Flat Line

Inuyasha-tachi and others belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Shounen Sunday – not me. Any people I add along the way are mine.

Don't worry – this won't get M rated Inuyasha just had some perverted thoughts back there…

Dark Corners

It was… awkward. Inuyasha and Kagome both had to lie on their sides to fit on the bed, and they ended up facing each other – their faces only inches apart. Inuyasha's heart thumped wildly at how close they were.

He was still in his trousers, but now his kimono and haori were dumped anonymously on the floor. Kagome was in a nightshirt and pyjama shorts, her long dark hair contrasting to the loose white shirt that hung from her body.

The sun had set a while ago now. Kagome wasn't intending to fall asleep just yet, so she was watching Inuyasha with narrowed eyes. Inuyasha was doing exactly the same back, not sure whether he felt comfortable or uncomfortable. He decided it was a mixture of both.

Kagome sighed. "Aren't you going to at least try and get some sleep?" she asked almost pleadingly.
Inuyasha folded his arms, his hands brushing Kagome's as he did so. He shivered, but recovered quickly. "Speak for yourself. I slept a lot this morning as it is; I'm not in the mood to rest anymore."

Kagome shifted. They were now both under the bed sheets, warm and 'cosy' in bed. But she also felt the awkwardness. She frowned. "Look, it'll be easier for me to watch over you if you're asleep – okay?"

There was silence. Kagome waited for Inuyasha's reaction, studying his face before he managed to reply. His only response was rolling away from her, no longer facing her. He hissed as he went, a dagger of pain shooting across his side. For a moment he lay locked up, almost in a foetal position, before the tenseness eased. Kagome, on impulse, wrapped her arms around him.

"You idiot, don't move so much," she told him, frowning like a mother telling off her child. Inuyasha just kept sucking in breaths. Kagome was worried he was going to start hyperventilating again. She rubbed his arm affectionately.

Then, when Inuyasha sounded like he was recovering, he started speaking. "Hey, Kagome. You know you said that surgeons have to remove my appendix before it explodes?"

Kagome looked at the back of his head, wondering what he was talking about. Her eyebrows furrowed. "You might not even have appendicitis. But yeah, go on."

Inuyasha took a deep breath and then continued, clutching onto his chest as if it hurt him to breathe. "Well, what does 'removing my appendix' exactly involve?"
Kagome stared at him, blankly, for a few moments. Is he afraid? She wondered.

"Kagome?"
"Well… they'll give you this drug that will put you to sleep – and you won't be able to feel anything or wake up during surgery. But they'll have to…" Kagome paused, and then sighed. "They'll have to cut it out. Cut you open and then take it out,"

Inuyasha seemed to be frozen. Kagome nudged him slightly, smiling helplessly. "But you won't feel it, you won't even realise. When you wake up you'll be sewn back up and you'll be fine, honest."
Inuyasha didn't reply.

Kagome watched him for a moment more, then gave up trying to get him to reply. She rolled away from him so they were back-to-back. The next thing she knew, she felt a pressure on her hand as he squeezed it, tightly – locking his fingers with hers. "If I do need to be, you know, cut open – promise… promise me you won't let go of my hand,"

Kagome's eyes widened. He is afraid, she realised, automatically squeezing his hand back. She bowed her head, thinking that this was the first and only time Inuyasha had sounded so vulnerable. "I promise," was all she said.

Inuyasha smiled behind his hair, feeling bile rising in his throat suddenly. "Good, because… I feel a little sick," he admitted, the pains in his stomach jabbing fervently as if he were being stabbed.
Kagome opened her mouth, then shut it. She let go of Inuyasha's hand suddenly.

Inuyasha's eyes widened. For a second he was furiously groping the bed for any signs of her hand, but Kagome was crawling out.
She's… leaving me? Right when I need help? Just when she promised not to let go of my hand?
Anger was welling up inside of Inuyasha, not to mention the need to be loved. He felt alone… Felt abandoned and at a loss.

He rolled back to face the room and where Kagome had slid out. "Kagome?"
She was running out of the room, out of the door and down the stairs. She just doesn't want me to puke all over her. I can't believe it!
A slash of pain wiped everything else out of his mind and Inuyasha was about to double over when Kagome came racing back with what looked like a large tub-sized bucket.

"Here," she said, placing it next to the bed and helping Inuyasha sit up. The pain was burning its way up his body, settling around his stomach and bubbling away deep inside of him. Boiling.
Inuyasha shut his eyes for a brief instant and tried to shut his mouth – to hold back the acid threatening to burst free from his mouth. He was too late.

As soon as the bucket was beneath him, he threw up. He felt the entire contents of his stomach lurch forward out of his mouth, leaving a burning feeling in its wake. Kagome winced and then sat on the bed beside him, rubbing his back to try and ease the situation.

But once Inuyasha had started, he couldn't stop. The vomit kept gushing out of his mouth and he couldn't stop feeling like he wasn't in control of his body anymore. Kagome pulled the bucket up so it was resting on Inuyasha's lap and as the stench of its contents writhed up into the air, Inuyasha felt the wave of nausea worsen.

Kagome knew that this meant a hospital trip. She frowned and kept rubbing Inuyasha's back, trying to make it easier for him. She rested her head on his shoulder, using her free hand to hold his hair back from his face.

Surely he should've finished by now, she thought after he retched for around the fifteenth time. He hasn't even eaten today…
Inuyasha stopped right when she thought that. He started panting, grasping onto the bucket.

Kagome stood up and went into the bathroom, picking up some tissues and filling an empty glass from the counter with water. When she came back, she saw Inuyasha's face. He was ghostly pale, like a corpse, and his normally bright eyes were glazed over and distant. And the worst thing was… there was blood around his mouth.

