Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.
.CHAPTER 9.
Kikyou's Gift
Throughout the whole process, Inuyasha stood stock-still. It was as if he had no control over his body, as if he had been numbed… by shock.
He stood there for a while longer, eyes wide, breath held, before it finally dawned on him what had happened. He felt a sharp pain somewhere near his heart, and he clutched his chest, dropping to the wet grass with Kikyou's dead body still in his arms.
The rain had stopped, but he didn't notice until he started feeling again. The clouds above had rolled away, leaving a clear night sky. The moon shone brightly and stars hung around it, twinkling…They winked with no eyes, and laughed with no voices, almost mocking the broken hanyou, bent over the dewy, quivering grass.
"My work here… is done," a cold voice said softly.
Inuyasha snapped up his head, but there was no one but him. He heard a faraway laughter. Chilling to the bone. He looked around, but couldn't seem pinpoint where the laughter came from. It was all around him. Omnipresent. Bouncing off the insides of his ears and driving him to the brink of insanity.
He covered his ears and screamed, trying to drown out the laughter, but could still be heard over his pained screams, increasing in volume. Everything in his mind was jumbled up. He heard laughter, he felt pain, he tasted metal, he smelt blood, he saw red.
He clawed at the ground furiously, willing it to stop, trying to push away the person… no, the thing that inhabited his body. His hands briefly brushed against the forgotten orb that Kikyou had given him. As soon as his skin touched the orb, it was as if a flame ignited within him. He was a new person… No, he was the same person… just ten times stronger. He could feel the power emanating from the small orb.
He stood up to face the presence that was smashing into him from all sides.
And suddenly, the laughter ceased.
Inuyasha felt the presence being torn from his mind. The echoes of the laughter died down, and the fresh tastes and smells he had experienced so vividly moments before were gone.
He was left, panting from the exertion. The orb still glowed a bright pink, but the energy was sucked out of Inuyasha's body, and the flame inside him was extinguished. He collapsed into a heap on the ground next to Kikyou's body.
The glow of the orb around his neck grew until it enveloped both him and Kikyou.We're in safe hands…he thought wearily, then he passed out.
Inuyasha awoke in a warm bed. His head pounded and when he tried to sit up, it hurt even more.
Shit… My fucking head… I can't remember anything…
He tried desperately to remember something, anything. But the last thing he remembered was finding out that Kikyou was missing…
A nurse walked into the room.
"Hello," she said, and smiled at him, "How are you feeling?"
"What happened?" he answered her question with a question.
"You haven't answered my question," her smile grew wider.
"I'm fine," he said irritably, already starting to dislike the artificially happy nurse, "Now answer MY question."
She raised an eyebrow at him as if challenging him.
"Please," he added.
She sighed. No use holding back, anyway.
"We found you on the ground near the hospital. You were completely knocked out, so we brought you in."
"H-how long was I asleep for?" he choked out.
"Two hours," she replied curtly.
He gawked at the wasted time. And suddenly, the memories that he had lost came rushing back to him. The horrible laughter and how he had overcome the menacing presence with the help of the little gift Kikyou had given him.
His hand flashed instinctively to his neck, and he breathed a sigh of relief when it brushed the half orb that still hung around it.
"Kikyou! Where is she??" he demanded, and attempted to sit up again.
"Kikyou?" the nurse blinked in confusion.
"My girlfriend!" Inuyasha yelled at the nurse.
"How am I supposed to know who your girlfriend is?" she hollered back and stomped off in a huff.
Inuyasha rolled his eyes.
"No respect to patients these days…" he muttered under his breath and cursed the nurse.
He managed to push himself up and get out of bed without any help. He stumbled to the doorway, where he was greeted by another nurse.
"Mr. Takahashi!" she looked surprised, "you should be resting in bed."
She smiled at him – a genuine smile – and led him back to the bed.
"Where's Kikyou?" Inuyasha said automatically.
"Kik-? Oh! She was wheeled in just today, correct? The one with that… terrible cold, I think…" the nurse trailed off, looking troubled.
"What happened?" Inuyasha put his hands on the nurse's shoulders and shook.
"I… Was she a close friend of yours?" the nurse asked.
"What happened?" Inuyasha asked again.
"She… passed away.. just two hours ago, in her bed," the nurse looked away, "I'm sorry…"
Inuyasha looked confused. In her bed? But she couldn't have… I'm pretty sure I was holding her when she died!
"She wasn't outside with me? I mean, next to me."
"No…" the nurse frowned at him.
"Are you sure? She wasn't lying next to me when you found me two hours ago?"
"No…"
"Wh-where is she now?"
"She… her family is here. They were here with her the last moments of her life."
No they weren't! He wanted to scream at her. I was! I was… I always had been there for her….
He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, and sat for a while in silence before getting up and pushing past the nurse.
"Where are you-?" the nurse started after him.
"I want out of this damn hospital!"
"Mr. Takahashi, you can't just- I mean, you…" the nurse stuttered, "you need rest!"
"Bite me," he growled, and forced open the door, banging it shut behind him with so much force that the nurses two floors above him jumped and stared at the floor, wondering what on earth could be causing the ruckus. Eventually, they just shrugged and gave it up for another careless newbie nurse who had lost control of the gurney and smashed into a wall.
Inuyasha ran savagely down the hallways of the hospitals, causing chaos to erupt wherever he went (woe to anyone who was in his way). He bumped into the doctor who had treated Kikyou earlier.
"Why hello there! Inu… Inugasha, was it? I'm sincerely sorry about-"
Inuyasha glared daggers at him, making it clear that he was NOT in the mood to exchange words. The doctor saw this, and shut up, hurrying along his way. Inuyasha continued along the hall until he reached the door out.
