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Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters. All rights to Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 11: The Cake

Every night when Inuyasha walked Kagome home, he felt something in his heart get deeper and deeper, warmer and warmer.

He and Kagome hadn't had a chance to spend much more time alone together at the bakery since she was working her later shift, but their walks to her building still held more significance to Inuyasha every night.

It's what gave him the courage the night before they were going to make Shippo's birthday cake.

As they walked to her apartment, Inuyasha reached down and grabbed one of her hands.

Kagome looked at him in surprise, but soon laced her fingers with his and kept a firm grip.

"Your hand looked cold," Inuyasha said, knowing his excuse was lame but, hey, it still got the job done. "So...is this okay?"

Kagome smiled. "Yes. It helps."

Holding her hand was simple, but the sensation of her palm against his was like a wave crashing into him.

His feelings for her seemed to grow more by the second, and if the way she tightly held onto his hand and moved to walk a bit closer to him or the way she hugged him twice every night was any indication, he was willing to believe her feelings for him were growing, too.

And it was nice.

o.O.o

The next day, Kagome came to the bakery at six, having swapped her shift with another employee the week prior so that she could help with the cake. Inuyasha hadn't told Shippo that Kagome would be coming for his small celebration, hoping to give the kitsune a special surprise.

Since Kagome didn't get to see Shippo on his birthday, she'd told Inuyasha she was especially excited to be able to come the next day.

As usual, Kagome hugged Inuyasha when she arrived, and Inuyasha, as usual, was reluctant to let her go.

"I make really good cakes," Inuyasha said as he took her hand and led her into the kitchen.

Kagome laughed. "I should hope so, baker boy." Inuyasha chuckled and went to wash his hands.

Kagome slipped her coat off and set it on the back of one of the chairs at the table on which Inuyasha kept his orders for the week.

When Inuyasha was finished washing his hands, he slipped on his apron while Kagome washed her own hands.

He really hoped she wouldn't leave this time.

"Here's your apron," he said when she finished washing her hands. Kagome put it on and tied it around the back before smoothing it out.

"I forgot how good you look in it," Inuyasha said without really thinking. Kagome blushed immediately, and Inuyasha soon followed.

"Er, uh, I didn't mean for that to sound so weird," he said quickly. Kagome laughed at their shared embarrassment.

"It's okay," she replied. "Thank you. I like your apron look, too."

Inuyasha smiled. "The cake takes a while to bake and then cool, so I already did that. We just have to decorate it with icing and stuff. I didn't want to keep you out too late since it seems like it gets colder every day."

Kagome nodded. "That sounds good. How are we going to decorate it?"

"Shippo's fox fire is blue," Inuyasha explained. "So I was thinking about doing some blue flames like them."

Kagome clapped her hands together in delight. "That sounds adorable. I'm so excited to help."

o.O.o

It took a little while for Inuyasha and Kagome to get the blue coloring right with the icing, and by the time they'd gotten it perfect, their hands were dyed completely blue.

Eventually, they were ready to start decorating it.

"So can you tell me more about the bakery?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha worked on the base frosting for the cake. "I know we've talked about it before, but I'm still curious about some stuff."

Inuyasha was hesitant to tell her because some of the memories were a little painful.

This is Kagome, he reminded himself. I can trust her.

"I mentioned before that my parents started it," he finally began to explain. "My mom got pregnant with me soon after they got married, so they took the small amount of money they had saved up and bought the place. I have a half-brother that's thirteen years older than me. He didn't like me or my mother so he went to live with his mom right before my parents got married, so it was just the three of us living in the apartment upstairs together.

"My parents both came from wealthy families, but neither set of their families approved of the marriage. My dad's inu-youkai family didn't want him to marry a human and my mom's parents didn't want her to marry a youkai. They were both cut off from their families, so they had almost no money when they got married.

"But they didn't care," he continued. "My mom loved baking ever since she was a little girl, so over the years she'd compiled a book of her baking creations. Those recipes are the ones I use to this day." Inuyasha smiled.

"Baking them is comforting," he admitted. "It feels like my mom is back with me." Inuyasha felt arms wrap around him from behind.

Setting down his frosting tool, Inuyasha turned in Kagome's embrace to return it with his own fervor.

"They named it Ukiyo," he murmured into her hair, "because they wanted it to be our own special place. They knew that being a hanyo would be hard, so they named the bakery Ukiyo to remind me that we had a world of our own."

"That's beautiful, Inuyasha," she replied, her voice muffled a bit by his shirt. Inuyasha closed his eyes, marveling in the way she felt against him.

