Chapter Six

Wake Up Call

Kagome awoke feeling as though she was moving through layers of fog, each only a fraction less gauzy than the last. She tried to grasp at a memory—at what had happened a moment ago—but she couldn't rightly recall.

She remembered Professor Taisho. They'd been in the temple . . . ? Her brow furrowed as she fought to hang onto the image. What had they last talked about? She couldn't . . . . Wait, why did she feel like something . . . inappropriate had happened?

That couldn't be right. The Professor would never—

All at once the entire, impossible incident came back to her in a jumbled, discordant mass. She wrenched herself to sit upright, a loud gasp tearing out of her. Her eyes snapped open, only to squeeze shut against bright, pale light and she threw a hand up to shield her face. Something thin and stringy slapped the tip of her nose, and she opened her eyes again—with caution, this time—to see an IV tube dangling from the back of her hand.

Casting a squinting glance around, she realized the pale brightness was the white surroundings of the camp site's medical tent during daylight hours. This was, to her knowledge, the first time it had to be used—for anything more serious than an infected insect bite, anyway.

Seconds ticked past as she lowered her gaze, taking in the cot on which she sat. Not at all far from her was another cot, empty save for the light blanket carefully folded and placed in the exact center. This seemed to her like something the professor would do, which meant that—until very recently—he'd been here, too.

That awareness helped her mind to at last organize into their proper order the things that had transpired.

Kagome remembered the professor collapsing. She remembered . . . and the very last thing she remembered was standing with Sango at the mouth of the tunnel. Then, everything just stopped until she'd woken up here.

She could assume that the demon's possession had taken more of a toll on Professor Taisho's body than his system could really handle. But what about her?

Had that thing taken too much from her?

Morsel, my ass! Maybe she could corner him with that—point out that he'd not kept his word. But then, the demon had already proved itself intelligent. He'd probably argue that she was still alive when no one else he'd ever taken his offerings from had been left alive before. In that case, this was really something she'd rather he not decide to rethink.

Biting her lip, she turned her head. She squinted, trying to read the distant, tiny print on the solution into which her IV tube was connected.

"Hey." The word—though pleasantly spoken—made her jump and she heard the immediate shuffling of hurried footsteps.

"Careful now," the RN said, smiling gently. He placed his hands on Kagome's shoulders and eased her back down in the cot.

She gave an exasperated eye roll—she was terrible and downright nightmarish at being a patient. "I feel fine."

"That might be so." He checked her IV drip before sitting on the edge of the cot and withdrawing a pen light from his shirt pocket. "But I still need to check and make sure you actually are."

She couldn't help making a sour expression as he checked her pupils and then her pulse. "So . . . ." she started, drawing out the word. "What happened?"

He shrugged as he took a stethoscope from a cabinet drawer by her IV stand and listened to her heart for a few moments. "There were a few concerns floating around. That Taisho inhaled something when that section came down on you guys." With another non-committal shrug, he stashed the stethoscope and prepped to check her blood pressure. "That was when I thought it was just him, so that didn't seem likely. Then you collapsed, too, so I was right back to considering an environmental factor. Of course, that was still problematic, because I couldn't explain why it would affect you later, unless the professor had a compromised immune system, which isn't the case. Both your diagnoses turned out pretty textbook, actually; the coincidental timing threw me off, is all."

Kagome watched, feeling numb as he unwound the Velcro-lined cuff from her arm and set it aside. "And what were those textbook diagnoses?"

"Your professor's was exhaustion in combination with mild dehydration. You . . . ." He rested an elbow on his knee and folded his hand under his chin as he looked at her. "When is the last time you ate something more than some sort of energy bar, or drank anything besides that crap-tastic coffee we're stuck with here?"

"I—no." Her head was a little fuzzy, still. She was sure she couldn't be thinking clearly, because it sounded like he'd accused her of not eating, or keeping herself properly hydrated when she knew she had been doing both. "What?"

The RN's lips folded inward as he clasped his hands—making it obvious that he thought she was just being difficult. "You were dehydrated and showing signs of malnourishment."

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead—that was news to her. "I don't under—" Shaking her head, her voice dropped off. She and the professor had both been dehydrated? That couldn't be a coincidence—something to do with The Thief's little visit, she just couldn't figure out what, yet.

She could understand her own system being depleted, but the professor's? How did that even . . . ? With a heavy sigh, Kagome let her head roll back and stared up at the blank, white ceiling of the tent. How did she expect for any of this to make sense? That she'd just think it to death and the answers would magically pop into her head?

