#14. Do I always put numbers up here? Hmm... Um... I need to warn you guys, the beginning of this chap is a little bit graphic. I don't think it's too bad, though. Kag and Co are trying to help Inu, and there's blood and stuff... I tried not to make it terrible, and I promise, I do love my Inuyasha. Apparently, I just like to torture him or something. (oops?) Uh... ok. Dozo!
"Hold him, Shippo!"
The miko doesn't know how she managed to make herself heard over Inuyasha's deep-throated screaming, but the kistune nods, tightening his arms around the boy's torso and stilling the other demon's movements somewhat.
Kagome, Sota, and Shippo were currently trying to keep the girl's fiancé from writhing on the ground, while Nasake was trying to patch the boy's wounds. Their plan was not working very well. The only reason the hanyou hadn't thrown the others off him already was because he had lost so much blood.
"I can't do this!" the doctor yells in frustration, dropping the knife he had been holding and grabbing a spare piece of bandaging, wrapping it quickly around the wound on his hand he just received. He ties off the dressing, wondering vaguely if he's even covered his wound, because there was so much blood coating his hands. He turns dark eyes on the girl beside him, his expression serious. "We're never going to be able to do this without one of us getting seriously hurt!"
"We need to keep his legs from moving, too!" Sota says, struggling to keep the hanyou's hips down as he looks over at his sister, searching her expression for a hint of what to do.
The miko stares at her brother, then glances down at the bloody mess that was Inuyasha's chest. Nasake had needed to widen the incision made by the Black Blade of Death, to see how much damage had been done. The doctor had cursed audibly when he saw what they had to deal with.
The hanyou's left lung had been punctured, and his diaphragm cut, which was why Inuyasha's breathing was so labored. And the boy's liver--the source of most of the blood--had been severely lacerated. Thankfully though, the knife had missed his stomach and the few other organs around it.
As it was, Kagome didn't know if what she had in mind was going to work. In addition to stopping his bleeding, Nasake had said that they were going to have a difficult enough time trying to get the blood that was pooling in the half-demon's abdomen back into his system, as he had an idea about it, but had never been presented with that problem before. Most patients with wounds like Inuyasha's would have already died. If the group had to deal with digestive juices running around as well, the hanyou would likely never make it until his brother returned.
Kagome takes a deep breath, thankful that she hadn't had time to eat more that morning. She didn't know how she was keeping her small bit of breakfast down as it was.
The girl was trying to keep the blood in Inuyasha's liver behind her controlled barrier, still slightly shocked that it was actually working. Since his lung and diaphragm weren't bleeding that much, she wasn't as concerned about those, but it had been hard on the boy when Nasake had cut into his chest and abdomen--as he literally screamed in anguish and tried to throw everyone off of him.
The priestess grinds her teeth together for a moment--not knowing if it was for herself or Inuyasha--before she closes her eyes and curses quietly.
"I won't be able to help you, Nasake," she says, before turning to her brother. "Ok. Grab his legs for a second, Sota."
The three males around her tilt their heads in confusion before the younger Higurashi takes advantage of a break in Inuyasha's movements as he tries to get his breath, sliding his hands to the older boy's knees, essentially locking them down. Kagome quickly stands from where she had been kneeling beside the doctor, stepping over the half-demon and sitting down on his hips.
"Bring his knees up," she says to her brother, growing angry when he, the kitsune, and the doctor simply stare at her, their mouths open slightly. "We don't have time! Now bring his legs up!"
Sota quickly nods, releasing Inuyasha's legs and helping the hanyou pull them up so that his feet are directly behind Kagome's. The miko then slides her feet back, locking her ankles around the half-demon's.
"He won't be able to move much, now," she says, turning back to her fiancé and feeling tears fill her eyes at the boy's distressed gaze.
Inuyasha is taking deep breaths, the remnants of tears shining on his very pale cheeks.
"You can't move, Inuyasha," she says quietly, before nodding at the doctor to start again.
The half-demon utters a small whimper as Nasake picks up his knife, pouring a clear liquid over the blade and his hands, seeing Shippo wrinkle his nose in disgust.
"A disinfectant," Nasake says, looking quickly to Kagome for confirmation, shaking off the excess liquid as she nods. "I'm sorry, Inuyasha," he says quietly to the half-demon, setting his face determinedly and reaching into the boy's chest again.
Inuyasha's reaction is instant.
