Strawberry Cheesecake
January 19th in Konoha.
In a room, a girl with blonde hair and a young man with a pineapple-like hairstyle are seen working seriously. Who else if not Temari and Shikamaru. The shinobi who are alliance members and also serve as chairman and deputy in the organization.
Tomorrow will be the alliance meeting and this time, Konoha is chosen to be the host. The country of Tetsu is being hit by a blizzard so it is not possible to make the village a meeting place for alliances as they usually do. Temari left first for Konoha, while Gaara and Kankurou would arrive today.
Temari had to prepare various things related to the meeting, such as the venue and documents as well as guarding considering that the meeting would also be attended by Kage from five major countries. The atmosphere was very calm, Temari and Shikamaru were busy with piles of documents in front of them. They are currently very busy, it seems that they don't even have time to chat. They have been sleep deprived for the past 3 days, and this is very torturous, especially for Shikamaru, a ninja who is known for his laziness. Even now he is working on documents while drowsy. Suddenly he was startled by Temari's scream that echoed in the room.
"OH MY GOD, I REALLY FORGET!" shouted the girl as she stood up and pounded the table frantically.
" What is it?!" Shikamaru panicked too.
"I forgot, today Gaara and Kankurou will arrive in Konoha," Temari said.
" Then?"
Shikamaru didn't understand why the arrival of Gaara and Kankurou made the girl in front of him panic so much?
"Today is Gaara's birthday," Temari explained as she paced back and forth in the room.
" And?" Shikamaru asked again, still not understanding.
Okay. Today is Gaara's birthday, so what's the problem? Why did Temari have to be so panicked.
"I haven't prepared a present for him yet, and I also have to bake a cake. Gosh, there won't be enough time..." Temari became even more panicked.
"Hey, hey. Calm down. I'm sure Gaara will understand that we're very busy right now. I guess it'll be fine if you do all that later after the alliance meeting is over," Shikamaru tried to calm Temari down.
But what happened was the opposite. Instead of calming down, Temari became more and more angry,
"Listen kid! I always give him gifts and make him a cake every year, for me it's a must do 'RIGHT' on his birthday, and I wouldn't miss it for any reason, do you understand?" Temari emphasized her words.
Ever since the Konoha raid mission, after Gaara apologized to Temari and Kankurou, the relationship between the three had improved. And since then, every year, on Gaara and Kankurou's birthday, Temari always makes cakes for them. Strawberry Cheesecake, because the two brothers really like strawberries. It is like a mandatory ritual every year. Temari said that she did it to make up for the time they had missed for 12 years.
"If it's that important, just do it," said Shikamaru.
"But there won't be enough time anymore!"
"Then don't do it"
"You didn't hear what I said earlier did you, kid? I told you I wouldn't miss it," Temari hissed angrily at Shikamaru.
"So what do you want? Troublesome woman!" Shikamaru replied.
" What did you say?!"
Shikamaru was busy dodging the blows aimed at him. Shikamaru couldn't understand why women were so troublesome. If you really want to do it, then just do it. If not, then don't do it. He didn't understand why such a simple thing had become so troublesome in Temari's mind.
"Oh, I know!" Temari stopped her activities hitting Shikamaru.
She turned to look at Shikamaru. Shikamaru swallowed nervously, he had a bad feeling.
"You come with me, lazy boy! We will do it together, there should be enough time if you help me," Temari said as she pulled Shikamaru out without waiting for the young man's approval.
"Hey, wait a minute-" Temari ignored the protests that came out of the young man's mouth.
"What a drag..." Shikamaru finally resigned himself to being pulled by Temari to help the girl prepare gifts and cakes for Gaara.
A few moments later they were at Shikamaru's house, after shopping of course. Why at Shikamaru's house? Of course because they are going to bake cakes, and to make cakes they need a kitchen and an oven which is not available at the temari inn.
"Thank you Yoshino-San for lending me the kitchen," Temari smiled sweetly at Shikamaru's mother as she lowered her head.
"Ah, no problem. I really never imagined Kazekage sister would cook at my house. Just use my kitchen to your heart's content," Yoshino said with a smile.
She had known Temari since she was a little girl and several times she had also visited their house, often to forcibly withdraw Shikamaru when they had a mission or task and the young man was still sleeping. But this was the first time Temari would cook in that house.
"And you Shikamaru! Don't be lazy, you have to help Temari-Chan!" Yoshino glared at her son.
"But ma'am..."
"No buts, Shikamaru!"
"What a drag..."
Shikamaru is sometimes confused, who is Yoshino's child, him or Temari? Her mother was always excited and gentle every time she saw Temari. On the other hand, he was always scolded whenever his mother saw him at home.
And now that they were in the kitchen, Temari took out the ingredients and started setting them on the table. Meanwhile, Shikamaru just stared at the ingredients, some of which he didn't know the name of, with a lazy look. If he could choose, he would rather lie on the bed now than deal with cake ingredients like this. But Shikamaru knew, it would be more troublesome if he had to face the two terrible women, his mother and Temari.
"What are you going to make?" Shikamaru asked.
"Strawberry Cheesecake"
"Strawberries?"
"Yes, Gaara likes Strawberry," Temari replied curtly.
The girl's hands were still moving to prepare the ingredients. Somehow Shikamaru couldn't imagine Gaara and Strawberry side by side. It was strange to hear that Kazekage Gaara liked strawberries, almost as strange as Itachi who liked Danggo or Sasuke who liked tomatoes.
"You stir this." Temari thrust a bowl filled with sugar and eggs in front of Shikamaru along with a whisk.
Shikamaru stared lazily at the bowl, he took the shaker and started to stir the ingredients while yawning. Temari who saw this stopped her activities and then approached Shikamaru angrily.
"You doing it wrong, mix ingredients properly, instead of half-assing it!" Temari grabbed the shaker and showed Shikamaru the right way.
"Do you understand? Do it right lazy boy, if you keep slacking off, you're not helping me but troublesome for me!"
"Then just do it yourself..." Shikamaru muttered.
"You said something, Huh?!"
In order to avoid further debate, Shikamaru finally took the shaker and started doing it according to Temari's instructions. Meanwhile, Yoshino who saw the incident just smiled from the living room. Feeling happy that there is finally a woman who can tame Shikamaru's laziness.
After going through one or two debates, which of course, Temari won. Finally the cake was finished. Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry fruit garnish on top. The cake was perfect. Temari smiled contentedly at it.
"Okay, I have to go back now. I need to clean myself, my body is full of flour," said Temari.
She looked at Shikamaru, "Hey… thanks for your help, lazyboy." Temari smiled broadly.
"Ah, no problem.." Shikamaru scratched his head, a slight blush appeared on the young man's face.
After saying goodbye to Yoshino, Temari returned to her inn with a cake in her hand. She was escorted by Shikamaru, who was 'forced' by his mother to deliver Temari. After walking for a while they finally arrived in front of the inn.
"Hey kid, come here later, you can come eat this cake," Temari chuckled seeing Shikamaru who kept looking at the cake from earlier.
Shikamaru looked thoughtful. He's not really a fan of sweets. But somehow the cake looked so good to his eyes, especially since he had a hand in making it too.
"Come on, just come. Aren't you also making it?" Temari laughed again and then turned to enter the inn.
Shikamaru stared at Temari's back until the girl disappeared from his sight.
"What a drag..." Shikamaru muttered as he stepped back into the house.