It was a warm Wednesday afternoon that Kasumi bid a greeting to as she stepped into the Tendo compound. Her mind was a buzz with the day's errands and chores, and arrangements yet to be made for the evening. She slipped off her shoes and into the more comfortable pair of house slippers, and picked up a sack of groceries to prepare for dinner. She took a brief moment to indulge in the thought of relaxing for a moment before starting supper, and then with a smile on her lips, went into the kitchen to get things started. The first thing she noticed when she entered was the aroma. It was pungent, but not unpleasant. It was meat, she decided as the semi-sweet smell of fresh market beef picked apart from the rest of the scent. Pork? Was someone trying to cook dinner? The pots were on the stove, active, and unmanned. She checked on them briefly, and wondered just who was cooking. Other than Ranma and Akane, her family members tended to stay away from making anything that did not qualify as a snack, and Ranma seldom touched the stove unless he was desperate, or in the presence of his mother. "Akane? Could you come here?" A moment later, Kasumi's younger sister entered the kitchen, a puzzled look on her face. "Hi Kasumi. Is there something wrong?" She looked at the pots worriedly. "Oh no... they didn't boil over, did they?" Kasumi smiled at her sister, although it was a tad forced. "No, they're just fine. I was just wondering if you were cooking, since this is what I saw when I came in." "Yeah!" The shorter girl nodded happily. "It's for my Home Economics class. I'm going to make a special dish for the teacher for final exam. It took a moment to get the right ingredients though." "Oh?" Kasumi raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Yeah, well, I really had to do some foot work for it, even with some help from Ukyou, but I think it's worth it!" She beamed. "It's going to be excellent!" "That's... wonderful Akane." Kasumi sighed inwardly. It didn't look as if it was going to affect dinner, so she was thankful for that. Still, her youngest sister had a knack to be a black thumb in terms of the domestic and culinary, to a degree where even Kasumi had begun to lose hope for the poor girl. The best thing to do was be polite, and make sure to save Ranma an extra bento for the morn. "Do you need any help then, Akane?" "No, thanks. I have it under control. I want to show Ranma and the others that they're wrong about my cooking, and this dish is going help me do that." Kasumi had to admire the determination in the young girl's eyes. "Well, I'm going to start chopping some vegetables then. I suppose dinner will take a little longer, but I'll manage." "That's okay Kasumi, I can make dinner tonight." Akane smiled. "I'm sure they'll love this." Kasumi's smile wavered, ever so slightly. "Alright then, if you want to test your recipe then. I'll go and finish some chores. Call if you need anything, okay?" "I will. Thanks Kasumi!" The eldest Tendo daughter nodded, and went to get her bottle of stomach relievers. It looked like they were in need again. ***************************** "No way!" They were all gathered at the table, varying degrees of disgust, fear, and horror on their faces. Before them were bowls of rice, fairly well done, and for each, a plate with a meat and vegetable serving. The meat was done steak-style, and gave off a peculiar, pungent aroma. The others were curious and skeptic of the food, even though it looked safe, but Ranma was outright hostile. "There's no way that you're doing this ta' me again! I ain't eating!" "C'mon Ranma! It won't kill you; just try it." Ranma looked at Akane, then at his plate, then at Akane again, and grumbled. His picked up his chopsticks, and took a chunk of the tender meat from the rest, and held it to his lips. Everyone watched on with bated breath as he closed his eyes, and took a bite. Such was his surprise that he did not keel over immediately. He chewed, savored, and swallowed, and did not die. He did not turn any suspicious colors, nor did he grow an extra limb. More surprising to him, was that he LIKED the taste. The others watched Ranma swallow, and began to look for signs that a medical assistant and a stomach pump would be needed. Ranma grew a wary, dangerous glint in his eyes, directed at Akane. "Alright chick, who are you, and what have you done with the tomboy?" He all but growled. Akane socked him in his arm. Hard. "If you don't like it, at least just come out and say it!" "Ow!" Well, that confirmed it, it was indeed the Akane he knew and tolerated. "That's not possible." He muttered. He moved to lie her down by the table, and all she could manage was an indignant squeak of surprise. Ranma gave her a once over, checking the few vital spots and pressure points that he knew. Then he felt her forehead for a temperature. "This has to be an ill omen..." "What are you DOING, Ranma?" the girl snarled. "You have to be under some kinda influence. Did Shampoo attack you? The old ghoul? The freak?" "Ranma, nobody's attacked me! What's the matter with--" It slowly began to dawn on her that he had not said word one about her dish. Not in the negative sense anyway. A smirk took the place of her scowl. "Jerk. You liked it." "That's not