Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Cat of the Lilac Eyes ❯ Chapter 19: Twins ( Chapter 19 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sailor Mini Venus 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.18.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 254 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 01.18.2006 | Pages: 4 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 254 | Status: Completed
Shiro: Here it is! The second-to-last chapter of Cat of the Lilac Eyes. It's much longer than the previous one. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: It's the second part of the trilogy and the second-to-last chapter of said part. Please tell me that you know that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh by now. If you don't know, then that's a sad, sad thing indeed. Saying I own Yu-Gi-Oh is like saying the moon is made of cheese or that it snows in Hawaii. It just ain't gonna happen. I do, however, own all OC's used in this story.
-C-A-T--O-F--T-H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S--C-A-T--O-F--T -H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S-
Suma is still one-year-old but will soon be turning two and causing her parents plenty of trouble. The two guy’s have learned to lock up all valuable things in the house at all times. Yasu is one-year-old. Amane is seven months old. Joey and Mai’s kids- Seth, Jono, and Maiko, are six months. Yume and Bakura’s second child, Ammon Khalid, is 4 months old.
Unsurprisingly, Holly and Mariku married sometime during those many months and Holly is pregnant.
Whether or not Malik and Ashling will have children is still unknown to everyone except for the two of them and Ashling’s Guardians.
Today Ashling is meeting Mai for an overdue talk and then she has to go see her Second and Third Guardian’s.
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Ashling walks into the small coffee shop and looks around for Mai’s bright wavy blonde hair, which she figures will be the first thing she’ll see.
“Ashling!” Mai calls, waving an arm. “Hun, over here!”
Ashling hurries over to Mai, her creamy colored, off-white lightweight cloak floating out behind her, threatening to trip her up. It’s clasped on by a single golden button with the eye of Ra in the center. Underneath it she’s wearing a knee-length skirt and a off-the shoulder shirt in the same color as the cloak. Her hair is down for once and has more of a reddish tint than usual.
Mai’s wearing a v-neck light blue shirt and a darker blue jacket. She’s wearing a knee-length skirt that’s the same color as the jacket. Her hair is up in a ponytail.
“What are you wearing, Ashling?” Mai asks once the younger woman sits down.
Ashling sighs and picks up the small menu. “I’m making my rounds today. Silverfang and Brightheart want to talk to me about something.” She glances up at the waitress when she stops by their table. “One mocha and a piece of chocolate pie.” She says.
“Latte and apple pie.” Mai says without even touching her menu. “I thought you just talked to them two days ago and weren’t due for a week.”
Ashling shrugs and replies, “Something came up. And I was already going to go over there to talk to my Third Guardian, so it’s really no big deal.”
“Which one’s your Third Guardian again?” Mai asks, unable to recall the cat.
“Leona, the black leopard.” Ashling replies. “Now, lets drag this conversation away from my darling Guardians and get to whatever it is you wanted to talk to me about.”
Mai nods and sits back in her seat as the waitress brings their food and drinks. She thanks the girl and waits until she walks away before looking coolly at Ashling. “I don’t have anything specific I wanted to talk to you about, I just wanted to have a little girl time. I do live with three boys now.”
Ashling relaxes a little and sips her drink, obviously amused by Mai’s statement. “I feel for you. I have a hard enough time with Malik. I don’t know how you do it, Mai.”
“It takes a lot of time, effort, and talent.” Mai replies. “So, speaking of children…”
Ashling sighs and sinks down in her seat. “I should have known the topic would turn to this. It does every time I talk to one of the girls around here.”
“You and Malik are being rather secretive about the whole thing.” Mai says, cutting a piece of her slice of pie with her fork.
Ashling absently pokes the whipped cream on her pie with her own fork. “We… we’re trying…”
Mai frowns and sets her fork down. “Do the gods hate you two or something? Every time I turn around you two seem to have found another problem to overcome.”
Ashling laughs tonelessly. “Yeah.”
The two sit in silence for a moment. Mai eats a little of her pie while Ashling continues to poke her piece of pie.
“I’m not all that hungry right now.” Ashling says, putting a few dollars down onto the table. “I’ll catch you later, Mai.”
