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The great warrior stood alone, facing the deserted battlefield. Her face was set in determination, ready to overcome any obstacle to finally conquer her most challenging adversary. Aqua eyes shift and take in the quiet surroundings. Metal surfaces gleamed in the sunlight, knives sat ready to be unsheathed, and fire waited to ignite at the turn of a dial. Birds could be heard singing in the distance, unaware of the great battle that was about to take place. The soldier took a straggling breath, and coughed from her cold. But no mere illness could stand in the way of her mission. She bravely crossed the threshold into the arena, not knowing whether she would come out again triumphant or defeated.

“This time,” Michiru said to the stove as she tied on her apron, “I’m going to cook something edible.”

Meanwhile, a few rooms down, Setsuna Meiou sat working on her embroidery, oblivious to the war currently raging in the kitchen. All should have been well; Hotaru had just gotten home from school, Michiru was sick in bed with a cold, and Haruka was staying late after school for track practice. Detecting movement near the potted plant out of the corner of her eye, Setsuna put down her embroidery and turned to see what it was. Hotaru was army crawling under the ‘cover’ of the plants, wearing a saucepan over her head and welding a big wooden spoon as a weapon apparently.

“Hotaru…. What are you doing?” Setsuna asked, trying not to giggle at Hotaru’s army gear.

“Taking cover,” Hotaru answered simply, and resumed her game.

“… May I ask why?” Setsuna inquired with an amused smile on her face. Kids. So cute!

“Michiru-mama’s gonna cook,” Hotaru said grinning. Setsuna’s amused look vanished into one of mild horror.

“Michiru…. Cook?” Setsuna gulped. “Oh boy… Must be a product of fever-induced delirium or something... Better go get the fire extinguisher…” Setsuna went out into the hall, Hotaru close on her heels, when-

BOOM.

“Too late…”

Large sweatdrops appeared on Setsuna and Hotaru’s heads as smoke poured out of the kitchen, as well as a great flicker of light probably coming from flames and much girlish shrieking.

“I’ll get the mop,” Hotaru chirped, and skipped off. Setsuna blinked in confusion at Hotaru’s statement, but was not left in the dark for long.

“DEEP SUBMERGE!!”

The sound of water sloshing onto the floor from the stove could be heard and Hotaru merrily marched towards ground zero with her mop. Setsuna stared for a moment, then went to get another mop and followed suit. Michiru was backed up against a counter, looking at the stove in slight fear. A saucepan and water were on the floor.

“What were you trying to do?” Setsuna asked, dipping her mop in the puddle, where it was promptly soaked.

“Um…” Michiru’s face turned slightly red in embarrassment. “Boil water…”

A pause.

“Boil water?”

Nod.

“And you blew up the stove?!”

Meek nod.

Sigh. “Only Michiru could manage that…”

Hotaru was now jerkily ‘ice skating’ across the kitchen floor with two towels wrapped around her feet to soak up the water, and having a jolly good time at it.

“So what were you trying to make with boiled water?” Setsuna asked.

“Actually, I haven’t the slightest clue, I was just boiling water as practice to uh, show that I could do it…” Michiru flushed again and twiddled her thumbs. She sneezed. “I just wanted to try and make dinner for Haruka after she gets home from track practice, since she’ll be hungry and I wasn’t at school today to eat lunch with her…”

“You know, maybe it would be a good idea if Hotaru and I helped you a little,” Setsuna offered.

“Great!” Michiru said and sniffled. “Now what to make…”

Setsuna raked her brain for safe, fool-proof, homemade dinners that showed more thought that instant noodles and wouldn’t endanger their lives. Well, Haruka liked salads, those where nice and easy, just add some lettuce, some chopped – wait a sec, chopped? A vision of a butcher knife flying across the room as Michiru tries to chop a vegetable popped into Setsuna’s mind. Okay, no salads. And considering the stove looked more like a pool at the moment, they should probably go for something oven-cooked. Something that didn’t require knives or other sharp objects, that wouldn’t cause E. coli or salmonella if not completely cooked, and had a low risk of blowing up the oven as well.

“How about pizza?” Setsuna suggested. “I’m pretty sure we have some mozzarella and tomato sauce around here somewhere…”

“Perfect!”

The next five minutes consisted of Setsuna and Michiru searching for the cookbook, Hotaru finishing her mopping and putting away the rags, and the gathering of ingredients for the dough. While Setsuna was searching the pantry for tomato sauce, Michiru started mixing the ingredients together.

“Okay, flour in…” Michiru checked the recipe. “One-eighth tsp. salt.” She tried to remember whether tsp. stood for teaspoon or tablespoon. Deciding it didn’t really make much difference, Michiru got a regular spoon from the drawer and estimated one eighth. “Okay, salt in.” The rest of the dry ingredients were put in using the same spoon, regardless of whether the recipe called for a tsp. or a tbs. Michiru figured that if she stayed consistent, at least the dough would have a pretty equal amount of stuff. And the spoons weren’t really that much different in size anyway. Setsuna emerged from the pantry with the tomato sauce just as Michiru was adding in some margarine.

“Michiru, didn’t the recipe say butter?” Setsuna asked.

“Yeah, but we’re out of butter, and margarine’s practically the same thing.”

“….Right,” Setsuna answered. Let’s hope it doesn’t matter too much…

Hotaru was happily stirring the margarine and dry ingredients together as Michiru found and measured the rest of the ingredients for the dough.

