'Fluff Galore'
Prompt 02 - Tea
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Ghost Hunt.
Summary: 'He stared at the cup, trying to figure out the best way to tell her, without hurting her feelings, that her tea could successfully qualify as poison. For rats...' Yasuhara ponders upon Masako's culinary skills.
Pairings: YasuxMasako
"Love isn't putting up with someone in spite of their faults - it's adoring them because of them."
- Tamed by Emma Chase
Yasuhara Osamu was – without doubt – a consummate actor; after all he had been accused of even confusing his parents with his antics, performing with such precision that every role he pretended was executed flawlessly.
He had always prided himself on such a unique talent.
But alas, this was beyond his skill.
"You really don't have to tell me how good the flavour is." She folded her hands demurely in her lap. Threatening. Silently. "I do not desire to fish for compliments. Especially not when you're so ill."
He just sat there, quietly, a miraculous feat in itself.
This had to be some kind of punishment for one of his sins.
Hara Masako placed another tea-cup on the table near his bed, a deceptively serene smile on her face and Yasu watched as she gracefully lowered herself on the corner of his bed, her expression calmly expectant.
He stared at the cup, trying to figure out the best way to tell her, without hurting her feelings, that her tea could successfully qualify as poison.
For rats.
She looked at him questioningly, her graceful fingers thrumming against the bedspread, a sound that seemed to announce his oncoming death if he did not start complimenting her, right now.
Really, first the flu and then this poison. Was the universe so against him?
"Ahem…" He cleared his throat of that… that toxin. "Well –" Cue more throat clearing. "This is miraculous! I feel the fever coming down! I think I don't need that tox – I mean tea. Anymore."
Her eyebrows arched.
"But you know Yasu…" She continued sweetly, flashing eyes narrowed. "I think you should continue drinking this tea. It is a special formula and is very effective."
Effective, yes. For murder.
He coughed again.
Earlier in the morning when the doorbell had rung, he had stumbled out of bed holding his head in one hand, staggering to the door. And lo and behold! There stood Masako in all her feminine glory with a pack of tea in one hand, claiming that she had come to his aid with a special blend her grandmother had devised for – as she claimed – just this ailment.
Her grandmother must have been one hell of an assassin.
Which had led to this moment. To think that he had been astounded when he had seen her outside his door – to think that she – Miss Ice Queen – had come to his apartment so that she could look after him… the thought alone had given him a mini heart-attack.
But he thought about how glad he had been to see her.
Now he wondered why he had allowed her to come inside equipped with that – he couldn't call it tea, surely – death warrant – when he knew fully well that she had absolutely no cooking skill.
He just couldn't turn her from the door, it was not just about manners really, seeing her had bought him relief from the boredom of lying on his bed, sick.
"I hope you're feeling better." She stated conversationally but he knew that she was actually prompting him to say something to break the awkward silence, preferably a compliment on her oh-so excellent tea making skill.
"Oh, yes." He said with great feeling. "Much. Much better."
She smiled, truly and he noticed how stunning it looked when the amused twinkle reached her grey eyes.
He forgot all about the tea and grinned back at her, knowing fully well that he probably looked like a loon, beaming with a thermometer dangling from the edge of his mouth.
And there, in the sunlight falling on her face from the window of his room, her cheeks flushed and expression hesitantly shy, she seized to be a TV star or a psychic medium – she became Hara Masako, eighteen year old girl, no, woman with the most brilliant grey eyes he had ever seen, flecked with black and blue.
So full of wonderment.
He returned to sanity when she stood up hastily. "I – I probably should get going. I've given you the whole pack of tea so the fever should come down in an hour or two and besides I really don't want to encroach on your privacy."
God, he must be really ill, for he kept staring at her and suddenly he was seized with a wonderful, if insane idea.
"Say, Masako!" He exclaimed and then groaned as if in pain. "Would you please… get me something to eat? I wouldn't trouble you but…"
Masako's eyes widened and she waved off his apology in haste.
"It wouldn't be trouble at all. Of course." She strode to the door and turned over her shoulder. "Would you like something else, Yasuhara-san?"
He pretended to think for about a fraction of a second.
