Author's Notes: I have some notes at the end of this chapter, too, so I won't go on for too long, but… basically, those of you who have read my profile know that I planned a double-chapter release for Valentine's Day. That plan was foiled by faulty school servers. Now I'm releasing a single chapter quite a while after the fact, but it's pretty long so hopefully you'll be satisfied with it. I also have two other chapters VERY close to completion, so next week or thereabouts, there might be a double-release after all.
So, yes. In a way, this is another apology for procrastinating. I didn't mean to make you wait, but after the servers got back up I was suddenly swamped with last-minute preparations for my Sweet 16, which is today. It feels weird that I'm that old… hahha. Anyway, please enjoy this chapter! (bows)
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The following morning, Kasanoda came dutifully to check on the bedridden Tetsuya. He meant to ask him how he was feeling, but Tetsuya's sleeping face looked so peaceful that Kasanoda didn't dare to wake him.
"Itekimasu," he said quietly, and turned to leave. The slightest sound, though, stopped him in his tracks. Just a soft rustling of sheets.
"Waka?" Tetsuya's normally clear voice was dusted with grogginess. When Kasanoda turned, Tetsuya's eyes were still closed, so it was hard to tell whether or not he was merely speaking out in his sleep.
"Tetsuya?" he answered tentatively.
"Iterasshai," Tetsuya mumbled.
"Ah. Right."
"Waka, wait…"
"Eh?"
"One more thing."
"Oh, uh… yes?"
"If I'm not feeling better," Tetsuya opened his eyes half-way and propped himself up on one elbow, "will you be able to get dinner for yourself? You know I wouldn't ask, except…" His smile was a bit weak, but his usual sincerity was just as substantial as ever. Kasanoda was slightly taken aback. Of course, if Tetsuya had forced himself to make an entire meal while running a fever the night before, he'd try to do it again unless his condition had gotten worse. For him to request such a thing, it must be serious. Although Kasanoda was uncertain about his ability to cook a meal for himself, he thought it best to let the half-asleep Cinderella rest at ease.
"Right, sure. I can manage it by myself." His voice only shook slightly with worry for his loyal companion, but inside, the anxiety was eating away at him.
Tetsuya made a small noise, like "Nn," but he could no longer keep himself awake. He slid back down to let his head rest on the pillow once more, and was asleep again before Kasanoda left the room.
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"Please, I need your help!" Kasanoda bowed low, forehead nearly touching the floor.
"Ah," Haruhi said, "it's alright; get up. Of course I can help." She extended her hand to help Kasanoda up, and smiled serenely at him. "Although, you know… it's easy to buy pre-made dinners if you don't want to go to the trouble."
"N-no, I…" Kasanoda blushed deeply. "I've always wanted to try cooking. I've never really had a chance to, other than making cakes with you guys."
Haruhi reflected on that occasion a bit. "Oh, that's right. You seemed to be having a lot of fun that day. So, you're in to things like cooking, Casanova?"
He nodded. "I don't know if Tetsuya will feel up to eating, though." He quickly evaded the topic of his interests to avoid potential embarrassment. It wouldn't be good if Haruhi knew he was interested in flower arrangement and sewing, too.
Haruhi gave him an encouraging look. "It's okay. We'll make something that will be easy on Tetsuya-san's stomach," she said decisively.
Kasanoda nodded. "If it's not too much trouble, we can go together after school and get started right away."
"Right. That would be best."
On the other side of the room, Tamaki's eyes darkened. "Kyouya. Please arrange for after school transportation for everyone in the club, excepting Haruhi."
"Is it even worth it to ask why?" Kyouya's eyebrows were raised in question.
"Our precious daughter is being lured into the den of the yakuza!" Tamaki whispered dramatically.
"Right." Kyouya's tone was skeptical, but he flipped open his cellphone all the same.
It was already shaping up to be an interesting afternoon.
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"I see," Haruhi muttered contemplatively, "so Tetsuya-san likes bento. You're really observant to notice that just based on a story he told about his childhood. You're the kind of person who really cares about others, huh?"
Kasanoda scuffled his feet a bit. Bashfully, he spoke up. "Not really. I just…"
"Sorry to interrupt you," Haruhi said suddenly, stopping in her tracks. "Have you… Do you remember seeing that car before?" She pointed to a dark blue, new-looking sports car just as it rounded the corner of the block and disappeared.
Kasanoda shook his head. "I hadn't noticed."
"It looks like a pretty nice car compared to what you usually see in this area, and I swear I've seen the same one pass by at least four times now. I think either they're lost, or—" Her expression was hard to read as she abruptly cut off her sentence.
