A/N; Sorry this took so long. I'm over 230 pages into the new story, and about 2/3 of the way through it, I think anyway. My computer is on the fritz, so I might have to do a system restore soon. Luckily all the writings are backed up to an external. I lost over 20 gigs of writing a few years ago (pretty much the entirety of everything I ever wrote on one) and learned my lesson. Anywho, here it is. Short and sweet.

6 Course Challenge

Composition

By: The Hatter Theory and Managarm

Rated: K+ (mild language)

Entree

"Why can't we go out to eat?" Inu Yasha whined as Kagome arranged the food on the plate in front of her. "There's this awesome ramen stand just down the road," He started. Kagome tuned him out, trying to figure out the perfect placement.

Five minutes later and a beautiful plate (well, the food anyway) stared back at her, the essence of fine dining in the middle of her very obviously student apartment. Even on her cheap plate it looked amazing.

"Inu Yasha, try this," Kagome said, setting the plate in front of him. When he dug in, completely ignoring everything, from presentation to taste, Kagome wanted to bang her head onto the table and scream. How could someone lack that many tastebuds without smoking or drinking soda 24/7? Did ramen anesthetize them?

"It's really good, 'Gome, what is it?" He asked, his mouth full as he shoveled food in. Kagome wondered if he was just trying to make her feel better.

"Lamb, with scalloped potatoes and veggies. Do you think it'll be okay for the big dinner?" She asked, watching him wolf down the rest of the food.

"Yeah, it''l be great. But the portions are too small. Why do they try to starve you after charging you so much for a plate?" He was completely unaware of the sauce -which had taken three days to perfect- that was smeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Because it's set up in courses, and because it takes forever to make." Her half desperate half angry tone wasn't getting through to him, obviously. He was licking the fork clean and smiling widely.

"I'm still hungry, let's go get some ramen."

She thought she was doing very well by not killing him.

"Hojo, this is really awesome of you, you have no idea how hard it's been to find another taste tester, everyone seems so busy right now," Kagome said, setting the plate down on the table. Her high school friend smiled at her warmly before picking up his fork.

"Well, I'm not a food critic, but I know good food, and you've always been an amazing chef," Hojo told her before taking an almost dainty bite of the baked parcel. Kagome felt her ego swelling when his face lit up and he began digging into the plate, albeit far more slowly than Inu Yasha had. He savored each bite, and Kagome wanted to melt. Finally someone outside of the culinary school that could appreciate her efforts! If she wasn't obsessed with food and her own dreams, marrying him might have been an option, she was so grateful.

"What's in this, it's amazing," Hojo asked, taking a small sip of the wine she had provided.

"Dried tomatos, gouda, courgette, and some pine kernals, and thank you. It was hard figuring out the vegetarian dish for Irish food," Kagome informed him, smiling until she noticed the arrested expression on the man's face.

"Pine kernals?"

"Ye-es," She said, her stomach beginning to have that strange sensation of bottoming out.

"I need to get to the hospital, I'm allergic!" He cried, standing up so quickly the chair overturned. Kagome tried following, but he was out of her front door and in his car before she could get in with him.

Wonderful.

"Kouga, I'm trying to test out this recipe, not watch a movie," Kagome snapped, irritated. 'How the mighty have fallen,' she inwardly lamented as she tried to ignore the obvious come-ons of the erstwhile bad boy. Really, there hadn't been any other choice unless she wanted to taste test it herself, although she had serious misgivings about inviting the guy that constantly offered to marry her into her home. He hadn't even known where she lived before this.

"But it's gotta cook right? Why can't we watch a movie while it cooks?"

"Because I have to watch it!" She snapped, suddenly tired of the whining and cajoling she had been subjected to all evening.

"Fine!" He shouted, suddenly as angry as she. Kagome watched him storm out of the kitchen and listened to the front door slam, rattling the walls of her apartment. The kung fu movie in the background taunted her mercilessly by suddenly screaming 'Failure!'.

"Who says we can't taste test our own food anyway," Kagome pouted, staring at the organized chaos taking place on her stove. Only a few more days to go before the big day, and so far her entrees had been snubbed for ramen, run from in horror, and now completely ignored.

Maybe Taisho was right, it was impossible.

Hope you liked it! Please review!