Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Naruto, Kishimoto does. I just borrow his characters and drop them in increasingly far-flung situations.

Chapter One: Never Underestimate the Desperation of a Broke College Student.

People always tell you that you'll never be prepared for college.

Sakura agreed with them, but not for the standard reasons. When she packed her bags and headed off to Konoha university to study for pre-med, she was not prepared to become embroiled in the Invisible World she knew nothing of.

But here she was, working at The Faery Cake, a bakery and café that catered to an otherly crowd.

Sakura had no right to complain, however. She had accepted this job with the fore-knowledge that things would be strange and she'd have to keep her mouth shut. Sakura had been fine with that, once she had the assurance from the owner that nothing illegal was occurring.

Then she had arrived at the place for training only to be greeted by a seal in a kiddie pool and a smiling girl with pointy teeth stirring what looked like a bowl of flour, butter, and blood.

Tsunade said the fact Sakura didn't faint at the sight was what sealed the deal as to their hiring her. Sakura was still debating as to whether or not she wished she had fainted.

Still, she was here out of her own free will, for one reason and one reason only: Sakura was a pre-med student, and a job was a job and money was money, and she was in very great need of both.

She had mentioned this need to her professor, Tsunade, and Tsunade had given her a strange look before abruptly announcing, "I own a café and bakery, called The Faery Cake. My grandfather gave it to me, but I have a friend of mine manage it while I teach and work at the hospital. There's an opening there, you could work at the counter and as a waitress. If you want, I could hire you."

It had seemed to be a blessing descended from heaven. That was, of course, before she had learned that Tsunade's grandfather had been a Green Man of the Woods, and his wife had been a Kitsune from Japan.

And now Sakura was serving hot drinks, food, and baked goods to werewolves, faeries, and other such strange people. Still… at least she was getting paid, and well paid, and Sakura decided that was what mattered most in the end.

"Sorry I'm late!" Izumi called as she rushed in the back door. "I had a meeting with my mom's family."

Shizune, the manager, made a face as she carefully put her coat away in her locker. "Oh, I'm sorry. It wasn't too bad, I hope?"

Izumi shrugged. "Eh, there's been worse meetings." Izumi was a very pretty girl, with chocolately brown hair, dark eyes, and porcelain skin only marred by a tiny beauty mark below her right eye. She also sported rather pointy teeth. She was a strange anomaly in the Invisible World—a half-blood vampire who could tap into the abilities of her immortal kin. This ability was extremely useful in the bakery—since she possessed tastebuds and a mortal digestive system as well as vampiric abilities of taste and digestion, she was able properly taste-test and compare the blood-filled dishes the kitchen made.

Half-bloods like her, however, were rather looked down upon by their full-blooded kin, which made meetings with the vampiric Uchiha clan utter misery.

"Don't be so hard on the Uchiha, Shizune," Rin, the chief chef and baker, protested. "They're not all bad."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Izumi chirped. "Uncle Obito mentioned that he might be coming by The Faery Cake later with Shisui and a couple others."

Sakura was surprised when the changeling turned as red as a tomato, and grinned, sensing gossip.

"Who's Obito, Izumi?" Sakura asked as Izumi tied on her favorite lavender apron. Izumi grinned back at her, waggling her eyebrows.

"Obito and Shisui are my mother's baby brothers." Izumi's dark eyes darted slyly over to a helpless looking Rin, who was waving her hands frantically. "Rin's had a crush on Obito since she was a kid."

Both girls turned to examine the flustered changeling, who was now an even brighter red.

"If you don't turn it down, Rin," Shizune said with a smile, "Obito's likely to think you're a blood pudding and eat you all up."

That was apparently the final straw, and the changeling collapsed on the ground in a faint.

"Whoops." Izumi said sheepishly, kneeling down next to Rin in concern. Luckily, she seemed nothing more than fast asleep.

"I was the one to set her off, and she's partly to blame too." Shizune said with a sigh. "She hasn't been getting enough sleep lately because she's been studying for a botany test, and she's still not used to air in the big city. She's overextending herself, again. I'll take her upstairs to Hana's so she can rest a bit before her visitor arrives."

Sakura stepped forward to help, but Shizune slung the girl over her shoulder and vanished through the stairway leading to the upper floor of the building. Izumi and a pre-vet werewolf named Hana roomed up there, so it was a convenient place to stash any exhausted employees. Once the manager and her burden vanished, Sakura turned to Izumi curiously.

"What does Shizune mean, not used to the city air?"

Izumi looked thoughtful as she flipped through the list of desserts that needed re-stocking. "Y'know Rin's a changeling, right?"

Sakura nodded. Rin had mentioned a while back that she was a changeling—a human baby switched with a fae baby and taken to live in the Fae Realm.

