This fic is dedicated to loritakitochan who gave me the idea to write it.

Oh, and the cookies she made in this fic may not fit in real life, with the ingredients. But, I had to make it work, so don’t review and give me cookie recipes.

Kamato is the name I gave to the maid that is really annoying old bitchy maid who always appears when no one needs her and yells at everyone!

How I hate her.

And for those of you who didn’t notice Mina in the actual manga, she is random maid #219!

No, not really.

Please Review!

“Oh Please, Miss Kamoto! Just this once! Just for today! I really need to finish this.”

“And what of the Sohma’s? What are they to do while your flitting off buying your little Valentines Day presents?” Kamato said the words as if the words themselves tasted bitter on her tongue. Kamato was the senior maid of the Sohma house. However, Mina Shiyanuki, one of the youngest and least important workers in for the Sohma’s, never seemed to show the right amount of respect for her. She was always poking fun at her, making jokes about her amongst the other younger maids. She was deemed: “a terribly insolent young woman,” by her elders.

Actually, she was just working for her family so she could work her way through university. Many maids were honored to be one of the few in the world to know the secret of the Zodiac Curse, and still fewer knew of Master Akito’s secret of truly being female,

Mina knew both these secrets, and didn’t seem too proud. In fact, it was her one of her jobs to make sure Akito, who was maturing rather quickly now that she was 13, still maintained a masculine look about her, which she happened to be very good at.

And the strangest thing of all, was that Master Akito seemed to be rather fond of her, even as much as Kamato, who had practically raised her. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t seem to care what others thought of her. Maybe, it was because she was pretty. She had short, soft red hair, and greenish blue eyes. Or maybe that was her personality. Whatever the reason, many thought of her as less than worthy to be a servant of the Sohma’s.

Today, she happened to be doing one of the worst things a humble servant should be doing. Begging. It was Valentines Day, and she was desperately trying to persuade Kamato to allow her to take the afternoon off to finish buying her presents.

“There are tons of maids in this house! Couldn’t they possibly find one of them to do their random bidding?”

“They could, but that would be unfair to the rest of the staff!” Kamato snapped, “What if I let all the maids run off whenever they wanted too.”

“But I need to buy a really special present,” she explained, “For my fiancé! It would be beyond rude if I forgot him on Valentines Day!”

“Funny,” Kamato said, “How manners suddenly become so important to you. Well, the answer is no. You should have done your shopping earlier, I suppose! Anyway, Master Akito has just woken up, and you have to get him dressed this morning.”

“You mean her,” Mina said. She relished doing this. It annoyed the hell out of Kamato. She could never understand why, even when they where in private, all the maids who knew about Akito still referred to her as a him. It made no sense. Akito was a beautiful girl. Mina felt it a shame for it to be wasted simply because of an insane, twisted family.

“Shush, now,” Kamato responded in a deadly whisper “He is awake now, and you had better do your job. Anyway, this whole business, will teach you an important lesson, in managing your time!” with that, she turned primly and made her way down the hall.

“I have no time,” Mina muttered under her breath, “With this bitchy, crazy old dictator around.”

“What was that?” Kamato raise her eyebrow at Mina.

“Nothing,” she sighed back.

Akito stared out of her window at Shigure. She’d been doing this a lot lately. Ever since he’d started going to university, being 21, now. He was more distant from her than ever. His class times where longer, and he had more work to do than ever before. He hardly spent anytime at the main house anymore. She wondered how many girls went to his university. Although the school was separated into classes of the same sex, she was positive he still saw them. How did he see them, compared to her? Those tall, curvy college girls, with their big eyes, and nicely applied make-up. There full soft lips, and long trailing hair. She bet that, when classes ended, and two genders mixed together at the end of the day, they where all over him. Giggling at his stupid jokes and flirting with him. She hated these women. She loathed their very being.

But how she envied them.

Every day, she could sense him getting increasingly distant. Every day she wondered if this was because he was getting that much closer to one of those girls. Perhaps these girls where pulling him farther from her.

“Master Akito?” Mina interrupted Akito’s train of thought. She scrambled down from the ledge of the window where she’d been staring.

“What where you looking at?” Mina asked.

“No one.” Akito lied, feeling her face turn red.

