Hate is Only Skin Deep by Simply Hopeless (FF)/ Assassin's Kiss (AFF)/ Devil_n_Blue (MMPH)/ Hopeless_Blue_Kiss (AO3). I am 1 writer w/ 4 usernames on 4 sites.

Warning: Refer to the first Chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own or make any profit from the anime/manga Inuyasha and/or own any of the characters from it. This product is the sole property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media. I am, however, the sole author of this fanfic and owner of the original characters that I created: Terry, Faith, Joy and Hope. So please do not steal them and/or my story. It's happened before.

Author's Note: Hey, it's me Simply. I'm glad some of you guys are starting to really enjoy this story, but it seems obvious to me I'm getting more favorites/follows then actual reviews. I really want to know what you guys think about the story. Updates, Great Story and More Please tell me little to nothing. An authoress likes me likes to have her ego stroke and though I've already updated this story before. I am trying my best to fine tune it and I'd like to know if my efforts are worth it. Well anyway I hope you guys enjoy and I'll see you guys once again next Friday XP.

Chapter Seven: Normal was Never so Hard

Inuyasha knew that something was wrong the minute that he woke up that morning. He didn't know why but he had a certain urge to call the hospital and check up on Kagome, even though he didn't have to come into work till noon.

He slid out of bed and let out a huge, jaw splitting yawn before walking across the room to his phone. He combed his hands through his bedraggled hair before dialing the number to the hospital's personal line.

Before the person could say 'Hello this is the front desk to Haiiro Hospital, who am I speaking too?' Inuyasha began to speak.

"Hello. This is Doctor Inuyasha Taisho... Yes I'm calling to check up on the status of each of my patients... Yes, start alphabetically with the last names of my patients," Inuyasha said.

Inuyasha had started to walk around the room making sure to hit the 'speaker phone' button so that he could talk to the secretary as he prepared to get ready. "Yes make sure that Mrs. Funhao takes her medication with her breakfast. And this time tell Nurse Mai that she should stay there till she makes sure that she has taken the pills before leaving, because last time I found her pills in her trash can..."

He stepped out of the shower and threw his robe half hazardly on while toweling off his wet silver hair. He reached over and pulled on his boxers before his dog ears flickered to catch the next comment the secretary said.

"Your next patient, Ms. Higurashi, Kagome has..." and the secretary went on to explain what had happened last night. How Kagome had awaken half the hospital with her screaming and so on.

"Shit!" he looked at himself in the mirror to see that he had nicked himself with his razor. He reached into his drawer to find some peroxide and cotton balls. After cleaning this cut, he placed a bandage on it before walking closer to the phone to speak.

"I'll be right there, Suzuki," Inuyasha murmured quickly as he dressed himself quickly. He burst through the door and ran down the stairs.

He turned left and walked down the entrance hall before he turned right and through the door to the kitchen. He grabbed a few pieces of toast, eggs, and bacon and began to eat them quickly before he grabbed the cup of coffee Kaede handed him.

He bowed down so that Kaede could knot his tie and sighed as she expected him to see if everything was in place.

"Thanks, Kaede," Inuyasha quickly kissed Kaede's cheek when he assumed that he passed inspection before he ran towards the door. He grabbed his shoes by the entrance and kicked off the slippers that he wore indoors before hoping around slightly as he slid on his shoes, one slice of toast clutched tightly between his teeth.

When he was done he held the toast with one hand and took a bite before he grabbed the doorknob with his other hand and left, slamming the door behind him.

"Good morning to you too, Inuyahsa," said Kaede as she heard the front door close.

AT THE HOSPITAL

Kagome opened her eyes groggily to look at her nurse. "Hi, Nurse Mai," she yawned as she stretched. She had managed to snatch a few hours of sleep before morning as the nightmare slowly faded from her memory but it was not enough for her tired body.

"I heard that you had a hard night last night," her nurse smiled. She waited for Kagome to get up before changing Kagome's bed sheets and fluffing her pillows. She went out the door quickly to bring back a pitcher of water to set by the table and some cups. After all that was done she looked at Kagome expectantly.

