"You're burning up!" her mother exclaimed. Kagome coughed a little.
"I'm sorry, momma. I spent all night in the shed." Which was not a lie.
"It's freezing out there at night, dear, you know that. I'll have to call the school." Higurashi Kagome was not the type to skip school. She had never, but this was a serious circumstance. She refused to believe this was even happening, but she had to disprove her theory.
Once her mom left with Souta, Kagome took out the hidden heat compress and returned it to its proper place. She grabbed an old base ball bat before approaching the shed.
"Here goes nothing." She said to herself. She opened the door and opened it. Her heart dropped as she saw the metal barring was warped and broken. She looked over and there was the man. The door was locked all night. There was no way. She took out a sutra her grandpa taught her to make years ago and stuck in on the man.
"W-wake up!" her voice trembled. He laid there. She poked him with this baseball bat.
"Wake up!" she said a little louder. He began to stir and she yelped, backing up. As his eyes opened, she held up the baseball bat. They were yellow. Yellow eyes. Not normal.
"D-don't- don't move!" she clutched onto the baseball bat. His eyes went up to the sutra. He flicked it off and she yelped again.
"You think a flimsy thing like that-" he began to move, but winced in pain.
"What are you!" she blurted out. Her face heated up, feeling so stupid.
"There's something going on here! I just wanted to take care of an injured dog on the side of the street, but instead I ended up with this!" she rambled. His eyes bore through her.
"I have no obligation to tell you what I am." He replied confidently, yet in pain. He looked strained.
"The dog I found, it, uh, it was in that cage. The cage is broken. Now you're only in here. I don't understand." She felt stupid. Of course, it wasn't possible what she was thinking, he definitely was not
"Despicable wench." He insulted before transforming back into a dog right before her eyes. Her heart stopped. Her mind stopped. Her voice stopped. Everything stopped.
There was growling. The baseball bat clattered. No. Way.
"You're a dog. You're a man that's dog or a dog that's a man, a…" she couldn't. The sound of her mother returning home broke her out of her trance.
"You! You are clearly injured. I don't care what the heck you are, but mom is going to take you to a doctor. That can't happen because…" He was snarling, but he couldn't do her any harm.
"So I'm going to hide you! I-I know you don't want to be, uh, helped, but this is-this is what I do. Bear with me for a moment." She gasped when it looked like he was trying to, uh, transform again, but it failed.
"Please don't do that." she groaned. She wrapped him up, much to his protest, and brought him inside. To her room. In her closet. Not the best predicament. Actually, a horrible predicament. Any coherent person would realize it's a dog and they're hallucinating. Or call the police. Or let the vet take care of it. Who knows! A normal person would definitely not hide dog-man in their bedroom closet.
"Kagome, what are you doing up?" her mother asked at her doorframe. Kagome was most definitely up and moving. At least dog-man was in the closet and not making any noise. So, she mustered up any of her acting skills.
"The dog isn't there anymore!" she cried out.
"I just wanted to check in on him, but-but the cage is broken and the door was locked and…" Kagome continued. Her mother became distressed.
"I'll check it out, dear, just lie down." She left. Kagome peaked open the closet door and saw a very angry little dog. Dogs. That is something she can work with.
"You're injured. I know for certain you cannot go to a vet, so I'm…going to help you." Her voice trembled. She was not helping a strange man. It was just a dog. It was a dog. He did not acknowledge her, but didn't growl or anything like that. Improvement? Perhaps. She quickly ducked into bed when she heard her mother.
"It certainly is odd. Someone must have broken in. I think I'm going to make a police report." Her mother contemplated.
"Poor dog." She muttered and left. Great. Police involvement in a case with no crime. Ok. That's a problem for another day. Right now, she had to focus on helping this thing in her closet while pretending to be sick in front of her mom. It was a feat, but all materials were attainable. She awkwardly tended to the white dog while with the much too intelligent eyes.
"I know if this situation was any different, you'd prefer getting out of here. But you're in pretty critical condition. Movement with a broken limb, that's… God, I don't know if I can help you." She felt in over her head, but what else could she do? Going to the vet meant getting the dog into a shelter or otherwise, but this was no ordinary dog.
