Lei: Yo! So, I just want to put in a quick word before you guys jump into the story. Although Inuyasha is clearly really rough and tough in the anime, I'm portraying him in a more...domesticated manner? You'll still see the demonic sides of him *wink* but he's not the fighter in the story.
Kagome: Thank goodness! I'm so tired of seeing him brag about his macho-ness -_-"
Inuyasha: Good thing she doesn't own us, so I don't have to be so tame *smirk*
Kagome: O.o Down, boy.
~Seventeen Minutes~
Beep. Beep...Beep...
Silence.
A hand grasped the young girl's frail hand tightly, as if trying to will the body back to life. "Kikyo! Stay with me! Hang in there!" A man with panicked golden eyes shot a quick look at the heart monitor, which told him that no progress was being made. He reached over to flip on the defibrillators, which let out a low hum that resonated in the sepulchral room.
He counted to three in his head and slammed the defibrillators down on her upper abdomen and chest. He felt the power go straight through her body, like an echo in a dark tunnel. Golden eyes locked onto the girl's face, pleading for her to wake. But the girl's deathly pale face did not stir. Knowing that it was futile, but unwilling to give up, he repeatedly slammed the defibrillators down on her chest for two minutes without success, until he finally gave up.
The man stepped back and lowered his arms, his head hanging in grief. She was gone. Unwanted tears sprung in his eyes just as another doctor entered the room. The doctor took one look at the grieving man's position before flicking the power switch for the defibrillators off. The golden eyed man did not move.
The doctor pulled on his short ponytail as he sucked in a timid breath before moving to stand before him, blocking the man's view of the corpse. "Inuyasha, are you okay?"
The golden-eyed doctor wiped his eyes as he pushed his long silver hair out of his face and faced his companion squarely in the face, "Kikyo Miko died on November 15 at 2:45 am. Record that in the books and make sure it's added on her death certificate." He made a move towards the door, but the doctor stood in his way.
"Inuyasha, I hate to tell you this, but you know the procedure. As her doctor, you must talk with the parents and-"
Inuyasha's eyes flashed. "I don't fucking care about the procedure. Get someone else to tell her parents what happened. It doesn't have to be me. You can tell her parents yourself, Miroku. You saw the whole thing through the glass screen, didn't you?" Before Miroku had a chance to answer, Inuyasha pushed him aside and was out the door.
Miroku sighed as he heard the door slam and looked forlornly at the beautiful girl's body. He made his way over to pick up the small piece of cloth sitting on her bedside table and laid it over Kikyo's face. As the only other doctor who witnessed the death, Miroku grabbed the pen lying on the table and filled out the death certificate.
"Oh, Kikyo," Miroku exhaled wearily, "Why did you have to go and break Inuyasha's heart?"
###
Inuyasha didn't know where he was. The rain pelted onto his white lab coat as he ran as fast as he could. Blurs of black and grey enveloped him as he flew through the crowded streets dotted with umbrellas. What am I doing? He thought to himself as he stopped at a convenient store and caught his breath. I'm acting like an idiotic coward.
His thoughts strayed to the girl on the deathbed. Her death was all his fault. His perfect record was stained by the bleak mark of death. If he hadn't attempted to use the medicine, she might have still been alive. And they might not have split up. He recalled the memory of their last argument.
"If you love Rin so much, you should just stop coming here and leave me to die!" Kikyo screamed at Inuyasha with a hateful glare. She lay on her bed at the hospital, donned in white hospital clothes and injected with plenty of IVs.
"You know that Rin is my brother's wife! I can't let her die either!" Inuyasha protested hotly. Kikyo became jealous very easily for a sickly woman who was too weak to stand.
"Either?" Kikyo's voice became quiet, "Ha, what a joke. That medicine you tricked me into drinking has given me more pain than relief. You lied to me. You said that I would get better and that we could start a life together after I was cured." She stopped and coughed violently, her chest heaving hard with the effort. She composed herself before Inuyasha could offer his help, and said with contempt, "Dr. Naraku was right to keep you from giving me that poison."
Inuyasha was at a loss for words. Her words stung, but she was right. The medicine he had given her had been put away in the cabinets for a reason, but he was so desperate that he pleaded the Head of the Medical Department, Kaede to let him use it on Kikyo. His long-time enemy had given Inuyasha "advice" to not give Kikyo the medicine, but since Naraku usually spouted ideas with malicious intent, Inuyasha had chosen to ignore him.
Kikyo laughed bitterly at his quietness, "Well, I guess it doesn't matter anyways. You never cared about my life in the first place. I was just an experiment to you, nothing more."
I was just an experiment to you, nothing more.
Those words haunted him for many sleepless nights and continued to be the source of his guilt even after she had left the world. At first, he was angry at Kikyo for thinking such absurd thoughts, but after mulling over it, he became afraid. Afraid that she was right. Inuyasha greatly regretted letting his better judgment slip and allowing her to drink the medicine. He would never be that dangerously desperate again; he would make sure of that.
He passed the aisles of snacks and drinks before coming to a stop at the ice cream mini-freezer. As he reached his hand in to get his favorite popsicle, another pale hand extended out and bumped into his.
"Oh, sorry!" Inuyasha turned to come face-to-face with a pretty raven-haired woman. At first glance, Inuyasha had to blink his eyes a few times before his eyes came to terms with his brain. It looked as though the short woman in jeans and a t-shirt was Kikyo for a second, and Inuyasha's heart lurched with pain as the thought faded and reality set in. She's dead, Inuyasha told himself firmly.
She smiled apologetically at him before grabbing the last of the popsicles that Inuyasha had wanted and turning to go and line up at the cash register. Her back faced Inuyasha, and he couldn't help but noticing that the figures of both women were also very similar. He thought about going up and asking if she knew Kikyo, when he realized that he had no treat in his hand.
