Lei: Hey, guys! First off, Happy New Year! Thanks so much for all of your reviews and support! I'm so sorry that it's taken so long for this chapter to come out! I swear, it was not done intentionally or out of laziness; I really was super busy and ideas just wouldn't flow as easily as it normally does.
Inuyasha: …You're acting like such a hotshot for an amateur *rolls eyes*
Lei: *narrows eyes* Back off, or I can go back and change what's going to happen in the end.
Inuyasha: NO! My Kagome!
Kagome: Excuse me, but I am NO ONE'S Kagome!
Lei: Except for Rumiko Takahashi's! All of the characters in this story belong to her!

~Seventeen Minutes~

She is just a patient. Sure, a patient who's fun to tease, but still just a patient. She is just a patient. Inuyasha recited the sentences like a mantra inside of his head. He tried to repress his feelings of extreme worry and from growing inside of him as he watched Kagome undergo different scans of the body to see how the chemotherapy was affecting her. These scans were nothing new to him; he had many patients before Kagome who were diagnosed with cancer and had undergone the same procedures as her, but strangely, none of them had managed to incite these feelings within. Even Kikyo.

Kikyo. His heart lurched and started to pound, but not with the love that he had once thought that he had held for her. Sensing that an all too familiar feeling was about to arise, he tried to steer his thoughts away, watching Kagome lie down on the bed and close her eyes, her hair spreading out from behind her in wild waves. Without thinking about it, a small smile touched his lips, though he quickly hid it behind a smirk when Kagome got up.

But he couldn't hide the beating of his heart when she gave him a brilliant smile in return. She mouthed, Am I done? He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. His smirk grew wider at her disappointed face. Raising a finger, he pointed to her, then towards himself, and then to the door on her side. She nodded her head to show her understanding and hopped off of the bed, thanking everyone before exiting through the door.

Inuyasha faced his interns in the room, "We are now going to go on to the fourth scanning center of the lungs to make sure that her ribs are sturdy, as it is not unusual to see the bones in the ribs failing due to the loss of red and now white blood cells from the chemo." He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at them, causing a wave of shivers to run down their spines, "I hope you all have been taking notes that will help in the research and treatment of leukemia for the future." He especially seemed to be giving one particular young man a cold stare. "Shippo! You especially! Don't think that you can just slack off because you've been lingering in the back!"

Shippo, a small fox demon with caramel-colored hair, gave Inuyasha an equally icy look. "What? I've been taking more notes than anyone else!" He pouted, shaking his clipboard up in protest, "Why are you always picking on me, Inuyasha!?"

Inuyasha raised his eyebrows, "That's Dr. Takahashi to you, intern. I only single you out because you're the only one that never does any work." He turned his back on a furious fox demon and waved his hand forwards, "Let's go."

Some patted Shippo on the back sympathetically as they followed Inuyasha and made their way out of the observation room. The fox demon fumed in anger before slowly taking a deep breath and stalking out of the room. "I'm only an intern for the summer. I'm only an intern for the summer. After this summer, I'll never have to see his ugly smug face for the rest of my life." Shippo chanted as he followed his fellow interns.

XxX

Kagome bounced up to Inuyasha, "Am I all finished?" The hopeful look in her eyes looked so genuine that Inuyasha had to fight the urge to look away.

"Uh, yeah." He cleared his throat, "For today, at least, you're done with scans." Just thinking about how Kagome's face would be scrunched up in annoyance, her eyebrows knitting together and her small lips twisted in a pout, due to putting up with all of the scans and the procedures that went with it brought a smirk to Inuyasha's face. How cute. He opened his mouth to finish answering her question when he realized what he had just thought. Cute?! Mentally smacking himself, his thoughts ran wild. Cute!?

"Once you get treated with chemo regularly, you'll need to have scans done on you the second day after the treatment." He shook his head and tore his thought away from his terrifyingly girly confession. He opened his mouth again to add more details, but one look at Kagome's face told him that something bigger was troubling her. "What's wrong?" Worry seeped into his voice like streams of polluted water before he had time to build a dam. "Are the side effects still bothering you?"

