7 – The Curse Weed
Otherwise washing Inuyasha wouldn't have taken very long, but his long hair took almost half an hour. Now the nurses were putting his pants on him again, and one still dried his hair with a towel. And so they summoned a male nurse to carry Inuyasha back to his room. The trip was long, but everything seemed to go fine, they were almost there, until...
"Did you enjo-" one nurse was about to say, but then something they hadn't been prepared for happened: Inuyasha started vomiting blood again. The blood squirted on the man nurse's back, and so they all started running towards the room 32. And as they ran, they left a trail of blood after them.
"Oh God, oh God, oh God..." one nurse panted while running. Suddenly Dr. Takuya appeared from behind corner. He raised his hand a greeting and smiled, but after seeing the trail of blood behind the group his eyes widened.
"Take him to his room instantly!" he shouted.
And so they got to the room pretty fast, and inside there were two charladies, rubbing the floor of vomit. But when they saw the nurse-group with the bloody patient, they both flinched.
"B-but didn't you just clean him?" the other charlady asked.
"We did", one nurse sighed. "But it's no good, he just won't stop throwing up..."
"Oh man it was delicious!" Kagome smiled while she and her friends sat around one low, Japanese styled table. "How much money do we have?" she asked. Miroku was just to about to reach for his money pouch, but Sango stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
"I'll pay. It's really cheap in here. Just wait a minute, get ready to return to Inuyasha."
It didn't take long for Sango to pay for their dinner. Again, one nurse was nominated to escort them to Inuyasha's room. They followed the woman, but suddenly Miroku almost slipped... but on what?
"Blood..." Sango mumbled. The trail led behind one corner...
"Please don't tell me..." Kagome said with her hand before her mouth. "Come!"
As they all followed the blood trail, they started hearing coughing. Louder, louder, louder... when they finally reached the door where the trail led to. Kagome slid it open with a bang so loud everybody in the room flinched.
She saw the two charladies still rubbing the floor, but she could tell there had been blood, and not just a little. The mattress and pillow were soaked in
blood... and so was Inuyasha's face and hair
"What is going on in here?!" Kagome screamed as two of the nurses were placing a new, clean mattress on the floor.
"Well, we..." one nurse tried to explain, but Kagome pushed her out of her way and knelt down by Inuyasha.
"Oh Inuyasha, oh no, no..." she stammered while touching his chest forehead, stomach and ears. "Inuyasha, can you hear me?"
Inuyasha opened his eyes, and so they looked at each other for a while.
"Inuyasha?"
The boy turned on his side, slowly reached to Kagome's hand and grabbed her wrist, squeezing it very feebly.
"Inuyasha...?" she repeated. "Are you feeling any better?" Like she didn't know the answer. Well, she actually didn't, as the answer she got was something she would have last expected...
"Help me..." Inuyasha whimpered. As Kagome, Miroku, Sango and Shippo sat around him their eyes wide, they all heard him sob. They all looked at him.
"Please help me..." Inuyasha repeated, and left a few tears fall down his cheek. Everyone's faces turned very sad. They had never, Ever seen him cry.
Kagome took the boy's head in her arms and rocked him slowly. Just like him, she was about to cry, too.
"You will make it... We will all help you... And everything will be fine", Kagome whispered in his ear. Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked at Kagome...
"Sorry, Kag...but I gotta-!" Inuyasha convulsed and threw up some blood on the poor girl. Not much, but enough to make Kagome put Inuyasha down on the mattress.
First everyone sat quiet, until...
"Blargh!" Kagome shook the vomit out of her clothes.
"Really, sorreh..."
"No no no no no, I'm not angry, just disgusted." Then she turned at one of the nurses and asked: "Erm... would you have some kimonos about my size?".
"Of course. Follow me" one nurse smiled and led the teen girl out of the room. Kagome got red hakamas an a white haori, just like Kikiyo's clothes.
