Cool Off, Kat!
Recipient: 
kat8cha
Title: Sugar Sweet
Characters: Chitose Senri, Chitose Miyuki
Rating: G
Summary: Senri has the perfect solution to boredom on a hot summer’s day.
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is owned and usually operated by Konomi, I'm hijacking for joyrides and make no money from this.
Notes: Lots of thanks to the mystery beta. I apologize for the length, the original was lost!
It was the hottest day in Osaka on record. The radio announcers assured its listeners of that fact, the meteorologist’s report confirmed that fact, and for the umpteenth time that day, Miyuki wished that she could be at the beach with her school friends.
Or at least somewhere with an air conditioner.
Instead, she was forced into what Senri called “sibling bonding day,” which mostly consisted of Senri’s commentary on the state of the world, Japan, and other things that a kid simply wasn’t interested in. Much to Miyuki’s chagrin, their mother heartily approved of the idea and left for the day, promising to be back sometime that evening after doing her shopping.
Miyuki had never felt any ill will towards her parents before. That suddenly changed.
“It’s all important,” Senri decided to start off with. “Understanding the many ways that things work together is the basis of understanding the universe. Take, for instance, a drop of water. When it falls, it-“
“Can you stoooop already?” Miyuki whined. “Why can’t we do something?” She hated having to be a little kid and doing what her brother told her to. Why were they spending the day inside when they could be at the beach, or playing tennis (Miyuki had perfected a killer serve, there was no way she couldn’t beat Senri now!)
Senri paused from his study of the window. “We have a very long list of chores, if you’re interested. They’re in the kitchen.”
Miyuki didn’t even budge from the floor. Being bored was bad, but doing chores was even worse. That was even more boring than being bored! Why couldn’t they have a television, like any normal family, anyway?
She kicked at the tatami flooring with her bare toe. “Boooored.”
“You wouldn’t be bored if you were working, y’know.” Senri stood up suddenly. “Come on. They won’t take that long anyway.”
The shaggy-haired boy was halfway down the stairs before realizing that his sister wasn’t behind him. “Miyuki, are you coming?”
He could hear the telltale sigh and rustling in his bedroom that meant Miyuki was prying herself up from the floor. The loud stomping down the hallway confirmed that while she was coming, she was not indeed happy about it.
Senri sighed and finally did the thing that he swore he would never do.
He resorted to bribery.
“The first chore on the list is ice cream.”
The thumping became louder and quicker, and soon it was Miyuki calling up to him to come down and go to the grocery with her.
Well, perhaps bribery wasn’t that bad after all. Senri took his time getting downstairs, and Miyuki was already standing in the foyer with her shoes on.
“You’re slow,” she greeted him when he arrived.
“We’re not going anywhere.” Senri held up the list.
“We’re not? But you just said that Mom said we had to go get some!” Miyuki looked as though all of her hopes and dreams had been crushed. “Did you just lie to me? Big brothers aren’t supposed to lie!”
Well no, that wasn’t true. Miyuki’s best friend’s big brother lied and teased her. But Senri had never done that, so why would he start now? But Senri was weird. She stepped out of her shoes and traipsed back into the kitchen, with what was becoming a good mood quickly souring.
Senri showed her the hastily written list of chores. “Here. What does it say?”
Miyuki studied the items carefully. “Make ice cream? But we’ve never made ice cream before.”
“You were too young to remember it.” Senri paused long enough to rumple Miyuki’s hair and cause her to stick her tongue out at him. She hated that. “It’s going to be fun.”
“Can’t we just play tennis?” Miyuki asked, for the thousandth time that day. And for the thousandth time, Senri pretended not to hear her and rummaged into the refrigerator instead.
“Cream, ice, milk…hey, Miyuki. What flavor do you want?”
Miyuki did her best not to sound the least bit interested. Why were they making it when they could have gotten to the store and back in twenty minutes? “Don’t care.”
