4 – Stop it!

Even Inuyasha wasn't surprised to find himself from an isolation room in just a few minutes.

"Hii-opp!" Mitsuhiro puffed as he and a few other nurses lift Inuyasha on the limb restraint bed, starting to strap him. That happened fast.

"That's it", Mitsuhiro pat the boy's chest when he was completely strapped. "I'm going to get the doctor. You wait here, Ame."

The nurses left, leaving only Ame and Inuyasha behind. One nurse came in with a chair. Ame moved it beside the bed and sat down.

After a while the door opened. Two people walked in. Inuyasha didn't even give a look to see who they were. He smelled them. The other smell was actually nice; Mitsuhiro. But the other was not; the ward's doctor. A useless creature, who never stopped attempting to get Inuyasha talk. She had been doing it all these years, but no good.

"Inuyasha, oh Inuyasha..." the doctor sighed, shaking her head. "We are seeing no kind of improvement in your treatment. Nothing. And why is that?"

Inuyasha tried to get some sleep.

"Would you like to tell us something? Is there anything you'd want to talk about?"

No answer. Again, the doctor sighed.

"What are we going to do with you?"

"Grr..." Inuyasha growled and bared his teeth. The doctor crossed her arms. But then...

Inuyasha spat against her face.

"Bwah!" she flinched.

"Inuyasha!" Mitsuhiro shouted out. "Apologize her RIGHT NOW!"

No answer... except a couple of coughs and sniffs.

"Hm. Yes, now to the other problems", the doctor spoke calmly, like she didn't even remember what had just happened. She took a thermometer from her pocket. "Now don't resist, okay?" She put the thermometer in the boys mouth – who didn't spit it away.

It took a while, when the thermometer beeped. The doctor took it in her hands and took a look.

"101 F... You are still sick..." she sighed. "We'll give you Paracetamol thrice a day until the fever is down. We could also try cold compresses. We'll check the fever later, and also determine can we release you."

The doctor turned towards the door, but Mitsuhiro grabbed her sleeve and said quiet:

"Could you ask someone to bring cold water and towels?"

She nodded with a small smile and left. Mitsuhiro sat down.

"A-TSHI!" the boy sneezed and sniffled. Mitsuhiro sighed and took a kleenex from his pocket. He reached it out in front of Inuyasha's nose. He didn't even need to say anything. Inuyasha blew his nose.

Then Ame came in and put down the water bucket on the floor and handed over the few towels to Mitsuhiro.

"Okey dokey..." Mitsuhiro nodded and soaked one of the towels, placing it on the boy's forehead, covering his dog ears.

Time went by. Mitsuhiro had stayed as quiet as his patient, letting him rest in silence. He was sneezing and coughing every now and then.

"Poor kid..." Mitsuhiro sighed.

Soon it was time for supper. All the patients had gathered up in the dining hall – not counting three of them. Ayame – exercising in her room. Kagome – sitting on her bed, rocking herself. Inuyasha – strapped in bed in an isolation room with Mitsuhiro beside him.

Now Mitsuhiro got up from his chair.

"It's supper time!" he smiled. "What would you liked with your porridge? Juice? Hey, I know! Hot cocoa! What about that?"

He didn't get his answer, but walked away. Inuyasha just stared at the door which was left slightly ajar. He sniffed.

Mitsuhiro took a tray in his hands and started putting some porridge on a plate. He would be facing feeding the boy.

Mitsuhiro got back to the isolation room and raised the bed's back up. He started spooning the porridge in the boy's mouth.

"And here you go. I warmed it up for ya", the man offered the boy the feeding bottle, filled with cocoa.

But unlike with Inuyasha, things weren't going on as easily. Ayame and Kagome were sitting as far from each other as possible, both having a nurse beside them. They both had been sitting there for Lord knows how long, but none of the girls agreed to eat.

"Listen, child", Kaede said. "It's yer choice. Either you eat, or it's the naso-gastric tube."

Some patients were sitting in the living room, watching TV. It was almost 9 PM, so the best programs were about to start.