The boy screams in pain, trying to jerk his arms and legs away from their captors, tears rolling down his face freely now. Shippo tightens his hold even further, a worried expression crossing his face before he slides his fingers between Inuyasha's, his knuckles almost immediately turning white from the amount of pressure the hanyou was putting on them.
Kagome wasn't fairing any better. Inuyasha was trying to get enough leverage with his legs to knock her off, but the way the girl had locked her ankles allowed him little movement. That didn't mean, however, that her joints weren't suffering.
He's going to break my legs... the miko thinks, biting her tongue as her knees crack in response to the tension.
"We have to do something."
Kagome looks at her brother, who had moved to help Nasake, but was watching Inuyasha's face at the moment. The boy turns to his sister, shaking his head.
"He's in so much pain. And he's lost too much blood. Inuyasha's going to go into shock any minute if we don't get this done."
The girl holds her brother's intense gaze for several seconds before she glances at her fiancé, who is currently biting his teeth together so hard that he's in serious danger of breaking his jaw. She blinks back tears, wishing there was a way to ease Inuyasha's torment, but helpless as to what they could do.
"I don't..."
"Move a little, Shippo."
The four who aren't in pain glance up, surprise flashing across their faces when they see Miroku standing behind the kitsune.
"Miroku?"
"Sangos' fine for the moment," he says, nodding his head quickly behind the group, to where the slayer--under the midwife's protests--has moved to the place the monk was sitting earlier. She gives a quick, uncomfortable smile to the miko before Miroku speaks again. "I need to help Inuyasha."
Ignoring the beginnings of their protests, the hoshin leans over Shippo, placing his hands on either side of the half-demon's head, his fingers on the boy's temples. Miroku closes his eyes, muttering a quiet stream of unintelligible syllables toward his friend. Within a few minutes, Inuyasha is so relaxed that he almost seems to be asleep.
"What...what did you do?" Kagome asks, moving one hand to her fiancé's cheek and laying her palm against it. The boy's eyes flutter behind his lids, but no other movement comes from him.
"I don't think he can answer right now," Shippo says, loosening his hold and glancing at Miroku's intense expression when the monk doesn't answer. "He has to concentrate."
"As do we," Nasake interrupts. "Let's do this while we have the chance."
OoooOoooO
"A passage through time?"
Siore nods, sighing into her tea and wondering if she needed something stronger. Too many people had found out where Inuyasha had really come from today, and the woman honestly didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. She wasn't worried about Zurui--she'd known the teenager long enough by now--but she wasn't sure yet about the Kurosaki's.
Ms. Higurashi glances up at Ichigo and Isshin, who don't seem to know what to say. The father and son are both sitting back in their chairs, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Siore had only planned on telling them that Inuyasha was a half-demon, but ended up confessing where he'd really come from, too.
After she'd said that Inuyasha was hanyou, and that his necklace allowed him to look like a full human when he wore it, Isshin had asked where he'd gotten his Fire-Rat Robe. The woman had given her boyfriend a questionable 'Why?,' trying to keep her panic hidden from the man.
The elder Kurosaki responded by saying that in college, he'd done his thesis on the 10th century, as one of his favorite stories as a child was The Bamboo-Cutter's Tale. Curiosity led the student to find out if a robe could really be made from the fur of the hinezumi, and additional research led him to believe that, yes, there could.
Isshin discovered that only five of the robes had been made before the creatures were considered extinct. This fact increased their desirability, and thus their worth, in addition to their value because of the fur's reputed powers.
Two of the Robe's were held by noblemen, and stayed in their lineage until the garments simply wore out. One was lost when it's final owner's boat sank in the Inland Sea, and another was sold to the Tokyo Natural History Museum in 1954, by a woman who found it buried underneath the remain's of an ancestor's home that had accidentally caught fire and burned to the ground.
The last robe had not been seen in more than 500 years. It had originally belonged to an inuyoukai, the only one of the five original owners that had made the Robe himself. The demon was rumored to have been the lover of a human royal, and that fact was confirmed when the woman was forced to renounce her position, after giving birth to a hanyou, or half-demon.
The father had left the robe to his lover and newborn son, who received it when his mother died some years later. The garment stayed with the boy for many years, until it suddenly--mysteriously--vanished from written record. The hanyou was mentioned several times after that, along with the young miko he had fallen in love with, and some friends of theirs.
