Inuyasha muttered and curse as he tried to find his chocolates, he was
hungry and so far he had managed to stomach the dinner they had brought him
that night. Thankfully he was able to eat properly again without bringing
it up straight afterwards, thanks Kami it was only a temporal thing. He had
reclaimed his mode of transportation and after not finding his chocolates
he reached for his wallet that was in the drawer, put a jacket on and left
the room.
The security guard had tried to stop him this time but Inuyasha calmly reversed and made a scene of going back into the ward. However he almost laughed when he realised that he hospital garden had a back door, leading to the staff's car park, and then eventually the main road. Which also was very handy in supplying a bus route just outside and the '51' bus had just pulled in. The bus to town.
The movie had been overrated yet again, although he had to give it top marks for gore. The plot itself was so disgustingly similar to the first movie that it was just like watching the first one all over again but the difference of actors and a car crash - not a plane crash. However 'Final Destination 2' was amusing and Inuyasha had a few good chuckles in it. Now that the movie was over he decided to get something decent to eat and went over to the café across the road.
It was a nice little joint, the people were friendly and the food was great. He was tucking into a nice juicy hotdog and munching on fries. He sat in the corner of the café that was just by the window so he could gaze at the people walking pass as he ate. "Excuse me sir? Would that be all or would u like desert?" A cute long girl asked. She had short black hair an wore the custom red and white uniform, with dimples that showed when she smiled and clear blue eyes she looked a lot more younger than she probably was. Her nametag read 'Anne-Marie'.
"Yes please, could I have a large banana split and a sticky toffee pudding afterwards please?"
"Would the pudding be with cream or ice-cream?" She asked cheerily.
"Both please." Inuyasha smiled and handed over the menu.
"Wow, sir you must be hungry." She joked.
"I sure am, I could probably eat the entire café if I put my mind to it." He laughed and she too joined in.
"You're very familiar, could I had seen you someplace before?" She asked after she had finished her little girlish giggle.
"No, I doubt it." He said too quickly, feeling a little nervous. After all he was a famous runner and after being struck down with a mysterious illness his face was plastered all over the media. "Hey, do you think I could get a cup of coffee too?"
"Sure, I'll bring it right over. Anything else?"
"Nope that's all thank you."
"My pleasure sir." She gave a quick little bow and then walked off. He chewed on a piece of bread and looked out the window.
It was getting dark and the people who walked past looked as though they were just returning from work, and so were very tired and eager to return home. They were in a rush, pushing their fellow neighbours to the side, never making eye contact. He looked sadly on those people, how he longed to be able to do that again. To be able to push past people and outrun them home, but now that one little simple task he once took for granted. The clock had just showed the time of six O'clock and was now proceeding to five past. They must be looking for him by now, luckily that bitch-face Kagome wasn't in tonight so at least he'll have some slack upon returning to the hospital. He considered running way, and never returning but quickly decided against it. After all despite his hatred for the place he did need medication, and he did not want to upset his mother, she would be so worried if he never went back. Besides where could he go? As soon as he was reported missing it would be all over newspapers and or nosey media, soon he'd be caught and the punishment? Worse than death. He would eat his food, and they buy some supplies of chocolates and drinks at the newsagent before returning to the hospital. This time he'll have to make a decent spot to hide his bought goodies. He didn't know who stole his chocolates last time but he'll make certain they'd never be able to do it again. Maybe he'll drop by the hardware shop on his way back too.
Shippo was bored and all the people in Inuyasha's ward seemed worried about something as they frantically searched and talked on those walkie-talkies. Shippo came in search for Inuyasha because the other kids in his own ward were boring; they never wanted adventures like he did. Inuyasha was fun and always got good ideas for fun, and if Shippo was angry or frustrated about something Inuyasha was perfect to vent some steam. But for some reason Inuyasha was not there, and just as he was about to ask someone about his whereabouts he come wheeling into the ward. He looked as though he had just been out with his jacket and rosy cheeks from the cold biting air of the night. But before Shippo could go and greet him, Nurse Sango and that Priest with the porn magazines rushed over to him. He was curious and so edged closer to hear their conversation, although he needn't had bothered trying to get so close. After all their shouting could probably wake the people in the morgue.
"Where the hell were you?" Screamed the monk, waving his hands in the end to emphasize his anger. "Have you any idea how dangerous that was? Anything could have happened."
