Spiked Punch chapter 6: Over a Meal

When he woke up a whole hour later than usual, practically scrambling off his bed in a frantic search for his school uniform and books when a sudden pain in his chest brought him sharply back to reality. Immediately, he held onto the bed for support with one hand while his other he put over the source of his discomfort. The pain quickly dissipated; it seemed that his sudden movement had jarred his two broken ribs causing them to shift, causing him to experience a fleeting white hot pain in his upper torso.

He scanned the room for a bit with his sleep encrusted eyes and spotted at the far corner of the room a silver tray gleaming in the sunlight, supporting what seemed vaguely recognisable to him as 'breakfast'…prepared by someone else. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he gave his tired mind a full minute to decipher what all that meant. Bit by bit, his memory began to kick in. ' Right, I've been confined to the bed for the past few days with nothing else to occupy my time but assignments from school and bed rest. And that tray over there is breakfast prepared by Fuuko.' Releasing a heavy sigh in anticipation of a highly uneventful day, he carefully eased himself out of bed, in order not to repeat his earlier experience, and walked over to where the tray lay to 'inspect' breakfast. Neatly laid out on it was a plate, on which were slices of lightly buttered toast, eggs sunny side up and sausages, two of each. A little off to one side was a cup of black coffee, which had gone cold a while back, atop a small saucer. Mikagami then proceeded to wash up before starting on his meal. When he returned to the tray with his breakfast, he noticed a small note, which he had missed earlier, tucked underneath the saucer. With pale slender fingers, he reached out to pick up the note and unfold it. It read:

Mi-chan,

If the coffee is cold, DON'T drink it unless you want to get a stomachache. There is a pot of freshly brewed coffee on the counter top in the kitchen, pour yourself another cup. If the food is cold, HEAT IT UP in the MICROWAVE. Don't want you getting sick!

Ja Ne!

Fuuko-chan!

His cheeks took on a pink hue. As he cursed under his breath. Damn it! Why does she treat me like a 5-yr old?! It's not like I don't know how to look after myself! With his eyebrow ticking madly he proceeded to carry out said instructions.

Once he had finished with breakfast, he looked around the house and noticed that it was a considerable lot cleaner since Fuuko took it upon herself to 'look after him'. Not like I need any looking after…As his surveillance round the house came full circle, his eyes returned once more to the kitchen. A wry smile passed over his lips and in the blink of an eye, it was gone; like as though it was never there. The kitchen was always fun. Yes, fun. It was filled with happy memories of his past. Memories of him and Mifuyu experimenting with ingredients and concocting new dishes. Of course there were little memorable mishaps here and there like the time when he wanted so badly to bake Mifuyu a birthday cake and he accidentally added salt instead of sugar. He had felt so guilty afterwards for ruining Mifuyu's birthday and yet she had not blamed him. Instead she had ruffled his hair and thanked him for his wonderful birthday present. Just like all the other times, when things went wrong, Mifuyu never failed to make him feel better. She always forgave him and encouraged him by telling him to never give up. Maybe she would be disappointed that he had given everything up the moment she ceased to exist, maybe she would be saddened by his decision to throw everything away the moment she left the living. But it is too late now to revert that decision…isn't it?

He sighed and shook his head a little to clear away the bittersweet memories. Looking up, he was now facing his kitchen. Suddenly he had an urge to cook something, anything. He looked at the round-faced, black-rimmed clock hanging on the wall above the fridge, another three-and-a-half hours before Fuuko returned from school. Maybe I'll cook lunch today then I won't have to wait until two in the afternoon for it…

Without further ado, he took the light beige apron hanging on the fridge handle and put it on, securing it in place with a neat bow tied at the small of his back. He then rummaged through the freezer for the pound of meat he knew he had bought just days ago and pulled out the fresh carrots and potatoes from the vegetable compartment. He then left the meat out to thaw while he busied himself with the potatoes and carrots. With the skill of a master chef, he skinned the potatoes in record timing, wasting as little as possible by removing the peel as close to the flesh as possible. Likewise was done with the carrots. Both ingredients were cut into neat cubes and left on a clean dish beside the stove. After getting the wok out from the cupboard, he placed it over the stove and lighted the fire, but not before pouring the required amount of oil into the frying pan. Once the oil began to simmer, he eased the ingredients into the frying pan and stirred it around for a bit, careful not to overcook them. while he was doing this, he had actually brought the meat closer to the fire so as to thaw it out faster. When he was done with the frying, he transferred the cooked items onto a clean dish with ease holding the heavy wok in one hand and using the spatula to scoop the fried potatoes and carrots onto said plate. By this time the meat had thawed. While he sliced the meet into cubes, only half his mind was on the cutting, the other half was pondering, besides the beef stew, surely there should be another dish, but what?…hmm… Mifuyu always said that a meal had to be balanced, which means there should be a rice dish as well…I wonder what alternative there is to plain rice… Absent-mindedly like it was second nature to him he continued to marinate the beef with black sauce and pepper when he suddenly remembered the most curious thing he had spotted in his vegetable compartment, a pineapple. One of the corners of his mouth twitched upwards to form a half-smile. He would whip up Mifuyu's instant problem-solver for hunger pangs: pineapple baked rice.

