"Are you sure?" Kagome stuttered at her wide-eyed friend.

"Room E10 Kagome," Shiori replied. "Hurry."

Kagome nodded and took off at a sprint. She knew what Trauma 1 meant. Trauma 1 meant that there was a significant chance of death. And what the hell could happen to a half-demon that caused injuries so grievous that he required Level 1 Trauma?!

Room E10 was chaos. Dr. Suikotsu was barking out orders: "Get him aspirated now! We need to prep him before he loses any more blood! Yura. O-negative. We don't have time to test him."

Kagome watched as one giant needle plunged into the dark-haired man's chest.

Dark hair?

Maybe Shiori was mistaken; maybe it wasn't Inuyasha.

But then Kagome's eyes followed the action of Jinenji, the other nurse in the room, who was starting an IV as fast as he could. On the left arm of this dark-haired man was the fanged grin of a mating mark, one that matched her own.

Inuyasha was human. And Inuyasha was on the brink of death.

Kagome stepped back, away from the room, letting herself listen to Suikotsu take charge. She knew that she would just get in the way. The way that her heart had felt squeezed in a vice told her that. But, she listened.

"...internal bleeding… the ribs are the priority… OR6 is being prepped." Kagome heard Suikotsu talking through what was coming next. "But we need to get the arms and leg set too before sunrise…"

Sunrise.
This had all happened to Inuyasha on his human night.
The night of the new moon.
Tonight.

"...Only unconscious… but he's now stable…" Suikotsu's words continued to carry into the hallway. "We just need to keep him alive until sunrise. And goddammit we're going to or I will be pissed off."

An orderly came rushing into E10. "Dr. Renkotsu is prepped and ready."

Kagome stepped back as the bed carrying her unconscious soulmate was rushed toward the OR. She couldn't move her legs. Couldn't speak. This couldn't be happening. She'd only just met him. Only just figured him out. Only just learned his last name. And instead of going to his house and demanding answers, he was here. At her hospital.

"Higurashi?" Dr. Suikotsu emerged from the room, holding the chart.

"I… I was going to help," Kagome said lamely. It wasn't a lie.

"Better that you didn't," Suikotsu replied, pointing down on Kagome's exposed mark. "He was sporting one of those too."

"I… we barely know each other." Kagome slid down the wall as she lost her ability to hold herself up. "I was gonna visit him… tonight."

"So, your mystery soulmate turns out to be a half-demon," Suikotsu raised an eyebrow. "I had to threaten Jak with bodily harm to get him to shut up about your bite-and-run."

"Is… is… he…" Kagome couldn't finish her thought, so she swallowed, "What happened?"

"Hit by a car when he had a BAC of 0.30," Suikotsu answered. "Fast enough that he went through the windshield. Guy's lucky to be alive."

"Shit," Kagome said, trying to keep the upwelling of panic from reaching her face. She was a nurse. This was her job. She couldn't let the fact that she'd only finally solved the mystery of her soulmate cloud her judgment.

"I'm gonna do my damndest not to let him die, Higurashi." Suikotsu put a hand on her shoulder. "If only to keep from having Jak hold it over my head for the next thousand years."

"I'll hold you to that." Kagome poked Suikotsu's arm weakly. God, even her sarcasm was short-circuiting from this.

"His emergency contact was a coworker." Suikotsu pulled Kagome back to her feet. "If… you promise to behave when he gets back, I'll look the other way. But Higurashi? I will fuck you up if you impede us from doing our jobs."

"I promise." Kagome remembered at that moment why she liked Dr. Suikotsu so much. "And… thank you."

"Don't say anything yet." Suikotsu backed away. "It's gonna be a long wait for sunrise."

Kagome nodded, and Dr. Suikotsu rushed away, probably to go and observe Inuyasha's surgery. She wanted to follow him, but… she shouldn't. And… she couldn't.

