Title: double, double toil and trouble

Author: sllebswap

Characters/Pairing: Kobayashi Rindou and Tsukasa Eishi

Type: One-Shot (Complete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 5038

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: Shokugeki no Souma belongs to Tsukuda-san.

Summary: As White Day rolls around, Eishi struggles to find Rindou a suitable gift. Inspired by Chapter 250 and 251's Valentine's Day Special spreads.

Verse: Canon Divergent AU

Chapter Last Revised on: 23/03/18

Eishi was currently having a hard time.

It was all Rindou's fault, of course.

The woman was, as usual, being difficult and demanding and he really didn't know why he still tried to accommodate her ridiculous conditions all the same. It must be the way she had been looking at him when she came up with her oddball insistences a few weeks back, all rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed and filled to the brim with the unreasonable belief that he would be able to fulfill all of her requisites as easily as with a snap of his fingers because Tsukasa Eishi was that awesome and there was simply nothing on this earth that he could not do.

In light of that overwhelming (more like overpowering) display of faith, how was he supposed to say no to her?

…Okay, so maybe this pain that he was in was partially of his own making too, but self-blame was pretty unproductive at the moment and besides, it made Eishi feel better to point fingers at the cause of his misery…especially since she wasn't even present to appreciate this headache that she had indirectly saddled him with.

He sighed again, unhappily. Why. Why did everything in his life have to be so hard.

Over on the other side of the office, Somei opened his eyes from the couch where he had been silently meditating on, cutting his gaze over to Tsukasa who had been wordlessly melancholic for the nth time that afternoon. The leader of the Elite 10 could be dramatically gloomy especially when he was being planted against his will behind a desk overflowing with paperwork, but such was the burden of responsibility that he faced sitting at the top of Tootsuki.

…Besides, most of the work for the day had already been done, judging by the rapidly diminishing stacks of files on the White Knight's in-tray, so what else was there for him to be upset about?

"Tsukasa, why do you lament so?"

The lean, rangy male startled briefly, having momentarily forgotten the steady, accompanying presence of his Fourth Seat. He slumped back into his chair, looking comically grey in the face.

"…Haah, it's going to be White Day in a few days," Eishi slowly muttered. He did not sound thrilled, and after pondering the situation for a bit, Somei decided that he had a vague idea of the reason for the other man's distress.

"Are you concerned about your obligations to your admirers?"

Whenever Valentine's Day rolled around, the First Seat would inevitably find himself physically besieged by chocolates and sweets of all kinds by his ardent (and numerous) fans. He would literally receive several times his weight's worth of candy…which was quite ridiculous and which always made Somei silently question if those admirers of his were trying to send the poor, overwhelmed young man into an early grave by way of diabetes. It was no wonder that Tsukasa had eventually developed an aversion to sweets over time, and tended to avoid them when possible.

Eishi seemed briefly bewildered by Somei's guess, though.

"Eh? Not really… I returned most, if not all, of the gifts given to me."

He had been gracious but firmly diplomatic when it came to the whole affair too, by now used to all the fuss and could react properly to manage this problem. His admirers were crushed by his textbook polite rejection, but they could not refute his sensible reasoning. After all, he could not possibly finish all the chocolates by himself and it would also be wrong to accept the offerings of a few yet reject the rest, thus to be fair he would only accept their sentiments instead. Presents that had been sent to him anonymously had been subsequently given away to other people as well, and that was that.

"Why are you sighing, then?"

Eishi sighed again, despondently.

"Rindou," he mumbled, as if that name was answer enough.

And maybe it was so.

Calm and stoic as he was, even Somei was hard pressed not to shudder at the memory of those chocolate-coated lizards which the redhead had attempted to give to all of them roughly a month ago. If memory served correct, Tsukasa had been the only one who had accepted her giri-choco that day…so it was only customary that he returned the favor on White Day. The blade wielding Third Year was clueless as to why his fellow year-mate was looking so troubled now, though. Creating something for Rindou should be a piece of cake for someone with Tsukasa's refined skillset and expertise, pun unintended. The impossible part of actually enjoying and ingesting those lizards was already over, and Tsukasa had even actually looked like he had liked those sweets, anyhow.

"Are you having trouble thinking of something to make for Kobayashi?"

The rest of the story quickly spilled out.

"…That's the whole problem. Rindou's not allowing me to make her anything for White Day's because she claims that's just too easy. But she still expects to receive something that only I can give, and that it is to be sweet and spicy and fun as and when she wants it to be. What kind of impossible expectation is that woman having of me…?"

