To Capture Emotion
Chapter 8
Unknown Intentions
Disclaimer - I don't own anything from CLAMP or anything else.
----------------------------
----------------------------
Watanuki was angry at Yuuko.
That was a normal occurence, but today Watanuki was very angry at Yuuko.
Correction, even that is a normal occurence. Watanuki was very, very, very angry at Yuuko.
...Today, Watanuki was so angry he thought that he should have stopped doing Yuuko's orders, just to rebel against her.
--Deadly Pause--
...Or maybe not.
The point was that Watanuki was mad at Yuuko for making him do this modeling buisness. In the past, he could only thing of the unspeakable horrors of having to dress up for Yuuko. He could never look at cat's the same way ever again.
"Well, at least I don't have to pose or anything." Watanuki mumbled, as he kept on continuing with his baking.
------------------------
-------------------------
----------------------
-------------------
----------------------
"Watanuki-kun is doing rather well in front of the camera, isn't he?" Fai said, while taking pictures of the dark haired boy. "Normally, people get nervous in front of the camera. He's acting like he always would." Fai looked over to Tomoyo, who was watching Watanuki make a cake.
"Yes, he has extraordinary talent. Watanuki is the type of person that when it comes to cooking, he would never let anything other than cooking distract his thoughts." Tomoyo smiled. "That's why I recruited him for Daidouji Corp. I remember the first time I had tasted his cooking, it was wonderous. I still feel so lucky today that we could have such a prodigy like him."
"Hmmm, that always makes me wonder how you do it Tomoyo-chan" Fai said, as he kept on taking pictures.
"Do what Fai-san?" Tomoyo asked innocently.
"How you have all these people in your company, it's no wonder why Daidouji Corp, is one of the top businesses in Japan. I find it quite extraordinary that you convinced so many talented people to come into this company. It must have been hard; I mean Kurorin, Sakura-chan, Syaoran-kun, Watanuki-kun, Yuuko... It's all amazing." While Fai talked on, Tomoyo showed no change of emotion, only keeping a smile on her face. "Well, actually, since you are the next heir, it shouldn't be so much of a surprise, right?" Fai stopped taking pictures, as Watanuki finished his cake. "I wonder... Just how do you do it?"
Tomoyo kept smiling and her only reply was, "That's a secret."
------------------
--------------------
------------------
--------------------
-------------------
"Watanuki-kun!" Wiping his brow, he turned around from his finished cake to the voice calling out to him. "Hi this Kumiko Aoki! You can call me Kumi-chan! I am here to interview you for the company magazine that is being published!" She smiled enthusiastically, at her new job as a reporter.
"So let's get this interview started! What may I ask, is that fabulous cake behind you?" She gestured to the cake on the counter.
Watanuki started to explain, "Well, this cake is a milk chocolate, ganache cake with strawberries."
She stared closely at the cake, "Ah, I could tell it was chocolate, but what makes it 'ganache'?"
"Ganache means a cream, filling, or topping. Essentially it means that the cake is chocolate, while the filling, and the top layer of frosting is a thick chocolate cream. The strawberries are just decorations. As you can see, I put a very thick layer of the ganache on, to fit the strawberries on. On the sides are strawberries cut in half, placed into the chocolate. On the top the strawberries are also cut in half, to form layers of strawberries in a large flower." Watanuki gestured to each part of the cake, with his explanation.
"Wow! So is this cake really hard to make? You made it look so beautiful!" Kumi jotted down some os the details of what Watanuki said, for the article.
"Actually the cake itself is quite simple, and I would say the decorations aren't very hard either. The most important thing in this cake is the chocolate."
"The chocolate?"
"Yes, the chocolate is used in the cake, so it must have a solid, not-to-sweet flavor. The chocolate for the ganache, should be sweet, rich, and thick so that the strawberries are held in place and so is contrasts with the cake. It's very essential, or the cake will be rather plain." Watanuki started to take a knife and slicing the cake. He handed a slice to Kumi.
"Ah! It's delicious! Well, after your done serving why don't we sit down to talk about your job here at Daidouji Corp."
Watanuki sighed, and thought, I highly doubt anyone's going to get any cake besides you and another person...
-------------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------
----------------------
--------------------------------
"It's sooooooo good." Yuuko sighed in delight, as she sampled the cake Watanuki baked. "I am just so glad he gave me this whole cake willingly!" She looked fondly at the rather large chocolate cake on the table. "It's amazing I don't have to blackmail him now to give me cake."
