This is a rewrite of my old Tonkatsu I wrote back in 2012 for the Shaman King Contest. I decided to give it a well-deserved rewrite. I know is a bit out of season but don't let that stop you.

An important note here is that English is not my first language and this was my first try at writing fanfics in that language, so even if I'm more fluent now please excuse any spelling or grammar errors.

Hope you enjoy!

Tonkotsu

"Ah! I think I found it!" Said the young man while looking at a recipe "It looks easy enough for me... I think ...it does have chashu pork" He weighed his options for a minute, maybe this was too much for him, maybe he might need Manta's or Ryū's help, maybe ...with a brief smile he sighed "Maybe I could finally make her a good surprise with this, I just hope she likes it".

He has to admit that impressing Anna was always a hard job to do, but he was in the mood for a challenge. Lately, she was having some cravings of weird dishes, leaving Ryū almost out of ideas for all the meals during the week. Maybe if I do it from scratch will do.

"Tonkotsu Ramen it is then!" Yoh said with a confident smile while taking the book with him.

He went out of the library, a place where he never spends more than five minutes unless he is with Manta, who always take at least two or three books with him. At that moment he was grateful for the good idea his little friend gave him. Not so much when, after a couple of tries, he turned his friend's kitchen into a disaster zone.

Everyone knew he wasn't the best cook, he could manage simple dishes such as curry rice or miso soup, but preparing an edible braised pork belly and homemade noodles without them looking like a complete mess was starting to be a lost cause if it weren't for Manta's patiently showing him how it was done.

By then it was almost Christmas Eve, a day Anna didn't care a lot about it, she didn't like Santa Claus, she thinks all of that is a commercial show to trick people into buying expensive stuff and even fried chicken, which is not exactly wrong , but Yoh really wanted to make something that will make her enjoy the night.

"Pork it's so expensive, she is going to kill me when she finds out how much I used" He dreaded going out of the HEIYU department store, if everything failed he had a backup plan, or a backup supermarket meal since with Ryū out of the house at his request, he needed something that his wife will take instead if all goes south. But after spending two whole days making the broth, the pork, the noodles and everything in between he just wishes it's good enough for her approval.

The sky was getting darker and darker, it will probably snow later that evening, what he was about to encounter however was heavy rain, he needed to hurry to the station so he started running through the crow of couples, so many were outside during winter. He caught the train on time, and with a big smile he was able to sit and rest a little bit before he made it to Funbari, this was only half of the trip home, he needed to take a bus or walk a little bit, he only needed to figure out how he will get home on time and without ruining the food he so protectively was grabbing.

"Good thing I brought the poncho and an umbrella," Yoh said while fixing the food and the umbrella between his legs. For a few stops, he was able to enjoy the sights of the city from the corner of his eye, when was the last time he had this kind of silent moment by himself?.

Eventually the train got busier and busier and like escaping from the mouth of a monster, he went out the doors and ran to the bus stop, finally he was getting closer and closer, he had plenty of time when it was time for the short walk to the inn, that's when he was able to catch his breath. He didn't realize how much time it usually took to get to that old house, even if the city was getting bigger and they weren't as secluded as before, they still lived in the borders away from the busy crowds.

Luck wasn't exactly on his side that day, because the dark sky that he saw since the very beginning of his journey was breaking over him, thunder, wind and heavy rain was his doom in just a few minutes before he went out of the bus.

"That's not fair! I was almost there!" He screamed to the wind while starting to run, the umbrella was doing it best to not break for the wind, and his pants were getting dirtier and dirtier.

After a while of that horrible heavy rain, he was able to see the inn in the distance, what a relief! , but he didn't see a few boxes left on the sidewalk, probably by a neighbor, they were all wet and on the way because the wind blows them from the garbage corner. His face met the floor and the food went flying.

This can't be happening.

