Disclaimer: I'll tell you a secret! furtive glance Nobody owns Inuyasha. grins Can you imagine our beloved hanyou allowing someone to own him? Nuh-uh… … All right, all right. Nobody…except Takahashi-san!
Hanyou Don't Get Sick
Chapter Three:
Flu?
Pain shot him out of his pleasant half-nap in the warmth of the late autumn sun and into the burning malevolence of reality. What had he done to deserve this? Inuyasha's breath choked on a sob as he plummeted off the tree branch and smacked the ground with a painful thud. Curling into a tight ball, eyes squeezed shut, Inuyasha gasped for air, every nerve burning in vicious agony stabbing out from the center of his body.
He couldn't form the thoughts enough to swear as broken branches scratched his face, caught at the loose fabric of his haori. Instinct kicked in, kicked reasoning out, and had him crawling on all fours down the unprotected path towards the only place where he knew he'd be safe.
Kagome.
Something was ripping his guts out from the inside. With razor-edged claws of steel, bloodstained teeth bared as it tore through his intestines in sadistic glee. He gasped, eyes blurred with tears he wished he had the strength to damn to hell. Crying would do no good. Crying was humiliating.
Crying got him kicked and laughed at.
Kagome won't laugh at me.
It was the thought of her, the memory of her, the beauty of her smile, that fueled the strength it took to haul his body over the edge of the well and tip himself into the welcome darkness.
It was a pitifully short drop before he felt, vaguely, the cool dryness of earth beneath his face and hands; it was a small eternity of weightless suspension in his own private, internal chamber of torture. Inuyasha lay, face-down, on the hard-packed dirt, hoping the weight of his own body on his stomach would subdue the glass-shard-toed demons dancing joyfully in and around his guts.
It didn't help. Inuyasha moaned and fixed bleary eyes on the top of the well. Kagome had what she called a "la-dder" against one wall for easier access to the well, but Inuyasha had never used it—never needed to. Swallowing a sob, Inuyasha dragged himself awkwardly, rung by endless rung, out of the dry well. Then, step by infinite step, to the door.
She was just on the other side. He could smell her, sweet and heady—like sunshine in a green field, an open forest, with the tangy undertones of her world scents; the white scent of soap, flowers, and fruits for hair and hands, and a spice that came from the very air on this side of the well.
His breath hissed out of his throat in a high-pitched whine; if he'd had a tail, he'd have kept it tucked half between his legs. He could remember, through the thick, roaring wall of pain, that Kagome had been mad at him when she left. He was too early to come take her back—days too early. She would still be mad at him. And yet…
He needed her. Just like that.
He got the door open—one small miracle—and staggered into the eye-stabbing sunlight. An unearthly shriek, of fear, of worry, jolted through his body, and he collapsed forward onto the ground. His muscles quaked with the effort it had taken to get this far, and his brain slipped smoothly into darkness.
It was up to Kagome now. It was in her that he placed his utmost trust.
Kagome worked frantically, her hands steady, her mind blank, as she forced away her panic. Inuyasha needed her to do this, to stay calm and deal with the situation. She couldn't fail him.
So her movements were economical as she pressed a damp cloth to his clammy forehead, dabbing at the sweat on his face despite the chills that ravaged his body. Listening to his tortured moans, feeling the tremor of ice-cold muscles beneath her hand, Kagome struggled to strip off his stained and soiled haori, tossing it irreverently aside before heaping her winter-weight blankets over him.
He thrashed violently, just once, as the restricting weight of the blankets draped over his body. Kagome put her hands on his shoulders in restraint, his pained, incoherent mumbles tearing at her heart. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips to his icy forehead. "Shh," she murmured, fighting the resurgent wave of apprehension as her hands carefully patted the blankets down around his body. "Shh, Inuyasha. It's all right. I'm here."
He whimpered, his eyes opening partway to peer fuzzily at her face. Kagome's throat shut completely at the confused, lost, blurry look in those beautiful golden depths.
And he didn't know her.
It ripped at her heart, but Kagome willed herself to accept it. He was delirious, violently ill. He probably didn't even remember his own name.
What would one measly human girl matter to him?
"You just relax, okay?" She indulged herself, running her fingers through his gloriously thick, sweat-damp bangs for comfort. "I'll go get a thermometer."
He could hear her. Strained, falsely optimistic, undercurrents of fear. His arm protested viciously as he lifted one barely functional arm to bump clumsy fingers against her cheek, confused by the weight of the limb. What was wrong with him? She was so pretty…so worried…so much like…
"…Mom."
She sniffled, ducked her head as she firmly tucked his arm beneath the blankets. If he mistook her as his mother, she wouldn't try to correct him. Whatever gave him comfort. "Yeah," she whispered sadly. "I'll be right back.
Inuyasha tried to call after her, but she was already away and down the hall. Why had Kagome sounded so sad? Did he say something wrong? He struggled against the oppressive weight of pain that draped over his body, pressing down on his lungs and jabbing into his stomach, and was helpless to do anything more than wait for her return.
He wasn't breaking his promise, Kagome told herself fiercely as she rummaged through the bathroom cabinets for the oral thermometer and the sterile plastic covers. She'd give the more conventional ear thermometer a shot, but she wasn't sure if she could trust it. He did have rather unusual ears…maybe they were unreliable measures of body temperature.
But he promised…no matter what…he wouldn't forget me.
"It's not his fault," Kagome repeated stubbornly, shaking her head to knock away the unwanted thoughts. "It's not his fault if can't remember me. It's not his fault if he's sick."
Bachi.
