He could hear the ear-piercing screech of a familiar voice calling his name, but he couldn't particularly make out who it was. His head hurt too much for him to try to decipher who it was. He just wanted to sleep.

"I know him! Let me through!"

Who is she? Do I know her?

He tried to open his eyes but was blinded by the bright lights that zoomed past him and surrounded him, he could only see the flash of blue and red. He looked down and realized that he was no longer inside of his car, he closed his eyes again. His head hurt.

Did I crash?

"THAT'S MY FUCKING BROTHER-IN-LAW I SAID LET ME THROUGH! INUYASHA!"

Rin! Oh god, Rin.

"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK... PLEASE!"

She sounded desperate, unhinged even. He tried to sit up, he kept telling his body to, but he got no reaction, he didn't try again. He was too tired...and comfortable.

He felt warm, and safe...like he'd been wrapped in a blanket fresh out of the dryer.

"I'M A...I CAN HELP...INU... GOM..."

I'm tired...can we talk later?

An accident?

She zoned out after Rin called her in hysterics, crying, screaming. She stood in the back of the Café holding the phone to her ear in shock, unable to say anything back.

He's been in an accident?

She listened as Rin described the scene, saying she was personally on her way to work when she looked to the other side of the highway and saw a car that resembled his, and a trail of debris. She said she almost missed seeing his body had an officer not moved out of the way.

She said it was bad, that she stopped her own car right on the side of the highway and vaulted over the divider, running in his direction. She was in the back of a police car guiding the ambulance to the hospital.

"I... uh..." Kagome started, she felt a tingling sensation crawl over her entire body, and a chill run up her spine. "Um...I..." she couldn't speak.

Why can't I fucking speak!

"Kagome! Kagome please! I don't think he's going to survive this!"

"What?"

"He could die, Kagome." Rin's voice cracked as she spoke, her voice muffled as if she was covering her mouth. "Meet me at New York Presbyterian."

"Okay." Kagome breathed, hanging up the call. She set her phone down on the stainless-steel counter behind her as she turned to face it, her hands gripping the edges of the counter. She tried to steady her breathing, but with every inhale her breathing got shakier, her throat began to feel as if it was going to close. She dragged her hands down her throat, attempting to sooth it. For a moment, she questioned if she should go.

But the thought of not going was extinguished almost as instantaneously as it had manifested in her head. She walked over to the sink, and opened the faucet, splashing cold water on her face to calm herself down before she emerged from the back, taking off her apron. She approached Sango at the cash register, gently tapping on her shoulder. Sango looked over at her and blinked, before leaning closer to Kagome. "Inuyasha...he's been in an accident. He's hurt bad...get everyone out. Now."

Sango pulled away, and searched Kagome's face for any sign of her pulling some fucked up joke on her.

But she wasn't.

This was real.

"Oh my god." Sango breathed, and stared at Kagome, stunned for a second. "Oh my god..."

"Move!" Kagome ordered, "get them out!"

"WE'VE HAD AN EMERGENCY, EVERYONE OUT...NOW!" Was it the most professional way to get everyone out? No. Did Sango particularly care right now? No. There was a far more pressing manner to take care of. She watched as people lazily left the Café and she yelled again, walking around the counter and toward the door, holding it open, ignoring the tirade of insults throw her way. "I'm calling Miroku, were you the first person she told?"

"I... I don't know." Kagome responded shakily, hugging herself. "I think so...she didn't sound calm. I mean I wouldn't be calm in a situation like this either. I..." She looked up to see that Sango was no longer paying attention to her as she drew in a deep breathe, calling Miroku.

"Hey babe...I have bad news...okay...okay...calm down... I'm sorry baby... calm down... breathe...where are you? His apartment? Can you come to Cafeium and get us? Okay...yes, I can drive...I don't mind driving at all. Please get here safe." Sango hung up and hung her head. "He um...he knew already."

"So, I guess I wasn't the first to know." Kagome said, and Sango shook her head.

"No, he...he found out on the news." Sango responded, causing Kagome to sigh. She looked down at her phone to see a text from Rin.

Inuyasha was rushed straight to surgery.

"Oh god, he's in surgery." Kagome breathed, clutching her phone. Sango sighed heavily as she moved toward her, wrapping her arms around her friend. "She didn't say for what."

They heard a long honk outside and they quickly broke away, looking out of the window as Miroku emerged from his car, he looked disheveled, his hair a mess, and his clothing crumpled and unkempt, as if he'd recently been in a fight. "C'mon, let's go." Sango said, as she took Kagome by the hand and led her to the closet where they took out their purses and keys.

