Love-Filled Lunch

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"Sometimes you have to spend the whole day taking care of the flowers, and it's so far from home... so... so..."

o(*￣︶￣*)o

"So what?"

Ino buried her face in Josuke's chest.

In a voice as tiny as a mosquito's, she said,

"I'll just sleep in Josuke's bed..."

Josuke had already guessed how this would end, but hearing the girl say it still made his old face turn red. The scent he'd noticed in her room earlier came back to him, too.

Wasn't that Ino's scent?

After teasing Ino for a while longer, Josuke's stomach started rumbling again.

All right, it was probably time to eat.

Otherwise, his stomach really would be empty. Ino was the one cooking, but Josuke eagerly went to help her out.

Come to think of it, Josuke was actually a pretty good cook. A few years after the Night of the Massacre, he'd learned to cook. He'd had no choice.

The money the Third Hokage had privately given them had been enough when they were little, but by the time they were ten, their appetites had grown and money had gotten a bit tight.

So Josuke had started cooking for himself at home.

At first, the results had been pretty awful, but practice made perfect, and before long he could make all sorts of delicious food.

Ino had stuffed the fridge to the brim.

It looked like she really did consider this her home.

"What would you like to eat, Josuke?"

Ino rummaged through the fridge.

There were vegetables, fruit, beef, pork, and everything else. But that left Ino at a loss—she didn't know what to make for Josuke.

"How about steak?"

Josuke suggested.

Steak? Ino rummaged through the fridge and found some beef tenderloin. Perfect for steak.

No sooner said than done.

They had the seasonings at home, too, so there was no need to buy any.

Ino took out the tenderloin to thaw.

She filled a pot with water and set it to boil, then took broccoli and carrots out of the fridge to prepare.

She looked so domestic. Josuke watched Ino with satisfaction. It seemed his future married life was set—well, love life, anyway. Ahem.

Good thing he'd been transported to this world. Otherwise, that kid Sai would've gotten Ino. Did he even deserve her? He actually thought he could compete with Josuke for Ino. Honestly, the first time Josuke had met Sai a while back,

he'd wanted to beat the kid up. But he'd held himself back.

Looking back, he'd really missed his chance!

He should've beaten him to a pulp right then and there.

But~

Josuke's mouth was now crooked enough to outdo an AK, the corners turning upward without him even noticing.

No, no, there was still a risk. He absolutely couldn't let Sai steal his girl.

Just then, Ino called from the kitchen,

"Josuke, could you get the pasta out of the fridge for me?"

Josuke walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and rummaged around until he found the bag of pasta.

"Found it. Do I just put it in the water?"

The water in the pot had come to a boil, bubbling and popping.

"Yeah. I'm going to start frying the steaks, too. How would you like yours?"

"Medium-well."

Anything under medium was mostly raw inside, and Josuke wasn't used to eating it that way.

A medium-well steak was mostly pale grayish brown when cut, with a small patch of rare meat in the center. There was little blood in the meat, the juices were pale, and it was firmer and springier.

It really was delicious.

"Same as me, then."

Ino patted the moisture off the steaks with kitchen paper.

She put butter in the pan. It melted quickly in the heat, releasing a creamy aroma.

Ino took out a large steak and a smaller one and placed them in the pan.

Sizzle, sizzle.

The butter met the steaks, and the smell of meat filled the air.

When they looked about ready, Ino flipped the steaks and sprinkled them with coarsely ground black pepper and salt.

Josuke's pasta was nearly done. He sliced the carrots and cut the broccoli in half.

Then he put them in a pot to boil.

"Ino, are you almost done? The pasta's nearly ready over here."

Ino was putting the finishing touches on her food, too.

The steaks looked even more tempting with black pepper sauce drizzled over them, just like Ino herself—impossible to forget.

At last, she plated everything and took it off the heat.

She added the broccoli, carrots, and pasta. Oh, and she'd almost forgotten the eggs.

While the pan was still hot, Ino added some oil and took out the two eggs she'd set aside two and a half minutes earlier.

Steak and eggs didn't need to be fully cooked. The point was to have runny yolks.

They were ready in no time, and with Ino's careful plating, everything looked pretty good.

"Josuke, eat it while it's hot~"

Ino carried Josuke's steak to the table. The starving Josuke had been waiting for ages.

Once Ino sat down, Josuke picked up his knife and fork, cut off a small piece of steak, and took a bite.

Mmm...

Suddenly, Josuke made an awful face.

Ino jumped.

"What's wrong? Does it taste bad? Did I put in too much salt?"

Then Josuke went back to smiling and said,

"No, it's delicious."

"Huh?"

Only then did Ino realize Josuke had been messing with her. What a little devil. Ino kicked him under the table.

Her cheeks puffed out, and she looked like a sulky little girl.

"Haha, all right, Ino. Don't be mad. Here, try a piece."

Josuke coaxed Ino, cutting off some steak, dipping it in black pepper sauce, and picking it up with his fork.

He held it out to Ino.

"Here~ Have a bite."

Hmph, who wants you to feed me?

Ino turned her face away.

But her mouth opened on its own. I'm only eating the steak I made myself. It's not like I'm eating what he's feeding me ╭(╯^╰)╮

She said she didn't want it, but inside she was over the moon.

Delicious ლ(´ڡ`ლ)

Tsunderes were so cute.

Ino's steak really was delicious, perfect in aroma, appearance, and taste.

Although the steak was medium-well and not fully cooked, most of its gamey taste had been removed—well, most of the steak's gamey taste—while a little of its natural flavor remained.

It brought out the steak's flavor to the fullest.

"By the way, Ino, how's Asuma-sensei doing now?"

Josuke had left in a hurry last time and hadn't had a chance to ask Ino about Asuma. He'd finally remembered to ask now. It was a bit of a boomerang, really.

Asuma-sensei?

Ino thought for a moment and said,

"After taking your medicine, Josuke, Asuma-sensei did recover. He lost all his chakra, though. Luckily, he can train again, and he's a Genin now. He'll be taking the Genin exam again in a few months."

"Pfft."

I can't believe that old geezer is taking the exam to become a Genin.

"The Genin exam? That's hilarious."

Josuke nearly spat out his drink.

But that proved Orochimaru's medicine worked. Its side effect was that all his chakra disappeared. Josuke just didn't know whether it would work the same way on Tailed Beast Chakra or Senjutsu Chakra.

Ino was laughing, too. She'd been very worried about Asuma-sensei at first, but when she'd heard Kurenai-sensei say that Asuma was taking the Genin exam, she'd nearly laughed herself silly.

"By the way..."