InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 28 Days ❯ A Change of Plan ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: RozeFire 
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 02.11.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 3.0K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 02.11.2004 | Pages: 6 | Words: 4.1K | Visits: 3.0K | Status: Completed
AN: I've decided that you're all perverts. What could Miroku possibly do with that purple pen...? ............ Write with it maybe?
Anyway, sorry about the delay - I have been so busy over the last few days (actually I've just been doing something else) I continually switch from writing to drawing and when I get bored of drawing I go back to writing - all the while singing at the top of my lungs with my earphones in ^_^ My family just love me right now - as do my neighbours who can hear me.
Ooh - and to KoNeko-chan - I think I heard a similar story when I was in primary school. I can't really remember it well since I was only a baby really, but I do remember a story of a little girl in Japan who got leukaemia or some other incurable disease and her mother taught her how to make paper cranes. The little girl then made hundreds of them while her mother got her more paper in the hopes that her daughter would get stronger... but in the story I heard she eventually died (sniff) and now there's a park somewhere in her honour with ornamental origami cranes everywhere. It's a very bitter-sweet little tale, I cried when I heard it (well it WAS 10 years ago).
Anyway, I'm done with my nostalgia - on with the fic! (Was it really that bad a cliff-hanger?)
2 8 Days
A Change of Plan
< br>
"It's that time of year again..." Kikyo commented as she sipped her soda drink.
"That means..." Aki surveyed the staff room. "One of you guys has to be the Christmas Santa for the children's ward."
Ninety nine percent of all the doctors and surgeons in the room coughed and suddenly buried their noses in their work. Inuyasha was the only one that didn't bother holding any pretence and carried on watching the cartoons on the TV. "I'll do it."
Aki blinked at him.
"He's not doing it! He did it last year!" Kikyo said quickly. "Someone else has to do it!"
Everyone discreetly turned away again while a slow smirk spread across Inuyasha's face.
"Why can't Inuyasha do it again?" Aki asked. "He's obviously enthusiastic."
Miroku gave a derisive snort of laughter. "Oh yeah... I remember last year. Whenever the kids touched his fake beard he threatened that they'd wake up Christmas day with reindeer heads in their beds."
Inuyasha smiled placidly at the fond memory.
"And don't forget all the letters to Santa that he got his hands on." Kikyo sighed. "He stamped them all with 'dream on kid' and sent them back."
"All in the Christmas spirit, bah Humbug and all..." Inuyasha channel hopped with a yawn.
Kikyo glared at him. "Shippo's dropping by later. I told his mother that he could spend the day with you again."
"What?!" That brought Inuyasha out of his good mood. "What the hell did you tell her that for?!"
"You're the only one besides Kagome that Shippo responds to!" She shot back. "She wants him talking again now that the father's out of the picture."
"Well why didn't you tell the woman that he could go to Kagome!"
"Because she's sick and dying! She can't look after a small child!"
"Then why couldn't you do it?!"
"Are you arguing with me?!" Kikyo pressed her fists against her hips. Inuyasha suddenly realised he was raising his voice at a nurse... and every member of the staff was watching.
He just made an Italian gesture involving his thumb nail and his teeth and slumped back down to carry on watching TV with a scowl on his face. Kikyo narrowed her eyes and looked around the room, almost as if she was asking if anyone else wanted a piece of her. The doctors and surgeons all promptly looked away.
"Come on Aki." Kikyo called as she pivoted and walked out. The younger nurse winced and followed slowly.
Inuyasha pulled a face and did a whiny impression of Kikyo's order. "Come Minion!"
Miroku looked up from his magazine (you know the magazine I'm on about) and moved from the surgeon side of the room to the doctor's side to flop down next to Inuyasha. "So... is it me or did it just get a little chilly in here?"
"Talk to the janitor, the air conditioning unit is probably broken." Inuyasha said flatly as he watched the screen.
"I guess things have been a little tense since that kiss huh."
"Actually... it became tense the moment she walked in on me and Kagome in the ICU."
"Ooh..." Miroku winced. "Let me guess... she walked in on some serious noggin."
Inuyasha gave him a dirty look. " Is that your new word of the day?"
"Am I right?"
"We weren't doing anything dodgy, ya nitwit..." Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest. "I was just checking my eyelids for holes beside Kagome's bed... whilst holding her hand..."
"Ah..." Miroku grinned. "She forgave you then?"
Inuyasha grunted.
"Why don't you look happy about that?"
"Just shut up and go do some noggin with Sango." Inuyasha grumbled.
"Been there, done that, and got the new word to prove it." Miroku took out his pen and jotted something down on the corner of his magazine, before tearing it off and handing it to Inuyasha. "Sango's number... in case you want any professional help later, yeah?"
Inuyasha glared at him before noticing the colour of the ink. His eyes snapped to the pen Miroku was holding. "Is that my pen?"