Kagome clocked out, 15 minutes before her shift officially ended, and changed into a clean set of scrubs. She wasn't going anywhere tonight. She needed to be here with her half-demon soulmate who apparently got so drunk he almost killed his fool self while he was human. Once he woke up and healed, Kagome was going to kick his ass.

She prayed he would wake up.

"I don't fucking care I am not family, I was called for Inuyasha Taisho." A booming feminine voice echoed through the hallway. "Where is he?"

"Maybe I can help you." Kagome ran up to the angry brunette woman currently accosting Shiori. "Are you Inuyasha's emergency contact?"

The woman's brown eyes widened as she took Kagome in, fixing themselves on Kagome's unhidden arm. She made a lunge for Kagome, grabbing her by the left wrist, and fingering around the mark. Kagome tried to jerk her hand away, but the woman was too strong, and seemingly too entranced to do anything except for stare.

"You're… you're her!" the woman shrieked, having temporarily forgotten that she was in a hospital looking for Inuyasha. She gave Kagome's left arm another enthusiastic tug. "Holy shit. It's exactly the same."

"Didn't your mother tell you not to grab people you don't know?" Kagome growled, yanking her hand back from the mystery woman.

"Oh. Sorry," the woman said, not taking her eyes off the mark. "I just… he's been so down about it all. I'm Sango Tajiya. I'm friends with Inuyasha."

"Kagome Higurashi," Kagome frowned.

Once Sango finally peeled her eyes away from the mark, she looked back at Kagome, her face laced with concern.

"What… what happened?" Sango's eyes narrowed. "Where is Inuyasha?"

"He… he was hit by a car," Kagome answered, trying her best to school her features and remain calm and professional. She couldn't get the image of his black hair and limp arm out of her head.

"Shit." Sango lifted her hand to her lips, looking like she was going to be sick. Before she continued, she trained her eyes on Kagome again. "Were you with him?"

"No." Kagome didn't like where this was going. "If the scrubs and little name badge weren't clue enough, I work here. And I've been at work since noon."

Kagome stared right back into Sango's eyes. She would not sit and let this random woman accuse her of hurting her soulmate. Sure… fine… she had plans to murder him, but not like murder murder him. Just… make him spend at least the next couple of years doing amazing things to her body to apologize for running away from her. Three times.

"What did that idiot do…" Sango's eyes switched from accusatory to concerned quickly.

"Kagome? He's going to be transferred to post-op wing, room B35." Shiori's voice cut through the awkwardness between the two women.

"Thanks Shiori." Kagome looked at the soulful violet eyes of her friend, then at the stricken brown ones of her soulmate's emergency contact. "Come on, Sango. There's a decent waiting room up there."

Sango nodded and wordlessly followed Kagome through the hospital.

"I… I didn't know he found you," Sango spoke quietly the moment the two women were alone in the elevator.

"Found me?" Kagome repeated what Sango said.

What the hell did she mean found me? If she hadn't followed her spidey sense on the subway that very day, she wouldn't even know Inuyasha was a half-demon… let alone his last name.

"Yeah." Sango looked Kagome in the eyes. "He's been freaking out about it since his full demon marked you. We've had to reinforce a punching bag for him."

"I'm still not following." Kagome glared at Sango.

"Oh. Fuck. He hasn't told you, has he?" Sango shook her head, "That idiot."

"Told me WHAT…" Kagome enunciated her words in the deadly way her mother used to do it when she or her brother had done something truly bad.

"Okay, I am getting so fucking sick of this!" Kagome rounded on Sango, her temper and panic finally coming to the surface. "I meet this guy. He walks me home, bites me, then walks off into the fucking night. The next day, I find out I've been mate-marked by said guy. I don't see him for a fucking month and he shows back up. He doesn't tell me anything… then… he fucking leaves again." Kagome could feel the tears trying to escape from her eyes, but fuck her tears. She needed to be pissed right now. "Then today, I see a half-demon who looks like Inuyasha on the train and guess what? It is Inuyasha. My fucking soulmate. You know what he did today? He fucking ran away from me. It was like he didn't even know who I was. And NOW that motherfucker got drunk and threw himself in front of a car on his human night. Am I… am I really that awful a fucking soulmate? That he's hiding his entire fucking life from me? And now… the best part is I finally found him, and he's gonna die? I fucking hate him! I hate him so much I just… I just..."

