1Sachiko - a bengal cat named Merrick (fame, power).
Yumi - a white weasel named Kazuki (hope of peace)
Youko - a golden monkey named Balthasar (God protects the king)
Sei - a racoon named Maverick (independent, nonconformist)
Rei - a hare named Abelardo (noble and strong)
Yoshino - a green snake named Milo (soldier or merciful)
Shimako - a Hummingbird named Eoin (God is gracious)
Noriko - a Hedgehog named Tadashi (true, lucky, devotion)
"Kazuki!" scolded Yumi when his small round white face peeked through her pack.
"What? I was quiet all the time!" said the Weasel annoyed.
"I can feel your heartbeat!"
"It's not my fault."
"Just stop it!"
They had that same discussion every day while Yumi walked to the Rose Mansion. Every step she took made Kazuki's heartbeat increase. His head would pop up from her pack or from her uniform and he would look around anxiously.
"It's not just me, Yumi!" Still his little head was looking around. "You want to see them as fast as possible too."
"You don't have to be that obvious!"
"But I want to see him!" he whined.
Yumi sighed. She wanted to see her onee-sama as well, but everyone teased her around how Kazuki searched for Merrick in every moment he could, Sei-sama in particular had made her life impossible.
"Do you remember when Maverick teased you about it?"
Sei's raccoon had teased poor Kazuki for months! The weasel shivered when he remembered Maverick hugging him and asking if Kazuki looked around for him too or just Merrick.
"I'm as pretty as the kitten," he had said laughing. Sei accompanied him in the joke while Yumi blushed a deep shade of red. "Aren't I? I mean, fine, I don't have beautiful green eyes, but i am pretty too, right?"
Kazuki had tried to run to Yumi's arms, but Maverick's arms made it impossible. Soon after Sachiko barged in, with an awful mood. Merrick, her large bengal, jumped near them and hit Maverick hard on his head.
"Sei-sama, what are you doing?"
Yumi ran to her onee-sama while Kazuki hid behind Merrick's angry form.
"Sachikooo! Why do you have to be so mean?"
Maverick ran to Sei's arms clutching his head. Merrick growled while Sachiko's eyebrows furrowed further.
"How many times do I have to tell you to leave Yumi alone?"
Maverick pretended to cry and Sei cooed him.
"Yumi-chan, protect us!"
"Kazuki, I'm so hurt, I'm dying!"
Yumi pouted behind Sachiko and Kazuki made no move to leave Merrick's side. Fortunately for everyone, Balthasar announced himself and Youko.
Still.
"Let's not repeat that, okay?" said Yumi to Kazuki.
"But I feel their smell, Yumi. They are near!"
"Kazuki," she sighed even though her own heart beat faster with the information.
"I just like looking at Merrick. What's wrong with it?"
"I like looking at onee-sama too, but everyone notices it, so you need to be more discreet."
"But you aren't discreet either!"
"Of course I am!"
He puffed.
"Everyone sees you looking at her too! If you let me stay near Merrick…!"
"Kazuki!"
"Yumi!"
They stared at each other. She sighed.
"No, you purr when you get near him!"
"I don't purr, cats purr, not me."
"What do you call that sound you make?"
"Happy sound."
Yumi chuckled.
"You are ridiculous, Kazuki!"
He laughed too, until his eyes met bright green orbs.
"It's them!"
Yumi's smile was authomatic when she noticed her onee-sama waiting for her. Kazuki wanted to run and wrap himself around Merrick, but he couldn't, after all you shouldn't run inside the school. However, Yumi's steps fastened while Kazuki suppressed his own desire to jump ahead.
"Onee-sama!"
Sachiko smiled when they approached. Merrick's tail went up and took a few steps from his human. She looked at him and he let out a weak sound.
"Yumi!" she called out.
Merrick's head went up again, anxiously waiting. Kazuki wanted to run to him, Merrick wanted that too, but their humans still kept them apart for silliness.
When Yumi got near enough, Kazuki jumped from her bag and Merrick immediately licked his head when he got close enough.
Sachiko fixed her already perfect tie and Yumi let her.
"Let's go?"
"Yes!"
I.
Milo's stare annoyed Kazuki. The green snake around Yoshino's neck wanted to ask something, but because they were in the middle of a meeting, he couldn't. It annoyed Milo and it annoyed Yoshino.
Rei was saying something while Aberlado's eyes begged Milo to stop staring at Kazuki. The hare had noticed that her cousin was silently bullying Yumi about something. It didn't really matter what it was, he just preferred when nothing was happening. Merrick, the beautiful bengal, was slowly dozing off on the window, and still hadn't noticed what was happening to Kazuki.
He looked at Rei, who nodded.
"Yoshino, can you please make us some tea?"