“Right, so that makes it chocolate.” Senri added chocolate syrup to the growing list of ingredients. “Come here and help.”
Miyuki pouted her way to the kitchen and stared at the odd assortment of ingredients on the counter. “Why do we need tofu?”
“Tofu ice cream’s good,” Senri insisted and plunked the block on the counter. In Miyuki’s eyes, her brother was simply growing weirder and weirder. Unfortunately, her mental telepathy wasn’t strong enough yet to make her mother walk in at that moment and demand Senri to stop.
Instead, she begrudgingly poured ingredients into a bowl while Senri mixed ice and salt (why anyone wanted salt in their ice cream, she had no idea.) She busily mixed, not caring that specks of cream and chocolate were flying around the kitchen.
Just as she started to mix the biggest glob yet, Senri poked his head in. “Are you through mixing yet, or-“
The glob hit him smack in the nose.
Senri did not have any time to register shock before Miyuki started to giggle uncontrollably. Seeing her normally serene brother stand there, unable to react, was far too much fun.
Senri cautiously wiped part of the goo off his nose, then snickered and dropped it onto Miyuki’s. Instead of being upset, Miyuki’s giggling only increased. If someone were to walk into the kitchen at that moment, they most likely would have thought that the siblings were in need of mental help because of their hysterics.
Miyuki was the first one to calm down enough to breathe and try the concoction-which didn’t taste bad, for cream and sugar and chocolate syrup, but not at all like ice cream.
“Here.” Senri helped her carry the heavy bowl outside to the mixer, already set up and waiting for the main ingredients. “It’s kind of hard to churn.”
“I can do it!” Miyuki was insistent. She may have been small, but she was strong. She wrapped her hands around the churn and started cranking with all of her might, and found it to be relatively easy. She looked up at Senri, questioning, until the churn suddenly got stuck, She grunted and gave it a firm tug, and just barely moved the handle.
Senri wrapped his hands over hers and helped crank it, not pushing her to the side and talking about how strong he was like the other girls with big brothers Miyuki knew. Senri was letting Miyuki do the work herself!
Well, with maybe just a little help. Just the way it had always been. Senri would make her do her work and practice until she was frustrated and ready to quit, but he was always there when she needed that little extra push-even if she wanted to smack that little grin off of his face and tell him to stop being so smug about everything.
Senri quickly cracked the lid of the container. “I think we’ve got ourselves some ice cream. Just needs to be frozen for a little while and then we can have it.”
Miyuki didn’t even realize that it had finally started to grow cooler.
Two hours later, brother and sister were sitting on the front stoop, enjoying the silence and the fresh, homemade ice cream. It was still hot and muggy, but nowhere near the temperatures of that afternoon. Miyuki idly sucked stray ice cream off of her thumb and stared into the quickly fading sunset. She could hear the crickets starting to chirp and off in the distance, a dog barking.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, Osaka was actually quiet.
“So when did we make ice cream?” Miyuki finally decided to ask.
“Today,” Senri replied simply, closing his eyes and savoring what was left in his bowl.
“Not that. I mean the first time that we did it.”
“Today,” he repeated. “The first time that we did it was today.”
Miyuki was shocked. “But…but what about how you told me that we had made ice cream before and I was just too young to remember it? Were you lying?”
Senri chuckled. “No. I made some with our parents. You were a baby.”
“Oh.” Miyuki was satisfied with the answer and chased the last remaining bit before it melted into a chocolate puddle. “So why did we do it?”
That time, Senri took his time to respond. He closed his eyes and leaned back, and for a minute Miyuki thought he was going to meditate and leave her hanging until she got frustrated enough to go back inside. “It tastes better.”
Miyuki didn’t quite understand yet. She preferred her absolute favorite chocolate chip ice cream from the local convenience store over the vaguely chocolate flavored concoction that they had managed to whip up.
