InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Strictly Taboo ❯ A Glacier Moving Through You ( Chapter 23 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Inuyasha woke up hours later, feeling an unbearable warmth covering him. Kagome. He opened his eyes to see that she was still on top of him and burning up. Gently, he rolled her to the side onto her back. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was damp again but this time with sweat instead of rain water. There was a light furrow in her brow and her breath came in irregular little puffs. He began to panic and pat the side of her face several times in quick succession.  

“Kagome, wake up! Wake up, come on!”

She moaned and turned her head so that her cheek rested on the pillow. “I don’t feel good. I’m so cold.”

Pressing his lips to her forehead to check her temperature, just as his mother used to do for him so long ago, he felt just how burning hot she actually was and became even more frantic. Kagome began to shiver again and grabbed for the blankets, wrapping them around herself, cocooned as she had been earlier.

“I’m gonna take you to the hospital,” he said, mostly to himself.

He was surprised when she answered. “No! I need to stay here.” Her voice was strained and she sounded as though she were about to cry. He was at a loss as to what to do.

“Kagome, I’m going to call my doctor for you then, alright? Okay?” he said in a loud voice, not wanting to succumb to the feeling of helplessness and do something terrible. This was starting to bring back terrible memories and he felt time looming over them like an evil god. His doctor only treated people of demonic descent, but that didn’t occur to him at the moment.

“No,” Kagome whined. “I want Kaede. Call Kaede.”

Remembering that Kikyo had mentioned a Kaede a while ago, he grabbed for his discarded pants, fetching his cell phone to call Myoga, who picked up on the first ring. “Quick! I need you to call a doctor named Kaede. Tell her Kagome Higurashi is deathly ill and won’t let anyone else treat her.” He ended the call, not even bothering to wonder how Myoga would do as he asked with so little information. The flea demon always came through with what he wanted somehow, some way.

Inuyasha knelt with one knee on the bed and leaned over the cocooned girl, trying to pry the blankets off so he could dress her. She wouldn’t give and he didn’t want to hurt her or make her uneasy. She clutched the blankets tighter, muttering something about Christmas and being cold.

“Where is Mother? I need Mother.”

The words sent an arrow through his heart, partially because she was basically saying his presence was not good enough and partially because Kikyo was never there when her daughter needed her. He felt tears prick his eyes and he fought them back.

“Shhh, I’m here, I love you, it’s alright,” he murmured, cradling her in his arms the best he could in her bundled state. “I need to take the blankets off so you can get dressed, okay? You don’t want the doctor to see you nude.”

“No, I need Mother!” she said, her dry throat making it come out like a croak.

Inuyasha could smell her tears and he heard her make a small whining sound. He held her cocoon tighter and tried to keep her still, her shaking having increased as soon as she asked for her mother. She cried like a child in his arms and he reached and pulled the blankets from her face, stroking her cheek and kissing her forehead again, his panic increasing when she was much hotter than before.

The doorbell rang and he jumped to his feet. “Finally,” he muttered, although it had been less than half an hour since he had called Myoga. “I’ll be right back, baby girl. Kaede will make you better,” he said loudly, hating how his voice sounded like he was just talking to himself.

He took the stairs two at a time, his heart beating wildly in fear. Yanking open the front door, he was about to yell at the doctor for taking so long but stopped, her appearance confusing him. He had expected the doctor Kikyo had picked for Kagome to be someone more like Kikyo, professional, sleek, and commanding, but instead he was faced with a short, stocky elderly woman wearing an eye patch. Her long hair was almost as silver as his own, but lacked the healthy glow his possessed. Was he really going to let an old crone with one working eye treat Kagome?

Inuyasha was brought out of his brief musings by the disapproving look on the doctor’s face. Her one eye pointedly looked him up and down and obviously did not like what it saw. He looked down at himself and scowled, cursing his stupidity, seeing that he forgot to put something on other than his boxers. This was gonna be a rough night.

Clearing his throat, he searched for his most polite voice. “Please, come in—“

She barged right in, not bothering with pleasantries, just ignoring him. “Where is Kagome?”

“U-upstairs,” he stuttered, shocked by her energy.

Kaede was already stomping her way up the stairs and he hurried, going up ahead of her to show her the way. Kagome was still cocooned and on her back, her panting breaths louder.

“Inuyasha, where did you go?” she asked tremulously.

He rushed to her side. “I brought Doctor Kaede to you. Don’t worry, you’ll feel all better soon.” Her big eyes were glazed yet brimming with trust and love, and he couldn’t resist caressing the side of her face with his trembling fingers.

A dry, obviously forced cough came from the other side of the room and he glared at Kaede. Her eye was moving about the room, taking everything in. It lingered on the wet pile of Kagome’s clothes still on the floor by the bed. Inuyasha tried to see the scene as she did and flinched. It was obviously a man’s room, his room, his bed. Kagome was naked, he was in his boxers, Kikyo was nowhere to be seen. Everything was obvious. The stout woman glared at him and he knew she would kill him if she could. He refused to feel bad and stayed by Kagome, knowing that on some level she took comfort from his nearness.

“I would prefer to examine the patient alone,” Kaede said, her voice brimming with hostility.

“No,” he returned firmly. He would not leave her, never. A tense moment passed where they did nothing but glare at one another.

“Fine. Kagome,” she said, her voice suddenly tender, “what happened, dear? Why are you sick?”

“K-Kaede? What’re you doing here?” she mumbled. Inuyasha stroked her hair, ignoring the glare Kaede sent his way.

“I’m here to see what’s wrong and give you some medicine. Your stepfather,” she emphasized, “called me all the way here in the middle of the night just to make you better.”

Inuyasha tensed, resenting the way the doctor spoke to Kagome as though she was just a child.

