InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Metempsychosis ❯ Cracking ( Chapter 70 )

The sound of a door, slamming open, resounded in the otherwise quiet as Ashur grunted and Jessa groaned, burrowing closer to him as she tried to block out the sound.

"It's official.  Laith's crazy.  I don't mean a little crazy—you know, the kind of cute crazy—the-little-old-lady-with-eighty-cats, aww-isn't-that-cute-craz y, either.  Nope, I mean the full-on, in your face, call-the-paddy-wagon-to-come-pick-up-the-loony-crazy kind of crazy!"

Jessa rolled over, rubbing her eyes with a balled-up fist as she blinked and tried to focus on Carol, who had burst right into their bedroom without knocking and without bothering to wait.  "C-Carol . . .?"

Carol snorted, crossing her arms over her chest as she scowled at Jessa seconds before her eyes flicked over her and onto Ashur.

"Uh, Carol . . ." Ashur began in a warning tone.  "You do realize—"

"—That you're naked?  Yeah, I don't care," she grumbled, rolling her hand as though to move him along.  "Move it, will you? This is an emergency!"

Jessa turned her head, raised her eyebrows in a 'what can you do' type of way.

Ashur still didn't look very impressed as he rolled off the bed and strode off toward the bathroom without bothering to grab a blanket or anything, which might have amused Jessa if Carol weren't already on the verge of complete and utter meltdown.

As soon as Asher stood up, Carol crawled up onto the bed, immediately slipping her arms around Jessa, who sighed and said nothing as she stroked Carol's hair and gave her shoulders a squeeze.  "What happened?"

Carol grunted, burying her face against Jessa's chest for a moment.  "He's lost his mind; that's all," she complained, leaning back just far enough to frown at Jessa.  "One minute, we're cuddling, just enjoying the morning before he has to get up and check on the horses, and the next, he's yammering on about—about this thing: you—youkra or whatever, telling me that he's not human!  He's insane!  Completely insane, and okay, sure, he has these . . . these claws and fangs and his pupils are weird, but—"

"Oh, he finally got around to telling you, did he?"

Carol snorted.  "Yeah, he did, which is entirely—Why the hell do you sound like it's normal or something, Jess?"

Jessa laughed and let go of her concealment.  Carol gasped and jerked away, pushing herself over to Ashur's side of the bed before she could reach out and grab her wrist to keep her from tumbling off the edge.  "I am, too," she said.  "Now, don't freak out, Carol.  We're just not allowed to tell humans about us, but since you're Laith's mate—"

She gasped, eyes flashing wide as she pointed a finger at Jessa.  "He said that, too!" she blurted.  "This is nuts!  There's no such thing as you-you-you—"

"Youkai?" Jessa supplied helpfully.

Carol snapped her fingers and nodded.  "Yes, that!  Thanks . . .You're one, too?"

Jessa pressed her lips together and nodded.

Carol sat up, burying her face in her hands with a loud groan.  "Okay, what did he give you to play along with it?  I'm going to kill him the next time I see him . . ."

Jessa reached over to tug Carol's hands down.  "Oh, now, stop it. It's not the end of the world.  In fact, it's a very good thing, you know.  You're Laith's mate, and that means that you'll be able to live as long as he does, you ken?  Which means you won't grow old and die in your way!  It's brilliant!  Absolutely brilliant!"

"How do you figure?  Haven't you been listening?  He's insane—completely insane—and you have fabulous boobs, Jess. I mean, seriously?  Those are the kind of boobs that girls go to surgeons to get."  Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed one of them and squeezed.  Jessa blinked, shocked by the gesture, and Carol giggled again as she let go.  "They're so squishy, like those little, fat silicon kitties that you could sit for hours, just squishing their bellies . . ."

Jessa rolled her eyes and reached for her robe.  "You've just veered completely off topic—and thank you.  I think . . ."

The bathroom door opened, and Ashur strode out of it with a fluffy towel tucked around his hips and his cell phone plastered to his ear as he narrowed his eyes on the women.  "On second thought, wait a couple minutes.  Jessa's still naked, and you don't get to see that," he said.  Then he lowered the cell phone and tossed it onto the dresser.  "Cover up, Jessa.  I just called Laith to come get her."

