Chapter 4: Itadakimas!
Syaoran found himself regretting letting her help with dinner.
It wasn't so much that her cooking skills were poor at best, or that it didn't seem as though she'd ever really been near a kitchen, it was more the way she was always… around. Somehow she always managed to manoeuvre herself to be right where he was going. She didn't do it on purpose, or at least, he didn't think she did.
After the fifth time of bumping into her whilst going to the fridge, he lost what little of his cool he had.
"Will you please move out the way?" He demanded. She jumped back.
"Sorry," She said guiltily. "I was trying to see how you were making it, so that I might be able to make it myself for you and your family."
After she said that, she wasn't the only one feeling guilty. "Fine," he said, running his hand through his hair irritably. "If you wanted to learn you should have said, not just hovered around." He sighed at her forlorn expression. "Go get me a red and a yellow pepper out the bottom draw of the fridge."
She perked up when he said that. "Okay!" She skipped over to the fridge and bent down to the bottom draw. Syaoran quickly spun around as his face was swallowed in a blush. Being a young gentleman, he certainly did not stare at a young lady's… well, at a young lady. He kept reminding himself of that.
"Li-kun? Are you warm?" Sakura asked innocently upon her return with the peppers. "You've gone awfully red."
"I'm fine," he said, commanding himself to get a grip. Remembering that Sakura had wanted to learn to cook, he took the peppers off her. "Right, firstly, I'm making an Italian dish, spaghetti bolognese, it's relatively easy to make and I can do a lot at one time," he started explaining. She watched him attentively and he almost felt unnerved by it. He continued, "Right, you can help me chop the peppers." He took one off her and got another chopping board out from the one he had. He put another knife on her chopping board and proceeded to show her how to cut the pepper with his own. "Okay?" He asked her, once he was done.
She frowned, and said, "I think so."
"Okay, while you're doing that, I'll fetch out the beef," he said, and walked over to the freezer. While he shifted through the drawers of the fridge-freezer he heard Sakura start to hum behind him. He couldn't help but smile. She had a lousy humming voice, probably even worse singer, but it was just so positive, probably aware of the badness but just carrying on anyway, for the sheer joy of it.
Syaoran took the beef out and put enough to shared between him, his family and Sakura in the pan.
As he put the lid on the pan, he heard Sakura yelp in pain. "What's wrong?" He asked quickly, at her side in a moment.
She was gripping her finger. "I accidentally cut my finger," she said, wincing a little.
"Let me see," He said, and took her hand in his, examining her finger. "It's ok, it'll sting for a bit but you'll be fine," he told her, looking up at her face. She was blushing shyly, and he realised he was still holding her hand. He quickly dropped it as he felt his face heat a little. "Anyway," he said, grasping for something to talk about, "if you finish those peppers I'll show you what seasoning to put in and that." She nodded and went back to the peppers.
He sighed to himself as he turned the browning mince over in the pan. Maybe this was a bad idea to let her stay here. Especially since his mother wouldn't know. But he couldn't exactly tell her, she would assume all the wrong things. He himself didn't quite know how Sakura was going to fit in his life but she seemed to be determined to stay there, for now anyway. At least she'll be gone by summer, he thought. He glanced over at her and found that she quickly turned away back to her barely chopped pepper with a pink tinged face. What was that about? He wondered. She looked back up at him and saw he was still looking at her, and surprised she smiled tentatively. He didn't return the smile, but frowned a little turning back to the mince. She probably really was after his family's money, he thought. That was the only reason pretty girls like Sakura ever really made an effort to talk to him. He scowled at the mince now, not really seeing it, and not noticing Sakura come and stand next to him.
"Li-kun?" She said, questioningly. He started, and jumped away from her. She looked concerned, then giggled at the look on his face. "Sorry, Li-kun, I didn't realise cooking took so much concentration."
"Huh?" He said, before remembering himself, and asked, "Have you done those peppers then?"
"Yes, what should I do with them?"
"Just leave them here on the side," he instructed. "Could you watch this for me while I get the seasoning?" She cocked her head on one side questioningly.
"Why, is it going to do something?" She asked with a straight face.
He couldn't help but laugh a little, and he said, "Just stand there, all right?"
