In Reality – Chapter 1 – "What Happened?"
She was slowly coming back to consciousness. The whirring and beeping of the machines sustaining her life deciding to rouse her back to the land of the living, even though she really didn't want to wake. If only her dreams could take her away again, away from this unpleasant reality.
The one thing her fuzzy mind kept reiterating was "where am I?"
There was no way she could just look around at her surroundings; she had lost her sight years ago due to a stupid spat. And she couldn't simply ask either, her voice was gone, from yet another thing that happened years ago, only that was due to a misunderstanding. But her nose definitely still worked, and what she smelled gave her an idea of where she was.
Medicines and herbs, these were two things she could not deny the scent of after being practically encircled by them for almost all of her long life. The scent of recently mopped floors also caught her attention, along with that of disinfectant. One thing that tickled her nose was the smell of freshly washed linens, yet another scent she was so familiar with in her long life. Lastly, this room she was in smelled both of death and new life so that could only mean one thing; she must be at in a hospital.
She couldn't understand why she would be at a hospital though. True, her person had been wounded many times in the past, but never enough to warrant admitting her into a hospital. Well, she had to admit that she had never told anybody about most numerous injuries that she had acquired from certain people, for if she did, said people would only inflict even more harm to her.
As she lay in the bed, not moving nor making noise, only staring blankly at the ceiling with her unseeing eyes, she tried to discern how she came to be in the here and now. Nowhere in her mind could she find the memory of being brought to this place, so how had it come to pass?
Muffled voices brought her out of her reverie and she simply closed her eyes shut as the voices drifted through what she supposed was a door or wall. Then a clicking sound could be heard and the door to her room opened as the people she supposed were connected to the voices stepped inside.
Closer and closer they came until they finally sounded as if they halted; each one on either side of her bed. Whoever was on her right took a deep breath and sighed before she heard what sounded like the rustle of paper before the bodiless voice spoke.
"I am just amazed. From what these results say, she should be dead."
It was a man's voice, one that was soft and warm. He sounded so familiar but she just couldn't put her finger on who the voice belonged to.
"But she obviously isn't wolf." The second voice, obviously male, said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world that she was still alive.
But thanks to this second voice and what it said, her mind provided a name to match the first voice. It was Kouga, but what was he doing here in a hospital? Shouldn't he be back in his cave with the rest of the wolves?
No, no she was wrong. It's been to many years and there have been so many technological advances that she had heard about that he surely wouldn't still be living in the caves.
It was certainly interesting how time seemed to fly by as it seemed. Had she been cooped up so long and doing so much every day that she hadn't realized how much time had passed? Was she honestly that void to the world around her?
Another sigh escaping from Kouga that interrupted her thoughts and she could only imagine the look upon his face as he most likely stared at the second man in the room.
She heard the papers rustles again and she figured that he was about to say something else, and she was right.
"That doesn't matter, the thing that does is how she got this way. You saw the way she looked when she came in here! Ezver since we gave her the anesthetic something happened to make her to look like this! Evidently she has been abused and battered for what seems to be years, so what happened? You've got to know something you sorry excuse for a dog. Now tell me what the hell happened to Kagome damn it!" Kouga spat out irritably.
There was a pregnant pause and the woman on the bed remembered something that she hadn't in so long.
Her name. That was right, her name was Kagome, but it had been so long since anyone had ever spoken it and it scared her just to think of how long that actually was.
A thought crossed through her mind then and she realized what they must have been talking about.
Kouga, whom she figured out was apparently her doctor, had administered something to her that caused her to lose all of her focus while completely unconscious which in turn caused her to unintentionally do away with her disguising charm.
Kagome knew she should have been angry that one of her most guarded secrets was discovered, but she wasn't. She figured she should have been upset at Kouga too for letting others see her in this state, but she couldn't do that, and it wasn't because of her forgiving nature either. It was due to the fact that she hadn't felt any sort of emotion in years.
Long ago Kagome had locked her emotions away so that she would be better able to serve. She figured if she couldn't feel, then they would stop, they would stop everything. But she was wrong, oh she had been so wrong; she had the scars to prove it.
The only thing that had kept her sane and hoping was the memories, all those wonderful memories of yesteryear. The same ones that she had managed to somehow remove from her mind and lock away somewhere, that is, all but her most cherished ones. This meant she couldn't just lay here and reflect about her whole life, only bits and pieces. But surely those few would give her solace throughout the years to come.
She was brought out of her reverie again, only this time it was by a growl that came distinctly from Kouga. Apparently the other man hadn't answered him at all and it was making him angry. She could feel the tension pouring off him in waves, but she couldn't do anything.
"Fine, be that way you stupid mongrel. But one way or another I will find out what happened to Kagome with your help or not. I suggest that you figure out a hell of a good explanation for all this. Whatever occurred in your palace Lord Ice-ass shouldn't have happened in the first place and especially not to Kagome!"
Another pause made its way into the room as Kouga took a deep breath to calm himself before turning and walking to the door to leave the second man with Kagome while he did his other rounds. Before he opened the door however, he looked back to the other man who was staring intently at Kagome's ruined leathery skin.
"Look, I'm not saying that it is your fault. But with all that these reports, tests, and exams have showed about her, she shouldn't have been put through any of that. Kagome somehow managed to creep into all of our lives and helped to change them for the better, so it really hurts to see her like this. My blood boils with yearning to find and kill the people who did this to her, to make them suffer like they have obviously made her. I just can't help but to be angry about it."
And then he was gone and she was left alone in the room with her Lord.
"But it was my fault." She heard him whisper after Kouga had left.
Kagome then felt a clawed hand touch her cheek and what felt like a thumb caress the scar that went directly across her left eye.
Then she felt his breath on her neck, right next to her ear, and wondered what he was doing.
"Why didn't you tell me? I would have stopped them. I would have protected you." He icily declared.
But it was too late; the damage had already been done. Her Lord lingered for a few moments as if somehow she would magically heal or by some stretch of the imagination she would answer him and tell him why, but he knew she couldn't respond.
Only two minutes later did Kagome hear footsteps walking away and the door open and shut, which alerted her that she was now alone, with only her thoughts to keep her company.
Kagome just couldn't stand it anymore! She wanted to be like she was so long ago, happy and carefree, but she was broken now, just as she had been for years.
She turned her head to the side, as if she were to stare at the wall, and began to reminisce about happier times. Kagome thought about when she had been the happiest in her life and so she let her mind drift back through her thousands upon thousands of memories until she finally landed on the ones she wanted.
A sad smile appeared on her face as she began to think of Inuyasha.
If only he wasn't just in the recesses of her mind. If only he could be here, in reality.
A/N ~ I know you all really want a new chapter of Curiosity, but it is going into the 4-H season here and that means that I am busy. But I should have a chapter up sometime this week hopefully.
As far as this goes, I have been thinking about doing a darker/angst story (no limes/lemons) and this was part of what I came up with. I just had to type it because I couldn't get it out of my head. It will mainly be circling around Kagome and a couple other characters.
How do you like it? Your thoughts?
Do you think that I should continue?
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