InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Double Life ❯ The Grave ( Chapter 9 )
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama / Comedy / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 02.12.2004 | Pages: 4 | Words: 6.2K | Visits: 952 | Status: Completed
Oh yesh. And Kikyou ain't coming back. She's dead. I refuse to make this story any more complicated. *ignores hoorays and yays in the background*
Double Life
Chapter 9
The Grave
Inuyasha walked down the empty stone path. The large tree branches formed arcs above him, enveloping him with their cool shadow. The light breeze caressed his face and entwined itself with his dark tresses. Spirals of autumn leaves twirled across his path. With his hands in his pockets, he went down the path at a slow pace, his eyes downcasted. The deep resonant song of the old temple bell rang out in the distance. It seemed to make the air around him even more melancholy.
It had been about two months since he last gone here. It was almost right before Kagome had arrived at Yusako High School. He almost laughed. It was funny how that he went to the grave of the person he loved most and then met someone who looked just like her right after.
He stopped at the end of the path and looked up to see that the cemetery was empty. He walked down the aisle, one of the many that were surrounded by myriads of tombstones. After passing a few dozen, he stopped at his destinated one. He looked down at the tombstone with a small, but strained, smile.
"Long time no see," he breathed.
There wasn't much on the base of the stone. A small picture frame and a small clear vase of fresh white carnations. Inuyasha frowned. They were fresh. The carnations. It had been two months since he been here so the flowers would've been dead by now. Someone was here before him.
"You like them?"
Inuyasha whirled around. "Onigumo!" he hissed curtly.
A smug smile twisted his dark features as he approached Inuyasha. He waved a finger at him as he tutted. "Tsk. Tsk. You know I rather you don't call me that." He smiled, almost manically. "It's Naraku. You know that."
"I'll call you what I want, shithead."
He smiled, unfazed. "Them white carnations, they're hard to find, you know. Ain't cheap either." Naraku continued.
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "How dare you taint Kikyou's grave with your damned weeds." He said through clenched teeth. He lunged towards the tombstone, his hand lashed out to knock the vase away. Naraku stopped him by blocking his arm with his foot.
"I would suggest against that."
"I wouldn't give a damn!"
"Well then, go ahead. But I don't think Miss Kagome would be too thrilled that you destroyed her flowers."
Inuyasha thought his heart had stopped. "What?"
Naraku kicked his arm away, sending him stumbling back to the ground. "It seems I have to put it in simpler context for you." He feigned a sigh. "They aren't mine. I didn't put them there, you dimwit."
Inuyasha pushed himself from his back so he sat upright. He didn't say anything.
"So, how long do you think she's gonna last?" Naraku asked in eerie calmness
Inuyasha snarled. "You lay one finger on her and I'll -"
"Or you'll what?" Naraku cut him off. "Tell me, Inuyasha. Is the reason why you're being so protective of the wench because you love her? Or are there other reasons?"
"I don't know what you're fucking talking about." He answered stonily.
Naraku grinned. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned his gaze to the grave. "She sure looks an awful like Kikyou, doesn't she?"
No response came.
He looked at Inuyasha from the corner of his eye. "Oh, so did I strike home?"
Inuyasha glared. "That's not the reason -!!"
"Isn't it?" He turned his eyes back away. "When I found out that you had entered the September competitions, I was genuinely surprised."
"What an honor," Inuyasha spat.
Naraku continued as if he hadn't heard his remark. "I was curious. After months of abandoning the high jump, what could have possibly get you to take it up again? Then, on the day of the competition, I saw her. By the look on her face, I immediately knew that she was your fan and must've have gotten you to take on the high jump again. Of course, I knew that ordinarily that you wouldn't listen to anyone and had every intent to permanently resign from high jumping. But if you felt the emotions that I felt when I saw her, you would have followed her every beck and call."
"I'm nothing like you." Inuyasha's fist clenched tightly.
His grin grew wider and he leaned close to Inuyasha's face. "Oh, but you are, Inuyasha. Emotionally and physically. I found out about the bitch the same way you did. A person's scent can tell wonders, you know." His eyes trailed down to the ring on Inuyasha's forefinger. It was was golden with three silver bands wrapped around it. His smile turned into a smirk. "You still wear that thing? You're more of a coward than I thought." His hand moved to take it off but he was flung back by Inuyasha's unexpected blow, and crashed into someone else's tombstone. He scoffed, almost incredulously and rubbed his bruised jaw before wiping the blood that was trickling from the corner of his mouth. "How sentimental."
