InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Heart's Landfill ❯ Stormy Weather ( Chapter 65 )

A/N: Sorry for the long delay, guys and gals, but I've been ridiculously busy with everything from homework, novel work on my upcoming book, my new book, and the family. Life is crazy!! That aside, I'm going to make it my goal to finish this story within the next 90 days, which means more regular updates from me. I'm shooting for one chapter every one to two weeks or so—that's regular, right?

Anyway, my novel, He Belongs to Me, is now available online at Aspen Mountain press, Bookstrand, and All romance. PICK UP A COPY TODAY!! Also, for those of you who haven't yet checked it out, please check out my blog at novelistwhogetsnolove(dot)blogspot(dot)com and become a registered member. I swear I've been updating it more and I've even been responding to comments. Or friend me at facebook (dot) com/nyarayne. That's enough plugging myself, don't you think? Now, onto the chapter; enjoy and don't forget to review!!

Disclaimer: You know who belongs to me, right? All others belong to Viz and Rumiko Takahashi.

Chapter 65:

Stormy Weather

“What am I doing here?” Kagome eyed the two women closely, who entered her hospital room behind her mother and brother. “Who are they?” She nodded her head and asked the question in a low tone.

One woman was shorter than the other and one was younger—about her brother's age. They both looked familiar in an abstract way, but to save her life, she couldn't place exactly how she knew them. Then again nothing was making sense. Hadn't she just been on the floor fighting for her life with someone? Why was she now in a bed and why was the glow beyond the windows gone? It had been daylight only moments ago, hadn't it?

“Mom, what's going on? What happened to me?”

“Shush, sweetie.” She brushed a few errant strands of hair from Kagome's face. “It's okay. I'm just happy you finally woke-up.”

“No, no, it's not okay,” Kagome blustered with an adamant shake of her head. She glanced at the glass doors leading to the hallway. Glimpses of her earlier waking dream funneled back to her. “Why is Kouga mad at me? Am I in here because of him? Did he do this to me?” A crash came from the direction of hall, followed by a loud growl and what seemed like a million hushed voices. Then an older man in a white coat walked in, followed by a tall demon with ridiculously long white hair. He was handsome and like the two women, looked familiar, but she couldn't place him. She was certain in any circumstance; he was definitely someone she would not easily forget. He stepped away from the doctor and slid behind the shorter, more mature, but beautiful woman.

Kagome couldn't tear her eyes away from him. She wanted to reach out to him, to ask him his name, to ask him to hold her hand until the world was right again. She could almost feel the pads of his fingers tracing the side of her face. But there was something about him, that wasn't quite right.

“Higurashi-sama, do you know where you are?” the doctor asked as he took her wrist in his hand and began tracking her pulse.

“Hospital,” she responded softly, her eyes locked on the demon. His face was stoic as he stared back at her, unblinking. He slipped an arm around the woman in front of him and pulled her back against his chest. She went with it as if it were the natural thing to do.

“What city and country are we in?” the doctor clarified after a soft masculine chuckle.

“Ky…Kyoto, Japan?”

There was a soft gasp from several people in the room, but the doctor didn't stop his inquiry. “What year is it?”

The demon's head tilted ever-so-slightly to the right as if her answer was the secret to evolution. His face looked so familiar. The color of his skin, and hair—she'd seen it a million times before—in another life perhaps. His eyes... How many times had she stared back into them? How many? He…he was supposed to be her---

“Higurashi-sama, what year is it?” the doctor asked again, cutting into her thoughts.

She blinked, licked her lips and hugged herself as best she could with her one good arm. “Mom, who are they?” She nodded her head towards the demon and the woman. “Why are they here and where's Kouga?” A growl ripped through the hallway again and Kagome pushed herself up into a seated position. What was going on out there? Was she in a hospital or at the Vet?

“Who's out there?” she asked. There were so many questions and so little answers.

“Sweetie?” her mom cooed, in her patient, lets-not-talk-about-it-now voice.

The doctor cut in again. “What year is it, Higurashi-sama?”

Kagome glared at him. “2000…2000…2000…something.” She shook her head. “I…I don't know. Why don't I know what year it is? What's wrong with me? Why can't I remember what year it is?”

Her mom started to speak, but the doctor sidled up closer to her bed and started checking her heart rate and pushing intermittently at her stomach. “It's normal, Kagome. May I call you, Kagome?”

“S…Sure.” She glanced at the tall demon again, who was staring back at her curiously. There was almost…almost a smug look of…

That can't be satisfaction.

“You've suffered head trauma in the area of your brain that preserves your memory. Unfortunately, your short term memory cortex has been damaged, but I don't see anything in your x-rays that says it's permanent.”

“What are you talking about?” she could barely hear her own voice.

