And thus Kagami found himself in his own kitchen teaching Tendou Souji, the self proclaimed Man Who Walked Heaven's Path, how to prepare apple pie the way Mom used to make.

To say the least, he'd been quite nervous. He'd even turned the radio by the window on to alleviate some of the somewhat tense atmosphere. He hadn't known Tendou for that long and to be honest; ever since Yaguruma-san had gotten back he'd attempted to break ties with the man. For his own sake, of course. Tendou was what ZECT considered a loose canon and, like Yaguruma-san said, if everyone wasn't working together then "Perfect Harmony" couldn't be achieved. After spending so much time feeling unhelpful whenever Kabuto was on the scene it had been…pretty refreshing to have been told that his cooperation was important to someone.

Though, even as he started to follow Yaguruma as his subordinate, he hadn't found what he had been looking for. And it was becoming more and more apparent that Yaguruma was very serious about maintaining the perfect harmony of his group; even if that meant…doing away with individuals who weren't team players. He seemed very different from the Yaguruma Sou he'd been acquainted with when he'd first joined ZECT. But then, he hadn't really known the man, personally.

Kagami had been surprised that Yaguruma had even recalled him; he'd just been one in a possible hundred of candidates to work at ZECT and he hadn't even had what it took to be a soldier; which was the group Yaguruma would have more likely to have gotten friendly with. But then, it was just like his personality to cherish every member he met at least to know their names. Or maybe Kagami had stood out?

He snorted as he scrubbed at a dusty patch on one of the apples. The only way he'd stood out during recruitment was that, after Kagami had found out he was in the wrong paperwork line and ran at a panicked pace to the right on across the building, he'd bumped into a senior officer whose inevitable fall had led to several fellow rookies, a passing food cart, two secretaries and a nice young couple who hadn't even been in the building at the time, to topple over in a semi-horrific domino effect. He shook his head ruefully. That…had been an awkward way to introduce himself to Tadokoro-san.

Actually, that had been the first time he'd met Yaguruma Sou, as well. He'd had helped several people up and, instead of chastising Kagami heavily, had warmly patted his back and said that even when accidents happened, everything could be recovered quickly if everyone worked together. Kagami had carried this thought throughout the rest of his training as a member of ZECT. So, of course Kagami had recognized Yaguruma as soon as Zebee's helmet came off.

Yaguruma had always been the role model all the recruiters had paraded as an example of the perfect ZECT soldier: Intelligent, skilled, compassionate but strong-willed; a natural born leader.

Come to think of it, the man drying apples carefully next to him would probably be more than welcomed at ZECT, if he ever got over his predilection of being a "lone warrior type". Kagami'd never admit it aloud but…a part of him somewhat admired Tendou for his drive. It was rare these days for a person to have so much confidence that he never seemed to doubt any move he ever made. He sighed. If he worked hard…would he ever be like Yaguruma or Tendou?

"You're pretty noisy while washing apples."

Kagami jerked at the sudden vocal intrusion.

"Ah?"

"First you're laughing then you're heaving sighs. Are you bipolar perhaps?"

"Of course not! I was just…reminiscing."

"..About apples? You really are serious about pie baking."

Kagami gave him an odd look, but was surprised to find that Tendou seemed completely serious. Is that how focused the man was at cooking? Well, he was a really good cook., maybe it really was how that type of person thought. Embarrassed at not really able to come up with a comeback to that, Kagami turned back to washing the apples. Only to huff, annoyed, when he heard what sounded like a breathy chuckle coming from the other man. He had been teasing him!

"Oi! Don't make fun of me in my own kitchen!"

Tendou graced him with one of his half-lidded smiles that suddenly reminded Kagami of the cat Mr. Boots. It was totally not innocent at all! Turning the tap off, he raised one of the knives he was going to cut the apples with and pointed it in Tendou's direction putting on what he called his "I'm a scary person, take me seriously" face. Sure, it'd have had more of an affect if the radio wasn't playing the newest hyper girl pop song, but still.

"Now, look here. This recipe is sacred. It's the best pie ever. Don't bring your…your cheekiness into my kitchen when I'm teaching you to making it!"

Tendou regarded him for about two or three seconds.

"Don't point knives at people." Tendou pushed the blade aside with one finger in a smooth motion before reaching to grab his own knife. He'd insisted on going through every step alongside Kagami. There was a brief silence as both men started to working on their separate stacks of apples. Kagami actually prided himself on being pretty trained when it came to peeling apples and he felt considerably cheered to find, when he glanced over at Tendou, that they were peeling at the same pace. He'd probably lose some ground when the actual slicing and dicing happened (the things Tendou could do to a fish in 15 seconds) but it was kind of ego-boosting to be equals with him here.