Jessa rolled her eyes but stood up, shaking out the robe.  Ashur stepped over and took it, holding it out for her.

"Wa-a-a-ait . . ." Carol drawled, narrowing her eyes on Ashur.  "You're going to say you're one of them, too, right?  One of those youkia or whatever . . ."

Ashur snorted.  "Yes, I'm a cell phone," he muttered.  "It's youkai, Carol, and yes, I am one, too."

The stomping on the stairs and down the hallway drifted to them well before Laith appeared in the open doorway.  He shot Ashur and Jessa a rather apologetic look before striding over to the bed to grab Carol and tossed her over his shoulder, pretty much like a sack of horse feed.  "Sorry, Ash, Jessa," he said, slapping Carol's rear when she squirmed to get down, hollering a list of dire invectives that he summarily ignored.  "Sorry again."

They watched him leave, standing in complete silence, until the sound of the front door closing drifted up to them a minute later, cutting off Carol's continued diatribe in the process.

Ashur sighed.  "That . . . is going well, don't you think?" he finally asked, his tone drier than normal.

Jessa craned her neck to look up at her mate.  "She felt me up," she stated flatly.

Arching an eyebrow, he stared at her for a long minute.  ". . . Did you like it?"

"Ashur!" she exclaimed, cheeks pinking prettily as she quickly shook her head.

He chuckled.  "Jessa, I'm sorry, but that's the natural question when your mate says something like that."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as her hair fell into her face.  "I really don't think—" She blew straight up, sending her bangs flying upward, but when she stopped, they fell right back into her eyes once more.  "—that that's the natural question."

"Ask any man alive, and he'll tell you it is," he quipped.  "Unless he's gay . . . So . . .?"

She shook her head, shoving her hair back out of her face.  "So, what?"

He made a face.  "So, did you?"

"I can't believe you'd want to know something as perverted as that!  But . . . it wasn't . . . horrible—just a little shocking."

He laughed, ambling over to the closet to get dressed.  "Next time, get video," he called over his shoulder.

Jessa blushed a little darker and threw the closest thing she could find—her hairbrush—at the closet.  She missed.  He laughed more.

It just figured.

Kells knelt down, jamming his head between Ashur and the ground as he watched intently for the sand plants that Jessa had told him about on the way home from school.  She'd told him that Ashur had promised to make her more flowers, and it had interested Kells enough to break him out of his uncharacteristic silence of the last few days.

Ashur sighed and pulled his hand back.  "Kells, I know you want to watch, but you're going to be sorry if a stem ends up, gouging you in the eye, don't you think?"

The boy instantly sat back on his heels for a moment before leaning forward again, and Ashur shook his head.  Jessa giggled, tugging Kells back into her lap, and Ashur raised his hand once more, parallel to the earth.  The ground shifted just slightly as the first of the stems shot out of it, twisting and tangling in a beautifully intricate kind of dance as they wove together, as natural-looking as a real rose bush.  The tangling vines rose high as Kells laughed and clapped his hands, eyes glowing as he watched with an awed sort of wonder as leaves uncurled, as buds appeared, fattened, only to burst open—the perfect dirt replica of the real thing.

A sudden thought occurred to him, and Ashur frowned as he concentrated.  It wasn't much different than the ability to shift the dirt into marble, but it took a slightly different focus.  It didn't happen instantly, though, but slowly, he could feel it—the change in the earth he'd used to create the bush.  Jessa gasped as the stems shifted from dark brown to green, the dirt pulling in tighter, shifting the state as it became jade.

"Wow," Kells breathed, mesmerized by the changing plant.  Still not living, no, but it looked so much more lifelike than the violets did . . .

Pulling his hand back for a moment, he flexed his fingers, drew a deep breath.  The blossoms were still made of dirt—he'd stopped the change just before the jade had stretched into them.  Shifting them a second time was probably possible, but, given that dirt itself was easier to manipulate, he didn't really know how difficult it would be.

