InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Smokes and Mirrors ❯ Aftershock ( Chapter 19 )

HOLY SMOKES!! Thank you so much people! I'm truly sorry for not updating any earlier. I won't hold you back for long, though. I've got my regular AN at the end of this chap that explains everything (or as much as possible) concerning this chap. I took in the consideration put in for this chap, but I couldn't fit it in. Reason in listed in the AN. Thank you again for the wonderful reviews! YOU PEOPLE ROCK!!

 

Now on with the show!

 

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Smokes and Mirrors

 

 

Chapter 19: Aftershock

 

Kagome never realized how plain white the walls in the house really were before. They weren't any better than the hospital room. Actually, that was a lie; she noticed after a while that the walls were of different shades of white.

 

It was Sunday evening and she was stuck, prisoner of her own house. When she had woken-up in a hospital bed, she momentarily lost her mind...

 

o.O.o.O.o

 

Her head ached, her arms ached, her legs ached. Hell! Everywhere ached! Slowly opening her eyes, she tried to sit up. Shooting pain raced up her arm all the way through her body. She tried to cry out, but her dry throat wouldn't allow it. Fully opening her eyes, she realized where she was.

 

Panicking, she pulled the IV out of her throbbing wrist and jumped out of bed. As soon as her feet touched ground, her world spun round at an incredible speed. Steady arms caught her in the nick of time.

 

She had never seen such a beautiful man in her entire life. For a moment, she thought she was saved, that her guardian angel finally came to answer her long awaited prayers. Then logic reared its ugly head and she realized such things are impossible. He must be a figment of her imagination. His smooth masculine voice brought her back to earth, though. He told her she shouldn't be doing such things so soon after waking up. Once safely tucked back in bed, she numbly thanked him for his assistance. But his presence didn't tell her what was going on nor assured her of her situation.

 

Why was she in the hospital? Why was her wrist bandaged? Why wouldn't her world stop spinning round and round?

 

“You cut yourself,” he offered as a way of explanation, motioning her left arm in the process. “Consider you lucky to have survived major blood loss.” With that, he left only to return moments later with her mother, a doctor and an older version of him.

 

Anna was on the verge of tears, looking her only daughter over, making sure she was okay. She kept apologizing for something Kagome didn't comprehend. To her knowledge, her mother hasn't done anything wrong, but the woman kept asking her for forgiveness.

 

The good doctor kept his distance, yet remained close enough to blend right into the mother-daughter one-way conversation without being too intrusive. He took notes, scribbling some things down in the chart placed at the bottom of Kagome's bed.

 

The age-differed twins were standing by the door having their own more-or-less one-sided conversation about timing and daydreaming.

 

Anna noticed how much her daughter was enthralled by the two handsome males; she was too busy watching them to listen to her own mother. She decided introductions were a must. She cleared her throat rather loud to catch everyone's attention.

 

“Kagome, you remember Dr. Yu.” At her daughter's nod, she continued. “Well, he'll be keeping an eye on your arm till it heals.” Next, she turned to the last two occupants of the room. “Also, I'd like to introduce the two Taka agents, Toga and his son.” She turned back to the girl. “You remember Toga, don't you?” Kagome's confused gaze answered her. “He's the one who found you, six years ago.”

 

Recognition slowly dawned on her. Yes, he did look familiar: short white hair and the strangest golden eyes ever.

 

Toga grinned. He knew he looked different from six years ago. He took a step towards her, still smiling. “You probably remember longer hair and browner eyes.” He wiggled his graying eyebrows to demonstrate his point.

 

The memory snapped into place. He was the old man with the long silvery-gray hair. He visited her daily during her stay at the hospital. He always tried to make her laugh, but never succeeded. Kagome's eyebrow rose. “You were that dumb clown that didn't know how to tell jokes for shit.”

 

Anna's eyes widened, her hand flying to her mouth; the doctor faltered in his writing, his eyes darting between the girl and the cop; the younger Taka was biting the inside of his mouth, desperately trying not to laugh; Toga blushed a deep red in embarrassment. Kagome rolled her eyes and mentally slapped herself for letting her though blurt out like that. Looking down at the bed sheets, she apologized.

