Love Comes to Those Who Wait
Chapter 7 – Akako
The first thing Ayame thought when she woke up was: white. Everything was so white. Slowly began to come to her senses and realized that she wasn't in her own room.
"Where am I?" Ayame mumbled hardly coherent. Slowly with great effort she closed her eyes and opened them once more. Nothing changed however, she was still greeted by the site of unnaturally white walls.
Suddenly Ayame bolted upright in panic; she was in a hospital! Why was she in the hospital! They had said it would never recur! Ayame attempted to throw the blankets off but her arm wouldn't move. Looking down in confusion Ayame noticed for the first time since she had woken up the sling that was weighing heavily against her chest and the bandages bound tightly around her thigh. Memories of the shootout at the A & W flashed through her head and Ayame calmed down slightly. She forced herself to breathe deeply and remain calm. Everything was ok, she was in the hospital because she had been shot not….
"Ayame honey?" her father asked closing the book he had been reading and placing it on her bedside table. "Are you feeling alright?"
Scrunching her eyes closed Ayame turned to her other side and saw her father sitting in a hospital bed. "Dad?" she asked.
"Yes honey it's me," her dad said soothingly. "Everything's alright, no need to panic."
"Yes, of course," Ayame said knowing her father had anticipated her reaction to the hospital setting. "How long do I have to stay here?"
"You'll have to stay the night," he father replied breaking the news as gently as he could. "The bullets you were shot with were demon bullets and they need to be sure the poison hasn't affected you in anyway."
"Demon bullets?" Ayame asked confused, she had never heard of demon bullets before.
"Yes," her father repeated sighing heavily. "Apparently the gangs here have discovered something that all demons are highly allergic to and can even result in death if a heavy enough dosage is applied to the bullet. It's only surfaced recently so the doctors are still unsure of the consequences, and are presently trying to figure out just what exactly the substance we're allergic to is."
"Where's Kouga," Ayame questioned after digesting that information.
"The boy who got you into this mess you mean?" he father demanded harshly. "I haven't let him near you."
"You did what!" Ayame exclaimed. Her father had always been a reasonable man, not prone to rash actions or decisions. He had always passed everything by her first, it was one of the reasons they got along so well together. "Why!"
"I'm not letting that wolf anywhere near you Ayame, he could have gotten you killed. Every other demon that's been shot with those bullets has died! The only reason you survived was because you pulled that bullet out of your thigh before too much of the poison reached your bloodstream!" Getting up her father sat himself down on Ayame's bed and stroked her hair with one hand. "You have no idea how scared I was when I got a phone call from the hospital telling me that you had been involved in some sort of shoot-out."
"It wasn't a shoot-out dad," Ayame said. "Neither Kouga or I had guns!"
"Which made it all the more dangerous, and that boy didn't have the common sense to get into cover!" her father growled. "He risked his life for a stupid bravado act."
"Dad," Ayame said calmly. "I was the one who attacked those boys, Kouga didn't want to move from our hiding spot but I knew we had to do something before other people got hurt."
"You were the one who retaliated," her father repeated in amazement.
"Yes, I'm the one who thought of using the garbage lids as missiles and I'm the one who attacked the man holding the little girl hostage, I know you'll think I'm stupid but I had to dad!" Ayame said passionately. "The man had already shot that woman and I couldn't let the little girl be shot! She was so scared dad!"
"Ayame," her father hugged her. "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen. I was so proud of you when I saw the footage, I never thought my baby girl could do something like that. I- I was just so scared I was going to loose you too. I didn't think I could bear it, and hearing about the demon poison.."
"Dad," Ayame replied , "it's alright I'm fine aren't I?"
"My little girl," he father said again holding her tighter. "My little girl's a hero."
"Hero!" Ayame yelped. "Hero?"
Letting her go her father explained how a man had happened to have a video camera at the time and had taped the whole thing and how all the news stations were replaying what had happened.
"I'm on the news?" Ayame murmured in disbelief. "I'm on the news!"
Her father nodded. "Everyone's been wanting to come in and say thank you but there's a very fearsome nurse outside who's refusing to let anyone in. She almost wouldn't let me in and I'm your father!
"Everyone?" Ayame said. "Who's everyone?"
