No occasion. No special event. No nothing. Yet the vampire was busy preparing the ingredients on how to bake a simple cake. No icing, no toppings, no decorations. The motive of this cake baking was to get revenge from last time. She would show him that she was only playing around when she didn't do the cooking task. Baking was still cooking for her vocabulary. If he stated otherwise, a painful defense of her words would make him change his mind afterwards.

Rachel wiped her hands on the nearby towel. Cleanliness was a must. Every ingredient was arranged according to the recipe. This should only be a kindergarten task. She took the paper with the recipe on it and reviewed the ingredients again. Softened butter on a small bowl, three eggs, two cups of sugar on a measuring cup, two cups of flour on another cup, three-fourth unsweetened cocoa powder on another small bowl, a teaspoon of baking soda on a small cup, two teaspoon of vanilla in another small cup, and a whole and a half cup of milk in another measuring cup. The ingredients were complete.

First to do was to pre-heat the oven to three hundred fifty degrees. Rachel ran up to the oven and turned it on, turning the knob at three hundred fifty degrees. Next was to grease and floor "6 X 1 1/2" round cake pan. She frowned. None of these ingredients could be used as a grease. Lacking knowledge when it comes to baking, she had no idea what to use as a grease, let alone an alternative. She could easily ask Valkenhayn, but that would be cheating. She had to do this without any help. She had to proved that she could bake a simple cake and shove it in his face.

An ideal ingredient to use as a grease would be... butter. Rachel carefully eyed the butter, making sure it will not melt before she had the chance to do so. She went to the fridge and took a container that holds the softened butter. How it did not hardened will be a mystery to humans. The girl placed the container on the table and walked to the upper shelf to get the preferred cake pan. A sturdy stool was a great help for a short person like her. Ragna would surely tease her for not using her "flying magic" and "adding more trouble" to herself for acting like a normal human being in these kind of tasks. Scoffing, she closed the small cabinet with one hand as she balanced herself while holding the cake pan. Succeeding, she stepped down and returned to the table. The girl heaved out a small sigh. Now to add grease in the pan.

Rachel wondered how to spread out the butter so it will act as a grease. Ah, of course. She needed to thaw out the butter out. Silly. The girl swiftly snapped her fingers, realizing she needed some brush to use to apply it on the cake pan. She felt like a small child baking a cake for her beloved father. Oh, how she was glad Ragna wasn't watching her right now. She dug the drawers to see some brushes with different sizes. Unsure of what to use, she picked out the average size, large enough to apply the butter evenly on the pan. She closed the drawer and ran to the table. She picked up the recipe again to read the instruction. Grease and flour three "6 X 1 1/2" round cake pan. She scowled. What tiny mistake she had done. Sighing, she went to the cabinet again to get additional two cake pans of the same size. Her time wasted on baking a cake for Ragna. Was it even worth it?

Rachel shook her head. Of course it was worth it. It would show the man who's in charge, as well as earn more respect from him. She took a small, clean teaspoon on the rack and a small bowl. She realized that the butter must be thawed, so she returned the bowl and grabbed a small metallic cup. She scooped a small amount of butter to the cup and went to the stove to heat the cup. Carefully placing the cup on the stove, she turned it on, starting on the minimum heat to avoid burning and possible accident. When the butter was completely thawed, she turned the stove off and returned to the table, which she would refer as "baking table".

Placing the hot metallic cup on the table, she let it cool down and she removed the mittens she wore earlier. She placed it on the side, taking mental note to return it to its respective place later after she was done. Back to what she was planning to do on the first place, she took hold of the brush and dipped it on the melted butter, careful to not spill the excess on the table. She took her time to brush it across the cake pan to avoid making a huge mess. After she was done, she went to the cabinet to get another bowl of flour to use for the cake pan. After returning to her baking table, she was careful to not make a huge mess on applying flour on the cake pan. After she was done, that certainly took a long time, she went to the sink, cake pan at hand. She inverted the pan as it face the sink and gently tapped it to removed the excess flour. Hmph. She was honestly proud of her good she was with the first step, let alone discovering it without any help. She did the same process with the other two cake pans, and took a small break by making tea.

