Well I hope everyone had a good holiday. Mine was very good to me. And awesome food. Which is always good. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
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The Reluctant Gladiators
Chapter 12: Playing Doctor
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September 24, 2004: 1:30 AM
21 Students Remain
As soon as Kikyo realized she was stepping into nothingness she panicked. If she had kept her head she would have been able to recover quickly. As it were she started tipping backward, her arms pin wheeling wildly as they attempted to recover her balance. Her foot that had stepping backwards and started this whole mess kicked the side of the cliff. Kikyo resigned herself to falling when a hand suddenly grasped her upper arm. A moment later she was thrown against Naraku's chest.
"You know, it would have been amusing to watch you fall," said Naraku, smirking down at the trembling girl.
Kikyo wrenched herself away from him and hugged herself. "Then why did you save me?" she asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer. Naraku's last words right before she almost fell to her death kept replaying in her mind. 'I want you.' Just what did he mean by that?
Naraku took his time in replying. Before he did he walked to the side of the cliff and looked down. "No guarantee of you dying if you simply fell," he answered nonchalantly.
Kikyo gasped and brought one hand up to cover her mouth. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Naraku trailed one finger down Kikyo's jaw line. The girl shuddered at his touch but was too terrified to step away. "You know how the game works. It goes until only one student survives. Now if you're down there, injured yet still alive, you could win just by being out of the game but still being in it. Understand?"
"You monster. You're playing?"
Naraku laughed cruelly. "What? Did you honestly think that I would let one of you kill me? No, I certainly think not."
"Then what did you mean when you said you wanted me?"
Naraku stepped close to Kikyo and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Kikyo struggled but stopped when Naraku's face moved to be within three inches of her own. "My dear Kikyo, did you actually think I meant that I wanted you sexually? Or is that just what you wished for?"
Kikyo responded by spitting in his face. "Leave go of me you devil!" she growled. "I would rather die than have sex with you. Don't flatter yourself so much."
Naraku smirked and pulled the valiantly struggling girl even closer to him. "Then today just might be your lucky day," he said softly into her hair.
Kikyo abruptly stopped her struggling. It wasn't what Naraku said. But rather what she felt. Something cold and hard pressing into her stomach. Almost dreading to look she did so anyways. She felt tears pricking the corners of her eyes. A pistol was pressed to her abdomen, Naraku's finger dangerously close to the trigger. When Naraku started to speak she looked back up.
"And just so you know, what I meant when I said I want you was that I want you dead. But you tried to kill yourself before I could get the last part out. And oh yes, the reason I saved you was so I could get the pleasure of killing you myself. Stare at me with hateful eyes all you want, but your life still ends today. All of you people who preach about friends and love and stupid shit like that will die. And the winner will be me. I'll win because I care about no one. Caring for others gets you nowhere in life, it is a weakness. I learned that a long time ago. And hey, would you look at that. Seems my philosophy on life is what will let me win. Funny, isn't it?"
"People like you are the reason this game, or experiment, is done in the first place," spat Kikyo, her eyes flashing with hate.
"You're pretty feisty while on death's door," commented Naraku.
"It wouldn't matter if I was cursing you out or being silent and docile, you would kill me anyways."
"You are pretty intuitive as well."
"And you're an asshole. What's new?" Kikyo truly was past caring. Deep down from the moment she learned her class had been picked she had subconsciously been preparing herself for death. She knew she wouldn't be able to compete. Which then guaranteed her death. But she didn't mind. She would rather die then kill one of her classmates in cold blood. And it looked like she was about to get her wish.
"Well Kikyo, as much as I thoroughly enjoy the conversation we're having I really have to be heading out. Have many more people to kill and then time is always ticking away."
"Oh save me your sob story," retorted Kikyo. "You expect me to feel sorry for your plight? I hope someone tries to kill you. But they do a poor job of it. And you live. Only to die a slow and agonizing death. And even that is almost too kind for you."
"Well, you bore me now. Any last good-byes? Last regrets?" teased Naraku cruelly.
