Summary: A bakery reopens up in Konoha and Neji and Sasuke find themselves competing over something they’d never thought they would.

As some of you know, I’m doing fanfiction requests (details are on my profile). A lovely writer (InsaneYunay, please look at her stories!) requested that I write a NejiSakuSasu fanfic.

Since all requests are one-shots, I had to think: How am I going to write a love triangle in a one-shot? The fact that two of them barely speak to one another in canon didn’t help either. And the fact I had to make it about cupcakes just added the icing to the cake (ha-ha, lame pun).

So I came up with this: Sasuke and Neji are both very pride people, and being considered prodigies of their clans might put some rivalry tension between them.

And in most stories, rivalry is very common in love triangles.

So there you go. Sasuke and Neji are going to fight over cupcakes…

…I mean Sakura.

I’d just like to mention that even if you don’t like NejiSaku or SasuSaku or NejiSakuSasu or anything of that sort, I think you’ll still enjoy this fic.

Baker’s Dozen

The roads were crowded—much too crowded in Sasuke’s opinion. Everyone met elbow-to-elbow and Sasuke felt as though he were drowning in a sea of people. He was out in the streets for a couple of minutes and already he felt claustrophobic.

Sasuke angrily pushed through the crowd. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned over the area looking for a certain face.

A sigh escaped his lips. Sasuke could barely believe that all this hype was over a stupid bakery. He couldn’t care less that this bakery used to be super popular before it closed down. He couldn’t care less that this supposedly amazing bakery decided to open back up in Konoha. All he cared about at the moment is why shinobi—people trained to kill like tools—cared so much about cupcakes.

The reopened bakery of sweets was renowned for their cupcakes. It was true that as a child, he too was brought here by his mother and thought it was the coolest thing in the world. But as a sixteen-year-old who was formally taught by a legendary, S-classed enemy of Konoha, the thrill was gone.

The smell of desserts and bread filled the air. Sasuke suddenly felt a churning feeling in his stomach. Once again, he desperately glanced through the crowd.

A sudden feeling of anger flowed through him. His former, pink-haired teammate had promised to meet him in front of the bakery. She wanted to grab a sweet before going with him. They were going to discuss a new mission.

It was an easy mission, in his opinion. But even though he was legally accepted back into Konoha, few trusted him. Every mission he had went on since his return to Konoha he had been paired with a teammate. Because of this, he had to discuss a plan with Sakura.

He pushed aside a tall, lanky shinobi in search of Sakura’s trademark hair. He saw a flash of pink in the distance and he picked up his pace. He ignored the protests of the sweet-toothed Konoha civilians as he barged through the bustle. He felt a sudden breath of air reach his lungs when he came out of the fray and into the opening where a certain green-eyed girl waited for him.

She was standing on a stone ledge that guarded large, blossomed flowers within its walls.

“There you are!” Sakura chirped. She smiled cheerfully before hopping down from the ledge. She leaned her back against it. “I was looking for you.”

Despite his earlier frustration, Sasuke felt a sudden calming feeling. He assured himself that it was relief, but in the back of his mind, he was sure it was more than that.

He would never admit it but he was happy to see Sakura. Not because he had to beat several people and elbow them to a point where his arms were sore just to find her. He was genuinely happy.

He always had friendly comradeship with Sakura but ever since returning to Konoha, he felt a strange, new atmosphere with her.

She had matured emotionally and mentally since their days as Genin. He had once thought of her as annoying, but now, he found her company intriguing and comforting. He wasn’t sure when he began to wake up and actually look forward to seeing her. He had never felt that way with anyone before.

And that is exactly why he had to keep denying it.

“It seems that this bakery’s really busy,” Sakura said to him, though her eyes were lingering over to the crowd of death. She smiled. “I don’t think it’ll close down this time.”

She seemed to giggle over her own statement. Sasuke smiled too, though it was never visible on his face.

“Well I just want to pick up a cupcake and get moving,” said Sakura, still glancing warily at the crowd. “I’m just going to get in and get out. I don’t think I’ll be able to stand around this place much longer without getting trampled on, so I’ll be quick.”

Sakura, with a determined look on her face as though she were going into battle, was about to head off but was stopped when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey! There’s Neji and Tenten,” Sakura said.

