I wrote this the other day because I needed to write something more on the cute side while writing my side fiction for DTRH which is very action oriented and heavy. This is the first time I'm posting anything remotely fluffy lol I have tons of stories I've started for Inuyasha and Kamisama but I too nervous to post them. I feel like I'm better at writing action than I am at verbalizing emotions. This story takes place before the Yukiji arc btw. I hope you enjoy this little story. Let me know in the comments. Thanks, bye :)
Nanami hummed happily as she climbed the shrine steps with her grocery bags. Ami's birthday was today, and with her parents out of town, that meant it would be a very lonely day for her friend. Nanami knew those kinds of birthdays all too well, so she decided to make her favorite cake for Ami. With the pans Kei lent her and ingredients bought with her measly savings, she hoped to make Ami's day special. Not to mention the surprise party she and Kei had been planning, complete with a visit from Kurama. Cleaning the tengu's apartment for a week was more than worth it. Tomoe had even given them permission to have it at the shrine, which was why he had gone to Over Yonder to get food for the hot pot. Everyone was bringing a little something to add as well.
"Nanami-chan! Welcome home. Did you have a good time shopping?" Mizuki chirped happily at the top of the stairs. Nanami gave him a bright smile as she reached the last step.
"Yes. I got everything I need too. Tomoe's not back yet?" Nanami asked, peering around the yard. Part of her was afraid of how he would react to her using the kitchen for baking. He rarely let her cook anything on her own. At least nothing that used the stove.
Mizuki shook his head as his smile turned into a sly grin, "No, he is still in Over Yonder shopping. At this point, he's probably canoodling with the tanuki girls at his favorite tea house." Nanami felt her face grow hot, and a chill of insecurity settled in her stomach. Usually, she would be angry, but there wasn't anything she could do this time. If he were in Over Yonder with the tanuki, she would just have to wait to get her payback. She would say something mean to him, just like he always did to her.
"Fine. If he comes back before I'm done in the kitchen, will you keep him distracted?" Nanami asked, trying to keep the sadness she felt out of her voice. Mizuki nodded happily before taking one of her bags and following her to the kitchen. As soon as she put her bags down, she rushed to get changed into her clean work clothes. She didn't want to get her nice clothing covered in flour and egg. It was bad enough Tomoe would probably have something snide to say about washing the ones she was wearing. She could already hear him in her head as she walked back to the kitchen while tying her hair up. 'Did you get any flour in the cake, or did you decide to wear most of it? What made you think you could bake? You're hopeless without me. It would have been nicer to use your money to buy Ami a cake instead of trying to make it. It would have tasted better too.' She growled under her breath as her frustration spiked. Mental images of Tomoe drinking sake with the tanuki didn't help.
"Nanami-chan, can I help?" Mizuki asked from the doorway with a pout. Nanami felt guilty, but she knew it would be too hard to teach Mizuki while making a perfect cake. 'Is this how Tomoe feels when I ask to help?' She wondered, cringing a little before turning to smile at Mizuki apologetically.
"Next time, I promise. I want to get this done before Tomoe comes home," she explained, hoping he would understand.
"Okay," Mizuki responded, a little sad but remembering his task of keeping an eye out for Tomoe, he perked up. She trusted him to keep Tomoe from finding out she used the kitchen without asking. 'This is just like one of those covert missions from that movie Kurama made us watch. I'm Nanami-chan's trusted lookout, and she can trust me more than Tomoe,' he thought gleefully. "I'll go keep watch. You can count on me, Nanami-chan," Mizuki said, then saluted with two fingers while he winked at her before he quickly left.
