AN: Kudos to all of my reviewers who stuck by me and...well...reviewed!
Heh...and to Jo-Chan-ANIME: WHEE!! Thank you!! I feel so loved when nice people like you review!!! Makes me so happy....^__^
Xavier: You're so shallow. The only thing that makes you happy is a good review?
Fox: Yeah...so? What's so bad about that?
Xavier: What about when you get bad reviews?
Fox: I ignore them...
Xavier: Oh....
Fox: What, no sharp comeback?
Xavier: Oh...go soak your head....you...you...SHORT CHAPTER WRITER!!!
Fox: AUGH! SHUT UP!!!
Shattered Glass
Chapter Eight
Love Comes with a Price
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"Uh....shall we go then?" The check for dinner had come and gone, much to Kagome's relief. But the prospect of sitting through an hour long movie with a boy that only talked about himself was dim.
"Erm...Hojo...well...you see..." Hmm, how to break it to him? Should she just come out and say, 'Hojo, I hate you. You bore me to near death. Do you really think I care about how many times you brushed your hair this morning? I hope you get severe paper cuts on your wrists, and the blood shoots into your eyes, rendering you painfully helpless in dialing 911.' Nah...poor guy would run out crying. Kagome mentally snorted. He would too.
"Yes? You what?" He beamed innocently at her. Well....here went nothing. Literally.
"Well...I think...what's that?" Her purse had suddenly burst into song. Oh...wait. It was her cell phone. Saved by the ring tone! "Hello? Kagome Higurashi, and thank God you called, whoever you are...." She added in an undertone.
"KAGOME! Oh Lord, I'm so glad you picked up!" Her mother's frantic voice fuzzily floated in through the static.
"Mom? What'd you say? You want me to lick a cup?" Odd...her mother was normally quite sane.
The next bit was all she could make out, but it was enough.
"INUYASHA......FAINTED.......BLEEDING...HUR--Kagome? Hello? Hello?" The phone line had gone dead.
"Hojo, I'm terribly sorry! There's an emergency! I've got to go home! How 'bout a movie another night! Bye! Thanks for everything!" Kagome crashed out the door, pushing past a crowd of fans crowded around her favorite movie star. No time for that now...she had to help Inuyasha!
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"DAD! Get me the first aid kit! HURRY! Souta, get a couple of ice-packs and the quilt off of my bed! HURRY BOTH OF YOU! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!" Ayumi assumed drill sergeant mode, as most mothers do when trouble comes up. She mustered up her strength and moved the unconscious Inuyasha to the couch, careful not to jostle the dog demon's leg. She unraveled the tightly bound, blood-soaked scarf from his calf. Immediately the foul stench of blood filled her nose, and blood gushed forth from the wound. Good thing she wasn't thinking about her furniture at that moment....
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"MOM! I'M BACK! WHERE'S INUYASHA?! IS HE OKAY?!" Kagome smashed open the door and rushed up to the spot where her mother, brother, and grandfather where kneeling over the couch.
"Shh Kagome! You're going to make Mom mess up!" Souta looked anxiously at the still form on the couch. Kagome stepped cautiously over to the couch. The lump was so wrapped up in blankets, you could barely tell who was there. But her sharp eyes caught the hint of silver hair that floated lazily out from the protective coverings. Kagome drew a sharp intake of breath as her worst fears were confirmed.
Inuyasha could die.
~*~ T.T ~*~
Fox: AWW! Maybe I should stop here....it'll rope in more reviewers who are anxious for the next chapter....
Xavier: Sure. It'll be another short chapter...like all of your previous ones!
Fox: NOO! Why do you torture me so?!
Xavier: Because it's hugely entertaining.
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"Kagome....hand me that spool of bandages..." Ayumi's words broke into Kagome's thoughts. She suddenly became aware of what her mother was doing. Using her quick, precise stitches, she was carefully stitching up Inuyasha's deep gash. Relief flooded back to Kagome, Inuyasha had a chance after all. Picking up the bandages, she walked over to her mother and sat next to her. After depositing the gauze into her mother's expecting hands, Kagome suddenly felt alone. It was pretty foolish, after all, she was in a room full of people, but now her hands were empty, and her soul felt like it was ripping away. Like every stitch her mother made was unraveling her heart. Knowing full well that it was horrible to take advantage of an unconscious person, but too overcome with grief to care, Kagome plunged her hands into the bloody blankets' depths, withdrawing Inuyasha's clawed, pale hand. Gripping it tightly, she traced each palm line and callous with her thumb. Damn bad luck. She had taken it lightly, expecting it to only be the occasional trip, or the mysterious rock slides out of nowhere. But she hadn't been prepared for it to almost snatch his life away...