"Go fuck yourself."
And with that Naraku pulled the trigger. A deafening bang tore through the sill night air. Kikyo flew backwards from the force of the bullet. She teetered on the edge. One hand when to her bleeding abdomen while the other reached for something, anything, to grab a hold of. But this time no one reached out to save her. People say that when you're about to die your life flashed before your eyes. Kikyo couldn't testify to that. But her last moments die seem to happen in slow motion.
As she fell backwards and over the cliff Naraku's face appeared over the edge. He was smiling at her. Smiling at her pain filled face. Smiling at her blood soaked shirt. Smiling at her intestines that escaped through the hole in her abdomen and trailed through the air after her.
As Kikyo fell she realized she did have one regret. She regretted not having the courage to have driven her sickle through Naraku's face. All the way through his neck and into his chest. Where she could have sliced through his black heart. And sent his soul to hell which is where it belonged. She now only wished for someone to have the courage to do it for her.
Naraku watched the falling girl until her body met the rocks below with a sickening crash. If the fall alone didn't kill her then she would be sure to die soon from the gun wound he had inflicted upon her. Either way she died was fine by him. All that really mattered was that another student was out of the way. He shouldered Kikyo's forgotten sickle and left the bluffs. He was one step closer to victory.
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"That's a sight for sore eyes," remarked Miroku. The doctor's office could be seen in the distance.
"Or sore arm," groaned Inuyasha. He still couldn't believe how much damage Nazuna had accomplished with just a screwdriver. His shoulder throbbed painfully and it was still bleeding. Everytime he accidentally moved his arm he felt like screaming. He bit his tongue instead. Not only would screaming tell anyone near them where they were but it would also give Miroku bragging rights. Miroku would constantly say, "I told you we had to go the doctor's office.' The one thing Inuyasha could really do without was a bragging friend.
"You holding up ok?" asked Miroku.
"Of course," answered Inuyasha, not able to withhold a groan from escaping his lips.
"Well, you're all right enough to lie," said Miroku with a wry smile.
"Get that fuckin grin off your face before I wipe it off," growled Inuyasha. His shoulder felt like it was in the process of falling off and Miroku was smiling. Damn his friend.
"You know Inuyasha, you're not much of a threat right now," commented Miroku.
"I'll shove my sword up your ass," snapped Inuyasha.
"I bet you'd like to do that, eh?" joked Miroku.
"That deserves no response you sick bastard."
Miroku laughed. "Hey would you look at that, we're at the doctor's office. That didn't take too long."
"For you maybe," said Inuyasha. The two friends walked inside and through the waiting room. When they reached the actual doctor's room Inuyasha's face fell. "Oh fuck," he groaned.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"You're not actually planning on stitching me up, are you?" asked Inuyasha hesitantly, His face turned white when he opened a random drawer and it happened to be full of wrapped needles. Shit, definitely the wrong drawer to open. He slammed it shut and leaned against the counter.
"Well, you have any other ideas?" asked Miroku. He didn't much like the idea of stitching his friend up either. He was scared of making it worse. But he also knew something had to be done.
"Page the doctor?" suggested Inuyasha.
"Haha, yeah, good one."
"It was worth a shot."
"Well it looks like I get to stitch you up then."
"Swell."
"Hey, I don't like it any better than you do."
"But you're not the one who's going to have someone sewing you up."
"You're right. I'll just be doing the actual sewing. Getting to put a needle through my friend's skin. Lucky me," said Miroku sarcastically.
Inuyasha rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Sorry. Well shall we do this?"
"You want to try and find a pain killer or something?" asked Miroku.
"I guess. But the only painkillers I know of are Tylenol or aspirin. I don't know any heavy duty painkillers which is what I'd like."
"Same here."
"Well, guess Tylenol would be better than nothing," said Inuyasha while opening drawers and cupboards in search of painkillers.
