Disclaimer: Don't own anything! The piece of the poem in here, however, is mine, even if it is an old one. If anybody wants to use it, be my guest. Just remember to ask first. The song is Star Crossed by Scary Kids Scaring Kids.

Author's Note: Last chapter! I can't believe it! Thanks everyone for sticking with me through this! And I've been watching the Producers nonstop all weekend, so I've got German running through my head and I'm singing I Wanna Be A Producer right now. And I've been playing around with my cell phone half the morning. It's my first one, so I'm trying to figure out all the buttons.

Just got through the second season of Burn Notice. I love that show, but, again, my theory is proven on my favorite people dying. Poor Victor….

And, my last note so I can stop rambling, the graduation party is based on my own family's parties, though considerably toned down. I don't know what kind of music is generally played at things like this, but we always play salsa, so that's what it's gonna be.

-~-~-~-

"Absence diminishes small loves and increases great ones, as the wind blows out the candle and blows up the bonfire."-Anonymous

-~-~-~-~

Naruto was pretending to be asleep for no one's sake but his own. If he was actually awake, then he'd have to go downstairs, see him and pretend like nothing was wrong. Pretending to be asleep was much easier.

He could feel his pillow moving steadily up and down beneath his cheek and while others may have questioned it, he didn't. The person was warm, removing the need for a heavy blanket, and their stomach was delightfully squishy. Not fat, no. Never fat, but fat and squishy were not always synonyms.

An amused snort made its way to his ears. "However much you may like my stomach, Naruto, we have to get up soon."

Naruto groaned and cracked his eyes open at Gaara. They'd slept beside each other last night, because of lack of room. Or rather, Naruto had slept. Gaara had stayed awake, probably finishing that book of his. Naruto stayed curled up and simply regarded Gaara from his position.

"Time?" He asked Gaara.

The redhead flicked a glance at the digital clock on the dresser. "Eight thirty-seven."

"How is it that I manage to sleep in over here?"

Gaara knew that eight thirty wasn't really sleeping in for most people, but for Naruto, who was a natural early riser, it most definitely was. "You're not sleeping in. Time difference. It's like five, six in the morning back home."

"Good. Making sure I'm not going mad. I don't have to make myself breakfast, do I?"

"You don't have to, but if you want to, you'll hear no complaints from me. Anything different from Temari's cooking is a good thing."

"She still hasn't learned to cook without experimenting?"

"Nope."

Naruto considered getting up, considered starting his day, but found himself far too comfortable. "Mikoto can cook. She's good at it. Ne, Gaara, did you get any epiphanies last night?"

Epiphanies were what they called Gaara's poems, mostly because neither of them could ever figure out where they came from. They sounded just enough like him to know that they were his, but just barely.

"I have maybe a few lines."

"Lemme see?" Gaara reached for the small notebook on the dresser and handed it to him. Naruto turned onto his back, head still resting on Gaara's stomach and flipped the notebook open to where a pen held the page.

These memories are dulled

Edges fading like a photograph

And though it hurts to be reminded of What Was

The now must be focused on so that the What Will Be

Won't be the same as What Was

Naruto looked up at his friend. "I'm still wondering where these things come from. I like it though. Not quite depressing and not quite bittersweet, but almost like a what if, kind of thing."

Gaara shrugged. "I don't think we'll ever figure out where these poems come from."

"I think it would change the meaning a bit if we did." Naruto slipped the pen from the job of holding the page and began to doodle on a blank page. "Ne, Gaara…was it just me or was last night, at dinner, a little…suffocating? It wasn't at first, but after Shisui and Obito started teasing each other…"

"It's not just you." Gaara told him.

Both of their heads jerked around to look at Shikamaru, whose face was still buried in his pillow, but was waving one hand lazily. "I'm in agreement." Were the words muffled by a pillow.