"K-Kagome...." A raspy whisper came from within the blankets, and the limp hand in Kagome's possession suddenly weakly grasped her wrist.
"Y-yes?" She choked on her words, as if her throat was clenched as tight as her heart.
"Missing...your...date? ...What, is.Homo...too...good for you?"
She chuckled at his weak attempt at humor, as if he was trying to ease the situation. But her feeble laugh was not out of humor, but out of sheer relief that he had not been seized by Death's icy grip.
"No, I decided that you were more fun to torture." She smiled wanly at him as he closed his eyes and inaudibly muttered something, then slipped back into the black abyss of unconsciousness.
~*~ T.T ~*~
Fox: Oh, dear. I've never written something this deep before!
Xavier: Even I'M impressed that your usual shallow self could write something like that.
Fox: That's me. Always full of surprises.
Xavier: And short chapters.
Fox: STOP IT!!
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
An extremely anxious Sango paced around the well, every so often trampling a stray checkers piece. "Damnit Miroku!" She hissed, after tiring of having the plastic pieces crunch under her feet. "Aren't you the least bit worried about Inuyasha? Apparently it hasn't registered in your tiny brain that he could be lying face-down in a gutter somewhere! DEAD!" She ground her teeth in aggravation as she watched Miroku, utterly absorbed in his game.
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
"YOU ARE A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING! HAVE YOU NO HEART? OR BRAIN? I SAID...INUYASHA COULD BE DEAD! AND WE WOULD NEVER KNOW SINCE WE CAN'T GO THROUGH THE DAMN WELL!" She took in a deep breath of air, ready to continue ranting, until her breath was immediately dispersed with Miroku's next words.
"Oh--wait...where's Shippou?" He looked around him. He leapt up, seeing Shippou's ball up against a tree, its owner no where in sight.
"What? Isn't he right over....OH MY GOD!! WE'VE LOST SHIPPOU!"
Immediately they threw themselves in full-throttle search mode, Miroku only pausing once to mutter, "I hate mirrors."
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
Her eyes were shadowed, a harrowed look about her. For two days she'd been in this room; for two days she'd been watching the same thing, eyes never moving, transfixed by what held her gaze.
He was sleeping his life away, unaware that she was looking upon him, never leaving, deprived of sleep in exchange to keep watch over him. She was his guardian angel, his candle in a tunnel, his fire in a
blizzard.
Rubbing her tired eyes, she stretched, yawning, almost catlike, the first movement she had made in over an hour. She held no concept of time, not in here. She only faintly grasped if it was dusk or dawn, day or night, by the meager rays of watery light that filtered in through the shades. Wearily she raised her head and blinked at the sunlight shining through the shades. When was the last time she had seen the sun's rays? It seemed like ages. Dust particles danced and swirled in the beams of light. When she was little she used to prance around in those same sunbeams, feeling like a little princess, laughing while looking at the whirling columns of dust, sparkling in the light. Funny how something so simple could bring a moment's worth of pure joy into your heart. Suddenly she was aware of another being in the room.
"Kagome?" A vaguely familiar voice floated into the room. The being came over and tentatively touched her shoulder. "Darling?" Ah, it came to her now. Her mother. Ayumi. Kagome turned her head and faced the wall, staring blankly at the I.V. standing against it. "Sweetheart, I know it's hard. It's the same feeling I had when you had that extreme case of pneumonia, and they said you wouldn't make it. But you did...just like Inuyasha will. I know it," her mother trailed off, draping her arms over her daughter's motionless shoulders. Leaning into her ear, Ayumi whispered, "Love comes with a price. You have to be prepared for the worst, and be able to make it through, without cutting that fragile bond." She straightened up, looking at Kagome. Although her face was still pale and blank, tears ran down her cheeks, glistening on her pallid skin, whiter than usual from lack of sleep.
Suddenly, in one swift movement, she latched onto her mother, shaking in silent sobs. Ayumi muttered soothing words, pretty sounding strings of words, with no real meaning. But to Kagome, they meant everything. They meant that there was someone still there for her, some comfort in her sorrow. She poured out all of the memories of the past two days in forms of glossy teardrops. When the police came to their door, looking for a snow- haired monster, when they carted Inuyasha off to the hospital, leaving Souta and Grandfather to face the police, when she and Ayumi had fed the doctors the tale of Inuyasha's features as being the result of birth defects, when the nurses and doctors gently broke the news to them that he had suffered major blood-loss, and it would take a miracle to save him, when she haddestroyed millions of dollars in equipment from her anger, when she barricaded herself in Inuyasha's Intensive Care Unit room, not allowing herself to speak to anyone. The one memory that kept resurfacing was the one where the doctors informed them of Inuyasha's blood-loss, and of the miracle that would save him.