He caught a sweet scent in her hair, but he knew it wasn't hers from the couple times he'd smelled it. With one look down at her head, he chuckled.

"I got some frosting in your hair," he admitted as he let her go. Kagome laughed and reached up to try and get it out of her long locks.

Inuyasha grabbed a dish rag from one of the drawers and dampened it in the sink. He was quick to start wiping the frosting out of her hair.

"So how long have you and Miroku known each other?" Kagome asked. Inuyasha chuckled.

"Way too long," he joked. "Since we were in preschool. He didn't really fit in too well when we were kids. His parents died when he was young, so he was raised by a friend of his dad's. Mushin was a good guy, but he wasn't fatherly, you know? Miroku had trouble as a kid, but he turned out to be okay. Mushin died about a year ago, so we don't really talk about him much anymore."

"That's so sad," Kagome replied. "But I'm glad you guys were able to become such good friends. Did you fit in when you were a kid?" Inuyasha shook his head.

"Not really," he replied. "Kids didn't want to hang out with a hanyo. That's why Miroku and I became friends. Two outcasts teaming up made for a good friendship." Kagome smiled.

"Being weird," she commented. "The perfect thing to have in common." Inuyasha smirked at her.

"So what about you?" he asked as he got the last little bit of frosting out of her hair. "What's your family like? How did you wind up here?" Kagome looked away from him.

"They were pretty normal," she replied. "I came here to start life on my own. I've never had any animosity in my family, but…I needed to get away." Inuyasha finished his task of getting the frosting out of her hair and went to rinse the rag.

"Why did you need to get away?" Inuyasha asked. Kagome hesitated.

"I'm from a small town," she explained. "Everyone knows each other. I wanted to see what life was like in the city. You know, a more populated area." Inuyasha nodded.

He set the rag on the back of the sink and turned around to face Kagome as he leaned back against the counter and gazed at her.

"Do you ever get to visit home?" he asked.

Kagome shook her head.

"Is your family ever able to visit you?" he asked. Kagome shook her head again.

It was obvious that Kagome was feeling either uncomfortable or upset about the subject. Inuyasha could tell that something was a bit off as she spoke about her family, but he decided to leave it be.

Maybe she misses them, he mused to himself. Talking about them probably upsets her.

Upon realizing that, he changed the subject.

"Well," he began, "you know what isn't difficult? Finishing up with this cake and then cooking dinner." Kagome feigned surprise.

"You can cook, too?" she asked. "I thought you could only bake." Inuyasha feigned offense.

"Wow," he replied as he picked up the icing tool again. "I'll pretend you didn't just say that." Kagome laughed.

"What are we having?" she asked.

Inuyasha grabbed some fondant and started forming the flames for the cake. "I'm gonna make fettuccine alfredo," he explained. "It's Italian and it's really good. I don't know how to make the sauce, so it's from a jar. I can't take credit for that. But I do make the noodles from scratch. That's all me." Kagome smiled.

"Will you show me how to make it when we're done with the cake?" she asked. Inuyasha nodded and they got back to work on frosting the cake.

As they continued working on it, Inuyasha glanced at Kagome and couldn't help but think how good she looked in his kitchen.

o.O.o

Two hours later, Kagome and Inuyasha had finished decorating the cake and cooking dinner. Inuyasha swore that Kagome said how delicious it was about thirty times after they'd sat down at the table and began eating.

"It's so good," she repeated. "I think I only like you because of your talents in the kitchen." Inuyasha chuckled. "You like me?" he teased. "Wow, what a way to admit it."

Kagome laughed. "As if you didn't already know...but you like me, too, so it's fine...right?" Inuyasha smirked.

"Duh, woman," he replied. "I bake for everyone, but I don't cook for just anyone." Inuyasha hesitated. "I'm a little surprised I didn't scare you away, though…"
Kagome smiled. "You mean with your 'I'll arrest you myself' line?"

Inuyasha blushed. "Uh...well, yeah." Kagome laughed and shook her head.

"It's okay," she comforted. "I don't even think about that anymore, honestly."

Inuyasha breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Okay, that's good to hear. I would be, uh, pretty embarrassed if that was replaying in your mind every day."

Kagome laughed again and shook her head, eliciting a full smile from Inuyasha as he took another bite of their dinner.

His feelings for her were unlike anything he'd ever experienced before, and he wondered if this was how his parents felt when they found each other.

By the time they'd finished dinner, Inuyasha could still feel that stupid smile on his face.

He caught Kagome peering at him across the table.

"What?" Inuyasha asked when he noticed. Kagome shook her head.

