InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Price of Freedom ❯ One Call For Help ( Chapter 2 )

(A/N: you're all telling me off for killing Inuyasha! Chill ok! Anyway, so here's the second chapter - proof that the fic is still moving along. Unfortunately I might not have the time to write so fast as I have done previously because I have to keep up with my work (and due to a lot of problems last year in school - I have to work especially hard to catch up to the other students this year). So I'm sorry if I can't be as fast as before but I will try and do this as often as I can. Plus - I'm going to Scarborough soon, so there might be a big gap in my updating (and schoolwork) pretty soon. But I'll live! I'm stressed, but I'll live! Ok - enough crap about my problems - on with Inuyasha's!)

The Price of Freedom

One call for Help

Fortunately, Kagome wasn't going to be signing up for medical school anytime soon, since her knowledge of human anatomy was a little off. Because, for a start she was checking for a pulse just under his chin.

"He's not dead - he's still breathing." Sango took her hand away from his nose and winced down at him. "God... he's going to wish he was though..."

"We have to get help." Kagome whispered quickly.

"Yeah, but I think we need to get him indoors and warm him up first." Sango stood, but seemed uncertain where to best place her hands so she wouldn't hurt him. "Um... how...?"

"Uh..." Kagome looked around helplessly a moment before finally snapping her fingers. "I know! Grab a sheet from the house and we can use it as a stretcher or something."

Sango went racing back up the steep incline while Kagome dropped on her knees to brush back the boy's bangs. One side of his face was virtually unharmed, but the other side and most his body looked like he'd been scraped of his skin. "Please hold on..." she whispered. There was no way she was going to allow him to die on her time.

Suddenly, one of his bloody clawed hands shot out and gripped her shoulder so hard that his claws bit into her skin. She yelped in pain, and struggled to throw the hand off - but he wasn't awake... cause he still hadn't opened his eyes.

She was stilled by his urgent whisper though. "Don't tell them where I am..."

And with that, his grip slipped from her shoulder and his head lolled to the side in an even deeper state of unconsciousness. She stared at him, blinking rapidly for a few moments. "Who are you talking about?"

But he didn't answer anymore. And she was suddenly scared that he was even closer to death than before.

"Kagome!"

Sango arrived with the sheet and quickly laid it out on the sand. "Quick - get him on it."

Kagome took his lower end while Sango took the other, and both lifted on the count of three. "Ah! God he's so bloody heavy!" Kagome gasped, struggling to keep a grip, a particularly hard task since her shoulder burned with fresh pain.

They managed to at least slide him across the soft sand onto the thin sheet, before proceeding to drag his limp body across the sand towards the slope. Then came the tricky bit.

Since Sango was a great deal stronger than Kagome, she took up the lead alone and pulled on the sheet with all her strength. Kagome held the sheet up from behind so he wouldn't slip off and roll down to the beach again. And they were sure that if the sea hadn't killed him, then a concussion surely would.

Somehow, with an amazing feat of strength they dragged his sorry body into the house and cleared an area of the living room floor (that was covered with crisp packets, drink cans and cheesy whatsits) to lay him down properly.

"I better call the ambulance..." Sango whispered hurriedly, and stood to run into the kitchen. Kagome caught her hand before she got too far and bit her lip.

"You can't." she said suddenly.

Sango just stared at her expectantly.

"He... woke a few minutes ago... he doesn't want them to find him." Kagome glanced down at him again.

"Who? The paramedics?"

"No - I don't know who he was talking about." Kagome narrowed her eyes. "But... I don't think..."

"You don't think what, Kagome?"

"That we should tell the police." She finished.

"No - just the hospital!" Sango argued.

"We can't do that, because doctors have to report all gun shot wounds to the police!" she'd heard that in a police documentary at some point in her short life.

"Gunshot? Where?" Sango frowned.

Kagome pointed to a neat little hole in his calf that was dribbling a little blood. Sango froze. "Oh GOD! He's been shot!"

"We can't tell anybody - he said so himself!"

"You must have imagined it!" Sango protested.

"Sango - please!" Kagome stood to look directly into her eyes. "What if he was shot by bad people who will find him if we report him to the police?!"

"And what if he's an escaped convict, hm? And he's running from the authorities? What's going to stop him from murdering you too?"

"That's far-fetched." Kagome accused.

"Well, so is your idea!" her friend folded her arms. "We have to tell someone! He might die!"

"But if we tell the police he'll be caught by those bad people!"

"They might be good people!"

"Good people don't shoot other people in the leg!" Kagome snapped.

"They might if other people came at them with knives or something!" Sango looked down at him. "For god's sakes, Kagome, he has knives on every finger! What's wrong with him?"

"Sango... maybe bad people did this to him because of what he looks like... I don't know..." Kagome looked down at him as well, frowning a little with worry. The poor guy looked so bedraggled, bloody... lifeless and... and something else. "He's so... helpless, Sango... we can't turn him over to the cops."