She wiped her eyes and slowly stepped back from her mother's embrace, sniffling slightly. She leaned over Inuyasha's bedside, gently looking at his still form. He drew in shallow, ragged breaths, each one even more shaky than the last.
"Live you fool, live. You can't leave me now..." Kagome whispered to him. Brushing a few wisps of stray hair that floated around his sickly delicate face. His hair was matted, his normally sunburnt cheeks were a ghastly frost color, his chest rattling with every inhale. He seemed like a crinkled old man, with only a few seconds left to live. But he wasn't an old man, he was 17 years old, he had his whole life ahead of him. He had HER in his whole life ahead of him. At least, she hoped. Her tears came again. She was faintly aware that her mother's hand was on her shoulder, comforting in its touch. She flung herself on the immobile form swaddled in the sheets, hugging his limp body to her chest, aware of every breath he took.
If he died, so would she.
~*~ .........~*~
Fox: .......
Xavier: ............
Fox: Wow.
Xavier: Whoah.
*both stand in silence, reading the last few parts*
Xavier: Er...how come there's no face in your last page break thing?
Fox: I was too shocked to find a good face for my shocked-ness.
Xavier: Ah. *Ahem* erm...uh....I didn't think you had it in you.
Fox: What?
Xavier: Your last bit. Wow. It's really...really...
Fox: Sad? Depressing? Horrible?
Xavier: No...I thought it was really...good.
Fox: *shiny eyes* REALLY?! WOW! THANK YOU!
Xavier: Alright, alright, no need to get carried away.
Fox: Heh...notice how it's longer?
Xavier: I did.
Fox: ^__^ I Can't believe I had that in me! Wow!
And to all of you who are probably like, "How is this humor?" Well, I listed it as Humor/ Romance, so I'm trying to play out the romance part a bit....^__^
Xavier: I bet the next chapter will suck..
Fox: You know, you put a mean twist on everything.
Xavier: I try.
Heh...and to Jo-Chan-ANIME: WHEE!! Thank you!! I feel so loved when nice people like you review!!! Makes me so happy....^__^
Xavier: You're so shallow. The only thing that makes you happy is a good review?
Fox: Yeah...so? What's so bad about that?
Xavier: What about when you get bad reviews?
Fox: I ignore them...
Xavier: Oh....
Fox: What, no sharp comeback?
Xavier: Oh...go soak your head....you...you...SHORT CHAPTER WRITER!!!
Fox: AUGH! SHUT UP!!!
Shattered Glass
Chapter Eight
Love Comes with a Price
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"Uh....shall we go then?" The check for dinner had come and gone, much to Kagome's relief. But the prospect of sitting through an hour long movie with a boy that only talked about himself was dim.
"Erm...Hojo...well...you see..." Hmm, how to break it to him? Should she just come out and say, 'Hojo, I hate you. You bore me to near death. Do you really think I care about how many times you brushed your hair this morning? I hope you get severe paper cuts on your wrists, and the blood shoots into your eyes, rendering you painfully helpless in dialing 911.' Nah...poor guy would run out crying. Kagome mentally snorted. He would too.
"Yes? You what?" He beamed innocently at her. Well....here went nothing. Literally.
"Well...I think...what's that?" Her purse had suddenly burst into song. Oh...wait. It was her cell phone. Saved by the ring tone! "Hello? Kagome Higurashi, and thank God you called, whoever you are...." She added in an undertone.
"KAGOME! Oh Lord, I'm so glad you picked up!" Her mother's frantic voice fuzzily floated in through the static.
"Mom? What'd you say? You want me to lick a cup?" Odd...her mother was normally quite sane.
The next bit was all she could make out, but it was enough.
"INUYASHA......FAINTED.......BLEEDING...HUR--Kagome? Hello? Hello?" The phone line had gone dead.
"Hojo, I'm terribly sorry! There's an emergency! I've got to go home! How 'bout a movie another night! Bye! Thanks for everything!" Kagome crashed out the door, pushing past a crowd of fans crowded around her favorite movie star. No time for that now...she had to help Inuyasha!