Mai watches as Ashling gets up and walks out of the small coffee shop and then she sighs audibly. ‘Well… I know not to try that again.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ashling’s feet carry her to a small, deserted kids park and she sits down on one of the swings, staring dismally at the ground. She sighs quietly after a few minutes. ‘Why did I react like that? I mean, maybe we’re just not ready for a kid and this is the Gods way of telling us that.’ She kicks the sand once, sending the swing swinging a little. ‘I’m not… jealous, am I?’ She frowns at this thought. ‘I mean, so what if the others have kids already. I’ve got Malik and there are some days when he acts like a kid himself. So do I for that matter. Although… thinking about it… we’re really still kids aren’t we? I mean, sure we’re twenty and some of the stuff we’ve been through… but in heart we’re still kids. Kids that were forced to grow up too quickly. Me after my brother-…’ Ashling growls softly and kicks the ground again, pushing the swing into motion. This time she keeps it going, letting her mind fly away as she gets going up really high.
Her cat-like crystal blue eyes glinting with joy, Ashling lets go of the chains and lets her self fly off the swing-set. She lands cat-like in the sand, reddish-blonde hair flying around her.
Now that she’s calmed herself down, Ashling stands back up and pushes her hair behind her slightly pointed ears. With a small smile on her face, Ashling makes her way to the zoo to chat with Silverfang and her mate, Brightheart. Once she’s solved the ‘problem’ the two tigers gave her, which was to name their cub (who Ashling gave the name Whitepaw), she goes on to visit her Third Guardian, Leona.
The black leopard greets her with several riddles. One easy, one hard, and one near impossible.
Leona growls deeply and sits down in front of Ashling, looking at the girl from inside the cage. “I come in different shapes and sizes. Part of me are curves and others are straight. You can put me anywhere you like, but there is only one place for me. What am I?”
Ashling thinks for a moment, mulling over the question. Then it hits her. “A puzzle. It’s a jigsaw puzzle.”
Leona purrs. “Very good. How about this one.” She gets up from her spot and begins pacing as she recites the next riddle. “Duels of good and evil, a fighter of good am I. Revealed beside watched words, King of the black night sky. What am I?”
Ashling frowns and thinks over the words, asking Leona to repeat it once. ‘Duels of good and evil… a fighter of good… so that’d be light, right? No… no, not necessarily. I use the shadows, as do the hikari’s and yami’s. Beside watched words? King of the black night- night. Night. It’s dark out at night. So… is it dark?’ She looks up at Leona, who’s watching her with curious eyes. “It’s dark, isn’t it.”
Once again, Leona purrs. “Correct, neko tenshi. Now for the last one. At night they come without being fetched. And by day they are lost without being stolen. My hint for you on this one is: they belong to the night.”
This one Ashling takes longer on and has to ask Leona to repeat it twice. ‘Come without being fetched… so they’re there whether you want them to be or not. Lost in day… without being stolen… so, it must be that you can’t see them during the day. Belong to the night… the night… the sky maybe? That’s the only thing that changed from night to day. So what is it… the moon or…’ Her eyes widen. ‘Of course!’ “The stars!”
“You are very wise.” Leona says. “I shall have to think of harder riddles for your next visit.”
Ashling smiles. “I have a riddle for you, Leona.”
Leona blinks, blue eyes surprised. “You do? Well, this is a treat indeed. What do you have for me?”
“What is the worst vegetable to have on a ship?”
Leona paces around thinking about the question. “It could be numerous things, but something tells me it’s an actual name of a vegetable. But what could it possibly be…?” She stops suddenly and purrs. “Ahh, you’ve found a good one, neko tenshi, but I have discovered the answer. It’s a leek.”
Ashling laughs. “Yeah, that’s right.”
Leona chuckles and walks back over to her spot in front of Ashling. “Very clever. I shall remember that one.”
Ashling stays and chats with the wise leopard for a while, telling her of her and Malik’s dilemma.
“Whatever will be, will be. Whatever won’t, won’t.” Leona says. “There is a reason for everything that happens. You just have to find that reason. What you wish will come to pass, for you have been through much.” She studies Ashling for a moment. “Young one, I believe that’s not the only thing on your mind. Something else is bothering you. It’s something that has been bothering you for a while now and yet you say nothing. What is it?”
Ashling lays down in the grass on her side, playing with a blade of grass. “You know about me being married and all and how the wedding went without any problems, right.”
“Of course.”
“It’s just… at the end when I looked out at all my friends for a moment, I could have sworn I saw someone.” Ashling says, her throat clenching.
Leona looks at the blonde girl in confusion. “Who was it, neko tenshi?”
“I think…” Ashling swallows and blinks back tears. “I could have sworn I saw my brother. I saw him standing there with a smile on his face watching me.”
“The world works in strange ways. However, I have an explanation. He wanted to show you that he’s happy for you. If I recall correctly, this isn’t the first time he’s appeared to you.” Leona says.
