InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 28 Days ❯ Broken ( Chapter 3 )
[ 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: 04.15.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 3.9K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Suspense / Romance / Drama / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.15.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 3.3K | Visits: 3.9K | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha... but I'm ok with that as long as Rumiko Takahashi points out she doesn't own my own characters as well ^_^ Hah... that's believable...
(A/N: I've only just realised that the title of this fic resembles one of a recent movie... I'm going to say that my decision to choose this title must have been a subliminal decision after having seen the trailer for the movie a couple of times, and upon thinking up I title a came with 28 Days without realising. Or it could have just been a coincidence...
Anyway! I have a brand new keyboard from my dad (strangely enough he's a doctor too) and it's the best! I can type twice as fast as before and everything's in the right place. So hypos and bad speelings should go down. I hope.
Currently I'm juggling four fics and I seem to be neglecting a few, but don't worry! I've not lost interest - a small case of writers block but I can deal with that. Plus my mock exams are in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!
Anywho, enjoy the new chapter!)
< br>
28 Days
Broken
"So how long has it been now?" Kikyo asked Shippos mother as she crouched before him and did the customary check, feeling his glands and peering into his mouth.
"Two years..." his mother sighed. "He was like this when we adopted him from the orphanage. The matron said that he would start talking again in a few weeks, maybe even months... but he hasn't said a word."
"Hm... well I'm sure that our psychiatrist will be able to help him." Kikyo smiled and patted Shippos head. "He specialises in kids."
"And if he can't help?"
"Then... I'd suggest you go to a privately operating doctor for further treatment. But I wouldn't worry, Mrs Kitsune, I've seen cases like this before and its never permanent. Now - would you mind signing some of these forms?"
The woman nodded and leaned against the counter to fill in the boxes, needing Kikyo to help her along because there were so many questions and pages. Shippo calmly looked around, standing patiently behind his new mother.
It wasn't long before Inuyasha came by to drop off the forms for his last patient. "Nothing but forms and fancy words these days..." he grumbled to himself as he dumped them in his tray and turned to leave when a delivery man whistled to get someone's attention. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. It was the usual dog joke... whistle to doctor Inu!
"Hey, Dogtor!" the delivery man called out.
Inuyasha turned slowly and gave him a glare that could have withered a building "Yeah, what?" he snapped curtly.
"Delivery from central labs." The guy held out a box for him. Inuyasha sighed, dropped his folders on the desk and moved to take it. "You need to sign for it too."
Inuyasha all but snatched the clipboard with the form to sign and held his other hand out for a pen to sign it with. The delivery man just shrugged, obviously empty handed. "Typical." Inuyasha remarked, searching his pockets for the odd pen but came up trumps. "Hang on a minute."
He went back to the desk and rifled through Kikyo's carefully maintained paperwork in his search for a pen, but he knew that he'd nicked most of hers and the only one she had was being used by the woman with the little boy. "Hey kid, you got a pen?"
"Yeah, sure, you want it?" Shippo produced one from his coat pocket and held it up.
"Thanks." Inuyasha said absently as he took it and turned back to the delivery man to sign for the package.
Meanwhile, Kikyo and Shippo's mother were both staring at Shippo or Inuyasha with wide-eyed wonder. "Well I'll be..."
Inuyasha slapped the board back onto the delivery man's chest and took the parcel as he began to tear it open. "In future be on time, this package was supposed to be here yesterday. If you're late again I'll have to tell your boss about it... and point out the fact you were your cap like a pansy, got that?"
The man quickly nodded and hurried away.
Shippo's mother was bewildered. "Is this your psychiatrist? He's amazing!"
"Oh no... he just likes kids... and kids like him too." Kikyo smirked. "Right, Inuyasha?"
"Mm." Inuyasha hummed noncommittally as he tried to see inside the box that had been delivered, without actually being able to be accused of opening it.
"This is incredible." His mother crouched down before Shippo and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Say something again."
