Lucky Legacy
Chapter Seven
Chicken Soup for the Otaku Soul
Saturday
Saturday morning brought no relief from the endless rainstorm that had continued throughout the night. The gutters overflowed and added to the torrent raining down on those unlucky enough to be caught outside. Fortunately for a lot of people, they were still cuddled up cozy under the covers while the rain washed harmlessly down their roofs.
Unfortunately, the Hiiragi household's resident chef in training was not one of those people still safe beneath the covers. Anymore, at least. True, Tsukasa had spent her Sunday morning like spent all weekend mornings (buried under two sheets, a blanket, three comforters and a fleece throw) until a stream of urgent text messages from Yutaka begged her to come over to help with "a catastrophe" as Yutaka put it.
Twenty minutes later, Tsukasa tore through the train doors and dashed down the street to the Izumi house as fast as she could, getting thoroughly soaked in the process.
Oh no oh no oh no oh no! Tsukasa mentally chanted as she bobbed and wove between shop entrances that protected from the rain. I wonder what could've happened?! Yutaka-chan sounded really worried over….well, I couldn't actually hear her voice but she was typing in all caps! Kona-chan always said that meant someone was yelling over texts!
Tsukasa rounded the corner onto Konata's street, holding the back of her jacket over her head as a makeshift umbrella. But why would they call me?! Is it something to do with one-chan and Kona-chan in Kyoto? But then why wouldn't nee-chan call? Unless…oh no! I bet it's something they don't want to tell our parents about! I really don't want to have to keep secrets from mom and dad but…AH! Tsukasa accidentally bumped a lamppost, spilling the water that had collected on the back of her raincoat on her hair. Ohh….I'm really not having fun….WHA?
Tsukasa fell back a little as she turned on to the Izumi's street and saw thick black smoke pouring out of Konata's kitchen window. OH no! What's going on?! Deciding to ask questions once everyone was pulled free of what was undoubtedly a twisted inferno, Tsukasa leapt into action.
"I'm coming Yutaka ch-aagh!"
Well, first Tsukasa slipped in a mud puddle. Then she leapt into action.
Tsukasa darted past the front door, running around the side. "Yutaka-chaaaaaan! Open the window!"
The kitchen door slid open, letting a fresh cloud of smoke out along with Yutaka's face, obscured by a face mask. "Tsksssmp?"
"Wh-what's happening?!" Tsukasa said, trying to see through the smoke.
"Frrgh!" Yutaka tried to say through her thick mask.
"Wh…put it out!" Tsukasa darted into the kitchen, trying to part the smoke.
"The pan's on fire!" Yutaka called, lowering her facemask. "I tried to put it out but water just made it angry!"
"Grease fire!" Tsukasa quickly grabbed a pan lid from the edge of the counter and blindly drove it through the thickest part of the smoke until it locked in with the edge of the pan. Almost immediately, the smoke thinned out to the point where Tsukasa could see scattered pots and pans caked with grease and half a chicken breast sitting on the counter next to some chopped carrots. Beside the extinguished pan, a pot of cloudy liquid sat boiling quietly.
"Whew…that was a close one…" Tsukasa turned around to see Yutaka inching around the corner of the doorframe.
"Is it dead?" Yutaka asked timidly.
"Yeah, it's gone." Tsukasa opened the window and tried to fan out some of the lingering smoke. "What happened here? Were you, uh…trying to cook something?"
"Well…I was going to go over to Minami-chan's today and I wanted to make her some soup to take her but…well…I had never made some from scratch before …" Yutaka looked down, blushing.
"Oh…whew! That's a relief…when you said there was an emergency, I thought it was…well, an emergency…n-not to say that this isn't an emergency!!" Tsukasa quickly added, noting Yutaka's blush deepening in hue. "I mean, the house nearly caught fire and that would have been bad and all but…heh,…I guess what I'm trying to ask is why didn't you call the fire department?"
