Disclaimer: Yeah yeah, if I owned Inuyasha Sango and Miroku would already be together, Kikyo would be dead, and it would be mandatory for all bishounens to do all of their scenes shirtless. Err…yeah.
A/N: Whoo, chapter 5. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you all are so awesome! I'm on a roll. For those of you who haven't realized the pattern yet, I refer to the two main characters as 'he' and 'she'. Don't ask why, I'm just doing it. This whole story is rather odd anyway, if you ask me. Well, a bit of a plot made its way into these chapters, though I've no idea how. Time to find out what Sango was talking about in the last chapter eh?
Miroku- Nah. Let's make 'em sweat it out. Kukukuku!
You've been drinking with Naraku again, haven't you?
Miroku-…no.
"I don't believe I heard you right," said Yumi Kurosawa, the head of the Sunny Pines therapy department. "You want to do what for this young man?"
Giving a fake smile to match Yumi's own, she sighed. "I said," she began slowly, causing the older woman to frown. "I believe that he is a special case. And, since he is, I think he might need a special kind of program to help him," she said, making sure she spoke loudly and slowly, almost as if speaking to a toddler.
The woman narrowed her brown eyes and tucked a strand of gray hair behind her ear. "Yes well, no matter how special you believe he is, it is not your decision as to whether or not he is placed in a different kind of program. I'm sorry, but I will have to deny this request of yours."
"But-" she began, only to have a hand raised, signaling that this was the end of the discussion and that she was to leave. 'I'm not giving up that easily, 'ya old woman.' Standing up she leaned forward, bracing her small hands on either side of the desk, causing Yumi to look up at the younger woman. "Dr. Takahashi, no offense to him and his methods, has no idea what in the hell he is doing."
"I'll have you know that Dr. Takahashi is very well respected, and he certainly has more experience than you do," she hissed.
"It doesn't matter how well respected he is, he doesn't get a damn about any of these people and you know it!"
"And I suppose you do?" she questioned, raising a penciled on eyebrow.
Clenching a fist at her side, she took in a deep breath. "Yes," she answered truthfully. "I do."
Yumi watched as she sat back down in the leather chair, making sure to keep her gaze level and unwavering. "And why is that?" the gray haired woman asked. "You know, sometimes I don't understand you. You walk around, holding your head up high like your better then everyone else here, and yet you treat those thugs and criminals like they were your equal. It's a disgrace."
"They are my equal," she said, quickly cutting the older woman off in her rant. "Their not just patients, Kurosawa, don't you get it? They are people. They've got real hearts, real feelings, real problems and we can help them. When my father was alive, that used to mean something to the people here."
Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she leaned forward, placing her arm over her desk and watching the younger woman before speaking again. "When your father was alive, a lot of things were different. Things change, people change, and either you get used to it and adapt, or your just going to be thrown away like the people who end up here. I don't think you would like to end up a piece of filth?"
She clutched the sides of the chair, her knuckles becoming white as her grip tightened even more. "How can you say that about those people?" she asked quietly.
"Because that's what they are. They are the filth and we clean it up, that's the way it works. You've seem to have forgotten that. Tell me, are you still living in that fantasy world of yours where you think you can make a difference?"
"I can," she said.
Yumi laughed harshly, shaking her head. "No you can't. The best you can do is offer them a smile and a shoulder to cry on, and soon their not even satisfied with that. Just look at you," the woman said, her voice becoming a bit louder. "You could have become so much more. Sometimes I think your just as bad as them out there."
"Oh come off of it," she whispered, shaking her head angrily and narrowing her eyes. "We both know what this is about." Taking a deep breath, she met the older woman's gaze. "You've lost your faith in everything, and so you're taking it out on the only people who have some left."
Before Yumi could retort, Dr. Takahashi stormed in the office, quickly slamming the door shut and taking a seat in the chair opposite hers.
The older woman smiled at him, her eyes lingering on the other woman for a moment before turning to the man. "Ah, Dr. Takahashi, would you please explain to our little Miss. Crusader for all that is good and innocent why we do not allow our nurses to personally run a program for any patients?"
Narrowing his eyes, the older man turned to her, barely staring at her for more then two seconds before looking back at Yumi. "Well, as far as I'm concerned, she can have anyone in my group. Especially that freaky guy with the silver hair. I swear, I haven't seen him blink since he first come here. Not once, not one damn time have I seen that man close his eyes."
Mrs. Kurosawa simply shook her head, placing her hand on her forehead and attempting to rub out the migraine that was beginning to spread. She turned around in her chair, a smile playing on her lips as she faced the older man.