She smiled her brilliant smile, and said, "Sure!"
He shook his head smiling to himself as he made his way over to one of the cupboards. She was a strange girl, with an innocence about her that was too innocent to be fake. He picked up the right jars, and took them over to where Sakura hadn't moved from the spot where he left her. Very strange, Syaoran thought to himself again.
"Right, now we sprinkle a bit of each of these in, there's no set amount that you can stick to, you just have to estimate based on how much mince you have. You'll get better at it the more you practice." She watched everything he did over his shoulder attentively, and with great interest. As he added more things he gave a running commentary. It was almost fun, teaching someone who was actually interested in what he was doing. Unlike his sisters, they didn't really pay attention.
"Right, we'll leave this for a moment to do the spaghetti," he told her, putting a lid over the pan. He got a pan and filled it with water from the kettle he'd asked Sakura to boil earlier. Turning on the hob plate, he put the spaghetti over the top of the pan.
"It won't fit like that," Sakura noticed. "Shouldn't you break it up?"
He smiled. "I could, but the thing about uncooked spaghetti is that it doesn't break very easily, and also my mother and my sisters do seem to like long strands of spaghetti."
"So," she said, frowning in confusion, "How are you going to get it in at that length?"
"If you put the spaghetti over the pan like I've done there then it softens the middle with the heat and steam enough for me to bend it round in the middle and get it all in," he explained.
"Oh," she said, looking at the spaghetti and working out how it worked. "Oh, Li-kun, how clever of you!" She said, beaming.
He blushed, and said, "Well, I'm not exactly to first person to think of that." What did she think, that Italians had enormous pots to put spaghetti in?
"Oh," she said, her face falling a bit. "But still," she said, trying to salvage the compliment, "I wouldn't have thought of that." No, you would have probably tried snapping it in half and ended up with spaghetti bits pinging all over the place, he thought, chuckling.
She smiled at his chuckle, and said, "You should do that more often."
He blinked at her. "Do what?"
"Smile, laugh," she said, a warm smile on her face and in her eyes. She really did look beautiful smiling at him like that… He quickly shook his head against such thoughts as his face turned red enough to guide ships into ports. He resisted the impulse to run as fast as he could as far away as he could away from her. She cocked her head on one side again, clearly confused, but she didn't question him.
He quickly got back to cooking, and the meal was soon done. He'd only done enough spaghetti for her, as he and his mother would eat theirs later when she got in.
He served up enough of the mince for Sakura, and set her a place at the dining room table.
"Wow, it looks good, I can't wait to eat this!" She said enthusiastically. Then frowning, she asked, "Aren't you having any, Li-kun?"
"I'll be eating with my mother later when she gets in. It's ok, you can eat," he told her quickly, seeing her hesitate.
"But, I don't want to eat on my own," she said, looking at him with wide eyes. He knew that she probably didn't even know what 'puppy dog eyes' meant, and that she truly just didn't want to eat by herself, but still, he felt he was being guilted into it.
"Fine, I'll stay, but I'm not eating yet," he said, grudgingly.
She smiled happily, called out 'itadakimas' and began to eat. He sat watching her take her first bite with a certain nervousness he wasn't used to. His family he knew enjoyed his cooking, but when it was for someone he barely knew, a pretty someone he barely knew, it was a bit different. He watched for her reaction, hoping she'd like it. When she swallowed she said, "Wow, this is really good!" She gave him another one of her dazzling smiles. "You're such a good cook, Li-kun!"
Syaoran couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. It was nice to be complimented from time to time, and it encouraged him to ask, "Would you like any parmesan cheese as well?"
"What's that?" She asked with that little familiar head-cocking.
"It's just something people sometimes like to put on top to make it taste better," He said, starting to get up. "I'll fetch you some from the fridge."
"Thank you!" She called after him. He rooted through the fridge until he found the little green tube of parmesan cheese, and took it back to the dining room.
When he entered, Sakura wasn't sitting in front of her meal but across the room. He frowned. "What are you doing?" He asked, making her jump.
"Nothing, just smelling your flowers," she said, her cheeks slightly red. He frowned as he looked at the flowers behind her back. They were the only thing on the table, so that must have been what she was doing.
