"Damn, damn, DOUBLE DAMN!" Ryoko yelled, kicking the thrice damned pan. "This isn't supposed to be so hard!"

Ryoko was trying to bake Tenchi a birthday cake, and it wasn't going so well. Not only had the beater flown cake mix in all directions when it was pulled out of the bowl (how was Ryoko supposed to know she needed to turn it off first?), the frying pan wasn't even cooking it right("What do you mean, it has to go in the oven?!"). And Sasami had walked in three times to find out what was going on in her "domain", nearly ruining the suprise!

Ryoko watched as the next cake fell apart, right in the fryer thing. That was the fourth cake ruined!!!

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!" Ryoko yelled, making another dent in the useless cooking utensil.

"Ryoko, what's going on in here?" asked Tenchi, poking his head in the door unexpectedly.

"AHHH!" Ryoko turned around and used her back to block Tenchi's veiw of the suprise. "Tenchi, don't walk in like that!"

"Ryoko? What are you doing in the kitchen?" asked Tenchi, stepping a little further into the room. He blinked his eyes a couple times, but she was still in that frilly apron that was a size too small every time he opened his eyes.

"Um...." Ryoko was going to get caught! "I'm taking cooking lessons from Sasami!"

It wasn't quite a lie, Sasami was giving her lessons... just not then.

Ryoko could tell by the suspicous look in those black eyes that Tenchi was not quite buying it.

"I just want to help out a little Tenchi."

Tenchi's eyes narrowed a little bit more.

"I'm BORED! GIVE ME A BREAK!"

That must have been a little more beleivable. Tenchi's eyes returned to normal. "Oh, okay."

As he turned and walked out of the room, Ryoko breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close," she muttered to herself.

"OH RYOKO!!!" yelled Washu, poking her head inside the door.

"AH! Damnit Washu!" Ryoko yelped, jumping nearly three feet in the air.

"I'm sorry! Didn't know you were in there," Washu said innocently," Myuka wants to know what time her training starts today."

"Ah, damn... I forgot about that!" Ryoko leaned on the counter and rested her head in her hand. She had such a headache. "Tell the kid that we're taking a break and we'll do it again day after tomarrow.. and send Sasami in here, will ya?"

"Yeah, sure. Do you smell that?" asked Washu, wrinkling her nose in the stove's direction.

Ryoko took a quick sniff of the air.. "NO!" she yelled, turning to see that her fifth cake was on fire. She grabbed a potholder and beat it out, then sunk to the floor.

"I'll just get Sasami," Washu said, eyes bulging. She ran out of the room, quick as she could. No one in their right minds would want to be in the same room with a cooking Ryoko, and Washu was a genius.

"Ryoko, Washu said something was wrong... OH GOSH RYOKO!" Sasami ran in and saw the mess that hadn't been there a couple minutes ago, with Ryoko sitting in the middle of it all.

"Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong, Sasami?" Ryoko asked, her voice the very sound of defeat.

"Well, for one thing, you bake a cake, not fry it..." Sasami said, her voice taking on a very military tone.

"PLEASE, don't lecture me," said Ryoko from behind her hands. "Just tell me how to fix it."

"I'm sorry Ryoko," Sasami said soothingly, bending down to take Ryoko's hands and help her up. "First we'll clean up this mess, and then I'll help you bake this thing. You should have asked for help in the first place!"

"Thanks" Ryoko said grudgingly, getting up.

They preceeded to clean all the dishes (Sasami clucked over the dented pan, but didn't say anything) and then wipe down every surface in the room. When they were finished, Sasami pulled a cook book out from a drawer and set it on a wood stand to look in it.

"What do you think we do first Ryoko?" asked Sasami, pointing at the cookbook.

Ryoko looked at it. It was simple enough... the first step to cooking was written after the number one. She pointed to it and said, "Heat the oven to 350 degrees"

Sasami shook her head. "First we have to gather the ingredients, then we read through the directions, and THEN we do the first step."

"THEN WHY DOESN'T THE BOOK SAY THAT?!" yelled Ryoko, canines gleaming white.

