InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Dark Past ❯ Now or Never ( Chapter 40 )

Disclaimer: -licks finger and turns the page of a magazine- Let's see what's up with the world today… -goes silent and reads for a few minutes- Oh, my gosh! -jumps up from chair- The copyright to Inuyasha is going to sale!?!? -skims the article again- … Oh… -sits back down- Rumiko Takahashi is stopping the anime is all this is saying. Never-mind then. -goes back to reading-

 

A/N: XOMG. Wow, that was a loooooong wait. SORRY, SORRY, SORRY! My computer was taken away and I wasn't able to write for the longest time. -tear, tear- A better explanation is at the bottom!

 

AGE:

InuYasha: 19
Kagome: 18
Kouga: 19
Naraku: 19
Miroku: 19
Sango: 18
Kaede: 65

 

A Dark Past

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Chapter Forty: Now or Never

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“Miss Kikyou! Miss Kikyou collapsed!” The voice drifted off and in a slightly softer tone, the woman - probably a passing maid - muttered, “Oh god, oh god. She's bleeding everywhere. Oh god, oh god, I think she's

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Modern-day technology was something that could leave almost anyone in awe - except for the fact that everyone took said technology for granted. Machines could keep someone who was supposed to die on borrowed time for a long while. It could easily give and just as easily take life.

 

Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . .

 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

 

The air almost sounded like music as it was forced through the tubes, through the mask, and finally into lungs.

 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

 

For some reason, the sound was one that annoyed the ever-living out of Kagome. It was the sound that there was life and yet for some reason she utterly despised that sound. It was mostly because she hated ER rooms and she hated knowing that the only thing temporarily keeping someone alive was a machine that could easily be unplugged or turned off.

 

She absolutely hated it.

 

And a machine was, indeed, the only thing keeping Kikyou alive at the moment. Kikyou's lungs were giving out and the muscle needed assistance in pulling in air - her diaphragm wasn't functioning properly anymore. Though the cause behind it was currently unknown.

 

`Well, not unknown,' Kagome corrected herself. `I'm sure that Inuyasha has at least an idea as to what's going on.'

 

With those thoughts and a will of steel, Kagome stalked through the halls away from the window outside of Kikyou's room, intent on hunting down her hanyou.

 

And getting some damn answers.

 

*

 

*

 

“What are her chances?”

 

The youkai-doctor raised a single, thin eyebrow but said nothing.

 

Inuyasha growled at her. “Dammit, just tell- - -”

 

“You know why she's here,” the doctor replied softly. “Don't you think that's answer enough?”

 

He raked his finger through his bangs with a soft sigh. “I know. . . dammit, I know. I knew from the beginning. But. . .” He drifted off and let out another sigh - this one frustrated.

 

She smiled at him piteously; sadly; knowing there was nothing that could be done. “I have been a doctor for over two hundred years. I have seen only a handful of cases like these - not even that many - and in every single occurrence, the outcome was the same. The young woman sealed her fate when she mated with a demon that was not her significant other.”

 

Inuyasha ground his teeth together. “I know all of that,” he snapped.

 

“Then why did you bother to ask?” the doctor replied in a sharp tone. “Don't give yourself false hope. Don't delude yourself into thinking there's even a slight chance for her - she's as good as cremated. That sounds blunt and crude, but it's the truth. I've seen many other demons that acted like Hot Shit go insane because they thought there was a chance in circumstances like these.” Her eyes softened as did her tone. “Go see her, comfort yourself, and say goodbye. Don't make things difficult. The most time she has now is twenty-four hours.”

 

Inuyasha slumped against the wall that was behind him in resignation. `I only have twenty-four hours? At most? Why is everything so fucked UP?'

 

The youkai-doctor started to walk away and faintly he heard her voice from down the hallway murmur, “Make that time count.”

 

For several long minutes - minutes that seemed to tick by much slower than normal - he let his mind wander. He thought about many things. He thought about things that he would've liked to do differently. He thought about things that shaped the reality he had right then. He thought back to when he first met Kikyou. And thinking about Kikyou brought his mind to Kagome, and his fiery feelings he felt for her, some of which weren't a hundred percent platonic.

