InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Purity Redux: Metempsychosis ❯ Metempsychosis ( Chapter 88 )

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

"Daddy!"

Ashur didn't open his eyes.

"Da-a-addy!"

Jessa giggled.

"He smells fear, Jessa," he murmured into her ear, which only made her giggle harder.  "Ignore him, and he'll let us sleep in a little longer . . ."

"But Daddy!  It's Christmas!  There're presents!  Da-a-a-a-addy!"  Grabbing the heavy duvet, he gave a mighty tug.  Puff-Puff grabbed on beside Kells and yanked, too.  "C'mon, Daddy!  C'mon, Mommy!  Santa found us!"

Letting out a deep breath, Ashur gave up when Jessa squirmed free and reached for her robe.  "Come on, sleepy head," she said.  "Kells wants his gifts!"

Ashur grumbled something unintelligible but swung his legs off the bed and stood up.  "Go on down, Kells," he said.  "Just your stocking until your mom and I get down there."

The boy squealed in excitement and took off with the lynx, hot on his heels.

"You can't be grumpy on Christmas," she told him.

Stifling a wide yawn, Ashur shook his head.  "This wouldn't be an issue if you hadn't kept me up all night, Jessa," he pointed out.

She blushed as she tied the robe closed and reached for her hairbrush that lay on her nightstand.  "That wasna my fault . . . It's because I'm pregnant . . ."

He snorted, but grinned as he took the brush from her and gently ran it through her hair.  "Excuses, excuses," he teased.

She turned her head to kiss him on the cheek.  "Are you going downstairs like that?"

He sighed again, handing her back the brush so that he could grab a pair of pants and a shirt from the wardrobe.  "I thought I'd wait for you to go after Kells, then I'd just slip back in bed," he said, only half-teasing.

Jessa rolled her eyes, turning from side to side as she examined her profile in the standing mirror.  "Do you think I'm showing yet?"

Pausing as he pulled up his slacks, he grunted.  "Nope."

She made a face.  "Maybe a little . . ."

"Not even slightly."

She heaved a sigh.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and tugging her toward the door.  "You think Nora has some coffee on yet?"

"Maybe . . ."

"Hopefully."

She giggled.  "Ashur?"

"Hmm?"

"Next Christmas, we'll have two babies . . ."

He spared a moment to smile at her.  "We will."

She sighed dreamily as she followed him down the stairs.  "Aine . . ."

"You know, just because your father chose that name doesn't mean we have to use it," he told her.

She snorted.  "You cannot deny a dead man," she countered.  "It's bad form."

He chuckled, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to kiss her.  "All right.  You win."

She gazed up at him, her smile still lingering in her eyes.  Slowly, though, that smile faded as she bit her lip.

He grimaced inwardly.  "Don't worry, Jessa.  We'll protect her."

Jessa tried to smile.  It didn't really reach her eyes.  "You're sure we can?  A phoenix . . ."

"I told you, right?  I already talked to Cain and the others—even Sesshoumaru.  They're going to help us."

She didn't look convinced.  "But . . . What if she's not?  What if . . .?  What if Nora's wrong?  It's possible, isn't it?  That she's mistaken?"

"Even if she isn't," he assured her, "it'll be okay, I promise.  You trust me?"

She stared at him for another long moment, but she finally nodded, and, just for a breath, she remembered that time when he'd asked her that same question—and the idea that she hadn't been able to answer him; not back then . . . "I do," she said.

He touched her cheek.  "Good."

A crash of something echoed out of the great hall, and Jessa grimaced.  "You don't think that was the aquarium we bought for his room, do you?" she asked.

Ashur groaned, but turned on his heel to investigate the noise.


Ashur stepped into the solar, immediately spotting Jessa, drowsing on a delicate, ivory brocade chaise lounge chair with Kells wrapped in her arms and Puff-Puff curled up at their feet, and he smiled.

Luckily, Kells had only dropped a box on the tempered glass topped coffee table, so nothing had broken, thankfully.  They’d spent the morning, watching Kells open his gifts—gifts that they’d either have to figure out, how to ship back to Canada or that they’d have to leave behind since some of them were big, though the aforementioned aquarium was going to stay in his room—Jessa’s old room—and would be attended to daily by the housekeeping staff that Jessa would have to hire before they could return home.

Then, he'd had to field a couple phone calls—one from Ben just wishing them a merry Christmas, and one from Devlin about a case he was looking into.  Then he'd gotten waylaid by Nora, who wanted to know where they wanted to take tea since dinner wouldn't actually be ready for a while longer.

Retrieving a blanket off the back of a nearby chair, he carefully tucked it around his snoozing family, sparing a moment to stare at them, smiling softly as he played with her hair, so vibrant, so bright . . . Kells looked entirely content, just to be near her, and Ashur chuckled quietly to himself.  Why wouldn't he be?  Ashur quite liked to be close to her, too, so he couldn't fault the child for that, either . . .

Glancing over at the bank of windows, he was surprised to see the fat, white flakes, drifting down from the sky.  Jessa had said that it didn't actually snow here very much, and usually didn't ever until at least mid-January.  He didn't know if it would stick or not, but he'd take it, either way.

It was kind of a Christmas miracle, wasn't it?

'Getting awfully sappy in your thoughts lately, aren't you, Ashur?'

'Ashur?  Since when do you call me, 'Ashur'?'

His youkai-voice grunted.  'You weren't Ashur before.  You were trying, sure, but you were still stuck in the mire of Muira Kyouhei.  You were still Kyouhei.'

'What does that mean?'

'She saved you—changed you—reminded you that life could be beautiful . . . Then again, maybe she didn't remind you.  Maybe you really never realized it on your own.  Maybe she taught you about the beauty of life.  Isn't that why you chose that name?  You became Ash—you burnt those bridges a long time ago, but you didn't become Ashur until you met her—She's your new beginning, and . . . and it's about damn time.'

'About damn time . . .'

It was true, wasn't it?  On that day so long ago—the day he'd chosen the only real path he had—he'd let go of a part of himself, had given a part of his soul to Kells without so much as a second thought, and he never had regretted that.  He still didn't.  But it had left a void in him; something he had no idea how to fill.

But Jessa . . .

It wasn't about filling that void, was it?  Because she'd given him a part of herself, and that's what had completed him, only she'd done it so quietly, so gently, that he hadn't even realized it . . .

'Metempsychosis.  That's what they call it.'

'Metempsychosis . . . The transmigration of the soul . . .'  He nodded.  'So, you're saying that I've finally earned the right to be Ashur . . .'

'Something like that.  Besides . . .'

'Besides?'

'She . . . She was well worth waiting for, don't you think?'

His smile widened, savoring the feeling of complete freedom—a freedom he hadn't felt in so very long—if he ever really had before—until Jessa.  His youkai-voice wanted to know if she was worth waiting for . . . Staring at her, holding the precious life in her arms, cradling the equally precious life in her belly . . .

Yes, she most definitely was.