"No." His voice sounded pathetically weak all of a sudden, even to his ears. "Thank you, Masako-san."
She nodded and he listened to her retreating footsteps before yanking his drawer open and seizing another thermometer from inside it. Leaning back, he expertly dipped the bulb of the instrument in the tea and submerged it for some time before he heard her coming back upstairs.
Hastily he put it in his mouth.
"I've bought you some cake." He nodded emphatically in gratitude, bleakly surveying the charred piece of bread. "And some fruit."
Then suddenly Masako noticed the rising temperature on the thermometer.
"Oh my!" She looked at him, apprehensively. "Your temperature is increasing. I think we should call a doctor, Yasuhara-san."
Oh no, no, no.
"It's probably nothing that a good rest won't cure." He waved his hand weakly in the air. "I don't want to make trouble for you but could you possibly stay and…"
Her grey eyes widened as if she was truly taken aback.
"You want me to… stay? Really?
In truth, he wanted her company for some time before he went mad with the loneliness of staring at the white-washed walls of his room and honestly, Hara Masako was a con artist of a woman, with her capricious eyes, her secret gestures, veiled insults that she so subtly threw at people. Always so proper, prim… so composed.
He had the urge to see her wild side.
He, apparently, had gone stark, raving mad.
"Yes." He sucked in a breath and fell on the bed, dramatically; his eyes wide, breathing ragged. "I think I'm dying…"
For a moment she stared at him in utter disbelief.
Then she burst out laughing – the tune reverberated in the room and he revelled in the glory of it, basking in the praise; people had often exalted his sense of humour but just making her laugh, it felt like a sense of… sense of achievement.
One could hatch the best plans with her, now that he thought about it.
So she stayed with him that day, going rather reluctantly when twilight began to fall over the horizon and that was when he had sprung up the question that had taunted him throughout the day.
"Would you like to go for coffee with me, tomorrow?"
Masako stared at him like a deer caught in headlights.
"I –" He instinctively knew that she opened her mouth to refuse but then something came over her and the confusion slowly changed to a spreading smile, her lips tilting in a shy, mysterious way. "Yes. I rather think I will."
Closing the door, he then proceeded to prance up the stairs and throw the tea right out of his window.
He would show her what real living was, she had been starched up for far too long.
Yasu noticed a piece of paper beside the plate of fruit and picked it up.
"My grandmother claimed that the tea was magical and I was forced to drink it every time I fell ill…
I am glad you understand what a tragic childhood, I had.
-M"
He had been… stumped!
To think he had consumed all that, trying not to hurt her delicate emotions...
Well, hell.
The vixen!
And sitting on his bed, chortling, Yasuhara Osamu planned all of what he would do on the much anticipated date.
After all it was not every day that he, himself, asked a woman out.
It had been the other way round for far too long…
When the strange liquid landed upon her from nowhere with a mighty splash – she – Hara Masako stumbled back in astonishment and then raised her head to see what had caused this sudden assault.
Standing outside the door of Yasu's apartment, she glanced up as if on instinct and gasped at what she saw…
A lone teacup… that teacup… sitting on the windowsill of Yasu's room.
For perhaps the hundredth time that day she felt a chuckle climb up her throat.
He had looked so ill when she fed him the poison she had been forced to consume in her own childhood – it felt so strangely good to discover that he too realized how deathly that stupid tea blend was. Never mind that it was the reason she had enjoyed herself so much today.
It felt like camaraderie to discover that he too had used it to water the ground outside his window.
And shaking her head in amusement, she proceeded to sit in her car, knowing that her grandmother was right.
The tea was magical.
A/N: I'm not really sure about how this turned out but to hell with that! I'm merely happy that I'm participating in the Fluff Week created by Snavej-chan and AmyNChan! I understand that I'm a day late but I hope nobody minds, I'll post the next prompt tomorrow. So thanks to them I had a really great time writing this out. I thought I'd do something different since I couldn't find it in my heart to bring some original idea for NaruxMai even if they are my OTP. All in all, I hope you enjoyed this - can I call it fluff - not really sure ^_^''
Let the Fluff Week begin!
Review for the sake of chocolate cookies~
-borntoflyhigh-