Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction / Witch Hunter Robin Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Disease ❯ Chapter 13

I've just realized I haven't updated in a while. Sorry about that. Sayaka's been very busy, but it's almost the end of the year, and she's very happy about that. Now she just has to focus on getting a job.

 

~*~

 

Robin was sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure out her Japanese homework when an unexpected visitor showed up. Actually, she'd been expecting this particular person for some time, but not at that particular moment.

 

“Where's Kagome?” Inuyasha demanded, skidding into the kitchen with both Flame and Star attached to his haori.

 

“I was wondering when you'd show up,” she commented, not looking up from her homework.

 

“Where is she?” he repeated.

 

I really, really, really don't want to do this. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and faced him. “I'm not exactly sure how to tell you this,” she began.

 

His face paled. “What happened?” he asked.

 

“A few weeks ago she got this illness and has been in the hospital since then.”

 

He didn't know what a `hospital' was, but he knew illness. “What's wrong with her?” he questioned anxiously. “I need to see her.”

 

“I'll take you to her,” she told him, putting her shoes on. “She isn't dying, but she hasn't woken up since she fell ill.”

 

This further alarmed the hanyou, from the look on his face. “I need to see her now,” he said urgently.

 

“I'm coming, I'm coming.” She waved him out the door and into the car. “I know you're worried, but a lot of other people around here have been dropping like flies. The doctors haven't been able to find anything wrong with them…” At Inuyasha's panicked look, she hurriedly continued. “But so far no one has died.”

 

Fifteen minutes later they were at the hospital. Robin gave him a hat to cover his ears; there wasn't anything she could do about his clothes, but hopefully it wouldn't matter. The nurses knew her by now and allowed her to pass with Inuyasha right behind her. At the moment Sota was with Kagome; he went to see her almost every day, so that wasn't surprising. Inuyasha ran into the room when he saw his Kagome and almost ripped the cords tying her to the monitors off, except both Sota and Robin shouted at him to leave them be.

 

“How is she?” Robin asked Sota while Inuyasha knelt by Kagome and started whispering something to her, though she couldn't hear.

 

“She's not getting any worse, but she's not getting better, either,” he replied, his eyes on his sister and the hanyou. “They've been bringing people in with her condition every day now, but the doctors still don't know what's wrong with them.”

 

A thought suddenly struck Robin. “Have you seen them bring in Hiei?” she asked him. “He hasn't been home since he told us not to have Tanner over anymore.”

 

“I haven't seen him brought him,” Sota told her. “You could ask, though.”

 

Acting on his suggestion, she walked over to the nurses' desk and asked the woman there, “Has anyone brought in a short boy with spiky hair and red eyes?”

 

The woman checked the computer and shook her head negatively. Relief coursing through her, Robin thanked the woman and went back to Kagome's room. “No,” she answered Sota's unspoken query. “Still, that doesn't explain why he hasn't been home,” she continued thoughtfully. “It's been weeks since we've seen him, and I don't think he knows about Kagome. Not that that's a bad thing,” she added. “He'd probably be worse than Inuyasha.” They both looked over at the half-demon, who was now whimpering softly at the comatose girl.

 

“Do you think he should stay here?” Sota asked. “I mean, look at him. This is tearing him apart, and there's nothing he can do for her.”

 

“He might as well,” Robin said, standing up. “I'd like to stay longer, but I have to finish homework. And get something to eat for tonight,” she finished, remembering that there was almost nothing in the fridge or pantry. “Can you take him home with you?”

 

Sota nodded, so she left the two and cranked up the car. Driving to the grocery store, she went in and started looking for things that could be kept in the pantry. Finding the desired items, she started on the cold and frozen foods. While she was getting out one of those frozen dinners, a man stumbled into her, making her drop the box. Muttering an apology, the man stumbled on, leaving her to stare after him. That's not something that happens every day, she thought in surprise. Proceeding to ignore the incident, she put the box in her cart when thump followed by gasps were heard. Looking up, she saw the man who ran into her was on the ground, and a crowd was gathering around him. A bystander was already on his phone, calling an ambulance.

 

“Looks like another one got hit with that new disease,” someone commented. “There are more people coming down with it every day.”

 

“We need to leave before we get it,” someone else said. Murmurs of agreement were heard throughout the crowd, and the left for the cash registers, leaving the poor man alone except for the store staff.

 

Following the crowd's example, she headed for the checkout, bought the food, and left. Wishing she had some sort of psychic power so she could lift all the bags with just a thought, she took what she could up to the house and set it in the kitchen. “Michael, do you think you could help me out?” she called up the stairs.

 

“Sure, I'll be down in a minute,” he answered.

 

Shaking her head, she went back outside for the next load. To her surprise, she passed Michael as she was going in. “I didn't think you'd make it down here before I was done,” she remarked.