-------------------------------
-----------------------
------------------------
-------------------------
------------------------------
Watanuki sat in a chair opposed to Kumi, as she set up a tap recorder. "You don't mind if I use this do you Watanuki-kun?" She gestured to the recorder.
"Not at all."
"Let's get started then!"
"Watanuki-kun what started your career as a chef?"
Watanuki didn't need any time to think about it before he replied with a simple answer, "When I started working for Daidouji Corporations."
"So, it's all thanks to the company that your famous now?"
"Yes." Watanuki didn't spare any emotion for the conversation.
"It must have been amazing, to have been working for such a big company at a young age. You joined two years ago I believe, when you were 17?"
"I have been working for two years now, but I don't think that working for the company is that great." Watanuki pushed up his glasses, wishing that the interview would soon end. All these questions are pointless, if it wasn't for the fact that is was required for us, then I would have not done anything, Watanuki thought.
"Eh? Then why did you join Watanuki-kun?"
"Well, you see I was convinced by Tomoyo-san to come and work for the company."
"Woah, then you were scouted by the Daidouji heiress herself! That is amazing."
Pausing, Watanuki looked over at the side pristine white walls of the room, thinking silently, while Kumi scribbled some of the important facts down. That is strange, it did seem like Tomyo-san scouted me... But how could she have known about me? It's impossible. He thought to himself. But what came out of his mouth next disagreed with that last thought. "Kumi-san,"
"You can call me Kumi-chan."
"I believe that Tomoyo-san is a very intelligent person. When she came to the store I was working at, she had requested a personal meeting with Yuuko-san. She acted formal, as if a customer, but in fact, I do think that they had already known each other before hand. It was strange, because Tomyo-san had come at noon, when everyone in the shop eats lunch. Normally, a person would come back later, or could plan a meeting sometime that would not disturb a store manager, but Tomyo-san did. I always make the meals, so when she stayed for lunch, she had tried some of my cuisine and enjoyed it. Tomyo-san asked me to be in the company; I agreed and the rest is already known."
"That is SO cool! I have to write all of that down! Let me listen to that again." Kumi, took the tape recorder an rewinded to listen again. But by that time, Watanuki was already in his own thoughts.
Well, it could have been a coincidence right? I mean, Tomoyo-san must have been busy and the only time she could come was at lunch. Plus she knows Yuuko-san, that should make everything less suspicious, because Yuuko-san is such a revered psycologist. I believe that at the time the Daidouji Corporation was expanding it's fields in medical study at that time, so it shouldn't have been any surprise to go to Yuuko-san. Watanuki's mind flashed back to that ever so knowing smile of Tomoyo's. Still the situation was strange.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Flashback
A 17 year old Watanuki was sweeping the front of the store when a shrill voice called out to him. "Hey Watanuki-chan!" Come in here and make us lunch, it's already 12!"
"I'm coming, don't rush me!" He yelled back in frustration, over being tormented by the young, but rather intelligent helpers of Yuuko: Maru and Moro. Watanuki stalked back into the store, but not before noticing a long haired girl in a school outfit staring into the store.
------------------------
---------------------------
---------------------------
------------------------
----------------------
"Watanuki! Are you done yet? "Both Maru and Moro called into the kitchen at the same time.
"Almost! Be patient!." Watanuki yelled back at them, while they scampered off giggling about how grumpy Watanuki was everyday.
Keeping to his cooking, he put the finishing touches on his meal. Watching his hands, he meticulously put small touches of garnish or decoration here and there to make it look perfect. With experienced hands, Watanuki balanced the trays of food, while carrying the trays to the dining table in the building, he noticed that the same girl was there too.
Yuuko noticed his surprise and said, "This girl is going to join us for lunch today Watanuki. I hope you have prepared enough for one more person."
"Yes I did." Watanuki replied obidiently. Normally he would stay quiet and polite in front of patients and customers, but he couldn't help, but stare at the girl. She must still be in junior high, with that uniform. I'd recognize that uniform anywhere, that uniform are for the elite of this age. Normally, al the kids there are on part scholarships, because it attracts so many talented people. Watanuki couldn't help, but think. The thing is, why is she here? She's younger than me, yet is associating with Yuuko-san as if they are acquaintances. Watanuki quickly glanced at Yuuko. By the way Yuuko is acting, she doesn't seem o be a patient from the past, or a customer.
