Chapter 5: Katsu For Dinner!
Gray's POV
I start to head in the direction of the super market down the street, Natsu following me, and I feel his surprised stare on the back of my head. What should I make? Pizza? I dunno, maybe... Katsu? Sure, he's probably going to devour the chicken though, so I'll make an extra plate for him, jeez. "I never expected that you could cook," Natsu says, trudging behind me, and I reply, "Ur taught me how to." "That's cool," he remarks, causing myself to look up in surprise. He... Complimented me. Natsu complemented me?! I shake the thought out. He's just being nice because otherwise it would be torture. I sort of wish it could stay like this though... Just him and I having fun together. That's never going to happen, the others would probably think I'm crazy and besides Natsu doesn't even like me back. He probably likes Lucy anyway. I realize I'm walking past the super market so I turn back, but accidentally run into Natsu, who makes a surprised sound, and I quickly apologize, "Sorry, I went the wrong way." "I-it's okay, sorry," he says, startled, and I raise an eyebrow. I ran into him, and he apologized. Even if he was trying to stay nice, he would've snapped at me... I give him one last look, then turn to walk into the market.
I see crates everywhere full of fruits and vegetables, people milling around, some moms shopping and their children following them, curiously looking around. "So, what do we need here?" Natsu asks me, and I reply, "Chicken, katsu sauce, rice, and carrots? Or broccoli?" "Ooh, chicken!" He says excitedly, and I remind him, "You have to have something with it, not just meat." "Awww..." He frowns, but immediately smiles. I seriously feel like I'm taking care of an innocent, cute, monkey.
Author's Note
Katsu is a delicious dish, it's basically fried chicken, except it's more flat like salmon or steak on a plate and the skin is crispy, the chicken inside very tender and flavorful when it's fried right out of the frier. I guess it would sort of be like teriyaki, it's usually cut into strips so multiple people can eat it and you can also enjoy the tasty meat with katsu sauce, which is a sweet, dark chocolate brown colored sauce. I mean I haven't really seen any restaurants offer this dish, but my mom knows more because she's the one who actually makes it in my awesome life xD
Back to the story :3
I make my way to the crate of carrots, and I rip out a bag from the roll of plastic bags at the side of the crates, shaking it open, and take about 2 handfuls of carrots. It's not like I'm preparing for a feast... Am I? That pink hungry idiot probably could eat as much as 10 people would, but then again he mostly eats the meat. I skim the room, looking for the bags of rice in the store, and spot them, walking towards the area. Once I get there, I pick up a small bag of rice, and Natsu offers, "I could hold that if you want." I give the bag to him, saying, "Thanks." Then, I walk to the meat section, and mill along the cases of wrapped, raw chicken, taking a few and giving the bag of broccoli to Natsu who's hungrily eyeing the chicken. He even stares at uncooked chicken like it's his prey? Dang he's hungry. I walk to one of the cashiers waiting for a customer to come, and set down the chicken on the conveyor belt, Natsu setting down the grains and vegetables after. We watch him scan the food, hearing a beeping sound every time the red light from the hand-held scanner would touch the bar code sticker plastered on the items. "That will be 8063 jewel," he reads off the screen, stuffing them in a paper bag, and I pull out some money from my pocket, handing it to him, and he stuffs it in the open drawer that comes out behind the desk, saying, "Have a nice day." Natsu picks up the bag, holding it like it was a feather, and we walk out of the super market in silence. "Alright, back to the house," I say, and he nods, following me quietly.
After about 15 minutes of walking on the concrete streets and through the crowds, we arrive at our rented house. Natsu walks past me, opening the door, causing myself to panic. Shoot! I forgot to lock the door! Wait, did I see any keys? I crouch down, looking under the carpet, and sure enough I see house keys. Wow, I totally forgot about the keys before... I pick them up, standing up, and walk through the doorway, shutting and locking the door. "Okay, I'm going to start cooking, you can relax," I say, thinking that if Natsu tried to help, the food might taste just a bit weird. "I'm not letting you do all the work!" He exclaims, and I sigh, saying, "Fine, you can set the table and get out the gadgets I need, but you're not going to cook." "Okay!" He grins, and I blink a few times. Usually he would snap some sort of rejecting sentence but he obediently listened to me... He even seems excited, holy crap. I rub my forehead, reminding myself that it was just today that we were being nice to each other, and get focused on cooking because I'm hungry myself.
An hour later...
Natsu's POV
After pouring hot water into my glass, I set the pitcher on the counter, wiping my forehead in exhaustion, collapsing onto the chair. "Dinner's ready," Gray announces, and I watch him in excitement as he walks over to me, carrying a delicious smelling fried chicken thing which is katsu I think, and it smells heavenly... "Did you really... Make this?" I ask in surprise as he sets the plates of cooked broccoli, rice, and katsu onto the table in front of me. "Uh, yeah, why?" Gray sits down with a serving spoon for the rice, also utensils for himself. "It looks and smells amazing, so I wasn't sure if you actually cooked it," I laugh awkwardly, scratching my head, and he... Blushes? "Thanks..." He drifts off, not knowing what else to say, and I grin, taking the whole plate of katsu and dumping the chicken onto my plate. "I have 2 more plates waiting, hopefully it's enough for that endless pit of yours," Gray says, getting up to get another plate, and I wait for him. Maybe I should get a bit of the rice and vegetable... I clumsily grab the spoon, putting some rice onto my plate, and grab 2 little tree-like greens from another plate. Once Gray gets back, he sets down another plate of the tasty looking katsu. "Let's eat?" Gray asks me and I nod in excitement. I stuff half of it in my mouth, causing my eyes to widen in surprise as the crispy skin sizzles in my mouth, the tender meat after it filling flavor into my mouth. "Do you like it?" Gray asks as he stuffs a spoonful of rice into his mouth, following up with a slice of katsu, and I nod vigorously. "It's amazing!" I say, a wide smile spreading across my face, causing him to grin, replying, "I'm glad you like it, the other one is yours, so don't take this one." "Okay," I say, stuffing more of this delicious meat into my mouth. I decide to try the rice with the chicken, stuffing a handful of it into my mouth with a few strips of chicken, and make a sound of delight. "The rice with the chicken tastes awesome!" I comment, and he tries to keep a straight face but I can tell he's smiling.