As he stood up, he revealed that the tombstone he had crashed into was cracked and that the bonquet of flowers that laid there was destroyed, petals scattered everywhere. Naraku brushed the petals off his lap. "You know, the Toriyama family won't be too happy when they find out that you disturbed their uncle's grave." He said cooly. "I'm surprised though. I thought that ring would have degenerate most of your strength."
"Well, I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?" Inuyasha started to push himself to his feet but Naraku was suddenly in his face. He grabbed his collar and pulled him closer so they were nose to nose. "Why are you even here?" Inuyasha tried to pull himself away from Naraku's iron grip.
"I just wanted to warn you," Naraku answered pleasantly.
"Of what?" He breathed.
"That the moment you let your guard down, the moment you turn your back, I will make you suffer. Just like you did to my Kikyou," he said darkly.
"She was never yours to begin with," Inuyasha hissed.
Naraku was quiet for a moment. Suddenly, his fist flew out of nowhere and hammered Inuyasha in the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. He went down on one knee and twisted Inuyasha's arm behind him, slamming him into the stone path. "You destroyed her life. You destroyed her. You destroyed her with you selfish wants and made her suffer. I'll never forgive you for that."
"Why do you care?" Inuyasha managed to ground out. "You never met her!"
"Onigumo's heart still resides in here." Naraku tapped his chest. "With it, I harbor all the utmost hate that he felt with you! That's all I feel!" Suddenly he began to speak what Inuyasha could only say was directly from Onigumo's heart. "You took her away from me! She was mine and you took her away!"
"She hated you from the moment she met you but you just couldn't keep those nasty little thoughts about her out of your head. She could have never been yours." Inuyasha spat back.
For a moment, Naraku didn't respond. Then an evil smile formed on his lips. "You're right. She could have never been mine. How could she when you killed her?"
Inuyasha snarled with furious rage and tried to strike Naraku but he crushed him against the ground as he added more weight to his twisted arm.
"I'm sorry. Did I say something that was to painful for you to bear? The truth, perhaps?" Naraku smiled maliciously.
"Fuck you!" Inuyasha flung out his free arm but he dodged it.
He tightened his grip on Inuyasha's twisted arm. Inuyasha bit his lip painfully as Naraku lowered himself so he was leveled to his ear. "Know this for sure," he whispered. "I will take away everything you love. I will break you. I will break you down to the very core. I will drive you to the very edge and make you beg for mercy. I will break you, Inuyasha, and I will kill you. You better sleep with one eye open, you son of a bitch, because no matter where you go, you will never be safe. You and the wench."
That had struck a cord. That had been the last straw. Rage rumbled in his chest as blue streaks of electricity sizzled around the ring on Inuyasha's forefinger. "You leave Kagome out of this, you fucker!" Inuyasha roared. His eyes reddened as he threw Naraku off and with renewed strength he gave him a blow across the face, sending him staggering back.
Naraku looked like he was about to retailate back but he froze. His eyes narrowed as he concentrated. Inuyasha's ears twitched as he strained to hear. Someone was coming.
Naraku looked back at Inuyasha, who was still on the ground. "Keep your eyes open because the moment you blink, I'll cut your throat." A tiny smile flickered on his face before he turned and walked away, dissipating into the air as he went.
Inuyasha exhaled wearily as he fell back onto his back. His eyes restored themselves to their original color and his gnarled hands loosened and relaxed. This was bad. Very bad. He fingered his ring, which was emitting a little heat. Well, that was a close one. After a moment's rest, Inuyasha heaved himself up and looked up to see Kagome stepping towards him with a rather surprised look on her face. She looked to him and then to the cracked tombstone and ruined flowers.
"So, uh, I'm guessing that this Toriyama guy really pissed you off."
Inuyasha didn't answer. He turned away and faced Kikyou's grave. He felt Kagome stand beside him. She was staring at the carnations.
"Or is it the flowers?" She whispered.
"No," he answered. "It's not." He frowned slightly. "White carnations. They were her favorites. How did you...?"
She smiled. "I didn't. They're mine, too."