"I'm so sorry if I disturbed everyone. It was only a nightmare," Kagome quickly said not wanting to dive into the issue of her nightmare before it came back to her fresh in her mind.

"Some dream, though but I won't pry. I can see it in the way you tense up at the mention of it that you don't want to be bothered about it," Nurse Mai smiled reassuringly.

"I'm leaving today, at least that is something to look forward too," Kagome smiled weakly.

"I know—out of this drab hospital with its fussy nurses and bossy doctors," her nurse rolled her eyes though she smiled in understanding.

"I wasn't going to—" she frowned, her hand reaching out to her nurse as if by grasping some part of her would convey how she felt as well as words.

"I know, I know. That's what they all say. But I'm not mad that you're eager to get out of this place. I say go as far away from Dr. Inuyasha as you—Hello Dr. Inuyasha"

"Nurse Mai," Inuyasha said politely as he stood inside the room, just by the door.

"I'd better be going now," the nurse smiled before waving at Kagome. Her smile faltering slightly at the stern look Inuyasha gave her.

"Thanks for everything Nurse Mai," she called out as she sat up before her full attention turned to Inuyasha. "You are early, aren't you?" Kagome said unsure of the time but knowing that it couldn't be noon already, could it?

"I heard you had a little problem last night," Inuyasha said calmly as he closed the door behind him and took a chair by Kagome's bed. "What happened?" he said calmly but with a gentleness in his voice that Kagome couldn't help but frown at.

Inuyasha had seen the demon doll in the Ziploc bag that the secretary Suzuki had shown him. He had heard that it had come from by her bedside among some ashes and he could still smell the faint smells of demons in here other then his colleagues and him.

"It was nothing. Like I told Nurse Mai, I—"

"I am not Nurse Mai, I am your doctor and I am here to help you no matter what you might want to think. Tell me what happened Kagome," he commanded but sighed when he saw Kagome's defiant look.

"Like I said, it was nothing," she looked down at her hands not wanting to see the anger in Inuyasha's golden eyes at this moment.

'It is something. I can feel it in my bones. I can see it in your haunted eyes, the scents still lingering of fear and the unknown as well as this demoniac doll. So why aren't you telling me what it was,' he thought frowning and then he saw the bags under her eyes.

"You need sleep." Inuyasha pushed out of his chair and walked towards the door, his hands already turning the knob.

"I don't... what?" Kagome looked at him with confusion, her mind foggy with lack of sleep.

"Get some sleep and later on you can have your mother pick you up," Inuyasha said firmly before opening the door and leaving through it. When he closed the door he leaned his back against it for a minute deep in thought.

'The room... the room still crackled from residue of a great amount of miko energy.' He turned to face the door and frowned at it, his hand resting against it before he left. 'Something isn't right. And I will find out,' he thought before walking off to check on his other patients.

A FEW HOURS LATER, AFTERNOON

Kagome couldn't help but smile as she left the halls of the hospital. "Freedom," she breathed as she leaned her head back against the top of her wheelchair that she was being wheeled in.

"You don't have to smile so widely," growled Inuyasha slightly offended.

"Was I really smiling, Inuyasha?" Kagome leaned back her head to look at Inuyasha in surprised joy.

"You act as if I haven't been treating you well?" mumbled Inuyasha, crossing his arms.

"Well actually—"

"Don't even answer that!" growled Inuyasha as he pushed her wheelchair through the doors of the hospital entrance.

"Inuyasha why did you bother to see me off if you don't like me? I mean I thought that nurses and transporters do those kind of things," Kagome tilted her head back to look at her doctor curiously.

"Well I... uh... That's easy," he said gathering his wits. "The reason I'm walking you out is because I want to make sure that you are really gone."

Kagome glared at him before turning her back to look in front of her. Inuyasha sighed inwardly in relief that she so readily accepted his explanation. 'How can I tell her that I'm worried about her?' he thought frowning.

