Disclaimer: Still don't own Inu Yasha. The recipe used in this chapter is a combination of a Gyoza recipe I found at http/japanesefood. and a wonton wrappers recipe I found at http/appetizer. I do not own either.

Author's Notes: I think this is going to be a very short series.

Ch. 2- Ingredients

"But, Master Jaken, why must I beat the egg? Is it being punished?"

Jaken sighed. It had been a long, long morning, and this afternoon wasn't looking much better. Lord Sesshoumaru insisted that she go buy the ingredients for her dumplings for herself, so naturally he made Jaken go with her, and gave him money to pay. Rin couldn't stand the idea of butchering a pig, so Jaken had to pay extra to have the pig slaughtered, and then prepared so there was merely shredded meat to deal with. Then of course, he had to handle prices, because the merchants had been all too eager to take advantage of the little girl, and she was all too naïve to know better. So between haggling, arguing, and picking the best ingredients that he knew nothing about, all while dealing with the heavy human stench, it was a hard day. Then, to make matters worse, Rin also had to fend for herself in the kitchen, so naturally Jaken must assist her with that, because she couldn't be expected to fend for herself by herself.

"Master Jaken?"

"What? I don't know! You must beat the egg because the paper Lord Sesshoumaru gave you says so!"

"Oh. Ok. How do I beat it?"

Jaken entertained ideas of showing the little human brat exactly how she could beat it, but then he remember how his Lord could beat him, and decided maybe to use the egg for the demonstration, rather than her head.

"Put it in the bowl, and beat it. Like you would beat anything else."

"But I've never beaten anything. Except that lizard I gave Lord Sesshoumaru when I first met him…"

"Very well then. Beat the egg how you beat the lizard."

"But I need a rock."

"Gah! Just use your hand!"

"Oh. Ok." So, the oblivious little girl proceed to pound on the helpless egg, splattering egg on herself and the counter, and mixing the shell in with it. "What does it say to do next, Master Jaken?"

"Read it for yourself! Must I do everything for you?"

"Hm. Next we must add the water." So, Rin poured the water in, and proceeded to mix it together. "Ok, now we need the other big bowl. Will you get it for me, Master Jaken?" Jaken grumbled, but got it for her. He dropped it in front of her. "Thank you Master Jaken. Ok, so, I need to combine the flour and the salt. Lets see, where's the flour? Oh! There it is! Oh, but it's too high. Master Jaken?"

"Get it yourself, I can't reach it either."

"Hm. I know! I'll use the stool."

Jaken felt uneasy. This all seemed terribly familiar. Rin moved the stool over with little difficultly, and climbed on. Standing on tiptoe, she could just get the tips of her fingers on either side of sack of flour. She eased it towards the edge, closer, closer…

The sack fell square on her head, making her fall backwards she landed on her back, her back landed on Jaken, and the flour landed on just about everything. One would think Jaken would have been shielded from the flour by Rin's body, but no, he was not so lucky. Poor Master Jaken was covered in it, because most of the flour poured down on him when the sack hit her head. They got up, and Rin looked from the flour covered Jaken, to the Jaken shaped, flourless spot on the floor. Rin started giggling. It was slight at first, a mere grin, followed by a tensing of the shoulders as she tried to suppress that soft chuckling at the back of her throat. Tried, but failed, as it trickled out of her like a water from a fountain, peaceful and seemingly endless. From there it became a giggling, as her face lit up into a wide smile, and before long she was laughing uncontrollably.

"Baka! That's not funny!"

"I- I'm sorry, M-master Jaken, I'll.. I'll stop now…." And she did. She didn't stop smiling, and the laughter was still clear in her eyes, but she didn't let it out. She walked over to the counter, and picked up the paper. "Hm… we need to combine 2 cups of flour, and a pinch of salt, in this bowl, and then make a well in the middle, where we pour the other stuff." Rin did this, spilling a little of everything as she went, but more or less managed to do it. "Now to mix it all up."

"You do that." Jaken said. Then, turning to the nearest servant, "You! Fetch me a small tub of water, and a large cloth for drying. And be quick about it!"

So Rin mixed it as best she could, which took much longer than necessary, while Jaken tried to get cleaned up in the water he sent for. Unfortunately, Jaken very quickly learned something distressing about flour. It is very difficult to clean up. He managed to get it off his face well enough, but when he tried to wipe his robes clean with a wet cloth, the flour only smeared. He tried and tried, and couldn't get it off.

"What is the meaning of this! Cursed flour! I demand that you remove yourself from my robes at once!" During his ranting, he slipped on the water that he had spilt while trying to clean off the front of his robes, and fell into the water, spilling more everywhere, and turning the powdery mess on the floor into a pasty mess. Jaken just growled in frustration.

"Master Jaken?" Asked Rin, staring at the paper in confusion. "How do I k-nee-duh dough?"

