SORRY SORRY SORRY, I MADE A MJOR MISTAKE I JUST COULDN'T LET SLIP, SO IT'S THIS CHAPPIE YOU WANNA READ! JUST REPLACED IT!
DISCLAIMER: Do not own Inuyasha? I think not.
I know you all hate me for ending where I did last chappie, and I promise, this one will end on a good note, maybe just a teeny, tiny little cliffie. And just so we're clear, I know that was OOC for poor Ayame, but I needed someone to get Kouga in, and she came to mind first, and as it's my first fic, I don't wanna be making up new characters just yet, that are too complex. Besides, I needed someone to take up bitch time until Kikyo turns up. Which will be a while, sorry to anyone who actually WANTED her in sooner...I sure didn't...Anyways, I know you're all anxious to see how our girls are doing so here ya go:
Chapter 8: Tense Times
"Sango, stop crying, come on, it can't be that bad. Just talk slower and tell me where you are." Inuyasha said calmly down the phone, sticking his other finger in his ear.
"NO! Goddammit Inuyasha, it IS that bad! You tell me: Is Ayame and Kagome lying unconscious and unmoving at the bottom of some steep ass hill not that bad?" Sango yelled hysterically, her hand trembling, shaking the tiny cellular device it held.
Inuyasha's sensitive ears vibrated horribly at the screech, and as his brain became numb as he realized Kagome might actually be hurt, hurt seriously.
"Sango, just tell me where the hell you guys are, and I'll bring everyone down. Tell you what actually, call an ambulance and fucking get down to them!" Inuyasha reasoned. He became aware of a funny presence behind him, and turned around to see Sesshoumaru gesticulating like a madman on crack at him. Suddenly, it clicked.
"Sango!" Inuyasha said loudly, above Sango's coughing. "Sango! Is Rin okay?"
"Uh...uh yeah, she's just coming round. She passed out when we stopped." Sango said, her voice still thick with terrified tears, but decisive and sensible, like the Sango he knew and...liked.
"Good." Inuyasha gave Sesshoumaru the thumbs up from behind his head, and then indicated that they should go and get one of his cars, preferably the fastest and one most likely to stand up to bloodstains without costing a bomb to replace.
"Inuyasha, you'll have three bodies down there if I go down, and I think I just saw Ayame breathe!" Sango calmly.
"Dammit, what about Kagome?" Inuyasha clenched his fist, and slammed down on the marble countertop, and then pacing away.
"Well, I don't know! Don't get your panties in a twist at me!" Sango said indignantly at him. "But Kami's sake, Inuyasha, she's my best friend. My first and last. I can't lose her either." Sango continued forlornly, sounding as though her heart was breaking.
"Dammit Sango, I...she can't die. And it won't happen. I'm on my way, so make sure Rin called 911 and fucking keep both eyes on them! Got it!" Inuyasha snapped, breathing away the clenching he felt in his chest.
"Gotcha." Sango replied, sounding bolstered by Inuyasha's confident problem solving.
"Good. What would you do without her? What would Miroku do without her?" Inuyasha asked, allowing a slight smile to reveal itself down the line.
"Not a whole lot." Sango replied, and promptly hung up.
"What would I do without her?" Inuyasha asked himself, as he jogged out the door, towards the pale Sesshoumaru and the nauseous looking Miroku. And when he came back, he would've changed, for the better or for the worse.
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"Broken humerus, fractured pelvis on the redhead, moderate concussion and six broken ribs and a possible collapsed lung on the dark one. Coulda been worse, sir, you're lucky your girl there got off so easy." The paramedic read off his clipboard with a friendly smile at Inuyasha.
"Umm...I'm going to guess that everything you just said was in English (AN: that's what they all speak in the story, btw) and that it means they'll be okay, right?" Inuyasha asked, yawning rudely in the man's face.
The EMS guy screwed up his nose in disgust and said, "Sure..." and walked away, mumbling something about hotshot stars and spoilt asses robbing the government etc.
Secretly, Inuyasha felt like jumping for joy inside. Kagome would be okay! She wouldn't leave him alone to cope with the crazies he was forced to socialize with!
He turned with a small grin on his face towards the ambulances working on loading the two girls up for the trip to nearby Inikada Hospital, and his face fell when he saw Kagome.
She had her head strapped down to the pillows and a plastic oxygen mask placed squarely over her mouth and nose. Her eyes were shut, her eyelids a pale tint of blue. Her chest was strapped up with pristine, sinister looking white bandages and her legs, peeking out from under the filthy, ripped miniskirt she still wore, were pale and bruised.
Inuyasha recognised the coldness that washed over him seeing her unconscious body. He'd felt it before, at all the women who had meant anything to him in his life. Guilt.
