InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Persistence ❯ Chapter 24 ( Chapter 24 )

Let me preface this with that I have never been in labor and I lament this fact as I feel I could write this better had I the experience. However, husband and I are presently in the same situation our main characters were in the beginning of chapter 21. Happy trails.
**WARNING: This chapter has possible character death. Who? Well, you’ll have to read.
Chapter 24
“How are we doing in here?” Todaku asked as he walked into the room. He ducked just in time to avoid the plastic cup that came sailing through the air. “I see we’re as lively as ever.”
Kagome growled from her fetal position on the hospital bed. The contractions were killing her and it was taking the anesthesiologist forever to get his ass down to her room to give her the epidural. Sesshomaru sat at her bedside with a small fan pointed at the bed to cool the room a little.
Shortly after the debacle with Takeshi and Jirou, Sesshomaru and Kagome had a very small private marriage ceremony with family. They felt that it would be better to take care of the legal paperwork now and do the ceremony and other things for show later on after the baby was born.
A month later Kagome woke at four in the morning to contractions that made her whimper. She threw on a simple kimono and walked the halls of the castle. Chimitsu was awake at six and joined her during her walks so that someone was always by her side. Having had a child herself, Chimitsu was happy to help the young girl during the sometimes frightening time of labor. By 6:30 in the morning Sesshomaru was driving them to the hospital because her contractions had become closer together.
Now she was curled up on her hospital bed waiting for the epidural she ordered 30 minutes ago. She felt as if her uterus was trying to rip itself from her body. Quiet shuffling made her crack her eyes open as a bearded man in blue scrubs entered the room carrying a metal tray. Finally.
Within five minutes Kagome felt the numbing relief of the medicine kicking in. She was finally able to lie on her back without curling up in pain every few minutes. Todaku came around fifteen minutes later to check on her and happily announced that he just broke her water which should encourage labor to come on quicker. And boy did it come on.
Kagome was in complete and utter agony in 30 minutes. Soon Todaku donned a surgical cap and latex gloves before pulling a rolling stool to sit at the end of Kagome’s bed. Two nurses joined him to help Kagome bend her knees. Sesshomaru sat at her side, his hair tied back as he helped her count pushes and helped her concentrate on breathing. The pressure was immense. Kagome gripped Sesshomaru’s hand and squeezed with adrenaline filled strength.
“Okay, we’ve got crowning,” Todaku called out. He reached up, “Kagome, give me your hand and I’ll have you feel the baby’s head.” She hesitated but extended her hand. Todaku gently guided her hand down until it came into contact with something warm, wet, firm and somewhat slimy. The only thing running through her head was ‘It’s stuck! Get it out! Ow ow ow ow!’ She ripped her hand back and gave Todaku a piercing glare.
“Alright, Kagome, I want you to take a big breath and then I want you to push and count to 10. Ready? Okay, Push. 1, 2, 3… that’s a good girl, keep going. Alright, the head is out. Kagome, take another breath and we’re going to do one more long push,” he said, his hands supporting the baby’s head.
“What’s this we crap,” Kagome ground out between clenched teeth before sucking in a breath and bearing down. Next to her Sesshomaru let her grip his hand as tight as she needed. He would never admit it to anyone but she had cut off the circulation to most of his fingers about 15 minutes ago. He mumbled numbers under his breath to help her count but was too mesmerized watching the birth happen. For a demon of his age he was suddenly astounded that he had never once saw a birth.
“Push, push, push… all right! Congratulations, you have a healthy baby boy!” Todaku exclaimed joyously. Sesshomaru’s eyes looked past Kagome’s knees to see a purple-skinned infant being swaddled in a towel by a nurse before being taken over to be weighed, measured, and to have an apgar test administered. Not many minutes later the placenta was passed and Kagome was finally able to rest. Sesshomaru wiped the sweat from her brow and kissed her forehead, murmuring his love for her. She looked back up at him dazedly with a wonky smile on her face.
A nurse walked to the bedside with their son wrapped in a white blanket with yellow around the edges. She handed the baby to Kagome who loosely held him in her arms. His skin had gone from a purplish shade to a more healthy pink. His eyes had fine eyelashes splayed across his cheeks. Both parents were astounded that he only had a soft wisp of silver hair atop his head and no dog ears like Inuyasha. His tiny baby ears were not the rounded shells of his mother’s but a slightly rounded version of his father’s elvin ears. His face held no markings to show his lineage.
