Warning: grammar

Disclaimer: no character is mine.

It's Cooking Time!

Part 24

The Library:

Milo had been tinkering with one of his three new DIY robots. The one that was said to be the easiest of three since he was a beginner; he had removed the part that supposed to be attached into the other chip. But he was a little confused with the red line and the blue line. His eyes once again read the instruction.

In front of him, Hyoga was reading a book that his sensei asked him to study. The blonde saint didn't really like to read about but his sensei had been adamant about that. Not far from there, Shaka could be seen lying on the long sofa, also reading a book surprisingly a novel with title of The Immortalists.

They were all quietly reading before a bang from the door could be heard. Hyoga had leap in surprise but both Milo and Shaka were grunting before they looked at the door to see who was making that racket.

"AHA! There you are, another suspects!"

"Suspect?" Shaka parroted.

"What?" The Scorpio saint looked at him bewildered.

"Seiya, what with that get-up?" Hyoga noted after he saw um… Sherlock? He also found Shun had been following closely behind the boy and rolling his eyes.

"Now, where's the meat?" The Pegasus saint moved toward the table, slamming one of his feet onto the vacant chair. Conveniently, there was a reading lamp nearby as he turned it on and flashed it toward the blonde god saint.

"Urgh!" He quickly shielded his eyes with his hand due to the light. "What are you talking about anyway?"

"Seiya, are you by any change have lost your mind?" Milo asked. The lamp suddenly shone directly to his eyes. "Ei!" Milo instantly covered his eyes.

"You two must be accomplice!" Both the saints who sat on the table were convinced that the Pegasus saint must had a screw loose somewhere in his brain.

"What is he babbling about actually?" The Virgo saint asked the green hair saint but before he could get any answer from the teen, Seiya processed to direct the light toward the man.

"I know you also like meat, so where is it?" The dubbed man closest to God had been reading the book; he, of course had his eyes opened for quite some time. Since Shaka used to the darkness more, a flash of intensive light could blind him for a second. It didn't render him in a real fight but it didn't mean he liked it.

"Geh! My eyes!" He swore he would throw this book toward that kid. Seiya pulled the lamp back and moved it directly to Hyoga once again. Suddenly a small crash could be heard, the bulb from the lamp was off and broken glass scattered on the table; one small red tint zoomed past through it and into the wall. One bullet like crack on the wall appeared instantly. Seiya paused as he looked at the blue hair saint who was glaring at him with his red long nail ready to shoot once again if needed. The Pegasus saint gulped.

"Now, explained." The Scorpio saint said dangerously. Seiya made one step backward but Shun let out yet another sigh as he explained what happen and why he (Seiya) dressed like that. The trio looked at each other for a while; Milo decided to humor the 'Sherlock'

"Hm… well, I had been here with this robot project. Hyoga had been with me since morning." He said as he pointed to the parts that had been scattered around the box. The swan star nodded then added. "Shaka was here before us. Reading that book."

The Virgo saint twitched his eyes in annoyance but since Milo and Hyoga was eyeing him expectedly, he finally decided to accommodate in this detective game… "Fine, I had been here since after lunch time with Alderbaran for budget planning. He was out with Aiolia at 2. Since then I was here reading this book."

"I see." Seiya said while crossing two names. "I'll check your alibi."

"Alibi!" Shaka once again parroted. He glared hard. It was a ticking bomb really, but Seiya just had to detonate...

"Don't leave the town." He said then he walked out. For the Virgo though, it was an insult to his honesty. Shun grimaced as Shaka's cosmo began to flicker.

"Shun, Hyoga, out now." Milo ordered loud and clear. The Andromeda and Cygnus saint ran out the library. They could hear the word 'Monkey!' before the door was closed. Both of them could feel Shaka's cosmo shooting up; they were also worried for the scorpion lover safety.

"Do you think Milo will be all right?" Hyoga asked.

"… They grew up together, right?" Shun had witness the bond between the gold saints, so the Scorpion saint should be able to put down Shaka's angry burst. True enough, the cosmo died down slowly. Shun and Hyoga let out a sigh of relief. It was not long before the yell of 'Watson' came from afar. The green hair saint groaned as he moved to catch the troublemaker Sherlock while Hyoga waved at him slowly, pitying the lad.

The other common room on 1nd floor:

The Phoenix saint had been playing a fighting game with Shiryu. Seiya and Shun was also there before his brother excused himself to do his sous chef job and not long ago the boy also took Seiya out to assist in something. He was suck at the fighting game but if it was Shiryu, he might be able to win against the younger boy. He was almost winning, just a kick on the shin…

"Suspect!" Seiya yelled on top of his lung while storming into the room. With that Ikki had pressed the wrong button and Shiryu had been able to counter attack his character. The older teen growled in annoyed.

"The hell! Seiya!"

"Where the meat, Ikki!"

"What's meat!" He practically was drilling his glares into Pegasus' skull but Shun quickly moved between his brother and the brown hair saint, just in case his brother decided to fry the winged horse star without asking anymore question.

