InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bed Ridden ❯ Things Fall Apart ( Chapter 19 )

General Info: Round Robin #1 for the Monk_and_Miko Yahoo! Group.

Title: Bed Ridden

Summary: He's lived through a cursed hand, 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: Mrs. Videl Son

Chapter Summary: All's fair in love and war.

Disclaimer: Maybe if I stretch my eyes out far enough, and loose about a foot of height, I'd bear some sort of resemblance to RT...but I doubt it. (I don't really tan well, anyway)

Group Notes: MonkandMiko is currently sponsoring a new fanfiction competition. The contest challenge: Write a one-shot depicting Miroku and/or Kagome's worst nightmare. (Must contain an MK twist) All are invited to take part in this contest, for rules and guidelines go to MonkandMiko Yahoo! Group. (It's under the files section in the Contest 2 file)The contest will begin July 5th, and run through August 5th.

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Chapter 19: Things Fall Apart

It's amazing the kind of things a person will remember over the years, store in the back of their minds for some sort of later use. Old grocery lists, how to ride a bike (and other things of the like), random bits of trivia only useful during the nightly episode of Jeopardy...little things like that. But, the more amazing thing to Miroku at the moment, was how a person could simply forget other things...like the fact that he had been fooling around with a temperamental half-demon's would-be lover. And all the things that said temperamental half-demon would do to him when he found out...

"You...bastard!" the enraged half-demon (soon to be full-demon) snarled, repeating it over and over again as his mantra. "You...BASTARD!" Every time he said it again, his claws would dig imperceptibly deeper into the felled monks skin, drawing forth tiny pinpricks of blood that trickled into a small pool beneath them. InuYasha sat perched atop Miroku's chest, slowly squeezing the life out of him, while Kagome vainly tried to pull them apart from somewhere in the distance. The thick haze that set in around Miroku's mind blocked out all else but InuYasha's amber eyes, lit aflame by his raging adrenaline, and his low, gravely mantra that cursed his name to the depths of all seven hells.

"It's not..." Miroku gasped weakly, the last vestige of self defense. "What it looks like."

"Oh no?" InuYasha growled, lowering his snarling face closer to the monks. "Then what is it?"

Well, that was a GOOD question.

"A...a mistake." Miroku gasped as his cowardice and self preservation prevented him from telling his adversary the truth.

That, obviously, was the wrong answer as the hanyou's claws sank below the superficial level of skin and into the muscle of his neck. Miroku gurgled and blood slowly trickled down his chin to congeal in the small puddle of previously congregated blood.

Kagome's cries ceased, no longer pitifully pleading for his life in the background, and he was left alone to listen to InuYasha's growls and the sounds of his own body failing him. It only occurred to him then that Kagome could hear what he said.

"Ka...Kagome...I didn't - " he tried to explain, but InuYasha cut him off with his hands. Kagome suddenly appeared over InuYasha's shoulder, floating into view like some otherworldly apparition coming to welcome him to death. Her eyes were heavily lidded, shoulders slumped and arms slack at her side as she watched him slowly die beneath the heavy hanyou's ministrations. Miroku opened his eyes, darkened to a deep indigo as preliminary death veiled them, and silently pleaded with her not to hate him in the afterlife. His lips attempted to form words but, again, InuYasha would not let him say his peace and locked them away in his chest where they belonged. Miroku would have the last words, even if no one but Kagome would ever hear them...

~*~

Kagome had hoped that she would never again have to spend another day in this place with Miroku for as long as she happened to live. Apparently, Kami-sama had other plans, however, so here she sat, by his bedside, in a chair that just HAD to have been furnished with burlap. Machines whirred and beeped around them as the sixteenth century monk slept in a drug-induced trance in the bed. He was bandaged around the neck from where InuYasha had attempted to strangle him and had angry purple bruises on both eyes, his arms and most any other place on his body she could easily see (and probably on places she couldn't). Not only that, but his stitches had come out of his abdominal wound caused by Naraku's puppet, forcing it wide open and as raw as the day he was first admitted to the hospital.

Since Kagome was "family" (this time labeled as his fiancée so that he wouldn't bring home any more stray nurses) she was allowed to stay with him through the night, even though the doctors and nurses discouraged it. He had been admitted for the second time in two months at around six the previous night and here she still sat at six the next morning, drearily watching his IV drip and waiting for him to come around. Her mother, too, had tried to convince her to come home for some sleep, but Kagome doubted whether she would have been able to sleep anyway. Everyone had finally relented and left her to her own devices in the company of their unconscious houseguest, stewing in her own misery.