“He has no markings,” Kagome whispered in wonderment before yawning. Sesshomaru reached over and ran his palm gently over their son’s fair head of hair.
“They will develop over the next months,” he said. Kagome leaned forward slightly and smelled her son’s head. Sesshomaru looked at her with a quizzical expression.
“Shiori was right; babies smell absolutely amazing. Doesn’t he smell wonderful?” she asked. Sesshomaru smiled and nodded.
---000---
After a few hours of rest and a lesson on breast feeding, Kagome was sitting up in her bed with Sesshomaru at her side. She held their son along her forearms in her lap while looking him over.
“You would think after 11 months of pregnancy we would have had some names picked out,” she complained. She stared at the swaddled child in her arms. “What’s your name, little one?”
“Taikyuu.”
“What?” She turned to look at Sesshomaru.
“His name should be Taikyuu. Persistence and endurance. It would be a great name for a lawyer, don’t you think?”
“Sesshomaru, don’t start planning his life already. He already has you as his father and we all know that you’re sure to have some high standards for him to live up to anyway,” she fussed from her bed. He smirked from his chair. Even after giving birth a mere 4 hours ago his wife was as sharp as ever.
Kagome mulled the name over in her mind. It was a fine name and better than Ralph or something equally silly. “Taikyuu,” she tested the name out loud. The baby stirred slightly in her arms. Her eyes widened and shot over to Sesshomaru. He was already smirking. Kagome turned back to their son and laughed lightly. “Taikyuu it is.”
---000---
Later that same evening Shippo, Shiori, and the boys came to visit Kagome and to meet the heir to the Western lands. Shiori cooed and giggled as she held him in her arms. She looked up at Shippo with ‘that look’ in her eyes. Shippo sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly. He knew that look; the ‘I want another baby’ look. Kagome watched their interaction and sighed happily.
Kagome’s mother, grandfather, and brother Souta also stopped at the hospital. Her mother cooed and giggled at her grandson. She couldn’t get over the disappointment that the child didn’t have fuzzy ears like Inuyasha. Souta couldn’t believe how small he was which fueled a plethora of questions about his own birth to come tumbling out of his mouth. Her mother happily recounted Souta and Kagome’s births. Grandpa Higurashi refused to hold the baby but not because he was part demon. He admitted timidly that he was afraid that his arthritis would get the best of him; he didn’t want to accidentally drop the heir to the Western lands! His daughter-in-law laughed teasingly at his worries and had him sit in the recliner. She popped the foot rest up and tilted the chair back, nearly giving the old man a heart attack. Taking her grandson, she gently laid him in grandpa’s arms.
Taikyuu wriggled minutely before falling back to sleep. Grandpa Higurashi’s eyes were wide as saucers. Kagome and her mother silently wiped tears from their eyes as they watched grandpa stare in wonderment at the little half demon in his arms.
Inuyasha and Nyuuka visited the following day along with several of their friends and associates. By the day of her discharge, Kagome’s hospital room was decorated beautifully with blooming flowers, helium balloons, and small gifts.
Sesshomaru helped Kagome pack her belongings and loaded them into the car before carefully placing their son in the infant car seat. He then helped Kagome into the car. The new family drove away from the hospital with smiles on their faces.
Kagome sighed while they waited to turn at a red light. It was a beautiful day outside and she was excited to spend time with her husband and son at the castle. The flowers were blooming and the trees were fully budded.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Sesshomaru asked. Kagome smiled and reached over to squeeze the hand that was sitting on the gear stick. The light turned green and traffic started moving again.
“I was just thinking how excited I am. I have a wonderful husband, a healthy son, and tons of spare time to spend with the two most important men in my life,” she said with a smile. Sesshomaru looked over at Kagome with a smile on his face. Kagome was absolutely beaming at him and he couldn’t be happier.
Her eyes flicked to look behind him and her face melted into an expression of terror. He turned his head to look as the front end of a white Ford F150 plowed into the driver’s side of their small Volkswagen. As if time had slowed down, everything seemed to happen in sluggish motion. The car jerked violently as the force of the speeding truck crashed against the metal frame. Kagome’s mind reeled and she screamed, the sound mixing with the sound of crunching metal and tires screeching. The windshield cracked and shattered, showering pieces of glass over the dash and on their laps.
