InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Hit and Run ❯ Knockin' on Heaven's Door ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Okay, well, I was feeling generous, so here's a long first chapter for y'all. Random note: Inu-Yasha is so cute.

DISCLAIMER: Still don't own it.

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Knockin' on Heaven's Door

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'Inu-Yasha.'

Kagome had written it on at least fifty different forms, unable to supply the hospital staff with anything more than the poor man's name.

Immediately after she had entered the sterilized atmosphere of the infirmary-- shivering and dripping rainwater on their spotless floors-- several men and women in turquoise scrubs forced her into the waiting room, shoving a stack of forms into her hands and ushering away without allowing her to explain the situation.

Damn, she never thought she'd be spending her 20th birthday in some crummy hospital, that was for sure.

Manipulated by her mother's urgent pleas, in some insane act of desperation to find someone to baby-sit her kid brother for a few weeks, she had driven to Tokyo to spend her summer vacation at home. It wasn't so bad; she had become quite homesick over the past two years away at college. But to playing nursemaid to that little nuisance...

So there she was on her 20th birthday, honoring her mother's half-baked requests and screaming for Sota to come out of the rain. As is nature of all younger siblings, Sota chose to ignore his sister's angry shouts and chose to chase a frog as it hopped across the rain-slick road instead.

With every intention of dragging him back into the house by his hair, Kagome had raced off after the boy, not noticing that her brother had successfully captured the illusive amphibian and made it safely across the road.

She, in an unbridled frustrated rage, had forgotten the one god damn safety rule that had been mercilessly pounded into the sugar-assaulted brains of small, defenseless children ever since the invention of the automobile: Look both ways before crossing the street.

In fact, if it hadn't been for the driver's-- Inu-Yasha's-- amazing reflexes, she'd probably be a mutilated squishy mess of road pizza right now. Unfortunately, those chain-lightning reflexes didn't save Inu-Yasha from the tree that seemed to jump out in front of his car.

With a haggard sigh, Kagome tapped a borrowed pen against her teeth, fighting the urge to chew on the tip as she desperately sought answers for the damn papers. She wasn't even allowed to see the guy until she filled out the proper paperwork, and with that ancient-looking nurse giving her the evil eye over the receptionist desk, there was no hope of sneaking into ER to check up on him, either.

Speaking of which, she wondered how it was going. Looking up from her half-filled forms, she leaned as far forward as she could without falling out of her chair to try and spot any activity beyond the twin doors that separated her from the rest of the hospital. They were a dark granite color, in stark contrast with the pristine whiteness of the walls and floor.

To her great disappointment, the doors remained closed. Damn it. How long did it take to set a few bones, filter in a few fluids, monitor a possible concussion, sew up a few holes...

Immediately she felt a twinge of guilt momentarily freeze her system-- that poor man. He had looked pretty beat up; lacerations and bruises marring his skin while the rain probably gave him pneumonia. Whenever he opened his eyes, they were clouded and unfocused... though a most unusual shade of amethyst...

No, must not think such thoughts of a man she had (however unintentionally) almost gotten killed.

She shook her head, absently running a hand through her damp hair as she forced her mind to concentrate on the forms on her lap, determined to answer them to her best ability.

Name of Patient:Inu-Yasha (Last name unknown)

Age of Patient:No idea.

Address/Phone number:See above answer.

Does patient have Medical Insurance:Oh, God, I hope so...

The next few questions were a little more personal, asking for a social security number and a family doctor and what have you. Kagome decided to skip ahead a bit, skimming the paperwork to find questions she could answer without difficulty.

Twenty minutes later, she threw the pen down in utter frustration. Hospitals suck. Didn't they have computers or something that could look up all this information for her? Was it really necessary to force her already frazzled brain to reinvent this man's life?

It was probably all some dirty conspiracy; created by the doctors and nurses to use millions of useless and unanswerable questions to drive their patients' families psycho, thus earning them billions of dollars from psychiatric specialists and counselors who in took in the head-cases.