Mina glanced sideways out of the window, and spotted Shigure. She smirked, but did not say anything.

“Why where you and Kamato arguing?” she asked, as Mina began to prepare the day’s clothing.

“Oh,” Mina sighed, “She’s just mad because I wanted to get off work early today, for Valentines Day, you know.”

“Valentines Day?”

Mina looked at her, a horrified expression on her face. Then she slapped her forehead, “Don’t tell me she never told you about Valentines Day! Geez, at this rate I’ll have to explain everything important to you.”

“I know,” Akito thought, “She said it was a silly holiday. And that I needn’t worry about it.
“Yeah, I would think bitter old hags wouldn’t like the thought of a day celebrating love,” she sighed, wrapping the first layer of clothing on Akito. “Well Valentines Day is a holiday where women give the men in there lives presents. Like there relatives or co-workers. But really special men,” she said with a mischievous wink, “Like a lover, for instance, get really nice presents.”

Akito stayed silent, for a while. Then just as Mina was finishing with the outer layer of cloth, she said, “Do have someone special to give something to?”

A dreamy smile spread across Mina’s face. “Yes,” she responded airily, “My fiancé, Kenji. I wanted to get him something really nice this year. Something home made. Something special. You see, he proposed to me last White Day So my Valentines gift has to be good this year. But,” she sighed, coming back down to Earth, “Thanks to Kamato, it won’t happen. I guess he’ll understand.”

“What is White Day?” Akito asked, “Kamato never told me about that.”

“With Kamato as a role model, you’ll never figure out anything,” Mina laughed, “White day is just when men give present back to the women who gave them presents. And like Valentines, the special women in their lives get the best gifts.”

She finally tied the last of the clothing together. “Okay, your done,” she said. She didn’t enjoy doing what she did. She always thought Akito would look nice in a female kimono. But it wasn’t her decision, she thought reluctantly. Just as she turned to leave Akito said

“You can leave early today.” Mina stopped, so surprised she didn’t know what to day at first.

“W-what?” she asked.

“On one condition.”

“What’s the condition?” Mina asked wearily.

“I want to make a Valentines Day gift. A special one.”

Mina eyes widened. “Who for?” she asked winking.

Akito felt her face heat up again, “And another thing,” she snapped, “Don’t ask. Do you want to leave this afternoon, or not?”

“Okay,” Mina said innocently, though she was pretty sure who the gift would be going to, “It’s just, this is so exciting!”

“So where do we buy them?” Akito asked. She didn’t know what made her decide to do this. Perhaps it was jealousy over taking her reasoning. Perhaps she wanted to do something new with the monotonous days in her life. Perhaps she truly wanted to do this simply for Shigure. Whatever the reason, she had to do it now.

“Buy? We’re not going to buy anything. If you want it to be special, you have to make it.”

“Make it? But—”

But Mina was obviously no longer listening. She pulled Akito by the hand, “This is so exciting!”

And Akito wondered to herself, what she had gotten herself into.

“Hey, Mina,” Akito asked, “How much is a cup?”

She never thought that she’d ever be in this position. Wearing an ancient apron, her face covered in flour, her short hair partly covered with a hair net, and trying to read a recipe card that could have been written in Greek for all she knew.

“What?” Mina was deeply enthralled the paper she was trying to compose. She’d decided she was to write the letter in for the gift, while Akito would bake the cookies.

“I can’t bake!” Akito exclaimed when Mina began taking out the cooking equipment.

“Neither can I,” Mina laughed, “I can’t cook at all!”

“But you’re a maid!”

“And…your point would be?”

Akito sighed. There wasn’t really much point in arguing. She needed to make this, and she couldn’t do it without Mina’s help.

“So, if I’m baking, what will you be doing?”

“I shall compose a beautiful and romantic letter, of course!”

She felt her face flush. “How do you know it’s supposed to be romantic? For all you know it’s for a friend.”

“Right.” Mina winked, and grabbed a red pen from the kitchen counter. She whipped out some special heart stationary, and went to work.

At the present, she wasn’t even paying attention to Akito.

“A cup!” Akito repeated “How do you know which cup to use, anyway?”

“Um…” Mina said, scratching out a mistake she’d made, “Any cup…will…do…”

She trailed off, obviously not listening at all.