"There's quite a few and I can't remember all of their names. Two girls and two boys, one of the boys was a demon with long white hair. Do you know them from school because they appeared to be about your age?"
"Oh that must be Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha!" Ayame exclaimed happily.
"And then the woman who was shot and her daughter wanted to see you but when they found out you were asleep and no one was allowed to see you they said they would pop by tomorrow morning before you left."
"Was the woman ok?"
"Fine, thanks to you she said. She was in a wheelchair and heavily bandaged but apart from that seemed fine."
"And the little girl?"
"A few bruises from being shoved in a garbage can but no lasting harm."
"Oh that's good. Was there anyone else?"
"Yeah that wolf boy came to see you but I told the nurse not to let him enar you on pain of death. I know you feel ostracised being a demon but just because that boy's a demon doesn't mean you have to be friends with him. He's trouble with a capital T and I don't want you hanging around with him," her father said sternly.
"But dad!" Ayame protested. "He's an old family friend!"
"From the Youkai-Wolf Tribe? I already figured that one out Ayame. I would really prefer you not hanging out with him however. Your other group of friends seem much nicer, no need for a boy like that."
"Is he ok?" Ayame asked.
"From the looks of it," he father said resentfully.
"That's good, did Kagome say when they'd be back?"
"They said they'd wait for you to wake up and see you when you were ready," her father replied.
"Oh what time is it?"
"Almost seven now, they went out to grab some food a while ago. If you want to see them I'll tell the nurse to let them in."
"Thanks dad," Ayame said kissing her dad on the cheek.
Her father stroked her hair once more affectionately and said, "Ayame I'm so proud of you." Turning around he walked out of the room and moments later the door to her room burst open and Kagome and Sango burst into the room followed by Inuyasha and Miroku effectively distracting her from the fact that she was in the hospital.
"Ayame!" Kagome exclaimed. "You're awake!"
"Good to see you up Ayame," Sango said, she and Sango sinking into two chairs placed beside her bed. "How are you feeling?"
"A little shaky," Ayame admitted. "I couldn't remember what had happened and where I was when I woke up. Where's Kouga?"
"Speaking of wolf-boy," Inuyasha muttered, "where is he. The jack-ass could at least have been here waiting for you to wake up so he could say thank you after you saved his sorry ass."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome exclaimed. "Be nice!"
"Why, he's the one who landed Ayame in the hospital!" Inuyasha retorted. Ayame thought with a smile that her father and Inuyasha would get along very well.
"Well I'm quite sure he never intended for Ayame to get hurt!" Kagome said. "It's not as if he had this all planned! I'm sure Kouga feels quite horrible about the whole thing."
"Guys, guys," Ayame said, "I'm alright. I chose to fight and I got injured, it's no biggie I'll heal in a couple days and be right back to normal."
"That was a very brave thing you did lady Ayame," Miroku said tactfully changing the course of the conversation. The other's all nodded in agreement.
"Very fast thinking," Sango said.
"Mhmmm," Kagome agreed. "I wouldn't have been able to do the same thing had I been in your position. Garbage lids, the thought of using them as weapons would never have occurred to me."
"Thank you," Ayame said blushing. "Wait a second, how do you guys know about what happened."
"Didn't your father tell you! It's been all over the news," Kagome said. "You're a hero Ayame."
"Oh yeah he did," Ayame said. 'I'm still finding it hard to believe however."
"It's just past 7 o'clock now, you've been sleeping for the past six hours. The school's been abuzz with what happened. We wanted to come see you right away when we heard what happened, but stupid Ms. Olsen wouldn't let us out of class," Sango said.
"Yeah," Miroku said grinning. "She almost gave Inuyasha a detention for his foul mouth. You should have seen it Ayame you would have laughed. She grabbed him by one of his ears and told him that if he dared laid one foot past her from then till the bell went she personally make sure he was expelled."
Inuyasha coloured grumbling under his breath about what he would do to that woman if he got his claws on her. Ayame grinned at the mental image. Just then the door opened again and in walked a nurse wearing the biggest smile Ayame had ever seen. Ayame shrank back from the nurse afraid she would be blinded by the whiteness of her teeth. The nurse just laughed at this and said, "hello Ayame. I'm glad you've woken up. How are you feeling?"
