AN: The last chapter sucked crap. I know.
I was just getting to the part about going to Naraku's apartment and circling the dark city three times over in search of it before a wave of sleepiness cut me off. Kaede wheezed on the other end, fidgeting like she usually did with the telephone cord, not really noticing that my words were slowly dying off with incoherent mumbles.
I couldn't keep a grip on my consciousness. I blacked out.
The cell phone dropped from my hand with a neat little 'click', and in my sleep I could just barely hear Kaede's voice before we lost the connection, saying my name.
When I woke up I felt an all-too familiar softness surrounding me on every side. My head rested against one of my beloved, fluffy pillows, and I tugged at the clean sheet that covered me. Who had moved me from the floor? I looked around my bedroom, warm with early afternoon sunlight. My nightstand clock told me I'd only been asleep for an hour and twenty minutes.
"InuYasha!" I heard her bubbly voice float down the hallway from the kitchen, seeping under my door like some terrible disease that I had fallen victim to too long ago. It was definitely a terminal illness.
I heard vague mumbling as a response. Kagome giggled. "Inu," she whined, as I imagined her flushed little face with those bright blue eyes looking up at him, that face. . .
perfectly heart shaped, perfectly bright, perfectly perfect. "Shouldn't we go wake her up? She might have stuff to do today and I bet she'd be upset if she slept through her plans." What a considerate little parasite.
More mumbling.
"Shedoesnthaveanythingtodo, 'Gome." There was a clatter of pots and pans, a running faucet. Brief silence.
And then her smaller, wheedling voice, whispering "She might". Yes, this was my untreatable illness. Incurable and fatal. This was the lovechild of my jealousy.
I buried my face in the soft pillow. I would call Naraku that evening.
I had to get out of this apartment.
And just as I began to find a little bit of comfort in what could possibly be my well-calculated plans for the evening, there was a polite knocking on my door.
"Come in," I called, voice muffled by the pillow I still held against my face, a shield protecting me from the blunt of their presence.
Kagome shuffled in, InuYasha moving slowly behind her. They both stood at the end of my bed, wringing their hands like they didn't know how to ask me why I was passed out on the living room floor with unusual marks crawling up my forearms, needles in my purse, and smeared eyeshadow that I didn't bother wiping off.
InuYasha narrowed his eyes, his tone sharp and accusing. "Where the hell were you last night? You totally flaked on us."
"I was busy." I threw the pillow off, looking him in the eye. I was ready for a brief confrontation.
He looked angry. Kagome's lips were pressed into a thin, worried line as she observed us, not daring to slip her way into the conversation.
"Doing WHAT?"
I sighed haughtily, brushing off his obvious irritation like a starlet might another meaningless compliment. "Do you think I'm incapable of having a life, InuYasha? Are you my bodyguard? Are you my manager? Is it your turn to regulate my every waking movement? I think not."
He stormed over, yanking my arm out from underneath the freshly washed sheet, jerking me forward along with it. "What are THESE?" He demanded.
I knew all too well what he meant. But he didn't need that kind of advantage over me, knowing about what had happened. I decided to play the 'dumb, pissed off girl' card.
"Those are my fingers, InuYasha. They are attached to my hand. Is that alright with you?"
"You know what I mean, Kikyou. Don't be stupid."
"It's nothing." I snatched my arm back, curling up against my mattress. "And now, I'm done talking to you."