InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Metempsychosis ❯ Loose Ends ( Chapter 74 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Kells hopped up onto the bed and yanked the blankets up to his chin with a soft giggle as the lynx kitten leapt up to join him.  Jessa laughed and ruffled his hair.  "Did you brush your teeth?"

Giving one very large nod, Kells giggled again.  "So did Puff-Puff."

Puff-Puff was the name that Kells had decided on for the lynx.

Leaning in the doorway, Ashur chuckled.  "Puff-Puff's going to sleep in your bed?" he asked, levering himself away from the frame and ambling forward, hands dug deep into his pockets.

"Yeah," Kells insisted, giving the kitten a little hug.  "He says he'll be good."

Ashur nodded.  "All right . . ."

"Can we read Leon the Lion?"

"How about we talk tonight instead of reading a story," Ashur suggested.

Kells didn't look very impressed by this idea, but he nodded.  "Oka-a-a-ay . . ."

Hunkering down beside the bed, Ashur reached over to ruffle the boy's hair.  "How did you feel about Billy and Tate's visit earlier?"

That question gave him pause, and Kells' little face scrunched up as he considered his father's question.  The boys, along with their parents, had come over earlier in the day to apologize, which, in Jessa's estimation, was probably something the parents had insisted upon, more than a true sense of being sorry.  Kells, however, had seemed pleased enough with the gesture, so Jessa figured that was all that really mattered, even if she was completely biased about it.

Ashur, however, had informed the parents in no uncertain terms that the circumstances of Kells' parentage was really none of their business.  Jessa wasn't sure if they were upset that they were called out on their gossip because he was the region's general, or if they genuinely felt bad for their parts in it, and she didn't care, as long as they'd learned their lessons, the lot of them . . .

"Well, I'm glad they're sorry," Kells finally said.

Ashur nodded slowly.  "Good . . . but let me ask you: do you want to go back to school or do you want us to find another one?"

Kells thought that one over, tapping his chin thoughtfully with the tip of his index finger.  "I do like Miss Tanner . . ." he ventured.

"Do you?"

He nodded.  "An' she asks me how my daddy is every day!"

"I'll bet she does," Jessa muttered under her breath.

Ashur smiled over Kells' head at her, and she narrowed her eyes.

"And remember, tomorrow, Uncle Ben and Aunt Charity are coming with the girls.  They'll be staying with you while we go to Ireland and get Jessa's estate settled," Ashur went on.

Kells nodded.  "'Cause Puff-Puff can't go on a pwane!"

Ashur chuckled.  "That's right."

Kells yawned, snuggling down under his blankets as the lynx kitten curled up against him.  "An' Nadi and Emmi can talk to him, too," he murmured, his voice growing a little thick as sleepiness set in.  That was entirely likely since the girls were cougar-youkai, which probably also meant that Ben ought to be able to talk to the lynx, as well.

Ashur leaned down, kissed the boy's forehead.  Jessa did the same, sparing another moment to rub Puff-Puff's head before letting Ashur take her hand to tug her out of the bedroom.

"I think I need to stop by the school and have a talk with Miss Tanner," Jessa remarked as Ashur led her down the hallway toward their room.

He chuckled.  "She's just being friendly," he pointed out.

She snorted, shoving a long lock of hair out of her face.  "Aye, and she can be a bit less friendly with ye.”

"And just why would I be interested in someone like her when I have a woman like you already?" he countered mildly.

She blushed slightly, but smiled.  A moment later, however, the smile faded, and she arched an eyebrow at him instead.  "Ashur?"

"Yes?"

Pursing her lips, she crossed her arms over her chest and stomped over to the closet to finish packing the things she was taking with her to Ireland.  "How many women have you been with?"

She heard him still, felt the way his youki took on a rather guarded air.  "That is a loaded question," he told her.

She made a face that he didn't see since she had her back to him.  "And you said that I should be comfortable asking you anythin’."

He sighed.  "I did say that, didn't I?"

"You did."

Another sigh.  "A . . . few," he muttered, his tone indicating that he was hoping she'd leave it at that.

She wrinkled her nose as she pivoted on her heel and stared at him.  "When a man says he's been with lots of women, it means that he hasna.  If a man says, 'a few', then it means he's a tramp.  Are you a tramp, Ashur Philips?"

He considered that for a moment, then he sighed, slowly rubbing his forehead in a decidedly nervous kind of way.  "How about if I said that the only woman I've been with since meeting you is you?"