Eishi was starting to sound disgruntled towards the end, Somei could not help but notice. Yet, the White Knight was still gamely trying to figure out the puzzle that his troublesome best friend had stuck him with. She had also declared that she would not accept a boring and unimaginative present from him…which had offended him for all kinds of reason. As if he would do that and let himself be underwhelming where her opinion was concerned. She would never let him live it down and he would never hear the end of it if that was so.

…Still, he could not deny that this latest challenge of hers was a bit more difficult to fathom than the previous ones. Just what exactly was she asking of him?

Somei had no answer for his leader. Kobayashi had always been something of an unpredictable enigma – he didn't think that anyone could actually figure out what that girl was thinking at all. The fact that Tsukasa could still get her at least half the time was something of a marvel as it was.

The White Knight mumbled under his breath then, smoke almost coming out of his ears from how hard he was trying to solve the Second Seat's riddle.

Somei silently thanked his luck to have managed to outrun Kobayashi on Valentine's Day, thus saving himself from a similar fate.

Rindou was currently having a great time.

Actually, most of her days were pretty awesome, and today was no different. A shipment of exotic ingredients which she had ordered from the Amazon Basin had arrived earlier and she had been absolutely delighted by their pristine quality when she headed down to the warehouse depot to check them out. She could not wait to use them in her cooking, and had been pondering on the many different routes she could take to bring out the best of these rare materials before she proudly presented her creations to whoever were brave enough to sample the esoteric offerings.

It was something of a tragedy that almost all of the people around her were so dully conservative when it came to the food they were willing and/or comfortable with eating, the redhead mused. The world was so huge and filled with all kinds of culinary treasures, but sadly, most individuals in their entire lifetimes would never ever venture beyond experiencing more than a mere fraction of a fraction of these bountiful resources all around them…

The very thought was almost depressing enough to sadden Rindou…if not for the fact that her mouth was already watering in anticipation of her next kitchen adventures. Cooking was a lot like exploring the wild frontiers, in her opinion. Who on earth in their right minds would keep wanting to perform the same old, tried and tested, trick over and over and over? That was just so boring. No, it was way better to forge her own path, be an exciting, glamorous trailblazer, and come up with all sorts of amazing things that no one had even thought of, let alone attempt doing.

There was a thin line between genius and insanity, they said, and she in particularly loved to use it as her personal jump rope. She was addicted to the adrenaline rush, the ecstatic, empowering moment when she forcefully battered down the towering doubts and squeamish misconceptions of those faced with the divine reality of her ungodly cooking, leaving them no choice but to confront their own irrational unease and internalized prejudices, to free and embrace their hidden pagans, and, last but not least, leave them devoted, starry-eyed converts in the aftermath of her greedy, insatiable campaigns in this vast, depthless world of food and culinary wonders.

Maybe they were right to call her the Brave Barbarian. She took no prisoners with her cooking and she also never took no for an acceptable answer. In fact, it was actually pretty hard to say no to her, as many people could attest to. The most recent of those (read: her victims) was someone very close to her – one Tsukasa Eishi, fellow Elite 10 member and all around funny guy, if only for his uncertainly taciturn nature and somewhat whiplash-inducing bipolar personality. The Second Seat's gold slit eyes lit up with vulpine mischief as she wondered how her best friend was faring with the White Day Special that she had requested of him. No doubt that he would be complaining about her demand, but one thing about Tsukasa that made him so awesome and such a stand-up friend was that he was always up for any challenge.

He was never boring and he had never looked at her like she was crazy or weird or like she was beneath him even back when they were still nobodies struggling up the merciless food chain that was Tootsuki, and she had first happily announced that she was going to specialize in exotic ingredients.

If anything, he had only started to ponder if he could make use of her specialty to further accentuate the impeccable standards of his own cooking. Typical Tsukasa Eishi mentality.

Some individuals (in fact, many individuals) had flatly pointed out that the illustrious First Seat was only keeping her around because she was useful to him. Well, duh, was Rindou's matter-of-fact response, completely unfazed. If not her, then who else? She was one of the best too, and she had her own pride as a cook that was not necessarily eclipsed or threatened by Tsukasa's all-encompassing brilliance. Rather than seeing herself being made used of, Rindou knew that this was his way of keeping to the promise that they had made to each other so long ago. Did those people think that it was easy? Heck, no! But still, to the top they would go, together. They would stick together, even if their cooking styles and specialties were hardly complementary – they would find a way to make it work, because that was the way they rolled.

Besides, if not for her, then who else would be good enough to watch Tsukasa's back? To pound him on his back full force in unadulterated, gleeful celebration of his victories? To hip check him back to reality whenever he was stressing over ridiculous matters again, to challenge and bewilder him so that he wouldn't get bored to death and/or let all the success get to his head too much?