"Sango...I don't do well in hospitals. You know this." Kagome mumbled, as she followed her friend out of the café quickly, "I'm scared of them."

"Kagome, you'll have me and Miroku and Rin and Sesshomaru, you will be fine. But you also must be strong right now. We all must be strong right now. He needs us to be." Sango said, in part reassuring her friend. She understood, Kagome's fear of hospitals, it was common, but right now their only focus should be Inuyasha. She gave Miroku a quick kiss on the check as she climbed into the driver's seat. He'd switched over to the passenger's seat, leaving Kagome to sit in the back. "Where did she say they were, Kags?" Sango asked, as she looked at her friend through the rearview mirror.

"New York Presbyterian."

"Okay." Sango responded, as she put the car in drive, and pulled out of the parking spot.

Kagome bit her lip as she anxiously bounced her leg up and down, staring down at her phone waiting for another text from Rin, or Sesshomaru. Anyone really, that would give her more information. Although she supposed she knew enough, right? He was in an accident, he's hurt badly, he's in surgery. That's really all she needed to know right? Right?

Right?

The car ride was silent as they drove toward the hospital, save for the occasional moments when Miroku could be heard whispering a prayer, asking for his friend's protection, and Sango's nervous drumming of her fingers on the steering wheel. She heard her curse lowly under her breath as they approached the parking lot, and Miroku placed a hand on her shoulder. "I have tinted windows, we're fine. Just find a spot."

Kagome realized what exactly they were referring to when she noticed the various news stations, and paparazzies that stood at the entrance to the hospital. Above, she could hear a helicopter hovering in the area. "Do they have no respect?" She asked angrily, gripping Sango and Miroku's seats as she pulled herself forward. Miroku placed a hand over hers and patted her gently.

"There is no respect when you have no privacy, Kagome." Miroku said bitterly, as Sango pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car. "Kagome I need you to walk in front of Sango and me. I don't want anyone trying to grab you by behind to try and talk to you." Kagome nodded her head Miroku's words, watching as he dragged his hand down his face, sighing heavily. He seemed more tired than anything else in that moment, like the weight of the world had fallen onto his shoulders. She felt bad for him as they sat in silence for a few minutes in the car, none of them being able to bring themselves to open their doors. Sango was the one to break the silence as she cleared her throat and opened her door, Kagome and Miroku following suit.

The second her feet hit the ground; Kagome ran, like a little kid let go at the playground. She pushed past the reporters and journalists and ran into the hospital, only stopping once she arrived at the main desk, where a nurse sat. "Hi, I'm looking for Inu—"

"Kagome!" Rin called from where she sat, rising to her feet as Kagome went over to her, embracing her. "Thank god you're here." Rin said, choking back tears. Kagome pulled away from her, dragging her thumb across her cheek.

"Where's Sesshomaru?" She asked, looking around.

"He's not here yet...where is Miroku?" Rin asked.

"We're here." Miroku said, as he approached the two women, Sango by his side. "We came as soon as we found out." Miroku added, moving to give Rin's arm a light squeeze, Kagome nervously shifting in her spot.

"He's racing against the clock, I know it." Rin said, pressing her fingers to her lips. "I saw the state of him, and I knew instantly that he was in so much fucking danger and I didn't know what to do, who to call I—"

"Calm down Rin," Sango said, as she pulled Rin in for a hug, "Stop it. He will be fine...he's a strong man, he'll be fine. He's a half demon too, remember? It takes a lot to kill one. He will be fine." She rubbed circles into Rin's back, and Kagome finally found the strength to move from her spot and ran her fingers through Rin's hair.

She was surprisingly calm now, or perhaps it was because she was still in shock about the turn that their day had taken. She woke up that morning with a bad feeling in her gut about today, but she figured that it was just from her going to sleep after overthinking.

She didn't expect this.

Never in a million years did she expect this.

She didn't think when she signed that contract that she would find herself in the waiting area of a hospital at dusk, comforting his sister-in-law, because he'd gotten into an accident. Then again, she was sure no one wakes up and thinks this would happen.

"I'm here." She heard Sesshomaru say calmly, as he stood beside Miroku, "I was in traffic. Any updates?"

"It's fine," Miroku said, "what matters is that you're here," he shook his head at the last question. "We have no updates yet." He bit his lip for a second as he considered what he had to say. "Sesshomaru can I talk to you in private, please?" He asked lowly, Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in response as the three women looked in their direction, puzzled.