"Oh, my God!" she half-whimpered, covering her face with her hands.  "You're a whore!"

"Whore is a rather strong word," he protested.  "I mean, if you thought about it in terms of how old I am versus how many . . . It's a much lower percentage, and . . ." He grimaced.  "I'm not helping, am I?"

She snorted.  "No, ye're no’," she told him.

Heaving a sigh, he wandered over to her, slipped his arms around her to draw her close.  She resisted him for a minute, but finally let him.  "I only want you, Jessa.  You know that," he told her.

She made a face, looked rather chagrined.  "It's no’ that," she said, slowly slipping her arms up around his neck.  "It's just the idea that those women . . . That they know what you look like underneath your clothes . . ."

Ashur winced.  "If I could go back in time, I'd—"

She pushed against him to pin him with a rather dark look.  "How would you like it if there were a bunch of men out there that knew what I looked like naked?"

He snorted before he could stop himself.  "I'd kill them all," he grumbled.

She arched an eyebrow to emphasize her point, and he sighed.

"Tell me what I can do to make you feel better," he said in obvious effort to placate her.

She shook her head since there really wasn't anything he could do about it, letting her forehead rest against his shoulder despite the slight turmoil that still unsettled her.  She couldn't help it, she supposed.  Logically, she knew well enough that she really couldn't hold his past liaisons against him, especially given that he'd lived centuries before she was ever even a second thought.  That was of very little comfort, however, when the insular thought was enough to make her want to rip something to shreds—or burn things to a cinder . . .

"I'm sorry," he said, and he actually sounded sincere, which only served to make her feel just a little worse for her accusations.  "If I could take all those times back, I would.  I really would . . ."

She sighed.  "As long as it won't be happening again," she grumbled.

He chuckled softly.  "That will never be an issue, you know.  You're the only one I want—the only one I'll ever want . . ."

Leaning against him for another long moment, she let out a deep breath, savoring the absolute sense of security that he offered her, the understated feeling that she was exactly where she wanted to be . . . The emotion was heady, almost frightening in its totality, wrapping around her, affording her a sense of well-being that was entirely hard to fathom, and yet . . .

"Ashur?"

"Hmm?"

She closed her eyes, her hand, resting on his chest, listening to the sound of his heart beating.  "I . . . I think you should take me to bed now . . ."

He chuckled—an entirely breathy sort of sound.  "Is that right . . .?"

She nodded, snuggling against him, letting her fingers trace tiny circles idly against his skin.  "I do," she allowed.

His response was a soft groan, a deep sigh, as he scooped her up and carried her to the bed . . .


"These are going to turn out so nicely," Meredith Solange exclaimed as she packed up her camera and tools.  "Between you three and the shots I got of Kells and the girls?  Ah!" she gasped in a show of rather blatant melodramatics, pausing long enough to press her hands against her chest, rolling her eyes toward the heavens.  Then she clapped her hands, her bright yellow curls, bouncing with her exuberance.  "I can't wait to get back and to start processing them!"  Slipping the black canvas travel bag over her shoulder, she held a hand out to Jessa.  "You've got a gorgeous family, Jessa!" she insisted.

"Thank you . . . I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pictures," Jessa said.  Since Ben and Charity had arrived just before the photographer, they'd decided to do some with the children together and with both families, too, and there were a few of just Ben, Ashur, and Kells that she was looking forward to seeing, as well as some of Charity, Jessa, and the girls, too . . .

"I'll get these edited and ready for you all as fast as I can," Meredith said, grasping Jessa's hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

"There's no rush," Jessa insisted with a smile.  "We're getting ready to leave for Ireland shortly, and I'm not sure how long we'll be gone."

"I'll email you when the proofs are ready," she assured her.  "I must say, this has been the most fun I've had on a shoot in a while!  It was so nice to meet you all!  You guys have a safe trip!  If I get back home fast enough, I might be able to process one or two in time for you to see before you take off!"

Jessa smiled as she watched the exuberant woman go as Ashur slipped an arm around her waist.  "Did you have a good time?"

She nodded.  "I did," she agreed.  "I think Kells and Puff-Puff had more fun, though."

Ashur chuckled, mostly because he'd very obviously enjoyed Ben's not-so-welcome reaction from the lynx in question.  Puff-Puff loved the girls right off, rubbing against their ankles, enjoying their squealing attention.  Ben, on the other hand . . .