This unique role was obviously something only she could do, and in light of that, it did not take much else for Rindou to decide that Tsukasa had better be very thankful that he had such a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious amazing goddess of a best friend backing him up and supporting his endeavors unconditionally. She was practically indispensable to him, the woman thought not so modestly. Who else had seen the best and worst of him, been there for him throughout all of his victories and defeats?

But even if he didn't appreciate her presence and start worshipping her like she had every right to expect queenly treatment, Rindou magnanimously decided that was perfectly okay too.

What are best friends for, right?

What are best friends for, Eishi could not help but ponder the same question, and not for the first time.

More importantly, where was the line that ran between the textbook definition of 'best friends,' and 'something more?'

He would really like to know because these days, it was all jumbled up together and he was very confused by the mess of assumptions and unspoken words that hung between them. It wasn't as if they were avoiding what should be said and made clear for any reason, just that they had always had that comfortable understanding between each other…but now Eishi would really appreciate some clarification. Rindou had always seemed content with their status quo…and so he had taken his cues from her and hadn't seen any need to rock the boat…until recently, that was.

He had always been someone who liked things neat and tidy, everything slotted in orderly little compartments and placed exactly where he wanted them so that he knew where they were. Unfortunately, human relations did not work that way. People changed with time, relationships shifted with different perceptions and experiences, and nothing was ever stagnant.

In view of that understanding, the fact that the quicksilver and whimsical best friend of his had always faithfully stuck by him even after all this time had just made it even more obvious to him how special their shared bond was. How special she was.

The problem now was, did she feel the same way too?

She was certainly proud of him, and was always more than happy to present him and extol his virtues to whoever was listening, much to his faint embarrassment. She was always loudly proclaiming their friendship whenever people curiously asked about them, but now he could not help but wonder if that was all she ever saw them as.

It was a depressing, troubling thought, that she would never regard him as anything more than a friend, and while there was nothing wrong with that at all and he out of all people knew just how unflinchingly loyal she could be with her friendships – but the truth was that friendship with her was no longer enough for him. He was starting to want more, though how much she would be willing to give was another matter altogether.

…He really was very selfish and could only think about his own wants and desires. Still, she put up with him all the same, never resentful or scornful of his many idiosyncrasies and personal tics and always supportive of his success…even when sometimes she did not agree with his choices and they made her quite uncomfortable. She stuck by him all the same, just as she had promised.

Something that felt a bit like guilt squirmed in him, then. People often mistakenly assumed that he was constantly being steamrolled by her overly exuberant and enthusiastic, bossy and overbearing ways when it came to their friendship. In truth, he probably was the one who did more of the unreasonable bullying out of the two of them. Maybe that was why he always tried to accommodate her so much, because he very much appreciated having her in his life, and this was the only way he was allowed to properly show it. She never took him seriously whenever he tried to tell her so, much to his chagrin, simply waving his awkward words off and grinning that impish fanged grin, cat-like eyes mischievously twinkling in a way that sometimes made him want to do something downright irrational and spontaneous like grab her, reel her in and-

A faint flush suffused his features then, at the direction that his thoughts were starting to take. This kind of utterly distracting fantasies were taking over his mind more and more often these days, especially when he was in her presence. She, bless her obliviousness, seemed to find his odd reactions amusing enough and had not thought to question him, simply filing it under 'Tsukasa being weird again.' Eishi did not know if he should be relieved or more upset about that. She flustered and bothered him just by being her usual self, whereas on the other end of the spectrum, she didn't seem to suffer from the same affliction around him.

How unfair was that?

He had to even the odds between them, level out the playing field. It was the only option to get her to take notice of him the way he desired her to, even if they had leave this comfort zone that they had both been sitting in all these years, and venture out into uncharted waters as far as their relationship was concerned. At this point, he was pretty sure that she did not even see him as a man at all, let alone a potential romantic interest. He probably was somewhere at the level of a hapless forest critter that she felt responsible to take care of and protect all this while…which was even more depressing, really.

He was struggling not to wilt in misery and nervousness, overthinking as usual, and then he could almost hear her already scolding him in his mind, telling him to man up and puff out his chest and not slouch and curl into a ball like a frightened millipede.

Great; now he had to pep himself with her voice for courage to talk to her. Was it really going to okay like this? No wonder she paid him no heed – he was such a hopeless wimp when it came to so many things. She probably would go for guys that were more manly and reliable, possibly men like Megishima or even Saitou. It was impossible not to feel self-conscious at the thought of the other males. In terms of self-confidence, physical stature and composure, they had him beat hands down. Sure, he had his cooking going for him…but those two were pretty much the best at their chosen specialties too. The thought was enough to make him sigh, gloom and doom hanging over his head like storm clouds.