Sasuke looked in the direction that Sakura was indicating. True to her word, the weapons prodigy and Hyuuga genius were both standing there. They seemed to be looking around for someone. Tenten’s lingering gaze eventually locked eyes with Sakura’s. She waved her arm enthusiastically.

Sasuke was about to protest, but Sakura was already waving back—just as enthusiastically—and ran off to meet the two fellow shinobi.

Sasuke inwardly groaned.

What just happened to ‘get in and get out’? He thought disappointedly.

He followed Sakura as she was drawn closer and closer to the two ninja.

“Are you guys here for the opening?” Sakura asked.

Neji looked as though Sakura had just asked him if he shaved his legs. Tenten, on the other hand, nodded happily.

“Lee’s supposed to be here too,” she said. She sighed heavily. “I don’t understand why he always seems to be late.”

“He’s probably overtraining, as usual. Don’t worry. He’ll beat himself with a toaster for disappointing us,” Neji said dryly. Tenten giggled.

“I thought I saw him here,” said Sakura, looking thoughtful. “Although I might have been mistaking him for someone else…”

“‘Mistaken him for someone else’? Sakura, this is Lee we’re talking about. The only one who looks like him is Gai-sensei,” said Tenten, grinning. “Come on. Help me look for him.”

“Okay,” said Sakura. “Neji, are you going to help?”

Neji looked as though Sakura has just asked if she could braid his hair.

“I’m not going in there.”

“Your Byakugan could help, though,” Sakura protested, looking slightly annoyed. Tenten didn’t seem all that thrilled with her former teammate’s attitude either.

Neji glared at them.

“I’m not going in there. Also, my Byakugan is for serious purposes, not finding idiotic teammates.”

Tenten sighed heavily.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said to Sakura. “We’re never going to get him to change his mind. Let’s just get the hell out of here and find Lee.”

Tenten and Sakura disappeared into the sea of flesh and clothing. Sasuke watched them leave. A sudden aching feeling filled him.

An awkward silence was created between the two clan geniuses. He glanced at Neji out of the corner of his eye, just out of curiosity. The Hyuuga caught the glance.

Neji narrowed his white eyes.

“What?” he asked bitterly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes right back at him.

“Nothing,” he said coolly.

“Is there a problem?” Neji retorted.

“I just told you ‘no’,” Sasuke snapped icily. “The only problem here is that you’re overly paranoid.”

The awkward tension in the air suddenly turned into one filled with anger. A young child passed by, eating a large cookie, and noticed the two shinobi glaring at each other and sensed the feeling of killing-intent in the air. Afraid, he dropped his cookie and ran off crying.

The two teenagers were snapped out of their death glares and stared at the young child blankly as he ran into the arms of his worried mother. She glanced up and glared at the two boys, causing them to slightly sink in their spots.

Once the mother and her son had escaped their sight, the two went back to glaring at each other. Sasuke noticed that the flower garden next to him had suddenly wilted, although they were fully bloomed just a minute ago.

As the two glared at each other challengingly, their ex-teammates came back.

“We couldn’t find Lee but…” Tenten trailed off as she noticed the sudden killing intent in the air. She took a step back.

“Well Sasuke and I need to get moving,” said Sakura suddenly. “I’m going to pick up my cupcake and then we’re going to go.”

Suddenly forgetting his recent spat with Neji, Sasuke’s attention was turned back to Sakura.

“I’ll get it.”

Sakura stared at Sasuke in surprise, as did Tenten and Neji. Sasuke had even shocked himself.

Sakura was flattered and surprised at the same time.

“T-thanks,” she said dumbly, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Wait,” said Neji. “I can get it. I’ll look for Lee on the way.”

Sasuke snuck a glare at Neji. He was positive that the Byakugan-wielder’s offer had nothing to do with chivalry. As Neji looked back at him, he realized he was right. White eyes were staring back at him challengingly.

Sakura and Tenten noticed the look exchanged between the two. They then glanced warily at each other.

“Its fine,” Sasuke said bluntly, his mouth forming into a tight frown. “I can do it myself.”

“Do I have to repeat myself, Uchiha? I’m going to be looking for Lee too.”

The surname crossed the line for the two. Sakura and Tenten slowly backed away, staring at the two with wide eyes. They could’ve sworn they just heard some sort of Western-showdown theme song in the air.