"I don't know! Figure it out! I'm busy enough as it is trying to clean up your mess! Lord Sesshoumaru will be furious when he sees this!" Rin thought back to when she was little, and vaguely remembered watching her mother doing something to make a blobby mixture look more like dough. So, she tried it. Or at least, she tried what she thought her mother had done. She started to massage the dough. She knew her mother had been faster, but her mother had been more experienced, had actually known what she was doing, so Rin thought it would be best to take it slow. Besides, if she went any faster the eggshells hurt her fingers. Rin kept at it until her arms were quite sore, and her dough looked almost like dough. "Ok, I think that's enough. What's next?" She looked at the paper, and read. "Ok, now we must cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave it alone for a little while." Rin grabbed the cloth Jaken had saved for drying, and dipped it in the water. She then wrung it out, and placed it carefully over the dough. "Ok, I'll get the rest of the ingredients ready while we wait. Lets see… Thinly chopped cabbage… Master Jaken? How will I chop the cabbage? I don't think there are any regular knives here."

"Baka! The merchant chopped it already."

"That was nice of him."

"Nice? He didn't do it to be nice to you, he did it because I paid him twice what it was worth!"

"Well, I'm still grateful. Now, chopped green onion. Did you pay someone to chop the green onion as well?"

"Of course I did!"

"Well, I'm grateful for that as well." Rin got out the chopped onion and cabbage. "Ok…pork…"

"Over there."

"Got it. Sesame-"

"It's all over there!"

"Oh. Ok, thank you Master Jaken." Jaken just grumbled in response. Soon all the ingredients were gathered and measured to the best of her inexperienced eight-year-old ability. "Do you think the dough is ready?"

"Yes, yes, let's get this over with."

"Ok. Lets see… Hm. Wouldn't it be easier to roll the dough out all at once, and then cut it into squares? I think that's what I'll do." And she did. "Hm. These don't look like the ones that were on the dumplings I ate in that village."

"Just cook them already."

"You mustn't be impatient, Master Jaken."

"Hm. Now we need to boil the cabbage. How will we boil the cabbage, Master Jaken?"

"Fill your pot with water." And she did. "Good. Now stand back, and behold the power of the staff of two heads!" He brought the water to a rapid boil. "Quickly, throw in the human food!" Rin threw in the cabbage, and let it boil, for far too long. Fortunately, Jaken's arms were tired and he insisted that was long enough.

"Oh dear. How will we drain it?"

"Stand back!" Rin got on her stool. Jaken lay down a cloth, and kicked the pot over. The cabbage landed on the towel, and the water poured everywhere, included under Jaken's poor abused feet. "Wah! Hot, hot, hot!" He screamed, loud enough for the whole castle to hear. Fortunately, spread out across the cool stone floor of the butchering room (the closest thing to a kitchen in the castle) the water cooled quickly, and the resilient (if whiny) Jaken did not take any permanent damage.

"Are you ok, Master Jaken?"

"Do I look ok?" He shouted.

"Let's see… Next, we need to squeeze the cabage."

"Fine."

"Wait, Master Ja-" Jaken reached forward and grabbed the hot cabbage.

"Wah!" He started to run around in circles, achieving little more than irritating the sensitive ears of the demon lord. Rin stopped him, grabbed his hands, and kissed the palms of each.

"There. All better." Jaken stood, too stunned to speak. Rin giggled. "Now it isn't too hot anymore." So, they squeeze the cabbage, and mixed all the ingredients in the original bowl. "Ok, now we put a spoonful into each little wrapper, like this, and seal it like this." Jaken tried to make the next one. "Very good, Master Jaken!" Of course, it was not 'very good', but it was as good as one could expect from an imp demon with three, thick fingers on each hand. And of course, Rin didn't know any better. So, they did it. And soon they were all filled and sealed. "Oh dear. The recipe doesn't say how to cook them."

"How do you cook anything, girl, with heat. Stand back!" And with that, Jaken attacked the poor dumplings with his staff. They didn't stand a chance. When he stopped, and he and Rin looked at the lumpy black masses, Rin's face fell. Her eyes were down cast, her smile missing, and her arms limp at her side. "R-rin?"

"Thank you for your help, Master Jaken." They stood there like that for a long time. It wasn't until another entered the room that the silence was broken. He had smelt something burning on his way to the library (which, incidentally, was no where near the butchering room) and had come to investigate.

"What is this?"

"We tried to make dumplings, milord, but…" He looked down at the collection of unidentifiable burnt lumps, and found the smallest of the bunch. Without a word, he reached down, grabbed it, and tore it in half, letting one half fall to rejoin the others, and popping the other half into his mouth. He chewed, his nose wrinkling slightly, and swallowed. Rin was looking at him with huge, hopeful eyes.

He turned, and started to leave, muttering just as he reached the door, "Definitely human food." Rin smiled her biggest smile, while Jaken just stared.

… The End…

Wow. I expected this to last at least three chapters. Also, I was planning on going further than the dumpling incident, but I realize now that that isn't practical. I'm not consistent enough to be able to say for sure that I'll be thinking of a Rin, Jaken and Sesshoumaru incident in the decently near future, so I'm going to end it here, and then just make any future incidents that pop into my head it's own story. That way, there's no pressure to update it, and it's not competing with other stories, and most of all, there's no obligation to make it fit into this timeline. Hooray. Sorry if anyone was looking forward to a longer series in this.