The competition, self-perceived or otherwise, was stiff. And most of all…

She was never going to see him as anything more than a friend, was she?

"Huh, you sure look like a happy ball of sunshine today, Tsukasa."

Eishi jumped and nearly fell out of his chair at the familiar, feminine drawl that sounded so close by his ear that he could not help but let out a surprised yelp. The White Knight shoved away from his desk and swiveled around on his chair to gawk at Rindou.

"Why are you sneaking up on me?"

Standing beside him, she did not look impressed by his astonished demeanor. This wasn't the first time she had caught him woolgathering, after all. The redhead huffed at his accusation.

"I didn't sneak up on you, dummy. I knocked on your door and everything but you seemed too hyper depressed about something to notice." At that, she reached out and lightly rapped her knuckles against the crown of his head. "What did I say about being more confident?" she reproached with halfhearted annoyance. "Whatever you're fretting over in that complicated head of yours probably isn't anywhere as serious as you're blowing it up to be."

It was disconcerting how she always seemed to have such accurate guesses of what was bothering him, even though she had no idea that she was the subject. He watched her silently as she hopped up and perched herself precariously on the edge of his desk. She gave him an arched look, a feline smirk flirting on her lips.

"So, have you figured out my present for White Day? Time's up, you know~?"

At her sly question, he stilled, but did not look away from her bright gaze. It was a struggle not to become flustered all over again, which made him grumble inwardly because why was it always her who tied him up in knots so easily?

"I guess," he managed, trying his best to effect composure. Judging by that predatory gleam in her eyes, he didn't think that he had succeeded entirely. Gulp.

She knew him too well.

Interest flickered over her expression, and she started to look visibly excited.

"So where is it? Give it to me~"

She was so impossibly pushy.

"Just to be clear, your conditions were a) something that only I could give, b) but that which I'm not allowed to make, and c) it has to be something sweet and spicy and fun as and when you want it to be."

He was stalling and they both knew it.

"Yep." She was making grabby motions at him now, trying to figure out just where he was hiding her gift because she could not see any sitting around in her immediate vision. "Gimme, gimme, gimme~"

"Very well." He steeled himself for what was to come next as well as the potential fallout that might happen thereafter, then quickly reached out and grabbed her before he could second guess himself again. He might not have the bulging physiques and imposing statures of some of the other males in his year, but he was still more than strong enough to muscle her onto his lap. To say that Rindou was surprised by her sudden new position would be something of an understatement.

Hah, finally, the young man who had captured her thought with grim satisfaction. She was caught off guard by that firm look of determination sitting on his face.

"Uh, Tsukasa," she uttered slowly, still visibly astonished. Interestingly enough, she wasn't protesting her situation, more curious than actually alarmed. "What are you doing?"

There was no turning back now.

"Giving you your White Day present," he muttered.

And before he could lose his courage and conviction, he hastily lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers. It was awkward; their noses bumped and he had no idea where exactly he was supposed to put his hands – she was so soft everywhere.

She didn't react to the kiss at first…but she also didn't shove him away and punch him in the face either. Emboldened, he pressed in again, molding their lips together, then gently licking the seam of her mouth, intuitively trying to coax a response out of her.

Her lips started to part like unfurling petals, and her tongue darted out to mimic him, the slick, soft appendage swiping along his lips, tasting him for the very first time. He was giddy then, thrilled with her response. Then she was kissing him back, her hands coming up to curl into the front of his shirt, pressing more into him, slowly, experimentally tracing the shape of his lips with her own, taking her time to learn him, taking in his sweetness…

Her lips were velvety soft, bowed and lush and just about everything he had dreamed of and more. He suckled softly on that delicious pout, the full, puffy flesh made for nibbling on, and she emitted a little sound that was almost like a tiny, startled moan. His body immediately reacted to her alluring pleasure, instinctively going taut with tension and hyper awareness, visibly thrumming with rising excitement.

He slipped his tongue into her mouth, a bit clumsy and untried, but not entirely oblivious to what the mechanics of French kissing entailed. The very idea of swapping spit was kind of gross when he first learned of such an activity, but now, with the desired female in his arms and the dizzying feel of their tongues stroking sensually against each other, the experience was just impossibly erotic as hell. That tart, spicy tang that was her, her tantalizing scent, her electrifyingly heat- he could drown happily in her.

