Like I said, every once in a while the chapters will be just short little excerpts about life with Neina around. And this is one of those times!
Saphira112: yeah, that was one of my favorite parts to write! Slapstick comedy really makes me laugh and the look on Tsuzuki and Neina's faces in my head made me laugh in the middle of class. Oh, I'm glad you thought the fight scenes were okay! I have trouble with those parts. I see really cool stuff in my head, but I don't know how to say it in words, you know?
Oh, and laustic, glad to hear you will be updating soon. And congrats on being in Japan. You're living the American Otaku dream. And yeah, Hisoka's not the kind to trust anyone right away, so I'm trying to stay true to that.
Disclaimer: The only way in which I profit off of this is by making my readers happy. I am making you happy right?
--------------------------------------------------------
Part 1
Neina Kurosaki was baking. To be more precise, she was baking muffins. It was a quarter to eight in the morning and she was baking muffins, enough for the entire ministry. And because she didn't know which kind everybody liked, she was baking one batch of blueberry, one batch chocolate chip, one batch banana nut and one batch orange-cranberry. In other words, it was a busy morning.
She had been at the ministry for almost a month now. This was the first time however she had made breakfast. Oh, she found other ways to be useful. She was often the errand girl and ran documents between the others. She made coffee in the morning, though most didn't realize it was her doing. She didn't mind, it gave her something to do after she worked out. Up at six, a jog around the building, training in the dojo for an hour and a half, and then a shower and back to the ministry for coffee by eight. The only difference today was cutting training short to bake muffins. Really, it was her way of thanking all of them for letting her stay here.
At eight precisely she set the muffin mountain down and waited. It was Monday, which meant that they would all come in together, Tatsumi leading the way followed by Hisoka dragging a still lethargic Tsuzuki in the ritualistic attempt to get him to work on time at least one day out of the week. And indeed here they came, just as she predicted. Watari wasn't there, which meant that he must've slept at home for once and would there for not show up until he couldn't ring anymore time out of his alarm clock's snooze button. Either that or he was passed out in his lab and hadn't yet awoken.
The smell of baked goods immediately perked Tsuzuki up. He looked around wildly before spotting the heap on the table. Little hearts appeared above his head and he immediately inu-fied himself and jumped for them.
"Neina, you bought us muffins? Sankyuu!!!" Neina sweat dropped as he began inspecting them, looking for the biggest or fattest or sweetest looking ones to claim for himself. Though his eating habits had disgusted her the first time she was a witness to them, she was becoming more accustomed to the massive amounts of sugar he ingested. That first time she had stared in horror as he devoured what looked like enough cakes and pies for an entire bakery with a frightening grin on his face.
"Is he always like this?" she had asked her son. She liked sweet things as well, but in moderation and not before the real meal. From what she saw, this was his most consistent diet.
"No. Sometimes he gets more," he replied, all too serious. Neina had shuddered and wondered if a shingami could get diabetes from all that sugar.
But back to the present. Tsuzuki was still looking them over and Neina smiled rather wryly at his scrutinizing.
"I didn't buy them, I baked them myself this morning," she said, taking a sip of tea.
Tatsumi and Hisoka immediately looked up for pouring themselves coffee and tea and stared at the muffins as well. "You baked them?" Tatsumi asked.
"Yep, from scratch. Go ahead, they're for everyone. It's just my way of saying thank you." She smiled sweetly, but the men still eyed them warily. Neina was very similar to Tsuzuki at moments, but also similar to Hisoka at others. So the question was: which influenced her cooking?
Deciding not to take any chances, even if it might hurt her feelings, Hisoka pulled his partner away from the potentially deadly muffins. "Sorry, Neina, but we grabbed breakfast on the way here."
"What? No we—" he clamped a hand over his partner's mouth.
Neina frowned, looking disappointed. "Really? But I thought you didn't have time to grab something in the morning before you got here."
"Yeah, well, we were running early," he dodged. Tatsumi nodded, adjusting his glasses.
"Oh…" she looked into her tea, saddened at the news. They all felt a pang of guilt, realizing late she must've put in a lot of work to bake so many muffins of so many different varieties. They sat with her, each drinking from a mug, and Tsuzuki still eyeing the muffins. He really didn't understand why they couldn't eat them…
A sudden commotion down the hall drew their attention. Watari practically flew into the break room, looking frazzled and out of breath. "You see!" he shouted to no one in particular. "This is why I prefer to sleep in my lab! I don't have to worry about being late!" So the alarm clock lost the battle. He clamored for his mug and the pot of coffee, trying to ignore the growling of his stomach as he poured.
However, Neina reached out and grabbed a muffin and tossed it to him. "You'll be more likely to blow something up if you're hungry," she explained. Watari smiled and nodded, leaving skid marks on the linoleum as he speeded away before anyone could warn him.
