Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or Black Butler. They, and their characters, belong to their respective creators.

Chapter Ten - Cooking with Tohru

Tohru stared in awe. She'd never seen such a grand kitchen before. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she clapped her hands in excitement. "It's amazing! Everything anyone could possibly need is here!"

Bard sat at one of the counters, a cigarette dangling from his mouth. "Hey, Mr. Sebastian! What's this?" He looked pointedly at the butler, then at the others crowding at the kitchen door behind Tohru.

Sebastian smiled. "Our guest, Miss Tohru, will be cooking dinner tonight. I thought I'd told you. You are, of course, to not get in the way."

Bard snorted. "Right. In my own kitchen."

Tohru beamed at him. "You're a chef? That's amazing! I've never met a real chef before! I'll be intruding into your kitchen so please take care of me!" She bowed.

Sebastian resisted the urge to laugh. It was not the chef who usually ended up cooking the meals. "Miss Tohru," he inclined his head towards her, "don't concern yourself with Bard. It's better that you let him be. He may, of course, watch, though I highly advise against allowing him to help. His expertise does not fall into Oriental cuisine."

Tohru formed the word "oh" on her lips, but didn't say it. "Right! I'll do my best then! Just leave it to me!" She looked around for an apron. Finding one, she quickly donned it, tying the strings behind her. Having done that much, she made sure to have her hands washed.

She then turned to look at the stove. "Oh, wow. I haven't used a stove like this before. This should be interesting. I remember hearing about them though. Well, there's nothing like learning as you go, right?"

Sebastian watched her preparations. "If everything is quite all right, I will return later. There are a few matters I need to take care of with the Young Master." He bowed slightly, then left the kitchen, smiling at her little slip about not being from their time, wondering if she had been told yet. He still needed to investigate that spot in the woods.

Lau and Ran Mao took up perches along the wall. "This should be amusing," the Chinese man commented as he folded his arms inside his long sleeves. "Don't you agree, Ran Mao?" His bodyguard nodded, wide-eyed.

Kyo took up a seat near the counter-top where he could watch without difficulty. "So, what are you making," he asked as Tohru looked around for a pot.

Finding one big enough, Tohru moved the pot over to fill it with water. "I'm going to make several varieties of sushi, mainly Nigiri and Dragon roll, though it would go a lot faster if we had a rice cooker instead of just a pan." She shrugged. At least they'd bought the right kind of rice, she noticed and began to hum as she took out another pan and put several inches of oil in the bottom, heating it over the stove, then measured out the rice, rinsing it, then setting it aside for later.

Bard stood from his chair, walking over curiously. "Oi, what's with the oil? I didn't know you fried sushi."

Tohru smiled. "Normally, you don't, but Dragon roll sushi required tempura style shrimp for the filling." She found the shrimp Mey-Rin had purchased, pleased by its quality. She rinsed it off as the oil heated, setting them aside in a bowl.

Feeling she needed to give some kind of explanation as she worked, she began to tell them what she was doing as she cooked. Taking flour and the other dry ingredients she sifted them together and set them aside. "When making tempura batter, you have to remember the ice water." She took the ice water, adding it to the egg she was beating.

"You don't want to mix it too much or it won't cook right." She added the dry ingredients, mixing them just until everything was mixed enough to wet everything but still be lumpy.

Taking a utensil, she dumped the shrimp into the batter, stirring the pieces around a bit to make sure they were well coated. She then tested the oil to make sure it was hot enough, splashing a drop or two of water into the oil. The water skittered across the top with a hiss. "When the oil's hot enough, carefully put the battered pieces in and let them cook until the batter turns a golden brown color."

The pot of water began to boil over the heat next to her but she was busy with the shrimp. "Oh! Um…" She looked around. Only one person looked ready to really be able to jump in. "Bard, could you put the rice into the pot and turn the heat down after putting the lid on?"

Bard blinked at her, but did exactly as she asked. After all, he still remembered her comments when she'd first entered the kitchen. She thought he was a real chef. He had to prove it. He carefully poured in the rice, covered the pot, and moved the pot to the cooler part of the stove top. "Like that?"

Tohru beamed at him. "Yes! Thank you." She turned back to the oil and the cooking shrimp. She turned over the ones at the top to make sure they cooked evenly. "Could you get me a plate to put these on? Preferably a lined one so that the oil will drain properly."

Once again, Bard jumped to help, bringing her a plate lined with a towel. "Here." He set it down next to her. "Anything else?"

Tohru looked around a moment. "Um… do you think you could peel the avocados? I just need the skins taken off and the seed taken out of the middle."
"Right. I'm on it," he said as he went for a knife.

She returned her attention to the shrimp. "Almost done," she said, pleased. Using a slotted spoon, she scooped up a bunch of the shrimp and let it drain over the pot before moving it over to the covered plate. She repeated this until all of the shrimp had been removed, then moved the pan away from the heat until she was ready to use it again. She wiped some sweat from her forehead.

Finni ran into the kitchen. "Hey, Bard? You haven't seen Mr. Sebastian, have you?" He stopped in his tracks as he saw the girl he'd carried inside a few days back standing at the stove, apparently cooking. He turned scarlet, remembering her legs, which were now more modestly covered by a long, pink and white skirt. "Oh… Um…"

Tohru turned, hearing him. "Oh! Hello! Did you want to watch? I'm making dinner tonight!"