As she waits for the pot to boil, Rachel proceeded to read the next step. This was slowly giving her a headache. Baking used a lot of cooking utensils, and it was becoming a bit repetitive for her. Also, the recipe she manage to have a copy on was too vague for her to understand. She went on, grabbed a large bowl, and returned. She had no idea what to do after mixing the ingredients together, but whatever. She dumped the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder, not bothering to stir them together and set it aside. The next step was to mix another ingredient in another large bowl. Thinking ahead, she brought five. If Ragna was here, he'll be impressed. With a small smile on the thought, she dumped the needed butter, eggs and vanilla together. The cracked egg shells were placed aside next to the mittens. Now she had to beat the batter. Hmm, thinking, she read the next step on the recipe to see that she needed to gradually mix the ingredients together. Why not mix them all at once, to save time? With that conclusion, the girl searched for a big bowl that the electronic mixer can mix fine, then poured all of the ingredients together, not bothering to see how it was supposed to be added. She switched the mixer on and placed it on the high setting. The pot rang, signalling it was fully boiled. She left the mixer alone as she took her time to prepare her needed tea.

Of course, Rachel will need company with her tea time. With a snap of a finger, a black portal appeared as a man tripped over to the floor. How Ragna always tripped and fall was what she would always expect whenever she summoned his presence without any warning. This time, though, something was missing. Ragna glanced up at her with his signature scowl, but it flew past by her interest. Rachel's eyes were slightly wider, and she felt her heart rate pick up. His body had been tone up from the last time she saw him half-naked. She blinked, using her flawless memory to remember every detail his body showed to her. Ragna's expression changed, noticing her rather foreign reaction. Unfortunately for him, he was unaware of Rachel's fondness of his toned body.

Rachel quickly prepared tea for Ragna and handed it to him. "Your tea, Ragna."

The man raised an eyebrow, dumbfounded. "Uh, what for? And why the hell did you called me when I'm doing my laundry? And why are you staring weirdly at me?!"

"Hush." She reverted back to her usual expression. "We will have tea time at this instant." She extended her hand more, holding the teacup with both hands.

If he replied back with an argument, this will go on forever, the tea will be wasted, and whatever he was hearing must be her current task to do that might left abandoned. Ragna took the teacup from her hands, still retaining his confused look. "Uh, thanks Rabbit."

Another snapped of a finger from the girl summoned her two familiars, Nago and Gii. Before they could utter a sound, they were greeted with the most menace of glare they had received in their whole life, so they kept quiet and Nago morphed himself into a chair, as Gii helped Rachel prepare the tea set. How they knew what was up, it was a tale for another time. They were just glad no harm were given on them, or else they might speak a word from pain. Ragna just watched the scene in awe. Rachel sure was one scary bitch to disobey with. If he planned to argue with her back then, something worse might had happened.

Rachel sat down on the chair, motioning Ragna to do the same. He obliged, although grudgingly. He sipped the tea, savouring the taste and took another sip. Not bad for a sweet tea, he actually liked it. He placed the cup down after downing it in one gulp.

"Hey Rabbit. Why did you call me?"

She glanced up, indifferent. Rachel stood up from her seat and went back to her baking table. She was acting a bit strange. Ragna followed suit, observing the girl. She checked the batter to see the mixer was having a hard time mixing it. She turned it off and took out the batter and placed it on the table. Was this okay? Ragna was here, will he make fun of the result? No matter, whatever result, she must proudly present it to him. It should add a plus points on her cooking skills. Letting out a deep sigh, in one swift motion, she turned around and held up the bowl filled with the cake batter.

Her crimson eyes glinted as she did her best to be arrogant with her smile. "My cooking skills matched the requirements of a normal cook."

Ragna just stared, dumbfounded. Cooking? He thought she meant baking. Ah, whatever. Shrugging, he checked the cake batter. It looked fine, it seems. He took a nearby spoon and mixed it. It felt too heavy to beat it with a spoon, and something was definitely wrong. "Hey Rabbit. How did you add the ingredients?"

