InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Simple and Clean ❯ Another World, Another Memory ( Chapter 18 )

Oh dear, I hope the ending for the last chapter wasn't a cliffhanger… It wasn't right? If it was, and I'm just delusional, you are free to do whatever you like to me *cringes* bring on the pain! January 19th was the `Simple and Clean' one-year anniversary!! Yay, so to celebrate, everyone has to review… kidding, kidding! Though it would be nice… Anyways you all deserve an apology for how ridiculously long this chapter took. I have two giant projects to do, and next week is finals, so please give me some slack! I hope you enjoy, `cus you won't be seeing much updating for a while (sorry guys, school comes first!).

Recap:

 

“My apologies for all of the trouble my idiot brother may have caused,” Sesshomaru said politely, hoping that his half-brothers romp with death didn't tax his checkbook too bad. Tucking the small mechanism into his pocket, he withdrew his keys. “We're going on an adventure tomorrow Rin,” Sesshomaru told the girl dully.

 

Chapter 18

Another World, Another Memory

 

Inuyasha had stopped flipping out for the time being, and was silently fuming, propped haphazardly in a scraggly old thing that could have once been mistaken for a tree. He had a few burning questions that were nagging at him. One, where were his ears? Two, did the fuzzy triangles of doom eat them, and if so, will they eat his head next? And three, where in the world was he?

Suddenly, the FTD (fuzzy triangles of doom) perked up. At the same moment, he caught a whiff of something his brain automatically registered as: human, and he thought he heard the shuffling of footsteps on a gravel path. But of course that was impossible because the FTD's had stolen his- Inuyasha finally made the connection.

“No,” He whispered, disbelieving. He brought a hand up the on triangle and snapped his fingers. The thing moved in the direction of the sound and at that instant, he picked up the clear sound of his own fingers snapping. Inuyasha lay back against the tree heavily. What was going on? Only then did he notice that not only were his new ears fuzzy doglike things, but his sense of smell had risen dramatically. Odors bombarded him from all sides: cooking meat, wood smoke, humans. He creased his brow, hoping this experience was all just a very realistic dream.

Inuyasha's eyes strayed back to the person on the path. He was dressed strangely in a worn and tattered haori that looked like something you would find in a museum. Maybe this is that new feudal theme park or something…Inuyasha wondered, scoffing at the thought of such an idiotic idea. Looking back to the man, he waved a hand and called out, “Hiya!”

The man took one look at Inuyasha, taking in the unnatural silver hair and dog ears perched precariously on his head and took off, running back the way he came. A few seconds later, Inuyasha's new and improved hearing picked up the sounds of shouting. He smelled burning wood and the rank stench of fear. Sighing, he hopped down from his tree, ten minutes into his stay and he had already gone and pissed some guy off. It was a new record.

Inuyasha ran a curious hand across his new ears for the umpteenth time, trying to get used the fuzziness of it all. He couldn't imagine how they had got that way unless this was some “What's-it-like-to-be-a-demon-in-the-Feudal-Era” 3-D experiences. In that case they must have found a way to master the tricky art of smell-a-vision. Though it could happen, Inuyasha had a bad feeling about this, and it wasn't the fact that he had always hated the IMAX theater “experiences”. No, this was a very different feeling, and to say the least, it wasn't a good one.

* * *

Sesshomaru hadn't especially wanted to go to some hospital to visit his imbecile younger brother, but it was better than sitting at his desk affirming dates for the release of his new fragrance line (which he had no idea even existed until a few days before). Currently, he was blandly watching a news channel in the back of his limousine, his energetic charge bouncing around him pressing all of the buttons she could get her little hands on. Glancing over at her for a second, he noticed her hand straying to the little red button surrounded by a glass case. “Rin…” he warned, not really caring. Rin, as always, completely ignored the man and flipped up the case. Before the child could slam her palm down on what could have been her demise, the limousine came to a stop.

The child's attention was immediately directed towards the large white building looming over them, all thoughts of the intriguing button pushed to the back of her mind. Before waiting for the driver to enable the child lock device (Sesshomaru had known better than to keep the doors unlocked with a sugar-high nine year old in the car), Rin unrolled the tinted window and scrambled out. Well, almost.

Sesshomaru caught her by the back of her strange little dress and hauled her back into the car. He gave a polite cough to the driver, who got out and just as politely opened the door for the two. Pushing back the urge to lock Rin in the car, the designer decided against torturing his driver anymore, and set the girl on her feet. “Let's try to act as though I didn't just feed you a few hundred espresso shots, yes?” Rin stood jauntily at attention in a mock-kind of salute. “Yes, sir, Sesshomaru-sama!” and then made her way to the large glass doors which she promptly ran into face first. Sighing, Sesshomaru followed after the girl.

He checked his watch. 3:30. He hoped to be out in less than an hour and back to work, or better yet, home to an early dinner and some much needed sleep. He made his way to the secretary's desk, but there was no one there except for a young, foreign-looking man in his early-twenties. He looked up as Sesshomaru cleared his throat. “Oh, hello,” He said, taking in the designer's silver hair and facial markings, “You must be Mr. Kagayaku, if I'm not mistaken?” Sesshomaru nodded slightly as the doctor got up out of the chair, “Well then, will you please follow me?”

Sesshomaru examined the hospital as they walked. He had been here many times before. A distant memory nagged at him as he passed through those white, sterile halls. A picture flashed across his mind, a young child with silver hair and purple slash-like markings on both cheeks sat beside a bed. He couldn't see the face of the woman in the bed, but he knew who it was. He distantly remembered that night, though it seemed more like a dream to his six year old self. It was the night his mother had died, the night his father had pressed a knife against his throat and told him never to tell. The night all happiness drained from his heart.

