InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Torrent ❯ Repercussions ( Chapter 12 )

~~Chapter 12~~

~Repercussions~

 

“Kagome?” Leaning over, her face level with her knees, he didn't think she heard him at first. “Kagome?”

 

“I can't even look at you,” she said, her tone low despite the anger, the hurt that she couldn't hide. It drew blood, inflicted pain deep inside. InuYasha winced, wondering once more how everything had spun so out of control. “Go away, InuYasha. Leave me alone.”

 

“Will you just let me explain?” he begged, his voice quiet, desperate. `Kagome! Don't be angry . . .'

 

“Explain what?” Her head finally lifted, her gaze piercing him, burning him. “Why should I?”

 

Grasping for an explanation that she would accept, fighting to find a way to tell her what she had seen wasn't really what had happened . . . “It wasn't what you think . . . Kikyou---”

 

A grow of frustration tore from her lips, as though the very sound of Kikyou's name was enough to hurt her more. “No!” she shrieked.

 

He drew back. Had she ever yelled at him like that? “I didn't know she was coming, and---”

 

Kagome sat up so quickly that InuYasha recoiled. Stabbing him with a piercing glower, she covered her ears with her hands, as if she couldn't stand to hear any more, and maybe she couldn't. “No! I can't do it! I can't be second to her, and you . . . you really can't ask me to be! I can't---aah!”

 

She doubled over, arms tightening over her stomach. InuYasha jumped to his feet, sweeping her up as he leapt forward. She whimpered, her body tensing. “Hold on,” he muttered, fear driving him faster, further, higher.

 

“It hurts,” she whined. “It---oww!”

 

`What have I done?' He glanced down at her. Her face was contorted in pain. InuYasha flinched. “It's okay, Kagome . . . It'll be okay . . .”

 

“InuYasha . . . the baby,” she moaned. “It hurts.”

 

“I know,” he muttered, trying his best to keep moving and soothe her at the same time. `Damn it, Kagome . . . this is my fault . . .' She relaxed slightly then tensed again with an exclamation muffled by the fire rat haori. “It'll be okay . . . I promise.”

 

`The well,' he thought wildly. `She needs her time, her doctors . . .' She cried out as he landed next to the dry well. The jarring motion unsettled her, and she whimpered again. “Almost there. Just hang on, okay?”

 

Without a second thought, he jumped into the well as Kagome passed out in his arms.

 

 

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Prowling up and down the length of the hallway outside Kagome's room, InuYasha had to suppress the desire to destroy something as helpless rage ripped through him. Pausing before her door, InuYasha glowered at the wooden divider, willing it to open. It was in the doctors' hands now. He'd never felt quite so weak in his life.

 

`This is all your fault, baka! What were you thinking?' InuYasha sighed, resuming his pacing as his conscience berated him. `If Kagome loses the pup, she'll never forgive you.' He flinched. If Kagome lost the pup, he'd never forgive himself.

 

“Why don't you sit down, InuYasha?” Mrs. Higurashi asked quietly, patting the seat beside her. InuYasha complied because she asked him to. “She's strong. She'll be fine.”

 

Shaking his head, unable to voice the concerns that assailed him . . . InuYasha glared at the door another moment. “What the fuck is taking so long?” he growled.

 

Hesitantly, Mrs. Higurashi reached out, rubbed his back. The contact startled him yet he found it oddly comforting, too. “Why did Kagome . . . What upset her?”

 

Shooting to his feet, InuYasha resumed his pacing. `How am I supposed to tell her mother what I . . . that I'm the reason that Kagome's in there?' He knew she'd be upset if she found out. He'd been surprised enough when Kikyou had stepped through the door. He hadn't known she was coming. If he had, he would have stopped her. Admitting what happened to Kagome's mother, however, was difficult, if not downright impossible. With a heavy sigh, he said, “I didn't think, and Kagome saw---”

 

The door opened behind him. InuYasha whirled around, glowering at Dr. Uematso as the little man stepped out of the room and pulled the door closed behind him. Glancing from InuYasha to Mrs. Higurashi and back, the doctor stepped toward the woman. It was to her that he spoke. “Kagome is resting. She'll be fine, I think. The main thing right now, though, is to keep her calm.”

 

“And her baby?” Mrs. Higurashi asked, her voice tight, worried.

 

The doctor cast InuYasha another glance. “For now, the baby's fine. Kagome was having serious contractions when she was brought in. She responded to the medicine well enough, and those are stopped, for now.” His eyes finally lit on InuYasha and stayed. “If all goes well for now, she should be able to go home in a day or two, providing she can remain calm. I must warn you, though, if it happens again, I don't know if we can stop her labor. Do you understand?”

 

Flinching at the obvious rebuke, InuYasha nodded.

 

Mrs. Higurashi laid a hand on the doctor's arm. “Can I see her?”

