Chapter 10: The Culprit.
The next morning, Inuyasha wakes up in the Sacred Tree's branches in Kagome's time period. Despite the sun rising over the hill of the shrine grounds, the air of the city isn't as pure as it was back in the past. But that's not on his mind for today. Mrs. Higurashi told him that she and Kagome are going see a doctor who specializes with audio loss. Hopefully it works in their favor so that they can get back to the past to resume their journey.
The door opens up to reveal Kagome with her little hearing aid in her one ear with Mrs. Higurashi follows her out of the house. "Good morning, Inuyasha." The older woman waves up to him. Inuyasha jumps back to the ground. "Morning." He speaks nicely to her. Kagome signs 'Good Morning' to him since she can't speak.
"What's with the flailing?" Inuyasha whispers quietly to her mother. She chuckles. "It's called sign language. It's the best way to communicate with those who are deaf." She explains it to him. She positions her hands and fingers into different looks in front of him for 'good morning.' Inuyasha copies them to make sure he can get the hand of the new language. "We better get going." Mrs. Higurashi tells him as she and Kagome head down the stairs towards their destination.
Inuyasha just looks down to see them until they disappear onto the city streets. "So, did my mom and sis left the building?" Sota asks Inuyasha as he is about to go down the stairs. "Yeah. They just left." Inuyasha tucks his hands into his sleeves. "Do you know how long they're going to be at that doctor's appointment?" Inuyasha asks the boy. Sota pauses for a second, "They might be back by noon. It shouldn't be that long." He replies as he is halfway down the stairs. Inuyasha nods and turns around to go back inside the house. 'Let's just hope they have what Kagome needs. We can't waste any more time out here.' Inuyasha tells himself in annoyance.
Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi enter a waiting room where Kagome's appointment is taking place. The mother goes up to the window to inform one of the workers know that her daughter's here for her appointment. The office worker hands over a clip board full of what they need to know about Kagome in general health. After Mrs. Higurashi sits down by Kagome, she hands over the clip board to see if Kagome can fill out a few parts of the page. So far Kagome wrote down the address, date of birth, etc. All that was left is some of the more advanced information that Kagome couldn't understand herself. As such, she hands over what she couldn't write down on the page. Mrs. Higurashi smiles as she writes down the missing details on the page.
A few minutes later, a door opens. "Kagome Higurashi." A female worker calls out to the waiting room. Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi walk up to her. "Here." Mrs. Higurashi responds as they follow the worker to an empty room, and let them know that the doctor will be in shortly. Like any room for a typical patient, there's a bed, two seats. Posters with the ear and the inner workings. And the other tools.
As they wait, Kagome knows that she can't speak to the doctor directly. So her mother has to do all the talking. The door opens up to reveal a middle aged woman in a white lab. "Hello, Kagome. I'm Dr.Watanabe." She smiles to her nicely. Kagome shakes her hand. "I'm her mother, Ai Higurashi. Nice to meet you." Ai greets the doctor. "Pleasure to meet you." Dr. Watanabe shakes her hand with Ai's. "So it appears that you can't hear. Is that true?" Kagome nods shyly. "Oh don't worry, Kagome. I'm pretty sure we can get your hearing back. May I see the hearing aid you're wearing?" Dr. Watanabe asks the teenager.
Kagome takes out the hearing device and gives it to her. "Now this used to be your grandfather's, as I recall." Dr. Watanabe asks as she looks at the small device. "Yes. It's my father's spare. He made sure he had two in case one is out of battery life." Ai explains the reason. Dr. Watanabe nods. "I see. Well from the looks of it for sure. Don't mind I look into your ears, Kagome?" She gives the hearing aid back to her as she takes out the otoscope from the tray. Upon looking inside, so far the usual is being shown for the doctor. "The right ear is clear." She said so far. She goes into the left ear to see if there's anything different in that one.
When she places the otoscope into the ear lobe, she sees something. "Oh dear." She reclaims to the two. "What is it?" Ai asks her worriedly. Kagome sits still, curious for what made Dr. Watanabe so concern. "There's a bug in there." She remains calm, not to freak out Kagome. "What kind of bug is it?" Ai asks as she walks up to the doctor. The doctor hands over the otoscope to let Ai take a peek into her daughter's ear. Just as Dr. Watanabe said, there's a bug in there. "I've never seen a bug like this before?" Ai said in confusion. Dr. Watanabe looks inside the ear. "You're right. I've never seen anything like. Even an Entomologist wouldn't be able to tell us specifically." Kagome points to Ai's purse. Ai smiles, knowing what Kagome needs. Her cell phone. Ai digs into her purse and pulls out a smart phone to let Kagome type down something.
A few seconds later, Kagome shows the message to the doctor. "What does it look like?" the doctor reads out loud. She thinks back for what kind of bug it is that's still in Kagome's left ear. "It looked like some kind of bee. It had unusual coloring and red eyes." Dr. Watanabe gives the details of the insect to Kagome. Realizing what the doctor just told her, Kagome knows what that insect is. 'Naraku's Saimyoshi.' She figures it out the cause of her hearing lost. All that's left is to get it back.