InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Guilty Hero ❯ Repercussions ( Chapter 15 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Thank you to my lovely reviewers!
In which: Stress and anxiety take over the heads of the Order, and a bartender gives some very bad advice.
Guilty Hero
Chapter 14: Repercussions
Kagome slowly eased down onto the bench outside of the Order's headquarters, trying to stop her legs from trembling. She was still frightened by Inu-Yasha's expression, almost a full hour after the rally had ended. She had never seen him that angry before, even when he first found out that she had been assigned as his personal nurse.
Never one to hold off when an apology was due, even though she was afraid of his temper, she had given him only a few minutes' head start when the rally was over, time enough to collect her thoughts and find her voice. Then she followed after him. It was rather difficult, for he had taken to the rooftops once he had recovered his hat, so she was forced to scour the city on foot, and was unsuccessful. The only place she knew he liked to go was the Cornerstone Tap, but when she approached it, she saw the bar was closed until five o' clock, and the demon was nowhere in sight. Growing more anxious as time passed, she was finally forced to give up her search and report to the Order for her scheduled performance review, tired, sweaty, and very nervous.
Checking her watch, she saw that she still had a couple minutes before she needed to show. With a heavy sigh, she wiped her forehead with her coat sleeve. She was just too worked up to go in there and talk about her job performance. She hated it when anyone was angry with her, but seeing Inu-Yasha that upset…
An involuntary shiver coursed through her body. She couldn't get rid of the feeling of his fire-gold eyes burning with fury into her. She simply couldn't understand it. Yes, had she been pulled onstage, she probably would have been quite upset, but for him to be that incensed there had to be another reason. From their short walk, it had been easy to tell that he wasn't comfortable around people, which could have played a part in his temper…
Letting out a soft moan, she put her head in her hands. It was difficult to shake that awful feeling of fear. It was her job as a nurse to be there for her patient, but that task was hard to do when she was in fear of being attacked by him.
Suddenly, she sat up straight, her hands clenched into fists on her knees. Now was not to the time show weakness or any lack of confidence; Inu-Yasha still needed help, and he wouldn't get any if she did poorly on this review. She needed to prove to Sango and Miroku that she could indeed handle the temperamental half-demon in all his antics, despite her own feelings. So she squared her shoulders, set her mouth in a determined line, and strode confidently into the headquarters, walking right up to Rin's desk.
“Are Sango and Miroku ready for me now?” she asked abruptly, the look in her eye frightening the poor girl behind the counter.
“U-um… Kagome Higurashi, right?” Rin asked, shuffling through her papers for the schedule. “You're a few minutes early, but you can go on up. They're in their office.”
Nodding, Kagome replied, “Thank you,” then strode briskly for the elevator, punching the button for the top floor. Upon arrival, she knocked sharply on the door to their office, her other hand clutching the handle of her bag. Contrary to the pep talk she had given herself, she was still nervous.
“Come in,” came Sango's brusque voice, and, even though Kagome knew that Sango always sounded that way when she was working, she still had to take a deep breath to calm down before entering the room.
“Ah! Miss Kagome! Is it that time already?” Miroku looked up from a rather large stack of paperwork to glance at the clock. “Oh, you're a bit early.”
“I'm sorry,” she apologized. “I can go wait outside…”
“No, no… Have a seat, we'll be with you in a minute…”
Heeding his request, Kagome sat down on the couch against the far wall, facing their desks. She noticed that both of them were very distracted; both of their desks were a mess of paperwork and half-eaten takeout boxes. Sango hadn't even glanced up when she had come in, and both were holding their foreheads in frustration as they scribbled on some forms.
It was pushing five minutes before Miroku finally sighed and set his pen down, rubbing his eyes. “That's it…” he groaned as he sat back in his chair. “I've had enough, Sango. Enough with the paperwork. Let's do Miss Kagome's performance review.”
Sango nodded silently in reply, sitting up straight and popping her back loud enough for even Kagome to hear; clearly, she had been hunched over for quite some time. Quickly sliding back to a filing cabinet, she pulled out a manila folder and tossed it onto her desk, opening it and starting to read a few papers. Miroku, giving her a slightly irritated glance, turned and smiled at Kagome.
