Welcome to my new reader Mechine! I got all your reviews on my other stories but with FFN disabling email notifications I don't know if you got my responses. I loved the drunk sess too. If anyone hasn't read the last Drabble, there may be a drunk Sesshomaru in there.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last few chapters.
All credit for APL Leukemia goes to Jodi Picoult who I am not tagging in any public post because I have too much respect for her as a writer. In My Sister's Keeper Kate has APL...it just made it so I didn't have to research. Also the idea to write present tense, changing POV's is one of her signature writing styles.
Interlude VI
Before
Tyler and Hannah Richmond sat with the doctor in the office across the hall from Nina's room. She'd been hospitalized in the hematology/oncology ward with other children who were as sick as she was. They were able to stop the bleeding with platelets and plasma after she lost 800cc's. Taka refused to leave her side. She curled against the girl as the child ran her fingers through her white fur. For the millionth time since she began this journey, Taka stared at the phone. Her father would know how to treat the cancer but that wasn't what concerned her. On the other side of the door she could hear the foster-parents arguing.
The doctors called off her cochlear implant, the risk of hemorrhaging was now too high. She would remain deaf and blind and if it happened that she went into a permanent remission it was possible they could try again to get her a cochlear implant.
"We can't keep her," Tyler sounded insistent.
"That's not fair. She's been with us for a year," Hannah cried against her husband's chest. Taka wondered what love felt like, connection. She was hidden away from everyone and everything for three and a half centuries. She loved the little girl that clutched her fur and she knew that Nina loved her. "We would have kept her until she was eighteen, you know that!"
"What are we supposed to do? We can't afford her treatments!" his voice rose in crescendo.
For once Taka was grateful for Nina's deafness.
"Medicaid will pay for the majority of it and we can start a fund, ask for donations for her. Tyler, she just started talking. She was shipped from home to home for seven years."
"It's hundreds of thousands of dollars!" Tyler bellowed back at his wife.
Taka shook her head. This wasn't right and even she knew it. Her father could cure her in a few hours. "Mr. and Mrs. Richmond?" The doctor returned to his office.
"The good news is that Medicaid will cover some of her treatments. If we are going to act, we need to act now. Her white blood cell counts are extremely high so are the number of blasts. We can start her on chemo-therapy now but there isn't time to wait for her to have another placement. You obviously care about Nina."
"We aren't abandoning her Tyler," Hannah stood her ground.
"I can't do this Hannah," he finally broke down. "I can't watch her suffer. She isn't even ours."
"Then leave," Hannah said in tears. "Just leave. I'll help her myself."
For a while they discussed the various options for treatment and the likelihood that Nina would survive. Hannah called her sister to watch the other two children at home and then came into the room to speak to Nina. She sat down by her bedside. The girl stirred in her sleep. She was strapped to the bed with an IV in either arm. Her face was pained as she picked up Nina's hand waiting for the girl to be wake up completely. The tests came back. She finger spelled into Nina's hand. You have a rare form of leukemia. It's very advanced. They're going to start chemo while you're in the hospital and afterwards, we'll try some other therapies to see what works the best.
What about my cochlear? Nina was trembling. Her shoulders shook. Her hands waited for the answer.
Not now. I'm sorry. It's too dangerous. You might bleed out and it's brain surgery. I'm sorry.
Together they cried. Taka whined by Nina's face licking her tears. The little girl covered her face with her hands while Taka licked the tips of her fingers.
Am I going to die? Nina asked her foster mother.
We don't know. The mother spelled back. She pat Nina's back while she cried, eventually falling asleep in a chair next to Nina's bed.
In the dead of night, Taka felt something against her paw. It was Nina's hand, I hate being sick. I hate being deaf. No one likes me. Who is ever going to love me like this?
If you only knew little one, she nuzzled the girl's nose and licked another tear. Nina couldn't hear her thoughts, but to Taka, they'd been sharing these private conversations for years.
