Dear readers,

I'm Sierra, the lazy writer. Here's my first fiction for you all. Hope you will enjoy it. Review or not to review, that's your decision. So just say what you want in your reviews. If there's problem on the grammar, I'm so sorry. Thanks for your time on reading this note and this boring story. This is actually a simple story, so no confusion on the rush.

The lazy writer,

Sierra

Cook Needed Fire

She was the most popular cook in Tokyo for her magical fingers that could make magical foods that made people dying for more. A very talented cook that could cook almost everything in the planet. A cook that never gave up on her dream to be a professional cook. A cook named Sakura Mikan.

Mikan was almost in time to go overseas to fulfill her dream as professional cook, but she had to do one thing before that…

"Good evening, Mr. Hyuuga," said Mikan and bowed on the man before her.

"Tch. Whatever. I'm Hyuuga Natsume, the son, if I'm not mistaken, of that 'somebody' who supposed to be here tonight." Natsume turned his head over at his left, cursing his father's name under his breath in annoyance.

Mikan nervously looked at him as she said, "O…kay…" She cleared her throat and held out her right hand. "Why don't you sit here for a while, Mr. Hyuuga, the foods will be served in a moment."

"Whatever."

Mikan rolled her eyes at him then stomped her feet to the kitchen. She slammed the door right after she came in and the workers stared at her in confuse.

"Wha-What happened, Mikan?" asked Iinchou, one of Mikan's assistants.

"Ugh. That guy is unbelievably rude!" Mikan said, controlling her temper.

"Don't worry about it. Once he tastes your oh-so-good cooking, he will cry for you to make more!" Kitsuneme joked.

"So, are you gonna serve him something, or not?" said Koko with a smile.

"Yeah, no." Mikan rested her back on the door. The workers gave her the are-you-seriously-serious look. Then, she giggled. "I'm kidding, let's go."

Natsume stared at the food before him like he didn't even want to eat it. "What the heck is this?" he asked, rather mocking. "It doesn't even look like a food."

The workers gasped behind the kitchen door when they heard he said that. No one. No one had ever said that to Sakura Mikan. No one had even given her a bad review. No one in history.

It felt like spears stabbed on her chest when she heard that. Her face was red for she couldn't catch her breath. Mikan, however, didn't say anything neither did she complain. Well, not yet… Until she finally caught her breath when Natsume played the food with the fork in disgust.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" she suddenly shouted. Natsume looked up at Mikan whose eyes were starting to collect tears and whose cheeks were still red as tomato. "Look, Natsume or whatever your name is, I have been trying so hard – so hard that I almost kill myself when I lost hope before I become a chef! I can kill you right now if I want to since I have this knife in my hand!" Mikan pointed the knife at his face seriously, making Natsume widening his eyes.

"Years later, I received an invitation from a restaurant to take a chef's place. And since then, I learned many recipes and even made new recipes. Later, I own my OWN restaurant. THIS restaurant! And this is my big chance to fulfill my dream! To fulfill my dream as a professional cook! And I wouldn't pass this opportunity just because SOMEONE said my cooking doesn't look like a food without even taste it a BIT! Now take a bite BEFORE you comment or I'll seriously stab you with this!" she finished her words. Her tears started to tremble down her cheeks.

Natsume swallowed looking at her. He faced back at the food then took a bite. Mikan, with her crying baby face, was still staring at him, hoping that he would like it.

"How is it?" Mikan put down the knife on the table.

Natsume put down the fork and spoon and wiped his lips with the napkin. "You're desperate, Polka-dots." he said, smirking invisibly.

"I-I'm desperate?" Mikan took some time to think what Natsume was talking about. "Hey wait, what did you just call me?!" Slowly, she widened her eyes. "The hell. PERVERT!!!!!!!!!!"

With this, everyone even outside the restaurant covered their ears, and birds flew away.

"Man, you're loud." Natsume said.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You! YOUR JOB IS SUPPOSED TO BE TELLING ME HOW THE FOOD IS NOT LOOKING AT MY P-P-P--!"

"Panties?" Natsume continued her word. He pushed the chair backward and stood up. "Look, little girl. For your information, I didn't look at it, YOU showed it. And second, my job is supposed to be working on the project for my business, not to come here!"

"You think I want you to be here?!" Mikan took steps forward, looking him in the eyes.

For the moment, both of them stared into their eyes and slowly their face changed from anger to confusion. Natsume snapped out of it and spun around.

"Tch. I'm outta here." he said before walking away.

'W-What was that?' Mikan thought, holding her chest.

"Hey, ugly." Natsume called as he opened the exit door. "You didn't let me finish. You're desperate; you should try a competition first before you go overseas. That will show that you're really ready or not. And I gotta admit, that is the best taste I have ever tasted… since I never eat my mom's." With that, he left.

"T-Thank you…"

Her heart kept beating so fast that night; she couldn't think anything else except for Natsume. His dark, crimson eyes that looked exactly like fire had haunted her badly that she couldn't even take a nap. She decided to take a walk at the neighbourhood. She hid herself in her long winter jacket. 'It's so cold.' she thought and turned herself at a dark alley. 'This looks warm.'

"Alone?" a voice approached her teasingly.

"W-Who's that?"

A man appeared and pushed her so roughly on the wall that she fell on the ground. The man smirked and threw away his cigarette and slowly moved towards her. "I'm sorry, does that hurt you?"