While Inuyasha did that Miroku busied himself with gathering alcohol, cotton balls, needle, and thread. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing. But he remembered when he was younger every time he cut himself his mother would clean the wound with alcohol. He never had any injury anywhere near as bad as Inuyasha's but he figured alcohol wouldn't make it worse. He hoped.
Inuyasha started getting worried. Where were the painkillers that he knew of? All he kept seeing were bottles with long funny looking words. He doubt he even would have been able to pronounce half the medicines he saw. Opening one drawer he discovered many scary looking metal instruments. He slammed it shut.
"What was that?" asked Miroku.
"Um, nothing," said Inuyasha quickly.
"Uh, ok. Find any Tylenol yet?"
"No. How the hell could a doctor's office not have Tylenol?" complained Inuyasha.
"Perhaps because it is a doctor's office. They use better stuff than Tylenol."
"Damn you for making sense," grumbled Inuyasha before continuing his search with a vengeance.
Miroku started at Inuyasha slamming open drawers and cupboards before getting an idea. He walked back to the waiting room and went behind the receptionist's desk. He opened the top drawer and smiled to himself.
"Damn fuckin smartass doctor," cursed Inuyasha when a search of another half dozen drawers yielded no results.
"Hey Inuyasha, catch."
Inuyasha looked up in time to have a bottle of Tylenol hit him on the forehead.
"Nice catch," commented Miroku.
Inuyasha glared at Miroku before stooping down to pick up the bottle. "So where'd you find it?"
"In the receptionist's drawer. Seems he or she doesn't mind using the cheaper medicine."
"Thank god for them," sighed Inuyasha. "The last thing I wanted to do was read a bunch of shit to discover what medicine I could take that wouldn't kill me."
"But that stuff would probably work better. Are you sure you don't want to try and find a better painkiller?" asked Miroku in a concerned voice.
"Hell no! We don't have time to waste. Do you want someone to find the girls before we do?"
In reply Miroku threaded a needle and held it up. "Are you ready for this?"
Inuyasha dryly swallowed a couple of pills sat down in the available chair. "As ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this."
Miroku walked to his friend and placed the threaded needle on the countertop. He then untied the crude bandage that he had earlier concocted and removed it from Inuyasha's arm. He happened to get a glance at the inner bandages and found them to be soaked through with blood. Gagging slightly he found a trashcan and threw them away. He returned with the cotton balls, alcohol, and a pair of scissors he had also found.
"What are the scissors for?" asked Inuyasha.
"I've got to amputate," said Miroku in an attempt to keep the mood light.
"Hah, very funny. Now what are they really for?"
"Well it's kind of hard to see the wound considering your sleeve is covering most of it."
"Don't cut me anymore than I already am," said Inuyasha when Miroku made the first cut in his sleeve.
"I can use a pair of scissors," defending Miroku.
"Sure you can. I remember you in art class. You could barely cut a straight line."
"That was two years ago!"
"Oh, so I suppose you've been practicing cutting with scissors since then?"
"Don't you think it would be a shame if someone kept distracting me while I was cutting your shirt and I stabbed you by accident?"
"Asshole," mumbled Inuyasha.
"I thought so," replied Miroku brightly. He quickly finished cutting the sleeve and threw that away as well. For the first time he got a good look at the wound.
A jagged line about a quarter inch thick and half inch long was in the fleshy part between Inuyasha's shoulder and collarbone. Blood was still seeping from it and the surrounding area was caked with dried blood and dirt. But that wasn't the worst part. Miroku was glad he hadn't eaten in awhile. There were bits of what he could only guess to be tendons or ligaments poking out of the deep wound. That only could have happened when he had pulled out the screwdriver. Miroku vaguely remembered Nazuna twisted the screwdriver, by doing that she must have gotten it thoroughly entangled with his tendons or ligaments. No wonder why it was so hard to pull out. I was pulling out his tendons or ligaments too! Fuck, no wonder why it hurts so bad. Not only are they completely destroyed but they're in his wound as well. How am I suppose to help him? I'm no doctor.