Inuyasha turned to look at her, earning him a gasp from her part.
"Inuyasha! What happened to your face?!"
He felt his cheek. It was where Naraku had punched him. It was a little sore and puffy. It felt bruised too. Kagome looked at his cheek and at the cracked tombstone, placing the pieces together.
"Did you get into a fight?"
"No. I- "
"Seriously. Are you crazy?!"
"Wait, listen- "
"Of all places, in a cemetery? Have you no common sense?!"
Well, he was sort of hoping that she would be more concerned than angry.
"I'm surprised none of the monks came out!" Kagome continued, waving her hands in anger. She turned him around and started to push him towards the cathedral-like arches of trees. "We're going back to school and get Dr. Izumi take a look at your face."
Inuyasha was about to protest when Kagome's foot caught on in a crack in the stone path, causing her to stumble aside. Her hand gripped Kikyou's tombstone to regain her balance. At that same moment, Inuyasha heard her gasp sharply. He turned around with a questioning look in his eye. Her hand was still on the stone but her face was transfixed with terror and surprise.
Inuyasha frowned. "Kagome?" He waved his hand in front of her face, but he got no response. He watched with a perplexed expression as Kagome's eyes darted around their surroundings. He looked around, trying to see what she was looking at. But all he saw was an empty cemetery. Except. The wind was picking up, just slightly. The leaves were rustling against each other in the tree branches and the scattered flower petals whipped around like wild butterflies.
"Inuyasha?"
"Yeah?" Inuyasha automatically responded.
"Inuyasha?!" Kagome's voice grew more frantic. Her eyes were glazed over and it seemed that she was looking through him, not at him. She released her grip from the tombstone and started to whipped around. "Inuyasha?! Where are you?!"
"What are you talking about? I'm right here." But she didn't seem to hear him.
Suddenly she muttered through her stuttering breath, "Oh my God."
Inuyasha tried to see what she was looking at, but he saw nothing.
For Kagome, she saw something completely different.
It was like all color had been sucked out. It was just black and white. But she knew it was no longer daylight. She was on a bridge. She almost didn't recognize it, but it was the Nasako Bridge, which led to Tokyo's Central Park. There was no river or stream flowing under the bridge though. Just cobblestones. But that wasn't what caught her attention. It was the moving figures somewhat in front of her.
It was Kikyou and Inuyasha.
Kikyou was screaming something at Inuyasha who was shouting back at her. It was strange since she couldn't hear a thing that they were saying. What was stranger was that no matter how close she got, neither seemed to notice her when they normally would. She was just an onlooker.
Then, she noticed how Inuyasha was clutching his arm as blood was seeping through his fingers. Kagome's eyes averted to the knife in Kikyou's hand. It was dripping with blood. Inuyasha's blood. Kikyou rose her arm, the knife gleaming in the moonlight, ready to strike Inuyasha again. Kagome's hands flew to her mouth.
"No! Stop!" she found herself crying out. Astonishingly, everything did. But before Kagome could move, there was a flash of blinding light and everything snapped back to color, and she found herself in the empty cemetery again. Surprisingly, on the ground.
Suddenly Inuyasha's head popped over her head. "Hey, are you okay?"
In surprise, Kagome screamed and scuttled back.
He looked at her with a strange expression. "What?" he asked, rather defensively. His hand touched his bruised cheek. "Is it that ugly?"
Kagome didn't say anything. She couldn't. She was in too much shock. What was that? A flashback of some sort? Some sort of blast of the past? But that was impossible. How could she possibly...?
She focused her gaze on Inuyasha. Was that what that whole accident ordeal was? The closest conclusion she could draw from this was Kikyou attacked Inuyasha with that knife and maybe, Inuyasha killed her in self-defense? Maybe, Kikyou didn't approve of Inuyasha's high jumping and went to extremes to stop him? Or maybe there was something else behind all of this? Or maybe if she stopped thinking about it, her migraine would go away.
"Hey, so what happened just now?" Inuyasha asked, interrupting Kagome's trip to Aspirin Land.
"I - I'm not sure myself," Kagome answered honestly as she stood up. He gave her an unconvinced look. "I -" Kagome stopped herself again. Was it alright to talk to him about what she just saw? They were at Kikyou's grave, so this was probably not the best place to talk. Also, he was never comfortable about talking about Kikyou or this "accident." Kagome decided to hold her tongue.