"I placed them all at once. It was an intelligent move, as it cuts down the time needed to be consumed." She pulled the bowl away as she placed it back on the table. She turned her head toward him. "Is something the matter?"

"Well... we'll see if it'll taste normal." Ragna picked up the bowl and poured the contents on the cake pan. He was careful not to spill anything on the table, though.

"Hmph," Rachel crossed her arms, glanced away from him. "Do you doubt my ability as a cook?"

"Not that I doubt it," Ragna placed the cake pans inside the oven, as he returned to his seat and poured tea on his teacup. "It's just that, you failed to cook last time, remember?"

That word certainly struck on the girl's nerve. "How dare you accuse me of such? You failed to see me do the task. You have no proof on that." Her left eye twitched as she glared at him.

Ragna waved a finger, smirking. "You need to keep an eye on your cake before it gets burned."

Rachel scowled, clenching her fists. "Are you mocking me, mutt?"

The man chuckled in amusement. It looked like Rachel had no tricks on her sleeves on this one. "No, I'm not mocking the Great Chef, I'm merely questioning her skills."

He was lucky to not have felt the pain surging inside him right now. She could had dealt lightning through his bones, but she didn't want to have a mess in her kitchen. "Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Ragna The Greak Cook, but I am able to cook on my own. Cooking is a basic task, no human that is the same age as you fails to know how to even do it." Rachel approached him, stomping on every step she took. "I was merely careless on our first bet, and from that time, there was no ingredients to cook my favourite dish, and Valkenhayn arrived too late to replenish the needed supplies."

Adding insult to injury, Ragna softly patted her head, grinning like a total idiot. "No need to hide the shame, Rabbit. Everyone has a weaknesses they hate to admit."

He observed the girl's reaction. She was pouting, and she was deeply flustered from embarrassment. He had never owned Rachel Alucard this bad, and he was loving this moment. Hell, she couldn't even lay a finger on him for some reason. Probably because they were inside of her manor, and couldn't summon her lightning magic without harming her interior home. He chuckled out loud. This was going to be memorable. His little victory ended shortly when Rachel stomped on his foot, and punched him in the gut. Ragna reeled back from the pain he did not expect from her. It felt like Terumi punched ten times in a row. Damn, that girl was tougher than she looks. He better be careful next time.

"Pull your mind out from the gutter, you buffoon. I am far superior from you. With my great intelligence and respectable skills to catch up on the task I should do, I have the potential to be a great cook, let alone be a Master Cook." Rachel pointed her finger toward him. She was filled with passion, despite her intimidating glare. "As I told you from the very beginning, cooking is as simple as learning the alphabet in Kindergarten. Anyone can learn and master cooking as short as a day."

As Rachel ranted about her potential being the best cook, and can surpass Ragna's meat dishes, the man realized that she hadn't checked her cake yet. He nodded, pretending to listen to her words as he thought of her reaction when she realized her cake was burning. Would she shriek and panic? Or beat him in a pulp from sudden anger? Finally chant some magic to eradicate him from existing? Cry, perhaps? Grieve because as the future master cook, she failed to watch over it. How much time had pass anyway? Man, he was enjoying this. He was grinning ear to ear now.

Rachel stopped her speech mid-sentence. "Is something funny-?" Her eyebrow creased. She quickly took a sniff on the air, smelling something odd. "Hold on. What's that foul order that invaded this kitchen?"

Ragna widened his grin. "You burned your cake, Rabbit."

In a blink of an eye, Rachel was already near at the oven, holding the pan of whatever remained on it. Black smoke surrounded her as the stench got stronger. Ragna covered his nose and went closer to Rachel. A moment of silence had passed as the girl quietly stared on the black remains of her hard work. Her head hung low, her bangs covering her eyes, but her frown was visible. Enjoying another payback, Ragna roared and laughed, proud to see Rachel screwed to dust. He mockingly clapped his hands together, as he wheezed from his rounds of laughter.

"Oh man, Rachel! Hahahaha! This is priceless! The most simplest of task: keeping an eye out on what you do... you can't even do it! And you have the nerve to talk high and mighty about your skills as a cook!" The man held his aching stomach, grunting slightly. He let out a deep sigh and cleared his throat. "How can you become the proclaimed Master Cook if you can't even focus on what you're doing?"