"I dunno," Sasami said, shrugging her shoulders, unaffected by Ryoko's show of temper.

"Because they assume anyone using the book knows how to cook, of course" perked Aeka from her post at the doorway. She laughed her horrible fake laugh and grinned at Ryoko. "You're such a homewreaker, you don't even know how to bake a cake!"

The two glared lightning at each other for a minute, then Ryoko smiled to herself and started gathering ingredients.

"And you being the expert on cooking, of course," Ryoko said, calmly, innocently.

Aeka laughed that awful laugh from behind her hand again. "I know a thing or two. But what I want to know is this; Why are you even bothering? You've always been too lazy to help out, why change your ways now?"

Ryoko glared at Aeka again and counted under her breath. Then she grabbed the cookbook from Sasami and read through it quietly. She slammed it down, and THEN heated the oven to 350 degrees.

"Is that all I need to do, read the directions in this book?"

"That's about it. I guess you don't need me any more, huh?"

"No. Get out of here, brat." Ryoko said flatly.

She pretended not to care that Sasami's eyes started to fill with tears, or that Aeka took her little sister out of the room to comfort her. It was easier that way. She'd keep her rep, and she wouldn't destroy the house and make Tenchi mad at her.

Following the directions in the book exactly, Ryoko had a cake as the end product.

'Alright!' she thought, proud of her creation. 'Now I have to ice it, put it somewhere where Tenchi won't find it, and Mihoshi won't eat it, and my suprise will be complete!'

She put some white frosting on it, and in blue curly-q letters, wrote Happy Birthday Tenchi on top. After some last little touch-ups, she snapped a lid on it. She looked around for a hiding place, going through some of the cabinets.

'Probably too obvious', she thought, looking around some more... then she decided that a cabinet in her room, where some old clothes were put in for storage, would work okay. She opened the door with a pop! of the magnetic pull and stashed the cake inside.

With nothing better to do, Ryoko sat on top of the cabinet.

Time passed, and just when she was ready to find Sasami and do something to make up for her roughness earlier, Tenchi barged in.

"Ryoko! What did you do now? Sasami is in the living room crying!"

Ryoko cringed a little inside. 'Stupid kid' she thought savagely.'Just when I was about to make it up to the little squirt too!'

"I didn't do anything to the kid, Tenchi. I was in the kitchen and she and Aeka were bothering me. So I sent them out. What's so wrong with that?" She said innocently.

"That's not what Aeka said Ryoko. You really should be nice to Sasami, she helped you out."

Ryoko frowned and teleported to Tenchi's side. "I'm sorry Tenchi," she said sweetly.

"Don't tell me that, tell Sasami." He said, ducking out from under her arms and walking away.

Ryoko frowned, then walked into the living room, where Sasami was lying on the couch, hiding her head in her arms.

"Sasami?"Ryoko sat down next to the blue haired girl's legs. "Come on Sasami.... I'm really sorry I was so.... rude. Especially after you helped me out back there. Don't cry."

Sasami looked up after the unexpected speech. "Are you really sorry?" she asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, I am. Forgive me?" Ryoko asked.

"Sure." Sasami hugged Ryoko around the waist as they both stood up. Ryoko, not knowing what to do with her hands, just held them above her head like she was being arrested.

"Ok, kid. No more tears. Wanna help me cook something new?"

"YEAH!"

Tenchi watched as Ryoko and Sasami left for the kitchen.

"Glad that's over with," he said to himself, turning back to the room he was in. "Wonder what they're going to cook?"

"TENCHI!" Washuu said, coming up from behind him.

"Ms. Washuu!" Tenchi shook himself a little and looked her in the eye. He could still remember how Washuu turned Aeka and Ryoko into little water sprites in reataliation for not showing respect.

"Hey Tenchi. Do you know where Ryoko is? I have a new invention I think will improve her cooking."

"Yeah... she's in the kitchen with Sasami."

"Thanks!"

"Wait? An invention? WASHUU!!!!" Tenchi raced to the kitchen, but he was obviously not fast enough... For he found...
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