Yumi and Kazuki sighed in relief and silently thanked them. Aberlardo jumped from the table and approached Merrick's window. He heard a light snore and satisfied he went back to Rei. That meant Sachiko was sleepy as well, which made Rei a little more relieved because that meant that Sachiko wasn't going to meddle into whatever Yoshino and Yumi were hiding.
"Hey," whispered Kazuki, approaching Yumi's ear. "What will we do?"
"We took off faster than Yoshino."
"I feel like Milo is going to eat me, you know?"
Rei cleaned her throat and called Sachiko's attention. Merrick raised his head and yawned.
"So, during our vacation," all eyes turned to her. "I've been asked to teach a short culinary course here, a week at most."
Sachiko didn't seem interested by the looks of it, but Yumi raised her hand.
"Can anyone participate, Rei-sama?"
"Ah yes, I would be very glad if any of you all could go!"
Kazuki let out a cute excited sound that made Sachiko laugh and Merrick jumped on the table near her. His pretty eyes locked on Kazuki, who let out a different happy sound.
"I could go," said Noriko calmly. "What will you be teaching, Rei-sama?"
"I'm still deciding, but some sweets and some salty plates, probably. All very simple."
Tadashi, Noriko's hedgehog, rolled cutely on the table to express his excitement. Eion, Shimanko's hummingbird, soon joined him in his excitement.
"I guess I can go too," said Shimako. "But I'm not too sure."
Eion flew to her side.
"Please, it would be so fun!"
"It would!" exclaimed Tadashi on the table. "Eion, you got to go!"
"Shimako," he whined. "Please?"
"Let's see, I promise."
"There is no hurry," said Noriko smiling at her onee-sama.
"Actually," said Rei, a little discomforted. "The class is filling up fast, I can hold a spot or two, but not for long."
"We will, right, Yumi?" Asked Kazuki around her neck.
"Rei-sama!" said Yumi. "Please, put us on your list! Kazuki and I will love it! Are you going, onee-sama?"
Sachiko scratched Merrick's ear while thinking.
"I have family business to attend, sadly. I would love to try Yumi's food though!"
Yumi blushed and poor Kazuki scratched his cheeks.
There was a light laugh before Yoshino piped in.
"Milo and I are going too," she made sure to look in Yumi's eyes while saying that. "That means we will have a lot of time to talk, right, Yumi?"
Yumi looked at Rei asking for help, who cleaned her throat again. Aberlado opened a small notebook near Rei and pushed the pen to her.
"So," said Rei. "Yumi-chan, Yoshino and Noriko-chan?"
The three nodded. Sachiko smiled and Merrick purred.
Shimako sighed when Eion sadly landed on her shoulder.
"Rei-sama, please, include me too."
The other three celebrated and Eion sang happily with her decision. Shimako was always the happiest when Eion sang. It made everything worth it.
" Okay, four!" said Rei, happy. "Not you, Sachiko?"
"No," she said even when Yumi pouted. "It's better that way, my few kitchen experiences weren't too successful."
Merrick laughed on the table.
"'Not too successful'", he said teasingly. "It was awful. We agreed to never try that again."
The rest laughed and Sachiko lightly tapped him on the head.
"You shouldn't say that aloud, Merrick!"
Yumi watched their light discussion with glee. She liked when Sachiko pronounced her daemon's name because she tried to say his name in her head and Kazuki tried too. The 'rr' sound, deep and strong, was strange to Yumi, it was strange to the japanese language in general. Sachiko, once, told her that she resented Merrick's name because it had a complicated name to japanese people to pronounce. Yumi had told her that Sachiko's own pronunciation was perfect.
"Exactly. I had tutors. Many of them. I travelled. So I can pronounce his name right because of my upbringing. Isn't that ridiculous?"
Ever since then, Yumi and Kazuki had spent hours practicing it, so far they hadn't been very successful, but they would keep trying. Always.
II.
Fortunately, to Yumi, Sachiko left with her that day.
Kazuki showed his tongue to Milo and Yumi could feel Yoshino's rage. She chuckled and when Sachiko asked what happened, Yumi said it was nothing. It felt well to beat Yoshino even once.
"So, culinary lessons? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I mean, it's Rei-sama. If I can't learn from her, I can't learn at all!"
Kazuki wanted very much to go to Merrick, but Yumi forced him to stay put. He pouted and hid inside the pack.
Sachiko watched everything with interest. She stopped walking and took Yumi's hand.
"Yumi, come."
"O-okay."
She followed her onee-sama in silence. Kazuki's head popped up from her pack when he noticed they weren't going to the common path. Merrick led the walk, he ran fast, barely looking behind him. He entered first inside the greenhouse, Kazuki jumped from the pack and followed him.