“I'm afraid you caught us at a rather hectic moment. Let's try that greeting again: Hello, Kagome. How are you doing today?”
“Oh, um, fine. And you?”
“Just lovely. Sango and I have been here for… What's it been, about thirteen hours? Yes, that sounds right. Pure bliss, every moment.”
Kagome looked at him in concern. “What's happened? Has there been a demon attack?”
“Never mind that, Kagome. We have a limited amount of time, and we need to do this review. So let's begin.” Sango's tone was very clipped and abrupt; she almost sounded like she was angry at Kagome. “First off: dedication to the job. How much time do you spend with Inu-Yasha?”
Disconcerted by Sango's coldness and lack of familiarity, Kagome glanced over at Miroku and saw that he was frowning at Sango, clearly displeased by her behavior. “Um, I have spent every day with him since I first started the job. I arrive at his apartment around eight in the morning, and I don't leave until he's asleep. Sometimes it's so late that I don't even go home, I just spend the night.”
Miroku looked at her in surprise. “You do know that you have one day a week off, don't you?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I did take one during my second week of work. But Inu-Yasha got a little excited by my disappearance, and the next day when I returned was rather unpleasant for both of us.” She grimaced a bit at the memory. “Besides, I'm there to help him. I can't help him very well if I go off all the time, can I?”
“No, that's true.” Seemingly impressed by the comment, Miroku turned to Sango and cleared his throat expectantly. Glaring at him, she grudgingly made a note on the review sheet.
“Concerning the amount of time spent with him,” she asked, “how are the two of you getting along?”
Thinking of that afternoon, Kagome had to swallow the lump in her throat before speaking. “Relatively well. It took him a while to warm up to me, but I kept a low profile until he approached me. We haven't had too many arguments, and he seems to like being around me.” She could hardly get out the last statement, for the events at the rally had proved otherwise, but she couldn't base a full month's work on one day.
“Hm.” Even Sango appeared impressed. Inu-Yasha had never `warmed up' to any of his previous nurses. “Next question,” she said, putting her stern expression back into place. “You initially told us that Inu-Yasha's main problems were alcoholism and poor dietary habits. Let's start with his diet: how have you changed it?”
This brought a laugh out of Kagome, although it was possibly more due to anxiety than anything else. “That one was an easy thing to fix. The first few meals I made he refused to eat, but then I started fixing foods that had a very strong smell. With his demon-enhanced senses, he couldn't resist, and from then on he's been eating quite well.”
“And has he shown any improvements because of it?”
“Oh, yes. He's putting on weight, first of all, and it's also given him more energy. I now send him on a daily run over the rooftops so he can release some of that energy. He really enjoys it.”
“Very good! What wonderful news, right Sango?” Miroku was quite pleased and smiled happily at his partner. However, she stared silently at him, a frown marring her features. Kagome was beginning to suspect that the two were in the middle of a disagreement.
“Moving on,” Sango said, finally sounding like she was more interested in the proceedings. This was a part she had been itching to get to since the review started. Kagome looked over at Miroku and saw that he had a hand over his face, obviously frustrated. What was going on between them?
“His alcoholism,” Sango continued, quickly grabbing Kagome's attention. “Just what exactly have you been doing to help that?” Her tone was accusatory, and Kagome realized that the review was about to take a turn for the worse.
Sango and Miroku called at least twice a week to keep track of Inu-Yasha's progress, which Kagome had agreed to when she took the job. However, the problem was that they usually called in the late evening hours, when Inu-Yasha was several hours deep in a whiskey bottle. And since he was always closest to the phone, they were greeted twice a week for four weeks by a drunken half-demon. It certainly did not bode well for Kagome.
She had to take a deep breath before speaking. She was confident in her plan for his alcoholism, but she knew that it would be difficult for these two to have faith in it; they were jaded from so many years of failure. “Well…” she began slowly, “I must admit, it hasn't been my main concern.”
“What?” Even Miroku was not happy with that reply. “Kagome, this is a serious problem! You, as a nurse, should know that! You knew that when you accepted the job; I don't understand why you haven't been working on it from day one!”
“Please.” She held up her hands to stop them from speaking. “Please, let me explain myself.”