They all stared at each other, except for Neina who was staring at her tea. She stood and walked back to the tea pot for a refill when Watari skidded back in with half the muffin still in his hand.
"What is this?" he exclaimed. The rest of the men looked nervously at each other, wondering if Watari would actually insult her cooking without knowing it.
"It's a muffin I baked. Blueberry, it looks like," Neina said evenly.
"You baked this?" he asked incredulously. She nodded, eyeing him a little fretfully. "This is…this is…this is amazing! It's like muffin flavored heaven!" he exclaimed.
"You like it?" Neina asked. The others just ogled the scientist, who nodded emphatically. Smiling, she went over to the table and picked up the muffin mountain. "Then here. I've got four flavors of 'heaven' for you. Everyone else has already eaten, evidently, so you can have all four batches." Watari received the platter with a large smile on his face.
"Thanks, Neina! I can just munch on these all day and not leave my lab! And 003 loves banana nut." Neina smiled and waved his thanks aside. Watari was barely out of the room before Tsuzuki leaped up and followed him.
"Wait, Watari! I haven't eaten this morning!"
Neina arched her eyebrows and turned back to the remaining men. Tatsumi coughed and rose. "Yes, well, I could go for something to settle the stomach," he said, adjusting his glasses to hide a small blush. He left the room in the direction of Tsuzuki and Watari.
Only Hisoka and Neina were left, Neina still standing and Hisoka slouched a little to try and hide that his stomach was beginning to gurgle in demand to be filled. He blushed but wouldn't allow himself to get up and following the older men. His pride told him to just sit still and maybe she wouldn't notice. Maybe she would just let it drop and not be angry that they had lied for such an obviously stupid reason.
So he was surprised when a blueberry muffin was set down in front of him with a glass of orange juice next to it. He looked up to see Neina smiling at his shoulder.
"I saved you one. No one should go to work hungry. If you have a mission, you wouldn't be in top form, would you?" she said lightly. Turning, she walked out the door and on the track to the dojo for a little late morning training. Hisoka stared at the muffin, still in a battle of pride and stomach. Stomach eventually won so he unwrapped the confection and bit into it. He had to admit it was good. Sweet, but not unbearably so.
-------------------------------------------------------
Part 2
Hisoka was busy at his desk. It was after lunch, but the paper work had piled up so he skipped his break to work through it. Tsuzuki had gone to run a folder back to Watari's lab and still hadn't returned. Not that Hisoka was worried or anything. After all, there was very little trouble for his partner to get into here in their office building. Unless…
But just as that train of thought took off, Tsuzuki came bounding in. "Man, Neina is a great baker! Watari still had a bunch of her muffins, so I snuck a few of them. Don't worry, I don't think he did anything to them. At least, I'm not purple polka dotted goldfish yet."
"That's nice…" he replied evenly. In truth he was annoyed. While Hisoka had worked through lunch Tsuzuki had stuffed himself with muffins in Watari's lab.
So he was startled for a second time that week when another muffin was set before him. This one was orange-cranberry with flowers on the paper around it. "I brought you back one, since you had to work through lunch. If you don't like that kind, I have chocolate chip as well…" It was obvious who that one had been meant for.
Hisoka shook his head and peeled back the paper. "I like this just fine, you can have that one."
"Sankyuu, Hisoka!" he said in delight.
"Shouldn't I be thanking you?" he said before taking a bite.
He shook his head and his eyes suddenly warmed. "You don't have to. You're my partner, I want to look out for you. And because you're more than a partner to me." Hisoka's heart suddenly sped up a few tempos and he felt heat beginning to rise to his face. "You're my friend."
Hisoka blushed and ate his muffin in silence, ignoring and squashing one part of him that was a little disappointed. 'But I want to look out for you too,' he thought. "Because you're my best friend…" he muttered.
"Huh? Did you say something?"
He mentally berated himself for not turning on that verbal filter that was supposed to keep embarrassing comments like that inside. Tsuzuki didn't have one, obviously, but then again he didn't have this damn blush reflex either. "No. Now get back to work, dammit. I don't want to be the only one doing paper work today!"
Tsuzuki immediately took up a pen and a form and began working. He wiped the crumbs off his cheeks onto the paper work, smearing chocolate here and there, but that was really how all his paper work looked. Hisoka just shook his head, letting the corners of his mouth lift for a brief instant. It just wasn't a work day without all this.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, that was just weird little vignettes I thought up. Next time Saya and Yuma will make an appearance. (grins evilly) Oh, this is gonna be fun!
If you have an idea for a chapter, please tell me! I promise credit will be given where credit is do, but I can't guarantee I'll accept all ideas, sorry.
PLEASE REVIEW!!! I love hearing from all of you and I love input that makes me a better writer, so don't just read, REVIEW!
