A/N: Hi there my faithful readers and reviewers! I'm going to actually work on chapters now, so here's to getting them up within a three-week period. And if I go over, you can all leave me a smack in your reviews. (Slaps brain and hands for not updating with Ch. 10 for so long) Anyways, with that out of the way, disclaimer…
Kakashi: Surprise! I'm not late! Now, Aki-san does not own Inuyasha or Naruto so therefore lawyers cannot attack and mob her.
Me: Ok, go away and read your Hentai books! You're scaring me! Er, reviews…
Dragon Man, yep, I'm definitely sticking with the pastel idea, and you'll notice the idea you suggested in this chapter. (Kagome seeing her friends at the hospital…) I'll have to see what I can do with the "explaining everything to Inuyasha" idea…
Angie, yeah, but he'll be alright. Yes it is her job, don't you take it from her! Lol, you like being in chapters. You're in this one too. Well, if you want, I guess… No she's not. Not yet, anyway. But their first child will arrive soon. Oops. That was a spoiler. I'll shut up. Yeah, yeah, when I'm motivated damn it!
Riku, lol sorry about that…unfortunately, you're getting ripped off this time around. This chapter's only 6 pages. So there won't be much to process…Yes, fluff. Thank you, I didn't think I was doing anything, but hey, that makes me feel better. Yeah…lol yup! They're the same age, so what the hell? Why not? Ah, that's alright. I think I've got a good idea of the scene in my head now. Haha, don't die on me! You can't malfunction yet! The children haven't been introduced yet! Damn it, I'm giving away spoilers left and right, aren't I? (Shuts self up)
Kagome's Pup, lol! I dunno…
Ohiowriter, thanks I'll try!
John Bellamy, lol sorry...I am working on writing quicker...but I just have no motivation anymore...I know this is short, but at least it's something right?
Ok, let's get the show on the road! Chapter Eleven!
Chapter Eleven: Unexpected Meetings
Finally they reached the sidewalk; still not one of them dare say a word. Inuyasha kept his gaze averted to the concrete ground, not making eye contact with anyone. Mei Lhi bit her quivering lip, trying to fight back the guilt that had fallen like lead into the pit of her stomach. Kyo's arm wrapped around her shoulders, which made her relax slightly. He held her in a soft, comforting embrace, whispering words of reassurance in her ear.
Everyone was still silent, each of them walking onward, keeping all their thoughts focused on the trek to the hospital. Nobody bothered to ask for a car or a cab, each of them knowing that the nearest hospital was at least three miles away. They wouldn't dare break the chilling silence that had formed between them all. It was like dropping glass onto stone. No one dared risk such a disturbance of the uneasy peace that had settled among them.
Many minutes went by; the cold barrier of silence remained unbroken. The only sound heard was the sound of each of their feet lightly scraping against the pavement as they walked. More minutes went by. As time passed, it felt as though months and years were going by. Time had seemed to have come to a near absolute standstill.
They kept walking through the mild winter, cool spring day; none of them had uttered a single word.
Finally, the barrier was broken as someone finally had the courage to speak. "How much further?" Tenshi Miyazawa asked.
"Not long now. We're almost there," replied Higurashi-san. "We should be there in about ten minutes…hopefully…"
Tenshi sighed as she stuck her hands into the pockets of her jeans, idly kicking at a rock that was lying on the sidewalk.
Higurashi-san walked in front of everyone, leading the way. Tenshi was behind her, Mei Lhi, Kyo, and Kagome not too far behind, with Inuyasha tailing them a few feet away.
After what felt like half a century passed by, everyone stopped walking without even realizing it. The hospital stood tall, towering over them all.
"We're here, minna-san." Higurashi-san said to them all.
Each of them nodded in understanding, following the woman across the courtyard and through the front doors. As they walked through the main waiting area and towards the front desk, Mei Lhi noticed a few familiar scents, but she just couldn't quite place them with faces.
"Kagome-chan, people who know us are around…be careful to not let yourself be seen…" she whispered.
"Hai, I will." The miko replied.
The scents finally registered, but it had been a moment too late.
"Kagome-chan, quick, run for it!" Mei Lhi hissed.
"Kagome-chan? Is that you?" Yuka exclaimed.
"Higurashi?" Hojo wondered aloud.
"Kagome-chan! Over here!" Eri called.
"Too late…" Mei Lhi muttered under her breath.
Kagome turned nervously, seeing Hojo, Eri, Ayumi, and Yuka. "Oh hi there! What are you all doing here?" she asked as calmly as she could.
"Hojo-kun's not feeling well. We think he's caught one of your diseases. So what are you here for?" Ayumi replied.
"Uhhh…um, we-we're…" Kagome stammered, struggling for words.
