InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 5: Phantasm ❯ Phantasm ( Chapter 58 )

~~Chapter 58~~

~Phantasm~

 

Bas scowled as he stepped into Cain's office, tamping down the impatience that gnawed at his stomach. “Can this wait, Dad? I'm looking for—”

 

Cain dropped the paper in his hand onto the desk and leaned back in his chair. “No, Bas, it can't wait. Come in and shut the door.”

 

“I'm trying to find Sydnie,” Bas reiterated. “Have you seen her?”

 

“Yeah, I saw her,” Cain replied. “She's fine. Now come in and shut the door. I need to talk to you.”

 

Seeing no way around it, Bas heaved a sigh but did as he was told. “Okay . . . what is it?”

 

“I had an interesting question posed to me today.”

 

“Oh? What does this have to do with anything?”

 

Cain pinned him with his steady gaze. “Bear with me. You might think it's interesting, too.”

 

Bas sat down across from his father though his expression stated plainly that he didn't think any such thing. “All right.”

 

Satisfied that Bas was finally listening, Cain went on. “Seems she wanted to know if it were possible to undo a mating.”

 

Bas snorted. “Pfft! What kind of stupid question is that?”

 

Cain shrugged. “Not so stupid if you knew why. You see, the woman—pretty little thing, really . . . She's under the impression that her mate regrets being with her.”

 

“Sounds like her mate is worthless,” Bas growled. “Are we done yet?”

 

Rubbing a hand over his face, Cain shook his head. “Do you know what your responsibilities are, son?”

 

Bas shook his head. “Of course.”

 

Cain frowned. “Do you?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Good . . . why don't you remind me?”

 

Bas' patience was wearing thin. He wanted to go find Sydnie, not sit around and discuss his station with his father. “To protect those who cannot protect themselves . . . to try to do what's right and honest . . . to uphold the integrity of the tai-youkai . . . why?”

 

Cain shook his head. “You forgot one.”

 

Bas sighed. “What are you getting at?”

 

“You never asked me who she was.”

 

“She?”

 

“Yes, `she' . . . the one who asked me the question about mates.”

 

Bas rolled his eyes, tapping his foot impatiently. “Okay, who was she?”

 

Cain leveled a look at his son, shaking his head slowly as he pressed his lips together in a thin line. “Sydnie.”

 

“. . . What?” Shooting out of his chair, he stalked the room, opening and closing his fists as he tried to get a handle on his rapidly escalating temper. “No way . . . no! Hell, no! Damn it, why—?”

 

“Because she thinks you regret it,” Cain replied softly. “Bas . . . when's the last time you slept in your bed with your mate?”

 

The expression on his face must have said it all, as far as Cain was concerned. Grimacing as he sat back and dug a cigarette out of his pocket, he took his time lighting it before addressing his son again. “I shouldn't have piled so much work on you,” he admitted, “but you should have told me that it was too much. Sydnie is your family now—more your family than your mother or me . . . She's the one that matters to you. She's your future. Your first and foremost responsibility is to make her happy, Bas. It's not that hard to do.”

 

“Fuck,” Bas growled, dropping into the chair once more as he rubbed his temple furiously. “She was so upset about failing the test, and all I could do was make excuses . . .”

 

“Failing what test?” Cain asked mildly.

 

Bas scowled at his father. “What do you mean, what test? Her GED test . . .”

 

“Hmm . . . you mean this one?”

 

Blinking in surprise, Bas leaned forward and took the paper in his father's hand. It took him a minute to digest the results, and when he finally grasped it, he couldn't help the almost stupid grin that broke over his features. “I'll be damned . . .”

 

Just as quickly as the smile surfaced, though, it faded. If she weren't upset over the test, then that meant that he really was the reason for it. “Shit . . . I've really fucked up, Dad.”

 

“Well . . . it's never too late to fix it.”

 

“Yeah,” Bas mumbled, staring at the test results. “Yeah.”

