InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity 6: Shameless ❯ Rash Decisions ( Chapter 27 )

~~Chapter 27~~

~Rash Decisions~

 

 

 

Jillian snuggled against Gavin's chest and smiled into the darkness with a contented sigh. She was drowsing just a little since they'd just spent the seventh consecutive day in bed, or at least inside since Jillian adamantly refused to share him with anyone; at least, not yet. Gavin had grumbled sometime around noon that the ranch hands were never going to let him live this down later but he hadn't complained too much when she'd grabbed his hand to drag him back off to bed once more, either.

 

Running his claws lightly in small circles on her bare shoulder, he had his eyes closed but was smiling in that bashful sort of way that she adored. “I love you, Jilli,” he murmured, as though he were afraid of breaking the silence.

 

That got her full attention, though, and she wiggled around to lean on his chest, gazing down at him as suspect moisture filled her eyes; as a telltale tingling prickled her nose. “Really?”

 

Gavin blushed and popped an eye open. “Well . . . yeah . . . did you think I didn't?”

 

She shook her head and squeaked out a little laugh. “No, but . . . really?”

 

“Of course I do,” he mumbled.

 

Grasping his face between her hands, she peppered kisses all over his cheeks, his eyes, his lips. “I love you, too, Gavvie,” she murmured between kisses.

 

He chuckled, slipping his arms around her to hold her just a little closer. “I'm sorry, Jilli. I . . . I really screwed everything up, didn't I?”

 

“No,” she argued stubbornly, “and it doesn't matter now . . . but if you want to, I wouldn't be averse to hearing you say that every day . . .”

 

“Okay,” he agreed with a warm laugh. “I'll . . . I'll tell you every day that I love you. How's that?”

 

She smiled, brushing her lips over his in a soft whisper of a kiss. “And I'll tell you that I love you, too.”

 

“Yeah, you'd better love me all you can now, Jillian Zelig. When your father gets his hands on me, I think he'll kill me, for sure.”

 

Jillian giggled since she'd been spending the better portion of the day trying to reassure the man that her father wasn't going to do any such thing. He obviously wasn't ready to believe that for himself, though . . . “Daddy wouldn't do that,” she assured him. “Besides, you're my mate now. Daddy wouldn't kill you if it meant that I'd be hurt, too.”

 

“Maybe not death, then,” Gavin agreed slowly. “Dismemberment, though . . . that's entirely a possibility.”

 

“Oh, Gavvie . . .” Jillian sighed then giggled.

 

He heaved a sigh designed to let her know that he didn't entirely subscribe to her belief that Cain wasn't really interested in causing Gavin bodily harm. She snuggled against him again, nestling her temple against his shoulder, burying her face against his neck.

 

Cuddling with him was just too nice, she decided. Gavin kissed her forehead and held her tight. The feeling that she was completely protected cosseted her, and she couldn't help the satisfied smile that twitched on the corners of her lips. “We'll be together forever, right?” she mused.

 

Gavin nodded. “Yes.”

 

She giggled. “Good. I like the sound of that. I was thinking though . . .”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Well, I know I said I wanted twenty babies—”

 

“Or more,” he added.

 

She giggled again. “Or more,” she agreed. “Anyway, I still want to have all those babies, but . . .”

 

“But?” he prodded.

 

“But . . . I mean, it did take twenty years to get you to agree to be my mate, after all, and while babies would be wonderful, maybe we should concentrate on each other for awhile.”

 

He chuckled. “So you're saying you want to have me all to yourself?”

 

She nodded. “Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying, Gavvie.”

 

He kissed her forehead again. “Okay, Jilli. Whatever you want.”

 

She laughed. “I'd also like to raise them here, on the ranch,” she admitted. “New York City isn't really a place for children.”

 

“Yeah?” he questioned. He seemed surprised by her assessment, but he didn't seem displeased by it, either.

 

Jillian sighed, toying with a lock of Gavin's hair that had fallen over his shoulder. “I keep thinking about my childhood and how much fun it was to wander the forests and the beaches . . . I'd imagine you remember stuff like that, too?”