Shippo just gazed at her, looking bright and alert but not actually saying anything. His mother sighed and stood up. "Thank you for agreeing to treat him, doctor."
"What?" Inuyasha almost dropped the parcel.
Kikyo quickly jumped in. "I mean - cause your so good with kids and everything-"
"What?" Inuyasha repeated.
"And you're the first person to have gotten him to speak." Mrs Kitsune said, watching her adopted son with hope.
"What?!"
"You'll do it, won't you?" Kikyo prodded.
All three looked up at Inuyasha with shining hope and plea. Inuyasha squinted an eye at the little brat and turned to leave. "No."
"Hey, Inuyasha!" Kikyo reeled him back in. "How can you say 'no' to that face?"
They both looked down at the little boy but Inuyasha was quick to look away. "Don't look them straight in the eyes."
"Oh come on." Kikyo put her hands together.
It didn't look like it was going to be easy to squeeze out of this one. "Fine... go on... add another patient into my long list..."
"Thank you!" both nurse and mother gushed with relief.
"I hope you're happy." Inuyasha grumbled. "Because of him some patients with more dire needs might die because they have to wait longer!"
Kikyo smiled at the woman. "He can't wait to start." She translated for him.
Inuyasha just mumbled something rude and turned over the package to see who it was for. It was for Dr Hatsuyo and it definitely looked like the results of some blood test or another. Well, since the old man was too busy to drop by reception, he might as well go drop it off.
"Thanks again, Doctor!" Shippo's mother called after him.
"Yeah." Inuyasha muttered under his breath. "Bite me."
As he had expected, the older doctor was in his office, still busy clearing away his old junk and preparing to clear out completely to take his retirement in the Mediterranean. Lucky sod.
He didn't bother knocking and just barged his way in, stepping through the piles of boxes to reach the doctor who was writing up a report at his desk. "Doctor Hatsuyo, you got a package." He announced.
"Oh thank you, Inuyasha." Dr Hatsuyo took the parcel with a thankful smile started to open it. "Wait - before you whiz off, can I have a word?"
"Depends..." Inuyasha shifted uneasily. "What do you want to say?"
"You know I've always appreciated you as a fine student, especially through the private tutoring and all. You stood above the rest of the other candidates in the universities even."
Inuyasha said nothing. He didn't really like being praised, it made him feel uncomfortable overall.
"And you know I'll be retiring in a few days..." Dr Hatsuyo said slowly.
"Mm..." Inuyasha matched his cautious tone.
"And you know that an experienced doctor like me - I have a lot of patients that I still need to take care of - but unfortunately I won't be able to do that if I'm in the south of France." He said this as he took out some acetate sheets from the parcel as well as some reports. For a moment he paused his speech as he analysed what was shown on the results. In fact he stayed quiet for so long that Inuyasha thought he might have forgotten he was there.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I have one or two patients that I would like to hand over to you." Dr Hatsuyo looked up suddenly.
"Oh crap..."
"Something wrong, Inuyasha?"
"Do you know how many patients I have right now?" Inuyasha sighed. "I'm running half an hour later as we speak - there's only so many places I can be at one time and right now I should be calling one of my patients to get her to go have surgery on her nerves in her arms."
"That's why Kikyo is the nurse." Dr Hatsuyo shrugged simply. "She can rearrange your appointments to fit your schedule."
"Oh yeah, she'll put all the patients with papercuts first and the ones with leukaemia later." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"If she wasn't good at her job she would be fired by now. And I only want you to take one patient."
"Is that all."
"She's special."
Inuyasha was quiet as he waited for Dr Hatsuyo to go on.
"Her name's Kagome Higurashi, you saw her the other day and agreed to take her, did you not?"
"What?" that must have been the seventh time today he'd said that.
"During one of your black outs?" Dr Hatsuyo smiled. "Don't worry, she's not too much of a handful, you'll be able to cope with her. She's only a young woman after all. I've seen you handle schizophrenic body-building maniacs with a cool enough head, I'm sure you can take on a young girl."
