†: Diagnosis: Terminal & Needing Him :†
x Moving Home x
-•°•°•-
Everything had gone to hell within five weeks after the "incident" with Inuyasha. It was a mistake she thought she could forget. One that she thought Inuyasha was just going to pretend never happened, either. She was certain of it after she talked to Souta about a week after she returned to France and he didn't mention anything. If Inuyasha was going to make a scene out of the situation he would have told Souta.
Since he didn't, she figured he was as horrified by their actions as she was - or better! Maybe he was so drunk he didn't remember anything. Maybe he just woke up naked in the empty bed that he didn't know who he had shared it with. If he had shared it with anyone to start out with.
It'd be beautiful if that were the truth…
It was customary for her to be tested for pregnancy if she missed her period and there was a possibility she might be pregnant. Regrettably, there was that possibility. It wasn't uncommon for her to miss her period, it was a side effect from the treatment that it happened every once and a while.
But when the test came back… positive her world imploded upon itself.
She was pregnant. That complicated everything. That was a huge problem.
"Madame Roux," as the doctors in the program called her, the one who came back to break the news to her was from the United States and not so great at French. The fact that she also spoke English made her one of his favorite patients. "Well… we have three options here. One, you continue the treatment and give up your child. That is the one, I'm afraid, I have to recommend. You are doing very well and if you give up now… we don't know how that would affect you or your baby."
She nodded at that, before asking, "the other two?"
"You keep the child and remain on the treatment, we don't know how what it would do to the pregnancy. We would assume it wouldn't be something good. You would most likely have a miscarriage if not, we would assume that it would cause some sort of birth defect."
At that, she sighed heavily, folding her hands in her lap, "and the last?"
"You keep the child and pull out of the program, but like I said, we're unsure what would occur if you did that. We haven't had anyone pull out of the program yet. I understand you'll need time to think this over and discuss it with your husband, of course."
Jacques already knew about her mishap in Tokyo with her ex-fiancé, he had been the one she cried to when she got back. So when she told him she was pregnant because of that mistake he tried to be as supportive as he could, and neutral-minded, but he was fairly stanch about which he thought was the best option. Abort and stay in the treatment.
Why have a child with a man that she was on awful terms with? Why risk her life for a baby? Why even attempt that when she might just die? Not even get to have a chance to help raise the child?
What, would she merely go back to Inuyasha and say 'hey, I'm pregnant and will probably be dead soon so you'll have to raise the child you may or may not want on your own'? Jacques had very good points… and she did consider that option for a long while but she couldn't.
Instead, she got took a job offer in Tokyo and decided to move home to have the child there. All the doctors warned her they didn't know how long she'd have if she pulled out of the program and with the strain of pregnancy. She'd have a couple of years at most, probably.
But how could she really give up her child? She had always wanted children and thought that it would never be an option. And whenever she dreamed of having a kid she always thought about it with Inuyasha… she supposed that was coming true. Just not actually with him.
He was engaged, he'd be married in a month or so, at least that's what Souta told her. She couldn't ruin that by telling him she was pregnant with his child. Surely that would end the engagement… and she wanted him to be happy with his fiancé forever.
That left a large problem… what would happen to the child once she was gone or too sick to take care of him or her? It was just something she'd have to deal with later. Moving home was hard for her, not only would she miss Jacques, but her family was still fairly displeased with her. Adjusting to a new job while pregnant would be difficult as well.
Then the whole filing for divorce thing while being overseas would be a pain in the ass, but their marriage was no longer needed and she knew Jacques had a new special someone in mind.
Still, she moved back by week ten in her pregnancy. It wasn't noticeable, she just had a small bump… really she hadn't figured out how to deal with the situation yet.
Such a problem was never in her plan.
Ж
How long she had left was up in the air, but she doubted it'd be more than a couple of years, so she was glad to be closer to her family again. There was no way she'd get back to the way things used to be between her and Miroku but she could recover her relationship with Souta. Her mother was beyond joyful that she had returned home as was her grandpa.
They were both saddened by the news she was going through a divorce, but since they really only met him a couple of times they didn't feel too bad about it. She supposed that was the excuse she was going to go with when she finally told them she was pregnant. It was Jacques… not Inuyasha's.
"Hey, sis," Souta greeted after he took off his jacket to sit down across from her at the restaurant inside of the hotel she now managed. It took more effort than she would have liked to get him to agree to lunch with her. "I'm on my lunch break and this isn't that close to my work so I really won't be able to stay long."
"I'm sorry about all the things that happened between Inuyasha and me," she stated swiftly which instantly earned his attention. "But I'm your sister, shouldn't you just let it go?"
Couldn't he just be her little brother again?
"I…" Souta slowly started before frowning and looking away. "I don't get why you did that. You had wanted to be with him since we were kids and then you were about to marry him and you bailed to get married to some French guy? That was harsh, Kagome."