He has a special sword that brings people back to life. We went flying in the air together. I dreamt I kissed him and his lips were so soft. Why can't dreams be real? I don't want to die. He could bring me back. Why can't he be real?
I'm not going to let you die, Taka panted against the girl. They allowed her to stay because she was a therapy dog and after a few tests they discovered she was hypoallergenic. Taka wasn't surprised, demons don't get sick, they don't have allergies, the only thing that can fell them is the disease that made her father so ill. That alone made her wonder how her father's tremors were. Was he still alive? Would she even know if he passed away?
As Nina fell asleep and the nurses checked her for the last time that night, Taka got off the bed and went to the hospital phone. She shifted to her human form as quietly as she could pulling a phone card out from her back pocket. She had a cellphone but she couldn't risk using it. She lifted the receiver and dialed her father's number. It rang twice before she heard, "Rinata-sama des," he didn't say more.
She couldn't speak. His voice sounded the same as it did eight years before and all of a sudden she missed her father and began to cry. Her hand covered her mouth, trying to stifle her cries.
"Is someone there?" His English was so perfect she hated it. It was tinged in a British accent he picked up from his time in the colonies in the 1800's.
She couldn't speak. She didn't know who she was supposed to protect. Was it true that her mother loved him? Taka knew that he'd been intimate with other female demons in a desperate attempt to create more of their kind. Her mother never said anything. She hung the phone up with tears falling down her own cheeks. She changed back into her dog form and curled against the little girl she wasn't able to abandon. I won't let you die, I can't hurt Haha-ue either. What do I do?
The chemo made her so sick she puked for days after receiving it. Taka spent those days never leaving her side. The Richmond's had to convince her to eat and she complied if only to keep them from suspecting she was more than the friendly white dog she was. After a week in the hospital Nina was released and Tyler was there waiting with their other two foster children. He apologized for being a total ass and promised to support Hannah and Nina. Together they set up a gofundme account to help cover the cost of her treatment.
When night fell, Taka took out her own hidden computer and put all the money she made from her embroidering blankets into their GoFundMe page. It wasn't much. Over time she had managed to make about $32,000 dollars. She put all of it in but a thousand so she could keep up her hidden business. She kept her materials hidden in their basement and used a sewing machine that was abandoned. Her father always said, people believe what they want. She was impressed she had never been caught in her human form.
They tried the various treatments usually used for Acute promyelocytic leukemia starting with ATRA. Nina suffered severe burns and scarring along her skin. They waited several weeks with bated breath for the results of new blood draws and were disappointed to be told that it did not have the intended effect. Her chemo treatment continued. Eventually she had a Porto Cath placed in her chest when her veins became too sclerosed from constant IVs to remain functional. Taka sat by her side as the procedure was conducted and nudged her cheeks and face as she recovered.
One night at the hospital when Nina was admitted for an infection Taka was distracted by a scent that she hadn't expected wafting off the girl in waves. What are you dreaming about? The dog rose onto all fours and leapt onto the bed, sniffing the girl's backside. If a dog could laugh, Taka was rolling. Nina was thoroughly aroused and moaning her sleep. She gripped the sheets in front of her and if Taka understood the EKG leads correctly, her heart-rate was slightly elevated. By the standards of the time, a fourteen year-old having sex would be considered bad form, but considering she was just dreaming about it? But then the thought hit Taka about who Nina was most likely having sex with. Barely a night went by since she became ill that new "memories" didn't surface and of course that thought made Taka wonder what the hell her father was doing to Nina in her sleep that was making her moan so loud and grip the bedsheets like she was holding on for her life. Even her own mother didn't make that much noise in bed.
I need to find someone to pop my cherry, Taka mused quietly to herself while finding a comfortable spot on the bed to lay down again. It was exhausting being in dog form most of the time. She had just found the perfect position when Nina bolted upright holding the front of her gown. She grabbed Taka's paw and started signing frantically. I just lost my virginity…he…oh my god! We were in a hot springs! And he was naked and oh my god! His body, I would die if I saw ever someone that built. If I could see I would have something to compare him too. Are all guys this hot? Tyler's stomach is flat and fluffy, not bumpy like his. He's like…I don't know…perfect. We were talking, I think I was mad at him about something but his fingers. Do you know what he can do with his fingers?