 

`Are you going to ask her to be your mate?' his youkai piped up at the thoughts of Kagome.

 

`Not right now,' Inuyasha snapped in reply. `How can you even think about something like that right now when- - -'

 

`Because you're going to ask her soon, so why waste your time? Just blurt it out already. She's gonna say yeah, so stop dilly-dallying.'

 

Inuyasha closed his amber eyes, trying to hone out the annoying voice that was harassing him in his mind. Sure, he had thought about asking Kagome to be his mate. Sure, he had imagined a life with Kagome by his side. Sure, he pictured having children with Kagome as their mother. Sure, he made little scenarios and fantasies about himself and Kagome.

 

And hell yes, he was going to tell her that he loved her. Soon - or hopefully soon.

 

“Inuyasha?”

 

He jerked out of his thoughts and turned with a smile already spreading across his face. “What's up?”

 

Kagome shifted and crossed her arms over her chest. “Will you please explain some things to me?”

 

“What would you like for me to explain?” he replied, but he already knew what she was going to ask him about.

 

“What's up with Kikyou?” Her voice was dry and held a demand.

 

Inuyasha ran his hand down his face. “Yeah. Yeah, of course you want to know that,” he mumbled more to himself then anything. “Alright. Usually two demons, or in some cases a demon and a human or a hanyou and a human, become mates and their souls complete each- - -”

 

“I already know that,” Kagome said, waving her hand dismissively.

 

“. . . You do? When did I take the time to explain all of this to you?” He scrunched his brow as he thought. So far as he knew, he had never gone into a lot of detail on mating rituals and how it all worked.

 

“Your mother explained it all to me.”

 

“My mother?” Inuyasha echoed dubiously. “When did you talk to her?”

 

“Earlier today,” Kagome elaborated, slowly losing her patience. “Now, on with the explanation- - -”

 

“She didn't bother to tell you anything about this while she was at it?”

 

“No,” Kagome growled. “Now, please get back to where you- - -”

 

“Well, that's weird,” he commented. “You'd think that with all this drama going on, she'd want you to know everything about it.”

 

“Inuyasha,” she slowly began, her voice too calm and level to be natural. “Shut your mouth and get back to your stupid explanation before I call Rin out and get her to sing at you.”

 

Inuyasha looked taken aback. “Geez, wench. No need to get violent. I'll tell you.” He let out his breath in a whoosh before continuing. “It's only fair that I tell you anyway.”

 

“ `Fair?' ” Kagome repeated suspiciously. “And what, pray tell, do you mean by that?”

 

“Nothin', nothin'. So. . .”

 

Kagome waited several seconds after he drifted off, but when he showed no signs of continuing, he waved her hand in the air in a hurry-up gesture. “You were saying?” she encouraged.

 

Inuyasha remained silent and Kagome right about stomped her foot in frustration. “Inuyasha,” she started, voice sinisterly calm and gentle. “I would like for you to tell me some. Time. To. Day, so if you would be so kind as to get- - -”

 

“Kikyou's dying.”

 

“- - -to the point- - -” She cut herself off and stared at him slack-jawed, taken aback at both his bluntness and the confession.

 

“Don't act so surprised,” he almost snapped. “I'm sure you figured that out before now. With how she looks, hell, I'm surprised she lasted this long.”

 

“How. . . I mean. . .?” Kagome asked softly, almost whispering.

 

Inuyasha looked away moodily. “I told you - mating is for life.”

 

“Oh gee, thanks for the clarification on that one!” she snapped.

 

He rolled his eyes but didn't reply to her outburst as he continued, “As my mother probably told you, there's only one person in the whole world that is meant to be a demon's mate. Know what happens when a demon mates with the wrong person?”

 

Kagome crossed her arms. “Well, apparently it results in death.”

 

“That's it in a nutshell, yes, but do you have any guesses as to the specifics behind why?”

 

“No, I never took any courses on Demonology 101 and sorry to say that I never before got involved in demon affairs.”