Akito looked around at the many different cups in the room. Some where small enough to fit in her hand, and some where so large she would have to carry it in her arms. How was she supposed to know which one to use? She looked back at the recipe.

1 cup of oil

She looked again. Well, she thought, I guess the biggest cup should do, if I want the best taste. She once remembered someone telling her a lot was a little. Or was it a little is a lot. Whatever. She grabbed the largest thing she could find, an empty two-liter coke bottle, and began letting the oil pour into the cup. Eventually, she ran out of one bottle of oil, and had to use a new one. Once poured, she moved on to the other ingredients.

½ cup milk

She looked at the milk. She’d noticed a funny smell earlier, and realized where it was coming from.

Was milk supposed to be chunky? And she never recalled the milk Kamato brought her smelling this weird.

Maybe this was… special cooking milk, or something. She grabbed the carton, and dunked half of it in a lemonade pitcher,

3 large eggs

3 cups of sugar

Icing

These ingredients where easy enough to get. Then came the cooking directions.

Put flour into a bowl

Add milk, oil, and eggs in another bowl. Separate the eggs, and only use egg whites, then use a balloon whisk to stir.

What the hell was a balloon whisk, and how do you separate eggs? She did the first step, and put milk and oil in a separate bowl. She stared blankly at the eggs.

“How do you separate eggs?”

“Hmm?” Mina mumbled, her eyes glued to the paper.

“EGGS! EGGS!” Akito yelled, trying to get her attention. “HOW DO YOU SEPARATE EGGS?”

“Yeah, that’s nice…” Mina replied.

Giving an exasperated growl, Akito turned back to her work. She thought hard, of a night when she’d watched a TV show with Shigure. That had been nearly a year ago, but she thought she could remember a lady making sugar cookies.

She was pretty sure the egg had to be open.

Right?

She cracked in gently on the edge of the table, turned it upside down to keep the yolk from dripping out, and peered into the small hole she had made.

There weren’t any whites as far as she could see. There was a goopy clear mixture, and a yellow center.

That’s when she noticed the shell color.

Ohhhh, she thought.

Then she smashed the egg between her fingers, and let the yellow goo fall into the trashcan. She added the broken shell into the milk and oil.

Now stir it with a balloon whisk.

She didn’t even bother asking Mina this time. What was the difference between a balloon whisk and an regular spoon any way?

She grabbed the nearest tine spoon and began mixing.

And mixing.

And mixing.

And mixing.

Half and hour of mixing later, the concoction didn’t look any different.

She guessed it didn’t matter, anyway. It looked fine to her. She read on.

Mix the Egg, oil, milk, and flour together. Add sugar or cinnamon.

That was done easily enough. Except she’d had it with the stirring. What was the point when it would just end up looking the same.

4. The mixture should look clay-like.

She looked at her mixture. It was… kind of clay like. She put a finger in and felt the gooey thin mixture.

More flour maybe added if too runny.

Okay, problem solved, she thought, more flour. She took a handful and threw it in the bowl. Still too runny? More flour!

By the time she was done, half the flour bag was gone. But the mixture looked… okay. Kind of.

Take mixture out of bowl, and place on cookie sheet.

Akito picked up the bowl, and tipped it over upside down. Nothing. She slammed the back of the bowl with one hand. Still nothing. She tried pulling it out with the wooden spoon, but ended up making mess.

She tried everything, knives, forks, even a ladle, but it still remained in the bowl.

She ran to the garage, and looked for the crowbar in the tool shed, and began prying with that.

Still nothing.

It wasn’t until she’d grabbed some hedge trimmers from the gardener, that she was able to cut though the stupid stuff and put it on a…

Wait, what was a cookie sheet any way?

Did it matter? She looked around and found a notebook pad on the counter. Ripping out the first page, she put the mismatched pieces of cookie dough on the paper, then on the pan.

Roll the cookie dough flat on a roller. Cut the flat dough using cookie cutters.

She looked at the cookies.

She wasn’t even going to bother.

The oven had been preheating at 400 degrees, and seemed warm enough. Akito opened the oven, pushed the pan into the back, closed it again, and stood back and watched proudly.

She’d actually managed to do it! All she had to do now, was sit back and wait for the cookies to finish.