"Oh…I-I didn't call you to help with the fire I…well…y-you see…"Yutaka stammered, trying to find a tactful way to ask Tsukasa for her help while Tsukasa removed the angry bubbling pot from the burner on to the counter. As she did, she accidentally brushed a sizable pile of what appeared to be packets of ramen seasoning. Tsukasa took a quick survey of the half prepared ingredients, the piles of soiled pans and the still smoldering chicken in the sink.
"Um.,..Yu-chan? " Tsukasa turned to Yutaka. "Did you call me because you wanted help making the soup?"
"Uh…hehe…yeah." Yutaka admitted sheepishly. "I was going to try and do it myself but I really didn't have much of anything to go off of so…well...I wanted to at least get started before you got here but…" She glanced sadly at the charred chicken in the sink. "I…I just wanted to get it right…for Minami-chan…"
Chop, chop, chop. Chop, chop, chop. Chop, chop, chop. Chop, chop, chop.
Yutaka looked up to see Tsukasa making short work of the carrots and celery with one of the larger kitchen knives. "You had a good idea using the chicken ramen flavor for a broth but you'll need firmer noodles that won't get soggy." Tsukasa swept the vegetables off the cutting board and turned to the chicken breast remaining. "Do you have udon or something a little harder than ramen?"
"Uh…well ojisan likes Italian pasta so there could be some in the pantry."
"Good. Get whatever you can find and chop them up into bite-sized pieces." Tsukasa said, quickly washing her hands before going to work, cutting the chicken into tiny pieces. "Get some salt and pepper too."
"Okay, but won't that make the soup super salty?" Yutaka resurfaced with a package of egg noodles.
"You want it to be salty." Tsukasa grabbed a free pan from the cupboard. "Yuki-chan once said something about an, um, "infusion of salt" being good for colds."
"Oh…" Yutaka said, obediently fetching the salt. "So that's why chicken soup is good when you're sick…"
"Yeah…but it's also sort of a comfort food, you know?" Tsukasa started frying the chicken, adding salt and pepper to the sizzling chunks of chicken. "I mean it's hot and salty and tastes good but…there's something special about chicken soup."
Yutaka added her noodles to the broth. "Special."
"Well… I don't know…Kagami would probably say this is silly but…I guess I've always felt like chicken soup has more to do with taking care of someone than actually doing any good for their cold. I mean "Infusion of salt" and all that may work but I've always felt better knowing that my mom and dad and sisters cared enough about me to take care of me when I'm sick. So…I guess the best part about chicken soup is like showing someone you care about them…that's what I think…oh no! I'm sorry; I guess I was babbling again, I didn't mean to…Yu-chan?"
Yutaka looked sullenly into the foamy soup. "Taking care of someone…"
Tsukasa frowned slightly at the younger girl's expression. "Hey Yu-chan, are you alright?"
"I just…" Yutaka bit her lip. "I was just thinking about all the times Minami-chan would visit me when I was sick…I just wanted…to be able to do something for her for a change. You know, to pay her back for all the times she took care of me…I wanted to take care of her."
Tsukasa frowned. "I don't think Minami wanted you to pay her back or anything…she does all those things for you because she's your friend."
"I know…but…it's not just Minami-chan." Yutaka continued to stare blankly at her murky reflection in the broth. "Ever since I was young, people have always been taking care of me and protecting me. I'm lucky I guess, that I have so many people who care about me but…sometimes I just wish I could do something for someone else…without having to turn to anyone to help."
"Yu-chan…" Tsukasa paused, choosing her words carefully. "I'm sure Minami-chan isn't going to care that I helped you with the soup. You shouldn't worry about that because all that matters is you care enough to take care of her when she's sick. The soup isn't what is going to make Minami-chan feel better." Tsukasa turned back to the chicken to let Yutaka wipe her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Alright, add everything in, we're almost done."
"O-okay." Yutaka sniffed, pouring the noodles in.
"Don't worry about it Yu-chan you mean more to Minami-chan than what you can do for her."
"Okay…thanks sempai." Yutaka said, drying her eyes.
"Oh please, no more of that sempai stuff." Tsukasa giggled. "It makes me feel old."