 

“Kagome, I'm trying to explain things,” Inuyasha not-so-patiently explained. “If you're going to throw everything I tell you back in my face, then I'll just not bother and stop now.”

 

“Well, I don't know if you realize this, but Kikyou's apparently dying and no-one's doing anything about it,” she retorted hotly.

 

“There's nothing we can do!” Inuyasha snarled. “Her soul is something that doctors can't heal. Sorry if that bursts your happy-go-lucky bubble, but people die. It's part of life. A dying person isn't going to go: `Op, yeah, about this. Don't really feel like going right now. I'm going to make a lot of people sad so I'll just wait several years to kick the bucket' and roll out of bed and just skip off merrily.”

 

Kagome tugged her hair. “Urrg! You're being impossible! I didn't say that that was going to happen, but it's not fair that Kikyou should die when she's so frickin' young, don't'cha think?”

 

Inuyasha swallowed his retort and let out a long breath to calm himself. “Just listen to me for a second, will you? And no interruptions until I'm done.” He nodded when she snapped her mouth shut, teeth making a small click-ing noise, and went on: “As I was trying to say before you so kindly butted in. After the mating process, the two souls of the demons or what-have-you are combined.

 

“That means they're untied into one thing. However, if the two souls combined weren't made to complete each other, then they'll try and break away from each other. The mating ceremony will try and prevent that, however. The seal placed on the two souls will forcefully keep them together. Eventually, one of two things happens. Either the souls do manage to break apart but shred in the process - which is very painful I've been told - and the host of the two souls dies or the soul's rebellion spreads through the body and the body will slowly shut down. Both result in death.”

 

Kagome digested that for a minute before hopefully asking, “Isn't there any way to do anything? Can't you sever the seal or. . . or something? Is Kikyou really going to die because of something so. . . so simple?”

 

Inuyasha gave her a hard look for calling the mating process `simple,' but answered nevertheless. “Her fate was sealed the moment she mated with MenouMaru.”

 

Kagome sighed miserably and looked down at the floor, her hope slowly fading. “Why?” Her fists clenched. “Why, dammit, why? Why would she do something so- - -Just why?”

 

He grimaced. “I really, really don't know anymore, Kagome. Everything's just. . . falling apart.”

 

Without saying anything, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck and brushed her lips against his for barely a second before resting her cheek on his chest. “Everything is falling apart and we're right in the middle of it,” she murmured against the material of his dark red shirt then sighed. “But when everything falls down, there's always time to rebuild.”

 

“Keh, you make it sound so easy, wench. There's more to it than that. It doesn't just reappear, ya know.”

 

Kagome sighed softly. “No, it's not going to just magically flip up into place and un-crumble just like that. It's going to take time and it's going to take blood, sweat, and tears. Everything comes with blood, sweat, and tears. Nothing in life comes without a cost.”

 

“Bleh. Now you sound like a psychiatrist, wench.” Inuyasha wrinkled his nose in disgust at the thought.

 

Kagome leaned back to look up at him and playfully scowled. “Oh, just shut-up. You're supposed to go `Oh gee, Kagome, how right you are! Thank-you for enlightening me! What can I do to repay you!' ”

 

“Do you want to know what I'm going to do to repay you?” Inuyasha smirked down at her and she almost took a nervous step back. He dipped his head down and pressed his lips against hers. She jerked in surprise. Then she melted into it and replied eagerly. Their mouths moved against each other in a dance to some rhythm that couldn't be heard by anyone else but them. She opened her mouth immediately when he nibbled on her bottom lip. His tongue slipped between her lips and entered her mouth, mapping out every part of her sweet cavern - gums, teeth, palate. . .

 

She titled her head and scraped her teeth along Inuyasha's bottom lip, hoping to get some sort of reaction. He moaned throatily and raised his hand to place on the back of her neck- - -

 

“Ewwwww! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew! Mommy - ewww!”

 

Both Kagome and Inuyasha jerked back and looked over to see a little boy - probably no older than seven - whimpering pathetically and covering his eyes. Kagome colored and shoved against Inuyasha's chest to put more distance between them like that would erase what the boy witnessed. Inuyasha snorted and gave Kagome a moody look - he wasn't done kissing, dammit.

