Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater

(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)

"I suppose," Shizuru said, looking at her watch for confirmation of what her stomach was telling her, "that it is about time for me to start making dinner." She set aside her book and got up from the couch.

"Hey," Natsuki said, looking up from her game (something involving rushing around in motorized vehicles and shooting other vehicles, from what Shizuru could tell), "I can do that."

Shizuru stopped in genuine surprise.

"Ara, ara, is Natsuki actually volunteering to make dinner for us?" She'd meant to say it lightly, teasingly, but she'd been simply unable to keep all of her surprise hidden.

"You had classes all afternoon, while I've been hanging out at home. Lemme balance things out a little. That's how this 'living together as a couple' thing is supposed to work, isn't it?"

"Yes, but dinner? Most couples divide the household chores up according to talent."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean that one of us can't help the other out when there's a reason." An explosion resounded from the TV screen and Natsuki spun back, frantically working her controller. "Hey, I'm AFK here, you damned noob!" she shouted, then unleashed a frenzy of button-pushing and stick-thumbing that resulted in several particularly loud and dramatic explosions, text scrolling across the screen with some kind of statistics, and a smile of smug self-satisfaction on Natsuki's face. "That'll teach those punks," she said, exiting to the title screen and putting down the controller. "Now, about that dinner..."

"As I said, it is completely unnecessary of you."

Natsuki's eyes narrowed.

"You," she declared, "do not want to eat my cooking, Shizuru."

It will be noted that in general, Shizuru was a very good liar. She could lie by omission, lie with half-truths, lie with tone or body language, even while speaking the unvarnished truth, and lie herself blue in the face with one hundred percent bullcrap, all without batting an eyelash.

Some lies, however, were too big even for her to manage.

"You don't!" Natsuki pounced.

"While I will agree that you have a certain facility with a kettle of boiling water and a Styrofoam cup of dried noodles, I will point out that only one of us has ever made a sandwich that made one of our pets sick."

"Hey, Duran likes my cooking, don't you, boy?"

Duran looked up from his rug and woofed, thumping his tail on the floor.

"Duran literally has a cast-iron stomach."

"I think it's stainless steel, actually, but point taken," Natsuki allowed. "But that was the old me!"

Shizuru tipped her head to one side.

"Ara, and are there significant differences between this Natsuki and the old Natsuki? Because I was extremely fond of the old Natsuki, and I would be crushed not to see her again."

"The new Natsuki is still capable of calling you an idiot for your smartass remarks, Shizuru."

Shizuru beamed. "There is the cantankerous Natsuki that I love so much!"

Natsuki dropped her head and groaned.

"I can't win."

"I should have thought you would have learned that already, but I do think it is very cute that you have not."

Duran made a little "mrowf" sound, as if to remind his humans that they were drifting away from the much more important topic of dinner.

"But seriously, Natsuki, what is the difference between the new you and the old you as it concerns cooking?"

"What, you don't believe me when I say I'm serious about the kitchen? Just because in the old days I'd take the easy way out and make instant foods all the time didn't mean I didn't know what I was doing."

Natsuki, it will be noted, was a very bad liar.

"…Fine. Mai's been teaching me."

Shizuru's eyebrows rose.

"You've been taking cooking lessons?"

"Yeah. I know it's clichéd and all, but the way Tate and the smirking wonder talk about how they love it when she makes dinner for them…and then I got thinking about how I feel when you make me the things I like…and then…"

She broke off, nervously pushing her fingertips together.

"I just wanted to be able to do something for you that was, y'know…"

"Wifely?" Shizuru suggested.

"S-Shizuru!" her girlfriend yelped, rewarding her with an instant, luminescent blush. "You idiot!"

Shizuru dropped to her knees on the carpet and put her arms around Natsuki.

"I was only teasing, you know."

"You're lucky you're not a Christian, or else that'd end up on your headstone: 'Here lies Shizuru Fujino, died age 20. She was only teasing.'"

"Ikezu," Shizuru said warmly, and kissed Natsuki on the forehead. "I think it is very sweet that you want to do things for me, and that you would go outside your comfort area to learn something solely for that reason."

It suddenly hit her that in some ways, Natsuki was even making more of an effort than she herself was to meet in the middle of their relationship. After all all, the things Shizuru did, they were skills that she already had, while very few of Natsuki's personal interests and areas of experience really contributed to a romance or a household. Racing-grade motorcycle riding, firearms expertise, dealing with underworld contacts, hand-to-hand combat, picking locks, and disarming security systems simply weren't things that came up often in ordinary daily life.

Of course, there is her interest in collecting lingerie, but that is the delightful exception to the rule.

Impulsively, Shizuru reached for the second game controller.

"Show me how to play."

"What, now?"

Shizuru nodded.

"It is most unfair that Natsuki has to rely upon a balky Internet connection to find someone to play with. At the very least, I wish to understand the game well enough to cheer for your victories."

"It isn't easy," Natsuki warned. "Gaming takes a lot of hand-eye coordination."

"I think that Natsuki can personally testify that I have very agile hands."

That got the blush back again.

"All right, then. Let's see if the world is ready to handle Fujino Shizuru, gamer girl."

"Will Natsuki give her student a reward if I do well?"

"Don't push it."

"But forbidden teacher-student romances are so fun to imagine, wouldn't you agree, Natsuki-sensei?"

"Keep it up and you'll be eating mayo sandwiches for a week, wiseass."

Shizuru managed to suppress the urge to reply with a comment about Natsuki's rear aspect and her feelings for it. Who says I can't go outside of my comfort zone for her sake? she thought to herself while figuring out how to fit her hands around the controller comfortably.

Duran just whimpered sadly. While he was happy that his family was getting along, that didn't change the fact that it looked like there would be a serious delay in their serving dinner!

~X X X~

A/N: This story actually started out as the introduction/framing device for a completely different omake idea, but Shizuru and Natsuki just kept right on talking about Natsuki's offer to cook, so that it ended up a story of its own!