Before she was able to work herself into an aggravated rage and became a threat to the hospice staff, an older woman in customary hospital smock hobbled through the thick double doors leading to the ER. She paused for a moment, scanning the room with one eye.

With the exception of herself, Kagome found the waiting room conspicuously empty, and thus decided that it was she the older nurse was looking for. Paperwork (conveniently) forgotten, the young woman rose from her seat to approach the elderly lady, wringing her hands nervously behind her back.

However, once she got a good look at the nurse, Kagome wished she'd had stayed seated.

To say the woman was intimidating would have been an understatement. Though stooped with age, her wrinkles gave her a fiercely gnarled appearance; her graying hair tied at the nape of her neck and her face anything but welcoming. To Kagome's horror, she discovered that the woman was missing her right eye, a grizzly-looking patch obscuring the vacant hole from sight.

Kagome tried not to recoil at the stranger's haggard look, managing to pass off the wince as a deranged sort of twitch.

"Ah, yes, child-- ye must be Inu-Yasha's fiancé, are ye not?" the woman asked in a gravelly voice.

'He has a fiancé?' Kagome shook her head hastily, blushing a bit as those glassy wine-colored eyes flashed in the back of her mind. "No, ma'am, my name is Kagome Higurashi. I, uh, I'm sort of the cause of the whole accident-thing."

The nurse nodded, folding her arms in front of her chest and closing her eye meditatively. "Of course. Ye brought him here, did ye not?"

"Er, yeah, sort of," she answered, caught slightly off guard by the nurse's unfamiliar accent. She spoke with an Old-English-Medieval sort of tongue, saying 'you' as 'ye' and 'thy' as 'your'. "Is Inu-Yasha okay?"

The one-eyed nurse lowered her head, her eye remaining closed as her disciplined voice became numb. Having worked in hospitals for nearly a half a century, she knew how to keep from distressing the patient's families and friends by betraying too much emotion.

"He has several fractures, a few cracked ribs and a twisted ankle-- all of which should heal in due time..." she paused, looking for Kagome's encouraging nod to continue. "... However, the impact of the crash put a detrimental pressure on the fourth and fifth vertebra in his back. It's a miracle his spine didn't snap."

"S-snap?" Kagome repeated, fear welling in the pit of her stomach. God, was he... She felt sick.

"He should make a full recovery," the nurse assured quickly, noting the green tinge to Kagome's skin, "though he should remain as inert as possible for the next few months. Thou should make sure he does not put any more strain on his spinal column, t' would be disastrous."

Kagome fidgeted nervously. "Well, y' see, I don't really know him, haven't actually met him yet. He sort of conked out while I called the ambulance."

"I see." The woman folded her arms behind her back professionally. "Please, if ye would, tell me the circumstances of the accident, Ms. Higurashi."

Kagome ran a hand through her hair absentmindedly, not noticing the way her arms trembled. "Y' see, my younger brother chased a frog across the road, so I ran after him. I didn't see Inu-Yasha's car coming, but I guess I wasn't looking..." She had the grace to blush. "Anyways, he swerved and hit a tree. I tried getting some information out of him but all I got before he conked out on me was his name."

The elderly woman nodded, watching the rattled girl through a narrowed eye. "His full name is Inu-Yasha Hatsuyo, 25 years of age. He lives alone in an apartment around this area, his only living relative a half-brother by the name of Sesshomaru Hatsuyo. Engaged to a woman named Kikyo Amaryllis-- we tried to inform her of her fianc's condition, but could not get hold of her. I expect she would want to be here."

The girl stood with a blank expression, slowly absorbing the information. In less than thirty seconds the blanks in the man's paperwork were filled themselves out. Hatsuyo? Lives alone? Half-brother? Engaged?! Wait a minute...

"Let me get this straight," Kagome's brow folded into a small frown as she scowled for all she was worth. "You had me sit here for two hours making crap up about this guy when you KNEW about him all along?!"

