Ayame woke up in a good mood that morning. She had been staying at the Hitachiin residence for two weeks now. She was starting to enjoy herself. Living with two lively young men meant there was rarely a boring moment. Plus, ever since the night of the blackout neither twin played pranks on her anymore. She liked that. She was smiling and contentedly mixing ingredients to make muffins in the kitchen.
"Hey, what're you doing?" Kaoru walked into the kitchen still wearing pajama bottoms and a T-shirt. "Oh, Kaoru, good morning, I thought you guys would still be sleeping. It's Saturday." Kaoru yawned, "Well I just came down to get a drink of water, but if you want I could help." "Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep?" Kaoru smiled wide, "nah, it's okay, just tell me what you want me to do." Ayame thought for a moment, "Do you think you could grease the muffin pans for me?."
"Okay," said Kaoru. Ayame handed him two muffin pans and a can of spray on butter. "Careful not to get any on the floor, I'll preheat the oven while you do that." She turned around and walked to the oven. Kaoru started spraying the pans, however, having never done it before, he held the pan up and sprayed wildly. A lot of it ended up on the floor, the countertop, and even on his clothes. "Ayame, is this enough?" He held up the pan, now covered in a thick coating of spray on butter. Ayame laughed, "that's more than enough." Ayame moved to the countertop where the muffin mix sat in a bowl, and started to mix it. Kaoru took a step closer to her when he slipped on the butter he'd sprayed on the floor. The muffin pan he'd been holding flew into the air, he fell flat on his face, and the muffin pan came down on his head, hard. "Oh! Kaoru! Are you alright?"
Ayame knelt down to see if he was even still conscious. "Oooowwww." Was his only response. "Ice! We need ice! Or else you'll get a bump on your head!" Ayame hurriedly went to the fridge, making sure she stepped carefully so she didn't slip as well. Helping Kaoru into a chair she gently placed an ice pack filled with a blue frozen gel inside on his head.
"That's cold!" Kaoru shouted and pulled away. Ayame tried not to laugh at Kaoru's childish response to the ice pack. "I know it's cold, but if you don't put it on you're going to get a bump." Despite being in pain (he wasn't seriously injured, just sore) Kaoru was actually kind of enjoying what was happening. Ayame had one hand on his shoulder, the other was holding the ice pack on his head. Because Ayame was shorter than him he had to bend down slightly so she could reach the top of his head. This meant he was face to face with her chest, which, he didn't mind in the least.
"Did you hear what I said, Kaoru?" In fact, he hadn't been paying attention to what she was saying at all, he was only focused on what was in front of him. Snapping to attention, Kaoru sat up straight. Laughing, she asked, "where did you go right now? I asked you if you still wanted to help me finish making the muffins?" Kaoru blushed, "oh, sorry.I guess I hit my head harder than we , I still want to help." Ayame cleaned up the floor and sprayed the butter on the second pan, although she did it over the sink so any excess would land in the sink.
They spooned the batter into the pans together. "Hey, this stuff smells good, can I eat some?" "What?No, it has raw egg in it. You already hurt yourself, Kaoru! Don't get food poisoning too!" "Hey, it's okay if I get sick, because then you can take care of me again." Kaoru laughed. Ayame had to laugh as well, "if you get sick on purpose I'm not taking care of you!I'm not you're personal nurse! Although, that gives me an idea."
Kaoru raised an eybrow at her, "what are you thinking?" "Maybe if I fed some of this stuff to Tamaki he'd get sick and then I could volunteer to take care of him. I'd be his personal nurse in a heart beat." Before she could drift off into her day dream Kaoru burst out laughed with him, she knew her day dreams could be kind of weird. It took them a while to stop laughing, and to recover from the pains in their sides from laughing so hard.
"Okay, Kaoru, I'm going to go start cleaning up, do you think you can handle putting these in the oven?" Smiling, Kaoru nodded. "Here, the oven's already hot from preheating, so you'll have to use these pot holders or else you'll burn yourself." Ayame handed two pot holders to Kaoru. He carried the raw muffins in their pans to the oven, opened it and put the muffins in. He laid the pot holders on the very edge of the stove so that they were hanging half way off of the edge of the stove and turned around when Ayame called to him from the sink, where she stood washing the dishes they'd used to make the muffin batter.