"Possibly." Miroku held it out of sight. "Must be going now, lots of patients to talk to, you know."
Inuyasha watched him go with a look of bemusement before flopping back again and throwing away Sango's number. "Bastard... steal my pen will he..."
^_^
"Blink if you can hear me Kagome." Kouga told her gently whilst shining a penlight in her eyes.
Kagome blinked in response.
"Can you talk?"
Kagome didn't say anything.
"Can you squeeze my hand?" he took her small hand into his and waited. Kagome just closed her eyes and turned her head away.
"It's ok, you can rest now." Kouga sighed deeply and placed his stethoscope around his shoulders. He left the room quietly, with another big ominous sigh.
"Drama queen..." Kagome muttered before sitting up and wriggling her way across the bed. When she reached the edge she took a deep breath and slipped off the edge. Once on the floor she set about inching her way towards her wheelchair... a hard task when she couldn't use her legs at all.
She heard the door open, but ignore whoever had just entered.
"Nice caterpillar impression." Inuyasha commented, before she felt strong hands grip her waist to lift her into the chair.
"Thanks, but I could have managed that by myself."
"Give or take a few hours." He smiled and crouched before her to brush her messy hair out of her eyes. "How you feeling?"
"Apparently I've reached the final phase of my life." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Full body paralysis and loss of speech along with loss of appetite and awareness of surroundings. And to top it all off I've been prescribed nothing but pure oxygen." She gestured to the tank beside the bed along with the gas mask. "What do they know...?"
"You're faking again." He gave her a stern look before grinning. "Now who's the crap doctor?"
"Exactly. I still plan to at least get Kouga fired before I go. You know... take him down with me..." Kagome smiled and patted his arm. "While you're here, would you mind wheeling me in the direction of the cafeteria - all this fasting for Kouga is making me starved."
"Good for you." Inuyasha stood and took hold of the handles behind her.
It was good that she was still capable of speaking, still capable of an appetite. It was good that she was still open and light-hearted about dying... She'd accepted her fate already and was making the most out of what time she had left. But even though her imminent death wasn't taking its toll on her... it was taking it's toll on Inuyasha.
Kagome sighed when they entered the elevator and the doors slid shut as Inuyasha punched the top button for the top floor. "What is it?" he asked.
"Just getting bored..." Kagome shrugged.
"There's nothing much to do around here other than go to the cafeteria, go talk to Sango, or go talk to the old age pensioners." Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Well... the old people aren't so bad... they're pretty interesting..."
She ignored his contemptuous smirk. "Hey, you'll be old one day. So you just keep your mouth shut." She scolded him. "There'll come a time when you talk none stop about the old days and how a hundred yen used to be worth a lot more now than it does in the future."
Inuyasha would have smiled... except for the fleeting thought that Kagome would never grow old like he would... He'd give anything to grow old with Kagome... but it didn't look like fate was turning out that way.
"But then again... I won't grow old." Kagome said quietly, almost speaking Inuyasha's thoughts aloud.
"It ain't so bad." He said suddenly, going against his own worries as he crouched before her and rested his hands on her knees. "At least this way everyone will remember you as young beautiful Kagome. Even when your little brother is fifty, you'll always be young and beautiful to him... and me..."
Kagome stared at him intently for a moment before breaking out into a small smile and reaching out to touch his cheek. "You always know just what to say."
"I know how to please a girl." He grinned and leaned forward to deliver a brief kiss on the corner of her mouth. Kagome sneakily turned her head as he did that, so he kissed her full on the lips.
The elevator doors opened with a ping and Inuyasha's mother's voice cut through the moment. "Oh hi, son!"
"There's that pesky eyelash!" Inuyasha stood up quickly and pretended to flick away the imaginary eyelash that he'd brushed from Kagome's face, then he only just realised his mother stood there. "Oh hi, Fei!"
Kagome gulped slightly. So this was the woman she'd greeted on the phone when she'd been round at Inuyasha's apartment.
"Going up." Doctor Fei told Inuyasha who pressed the top button on the panel again. She smiled at the pair. "Nice to see you Kagome, how are you feeling today?"
"Neglected... by Doctor Kouga." Kagome gave a dramatic sigh with a weak smile. "It's so fortunate Inuyasha was around to look after me. If he hadn't dropped by, who knows how long I would have been struggling on the floor to find my wheelchair."
Only for about two minutes until the nurse came to check on her again, but Doctor Fei didn't need to know that.
"Aw... that's so nice of you Inuyasha." His mother smiled at him as the doors opened again. "See you later."
Inuyasha made the sign of the cross at her retreating back.
"You gonna eat with me?" Kagome asked as he wheeled her out of the elevator towards the cafeteria doors.
"Sure..." He glanced at his watch. "Though I have to go pick up Shippo in a bit."