“Yes, please do,” Sango replied seriously. “I'm actually curious if you even have a plan at all. You do know that it's been an entire month since you started working with him? If you've been so successful on his eating habits, why hasn't there been a change in his drinking habits? Or have you assumed that since you've been so successful in one area that you could ease up in another without repercussions?”
“Sango,” Miroku said quietly. “Let her speak.”
Casting another glare at him, she sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, looking expectantly at Kagome.
Kagome, glancing at Miroku and receiving an encouraging nod, began to speak. “After my first few days with him, I really started researching on alcoholism so I could construct a plan specific to Inu-Yasha. I found out some things that were very helpful. First, there are two types of addictions: physical and mental. Physical is when the body actually requires the addiction to function—in Inu-Yasha's case, it's alcohol. A mental addiction is when the user thinks he needs alcohol to function. Now, Inu-Yasha's alcoholism is so ingrained, he has both types of addiction. Curing him physically, while not easy, is simpler to do than curing him mentally. But we have to cure his mental addiction before we can tackle his physical addiction.”
“And how do we do that?” Miroku asked, quite curious.
“We have to uncover the reason he continues to drink.” Kagome's hands were twisting nervously in her lap; Sango was staring down at her, her gaze unrelenting.
“We already know that,” she snapped harshly, tapping her pen against her desk. “He feels guilty over Kikyo's murder and can't move on.”
Kagome shook her head. “See, I think there's more to it. There's something that's bothering him, deep down… I can't explain it. I know he does feel guilt over Kikyo's death, but his actions aren't those of a grieving man…”
“Grief does funny things to people, Kagome,” Sango replied, unconvinced. “Inu-Yasha's taking it harder than most, is all.”
Miroku, wanting to prevent an argument between the two women, for Kagome was clearly prepared to defend herself, quickly cleared his throat and spoke up. “Assuming that there is a deeper meaning, what is the rest of your plan, Kagome?”
Gripping the couch cushions to try and control her temper, for Sango was frustrating her to no end, Kagome replied, “I need to find out what his real reason is for drinking so much. However, he is a very guarded person. Right now, I'm simply trying to be his friend. I'm not trying to curb his drinking, I'm not trying to nag him about smoking, I'm just trying to be a constant, friendly presence in his life. The more he trusts me, the easier it will be for him to open up. And when he does open up, when he does tell me why he drinks, I can take steps to reverse those feelings, and hopefully take care of his mental addiction.”
“Why do you have to cure his mental addiction first? Why can't you just fix his physical addiction?” The accusation dripping from Sango's voice finally broke Kagome's patience.
Fixing her superior with a harsh glare, she asked hotly, “Why do you want to rush things so much? Curing seven years of alcoholism doesn't take just a couple months, you know.”
“Because the city needs its savior back, and it needs him back now!” Sango snapped in reply, slamming her pen down and matching Kagome's glare.
“Sango, we've been over this—“ Miroku tried to say, but Sango cut him off.
“No, Miroku, Kagome needs to know the urgency of the situation!”
Kagome, although still angry, started to grow concerned. “What situation?”
Gently pushing Sango back into her seat, Miroku informed Kagome, “The situation at the quarry. Our lookouts have reported the escape of two powerful demons, but we have been unable to locate them once they left the quarry's perimeter. There have also been the reports of two human deaths, their wounds made from a weapon that we are unfamiliar with. We fear it's only the beginning of worse things to come.”
“Yes,” Sango agreed, still flushed from anger. “And we need Inu-Yasha sober to protect the city from the oncoming danger. He's our best fighter, and with this new threat, we need him more than ever. We need him sober, and we need him sober soon.”
Slightly calmer, Kagome nodded. “I understand your situation, but I'm afraid I can't rush things. This rise of a new demon has come at an unfortunate time, but it can't be helped. I refuse to push Inu-Yasha too far.”
“Why?” Sango demanded, ignoring Miroku's attempts to calm her down. “Why can't you just take away the booze?” Even in her ears, it sounded unreasonable, but she was unwilling to listen to reason. Though she hated to show it, these demon attacks had her scared, and she was desperate for the protection that she wasn't sure Inu-Yasha was capable of giving.