"Morning, Shika." Naruto called. He'd learned a while ago not that no morning was good for Shikamaru if he was up before nine, so he didn't usually say 'good morning' to him.

"I need a shower." Shikamaru told them, turning his head so that his words weren't muffled. "It'll wake me up."
"Then go ahead. You can have first dibs on the shower."

"…Now I just need to get up."

"Lazyass." The other two told him almost immediately. Naruto passed the notebook, now with a page of scribbles, doodles and half done sketches, back to Gaara and forced himself up.

"Fine. I'll take a shower then I'll kick you out of bed so you can take one. Sound fair?"

Shikamaru gave him a thumbs up to show his agreement, already drifting back to sleep. Naruto found a small stack of towels just outside their bedroom door and took one, trying to remember which door was the bathroom.

He was saved from checking each door when Sasuke walked out of one, a loose T-shirt on with some jeans slung low on his hips, furiously drying his hair with a towel. Their eyes met and separated and Sasuke walked right past him, though their shoulder brushed unintentionally and sparks shot up Naruto's arm.

Naruto watched him hang the towel on the stair railing to dry and go downstairs before taking his turn to shower. Stripping, he piled his clothes on the counter so that he wouldn't forget them and turned on the tap. As he stepped under the spray, a shudder went down his spine and he let out a low string of curses.

"Bastard took all the hot water."

* * * *

"Okay, so the graduation's tomorrow. Suggestions?" Naruto asked, a piece of paper torn from Gaara's notebook in front of him. The basic ingredients were already scribbled on there.

It was late morning and they were all seated at the kitchen table. Shikamaru sat across from him, his back to the window. "Some kind of strudel." Was his suggestion.

Apples and cinnamon went on the list.

"Things with guava. And some with chocolate." Gaara offered.

"Chocolate's good."
"You guys goin' shopping?" Obito came into the kitchen, still a little sleepy-eyed, but his goggles were absent.

"Yup. Why, you need something?"

"Rather, I want to come with you. I think I'll go mad if I'm stuck in here much longer. You guys don't mind, do you?"

"'Course not. And we need somebody who knows the area anyways."

"Then I'm your man. I might not live here anymore, but I know this city's streets as well as I know how I like my coffee. Lots of sugar and a little milk."
Naruto found the pang that resonated inside him every time he saw Sasuke, or even heard his name, easing around Obito. Obito had a way of putting everyone at ease.

"That everything?" Naruto asked the other two.

"Honey!" Obito exclaimed.

Naruto looked over his shoulder. "Sorry, Obito, but we're not close enough to all me that."

Obito gave him a playful cuff upside the head. "Dream on, blondie. A pastry with honey. And strawberries."

"Kiwis too." Gaara said.

"Berries in general." Shikamaru told him. "And almonds."

Naruto scribbled it all down hurriedly, recipes already whirling through his mind. "And that cake we promised Shisui."
"He told me about that. I can't wait to see my uncle's face when he sees that cake. I'm glad I brought my camera."

* * * *

Each of them split up once they got to the market. Mikoto didn't really bake, so Gaara would be finding some baking pans and such. Shikamaru's job was to get the sugar and things like that. Obito pointed Naruto to an organic grocery store a little farther down that they were both going to. Obito had no specific job after all. They all promised to meet up as soon as they were down by a bookstore at the end of the street.

Naruto was holding up some pineapples for inspection when Obito asked, "So you were there a year ago?"

Naruto stilled completely for a moment before coming to life again. "…Yeah. Got a bloody nose for it."

"And a broken heart?"

Naruto whirled to face him, surprise writing itself all along his scarred face.

Obito smiled slightly. "Shisui's a writer and I'm a photographer. You learn to look at the little details."

"I've been here less than a day."

"True, but along with your emotions screaming themselves out on your face, you're not the only one who was there a year ago. Sasuke lived with me for a few months, around Christmas. I saw what I needed to see from him. He and Shisui hang out a lot too. Me and Shisui pooled our information and it wasn't hard to piece it together."
"Is there some reason you're bringing it up now?" Naruto put the pineapple in his cart and kept walking, critically eyeing some yellow apples.