"It's mine," Kagome realized with a sob, pressing her face against the mirror, feeling the cold glass against her forehead. "My fault."
She didn't know how long she let herself wallow in self-pity, but it was too long. With a deep breath, she pulled back, hastily splashed water onto her face, and collected the necessary supplies. If Inuyasha had been the receiving end of her bachi, then she'd just have to do whatever it took to make him better.
His breathing was shallow, rasping pants through dry, parted lips. Kagome hurried to his side, swiping impatiently at her eyes. She'd drawn her curtains, casting the room into a dusky half-darkness; it wouldn't do to trip over something and fall over him.
He was in enough pain without her help.
Inuyasha struggled a little as she placed one hand on his head to hold him still. "Don't move, Inuyasha," she murmured, trying not to wiggle the thermometer in his ear. "I have to see if you've got a fever."
The idiot thermometer was giving her some idiot reading—something around forty degrees—and Kagome threw the offending, useless piece of junk across the room. "We'll do it orally, then," she explained to the wild-eyed hanyou who stared blindly around the room. "You want music?"
Maybe a song would keep him calm while she held the thermometer under his tongue. It occurred to her only distantly that Inuyasha didn't need to be treated like a baby, didn't need lullabies to soothe his frazzled nerves, but she moved to her stereo nonetheless. Flipping the volume low, she chose from her collection one of the quieter tunes.
Perhaps the music could help her.
She laid Inuyasha's head on her lap, holding the plastic-encased glass stick under his tongue as the soft opening chords picked up. To her relief and surprise—who'd have thought Inuyasha would like J-pop?—he relaxed against her, eyes closed, as his body trembled from occasional shakes of pain.
kimi wo sou zutto wasurenai yo I'll never forget you
ten to chi ni sotto hanasaretemo not even if the sky and earth were separated
negai ga hitotsu kanau no naraba I have one wish, if only it could come true
mou ichido…kimi ni aitai I want to see you…one more time
It was a nice song. Inuyasha's thoughts were disjointed, disorienting. He agreed with the singer's sentiment. And, by the way, Kagome had been crying. Inuyasha recognized the scent of salt on her skin, smelled the evidence of her attempts to wash away her tears. And through the confusion, the sharp, ceaseless agonies chewing through his intestines, he felt the familiar stomach-clenching guilt settle in companionably beside the clawed devil dancing through his belly.
He'd made her cry.
"…orry." Words were difficult to form and force out, his efforts doubly hampered by the thermometer in his mouth. "Sorry."
She made a suspicious, wet-sounding sniff before replying, "You shouldn't talk, Inuyasha. Wait until we're done." She didn't know why he was apologizing—probably for some sort of misplaced guilt—and let her fingers brush his ears. She'd have to leave the thermometer in a while longer to adjust for Inuyasha's…uniqueness. Human thermometers probably weren't calibrated for hanyou.
They lapsed into a silence, Inuyasha shivering periodically despite the sweat dripping down his face from the sweltering blankets covering his body, obviously fighting whatever was causing him so much distress. Kagome peered at the markings etched onto the glass and frowned in disbelief. No, that still wasn't right. She opened her mouth to tell Inuyasha they'd have to do it again when a strange, pleasant hum filled the air, low and in harmony with the music.
It was warm, soothing, and full-throated. And definitely didn't come from anything mechanical.
It took Kagome a moment to realize it came from Inuyasha.
She smiled fondly at him, glad his eyes were closed so he wouldn't see the tender look she sent him. It was embarrassing, would be embarrassing if he ever found out how much he meant to her…But, still, it was sort of endearing to hear him humming with the song. She never would have thought Inuyasha was in any way musically inclined, but he found ways to surprise her even when he was afflicted with this mysterious illness.
"All right." The song ended, and Kagome decided it was time to remove the thermometer and make a proper reading—just in case she wasn't seeing the numbers correctly. She squinted closely to read the numbers. And felt like growling. "How can you be running a fever of thirty-nine degrees when you are freezing cold?"
As if in answer to her muttered question, Inuyasha shivered, then looked up at her with what could only have been adoration in unfocused, sleep-bleary eyes. "Love you," he murmured, once again reaching up to touch her face—for reassurance, maybe, Kagome thought as she sat very still, her eyes nervously following the motion of his claws as he ineptly slid his hand into her hair. He wasn't talking to her, she told herself. He was talking to who he thought was his mother.
And continued to be very still, holding her breath until she thought her chest would pop under the stain, as his eyes narrowed in concentration. Inuyasha fought to make himself understood over, under, around, through—whatever it took—the overwhelming waves of pain.
She would know, if he had to rip out his own intestines to rid himself of the small tummy demons and be able to speak.
He stared at Kagome with such intensity she sat back on her heels in surprise. His gaze was momentarily, frighteningly clear, and he gripped her hand in his. "Not Mom. Like Mom. Love you…" The last syllables drifted off into an inaudible, wheezing breath as the pain won and tromped over his brief moment of coherence.
But one moment was all it took.
"Kago…me…"
8.3.04
NOTES: Well. Getting there. The Kagome-Mom confusion comes because Inuyasha wants to say that Kagome is like his mother. Not that he ever thinks she is. Kagome, however, thinks that Inuyasha thinks she's his mom. You see? =)
I hope this was a much more acceptable ending that that hideous cliffy in chapter 2!!
Song lyrics stolen without remorse from w-inds., my all-time favorite J-pop boy band! Love you! giggles madly Sorry. The song is "Dedicated to You", part of their third, and newest, album, Prime of Life. Lyrics and translation thanks to Cecil at Doomo desu!