"Really? You don't say?"
"I swear it. Never once…"
"I mean," she said, trying to give him a charming smile. "I could have anyone in your group?"
He blinked at her. Then, shrugging his shoulders and letting out a sigh, he replied, "I don't care. Hey, as long as it's one less person I've got to deal with. Especially if it's that little wise ass I just got in today."
A jolt of anger went through her, causing her sweet façade to drop for a moment. "And this, new patient," she began, "does he have really light skin, a bruise…"
"Short brown hair, purple clothes, goes by the name of Jerry?" he questioned irritably.
Her mouth hung slightly ajar and she blinked, tilting her heed to the side and staring at the doctor. "Um…yes?" she answered, the reply almost sounding like a question itself.
"He's all yours."
----
She walked to the cafeteria quickly, eager to catch up with 'Jerry' as Dr. Takahashi had called him and let him in on the good news. Somewhere, deep her in stomach, she felt a twinge of guilt. She knew this had to be right. She was not going to just sit back and watch the people at this center -the people who were supposed to be helping and giving everything they had for the good of others- break this man even more. When she had first seen him, he'd had a look in his eyes, almost like after everything that he had undoubtedly been through, somewhere deep inside of him, he was still alive. She couldn't allow someone like that to be pushed back into whatever world of darkness he'd been consumed by before.
She knew all this, and yet still, she felt as if she was treating him like a science experiment, something less than human, something that she hated herself for. It was true, no one, especially no one at her place of work, ever offered to take on one of the patients full time. It was something about the man, the way he had stood in his room and so calmly spoken to her, like an actual human being, that had drawn her to him. The sadness that had seemed to hang around him, the despair and guilt that was weighing down his shoulders when she had first seen him, made her feel the need to help him.
Sighing, she stopped for a moment, gently resting her back against the wall. 'I know what I'm doing is right, but am I doing it for the right reasons? What if Kurosawa was right, what if there's really nothing I can do? Besides, what even makes me think he'll take my help? He'll probably just think that I'm another one of those fake people who only want to help him to feel better about themselves.' She let her eyes drift close, trying to think clearly. 'What if I am? Could I just be using him in order to replace…no. Kami, I've been here three years, but I feel like I haven't done anything at all. I haven't even made a dent in that shield that everyone here always keeps putting up. If I can just help this man, give him the strength to fight again, then maybe other's will see it too.'
Glad she'd gotten her little mental argument over with herself, she once again turned to the cafeteria, hoping that she could at least convince him of that he was worthy of being saved. When she'd first seen him, he looked as if he had just been standing around, waiting for his world to crumble around him. Then, when she had spoken to him, taken him to his room, it seemed as if he was still reeling over the fact that he hadn't been invisible to her when she'd left the room.
One minute later she found herself in the middle of the cafeteria, scanning her dark eyes around the room. Settling on just the man she was looking for, a small smile appeared on her lips. For some reason, just seeing him had lifted some of her doubts. 'He reminds me of my father, and of Kohaku.' Unconsciously her smile widened as she began approaching him.
He stared ahead, unblinking, not moving a single muscle in his body. 'I can not be beaten, I must win this. I will show him that I am not weak. I will prove to him that I have just as much as strong will as him.'
"Fool," Sesshomaru said, staring ahead with the same expression on his face. "You will never beat me."
"Ah but I shall," he replied as a smirk began playing on his lips.
She stopped at the end of the table, her eyes darting between the two men. She cleared her throat, trying to gain their attentions, but the two just kept staring into each other's eyes. 'Oh great, he's gay.' She shook her head a bit, a blush forming on her cheeks. 'Like it matters anyway.'
"Am I ah…interrupting?" she questioned softly.
He didn't move, only let his eyes to drift to his side, allowing him to take in a bit of her figure before focusing back on Sesshomaru's golden gaze. "No," he answered. "I'm just beating Fluf-"
Growling, the silver haired man kicked him in the shin.
"Ow," he said, narrowing his eyes and grinding the back of his teeth together for a moment. "I mean, just beating Sesshomaru at a good old fashioned staring contest.""Yes," he agreed. "And when I win, Jerry here is going to have to do my laundry for an entire month."
'Ha. Little does he know I will be escaping from this place before two weeks time.' She raised an eyebrow.
"Really now? And what does he get if he wins?"
"Sesshomaru has to dress up like platypus on visitors day and perform the song of my choice."
Small giggles escaped her as she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. "W-what?" she questioned, her voice shaking with laughter. "Why in the seven hell's would you agree to that?" she questioned.