Ashling nods, a small smile appearing on her face when she recalls the chat she had with him about two years ago on Halloween. “Yeah. He told me he snuck out to talk to me. So, you think he snuck out again to be there for the wedding?” She questions. “That would make sense… there are times when I sense him nearby. I guess he’s my guardian angel.”
Leona chuckles. “Perhaps he is. You never really know.”
“Thanks for listening to me, Leona. You’re a real pal.”
“‘Tis no problem t’all, milady.” Leona replies, giving a cat-style bow. “Come back anytime you like. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a week.”
Ashling gets to her feet and bows. “See you later, Leona.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“I’m never asking those three for advice again.” Malik tells his wife later that night. “I swear I will never ask any of them again.”
Ashling giggles and plops down onto the bed beside him. “Really. What kind of advice did they give?”
Malik turns red and he looks away. “Something that will never be repeated by me.”
Ashling’s giggling turns into chuckling as she rolls her eyes. “Well if it’s something that you won’t repeat then I suppose I really don’t want to know.” She runs a finger down Malik’s arm. “So, anything else happen today?”
Malik shakes his head ‘no’. “What about you? What’d Silverfang and Brightheart want?”
Ashling smiles and proceeds to tell Malik about the two’s cub and how they wanted her to name it. Then she tells him about her chat with Leona and tells him the riddles to see if he can figure them out. When she’s done the two sit in comfortable silence.
“So, we have the room tonight. Marik and I dueled for it and I won.” Malik says, breaking the silence.
Ever since Holly and Marik married, the Light and Dark have played some sort of game to determine who gets the room for the first night of the week. Usually it’s Marik who wins.
Ashling squeals when Malik pins her down on the bed and begins to kiss her sensitive neck.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Holly looks up from the book she’s reading and rolls her eyes. Marik barely glances away from the TV. Ishizu and Odeon both put their earplugs in and Ishizu hands a pair to Holly and then Marik.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It’s not until mid-summer that Malik and Ashling make their first trip to the doctor to check up on the baby. It’s then that they discover they’re not going to have just one baby.
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“Twins?” Ashling repeats faintly, her eyes wide. She tightly grips Malik’s arm and he winces slightly. “A-are you sure?”
The doctor nods, a small smile on her face. “That’s right. Would you like to know the gender?”
“Easy, Ashling.” Malik whispers in her ear.
Ashling relaxes her tight grip a little and looks up at Malik, her crystal blue eyes showing her worry. “Do you want to know?”
“Only if you want to.” Malik replies.
Ashling thinks for a moment and then looks at the doctor and nods. “Yes. I- I want to know.”
Doctor Gray smiles. “Very well. You two are going to have twin boys.”
Ashling closes her eyes. ‘Twins… twin boys… I don’t believe this. I just hope… I just hope they don’t go through what I did.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“I’m fat.” Ashling says, gently poking her stomach.
Malik glances away from the vegetable’s he’s cutting, pausing for a moment so he doesn’t hurt himself. “Ashling, you’re not fat.” He says patiently.
“Yes I am!” Ashling insists. “Look at me! I’m huge!”
Malik sighs and sets down the knife. “Ashling, you’re six months pregnant with twins. You’re big but you’re not fat.”
“But-”
“No ‘buts’.” Malik cuts her off, returning to making dinner. “I thought you were looking up baby names.”
“I found one I like.” She replies. “What do you think of ‘Zahur’.”
“Zahur Ishtar…” Malik tests out the name. “Doesn’t that mean ‘a flower’.”
Ashling nods happily. “Yeah! Don’t you like it?”
Malik panics momentarily. “Um… yeah! Yes, of course!”
Ashling’s bottom lip trembles. “Y-you don’t like it do you?”
“No! I mean yes! I mean-!” Malik runs over to Ashling and hugs her before she can start crying. “I love it. It’s perfect.”
Ashling sniffs momentarily. “Really?”
Malik nods. “Yeah. Really.”
Ashling smiles. “Okay. How about Brian as a middle name?”
Malik inwardly breaths a sigh of relief. “Sounds good. Do I get to name our other son?”
Ashling nods. “Sure!”
“Malik! I smell something burning!” Ishizu calls as she passes by the kitchen.
Malik panics once more and runs over to the stove where he has somehow managed to burn the water. Ashling giggles at her husbands actions and puts away the baby book to watch him instead.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Malik bursts into the waiting room and heads straight for Ishizu. “Where is she? Is she alright? What’s going on?”
“Calm down, Malik.” Ishizu says in a calming tone. “Ashling’s just gone into labor. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“But it’s too early! She’s not due for another month!”