"Fine," Ayame replied warily.
"That's good dearie," the nurse said. "You've had lots of people clamouring to see you, but we have he majority of them waiting outside for you." Turning to Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango, she glared, "which makes me wonder how these four managed to get in."
"My father let them in," Ayame explained.
"Hmph," the nurse coughed placing a hearty meal containing plenty of protein in front of her. "Well I want you to eat every scrap of this, it'll give you energy and after loosing blood you need protein to keep going."
"I will," Ayame smiled. "I'm starving."
"That's good, it's a sign of recovery. Well I'll be going now, if you need anything you just press the little red button by your bed."
"Okay," Ayame smiled and once the nurse left let out a sigh of relief which was echoed by everyone else.
"That woman's scary," Sango said.
"I agree," Miroku nodded. "I thought she was going to spear me with that cane last time we tried to sneak by."
"She wasn't that bad," Inuyasha scoffed. "We could have taken her."
"Uhh-huh," Kagome said disbelieving and smoothing her skirt as she sat down. "So Ayame how's your leg, we over heard the nurse saying something to your father about demon bullets?"
"Yeah," Ayame said lifting the lid off her dinner. "Apparently the anti-demon gangs here have found something that's deadly to demons and are coating all their bullets with the stuff."
'"What!" all three shouted.
"That's not good," Miroku said looking at Inuyasha.
"Damn right its not!" Inuyasha retorted. "What this poison made out of?"
"The doctors don't know yet," Ayame explained. "I'm apparently the first one who's lived after being shot."
"How many other's have died?" Sango asked.
"My dad didn't say."
Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango all exchanged worried looks but Kagome oblivious to them took Ayame's hand and said. "Well I'm just glad you're alright. I never would have forgiven Kouga if you had died."
"Kouga had nothing to do with me getting hurt," Ayame insisted picking her fork up and taking a bite of what appeared to be meatloaf. She had hardly taken more than two chews before she spat it back out again. "Disgusting!" she cried reaching for her drink to wash the horrible taste away but only discovered they had given her some sort of disgusting protein shake. "Nasty! Didn't that nurse give me anything edible! I thought they were trying to make me better not kill me!"
"Is it really that horrible?" Kagome asked in concern.
"Oh yeah," Sango assured her because Ayame was too busy trying to wipe her mouth clear of the nasty flavours. "Last time I was in the hospital I lost ten pounds because I couldn't stomach any of the food they gave me. I was in there for only three days too which says something."
"You were in the hospital?" Ayame inquired. "Why?"
"Broke a couple of ribs and they needed to do test to make sure no bone splinters had pierced my lungs or heart," Sango said as if she were merely talking about last night's homework.
"How'd you do that?"
"There was a big martial arts competition this summer and I was in it. Made the top five and then I got hauled off to the hospital. I was so mad I could have come in first if that guy hadn't used such a dirty trick. The asshole was disqualified thank heavens but not before I was out of the running," Sango replied.
"Still a touchy subject," Kagome whispered behind her hand to Ayame. Standing up and clasping her hands in front of her she raised her voice. "How about we go grab you some food Ayame, you can't possibly be expected to eat this junk. What do you feel like?"
"Chinese is sounding pretty good right about now," Ayame said and after casting a brief glance around the room and not spying her purse asked, "can I pay you back next time I see you? I have no idea where my wallet it."
"No need," Miroku said taking her hand and raising it to his lips. "It would be my honour to pay for the meal of a hero."
Ayame blinked in surprise while the others merely rolled their eyes.
"Miroku," Sango growled. "Do you have no self respect? Ayame's in the hospital and your hitting on her! Don't you see something wrong with this picture?"
"No not really," Miroku admitted and let Ayame's hand drop as he recoiled from Sango's fiery glare. "I mean of course I do, I'm a horrible person. Absolutely horrible, but that's no need for you to be jealous Sango my dove. You know I love you too."
Sighing Sango rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the room yelling over her shoulder, "we'll see you later Ayame."
"Sango, my pearl, why do you clasp my hand so tightly? Is it perhaps a sign of how much you care for me?" Miroku asked innocently as the door swung shut behind him.
