Chapter eight: bed ridden
He watched as her eyes fluttered open. All night he had been there, and all night he had watched. Upon returning to her room he had sent Hiro away with a strict order. Since she did not come back he assumed that Toga had given into his demand.
There was no barrier around her room; for she was too weak to put one up herself. Realizing it would not be smart for he to do it himself, in case of rumors, he had not. Through the night she had tossed and turned and even mumbled his name a few times. Each time she did he felt his stomach contract and would whisper that he was there, even if she could not hear it.
"It is the same sickness that Lady Yonda had." Hiro had told him before she left. "Although Lady Yonda survived, she was not a human."
He did not need the point stressed to him. His father's tale had distinctively said that the miko would become ill. The tale had ended with an unsure ending; Kagome in the end was sick and when she left this time she was outside of the gates of death.
It upset him greatly that he had not brought Tenseiga but he knew that he could not let his father see the sword. Or so he had thought. Now he had decided that it wouldn't matter if it saved her life.
He did not question wanting for her life to be preserved. It was natural to want to protect her since she was worth protecting. Her dying would serve no purpose and so, he was determined to find a way for her to survive.
"Sesshou…" she mumbled in pain "Everything hurts…"
He turned her face so that he could look into her eyes. The blue was clouded with pain and worry. He had no words to offer and settled for just looking into her eyes, willing her pain to leave. But it did not.
"What happened?" she asked weakly.
"Karela." Was all he answered and she tried to nod her head in understanding.
"Sesshoumaru…this sickness does not feel like the common flu…" she mumbled letting her eyes close again. He wanted her to open them again, so he could see the life of them. His hand dragged and traced over her jaw line, settling eventually to massage the back of her neck.
A smile graced her lips and she once again opened her eyed. "So what of Karela?" she asked and he said nothing, wishing to not to speak of the wench. A growl left him and he watched her smile widen. Her hands went up to his neck, feeling it carefully.
He stilled, ignoring the tingle sensation she was sending through him. "Growl again." She ordered softly and he raised an eyebrow. She blushed and put her hands down.
"I wanted to feel the vibration." He thought of her request with a smirk. Taking her hands, he placed one on his chest and the other on his throat. He let a slow and playful growl roll through him and she laughed.
Kagome felt the vibration under her hands and laughed, surprised that he had done what he had. Her eyes widened as she looked up to see that he too was smiling. She smiled more softly and brought her hand to trace his face. Perhaps it was the illness that let her boldly do so.
"What do I smell like now?" He almost could not concentrate on her words due to the feeling she was giving him by her innocent actions.
"He closed his eyes and brought his nose down to the base and back of her neck were her scent was strongest.
"Strawberries. Crème…vanilla." He said the last one with curiosity, for he had yet to smell this one.
"And what's vanilla?" he heard her ask. He pulled back to look into her eyes.
"I don't know, miko. What is it?" he asked softly. Kagome felt her stomach do twenty flips in a row.
A knock came at the door and she jumped. Sesshoumaru lifted his nose to smell Toga. Removing his hand from her neck, giving it one last rub, he got up and left her. "Come in Lord Toga." He called, putting his mask in careful place.
He did not know what made him act as he just had. It was as if he was drunk again and could not stop his actions. She was like a drug to him and he found that it was too easy for him to lose himself with her. The smell of sickness was heavy on her and it disturbed him more then he thought that it would.
Toga entered the room with a hard glare at Sesshoumaru. "You stayed the night?" he asked simply and Sesshoumaru only nodded his head. Toga let out a sigh.
He walked to her bedroom and Sesshoumaru felt himself go tense. The beast in him wanted no male near her. Surprised at how strong the emotion was in him, he forced himself to stay calm.
"Kagome, dear. I am glad to see you stir." He heard his father say.
"Yes…but I feel very weak." She told him. Sesshoumaru blocked out the conversation instead listening to her faint heart beat and her shallow breathing. He knew that she would not recover today, nor tomorrow.
Toga walked from the smaller back room and sat across him. As he did Hiro entered the room, bowing slightly and then heading to see to Kagome's needs.
"You will see Karela tonight?" Sesshoumaru had almost forgotten.
"Yes." He answered simply and the two fell silent. Not being able to be there any longer Sesshoumaru mentioned his leave, bowed and left the room.
Kagome smiled as Hiro probed up her pillows so she could sit up in bed. "Kyo stayed the whole night long, Kagome." She said softly and Kagome smiled again before frowning.
"But he will spend this night with Karela." She said and Hiro nodded.
"Yes, but I do not think he will enjoy it, my lady." She told her with a smile and Kagome nodded still with a frown.
"I don't know why he would do that…" she said softly more to herself then to Hiro.
The mouse youkai sat on the bed. "It would seem he cares for you." Kagome let a laugh.