Mistake? I'm a...mistake?

The same question ran over and over in her mind, battered and beaten worse than Miroku as she tried to answer. Was it really not what it seemed? Was she just another notch in his proverbial bedpost? Was the last month and a half nothing to him? How many times had they almost...almost done `it?'

After he had said it, Kagome had dropped into a sort of shock-induced trance. She watched as Miroku writhed pitifully in the enraged half-demons iron-clad grasp. He suddenly stilled when she walked closer, in full view of his startled eyes. He tried to stammer pathetic apologies but, thankfully, InuYasha had cut them short(though she still couldn't say she approved of his methods). He seemed to search her face for pity and forgiveness, but his face fell when he found neither. Kagome was startled to see tears appear in his eyes as his mouth worked wordlessly, attempting to reach her with his silent pleas...

All Kagome got from his silent lips before the monk blacked out was `I.' He must have been trying to apologize again...

Thankfully, alerted by the ruckus, Grandpa had rushed to Miroku's defense, ofuda spell in hand. With a little practice, and loads of help from Miroku, Grandpa had finally managed to procure somewhat useful ofuda for warding off demons - sort of.

His spell had burned InuYasha just enough to throw him off Miroku and make him yelp in surprise. He'd stomped, raged and cursed but was finally sent away by Grandpa (and a couple parting sits from Kagome). He skulked away toward the well, ears plastered to his head like a scolded puppy, and disappeared for the time being. He did vow to return and rip Miroku a new hell hole (that would be nowhere near his hands) once the imminent danger had passed. In all his excitement over the entire fiasco, he hadn't seemed to notice how much he was actually harming the monk...

Risa then called the paramedic's and he was rushed to the hospital, in critical condition. When asked about what had happened, Risa fed them some story about simply finding him that way...the police promised to catch up with Kagome later. (Gulp)

Kagome wiped away another frustrated tear. She wouldn't cry, she wouldn't. Sitting here in a hospital room crying over her imaginary relationship with the commitment-phobic monk was just pathetic. Besides, every time she got started up, a nurse would walk in and want to "talk," something she just wasn't feeling up to at the present. Though she figured she'd need a good psycho analyst after all this was said and done...the only trick was finding one that wouldn't immediately have her committed when she told him about her little "romps" in the feudal age.

She glanced over at the sleeping man on the bed, his chest rising and falling steadily in deep REM sleep, and felt the overwhelming need to cry again. She sighed helplessly and stood. She might as well go down to the vending machine and get something to drink while she waited...

~*~

Kagome yawned loudly as she idly counted her spare change. Perhaps she'd take a little nap at Miroku's bedside if the caffeine she was about to ingest didn't work. She counted out the appropriate amount and dropped it into the coin slot, pressed a button and waited for her convenient, twentieth century dose of caffeine to pop out.

"Kagome-chan!"

Kagome started at the call of her name and turned around, numbly registering the loud THUNK of her soda's arrival in the vending machine dispenser. Yuka, Eri and Ayame stood together down the hall holding flowers, balloons and even a giant teddy bear with "Get Well Soon!" printed on his purple t-shirt. Eri had her hand raised and poised ready to knock on Miroku's door.

Kagome blinked at them. "Hi...what are you doing here so early?" she asked, glancing down at her Mickey Mouse watch (Souta had gotten it for her for Christmas a year or so back, most likely hoping she would give it to him - just to show him up, she kept it.) - 6:30 AM.

"We...heard about Miroku." Yuka answered as they approached, gifts cradled carefully in their arms. "We were worried about you, him being your fiancé and all."

Eri nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we called your house this morning to see how you were doing - "

Yuka interjected "- because I heard somewhere that insomniac's don't sleep when it's dark out and we didn't want to call in the middle of the night - "

"- and your grandfather told us you'd be here." Ayame finished with her usual, airy smile.

Kagome flinched. So she had psychological diseases now...no more internet for Grandpa.

Kagome waved her hands dismissively. "Ah...he's fine. At least, the doctors say he will be. He should wake up sometime today."

All three girls let out a collective breath, obviously relieved to hear such good news. "So what happened to him?" Ayame asked. Kagome flinched again.