 

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I do.”

 

“So whenever you want to do it, we could move here, permanently.”

 

“Hmm, yeah . . . well, I still want to save money so that we can get this place going the way it should be,” he told her. “Besides, you have your modeling, and you can't really do that from here.”

 

She wrinkled her nose and leaned up again to look him in the eye. “I thought I told you, Gavvie: I only became a model because you wouldn't have me.”

 

He grimaced at the reminder despite the playfulness in her tone. “I'm sorry, Jilli,” he mumbled, cheeks pinking in the wan light of the moon filtering through the windows.

 

She shook her head and kissed his nose. “You're lucky I adore you,” she informed him. “I do, you know.”

 

His smile dimmed just a little as a scowl stole over his features.

 

“Gavvie?”

 

Blinking quickly as though he'd been lost in thought, he shot her an odd, somewhat belligerent glance as his eyebrows drew together in a marked frown. “I-I . . . well, I just thought . . . you're not really considering doing that Playboy thing, are you?”

 

It was Jillian's turn to blink in surprise, and she slowly shook her head. “I thought you said you didn't think I should do that,” she said slowly.

 

The stubborn look on his face became a little petulant as he snorted indelicately—an entirely foreign noise for him to make. “Yeah, I did,” he grumbled, his cheeks reddening just a little more. “Now I'm telling you, though . . . you're not doing that, and if you do, I swear I'll . . . I'll kill someone . . .”

 

Gavin's uncharacteristic show of high-handedness made Jillian laugh. She couldn't help it. It was so strange to hear the man trying to be so tough, so domineering. His expression darkened as her giggles escalated into full-blown laughter, and every time she peeked at him only to see the mulish expression on his face growing steadily more irritated, she laughed harder. “Okay,” she choked out between fits of giggles. “I promise,” she went on.

 

He sighed, his scowl shifting into a clear show of disgruntlement. “I mean, you can model if you want. I don't care if you do that, but . . . Jilli . . . no nudes, and . . . and I don't really like the swimsuits, either.”

 

She wiggled closer, rubbing her cheek against his as she slipped her arm around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. “Whatever you say, Gavvie,” she agreed.

 

“They treat you like crap,” he grumbled. “They treat you like you're just an object . . . a mannequin or something.”

 

“It's not as bad as all that,” she chided. “If you don't like it, though, I'll stop.”

 

“You could concentrate on your photography,” he suggested. “You're really good at that.”

 

“I could,” she mused. “I've thought about it. I have lots of money already, right?”

 

Gavin sighed and smoothed her hair out of her face with a gentle hand. “Yes, you do,” he agreed.

 

“We can use it for the ranch, can't we?” she asked, struck by the sudden inspiration that maybe they wouldn't have to remain in New York City that long, after all.

 

“That's your money,” he told her. “I make more than enough to take care of you and all that . . . just . . . put the money away and save it for your army of pups.”

 

“Army?” she echoed with a little giggle. “Army . . . I like that . . .”

 

“Go to sleep, Jillian,” he said with a wide yawn and a quiet chuckle. “You're enough to kill me.”

 

She laughed, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand and effectively ending the protests she'd been thinking about spouting. As wonderful as her new mate was, she supposed he had to have his limitations . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

“I'm surprised you got a chance to get away,” Kagome said as she smiled sweetly and poured a cup of tea for her grandson.

 

Evan grinned unrepentantly when his grandmother—Granny K to him—tweaked the platinum stud earring he sported in his right nostril, scowling in mock irritation at the adornment. “Well, sure . . . You think I wouldn't have time for my best girl?” he deadpanned.

 

“Your best girl, huh?” Kagome queried, cocking a black eyebrow at him.

 

“Yep . . . You . . . Mama . . . Jilli . . . Belle . . . I don't discriminate. I love all my women.”

 

Kagome laughed. “You're horrible, you know.”

 

“So I've been told,” Evan intoned with a lazy grin. “Where's the old man?”

