"I HATE THEM! MAY YOUMA TAKE THEM ALL!"
The unexpected sounds of the enraged scream and the slamming of the door, so hard that it shuddered on its hinges, startled the man under the kitchen sink so badly that he forgot himself and attempted to sit up. The sharp connection of his scalp and the drain pipe dropped him hard. But when the pain finally dulled back to a merely agonizing throb, he cast aside the wrench and eased himself back out from the cabinet to investigate…thereby saving the plumbing from certain doom.
His timing was off again, he realized when the heavy crocheted handbag, hurled at the previously closed door, hit him in the head, knocking him backward a few steps.
The party who'd thrown it gawked for a moment at her unintentional handiwork, startled out of her rage, then burst into tears. "Gomen," she sniffled, flinging herself at him and babbling. "I didn't know you were here…I mean, I thought you'd be at work…I mean…I didn't mean to hit you, Nephrite."
He bundled her off to the couch, forcing her to sit as he dabbed at the tears with a tissue.
"What on Earth's the matter, hon?" he asked, taking in her reddened face and trembling hands which bunched into fists at his question.
"It was my class," she choked out. "The challenge I told you about…"
He cast his mind back, trying to remember. She was so overly enthusiastic about most of her culinary courses that he sometimes had a tendency to tune out some of it, focusing more on watching her smile and the light in her bright eyes as she chattered than on what she was actually saying. Now it looked like that was about to bite him in the butt…and then by a stroke of luck or the grace of Aphrodite he remembered.
"The signature dish? Based on a senshi. You got Mercury, I think. Right? Did something go wrong with yours, love?"
She shook her head, closing her eyes. "No…chef loved the minted blueberry sorbet. Said it symbolized her perfectly. It was what happened later."
"That baka Kochinou Keisuke got Jupiter!"
He winced. She'd ranted to him before about the man, claiming he was a talentless hack, an embarrassment to the culinary world. It was the last person he would have wanted to get HER senshi.
On a roll, Makoto blurted out some more, her temper rekindling. "He said the challenge was stupid so all he did was dump some bright green pesto on a plate and some steak. Just slapped a big, clumsy hunk of cow on there. He thought he was being just soooo clever. And when chef asked him to explain why that symbolized Jupiter, everyone laughed.
"Because…" he prompted gently, rubbing a hand up her arm.
"Because he said all flippant and everything, "Oh, she's the muscle," Makoto announced in wounded tones, a new rush of hot tears stinging her eyes.
He couldn't help it; his lips twitched. Eagle eyes saw and flashed poison green as she thumped him on the chest hard with a closed fist.
"You think it's funny!" she accused bitterly. "How could you?!"
"Well…" he held up his hands hastily so she wouldn't hit him again. "It's not exactly funny, but it's not a huge tragedy either, love."
Makoto actually bared her teeth, jerking away from him, and drew her knees up to her chin, glaring at the wall.
"Baka! You don't get it at all. Everyone else has an identity. Moon, they say, she's the spirit of the senshi. Oh, and Venus…she's the gorgeous one and a leader besides. Mars, she's the fiery, passionate, exotic one. And Mercury's brilliant and has that icy, delicate beauty, of course. But Jupiter…she's just the dumb old muscle. The one with the power but without the brains. All brawn and no sense and too tall besides. Dammit! Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?"
Then she glared back at him over her shoulder, her gaze slipping from the top of his dark leonine mane of hair and down over his model-perfect chiseled features. Dashing away the tears with the back of her hand, she muttered, "What am I saying? Of course you don't…"
Realizing she really, genuinely had her feelings hurt by this, he reached up to stroke her hair and soothe her bruised spirit, but Makoto snarled and jerked away from his touch. "Don't touch me!"
"Honey…" he said, trying again. Her spine stiffened, everything about her now screaming 'hands off'.
"I should have thrown my knife kit instead," she growled.
He winced, his hand hovering just above her back. "Leave me alone," she mumbled, sniffling faintly. "Bastards," she continued, damning all men everywhere.
Momentarily defeated, his hand dropped back into his own lap. An old oath was forced out from his tightly clenched jaw. A muscle ticked in his cheek. Sometimes, he thought not for the first time, she was entirely too much like Rei, who could be a man-eater of the first order. In her mood, she would require special handling.