Despite his wearied state from the day's earlier events, he ran all the way home. Or, at least, he tried. By the time he had rounded the corner on his street, he was averaging a whopping half a mile per hour. He walked – more like staggered – through the threshold of his house blearily, ignoring Rin's constant questions, but welcoming her motherly fusses.
"Inuyasha! What've you- oh. My. God," she stopped dead in her tracks, pointing, in horror at his feet.
He had somehow managed to lose his shoes in the process of his marathon, and so, angry blisters had begun to sprout all over his feet.
"I'm fine," Inuyasha brushed Rin off, not wanting to arise too many pressing questions.
Sesshomaru arrived at the doorway, and leaned against it, raising an eyebrow at Inuyasha.
"What have you gone and done now, my idiotic brother?" he said with a slightly amused look on his face.
"I…" Inuyasha struggled for a reason, any reason, "I went to hang out with my buddies. Ever… ever heard of going to the MOVIES, Fluffy?"
He stared back at his older brother with what he hoped looked like an arrogantly confident look on his face.
His brother looked annoyed at first, probably because of the title Inuyasha had dubbed him. Fluffy. But he quickly covered up the annoyance by laughing.
"Oh, I'm sure. I see going to the movies in a hospital gown is a new trend?" Sesshomaru didn't attempt to hide the mirth in his voice.
Inuyasha looked down to see that he WAS, in fact still in his hospital gown. He had been in such a rush to leave the hospital, that he hadn't even noticed they'd forced him into one. He turned bright red and tried to retain composure.
"For your information, yes, it is. It's the biggest fashion statement of the year!" he said hotly.
"Riighht…" Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and sniggered. Rin started giggling as well.
Oh, great. Not Rin too…
Inuyasha shot him a venomous look that could have withered a tree, but Sesshomaru didn't seem to take notice, so the former brother took the chance to dash past the laughing pair and up to his blissfully quiet room.
He flopped down on his bed and closed his eyes. He felt exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. Not with Kikyou haunting his mind. He still couldn't believe that she was gone… forever. Well, not forever. There would always be a little piece of her in his heart. Not to mention in the orb that she'd given him…
Speaking of which… what had happened with the orb earlier? He still couldn't quite grasp the workings of the small jewel. What is it? Where did it come from? Where did Kikyou get it?
So many questions to be answered, but no one there to answer them.
Inuyasha dearly wished that Kikyou was there with him. Not only to answer his questions, but just for him to feel her body against his. For him to know there was somebody there for him. A comforting embrace he could fall into… He looked up at the picture on his bedside table. It was one he and Kikyou had taken together at one of those small picture booths. He had one, and Kikyou had the other.
He felt his eyes watering, and he took the small picture frame and threw it over to the other side of the room. It hit his wall, leaving a small dent in the perfect creamy texture. An imperfection.
That didn't make things better, though, so he got up and walked to the frame, and picked it up. He took one look at the cracked frame and let a strangled sob escape his throat.
It was quite ironic, really… that what happened had happened…
Flashback
"Oh, look at that picture booth!" squealed Kikyou as she dragged Inuyasha to it.
He groaned and slapped a hand across his face (or, did so mentally, for his hands were full). As if she hadn't abused him enough, making lug around ten pounds of shopping bags all around the mall.
It hadn't helped that she took an eternity to chose each article of clothing to buy, either.
"Kikyou, please don't-"
"Aww… come on Yashia!" Kikyou put on a puppy dog face. Inuyasha just groaned in response, and followed her to the booth.
They took several pictures, and Inuyasha was virtually a pile of shopping bags for the first couple before Kikyou finally relieved him of the burden by complaining that she couldn't see his face in the picture. The mini photos came out and there was more squealing as Kikyou examined each one. She tore out the two best ones and went to buy the frames. She came back shortly with two pink and frilly heart frames.
Inuyasha looked at them with disgust.
"You're not really going to frame our precious pictures in THOSE things, are you?" Inuyasha frowned.
"Yes, I a-"
Inuyasha grabbed the frames and trashed them.
"Hey!" Kikyou glared at him.
"Hay's for horses," Inuyasha snorted as he walked away from her.
"Where're you going?" Kikyou called, but he was long gone. She slumped down on the mall bench with a huff, her happy mood quickly deteriorating.
He returned with two plain-looking circle frames.
"I'm back, sweetie," he smiled sweetly at her.
He just "humph"ed and looked away, sticking her nose in the air.
"You want to put our precious pictures in those UGLY, plain circle frames?" she said disdainfully.
"Well, it makes sense," he said, using her tone right back at her, "A circle symbolizes a full and happy relationship… Because it goes on forever and ever, without a break… unlike a heart. That's why, you know… they use rings in engagements and marriages."
An awkward silence followed as Kikyou pondered this statement. She hadn't expected him to say such wise words (wise for Inuyasha, at least). She hadn't even thought of it herself.
Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably, and smiled the best smile he could manage. He thrust a circle towards her, and to his surprise, she took it, and returned his smile. She started fitting the picture into the frame.
"Well, then I guess our relationship will last forever and ever… without a break," she chirped, her happy mood back in a flash.
End Flashback
Inuyasha placed the now cracked circle frame back on his bedside table. He stared at it with a heavy heart.
So much for the "forever and ever" part… he thought mournfully.
He closed his eyes and started to drift into a whole different realm… a realm that brought him away from all of his troubles… temporarily…
Author's Note:
Whoops... Sorry for the mixup. I accidently uploaded Ch. 9 as Ch. 8... XD
So here's the new Ch. 8! Hope you enjoyed it.. :)
R&R!
