CHAPTER 9

PHANTOM AND ANGEL

PART 16

There were all sorts of little mental checks and notes shuffling around in Leon's mind as he started from the bed to the corridor outside. It had been cozy between the quality cotton sheets and beneath the thick comforter (although he'd probably never admit that out loud if there was any way to avoid it). Now that he was out of bed, he found the air on his exposed skin to be at just the right temperature, not the slightly chill feeling he usually had after just getting up. Maybe it was because of what he was wearing, which wasn't either his usual boxers or sweatpants and t-shirt.

If D were here right now, the detective might have worked up the energy enough to rant at him about dressing him, or more to the point, about un-dressing. If that guy strained something getting Leon out of his clothes and putting him in these flimsy things, well, maybe it served him right.

He almost decided to turn around and change back into the clothes that he'd come there in, but the idea of changing with…an audience (four-legged species notwithstanding) didn't appeal to him.

On the way out the bedroom, Leon noticed the cage with the frogs was gone. Well, maybe D had come back to find him sound asleep finally and put the little guys back where he'd brought them from. He almost walked into the doorsill as he was still looking at the spot where he'd seen D put the frogs. Something about a frog that was frequently in the guest parlor when he visited poked at his consciousness. His mental shuffle switched off before he could extend that last thought. He found himself having to focus on keeping up with Q-Chan as he followed him through the somehow overly-long corridor, so that he didn't make a wrong turn.

They all arrived in the kitchen promptly, T-Chan calmly growling something and Pon-Chan squirming to be let down. Leon didn't want to take the chance that Pon-Chan needed to use the forest, so he bent down and placed her on the tiled floor.

T-Chan went over to a cupboard below the counter which he pulled open and nudged the handle of a small, cast-iron kettle so that it stuck out towards Leon. A short, soft growl hinted for Leon to take it out.

That didn't seem like too big of a deal to Leon, so he went along with it. His thoughts were bumping about groggily inside of his skull, and one of them was a note that the kettle reminded him of a shrunken cauldron. He secretly let the corner of his mouth twitch in a brief smirk. Didn't that just figure.

As he set the kettle on top of the range, Leon noticed that Pon-Chan had not gone to use the forest, but had scampered up to the top of the counter, opened one of the nearest drawers and pulled out a stainless-steel measuring cup. She opened up a cupboard above the counter and seemed to be fussing at him about a brushed stainless-steel sugar canister on the first shelf.

Leon took a hold of the canister, lifted off the lid and looked down into the top of it. It was full of rice. With a facial shrug, he pulled it carefully off of the shelf and set it on the counter. Pon-Chan was waiting for his attention, holding the measuring cup out for him. He took the measuring cup a bit reluctantly and looked over at Q-Chan. "Um--"

"Kyu-kyu-kyu-kyu," Q-Chan told him confidently. He was perched now on the counter a little ways to the left of the edge of the oven. His little paws were clasped together as he gave Leon instructions with an intellectual air. All that was missing was a pair of rectangular-lense bifocal glasses and a professor's cap.

Unfortunately, the sight of Q-Chan standing there the way he was and giving him instructions, reminded Leon of a school-setting in a Nintendo Pokemon game. He grinned lopsidedly, and forced himself not to start laughing. "Four?" He concentrated his attention on how much rice he was suppose to scoop out, which he didn't think would make very much.

Q-Chan nodded sagely.

Once again, Leon found himself fighting the urge to laugh, and refusing to admit to himself that the little creature was becoming cuter and cuter to him. "All right," he said with overly exaggerated skepticism. "At least one of us knows what I'm doin."

Now T-Chan was on the counter as well, and turning on the tap water. When it was half-way between off and fully-open, he moved to the other side of the counter to give Leon room.

Leon frowned, feeling like this was what would make or break him, in the world of rice making. "How much water am I suppose to put in?"

Q-Chan answered with a quickness that made it seem as if he'd already guessed Leon's very question."Kyu-kyu-kyu…kyu-kyu-kyu."

Leon moved over to stand in front of the sink, and stuck the measuring cup under the faucet and let it fill all the way to the top. He grabbed the little kettle by the handle and moved it to the edge of the sink. After he'd dumped six full cups in, he turned off the water and looked at Q-Chan. "Put it on the stove now?"

Q-Chan seemed to get excited that Leon had guessed, apparently correctly.

"I'm gonna start calling you Schmoo-Chan even if you don't laugh your wings off," he threatened playfully.

Q-Chan finally decided to leer at Leon wickedly and then made an almost right-on-the-nose vocal imitation of the cartoon creature mentioned when it made a sound that seemed like, "Ooooh. You think so, do you?"

Leon didn't know whether to laugh or shiver convulsively. He opted for raising an eyebrow and turning the burner on."You worry me sometimes," he told Q-Chan with a strangely appreciative sneer.

There was a soft pop of electricity and a hissing as streams of gas ignited over the burner ring.

Q-Chan looked away from the beautiful flame, and gazed up at Leon with feigned innocently wide-eyed amusement. "Kyu-kyu-kyu-kyu--?

"Only sometimes," Leon confirmed. "When I catch you acting more like me, it'll be a permanent thing."