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"DAD! Get me the first aid kit! HURRY! Souta, get a couple of ice-packs and the quilt off of my bed! HURRY BOTH OF YOU! WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!" Ayumi assumed drill sergeant mode, as most mothers do when trouble comes up. She mustered up her strength and moved the unconscious Inuyasha to the couch, careful not to jostle the dog demon's leg. She unraveled the tightly bound, blood-soaked scarf from his calf. Immediately the foul stench of blood filled her nose, and blood gushed forth from the wound. Good thing she wasn't thinking about her furniture at that moment....
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"MOM! I'M BACK! WHERE'S INUYASHA?! IS HE OKAY?!" Kagome smashed open the door and rushed up to the spot where her mother, brother, and grandfather where kneeling over the couch.
"Shh Kagome! You're going to make Mom mess up!" Souta looked anxiously at the still form on the couch. Kagome stepped cautiously over to the couch. The lump was so wrapped up in blankets, you could barely tell who was there. But her sharp eyes caught the hint of silver hair that floated lazily out from the protective coverings. Kagome drew a sharp intake of breath as her worst fears were confirmed.
Inuyasha could die.
~*~ T.T ~*~
Fox: AWW! Maybe I should stop here....it'll rope in more reviewers who are anxious for the next chapter....
Xavier: Sure. It'll be another short chapter...like all of your previous ones!
Fox: NOO! Why do you torture me so?!
Xavier: Because it's hugely entertaining.
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
"Kagome....hand me that spool of bandages..." Ayumi's words broke into Kagome's thoughts. She suddenly became aware of what her mother was doing. Using her quick, precise stitches, she was carefully stitching up Inuyasha's deep gash. Relief flooded back to Kagome, Inuyasha had a chance after all. Picking up the bandages, she walked over to her mother and sat next to her. After depositing the gauze into her mother's expecting hands, Kagome suddenly felt alone. It was pretty foolish, after all, she was in a room full of people, but now her hands were empty, and her soul felt like it was ripping away. Like every stitch her mother made was unraveling her heart. Knowing full well that it was horrible to take advantage of an unconscious person, but too overcome with grief to care, Kagome plunged her hands into the bloody blankets' depths, withdrawing Inuyasha's clawed, pale hand. Gripping it tightly, she traced each palm line and callous with her thumb. Damn bad luck. She had taken it lightly, expecting it to only be the occasional trip, or the mysterious rock slides out of nowhere. But she hadn't been prepared for it to almost snatch his life away...
"K-Kagome...." A raspy whisper came from within the blankets, and the limp hand in Kagome's possession suddenly weakly grasped her wrist.
"Y-yes?" She choked on her words, as if her throat was clenched as tight as her heart.
"Missing...your...date? ...What, is.Homo...too...good for you?"
She chuckled at his weak attempt at humor, as if he was trying to ease the situation. But her feeble laugh was not out of humor, but out of sheer relief that he had not been seized by Death's icy grip.
"No, I decided that you were more fun to torture." She smiled wanly at him as he closed his eyes and inaudibly muttered something, then slipped back into the black abyss of unconsciousness.
~*~ T.T ~*~
Fox: Oh, dear. I've never written something this deep before!
Xavier: Even I'M impressed that your usual shallow self could write something like that.
Fox: That's me. Always full of surprises.
Xavier: And short chapters.
Fox: STOP IT!!
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
An extremely anxious Sango paced around the well, every so often trampling a stray checkers piece. "Damnit Miroku!" She hissed, after tiring of having the plastic pieces crunch under her feet. "Aren't you the least bit worried about Inuyasha? Apparently it hasn't registered in your tiny brain that he could be lying face-down in a gutter somewhere! DEAD!" She ground her teeth in aggravation as she watched Miroku, utterly absorbed in his game.
"Hmm? Did you say something?"
"YOU ARE A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING! HAVE YOU NO HEART? OR BRAIN? I SAID...INUYASHA COULD BE DEAD! AND WE WOULD NEVER KNOW SINCE WE CAN'T GO THROUGH THE DAMN WELL!" She took in a deep breath of air, ready to continue ranting, until her breath was immediately dispersed with Miroku's next words.
"Oh--wait...where's Shippou?" He looked around him. He leapt up, seeing Shippou's ball up against a tree, its owner no where in sight.
"What? Isn't he right over....OH MY GOD!! WE'VE LOST SHIPPOU!"
Immediately they threw themselves in full-throttle search mode, Miroku only pausing once to mutter, "I hate mirrors."
~*~ ^_^ ~*~
Her eyes were shadowed, a harrowed look about her. For two days she'd been in this room; for two days she'd been watching the same thing, eyes never moving, transfixed by what held her gaze.