But when she thought about it, and the work that they put into it, and how she was going to have a way cooler summer vacation story than all of her friends…
“Yeah. You’re right.”
kat8chaTitle: Sugar Sweet
Characters: Chitose Senri, Chitose Miyuki
Rating: G
Summary: Senri has the perfect solution to boredom on a hot summer’s day.
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis is owned and usually operated by Konomi, I'm hijacking for joyrides and make no money from this.
Notes: Lots of thanks to the mystery beta. I apologize for the length, the original was lost!
It was the hottest day in Osaka on record. The radio announcers assured its listeners of that fact, the meteorologist’s report confirmed that fact, and for the umpteenth time that day, Miyuki wished that she could be at the beach with her school friends.
Or at least somewhere with an air conditioner.
Instead, she was forced into what Senri called “sibling bonding day,” which mostly consisted of Senri’s commentary on the state of the world, Japan, and other things that a kid simply wasn’t interested in. Much to Miyuki’s chagrin, their mother heartily approved of the idea and left for the day, promising to be back sometime that evening after doing her shopping.
Miyuki had never felt any ill will towards her parents before. That suddenly changed.
“It’s all important,” Senri decided to start off with. “Understanding the many ways that things work together is the basis of understanding the universe. Take, for instance, a drop of water. When it falls, it-“
“Can you stoooop already?” Miyuki whined. “Why can’t we do something?” She hated having to be a little kid and doing what her brother told her to. Why were they spending the day inside when they could be at the beach, or playing tennis (Miyuki had perfected a killer serve, there was no way she couldn’t beat Senri now!)
Senri paused from his study of the window. “We have a very long list of chores, if you’re interested. They’re in the kitchen.”
Miyuki didn’t even budge from the floor. Being bored was bad, but doing chores was even worse. That was even more boring than being bored! Why couldn’t they have a television, like any normal family, anyway?
She kicked at the tatami flooring with her bare toe. “Boooored.”
“You wouldn’t be bored if you were working, y’know.” Senri stood up suddenly. “Come on. They won’t take that long anyway.”
The shaggy-haired boy was halfway down the stairs before realizing that his sister wasn’t behind him. “Miyuki, are you coming?”
He could hear the telltale sigh and rustling in his bedroom that meant Miyuki was prying herself up from the floor. The loud stomping down the hallway confirmed that while she was coming, she was not indeed happy about it.
Senri sighed and finally did the thing that he swore he would never do.
He resorted to bribery.
“The first chore on the list is ice cream.”
The thumping became louder and quicker, and soon it was Miyuki calling up to him to come down and go to the grocery with her.
Well, perhaps bribery wasn’t that bad after all. Senri took his time getting downstairs, and Miyuki was already standing in the foyer with her shoes on.
“You’re slow,” she greeted him when he arrived.
“We’re not going anywhere.” Senri held up the list.
“We’re not? But you just said that Mom said we had to go get some!” Miyuki looked as though all of her hopes and dreams had been crushed. “Did you just lie to me? Big brothers aren’t supposed to lie!”
Well no, that wasn’t true. Miyuki’s best friend’s big brother lied and teased her. But Senri had never done that, so why would he start now? But Senri was weird. She stepped out of her shoes and traipsed back into the kitchen, with what was becoming a good mood quickly souring.
Senri showed her the hastily written list of chores. “Here. What does it say?”
Miyuki studied the items carefully. “Make ice cream? But we’ve never made ice cream before.”
“You were too young to remember it.” Senri paused long enough to rumple Miyuki’s hair and cause her to stick her tongue out at him. She hated that. “It’s going to be fun.”
“Can’t we just play tennis?” Miyuki asked, for the thousandth time that day. And for the thousandth time, Senri pretended not to hear her and rummaged into the refrigerator instead.
“Cream, ice, milk…hey, Miyuki. What flavor do you want?”
Miyuki did her best not to sound the least bit interested. Why were they making it when they could have gotten to the store and back in twenty minutes? “Don’t care.”