"It was so bad I collapsed? You can't be serious. How long have I been out?"

"It's been roughly twelve hours."

She thought her eyes would fall out of her head.

"To be fair, I don't think it was just the nutritional deficiencies. Your condition was probably exacerbated by the late hour, the shock to your system after a bad scare—like that wall almost coming down on your head—and the stress of the only person there to help you collapsing. Although it's not exactly typical, I'd say you were so worn out that after the initial fainting spell, your body just went into its natural sleep cycle."

Giving a slow nod, she figured that from his viewpoint, it all made sense. Maybe last night's events had only been a figment of her imagination.

Though, if that was so, she was suddenly very worried about her imagination. "Did Professor Taisho say anything?"

The RN shook his head. "Not really, nothing you hadn't already told me. Except that he had a memory lapse. He remembered hitting the floor and then, suddenly, he was standing at the entrance." He shrugged.

Her eyes went wide. She'd kind of hoped Professor Taisho had forgotten that. "Is that normal? To just . . . forget like that?"

He tipped his head side-to-side as he thought. "Understand we like to ignore things that make us uncomfortable. Taisho is a very organized and in-control person. That being said, losing comprehension of his surroundings due to disorientation was probably very uncomfortable for him. It's entirely possible he blocked out the feeling, only allowing himself to recall the moment he regained his spatial orientation."

She heaved another sigh. There didn't seem very much at all she could do about things—at least not any time soon. She'd have to bide her time and, well, she didn't really know what then, but she'd figure something out. "Um, can I go now?"

He checked her IV solution again before giving a half-nod and standing. "Just give it until this one's finished. I'd like to be sure you've replenished as much of your fluids as possible. One last thing—were you stuck by any debris when that wall came down?"

"No."

He frowned. "You're positive of that?"

"Yes, positive, why?"

"You have a bruise on the back of your neck that looks pretty recent."

She couldn't mask her confusion as she raised her hand to run gentle fingertips over the skin there. The area was a bit tender, and she recalled suddenly—and quite vividly—the feel of The Thief biting down on her neck. She repressed a shudder, allowing her eyes to drift closed as she pushed away the memory.

Kagome hated herself for feeling relieved the bite had been mistaken for a bruise, and not recognized for what it really was. How would she explain a recent human bite mark on the back of her neck after she'd been alone with Professor Taisho for an hour without getting either of them in trouble?

She forced a small gulp down her throat, averting her eyes. "I—uh, honestly can't . . . recall anything."

"It's likely in the confusion of the moment, you didn't even notice the injury. Don't feel guilty. What happened wasn't your fault," he said, his tone gentle, and again she found unbelievable relief in being misunderstood.

"Yeah, thanks." She nodded, able to look at him, once more, now that she was no longer lying through her teeth.

He nodded in response, before turning on his heel to exit the tent, leaving her alone.

For a few moments, she simply stared after the man. What was his name? Hojo . . . ? Mojo . . . ? Something like that. She troubled herself with little thoughts—like what the RN's name was, or how much work she'd already missed, and why the hell in the whole of the Latin American countries did they not have decent coffee here—to drive away bigger, scarier problems.

Like what on earth was she going to do about The Thief? What if he was still around when they got back to Japan? What if he decided morsels weren't enough and he wanted her to . . . no! Kagome shook her head, the corners of her mouth pulling into a frown.

She was not going to think about that right now. Whenever she pondered answerless questions, she teetered on obsessing to a possibly unhealthy extent—this was something she'd understood about herself since she was very young.

There were answers to this, she knew there were! She just didn't have them yet, nor any idea how to get them, which was as good as said answers not existing, at all. Her frown only deepened as she turned her gaze on her IV drip. Stupid bag was still half-full; she would be there forever.

"If I were your boss—"

Professor Taisho cut short his words at the start she gave as she turned to see him standing in the entrance. The sight of him forced an odd mix of warm relief and chilled fear washing through her.

"I still wouldn't know whether to thank you for not letting my head get caved in, or fire you for being uncharacteristically stupid enough to not take proper care of yourself."

Not missing a beat, she pointed to the empty cot beside hers. "Pot calling the kettle black? You were diagnosed with dehydration, too."

He arched a brow. "Touché." He strolled closer, pausing deliberately by her feet and she batted away the impression that he'd been worried about her—of course he was worried about her, that was part his job. She was under his supervision. "This incident has made me think perhaps . . . I should send you back to Japan."