"I feel that I'm coming down with something very serious, so I'm just coming for a check-up." Higurashi-san answered, coming to her daughter's rescue.
"Oh no, Higurashi-san! Well, get better then, ne?"
"Hai, thank you very much, Ayumi-chan."
The four other high school students turned and left as they were called in by the doctor; everyone letting out a sigh of relief.
"Arigatou, Mama!" Kagome exclaimed, practically leaping onto her mother and hugging her tightly.
Higurashi-san smiled, lightly patting her daughter's head before she was released, turning to the nurse at the front desk.
"May I help you?" The nurse asked.
"Hai, I made an appointment early this morning for ten o' clock." Higurashi-san replied.
The nurse glanced at the computer screen for a minute or two before looking back up. "Higurashi, Kagome?" she asked.
"Hai, that would be my daughter."
"The place you're looking for is on the third floor, north wing. Check in with the receptionist and wait in the waiting area."
"Arigatou. Minna-san, let's go."
Higurashi-san headed toward the elevators, the others following, stepping into one as it reached the lobby floor.
"Kagome, what the hell is this box?" Inuyasha asked.
"It's called an elevator. It's sort of like the escalators we've seen at the mall, but this is different. It can hold a certain number of people and take them to each floor." Kagome explained calmly.
The elevator began to move, Inuyasha nearly jumping out of his skin with surprise.
"Nii-chan, calm down! It feels weird the first time, especially since these are hospital elevators, they go faster than the normal ones, but it'll be over soon. That's the good thing about elevators. As long as no one else is in one with you, you'll get to where you want to be fast." Mei Lhi exclaimed as her brother was about to start clawing at the walls.
Ding!
"Third Floor, going up." A cool voice from the elevator said. (A/N: The elevators at my mom's hospital, the V. A. Veteran's Affairs, say that. The first time they started talking they didn't before I was so freaked out. Ok, back to the story…)
"We're here. Come on, Nii-chan."
Inuyasha regained motion from his frozen yet comical, state and bolted out the elevator once it opened enough to allow him through. Mei Lhi caught the back of his haori before he could get very far.
"Do you want to get lost and have some random doctor find you and start doing labs on you?" she asked him fiercely. Inuyasha fervently shook his head in reply. "Then stay here where we can see you." Mei Lhi scolded, sounding very much like she were talking to a small child, which made Kyo and Tenshi smirk and fight the urge to burst out laughing. They failed miserably and began laughing softly until their laughter grew in volume, making the others focus on them, quizzical expressions on their faces. "What's so funny?" The hanyou girl snapped at the two youkai.
"Nothing, Mei-chan!" Tenshi replied innocently, still giggling.
Kyo continued to snicker, but stopped abruptly when Mei shot him a glare that could kill even the fiercest of warriors.
"Fear the death glare of doom!" Tenshi exclaimed in feigned horror.
Mei Lhi rolled her eyes. "Shut up Tenshi-chan!" she growled at the Yamainu youkai girl.
"Mei-chan, Tenshi-chan, Oda-san, I think we should go now. If we stall any longer, we'll be late." Higurashi-san interceded politely.
"Oh, hai you're right…" they agreed.
Higurashi-san walked away from the elevators and turned down the hall, the others taking the hint, quickly followed after her. The group proceeded further down the bright white-walled hallway before stopping at a door, the words "Oda Megumi M.D." stamped on the glass window of the door.
"Damn it. I forgot…" Kyo muttered.
In that moment, everyone but Higurashi-san and Tenshi froze.
"W-wait…your mother's a doctor!" Kagome and Mei exclaimed.
"Yeah, she is. I just uh…kind of forgot about it." he replied.
Higurashi-san opened the door, without the others noticing and walked inside, up to the front desk in the waiting room. The others quickly rushed inside after the woman, the door closing itself with a small click.
"I'm here for an appointment with Oda-ishi for my daughter, Kagome." Higurashi-san said to the receptionist.
"That's a ten o' clock appointment for Higurashi Kagome with Oda-ishi? Is that correct?"
Higurashi-san nodded.
"The doctor will see you now. Let me just tell her you're here."
In a few minutes, the door behind next to the receptionist's desk opened, and Megumi appeared, holding a chart. "Higurashi, Kagome?" she called out into the waiting room, her eyes looking around the room, before resting on a group of very familiar people. "Kyo, Mei-chan, why aren't you at school?" she asked in a slightly commanding tone.
"Uhhh…well, we were here originally to make sure Inuyasha didn't take your head off or something, but seeing as it's you, you can probably handle him just fine on your own…" Mei Lhi replied.
"So we'll be leaving then…nice to see you Okaa-san!" Kyo said as he and Mei made for the door.