But Kagome couldn't watch TV. She was anxious, almost in panic. She had eaten. She really had eaten.

At the supper time Kagome wasn't let out without eating. Kaede was sitting new to her, first asking, then urged, and finally threatened with the feeding tube; which was something that she'd never want again. It was a tube that was put into her stomach all the way from her nose, and that was very painful. She would never want that again.

And so she broke, and ate. Just a little, but too much.

The isolation room's door was opened. Both Inuyasha and Mitsuhiro turned their faces towards the arrivals – four nurses with leather gloves and syringes, and the doctor right behind them. She had a thermometer. Now what?

"Hello, Inuyasha. How are you feeling?" she asked. She touched the boy's cheeks. "Hmm... You don't feel as warm as in the afternoon... While on the other hand, you are having a cold towel on your head... Let's see what the thermometer says."

The meter beeped.

"101.4 F... You still have a fever, but that is not a reason to keep you strapped, as you have been acting calm ever since you were strapped. So, now we'll release you. Rest, drink a lot and take your medicine."

And so Inuyasha was freed, belt by belt, and slowly he got up from the bed. For a while he just stared at Mitsuhiro, sniffling. Mitsuhiro smiled and pat the boy's shoulder.

"Now, go on. It's almost bedtime. Sleep will be good for you."

Kagome sat on a sofa in one corridor's end. She felt suicidal. Where could she get something sharp to ease her pain inside. But she couldn't think of anything.

But then she knew it – the thumbtacks on the billboard!

So there she sat. She wouldn't be able to kill herself this way, but se just wanted to feel the pain, see the blood. Just a few drips.

At the same time Inuyasha was sitting right on the other side of the ward, sitting on a windowsill, banging his head against the window, slowly.

"A-TSHI!" he sneezed. And when he sniffled, he could smell it – blood. His ears jumped up.

Kagome stared at a small but quite deep wound in her wrist, almost crying. Not that it hurt, vice versa. It felt good. She pushed the thumbtack even deeper, and started pushing if farther.

But suddenly the girl flinched and turned her eyes to the end of the corridor. There he stood – the boy, Inuyasha. He stared at the girl with his red eyes, as red as the blood on her hand. He looked like he could kill someone. Kagome didn't know what to do, what to think.

He started approaching her, his eyes half closed, sniffling. Kagome backed off against the sofa as much as possible. The closer the boy got, the more she wanted to scream. But she fell in panic and couldn't let out a sound.

Finally Inuyasha got right in front of her and crouched down. He sniffled. The girl felt tears in her eyes and closed them tight...

Inuyasha looked at those few bleeding wounds on the girl's wrist. He opened his mouth and whispered with a quiet, stuffy voice;

"Stop it."

Kagome opened her eyes, surprised. They stared at each other, all quiet. But that didn't last for long, as they heard a shout from the other end of the corridor;

"Inuyasha!" That was Miroku. He seemed horrified. "Inuyasha, get here now! Help, someone!"

Inuyasha's dog ears turned from Kagome to Miroku, and back. Once more he gave a look upon Kagome, growled and turned towards Miroku, and two nurses, who had heard his shout. One of them was Mitsuhiro. They rushed to the teens. Mitsuhiro grabbed Inuyasha's hand, other ran to Kagome.

"Are you okay?" the nurse asked.

"Yea, I am..." Kagome nodded, holding her cut wrist in her jeans' pocket.

After this scene Kagome was horrified for quite a while. She washed the blood from her hand and returned the thumbtack to the billboard. She wouldn't do that again.

Mitsuhiro had just walked Inuyasha to his room. They sat down on his bed, side by side.

"I have no idea what happened back there", Mitsuhiro said. "But as she seemed okay, I believe you didn't harm her any way. So:"

He took the thermometer from his pocket.

"Here. One more time." He put it in his mouth. When it beeped...

"100.8 F. Let's just hope you're better by tomorrow." Mitsuhiro gave the boy a warm smile and left the room.

