Title: Pancake Madness
Author: Hairann
Theme: The Ultimate Fanfic Tournament Challenge!
Round One: Lady Bug Pancakes
Paired with: JeniNeji
Genre: Comedy
AU/CU: AU
Rating: K
Warnings: May cause cavities.
Word Count: 1584
Summary: Lunch time fun in nursery school.
Challenge Link: http://www.dokuga.com/forum/29-challenges/46246-the-ultimate-fanfic-tournament-challenge?limit=25 Don't forget to go to the link so you can read JeniNeji's as well and vote for your favorite :). And good luck to my opponent :).
Hearing the loud bell ring, signaling it was time for lunch, the elderly teacher set down the book she had been reading to the children and made her way toward the class door. Opening it inward, she found the tray carrying their lunches and pulled it into the room before closing the door behind her. “Remain in your seats, kids, today we will be eating at our desks. I know we usually go out and eat on the grass, but it will not be possible today.”
As she placed the cart next to her desk, she could hear the children whining behind her and turned back with a reassuring smile. “Fret not children, the reason we can not eat outside today is because we will be decorating our lunches. It is a task much better suited for indoors. We are having pancakes today and your choices for decorations include syrup, of course, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate and some fruits.
“Once you are finished, make sure you don't start eating until told to as I will be judging the best decorated and the winner gets to take home Samantha today,” she explained, gesturing to the class rabbit, sleeping unaware in it's cage on the other side of the room. Smiling at their cheers, the teacher began placing a plate with two small pancakes on it before each of the children, before making her way around the room a second time, handing out small containers of toppings.
“You may begin when ready and just raise your hand if you need any help,” she instructed, answered with a 'yes miss Kaede', which the children all said in unison. Smiling softly to them, Kaede began making her way round the room once again, glancing down at each desk as she passed to see how each child was doing. “Interesting, what will that be?” she inquired as she stopped beside one student that had covered his pancakes completely in whipped cream.
“It will be a white, dog,” the student, Sesshoumaru, replied in a tone that suggested the answer should have been obvious without bothering to glance up from his work. Already used to his behavior, Kaede paid it little mind as she continued to watch him. Soon enough, she could see the resemblance of a dog as he began to add chocolate sprinkles and chips. Nodding to his work, she continued onto the next child.
“And what are you making, Inuyasha?” she inquired, glancing down at the younger brother, of the boy she had just been speaking to, to find him covering his pancake with peanut butter. Instead of answering, he waved his hand at her, motioning for her to leave him alone, a gesture he usually did whenever he was trying to concentrate on something. Paying the dismissal little attention, Kaede watched as he began to carefully place raisins into the peanut butter, keeping them in straight lines.
Inuyasha moved to place the last raisin in his hand three times, each time apparently deciding he did not like the spot before finally popping it into his mouth. Turning toward Kaede with a toothy grin, he explained, “They're bugs in the mud. See the peanut butter is the mud and the raisins are ants.” As he gestured toward the finished design, he spotted a dab of peanut butter on the tip of his finger and licked it off, completely forgetting about the teacher beside him.
Smiling softly to herself, Kaede continued on to the next desk and stood silently as she watched the young girl carefully add jelly beans, pushing them into the thin layer of clear syrup that covered her pancakes. As she watched, a circle of yellow beans appeared in the middle before she began making her way outward, switching to red ones. Seeing the first petal emerge, she commented, “Very pretty flower, Rin,” before continuing on.
Hearing the young girl giggle in response, Kaede smiled to herself before glancing down at the next child's hard work. “A soccer ball?” she guessed as she noticed the alternating patches of whipped cream and black licorice. Too busy placing the black candies just where he wanted them to respond, he merely nodded his head, unaware of the smile that his actions drew from her. “Keep up the good work, Souta,” she told him as she made her way away from his desk.
Shocked by what she saw the next student doing, Kaede could only stand there and watch as he dumped a few random toppings onto his pancake, before mixing and spreading them around with his fingers and setting the resulting clump off to the side of his plate. Seeing him repeat the action with different toppings, Kaede inquired, “Naraku, what are you making?” Not having known she was there, the little boy was startled by her suddenly speaking and simply stared at her in silence for a long moment.
“Chaos,” he finally answered after a full minute had passed and he went back to decorating his pancakes. Silently wondering how a child his age even knew the word chaos for a moment, Kaede finally decided it was probably best not to know and gave him a thumb's up in encouragement before moving on to the next child. But before she could see what was on her desk, a shout came from behind her and she turned to find Naraku slamming his hand down on his pancake.
Feeling her eyes on him, Naraku glanced up at Kaede and noticed her startled expression. Gesturing at his 'creation' on his plate, he explained, “Entropy,” before going back to what he had been doing. Now completely certain she didn't want to know, Kaede turned back around and glanced down at the little girl beside her. Seeing the tell tale signs of a cat, made from chocolate syrup and Twizzlers, Kaede smiled down at the less stressful design.
“Very good, Sango. It would seem you and your brother had the same idea,” she pointed out, noticing that the younger boy in front of Sango was making a cat as well, only his was made from maple syrup and wafers. Giving them each an encouraging smile, Kaede continued on until she reached the next desk and noticed the pancakes were still completely bare. Curious to know the reason, she inquired, “Kana, how come you are not decorating yours?”
“But I am. I'm done,” Kana explained as she gestured toward her plate. Thinking perhaps she had simply missed a few sprinkles or clear syrup that she might have decorated it with, Kaede examined it again only to find it was empty as she had thought. Seeing her teacher's confused look, Kana continued, “It represents emptiness.” Finding herself agreeing with Kana, Kaede nodded to her with a smile and continued on.
Stopping beside the last desk, she watched as the little girl carefully placed blueberries in small circles on top of her strawberry syrup covered pancakes. “And what are you making?” Kaede inquired as she leaned down slightly to get a better look, careful not to get into her way as she set aside her spoon and began making a line of sprinkles horizontal across her plate.
Unaware the teacher was standing beside her and speaking to her, the little girl continued on, rotating her plate around and adding a few more sprinkles onto the plate itself. Rotating her plate back so the last sprinkles she added was straight across from her, she sat back in her chair and smiled in satisfaction at her work. It was then that she noticed Kaede standing beside her and glanced up with a toothy grin. “Do you like my lady bug pancakes, Miss Kaede?”
“Very much, Kagome,” she assured her with a smile before glancing around the room and noticing the others had finished up as well. “Alright, everyone just hold on for a moment and I will judge your final designs,” Kaede told them as she began making her way around the room again, moving to stand beside her desk when she was finished. “There is a tie so we're going to give both of the winners a chance to bring home Samantha.
“First, who will bring her home today, is Kagome with her lady bug design and the second winner, who will bring her home tomorrow, is Sesshoumaru with his white dog design. Everyone did a great job today and I hope you have fun. And now, you get to eat your hard work,” she told them with a smile as she made her way back to the cart and grabbed the tray of milk from the small cooler on the bottom. Quickly passing them out, she gathered up the remaining toppings and loaded them back onto the cart before sitting back at her desk and eating her own, topped with a small amount of maple syrup.
Picking up her plate, Kagome carefully made her way over to where Sesshoumaru was sitting and stood before his desk silently. Noticing her presence, he glanced up in question. “Wanna trade?” Kagome inquired as she held up her plate, gesturing toward hers. Shrugging his shoulders, Sesshoumaru lifted his own plate so she could set hers down before handing his over. “Cute doggie,” Kagome told him with a grin as she cut off a huge chunk with her fork and stuffed it into her mouth.