Cooking classes
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my crazy plot.
Dedicated to my best friend: 5511narusaku4eva luv ya gurl :*
Oh she was going to show him, alright. She would show him that she was a better cook than him...or at least as good as him. Sure her food wasn't as bad as England's but still, to her, it wasn't good enough. But to learn to cook better, Taiwan had to have a teacher of some sorts. But who? Well, certainly not England. Not Hong Kong... Or Malaysia...
So that only left Japan. And it wasn't a secret that Japan had a skill in cooking. He was the oldest next to China after all.
So with that thought in head, Taiwan went to the Country of The Rising Sun to learn the fine arts of cooking.
XOXOXO
Knock Knock
"Coming!" a male voice was heard from inside. MeiMei was reversing her explanation in her head.
The door opened and she saw Japan in his usual attire...with the usual blank face.
"Ah, Taiwan-san," his features softened. "What can i offer you?"
"Well, i was-" Mei started but was cut by the other country.
"Why i am such a rude person! Please come in! Come in!" he invited her...after slapping himself.
'Typical Japan,' Taiwan thought.
When they got into the kitchen and Kiku made some tea for the other, Taiwan took a deep breath and started her explanation.
"As i was saying, i got into a bet with China that i am a good cook indeed and not just a show off. So i need to learn a few more cooking techniques. So since you were my only option i came here to ask you. You will help me, right?" Taiwan finally breathed.
"Well, i guess so. But you have to have the right "etiquetes" or else China-san will get really mad..." Japan trailed off. It seemed like he was remembering something.
Happy that she was going to have her cooking classes, MeiMei jumped up and started skipping out of the door. But she suddenly stopped.
"Since i am going to have classes in some ammount of time i guess i would be staying here, right?"
"I guess so, you can sleep in the guest room. We'll start the lessons now," Kiku smiled and got up as well.
Thinking on what they should start first, Japan hadn't seen that Mei was opening the door. And he just had to open it from that place, right where Taiwan's hand was.
Why was Japan touching Taiwan's hand? Did he do it on purpose? Did he have feelings for her?
'Oh no, this is all going too fast!' Taiwan thought.
Right before she was able to say something stupid, Japan blurted out a real fast 'sorry', opened the door and went, assumably, to his room.
"He was so red," Taiwan said to herself.
But her mind went to that moment again and again. She remembered how warm his hands were. And it seemed that his hand were so large compared to hers. Rough from all the war he had with other countries, yet still delicate for her.
Was it safe to assume things? No, she decided. It was still too early. After all, this was Japan. Blushing was something he did too often around women...unless he was drunk.
Taiwan shook her head to clear the thoughts away and went to, what she thought, was the cooking area.
The country found lots of interesting things there. Many types of fish in the closet as well as lots of types of groceries.
She heard the door slide open again and found Japan in his cooking clothes.
"Sorry for that, Taiwan. I am ready to teach you how to make onigiri, now."
Said country nodded and got into the attires that Japan brought.
Japan started lecturing how important hygiene was not only in life but in the fine arts of cooking. So Taiwan started cleaning everything that was in the recipe.
Cleaning the products were never her favorite part, but for the sake of the taste of the food, she went along with it. However the slicing part was always her favorite. She could get hurt and that was the fun. She started to take her knife and cut the fish's head but Japan who saw that, quickly got the knife away from her.
"You are doing it wrong! First you have to get the skin off! Do it like this," he showed her.
When Taiwan tried to copy it again, Japan stopped her...again.
There was no other way than showing it with her hands. So Kiku hesitantly went next to her, got her hands and stood right behind her back.
"You peel the skin gently with care," he used her hands to demonstrate what he was talking about.
Taiwan couldn't help but to blush. Yep, his hands were a lot bigger than hers. Yep, his hands were a lot warmer than hers. And his breath on her neck was making it even harder for her to concentrate. Was it a good idea to ask him for help?
"Ah, Japan, i am sort of tired from the traveling and can't concentrate well. Can we continue the lesson tomorrow?" she asked. It wasn't completely a lie. She was tired from her travel, but that wasn't the reason she couldn't continue the lesson.
Japan seemed to relax over that statement. He nodded and asked her to follow him to her new room. Taiwan nodded and fixed her qipao. She ran to catch up with him.
The silence was pretty awkward between the two.
And that was how Day One went.
Day Two
"Okay Taiwan, enough fooling around. You know that you have to beat that old country!" she said to herself while in the bathroom.
The guest room was nice. It had a little table with parchment and ink on it. There was a wardrobe. And that was about it... Oh yeah, she had a bed too. The room was a typical brown color. Nothing special.
One her way out she found a white fluffy dog.
Taiwan picked it up because she found it too hard to ignore its' cuteness...and fluffiness.
While petting it, MeiMei heard soembody running. The somebody turned out to be her cooking teacher, Japan.
"Oh Pochi! There you were!" he exclaimed.
"So your name is Pochi, huh?" Taiwan cooed the dog. It barked happily.
"Taiwan, i forgot to ask you, when is the final day of the test?"
" Well, its next Friday!"
"My goodness! Today is Saturday which leaves us only six days! Hurry Taiwan! We must not give China the pleasure of winning!"
