Author's Note: Okay, a new update finally! Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hadn't planned to do this until tomorrow, but then I got a review out of the blue, and decided to work on it tonight. See? Your reviews can make a difference! And… as an answer to someone's question, and perhaps many of you were wondering the same. The answer is yes; Kikyo is going to be in this story. However, I do not intend to make her the bad guy, or even a bad guy. Remember; if you stop reviewing, I stop writing. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: No one on this site owns InuYasha unless Rumiko Takahashi publishes stories on fanfiction.net. Cause if she did… I would be reading them instead of writing my own! But then again… They would probably be in Japanese… Where's Viz when you need them?? (I also don't own the Viz company… ^_^;;)
My Will
Chapter 6: Marbles
Kagome dimly followed InuYasha to the cafeteria, ready to kick herself when she realized that she had passed it three times in her hungry wanderings. InuYasha had gone back to his regular I-don't-care attitude, with a frown set on his face, and his eyes holding nothing but boredom.
Kagome sighed with glee as she saw that the lunch line contained a mere three people. She happily trotted over, grabbing a small, red tray, and hopped into line.
A few moments later, a disgusted looking girl walked listlessly over to where InuYasha sat. She flopped down next to him, banging her tray onto the table in the process.
"How am I supposed to eat this??" She complained, staring at the mysterious brown glob sitting next to a pile of large green goop. InuYasha shrugged his shoulders, wolfing down a bite of the ramen sitting in front of him. "Where'd you get that?" Kagome asked, eyeing it hungrily.
"One of the nurses smuggles it in for me," He said in between mouthfuls, shrugging yet again. Kagome grumbled. Picking up her fork, she began to poke at the thing on her plate, wondering if it was still alive or not.
"Aren't you going to introduce me, InuYasha?" A new voice rang out from across the table. The boy looked up, a ramen noodle hanging from his mouth.
"Never mind… I'll do it," The girl sighed, turning to smile at Kagome, "Hi, I'm Sango. It's nice to see a new face at this table. InuYasha here normally scares everybody else away," She shot a glare at the boy, who continued to consume his ramen at an alarmingly fast rate.
Kagome stared for a moment. The girl was pretty, with straight black hair that went down to her lower back. She had it tied in a loose ponytail, so that the rest framed her face. Kagome admired her clothes: a violet, form fitting shirt, and a long, dark purple skirt. It suited her nicely. "I'm Kagome."
Sango continued to smile as Kagome tried to think of what to say next. What do you say to someone in the mental hospital? She knew very well not to ask why the girl was there. That was rude and inconsiderate. Of course, impolite or not, curiosity got the better of her.
"How come you're here?" Kagome asked innocently, barely aware that the question had tumbled out. Sango's smile faltered, and she lowered her head to stare blankly at her plate.
Kagome felt a foot on top of hers, applying a small amount of pressure. It didn't take more than a second for her to realize that InuYasha was warning her. Kagome decided to keep her mouth shut for the rest of the hour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Listen, you don't just go around asking that stuff," InuYasha said quietly to Kagome as they walked down the hallway. She felt like a child being rebuked.
"Well, I couldn't help it. It just kind of… came out," She defended.
"Whatever," InuYasha muttered, "Just leave people around here alone. Some of them can get… nasty."
Kagome nodded gravely, staring intently at the blue and white tiles they passed by, feeling the beginning of a headache coming on. With a wave of goodbye, InuYasha turned into his room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After wandering down the hall for a few minutes, Kagome finally located her room. Inside she found her yellow backpack sitting on the bed, still stuffed full of the books that she had left there.
It was then Kagome remembered that she had nothing to wear to sleep that night. Her mother was supposed to bring her bags tomorrow, or so the nurse told her. Apparently, no visitors were aloud for a few days so that the patient could become used to the environment. She couldn't figure out why they couldn't at least have her bags dropped off. With a sigh, Kagome decided that she could sleep in her gym shirt, as it was certainly big enough.
Opening her backpack to make sure that it was there, she watched a small, plastic bottle fall to the floor and bounce into the corner. Picking it up, Kagome remembered it as the bath salts that Hojo had given her.
