Lessons Learned
Author: Shortey 83
Chapter 28 - Appointment
Disclaimer: I do NOT own InuYasha or Skyrim.
Story Start:
Takara wasn't sure how she had managed to keep her dad out in the waiting room, but after reminding him that she was over 18, she could handle these things by herself he finally got the picture. Of course, telling him to stay in the waiting room in case she did need him, kept him feeling as if he really was there to support her still.
Even she had been impressed with how calm she had managed to stay when arguing, but now as she sat alone in the exam room she could feel her nerves getting the better of her. Part of her was too afraid of what the doctor might say that she thought about changing her mind and bolting out of the room and the office all together.
Before she could chicken out the doctor walked in, her chart in the doctor's hand. She was a pretty lady in her mid-forties with soft, light brown eyes. "Hello, Takara. I see you haven't been feeling well lately. What seems to be the matter?"
"Well," Takara began, "I've been feeling a little nauseous, but I think it's from stress."
"What has you stressed out?"
Takara gave her the shortened down version of her story about her missing memories while the doctor did her preliminary exam and asked a few questions here and there.
"Any other symptoms?"
"My breasts have been a little tender..." she trailed off.
The doctor pulled back and nodded. "Have you been sexually active?"
Takara shrugged. "Since I woke up in the hospital? No. Before my missing time? Also no."
"Well before I can prescribe you anything, I have to run a pregnancy test." She reached over and handed Takara a small clear cup. "Take care of that, and I'll be back when they have the results. It shouldn't take too long." She paused before she opened the door and slowly turned back to face Takara. She stepped closer to keep her voice down. "I know this may be a delicate situation, but do you think you may have been... sexually assaulted... during this time you've been missing?"
Of all the things that could've happened, being sexually assaulted... or raped wasn't one that she had considered. She thought for a minute before she answered the doctor in the negative. She hadn't left the hospital feeling misused or defiled, but she had left feeling... lonely. If she had been intimate with someone, she felt that it would've been consensual.
Regardless, the doctor sent her out to pee in the cup for the pregnancy test and one of the nurses escorted her back to her exam room for her to crawl the walls waiting for the results. Her mind was racing a million miles an hour. What if she was pregnant? Who was the father? Did she want to know? What kind of hours would she have to go to college? Would she be able to find a sitter? Those were just a few of the things running through her mind.
Wait a minute. She paused. Will dad be upset if I keep the baby? That thought got her thinking. He won't be upset, will he? If nothing else, she didn't think she could bring herself to give up the baby if she was pregnant.
An eternity later, the doctor made her way back into the room with her chart in hand. "Well, Takara, I've got the results of your test."
"This isn't a game show, Doc. Just give it to me straight." Takara hurried her along.
"The test was positive. Now with your situation, would you like to report these findings to the police? I know you said you weren't sure, but I didn't know if you wanted the detectives in charge of your case to be made aware."
Takara half listened to the doctor as she gave her the information, her head and the room beginning to spin. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she collapsed into a nearby chair, the doctor rushing over to ensure she didn't fall. "Takara, stay with me. Are you alright?"
Takara nodded even as her heart began to beat rapidly, her breaths coming in quick succession. Ever patient, the doctor gently grabbed her face to force Takara to make eye contact with her while coaching her to steady her breathing. "Sorry," Takara apologized. "I was a little overwhelmed."
"I understand. Given what you may have been through during the past year, I can imagine this came as quite a shock." Finally releasing Takara's hands, the doctor gave her a gentle smile, but her expression rubbed Takara the wrong way. The doctor, in trying to be sympathetic, gave her what Takara could only describe as a look of pity and it did not sit well with her. "Now Takara, are you sure you weren't assaulted? If you were it is nothing to be ashamed of."
A small part of Takara wanted to punch the lady in her face, but she didn't. She took a deep calming breath and gathered her thoughts. "No, I'm not sure because I can't remember, but I feel..." She struggled to find the words for a moment. "I feel like I'm missing... someone." Finally admitting the words out loud, even to a complete stranger, seemed to be the final crack in the dam of her emotions as a strangled sob erupted from her as did everything she had been bottling up for the past few weeks.