"There you are, Kagome!" cried out her grandfather before turning his head and yelling over his shoulder. "Daughter, she's arrived!"

"I see that, Father," Kagome's mother said as she walked back towards the car at visitors' parking lot before pulling up to the front.

Kagome buried her head into her hands, her face slightly pink with embarrassment. "Just shoot me now and get it over with," she mumbled under her breath.

Inuyasha bent his head down before whispering in her ear, "No, I rather see where this goes before putting you out of your misery."

Kagome glared at him but didn't have time to say anything before she was enveloped in a hug from her mother. "We are going to take you home today," she said excitedly before looking down at her daughter who only frowned slightly at Inuyasha before smiling brightly at her mother.

"And, Inuyasha, why haven't you come to visit me? I haven't seen you in so long and you know Souta looks up to you even after so long," Kagome's mother moved from Kagome to Inuyasha and hugged him before he could protest.

"Nice to see you too, Ms. Higurashi," Inuyasha said stiffly before hugging her back to Kagome's amusement.

"You will visit soon, won't you?" Kagome's mother asked brightly as she pulled away.

"I'll try to see if my schedule will allow it," said Inuyasha but Kagome knew he was already trying to find a way to get out of it. 'Kagome threatened to kill me if I ever stepped foot into her house again. Like I would but Mrs. Higurashi doesn't know that,' thought Inuyasha frowning.

"Oh well, you are always welcome at our house. Right Kagome? No don't answer that," Mrs. Higurashi laughed before guiding Kagome to the car.

Kagome shook her head a smile on her lips. She stood up, leaning on her crutches, so that Kagome's mother could put the wheelchair in the back of the van. Her mother slid the van door so that Kagome could climb in but as soon as she was about to enter she panic.

She could here the music 'Die Another Day' teasing at her senses as her chest tightened with fear. Glowing eyes stared at her from the window in front of her, waiting for her to climb in so that they could finish what they had started.

"No," she said hoarsely and took a step back on her crutches her head shaking wildly. "Please no, not again!" Kagome crumpled to the ground crying.

"It will be okay, sweetie," cooed her mother as she bent down on the ground to comfort her but Kagome was already curling into the fetal position crying softly.

"He'll get me if I... if I go inside," cried Kagome hysterically as she then began to crawl backwards from the car in fright.

'Who's trying to get you,' thought Inuyasha frowning before helping Mrs. Higurashi with Kagome.

AN HOUR LATER, AT KAGOME'S HOUSE

"I'm sorry that I made you walk all the way home. You really didn't have to. I would have managed somehow," Kagome said apologetically as her mother wheeled her to the entrance of the house.

"Don't think anything of it, Kagome. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something that happens to must victims of car accidents. I wouldn't want to force you to go into the car if you're not emotionally ready for it," Kagome's mother said gently.

When Kagome was wheeled inside and into the hallway of her old home she was suddenly flooded with memories of the house. She raised her hand in silence as if she tried to catch in vain a noise she did not know.

She let out a saddened sigh at not being able to detect it. But then her eyes gravitated to the stairs and she heard the sound of feet thundering down the staircase. 'What could that sound belong to if Souta isn't home yet from his soccer game?' she thought curiously before her eyes widen in surprise.

A younger version of herself came into view as she thundered down the stairs pausing only for a minute to throw her other arm through her backpack's strap. She stood in the middle of the stairs still wearing her middle school uniform before she continued her journey down the stairs.

She smiled in excitement as she ran through the real Kagome and towards the door. Kagome turned around slightly and strained her neck to see what the younger version of her would do next.

The younger version flung open the door and hugged the person at it. "Kikyou," the memory breathed before fading away.

'Those days of greeting Kikyou before they walked on to school were gone... Kikyou was gone,' she thought and turned her head before looking down at her lap. Her hands fallen uselessly to her side.

"Kagome are you all right?" her mother's concerned voice shook her from her morbid thoughts. She raised her head, slightly surprised that she wasn't the only one here before giving her mother a reassuring smile.