"Kaoru, be careful using the oven, without meaning to you could burn the house down! Actually, with your cooking experience I wouldn't be surprised if you were to tell me you've done that before." Ayame was having fun teasing Kaoru. "Haha, very funny." Kaoru shut the oven door while still facing Ayame. Kaoru started to walk out of the kitchen, "hey, where do you think you're going? Come here and help me with these dishes, Kaoru!" Kaoru gave Ayame a sly smile. He'd never washed dishes before, but he didn't mind doing it as long as it meant he got to spend more alone time with Ayame.
As they waited for the muffins to bake they played video games in the guest bedroom Ayame slept in. A while later Ayame went back downstairs to check on the muffins. She let Koga outside the main doors on her way to the kitchen. He was acting strange so, she figured he needed to go out. Hikaru nearly walked past the room where Kaoru sat on the bed, waiting for Ayame. He turned and stood in the doorway when he noticed his twin sitting on the guest bed.
"What are you doing in here?" Kaoru didn't take his eyes off of the T.V. screen and the game he played. "I am waiting for Ayame, we were playing together. But, she had to go check on the muffins we made this morning." Hikaru folded his arms and leaned against the door frame. "Since when do you bake?" Kaoru gave Hikaru a smile, "since she asked me to help her." They both turned toward the window when they heard a dog barking.
They looked outside to see Koga barking up at them, he seemed agitated. Hikaru sniffed the air, "do you smell smoke?" He barely finished his question when the smoke alarm went off. "Ayame!," shouted Kaoru as he raced out of the bedroom with Hikaru right behind him. They found Ayame kneeling on the floor right outside the kitchen doors. She was coughing and gasping for air. Her eyes teared up from being irritated from the smoke in the kitchen. Both boys knelt in front of her.
Kaoru looked at her, she was unable to catch her breath. "Ayame, where's your inhaler?" Kaoru knew she carried an asthma inhaler and figured she needed it now. Ayame looked at him and managed to gasp out, "my bag....kitchen." Even though Ayame had been staying with them she kept her messenger bag in the kitchen out of habit. Right now smoke seeped under the kitchen door. Kaoru looked to Hikaru, "take her outside so she can get some clean air, I'll be out there in a sec." He pushed through the kitchen door. Hikaru wanted to go after him, what had he just walked into?
But he also knew he had to get Ayame outside. He helped her to her feet and they made their way outside through the main doors, where Koga waited for them. Kaoru could barely see in the kitchen. The moment he breathed in the smoke his lungs burned and his eyes began to tear up.
He was surprised when he passed by the stove, it was engulfed by flames. He was careful not to get anywhere near it. He found Ayame's bag hanging in the supply closet and headed back outside. He ran outside and saw Ayame and Hikaru sitting on the front porch on a wrought iron bench. The moment Hikaru saw his twin he jumped to his feet, "Kaoru, are you okay?" But, Kaoru wasn't concerned with himself at the moment. Despite the fact that he too was now coughing from inhaling the smoke.
He could see that Ayame's breathing hadn't gotten any better. He ignored Hikaru's inquiry and dumped out the contents of Ayame's bag to find the inhaler. He picked it up off the floor, carried it to her and, sitting next to her, put it up to her mouth and pressed down on the pump. Ayame laid her hand over his and looked directly into his eyes as he administered the medicine for her. She thought to herself, "Kaoru looks so scared." She nodded her head for Kaoru to push down on the pump a second time. No sooner had he taken the inhaler out of her mouth when the paramedics arrived.
A male paramedic quickly placed oxygen masks over both Kaoru and Ayame. The three of them, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Ayame sat together outside as the fire men went inside. Ayame spoke through her mask, "I tried to put out the fire before I ran out of the kitchen. But, I couldn't take the smoke. I had to run out." Kaoru hadn't taken his eyes off of her, "why didn't you call for help when you saw that there was a fire?" Ayame coughed, "I tried to, but I coudln't even get in enough air to yell." Kaoru put an arm around Ayame's shoulders and pulled her closer to him.
"I should have gone downstairs with you." Ayame pushed herself slightly away from Kaoru so she could look up at him. "There's no way you could have known this would have happened." She coughed again. Hikaru watched the two of them. He suddenly felt very distant from his twin.