Having fried the beef by reusing the oil he used for the vegetables, he poured the mix of fried items into the slow cooker and added the required amount of water and left the stew concoction to slowly cook over time. He did not have to worry about that dish anymore; it would take care of itself since only time could make it taste better as it is with all stew.

With one dish settled he proceeded to transfer all his energy into the next as it held a special significance for him. It was almost like a tribute to Mifuyu. With a skillful maneuver of the chopper, he cut the pineapple into two neat halves. He smirked as he continued to hollow out the two halves …thank goodness for sword fighting training, if not, I bet I'd still be struggling with the blasted pineapple…and cut the fruits succulent flesh into rectangles. Due to excellent time management, he had half-cooked the rice earlier and left it too cool while he worked on the multi-faceted fruit. With the half-cooked rice cool enough to touch, he added the pineapple rectangles into the pot of rice and mixed the contents before pouring the entire mixture into the two hollowed-put pineapple halves. Making that there was enough water for the rice to continue cooking, he sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top of the dish and added a few slices of bacon and mushroom before popping the two halves into the oven to be baked. Just as he closed the oven, he heard the distinct sound of keys at the door. She's home early, looking up at the wall-clock in the kitchen, he corrected himself, she's home early by one-and-a-half hours, too early.

Wiping his hands off on his apron, he made his way to the main door. Having expected her to open the door by now, he was a little surprised when he continued to hear her fumbling with the keys. Deciding to do her a favour, he opened the door and was met with a bigger surprise. There standing on his front step was a haggard looking Fuuko with her shoulders slumped forward and her body shivering slightly. He noticed also that she was not carrying her school things. Her usually brilliantly green eyes were hidden beneath her long purple bangs, which seemed to be doing a good job of obscuring her face as well. Before he could ask her what was wrong, she had brushed passed him, kicking off her shoes in the process. Hurriedly, she made her way to the guestroom, which she had been occupying the past few days while looking after him. However that was not before he caught sight of what looked very much like tears sliding down the side of her face leaving wet meandering trails in their wake. He began to experience a myriad of feelings ranging from the likes of puzzlement to curiosity and last but not least to worry.

Finally he decided that he should at least check on her and make sure she was alright in return for all the trouble she had taken over the past few days 'looking after' him. Although I still think I'm less of a problem than she is…Pouring a cup of freshly brewed green tea (he had always preferred tea in the morning as compared to coffee though he had chosen not to inform her). Initially made for himself, he removed his apron and brought it to her room. Knocking lightly on the door although it was ajar, he entered her room and stood in her doorway waiting to be invited in. From his position, he eyed her sprawled form on her bed. She lay front down with her face buried in the downy pillow. He could see her try to suppress her sobs as they wrecked her body causing her to tremble slightly. He sighed audibly to get her attention. And spoke with as gentle a tone he could manage for he was not at all versed in comforting distraught females.

" This feels like a reversal of roles," he paused as he advanced to place the cup of tea on the bedside table, before continuing, " you should drink the tea while it's hot. Lunch will be ready in a while." Seeing no sign of movement from her prone figure, he contemplated voicing out words of comfort, which he really did not feel like doing, when the chiming of the doorbell echoed throughout the house. He smirked…saved by the bell…before informing the unmoving female that he would answer the door.

By the time he reached the front door, feeling very much like a doorman at some posh hotel, the impatient soul had already rung the doorbell several times. Mildly irritated he opened the door in a rather hostile fashion and was prepared to glare the irritant into apologising. All previous thought flew out of his mind the moment his eyes landed on the sight of Yanagi, Recca and Domon. Keeping his emotionless expression, he waited for them to explain their presence instead of inviting them in. Suddenly, he had a feeling something bad was about to happen. The tension was almost thick enough to be cut with a knife when Domon chose to speak, breaking the silence.

