#hakusanta2017

“Chizuru!”

Chizuru looked up from the shirt she was mending. Souji was standing in the doorway of the room, watching her. Despite the fact that they had known each other for some time, he still made Chizuru blush. His eyes sparkled with kindness and affection, and it was this specific look that made her heart flutter and brought heat to her cheeks.

Souji entered the room and came to stand next to Chizuru briefly before he sat at her side. She stuck the needle through the fabric once more, attempting to pretend that his proximity wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary for her, but he always made her dizzy with joy whenever he sat near her.

“Did you have anything planned for dinner?”

Chizuru shook her head as she pulled the needle and thread through the fabric. “Not yet. Is there something you wanted?”

“I wanted to learn how to make Sukiyaki.”

Chizuru paused and regarded Souji with a curious gaze. “Sukiyaki?”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug like it wasn’t a big deal.

“But...we don’t have all the proper equipment! And the meat-“

“Don’t worry about it. I was able to find a table top burner.”

Chizuru raised a questioning eyebrow at Souji. “How did you do that?”

“I just lifted one from Sannan-san’s room.”

Chizuru knew she shouldn’t be surprised by Souji’s action, but she was. She opened her mouth to scold him, but his cat-like smile gave her pause. He was expecting her to react that way, and now she wondered if he really did take the burner from Sannan-san or if he just said he did to get a rise out of her. She decided to let the subject go for now.

“What about all the ingredients?”

“We can go get them, right? I did get permission from Hijikata-san.”

“You really planned this out. What would’ve happened if I said no?”

Souji’s grin turned slightly feral. “I knew you wouldn’t because I’d kill you if you did.”

Chizuru huffed. “You always say that.”

A brief pause. “So...ready to go shopping?”

Chizuru sighed. “I suppose.”

Souji stood. “Great! I already have the baskets.” And with that, he left the room.

Chizuru set aside her mending, shocked that Souji was being so helpful. She wondered why, but knew she wasn’t going to think up an answer that made any sense. Deciding to just go with the flow, Chizuru prepared to go out into the chilly December afternoon. After donning some extra layers, Chizuru joined Souji on the engawa. Together, they walked into town to purchase what would be needed for the supper.

Souji continued to be extra helpful, carrying the tofu as Chizuru shopped for the various vegetables. When it came time to buy the beef, Chizuru flinched at the price. She had never spent so much on meat, and she hoped that this truly was okay. After she had found everything they needed, they began their trip back to the headquarters. Chizuru peered up at Souji, noting that he looked rather content.

“Are you sure this was all right with Hijikata-san?” Souji nodded. “But why?”

“Some of us were talking about how much we wanted hot pot. It’s too expensive to go out all the time to a restaurant, so we decided it’d be better to make it. It should cost less, right?”

I’m not so sure about that, Chizuru thought. She hoped Hijikata-san wouldn’t ask about how much everything cost because she was sure he would be very upset. Not that Hijikata-san was extremely frugal, but he was careful with their budget. She assumed this came from their days starting out as a poor dojo. No one ever went hungry per se, but they rarely had something as nice like Sukiyaki.

Upon returning to headquarters, Chizuru began to sort all of the ingredients and mentally go through the steps of making the dish. Souji stood off to the side, watching the way Chizuru methodically prepared everything. She pulled out the appropriate knives, cutting boards, and pot. She turned to Souji.

“I guess the first thing that needs to happen is that a table needs to be set with the burner in the middle. I don’t know where you have it hidden, so I think you should-“

“Got it, Chizuru-chan,” Souji replied with a fond smile before exiting.

Again with the smile. Chizuru blushed furiously as she turned her attention to the vegetables. She began to cut them and arrange them prettily on a serving tray. Soon, Souji returned, but she didn’t notice. Souji leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, watching Chizuru work.

He knew it was going to be easy to talk her into making hot pot, and while the end game was to get a really delicious meal out of the whole thing, Souji also wanted to spend a little time with Chizuru without anyone else around or watching. He felt safest letting her see little glimmers of his true self when no one else was around. She never judged him, which was something he was still trying to get used to.

He finally stepped forward, coming up behind Chizuru. He thought it would be fun to startle her, but he was also acutely aware that she was holding a knife. While Chizuru was no expert swordswoman, he knew that she was rather clumsy and could accidentally seriously injure him. The last thing he wanted was an extremely apologetic Chizuru fawning over him if he was cut. Instead, he let out a deep sigh, which still made her jump. She whirled around with the knife held out to defend herself. Once she realized who was there, she relaxed.