She could taste the coffee that he has had earlier, just the barest notes of the rich, full bodied beverage, and funny- she had always preferred tea but Rindou suddenly realized that she could become addicted to coffee too if she could drink it from his mouth, like this. After that marvelous little revelation, there was no more stopping Rindou. The redhead threw herself heartily into this new activity that Tsukasa had initiated. Wriggling around on his lap, her arms crept higher up until they snaked around his neck, molding herself to him, her curves delineating his whipcord lean, toned physique, trusting him entirely with wherever he was leading them both into next.

He was very, very warm, she could not help but notice happily, all too pleased because there had always been something about his clean, crisp scent and comfortable presence that resonated with her, a lot.

Kissing was new. Kissing was fun. They kissed each other until they ran out of breath, and even then they were reluctant to part. They were both breathing hard, mouths reddened, gazes dark and hungry. Her slim fingers had somehow found their way tangled amongst his hair, and his hands were clutching onto the sides of her hips over the fabric of her plaid skirt, and for the life of him, he could not seem to let go. They stared at each other for a long, charged moment, both well aware that with this, something fundamentally important in their relationship had just shifted.

Then, Rindou licked her lips; kiss-swollen, sensitive, deliciously ripe like sweet raspberries, all too tempting for her own good…which was why Eishi promptly found his mouth glued to hers again, before he could even comprehend what he was doing.

…He actually had no idea what he was doing anymore, but kissing was good. Kissing kept their mouths busy and there was no talking about what this all meant when they were kissing. So they eagerly made out some more.

The young woman in his arms did not seem inclined to protest and was more than willing to play tonsil hockey with her best friend who was suddenly being very assertive and kind of…sexy with the way he was staring at her. And the way he was handling her.

Most definitely the way he was handling her.

After a few rounds of…exploring each other…they were both quickly reaching their limits. Eishi looked a bit like a wild-eyed madman with tousled hair (thanks to Rindou's grabby hands), and Rindou was still latched onto the side of his neck, draped over the male like a large, languid jungle cat, softly nipping and kissing a line up his jaw. And purring.

He groaned, fingers digging into that soft flare of her flanks, dazed by her naturally affectionate, sinfully inquisitivenature. It took effort for him to straighten himself, summon the willpower to unpeel his hands from her body and shift them higher up to her shoulders instead, and then slowly pull her off.

Rindou lazily raised her head to look at him, but now that the heat of the moment had been temporarily assuaged, she settled for watching him, her almost preternatural eyes glowing, the color high on her impish features, beautifully flushed from the remnants of shared passion.

He could not seem to stop staring at her. He had never seen her look like that before.

Much to her rising amusement, Eishi seemed to be having some trouble mustering words, and so she slowly drawled. "…So… that's my White Day present, huh…?"

He stared at her some more…and then it was a massive internal struggle not to be flustered by her teasing. She smirked with vulpine mischief.

"Is it a one-off thing, or…do I get to look forward to repeat performances?"

Repeat performances-

It was a while before he could speak, at least not without his face going up in flames. Not for the first time, Eishi cursed his fair appearance that often gave away his emotions so easily.

"…Depends," he replied at last, slowly, carefully. His pristine gaze held hers as steadily as he could manage it. "Did I meet your requirements?"

Her lips curved. Did he meet her requirements?

"Must you always be so competitive?" she asked him in return, a purely rhetoric question because she already knew that answer. Of course he was always competitive. He just had to be the best.

He continued to look at her, one brow slowly rising, and she huffed, amused.

"…I was surprised," she acknowledged, her eyes twinkling even as she struggled to keep a straight face. "…and it wasn't boring. So you passed."

He could not help the involuntary twitch of his eyelid at her teasing nonchalance. Wasn't boring, his ass- she had been all over him just now.

She tapped her in index finger against her lips, openly considering. "Hmm. If you're looking for constructive criticism, though~ I think I'll need to acquire more data before I can give a detailed appraisal of your performance…"

His eye was twitching even more now. This shameless wench.

But he also knew that she was just purposely trying to get a rise out of him, and after glowering at her in disbelief, he muttered back.

"…Next time, I'll make you see stars," he vowed darkly. "And what do you mean by 'it wasn't boring-'" he muttered under his breath, thoroughly offended. It seemed that his masculine pride had been hurt.

A delighted laugh bubbled out of her. "So there's gonna be a next time! Huh! I guess this make us besties…who occasionally makes out." She looked at him in shining excitement. "Hey, hey! Do you know what this means?"

He paused and gazed sharply at her, hesitantly wondering if she was actually heading in the direction where he thought she was going for.

Of course not.

