A Labor of Love by tierraangelica

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

...

"Good things come to those who bake."

-Anonymous

...

She finished washing the dishes and left them to dry on a towel. The house chores were done and she could start doing what she loved.

Baking.

Everything she knew about baking was from her mother and father. They had worked their whole life to reach a level of professional baking. Then, after her parents passed away Kagome thought she would never bake again. But her mother would never want that. Her father's heart would be broken knowing she gave it all up. In the end, baking kept her together. As long as her hands and mind were busy with a recipe she had no time to be sad. The recipe book, one of the last things she had left from her parents.

Flipping through the pages she stopped at the apple tart with caramel sauce. She left the book open and gathered up what she needed. Bowls and utensils. Ingredients. She tied up her hair with a white bandana and washed her hands.

Now what should she use? The red or green apples? The green had a more sweet and sour taste to them, might work better with the real sweet caramel.

The front door opened and her brother walked in holding his high school jacket. Did he get taller again? He was still a few inches shorter than her but he was catching up quick. Hard to think it had already been five years since there parents had passed.

"Hey sis," Souta greeted laying his jacket on the table.

How was-" Kagome furrowed her eyebrows and opened her mouth to nag at him to move his jacket.

"The sleeve ripped. Can you fix it?" he asked avoiding her curious glance.

She raised an eyebrow. "Sure but, how did it rip?"

He shrugged and walked to the fridge to pull out a bottle of water. "I was playing basketball during break and it got ripped."

It was a legitimate excuse but there was something not right. Souta made his way to his room leaving Kagome alone in the kitchen.

She sighed and got back to work picking up a few green apples. When the tarts were in the oven she would take a look at his jacket. Slicing apples she thought of what to make for dinner... Actually she hadn't had a chance to go shopping so she wasn't sure there was anything to eat.

"Argh..." she moaned. Placing the dough of the crust in the fridge she washed her hands of flour. Checking the hall to see make sure her brother's door was closed she returned to the kitchen and living room space. Grabbing the antique looking carpet she moved it out of the way. Then taking out some red chalk she went to work drawing the passageway on the coarse white tile. A large circle with ancient scripture and a pentagram in the middle.

Kagome closed her eyes to concentrate and speak the dead language generations of witches have always used. Translated roughly it went something like:

"Minion of hell,

do my bidding.

Here the bell

of your master calling,

so that you may come through

this passage door from underground to earth:

minion of hell."

There was a bright red glow from the circle before a burst of purple haze. A small demon flew with his bat like wings and sat in the palm of Kagome's hand swinging his two clawed feet. His body was pure black but his eyes were red. His smile showed off his sharp white teeth, with the imperfection of a chipped tooth.

"Aw it's you Semira." She stroked the little demon between his pointed ears. "Here is some money, please go out and purchase two bowls of Ramen."

The demon took the bills and opened the window above the sink to fly into the night.

Kagome smiled. Now that dinner was done she could finish baking.

Later Semira returned just as Kagome was putting the pastries in the oven. He set the two steaming bowls on the table and emptied the change from his almost invisible pockets.

"Thank you very much," Kagome smiled.

The demon crossed his arms and taped his foot on the table impatiently.

"Yes, yes. You're payment." She dug in her pockets and held out two caramel candies still wrapped in plastic. "Here you are."

Semira quickly snatched them up and waved as he disappeared in cloud of purple smoke. Kagome covered the circle with the carpet again/

"Souta! Dinner's ready!" She called wiping her hands on her white apron.

...

"Chocolate...crepes...needs more sugar," Kagome mumbled in her sleep. Her mouth was open and a little bit of drool was spilling out.

Her clock sat on her night stand clicking closer to the time it would ring. Each hour had it's own dessert symbol next to it. Finally hitting the 6, with a pie next to it, the clock's alarm started going off. Kagome was dragged from her dream and put a hand out to hit the off button.

She got out of bed still wearing her pink pajama shorts and tank top decorated with illustrations of different colored sprinkles. Heading out of her room she heard the shower going and knew Souta was already up so she continued her path to the kitchen. A loud yawn escaped her mouth as she was still drowsy. Her blurry eyes got a glimpse of the black jacket that was still on the kitchen table but her feet kept on moving towards the coffee pot.

"Oh crap!" Kagome cursed and rushed to snatch up the jacket. She hadn't even inspected the damn thing yet let alone fix it.

"That's one hell of a rip! The sleeve's hanging on be a thread! " Kagome exclaimed out loud.

She was no good at sowing either way. She had meant for Semira to do it before he went back...

Kicking into action before Souta was out of the shower and dressed, Kagome flipped over the carpet were the passage way was still at but smudged. She went through the kitchen draw for the chalk and opened the spell book to what she thought was the right page; it had a picture of a summoning circle and she copied it onto the already drawn circle.

Good enough, she thought.

In a rush Kagome spat out the words:

"Minion of hell,

do my bidding.

Here the bell

of your master calling,

so that you may come through

this passage door from underground to earth:

minion of hell."

The circle glowed once again and exploded in a purple haze.

She didn't care if it was Semira or another little demon , she just needed them to fix the jacket!

The haze cleared and Kagome gaped at would she saw. Instead of the small demon she had expected stood a very tall handsome man with an intimidating golden eyes stare gaze that was far from kind. Long pointed ears and long silver hair that reached past his back. Dressed in old fashioned clothing from a past era.

"You dare to call The Devil Lord of the West human?" his thin lips spoke showing glimpses of his sharp canines. "Then are you prepared to pay with your life for my services?"

...

AN: Update coming soon!