Disclaimer: All Inuyasha goodness belongs to the amazing Takahashi-san!
Behind the Curtain
By MissKatt
The Emergency Room
Sesshoumaru slid the key into the lock of his parent's house, but sighed as he realized the door was already unlocked. That was always a telltale sign that Inuyasha was also there. He opened the door and walked into the large house, making his way towards the commotion in the living room. He lifted a brow as he saw Rin on her uncle's back, hands tugging at his triangle ears as he spun in circles while making motorcycle noises, his parents laughing in the background.
"What exactly am I witnessing?" He questioned, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"Papa!" Rin chimed happily and slid off her uncle's back to run to her dad. She smiled when he picked her up to hug her and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I missed you!"
"And I you," He replied and set her down before looking at his brother. "Why are you here?"
"Gee, good to see you too, bro," Inuyasha answered sarcastically. "I'm waiting for Kikyou to get off work so we can hang out and this is closer from work than going back to my house."
"Hn." He commented and then looked at the necklace Izayoi was wearing.
Touga caught his eye and grinned. "Kagome got Izayoi and I origami owls. Mine is a key chain."
"Origami owls?" He echoed, looking at the hollow circle hanging on the chain. Inside the small case were three different colored birthstones: his, Inuyasha's, and Rin's.
Izayoi nodded with a bright smile. "Yes, they are very popular in America right now! I love it! We tried calling her to thank her, but she didn't answer."
Sesshoumaru's amber eyes slanted down at Rin. "And what did you receive?"
She shrugged, looking over at the wrapped present on the coffee table. "I haven't opened it."
"It is impolite to not open it, Rin. If you do not like it, that is fine, but you will not know until you open it." He stated, his tone leaving no room for objections.
She huffed and nodded reluctantly. She walked over to the small present and tore off the wrapping paper before opening the box. She blinked when she saw a silver heart locket sitting on a white cushion. She ran her thumb over the engraved 'Forever' kanji on the front before using her blunt nail to open it. She gasped when she saw what it held. One side of the locket was a small picture of her and her papa, the other containing one of her and her mom. Her bottom lip trembled as she tightened her hold on the locket before bringing it to her chest.
"Rin?" Sesshoumaru asked uncertainly, her reaction confusing him. What could she have possibly received? He tilted his head when she turned tear brimmed eyes on him, holding out her hand for him to see. He took the necklace from her hand and looked at the open locket. He let a small smile grace his lips as he saw the two pictures and then the kanji on the front of it as he clicked it shut. He then placed the chain around her neck and stroked to top of her head as she buried her face in her hands. "I believe you should thank Kagome."
"Y-yes…" She mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.
Inuyasha was smirking as he watched his niece open her present, silently hoping this meant she would like his friend again. He tore his eyes away from the scene and reached into his pocket when his phone began to go off. He grinned when he saw it was his girl and then answered the phone. "Hey babe."
"I-Inuyasha…" Came her response, her voice small and wavering.
The smile was slapped off his face, his lips turning down into a frown. "What's wrong?"
"It-it's Kag-" She choked on a sob. "It's Kagome."
His ears instantly flattened against his head, not noticing how his family was looking at him oddly. "What about Kagome?" His voice came out stiff.
"Inuyasha, sweetie, what's going on?" Izayoi asked, frowning at her son's distressed look.
Inuyasha waved his hand at her impatiently as he tried to listen and understand what his girl was saying on the phone. "Just take a few breaths; I can't understand you when you're sobbing."
"S-she had an a-accident at work…"
His heart instantly began beating harder with all the possibilities of what could have happened. "What kind of accident?"
Sesshoumaru felt his blood freeze in his veins at Inuyasha's words. His eyes widened slightly as he turned fully towards him. What had happened to Kagome? An accident? A car accident? Was she alright? Was she alive?
"S-she," She cut herself off with another sob. "Fell, and then-"
He frowned more when she began crying again, unable to finish what she was saying. "It's okay, don't push yourself. You can tell me when I get there. You're at the emergency room right?" When made an affirmative noise, he nodded. "Alright, I'll be there soon." He ended the called and looked up at his tense family. "Uh, I guess Kagome had an accident." He murmured.
"What kind of accident? Is she alright?" Sesshoumaru asked before his step-mother could.
"I'm not sure, Kikyou is pretty hysterical. She said something happened at work, but I couldn't make out what else she was saying. She's in the emergency room so I'm going to go right now." Inuyasha answered tensely, fishing his key out of his pocket.
"I will come with you," It was not up for discussion. He went to follow his brother to the door, but stopped when he heard Rin's sobs behind him. He turned and looked at her. "Rin?"
She couldn't look at her father, instead she grabbed the hem of her shirt tightly and stared at the floor with tear-brimmed eyes. "I-it's my fault that Kagome-san is hurt." She cried.
Sesshoumaru furrowed his brows and moved forward to kneel down in front of her. "Why do you say that?" He asked, looking at her face.