He was sleeping his life away, unaware that she was looking upon him, never leaving, deprived of sleep in exchange to keep watch over him. She was his guardian angel, his candle in a tunnel, his fire in a
blizzard.
Rubbing her tired eyes, she stretched, yawning, almost catlike, the first movement she had made in over an hour. She held no concept of time, not in here. She only faintly grasped if it was dusk or dawn, day or night, by the meager rays of watery light that filtered in through the shades. Wearily she raised her head and blinked at the sunlight shining through the shades. When was the last time she had seen the sun's rays? It seemed like ages. Dust particles danced and swirled in the beams of light. When she was little she used to prance around in those same sunbeams, feeling like a little princess, laughing while looking at the whirling columns of dust, sparkling in the light. Funny how something so simple could bring a moment's worth of pure joy into your heart. Suddenly she was aware of another being in the room.
"Kagome?" A vaguely familiar voice floated into the room. The being came over and tentatively touched her shoulder. "Darling?" Ah, it came to her now. Her mother. Ayumi. Kagome turned her head and faced the wall, staring blankly at the I.V. standing against it. "Sweetheart, I know it's hard. It's the same feeling I had when you had that extreme case of pneumonia, and they said you wouldn't make it. But you did...just like Inuyasha will. I know it," her mother trailed off, draping her arms over her daughter's motionless shoulders. Leaning into her ear, Ayumi whispered, "Love comes with a price. You have to be prepared for the worst, and be able to make it through, without cutting that fragile bond." She straightened up, looking at Kagome. Although her face was still pale and blank, tears ran down her cheeks, glistening on her pallid skin, whiter than usual from lack of sleep.
Suddenly, in one swift movement, she latched onto her mother, shaking in silent sobs. Ayumi muttered soothing words, pretty sounding strings of words, with no real meaning. But to Kagome, they meant everything. They meant that there was someone still there for her, some comfort in her sorrow. She poured out all of the memories of the past two days in forms of glossy teardrops. When the police came to their door, looking for a snow- haired monster, when they carted Inuyasha off to the hospital, leaving Souta and Grandfather to face the police, when she and Ayumi had fed the doctors the tale of Inuyasha's features as being the result of birth defects, when the nurses and doctors gently broke the news to them that he had suffered major blood-loss, and it would take a miracle to save him, when she haddestroyed millions of dollars in equipment from her anger, when she barricaded herself in Inuyasha's Intensive Care Unit room, not allowing herself to speak to anyone. The one memory that kept resurfacing was the one where the doctors informed them of Inuyasha's blood-loss, and of the miracle that would save him.
She wiped her eyes and slowly stepped back from her mother's embrace, sniffling slightly. She leaned over Inuyasha's bedside, gently looking at his still form. He drew in shallow, ragged breaths, each one even more shaky than the last.
"Live you fool, live. You can't leave me now..." Kagome whispered to him. Brushing a few wisps of stray hair that floated around his sickly delicate face. His hair was matted, his normally sunburnt cheeks were a ghastly frost color, his chest rattling with every inhale. He seemed like a crinkled old man, with only a few seconds left to live. But he wasn't an old man, he was 17 years old, he had his whole life ahead of him. He had HER in his whole life ahead of him. At least, she hoped. Her tears came again. She was faintly aware that her mother's hand was on her shoulder, comforting in its touch. She flung herself on the immobile form swaddled in the sheets, hugging his limp body to her chest, aware of every breath he took.
If he died, so would she.
~*~ .........~*~
Fox: .......
Xavier: ............
Fox: Wow.
Xavier: Whoah.
*both stand in silence, reading the last few parts*
Xavier: Er...how come there's no face in your last page break thing?
Fox: I was too shocked to find a good face for my shocked-ness.
Xavier: Ah. *Ahem* erm...uh....I didn't think you had it in you.
Fox: What?
Xavier: Your last bit. Wow. It's really...really...
Fox: Sad? Depressing? Horrible?
Xavier: No...I thought it was really...good.
Fox: *shiny eyes* REALLY?! WOW! THANK YOU!
Xavier: Alright, alright, no need to get carried away.
Fox: Heh...notice how it's longer?
Xavier: I did.
Fox: ^__^ I Can't believe I had that in me! Wow!
And to all of you who are probably like, "How is this humor?" Well, I listed it as Humor/ Romance, so I'm trying to play out the romance part a bit....^__^
Xavier: I bet the next chapter will suck..
Fox: You know, you put a mean twist on everything.
Xavier: I try.