Ragna received no response. His grin didn't fade, as he moved himself to observe her properly. "Look at that burned cake! That should be your new dye for your hair." He chuckled, coughing since he was laughing too hard. Another quiet minute had passed. Damn, he was expecting a clever comeback from her. Cat got her tongue, apparently. Without uttering a single word, Rachel approached the trash bin and threw the pan she was holding. She returned to the oven to get the remaining burned cake pans and kicked the lid close. She threw them all to the bin, and stormed off without glancing at the man.

Rachel was just tasting his own medicine. She shouldn't react that way... She should had insulted him for celebrating his victory, and claim she could do better next time. She should had slapped him a lot of times that would leave his body sore from pain. She should had done ANYTHING to embarrass him, break his moments of victory short, and leave the kitchen with her usual sass. But, it didn't happen. She stormed off, clearly embarrassed and hurt about it. Damn, he felt like a dick to her. He didn't mean to crush her that bad, he only meant it in a mocking manner, not something personal. On another note, why was she baking a cake anyway?

Ragna sat down on the floor and think. He recalled the first time he won on their game. It was them just bantering and bickering to each other. Then he bet her to do simple tasks, suggesting to cook something. But she didn't cook, instead, made a cute cross-stitch with his name on it. Before she went into hysterics, she was boastfully claiming she could be a master cook, yet fail to bake a proper cake. He placed his hand on his chin. Why was she doing this? Damn it. He's not good at this kind of things. Cryptic as always, even when upset.

Ragna stood up and glanced on the trash bin that she previously threw her work. Those pans would be a waste if they sat there any longer. Well, may as well apologize to her by being considerate to her stuff. Shrugging, he approached the trash bin and took out the pans, although a little bit too hot for a human to hold. He placed it on the table she previously worked on, pondering about the way to clean her mess as well as wash the things needed to be washed. What a pain in the ass. Anything for her, he guessed, especially to compensate on getting too far.

With the cleaning duty done, Ragna collected the dirts and garbage left on the room. He opened the trash bin, but stopped his task as he spotted something that piqued his interests. He placed the trashes on the ground and inspected the bin closer. Not minding getting his hands dirty, he dug inside the bin to take the things that he was curious about: other kitchen utensils that seemed to be used today, different packages of ingredients, and some papers that are readable enough. He threw the garbage he collected and placed the utensils on the sink. He headed to the table and laid out the items he salvaged. Damn, she practice cooking by a lot, considering how many ingredients she had thrown and how many recipes she had written on paper. Oh yeah, the current recipe. He grabbed it near him and read the contents.

Ragna smirked a little on the last entry of the recipe. "This final recipe I shall conduct today will prove my worth as normal human being that can take care of herself when it comes to kitchen duties. It will crush that small victory that buffoon had in our previous match." He was proud of his Rachel accent and tone, earning a chuckle to himself. It was short-lived as the guilt quickly took over, sighing in response. He never should had done that. He shouldn't had considered her feelings. He had exaggerated his tease, and he was paying for it. He sadly sigh, placing the paper on the table.

Maybe cooking this cake will cheer up the rabbit. Yeah, that should do it. Alright, this will be his apology gift. Ragna grabbed the nearby apron next to the door and gathered the needed utensils and ingredients for the cake Rachel failed to bake. He spent his time baking it accurately, making sure to make it extra sweet just for her. With that done, he placed it on the plate he find suitable for the cake. There seemed to be no ingredients for the icing nearby, but he digress. The cake was good, it's all for Rachel, and he's done here. He just needed to clean up his own mess and give it to her, hopefully he didn't wasted a lot of time before he was kicked out from this place. Stop thinking and get your ass moving.