Sesshomaru’s head snapped to the right and slammed into the shattered driver’s side window, impaling a large shard of glass into his head. The ladder that had been propped on top of the white truck slid off of the cab, clattered over the hood and smashed into the small sedan. The foot of the ladder crashed against the door frame before jarring against Sesshomaru’s head, breaking a large part of the glass that was lodged in his skull. Smoke and steam poured from the radiator of the truck, wafting into the broken window of the driver’s side. The heat of the vehicle surged over Sesshomaru, the smell of hot oil and gasoline assaulting him and his head throbbed with pain. Traffic stopped around them and pedestrians ran up to the wreck from the sidewalk. A teenage boy with a bag slung across his body peered into the car to check for injured and spotted Taikyuu bundled in his car seat as he began to fuss.
“Someone call 9-1-1!”
---000---
If it weren’t for the young man acting so quickly at the scene, no one would have survived. Thanks to his quick actions, the emergency personnel arrived and pulled Kagome, Sesshomaru, Taikyuu and the other driver out of the vehicles before the truck started on fire from the spilled hot oil and gasoline. The truck had run the red light and smashed into their vehicle. Kagome received mostly bruises and a fractured wrist. Taikyuu had nothing more than a soiled diaper. Sesshomaru received most of the impact. The ladder that had sat atop the white truck had severely fractured the side of his skull, shattered his left cheek bone, and drove the shard of glass further into his skull. His left leg had been pinned between the seat and the door and it had taken the Jaws of Life to cut away the metal to pull him out. One would have thought that being a demon he would heal quickly and pull himself out but something was wrong. The paramedics could not get him to respond and his breathing was incredibly shallow.
Surrounded by machines, Sesshomaru’s chest rose and fell with the ventilator. His face was swollen and badly bruised. Kagome sat next to his hospital bed, a bandage on her forehead and brace on her left wrist while Taikyuu is cradled gently in the crook of her right arm. There were bruises on her face that were fading from black and blue to yellowish brown. Ten days had passed since the accident and Sesshomaru had yet to respond to any of the drugs or treatments the doctors ordered. Kagome could feel that his aura was weak; she had his hand in hers as often as possible. Paper cranes littered the window sill, folded from bright colored papers.
She looked up when Dr. Hashimoto entered the room and shut the door quietly behind him. Dr. Hashimoto was an average height man with thin rimmed glasses and salt and pepper hair which Kagome found curious since he was only in his mid-thirties. He was not a demon but knew much about them after studying them for the last 20 years. Kagome noticed him stopping by the room twice during each of his shifts – once at the beginning and once at the end.
As usual, he picked up the metal clipboard that held Sesshomaru’s chart. He flipped through a few pages, studying them with a blank expression. He walked over and sat next to Kagome. For a few moments he sat with his head down and forearms resting on his knees, his hands clasping the charts in his hands.
“Kagome,” he started quietly, “Sesshomaru has severe brain damage and swelling from the glass in his head and the impact from the ladder. We removed all of the glass during surgery and stopped the bleeding but the brain damage is not reversible. Even with his demon blood and healing capabilities, the chance of him being in anything more than a vegetative state is 6%.”
His voice sounded muffled to her ears. She knew this was coming but she didn’t want to face it. Her heart hung heavy in her chest.
“By law I have to give you the choice, Kagome,” he continued just as quietly. “Do you want to keep him hooked up and like this for the rest of his life with only a sliver of possibility that things will improve? Or do you want to grant him the gift of a peaceful death?” He sat in silence with her for a few more minutes before standing and sliding the chart back into the holder at the foot of the hospital bed and leaving. The door clicked shut.
Kagome wiped the hot tears that had pooled on her lashes. She had spent the last 8 days at the side of his hospital bed. Family visited off and on and grandpa Higurashi came down to pray with Kagome once a day. Sesshomaru’s condition remained stable but there was no improvement.
“If only I hadn’t distracted you,” Kagome whispered. The moment before the truck slammed into their car replayed over and over in her head. The crunch of metal and tinkling of shattered glass hitting the dash of the car and the pavement. The sickening smell of hot, burning oil and exhaust. She had barely slept the past few days because the nightmares of the accident replaying in her head were too much to stand.