"Ok..." How hard could that be?
"Great." Dr Hatsuyo clapped the blood test results into Inuyasha's hands. "There's the stuff you need and check with my assistant if you need anything else. Good luck!"
"Ok..." Inuyasha nodded slowly and turned to leave.
The last thing he needed was yet another patient, and he didn't want to rely on Kikyo too heavily to manage his appointments. Why couldn't Dr Hatsuyo given this patient to someone else?
But then again, it might not have been a bad thing since she did seem to have a rather... interesting character, though he hadn't a clue what was wrong with her.
Out of curiosity he opened the folder of blood test results and scanned the page. Most of it was technical blah that even he had trouble understanding sometimes. All he needed to focus on was past all the blocks of text and onto the charts and graphs. For a few minutes he slowly walked along the corridors heading towards his examination room for his next patient, while analysing the results.
Suddenly he stopped dead and went over what he'd just read. He read it again just to be sure before suddenly growling and crunching the tests in his fists. In a matter of seconds he stormed back the way he had come and burst into Dr Hatsuyo's office. "You bastard!"
Dr Hatsuyo turned to face him. "Is there a problem?"
"A problem?! You've given me a dying patient!" Inuyasha threw the results at him angrily. "You knew all along! And you gave her to ME!"
"Is it MY fault that she's dying?" Hatsuyo snapped.
"She has a virus in her blood stream - how the hell is that possible from a bee sting?"
"A new species of bee." Hatsuyo shrugged. "Similar to malaria."
"It's consuming her red blood cells..." Inuyasha glowered at him. "She'll die in a month... give or take a few days."
Hatsuyo sighed deeply and stood up to stand over Inuyasha, partly reminding him that HE was the bigger man in that room. "People die every day Inuyasha. One out of every three people who come to this hospital die at some point. You've been lucky. You haven't had your share of the other two people who live and go home."
Inuyasha glowered at him harder.
"But... I think it's time that you realised your job isn't always going to be about saving people."
"You trying to tell me this is the part of my job where I get to watch my patients die slowly and painfully?" Inuyasha hissed sarcastically.
"No... this is the part of your job where you help them... but you won't save them." Dr Hatsuyo sighed again. "I chose you because you are the best student I ever had. You could cure Cancer if you put your mind to it... maybe you can cure this girl."
"Maybe you should get your head out of your ass and look at the results properly!" Inuyasha snapped. "I can't save her! Why have you given her to me?!"
"Because you hate your patients!" Hatsuyo snapped suddenly.
"Don't be stupid!"
"You treat them and kick them out - everyday in and out." The older man eyed him sternly. "You have to learn to handle them - they ARE people to, you know."
"I know that!"
"Then why do I need to tell you that?!"
"Why do you feel the need you have to tell me that?!"
"Take the girl Inuyasha, look after her and make sure she's happy while she's here. She won't be able to go home with a virus like that so she will be spending the last of her life here... you are going to make sure she's happy."
"This is ME we're talking about. Why can't you give her to someone else - give me one of your patients who will live!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I've already assigned my patients to other capable doctors. I gave this one to you because I feel you are the only one good enough to find treatment for her." Dr Hatsuyo scowled. "Plus, if you ever want to become a brilliant doctor than you must learn to cope with your patients dying."
"I can't believe you're doing this to me..." Inuyasha clenched his fists. "She'll die in a month - no - less than a month! These tests were taken two days ago - she has an estimated twenty eight days to live now and I have to break it to her and her family!"
"Good luck." Hatsuyo nodded. "Now, aren't you late on your rounds? Get moving."
Inuyasha was all but shoved out of the office and the door slammed inches from his nose. Inuyasha growled and thumped the door angrily. "Thanks a lot!"
After scowling and fuming angrily he decided he really better get moving if he wanted to keep on top of work. He made his way right down to reception to pick up the next patient.
"Kikyo, who's next?" he asked bluntly when he arrived.