" Is Fuuko here with you?"

Mikagami hesitated for a while he was very tempted to ask "Why?" instead of answering their question straightaway. Against his better judgement, he replied, his words coated in suspicion,

"Yes…"

No sooner had the word left his lips when he was thrown backwards by a sudden blow as Domon's fist connected with his jaw. He slammed against the wall with a bone-cracking force. He screamed in pain as he felt his ribs crack all over again, undoing the doctor's good work of setting and bandaging it. He slumped onto the floor with both arms folded over his chest clutching it in an effort to try and ease the pain. He turned his head to one side and coughed up a huge amount of blood. The coughing set his senses on fire as the pain spread though his body like a raging inferno. He almost screamed again but held it in by biting his lip. The coppery metallic taste filled his mouth as the blood leaked out its side and dribbled down to his chin. He lay there unmoving as the pain blazed throughout his nerve system. Uncaring towards his obvious agony, Domon bent down to lift Mikagami up by the front of his shirt when he was interrupted by the sounds of rapidly approaching footfalls.

When she rounded the corner, she was met with the last sight she wanted to see. Mikagami was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, fighting to keep consciousness and Domon bending over him with a furious glint in his eyes, reaching out to do Mikagami more harm than what was already done. Without thinking she dashed forward and pushed Domon aside before kneeling beside Miakgami's prone form. She gently tried to help him up but he was too weak to move. Instead she used her body to shield him protectively and glared at Domon accusingly. With tears leaking out the side of her eye she asked them angrily almost shouting,

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Recca opened his mouth to answer but Domon beat him to it. Staring at her wide-eyed,

" This means the pictures…the pictures, they were true! The bastard! Why I oughtta…" his aura had grown dangerously menacing. Even if Domon's crush on her had been proven false, even if he had a girlfriend now, he was still as protective over Fuuko as before. He reached forward to get at Mikagami again, bypassing Fuuko, when she screamed,

"Stop it! Stop this nonsense now!"

Seeing that her words had caused him to pause for a moment in his assault, she continued in a softer but still as firm a voice,

" Help me get him to the room first, I'll explain everything later. You have no idea how serious this is, thank goodness Yanagi is here." As she said the last sentence, she looked pleadingly at Yanagi (who had remained silent throughout the exchange with a hand cupped over her mouth), in hope that she would help convince Domon and Recca to lay off Mikagami at least until she explained the situation.

Growling a little, Domon bent down to lift Mikagami up. He was slightly surprised that Mikagami was so weak as to lose consciousness after sustaining just one punch from him. He felt something was amiss but brushed it aside and praised himself instead for being powerful enough to knock Mikagami out in a single punch. Following Fuuko's instructions, he placed Mikagami on the bed albeit rather roughly, much to her annoyance. Fuuko stood by his bedside and the other three looked at her expectantly.

"So where's your explanation," Recca asked with a smirk on his face and one eyebrow raised in a cheeky expression, before continuing in a teasing sing-song voice, " or were those pictures in school true after all? Hmm? You sly vixen you…eh? eh?" he nudged her with his elbow teasingly. Her flustered response was immediate,

"No! That's not it! Ano… I don't know where to start…maybe this would give you some idea."

She reached forward and unbuttoned Mikagami's shirt. The other three stared at her wide-eyed at her audacity. But when she threw open his shirt, all sense of fun and teasing vanished. The room was suddenly filled with a shocked silence as Yanagi gasped and Recca and Domon cursed under their breath. They all stare at Mikagami's bandaged torso, decorated all over with thick lacerations caked with dried blood, some of which had split open again and was oozing fresh blood.

Without the need of any invitation, Yanagi stepped forward and placed her hands on Mikagami's injured body. She closed her eyes in concentration as an invisible aura surrounded her and poured forth onto Mikagami's person. Slowly, bit by bit, Mikagami's wounds began to heal right before their eyes. When she felt that she had transferred enough healing energy into him, she removed her hands and stepped back, collapsing into Recca's arms, weakened from using her healing ability, but still conscious.

Sighing audibly, Fuuko began to speak,

" I suppose I should start explaining now, why don't we go down to the kitchen and talk so we don't disturb him."

Once in the kitchen, Fuuko poured them each a glass of coffee which Mikagami had not touched and went on to tell them everything that had happened since the day at the school-organised party.