Kagome bolted upright, a dozen thoughts all colliding in her mind. What if the Thief thought she'd willingly abandoned her deal with him and took it out on Professor Taisho? What if it tried something with Sango or Ayame? What if it killed someone all because she wasn't here?

And oh, sweet gods, how bad would being kicked off the excavation look on her academic records? "Y—you can't!"

His brows inched ever so slightly up his forehead. "I most certainly can."

"But why? It'll look like I'm being punished and I didn't do anything wrong."

The professor's mouth pulled tight at the corners and she recognized that look—he was thinking it over. "That's true, but I'll smooth it over. I'll see that you still receive full credits for the internship."

She couldn't believe that these words were coming out of Professor Taisho. His statement, alone, made her worry no longer to do with The Thief. "You can't be serious. That's like giving someone permission to cheat on their finals. Why would you do that? I deserve to be here, Professor!"

He let out a short, mildly exasperated sigh. "Yes, you do, but I am the one responsible for you. If I can't count on you taking care of yourself, then I can't let you remain here. I'm sorry."

Stubbornly ignoring her IV, Kagome folded her arms under her breasts. "Well fine, but if that's how it is, then you need to send yourself back home, too."

Again, his eyebrows lifted. This time, however, it made for an eloquent expression from which she read—as easily as if he'd opened his mouth to speak the words—I beg your pardon?

"It would be only fair, since you got half the same diagnosis as I did." Kagome shrugged, her expression serious as she went on. "If I have to go home based on the grounds that I'm not taking care of myself than you should have to go, too."

Professor Taisho made a pained face. "Why didn't it stick in my mind that you already mentioned that? What ever happened to confidentiality?"

"That's a doctor-patient thing, I don't think it applies to RNs."

Amber eyes narrowed a hint at that. "Damn." A moment passed before he let out a sigh, smoothing a hand against his tied-back silver hair. "You can stay on two conditions. The first is that this is never to happen again. You are not to set foot out of camp without a water bottle."

She gave a quick, emphatic nod.

"Two, on our next resupply run you will have yourself checked by the town doctor."

Kagome's eyebrows crept upward, mirroring the professor's look. "That means you'll be seeing this doctor, too. Right?"

The skin beneath his eyes pinched as he wondered just when he'd become powerless in this situation. "I suppose it does."

She nodded and he nodded back, still wearing a mildly confused expression as he turned to leave, but then—almost angry at herself for it—Kagome remembered something. "Professor?"

"Hmm?"

"Before you collapsed, you were saying . . . something. Do remember what you were talking about?"

He paused to glance at her over his shoulder. "Unfortunately no, not really. I think I was still in a bit of a daze at the time. Any particular reason?"

"No, just curious."

They shared another nod and then he was gone.

She lay back in her cot again, her gaze fixed on that slow drip of her IV. She felt a little more of that strange, misplaced-seeming relief.

Misplaced, because she couldn't imagine this sort of luck was going to hold out.

She was tempted to consider that she didn't have any luck, at all, but Kagome knew she hadn't seen the last of The Thief—and she didn't have the faintest clue whenhe'd put in another appearance. She couldn't help worrying he'd make another slip and she'd find herself scrambling for an explanation to something that shouldn't be. Like . . . the professor waking to find the taste of a woman on his tongue.

She groaned at herself and buried her face in her hands. Thank the gods fate was being kind to her, for now.

Even if that kindness was only on the little things.

The next evening, Kagome sat cross-legged on the forest floor at the edge of camp. Freshly relieved from her cataloging duties, she busied herself side-project Professor Taisho had tasked her with—sketching the strange jars they'd found hidden behind that wall. He feared his own memory compromised and he wanted to see what they had looked like sooner than their painstaking reconstruction would make possible.

Even before a shadow was cast across the page, she knew someone was approaching her. She set aside her pencil and looked up, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the still-bright rays of the setting sun. Sango stood there, a distant and worried expression on her face.

Kagome shuffled her sketchbook out of her lap and stood, hurrying over and grabbing her friend by the elbows. "Sango, what is it? What's wrong?"

For a long moment Sango wouldn't meet her gaze, but at last brown eyes lifted to meet blue. "Kags? We're close, right?"

Kagome felt her brow furrow. At first, she thought Miroku had done something stupid and upset Sango, but what would that ever have to do with how close she thought they were? "Of course we are. Sango, I don't—"

"'Cause, um, you'd tell me, right? You'd tell me if someone was like . . . hurting you, wouldn't you?"

