Facing the Consequences (for Maxy)

Yamato’s attention turned to the attractive blonde came over to join them and talked to Lita. He vaguely remembered seeing her with Lita during the night of their match, but he wasn’t quite sure. Either way, he grunted and gave an almost childlike pout when she ruffled his hair with her hands, then tried to set it back as close to normal as he could once she was done. Lita then poked him and told him to give Daisuke a high five, so he did just that, lifting his hand and lightly hitting his palm against hers.

After Daisuke whispered to him, Yamato quietly replied, “I, uh...kinda looked through her stuff in her room..” And though he still didn’t know a ton about Lita personally, he had a feeling the blonde was right to assume things could’ve gone much worse than they had. Though he tried not to think about those kinds of scenarios at the moment.

The young man’s eyes then went wide as Lita and Daisuke started to get unexpectedly physical, despite being in clear view of more than a few shoppers. “Whoa...” Yamato muttered, totally caught off guard by the sight. Every straight man was entertained to say the least by it, and Yamato certainly wasn’t an exception. But the moment ended fairly quickly, and Lita’s response to Daisuke’s words caught his attention. “Yet...?” he inquired to Lita as Daisuke walked away.

But then a sudden crash drew Yamato’s gaze in its direction, and saw a large woman on the ground, apparently having just been slammed down by Daisuke. “What the...?” He then glanced at the phone in Lita’s hand, noticing the footage of them. The file was quickly deleted, but Lita didn’t stop there, and Yamato watched in slight surprise as the phone was thrown to the ground and broken as it crashed onto the floor. Only then did Yamato even think about the fact that she easily could’ve let it go, and this stranger could’ve found a way to put the footage out for countless people to see. He expected some stuff like this would find a way to get out anyway, so it meant a lot to him that she still took the effort to ease the potential damage for him, however much it might be. “Um, thanks for that.” he said, though it still wasn’t over just yet.

Another woman got involved, attempting to swing a haymaker at Daisuke only to take a nasty shot to the crotch, causing Yamato to wince and cringe as he watched. He listened to what the blonde said as she went by, instantly getting the impression she was not someone to be fucked with, as that poor shopper had just learned the hard way before being tossed out of the store. Once the little episode was over, Yamato waved goodbye to Daisuke as the blonde walked off, then he resumed his casual stroll through the store with Lita.

As expected, he had to carry most of the bags back to the car, though the fact that it didn’t come as a surprise did little to make the task easier. Nonetheless, he got them to the car and packed them in, then got back in the passenger seat as they drove off. When they pulled into the drive thru of a fast food restaurant, Yamato shook his head. “No thanks. I’m not hungry right now.”

Even though he declined she still got a milkshake for him, but didn't say it was for him until she got everything from the takeout window.  When she gets home she checks her watch and notices that that they have time to get started before the kids will be done school for the day.  After she helps Yamato in putting the groceries away she starts to get in the cooking mood, which she's all business.  "Already Yamato, you want to learn how to make a good steak and other tasty things to go with it?  Then get washed up and let's get started."
she said in a determined/energetic tone.

This was something she had a lot of passion for, though she would be patient since Yamato is learning for the first time.  Hopefully he'll learn something useful here and be able maybe by the second half of week cook her something at least semi-decent with some challenge.  Unless if he set the house on fire most likely he would be alright.  The meat she would wait a bit to prepare with him, but there were a few side dishes in a cook book that she grabbed and showed him some of the side dishes that would go well with this.  She tells him to pick something and they will work on it together.

He heard Lita order the milkshake, but suspected it was just for herself until she got it and handed it to him. “Oh, well thanks.” he said, blinking in slight surprise as he took it. Despite a couple of brain freezes in the process, he managed to drink it all down by the time they got back home, before putting up the groceries when they arrived.

When she tells him to wash up, he heads to the sink and washes his hands in the water. Yamato could already feel himself getting nervous over this, but took a few deep breaths to try to push his concerns away. After all, Lita would be helping him along the way, and she seemed to be pretty sure she knew what she was doing.