Joey looks up from the book he’s reading. “Relax, Malik. Everything will be just fine. Mai was a month early too, remember.”
“And you were a worried wreck as well.” Tama says, her eyes laughing. “Ryou and Duke had to hold you back to keep you from pacing and then they had to force you to sit down, remember?”
Joey has the decency to turn slightly red and then he goes straight back to reading his book.
Tama smiles up at her cousin. “Come sit down, Malik. There’s no need to worry yourself sick. It’ll do none of our nerves any good if you were to collapse from over exhaustion and stress.”
Malik numbly nods and sits down in between Joey and Tama. “Yeah… you’re right.”
Within the hour the rest of the group that can come arrives. Tama, Ryou, Bakura, Yume, Ishizu, Joey, and Serenity were there when Malik had arrived. Now Seto, Mokuba, Duke, Yugi, and Yami have joined them.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Mr. Ishtar?” One of the nurses call.
Malik gets up from his seat and goes over to the nurse. The others watch as the nurse tells Malik something and the sandy blonde-haired boy turns pale. He then shakes his head disbelievingly and runs out of the room.
“Malik, what-?” Tama gets cut off by the door shutting in her face.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“DAMN IT!” Malik screams, punching the outside of the brick hospital. Rain pours from the sky’s above, drenching him from head to toe. “Why me?! Why us?!” He looks up at the heavens, ignoring the rain. “Do you take pleasure in making our lives hell?!” He curses and once again punches the wall, albeit weakly this time. “She doesn’t deserve it… she doesn’t deserve to die. I’ll take her place!” He yells angrily. “Just don’t-” His voice falters. “Don’t take her away. I won’t be able to take care of the twins without her. Not the way they need it. Without me really knowing she’s taken a big part in my life. Even when we hated one another and were always arguing. To just see her smile……”
“Malik!” Tama yells, running out of the building, holding a black umbrella. “Malik, it’s Ashling!”
Malik looks up from the ground to see his cousin running over to him.
“Malik, Ashling’s awake! She’s gonna be just fine.” Tama says, coming up beside him. “She wants to see you. Something about not getting to scream at you at all and the fact that she needs to know what you want to name the other little boy.”
It’s as if a big weight has been taken off of Malik’s chest. “She’s alright? She’s really alright?”
Tama nods. “That’s right. I’m not too clear on why the doctors didn’t think she’d make it, but I’ll bet you anything it had something to do with her powers making the machine go haywire. Remember Yugi and the ultrasound machine?”
Malik snorts. “Yeah. He made it explode.”
“Actually, that was Yami. Yugi’s powers made it start emitting a loud, shrill beeping noise. Now lets get you inside before somebody else comes out to get us.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ashling is released the next day after careful observation from the nurses and doctors. Malik breaths a sigh of relief when they finally arrive home with the twins. The newest members of the Ishtar family have been named Zahur Brian Ishtar and Liam Kalil Ishtar.
Whether or not they’ve inherited their parent’s “danger attraction” problems will have to wait until their older. But with who they’re around, it’s doubtful that they’ll have a peaceful life.
-C-A-T--O-F--T-H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S--C-A-T--O-F--T- H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S-
Shiro: Just one more chapter left and it's basically the epilogue.
Kitsune: We know how disappointing it is to get to the end of a story, so we decided to end this one with a peek at what the kids are like when they're young. How much they'll change by the time frame the sequel is placed in I really don't know yet because Shiro refuses to tell me.
Shiro: ^-^ (waves) Que sera sera!
Kitsune: -.-;
Kaze: (rolls eyes) Ignore the crossbreed. She's been quoting Shigure Sohma from Fruits Basket all day basically. It's really starting to get on my nerves.
Bast: Hi-ka-ri! Kyle-kun made cookies!
Shiro: Cookies hmm... perhaps I should... (sneakily looks toward the kitchen) (beings singing in a tune reminiscent of Shigure's "High school girls" tune) Fresh baked cookies! Fresh baked cookies! (skips happily off to the kitchen)
Kitsune: I'm having trouble deciding if she's acting more like Shigure or Momiji. (sighs) Oh well. It really doesn't matter.
(Backstage)
Kyle: Shiro! Those are for the reviewers!
Shiro: But Bast told me I could have one, Kyle-kun!
Kyle: Bast, you didn't!
Bast: ^-^
(Back on stage)
Kitsune: U-U That's really pathetic.
Kaze: Hn.
NEXT CHAPTER- Chapter 20: Epilogue
A look at the kids when they're young. As a reference for how many years later it takes place- Suma is six-years-old. So it's been roughly four years.
