Chapter Eighteen: Macho Man

Kagome practically skipped down the hall, humming some odd tune to herself. Her mother hadn't suspected a thing. She held on to every word of her story like a lifeline. Kagome thought her little made-up-on-the-spot story wasn't all that bad. Of course… she hadn't heard it directly.

Inuyasha had though. That had to be the lamest excuse for a childhood story he had ever ever heard, and he had been around, heard many tragic tales. But being raised by a pack of sloth? How dumb could you get? By the way Kagome was hopping her way back to the lobby… pretty dumb.

No wonder Mrs. Higurashi had figured it out. She was faking her interest the entire time, or at least most of it. And to think Inuyasha had actually thought she was too dense to notice. It wasn't until she had slyly called out a farewell to him that it had hit him. Although Kagome was still oblivious… skipping along… singing that… was that Macho man?

"Macho, macho man… I want to be a macho man…" Kagome reached the waiting room easily in her joyful mood. She smiled when she saw Sango and a semi-conscious, purplish Miroku sitting waiting for them.

"Kagome!" Sango stood up as soon as she saw her. "How'd it go?"

The younger girl grinned. "Great! She bought the whole thing!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. Crushing Kagome's bubbly spirited mood may have brought sweet delight to him before… but now, she was more a friend to let good moods come, than an enemy with which you'd get pleasure out of destroying their happiness. He didn't know when it had happened, but he suddenly knew he'd never be able to harm Kagome, physically or mentally. He'd never play a hurtful prank on her again. That didn't mean he wouldn't joke around with her, he just wouldn't humiliate her or crush her mood like usual.

As Kagome began telling Sango about her 'ingenious' story to hook her mother, Inuyasha become aware that he was standing in the middle of a room filled with people… in a pink dress and matching hat. He looked over at Miroku… yup… still 'styling' in lime.

"I swear it was the tiny guy by the purple gorilla that touched you, not me…" Miroku mumbled himself back among the living. He slowly opened his eyes and brought his hand up to rub his forehead. He focused his eyes on his friends. "Aw what happened? My head feels like it's going to explode…"

Sango turned away from Kagome when she heard him speak. "Oh, that's probably because I hit you with that vase over there…"

"What vase?"

"The one that's shattered on the ground. Believe it or not but you have an extremely thick skull. You were still conscious after the vase smashed, so I had to hit you with a chair." She gestured to the broken pieces of mahogany wood lying near the vase.

"But you were still awake after I got you with the chair so I had to hit you with that computer that's got to go get repaired."

"Repaired? I saw the lady at the desk working on it earlier. It broke?"

"Your head broke it."

"Ah… well weren't you worried I'd get a concussion?"

Sango swatted her hand. "Tch, I'm a nurse! I know were to hit."

"You're a very violent nurse."

Before the discussion could go any further, Inuyasha cleared his throat, effectively getting everyone's attention. "Sorry to interlude, but we still have a matter to deal with here… WHY THE HELL AM I STILL IN A DRESS?!"

Bad idea to yell. Yelling brings attention. Attention of everyone in the room.

A wave of heads turned to look at the one who had abruptly yelled. Many people mumbled to their neighbouring friends. The most common word among them that seemed to pop up was 'crossdresser'.

Inuyasha felt so diminished right then. The way everyone was looking at him like he had sprouted an extra head. He felt like he had shrunk about four feet. A blush spread across his nose and cheeks.

"He's a drunk crossdresser!" Shouted one senile old man over in the corner, mistakening his blush for a sign of drunkenness. "Parents hide your daughters! …And sons! He could be a bisexual crossdresser!" The man just wouldn't shut up. "Oh my goodness! He's a pedophile!"

A woman dressed in the same garments as Sango came around the corner and began walking towards the man. "Alright Mr. Matsushita, it's time for your medicine." She held a syringe filled with liquid as she moved closer while the man, Mr. Matsushita, continued to ramble.

"Lock your doors! Protect your children! –" The nurse inserted the needle into his arm. "Stay a… a… way…" He collapsed into the now noticeable wheelchair behind him, unconscious.