"Seiya, if you remember, my brother was with us, watching you and Shiryu playing game."

"Oh that right…" Pegasus saint crosses Ikki's name from the list.

"What is he talking about, Shun?" Shiryu was quite pleased with the win, but his curiosity got the best of him. The Andromeda saint finally explained the situation, the short version of what happened on the kitchen.

"We didn't eat raw marinated meat!" His blood brother snarled. "And! You cost me a game!" Shun was eyeing his brother, it was rare for his older sibling to complain game related accident… Seiya however looked at the oldest bronze saint in confusion.

"But you suck at fighting game!" There were uncomfortable silent from the room. Seconds later, Seiya was running in horror out from the said room. One console controller was being thrown at him followed by a string of curses

The hallway:

Seiya was puffing hardly. "What is his problem?" The Pegasus saint murmured darkly, he looked at his list. The entire bronze saint name had been crossed and only six from the gold saints name. So eight more gold saints… he was looking at the garden through the window and noticed that Deathmask and Aphrodite had just teleport in. He grinned. "Next suspect!" He felt pumped, quickly he turned around. What he didn't realized though he rammed himself into someone.

"Offff. Geez! Careful, kid!" It was Kanon who was on the way toward his room at second floor. He moved him to the side and righten-ed the younger teen before walking away. Seiya blinked and without giving any more thought, tackled the younger twin into the floor while yelling 'suspect!' on top of his lung. The older man entire body had just dropped and face-planted to the floor comically. Seconds later… angry Kanon had just locked and pressed Seiya body, making sure to inflict him pain. Thankfully, 'Watson' was there quickly rescuing 'Sherlock'.

After some deliberation explanation… Kanon glared at both boys…

"That didn't give the right to tackle me to the ground!"

"Sorry…"

"About the meat though, I think I see Aiolos was setting it up to the grill outside."

"Eh! So it is Aiolos! Catching the thief! Come on, Watson!" Finally, this suspect hunting was finally over. Darn, Shun didn't want to anger other gold saint, especially not Deathmask or Saga. He still had to be their sous chef in the next coming days…

The Garden:

Aiolos was whistling as he carefully putting his brother's meat tower into the grilling. A yell of 'Thief!' was received by his ears. The bandana wearer looked around wondering who had been brave enough to break into the Kido's mansion. Before he could move though, someone had just tackled him down toward the grass.

"What?"

"Thief!" Seiya, his junior had just accused him of stealing something? He was now confused.

"Where?"

"You stole the meat from your brother! How could you?"

"Stealing?!"

"Seiya, stop tackling everybody down like that!" Shun had finally appeared to the terrace. True enough, he saw the skewered meat that already placed neatly on the grilling machine. He sighed in relief; finally he could stop this insane Sherlock – Watson game. "Aiolos – san, why did you take gyro meat?" Shun said patiently. Seiya was still sitting on the centaur sign star's stomach. The Sagittarius saint however could only blinked in confusion.

"I'm helping my brother here. What this about thief?" The Andromeda saint finally pulled his friend out from the said senior and explaining about their current little adventure… Aiolos just laughed. "All right, sorry. I was taking the ingredient without permission but I just need to brush another marinating before putting it into the grill." Their senior was grinning lightly as he closed the grilling door and turned on the grill. Shun could only nod. Seiya however had been proud. His first case was a success.

"Eh! Watson, maybe we should open a detective-" Before Seiya could finish; Shun had run off, closing his ears while chanting 'I don't hear anything!'

Exactly two hours later, Alderbaran had finally arrived with Aiolia to the mansion.

"It's fine. It may not look good but the taste is there."

"But Aldy, it really looks burned!" The Leo saint had been disappointed with himself.

"Oli, what matter is your effort." The bull star laughed as he slapped his smaller friend's back. "Now how bout you put that to cool down. I think you need to prepare your dinner, right?"

"Yeah… I know…" There was nothing else to do anyway since it was close to the time of dinner. He just hoped the meat turned out all right.

Saint

Seiya

Today the sky had been very clear with orange and red hue still paint the sky. Thanks to Aiolos, Kanon and Shura, the surrounding light around the garden had been replace into a more subtle yellow light that make the surrounding area appeared warmer. But since it was summer, the temperature was still a little on the higher side so many saints had opted to wear shirt/tank top and short pant.

In fact while it was suppose to be Greek food, the surrounding garden become a more typical Japanese summer when Seiya put out burnable mosquito repellence. Aphrodite even took and hanged several Japanese wind chimes. The tinkering sound from it could be heard lightly as saints were chatting around the garden or sat near the picnic table. The mood was so light that Aiolia couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"At least they enjoy the atmosphere." He crossed his fingers and hoping the grilling meat came out just all right. He had places the cold salad bowl with ices (Aquarius ice leftover from Shaka) underneath it. The pitas had been grilled by Shun inside the kitchen and he needed to check the meat grilling though he sniffed something weird came out from that machine. It was not the burning smell though… but well, it might just be the herb or seasoning… he shrugged.