Disclaimer: It's the second part of the trilogy and the second-to-last chapter of said part. Please tell me that you know that I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh by now. If you don't know, then that's a sad, sad thing indeed. Saying I own Yu-Gi-Oh is like saying the moon is made of cheese or that it snows in Hawaii. It just ain't gonna happen. I do, however, own all OC's used in this story.
-C-A-T--O-F--T-H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S--C-A-T--O-F--T -H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S-
Chapter 19: Twins
Days pass. Those days turn into weeks and those weeks into months. Nothing bad has happened and no new powers have popped up anywhere. The Ring, Rod, and Puzzle have returned to their original owners. So Ryou once again has the Ring, Malik has the Rod, and Yugi and Yami have the Puzzle.Suma is still one-year-old but will soon be turning two and causing her parents plenty of trouble. The two guy’s have learned to lock up all valuable things in the house at all times. Yasu is one-year-old. Amane is seven months old. Joey and Mai’s kids- Seth, Jono, and Maiko, are six months. Yume and Bakura’s second child, Ammon Khalid, is 4 months old.
Unsurprisingly, Holly and Mariku married sometime during those many months and Holly is pregnant.
Whether or not Malik and Ashling will have children is still unknown to everyone except for the two of them and Ashling’s Guardians.
Today Ashling is meeting Mai for an overdue talk and then she has to go see her Second and Third Guardian’s.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ashling walks into the small coffee shop and looks around for Mai’s bright wavy blonde hair, which she figures will be the first thing she’ll see.
“Ashling!” Mai calls, waving an arm. “Hun, over here!”
Ashling hurries over to Mai, her creamy colored, off-white lightweight cloak floating out behind her, threatening to trip her up. It’s clasped on by a single golden button with the eye of Ra in the center. Underneath it she’s wearing a knee-length skirt and a off-the shoulder shirt in the same color as the cloak. Her hair is down for once and has more of a reddish tint than usual.
Mai’s wearing a v-neck light blue shirt and a darker blue jacket. She’s wearing a knee-length skirt that’s the same color as the jacket. Her hair is up in a ponytail.
“What are you wearing, Ashling?” Mai asks once the younger woman sits down.
Ashling sighs and picks up the small menu. “I’m making my rounds today. Silverfang and Brightheart want to talk to me about something.” She glances up at the waitress when she stops by their table. “One mocha and a piece of chocolate pie.” She says.
“Latte and apple pie.” Mai says without even touching her menu. “I thought you just talked to them two days ago and weren’t due for a week.”
Ashling shrugs and replies, “Something came up. And I was already going to go over there to talk to my Third Guardian, so it’s really no big deal.”
“Which one’s your Third Guardian again?” Mai asks, unable to recall the cat.
“Leona, the black leopard.” Ashling replies. “Now, lets drag this conversation away from my darling Guardians and get to whatever it is you wanted to talk to me about.”
Mai nods and sits back in her seat as the waitress brings their food and drinks. She thanks the girl and waits until she walks away before looking coolly at Ashling. “I don’t have anything specific I wanted to talk to you about, I just wanted to have a little girl time. I do live with three boys now.”
Ashling relaxes a little and sips her drink, obviously amused by Mai’s statement. “I feel for you. I have a hard enough time with Malik. I don’t know how you do it, Mai.”
“It takes a lot of time, effort, and talent.” Mai replies. “So, speaking of children…”
Ashling sighs and sinks down in her seat. “I should have known the topic would turn to this. It does every time I talk to one of the girls around here.”
“You and Malik are being rather secretive about the whole thing.” Mai says, cutting a piece of her slice of pie with her fork.
Ashling absently pokes the whipped cream on her pie with her own fork. “We… we’re trying…”
Mai frowns and sets her fork down. “Do the gods hate you two or something? Every time I turn around you two seem to have found another problem to overcome.”
Ashling laughs tonelessly. “Yeah.”
The two sit in silence for a moment. Mai eats a little of her pie while Ashling continues to poke her piece of pie.
“I’m not all that hungry right now.” Ashling says, putting a few dollars down onto the table. “I’ll catch you later, Mai.”
