InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ 28 Days ❯ Psycho Babble ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. And I swear lots of people were injured during the making of this fic. It IS a hospital after all.

(A/N: Well, my mum's gone and packed off to America to see my grandma and her sister - so if anyone's in the Phoenix area of Arizona look out for her! But I'm guessing that's a big place to look... anyway, now I'm stuck at home with an anti-domestic father and my sister has pickled back off to university. So who has to feed dad? Me! And the only thing I can cook is toast! And even then it gets burnt! I seriously don't think we're going to survive the next week...)


















28 Days

Psycho Babble

















The waiting room was full, the front desk was busy and finally one of the other nurses was helping Kikyo out by managing the appointments and filing system.

"Ooh - it's like the embassy hotel in here." One elderly woman noted as Kikyo's helper nurse started to lead her towards the examination room.

"We do try our best to make your stay as pleasant as possible." The nurse said with a smile.

"Yeah, cause it'll probably be the last thing you see." Inuyasha said rather carelessly as he passed by, coming back from his lunch break.

A pen snapped against the side of his head, aimed from Kikyo's direction and he winced "Ow... oh! Pen! I needed one of those..."

He bent down and picked it up and continued to the front desk.

"You're a horrible little boy, you know that?" Kikyo said rather stonily. "Do you deliberately try to give all the residents here heart attacks?"

"Only if they're old." He shrugged and leaned against the desk as he reread his schedule for the afternoon. "Oh goody... Sango's back today."

"Maybe you can negotiate for her to see Miroku?" Kikyo suddenly stopped. "Actually... I think I better negotiate with her this time..."

"Mm hm..."

She couldn't be sure whether or not he was actually listening to her since he seemed too busy flapping one of those paper tube packets of sugar that people always stole from the canteen. "Why do you always steal those?"

"Might have a sugar shortage in my apartment." He shrugged. "It happens."

"No it doesn't."

"Shut up. If it happens, it happens. You can't stop it."

Suddenly the packet ripped and spilled white sugar granules all over the floor. "Ah shit... can't believe I just dropped all my anthrax..."

A lull had gone around the waiting room at that very moment, and after a silent beat, there was a flurry of movement as everyone charged out the exit doors. When the door had finally closed behind the mob, the only sound to be heard was Inuyasha's poorly suppressed laughter.

Kikyo gaped in shock. "What was that?!"

"THAT was pure genius." He snapped his folder down on the table.

"That was evil - where do you get off, Inuyasha?" Kikyo snapped back.

Just then Miroku rounded the corner into reception. All he had to do was take one look at the empty waiting room to figure what had happened. He shook his head as he came over. "Let me guess... you scared off the patients again."

"They'll be back." Inuyasha didn't bother looking up at him from his files.

"I bet you can't make it through the week without insulting, scaring, terrifying, traumatising and angering patients." Miroku said in an off hand way.

"Oh yeah? Sure I could." Inuyasha glared across at him. "Any day."

"Alright, if you're so cocky - let's make it this week." Miroku declared.

Inuyasha stared at him, a little concerned about what he'd just let himself in for. "What?"

"Every time you insult, bitch about, scare off or antagonise a patient this week..." Miroku grabbed Kikyo's pen cup and tipped out the pens, ignoring her indignant spluttering, and held it up. "You have to put a hundred yen in this."

Inuyasha glared at him a moment before quickly covering it up with cockiness. "Fine. I think you'll be surprised to find that that cup will be pretty empty by the end of the week."

"By the end of the week you will be a poor man, my friend." Miroku clapped him on the shoulder and set the cup down on the higher platform of the desk. "Kikyo - no putting pens in that thing."

"THIS is how I lose all my pens!" Kikyo growled from where she was picking up the ones on the floor.

"You're on." Inuyasha grabbed his files and swept past them with dignity. "You'll see... I'm not a rage addict..."

Well, seeing as he'd just scared off half of his patients for that afternoon, he realised he had plenty of time to go about doing some stuff he needed to catch up on. The thing at the top of that list was Kagome Higurashi.

Of course, when he arrived her mother and grandfather were visiting again which meant he had to talk to them... of all the luck...

