Ever Us -- The Blessing; Keiko
Bonus Material
Inuyasha and Keiko watched from a bar stool as the kitchen staff hustled to respond quickly to chef's commands. Chef had them running all over the kitchen and the adjoining areas. The only area that was calm was the area around the washing basin. In the short time he had been sitting there, the dirty dishes had piled higher and higher, and were now precariously teetering, one more cup and whoosh—the whole stack would collapse.
'I can help. After all, I get great food in exchange. I'll just do it.' Inuyasha pushed up his sleeves and moved to the basin. Keiko followed him imitating everything he did.
Tentatively testing the water Inuyasha added soap and created bubbles. Immersing his hands up to his elbows, he played in the bubbles. He blew some at Keiko who giggled.
Chef saw the moment out of the corner of his eye. Startled he ran to the side of the young lord of the castle.
"My Lord, What are you doing?"
"Playing in the bubbles," the inuhanyou responded happily. Keiko smiled too.
Chef took in the smiling faces and happy countenances of his favorite royals.
"Very well, but be careful of the knives. I don't want you to cut yourself."
Chef then turned and grabbed a sous chef. "Help them please."
The sous chef brought a clean towel with him and asked Inuyasha if the water was warm enough.
"Just right," came the response.
"Very well. Here are the glasses. We can do them first and get them out of the way."
The sous chef and Inuyasha put the glasses in the water and Inuyasha began to wash. Shortly he started humming a tune to himself. The sous chef rinsed the glasses in the rinsing tub and then dried them.
The tune was catchy and shortly both men were singing and dancing as they washed the dishes. Keiko twirled around them dancing happily to her daddy’s song.
Plates and bowls were cleaned and dried. The sous chef put down his towel to put up the clean dishes. When he returned, he noticed the rinse water was soapier than the dishwater.
"My Lord, I need to dump this bucket and get some more hot water."
Inuyasha nodded.
"Thanks for helping. I think we're done for a little while though. The pan the duck was roasted in needs to soak for a while."
Inuyasha pulled his hands out of the soapy wash water and attempted to rinse them in the rinse water but they still had a lot of soap on them.
"It was fun working with you," Inuyasha smiled as he resumed his place on the bar stool. Keiko crawled back on his lap. Their noses told them there were "cheesy bites" in the oven. And they LOVED "cheesy bites"!
-----Added as bonus material to “Ever Us—The Blessing, Keiko” 24 Jun 19------------