AN: hehe, the chapter's finally here -__-;;
-_-_-_-
When you thought about it, life was really a means of simplicity; you are born, you go to school, then to work and retirement, and then it is followed by death. But you see, along those little paths, there are a couple of bumps, and a couple of huge mountains that block your way. Kagome and Sesshoumaru were that mountain. Well, at least for poor, old Inu-yasha who was, frankly, shocked.
"What the? How the? Why the?" he sputtered out those words instantaneously, confusion, more than anger blazed in his eyes.
"Umm, it's a long story but--…"
"Make it short then!"
"Well, last night I was attacked by this guy--…"
"Wait a second!!! You were attacked? B-…"
"Do you want me to finish or not?!" Kagome moaned. When she had gotten the nod of approval from Inu-yasha, she continued on, "Sango had called up Sesshoumaru before to check up on me and he did…so he saved me from the attacker and now I'm fine and back here again."
"No! Wait! Did you say yes to him?" Inu-yasha lifted his good arm out of the bed and spread his fingers towards Kagome's direction.
"Umm…"
"Don't just 'umm'!"
"I said to him that I didn't know yet…I mean, he's always been cold to me after the break up, but now he's back here and I'm just so confused!"
Inu-yasha silenced at the word 'confused.' Confused were for people who weren't sure; confused was for people who had the idea of going somewhere, but didn't have the guts too. So Kagome was 'confused?' Not a good sign, not a good sign at all…
"Inu-yasha, I'm going to be out of here by noon because I have lunch with Sango, so you'll be taken care of by nurse Kirike. Don't worry, she's really nice."
"Feh! Why should I care? She's probably better than you anyway."
"You know…I don't know whether to slaughter you or laugh at you. But seeing as your state is pretty pathetic already, I think I'll be glad to slaughter you."
"Try if you dare."
"No thanks, you're no match for me!" Kagome waved to him as she went out of the room, making sure to slam the door while closing it. She knew it wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do, but wholly felt that Inu-yasha deserved it, "Oh! I forgot to say something!" Kagome panicked as she ran down the hall towards Inu-yasha's room again.
"Inu-yasha!" Kagome screamed out, opening the door ever so gently, "be nice to the new nurse!"
"Stupid woman, it's not as if I can't hear or nothing…"
-_-_-_-
The problem with Inu-yasha that day, was not a matter of emotional damage towards what Sesshoumaru had asked Kagome, but it was that he had planned to ask her something of frank importance in the morning. Now that his plans were screwed up by some unrefined bastard, he hated Sesshoumaru even more than the usual battering of despise. It was quite odd, in fact, that Inu-yasha would be feeling this way, for the only woman he had ever been attracted to was the now dead and deceased Kikyou, whom in the end only betrayed him for Naraku. He couldn't help though, the gut-wrenching feeling that he somehow liked Kagome better than Kikyou, sure they looked alike, hell, they could pass for twins, but Kagome had that "I-don't-give-a-damn" attitude that no-one could resist. Too bad for him, she was already a third taken. The other 1/3 of her belong to Kouga and the rest to herself. Inu-yasha had often visioned of being with her ever since he had seen her cry that other day. He could see through her soul that time, the purity and awe that had managed to bestow him was still evident in her now.
"Is there me in her heart? Or is it all left to other people?" Inu-yasha thought in silence, the annoying hum of the machines next to him did indeed provoke him to nearly lash out at them. He was often a man of silence, especially during awkward times like this. Too bad there was nothing he could do, that feeling of utter despair was going to stay with him for a pretty long time.
-_-_-_-
"Hmm, let's see, let's see, a hah! Here's obituaries!" Sango squealed in delight, her eyes perked up with a mischievous twinkle as she skimmed down the obituary page. However weird and cruel it might have seemed of her, death was one thing that fascinated her. Everyday, people died and were born, almost like a never-ending cycle. But what interested her most about death was that there were some people in the world that had accomplished so much, but were acclaimed for so little. Just like that man on column 3 row 7 who was a history professor and had managed to make 3067 students pass an IB course throughout his life. Now that was a great achievement, wasn't it? So why wasn't he famous already? Because some stupid old geezer like Rotts Wielr had probably created a disgusting act of treason towards the country. Sango's eyes suddenly caught on the picture in column 4 row 8; there was something about it that intrigued her to the very depth of her soul. "Now isn't that Kagome?" she asked herself, puzzled at it, but when she found out who it really was, my oh my did her eyes open in shock. "Kikyou…" the name rolled off her tongue like a dough of bread would roll on a tabletop.