"How's he doing?" Kagome asked suddenly. "I haven't heard from him in a while."
"Oh... you know... got beat up by his foster father, got a broken jaw and regressed back into muteness." Inuyasha nodded. "But other than that he's great."
"Oh god..." Kagome bit her lip. "Is he ok?"
"Better. Well, he will be once I drop him off with you." Inuyasha dumped her at a table before she had time to protest. Not that she would have protested anyway.
When Inuyasha arrived back at the table with two coffees, he notice Kagome was doodling on a napkin. "What's that?"
"My list." She answered.
"Of what?"
"Of people I'd like to have sex with before I die?" Kagome smiled mischievously.
"Am I on it?"
"Um... yeah..." she frowned. "But close to the bottom. I had to fit Superman, Elijah Woods and Orlando Bloom in the top three."
"So this is what virgins do in their free time?" Inuyasha laughed.
"Shh!" she looked around. "Not so loud!"
"Now what are you doing?"
"Circling the ones that I'll regret having sex with the morning after." She chortled.
Inuyasha snagged her pen and circled the whole list.
"What was that for?" she blinked at him.
"Just circling the ones that would regret doing it with you too."
"Oh fine..." she gave him a mock glare. "Very mature way to deal with your jealousy."
He smirked and was about to say something else when he noticed her hand, clutching the pen in her fingers was trembling. He looked back up at her face to see if she was angry or upset, but she looked placid and normal. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She blinked at him.
Inuyasha looked down at her hand again, which was still quivering in rapid little spasms. "You're trembling..."
Kagome looked down at her hand and suddenly clenched her fist around the pen to stop the shaking. She gave him a weak smile. "Sorry... it's been doing that lately..."
She'd moved her other hand over to grasp her fist, but even so, the trembling was still rather noticeable. Inuyasha felt something tug inside his chest and he reached forward to grasp her hands in his. "Your nerves are going..."
Kagome swallowed her false smile and nodded. "Well there's a conversation stopper..." she looked embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
She wasn't fine... damaged nerves, paralysis... the symptoms were typical of a decaying body. Soon she'd lose her senses, her mind, and control over anything in her body... even breathing would be too difficult for her. And it wouldn't necessary go in any particular order.
It wouldn't be long now...
^_^
"Hey, Kikyo, have you seen Miroku around?" Sango asked idly as she leaned against the reception desk.
"Try the staff room."
Sango nodded... though she didn't move from her spot. After a few moments silence Kikyo looked up at her to see Sango inspecting her fingernails. "You want something?"
"Hm? Oh - no!" Sango smiled leaned against the desk. "I just fancied some female company for once."
Kikyo nodded stoically. "Ok... Why don't you go home, I'm sure you'd find better female company there."
"Nah... Miroku wants me to stay in the hospital for observation." Sango shrugged. "Besides... my household is dominated by men, I feel safer here."
Kikyo just hummed and went back to signing some more forms. Sango sighed ever so slightly... getting Kikyo to talk was like trying to make a boulder bleed. She just wasn't a very chatty girl.
"So..." Sango tapped her fingers against the counter in slight impatience. "What's new in your love life?"
Kikyo slammed down her pen and look angry. "He told you didn't he?"
Sango contrived to be completely oblivious. "Who told me?"
"Inuyasha! About the kiss!" Kikyo snorted. "I'm such a fool..."
"No you're not..." Sango c0mforted her half-heartedly. "I'm sure it was just... in the heat of the moment sort of thing..."
"Yeah... but I was also hoping it would solve everything." Kikyo sighed miserably.
Sango's interest sparked. "Really? How...?"
"I thought... I thought maybe if I turned Inuyasha's interest away from Kagome... then he'd hurt less when she died." Kikyo scowled. "I guess... I was also acting on some selfish desire to kiss him too... but I really was trying to help him out."
"Too bad Inuyasha isn't into you anymore." Sango said evenly.
Kikyo remained silent.
"He was once... do you remember?"
"Yeah..."
"But you were dating that Naraku guy... and you blew Inuyasha off." Sango winced. "No wonder he doesn't warm to you so much these days. You missed your chance girl."
"I know... and I know what I did hurt Kagome more than it should have... I nearly killed her." Kikyo bit her lip. "That's not what I wanted."
They lapsed into silence, while Sango waited for Kikyo to go on. "I don't know what to do... Inuyasha hates me... I don't want to ruin things like I have..."
"Then my advice would be to just forget it happened." Sango said wisely. "Don't snap at anyone, well... don't snap anymore than you normally snap... what? Don't glare at me... Anyway, don't avoid Inuyasha, don't crawl all over him either, just... act normal. I'm sure if you act normal then things will go back to the way they were. And maybe over time you'll get over your crush on Inuyasha... just like he got over his."
