Love at Greater Heights

Chapter 5- The Working Incident

DISCLAIMER: I do not own PoT

AN: Sorry this was late guys, I had mid-terms, so I didn't have much time. Hope you enjoy this chapter

Chitose's POV

The old lady's eyes narrowed "Did you just tamper with my jumbo jar of bitter plum preserve?" she asked, looking particularly at Kurosaki who was wearing a very guilty expression.

She looked down, probably unable to face the old lady "I...I didn't mean to,"

I felt a bit sorry and decided to contribute to the conversation "She really didn't, it was an accident"

The old lady's glare, which I'm sure if it intensified anymore, would turn someone into stone turned to me "I don't really care whether it was an accident or not, what I do care about is that my jumbo jar has been tampered with and is now unsellable." She said with venom in her voice

The same girl who had been glaring at me and trying to get on my nerves not too long ago shot me a grateful look which in some odd way made getting the 'glare of doom' a bit more bearable.

"Both of you come with me," Ise-san (the old lady) said a bit calmer now.

"Wait! Me?" I exclaimed, "I didn't do anything."

"You stood here while she tampered with the jar; accept your just punishment or I will make sure it's 10 times worse"

I shrugged, I figured it would be better to accept my punishment than to defy the old lady.

We both followed her to a little shack at the back of stall. She opened the door to reveal a messy kitchen with plates stacked high and random stains coationg the walls and floor.

"Um, obaa-san, I'll pay you back next week, with interest" Kurosaki offered.

"Of course, though no interest is needed. I actually needed the money this week to buy my son a lovely gift for him and his wife-to-be."

"I didn't know that, I'm sorry," Kurosaki said, it was clear on her face that she was genuinely sorry.

The old lady's eyes softened for a moment but then reverted back in an instant "Okay, but in the mean time, I want both of you to clean this mess up" A guilty smile flickered on her face "I was experimenting yesterday, I will be back in an hour, I need to pick up groceries, all the supplies you'll need are in the drawers" Saying so, she quickly departed shutting the door behind her, giving us no time to protest.

"Where do we start?" I asked, as Kurosaki took out some damp rags from a drawer.

"What about the counters?" she suggested, throwing me a rag which I caught with ease.

"Sure, you take the left, I'll take the right." I said, making my way to the right side of the room.

As we cleaned a not comfortable yet not uncomfortable silence fell between us. Suddenly it was broken by a loud sigh from Kurosaki. I turned to her questioningly. She let out another sigh.

"What is it?" I asked.

She let out one moe sight "It really isn't easy saying this to a guy I abhorred 10 minutes ago but thanks for intervening and enduring obaa-san's 'Medusa's glare' earlier."

"It's okay," I said, smiling. I was one of those people who forgave easily and plus it admirable of her to thank me, knowing that I knew that she didn't exactly like me considering she made it quite clear, to say the least. "Think of it as repayment for making you lose your bet."

Her eyes widened "Who told you about that?" she asked.

"Zaizen, I was curious, after all it's not every day a junior I have never talked to before has disliked me so,"

"Oh" she muttered, having the decency to blush " Sorry about that, but it was the first bet I've lost a bet."

"I heard," I said "That's a pretty impressive record."

"An impressive record you broke," she said galring at me, but this time in a more playful manner. "You know to make up for that, it'll take more than this," she said gesturing to our current circumstances.

"Is that so?" I asked sceptically "I thought intervening in that conversation was more than enough."

Kurosaki grinned "You thought wrong."

I couldn't help but grin back, grins are contagious after all. "Will, treating you to an ice cream as well be enough for making you endure such a horrible tragedy" I asked mock-seriously.

She put a finger to her chin thoughtfully "I suppose that'll do" she said. "But first let's get this place cleaned up."

After we did the counters, she moved to the sink stacked high with different utensils while I started cleaning the walls which were splattered with random ingredients. \

"You know what would really fun right now" Kurosaki said, turning to me playful grin on her face as she washed a badly burned pot.

"What?" I asked.

"Having a battle, a kitchen battle, I mean" she said flicking some soap suds at me.

I grinned "Sounds like a great idea, but Ise-san, or as you call her obaa-san would kill us."

Her gaze flickered to her wrist "Come on, she won't be back for at least more than hour."

"You know you're not wearing a watch, right." I pointed out.

She stuck out her tongue at me. "I know even without a watch, or are you just chicken or afraid of ruining your carefully set hair." She said tauntingly.

"My hair is naturally like this," I said defensively running a hand through my curly hair. "And calling someone a chicken is a lame way to get them to fight."

"Whatever chicken" she said, going back to scrubbing the pot.

I continued doing my work when a small thought entered my head 'Come on Senri, how bad would a little battle be'

"No" I muttered to myself sternly, "Not going to do it" But as usual the annoying small voice in my head won. Grabbing a small amount of flour in my hands, I stealthily made my way to wear she was standing and rubbed the flour in my hands all over her hair.

The reaction was instantaneous. She turned around, hands covered with soap suds donning a smirk "I knew you'd come around" she said as she grabbed some batter from one of the bowls and smeared it all over my hair.

"Oh no, you didn't" I said warningly grabbing some more flour. She immediately began running and stuck her tongue out "Catch me if you can" she said tauntingly as she ran around the room.

I smirked, and took off running after her. In a chase that I'm pretty sure lasted 5 minutes which involved random things being thrown at me, I finally caught her and managed to coat her face with flour.

"I give up, I give up" she said panting pulling away from me.

I grinned "Victory" I declared triumphantly.

Suddenly, I heard a sharp intake of breath from Kurosaki. I turned to her, she had turned as white as a sheet.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, I can see obaa-san, she's about 20 minutes away considering her speed." She said softly.

My eyes widened, if Ise-san came in to see the place, well not exactly spick and span, god knows what she would do.

"Hurry, we have work to do." I said quickly rushing to resume my earlier job. Out of the corner of eye, I noticed Kurosaki cleaning the utensils at supersonic speed, her face was a complete amsk of utter concentration complete with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth which I found rather endearing.

After I finished the walls, I started to sweep the floor while Kurosaki mopped up any stains on the floor. After that we both started to put random jars and containers into the shelves and drawers. Just as we finished, Ise-san walked in. She quickly scanned the room with her eyes looking for any faults. Apparently finding none, she gave us a quick nod "Good, you're free to go now"

As we walked out I turned to Kurosaki "Hey, do you want to go get that ice-cream now?"

She laughed "My, aren't we eager?" she said teasingly, then added "I'd like to but I have to go and get these groceries back to my mum and you probably have to go give yours her bottle of preserve. What about in the afternoon?"

I nodded "Sure, just meet me in front of the library." I called out as she started walking away.

She turned back "Sure, it's a date."

I grinned, though I knew okaa-san would scold me for being late and I had a pile of homework which I was planning to do in this morning waiting for me, it somehow felt worth it.

AN: Hey! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Next update will be soon :D Please REVIEW!

IceCrystal