Fated

[openedthebasket]

You deserved to die.

The piece of paper was snatched out of the air before it could hit his face, leaving him pausing and frowning down at it with a sudden chill. Where could it have come from? A moment as he formed the seals to activate his Byakugan, but -- no one to be seen who could have tossed this at him. Troubling, somewhat cruel, but seeing as how he could see other papers drifting to the ground before other people...? Hardly something to be concerned about, lest this were another seal of some kind.

Still, he couldn't let it fall, running a thumb over it before letting it slip into his pocket. It hadn't been much more than another few steps when a second paper fell, snatched before it could land on his shoulder.

You deserved to die.

Comments

[perfectcosmos]

Ino pulled Sasuke closer as she headed up the stairs, making a line straight for the kitchen.

[guiltoftruth]

She let herself be led, finally walking into the kitchen a little ahead of Ino before looking over her shoulder at the two, "What did you have in mind?"

[openedthebasket]

He glanced around the kitchen before answering quietly, "Something with tomatoes and noodles wouldn't be objectionable."

[perfectcosmos]

Ino laughed softly. "We have the noodles for him and the tomatoes for us. We can do something good with that, mm?"

[guiltoftruth]

"... We can," She nodded, making her way to the fridge to grab the latter ingredient before she started looking around, "What spices do you have, Ino?"

[openedthebasket]

Was it cheating to use the Byakugan to find where Ino kept her things? A beat as he activated it, scanning her cupboards before releasing it to reach up and grab them. "Spices are over there," he pointed out, gesturing to where he'd seen them.

[perfectcosmos]

Ino laughed lowly and moved to start getting out pans. "I have a nice selection."

[guiltoftruth]

She nodded, going to the cupboard to see for herself... Tarragon, basil, garlic powder, a little onion powder, and pepper. That'd be nice...

"I'm going to crush the tomatoes into a sauce then. We should cut up some onions for more than just noodles in the dish too."

[openedthebasket]

"Vegetables, as well. If you have peppers of any kind..." In spite of himself, he couldn't help but give Sasuke a bit of an approving smile at the improvisation.

[perfectcosmos]

"You two aren't leaving me anything at all to do." She moved to start water to boil.

[guiltoftruth]

"We're not doing everything... Getting some of the vegetables chopped up would help."

[openedthebasket]

He could only chuckle quietly at them both, relaxing into the familiarity of just preparing a meal. "Our mistake for choosing something simple, then."

[perfectcosmos]

Ino made an amused noise and collected a pile of veggies. "Simple can be good though."

[guiltoftruth]

She looked forward and focused on what she was doing, hiding that small smile of hers in spite of herself as she went about crushing and spicing the newly-made tomato sauce. After a while she found it perfect, nodding to herself before she poured the mix into a sauce pan to simmer.

"The vegetables can be added any time, but it's going to be a slow simmer. It depends on how crispy you want them for this."

[openedthebasket]

"It may be too late to mention, but I do not particularly enjoy spicy food," he mentioned with a glance toward the sauce. Noodles out of the way, he had instead focused on setting them a table. "How well-done the vegetables are makes no difference, however."

[perfectcosmos]

"Don't worry handsome, I'm sure she's made it absolutely perfect~." She smiled, moving over to add things as she finished cutting them.

[guiltoftruth]

"It's not that strongly spicy," She nodded to confirm, though... It feels like that was something she should have known. Still, it doesn't take too long for the sauce to get heated well enough, and within the next fifteen minutes the vegetables have simmered in the sauce enough to be served on a bed of noodles.

"Time to eat," She nodded as she tried the whole combination together, pleased with how it turned out. But, what if it only tasted good to her? Neji and Ino's opinions mattered in this, too...

[openedthebasket]

It was definitely an interesting combination of spices; nothing too intense, but perhaps a touch more than he himself would use. Either way, he nodded in satisfaction and began to eat.

[perfectcosmos]

Ino leaned over and kissed her cheek after she finished the first bite. "Perfect! Just as expected." Then she tackled her plate properly.

[guiltoftruth]

The kiss made her feel flushed and she just glanced down at her own meal, humming before eating in silence. She wasn't exactly used to other people liking her cooking -- or even eating her cooking. It felt pretty good but at the same time foreign to get a compliment like that.

[openedthebasket]

"Indeed," he agreed, glancing toward her again with another nod before continuing to eat. Something like this was... surprisingly comfortable. Little pressure to behave a certain way or meet certain expectations.

[perfectcosmos]

Ino picked her way through the food, more than happy to do so, though she finally got up to fetch the forgotten tea, bringing it to the table.

[guiltoftruth]

It took her some time to finish, and she sighed softly when she set her dishes down in the sink before she glanced back to the other two, "We can't do this all the time... Not unless we move out of mom's house."

[openedthebasket]

Neji nodded in thanks for the tea, finishing last and bringing his own dishes to the sink. A glance to Sasuke and a quiet sigh. "So it would seem, though I am certain Mikoto-san would be more than pleased to have Ino accompany us."

[perfectcosmos]

She gave them both a wry smile. "Much as I'd like that, I don't think any of us need to move quite yet." She flushed a little, shaking her head and hiding her lips behind her teacup. "No rush. I'm happy with this, so far."