Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi.

A/N: Sorry for not posting this earlier, I was busy celebrating my grandma's birthday.


Chapter 3:

Nurse Kagome


Thirty-seven.

She couldn't take it anymore. She knew that she had given him a minute to travel to the other side of the well, but he was taking too long. Or maybe she just wanted to reassure herself that he was safe – and that he was taking his time to enter the well. She took a deep breath. Just a few more seconds. If he isn't here in another fifteen seconds, she was going to jump back into the well.

Forty-four.

That's it.

She swung her yellow backpack off her shoulders, and climbed over to the lip of the well. As soon as she was about to jump inside, the well glowed, and the hanyou that had her worried was finally here. Though, he doesn't seem to be in a good state. His face was pale, and he looked like he was about to collapse.

Before she could help him climb out of the well, he had beat her to it by jumping out. Unfortunately, that jump must've cost him a lot of his strength, and was a little too sudden, because he was now vomitting over the well house's floor. She shrieked as the contents inside his stomach was thrown out of his mouth; splattering all over the floor. Luckily, she was fast enough to grab her backpack, and leapt away from where he was aiming his own vomit.

She noticed that he had stilled while he was on his haunches. She took a few steps closer; careful to avoid stepping onto the mess on the floor. "I-Inuyasha?"

A small jerk from his head made him move again. He slowly stood up, and was swaying when he tried to walk. She eventually had to support him with her arm, and at the same time, prevent him from dropping onto his own vomit. Worry took over her, and she looked up to see his face – only to find the colour of his face drained. He looked like all of his strength had just been sucked out, and if it was possible, she could say that he looked way worse than when he first arrived.

As she tried to lead Inuyasha out of the well house, she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Mama! Mama, come quick!"

Mama Higurashi came out a second later, her feet dashing towards her direction. "Kagome?" she said, and her eyes fell onto the very pale hanyou. She gasped. "What happened?"

"Mama, Inuyasha is very sick. He just vomitted inside the well house. I'm going to bring him to the bathroom to clean him up," Kagome explained, and started dragging the hanyou; who was now leaning towards her. "I'm sorry. I'll try to clean up the mess later."

"No, no, I'll do it," Mama offered, and was already on her way to the shed. Kagome tried to protest – since she didn't want her mother to clean it up for her – but her mother waved her hand, leaving no room for argument. "Take care of him, Kagome."

Kagome gave a thank you to her mother, before walking inside her house. Inuyasha was getting heavier by the second; which meant that he was mostly relying on her for support. She stopped at the stairs, and glanced at the hanyou. His eyes were half-lidded, and he looked like he was trapped in a daze.

"Inuyasha?" she called. One of his ears flicked, and that meant he was still conscious. "Just a little more, okay? Just bear with me for a minute."

It felt like forever to reach the top of the stairs, but eventually, they made it. She panted at the weight that was thrown onto her. Her backpack was an additional weight, and even though Inuyasha wasn't as heavy as she thought, she still wasn't strong enough to support all of his weight. As they finally reached the bathroom, only then she dropped her backpack outside, and re-entered to see how Inuyasha was doing. She was shocked to find his face already over the toilet, discarding whatever was left in that stomach of his.

This was bad. Inuyasha hadn't eaten much lately, so why could he still vomit?

She crouched, collected his hair in one hand, and started rubbing his back in circular motions. The moment she thought he had finished vomitting, his mouth opened, only to vomit some more. The wheezing sound he was emitting made Kagome cringe. It sounded so painful for him to vomit again and again. At one point, she thought he was going to die, but Kaede's words had reassured her that he wasn't going to die – since the illness couldn't kill its victim.

At last, Inuyasha stopped vomitting, and laid his cheek on the lip of the toilet. His eyes were closed, and he looked so exhausted. She wanted to cry at how he looked right now. She had always thought that he wouldn't get sick, but she was wrong. Eventually, there was a sickness that could even affect a really strong half-demon like him.

She sat in the bathroom in silence for about fifteen minutes. The only sound she could hear was Inuyasha's heavy breathing. She wanted him to clean up so that he could go straight to bed, but didn't have the heart to do it after seeing his face. But she had to wake him up. He couldn't sleep in a bathroom, and he certainly had to clean the slight mess around his lips.

"Inuyasha," she said softly, nudging the hanyou gently by the elbow. He stirred, and opened his eyes. "You have to wash up. I promise you, after this, you can sleep on my bed."

He gave a small nod, and she stood up from her crouching position. She headed over to the bathroom door. "Just make a loud noise by throwing the shampoo if you need anything," she said, before closing the door behind her.