 

“That's your surprise of the day,” he responded. She smiled, and they went their separate ways. Once she finished putting her bags next to the other ones, Michael came back in. “I got the last of the bags,” he informed her.

 

“Thanks,” she said gratefully. “I took Inuyasha to see Kagome.”

 

“I know. I was upstairs when he came in.”

 

“Has Hiei come by?”

 

“No. Where has he been?”

 

Robin shook her head. “I know he's looking for a demon, but shouldn't he have found it by now? I mean, this is Hiei we're talking about. It shouldn't have taken this long to locate a demon, but I can't figure out another reason why he hasn't come home yet.” She sighed. “Oh, well, he'll come home when he does. I'm going out for a while. If you need me, just call.” He didn't say anything, so she just left.

 

In one of the buildings she had set up a target practice room of sorts. All around were sticks with paper on them. Her goal was to try and hit only certain colored papers, or certain sticks without hitting the other ones. She was getting better at it, but when her concentration slipped, she would hit the wrong thing and would have to start over. She knew she wouldn't be able to completely focus on the targets, but it was a way of getting rid of excess energy while also improving her aim. Things are falling apart here, she thought as she incinerated a green paper. We're losing everyone. First Jordan, Crystal, and Serena, then Kagome. We may have even lost Hiei. Another green paper bit the dust. I feel so helpless! Even if I knew what was wrong, I couldn't do anything. I can't heal to save my life.

 

It suddenly got very dark inside to building. Frowning, she turned to the burning papers to find that their light was being smothered by…something. It looked like the flames were collapsing in on themselves. As she watched them, she got the cold sensation of someone watching her. “Who's there?” she asked the darkness.

 

No one answered. Of course, she wasn't really expecting an answer, but it never hurt to ask first. She was about to leave and go back into the house and leave the place for somewhere less creepy, but hands, a stranger's hands, found their way around her neck and began to squeeze. Immediately bringing her hands to her neck, Robin tried to pry them off her, but the person was too strong. Her vision was starting to go black, and her lungs were on fire for air. Finally giving in, she used her fire on his hands, which caused him to let go with a soft curse. When he let go, she fell to the floor, gasping. The sound of the door opening reached her ears, and sunlight came through so she could see who attacked her. In this case, it was a what. He was a pretty ugly demon with fangs and horns aplenty.

 

Robin, afraid that Michael had opened the door, tried to warn him away, but wasn't even able to get off the floor, and she didn't have enough air to get even a squeak out. A flurry of movements caused her to look up. The demon in front of her was floating in the air, struggling against some unseen force. His eyes were bulging out of his head, and his movements were getting weaker. After a few moments, he stopped moving. By this time Robin had her breath back and, after setting the demon corpse on fire, turned to see who exactly opened the door. It wasn't who she was expecting to see.

 

“Serena?”

 

The person in the doorway smiled. “It's been a while, hasn't it?” she said. “How've you been?”

 

Robin tried to get to her feet, but gave that up when her vision started swimming again. Seeing her predicament, Serena went to her and helped her up. “I can't believe you're here,” Robin wheezed once she was on her feet again. “Are Crystal and Jordan with you?”

 

“They didn't come with me,” Serena replied. Her eyes held uncertainty in them. “I don't think they'll ever come back now.”

 

“What happened?” Now Robin started worrying. “Has anything happened to them?”

 

“Nothing bad,” Serena trailed off. “Um, is Shuichi, I mean, Kurama around here somewhere?”

 

“Not at the moment. Why?”

 

“Since I was coming here, Jordan asked me to see if he was following through with her last request.”

 

“So they aren't dead. That's good.”

 

Serena looked shocked. “I didn't say they were dead. How could you even think that?”

 

The fire-user blushed. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Anyway, why wouldn't they come back? I know Michael would want to see them.”

 

“Well, it's complicated.” When Robin glared at her, she gulped and continued. “They're, uh, they're married now.”

 

She certainly wasn't expecting that. “They're married?!” she repeated the other girl, not quite comprehending what she said. “As in, they live with a husband now?”

 

Serena nodded. “And now Crystal has an infant while Jordan is expecting.”

 

“I wonder how Kurama will take this,” Robin murmured to herself. “Let's go into the house. You might as well tell Michael now that you're here. Oh, how long can you stay? As a matter of fact, how did you get here in the first place?”

 

“I just followed a demon that escaped to this world,” she explained as they walked out into the sunlight. “It happened to be the one that you just incinerated. As for how long I'm staying, I don't know. I don't think I'm going back to the village, so I might either stay here or look for a place of my own.”

 

“You're staying here! Unless you want a place of your own,” Robin quickly added. “But what made you change your mind?”

