InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Fragile Heart ❯ Chapter Six: Not Invincible ( Chapter 6 )

"A Fragile Heart"

By: Banshee Puppet

Chapter Six: Not Invincible

~**~

Sango had cried into the nurse's shoulder for almost an hour. She couldn't come to terms with it. When someone young died like that, it always brings you down to earth a little, makes you think on your own mortality. But Kouga…Kouga was like a stuck-up Superman; nobody liked him much, not really, he was a prick, but he always seemed like the type of person who was blessed, who nothing really bad could ever happen to. …until now. Because now, Kouga was dead. Her body understood, it was crying for him (and for Miroku as well), but her mind wasn't ready to come to terms with it yet and she wasn't sure it ever would be. So, this was grief. She figured she'd better get used to it.

~**~

Miroku stared at the ceiling when he awoke. His mind was drug-heavy and fogged over, a feeling that was becoming more and more familiar and that he didn't like much. He took stock of his situation. He was in the hospital, but this wasn't his room. The window was on the wrong side. Alone. At least he didn't have a roommate to bother him.

Although…

There was the matter of a shooting pain that went from his hip straight down to his knee that he would have liked to ask someone about. He was too groggy to lift his head, let alone move his arm to check his side. His arm was itchy too. He managed to roll his head to see bandages there, some dried blood on the gauze. No wonder it was itchy.

Wait a damn minute! Why the hell were there bandages on his arm!??

The question brought back a rush of memories. Bright headlights blinding him, cursing as he squeezed tighter to the boy in front of him in panic and fear. The tires screeched. He could smell the burnt rubber. Smoke. There was a lot of smoke. He hit the pavement hard and had instantly reached out for Kouga. His head was bleeding. He had to wake him up quickly. The other boy might have a concussion. 'Kouga. Hey Kouga, wake up!' His mouth was moving but he knew no sound was coming out. He was in shock. He tried shaking the boy awake, but it sent lances of pain through his arm. And the smoke. There was so much smoke. He couldn't breathe. He needed to breathe, just a little bit, just a bit of fresh air. 'Kouga. Wake up… wake up…Kouga.'

In the instant the memory passed through his mind he sat bolt upright. "Kouga!" he rasped out through the burning in the back of his throat, and was immediately rewarded by sharp lancing pain going up his side. He went to fall back against the bed in a less painful position, but in the suddenness tried to catch himself with his bad hand, lost balance, and fell from the bed. He whimpered in pain. He couldn't get up. He could barely move. He was lying on his side. His mind was still a total blur. He barely had the presence of mind to reach through the tearing sensation for the mini-intercom buzzer thing (as he liked to call it) to get a nurse or orderly to come help him. When he heard a voice on the other end, his mind was already whirling, seeking a state of unconsciousness where he wouldn't notice the pain. "K-k-kouga…"he rasped, dry coughs erupting from his throat. 'Smoke inhalation, and at least a few broken bones,' his mind informed him before everything faded to black once again.

It would be almost a week before the boy would open his eyes again.

~**~

++…a whole new world
Don't you dare close your eyes
A hundred thousand things to see
Hold your breath- it gets better
I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far I can't go back to where i used to be…++

They'd gotten as far as the carpet ride the second time through the movie. Yes, the second time. Rin really liked Aladdin, though the tiger (who's name Kagome could never remember) was her favorite. Now Sesshomaru and Rin were sleeping peacefully on one end of the couch while Kagome sat curled up, watching through the movie again on the other end. They looked too cute to wake up, and she didn't want to leave! She got so little time to spend with them anymore as it was, between school for her, and work for him. She watched Rin for him a few days a week, but by the time he got in at night he was tired and she had school the next day and had to go home.

Oh, it wasn't his fault. Being a parent wasn't easy, even so, she was being a little selfish. She missed seeing him every day, that's all.

But he was still the same Sesshomaru he'd always been. Quiet, reserved, smirking underneath any mean comments he would throw her way to get her annoyed with him, and horny at all the wrong moments. And he still wanted to marry her, someday, when she was ready.

Right now though, it was starting to get late. Well past Rin's bedtime. Kagome figured she'd leave as soon as the movie was over. But as she sat there, the phone rang.

'Who would be calling this late?' she wondered as she got up carefully moving to the kitchen to answer the phone. "Hello?" she asked.

"Oi, Kagome…that you? Is my brother there?" Inuyasha asked.

"He's asleep on the couch. What is it, Inuyasha? You sound…well, something's bothering you."

"Oh. Asleep. Uhm. Listen, wake him up, okay? I need a ride."

"You need a ride at 10:30 on a school night?" she asked.

"You guys need to come too. I…well…"

"Just spit it out, Inuyahsa."

"Sango just called," he said, biting his lip slightly. "There was an accident."

"A-accident?"

Sesshomaru heard her talking in the kitchen and woke up. He carefully lifted Rin and tucked the girl into bed before walking into the kitchen. The first word he made out when he entered was 'accident'.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly.

Kagome looked stunned, and handed over the phone.

"Inuyasha," the elder brother stated flatly. "Do you have any idea what time it is? Couldn't this wait until morning?"