She settled Taikyuu in the bassinette that was positioned in the corner of the room and resumed her vigil at Sesshomaru’s bedside. She took his pale hand in hers, her fingertips brushing gently over the golden ring on his fourth finger. She leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to it.
“When I first saw you, I didn’t know what you were. I thought at first you were an angel but then you started doing horrible things like tormenting Inuyasha. Then, at your father’s grave, you tried to kill me. I was so mad at you,” she laughed through her tears. “Want to know a secret? When I shot an arrow at you, I always intentionally missed.” She combed her fingers through his hair, the heavy silken weight sliding between her fingers with ease.
“Then, when I saw you at your tattoo shop over a year ago I thought I was dreaming or hallucinating. I never thought I’d see anyone from the feudal era again; especially not you.” She sighed shakily before crawling onto the bed and curling up next to him. Each night she crawled into his bed and slept next to him. Each day she felt his aura become weaker and weaker, fading with her hope of his recovery. “But you brought them to me. You brought it all back.” Tears rolled down her nose, falling from the tip and leaving wet spots on the white sheets. “And now,” she hiccupped, “you’re being taken away from me.”
---000---
On cloudy days you often anticipate sad things. In movies, funerals or accidents usually take place on rainy days or the deliverance of bad news. It’s the hallmark of expressing the sadness of an occasion. Dark, imposing clouds dampen the spirit and the rain hides the tears that we shed. Then, other times, everything is bright, sunny, and warm and you feel as if there isn’t a care in the world. The warm, gentle breeze rustles the leaves in the trees and children run about the green grass, giggling and laughing as they chase one another.
It was on this ironically beautiful summer day that family and close friends of Sesshomaru Misaki gathered around his hospital bed. There were not clouds in the sky to share in their pain and no rain to hide their tears of sorrow and despair. An infant slept soundly in his mother’s arms, never to know his father in anything but picture and video.
Kagome stood next to Sesshomaru’s prone form, his hand clenched tightly in her own. Her dry, swollen eyes slowly looked at the faces in the room. Her mother, grandfather, and Souta stood to her left. Next to them Inuyasha stood with his hands settled firmly on Ira’s shoulders. His daughter, Arisa, clung to Nyuka as she held her daughter close to her side. Their older children, Hayoko, Yoshi, and Konsui, lined up behind their parents with their own spouses. Setsuzoku and Chimitsu gathered at the lower edge of the hospital bed. Suteki stared with wide eyes at his uncle Sesshomaru lying motionless on the bed. Kagome could imagine the questions he was preparing. ‘Why is Uncle Sesshomaru sleeping?’ ‘Why does he have that stuff on his face?’ ‘Why is everyone so sad?’ However, something about the set of his facial expression told her that he already knew what was going on.
Shiori sniffled loudly and dabbed at her wet eyes with tissues. Shippo did his best to console her, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. Simon and Sachi stood in front of them. Simon held his younger brother’s hand in his while Sachi worried his left thumb in his mouth. Massao and Todaku stood at the back of the room, giving room and respect to the immediate family.
All of the close friends and family were gathered in the small hospital room. Dr. Hashimoto waited patiently at the head of Sesshomaru’s bed across from Kagome. The sadness in the room was thick. It seemed as if the whole floor of the hospital was in mourning with this family.
“Thanks for coming,” Kagome tiredly said. Taikyuu lay quietly against his mother’s shoulder as she quietly swayed where she stood. “It is with incredible gravity that I need you all to be here. Sesshomaru sustained severe brain damage and swelling in the car accident. The doctors have done all that they can.” She paused to take a deep breath, calming her quavering voice.
“Dr. Hashimoto has informed me that the chance of Sesshomaru even remotely recovering to being able to communicate is 6%. With that in mind,” she gulped, the thick lump building in her throat quickly, “I have decided that he should be taken off of life support. If his body sustains him to live, that would be the greatest blessing from the heavens. I want to at least give him the chance to try.” Everyone nodded solemnly. Kagome turned and looked at the doctor.
