Disclaimer: Durarara! and its characters are not mine.

Truth be told, Sonohara Anri hates seaweed.

Hate is a strong word though—no, she does not like it. She cannot give the definite reason of why she does not appreciate the taste of one of nation's favorite food, but she simply cannot stand the saltiness in it. It reminds her of grass in a texture she does not like, only apparently much more salty. She remembers her mother tried to convince her to eat one when she was a kid, once when her father antique shop was still running well. It was actually during one of her happy time, one that she can still barely remember in the back of her mind. She literally puked the seaweed that her mother fed her for dinner. Her father grounded her by not giving her the crab dishes, her favorite food, but she kept adamant on her dislike of seaweed.

If her parents were here, and they were in their normal loving behavior prior to Saika incident, they would probably never believe their eyes seeing her lunch box for the last few weeks.

It is seaweed wrapped onigiri. Yes, she definitely has seaweed as her lunch for almost two weeks straight now. And judging from the fact that she is now chewing the seaweed without puking it, one could say that she is enjoying her lunch.

…or she tries to.

It was started Thursday almost three weeks ago. Anri always has a habit to make and bring her own lunch. Nothing fancy though; it is mostly just rice with pickles, rolled eggs, and sausage. They are all put into her simple lunch box without any decoration. It is just a food and she will eat it quickly anyway, and it does not like she has enough skill or time to do so. That fateful Thursday, however, she woke up late thanks to some Saika's children's problem the night before. Barely had enough time to reach the school on time, she did not prepare any lunch at all. On her haste to go downstairs, her 69 years old neighbor who she barely spoke with but still took a liking at her, Fujisaka-san, stopped her and gave her a lunch box, saying that it was supposed to for her grandson who forgot to bring it. Did not want to lose another minute, she bowed her thank you and took the box without glancing at the content.

It was until lunch that she realized that Fujisaka-san had given her two big onigiri wrapped fully in seaweed. Dark and black seaweed. If she had not mastered poker face, she would wrinkle her brows in disgust. Yet she sat still on her usual bench on the school roof, staring at the two triangle shaped food like things on her lap. She poked one of them lightly with her chopsticks.

"What's wrong, Sonohara-san?"

She turned her head towards the black haired 16 years old boy who had been her only friend in here. There was Kida, but he had not comeback from wherever he had gone to. And there was also Mika, her first friend ever, who she did not sure where either. Her other schoolmates might consider her and Ryuugamine as something more than friend, but she knew he knew that they were just that. Friends. Close friends, maybe, but not more.

Maybe not until Kida came back, though, her unconscious mind added. She mentally shook her head fiercely, erasing the silly thought.

"It's… nothing." She gave him slight smile. She was not sure how to answer the question. Should she tell him that she disliked seaweed? Of course, because he still lacked of evidence of how weird and different she was. Everyone liked seaweed except her. Mika even made it clear that she was weird for not eating seaweed.

It was just a simple thing, she knew. But for someone like her who was different in many things than her friends, disliking seaweed was almost like a gap that distance her further with her friends. And she started to hate it.

Ryuugamine gave her a disbelieving look. Almost two years of together—as friends—somehow gave him some uncanny ability to tell when she was hiding something. It was quite uncomfortable since she had a thousand of hiding secrets, but she learned to welcome him. Though she rarely gave the truth when he asked about it, he always nodded in acceptance with her small apologetic smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Um… yes." She answered. Even before answering she knew he could smell the lie in the air.

But like always, he let it go.

"Well, then…" he continued drinking his milk from the small carton. Anri went back to poke her onigiri, trying to separate the seaweed from the rice.

"Is that seaweed?"

"It is."

"I never saw you bring any lunch with seaweed before." He pointed out.

"It's because…" Anri stopped poking her food. "My neighbor gave it to me. She made it for her grandson to eat on his train, but he forgot to bring it along."

"Really? You are lucky, Sonohara-san. She is a good neighbor. My downstairs neighbor never gives me anything." He said, almost in awe. "I bet she likes you very much."

Anri smiled at him. He was always quick to judge someone as good-hearted. It was something she admired of him, given that she was rarely able to say so about people. Not even to Fujisaka-san. "It was for her grandson."

"Still, it is Ikebukuro. Not every day everyone can be that generous to someone. Especially if she doesn't like that someone." He said slowly before his face turned to slight panic. "I don't mean that you are unlikeable though. I mean, you are very likeable. I even like you from the first time—wait, I don't mean it like that either." He blushed furiously.

It amused her, honestly, to see him blushing like that. It was another thing that she believed others would say weird of her, but for this one, somehow she did not care at all. She did not understand why it amused her or why she did not care what people think about it, but she knew that blush always warm her heart. So she gave him a wider smile; half in thanks and half in amusement with no hint of mockery.

He sighed in relief. "It looks… delicious." He commented, changing the subject quickly.

She glanced at him for a second more before staring at her lunch box once more. Was it only her who did not find these two onigiri as delectable? The dark colored seaweed seemed to glare back at her, daring her to take a bite.

"Um… you want some?" she offered.

