Ishinohana was packed with exorcists when Rin and Daphne arrived that night because Daphne had made the mistake of telling Shura to get "everyone together" and Shura was pretty much everyone's drinking buddy. A big chorus went up when they walked through the door, and Shura herself was quick to find them, throw her arms around their shoulders, and lead them to a more private booth in the corner where Shiemi and Yukio were already seated.
"I'll get your drinks," she said and gave their shoulders a slap before sauntering off.
"She'll be awhile," Yukio grumbled as Rin slid into the booth next to him. "Took her thirty minutes to bring ours."
"It's not bad Shura has so many friends," Shiemi said. "She just got distracted is all." Shiemi offered a particular smile to Rin and Daphne once they were seated—one that was kind of sad and a little bit knowing. "How are you both?"
Rin looked to Daphne for a cue. Lately, Shiemi's over-sweetness had made Daphne pretty prickly, but she offered a genuine smile and nodded rather than going stiff.
"So much better," Daphne said.
Shiemi heaved a sigh of relief. Her eyes sparkled and she nodded eagerly. Those bright eyes flicked to Rin, a question in them if he felt the same as Daphne. Rin smiled. The world was going to shit, as usual, but he did feel better then than he had in weeks. Circumstances were grim, sure, but his and Daphne's perspective on them had shifted.
"Yeah, good," he said, nodding, at which Shiemi heaved another sigh. "How are you guys?"
Shiemi was quick with a nod and a smile of her own. "We're good, too, aren't we, Yuki?"
Yukio let a slow breath out through his nose and drank from his glass in a way that suggested otherwise, but Shiemi continued, not noticing.
"The garden is all put back together," she said. "It took a while for a few of the plants to heal, but they're on the mend."
"We had to buy dirt," Yukio said through his teeth. "Dirt. We paid money for dirt."
"Greenman left a big hole, huh?" Daphne said. Her words were peppered with a bit of a sting, just subtle enough to do the job but not dampen the atmosphere. It was a reminder that the Greenman had done damage in other areas, areas less fixable than a garden, but a reminder that let Shiemi and Yukio reach that conclusion on their own.
"Has Mephisto been giving you guys hell?" Yukio asked, changing the subject.
Rin and Daphne exchanged expressions.
"Not really," Rin replied. "Why? Has he been after you?"
Yukio nodded, taking a long draw off his drink. "He's only been back for a day and he's already initiated a bunch of new protocols. Had me running drills all afternoon."
"Even I've been asked to develop new pharmaceuticals," Shiemi added. "He's got most of the high level exorcists working on one thing or another."
"He didn't give you two anything?" Yukio asked.
Daphne shook her head. "No."
Yukio pursed his lips, a question there, but Shura came back with a feast of drinks and food and dumped it all onto the table.
"Pretzels, for Daphne," she said, sliding a basket of soft pretzel sticks and a beer Daphne's way. "Chips and dip for the table." She pushed a massive plate of tortilla chips and like seven different dips into the middle. "Beer for all. And the rest of the food is yours, Rin."
A basket of onion rings, two servings of cheese fries, a French dip sandwich, and a plate of stuffed mushrooms arrived in front of him. Rin looked up at Shura, his stomach already rumbling.
"God bless you."
Shura laughed, plopping into the booth next to Daphne. "I know my boy," she said, pointing at him over the rim of her glass. She took a sip, then said, "Tuck in."
Yukio snatched a few cheese fries, so Rin squawked at him, which left his mushrooms defenseless against Shiemi. He pulled all the food closer to him to try and get his arms around the plates, but even then, Shura was able to grab a couple of onion rings.
"You said these were for me," he complained, smacking Yukio's hand away when he went for more cheese fries.
"You can share your free food, Greedy," Shura replied. She glanced at Daphne who had claimed her pretzel sticks but not her beer, and frowned. "Wrong kind?" she asked, flicking her eyes to the drink.
Daphne sat up. "Oh. No. Actually…I'm not drinking."
Curious silence answered the statement on one hand, and on the other—Rin's—startled apprehension. They were going to do this now? He swallowed his mouthful of cheese fries just as Daphne said, "I'm pregnant."
Stunned silence this time. Shura, Yukio, and Shiemi all stared at them, their mouths collectively hanging open. Then, like a rubber band snapping, the silence broke with three things at once—Yukio asking, "This is a good thing, right?", Shiemi clapping her hands together over her mouth and letting out a joyful squeal, and Shura straight-up bursting into messy tears and grabbing Daphne round the neck for a bone-crushing hug.
"Yes, it's a good thing," Daphne replied, laughing a little as she patted Shura's shoulder. "We planned it."
Yukio nodded. "Good." A smile crossed his mouth, and he looked to Rin. "Congratulations."
Rin returned the smile. "Thanks."
"A baby!" Shiemi cried. "Oh my goodness, I'm so excited!"
