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

Chapter 12: The Celebration

Inuyasha put the lasagna in the oven and set the timer before heading upstairs. He'd made a large pan of it, so he'd opted to use the big oven in the bakery kitchen rather than the slightly smaller oven in their upstairs kitchenette.

He found Miroku sitting on the couch with Shippo's present on the coffee table in front of him.

"I found a gift bag," Miroku said when Inuyasha entered the room. "It should be big enough for all this." They'd gotten him a few kitsune toys that Inuyasha had ordered from an online youkai store. He was sure Shippo would love them.

Inuyasha nodded. "Great. Kagome will be here in about thirty minutes, so I think we're right on schedule. Is Sango coming?"

Miroku shook his head. "No, she wanted to but the hospital called last minute and said they needed her."

"That's a bummer," Inuyasha said. Miroku shrugged.

"It's part of dating a nurse," he replied matter-of-factly. "I admire her for it."
"Yeah," Inuyasha agreed. "That's pretty great of her. Let's get wrapping now."

A few minutes after they'd finished wrapping the present, Inuyasha's phone pinged with a message from Kagome.

I'm here :)

"Kagome's here," Inuyasha said as he stood up from the couch. "I'll be right back."

Inuyasha couldn't keep the smile off his face when he found Kagome standing outside the bakery with a little gift bag in her hand. She waved at him as he walked to the door and unlocked it.

He wasted no time in pulling her into an embrace once he'd opened the door and let her in.

"Hi," she said as she hugged him tightly.

"Hey," he replied. "I'm glad you could come."
"Of course," she chirped. "I wouldn't miss it." Inuyasha gave her a final squeeze before letting go of her to take her hand.

"The lasagna will be done soon," Inuyasha explained as they walked to the kitchen. "Once it's finished, I'll bring it upstairs. The cake is already up there."
Kagome nodded excitedly. "Great!"

o.O.o

Shippo's mother dropped him off right at noon, so they'd completed all of their preparations before he'd knocked on the door.

Inuyasha was waiting in the kitchen to let him in, so he went to the front door to let Shippo in.

"Happy birthday, Shippo," Inuyasha greeted. Shippo gasped.

"I smell lasagna!" he exclaimed.

Inuyasha chuckled. "You already knew I was going to make lasagna. It's upstairs with your cake, so I hope you're hungry."

Shippo nodded excitedly and followed Inuyasha upstairs.

The kitsune breathed another gasp when he saw Kagome.

"Kagome!" he shrieked as he jumped into her arms. Kagome laughed and hugged him tightly.
"Happy birthday, Shippo," she said. "I hope you don't mind that I crashed your party."
Shippo shook his head. "You made it better!" They all laughed at his excitement.

Inuyasha smiled as he watched Shippo eagerly tell Kagome about what he'd done on his birthday before he hopped out of her arms and back onto the ground.

"Thanks, guys!" he said. "I'm really happy."

"Of course, Shippo," Miroku replied. "We couldn't just do nothing for our best employee's birthday." Inuyasha rolled his eyes but couldn't help his chuckle.

Inuyasha got the lasagna out shortly after and served it to everyone. Shippo went on about how delicious it was as they sat at the kitchen table and ate.

"So, Shippo," Kagome began, "how old are you now?"

"I'm nine!" Shippo explained. "How old are you?"

"Shippo," Miroku scolded lightly. "You can't just ask people how old they are." Kagome smiled.

"Oh, it's okay," she replied. "I turned twenty last summer."

"Wow!" Shippo said. "You're younger than Inuyasha and Miroku. They're twenty-three, but you're still way more mature than they are."

Kagome tried to stifle her laugh, while Inuyasha growled.

"Eat your food," he ordered. The hanyo caught Kagome's eye and saw an amused expression on her face.

With her smiling at me like that, he mused, I can't really stay irritated.

After they'd finished eating the lasagna, Inuyasha cleared their plates and grabbed the cake.

Shippo gasped when he saw it.

Kagome and Inuyasha had molded some fondant into big flames that jutted out of the cake in true fox fire fashion. They'd also painted on some other little flames, so the whole thing looked like a big shot of Shippo's power.

"It looks like my fox fire!" he said excitedly.

"That's what we were going for," Inuyasha replied. "Kagome helped decorate it."

Shippo beamed at Kagome as Inuyasha put nine candles on the cake.

After they'd sang "Happy Birthday" and Shippo had blown out the candles, Inuyasha cut up the cake and passed out the slices.

The cake was perfect, just as he'd known it would be. The recipe was the same as what his mother had always made for birthdays, so Inuyasha had never seen a year in which he didn't eat the cake at least two or three times.

Shippo loved his gifts, and he immediately began practicing with the new toys before using the pouch from Kagome to store them.

"Thanks, you guys!" Shippo said when his mother arrived to pick him up. "This was the best birthday ever."

He hugged Kagome, then Miroku, and Inuyasha figured he'd let the kit hug him.

Just because of his birthday, he resolved. Definitely not because I'm going soft.

Once Shippo was gone, Miroku went to head back up to the apartment.

"Well, I'm off to get ready to go see my lady," he said. "She gets off work soon so I'm going to meet her there." He smiled at Kagome. "I'm really glad you could come today. I know it meant a lot to Shippo."

"I was happy to come," she replied warmly. "He's a great kid."

Inuyasha caught Miroku's eye before the latter went upstairs; his best friend gave him a little eyebrow wiggle, knowing very well that Kagome and Inuyasha would be alone once he'd left.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as Miroku went upstairs to get his jacket and keys.

"So," Inuyasha said when Miroku was gone. "Do you want me to teach you how to make anpan? In the conventional oven this time."
Kagome's eyes lit up and she nodded eagerly. "Yes!"

o.O.o
They spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, talking and laughing and making several batches of anpan. Inuyasha wanted to make enough for them to eat as a snack as well as to send home with Kagome.

They baked long into the evening, and by the time they'd finished the last batch and cleaned up, Kagome reluctantly announced she needed to leave.

"I'm working an early shift tomorrow," she explained. "So I should probably head out."

Inuyasha nodded and took off his apron before bagging up the rest of the anpan for Kagome to take home. "That's alright. I'll grab our stuff and then we can go."

He quickly went upstairs to retrieve their coats and his keys before rejoining her downstairs.

"Ready?" he asked. Kagome nodded and took his hand before they departed from the bakery.

When they reached Kagome's apartment, Inuyasha hugged her at the door as usual.

He noticed that her bedroom door was open, and he once again saw the thin blanket on her bed.

He remembered seeing it the night before, and he felt his stomach drop at the thought of her laying in bed at night with only that small blanket and her tiny heater to keep warm.

On his way home, he got an idea.

O.o.O.o.O

Kagome smiled as she got ready for bed.

When she first moved to town, she never expected her life would change so drastically or that the changes would be so good.

She loved getting to celebrate with them today, especially for Shippo. He'd taken a soft spot in her heart, and she loved getting to be involved with his birthday.

It had just been a great day overall.

Kagome snuggled into her coat, which had taken small hints of Inuyasha's scent from how much time she'd been spending with him and how often he took her into his arms.

Her stomach flipped every time she thought of him, and she was glad they'd been able to have a re-do of their anpan date.

Kagome sighed happily as she drifted off to sleep.

I hope it will stay this way…

To be continued…

I'm SO excited about the next chapter, so I'm going to go ahead and post it now, which means you guys will see chapters 12 and 13 today. We'll resume our three weekly chapters on Saturday when we proceed with chapter 14.

Much love.