A/N: Back again, this time with the third instalment of C.O.T.T. thanks for reading my story so far! Ya'll are the reason I'm updating today, I was gonna wait till tomorrow. Onward!

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-Chapter Three: Not A Good Wake Up Call-

"Ooooh," Kagome groaned as a sharp pain radiated through her head and down through out the rest of her body.

Kagome's whole entire body felt like it was made out of lead it felt so heave.

She opened her eyes, winching and closing them again quickly as the bright lights of the room she was in almost blinded her, sending another jolt of pain through her already throbbing head, making it hurt worse than a migraine would.

"Kagome?" A concerned, familiar sounding voice came from her right side.

"Sango," The young jockey whispered through parched, dry lips as she attempted to turn her heads towards her friends voice. She forced her eyes open again, ignoring the bright lights as her head throbbed and her eyes ached in protest.

Once her eyes was fully opened and finally adjusted to the brightness of the room she not only saw Sango's concerned face, but Miroku's worried face as well.

Kagome licked her dry, cracked lips. "Where am I?" She questioned her concerned friends, her voice barely above a whisper, as she attempted to sit up. She quickly stopped the attempt as a wave of nausea swept through her.

Sango gently laid a hand on the younger girls shoulder, in a sisterly way. "It's alright, Kagome. You're in the hospital. There was an accident at the track. Do you remember?" She asked gently.

Kagome frowned, trying hard to remember what had happened to her. "I remember fighting with InuYasha outside of Kat's stall, and then you came and said that I needed to get ready for the race," she began, glancing at Miroku as she mentioned the trainer. "Then I remember going to the saddling paddock, getting into Jewel's saddle and then we were in the starting gate and then- oh Kami," she whispered as the memories of what had happened came rushing back to her in a flood.

Miroku walked over to the other side of the hospital bed, kneeling down so he was eye level with the injured girl. "You really gave us a scare, Kagome." He began. "You didn't have any internal injuries, but you still got banged up pretty bad."

"How bad?" The jockey asked, trying, and failing once again, to sit up.

"Your left leg was under Jewel when she fell and her full weight fell onto it. It's broken, but the doctors say it'll heal with out needing surgery. You've got a nasty bruise on your thigh and you have a small concussion. Your just lucky you had your helmet on other wise your head would have been crushed," Sango said, shuddering at the thought being any worse off than she already was.

Kagome took a deep breath, ignoring the nausea that was still with her from when she had awakened, and forcefully pushed her upper body into a sitting position, gasping at the pain in her left leg as it was jostled with the quick movement of her sitting up.

"Kagome!" Sango cried and rushed to her friends aid, pushing a small, red button on her bed to make the upper portion rise to support her back.

Kagome thankfully laid back on her pillows once it was raised, waiting for the pain in her leg to pass. "What about Jewel? Is she alright?" She asked through gritted teeth as she clenched the bed sheets in her fists.

Miroku smiled slightly. Always thinking about the horses, aren't you, Kagome? "She's fine. A little bruised and shaken up from the fall, but other than that she's fine." He replied.

A small smile came to Kagome's face as she heard the bit of small news from the trainer. She's alright. She thought in relief. Her leg gave a painful throb at that moment, as if reminding the young woman that it was still injured, and caused Kagome to gasp in pain and sit up, causing more pain to shot through it.

She grinded her teeth together, blocking the scream of pain that she so desperately wanted to release, tears of pain were running down her cheeks, dripping off her chin and landing without sound on the white hospital sheets that she was covered with.

Sango and Miroku acted immediately to their friends pain. Miroku ran out into the hall to find a doctor and Sango was instantly at her friends side, offering what little comfort she could.

Kagome's leg never stopped throbbing, it felt like her entire leg was on fire. Please, just stop! She thought desperately, in to much physical pain to actually speak the words.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Sango of waiting, Miroku reappeared in the room with a doctor on his heels, carrying a syringe with him.

Sango moved aside, giving the doctor room to help her injured friend. You could have been here sooner, She wanted to snap at the doctor for being so slow in getting to Kagome's room, but she stopped herself.

The doctor leaned over the hospital bed, pushing Kagome's hands gently away from her broken leg. "Just calm down and take deep breaths, Miss Higurashi," He said in a deep, soothing voice.

Kagome forced herself to lean back against the pillows, taking deep breaths as the doctor had told her to. She felt the doctor take her arm gently in his hand and the prick of a needle pierce her skin.

The medicine in the syringe started working almost immediately. She slowly un-clenched her fists and stopped grinding her teeth, letting out a shaky sigh as the pain in her leg finally receded.

Kagome leaned back, letting her head rest against the starch white hospital bed as the side effects began to come. She became immensely tired and her eye lids felt like the had bricks on them, weighing them down. She tried to force her eyes open, trying to stay awake, she still had questions she needed to ask, like when she could get out of the hospital bed and back to the thing she loved most in the world: riding. But that was a battle she was slowly losing as her eyes drifted lower and lower.