“You shouldn’t do that, you know,” she chided softly.

“You’re no fun, Chizuru-chan.”

Chizuru rolled her eyes. “I thought you wanted to help me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said as he settled himself to her left. Chizuru pointed toward the tofu with the knife. “I need you to prepare the tofu.”

Souji nodded, feeling slightly disappointed that Chizuru wasn’t giving him a different task. He hated handling tofu. He walked over to the tofu, scrunching his nose as he removed it and set it on a towel that Chizuru had laid out. He then went digging for another cloth, laying it on top of the brick. He pressed down to remove the excess moisture.

“I would skip out on the tofu if Hajime-kun didn’t get so upset about not having it,” Souji grumbled.

“Well, this is for everyone, right? You don’t have to eat the tofu.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Souji replied as he continued to press down.

Once he was sure most of the moisture was gone, he removed the tofu from the cloths and handed it to Chizuru to cut up. He watched as she arranged the perfectly cut cubes on the tray. He had to admit that she was really good at making everything look so perfect.

“Are you ready to assemble the sauce?”

Yes! This was the best part, and he was glad Chizuru was allowing him to take the lead on this! He stood in front of the stove, his fingers itching to get started. Chizuru began handing him the ingredients one-by-one, instructing him how much to put in to the pot.

“Sake, mirin, and soy sauce. Don’t put in too much soy sauce or it’ll be too salty!”

“Yeah, yeah. Everyone seems to think I over season things. I like salt.”

“Like Saitō-san says, too much isn’t good for you,” Chizuru replied.

“And you sound like Hijkata-san when he’s mothering everyone,” Souji quipped.

Souji poured in the sake, sneaking a little sip from the bottle. Chizuru pretended not to notice, but when he attempted to do it again, she shot him a look. Souji grinned and took a sip anyway. With the addition of the soy sauce and mirin, the sauce was complete. All the ingredients were now on the tray. The only thing left to do was to cook and enjoy everything. Chizuru looked up at Souji.

“Thanks for helping,” she said with a smile.

“Sure, Chizuru-chan.”

There was a brief pause in which they both just stared at each other. Souji could see Chizuru’s cheeks were dusted pink. Chizuru was always genuine in the way she acted around him, and while he would never say so, he appreciated it. It didn’t make sense to him why she would be this way toward him, especially when he wasn’t always so kind to her.

“Would you mind carrying the pot to the table burner?” she finally asked to break the silence.

The pair carefully brought the cast iron pot and tray of food to the main room where the captains gathered for supper. When they arrived, everyone was there. Heisuke, Shinpachi, and Harada were hanging around the table, discussing what exactly was going on. In the corner sat Kondō, Hijikata, and Sannan. Souji met Sannan’s gaze, and he saw a knowing smirk on the man’s face. Souji shot him a cheeky grin.

“I see someone was sniffing where he shouldn’t be,” Sannan challenged softly.

“Trust me, you’ll appreciate the reason why I did it, Sannan-san.”

“Do you even know how to light it?”

Souji shrugged carelessly. “I figured someone would. Like you.”

“Souji,” Hijikata said with a warning in his tone.

“It’s all right, Hijikata-kun. It seems like we’re to have a treat.”

Chizuru nodded as she set the tray on the table. Souji placed the pot over the burner, and Sannan came over with a match. Heisuke let out an excited shout.

“Oh! Are we having hot pot?”

“Oh yeah!” Shinpachi cheered.

“You can thank Okita-san. It was his idea,” Chizuru said with a light blush.

Soon, the captains were gathered around the table and everyone began to enjoy the food. Souji kept sneaking glances over at Chizuru as they ate, glad that he had talked her into making something so good. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was glad that Chizuru had taught him how to make the dish and that it was well received.  

Afterwards, Souji assisted Chizuru with the clean-up for a little more one-on-one time with her. While they didn’t speak, there was a comfortable silence that settled between them as they washed the dishes over by the well. When they had finished and had put everything away, Chizuru turned to face him.

“Um…thanks for showing me how to make hot pot,” he said quickly.

“Of course!”

Souji looked away from her, unable to make eye contact. “I…I would like to cook with you more often.”