Mai watches as Ashling gets up and walks out of the small coffee shop and then she sighs audibly. ‘Well… I know not to try that again.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ashling’s feet carry her to a small, deserted kids park and she sits down on one of the swings, staring dismally at the ground. She sighs quietly after a few minutes. ‘Why did I react like that? I mean, maybe we’re just not ready for a kid and this is the Gods way of telling us that.’ She kicks the sand once, sending the swing swinging a little. ‘I’m not… jealous, am I?’ She frowns at this thought. ‘I mean, so what if the others have kids already. I’ve got Malik and there are some days when he acts like a kid himself. So do I for that matter. Although… thinking about it… we’re really still kids aren’t we? I mean, sure we’re twenty and some of the stuff we’ve been through… but in heart we’re still kids. Kids that were forced to grow up too quickly. Me after my brother-…’ Ashling growls softly and kicks the ground again, pushing the swing into motion. This time she keeps it going, letting her mind fly away as she gets going up really high.
Her cat-like crystal blue eyes glinting with joy, Ashling lets go of the chains and lets her self fly off the swing-set. She lands cat-like in the sand, reddish-blonde hair flying around her.
Now that she’s calmed herself down, Ashling stands back up and pushes her hair behind her slightly pointed ears. With a small smile on her face, Ashling makes her way to the zoo to chat with Silverfang and her mate, Brightheart. Once she’s solved the ‘problem’ the two tigers gave her, which was to name their cub (who Ashling gave the name Whitepaw), she goes on to visit her Third Guardian, Leona.
The black leopard greets her with several riddles. One easy, one hard, and one near impossible.
Leona growls deeply and sits down in front of Ashling, looking at the girl from inside the cage. “I come in different shapes and sizes. Part of me are curves and others are straight. You can put me anywhere you like, but there is only one place for me. What am I?”
Ashling thinks for a moment, mulling over the question. Then it hits her. “A puzzle. It’s a jigsaw puzzle.”
Leona purrs. “Very good. How about this one.” She gets up from her spot and begins pacing as she recites the next riddle. “Duels of good and evil, a fighter of good am I. Revealed beside watched words, King of the black night sky. What am I?”
Ashling frowns and thinks over the words, asking Leona to repeat it once. ‘Duels of good and evil… a fighter of good… so that’d be light, right? No… no, not necessarily. I use the shadows, as do the hikari’s and yami’s. Beside watched words? King of the black night- night. Night. It’s dark out at night. So… is it dark?’ She looks up at Leona, who’s watching her with curious eyes. “It’s dark, isn’t it.”
Once again, Leona purrs. “Correct, neko tenshi. Now for the last one. At night they come without being fetched. And by day they are lost without being stolen. My hint for you on this one is: they belong to the night.”
This one Ashling takes longer on and has to ask Leona to repeat it twice. ‘Come without being fetched… so they’re there whether you want them to be or not. Lost in day… without being stolen… so, it must be that you can’t see them during the day. Belong to the night… the night… the sky maybe? That’s the only thing that changed from night to day. So what is it… the moon or…’ Her eyes widen. ‘Of course!’ “The stars!”
“You are very wise.” Leona says. “I shall have to think of harder riddles for your next visit.”
Ashling smiles. “I have a riddle for you, Leona.”
Leona blinks, blue eyes surprised. “You do? Well, this is a treat indeed. What do you have for me?”
“What is the worst vegetable to have on a ship?”
Leona paces around thinking about the question. “It could be numerous things, but something tells me it’s an actual name of a vegetable. But what could it possibly be…?” She stops suddenly and purrs. “Ahh, you’ve found a good one, neko tenshi, but I have discovered the answer. It’s a leek.”
Ashling laughs. “Yeah, that’s right.”
Leona chuckles and walks back over to her spot in front of Ashling. “Very clever. I shall remember that one.”
Ashling stays and chats with the wise leopard for a while, telling her of her and Malik’s dilemma.
“Whatever will be, will be. Whatever won’t, won’t.” Leona says. “There is a reason for everything that happens. You just have to find that reason. What you wish will come to pass, for you have been through much.” She studies Ashling for a moment. “Young one, I believe that’s not the only thing on your mind. Something else is bothering you. It’s something that has been bothering you for a while now and yet you say nothing. What is it?”
Ashling lays down in the grass on her side, playing with a blade of grass. “You know about me being married and all and how the wedding went without any problems, right.”
“Of course.”
“It’s just… at the end when I looked out at all my friends for a moment, I could have sworn I saw someone.” Ashling says, her throat clenching.
Leona looks at the blonde girl in confusion. “Who was it, neko tenshi?”
“I think…” Ashling swallows and blinks back tears. “I could have sworn I saw my brother. I saw him standing there with a smile on his face watching me.”
“The world works in strange ways. However, I have an explanation. He wanted to show you that he’s happy for you. If I recall correctly, this isn’t the first time he’s appeared to you.” Leona says.
