Jellyfish en Vogue - A Kuragehime or Princess Jellyfish Fanfic

Chapter 4 - Another Supper to Remember

Four hours later Kuranosuke was back in drag in the kitchen of Amamizukan. He had brought over the matsusaka beef and of course the other girls were busy drooling and making a fuss over it. Banba and Chieko had stars in their eyes and were nearly speechless. Jiji, who was the most soft spoken of the girls, was attempting to offer suggestions on side dishes. Mayaya was expressing loudly how this meal would be perfect to replenish the energies of the Three Kingdoms warriors.

Per Jiji's suggestion they were settled on a side of sauteed edamame. Tsukimi pulled at her lip thoughtfully. Kuranosuke hungrily sucked in half of the rooms oxygen. "I think potatoes and mushrooms would be good additions to the meal."

Kuranosuke shifted further into the bag he brought. He actually already had thought of mushrooms but he didn't think to mention it. He pulled out a package with matsutake mushrooms in it. He watched as Tsukimi's glasses seemed to glaze over. "You are already offering us matsusaka beef and now also matsutake mushrooms?"

"Why yes of course. They compliment each other quite well."

"I'm sure they do. But..." Tsukimi trailed off.

Chieko and Banba came in the kitchen to inspect what was going on. When Banba saw the mushrooms she complemented 'Kurako' on the generous selection.

Tsukimi shooed the girls out of the kitchen so they could begin the meal. Kuranosuke and Tsukimi prepared supper in silence. Not the uncomfortable nervous driven kind of silence. No the opposite. They had become quite comfortable making supper together. Kuranosuke truthfully didn't know much about cooking before his frequent visits to Amamizukan. But Tsukimi loved to cook and directed him through the preparation. He had often suffered her yelling, scolding outbursts when he did something wrong. But over time that awkwardness evaporated and Tsukimi began to calmly direct him.

When Tsukimi became excited about something she would sing a little nonsense tune. When she was calm and engrossed she would hum. It was odd her singing was out of tune and awkward but when she hummed the tone was melodic and soothing. Kuranosuke often wondered if it was a habit she had picked up from her mother.

The only thing Kuranosuke had picked up from his own mother was his love of dresses and fashion. He missed her terribly but he had to admit if she didn't share her love of fashion with him he would not be in this kitchen today. Her love of fashion was paving a new future for himself and Tsukimi. He just hoped that he would be able to thank her someday. Well, not only thank her, seeing her in general would be nice. She was his mother after all and he missed her.

The potatoes were now in the oven. They would take the longest to cook so the two diligently began to season the meat. "It won't require much seasoning so be careful not to go overboard." Tsukimi was saying.

"Should I start to heat up the pans?" Kuranosuke now knew to ask before jumping in with an idea in the kitchen.

Tsukimi shook her head. "Not yet, give it another ten minutes or so."

Kuranosuke nodded. The meal preparation continued like that. Soft spoken suggestions and teamwork.

Once the meal was finished cooking the two took the serving dishes to the dining room. The girls danced over to the table salivating and giggling in anticipation. Once their plates were full of food they all ate in comfortable silence.

Banba and Chieko both lay on the floor. Nearly complaining of eating too much but mostly in bliss for partaking the scrumptious meal. Jiji had disappeared and Mayaya was snoozing at the table.

Kuranosuke and Tsukimi both got up collect the dishes. Banba and Chieko had already said they would clean them. Tsukimi often deemed it courteous to at least rinse off the plates. She scraped what little remains were on the plates into the trash can. Truth be told there wasn't much, mostly potato skins and a couple edamame pods. Then she would hand the scraped plate to Kuranosuke who would rinse it off then lay it beside the sink for a proper cleaning.

Tsukimi began to hum again and Kuranosuke smiled. He was content to care about the little things. If he added all the little things together she would be an ideal woman for most any guy. But of course thinking that pitted his stomach with jealousy over anyone other then himself filling that role. So he squashed that thought process in the bud before he could pursue it further.

Kuranosuke could only hope that one day he could open her eyes. That one day shy Tsukimi would be comfortable with not only the idea of him as a male (he was already seeing progress there). But she would be comfortable enough to accept a kiss from him.

Kuranosuke was also hopeful that the first kiss they shared would tell them both more about who they were meant to be to each other. He wasn't a romantic but with Tsukimi he wondered if this strange infatuation he felt for her was supposed to be more then that. He hoped when they kissed (and it damn well would happen) that they would both realize they weren't meant to be just friends, but more.

After they had taken care of rinsing the dishes the two climbed the stairs and entered Tsukimi's room. Tsukimi got out her notes for her fashion class and sat down at the computer. She still had a couple minutes before class began but she liked to be early. She would chat with her professor for a few minutes before class. He would ask her if she had any questions and of course she would have half a dozen. They would go over as many as they could before class actually started.

Kuranosuke never really pried on her class. He knew she wouldn't like it. But when he passed her monitor and saw her professor his jaw nearly dropped. He expected it to be some old guy teaching the class. But no he was young, probably the same age as Shu. He wasn't in a boring suit like Shu, no, he wore a purple paisley tie and his jacket was a soft bluish gray. Kuranosuke momentarily became worried but then figured the professor was probably gay and shrugged it off.

Kuranosuke opened his own laptop and began working on making the fliers they would later email that night after class.