Kagome didn't notice the change in his tone. She shook her head. "No, I'm fine now. But..." She gave the tiniest shake of her head, shoving her thoughts aside before turning away, "Would it be alright if I go to the cafe before I head down to my room?" As Inuyasha was about to refuse her, saying that rest was best right now, Kagome's head flipped up, and she gazed at him with pleading eyes.

Averting his eyes quickly from her beseeching hazel orbs, he took in a deep breath and cursed himself silently before glancing at his watch. "Do what you want. Be back before three o'clock." Meeting her questioning eyes, he snapped, "You have four hours! It'll be troublesome for me if you stay out longer than that when you're going to have treatment tomorrow."

He stretched out his foot to take a step when he remembered something crucial, "And no coffee. You can have bread and non-caffeinated tea, but no coffee. Caffeine can affect how your body reacts to the treatment." He walked away towards the other patients' wards, becoming one with the bustling crowd in the hall.

Kagome frowned, "Geez, what's he so touchy about?" She mumbled under her breath as she headed towards the cafe she had seen earlier on in the hospital. "It's not like I drink coffee anyways. Idiot dog-eared doctor." She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed that a tall doctor reading notes on a clipboard was heading towards her.

Papers flew as they collided into each other. "Ouch!" A deep voice rumbled above her. Kagome looked up to see a handsome wolf doctor rub his shoulder where they had banged into each other. His lips were twisted into a grimace as his clear blue eyes peered down at her, his long black hair tied back in a ponytail swishing as he did so.

Her eyes widened as she quickly bowed and apologized. "I'm sorry!" Her hands reached out to his hurt shoulder, "Are you okay?" Warm hands met hers before they could touch his shoulder.

He grinned, "How could I be hurt after meeting an angel like you?" He grasped one of her hands and brought it up to his lips, taking a gallant bow at the same time, "Are you hurt at all, Miss?"

Kagome's mouth dropped open as she took in the turn of events. She yanked her hand out of his. "I-I'm fine!" She hesitated, "Are you sure you're okay?"

The man flashed his pearly whites again, "Well, if you really want to know, I'm sore on the shoulder that you slammed into and would really like some ice." His expression remained pleasant, causing the words flying out of his mouth seem even more demanding than if he had snarled them at her. "Oh, and some coffee would be great, to even out the cold of the ice!" He looked down at Kagome expectantly, "Well, what are you going to do? Now that you've heard what I wanted, aren't you going to fetch me the items I want? Because, after all, you did bump into me and hurt my shoulder." He paused, "Or are you going to just leave me here?"

Kagome's surprised face rapidly became one of disgust. "What?" She snorted, "Are you a king or something? Fetch?! Are you kidding me? Get them yourself. It's not like I injured your foot or anything." Great, I've met another stupid demon doctor, Kagome groaned internally with exasperation.

He raised an eyebrow, "Hmm, interesting. Usually, my angels immediately fly away to grant my wishes." He bent down so he was level with Kagome's eyes, "Which heaven did you fall from that makes you so different from the others?"

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "The one that hates devil playboys from hell." She side-stepped him to head towards the cafe, only to have him reappear in front of her, halting her movement.

He registered her surprise with delight and granted her a smirk, "Well, Angel, you might hate me, but you still owe me a coffee at least, if not an ice pack." Before she could protest, he linked his arm with hers and began walking towards the cafe, "Besides, I bet you were about to come here anyways, no?"

There was nothing Kagome could say as she was pulled along to the cafe. He sat her down at an empty table and turned so he could face her. "I'm going to go get us some coffee, which you'll pay for by the way, so just sit right there, 'kay Angel?" Before she could make a sound, he disappeared into the line of people waiting for their orders to be taken.

Stunned at the events that had just taken place, she laid back in her chair as others took notice and whispered around her.

