AN: So this one's a little sweeter, wherein it's Tatsumi x Sayo. I always loved the idea for this ship as soon as Sayo was introduced, so I figured why not make it a part of my drabble series? Anyway, please read and review. It makes my day. :)

Drabble 2: Cooking with Love

"Oh, gods... " Sayo muttered as her cake exploded in the oven. It was just a simple chocolate cake, nothing complicated or extraordinary. But from the extraordinary explosion, Night Raid's oven was 'caked' in a sweet, brown, sustenance. This was the fourth attempt at baking a cake, and while she never got as far to place the cake in the oven, she failed nonetheless. She walked over to the sink and cleansed her hands of the chocolate batter staining them. As she turned to wipe her hands on a towel, she felt two lean, strong arms wrap around her torso and squeeze.

"!"

Tatsumi nuzzled the side of his head into Sayo's long, straight hair. She smiled at the action. Recently, he'd become even more physically close to Sayo. Maybe the barrier of childhood awkwardness was gone, finally. Nothing was more awkward in a relationship between two childhood friends than the proverbial barrier of childhood awkwardness. Sayo leaned back and let Tatsumi hold her for a second before stepping away to begin the dishes.

"Whatcha doing? Oh, let me help too," Tatsumi remarked. He grabbed a dishtowel and awaited Sayo to begin washing dishes. Before she even begun filling the sink, even. My goodness, he was so eager to help Night Raid, not just her in particular. She recalled the simple tasks that he sighed at when they still lived at their village. He'd be hesitant to even help with sweeping the floors or chopping firewood, but now he wanted to help everyone in sight. What changed him?

"What were you up to, Sy?"

Dammit.

The one question she didn't want to answer. She was fine answering any other inquiry except that one. Her intention was to bake Tatsumi a cake, even though she was notoriously bad at cooking anything. That job had always fallen to Tatsumi, and while he allowed Sayo and Ieyasu to help out, he'd never actually let them touch the food he was making. There wasn't even any special occasion; she just wanted to surprise her wonderful boyfriend that she'd acquired not long ago. She smiled. The "Legend of Zelda" chest-opening tune riddled her brain as she spoke the words "that she'd acquired" inside her mind.

"I, um, uh...I want to practice my cooking skills?" she meagerly replied.

Tatsumi clicked his tongue a couple times and smiled. He dried off the first dish Sayo handed to him as he spoke with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Sayo, you know a master tactician has to be unreadable."

"Wh-what? I am!" she indignantly responded. In truth, Sayo had never been good at lying. Lubbock still hadn't taught her how to effectively lie, and Tatsumi realized this. That, or because they'd known each other practically since they were born. Sayo assumed it was either/or, if not entirely both.

"I'm just a swordsman. If a swordsman can read you that quickly, think how quickly another tactician could read you," he said as he poked Sayo's rib cage playfully. "You were never good at lying, Sy-chan."

"... pfft… I wanted to bake you a cake to surprise you. After all, you've done so much for me. You've been so kind and caring, unlike your village-self…" she stopped herself with a cough before continuing. "... anyways, I, uh, take great pride in being your girlfriend and I wanted to give you something."

"Aw, Sy-chan. You've already done that enough. You gave me your heart, and that's honestly all I could have asked from you." Tatsumi set the dishtowel down and walked over to Sayo, and looked into her eyes. Emerald-green met stone-grey, with Tatsumi's eyes intense and Sayo's eyes embarrassed. She loved it when Tatsumi gazed into her eyes like this, but she became extremely, hopeless shy whenever he performed the action.

Tatsumi had never been excessively bold; he usually was very submissive. Meaning is, he'd usually let someone else take the initiative. What he did next shocked her. He leaned forward and kissed the bridge on Sayo's nose. She let out a little gasp and shook slightly, not expecting the action.

"If you wanted to make a cake, Sayo, you should have just asked me and I would have helped you," he said while retrieving the mixing bowl. He looked up and smiled while asking, "Where'd you put the egg-beater, you little scatterbrain?" He topped off the derogatory remark with a small wink.

Her heart flipped. He'd changed so much, from childhood friend to lifelong partner. She thought the change was as beautiful as it was cute.

"I put it in the utensils-drawer," she replied.

"Good," he said as he found it. "Let's get started, then. First and foremost, the last thing you want to do is add too much baking soda…"

AN: Hope you liked it. :)