"They might protect him though." Sango hissed.

"You think so? I didn't know police were so accepting of strange-looking people like this."

Sango slumped in defeat. "But he's going to die..."

Kagome thought for a moment before coming to a decision. "Call Miroku... he's at medical college and he's got that First Aid course under his belt. He can help."

Sango nodded reluctantly. "I'll go find him... you make sure this guy doesn't drop dead, ok?"

Kagome turned back to the dog-eared boy on the floor as Sango hurried out of the house and down the road at a fast jog. She was a little at a loss for what to do now with the beat up guy.

She was intrigued by his hair colour... she'd never seen anything such a pure shade as this... and it appeared all natural, because his roots didn't seem to be any darker than the rest of his hair. His clothes were also white - but the grubby kind of white of un-dyed cotton. It was the simplest shirt ever made, and the pants were tied at the side with a strip of the same material - they only reached halfway down in calves. They looked slightly loose, like they hadn't been fitted for him. He was shoeless, sockless, and didn't have any other accessories... other than that glinting thing on his wrist.

Kagome peered closer to his wrists and realised it was a simple chain with a tag. But there looked like there was no way to unclasp it, as it was fixed firmly together.

Thinking skittishly, Kagome ran to grab a towel and filled a bowl with warm water before fetching it back to the stranger. She muttered a small chant as she proceeded to clean away most of the blood from his unaffected skin. "Please don't die... please don't die..."

He was still drawing in ragged breaths that seemed to shake his entire frame... and every few minutes she expected it to just stop. But it was like he was in a stable coma. He just wasn't waking up or moving.

About half an hour later, Sango arrived back with Miroku behind her.

"What's going on?" he frowned as he entered the lounge. Then he spotted the stranger's ears and hair. "What the hell is that...?"

"Miroku! Don't just stand there - do something." Sango hissed impatiently.

It was a good thing that the person Kagome's mother had loaned the house from was a big first aid nut, otherwise Miroku would have come up a bit short of equipment. He retrieved a disinfectant spray (the blue coloured type) and lots of rolls of bandages from a box under the sink.

Kagome helped him set about cleaning the wounds one by one, wrapping up the damaged areas and limbs with bandages until he looked like a cross between a mummy and a... boy...? Not very inspiring thoughts, but Kagome was at least glad that she couldn't see as much blood now.

"Dregs from the party?" Miroku asked when he'd finished.

"We found him on the beach." Kagome pointed to his leg. "And... I think he's been shot."

Miroku checked out the damage and sighed. "You got a pair of tweezers anywhere?"

^-^

It was a good thing that the boy was unconscious otherwise he would have probably been screaming like a girl. But now Kagome was left with the tough task of looking after him... alone. All she had was basic instructions from Miroku to deal with any sort of fever that might arise, and to feed him aspirin every four hours - even at night. And all she had from Sango was a wish of good luck, as the poor girl had been dragged out of the house by her rather overprotective father.

Fortunately, he hadn't seen the messed up kid lying on the lounge floor, but he had seen the state of the house. Sango's father had offered to take Kagome back to the city too, but Kagome claimed that she needed to clean up for the owner of the house.

So here she was. Sitting on the sofa at four o'clock in the morning. Well past the point of being so sleepy that she just didn't feel the need to sleep anymore. But she still stared morosely at the TV set that flashed images in the dark room, remaining on mute.

There was a sharp groan from below her that jerked Kagome from her zombie state. She knelt on the floor beside the stranger in a matter of moments. Checking her watch, she cursed. It was time for that aspirin again.

She already had the bottle by her side from the last dose she'd given him and yawned absently as she poured a little water onto a table spoon and dissolved two tablets into it. She gently cradled the boy's head in her lap as she held the spoon to his lips. He turned away from it, but she just followed his movements, the spoon still against his bottom lip. He swung his head a little more suddenly back towards her, spilling some of the contents of the spoon, making her sigh.

"Come on... take it..." she muttered as she brought the spoon to his lips again. He tried to turn his head further away from the bitter tasting liquid, and inadvertently nuzzled against her hip. Kagome blushed deeply and edged away a little before jamming the spoon into his mouth before he could turn away.

He spluttered a little, but allowed most of the aspirin down, before falling into an even deeper asleep.

Kagome cautiously touched his forehead with the back of her fingers and bit her lip. He felt as hot as an iron… not a good thing. She drew her hand back quickly and reached for her damp wash cloth to wipe across his heated skin.

He murmured something as she put the cloth down. She paused. "What?"

He murmured it again, and she leant down with her ear close to his lips to catch what he was saying. "Three... two, nine... I..."

He slumped a little more and she frowned at him. What was that supposed to mean? "Who are you...?" a question she was going to have to dwell on until he woke up entirely.

(A/N: ok... happy now? He isn't dead!! It's too early in the story for that! ^_^!!)

Disclaimer: same as chapter one - including all that stuff about Viz.