He shrugged it off, and said, "The cheese," holding it out to her.
She took it from him and grinned. "Thanks," she said, and quickly sat down with her meal.
"You might want to only put a bit on to see if you like it first," he said, and she nodded, doing as he advised. He looked over at the elegant lilies Sakura had been smelling. They were his mother's favourite flower, and she usually had some around the house. These had been here for a few days now, and he always passed them, but, looking at them now, they looked different somehow.
He frowned at them trying to figure out what it was, but his thoughts were interrupted by Sakura saying, "I think I prefer it without the cheese." He turned back to her as she was looking thoughtfully at the tube in her hand.
"You don't have to put any on if you don't want to," he said. "I'm not overly found of it myself, but my other likes to have some, so I make sure there's some in the fridge when I make bolognese."
"You're so thoughtful, Li-kun," Sakura said, eating her parmesan cheese-free spaghetti. He blushed again, wishing she'd stop complimenting him.
When she was finished she helped him wash up and put away the things they had used. Looking at the time, he saw that it wasn't long until his mother was due back.
"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be staying," he said, once everything was cleared away. He led her back through the house, up to his sister's room. Sakura looked around and then turned to him and said, "Are you sure it's okay for me to stay here? I mean, it looks like it's already being used."
"It's okay, it's my oldest sister's room, she's away at university so I'm sure she won't mind. Just, er, don't go through her stuff," he added.
"I wouldn't," Sakura said, indignant for a moment. Then she faced him and looked him in the eye, causing him an inexplicable blush. He was beginning to think he blushed far too much around her than was healthy. "Really, though, Li-kun, thank you for letting me stay here," she said. "I know that you'd rather I wasn't here, so I'm grateful. I'll try and keep my promise as well."
"Promise?" He said, confused.
"You know, about the showing you people are good?" She said, cocking her head again.
"Oh, right," he said. It wasn't so much that he'd forgotten the deal, it was more that he'd pushed it to the back of his mind. She must think him really cynical to make a deal like that.
He heard the front door open downstairs signalling his mother's arrival back home. "I better go, so just try to keep quiet, feel free to read one of my sister's books, she won't mind, and I'll come and check on you before I go to bed, okay?" He said quickly.
"Okay," she said with a smile, and he quickly made his exit hopefully before she saw how red she turned his face with that smile.
He greeted his mother, and went to the kitchen to make more spaghetti and make sure the bolognese was hot enough. Pretty soon they were eating in the dining room, talking about the usual things, such as how his school work was going, and how her meeting had gone. When he was clearing away the plates his mother looked across the room and frowned. "Syaoran, did you buy new flowers?" She asked.
He frowned and said, "No, why?"
"Hmm, I'm sure those flowers were on their way out before," she said, looking at her lilies. She shrugged and said, "I must be tired, I think I'm going to go read for a bit," she said to her son, and left him to clear up.
He stared at the flowers, and realised that was what it was. They were fresher than they were this morning. He frowned at them, trying to figure out how that had happened. The only thing he could think of was Sakura, but what could she have done?
He shrugged it off, and took the plates away to the kitchen, leaving the lilies to bloom happily on the table, full of the new life of spring.
Okay, when I posted the last chapter I was eagerly awaiting reviews, even though I said myself that I'm not going to make you review, but I have to be honest, I love getting reviews. Makes me feel as if someone at least is paying attention to what I'm doing. And then it was ages after, and no one had reviewed, and I was thinking, oh no, no one liked it, I can't write and I should give up now! Heh, my self esteem is a delicately balanced thing. Then, much to my relief, I got one! I can't tell you how much it meant to me to get that one review there, it saved the story!
So, in response;
FlowerLover: Heh, you're not really supposed to get it yet. I believe in not giving too much away to begin with. Although I think I kinda did say. Hmm, mebbe I didn't. It's… something to do with what you said. Remember, the key to a good Sakura x Syaoran fic is love… (Might I add: Eugh, I cannot believe I just typed that. I used to be a respectable kind of person. What's happened to me?) Neway, this is as fast as I can, but I bet it's just not quick enough, right?