When Kagome returned returned to room 32, there were a pack of nurses, Dr. Takuya, and of course, her friends everyone sitting around Inuyasha. They all turned their eyes at her, then turned back the boy. Only Shippo kept staring at Kagome.
"Wh-what is going on...?" Kagome stammered. That's when Sango sighed and shook her head. Dr. Takuya lift his hand off the boy's forehead and sighed.
"Tell me What Is Going On!" Kagome shouted as she knelt by Inuyasha.
"We have done everything we can, but I am very to tell he will most likely not mak-"
"You can't be serious!" Kagome shouted. "There must be something-!"
"Please let me finish", the doctor pleaded. "There is one more way. It is something we have tried only twice during the whole history of this hospital."
Inuyasha's friends were listening.
"It's called the Curse Weed", the doctor said. "It is a very strong and rare herb, which can cure any disease pretty fast, in less than a week. But there is-"
"Then why haven't you tried it before? Why haven't you told us there is this way?" Sango asked eyes wide.
"Because there are two ways the herb can affect. As I said, it can cure any disease... but it can also kill the patient. The two times we used the herb on a patient we got two different results – the first got well within four days, the other died in a few days."
Everyone went quiet.
"Well, we can't make you take it", Miroku told Inuyasha. "It's your decision, Inuyasha. Do you want to take the medicine or not?"
"Urgh..." Inuyasha moaned. "Sure. I am... dying anyway..."
"But how can you know did the patient who died died of the disease and not the weed?" Kagome asked.
Because there are some bad side effects, which show this is because of the weed", the doctor said. "It causes pain and rash, but of course, they will go away as the disease does."
"Well then... Lets... do it", Inuyasha said quietly.
"All right. We will prepare the medicine and bring it to you. As soon as possible."
So the doctor, nurses and charladies left, leaving Inuyasha and his friends behind. Everyone sat on floor around Inuyasha, silent. They were all very nervous – now this was about life and death.
"Are ya really sure about this?" Shippo asked Inuyasha. "Ya know you can go to heaven in a few days?"
"I don't care... As I said... I would... die anyway."
"You are not going anywhere", Kagome said and stroke the hanyou's bangs. "Everything will be fine. We'll be out of here and back at Kaede's village in a week, and we will get back hunting Shikon shards."
"Wanna bet?" Inuyasha moaned.
"You make it sound like this is a joke", Kagome said a bit grumpy and sighed. She reached for the water bucket and changed the cold compresses on his forehead and chest.
"You have no idea how worried we are about you", Sango said.
"Yea. We can't even think how things would be if we lost you", Shippo nodded and pet Inuyasha's shoulder.
"That's nice..." Inuyasha said with a few coughs. "But if you... only knew how I feel... you'd like to die too."
"And if You just knew how We are feeling, you would be devastated", Kagome said firmly. "And if you really won't make it, I..." and tears came into her eyes. She reached and the boy and hugged him gently.
It didn't take very long until they all heard a knock on the door. A nurse came in with a steaming cup of medicine.
"Here we go, the Curse Weed", she said and kneeled down by Inuyasha. "Could you help a bit and hold him up?"
"Of course", Miroku nodded and lift Inuyasha up from his shoulders.
"Okay now, the only question is will he vomit this also or not", the nurse told. "But let's try."
She slowly started pouring the liquid in Inuyasha's mouth. He drank it slowly. When the cup was empty, the nurse smiled and nodded.
"That's good", she said. "I will stay here for a while to see if he vomits. If not, I'll leave you here and tell the good news to Dr. Takuya."
Everyone nodded.
It would have been all quiet in the room 32, but Inuyasha's coughing broke the silence – but at least by now, no vomiting. So the nurse had been gone for a while already. Everyone felt better now that the medicine stayed withing him.
Kirara slept by Inuyasha's side while Sango and Kagome were making beds on the floor by taking futons and blankets from the room's closet. It was getting late, so Miroku lit a candle to light up the room.
"Inuyasha", Kagome said quietly. "Tomorrow will be a better day. I know it."
The dog boy looked at the girl and nodded slowly.