The door closed with a click, and she slid down to the floor. She drew her knees to her chest, and listened to the sounds behind the bathroom door. She sighed, and wiped some of the beads of sweat that had rolled down her forehead. Today had been so tiring, but it wasn't over. With new determination, she stood up and headed over to her parents' room. She opened the drawers and searched for something comfortable for Inuyasha to wear. She found a plain, white cotton t-shirt that would fit the hanyou. She searched for some pants, and found a grey pair. She then thought of giving him some, uh, underwear. Fortunately for her, she found a box of men underwear that had never been used before.

She gathered the clothing into both hands, and hurried to the bathroom. She knocked on the door. "Inuyasha, you done? I have some new clothes if you want to change."

The door opened, but was left only slightly ajar. His hand appeared, and he reached out for the clothes that she had gathered for him. She handed them over to him, and the bundle of clothes disappeared as the bathroom door closed. She waited patiently for him to change. Then, the door opened again, and the hanyou came out with his firerat in his hands.

Kagome had to stop her jaw from dropping at the sight of him. He looked so... hot. His hair was damped after the shower. The t-shirt he was wearing was a little bigger on him. (She could've sworn that it would've fit him, but it was possible that the illness – with the constant throwing up, and the lack of eating – had made him thinner.) The grey pants he was wearing barely covered his knees. Damn, he looked so good in modern clothes – especially with his silver hair matching with his shirt.

But one look on his arms, and she could see that it was bony. It seemed he really did lost his appetite after the illness. She wanted to slap herself for not noticing it sooner. If she had known sooner, maybe he wouldn't have suffered alone so much without anyone knowing.

"Here, give me your clothes. I'll put them in the washer," Kagome said, as she extended her arms. He handed them over, and she made sure not to drop it to the floor. She wrinkled her nose when she caught the scent of vomit.

Yup, after this, she was going to have a nice, long bath.

She moved towards the staircase. "Inuyasha, go lie down on my bed, okay? I'll make something for you to eat."

He nodded tiredly, and entered her room.

She sighed, and walked down the stairs.

Having a sick, silent half-demon was the worst thing that could happen.


After a long dip in the bath, Kagome finally decided that she should get out. She dried her hair with a towel, and had a sweater with some shorts over her. She then went down to ask Mama if she needed help cleaning Inuyasha's vomit. But to her surprise, the well house was already clean and sparkling. She realised that she was too late to offer some help, so she decided to cook something for Inuyasha instead.

"Hmm... what to give?" she muttered to herself, as she looked at her recipe book. "He's sick, so I don't think ramen would do. Hmm... I'll make him some mushroom soup instead."

"Kagome?" she heard her mother call. She turned around, and found her mother standing close to her. "Hmm? What are you making?"

"Just some mushroom soup," Kagome answered with a smile. "I'm pretty sure Inuyasha would want to eat it."

Her mother was about to nod, before they both heard footsteps – and the bathroom door being swung open.

"Kagome, I think you should check on him," Mama said, her voice evident with worry.

Kagome wasted no time to run up the stairs. When she got to the bathroom, Inuyasha was already over the toilet, throwing up. She quickly got near him, collected his silver hair, and lifted it up. She crouched down, and started rubbing his back.

"There, there," she said softly, and he stopped vomitting at one point. He stared at the bowl for a while, and she became worried at his blank expression. "Inuyasha?"

She almost toppled onto the bathroom floor when he, all of a sudden, leaned towards her; putting all his weight on her. "Inuyasha?" she called, and shook him lightly. She checked his pulse.

He wasn't breathing.

"Inuyasha!"


Everything was so dark. He couldn't see a thing as the darkness enveloped him like a blanket. Everything felt fuzzy at first, but then he started to hear muffled sounds. He strained to hear the sound, but then his nose caught the scent of salt. Tears. Someone was crying nearby – and there was only one person he could think of that would cry right now.

Kagome...

He forced his heavy eyelids to open, and his vision came out blurry at first. As his eyes adjusted to the ceiling light of the room, he slowly turned his head, and found Kagome crying silently beside him. He tried to remember what had happened. Earlier, he suddenly felt the urge to vomit, so he ran to the bathroom. Then Kagome came in, and he vomitted nonstop. And then a wave of nausea hit him, and he could no longer see a thing after that.

Hearing her muffled sobs, he moved his hand to touch her cheek. She stiffened, and her eyes widened when she realised that he was awake. "Inuyasha?"

A weak smile was all he managed to respond with.

"I was so worried! You stopped breathing for a second, and... and..." she hiccuped, "And then I realised you were just unconscious, a-and then you didn't wake up."

I'm sorry for making you worried.

"Oh, right," she said, as she wiped the tears on her cheeks. She stood up and moved over to her desk. She motioned back with a bowl and a glass of water. "I made some food for you. C-Can you eat?"

His muscles were strained when he pushed himself into a sitting position. Only now he noticed that he was hungry. His stomach growled, and it took everything he could not to cry in pain.

He felt something cold at his lips, and found Kagome poking the spoon at his mouth. He glowered at her, and extended his hands so that he could feed himself.

