Author notes:

Hello again. I know I should be trying to work on the lemon chapter of "Copulation Companion" but I just had to write this idea out. Could be seen as a super-belated Neji birthday fic. I don't really know.

Anyway….

"speaking"

'thoughts'

emphasis

'quoted'

"Take The Cake"

Click.

Tick.

Clack.

Tock.

Cli- "Hmm…."

Upon the presence of what seemed to be a stalemate on the shougi board, a pair of hands found themselves on the chin of one of the players. Then, they moved downward toward the torso of their owner, and they formed a circle, thumbs toward the top with the other fingers forming the lower hemisphere of the circle.

Five minutes passed.

An "Mhm, that should work" was uttered.

Eyelids raised, revealing chocolate-brown abysses drowned in a devious satisfaction. The circle dismantled itself, and the pointer and middle fingers on the brown-eyed player's right hand grasped the theorized winning shougi piece and moved it to its new location with a loud clack.

A smirk formed. "I win again, Neji."

Slightly lavender-colored irises, which belonged to the losing player, dilated in surprise. But, moments later, they, along with their complementary eyelids, constricted and lowered, respectively, to a normal position.

A gentle, slightly mirthful smile formed. "Heh…wow. I thought I was this close to winning." A left pointer finger and thumb were positioned to almost touching, indicating just how close.

Then, flawless teeth were bared momentarily in a genuine smile. "Good game, Shikamaru."

The dark eyed player chuckled. "Thanks. You played extremely well too. I think my teaching you how to play shougi has paid off."

Neji scoffed mockingly. "I already knew how to play shougi before I became your roommate, you know."

"Ohh…." Shikamaru interjected. "So, is that why I kept embarrassingly beating you in the games we played while I was helping you move your stuff in?"

"Smart-ass," Neji teased.

"Mahh…whatever," Shikamaru dismissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Say, do you know what time it is?" Shikamaru asked, changing the subject.

Neji craned his neck over to see the clock on the oven in the adjoining kitchen. "Eleven thirteen," he said.

Shikamaru yawned loudly.

"Is that big brain of yours tired already?" Neji cloyed.

Shikamaru joked back. "Nah, it's only a little bit tired."

"Do you want to play one more quick game of shougi, then?"

"Thanks, but no thanks, Neji. We already played three really good, long games today. It was great having the time to play with you though," Shikamaru said cheerfully. "Work and missions have just been so crazy and troublesome lately!" he complained.

"I know," Neji commiserated with Shikamaru. "I can't even remember the date today. All I know is that Tsunade-sama gave me a break today, tomorrow, and the day after that."

"Really?" Shikamaru inquired with surprise. "I'd think you'd at least remember tomorrow's date."

"And…why's that again?" Neji deadpanned. Then, trying to apologize for his previous tone of voice he continued to speak. "I'm sorry to sound like that, but my mind is just so crammed with mission-related things, and, more recently, ways to finally beat you at shougi," Neji elaborated, winking.

"Well…it's…you know what? I'm sure you'll be able to remember soon," Shikamaru assured, still smiling from seeing Neji actually wink at him.

"So, what's today's date, then?" Neji asked.

"July second. Though…not for much longer," Shikamaru replied.

"Okay. What should we do now, since you don't want to play shougi?" Neji questioned.

"Well, I was thinking I'd bake a cake. Iruka-sensei gave me the best sounding recipe the other day…."

Neji interrupted. "A cake? But, we don't have any ingredients."

"Relax, Neji. I bought some earlier today," Shikamaru said, trying to calm the Hyuuga.

"Wait… you actually went shopping? You've never done that ever since I moved in!"

"Shopping is troublesome. And, I figured I could just survive off of extra shinobi rations and anything I could mooch from your food stash while you were off on some mission…." Shikamaru said quietly, slowly assuming a type of defensive position.

'So that's why I keep running out of pickles so quickly!'

Apparently, Neji didn't realize that his face had taken on a sour expression while he was pondering the loss of his pickles. And his peanut butter. And string cheese. And frozen mackerel filets. And….

"Neji, are you feeling alright?" Shikamaru asked, perplexed.

"Uh…yeah. Just stop stealing my food and buy your own from now on," Neji responded.

"Well, if you don't want any of the cake I was going to make…."

Like clockwork, the mollifying, peace-creating, and delicious properties of free cake cast their spell, not even sparing one of the most stoic and unbeatable members of the Hyuuga clan.

"Damn. Fine, you win," Neji sighed.

Shikamaru grinned, then got up and produced the bag with the mix, cocoa powder, mayonnaise, and frosting; as well as obtaining some eggs and vegetable oil from the refrigerator and cabinets.