Kikyo nodded slightly. "I guess you're right..."
"Good..." Sango looked around. "So where is Miroku again?"
^_^
"And this is?"
"A scalpel..."
"And this is...?"
"A syringe..."
"And this...?"
"Probably something dangerous as well... but I can't be bothered looking." Inuyasha said from where he was leaning back in his chair balancing two paper balls on his eyes.
Shippo put down the defibrillator paddles and looked around. "I'm bored..." he said in a sing song voice.
Inuyasha retorted in the same sing song tone. "Oh dear..."
"Gimme something to do!" Shippo jumped up onto the work bench beside Inuyasha.
The young doctor sighed as the balls rolled off his eyes onto the floor. "Fine... name the seven dwarves."
"Oh that's easy..." Shippo wrinkled his nose. "Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful and... Pot head."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well... they all seem to be named after drugs... and I couldn't remember the last one so I had to guess."
"Makes sense..." Inuyasha sighed. "Alright... name the four stages of biological cell division, or mitosis."
"Uh... prophase, metaphase, anaphase... and telyphase...?"
"Wrong! That's telOphase." Inuyasha corrected him.
"Jeez... what do I have to do to impress you?"
"Name a hundred and one Dalmatians, smart-ass."
"Ok... Patch... Nibbles... Spike..."
^_^
".. .Dipstick... and Podgy."
Inuyasha stared at him, half asleep. "You're just making that up now..."
"Not likely." Shippo snorted. "I've watched that film too many times."
Aki suddenly arrived in the doorway of the lab. "Doctor Inu - I thought you should know - Kagome's collapsed - she's in a coma! We think she's been given sedatives!"
Inuyasha was on his feet in a flash and running after her.
"Hey! Wait! What am I supposed to do now?!" Shippo yelled after him.
Inuyasha paused impatiently. "Just - stay here till you lick your elbow!"
"My elbow?"
"Just do it!" he snapped as he disappeared out of the door.
Shippo sat on the floor and raised his arm and stuck out his tongue... only to discover the problem. "Ah..."
(I bet you're all licking your elbows now ^_^)
^_^
The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room. Inuyasha glared at each nurse individually, among them were Aki and Kikyo.
"Well?" he snapped and pointed to Kagome in her bed, unconscious.
The nurses glanced at one another, each looking evenly confused and innocent.
"WHO gave her the sedatives?!" he barked, making the younger nurses jump with nerves.
"Doctor Inu..." one of them said quietly. "None of us were here to administer the drug..."
"Well then who did?!" Inuyasha snapped at her, making her fall silent. Kikyo was frowning at him, drumming her fingers against her arm. He was under no authority to terrorise the new recruits like this.
The door opened and everyone glanced around to see Kouga enter. He took one look at his patient and then another at Inuyasha and the nurses. "What the fuck is going on in here?"
"You!" Inuyasha lunged at him and threw him against the door, making it jump. Several nurses gasped and quickly scrambled forward to grab Inuyasha's arms to keep him from attacking the other doctor.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Kouga recovered quickly, walking over to Kagome's bed. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing! YOU were the one who gave her sedatives!" Inuyasha hissed, tugging himself free of the girls' grips.
"Sedatives?" Kouga scoffed at him. "What am I, stupid? She's allergic to the sedatives - I KNOW the virus reacts violently against the sedatives! I wouldn't give her sedatives in a million years!"
"Then who did?"
Kouga went to the end of the bed and looked at the chart. "It's on here... not to administer sedatives or morphine... why would a nurse not notice that?"
"WE didn't do anything!" Kikyo burst out. "We weren't even here! None of us is authorised to give sedatives without your permission, Doctor Kouga! Don't peg this on us!"
Inuyasha's hand swept out and knocked a vase of flowers over to smash on the floor, quickly gaining everyone's attention. "I don't know who gave her the drugs... but I do know, as her Doctor Kouga, you are responsible for this."
Kouga's lip curled. "This is in no way my fault!"
"Yes it is! She's your patient - you take responsibility! Wait until the board hear about this!" Inuyasha moved towards the door. "I'm taking her back."
"You can't do that! You don't have the right to take her back!" Kouga stomped after him.
Inuyasha stopped and turned abruptly so suddenly that Kouga screeched to a halt nose to nose. Inuyasha just narrowed his eyes. "Watch me... Kagome was safer with me... and it's going back that way."
He left, slamming the door after him. Kouga fumed quietly.
Kikyo came up quietly behind him, clapping slowly and sarcastically. "Well done genius... you could lose your job for this."
"Shut the fuck up!" Kouga snapped at her.
Kikyo's fists bunched at her waist. "What?!" she snapped.
Kouga jumped at the tone in her voice. "Nothing..."
"Good." Kikyo pushed past him. "Keep five minute check-ups on her... inform Doctor Inu of any changes in her condition."