Ragna's stomach grumbled. Ah, shit. He's hungry now. Geez, what time was it now? He looked around for any clock but to no avail. He sighed. No way in hell he'll take a bite from the cake. That would be shitty, and the bunny leech wouldn't dare touch it again, thus his efforts will be wasted. The remains of the cake batter in the bowl caught his eyes. Well, it would for now. His body slightly shuddered. He just realized he was topless all this time. Damn Rabbit, she could had kicked him out and then bring him back here with his shirt on. He exhaled. No point in dallying any longer. His stomach responded with another grumble.

The sound of soft gust of the wind was the vampire's only company. Rachel let out a sad sigh. She was brooding from the events earlier. How could she made that avoidable mistake? Let alone in front of that man. She let the distractions get the best of her. Curse his perfect sculptured body. If only he wasn't bare, she could had baked that cake perfectly. Another sigh escaped her lips. She could never take that moment back. She was sure it would haunt her hard whenever Ragna brought that event back.

The sound of footsteps slowly emerged behind her. "Valkenhayn, I apologize but I am in no mood to consume my daily snacks. If you would please leave me alone." Ragna definitely left, she was sure. Her butler must had kicked him out for getting lost in the mansion without a shirt on.

"Then what am I gonna do with this?" The voice was gruff but ... it couldn't be him.

The man placed the cake on the table, making sure it was directed on her face. He had the urge to push the back of her head to the cake right now. Must not do it, self. He cleared his throat, composing himself. "Don't look so surprised, this is how they are supposed to look."

The cake looked fluffy and had a dark brown hue. Just staring at it enticed Ragna to take the smallest of bite, but he stopped himself. This cake was for Rachel. This cake was made as an apology. Another silent moment had passed and it was starting to get on his nerves. "Look, I don't really like cooking for you, but since I went too far, I have to do it. I'm sorry. I really am." Damn, it felt like there were prickles stuck on his tongue.

Rachel finally turned her head to gaze at him. She was honestly taken aback by his actions. She had no idea Ragna, of all people, would make an effort to do something as an apology. She looked down from complete embarrassment, and blushed at the sight of his abs shining from his sweat.

"...And yeah, that's really a big deal for me." Ragna sighed. He never thought he'll admit about not liking to cook for anybody else except Master, and especially her. "I mean, baking is actually the basics of cooking. So..."

Those abs of him. She cursed the time she laid her eyes on his body. Rachel realized she wasn't listening to his lengthy rant, but she didn't give a damn. She watched him breathe in and out as he talk his heart out. She could actually watch his body move as long as she please without getting bored, as long as his top was bare, of course. And she wasn't in the vulnerable state like how she was right now.

"...time, if you want, I can teach you how to bake. How's that?"

Rachel was grateful for her great hearing senses. "Of course. You may teach me with your heart's content. In return, I would like to teach you about basics of dancing, or any other things you may want to learn."

Ragna sheepishly smiled, as he scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, Rabbit. So... we're good?"

She nodded, smiling softly in return. "All's forgiven, Ragna. And thank you for making an effort to apologize."

"Yeah, yeah." He turned to look away from her. Damn Rabbit being quick to her tease again.

Rachel softly giggled. She consumed the cake quietly as she watched Ragna stare at the roses on the field. The girl nudged his shoulder and held out the cake in front of him. "You can take a piece."

Ragna shook his head. "No thanks, Rabbit. I'm full. Those leftover batter sure cleaned up my intestines, but it was all worth it."

Rachel stopped consuming his cake and stared at him wide-eye. "You... consumed the leftover batter?"

"Yup. Lick off the spoons and bowls and stuff. It'll not go to waste anymore." He flashed a grin at her.

Her right eye twitched. "You... you licked my utensils?"

"Yeah...?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "What? They're going to get washed anyway."

With a snap of her finger, Ragna was electrocuted on the spot as Rachel continued to consume her cake, although she enjoyed it less slightly due to the fact that Ragna lapped on her kitchen utensils. After she was done, she cast the spell off. Ragna wheezed in pain, as he gave her the scowl she loved receiving from him.

"Damn you, bunny leech!"

A/N: This is my longest One Shot yet without a help from a co-writer. This idea took a LOT of different turn hence getting way too lengthy, but the outcome was great, it's okay in my book, so here it is. Thank you for taking your time to read this lengthy story.