"I can't explain it. It just feels like a part of me is missing and I feel incomplete; like I had finally reached a place to where I was genuinely happy and content and then somehow, I got... snatched away from that place. I wake up in the middle of the night feeling as if someone should be holding me. I'll catch myself about to call someone's name, but as soon as I try to form the words, the name just escapes me. Sometimes, I just sit at home and stare out the window, waiting for someone to come home and I don't even know who that someone is. There are... smells that I miss, that I don't even know what they are, and I know that this sounds crazy, but I just feel like..." Takara paused, unsure how/if she could finish that statement.
"You feel what, Takara?" The doctor gently encouraged her.
"I feel like I was loved, and I miss that, and I hate that I can't remember that feeling." She put her head in her hands and wiped her tears. "I feel so... lonely, and now I'm scared I'll have to raise this baby by myself, that I'll have to tell my dad and that is an entirely different can of worms."
The doctor's bedside manner was unmatched for anything that Takara had experienced prior. Despite the full waiting room of people, she sat patiently listening while Takara spewed out everything she had been bottling up for the past few weeks. "I understand that raising a child is no easy choice, but I should let you know that there are other options. If you decide to go through with the pregnancy there is always adoption or if you would prefer not to go through with it, due to your circumstances, termination is an option."
Just hearing those options was difficult. She immediately shook her head in the negative. Sure, it would be difficult, but she willing to do whatever it took to keep her baby. "No, I can't do that. I'm keeping the baby." Takara put her hand over her stomach for emphasis. "Besides," she added. "maybe I'll remember what happened. If I do and it's not so favorable, then I can reevaluate my position later."
The doctor gave her no further argument and recommended her to an OBGYN and set her up with an appointment the following week. She gave her a list of do's and don'ts and instructions that if she had any questions or concerns that she should call.
Takara stepped out of the exam room and the world felt as if it had been turned upside down for her and the feeling was almost overwhelming. She struggled with what she should tell her dad or even if. If I tell him, I don't know how he'll react. She thought as she checked out with the receptionist. But if I don't tell him and he finds out later as he inevitably will, he'll definitely be mad.
They didn't talk on the way home, and her dad didn't press her, but once they arrived at home, her dad shut the car off and they sat there. She had a feeling that he was waiting for her to tell him, but she was afraid to say what was going on.
Finally, he spoke up. "So, what did the doctor say?" He didn't look at her, and while his posture said that he wasn't mad, he was... anxious.
She tried to say something, but part of her felt like she was... a disappointment; like she had wound up like a statistic of society and yet another young and unwed mother to be.
Before she could contemplate another bad thought, she felt her dad's arm wrap around her shoulder and pulled her close for a reassuring hug. He kissed the top of her head and the worry seemed to melt away and a few more tears, this time of relief, flowed down her cheeks. "I know, baby. It's going to be alright."
"I'm sorry, daddy."
"Don't be, Takara. We'll figure this out." He wiped her face free of tears and told her to wait a bit before she came inside. "I'm going to have to talk to Hachiro. Last thing you need is him stressing you out."
Of all the things that she had thought about, she hadn't even considered her combative relationship with her brother. Oh yeah, she thought. This is going to be fun.
InuYasha and Kagome watched Takara and her dad as they sat in the car. Sesshomaru had said that Takara, wherever she was, had been confused, lonely and upset. From the looks of things, it seemed that his summations had been on point as she broke down in the car, her dad soothing her tears away.
"I'd hate to be the one trying to rein in Sesshomaru right about now." InuYasha mumbled. Kagome agreed and they both watched her dad exit the car and enter the house while Takara sat there a few minutes more.
"Now's our chance." Kagome said as she opened the car door a few minutes later. InuYasha leapt to the end of the driveway and set Kagome down. "Takara!" She called out and hurried over. "Are you alright? What happened?"
InuYasha could tell that something wasn't right when Takara turned around. Sure, she appeared to be in good health, but the utter look of confusion on her face when she saw them wasn't quite right.
"Takara?" Kagome asked when she didn't answer.
Things were worse than he had thought and what Sesshomaru had said began to make sense. Now it made sense while Takara had felt so confused once she finally answered. "Do I know you?"