AN: Yay! He's back in the drivers seat again!
Anyway, sorry about the delay - I have been so busy over the last few days (actually I've just been doing something else) I continually switch from writing to drawing and when I get bored of drawing I go back to writing - all the while singing at the top of my lungs with my earphones in ^_^ My family just love me right now - as do my neighbours who can hear me.
Ooh - and to KoNeko-chan - I think I heard a similar story when I was in primary school. I can't really remember it well since I was only a baby really, but I do remember a story of a little girl in Japan who got leukaemia or some other incurable disease and her mother taught her how to make paper cranes. The little girl then made hundreds of them while her mother got her more paper in the hopes that her daughter would get stronger... but in the story I heard she eventually died (sniff) and now there's a park somewhere in her honour with ornamental origami cranes everywhere. It's a very bitter-sweet little tale, I cried when I heard it (well it WAS 10 years ago).
Anyway, I'm done with my nostalgia - on with the fic! (Was it really that bad a cliff-hanger?)
2 8 Days
A Change of Plan
< br>
"It's that time of year again..." Kikyo commented as she sipped her soda drink.
"That means..." Aki surveyed the staff room. "One of you guys has to be the Christmas Santa for the children's ward."
Ninety nine percent of all the doctors and surgeons in the room coughed and suddenly buried their noses in their work. Inuyasha was the only one that didn't bother holding any pretence and carried on watching the cartoons on the TV. "I'll do it."
Aki blinked at him.
"He's not doing it! He did it last year!" Kikyo said quickly. "Someone else has to do it!"
Everyone discreetly turned away again while a slow smirk spread across Inuyasha's face.
"Why can't Inuyasha do it again?" Aki asked. "He's obviously enthusiastic."
Miroku gave a derisive snort of laughter. "Oh yeah... I remember last year. Whenever the kids touched his fake beard he threatened that they'd wake up Christmas day with reindeer heads in their beds."
Inuyasha smiled placidly at the fond memory.
"And don't forget all the letters to Santa that he got his hands on." Kikyo sighed. "He stamped them all with 'dream on kid' and sent them back."
"All in the Christmas spirit, bah Humbug and all..." Inuyasha channel hopped with a yawn.
Kikyo glared at him. "Shippo's dropping by later. I told his mother that he could spend the day with you again."
"What?!" That brought Inuyasha out of his good mood. "What the hell did you tell her that for?!"
"You're the only one besides Kagome that Shippo responds to!" She shot back. "She wants him talking again now that the father's out of the picture."
"Well why didn't you tell the woman that he could go to Kagome!"
"Because she's sick and dying! She can't look after a small child!"
"Then why couldn't you do it?!"
"Are you arguing with me?!" Kikyo pressed her fists against her hips. Inuyasha suddenly realised he was raising his voice at a nurse... and every member of the staff was watching.
He just made an Italian gesture involving his thumb nail and his teeth and slumped back down to carry on watching TV with a scowl on his face. Kikyo narrowed her eyes and looked around the room, almost as if she was asking if anyone else wanted a piece of her. The doctors and surgeons all promptly looked away.
"Come on Aki." Kikyo called as she pivoted and walked out. The younger nurse winced and followed slowly.
Inuyasha pulled a face and did a whiny impression of Kikyo's order. "Come Minion!"
Miroku looked up from his magazine (you know the magazine I'm on about) and moved from the surgeon side of the room to the doctor's side to flop down next to Inuyasha. "So... is it me or did it just get a little chilly in here?"
"Talk to the janitor, the air conditioning unit is probably broken." Inuyasha said flatly as he watched the screen.
"I guess things have been a little tense since that kiss huh."
"Actually... it became tense the moment she walked in on me and Kagome in the ICU."
"Ooh..." Miroku winced. "Let me guess... she walked in on some serious noggin."
Inuyasha gave him a dirty look. " Is that your new word of the day?"
"Am I right?"
"We weren't doing anything dodgy, ya nitwit..." Inuyasha folded his arms over his chest. "I was just checking my eyelids for holes beside Kagome's bed... whilst holding her hand..."
"Ah..." Miroku grinned. "She forgave you then?"
Inuyasha grunted.
"Why don't you look happy about that?"
"Just shut up and go do some noggin with Sango." Inuyasha grumbled.
"Been there, done that, and got the new word to prove it." Miroku took out his pen and jotted something down on the corner of his magazine, before tearing it off and handing it to Inuyasha. "Sango's number... in case you want any professional help later, yeah?"
Inuyasha glared at him before noticing the colour of the ink. His eyes snapped to the pen Miroku was holding. "Is that my pen?"
"Possibly." Miroku held it out of sight. "Must be going now, lots of patients to talk to, you know."
Inuyasha watched him go with a look of bemusement before flopping back again and throwing away Sango's number. "Bastard... steal my pen will he..."
