Taiga and Ryuuji laid on the couch, snuggled together under a blanket. The couple were enjoying a western christmas movie that Taiga loved: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.. Christmas was around the corner, and Ryuuji was set on making this the best Christmas ever since it was her favorite holiday and the first one they got to share together since their wedding.
"Ryuuji, I'm hungry. I want meat and cookies now," The auburn haired girl announced with her eyes still glued on the screen.
"That's an awfully strange combination," Ryuuji mused, shifting around under the blankets in order to check the time. "Hm, it is rather late…" he said, noting the time of 7:34 on his watch. While he didn't want to verbally admit it, he was becoming rather peckish as well, and considering that his partner was feeling the same, he figured that it wouldn't be a bad idea to pause their film for a bite to eat. "Hey Taiga...what do you think about trying to cook this time? It's certainly a good skill to pick up."
"We both know how that's gonna turn out, doggie," Taiga spat. "What part of, I don't cook don't you understand?"
Ryuuji rolled his eyes, three months into their marriage she still insisted using dog names as pet names. Anyone outside their group would have thought she was crazy. Nonetheless, in a strangely endearing way, it was sweet. "Come on Taiga, what happens when I die? Who's going to cook for you then?"
"Don't ask dumb questions, I'll just go to hell and drag you back to life, then make you cook me a big meal," Taiga answered her tone all too serious.
"Okay, what about with our children?" Ryuuji questioned. This topic had come up many times in the past, usually ending in Ryuuji getting called a pervert for thinking about reproducing and Taiga stating that if he was lucky, she would allow him to have sex with her three times so they could have three kids. "What happens when I'm at work, and the kids are hungry."
"Easy, they'll just have to starve until you get home. Better yet, I'll have you prepare lunch for us the day before you go to work, that way we won't starve. Anymore excuses, Dog?"
"Well, what if I got sick?" the blue haired man asked, rolling out of the little cocoon of blankets that Taiga and him shared. "I don't mean a cold or anything, but really sick. Like me not being able to get out of bed sick. What would you do then?"
"Well I-"
"Don't say you'd eat nothing" Ryuuji stated, cutting the tiny girl off before she could make any of her snappy remarks. "We both know how quickly you burn out when you don't eat. You'd be begging me for something to eat hours into the day, and when I can't get up to make something, you'd have no idea what to do with yourself."
"Stupid dog…" Taiga muttered, not considering a situation like this coming up. She hated being proven wrong, and this situation was no different. However, as much as she didn't want to admit it, Ryuuji did have a point. She wouldn't be able to do anything without her food, and if Ryuuji couldn't make it for her, she wouldn't be able to take care of him. Both of them would end up going hungry, simply because of her refusal to learn how to do something so simple. "I guess I'll learn how to cook our damn food. But keep in mind, I'm only doing this because I'll be able to make things for myself after all this."
"Whatever makes you happy, Aisaka" he replied, gently taking the small girl's hand and pulling her up off of the couch. "Now let's get this started."
The two of them walked to the kitchen, Taiga showing a lot less enthusiasm for the upcoming task than her husband. The man turned on the light, before stopping in the doorway, as if he was all of a sudden lost for thought.
"Uhhh...well...what are we going to make? I don't want to start you with anything complicated, that's for sure."
"What, do you think I can't do it or something?" Taiga spat, immediately turning on him after this comment. "I said I don't cook, I never said I can't."
"That's not what I meant sweetheart, I just don't want to do anything too complicated because we don't have much time. Plus you're hungry now and you know how angry and feisty you can get when you're hungry," Ryuu stated. Hopefully this would simmer her down. He knew she couldn't cook, the thought of her first batch of cookies she made for Kitamura back in high school were saltier than the Dead Sea.
Taiga turned her nose up at him and folded her arms over her chest. "So, what are we going to make."
"Hmm," Ryuuji hummed as he looked over the kitchen. Making fried rice would be too much of a task for her, sushi was out of the question. That only left one option, the most simple meal even an American could do it. "How about we make rice?"
Almost instantly, her cheeks turned a hot red. "You stupid dog! I'm suppose to be learning how to cook, not learning how to use a rice cooker!"
"Calm down Taiga, rice isn't easy the first time you cook it. Most people don't have consistency when they cook rice and most people don't know how to cook rice without a rice cooker. Just please, work with me," Ryuuji responded calmly.
Taiga growled and balled her tiny hands into a fist. "Whatever, just tell me what to do."