Neji walked over and inspected the spread. "Mayonnaise? Why would you need this to make a cake?"

"Well," Shikamaru started, "mayonnaise is made from egg yolks and would, theoretically, help keep the cake moist. Plus, it was on the recipie,so…."

"Okay. Then, why would you need a recipe to make a cake when you're planning on using already-prepared cake mix?" Neji asked, picking up the box and shaking it.

"Frankly, I don't feel like troubling myself in making a cake from scratch," Shikamaru admitted.

Neji was tempted to caustically remind the Nara that his behavior just now was painfully typical of him. However, he refrained. The Hyuuga figured that he was already on thin ice and did not want to lose his cake privileges for real this time.

"So, since you're already here, could you get me a large bowl, the mixers, and drag the trashcan over here? Shikamaru asked.

Neji did as he was told, for the same reason he kept his mouth shut a second ago.

Once Shikamaru had the items in his possession, he started cracking eggs- three, to be exact- into the bowl. Next came the oil, the mix, some water, the cocoa powder, and a spoonful on mayonnaise. Neji was both surprised and fascinated by Shikamaru's ease in the kitchen, as he himself had never been required to bake or learn how to do so before.

"Can I…help?" Neji asked, almost timidly.

"Sure. Do you want to help with the mixers?"

"O-okay."

Their eyes met for a moment, and both stood silently. Then, their gave departed as Neji plugged in the mixer to the outlet as Shikamaru stepped aside to watch.

Neji stuck the ends of the beaters into the sweet, gooey mess and, fumbling for the speed-control dial, he accidentally set it on high.

"Neji, no!" Shikamaru exclaimed, yanking the cord from its socket.

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Neji asked, almost demurely.

"Well, the batter was starting to fly out of the bowl. If I hadn't pulled out the cord, we would've had one sticky mess on our hands.," Shikamaru attested.

"Do you want me to step aside, then?" Neji asked, almost sulking.

"No…" Shikamaru started. "It's better if you learn how to do it. Here, I'll show you how."

Shikamaru grabbed Neji's hands almost gently and placed them on the handle of the mixer.

"Okay, that's good. Now, set that dial only to medium speed at most. Good."

The beaters were slowly turning the ingredients into a brown, soupy looking concoction. Neji was intrigued, but wondered why only the ingredients in the center of the mix were being blended.

"Neji, you have to move the mixer within the bowl," Shikamaru told him. When Neji gave him a confused look, and started to lower the motor-base of the mixer into the batter, Shikamaru stepped in again.

"No, like this, Neji," Shikamaru instructed. With that, he placed his hands over Neji's and guided by the Nara's warm, tanned, and slightly calloused hands, the Hyuuga's own moved the beaters in the mix in a circular motion.

After two minutes or so, the batter was ready. With a gentle squeeze to Neji's hands, Shikamaru relinquished his hold on them and busied himself by going to the cabinet to obtain two nine-inch cake pans. Neji busied himself by trying to fight off the heat and ruddish color that accumulated in his cheeks.

Setting the pans down on the counter, Shikamaru grabbed a pressurized canister, shook it, and sprayed its yellowish contents into both pans liberally.

"What is that supposed to do?" Neji asked, looking over Shikamaru's shoulder.

"It's cooking spray. It'll help the batter from sticking to the pan as it cooks."

Grabbing forest-green cooking mitts from a hook beside the oven, Shikamaru covered his hands. He grabbed the two silver drums, now filled with muddy batter, and placed them on an oven rack, which was already preheated. Pressing buttons with precision, nimble fingers selected the desired time and closed the oven's latch.

"Thirty-five minutes, huh?" Neji observed.

"Well, a little bit longer than that. Ideally, cakes should be let to cool for an hour after baking, but I want us to be able to eat it by midnight, so I'm only going to allot five minutes for it to cool." Shikamaru explained.

"Why midnight? Is there some special reason?" Neji inquired.

Shikamaru grinned. "You'll see. But since we have some time to kill, I'm gonna take a deer-nap."

Neji decided to follow suit, giggling silently at Shikamaru's joke.

Amidst calmed breathing from the long haired male and light snores from the pony tailed one, the oven beeped four times in succession.

"Hmmmmmphahhh…." Shikamaru vocalized eloquently. "Is the cake done already?" Another drawn out yawn.

Neji smirked at the fact that Shikamaru, who embodied pure knowledge and articulate thought when concentrating on a task (when he wanted to, anyway), ended up sacrificing these characteristics when in a state of drowsiness or…when he just acted like his usual indolent self.

Neji then chuckled quietly, grabbed Shikamaru's hand almost tenderly, and proceeded to tugging him off the couch.