Ashling nods, a small smile appearing on her face when she recalls the chat she had with him about two years ago on Halloween. “Yeah. He told me he snuck out to talk to me. So, you think he snuck out again to be there for the wedding?” She questions. “That would make sense… there are times when I sense him nearby. I guess he’s my guardian angel.”
Leona chuckles. “Perhaps he is. You never really know.”
“Thanks for listening to me, Leona. You’re a real pal.”
“‘Tis no problem t’all, milady.” Leona replies, giving a cat-style bow. “Come back anytime you like. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a week.”
Ashling gets to her feet and bows. “See you later, Leona.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“I’m never asking those three for advice again.” Malik tells his wife later that night. “I swear I will never ask any of them again.”
Ashling giggles and plops down onto the bed beside him. “Really. What kind of advice did they give?”
Malik turns red and he looks away. “Something that will never be repeated by me.”
Ashling’s giggling turns into chuckling as she rolls her eyes. “Well if it’s something that you won’t repeat then I suppose I really don’t want to know.” She runs a finger down Malik’s arm. “So, anything else happen today?”
Malik shakes his head ‘no’. “What about you? What’d Silverfang and Brightheart want?”
Ashling smiles and proceeds to tell Malik about the two’s cub and how they wanted her to name it. Then she tells him about her chat with Leona and tells him the riddles to see if he can figure them out. When she’s done the two sit in comfortable silence.
“So, we have the room tonight. Marik and I dueled for it and I won.” Malik says, breaking the silence.
Ever since Holly and Marik married, the Light and Dark have played some sort of game to determine who gets the room for the first night of the week. Usually it’s Marik who wins.
Ashling squeals when Malik pins her down on the bed and begins to kiss her sensitive neck.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Holly looks up from the book she’s reading and rolls her eyes. Marik barely glances away from the TV. Ishizu and Odeon both put their earplugs in and Ishizu hands a pair to Holly and then Marik.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
It’s not until mid-summer that Malik and Ashling make their first trip to the doctor to check up on the baby. It’s then that they discover they’re not going to have just one baby.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Twins?” Ashling repeats faintly, her eyes wide. She tightly grips Malik’s arm and he winces slightly. “A-are you sure?”
The doctor nods, a small smile on her face. “That’s right. Would you like to know the gender?”
“Easy, Ashling.” Malik whispers in her ear.
Ashling relaxes her tight grip a little and looks up at Malik, her crystal blue eyes showing her worry. “Do you want to know?”
“Only if you want to.” Malik replies.
Ashling thinks for a moment and then looks at the doctor and nods. “Yes. I- I want to know.”
Doctor Gray smiles. “Very well. You two are going to have twin boys.”
Ashling closes her eyes. ‘Twins… twin boys… I don’t believe this. I just hope… I just hope they don’t go through what I did.’
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“I’m fat.” Ashling says, gently poking her stomach.
Malik glances away from the vegetable’s he’s cutting, pausing for a moment so he doesn’t hurt himself. “Ashling, you’re not fat.” He says patiently.
“Yes I am!” Ashling insists. “Look at me! I’m huge!”
Malik sighs and sets down the knife. “Ashling, you’re six months pregnant with twins. You’re big but you’re not fat.”
“But-”
“No ‘buts’.” Malik cuts her off, returning to making dinner. “I thought you were looking up baby names.”
“I found one I like.” She replies. “What do you think of ‘Zahur’.”
“Zahur Ishtar…” Malik tests out the name. “Doesn’t that mean ‘a flower’.”
Ashling nods happily. “Yeah! Don’t you like it?”
Malik panics momentarily. “Um… yeah! Yes, of course!”
Ashling’s bottom lip trembles. “Y-you don’t like it do you?”
“No! I mean yes! I mean-!” Malik runs over to Ashling and hugs her before she can start crying. “I love it. It’s perfect.”
Ashling sniffs momentarily. “Really?”
Malik nods. “Yeah. Really.”
Ashling smiles. “Okay. How about Brian as a middle name?”
Malik inwardly breaths a sigh of relief. “Sounds good. Do I get to name our other son?”
Ashling nods. “Sure!”
“Malik! I smell something burning!” Ishizu calls as she passes by the kitchen.
Malik panics once more and runs over to the stove where he has somehow managed to burn the water. Ashling giggles at her husbands actions and puts away the baby book to watch him instead.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Malik bursts into the waiting room and heads straight for Ishizu. “Where is she? Is she alright? What’s going on?”
“Calm down, Malik.” Ishizu says in a calming tone. “Ashling’s just gone into labor. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“But it’s too early! She’s not due for another month!”
Joey looks up from the book he’s reading. “Relax, Malik. Everything will be just fine. Mai was a month early too, remember.”
