This Scary World

4th Down: Dark

Note: Part 2 of Kitchen Talk, rated T.

Mamori's parents had always told her, when she was little, that this world was a dark and scary place, but her parents would always protect her from it. She used to think dark and scary meant the monsters and big bad wolf from "Little Red Riding Hood" that ate children. But when she grew up, she found what dark and scary really meant.

Her parents, who had promised to take care of her, died when she turned 20 and her scheming relatives took her inheritance away. With college fees due, she swallowed her pride and tried to find work. However, the normal places to work at: restaurants, fast food places, etc, were not hiring so she stumbled upon the Roppongi district. Being brought up in wealth, she never thought that there was this side of Japan.

"Hey pretty nee-chan, want to come with us?" A host had walked up to her and tried to hold her waist.

"No, thank you." She replied and walked away as quickly as possible, failing to notice a person in front of her.

"Are you alright?" A man who looked like he was in his thirties asked her and she nodded. The man looked at her and knew right away she wasn't a hostess or prostitute, but someone who seemed slightly lost. She wandered around until she found a help wanted sign and inquired after it. It turned out the owner was the same person who was polite to her. After a quick interview and a sampling of her food, she was hired.

At first, she was scared since many of the hosts would try to flirt with her except for a certain blond who she thought looked familiar. He was rude, cussed a lot, and often picked fights with her which she never backed down on. Pretty soon, the other hosts stopped flirting with her and the blond was the only one who entered the kitchen with the exception of Musashi who only came in to ask for fruits.

Everyone called the blond "Youichi", but being raised by polite parents, she was the only one that addressed him as "Hiruma-kun". And, he was the only one that called her "fucking cook" instead of "Anezaki".

The job she had wasn't so bad, it gave her time to go to school during the daytime, in the evening from 4pm to 10pm, she had time to study and do her homework. From 10pm to 5am, she would work. Then it was back to school at 10am. She didn't get a lot of sleep, but she got enough to function and sometimes she was even able to take naps during the time she usually studied and instead study at work. Most of the time at work, she had nothing to do until Hiruma walked in which usually happened after he left for a client.

-o-

The double doors opened with a bang and she looked up from the fruit platter to find the blond walking in with a tired expression on his face.

"Oh, Hiruma-kun. How was today?" She asked politely and usually smiled at him, hoping he would do the same back.

"Fucking cook, I'm starving." He said curtly and sat down on a stool.

"You know, you could ask!" Mamori knew that his client must have been annoying in order for him to act like this, but then again, he was always like this since the first time she met him. He never seemed to smile and the closest one was when he had that cocky smirk on his face as he blackmailed someone. She decided not to start a conversation since sometimes the silence was comforting. She just cooked what he wanted as usual.

From the stove, she took a glance at him when he was looking away, his elbow always propped up and his blond hair always gelled up. She admired that defined jawline and quickly looked away when he turned back to facing her. She blushed slightly and concentrated on cooking.

"Here you go." She set down the plate and gauged his expression which was often difficult since he rarely showed any emotion other than annoyance. She wondered why he stared at his plate for a few seconds every time.

"Not bad." He said and she smiled. It was Hiruma talk for it tasted delicious even if he wouldn't admit to it. She smiled and turned back to cutting up the fruit.

When she was done, she turned to see his plate almost finished and it never failed to surprise her how fast of an eater he was. He took out a piece of sugarless mint gum and started chewing it; she guessed it was to take the food breath away.

"Later." He replied and walked through the kitchen, leaving her alone once again.

"Ah, the fruits." She remembered and carried it out. She rarely left the kitchen since most of the time, Hiruma just carried out the fruit for her or Musashi would walk in after a few minutes. Musashi always knew when the fruits were done being cut, this time though, he didn't walk in so she decided to go out herself before the fruit wasn't fresh anymore.

She had forgotten how scary it was in the host club, the women looked at her like she was a piece of trash, but she often chose to ignore the looks since it was pointless. She looked around, the chandelier lights, the leather booths, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes all mixed in together, and the noisy atmosphere. Seeing this again, reminded her of the first time she entered through those fancy doors and ended up getting a job here.

"Sorry, Anezaki-san. I was caught up that I forgot about the fruits." Musashi walked away from the bar counter and took the plate of fruits from her. Her attention wasn't on him though, but on that blond whose booth was surrounded with rich women. She made eye contact with him and he looked at her for a few seconds before turning his attention to his clients.

She walked back into the kitchen without another word and the kitchen doors closed her off from that scary world. She buried her face in her arms and tried to get that image of Hiruma with all those women out of her head. She always knew this was his line of job, but seeing it in person was different than just knowing about it. Hiruma never talked about his work in front of her either, their conversations were usually bickers about her love for cream puffs and his habit of blackmailing others to be his slave.

-o-

"Fucking cook, go sleep at home." She heard a husky voice and looked up to see Hiruma sitting by her on the counter.

"Oh, Hiruma-kun. Is it time to leave?" She asked and checked the time. It was 5:30am and so she stretched a bit and got up. "I have to wash your plate and clean the counters, you can go on ahead."

"Already did that, now let's go." He pestered her until they went out the back door where she always entered and exited from. It was particularly cold that morning since it was almost the end of November and she could see her breath. She felt something warm wrapped around her and saw that Hiruma had rearranged his long black scarf so he and she were sharing it.

"Fucking cook, next time, wear something warmer so you don't fucking contaminate my food." He shouted and she smiled back, glad that the scarf was hiding her blush.

"I will and thanks for the scarf!" She shouted back as they walked back together. Maybe this world wasn't as scary as she thought it was…at least not with him around.