InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Egao O Ageru ❯ Chapter 4

Writer's Yaps:

 

Oiy minna-san! I just need to point out that I made an unforgivable error in chapter 2. I referred to Sesshoumaru's sword as the Tessaiga instead of the Tenseiga (that's wishful thinking on his part, hehe!). Sorry about that. The necessary corrections have been made. (wink)

 

Oh and W_J, according to the anime, no one can actually enter the present through the well except for Inuyasha and Kagome. But I decided to disregard that rule as this is a fanfic. Let's just presume that neither Naraku or Kouga knew about the well…hehe! =)

 

 

Cheerios!

 

 

 

 

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Egao O Ageru

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

 

 

Kagome emerged out of the bathroom after a long, relaxing soak in the tub. It had been ages since her last real bath, what with having to settle for freezing dunks in whatever river or spring they happened to pass by in the Sengoku Jidai. Unwinding the fluffy yellow towel around her head, she flopped down in the middle of her bed and let out a contented sigh. Buyo, her huge tri-colored tabby immediately hopped onto the bed with her and settled himself comfortably on her stomach. Jeez, she was quite exhausted for some reason, her eyes slowly fluttering shut. She started to doze.

 

A sudden scraping sound at the window roused her from her sleep. She quickly scrambled to her feet, sending Buyo crashing to the floor. Peering at her through the clear glass was a face she never thought she would see this soon. Her mouth quickly formed a big O in surprise. Then her surprise quickly turned to alarm. What was he doing here? Something awful must have happened.

 

Stepping up to the window, she opened it with a resounding bang, letting in a draft of cool night air. “What on earth are you doing here? Has something happened?” she demanded.

 

“Keh, we have a weird situation here.” He gestured with his head to the ground below. Kagome leaned out the window to peer at the ground. Illuminated by the pale wash of the moonlight was Inuyasha's half-brother. He was standing erect with a bundle in his arm which at a closer look turned out to be Rin. Kagome couldn't have been more shocked.

 

“Now, what on earth is he doing here? Has something happened to Rin? That's the only reason I can think of.”

 

Inuyasha nodded. “The girl is in pain…it's her stomach, I think. The bastard wouldn't let us touch her. He insisted on seeing you…said that you have powerful medicine that can cure her. Ya know I wouldn't have come to all this trouble if it weren't for…”

 

“Oh shut up. It must really be serious if he thought he had to come all this way for help,” Kagome said, her forehead curling into a concerned frown. “Let me get dressed and I'll be right on down. We need to get her to the hospital immediately. Thank god Mom's home, she can drive us there. Now scoot.”

 

The hanyou let go of the sill and dropped down to the ground, landing gracefully on his feet. “She'll be right down,” he said to his brother, scratching behind his ears.

 

Sesshoumaru nodded, his face showing no emotion, but inside he was frantic. Now that they were here, he felt more pressed for time. This could not go on much longer. Tortured groans still spilled from Rin's mouth, her face deathly pale.

 

“Oiy, Inu no Ni-chan! When did you get here? And who's this?” A lad of about eight years old emerged from the house on his way to the storeroom. His eyes widened at the sight of the armor-clad Sesshoumaru. “Ooohh, sugoi! Is that real armor? And those swords!” He hurried down the steps and paused in front of the demon lord, his gaze awestruck. “Wow, are you for real? Nope, you must be a theater actor or something.” He noticed the little girl cradled in Sesshoumaru's arm. “Hey what's wrong with her? She sick or something?”

 

Inuyasha's hand clamped down on Souta's arm and steered the boy behind his back. The look on his brother's face was none too friendly and he was afraid he might lash out at Kagome's kid brother. Sesshoumaru's hold on his temper wasn't at its best right now. His jaw was clenched too tightly and his eyes glinted with a feral amber light.

 

“This is Inuyasha's brother, Sesshoumaru, and the girl is his er…daughter, Rin. She needs to be taken to hospital. Now you be a good boy and fetch whatever Oji-chan ordered you to,” Kagome emerged from the doorway followed closely by her mother.

 

“Oh wow, you never told me that Inu no Ni-chan also had an Inu no Ni-chan!” Souta exclaimed, coming out from behind Inuyasha. “Whoa, so those swords are for real, cool! Those are waaay cooler than Inu no Ni-chan's. Can I touch them?” He gazed imploringly at the impassive countenance of Sesshoumaru. Then his eyes dropped down to Rin. “Poor girl, she's really ill.” Suddenly noticing the youkai lord's missing appendage, he asked curiously, “How did you lose your arm?

Souta, that's not very nice,” Kagome admonished sternly.

 

“Sorry,” Souta replied apologetically, his face mirroring his pity.

 

As was his usual manner, Sesshoumaru ignored the child and turned to Kagome, “We should go now,” he ordered in a tone lacking any inflection. A muscle ticked in his jaw, indicating his impatience to be off.

 

“Hai, you're right. Mom will drive us to the hospital. It's quicker than hailing a cab,” Kagome replied, motioning behind her to reveal her mother. “Oh-,” she glanced at Sesshoumaru's armor, so out of place in today's world. “That won't do, but there's no time to take it off so you will just have to pretend that you're a Kabuki actor or something.” She sidled up to Inuyasha and said, “There's no need for you to come with us, so you might as well go back.”