“Right, so that makes it chocolate.” Senri added chocolate syrup to the growing list of ingredients. “Come here and help.”
Miyuki pouted her way to the kitchen and stared at the odd assortment of ingredients on the counter. “Why do we need tofu?”
“Tofu ice cream’s good,” Senri insisted and plunked the block on the counter. In Miyuki’s eyes, her brother was simply growing weirder and weirder. Unfortunately, her mental telepathy wasn’t strong enough yet to make her mother walk in at that moment and demand Senri to stop.
Instead, she begrudgingly poured ingredients into a bowl while Senri mixed ice and salt (why anyone wanted salt in their ice cream, she had no idea.) She busily mixed, not caring that specks of cream and chocolate were flying around the kitchen.
Just as she started to mix the biggest glob yet, Senri poked his head in. “Are you through mixing yet, or-“
The glob hit him smack in the nose.
Senri did not have any time to register shock before Miyuki started to giggle uncontrollably. Seeing her normally serene brother stand there, unable to react, was far too much fun.
Senri cautiously wiped part of the goo off his nose, then snickered and dropped it onto Miyuki’s. Instead of being upset, Miyuki’s giggling only increased. If someone were to walk into the kitchen at that moment, they most likely would have thought that the siblings were in need of mental help because of their hysterics.
Miyuki was the first one to calm down enough to breathe and try the concoction-which didn’t taste bad, for cream and sugar and chocolate syrup, but not at all like ice cream.
“Here.” Senri helped her carry the heavy bowl outside to the mixer, already set up and waiting for the main ingredients. “It’s kind of hard to churn.”
“I can do it!” Miyuki was insistent. She may have been small, but she was strong. She wrapped her hands around the churn and started cranking with all of her might, and found it to be relatively easy. She looked up at Senri, questioning, until the churn suddenly got stuck, She grunted and gave it a firm tug, and just barely moved the handle.
Senri wrapped his hands over hers and helped crank it, not pushing her to the side and talking about how strong he was like the other girls with big brothers Miyuki knew. Senri was letting Miyuki do the work herself!
Well, with maybe just a little help. Just the way it had always been. Senri would make her do her work and practice until she was frustrated and ready to quit, but he was always there when she needed that little extra push-even if she wanted to smack that little grin off of his face and tell him to stop being so smug about everything.
Senri quickly cracked the lid of the container. “I think we’ve got ourselves some ice cream. Just needs to be frozen for a little while and then we can have it.”
Miyuki didn’t even realize that it had finally started to grow cooler.
Two hours later, brother and sister were sitting on the front stoop, enjoying the silence and the fresh, homemade ice cream. It was still hot and muggy, but nowhere near the temperatures of that afternoon. Miyuki idly sucked stray ice cream off of her thumb and stared into the quickly fading sunset. She could hear the crickets starting to chirp and off in the distance, a dog barking.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, Osaka was actually quiet.
“So when did we make ice cream?” Miyuki finally decided to ask.
“Today,” Senri replied simply, closing his eyes and savoring what was left in his bowl.
“Not that. I mean the first time that we did it.”
“Today,” he repeated. “The first time that we did it was today.”
Miyuki was shocked. “But…but what about how you told me that we had made ice cream before and I was just too young to remember it? Were you lying?”
Senri chuckled. “No. I made some with our parents. You were a baby.”
“Oh.” Miyuki was satisfied with the answer and chased the last remaining bit before it melted into a chocolate puddle. “So why did we do it?”
That time, Senri took his time to respond. He closed his eyes and leaned back, and for a minute Miyuki thought he was going to meditate and leave her hanging until she got frustrated enough to go back inside. “It tastes better.”
Miyuki didn’t quite understand yet. She preferred her absolute favorite chocolate chip ice cream from the local convenience store over the vaguely chocolate flavored concoction that they had managed to whip up.
But when she thought about it, and the work that they put into it, and how she was going to have a way cooler summer vacation story than all of her friends…
“Yeah. You’re right.”