"If you ask me Miroku's going to be in the hospital pretty soon along with you Ayame," Inuyasha commented watching them depart. "Just wait for the slap it's coming in five…four…three…two…one…" just on time a loud slap was heard from outside the door.
"Poor Miroku," Kagome sighed wistfully. "Well we'll be back shortly Ayame, hang in there and don't let them poison you."
"I'll be fine, just hurry back I'm starving," Ayame waved as they left. Sure enough her stomach rumbled seconds after, groaning Ayame flopped back down.
She had forgotten just how much she hated hospitals, but being back in one brought back all the horrible memories. She really wished she had asked someone to stay behind, oh well too late now.
Kagome and Sango returned alone ten agonizing minutes later holding dozen's of different Chinese takeout items in their arms. "Here you go Ayame," Kagome said depositing a whole pile on her bedside table. "We got you plenty because we weren't sure how hungry you are."
"I'm not Inuyasha you guys," Ayame joked looking at all the food. "I'll never be able to finish all of this."
"Well that's alright, leftovers for when you are hungry. We won't be able to see you again until tomorrow after school so we thought better keep you stocked up in case breakfast and lunch are horrible too."
"Thanks you guys," Ayame said opening one container to reveal ginger beef. "Oh my gosh this smells so good, don't suppose either of you want to help me do you?"
"Nope," Sango replied patting her stomach, "we're both stuffed."
"Where'd the boys go?" Ayame asked trying to break the chopsticks apart which was extremely hard considering she only had one hand.
"They had to go home and do their homework," Kagome explained reaching over and breaking the chopsticks apart for her.
"Thanks," Ayame replied digging in.
"Speaking of homework Kagome we should probably head off too," Sango said regretfully.
"Yeah," Kagome agreed with a slump of her shoulders. "Sango's right we've got to get home and finish our homework too. But we'll see you tomorrow Ayame promise."
"Ok you guys go on, I'm just fine here," Ayame said through a mouthful of ginger beef. "And thanks for the food you guys saved me from certain death."
"No prob," Sango smiled as they walked out the door. "Hope you feel better tomorrow."
"Yeah and make sure you get a good night's sleep too," Kagome piped up. "We want you restored to perfect condition as soon as possible."
"Yep yep," Ayame nodded. "Bye bye."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Digging into the food like there was tomorrow Ayame wished that she was going with them. Forcing her thoughts to her food Ayame forced herself to slow down. At the speed she was eating she'd get hiccups or feel violently ill later. "Ten bites," she thought to herself. "Ten chews before you swallow." Deciding she'd had her fill of ginger beef Ayame opened another carton to reveal curry chicken on rice. Moaning at how good it smells Ayame wished she could just pig out and damn the consequences but her common sense was just to smart and she found herself still forcing those ten chews before swallowing.
Once she had finished Ayame noticed a small mug sitting beside her. Realizing Kagome or Sango must have brought it with them Ayame reached over and grabbed it with her good arm. After a brief struggle with the screw cap she got it open and the delicious aroma of green tea filled her nose.
Closing her eyes Ayame slowly inhaled the well known scent. Once her senses were swimming in serenity and calmness Ayame took a small sip and thanked Kagome and Sango from the bottom of her heart. Green tea was her favourite drink at this time of the night. It was so relaxing.
Taking another sip Ayame reflected on how her mother had always had green tea after supper as well. Drinking green tea was one of the few traditions of her mothers that Ayame still did regularly; many of the others were still too painful. Looking forlornly into the beverage Ayame wished that someone would come and distract her from the memories of her mother, but no one came.
"I really should paint mother sometime," Ayame though wistfully. "Once I get home maybe I'll do that."
Her mother had been a beautiful demon, one of the most beautiful wolf demon's that had ever been born Ayame had been told as a child. No had been able to believe that she would mate with someone as plain looking as her father. By marrying him she had defied tradition and married an outsider, a lone wolf of no royalty. Her grandfather had always been critical of her father believing that his daughter could have lived a better life had she chosen one of the neighbouring clan's princes. His feelings were made clear and everyone believed her father unworthy of the honour of mating with her mother. No one had wanted to accept her father into their clan not after the disastrous consequence's that had befallen his own and it was whispered that he would bring bad luck to the clan. Her mother had remained firm in her decision however and after time the clan had reluctantly accepted him.