Athena had arrived back to the mansion, she looked a little tired. Saga and Camus the current bodyguards appeared spent too; their dark blue three pieces suit with tie didn't help in summer time. It looked very hot, especially for Camus… The French had been dreaded with sweat all over that he gone teleported into his room to take a quick shower and change. Saga and Saori-san followed suit to refresh up and changed too.

Aiolos had even buy a cornelius size beer keg with the pump and was now distributing the beer pint glass toward gold saints. It was not even ten minutes… Dohko already dragged most of the gold saints into beer kanpai-ing. Mu and Shaka had surprisingly drunk the beer that being offered too. Probably peers pressure was kicking. Most the teens had been drinking soda since Shion decided to be a chaperon today and had glared dagger at them since the start of this gathering.

Athena walked back to the terrace with a cute yellow printed sundress and red sandals adorned her feet. She looked more like her age with the dress. Aphrodite had noticed and squealed happily as he walked toward her. "You looks cute, Saori – san." He praised while the only girl blushed in delight. He bowed and offered his hand which the girl took as he escorted her to the picnic table where all the teens and Shion located.

"Shall we have some background music?" Alderbaran suddenly suggested. The dinner would be turn into party if this kept up…

"That a good idea!" Deathmask shouted. He teleported, presumable to take stereo and whatever music he had on his mind. It was not long before a rock music began to boom on the stereo. Saga and Camus who arrived at the garden were quickly dragged into the beer chugging game amid the protest.

"Guys! Salads on the table, take as many as you like. I cut the gyro." Aiolia began to open the door opening of the grilling machine and the odd smell had begun to traveled more and more. Shun who was also near the grilling side had sniff that odd smell too. It was somehow quite familiar.

"I don't think it should smell like that?"

"Is it?" Aiolia agreed with that but never less he cut the grilled meat into pieces with his gyro knife and put it into the pita with the vegetable.

"That is some odd smell." Saga walked toward them, he had been successfully removing himself from the group that was cheering on the background. Athena had been chuckling while watching Shura who was now trying to chug down his beer in one-go. Thankfully, Aiolos was using pint glass not the one liter beer mug. The more quiet gold saints were either being held or forced to stay.

"I know, but Nii-san gave this recipe to me. So…" He shrugged. "Tzatziki? Mustard? Kechup?"

"Tzatziki, please." Aiolia finally scooped the sauce into it before he rolled and gave Saga the gyro. The older twin had sniffed once before taking a tentative bite. It was ok though the smell had been brothering him.

"Guys! Gyro's ready!" The current chef shouted. The first one to get there were the bronzie with Athena and Shion, who kept them together like hawk much to Ikki and Hyoga's displeasure. There won't be alcohol tonight. The gold saints began to take the food one by one after Dohko making sure that each of his 'kids' had drunk three glasses of beer. It seemed nobody could escape alcohol tonight. Milo and Kanon had been noticing the strange odor too but couldn't pinpoint what went wrong. Music and beer was good to dull the sense.

"Wait the minute!" Aphrodite finally shouted as if he recognized something. Curses followed as he yelled. "Aiolos! Did you just put surströmming into the gyro?"

"What!" Unison squawk could be heard from several people. Some began to gag remembering the first dinner night. Aiolia paled, did his Nii-san just sabotaging his meat?

"Is that why this gyro smell so bad?" Most people had already glared at the Sagittarius saint. The archer however smiled brightly.

"Yes! I brushed surströmming puree on the surface. Isn't it taste good?" There were silent for second. The Leo saint waited in nervousness for everybody to get mad but sighed in relief as no one had ignited any cosmo.

"… It tastes all right though…" Shura was the first one to murmur that out.

"Never thought that he can infuse surströmming into something without making anyone puke." The rose glower muttered under his breath. The smell was not really overwhelmed and the taste was just fine too. But it was still smelly.

"Is that why this thing smell funny." Kanon spoke, his eyebrow twitched in annoyed.

"Gah! Should be chugging another beer." Deathmask yelled.

"Then Kanpai!" Dohko replied with glee which was followed by the adults with cheers and clicking of glasses.

"They seem to let lose tonight, huh?" Hyoga commented; he was surprised that even his sensei seemed to be joining into the glass clicking. Shiryu just shook his head in disapprove. Really? His sensei had been too energetic since he was back to his young body.

"I wish I could join…" Ikki growled. His eyes noticed Shaka too, was tapping his glass lightly with Mu and Alderbaran.

"Me, too!" Yelled Seiya but Shion was glaring even harder at them. Athena let out a giggled.

"Kanpai with cola?" She said, eyes twinkled with glee. Bronze saints looked at each other, grins surfaced when Athena raised her glass.

"KANPAI!"

To be continued…

Note: thank you for keep following this fic, gemini owl :)