Once their curiosity was satiated, they left the house and wished her well. Only Domon still seemed reluctant to leave her alone with Mikagami but after much persuasion and dragging from Recca, he conceded in the end. As she closed the front door behind them, she felt a presence behind her. Without turning around to face him, she asked,

"Feeling better?"

"A little. But I think you owe me an explanation." He replied back calmly, before continuing in a slightly commanding tone of voice, " Come with me to the kitchen and set the table, we're having lunch now." Grudgingly she followed him to the kitchen not really liking idea of being ordered around but given the morning's activities, she did not really have a right to be refusing him either.

As she reached for the plates on the dish rack, she heard him call out to her form his position beside the oven at the other side of the kitchen,

" We won't be needing those…" then she saw him pull out from the oven what looked like two bowls of fragrant smelling food. Only when he laid them down on the dining table did she realise that they were pineapple husks with a layer of melted cheese over the top. The melted cheese had bits of brown and black peeping out of the mess of yellow making it look absolutely scrumptious. The smell alone from the cooked pineapple was enough to make her mouth water as it permeated throughout the kitchen. He smirked as he saw her stare admiringly at the produce of his culinary skills.

"Would you kindly pick your jaw of the floor and fetch me two bowls, I would like to scoop the stew now."

He watched as she shot him a glare and got the bowls for him. As he scooped out the stew from the slow cooker, he called out to her,

"Pull yourself up a seat and I'll be with you shortly. And then you can start explaining." He heard her gulp and saw fidget nervously out of the corner of his eye. Setting down the two bowls of stew, he watched her taste it. Her face lit up in shock and awe.

"Oh my goodness! This tastes better than mine! And I pride myself for my stew!"

He smirked at her remark and gestured for her to try the other dish. She licked her spoon clean of the stew and scooped out a spoonful of baked rice cutting through the stringy texture of melted cheese and put it in her mouth. She closed her eyes and savored the taste of his specialty before a big goofy grin spread across her face, every bit of rice was lightly coated with the sweet tangy taste of pineapple. She commented enthusiastically,

"This is delicious! What's it called and where on earth did you learn to cook like that? You really have to teach me how to do this one!"

"You really don't think I survived all these years on take out, do you? It's called pineapple baked rice and…" he pause for a while causing her to look up at him. A thin smile formed on his lips as he continued his eyes still staring at the untouched dish before him, "…and Mifuyu taught me how to cook it." At this he looked up abruptly and caught her eye and said tersely, " I'd teach you but you're just stalling for time. Quick explain what happened this morning."

She nearly choked on her food at his sudden change of tone. She sighed resignedly and related the entire sequence of events to him, pausing periodically to eat and then continue talking.

By the time they had finished lunch, she had finished her explanation as well. Mikagami had kept quiet all through her explanation, taking in everything she had to say all the while forming a plan in his mind, something he decided he would execute tomorrow when he returned to school. Before leaving Fuuko to clean up in the kitchen, he asked some very curious questions.

"I have two questions which I would like you to answer regarding this issue, the first is, is this girl Ayanami Misato in your class?"

Fuuko responded with a slight nod, and Mikagami continued with a mischievous glint in his eyes,

"My second question is just who were you describing to Misato?"

At this, Fuuko flushed and looked down, her cheeks a pretty pink, she replied shyly,

" Raiha…"

Mikagami's smirk grew wider, almost like he was mocking her for falling for Raiha and losing herself to this emotion called Love. With a haughty tone in his voice he shot back,

"I guessed as much, pathetic."

If she was not so embarrassed as it was, she would have shot back a retort but her mind was too muddled to think of anything intelligent to say. He left Fuuko to clean up after lunch while he went into her room to pack her things. When he emerged, he walked right up to her and dumped her sling bag of belongings and school things unceremoniously in front of her. With one hand akimbo and the other hanging lazily by his side, he leaned forward with a smug look on his face. With a sardonic smirk forming on his thin lips, he drawled out,

"I believe you've been free-loading off me for a while now. It's about time you left." With that he turned on his heel and went back into his room. She stood there seething in anger. Counting from one to ten in an attempt to control her anger, she faltered at eight and screamed at the top of her lungs,

" Teme, BAKAYAROU!"

Before picking up her bag in a huff and stomping out of his house, slamming the door behind her.

=====The Next Day=====

An excited murmur rippled through the crowd as Mikagami stepped into the school compound. The fanclub was already rearing to go when he shot them a glare, warning them that should they get ten feet within his personal space, they would regret ever being born. They immediately halted in their tracks. He was exuding an unusually menacing aura today, many began to wonder if he had picked up on what had happened just the day before.