"Oh my gosh, was that THE Dr. Ookami?!"

"No way! But I hear he hardly ever makes appearances other than for his patients! And those meetings are private!"

"Why would he be sitting at a cafe with her?! "

"What a shame! The brilliant, hot, athletic Dr. Ookami finally comes out and has to be with her."

Kagome snorted quietly, "Dr. Ookami? Brilliant and hot? The only thing brilliant about him is his ability to not gag while dishing out those cheesy pick-up lines." She stood up and made a move to leave, but a warm hand pushed her back down. Glancing up, she saw Dr. Ookami's figure towering over her and made a face, "You're back."

He chuckled as he dragged the chair back, causing an ear-splitting screeching noise to resonate in his sensitive wolf ears. Wincing, he sat down and set the coffees on the table. His blue eyes regarded her curiously as he pushed one of the cups towards her. "Go ahead. You can pay me back once you're done." He sipped his own coffee and leaned back, "Of course, for both of the coffees."

Kagome gritted her teeth as she pushed the coffee back. "Sorry, I don't drink coffee." She opened her mouth to say something, but to Dr. Ookami's amusement, she glanced around at the gossiping audience they had surrounding them before promptly clamping her mouth shut. Instead, she reached over the table, grabbed a napkin and swiped a pen from her pocket, quickly scribbling something down before folding it and sliding it over towards him. She glared at him and said in a low dark voice, "Don't ever come near me again, playboy. I'm not your toy." After shooting one of her most evil glares, she left the cafe with an air of annoyance.

Dr. Ookami watched amusedly as the first woman who had ever left him disappeared from his sight. He took another sip of coffee, ignoring all the buzz spreading around him. Leaning over the table, he grabbed the folded napkin she had written on and opened it carefully. Written in bold black ink were the letters "Go to Hell". Laughing outright, he slipped the napkin into his white lab coat.

"Angel," He asked the air around him after he finally stopped laughing, "How am I supposed to stay away from you when you have a debt to repay?"

XxX

Kagome huffed as she stalked down the hallway to her room, "Who does he think he is, that playboy?! 'You owe me a coffee because you bumped into me.'" She mimicked him in a high-pitched voice, "Psh. He bumped into me, not the other way around!" Groaning with frustration she pulled at her hair, "Ugh! I don't even know why I said sorry in the first place!" As she slid the door to the room open, a slight frown spread across her face. "Thanks to him, I couldn't even buy the bread that was up on display yesterday at the cafe."

"Bread?" A small man with caramel hair and bewitching green eyes focused his gaze on her. "You went all the way to the best cafe in the hospital for bread?" Disbelief colored his features, "If you're going to go there, of course the candy is the best thing to buy!"

Blinking, Kagome stared at the man dressed in a white lab coat, who was standing at the foot of her bed. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" She tried to rack her brains for anyone who fit his appearance, but no one came up.

The man shook his head, "Nope." He stuck out his hand, "I'm Shippo, one of Dr. Takahashi's interns. He sent me to check up on Totosai," Shippo pointed at her sleeping neighbor, "But since he's asleep, I guess there's nothing for me to do." He smiled cheekily, as though it was some kind of inside joke. He turned towards Kagome, "You're the one with leukemia, right? I was one of the interns who watched you get your treatment with Inu- Dr. Takahashi."

"Oh." Kagome smiled, "Nice to meet you, Shippo. I'm Kagome Higurashi." She grabbed his hand at his side and shook it enthusiastically, "Finally, I meet a doctor today who's not an idiot nor a jerk!"

Shippo blushed, "I'm not officially a doctor yet, Miss Higurashi."

Kagome grinned, "Just Kagome is fine. 'Miss Higurashi' reminds me of my mother." They smiled at each other for a second more before a thunderous noise sounded in Shippo's stomach. Both of them froze as another similar noise echoed from where Kagome was standing.

Shippo laughed sheepishly and scratched his head, "Sorry; I haven't had lunch yet."