Placing it gently onto the nightstand, Kagome returned to her backpack, pulling out the gray shirt and laying it on the bed. The books from her afternoon classes still sat, untouched, inside. Kagome vaguely wondered how she was going to catch up with math now.
All thoughts vanished out of her head as the girl felt a sudden throb, as her headache took on a life of its own. Kagome sank to her knees, using the bed as support. She clutched the sheet until her knuckles turned white.
"Kagome…" The deep, ominous voice echoed in her ears.
"NO!" She could feel the panic taking over again, and flashes from the day at school. But this time she saw it as if she was watching from the side, detached from her body. She couldn't let that happen again. She had to convince these people to let her go home!
Groaning as quietly as she could, Kagome climbed into her bed, not even bothering with the covers. Laying her head down onto the pillow carefully, so as not to spike the throbbing, she closed her eyes. Sleep took her quickly, as the pain exhausted her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Time to wake up. You've slept in late enough." Kagome heard the distant voice and reached for it… it was as if she were swimming up from the bottom of a lake towards the sun and the surface. With a flutter of her eyelids, she broke the stillness.
"You slept well, I hope?" The nurse that met Kagome's eyesight had long, black hair, tied in a loose ponytail. There were strands from the sides that loosely rested on her shoulders, curving up to meet the ponytail in the back.
"Not really," Kagome muttered, sitting up. Dreams of that murderous man had lifted her in and out of consciousness all night long, leaving her feeling weary and drained.
"I'm sure that you'll get used to it around here," The nurse's voice was calm and floated evenly. Kagome noticed that in fact, the woman herself was a very relaxed person. Her movements flowed just like her words as she opened the curtain to allow the light in.
"Breakfast is downstairs. If you need anything, I'm your area nurse, Miss Kikyo," And with that, the woman was gone.
Kagome grumbled, standing up and stretching her arms high over her head. Pulling a brush out of her backpack, she ran it through her raven hair to get out the snags and tangles. To end the morning routine, she would have brushed her teeth, gotten dressed, and then wandered down to breakfast. Unfortunately, the first two were not possible at the moment; so she settled for heading down to get some food.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Halfway down the hall towards the stairs, Kagome spotted InuYasha sitting in his room, or more so, kneeling on the floor. Knocking on the door as she passed it, Kagome stepped in.
"Hey, InuYasha…" She began, but stopped as she watched him. There were marbles scattered all over the floor around him. Kagome's eyes widened in awe as she stared at the multicolored bits.
InuYasha looked up, staring blankly at her with his amber orbs. Kagome was dumbstruck, and he seemed to be speechless.
"Waddayouwant?" The question came out quickly as he looked away, gathering up the marbles and beginning to place them into one of the many small, velvet bags that lay amidst them.
"I… I wanted to see if you were going to breakfast…" She stuttered, finally deciding to bend down and help him to clean up the mess. She grabbed a bag, loosening the top, and began to gently place in marbles one at a time.
"Already went," He muttered. Finished gathering all of the marbles closest to him, he moved to take the ones near Kagome.
Kagome looked quietly at every marble she placed in the bag, admiring how different and beautiful each one was. Her eyes caught something glimmer on the floor. Moving carefully, so as not to slip on any marbles, she picked the shimmering object off the floor.
"Beautiful…" Kagome breathed, turning it around. Pink and shimmering, the object before her looked like a broken marble. Just as she was bringing the item closer to her face in order to get an even better look at it, InuYasha snatched it out of her hands, tossing it into the bag he held.
"Come on, let's go to breakfast," He said quietly, pulling the drawstring on the bag and placing it on the bed.
"But I thought…" Kagome began, but InuYasha cut her off quickly, steering her out of the room.
"I'm hungry again. Can we just go eat?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The man with the tendrils of dark hair flowing down his back stopped in his tracks. His eyes widened as his lips moved but no sound came out. Had it been a dream? But he was awake. It had been… a vision.
"It's there," He whispered.
*******************************************************
Extra Author's Note: Whew… Longest chapter I've ever written for this story. Gosh, it's 1:00 AM already?? Well, how about everyone thanks the great Foxterr for staying up late in order to write this for you by… REVIEWING! Thanks everyone! You're all great and I wish you a happy day!