Sensing he was in a worse mood than usual she got straight to the point. "Sango dropped by but she went home again because you were keeping her waiting for half an hour. She said something about needing to take the new cat back and get another one before Kohaku got home and would be able to tell the difference."
"Whatever..."
"So you have a half hour free until the next patient arrives seeing as Sango cancelled."
"My heart is soaring."
"No need for sarcasm, Inuyasha." Kikyo sighed and smiled as a couple walked into the entrance. "Hello."
"Hi, we're the Tokio's, we're here to pick up the pictures of our baby." The woman said, smiling and holding a protective hand over her stomach while the husband held her hand and smiled.
"Of course - who was your doctor?"
"Him." The woman turned to Inuyasha who looked up, non-plussed for a moment.
"Oh yes..." Inuyasha suddenly smirked slowly. "The baby..."
"You said you'd have ultrasound pictures from the sonogram you did last Monday." The woman smiled.
"I also have the results of your husbands fertility test." Inuyasha said bluntly and started to walk away. "Sorry, he's sterile, he's not the father, have a nice day now!"
He left world war three to break out behind him while going off in search of Dr Hatsuyo's patient. He found her in the same room, still hooked up to the heart monitor with her family gathered around her.
He sighed as he remembered Dr Hatsuyo's words about how he should be civil to patients. He'd forgotten it just a second ago, but maybe he should concentrate on getting it right this time. He walked into the room without knocking and the family turned to see him. The girl's mother frowned. "Are you lost, young man?"
Inuyasha sighed and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "No, I'm a doctor here, my name's Inuyasha and since Dr Hatsuyo is retiring soon he's given custody of his patient to me."
The middle aged woman and the old man in the room suddenly exchanged glances that clearly said they had misgivings. Inuyasha didn't bother holding back the roll of the eyes then. "Would you step outside, I'd like to speak to you - the boy can stay in here."
He wouldn't break the news to the kid like he would to the adults since it was the parents jobs to teach their kids about death, not the doctors. Inuyasha stepped out quickly but clearly heard the quick exchange in the room behind him.
"This is ridiculous!" the mother hissed quietly. "He's nearly half my age."
"He can't be qualified."
That was ok, he got that a lot. It didn't really bother him anyway since they usually ate their words later on. Finally they joined him outside and Inuyasha folded his arms and tried to think how best to phrase this.
"You're aware that your daughter had her blood taken for testing two days ago, right?" Inuyasha frowned.
"Yes," Mrs Higurashi nodded with a frown of her own, clearly frustrated and anxious.
"I got the results back a little while ago... and I am sorry to say it isn't good news."
Both adults inhaled quickly and looked even more worried before. "How bad is it?"
"Kagome has a virus... a rather vicious one that's spreading through her body." He wasn't going to go into details or descriptions because they wouldn't understand him. "The virus will spread through her systems and affect the cells in her muscles, at the current rate of action by the virus... it will... damage her body irreparably in less than a month... twenty eight days at the most."
"What does that mean?" Mrs Higurashi asked, as stricken look on her face.
"It means..." this was the first time he'd had to say it to anyone... he had to choose his words carefully. "Your daughter has only twenty eight days or so to live... I'm sorry..."
For a while they said nothing.
"That's not possible, you're lying." Her mother quickly began shaking her head "Who the hell are you to say this?!"
"A doctor, what does it look like?" there was only so much his patience could handle, and he was stressed enough as it was.
"She can't be dying." The grandfather was also shaking his head. "We want the old doctor back."
"The old doctor can't do anything for her now - so you're stuck with me." Inuyasha knew he better leave before they suckered him with the blame for this. "I'm sorry, I have another patient to attend to. Please think about what I said."
He left down the corridor before they could try and pin the blame further, he didn't need to be in that kind of position. As soon as he rounded a corner he stopped and leaned against the wall where he was out of sight.
It was harder than he'd thought. How many times had he been told that informing family of imminent death of patients was difficult and painful... but he'd thought it was supposed to be difficult for the family, not the doctor. Maybe he wasn't such a brilliant doctor as he'd thought...