"Is it urgent?" Sesshomaru asked, running a hand through his hair.

"Yes." Miroku replied through clenched teeth. Sesshomaru huffed in response, before motioning for Miroku to lead the way. Miroku excused them from the group, and started going down a hallway, trying to find a private place to talk to Sesshomaru. He stopped in front of the doors to the stairs, and pushed one of the doors open, leading Sesshomaru in.

"What's so urgent." Sesshomaru asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"There is a very, very strong possibility that he'd spent the entire day drinking today...before the accident." Miroku said sternly, "I went to his apartment to check on him since he hadn't answered my calls or texts for two days, and it reeked of alcohol. He was gone already."

"But he would be too inebriated to even get off his ass." Sesshomaru said, causing Miroku to roll his eyes at the dog-demon.

"It's equally possible it he would do something as stupid as this." Miroku replied, causing Sesshomaru to narrow his golden eyes at him.

"But he'd never done this before." Sesshomaru said wearily. "Are you implying..."

"He's been through a lot; I don't put it past him." Miroku said weakly, clearing his throat as he looked off to the side.

"I do." Sesshomaru grumbled in response, balling up his fists. "Did you see any traces of the drug in his apartment?" Miroku shook his head.

"Nothing, I don't have the sense of smell that you two have, so I can't even be sure that it's still there," he moved out of the way to allow a doctor to get to the door, "I didn't see any lines.. Rolled up bills, nothing. I think he's clean in that respect." Miroku said, sniffling. It was hard to differentiate business from his personal manners, especially when his career was built of off representing his best friend in publicity manners, and while he was hurting, his job still had to be done. "We need to find a way to not let the press find out he was drinking and driving, or the amount of alcohol he's had...that's a PR nightmare, and he's already got a lot against him."

"Agreed." Sesshomaru said, rubbing his temples. "But there's no surefire way to do that. There's always going to be a gossiping nurse trying to make some extra money by passing off information, or that person hanging around the outside of the room...there's no way."

"No there is," Miroku said, shrugging his shoulders. "We can ask to be given information in private, and have it be relayed by one doctor. Minimize the amount of staff that take of him while he's here."

"Minimize his care then? He's merely a half-demon, you're insane." Sesshomaru growled. "There has to be a better—"

"Do you have a better fucking idea, Sesshomaru?" Miroku spat back, his jaw clenched. Sesshomaru closed his mouth, looking down at his feet for a second before looking back up.

"Kagome isn't working." Sesshomaru said suddenly, trying to change the subject. "We're wasting money on her."

"What do you MEAN?" Miroku asked, bewildered, spreading his arms out. "Yes, she is, don't drag her into this when she's not the problem here. The problem here is your fucking brother Sesshomaru. He's uncontrollable. Nothing we do is helping, especially not now. A celebrity just got into a car accident, what the fuck do you expect the tabloids to do? Talk about Kagome's selfie instead?!"

"Wait..." Sesshomaru said suddenly, "that's it. A selfie."

"What?" Miroku asked, confused. "The fuck? A selfie?"

"Yes, a picture. There's nothing the tabloids are going to eat up more than this...than her posting a selfie right in this moment, while she's here." Sesshomaru said, "Think about it, she'd be viewed in a negative light, taking the attention away from this to her. It wouldn't focus so much on what happened in the accident, or why...instead they would focus on how wrong it is for her to post that in such a terrible moment."

"I feel terrible just talking about this." Miroku admitted, looking over his shoulder. He felt like a fool, worrying more about how the media will find out about Inuyasha's alcoholism instead of worrying about his well-being. "I don't think she'll agree to this." Miroku said, giving Sesshomaru a serious look. "That's social suicide, she'll get ripped to shreds by the media."

But dammit, Miroku cursed, it's a good idea.

Sesshomaru blinked at Miroku, "it's the media. They will forget. Look at how they forgot about that fight at the club a few months ago already."

"They forgot because of Kagome." Miroku muttered, realizing that he was proving Sesshomaru's point exactly.

"My point exactly." Sesshomaru responded, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Then, after a few days they'll find something else to talk about, as always."

"But that's still putting her through emotional turmoil that I really don't think she nee—"

"It's temporary." Sesshomaru shot back quickly. "She's being paid to be arm candy, might as well be useful."