Yutaka smiled. "Right…thanks Tsukasa-chan."
Sunday
"…I hate people…who lie to themselves…"
"Oh gawd…" Patty blew her nose on the corner of the offending magazine (for lack of a tissue and totally not expressing her distaste in the author's take on romance.) "This is getting ridiculous." Patty wiped the page off with a napkin, shaking it out to clean the pages off.
Having blown through several seasons of anime and multiple volumes of manga, Saturday morning found Patty wiped out on the couch after a sleepless night, burned out, runny nosed and fiddling around for things to do. She had already ventured out earlier in the day (bundled in three sweatshirts and a coat that all but pinned her arms to her sides) to get more chicken ramen and tea and her stack of recently pulled anime didn't look that appetizing (Thirteen hours of hot-blooded anime heroes made Patty queasy at the thought of another extended power-up sequence).
Of course, Patty could always be a responsible student and call someone for homework but the lack of sleep combined with the unpleasant side effects of the cough medicine put her in a hazy state of mind.
Besides, it was Saturday and there were certain things that just weren't done on Saturday mornings.
Breaking into another fit of dry hacking, Patty tossed her S-hon-n J-mp aside in favor of a tissue that that was easier on the nose. Patty could always tell when she had a serious problem when her usual distractions weren't enough to keep her occupied.
What to do…clean my room? Nah…maybe I'll make cupcakes…yeah…I think I still have some mix left over from Halloween…that'd be good…but then Hiyori and I ate the frosting last Saturday…man...can't have cupcakes without frosting…although if I can get the cake mixer working, I can look up a frosting recipe online…probably need a special kind of sugar…
DING-DONG!
Now who could that be? Patty instinctively drew her Sn-ggie tighter around her shoulders. Maybe it's a traveling salesman…nah; security usually screens those guys pretty well.
DING-DONG!
It can't be Yagami-san; I paid the rent last Monday. Patty stood up, scooting along the wall towards the door. Probably a wrong address…Just in case, Patty grabbed her umbrella from the hall closet, gripping the length of the samurai handle as she crept towards the door.
DING-DONG! DING-DONG! DING-DONG! Patty flinched as a wiggle of the doorknob followed three quick rings of the bell. Is someone trying to break in? No…of course not, they wouldn't have rung the doorbell first…unless they wanted to be sure I wasn't home before they broke the door down and ransacked my house!
DING-DONG!
Patty swallowed nervously, reaching for the doorknob. She'd have to be quick; there was no room to hesitate. With one single motion she flung the door open and brought the edge of her umbrella down on her assailant with an almighty battle cry.
"AIEEEEEEEEEKYAAAAAAAAA!!!"
"Hey Patty-chAAAGH!"
Moving faster than she thought she could. Hiyori shifted her bag into her drawing hand (being furthest from the lethal umbrella) and blocked the samurai umbrella with her own dripping wet umbrella.
"What the hell?!" Hiyori cried. "Patty!"
"Huh?" Patty shook her head. "Oh Hiyori…" She blinked in surprise a few times. "Why are you trying to rob me?"
"R-rob you?! Hiyori swept Patty's improvised weapon to the side with the hook of her own umbrella. "I came to bring you some stuff from school!"
"Oh…wow, I kinda wish you were robbing me." Patty said eyeing the bag in Hiyori's other hand glumly. "Because I'm in no mood to-ow!" Patty flinched as Hiyori rapped her umbrella against her head, spraying drops of water in the air.
"J-just let me in!" Hiyori said, suppressing a shiver. "It's fr-freezing out here!"
"What…oh, right!" Patty stepped aside to let Hiyori pass through. "Wow, it looks pretty bad out there…good thing you had an umbrella, huh?"
"To protect me from the rain or umbrella samurai?" Hiyori chuckled.
"Oh…yeah, sorry about that." Patty said. "I didn't get a lot of sleep last night and all this cough medicine is kinda making me crazy…" Patty stared at Hiyori's bag for a few seconds before shaking her head slightly. "I'm sorry, I have to ask you something; is your bag steaming or do I need to lay off the decongestants?"