Dr. Hashimoto nodded sincerely and turned off three of the main devices that kept Sesshomaru breathing. The slow chug of the ventilator slowed to a stop, the remaining air in his lungs hissing out as his body exhaled. Each passing moment after the machines were unhooked was punctuated with jarring silence. Kagome steeled herself, hoping and praying with every piece of her being that his chest would rise and he would breathe on his own. Sesshomaru, please. I know you can do it. Please, wake up. Six percent isn’t zero. Please, Sesshomaru. Hot tears fell from her cheeks and splattered against her hand that was gripping his, holding on for dear life and not wanting to let go.
EPILOGUE – Five Years Later
The garden at the castle was decorated joyfully in beautiful blue, silver, and white. Balloons were tethered to tables that were covered in linen table clothes.
“Alright, alright! C’mon guys, it’s time to open presents!” Kagome called from the table that was stacked with colorfully wrapped presents. A young boy that came up to Kagome’s elbow raced up to the table, nearly knocking her over. His hair was thick silvery white and braided down his back and tied with a clear hair tie (“because only girls wear colored hair ties, mom” he had explained). His somewhat pointed ears poked out slightly from the sides of his head. Sesshomaru’s Prussian blue crescent adorned his prominent forehead and two stripes streaked across each cheek. The stripe closest to his eyes was the same magenta as his father but the one below it had more of a blue tint to it. Kagome’s grandfather claimed it was the inheritance of her pure abilities. Kagome always rolled her eyes at grandpa and accounted it to evolution. Suteki, now 8 years old, barreled up to the table with Sachi and Simon in tow.
Much had changed since the day at the hospital. After a few shuttered gasps, Sesshomaru’s body failed to resuscitate and he was pronounced dead at 10:03 in the morning. The funeral was a short but heartbreaking affair for the family and friends. People, humans and demons alike, came to pay their respects to the departed Lord and to show their honor and respect to his son and heir, Taikyuu.
Kagome moved into the castle completely and Souta stayed there on weekends so that she did not feel too lonely and to keep an extra eye on her. Eternal Ink closed for three years before Kagome was able to reopen it after a lengthily and rigorous apprenticeship and licensure. Whenever she was in the back room of the tattoo shop she felt like Sesshomaru was there with her. She refused to claim “new ownership” over the shop and always referred to it as the business that Sesshomaru started.
Of course, some days were hard, very hard. Sometimes it was difficult to get out of bed and face another day without him by her side. Chimitsu and Yuui kept close watch on Kagome when she came home from the hospital with Taikyuu because they knew she would struggle with postpartum depression. After a few weeks Kagome stopped crying each time she held Taikyuu and looked into his golden eyes. A few weeks after that she left the house with Taikyuu and visited the family shrine. Within 8 months Kagome had decided that she was going to continue the work that Sesshomaru so obviously loved. He treated Eternal Ink, his tattoo shop, as if it were a multimillion dollar company and Kagome decided that she would continue in his place.
Now here she was, five years later with a five year old, a business that continues to grow, and a family that supports her and her son. A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth as she watched Taikyuu animatedly begin to rip open his presents (not before reading who they were from, of course). Inuyasha’s family was there along with Shippo’s and her own family. She sighed at the beautiful day they were blessed with in which to have Taikyuu’s birthday party. The weather had threatened rain earlier in the day but Taikyuu sagely told her that his daddy was watching over and making sure he had a good birthday. She had smiled and patted his head after she finished braiding his hair.
Kagome now stood slightly away from the picnic table where there was a storm of ripped wrapping paper being tossed here and there amid shouts and cries of glee. Her arms folded gently in front of her as she watched.
Taikyuu thanked his cousin Suteki for the water guns and begrudgingly moved on to the next gift. “Hey mom! Look!” he cried as he turned toward her and lifted the light material from the box. Fisted gently in his hands was a kimono set that matched Sesshomaru’s down to the patterns on the left shoulder and the shade of blue of the obi. “Just like daddy!”
Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded at her son. “Yes, just like daddy,” she whispered.
---END---
If this made you sad, then I did my job right. It made me sad to write it and that’s why I wanted to make 2 different endings. Inspiration for the last chapter comes from a mix of “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult (if you haven’t read this novel, my god, you’re missing out) and “Raise Your Voice” the movie.
I did not intend for this to spur discussion about assisted suicide and moral conversations about not keeping individuals on life support. It’s a fictional story, people, and let’s leave it at that!
So this is the end of ‘Persistence’. I want to thank everyone that read and reviewed this fic. Your following of this fic means a lot to me and I am indeed sad to end it.