In a bizarre, frightening way, the grizzled, one-eyed nurse actually managed to look sheepish.

Kagome felt like ripping her hair out. "You people are sick!"

The nurse smiled wryly. "My name is Kaede, I am the matron of this wing. Mr. Hatsuyo will be under my care until he is well enough to be released. I am sorry for your inconvenience, Ms. Higurashi."

"Liar."

Kaede chuckled, shaking her head gently. "Come, child, I'm sure ye wish to see him."

With surprising swiftness for one who walked with a slight hobble, the nurse spun on her heel and knocked aside the heavy double doors; pausing momentarily to make sure Kagome was following. With a meek noise of affirmation, the young woman trailed behind Kaede and entered the Emergency Wing, marveling at the anxious tension that clogged the stuffy air.

It was a completely different world behind the twin doors-- the waiting room had a serene feel to it, quiet and calming; probably to try and lull the nervous occupants into a state of lethargy. Behind the doors, however, there was a sense of desperateness that made Kagome uneasy.

People in nurse's outfits were rushing back and forth across the wide hallway, many carrying scary-looking implements as they hurried to save their hapless patients. They seemed to operate in some separate mode of consciousness, so deeply indulged in their work that Kagome hesitated in entering their domain for fear of disrupting their MoJo.

However, Kaede didn't hesitate or even slow as she snaked her way around the frantic-looking staff, neither slowing them in their tasks nor distracting them from them. Kagome followed quickly, not wanting to be left behind in this madhouse.

'Figures,' Kagome huffed as they reached the end of the long corridor, winded from weaving wildly around the nurses, who-- apparently-- were on strict orders not to stop for anyone. 'That man is more trouble than he's worth. I nearly got myself run over twice in one day.'

Kaede paused to look over her shoulder, mistaking Kagome's breathlessness for hesitation. "Thy has had a long day, would ye rather come back tomorrow?"

Taking a deep breath to try and regulate her breathing, Kagome shook her head, pushing open the door to Inu-Yasha's room with only a slight shudder. "No, I'd rather see him now, if it's okay."

"Ye should know he is resting, child. T' would not be wise to wake him, but ye may sit with him for a while. I will leave ye your privacy."

Gathering her courage, Kagome nodded, her heart beating erratically and her nerves completely shot. God, this was hard... did she really want to see the damage that she was responsible for? They might have shorn off all of his thick raven hair to accommodate his wounds; his intestines might be hanging out, or worse-- in a jar, he could be in a full body cast; or his lower half could be viciously mangled and...

Kagome let out a grunt of frustration-- she was only making things difficult for herself. She should just head on in, no problem, Kaede had already made it clear that he was going to live, so it couldn't be that bad... Before her valor could fail her, she forced herself to move forward, entering the room with slow, cautious steps.

She was immediately blasted with the stench of sterilizer, tainted ever so slightly with the odor of rubbing alcohol. It burned the inside of her nose and caused her eyes to water annoyingly, and she hastily scrubbed them to rid herself of the mild stinging the tears caused.

The room itself, in some insane act to replicate the blazing glory of heaven's pristine pallor, was painted a blinding white (what is it with hospitals and the color white?). The bright walls were completely bare save for a window near the corner, it's blinds drawn; and with a distinct lack of furniture, the room was very lonely-looking.

There was only one cot, its immaculate white sheets folded neatly over the man sleeping in them.

Inu-Yasha.

Her own sharp intake of breath seemed to deafen the quiet room, sending shocks to her already extremely jumpy nerves. The sight of the man was almost too much.

To put it simply, he looked like hell. Medical gauze covered his torso like a bloodstained shirt, a sling from the ceiling kept his right leg elevated. His hair (thank God) had been left untouched, though a white bandage wrapped itself around his head, pushing back his unruly bangs.