"Itachi emailed me while he was over there. He told me about you, Naruto. Said you were the best baker in town. Possibly the world, although I think he might've been exaggerating a bit there. He said that one of the reasons he thought that was because Sasuke told him that he liked your pastries. Sasuke, who I haven't seen eat a cookie since he was seven.

"He also said that Sasuke was different one night, when he came back with you from a day of hanging out. Said he was more expressive, happier, that he was acting more like the kid that we all remember before Fugaku started on the ridiculous family business stuff. And he said it was all 'cause of you."

Naruto gave him a disbelieving look over his shoulder as he found a few acceptable apples. "How could that be?"

"He ate more last night than he's eaten in the months he was with me. Sasuke doesn't eat when he's upset, likes to go for drives. Had he not wanted to see you, he wouldn't have come downstairs last night."

Naruto forced his hand to keep steady while he put some peaches in his cart as well. "What're you saying, exactly?"

Obito tugged a spike of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, frustrated. "I dunno, but I'm hoping you came here with some kind of plan. I can't stand seein' Sasuke this way and, forgive me if I'm wrong, you got something about you that says something's missing."
"No, no you're not wrong. But hell if I know what to do. The last words he said to me were 'I never want to see you again.'"

"The way that Sasuke talks in his sleep, he didn't mean it. Anger and grief do things to people, Naruto."

Naruto looked at Obito closely. The way he'd said that had the weight of experience on it. "Who was it?"

The dark eyes and for the first time, Naruto noticed that they weren't the same color. Close, but one was a very dark blue, like a midnight sky, while the other was the natural black of the Uchihas. "One of my closest friends. Our other friend wanted to be a doctor. She was walking to my house when some guys tried to rape her. She managed to call me and I called my friend to let him know and we were both on our way. She was always a fighter…she tried to fight them. I suppose she caused them enough trouble that they killed her. Me and my friend arrived just a few minutes too late and they were trying to figure out what to do with her body. Well, they had guns and they shot at us, of course. We ran, but they caught up to us. One of them grabbed my friend, took his left eye as a warning. We managed to get to the hospital and he got an eye donor so that he could see again."

"Your eye?"

"…Yeah. I got a prosthetic."

Images flashed by Naruto. A lazy teacher leaning back in his chair, an eye patch over the left eye. A smiling dark eye that was all anyone saw. Naruto when he was younger asking him why he always wore the eye patch and the teacher replying that it had been a gift a long time ago from a friend.

"Was your friend named Hatake Kakashi, by any chance?"

"…Mm. You know him?"

"Yeah. He was my teacher a while back."

"Huh. A teacher. Never would have pegged him to do something like that. We used to joke with him that he should be a spy or something. He could fool anybody into thinking anything back when we were in school."

Naruto found several plastic boxes of strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and every other kind of berries imaginable and but them in his cart as well. "This is all the things on my part of the list. Wanna start heading for the bookstore?"

"Yeah, sure."

* * * *

Naruto was standing at the kitchen counter, considering the ingredients. They'd all bought three times more what they usually bought, but then, there were three times more people. There was a new list underneath their previous one. A list of all their possible choices of which pastries to bake.

"Alright, since about a quarter of all this needs to go into the cake, we can set that aside. Then that leaves…" Naruto continued muttering the figures under his breath. If there was one thing he excelled at, it was conversions and doing math in his head.

"What are we starting with?" Shikamaru asked.

"The turnovers and the rolls. They can be stored the easiest."

Shikamaru nodded and pulled the apron he'd brought with him on. He also followed Naruto's example and put a bandana to keep any loose hairs back. "Let's get started."

Gaara came in about ten minutes in, when they were still preparing the dough and mixing the fillings. "Need my help for anything?"
"You can take over my job," Naruto told him, "And I can start stuffing it all."