 

Toga chuckled. “It's quite alright. You know you're right.” He aimed to alleviate the tension and awkward moment, and it worked if only for a little while. He sighed in slight relief, though. It would be easier to talk to her if she had some type of memory of him. Forgetting about himself, he motioned towards his son. “This is my eldest son, Sesshoumaru.” The younger man had his premature white hair set in a long braid going beyond his derriere. His eyes were a beautiful shade of golden brown. He was tall, very much above six feet and even taller than his father by a couple of inches.

 

“Pleasure to meet you, miss.”

 

And such good manners too with his smooth yet grave tone of voice. Kagome was impressed. She managed to squeak out a greeting as her cheeks gained a bit of color. And that was it; that was the last she saw of him.

 

o.O.o.O.o

 

For the next hour or so after the introductions, Kagome got the highlights of what was going on. They didn't receive any name on the suspected killer, though. Something about not enough proof and they rather not point fingers so early in the game.

 

`Huh,' Kagome thought. `Some game this is.' She did not find this very amusing, not one bit.

 

They also didn't know who spilled the beans, but their best bet would be the one and only, whoever he was. Now they were supposed to act as if nothing happened, as if they didn't know why such a call was placed to the media. According to officials, that call was placed by a prankster with nothing better to do than ruin lives.

 

Since Kagome's release from the hospital, she was more-or-less ordered to stay at home. Under no circumstances was she to leave the premise of the shrine. Even putting a step out of the house was deemed dangerous to her health. She was to go nowhere without an escort, so obviously she decided to stay hidden in the safety of the house walls.

 

Bored out of her mind, she'd reviewed her homeworks three times, finished reading two thick books and watched hours upon hours of television. Sota had kept her company throughout the entire time, taking care of his own things and watching whatever the tub had to offer. He's been worried about his sister since Saturday.

 

He had received a call from his grand-father telling him to stay put until someone came to get him. A police showed up at his friend's house sometime early evening to pick him up, and ever since Kagome got home, he hasn't left her side unless natured called. However, even Sota couldn't take the boringness of the situation. He had eventually retired to his bed for the night.

 

Mama and grampa also retired for the night. Kagome would have as well, but her arm still ached, the painkillers not having taken their effects yet, and her body was restless with yesterday's events and today's revelation. Her mind kept drifting back to the conversation she had with Toga. Somehow, she was positive the authorities knew exactly who the culprit is, but refused to tell them, to tell her. Maybe Toga knew she wouldn't stay at home if she had a name. She, for one, knew she wouldn't be able to stay put. The moment she would get his name, that bastard would regret ever stepping foot in this world. She had so much pent-up rage she could have used-up on him that the thought alone scared her.

 

Could she stop herself before her fury turned her into a murderer? She didn't know and although it did worry her, she really didn't give a damn at this point. With all he's done to her and her family, she could easily blame his accidental death on self-defense.

 

Her blissful thoughts of torture were interrupted by the shrill sound of the phone ringing. Frowning, she picked up the receiver. Who would be stupid enough to call so horribly late at night?

 

“Hello?” she answered.

 

“Good evening, Princess. Miss me?”

 

***

 

`There must me a law against this… I should have stayed home…'

 

Kagome was in no mood for a lovely Monday morning. She was up all night trying to calm her family down. Who was she really trying to smooth, though? Her family? Or herself? She was rather shook-up, gawking at the phone as though it might suddenly bite her.

 

The midnight caller had said nothing but two simple phrases, but it was enough. It placed the seed of fear in her family. Worst of all, they had to act as if not a single thing occured, as if the sky has always been blue and there never have been a single gray cloud blocking the sun's warmth.

 

What a bunch of bullshit lies.

 

Anna called Toga and he was over at their place, along with a squad of people, before Kagome even realized what hit her. They placed tracking devices on all phones, even though two seconds wasn't anywhere near long enough to track anything down. The voice was muffled so she couldn't identify it. The police had very little to work with.

By the time they were done and out, it was past five in the morning, the effect of their shock slowly ebbing away. Before Toga left, he told the Higurashi family that both Sota and Kagome should go to school, and that they should open the shrine once again. They had to pretend nothing was wrong or the media would have another field day with this.