Kagome let out a tense sigh, inching her way to Inu-Yasha's bedside. 'Aren't people's faces supposed to be peaceful when they sleep?' Kagome wondered, seating herself at his side and folding her hands in her lap. The man's handsome face was twisted into a scowl, his eyebrows furrowing unconsciously as his mouth tightened and curled in his slumber.

Hesitantly, she reached out with a trembling hand to carefully run her fingers through the lengthy black tresses that hung over his shoulder. She was surprised at the softness of his hair, feeling a twinge of jealousy as she stroked the thick locks. Her hair wasn't nearly as silky.

His mouth curled into a frown and he mumbled something as he floated along the edges of consciousness, responding to her ministrations with a low rumble deep in his chest. Kagome blinked in surprise, her fingers freezing in the black mane

Good God, was he purring?

She snatched her hand away as if she had been burned.

'Okay,' Kagome could feel blood rushing to her face, 'We'll look, not touch.'

The monitor beside him hummed softly, and she let her eyes trail the blue and red wires that buried themselves underneath the folds of his bandages. What they were for, she couldn't guess, but they looked out of place against the clean white bindings.

She watched his bandaged chest rise and fall with each breath, slouching forward and resting her chin in her hands. He had her full attention now-- he seemed to sense her interest and deepened his scowl.

She returned it with one of her own, mumbling under her breath. "Deal with it, you made me feel super guilty for all of this. I'm only here refilling my Karma-tank."

Inu-Yasha made no response.

Kagome sighed, leaning back in her chair and continuing on her tirade as if he had asked her to carry on. "What were you thinking, anyways? I mean did you assume that the tree was going to hop out of your way? I mean, you didn't even slow-- not like you could have or anything. . ."

Still no reply.

"Well, thanks, I guess. I'd be sporting a lovely tire-track if it wasn't for you, and then I'd be the mummy wired like a deranged Christmas tree." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I don't think that'd work out, either. I hate hospitals; they're... too clean, I think. It's frightening, really. Nothing was meant to be that clean. Soap isn't even that clean."

Silence.

"So, thanks for sacrificing your car and-- well, your physical condition-- for me."

Was he snoring now?

"Oh, and by the way," Kagome drawled, her eyebrow twitching ever so slightly. "Giant bunnies have taken over the Earth and only those with carrots shall be spared."

Zzzzzz...

Kagome groaned in frustration, burying her head in her hands. That dimwit! It was like talking to a wall.

No, walls didn't insult your conversational skills by FALLING ASLEEP.

She rose to leave, brushing off her skirt in an almost businesslike fashion before giving the sleeping man a disgruntled pout. "Jerk."

As she walked briskly to the door, Inu-Yasha began to stir. All of a sudden he felt cold again, the heat source that had been lolling him into a contented drowse had been cut off abruptly, allowing a chill to settle over him once more. He growled to himself, missing the warmth radiating from his bedside in waves.

Prying an eye open (and wincing at the ungodly amounts of blinding white), the man peered around, fighting to keep his mind from shutting down again. It was like he was muffling his thoughts with cotton, stuffing his head with fiber until it came out his ears.

"Uhnn..." he groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

The sound startled Kagome, and she whirled around to face the cot. Inu-Yasha's face was contorted into a flinch, his lips moving ever so slightly. Rushing over to his side, she leaned forward, trying to catch his soft words. When she couldn't, she hovered over him, tilting her head so that her ear was positioned over his mouth.

His words were barely audible, muffled by her hair.

Inu-Yasha was almost too warm; the heat felt far too close, it nearly burned. His eyes snapped open, peering up to see an eerily familiar face hovering just above his. Her dark hair brushed across his lips in the softest of touches, her features slightly blurred by the bright light.

An angel?

He breathed a sigh of relief, his brain slowly registering the image. She was so beautiful; she practically glowed. Raising a bandaged hand to her face, he cupped her cheek, lifting his head to give her mouth a gentle kiss. He didn't notice her gasp of surprise, or see her brown eyes widening with shock.

He pulled back, smiling against her lips and uttering his first real words upon returning to the land of the living:

"Kikyo..."