"I need an apron."

Shikamaru and Naruto looked at each, faces with their pale patches of flour, and then said, "Take Mikoto's."

"I forgot to bring you one, sorry."

Gaara took the apron from the hook on the fridge and grimaced. It was a soft pink with yellow flowers sewed in. "I can feel my manliness slowly running away."

Shikamaru laughed. "Just put it on. We need your help if we wanna get this all finished by tomorrow afternoon."
Gaara did put it on, grimacing a little as he did, before taking over Naruto's mixing of the berries for the fillings of the pastries. "Afternoon? I thought the graduation was at night?"

"It is. But we also need to set up and bake that cake. By the time we finish, it will be night."

"Makes sense."
They worked diligently for hours, pausing only for dinner, when Mikoto shooed them out of the kitchen and got her apron back. But that didn't mean that they didn't have fun while they worked. Naruto had a habit of randomly throwing a too small berry at his friends' heads with very precise aim, once interrupting into a brief flour war.

But after even Shikamaru had gone upstairs to wash quickly before sleeping and Gaara had followed after Naruto had gently declined the offer for company, Naruto was still working away. Working by the moonlight coming through the window. He doesn't' need to see everything he does. Most of the things he was baking he'd already made dozens of hundreds of times before anyways.

Obito's words from the grocery store kept running through his head and he knew he wouldn't be allowed to sleep very much tonight.

It was a little after midnight when all the people noises of the house quieted completely and all that was left was the hum of the refrigerator. That was when Naruto began to quietly sing a song that he'd heard on the radio during the half day he'd worked the day after he'd gotten Itachi's letter.

"If the stars say that you couldn't love me,
Are you telling me that you would listen?
If the words make their way from your mouth
don't ask my permission,
You're always forgiven…"

Naruto broke off when he heard footsteps on the tile. He turned his head, expecting Gaara, but finding the familiar arrogant prick that had come into his café nearly a year ago and ordered a black coffee.

Sasuke was dressed in a pair of black cotton drawstring pants, a too big T-shirt thrown over his torso. The shirt has a guitar sprouting angelic wings and Naruto has a feeling that the shirt was Itachi's.

"What're you doing up?" Sasuke asked. They were the first words that didn't have ice hanging off of them, though there was a distance in his voice.

"Baking. What's your excuse?"

"I always wake up around now. It's a habit." A habit from nights with Itachi, when they'd sit on the couch, eating their Cap'n Crunch and watching old Buffy and Monk reruns. Sasuke couldn't quite make himself look at Naruto directly, too afraid of seeing anger in the bluer than blue eyes that had haunted him the entire past year. "…Why're you still baking now?"

"Not tired enough to go to sleep. Figured I might as well do something useful." Naruto left the dough he'd been mixing and wiped his floury hands on the apron before checking on the things in the oven.

"Won't it go bad or something by tomorrow? Or," Sasuke checked the time on the microwave. "This afternoon."

"It's why I'm baking them from least spoilable to most spoilable." Naruto smacked Sasuke's curious hand away from a dough mixture with a mixing spoon. "Don't touch it!"

Sasuke had to arch an eyebrow because he really hadn't intended to touch the dough, just to move it so he could get a bowl from the drying rack. But as Naruto looked at him, saw the expressions (as much as Sasuke ever showed, anyways) on the pale face, he found himself laughing. Really, honestly laughing freely for the first time in nearly a year.

Sasuke looked at him, a little bewildered. "What is it?"
"Just…realizing how much I missed you, teme." The brilliant smile on the scarred cheeks both hurt Sasuke and still spread a warm feeling through him.

They were both silent for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry." Neither realized for a moment that they'd said it at the same time.
"Why're you sorry?" Sasuke asked. "…I…shouldn't have…said what I said."