"Rin was horribly premature, when she was born. She wouldn't have survived normally, but an seelie who worked in the hospital had pity on the little baby and the baby's parents. The seelie took Rin away to the Fae Realm where she could get the strength to live, and left it's own daughter in Rin's place to comfort the parents." Izumi explained. "Rin's all better now, but her lungs relied on Fae air to develop, and it's been a little hard for her to adjust to mortal air, especial that of a city."

Sakura blinked and glanced upstairs. "I hope she gets better, then."

Izumi shrugged, grinning. "Oh, don't worry. She'll wake up in a little bit, don't worry. After all, we'll have all our customers complaining if we don't have our best baker on the job!"

Sakura snorted and shook her head. Work here was strange and more often than not gave her a headache, but at least the company was pleasant.

"Is Hinata coming in today?" Izumi asked, flipping through the recipe book. Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, she's gonna be an hour late, though. She had to pick her little sister up from school."

Izumi nodded and turned to hunt down ingredients, and Sakura pinned on her nametag before going out and taking her station at the counter, just in time for their first customer of the afternoon to walk through the door. "Hello again, Mr. Yamato! I assume you want your usual order, but would you like anything with your loam-fudge brownies today?"

Sasuke frowned. "And why exactly are you dragging me along with you to this bakery place?"

"Ah, don't be like that, Sasuke!" Obito chided with a grin. "It's a nice place with great service and an entire section of the menu dedicated to people like us! It's a nice change from the standard blood pudding/blood bag fare we get at home. Their blood souffle alone is enough to make me their devoted customer for life!"

"Really, the souffle is why you keep coming back?" Itachi asked dryly. "I thought it was because of the pretty changeling girl who works there… Rin, was her name?"

Obito's face went red (quite a feat, for a vampire), and Shisui jumped in to defend his brother. "Like you're one to talk, Itachi. We all know the reason you attached yourself and Sasuke to our trip was to visit sweet little Izumi."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Itachi said calmly. Obito raised an eyebrow.

"Really? You think we wouldn't notice the prince of the Uchiha clan sniffing around our adorable little niece?"

Itachi shrugged calmly, but not even Sasuke was fooled. Itachi talked in his sleep when he was at home, and ever since his big brother hit puberty Sasuke had been gathering blackmail material.

"It has not escaped me, Shisui," Itachi said, "Than Miss Inuzuka rooms above The Faery Cake, and if you think I have forgotten you bursting into my third-grade science class to propose to her, you are sadly mistaken."

Shisui nearly tripped on the flat pavement, and Sasuke groaned. "So basically you've dragged me along on a flirting trip? I could have stayed home and studied."

Actually he and his idiot fox of a best friend had been planning a Halo gaming marathon tonight, but Itachi didn't need to know that.

Itachi paused outside of the quant little shop. It was painted a sweet, pastel yellow with vines and butterflies edging the windows and doorways. The wide front window had a windowbox full of flowers—special flowers, however, bought from Yamanaka Greenhouse, run by flower fairies. Their smell cast a glamour over any unprotected mortal who walked by, keeping them from entering the shop.

Sasuke's brother put a hand on the doorknob and turned, raising a delicate eyebrow at Sasuke. "I wasn't aware you had to study Halo for your test on Monday."

Dangit! How does he always know?

Sasuke quickly pushed his way into the shop in an attempt to get away from the teasing Obito and Shisui were certain to rain down upon his head. The bells above the door let out a cheery jingle, and a voice spoke up cheerfully.

"Welcome to The Faery Cake, how can I help you today?"

The voice was sweet as the smell of honey, and Sasuke glanced up into the prettiest green eyes he had ever seen.

Author's Note:

Soooo...

I saw on facebook today that some scientists in Norway discovered that blood has the same coagulating properties as eggs, and therefore can be used as an egg substitute in baking.

Because I am a nerd, I came up with the idea for a fanfiction—a supernatural bakery/café, that caters to the invisible world. Some of their offered delicacies are baked goods with blood instead of eggs, for their carnivorous (such as werewolves) and blood-ingesting (vampires) customers, so they would be able to partake in sweets that would otherwise not be to their taste. This is especially relevant to the vampires, who find normal food bland. This way they will be able to have sweets and actually taste the sweetness.

And of course, it had to be a Sasu/Saku fic. Cause what else?

I am REALLY sorry this is not an update for Change or Amazement or The Ramen Shop. Change should be updated today or tomorrow, though, so if you read that, keep an eye out for it!

As for this story... I have no idea where this is going. I may just leave it as it is... though my plot bunnies are the kind that never leave anything open-ended unexplored for long. I hope y'all like it though!

Until next time!