 

The siblings made it to school with a good ten minutes to spare. They both went their separate ways. Sota joined his group of friends who all showed their concern for the young teen. Kagome, on the other hand, made her way towards the main entrance, ignoring everyone and everything. She went straight to her locker, dropped a few things in and took a few things out. She had a little under five minutes left to get to class. Great.

 

`Better early than late,' she thought.

 

Throughout the entire walk, teachers glanced her way, their worry etched across their faces, while students, left and right, openly stared at her. Some pointed as they talked to their friends and other's remained quite, their unanswered questions left unheard.

 

Kagome disregarded them and their looks, their worries and their questions. She mustn't let them get to her; otherwise, she would surely crack. She was supposed to keep her cool, pretend nothing was wrong with the world.

 

Right… Easier said then done!

 

Reaching the third floor, Kagome almost padded herself on the back. `Almost there!' She was positive she would make it. She had a good three minutes till class starts. She was hoping to get a two minute nap to calm her nerves before another school day started.

 

The moment she stepped foot into the classroom, all thoughts of relaxation fled her mind.

 

***

***

 

A.N.

 

Ok. I definitely had a bit of trouble writing this one. I wanted to add Inuyasha in there, have him visit Kagome in the hospital and all… but I wasn't sure how to go about it. They aren't friends yet: Inuyasha is worried for Kagome because he knows about how Sota had been six years ago and now knows almost everything there is to know about the case; and Kagome couldn't give a rat's ass about him or his worry let alone his friendship… At least not for now. I'm not really high on “Love at First Sight”, so I'm actually taking the time to work these two into some kind of relationship before having them jump at each other and vow to protect one another with their love and strength!

 

Anywho… Thank you again to all who reviewed. So here are the shout-outs!

 

x_paperheart: Come to think of it, I understand. Thanks for reading and I'm glad you're enjoying the read.

 

raven rocks: lol! I love the word fabonderectness! It's hilarious with such a wonderful definition! lol! Thank you for the encouragement. It really means a lot to me.

 

Hanyoukagome962: oh! I'm sorry, I should have thought about the fact that some don't review until the end of the story. Hmm… I know I've done it a couple of times myself (feels ashamed @_@ ). Thank you for telling me, and thank you for your feedback and encouragement. ^_^

 

miaa_hiaa: Yo! You're the best! Reviewing even when I said you didn't need to! ^_^ Thank you so much! I took your suggestion in, but like I mentioned before: I couldn't fit it in without throwing the story off its tracks. Sorry!

 

anime_fan120: Thank you! Yeah… like I mentioned to Hanyoukagome962, I didn't think about that little fact. I'm really sorry.

 

sleepercat: Wow! You even went all the way through grading all five elements! Thank you so much! Wow! Me? @.@ Great potential? ^.^ Thanks! ^_^ About the POV in the story, in some occasions you are supposed to guess who it is till you get the answer somewhere near the end. But if it's confusing this way, then I'll fix the problem for sure! Otherwise, if you like the story the way it's going, then I'll keep at it! Thank you again for your wonderful feedback!

 

Neka-chan: Thank you! It's okay. I just really wanted to know if people were actually enjoying this or not. I'm sorry for more-or-less forcing­ you readers into reviewing. I promise to try to not let this happen again! ^_^

 

FlameTwirler: Wonderful! Thanks! lol! And good point (for the leaving review thing) ^.^ lol! Love at first sight isn't exactly my thing. I find it strange and surreal to throw two people together without the proper background to back them up. Great to know you approve of my way. ^_^

 

psycho: Thank you! I'll keep the story coming for sure!

 

Sayoko x3: ^_^ Great! Thank you!

 

InuYasha_luver: Yes! I agree: dark Kagome is really intriguing and down-right awesome compared to her regular anime character. It makes for a nice change. Glad to know you like it! Thank you for your feedback! ^_^

 

WOW!! 11 reviews! Thanks again! It all means a great deal to me! I promise I won't ask for reviews all that often. But if you do find something wrong in what I'm doing, or if it's all going downhill, do warn me! Thank you all! Next update might be next week, or if you're lucky by Thursday or Friday. C-Ya! ^_^

 

Quote: Your thoughts are your own, until you express them. -Jack Dalton