A/N: I don't own Fruits Basket as all of you should know. Also, I don't own the Naruto reference that I'm going to put in here. They all belong to their respected owners. Please read and review! Thanks!
-x-
"Done. Done. Done. Done a million times over! Argh!" the young teen cried as he scrambled around the house looking for new and unused recipes.
"Kyou? What are you doing so early in the morning?"
The orange teen looked behind him and hastily placed the booklets away.
"N-Nothing!"
"Kyou . . ." the person replied with a definite tone. Kyou sweated and shifted nervously from one foot to the other before pushing the older man away from the room,
"Wh-Why don't we just go back to bed?"
-x-
Kyou headed back downstairs when he realized that the man had gotten back to sleep. He sighed, plopping himself down on the couch and flipping the television on. His eyes lit up as a familiar show started,
"Oh! Naruto's on!"
Kyou watched and watched, eyes widening by the minute as an idea began planting itself in his head. By the end of the episode, he jumped up from his position on the couch and rushed into the kitchen. In there, he concocted, he mixed, he tasted. It was wonderful enough to jumpstart anyone's life! Kyou watched as the food bubbled and continued to add more spices to the mix, finally getting that perfect color. He happily waited for his sleeping lover to awaken.
When the man was up and dressed, he headed down and promptly went into the dining room where plates of rice were neatly set. A familiar scent was in the air.
"It's quite unusual to be serving that for breakfast, Kyou," the man commented.
"Don't worry. I altered the original version a bit to accommodate the taste buds. It'll have you awake and focused in no time. I saw it myself," Kyou grinned, walking in with a pot of that suspected food. He grabbed the metal ladle and opened the lid. The man just gave a start at the color,
"What's . . . this?"
"It's curry," the orange teen beamed happily, ladling the stew onto each of their plates.
"But . . ." the man speculate with nervousness, his brow twitching ever so slightly, "why is it black and bubbling like magma?"
"Don't worry, Hatori. It's perfectly safe," Kyou ushered the older man to take a bite. The dragon zodiac looked at the curry suspiciously, watching as it continued to bubble. He took his spoon and lifted the spoonful of the bubbling black stew to his lips. Hatori closed his mouth over it, taking a few hesitant bites before his throat seized and his mouth burned with the intense spiciness.
Kyou watched as his lover's face turned a bright red and sweat started to trickle down his face. He noticed that the older man's stiff motions to reach for his cup of tea and Kyou hurriedly gave it to him, which Hatori downed the whole cup quickly.
"So are you awake and focused yet, Hatori?" Kyou wondered as he leaned in. Hatori turned to glare at the teen, causing Kyou to lean back a bit. His lips twitched as he felt the lingering sting upon them and spoke,
"Are you trying to kill me, cursed cat?"
"What?" Kyou pouted and lifted a spoonful for himself to try and immediately as he swallowed, he went in search for some milk to wash the heat away. He came back to the dining room to see Hatori standing and wiping his brow with his handkerchief,
"I-I thought it was a good recipe. I mean, Rock Lee said it was delicious."
"Rock Lee?" Hatori's eyes narrowed at the mention of another man, "Who's that?"
"A cartoon . . . character," Kyou lowered his eyes and away from the glare but his confidence came back in an instant as he shot his head up and replied,
"It was in this morning's episode. The curry was called, The Curry of Life. It's supposed to energize you . . ." Kyou faltered at the last part seeing the man sigh.
"All it did was sent me to an early death. Your old recipes were a whole lot better, Kyou," the dragon whispered. Kyou was ecstatic,
"Really?" He couldn't believe it. He smiled and happily bid the older man a good day. When Hatori was out of sight, a frown marred his features as he looked down at the still bubbling curry. What was he going to do with it?
-x-
"Lunch is ready, Sohma-kun!"
"Something smells good, Miss Honda," the person noted as he sat down at the table as the brunette came over with the pot of food. Tohru smiled,
"Kyou brought it over this morning. He's so nice."
"The stupid cat made this then?"
"It's quite delicious!" Tohru smiled watching as Yuki looked at the black stew with worry,
"Is this even edible? It looks like gasoline if nothing else."
"It's very good! I'll have to ask Kyou for the recipe when I see him next," Tohru smiled and waited for Yuki to take a bite. When the rat tentatively brought the spoon to his mouth and chewed on the stew, a yell left his mouth, cursing the cat with everything he had until his throat was hoarse. Never, ever eat something that you have a smidge of doubt of in the first place.
-x-
Kyou snickered behind his book as Hatori got into bed next to him. The older man turned to the teen,
"Why are you laughing? Is that book really funny?"
Kyou shook his head, "It's nothing, Hatori." He watched as the man turned onto his side, facing away from him. A smile crept onto his lips, snickering slightly,
"I win, rat."
-x-
A/N: Sorry for the last minute ending. I hope it fit and flowed correctly. If not, forgive me. Also, if you're wondering about the Naruto episode that spurred this idea in the first place, it's Naruto episode 152 towards the ending.