"Hey!" He whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at the girl, "You stole my popsicle!"
The girl glanced back at him once, wavy hair cascading over her face, before replying in a nonchalant tone, "It's my popsicle now, buddy. There's plenty of other popsicles in the freezer, anyways."
Inuyasha couldn't believe she was treating him like that after she bumped into him. He was about to make a retort when she suddenly dropped the treat and started coughing violently. And VERY loudly. Inuyasha stared in horror as her back arched in painful-looking ways and drops of red spurted out of her mouth with each heave. Just as he was about to approach her, she dropped down on the ground heavily and did not move.
Years of medical training kicked in as he swept past the growing crowd, saying, "I'm a doctor, please let me through." He checked for signs of a pulse on her neck and wrist and found none. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial.
"Hello?"
"Miroku? Get an ambulance now on New City Avenue at the small convenient store. There's a girl who fell unconscious while coughing. I didn't find a pulse. Hurry." Inuyasha ended the call before Miroku could get another word in.
Inuyasha worriedly checked her pulse again, only to come up with the same results. "Dammit." He gritted his teeth as he picked her up and carried her bridal style out of the convenient store, earning gasps from the crowd. He searched for a place that was out of the rain to place her and laid her down to start performing CPR. For some reason, looking at her soft lips made him blush, and he froze for a second before kicking himself internally for hesitating. This isn't the first time you've performed CPR on a woman. Get a grip on yourself, Inuyasha. Without wasting any more time, he slammed his mouth onto her lips and began to pump air into her body. After a minute of this, her VERY faint pulse returned, but her breathing was shallow and Inuyasha was afraid that she would lose consciousness again. He frantically scanned the streets for any ambulances and kept his ears open for sirens. "Dammit, Miroku. Hurry up and get your ass down here."
Just then, his sensitive ears picked up the noise of sirens, and he turned to be met with the awaited ambulance. Breathing a sigh of relief, Inuyasha scooped the woman into his arms and lay her down on the stretcher being brought out by Miroku. He didn't know why, but his heart seemed to be heavy with despair and worry as he watched her being wheeled away.
"You okay, man?" Miroku placed a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder and gave his friend a concerned look. "You look pretty pale."
Not tearing his eyes away from the woman, Inuyasha heard himself mutter a "Fine." before clamoring up the ambulance to go sit next to her. He didn't know why he was so concerned with this unknown woman's safety, especially since she stole his ice cream, but he filed away those thoughts for later pondering.
Miroku sat down beside him and watched with wide eyes as Inuyasha sat next to the woman with angst clear in his body language. Inuyasha wasn't exactly known as the most heart-warming and comforting doctor, so as the doctor watched Inuyasha frantically check the pulse every five minutes, he couldn't help but wonder about Inuyasha's motives, not knowing that Inuyasha was wondering the exact same thing. Glancing at the clothes the woman wore, it was clear that Inuyasha wasn't there for the money. So what was the motive? Why was Inuyasha acting this way? Was she a relative of some sort? Stumped, Miroku abandoned his thoughts and began to work on keeping the woman alive, as the Emergency Medical Technician in charge.
Once the ambulance arrived at the hospital, the woman was immediately taken into the Emergency Room and was hooked up to many machines. Inuyasha left her in the care of Miroku and others as he walked over to the front desk to sign the woman in.
"Hello, Dr. Takahashi. What happened to that young woman?" The woman at the front desk bowed to Inuyasha slightly before grabbing a pen and whipping out a clipboard to record the notes.
Inuyasha nodded in greetings before replying, "She was in a convenient store when she suddenly started coughing up blood. I was about to help her, but she collapsed before I could reach her. I couldn't find any signs of a pulse, so I took her outside to get her some fresh air and performed CPR on her. It took one minute, but she began to breathe again, albeit very faintly. However, she never regained full consciousness after her collapse."
The woman's pen was scribbling at top speed as she took down every word. "How was she acting before the collapse? Any signs that she was going to blackout?"
He shook his head, "No, she was acting normally."
"Do you know her name? Or any personal information I can put down?"
Tiredly, he shook his head again, "No, she didn't have her ID on her, sorry. Can you just get it in the morning?"
"Yes, that'll be no problem." She finished up her last sentence, "Okay, thank you very much, Dr. Takahashi."
"You too, Sango." He made a move to his office, tired from his latest rescue, when Sango halted him.
"Oh, sorry to bother you again, but who should I put down for her doctor? No offense meant, but you're already taking on twenty patients who are all quite difficult cases. Maybe Dr. Ookami would be best? Or perhaps Dr. Suikotsu?"
Inuyasha paused before saying, "No, just give her to me. I can handle her better than the other two can. Besides, I was there when the incident occurred. Place her in my charge. I'll take a look at her tomorrow. Notify me immediately if there are any changes." He walked away, heading towards his office to give his body a reprieve.
Sango bowed to his retreating back, "As you wish, Dr. Takahashi."
Inuyasha punched in the number lock for his office and stepped into his room, glad for the comfort of his black leather couch and the familiar smell of citrus to welcome him back. He lay down on the couch and breathed in deeply; losing a dear beloved and saving a new patient in one day was something he was not used to, and his body cried for rest.
As he sank into the warm embrace of Morpheus, his mind couldn't help but conjuring one more question for him to ponder over.
Who was that woman?
Lei: What did you think?
Inuyasha: I'm acting like a lovesick fool, even though I don't even know her!
Kagome: *grins* 'Cuz no one can resist my charm.
Lei: Big thank you to my best friend who edited Seventeen Minutes! Please review and tell me what you think!