Kagome pursed her lips, her own temper breaking once again. “If I were to do that, if I were to wean him off whiskey, he would still have his mental block. Even if he stayed sober long enough to come rushing in to the city's rescue and fend off this new demon, his sobriety certainly wouldn't be permanent. Once the fighting is over and life goes back to normal, he would slip back into his old habits and turn back into a drunk in no time flat. Why? Because he never really wanted to sober up in the first place. Don't you understand, Sango? He wants to be a drunk. If I'm to do anything permanent, I have to hear him say `I don't want to drink'. Then, and only then, can anything permanent be done.”
She fixed an effectively silenced Sango with a pointed glare. “Would you rather I give him a quick fix and then have him go back to his old life once the fighting's over? Or would you rather I give him the help he needs for a lifetime of sobriety?”
Silence fell over the cramped office. Sango was fighting back tears while an impressed Miroku had a comforting arm over her shoulders, staring at Kagome with a newfound respect.
Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door, and Rin carefully stuck her head in, looking quite sheepish.
“This really isn't a good time, Rin,” Miroku told her quietly, looking a little displeased by the interruption.
“I'm so sorry,” she apologized, “but it's important. There's something you have to see on the news.” And then she quickly ducked out of the office, clearly not wanting to be around in the coming time.
More than a bit put-out, Miroku snagged the remote off the top of a filing cabinet and flipped on their dusty, rarely-used television in the corner. Kagome shifted on the couch to get a better view of the TV, then blanched at the scene before her.
The newscaster's voiceover was playing while a video of the mayoral rally showed on the screen, displaying a close-up of Muso and Inu-Yasha, side-by-side on the stage. “—seems the reclusive Inu-Yasha has come out of his quiet life to show his support for the little-known candidate Muso, an advocate for demon rights and supporter of human/demon unification. It's no surprise the Savior of the City is eager to see unification for the peace he worked so hard to bring about. But the question is, will Inu-Yasha's support bring this practically unknown candidate into office? Our political expert here in the studio is…”
Swallowing hard, Kagome slowly turned to look at her superiors. Miroku had turned the volume down and was shaking his head, while Sango had her head in her hands.
“Kagome…” he said softly. “Would you care to explain this?”
All of her anxiety returning, she said slowly, “I thought it would be good for Inu-Yasha and I to get out of the apartment, so I made him come along with me to grocery shop. When we got to the center of town, I saw the rally going on, I remembered him reading about the elections in the paper, so I thought he'd be interested. It was so loud, I couldn't hear him talking, though, and… Well, his hat and glasses got knocked off, and suddenly he was brought to the stage and…” She waved her hand at the now silent image of the rally. “That's what happened.”
“Kagome, do you know what this means?”
She shook her head, staring down at her lap.
“This means that this Muso fellow is most likely going to be the next mayor of the city; support from Inu-Yasha is almost a guarantee that he'll make it into office, since Inu-Yasha is so popular among the public. He's going to be the man that the Order works the closest with to ensure the city's safety, and yet we don't know a single thing about him, and it's all thanks to you. Dammit, Kagome, this is a hell of a situation to put us in!”
Kagome flushed, guilt stabbing at her for making such a foolish mistake. But how was she to know that Inu-Yasha was so popular? So popular, that he could get a man into office? He had never mentioned the sway he held over the public.
“Do you not understand what we're going to have to go through to undo what you've done? The Order has to remain out from under the public eye and you've just about shoved us into the spotlight! We're going to have to make a formal statement, withdraw Inu-Yasha's support… The current mayor is going to be furious with us…” With each task listed off to her, a new stab of guilt twisted in her gut.
“And what on earth were you thinking, taking him out in the middle of the day?” Sango demanded. “He should never go out when that many people are about! And besides, if you're working so hard to be his friend, then you should know that he hates being around so many people! He wears the hat and glasses because if anyone found out his identity, he'd be surrounded by people begging for autographs and souvenirs! So instead, you put him in a dangerous situation, and he ends up in front of hundreds of people! Why—“ Too frustrated to continue, Sango turned away, her head in her hands once more.
“I-I…” Kagome, on the verge of tears, couldn't think of a thing to say. She'd had no idea the effect of a simply day of grocery shopping would cause.