Remaining just as still as earlier, he replied, "Because I can not lose," he said nonchalantly. "Why are you here anyways? Don't you have someone to go rehabilitate?"
Rolling her eyes at his tone of voice, she turned her attention away from the silver haired man and looked towards the man sitting beside her. "Actually I do. I just got back from speaking with Mrs. Kurosawa."
"Who's that?" he questioned.
"The bitch," Sesshomaru said coldly.
"Oh, it's that time of the month for someone now isn't it?"
Giving the man another good kick in the leg, he sighed. "She cares nothing about the people here. She only stays because she is a pitiful, soulless creature who has nothing better to do than to just sit around and try to make everyone else on the planet feel as miniscule and insignificant as she is."
"Plus she groped him at the Christmas mixer," she whispered into his ear. Sesshomaru glared.
Chuckling, he questioned, "Did he file charges?"
"May we change the subject?"
"Of course. When the officer came in he was shocked to find that our Mrs. Kurosawa had groped another women. Sesshomaru was so embarrassed he dropped charges and settled for getting his brother to slash her tires."
"Nice."
"You were saying something about Mrs. Kurosawa? Something that didn't involve me and my ass."
Smiling, she nodded her head. "I almost forgot. I spoke with her, you know, told her about the way Dr. Takahashi was treating you."
"You didn't have to do that," he snapped quickly, never moving his eyes."I know," she said. "But it was unfair. I asked her…" Trailing off, her gaze traveled to the floor momentarily. "I asked her if maybe I could do a special sort of program with you."
"Nani?" both men questioned in surprise. Sesshomaru was so surprised in fact, that he lost concentration and blinked. As soon as he had done he snapped to the other man, glaring angrily.
He smirked in triumph. "You blinked."
"No I didn't."
"Did so."
"I most certainly did not."
"You blinked! Oh yeah baby, get you some of that!"
"It was not my fault. I was surprise. I demand a do-over."
"No way man. I won fair and square."
"But…no…" He turned his attentions to her, narrowing his eyes into an evil glare that promised the most painful of deaths. "You," he hissed.
Wanting to quickly avoid speaking with the now rather angered silver haired man, she quickly went back to her earlier explanation. "You know like, take over some of your therapy sessions. You'd still have to go to group but you could get some one on one time too. And I could…"
Forgetting his victory momentarily, his own eyes narrowed. "You did what?"
"I said I…"
"Why in the hell would you do that?" he questioned, his anger rising.
Her shoulders slumped a bit and she took a breath. "Because I saw the way Dr. Takahashi treated you. He was in no way going to help you, he'd already marked you as…well I didn't want you just to…"
"Marked me as what? Trash that wasn't worthy of his time?" he hissed. She winced at his tone, instantly regretting everything she had just said. "Well, at least I know I've got you. Someone cares about poor, little, me who can't take care of himself?"
"I just wanted to try and help."
"Right. Am I really so pathetic that you have to devote special help to me?"
"I never said that!" she yelled, the hold on her temper she'd had earlier beginning to fade. "I never called you pathetic. Is it really so hard to believe that someone might want to help you?"
He stood up and looked down at her, his purple eyes flashing between anger and betrayal. "No," he answered. "But it is hard to believe that someone might want to help for reasons other than being a complete self-serving, cold-hearted, arrogant bitch."
Gaping and her face flushing in anger, she just watched as he turned and stormed off to his room. She let out an anguished sigh and let her head drop to the table, mumbling curses on the surface. Sesshomaru glanced at the retreating figure of the man and then at the women and sighed. 'Great. While I am forced to be subjected to tortures in a platypus suit, that guy is going to get the girl.' He stood up then and began heading towards the wreck room. Life was so unfair.
By now
I should have been somwhere
Or gone to school, or fixed my hair
Back down
Tell it to someone else
Who gives a shit and needs your help
Cause I found
What I needed
And I don't need you to tell me how you feel
And if I fall
You are not the one that has to cope and deal
All my problems are for me
My god
Look at his tattoos and those earrings
He could never get
A good job
Go home and beat your kids
So they don't turn out as bad as me
Cause I found
What I needed
And I don't need you to tell me how you feel
And if I fall
You are not the one that has to cope and deal
All my problems are for me
I don't need your eyes to see
I will be what I will be
Stop coming around cause you bother me
Stupid mutherfucker pull your head out your ass and see
What don't you get, was I stuttering
I don't need to take your shit get away from me
All My Problems: Smile Empty Soul