Kagome patted her stomach, "I'm starving; do you want to go the cafe with me?" She grabbed her wallet from off of the bedside counter, "I'll pay."

A couple of minutes later, Kagome found out just exactly how dangerous those words were. She watched as he scarfed down three sandwiches before starting on the order of extra large french fries. She knew that she should be disgusted, but she could only see him as a poor starving little boy who had no money for food. Feelings of compassion overflowed as she pushed a large cup of soda towards him, which he slurped up in less than a minute. Chewing on her warm focaccia bread, she wondered worriedly if death by inhalation of food was possible.

"Th-thanks so much for doing this, Kagome." Shippo choked on his fries as he tried to get his words of appreciation out. "Thanks to you, even if Inuyasha were to see me, I could just say that you wanted company, as a patient.." His tail flicked up like a dog as he grinned.

Taken by his boyish smile, she laughed, "How old are you, Shippo?"

He gulped down another chug of soda, "Nineteen. Why?" He swirled a long french fry into his mountain of ketchup before popping it into his mouth.

She clasped her hands together, "You are just too darn adorable!" Reaching over, she placed her hands on his shoulders, "Shippo, if you ever need anything while I'm here, tell me right away."

Bewildered by her sudden request, he blinked and cocked his head, "Um...what?"

Kagome waved her hand impatiently, "You know, food, drinks, company, love advice and all that!" Her face softened, "You remind me of my little brother, Souta. He would have been nineteen too." Her tone grew bitter before she cleared her throat and smiled, "I'll be your advisor!"

Her change of tone and facial expression did not slip past Shippo's careful eye, and he watched as she hid her painful expression underneath a fake smile. Understanding that didn't want to talk about it, however, he pretended not to notice. "Psh, yeah right. More like my mom." He crushed his empty paper bags and shot them into the trash can. Digging his hand into his white coat pocket, he fished out his wallet. "I'll pay you back."

Kagome automatically stretched her hand out to stop him, only to grab a fist full of air. He grinned cheekily as he dodged her arm and slipped twenty bucks inside of her wallet, which had somehow ended up in his hands. She gasped in surprise as he tossed her wallet back to her in a fluid motion, "No backs." His dimples grew deeper as he grinned wider, "In return, you can treat me to food and drinks next time, as well as keep me company and give me love advice." Kagome couldn't help but smile as he quoted her. He waved and spun around, heading off to the left, "Thanks, Mom."

Kagome blinked at the title before a soft smile spread slowly across her face. She waved at his back and watched as he rounded the corner. Sighing happily, she left her arms fall down by her waist, "What a sweet kid."

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's rough voice was tinged with surprise as he came to a stop in front of the cafe doors. He followed Kagome's eye and saw the end of Shippo's tail disappear. What was he doing here?

"Hmm?" Kagome reluctantly turned to see Inuyasha standing with his arms crossed. "What?"

He stood there for a few moments before tapping his watch, eyebrows raised, "Kagome, what time is it?"

She glanced at the clock above the cafe, "Three-thirty." Puzzled, she turned back to him and opened her mouth, "Wha- Oh." She remembered her four hour limitation that had been set. "I, uh...I wasn't here for four and a half hours! Really!" She added after seeing his skeptical face.

Inuyasha eyed her suspiciously before sniffing the air around her, "You didn't drink coffee, did you?"

She made a disbelieving face, "You don't trust me? Pah," Kagome let out a short breath, "And here I thought that doctors and patients could trust each other." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

He rolled his eyes and smirked, making his way towards her, "Trust? Why should I trust someone who claims not to have drank coffee when she obviously smells like it?" He leaned down towards the side of her head and whispered softly in her ear, "French roast, my favorite."

She felt the heat flood through her body from the tips of her toes to the hairs on her head. However, before she could reply with a scathing comment that involved his nose and a fire, the one voice she didn't want to hear called back from behind her.

