Author's Note: Well, this is my first story on Sorry if there are any spelling errors I missed in the times I read it over then re-read it over in the past two days while I waited to be able to upload it. Anyways, I'd be happy for reviews, especially if they're constructive criticism.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters from Naruto. (Though I really wish I did)
The 'Best Birthday Party Ever'
Kankuro loved his hat more than anything even though it had been a gift from his sister from his awful 9th birthday party that ended in a disaster, he still loved it. After all it was the one time in his childhood where Gaara had actually done something for him (mind you the 'something' Gaara did still scars him to this day and puts fear into his heart when he thinks about it). Kankuro could truthfully say that his 9th birthday could be one of the worst things in his childhood, and Kankuro hadn't really had the best childhood since he had been shunned and feared almost as bad as his younger brother for just being related to him.
But that wasn't the worst part of his childhood by far. No, Kankuro had many unhappy memories of his childhood, like the time her had angered Temari and she had almost cut him in half with the wind from her fan, or the time Gaara had gotten mad at him and smashed up his puppets up with his sand. But still his absolute worst memory was the time when both of the siblings worked together to make him the 'best birthday party ever'.
"Grab that flour wouldya?" Temari asked her littlest brother who was sitting on the counter, cradling his favorite teddy bear as he 'helped' her bake Kankuro's birthday cake for his 9th birthday. Gaara wasn't actually doing all that much, he was just sitting around and would sometimes grab a few things for her, but the fact that he was even in the same room with her was a big deal to her (even though Gaara seemed to like her better than Kankuro … and everyone else in Suna for that matter).
Gaara didn't say okay, but Temari could see the sand dance across the room and pick up the open bag of flour and carry it over to her. She could only hope that her younger brother didn't spill any sand in the flour or else Kankuro's cake wouldn't taste all that good.
"Thank you Gaara." Temari said happily as she poured the flour into her mix of sugar, baking powder, eggs, milk, and a few other things to make a cake for Kankuro's best party ever. She mixed it swiftly with a beater and then turned towards the kitchen door. She still had to decorate the dining area before her eldest younger brother got back.
"Can you put the cake in the oven Gaara? I'll be back in a few hours, and remember it's hot; so don't burn yourself. Oh, and you need to preheat the oven." Temari added quickly as she walked out of the room and went to start her decorating frenzy.
Gaara climbed down from the counter he was sitting on and walked over towards the large pan filled with cake batter. When he reached the counter with the pan on it he realized there were two problems. One, he was currently holding his teddy bear, named Sandy, so he couldn't grab the bowl unless he put his best friend down. And then there was the second biggest problem; he couldn't reach the top of the counter due to his … lack of height.
The little child looked up at the pan with his big light green eyes as he plotted a way to get the pan off the counter, open the oven door, and put the pan in. Finally getting an idea, Gaara sent one wave of sand towards the pan, lifting it off the counter and placing it on the ground before him as he then used his sand to lift himself off the ground and onto the stone above the oven. He looked at the buttons before him, trying to use his limited knowledge of numbers and the operation of the oven to preheat it.
Leaning forward Gaara pressed the 'bake' button, watching as the number 350 and an o then an f appeared in bright red on the small screen. Curious about how the buttons worked, Gaara pressed the arrow and watched in delight as the numbers rose and rose and rose. A small smile appeared on the child's face as he watched the number steadily increase, going over 1067, and still he didn't let go of the button. He didn't have any idea that 350 degrees had been the right temperature, and he also didn't know that the oven he and Temari were using to bake the cake was normally used to turn sand into glass, and the highest it could go was the exact temperature sand turned to glass if heated long enough. Really, what were the odds?
Gaara's fun was cut short when the numbers stopped going up. Looking rather heartbroken Gaara pulled his finger off the arrow and pressed another button, watching as the numbers fell back down and slowly started to go back up again without him holding down the arrow. From what Temari had told him about ovens, in the order to bake something you had to wait for the temperature of the oven to reach the temperature you had set it for. So as Gaara climbed down off the stove as he tried to remember the number the oven had left off on. It was 2250 with an o and an f, or something like that.
