Love's Recipe ~Choji~

Chapter 21

Choji and Ino were already sitting in my kitchen hours before dinner was even supposed to be ready. I think they realized how bored they were after coming back and didn't have much else to do. But I was happy to have them. First, I made some mixed berry pancakes for them to snack on. Ino took a bite and continued her story. "But he didn't seem to understand that I was ignoring him. Like, every question he asked me, I said 'eh' or nothing at all. And he calls that playing hard to get!"

"You told him about Sai, right?" I asked.

Choji snorted and hid from her evil gaze. "No. Sai and I are on a break right now."

"Oh? Why is that?"

Choji continued to snort and seemed to be having trouble keeping from laughing. "Don't you dare." Ino warned lowly.

"He called her sasquatch!" He finally busted.

My lips twitched. I wanted to laugh, but at the same time I knew this was a real problem for her. So I choked it back, tore her off Choji, and tried my best to comfort her. God it was hard though, I kept thinking about it, and each time I ran across my mind I wanted to laugh so bad! Shikamaru called to us from the front door just in time to save me when I couldn't take it anymore.

Shikamaru brought his guest in, guiding her gently. She was cute. Long black hair, pale, blue eyes, a feather in her hair, and the most adorable nervous expression. But at the same time, she had this matureness to her face. "This is Reira." He said to us. "Reira, these are my friends, Ino, Choji, and Alsono."

We all said hi to her and Ino had her sit next her. Choji held up one of the pancakes. "Dude, you have to try this."

The smile on my face grew instantly. "I just love it when my man is happy." Choji sent me the most adorable happy grin. His eyes were so soft and compassionate. Soon, we moved on to talk to Reira. But as we began to talk to her, we realized something. Everything we said to her she didn't understand until later. Everything she said was slow and spaced out. I remember she is a long term patient at the hospital, so maybe we just need to be patient with her.

Actually, Reira ended up being a great person to talk with. I'm sure we could all see the effort she was putting into having a decent conversation with us. "I love the feathers in your hair, Reira." Ino commented.

"...Thank you...It was...a gift... from... my nurse."

I served dinner. My newish recipe that Choji helped me develop. I also had made a few dumplings in sour sauce and steamed veggies with kimchi. Everyone dug in happily and I was over come with this odd feeling. Having everyone around my table again after so long... I didn't know how to describe it other than... wholeness. Ino teased Shikamaru, causing a blush to form on his face, Choji took bite after happy bite, Reira grinned and watched everyone from her place next to Shika.

My heart was whole. Ino and the boys offered to clean up after dinner, giving me time to visit with Reira. I brought over my tablet and showed her this game I was really into lately. "Okay, so the point is to connect the two dots, but you can't cross lines. It actually gets kind of challenging."

"...Can...I try?"

"Sure." The moment her fingers touched the screen, they didn't stop. She just... kept going. It was amazing. "Oh my God, guys get over here." Everyone else came over to see what she was doing. And everyone was just as amazed as I was. How does she do that? Everything else in that mind of hers is slow, but yet she is able to think so fast right now. She didn't stop until every level was done. And then she sighed with disappointment.

But she gave me an idea. What I had learned from her today is that she has a hard time understanding what people say right away, and she has to think about everything she says several times before she is able to say it. So I want to test something. All I need are the game books from my room.