"…Or we're being followed," Kasanoda finished for her.
"Probably not, right?" It was clear that she was seeking reassurance.
"Of course. It's not likely." Kasanoda racked his mind for some reason he might be followed. The Sendo clan…? No. Tetsuya had given them quite a scare the last time they dared to show their faces, and there was no way they could know his current condition… right? He shivered slightly. They would have had to be watching them pretty closely to have that kind of information. Tetsuya hadn't been sick for long. It struck him, then, that this could have been their doing. It wouldn't be beyond the Sendo clan to poison someone's food to open an opportunity for themselves. Then again, they probably thought too highly of Tetsuya to do anything harmful to him. Kasanoda's mind was going wild, and he tried to push the ominous fantasies away.
Haruhi was giving him a look of concealed worry. For her sake, if nothing else, he had to be confident. He'd vowed to be a friend to her, and friends don't give friends reason to make such a desperate face.
"Rather, it's less than not likely. It's not possible." Kasanoda laughed heartily, and Haruhi's smile returned.
"We're almost there, anyway," Haruhi let him know. "You can see it from here." She gestured the Marutomi market that was little more that two blocks ahead.
Haruhi picked up an apple and paused, looking over her shoulder.
"Is something wrong?"
Haruhi shook her head. "Déjà vu," she muttered. She seemed a bit distracted. "I was here before once, and I was followed by…" She trailed off, and then suddenly looked over her shoulder. Not seeing what she expected to, Haruhi sighed and relaxed her shoulders.
"Did you say you were followed? When? Who followed you?"
Again, she shook her head. "It's not that. What I meant to say is, I saw Tetsuya-san here once." She smiled. "I'm not so sure he recognized me, though; I was wearing one of the outfits my dad got for me."
"You dad…? Huh?"
"Oh, right. You've probably only seen me in my uniform, too. It's just that my dad likes me to wear things that are…" she paused, trying to think of an appropriate word. "Things that are kind of girly."
Kasanoda's cheeks colored a bit. He wanted to see that.
Haruhi was already off on another tangent, though. "This one's good," she said, turning a small apple over in her hand.
"How can you tell?"
Haruhi seemed eager to shed light on the subject. "First, the weight. You can pretty much estimate how dense and heavy an apple should feel by its size. It should also be firm. If it gives to your touch, it's no good. Watch for marks, too. The store will polish the apples to make them look nice even if they're not, so you have to make sure there are no marks or bruises. The scent is a good indicator, too. If it's old they'll wax it even more so people will still buy it, so if you can't smell the apple's scent over the wax, then it's no good anymore. Watch the stem, too. If it's withered or it's been pulled off, the apple is probably old." Realizing how long she'd been going on, Haruhi blushed and went quiet.
Kasanoda smiled, though. "And if it's got a hole in it, that means it's ripe and the worm already left," he joked.
Haruhi giggled good-naturedly.
Tamaki, who was hiding behind a magazine display, was about to burst. "Haruh—"
Hikaru and Kaoru each slapped a hand over Tamaki's mouth. "Be quiet! Won't Haruhi be angry with you if she discovers you've followed her? Well, won't she?!"
Tamaki lowered his eyes and nodded slowly. The twins removed their hands and stared at him. "My daughter is being lured in by the false charm of a yakuza… and I can't do anything but stand by and watch…" Tears welled up in Tamaki's eyes as he chattered on childishly. The twins scolded him as Kyouya stood back with a This-is-a-Waste-of-Time look on his face. Hunny had long since dragged Mori off to another aisle to look at a selection of particularly colorful fruit snacks.
"It'll be a miracle if we get out of here without you guys giving yourselves away," Kyouya muttered.
But somehow, they did.
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The group crouched outside as Haruhi and Kasanoda arrived at the Kasanoda house. Surprisingly, there were many people there to greet their master as he returned home with a shopping bag in either hand. There were too many of them for the remainder of the club to follow unnoticed, so they were simply left behind to watch.
"Are you satisfied yet?" Kyouya said, wondering if he was being too optimistic. "There's no way we can get in there; Kasanoda-kun obviously has too many men that would find us immediately suspicious."
Tamaki looked at him with pleading eyes. "There has to be a way."
"There isn't. I'm going home."
By some twist of shifting moods and fate, Hunny and Mori bowed out as well.
"I trust you can arrange for your own transportation when you decide to leave," Kyouya said as he climbed into the car. Tamaki nodded weakly but continued to watch like a hawk for some opening to get inside.