Realizing that Temari wouldn't be back anytime soon and that he had to do something to keep busy while he waited for the oven to preheat Gaara looked at the cake batter in the pan beside him and Sandy on the floor. The cake batter looked so plain and uncreative, so Gaara remembered the one creative thing he knew how to do that would make the batter look way better. He would make a cake batter castle out of it similar to his sand castles!
Gaara leaned forward and tried to mold the cake batter into a castle shape, but he found that it wouldn't stay. So, more focused on making the cake batter castle like than having the cake eatable, Gaara stuck some of his sand into the cake mix and began molding it around in the cake batter until the oven beeped lightly signaling that it was done preheating a half hour later.
He used his sand to open the oven door and also to lift the pan up and place it within the scolding hot depths of the oven. Gaara then stood in front of the window of the oven and watched as the cake started to bubble and quickly began to bake. It was odd how it seemed to be baking faster than Temari's cakes normally did, but Gaara paid no mind to it and continued to watch the cake grow and grow, proud of himself for helping to make his older brother's birthday memorable.
Temari smiled as she lead Kankuro into the dining area by his arm, yelling surprise as Kankuro looked around at all the decorations and was about to thank his older sister, and his younger brother who surprisingly actually helped Temari out with his birthday party, until he saw the 'cake'.
The cake didn't seem very tasty at all to him. Actually, it made Kankuro want to run away screaming and hide inside his puppets until he was sure he was safe from actually having to eat that awful-looking thing. He was sure under the completely black top, which seemed to shine if the light bounced off it right, and the awful brunt smell that was coming from it, the cake might be good. Though he doubted it, no matter how much he convinced himself that it would be okay to eat this … cake like object, it still scared him half to death.
"Well, let's eat up!" Temari said happily as she dragged Kankuro, who she guessed was simply in shock from how awesome his party looked, over towards his chair and sat him down in it, taking the seat between him and Gaara as she grabbed the large cake knife beside the cake and tried to cut it down the middle.
Everyone, even Gaara, was shocked when the cake made a high pitched dinging noise when Temari hit it with the knife. It didn't even cut; it simply made the noise of metal hitting glass.
"Gaara, what happened to the cake?" Temari asked curiously as she tapped the cake again with the point of the knife, and it again just made the noise again.
"I baked it." Gaara answered, both siblings were actually fairly surprised that their younger brother was actually talking to them. "And I also made it a castle with Mother's help." He added, his siblings looked at each other in horror. Whenever Gaara spoke of their mother, he was referring to the sand that protected him and he controlled.
"So … you put sand in the cake?" Temari asked sweetly, Gaara bobbed his head to reply with a yes as she looked at the cake, now wondering what was best; to leave the cake as it was and run away, or to force someone else to try it first. "Well Kankuro, dig in. It is your cake." Temari insisted, handing the knife to Kankuro as she and Gaara watched him try and cut the glass cake without success.
Kankuro looked absentmindedly as the scar that ran across his forearm. He had gotten it that day eight years ago, the day of his 9th birthday. He sighed and adjusted the black hat that sat on his head. He was surprised his old hat still fit him even now, after all Temari had given it to him on that awful birthday when he not only had to pretend like the cake Gaara had tried to make looked good, but he had also had to spend a while in the hospital because of the cut he had given himself while attempting to cut the glass cake.
Almost as if his younger brother had been reading his mind, Gaara turned to Kankuro and began to speak, about food. "Kankuro, do you want me to make you lunch?" Gaara asked, looking over at his older brother as he adjusted his Kazekage robes. Kankuro turned completely ghost white as he waved his hands around in the air in front of him. "No thanks Gaara! I'll be fine; I'm not hungry at all!" He half shouted, his brother sending him a questioning look and simply shrugged and walked away towards the kitchen, wondering what in the world could be Kankuro's problem.