Title: "Say ahh..."

Author: Omnicat

Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge: Junichi Sato & co's Prétear anime.

Warnings: None.

Characters & Relationships: Sasame x Takako

Summary: Sasame cooks. His specialty? Udon noodles and silent pining. / 1440 words

Author's Note: Enjoy!

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"Say ahh..."

"What's your favorite food?" he asked as soon as they had stepped through the door.

That was the last question she'd expected.

"My – what?" Sasame returned her odd look with one of his usual calmly patient ones, and shrugged out of his coat before helping her take off hers. Takako blinked rapidly, and discreetly backed away from the proximity-impaired Knight of Sound. "My favorite food?"

Sasame nodded.

"Why would you want to know?"

He cocked his head to the side. "So I can cook it for you, of course. Why, is it something embarrassing?"

"Um..." When he asked like that, she almost couldn't help but think of all kinds of weird things to do with her favorite food. Or any food. "I didn't think so... it's just... udon noodles."

"Then udon noodles it is," he said with a smile, and set off to the kitchen, leaving Takako confused and speechless. His voice drifted back to the small living room area Takako had wandered into. "Is there any particular dish you prefer?"

"N – no preference," she stammered. "Anything is fine, really. Please don't trouble yourself on my account."

"It's no trouble at all, but if you insist, I'll simply prepare my own specialty."

Takako didn't understand why Sasame – quiet and measured and dependable, but always slightly distant Sasame – was acting like this, all but dragging her home with him. Yes, they'd had a rough day of training, but she was perfectly capable of going home to make her own dinner. Her mother might even make it home in time to share the meal with her today. The odds were a little slim, as Takako had said she would be eating at a friend's house and Mother's work was always busy, but she couldn't see that being the reason. She hadn't told the Leafé Knights any of that.

Hayate had certainly had no qualms about blowing her off today. But she shouldn't take it personally. She caused the Knights enough trouble without adding her loneliness to the list of their burdens.

Taking a deep, bracing breath, Takako decided to just ask what had prompted Sasame's sudden invitation. Her parents had taught her that honesty was best, after all.

Sasame was glad she couldn't see his face ignite at her question.

"Oh, just because." He feigned nonchalance and used a whiff of magic to add a smile to his voice that he couldn't quite bring his mouth to form. "You're my Prétear. I'm your Knight. I have to take good care of you."

Oh, how he wished Hayate would say that to her once in a while, give some kind of indication that maybe he wasn't really trying to make her –

But Sasame bit his lip as he took a packet of udon noodles from the cupboard, and shook the thought off. It was none of his business. Not his place. Hayate and Takako got along so well, and she was obviously falling head over heels for the Knight of Wind. He shouldn't interfere with their chance at happiness. Maybe if Hayate didn't return her feelings, or things didn't work out between them for some other reason – but Sasame could hardly even bear to think about that. Takako deserved to be happy; with a man like Hayate, Sasame was sure she would be. And there wasn't a more wonderful woman in any world for Hayate to win the heart of. Sasame cared about the both of them too much, he shouldn't be jealous. He wouldn't.

If stolen moments like this evening, secret even from Takako, were all he would be granted, then so be it.

"Ah." She seemed uncomfortable. "I didn't know you could cook."

After digging up and laying out the additional ingredients, Sasame filled his biggest pot with water and set it to boil. "Oh, yes, quite well. Goh is better, but that's to be expected. He likes making the seven of us dinner."

"You don't even like cooking?" Takako blurted out, and instantly regretted it.

"Dislike would be overstating things, but I admit I cook for the results rather than the experience," Sasame said, not untruthfully, and smiled sadly as he added the noodles to the boiling water instead of admitting something melodramatic like 'Only for you, Takako.'

An uncomfortable silence fell. Sasame could hear her shuffle her feet and look around his living room. If it weren't for her obvious unease, he thought with no small amount of resigned wistfulness, the sonic image of her there would have been the stuff his dreams were made of. Her eyes vibrated as brilliant a green as the plants sitting in his windowsill.

"Feel free to look around." Sasame's voice made her jump with her hand halfway to a book on one of the shelves lining the apartment's inner wall. "This won't take long."

Takako gingerly accepted his offer. The apartment was nice, especially considering the fact that the occupant was a seventeen-year-old single male without a real human job. And compared to Hayate's (two stories down in the same building) it was so clean and tidy. She suspected she'd uncovered the secret identity of the Leafé Knights' mother hen.

Takako laughed softly when she noted, with honestly only a small peak into his bedroom, that his open wardrobe was as tidy as the rest of the house. Her father always drove her mother mad with his sloppy disregard for his clothes when he was home...

"My, Sasame, it would seem you are the perfect man," she said conversationally, trusting that Sasame could hear her just fine. "You cook, you clean, you're a gentleman and a knight in every aspect, a real charmer and good with words... How you're still single is a mystery to me."

She returned to the living area to find him setting the table, his face stained with a blush.

"Be careful, or you'll spark my ego. I already feel like showing off." Music started playing out of nowhere. Her expression of wonder at the beautiful, complex melody made him smile proudly. "Out of my bare head. I can do a lot of musical styles, any preference?"

"T – this one is nice."

He pulled out her chair for her and bowed with a flourish, making Takako giggle. Only when she looked around the table twice did she notice something was wrong.

"Sasame, how can we eat without plates or bowls?"

He apparently failed to see the problem. "This is how we often eat in Leafenia; right from the pot. We can share, can't we?"

Takako sweatdropped. So much for the mother hen theory; he was just as much of a young bachelor as the rest of them.

The table was indeed narrow enough to allow them to eat from the same pot without having to perform any acrobatics or balancing acts; it was obviously only meant for one, more like a small work desk than a dining table.

No, she concluded after sneaking a peek underneath the oddly thick 'tabletop'; it was a work desk. It had drawers.

Silly Leafenians.

Takako felt a little awkward at first, but Sasame was used to that (he seemed to have that effect on almost everyone in this world), and Takako was used to Sasame, so they were soon slurping away and chatting animatedly. Whatever the reason it had taken him so long to warm up to her, Takako thought, she was glad he finally had. He was kind and funny, and he had the gentlest laugh.

When the pot was almost empty, they happened to reach for the last clump of noodles simultaneously. Takako got hold of one end with her chopsticks while Sasame got the other end.

They looked up at each other. For a moment they just stared, Sasame drinking in the sight of her face and the sound of her heartbeat, and Takako wondering whether he would claim the noodles or not. When he didn't make his move, Takako finally swooped in to take her end into her mouth – a fraction of a second after he, without warning, did the same. And before Takako knew it, their lips met in a chaste, brief, noodly half-kiss.

He bit down and quickly withdrew, eyes wide and spine ramrod straight. It was such a comically uncharacteristic expression it stopped Takako's rising mortification right in its tracks. Only when, a long, breathless moment later, she hid her face in her hand and burst out in helpless giggles, did he relax. He smiled and ducked his head, but for one fleeting moment, she thought she saw something in his eyes.

"Sorry about that. Sonic Arrows take a lot from a man."

Especially when they pierced his heart.

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PSAN: Comments on older fics will always remain welcome. :)