 

Kagome opened her mouth to offer comfort to the little boy. He yelped and whirled before sprinting down the hall, still whimpering and calling for parental support.

 

After a pause, she turned and whapped Inuyasha's arm with the back of her hand.

 

“Ow! Geez, wench, what did I do?” He rubbed the abused appendage and cast her a disgruntled look.

 

Kagome huffed, crossed her arms, and looked away childishly. “You are not allowed to scar little children for life, do you hear?”

 

Inuyasha laughed and shook his head. “You sure do have a way of allowing me to forget my woes,” he murmured.

 

“Hm?” she hummed in confusion. His golden eyes drifted away from her and she raised a brow in curiosity. She poked him experimentally. “Hey, what's wrong?”

 

He sighed heavily. “I have to go and talk to Kikyou.”

 

Kagome grew serious. “She might be unconscious, Inuyasha.”

 

“I know.”

 

She nodded. “Alright then. Off you go.”

 

“Eh?” He looked over at her, befuddled. Her blunt remark threw him for a loop, most definitely. “What?”

 

She stuck out her tongue playfully. “Well, you better get going or else she'll fall asleep for real and then you'll miss your chance, won't you?”

 

“Yeah,” he agreed before his expression changed to thoughtful.

 

“What? What's wrong now?”

 

He grinned and titled his head, causing a few stray, silvery tendrils of his bangs to tumble over his left eye. “Come with me.”

 

“You look like a shaggy dog right now,” Kagome pointed out, smiling jovially.

 

Inuyasha rolled his golden eyes and Kagome resisted the urge to snicker when another lock slipped down from the force of gravity and completely hid Inuyasha's left eye from view.

 

“Come with me?” he repeated.

 

Kagome's giggles faded and she stared solemnly at Inuyasha's covered eye. “Don't you think that maybe you should go alone? I think Kikyou would rather rip her hair our strand by strand than be in the same room as me right now.”

 

Inuyasha blinked and the action made the hair over his covered eye to twitch, which in turn caused Kagome to grin to herself. “And what would make you say something like that?” he softly inquired.

 

“Think about it, would you?” Kagome replied, lifting a brow at him. “I'm going out with the person she loves, she probably thinks that I'm taking her place and shoving her away from everything she knew to be her reality, and to top it all off, I eerily resemble her, don't'cha think? Anyone would be bound to hate me.” She sighed and leaned back against the clean, pristine-white walls in exhaustion.

 

Inuyasha remained silent for a moment and then said, “Then just walk me to her room.”

Kagome snorted and pushed herself away from the wall to give a mock curtsey with an invisible skirt and offering her arm, batting her eyelashes dramatically. “Oh, Inuyasha, please lead the waaaay!” she said in a sing-song voice that made Inuyasha scowl - despite the fact that he accepted her arm without even thinking about it.

 

“Geez, you're annoying, wench,” he grumbled as he tugged on her arm to get them going.

 

“I feel like Mary Poppins with that chimney-cleaner-dude! Oh, what was his name?” She drifted off and scowled in thought.

 

Inuyasha closed his eyes at her antics. “Kagome. . .” he said warningly.

 

Kagome wrinkled her nose at him. “No, no. That's my name. I can't remember his name.”

 

“Kagome,” Inuyasha said again in a near-groan, exasperated.

 

Kagome turned and scowled at him. “Gee, for someone being a demon prodigy, you sure are slow with the up-take. Let me say this slowly: that's my name. I can't remember his - oh, wait. It's Bert. Never-mind, I remembered. We're all good.” She looked forward, her scowl transforming into a smile, and continued to walk with a pep in her step.

 

Inuyasha, exasperated, closed his eyes and slowly started to count to ten. Kagome, ever the observant one, cocked her head to get a better look at his fact and asked, “What'cha doin'?”

 

“Counting to ten.”

 

“Eh? Really? Why?”

 

“It helps to control anger and frustration, I hear.”

 

“Oh, really? Does it work for you by any chance?”

 

He ground his teeth. “That's what I'm trying to figure out.”