Yamato was then dismayed to learn he’d be making a side dish too, having really hoped his little cooking lesson wouldn’t make him do anything extra. And as he looked through the cook book, all the measurements and ingredients that passed in front of his eyes made him feel like he was attempting to decipher some sort of incredibly complicated code. After a few moments, he set the book down and glanced over at Lita. “Um, how about mashed potatoes?” He wasn’t even sure it was in the cook book, but it seemed simple enough for him to be able to make.

His selection seemed okay to her, still she clarified if this is really what he wanted. She mentioned something about this is his chance to step up and become a real man. She would also mention that this could very well impress his sister and encourages him to pick something with a bit more complexity, which doesn't necessarily mean it would be more harder to prepare. She then puts her hands on his shoulders and tells him with a serious but encouraging expression on her face "Consider this your rematch Yamato. I beat you in the ring, can you beat me in the kitchen, or at the very least impress me?" She then points towards the book, putting some peer pressure on him.

Yamato gave a big, reluctant sigh in response to Lita’s words. She may have been attempting to encourage him, but it just felt like she was trying to make this more complicated for him. Maybe it was another, subtle way of torturing him. But in any case, he’d just have to take any hopes he had for simplicity and chuck them right out the window. Looking back at the book he flipped through a couple pages, before pointing at something, almost at random. Fettuccine alfredo. It didn’t particularly jump out as anything amazing, but it was at least something he recognized. More than he could say for a lot of things in the book. “Um, how about this then?”

She would check over his new choice. It was a little better than his previous selection, but she still thinks he can push himself a little more, though she appears to be ok with it. "The kids will like that, good choice. Though some small pieces and chicken in there and you got it." She looked at a near by clock and estimated factoring a few hiccups along the way and no major problem he should be done that in a reasonable amount of time. She could also tell when the right time to cook the steaks would be, being more highly skilled than him at this.

She took a moment to settle herself down and mentally prepare herself to be help this rookie chef so she wouldn't scare him in anger if there were problems. "Okay then, step one..." And thus begins what could become kitchen mayhem, but she was prepared to help him through this, but would let him do the buttload work since it would be the only way he'd learn. She wouldn't mind given suggestions or tips along the way.

Yamato had endured grueling training and workout sessions, intense matches and brutal beatings. But as he started cooking, the whole fiasco quickly became as nerve wracking as anything else he’d done before in his relatively short life. He moves quickly, trying to follow any and every instruction Lita gives him to the best of his ability. But, true to her word, she didn’t hover over him telling him exactly what to do every step of the way. The young man referred back to the seemingly cryptic cook book every ten seconds or so to try to remind himself what the hell he was even doing. On a few occasions he dropped various ingredients for the fettuccine while trying to move too quickly. And he was pretty sure the steaks were at least a bit overcooked.

The house didn’t catch fire, and it wasn’t the overall catastrophe Yamato feared it might be, though that was most likely because Lita was there to keep everything in check. It only took roughly an hour to prepare everything, though it felt like an eternity to him. But finally, the food was done. Yamato hunched over and panted as he rested his hands on his knees, mostly out of relief that the cooking was done, though also a bit from exhaustion. After all, he’d taken a fourteen hour flight to get here and immediately launched right into one of the busiest and craziest days he could remember in quite a while.

“How’d I do...?” he asked curiously as he glanced over at Lita.

There was a bit of concern when some messes were made but she mentioned he can clean it later, unless if things were becoming a slipping hazard then she would stop things for a moment but it didn't feel like that would be an issue.  During his prep time the kids game home, a bit later than usual but everything appeared to be fine with them.  Keeping them from bothering him was a slight problem, that is until Lita got them to shoo.  When the the fettuccine was ready she sampled it.

"Not bad for a beginner Yamato, not bad at all."  She did have a look of satisfaction on her face as she tried it.  She tells him how to keep it all warm before dinner time since there was still timing.  Then came time to barbeque the steaks.  She told him about flipping them at the right moment but before she could say what that would be she ran off as she heard AJ calling for her, living Yamato alone.