Pressing her fingertips against her lips to keep from laughing outright, Jessa cleared her throat.  Ben had tried to greet the kitten by hunkering down before him.  The lynx, however, had hopped back, hissing, balling himself up in righteous indignation into a little tuft of poufy fur, spitting and yowling, and trying to smack Ben's hand when he reached out slowly to pet him.  Jessa figured that it was probably because the kitten recognized that Ben was an unfamiliar panther.  Ashur had said about the same thing out loud, and in the end, Ben had grasped Puff-Puff by the scruff of the neck and slowly held him at eye level, uttering a few terse sounds from low in his throat.  In the end, the kitten had finally acquiesced, albeit rather stiffly, and now, he refrained from showing open hostility, but he did take care to give Ben a very wide berth . . .

"We have to leave for the airport in about an hour," Ashur remarked.  "Do you need to pack anything last minute?"

She shook her head.  "I'm all ready," she told him.  "Nora's got her things together, too."

Ashur nodded.  Ben and Charity had brought Eddie along to take over for Nora while they were away.  Nora had decided that it might be best to come with them, given that they didn't want to encounter any trouble in trying to enter Dunborough.  Nora, as the housekeeper there, would be allowed in without question, so, if it came to that, she could sneak the two of them onto the estate without drawing any notice from the local authorities.  She'd said that they routinely came around to make sure that no one was trying to sneak onto the estate without permission, which really just meant that they drove up the long and winding driveway and came to the door to ask Nora if there was anyone else there, which there never was.

The only bad thing about the impromptu trip was that Ashur had said that he was expecting a few horses to be delivered any day—horses he'd ordered while she was in New York City with Myrna.  He hadn't really told her anything else about them, and he was acting rather suspicious, if she were completely honest, but he'd also told her that they were a gift for her, so she'd grudgingly left it at that.

It was her general hope that it wouldn't take long to get things straightened out in Ireland.  After all, if her father did have a copy of the will in the family vault, then Ashur was right: there wasn't a thing that anyone, including Ian MacDonnough, could say about it, and, failing that, then Ashur was her mate, so he ought to be granted full access to her estate, anyway.

About the only thing that couldn't be accomplished on this trip, though, was the official transfer of her father's title, but they'd have to be married for that to be done, and, as far as Jessa could tell, the thought of marriage hadn't actually occurred to Ashur yet.

Even then, she was youkai, as was he, and in their world, the mating was far more binding than a marriage ever would be.  She smiled to herself, turning toward him, resting her hand on his chest.  He raised an eyebrow in silent question, and she laughed softly.  "Do you think that we can convince Kells to spend a bit of time with us before we leave?  I mean, he's so excited . . ."

He chuckled, slipping his arms around her fully.  "Kells!" he called.

The boy dashed over with Puff-Puff fast on his heels.  "Yeah?"

Stepping back just far enough to hold out his arms, he chuckled again when Kells launched himself off of the ground, only to be caught securely against his father's shoulder.  "Mommy wants to spend some time with you before we have to leave for the airport.  Would that be all right with you?"

Kells nodded happily and immediately leaned away from Ashur, holding his arms out toward Jessa.  She took him and kissed his cheek before cuddling him against her shoulder.  "I'll miss you, Mommy," Kells told her.

Sinking down on the sofa, Jessa ruffled his hair and gave him a little squeeze.  "I'll miss you, too," she told him.

"An' Puff-Puff will miss you, too!" he exclaimed.

She laughed and reached down to stroke the kitten's head.  "And the two of you are going to be on your best behavior for Ben and Charity?"

He nodded one great nod.  "I pwomise!"

Ashur sat down beside her and rolled his eyes when Puff-Puff decided to hop into his lap.  "Good," he said, idly rubbing the lynx kitten.

"Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

Kells giggled.  "Are you gonna bring me back a present?"

Jessa laughed and hugged the boy close.  "Of course!  We'll bring back something for you and the girls, too."

"And Puff-Puff?"

Ashur heaved a sigh, but Jessa didn't miss the amusement lingering in the depths of his gaze.  "And something for Puff-Puff, too," he agreed.

Kells thought that over.  "And Aunt Chaiwwy?"

"Sure," he said.

"And Uncle Ben?"

Ashur snorted.  "Now you're pressing your luck."

"But Uncle Ben should get a present, too!" Kells insisted.

Ashur's lips twitched just slightly as he shot Jessa a quick glance.  "Okay, sure.  I'll pick up a gift card from a local shop for your uncle."

Kells seemed satisfied with that.  Jessa slowly shook her head despite the smile that tugged on her lips . . .