"First you have to get your ingredients, rice, water, and salt. You probably don't want just plain rice, so grab some veggies from the refrigerator. Oh wait, I forgot to tell you the most important step, a good cook always washes their ha-ha-TAIGA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"
Taiga turned to look at him, with two hands she was holding her sword, ready to cut up the vegetables. "What.. I'm just doing what you said," she responded innocently.
"YOU'RE DOING IT ALL WRONG!" Ryuuji shouted. He preferred not to yell at her, but his ocdness was kicking in. She was doing everything so wrong and unsanitarily. "First, you're suppose to wash your hands, then wash the vegetables, then get a clean cutting board to cut the vegetables. After that put the water, rice, and salt into the rice cooker."
Taiga groaned and brought her sword down onto the carrot, cutting it perfectly in half. "Too much cleaning, this is quicker."
"B-B-But you're going to ruin the kitchen counter if you keep that up, at least use a cutting board," Ryuu pleaded.
Surprisingly, this actually managed to work. Taiga put her blade down for a second, leaning it against the counter with utmost care as she went to get the cutting board. Sadly for her however, the hook that Ryuuji normally kept the wooden board on was high up, just above the height her short frame allowed her to reach.
"Are you really trying to make fun of me, mutt?" the tiger asked, an unpleasant scowl on her face "You put it up there on purpose! You knew I wouldn't be able to reach it, didn't you?"
"N-No, I swear, that's where I always put it!" Ryuuji answered, not taking Taiga's height into account when he told her to find said implement. "I'm sorry, okay? I'll help you get it instead."
Risking his life here, the blue haired man went up behind the smaller girl, picking her up and holding her so that she could get it for herself. Surprisingly, while the girl did utter a very shocked squeak as she was lifted up, she did not try to fight or protest. Instead of hitting him, like he had expected, Taiga simply leaned forward in his arms and pulled the board off of its little hangar, placing it on the counter next to her brutally chopped vegetables after she was put down.
"N-Next time be more accommodating, okay doggie? Not all of us can reach these things, okay?" Her voice was lower than usual, lacking the sharp edge that it used to have when she spoke. She resumed cutting her carrots, making sure to keep her back turned to Ryuuji as she did it. As she turned away from him, Ryuuji thought he caught a glimpse of a bright rosy hue staining her cheeks, but he wasn't exactly sure of it. "Thanks...by the way" she said ever so softly, her voice nearly drowned out by the rhythmic clacking of the metal edge of her sword with the wood of the cutting block.
Reeyoojee was going to respond to this, but he decided otherwise, figuring that his wife would potentially turn on him for acknowledging what she said. After all, she wasn't one for enlisting others to help her do her work. Instead of butting in, Ryuuji decided to lend a hand, taking the rice cooker out of one of the many cabinets that rested above the kitchen counter. He took the cover off, putting it to the side in preparation for the vegetables that Taiga had conveniently finished slicing.
"Now what, we just put them in there?" the girl asked, stepping away from the counter to reveal a rather ragged-looking pile of chopped vegetables. While they weren't awful in the least bit, especially for vegetables hacked up by a katana, they were nowhere near what Ryuuji was used to, lacking in uniformity regarding their size and shape. Nevertheless, they would still cook fine, and Taiga's skills would improve over time, especially when she decided to trade in that sword for a proper knife.
"Now I'm going to pour in the rice," Taiga announced as she picked up the bag of rice and pumped more than enough in. Next, without measuring, she added water, and finally the vegetables.
It took all his will power not to rush over to the rice cooker and fix her mistakes but he knew how angry she would be if he spent the whole time criticizing her, after all this was only her first attempt. "You're doing great by the way."
"I know, no need to tell me," the short girl replied. With a victorious grin, Taiga closed the top of the rice cooker and pushed the 'on' button. Much to her surprise, the machine didn't make the annoying beep it usually did when turned on. She pressed it again, still no sound. She pushed it again, this time harder. "Ryuu why isn't the damn machine working! Did you break it while I was cutting!"
"No Taiga I haven't touched it maybe you should try plugging it in?" Ryuuji said in a smart alecky tone as he swung the plug in a circle with a smirk on his face.
"Ha! Joke's on you! I was testing to see how good of a chef you are! Obviously I KNEW the damn machine was unplugged!" Taiga countered.
Ryuuji simply chuckled as Taiga swiped the cord from his hands, stretching across the counter to plug it in.