"We're kissing buddies now!" she guffawed gleefully, shoulders shaking with mirth at her own comical genius…and he didn't know whether to be disappointed or just plain exasperated by her randomly quirky nature.

He groaned and rubbed his temples instead.

Did he like pain so much? Why was he in love with this kind of woman again?

Omake #1.0

"Rindou?" He asked as they were heading back home later that day.

"Yeah?" She was moseying comfortably along beside him, and they looked like a pair of normal high school third years just casually leaving school after a long day of academic learning, no indication whatsoever that they had both been heavily making out in the First Seat's office an hour or so ago. If his uniform was a bit more ruffled than usual, or if her lips were a bit redder and poutier than usual, then that was nobody's business but their own.

"…What was it that you actually wanted for White Day?"

She had indicated that she had been surprised earlier, which meant that she had expected something else. In hindsight, that made sense – he couldn't imagine that she would have hinted for kisses from him, of all things…if they had been what she had really wanted. That just wasn't her style, at all. In light of that, Eishi was still belatedly stunned that she had rolled with it, all the same. Actually, she had seemed to enjoy it a lot too, enough to demand repetitions in the future…

The redhead shrugged, slanting him a side glance that was vaguely amused. Eishi just knew that the tips of his ears were reddening again, giving him away.

"Eh, I thought I was being pretty obvious."

He gave her a flat, incredulous stare. "…No, you really were not."

Now it was her turn to fidget, just a little. His attention focused on her apparent unease, curious about her reaction.

"Rindou?"

"…Your time," she blurted out at last, before she squared her shoulders and raised her chin, as if challenging him to poke fun at her. "That was what I wanted."

He stopped walking then, and just stared at her. She stopped walking too. "Lately, all we've been doing is busily preparing for finals and graduation and all those thingymajiggy - so boring! So I thought that it'd be good if we got to hang out more like we used to."

His brow furrowed.

"…That made no sense at all. How does hanging out translates to spicy and sweet and fun to you?"

"How does kissing translates to spicy and sweet and fun to you?" she retorted in return, and he was starting to fluster again at her blunt question.

"It was spicy and sweet and fun to me," he muttered, almost bashfully. "…Kissing you, that was."

This side of him was something that she did not know existed. And she didn't know why, but the more she stared at him like this, the more she was overwhelmed by the strangest, strongest urge to grab him by his tie, tug him in close and plant one on him right there and then.

Because…

…

…he's…cute, she realized dumbly then, for the very first time.

Her realization was less that of infatuated, starry-eyed wonder…more like one of appalled, dismayed shock.

"…Stop doing that."

"Huh? Stop doing what?" He appeared genuinely confused by her random demand. And still blushy…which automatically made her start to flush, too, much to her complete bewilderment. Where was this godawful reaction coming from? And right in the middle of the street…!

Rindou was perplexed and horrified by her own sudden, powerful response to Tsukasa. She immediately slapped a hand over the bottom half of her own face, frantically trying to conceal the blush growing on her face. Oh, gods.

"Stop…!"

He had no idea what she was squawking about, but he did catch a glimpse of her rosy cheeks as she turned away and started to march briskly ahead instead, and most importantly, that startling flash of feminine vulnerability in her eyes as she tore her flustered gaze away from him.

Awareness. It was awareness, slowly blossoming in the heart of this beautiful young woman who was starting to see her best friend in a completely new light.

He blinked owlishly, and then he hurried after her, long strides eating up the distance between them. He was at a loss as to what to say, and so they walked together in silence for a while.

"So uh, where do you want to hang out, then?"

She looked away from him, reluctant to show her discomposure.

"…I'm booking a flight out to Granada after graduation day. …You can come with, if you want."

"…Like a date, then?"

"Don't call it a date!"

Omake #2.0

"Mommy?"

"Hmm?" Rindou tore her eyes from the television to where her youngest child had just wandered into the family den. The littlest Tsukasa was still in her jammies, snow white hair askew and ruffled from just waking up. It was a rare, lazy Sunday morning for the entire family, and the redhead herself was still in her pajamas as well, curled comfortably into the settee with a mug of coffee in her hand, even as her other hand was idly stroking her son's tousled red hair. The older child took up the rest of the space on the couch, stretched out there sleepily with his head cushioned on his mother's lap.

Together, they had been watching the latest episode of one of his favorite weekend morning cartoons, the cleverly made animation chronicling the poignant adventures of a lonely little dragon kit bravely traversing unknown lands in search of his long-lost family.