When Lita comes back she sees Yamato was done with the steaks.  She checked them and had mixed reactions.  "Well...Most of these are well-done, which is alright. A couple of these though are extra-well and for some people that is good but that's a bit too rough for the kids." Not to make him seem like he failed she tells him "I can save these for something but we have to cook two more." She then yells to the kids dinner will be ready in a few minutes as she puts the two smaller ones aside and picks up two more.  "Ok Yamato, what I should have said before I left was different ways to cook steak." She does this herself but tells him the difference between steak cooked well, medium and rare.  She cooks one medium-rare for AJ and one medium for Alex.  When those two pieces finish she tells him "Now go wash up Yamato, time to eat."  She tells him with a smile.


As Lita gets everything in place for them to eat AJ would ask Yamato why he is here.  Alex doesn't pay attention as he's more concerned with eating.  Lita has to tell him to behave and to wait for everyone else.  When everyone is sitting Lita tells the kids that Yamato made dinner tonight.  Lita hesitated for a moment before biting into some of the steak.  She looked at the part she cut off, checking its insides.  It looks ok to her and lucky for Yamato it passes the taste test.  It's far from the best she's eaten but it's far from the worst either, then again she had high standards when it came to cooking.  Alex had slight feeling his mother may have made his steak cause it had a familiar taste to it, but everything else tasted different, but he too approved.  AJ still wasn't use to Yamato but she eats with no complaints.  Lita can sense AJ feeling unsure of Yamato but tells her not to worry, he's just staying for a few days and agreed to help out around the house.  Alex asks about the collar, feeling a little curious about it, which Lita mentions it's just a fashion phase older people go through and that she knew a few people back when she was in high school who were into that.


Alex does bring up some normal conversation later, asking him if he likes baseball, which Alex does and is learning to play.

Yamato smiled and gave a huge sigh of relief when his fettuccine passed Lita’s taste test. He hadn’t exactly expected it to be amazing or anything, but he was just glad it didn’t turn out horrible. He had a bit of a mess he’d need to clean up, but that seemed like almost nothing compared to what other things he’d already been through.

He was left to his own devices when dealing with the steaks, and basically had to guess as far as when to flip them. Fortunately, most of them turned out alright, but a couple ended up being a bit too overcooked. But he listened and watched intently as Lita instructed him on how to cook different types of steak.

He then went to wash his hands again when Lita told him to, then took his seat at the table and began to eat, unable to help but feel a little awkward with the kids there too. Before they’d come home, Yamato had almost forgotten about them. One of them hardly seemed to even notice he was there, while the other was clearly confused and curious about him. He figured Lita likely wouldn’t tell them why he was actually there, but he was still glad she was able to ease AJ’s curiosities without issue.

Not feeling like he had anything to say, Yamato quietly ate his food until Alex asked if he liked baseball. “Sure do! I used to play some when I was younger.” he replied with a smile.

After dinner Lita would tell him she might have him cook dinner again since he did a good job and appeared to learn fast, and hands him the cook book to study up on, as well as reminding him she'll offer assistance if he would like it, unless he wants to treat everyone to a dinner night out, which she chuckles a bit, though the kids seem interested in that slightly. Lita whispers to him she'll try not to ask him to drain his pocketbook as the saying goes, but warns him to be ready. Alex would ask him if he can make pizza tomorrow. Lita doesn't speak but to her it sounds simple, but let's Yamato answer since he was the one that was asked.


Other than Yamato doing the post-dinner cleaning, it was a typical evening for everyone there. Yamato would get some time to himself if cleaning the kitchen went smoothly. After the kids went to bed Lita would remain up and watched some tv. She told Yamato for the first day, other than being caught in the act earlier she felt that he did alright for his first day. She would then asks him how he thought things went so far. She would let Yamato roam around the house if he wanted, he could go out back if he wished, watch some tv, even mentioning there was a computer he could use if he wanted some internet time, not really caring what he decided to do. With what ever he decided to do she would decide to do some reading. About an hour or two later she would put down the book she was reading and goes to find Yamato and see what he was up to.