A Chronic Fairy Tale

By Kalene A.

Chapter One: Late Night in the Emergency Room

"Did I tell you about what happened to Miroku and I the other day?" Inuyasha said as he lightly stroked the hair above Kagome's ear. He was standing over her as she lay on the hospital bed in the ER room. She looked so tired as she watched the nurse prep her arm for the IV, preparing herself for the familiar sting of the the needle. Inuyasha's words made her look up at him in anticipation for what she knew would be a good story.

Inuyasha continued to stroke her hair as he began telling her a funny story about the exorcism they had done last week. Miroku had gotten into another bind with some pretty lord's daughter. She was being ridiculous about not wanting to give up her pet who was actually a little demon. Miroku has straightened up a lot since settling down with Sango, but he still has trouble saying no to a pretty girl. Inuyasha eventually ended the ordeal by taking care of the demon while the girl was busy persuading Miroku.

By the time he finished his story, the IV was already in and the nurse was gathering up the tubes of blood he'd taken before hooking her up to the saline drip. Inuyasha smiled down at her, knowing that his attempt to distract her had worked. Kagome had barely felt a thing, and she was thankful to him.

"You should try to get some sleep," he said after the nurse had left, "I'll be right here when you wake up." Kagome gave him a weak nod so Inuyasha went and turned the lights off. He pulled the covers up tighter around her as she shivered hard. He hates it when they do this, giving her a cold IV fresh out of the fridge without warming it up. It makes her cold from the inside out so there is not much he can do to warm her up. Still, he takes off his kimono and drapes it around her, hoping that it'll at least help a little.

There was a chair in the corner and he pulled the chair up to the bed. She was already asleep, the medicine they give her always causes bad drowsiness. And it didn't help that it was already 3 am. They had left in a hurry when Kagome had started having a bad spell, not caring how late it was. The once buzzing ER had calmed down to a lazy pace. There was hardly anyone even here. Inuyasha gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead before sitting down in the chair. He took the remote and began to press the buttons the way Kagome had showed him last time to change the pictures on the screen. He stopped on some foreign movie about these two dogs and a cat traveling through a forest. He liked it because the forest reminded him of home, but his favorite part was the sassy cat. After he'd set the remote down, he'd taken Kagome's cold hand into his. As the movie drowned on and another started, he began going in and out between a half asleep and a barely awake state.

Inuyasha had his head laid down on the bed, Kagome's hand still in his, when the doctor opened the door, jolting him awake. He quickly stood up and folded his arms, taking the confident pose he usually took with the doctors. Looking tougher on the outside seemed to make him feel stronger on the inside. Even when he was feeling too frustrated and defeated for it to help, he still wanted to at least look tough in front of the doctors, as if he could intimidate them into doing a better job of finding them answers.

No matter how hopeless it seemed, the most important thing was to stay strong for Kagome. He'd never do or say anything to reveal how worried he really was. She already worried enough about him, feeling as like a burden. As if she could be a burden to anyone, he thought. Didn't she know that she was the best thing to ever happened to him, sickness and all?

Kagome was waking up as the doctor walked into the room. "I've got good news," he said. Inuyasha rolled his eyes, knowing all too well what he was about to say. "All the tests came up fine. Other than being a little dehydrated, we can't find anything wrong," the doctor said.

"But there is obviously something wrong. How do you expect to explain what's happening? She can't even walk without passing out. Her resting heart rate is 125 right now, for Pete's sake!"

"Well," the doctor hesitated, "I suppose it could be a reaction to the new medicine we prescribed her yesterday when she was discharged."

"What!" Inuyasha shouted, making the doctor jump back. "You didn't even consider the side effects before giving her a new drug? You know she can't tolerate anything that raises her heart rate!"

"Well, apparently the drug contained caffeine and..."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me!" Inuyasha interrupted. "How hard is it to check some damn ingredients?" he practically growled. The doctor was speechless.

"Anyway," Inuyasha began to calm down, "you better do everything you can to help her. I will not stand by and let my wife go through this without doing everything possible to make it easier on her."

"Well, let me admit her so you two can get settled more comfortably in a room. We plan to keep her for a few days until we can get her medicine straightened out. Her GP and her cardiologist should be by to talk to you about that as soon as they get a chance. I'll make sure of it. The neurologist may come by, as well. In the meantime, we are going to keep giving her the IV to help keep her hydrated. And we'll give her medicine to treat the symptoms as they come. I assure you, we'll do everything we can to make her as comfortable as possible."

Kagome smiled. Inuyasha was her hero, always standing up for her to the ER doctors. And she was impressed at how well he was picking up on the medical stuff. He knew more about her condition than she did. As soon as they'd gotten her diagnosis, Inuyasha went around the whole hospital demanding to know everything they could tell him about this P.O.T.S. He'd taken to being the perfect caretaker in no time. He is just so devoted to her, and she never has to doubt for a second how much he truly loves her. Being chronically ill is so hard, but she knows she will get through anything as long as she has her Inuyasha to take care of her.

He bend down and put his arms under her to move her into the wheelchair. But as he lifted her up, she raised her hand up to his check, a sign not to set her down just yet. He looked down at her beautiful, pale, face. As he stood there holding her in his arms, she moved her hand to the back of his neck, pulling his head down to her. Their lips met and he could feel all the love and gratitude that her kiss held. He kissed her long and passionately, until her heart had speed up so fast that she'd sunken into unconscious. "Kagome?" he kissed the top of her head that was resting against his chest as he waited for her to wake up. His demon strength made it easy to hold her up for however long she needed. When he could see her coming to, he whispered very softly in her ear, as if not wanting to startle her, the words "I love you." "I love you, too," she whispered back, a loving look on her face. She was regaining a little strength, so she reached up and began to scratch behind his ear through the bandana that he wore. He gave out a happy moan before her hand went limp. Then, he very carefully set her down into the wheelchair. She was curled up into it sitting sideways, with her legs pulled to her chest. Her head was propped up on her knees and resting against the back of the wheelchair. He took the kimono and laid it over her front so she'd be warm on the way to the room. The nurse came to help move the IV poll and guide him upstairs. "Are you ready?" he asked her. "With you," she said, "I'm ready for anything." Inuyasha bent down and gave her a sweet kiss, not caring if the nurse sees him being all lovey dovey. "Alright, then let's go."