Of Cooking and Cleaning…
Amu rang the bell of her one time best friend. The separation over the years had almost wiped out anything that she could recall of Utau's preferences and, to add to the increasing things that went wrong in her life, Ikuto was sure to have twisted the events of last night. 'Well it can't get any worse…'
Amu nearly jumped a mile when Utau opened the door. "H-hello, Utau-chan…" an awkward silence followed before Utau jumped on Amu, squealing in delight.
"Uhhh... Utau-chan have you been drinking vanilla milkshake with the pink marshmallows in it again?" Amu asked, aware of the embarrassing things that could be said about the position she was in right now. Namely by Ikuto.
Utau moved off Amu and led her into the living room. "Ikuto-nii san told me everything! How was it?"
"How was what Utau?" Amu asked confused again by her friend's behaviour.
"Don't act as if you don't know! The date you had with Tadase! Wait... you two didn't… there was no way that – unless…"
"Utau-chan? What are you going on about?"
"I was wondering if you-" what Utau was about to say was soon muffled by a disturbingly familiar hand that covered her mouth. Utau bit down hard on the said hand causing its owner to back away from her.
"Ow, what the fuck Utau? What did you do that for?" Ikuto asked as he nursed his injured palm.
"What are you doing here Ikuto-nii san, would be a better question. Wouldn't you agree, Amu?" Utau asked of her friend.
"Yea…" came Amu's subdued response.
"Well I heard someone was about to make a fool out of our cute little strawberry and had to apprehend the criminal." Ikuto replied.
"What are you going on about nii-san?" Utau asked once more.
"Nothing, never mind, the message was understood by the party that was meant to understand it."
"And that would be who exactly?" Amu asked.
"Me." At this reply, both the girls pushed the overgrown cat out of the room and promptly locked the door.
"What would we do without locks?" Amu sighed, blowing her hair out of her face.
"Try to have a private conversation with that pervert of a 'nii-san in the room," Utau answered. At this, both of the girls burst out into laughter.
"Ne, Amu do you want to go shopping? We could buy a new dress for the winter Masquerade Ball!" Utau asked.
"Sorry Utau, I already promised that I would buy the dress with my school friends," came a dejected reply form Amu and caused Utau's face to change into an expression of disappointment. "On the other hand we could bake cookies and the like for Tadase. After all, you never did teach me how to make the perfect coconut cookie before you left. All the attempts I made went wrong."
Utau smiled in response and unlocked the door, slowly poking her head out to check if the coast was clear. "Alright, we'll move quickly to the kitchen. You do remember where it is don't you?" Utau asked.
"Of course, I practically spent all the time at your house in it. How on earth could we forget that?" Came Amu's offended response.
"Okay then, let's make our way to the kitchen without 'nii-san finding out." Utau led the way as the two girls quietly crept towards the kitchen. at all the junctions Utau would check to see if the coast was clear before signalling to Amu to follow her.
When they reached the kitchen, Utau locked the door and looked outside of the window, planning to close that as well when she saw something that was odd. Unable to place her finger on it she turned to Amu and began the cooking lesson. All of the ingredients were on the table and the two began to whisk the egg whites and then added the sugar and coconuts before placing them into the oven.
"Well that was easier than I thought it would be. How long do we have to leave it in the oven for Utau-chan?" Amu asked.
"Fifteen minutes. Shall we start another batch of cookies or do you want to do something else?" Utau replied.
"Tell me about your time away from here. What were you doing in that time? And how is your singing going?" Amu asked whilst she washed the dishes.
"Well, the school I went to was full of proper stunk-cunt stick-up-their-arse pupils that had no appreciation for my talents at all. All the girls were naturally jealous of my good look and all the boys became slobbering messes whenever I walked into the classroom. And the teachers were all like, 'This is a place for future leaders' and yada yada yada." Utau ranted on about her life away form Amu.
"So all in all you loved it?"
"Absolutely! Then there was the singing thing going on. Oh my god. You will not believe how many chances there were to get out there. I mean there was the open mike evening in the park and then there was this talent show thing. I wish you could have been there, you would have loved it sooo much Amu!" Utau exclaimed, her eyes shining bright with excitement.