"I wished for her to go away forever," She hiccupped as she sobbed. "And now she got hurt! This is my fault! I hurt Kagome-san!"
His face softened a little with understanding. He put his large hands on her small shoulders. "This is not your fault, Rin. Look at me," He commanded, waiting for her to lift her head to meet his eyes. "She will be fine and you will have a chance to say thank you and apologize."
The little girl nodded and gave her dad a watery smile. "Yes, Papa."
He patted her head again and then looked at his parents with a questioning look, silently asking them to watch Rin while he went with Inuyasha. They both nodded, Izayoi moving to the floor to hug Rin to her, and he nodded once in thanks before hurrying out of the house with his half-brother.
*~~~BTC~~~*
Sango and Kikyou sat next to each other in the waiting room in silence; one not knowing what to say, the other too emotional to speak, and both terrified for Kagome. The younger brunette ran her hand through her bangs and looked at her phone as Miroku asked for an update email on her condition.
'Nothing yet. She's still in surgery.'
She waited only a few second before he emailed her back saying, 'Alright, babe. Let me know when you know something. Stay strong for our Kaggy. I'll be off soon and I'll meet you there.'
She gave a brief smile at the email and then looked up when she heard someone running towards them. She blinked when she saw the Taisho brothers standing in front of them and stood up to greet them when Kikyou did.
"Yasha!" Kikyou buried her face in his chest as a new wave of tears fell from her eyes.
He wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her as she sobbed into his chest. "Shh, she'll be okay."
Sango looked up at Sesshoumaru. "Um hi, I'm Kigo Sango, Kagome's friend." She introduced, bowing slightly to him.
He nodded in return. "Taisho Sesshoumaru," He was aware that she probably already knew about him, but he would not be rude to Kagome's friend. "What happened?"
She sighed and sat back down in her chair. "She slipped doing a pole trick," She began with a scowl. "Which none of us understand because she has that trick mastered. I mean, I taught it to her! We had practiced it so many times before she performed it on stage and then she had done it multiple times after that! There was no way she just messed up, none! Ugh, I wish I had actually seen it so I knew exactly what happened."
"Kigo-san, please, continue with what happened." He had to force himself to not shake the girl as she rambled on.
"Ah, sorry," She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Kikyou said she saw her fall on her head and twist her neck. Her head was bleeding and she had passed out by the time I got to her. The paramedics came, put a neck brace on her and put her on the stretcher. They tried to stop the bleeding, but said they would be able to do more for her here." She took a deep breath and sighed. "They did a CT scan on her and she has cranial edema. They said it means swelling in her brain. She's in surgery right now to relieve it."
His hands tightened into fists on his knees, his claws prickling at his palms. "Surgery?"
"Yeah, it's called Ventriculostomy. The surgeon says they're going to put a small tube in her head to drain the access fluid." Her voice wavered at the end and she stopped to gather herself as she eyes watered. "Ah, excuse me, sorry."
"It is of no consequence," He replied, mulling over what she had told him. How could she have injured herself so badly? He knew she had a clumsy streak, yes, but to this extent? Once the girl had regained her composure, he asked her the dreaded question. "Did the doctors say what could come from this injury?"
She inhaled sharply and tightly clasped her hands together. "Y-yeah," She stammered. "They said there could be a variety of different things. She could be fine, or she may be paralyzed, lose her memory, become a vegetable, fall into a coma, or…she might not make it."
His jaw and fists tightened simultaneously, his claws piercing the flesh of his palms. "They do not know?"
"They said they won't know until she wakes up." She breathed painfully, the tears now falling from her eyes. She hastily wiped them away and tried to calm herself down.
"If she wakes up…" Kikyou muttered from her spot in Inuyasha's lap.
Both Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha's eyes hardened at her. "Don't say that!" Inuyasha snapped, his arms tightening around her.
"She will be fine." The elder Taisho replied darkly. She had to be okay. She was his annoyingly witty, overly capable secretary who managed to make him want to smile every day. His life would not be the same without her.
His eyes widened a bit.
Life? He had meant to think office, but life had replaced it instead. What was this girl doing to him?
The miko sighed heavily and nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Just try to stay positive, babe." Inuyasha answered and then looked up when a large doctor in green scrubs came over to them, pulling off his face mast and bloodied gloves.
"Are you all here for Higurashi Kagome?" He asked in a soft tone. He blinked his large blue eyes at the Taisho brothers. "T-Taisho-san?"
"Jinenji?" Inuyasha asked, standing up once his girlfriend was off his lap to greet the fellow hanyou. "You're the surgeon working on Kagome?"
"Ah, yes, I am," He replied and shifted uncomfortably when he felt the taiyoukai's intimidating glare on him. "My apologies, Taisho-sama, if I would have known she was affiliated with you, I would have had another surgeon work on her."