"Mako-chan," he wheedled.
She snorted evilly.
"Makoto," he cajoled.
She bristled, growling under her breath.
"MAKOTO!" he bellowed furiously.
"WHAT?!" she shrieked back at him, whirling and slamming her fists down on the fat cabbage rose print of the couch. "What? What? WHAT?!"
Her eyes were snapping with magnificent fury and she looked like she wanted to throttle him or pummel him with throw pillows until surrendered. Although it was a pure cliché, she really was amazingly beautiful when she was mad.
He grinned, finally having gotten her to look at him. "Ahem." he said his voice deep and sonorous. "Now that I've got your attention…"
A low, dangerous sound came again from back in her throat, like the growl of a grizzly bear. He had to make this good, or she was going to know the reason why.
Nephrite cleared his throat. It was now or never. "First," he said, "I want to apologize for finding humor in the situation because I can see now how upset it made you. I would not have intentionally hurt your feelings, hon. You know that." When Makoto rolled her eyes and huffed out a sulky breath, he held up a hand. "Now do me the courtesy of hearing me out, love."
"I think," he suggested, "that you're undoubtedly right when you said that that Keisuke guy is an idiot. So you shouldn't let it get you down because, honestly, consider the source. And second…" he paused for a moment. "Even an idiot can get things right sometimes without knowing why."
Icy emerald eyes narrowed into chill little slits. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Reaching out with a single finger, Nephrite toyed with the fine silver chain that hung around her throat dangling a bangle. "It means that as I think about it, the steak isn't altogether a bad representation of Jupiter…of you, but that moronic fool didn't really understand why, seeing only the most obvious and dull-witted reason why. Muscle."
He shook his head, as if unable to comprehend the stupidity of the other man. "And even if he had the brainpower to understand more why it fit you, aside from that, he probably couldn't have articulated it."
"And I suppose you can?!" Makoto demanded challengingly, nostrils flaring as her fingers bit deeply into an overstuffed chintz sofa cushion and twisted viciously.
"I believe so."
When she merely glared daggers at him, Nephrite smiled, his fingertip leisurely tracing the symbolic sterling lightning bolt pendant that slashed jaggedly across the hollow at the base of her throat. Gently he pressed the lavaliere down enjoying the contrast between the cool metal and warm flesh.
"No one could say that you ever lack…sizzle."
Makoto's mouth dropped open and her expressive verdigris eyes rounded in shock at the audacious and unexpected comparison.
Encouraged by the non-verbal response, Nephrite continued after a moment. He slid the pad of his fingertip back up her creamy throat to beneath Makoto's sagging jaw, poking it gently back into place. "You can be either tough, darling, or very, very tender, depending on how you're treated. But you're always toothsome." He grinned wickedly at her. "Very."
Sapphire eyes glittered with interest as she sucked in a breath and swallowed hard. Chuckling, he smoothed a palm over her soft hand, then trailed it ever so slowly up her forearm and over her shoulder, until his fingers curved around the back of her neck. Makoto shivered, rage forgotten, as his feather-light touch left a trail of fire in its wake. Not once had his intent gaze broken contact with hers as he then trailed his hand indolently down the length of her spine.
"Just like with a good steak," he murmured more softly, leaning nearer so that she could hear his words, "there's something about you that makes a man want to linger and take his time." His warm breath feathered the delicate hair along her ear and she shut her eyes for a moment, lashes fanning out in dark crescents across her cheeks as he nipped one lobe softly, somehow avoiding the fragile carved jade earring she wore, then breathed, "To savor the experience."
Her emerald orbs fluttered open again when she felt an illusory touch whisper along her lips, his thumb following their full rounded contours. "So…succulent," he said as if tasting the word and finding it juicy, ripe and very much to his liking.
Heated color burned her cheeks as she flushed at the wicked light in his eyes and the rich, seductive tone of his voice. She was staring at him slumberously, mesmerized as her handsome wizard spun his provocative enchantment.
Nephrite leaned in until his lips hovered just above Makoto's, only a breath away from claiming a kiss. "And while some people's tastes may vary, love," he murmured, cupping her rosy cheeks in warm hands as he tipped back her head, lifting her eager lips toward his.
"…I find that both taste best on the tongue when just a…little…bit…pink."