"Nothing," she replied. "I just…well, you have a really nice smile." Inuyasha's eyes widened and he nearly choked on his food.

She's the first person to say that since my mother died.

Inuyasha had so many things he wanted to say to her in that moment, but nothing felt like it would come across as deeply as he wanted it to.

"Thanks," was all he said. "So do you." Kagome grinned at him as she picked up both of their plates. She got up and walked over to the sink and set them in it.

She turned back to Inuyasha and smiled again. "I'll wash and you dry?" she suggested. As if in a trance, Inuyasha could only nod and get up to follow her over to the sink.

Watching her in his kitchen, with suds going nearly all the way up her arms, he felt an epiphany wash over him.

Is this love?

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, catching his eye.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Nothing. Thanks for helping with the cake."

Kagome smiled. "Of course. I'm excited to see Shippo's reaction to it."

Once they'd finished cleaning up, they grabbed their coats and departed from the bakery to head to Kagome's apartment.

Inuyasha took her hand as soon as they left, and she held onto it tightly before wrapping her free hand around his arm.

The motion had her pressed fairly close to his side, and Inuyasha felt the overwhelming urge to take her back to the bakery, set her up on the counter, and kiss her senseless.

He didn't, though. That might be a bit much.

The wind was blowing fairly hard, so they weren't able to talk too much as they walked.

When they finally reached Kagome's apartment building, she didn't let go of his arm.

"Do you want to come in for a little while?" she asked. "I know it's getting a little late, but I can quickly make some tea." Inuyasha nodded, not ready to end their time together.

"Sure," he replied following her into the building.

Kagome let go of his hand when they reached her apartment so she could unlock the door.

Upon entering, Inuyasha was struck immediately with how cold it was.

"It's freezing in here, Kagome," he exclaimed. "How are you not a block of ice from living here?"
Kagome frowned. "It's not that bad. I have a heater in my bedroom that I use at night. I'll go turn it on and it'll warm up the apartment in a few minutes."

Inuyasha went and sat down on the loveseat while Kagome opened her bedroom door and walked in.

From where he sat, he could see directly in the room, and the sight made his eyes widen.

Her bed was a simple twin-sized mattress on the floor with no bedframe and a single thin blanket on it.

Is that the only blanket she has? he wondered silently. She must be miserable at night.

"Okay, it's on," Kagome said when she returned. "I'll go start the tea."

Inuyasha got up to follow her to the other side of the apartment so he could sit down at her small table.

"So what kind of gift do you think I should get Shippo?" Kagome asked. "I was thinking of a special pouch for all of the toys he uses for his tricks. His little pockets always look like they're about to burst."
Inuyasha chuckled. "I think that would be a great idea. I would offer to come with you to shop, but I'm going to be cooking lasagna before Shippo comes at noon. It's his favorite food that I make but it takes a while to prep and bake."

Kagome smiled. "That's okay. What time should I come?"

"Eleven-thirty?" Inuyasha suggested. "Then you'll be there to surprise him."

"Great!" Kagome replied. "I'm so excited."

Kagome finished the tea soon after, so they moved to the loveseat to drink their cups as they talked a bit more about the celebration for the next day.

Once they'd finished their tea and talked a while, Inuyasha figured he should head back to the bakery.

It was nearing eleven, and Inuyasha was planning to get up extra early in the morning to make the lasagna.

"I should head out," he said somewhat reluctantly. "It's gonna be a busy day tomorrow." Kagome nodded and got up to follow him to the door.

She smiled up at Inuyasha before he left.

"Good night," she said warmly.

Inuyasha smiled down at her before tugging her into his arms.

"Good night," he murmured into her hair.

When they pulled away, Inuyasha kept her close.

I want to kiss her...would that be okay?

Never good with reading signals, Inuyasha leaned down and just gave her a chaste kiss on her cheek.

"See you tomorrow," he said as he left.

"Bye," Kagome replied with a small smile.

O.o.O.o.O

Kagome barely slept that night.

Not because she was cold or worried or sad, but because she was excited about the next day.

Kagome was genuinely happy, and she knew it was all because of a certain baker and the others from the bakery.

His lips felt so soft…

She'd been hoping he'd give her an actual kiss, but she was fine with the soft one she'd gotten on her cheek.

Kagome snuggled into her coat and adjusted the blanket over her body. She was grateful that she'd bought the small battery-operated heater with the money she'd made from the extra shifts she'd been working as well as saved from not buying anpan, but it almost felt like she didn't even need it to keep warm.

I'm so happy, she mused. I didn't think I could ever be this happy again…

She hoped it would last.

To be continued…

Much love.