"Now just set it for twenty minutes and press 'start.' Then leave it be," Ryuuji instructed, giving orders that Taiga followed rather enthusiastically.
"You know Ryuu, I could get used to doing this with you…" Taiga started to say, a tiny grin of accomplishment flashing across her face once she had finished setting the time. "I'm not saying that I want to cook every night, I'd much rather have you do that for me, but I wouldn't mind helping out at times."
"You know you're always welcome" the man responded, wiping a towel over the cutting board to clean it of all the various vegetable juices and scrapings that his little wife had left behind. "Next time, you may want to try something other than a sword though. After all, it's rather hard to consistently cut something like meat with a blade like that."
"Be quiet doggie, you know I had it all under control" Taiga said back, her voice taking a tone that was more sweet than anything else. "Besides, we both know that if you were to try doing it my way, you'd end up taking off one of your fingers before you ended up finishing a carrot."
"Yeah, you're probably right about that one." Ryuuji commented, scratching the back of his head as he thought of the grim situation playing out in front of him. "Just make sure to wash that thing after you're done with it then, okay? You don't wanna give yourself food poisoning because you didn't clean your blade after cutting meat."
"I don't know, that sounds like a pretty sweet offer to me" Taiga said to him, giggling a bit. "I'd be in bed, and you'd be forced to make me whatever I wanted for a bit. It doesn't sound bad to me, you know, if we take out the whole 'violently ill' part of it all."
The evening continued like this, with Taiga feeding off of Ryuuji's little comments about her cooking and twisting them to her benefit. Before they knew it, the timer for the rice had gone off, the annoying beep nearly being obfuscated by the resounding sounds of the tiger's laughter.
"Well, let's see how it is…" Ryuuji said, quickly opening the machine and filling up two bowls, one for each of them. "Shall I let the cook have the first taste?"
"N-No, I want you to try it." Taiga quickly responded, putting her hand out to stop Ryuuji from eating once she saw him move his spoon. "But I want you to try it...a special way."
"What do you mean?" the man asked, looking the girl in the eye. Interestingly, she immediately put her head down, that same pink glow from before returning to her cheeks.
"Close your eyes. Please," she ordered, the tone of her voice making it come off as more of a friendly suggestion than a command. "Close your eyes and open your mouth, okay? No peeking, dog."
Ryuuji complied, doing as he was told. Normally he would have waited a few seconds, but he could see just how important this was to the girl through the look she gave. Once his eyes were completely shut, Taiga grabbed his spoon, taking a scoop of the rice dish and placing it in his mouth. She pulled the spoon out and stepped back, watching him chew with high hopes and great expectations.
"S-So? How...How is it?" she asked, her voice shaking a little. Despite her usual confidence, she was unsure of how Ryuuji would react to her cooking. After all, she was completely terrible at it, even going so far as to use a sword to chop vegetables, as well as completely forgetting that the rice cooker required power in order to work. "Be honest, p-please."
After he was finished, Ryuuji opened his eyes. He didn't say a word, instead choosing to keep his gaze focused on the girl, who was now gently shaking in anticipation. He put the bowl down on the counter, causing the girl to give him a nervous look, before going right up to the tiny tiger and wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace.
"You did a great job, Taiga." he said softly, his hands gently resting on her upper back. "It's one of the best rice plates I have ever had, and to make things better, it was made entirely by the girl I love." While all of this wasn't exactly true, as the rice was rather mushy due to being waterlogged, and the vegetables were over cooked, he could never tell it to her face. After all, he didn't want to crush the hopes of this girl, especially since she put in all the effort to try and impress him. Besides, with more practice, she could potentially become as good as he was, as long as all materials and tools were stored below eye level.
Ryuuji gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, before attempting to release the girl from his embrace and get to their food. However, his efforts were in vain, as he found himself trapped in her vice grip of a hug, her head still buried in his chest.
"I...I love you, Ryuuji…" she whispered, looking up at him. Her eyes were watering, and her voice was beginning to crack. It was quite obvious how happy his compliment had made her. She knew he wasn't telling the truth, she knew that her first attempt had ended in catastrophic failure, but the sheer fact that he had eaten it and treated it like the best dish on the planet was more than enough to make her day.
"I love you too, Taiga. Now come on, we have a movie to finish and a meal to eat. Let's get back to our blankets."
"I know it's early, but...merry Christmas, Ryuu." the girl squeaked, releasing her husband just long enough for both of them to get their food.