Miroku sighed as he reluctantly agreed to talk to Kagome, his heart in his throat. He felt horrible about submitting her to this type of media treatment, especially when the whole purpose of hiring her was to put Inuyasha in a positive light...although he supposed that making her do this would shed some positive light on him. He cleared his throat as he walked down the hallway, back toward the women. It was just Sango and Kagome now, it seemed as though Rin had gone somewhere. His voice faltered slightly as he said Kagome's name, and crouched down to her, placing his fingertips on her knees as he looked up to her. He tried to tell her without words how sorry he was to do this to her.

"Yes?" She asked innocently, "What's wrong?" She asked, wiping a tear away from her eye. The wait for any type of news from the surgeon was agonizing, and she was already beginning to think the worst. The surgery was taking much longer than she had anticipated.

"Kagome...we, Sesshomaru and I, need you to do something for us...to distract the media." Miroku said wearily, "It's going to be a rough few days afterwards, but please understand that by doing this you are saving Inuyasha from a PR nightmare...okay?" He said slowly, and low, careful as to not let anyone else in the waiting area know. Why they hadn't been transferred to a private area, he had no idea.

"Um...okay." Kagome responded, squinting her eyes slightly at him, and glancing up at Sesshomaru who merely looked away.

How serious could this be?

"We need you to post a selfie, try to find an old picture of you at the beach or at a party in college or something. And post it." Miroku said, watching Kagome take on a look of disbelief.

"What?" She asked softly, raising an eyebrow. "You want me to...post a selfie?"

"Anything. Something that can take attention away from Inuyasha and to you. The point is to shift the media's point of interest from him, to you." Miroku clarified, nodding his head. "Can you do that for us, please?"

"She's not doing that." Sango responded in defense. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I can't believe you would even ask that of her!" She whisper-yelled, her eyes widening as she wrapped an arm around her friend.

"Look, we know this sounds really, really, fucked up. But this can turn into a literal PR nightmare for Inuyasha and he really doesn't need any more."

He really doesn't need the world knowing what he's battling in private, is what Miroku really wanted to say, but to say that he would have to tell Kagome and Sango what he battles, and it wasn't his place to do so. "Please Kagome...it'll all be over in a few days. We promise." Miroku said, taking her hands in his. "Kagome...I know he hasn't exactly been a gentleman to you. I know he's a pain in the ass, I know he's an asshole, and a jerk sometimes...but right now he needs you to do this for him."

Kagome pulled her hands away, glaring at Miroku. "No." She said firmly. "He wouldn't do the same for me."

"I promise you he would." Miroku said, desperation filling his voice. "Please just do this one thing."

Kagome paused for a second, taking note of the desperation in his voice, and Sesshomaru's disapproving glare at her. She realized that this wasn't so much to help Inuyasha, but rather to help Miroku. Afterall, it was Miroku's job to make him look good, not her. She was just there as a boost to his image. Sighing, she nodded her head in reluctant agreement. "Okay," she said wearily, pulling out her phone and opening her camera app, beginning to scroll.

"Thank you..." Miroku breathed, "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Kagome ignored him as she scrolled through her phone, the first few latest photos were of her and Inuyasha, the day they went out to eat with Miroku and Sango. She let her finger hoover above the images for a moment, admiring his smile for a second, how his teeth seemed perfectly aligned and his fangs glimmered from the flash in the photo. His arm resting on the back of her chair, as she looked away from the camera, taking a sip of whatever drink she was having that night. It was a staged photo, obviously, but it was still nice regardless. "Does this work?" Kagome said, as she turned her phone toward Miroku, who looked up to Sesshomaru for approval.

"Acceptable." Sesshomaru said, nodding. "That'll do."

"Okay." Kagome said, turning her phone back to herself, and pressing the option to post the photo on Instagram, writing a short caption about how worried she was (which she was). She pressed post and looked at Miroku. "Done." She said, sighing.

"What's done?" Rin asked, emerging from around the corner with coffees. Sesshomaru moved to take a coffee from one of the cup holders. He took the cup holder in his free hand, and passed it to Miroku, who took out the other. She handed the other cupholder to Sango.

"Oh nothing, she was just sending a text to Myouga about what's going on for me. My phone died." Miroku lied. The last thing they needed is Rin knowing that Kagome wasn't actually Inuyasha's girlfriend. She tended to ramble about things, and was generally left in the dark about Inuyasha's problems...lest she go and babble on at work.

"The family of Inuyasha Takahashi?" The voice of a woman called, causing Miroku to jump to his full length. They turned their attention to her, holding their breath.