"So, Tomoyo-chan, what do we owe the pleasure of this visit? You must be busy with school, and the buissness at the corporation." Yuuko asked. Holy... Watanuki eyes grew wide, while setting out the last food. This girl is the heir to Daidouji Corporation, Tomoyo Daidouji! Watanuki stared at the dark-purple haired girl next to him as he sat down at the table with everyone else.
"I wanted to visit and see how you were doing. Are in good health?" Tomoyo politely asked, while at the same time set a napkin on her lap.
"Yes, I am doing perfectly fine." Yuuko watched the young girl. Watanuki was surprised at what simple conversations the two were having. My boss, Yuuko-san and the heir to probably Japan's largest industrial company... What has the world come to... I can imagine Yuuko-san now with power bigger than Daidouji Corp. He sat dazed in his seat, by the picture of Yuuko ruling all of Japan, or even the world from her throne! Watanuki was woken out of his nightmare, when Tomoyo presented an interesting conversation topic to him.
"You are Watanuki-san, am I correct." She asked.
"Yes, I am Kimihiro Watanuki, it's a pleasure to meet you Tomoyo-san." He replied.
"It's a pleasure to meet you two Watanuki-san. I must admit that the food you have made is quite a masterpiece. Spring rolls as an appetizer, lemon chicken over wild rice as a main course, and fresh fruit tarts as dessert, not to mention that the cocktails you have made are such a nice color." Tomoyo smiled at Watanuki, after complimenting his cooking abilities.
"Thank you, but I'm not really as talented as you say Tomoyo-san. The spring rolls were simple, I used normal ingredients such as bean sprouts, black mushrooms, bamboo shoots, soy sauce, rice rolls, as the wrappers. Lemon chicken is a very common main dish, and it known to go over wild rice the best. Fruit tarts are some of the easiest desserts to make, the only thing you have to bake is the crust, and the cocktails are just juice. I did nothing out of the ordinary."
Despite Watanuki and his words, Tomoyo pressed on. "But the spring rolls are so crunchy after being fried, but they are not greasy at all. The lemon chicken tastes tart throughout the whole entire meat, while the rice is sweeter. The fruit tarts are so nice and light, yet they are not overly sweet with sugar. The cocktail is a beautiful color, and the two separating lines make it exotic. Could you tell me how you did this?"
This girl is rather sharp to notice these things. Watanuki thought, but he replied all the same. "The spring rolls are like that, because I had basted the outside with egg, but baked them instead of frying them. The chicken is tart, because I soaked the meat first in the juice from the rinds before letting it dry, and cooking it. The wild rice, I added the lemon juice to instead. For the fruit tarts I used milk, with sugar to make a cream and the fruit I only glazed with a semi-sweet fruit gelatin instead of sugar or honey. The cocktail is called a Light Seabreeze, containing 4 shots of cranberry juice and 2 shots grapefruit juice. I shook these together, before placing them in the glasses. The cranberry juice naturally sank to the bottom of the glass, creating the layer of pale peach and pink red you see here. It is actually quite simple really."
Tomoyo and Watanuki, kept on talking about the finer aspects of cooking. Tomoyo complimented, while Watanuki humbled himself. But throughout the whole thing, Yuuko was only watching with a small smirk on her face.
End Flashback
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Watanuki's face was screwed up in concentration, remembering the thought from a couple of years ago, when Tomoyo and him had first met. Now that he thought about it, Yuuko didn't utter a single word through the whole conversation. Not only that, she seemed to expect this type of reaction from Tomoyo, and himself. It was complicated, but Tomoyo had somehow played a part in the meeting, as well. An heir of a large company, just "visiting" an old friend, and ending up hiring a chef marked up later as a prodigy? That was all too much of a coincidence. I'm sure I can find some more clues later. Watanuki sighed infrustration as he tried to relax. Yuuko-san is going to be interviewed later. I can find out more about this at her turn.
---------------------------------
-----------------------------
There is not much of Yuuko, although she appeared already, but she will show up a lot more in the next few chapters! So, just what is this mysterious relationship Tomoyo has with everyone? What will happen now that Yuuko and Watanuki and models? Just when is this fic ever going to get to the Fai/Yuuko goodness??!??!
IF YOU ARE WAITING FOR ANOTHER CHAPTER, PLEASE READ THIS: Well, due to Thanksgiving, I won't be able to do another chapter. Next week, I'll be away at another's house, and pobably won't be able to update. I'll try to do a Thanksgiving fic though.
Well, read, review, add comments, and the chapters will keep on coming.