Hi.
I finally updated.
I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I took so long. My muse was brutally murdered by my fifty year old director who decided it would be fun to pinch my rear- end. Not fun. But I'm saying it wasn't my fault.
...
Actually, it was entirely my fault. Wholly my fauly. Completely and utterly my fault. I'm a BAD PERSON. I'm sorry.
Onto review responses:
To all of you out there asking: I AM NOT GOING TO OVERBASH KIKYO IN THIS FIC. I PROMISE. THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS WERE THE LAST OF IT. I AM NOT GOING TO KILL HER OR STAB HER OR DO ANYTHING ELSE TO HER, OK? THANK YOU.
Lady Tomboy: I'm learning Sign Language for fun, actually. My friend got me into it, and now I fingerspell random stuff in my spare time. [Yep. I know I am a little odd]
I get out of the limo and into the clinic. It's like the Shikon centre, cement and dull and with those little automatic doors that open so suddenly that they make you jump. I walk through the scary doors and take the elevator up to the third floor of the building, to where my appointment is supposed to take place.
I glance at the business card as I reach a door, "Houshi Miroku, Auditory Doctor."
Well, here it goes...
I bang my knuckles against the door and no one answers. After a few moments of hesitation I open the door.
Gods.
Oh gods.
I should have left the door closed.
The doctor and a nurse are in each others arms, kissing. REALLY kissing. The kind of kissing Sessho-maru watches on his hentai DVDs late at night when he thinks no one is looking.
Sometimes I watch Anime with those subtitles that allow us to follow along. If I was an Anime character I would have had a huge sweatdrop or a face- fault or something. Needless to say it was embarrassing.
The doctor, whose face is the color of beetroot, shouts something that I don't understand. I sign "Sorry!" and run.
I run down stairs, across corridors, and through hallways. I finally reach a point where I'm too exhausted to move my feet anymore. I slump against the wall of a hallway, panting. When I catch my breath, I notice someone standing in a doorway across from my feet.
"What are you doing here?" signs Kagome, looking nervous, "did you hear me trying to..."
I raise my eyebrows.
"Sorry. I forgot you were deaf for a moment." She grins, embarrassed. "I just thought you were particularly good at sign language."
"What were you trying to do, anyways?" I ask, pushing myself up from the floor.
"Nothing... Just..." she breaks off, looking back into the room where she came from. "One second." She turns back into the office for a few moments then re-emerges and leads me into the room.
A woman stands at a desk. Her chestnut hair is drawn back into a high ponytail at the top of her head, her magenta eyes glinting out at me from behind small glasses. "This is Inuyasha." Signs Kagome, smiling, "Inuyasha, this is my counselor, Sango."
"I think I saw your ad in the paper." I sign.
"Really?" she grins, "Yeah, I help people go on with their lives after bad things happen." She looks over at Kagome, "This one here, she was in an accident that damaged her vocal cords. We're working on helping her talk again." Sango ruffles Kagome's hair affectionately "She's making real progress! But what are you doing here?"
"I want to get a cochlear implant sometime soon."
Sango's eyes narrow dangerously, "Miroku will be your doctor, then."
"I suppose," I say, my face reddening at what I had witnessed earlier. "But he might not want to work with me anymore..." I tell them what happened, my face growing redder and redder as my story progresses.
"That pervert." Sango says, looking rather put out. "I suppose that's one of his many nurse girlfriends."
"He has more than one?!"
"I think the count is at fifteen," signs Kagome, rolling her eyes.
"Enough." Sango declares, her face red, "Do you want something to eat?" she asks me, offering a tray of sweets from a bowl on her desk. I take three and put them all in my mouth at once. I love caramels.
Kagome wrinkles her nose in disgust. I wink at her, my mouth full of chewy goodness.
Suddenly both of them look up. Sango goes to the door and opens it. Dr. Miroku enters, looking very anxious. I hide behind a potted plant, the smell of dirt filling my keen nostrils. Sango and Miroku have a short conversation, which ends with Dr. Miroku having a large handprint decorating the left side of his face. He walks over to me, rubbing his cheek.
"Hello, Inuyasha" he signs eloquently, looking embarrassed. "It's nice to meet you at last. I've heard of your father, you know."
I scowl. EVERYONE mentions my father when I meet them.
"Look, I'm sorry if I did anything to offend you. It was my mistake," he looks apprehensively over his shoulder, where Sango stands over him, arms crossed. "I should have controlled myself... but you know..." he smoothes a strand of his black hair from his forehead. "Sometimes the charms of a lovely female are difficult to resist."
I raise my eyebrows, and notice Sango do the same.
"Shall we start over?" asks the doctor, an apologetic smile on his face.
I think for a moment, and then nod. Forgiving this rather perverted man shouldn't be too hard. He seems nice enough.
"Come with me then." He signs. I get out from the plant and follow him into his office.
After a series of tests, he concludes the same thing as Dr. Higurashi; that I am profoundly deaf, and the only way I would ever hear would be to get a cochlear implant.
"An implant wouldn't really help you very much." he signs [very business-like now] after he explains how an implant works, "If you wanted to get the full benefit of an implant, you would have had to have the operation when you were under the age of five, so your language skills would have had a chance to develop." He looks over his notes. "But some say that this is the right time, because you are at the age where you canmake the decision for yourself."
"I want to." I sign, "I want to know what it's like to be normal."
"You'll still be considered hard of hearing, and whenever the implant's switched off, you won't be able to hear a thing."
"I know."
"And you still want to go through with it?"
I nod.
"Well, I can schedule you in sometime next month."
Next month. A month until I can hear. A month until things won't be such a mystery. I can hardly wait.