 

“Keh! As if I'm gonna allow him to be alone with you guys. Don't you realize how dangerous he is? What if he suddenly goes berserk?” Inuyasha countered hotly.

 

With a sigh of exasperation, Kagome reached into the pocket of her jeans, pulled out a baseball cap and jammed it on his head, covering his fluffy dog-ears. Somehow, she knew that was what he was going to say. “Very well, let's go.”

 

Mrs.Higurashi stepped up in front of Sesshoumaru and offered her hand for a shake. “Hello, I'm Kagome's mother and I would be happy to drive you to the hospital.”

 

Sesshoumaru was bewildered. Why was this woman's arm extended to him? Was he supposed to take it? He stared back at her indifferently, unsure of what to do, itching to be off.

 

“Er, Mom, this is not the time for pleasantries. We should be on our way, you see…” Kagome interrupted with a worried glance at Rin.

 

“Oh, I'm sorry, how silly of me. Come on, this way please.” Mrs.Higurashi hurriedly made her way to the back of the house where the garage was located, the others falling into step behind her. “Oh the poor little dear, how she must be suffering,” she clucked sympathetically. “I hope we won't encounter too much traffic along the way.”

 

 

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This odd place reeks of death and decay, imbued with more strange odors that he could not identify, suffocating him. He did not like it, this prison. He felt as if he were trapped, caged within its pristine bare walls. The ceiling was so close to his head, he felt as if it was going to come crashing down on him. This was so much worse than the ride on the way here, where he had seen a motley of mind-boggling things. Mind-boggling indeed. Firstly, they were whisked off to this place in a very swift-moving box that was redolent of polished leather. Secondly, never in his entire life had he seen a profusion of so many flashing lights they put a rainbow to shame, rendering him slightly dizzy. The most inconceivable of all were the larger-than-life humans living inside flat rectangular boxes. They seemed to be unaware that the people outside were watching their every move. He never had headaches, but now it seemed as if one was forming in his temples.

 

Upon arriving at the emergency room (as the miko pointed out), Rin was briskly placed on a metal bed set atop small wheels. She cried pitifully for her Sesshoumaru-sama as she was gently wrenched away from his protective embrace. When the woman in the funny little cap and white dress started to poke a needle in her arm, Sesshoumaru growled angrily, his hand flying to the hilt of Toukijin.

 

Kagome stayed his arm and rapidly made an attempt to explain what was going to commence. It turns out that a blood test would have to be administered, though the doctors were certain that the child was afflicted with appendicitis. She had to be operated on right away. Sesshoumaru frowned and commanded her to elaborate on this.

 

“Well, uh, you see…the doctors are going to open her up and take out a small organ from inside her body,” she explained. Seeing a look of trepidation cross Sesshoumaru's features made her add hastily, “It's this particular organ that's causing her pain. If they don't take it out its going to rupture and Rin will, well, she'll die.”

 

At that the taiyoukai's face turned even grimmer so she quickly added, “Its very minor surgery. She won't even feel a thing `cause they're gonna put her to sleep first. There's really nothing to it, happens all the time. Look, see here.” Kagome lifted the right corner of her t-shirt, revealing a two-inch scar. “I went through the same thing when I was ten you see, there's really nothing to worry about,” she reassured him.

 

“Sesshoumaru-sama, Rin is scared.” The child spoke, her voice bearing a slight tremor. Her luminous brown eyes were wide with fear and two fat teardrops rolled down her cheeks due to the pain in her side and the sting of the syringe.

 

Making his way to Rin's side, he bent down and whispered softly in her ear, “You are going to be fine. This Sesshoumaru will not permit anything to harm you.”

 

The little girl's hand snaked its way to his, entwining her small fingers with his much larger ones. Rin's innocent face considerably brightened. Though her joy was clearly visible, her smile was marred by a pained grimace. She said in a faint whisper, “This Rin knows. This Rin knows that her Sesshoumaru-sama will never leave her. That she and her Sesshoumaru-sama will be together…always.” It was becoming quite an effort to speak. Rin's eyes slowly drifted shut as the sedatives began to take effect. Her hold on his hand eased from its death-like grip. Sesshoumaru closed his eyes for a brief moment, willing himself not to feel anything. But it wasn't possible. A floodtide of unnamed and inexplicable feelings cascaded over his entire being. When he opened them again he gently extricated her tiny fingers from his hold and smoothed the untamable damp locks from her brow.

 

The nurse at his elbow informed him that it was time to take Rin away, so he let her go, watching solemnly as they wheeled her to a pair of doors at the end of the corridor. He had an irresistible urge to run after her, but a warm hand on his arm stopped him from doing so. He turned to face the miko, who had an odd look on her face.

 

Kagome dropped her arm. She had just witnessed something so poignant, something so unbelievably rare that a lump formed in her throat. The moment was so out of the ordinary that she almost wished she had a camera. Though his face remained devoid of emotion, his heart was obviously not. It was so hard to believe that the coldest, most apathetic being she knew…had a heart after all. A heart that was capable of feeling and caring for someone other than himself.

 

She smiled inwardly, her heart going out to him. There was hope for him after all. He wasn't beyond all feeling, much as he would like everyone to perceive. All it took was the tender smile of a particular human girl.

 

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Alrighty, that's it! It was much too short I know, but I've written an epilogue for this already and that's gonna be it.

 

Until next time, ja ne!

 

-bungeegum-