For a few days, this continued. She cared for him and left him in her room. The confining bedroom limited his movement. It was awkward. It was weird. Falling asleep at night and knowing he was right there. He was visibly healing (scary fast, too) but something was wrong. Infection? Illness? She didn't know. All she knew was she was stuck in this situation that no one else knew of.
"When are you going to turn human again?" she asked, soon doubting that this was more than a dog. He growled in response. She sighed. He looked strained during the short moments he was human. Sometimes she just wanted to hit her head and see her closet empty! It never was, though.
"There's got to be somewhere I can drop you off. Someone waiting for you? Someplace you stay?" she asked him one day while feeding. He continued lying there. She knew he understood the question. He was either refusing to answer or there was none.
"You certainly don't want to be stuck here." The phrase made her thoughts turn to Sango. She got out. She got accepted into a college far, far away and now she was-
"I'm going to run." She said abruptly and left. With all this running lately, she was bound to lose weight or something. It was lighter out for longer, so that meant later and longer running times. Hours spent just putting one foot in front of the other. It would leave her exhausted and perfect for passing out at night. No dreams, no nightmares.
No naps for Kagome, though. She returned to see the silver haired man in her closet. She could make a lot of jokes about this, but she refrained.
"If you were ready to leave, you'd have left by now." She remarked.
"I've been poisoned." He was straight to the point. He did look sallow and tired, but what did she know? She could tell he didn't let a lot of his pain come across. Some macho mindset or fear of others seeing him as weak. It was probably degrading for him. She sympathized with that.
"Do you need, like…something?" she felt stupid. This was different from hiding a dog in her room. This was a full grown man. Or else, she thinks so?
"Why did you bring me here?" he asked, avoiding her question.
"I don't know." She answered instinctively. He waited.
"It's what I do, I guess. I help animals. I help dogs. This is unlike anything I've had before, but ultimately it's still the same." She rambled, nervous in front of him. She could tell he was strong. Very strong. If there came a time they fought one on one, he would crush her. Even in this condition, he was stronger than a normal human.
"What are you?" she asked. An insensitive question, but he seemed an insensitive person.
"Nothing like you." He answered. Yes, very insensitive.
"Ugh, just turn back into a dog. You're easier to hide that way." She said that with annoyance, but knew that that form strained him.
"I do not follow a human's orders." He replied.
"Fine, fine. Just don't make any noise." She said as she closed the door on him. It took a moment, but she knew he transformed back.
"This is weird for me, but I know this is weird for you, too." She said with back leaned against the door.
"I always have to get up in business that isn't my own or get myself into these situations. When I saw those injuries on you, I had to act. I don't know who hurt you. I don't know who or what you are, but in the end, you are part dog. You were hurt. You're no exception." It was easy to ramble on with a door hiding her. She knew he didn't give a flying crap about what some human girl felt, but she needed to say those words.
"I know that if you had somewhere else to go, you would be there. Anywhere but here. Here we are, though." She sighed.
"Kagome?" she heard her mother knock and jumped when she walked in.
"Were you talking to someone just now?" she asked. Kagome looked at her phone across the room. Charging.
"I was talking to myself." She said and mentally slapped herself. Her mother raised an eyebrow.
"You should probably get to bed soon." She advised.
"Thank you, momma." Kagome wanted her mom out.
"I tried stopping by the police station today for updates on our little intrusion, but there's nothing. They said they're putting it on the back burner, but I think that means they're giving up." Her mother continued. Kagome wanted to groan out.
"Still nothing on that poor dog. I know how much this matters to you. My friends joke that you're probably going to horde animals in your dorm room at college." Her mother had made herself completely comfortable.
"I remember that time you came home late, completely muddy and soaked to the bone. I was so mad at you for going after that dog." She laughed.
"I don't remember that." Kagome said.
"The time you got those bite mark scars on your hand." Her mother reminded. Kagome had many scars, though. They came easily to her. Blame bad genetics.
"Well, if a stray dog bit me, I would definitely not help it like you did. You really remind me of your father sometimes." What an awkward thing to say! How do you respond to that?
"Thanks." She replied.
"Get lots of sleep dear." And her mother bid good night.