Kagome nearly dropped the objects in her hands in fright. She placed the glass of water on the bedside table and stepped over to Inuyasha, using the tissue to wipe away the acid and blood from his mouth. Inuyasha kept staring, blankly, forward.

When Kagome pulled away, she saw that there wasn't only vomit in the bucket – but blood. Inuyasha had been coughing up blood as well, and she hadn't even noticed. She took the bucket off of his lap hastily and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close to her. She buried her head in his shoulder, sobbing without the tears.

She was afraid. And she knew he was afraid too. The doctor's words were coming back now: take him to a hospital if he throws up or coughs up blood. Did both count?
Kagome composed herself and pulled away, staring at Inuyasha critically.
He looked like a zombie. Only then did Kagome realise he was hyperventilating, struggling for breath again.

Kagome started panicking, pushing him back against the bed. "Inuyasha, breathe. Just try to breathe for a moment," But the hanyou was struggling. His hand was in the air, searching for hers.
Kagome quickly clutched onto it, and turned to yell down the stairs – the tears beginning to well up in her eyes. "Mama! Mama, call an ambulance, quick!"

Inuyasha's breathing was reduced to quick gasps of air that were frequent and cut off. His eyes were wide and Kagome could tell that the pain was back, only worse than it had been before. And now there was blood blossoming in the corners of his mouth. What if he started choking on his own blood?
Kagome hoped Mama was phoning the hospital without question.

She picked up the bandana she had tied around his head earlier and retied it, trying to keep his identity safe for when the ambulance arrived. It was a rush job, and she was too upset to pay much attention.
She squeezed Inuyasha's hand. "Inuyasha, breathe with me. Take slow breaths, Inuyasha – it'll be okay,"

Inuyasha turned his head from where he lay on the bed. Blood was running out of the side of his lips and down his chin. Then, in between pants of breath, he managed to say: "Don't… let… go… of… my… hand. 'Kay?"

Kagome felt the world around her dissolve. He's going to need surgery! Wait, what if his appendix has already exploded? What are we going to do? What am I going to do without him? For now, all she could do was nod and try to smile. "I won't. I won't leave you, Inuyasha."

The half-demon searched her eyes for a moment, and then a light seemed to go out of him. Everything was going dark… he couldn't keep his eyes open any more. His chest was shuddering with every breath, and every time he tried to take a decent gulp of air there was a pain across his lungs that kept him from taking in anymore. He wondered if he was dying.

He squeezed Kagome's hand, trying to open his mouth to tell her what he needed to tell her – just in case he didn't wake up again.

He was too late. He was forced into the dark corners of his mind before he could say the three simple words that he could never find the strength to say. I love you. I love you, Kagome.

Everything went black.

When the ambulance arrived, it was in the form of a helicopter. Because of the stairs that led up to the Sunset Shrine, the hospital thought it would be quicker to use the air-ambulance. Now, the paramedics flooded into Kagome's room – taking in the sight of a teenage girl crying as she clutched onto a boy's hand. A boy with white hair.

He was unconscious, his chest rising at an abnormal rate.
The paramedics knew all about the situation. Now they had to get to work. A female appeared through the doorway carrying a stretcher with another paramedic, which was set up on Kagome's floor before they managed to settle Inuyasha on it. Kagome refused to let go of his hand until one of the men had to pry her loose.

"You're not doing him any good, love, and you'll just get in the way." He reassured, after tugging Kagome away from the half-demon lying stiff on the stretcher.
Tears streamed down Kagome's face, ones she couldn't hold back. What'll I do without him? What'll I do without him? What'll I do without him?

Once the paramedics had given Inuyasha an immediate check over, they hurriedly made their way out of the house and into the helicopter, Kagome running along desperately behind them. Clearly the air-ambulance didn't have enough room for her inside, but she needed to go along with them – she'd promised Inuyasha to be by his side, to hold his hand.

"Wait! Wait, please, I have to come with you!" Kagome cried, clutching onto the paramedic who had pried her away from Inuyasha in her room. The paramedic turned and tried to give her a comforting look, but in the end it amounted to nothing. He clambered into the helicopter and Kagome was told to step back.

Mama ran out of the house and pulled Kagome away from the air-vehicle, its propellers starting to spin. Kagome couldn't contain herself. She started to howl. "No! No, you've gotta let me go! Mama, please – Inuyasha's in there! I promised him I wouldn't let go of his hand, I promised!"

Mama just rocked her daughter as the helicopter launched into the air, off of the hill of the Higurashi household, and headed towards Tokyo General Hospital. Kagome clenched her fists in her anger, the bitterness rising up inside of her. I have to get to the hospital.

Kagome launched herself out of her mother's arms and ran towards the shed, digging her bike out of the outhouse before taking the steps of the Sunset Shrine three at a time, tugging the bike along behind her.

Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha. Inuyasha…

She didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone with humans who didn't know him – didn't understand him. She had to be by his side, she had to be there now! She reached the bottom of the steps and clambered onto her bike, beginning to pedal faster than she had ever pedalled in her life – heading for the hospital.

"I promised him," she gasped out as she rode, racing down the streets at a dangerous speed. It was raining and she was still wearing her nightshirt and shorts – but she didn't care. She didn't care because Inuyasha was lying possibly dying on a stretcher in a helicopter – which was most likely landing at the hospital now. And he was there alone, without her by his side. The one thing he was afraid of…

Kagome ducked her head against the rain, the water around her mixing with the tears clinging to her cheeks. "Just hold on, Inuyasha," Kagome whispered as she went, continually pedalling. Her expression was one of grim determination. "I'm coming,"