Kagome's rage died in her throat. The words she thought were still there had stopped coming, as emotionally drained as she was. Her heart had shattered into a million pieces. She was so angry and scared and frustrated and confused. And even in spite of herself, in spite of him marking her and fucking her and running away, she liked him. A lot. Too much. She wanted to know this half-demon who was such a cocky bastard that he talked his way into her soul. And now? He was in the type of surgery that people didn't always survive.

Sango's arms found their way around Kagome as she tried not to collapse, tried not to cry, tried to shove it all down and just feel angry. But it didn't work, because she could hear Sango crying too. The two of them sobbed. She didn't know if it was for the same or different reasons, and she really didn't care. Right now, this woman was the only connection to her soulmate.

The elevator pinged, startling them both back to reality. They looked at each other, wiped their tears, then left the elevator. They two headed toward the little waiting area near the recovery rooms, arm-in-arm. Kagome knew that someone would let her know when Inuyasha was out of surgery. Hospitals had eyes and ears everywhere, and she had no doubt that the rumor of Kagome's mystery soulmate had already spread. She was just thankful Jakotsu was probably already at home—he was the last person she needed to deal with at the moment.

"You're not… mad that he's a half-demon?" Sango sniffled, letting go as they made it to the little room.

"CHRIST! No! Of course not! I'm mad he didn't think I could handle him telling me. I'm mad he left me high and dry and only snuck back to me when he could keep his fucking secret," Kagome raged. It felt good to rage. It suffocated the sense of hopelessness.

"Well, I think… I think I have answers for you." Sango ran her hands through Kagome's hair. "I can't promise it will answer everything, but… a lot more will make sense."

"I'm all ears." Kagome plopped herself down on the pleather chair, crossing her legs and waiting.

"Inuyasha… doesn't remember his full demon nights," Sango said. "He's never talked to me about why that happens, but… he blacks out."

"Wait." Kagome surely must have heard her wrong.

"Kagome!" a smooth but concerned voice called from down the hall, Miroku. "How is he? How are you?"

Yep, hospitals were worse than high schools when it came to gossip.

"Dunno," Kagome shrugged, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She was so close to understanding what the hell was going on!

Miroku came directly to her and pulled her up and into a big hug. Kagome tried to push him away, mostly because his comfort was bringing the tears back to the surface and she really really didn't want to cry again. Not when…

"This is Sango." Kagome pushed Miroku away just in time to avoid the tears that threatened to fall. "Inuyasha's emergency contact."

Kagome nearly groaned when she realized that Miroku had that dumb look he always got when he saw a beautiful woman. Actually, this dumb look was dumber than usual. Sango's eyes widened as she took in the chaplain, letting out the slightest twinkle of approval, before hardening once again, completely aware that she was being appraised. Kagome coughed, which seemed to break both of them out of the trance that they'd trapped each other in.

"Sango, Miroku is the chaplain here. And my friend." Kagome narrowed her eyes at the dark-haired monk, whose lips had started curling into a little smile. Kagome knew what was coming next.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sango." Miroku bowed.

"Enough monk," Kagome grumbled. "You can flirt with her when my soulmate is not on the brink of death."

It was meant to be funny, witty even, but the tone in Kagome's voice was neither. It was scared. It was sad. And it brought the three of them back to the present, back to the waiting.

"Uh. Sango. Can you… can you explain what you meant about not remembering?" Kagome felt stupid, sheepish. She should just wait until Inuyasha woke up to get her answers. But… what if he didn't wake up? Miroku put his arm around Kagome, and both sat down.

