Chapter 57 – Psychotherapy
A few days went by. Inuyasha was like a new patient in the ward – everyone wanted to talk to him, take contact. Something that had never happened before.
But not everything had changed. Actually, very little had changed. Yes, his eyes were not red anymore, his claws were a bit shorter and he had no stripes on his cheeks, he was a bit weaker... But that's about it. He was a bit silent just like before. He growled and acted like a dog, like before. The staff of the ward was maybe a bit disappointed. They had expected the blood transfusion to be the key to everything – that everything would be 100% fine after it. But no – he was the same Inuyasha, just weaker, and talking. The ward's doctor had even consulted the doctor from the central hospital about this. Was this normal, what should we do? They said yes, this was to be expected. The blood changes the body from full demon to hanyou, but it doesn't affect the patient's personality.
But now that he had started talking, the doctors agreed to start psychotherapy – Inuyasha and Mitsuhiro having a conversation, once or twice a week, depending how Mitsuhiro was at work.
Mitsuhiro wasn't really an educated psychotherapist, but everyone thought that Inuyasha would talk more to Mitsuhiro than he would to an unknown person.
"So, Inuyasha", Mitsuhiro smiled, sitting down on an armchair in the family room. Inuyasha sat opposite him with a pouting face. "This will be our first therapy session. Now that you can talk, I am sure we will start getting lots of good information about you. So, first, can you tell me what you remember from your childhood?"
"Mmh..." Inuyasha mumbled. "...I dunno."
"Try hard!" Mitsuhiro cheered smiling. "Your dad? Big brother? ...Your mom?"
Inuyasha went all silent. Then he turned his face down, and Mitsuhiro heard a sob.
"H-hey!" the man hustled and pet thuje boy's back. He was crying quietly. "I'm so sorry, just tell me if you feel uneasy and don't want to talk about it, you don't need to cry..." he said and stroke the boy.
After Inuyasha had quit crying for about a minute, they both leaned back against their chairs and sighed.
"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
Silence.
"He pulled my ears..." the boy mumbled.
"Hm? Who did? Your brother?"
"No! Hiroki! He was so mean I scratched his cheek... there was a lot of blood... and that was my last day there."
"Where?"
"The kindergarten. They kicked me out and put to an another. And I got kicked out from there too."
"I'm so sorry to hear that", Mitsuhiro said, sad. "May I ask you, were you bullied other ways too?"
"Yea. Once a girl tried to poke my eyes with a white crayon to color them white instead of red..."
"Do you remember how many times you have been kicked out from a kindergarten?"
"Yea I guess... At least five... Then I got... to the children's ward... And now I'm here."
"It's okay, Inuyasha", Mitsuhiro smiled. "You will not be kicked out from here. You can put your past behind. You will not be bullied in here."
"That's the thing. I won't be kicked out. Will I ever get out of here?!" the boy barked and bared his fangs a bit. Mitsuhiro wasn't scared. He sighed and rubbed his neck.
"You know, buddy... I am very sad to tell you but no, I don't know."
Inuyasha turned his ears back and whimpered.
It was getting late. The before bed snack had just ended. Everyone was about to get to sleep. Inuyasha was brushing his teeth, proud of his sharp fangs, brushing them especially professionally. Miroku was standing next to him, brushing his teeth too. They were in the men's bathroom.
"I'm really happy how things turned out!", Miroku smiled, gargled and spat the water out of his mouth.
Both went to the room they shared and got in their beds.
"Okay, good night, sleep tight!" Miroku cheered and shut the lights.
Inuyasha laid in his bed. He couldn't sleep. He was feeling maybe a bit weird. He felt a pulse in his veins. His eyes were burning. Inuyasha lift his hand towards the ceiling...
His claws had grown.
Quickly Inuyasha hustled off the bed and stormed out of the room.
"Uuuhh...What is it, Inu...?" Miroku mumbled as he sat up, rubbing his neck. "...Inu?"
Inuyasha dashed through the main corridor and finally arrived at the nurse's break room... But there was nobody in there. Then he went to the office, and there they were, Kaede and one other female nurse being in the night shift. They were doing something with the computers. And when they saw Inuyasha in his current state, they flinched.
"Oh no..." Kaede shook her head. "We must call the central hospital's doctor. He told us we have to do so if this happens."
"Inuyasha, go to the livingroom, I'll be there in a few minutes", Kaede said, petting the boy's shoulder. Inuyasha gave the lady an arrogant face, twitched his ears, turned around and got on his way.
Kaede called the central hospital. As she had expected, the doctor wasn't in the hospital at the moment, but the lady who answered her in the phone gave Kaede the doctor's number, as he was on duty.
"Hello?" the doctor answered the phone.
"It's nurse Kaede Yume from Kuroshima, ward K10-3", she introduced hersef. "Ye are the doctor of Inuyasha Kita, am I right?"
"Oh yes I am. Is there some problem in here?"
"Inuyasha has just turned back to his demon form!"
"Get to the central hospital right away. I will get there. There is one more thing we can do about this."
Kaede shut the phone and sighed.
"Shall we call Mitsuhiro?" the other nurse asked Kaede. "I guess he'd be the best guy to go with Inuyasha."
"Aye. I'll call him right away", Kaede nodded.
Beep beep. Beep beep.Mitsuhiro's iPhone rang. It laid on his nightstand.
"Oh for cryin' out loud..." he moaned, slowly sat up and took the phone. "Uhh... Mitsuhiro."
"It's Kaede. We are having some problems."
"Who's dead now?" the man asked. He was feeling a bit grumpy, being so tired.
"Inuyasha has turned back to his full demon form, and we must go to the central hospital..."
"Oh no..." Mitsuhiro sighed. "So I guess you want me to go there with him?"
"Well that's what we thought about... Don't ye want to? We understand if ye don't but..."
"Of course I'm coming! I'll be there in less than an hour. Get him ready."
Kaede walked to the living room to pick Inuyasha up with her.
"Come Inuyasha", Kaede waved the boy towards her. Inuyasha got up from the sofa and followed the old lady.
"You can't go there with only pants on", she said as she was searching the clothing shelves. "Here you go", she handed over a white college shirt to him. Inuyasha took it and put it on.
"Are you ready?" Kaede asked. Inuyasha sat on the floor on his dog pose, scratching his ear. But then he remembered something! He ran away so fast Kaede couldn't even say a word.
Inuyasha ran to his room. It was all dark, as Miroku was sleeping. It was good that Inuyasha could see in the dark, so he walked to his bed, as slowly and quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up his friend. Inuyasha grabbed his pillow, and there, under the pillow, was chewy the chewing toy. This was the only thing he wanted to take with him.
Inuyasha walked to the office's door and knocked the doorway with his knuckle.
"So, you're ready? What did you get with you?" Kaede asked. Inuyasha did nothing, but Kaede could see the chewing toy in the boy's right hand. She grinned and crossed her fingers.
Mitsuhiro arrived. He was so sad seeing Inuyasha's red eyes again. He had thought he never needed to.
"Come, buddy", the man said, grabbed the boy's hand and led him out from the ward. They got into the car and got on their way.
"I have no idea what are they going to do about you but let's hope this will really work."
Inuyasha sat still, quiet.
What will happen? You'll see.