The words made Kagome's heart drop into her stomach. "What?"

"If someone was doing something to you, you'd tell me so I could help you, wouldn't you?"

Finally, Kagome forced herself to lie. "Of course I would."

Nodding, Sango averted her gaze again, taking hold of Kagome's wrist. She turned on her heel to start toward the AV tent. "Okay, Then, I am going to need you to explain something to me, 'cause I . . . don't understand."

Kagome felt numb throughout her entire body as she was dragged into the tent and lightly shoved into a folding chair. She didn't know what was worse—not knowing what had Sango so upset, or that Sango wouldn't look at her even as she queued up something on the audio feed and took the headphones in her hands.

"Okay, um, I was going through some of the tape from one of the other altar rooms, and I heard something real low. I thought I was imagining it, as this was during hours when no one was supposed to be at the site."

Kagome's heart—still in her stomach—started to ice over, spreading a chill through her midsection as Sango set the headphones on her.

"So, I did a little tweaking and caught something," Sango said, pausing to sigh as she shook her head. "What I heard must have echoed over from that other chamber that you and Professor Taisho were in."

Kagome closed her eyes against sudden, frightened tears as she heard the ringing crash of the alcove wall though the headphones. She heard herself scream for the professor, followed by muted conversation she couldn't really decipher—not as though she needed to. More muted discussion, and then the low but unmistakable sound of her own gasp.

Kagome bit her lip to keep it from trembling as she heard the first distinct words, oddly clear despite the muffling effect of distance.

"All you need do . . . is come for me, little priestess."

The inside of her throat felt thick and raw and rubbery as she forced a gulp, unable to stop a tear that escaped at the sound of her own involuntary moaning echoing in her ears. More muffled conversation followed, only a few scattered words audible, but it sounded . . . .

It sounded dangerously like Professor Taisho was threatening her.

The recording stopped and Kagome opened her eyes, slow and reluctant, as Sango pulled the headphones off her. For several painful heartbeats, Kagome couldn't look up.

When she finally did, her blue eyes held a watery sheen and were tinged with a hint of red.

"I never thought Professor Taisho would be the type to . . . ." Sango took a deep breath, pacing herself as she set the headphones aside and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I'm going to scrub this, and no one else will ever hear that again, I want you to know that. But . . . I just don't understand. I mean, if something happened with you two, fine, these things happen, but you didn't tell me and I always thought you'd confide in me. I see your face now, though, and I have to ask.

"Kags, please. Did he force himself on you, or something?"

"What?!" Kagome almost couldn't believe what she was hearing—questionable recording notwithstanding. She got her voice under control and whispered back, "The professor would never do something like that!"

"Okay, then." Sango's expression became deeply wounded. "So, how long has this thing between you guys been going on? Is that why you really felt bad you got picked for the trip and not Kikyou?"

"Huh?" Now Kagome really couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sango . . . ." She shook her head, breaking into a mournful laugh as she halfheartedly wiped at her nose and her cheeks. "I'm not having some sort of secret relationship with Professor Taisho."

"Then what is going on, Kags? 'Cause that is pretty damned sure what this sounds like."

"I know," Kagome said in a miserable mutter, folding her arms around herself and pulling her legs up onto the chair. "I want to tell you, I do, honest. I just . . . ." She paused, shaking her head. "I don't think you'll believe me. Hell, I was there and I barely believe the mess I'm in, myself."

Sango blindly reached back, pulling up a second chair. Snapping it open, she set the chair down before Kagome and seated herself. "The mess you're in?" she echoed, leaning forward a little and resting her hands on Kagome's knees. "Look, just tell me. I may not be able to help you, but . . . ." She forced aside a sniffle—she'd never seen Kagome so very, very upset. Sango was heart-wrenched seeing her friend so distraught. "But I promise, whatever it is, I'll believe you."

For a few stretched and painful moments, Kagome simply stared at Sango before giving into a nod. Leaning close, she whispered the entire story in her friend's ear.

After she was done, she leaned back again, looking into scared, confused brown eyes. "I knew it," Kagome said with another sad, humorless laugh as she shook her head. "You think I'm crazy."

"No, Kags." Sango didn't even spare a second to think it over. "I do believe you, I swear it." She stopped to draw in a breath, looking suddenly on the brink of tears herself. "I just have no idea what we're going to do about it."