"It's fine. The circumstances….weren't the best. And it was partially my fault that your brother's dead." Naruto rubbed his arm nervously. "I can understand if you hate me…"

"I don't hate you."

Naruto continued as if he hadn't heard him. "It's understandable. I mean, you and Itachi were close and stuff. Probably deserved that bloody nose—" Naruto was cut off as a pair of lips pressed quickly against his own. His eyes widened before he relaxed into it.

Sasuke pulled away, though still keeping fairly close. "I. Don't. Hate you." He said again. Naruto felt each breath against his lips and chin.

Naruto studied him. "You're lying. At least a little bit. You might not hate me, but something's wrong."

Sasuke stepped back a few steps and ran a hand through his hair, pacing across the kitchen. "…You're right. Something keeps telling me that I should be angry with you. I don't want to be. And I thought you were with Gaara."

Sasuke could see the understanding on the baker's face and in his eyes at first, but when he said the last sentence, there was confusion that turned into amusement.

"You thought me and Gaara were together?" Naruto had to support himself with the counter, he was laughing so hard.

"So glad someone finds this funny."

"Jealousy is never an emotion you should associate with Gaara. We've known each other for nine years. He's like my brother."

"You two were rather comfortable with each other."

Naruto looked at him oddly. "It's part of being friends."

When Sasuke didn't look convinced, Naruto chuckled and said, "The next vacation you get, you'd better come home and you can spend more time with the others. It seems like you need it."

"I'm probably not going to get a vacation in a long while." Sasuke told him.

"…Can I ask you something?"
Sasuke nodded.

"Do you really want to run the family business or are you doing this just because your father told you to?"
"I don't really have a choice. Someone needs to take it over and since Itachi…"

"You have so many family members though. Trust me," Naruto smiled wryly and jerked his head at the abundance of pastries. "I know."

"It's…hard to explain."

"Well, if you have to do it, why not get a better reason to?"

Sasuke looked at him oddly and Naruto took a deep breath before explaining all that Gaara had told about why Itachi had gone to Pein in the first place.

* * * *

Gaara had been going downstairs to tell Naruto to go to bed, but he paused a few steps from the landing and looked into the kitchen. He couldn't hear the words that were being said, but the fact that Sasuke and Naruto were simply talking was enough. He quietly went back upstairs, thinking he might just finish that poem.

* * * *

A hand was shaking him roughly and Naruto opened his eyes blearily. The person was a blur of black and orange. He closed his eyes again. "…'Bito?"
"Yup. Come on, wake up, blondie. It's almost two."

Naruto's eyes flew back open. "Two?!"

Obito stepped back. "Mmhmm. Gaara told us to let you sleep, but we're gonna be heading out to set up the party and we need everybody."
Naruto rolled onto his back. "I have to get up now?"

"Yup. No five more minutes for you. You might be able to sleep in the van."

"Van?"

"Yup. We borrowed my mom's van so we can fit all the food. Come on, shower, get dressed. We're leaving in twenty minutes."

Naruto forced himself to sit up and trudged outside to find a towel. "The house is pretty quiet."
"Yeah, my uncle, aunt and Sasuke went to the actual graduation after breakfast. It'll take them a while to get done."

"Alright, alright. Give me ten minutes and I'll be downstairs."

"If you fall asleep in the shower, I'll send Gaara in after you." Obito warned before going downstairs.

As promised, ten minutes later, Naruto was in the kitchen, tugging a T-shirt over his head. He'd change into more formal clothes later. He grabbed a tray covered with plastic wrap and followed Shikamaru out to the van.

"Heard you patched things up with Sasuke." Shikamaru said as they headed back into the house.

"Yeah, mostly."

"Mostly?" A smile was tugging at Shikamaru's lips.

"What's the smile for?"

"Hm? Nothin'. Just something Gaara told me."