“You were attacked a few weeks ago,” the doctor continued.

“What?” She looked around the room, but no one with the exception of the tall demon would meet her eyes. “What are you talking about?” Then again that did kind of explain why she was in a hospital with her head bandaged and one of her arms in a sling. But who the hell had she pissed off or was it random?

The glass door slid to the side and a slightly shorter version of the tall demon walked in, his head down, his fists clenched at his sides. “Leave her alone,” he growled low as he positioned himself away from the others and in the far corner of the room, his arms crossed over his chest. He had an air about him that bespoke of such power and intensity, he was almost electrifying.

“We'll take it from here,” her mother said softly as she stepped up to the bed. Kagome recognized quickly that she forced herself between her and the doctor. Why did she do that? Why didn't she just walk around to the other side of the bed?

The doctor backed away with a slight bow. “Very well; please call me if you need me.” He left and the room fell dead silent with the exception of the beeps and ticks of the machines.

“What's going on? What happened to me?” She looked at each person in the room, but no one answered; they just stood there staring at her with pity in there gazes. Her eyes came to rest on him, the one in the corner. “What happened to me? Why am I here? Who did this?”

“Tell her.” His voice broke and he looked away coyly.

Simonkal of Inuy

Getting a nail through his foot when he was six hurt, the tree limb that was embedded in his thigh was mind numbing, the deaths of his parents tore at his insides, but having his mate forget who the hell he was--? Well, this…this was like being disemboweled very lowly while vultures gauged out his eyes and maggots made a home in the head of penis.

Yeah, this was so fucking painful there wasn't even an adjective he could use to describe how it felt, which left him in desperate need of something to break. No, that was too civil. He wanted to tear through something, destroy it, devour it, and then…and then just maybe, he'd be able to look at her.

Mrs. H. told started in her motherly way, “Sweetie, the year is 2010.”

“What?”

“Just listen for now,” she said softly, petting Kagome on the thigh as if she was a child. “Honey, you've been in a coma for the past three…three and a half weeks.”

“No,” Kagome whispered in disbelief. “That can't be…”

“Sis,” Souta said, slipping around to the other side of the bed, “What's the last thing you remember?”

“I…I…I'm not sure. I keep seeing glimpses of things, but it's so choppy…”

“Then believe us,” he said, leaving little room for debate. He pointed to each person in the room and introduced them, making sure to include the role they now played in her life. However, when he got to Inuyasha and was about to introduce him as her boyfriend, the hanyou stopped him, so he introduced him as her friend. She didn't look like she believed him, but she didn't refute him either.

“Souta, this doesn't make sense.” She looked around the room, and then down at her bandages. “What happened to me?”

“You went out with Yuka to some club a few weeks ago. That's about all we're certain of. We're guessing that at some point Kouga showed up and kidnapped you?”

Inuyasha said a silent thankful prayer Souta had the where-with-all not to mention Yuka's murder. Of course, she would have to be told, but not until she was past 100%--health wise.

“What? No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't need to kidnap me,” Kagome protested.

Inuyasha couldn't contain the growl that ripped up from the back of his throat. He dug his claws into the palms of his hands, hoping to still the ache tearing through his chest.

She stared at him for a pregnant moment before turning her attention back to her brother. “Why would he feel he had to do something like that? This doesn't make any sense, Souta!”

“Baby, you and Kouga haven't been in a relationship for over two years,” her mom interjected. “When your relationship ended, it wasn't on the best of terms.”

“What? Why? How?” Her eyes brightened as if she'd retrieved a memory before her face dimmed again and she was staring at Inuyasha. She looked away from him and back at her brother and mother. “Wasn't on the best of terms? Did he break up with me? Did I do something wrong to him? I…I need to talk to him! Where is he?”

Inuyasha wanted to stomp over to her and shake the living shit out of her. How dare she fucking forget him?! He'd sat with her, held her hand and even stooped as low as praying for her to regain consciousness, and the minute she does, she forgets him and instead calls out for that bastard?

“Feh,” he grumbled and turned to leave.

“Inuyasha,” Rin said, grasping his bicep as he passed her by. “Don't leave.”

“And stay here for this shit?” He glanced back at Kagome, who was staring at him in confusion. He turned back to Rin. “I've got to go keep her safe while she pines for that prick.” He pushed past her, jerking out of her grasp.

Did she really expect him to stand there and suffer through this bullshit? Nah, she wasn't that dumb. At least, the Kagome he loved wasn't.

“Even if she doesn't remember you or us, we still need to be here for her.”