"When can I ride again?" She whispered tiredly, her eyes slowly drifting shut. I'm so tired.

Sango walked over to her friends side and brushed a few strand of Kagome's long black hair from her face. "Don't worry about that now, you rest and we'll talk more later," She said and stepped away.

Kagome weakly nodded her head and the peacefulness that could only come with sleep over take her every sense.

Sango and Miroku followed the doctor out of the room, so that Kagome could have some peace and quiet while she slept.

The doctor turned to the two of the once he had walked them to the waiting room. "Does Miss Higurashi have any family that should be called?" He questioned them.

Miroku shrugged his shoulders and looked at Sango. Kagome was a very privet person and didn't talk much about her past or if she had a family.

Sango shook her head."she has no family that would come. We're the only family she has here." She said, indicating herself and Miroku with a nod of her head towards the trainer.

Miroku took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "Give it to us straight, doc. When will Kagome be able to ride again? That's the one thing she loves most in the world so the sooner she can get on the back of a horse the better she'll feel."

The doctor let out a sigh and shook his head. "Have a seat," He said and nodded at a group of chairs in the middle of the waiting room.

Miroku and Sango didn't liike the way the doctor said that, but they followed him and each took a seat in the chairs, wanting to hear what he had to say.

The doctor waited until they were all seated in the chairs before he spoke. "She may never be able to ride again," He said bluntly, getting straight to the point and not beating around the bushes. He believed and giving the truth straight up, not trying to ease into it like some of the other doctors in the hospital.

Miroku's eyes widened in surprise at hearing this bit of news and Sango nearly fell out of her seat in shock. "What do you mean she might not be able to ride again? I thought you said her leg was gonna heal without any complections." She accused, her voice a tad bit shaky.

As long as she had known Kagome, she had always been a rider, that's where she was happiest, on the back of a horse. She couldn't imagine her dear friend not being able to ride.

The doctor brought his hand up and began rubbing his left temple, clearly a sign that he had a headache. "Ms. Higurashi's leg will heal properly, but it might not be able to take the strain of racing, and riding, again. If she did ride once her leg was healed it could fracture or even break again that she might have to have surgery to repair the damage that would be done."

Sango brought her hand up to her mouth. Oh, poor Kagome, she'll be heart broken, She thought as her eyes filled with tears for her friend who had become something like a younger sister to her.

Miroku was the first to recover from the shocking news. "When can we take her home?" He questioned, trying not to think about how Kagome would react when she heard the news.

The doctor glanced down at the chart in his hands. "She'll be released in a couple of daysmaybe even tomorrow if no other complications come up," His beeper went off and he reached to his side to get it. "If you'll excuse me, I'm being paged for surgery." And with that, he left the two to observe the news.

"Kagome's gonna be heart broken when she hears this," Miroku said, voicing Sango's exact thoughts from just a few moments earlier.

Sango just nodded her head, silently staring at the floor, trying to think of some way to help her friend.

A shadow fell over the two and they glanced up, not expecting to see who they saw standing in the doorway of the waiting room.

"InuYasha? What are you doing here?" Miroku asked blankly as he stared at the silver haired jockey.

InuYasha frowned and crossed his arms. "Feh, I came to see if your jockey was okay," he replied, trying to hide the concern in his voice and succeeding very well. In fact, he did it so well that his voice actually sounded cold and heartless.

He got a totally different reaction from Sango, though.

Sanog shot to her feet, angry fire flashing in her eyes. "You," She snarled and slapped him hard across the cheek, the sound of the slap resounding in the empty waiting room.

Miroku quickly jumped to his feet and grabbed the angry woman by her arms, keeping her from doing anymore damage to the other jockey.

"How can you even show your face here!" Sango snarled, her voice a dangerous whisper and dripping venom.

Miroku had told Sango why Kagome had been so angry before her race, and who had caused her the anger.

InuYasha had a look of pure surprise on his face at being slapped by the woman, but quickly recovered. "Hey, I came to see how your friend was doing. Is that a crime?" He asked, sounding quite annoyed.

"You're the reason Kagome's in that hospital bed to begin with!" She spat out between clenched teeth.

InuYasha stiffened at that comment, his back going ridged and his face going blank of all emotions. "Is she okay, or isn't she?" He asked simply.

Miroku pushed Sango into a chair behind him.

Sango sat and kept quiet, but continued to glare death at the silver haired man.

Miroku turned back to face InuYasha. "She has a broken leg. But she'll be okay. They might even release her tomorrow.

InuYasha nodded his head and turned to leave. Just as he reached the door Sango spoke up once more. "She'll never be able to ride again because of you."

InuYasha stopped and glanced back, an unknown emotion flitting through his amber eyes,a dn then he turned and disappeared down the halls of the hospital.

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Oh the drama! Haha. Poor Kagome, she'll never be able to ride again, or will she? review and I'll post the next chapter do you can find out.