Naruto leveled a slight glare at his best friend who held up his hands in an innocent gesture before grabbing the next tray. Naruto couldn't help but smile at that. He'd told Gaara some of it and apparently he'd shared it with Shikamaru. Not that Naruto was angry, but it was the principle of the thing.

"I've got the last tray." Obito told them. They'd been moving some trays before he went to wake Naruto. "Are we going to bake the cake there?"

Naruto nodded a little distractedly. "Yeah, yeah. What have we got left in terms of ingredients?"

"A few pounds of flour, a few jars of leftover jam a box of blackberries, half a box of strawberries, some kiwis, a few slices of lemon, two peaches and a partridge in a pear tree." Shikamaru told him.

Naruto grinned at him. "I can work with that."

* * * *

The hall that they were doing the graduation celebration was what Naruto was willing to be was a perfect square with a high ceiling. There was outdoor seating, but Naruto doubted anyone would use it. It was set to rain tonight. The floors tiles were decorated and cream colored with a small blue diamond shaped tile in the center of each one. How did Naruto know that? He'd found himself face down on that floor after tripping over a bundle of wires that Shisui was setting up.

Shisui crawled back out from underneath the table he'd been setting up under and, biting back a smile, said, "Sorry about that, Naruto."

Obito looked down at his cousin over the tray of pastries in his hands. "Who put you in charge of the technology? God knows you're terrible with it."

Shisui stood, taking the tray from him. "Blame your mother. How 'bout we switch jobs?"

Obito beamed and put his goggles down over his eyes. "I love the way your mind works." The photographer got beneath the table and began untangling the cables.

"Your mother might be burning the chicken, Obito." Someone warned.

They all turned towards the speaker. A woman whose light brown hair was braided down her back was setting the tables. She looked up and her green eyes were very bright against olive-toned skin as she smiled at them.

Shisui set the tray down on a long table that Naruto was assuming was for food before putting an arm around the woman's waist. Naruto noticed that her stomach was gently rounded in a way that meant she was pregnant. "Isabella does me the honor of being my wife."

"Shisui's told me a lot about you three." She held out a hand. "Naruto, isn't it?"

The blonde nodded, shaking her small hand that he noticed shook firmly. "Yup. Pleasure to meet you."

Shikamaru was next to greet her. "Congratulations on the new kid."

Isabella laughed, a sound like wind chimes. "You're observant. Shikamaru?"

"Got it in one."

Just as Isabella was going to greet Gaara, a woman that looked exactly like Mikoto came out. "Save the chit-chat. You guys have all night for that. We need to finish setting up."

Shisui grinned and told Naruto out of the corner of his mouth, "Can you tell she was a teacher?"

Naruto swallowed a laugh. "Yup. Who is she?"

"Obito's mom, Tomoko . Her and Mikoto were twins."

"Ah. That explains it. I'm gonna need to borrow the kitchen to make that cake. Can you get her out of there?"
"Isabella can."

His wife looked at him with a long-suffering look. "The things I do for your pranks."

"But this one will be entirely worth it! And besides, you still love me after each and every prank."

"So long as my name doesn't get mentioned." She warned him and headed back into the kitchen, gesturing for Gaara, Shikamaru and Naruto to follow. Tomoko had a raw chicken in a pan in her hands. Isabella touched her gently on the shoulder and said, "Why don't you let me do the cooking? Chicken is my specialty."

"If you say so. And the boys?"

"I need their help. I'm rather short, you understand."

"Fine. I'll take care of the silverware."

Isabelle smiled real big. "You do that."

As soon as Tomoko was out into the main area, Isabelle said, "Get all your ingredients and get baking. I'm no baker, but I'm assuming this cake you have planned isn't a cupcake."

"You're assuming right. Thanks for getting her out of the kitchen."
Gaara decided he could set up the trays of pastries they'd already baked because Tomoko wanted them a certain way because it complimented the walls or something like that. Gaara had sort of stopped paying attention after she started taking the trays and doing it herself.