"No more dangerous then being chucked off the fucking roof." He retorted. Miroku jus looked nervously at Inuyasha, his eyes pleading him not to say anything and Inuyasha smirked. "Besides nothing happened, I'm back so stop complaining. Oh and Doctor Bitch don't need to know about this does see? After all it's not very responsible to allow patients to go wondering. You should be keep an eye on them."
"Oh, and I suppose the patient is not the kind of person to take advantage of the nurses' busy schedule and create more trouble than is really needed within the hospital?" A hard voice cracked behind him and he groaned, not really wanting to turn round. He knew by voice that this person was.
"What the fuck do you want? I was kinda hoping you wouldn't turn up, I don't need to feel any worse." Inuyasha groaned as he glanced round, confirming his suspicions. There stood a tall man with silver hair identical to Inuyasha's, as were those amber eyes. Miroku had commented that they both shared their father's look, although Sesshomaru shared his father's height and Inuyasha had not. The tall and proud man wore his hair tied back and a black business suit.
"It seemed they could not get in contact with your mother when you decided to leave the hospital, and so they had to phone me. But now you're back I'll leave." He went to turn and walk away, leaving an angered Inuyasha and two hospital staff standing feeling very awkward. But suddenly a small girl ran up and pass Sesshomaru, jumping into the lap of Inuyasha and flinging her tiny arms round his neck after planting a kiss on his cheek. Sesshomaru took little notice of this and merely glanced at the pair, irritated at the sudden distraction. The girl was small, no older than eight years old; she wore a small side ponytail and had chocolate brown eyes. Inuyasha laughed despite himself.
"Rin missed Inuyasha!" She stated warmly.
"I've missed you too Rin. How have things been with the evil Sesshomaru?"
"No." She made a distasteful face as she scrunched up her nose and frowned. "Sesshomaru-sama is not evil, he's very good. A very nice man."
"Well." He gave a half-hearted smile. It was strange that his cold-hearted brother had ever agreed to adopt Rin in the first place, and even stranger that he proceeded to be kind to her. "I think Sesshomaru wants to get you home little girl. Say hello to Jaken for me." There was an evil and sadistic glint in his eye as he mentioned Jaken. The little man with toad- features had often acted big and powerful in front of his boss, but when Sesshomaru had been away one week on a business trip Inuyasha had managed to make his life a living hell, constantly threatening and hitting Jaken.
"Hai hai!" She squealed as she jumped off his lap and landed on the floor beside him. "Come, come! Race Rin to the car!" She exclaimed with pleading eyes. Inuyasha nodded his head in agreement. This was for two reasons, one - It will piss Sesshomaru off and secondly he would be able to escape the priest's disapproving looks. Inuyasha allowed his hands to fall against his sides and touch the round metal wheels, which he ran his hands up slightly before making a move. Rin looked questioningly at him. "No. properly! That's cheating, stand up!" She pouted. Inuyasha heard the awkward noises from Sango and Miroku and saw the smirk on Sesshomaru's face. He had obviously not told his adoptive daughter of Inuyasha's illness.
"I can't, not today. But I promise Rin, next time you come to visit me I'll stand for you." He smiled slightly and looked towards the doors. "I'll tell you what though, I bet you can still beat me in this chair." He quickly scanned the room and saw the folded wheelchair belong to a man called Jineji, a young man about Inuyasha's age who had had his leg amputated just two days ago, right now he was asleep and Inuyasha was sure that the kind hearted man would not mind Rin borrowing his chair. "Miroku, get Jineji's chair, I want to race Rin."
"But Inuyasha-" Miroku was about to object but Inuyasha smacked his arm round, slamming it into Miroku's leg, very close to a very painful part of his body.
"Just do it, or you'll find your collection that went missing popping up in places you don't want them to?" Sango raised an eyebrow, interested she glared at Miroku. The priest laughed nervously before grumbling as he got the wheelchair and set it up for Rin. Rin jumped in and after the count of three they raced. Luckily this was the first time Rin had ever used a wheelchair and so she fumbled about, getting confused and overall travelling in a very slow pace. However, Inuyasha made sure his pace was ever slightly slower, and Rin finally won the race to the end of the ward. She hoped out and flung her arms round Sesshomaru.
"Rin won! Rin won!" She giggled happily.