 

“Sure. We've given her something to help her sleep. Don't stay long. I'll be back to check on her in awhile.” He inclined his head to her and left.

 

InuYasha reached for the door handle. Mrs. Higurashi stopped him. “I don't know if it is wise for you to go in, InuYasha. Why don't you let me check if she wants to see you?”

 

“Do you think I'd hurt her?”

 

She shook her head, a wan smile twisting the corners of her lips. “No, and I know you want to see her. But right now, it isn't about what you want. It's about what my daughter needs. She was obviously upset with something you did. You've as much as admitted that to me. If she wants to see you, then I'll come get you. Fair enough?”

 

He wanted to argue with her. He wanted to insist that she move and let him in. He wished that her logic hadn't made sense. In the end, he nodded and stepped back. Mrs. Higurashi patted his arm before she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

 

`Baka! How could I be so stupid? How could she not know that the last thing I'd ever do is hurt her?' InuYasha knelt before the door.

 

He hadn't expected Kikyou to come. He should have. Kaede was her sister. Still, it was a shock to him, to look up and find her there. “Kikyou? What are you doing here?”

 

Kikyou smiled sadly. Maybe she would have cried, if she could. “I came to say goodbye to my sister,” she said simply, “and I came to give Kagome this.” She held out her hand.

 

InuYasha stared at the delicate white prayer beads strung into a necklace. “What is it?” he asked, slowly lifting the necklace out of Kikyou's palm. “What's it for?”

 

“It will protect her. It will keep her safe.”

 

Puzzled, InuYasha stared at the necklace. “What do you mean?”

 

“Kagome is mortal, and mortals are frail. Surely you don't wish to lose her too soon, do you?” Kikyou asked softly.

 

InuYasha shook his head, denying the foreboding of Kikyou's words. “I will protect her.”

 

“Of course you will. I must go.”

 

He followed her to the door, stepped outside after her. “Kikyou . . . thanks.”

 

She stopped and stared at him. She reached out, brushing the hair out of his face, smiling at him in her gentle way.

 

Then he'd heard Kagome's soft gasp and had turned in time to see her dart toward the forest.

 

Kagome . . .

 

The door opened behind him. InuYasha didn't look up.

 

“She wants to see you,” Mrs. Higurashi said, stepping around him and kneeling before him. “She's tired, though. She said that she wanted to tell you something before she goes to sleep.”

 

InuYasha stood slowly, trepidation gnawing at his stomach. Something in Mrs. Higurashi's eyes . . . something of a warning that frightened him . . . He stepped inside and closed the door but couldn't take the steps to the side of the bed. She looked so small there, wrapped in foreign blankets and staring at but not seeing what lay beyond the window. Her pervasive sadness seemed to fill the room and nearly choked him. The smell of salt, of lingering tears, and the deep-rooted knowledge that he'd failed her again rose up, bitter, vile, detestable. It overwhelmed the stench of the disinfectants, of the cleansers and other chemicals they used to `sanitize' the room. It left him alone, lonely . . . “Kagome?”

 

“I'm sorry I ran from you,” she said softly, breaking the silence and drawing a flinch from him. “It was stupid. I nearly . . . I'm sorry.”

 

“Why are you apologizing?” he rasped out, crossing the floor, sinking to his knees beside her. “I let you down, I---”

 

She shook her head. “You didn't. I knew how you felt, when we . . . It was wrong for me to think that everything had changed. You can't change how you feel, and I can't really hold it against you.”

 

“Keh! You don't understand! I don't feel like that . . . I haven't, not for a long time.” More tears welled in her eyes. Clumsily, he brushed them away. “Don't cry . . . please?”

 

“I'm sorry,” she apologized again.

 

InuYasha flinched, shooting to his feet. He scooped her up, ignoring the wires and monitors hooked to her, and pulled her onto his lap as he sat on the bed. “Stop apologizing, will you? No more.” He smoothed her hair, wiped her tears. “I'm not good at this.”

 

She choked out a half-laugh then sighed as her head nestled against his chest. “InuYasha?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I'm scared.”

 

Tightening his arms around her and closing his eyes, cursing himself again for what had happened, he tried to comfort her the best he could. “I'm here, Kagome. Don't be scared, okay?”

 

Leaning away from him to look at his face, Kagome pushed his bangs back and stared into his eyes. Underneath the sadness was something else, something that amazed him. Her fear was subsiding, and the emotion he could see . . . She trusted him. Even after all was said and done, she trusted him. “Will you stay?”

 

In that moment, in that place, he would have promised her anything. He nodded. “I won't leave you.”

 

She cuddled against him, lulled by the beat of his heart.

 

“Go to sleep . . . I won't leave you.”

 

 

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A/N:

 

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Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters in Torrent): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.

 

~Sue~