 

“Well, what number are you on now?”

 

“Seven.”

 

“How about now?”

 

“Eight.”

 

“And now?”

 

“Nine.”

 

“Ooo! So you're on ten now?”

 

“Sadly, yes.” He opened his eyes and saw her peer at him with excitement.

 

“And did it work?” she asked.

 

“Sadly, no.”

 

They stopped in front of Kikyou's hospital room and Kagome slipped her arm out of Inuyasha's. She walked to stand in front of the glass window that allowed visitors to see in and was surprised to see Izayoi standing by Kikyou's bedside, leaning down, whispering something to the dying girl.

 

Dying.

 

Kikyou was dying. And for some reason, the irked Kagome even though she didn't really knew much about the other woman. All she knew about Kikyou she had heard through Inuyasha and from what she had seen thus far, it didn't seem like Kikyou was all too fond of her.

 

She turned to look questioningly at Inuyasha who was at the door by that point, preparing to go inside. “Did you know your mother's in there?”

 

He glanced over at her before replying. “My mother is really sympathetic. She'd visit Hitler if he was ever hospitalized and even bring a dozen roses to cheer up his day, maybe even a story to read if she really got into it.”

 

Kagome grinned brightly. “Wow, what a mom.”

 

Inuyasha “keh'ed” and glanced at her again and took a deep breath. His ears flicked downwards in a tilt that showed he was obviously distressed about something. Personally, Kagome found that adorable.

 

“What's wrong?”

 

His golden eyes flicked over to her and eyes right ear twitched - Kagome had to swallow the urge to go awwwwww and fondle the appendage. “Be there when I come out?” He meant for it to be a request, but it came out a question.

 

Kagome rolled her eyes. “You sure know how to be a man, I must say.”

 

Inuyasha sent her a sour, pouty look, crossing his arms as his ears drooped even more. He grumbled something and Kagome laughed.

 

“I'm joking, Inuyasha. You just looked way too cute for me to resist teasing you. Of course I'll stick around until after you talk to her. Unless you want me to go off on vacation into the bathroom to redo my make-up?”

 

He looked her over one more time suspiciously before sighing and turning his attention back to the door, grumbling, “You better not.”

 

Kagome watched him go in through the glass window. When he opened the door, Izayoi looked over at him as he approached and softly spoke to him. As the mother and son had their conversation, her eyes wandered around the room. Like a moth to a flame, her gaze almost automatically flicked over to the small monitor that daintily hung down from the metal stand that also held a bag of blood and IV. A thin green line sharply jumped up on the screen of the monitor before falling back down and staying almost still for a moment before doing another sharp jump and drawing a few more jagged, crag-like lines. She could faintly hear the rhythmic noise that the device emitted -

 

Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . . Beep. . .

 

Kikyou's heart monitor - the thing that kept a record of her life. When Kikyou's heart finally shuddered and went lax, the monitor would wail its mechanical lungs out, screeching without stop. Kagome, more than anything in the world, hated that noise.

 

Izayoi leaned forward to place a quick peck on her son's forehead and continued out of the room. Kagome's attention shifted from the jumping green line to Inuyasha's mother.

 

“How is she?” Kagome found herself murmuring as Izayoi silently closed the door behind her.

 

The older woman closed her eyes wearily. “She's conscious. Barely. At least, for now.”

 

Kagome's expression turned glum as she peered into the room again. In the white, pristine room, Inuyasha hesitantly brushed a stray piece of hair away from Kikyou's eyes before jerking back quickly.

 

“Where is everyone?” Kagome asked curiously, forcing her gaze away from the room to look behind her. “I thought they all came with us.”

 

“They did,” Izayoi assured. “Inutaisho received several calls and so he decided to momentarily step out to take care of things.”

 

“Oh,” was all Kagome could say before continuing. “Then where's Fluffy-kins?”

 

When she received no immediate answer, she thought she had either said something wrong or something had happened with Kikyou. Panicked, Kagome's brilliant blue eyes darted back to the window only to see that all was as it should be. Frowning slightly, she then switched her gaze to Izayoi.