Kagome shook her head and kept poking his mouth with the spoon. "Come on, Inuyasha. Let me feed you."

He shook his head, and used a gesture that insisted her to give the bowl to him.

All of a sudden, she let out a wide yawn, and he automatically opened his mouth to yawn too. Kagome took this opportunity to shove the spoon into his mouth, and he flinched at the sudden act.

He glared daggers at her, but swallowed the food given to him. He couldn't believe that she had just pretended to yawn only to get him to yawn. But... it wasn't so bad that she's feeding him. In fact, he found himself liking it.

"What a good boy," she cooed, and continued feeding him. He narrowed his eyes at her statement, and she giggled, followed by a hiccup. "What? I'm just saying."

It took her about twenty minutes to feed him, since there were numerous of times when he felt nauseous, and opened his mouth to throw up. It turned out that all those times he felt like vomitting were false alarms, and he pitied Kagome, because the girl had a bucket prepared for him for each time she thought he was going to make a mess.

She placed the empty bowl down and handed him a glass of water. He greedily swallowed each and every drop of it, and she had to go down to get some more. She appeared again with a full jug of water this time. When his eyes widened at the jug, she explained to him that he had to make up for what he had lost, or he would be dehydrated.

After Kagome had finished cleaning up, only then the hanyou realised that the day had actually fallen into night. He didn't know he had been unconscious for that long. His eyes looked up to Kagome, who was entering the room with a futon in her hands.

He moved so that he could get off her bed, but was stopped by a pair of hands. His brows furrowed as she shook her head.

"You're sleeping on the bed, Inuyasha," Kagome insisted, and laid the futon onto the floor. He tried to make another attempt to get off, but she stopped him again. She smiled reassuringly. "It's okay, really. I don't mind sleeping on the futon. It's been a while since I've slept on one anyways."

His ears flattened, and he nodded. With his stomach full, he laid down and closed his eyes. He tried to think of anything that would make him sleep, but found himself unable to fall into slumber. Maybe he slept too long, that his mind was left wide awake. Letting out a heavy sigh, he turned his body so that he could look at Kagome – only to find that she was laying on her side, staring right back at him.

Her cheeks flushed as she realised she had been caught. She awkwardly scratched her cheek. "Uh, I was just... You know what? Nevermind."

She turned to face the other side, and lifted the blanket over her head. He could somewhat tell that she was blushing under there. Disappointed, he turned his body to face the wall, and, without him realising, his ears once again flattened on his head. He actually wanted to ask Kagome if she wanted to sleep beside him, but realised he couldn't do it. One, he couldn't talk. Two, he had no idea whether she was okay or not with sleeping with him. He sighed and started imagining that she was sleeping beside him.

He felt the mattress shift, and all of a sudden, someone was hugging him from behind. His breathing quickened as his nose caught the scent belonged to Kagome behind him. Words couldn't describe how soothing it was when she nuzzled her face behind her back, and tightened the embrace she had on him.

"You mind if I join you?" she asked, her voice muffled for burying her face.

He shook his head. Thank goodness she couldn't see his face, or she would've seen the wide, stupid grin he had on his face.

"Thought so," she whispered, and he felt her fingers rubbing an ear. "Just now... even if you didn't say anything, your face said it all."

Was he that readable?

Probably not, but maybe to her.

Still, he couldn't help the blush that had dusted his cheeks.

Somehow, she noticed his embarrassment, and giggled. She removed the hand that had been rubbing his ear, and moved it to hug him again.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha. And get well soon."


"Sis," she heard someone call, before they shook her shoulder. "Sis, wake up."

Kagome stirred, and slowly opened her eyelids. Everything was dark and blurry at first, but then her vision adjusted, and soon, she was seeing Sota standing in front of her in the dark. She blinked a few times; trying to figure what on earth was happening right now.

"Sota? What are you doing in here? What time is it?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"Sis, it's only eleven at night," Sota whispered, and let out a yawn. "Your friend, Eri, wants to talk to you."

Kagome groaned and turned around to wrap her arm around Inuyasha's sleeping form. "Tell her that I'm sleeping."

"She says it's important," Sota responded quietly, and started tugging at her arm. "She says it's about tomorrow's test."

"T-Test?!" Kagome exclaimed in a half-shout, half-whispered tone.

She quickly rolled out of her bed – made sure that her footsteps were quiet as she walked out of her bedroom – and started sprinting down the stairs to where the house phone was at. The phone was still connected, and she held it to her ear.

"Hello–?"

"Kagome! Thank goodness you're okay. Sota told me that you're not sick at the moment," Kagome heard Eri say from the other line, "so I'm just gonna tell you that there's this important test tomorrow. You gotta be there, so, yeah. Hope you can make it, and sorry for calling you so late at night. Later."

The phone call ended with a beep, and Kagome stood there – mouth agape, and eyes widened – as the phone continued to let out continous beeps.

"A test?!"