"Yea, so would I." Amu replied. Her expression alerted Utau to the despair that now hovered over her friend. 'Maybe I shouldn't have said anything' thought Utau.
"Maybe it's good you didn't go, after all you finally got with Tadase. Cheer up Amu." Utau tried to comfort her friend.
"What did Ikuto tell you exactly? Did he tell you that Tadase and I had the most romantic day ever? Did he tell you that Tadase confessed his undying love to me? What on earth makes you think it went well? The whole outing was a failure, he didn't kiss me and he left me in the park on my own and if it hadn't been for Ikuto I would've caught something worse than the cold I had. It sucked Utau, it totally sucked."
"Amu…"
"Forget it Utau, the cookies are almost done and we need to finish the washing. So let's get to it okay?" Amu asked of her friend.
"Sure, if that's what you want…" Utau replied uncertainly.
"It is."
Amu and Utau finished the washing and were taking the cookies out if the oven when the phone rang. "I'll be back in a moment Amu, okay?" Utau asked as she placed the tray on the cooling rack and made to unlock the door.
"Hai." Amu replied cheerful once again.
"See ya in a mo." Utau said as she left the door and made her way to the phone down the hallway.
Amu sighed as she took the rest of the cookies out. 'What made me blow up like that? Sure Tadase and me did not have a great evening, but it was okay *sigh*. Maybe it was because she went to England to study and left me here. I should not really hate her but… there is this feeling inside me that she wanted to leave me. That she got kicks out of seeing me cry. Maybe I should get those cookies out of the oven and stop hating my best friend' Amu thought bitterly as she closed the oven door her back to the now unlocked kitchen door behind her. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she did not hear it open, enabling Ikuto to creep behind her and gently blow into Amu's ear. Frightened Amu turned around only to see that she and Ikuto were less than a five centimetres away.
"You shouldn't scare me like that, Ikuto." Amu whispered, her breath causing some of Ikuto's forelocks to sway away from his face.
"Why?"
"It's not nice to scare people. Didn't your mother tell you that?" Amu replied. The look Ikuto gave her made her weak in the knees and she was surprised to find that she did not not like it at all. In fact, she thought that it was exhilarating.
"Didn't your mum tell you to lock the doors in case a pervert came in?" Ikuto asked placing one of his hands next to Amu's head and leaning in closer.
"You wouldn't do anything like that to me." Amu asked moving back into the oven and tilting her head up to see Ikuto more clearly.
"Really? How about collecting a debt from last night? I would do that." Ikuto asked huskily, his lips mere millimetres away from hers. The movement from his words gently brushes her pink lips and caused her to blush.
"Maybe…" Amu replied as Ikuto's lips strengthened there hold on hers. His other hand now placed by her waist, preventing her from escaping had that been the thought currently running through her scrambled brain.
'I should be pushing him away. Why cant I? Kami he's a good kisser.' Amu thought as she let Ikuto reclaim the debt that was due to him. Ikuto suddenly broke away and picked up a cookie from the pile.
"Ik-" Amu started before the door slammed open.
"Amu I'm sorry about being so late, Yoru said something about-. Ikuto-nii san? What are you doing here?" Utau asked as she critically scanned the guilty teen for any wrongdoing.
"Nothing, just tasting the cookies." Ikuto replied looking directly at Amu. However, form Utau's point of view it looked like he was staring at the cookies.
"Oh really? How did they taste?" Utau asked.
"Absolutely scrumptious." came Ikuto's reply as he smirked in Amu's direction, "Wouldn't you agree Amu?"
Amu blushed a deep shade of red. "Thank you for having me over Utau, but I really must be going now," Amu replied, hurriedly hugging Utau.
"What no hug for me Amu?" Ikuto asked in a kidding tone, his characteristic smile still etched upon his face.
"No you damn pervert!" Amu shouted as she made her way back to mansion. It wasn't too far so she was okay in walking herself there. 'Damn Ikuto!'
- - With Utau, later at night - -
'Shit! I forgot to tell her I signed her up for the singing competition! Oh well I'll tell her tomorrow." Utau though out loud as she went to sleep.