A/N: From the "Breaking the Ice" universe; Vanitas is about 7, Xion's 13, Saïx's 14, and Aqua's turning 15 (her birthday is December 2, in case anyone was wondering).

xX~100 Eternal Moments~Xx

Set 5 – Unbreakable Chains

80 – Cake

I hate being short. Everyone else is so tall, and they can reach stuff like the flour and sugar and everything else up high in the cabinets. It's not fair; I already cracked the eggs in the big mixing bowl and dug out all the eggshell bits, and I even washed my hands afterwards like Aqua always tells me to, but it won't matter if I don't have all the other cake ingredients to mix with them. Unless I just make Aqua eggs for her birthday, but plain eggs are gross.

"Stupid tall people… except Aqua, she's tall but not stupid…" I drag one of those tall counter chairs over to the cabinet, but its metal legs make a loud screech on the tile. I can't let it wake up Aqua or anyone else; it'll ruin the surprise. "Shut up, chair."

I try to pick it up. It's not too heavy for me. It's just big and stupid and I almost trip over it on my way to the cabinet.

"Forget it." I leave the chair in the middle of the kitchen and climb on top of the counter, bracing my palms on it and pushing myself up until I can drag my knees up too. Ha, I don't even need a dumb tall chair, or a dumb tall person. The cabinet's still kind of high from the counter, since it's above the microwave too, but when I stretch on my tip-toes I can open it and grab the bag of flour. Saïx is stupid for putting it all the way up here.

"When I take over the world, I'm gonna make all the tall people put everything on the ground, and they'll have to bend over to get stuff and I'll be able to reach everything." I smirk.

The flour's heavier than I thought. I can still carry it… just set it on the counter, then I can climb down and—

"Vanitas."

I spin around at the voice – the flour's still heavy –

"Go away, I'm—ack!"

Stupid slippery counter, stupid heavy flour, stupid Saïx who put it up there and catches me now when I'm falling. Ugh. He stares at me with his eyes that are really yellow and glowy in the dark, like mine. But mine aren't scary like his are, looming over me.

"Would you rather I have let you fall and give yourself a concussion?" Saïx asks.

"…Maybe." I don't know exactly what a concussion is, but I'm not going to ask.

He drops me on the ground, but I turn and land on top of the flour, so it doesn't hurt much. There is a big puff of white powder on the ground now, though.

"You will be cleaning this up," Saïx says boredly, like he doesn't really care, only I know he does 'cause he came down here in the first place when he should be sleeping.

"Not until I finish Aqua's birthday cake," I tell him. He stares at the egg-filled mixing bowl, then at the flour under me.

"I should have known you would…" He sighs and pinches his nose. Why does he do that so much? "There's a smaller container of flour right there." He points to a shiny metal cylinder on the counter, by where the measuring cups are hanging. There's more flour right there?

"But you got this one out!" He did; I saw him just yesterday when he made waffles. I'm not stupid.

"Because this container was empty. However, I was courteous enough to refill it." He opens the latched lid on the round container; it's full of soft white powder.

"…Get the sugar and other stuff too." If he knows where the ingredients are, he might as well find them for me.

"And what would this 'other stuff' be?" Saïx asks.

"Sugar, duh."

"And?

"Milk, and vanilla, and… stuff…"

"Baking a cake is a much simpler task when one has a recipe." He pulls a book from the high shelf above the fridge and opens it to a dog-eared page. "How do you think she would like this one, Vanitas?"

The cake in the picture is pretty, with white icing (but we'd make it blue 'cause that's Aqua's favorite) and white pencil-shaving looking things sprinkled on top. I think it's coconut. Aqua likes coconut. But Saïx doesn't like Aqua as much as I do; why would he care?

"You forgot to get her a birthday present." I cross my arms. Saïx rolls his eyes.

"Do you not want my assistance? You can return to tossing together flour and 'other stuff' if you would like. Just clean up after yourself."

Why does Saïx have to be right? I wanted the cake to be my present to Aqua, not his. But if he can help me make a pretty one like that, one Aqua will like for sure…

"Fine. What stuff do we need?"

XXX

Ugh, why aren't you getting up, Aqua? It's a Saturday, but she usually gets up early and trains with Dad. Maybe she's not 'cause it's her birthday, but she still needs to get up; her cake's gonna get cold. I almost fall asleep at the bottom of the stairs waiting on her since Saïx wouldn't let me wait outside her bedroom.

The sound of someone coming down wakes me up, but it's just Xion.

"You look happy to see me," she teases when I frown at her. I like Xion a lot, but I was hoping for Aqua.

"It's Aqua's birthday. I made her a cake," I tell her, dragging her towards the kitchen where Saïx is eating a bagel. The finished coconut cake with fifteen candles is cooling on the counter. "See?"

"Vani, you made this all by yourself?" Xion asks, clearly impressed by how awesome it is.

"…Saïx helped a little," I admit. I think my big brother smiles, but it's hard to tell when he's eating.

"D'aww, that was sweet of him." Xion grins, and Saïx grunts.

"It was either that or let him destroy the kitchen, which I doubt Aqua would have enjoyed waking up to."

"Hey, I wasn't destroying – Aqua!"

She walks into the kitchen, dressed all pretty – so that's what took her so long – and I run up and jump on her.

"Happy birthday Aqua!" Hah, I got to say it before Saïx or Xion did. They echo a half-second too late.

"Thank you, Van." She smiles, hugging me back before thanking Saïx and Xion too. "Where is-?"

"I made you a cake! Look!"

She stares at the blue coconut cake, and I stare at her. Does she like it? She likes it, right?

"That's beautiful, Van." She smiles wider. "It was very kind of you to make it for me. It must have taken a lot of work."

Saïx keeps silently eating his bagel. Doesn't he want to tell her he made it too?

"…I didn't make it all by myself. Saïx helped too," I tell her. "Saïx is a good helper. He can reach all the tall stuff."

Aqua laughs. "I bet he can."

"I can hear you," Saïx mumbles.

"I know," I say. "I was letting you. Can we eat cake now?"

"We better save it for later," Aqua says. "At least until after breakfast. Otherwise we'll get sick."

"Aww…" I want her to tell me it tastes good now.

Aqua glances around the kitchen. "Where is Father?"

"He will be back soon," Saïx answers. "He is in the process of picking up important packages."

Oh yeah. I overheard Dad talking to Terra and Ventus – the "packages" – last week. He's taking the three of them to Disney Town for the day. Maybe I can sneak along with them…

Aqua looks at Saïx like he's weird, which he is, but she doesn't ask. "Well, I guess we should eat breakfast, then."

Saïx holds up his bagel, giving her his best "Obviously" look. He needs to be nicer.

"Then can we eat cake?"

Aqua smiles. "Yes, Van, then we can eat cake."

A/N: It's fun writing from Van's POV, but it's kind of difficult because he's not really a reliable narrator. He even lies to himself.

Their father is Eraqus, by the way, for those of you who haven't read BtI.

Saïx did get Aqua a present besides the cake, for the record, that was just Vani jumping to conclusions and Saïx not bothering to argue.