"Very good Rin, however we must be leaving." Sesshomaru looked at Inuyasha and then turned away. "Come along Rin, we'll be late for supper."
"Hai, hai! Bye, bye Inu-kun! Bye, bye Miroku-chan!" She giggled as she skipped after Sesshomaru. Miroku pulled a sour face, he had rather she had forgotten about the time he had fallen asleep, leaving himself defenceless against her makeup and hair accessories. Inuyasha just laughed and waved goodbye.
"Well Miroku-chan, I had forgotten all about you makeover! Good thing I still got that photo. Now /that/ you wont want certain people seeing right? So why don't you persuade your girlfriend to keep her mouth shut at the same time. There is no need for the Doctor to know about what happened tonight."
"Right! Get back to your room now! Doctor Kagome already knows, when you went missing I had to contact her, and even if I didn't Miroku couldn't persuade me to 'keep my mouth shut'. Now go!" Sango was fuming as she directed Inuyasha to his room, he grumbled and swore but obeyed.
After Inuyasha had gome Sango huffed and continued with her rounds, with Miroku closely following her. "I'm not in a good mood with you right now you Hentai Priest!" She swore as he had almost groped her when she bent over to fluff a comatose patient.
"What did I do?" He whined offended.
"I have a pretty good idea what all those subtle hints Inuyasha dropped were all about! It was you who took Inuyasha up to the roof today weren't it? Have you any idea how dangerous that was, you could had killed him!"
"He was on the verge of suicidal, not only has he been diagnosed with a potentially fatal and unknown illness but this morning he found out the love of his life had done another runner without so much as a goodbye. I had to do something to cheer him up otherwise he would had jumped, and I'm not talking about into a flowerbed."
"You should had brought him down here, we could get him some counselling its a lot more affective then tossing him off the hospital roof!" She argued back. Luckily the only person close enough to hear was in a coma and so they weren't at risk of no one overhearing and getting them in trouble.
"But that doesn't work for Inuyasha! When his father died his mother tried getting him some counselling then, but he ended up threatening the bloke and getting himself arrested for the first time. Please don't tell me how to treat my friend, I would never hurt him or endanger his life. I made sure it was very safe before I did it."
"Well..." Sango's argument was crumbling; she was beginning to agree with him. "Well I wont tell no one. Now onto the next topic, what was this missing collection Inuyasha talked about? I haven't heard anything of it before."
"Oh! Well-uh..." Miroku sweat-dropped and silently cursed Inuyasha. "Oh would you look at the time! I need to get back to the chapel. I'll talk to you later Sango." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving; Sango blushed, momentary forgetting the issue of his collection. But she hadn't forgotten completely and the next time they talked he'd have a lot of explaining to do.
~~~***~~~
In the end Kagome arrived three hours late to her little brother's party, she was intrigued by the chocolates and intended to find out about them as she drove down to the lab that was near to the hospital but as she pulled in the car-park she got a phone call from her mum. Thirty minutes of a long guilt trip later she drove home, finished getting ready and made an appearance at the party. Now it was almost midnight when everyone had left the party, leaving only herself, her mother and Granddad and Souta. Her little brother was not in a very good mood with her, she had forgotten a present after all the fuss and so had given him money without even a card. She promised to make it up to him but he wasn't interested. Right now he was asleep, and so was the old man, leaving just her and her mother finishing the cleaning up. "What's the matter dear, you're acting different."
"Oh... I'm sorry about Souta's present, I've been so bust at work lately I just..." She was on the verge of blabbering and so her mother gave her the 'stare'. The 'stare' was commonly used to tell the person receiving it that there was no point in hiding something, and just to tell the truth. After all it wasn't just Souta's present that was made her think something was wrong. Kagome had been off all night, it was as though her mind was in a completely different place, and every time someone would interrupt her she would hardly say two words.
"Its not just that, you've been acting differently all night and its more than just extra hours at work. Is it a boy?"
"Yeah... I suppose it is." She admitted reluctantly.
"Want to talk about it?" Her mother's voice was warm and welcoming, and Kagome smiled and nodded her head slightly.
"It's a patient in the hospital. He infuriates me; I can't seem to nothing right he's so...arrogant and annoying! But I can't help thinking about him."
"Ah, well it sounds like you at least have some feelings for him, if you can't help thinking got him that it. Do you mind if I ask why he's in hospital?"