 

Slipping into a chair across from him, Kagome laughed. It really was amazing, he supposed. At over eighty-two years of age, the miko of legend still looked like a high school girl—maybe a college girl . . . `The youkai fountain of youth,' he mused with a chuckle.

 

“He had a board of directors meeting,” she replied. “Hates them, but he really loves the school . . .”

 

Evan laughed outright at that. The idea of seeing InuYasha Izayoi in anything even closely resembling a business meeting was just a little more than he could rightfully think about without being vastly amused. “Does he wear a suit?”

 

Kagome rolled her eyes but giggled. “Kami, no,” she laughed. “He only dresses nicely for weddings.”

 

“Yeah, well, speaking of weddings . . . guess Gavin finally got off his ass and made Jillian his mate.”

 

“Really?” Kagome exclaimed, her gaze lighting up as her smile brightened. “That's so wonderful!”

 

“Sure,” Evan drawled. “Just took him long enough.”

 

“Yes, well, he's always been a very serious young man,” she mused. “A little too serious, if you ask me.”

 

“There's that, too,” he allowed. “How's Aunt Nezumi?”

 

Kagome sighed, her smile fading but not disappearing despite the marked tightening around her lips and eyes. “She's all right: as well as could be expected. She wants everyone to treat her normally, but Ryomaru is still walking on eggshells around her.”

 

“Why's that?”

 

Kagome shrugged, standing up to refill the tea cups. “He thinks she needs to be babied, I guess. It's like he thinks she's going to break . . . She doesn't like it, though, and they've been disagreeing on it a lot. Morio's been rather upset by everything, too, but he understands why they both feel the way they do.” She sighed, rubbing her temples in such a way that made Evan wonder just how much of the stress his grandmother was feeling. “It puts him in the middle, and I think it makes him feel even worse for it.”

 

“Ryomaru needs to do whatever it is that Nezumi wants,” Evan said simply, knocking back the tea that his grandmother had just refilled.

 

“As true as that may be, this is Ryomaru we're talking about. He's just as headstrong as your grandfather, and that means that it doesn't matter, what someone tells him is best. He'll still go by whatever he feels in his heart is the right thing, even if it isn't what Nezumi needs or wants.”

 

Evan's eyebrows disappeared under the fringe of his bangs. “Sounds like you and the old man have been facing off, too?”

 

Kagome wrinkled her nose and sat back with a sigh. “Something like that,” she ventured.

 

The soft click of the front door sounded, and moments later, Mikio slipped into the kitchen as he tugged on the necktie he wore. Casting Evan a curious glance, he shuffled over to kiss his mother's cheek before bowing slightly to Evan and sitting down in one of the empty chairs. “Nice to see you, Evan,” Mikio said.

 

Evan blinked, snapping his mouth closed on the question that had been forming since he'd clapped eyes on his uncle. Pale and drawn, the hanyou looked like he was feeling somewhat ill. Reaching up to finger his twitching left ear, Mikio drew a deep breath and swallowed hard. Whether Kagome noticed or not, Evan wasn't sure. He had a feeling that she didn't since she didn't start fussing over her youngest son, which was the norm whenever Kagome sensed that Mikio wasn't feeling quite up to snuff. “You, too . . . holy damn, Mik, did you grow another foot or something?”

 

That brought some color back to Mikio's pale cheeks. Scowling at the mug of tea that Kagome set before him, Mikio made a face, grumbling something akin to, “Aww, shut up, will you?” under his breath.

 

Evan chortled. He knew as well as anyone that Mikio wasn't overly fond of being as tall as he was. Now as tall, if not taller, than Bas and Gunnar, Mikio was still on the lean side, which was probably the main reason for his irritation. Since he hadn't been taught how to fight, he hadn't quite developed the same sort of musculature that the rest of the men in the family had; not that Mikio was scrawny. Hell, no, not by any means. He simply wasn't even close to being as brawny as Bas, and while he possessed muscle enough, it wasn't in quite the same way that the rest of them did . . .