“Hey, that looks like it’s coming along pretty well,” Setsuna said, observing Michiru and Hotaru’s handiwork. Both beamed. After the dough was mixed enough Michiru started to roll it with her hands, and noticing that it was a little too oily, probably from using margarine, and added a little more flour to counteract it. This time, things were going to turn out perfect.

“It looks like it’s ready to shape Michiru-mama,” Hotaru said. Michiru grinned. This was one thing she could do well. Molding the dough like it was clay, Michiru sculpted it into a picture-perfect pizza shape.

“Pretty!” Hotaru clapped her hands in approval. “Sauce time!”

Setsuna watched anxiously as Michiru dumped a small glob of sauce onto the pizza, but relaxed as she spread it evenly over the crust using her paintbrush with the skill of an artist. All was going remarkable well, despite a few glitches, but so far not one major crisis.

Cheese grating managed to get done, after Setsuna stopped Michiru in mid-cheddar grate and handed her a hunk of mozzarella instead. Then Michiru accidentally grated her finger, but luckily no blood got on the food, and Hotaru had a cute little Band-Aid on hand that she presented to Michiru. The ocean senshi took her injury quite well, and after shedding her blood for this mission, was more determined than ever to see it through, especially since now it was so close to over.

The cheese was sprinkled on top of the sauce; Michiru peering closely at it to make sure that cheese density was consistent throughout the surface of the pizza. No one likes a pizza with bald spots or large bits of cheese in one area. Pronouncing the work worthy, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru stepped back to admire their accomplishment.

“It’s… so… beautiful…” Michiru said, proud to have made it this far. She suddenly grabbed onto Setsuna’s arm. “Please don’t put it in the oven!! I just know it’s gonna burn!! And all our hard work would’ve been for nothing!!” Setsuna sweatdropped and shrugged Michiru off.

“Don’t worry, we won’t let it burn. We’ll keep an eye on it. Two eyes even,” Setsuna reassured Michiru.

“Okay,” Michiru said, but didn’t sound too sure. She silently bidded her masterpiece farewell as Hotaru inserted it into the oven and closed the door. The kitchen timer was set, and Michiru was assigned to first watch of the pizza while the others did the dishes. Michiru’s eyes darted back and forth between the timer and the oven. Everything thirty seconds or so, Michiru would check on the pizza ‘just to make sure’. She wasn’t taking any chances.

“Michiru, it’s never going to cook if you keep letting all the heat out,” Setsuna pointed out. Michiru nodded, and managed to refrain from opening the oven door for a full minute. Instead, she paced back and forth, chewing on her nails and glancing at the clock. Two minutes later, Hotaru took over Michiru’s watch, since her pacing was driving Setsuna crazy, and Michiru sat down, left leg twitching of it’s own accord.

After what seemed like an hour to Michiru, in which she was sure that the pizza had been burnt to a crisp, a wonderful smell started to permeate the kitchen, and Setsuna proclaimed that the pizza was almost ready. The three outers crowded around the oven and watched it as if it were a captivating movie, Michiru opening the oven every five seconds to see if the cheese was getting golden-brown at the edges yet.

“It’s done!” Michiru shrieked, the 32nd time the oven door opened. “Quick, take it out take it out!” She was doing a very good impression of a cheerleader for pit-stop workers at one of Haruka’s races as Setsuna slid the pizza out of the oven and placed it on the table, where the steam rose into the air and disappeared. Michiru’s eyes were reduced to little anime stars.

“We did it!!! It looks edible and smells wonderful!!” Michiru exclaimed. Setsuna grinned.

“See? You can cook!”

“With a lot of help from you guys,” Michiru added with a sniffle.

“Can we eat now?” Hotaru asked. “It smells good!”

“We have to wait for it to cool first,” Setsuna said, and Michiru sheepishly put down the knife she had been about to slice the pizza with. “Why don’t you get out the paper plates?”

“Okay!”

“Haruka’s gonna be home any minute now… and this time when she says she likes my cooking, she’ll actually mean it!” Michiru sighed happily. She didn’t have to wait too long – almost immediately after Setsuna declared the pizza cool enough to slice, the sound of a key turning in the lock could be heard. The three outers stampeded to try and be the first to reveal the unbelievable news that Michiru had cooked. They skidded to a halt just before the front door. It opened, revealing Haruka holding a box of pizza in her hands.

“Hi guys! I was kinda hungry, so I thought I’d pick up some pizza for us tonight,” Haruka said brightly. The girls could only stare aghast at the blonde; their mouths hanging slightly open.

“Um… guys? Everything okay?” Haruka asked, seeing their expressions. Her keen sense of observation told her that Michiru and Setsuna weren't happy for some reason. “Michi? Setsuna?”

Hotaru looked from Haruka, to Setsuna, to Michiru. “Haruka-papa’s gonna sleep on the couch tonight, isn’t she?”

“What?” Haruka asked Michiru and Setsuna, looking adorably clueless. Michiru and Setsuna started yelling at the same time, and Haruka could barely make out what they were saying to her.

“…I can’t believe…”

“…cooked…”

“…cut her finger…”

“…all that work…”

“…took forever…”

“…just for you and…”

They ended with a simultaneous ‘ARGH!’ with Michiru throwing her apron at Haruka and a failed attempt from Setsuna to kick her in the shins. In unison, they turned around and stomped off. Haruka stood there in the doorway, with Michiru's apron over her head, holding a pizza, and looking absolutely flabbergasted.

“What’d I do?!”

~*~ Owari ~*~