"You were yelling and looking around like you were crazy," Inuyasha said.
Kagome smiled sheepishly. "I think something must've gotten into my food this morning."
"Maybe, Doctor Izumi should check you too." Inuyasha gestured to her. "Come on. Let's go, then."
Kagome nodded. She was still a bit dumbfounded, but she had to wonder to herself. How would she feel if someone she loved tried to hurt like that? She was so lost in her thoughts that she was barely aware that she had bumped into someone.
"Sorry," she immediately said. When she looked up, her breath caught in her throat.
The monk nodded and continued down the path, chanting hymns as he fingered the rosary in his clawed fingers. His ears were pointed and had strange tattoo markings across his face. His eyes were an inhuman yellow.
"What? You never seen one before?" Inuyasha asked.
"No, of course not," Kagome said. She continued to looked at the retreating monk with curious eyes. "I lived at a shrine so I've seen all sorts of things. I just never expected to see a youkai as a monk in a holy temple."
"They tend not to make a lot of public appearances. People find it disturbing that a youkai would ever try to atone for their sins and submit themselves to Buddha."
"I find it admirable. Besides, not all youkai are bad. That's a common stereotype."
"And how do you feel about half-bloods? Hanyou?"
Kagome blinked; she looked at him, not quite understanding. "I'm sorry, what?"
Inuyasha remained quiet for a moment, keeping his gaze down the path that the demon monk had gone. "Nothing," he said finally. He turned around and started to leave.
"You know, when you start something, you should at least try to finish it."
Inuyasha stopped but didn't turn around.
Kagome popped in front of him. She smiled, despite the gloomy atmosphere. "Look at you. You say, 'Nothing,' but there's emotion written all over your face."
He gave her a deadpanned look. "There's nothing on my face except for a bloody bruise."
"Which you have yet to tell me how you got it."
"Yet I plan not to."
Kagome frowned and looked away. "Inuyasha, how long do you plan on running?"
"I'm not running -"
"Yes you are!" There was a pained look in her eyes. "Every day I see you walking around like nothing's wrong, but I know it's all an act. I know that inside, that you're dying. You're dying inside but you won't cure your sickness because you won't talk to anyone. I know you're hurting. And every time you refuse to talk, it hurts me because the pain you're feeling is growing and there's nothing I can do. You don't have to carry this burden alone, Inuyasha. I can't do anything if you don't let me."
"And what if I don't want you to?" Inuyasha asked darkly. "You were never there! How could you possibly understand what I'm going through?"
"I can if you talk. You don't have to act all tough, Inuyasha. Everyone has their weaknesses. It isn't a crime to talk about them."
"That's not it!" Inuyasha exhaled with frustration. "Do you think I was always like this? Hey, guess what? There was actually a time when I did try to talk to people. But you know what? Every time I try to get close to somebody, they either push me away or they're torn away from me. Don't you get it? People get hurt when they get close to me. I'm tired of people getting hurt because of me. I'm tired of getting hurt."
"Holding it in isn't going to ease the pain," Kagome said quietly.
"Quit telling me what to do!"
"Then quit acting like a baby!" Kagome snapped angrily. "There people out there who actually care about you, Inuyasha! What you're doing? It's tearing them apart!"
"It's their own fault! They shouldn't be butting into my business in the first place!"
"That's so childish! Don't blame people for -"
"Why can't you let this go?!" Inuyasha shouted over her voice. "Why can't you just leave me alone?! It is so hard for you to just let this go? Or do you always have to solve everyone's problems? Butt out, Kagome! I don't want your help!"
He turned on his heel and started to stalk away.
"Why do you do this to yourself?"
He heard her whisper and stopped. "Someone I cared about died because of me. I hardly think that's something you can understand," he said.
With his hands back into his pockets, Inuyasha walked away and left Kagome amongst the autumn leaves.
* * *
She needed consolation.
It had been quite an angsty day so far and Fate obviously didn't like her at the moment so comfort would be nice.
Kagome walked into the Health Room and plopped herself into a chair, and rested her head on the table. "Doctor Izumi, I need your - Aki?"
Sitting behind Izumi's desk, instead of the doctor himself, was Aki. In white smocks.
"Aki? Uhm, care to explain?"
