InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Learning to Let Go ❯ Chapter 2

When Kagome awoke, she became aware of the pain in her head and groaned. She tried to sit up, but a gentle hand pushed her back down. "You need to rest."

She opened her eyes, but squinted against the light. She could only make out the blurry figure of someone standing over her. "Where am I? What happened?"

"You're at the hospital. You fainted after "

Kagome suddenly found herself very awake and sat up despite her body's protest.

"Toru! Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Your son is fine. He's sleeping in another room." Kagome finally turned her attention to the man standing next to her and was sure that had she not been sitting down she would have fainted, again. It was like looking at a ghost. Despite the fact that his hair was shorter and he looked a bit older, he was the spitting image of a human Inuyasha. Kagome blinked a few times thinking it was just because of the pain in her head, but he was still there and he was still talking. " someone I could call? Husband?"

"I'm not married." She replied off handedly. Kagome rubbed her temples. Okay, so I'm not dreaming and I don't think I'm crazy, although some people may debate that fact not the point. What the hell is going on here? "Who are you?"

"Oh sorry," He extended his hand, "I'm Keiichi Matsushita. Detective Keiichi Matsushita." He had a somewhat sheepish grin on his face and his other hand was scratching behind his head.

Kagome took his offered hand and starred at him, her eyes narrowing in concentration. He has to be his reincarnation. There's no other explanation. An ironic smile crossed her face. I guess I know how Inuyasha felt the first time he saw me now. The detective cleared his throat and she realized that she had been starring a little too long. Blushing, she released his hand and diverted her gaze to her lap. Good one, just make yourself look insane. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," She looked back up to see that a very Inuyasha like smirk adorned his face, "Happens all the time." Kagome gapped at him. Well he's arrogant just like Inuyasha. She closed her eyes and silently chastised herself. Stop comparing them. He is not Inuyasha.

"I was only joking." He now had a genuine smile that Kagome found infectious, "It really doesn't happen all that often."

Kagome smiled back and laughed. A knock interrupted. They both turned to see a middle aged man in a white coat standing at the door. His black hair was streaked with gray and his dark eyes were gentle. He smiled and extended his hand to Kagome, "Hello, I'm Doctor Iwakami. How do you feel?"

Kagome took his hand, "I feel okay, just a bit tired."

"That's to be expected. You got a nasty bump on your head when you fainted," She winced when the doctor touched the sore spot, "but the swelling should go down in the next day or so. You can go home today."

"Thank you, but what about "

"Your son is fine." Kagome sighed in relief. "He's going to be kept overnight for…"

Kagome cut him off before he could finish, "What? Why? I thought you said he was okay."

Dr. Iwakami held up his hands, "Mrs. Higurashi," Kagome stopped herself from correcting him, "please calm down. Your son is fine, but with someone his age, you can never be too careful. He's just being kept for observation. He has a cast on his arm and a mild concussion. He took quite a fall."

She dropped her head into her hands, "I'm a terrible mother."

"Now, Mrs. Higurashi, things like this happen. It wasn't your fault." Kagome slowly nodded her head. "Good. Is there someone who can take you home?"

"Umm " She glanced up at the clock on the wall, "no "

"I could take you home." Kagome's head snapped up to see Keiichi leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest. I'd forgotten that he was here. "If that's okay with you."

"Oh no no. I don't want to be an inconvenience. I've taken up enough of your time as it is."

"It's no inconvenience." He smiled and Kagome felt her heart lurch. "All in the line of duty."

"Matsushita " She trailed off uncertainly and snuck another look at his face. She couldn't help, but use this moment to study him. While there was a striking resemblance to Inuyasha, there were significant differences, the hair for one. Keiichi's was short and tousled with his bangs falling in his eyes, giving him a boyish appearance. And his eyes they were a deep brown like Inuyasha's on the night of the new moon, but there was an openness about them. They lacked that slightly haunted look that Inuyasha's possessed from years of alienation and hurt. The look that first drew her to him, made her want to protect him from the world, and take away his pain. Yes, they looked alike, but they were completely different people who had led completely different lives. They just happened to share a soul. Kind of like me and Kagome closed her eyes. She promised herself she wouldn't think about her. When she opened her eyes, she realized that Dr. Iwakami and Keiichi were starring. She blushed realizing that she had been silent for a long time. "If you're sure it's no trouble "

"No trouble at all."

"Okay thank you." She turned to Dr. Iwakami, "Guess that's all settled."

"Good, I'll just need you to sign a few papers and then you can go and see your son."