But now this girl had just topped his patient priority list... and she was the one girl he wouldn't be able to help...
(A/N: need to revise - bye!)
(A/N: I've only just realised that the title of this fic resembles one of a recent movie... I'm going to say that my decision to choose this title must have been a subliminal decision after having seen the trailer for the movie a couple of times, and upon thinking up I title a came with 28 Days without realising. Or it could have just been a coincidence...
Anyway! I have a brand new keyboard from my dad (strangely enough he's a doctor too) and it's the best! I can type twice as fast as before and everything's in the right place. So hypos and bad speelings should go down. I hope.
Currently I'm juggling four fics and I seem to be neglecting a few, but don't worry! I've not lost interest - a small case of writers block but I can deal with that. Plus my mock exams are in TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!
Anywho, enjoy the new chapter!)
< br>
28 Days
Broken
"So how long has it been now?" Kikyo asked Shippos mother as she crouched before him and did the customary check, feeling his glands and peering into his mouth.
"Two years..." his mother sighed. "He was like this when we adopted him from the orphanage. The matron said that he would start talking again in a few weeks, maybe even months... but he hasn't said a word."
"Hm... well I'm sure that our psychiatrist will be able to help him." Kikyo smiled and patted Shippos head. "He specialises in kids."
"And if he can't help?"
"Then... I'd suggest you go to a privately operating doctor for further treatment. But I wouldn't worry, Mrs Kitsune, I've seen cases like this before and its never permanent. Now - would you mind signing some of these forms?"
The woman nodded and leaned against the counter to fill in the boxes, needing Kikyo to help her along because there were so many questions and pages. Shippo calmly looked around, standing patiently behind his new mother.
It wasn't long before Inuyasha came by to drop off the forms for his last patient. "Nothing but forms and fancy words these days..." he grumbled to himself as he dumped them in his tray and turned to leave when a delivery man whistled to get someone's attention. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. It was the usual dog joke... whistle to doctor Inu!
"Hey, Dogtor!" the delivery man called out.
Inuyasha turned slowly and gave him a glare that could have withered a building "Yeah, what?" he snapped curtly.
"Delivery from central labs." The guy held out a box for him. Inuyasha sighed, dropped his folders on the desk and moved to take it. "You need to sign for it too."
Inuyasha all but snatched the clipboard with the form to sign and held his other hand out for a pen to sign it with. The delivery man just shrugged, obviously empty handed. "Typical." Inuyasha remarked, searching his pockets for the odd pen but came up trumps. "Hang on a minute."
He went back to the desk and rifled through Kikyo's carefully maintained paperwork in his search for a pen, but he knew that he'd nicked most of hers and the only one she had was being used by the woman with the little boy. "Hey kid, you got a pen?"
"Yeah, sure, you want it?" Shippo produced one from his coat pocket and held it up.
"Thanks." Inuyasha said absently as he took it and turned back to the delivery man to sign for the package.
Meanwhile, Kikyo and Shippo's mother were both staring at Shippo or Inuyasha with wide-eyed wonder. "Well I'll be..."
Inuyasha slapped the board back onto the delivery man's chest and took the parcel as he began to tear it open. "In future be on time, this package was supposed to be here yesterday. If you're late again I'll have to tell your boss about it... and point out the fact you were your cap like a pansy, got that?"
The man quickly nodded and hurried away.
Shippo's mother was bewildered. "Is this your psychiatrist? He's amazing!"
"Oh no... he just likes kids... and kids like him too." Kikyo smirked. "Right, Inuyasha?"
"Mm." Inuyasha hummed noncommittally as he tried to see inside the box that had been delivered, without actually being able to be accused of opening it.
"This is incredible." His mother crouched down before Shippo and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Say something again."
Shippo just gazed at her, looking bright and alert but not actually saying anything. His mother sighed and stood up. "Thank you for agreeing to treat him, doctor."
"What?" Inuyasha almost dropped the parcel.
