Disclaimer: Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake." But she and King Louis XV did get put under house arrest after Versailles was stormed by armed peasant women. Because everyone is afraid of armed peasant women.
"I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and say to myself "well, that's not going to happen"
― Rita Rudner
LAST TIME
Kaoru's waning anger was rekindled. "What makes you so sure that you're stronger than me, huh?"
Kenshin's head snapped up. He raised his sword. "Fine, you stubborn woman!" He came so quickly, Kaoru scarcely had time to brace much less defend. She felt a sharp, stinging whack to the underside of her practice sword. Her arm flew upward from the force. She heard a whistling noise by her ear and froze. Kenshin's practice sword had stopped dead a half a centimeter from her neck.
Barley a second had passed.
Karou gulped as Kenshin retreated. She had never seen anyone move that fast, not even her father. And, until that moment, he was the strongest swordsman she knew.
THIS TIME
For a good long while Kaoru couldn't move. She hardly breathed. Kenshin just stood there – opposite her on the patio – as though he had never moved.
"Wow." Kaoru breathed. "That was . . . wow." She prodded her brain for something else to say. But it appeared to be temporarily shut down: maintenance to her Kenshin wiki again, no doubt.
Kenshin grimaced and retreated further, nearly pressing himself into the opposite railing. Kaoru followed, shuffling until they were an arm's length apart. "Kenshin?"
"I'm sorry, Ms. Kaoru."
Kaoru scrunch up her face. "Why?"
Kenshin's shoulder's drooped. "Well, you insisted and I acted. I'm sorry"
"No, no." Kaoru shook her head hurriedly. "I mean, why are you sorry, Kenshin?" She looked up at him, bright eyes held his as she grinned. "That was . . . awesome. You gave got to teach me how to move like that!" She was bouncing lightly on her toes as though it was impossible for her to stay still any longer.
"Huh?" Said Kenshin.
Kaoru's bouncing intensified as she leaned in closer. "Oh, come on," She urged. "I've never seen anyone move like that. How did you do it? You have to at least give me some pointers." She was like a kid waiting for the cookies in the oven.
Kenshin was thoroughly confused: gob smacked. He had expected fear, anger, even resentment. He had acted rashly and was prepared for the consequences. But she was . . . happy? More than that: Intrigued. And she was asking him to teach her?
Oh God, his head was pounding. It was all just too much. Kenshin pinched the bridge of his nose as he began to fell dizzy. He leaned on the practice sword like a cane to support his weight when his legs weren't doing the job so well.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru latched a hand to his elbow, noticing how unsteady he had suddenly become. "What's wrong?"
"Dizzy spell." It was the only thing he could say without sounding crazy.
Kaoru pulled the arm not leaning on the practice sword over her shoulders as she moved beside him. "Let's get you inside and sitting down." She gently pulled him toward her until she was supporting most of his weight. He was heavier than he looked. "Does this happen often, these dizzy spells?"
Kenshin tried to shake his head but it made the pounding pain worse. He winced. "No . . . not normal. My head is killing me"
Kaoru suddenly got a twisted feeling in her gut. They slowly waddled inside and Kaoru set him down on the couch. Hikari meowed and zipped off upstairs, not comfortable sharing her napping spot with people. Kaoru padded to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water as well as some aspirin from the first aid kit. "Take these." She set the items in Kenshin's hands and while he was occupied she circled around to the back of the couch and began to feel around the top of his head. Kenshin felt her touch a particularly tender spot as she gasped.
Kaoru was horrified with herself. The place where she had hit Kenshin earlier had swollen to the size of a goose egg. She nearly tripped over herself as she raced to the kitchen for ice. She filled a plastic sandwich bag with the frozen chips and hurried back to find Kenshin finishing off the glass of water. He jumped she applied the ice-pack to the bump on his head. And then relaxed as the cold melted away the sharpest edges of the pain. The dizziness persisted, however, and he shut his eyes against the rolling world.
When Kaoru saw his eyes drift closed she nearly panicked, thinking he was losing consciousness. "No! Kenshin, you can't fall asleep. What if you have a concussion? What if you fall into a coma? What If you die?! I'm calling an ambulance."
Kenshin grabbed her wrist and held fast as she tried to move toward the phone. "I don't have a concussion, Ms. Karou." Kenshin had realized what was wrong the second Kaoru had handed him the water.
"But Kenshin, the dizziness, and the bump, and you look like your goanna pass out!" As she spoke her voice rose in pitch and speed.
Kenshin slid his grip from her wrist to her hand and squeezed gently in an effort to calm the frantic woman. "You didn't hit me hard enough to cause any permanent damage. Trust me, I would know."
Kaoru glared at the top of his head, her anger taking over when worry wasn't getting her anywhere. "You're an accountant, not a doctor! How would you know?"
"I have extensive experience with field medicine. I know the signs."
Kaoru shifted the ice-pack so it didn't get too cold. "Then, what's wrong?!"
Kenshin looked down as color dusted his cheeks. "I may have forgotten to eat or drink properly for the past twenty-four hours."