Finni twiddles his fingers, clearly flustered. "Um… that is… Isn't Mr. Sebastian cooking tonight?" He looked at the ground, avoiding her eyes. She was pretty cute in that dress. But he understood that she was taken, probably by the orange-haired guy leaning on the counter. He wondered what had happened to the cat.

Bard plunked an elbow down on the counter. "Nah. He's off doing stuff. Miss Tohru's cooking tonight, as a sort of thank you, right?"

Tohru nodded. 'Uh huh! There will even be some for you!"

Finni felt like his head was steaming. "Uh… thanks. Um… sorry! Gotta go!" He zoomed out of the kitchen.

Lau chuckled. "Always in such a hurry, aren't they?"

Kyo looked at the empty doorway, his mouth slightly open in surprise. Well, that was… weird. He turned back to Tohru as he heard the sound of a knife chopping through some hard vegetable. He did a double take, about ready to protest when he realized she wasn't cutting leeks but asparagus. "Hey, be careful," he admonished. "You don't need to cut off a finger or something."

Tohru laughed. "Don't worry, Kyo. You've watched me do this hundreds of times. I won't cut myself." She went to check on the pot of rice. "Almost done! Now to cut the fish."

She reached for the fish Mey-Rin had bought, only to realize it was still whole, still scaled, and definitely not gutted. "Um… Oh." She looked around. Gutting fish wasn't her favorite task and she hadn't done it often, usually only having to run to the store to get fish practically ready to go.

Kyo noticed her expression and reached for the fish. "Here, let me take care of it." He turned to Bard. "Hey, Mr. Chef, got a knife I can use?"

Ciel stared out his study window. All the noise had brought on a bit of a headache and he rubbed at his temple.

"Everything all right, Young Master?"

The boy turned to see Sebastian checking the hearth. "It's just a headache," he said quickly. "How are things in the kitchen?"

Sebastian stood from poking the fire and brushed off his gloves. "Things seemed to be going well when I left, but Miss Tohru was only beginning her preparations. Don't worry. I'm sure everything is all right, so long as Bard doesn't try to help out too much." He smiled.

Ciel returned to his chair, staring at the documents on his desk. "You were gone longer than a trip to the kitchen warrants," he observed. "What have you been doing?"

The butler walked over. "Observant, as always. I went to investigate a matter that must now be brought to your attention. I will apologize in advance for not mentioning it earlier." He inclined his head in a slight bow to show his sincerity.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Tell me, Sebastian, what you didn't see fit to tell me before now. And it had better be good."

Sebastian moved around the room, straightening things, as he tended to do. It had almost become habit and he did it without thinking. "When I first talked with master Kyo, as you know, he was very surprised to learn that he was not in Japan but in England. What I have kept from you is that not only was he surprised by his being in England, but by the year."

Ciel looked puzzled. "The year? What could that possibly have to do with this?"

Sebastian paused. "He seemed to believe to come from another time."

The earl's eyes almost popped. "What? That's preposterous!"

The butler didn't disagree. "I thought the same as well. I assumed he was under some disillusionment brought on either by fever or otherwise. However, I later found him researching time travel in the library and began to doubt my original judgment. At the very least, he was thoroughly convinced he had somehow traveled in time and so I confronted him about it.

"He told me the events of the day prior to their arrival here, how they were trying to get home from school when a sudden storm occurred and they became lost in the woods surrounding their home. After some time wandering, a branch was struck by lighting and almost hit the young lady. In order to save her, he pushed her from harm's way, causing himself to transform.

"He described the area quite thoroughly, probably absorbing the details because of the circumstances surrounding their being there. After recovering from their shock, the young lady carried him until she'd run out of energy and somehow managed to make her way here."

Ciel waved his hand arrantly, his expression bored. "And what does that have to do with anything?" He hadn't quite heard the tale all the way previously and couldn't quite see how it had any bearing now, though it was more fascinating to him than he'd show.

Sebastian smiled, guessing his thoughts. "Everything, Young Master. I was just out in the woods, following their scent into the area surrounding the Manor. I had attempted to do so several times during the night, but something always came up to prevent me. But today, I was able to follow it without any difficulty, even though the trail had gone somewhat cold."

Ciel snorted. Sometimes he wondered if his butler wasn't also somehow part bloodhound. Not that it mattered. His abilities were definitely useful. "I take it you found something."

The butler nodded slightly as he smiled. "Of course. In a location exactly as master Kyo described, their trail ended. It completely stopped, as though they had somehow just appeared from thin air. I was very careful to search the area to be sure, but the only trail they left was the one headed towards us."

Ciel raised his eyebrows. "You're quite sure about that?" He was disconcerted by his butler's affirmation.

"At the very least, they were somehow transported supernaturally to that location. The only other scents in the area belonged to the woodland creatures. They were the only humans who had visited that area for some time." He looked seriously at his master as he spoke. "Whether this means they were swept out of their own time or not may be of little consequence, but that they were swept up from where ever they originally came from seems certain."

Ciel tapped one finger on his desk as he stared at the blue diamond ring on his thumb. "This is most unsettling. Two perfectly good pawns turn up on my board and now it seems that they belong to an entirely different chess set." He looked up at his butler. "I'm not sure what to make of this."

Sebastian looked back with equal gravity. "Nor do I."