"Yeah." Sango also returned her concentration to Kagome. "Something happened when Inuyasha was younger. He's never told me what, and I don't ask. But… when he becomes full demon, he… he blacks out. Sort of like a werewolf—don't tell him I called him that."

"He… doesn't remember?" Miroku had leaned forward, and Kagome recognized the spark of interest alight in his eye. "But… the Inuyasha that Kagome describes is… lucid. My understanding is that the only time a half-demon doesn't remember a transformation is when he goes into a blood rage."

"Well. Inuyasha is lucid, he just doesn't remember. It's more like…" Sango continued. "Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"Fascinating…" Miroku looked excited. Kagome growled.

"So, you're telling me that his full demon found me but… didn't… tell him who I was?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah," Sango answered. "He freaked out when he saw the mating mark. And it took a while, but I think he was really ashamed that 'the asshole' did that to someone and they were going to find out that they were not mated to a full demon. I think he may have even believed that you wouldn't accept him."

"Half-demons and part-demons do sometimes get rejected by their soulmates," Miroku said sadly.

"I wouldn't," Kagome stressed, picturing those sad eyes on the train, that defeated form on the platform as the subway train took off without him on it, the limp arm as he lay half-dead on the hospital bed. "I wouldn't reject him. Not for that. Not for… not even for being an idiot."

Sango laughed. "Well that's a relief. Because one thing about Inuyasha is that he… he's an idiot. A lot."

"Why didn't he just tell me?" Kagome moaned. "Fuck. If he'd told me. Any time he came to see me…"

"He's an idiot," Sango enunciated, sniffles mixing in with her voice. "He was probably so scared. And… well… at least until today I think he only knew your scent."

"That explains the sniffing." Kagome rolled her eyes, smiling just a little bit. "It must have been the first time Dr. Jekyll found me. Okay it's settled. I am going to kick his full demon's ass…"

"The amnesia doesn't bother you?" Sango pressed.

"He's my soulmate. My soul wouldn't say yes to someone who only appeared the night of the full moon. At least… I don't think it would…" Kagome sighed, "I just… well… I hope we get to find out."

"Ms. Tajiya?" Suikotsu appeared at the little waiting area, giving a curt nod to Kagome and Miroku, "Inuyasha made it out of surgery. He's stable, but he's in for a rough night. We were able to repair the damage to his lungs, as well as reset his ribs. We also reset the tibia, and believe that once his yōki returns, the rest of his bones will heal properly."

"Th-thank you," Sango stuttered, not quite meeting Dr. Suikotsu's eyes.

"Is… is he going to wake up?" Kagome looked into Suikotsu's soulful gray eyes.

"You know I don't like to make predictions like that Higurashi. He's in B35," Suikotsu answered. "Keep outta the way. But… last time I checked, a soulmate and an emergency contact were both considered family."

"Thank you," Kagome said, trying to keep the tears down.

"You both look like you could use some coffee. I'll be back." Miroku squeezed Kagome's hand and left the little waiting area.

"I'll join you!" Sango sprang up, striding directly up to the monk. "Kagome? We'll be back soon."

Kagome simply nodded, then headed to B35.

When Kagome entered, it was the first time she'd been able to really look at him. His face was a criss-cross pattern of cuts from the glass, and both his eyes looked to be swollen shut. Thankfully, they didn't have him on a respirator. His right arm and both legs were in casts, and she could see that his entire midsection had been bandaged. But even under all the bandages, under the bruises and cuts and tubes and swelling, even under the human, Kagome could see Inuyasha. She could see her soulmate. He was there, and she hoped to Christ that he would be there when sunrise hit and his healing accelerated.

Kagome walked up to him, looking at the little smiling mating mark on his left arm, the mark they shared. Kagome leaned down to it and gave it the lightest of kisses.

"Please wake up Inuyasha," Kagome whispered into his human ear and ran her fingers through his human hair. "Please wake up for me."