"Mrs Higurashi...?" he announced as he entered, trying really hard for once to keep a civil tongue in his head.

The older woman looked around at him and suddenly was standing before him in an eye blink. "About what you said yesterday-"

"Mrs-"

"We want a second opinion." She looked up at him hopefully.

Inuyasha sighed and stepped around her and into the room. "If you want a second opinion, go see Dr Hatsuyo. He was the one who confirmed it before me." He glanced at the girl in the bed... definitely still unconscious. "Of course, he'll be on the plane to France by now..."

"There has to be some mistake." Kagome's mother shook her head with her thoughts. "She's only seventeen! How can she be dying?!"

"I told you... it's a virus that's invaded her blood. At the current rate of growth it'll shut down her body in a month or so." Inuyasha sighed. "I'm really sorry... but that's all there is to it."

"There must be something you can do to stop this!" the girl's Grandfather suddenly got to his feet. "Some cure you have that'll save her!"

It looked like the older man was closer to accepting it than the mother. But his comments weren't helping much either.

"Look - I still have a month to run more tests and find possible treatment for her condition. I've never seen a virus like this before so it isn't going to be easy for me, you know-"

"Of course you haven't seen one like it - you're so young! How could you have all the necessary experience!" Mrs Higurashi interrupted.

Count to three... one... two... three... actually... better make that ten. Inuyasha took a deep breath to keep a hold of his waning patience. "I may be young, but right now I'm the closest thing to a doctor in this room - I know what I'm talking about."

"Then heal her!"

"It's not that simple!" Inuyasha clenched his fist, mainly to try and temper himself. "Your daughter has a real problem - not just a case of the flu - look at her! She's in a coma! That's not a small thing to experience! She might never wake up from that sleep!"

Mrs Higurashi paled and sealed her lips.

"I know what I'm talking about. I've been a doctor since I was eighteen and old enough to take the 'doctor' exam, ok?" Inuyasha said sarcastically. "Unfortunately the cure for Kagome's illness wasn't one of the questions, so don't mind me and the rest of the medical department to wonder what the hell is wrong with her."

Grandpa looked like he was about to boil over, but the mother seemed to have calmed a little.

"The chances of someone getting a brand new illness like this must be one in a million. So don't come whining to me about second opinions and cures - because first of all we don't have a name for it!" he snapped at them both. "And if I were you both, I would leave right now and play out the rest of my luck on lottery tickets ok?"

"You can't tell us what to do!" the old man fumed.

"Yes I can, if it's in the interests of my patient." Inuyasha stepped back and kicked the door open. "According to the nurse you've been overstaying your visiting hours. That isn't helping Kagome - so you better leave. If you want, come back tomorrow, but no sooner."

A few moments of duelling glares later and the family stomped out in a rather heavy mood. Obviously they didn't like being told what to do by a young man no less...

Inuyasha sighed when they were gone and turned back to finish what he'd come for.

"Inuyasha..." Miroku called from the doorway. Inuyasha whipped around to face him and fixed his eyes on the pen pot being held out.

"Fuck you..." Inuyasha muttered as he dug into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Go buy yourself a life, asshole."

"You know... for that you should probably pay up again." Miroku smiled and jangled the pot.

"You're not a patient, so piss off." Inuyasha glowered. "Now!"

Miroku just shrugged and wandered away.

Once alone, sort of, Inuyasha's nerves began to calm and he sighed deeply and went about jotting down Kagome's vitals on her file. Her heart rate was normal... blood pressure normal... everything was pretty normal apart from the fact she was in a coma. That just wasn't normal.

Yep, she looked like she was in perfect health. And if she would just wake up then she would be in even more perfect health. When he'd finished taking down her vitals and scribbling stuff on the clipboard at the end of her bed, he spotted the variety of gifts that had been set out on the bedside table. Chocolate, cards, flowers... fruits... and... more chocolate...

Feeling that she wouldn't exactly miss one little chocolate he happily toddled over and carefully opened the box to peek inside. Strawberry flavour - how had they known his favourite?! He picked one of the largest ones and popped it in his mouth. It occurred to him that he really should be getting on with his rounds... but chocolate usually came before patients in his book.