Do I want to know what my father was doing with his fingers? If only she could talk and not freak the girl out.
He put them in me and rubbed my clit!
Taka had to bite her own cheek or she would start rolling in laughter.
But that's not it. Two days later we did it again, he kissed me down the front of my chest, between my breasts. My boobs were bigger in my dream. Do you think I'll get bigger boobs before I die?
Taka couldn't help it this time, this time she did let the laughter roll off her. I'm still waiting for mine to get bigger, she thought.
Anyway he started licking my va—
Okay, that Taka just couldn't listen to. He licks her vagina? Taka sat up and started licking the sweat of Nina's face. I will listen to whatever you tell me, except my father licking your vagina. That I draw the line…I don't even want to think of him having sex with Haha-ue! When are you going to find out that you weren't his only one?
She resolved that she needed to try harder to find someone to have sex with. Her father had sex with many demonesses before they understood there was no way for him to get them pregnant, she just needed to find someone. But all thoughts failed as Nina's treatments continued to only offer respite and not full remission. She was on the National Donor registry for bone marrow, but APL needed an allogenic donor. She had no family anyone knew of and Taka didn't know if she could even find the girl's parents in Japan. For the billionth time as Nina sat puking over a toilet bowl crying from the pain of the treatment, looking like nothing but skin and bones Taka wanted to call her father. She was so scared she was going to do something wrong and hurt someone she loved but after the arsenic failed and all that resulted was more weight loss, vomiting and swelling, she couldn't resist any longer. Nina was fifteen she deserved more than this.
When evening fell and everyone went to sleep, Taka took out her cellphone and made the call. The phone rang and went to voicemail, "this is Yuki leave me a message."
"Yuki, it's Taka…I know we aren't close but I need help. It's an emergency, please? I can't call Chichiue, please call me back?" She hung up the phone and started to cry. Sitting down on the bed next to her little girl she stroked the girl's head and whispered, "I should have called him before it came to this."
Nina had only months left. All options had failed.
So any guesses on how Yuki is going to react? And she was so close, Sesshomaru was on the phone!
Please review! REMEMBER VOTING ON TUMBLR FEUDALCONNECTION IS JAN 29- FEB 15!
You can now follow me on tumblr Elohiniar :)
Guest #1: I made it 5 chapters in and gave up. It has a lot of what I like to extrapolation writing. He thought, she thought, maybe it was because etc…tends to cause me boredom and if I haven't said it enough I hate the abusive Sess! Like at the time that was written, it was almost expected for him to be like that but HE NEVER TREATED HER LIKE THAT IN THE SERIES! Suffice to say…didn't make it through it. Alas, I prefer a realistic Sesshomaru, one who is harsh and perhaps, short, curt, gruff, rude, abrupt but also a Rin who confronts him. This I think is one of the many reasons people went for Sess/OC on Wattpad and Sess/Kag on FFN…the idea is that he needs someone to manage him and Rin is too *sweet*...I may be a fanfiction snob. I've started reading more Inu/Kag…alas this will be my last Sess/Rin. The pairing is dying…
Ivriel: I agree with you! There are so few Rin stories written that have good plots. I made a tumblr post about why the Sess/Rin is dying and lack of plot and degradation of the other characters in the show play a major role. From the likes, comments and reblogs, the main issues are the way the main characters are portrayed as useless and immature, especially Inuyasha and Miroku, how Rin has no life and literally pines for years for Sess to love her and the whole immortality and pure-blooded children. It's turned a sweet pairing into something I don't even recognize anymore. Thank Goodness for this story though…
Luin-fanelx2: I am not beating on Nina. I'm writing a story J
And alas yes…she has Leukemia. How else was she supposed to meet Sesshomaru if Taka took her to America?