"C'mon, lazybones! I want my cake!" Neji enthused. The aroma of rich chocolate wafting in the air transformed Neji, if only temporarily, into a five year old who received a bike for Christmas, rather than his normally reserved self.

Shikamaru, rubbed his poor bottom due to the impact it received. He looked up and spotted the clock on the oven.

'Eleven fifty-eight? Shit!'

Shikamaru, now fully alert, scrambled the kitchen. He flung open the oven's door, quieted the hellfire of the oven, ramshacked the bag for frosting and rainbow sprinkles, and flipped the still-cooling cakes violently onto two separate plates.

Neji noticed the Nara spreading the frosting haphazardly onto the two misshapen masses, gluing the two together with frosting spread in between. However, the glue wouldn't hold, melting to the plate underneath, creating a pool and leaving the top cake to slide over so slightly off its platform.

Hoping to rectify the situation, Shikamaru poured the Technicolor bits of sugar over the cake, but they all fell into one pile in the center of the cake since the lid was loose for some reason.

"Neji, just go sit down at the table," Shikamaru mandated, rubbing his temples.

Shikamaru espied the clock. Eleven fifty-nine.

He hoisted the now lopsided cake into to his hands and, akin to a runner delivering the Olympic torch at the home stretch, he sprinted the five feet to the table and slammed the cake down violently.

"Shikamaru, what's wro-" Neji tried to ask, but was not heard.

"Forgot something," Shikamaru muttered as an ineffective reply.

He dashed back, clawed a small red box and a lighter from the bag, and reached the end of the table a final time, almost panting from exertion.

'About ten seconds left'

He poured the contents of the box onto the table and stuck them one-by-one into the chocolaty sponge until nineteen of them stood.

'C-candles?' Neji wondered. 'Why?'

A realization hit him, but he felt he couldn't speak until Shikamaru lit the torch. Shikamaru accomplished this task by lighting the waxy ends of each blue and white striped stub rapidly. His breath caught up with him.

"Happy Birthday, Neji," Shikamaru gasped out. It was two minutes past twelve, officially marking the third of July.

"Shika…." Neji called out somberly.

"I know. I'm sorry the cake turned out so horribly. I just wanted to do something special for your birthday since I knew you'd forget from work, but I just had to go and fu-"

"Shikamaru….This is the nicest thing anyone's done for me for as I can remember. Th-thank you," Neji said, trying to choke back the few tears that wanted to spill out. He sniffed, and let out a shaky laugh.

The harmonic sound of Neji's laugh and the sight of his delighted face illuminated by the candles were, in Shikamaru's opinion, the only things that made his struggle worth it. He ambled over to where Neji was sitting, and stood slightly to his side.

"Hey, blow out the candles and make a wish," Shikamaru said softly, leaning in slightly to the back of Neji's chair.

Neji gathered as much air as he could muster in his lungs, and released it in one fell swoop, extinguishing the tiny flames, causing nineteen trails of smoke to blend into one cloud.

Shikamaru then plucked the stumps out of the cake more gently than he had thrust them in, and set them aside. He sat down in a chair across from Neji, moonlight reflecting off of him and serving as the two friends' only light source.

"Here you go, Birthday Boy," Shikamaru grinned as he handed off a generous wedge to Neji. He then joked. "I should've gotten you one of those silly birthday hats. Maybe next year." With that, Shikamaru gave himself his own slice.

Neji's fork sank through the concoction. Once it overflowed with a downy pile of chocolate, Neji brought the dark sponge to his lips, and deposited it into his mouth. Once there, the taste of chocolate was smooth, melting in his mouth and creating euphoria within the Hyuuga.

"This cake is wonderful, Shikamaru!" Neji said excitedly, after properly chewing and swallowing, of course.

"I'd have to agree," Shikamaru grinned. "I've really outdone myself this time."

The rest of the meal was spent in comfortable silence. After both men were fulfilled, Shikamaru took the remaining cake and set it the fridge for later consumption.

Neji got up from where he sat, letting out a satisfied groan as he stretched his arms above his head. "I think I'm going to go to bed. Good night, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru got up as well. He took a few steps closer to Hyuuga, and, unexpectedly, embraced him.

"Good night, Neji. I hope the rest of your birthday is wonderful," Shikamaru whispered softly in his ear.

Although surprised at the Nara's sudden action, Neji returned Shikamaru's sudden display of affection contentedly by snuggling his face against his friend's chest. Neji knew that his strong friendship with Shikamaru had changed dramatically, and would continue to change into something ever better each day. Even though Neji normally shunned change, he welcomed this one.

After all, it was his wish.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy it.

Send me a review. I'd greatly appreciate it.