^_^
"Blink if you can hear me Kagome." Kouga told her gently whilst shining a penlight in her eyes.
Kagome blinked in response.
"Can you talk?"
Kagome didn't say anything.
"Can you squeeze my hand?" he took her small hand into his and waited. Kagome just closed her eyes and turned her head away.
"It's ok, you can rest now." Kouga sighed deeply and placed his stethoscope around his shoulders. He left the room quietly, with another big ominous sigh.
"Drama queen..." Kagome muttered before sitting up and wriggling her way across the bed. When she reached the edge she took a deep breath and slipped off the edge. Once on the floor she set about inching her way towards her wheelchair... a hard task when she couldn't use her legs at all.
She heard the door open, but ignore whoever had just entered.
"Nice caterpillar impression." Inuyasha commented, before she felt strong hands grip her waist to lift her into the chair.
"Thanks, but I could have managed that by myself."
"Give or take a few hours." He smiled and crouched before her to brush her messy hair out of her eyes. "How you feeling?"
"Apparently I've reached the final phase of my life." Kagome rolled her eyes. "Full body paralysis and loss of speech along with loss of appetite and awareness of surroundings. And to top it all off I've been prescribed nothing but pure oxygen." She gestured to the tank beside the bed along with the gas mask. "What do they know...?"
"You're faking again." He gave her a stern look before grinning. "Now who's the crap doctor?"
"Exactly. I still plan to at least get Kouga fired before I go. You know... take him down with me..." Kagome smiled and patted his arm. "While you're here, would you mind wheeling me in the direction of the cafeteria - all this fasting for Kouga is making me starved."
"Good for you." Inuyasha stood and took hold of the handles behind her.
It was good that she was still capable of speaking, still capable of an appetite. It was good that she was still open and light-hearted about dying... She'd accepted her fate already and was making the most out of what time she had left. But even though her imminent death wasn't taking its toll on her... it was taking it's toll on Inuyasha.
Kagome sighed when they entered the elevator and the doors slid shut as Inuyasha punched the top button for the top floor. "What is it?" he asked.
"Just getting bored..." Kagome shrugged.
"There's nothing much to do around here other than go to the cafeteria, go talk to Sango, or go talk to the old age pensioners." Kagome cocked her head to the side. "Well... the old people aren't so bad... they're pretty interesting..."
She ignored his contemptuous smirk. "Hey, you'll be old one day. So you just keep your mouth shut." She scolded him. "There'll come a time when you talk none stop about the old days and how a hundred yen used to be worth a lot more now than it does in the future."
Inuyasha would have smiled... except for the fleeting thought that Kagome would never grow old like he would... He'd give anything to grow old with Kagome... but it didn't look like fate was turning out that way.
"But then again... I won't grow old." Kagome said quietly, almost speaking Inuyasha's thoughts aloud.
"It ain't so bad." He said suddenly, going against his own worries as he crouched before her and rested his hands on her knees. "At least this way everyone will remember you as young beautiful Kagome. Even when your little brother is fifty, you'll always be young and beautiful to him... and me..."
Kagome stared at him intently for a moment before breaking out into a small smile and reaching out to touch his cheek. "You always know just what to say."
"I know how to please a girl." He grinned and leaned forward to deliver a brief kiss on the corner of her mouth. Kagome sneakily turned her head as he did that, so he kissed her full on the lips.
The elevator doors opened with a ping and Inuyasha's mother's voice cut through the moment. "Oh hi, son!"
"There's that pesky eyelash!" Inuyasha stood up quickly and pretended to flick away the imaginary eyelash that he'd brushed from Kagome's face, then he only just realised his mother stood there. "Oh hi, Fei!"
Kagome gulped slightly. So this was the woman she'd greeted on the phone when she'd been round at Inuyasha's apartment.
"Going up." Doctor Fei told Inuyasha who pressed the top button on the panel again. She smiled at the pair. "Nice to see you Kagome, how are you feeling today?"
"Neglected... by Doctor Kouga." Kagome gave a dramatic sigh with a weak smile. "It's so fortunate Inuyasha was around to look after me. If he hadn't dropped by, who knows how long I would have been struggling on the floor to find my wheelchair."
Only for about two minutes until the nurse came to check on her again, but Doctor Fei didn't need to know that.
"Aw... that's so nice of you Inuyasha." His mother smiled at him as the doors opened again. "See you later."
Inuyasha made the sign of the cross at her retreating back.
"You gonna eat with me?" Kagome asked as he wheeled her out of the elevator towards the cafeteria doors.
"Sure..." He glanced at his watch. "Though I have to go pick up Shippo in a bit."
"How's he doing?" Kagome asked suddenly. "I haven't heard from him in a while."
"Oh... you know... got beat up by his foster father, got a broken jaw and regressed back into muteness." Inuyasha nodded. "But other than that he's great."
