A.N. Yay! Three more chapters! I kind of like the shortness thing right now, because that's more realistic to me. Winter to spring of senior year is always a quick blur even if you don't want it to be, but you just know you're having the time of your life. Fall term though is inhumanly brutal.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Inuyasha and never claimed ownership at any point during this story.
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(Tsuki)
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Simply Business
Chapter Thirty-Seven
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(Tsuki)
March
It was a month that arrived far too soon.
March meant Kagome and Sango had to start packing away some of their heavier winter items to bring back with each visit. Things that would lose necessity, such as space heaters and extra comforters would follow as the month drew on.
March also meant teetering cruelly between winter and the spring students so direly needed, but couldn't fully get in March. Although it had a pretty nice break that last into April, that wasn't until the end of the month.
But for Shippou, March was the month that he and Sesshoumaru would finally get a chance to do the bonding that never happened the month before.
White Day was coming up.
Kagome had made Shippou a chocolate smiley face and Rin had given the red headed boy chocolate covered pretzels so he wanted to return the favor.
Convincing Sesshoumaru though was a different matter.
"I understand the courtesy behind reciprocating the action of giving, Shippou. It is the physical making of the chocolate that I am refusing. Would it not be the same to simply purchase something guaranteed to taste like chocolate should?" Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes heavenward and attempted to lift the boy out of his chair.
Shippou held steadfastly to one of the arms of the chair and yelped. "Don't be stupid, old man! They went through the trouble of making theirs so we need to make ours!"
Sesshoumaru let go of the boy, not wanting to inflict any indirect damage to the furniture. "You seem to forget that Higurashi had prior knowledge of how to cook. Need I remind you how deficient my skills are?"
The red head cringed, "No thank you!" The stubborn boy crossed his arms, "But still, we should try! That stuff comes with directions so maybe we won't have a problem. "
The problem with maybe though was that it held a fifty percent change of either being one side of the coin… or the other.
So in other words, there was a fifty percent chance that they could potentially burn the kitchen down… or they wouldn't.
There was a fifty percent chance that they could unwittingly concoct chocolate looking poison… or they wouldn't.
There was a fifty percent chance that the chocolate would come out completely fine and taste magnificent… or it wouldn't.
Maybes were a load of chancing bullshit.
But when things concerned one Kagome Higurashi, sometimes a fifty percent chance was all one needed.
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The diversion to keep Rin and Kagome out of the house was Sesshoumaru asking Kagome to take Rin on shopping errands that would buy them two hours' time at the least.
Tasks like going across town to hardware stores he wasn't even sure still existed would hopefully be very time consuming.
It allowed him and Shippou enough time to head to the market areas where they usually sold holiday merchandise.
The shop keeper had pointed them in the direction of the chocolate mixes and the two had gone about the task of picking out a mix.
Shippou grabbed one that was down at his height level, "Let's go with this one, old man!"
Sesshoumaru took the package from him and subsequently placed it down, "Do try reading the labels, Shippou."
Shippou huffed indignantly, "I did read it! It said 'I love you'—We love nee-chan so it's perfect!"
"It's inappropriate—" He paused and to save himself an argument, he said, "Would you give that to Rin?"
Shippou shook his head rapidly, "Eww no! She'd think I liked her, liked her and it'd be awkward cause she doesn't like me like that!" He paused and looked at Sesshoumaru. Quickly he said, "But that's different…"
Sesshoumaru scanned another box and said evenly, "This is different too."
Shippou crossed his arms, "If you say so."
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Sesshoumaru smirked at bit as he scanned for the instructions on the back of the chocolate mix. When he found them he looked sternly at Shippou, "We will do exactly as the box says. Understood?"
Shippou rolled his eyes, "That's the whole point, old man! Now what's the first thing?"
"It says all we need to is 'conch the mix with the following ingredients and then temper the final product a minimum of five hours later'."
The red head's eyes widened, "What the hell does that mean?"
So perhaps all that was needed was a fifty percent chance and Sango Takinama's number programmed into a cell phone.
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The days leading up to White Day were a testament to the creativity of Japanese men.
Sango parked her car in front of the Taisho household when she arrived and exited her car. She immediately went to the trunk and pulled out the electrical machine that would save Sesshoumaru and Shippou's chocolate.
A conching machine would continuously fold and turn the chocolate and help create standard chocolate texture.
Sango carried the small machine up to the front door and rang the doorbell. Sesshoumaru answered promptly and the brunette giggled at his mystified expression.
"This is what you'll use to conch the chocolate."
Sesshoumaru scoffed as he ushered her into the house, "I certainly underestimated the mechanics of chocolate making."
He took the machine off her hands and thanked him. The brunette smiled, "It's nice of you two to attempt making chocolate but you don't have to, you know. White Day used to be about guys giving marshmallows to the girls that gave them chocolate. Now anything can serve as a gift. Cakes, brownie, trinkets—it doesn't even have to be edible anymore."
Sesshoumaru smiled slightly, "All are of unequal effort, Takinama."
Sango was a bit surprised at the answer and laughed, "You're a chivalrous guy underneath all the, you know, intimidation."
He smirked, "I'll take that as a compliment, I suppose."
The girl grinned, "Good. If you need any more help, just call. I don't have work until later tonight."
As Sango left she had to smile.
"I'm almost completely warmed up to that guy…"
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"I still can't believe you drove all the way from Tokyo to bake a cake!" Souta shook his head at the violet eyed man in his friend's kitchen.
"How else was I supposed to find out what Sango's favorite dessert was? Besides, I'm killing two birds with one stone." He nodded in the direction of Kohaku who was currently tying on an apron. "I can take his White Day gift up to Rin when I get back."
Souta continued to shake his head in disapproval, "Isn't it a little on the embarrassing side though?"
Kohaku smiled softly and stirred a bowl of batter, "It's a little embarrassing, yeah, but sometimes when you like someone you can't help but set aside your pride…" He scrunched up his nose, "Even if it lands you in an apron…"
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White Day
Kagome was reluctant to go the Taisho home. For the past three days she had been on more errands than she wanted to remember.
Half the items Sesshoumaru listed had been phased out like a CFC containing product or if it did still exist, they weren't selling the color Sesshoumaru said he wanted.
It was like the man was using her to go on a scavenger hunt for archaic merchandise that was now obsolete.
The girl shuddered as she put her key in the door and opened it.
She was half hoping Sesshoumaru would decided on the spur of the moment to work over time so that she wouldn't have to take another trip to the middle of nowhere for nothing.
Kagome made her way to the kitchen suddenly it became abundantly clear why Sesshoumaru had wanted her out of the way.
On the counter was a plate with a post it note addressed to her in sharpie. The note only had her name scrawled across it but the chocolate was self-explanatory.
It read 'Thank You,' along the heart shaped white chocolate.
He had made her chocolate.
White Day had completely slipped her mind. She had never expected Sesshoumaru to ever respond to her chocolate.
But he had and as she looked at the impeccably done form, she felt her eyes pool with tears.
He was impossible to fall out of love with.
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(Tsuki)
A.N. My shortest chapter ever but, I really liked it too much to keep adding to. Next chapter is definitely longer and chapter after that is twice as long.
R&R