The tension could’ve been cut with a butter knife, had there been one around that could withstand the outpouring of angry chakra.

The two boys looked at each other as though they were in battle and waiting for the other to make the first move.

Sasuke clenched and unclenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.

Then they shot off like bottle rockets into the crowd. They either pushed people aside or the people, afraid that they were going to end up decapitated or killed of some sort, had parted to let them through. The situation almost seemed like it was Moses himself parting the sea.

Although the aura of death certainly helped them shove people out of the way, it was not easy. Sasuke found himself trapped by Akimichi clan members several times.

As he shoved (threw) people aside, he caught a glance at Neji. The boy was having just as much difficulty as him, but had the same determined and fiery look in his eye.

When the white-eyed boy noticed him, the two sped up simultaneously. Now, they were practically barging through the crowd like a pack of bulls.

One poor man twisted his ankle as he tried to escape.

Sasuke jumped over the fallen man. There was a clearing. He could see the counter of the bakery. A mad sort of gleam filled his eyes.

Two lines of people seemed to have formed a perfect entryway. Sasuke’s heart began to race when he realized that both he and Neji had reached the clearing in unison. They sprinted for the counter, almost knocking each other over on the way there.

They half-wrestled and half-pushed each other until they entered the open-doored bakery and reached the counter. A stressed looking woman with a pink and white apron, which was picked after the bakery’s colors, stood behind the cash register. The bright and perky apron was in great contrast to the tired and pissed-off woman.

“Can I help you?” she asked flatly.

“Yeah, I want—“they started in unison, but an old woman pushed them aside.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Neji snapped, not even realizing he was raising his voice to an elderly woman.

“She was in line,” the woman behind the counter said, glaring at the two boys.

Sasuke and Neji looked behind them and saw that the two lines were actual lines—not some sort of parting for them to pass. They also noticed several injured people in the crowd and medic-nins trying desperately to help them.

“Go to the end of the line,” said the tired woman. Although her voice lacked the demanding tone, Sasuke and Neji obliged and each headed to the end of each individual line.

Sasuke tapped his foot impatiently. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced over at Neji. The prodigy had a scowl on his face and was crossing his arms.

The line inched forward slowly. Sasuke looked at the clock on the front of the bakery several times.

As he grew closer and closer to the front of the line, Sasuke looked at Neji with an arrogant smirk on his face—something he hadn’t done in a long time. Sasuke’s side of the line was shorter than Neji’s.

Sasuke saw Neji’s eye twitch. He knew that the Hyuuga was aware that he was in the longer line, and although his arms were crossed and lips were in a tightly pressed line, he knew he was pissed-off. Sasuke held his head high. Neji’s misery somehow seemed to satisfy him.

Now he was at the front of the line. All he had to do was wait to let a cash register open.

He took a second glance at Neji’s line, hoping to catch Neji’s eyes so he could silently gloat. His jaw dropped when he realized with astonishment that all of the people that were left in front of Neji were all part of the same group.

Neji had seemed to realize it at the same time as Sasuke. Sasuke noticed a sort of excitement in the Hyuuga’s wide eyes.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. The situation did not help when the entire group moved up to the just-opened cash register.

Then a man left with a loaf of bread. Neji and Sasuke made a sprint for the same register. They reached it at the same time.

“I’LL HAVE ONE CUPCAKE!” they screamed in unison. It took them a moment to realize they were at the same register with the same dead-looking woman. They then glared at each other, for they both had said the same thing.

“Actually,” said Sasuke. “Get me two.”

Neji’s eyes narrowed.

“Get me three.”

Sasuke glared back. He took out his wallet and slammed it on the counter. The woman just stared at them flatly. She didn’t even seem slightly alarmed by Sasuke’s action at all.

Neji echoed the action and returned Sasuke’s glare.

“I’ll take four,” said Sasuke.

“I’ll have five.”

“I’ll have half a dozen.”

“Seven.”

“Eight.”

“Nine.”

“One dozen!”

“I'LL HAVE EVERY SINGLE CUPCAKE IN THIS GODFORSAKEN BAKERY!” Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs. Neji’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped. The entire line (especially the ones who wanted to be cupcake buyers) stared, shocked.

The woman, however, was not alarmed.

“Sir,” she said dryly. “You don’t have enough money.”

