Chapter 11: Thank You Calls and Getting Along

The morning after the Team Hokage outing, Fuuko lay in bed, staring at the package Tokiya had given her. She had been so tired by the time Recca had pulled up in front of Pine West Apartments, she hadn't been able to open it yet, choosing to put it on her dresser before changing into her pajamas and crashing down on her bed.

Come to think of it, she didn't remove her purchases from Pretty In Pink out of their packaging either. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled out of bed, put on her slippers, and trudged over to the vehemently pink packages she had placed on the chair of her dresser the night before.

She didn't buy a load of things. Just a new pair of jeans, a 'miniskirt' that Yanagi and Ganko insisted accentuated her figure nicely, and four tops of her choosing. Despite the fact that she was gifted in her upper body proportions, she had always preferred to wear conservative tops, except during the Urabutousatsujin, when she found such tops a hindrance to her fighting moves. When she had seen how many perverted men she attracted, the resolution to never wear anything revealing anymore had intensified.

The sunlight streaming through her window was a lot brighter when she finished putting all her new clothes into her closet. Finally, she sat down on her bed and put the package from Tokiya on her lap. She remembered telling him she was going to get a new jacket if she was going to be around his frosty presence. Maybe it was a jacket.

'Well, let's see what it is.' Fuuko removed the tape that sealed the package.

What she saw in the bag was a confirmation of her first 'maybe.' It was a jacket.

'A beautiful jacket.' Fuuko thought, putting down the bag and spreading it on her lap. It was a gorgeous cerulean blue, with warm lining on the inside and a hood.

'Why would Tokiya spend on something this nice for me?'

Golly, she'd better call that Ice Prince right now and say thank you. It was the sweetest present she'd gotten in a long time.

Tokiya knocked on his sister's door. "Tanya? Are you awake?"

No answer. Tokiya found the door to be open and went in, concern written all over his face. She must have been really tired for they had left the mall rather late. When they got home, she had insisted on helping him put away the groceries before going up to her room and unpacking the new clothes the Hokage Gang had bought for her. Judging from the amount of shopping bags she had taken four trips to lug up to her room, she had been awake till late.

To his surprise, he found the bed neatly made. His sister was nowhere in sight.

Now, where was she? She wasn't in the upstairs bathroom. He had passed by it when he came up to check on her. He felt himself starting to panic when a delicious smell filled his nostrils, wafting from downstairs.

Puzzled, he hurried down, tracing the aroma's source to the kitchen. To his utter disbelief, Tanya was at the stove, standing on a stool so she could reach the pan properly. She had a spatula in one hand.

"Tanya?"

"Ohayo, Neechan." She turned to him and smiled at the expression on his face. "Breakfast will be ready in a minute. You can go ahead and sit down."

"You can cook?"

His sister nodded as she transferred the two omelettes she had finished frying up onto the two plates next to her on the counter. "Sensei Megumi didn't tell you?"

"No…." Tokiya sat down, looking rather befuddled, also noticing Tanya had already set the table and had placed a carton of orange juice and two glasses at the center of it.

Tanya snapped her fingers and the fire that lit up the stove went out. She grinned at him as she brought their plates over. "I didn't turn on the gas line, don't worry. Sometimes it's handy being pyrokinetic."

Tokiya smiled as she served him an omelette. "This looks good. I really didn't know you could cook."

"I had to learn since Dad and Mom usually had to go to work early. I packed my own lunch and made myself breakfast most of the time. I was the one who would cook up dinner too when they came home all tired."

Tokiya stared at her as she spoke in between bites of her omelette. She looked back at him with an amused expression.

"In case you're wondering, no, I didn't poison that."

Tokiya's smile returned. He put a forkful of omelette into his mouth. "Delicious! Maybe you should make breakfast everyday."

"As long as you do the dishes after."

The siblings laughed and Tanya poured them both a glass of orange juice. "I was actually worried about surprising you by cooking this morning." She admitted. "I was so accident prone back in Hokkaido, I usually ended up cleaning a mess before running to catch the bus for school. Sensei Megumi said I would grow out of it."

"You will." Tokiya assured her after swallowing.

They continued conversing over their breakfast, with Tanya telling her brother about the 'Retail Shockwave' she had undergone yesterday. How he laughed when she told him about Yanagi, Kagerou, and Ganko shooing Recca, Domon, and Kaoru outside a store that sold children's underwear and had proceeded to make Tanya try on different kinds. She had also ended up promising to let them and Fuuko be the ones to accompany her when it was time to go shopping for her first bra.

Tokiya choked on his orange juice when he heard this, mentally reminding himself to thank the girls. It would certainly be awkward for him to bring his little sister underwear shopping, never mind actually entering a store entailed for that purpose….

"You okay, Tokiya?" Tanya asked, when he was silent for a while.

"Yes." Tokiya managed to say. They had both finished eating. "I'll do the dishes. You can watch TV if you like."

Tanya grinned and stood up from her seat. "Great! Saturday Morning Cartoons Marathon!"

Tokiya shook his head amusedly as she bounced out of the kitchen. As he brought their plates over to the sink, he heard the TV click on and the sound of an opening song to an Animè show.

He had finished storing the dishes back in a cupboard when he heard the phone ring. He came out of the kitchen and met Tanya's questioning look.

"I'll get it." He reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mi-Chan. It's me." Fuuko's voice sounded out.

"Ohayo, Monkey. You're awake earlier than I can ever remember. Don't you usually get up past noon on Saturdays? "

"Geez! I call you up to say thank you and this is what I get?"