It still being early, he made his way to Fuuko's classroom to look for,

"Ayanami Misato, are you in here?"

His voice like liquid velvet without even trying to be as he slid open the classroom door. Ayanami's head shot up immediately shot up from the tabloid newspaper she had picked up on her way to school at the sound of her crush's voice.

"H…hai! Mikagami-sempai!" she stammered out.

Mikagami's allowed himself a small smile as he turned to face her. With half-lid eyes and his head cocked to one side he carried on with fluid continuity,

"Would you kindly follow me? I have something very important to ask you. It's somewhat of a private matter, so I was hoping we could go somewhere with more privacy?"

Who would not understand? The underlying meaning was so clear! She gave her response with a nod of her head, having gone mute with excitement. He sauntered over to her and took her hand in his and led her out of the classroom. His hand was soft and warm as it enveloped hers, so involved was she in enjoying the moment that seemed to come straight out of her dreams, she failed to notice him leading her down the deserted corridor to the school gym.

He opened the double-doors for her and shut them tightly behind himself and with a soft click locking it. He advanced causing her to back against a nearby wall. She giggled childishly and looked up to gaze into his hypnotic cerulean eyes when she gasped in shock. The amorous mood of before had thinned out to be replaced with cold indifference. His light blue eyes like chips of ice, reflected what little light that streamed in through the glass windows of the double doors. She gasped once more when his hand slammed into the wall right beside her head. He hissed into her ear,

"I heard about what you've been up to. Frankly, I don't care what you do to that Fuuko girl but I hate it when people stalk me. It's sick and disgusting."

She watched nervously when his other hand reached into his pocket. It emerged holding a very unusual dagger. It's handle like coils of cream-coloured metal with a tear-shaped crystal the colour of his eyes at the end. It had the Kanji character 'water' written within it. But more intriguing was the blade. It was short and transparent like glass. She soon found out that it was sharp as well when she felt it pressed to her neck. It was freezing cold, like it was made of ice. She began to cry as she felt it being pressed deeper into her neck. She heard his velvet voice float around her menacingly,

" Don't ever let me catch you doing that again."

She whimpered when she felt him draw the blade across the side of her neck as he stepped back from her. She slid down to the floor clutching her neck. She felt warm sticky fluid flow over her fingers. She cried even harder. She heard him chuckle in the dark, she looked up to see his slim figure silhouetted against the bright light shining from behind him, from the windows on the double doors. In one hand he held his strange looking weapon with the light shining through the transparent material of the blade which was coated in a thin layer of her blood, casting a reddish hue on the floor near where she sat. She shivered slightly in fear. She had never seen this side of Mikagami Tokiya before. It was so sinister and sadistic yet so mysteriously attractive.

His maniacal grin turned into a scowl. He had hoped to scare her but when he caught sight of that love-sick puppy-dog look on her face, he felt sick to the pits of his stomach. Ergh…this girl has issues…fancy feeling seduced when I'm trying inflict fear and pain…yuck! Feeling absolutely disgusted, he let Ensui's blade turn back into water and fall to the floor with a wet splash. He turned his back to her and strode out of the gym, unlocking the door like as though nothing had happened. He was not at all worried about her blabbering about him to the authorities because the school would not be in a hurry to expel the brightest student that has ever passed through their establishment.

=====That Night=====

Now just a quick call to Recca should fix the other problem. He listened to the monotonous repetition of the dial tone as he patiently waited for somebody to pick up on the other side. He did not have to wait long.

"Moshi moshi?" the voice of Hanabishi Recca floated through the ear piece, he replied curtly,

"Hanabishi, I need you to do something very important…" with a very cheeky tone, Recca interrupted him,

"Are you asking me for a favour? Heh heh heh…"

"Just shut up and listen, monkey…"

TBC

Author's rambling:

Just what is Mikagami up to? Will Recca comply? What's going on? Catch the next episode of Spiked Punch same time same channel!

Okay! Okay! I'm being corny…but I hope you people like this chapter…thank you for your past reviews and sorry that the previous chapter didn't really have much of Mikagami…but I'm sure this chapter more than makes up for it! Also I'd like to dedicate the cooking part to my dad! Believe it or not he's been pestering me to put in a cooking scene in one of my fics!!!

Constructive criticisms please!!!!!Onegai!