Thank you, Hrtofdrkns from DeviantArt, for the idea for the chapter. This was a pretty hard chapter to write – I hope you still like it, my dear readers! And thank you all for 3020 views!

And, Lol, quess what? I'm a bit like Inu – this morning the nurses found a flea from my ankle! XD ("Nurses?" ...Yea I myself am in a nuthouse at the moment...)

Chapter 23 – Dental Problems

Inuyasha had been been acting more or less violent, as always, no-one was worried. But now he had had a bit longer period of time of being more aggressive. He let no-one near him – not even Mitsuhiro, which was already somewhat alarming.

Inuyasha normally had a a great appetite, everyone knew that. But now he didn't even join others in the dining hall for meals. At first the nurses tried to bring him the food on a tray to his room, but that just ended in a huge mess when Inuyasha smacked down the trays the nurses were carrying.

That's it, the nurses thought. This couldn't go on.

Inuyasha was laying on his bed his hand behind his head. Even Miroku didn't dare to come into the room. But then Mitsuhiro and a few other nurses came in with leather gloves and a syringe.

"Now, Inuyasha", Mitsuhiro talked with a calm voice. "You know how this goes – easy or the hard way. You choose." Now he sounded really serious.

The nurses got slowly closer and closer. He was getting tenser step by step – the nurses could tell it by his ears going more behind. But something was wrong – he didn't bare his fangs or even growl.

And when the battle started, they noticed it – he did scratch, kick and punch, but not bite. Well, it was just good, right?

"Inuyasha, Please Hold Still!" Mitsuhiro shouted. And finally he managed to sting the syringe on the boy's butt, making him go limp.

"Okay now. Let's do this", Mitsuhiro said and gathered the nurses around. "We limb restrain Inuyasha and call the doctor. There is something really wrong with him."

As Inuyasha was heavily drugged, strapping him on the bed was easy. First, the straightjacket had to go, then he was strapped. The other nurses left the room, leaving Mitsuhiro alone with Inuyasha.

But soon the doctor came.

"What is the problem here?" she asked, with a stethoscope hanging on her neck.

"Inuyasha had been a bit not him own self for about a week now... Maybe the worst problem is that he hasn't eaten or even drank anything for days."

"That is bad..." the doctor said. "He is in such a good shape he could manage some days without eating, but not drinking."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"We'll put him on a naso-gastric tube and a drip."

Mitsuhiro's eyes widened. "Seriously?" he asked.

As the doctor left, a few nurses came in. Ame, known to be the best nurse in the ward to put in naso-gastric tubes, arrived, carrying a plastic bag.

"Has he ever been on a feeding tube before?" Ame asked.

"Not that I know", Mitsuhiro shrugged. "I don't think so, as we all know, he has never declined eating."

"I seriously think there's something more wrong with 'im", Kaede said. "But we have to do as the doctor says."

"Hear that, Inuyasha", Mitsuhiro looked at the boy. "We don't really want to do this, but we have to."

It might sound horrible, but two nurses grabbed Inuyasha from his ears, since holding just from his head wouldn't be as effective. It seemed fine, Inuyasha wasn't wriggling, but when Ame grabbed his cheeks to insert the tube, Inuyasha started whimpering like no tomorrow. Everyone flinced and backed off a bit. But soon Ame tried again. Now she grabbed harder, and no matter how much the boy whimpered and sneezed, she kept inserting the tube. And finally, it was done.

"Good boy, Inuyasha", Ame said, petting the boy's shoulder with a sigh. "Now just a sec, I'll get the Nutrison and hydration IV bag."

"And I'll put the drip right here", Mitsuhiro said, holding a needle, petting the boy's hand. "You know this doesn't hurt."

Inuyasha didn't react at all at the drip needle. And soon Ame came with the bags. She connected them with the tubes and left.

Now it had been two days since Inuyasha had been put on feeding tubes. Nothing had changed.

Mitsuhiro had just started his morning shift after being on break yesterday. He had gone to the nurses' break room for his morning coffee and to put his bag into his own locker.

"So", he sipped his coffee. "I heard Inuyasha is still on tubes."

"Yes, and I bet he's been missing you."

After his coffee, Mitsuhiro went straight to the isolation room where Inuyasha was.

"I can take it from here", he said to the nurse who was sitting there beside Inuyasha. She left, and Mitsuhiro took her place.

But something was sure wrong. Inuyasha was whimpering quietly, non-stop. He also had clearly more or less trouble breathing. Mitsuhiro got up from his chair and started feeling the boy. He gently pressed his legs, arms, chest, forehead and ears... and finally, his mouth and jaws. That made Inuyasha whiper loud and flinch.

"Could you open your mouth for me, pal?" he asked. For a while Inuyasha didn't do anything, but finally opened his mouth very slowly. And oh that stench! So rotten!

"Don't get me wrong, but your breath really stinks", he said. "I'll call the doctor."

And so the man took his phone from his pocket and called the doctor. She came to them pretty fast.