"Oh, yes, right. Well, you see, you know I want to go to medical school, right? Well, I was going to go work at some other clinic for experience and uh, money but then Izumi offered me to be his assistant."
Kagome rose an eyebrow. "Offered or was he forced?"
Aki thought for a moment. "He offered but I think someone forced him."
Kagome straightened. "Okay. Well, then, that makes much more sense. So...does he know?"
She sighed. "Yeah. He didn't seem exactly thrilled though. And taking his job will make it a lot safer for the both of us."
"Yeah...So, how is it?"
"Definitely not what I expected. I basically doing everything he doesn't want to do. Which is everything. First day on the job and I'm alphabetizing his medical record cabinet. Look at this," Aki scowled as she waved some portfolios. "This guy makes up his own alphabet. E. Q. J. L. All the letters are scrambled everywhere." She suddenly snapped her fingers. "I was also sorting out his medicine cabinet." Her voice lowered. "The bottle of LSD is missing. First day and I'm already screwed."
"LSD?"
Aki leaned back onto the chair with a weary sigh and propped her feet on top of the desk. "It's hallucinogenic drug."
"Aren't those illegal...?"
"Yeah, but Izumi's on the medical board and they're doing some research so they have govenment permission. Izumi was suppose to be holding on to it for a couple of days until they ship it off to some lab in Kyoto. God, I'm so screwed." Aki rubbed her stressed face. "I think I'm gonna go crazy, Kagome."
"Well, don't go crazy yet. There's something I need to talk to you about."
Aki narrowed her eyes. "Someone else found out about you, didn't they?"
Kagome tutted her tongue impatiently. "No, no. It's something that happened eariler today. It was really weird and I'm a bit confused."
"Oh, that's right. Where were you? I didn't see you at breakfast."
"I was at the Temple. The one near Central Park."
Aki thought for a moment. "...Because they're starting to offer free breakfast there?" she tried.
"No. I went to the cemetery there."
"...Because it's suddenly good luck to eat breakfast in front of someone's grave?"
"No! Aki!"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I think it's the antiseptic smell in here. I'm not used to it yet." Aki waved her hand through the air. "Sorry, I'll listen now."
"I'm was there with Inuyasha -" Aki's eye twitched. "- to visit Kikyou's grave."
"Kikyou? Inuyasha's dead ex, Kikyou?"
"Yeah."
"And that was weird because...?"
"Because when I touched her tombstone, I got this...I don't know what to call it. Um, a vision, I guess?"
Aki cocked an eyebrow. "A vision." Her tone was skeptical.
"Yes, I'm serious. I think it was some blast from the past or something. Hey what - Aki! I'm not sick! I'm not making this up!"
Aki withdrew her hand from Kagome's forehead but her suspicious stare didn't leave. "You took the bottle of LSD, didn't you?"
"What?! No!"
She shrugged. "Yeah. Sorry. Stupid assumption there."
Kagome tried again. "Okay, you know about the accident thing and all, right? The one with Inuyasha?"
"Yeah, you think Kikyou must've died in that accident."
Kagome twiddled her fingers. "I think I may have caught a glimpse of that accident in my vision."
Aki's expression was unreadable. Kagome wasn't sure if she was confused or skeptical. "I'm confused because, well, I saw Kikyou and Inuyasha on Nasako Bridge. Kikyou was holding a knife and Inuyasha was bleeding." She continued on what she saw and told her theory of what may have happened.
Aki's finger outlined the edge of the portfolio in her hand. "There's something wrong about your theory. I've heard about Kikyou. From what I heard, she was an extremely nice and kind, well, the overall perfect girl. I think she the type of person who is in very much control over her emotions. I don't think she would try to maim someone just because they did something she didn't approve of."
"But, what I saw..."
Aki shrugged. "Maybe what you saw was just a fraction of what really happened. There should be more to it because, well, it doesn't make any sense. I think you should go back and try to conjure up this vision power thing of yours again. Just this time, try to see the whole thing; then we'll make our theories."
Kagome nodded. She paused. "Do you believe me?" Aki looked up questionably. "I mean, this vision thing was totally out of the blue and -"
Aki laughed. "I believe you. I mean, I can't think of any reason why you would make something like this up. I mean, we do live in a world where all that occult stuff is actually real. So people having visions is nothing out of the ordinary. I guess I never expected it coming from you. It was bit of a surprise."