"If only I knew!" She sighed. "We don't what's wrong, and even though recently I've been researching into illnesses that have the same symptoms, there have only been rare cases of it in Europe, and he's never even been there. I don't know what to think."
"Oh! Is that Inuyasha? The runner who was all over the news when he collapsed?"
"Hai...We haven't announce as a statement yet for the newspapers because his mother asked us not to. But I'm afraid that he's not going to get better." Kagome had to hold back the tears. "We haven't even told Inuyasha yet but I think he already knows, if we can't find a way to stop this virus or whatever it is, he'll die before the year is out."
"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Her mother smiled briefly and put a comforting arm round her. "Don't worry, there still is hope."
"Yeah... There is always hope." She sighed dreamingly, it would be just perfect if Inuyasha got well and he was able to leave the hospital. She'd miss him but she would be very happy for him.
Inuyasha sighed, in total boredom. Miroku had 'talked' to him about a few things and all in all that conversation had been very profitable. 21,500.00¥ to be exact, but despite the sudden sum of money he deservingly earned, he had no wish to spend it. Money had always come easy to him once he was recognised for his running skills, once he became famous. He looked round the room, and then finally at his bare legs. They were pale; the once strong muscles that had once structured those legs were now deteriorating and he knew the chances of him ever walking again were slim. Let alone running in a race against natural born athletes. If he survived this illness he'd have to find a new trade, he couldn't just mope about all the time. His mother was suffering too, so he couldn't just give up. He'd have to fight and be strong and stop dwelling in the past, well at least in front of others. He'd wear that mask again, the one that told everyone that he was fine and his emotions would not get the better of him.
He smirked as he looked at the clock, it was now 3am. Sango's shift had ended two hours ago and Kagome's would start in about two and a half hours. Right now a young and enthusiastic nurse called Nobunaga, and Inuyasha couldn't help but pity him. Because he was so willing, he got the worse shifts. And because he was new he was forced to endure the brunt of the pranks given by patients and staff alike. Inuyasha called him with that handy little button. Oh how he liked his little button, he could summon his minions to him for his own entertainment. And sure enough he came, all smiling... Until he accidentally tripped over something (what exactly Inuyasha wasn't sure) and fell through the doorway. Embarrassed he jumped to his feet and dusted off his clothes, his cheeks reddening at Inuyasha's fitful laugh.
The security guard had tried to stop him this time but Inuyasha calmly reversed and made a scene of going back into the ward. However he almost laughed when he realised that he hospital garden had a back door, leading to the staff's car park, and then eventually the main road. Which also was very handy in supplying a bus route just outside and the '51' bus had just pulled in. The bus to town.
The movie had been overrated yet again, although he had to give it top marks for gore. The plot itself was so disgustingly similar to the first movie that it was just like watching the first one all over again but the difference of actors and a car crash - not a plane crash. However 'Final Destination 2' was amusing and Inuyasha had a few good chuckles in it. Now that the movie was over he decided to get something decent to eat and went over to the café across the road.
It was a nice little joint, the people were friendly and the food was great. He was tucking into a nice juicy hotdog and munching on fries. He sat in the corner of the café that was just by the window so he could gaze at the people walking pass as he ate. "Excuse me sir? Would that be all or would u like desert?" A cute long girl asked. She had short black hair an wore the custom red and white uniform, with dimples that showed when she smiled and clear blue eyes she looked a lot more younger than she probably was. Her nametag read 'Anne-Marie'.
"Yes please, could I have a large banana split and a sticky toffee pudding afterwards please?"
"Would the pudding be with cream or ice-cream?" She asked cheerily.
"Both please." Inuyasha smiled and handed over the menu.
"Wow, sir you must be hungry." She joked.
"I sure am, I could probably eat the entire café if I put my mind to it." He laughed and she too joined in.
"You're very familiar, could I had seen you someplace before?" She asked after she had finished her little girlish giggle.
"No, I doubt it." He said too quickly, feeling a little nervous. After all he was a famous runner and after being struck down with a mysterious illness his face was plastered all over the media. "Hey, do you think I could get a cup of coffee too?"
"Sure, I'll bring it right over. Anything else?"
"Nope that's all thank you."
"My pleasure sir." She gave a quick little bow and then walked off. He chewed on a piece of bread and looked out the window.
