Tale of a Tail
Tale 1: A Kitchen Tail

Rin walked towards the kitchen with a huge grin on his face, Shiemi trailing behind him watching his tail sway side to side happily. Right now he felt like one of the luckiest guys in the world, who would have thought Shiemi would have come to deliver stuff for his brother on the exact day he suddenly got called out to help get rid of some demons? Sure, it felt like it was going to be hellish stuck in the dorm alone, but a ray of light had pierced the clouds as Shiemi arrived there.

And better yet when he'd sputtered that he was just getting ready to make something to eat and asked her if she wanted some too she'd both believed that, despite all the awkward stuttering, and said she'd LOVE to. LOVE TO! It seemed almost too good to be true.

"So, Rin, what were you planning on making?" she asked as they neared the kitchen.

"I.. um... I... you'll see! I'm sure you'll like it!" he managed to blurt out and then smiled. He didn't really have much of an idea, but he was sure once he started looking at what they had in the kitchen he could fake that he knew exactly what he was going to make from the beginning. By the way she grinned and nodded her head excitedly, as if she was already imagining how good whatever it was would taste, he knew she believed him.

As they entered the kitchen he looked about quickly and walked to the fridge, trying to look like he was purposely looking for certain things as he tried to come up with an idea. As he saw several items he suddenly grinned widely, face hidden by the door, and grabbed them, then went to a couple cupboards and pulled out some other ingredients and a pan, then went to a drawer and pulled out a couple spatulas.

"What is all that for?" Shiemi asked excitedly.

"It's going to be a surprise, remember?" he grinned, his tail starting to wag again as she managed to look slightly pouty and excitedly anxious at the same time. Boy he was glad that four-eyed brother of his wasn't around to see her being this cute!

He merrily busied himself cooking up his surprise, his tail wagging in time to the nameless tune he'd started humming as she waited patently. After a while he turned the stove down a little bit, just enough so it wouldn't heat up the surprise dish too fast, and set a timer.

"In a couple minutes I'll have to turn it and then shortly after that we can eat!" he smiled, sitting down near her.

"I can't wait!" she beamed. "Your food always tastes so wonderful, Rin!"

"What can I say," he blushed. "It's my talent!"

In short time the ding of the timer sounded and he stood up and walked over to look and see how it was doing. "Okay!" he said and as he moved to get the spatula he noticed Shiemi had gotten up too and was standing beside him.

"Is there anything you need, Rin?" she asked, wanting to be helpful and be able to eat whatever it was as soon as possible. It smelled delicious!

"Sure, hand me that spatula over there so I can flip this now."

"Um... this one?" she asked, and hearing the uncertainty in her voice he turned to check... and found her far closer to him than he'd expected with the very spatula he'd wanted her to get almost right in his face.

"GYAH!" he squeaked, stepping back suddenly enough his balance. Dropping the spatula suddenly she reached out to try to help him, but instead she was knocked off balance as well. As he fell back and his hind end bumped the stove his tail flew up and hit the handle of the pan, the combination of those two things sending it in the air heading right towards them.

The very thought of the hot pan and it's contents hitting Shiemi was something that set him into motion and he grabbed her, putting himself between her and the wayward pan, and flipped his tail as hard as he could at the flying frying pan.

As he held her she felt him wince as he let out a sudden squeak. She pulled back and looked at him and could clearly see the pain on his face. "Rin! Are you okay?" She looked at him and noticed his tail, it had clearly hit the pain dead on, and the hot pan and its contents had clearly burned it.

"Yeah... I'm okay..." he managed to say as close to normally as possible. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Rin, over by the sink right now!" Shiemi ordered, narrowing her eyes at him for asking about how she was doing when he was obviously hurt. "You have to run cold water over a burn as soon as possible, and then you have to put the proper medicine on it and bandage it up!"

He thought about arguing with her for a moment, but held back as he saw the look on his face. With a sigh he walked obediently over to the sink like she had demanded and was getting ready to place his tail under the faucet she'd already turned on when he felt her gently grab his tail, very gently rubbing the fur on it against the grain to help the water get down past it. He started blushing a bit and bit his lip to keep himself from saying anything and focused on the intent and caring look on her face as she was treating his burn. He didn't have the heart to tell her because of his demonic nature this would heal on its own no problem, but then the cold water on it and her ministrations didn't feel that bad...

He suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he noticed the water was off and she wasn't handling his tail anymore. "Eh?"

"Rin? Do you have any gauze around here?" she asked.

"Yeah, Yukio insists we keep a proper first aid kit above the sink, altho it's not like I need it... usually, anyway..." he answered. It had been long enough since he'd had an accident while cooking he thought he'd never really need that first aid kit, but perhaps that was just overconfidence... in fact, it probably was and also was most likely what lead him to get his tail burned.

As she set the kit down on the table and opened it she beckoned him over again. "Come here, I'll have Nii give me stuff for your burns and wrap it up."

Again that stubborn side of him wanted to argue, but again that serious and cute look on her face caused him to obediently listen to her and set himself down next to her. Again he found himself biting his lip as she worked whatever it was past the singed fur of his tail. He wasn't sure about that kind of stuff it was, and the fact she had all those weird names for plans didn't make knowing what it was any easier – even if he did think that was a kind of cute quirk of her's, although he'd never share that thought aloud.

He waited as patiently as he could as she finished that then worked on wrapping up the burnt part of his tail. He was secretly pleased that he managed to keep his impatient fidgeting to a minimum and down enough it didn't bother her.

As she finished by taping down the end of the gauze she looked at him intently, absently stroking the fur on an uninjured section of his tail – she'd noticed it was pretty soft while tending to it – and spoke up. "You have to take better care of your tail, Rin! You know it's sensitive!"

"Uh, y... yeah... I... I'll remember that... next time..." he stammered. It was amazing how something that innocent and delicate could at times seem more like a force of nature with how intense she could get. He was pretty sure this whole thing had his face cherry red by now.

And it was at that very moment Yukio walked into the kitchen. "Brother?" he called out, then noticed Rin sitting there next to Shiemi with an almost luminous blush on his face, and saw her hastily drop the tail she was holding and her face start to sport a blush that match Rin's.

He adjusted his glasses carefully and asked, "What... is going on here?"

The two both started stuttering embarrassedly, but finally Rin managed to get something that actually made some sense out. "I was... just... uh... just thinking of making something to eat. Some sandwiches, yeah!" he looked over at Shiemi and whispered, "Sandwiches sound safe enough, don't they?"

"Y... yeah!" she agreed with a huge nod.

"SANDWICHES!" they exclaimed together.

"Make me one too," Yukio said, thinking he didn't really want to know the whole story if this is how they were acting. "I expect by the time I get all my stuff put away you'll have time to make sandwiches for all three of us."

As he walked out the two giggled nervously together as they set to work on the – SAFE – sandwiches.

notes:

when I set about writing this I had only intended to write a little drabble based on a little question that came to mind (namely, wondering if Rin has ever had any kitchen accidents involving his tail). I figured on adding in some Rin and Shiemi interaction because I adore those two together, they make for such great awkward WAFF moments. as you can see, it kind of took on a life of its own and became a full fic. I'm not complaining, tho. as I still have no beta reader I would greatly enjoy some input on this piece, but even if you don't comment I hope you really enjoyed this.