. It's fine. As long as I don't miss the train, it's fine. Worse case, I can always run home. It's only a few miles."

Kakashi started to shift in his chair and Sakura caught his gaze before he hid behind his book again. "Um, I'm just going to go back to my seat now. See you all later."

Itachi didn't react when she slipped onto her stool next to him. She opened her binder and scanned the information for that day's lesson it had a conversation table about the measurements they discussed earlier and the recipe for the pineapple upside down cake. She turned the page to sneak a peak at the second lesson. She couldn't ignore the faint sounds of Itachi's crocheting. Her grandmother used to crochet, she taught Sakura when she was in middle school, but it had been years.

"Are you making an Amigurumi?" Sakura asked. It looked like a black and white something or another.

Itachi paused, slipped his next knot and looked over at her. "Yes. Do you crochet?"

"Not in years," Sakura admitted. "My grandmother taught me. When she got sick, I would crochet while visiting her in the hospital."

"Ah." Itachi said, turning his attention back to his project. They still had ten minutes until their break was over. "Why were you late?"

She resisted the urge to protest that she was exactly on time. The class started at six and she'd found her stool at precisely six on the dot. "I met some friends for an early dinner and then missed my train. The next train was fifteen minutes behind."

"Dinner or cocktails?" Itachi asked.

"Both," Sakura answered. "It had been a couple of months since I last saw them. I don't normally drink, but it's been a rough couple of weeks."

"You were too busy with your boy-toy?"Itachi had a slight, teasing smile. And in that moment, Sakura thought he was cute.

"Busy with work, but when I did have time off, he preferred to spend time together alone. He had a problem around crowds, they made him nervous," Sakura explained. Though, he seemed to have no problem joking around with his coworkers and didn't seem to have any issue hanging out with Naruto and 'the guys.' "It doesn't matter now," she added quietly. She stared down at the lesson plan as her eyes watered and she willed the tears away. She was not going to cry about an ex-boyfriend. Not anymore at least, unless she was at home and it was into her pillow, late at night, when the loneliness snuck up on her.

A baseball-sized black and white Amigurumi landed in the middle of the lesson plan. "It's a panda," Itachi said.

Sakura picked up the small crocheted creature. She smiled. "It's really cute." She turned it over, studied the stitches. The surgeon in her appreciated the skill. "You have a steady hand." She looked over towards him to see his dark eyes studying her.

"You can have it," Itachi said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Alright," Kakashi said, unfolding lazily from his chair. "Break's over. Come on up to the island." He slipped on his oven mitts and took the cake out of the oven and placed the pan on top of the cold range. Then he turned off the heat.

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OoO

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Itachi felt like an ass. It wasn't Sakura's fault that Kakashi had made Genma move. Their old team captain wanted to encourage them to make new friends and he'd said he wanted that spot for Shisui's friend.

Itachi and Genma were Shisui's friends. Probably most of the people in the class were Shisui's friends. Shisui Uchiha was friends with half of Konoha! What was so special about this pink-haired woman?

And she was late. And somehow, she charmed the taciturn Kakashi Hatake? That should have been impossible. Maybe they knew each other in a past-life. There was no logical explanation. And he didn't mean to eaves drop. She knew half the class too.

It sounded like she just got out of a fairly controlling, not quite healthy relationship. She'd been near to tears when he had let one of his snarky comments out.

She could have the panda though. Who doesn't love pandas? It wasn't like he had anyone in mind when he started making it. He had a basketful of orphaned animals he'd crocheted over the past year. He didn't need another one. He hadn't quite figured out what to do with the ones he had accumulated.

"Itachi?" Kakashi said, interrupting his thoughts. The instructor held a knife toward him, handle out. "Would you like to cut the cake?"

"Sure," Itachi agreed, taking the knife. He started to cut the cake in half and then proceeded to cut one half of the cake into pieces. He eye-balled it and sliced it so that there would be fourteen evenly sized pieces— enough for the thirteen people in the class.

Without being asked, Sakura held out the small plates towards Itachi for him to divvy up the slices. She passed the plates to Shizune and they were passed amongst everyone.

"Kisame?" Kakashi said. "Why don't you have the first bite and tell me one thing you notice about the taste or texture?"

"It's warm," Kisame murmured, mouth full of cake.

"Genma?"Kakashi asked, pointed at him with his fork.

"Moist."

Kakashi went around the room, pointing at everyone in turn.

"Sweet."

"Sour."

"Vanilla."

"Cherries."

"Buttery."

"Spongy."

"Yellow."

"Red."

"Acidic," Itachi answered. He looked over at Sakura curious what she'd say.

"It looks prettier than it tastes," Sakura added.

Kakashi laughed at that. He pointed this fork around the students. "Nicely done. I know it's only eight o'clock and class is slated to last until nine, but you all can head home earlier today. But don't get used to it. I plan to take all three hours in the future." He turned his back on them and shoveled the last piece of cake into his mouth.

Itachi stayed at the front with Kakashi while the rest of the class scurried back to their tables. He saw Sakura called back over to Shikamaru and Choji where she posed for a selfie with the rather rotund blond. The sound of her laughing was nice.

"What do you think?" Kakashi asked. "This should be a pretty fun class."

"I think you're enjoying yourself," Itachi answered honestly. If someone deserved nice things, it was Kakashi. "Why the special attention to Sakura?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Why not? Shisui asked me to look out for her. She's a special friend to him."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at that. He and Shisui had been best friends since he'd been five and Shisui had been seven. He'd never even heard of Sakura before. "How special?"

Kakashi didn't answer.

As the students began to mill out, Genma trailing after the women Shizune and Anko like a lost puppy, Itachi felt the urge to bid goodbye to his table partner. It was ridiculous. He was reminded of the nervous butterflies he'd feel as a teen asking a pretty girl to a dance.

"Oh! Itachi, thanks again," Sakura said, holding up the panda. "Would you be okay taking a picture with me and Pandy?"

"Pandy?" Itachi began to gather his own things.

Sakura nodded. "Pandy the Panda." She help up her phone.

"I don't do social media," Itachi warned.

"My friend deleted the apps from my phone. This is just for me." She held the panda up and danced it around playfully.

"Fine." Itachi took the phone from her hand and held it above them. "You're too short," he chided. He had a good five inches over her. He peered up at the two of them plus the panda in the screen and snapped a few photos. He didn't smile and her smile had been shy. He went to her text messages and sent himself the photo. "Text me your address and I'll pick you up before class next week. If you want."

"Um, okay," Sakura said, taking back her phone and slipping it in her bag. "It was nice meeting you, Itachi." She turned and saw the room was empty except for them and Kakashi.

"I'll walk you to the train station," Kakashi offered, suddenly at her side. "I want to hear everything about how you know Shisui." He waved his hand at Itachi in his customary dismissal and left with this 'favorite student.'

"Don't you need to lock up?" Itachi asked.

"Custodial crew is on their way," Kakashi answered. "See you next week, Itachi."

Itachi watched them for a moment, feeling stunned. What just happened? He looked back down at his phone and smiled at the text message he sent himself from Sakura's phone. It really was a shame he didn't do social media— he was sure it would be a well liked photo if he did. .