He felt Kagome's eyes on him, tracking his every move and damn if he didn't want to stay with her, but there hadn't been an ounce of recognition in her eyes when she looked at him. “I don't give a shit if she remembers you or not. She doesn't remember me,” he hissed. It was selfish, maybe even a little disrespectful but damn it, those were his feelings. “I'm her fucking ma… I'm her boyfriend, damn it. Me, not the son of bitch she's asking for.” He tried to keep his voice low, but was certain the entire room heard him loud and clear. He didn't care.

Inuyasha growled low, his fist clenched and released, and he forced himself to move around Rin. “Since she's awake now, it should make it much easier to move her,” he said to Sesshomaru. “I'm going to finalize the arrangements.”

“Inuyasha?” He turned to Mrs. H. She sat with Kagome's hand grasp in hers, her eyes pleading with him for patience he didn't have. He turned away without a word and left the room.

Stepping into the hall, he moved up against the nearest wall and pushed against it as if it would hold him up. He wanted to disappear, to time travel back to when things were nearly perfect between them. He wanted to go back to any moment—good or bad—where she remembered him, where she loved him, and where she needed him.

He buried his face in his hands and sighed heavily.

How the hell was he going to get past this?

How the hell were they going to get past this?

Was it even possible?

Simonkal of Inuy

“Why is he mad at me?”

Several hours had passed, nurses and doctors alike had come and gone, and even a woman named Sango and her fiancé, who she supposedly knew had stopped by. But still the golden, eyed, brooding hanyou hadn't spoken a word more to her. Though, he did glare at her whenever, he came to the room to whisper in the taller demon's ear.

Like now.

“He's not mad at you,” Souta said, watching the retreating back of the hanyou as he followed the taller demon, Sesshomaru, and his mate out the door. “He's hurt, I think. And he's been really worried about you.”

“Why? Did I do something to him?” The look in her brother's eyes said she was missing something important, but the harder she tried to work through it, the more her head hurt.

What she did understand so far was that not only were her and Kouga not together, they were now full-fledged enemies—he trying to kill her for whatever the reason. She was also a partner in a law firm here in Tokyo and had actually relocated here just over a year ago. She also owned a dog named, Ashton, who her mother was off retrieving from some doggy-sitter. The plan was to sneak him into the hospital in hopes that he would jog her memory. Bits and pieces of that made sense, but the rest…

“Don't worry about it, Sis.”

She stared at the door. “How can I not, Souta? He…I should know him, shouldn't I?”

“You should, but for now just worry about getting better.” He brushed strands of hair back from her cheek. “You're going to have more than enough time to figure everything out later.”

The words slipped past her lips before she could stop them, “He's more than a family friend, isn't he?” It was a nagging feeling, almost like a gnat buzzing around her head.

Souta couldn't meet her eyes as he re-tucked the sheets around her and fluffed pillows that didn't need to be fluffed. “Relax, Sis. It's all going to work out in the end.”

“What's the big secret? Is he my boyfriend? My husband, Souta? Did I forget my husband? Is he my husband? Oh god, are we married?” She didn't want to believe that she'd forget someone so important to her, but she had forgotten the last two years of her life. And he, Inuyasha, seemed too familiar to her. It was as if they shared a deeper bond, one that would in the end transcend time and space. But if that were true, why wouldn't anyone tell her the truth about who he was to her?

The beep of the heart machine became louder and faster as it pulsed in tune with her heart beat. There was nothing she could do to stop it. There was so much she didn't know, and so much she knew she should've known. The doctor had said that with time, her memory would return, but how much time would that really take?

“Kagome, you have to calm down,” Souta was saying as he pushed against her shoulders, forcing her to lie back down. “Calm down, Sis, or they're going to drug you up again.”

She was hyperventilating. Her lungs weren't catching enough air, her pulse was racing and her head was spinning even as a painful thunderous thud started in the back of her head and spread outward.

The room was suddenly alive with people as buzzers and various other machines started issuing urgent sounds. People were surrounding her bed, someone pushed a clear plastic mask over her face, covering her nose and mouth, someone else was holding up a syringe preparing to shove it in the clear tube holding the liquid that was dripping into her arm.

Her chest hurt, and her lungs were burning as she stared at them with a mixture of fright and desperation. Fright because she didn't want to wake up 24 hours later and still not remember anything and desperation because she knew whatever was in the syringe was sure to take away not only her pain, but her confusion.

The sound came from the back of the room, near the door. It was a roar, or a growl, something…a sound that was more animal than man, and then the hanyou, Inuyasha, was there. His chest was heaving, his nostrils flaring as he shoved the doctor with the syringe away, but he was a second too late. The medicine was already sliding into her veins, lining her world in a fine blanket of darkness.

Strong arms surrounded, at least that's what she believed them to be.

“Let me go,” she whispered as she tried to struggle pathetically against his hold. She didn't want to get away from him necessarily, she just wanted to sleep and wake in a world that made a modicum of sense.