Chouko pitter-pattered over to her parent and nii-chan, and then she clambered onto the couch also, unceremoniously climbing over her older brother to get to their mother. Hi-en grunted and looked vaguely disgruntled at the commotion, briefly tearing his engrossed attention from the show to frown at his sister for the rude interruption, but of course she paid him no notice, so intent was she with her goal to reach their female parent. It didn't take long for the older boy to put the incident behind him though, as the story playing out on the flat screen stole his focus once more. Rindou had to set her coffee down on the side table to accommodate her four-year-old daughter cuddling onto her lap, but by now, she was quite the expert at juggling and multitasking. That skill was practically a required prerequisite for parenthood, after all.

"Mommy?" Chouko suddenly spoke up after a brief lull.

"Yes?"

"Tell Chouko again the story with the chocolate lizards?"

Rindou turned her head, and her cat-like eyes met the similarly slit-pupiled lavender ones of her child. She didn't find Chouko's random request weird at all. If anything, she seemed vaguely amused, in a somewhat resigned way. The tale with the chocolate lizards was currently Chouko's favorite story, ever since Rindou had told it to her a few nights ago during bedtime.

"Oh, you wanna hear it again?"

The white haired little girl nodded enthusiastically, sinking into her mother's embrace and getting herself comfortable to listen to the tale all over again.

"Mm'kay." Rindou paused briefly and prepared to retell the tale. "…Once upon a time, back when mommy and papa still hadn't gotten together yet, mommy always gave giri-choco to papa on Valentine's Day. Does Chouko still remember what giri-chocco is?"

The little girl nodded vigorously. "Hai~! It's opli-oblibatary chocolate!" she cheerfully butchered the word which she did not really understand the meaning of, proud that she could answer her mother. Chocolate – yummm!

"Yes, it's obligatory friendship chocolate," the redhead beamed at her daughter even as she corrected the younger one.

"And Mommy's giri-choco is very special, right?" Chouko chirped. "'Coz papa is super fussy when it comes to his giri-choco!"

Oh, that was an understatement if any. Rindou nodded, eyes starting to twinkle with amusement at the comical recollections of Eishi running away from his hordes of fans attempting to drown him with their chocolaty devotion. Good times, those.

"Right, papa is such a super fusspot when it comes to his chocolates, thus mommy had to make hers ultra-special so he would accept hers~"

"So mommy came up with chocolate coated lizards to give papa for giri-choco!"

Rindou did not know why Chouko had still asked her to tell the story anymore since the little girl had obviously memorized the entire tale by heart at this point.

"Uh-huh. All the other boys that mommy tried to give her giri-choco to ran away when they saw her special chocolate coated lizards, which made mommy sad." Well, not really sad-sad, per se, more like irritated-mad, but her child did not have to know that side of her mother.

"But not papa! Papa didn't run away!" Chouko crowed like the number one fan of her father that she was. In the little girl's adoring eyes, there was nothing that her father could not do. "Papa accepted mommy's giri-choco, and he ate them happily!"

Those large lavender eyes that were so pristine and beautiful like Eishi's turned to her then, expectant. "And then? And then, and then, and then? What happened next?"

Rindou was very amused by her eagerness. Her daughter reminded her of a wriggly, impatient puppy at the moment. So. Cute. "I think you already know what happened next."

"Nooo, mommy, you hafta tell it properly!" her girl insisted, pouting cutely.

"Your papa fell in love with the chocolate coated lizards, because mommy is so awesome, of course!" Rindou boasted shamelessly, even as some distance behind her, over where the open kitchen was, the man in question who had supposedly fallen in love with the chocolate coated lizards snorted. His wife graciously decided not to take offense. If anything, just to further emphasize his devotion, she continued, "In fact, your papa was so dazzled that he decided that he could not keep his feelings hidden anymore, and when White Day came around, he launched his counter attack!"

"…Counter attack? Otou-san?" Hi'en interrupted then, for the very first time that morning. The boy lolled his head back a little so that he could keep his sister and mother in his sight, just as the end credits of the cartoon episode rolled up on the television screen.

"Yes," Eishi responded as his wife's exaggerated narration finally encouraged him to emerge from the kitchen to offer his POV, attempting to do some damage control before the story turned into something else altogether and became forever archived as another monstrous Tsukasa Family Urban Legend. "Counter attack, because your mother wasn't going to fall for anything less."

Rindou looked amused by his placid comment, but she did not refute it. The white-haired man nudged his son upright before passing over a small cup of hot chocolate to the boy from the tray he had brought out with him. Chouko was already making grabby hand motions at her father even before he turned to her, eager for her share of the sweet, delicious beverage. So much like her mother, this child was. It wasn't long before both children were sporting matching chocolate moustaches, and ready to hear for the rest of the story.

"Papa, what did you do?"

