Cooking with Kenshin and Kaoru
Dedicated to my dear Jesse-Chan! Darling you never cease to inspire me with your random, spastic, odd, awkwardness. I'll miss you when you go. Oh, I'll give you some form of dignity here. No worries. :) ;)
Insert cliché disclaimer.
XXX
Kenshin didn't like seeing Kaoru like that. Since she and Enishi had broken up, the raccoon girl had sunken into a state of depression up to the point where her work suffered. But things may still change for the better. Kenshin had an idea though late as it was. He knew how much she loved his cooking, seeing as how she begged him to cook, and/or teach her every time they had get-togethers with the rest of the gang, or even when they had movie nights at either of their houses. If only to cheer her up, he would grant her request and show her how to cook curry, his specialty dish. What he intended to curry however was unknown. Well it didn't matter then. When he goes to the market he'll figure it out.
With Sanosuke's help, he decided to cook chicken. He also decided to help her with her spicy rice. He shuddered slightly as he recalled the 'tasty' meal she had brought to school that memorable morning. She had offered the first taste to Kenshin. Being too polite to turn her down, he complied. Well, the name was correct at least. His mouth burned with the taste of pepper. When asked how it was, he managed to down the hot mouthful and shook his head, reaching for a bottle of water. The memory now was funny, though then, it had been painful. (First his mouth, then his head, where Kaoru had hit him for suggesting that her 'specialty' needed help)
After the trip to the market, and to DVD club, he headed to the Kamiya household, where Kaoru would be alone for the day. He kicked the door as his hands were full, and silently cursed Kaoru for not opening the door fast enough. Everything was slipping out of his grasp! Finally, after almost losing the rice, Kaoru opened the door. "Help," was all the redhead managed to say before the rice fell. Kaoru picked it up and relieved him of some of the bags.
"Kenshin?"
"You've been upset lately, so I decided to carry out your request." He emptied the bags holding up a variety of spices, chicken and vegetables. "I'm going to show you how to cook, and –please, don't hit me- to improve your spicy rice." Kaoru's eyes narrowed.
"I tripped over my cat, I told you that." He nodded, while searching for everything that was needed to cook the meals.
"Start peeling and cutting the vegetables. I'll season the chicken." Kaoru had put on some music, and now, Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl blasted throughout the first floor of the house. Kaoru's mood had brightened greatly after Kenshin's arrival and now she danced in time with the music. Kenshin laughed. The pots were on the stove; Kaoru waited for the water to boil, and Kenshin waited for the pot to heat to the right temperature before adding the curry. Kaoru in turn added the rice to boil and returned to the carrots she was chopping. HYDE's Hello began to play and Kaoru giggled like a fan girl. Kenshin sighed. "Add the chicken to the curry, and check the rice." The girl nodded and obeyed. The rice was almost done. She turned the contents of the pot so that the rice could boil properly. She did the same to the chicken. Kenshin observed her; all in all it was good so far. Nothing could go so wrong while he was here with her. Satisfied he turned to finish the vegetables while Kaoru manned the stove. He could hear her sing along to U2's Beautiful Day. He smiled to himself, until he heard a cry and a clang of a spoon as it hit the tiled floor. He turned quickly, almost cutting himself, and questioned Kaoru. "I got burned," came her muffled reply as she clung on to the burned area with her teeth. He looked at her exasperated and hurried to switch off the stove. As he drained the water from the rice, Kaoru prepared to cook the spicy rice. Neither said anything about the incident as they finished the meals.
The meals were successful. Kaoru proved to Kenshin that she could indeed cook the rice when there were no cats around. Taking Kenshin's advice, she added some more vegetables to the recipe. It was a nice improvement, though she kept that to herself. The chicken was a bit over done, they both admitted, but was still delicious, or edible, at least. "Maybe you could teach me how to make korokke next?" Kenshin laughed and shook his head.
"Not for a while Kaoru-dono," he said using his old nickname for her. She feigned offence and nodded.
"That might be a good idea." She popped in the Sixteen Candles DVD and settled herself next to Kenshin food in hand. "80's movies and a home cooked meal. Excellent comfort method." Kenshin smiled.
XXX
A few days later, Kenshin and Kaoru doubled up with Sanosuke and Megumi for a night of Pizza at the Skating Rink. The day wasn't very cold so Kaoru had donned a loose fitting pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt. Because of this it was not surprising that Megumi should notice a curious mark on her friend's arm. Grabbing it she peered at the dark bruise surrounded by little scars, obviously remnants of a bite.
"Kaoru, what happened?" By this time the boys had come to see what was holding the girls back.
"Oh," Kaoru said blushing under the stares of her friends. "I got burned."
"How?" the fox persisted. Sanosuke laughed.
"Looks like things got too hot in the kitchen with Kenshin, huh?" Kenshin and Kaoru blushed under the allegations and stuttered a denial. Megumi and Sanosuke laughed. The former couple stopped stuttering, realizing that they were, despite their efforts, not helping themselves. They could not however, stop blushing, and the latter pair laughed louder. Kaoru growled. "Can we just skate and forget it?" Sanosuke made one more crack, which got him a punch on the arm, and then the subject was dropped.
That is, until Kaoru had decided she wanted to try a trick she had been practicing for sometime now. It required her to do a 360 degree turn in the air before landing on her feet, (rather than her knee, ankle, elbow, butt and back), then gliding in perfect stance across the floor. She managed to get into the air and turn; however, she noticed that she did not complete a full turn. This distracted her, and she did not prepare herself for the landing. Kenshin noticed this and glided over to break the fall.
And he did.
They landed with Kenshin in his back, his face questionably near to Kaoru's chest, and Kaoru resting, in shock, over him.
Drawn by the crowd gathered in the center of the rink, Megumi dragged Sanosuke to see what had happened. She stared in shock to the sight, a smile playing on her lips, and a twitch developing under her eye. Sanosuke laughed, and helped the fallen couple up off the ground.
"I guess you just couldn't keep it in the kitchen, huh? Well you could at least get a room instead of getting it on in public." His comment was rewarded by a punch to the stomach from the raccoon girl, before she left the three of them behind.
XXX
A/N: - I know I didn't keep it in the kitchen like the title would suggest. I just had to make it public somehow. And I needed an ending so I thought of the Skating Rink and well… hehe...
The scar thing happened to Jesse-chan, the rice thing happened to me. I gave her some to taste and well, Kenshin's reaction says all huh? But I did trip over my kitten. So!
Korokke is not an original Japanese dish. There are many different kinds of korokke today, varying in their fillings, the two most popular being white cream korokke and meat potato korokke. I should try making it sometime. Once I don't have another Kaoru Moment…whew!