“Kagome, please leave, we have work that needs to be done immediately.” Miroku was unable to keep the anger from his voice. “We'll be in touch later with the results of your review.”
Nodding silently, she grabbed her bag and was out of the room in seconds, hardly able to get out fast enough. She remained silent during the trip down on the elevator, although her face still burned from guilt and embarrassment—she had never suspected that her review would go that poorly. In fact, she was awed by the fact that Sango and Miroku had not fired her on the spot for what she had done.
Unable to return the sympathetic smile Rin gave her as she walked out of the headquarters, she slowly trudged down the street, fighting tears the whole way. She kept telling herself over and over that Sango and Miroku were overwhelmed and only blamed it on her because she was there, even though she was simply an uninformed victim, but it was hard to brush off their harsh words and accusations. Especially on top Inu-Yasha's anger towards her that day. At least now she understood why he was so upset, but it still didn't ease her conflicting emotions.
At last, after several minutes of walking, she realized that she really needed to apologize to Inu-Yasha, and make one thing right in a day full of wrongs. Quickening her pace, she decided to stop by the Tap before heading back to his apartment, just in case he had retreated to the bar once it had opened, for it was well past five o' clock.
Strongly wishing that she had taken her car in the first place that morning, for it could have possibly prevented most of the day's problems, it took another fifteen minutes before she found herself outside the Tap. A quick glance through the large windows in the front told her that any attempts to apologize would probably be brushed aside, much to her dismay.
Inu-Yasha was there, pacing back and forth in front of the bar and waving his arms animatedly, nearly hitting Iro in the face with some hot cigarette ash. He paused once to snatch a tumbler off the bar and drain the whole thing, cough once he finished, and then resume pacing. Obviously upset and beyond a calm conversation, Kagome knew there was no hope to express her regrets.
Her shoulders slumping in defeat, she went on to his apartment. Perhaps he would be calm enough by the time he got home that she could apologize. She just simply did not want to end this horrible day on such a dreadful note. A simple apology would make everything so much better…
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“Why th' hell'd she do that t' me?!” Inu-Yasha growled, swallowing another mouthful of whiskey. He had been at the Tap for several hours now, and was still just as upset as when he first arrived. By now he had drunk too much to keep pacing and was forced to sit down, but the complaints still flowed as freely as the liquor. “All those people starin' at me… I hate bein' in th' spotlight! I hate it!”
“I know you do, boy,” Iro said wearily, understandably tired of hearing him growl and complain for almost five hours. It was unusual for the demon to be so worked up this late. Normally, it only took an or hour or two of whiskey shots before his ruffled feathers smoothed out, but he seemed to be unable to let go this time around, and Iro had no choice but to listen as he ranted on.
“An' now I'm gonna be in a lotta trouble with Sango `n' Miroku—they told me t' never support a canid—candad—cannadate!”
“Candidate?” Iro suggested helpfully.
“Yeah, that. An' that damn Kagome jus' forced me into it! I couldn' do a damn thing, an' ended up onstage! How th' hell does that figure out t' you?!”
“It was simply beyond your control, boy. That's all.” Actually, from what Iro was able to piece together from the demon's disjointed rambling, it was an entirely preventable situation, but he wasn't about to say anything. Inu-Yasha was too volatile at the moment.
Suddenly, the phone rang, making both Iro and Inu-Yasha jump. Inu-Yasha scowled at the appliance, but kept quiet and went back to his drink so Iro could speak in peace. The bartender, rather relieved to have a moment of silence, walked over the wall where it hung.
“Hello?” he said gruffly.
“Iro,” came a very tense, but familiar voice from the other end. “Is Inu-Yasha there?”
“Of course he is. After a day like he's had today, why wouldn't he be?”
A heavy sigh met his ears. “Of course he is. All right, could you do me a favor? Turn the TV on to the news channel, and then put him on.”
“All right.” Iro held back a sigh as he set the phone on the bar and rummaged for the TV remote underneath the counter. If Inu-Yasha was going to be in a lot of trouble with his bosses, and one of them was calling now, then he was sure he was about to listen to a very unpleasant phone conversation.
Flipping the television on to the news, he then returned to where the demon sat, tapping his fingers expectantly next to an empty tumbler. “Phone's for you,” he said shortly, pulling out the rapidly emptying whiskey bottle to refill Inu-Yasha's drink. “I think it's Miroku.”