Jessa turned a questioning look on him, and he smiled just a little as he stretched his hand out once more, willing the flowers to change, to become what he saw in his mind.  One of the smaller, more delicate blossoms groaned and quivered under the pressure he applied with his youki.  With a grimace, he eased off slightly, but not quite soon enough, as the bud exploded in a glittering whirl of dust.  Drawing a breath to steady himself, he refocused his youki, and this time, he could feel the changes, could better anticipate and control the outcome.  Very slowly, the flowers took on a reddish hue, as if they were coming back to life, and he heard Jessa's sharply indrawn breath as the individual petals shifted, emerging as beautifully polished rubies that glittered and sparkled in the afternoon sunshine.

"Wow, Daddy!" Kells exclaimed as Ashur lowered his hand with a heavy sigh.  "Can I do that, too?"

"Beautiful," Jessa breathed, reaching out to touch the hardened rosebush.

Rubbing his forehead as he knelt beside Jessa and Kells, he smiled wanly, steadying himself with one hand, his fingertips extended against the grass.  "You want to try it, Kells?  You may not be able to do a whole bush, but maybe you can do something . . . Come here . . ."

The boy scampered off of Jessa's lap and let himself be turned around and pulled back against his father's chest.  "Now, you remember your lessons?  How to extend your youki, how to focus it?"

Kells nodded.  "Yeah!"

"All right.  Before you try, you need to picture it in your mind, exactly what you want it to look like, but try to keep it simple, okay?"

Nodding again, Kells squeezed his eyes closed for a long moment.  Then he giggled.  "I got it, Daddy!" he insisted, eyes flashing open, excitement shining through.  "I'll make a flower for Jessa, too!"

Ashur intercepted the look Jessa shot him.  She seemed vastly amused by this idea, and yet, he could see the slight hint of worry behind those warm eyes of hers, too.  She was worried that, at Kells' age, he wouldn't be able to do it, and the look in her eyes . . . She was asking him to help him, wasn't she?

"All right, then.  Hold out your hand over the ground, let your youki flow into the ground until you can feel the earth—every last grain of dirt.  Take your time.  You don't have to hurry . . ."

Kells frowned in concentration, his eyes slipping closed again.  Suddenly, though, he laughed.  "It tickles!" he giggled.

Ashur smiled.  "I guess it kind of does," he allowed.  "Whenever you feel ready, just . . . visualize it in your mind: make the grains of dirt rise, make it do what you want it to do.  See it in your head, and it will obey you . . ."

Jessa sucked in a sharp breath as the dirt started to rise, started to pull together.  It was shaky and it was a little inconsistent, but it followed Kells' bidding, just the same.  Ashur's smile widened as the very small sunflower took shape, as it slowly burst open.  It wasn't perfect, and that was fine.  To be honest, he was surprised that Kells had managed it at all, and at three years old . . .?

But he could tell from the expression on the child's face that he'd about reached the limit of his ability.  Very quickly, Ashur sent out his youki to bolster Kells' creation, lest it should crumble back to dust when Kells withdrew his own youki.

"There you go, Jessa.  Do you want to keep it?" Ashur asked, already knowing her answer.

She nodded slowly, ever so slowly, her gaze fixed on the flower, unnatural brightness illuminating her gaze.  Opening her mouth, she squeaked out a sound, only to close it once more as she blinked quickly, as she reached over to pull Kells into a tight hug.

Ashur chuckled, shifting the dirt into marble—a very pretty marble with threads of blue that exactly matched Kells' eyes.  Then he reached out, plucked the sunflower, and handed it to Kells.  "Why don't you give it to her?" he suggested.

Kells took it with a very proud smile and handed it to Jessa with a flourish.  She sniffled.  "It's beautiful, Kells," she told him, her voice slightly roughened, her eyes misting with tears that didn't fall as she pulled him into another hug.

Ashur smiled, noting that Kells didn't seem to mind the overabundance of affection at all.  If he tried to get away with doing that to the child, he'd be complaining by now, but then, Kells really did adore Jessa, so maybe it was all right—at least, in his mind . . .

'Yeah, well, I'd rather hug her, too, so it makes complete sense.'

'It does, doesn't it?'