After hearing no response from Miroku for over a minute Inuyasha chanced a look at his friend. He was surprised to see Miroku looking white as a ghost, his hands trembling slightly. He looked at his wound. "Oh fuck," he groaned. "Now I know why it hurts so damn much."
Recovering slightly from his shock Miroku nodded. "Yeah, I'm surprised you can even more your arm at all."
"I can move it. Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell whenever I do," said Inuyasha bluntly. "So are you going to stitch me up now so we can get going?"
"Inuyasha! I can't do anything! If I just stitch you up your tendons, or whatever they are, will be in the way. I don't know what to do."
"No way," growled Inuyasha. "No way. We didn't come all the way out here to do nothing! No fucking way! We could have found the girls by now. And now since we're here I'm going to get my wound stitched up!"
"What the hell do you want me to do?" yelled Miroku. "Get a fuckin doctor's degree in five minutes?"
"No, just cut them off," said Inuyasha softly.
Miroku looked like someone had just punched him in the gut. "Are you out of your mind? Haven't you been through enough pain already?"
"Yeah, but it won't get any better staying like this. Face it Miroku, I've got to stop the bleeding. And since there are no doctors we have to do the only thing we can. Cut off whatever is in the way and then stitch it up."
"What if that only makes it worse?"
"Then I'll deal with it. Listen, I already can't use my arm. So it's not like you'll make it any worse on me. At least this way the bleeding can possibly stop. Please, do it before I lose my nerve," pleaded Inuyasha.
At the sight of his friend begging Miroku finally gave in. "All right, I'll do it."
"Good," said Inuyasha simply.
Miroku walked back to where he had found the scissors and selected another, sturdier, pair. He also found a pair of surgical gloves and donned those. "Are you ready for this? I have no idea how much this will hurt."
"Of course you wouldn't you idiot. Quit stalling and do it already," said Inuyasha, turning his head so he wouldn't have to see Miroku cutting bits of his body off.
Miroku took in a deep breath. He clenched his jaw and grabbed a scrap of tendon before he lost it. He cut the bit of tendon off that was outside the wound. From far away he could hear someone screaming. He realized it was Inuyasha but he had to keep going. Miroku hurriedly finished cutting and threw the scissors down. He stumbled away from Inuyasha, fell to his hands and knees, and puked. He couldn't believe it. He had just cut off a part of Inuyasha's body.
Inuyasha breathed heavily. He was not prepared for that kind of pain at all. He doubt if someone was actually sawing off his arm it would have hurt any more.
Miroku wiped his mouth and stood back up on shaking knees. He put on fresh gloves and went back to Inuyasha. He doused a cotton ball in alcohol and went about cleaning the wound as best he could.
Inuyasha hissed when the alcohol first touched his open wound. But after what he had just been through this was nothing.
Miroku finished cleaning the wound without much problem. He picked up the needle and thread. This would be the next really fun part. Not knowing how a doctor actually stitched someone up he had to stitch how someone would stitch a hole in one's jeans. He tied a knot at one end of the thread. Without asking if his friend was ready he pushed the needle into one side of the wound and pulled it until the knot was against skin.
Inuyasha clenched his other hand tightly around the armrest and gritted his teeth. Every time the needle bit threw his skin he felt it. And he felt the thread traveling through as well. He closed his eyes and attempted to take deep, calming breaths. It worked somewhat and before he knew it Miroku was talking.
"I'm done stitching. I'm going to go find some gauze and hopefully a sling."
Keep his eyes closed Inuyasha nodded. He heard Miroku rummaging around the room.
Miroku silently thanked whoever owned this office. One drawer was completely full of all different sizes of gauze. And in a small closet there were slings. He selected a sling and grabbed several packages of gauze. He returned to his friend and immediately started bandaging the wound in fresh, clean gauze. As soon as the ugly wound was covered Miroku felt a great load lift off his shoulders. When he finished wrapping it he slid Inuyasha's arm gently into the sling and put the strap around his friend's neck.
When Inuyasha felt the sling's strap slide over his head he finally opened his eyes. "Is it over?" he asked shakily.
