Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Naruto. Only the OC is my idea, her backstory, abilities, appearance, etc. I do not make any money from this story. Some characters may be a bit out of character.
The apartment wasn't huge, it was more quaint and comfortable. The wood floors were in pristine condition, the walls were a simple very hushed shade of grey. The eat in kitchen had an island counter, at which two stools stood for seating.
Within the living room consisted of a futon, a yoga mat, a coffee table, and a heavily stocked bookcase against the far wall near a large window which lead out to a balcony. The bathroom was nothing spectacular, just the sink, toilet, and bathtub. The bedroom contained a wooden dresser, night table with a lamp and a twin sized bed. The boy was currently in the kitchen, preparing their food while Chiaki looked over the surroundings.
What struck her more than anything was that the entire place consisted of neutral tones. From the wooden frames of the furniture, to the grey yoga mat and the faint grey hue to the walls, the beige couch cushions and matching pillows, the beige cushions on the kitchen bar stools. But the windows that were in the apartment, except for the bathroom window were large, allowing for a lot of natural light into the unit. There was no need for any lamps or candles, at least not during the day when the sun was out. She removed a few items from a pocket inside her kimono, and began working on constructing a faux body.
Having given a list of materials she'd need to him, Neji had acquired the items she needed in order to do this. It was fairly simple and a lot of the materials could be found on multiple worlds, that was the genius of Kisuke Urahara, the former Shinigami Captain who had invented the gigai, or faux body. Where she'd really struggle would be with leaving the gigai if she had to fight a hollow.
'Well that's what I get for in such a frenzy,' Chiaki thought to herself as she continued working.
Neji finished filleting the two herring and placed them in a pot with water, soy sauce, and … he paused. He always made soba with shitake mushrooms, but she had mentioned she didn't like mushrooms. But what didn't she like about them? He called out from the kitchen, "Aki, is it the taste of mushrooms you don' t like or the texture?"
"It's just the texture. If they're in the pot while you're cooking it's fine, but if I get any in my bowl I'm giving them to you," she called back.
He smiled and nodded as he added the mushrooms to the pot, it seemed a fair arrangement, however he felt bad that she wouldn't be getting any vegetables. Searching through his fridge he found some spinach, and in his cabinets some previously toasted sesame seeds and
'Since she doesn't like mushrooms, I'll make a an okra salad as well. That should round it off nicely,' he thought to himself as he took out a small pot to blanch the spinach. He checked in on the pot with the herring and mushrooms, and broth adding the soba noodles to it and stirred.
He then started making a toasted sesame sauce with the seeds, soya sauce, and a small amount of sugar. He ground the seeds using a mortar and pastel then added the soy sauce and sugar, he continued mixing the three ingredients until the sauce had thickened.
When the soba noodles were almost done he added the spinach to the small pot of boiling water, stems first and allowed them to be in the pot for roughly 35 seconds before removing them. He plunged slightly boiled spinach into a bowl of ice water, to stop it from cooking further. Collecting the spinach from the bowl, he squeezed the water out, then placed it on a cutting board and sliced it.
He placed the spinach into two side dish bowls, adding the sesame dressing and garnished with a few remaining toasted sesame seeds. He then paused, would she even be able to eat if the faux body wasn't done yet?
He almost wanted to slap himself for not thinking of that sooner. It would have to be torture to smell food cooking when you're hungry and can't even eat it. However as he was about to leave the kitchen he caught sight of Chiaki who was now wearing the sleeveless knee length pale yellow dress he'd purchased for her along with the items to create the faux body. She had told him that her soul body couldn't utilize clothes from his world, and thus he knew that what he was now looking at had to be the faux body she'd been working on.
Neji smiled when he saw her, and voiced his amazement, "that was quick."
"I work fast. Chalk it up to muscle memory I guess. I used to make gigais all the time so it's pretty easy for me once I have the supplies," she answered.
"Well dinner's ready," Neji announced.
"It smells amazing," Chiaki replied with a slight giggle.
Neji went back into the kitchen getting down two soup bowls, and began dividing the herring soba. He tried to keep mushrooms out of one of the bowls for Chiaki. Satisfied with the amount of ingredients in both bowls he brought them over to the counter Island, where she now sat, waiting. He then placed the spinach sesame salad beside the bowl of steaming hot herring soba. Chiaki thanked him for the meal as they both began to eat. Neji blushed a little when she wordlessly placed a mushroom into his bowl.
"I'm sorry, I thought I kept them all out," He apologized.
"It's not always easy so I keep my eyes open," she replied as simply as if telling him her favourite kind of weather. He resumed eating but glanced over when he noticed a new expression on her face after she tried the spinach.
"Hmm? Did I blanch it too long?"
She shook her head and quickly devoured the spinach salad to his amusement. "I've never seen anyone enjoy spinach like that."
"Hmm," she mused as she went back to her soba.