Kikyo quickly jumped in. "I mean - cause your so good with kids and everything-"
"What?" Inuyasha repeated.
"And you're the first person to have gotten him to speak." Mrs Kitsune said, watching her adopted son with hope.
"What?!"
"You'll do it, won't you?" Kikyo prodded.
All three looked up at Inuyasha with shining hope and plea. Inuyasha squinted an eye at the little brat and turned to leave. "No."
"Hey, Inuyasha!" Kikyo reeled him back in. "How can you say 'no' to that face?"
They both looked down at the little boy but Inuyasha was quick to look away. "Don't look them straight in the eyes."
"Oh come on." Kikyo put her hands together.
It didn't look like it was going to be easy to squeeze out of this one. "Fine... go on... add another patient into my long list..."
"Thank you!" both nurse and mother gushed with relief.
"I hope you're happy." Inuyasha grumbled. "Because of him some patients with more dire needs might die because they have to wait longer!"
Kikyo smiled at the woman. "He can't wait to start." She translated for him.
Inuyasha just mumbled something rude and turned over the package to see who it was for. It was for Dr Hatsuyo and it definitely looked like the results of some blood test or another. Well, since the old man was too busy to drop by reception, he might as well go drop it off.
"Thanks again, Doctor!" Shippo's mother called after him.
"Yeah." Inuyasha muttered under his breath. "Bite me."
As he had expected, the older doctor was in his office, still busy clearing away his old junk and preparing to clear out completely to take his retirement in the Mediterranean. Lucky sod.
He didn't bother knocking and just barged his way in, stepping through the piles of boxes to reach the doctor who was writing up a report at his desk. "Doctor Hatsuyo, you got a package." He announced.
"Oh thank you, Inuyasha." Dr Hatsuyo took the parcel with a thankful smile started to open it. "Wait - before you whiz off, can I have a word?"
"Depends..." Inuyasha shifted uneasily. "What do you want to say?"
"You know I've always appreciated you as a fine student, especially through the private tutoring and all. You stood above the rest of the other candidates in the universities even."
Inuyasha said nothing. He didn't really like being praised, it made him feel uncomfortable overall.
"And you know I'll be retiring in a few days..." Dr Hatsuyo said slowly.
"Mm..." Inuyasha matched his cautious tone.
"And you know that an experienced doctor like me - I have a lot of patients that I still need to take care of - but unfortunately I won't be able to do that if I'm in the south of France." He said this as he took out some acetate sheets from the parcel as well as some reports. For a moment he paused his speech as he analysed what was shown on the results. In fact he stayed quiet for so long that Inuyasha thought he might have forgotten he was there.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I have one or two patients that I would like to hand over to you." Dr Hatsuyo looked up suddenly.
"Oh crap..."
"Something wrong, Inuyasha?"
"Do you know how many patients I have right now?" Inuyasha sighed. "I'm running half an hour later as we speak - there's only so many places I can be at one time and right now I should be calling one of my patients to get her to go have surgery on her nerves in her arms."
"That's why Kikyo is the nurse." Dr Hatsuyo shrugged simply. "She can rearrange your appointments to fit your schedule."
"Oh yeah, she'll put all the patients with papercuts first and the ones with leukaemia later." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"If she wasn't good at her job she would be fired by now. And I only want you to take one patient."
"Is that all."
"She's special."
Inuyasha was quiet as he waited for Dr Hatsuyo to go on.
"Her name's Kagome Higurashi, you saw her the other day and agreed to take her, did you not?"
"What?" that must have been the seventh time today he'd said that.
"During one of your black outs?" Dr Hatsuyo smiled. "Don't worry, she's not too much of a handful, you'll be able to cope with her. She's only a young woman after all. I've seen you handle schizophrenic body-building maniacs with a cool enough head, I'm sure you can take on a young girl."
"Ok..." How hard could that be?
"Great." Dr Hatsuyo clapped the blood test results into Inuyasha's hands. "There's the stuff you need and check with my assistant if you need anything else. Good luck!"