Nanami couldn't help but giggle at Mizuki's display. He had picked up some new habits since he and Kurama had been spending more time together. "Thank you, Mizuki," Nanami called after him. Then she began unpacking all her ingredients and the equipment Kei had lent her. Once it was all set out on the counter the way, she liked she pulled the old stained and dog-eared recipe from her pocket lovingly. It was written in her mother's handwriting, and it was the only thing she had left of her. Actually, it was a photocopy of her mother's handwritten recipe. The original had burned in the apartment fire that left her and her father homeless the first time. But one of her neighbors had a copy and had been kind enough to give it to Nanami. It was her treasure, and now she would get to share it with her friends. A swell of warm feelings fluttered in her chest, and she knew it was time to bake.
Of the little she remembered of her mother, it was her baking and her advice on men that stayed with her. While she had told Nanami to remain single and never trust a man with her money, she also said that making food for someone was the purest way to say, 'I love you.' And that had to be done with love because people could taste the negative emotions of the baker if they were upset. So, Nanami held tightly to that warm feeling as she began measuring out her ingredients. First, she measured out the flour, but the cup was a little too big for the bag, which resulted in a good amount on the counter. She was in a hurry to get this done before Tomoe caught her, and it was making her nervous. While cracking the eggs, she dropped one into the bowl and had to spend a minute scooping out eggshells while the empty ones dripped a puddle on the counter.
She left each little mess to clean up after she was done, knowing there would be more and feeling the pressure to get done as quickly as possible. Once her ingredients were measured, she cut her parchment paper circles for the pans as the recipe said. Nanami tried to remember her mother doing the same, but all she could remember was the beautiful, delicious cake she had a few times when her mother successfully hid enough money for Nanami's birthday and Christmas. Nanami did the same thing as she got older with the help of an elderly neighbor who taught her to make her mother's recipe. It was the one luxury she allowed herself on her birthday.
As Nanami greased the pans, she decided to pre-heat the oven next. It was the part she was the most worried about. 'I wonder if this is a normal oven or if it's special? I guess I'll turn it on and see,' she thought, feeling a little apprehensive. It wasn't the first time she came across something Tomoe had converted to use his foxfire or magic. Slowly she set the oven to 180 C and then began to put her ingredients together.
Outside Mizuki sat on the veranda, keeping an eye out for Tomoe while he drank a bottle of sake. "Being the lookout is boring," Mizuki said, pouring himself another cup.
"I do not see why Lady Nanami did not ask for Master Tomoe's help. He has proven himself a very adept cook," Onikiri said, sitting between Kotetsu and Mizuki. Kotetsu nodded his head in agreement.
"He wouldn't have helped make the cake. He would have kicked Nanami out of the kitchen and made it himself. Then it wouldn't be Nanami's surprise anymore," Mizuki replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"What surprise?" Mizuki jumped to his feet with one leg lifted as if ready to kick Tomoe, who stood calmly in front of him, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
"Wh-what are you doing here?" Mizuki asked, completely forgetting he was supposed to act smooth and confident in order to fool the fox into thinking nothing was happening.
"I live here," Tomoe responded flatly, narrowing his eyes at the snake. Suddenly he had a bad feeling about Mizuki's reaction. "What's going on? Where is Nanami?"
"Nothing is going on," Mizuki parroted, but the look Tomoe gave him said he didn't believe it, so he tried going for another tactic. "Nanami-chan is inside doing her homework, but she doesn't want to see you because...because you were late coming home and were probably canoodling with the tanuki girls at the brothel." Tomoe rolled his eyes hard, knowing this was another lie. Instead of getting angry or responding, he put out his hand and allowed his foxfire to burst in a plume in front of Mizuki.
"AH!" Mizuki screamed, jumping back further. "What was that for?"
"Stop lying, snake, and tell me where Nanami is," Tomoe growled through his teeth. Mizuki shut his mouth in defiance. He refused to give up Nanami's secret.
"Lady Nanami is inside baking a cake," Kotetsu said quickly, trying to prevent the imminent fight building between the two familiars. Tomoe's face paled as his jaw went slack, then his expression contorted into one of annoyance.
"What?" Tomoe asked covering his face with his hand.
"Lady Nanami is baking a cake for Ami's surprise birthday party this evening. She said it's a special recipe, and no one is to disturb her," Onikiri tried to explain, hoping it would calm the hot-tempered fox. It didn't.