“What? Oh. Sorry.”

Neji fought the urge to laugh in Sasuke’s face loudly and obnoxiously.

“Fine. I’ll have a baker’s dozen.”

“I’ll have fourteen.”

“I’m sorry,” she said dryly. “But you two only have enough to each get a baker’s dozen.”

“Wait, what?!” Neji said angrily. “That’s impossible! Do you have any idea how much ryou I have in that wallet?! I should be able to buy more than a ‘baker’s dozen’!”

Outraged, Neji grabbed the wallet and opened it. He face grew solemn when he realized that the woman was right. His face seemed thoughtful for a moment. Sasuke watched as realization hit Neji’s face.

He seemed to curse under his breath something about Tenten and shuriken pouches when he took the ryou out of his wallet.

“Fine, I’ll have a baker’s dozen.”

“Yeah,” Sasuke said. “I’ll also have a baker’s dozen.”

The two boys waited as the woman rolled her eyes, took the money and began to fill two pink boxes with thirteen cupcakes each.

It was the longest minute of Sasuke’s life. The minute the pink box touched his hands, he shoved it under his arm and practically charged back into the crowd—almost like an American-football player.

However, as he tackled through the crowd, he suddenly lost his grip on the box as he bumped into a person that seemed like a giant rock.

He gasped melodramatically. He looked around frantically and saw the box. It was dented. He grabbed the box and peeked inside. None of the cupcakes had fallen out or had been damaged. He gave a sigh of relief as though he had dropped a child and it had no injuries.

He wrapped his arms around the box, pressing it against his chest. He dashed into the bustle once again.

And then he saw his destination. There was Sakura—chatting with Tenten, so-and-so yards away. He had no idea where Neji was at the moment, but at that point, he was so excited that he had no time to determine where the Byakugan-wielder was.

He reached the clearing, and somehow, he had a brief feeling of victory ringing throughout him.

But his triumph was ripped from him the moment he saw Neji reaching the clearing the same time as him. Sasuke’s right eye twitched violently.

Racing each other, the two boys picked up their pace.

Tenten noticed the two and was about to wave at them enthusiastically, but noticed the huge trails of dust smoke from behind the two and decided to just stare at them with a horror-stricken expression instead.

They stopped in front of the two girls. Their hair was messy and they looked as though they had just finished a triathlon. They were panting heavily and beads of sweat rolled down the sides of their faces.

Sakura and Tenten stared at the boys, horrified, as if they had just announced that they kicked puppies and punched babies as a hobby.

They both held out the pink boxes in unison.

Sakura looked at the boxes of cupcakes. She had to blink several times before she realized these were the cupcakes she ordered. Her face lit up and she covered her mouth in surprise.

“Aww!” she cooed. She opened her arms and hugged them both, surprising them to a point where they almost dropped the boxes. Both of their faces were slightly red, although it had nothing to do with the fact that they worked their butts off to kill several people for sweets. She took the boxes. “You guys are so sweet!”

Suddenly, her face became concerned.

“What? What is it?” Sasuke asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Oh,” she said, sounding nervous. “Well, the thing is… I already have some cupcakes.”

She used her thumb to point over her shoulder. The boys looked. Sitting on the ledge was a pink box from the bakery holding cupcakes.

“Where’d you get that?” Neji hissed.

“Lee got it for me.”

The two boys looked again. To their astonishment, it was true. Lee was there, looking at the just-recently-wilted flowers with a distraught look on his face.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, causing the teenaged boys to jump and look back at her. “Lee just gave me the best news, Sasuke! Our mission is cancelled! Tsunade realized that the mission was pretty simple and she didn’t need to send us. She’s sending someone else to do it instead. Lucky us, huh?”

Sasuke couldn’t say anything. He just stood there with his jaw drooped open and wide eyes. At some point, he could’ve resembled a fish.

“Thanks guys, but I don’t need this,” she said. She handed each box to their respective owners. They took them, shocked looks still plastered on their faces.

Tenten and Sakura walked off. Lee followed after them. Sasuke could’ve sworn he saw them giggling over something.

THE END

Somehow, this was a lot easier writing than I’d thought it’d be. Unfortunately, it was really short and there wasn’t much romance.

Oh well. Please review. And I hope you like it, InsaneYunay!