Taiwan had to smile at that. Japan got so determined when he wanted something. She followed after him happily with Pochi in hand. The view outside was very beautiful. The trees were green as always. The flowers were as pretty as usual. The city lights were just as alive as yesterday. But they all had some kind of a special glow in them. Taiwan liked it. It made everything seem okay. It made her feel like she was safe.
Something moved in her hands, when she looked down, Pochi hopped off of her hands. Taiwan pouted a little. It wasn't usual that animals 'ran away' from her. But she decided to shrug on that. After all, they had their right to go on and do the things they liked. It wasn't nice to be caged.
She kept walking without looking where she was headed and the next moment she knew, her head had collided with something hard.
"Owww!" she exclaimed. "It hurts!"
When Taiwan looked up to what she hit her forehead, it happened to be Japan's back.
"Ah! Taiwan are you okay? Ow" he asked, rubbing his back.
Oh yeah, Japan is an old man...
The country in question nodded. The older brunette let out a sigh of relief as they entered the kitchen.
"You see, my best trick in cooking is salt. The more salty the food is, the better the taste. Remember that all your life, Taiwan."
"But isn't that unhealthy?"
"Oh it doesn't matter the least," he smiled.
The older country decided that they would make salted salmon, so Taiwan could understand his theory of salt. He taught her how to clean the salmon, after a few screams and failures Japan finally decided that he had to teach it to her with his hands...like yesterday.
As they were finally getting it right, Japan smiled a bit and told the news to Taiwan. She got a goofy grin on her face and started to jump like she won something. In the proccess she accidentally stepped on Japan's kimono and fell with him. Oddly enough, Japan was on top of her, on his hands and knees. He finally shook the shock off of his system and looked at Taiwan. Her face was all red. He bet that there were at least ten shades of pink there. Her lips were set in a childish pout. Japan couldn't help but to smile at that.
As cliché as it would be, someone just had to ruin the moment, because they couldn't just fall in love with each other in two days, right?
So, the door slid open to reveal a very pissed England.
"Pardon for interrupting, Japan, but i had to bloody-" it seemed like he had finally seen what he interrupted. England got a big smirk on his face as Taiwan pushed the country on top of her off and went out the door.
"Japan, Japan, Japan. How could you keep a secret like that from me of all people? I bloody thought we were mates!" he dramatically sighed.
"N-no, England... There is nothing like that going on between us!"
"Yet," he smiled.
Japan looked at his friend. There definately was some leftover from the pirate he once was. Even if he claimed to be a gentleman, there was still something wild in his subconciousness.
"Oh well, i can't bloody stand being a nasty cockblocker, so i'd like to leave then. No hard feelings, eh mate?" he winked playfully.
Japan blushed a bit.
"England, didn't you say you had something to discuss with me?"
"Hm? Well if you insist. I was just here to complain about Russia. He sais that i get in his bloody way so much. But he does, too! There is one beautiful lady i laid my eyes on since the last world conference and yet the bloody bloke got in my way..." England pouted.
Japan was a little surprised. He never though that his fellow country could harbor some feelings for another.
"So who is this girl?" he asked.
"I'll show her to you after you are done with your lady over there. Now, i have some tormenting to do," England smiled evilly.
Japan, who had almost sweatdropped by England's uncharacteristic behaviour, let out a sigh of relief. Now he had to thing of some way to bring Taiwan back. She sure has a lot of pride just like a little child. But that was understandable. It wouldn't be appropriate for a country to not have some sense of pride. As long as it wouldn't be like France's or England's.
XOXOXO
"What was that!?" Taiwan yelled at her reflection in the mirror.
She splashed the water, which resulted in the floor getting wet with somw part of her qipao.
One second she thought that they were getting onto something when that stupid England had to ruin the moment! How was she supposed to look at him at the next World Conference America might pull over!? Oh no, speaking of England, she heard that he spread false rumours about other countries with France! What if he was doing that now? Would he go so low as to stain his friend's reputation?
Taiwan let out a frustrated growl and went to the bed.
Oh well. It didn't matter now. At least it wasn't South Korea, who found them in that...situation. Then the scenario would be worse. It wasn't a secret that he disliked Japan. However, Taiwan coyld see that South Korea was getting more attached to her. Wether to study "abroad" at her place, or claim a few things that she held dearly as his. The country had gone mad. Picking at men's breasts and commenting on them, good thing he never did that to women.
Taiwan could hear footsteps now.
Ugh, such disgrace! What was she going to do if it was England? What if Japan told him that she pulled the whole thing on purpose?! Japan wouldn't to that, right? He was a good guy, right?
Suddenly a horrible picture of Japan and England sipping tea, bad-mouthing her came crashing in her mind...
At that, Taiwan fainted.
She failed to see that Japan opened her door after he heard something crash. He found her unconscious body and put the tray with his favorite Sakura Tea on the table and went to pluck her in her bed.
"Day Two - complete failure," Japan sighed
A/N: Hello! I apologize if there are some grammar mistakes. And also i apologize if the characters are a bit of OOC. It is my first time writing a story where the characters are, well, not known to me.