"Yeah, it's over," said Miroku with a comforting smile on his face.
"Good," sighed Inuyasha. "Guess we can finally be heading off again?"
"Yeah, let me just throw some of this stuff into my bag," said Miroku. He opened his bag and first took at a bottle of water and a small snack cake. He gave both to Inuyasha who took them greedily. Taking out another bottle and snack cake for himself he then started loading the bag with gauze, needles, thread, cotton balls, alcohol, and pair of scissors, and an extra sling just to be safe.
Inuyasha quickly polished off the food and half a bottle of water. He stood up and slipped the Tylenol into his pocket. Miroku saw and lifted and eyebrow.
"Did those actually work?"
"This stuff is shit," said Inuyasha. "But maybe Kagome or Sango has a headache.
Miroku laughed. "Aren't you such a sweetheart. Always looking out for others."
"Nah, only a few others. Most people I wouldn't give a damn if they had a headache," clarified Inuyasha.
"Oh yes, that's the Inuyasha I know. So if I had a headache would I get some Tylenol?" asked Miroku sweetly.
"Hell no. I'd cut your head, stitch you up, and then Tylenol wouldn't do you any good either."
"Yup," said Miroku. "You're back."
"Did I ever leave?" asked Inuyasha arrogantly.
"Well I seem to recall a certain someone screaming like a baby while I was cutting," commented Miroku offhandedly.
"Give me your hand," demanded Inuyasha.
"Eh? Why?" asked Miroku worriedly, immediately placing both hands behind his back and out of Inuyasha's view.
"I was going to cut one of your fingers off and see how much you liked it," said Inuyasha.
"Or…we could leave revenge for some other time. And continue our search for Sango and Kagome," suggested Miroku quickly.
Inuyasha snickered under his breath. And silently thanked whoever had allowed him and Miroku to get together right way on the island. He didn't think he'd be able to survive without his best friend by his side. Inuyasha walked up to Miroku and clapped his friend on the shoulder with his good hand. "Thanks Miroku."
Miroku smiled and returned the gesture. "Anytime my friend, anytime."
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An amazing amount of people thought Kikyo died last chapter. Instead she died this chapter. And I believe next chapter we'll have to check in with Sess, Rin, and Yura as well as Kagome and Sango. I think. I have yet to write any of it so I'll see where it leads me. As always please review and make fun of my lack of medical knowledge! (come on, I know you want to!)
Review Responses:
Mizery rizes: Yay! I'm hated! In my opinion it's a good thing when someone hates you because of the ending of a chapter because that means you actually ended it good and they want to keep reading it. Hehe, and I'm the same as you, I can never think of good threats to leave.
Hart: Aww, you're already preparing for Miroku's death? Hehe, that's sad, but I can't really blame you. Although I won't say for sure if he'll die or not, but from the looks of things it looks like many more will die! Hehe, well, now Kikyo is officially dead. I don't think I could make her come back after getting shot in the stomach at really really close range as well as falling onto rocks. Haha, wouldn't it be convenient if they sold molotov cocktails at the store? Sadly I don't think that's what they'll be getting but it would have been nice!
Luckykittykagome: Aww, that's so nice, your friends threw you a surprise party. My friends in Florida threw me surprise going away party right before I moved. I thought I was going over to a friend's house just to go swimming and hang out. I walk into her room and "SURPRISE!". They scared me half to death. But it was awesome. And that's cool that your play if off to state competitions. Hope you guys win! Haha, irresponsible siblings, gotta love them. My sister had done that to me before. I'm all nice and comfortable on the computer chair on the internet, when she's all like "I need to get on there right now to finish something up for school!" And it's like 10 PM or something. Haha, and Kikyo didn't die last chapter! She died this one! Although I do kind of liked the way she died. SPLAT! Hehe. And my Christmas was wonderful, I got the collector's edition of Return of the King! Yay! Yes, I'm a Lord of the Rings freak. I also got other stuff (a mandolin! Another yay!) but ooh, I can't help but love the LOTR stuff I got. Hope your Christmas was also wonderful and your New Year's is fun as well!
