THE COOKING LESSON
Ranma 1/2 manga fanfiction
by Gary Kleppe
The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of and rightful
property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are used here without permission.
This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered
substantially or used for profit in any way.
My other stuff is at http://www.akane.org/gary/comics.html
The noodles sagged limply as Akane's chopsticks pushed them through the
watery sauce. Lifting them to her mouth, she took a taste. Sugar. The
sauce tasted more like sugar than tomatoes, and there were no added
spices as far as she could tell.
Sighing noiselessly, she took a whole mouthful and began eating. It
wasn't very good, but it was edible, and she didn't want to cause any
ill feelings.
Sayuri stared at her with wide-eyed expectation. "How is it, Akane?"
"Er...." Akane searched for something nice to say that wasn't a lie. Or
at least wasn't *too* much of a lie. Sayuri, one of her best friends,
maid of honor at her wedding last year, had invited her over for dinner;
it wouldn't exactly be polite to sit there and criticize her cooking.
"Wonderful, isn't it?" Said Sayuri's brother, as if answering for Akane.
The two of them went to the same college, and shared an apartment. "This
lady's a great cook, even when she's doing American food. I keep telling
her she ought to go professional."
Sayuri beamed a smile at him. "I'm so happy you like it!"
"Actually, it's Italian," Akane said. "Well, Sayuri, I'm not exactly a
world class cook myself," she admitted. "But if I could make a
suggestion, you might want to try using less sugar, and maybe some
different spices. Kasumi has some really good recipes that I'm sure she
would...."
Akane's words trailed off. Sayuri continued to stare at her brother,
obviously not listening. "Look," she said. "You asked me what I thought.
Do you want me to tell you, or don't you?"
The brother smiled dismissively. "Akane, my sister isn't trying to make
a gourmet meal. Her food tastes good. That's what matters."
Akane took a breath, trying to keep her anger under control. Tastes
good? Professional? How was Sayuri's cooking ever going to improve if he
kept telling her things like that? It was obvious to her what was
happening. He was giving her empty praise, so he could keep from having
to cook a meal of his own once in a while. He was feeding her ego, and
she was eating it out of his hand. And then how would her cooking ever
improve?
Sayuri gave an obligatory smile and nod to Akane, and began to serve her
brother more food. What was the point in arguing? Sayuri obviously
wasn't interested. And okay, Akane wasn't the most authoritative source
on the subject. But she, at least, had had to work and struggle for
every piece of praise that she'd been given on her cooking. When Ranma
had finally told her that her curry was normal, even good, it was a
wonderful feeling, because she knew that she had *earned* it. How could
she get Sayuri to understand that? She couldn't.
After finishing her dinner and an hour of random chatting, Akane excused
herself and headed back home.
**
"Oh, Ranma?"
Akane's voice was quiet, almost musical. Ranma put down his newspaper
and sat up in his chair, preparing to give her his full attention. He
could tell just from her tone that this was going to be one of *those*
talks.
"Remember all those times before we got married? When I tried to cook
for you? And you told me exactly how bad it was?"
Ranma nodded. Oh, geez, he thought. Why was she bringing *that* up after
all this time?
"Remember all those times I worked so hard to make food that you'd like?
When you could've just said that it was good to make me happy, but you
didn't?"
"Um, yeah." A drop of sweat trickled down the back of his neck. "So?"
Leaning closer to him, she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."
Ranma could only stare as Akane disappeared through the bedroom door. No
matter how long he lived, there were some things he'd *never*
understand.
**
An hour fic that I actually FINISHED in an hour... what's this world
coming to? :) Thanks go to the fine folks in FFIRC's OneHour group one
for their comments on this story, and for coming up with the title. Come
join us in #fanfic on server irc.newberry.edu.
Gary Kleppe
http://www.akane.org/gary/comics.html