A growl escaping at the mention of the name, Inu-Yasha slid off his stool and, keeping a firm grip on the counter for support, staggered over to the wall and snatched up the phone. “What th' hell d'you think you're doin', callin' me here?” he snarled, not even giving the man a chance to speak.
“What the hell do you think you were doing, going to a mayoral rally?” Miroku snapped back, just as angry as Inu-Yasha. “Not only that, what do you think you were doing going out in broad daylight at all?! This whole situation could have been avoided had you just stayed inside! You should have just done your grocery shopping later on, why did you have to go in the middle of the day?”
“Wha'… How'd you know about that?” Inu-Yasha growled, confused.
“It all came out during Kagome's performance review, fool. Now look at the television.”
Sputtering at being called a fool, Inu-Yasha turned and squinted at the TV screen, slowly making out the image of the candidate, Muso, doing an interview with a news reporter.
“It's such a great thing, to know that I have the support of such an important person to the city,” Muso was saying placidly to the camera. “It's amazing the sort of confidence such a thing can inspire in a person. I'm honored to simply even have Inu-Yasha attend the rally.” Taking a closer look at the man, Inu-Yasha realized that his arm was in a sling and his wrist was covered in a bright white cast.
“This Muso fellow has been more than happy to give interviews to any reporter who asks, and he's been saying how proud he is of your endorsement. Do you know how many phone calls Sango and I have had to make to try and reverse what you've done?!”
“I told that damn human wha' I thought of him once th' rally was over!” Inu-Yasha snapped in defense, making Iro wince as his claws gouged into the polished counter. “He's jus' a damn bassurd, usin' me like that!”
“Were you the one who broke his wrist?”
A savage smile broke across Inu-Yasha's face. “I was jus' tryin' t' get my point across.”
“Well, you should consider yourself damn lucky that this fellow isn't pressing charges against you! Dammit, Inu-Yasha, why did you do this?! Sango and I both got our asses handed to us on a platter by the mayor for pulling a stunt like this; it violated the agreement the Order has made with the government! We're supposed to keep as low-profile as possible!! And we're trying to hold back a rising war with demons, so you couldn't have picked a better time to throw this at us! I'm telling you this only once—pull another trick like this on us again, and you can say goodbye to your relationship with the Order.” And then there was a loud click, followed by a dial tone.
“Dammit!” Snarling, Inu-Yasha tossed the phone aside where it bounced off the wall and then dangled crazily by its cord.
“Hey, watch it,” Iro said warningly as the demon stumbled back to his stool and took a long swallow from his tumbler. “If that phone breaks, I'm putting it on your tab.”
“Fine,” Inu-Yasha snapped. “Jus' one more thing t' make this day better.”
For several moments, he was surprisingly quiet, looking to be deep in thought as he nursed his drink. Finally, Iro got curious enough and said, “Whiskey for your thoughts.”
Glancing up, Inu-Yasha sighed and held his glass out for a refill. “That damn woman… Kagome… She's th' one who put me through alla this… An' don' get me wrong, I'm mad as hell at her, but…”
“But?”
Rubbing his head in frustration, he suddenly growled, “Dammit, I think I like `er!!”
Completely taken aback, Iro's normally stoic expression was replaced with a look of surprise. Out of all the things he had heard the demon complain about this evening, this Kagome had been the source of them all. He had never expected to hear those words coming out of Inu-Yasha's mouth.
“I like bein' around her,” Inu-Yasha continued, his ruddy cheeks flushing darker from embarrassment. “She's nice t' me. She doesn' take my whiskey away, she doesn't talk too much… Well, most o' th' the time. An' she always takes care o' me. But then she has t' go an' do somethin' like this!!” With a moan, he put his head in his hands, clearly confused.
Iro realized this was most likely the reason why the demon was so angry all evening; the girl he liked had caused him so much trouble, but he still liked her anyway. It was a confusing situation for a man so immature in the ways of love.
“Look, boy, I'd be careful around this woman if I were you,” Iro told him sagely. He had mentored several troubled souls over the years, and considered himself to be quite informed on the subject of women. He was single, after all.