"Ah..." Kagome struggled. "He got in a fight."

"With who?" Eri asked, eyes lighting up in new interest.

"I'll bet it was her ex-boyfriend. You know, the violent jealous one." Yuka supplied, giving the teddy bear in Eri's arms a distrustful glare. "Remember how he used to get so jealous over all the guys in Kagome's life? It's a wonder that Houjou never got mixed up in it!"

A trickle of sweat dripped down the side of Kagome's face. Sometimes her friends were much too perceptive for Kagome's own good.

Having no better excuses (and feeling that she should lie as little as possible), Kagome agreed that was in fact the case. All three girls cooed in sympathy and cursed her "violent ex-boyfriend" for picking on a guy that was already injured.

They returned to Miroku's room, each with a soda, and put the presents by his bedside for him when he woke up. They stood there and watched him in silence for a few moments, taking in his injuries and quietly wishing the unknown ex to all seven rings of hell.

Once the girls got tired of watching Miroku sleep the day away, Ayame proudly brought forth a pack of cards and they settled around the small table in the corner of the hospital room and played Old Maid for the duration of the morning.

To Kagome, it was a return to relative normalcy...the kind of normalcy she hadn't had since her fifteenth birthday. They laughed, gossiped and ogled cute orderlies that passed in the hall. They had bought a huge pile of snacks from the vending machine and snacked idly on these while they played, laughing at the ravenous Kagome, who had missed dinner the previous night due to the sudden rush to the hospital. Yuka and Eri eventually forced the entire story (well, not the ENTIRE story) out of Kagome about Miroku's injuries - his denouncement of Kagome and all.

"Jerk," Eri hissed, sending the still unconscious Miroku a withering glare. His machines beeped back at her.

Kagome agreed glumly, propping her chin up on her palm as she stared at her cards pointedly.

Eri patted her comfortingly on the back. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. People will say the weirdest things when their lives are on the line." she nodded sagely. "I saw this episode of Dawson's Creek once - "

" - so don't worry about it, Kagome." Ayame interjected pointedly. "Besides, there are plenty of other things you need to get sorted out before you get married. Like, where you're going to live, for example."

Yes, where indeed...?

Ayame continued on, draping an arm over Kagome's shoulders in a maternal fashion. "What I'm trying to say is, you both have a lot of growing up to do. It'll be a while until you tie the knot so maybe you can work it out by then. See a specialist or something. He might have an underlying fear of commitment..."

Miroku? Afraid of commitment? Never...

Eri rolled her eyes. "What are you, her psychiatrist?" she sneered sarcastically. Ayame sniffed disdainfully.

"I'm just trying to help." she bit angrily.

"Well, knock it off. You're confusing the poor girl to death!" Eri argued.

"Oh, like you know any better." Ayame hissed, letting go of Kagome so that she could properly glare across the table at Eri. "You, who couldn't keep a boyfriend for longer than - "

Eri stood up to face Ayame, matching her glare for glare. "As opposed to you, who's NEVER had one?" she sneered spitefully, a smirk of triumph splitting her face as Ayame turned red.

"Oi!" Kagome interjected, finally heard over the bickering. "Don't worry about it, Eri-chan. I know what Ayame-chan was trying to say. Thank you both for caring about me so much." She offered them a weak, watery smile.

Yuka, who was slumped down in her seat watching the half-dead monk snore lightly on the bed, said "Well, you'd better hurry up and figure it out before he falls apart - literally."

Kagome followed her gaze and frowned. "Tell me about it." She sighed.

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Next Author: Horridporrid

Due Date: July 6th, 2004

Group Info: This Round Robin is sponsored by the members of Monk_and_Miko Yahoo! group, a fan listing of the InuYasha pairing of Miroku/Kagome. The group features fan fiction, fan art, links, chat, contests, and social interaction with other Miroku/Kagome fans. To join: h t t p: // groups. yahoo. com/ group/ monkandmiko (Remove spaces)

What's better than one alternative InuYasha pairing? Two alternative InuYasha couplings! Monk_and_Miko is now the affiliate of Kakera-no-Ai, an InuYasha/Sango fanlisting. Similar to MnM, you'll find fan fiction, pictures, group discussions, polls, chat, etc. to keep you occupied! To join: h t t p: // groups. yahoo. com/ group/ K _ n _ A