"What do you mean 'may have forgotten'?" She threw up some air quotes with the hand that wasn't being anchored by Kenshin grasp. "When was the last time you ate?"
Kenshin felt like a little boy who got caught forgetting to brush his teeth. "Um," He began quietly. "Friday evening? I had some udon."
"Kenshin! That was two days ago!" She stared at his downturned face. "What about fluid? And the water you just had doesn't count."
Kenshin would have melted into the cushions if he could. "The tea we had yesterday?"
Kaoru ripped her had from Kenshin's, snatched up the empty glass and stormed back off to the kitchen. Kenshin heard the fridge open a few times and Kaoru returned with a larger glass filled nearly to the brim with orange juice.
She passed it to him with more grace than he expected considering her stormy mood.
"Drink that." Kaoru ordered. "I'll make us some breakfast."
Kenshin obediently began sipping on the orange juice as she disappeared from view.
Kaoru worried her lip as the surveyed the contents of the fridge. She hadn't been grocery shopping yet and Megumi didn't keep frozen meals or snack foods in her house. She was so frustratingly health conscious. But she could afford to be. She could cook. And, of course she refused to own a microwave.
Kaoru had managed to avoid the stove for yesterday's dinner by eating a salad. But that didn't really seem like a breakfast thing to do. Kaoru gingerly extracted a biscuit tube from the top shelf. It was one of those with pre-made, separated dough– made with organically grown whole wheat, of course - and exact baking instructions on the outside.
Kaoru laid out a baking sheet and checked the instructions five times before setting the stove to preheat. She peeled the outer, paper layer of the tube off and braced for the loud pop of the cardboard forcefully separating.
It didn't come and Kaoru sighed. She hated it when they did this.
She grabbed a spoon and dug it into the spiral seem where the cardboard should separate while standing as far away as her reach and the length of the spoon would allow. She yelped as the tube jumped and exploded with a bang. The dough seeped out the edges.
"Ms. Kaoru?" Kenshin sounded worried at the noise.
"I'm fine!" Kaoru called back. There was no way she was tilling him she was scared of a biscuit tube. "Just stay there and finish your juice."
She separated the sticky dough into the individual biscuits and set them out on the baking sheet, rearranging them several times to get the four centimeter minimum separation indicated in the instructions.
The oven beeped cheerily, letting her know it was ready to commence baking. Kaoru grabbed a couple of large oven mitts and placed the sheet as near to the center of the oven as humanly discernible. So far, so good.
She, again, read the instructions multiple times before setting the timer for the suggested twenty-two minutes and backed away from the oven as though it might bite her.
She slid back over to the fridge and was thrilled to notice the tub of vanilla yogurt hiding behind the soy sauce. She scooped it up raided the fruit drawer. Oranges, apples, pears, blueberries and strawberries covered the cutting board as she washed, chopped, pealed and separated before tossing the lot into a large glass bowl. The timer for the biscuits beeped just as she was scooping yogurt into a smaller glass bowl.
She rushed to shove on the oven mitts again. The biscuits were perhaps a shade or two past perfectly golden but far from burnt and Kaoru nodded approvingly as she piled the warm, flakey bread onto a plate. She set everything out on the breakfast table and remembered at the last minute to turn off the oven. It was really amazing that Megumi trusted Kaoru with her house when she was bound to end up in the kitchen. A testament to how brave that woman really was.
Kaoru was just glad Megumi's stove was electric. The one at her family home was gas powered and she caught something on fire at least twice a month. Seriously, it wasn't her fault that eggs didn't come with cooking instructions.
She called Kenshin in from the living room. He strode in, still holding the melting ice-pack to his skull. Kaoru noticed he had emptied his orange juice and poured them both a new glass.
"This looks very good, Ms. Kaoru." Kenshin said surveying the fruit and biscuits.
Kaoru shrugged. "I thought something lighter on the system would be better since you haven't eaten in a while." She, of course, hadn't thought of this at all and it was really just a clever excuse to hide her cooking malfunction. No need for her highly attractive neighbor to know she tended to do the culinary equivalent of murder in the kitchen.
Men didn't like women who couldn't cook.
CHAPTER END
Well, that was fun. ^_^ And congrats to Kaoru using an oven without charring the food! I've always thought those fics where Kaoru burnt everything were blown a little out of proportion. Cooking in the 1800s and cooking today are two completely different animals, especially with packaged food and detailed cooking directions. Anyone can cook a decent frozen pizza, right?
You all are giving such wonderful and helpful reviews. And I absolutely adore hearing your opinions. And welcome, to all my new followers! I'm so glad you are liking the story so far.
Several of you have pointed out spelling errors and I really appreciate that. You should know that I don't have a beta reader. XD You guys are the first to see it after I write it. So there are bound to be some mistakes. But I always strive for excellence when I write and am very aware that typos can pull you out of a story. So if any of you see anything that really bothers you feel free to notify me via a note in your review or pm. ^_^
Reviews are love, sweeties!
P.S. No chapter tomorrow since it's independence day. But the next chapter will be going up on Friday! It's actually already written. I just have to proof read. lol