"I had my reasons," she murmured.
"And what could those be?" he asked with a bent brow and narrowed eyes. "How could you have thought leaving with just a letter was a good idea, Kagome? You can't possibly justify that."
"I'm dying," she whispered. For four years she hadn't told any of her family the truth and really she hadn't any intention to tell them yet but… it felt so good to finally say. To finally have at least one of them know and she wanted it to be Souta. He was her baby brother, they were always close, and she wanted him back on her side.
Inuyasha could keep Miroku, but Kagome had to have Souta.
For a long while he just sat there staring at her in silence before finally muttering, "what are you talking about?"
"I have Furei," she explained cautiously, watching as his eyes widened in horror at that. "I found out a short while before I left Inuyasha. I didn't want him to have to suffer through losing someone else to this and so… I left him. I know it seems cruel or harsh or something but look now - he's happy, isn't it? With his new fiancé? He can have a happily ever after with her, but he could never have had that with me. I had to leave him. I couldn't make him suffer."
She expected him to remain mute for a while before he could process all that she had just said. Finally he sat back in his seat and let his gaze fall, "wow… how the hell could you keep this from me for all this time? Huh? I'm your brother, you should have told me sooner. And mom? Does she know?"
She simply shook her head at that.
"Kagome… Inuyasha would have stuck with you."
"I know, but I didn't want him to," she stated with a shrug of his shoulder.
"So… why'd you go and marry that Jacques guy?"
"There was an experimental treatment in France, I needed citizenship, so we got married. It's been working really well."
"Are you cured?" he asked hopefully as he sat up straight once more.
She shook her head lightly, "no… but I had to pull out of the program."
"Why?"
She took a deep breath in as she reached out to her water glass, "I'm pregnant. I couldn't stay in the program without giving up the child."
Well, she couldn't just throw one bombshell on him that day so he let that news sink in some. "Congratulations…?"
"Thank you," she supposed was the right answer.
"Jacques' the dad?"
"Yep," no, but if she said it was Inuyasha she was certain that he would tell her ex-fiancé that.
"But you two are getting a divorce…?"
"Yep," she nodded once again.
"So does he want to have something to do with the child or not?"
"Not," it was the story she planned to go with.
"Kagome… how is this all going to work for you? Having a child and Furei? Without him playing any part in it?"
It was a good question. In all reality she hadn't an answer for that yet… so she just forced a smile and shrugged a shoulder. She was only twenty-eight, in only a couple of months she'd be twenty-nine. That was an age that no one thought she'd see… so she supposed she was just grateful for whatever time she had left. If she could just have a couple more years, just enough to make sure her child was fine and that it'd be taken care of once she was gone then she'd be happy.
Well, not happy… but satisfied. She wasn't asking for forever, she just needed a couple of years.
Ж
Higurashi Souta wasn't really in the mood for a party after learning the truth of his sister's disappearing act. He especially wasn't feeling up to a bachelor's party, particularly not when it was his ex-future-brother-in-law Taiko Inuyasha. In a short while he'd be married to Miyoko Midoriko.
After all that Kagome told him he wasn't so sure how he felt about it. Certainly if she was willing to go through all of that just to avoid putting Inuyasha through the pain of losing another women he loved to Furei… well, Inuyasha could never find another that loved him like that. But Kagome didn't want to be with him and had begged Souta never to tell Inuyasha why she did what she did.
How could he do anything but promise his sister that he would never if that were the case? She was his big sister and she suddenly needed him. He had to be there for her - whatever grievance he held for what she had done died that day. With her having a baby and Furei he knew she'd need him a lot.
But he couldn't believe it… his big sister was going to die from the same disease that had taken his dad from him. It wasn't fair. He couldn't take that.
So when he was given one drink at the party he decided he'd need a couple more before the evening was over. Slowly the warmth of the alcohol made the cold sorrow that swept within him die down. For a moment or two he could enjoy himself at the party but… by the end of it he found himself behind the bar in the huge hotel room that they had been rented for the after-party - after they had ended their club hopping.
And to top it off, he was drinking some brandy all by himself as he stared out into the city lights of Tokyo.
"What are you doing?" he heard above him, so he glanced up to see Inuyasha leaning over the bar to look down on him.
"Drinking," he answered as he lifted the half empty bottle up.
To that, his friend just grinned with a shake of his head as he walked around to kneel down next to his obviously drunk comrade. He had noticed Souta downing a lot of drinks throughout the night and he was far from his overly joyous self. Obviously something was wrong with the twenty-six year old boy, was he suddenly scared of the notion that he'd be married soon, too? Inuyasha figured it had to do with Sachiko in one way or another… but he was wrong. Very wrong.
"I love my sis," he said with slurred words and a sigh, "lots. She's always been a good sissy and always there when I want her to be… mostly. She's a good sis."