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

She wasn't that hard to find. Following her scent home, he found her where she always was whenever she was upset with him: huddled on the floor in the back of the closet. She didn't look at him as he set the glass of milk on the floor and scooted it toward her, knowing that if he offered it to her, she'd ignore it. Funny how easy it was to predict her reactions sometimes . . .

 

“Not so stupid if you knew why. You see, the woman—pretty little thing, really . . . She's under the impression that her mate regrets being with her.”

 

He sighed. “I'm really proud of you—did you know?”

 

“Are you?”

 

Nodding, he sat on the floor, ankles crossed, arms hooked around his shins. “Yep. I'm always proud of you.”

 

“I kept telling myself that you'd be there,” she said. “I wanted you to be there . . .”

 

“I wanted to be there, Sydnie . . . I tried . . . really, I did.”

 

She shrugged offhandedly, wrapping her arms more securely around her knees. “It's okay. Evan made sure I got to the test on time,” she told him.

 

Bas stifled the urge to growl and nodded, heaving a deep sigh. “I'll have to . . . thank him.”

 

“He said—” She cleared her throat. “He said that you were a fool, but you're not. He said you were too worried about pleasing your father when you should have been more concerned with . . .” She flinched.

 

“He's right,” Bas admitted with a grimace. “So that's what his problem's been lately . . . never thought I'd say that he was right about . . . well . . . anything . . .”

 

“What?”

 

He shook his head. “Nothing . . . Evan's just been a little . . . angry lately. Maybe he was trying to tell me that I'm . . . stupid.”

 

“You're not stupid!” she argued. “You're smart, and you work hard, and . . . and—”

 

“And I'm sorry, baby. You're the most important person in my life. You know that, right?”

 

“Am I?”

 

“Yeah, you are . . . I just . . . I'm sorry.”

 

She took the milk and drank it before setting the glass aside with a sigh. “You mean it? I know you're going to be busy, and—”

 

“That's just it . . . I'm not supposed to be . . . at least, not too busy for you. I forgot that. Forgive me?”

 

Sydnie stared at him for a moment, her eyes glowing in the darkened recesses of the closet. Slowly, hesitantly, she rose on her hands and knees and crawled toward him. Bas pulled her into his lap and cradled her against his chest. “You can't anymore, anyway,” she finally said, twisting a lock of his hair around her finger.

 

Bas kissed her forehead and held her tight. “I won't.”

 

“That's right; you won't.”

 

Chuckling at the bravado in her tone, he leaned back to look at her. “Why is that?”

 

She shrugged then cuddled against him again. “Because, puppy . . . I'm your new boss.”

 

“Come again?”

 

“Your father offered me the job. He said to think about it, but . . .”

 

“But?”

 

She sighed. “I think I'll take it. He said that you were afraid that there were others out there like me. If there are . . .”

 

“Sydnie, these cases . . . they're ugly—really ugly.”

 

“I can handle it,” she assured him.

 

“It's not that. I know you can handle it. You can probably handle it better than I can. Thing is, I don't want you to handle it. I never want you to have to see those kinds of things, ever again.”

 

She reached up, caressed his cheek as a gentle smile—the first real smile he'd seen on her face in longer than he cared to think about—touched her lips. “Someone else might not have a puppy to save them.”

 

“Was that it? I saved you?”

 

“Didn't you?”

 

He smiled, too. “Maybe I did.”

 

“Before you—when I was alone—there wasn't anything, you know? Just me and the phantasms that I couldn't make sense out of . . . If there is someone else like me . . .” she trailed off with a soft sigh. He understood what she just couldn't say. “I don't want that . . . I . . . I love you.”

 

“You . . . do?”

 

She shot him a narrow look. “You didn't know that?”

 

His grin widened. “I knew that. It's nice to hear, though. You could say it more often.”

 

“Could I?”

 

He nodded. “Yes. Kitty . . .?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I love you,” he said.

 

“I know, puppy,” Sydnie said with a smile, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “I know.”

 

 

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A/N:

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Reviewers

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MMorg

Usagiseren05 ------ OROsan0677 ------ Kesstral ------ inuyashaloverr

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Final Thought fromBas:

…Happily ever after…?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Phantasm): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~