"Well, I seem to be getting a lot of surprises today. Hearing that the words 'thank you' are actually in your vocabulary is one, and the other is that Tanya cooked breakfast this morning."

"I've KNOWN how to say 'thank you' since I was three, Fridge-Boy! And I said 'thank you' to you last night too! And whoa…. Tanya can already cook?"

"Apparently, yes. You should come over and try her omelettes one of these days."

"She can cook omelettes?"

"Yes."

"Wow! I'm loving that little girl even more!"

Tokiya was glad she couldn't see his smile after hearing the sound of her voice over the phone. That was another surprise for the list.

"You said something about calling to say thank you?"

"Oh, yeah! I just opened the package you gave me last night. I absolutely love the jacket, Mi-Chan! Thank you times a million!"

"You're welcome. And I didn't know you could multiply."

"Quit insulting my intelligence for ten seconds and tell me why you splurged on something like this for me."

"I just….. felt like getting it for you. It matches your-" Tokiya managed to stop himself from finishing that sentence.

"It matches my what, Mi-Chan?"

Tokiya took a deep breath before saying, "Your eyes."

"Oh….. Well, it was really sweet of you, Popsicle Boy. I appreciate it. Are you sure you want me to have it?"

"Yes, Monkey. That's why I gave it to you."

"Eskimo!" Fuuko teased.

"Primate!" Tokiya retorted. He turned to look at his sister, who seemed to be trying very hard to look engrossed in her TV show.

"Wanna talk to Tanya?"

"Sure!"

"Hold on a moment." Tokiya held out the receiver. "Here, sweetheart. Fuuko wants to talk to you."

Tanya looked up from watching her favorite character issue flames out of a metal fan as a Chinese character glowed red on his wrist, and came over.

"Ohayo, Fuuko-san!"

"Hey Strawberry Pie! I heard you can cook omelettes."

Tanya laughed. "Yep."

"My only breakfast specialty is pancakes, and I end up making them too big. We should have breakfast together so I can see you cook for myself and pick up tips."

"Okay. I'm sure my brother wouldn't object to have you here for breakfast one time." Tanya grinned at her brother who raised an eyebrow.

"He did invite me to come over."

"Okay." Tanya's grin widened. "I'm not objecting to making a nice breakfast for two. I'll be content to enjoy a bowl of Cocoa Pops while I watch TV on the couch so you two can be alone."

On the other end of the line, Fuuko laughed before she could stop herself. She caught sight of her reflection in the small mirror hung on the nearest wall and found she was blushing. She heard sounds of scuffling back on Tokiya and Tanya's end.

"Did he give you the really nice-looking blue jacket from Pretty In Pink?" Tanya managed to ask, dodging aside as her brother tried to grab the receiver. 'I saw him looking at it while we were in that store."

"Yeah. He did." Fuuko replied, softly. She fingered the sleeve of the blue hoodie she was wearing. She had tried it on before calling.

"Great!" Tanya said. There was a thumping shuff sound from their end, which sounded like a lot of papers falling to the floor. "I'm glad you like what he picked out-"

There was another, more solid sounding thump and then-

"Hey, it's me again." Came Tokiya's voice.

"Oh come on, Aniki! I wasn't done talking to her yet!" Tanya protested in the background.

"Everything okay?" Fuuko asked with a snigger.

"Yeah…. OW!…. everything's fine…" Tokiya replied from his end, trying to block Tanya from getting past him to go into his room, where she knew there was another phone.

"You should see him, Fuuko-san!" Tanya called out loudly so Fuuko could hear. "He's all red in the face-"

"Could you hold on for a few minutes, Fuuko?" Tokiya asked.

"S-sure…."

She heard quite a ruckus over at the other end of the line.

(WHACK!)

"OW!"

(louder WHACK!)

"OWW!"

(BONK!)

"HEY!"

(KA-SHAK!)

"WHY YOU-"

(THUNK!)

"YOU JUST HIT ME WITH A PHONE BOOK! I WAS CONSIDERATE ENOUGH TO USE A CUSHION!"

"LET GO!"

(LOUDER THUMPS)

"GIVE ME THE PHONE BACK!"

"TRY AND TAKE IT!"

"YOU ASKED FOR IT, YOU PINT-SIZED SPITFIRE!"

"GET OFF ME! YOU WEIGH MORE THAN A TON!"

Tokiya managed to grab the cordless phone back from his sister and sat on her back, pinning her to the floor.

"Fuuko? Still there?" He asked, ignoring Tanya's orders for him to get off.

"Yeah. Sounds like you two are still getting along well."

"Oh, definitely." Tokiya grinned sarcastically.

"So, Thanks again for the jacket, and I hope we all get to hang out more before semester break is over."

"You're welcome. Just call if there are any more arranged get-togethers with the rest. I might actually want to come and bring Tanya with me."

"Very funny, Icehead. Ja ne!"

"Bye."

He heard the click signifying she had hung up and stood from sitting on his sister.

Tanya looked up and noticed he was still smiling. A mischievous grin lit up her face. Her silver eyes watched him put the receiver in its cradle.

'I knew it! He likes her!' She got up and grabbed a cushion to get her brother back from nearly crushing her spine. 'And he just doesn't want to admit it yet!'

She jumped up and whacked him on the shoulder.

She'd let him work it out for himself.

For now.

'Hopefully he'll swallow his big head and tell her, or I might have to beat him up with is own Ensui.'

She threw another well-aimed pillow at her brother as he stalked over with a cushion of his own, clearly intending to continue their 'Hit You With Whatever I Can Get My Hands On' fight.

He dodged aside at the last second and threw the cushion he was holding at her, realizing that having a little sister was one of the most enjoyable things in the world.