"You don't know Sesshoumaru." She replied, not even noticing what she had said. But Hiro did.
"Sesshoumaru?" Hiro looked up at her and Kagome mentally kicked herself as she scrambled for words.
"Yeah well, that's what I call him." She laughed nervously. "Just an inside thing." Hiro gave her a questioning look.
"So then inform me what Sesshoumaru is like." Kagome sighed and leaned back into her pillows. Her head was killing her and she knew she needed to rest, but she was so tired of doing so.
"Well…It's complicated…" she said honestly and Hiro nodded.
"Most things are. But we have all day to look forward to. Why not we have something to talk about?" she told her. Kagome smiled weakly. If only Hiro knew what she was asking.
"Hiro." Toga's voice came from outside of the smaller room. Hiro got up and went to him, speaking in voices that Kagome did not care to hear. She did not even think to think that Toga had overheard Sesshoumaru's real name.
…ooo…
Sesshoumaru repeated his exercise for the fourth time. The dojo seemed the best way to past time and now that it was well past noon, it was fairly empty.
He felt Toga's presence before he smelt him entirely. He would never forget what his father's youki felt no matter how long he lived. True, it had faded, but it was breed into his memory.
"Kyo, a word?" he asked from the doorway and Sesshoumaru racked the sword he was using and followed him out.
Neither youkai said anything until they were well away from the stone building. "I want to know your relationship with Kagome." Toga said suddenly and Sesshoumaru could only wish that he did not have to answer.
For a minute he did not answer, but Toga stopped walking making it clear that he wanted an answer. "There is none." He answered coldly and Toga look away from him.
"I ask because I want to know that Kagome will be okay."
"She is none of your concern. She will be gone in a short time and you will never see her again." Sesshoumaru told him now unemotionally and as stoic as ever.
"Yes well even so, she is very different." Toga told him distantly.
"Do you ask this of curiosity or some real purpose?" Sesshoumaru asked sharply and Toga narrowed his eyes.
"I get the feeling that the two of you know more then you put off. What do you know of me?" Toga asked firmly.
"I know nothing of you." Sesshoumaru lied, but Toga seemed unconvinced.
"I get that you cannot say." Toga said with some frustration. "But I feel that there is something important about the two of you." Sesshoumaru did not meet his eyes. This was the furthest a conversation had ever gone with his father, and this youkai wasn't even his father yet.
It was hard for him to believe that the two were the same.
"So since I cannot know the future, I will say what I can about the present. Kyo, she glows when you are near, and do not even try to argue that you care nothing for you. I advice you that you stop with your pride and stubbornness before you miss her."
Sesshoumaru said nothing and the wind picked up his long air and his father's ponytail.
"She is human and there is nothing in her that I want." He said the words but there was no proof of them; they were hallow and not even he knew the meaning of them.
"You are an excellent fighter. Your skills and grace are not easily matched. But if that's all you have, then what is life?" Sesshoumaru remained silent.
What was life? What had life ever been?
"You are mistaken."
"I afraid that I am not. Kagome lays dying-"
"She will not die." He cut in and Toga nodded.
"You said yourself she is only human."
…ooo…
"So, you were best friends with his brother, who were sworn enemies, and then at some point he tried to kill you and his brother and you thought him not exactly an enemy, but a defiant threat?" Hiro asked and Kagome laughed.
"Yeah that about sums it up." Hiro's eyes looked over her.
"Interesting indeed." And Kagome laughed again.
"He hates humans. And the only reason he stands me now is because we have to finish this jewel." She told her.
"It is my job to catch small details and the intentions of others Kagome, but I do not see how completing the jewel had anything to do with sleeping in this bed with you." Hiro told her in all seriousness.
Kagome looked away from her. "He has to protect me, is all."
"Perhaps." Hiro replied and Kagome smiled.
"Why do you want to know all this anyway? I'm just a human passing by." Kagome asked her and Hiro smiled.
"I like solving puzzles, and Kyo and yourself are a very big puzzle. And you may be a human and just "passing by", but I have yet to meet a human like you. You are quite different."
Kagome had heard this before, but somehow it did not mean as much to her as it should. She was different in past because she was from the future, but in the present, was she no longer different and unique? "Well dont tell KKyo what I told you please. He'd be upset with me." She nodded her consent.
"Well, Lady Kagome, I will go and have lunch brought to you." Hiro stood, "I will not be long." Kagome hated being stuck in bed, but even if she wanted to get up, she knew her legs would not support her.
Adjusting her pillows, she allowed herself to sleep. Talking had made her tired and she did not care enough about food at the time to stay awake. Not to mention, if she was awake then the confusing questions about Sesshoumaru would be running through her mind.