 

“Fluffy-kins?” the older woman repeated, eyes narrowing in a squint of confusion. “Who are we talking about here?”

 

Kagome's cheeks flushed and she quietly cleared her throat. “Oh, uh. Well. About that. Your son?”

 

“Sesshoumaru?” Izayoi hesitantly clarified.

 

Kagome nodded awkwardly before blurting, “I swear I didn't come up with that name! Rin called him that first!”

 

Izayoi chuckled softly, shaking her head. “It's okay. I think it's quite. . . humorous, actually. Although I'm not sure how Inutaisho will react to such a nickname,” she mused to herself.

 

“But seriously, where is everybody?” Kagome continued. “I've only seen you and Inuyasha so far. Did everyone else just up and run off?”

 

Izayoi frowned. “Actually, Sesshoumaru and Inutaisho went out to get MenouMaru.”

 

“Eh?” Kagome blinked in surprise. “Is there something wrong with - oh.” She glanced over at Kikyou before murmuring, “Is he sick, too, then?”

 

The older woman's expression turned grim. “He called Inutaisho not too long ago. Apparently, something's wrong with his legs. He sat down a while ago and hasn't been able to stand back up. He said it was like his whole body is going numb, starting with his toes.” She closed her eyes and let out a small, weary sigh. “It seems that everything's coming to a close.”

 

Kagome hesitated, unsure if she wanted an answer to that statement, before finally asking - against her better judgment: “What do you mean?”

 

Izayoi opened her eyes and steeled herself. “When the more dominant mate - in most cases the male, and in this case MenouMaru - pass on, the submissive partner immediately follows. So even if Kikyou had twenty four hours to live, if MenouMaru died in the next five minutes, not ten seconds after his passing, Kikyou would also die.”

 

Kagome's shoulders slumped as she stared at the wall beside them. “So then there really isn't any hope for them.”

 

Inuyasha's mother placed a hand on Kagome's shoulder. “You're a sweet girl,” she said softly. “I can very honestly say that I'm glad Inuyasha finally found you. And I can also say that I'm going to enjoy having you as a daughter-in-law.”

 

Warmth tickled Kagome's cheeks in the form of a blush. “I have to say, despite all of this happening, I'm also glad I met Inuyasha,” she admitted.

 

And just like that, like a flashlight coming to life to bring illumination to a dark room, Kagome just knew that if Inuyasha, indeed, proposed for taking their weird relationship to the nest step, she wouldn't decline. She'd probably squeal and then fight to decide whether to glomp him first or kiss him senseless. But both options sounded good.

 

A gentle smile tugged at Izayoi's features and her eyes softened. “I know,” was all she said in reply.

 

Silence fell over the two. They both stood watching Inuyasha interact with his childhood friend. After a few moments, Kagome's eyes drifted back to the heart monitor with its jagged-up-down-crag-mountain lines. The same faint beeping swirled around the area, mixing with the smell of antiseptic and chemicals, making her wrinkle her nose.

 

She really hated hospitals.

 

That was a surprise to most people seeing as she was a nurse. But she much rather liked working away from the smells, the sounds, and the horror of a hospital - especially an ER. Watching someone walk in with an arm dangling with only a string of skin keeping it attached to the person was not exactly the highlight of anyone's day, and it didn't help that she was slightly queasy when it came to blood and other bodily fluids that were never supposed to be seen.

 

So maybe becoming a nurse hadn't been the smartest thing. She seriously still would've liked to be an author - although her writing skills weren't anything to brag about at that point, so she wasn't sure how plausible a writing career would've been.

 

A musical jingling-jangling broke Kagome from her thoughts and still slightly dazed she shifted her attention to Izayoi who was pulling out a small, dark pink phone - the device that was the source of all the racket. Izayoi looked over at Kagome apologetically and she shook her head, telling the older woman she didn't mind.

 

“Hello?”

 

Not wanting to appear rude, Kagome looked back through the glass at Inuyasha. He looked like he was almost done visiting Kikyou. Kagome watched as he gently flicked her forehead playfully. She had to forcefully fight back a round of jealousy, angry at herself for feeling envy in the first place. She grit her teeth, frustrated when the small flicker of emotion didn't leave but instead coiled around her gut stubbornly.

