InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bed Ridden ❯ A Touch of Green ( Chapter 2 )

General Info: Round Robin #1 for Monk_and_Miko

Title: Bed Ridden

Summary: He's lived through cursed hands, demons and a hanyou with an attitude-but can our sixteenth century Houshi take the stimulation of the twentieth century? [MK)

Rating: PG-13

Chapter Author: Horridporrid

Chapter Summary: Nakedness, nurses and numbers - oh my!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even after incessant begging.

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Chapter Two: A Touch of Green

Kagome leaned on the counter at the nurses' station as the woman behind it finished up her phone call. "Now you're sure they know there'll be lifting involved?" she asked anxiously. "It's a really huge amount of stairs."

The nurse gave her a kind smile. "Don't worry, miss. Our drivers know what they're doing." Kagome started to ask another question, but her mother's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "It's all under control, Kagome," her mother said soothingly. "Why don't you bring my young nephew his clothes."

Taking the proffered shopping bag from her mother, Kagome took a deep breath. Her mother rubbed her shoulder affectionately and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's alright now, darling," she murmured. "Let's get him home."

Blinking back a sudden prickling of tears, Kagome nodded in agreement. She smiled at her mom and than had to bite back a giggle when her mom gave her a conspiratorial wink. Her mother had taken to the whole deception thing like a duck to water, and seemed to be getting quite a kick out of it. On the second day, when they were confident of Miroku's recovery, she'd started remarking often and loudly about her poor injured nephew. She'd spoken at length about how awful it was that her sister couldn't be here and what an unfortunate accident her nephew had been in and how he was the apple of his grandfather's eye. The entire waiting room had been comforting her and telling her what a kind and thoughtful aunt she was.

It was a side of her mother Kagome had never seen. And it was more than a little scary. Especially since whatever excuse she'd come up with for Miroku's protective glove had worked so well. The entire hospital staff avoided his gloved hand like it contained a plague. Which, in a manner of speaking, it did.

But scary or no, Kagome was very grateful for her mother's continued presence. Kagome had been next to useless when the ambulance came to swoop Miroku away. He'd been so pale and still. She'd been horribly certain he was already dead, certain that she'd been too slow. She'd stood there, covered with his life's blood, staring after the ambulance, unable to move. Her mother had been the one to bundle them into a cab, the one to chivy the driver into breaking several traffic laws in order to keep up with the speeding ambulance. Her mother had talked to the doctors and nurses, filled in the paperwork, held Kagome close when it had looked like he wasn't going to make it, and then sent her home to sleep when he finally pulled through. Honestly, without her mother's help, Kagome didn't think she could've survived the past three days.

Walking down the hallway to Miroku's room, Kagome could feel a smile spreading across her face. She'd finally gone back through the well this morning. And it had been so wonderful to tell them all the good news. Even Inuyasha had looked pleased, and poor Shippou had burst into relieved tears. The past three days had definitely been hell, but Miroku was okay, and he was coming home, and at this moment, she honestly felt like nothing would ever bother her again.

Okay, so she'd been wrong: she hadn't counted on Miroku's libido. When she entered his room, there was a nurse bent over his bed, her body blocking Kagome from seeing what they were doing. The quiet giggles and softly murmured words gave Kagome a pretty good idea, however. Especially when Miroku's hand slipped around the nurse's waist and slid down to rub her bottom suggestively. A few days from death's door and the darn pervert was already hitting on someone. And from the continued giggles, the nurse didn't mind at all.

"Ahem!" Kagome smiled grimly when the nurse leapt away from her `patient' and turned around guiltily. Ah yes, Nurse Sponge-bath - she should have guessed. Not many women with a bum that size had the courage to run around in such a tight uniform. At least she had the grace to look a bit abashed; Miroku just looked smug. "I've brought my dear cousin his clothes," Kagome said with forced sweetness.

"Oh! Yes, of course," Nurse Sponge-bath said, confidence returning with every word. "I'll just help him get dressed then."

"I'm sure he can manage on his own," Kagome said through gritted teeth and a strained smile.

"I wouldn't hear of it," the nurse said with a fiercely sweet smile of her own. "I would hate for him to re-injure himself."

"You may both assist me, if you wish." Miroku didn't even look embarrassed. In fact when Kagome gave him her best glare, he had the audacity to wink at her. "I could probably use all the help I can get," he added smoothly.

Nurse Sponge-bath let out an affected giggle. "Oh you," she said with a sickening coo, patting Miroku on the cheek. "You're incorrigible." She turned back to Kagome. "This will just take a minute, dear. I'll bring him out when we're done." Then she grabbed the bag of clothing out of Kagome's hand, and briskly pulled the privacy curtain closed, effectively shutting Kagome out.

Kagome muttered her way back up the hallway to the waiting room and her mother. "That nurse with the bad perm is getting him dressed," she said sullenly.

"Do you mean Nurse Yoko?" her mother asked. "I think that's her natural..." Her mother trailed off as she got a better look at Kagome's face. "Um, yes, alright," she said simply. "Well, the van is already here, so as soon as he's ready, we can go."

After what seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, Nurse Sponge-bath, or Yoko, or whatever finally wheeled Miroku out. She was pressing a small slip of paper into his hand, and he was looking a little bewildered, but Kagome was too distracted by his outfit to really notice. "Oh dear," her mother said quietly. "He's much taller than I realized."