Kagome paused outside the room Toru occupied. There was a tiny bandage on his forehead and a cast on one of his arms. She could feel the tears prick at the corners of her eyes. If I had just watched more closely She started at the feel of a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see Keiichi smiling at her. He gave her shoulder a light squeeze. "It wasn't your fault."

"How…?"

"Your face is an open book. Besides " He grinned at her, "I got myself hurt enough times when I was his age. You had the exact same look my mother always had."

"Oh." She couldn't get over how friendly he was. It took her years to get Inuyasha to talk to her about his past, but his was a childhood that had been filled with nothing but pain after his mother died, while Keiichi's seemed to have been happy. She signed and looked back at her slumbering son. She tried to ignore the little voice in her head that kept reminding her how lonely she was and how Keiichi could be her second chance. I can't. It wouldn't fair to him. I'm still in love with Inuyasha, and I always will be and anyway, who said Matsushita had any feelings for me.

"Why don't you go and see him. I'll be outside when you're ready to go."

Kagome simply nodded before cautiously approaching the bed. She sat down in the chair next to it and brushed the hair away from Toru's face. He shifted and slowly opened his eyes. "Mommy?"

"Yeah, honey, I'm here."

Faster than she could blink Toru threw himself at her, wrapping his arms a bit awkwardly because of the cast around her waist, and started crying. "I'm sorry mommy. You told me not to climb the tree, but I didn't listen."

She hugged him close, stroking his hair, as tears silently made their way down her face. "Don't, baby. It wasn't your fault."

He sniffled, "Then you're not mad at me?"

"I was a little mad, but I'm not anymore. You scared me half to death. You need to be more careful."

"Can we go home?"

She pulled back, cupping his face in her hands and wiping away the tears. "I wish you could, but the doctors think it's a good idea if you stay because of the bump on your head."

"Do I have to?" He whined.

Kagome laughed, "Just for tonight. You'll be home tomorrow."

"Okay."

She kissed the top of his head, "Now go back to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

For the second time that day, Kagome felt like fainting. Keiichi was leaning over the desk at reception talking to a petite nurse with short black hair. They were both smiling and talking animatedly. When he turned his head and caught sight of Kagome, he smiled at her before saying something saying something to the nurse and kissing her on the cheek. She felt a stab of jealousy. Get a grip Kagome. Of course, he has a girlfriend. He's gorgeous, a police officer got to live a man in uniform- and…and…

"Ready to go?"

Kagome's snapped out of her trance and looked up at him. She didn't notice him approach. He's a little taller than Inuyasha. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, "Um I don't want to take you away from anything."

"Huh?" He followed her line of sight to the nurse at the desk, "Oh, don't worry about it. It's not like I don't see her all the time anyway."

"Oh."

"I mean mom and dad make us all get together every weekend." Kagome felt like she would cry. What did I expect? He's probably engaged of something. "Besides you need to get home and rest. My little sister can wait."

They had been walking down the hall, but when his words sunk in, she stopped dead in her tracks. "She's your sister. Of course, of course she's your sister."

Keiichi gave her a strange look, "Yeah." They started to walk again. "What, you didn't think she was my girlfriend or something did you?" He said sarcastically and laughed.

"No. Don't be silly." Even as she said this, Kagome started to walk ahead of him to hide her blush.

"So you live at the shrine?" Kagome and Keiichi were sitting at a stoplight waiting for it to change. They hadn't said much after the 'incident' with the nurse. Kagome because she was too embarrassed to talk to him and Keiichi because he noticed that Kagome was nervous for some reason, but now the silence was getting to him.

"Yeah. It's been in the family for generations." Kagome still couldn't force herself to look him in the eye. She had finally gotten her blush under control and didn't want it to come back.

"You know, my parents use to take me there when I was younger."

"Really?" Now Kagome couldn't help, but look over at him. His eyes were on the road, since they had started to move again, but there was a smile on his face.

"Yeah, my mom has a masters in Ancient History and she always loved to go there. She tried to pass her love for history to all her children."

"Did she?" Kagome's interest was piqued. He had been to the shrine.

"With me she did. I always found it fascinating, but my brothers and sisters weren't really interested in any of it." He shrugged, looked over at her and smiled.

"How many sibling do you have?" Kagome knew she probably shouldn't be asking him such personal questions, but she needed to know more about the man who was the incarnation of the man she loved.

"Two brothers, one older, one younger, and three younger sisters"

"Wow," She said in awe, "Your parent must have really loved kids."