 

`Stop it,' she firmly told herself. Kikyou and Inuyasha were childhood friends. It would be wrong if there wasn't affection between them -

 

`But Kikyou feels a little more than just petty affection,' a small voice reminded her in the back of her mind. She immediately gunned down said voice and stoned it.

 

“What do you mean?” Kagome started at the tinge of panic that Izayoi tried to hide in her voice.

 

“What's that supposed to mean?” the older woman repeated after a moment, her calm façade fading more and more with every second.

 

Seeing the gentle, naturally serene woman look jumpy caused a cold stone of raw fear to drop in Kagome's gut and her breath to hitch as her throat tightened. For some reason, Izayoi's earlier spoken words tumbled back through her mind unbidden: “It seems that everything's coming to a close.”

 

“Oh. . . Oh, god,” Izayoi murmured as she closed the phone and lifted a hand to cover her face miserably.

 

“What's wrong?” Kagome managed to croak around the ache in her throat.

 

Izayoi waited a moment, composing herself, and when she spoke, Kagome appreciated the effort that she took to sound calm and confident. She wasn't sure how she'd feel if Izayoi's voice had trembled when she said, “That was Inutaisho. They found MenouMaru. And he's dying.”

 

“We know he's dying,” Kagome slowly repeated. “Hence the whole reason why we're in this predicament right now.”

 

“No,” the other said quietly. “He's dying. They're in an ambulance right now and no one thinks he'll survive the five minute journey from where they are to the hospital.”

 

The raven nurse's eyes widened before slowly drifting over to Inuyasha and softening. “He's going to get upset at that,” she whispered more to herself than anyone else.

 

“Get him out of there,” Izayoi automatically said.

 

Confused, Kagome cast Inuyasha's mother a look. “Excuse me?”

 

“Get him out of there,” she repeated firmly. “No one wants to be there when their best friend dies, no matter how close they are. Either get him out of there or go in with him.”

 

Kagome hesitated before shaking her head. “I can't go in there - it's not my place - and I think he's about done anyway.”

 

Izayoi remained silent for a minute before nodding and turned to walk away. “I trust your judgment. Take care of him and thanks for everything,” she gently called back as she continued out of sight.

 

Before she could stop it, her jaw opened in a yawn as exhaustion caught up with her - both mentally and physically. She leaned her forehead against the cool glass and waited for Inuyasha. Indeed, it looked like he was done visiting at the moment. He spoke softly to Kikyou for a few seconds. She looked like she was struggling to sit up and Inuyasha placed a hand on her chest, right above her collar bone, to gently push her back done. A few more words were exchanged and then the bubble of jealousy that Kagome felt returned full force - and she once again felt mad at herself for her envy - when Inuyasha leaned down and gave Kikyou a small hug.

 

With that, he started for the exit.

 

“Hey,” he greeted as he slowly shut the door. “Glad to see you didn't bail on me in favor of eyeliner and lipstick.”

 

Shoving her jealousy away forcefully, Kagome couldn't help but smile at him. “I actually had a nice conversation with your mother,” she informed him.

 

Horror briefly flashed through his eyes. “She didn't happen to have her wallet on her, did she?”

 

“Maaaaaybe,” Kagome coyly replied.

 

Inuyasha's eyes darted nervously to gauge for any tell-tale signs of her fib. “Did she. . . show you that damn picture?”

 

“Which one?”

 

“Alright, wench, did you really see it?” His voice was on the verge of desperation. “I told her to get rid of it, I swear. But for some reason, she just seems to love to torment me with- - -”

 

Kagome laughed softly. “No worries, Inuyasha. She didn't show me anything. I'm just messin' with you.”

 

Relief flooded his expression followed by annoyance. “You could've just said that to begin with,” he grumbled, crossing his arms in a pout.

 

She laughed again and cut herself off abruptly.

 

Inuyasha looked at her, alarmed. “What is it?”

 

“MenouMaru. . .” she hesitantly began, remembering Izayoi's words.