She realized she was quite tired, what with waking up so early, and then this.

She looked over at Mina, who seemed to be putting the finishing touches on her letter.

She sat down at the table, put her head in her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded off to sleep.

“OH MY GOD THE COOKIES ARE ON FIRE!” She heard a distant shout yell.

Was this a dream? She breathed in deeply, then coughed. Was there smoke?

Wait, Smoke!?

Her eyes snapped open to see Mina hurriedly trying to fill the same lemonade pitcher she’d used for the milk with water.

“QUICK OPEN THE OVEN!” Mina practically screamed, as Akito quickly yanked the oven door open, and Mina shut her eyes, and blindly tossed the water on the flaming cookies, just in time.

Mina did not have the best aim in the world, however.

And when Mina opened her eyes, she saw Akito, soaking wet, and did not look all that happy. Well, she usually didn’t look all that happy, but this time she was soaking wet.

“Ha ha,” Mina laughed nervously, as Akito stared daggers at her, “Well, um… It looks like the cookies are done!”

“They look terrible,” said Akito, a little disappointed.

“Oh, well they don’t look that bad,” Mina comforted her.

Liar she thought to herself. The cookies didn’t look like cookies. The looked like those smoking piles of rock that come out of volcanoes right before the eruption. They where even shaped like rocks, and quite frankly, looked as if they would taste like rocks.

“They look disgusting,” Akito said, “We should just forget this whole thing, it was a stupid idea.”

“No,” Mina said, “My grandmother once had a saying: It doesn’t matter how bad your mistakes are, just cover them in pink icing, and everything will be okay!”

“Your grandmother said that?”

“Well, she would have if I had a grandmother! Now let’s get to work.”

They applied the jar of sweet pink icing to the cookies.

Well, Mina thought to herself, when the final cookie was iced, it’s not so bad. No, it looks like those smoking piles of rock covered in pink icing.

Seeing the doubtful look on Akito’s face, Mina said, “Okay, I’ll even try one.”

Hesitantly, she picked up, up a cookie, and put it into her mouth. She felt the soft pink icing on her tongue.

Then she felt the actual cookie on her tongue. Well, her teeth felt it first.

“Ow!” she cried, grasping her jaw with one hand, and steadying herself on the table with the other.

“Are you okay?”

“Yep!” she winced, “Nothing a dentist can’t cure!”

She pushed the cookie to the other side of her mouth with her tongue, the part that wasn’t throbbing in pain, and slowly tried to bite into it.

It tasted as bad as it felt. It tasted burned, of course, but also…sour? She could feel bit s of what felt like bits of eggshell. What was in these devil cookies, anyway?

Then came a whole new layer of torture.

She felt her teeth break through the cookie, which was for some reason hollow. Then she felt it. Hot bitter oil and lumps of spoiled milk trickling down her throat. Her face contorted even more as she swallowed it and suppressed a gag.

“See,” she smiled, “It’s great!” Of course, the tears streaming down her face, and her twisted expression might have given it away.

Just then, Kamato walked briskly thought the kitchen door.

“What’s going on in here?” she asked, looking furious, “First all this noise, and now smoke. Master Akito? What are you doing?” Then she turned to Mina. “You,” she snarled, “I should have known…”

Mina looked at the old woman, her face angry and hard. She smiled innocently.

“Miss Kamato, Akito here was simply trying to make you some cookies!” she said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

“But I—” Akito felt a nudge at her ribs, and felt that know was the time to be quiet.

“And she would like you to bake her some cookies as well, as a gesture of mutual friendship. And if you wouldn’t mind cleaning up!”

“Huh?” Kamato asked, completely taken aback.

“Well, I can’t clean!”

“But you’re a maid,” she snarled

“And…your point is?”

Kamato sighed.

“But first,” she grinned, “Have a cookie!” She picked up one of the pink cookies, and placed it gently in Kamato’s hand.

“Come on Akito,” She said, “We’ll wait in your quarters.” She lead Akito firmly by the hand out the door and down the hall.

As they went, they could make out a sickening crack, and then a piercing scream.