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"Try to cut as thin as you can, but get all the skin off," Haruhi advised as Kasanoda held a knife against a bright apple awkwardly. "It's much easier to digest that way." She was preparing a rectangular frying pan on the stove. She turned on medium heat and peeked through some cabinets. "Oh! I didn't know if you had dashi, so I bought some, but this stuff is better. It's expensive though. I'll bring the stuff we bought home."
"Sure," Kasanoda said, trying to focus on the apple he was butchering. He'd never heard Haruhi so talkative before. I guess she has a side like this to her, too.
Haruhi speedily went about her work, and before Kasanoda had finished peeling his second apple, she had beaten some eggs and mixed them in with the dashi, some soy sauce, and some kind of clear liquid that came in an oddly-shaped glass bottle. When she noticed Kasanoda's less-than-competent work on the apples, she choked back a laugh and asked him if he wanted to watch her and learn how to make tamagoyaki.
Kasanoda thought the precise and able way Haruhi rolled the egg was fascinating to watch.
Haruhi took it upon herself to finish peeling and slicing the apples, and Kasanoda busied himself making instant miso soup. When all of that was done and half of it was packed neatly into a light blue bento box, Kasanoda thought the task was done, but Haruhi pulled out a box of yellow cake mix.
"I'll make a lemon sauce to put over the top," Haruhi said. "I made it once before for my dad's birthday. It came out really well."
Kasanoda hadn't noticed Haruhi pulling this box off of the shelf. He gave her an awkward smile and rolled up his sleeves to get back to work.
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"Tetsuya?"
"Waka?"
Surprisingly, Tetsuya was wide awake when Kasanoda entered.
"I didn't wake you?"
"No. For some reason, I suddenly woke up a little while ago. Is someone else here, Waka? I thought I hear voices."
Kasanoda's pace quickened a bit for a reason he couldn't quite pinpoint. "Yeah, a friend… er… Fujioka Haruhi came to help me cook. I don't really know much, so…" he was pretty near to rubbing the back of his neck raw in his embarrassment.
"Ah, I see." That name still brought an inevitable pang into Tetsuya's heart, but he did his best to shake it off. Kasanoda had something behind his back. Curiously, he pointed to it. "Uh, Waka, that…"
"Oh! Right." Kasanoda had almost forgotten what he came in the room for in the first place. He held out the bento with both hands and lowered his head. "I'm probably no good at cooking, but you should eat something, to er… get back your strength and…" he trailed off, not knowing exactly what to say.
Tetsuya covered his mouth with one thin hand and giggled. "You sound like a schoolgirl offering lunch to the boy she likes," he said honestly, although he wondered if he ought to have said it when he saw the look on Kasanoda's face. Taking the offering, Tetsuya composed himself and smiled. "Thanks for the trouble. I don't know if you knew this, but I love bento." It was Tetsuya's turn to blush as he said those words softly. "Come to think of it, I'm sure you did know. Thank you, Waka."
Kasanoda had arranged it himself with some instruction for Haruhi, so the arrangement of the food was ambitious, but a bit messy. There were the peeled apples and bananas that had been sectioned and sliced around the edges. Half of the tamagoyaki was cooked to perfection and half of it was burned a bit—Haruhi's and Kasanoda's work, respectively. There were meat balls, too—seasoned with persil, Tetsuya noticed. Kasanoda had obviously paid more attention when Tetsuya was cooking than he'd thought. The cake was a surprise. It looked like something he'd been served at a restaurant a long time ago.
"There's miso, too, and I can make tea… I'll have to go back and get it, though." Kasanoda looked uncertain in the lasting silence.
Tetsuya's eyes were shining. He kept his head low to disguise the fact that they were brimming with tears. Finally, Tetsuya nodded and pulled together some words. "Okay. There's some oolong on the third shelf in the pantry. To the left."
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Meanwhile, Haruhi portioned out the remaining food to set the table. She was just reflecting on the elegance of a western-style dining room when a small noise stopped her in her tracks.
"Sh—don't giv—stop!"
Oh, please, Haruhi begged. Don't let those voices be who I think they are. She kept trying to deny the familiarity of what she'd heard, but to no avail. When she heard some shifting and rustling, she followed the noise to the window and looked out. Seeing nothing, she looked down.
"Kaoru?! Hikaru?! Senpai?!" Haruhi was in disbelief. "I never thought you guys would stoop so low," she whispered furiously.
"Haruhi!" Tamaki cried out a little too loudly.