I finally updated.
I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I took so long. My muse was brutally murdered by my fifty year old director who decided it would be fun to pinch my rear- end. Not fun. But I'm saying it wasn't my fault.
...
Actually, it was entirely my fault. Wholly my fauly. Completely and utterly my fault. I'm a BAD PERSON. I'm sorry.
Onto review responses:
To all of you out there asking: I AM NOT GOING TO OVERBASH KIKYO IN THIS FIC. I PROMISE. THE LAST FEW CHAPTERS WERE THE LAST OF IT. I AM NOT GOING TO KILL HER OR STAB HER OR DO ANYTHING ELSE TO HER, OK? THANK YOU.
Lady Tomboy: I'm learning Sign Language for fun, actually. My friend got me into it, and now I fingerspell random stuff in my spare time. [Yep. I know I am a little odd]
I get out of the limo and into the clinic. It's like the Shikon centre, cement and dull and with those little automatic doors that open so suddenly that they make you jump. I walk through the scary doors and take the elevator up to the third floor of the building, to where my appointment is supposed to take place.
I glance at the business card as I reach a door, "Houshi Miroku, Auditory Doctor."
Well, here it goes...
I bang my knuckles against the door and no one answers. After a few moments of hesitation I open the door.
Gods.
Oh gods.
I should have left the door closed.
The doctor and a nurse are in each others arms, kissing. REALLY kissing. The kind of kissing Sessho-maru watches on his hentai DVDs late at night when he thinks no one is looking.
Sometimes I watch Anime with those subtitles that allow us to follow along. If I was an Anime character I would have had a huge sweatdrop or a face- fault or something. Needless to say it was embarrassing.
The doctor, whose face is the color of beetroot, shouts something that I don't understand. I sign "Sorry!" and run.
I run down stairs, across corridors, and through hallways. I finally reach a point where I'm too exhausted to move my feet anymore. I slump against the wall of a hallway, panting. When I catch my breath, I notice someone standing in a doorway across from my feet.
"What are you doing here?" signs Kagome, looking nervous, "did you hear me trying to..."
I raise my eyebrows.
"Sorry. I forgot you were deaf for a moment." She grins, embarrassed. "I just thought you were particularly good at sign language."
"What were you trying to do, anyways?" I ask, pushing myself up from the floor.
"Nothing... Just..." she breaks off, looking back into the room where she came from. "One second." She turns back into the office for a few moments then re-emerges and leads me into the room.
A woman stands at a desk. Her chestnut hair is drawn back into a high ponytail at the top of her head, her magenta eyes glinting out at me from behind small glasses. "This is Inuyasha." Signs Kagome, smiling, "Inuyasha, this is my counselor, Sango."
"I think I saw your ad in the paper." I sign.
"Really?" she grins, "Yeah, I help people go on with their lives after bad things happen." She looks over at Kagome, "This one here, she was in an accident that damaged her vocal cords. We're working on helping her talk again." Sango ruffles Kagome's hair affectionately "She's making real progress! But what are you doing here?"
"I want to get a cochlear implant sometime soon."
Sango's eyes narrow dangerously, "Miroku will be your doctor, then."
"I suppose," I say, my face reddening at what I had witnessed earlier. "But he might not want to work with me anymore..." I tell them what happened, my face growing redder and redder as my story progresses.
"That pervert." Sango says, looking rather put out. "I suppose that's one of his many nurse girlfriends."
"He has more than one?!"
"I think the count is at fifteen," signs Kagome, rolling her eyes.
"Enough." Sango declares, her face red, "Do you want something to eat?" she asks me, offering a tray of sweets from a bowl on her desk. I take three and put them all in my mouth at once. I love caramels.
Kagome wrinkles her nose in disgust. I wink at her, my mouth full of chewy goodness.
Suddenly both of them look up. Sango goes to the door and opens it. Dr. Miroku enters, looking very anxious. I hide behind a potted plant, the smell of dirt filling my keen nostrils. Sango and Miroku have a short conversation, which ends with Dr. Miroku having a large handprint decorating the left side of his face. He walks over to me, rubbing his cheek.
"Hello, Inuyasha" he signs eloquently, looking embarrassed. "It's nice to meet you at last. I've heard of your father, you know."
I scowl. EVERYONE mentions my father when I meet them.
"Look, I'm sorry if I did anything to offend you. It was my mistake," he looks apprehensively over his shoulder, where Sango stands over him, arms crossed. "I should have controlled myself... but you know..." he smoothes a strand of his black hair from his forehead. "Sometimes the charms of a lovely female are difficult to resist."
I raise my eyebrows, and notice Sango do the same.
"Shall we start over?" asks the doctor, an apologetic smile on his face.
I think for a moment, and then nod. Forgiving this rather perverted man shouldn't be too hard. He seems nice enough.
"Come with me then." He signs. I get out from the plant and follow him into his office.
After a series of tests, he concludes the same thing as Dr. Higurashi; that I am profoundly deaf, and the only way I would ever hear would be to get a cochlear implant.
"An implant wouldn't really help you very much." he signs [very business-like now] after he explains how an implant works, "If you wanted to get the full benefit of an implant, you would have had to have the operation when you were under the age of five, so your language skills would have had a chance to develop." He looks over his notes. "But some say that this is the right time, because you are at the age where you canmake the decision for yourself."
"I want to." I sign, "I want to know what it's like to be normal."
"You'll still be considered hard of hearing, and whenever the implant's switched off, you won't be able to hear a thing."
"I know."
"And you still want to go through with it?"
I nod.
"Well, I can schedule you in sometime next month."
Next month. A month until I can hear. A month until things won't be such a mystery. I can hardly wait.