"Oh god..." Kagome bit her lip. "Is he ok?"
"Better. Well, he will be once I drop him off with you." Inuyasha dumped her at a table before she had time to protest. Not that she would have protested anyway.
When Inuyasha arrived back at the table with two coffees, he notice Kagome was doodling on a napkin. "What's that?"
"My list." She answered.
"Of what?"
"Of people I'd like to have sex with before I die?" Kagome smiled mischievously.
"Am I on it?"
"Um... yeah..." she frowned. "But close to the bottom. I had to fit Superman, Elijah Woods and Orlando Bloom in the top three."
"So this is what virgins do in their free time?" Inuyasha laughed.
"Shh!" she looked around. "Not so loud!"
"Now what are you doing?"
"Circling the ones that I'll regret having sex with the morning after." She chortled.
Inuyasha snagged her pen and circled the whole list.
"What was that for?" she blinked at him.
"Just circling the ones that would regret doing it with you too."
"Oh fine..." she gave him a mock glare. "Very mature way to deal with your jealousy."
He smirked and was about to say something else when he noticed her hand, clutching the pen in her fingers was trembling. He looked back up at her face to see if she was angry or upset, but she looked placid and normal. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." She blinked at him.
Inuyasha looked down at her hand again, which was still quivering in rapid little spasms. "You're trembling..."
Kagome looked down at her hand and suddenly clenched her fist around the pen to stop the shaking. She gave him a weak smile. "Sorry... it's been doing that lately..."
She'd moved her other hand over to grasp her fist, but even so, the trembling was still rather noticeable. Inuyasha felt something tug inside his chest and he reached forward to grasp her hands in his. "Your nerves are going..."
Kagome swallowed her false smile and nodded. "Well there's a conversation stopper..." she looked embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine."
She wasn't fine... damaged nerves, paralysis... the symptoms were typical of a decaying body. Soon she'd lose her senses, her mind, and control over anything in her body... even breathing would be too difficult for her. And it wouldn't necessary go in any particular order.
It wouldn't be long now...
^_^
"Hey, Kikyo, have you seen Miroku around?" Sango asked idly as she leaned against the reception desk.
"Try the staff room."
Sango nodded... though she didn't move from her spot. After a few moments silence Kikyo looked up at her to see Sango inspecting her fingernails. "You want something?"
"Hm? Oh - no!" Sango smiled leaned against the desk. "I just fancied some female company for once."
Kikyo nodded stoically. "Ok... Why don't you go home, I'm sure you'd find better female company there."
"Nah... Miroku wants me to stay in the hospital for observation." Sango shrugged. "Besides... my household is dominated by men, I feel safer here."
Kikyo just hummed and went back to signing some more forms. Sango sighed ever so slightly... getting Kikyo to talk was like trying to make a boulder bleed. She just wasn't a very chatty girl.
"So..." Sango tapped her fingers against the counter in slight impatience. "What's new in your love life?"
Kikyo slammed down her pen and look angry. "He told you didn't he?"
Sango contrived to be completely oblivious. "Who told me?"
"Inuyasha! About the kiss!" Kikyo snorted. "I'm such a fool..."
"No you're not..." Sango c0mforted her half-heartedly. "I'm sure it was just... in the heat of the moment sort of thing..."
"Yeah... but I was also hoping it would solve everything." Kikyo sighed miserably.
Sango's interest sparked. "Really? How...?"
"I thought... I thought maybe if I turned Inuyasha's interest away from Kagome... then he'd hurt less when she died." Kikyo scowled. "I guess... I was also acting on some selfish desire to kiss him too... but I really was trying to help him out."
"Too bad Inuyasha isn't into you anymore." Sango said evenly.
Kikyo remained silent.
"He was once... do you remember?"
"Yeah..."
"But you were dating that Naraku guy... and you blew Inuyasha off." Sango winced. "No wonder he doesn't warm to you so much these days. You missed your chance girl."
"I know... and I know what I did hurt Kagome more than it should have... I nearly killed her." Kikyo bit her lip. "That's not what I wanted."
They lapsed into silence, while Sango waited for Kikyo to go on. "I don't know what to do... Inuyasha hates me... I don't want to ruin things like I have..."
"Then my advice would be to just forget it happened." Sango said wisely. "Don't snap at anyone, well... don't snap anymore than you normally snap... what? Don't glare at me... Anyway, don't avoid Inuyasha, don't crawl all over him either, just... act normal. I'm sure if you act normal then things will go back to the way they were. And maybe over time you'll get over your crush on Inuyasha... just like he got over his."
Kikyo nodded slightly. "I guess you're right..."
"Good..." Sango looked around. "So where is Miroku again?"
^_^
"And this is?"
"A scalpel..."
"And this is...?"