"Hey, Angel!" Groaning as she recognized the voice, she tried to think of all the gods she knew, hoping that with a larger audience one of them might grant her wish. Please, please, please don't let him come any closer to me! PLEASE!

A shoulder bumped into hers, "Whatcha doin', Angel? You look like you're constipated or something."

Thank you, gods, Kagome thought bitterly. She gave out a sigh and turned around to face him, just as Inuyasha growled in surprise, "Scrawny wolf? What the hell are you doing here?"

Dr. Ookami gave a disgusted snort, "Same goes to you, Mutt-face."

"HUH!?" Inuyasha snarled before he gave a smug smile, "I'm Kagome's DOCTOR." He grabbed Kagome's shoulders and yanked her towards him, "Why are YOU here?"

Dr. Ookami's eyes widened, and he gasped as he looked into Kagome's eyes, "Angel, Mutt-face is your doctor?" He turned his head away, placing his hand over his heart, "I'm hurt."

Kagome and Inuyasha both gave half a gasp ("WHA-?!") and opened their mouths at the same time to reply, but Kagome beat him to it, "In the head?! What's wrong with you? I TOLD you not to come near me again! Are you deaf as well as stupid?"

Both stared blankly at Kagome for a few moments before Inuyasha bursted into laughter, "Beat THAT, Kouga." He chuckled some more and squeezed Kagome tightly, "Nice one, Kags."

Kagome turned her glare to Inuyasha, "Kags? It's KA-GO-ME. And get off me!" She shrugged her shoulders out of his grasp.

Kouga scowled, "Shut up, Inuyasha. You may be her doctor, but I had a date with Kagome at the cafe today." He grinned, "Right, Angel?" That shut Inuyasha up.

His eyes widened as he looked down incredulously at Kagome, "Really? You did? Why!? Are you crazy?!"

Kagome scoffed, "Are you serious? One look at this guy and I knew that he was a major playboy. Why would I go out with him?" Noticing Inuyasha's proud smirk, she added, "Not that you're much better, Yash."

The two demons both frowned as she rubbed her temples soothingly, "And here I thought one of the bonuses to being around guys was less drama." She jammed her hand into her pocket and came back up with her wallet. She counted out five notes and thrust them out to Kouga, "Here. Now don't bother me again. I'm sure you can find a place to get some ice by yourself, at least." She exhaled an exasperated sigh before turning around and heading back to her room, muttering about petty men.

Inuyasha glared at Kouga, "Back off, you sorry excuse for a demon. Kagome's mine." He was surprised by the words tumbling out of his mouth and the ferocious snarl that followed, but Kouga remained unfazed.

"We'll see about that. She doesn't seem to like you very much, Yash, so it doesn't seem like it will be too much trouble to convince her to, let's say," Kouga's mouth twisted up slightly at the corners, "switch sides."

The air was suddenly full of electricity as both doctors glowered at each other with hatred, their fists clenched strongly by their sides.

"That won't happen," Inuyasha promised, his mind racing as he processed the possibility of handing Kagome over to that bastard. Kouga only seduced women; Inuyasha had never known him to ever have a solid relationship with one girl before. He couldn't, no wouldn't let Kagome face that kind of treatment. His fist twitched at the thought of Kagome getting hurt by Kouga and his careless swoon-inducing words.

Inuyasha didn't wait for Kouga to respond before following Kagome's retreating back, snarling once more for good measure. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to protect this fiery-tempered girl, but he knew that there was no way in hell he was going to let Kouga snatch her up while he was alive.

Lei: Well, I hoped you enjoyed the extra-long chapter there!
Kagome: You totally owed it to your readers anyway.
Lei: ^_^" Ahaha...I know I just posted this chapter up, and while I really want to get back to writing more chapters, I have midterms coming up in about two weeks. So, I won't be able to post anything for a little while. *cringes* Please bear with me!
Inuyasha: Jerk.
Kagome: Traitor.
Lei: T^T I promise that I'll have something up in honor of Valentine's Day (though it might be a little late)! Please review and tell me what you think!