Just when he was about to touch her, someone grabbed his arm and pulled it up backward. The man screamed in pain. "I'm sorry, does that hurt you?" the person said. He whispered in his ears, "touch her and I'll kill you."

He pushed the criminal away and took Mikan in his arms. "Tch. Idiot. You're not supposed to be alone walking in this alley."

"N-Natsume?" Mikan blushed. She felt a bit uncomfortable Natsume holding her that way but warm at the same time. She rested her head on his chest, smiling for herself. 'He's warm... Maybe it's his eyes that give the heat. Hey, no. That's impossible. But his eyes really look like fire... Unbelievably warm fire... Huh?' She suddenly realized her position. She then pushed Natsume, signaling him to put her down. "I-I can walk. Please put me down." Natsume seemed to ignore her wish. "Natsume, did you hear me?"

"Shut up, polka."

"Don't call me that."

"Like I care."

"Let me down!"

"No."

"Why!?"

"Shut up or I'll kiss you."

"What? Okay, I really don't get your jokes, Natsume! Just let me dow--!" Mikan couldn't finish her words when Natsume suddenly pushed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened in shock. Her heart pumped too fast that she felt like it will burst out in just a second. She didn't know how but her eyes slowly closed, and out of control, she kissed him back. After she responded, Natsume slowly put her down and pinned her on the wall. They continued kissing for two minutes before Natsume broke the kiss.

"Uhh…" Mikan held her lips. She blushed.

"Tch. You better go home now."

"T-Thank you for saving me earlier…"

"Whatever."

MIkan quickly ran towards her house. She closed her door and leaned her back on it, hardly breathing. 'W-What was that?' She held her chest then her lips. She smiled alone.

"Didn't I tell you to stay at house until I come back from work?"

Mikan looked at the living room where her housemate sat on a couch. "Oh, Hotaru, I was just taking a walk!"

"I don't have time to fight with you cuz I'm really tired. Now, I just wanna tell you that I have signed you up to compete. It's a cooking competition that will be held in Tokyo the day after tomorrow."

"AFTER TOMORROW?! But Hotaru! I-I'm not ready yet! Why did you sign me up!?"

"Listen to me, Mikan. Your dream is to be a professional cook. And you said you're ready to take any risk. A professional cook is ready to cook anytime. Anytime. A professional cook never gets nervous when it comes to cook. Never. Now, you're ready?"

"B-But…"

"You're desperate; you should try a competition first before you go overseas. That will show that you're really ready or not."

Mikan sighed. "O-Okay… I'll… compete."

"Good. I'll be upstairs. And Mikan," Hotaru paused to slap Mikan lightly on the face, "why didn't you tell me you meet someone special enough already to kiss you?" She sighed. "I'll forgive you, this time."

Mikan blushed. "W-What are you talking about? I-I didn't--"

"Better shut up than lying to me, Mikan." Hotaru said, holding up her gun. "Or I'll shoot you deadly." She could see Mikan was gulping hard. She grinned evilly then went upstairs, leaving her alone.

The day after tomorrow went just fine, Mikan walked down the stage stairs with her big, golden first-ever trophy in her hands. She had won the competition competing an obsessed pink-haired girl in the last contest on cooking sushi and salad.

"C-Cong-grat-tu-la-la-la--" the girl sobbed so hard that she couldn't say more.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Sakura, I'm Ogasawara Nonoko by the way… What Anna wants to say is congratulation on your winning. She's a bit sad of losing this competition but she's not the miss i-must-win-all-the-contest type of girl. You see, cooking is just her… only talent." With her own words, she cried, along with Anna. "We're so-rry, w-e got-ta go…"

"Ch-Cheer up, guys… And thanks," Mikan patted their back as they started to walk away.

"Congrats, Polka."

Mikan was really familiar with that voice. She blushed then spun around. "N-Natsume? T-Thanks…"

"So you're going overseas?"

"I-I guess…" They kept quiet since they didn't know what to say. Then, Mikan started. "A-About last night… I-I'm sorry. If I knew you were not kidding, maybe I-I would keep quiet. M-Maybe." She blushed more.

Natsume smirked. "Tch." Slowly he went near her and whispered in her ear, "You wanna hear a story? There was a boy, who wished to be a successful businessman like his father. When he turned into an adult, his father finally asked him to take over his company. Then, he built his own building, for his OWN company but at the same time still taking over his father's company. One day, he met a girl. A girl that could stop him from breathing since their first met. He wished to see her again, and he did. In a restaurant."

Mikan gulped when Natsume deepened his voice with a slow whisper.

"Later that night, he saved her from a criminal in a dark alley. He took her in his arms and refused to put her down. He got annoyed when the girl didn't seem to understand why he was doing that, and she kept blabbering for him to put her down. He said that he will kiss her if she won't stop. And the girl, being as dense as ever, still didn't know why he said that. He couldn't take it anymore, he badly wanted to kiss her, and so he did it. And they stopped, and she went back home. The next day, he couldn't focus on his work, thinking about her all day. He doesn't want his dream to be destroyed just because of her, does he?"

After that, he moved away from her then walked away, smirking.

"N-Natsume…" Mikan stuttered. "S-So what will he do?"

Natsume stopped and replied her without turning back. "He'll make sure she'll understand, and no one can stop him from doing so."

Mikan's lips formed a sweet smile when she heard what he said. She blushed as she held her chest. "Tell me, do... do you think she needs him?"

"As much as a cook needs fire, indeed she does." he said then left.

The End