…ooo…
"When was the last time she was awake?" Sesshoumaru asked Hiro. He had avoided her room after speaking to his father. However, there was only so much to do in the past. And although he fought it, something in him wanted to make sure she was well.
Of course she was not well, and when he did finally allow his feet to her room, the smell of the sickness was even more than before.
"She fell into sleep just after noon, but even before that she was weak. Talking was a great effort and her breathing labored." Hiro answered somewhat sadly.
"And nothing is being done?" Hiro shook her head.
"Lord Kyo, you should know well enough that we can give her medicine that is meant for a youkai." He grew frustrated with his options. He could smell the first scents of death creeping into the room, and there was no way that he could fix it.
"Are there not healers?" he asked aware that his voice was not as emotionally detached as he would have wanted it to be.
"Not any willing to try their powers on a miko." Sesshoumaru remained silent and left the room, not trusting himself to speak. Feeling as if Kagome's scent was suffocating him, he escaped to the gardens. When they arrived to the past he had felt as if he would not want to return, but now, a modern day hospital of Tenseiga were his only hope; both held in the present. The moon hung high above in the sky and he brought his eyes to examine it.
He could not stop his father's words from replaying in his mind. He had never noticed her acting any different around him. How was it that his father was so sure after spending such a short time with Kagome, that she was special?
Before he could defend the thought –because something in him was more than willing- a female voice interrupted. "Kyo, so nice to see you."
Determined to not look at her, he said nothing. She was the last person he wanted to see, and the first, at the moment, that he wanted to kill. If only his mind had been clear enough, he would have remembered that he was to meet her here; at least he would have had time to work on concealing his anger.
"What is that you had in mind for us tonight?" she asked and he forced his eyes to her. The sooner he got the jewel, the sooner Kagome could purify it and the sooner they would return to the present. But for now, he would have to find the jewel.
His eyes glanced over Karela, contemplating where the jewel could be hiding. "Suppose a more secretive time?"
Karela's eyes darkened and she smiled slowly at him. "Your room or mine?" She asked and he was somewhat amazed at how easily she complied. Looking at her once again; he decided he had expected such from her. After all this plan was all based on the hope that she would comply.
"Yours." He simply stated and she turned and walked away. For a moment he did not move, but realizing that it was essential to do so, he continued after her.
…ooo…
Kagome tried weakly to sit up, but it was of no use. Even picking up her head seemed to be a tremendous chore. "Hiro?" she mumbled weakly and she heard footsteps.
"Yes Kagome? " she asked and Kagome felt her hand on her own.
"Hiro I would like some water…please." She said softly and Hiro left and returned a moment later. "Hiro I cannot sit up." She told her and she felt someone hold her and position the pillows behind her to support her. She smiled into yellow eyes.
"Thank you." She said weakly and Hiro nodded and held out the cup to her. Realizing that Kagome could not lift up her hands, she brought it to her lips.
"From a spy to the servant of a human?" Kagome smiled softly as Hiro put the glass down.
"Yes it is strange to me, but I would trust no other to serve you water. They might try to poison you." She replied and Kagome's smile faded.
"Why would they need to? I feel as if the life is draining right out of me." She told her and Hiro was silent for a few seconds.
"Everything that can be done to insure your survival is being done." She told her, but Kagome knew the words were hallow.
"Kyo around?" She asked changing the subject. A few weeks ago she was worried about an interview and now she was here in the past dying. She was going to be so pissed if she died here. What kind of crap was fate trying to pull?
"He is with Karela." Hiro told her and Kagome tried to gather her strength to laugh.
"That should be interesting." Hiro nodded to her. "And Toga?" she asked wishing to continue the conversation. "She had checked in on you frequently, but I am afraid that the spring festival keeps him busy." Kagome frowned
"That thing is still going on?" she asked and Hiro laughed.
"To beings that live so long, celebrations must also be long." Kagome smiled at her and Hiro tapped her leg.
"Kyo informed me that he would bring the jewel to you tonight. He seemed to be set on leaving her as soon as possible." She told her and Kagome nodded.
"Probably wants to get me to a hospital…" she mumbled not sure that she was right. Maybe he just wanted to get back to the present. Of course why would he want to leave this place, where he was free?
"A hospital?" Hiro questioned and Kagome smiled again.
"Yes…A place that may be able to make me better." She answered her and Hiro stood from the bed where she had sat.
"Well then, I too hope for you to be brought there. But for now, I can tell you nothing more to rest." She fixed Kagome's pillows once again and left. Kagome frowned and her mind argued that she did not need to rest. But already her body was caving in and soon her eyes drooped and she fell into sleep once more.
A/N: Honestly I was not going to end the chapter here, but I did not want it to drag on and on. :] I know not a lot happened but if I hadn't stopped then TOO much would have happened…
and i had no idea what to name this chapter...lol