Shura just wailed into Daphne's ear. Then she started blubbering unintelligible phrases with a few sensible words here and there like "baby" and "happy." Watching Shura cry made Shiemi a little misty, and soon she was wiping away a few soft tears of her own, laughing at herself and the spectacle. It made them all chuckle, and Shura sat up to pull herself together, wiping snot from her face.
"W-when are you due?" she asked and then cleared her throat.
"We don't know," Daphne replied. "We haven't been to a doctor yet or anything."
"Will you let us know?" Shiemi said. "As soon as you do?"
A joyful pink took over Daphne's cheeks and she smiled the most beautiful smile Rin had ever seen on her face. She nodded at Shiemi.
"Of course. Going by rough estimate, the baby will probably arrive in March."
At that, Shura burst into tears all over again. She wailed, her head tipped back and her face toward the ceiling, her mouth wide open and big, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away with sloppy hands that were still greasy from the onion rings. Then she grabbed Daphne in another too-powerful hug and bawled into her shoulder.
Daphne just laughed. She turned her face toward Rin and smiled—quiet, confident, calm. Then she mouthed the words, "I love you," and made a soft smile spread out on Rin's face as well. He nodded—me too, but you—and reached for her hand. Shura sat up the next second.
"W-we gotta do shots," she blubbered, prompting a laugh from Yukio. "But not you, Daphne. Sorry." She got up from the table, blowing her nose into a napkin. "I'll get you a soda."
Squaring her shoulders, Shura left the table. The group chuckled as they watched her go. Shiemi reached over and took Daphne's other hand to grab her attention, her eyes twinkling.
"So are you hoping for a boy or a girl?"
Later, in the bathroom, Rin was washing his hands when the door opened and the music in the bar got louder for a second as Yukio came in. They nodded at each other, but Yukio didn't approach any of the stalls. He just stood and looked thoughtfully at the tile for a long time while Rin dried his hands.
"What's up?" Rin asked.
Yukio shook his head. He drew in a breath and let it out slow. Then he lifted his gaze from the floor to Rin.
"You're both crazy," he said with a smile.
Rin laughed. "I know."
Yukio held his gaze—serious in that way that only Yukio could be. "I'm happy for you."
"Thanks."
Truth be told, Rin was still nervous. About a lot of things. For one, until they went to a doctor, they couldn't be sure if Daphne was pregnant or if the test was a false positive. If that was the case, well, they'd just keep trying, and Shura could sob all over again when they were finally able to deliver real news. But if it wasn't a false positive—if Daphne was pregnant—that meant his life was about to change in a very big, very real, very permanent way. And while it might have been a change he wanted, could he ever be certain of his ability to handle it?
"Nine months seems like a long time," Yukio mused, "but it'll be over before you know it."
Rin could only swallow and nod. His gaze flicked briefly to the floor until he felt Yukio's hand on his shoulder and he looked at his brother instead.
"For what it's worth, I…I think you'll make a great dad."
The words made Rin's throat cinch. A couple of tears welled up in his eyes and he smiled, laughing when they spilled over. Yukio laughed, too, giving Rin's shoulder a squeeze. Rin pulled him into a hug. They were hugging in a bathroom in a bar, and that was kind of weird, but Rin didn't care. He held onto his brother in one brief, sincere moment of affection.
"Thank you," he said.
At home that night, Daphne tested her connection with Kurikara while Rin was in the shower. She couldn't believe how different the energy felt from Castor and Pollux and Helen of Troy. She practiced bonding her hand to the grip, and each time it connected the blade gave her a tiny, happy shock—almost like a greeting. A little hello. It made her smile.
"Hello to you, too," she said, keeping the sword bonded as she drew Pollux.
Raising both swords, Daphne took stock. Pollux was much heavier, better balanced, and more reserved. Kurikara felt like a wild spark in comparison. So much power in such a confined space. She wondered how much of that was Rin and how much of it was the blade's individual spirit. Sort of a chicken and egg question, she supposed. She and her swords had affected each other immeasurably over the years she'd carried them. They were different blades for her than they had been for the exorcists who had carried them before her down to the Puritans who had originally forged the metal. It was the same with Kurikara. The sword had existed independent of Rin for decades, but in sealing his demon heart, the two of them had become inexorably connected. What either of them would have been like without the other was a mystery. The same could be said of Daphne.
She hadn't heard the shower shut off, but suddenly Rin was standing in front of her in his pajamas, toweling off his hair around the blue flame.
"Can I see yours?" he asked, his eyes flicking from Kurikara to Pollux to her face.
Daphne flipped Pollux and bonded the blade to her hand in the air so that it came down in her palm with the grip extended to Rin. He started, but grinned, taking the sword in his hand.
"I ever tell you how sexy that is?" he asked as he weighed Pollux's balance.
Daphne laughed. "What? Blade bonding?"
