InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Mental Illness ❯ Interpretations ( Chapter 1 )

Wow, it's been a while since I updated this now hasn't it? Did ya miss me?!

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The office was half-nursery. One sunlit wall painted with moon-jumping cows and fiddle-playing cats, a deep bookcase jumbled with toys, games, puzzles, and stuffed animals, and on the ceiling, pasted stars.

The man planted behind the desk stared at them with a smug, friendly look on his face. His hunched body loomed forward, neck sunken in rounded shoulders. Cigar ashes drifted across an atrocious tie and the lapels of a rumbled black suit so shiny it looked like it had been oiled and polished.

“Mrs. Kaede," he said, his voice young friendly sound, "Inuyasha, suppose you sit there…and there.” He pointed to two arm chairs. "I must start off by confessing that I am a habitual cigar smoker. Of course if that offends you, I won't light up. Ma'am?"

"No, that's all right," an elderly woman said nervously as she took her seat. "Go right ahead doctor."

"You, Inuyasha?" he asked the teenager.

"Fine with me, doc, so long as you don't blow it my way."

"Thank you," he took a dark cigar from an open desk drawer and began to trip cellophane carefully away. "My name is Doctor Bankotsu. It is spelled B-A-N-K-O-T-S-U.

Kaede scrambled through her pocketbook for a notepad to write this down, her hands shaking. She was very nervous.

Inuyasha snorted and looked to the side. `Just what we need, another cocky psychiatrist, and the old hag is eager to accept any costly help they throw at us. She's so dense, she just wants to help us… she just cares. But if I hear the same questions one more time I'm gonna rip his throat out!'

Smirking the `good doctor' bit down on his cigar. "You are Kaede and you are her foster grandson Inuyasha. You have been referred to me by Doctor Suikotsu, who you have been seeing for three months. Do I have my facts correct?"

"Yes, doctor," the old woman said stiffly.

Bankotsu lighted his cigar with a wooden kitchen match scratched on the underside of his desk. He turned the cigar slowly in pursed lips and blew a smoke cloud toward the pasted stars. "Now then… I have found it best for all concerned if I explain at the beginning exactly how I practice so there can be no misunderstanding. As I told you on the phone ma'am, my fee is a hundred dollars an hour. That is a professional hour, forty-five minutes to be exact.

"Beautiful!" Inuyasha said with a snarl.

His grandmother snapped at him, "Inuyasha, be quiet."

"This initial interview," the doctor continued gently, "of forty-five minutes at the usual fee, is to give you an opportunity to explain the nature of your problem. At the end of this meeting I may tell you that I feel I can be of no assistance. It happens sometimes. In such a case, I may be able to suggest other psychiatrists who might be able to help.

Kaede's eyes squinched with anguish. "But Doctor Suikotsu recommended you."

"I appreciate that ma'am, but your problem may be better handled by another. Please let me be the judge of that.'

Inuyasha sat back negligently, crossed his knees, then smile at the doctor and adjusted the crisp crease in his trouser leg.

Bankotsu went on, "In the event that I feel tentively that I might be of help, I will require several interviews, after meeting and talking with you, I will be able to give you a final decision on whether I believe I can be of help and will accept the case

Suddenly Inuyasha's face reddened, he jerked forward angrily. "See here-"

"Inuyasha," his grandmother interrupted "please! We understand all that, doctor."

"And you wish to continue?"

"Yes."

"If I accept you for psychotherapy, I will inform you as to the frequency of visits I recommend, once or several times a week. The first regular visit, or sometimes the first two, will be given over to a complete physical examination, conducted by my associate, Doctor Jakotsu. There will be additional billing for X-rays and laboratory analyses."

"Now see here, we've been through several doctors for the past two years. Suikotsu has all the tests; he can tell you anything you want to know."

"I prefer to conduct my own examinations."

"Oh yeah?" he asked cracking his knuckles.

"Inuyasha," his grandmother said, her voice strangled, "will you please let me handle this?"

Inuyasha threw his hands in the air in common disbelief. "Kaede, this could cost a fortune!"

"We would like to ahead, doctor." She insisted.

Bankotsu inspected the teen without expression. "Inuyasha if you have any objections, or if you feel you cannot carry the, uh, financial burden, I may be able to recommend agencies that-"

"No!" Inuyasha said at once. "No agencies. We'll go on with this."

"You are certain of this in your own mind?"

"Hell no, I'm not certain. But I'll go along."

"And you, ma'am?"

"Yes, positively."

"Very well, we will continue. Inuyasha I must ask that you leave so I may interview your grandmother. I would like to know why you were recommended for therapy to begin with. I will ask for your side of the story in a few minutes or in our next session."

Inuyasha smiled at him as he raised from his seat, "Sure thing doc!" he said and headed out the door.