The Trouble with Cooking
By Kalio Halos
Standard disclaimers apply, after all, it is fanfiction.net, ne?
Author's notes: Yes, this is another Akane cooking fic. This is inspired by the fact that I never used to be able to cook for others, just myself. And as far as shameless self-promotion goes, I can now cook well for everybody, it's true, but you don't have to believe me if you don't want to! ^_^
Akane sighed. It had been a very long, rainy, boring (this is how you know it's a fic), and tiring day and now, she was starving. She dragged herself inside the Tendo home, only to find all the lights out, and no sign of life. "Kasumi? Nabiki?"
Silence.
"Dad? Mr. Saotome?" pause. "Ranma?"
Silence.
"I guess I'm on my own, then." Akane thought, sighing again. She shook out her hair, and trudged upstairs to change out of her wet clothing.
Upon returning downstairs in something less drenched and more warm and fuzzy, she entered the kitchen groggily. To her dismay, there was absolutely nothing in the cupboard that didn't need to be heated before consumption. Checking her wallet, she found not a yen to her name. "Mou!" was her none-too-polite response.
With even less enthusiasm, Akane took out a cookbook, trying to find something that she had all of the ingredients to. Fingering through the thick book, her eyes stopped on a French dish that, amazingly, she had all of proper elements to make. "Kwee-chi Loren...hmm...sounds good!" A few Frenchmen rolled over in their graves at the thought of Akane's pronunciation of Quiche Lorraine, let alone her making it, but she was somehow oblivious...
Setting down the cookbook, she started to gather the ingredients, pulling out a frozen pie crust from the freezer. Carefully avoiding the wrong ingredients, she took the bacon, Swiss cheese, onions, eggs, cream, salt, and sugar out, placing them on the counter in order of use in the recipe. "Alright, fry the bacon!" Setting an iron skillet on the stove, she began the cautious process of making a difficult meal.
***
"Okay, bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees!" Akane placed the full pie crust on a pan and into the oven. And began to wait. In that time, she managed to get most of the dishes washed and put away, clearing the counter for the Quiches to be set down. Just as she was rinsing the last dish, the timer went off. She walked over to the oven and reduced the heat to 300 degrees, but noticed the edges were already brown. "Hmm....what did Mom do to keep the edges from burning?" she asked herself. "Ah, yes!" She rushed across the kitchen for the aluminum foil and took two sheets. Cutting a hole out of the middle, she reached in the oven to cover the crust with foil. "There," she said with much satisfaction. She reset the timer for 30 minutes and smiled to herself. No one was there to ridicule her when it came out all wrong, and she wasn't doing it to prove to anyone that she could...she just wanted dinner.
Akane carried the timer with her to her room, and sat at her desk. She picked up a note Kasumi must have left for her:
Dear Akane,
We've all gone over to visit a friend of Father's and we are very sorry that you weren't home to come with us. I've left you some of the tempura chicken ::now she tells me:: that I made for lunch if you are hungry. I'm not sure when we will come home, so don't worry about us.
Love, Kasumi
Akane looked at the timer, and decided she had enough time to review for her test the next day.
***
Hearing the timer, Akane jumped up from the table and practically flew downstairs, hoping the Quiche wouldn't burn.
***
Ranma eased the front door open, trying not to disturb Akane. He had seen her earlier in the day, and she looked very edgy. As if she found out that Shampoo had shown up naked in his bath, again. More likely than not, the stress was just getting to her. Peeking inside the kitchen, he felt his heart stop. The sight that greeted him was Akane pulling something out of the oven. Which meant she had been... COOKING! He shuddered. Peeking inside again, he saw her take a small piece out of the pie-like-thing (leave it to Ranma to not know foreign foods) and set it on her plate. 'oh boy, oh boy, oh boy....' he thought with fear.
***
Akane lazily took a bite out of the Quiche and her eyes went wide. It was good! It was really, really good! She took another bite, just to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She wasn't! Hardly being able to believe it, she wiped out her piece in no time.
***
Ranma watching in utter horror as Akane lifted the fork-ful to her mouth. Time seemed to stop when her eyes started to become wide. Something was out of place, though. She wasn't spitting it out, she wasn't dying... What in the world was going on here?
***
Akane polished off a second piece and decided to head up to her room for some more studying. Washing her plate quickly, she bounded up the stairs, satisfied that she had cooked well.
***
Ranma tiptoed into the kitchen with alert eyes. He circled the Quiche and stared at it hard. After picking up a fork and poking it, he decided to take the plunge. Ranma couldn't believe that Akane had made this! After all the tar that she had cooked, he simply couldn't comprehend that this was AKANE'S cooking! He grabbed the uneaten portion of the Quiche and raced up the stairs.
Ranma knocked on her door. "Come in!" was the only response.
Ranma opened the door with trepidation. Upon seeing Akane, he held out the Quiche. "Um...Akane?"
Seeing the pie, Akane's face quickly turned plaid, thinking Ranma had come to embarrass her. "Yes?" she said tartly.
Ranma sweatdropped. "Er... you made this didn't you?" Akane gave a quick and jerky nod. "Well... I wanted to say... it's pretty good."
Akane facefaulted. "HUH?!"
Ranma looked a little tiny bit hurt. "Feh! See if I ever compliment you again!"
Akane blinked a few times. " You're not going to call it toxic waste?"
"No, I wasn't going to call it that! It's just, this time's different, that's all, it's better.... An' An' just cause I don't give compliments often, doesn't mean I don't know how to give 'em." He pouted.
Akane looked at him oddly. "Er, well, arigato, I think...." After a moment of awkward silence... "What's different about my cooking?"
Ranma blanched. He knew this was coming. "It's, uh, not bad?"
Akane laughed a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right! I always cook better when it's just for myself!"
She's cute when she laughs, he thought. Suddenly, he found himself turning fifteen shades of red. Oh, Kami-sama! Did I just think that?!, was his internal response.
"Well, I guess that's just the trouble with cooking! Mom always told me I could never cook if I wasn't doing it for me and only me!" Akane laughed with a rather nervous Ranma.
Ranma, still a funny red, decided then was his exiting cue, and made a hasty goodbye.
Hm, Akane thought. I wonder what's eating him? She sighed for the millionth time that day. Maybe long, rainy, boring, and tiring days just weren't meant to end well.
*~Owari~* Or is it?
A/n: Since you found the time to read this, then take some time and review. Don't flame for the improbability factor, cuz it's not impossible. I know, because I used to be like that. So be gentle!