It was getting dark and the people who walked past looked as though they were just returning from work, and so were very tired and eager to return home. They were in a rush, pushing their fellow neighbours to the side, never making eye contact. He looked sadly on those people, how he longed to be able to do that again. To be able to push past people and outrun them home, but now that one little simple task he once took for granted. The clock had just showed the time of six O'clock and was now proceeding to five past. They must be looking for him by now, luckily that bitch-face Kagome wasn't in tonight so at least he'll have some slack upon returning to the hospital. He considered running way, and never returning but quickly decided against it. After all despite his hatred for the place he did need medication, and he did not want to upset his mother, she would be so worried if he never went back. Besides where could he go? As soon as he was reported missing it would be all over newspapers and or nosey media, soon he'd be caught and the punishment? Worse than death. He would eat his food, and they buy some supplies of chocolates and drinks at the newsagent before returning to the hospital. This time he'll have to make a decent spot to hide his bought goodies. He didn't know who stole his chocolates last time but he'll make certain they'd never be able to do it again. Maybe he'll drop by the hardware shop on his way back too.
Shippo was bored and all the people in Inuyasha's ward seemed worried about something as they frantically searched and talked on those walkie-talkies. Shippo came in search for Inuyasha because the other kids in his own ward were boring; they never wanted adventures like he did. Inuyasha was fun and always got good ideas for fun, and if Shippo was angry or frustrated about something Inuyasha was perfect to vent some steam. But for some reason Inuyasha was not there, and just as he was about to ask someone about his whereabouts he come wheeling into the ward. He looked as though he had just been out with his jacket and rosy cheeks from the cold biting air of the night. But before Shippo could go and greet him, Nurse Sango and that Priest with the porn magazines rushed over to him. He was curious and so edged closer to hear their conversation, although he needn't had bothered trying to get so close. After all their shouting could probably wake the people in the morgue.
"Where the hell were you?" Screamed the monk, waving his hands in the end to emphasize his anger. "Have you any idea how dangerous that was? Anything could have happened."
"No more dangerous then being chucked off the fucking roof." He retorted. Miroku jus looked nervously at Inuyasha, his eyes pleading him not to say anything and Inuyasha smirked. "Besides nothing happened, I'm back so stop complaining. Oh and Doctor Bitch don't need to know about this does see? After all it's not very responsible to allow patients to go wondering. You should be keep an eye on them."
"Oh, and I suppose the patient is not the kind of person to take advantage of the nurses' busy schedule and create more trouble than is really needed within the hospital?" A hard voice cracked behind him and he groaned, not really wanting to turn round. He knew by voice that this person was.
"What the fuck do you want? I was kinda hoping you wouldn't turn up, I don't need to feel any worse." Inuyasha groaned as he glanced round, confirming his suspicions. There stood a tall man with silver hair identical to Inuyasha's, as were those amber eyes. Miroku had commented that they both shared their father's look, although Sesshomaru shared his father's height and Inuyasha had not. The tall and proud man wore his hair tied back and a black business suit.
"It seemed they could not get in contact with your mother when you decided to leave the hospital, and so they had to phone me. But now you're back I'll leave." He went to turn and walk away, leaving an angered Inuyasha and two hospital staff standing feeling very awkward. But suddenly a small girl ran up and pass Sesshomaru, jumping into the lap of Inuyasha and flinging her tiny arms round his neck after planting a kiss on his cheek. Sesshomaru took little notice of this and merely glanced at the pair, irritated at the sudden distraction. The girl was small, no older than eight years old; she wore a small side ponytail and had chocolate brown eyes. Inuyasha laughed despite himself.
"Rin missed Inuyasha!" She stated warmly.
"I've missed you too Rin. How have things been with the evil Sesshomaru?"
"No." She made a distasteful face as she scrunched up her nose and frowned. "Sesshomaru-sama is not evil, he's very good. A very nice man."
"Well." He gave a half-hearted smile. It was strange that his cold-hearted brother had ever agreed to adopt Rin in the first place, and even stranger that he proceeded to be kind to her. "I think Sesshomaru wants to get you home little girl. Say hello to Jaken for me." There was an evil and sadistic glint in his eye as he mentioned Jaken. The little man with toad- features had often acted big and powerful in front of his boss, but when Sesshomaru had been away one week on a business trip Inuyasha had managed to make his life a living hell, constantly threatening and hitting Jaken.
