Disclaimer:Ok, don't make me sic my posse on you. I've already told you a thousand times I don't own RK, now stop taunting me.
Sobakasu
part 8
--the next day...--
Kenshin smiled as he stood in the kitchen preparing dinner, singing a soft, cheerful tune under his breath as he went. After another -ahem- 'fun-filled' day with his sister, consisting of the usual arguments over such pointless subjects as man-eating beards and him being a spineless, blushing tomato, he welcomed the calm. But... he supposed she was right about the spineless part. At least in some areas...
Really, why don't I just go right out and tell her, he thought, remembering one of Satsuki's remarks from earlier in the day. After all, it would save alot of trouble... and embarrassment... and annoyance... -stupid freckleface...-
Just this morning, Megumi had caught him 'yelling at a tree'. Sano had asked him why he kept 'telling a rock to "stop doing that"'. And... the best one of all... Tsubame had felt his head and asked if he had a fever after he had 'told a fat, hairy, bald man at the Akabeko- "If this one didn't love you, this one wouldprobably strangleyou."'.
"Orooo..." Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Kaoru entering the room, followed closely by Satsuki. She had an odd look on her face... while Satsuki was grinning as if something terribly amusing were about to happen. Which of course, immediatly made him suspicious. If only he knew... "What is it, Kaoru-dono? Is something wrong?"
"Um-" Yahiko would never let me live this down... Kaoru scanned the room, making sure no one else was listening. "Kenshin... would you- um... Would you do me a favor?"
"Of course. What is it?"
Her voice got quieter and she looked toward the ground, still not making eye contact. "Will you...", Kaoru muttered something inaudible.
"Sorry, Kaoru-dono, you'll have to speak up."
"...willyouteachmehowtocook..."
"What?" ...Did I just hear...
Kaoru took a deep breath, stood up straight, glared at Kenshin, and answered through gritted teeth, "WOULD. YOU. TEACH. ME. HOW. TO. COOK."
"...Oro."
"AND JUST WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, HUH?"
The shock wore off and Kenshin smlied, scratching the back of his head. "This one didn't mean anything, Kaoru-dono, of course you can have cooking lessons. It's just... Well, with the way you were acting, this one thought it was something serious..."
"I AM SERIOUS, BAKA!" She was glaring daggers at him now.
"Oro... That's not what this one meant, um... Kaoru-dono, why are you just now deciding to ask this one?", he asked, trying to change the subject.
Kaoru looked off to the side again and simply stated, "...Just because. Now, are you going to or not?"
Relief swept over him and he let out a sigh. Good, she was calmed down. "Of course, Kaoru-dono. Here, you can help this one make dinner right now..."
...And so began The Cooking Lesson of Doom. ...or something like that.
The 'little kitchen adventure' (as it would later be described by Satsuki) was filled with several 'oro's, 'mou's, and other comments, such as: "No, Kaoru-dono, the water goes in before the vegetables.", "Curry does not taste good with sugar in it.", and "No, you cook that for two minutes, not two hours."
But of course, with love comes patience, which this required alot of. Teaching someone to cook also includes physical contact, especially when said cooking student could not use a knife correctly if her life depended on it (and with countless tiny scars on her fingers to prove it). Satsuki The Great has forseen this.
"Ouch!" Kaoru winced and looked down at her bleeding index finger with a frown. "Honestly, I'm surprised I haven't cut one of them off by now..." Kenshin could sense the discouragement in her voice.
"Here, let this one see..." He took her hand in his and examined the cut closely. "Don't worry, it's not too bad." Then, to Kaoru's surprise, he put the finger to his mouth and drew out the blood until it stopped. After which, he took a rag and bandaged it carefully. "There.", he said, smiling. "All better."
"Um... Th-thank you, Kenshin.", Kaoru stammered. She knew she was blushing, but Kenshin didn't seem to notice. And if he did, he wasn't going to mention it.
Kenshin smiled, and, returning the knife to her, held his hand over hers and proceeded to help her cut up the remainder of the food. "Hold it like this and you won't cut yourself so much, see?"
"Mm-hmm..."