However, he began choking on the chocolate the minute the steady blipping of the heart monitor suddenly went and flat-lined. He spun at once, ready to start to CPR if need be, only to find that Kagome was gently stirring and shifting against the covers. For a moment he was confused as the droning of the monitor in the background went on... before he realised the little pulse monitors that had been stuck over the ends of her fingers had fallen off and were, of course, receiving no pulse.

With a big sigh of relief he reached over and turned the machine off before it gave him a headache and looked down at the gently rousing girl.

"Kagome, are you awake?" he asked loudly, knowing that sometimes comatose patients found it a little hard to hear when they woke up.

She slowly blinked open her eyes and fixed her gaze on his face. Recognition didn't flicker and she frowned for a moment.

"It's ok, you won't remember me. You don't know me." He checked her temperature and pulse again. "Do you remember everything else?"

Kagome looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly nodding, almost uncertainly.

"You've probably forgotten at least something, but you don't remember you've forgotten it." He smiled slightly. "That's ok, it'll come back to you."

Kagome made a gesture that she wanted a drink but Inuyasha shook his head. "Not yet, wait at least half an hour before you start taking in fluids. A couple of hours yet before you can eat again, ok?"

Kagome nodded with a grim expression.

"Ok... I have to go now but the nurse will be around constantly to check on you. Whether that's good or bad is your choice." He started for the door.

"I remember you now." Kagome croaked and he turned to see her smiling weakly. "You're that guy... from the canteen."

"I'm your new doctor."

Kagome stared at him. "What happened to the old one?"

"He retired."

"Damn... how long have I been asleep for?" she frowned, looking around for a clock.

"Two days, don't worry." Inuyasha winked at her. "I'll be by later, ok?"

"Ok..." Kagome smiled and waited until he was gone before carefully taking off the electrode pads stuck to her chest and temples. No way was she just going to lay there for hours on end. She had stuff to do, people to call, University lectures to attend...

Meanwhile Inuyasha was back at reception. "You know what I hate?" he asked grumpily when he arrived.

"I have a list somewhere..." Kikyo muttered.

"Cats?" Sango said from where she was leaning against the desk.

"No." Inuyasha frowned at her.

"Delivery men." Kikyo guessed wildly.

"No!"

"Kids." Sango shrugged.

"Patients." Kikyo guessed again.

"The cafeteria staff when they say they've run out of salads, but in actual fact they're just hiding them under the counter to keep for themselves." Sango asked. "I know you hate that."

"No!" Inuyasha grouched. "I hate it when-"

"When families assume to know better than you?" Miroku said from behind him. "Feel free to bitch, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha's eyebrow ticked. "Actually... I absolutely detest it when people drown kittens." He made up and stomped over to pick his schedule up. "Ok... you're next Sango."

"Yippee." Sango said with the enthusiasm of someone who'd been awake for seven days straight. Which means not a lot of enthusiasm.

Steering her away from Miroku he frog-marched her into one of the free examination rooms and pointed to the table. "Any new problems?"

"No. I just want to get surgery again." She said, hopping up onto the raised table. "Just not with that sleaze-bag Miroku."

"Here, here." Inuyasha grumbled and got out his reflex hammer. "Arms out."

"Is something bothering you?" Sango asked, catching a hint of his mood as she complied. "You seem even grumpier than usual."

"I always look like this."

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No - you don't!"

"Look - I think I know my face better than you - so just shut up and let me do my job."

"That's another hundred yen Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted from down the hall.

"What, have you got me bugged or something?!" Inuyasha yelled back before slamming the door shut. "Where was I...?"

"About to confess to what was bothering you?" Sango tried.

"No... I think we were at the elbow." Inuyasha tapped the nerve centre there, but she didn't react.

"Let me guess... one of the patients is giving you a tough time." She guessed.

"Shut up, you're not my psychiatrist." Inuyasha snapped.

"Actually..." Sango smiled slowly.

Inuyasha snapped a glare on her. "Just stop talking right there - I KNOW you're not a psychiatrist! That's impossible! You're a guidance counsellor!"