"A syringe..."
"And this...?"
"Probably something dangerous as well... but I can't be bothered looking." Inuyasha said from where he was leaning back in his chair balancing two paper balls on his eyes.
Shippo put down the defibrillator paddles and looked around. "I'm bored..." he said in a sing song voice.
Inuyasha retorted in the same sing song tone. "Oh dear..."
"Gimme something to do!" Shippo jumped up onto the work bench beside Inuyasha.
The young doctor sighed as the balls rolled off his eyes onto the floor. "Fine... name the seven dwarves."
"Oh that's easy..." Shippo wrinkled his nose. "Sleepy, Dopey, Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful and... Pot head."
Inuyasha raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well... they all seem to be named after drugs... and I couldn't remember the last one so I had to guess."
"Makes sense..." Inuyasha sighed. "Alright... name the four stages of biological cell division, or mitosis."
"Uh... prophase, metaphase, anaphase... and telyphase...?"
"Wrong! That's telOphase." Inuyasha corrected him.
"Jeez... what do I have to do to impress you?"
"Name a hundred and one Dalmatians, smart-ass."
"Ok... Patch... Nibbles... Spike..."
^_^
".. .Dipstick... and Podgy."
Inuyasha stared at him, half asleep. "You're just making that up now..."
"Not likely." Shippo snorted. "I've watched that film too many times."
Aki suddenly arrived in the doorway of the lab. "Doctor Inu - I thought you should know - Kagome's collapsed - she's in a coma! We think she's been given sedatives!"
Inuyasha was on his feet in a flash and running after her.
"Hey! Wait! What am I supposed to do now?!" Shippo yelled after him.
Inuyasha paused impatiently. "Just - stay here till you lick your elbow!"
"My elbow?"
"Just do it!" he snapped as he disappeared out of the door.
Shippo sat on the floor and raised his arm and stuck out his tongue... only to discover the problem. "Ah..."
(I bet you're all licking your elbows now ^_^)
^_^
The steady beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound in the room. Inuyasha glared at each nurse individually, among them were Aki and Kikyo.
"Well?" he snapped and pointed to Kagome in her bed, unconscious.
The nurses glanced at one another, each looking evenly confused and innocent.
"WHO gave her the sedatives?!" he barked, making the younger nurses jump with nerves.
"Doctor Inu..." one of them said quietly. "None of us were here to administer the drug..."
"Well then who did?!" Inuyasha snapped at her, making her fall silent. Kikyo was frowning at him, drumming her fingers against her arm. He was under no authority to terrorise the new recruits like this.
The door opened and everyone glanced around to see Kouga enter. He took one look at his patient and then another at Inuyasha and the nurses. "What the fuck is going on in here?"
"You!" Inuyasha lunged at him and threw him against the door, making it jump. Several nurses gasped and quickly scrambled forward to grab Inuyasha's arms to keep him from attacking the other doctor.
"What the hell are you doing in here?" Kouga recovered quickly, walking over to Kagome's bed. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing! YOU were the one who gave her sedatives!" Inuyasha hissed, tugging himself free of the girls' grips.
"Sedatives?" Kouga scoffed at him. "What am I, stupid? She's allergic to the sedatives - I KNOW the virus reacts violently against the sedatives! I wouldn't give her sedatives in a million years!"
"Then who did?"
Kouga went to the end of the bed and looked at the chart. "It's on here... not to administer sedatives or morphine... why would a nurse not notice that?"
"WE didn't do anything!" Kikyo burst out. "We weren't even here! None of us is authorised to give sedatives without your permission, Doctor Kouga! Don't peg this on us!"
Inuyasha's hand swept out and knocked a vase of flowers over to smash on the floor, quickly gaining everyone's attention. "I don't know who gave her the drugs... but I do know, as her Doctor Kouga, you are responsible for this."
Kouga's lip curled. "This is in no way my fault!"
"Yes it is! She's your patient - you take responsibility! Wait until the board hear about this!" Inuyasha moved towards the door. "I'm taking her back."
"You can't do that! You don't have the right to take her back!" Kouga stomped after him.
Inuyasha stopped and turned abruptly so suddenly that Kouga screeched to a halt nose to nose. Inuyasha just narrowed his eyes. "Watch me... Kagome was safer with me... and it's going back that way."
He left, slamming the door after him. Kouga fumed quietly.
Kikyo came up quietly behind him, clapping slowly and sarcastically. "Well done genius... you could lose your job for this."
"Shut the fuck up!" Kouga snapped at her.
Kikyo's fists bunched at her waist. "What?!" she snapped.
Kouga jumped at the tone in her voice. "Nothing..."
"Good." Kikyo pushed past him. "Keep five minute check-ups on her... inform Doctor Inu of any changes in her condition."
AN: Yay! He's back in the drivers seat again!