Work Text:
Sakura's POV
I'm having a bad day.
I looked at my watch.
It was already past 4 and I'm still stuck here at school because our sensei decided he wanted to extend his torment to us for another 30 minutes.
This is really not my day.
I was late, I fell asleep during first period, I think I got my volleyball team to lose during PE, and more importantly, the cake I bake for my mom is a failure and now I have little to no time to bake another one.
So, though my mom had expressly implied that she wanted a cake baked by her only daughter for her birthday, I have no choice but to just buy one on the way home.
What a great daughter I am.
When finally, finally, sensei was about to go, that was when I realized.
I didn't have my wallet with me.
Joy.
I never realized till now. Ugh. My dad had dropped me off to school earlier and I brought my own bento so I never really needed any money till now.
Jeez. Then maybe I'll just ask Ino-chan to lend me some.
I took a glance at her chair.
Empty.
Right, she had gone home two periods ago because she wasn't feeling well.
Tenten, then.
But.
Empty.
Riiiight... varsity practice.
Thank you so much, life.
"Are you okay?" I looked up. It was Sasuke.
I just wanted to ignore him. I didn't really have to bother him, but I don't know, my stupid mouth started spouting words and a little bit later he was laughing at me.
I glared at him.
"Sorry." He said, still chuckling. "It's just... I think I lost you after you said 'my mother'"
I sighed.
And his grin widen even more. I glared at him again.
"Just... this isn't my day. Everything is not going my way. The cake I bake for my mom yesterday..." I groaned.
"It's as soft as a rock. And now I have no time to bake another one. It might be that my mom's already home when I get there and I forgot to bring my wallet so I can't even buy her one even though she had all but guilt-tripped me saying she 'always wanted to eat cake baked by my daughter.'" I said in one breath.
He blinked.
I think all the words are still registering.
"You!" I then said, standing up. "Can you lend me some money? I'll pay you tomorrow!"
He looked at me.
"I'm fine with lending you some, but wouldn't it be better if you bake it yourself? You said your mom wanted—"
"I know, but I told you I don't have time. My mom's probably on her way home now. And even if I did have time, it'll probably a failure again." I said, impatiently.
He grinned again. What is so funny???
"I thought you're good at cooking."
He said, and I could hear the tone of teasing.
I glared at him yet again.
"Cooking. I'm okay at cooking. Not at baking." I said coldly.
But this didn't seem to perturbed him. He was still grinning.
Why does he seems so... I don't know.. giddy?
"You can bake here."
He suggested. "I'll help you. We can use the Home Ec Lab."
I looked at him. He shrugged.
"You need to learn to bake. You're a girl afterall."
I raised a brow at him, "what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." He said quickly, looking a little scared.
"Come on, or we'll never finish it on time." He said.
I just let him drag me to the Lab.
It was already a quarter to five.
"Are you sure we'll get this finished?? Ugh, my mom's birthday is today." I said, panicky.
"It'll be fine. Besides, I'm sure she'd be happy if you bake the cake." He said, trying to soothe me.
"Okay, okay. Let's get to it. " I said, looking at my watch again.
He started getting the plates and the ingredients. I just stood there.
"Okay, when will we start?" I asked, agitated.
"Now." He said calmly as he placed the bowl and the flour on the table.
"Okay, what do I do? Should I start measuring the flour?"
He smiled that smile again. And looked at me.
"I'll teach you step by step." He just said.
I looked at him half-annoyed, half-exasperated.
Does he think we're playing house??
"Lesson number 1." He said before I could utter a word. "Don't be in a hurry, don't panic."
And then he grabbed my wrist and removed my watch. "You are now forbidden to look at the time." he said.
"What—"
"Lesson number 2." He continued relentlessly. "Keep your mind on the stuff you're trying to cook."
"I know that but how—"
"Lesson number 3." He smiled more widely then. "You must give me your heart."
"When will we start? Need I hear this lesso— what did you say number 3 was?" I said, just registering what he'd say.
He pass by me going towards the refrigerator. "I said, You must give me your heart." He said not looking at me and getting some strawberries out the fridge.
"Excuse me??"
What does he mean by that???
"Don't look at me like that," He said, though I didn't know how he knew how I look because he wasn't looking at me. "Let's get to work."
I stayed where I was, unmoving.
"What?" He asked when he saw me. I raised a brow at him.
"What I'm trying to say is, you need your heart to bake. If your heart is not in this, then you can't bake right." he said.
"I guess." He whispered. But I heard it.