the point! It ain't possible for you to cook something good... isn't it?" Ranma looked as if the world had just turned and sat on its ear. "I TOLD you it was good. And now you'll have to believe me." Ranma was dumbstruck, a reaction followed upon by the rest of the family. Genma was the first to brave the unknown, and ate a piece of the meat. Then another, and soon he was back to his habits of cleaning both his and his son's plates, the only change being the total look of disbelief in his eyes. The others slowly dug in as well, surprise evident on their faces. "Akane, Just HOW in the world did you manage to do this?" Nabiki asked. "Well, Ukyou and I went to do some shopping for some special ingredients, so I could make a really good meal out of what we had caught." "Caught?" Kasumi and Nabiki asked in unison. "Well, yeah. We kinda went and did a little hunting yesterday. She said that the animals were supposed to be really difficult to cook, but I thought I could do it." "Waaaaaaaaaah! My baby has made a culinary masterpiece! I'm so proud!" Soun cried manly tears of joy. "But... how? Nothing personal sis, but I've yet to see you go into cooking something without royally screwing it up." Nabiki stated. "Well, other than salt and some other spices, and maybe a little soy, nothing really works with it." Akane shrugged. "I wanted to do a little more with it, but it just didn't feel right, so I stuck with the basics, and let it broil mostly in its own juices. I added the remainder as a gravy for the rice." "This is wonderful Akane. Very good." Kasumi was impressed. This was the hallmark of a very long and tedious journey for her sister. She had finally found something that she was good at. Amazing at. She blushed as other words of comparison came to mind. Ranma, on the other hand, was floored. How the hell did the tomboy pull it off? From lousy, deadly cook, to Iron Chef Tendo in less time than it took to boil meat? Speaking of which... "Just what is this, anyway?" The pigtailed martial artists asked, throwing his father to the wall and enjoying both their portions. "I don't really know what to call it. I didn't follow a recipe, so it's kinda experimental. The meat though, is from a Bulbasaur." Ranma froze. "You mean... those cute little disgusting things? I thought the UN declared them inedible! NO ONE can cook them right! Them, or any other of those weird creatures!" Kasumi was in as much shock as Ranma. "Akane, most of those creatures are supposed to be poisonous. You do know that, right?" Akane looked down at the table. "Well, yeah, but nothing's wrong, is it?" "I think Akane's right." Nabiki almost had a heart attack when she heard that she was ingesting Pokemon. Almost every one of those critters were poisonous to a point that some were highly fatal if even slightly prepared incorrectly. Strict guidelines of cooking and recipes made them a deadly delicacy, and even those with the skill necessary were not able to do the job that Akane had done, supposedly with no recipe. "Nabiki?" Kasumi blinked. "Well, if it's prepared wrong, we'd know it." She said matter-of-factly. "But the point is, no one's passed out. I'd have to assume that Akane did this, and did this DAMN well." "I wonder if Ukyou's having much trouble..." "This... we have to make something out of this." Nabiki's gears were rolling, and nothing was going to stop them. "We HAVE to. There's no way we can't cash in on this. If Akane can prepare Pokemon like this, then we HAVE to pull in on it." There were stars in her eyes now. She saw restaurants from coast to coast, franchises, cooking shows... it was limitless. And all lined with yen. "Well, I guess ya did something right this time, Akane. This IS good." Her heart caught in her throat, and she blushed horribly. "You mean it Ranma?" "To be able to get rid of a world-wide pest problem, AND turn it into a good meal... That's really something, especially for you." The Saotome boy kept digging into his plate, having finished his fathers. "... Thank you!" She was beaming now. She'd done it! She'd made the perfect dish! Now all that was left was to prepare that Goldeen for the exam tomorrow, and she was set! Still, all of that rang hollow next to the words of appreciation from Ranma. He admitted that she COULD cook, and cook well, damnit. While Akane basked in her glory, Nabiki excused herself from the table. She had a favor to call in, and get Akane onto a local cooking circuit. That would do for the moment, until she built up enough notoriety to take on the real challenge: Iron Chef. And then the cash would REALLY come in. Kasumi smiled in happiness for her younger sister. She'd finally found her niche in the kitchen. Genma wept in the corner, his stomach still roaring. He wanted more! Akane smiled a smile of triumph as she watched her fiancee polish off the rest of the dish. She'd done what she set out to do. He'd probably love the Meowth she'd planned for his bento tomorrow as well. ***************************** Um... Don't ask. I read a little too much of Self-Extraction (viewable at Indie Madnesse), and ran into something that lead to this. I won't say the idea's original. Afterall, hasn't everyone thought of roasting the lil critters by now? ^_^ -Kenji M. (8/11/01)