Keiichi laughed and Kagome noticed how it made his face light up. "You could say that. My mom came from a big family and she always wanted a lot of kids. My dad wanted to make my mom happy."

"It must be nice. You sound close."

"Yeah." He nodded before smiling and looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "So what about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"I have a younger brother. He's a pain in the ass, but I love him." Kagome smiled sadly, "Him and Toru are all I have left."

"I'm sorry." She was startled by the amount of sincerity in his voice. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of my family." They lapsed into silence again, but it was not as tense as before. "I know it's none of my business, but if you don't mind me asking, what happened?"

"It's okay, I don't mind." She took a deep breath, "My father died when I was eight, that when we moved into the shrine with grandpa."

"That's probably why I don't remember seeing any kids there. We had moved to Kyoto by then." He smiled sheepishly, "Sorry for interrupting. Please, go ahead."

"My grandfather died a little after Toru was born. He was old. We all knew it was only a matter of time and my mother She died from cancer last year."

Keiichi saw the pain in her eyes, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't apologize. Talking about them helps me remember them." They had just pulled up in front of the shrine. Kagome glanced over at Keiichi and noticed that he was biting his bottom lip. She sighed, "Go ahead."

He looked at her stunned, "Go ahead what?"

"You want to ask about Toru's father."

His eyes widened, "I…"

Kagome chuckled, "Don't worry about it. I've come to expect it. It's hard to be a single mother and not have people ask you that question. If they didn't I think I'd be worried."

He smiled a bit guiltily, "What did happen to him?"

Kagome braced herself for his reaction, "He was killed." When he didn't say anything, she turned to look at him. His eyes were wide and there was a shocked expression on his face.

"I'm so-"

She held out her hand to cut him off. "Don't apologize. I'm grateful for the time we spent together. I'm not going to say that I don't miss him because I would be lying. I will probably always miss him, but he gave me the greatest gift I could have asked for. Toru is my everything."

The two lapsed into silence again and Kagome could see that Keiichi felt guilty about the whole thing. Kagome smiled. He was such a sweet person. "Would you like some coffee?"

He was startled by her request and almost declined, but in the end he smiled,

"I'd love some."

Laughter could be heard echoing through the house as Keiichi and Kagome sat at the kitchen table, coffee completely forgotten. They were talking like a couple of old friends who hadn't seen each other for years. "I can't believe you did that!" Kagome said between giggles.

"Hey he deserved it." He said in his defense. "He's the one who spread the rumor around that he was fucking my little sister."

"Yeah, couldn't you have just I don't know, talked to him about it, made him tell everyone he was lying?"

Keiichi snorted, "You don't know anything about guys do you?"

"Hey!" She said indignantly and playfully slapped him on the arm.

He laughed, "Seriously, that wouldn't have worked. He told everyone that so he would look good. The asshole wasn't about to take it back and make himself look like a someone who had to make up the fact that he sleeping with someone."

"But he did make it up!"

"Yeah, but he wasn't about to tell everyone that."

"Men…" She mumbled trying to hide her smile, "But did you really have to make him run through cafeteria in his underwear? Wasn't that a bit harsh?"

"Not for that little fucker. No one messes with sisters."

"I can see that. Did you ever stand at the door with a baseball bat when their dates came over to intimidate them?"

"What dates? No one was stupid enough to ask out any of the Matsushita sisters. If they wanted to live that is."

Kagome starred at him in shock. "You're joking, right?"

He smiled at her, "You should have seen the look on your face. Of course, I'm joking. Not that I wouldn't have liked to keep all the guys away from Maiko, Itsuki and, Akina but my sister's are scary when they're mad." Kagome laughed. "You think I'm joking? I'm serious. Those girls could make Godzilla turn tail and run. It's scary."

"Well it's sweet that you and your brother's are so protective of them."

"I bet your bother's protective of you. Did he ever stand at the door with a baseball bat?" He realized he has said something stupid when he saw the look on her face.

"Sota…loved Inuyasha. He was eight when I met him and Sota idolized him. There really weren't any other guys to speak of knocking on my door."

"When did you know?"

"Know what?"

"That you loved him." His eyes were starring intently into hers and she had to look away.

"The first time I saw him. Although I wouldn't let myself admit it at first."

"Kagome, I…" He was interrupted by the front door opening.

"That'll be Sota."

Just hen they heard footsteps approaching the kitchen and Sota's voice drifted him, "Hey Kagome when's dinner going to " He stopped at the door, his eyes going wide when he saw Keiichi sitting at the table. "What the hell?"