"So, how are you doing here?" she asked and walked right beside the boy. She touched his forehead and chest. "You have trouble breathing don't you?" And after examining her a bit, she finally opened his mouth, no matter how much the boy resisted. Her eyes widened.

"Here's a tooth that is cracked and clearly infected. And his gums are swollen..."

Mitsuhiro walked to the other side of the bed.. "What does this mean?" he asked.

"We have to take him to the central hospital's dentist. There's just this problem..."

Mitsuhiro listened carefully.

"We can't sedate him before we know if he must be anesthetized during the procedure. We don't know the combination of sedatives, anesthetics and the infection. It could be possibly dangerous. But if he doesn't need to be anesthetized, and you get in trouble, normal sedatives will do."

"Well, just straightjacket then for now?"

"Maybe for the way there, but I would be sure he's not going to stay still on the dentist' chair."

"I'll go there with him", Mitsuhiro said. "Maybe I can help him somehow."

Transferring Inuyasha from the bed straps to the straightjacket was as fierce as usually. As an ambulance was called, it's nurses came, strapped Inuyasha to the stretchers, and took him all the way to the ambulance, Mitsuhiro beside him.

As Inuyasha was delivered through the corridor, Kagome came to them. Her eyes widened – Inuyasha had a feeding tube! What the...?

The boy was very aggressive during the trip to the hospital. His ears were as behind against his head as possible, trying to wriggle... But he didn't growl.

"I really could ease your pain..." Mitsuhiro said, sad, and held his hand on the boys chest, right where one of is leather straps were.

"I wish I could open these..." sighed.

The ambulance stopped in front of the hospital. The vehicle's back doors were opened and Inuyasha, on the stretchers, was pulled.

"So, where should we take him?" one ambulance nurse asked.

"We are here to go see the dentist", Mitsuhiro said as he handed over the nurse the ward K10-3 doctor's referral.

"I'd say you go the the emergency duty. They will come get you in no time."

Inuyasha had calmed a bit. He followed Mitsuhiro to the waiting room, since he didn't need a bed. But then a pretty small boy with his mom sat next to him. The little boy started looking at Inuyasha. The teen looked back, turning his ears behind.

"Mom, why does that boy have those ears and eyes and shirt? They're ugly, I don' like em', they're scary."

The mother sushed him, got up and walked away with him. Inuyasha turned his angry eyes towards Mitsuhiro.

"Oh, don't take it personally", he said. "He was just a little brat."

But Inuyasha suddenly started looking maybe a bit sad. Mitsuhiro turned his head. Then he got it.

"This brought some bad memories from your childhood, did it?"

Inuyasha turned his eyes towards the floor.

And maybe in just ten minutes, a nurse came to the waiting room. As he had been described what Inuyasha looked and what he was wearing, he could tell who in this room was the next patient.

Inuyasha and Mitsuhiro walked side by side behind the nurse. Step by step, Inuyasha was starting to feel more uneasy. And finally, when the door to the dentists' room was opened, Inuyasha didn't like what he saw. He strated shaking a bit.

"Okay, Inuyasha", the dentist said. Inuyasha backed off all the way against the door. "Calm down, it's alright."

The dental hygienist who sat next to the dentist made a major mistake. She walked to Inuyasha with the intention to take his hand and lead him to the chair. But Inuyasha kicked her right in the stomach, so that she fell down of floor.

"Stay back!" Mitsuhiro shouted. Both dentists backed off in horror. "Go get an injection!"

"But where from?" the dentist asked in panic.

"I don't know!" Mitsuhiro shouted, angry. "Just go! I'll hold him back!"

It took just about five minutes when the dental hygienist appeared with a syringe.

"But how are you going to...?" the dentist wondered.

"You can help me. I'll crush him against the floor, you hold him still, and I do the injection. And that's it."

So Mitsuhiro grabbed the boy from his shoulders and pushed him down on floor.

"Now, you hold him down from his right shoulderblade. And you, hold the other!" he ordered.

As scared as the dentist people were, everything went well. Mitsuhiro managed to pull the boy's pants down and sting the needle. Now Inuyasha laid on the dentist's chair, barely concious. The dentist opened his mouth and looked in.

"I have never seen fangs like this..." she said. "But as you said, this really reeks rotten."

Soon she found the thing.

"Here it is", she said. "A really badly split and infected tooth."

"What are you going to do?" Mitsuhiro asked.

"We'll simply remove it and have a few days antibiotics. I'm sure he will be back his own self if a few days", she nodded with a smile.

Before they left, they were given a prescription for antibiotics. They wouldn't need anything ofr pain killers – they had them already back at the ward. Then they were ready to go.

The journey back to Kuroshima was easy. Inuyasha laid limp on the ambulance stretchers with his eyes half closed. Mitsuhiro tapped his finger against the boy's collarbone with a little smile.

"You'll be alright in no time", he nodded. "Heh, then you'll be able to growl and bite us as much as you want!"

Inuyasha didn't smile.