She smiled. "Thanks."
Aki smiled back. She looked down at the portfolios in her hands and gave a scoff of disbelief. "You know," she added. "I heard touching people's tombstones is bad luck."
Kagome laughed. "And who told you that?"
"Your grandfather."
"Ah. Well then that explains it."
* * *
Kagome stared at her dorm door in the hallway. It was no doubt that Inuyasha was in there. Considering what had happened this morning, she couldn't find it in herself to face him again. But. All her stuff was in there. She had just came back from signing up for the scholarship exam and now, she had nothing to do, and everything she could do was in that room. She sighed and turned away.
Well, she could always just take a walk. It was a nice Sunday afternoon and maybe she'll bump into a friendly face. Which wasn't very hard because once she reached the West Courtyard (one of the many courtyards that the school had), she found Daisuke (balancing his purple pen on the bridge of his nose), Miroku (staring at a pile of coins), Chiaki (studying), and Toji (eating) at a small round table. When she reached them, Daisuke's hand extended out and started groping for one of the dumplings that Toji was eating. Face still looking skyward, Daisuke gave up and flipped his hand palm up.
"Toji, hand me a dumpling," he ordered. Toji absentmindedly complied.
Kagome smiled. "Those are Daisuke's dumplings, I believe?"
Toji swallowed before answering. "Well, technically, they're mine. And, hello."
Kagome's smiled widened. "Hello. Technically?"
"Yes. You see, at first, they were Daisuke's but then I bit into one of them and then Daisuke decided to give them to me."
"Only because you licked it," Daisuke muttered.
Kagome sat beside Chiaki. She looked over his shoulder. "What are you reading?"
Chiaki propped the book up to show her the cover. The History of Japan: Unabridged by Eiji Watanabe. He rubbed his face wearily. "I have a test on chapter 1-20 tomorrow." He dropped his hands from his face and pulled a face. "Eiji Watanabe needs to die."
"He is dead," Daisuke said.
"Well then I hope he's rotting in hell."
"You're only saying that because you're on chapter three."
"It's like 200 pages per chapter! This guy probably hates people because anyone will die of boredom reading this piece of crap!"
Suddenly Miroku stood up with a 500 yen in his hand and super glue in the other. He walked the short distance and kneeled down for a few minutes before returning with only the glue in his hand. He sat back down at the table and watched the coin that he had glued to the pavement with a huge grin.
Kagome started. "Miroku, what -?"
He immediately shushed her. "Just watch," he breathed.
Daisuke, who was sitting on the table, dropped the pen to his hand and leaned on his knees and watched along with Toji. Chiaki torn his gaze from his History of Japan: Unabridged and watched also with a mischiveous gleam in his eye.
"The last time we did this at a shopping mall," Chiaki explained to Kagome in a low tone. "There was this one guy who tried to pick it up but couldn't (cos' we glue it to the floor) so he came back with a crowbar to try hack it off."
She gave him an incredulous look. "And you think Yusako students carry around crowbars all the time?" She rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm going to go. This is probably the most unproductive thing I've ever seen."
Daisuke flashed her a smile. Kagome thought her knees were about to buckle ("Why?!" she silently screamed to herself. "Why is my body acting so stupid?! He's just a boy! A very cute boy- ARGH!!").
"Then you haven't seen everything yet," he said.
Soon, Kagome found herself wandering around the school campus. She past the courtyards and fields absentmindedly. It wasn't until she heard barkings in the distance did she snap out of her trance. She smiled to herself and immediately whistled out to Jirou. There was a moment's pause until she heard claws tapping against the pavement, footsteps, and a "Oh, shit!"
Clambering out of the bushes, the golden retriever pounced out and spotted Kagome. He lumbered towards her, dragging out a hassled-looking Inuyasha. The smiled faded from Kagome's lips as Inuyasha saw her. His expression was blank as Kagome's.
He averted his eyes to the ground. "Hi."
Kagome pursed her lips briefly before bursting out into all smiles. "Hey! I see you're taking Jirou out for a walk." She kneeled down and ran a hand down Jirou's silky coat. She looked up. "Oh, I see you still got that bruise on your face. You didn't get it checked?"
He touched it slightly. "No. I didn't think I needed to."