It was empty as usual, so Kazuki could wrap himself around Merrick, who could happily lick him without worry. Yumi felt her pack falling when Sachiko suddenly kissed her and with her hands finally free, she circled the other's waist and pulled her close.
"Better?" asked Sachiko, touching her face. Merrick purred in bliss while Kazuki melted inside the bengal's paws.
Yumi denied.
"Maybe one more? Just to be sure."
She didn't wait for Sachiko to answer.
Kazuki's anxiousness was partly her fault, Yumi admitted when Sachiko's mouth opened to her exploring tongue, because she wanted this as much as he did, she was just better hiding it. She had yearned for Sachiko for so long, it was natural for her to keep yearning, but to her sweet Kazuki, not being as close as possible to Merrick was not an option. She envied how he made everything so simple, when it was simply NOT (except, Kazuki would say, it is simple).
Their first kiss had been a week ago. It was a simple innocent kiss. Kazuki and Yumi were awake all night and when Sachiko admitted that neither her or Merrick could sleep because they were also thinking about the kiss, they don't remember to be as happy as then.
It was not like they could say to everyone what they were doing, especially since they weren't very sure about it either. They would act normal around each other, until one of them pulled the other to an empty place and they would kiss, exploring each other's mouth to exhaustion, letting their hands slowly explore the other's body, however never once talking about what it meant or if it meant something.
Yumi wanted to confront her, to ask what it meant, but Kazuki just wanted to enjoy what was happening. To him, if it meant nothing, neither Sachiko nor Merrick would waste their time with them, so why mess something good? But Yumi wanted a name for what they had, she wanted a compromise, wanted messages, phone calls, chocolates and why not flowers? She wanted it all and she wanted it with Sachiko. They constantly argued about it, Yumi and Kazuki, but once they saw Sachiko's and Merrick's beautiful eyes, they forgot what they had talked about, their brains turned into jelly, a sort of functional jelly that loved Sachiko and Merrick way too much to be okay, to be normal, to be anything but incredible.
Of course, Yoshino noticed her mood lately, her whispers to Kazuki. It bothered her when Yumi refused to say anything and when Milo tried to make Kazuki talk, the weasel had been smarter and runned from him everytime (only because Kazuki didn't want to ruin it no matter what, he was never happier than wrapped around Merrick).
III.
The first lesson was done.
Every participant had a plate of what was supposed to be Rei-sama's esplendid dish. Yumi looked at her results with annoyance (Kazuki had flour on his head and he seemed equally annoyed). She looked around and Yoshino's plate seemed worse than her (Milo hid under her clothes because of the shame); Shimako's was as perfect as Rei's but she seemed angry at something (Eion watched everything from her shoulders and he wasn't singing); Noriko's was mild perfect (not as perfect as Shimako's not as awful as Yumi's and Yoshino's).
The rest of the class whispered among themselves about their results. Apart from Yoshino, only Yumi seemed completely upset. Yoshino was probably annoyed that she wasn't the best, but Yumi was annoyed because she was supposed to give this to Sachiko (in fact, her onee-sama had made her promise to give it to her), but how could she when hers seemed like garbage?
"Alright, everyone," said Rei-sama in the front of the class. Yumi still stared at her awful plate and for a second she thought in exchanging hers with Shimako's, but she gave up with a depressed sigh.
Sachiko hated liars, so Yumi didn't want to be one of them. She would own it up to her awful culinary skills and apologise. It wasn't like Sachiko chose her because of her food, gladly. She sighed again.
"Are you going to throw it out?" said Yoshino, still looking at her own plate, then she looked at Rei in the front of the class talking as if it had been great for everyone. "I'm going to do it."
Yumi sighed, but she shook her head.
"Onee-sama is expecting a plate."
"Whatever it may be?"
Yumi pouted and looked at Yoshino, who immediately went apologetic.
"Maybe the taste is good?"
Yumi sighed again. She doubted it, but Sachiko had demanded to eat her food, so how could she throw it out?
"We can ask them out," said Kazuki looking at their disaster. "If the food is too bad."
"It is bad," she said. "Just look at it."
"But the taste can be okay."
Yumi doubted. Kazuki doubted it too, but the smell was good despites its appearance.
Rei-sama thanked them.
"I'm pretty sure," she said. "That your loved ones will love what you did because you all cooked with your heart and it's enough."
Yumi and Yoshino sighed at the same time. No, it wasn't.
Noriko and Shimako exchanged their plates and smiled at each other. Noriko apologised for its look, but Shimako told her it was irrelevant.
"Thank you for giving it to me."
It just made Yoshino angry because Rei-sama would probably receive at least half of all those plates. It made Yumi sad because she wished hers was half as good as Noriko. The biggest problem in her eyes was that Sachiko was a picky eater, it meant that if Sachiko didn't like what she was eating, maybe, maybe, it would ruin everything. What if it was so bad that Sachiko decided to not be with her at all? She swallowed hard.