"Yes, that's us." He said, he pointed to Sesshomaru, "that's his half-brother."

The woman looked at him up and down, and cleared her throat, directing her speech toward Sesshomaru. "Would you follow me, sir?"

Nodding, Sesshomaru reluctantly followed the woman down the hall and into a conference room, where she could deliver news privately to him. He took a seat across from her, and cleared his throat before he spoke, nervous. "Is he okay?"

"Well...he's better than when he got here." The surgeon said, sitting back in her chair. "He came in in pretty bad shape. Lacerations on his pancreas, and liver. He broke three ribs in the crash, so he did have a collapsed lung when he arrived as a result of one of the ribs puncturing it, so we had to put a chest tube in place to help with that. He had a few deep gashes on his head that we sutured, and he had a few pieces of glass embedded in his skin, particularly around his neck and shoulders area."

Sesshomaru nodded, "So I suppose the worst of the injuries were internal?"

"Yes," the surgeon responded, nodding, "He was very close. But we got him. He's in stable condition right now, Mr..."

"Takahashi." Sesshomaru finished for her.

"Mr. Takahashi, sorry. I do have a few more things to talk to you about, however. They're regarding your brother's health."

"Okay." Sesshomaru responded, shifting in his seat. He already knew what was coming, he knew his brother was a heavy drinker and that it would have long-term effects on his health. It was common knowledge, but he would stay for her lecture just for her own amusement.

"When we ran his blood tests, we found that he had been consuming an alarming amount of alcohol. His CDT levels were incredibly high, which can be life-threatening in the long run. It can lead to liver cirrhosis, which can ultimately— if not properly taken care of— lead to liver failure, which is a much worse problem, we will be recommending that he joins an AA meeting, or check himself into rehab, but again since they're treatments that are out of our control, we cannot guarantee that he will take the suggestion. He will definitely need the support of his friends and family for that."

"Yes, of course." Sesshomaru said, "I had no idea my little brother was such a heavy drinker, he claimed he only ever drank after his fights, or when he'd go out to dinner with friends." The surgeon nodded, a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"Often times, it's not as obvious to us what our loved ones are doing behind closed doors." She offered, "Many times people feel ashamed of it, so they try to hide it. But you can't always hide big secrets."

"Correct." Sesshomaru responded, nodding. "Absolutely."

"Another thing as well," The surgeon said, "we ran a toxicity screen on him, it's standard for nasty, single driver crashes, and we did pick up traces of benzoylecgonine and ecgonine methyl ester. These are two metabolites that often come up with cocaine usage. Usually someone will test for one or the other. He tested positive for both." The surgeon said. She paused for a moment to allow Sesshomaru time to process her words. "Because of that, we are pushing to get Inuyasha into rehab, so he can successfully go back to being a healthy individual. As an athlete, his health is obviously of utmost importance for many reasons. But again, we cannot submit him against his will. He must agree."

The bastard actually did it, Sesshomaru thought, as he looked down at her chart, watching as she fidgeted with the pen between his hands. "I had absolutely no idea..." Sesshomaru breathed. "I... thought he would never..."

"It appears that he's only recently started using. He didn't have any of the side effects of long-term cocaine usage." She offered. "As I've said before, he is in stable conditions, if you and your family would like to go see him. However, he should still be under the effects of the anesthesia from the surgery."

"Okay, thank you...Doctor..." he paused, allowing her to give him her name, his hand outstretched to hers.

"Yura." She responded, smiling as she took his hand in her own, giving him a firm shake.

"Dr. Yura. Thank you for taking care of my brother." He said, bowing slightly.

"Certainly, it's what doctors are here for." She responded and turned to open the door. "I'll walk back with you to gather your family and take you to his room."

Sesshomaru didn't respond as he walked down the hall with the doctor trying his best to contain his anger at his brother.

How dared he do this to him. To Miroku.

They've worked just as hard as he did to gain their wealth, they changed their entire lives to accommodate his. They've worked just as hard for his dream as he had.

And now that they had it all, wealth, freedom, a fresh start.

He was going to ruin it all with his stupid habits?!

His...his desire to feel something.

What do you even want to feel!? Sesshomaru wondered as he approached the group. "We can see him, he's stable." He said plainly, still angry, still wondering as he let the group stampede past him, following the doctor.

"It's a goddamn miracle you're alive, Inuyasha." Sesshomaru said to himself as he turned on his heel, trailing behind them, his hands balled up in fists at his sides. "

"A fucking. God. Damn. Miracle."