"I didn't ask for a perfect day, just a calm evening, is that too much to ask?" He said after sneezing and looking up at the ceiling of the kitchen while he was finishing cooking ramen, it was starting to be a custom for him, speaking to himself in this way, or perhaps to someone who can hear him "I'm doing my best here, give me at least that"

"Aren't you going to eat more than that?" Asked Anna while eating from a big bowl; her ramen was as nicely decorated as he was able to, using slices of pork, sheets of dried seaweed, a boiled egg cut in half and scallions. After all the trouble he went through at least it looked nice on the other hand he was only eating rice and miso soup.

"I'm not that hungry, don't worry," He said trying to convince her with a smile, she wasn't all convinced but closed her eyes while she started eating again.

"Suit yourself then, tomorrow you better eat more for breakfast, your training will be harder since I will use the snow in my advantage" This left the young man with little to no hope to enjoy Christmas as he expected, maybe it wasn't his year.

"Y-yes Anna," He said with little tears in his eyes while eating his plain rice, silence follow thru but he was so tired by that point that he didn't notice until he heard her empty bowl and chopsticks being left at her side of the table.

"It needed more flavor" Anna said, her husband gave a tired sigh when he heard that, which wasn't overlooked by the itako but when she was about to complain she noticed the downcast way his eyes looked at his food, something was off.

He has been acting strange this whole week and with today's dinner maybe it gave her some of the explanation but that didn't explain his almost sickly complexion, for a moment she observed how he was playing with his food absentmindedly, sneezing a few times and with a blush on his cheeks, ah...a cold, that's bad.

"Here." She said trying to get his attention by taking out of the kotatsu a little gift with an orange ribbon "You better give me something better next year, I went through all the trouble to get it even if I already told you we don't celebrate all this silliness."

He was out of words, he didn't expect that, he thought he was the only one with a surprise, she hates Christmas, she thought Santa Claus it's a pervert, she always says we Japanese weren't supposed to celebrate Christmas, and even all that, she went and got a present for him.

He took the small box from her hand and with care opened the simply decorated wrapping to find a Soul Bob collectible CD, she even found a really good gift. He couldn't help but smile wide at it, his face felt hot at that moment, not an unusual occurrence around his wife at this point so he didn't take notice of it.

"By the way," Anna said, after drinking some of her tea "You are going to sleep on the guest room tonight".

Ah...of course.

She ordered him to take a long hot bath, and go straight to bed and he did what he was told, but when he got out of the onsen to at least clean the dishes he found the kitchen clean, and a bowl of hot rice porridge by the table. It was sweet and sour thanks to the ginger and honey but to him, it tasted like heaven.

After eating the okayu it was time to finally go to bed, as the night went on, the cold snow was falling from the sky on the already covered floor around the inn, the roof was all white and only the lights of the sidewalk were illuminating the place; inside the guest room Yoh was getting himself in the spare futon when his wife entered with some extra covers, checked his temperature and gave him a glass of water and medicine.

I guess I got my calm evening even with all the bad luck.

Not so far from the inn, there were a group of boxes piled by the side of the street, and a couple were forming a little shelter for a cat with the help of an umbrella, it was a calico cat with her kitties. The tired mother was eating little pieces of pork from a supermarket bag while the little ones were drinking milk from her, all warm and cozy thanks to an orange scarf.

Someone got close to her shelter but she didn't move, she was too tired to, but she was able to see it was a boy, probably in his fifteen, he smiled to her and move the snow off the top of the umbrella and left her with her kittens while he started to walk to the inn.

The young man was walking barefoot in the snow, using only a red kimono, the smile on his face grew a little bit as he stopped by the gates, crossing his arms while the wind made his hair fly.

"It wasn't bad luck; I just thought it wasn't fair for only one mother to have a good meal"

And with that he disappeared, the one who people call God.

Thank you for reading, kind reader!

Comments are always a delight, please excuse my English, since I'm still not as good as I wish to be, but if you think of something I can improve I'm always open for criticism.