"It's nothing, Mom," she whispered as she balled her hands into fists. Her mother paused to look at her for a few minutes as if to memorize her daughter's face before she hugged her.

"I am glad you are here, Kagome," she breathed, clutching her daughter closely. Kagome wasn't the only one who had seen the faded version of Kagome running down the stairs to greet her old friend.

"It's good to be back." Kagome wheeled her wheelchair one-handedly towards the kitchen where she stuck her head inside the doorway before she looked up longingly at the stairs.

"I forgot that Grandpa needs to use the wheelchair sometimes. Is that why you installed that pullie for the elevator?" Kagome said relieved that she wouldn't have to sleep downstairs since she was unable to climb the stairs to the second level unassisted.

"I know your grandfather looks like he can pop up any minute and chase you around the house lecturing on one artifact or another but he is getting on in age. But I know you'll want to go upstairs and check out your room," said her mother.

Kagome nodded and waited patiently as her mother directed the wheelchair to the pullie before hitting the button so it could pull the wheelchair up the stairs. When the pullie stopped at the top her mother yelled out to her how to unhook the wheelchair before she went into the kitchen to make lunch.

Kagome rolled down the hallway breathing in the familiar scents. She looked into Souta's room and saw that it had changed little except for the lack of kid's toys. She could see a computer in the place where he had held a Lego replica of a dinosaur on his desk. Soccer posters covered his wall and dirty clothes were flung somewhere in the region of his hamper.

When Kagome entered her room she sighed in relief at its familiarity. Her mother didn't lie when she said that she had kept the room exactly as Kagome had left it. Kagome stepped deeper inside, her fingers brushing lovingly against her dresser.

She turned to eye her bed and automatically rolled hers as she saw it half made. It gave the room an almost lived in feel even though its occupant hadn't been in the room for more then five years.

"Home," she sighed as she flung herself against the bed and closed her eyes blissfully.

OUTSIDE A SMALL CAFE

"Kouga, this is so sweet," Kagome cooed as he pulled off her blindfold. She leaned over her chair to hug him before kissing him. "You took us to the place we had our first date."

"I know things have been hard for you ever since the... ever since the..." he made a face unwillingly to say the two words because it might upset her.

"It's okay, you can say it. I can say it. Ever since the car accident," she said and smiled before frowning. "It still hurts and I don't think it will ever stop hurting but at least with you and my friends I think I can pull through."

"I'm glad Kagome because—"

"That was a sweet little speech Kagome." Kagome and Kouga's heads turned to see Inuyasha standing at the next table beside them clapping his hands together, a smirk on his face. "To bad that Kikyou wasn't here to hear it."

'Damn it I didn't come here to make Kagome feel bad!' Inuyasha growled to himself but kept the smirk on his face. 'I wanted to make sure t she was all right. I couldn't help but follow her because I'm still worried about her.'

He turned to look at Kagome through indifferent eyes and his heart jumped because he could see the anger and annoyance shining in those brown depths. 'These are the eyes I am used to seeing,' and felt himself relaxing.

When he saw Kagome looking at him with kindness or anything else that didn't radiate hostility he felt strangely uneasy than if she would have glared at him. 'It is because we could never see eye to eye,' he thought with slight disappointment and sighed before blinking.

'No, it's her own damn fault. I tried my best but something about her... something about her makes me want to—" then his eyes turned to the one who interrupted his thoughts.

"Inuyasha, why the hell are you here. You know they have laws against stalking!" growled Kouga ready to stand up but was stopped by Kagome laying a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Inuyasha stood up and walked calmly to Kagome's table. "It's not my fault that I'm worried about my patient and besides I think the coffee here is quite good," Inuyasha said smoothly. While in his head he was frowning to himself because he knew that little fur ball that Kagome had hanging around her could probably make better coffee then this crap.

"Inuyasha, can you please go," Kaogme pleaded with him. Her brows came slightly down in a frown, worry written all over on her face as if she could sense the trouble about to come.