I blink. Oh. "I didn't mean that." I said. I hope I wasn't blushing. "What I meant is, what should I do?" I said lamely.
"Well, first we need 6 tablespoons of flour."
We set to work. Surprising I wasn't making any blunder... well, not much. And considering I was in a panicky and confused (thanks a lot Sasuke) state, that's saying something.
We've only made a small cake so the baking was a lot quicker. We finished around over an hour after.
"We did it!" I said, relieved. And inner me is doing a banzai.
"We'll just have to wrap it up nicely." He said, grinning at our creation.
That's when he looked at me.
He laughed. Hard.
"What is it??" I said, surprised.
"You're a mess!"
I took a look at myself at the back of the spoon.
Jeez. Sasuke's 'You're a mess' was an understament.
And he... He was spotlessly clean. Well, except for the hands, there's a bit of a flour and icing. But me.... let's just not talk about it.
"Never mind that." I said, waving it away.
He let out another laugh.
And then it was that smile again.
I got enough. I mock-punched him.
"What is it??" I asked.
"Nothing..." He said, a bit surprised himself.
"What's with that smile?" I asked again.
"What smile?" He asked and he really looked bewildered.
"That smile!" I said, pointing at him. "I don't know, you seem so happy and so giddy?"
But then suddenly the door opened.
I jumped. Literally jumped and I accidentally pushed one bowl with a bit of sugar.
Fortunately, the cake was away.
And then he laughed. Sasuke was laughing so hard.
"I'm sorry." The guard, who was the one who opened the door earlier, said. "But it's getting late. You should get going now."
"Hai," I answered as Sasuke was still busy laughing away. "We're just cleaning up."
When the guard was gone, I glared at him. He was still laughing, though. And that's when it hit me.
"You were laughing at me! That's what the smile was about!" I said rounding on him. As I said, it's not my day and I don't like it so I'm a bit moody.
"No, no, I'm not!" He tried to say. It wasn't convincing. He was still laughing.
I smack him hard.
"Itai!" He complained.
"That's for laughing at me! Ugh! This is the worse day ever. Nothing's going my way. Everything's a mess. I'm a mess and you're laughing at me!!" I said. Dramatic, I know, but hey, this day is basically a ticket to have at least one breakdown right now.
"Relax, Sakura." He said. He was still chuckling. "Don't be too tight. It's okay to have mistakes once in a while."
"Well yes," I allowed. "But if you can avoid it..."
"Mistakes make life more interesting. In fact, you should make mistakes more. You're too, I mean, you try to make life too perfect." He said.
"And then you'd have something to laugh about?" I said rolling my eyes at him.
"I told you I wasn't laughing at you."
I looked at him.
"I was laughing with you?"
"If I remembered correctly, I wasn't laughing." I said, raising a brow.
"Well, okay I was laughing but not at you... I guess I was just happy..." He said. And finally he finished wrapping the cake neatly.
I checked the time on my phone. It was ten to seven.
"You're happy I messed up?"
"Yes." He said. I glared at him.
"Not in that way." He said quickly. "I'm just happy to see another side of you. You're always too, well, perfect. You never seem to get tired. Never did I saw you fall asleep in class. Earlier was the first. I never see you get flustered when you're suddenly called by a teacher, I never see you late or anything..." He said. Now we were both cleaning up.
I didn't say anything.
"It's cute."
I looked up at that. "Eh?"
Amazingly, I saw him blush.
"I just thought it's... nice... the gap." He said.
"Well, everything's set. Let's get you home." He said quickly.
We walked silently after that. Thanks to Sasuke, it had really become awkward. But even so, he still insisted to walk me home since it was already dark. I just let him.
We reached my home in what seems to be no time at all. Maybe I was thinking too hard.
It was dark inside. I was wrong. It seems no one still home.
"Ah, Thanks." I said, turning to Sasuke.
He just smiled and nodded.
"Bye..." I said. He nodded again.
He turned to leave. I walked up to our door.
It was locked.
"Shimatta." I said outloud.
"Sakura?" I heard him say. He was turning back towards me. "What happened?"
"It's locked." I said. "No one's home and my keys are in my wallet, which I've left in my room." I deadpanned, inwardly kicking myself.
I turned to him and there was that smile again.
"You really think it's cute when I mess up?" I said before I could even think about it.
He blushed.
"Ah, right, how about your back door? Or do you want to call your mom or something?" He said hastily moving towards the back of our house.
He tripped and I couldn't help but laugh.
Cute.