Siore knew that she had to tell the Kurosaki's the truth when Isshin asked her if she knew the boy and girl's names, because he did. The man thought it was simply a very strange coincidence at first, but when Sota asked her for the Robe, and Ichigo asked her to tell them about her dog-eared future son-in-law, Isshin knew that he'd found the whereabouts and owner of the last robe.
"So...only...Kagome and Inuyasha can travel through the well?" the red-head asks, running his hands through his hair before he looks up at the woman.
Siore nods, then sighs, deciding that she might as well tell the two men the truth while she was divulging everything else.
"And Sota, now. He couldn't before this afternoon, though. We still don't know why it will only let the three of them through."
Ichigo vaguely nods his head, taking a deep breath and leaning forward to put his elbows on the kitchen table. His father leans up, patting his son on the back.
"It's a lot, isn't it? To try to comperhend," he says, his brows coming together as he looks at the woman across from them. "Did you have trouble, Siore?"
Ms. Higurashi looks up from her tea, taking a few moments to take a serious look at both the younger and older Kurosaki's before she speaks. Both of the men are watching her now, but neither one seems angry or scared, only awestruck and curious.
"No," she replies, matter-of-factly. "Other than Inuyasha having the most adorable ears, I didn't think anything was odd about him or the well. I did--and still do--wish I could travel to the Feudal Era, though," Siore says, giving Ichigo and Isshin a smile when they goggle at her.
Before they can do anything else, however, a loud knocking from the front door gets the trio's attention.
"That'll be the police," Siore says, standing slowly and leaving the kitchen, a soft sigh echoing back to the men.
Ichigo turns to his father, seeing his own disbelieving expression reflected back at him.
"Well, at least we know she can handle your quirks, dad," the boy says, smirking at his father's glare before he follows Siore.
OoooOoooO
I'm...I'm... What?
Zurui paces back and forth in front of the four-poster bed, turning at the fireplace and the huge, walk-in closet, respectively. After the man who had visited the Shrine earlier this afternoon had spoken to her, he had her escorted to this room, then locked inside.
The teen hadn't put up much resistance, as she knew it was futile with the armed men so near, but her mind was also occupied with what she'd just been told. Once she was inside the large bedroom, Zurui had focused on finding a way out of what she assumed was a mansion, but found that she was on the second floor, over-looking the ocean. A quick tour of the room told her that there was no other way in or out except for the double-doors she had entered.
Allowing herself a few minutes to throw some pillows across the room in frustration, the girl had gone back to pondering what the man had told her.
How does he know that? I didn't even know... Mom and dad never said anything... Even Grandma and Grandpa...
The girl walks over to one of the windows, staring out at the waves pounding against the cliff below the house. A few seagulls fly past, their white wings showing up well against the darkness that was falling around them.
If only I had wings like they do... she thinks, sighing as she turns away. The girl then eyes the bed, frowning before a bookshelf on it's opposite side catches her attention.
Since there's nothing else to do...
Zurui skirts the bed, making her way to the books that lined the wall beside the closet. A quick glance tells her that there's nothing more recent than the 1900's, which both intrigues and irritates her.
The girl was a read-a-holic, and would normally love the chance to look through lots of old books. At the moment though, she wanted nothing more than to take her mind off the day and get lost in a pointless romance novel.
Zurui sighs, leaning her forehead against the worn and faded spines. She then frowns to herself, pulling back and staring intently at the volumes in front of her.
Why did he put me in this room? Was it intentional? An accident?
The teen laughs lightly, shaking her head at the notion--deciding that she was thinking way too much. There was nothing important about books with titles like, Footprints in the Mountains; Hearing What Will Not Call; and Walking on the Descendant's Falls. It was just coincidence that she liked to read, and here was a wall full of books.
Stretching her arms over her head and wondering if her captors were going to feed her when her stomach gives a loud growl, the girl scans the titles, pulling a book called Amu's Rites and Rituals from the dusty shelves, retreating to a plush, comfy-looking chair beside the fireplace and beginning to read.
I know, I know. I left out Sess and Co. I'll get back to them in the next chap. You'll find out what happened with them then. Uh... Feel free to ask questions. :) Oh, I forgot to mention, I'm not a doctor, so if you are one, don't yell at me that I forgot to mention Inu's gallbladder or something. I know already. I was just trying to give you guys an idea of how seriously he was hurt. :P