"Hai hai!" She squealed as she jumped off his lap and landed on the floor beside him. "Come, come! Race Rin to the car!" She exclaimed with pleading eyes. Inuyasha nodded his head in agreement. This was for two reasons, one - It will piss Sesshomaru off and secondly he would be able to escape the priest's disapproving looks. Inuyasha allowed his hands to fall against his sides and touch the round metal wheels, which he ran his hands up slightly before making a move. Rin looked questioningly at him. "No. properly! That's cheating, stand up!" She pouted. Inuyasha heard the awkward noises from Sango and Miroku and saw the smirk on Sesshomaru's face. He had obviously not told his adoptive daughter of Inuyasha's illness.
"I can't, not today. But I promise Rin, next time you come to visit me I'll stand for you." He smiled slightly and looked towards the doors. "I'll tell you what though, I bet you can still beat me in this chair." He quickly scanned the room and saw the folded wheelchair belong to a man called Jineji, a young man about Inuyasha's age who had had his leg amputated just two days ago, right now he was asleep and Inuyasha was sure that the kind hearted man would not mind Rin borrowing his chair. "Miroku, get Jineji's chair, I want to race Rin."
"But Inuyasha-" Miroku was about to object but Inuyasha smacked his arm round, slamming it into Miroku's leg, very close to a very painful part of his body.
"Just do it, or you'll find your collection that went missing popping up in places you don't want them to?" Sango raised an eyebrow, interested she glared at Miroku. The priest laughed nervously before grumbling as he got the wheelchair and set it up for Rin. Rin jumped in and after the count of three they raced. Luckily this was the first time Rin had ever used a wheelchair and so she fumbled about, getting confused and overall travelling in a very slow pace. However, Inuyasha made sure his pace was ever slightly slower, and Rin finally won the race to the end of the ward. She hoped out and flung her arms round Sesshomaru.
"Rin won! Rin won!" She giggled happily.
"Very good Rin, however we must be leaving." Sesshomaru looked at Inuyasha and then turned away. "Come along Rin, we'll be late for supper."
"Hai, hai! Bye, bye Inu-kun! Bye, bye Miroku-chan!" She giggled as she skipped after Sesshomaru. Miroku pulled a sour face, he had rather she had forgotten about the time he had fallen asleep, leaving himself defenceless against her makeup and hair accessories. Inuyasha just laughed and waved goodbye.
"Well Miroku-chan, I had forgotten all about you makeover! Good thing I still got that photo. Now /that/ you wont want certain people seeing right? So why don't you persuade your girlfriend to keep her mouth shut at the same time. There is no need for the Doctor to know about what happened tonight."
"Right! Get back to your room now! Doctor Kagome already knows, when you went missing I had to contact her, and even if I didn't Miroku couldn't persuade me to 'keep my mouth shut'. Now go!" Sango was fuming as she directed Inuyasha to his room, he grumbled and swore but obeyed.
After Inuyasha had gome Sango huffed and continued with her rounds, with Miroku closely following her. "I'm not in a good mood with you right now you Hentai Priest!" She swore as he had almost groped her when she bent over to fluff a comatose patient.
"What did I do?" He whined offended.
"I have a pretty good idea what all those subtle hints Inuyasha dropped were all about! It was you who took Inuyasha up to the roof today weren't it? Have you any idea how dangerous that was, you could had killed him!"
"He was on the verge of suicidal, not only has he been diagnosed with a potentially fatal and unknown illness but this morning he found out the love of his life had done another runner without so much as a goodbye. I had to do something to cheer him up otherwise he would had jumped, and I'm not talking about into a flowerbed."
"You should had brought him down here, we could get him some counselling its a lot more affective then tossing him off the hospital roof!" She argued back. Luckily the only person close enough to hear was in a coma and so they weren't at risk of no one overhearing and getting them in trouble.
"But that doesn't work for Inuyasha! When his father died his mother tried getting him some counselling then, but he ended up threatening the bloke and getting himself arrested for the first time. Please don't tell me how to treat my friend, I would never hurt him or endanger his life. I made sure it was very safe before I did it."
"Well..." Sango's argument was crumbling; she was beginning to agree with him. "Well I wont tell no one. Now onto the next topic, what was this missing collection Inuyasha talked about? I haven't heard anything of it before."
