Disclaimer: I do not own The Prince of Tennis or any of its characters. This was really just something that I came up with when I was in the kitchen helping my mom bake a cake…it didn't turn out too good because eh…we made a mistake…haha…heh-heh…and yeah, the idea just came to me XD!

Baking Lesson

A soft giggle echoed through the air. The stoic-faced buchou twitched an eyebrow. "Just let it slide…" he thought as he gritted his teeth.

Another giggle sounded. Tezuka clenched his hands. He was NOT going to lose his temper….he was NOT…

"Mmmph…kermmph…" the voice strained to keep the giggles from coming out.

That was the final straw.

"Fuji, shut up before I make you run laps until you graduate!" he barked at the smiling tensai.

"I can't help it!" Fuji burst out laughing. He tried to keep his laughter to himself. He really did. But the sight of their buchou trying to measure the cups of flour in a pink apron…it did take quite a lot of self-control.

Tezuka twitched with annoyance. Why was he doing this again? Oh right. His mother…

Flashback...Kunimitsu residence, 11 AM…

"Kuni-chan!" His mother's voice sounded from downstairs. He twitched at the pet name that his mother used on him.

"What?" he asked, ignoring the fact that his mother had called him that horrendous name.

"Your father and I will be going to Grandfather's shrine," said his mother, "You won't be coming along since I can't bring you along anyways,"

"Hn,"

"But there's something I need you to do…"

Tezuka raised an eyebrow. What could his mother possibly want?

"We'll be having several guests coming tonight for dinner. Since your father and I will be at the shrine nearly all day…I won't have time to make dessert for the guests,"

Tezuka's eyes widened. Hell no. Please, anything but that!

"You'll be baking the cake that I need for the guests tonight, Kuni-chan,"

Shit.

"…I never did that type of stuff before, mother," he said plainly, trying to bail out of the situation that he was in.

"Oh, it's not that hard. I have everything already set up in the kitchen. Just follow the cook book and you'll be fine!"

"..."

"I'll take your silence as a yes. Thank you, Kuni-chan," his mother called as she went out of the door. The family car started and drove out of the driveway.

He went downstairs and looked at the 'baking supplies' on the kitchen counter. There were eggs, flour, sugar, a large spoon for mixing, milk, and a cookbook. There were also the measuring cups and tablespoons and teaspoons. Why the hell did his mother have to do this to him!

Tezuka glared at the items that he had in his hands. He really shouldn't be that worked up over a single stupid cake. How hard could it be anyhow?

Very hard, considering the fact that he had never baked a cake before in his entire life. He shook his head. It couldn't be that hard.

Okay, so what did he need to do now? He flipped through the cook book and found the page that his mother had bookmarked. The first step says to put in 2 cups of flour. That was easy. What next? One and a half cups of milk. So far so good.

"You skipped a step," Fuji pointed out, a bit too sweetly.

Tezuka resisted the urge to bang Fuji's head against the wall. He turned around and glared at the smiling tensai. Grounding his teeth, he said, "What step?"

Fuji went over to the cook book and pointed at the step that Tezuka missed. Tezuka stared blankly at the damn cookbook. Apparently, the first step of the entire recipe was to preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Damn. Really, Fuji seriously DID NOT have to point that out. What difference would it make if he didn't preheat the oven as the very first step? But since that step was there in the cook book, Tezuka decided to follow the instructions. If his mother found out that he had messed up the cake, well, that would be scarier than anything else he could imagine.

Tezuka turned the oven up to 350 degrees. Now, back to what he was doing. Yes, the process of making the cake. What was after the milk? One cup of sugar. He shuddered. One full cup of sugar…wasn't that a bit too sweet?

He shook his head. What should he care about the cake? He was forced to do it, and besides, the cookbook said a full cup of sugar. It's the cookbook's fault if the cake was too sweet, not his. He poured the sugar into the bowl with the other ingredients. Well, at least he had gone through the first part without much mess.

Next step. Mix the ingredient together. Tezuka took the spoon and began the process of mixing the cake mix.

Silence…

"Um…Tezuka…" Fuji said, with uncertainty in his voice.

"What?" he asked, irritated.

"You stir in circles…you're being too stiff about the whole thing,"

Tezuka gritted his teeth. Why was the tensai here again? Right. Shortly after his mother had come, Fuji came over. He wanted to borrow his algebra book since he had forgotten to bring his book home. However, it seemed that the tensai didn't come just for that purpose. When Fuji found out that Tezuka was to bake a cake, he decided to hang around and see what would happen (A/N: Behold! Buchou is baking a cake! Tada!).

Fuji smiled. He loved making other people irritated. Especially buchou.

Tezuka slammed the spoon down, startling the tensai. He glared at Fuji. "You do the cake since you've probably done this before," snarled Tezuka. He was in a nasty mood today…

"Sure," and Fuji went ahead and took the mixing spoon. Baking a cake was easy, he thought, why was buchou having such a hard time? Maybe because he was too stiff sometimes?

Almost expertly, Fuji stirred the cake mix. After a few minutes, he poured the cake mix into the baking pan and popped it into the oven.

"…"

"What? I don't get a thank you for doing that for you?" asked Fuji, with a slight hint of amusement in his voice.

"Hn…thanks," Tezuka muttered.

Author's notes: Eh…short fic…but I thought it was kinda funny cause the fact that Tezuka was baking…Fuji seems to be quite used to all those things…Yeah, what happened to my mom and I was basically…..erm…we were trying to bake a chiffon cake and well, everything went pretty well until the very end…when we took the cake out…it's supposed to be all puffy and soft and all that, but like, after the cake cooled…it just slopped down….XDD R&R please!