"Ok..." Inuyasha nodded slowly and turned to leave.
The last thing he needed was yet another patient, and he didn't want to rely on Kikyo too heavily to manage his appointments. Why couldn't Dr Hatsuyo given this patient to someone else?
But then again, it might not have been a bad thing since she did seem to have a rather... interesting character, though he hadn't a clue what was wrong with her.
Out of curiosity he opened the folder of blood test results and scanned the page. Most of it was technical blah that even he had trouble understanding sometimes. All he needed to focus on was past all the blocks of text and onto the charts and graphs. For a few minutes he slowly walked along the corridors heading towards his examination room for his next patient, while analysing the results.
Suddenly he stopped dead and went over what he'd just read. He read it again just to be sure before suddenly growling and crunching the tests in his fists. In a matter of seconds he stormed back the way he had come and burst into Dr Hatsuyo's office. "You bastard!"
Dr Hatsuyo turned to face him. "Is there a problem?"
"A problem?! You've given me a dying patient!" Inuyasha threw the results at him angrily. "You knew all along! And you gave her to ME!"
"Is it MY fault that she's dying?" Hatsuyo snapped.
"She has a virus in her blood stream - how the hell is that possible from a bee sting?"
"A new species of bee." Hatsuyo shrugged. "Similar to malaria."
"It's consuming her red blood cells..." Inuyasha glowered at him. "She'll die in a month... give or take a few days."
Hatsuyo sighed deeply and stood up to stand over Inuyasha, partly reminding him that HE was the bigger man in that room. "People die every day Inuyasha. One out of every three people who come to this hospital die at some point. You've been lucky. You haven't had your share of the other two people who live and go home."
Inuyasha glowered at him harder.
"But... I think it's time that you realised your job isn't always going to be about saving people."
"You trying to tell me this is the part of my job where I get to watch my patients die slowly and painfully?" Inuyasha hissed sarcastically.
"No... this is the part of your job where you help them... but you won't save them." Dr Hatsuyo sighed again. "I chose you because you are the best student I ever had. You could cure Cancer if you put your mind to it... maybe you can cure this girl."
"Maybe you should get your head out of your ass and look at the results properly!" Inuyasha snapped. "I can't save her! Why have you given her to me?!"
"Because you hate your patients!" Hatsuyo snapped suddenly.
"Don't be stupid!"
"You treat them and kick them out - everyday in and out." The older man eyed him sternly. "You have to learn to handle them - they ARE people to, you know."
"I know that!"
"Then why do I need to tell you that?!"
"Why do you feel the need you have to tell me that?!"
"Take the girl Inuyasha, look after her and make sure she's happy while she's here. She won't be able to go home with a virus like that so she will be spending the last of her life here... you are going to make sure she's happy."
"This is ME we're talking about. Why can't you give her to someone else - give me one of your patients who will live!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"I've already assigned my patients to other capable doctors. I gave this one to you because I feel you are the only one good enough to find treatment for her." Dr Hatsuyo scowled. "Plus, if you ever want to become a brilliant doctor than you must learn to cope with your patients dying."
"I can't believe you're doing this to me..." Inuyasha clenched his fists. "She'll die in a month - no - less than a month! These tests were taken two days ago - she has an estimated twenty eight days to live now and I have to break it to her and her family!"
"Good luck." Hatsuyo nodded. "Now, aren't you late on your rounds? Get moving."
Inuyasha was all but shoved out of the office and the door slammed inches from his nose. Inuyasha growled and thumped the door angrily. "Thanks a lot!"
After scowling and fuming angrily he decided he really better get moving if he wanted to keep on top of work. He made his way right down to reception to pick up the next patient.
"Kikyo, who's next?" he asked bluntly when he arrived.
Sensing he was in a worse mood than usual she got straight to the point. "Sango dropped by but she went home again because you were keeping her waiting for half an hour. She said something about needing to take the new cat back and get another one before Kohaku got home and would be able to tell the difference."