“OH GOD! SHE’S POISONED ME! THERE MUST BE SOME KIND OF TOXIC ACID IN THIS COOKIE! WHAT A WAY TO GO, DEATH BY COOKIE! HOW COULD I HAVE TRUSTED HER! OH GOD, I’M DYING! I CAN FEEL IT! OH GOD!”

Yeah, it’s a good thing she’s the one making the cookies, Mina thought, as the two rushed back down the hall.

“NO!”

“Oh come on! You can’t give someone a Valentine’s Gift dressed like that. This yukata is so pretty, and no one will be around to see in it.”

“NO!” Akito stared at the pink yukata laid out for her on the bed.

“Good,” Mina, said, apparently not having heard a word, “Go change in the bathroom, I’ll read you the letter.”

Mina pushed her in the bathroom, and stood with her back against the door, so Akito could not get out. After several minutes of banging, she heard a reluctant sigh.

“Okay,” Mina said “I’ll start.” She cleared her throat.

“Dear Shigu- I mean, Dear Person,” she began, catching her mistake, “My love for you is as passionate as a hundred burning fires. My heart beats for you every second. I think about you everyday. It hurts when we are apart and when we are together—”

“Stop right there,” Akito poked her head out of the door, “I’m not sending any of that crap in a letter.”

“Wait,” Mina said, “I haven’t gotten to the best part yet!”

Akito rolled her eyes, “Whatever.”

Clearing her throat again, “and when we are together, I think of the nights of passion we will one day share.”

“WHAT?!”

“The thought that in only 5 years, I will be able to feel your body against mine sends shivers down my spine. I think of you every night when I am alone.”

“What are you—”

“The deep kisses we will share,”

“Huh?”

“The feeling of you touching me where no one else has ever touched.”

“You are disturbed!”

“And the sensation of you slamming your—”

“Okay,” Akito interrupted, grabbing the letter from Mina, “I think that’s quite enough.”

She ripped the paper into shreds.

“Hey!” Mina said, faking being on the verge of tears, “I put my soul into that! How can you just rip it up like it’s nothing?”

“Easily,” Akito said. She emerged from the bathroom, blushing furiously in the pink yukata, and took another piece of stationary from a box.

Then she began writing.

At first, she was no sure what to say, but as she began putting her feelings on the page, she found it easy to compose the short note.

Finally, she wrote

Akito

At the very bottom.

But something about that seemed cold and distant.

Sincerely

Akito

But that, too didn’t seem quite right.

Love

Akito.

Perfect.

Shigure sat with his back leaned against the tree right outside Akito’s window. This had always been his favorite spot in the house. He reluctantly opened his physics book that he’d been avoiding for the past week and flipped to page 37.

Relativity is a generalization of classical mechanics that describes fast-moving or very massive systems. It includes special and general relativity…

He couldn’t help looking in at Akito’s window for the fifth time that hour. Shigure stared out of her window at Akito. He’d been doing this a lot lately. Ever since he’d started going to university, he’d hardly spent any time with her. His class times where longer, and he had more work to do than ever before. He hardly spent anytime at the main house anymore. Did she hate him for it? Sometimes he felt as though she should. He wasn’t exactly pure as the driven snow when it came to the girls at school. But no matter how many times he talked to those other girls, or laughed with them, or even dated them, his mind always seemed to wonder back to that young innocent girl who used to sleep in his arms.

He sighed. He dragged his eyes back to the page and continued reading

General Relativity is the geometrical theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915/16. It unifies special relativity, Newton’s law of universal gravitation, and the insight that…

Maybe he could make it up for her on White Day. But wouldn’t she have to make a Valentine’s gift for her? He chuckled at the thought of stubborn Akito slaving away at a stove for his Valentine’s gift. The chances of that happening was about as likely as a large object falling on his head.

“OWWW!” He cried as a large object hit him with force on his head.

Was that a basket? A Valentine’s Day basket? He saw the bright pink ribbon tied around the basket’s handle. He waited a while for his bleary eyes to see again. Was that a card? And cookies? What the hell?

He looked up at the person who’d thrown the basket at his head.

“A…kito?”

Kamato had finally brought her the new batch of cookies, and she wanted nothing more to get this whole ordeal over with quickly.

“Well,” she said impatiently, her face almost as red as the basket itself, “Are you going to open the card or not?”

“Um…” he said, still shocked, “Did you make this?”