Inu-Yasha blearily looked up at him. “Wha' makes you say that?”
“Well, this girl doesn't seem to be the right person for you, if you don't mind my saying so.” Holding up a hand to stop Inu-Yasha's flow of protests, he continued on. “Sure, she may be nice to you, and take care of you, whatever. But would a true soulmate throw you to the dogs like she did today? Shouldn't she have known you well enough to know that you don't like crowds? That attending a rally would get you in trouble with your work? A real friend would notice things like that. She sounds like she was pushing you awfully hard to go, when you clearly didn't want to.”
Oddly quiet, Inu-Yasha sipped at his drink. Iro could tell what he said had made an impact.
“Look, I just think you need to be careful. I mean, look at what happened the last time you got involved with a woman.”
Inu-Yasha dropped his glass onto the counter, its contents spilling everywhere, making Iro jump. “What—boy, what's wrong?”
Deathly pale and staring blankly ahead, he whispered hoarsely, “She's got to go.”
Standing abruptly, he staggered out of the bar, bumping into several tables and chairs along the way. But he was determined. Kagome couldn't stay any longer. If she did, there was the danger of his fondness for her growing, and with the new demon increasing in power below them… It would be like the situation with Kikyo all over again, and he couldn't take that. He just couldn't. Thus, there was only one solution to the problem—Kagome needed to go.
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Kagome sighed as she sat curled up on the couch in Inu-Yasha's apartment, waiting for him to come. It had been several hours, and she was terribly bored. She didn't dare turn on the television from fear of seeing the footage from the rally again, but there was only so many games of solitaire one could play before the game simply became redundant. She had tried to call her mother and hopefully get a bit of comfort that only mothers could give, but no one answered the phone, and by now it was too late to try again. So she was reduced to thinking about the best way to apologize to him and trying to keep herself awake. The stresses of the day left her exhausted, but she was determined to get this apology out before she went to bed.
Finally, just as she started to nod off, the door to the apartment banged open, nearly making her leap from her skin in fright. Staring at the doorway, her heart pounding, she was relieved to see it was Inu-Yasha, but when she saw the look on his face, the relief left as soon as it came.
It was clear he was drunk; so drunk that he shouldn't have walked home from the bar, for he was leaning heavily against the doorframe, obviously dizzy. But despite his weakness of body, the strength in his gaze was enough to turn her knees to jelly and her heart to quail. He was furious with her, and the time of judgment had finally come.
“I-Inu-Yasha…” she said slowly, pushing herself off the couch and forcing herself to walk over to him. A snarl stopped her dead in her tracks, and she couldn't keep from quaking in fear. She had never seen him so terrifying; it was even worse than at the rally.
Staggering forward a few steps, he swiped drunkenly for her arm, but she quickly backed up, too frightened to speak.
“You…” he growled hoarsely, staring hazily at her with a scowl on his face. “You gotta go…”
“I-Inu-Yasha, please,” she whispered, wanting to reach out to him but too afraid to do so. “I'm so sorry about today, I-I was just—“
“Shut up!” he shouted, effectively silencing her. “I don' care! You… jus' go! I don' want you here anymore! You're a damn awful nurse, an' you've been nothin' but trouble for me! I hate havin' you around! I wish you'd jus' leave me alone!”
Kagome's breath caught in her throat. His statements cut her to the bone. She had poured so much of herself into working with him, and to hear him say such things was more than she could bear. “Inu-Yasha…” she whispered. “Don't do this… please…”
A snarl ripping from his throat, he roared, “Get out!! Get out of here, dammit!! Jus' go!!”
Choking back a sob and unable to take any more, she snagged her purse from the table and rushed out of the apartment, brushing past him as she left. He stared straight ahead the whole time, his face frozen in that hideous snarl.
It wasn't until several moments after the door had slammed shut behind her that he moved. Swaying on the spot, a whimper escaped him, and he whispered softly, “…Jus' go…” Then the carpet came up to meet him, there was a sharp pain in his head, and then everything went black.
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Jeez, that was intense. But, I hope you enjoyed this latest installment, depressing as it was. I hope it wasn't too confusing, because there was a lot in there; it was a double-length chapter, after all. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please leave a review!
In the next chapter: Don't worry.