"Oh! Well-uh..." Miroku sweat-dropped and silently cursed Inuyasha. "Oh would you look at the time! I need to get back to the chapel. I'll talk to you later Sango." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving; Sango blushed, momentary forgetting the issue of his collection. But she hadn't forgotten completely and the next time they talked he'd have a lot of explaining to do.
~~~***~~~
In the end Kagome arrived three hours late to her little brother's party, she was intrigued by the chocolates and intended to find out about them as she drove down to the lab that was near to the hospital but as she pulled in the car-park she got a phone call from her mum. Thirty minutes of a long guilt trip later she drove home, finished getting ready and made an appearance at the party. Now it was almost midnight when everyone had left the party, leaving only herself, her mother and Granddad and Souta. Her little brother was not in a very good mood with her, she had forgotten a present after all the fuss and so had given him money without even a card. She promised to make it up to him but he wasn't interested. Right now he was asleep, and so was the old man, leaving just her and her mother finishing the cleaning up. "What's the matter dear, you're acting different."
"Oh... I'm sorry about Souta's present, I've been so bust at work lately I just..." She was on the verge of blabbering and so her mother gave her the 'stare'. The 'stare' was commonly used to tell the person receiving it that there was no point in hiding something, and just to tell the truth. After all it wasn't just Souta's present that was made her think something was wrong. Kagome had been off all night, it was as though her mind was in a completely different place, and every time someone would interrupt her she would hardly say two words.
"Its not just that, you've been acting differently all night and its more than just extra hours at work. Is it a boy?"
"Yeah... I suppose it is." She admitted reluctantly.
"Want to talk about it?" Her mother's voice was warm and welcoming, and Kagome smiled and nodded her head slightly.
"It's a patient in the hospital. He infuriates me; I can't seem to nothing right he's so...arrogant and annoying! But I can't help thinking about him."
"Ah, well it sounds like you at least have some feelings for him, if you can't help thinking got him that it. Do you mind if I ask why he's in hospital?"
"If only I knew!" She sighed. "We don't what's wrong, and even though recently I've been researching into illnesses that have the same symptoms, there have only been rare cases of it in Europe, and he's never even been there. I don't know what to think."
"Oh! Is that Inuyasha? The runner who was all over the news when he collapsed?"
"Hai...We haven't announce as a statement yet for the newspapers because his mother asked us not to. But I'm afraid that he's not going to get better." Kagome had to hold back the tears. "We haven't even told Inuyasha yet but I think he already knows, if we can't find a way to stop this virus or whatever it is, he'll die before the year is out."
"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that." Her mother smiled briefly and put a comforting arm round her. "Don't worry, there still is hope."
"Yeah... There is always hope." She sighed dreamingly, it would be just perfect if Inuyasha got well and he was able to leave the hospital. She'd miss him but she would be very happy for him.
Inuyasha sighed, in total boredom. Miroku had 'talked' to him about a few things and all in all that conversation had been very profitable. 21,500.00¥ to be exact, but despite the sudden sum of money he deservingly earned, he had no wish to spend it. Money had always come easy to him once he was recognised for his running skills, once he became famous. He looked round the room, and then finally at his bare legs. They were pale; the once strong muscles that had once structured those legs were now deteriorating and he knew the chances of him ever walking again were slim. Let alone running in a race against natural born athletes. If he survived this illness he'd have to find a new trade, he couldn't just mope about all the time. His mother was suffering too, so he couldn't just give up. He'd have to fight and be strong and stop dwelling in the past, well at least in front of others. He'd wear that mask again, the one that told everyone that he was fine and his emotions would not get the better of him.
He smirked as he looked at the clock, it was now 3am. Sango's shift had ended two hours ago and Kagome's would start in about two and a half hours. Right now a young and enthusiastic nurse called Nobunaga, and Inuyasha couldn't help but pity him. Because he was so willing, he got the worse shifts. And because he was new he was forced to endure the brunt of the pranks given by patients and staff alike. Inuyasha called him with that handy little button. Oh how he liked his little button, he could summon his minions to him for his own entertainment. And sure enough he came, all smiling... Until he accidentally tripped over something (what exactly Inuyasha wasn't sure) and fell through the doorway. Embarrassed he jumped to his feet and dusted off his clothes, his cheeks reddening at Inuyasha's fitful laugh.