"Huh?" Hiyori looked down at her bag which indeed had a thin wisp of steam rising from the top. "Oh no that's…" Hiyori blushed a little. "Oh, that's from my mom." Before Patty could ask further, Hiyori set her bag down on the counter and produced a pair of thermoses with steam leaking out from under their caps. "Uh…the blue one is soup and the green one is green tea, funnily enough." Hiyori laughed sheepishly. "It's no big deal…I told her you were sick and she got all…motherly …and told me to bring this stuff over. I mean if you don't want to eat it-"
"No!" Patty said a little loudly before blushing and looking away. "I mean…no that's fine. Um…thank your mom for me, yeah?" Patty said quickly collecting the thermoses and bustling past Hiyori to get to the kitchen.
"Uh…yeah…sure." Hiyori looked after her apprehensively. "No problem…so I was thinking we could work on the math homework for a bit…"
"Ugh!" Patty groaned, sniffling a little bit. "The test isn't til Thursday!"
"I know but I haven't really grasped confidence intervals yet." Hiyori sighed, looking for a place to sit among the clutter of books and DVD's stacked around Patty's couch. "And…well after that we can help each other on the study guide for the English exam…"
Patty stuck her head around the doorframe. "Help each other?"
"Well…mostly me." Hiyori admitted. "I barely passed my last test and I really can't afford anything less than a B in this class."
"Fine, fine." Patty said, coming out of the kitchen carrying two mugs of hot tea. "I guess we can knock it out together."
"You mean you haven't started studying?" Hiyori asked before she could stop herself.
Patty gave Hiyori the driest look she could muster as she flipped open her math book."Hiyorin, you have permission to slap me full across the face if I ever score anything less than one-hundred percent on any English test, ever."
"Okay, translate this next sentence into English; My cousin Emily met her husband Fred when my mother Sarah called her father George."
"Okay." Hiyori said. "My nephew, no cousin, Emily met her husband Fred when his mother Sarah called my mother George." Hiyori finished proudly.
"Not bad," Patty said. "Just watch the pronouns there because you just accidently implied incest."
"Wonderful." Hiyori mumbled. "Man, my brain hurts."
"Let's take a break; we've been at this for almost an hour now." Patty rifling through her DVD collection. "C-de G-ass?"
"I don't know; I'm not too happy about this test yet."
Patty shrugged and pulled the next DVD down. "Watch it in English then."
"I'm not sure that would help, Patty-chan." Hiyori said.
"That's why it's called a break." Patty said, popping the DVD in. "When you study English, you have to study like American students do."
"Which means…?" Hiyori scooted over on the couch to make room for Patty.
"Study like mad in short intervals punctuated by extended periods of goofing off." Patty said. "Now sit back, relax and prepare to be introduced to the dulcet tones of Johnny Yong Bosch."
"Well, I guess if it's only a few episodes." Hiyori said.
"That's the spirit!" Patty crowed. "Just a half hour and then back to work, I promise."
Six Hours Later…
"SUZ-KU!"
"LEL-UCH!!!!"
Bang!
"Wow…what happened to only a few episodes?" Hiyori said sleepily. It had gotten dark since they had started watching and Hiyori was almost afraid to look at the clock.
"I don't know…" Patty murmured, fighting back a yawn. "Johnny Yong Bosch's voice causes has been known to cause distortions of time and space"
"Hehe…you want to maaaaarry him." Hiyori said childishly.
"I want to marry his voice." Patty sighed. "I would marry anyone with that voice."
"Who wouldn't marry Lel-uch's voice?" Hiyori asked
"And Ich-go…and Koizumi…and V-sh…and…mmm…" Patty mumbled.
"Mmm…quite a repertoire…" Hiyori said. "Well…I guess it's too late to finish our homework."
"Mmm." Patty echoed, snuggling deep into the couch.