 

“I smell one of Gin's pups,” InuYasha stated as he stomped into the house.

 

“Evan's here!” Kagome said, hopping up to retrieve yet another tea cup from the cupboard.

 

InuYasha stepped into the dining room with a slight scowl on his face and his arms tucked together despite the missing fire rat haori that Evan was told used to be everyday wear for his grandfather back in the old days while he and Kagome were hunting down the evil hanyou, Naraku back in Sengoku Jidai.

 

“Oi, old man,” Evan greeted, slowly rising to his feet and offering his grandfather a respectful bow.

 

“Mikio, are you feeling all right? Maybe you should go lie down awhile,” Kagome suddenly said.

 

“I'm fine, Mama,” Mikio insisted, cheeks pinking a little more, though Evan had the distinct feeling it was caused more by irritation over his mother's perceived fussing than over any sort of embarrassment.

 

“Are you sure? You've been rather peaked all week . . .”

 

“It's nothing,” Mikio grumbled.

 

Kagome reached over to smooth Mikio's hair then gently turned his face for her inspection. “You've got dark circles under your eyes. Are you sure you've been sleeping?”

 

“It's fi—”

 

“Leave the pup alone,” InuYasha growled. “If he says he's fine, he is fine, wench.”

 

“He doesn't look fine, dog-boy,” Kagome shot back with a shake of her head.

 

“How was your meeting?” Mikio interrupted before his father could respond in kind.

 

“It was a meeting,” InuYasha stated, leaving no doubt in anyone's minds as to what, exactly, the hanyou thought of those sorts of meetings. He snorted and sank down in the last chair at the table. “Keh! Thought you were off makin' noise or whatever it is you call it,” he grouched, his steady gaze falling on Evan.

 

Evan laughed as he slipped back into his chair. “Yeah, I cancelled a couple shows. Jilli was going to fly in, but it seems that Gavin finally figured out what goes where, if you know what I mean.”

 

“Evan!” Kagome chastised, setting a cup of tea before her mate and hurrying back to pour steaming water into a cup of ramen.

 

“Yeah, well, I was starting to wonder,” Evan couldn't resist pointing out. “I mean, I was really starting to think that maybe he needed a diagram to figure out where to stick his—”

 

“How long's it been since you've had your ass kicked?” InuYasha cut in with a narrow-eyed glower.

 

Evan laughed. “To kick it you've got to catch it, old man.”

 

“Too damn much like your fucking father,” InuYasha grumbled under his breath.

 

“Keh! The hell I am,” Evan grumbled back.

 

“The next time you talk to Bas, tell him that Sesshoumaru hasn't heard anything about that Mickey B,” Mikio interrupted, heading off the altercation that seemed to be brewing.

 

Evan snorted again, shaking his head to decline Kagome's offer for a third mug of tea. “You mean he even called you about that shit?” He rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable. What a bastard . . .”

 

Mikio sighed. “He just called so to ask that I speak to Sesshoumaru since he hadn't been able to reach him.”

 

“What's this?” InuYasha demanded as Kagome handed him the cup of ramen and a set of chopsticks.

 

Evan snorted indelicately. “Jilli's being stalked and everyone in the family thought that it would be a bad idea to tell me about it.”

 

“She's being what?”

 

Evan sighed. “Some cocksucker's stalking Jillian—sending her pictures and shit that he's gotten inside her condo. They thought she'd be safer out in Montana with Wonderboy, but then he was screwing everything up five ways from Sunday . . .” He cracked his knuckles, his temper soaring all over again from simply thinking about the situation. “The bastard fucked with her rental car down in Cancun. It blew up when it hit a gas pump just after she dropped it off.”

 

InuYasha slowly shifted his gaze to meet Evan, his expression stony despite the marked brightness illuminating the golden depths. “Yeah . . . and why the hell didn't they tell me that my granddaughter was in danger?”

 

“Bas and Gunnar are handling it, Papa,” Mikio cut in with a weary sigh. “They figured the less people who knew, the better off they'd be. They didn't want to tip off the guy, and frankly, I don't blame them.”

