Hello,

I updated on time! Wahoo!

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Responses:

To all of you: Yes, I know my chapters are short. I'm sorry. I think, though, if I were forced to make them longer, they would take longer to come out, and you would want me to update faster...

Remix69er: I'm learning my ASL from an online dictionary for now, but I hope to find somewhere for proper lessons.

Lone-Puppy: Inuyasha and Kagome are both seventeen.

Izayoi: He can't talk. He can sign, but no talking.

I wake up and inhale deeply, preparing myself for the wait. One more day until the operation.

I've been having interesting dreams, filled with knives and magnets and little black boxes that attach to your jeans. I've decided to admit it to myself: I'm nervous.

But what if something happens to me during the operation? I've read stories about people who can feel every slice into their skin. And what about complications? I decide to stop thinking about them and play video games.

I walk down the stairs and enter the game room. The widescreen TV is sitting there, my X-box looking innocently at me, begging to be played. As I head towards the couch I brush up against the foozball table...

I haven't used the thing since the Higurashis were here for dinner. I reminisce for a few moments about that night. Kagome and Kikyo at each other at table soccer... that awful tour... Kagome's smile... I feel better, despite my nerves.
I arrive at the Shikon centre at seven thirty in the morning the next day. My parents have both taken a day off work to be with me while I get the operation. I sat awkwardly in the limo with them for half an hour while we drove here.

We go through the doors and up to the front desk. I scuff the floor with my feet while mother and father talk to the lady at the front desk for half an hour. When they finally finish talking and I follow them to my room, number 712.

It's simply furnished, with a table and a chair in the corner of the room and a large bed dominating the place. The lady gives me a sort of ugly smock thing. I'm then ushered into a tiny bathroom and forced to change into the beast.

I slip off my sweatpants and tee-shirt and get into the teal gown. It feels like a dress. A really ugly dress. I decide to stay in the bathroom for a little while.

When I get out, a nurse is waiting to take my temperature and make sure I'm "strong" enough to have the implant. The nurse understands no sign language, but still is obligated to stick a needle into my wrist to keep me hydrated.

This day is getting off to a bad start.

I am ordered to stay in my bed. I'm hungry, as I haven't eaten breakfast today. I put my fingers together into points and put them together several times, making the simple sign for "food." I've used this one so many times even father knows it, so they ask the nurse if I can have something to eat.

No. It might interfere with the anesthetic. Great.

Oh... But I'm allowed to have ice chips! So fulfilling... little shavings of frozen water for breakfast. Just dandy.

As my operation is at noon, I have time to burn while mother and father talk with the doctors about the procedure. I search my room for something to read. I find the "Parenting" magazine, and begin reading an article on how to adapt your baby to solid food. The magazine staff suggests yogurt.

I get myself a cup full of ice chips and settle down to some in depth literature. Who would have known that the blood from umbilical cords can actually be of use?

Hours pass. I go through three more cups of ice chips before Dr. Miroku and Dr. Higurashi come and tell me it's time to get ready for the operation. I suddenly notice how full my bladder is, from the drip and the ice. I relieve myself, then go to the rolling bed that will take me to the operation room.

I feel frightened. All the worries I have about the operation come back tenfold. I start breathing faster.

My mother comes up to me and kisses me on both my cheeks. Her face is wet. Tears are streaming from her eyes, and her mascara is smudging.

She points to herself, then crosses her arms over her chest, and points back to me. "I love you."

"I love you too, mother." I sign, trying to smile reassuringly. "I'll be fine."

My father, who has never been very close to me, grabs me in a bear hug, and then helps me onto the bed.

The door is opened, and Dr. Higurashi and Miroku gently push me to the operating room. I feel touched by my parents. They're actually paying the attention to me as they do to Sessho-maru.

I find myself facing a pair of swinging doors. I guess it's time for my operation to happen. I take a steadying breath, and we enter the room where the electrodes are to be placed in my ear.

"Hey, Inuyasha, you'll do great!" Miroku signs, smiling.

"Yes, there's nothing to worry about, sweetheart." Dr. Higurashi signs.

I attempt a smile and fail. Miserably.

"It's all going to be fine..." signs Miroku.

I nod, and lie down properly on the bed.

"Now, Inuyasha, all I need for you to do is relax. Just relax, and the operation will be done and it will be morning and everything will be fine." She takes a rubber mask and fits it over my mouth and nose "Take a deep breath."

I oblige.

"Another one, please."

The world is growing fuzzy around the edges.

"A few more deep breaths, you're doing great."

With each inhalation of air, the world grows darker and darker, until every sense I have is gone and I know no more.
Well, stay tuned, I guess! Talk to you guys later, thanks!