His youkai sighed.  'She . . . She's done it, hasn't she?  She's given us back reason . . . A reason to smile, a reason to want to wake up . . . A reason to remember the beautiful things still left in this world . . .'

Jessa pulled Kells into her lap, snuggled the boy close as he inspected the marble sunflower with a sense of unmistakable pride on his face.  "And one day, I can make a dirt flower into rock, Daddy?"

Sinking down in the grass behind Jessa, he slipped his arms around them both.  "Sure.  Just keep working at it, and you'll get it, but you know, I wasn't able to do that much until I was a lot older than you, so be proud of what you did, Kells."

Kells thought it over and sat up a little straighter. "Daddy!  Can I send a picture to Uncle Ben and Auntie Chaiwwy?"

Digging his phone out of his pocket, he handed it over as Kells scrambled to his feet.  He fussed around with the phone for a few moments and finally managed to snap a picture of the flower in Jessa's hands.  A few moments more, and he handed the phone back with a high-pitched laugh.  "I can go play now, Daddy!"

To Ashur's surprised amusement, the boy leaned down, kissed Jessa on the cheek, before turning on his heel and speeding away though the grass.  "Don't go far!" she called after him.

"I won't!" he hollered back without stopping.

She sighed as she watched him go.  "I . . . I get so nervous when he runs off like that," she confessed quietly.  "What if . . .?  I mean, there's no one out there still, is there?  You . . . You took care of them all?"

"As far as I know," he admitted.  "I'm looking into hiring some people—putting up a proper fence around here, maybe hiring some security.  That doesn't bother you, does it?"

She peered up at him and slowly shook her head.  "No, I . . ." She sighed.  "If it would mean I can relax when he's out of my sight . . ."

"I should have been here at that time," Ashur told her, rubbing her arms as she leaned against him.  She shivered slightly, and he frowned.  It wasn't the first time he'd noticed how acutely the temperatures affected her, doubtless due to her affinity for fire.  He was very comfortable in the brisk-but-warm-enough air of the September afternoon.  Around seventy degrees was definitely pleasant for him.  She, on the other hand, was wearing a sweater with the sleeves tugged down over the heels of her hands.  "Do you want to go inside?  Start a fire?"

She shot him a look, and he smiled.  "You . . . You want to go look for Kells, don't you?"

Staring at the marble sunflower, she bit her lip.  "I shouldn't, should I?  I mean, he . . . He needs to build his sense of independence, needs to learn that he can and should rely on himself in certain situations, and letting him explore in a careful and familiar environment is a good way for him to do that—that's what the books say, and—" Cutting herself off, she narrowed her gaze at him.  "And just what are you laughing about, Ashur Philips?"

Chuckling despite himself, Ashur shook his head.  "You sound like his mother," he replied.

"Well . . . is that . . . bad . . .?"

"Not at all," he replied, giving her another little squeeze.  "You've been reading books?"

She wrinkled her nose, apparently still a little irritated with him.  "That's how you learn things," she pointed out haughtily.

"Yes, and you also learn by doing," he said, kissing her cheek despite the prickle in her youki.  "Come on, then.  Let's go find him.  I could be an Indian, if he wants . . ."

Jessa hid behind a large rock, smiling to herself as Kells smashed his hands over his mouth to stifle his own giggles as they heard Ashur, wading through the tall grass nearby.  There wasn't a doubt in her mind that he knew exactly where they were, but he was making a good show of searching anyway.

"Daddy can't find us!" Kells whispered to her, eyes shining so brightly, his tiny body fairly shaking in the excitement of the moment.

She raised her index finger to her lips, indicating that he should be quiet as she leaned to the side, peering around the edge of the boulder as Ashur deliberately strolled in the opposite direction.  "Okay, go," she whispered to Kells, lifting him to his feet and pointing at the tree that had been deemed, 'home base'.

With a happy shriek, the boy took off at a dead sprint.  Ashur loped after him, not going nearly as fast as he could, even though he was managing to close in on Kells fast.

'You know, I don't think that it's all just play,' her youkai-voice murmured.

'Ashur's not that slow,' Jessa thought as she skirted around the boulder on her hands and knees, using his momentary distraction to her advantage.