Naruto stood at the counter, leaning on it in a way that allowed Shikamaru to stand next to him and see what he was sketching on a page from Gaara's notebook. "Here's what I'm thinking. Basic three tiered shape. You said we had some jam left? We can put that as some lining beneath the frosting-"

"Or the center of each layer could be hollow and we could fill it like that. We might have to make more jam though."

"I like that idea, but so that we don't have to make anymore jam, each layer can be a different flavor. One chocolate, one vanilla and you said we had some lemon? Lemon meringue for the top layer, since that's not as popular."

"Lemon meringue on a cake?"
"No, as a flavor. It won't be actual lemon meringue, but we put enough of it in there so it tastes like it. And then we can put some jam in each. I can make the hole in the center of each layer small enough that we can probably portion out what jam we have."

"And the decorations?"

"We'll get to that while the cake gets baked."

"Works for me."

They could all hear when the rest of the family was coming a few hours later. It was impossible to miss, really. Through the wide windows, they could see the cars pulling up and everyone getting out. Gaara poked his head into the kitchen, blinking in surprise at his two friends, both of their clothes speckled with flour and streaks of what Gaara swore was jam on their cheeks. They were both at a table, Shikamaru icing the cake with white icing and Naruto going behind him, carefully placing various fruits along it.

"You guys do realize that they're here, right?"

Shikamaru looked up, momentarily distracted. "Already?"

"It's been like two, three hours."

"Crap. We still need to finish this and clean and change."

Gaara searched through the kitchen, finally finding a serviceable apron and putting it on. He was already in his dress clothes and was not getting them dirty. "I'll clean. Finish up that cake."

Naruto beamed at him from behind a floury mask. "Have I told you you're a godsend, Gaara?"

"Every time I save your butt."

Shisui came into the kitchen, surprised to see the cake sitting on the table, fully decorated and the counters clean and organized. The three friends, however, were sitting at the table, tired smiles on their faces.

"Hey, Shisui." Naruto greeted.

"You guys do know that you have to get clean and change, right?"
"Don't remind us."

"Seriously, guys. Fugaku's getting ready for a speech or something and if you guys go to sit down halfway through it, he'll get annoyed."

"Just annoyed?"
"Considering what you guys are doing with this cake, him annoyed already isn't a good idea."

Shikamaru and Naruto considered this for a moment and stood, going out the back entrance where Obito had parked the van. Taking their folded clothes out from the small backpack they'd brought and they took turns changing in the van. Fortunately for them, they were all relatively the same size, though almost any clothes tended to hang too loose on Shikamaru's frame, and it didn't really matter who stole whose shirt.

They washed their faces quickly in the kitchen sink and they'd helped brush the flour out of each other's hair. Naruto spread his arms and did a little spin to Gaara and Shisui. Black slacks hid his legs as well as Shikamaru's, and the white dress shirt with its cuffs rolled up. There were no ties on either of them, however, mostly because Naruto didn't like things around his neck and Shikamaru hadn't bothered to bring one.

Shikamaru finished tucking in his dark blue shirt into the slacks and reties his hair before they all step back out, sitting towards the back so they don't disturb much. For the most part, they ignore everything that Fugaku's saying, but raise their champagne glasses in a toast at the end. Sasuke's sitting at the table with his parents, looking uncomfortable, though Naruto knew it wasn't because of the suit.

Enough of the various Uchihas were all congratulating him and wishing him good luck and Naruto wondered if any of them had ever heard that it was bad luck to say good luck at things like this? Well, technically it was only on opening night, but Naruto figures that this counts.

Naruto eventually stood and strode over to the table and put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, smiling politely at the gathered family members. "Apologies, everyone, but I need to borrow him for a moment. I need his opinion on a special pastry."

As soon as Sasuke got into the kitchen, the tension in his body seemed to seep out of him as he leaned on the counter. Then he noticed the cake on the table. "Tell me you didn't."