Shadow-Wolf-Jedi-Demon: Haha, thanks for the compliments! I'm trying to put in some twists and turns here and there to make it more interesting. I especially like the one with Yura being with Sess and Rin now since we all know that she's playing the game. Well I hoped you liked this chapter and thanks for the review!
Moonglow gal: Haha, Kikyo hadn't died yet! Now you can officially do your happy because she is dead. And are Kouga, Hakkaku, Yura, and Hojo brave…or just really stupid? I really think there's a fine line between brave and stupid. But hey, that's just me. Thanks for the review!
Keirra-shadowcat: Hehe, was this a bit faster update for you? I went over two weeks, but just barely! But with Christmas and all last week I was so busy I lost all time for writing. And Kikyo didn't blow up, she got shot instead. And how the collars work is if someone tries to take it off they'll blow up. And they also have a GPS unit in them so Kazuhiko can track everyone on the island. If he sees on the computer monitor someone trying to escape he can manually make their collar explode. If Kikyo just fell off the cliff and didn't move after that he would be able to tell that she wasn't escaping. Well, hope that makes a little bit of sense, and thanks for reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Draconic Ban-sidhea: Thanks for the compliment! I was trying my best at protraying Kouga's and Hakkaku's emotions and am glad to see it worked out all right. Ooh, and charater deaths in your story? Cool. Hehe, that probably just made me sound morbid. But in the right story character deaths are just cool. And fun to mess around with. Hence the reason I'm writing this story! You can be sure that once you get that story out I'll be reading it!
Animecutie: Oh no! You can't forget about this story! That would be very sad. I updated a bit faster this time, still not as fast as I'd like, but a little better, right? Haha, winter break! I love winter break. I don't go back til Jan 18 so I'm thrilled. And the Kagome-Shippo story was in chapter 8-the one titled "Resolve". It's the last part of the chapter if you'd like to take a look at it again. But the just of it is that Shippo was the personal slave of a man and he lived out on the streets. Kagome saw him one day, befriended him without thought, and Shippo was able to go to the police get the man arrested. There's a lot more to it, but it's in that chapter if you want more. Hope that helped.
Misguidedangel: aww, you almost cried at the Kouga/Hakkaku bit? I'm sorry! But that means it worked though, so I guess I am kind of happy. Haha, and don't worry, I'd be laughing too if Kikyo died just by walking off a cliff. I mean all these students are being murdered by their classmates and Kikyo…walks off a cliff. Hehe, but sadly she didn't die that way. Naraku had to shoot her first. Well, Miroku and Inu are finally able to continue their search of the girls, so maybe sometime soon they'll find them. But just for a little hint, I plan on another major event happening before they find the girls, so it won't be for several chapters probably! Sorry! Well, I hoped you liked this chapter and thanks for the review.
Naomi-Starcloud: Yay! New reader! Welcome aboard this trip through the…morbid regions of my mind! Heheh…and about the story ending happily…well let's just say I can't make any promises. I actually do know how I want to end it but I can't give away whether it's happy or sad. And thanks for the compliment about my protrayal of the characters. That's always good to hear especially since this story centers so heavily on the emotions of the characters. And about Sess and Rin, hopefully we'll be checking in on them next chapter. That's my plan at least. And then we can see what Yura is planning! Thanks for reading this story and reviewing. Hope you continue to enjoy this story.
Miss-yunz: Well, your Sess/Rin part will be coming up next chapter hopefully. And glad to see that you find them cute with their friendship. I was hoping no one would be saying 'come on! Have them have a romantic interest in each other!' because I wouldn't have been able to do it. But everyone seems to be happy with them just being really good friends. Hehe, and you're the second person who thought the Kikyo part was funny. And I agree, it would have been but she didn't actually fall off the cliff last chapter as you saw this chapter. Well, I hope you liked this chapter and thanks for the review!