Sesshoumaru stood to his full height and watched as the hanyou shrank back in fear. Amber eyes fell on the claw scars around the doctor's neck and he mentally sighed at the reminder of his slip up. Still, if he had known Jinenji was the surgeon, he would have asked for a different doctor. He didn't trust the hanyou after his wife died in his care.
"How is she?" Sango asked, breaking the thick, awkward silence that had settled in around them.
"S-she is stable for now," The surgeon stammered as he turned away from Sesshoumaru. "I removed the excess fluid in her brain and took out the tube without a hiccup. She has a very small patch of hair missing from where we made a hole and stapled her up, but it won't be noticeable."
She nodded and let out a soft exhale. "Then she's okay?"
"Well, we won't know if she has any mental or physical damage until she wakes up. Though there is the possibility that she may not regain consciousness." He answered back and then flinched when Sesshoumaru growled.
"If she dies in your care, I will personally see to it that you lose your medical license." He threatened, glaring at him.
"Oi, Sessh, lay off. You know damn well that Kagura wasn't going to make it. He worked on her for hours; he did the best he could." Inuyasha spoke up in his defense.
"His best was not enough," He snapped back and then cut off his brother when he tried to speak up again. "Are you going to take us to Kagome, or do I have to find her myself?"
Jinenji gulped nervously. "She isn't supposed to have visitors yet," When he heard another dangerous growl from the inuyoukai, he quickly continued. "B-but I'll make an exception! This way."
The group of four followed the hanyou down the hall to the intensive care unit and to a small, closed off room. When Jinenji opened the door and stepped aside, they ventured into the room and instantly were greeted with the sight of Kagome on the bed with a bunch of machines around her.
She lay there motionless, tubes stuffed up into her nostrils to help her breathe and make sure her blood was receiving enough oxygen. She had three pulse monitors stuck to the flesh of her chest, their wires poking out through the hospital gown they had changed her into. An IV needle was stabbed into the crook of her elbow, a steady drip of saline solution seeping its way into her veins until a nurse would come in and inject different kinds of medication into it.
The sight was unsettling for all of them.
"Oh, Kags," Kikyou whispered, walking closer to her sister and grabbing her cold hand within hers. "You have to be okay."
"She will be." Inuyasha commented, very gently patting his friend's head, making sure to stay away from the gauze wrapped around the sides of it. "She's tough."
"She is," Sango chimed in with a watery smile, taking her friend's other hand in hers. "She'll come out of this and be just the same as she was before. I know it."
Sesshoumaru stood at the foot of her bed, honey orbs running over her way too still form. Her face was too pale and her chest was moving too slow as she breathed. She seemed so very fragile in that moment and it unnerved him greatly. Flashes of his ex-wife lying dead in the hospital bed hit the front of his mind and he had to make himself tear his eyes away from her.
Sango released her best friend's hand and then pulled out her cell phone when it began ringing. She answered it when she saw it was Miroku. "Hey Miroku."
"Hey, I'm here. Is she out?"
"Yeah, but I don't think they'll let you come see her," She glanced at Jinenji who slowly shook his head in return. "Yeah, the doctor said no. We're not even supposed to be here, but he made an exception for us. I'll come down to the lobby and we'll come back during visitor hours." She hung up the phone and looked at the three. "If any of you get a status update, please let me know." She bowed to them and said goodbye before stepping out of the room.
"It is pretty late," Inuyasha commented, rubbing Kikyou's shoulders as she stared down at her sister. "Why don't we go to my place and come back first thing in the morning? She needs to rest and start her recovery. We will leave our contact information with Dr. Jinenji and he can let us know if anything changes, okay?"
She nodded numbly and gave Kagome's hand a firm squeeze before she let Inuyasha guide her to the door. She stopped next to the hanyou surgeon and gave him her cell phone and house number. "I better be the first person you call if anything happens, understand?" She asked him.
He nodded and gave her a bow. "Yes, Higurashi-san." He watched as the two left and looked over at the frozen taiyoukai. "Sesshoumaru-sama? Would you like me to give you some time alone?"
Sesshoumaru merely glanced at him and waited for him to leave before walking around the bed to stand next to his secretary. Before he could still his hand, it reached forward and pushed her bangs from her forehead. "Clumsy woman." He commented softly.
He lowered his hand and allowed the backs of his fingers to brush against her cheek. It then traveled further down until he was holding her small hand in his, his long fingers enclosing around hers. His eyes widened slightly and looked up when the heart monitor beeped three times to notify the staff that her heart rate had increased. He looked back down at her face and then at her hand when he felt her fingers twitch against his.
A small smirk graced his lips when her body responded to his. It was a good enough sign for him. If her fingers had moved, it meant she was not paralyzed, at least not completely. Also, if she was responding to him, it meant she was conscious enough to not be a vegetable, right?
"You had better regain consciousness tomorrow, Kagome; there are many people who are worried about your welfare." He let his eyelids slide close as he felt her hand twitch in his once again and he could just imagine the face she would have given him if she were conscious. "Yes, I suppose I am as well."