“Never,” she heard him hiss in her ear with authority. She felt the brush of something across her right temple, and then there was nothing but darkness and an echo of his one and only word to her, never.

And it felt right. His voice, his arms, and his lips against her temple; it all felt so right. But why?

Simonkal of Inuy

“What the hell happened?!” Inuyasha turned to face Souta and the rest of the room after laying Kagome back on the bed and covering her up.

No one spoke; they all just stared at him as if he were speaking Latin. He stood, blocking Kagome from the nurses and doctors, silently daring them to challenge him.

“Takahashi-sama, I know she is important to you, but…”

“Important?” Inuyasha roared, “Doesn't begin to explain it.” He stepped towards the doctor, but Sesshomaru forced his way between them.

“Thank you,” he said quickly to the doctors and nurses, “We'll take it from here.”

“We have to keep her under surveillance. Her mental state is still too fragile,” the doctor protested, refusing to be removed from the room.

“What the hell are you going to do that we can't get another…more trustworthy doctor to do?” Inuyasha glared at the man and nodded towards the now empty syringe. “Oh, yeah, shoot her up with that shit.”

The doctor looked almost guilty. “It's only a sedative. We can't risk her getting out of control. Surely, you understand that.”

“What I understand is that my girlfriend lost the last two years of her life! What I understand is that the woman I love, doesn't fucking remember the life we shared! And you, with your damn college degrees can't tell me a damn thing about when, why, or how she'll get her memories back.”

“We've done all we can, Takahashi-sama. It's a waiting game now.”

“So, you keep saying,” he snapped as he turned away and stared down at Kagome's serene face.

Behind him, Sesshomaru lead the doctor and his team of nurses to the door. He could hear clearly what was being said, but acted as if he couldn't. What concerned him now, was how long she'd be out this time.

If he never watched her sleep again, it would be too soon.

Granted, she didn't remember him, but there was something about the way she looked at him when he made up a reason to step back into the room throughout the day to speak with Souta or Sesshomaru. It was as if she wanted to remember him, speak to him, and ask him questions. It was like a part of her wanted desperately to reach for him. But now with her back in that dark place, locked away in the back of her mind, he had no way of reaching her.

Damn them!

When Sesshomaru stepped back into the room, Souta close on his heels, Inuyasha turned to him. “I want to move her tonight. These fuckers… All they're interested in doing is keeping her like this.” He waved his hand in Kagome's direction. “This can't be healthy.”

“I don't remember you ever attending medical school, Inuyasha. Perhaps, you should try to listen to the doctors. Let them do what we're paying them to do.” Sesshomaru leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

“I want her moved tonight,” the hanyou bit out again. “And I want a different damn doctor for her.”

“Drowned at birth, you should've been.” Sesshomaru sighed heavily, his patience were wearing thin. “I suppose now is as good of a time as any.” He pushed off the wall and left the room in his casual disinterested manner and Inuyasha turned his attention to Souta.

“What were the two of you talking about when everything went to hell?”

“You. She wanted to know why you were mad at her and what you were to her,” Souta replied.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I told her you were just her friend, but she didn't believe me.” Souta pushed at his hair. “Why don't you want her to know you're her boyfriend, Inuyasha? I think if she knew it would help her along some.” He scratched at the back of his head. “She'd probably stop asking about Kouga.”

Inuyasha turned back to Kagome. “I don't know.” He shrugged. “I just…I just don't feel like it's something she should be told. She should instinctively know who I am. If the table was reversed, I would know her. I would…I will always know her. A…a million years from now, I will still know her.” He growled low. “Sh…She should know me, damn it.”

There was a moment of silence before Souta spoke again. “Nola told me a few days ago that if I was in a sea of people, and she was blind, deaf, dumb, and her mind battered until she didn't know whom she was, she would still know me…still gravitate towards me.” He moved a little closer to Inuyasha. “She said, she would do those things because I'm a part of her. I'm her mate.”

“Are you?”

“Yeah, I am. I accepted that a while ago,” Souta responded, sounding like a man twice his age. “But I couldn't have done that, if she hadn't told me. If she hadn't explained how this mating thing worked.”

The silence came back and it stretched into a long interval of discomfort.

Souta cleared his throat and asked quietly, “Inuyasha, is…is my sister your mate?”

Until Next Time… (Thanks for your time and patience. Your .02 cents are appreciated!!)

Acknowledgments

Pnut-budder ~ Silvermoon_maru ~ VenusLegacy ~ Debs45 ~ Dark_Lady_69 ~ Inu_Yokai ~ Kiydkat ~ Sternenstaub ~ SelinaA ~ Inugirl ~ Ravens_Ashs09 ~ Nikki_Nightmare ~ SplendentGoddess ~ Inuyashaloverr ~ Fallen606