'You're right; he isn't.  I wonder, though, if what he did with that rose bush . . . I wonder if he didn't wear himself out a little.'

She frowned as she considered that.  He didn't give any outward indication that he was tired, but then, he wouldn't, would he?

'Maybe you should just baby him a little bit later on . . . Give him a back rub or something.  You remember what Kells said, don't you . . .?'

Gnawing on her bottom lip, she frowned.  Kells was surprised when the two of them had found him, when Ashur had asked Kells if they could play, too.  "But you never play wif me, Daddy," he'd said. "You just watch me . . ."

Ashur had smiled—and yes, now that she thought about it, he had seemed a little weary around his eyes.  Then he'd taught Kells how to play tag, and now, they were playing hide and seek . . .

It was getting late, though.  They'd been running around the field for a few hours now, and they'd completely ignored the fact that dinner time had long since come and gone.  Kells, however, had seemed ridiculously happy at the idea of getting to play with both of them, and maybe Ashur hadn't had the heart to call an end to it for the day . . .

She smiled as the sound of Kells' laughter drifted to her.  He'd reached the tree, just ahead of Ashur, who grabbed the boy and tickled him without mercy.  Forgetting that she was supposed to be hiding somewhere, she sat, her smile widening as she watched the two.  Kells ducked away from Ashur, but turned and threw himself against his father's legs, his momentum enough to make Ashur stumble, and he fell back into the grass while Kells jumped on him, only to be caught and subjected to another round of tickling . . .

"Wow, you're hungry, aren't you?" Ashur asked him, sitting up and reaching over to ruffle Kells' hair.

"Yeah!" Kells hollered, ducking away from Ashur, just in case his father was set to tickle him yet again.  "My tummy's so hungry, it's angry!"

Ashur chuckled and rolled to his feet.  "Then we should probably go back and get something to eat, don't you think?"

Kells shook his head.  "But . . . But I wanna play with you more, Daddy . . ."

Scooping the boy off the ground, he settled him against his shoulder.  "We'll play again next weekend.  Is that okay?"

"You pwomise?" Kells demanded, sounding more than a little dubious.

Ashur laughed softly.  "I promise.  Now, where do you think Jessa's hiding?"

"She was behind that rock," Kells said, pointing at the old hiding place.

Ashur set Kells back on his feet.  "Why don't you go sniff her out?  You can smell her, can't you?"

She giggled when Kells lifted his face, sniffed the air so hard that she could hear him.   A moment later, he yelped and darted toward her, and she laughed as he threw himself against her.  "I found you, Jessa!" he exclaimed.  "An' Daddy said we can play again next weekend!"

"Well, then, I suppose we'll have to do that," she agreed, getting to her feet with marginal difficulty since she refused to put Kells down.

"I can take him," Ashur offered as he fell into step beside her.

"I'm all right," she assured him, glancing at him, taking note of the slightly deepened shadows under his eyes.  She did, however, let him take the stone sunflower.  "Do you want to walk, Kells?"

He bounced up and down and nodded.  "Today was the funnest day, ever!" he announced, slipping his little hands into both of theirs as he skipped along between them.

"Funnest isn't really a word, Kells," Ashur pointed out.  "But yes, it was very fun."

"It's more fun than preschool," Kells went on, his ebullience dying down.  "I don't wike preschool . . ."

He didn't see the looks that Jessa and Ashur exchanged over his head.  "I thought you said it was fun, too," Ashur ventured, careful to keep his voice from sounding overly concerned, as though he thought that Kells might stop talking if he did.

"I just don't wike it," Kells replied.  "Do I have to go, Daddy?"

"If you tell me why you don't like it, then maybe we can make it better."

Kells quickly shook his head, the change in his aura, immediate and intense, and he pulled his hand away from Ashur and turned, holding up his arms for Jessa to pick him up.  She did, hugging him close as she shot Ashur a sad little glance.  "You know you can tell your da anything—anything at all—or me . . ." she said as he tucked his head under her chin.

Kells sighed, but refused to say anything more, and Ashur frowned, slipping an arm around Jessa's waist as the three walked along, each of them lost in their own thoughts . . .