 

“Does this bastard know they're in Montana?” InuYasha demanded.

 

Evan shrugged. “So far as I know? No . . . I don't think he does . . . then again, I'm not kept in the loop, either.”

 

“Gavin . . . Gavin . . . that scrawny little pup?” InuYasha went on, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful sort of way.

 

“Well, not so scrawny anymore,” Evan allowed. “He'll protect her, if it came down to it.”

 

InuYasha rolled his eyes. “Yeah . . . and you think I'll trust my granddaughter's safety to some pup who's still a little wet behind the ears?”

 

“InuYasha . . .” Kagome began dubiously.

 

“Forget it, wench,” InuYasha growled. “I won't sit by while some bastard's out there threatening my granddaughter.”

 

Kagome sighed. “At least take Ryomaru with you,” she intoned.

 

InuYasha shook his head. “He needs to be here with Nezumi,” he said, carefully staring at Evan. “You can come with me,” he decided.

 

Evan blinked and glanced from his grandfather to his grandmother and back again. “Me.”

 

“Yes, you.”

 

“Why me?”

 

InuYasha sat back, crossing his arms over his chest and glowering past everyone at the sky outside the window. “Coulda sworn you were bitchin' about being left outta everything,” InuYasha pointed out. “Besides, you're not a half-bad tracker, and you know English better than I do.”

 

Evan stared at his grandfather for several seconds before breaking into a low chuckle. He had little doubt in his mind that his manager, Mike would have more than a few choice things to say about the delay in plans, but that was too bad. Family was more important, after all, and if Mike didn't like that . . . Well, Evan was reasonably certain he could find someone else who would be more than happy to represent him . . .

 

 

-OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO-

 

 

Jillian blinked, shielding her eyes with a hand to her forehead. It took a moment for her to adjust from the dimmer light inside the house to the start brightness of the day outside. For once, she was the one who had slept in, likely because she and Gavin were up until the wee hours of the morning. She'd taken her time bathing and selecting the perfect outfit for the day, settling on a white sundress that hung loose around her frame in gauzy waves. Her patience had run out, though, and she'd hurried outside to locate her missing mate since she wasn't entirely sure that they'd spent enough time in solitude . . .

 

`You've had the man to yourself for a whole week, Jillian,' her youkai pointed out reasonably.

 

`And I waited on him to get around to making me his mate for the better part of twenty years,' she shot back. `I'm simply making up for lost time.'

 

`Oh, is that what you call it?'

 

She giggled to herself, stepping off the porch and running lightly down the steps as she hurried toward the open doors of the stable. `Yes.'

 

Hank sauntered out of the stable with Willow on a lead rope. The mare followed him in much the same way as Bassie's dog, Badd followed him around the house. Jillian smiled as she ran over to intercept the foreman. “Hey, Hank! Have you seen my Gavvie?”

 

Hank stopped long enough to close the corral gate and unsnap the lead rope from the animal's halter, patting her on the neck before turning back to face Jillian once more. “Your Gavvie? Aw, he's in the birthing stable checking on the new foal that arrived while you two were holed up,” he teased, crossing his forearms on the high fence railing.

 

“Oh . . . then maybe I should leave him alone for awhile . . .”

 

Chuckling as he shrugged in a nonchalant sort of way, Hank shook his head. “You don't have to,” he assured her. “He's just filling out a few papers and such.”

 

“Papers?”

 

“Yup. I make sure the births go smooth, and he makes out the paperwork . . . at least when he's here. When he's not, I make Dax do it.”

 

“What sort of paperwork?”

 

“Eh, you know . . . filing the animal's indentifying markings and all that jazz. He has to have all that on hand for insurance and stuff.”

 

Jillian nodded slowly. She hadn't realized that running a ranch could be so involved, had she?

 

“You look happy. I'm glad,” Hank mused.