When she had been born everyone was so delighted that the tribe's princess was as beautiful and as happy as her mother. The legacy of the red hair had lived on despite her father's genes and that had paved the path for Ayame's acceptance. Red hair was a mark of status amongst the clan, only royalty had it. Thanks to her flaming hair Ayame had never had to deal with the other wolf cubs bullying her or teasing her.
"I suppose I would be a very different person if I didn't have red hair," Ayame realised. "My red hair was my ticket to acceptance; at least it was while mother was here."
When Ayame was four years old her mother had left, devastating the clan and her husband. No one knew where she had gone or why and she had never made contact. At times Ayame hated her mother for what she had put her father through. Because of her the clan had turned against him blaming him for her deserting them and Ayame's red hair that had once filled her grandfather with pride became a target for disdain. After her mother's disappearance he had loathed the sight of Ayame's red hair, the very sight of it had filled him with hate. The fact that a half-breed carried a mark of status was unbearable to him and so one day he had her brought before him and had personally hacked her red hair off and had forced her to watch him burn it.
"You will never be a princess. You will never be accepted. I will not stand by and watch you parade around with hair as red as your mother's." The words her grandfather had spat at her as she was held roughly by two of his most loyal wolves still rang as clearly in her mind as the day he had said them. After seeing the result of her grandfather's hatred her father had decided it was time to leave, he had packed their bags and they had left that very night leaving only a brief note saying they were leaving and would not be returning. It had been her father who had comforted her as she had been forced to endure her hair grow back from the massacred mess it had been. It had been her father that had cared enough to love her. Her father who had staid by her side while she was in the hospital diagnosed with .
Her mother had abandoned her. That was the brutal and honest truth. She didn't care about either her husband or her daughter, that much had been made obvious when she had abandoned them. Akako, that had been her mother's name, Akako.
Ayame could remember only a little of her mother but the one thing she could remember so clearly was the colour of her mother's hair. Her father compared it to fire but Ayame had always thought it looked like a phoenix's feathers. And her eyes, her mother had possessed the kindest, most beautiful green eyes Ayame could ever remember seeing. Remembering the way her mother had looked at her when Ayame sat on her lap it was hard to believe that it was those eyes that turned a blind eye to the suffering she caused by leaving.
The members of the tribe had always said she looked just like her mother, she had her mother's eyes, she had her mother's hair, her mother's smile. Reflecting back on those words Ayame had once died her hair black and bought coloured contacts hoping to erase any connection she had what so ever to the woman that had given birth to her only to abandon her. That was the only time her father had ever been truly angry at her, he refused to allow her to leave the house even to go to school until she reverted back to her former self. Ayame had stubbornly refused claiming she would rather die than live another day looking like the woman who had abandoned her. Her father had remained firm however. For ten days he had kept her locked in her room until she relented and cut the hair off and used her demon power to grow her red hair back speedily. Looking back now she couldn't believe she had been so childish, closing her eyes Ayame took another sip of green tea only to find it left a sour taste in her mouth. Laying down and drawing the covers up to her chin Ayame glared at the pillow.
It made her mad that she thought so much about her mother, Ayame had wished many times that she could simply erase all memories of her mother out of her mind. She wished her father could too; it ripped her heart in two to see how much he still loved her. At time like this Ayame hated Akako, despised her and wished her the most painful death possible for betraying them so horribly, yet beneath these feelings there was always a nagging feeling of doubt. Doubt born of not knowing the reason her mother had disappeared. Why had her mother left? It was that question Ayame contemplated as she feel into the gently escape of sleep.
Author's Note:
Ok I'm aware that you probably want to kill me for taking so long to update and I'm with you! I feel so bad about forgetting about this story because that is what happened. I just plain simply forgot to write! I've been working so hard on my other fics and this one was so hard to write out that I just always sort of chose to write for my other stories…..and for that I send my most profuse apologies and hope that you can forgive me. I promise it will never ever again take me that long to update. I'm looking at it now and I'm appalled to realize that the last time I updated was in June! I hope you all can forgive me enough to review I know it's asking a lot for an author you're probably all cursing but think of it this way you'll be reminding me to update by reviewing. If I've got peeps reviewing I won't just forget about this story again.