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Episode 89 (English Sub, English Dub)
"Liver Potion Foul"
There was a noise outside the door, and she sat up just in time to watch Inuyasha stride in, stony-faced as ever and holding a mug of something steaming. Perhaps the rice gruel her mother had offered? He spared her a glance, then turned back to where he was walking. Souta trailed after him, a curiously disgusted expression all over his young face.
"Inuyasha…" she said in mild surprise as he came to a halt in front of her. "What are you-"
"Here," he interrupted her shortly. He sounded a little lost as he shoved the steaming mug in her direction. "Medicine. Drink."
Bewildered, Kagome leaned forward to peer into the cup. "Medicine?" she asked faintly, taking a little sniff. She was greeted by the most disgusting smell: it was like eggs, old socks, burnt meat, sour milk, and something bitter had all been blended together and left in a hot car for a week. She froze a moment with a little noise of disgust, then - very careful not to breathe it in again - pinched her nose shut and slowly leaned away. "That's disgusting..."
Inuyasha was smiling, still holding the putrid concoction out to her. "It'll cure any cold in an instant. I promise if you drink it, you'll get better."
She turned back to him skeptically, raising an eyebrow. His face had settled back into something serious, a silent demand for her to take the cup. However, she did register the fact that he had promised her it would work, and he didn't often promise anything. So after a moment, she reached forward and took the mug from his clawed hands. Licking her lips and glancing once more at his face, then at Souta, then into the foul smelling medicine, she took a sip. Souta's jaw dropped open, looking scandalized by the foot of her bedstead.
It tasted pretty much exactly how it smelled. She was hard pressed not to throw up, gagging as it passed over her tongue. She definitely pulled a face. "Ew! It's so gross!" she squealed, her voice rising with her disgust.
Inuyasha actually laughed as he sat on her bed - the brightest and most genuine, amused little chuckle she had ever heard come out of his mouth. He turned to her as he folded his hands into his sleeves, looking ridiculously happy. "So what?" Inuyasha answered, his words broken with short, chuffing laughs. "It might taste bad, but it'll definitely work. Just bear it and drink."
"You made it?" she asked, curious, but also trying to avoid the act of drinking the horrendous thing.
"Well, yeah," shrugged the half demon, letting the statement hang.
"Well, if you're sure it'll work," she said slowly, looking into the medicine's vile yellow depths, "I guess I can deal with the taste and choke it down." She raised it to her lips again, then hesitated, turning back to the silver-haired hanyou with a hand over her nose. "And… You are sure it'll work?" she asked one more time, as if she were looking for any chance to get out of drinking.
Inuyasha straightened, his toothy smile widening. "I promise. Trust me."
Kagome slowly shook her head in amusement, then nodded. With a deep breath, she raised the mug to her lips once again and began to gulp it down. With her eyes screwed tight and Inuyasha watching her carefully, neither of them saw as Souta stumbled back in revulsion, watching his sister in horror as she tipped back what he knew to be a stew of barely cooked livers and bitter herbs, her brow furrowed.
"She's drinking it," he groaned quietly. Inuyasha's ear twitched, but he continued to watch Kagome. "Nee-chan is actually drinking liver potion…" He was silent for a long moment, watching Kagome tip her chin back to swallow the last few drops of the medicine, then repeated in a weak tone, "Liver potion…"
Souta loved and admired his hero and all, but the idea that his solution to a cold would be something so repulsive was a bit scarring. On top of that, he was pretty sure Kagome had no idea what she had just put into her mouth.
With a gasp for air, Kagome leaned forward and pulled the mug away, then sat up, looking mildly surprised. Her face cracked into a grin to match her half demon friend's. "You're right," she said in wonderment. "I think it's working!"
Inuyasha grunted in appreciation, puffing out his chest a little. "See? Told ya," he said proudly.
Kagome chuckled. "Thank you," she said sincerely
Inuyasha looked away, his face going pink as he stared at the ceiling. "Nothin' doin'. You don't have to get all mushy." He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh and grin, but he was failing miserably. Simple boyish pride practically dripped from the smile he fought against; after all, it wasn't often he could get Kagome to listen to him and do as he asked with minimal resistance. She giggled under her breath again.
"So, how did you know about making such a good medicine?" she asked, changing the subject. He suddenly deflated a bit, looking away with a furrowed brow and a little noise at the back of his throat. "Oh… My, uh... My mother used to…" His voice trailed off.