"Well," he started slowly, sitting down on the couch with the rest of them. "Your mother presented me with a challenge to solve for White Day…"

Chouko's eyes sparkled. "'Coz papa's a brave knight in shining armor, and brave knights in shining armor hafta go on difficult quests to get their princesses!"

Both parents objected somewhat to the little girl's starry-eyed comment. Eishi was chagrinned that Chou was taking his professional moniker way too seriously…

"I won't exactly call myself a princess," Rindou mused. Her husband promptly agreed.

"If anything, your mother's more like a witch."

Rindou gave him a squinty gimlet stare to show him what she thought of his blatant honesty. Eishi had no intention to take it back, though. Back then, she had really bedeviled him so. At any rate, Hi'en was certainly intrigued.

"Like a powerful witch who casts magic spells…with lizards' legs and eyes of newts and toes of frogs…?" the boy contemplated aloud, letting his imagination run wild. It wasn't too far from what Rindou sometimes liked to work with in the kitchens.

"Yes," Eishi agreed. He was slowly getting the hang of storytime, though Rindou was much better at interweaving the facts with fiction and making it sound so much more exciting. "Your mother's quite a crafty witch, so I had to solve her puzzle and capture her properly."

"Oooh!" Even though Chouko had heard this story a few times before, this new spin that her father put in was enthralling her all over again. She clapped her hands together. "How? How did papa capture mommy?"

Rindou smirked.

"This papa of yours can be really tricky too. He pretended to solve the puzzle but blindsided mommy with True Love's Kiss instead." She sighed theatrically. "Mommy was instantly defeated!"

"True Love's Kiss!" Chouko was starry eyed again, and Eishi wondered if it was really a good idea to let this impressionable child watch so many Disney cartoons with all the singing animals and the princesses who spent their days talking to the aforementioned forest critters. "And then there was happily ever after?"

On the other end of the spectrum, Hi'en looked vaguely put out by the sappy ending. He was just reaching the age where kissing was gross and his parents were just becoming slightly less cool now because they were so…kissy at times.

Rindou beamed at her cute little daughter. Chouko was always so fun to tell stories to. Her reactions were so innocent and guileless it was almost enough for her mother to wish that this little butterfly child would never grow up and forever remain so adorable. "Yep! Happily ever after, and a few years later, papa gave mommy En-chan and Chou-chan~!"

Chouko tilted her head curiously, trying to figure how that worked. "…How? How did papa give mommy nii-chan and Chouko?"

While Eishi stilled at the question that no parent really ever wanted to explain to their child, Rindou did not even bat an eyelid as she replied. "Well, first papa gave mommy a little magical seed and a lot of love, and after a while, an egg appeared! So papa and mommy happily poured even moreeeee of our love into that precious little egg…protecting it and nurturing it and helping it to grow big and strong…until one day, out hatched a wild En-chan!"

"…" Hi'en squinted at his mother's explanation. He looked oddly skeptical. That wasn't what Matoba at elementary school said.

Nevertheless, his sister was completely taken by the story.

Ehhh! Chouko had not known that nii-chan had come out from an egg! So. Cool!

"What 'bout Chouko? Did Chouko come out of a magical egg of love too?"

Rindou was trying not to laugh. The less said about that funny look sitting on Eishi's face at the moment, the better. "Of course! Chouko was hatched out of a special egg. A special magic onsen love egg."

Cue an explosion of sparkles from the thrilled child.

"…Awesome!"

Omake #2.1

"Mommy~?" Chouko spoke up after a while.

"Yes, Chou-chan?"

"Will mommy teach Chouko how to make chocolate coated lizards too? So when Chouko grows up, Chouko will know how to use magic to catch herself a knight in shining armor, too! Then we'll all live happily ever after and lay lotsa magic eggs!"

Eishi, who had been in the unfortunate midst of taking a sip of coffee at the time of his young daughter's innocent question, nearly spewed the drink back out. He ended up choking the burning liquid down instead, and the poor young father looked comically flustered and shocked.

"…What?"

::owari::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Uh. I can't believe I spent the last few days coming up with this nonsensical fluff-crack! Nevertheless, hope you enjoyed! Lost and Found was sucking the soul out of me so I guess this piece was created to make up for all the pain and angst going on over at the other side, ahaha.

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I kept thinking about what Eishi would have gotten for Rindou for White Day after those manga chapter V-Day spreads, and that spawned the idea for this fic. Omake-wise; those are also pretty self-explanatory, but do allow me to confirm that this fic is most definitely not Peerless-compliant, even though we see cameo appearances of the Tsukasa!fanbabies, haha.

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Your reviews make me update faster; so please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-sllebswap