Kagome hadn't quite pieced things together, but it didn't take long for her to it figure out. "Takara, don't you recognize me?"
A shake of her head told them everything they needed to know. Whatever had happened to her, she had forgotten them. Before they could ask her any more questions, her dad opened the door and stepped outside, taking a protective stance in front of her. "Can I help you?"
"I'm sorry," Kagome apologized. "We just thought she was someone else. I haven't been home in a few years. I must've got turned around." She didn't give him a chance to respond, but with a final look at Takara whose eyes were now pleading her to stay, she grabbed InuYasha's hand and pulled him down the street.
Once they were far enough away, InuYasha leapt up on one of the tall buildings and they considered what to do. "It makes sense now." InuYasha said as he sat down on the roof's edge. "Whatever happened to Takara during the battle with those dragons caused her to lose her memory."
"Yeah," Kagome agreed, sitting down beside him. "That's why Sesshomaru was saying she was confused."
"That's not even the worst part." InuYasha added. When he didn't say anything, Kagome turned to look at him, afraid to ask what he meant. "I got a good whiff of her scent." His eyes met his wife's and even though he didn't say the words, she knew what he meant.
"She's pregnant, isn't she?"
InuYasha nodded and he crossed his arms as he considered. "What do we do? She doesn't remember us. Just grabbing her and taking her back could be dangerous to the baby."
"And if anything were to happen to it or her, Sesshomaru would go ballistic." Kagome finished. "But we can't just leave her here either. That baby is half demon. There's no telling how it will look when it's born or what kind of strength it will have. I can only imagine that people would take it away to study it."
"We can't exactly tell her everything either." InuYasha added. "You were always adamant that no one in this world could find out about our world. Besides, would she even believe you?"
Kagome nodded, but finally decided they should go back to her family's shrine to see if they could help her figure things out. Talking through things with her family hadn't been much help either, but she didn't know what else to do. They had to figure something out otherwise Sesshomaru would destroy everything in his path to get her back.
InuYasha sat on the roof outside Kagome's childhood bedroom and thought about what needed to be done. While he agreed that the secret of his world needed to be kept from the humans here, he knew the pain that his older brother was feeling. He may not have liked Sesshomaru, but that didn't mean he wanted him to suffer. Thinking back to how he felt after losing Kikyo for the final time, and even the times before that, the hurt he had felt had been almost unbearable, but he had Kagome throughout it all.
Takara was all Sesshomaru had.
While part of him thought Takara was too good of a person for Sesshomaru, she had turned out to be exactly what he needed. To the untrained eye, the difference in Sesshomaru's demeanor since meeting the spunky human girl wasn't noticeable, but to InuYasha, it was a night and day difference. Things that Sesshomaru would have previously killed for had been let go, and while he was still far from a saint, his half-brother wasn't as outwardly vicious as he had been. No, he hadn't lost his drive to kill and maim, but Takara helped to keep those urges in check and now she was gone.
He had to do something.
Leaving his wife to sleep soundly in her bed, InuYasha rushed off, back to Takara's home.
As Takara lay in bed, she thought hard to try and remember the two people she had seen earlier today. She had told her dad that she didn't know them, but something about them was so familiar. The girl had been dressed in a traditional priestess' kimono, while the man she had been with was dressed in a bright red kimono that accentuated the striking mane of silver hair he possessed.
Something about him seemed so familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. They must've known me during that time I was missing. She placed a hand on her still flat stomach. Maybe they know your father. I wish I could remember him.
She rolled on her side, trying to bat away the strong surge of loneliness she felt welling up, but as she turned to face her window, she jumped in surprise. The man from earlier was sitting outside her window. Had she been less desperate to remember what she was missing, she probably would've screamed, but her curiosity was getting the better of her, and against what she had always had been told, she unlocked the window to speak to the stranger outside.
He didn't say anything; just starred at her looking just as uncomfortable and awkward as she felt. She was going to have to speak up first. "I'm supposed to know you, aren't I?" She asked hesitantly.
"You did." He answered tentatively.
"And now I can't, so what's your name?"
"InuYasha, but why don't you tell me what you do remember. Maybe I can help you remember something."