"Nonsense!" She stood up, trying to calm the jitteriness in her gut. "I'll take you to the Health Room and get someone to look at that. It doesn't look very pretty, you know."
After dropping off Jirou in the caretaker's office, Kagome pushed Inuyasha towards the Health Room. She shoved open the door and said loudly, "Dr. Izumi! I need you to check on someone!"
Aki popped her head out. "Dr. Izumi's at a Medical Board Meeting in Yokohama. What do you need?"
Kagome pointed at Inuyasha's cheek. "I need you to check on that bruise of his."
But Inuyasha and Aki shot her dangerous and outrageous glares. "Are you crazy?!" They simultaneously said.
"I don't want him touching me!" Inuyasha shouted.
"I don't want to touch him!" Aki shouted at the same time.
Kagome clicked her tongue impatiently. "Quit acting like babies and cooperate will you?"
Inuyasha sat down on one of the beds, grumbling. Aki drew out a first aid kit out of one of the cabinet, grumbling. She placed the kit on the bedside and took out a large cotton ball and a rubbing solution. She dipped the ball in the solution and started to dab it onto Inuyasha's bruise. Hard.
He flinched violently away. "OW! What the fuck are you doing?!"
"Will you shut up?! I have other patients here, you know?" Aki hissed. She gestured to the solution. "This is to make the bruise not hurt as much. It's suppose to ease the pain. So, stay still!"
"Hell no! The way you're doing is going to make it worse!"
Behind one of the white curtains, someone groaned groggily. Aki looked up and sighed. "It's the guy who took the LSD," she explained to Kagome. "He took only two pills but that's still pretty powerful. I found him in the West Courtyard picking at some coin on the pavement talking of something about little black sheep. That guy better wake up with a good explanation," she grumbled. She placed the cotton ball into Kagome's hand. "Here, you do it. I need to check on the dope."
Aki drew back the curtain, went in, and pulled it back closed. The "dope" groaned painfully again.
"Ow!" He cried when Aki smacked him across the head with her hand.
"Don't you 'ow' me! It's your own fault for the condition you're in!"
Kagome turned back to Inuyasha. Slightly hesitant, she reached up and dabbed the cotton ball (much more) gently onto Inuyasha's cheek. It felt eerily quiet despite the racket Aki was making next doors.
Inuyasha broke the silence. "I'm sorry," he said. He stared at the beds behind her. "About this morning. What I said...I didn't mean it."
Kagome responded quietly. "I know."
"You caught me at a difficult moment so...I...well..." he sighed. "I'm not very good at this. But just...I'm sorry," he said finally.
She nodded. "Don't worry about it."
It was quiet again.
"So..." Inuyasha started again. "Now that we have that over and done with...you don't have to fake your smiles anymore." He averted his eyes back onto her.
Kagome gave a honest small smile, her eyes still focused on his bruise that she was dabbing lightly on. "Okay."
* * *
Aki walked down the empty hallway, occasionally tugging on her short ponytail. She made sure that Inuyasha and Kagome were long gone and the LSD guy was all right before she left the Health Room. It was dusk and someone was expecting a phone call from her. She sighed. It was practically going to be a daily routine but that didn't mean she was going to like it.
Aki poked her head into the counselor's office. She spotted his assistant.
"Hi. Can I use your phone real quick?" she asked.
The assistant looked at her white smock. "Dr. Izumi has a phone in his office."
"I know, but he didn't give me his pin code before he left to Yokohama."
"Oh, alright then."
The assistant led her to the phone and left. Aki picked up the phone and dialed the number. After a couple rings, a distinct resonant voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Mr. Higurashi?" Aki leaned forward on the counter. "Yeah, hi. This Aki. Aki Sakatashi."
(AN: So, with the whole Central Park thing...Is there a Central Park? I'm totally making this up. I don't know if there's a Nasako Bridge or a Central Park. But yeah, ff.net is being a butthead with the spacing...but swell. Sorry for not updating for a kazillion weeks. ^^" But yeah, life's being an ass and not letting me write when I want to. But I'm trying! That counts right?
So, the whole past things is totally gone, which I myself am relieved, but I still left the demon/occult stuff in. Hope you guys don't mind. And this chapter hasn't been edited. I seriously need to get myself a beta reader.
Ah yes, and Lilo. You make me laugh. ^____^)