"Since when does Nanami bake? She's more likely to burn the whole shrine down or give someone food poisoning," Tomoe groaned.
Now it was Mizuki's turn to roll his eyes. "This is why she didn't want you to know about it. You are always so hard on her and believe she's incapable of doing anything without your help. You're very good at letting her know how useless you think she is." Mizuki expected Tomoe to come back with another snide comment, but he didn't expect the wave of hurt that washed over the fox's face instead. It was only a moment, but it had clearly been there. Ever since Izumo Tomoe had been trying to be kinder, but he couldn't help being mean to Nanami, especially when she made his heart race. He was about to yell at Mizuki to go find something to do before going to see what disaster Nanami had made when a scream had them all rushing into the kitchen.
Nanami was cradling her arm gingerly as steam rose from the sink, and the smell of hot metal filled the room. An upturned bowl laid in a puddle of melted butter on the floor. "Nanami, what happened?" Tomoe asked in concern. The kitchen was a mess, and Nanami was hurt.
"Nanami-chan!" Mizuki cried, rushing to her side. He began checking her over, but she put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. He immediately hugged her around the middle, almost brushing her burn.
"I was melting the butter over a double boiler, but all the water disappeared so quickly. When I pulled the bowl off to put more water in the pot, the steam almost burned me, but I got burned by the bowl trying to avoid it. It's not too bad, but it hurts," Nanami sniffled. The small stinging angry oval on her wrist was enough to bring her to tears. Tomoe immediately pulled the hot pot from the sink and placed it on a cold burner. Then he pulled Nanami out of Mizuki's death grip and over to the sink. He turned on the water, adjusting it until it was lukewarm before gently moving her burn under the flow. She flinched, but as the water began to soothe the burn, she relaxed.
"Why aren't you putting it under cold water?" Mizuki asked, reaching for the faucet to turn off the hot water. Tomoe smacked his hand away as he glared at the snake.
"Because cold water causes further damage and restricts blood flow that begins the healing process," he snapped at Mizuki before turning his attention back to Nanami. "Keep it there while I get the first aid kit." Tomoe's tone was clipped, and it made Nanami's shoulders fall. Everything had been going so well until that moment. She still couldn't figure out why the water evaporated so quickly. It never had before. In fact, she had been surprised when it boiled faster than she was used to as well.
Mizuki glared after Tomoe but decided not to contradict him when it could hurt Nanami more. So far, the lukewarm water seemed to be helping. "I'm sorry, Nanami-chan, I failed my mission."
Nanami looked at him in confusion for a moment, then smiled weakly. "It's alright, Mizuki. It's probably best that Tomoe came home. Maybe I'm not as good at baking as I thought I was. I'll call Kei and ask her to buy a cake on the way over. I have money left I can give her for it. If it's not enough, I'm sure she'll find a way I can pay her back," Nanami said, trying to sound cheerful. She really wanted to surprise Ami with a homemade cake. Ami had been so kind to her and was one of her first real friends. She introduced her to Kei, and she couldn't imagine how she survived without her friends before.
"You will do nothing of the sort. We will get you bandaged up, and then I shall assist you," Tomoe said, entering the kitchen carrying the first aid kit and a clean towel. He put the kit on the table and brought the towel over to Nanami. She gaped at him as he moved her arm out of the water. She could hardly believe she heard him say he would help her. After turning off the water, he gently patted the burn before wrapping the towel over her arm and helping her to the table. Mizuki hovered anxiously, fraying Tomoe's last nerve. "Mizuki, go find something to do."
"I want to stay and help Nanami-chan," Mizuki whined, but the shrine spirits could tell that Tomoe was seconds from throwing Mizuki out, so they intervened.
"Master Mizuki, perhaps we should go sweep the walk, in case we get any visitors," Kotetsu offered, but it didn't make Mizuki budge from his spot next to Nanami.