“No,” she said sarcastically, “Kamato did. She’s been madly in love for you for years! Of course I made it, why else would I be here?” Her face turned even redder.

Scratching his head in confusion and he opened the heart-shaped card.

Dear Shigure,

Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you like the card. And the roses. And the cookies. If don’t you can just give it back. It doesn’t really matter. I actually didn’t make them all myself, but I tried really hard to make it special for you, because I really care about you, Shigure. I want you to stay with me, even if you go to university. And I want to talk to you again, and watch TV with you, and love you.

I want us to be happy, together.

Sorry, if this seems too mushy.

Love,

Akito

He couldn’t help smiling a little, as she looked at him, trying not to seem too nervous, but failing all the same. She wore a beautiful pink yukata, with white blossoms printed down the front. She looked cute, with her face red, staring intensely at her feet, and arranging trying to arrange the unfamiliar girl clothes.

She’d done it all for him.

He placed the card back in the basket, then carefully put it to his side. He stood slowly and took her small warm hand in his.

“Thank you,” he whispered softly, pulling her close to him and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I didn’t know if you’d like it or not,” she replied in equal softness, “ I figured…I figured another girl might have gotten you a better one. One of the girls you know from university. I thought maybe you’d like one of them better.” She said off handedly, trying to mask the real emotion under her expressionless face, but he could tell the thought had been bothering her for a while.

“This is the best present I’ve ever gotten,” he said truthfully, “Because It’s from you, Akito. I love you.”

And then he kissed her. Full on the lips. It was the first time they’d ever truly kissed before, besides the small pecks he’d give her on the cheek. At first, she was surprised, then she let herself fall into the sensation of the touch.

Finally, he drew back, and smiled down at her, her face even redder than before if that was even possible.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” he grinned.

Her heart is pounding and her limbs have turned to jelly. She has to grasp on to a nearby tree in order to stand upright.

“And I’ll return the favor on White Day,” He said, smirking as she whipped her head quickly towards him.

“But… what about your school? Don’t you have examinations this March?”

“I didn’t say which White Day. I just said White Day. For all you know, I could have meant white day two years from now, or even eighty!”

Her eyes widened, and then she shakes her head. “Whatever,” she mumbles, looking away, trying to hide the effect he had on her, “You bastard.”

“Language, language,” he teased her, ruffling her hair.

“I don’t care, White Day’s a perfectly stupid holiday. Like Valentine’s Day.”

“Do you want to go back inside?”

She nodded. She tried getting up, forgetting, of course, that she could barely walk after that kiss, and fell back down again. She fumed as he roared with laughter.

“Do you want me to carry you?” he asked between his laughter. She looked angry, but still held her hands out for him to lift her.

And he carried her back to his room, like when she was young.

And for the next 8 years, through all the things that happened to her, she always remembered that promise of a White Day to come.

8 years later, Akito flips through the same physics book that Shigure once owned at his university. She is 21, and he is 29. She attends university as well, but not in person. Through modern technology, she is able to get an education without having to leave the main house.

It is March 14th, White Day, but she her mind is so in her work, she has completely forgotten. Well, not completely, but enough to not notice or expect, Shigure sneaking in her room, and putting a humongous white basket in front of her. It wasn’t until he moved closer to her and whispered, “Happy White Day,” in her ear, that she nearly jumped out of her own skin with surprise.

He kissed her on the forehead, then her lips. It’s almost as good as the very first time, exactly eight years and one months ago. Almost, but not quite. Nothing would ever be as good as that first time.

He winked at her, then sauntered back to his room, a cocky smirk on his face.

The first thing she did was rip of the card, and begin to read his thin spidery handwriting.

Dear Akito

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

That corny idiot. What the hell did that have to do with anything. But he was a writer. She can’t help but smile and continue reading.

8 years belated thank you. I also didn’t do this all by myself. Thank the wonderful women at the grocery who did it all for me. Just kidding.

Well, not really.

And even though I didn’t do much for you these past few years, I hope you know that I care about you too, Akito.

Even if I still have the bruise on my head from all those years ago. You’ll notice I didn’t throw my gift at your head.

Thank you Akito.

I know this is too mushy.

But I don’t rally care.

Love,

Shigure.