The event was followed by a room wide pregnant pause. Inuyasha was the first to speak up. "Tokyo has the weirdest people I have ever had the misfortune to meet…"

"I second that," said Miroku. A few seconds later, everyone in the room was once again talking normally. "Shall we go see the lovely Kagome's grandfather now?"

Everyone but Kagome made a start towards the adjoining hallway. "Uh guys," she began. "If my Grampa wakes up while were there, I don't want him to scare himself into a heart attack so…"

"So…?" Inuyasha pressed, not understanding where she was going.

"The dresses…"

"Oh! Right."

Miroku turned to Sango and spoke with the depth in his voice of some sort of sports announcer. "Milady! Lead us to the men's room!"

"Ever hear of the word please?" she asked, slightly annoyed at his forwardness. "It's this way."

Sango lead them down the corridor across from them. They had begun walking for about a couple of seconds when suddenly an announcement came on the intercoms. It was calling all the nurses back to the lobby. It sounded urgent so that meant Sango would have to go too.

"Sorry guys, if I don't go I could lose my job. Although I don't even know why I work here, it's not like I get paid… Now Sango you don't mean that. You like helping people. Yeah, I guess that's true. No you know it's true. Alright, alright, I like working here…sheesh." Everyone just stared at the young nurse with mutual expressions as she had her little conversation with herself, seemingly oblivious to them standing around her. She looked over at them when she was through.

"The bathroom's just down the hall. Kagome your grandfather is in room 125. I'll meet up with you guys after whatever it is I have to go to is finished, all right? See ya!" She ran back down the way they had come.

"Somehow knowing that Sango's a little bit on the insane side makes me like her all the more," Miroku stated thoughtfully.

"You're a strange, little man Miroku," said Inuyasha.

"Little? Who you calling little? Why I'm –"

"Can we please not have this conversation?" Kagome said with her hands over her ears.

"…Taller than you…" Miroku finished. "What did she think I was going to say? …oh… so Kagome's a little bit of a pervert then if she knows about this kind of stuff…"

Once she saw Miroku stop talking, Kagome uncovered her ears. "Alright, you guys go get changed and I'll meet you in my Grampa's room.

"Hey Kagome, wanna know my shoe size?" Miroku asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"God no." She began retreating down the hall leaving the two boys behind. "Bye guys."

"I can touch my nose with my tongue! Does that tempt you?!" Miroku yelled down the hall after her. Some of the random people also walking along down the hall gave him weird looks. Kagome gestured her response with one finger high up in the air.

Miroku gasped. "I didn't think she was capable of doing that!"

"Dude… your sick… C'mon people are beginning to stare."

Miroku looked around and laughed nervously. "Okay… so… bathroom!"

"Right."

"You know… pink is really your colour. You shouldn't wear so much red."

"I'm not even going to bother answering that Miroku."

"Oh c'mon… I'm already planning to put more limes in my colour stance."

"Are you sure of your sexuality?"

"If your suggesting I might be gay, your wrong… I'm just a little more secure with my feminine side than other males."

"I'd say that's heading down the street to gaytown." Inuyasha looked over. "There's the bathroom."

They stood in front of two blue doors. One had a stick figure of a woman, and the other had a stick figure of a man. Inuyasha made a start into the men's room.

"Not so fast," said Miroku as he caught the collar of his friend's dress. "Which do we go in?"

Inuyasha starred at Miroku like he had grown a second head. "Uh the one with the guy on it…"

"No, I mean I know that's the one we're supposed to go into, but we look like women. Any guys in there would freak out… and probably start hitting on us because of our good looks."

Inuyasha nodded in agreement and stepped back from the door. Apparently both guys weren't aware that they were anything but pretty. Any guy who decided to hit on them must have been dropped on his head as a baby… either that or incredibly desperate.

"So… we go in the women's one?" Inuyasha asked unsurely.

"I suppose…" Miroku answered just as undecided. "It would be fun… being in a room of women. Just think about Inuyasha…"

At Miroku's dreamy look, Inuyasha found it in his liberty to squish it. "Yeah, that's one heck of a dream. But there's one problem… they all think we're women too."