"Your mother?" Kagome said eagerly. "She made it for you? Did she teach you to make it?"
"Well, the ingredients are a little different," he said, turning back to look at her over his shoulder. "Haha-ue would always use dry ingredients." He chuckled again, his smirk returning. "But I used fresh ones."
Kagome blinked, then looked down at the empty mug in her hands. It felt suddenly like a bomb. A bomb she had just drunk. "Fresh?" she asked, her voice rising a little with worry. "Fresh what, exactly?"
"Well, I used fresh…" His voice trailed off again as Souta started humming in warning, his arms crossed as he emphatically shook his head. It seemed even Inuyasha couldn't miss that warning sign, as he turned back to Kagome with wide eyes and a mildly panicked expression. "Uh, a-anyway, it'll work, so-!"
She was too tired to fight about it. "Okay. Thanks again."
"I told you it was nothin'," Inuyasha said quietly, looking rather alarmed and red in the face from her gratitude, his hand on his knee. "Would you stop thanking me? You don't need to."
"Sorry for yelling at you earlier," she added, her expression saddening a little bit. Inuyasha didn't seem like he could take it any more, as he stood up awkwardly, standing there like he had something important to do even though both Higurashi's knew he didn't.
"Forget about it," he said shortly, returning to the gruff tone all concerned were used to. "Just… Go to sleep already."
Amused Kagome shook her head, but complied all the same. Off went the lights, on went the covers, shut went the window. Souta wandered out of the room, holding the mug that had once held the most foul medicines he had ever seen taken and arm's length away to put it in with the dishes. Inuyasha stayed though, sitting on the floor by the foot of her bed.
Normally, the idea of falling asleep with someone awake and watching over her would have been and excellent motive for her to stay awake; who wanted to be stared at creepily without knowing? However… She just couldn't find it in her to think that falling asleep with that hanyou boy at the foot of her bed watching the darkness so intensely and still awake was a creepy thing at all. As she pulled the covers up to her chin, something pressed against her leg, and she looked down just as the pressure lifted.
It was Inuyasha's hand. He was staring at the bump that was her leg under the thick, pink comforter with sharp focus, pressing his hand to her shin once again and lifting it. He was humming something under his breath.
"Is that a magic spell?" The half demon's bright eyes flashed gold in the light of the single nightstand light as he turned to her, ears pricked.
"Yeah," he answered faintly, patting her leg once again. "Haha-ue used to do it… To help me fall asleep."
"Oh," Kagome sighed, her eyes fluttering shut until she saw only darkness. After a moment, she spoke again. "Inuyasha?" He hummed in acknowledgement. "I wish I could have met your mother… She seems like a kind woman…"
"Yeah…" The pressure on her shin tightened for a moment, then eased. "She was kind…"
"Inuyasha…?"
"Yeah?"
She paused for a moment, then turned onto her side, settling deeper into her pillow. Sleep was already coming, dark and warm and fast. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry she died…"
She was asleep a moment after.
For a few long minutes, he just stared at her, his back against her mattress and the Tetsusaiga against his shoulder until her breathing evened out. Out of the corner of his eye, something caught his attention: it was one of those book things Kagome always carried around, lying open on the floor. However, it was different from any other book he had ever seen her reading, because this one had little pictures and no words. Curious, he shifted so he was sitting by the nightstand and picked it up.
The book did indeed hold pictures (and thank goodness, because the gods knew how little he could read), but these were different from those other books she carried in his time.
Mostly because these were pictures of her.
Pictures of Kagome raking leaves with Souta, pictures of Kagome blowing up colorful round objects with her friends, pictures of Kagome standing with a friend on her shoulders so she could reach for an apple in a high tree, pictures of Kagome and her friends in kimonos and wandering around a festival, pictures of Kagome posing with her friends and that weird guy who kept talking to her…
She was smiling in all of the pictures.
And for a moment, as he continued to turn the pages, so was he.
...
Glossary:
Hanyou - a half demon/youkai
Nee-chan - Souta's term of endearment for his sister; "sis"
Haha-ue - a term for one's mother; "mom"
Tetsusaiga - Inuyasha's sword; "iron crushing fang"
A/N In case you can't tell, I take a fair amount of creative liberty writing these things. Most of that entire ending was never in the anime, but I always felt like that scene was just missing something, like Kagome was missing a line of dialogue or something. So I added a little sleepy line or two to fill in the gap.
Currently listening to: Done for the Night - Ariel, Zoey, & Eli (Ukulele vers.)