"Shh!" Haruhi warned frantically. "If you leave now, I'll forget this ever happened. If you don't, I won't forgive you." Haruhi winced internally at her own words and prayed that the twins wouldn't notice how put-on they were. No matter what, this called for drastic measures. And sure enough, Tamaki was eating it up. His eyes shone tearfully up at her. "I underst—"
"Haruhi?" Kasanoda's voice. He'd come back to the kitchen to fix the tea and retrieve the soup, only to find Haruhi leaning out of the kitchen window.
She quickly gave the mischievous hosts a final warning look and turned to face him. "Casanova," she answered. "Is Tetsuya-san doing well?"
"Uh, yeah… what were you doing just now?"
"It's nothing. Only, do you think it might rain?"
"Probably not tonight. It may tomorrow."
"Ah, I see. That's good."
"Yeah." Kasanoda scrutinized Haruhi's face for a moment, but there was nothing to be read there. The water in the kettle was already boiling, so he got out the tea leaves Tetsuya had requested.
Haruhi leaned back against the kitchen counter and watched Kasanoda's hands move so much more certainly than when he'd fumbled with the apples. Obviously, he'd served tea before. Often, even. Before long, the scent of the steeping tea overwhelmed the room.
"It's oolong," Haruhi remarked. "I've only had it in bags before."
Kasanoda looked back at her, never having heard this tone of voice before. Somehow, leaning back with the window behind her, she looked very thin. It brought a strange melancholy into Kasanoda's chest. "It's uh… not done steeping yet, but if you can stay for dinner, we can have some," he offered.
Haruhi put her hands out in front of her and shook her head. "Oh no, I've imposed on you for too long. It's getting late, so I should head back."
"Ah," Kasanoda said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "Then, will you at least take some food home with you?"
Haruhi accepted politely. It looks like things will turn out okay after all, she thought, relieved. I'll just get out of here quickly and take those morons with me before—
"Waka!" The voices of two of Kasanoda's men came from outside and were accompanied by a few strangled cries. "We've discovered intruders trespassing outside your quarters. Requesting permission to enter!"
"Eh?!" Kasanoda's eyes went wild. "Bring them in." His expression hardened as if he was bracing himself for something.
Haruhi wished with all her might that she could disappear off of the face of the earth.
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Tetsuya held his stomach, laughing as hard as he ever had. "So that's what all the commotion was about." Tears ran down his face from the sheer delight of the story. "So, everyone went home, then?"
"Yeah. Somehow we ended up with enough food to send home with everyone."
Tetsuya sucked on his lower lip thoughtfully. "I can understand the others going home, but why do you suppose Fujioka-kun didn't stay to share the food you made?"
"Oh, that was… at first she said it was getting too late, but then she told me that I should…" he blushed. "…eat with you. You know, so I could… tend to you."
Tetsuya's face felt warm, too, but he was suddenly distracted by another thought. "In hindsight though, you should be especially glad that it was only those guys."
"Why 'especially?'"
"If it had been a rivaling family, wouldn't it have been embarrassing to be seen dressed like that?"
Kasanoda looked down and his face went red to compliment the green apron, which was trimmed with frills and decorated with cheerful-looking frogs. It had been months since Kasanoda had used his scary face to disguise his embarrassment, and this occasion was no exception.
The two shared a cheerful laugh and finished their dinner.
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Author's notes: Tee hee! Thanks again, Hayai Akurei, for inspiring the antics contained in this chapter. I meant to do more with the rest of the host club, but I rewrote a few times and gave up, 'cause I'm lazy like that. Ah well.
Oh, PDotL, did you notice my allusions to your fic? I hope you don't mind. Hahha.
I had a lot of fun with Baka Tono. I hadn't had an opportunity to write much about him yet, so I was pleased that I got to do that. I made him extra-silly, but I think that's okay. (laugh) Our precious daughter is being lured into the den of the yakuza! I love that line. If I hadn't been in school writing it, I might have laughed out loud. That is so… SO Tamaki.
Oh yeah, and I guess maybe it's weird for me to have Kasanoda and Haruhi on a date in a Tetsuya x Kasanoda fic…? Well, I'm actually not strongly opposed to Kasa x Haru. (gasps from audience) I just happen to ship for the cuter(in my opinion) of two very cute couples with Kasanoda as one half. I've actually considered trying a Kasa x Haru oneshot at some point, but I got impatient and slipped in Haruhi and Kasanoda on a date in this chapter. XD If you like them and want to read a REALLY good Kasa x Haru, go to Scottishfae's page and read "On the Brink of A New Year." It's just adorable. (love)