 

Jillian leaned on the opposite side of the fence and smiled as her diamond engagement ring caught the sunlight and sparkled. “I am happy, thanks.”

 

Hank chuckled, reaching over to grasp her hand, turning her fingers from side to side as he stared at the ring. “So he didn't get rid of it,” he said, his voice implying that he had thought that maybe Gavin had.

 

“Why would he?”

 

Letting go of her hand and turning around to lean back against the fence, he shot her a sidelong glance before smiling absently into the distance. “He said he did,” he answered simply.

 

“But I thought he just got it recently,” she said slowly.

 

“What? Hell, no . . . he got that . . . oh, had to be at least . . . seven or eight years ago . . . just before his last year of college.”

 

“He . . . really?”

 

“Mm,” Hank grunted with a curt nod. “Yup . . . said he had to wait till you turned eighteen, was all. Your father told him that, I guess . . .”

 

Staring at the ring on her finger, Jillian frowned. He'd had the ring that long? The sting of tears prickled her eyelids, and she blinked quickly to stave them back. “Gavvie . . .”

 

Hank laughed suddenly, shaking his head as though he were remembering something or seeing something that Jillian didn't understand.

 

“What's so funny?” she finally asked.

 

Hank grinned at her. “Just thinking . . . that boy worked for years, saving every dime he got his hands on. Tried to talk him into buying ice cream all the time—he's the only one who ever had any money, you know? It never worked. His mama ran him to the bank once a week so he could deposit every bit of money he had. Asked him more than once over the years, what he was savin' for. He always said he didn't know, but he always blushed something fierce, too.”

 

“Aww,” she murmured, a tender smile turning up the corners of her lips.

 

“Anyway, one year, he got grand champion in the junior rodeo. Hung onto that bull for nearly thirty-five seconds . . . I think he still holds the record in that division, too. Won five hundred dollars, and he slapped that into the bank, too.”

 

“What kind of lies are you spreading now?” Gavin drawled as he ambled out of the smaller stable off to the left. He was smiling, though, and he didn't sound at all irritated. Jillian stared at him for a moment before sprinting toward him, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him down to cover his face with kisses. “J-Jilli?” he stammered but didn't push her away.

 

“I love you, love you, love you, Gavin!” she gushed, wrapping her arms around his neck as she hopped up to wrap her legs around his waist, “and I don't want another ring, you hear? This one's fine . . . It's the only one I want.”

 

“Uh . . . o-o-okay,” he agreed, his expression a mix of acute embarrassment and complete confusion. “But it's nothing,” he went on with a thoughtful scowl. “I can afford to get you a bigger diamond . . .”

 

“You will not,” she insisted firmly. “This is the only one I want, Gavin Jamison. Why didn't you tell me you'd had it for years?”

 

His blush deepened, and he cleared his throat, glancing at Hank, who was busy coughing indelicately to cover his amusement. “W—I—d-does it matter?”

 

“Yes, it does,” she admonished. “You won a rodeo for me!”

 

He barked out a terse laugh at the reminder. “Uh, yeah . . . I guess I did.”

 

Quirking an eyebrow, Jillian leaned away enough to look him in the eye as a wicked glint lit her gaze. “Speaking of rodeos . . .”

 

His answer was a groan. “Do I want to hear what's on your mind?”

 

“Why don't you take me in the house and . . . ride me, cowboy?”

 

His mouth fell open as his cheeks reddened even more. “W—I—Jilli! That's—”

 

He cut himself off when she arched an eyebrow in protest. “Uh . . . o-okay,” he agreed, altering his path as he headed toward the house once more.

 

Hank's laughter echoed behind them. Gavin ignored it as Jillian locked her lips onto his in a kiss that held the promise of a very pleasant afternoon excursion . . .

 

 

~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~ =~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~*~=~

A/N:

Miko: Shinto Priestess.

Haori: traditional Japanese outer garment.

Sengoku Jidai: Feudal Japan.

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Final Thought fromJillian:

Gavvie won a rodeo …?

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Shameless): I do not claim any rights to InuYashaor 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~