"Alright," Inuyasha muttered back. Souta's lamenting attitude that night had to do with Kagome? The very last thing he wanted to do was deal with that. Souta had been a good friend of his, since as far back as he could remember, so when Kagome left him he didn't really think that cutting off contact with one of his best friends was what needed to be done. Both Souta and Miroku had been respectful of the situation and had stopped talking about her around him.
So why would he decide on the night of his bachelor's party he would start to declare his love for his sister?
"I don't know what to do," Souta whined while he shut his eyes and let his head fall rather harshly against the bar behind him, groaning both from the ache that caused and utter unsure of what he should do to help Kagome. "I… feel like I should get her to move in with Sachiko and me. It's wrong to let her live alone right now… right?"
"What are you talking about?" Inuyasha inquired with a cocked brow, "Kagome lives in France with her husband, remember?"
"No, no, no!" Souta insisted with a wave of his hand, which almost made him fall over completely. If Inuyasha hadn't grabbed his shoulder he probably would have. "They're divorcing each other. That fucker. If I ever see him I'll kill 'em."
"Why's that?" Inuyasha asked, though he really didn't care too much. He just wanted Souta to get over this phase so he could return to enjoying the party. Or at least start.
"That jackass, asshole, damn dickhead left my sister pregnant and without anything. Now she's moved home. What the fuck am I supposed to do? She's my sister and now she's all alone and stuff… and it's worse and…" but he realized, even intoxicated, that he shouldn't speak further or else he'd surely let something slip that he shouldn't.
Then again, telling Inuyasha she was pregnant probably wasn't right either.
"I'm gonna go over there," Souta stated as he pointed behind himself. Gradually he got to his feet and did just that to enter a conversation with a couple of the other guys.
For a while Inuyasha stayed there until he shook his head to stand up. He hadn't been heavily drinking that night, a while back he had drank himself to the point of blacking out at a hotel that housed a conference he had been attending. The hangover from that experience alone was enough to keep him well within his limits.
"You enjoying yourself?" Miroku inquired with a grin as he watched his friend rest against the glass walls of the hotel room.
"Yeah," up until his little conversation with Souta. "Did you know Kagome moved back to Tokyo?"
Miroku shook his head after first, "when did that happen?"
"Not sure, but Souta just told me."
"Do you really want to talk about her on the night of your bachelor party?"
He wasn't so sure, but he continued anyway, "her and Jacques are getting divorced. Apparently he left her pregnant and with nothing. I know it's vindictive but… I feel pretty great hearing that."
All of that was news to Miroku - news he had no idea how to feel about himself. Kagome was his cousin, they were as close as siblings growing up, but what she had done to Inuyasha was utterly wrong and they hadn't really spoken much since then. But… he wasn't happy to hear that her life was apparently falling to pieces.
"You don't really feel great about that, do you?" Miroku guessed, "not jumping for joy happy, at least."
"No… not really happy," he didn't think that was the right word. Kagome left him for Jacques, left him broken, and now Jacques apparently did the exact same thing to her. It was nice hearing. Amusing for him. The better way of addressing it was. "It's oddly satisfying. What goes around comes around, ya' know?"
"Yeah," Miroku mumbled back before Inuyasha's attention was taken away by something that his other friends' were up to. Most of which were lost in a drunken stupor that amused Inuyasha deeply. He waited to make sure that whatever the others were doing would in fact keep Inuyasha occupied for a while longer before he went up o his cousin and pulled Souta aside. "Inuyasha just told me Kagome moved back to Tokyo?"
"Yeah," his intoxicated cousin replied with a lazy nod. "Did I tell him that?"
"Yes, you did. Her and Jacques are getting a divorce and she's… pregnant?"
To that Souta only frowned while he nodded. That was the unfortunate truth. Apparently the marriage hadn't been out of love, more out of necessity, but still… to leave a very sick Kagome alone to have a baby? What kind of asshole did that? If he ever got a hold of that bastard he'd kill him.
"That's… unfortunate for her."
"I'm gonna kill Jacques if I ever meet him again," Souta warned him.
"Let's not do that," Miroku requested with a smile, "you don't want to end up in jail before you get married to Sachiko, now do you?"
"No…" he muttered soberly, "but he can't just leave Kagome like that…"
"Why are they getting divorced?"
"I donna know," he answered with another shrug. He hadn't thought about asking that to her earlier that day. Kagome had told him so much that he had plenty to process and hadn't thought of such a clever question as that. Maybe it was a temporary situation… maybe they'd work things out before it was too late? "I'm worried about her…"
"Kagome has always been able to handle herself. You needn't worry about it, Souta," Miroku assured while he patted his cousin on his shoulder. "How about I get you home tonight?"
A/N:Thank you for the reviews. I got another chapter done sooner than I thought so I decided to update early. There will be five or six more chapters to the story, so either nine or ten chapters in total.
Anyway, thank you for reviewing and please continue to review. I appreciate all of them, large or small.