"It was Shisui's idea, not mine. I just went with it. But come on, can I get some points for last minute creativity? We just finished it like twenty minutes ago."

"I'll give you points for being either extremely brave or being extremely stupid."

"I think I'll take the former."

"…Thanks, by the way. For…getting me out of there."

"Well, any idiot can tell you weren't totally comfortable sitting there. And I wasn't lying. I wanted your opinion on it."

"Who else knows about the cake?"

"Other than Shisui and me? Shika and Gaara, obviously. And Obito and Isabella."

"I'm not surprised he got in on your prank. He used to, and still does; drive most of the family crazy."

Naruto laughed. "Well, considering we're getting out of the country tomorrow, I figure we can cause some mayhem. Out of curiosity," Sasuke didn't like the way that those crystalline eyes were sparkling with mischief. "What kind of music does your family play at things like this?"
"Nothing good."

"I need to collaborate with Shika. He's good at these sorts of things. Or maybe Obito will help."

"You're insane. I'm serious."
Naruto strolled up to him, hands in his pockets, a smile dancing on his lips. "So am I." A quick peck on the lips. "And you love me for it."

And he was back out into the main room, easily visible among the darker tones of the Uchihas and weaving through the crowds to get back to Shikamaru, bending down to lean on the brunette's shoulder and Sasuke could see him speaking, though he couldn't hear the words.

Sasuke looked back at the cake. It really was rather impressive. Nothing like the cakes you saw in store windows, all hardened sugar and flowers. Sasuke had always thought that those looked a little too fake. Naruto's cake was wonderfully simple in terms of decoration. Each layer of the cake had berries at regular intervals and at the top; there was a small structure of peaches and kiwis. And, in green and gold icing, the cake read, Congrats Sasuke in loopy letters. The Uchiha had a feeling that it hadn't been Naruto who'd written it, though he could be wrong. The baker had ways of surprising him at every turn.

Sasuke looked out into the main area at the first strains of music and he repressed a groan. Obito and Shikamaru were hunched over a laptop and lively salsa music was playing. Sasuke ran out, not daring to even glance in his parents' direction and found Gaara.

"If you're looking for him, he's out there." Gaara nodded at the square of space that was supposed to be a dance floor, though the Uchihas hadn't used it.

"Just have to make me dance, don't you?" Shikamaru asked the blonde. Naruto had semi-dragged him onto the dance floor.

Naruto gave him a look, their quick steps mirroring each others. "Try as you might to deny it, Shika, you like to dance. And you wouldn't let me look all awkward out here trying to dance on my own, would you?"

Naruto saw, over Shikamaru's shoulder, Obito gently pulling another cousin out of the crowd and onto the dance floor. A hand was on his upper arm and Naruto turned towards it automatically. Shikamaru slipped from his arms and Sasuke took his place.

"I was wrong. You're not insane. You're absolutely psychotic." Sasuke told him, awkwardly trying to match Naruto's movements.

"Not gonna deny that. But life needs a good dose of psychosis and insanity every once in a while. Else, how would you be able to appreciate the wonderfully mundane things?"

"…I thought about what you told me last night." Naruto didn't say anything, simply let Sasuke gather his thoughts. "I can't let what Itachi did for me go to waste, so I am going to take over the business. But I was thinking that maybe a vacation once a month wouldn't be so bad."

Naruto grinned, unable to help himself and kissed him, right in front of what amounted to his entire family. There was a few wolf whistles form what Naruto was guessing was Shisui and Shikamaru and cheering from Obito. Naruto pulled back and said, "Nope. Not bad at all. I'm guessing we shouldn't bring the cake out then?"
"Don't even think about it." Sasuke murmured before going in for another kiss.

-/-/-/-/-/

A/N: I just found out I may be going to Australia next summer for a school program! I hope I can go, I love to travel.

This is the end of Baker's Love, sadly. But I take story requests if anybody has one.