Kagome's first night in the ward was horrible. She laid in her bed, awake all night. On the other hand, she was used to that. Distressing thoughts kept her awake all night, no matter the place.

Kagome was hugging her teddy bear plush, crying quietly.

Every night, a few times, nurses peeked in from the patient rooms, to see, if everything was alright. Kagome was faking to be asleep when the door opened.

But how neverending that night felt, finally the clock showed 8 AM. Kagome laid in her bed, listening to the sounds from the corridor. The doors were opened, and the patients were invited for breakfast.

In te breakfast line Kagome was shaking. She didn't want to eat. But when a nurse started building up a meal for her, she fell in despair. She would have to eat. Again.

"Today is a new day, Kagome", that nurse, Kade, said, and put down the tray of food on Kagome's spot. Kaede was the oldest nurse of the ward, and Kagome's personal nurse. She was known to be firm and inflexible, especially when it came to difficult patients. She was honored and trusted by the patients.

"So, eat up, child. It will be good for ye."

"...No..."

"I'm waiting", Kaede said, calm, and sat opposite the girl. Kagome gave a look over her shoulder, where a same-like scene was going on. Ayame, the superthin girl. She sat with a nurse, tears in her eyes.

"Focus on your food", Kaede snapped her fingers in front of the girl's face. And so, slowly, Kagome grabbed the spoon and stuck in to the porridge...

Miroku didn't want to wake up Inuyasha. He was still lying in his bed, his back against him, so he couldn't tell was he awake of or. Miroku changed his clothes and tip-toed out of the room. And just when he got out of the room, he almost bumped in Mitsuhiro, with a thermometer in his hands.

"How did you sleep? What about Inuyasha?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"Good I guess... I sleeped well whole night."

Mitsuhiro got into the room. Yes, Inuyasha was laying in his bed – but he wasn't asleep. After smelling Mitsuhiro, he sat up right away.

"Okay now..." Mitsuhiro walked to him and sat beside him. "Here we go..." he put the thermometer in the boy's mouth. Soon...

"Well what do you know! 98.5 F! You're all well again!" he ruffled the boy's hair and stood up. "Now, let's go for breakfast!"

After the breakfast, Kagome went through maybe the most horrible anxiety attack ever. She could feel the cursed porridge in her stomach. She had to get it out. Now.

So she ran to the wing where not only patient rooms, but also showers and toilets were. She stopped in front of the women's toilet; but the lock was red! It was taken! She quickly rushed to the next room, women's shower, but she could hear someone was there. Horrified, Kagome looked in every direction. Without thinking more that that she quickly ran to men's toilet. Whatever. She had to hurry.

She banged the door shut, knelt down against the toilet seat, put her fingers in the throat and started throwing up. She coughed and gagged, no matter how she tried to stay as quiet as possible. Should she stop? If someone hears? No. Everything had to come out.

Suddenly Kagome heard the door open. Hadn't she locked it? Her heart started pounding like crazy. She turned towards whoever it was. Of course it would be a nurse. She would be in trouble. She would be sent to the central hospital, put in feeding tubes... Never, ever there again...!

But the arrival wasn't a nurse. It was Inuyasha. He stood in the doorway, with that vacant expression of his. They stared at each other. Kagome had never been this embarrassed and scared at the same time.

Inuyasha was settling up this scene in his head. He had been in this hospital for long enough to know why thin girls run in toilets after eating. He knew it wasn't right.

"Stop it!" Inuyasha shouted. Kagome flinched and wiped her mouth on toilet paper. She got up and flushed the toilet. Inuyasha stood still. He followed the girl's every move, how she washed her hands and dried them in a towel. Scared, she looked in his eyes. Oh how she just wished him to leave.

"C-can I go...?" she asked, stammering. Inuyasha snapped her cheek with his razor sharp claw.

"...Stop it", the boy growled one more time. A small pearl of blood rose on her cheek.

Finaly Inuyasha turned from the door and walked away. Kagome still stood still. She left the toilet and returned to the main corridor.

"Kagome! Is that blood on your cheek?"

"It's okay, nurse..."