"Eh? N-no. I mean it's your lunch. I could not eat your lunch. You could be starving!" the red started to invade him once more, though this time Anri did not sure why.

"It's fine. I'm, uh, I'm not that hungry." She said without meeting his eyes.

"Sonohara-san…" he tried to look at her. "But you have not eaten anything since this afternoon. And I thought you woke up late and didn't have breakfast either."

Sometimes it really made her uncomfortable that he paid attention too much. She could not even give him any good reason now. "I'm not in a mood, I guess."

She could feel him gazing at her side while she was busying herself staring at the two onigiri. Was it possible for someone to read someone's mind by staring intently like that? He was not staring though. He just looked… concerned.

…which made her more uncomfortable.

"Okay then." He said finally. He was smiling when she looked back at him. "I will gladly accept the onigiri."

She smiled back at him. "Here—"

"Only if you have one too, though." He added quickly. His smile turned to slight grin at his genius idea. It is the one smile that he sometimes gave when he knew he won something.

"What? No, it's fine, Ryuugamine-kun. You can have them all. I'm not that hungry." Her smile faltered quickly.

"'Not that hungry' is synonymous to 'I'm starving' in my dictionary, Sonohara-san."

"But I—" she stopped arguing then when her stomach made a very embarrassing sound in the most inappropriate time.

He chuckled lightly while she hid her flushing face by lowering it. Her fringe cascaded to hide her eyes. "Let's eat together, Sonohara-san. I can't remember the last time we, um, share food." He blushed slightly but kept his smile.

Glancing at his genuine smile, she sighed in acceptance. Never asked her why she accepted his request just by glancing though, since it was also another mystery to solve.

"Okay then." She took the one that she had been poked before and offered the other one to him.

He smiled wider at her. "Ah, thank you very much, Sonohara-san." She was sure he had that bright smile that he rarely gave. He smiled a lot, but that very bright smile only appeared only once in a while, even less after Kida ran. It made him looked happier than ever and his eyes shined with the smile. She liked that smile. It has been a while to see that one came though.

So, she ate her seaweed. It was still salty and she still disliked it to the core. But at least she could see him smile once again.

Her reasoning is still irrational for her, even until now, almost three weeks later. She did not plan to bring onigiri with seaweed at all on the next day and was back with her usual rice, pickles, rolled eggs, and sausage. Ryuugamine, however, seemed less elated than the day before after seeing her usual lunch. He only commented "Ah, so it's rolled eggs again", smiled at her and somehow even more silent than the usual. His smile was not that 'happy smile'. It did not even reach his eyes.

So she spent her weekend to learn making onigiri wrapped in seaweed for the reason that she thought better to be unknown. By Sunday she had master how to roll the rice and made it into perfect triangle before wrapping it with the seaweed. She gave all of the seaweed onigiri she made to Fujisaka-san, since she could not stand to eat that many of seaweed.

She brought new menu as her lunch on Monday: two seaweed onigiri. She shyly offered the onigiri to Ryuugamine and ate the other one for herself, swallowing down the saltiness quickly before she regretted it. And once she saw his bright smile, she knew she had done the right thing.

Naturally, eating the seaweed wrapped onigiri together becomes a new habit for them. She makes and brings the new menu for lunch, and he will eat one of them in bright smile. He will smile thanks to the seaweed wrapped onigiri, and she will smile along with him.

No, he will not regret his decision.

Mikado gladly accepts the onigiri Sonohara made in wide smile. And the food is not the reason why he smiles so widely.

He likes to see the soft smile that she gives every time she offers him her lunch. Add that with the pretty blush she makes, he could smile wider every time he sees it.

It was all started with him trying to make her eat more. He knew she care a great deal about people around her, despite what she might tell that she could not love and all. But she, unfortunately, cares a little for herself, and this fact gives a strange urge to protect her more. Plus, he was so excited that he somehow finally could share lunch with Sonohara.

They always eat lunch together, but never share food. The thought of sharing the same food with her somehow is more… intimate. It is something that their 'friends' relationship fails to describe. It is a progress into something new, something more beautiful, he guesses. He blushes at that thought. Quickly before she notices his blush, he chews his seaweed wrapped onigiri.

Truth be told, Ryuugamine Mikado hates seaweed.

He likes onigiri, but he never stands the seaweed taste. He does not have any exact reason that can be considered as reasonable for this. All he knows is that the texture somehow keeps telling him that he is chewing a grass like a goat. And it is salty, ocean salty, but it reminds him of tears.

So he does not like it. Maybe not hate yet, but he does not like it.

Until three weeks ago that is.

I hope I made the characters right. It is pretty hard to write the interaction between them since both are pretty shy and quiet. It's one of the reason why I ship them, and writing their interactions is fun, but I am always afraid that I ruin the characters somehow. ^^ Oh, and I know sharing food is common between friends, but I think given the two characters' personality, even sharing food can be something intimate.

And um, English is not my first language, so please pardon the grammar or spelling mistake. I have tried to proofread it, but often times my lack of English skill still slips some error. So, I am sorry for any inconvenience :)

Please please, leave some review ;)