"Whatever..."
"So you have a half hour free until the next patient arrives seeing as Sango cancelled."
"My heart is soaring."
"No need for sarcasm, Inuyasha." Kikyo sighed and smiled as a couple walked into the entrance. "Hello."
"Hi, we're the Tokio's, we're here to pick up the pictures of our baby." The woman said, smiling and holding a protective hand over her stomach while the husband held her hand and smiled.
"Of course - who was your doctor?"
"Him." The woman turned to Inuyasha who looked up, non-plussed for a moment.
"Oh yes..." Inuyasha suddenly smirked slowly. "The baby..."
"You said you'd have ultrasound pictures from the sonogram you did last Monday." The woman smiled.
"I also have the results of your husbands fertility test." Inuyasha said bluntly and started to walk away. "Sorry, he's sterile, he's not the father, have a nice day now!"
He left world war three to break out behind him while going off in search of Dr Hatsuyo's patient. He found her in the same room, still hooked up to the heart monitor with her family gathered around her.
He sighed as he remembered Dr Hatsuyo's words about how he should be civil to patients. He'd forgotten it just a second ago, but maybe he should concentrate on getting it right this time. He walked into the room without knocking and the family turned to see him. The girl's mother frowned. "Are you lost, young man?"
Inuyasha sighed and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. "No, I'm a doctor here, my name's Inuyasha and since Dr Hatsuyo is retiring soon he's given custody of his patient to me."
The middle aged woman and the old man in the room suddenly exchanged glances that clearly said they had misgivings. Inuyasha didn't bother holding back the roll of the eyes then. "Would you step outside, I'd like to speak to you - the boy can stay in here."
He wouldn't break the news to the kid like he would to the adults since it was the parents jobs to teach their kids about death, not the doctors. Inuyasha stepped out quickly but clearly heard the quick exchange in the room behind him.
"This is ridiculous!" the mother hissed quietly. "He's nearly half my age."
"He can't be qualified."
That was ok, he got that a lot. It didn't really bother him anyway since they usually ate their words later on. Finally they joined him outside and Inuyasha folded his arms and tried to think how best to phrase this.
"You're aware that your daughter had her blood taken for testing two days ago, right?" Inuyasha frowned.
"Yes," Mrs Higurashi nodded with a frown of her own, clearly frustrated and anxious.
"I got the results back a little while ago... and I am sorry to say it isn't good news."
Both adults inhaled quickly and looked even more worried before. "How bad is it?"
"Kagome has a virus... a rather vicious one that's spreading through her body." He wasn't going to go into details or descriptions because they wouldn't understand him. "The virus will spread through her systems and affect the cells in her muscles, at the current rate of action by the virus... it will... damage her body irreparably in less than a month... twenty eight days at the most."
"What does that mean?" Mrs Higurashi asked, as stricken look on her face.
"It means..." this was the first time he'd had to say it to anyone... he had to choose his words carefully. "Your daughter has only twenty eight days or so to live... I'm sorry..."
For a while they said nothing.
"That's not possible, you're lying." Her mother quickly began shaking her head "Who the hell are you to say this?!"
"A doctor, what does it look like?" there was only so much his patience could handle, and he was stressed enough as it was.
"She can't be dying." The grandfather was also shaking his head. "We want the old doctor back."
"The old doctor can't do anything for her now - so you're stuck with me." Inuyasha knew he better leave before they suckered him with the blame for this. "I'm sorry, I have another patient to attend to. Please think about what I said."
He left down the corridor before they could try and pin the blame further, he didn't need to be in that kind of position. As soon as he rounded a corner he stopped and leaned against the wall where he was out of sight.
It was harder than he'd thought. How many times had he been told that informing family of imminent death of patients was difficult and painful... but he'd thought it was supposed to be difficult for the family, not the doctor. Maybe he wasn't such a brilliant doctor as he'd thought...
But now this girl had just topped his patient priority list... and she was the one girl he wouldn't be able to help...
(A/N: need to revise - bye!)