Sesshomaru blinked the picture away, focusing his eyes straight ahead in a cold stare. Memories were useless things of the past. He had no need for such things that only caused confusing tendrils of feeling to places that were cold and numb. He was afraid that if they thawed, he would drown in those memories. Those things he had tried too hard to pretend they hadn't existed.

“Here you are Mr. Kagayaku. This is his room. I'm sure you'd like some time alone before you want to start worrying about all the paperwork and-” the man stopped as he opened the door. There seemed to be someone already visiting. The woman turned to stare coldly at Sesshomaru. Unconsciously, he took a step back, eyes widening. This woman seemed so familiar, and yet so alien. Her features almost mirrored that of the young girl who he had talked to in the same hospital weeks before, inquiring to where his brother had been. But this woman had a colder, older air about her; much different than the girl he had confronted before.

“Do I know you?” He asked, his voice as cold as her stare. Her eyes held his as she said, matching his tone, “You might. My name is Kikyo.”

* * *

Kagome knocked quickly on Sango's door, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other. “Come on Sango, what's taking you so long?” A voice from behind startled her as she was about to check if the door was open. “Talking to yourself now Ms. Higurashi?” Kagome wheeled around to find herself face-to-face with Mr. M. “M-Mr. M? What are you doing here?” His joke had been forced, and when he spoke again, Kagome could sense a how uncomfortable he was. “Please, call me Miroku. I'm here to visit Sango.”

Kagome's eyes widened a little, and she felt like crying again, remembering again the talk Sango had had with her only a few nights before. Miroku must have noticed her expression because he quickly said, “Her mother called to tell me about Inuyasha-and since I am his teacher, I did want to go visit him. Ari suggested I go with you two, since you were already planning on going to the hospital today, isn't that right?” Kagome softened slightly as she turned back to the door. “Yes, well, we should be going soon enough if,” at this point she raised her voice slightly, “Sango would hurry up!”

Kagome was rewarded with the sound of footsteps hurrying down a staircase. The door opened and Sango stepped out, closing the door behind her. Kagome smiled at her friend, though there was no feeling in her eyes. “Hey.” She whispered softly, raising her eyebrow at Miroku, “Why does this seem strange to me?” She asked. Sango just shrugged as they piled into Miroku's car. Kagome opted to sit in the backseat, and stared out the window blandly, not noticing Sango's hand covering Miroku's in the front seat. She was thinking of her own special someone.

The car ride was silent, and to Sango it seemed slightly strange. Kagome seemed absolutely detached from the world, as though she was nothing more than an empty store manikin: unmoving and cold. Kagome's lips were pressed together, and her face seemed older. Dark circles ringed her eyes, and her face had lost its color. She seemed like a completely different person. She squeezed Miroku's hand instinctively. He didn't pull his hand away, and though he couldn't do much else (lesson something-or-other in the Driver's Manual: DO NOT take your hand off the steering wheel and/or gear shift to engage in any other activity whatsoever) he did smile slightly.

After arriving at the hospital, they signed in with a woman who kept glancing at Sango as though she new her from somewhere. She had a healing cut across one cheek, and Kagome had a sneaking suspicion that she might have been a nurse involved in what Sango called her “battle for her rights”. They made their way to the Intensive Care wing of the hospital, passing by a man with a squirrel stuck to his arm (“I just wanted to eat my pretzel!”), and a few trolleys loaded with everything from sterile bandages to trays of hospital food. When they finally came to the room where Inuyasha had been assigned, the door was open, and it seemed they were not the only visitors.

Kagome took a step backwards as she heard a cold voice coming from inside the room. “My name is Kikyo.” A sudden urge to run engulfed her, and she almost turned when she remembered why she came. I came here for Inuyasha, she thought, willing herself to be strong, what does it matter if she's here too? She took a deep breath, and motioned for Sango and Miroku to follow her as she made her way into the shadowy room. Kagome's gaze didn't fall directly on her cousin, but instead on Inuyasha's seemingly lifeless form. But he didn't seem so lifeless anymore.

His chest rose and fell steadily and color was back in his cheeks. He seemed as if he would wake up any second and- Kagome pushed the fantasy aside. It was no use dreaming, he might never wake up and then where would she be? Just a lost dreamer, with nothing to show for it except a broken heart. Ignoring the others in the room, she almost ran up to the bed and stopped. She reached a hesitant hand out to touch the boy's hand. To her surprise, it was warm to the touch. Her hand strayed to the jewel around her neck for a second, before dropping to her side.

By this time, she felt more than one pair of eyes watching her. Turning, she surveyed the room. Koga was there, and Kikyo as well. But there was another person, someone she had not expected to see; Sesshomaru was standing a few feet behind Koga, cold eyes watching her. Miroku was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence. “Well this is a strange twist of fate, isn't it?”

And how right he was.

* * *

I apologize again for the sheer lateness of this chapter!! I wanted to make it extra special because of my one-year anniversary (actually I'm just lazy and am drowning in homework, but that excuse sounds better)…

Reviewers:

TwilightZone: I'm sorry for all of the very evil cliffies of doom (and stuff). I am a very bad, bad person…

Burning_Phoenix: A question about the review you left for chapter 16. Do I have bad spelling and grammar? I'm just wondering, because I never notice these things and you are the first person in a million years to actually rate me on “spelling and grammar” (which is nice, I like to know where I stand), and you gave me a 6/10.