"Kouga's dead," Inuyasha blurted out, immediately regretting the lack of tact.

Sesshomaru's eyes widened. Can't be. Annoying pests like that never die. Never.

Inuyasha continued. "There was an accident. He and Miroku were out on his motorcycle and they were hit by a drunk driver. Sango says Miroku is in pretty bad shape. She's over there all by herself. I need a ride."

"Are you at home."

"Yeah."

"We'll be there in thirty minutes."

~**~

Sesshomaru knocked on Kagura's door. The older woman looked at him, perplexed. "I…need a favor, and there's no one else I can ask," he admitted, not liking asking for favors at all.

"What is it?"

"Kagome and I need to get to the hospital. Rin is asleep but…would you mind staying down there with her until I return in case she wakes up? I don't want her to wake up to an empty house. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, give her a small glass of juice and put her back to bed. She'll fall asleep quickly. If anything goes wrong, I'll have my phone with me. …Please." That last word was a blow to the man's pride and they all knew it.

"Aa. I'll be down right after I put some shoes on."

The door closed between them. "Kanna, I'm going downstairs to watch after Rin for a bit since Sesshomaru has to go out. If you need anything, I'll be there, okay?"

~**~

"Sango!" Inuyasha called. The girl just looked up at him with a weak smile. "You came," she said, as if she wasn't expecting him to. And Kagome… and even Sesshomaru.

"How's Miroku?" Inuyasha asked.

"He woke up for a bit, but hurt himself and he's asleep again. They're giving him medicine to keep him asleep now. After that… the doctors don't want him to hurt himself again. His hip is broken and one of the bones in his leg too. He cut his arm open also, but that'll be okay. He needed some stitches…and a blood transfusion, so…" she trailed off. She was repeating things so frankly, just like the doctor had told her. He'd asked the girl about Miroku's family. All Sango could reply was, "nobody's coming."

Oh, they took good care of him, for all intents and purposes. They made sure he was fed, that his hospital bills were paid, that he had nice clothes…but on a personal level, they kept their distance. It's just too hard to get close to someone and then watch them die. Kouga had been the first person to really reach out towards the dark haired boy. Oh, Sango was good friends with him, yes, but initially, he'd been the one who talked to her, not the other way around. Miroku had always had a tendency towards being outspoken. He'd grown on her.

"They're still trying to get in touch with Kouga's parents, but nobody is answering the phone," Sango stated. "It turns out that Kouga's liscence says he's an organ donor. I guess it'll be a closed casket ceremony." Her voice was so flat. She was still in shock.

Inuyasha, thoughtlessly, sat beside her, wrapping his arms around her, and rocked her back and forth slightly. "It'll be okay," he murmured. "It's going to be fine."

But the back of his mind was hollering, screaming at him, 'stupid, selfish bastard. Stupid, selfish wish.' And his chest, his heart…was in pain. So much pain. When Sango finally responded, wrapping her arms around his midsection as silent tears began to fall from her eyes, he struggled against his own tears.

"I'm going to go talk to the doctors and see if there's been any improvement in Miroku's condition," Sesshomaru stated.

Sango then said something that no one thought any of them would dare say. "Sesshomaru. If Kouga is an organ donor, maybe he can give Rin his heart. I'm sure he'd want to, since you were a friend…"

Sesshomaru stiffened, and sighed slightly. He shook his head. "It has to be a child's heart," he stated.

'A friend,' he thought. 'A friend? They don't understand, and how can I say now…that Kouga was…the person I hated most in the entire world.'

~**~

Well, short, but I don't really want to put anything else in this chapter. Things that come next should start their own chapter, so that's what I'm going to have them do.

In the next chapter or the one after that, this story is going to start making a connection to the previous fic, "Brothers After All". So far, this story, though part of the arc, has been relatively self-contained, but coming soon, there will be references back to the end of 'Brothers', so if you haven't read that story, you may get confused. Just something to note.

Replies to Reviewers:

Saria4: Thanks for the ego boost. It's good to see familiar names. I know you've dropped me at least a few reviews and I appreciate your…uhm…patronage? Heh heh. Okay crappy joke, whatever. After writing another sad chapter, I'm not feeling particularly funny.

Stargrl: I shall leave that decision in the hands of the rabid plot bunnies, but now that I've got my plot twist all figured out, well, let's just say I think I finally know what's going to happen.

Suzaku Seiryu: haha. Thanks. Me too! I feel bad because I like getting reviews, but I very rarely give them, because I can never think of anything to say other than "ooo! Me likey!"

TaiyoukaiAyumuoftheWesternLands: (first of all, I sincerely apologize if I misspelled your name, but…well, it's really long!…haha) Karma MAY have something to do with it, or it might just be that I'm feeling lazy, who knows? Hah, actually, your review made me realize that I never uploaded the last chapter to mediaminer. Ooopsy! Please forgive me! Well, now you'll have a double shot when you read again. Two chappies. Yay. And thanks. Maybe if you read really quickly you can get to work. Just remember, if all else fails you can just write "the end"…but then you may have a few assassination attempts….