"Butter pecan," Inuyasha whispered out of the back, to his red-headed assistant.
Old ladies were second only to children as his favorites to decipher, because they varied so wildly. The most buttoned-up ladies could want the rum raisin with enough rum to burn the blood, or a berry blaster madness with coloring to turn the tongue blue, and the one with the neon pink hair and not a care in the world would love a single scoop of plain old vanilla. And then their eyes would light up, and they'd have a little moment of private joy. Inuyasha fucking loved giving that moment to people, which is why he would never give up his shoppe.
'Dog Days Ice Cream Shoppe' was an institution in his neighborhood, and had been for over 100 years. He could barely remember a time that he wasn't behind the counter, standing next to his mother. He never knew how she got the money to buy the storefront after his father had died. He couldn't remember Izayoi ever looking defeated from her long days serving the neighborhood or her long nights churning the next day's flavor—exhausted, sure. And the trickle of curious patrons became a stream, and soon, Dog Days became a defining beacon of their little Baltimore enclave.
When his mother died, Inuyasha had tried to leave. Tried to take the MBA that he'd earned and join his older half-brother in business, but… he couldn't. Not when there were still children who didn't know their favorite flavor. Not when there were little old ladies who just needed their banana split after they caught the Saturday matinee in the arthouse movie theater down the street. Not when… not when the little ice cream shoppe could tamp down on the aching loneliness that crept into his heart when he thought about the last day with his mother. And when he thought about all the unsure looks he was shot before whispers of half-demon crossed people's lips, unaware that his dog ears could hear them.
Dog Days Ice Cream Shoppe was his safe harbor. Of course customers knew the half-demon! Many of his demon customers (yes, he had those too!) remembered him at his mother's side as she scooped out their favorites. Inuyasha, Izayoi's son. The half-demon ice cream shoppe owner who always guessed your flavor right.
He'd never give that up.
So he put his MBA to work. Never to expand, but instead to sustain. He charged the lowest price he could without worrying about the shop's nest egg. He paid his employees (even the temps) a living wage and made sure that they had access to company health insurance. And any time someone came in and couldn't pay for a scoop, he gave them one anyway.
It's what his mother did as best she could.
And it was the thing that he realized he most wanted to do with that education, that "squandered potential," as Assholemaru had put it.
Inuyasha poked his head out of the back room to watch one of his regulars, a little old lady named "Kaede" that wore an eyepatch but carried her cane like a weapon, take her first bite of the butter pecan, then gift him that private joy he fucking loved.
"I see your ears, Inuyasha," Kaede called back at him: busted. "I may have one eye, but I have all my brain cells. And this butter pecan batch is better than the last!"
"Keh," Inuyasha scoffed. "Don't you go dyin' on me before next week, old hag. Because I'm gonna be adding rum to that butter pecan of yours."
"Oh, I won't die before I get ya back for callin' me 'hag'!" Kaede shook her cane mock-threateningly over her head. "I still owe you a good caning, dog boy."
"See you next week, Miss Kaede!" the red-headed cashier, a fox demon named Shippō, said cheerily, paying no mind to the fact that one of Inuyasha's customers had just threatened physical violence.
"Keep that dog in line Shippō," Kaede chuckled, then turned and waddled deftly out of the shoppe, butter pecan single scoop in a waffle cone in one hand, her cane in the other.
"At some point she is gonna make good on that promise of a caning," Shippō drawled, closing the cash register drawer.
"And I will give her shit while she brings the cane down on my head," Inuyasha barked back, a little smile on his face.
Kagome, this is dumb. I don't need anything.
Sure you do! It's not every day that we get to celebrate your conquest of math!
Whatever. It was a dumb A on a dumb test.
Inuyasha's ears pricked as he heard two voices—one feminine and one masculine—coming closer. Unfamiliar voices. The feminine voice sounded like music.
Inuyasha dashed out of the back, bumping Shippō out of the way.
Were the owners of the voices coming into his shop?
He wanted to be the first to see them, the first to smell them, and the first to tell them their favorite flavors.
Shippō had barely had time to yelp before the two figures appeared at the far end of the shop's windows. They weren't speaking anymore, but somehow Inuyasha knew that this was the pair. They were the same height. The boy had neatly cut hair and was wearing navy blue slacks and a periwinkle polo shirt. He had a backpack slung on his back and looked to be in his early teens. The girl—no, woman—who was walking with him well… fuck.
She had long wavy black hair that was reflecting the sunlight like a black onyx jewel. Her lips were full and pink, and her apple cheeks were high and prominent on her heart-shaped face. Her nose was small and cute… like a flesh-colored button sewn lovingly onto a favorite doll. But her figure was definitely not that of a doll. Her round breasts stuck out enough that even as she tried to hide them underneath an oversized sweater, it was impossible. And although she wore a pair of baggy jeans, her ass also stood out, like an overripe piece of fruit on her Botticelli body. Inuyasha had to swallow down the rumble that wanted to escape him when the two turned and headed through the doorway of his shop.
"Kagome… it's fine. It was one test." The boy's whisper was so quiet it was clear he did not intend for anyone to hear it.