Inuyasha was about to get up and leave then just because of that look. Just because she was trying hard not to fight with him for all their sakes but then...

"You heard Kagome, she doesn't want to see your ugly face around here," Kouga leaned back in his chair smirking.

"I didn't say—"

Inuyasha's eyebrows twitched and his smile almost faltered as he placed his hand down and clenched the blue, checkered cloth in an attempt to keep his temper. "Oops, I'm sorry," Inuyasha said not bothering to hide the small smile of satisfaction as a glass of water spilled onto Kouga's pants.

"You did that on purpose," growled out Kouga as he dabbed at his pants.

"No, I just seem to be clumsy today," Inuyasha replied happily. "Let me help you out," Inuyasha reached out for a napkin and was about to help Kouga, but he slapped his hand away.

Inuyasha growled and the next thing he knew he grabbed Kouga's wrist and was twisting it enjoying the slight discomfort on his victim's face.

"What the hell is wrong with you two," cried out Kagome as she got over her first initial shock.

"He started it!" they both cried out, pointing at each other before glaring.

"You're the moron who had to ruin my date with Kagome," Kouga crossed his arms, his eyebrows crashing down in anger.

"It's not my fault. I was checking up on a patient, but no you had to make it into something," retorted Inuyasha angrily.

"You want a piece of me, Mutt Face?" growled Kouga, stepping forward towards Inuyasha. Kagome looked around her embarrassed at the scene that they were causing. She smiled nervously trying to pull Kouga back into his chair but then Inuyasha stepped in.

"Bring it on. I'm not afraid of a piece of shit like you!" Inuyasha smirked at Kouga as he stepped forward. And that... of course was the last straw for Kagome.

She backed away from the table in her wheelchair, her brown eyes glaring them both down. "I don't care who the hell is at fault. You two need to get your act together," she hissed between clench teeth, her fist balled up at her sides.

"But Kagome it was..."

"What the hell are you going to do about it?" Inuyasha raised an eyebrow as he looked down at her. He almost laughed to himself at the thought of Kagome actually being able to beat him up, especially in a wheelchair.

Kagome's eyebrow twitched in her anger and her fingernails dug into the palm of her hand before she lost any shred of control she might have had. "You asked me what I would do, Inuyasha," she said so calmly and coolly that before Inuyasha realized his mistake it was too late.

She pulled out the subduing charms that she had been keeping in her purse and before Inuyasha could react she had managed to stand up to slipped the beads over his neck before sitting back down. "Now, Inuyasha, if you'll be rational I won't have to say the word to activate it."

"You wouldn't dare!" growled Inuyasha in irritation as he tried to pry the subduing charm off his neck with no success.

"Sit boy!" she roared with so much force that when Inuyasha's body slammed into the ground and to the dirt underneath the cement. She pushed herself pass the surprised Kouga in her wheelchair before rolling passed the fallen Inuyasha.

"Kagome wait... I can explain!" Kouga was ready to follow his angry girlfriend but she whirled her wheelchair around. She gave him a glare that erased any protest that he was going to make. Her face was hot and pink with anger and her eyes shining with angry tears.

"I am not going to let the two of you screw up my day!" she cried out before turning her wheelchair and wheeling away.

"It's all your damn fault, Inuyasha," Kouga murmured under his breath and he slammed down the money for their bill down on the table before walking away.

Inuyasha had finally managed to pry his face out of the ground. His face was caked with the cement dust that he created when his body slammed into the sidewalk. He spit out gravel that had managed to get into his mouth before he pushed himself to a sitting position.

"She's dead," he growled out.

'Keep your Friends Close and Your Enemies Closer,' is the next chapter if you review me. Even though Inuyasha wants to teach Kagome a listen he must learn to stay on her good side when she starts coming over to check up on Kaede. If he doesn't he won't just suffer the power of the subduing charm that she had placed over his neck but also might hurt Kaede's feelings. But bizarre as it is that might actually lead to the road of friendship. I hope you enjoy and remember to review.