This story uses characters and locations based on the Gunslinger Girl manga written by Yu Aida and published in monthly shōnen magazine Dengeki Daioh. The characters of Kara and Michele are original to myself.

Chapter Seven – Salty Orange Vanilla

Author's Note: This installment is in homage to the ED themes for the anime Toradora! Since the timeline for my stories is 2005-2006, this chapter should be considered as being out of context. Also, it was originally published as a much shorter piece, but I decided to go back and expand it a bit.

It was a pleasant Saturday mid-afternoon at the Social Welfare Agency compound outside Rome as Giuse and Henrietta walked along under the portico of the main building. They saw a girl half-skipping and half-dancing down the path towards them with a cloth shopping bag in her left hand.

As she approached, they identified her as Kara. They could see the two thin white wires dropping from each ear, connecting to a thicker one that disappeared into a small leather holster on her belt and both concluded she was listening to her iPod Nano. They could also hear her singing out loud.

"ORENJI iro ni hayaku naritai kajitsu KIMI no hikari wo abite…risou ya yume wa fukuramu bakari kidzuite yo nee…ORENJI kyou mo tabete mita kedo mata suppakute naita…watashi mitai de nokosenai kara zenbu tabeta…suki da yo…nakeru yo…suki da yo…suki da yo…"

As she danced past the two with a small pirouette, she pointed her finger at Giuse, smiled and winked as she said "suki da yo…suki da yo…".

"Giuse?" Henrietta asked. "What does 'suki da yo' mean?"

Giuse didn't have a strong command of Japanese by any means, but he did know "suki" meant liked or loved and "da yo" kind of sounded like "you" so he thought she might have said "I love you". He assumed that Kara was using the lyrics of whatever song she was listening to as a joke, but he was also afraid that Henrietta might not find it funny.

"Uh, she said she liked my tie," he replied.

"Ah," Henrietta said. "Giuse?" she asked a few moments later.

"Yes, Henrietta?"

"You're not wearing a tie."

Kara sashayed into the kitchen, putting the bag of groceries on the counter, still singing in time with the song playing over her headphones.

"ORENJI iro wa ano hi mita yuuyake wo omoidasasete kureru…futatsu no kage ga te wo tsunaideru mitai data…ORENJI itsuka amaku naru kana

sore to mo shibonjau no?"

She looked up to see Claes and Triela looking at her and she stopped singing, reaching down to hit the Pause button and popping one of the earpieces out.

"Ciao!" she sang out.

"Ciao," Claes replied in a neutral voice.

"What do you have in the bag?" Triela asked.

"Items to bake an orange cheesecake tart," Kara replied. "It's Michele's birthday so I want to make him something special for dessert."

"You're not making him a full meal?" Triela asked, surprised.

Kara shook her head. "We have an agreement that we eat out on birthdays so we're going to La Pergola for dinner and drinks. This is going to be my present for him when we get back. What brings you two here?"

"Uhm…" Triela said, her cheeks turning a distinct shade of red.

Claes rolled her eyes. "She wants to make a special dessert for Hillshire, as well. Except it's not his birthday."

"Claes!" Triela said, her face going even more crimson. She turned to Kara. "What were you singing just now?" she asked.

"It's the end theme to an anime I like," Kara said.

"About oranges?"

"In a way. It's a girl singing about a boy she likes and she uses the metaphor of an orange."

Triela's cheeks quickly returned to normal and a smile broke out on her face.

"A girl singing about a boy she likes, eh?" she said.

Kara joined Claes in rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, I need to start preparing my tort," Kara said and started arranging the ingredients. She then headed for the pantry to collect some staples like flour, sugar and other items.

When she returned, she placed the flour, icing sugar and butter into a food processor and blended it to the consistency of clumps. She then added two egg yolks and a bit of ice cold water and continued to blend until they formed dough, which she then took out and kneaded until smooth. She then rolled it out between two sheets of parchment paper and placed the flattened disc into the refrigerator to chill for a few minutes.

"Kara?" Claes called out. "Do you have a minute?"

Kara went over.

"Does this look about the right consistency to you?" she asked, pointing to a bowl with butter and sugar whipped together.

"Yup. What are you making?"

"Marmorkuchen," Triela answered, knowing that Kara and Claes were both fluent in German.

"Marble cake…Not sure I have ever had it," Kara admitted.

"Save me a piece of your tort and I will do the same," Triela said.

"It's a deal," Kara replied and returned to her own dessert.

She removed the pastry from the refrigerator and placed it in a large flan tin which she then placed in the oven.

"How hot is that oven?" Claes called out.

"200," Kara noted.

"Hmm…This recipe calls for 180. I suppose I could adjust the cooking time."

"No worries. I need 180 for the filling. The crust will be done in 15 minutes."

"Perfect," Claes replied.

Kara cleaned the food processor and put back in her earphone. She started singing out loud again as she placed fresh cream cheese, sugar, whole eggs and just yolks, orange rind and juice, and vanilla extract into it, blending it smooth.

"BANIRA SORUTO de; BANIRA SORUTO de; BANIRA SORUTO de; Burning Love…AMAi dake nara; SORUTO kakemashou…dare yori mo motto motto watashi wo;shitte hoshii kara sarakedashitai;demo dekinai no keiken Nothing; MODOKASHI sugiru"

She removed the crust from the oven and lowered the temperature. She then poured the mixture into the baked crust, still singing.

"SHIRO to iwaretara; KURO datte icchau; sunao ni narenai; AMANOJAKU…SUKI to iwaretara; DAIKIRAI date; ureshii no ni NANI itte n darou?"

She popped out one of the earplugs again and walked over to watch Triela add cocoa mix into the remaining batter before pouring the batter into the baking tin on top of the existing. She then carried it over to the oven while Kara went and got her torte.

"How long does it need to bake?" Kara asked.

"50-70 minutes, but at 20 we need to cut line through the middle," Claes replied.

"Perfect. My torte will be done by then minutes so I can take it out and you can cut your cake," Kara replied, setting the timer for 20 minutes. She started to cut an orange into thin slices and make an orange rind and sugar glaze to pour over the cake when it came out of the oven.

At 20 minutes, she checked the torte and it looked ready, so she removed it. Claes took out the marble cake and made the incision before putting it back in.

They chatted idly while the marble cake cooked and the tort cooled to the point Kara could place the orange slices on top and then cover it with the syrup. She then wrapped it in plastic and placed it in a cardboard box, which she tied with a ribbon.

"I need to get dressed for dinner and put this in Michele's refrigerator for after dinner. I'll save a piece for both of you as well as Henrietta and Rico and we have it with tea tomorrow," Kara noted. She replaced the earphone and headed out the door, the start of a song on her lips.

The End