"Maybe it would help Lady Nanami if we started putting up the decorations for the party," Onikiri tried and was rewarded with Mizuki's attention at least.
"Yes, that would be a big help, thank you," Nanami said, finally finding her tongue now that Tomoe's hands were not touching her directly. His soft touch had made her heart skip a beat and her tongue freeze in her mouth. Her cheeks were still on fire, but he didn't seem to notice.
"If you're sure, Nanami-chan," Mizuki said hesitantly, and Nanami nodded a little too quickly. Tomoe had to hide his smirk by turning away to look in the kit. He couldn't help the way his heartbeat as he realized she wanted to be alone with him.
Once Mizuki left, Tomoe unwrapped the towel from Nanami's arm to examine the burn. "It is not too severe, and the water should have prevented any blistering. It will hurt for a few days, but we must keep it wrapped and moist until it heals," Tomoe said absently, rubbing his thumb against her arm where it didn't hurt. Nanami was suddenly finding it hard to breathe, but she didn't dare say anything. She didn't want it to stop, but he caught himself a moment later and quickly removed his hand from her arm.
"H-how do you know all this stuff? I didn't think you could get burned...since you're a fox," Nanami said, turning a deep shade of red. As soon as it was out of her mouth, she wanted to take it back. He frowned at her as he carefully applied a clear ointment to the burn. Nanami hissed, so Tomoe pulled out his fan and softly fanned her burn until it calmed down again. He didn't dare blow on the burn. The last thing he wanted to do was give her an infection by blowing germs onto her wound. Maybe ayakeshi didn't get sick, but he was not about to chance what his germs would do to a human injury.
"Kitsunes cannot burn, but that does not mean I do not know how to treat them," Tomoe offered in a flat tone as he began tenderly wrapping her arm. He would never tell her about the massive stack of first aid and home remedy books he had checked out from the library after Mizuki had kidnapped her. The scraped knee she got from trying to escape the snake had been enough to send him on a quest for knowledge in case she should ever need basic medical care again. Of course, he had combined his new knowledge with ayakeshi medicinal practices, so Nanami was in expert hands. "You know, you could have bought Ami a cake or asked me to make one," he offered, not quite meeting her eyes. If he was honest with himself, it hurt a little that she had not asked him. Initially, he would have said no, but even he knew she would wear him down, and then he would make something special just to make Nanami smile.
"I know, but I was trying to make my mother's strawberry shortcake. It was my gift to her," Nanami said, trying not to pout, but she failed.
"I will help you. It does not appear you lost much more than the butter you were trying to melt. The oven uses my foxfire, and it is too difficult for you to use, but now that I am here, the cake will be wonderful. Come, you've wasted enough time already," Tomoe said, smirking at the glare she shot him. The first thing he did was double-check her temperature on the oven, and then much to her surprise, he allowed her to instruct him on what to do. He said it was because he was better at melting butter and folding flour into whipped eggs, but she had a feeling it had more to do with keeping her bandage clean. Even when he playfully put a little whipped cream on her nose, he had been careful not to get any on her arm as she tried to back away from him, giggling. Nanami looked at the clock at that moment. Everyone would be arriving soon, and she needed to get changed still.
"Do you mind putting the rest of the strawberries on top?" Nanami asked, untying her apron. Tomoe nodded, adding another strawberry. "Thank you." Nanami gave him a sweet smile before racing down the hall. He couldn't help smiling back before putting the finishing touches on the cake and checking on the hotpot broth. Everything was done with time to spare because Nanami stayed to cut vegetables and set up the plates while the cake was baking and cooling. Tomoe found he enjoyed having Nanami in the kitchen with him. He would never tell her or encourage her to help him in the future, but for that afternoon, it had been nice. He was able to be alone with her, and it gave him an excuse to be close to her. Maybe he would have to find ways to have more of those moments with her in the future. He allowed his thoughts to wander a little as he put the cake in the refrigerator and went to his room to change for the party.