As expected, when Yumi finished packing up her 'masterpiece', Rei-sama was surrounded by all girls begging her to try her food. Yoshino just threw everything in the garbage bin, then she left as if she was being chased. Shimako and Noriko were too busy talking between them to notice what was happening.
"Poor Yoshino and Milo," said Kazuki, looking at Rei and Aberlardo surrounded by fans. "I couldn't take it if it was Merrick there."
Yumi agreed. It could be worse, of course. She took her packed awful food and left the room without bothering to say something to Rei. Next class would be chocolate and the class would probably be fuller, after all wasn't Valentine's Day around the corner?
"What if she hates it?" said Yumi while walking out of the building.
"She won't," said Kazuki around her throat. "The smell is good!"
"But it doesn't seem okay."
"It smells great. Merrick will love it!"
"How do you know?"
"We took everything they don't like plus the smell is good! Merrick loves food that smells good!"
Yumi sighed.
"I wish I could cook like Rei-sama."
"Yumi,"
"I could cook for onee-sama forever."
"It will be fine," said Kazuki. "I know Merrick better than anything."
"I wish I knew onee-sama that much."
"You know, I know."
Kazuki always surprised her. It always seemed like he was one step ahead of her, like he could read Merrick way easier than she could read Sachiko. Or perhaps, Merrick was much more open about their feelings than Sachiko was and Kazuki knew it.
As promised, Sachiko was waiting for them at the gates. She was carrying Merrick and they were in a serious conversation by the looks of it, until Merrick's ears picked up and they both looked at Yumi and Kazuki. Her smile made Yumi's inside melt right away and she even forgot the bad plate they had made some hours ago.
"Onee-sama!"
Kazuki went crazy around her neck. Merrick jumped from Sachiko's arms and Yumi had to grip Kazuki to stop him.
"It's fine," said Sachiko. "We won't be here long."
Yumi freed Kazuki who went straight to Merrick. They rolled around in what could be mistaken as play between friends, but they knew what it was in fact.
"Is that for me?" asked Sachiko looking excitedly at what Yumi was carrying.
"Ahn," she hesitated. Kazuki rolled into a ball while Merrick meowed at him. "It looks really bad, onee-sama. I'll just give it to Yuuki because he eats everything."
"No," she said. "You promised it to me."
"But-!"
"No, I won't listen to it."
For some reason, they ended up in the Rose Mansion with Yumi giving her sad plate to Sachiko. Kazuki was around her shoulder and Merrick was on the table near Sachiko, both looking at the plate.
"The next one will be better, onee-sama," she said in shame lowering her head. "I promise."
But Sachiko didn't answer, she only ate what was on her plate in silence.
"Delicious!" she said after the first mouthful. Merrick purred and looked at Kazuki.
Yumi watched Sachiko eating everything she cooked with excitement. Kazuki kept a close eye on Merrick, but the bengal seemed equally pleased.
"You don't need to eat, onee-sama!"
"I know," said Sachiko. "But you made it for me and it's delicious. I'm sure Yuuki-san can get something else to eat."
"I'm not worried about Yuuki, I'm worried about you."
"Why? I like it!"
"Onee-sama!"
Yumi watched in rapt fascination as Sachiko ate it.
"But-!"
"You made it for me, so it's mine, right?"
"Yes, but-"
"It's good!"
So Yumi just watched her eating until Sachiko was satisfied.
"It was delicious, thank you!"
"Next time, I'll make it better!"
"But it was good," said Sachiko, cleaning her mouth with a handkerchief. "I doubt it could be any better. Anything you make is great for me."
Sachiko finished her tea and seemed satisfied with that thing Yumi had made.
"Thank you!"
"I was really worried," said Yumi sighed. "I thought you would hate it."
"Well, it was not what I usually eat, but it was great. I'm anxious to see what you cook next."
"Are you sure you liked it? You can tell me it's bad because it looked very bad and I know you don't like ugly foods."
"I don't, but I liked yours. You made it for me and it's all that matters. Why are you so nervous?" asked Sachiko touching Yumi's hands.
"You make me nervous," she sighed and enlaced their fingers. "You should see Shimako and Rei's. They were incredible!"
"I don't care about theirs, but I don't want you to be nervous."
"I can't help it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, because it is you."
Sachiko touched her cheek and every cell of Yumi's body lit up.
"You make me nervous too."
A part of Yumi would never not be surprised when Sachiko kissed her. She heard Merrick's loud purr. The kiss was sweet and reassuring, it lacked the flame that had dominated their relationship, but it made Yumi's insides melt all the same. Who knew that awful plate would reward her something so good?