 

“It was fine at first. We rebuilt the village and things were getting up. Crystal managed to fix the shield, and Jordan whipped the fighters into shape, so there wasn't any reason for me to stay.”

 

“What about Taichi?”

 

“We tried seeing each other, but I never felt anything other than friendship toward him. Eventually he got the message and started looking elsewhere. Now he's a father and married to Crystal.”

 

“Who did Jordan marry? She seemed pretty close to Kurama before we left.”

 

“Gaven, one of the fighters. When she's not in her tiger form, he's good enough to beat her.”

 

“And when she does transform?”

 

“He can hold his own. Barely. If it's drawn out, then she's the victor, but she hasn't been fighting recently, for obvious reasons.”

 

They were now at the door. “So, ready to tell Michael that he's an uncle?” Robin asked the other girl.

 

“Not really, but someone has to do it.” She pushed open the door and they walked in.

 

“Michael, can you come here for a second?” Robin called up the steps.

 

“Coming,” he called back. To Robin's surprise, she heard his footsteps on the stairs almost immediately after he answered. “What can I do for you?”

 

“We have company.” He arrived in the doorway and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who it was.

 

“Serena?”

 

“That's exactly what Robin said when she saw me,” Serena giggled. Then her expression grew serious. “I have some news for you.”

 

“Has something happened to my sisters?” His face had a worried look to it now.

 

“They're both fine,” she assured him. “Well, Jordan probably doesn't feel fine, but they're both okay for now.” She took a deep breath. “You're now an uncle.”

 

He stared at her blankly. “Crystal has an infant and Jordan is due any day now,” she informed him. “They got married, and now they're starting their own families.”

 

Michael sat down. Hard. On the floor. “I know it's a bit much to take in, but that's why they aren't here with me,” Serena said softly as she and Robin knelt down by him. “They wanted to come, but Crystal has a child to take care of, and she didn't want any stress on Jordan because it would affect the baby. You know Jordan; she won't go against Crystal, and her husband was very against her coming as well. In fact, both their husbands were.”

 

“Why?” Michael demanded angrily. “If they wanted to come, then they shouldn't have stopped them.” There was no doubt as to whom he was talking about.

 

“I can't say I blame them very much,” Serena admitted. “I mean, before they married Taichi and Gaven, they loved two boys that live here. They probably thought that if they came back, they would stay here and leave them.”

 

Michael looked confused. “I thought Taichi had a thing for you.”

 

“He did, but things didn't work out, so he married Crystal. They're good for each other.” Her gaze started traveling around the room. “Where's everyone else?”

 

Robin and Michael looked at each other. Michael's look said You tell her. Letting out her breath, Robin got Serena's attention. “Sota's in the hospital visiting Kagome,” she explained quickly.

 

“What's wrong with her?” Serena asked in concern.

 

“The doctors aren't sure. Apparently it's contagious since other people have been falling sick with it also, but they have no symptoms other than falling down into a coma. They say that people are coming in every day now, but they still don't know how to cure it.”

 

“How's everyone taking it?” she asked.

 

“Inuyasha's with her and Sota right now. The rest of the shard hunters don't know yet, though.”

 

“What about Hiei?” Serena knew how close he was to Kagome.

 

“He hasn't been home since she became sick, so I don't think he knows either.”

 

“He hasn't been home?”

 

Robin shook her head. “He's been hunting a demon; I guess it's pretty elusive if he hasn't caught it yet. I'm assuming that's the reason he hasn't come home. I'm sure he's fine,” she assured the other girl, correctly interpreting her look. “Sota says that the hospital hasn't taken in anyone of his description, and I'm sure one of the boys would've informed us if something had happened to him.”

 

“Do they know of your relationship with him?”

 

That stopped her cold. “No,” she said slowly. “They know he's watching us, and we have a casual acquaintance with him through them, but aside from that, they don't know.”

 

“When do you see them next?”

 

“Tomorrow at school. They might not know, though. Maybe I should ask Kurama.”

 

“Do you know where his high school is?”

 

“No, but I can find out where he lives from one of the guys.”

 

The sound of the door opening stopped their conversation. “We're home,” Sota called.

 

“Come into the kitchen,” Robin called. They did, and there was another mini-reunion. Serena explained things again, and Sota updated them on Kagome's condition, which is to say, nothing changed.

 

“Will you be staying here, Inuyasha, or will you be going back through the well?” Robin asked the hanyou when there was a lull in conversation.

 

He looked unsure. “I think I'd better go back,” he said slowly. “Someone needs to tell Sango and Miroku, and I guess the best person to do that would be me.”

 

“If you're sure,” Michael said. “If you change your mind, feel free to pick a room.”

 

The hanyou just gave a brief smile and left the house.