“And you were a worried wreck as well.” Tama says, her eyes laughing. “Ryou and Duke had to hold you back to keep you from pacing and then they had to force you to sit down, remember?”
Joey has the decency to turn slightly red and then he goes straight back to reading his book.
Tama smiles up at her cousin. “Come sit down, Malik. There’s no need to worry yourself sick. It’ll do none of our nerves any good if you were to collapse from over exhaustion and stress.”
Malik numbly nods and sits down in between Joey and Tama. “Yeah… you’re right.”
Within the hour the rest of the group that can come arrives. Tama, Ryou, Bakura, Yume, Ishizu, Joey, and Serenity were there when Malik had arrived. Now Seto, Mokuba, Duke, Yugi, and Yami have joined them.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“Mr. Ishtar?” One of the nurses call.
Malik gets up from his seat and goes over to the nurse. The others watch as the nurse tells Malik something and the sandy blonde-haired boy turns pale. He then shakes his head disbelievingly and runs out of the room.
“Malik, what-?” Tama gets cut off by the door shutting in her face.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
“DAMN IT!” Malik screams, punching the outside of the brick hospital. Rain pours from the sky’s above, drenching him from head to toe. “Why me?! Why us?!” He looks up at the heavens, ignoring the rain. “Do you take pleasure in making our lives hell?!” He curses and once again punches the wall, albeit weakly this time. “She doesn’t deserve it… she doesn’t deserve to die. I’ll take her place!” He yells angrily. “Just don’t-” His voice falters. “Don’t take her away. I won’t be able to take care of the twins without her. Not the way they need it. Without me really knowing she’s taken a big part in my life. Even when we hated one another and were always arguing. To just see her smile……”
“Malik!” Tama yells, running out of the building, holding a black umbrella. “Malik, it’s Ashling!”
Malik looks up from the ground to see his cousin running over to him.
“Malik, Ashling’s awake! She’s gonna be just fine.” Tama says, coming up beside him. “She wants to see you. Something about not getting to scream at you at all and the fact that she needs to know what you want to name the other little boy.”
It’s as if a big weight has been taken off of Malik’s chest. “She’s alright? She’s really alright?”
Tama nods. “That’s right. I’m not too clear on why the doctors didn’t think she’d make it, but I’ll bet you anything it had something to do with her powers making the machine go haywire. Remember Yugi and the ultrasound machine?”
Malik snorts. “Yeah. He made it explode.”
“Actually, that was Yami. Yugi’s powers made it start emitting a loud, shrill beeping noise. Now lets get you inside before somebody else comes out to get us.”
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Ashling is released the next day after careful observation from the nurses and doctors. Malik breaths a sigh of relief when they finally arrive home with the twins. The newest members of the Ishtar family have been named Zahur Brian Ishtar and Liam Kalil Ishtar.
Whether or not they’ve inherited their parent’s “danger attraction” problems will have to wait until their older. But with who they’re around, it’s doubtful that they’ll have a peaceful life.
-C-A-T--O-F--T-H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S--C-A-T--O-F--T- H-E--L-I-L-A-C--E-Y-E-S-
Shiro: Just one more chapter left and it's basically the epilogue.
Kitsune: We know how disappointing it is to get to the end of a story, so we decided to end this one with a peek at what the kids are like when they're young. How much they'll change by the time frame the sequel is placed in I really don't know yet because Shiro refuses to tell me.
Shiro: ^-^ (waves) Que sera sera!
Kitsune: -.-;
Kaze: (rolls eyes) Ignore the crossbreed. She's been quoting Shigure Sohma from Fruits Basket all day basically. It's really starting to get on my nerves.
Bast: Hi-ka-ri! Kyle-kun made cookies!
Shiro: Cookies hmm... perhaps I should... (sneakily looks toward the kitchen) (beings singing in a tune reminiscent of Shigure's "High school girls" tune) Fresh baked cookies! Fresh baked cookies! (skips happily off to the kitchen)
Kitsune: I'm having trouble deciding if she's acting more like Shigure or Momiji. (sighs) Oh well. It really doesn't matter.
(Backstage)
Kyle: Shiro! Those are for the reviewers!
Shiro: But Bast told me I could have one, Kyle-kun!
Kyle: Bast, you didn't!
Bast: ^-^
(Back on stage)
Kitsune: U-U That's really pathetic.
Kaze: Hn.
NEXT CHAPTER- Chapter 20: Epilogue
A look at the kids when they're young. As a reference for how many years later it takes place- Suma is six-years-old. So it's been roughly four years.