AN: This Chapter is revamped to make it clearer to the reader. Thank you, Nassau!

Chapter 13: Regret

"Inuyasha." Sango called and I looked up. She was standing outside my door, looking a little nervous.

'What is Sango doing here? I've already had lunch and it's definitely not time for dinner yet.'

"Have you seen Kagome since she left last night?"

I shook my head. I hadn't seen her since she had left so she could return Shippo to his own room.

"It's kind of important, Inuyasha." Sango sighed, walking over to me. "Anything that you can remember is important. Did she mention going anywhere?"

I shook my head again.

'What is going on here?'

"Listen to me, Inuyasha! Kagome has disappeared. She hasn't shown up for work all day and it's two hours past her shift. I can't reach her at her house or on her cell. Even her mom doesn't know where she is!" Sango explained, and I felt my heart sink into my toes.

My worst fear had been realized. I had told Kagome the truth, and she had hated me. Why else would she disappear?

'I should have known; why am I so surprised that she betrayed me? Did I honestly think she was that different, that she wouldn't care? Did I think she wouldn't reject me after I told her my secret? Hell, who actually cares about a Hanyou like me? No one does. Hanyou's are filthy.'

'But Miroku doesn't care that you're a hanyou.' A little voice whispered from the back of my mind.

'Miroku is half-crazy; he doesn't count!' I scolded the voice, instantly squashing it. 'Besides, he's not Kagome. I want Kagome to not care. I WANT to keep her friendship. Hell, she's the first doctor to treat me like a human, and not just an experiment. She made me laugh and let me sit in my room without being confined.'

"You don't have any ideas?" Sango asked, even though she was clutching at straws. I looked up at Sango for a second, startled out of my thoughts.

"The Bahamas." I sighed after a minute. (AN: see Chapter 3 to get the reference)

"What?"

"Look there. That's where all my other doctors were eventually found." I explained before I managed to haul myself off the floor and stumble over to the window above my bed. I heard Sango leave and I whacked my head against the wall.

It wasn't that Kagome's disappearance surprised me. It didn't. I had told her my dirty secret. Why would someone like Kagome want to stay with me? Besides, every single one of my doctors had vanished eventually; it had just taken Kagome longer than most. It was just that, amazingly, it hurt. Her rejection hurt more than Sesshomaru's imprisonment of me, purist's threats, and isolation. Even people's slurs on my parents and me hurt less than Kagome's absence. Nothing could compare to the way my heart was being ripped in two by twenty-four hours without Kagome.

I flopped down on my bed and rolled over to face the wall. I dozed slightly, waking up only when Sango came in to deliver my dinner. I didn't eat any; I didn't even get up to look at it. Sango took my food away without a word, probably thinking it was just a mood.

Previously there had been time when I wouldn't eat for a while. I'd just go through periods when I wasn't hungry. The first couple had brought on a lot of meetings and sessions with my current doctor, but after that they learned to just keep sending food in and after a few days I would start eating again.

I woke with a slight jump as the door to my room opened. It was still early morning. I could tell because there was no natural light filtering through my window. I rolled over, trying to think whom it could be. It was too early for breakfast and I wouldn't have been assigned a new doctor yet. Blinking slowly, I looked up to see Kagome standing near my table. She met my eye and set a large duffel bag down on the table.

"Hey. Sorry I missed our meeting yesterday."

"It's…...... it's okay." I muttered, as I sat up. I glanced away, not wanting to meet her eye.

"Stand up. I'll help you take off your jacket."

"Kagome?"

"It's all right. You're leaving."

"What? Leaving?" I whispered.

'That's it. This is undeniably a dream…...... but it's a nice dream.'

"Yes. All you need to do is sign here." Kagome explained as she placed a clipboard on my lap. I read the basics as I slipped out of the jacket and looked up at Kagome, but she was already back at the table again. It was almost as if she had forgotten about the papers. She tossed me a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt with white writing that read 'Anime: drugs would be cheaper'. (AN: Subtle humor on my part. Actually, this shirt does exist. I want one!) "I stole these from my brother, but he won't miss them, so don't worry. Um, I wasn't sure about your shoe size, so I got a size larger than I thought. Here put them on."

She had purchased a pair of white and blue Adidas running shoes. They were a bit big, but she had brought an extra pair of her brother's thickest socks, and they filled up the extra room nicely. Once I was dressed, Kagome handed me an over-sized hoodie with a, I supposed, band logo on the front.

"There." Kagome smiled.

"You spent so much money on me."

"Don't worry. Think of it as a…...... going away present." Kagome sighed. She reached up and tried to feel for my Hanyou ears, but couldn't find them. "Where…......"

"The illusion is very good. You can't feel any hidden parts either."

"Oh. Uh, you need to sign still." Kagome continued to whisper, as if she was hoping I wouldn't hear.

"Is this for real?" I asked, I really couldn't believe I was leaving after twenty years. I had graduated from a high school for the institutionalized, for Christ's sake.

"It's real." Kagome smiled faintly and I took her offered pen. I bent over to the paper to sign my name, when she placed her hand on mine. "You…...... you don't have to go, you know that, right?"

"I know." I nodded stiffly, before scrawling down my name. I looked up, but Kagome wouldn't meet my eye. She handed me the duffel bag she had gotten my present clothes out of, and I looked inside.

"It's your old clothes. They won't fit anymore, but I though you might want them." Kagome mumbled and I smiled at her, oddly touched. She still wasn't meeting my eye, and I wondered why. She held out her hand and I took the offered sheet of paper. "It's the address and directions to your brother's house."

"Thank you."

"Do you need a guide to the front door, or are you all right?"

"I know where it is."

"Do you need a ride anywhere? I'm not on duty for a…......"

"I…… I……… I'm fine." I interrupted, and Kagome nodded.

"Sorry. Uh, you can go then."

"Goodbye, Kagome. Tell Sango and Miroku I said goodbye to them as well."

"Goodbye." Kagome whispered, as she stepped out of my way. I walked out of the entrance to my room. It's funny. It was the first time I had been able to exit my room without a straitjacket or drugs since I had arrived, but part of me didn't want to. A part of me wanted to stay with Kagome, but the other half of me screamed to run while I still could.

I heard a soft thump (soft because the walls of my room were padded) and glanced back to see Kagome slumped against the wall. She was crying. I wanted to reach out and hold her, to tell her it was alright, but I knew that if I did I would be trapped in that room forever. Turning quickly, I accessed my Hanyou speed, stretched my muscles and did not stop running till I reached Sesshomaru's home—my home.