"And you did so well on it Sōta!" The woman, Kagome, whispered back. "We can… we can afford a scoop for you. Because you deserve it."
"Th-think they'll let us get two kid-sized scoops?" Sōta asked. "I… I don't wanna get some if you can't get any."
"Chocolate peanut butter," Inuyasha spoke to interrupt, but not give away that he heard every word of their heart-wrenching conversation. A conversation he'd heard a hundred times in his long life. A conversation that… made him want to know this Sōta and Kagome more.
"Excuse me?" The woman, Kagome, spoke. Her eyes were like shimmering brown opals, and she smelled of chocolate and raspberries.
"The kid there." Inuyasha pointed casually to Sōta. "That's his favorite." Sōta's eyes grew wide and a little smile curled his lips. "I'm right, ain't I kid?"
Inuyasha walked over to the glass case and scooped a bit (okay, more than a bit) of the chocolate peanut butter onto a tasting spoon, then handed it to Sōta.
"Try it. I have a knack for guessing favorites," Inuyasha smiled.
Sōta's answering grin told Inuyasha all he needed to know. Sōta, he knew, had just found his favorite flavor.
"C-can we get a kid-sized of that?" Kagome asked, reaching into a change purse.
"First…" Inuyasha winked, "Let me take a guess your favorite."
It usually came so easily. Inuyasha took a little sniff, and closed his eyes. He let their scents mingle with his mind, and he channeled his mother and just… knew. Sōta was shy and withdrawn but playful underneath, and his scents were earthy. He was one who needed something rich and comforting. Chocolate was the staple, and peanut butter, because it could remind him of being taken care of.
Kagome… a woman he'd barely known a minute, yet somehow he'd been waiting forever to meet… was… not as easy. He couldn't close his eyes and see her flavor, because when he closed his eyes, all he saw was her. She wasn't telling him what would give her that private smile.
She was the first person he'd ever met that he couldn't figure out.
"Peaches and cream," Inuyasha guessed. But that was the thing: it was a guess.
"Oh! Yes, I would be happy to try it," Kagome answered gently, politely.
Peaches and cream was not her favorite flavor.
Inuyasha scraped some of the ice cream onto the spoon anyway, and held it out for her to sample.
Kagome ate it, and he watched as her eyes closed and she let her whole mouth experience the flavor.
"I'll… I'll take a kid-sized of this one, too," she said as she slowly opened her eyes back up, and they twinkled.
Inuyasha nodded and grabbed two adult-sized cups. He scooped as fast as he could, then handed them both their ice creams.
"On the house," Inuyasha declared, pleased to watch Sōta's eyes grow wide and his lips curl up into a smile.
"I'm sorry, but I insist on paying," Kagome interrupted, her voice wooden. Then Inuyasha watched her hand tremble as she opened her wallet to count out the bills for the adult-sized.
Shit. He hadn't considered that—that his offer had been taken as pity. He'd just given them charity, and Kagome didn't look to be someone who wanted charity.
"W-wait… please," Inuyasha whined; shit, he'd just whined? "I… I've never not been able to guess a favorite flavor before. So… consider these my little way of thanking you for being a puzzle."
"Then… then let me pay for the kid-sizes," Kagome murmured. "It was a treat. For Sōta."
"For Sōta, huh?" Inuyasha answered, and although he knew the answer, he asked anyway. "What are you celebrating?"
"Ugh. Kagome is being dumb and bringing me here because I got an A on a math test," Sōta grumbled through a mouth full of ice cream. The boy had managed to polish off over half the bowl already.
"An A on a math test is a big fucking deal," Inuyasha grinned, in part at the shock of the two hearing his swear words. "You should listen to Kagome."
"Yeah, whatever," Sōta said, but Inuyasha didn't miss the small secret smile that came to his face.
"Here." Kagome pressed $3.50 worth of coins into Inuyasha's hand, the price of two kid-sized scoops; was tingling at the place where Kagome's skin met his normal? "Thank you. For the extra little treat. The peaches and cream was divine."
"But not your favorite," Inuyasha sighed.
"Not my favorite," Kagome answered, but finally—finally, her lips curled into the whisper of a smile.
"Then… I look forward to you coming back, so I can try again, Kagome," Inuyasha said, trying to ignore the little butterflies in his heart. "And come by anytime you kick ass in school, Sōta."
Kagome didn't say anything, but in her eyes, Inuyasha saw a twinkle, and he could smell the faintest waft of salt, from a tear that Kagome didn't want to shed.
"Thank you," Kagome said, and she and Sōta left Dog Days Ice Cream Shoppe, with a bowl of chocolate peanut butter and a bowl of peaches and cream.
"I've never seen you guess wrong before, dog," the wry voice of Shippō called from the back. "No wonder you shoved yourself to the front of the house."
"Shut the fuck up, runt," Inuyasha barked. "Before I put you on toilet duty."
"I already am on toilet duty!" Shippō snarled, and the two changed places once more.
Inuyasha didn't immediately return to the ice cream machines, to the new flavors he was preparing, because he couldn't stop thinking about Kagome: the woman he couldn't figure out the flavor of, the woman who smelled of chocolate and raspberries.