“Inuyasha is so good. He does everything for me,” she said softly, a small smile on her face. He smiled back at her even though her eyes were now closed and she could not see him. Kaede glanced at him, a questioning frown on her face, and he gave her his best glare, willing her to hurry the hell up.

“I see. Open your mouth, Kagome. Let me take your temperature.” The girl obeyed and they waited a bit until the thermometer beeped. “101.6! How did this happen?” she asked, her voice full of concern, repeating her earlier question.

Kagome struggled to open her eyes and finally succeeded, only just barely. “I was out in the rain.”

“And where is Kikyo? Where is your mother?”

“Mother,” Kagome whispered, her face scrunching up as though she was about to cry again. “Mother is never around.”

“That explains a lot,” Kaede muttered.

“Just do your job, Captain Wrinklebeard,” Inuyasha growled.

Kaede ignored him. “I’m going to take your blankets off and listen to your heartbeat, alright, dear?” she said gently. Kagome allowed her to unwrap her, and the woman paused when she saw the girl’s nudity, gasping when she noticed the dried semen between her thighs. She took out her stethoscope with shaking hands. “I-I’m going to need you to sit up, Kagome.”

Kagome complied, her hand seeking out Inuyasha for help, which he gave by pulling her up most of the way and steadying her. Kaede placed the stethoscope on her back, pulling it away when Kagome jerked. “Stop it, it’s too cold!”

Inuyasha sat down across from Kagome and pulled her into his lap, soothing her with a kiss to the brow. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder, their naked chests pressed together. He could feel Kaede’s shock, perhaps not at the situation, which she had already figured out, but at the fact they were behaving in such a way in front of her. It’s over, he thought, his heart mourning their separation before it even began. But he couldn’t pretend to be normal when Kagome was like this.

Quickly recovering, Kaede again pressed the cold metal device to Kagome’s back, this time receiving no complaints. She told the girl to take a deep breath, which she did, and then repeated the process several times at different points on her back. Kagome shivered in his arms and he kissed her forehead again, rubbing his thumb across the nape of her neck. Finally, Kaede finished and put the stethoscope back in her bag. Inuyasha felt Kagome immediately relax and begin to doze in his arms.

“Here,” the doctor said roughly, tossing a cardboard box at him. “Have her take these, follow the directions on the box. Keep her well hydrated and have her refrain from, er, physical activities.”

He looked at the box in his hand. Children’s Tylenol meltaways in bubblegum burst flavor. “That’s it? Just some fuckin’ Tylenol?”

Kaede rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mr. Taisho. These illnesses are common occurrences in childhood.”

“She is not a child,” he said sharply. “Stop treating her like one.”

Her glare returned with much more force. “She is still very much a child, sir, more so than other girls her age, in spite or perhaps because of her mother’s treatment of her.”

“You know how Kikyo’s been treating her?! And you never fucking did anything about it?” Kagome murmured his name and he quieted, shifting her in his arms and embracing her more securely.

“What could I have done? Taken her from the mother she adores and placed her in a foster home? You and I both know she would not survive in such a place. But looking at you now I’m starting to think I should have.”

“I love her,” he hissed, wondering why he was even having this conversation.

“Love?” Kaede laughed. “She was wandering out in the rain for what seems like hours and as soon as you see her you force yourself on her. Is that love?”

“You don’t know what happened, you don’t know how we are. I would never harm her. She needs me and I need her!”

Kaede’s shoulders slumped and she sighed, her energy momentarily disappearing and leaving her nothing but a sad-looking, worn out old woman. “I can see that. Don’t worry, no one will know of this. Although the way you two interact makes me wonder if you were even trying to hide it. Kikyo must be blind. But, as you said, Kagome does need you. Take care not to hurt her, half-demon, or I will hunt you down and make it so they will never find the body,” she said calmly, letting her spiritual powers swell until they brushed against him, giving him a light shock. He had no doubt that she would be true to her word.

“Whatever,” he huffed, trying to play it cool. “I’ll mail you your payment.”

“No need. Kagome is like my own granddaughter, I appreciate being in her life.”

“I guess you can see yourself out, then,” he said impatiently, wanting to be alone with Kagome so he could take care of her properly.

“Such a rude boy,” she muttered, shuffling out of the room. “A girl like her deserves better.”

Inuyasha waited until he heard the front door shut and then opened the box of chewable Tylenol tablets, carefully rearranging Kagome so that she lay straight on the bed, her hair fanned out on the pillow in waves with little ringlets here and there. Stopping a moment just to stare at her, his heart swelled with love, beating strong in his chest. She was so beautiful, the light pink of the fever on her cheeks enhancing her delicate features and contrasting prettily with her pale skin and dark hair. Her lips were parted slightly, her breathing sounding like the softest sighs, something only he could hear. Gently, he caressed her cheekbone with his knuckles and she opened her eyes. He wordlessly handed her one of the tablets and the bottle of water he always kept by his bed, sure she would want to wash what must be a terrible taste out of her mouth. She chewed the pill, grimacing all the while, and immediately drifted off again after guzzling half the bottle.

He lay on his side next to her, watching the way her eyelids twitched the slightest bit. So, this illness was normal in humans. It was no longer something to be feared. A distant memory came to him, of his mother shivering in a maid’s arms, sweating until the bed was visibly damp and then going completely still. He pushed the scene away, resolving to stay in the here and now. Kagome made it easier when she rolled over and embraced him in her sleep, her face pressed against his chest just like he arranged her every night. Already, he could feel her temperature dropping. He chuckled at his earlier panic. He had acted just like a new parent. The thought wiped the smile off his face and he brought the blankets back over the two of them, wanting to both hold Kagome in his arms the way he always did and run far away until his mind ceased its torture of his soul. He was hers and she was his. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t change that.