"Born in 1980, died 2002, daughter of divorced parents, Jonathan and Linda Burnard, engaged to Naraku. Solitary by all means, but greatly missed by those who care of her," Sango hesitated as she read off the small writing detailing about Kikyou's life. The way they wrote it in the newspaper, it seemed like Kikyou had no life at all, but Sango knew that there was a depthness behind it all.
"I can't believe it, so you finally died, didn't you?" Sango huffed satirically.
"Did you know how much you made my life a living hell? Going out with my brother and then dumping him on the street like that? Did you know that he nearly killed himself because of it? Our family nearly broke because of you! Well, I guess that you know that know, but I hope that you're having a fun time burning in hell! Think of what those flames would do to your perfect skin! Or what they would do to your silk hair! You know…I've never actually rejoiced in a person's death except for yours…"
Sango quickly ripped up the paper and threw it in the trash can; she did not like to see Kikyou's smiling face looking directly at her, and she definitely did not like to see her eyes seem so happy. It was disgusting, that fake grin of hers and the fake everything; she hated Kikyou to the very core, especially of what she had done to Kohaku. It was Kohaku's fault as well though, as to why he went out with a women 5 years older than him, but she had not expected Kikyou to betray him like that! All to some guy that had white hair and a couple of fangs, as she heard from the brother. Sango wondered what had happened to him, and wish him for a turmoiled life. She never knew that her wish had come true already…
-_-_-_-
By the time noon was up, Kagome had already barged out of the hospital doors, only to find Sesshoumaru waiting outside for her. She simpered over towards him, looking slightly disoriented as to what his purpose was to visit her.
"Sango said that she couldn't make it, some sort of personal reason. But before you go there to her, she said that she was all-right and needed time to rest," Sesshoumaru said, noticing the look in her eyes.
Kagome snickered slightly at Sango's message that was passed on through Sesshomaru to her; the girl had known her for too long and too well.
"Thanks for telling me, or else I would've been stuck out here all day and night!"
"I would have come anyway…"
An awkward pause occurred between the two as Kagome blushed heavily from the comment. She had never had anyone tailing her like this before, that is, if you don't count Kouga, who unfortunately doesn't count at all.
"Come, I'll show you something," Sesshoumaru clasped his hand on hers and dragged her towards his car, opening the passenger door for her.
"Got a car now?"
"Yeh, the rent-car lady gave it to me."
"Yeh, I wonder why? Maybe she was making a move on you? Or else she wanted you to take her on a ride with the car?" Kagome asked sarcastically; ever since they were children Sesshoumaru had always been noticed by girls all around him, little did he know that he could use it to his advantage when he was older. It would've been great to be married with him, then all of the little presents he got could be given to her…Wait! Kagome screeched in her mind, had she just thought about being married to him?
"Put on your seatbelt," Sesshoumaru ordered coldly, making Kagome extremely grateful for interrupting her thoughts. She looked outside towards the hospital building and sighed; so what if Inu-yasha didn't give a damn about her and Sesshoumaru? It wasn't her problem right?
"Hmph!"
"Hmph what?"
"Ah! Nothing!" Kagome fake-smiled, waving her hands to lament on that. They rode in silence for the rest of the time.
"Lunch with Sango, eh?" Inu-yasha smirked from inside the hospital.
-_-_-_-
"Sesshoumaru, what are you going to show me?" Kagome asked, bored of the silence that had occurred between the two.
"Nowhere special, just a drive."
"Hey…if it's nowhere special then why'd you take me out?"
Kagome received no answer as Sesshoumaru parked the car nearby a restaurant. He shuffled around for a while to reach into his jacket pocket, drawing out a small, black box that he held tightly inside his hand. Kagome gasped and held her breath as she fully realized what it was he was holding.
"B-b-but…"
"You don't have to say anything…I always thought of giving it to you before everything…but I guess I'll give it to you now…"
"So you mean, you wanted to...?"
"Yeah, when we were still together…"
"And what about now?"
"I don't know yet…I was hoping I'd find out when I gave you it…but I guess I haven't yet…maybe it's too late already for us, but…"
"Hey…it's never too late for anything, even an old dog can learn a new trick, so everything's possible," Kagome told him, looking deep into his eyes.
And just as she said that, Sesshoumaru leaned in towards her to lock his lips onto her own…
-_-_-_-
AN: and then here's the ending of this chapter, thank you all for the rotten tomatoes that have been plastered on me. Haha, don't worry, the pairing is still blurry here so you don't have to complain just yet!!!