So, with the combined efforts of Kaoru and Kenshin, they did in fact manage to make something presentable (not to mention, edible). And I got away with only one cut this time. , thought Kaoru, smiling.
"Kaoru-dono, there's still one thing this one doesn't understand- Why didn't you just ask this one to help you out before? It would have saved you some time and trouble, that it would. Why did you suddenly decide to ask today?", Kenshin inquired again curiously.
"I... I'm really not sure. I just sort of woke up this morning and thought, 'Kenshin makes great food, I need to ask him to help me out.'" Kaoru paused, thinking. "Plus, I knew you wouldn't tease me about it like Sano of Yahiko would've. Thanks a bunch, Kenshin.", she said, turning to him and smiling brightly.
"Anytime, Kaoru-dono."
Satsuki grinned. Woohoo. One small step for Satsuki, one giant leap for Shinta and his tanuki girlfriend. Meh... A good wife needs to know how to cook anyways, after all, what if dear Shinta got sick?
Yahiko had made a remark during dinner, causing Kaoru to chase him out of the room with a bokken. Sanosuke drifted off to do... well, whatever Sanosuke does. ...Which left Kenshin all alone with Satsuki. As cleaned the dishes, he turned to Satsuki and questioned her. "...You wouldn't have happeded to had anything to do with this, would you, ne-chan?"
Satsuki smirked.
--1:07 a.m. Kamiya Dojo, Kaoru's Bedroom--
Three figures occupy the darkened room. One, a young kendo instructor, fast asleep in her bed. Two, a slightly smaller girl with long red hair tied up in a ponytail, crouched down with bangs falling forward to hide a curious freckled face, angel wings tucked behind her back. And three, a tall man with shorter, raven black hair, dressed in the same fashion as the girl next to him, wings and all.
The man was crouched down beside Kaoru, with two glowing fingertips placed upon her head. Removing them, he stood to examine his work. "...All right. I'm done."
"Sweet!" Satsuki hopped up from the floor. "Thanks much. I owe you, Koshijiro-san."
"Not at all." The two took their leave of the room, standing outside to gaze up at the stars. "...Although you did drag me down here in the middle of the night just to plant ideas in my daughter's head... literally..."
"Aw, come on. This'll be fun. Besides, it's not like it'll hurt at all. Heck, anything's an improvment in her case..."
The man looked down at Satsuki. "...and are you implying something?"
"Whaaattt? The woman can't cook! You know it, I know it, and if it weren't for Shinta, all these people at the dojo would probably starve. Now, now, don't look at me like that, Koshijiro-san, I'm not blaming you. Heaven knows you couldn't have taught her... Yeesh, talk about the blind leading the blind..."
"Satsukiiii..."
"Eh?"
"Pray tell, have you ever heard of 'tact'? You are short, freckled, annoying, immature, and you have an ego the size of China. If not being able to cook were the least of your problems, then you'd be alot better off."
Satsuki crossed her arms. "Aw, now that's not true. You hurt my feelings, Koshijiro-san... ... ...I'm telling."
"...'telling'... what?"
"Mmm-hmm. I'll tell her you called her a 'what', too.", she added, grinning.
Sudden realization dawned on Koshijiro's face. "Don't you dare go bothering my wife. Your feelings aren't hurt one bit and you know it." Satsuki ignored him and took off into the sky, laughing madly as she went.
"Satsuki, no! She's already still angry at me for betting you you couldn't hit that lightning bolt!"
"Oh, well that't your problem, isn't iiiit?"
--no more flashie-backie...--
"...Eh, maybe. Not tellin' you." Kenshin sighed and continued washing, with Satsuki peering over his shoulder annoyingly. "... ...Missed a spot, Shinta."
-sigh- "Oro..."
--end pt. 8--
(A/N) Wheee, well that was fun. I have finally gotten off my lazy streak and messed around with my settings on here. Put up my profile, and also after some exploring I noticed I had to set it myself to enable anonymous reviews. So, all you anonymous people who don't have accounts on here, now you can review. Yay, joyness. (no, that's not a real word... yet.)
-ahem- Yes, review. Please. If you do... me love you long time. ...or something to that effect. REVIEW!