 

Inuyasha tensed and looked at her, misery burning in the back of his eyes. “What's wrong? Tell me? Please?”

 

Reluctantly, she relayed all the she had learned in the last ten minutes to him and carefully scrutinized him for his reaction. Nervous butterflies skimmed around in her stomach when he just looked in at Kikyou with an unreadable expression.

 

“So she has even less time than I thought,” he mumbled dejectedly and for a split second, Kagome thought she was going to cry. Seeing Inuyasha feel so awful made her feel the exact same way. It ached to see him look so down.

 

She wrapped her arms around his torso, relishing in the feel of the warmth of his skin. Standing so close to him with her ear pressed against his chest, she could hear his heart beating and feel his pulse under her cheek. Inuyasha also wrapped his arms around her, sighing in a mixture of sadness and exhaustion, and almost condescendingly, she thought, `I bet he never hugged Kikyou like this.'

 

She once again felt bad and winced at her bitterness towards the woman. Kagome had never really had a jealous streak, but when it came to Inuyasha -

 

“I love you,” she murmured against the material of his shirt, and let out a blissful breath through her nose at how comfortable she felt and -

 

And she had said that out loud.

 

Her eyes snapped open when she heard his heart skip a beat and she realized that she had spoken out loud. She tensed, panic settling in, and gently pushed away from him. Inuyasha's grip on her only tightened and her panic only grew. Was he mad at her?

 

“Mind repeating what you just said?” His breath was hot against her ear and it caused a wave of embarrassed red to creep up her neck.

 

“You didn't hear me?” she asked, hope fluttering around in her stomach and mixing with the queasy fear she had felt before.

 

“Oh, I heard you,” he answered softly. Her stomach did a flip-flop and she nervously started to struggle against his hold, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

 

Her struggling abruptly ended when a pair of soft lips brushed up against hers gently, just for a second. Scared, slightly befuddled, but hopeful again, she looked up to lock eyes with Inuyasha when he pulled away. His amber gaze was suddenly hypnotizing and she found herself trembling against his hold like a weak kitten, suddenly very intimidated by his presence.

 

“I heard you,” he repeated, his smoldering eyes never once leaving hers. “I just wished you would've said it louder.” He leaned over and slowly bridged the gap between them more and more with every passing second. “Because I'd scream my love for you if you wanted me too,” he finished, his warm breath fanning against her lips. He didn't press their mouths together in a kiss though, but instead allowed the words to sink in.

 

Kagome swallowed and felt her own heart skip several beats as it temporarily forgot how to work properly. “You don't need to scream it,” she mumbled, her voice coming out hoarser than she would've liked. “Just saying it would make me happy.”

 

Inuyasha was only too happy to oblige and kissed her temple before leaning down to whisper in her ear. “I love you as well, Kagome.”

 

And like a curse sent in to ruin their moment, a loud, wailing, screaming rose up. It was never-ending and in her drunken stupor, it took Kagome a few minutes to realize what the sound was.

 

It was the heart monitor that was attached to Kikyou in the room behind them, screeching its never-exhausting mechanical lungs out to alert the world that Kikyou's heart had stopped beating.

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…That was dramatic. That was corny. That was cliché. That was crappy. -rubs eyes- And I'm sorry if you hated it. (This is turning into quite the soap-opera, I have to say) I am also sorry that this wasn't posted on the 5th of April as promised. I had my computer taken away for the following reasons:

 

--Detention at six in the morning

--A wonderfully awful grade of 84 in math on my report card (“Oh, Sayo! You're a straight-A student! Why do you have a damn C on your report card?!” as my parental figures griped at me)

--I forgot it was my cousin's birthday and needed to help with his party

--I lost my very expensive cell phone (“Sayo, do you even know what the word `responsible' means anymore?”)

 

So I finally got the computer back, and I can finally post this. -sigh- I have today off for spring break, so I'm going to finish up what I have written on chapter 41. So next update? Hmm…

 

Friday, April 25.

 

^_^ And I'll actually post it on that date, too. I promise.

 

Review!

 

Ja ne!