Rin shrugged, shaking his head, mostly focused on the sword. "The whole shebang." He looked up to her and smiled. "I like having a wife who can kick some ass."
Grinning, Daphne touched Kurikara's edge to Pollux and slid it down the length of the blade, creating a long metallic shing sound. "Oh yeah?"
Rin laughed again. "Yeah."
"You want the other one, too?" she asked, already reflexively switching Kurikara to her left hand so she could draw Castor and offer it to Rin. He took it, considering both blades carefully.
"I always forget how heavy they are," he said.
He'd used Pollux on occasion—when they'd been in a pinch—but neither of them had ever really trained with each other's swords. Back when they'd first met, back when Daphne had first moved to Japan, they'd sparred against each other almost constantly, trying to figure out the connection between Rin's flames and the aura she'd had as a temptaint from Morpheus. They'd developed such an intimate, innate knowledge of the other's fighting style over those tests that even though it technically was bad practice to employ a married couple at the same office, and not only at the same office, but as partners a good portion of the time, nobody—not even among the elites—had ever been able to come up with a reason to oppose it. Now, thinking how connected she was to Rin, and Kurikara by extension, it surprised Daphne very little to have bonded the blade.
"With healing balm my soul is filled," Rin read, absolutely butchering the pronunciation on Castor's English inscription, then doing the same to Pollux. "Every faithless murmur stilled." He looked at Daphne. "Puritan hymn, right?"
She nodded. "'All Praise to God who Reigns Above.' Not exactly a rousing anthem."
She chuckled, but Rin did not. He seemed to be focusing very deeply, regarding both swords with perfect solemnity. It took a beat, but Daphne realized what he was doing.
"Are you trying to bond them?" she laughed.
Rin gave her a hairy scowl. "Why is that funny?"
"That isn't how it works."
"You bonded Kurikara!"
"I've been practicing blade bonding for ten years," she replied. "And I carry your blade in a seal. You can't just ask nicely and expect a demon sword to respond. And mine aren't as friendly as yours."
Rin frowned at Castor and Pollux. "Oh."
"What? I thought you liked having a wife who could kick some ass?"
"I do, b—"
Daphne swung Kurikara and met Castor with a light blow that snapped Rin to attention. She swung again, and he parried the second hit, but the swords were different, and there were two, and he didn't know what to do with them, so Daphne found it easy to disarm him of Pollux and step into his range with a few more quick strikes. She smiled into his face, only inches away, Kurikara held at his throat.
"I could kick your ass," she said.
"I wasn't ready!" Rin complained.
Laughing, Daphne stepped back and handed him Pollux. He took the sword cautiously like he was expecting her to pull it out of his reach.
"A few months from now, I might not be much use in an exorcism," she mused. "I'll have to brush up on my Aria meister."
She looked to Rin to smile, but found his face had gone serious. He hesitated over whatever he was about to say, so Daphne stayed quiet and gave him time, waiting. After a moment, Rin drew in a breath.
"We haven't…you know, been to a doctor," he said. "So we can't be sure, can we? That is wasn't a false positive?"
Daphne just smiled at him. He'd done so much reading, stuffed his brain full of so much information, that he was no longer relying on his instincts. She sheathed Kurikara, took Castor and Pollux from his hands and sheathed them as well. Then she stepped close, taking his face in her hands.
"No false positive," she said. She could feel that life, small and fragile though it was. Its wavelength was distinct—a new, unique mix of Assiah and Gehenna. "Trust me."
Rin let his breath out through his nose. He shut his eyes, nodded, opened them again and smiled at her.
"Always," he said.
Daphne kissed him, then. Deep and gentle. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Somehow, she felt safe. Safe as they embraced, safe as they lay down beside each other, kissing still. She loved Rin so much it confused her sometimes. He was more than she could ask for and yet all that she deserved.
She couldn't wait to raise a family with him.
Author's Note: Look at me, being nice to my characters. Astounding!
Anyways, as mentioned last week, I've knocked together a little playlist. Big, big thank you to everyone who contributed! It's, like, unbelievably fun to see what kind of impressions my work leaves with other people, so thank you! For reading and everything else.
I'm not sure how prickly FF is about links to outside websites, so I won't post one, but if you search "Rin + Daph" on YouTube, the playlist should be the first result. Here are the songs, in no particular order:
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
Void - The Neighbourhood
Can't Stop Lovin' You - Van Halen
Everything and More - Raindancer
You Just May Be the One - The Monkees
You Silly Git - Dan Mangan
You Make Loving Fun - Fleetwood Mac
White Shadows - Coldplay
Love of our Lives - Indigo Girls
Boy Blue - Cyndi Lauper
You Get Me So High - The Neighbourhood
She's a Rainbow - The Rolling Stones
Feel free to contribute more songs in comments or PMs if you want! Don't be shy! I'll add them to the YouTube playlist!
Until next week~