"Yeah, but when we change back into our handsome selves…"

"They'll think we're perverts and yell and hit us." He winced just thinking about it.

"Good point… well maybe we'll be able to sneak out unnoticed…"

Kagome walked up to her grandfather's bed. He lay there still. Tubes were inserted into him, and machines were hooked up all around him. She sat down in a chair beside him and held onto his hand. The doctor walked up behind her.

"Miss Higurashi?" He began as he pulled up a chair beside her. "I have some news to tell you."

Kagome shifted towards him, her hand still clenching her grandfather's. "Is he going to be all right?"

"Well… we almost lost him during the surgery. It was supposed to be a routine operation, but his body was so frail. We managed to finish the surgery and hold onto him but…"

"But…?" Kagome pressed.

"It'll be anyone's guess if he makes it through the night." The doctor must have noticed the tears begin to build in her eyes. "We'll do our best. I'll let you be now." He stood up and left the room.

"Oh Gramps…" Kagome looked back over at the weak body asleep beside her. "You have to make it. Keep fighting. I want you to be there when I graduate, I need you to cheer me on. When I get married; who will walk me down the aisle if you're gone? When I have kids; they'll need a grandfather to tell them stories and legends. It's not your time to go yet…"

She lay her head down on his bed beside his hand. Silent sobs began to wrack her body.

A few minutes later the door burst open, followed by two purple and blue boys. "I'm never going to trust you're ideas again Miroku!"

"Yeah well you weren't holding too much of a grudge when we walked in there!"

"I told you they'd hit us! Although I wasn't expecting their purses to be stuffed with bricks and pepper spray! You – " He broke off as he looked over at Kagome. He immediately made a beeline for her and sat down in the unoccupied chair beside her.

"Kagome? Are you alright?"

The said girl lifted her tear-stained face from the billows of the now wet sheets to look at him. She rubbed away the tears on her face. "I'm fine." Her voice came out as something of a croak from crying so much.

"No your not. Just look at you; you're a wreck. What happened?"

"Oh gee thanks for the compliment. I told you I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"What. Happened?" Inuyasha sounded out.

"Nuh. Thing!"

Inuyasha sighed. "Kagome, what happened?"

"Nothing! Gees!"

"What happened?"

"The doctor just told me there were complications with the surgery and they almost lost him and that he's really weak and he might not make it through the night – " She broke off as more tears choked her throat. Inuyasha took hold of her hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I don't want him to die Inuyasha," she said croakily as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Inuyasha did the only thing he could think of to comfort her. He stood up and pulled her arms to make her stand as well. "Don't worry Kagome." He put his hands on her forearms and pulled her into a tight hug. "Everything's going to be alright."

He could feel her shake with more sobs. He could feel her tears soak through his shirt and touch his skin. But he stood still, with her in his arms, just letting her cry.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I just finished a week of exams, so I had to study like mad and just hope I passed. I'm kind of dreading getting the results of my science and math exams… man they were hard. Most of the stuff on my exams was multiple choice… everyone's dream! But do you ever notice after like 70 or more questions in the multiple-choice section, you tend to want short and long answer questions…? Strange…

Anyways… I've got no more school! Yay! Time for a summer filled with writing stories, watching Inuyasha and going to Canada's Wonderland! Woot!'

For those of you who wanted more Inu/Kag sweet moments… I hope that satisfies your craving for that in the story so far… I'll try and add more in the next chapters and not stray too far from the humour.

Thanks so much again for reviewing guys! THANKS: bittanybook, Samurai-Kagome, vasava, Call Me Shiggy, ChibiKenshin6490, Kate, DragonRayne, Pessimist99, anim3-for3v3r, sweetpea, Denise, YugiLuv, youigy hunter, Per, Kagome1312, Myria Dragon, allin656, Foxfire902, Fluffy'sbabe, moon, Pinayazngrl, She-Devil18, Snoochie, deee, IceSugarHigh, crazy-kitsune, animegirl3278, D-E-V-L-41, Neko-Yuff16, Gopher2806, ladykaa28, Strawberrie Bunny, eddie4

Peace out! Buh bye!