That was readily apparent. Her mother had gone for comfort in her shopping choices. The soft blue cotton shirt would be easy on his bandaged chest, and the front buttons meant he didn't have to raise his arms to get dressed. But the sleeves didn't come close to reaching his wrists. And the black sweat pants were short too, stopping only a few inches below Miroku's knees. And he was wearing bright, white tube socks pulled all the way up to keep his legs warm. And sandals.

Desperately, Kagome held her breath. She must not laugh. She couldn't laugh. It was cruel and unusual and Miroku had no idea and so she would. Not. Laugh.

"Are you alright, Kagome? You seem to be choking." Miroku stared up at her with concerned eyes, and those impossibly white tube socks, and Kagome squeaked, she couldn't help it.

"I -- I'll meet you," she gasped. And with a last frantic look at her mother, she ran for the stairwell, not stopping until she'd pushed through the front doors and finally stood outside in the sun, where she could allow the peels of helpless laughter to escape. After a moment she covered her face with her hands and willed herself back under control. Because the laughter suddenly wanted to turn into tears, and once that started, Kagome wasn't sure she'd ever be able to stop.

The past three days had brought with them an overwhelming amount of stress. From the moment Miroku had collapsed under the Naraku puppet's assault, blood spreading from a much too large wound, face horribly pale, terror had been Kagome's constant companion.

The panicked flight from the scene of battle to Lady Kaede's house, Miroku slumped bonelessly in her arms; the hopeless way Lady Kaede had shaken her head when she saw Miroku's broken body; the desperate leap from Kirara's back into the well, refusing to contemplate the possibility that the magic might not work for the monk; all of it blended into a nightmarish mix that Kagome was sure would haunt her dreams for a long time to come. One thing she did know, she really, really hated the smell of blood.

But he was alive, she reminded herself. He was alive and he was going to get better and the doctors said he'd be up and walking in no time. Soon none of the women in Tokyo were going to be safe. And strangely enough, that thought helped. Giggling to herself, Kagome looked up and saw her mother wheel Miroku out of the hospital and over to a waiting van. Miroku was squinting up at the trees and looking in amazement at the tall buildings and he was alive and aware and he looked wonderful, even with the old man outfit. It didn't matter how scared she'd been before, Miroku was going to be fine.

"Are you feeling better, Kagome?" Miroku asked concernedly when she joined them.

"Oh yes," she replied, smiling softly down at him. "Much better."

The trip from the hospital back to the shrine went surprisingly quickly. The driver maneuvered the van through the crowded city streets with the adroitness of someone who'd handled Tokyo traffic for years. Not much was said. Miroku was too busy trying to look in every direction at once, and Kagome was afraid that any conversation would end up with weird looks from the driver and his assistant. Miroku did take time away from his staring to show Kagome the slip of paper she'd seen the nurse give him.

"She'd said she could give me some private assistance, and then she gave me this. I recognize her name, but what does this stuff mean?"

Kagome stared down at the paper and frowned. The nurse was shameless apparently. And Miroku had never seen Arabic numbers before. Kagome squelched a suddenly strong temptation to lie. "It's her phone number," she said reluctantly and then noticed the assistant glancing back at them. "I'll explain later," she whispered.

Miroku looked a bit confused, but he quietly returned to staring out the window, and Kagome made a mental list of reasons why losing the nurse's number would really be in Miroku's best interests. Once they arrived at the shrine the driver and his assistant hefted Miroku and his wheelchair up the long flight of stairs with much more ease than she and her mother would have managed. "Gosh, thank you so much. I don't know what we would have done without your help," Kagome said to the two men when they were done and taking a moment to catch their breath.

"It was no problem, miss," the younger of the two said, smiling down at her. "Is your cousin enrolled in any of the special programs they got going? We drive for them a lot of times."

"Eh..." Kagome blinked up at the young man. What did he mean by `special programs'?

"Yeah, they go to the zoo or the park or even a ball game sometimes."

And now Kagome realized what the man was saying. She looked over at Miroku, who was waving her mother off and glowering at her for some reason. She took note of his ridiculous outfit. And she remembered how he'd stared out at the city with wide-eyed wonder, and how he didn't know what a telephone number was. She ducked her head to hide her sudden grin. "Oh. That's really good to know," she said. "Yes, we'll have to look into it."

The man gave her a dazzling smile. "Hey, if you'd like, I get off in a couple of hours, we could go out for coffee and I could tell you about the different programs that are out there. It's really neat what's being offered the developmentally disabled nowadays."

Flustered by the sudden invitation, and working on way too little sleep, Kagome was reduced to blushing and stammering. "Oh, I don't think... My cousin just got home, so...'

"Oh, sure, sure." He grinned easily. "Another time then."

Kagome smiled in her best noncommittal way. "Mmm, well, I'd better get him inside. Thanks again for all your help."

The two men headed back down to their van and Kagome hurried over to Miroku. Who was still frowning at her.

"Sorry to drag you away from your flirting," he said sullenly.

"Flirting! That wasn't flirting."

"He was picturing you naked."

"He was not!"

Miroku gave a long suffering sigh. "Believe me, Kagome. I know that look. He was picturing you naked and you just encouraged him. No wonder Inuyasha doesn't like you coming back here." Kagome stared at Miroku, completely speechless.

"I know that look too. And it's very wrong to contemplate hurting someone who's already injured," Miroku said piously. "And hungry," he added.

"Oh don't worry, Miroku," Kagome said sweetly as she pushed him into the house. "I'll let my mother feed you first. And then I'll hurt you"

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Next Author: Rurouni Star

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