It couldn't hurt to try, Takara finally decided before relaying to him all that she remembered and all that she felt. For the second time that day, she spilled her guts to a complete stranger, except this person was someone she had known but couldn't remember. The only thing she held back was the news of her pregnancy. It was too much information to give a stranger. "I just want to know, who am I missing? It feels like there is this gaping hole in me and it.. hurts."
She watched him struggle to answer her. What was he afraid of? Had something bad happened to her after all? Finally, he decided to speak up.
"Takara, I want to tell you everything, but... you won't believe me." She went to speak up, but he held up a hand to stop her. "I can tell you that you were happy and loved but this isn't just something that I can explain to you. I need to get you proof." He paused as he considered what he should do. His next question nearly floored her. "If you could find what was missing, would you be able to give up your family here?"
Her mind raced, and she asked herself so many questions and while her brain tried to reject such a ridiculous idea, her heart answered for her. "Yes."
InuYasha nodded and continued to think. "Well, I guess I should bring the proof to you." He peeked into her room. "Do you have one of those bags that keeps things from getting wet?"
That was an odd question for such a serious conversation. "You mean a plastic bag?"
"I guess that's what it's called."
Takara nodded and crept out of her room to get a resealable bag and offered it to InuYasha. "Put the cover to your pillow in it for me." he instructed.
"My pillowcase?"
"Yeah, your scent is strong on it." He explained.
Even as she moved to do as he had asked, it still sounded strange to her. "My scent?"
"I told you that you wouldn't believe me. Just close the bag tightly and let me handle the rest." He said, confidently.
"What should I do now?" she asked as he turned to leave.
He thought for a minute before he answered. "Be at Higurashi Shrine tomorrow afternoon and wait for me there. I'll get you the proof you need. While you're there, ask Kagome, the girl you saw with me earlier to explain everything to you." His face shown with determination. "Don't worry, Takara, we'll get you back where you belong. Trust me."
The funny thing was, she did. She watched him go, leaping off into the night without another word, closed her window and laid down in her bed. For the first time in weeks, she felt as if things were finally going to start going her way again.
Kagome had been mad with him for not talking about what to do with her first, but InuYasha knew she would never understand what Takara and Sesshomaru were both feeling. Plan in motion, he promised to return as soon as he could and hurried with the bag in hand back through the well in search of his older brother.
Tucking the small package into the fold of his kimono, he raced off in the direction of his home, which, luckily, he had been avoiding for the past few weeks due to his ever-growing unstable moods. Sesshomaru knew if Takara came home to a ruined village that she would be incredibly upset, so he had been keeping to the wilds, expending his energy in slaying rouge demons in the area.
InuYasha ran through the night as quickly as he could in search of Sesshomaru, but it was his father who he happened across first. It was still odd to be able to converse with his own sire as he had been on his own since his mother died all those years ago, but the urgency of the situation allowed him to press forward.
"I can smell that you found her." Toga said. "It's faint, but I can smell her." InuYasha nodded and recounted his conversation with Takara to him. "Things are different in their world, and I feel that I could tell her the truth and she still wouldn't believe me. The thing is..." He hesitated.
"What is it?"
"The thing is that even though these things don't make sense to her logically, she feels the connection to Sesshomaru. If I can just get him to her, maybe she'll remember something or at least come home with him because she can't stay in her world."
"Well, you're going to need a stronger scent than what you currently have to get Sesshomaru's attention." His father noted.
InuYasha then pulled the bag out from the folds of his kimono. "I've got a plan for that, but I'm going to need help getting him under control if he's in demon form. He can't rush off after her in that frame of mind."
Toga nodded. "If he's going to get her back, he's going to have to control his instincts. What is that?"
"The bait, but this may be harder than you think."
"Why is that?"
At his father's question, InuYasha gripped the top of the little package and opened it ever so slightly, moving it slightly closer to his father's face for him to get the scent. More expressive than Sesshomaru, Toga's brows raised in surprise before the barest hint of concern drifted across his face. "She's with child."
InuYasha nodded and resealed the bag. "You ready, because this may get ugly?"
"Let's get this over with," Toga sighed as he turned to head off in the direction that his oldest son was currently at. "The sooner he has her back, the sooner his demon will be back under control."