"Yeah, but you have to get a degree in psychology to get that job." Sango smirked. "Well - I'm listening?"

Inuyasha wasn't stupid enough to get himself into one of these conversations. He just shut his mouth and decided that was the best way to keep from spilling the truth to her. "Bend your arms."

"So, is it a girl or a boy?" she said as she complied.

"And straighten them again..."

"Old or young...?"

"Can you twist them this way?"

Sango twisted. "Crazy or sane."

"Sane."

"Conscious or unconscious?"

"Conscious."

"Girl or boy?"

"Girl."

"Young or old?"

"Young - hang on!" Inuyasha dropped his hands and stepped back. "Stop that!"

"Stop what?" Sango asked innocently.

"That brain control thing! It isn't funny!" Inuyasha snapped. "You know I don't like that brain schitzo crap!"

"Oh calm down, it's just called fast talking." Sango rolled her eyes. "So what's her name?"

"How come you know it's a girl?"

"You just said."

Inuyasha couldn't remember what he'd just said and scowled. "I can't tell you that."

"Oh come on, who am I gonna tell?" Sango scoffed.

"Her name isn't important." He snapped. "It's what's wrong with her is what the problem is."

"What's wrong with her?" Sango asked softly as he began examining her wrists again, but didn't seem to focused on the task at hand.

"Some virus I've never seen before..."

Sango said nothing for a while. "Is she gonna die?"

Inuyasha's jaw clenched as he glared angrily at her wrists. He nodded.

"And... she didn't take the news well?"

"I haven't told her yet. She only woke up from a coma a little while ago." Inuyasha's hands and dropped to rest against the table. "Her family didn't take it well."

"Let me guess... they want you to break it to her?"

Inuyasha nodded again, refusing to look up at her. "They think she'll hold it against them if they tell her..."

"Won't she just hold it against you instead."

"Yeah..."

"But she needs to trust you if you're going to be her doctor." Sango frowned.

Inuyasha snorted as he moved off and dropped the hammer back into the metal dish with a clatter. "What's the point? If she's going to die anyway..."

"She might not..."

"She will." He said shortly.

Sango pressed her lips together and eyed him. "You don't... lose a lot of patients do you?"

"Never."

"This is really bothering you, isn't it."

"Of course not." He growled.

"How long do you think she'll...?"

"A month."

"Ouch." Sango looked down at her hands and numbly tried to flex her fingers absently. "If it's any consolation... I don't think this'll change the fact that you're a great doctor."

"That won't change the fact that she'll die."

Sango glanced up at him, noting the sulky tone in his voice. "If you can't take a patient dying then are you sure you can handle this job?"

Inuyasha was about to berate her on telling him how to do his job when he realised she knew what she was talking about. "Whatever... you're arms are still wrecked by the way. You need surgery again."

Sango accepted the change in topic easily enough. "Ok."

"I'm making an appointment for you and Miroku to talk." He heard her start to protest but cut her off with a glare. "You WILL go see him. And if you don't I won't treat you anymore. He's working for your own good remember?"

"Bull." Sango said shortly.

She could say things like that all the time, but everyone who knew Sango also knew that she had soft feelings for the surgeon she apparently 'detested'. She would normally have jumped at the chance to get an appointment with Miroku... but she'd been hurt last time she'd seen him dallying with one of the nurses. Obviously.

Miroku was such a block head that he hadn't noticed this yet.

Not that Inuyasha was going to shed some light on him.

"I'm late, you better go home." Inuyasha said bluntly, eyeing his watch. "I'll get Miroku to call you."

"Don't give him my number!"

"He already has it." Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "He has every girls' number. His contact book could be used as the new yellow pages."

"Right, right..." Sango hurried as he ushered her from the room. Just before she left reception she looked back at him and smiled consolingly. "Don't worry about the girl, ok?"

"Whatever - just go!" he waved her off.

"What was that about?" Kikyo asked casually.

"Doesn't matter." He said with a shrug and turned to the waiting room that had slowly began to fill up. "Mr Sensati? You're up."













( A/N: better order some take out now...)