A large vine appeared from under the floor, tripping both of them. "Oi, did I say for you to leave? I was just asking a question. Besides, it's a good thing you came. I needed to talk to you both anyway." Megumi said to them, as the vine disappeared. "Now, come on, all of you. I was under the impression that you came here for something important for Kagome-chan." Megumi held the door open as all of them walked inside, into the doctor's office.
Megumi closed the door to her office and observed all of them, before finally speaking. "I already know why you all are here, so you needn't worry. I took the liberty of filling the prescription myself, so it's here with me. But I must explain to you that it is very important you take these pills at exactly the right time everyday, and follow the instructions. If you don't, then they won't work. Understand?" Kagome nodded. "Now, what I need from the rest of you is to make sure she keeps taking them until she's out of school, or at least, make sure she remembers to." The others nodded. "Good. Now, I need all of you to leave, I need to speak with Mei-chan." The room emptied, and Mei Lhi was left alone. "Mei-chan, what do you know about mating?"
The hanyou girl blushed at such a direct question, finding herself unable to respond for quite some time. "Um…just that it bonds two youkai for the rest of their lives, and it causes children to come from it sometimes…" she answered quickly. "Why do you ask?"
Megumi sighed lightly. "You have much to learn. Hana-chan didn't tell you very much about it, did she?"
"Well, I was three years old…"
Megumi laughed. "Hai, that would be a good reason not to get too descriptive about it…you were far too young to know. And I doubt she knew much about the subject then…but she knows far more about it now…"
Mei Lhi nodded in agreement. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Do you know of the three stages of marriage?"
"I think so…"
"Then you understand that in the third stage, the finalization of the marriage is the first mating."
"Mostly, yeah…"
"Good. Now do you know that in mating, if the female is of lower ranking, of the male, that the mating may be more difficult?"
"What? How?"
"You are very fragile Mei-chan. You are only half-youkai. My son is full youkai. In your mating, there is a chance…that if he is to lose conscious thought to instinct, the mating will no longer be the union of your souls…it will just be to satisfy his personal sexual needs by using you…"
"But…he wouldn't do that! Not to me!"
"My dear, I'm not saying he will, but there is a chance he can. I hate to be the one to tell you this…and the rest of the possibilities…but it must be said…"
"What else can be any worse than that?"
"Many things, Mei-chan…"
"Tell me!"
"Mei-chan, if he is able to keep control of himself, and you are mated…and you will be bringing into the world, your first child, you may die. The child would be more powerful than yourself. And it would most likely kill you before it can be born. You would give up. Hinoki-sama has seen such things happen many times…and she fears to see the same thing that happened to her sister happen to you. I feel the same as well. Harukichi-sama also feels the same…as it was, in Harukichi-sama's opinion, his fault Hinoki-sama's sister is no longer with us…"
"Harukichi tried to kill me!"
"To protect my son!"
"From what?"
"From having to go through what he did!"
"I-I don't believe what I'm hearing! Megumi-san, I-I trusted you!"
"I am only telling you what you need to hear. If you wish to hate me, then please, go right ahead and do so. I understand completely. But it is something you must know, my dear. It is difficult, yes, to first grasp it. I am only warning you of possibilities that could affect your near future. I am concerned about you, you are like the daughter I never had, Mei-chan. You can walk away now, and forget everything I've said if you wish it, it matters not to me what you decide. But please, always keep my warnings in mind. I would not have said those things if I didn't care."
Mei Lhi shot a cold glare at the Ryuuyoukai woman before quickly turning on her heel and rushing out of the room, not stopping until she had reached the elevators in the hall. She didn't look back.
A/N: Ok, I lied; it's been over a month. I apologize. I've been very unmotivated to write this fic. I know this chapter is short, but I seriously can't think, and on top of that, I'm not sure I'm really happy with where the story's going, as all the plot I had for this fic was up to chapter four, and it skipped, then some brief basing was laid down for Mei's wedding. All this filler stuff is plain annoying, and not only that, but I believe my writing quality is deteriorating. But I will try to keep it going. I know updates are rare now, and I'm truly sorry. What's worse is I'm on summer vacation and I could easily finish this, but I just have NO motivation whatsoever, and I swear this fic is heading in an irreversible downward spiral. Inspiration levels for this fic have been really low, and it's been very stressful to write anything. It seems my Inuyasha love is being replaced with Naruto, because my current fic in progress, "Kagemusha", is coming along beautifully. And so I find I've been paying more attention to "Kage" than this one. So once again, I offer all you faithful readers my deepest, most heartfelt apology. There is a possibility that this fic may go on a LONG hold, so updates may be scarce. Anyways, readers, help get me re-motivated. Or if you know of REALLY excellent IY fics, please let me know so I can read them. Reading fics usually helps me write. Alright, I'm out of here. Hopefully Ch. 12 will come along quicker as I'm almost out of fillers…