"Well…I'll just get going th-"
"Nnnnrrrrgnngh…." Hiyori looked over to see Patty fast asleep and snoring on the other end of the couch.
Aww, she's fast asleep Hiyori thought as Patty turned towards her sleep, biting her bottom lip unconsciously. Wow…I guess she really needed her rest.
Hiyori quietly packed everything in her bag, slowly zipping it up so as not to disturb Patty (who was now quietly mumbling in her sleep). She was about to get up and leave when Patty's tossing and turning caused her blanket to slip off, exposing her bare shoulder.
Well…I should at least make sure she's covered up before I go. Hiyori leaned over, gently slipping the edge of the Sn-ggie back around her shoulder. Patty smiled burying her face deeper in the couch. Wow, I don't ever think I've seen her sit still for this long before…she looks so…peaceful…Hiyori smiled at her sleeping friend before turning to get up-
"Mmmm….no…don't go." Patty murmured.
Hiyori nearly jumped out of her skin. Is she talking to me? No…she wouldn't have used English…
"Please…there's something I have to say…" Patty rambled on; unaware that Hiyori was looking at her in dull surprise.
What should I do? If I move again she might wake up but If I stay here, she might-ACK! While Hiyori was weighing her options, Patty decided to reach out and grab Hiyori around the waist, burying her face in Hiyori's stomach.
"When I think about it…there were so many things I wanted to do…" Patty mumbled incoherently into Hiyori's shirt. "I wanted to become a school teacher…I wanted to become an astronaut…I wanted to become a baker…"
What is she talking about? Hiyori gently tried to wriggle her way out of Patty's grasp but the more she struggled, the tighter Patty clung to her. She's just blabbering in her sleep!
"I'm the kind of guy that's ill at ease…and knows only how to fight…" Patty went on, pressing herself tighter and tighter into a petrified Hiyori. "That's why it's been hard for me to say this…"
Oh man! Hiyori squeaked silently as Patty shifted her weight so that her head rested in the crook of Hiyori's neck. Okay…as long as she just goes to sleep, I'll be fine.
"Tell this to your boss…and listen carefully…" Hiyori bit back a gasp as Patty's lips accidently brushed the nape of her neck.
"You…you saved me…your smile saved me from who I was…so I'm not afraid to die protecting you…"
OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod….Hiyori silently chanted as Patty's head wiggled up her neck until her lips were pressed right against Hiyori's ear.
"Because…"Hiyori turned her head only to see Patty's face only a few inches from her own. "Because…"
Wh-what's happening? Hiyori swallowed again, licking her dry lips. What is she doing?
"Because…"Patty leaned, close enough for Hiyori to taste the mix of tea and honey on her breath.
Should I wake her up? What if I don't and she…she…
"Because…yours…is…"
What?! Ok…let's see…Yours…mine are…is…Mine is WHAT?!
"Because yours…is…" Patty leaned in even closer, causing Hiyori to bite her own lips back for fear they would accidentally brush Patty's.
"Because yours is…the…drill…"
Mine is the…wha? What was that last word?
"Yours is the drill…that will pierce…the…heavens…"
Uh…what? Hiyori looked on in total confusion as Patty smiled to herself and flopped down on the couch cushion, lightly snoring as if she was satisfied with the point she had made.
Wh-wh-wh-wh…Even in her mind, Hiyori couldn't formulate a question that would even begin to make sense of what just happened. But Patty had settled down, pulling another blanket over the two of them and cuddling Hiyori like an oversized teddy bear. All Hiyori could do was relax in Patty's vice-grip snuggle and think of an excuse to give her mother as to why she wasn't coming home tonight.
AN: Whew! That took longer than expected but i needed to finish before I have to start finals.
So here be first glimmers of romance as the steamy chocolaty plot begins to percolate in the coffee pot of fanfic...whatever. I have a basic outline that I'm going to follow but more than that I have way ahead.
Right...I'm going to bed. Leave a review please! i'M Interested in your feedback. What is working so far? What do you think there could be more of? How am I handling the characters?
REVIEW!!!!
BYE-NEE!