Hikaru wasn't sure if Ayame felt the same way, but it was clear that Kaoru was falling for her. Several fire men emerged from the house just as the twins' parents arrived. "Uh, oh," the three of them said at the same time. The twins' mom went up to them immediately, she had a panicked look on her face. "Kaoru, are you alright?" She was talking about the oxygen mask he breathed from.
"I'm fine mom, Ayame's the one you should be concerned for." Ayame stood up and removed the oxygen mask. She bowed at the waist to the twins' parents, "I'm sorry. This whole mess was my fault. I would understand it if you feel the need to terminate my employment." Kaoru immediately jumped to Ayame's side and dropped his oxygen mask, "no, it's not her fault! We don't even know what caused the fire." At that the twins' father stepped forward, "Hikaru, Kaoru, I think you two need to come inside with us."
The twins followed their parents inside and Ayame sat back down and stroked Koga's ears as he sat in front of her. She wanted to cry but she knew getting emotional would only cause her to have another asthma attack. Kaoru came back outside about 20 minutes later. He looked tired. He sat down beside Ayame. "Turns out the fire was caused by the pot holders being put in the oven. Obviously when I put the muffins in they fell from where I put them."
He turned his face to Ayame, "you're not going to be fired. Although, I am in huge trouble." He looked straight into her eyes, "I'm just happy that you don't have to go anywhere." Ayame could see that he felt guilty over what had happened. Though, she did not blame him in the least. "Kaoru, I think I should tell you I caused a fire the first time I tried to cook. Before I lived with Michelle I had never cooked before. So, one of my first times cooking I actually put a towl down on top of the stove while it was still on. At the time, Michelle was furious, but it's kind of funny to think about it now."
Kaoru was curious. "Did anything get burned? Besides the towel, I mean." Ayame smiled, he didn't look like he felt guilty anymore. "No, the towel burst into flames but Michelle put it out quickly enough that nothing else caught on fire. But, she never left me alone in the kitchen again." She half laughed, remembering. Kaoru smiled. He reached for her hand and gave her back her inhaler, "keep this in your pocket from now on. Just in case." Ayame gave him a smile and a nod before she grabbed his hand and stood up. She pulled him to his feet and led him into the house, Koga following behind them.
"I think we both need to shower, we reek of smoke." Kaoru smiled mischieviously, "when you say we, does that mean together? Afterall, you have seen me in the shower once already." Ayame froze at the top of the stairs, she blushed as the memory of Kaoru in the shower came to her. She tried to keep her voice steady, "no, of course I didn't mean together!" She thought of something to get her mind off of Kaoru in the shower.
"I would, however, love to shower with Tamaki." She turned around and smiled at Kaoru. He didn't look as pleased, "ick, I wouldn't want to even imagine him in the shower. You're a perve for thinking of him that way." He grinned as he teased her. Ayame pretended to be offended.
"I am not the one who's a perve! You're the one that wanted to shower with me!" They walked down the hallway together, Hikaru grinning and Ayame smiling. Hikaru had cracked their bedroom door open very slightly and was watching them. They stopped in front of the first bedroom, the guest bedroom where Ayame slept.
Ayame cupped her hands together in front of her, "thank you, Kaoru, for going back in there to get my inhaler. I really do need to stop depending on you to help me all the time." Kaoru put his hands on his hips and smiled down at her, "nah, I don't mind coming to rescue you when you need me to." Ayame looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you, Kaoru, for being such a good friend." That was all she said before she walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind herself and Koga.
After hearing that Hikaru closed their bedroom door and sat on the bed to wait for Kaoru. He was certain what Ayame had just said had to have hurt. Kaoru came into the bedroom, he looked upset and tired. Hikaru wanted to help, to say something, but what could he say? "Kaoru, are you okay?" Kaoru looked to Hikaru and smiled.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The only thing that was on fire was the inside of the stove. I was careful not to get near it so I didn't get hurt." "Kaoru, that's not what I meant. I heard what Ayame said to you in the hall. I know you really like her." Kaoru gave him a weak smile. "I knew what you meant, but I don't want to think about what she said. I am hoping I can somehow get her to think of me as more than a friend." Kaoru turned away from Hikaru and went into the bathroom to shower.