As he pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, he smirked gently when he returned to the car to follow them to the hospital. He hadn't even remembered to correct the EMS guy when he'd called Kagome his "girl"...
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"Ayame?" Kagome croaked out, as she opened her eyes to bright halogen lighting above her head, spotting the other girl in the bed across from her.
"Kagome? You're awake?" Ayame asked in a flat voice.
"Yeah..." she agreed, and rolled over, wheezing as she slowly pulled herself into a sitting position.
"We have to talk," Ayame started, squinting at Kagome under the harsh lighting.
"I know." Kagome said, unwilling to start this.
"I...I've been somewhat unreasonable, concerning Kouga." Ayame started, staring at her hands sheepishly, scratching at the cast on her arm.
"I'll say." Kagome agreed flatly, still unwilling to forgive the girl as yet. Here she was, meant to be launching her career to the stars, and she was in hospital with a semi-collapsed lung and broken ribs.
"And I realize, I'm to blame for what's happened to us." Ayame said, ignoring Kagome's coldness. She locked her glowing green eyes onto Kagome's, gentle pleading in them as she spoke. "It's just, well, it's a long story, but cliffnotes version, I don't have a lot of luck with men. Not since I was a teenager. But then I found Kouga, and he...I felt what all those cheesy love songs are talking about Kagome. I have possession issues, I know, and I am so sorry I let those get out of hand this morning, and please believe me when I say it's nothing to do with you, it's all me." Ayame's voice was thick with held back tears as she finished her speech.
Kagome was silent for a few seconds after Ayame finished speaking, before doing what she believed to be right.
"Ayame, sweetie," she began, tentatively using the petname. "Please, don't shoulder all the blame for this yourself. I had no right to say what I said to you, or to rise to the bait. And it was my own carelessness that unlocked the door and sent us down the cliff in the first place, so for the injuries at least, I take the blame." Kagome put up a silencing finger as Ayame tried to protest. "Please, don't argue with me. I don't think we could take it if we argue anymore. I'm going to say this once and once only, so you can remember it, okay?"
Ayame nodded.
"I don't have feelings for Kouga anymore. He hurt me, I won't deny that. I'd never been cheated on before him, but neither of us were happy before that happened, and I've come to terms with that now. It doesn't matter about us, we're on civil terms, at least. He's still a friend, and I value that. But there's no more in it, Ayame, and you are free to him."
"Thanks, Kagome," Ayame said, nodding in deference. "All I hope is that you can forgive me for busting your entire chest, and that we can be friends from now on. We have a lot in common, you know." She said hopefully.
"Only if you can forgive me for breaking your hip and arm. Consider yourself my friend, Ayame." Kagome agreed with a glowing smile.
"I'm gonna hobble over and give you a hug okay, seeing as you can't physically get up right now, okay? Expect me in about fifteen minutes." Kagome joked as she eased herself out of bed and started wheezing.
As Kagome reached the bed, both heads turned when Sango came hurtling through the door, bearing down on them as she began yelling,
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD BE SO GODDAMNED STUPID AS TO BE ROLLING AROUND TWEAKING EACH OTHER'S PLASTIC BOOBS AND YANKING EACH OTHER'S HAIR JUST SO YOU COULD FALL OUT AND NEARLY KILL YOURSELVES! AND FYI, I AM A PERFECTLY SANE, SAFE AND ALCOHOLICALLY AWARE DRIVER! I'M DISGUSTED WITH THE BOTH OF YOU AND FUCK ALL, DON'T EVER CONSIDER THAT I WILL NOT HAUL YOUR ASS UP IN FRONT OF YOUR MOTHER, KAGOME AND TELL HER ALL YOUR FILTHY LITTLE SECRETS AND AYAME, DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW ALL YOUR FILTHY LITTLE SECRETS, YOU PINT SIZED HOE!" Sango screamed down at the cowering pair in neighboring hospital beds.
Both wounded women clutched each other in terror (AN: deja vu anyone?) under the forced of the tall, fire breathing, messy beast known as Sango.
"Ummm..." Kagome raspily squeaked out, unable to cope with one of Sango's worst outburts yet.
"Sorry?" Ayame tried, shooting Sango the best charming smile she could from beneath her black eye.
A deep breath was drawn in, and two waited in anticipation, ready to tune out what was coming next.
"SORRY! YOU THINK SORRY CUTS IT? HOW IN HELL'S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU COULD POSSIBLY ESCAPE MY WRATH BY SAYING SORRY! THE PAIR OF YOU CAN'T MODEL FOR AT LEAST A WEEK NOW, NOT WITH THAT FUCKING DOORKNOB ON YOUR FACE AYAME, AND I GUESS YOU COULD ALWAYS MODEL SITTING DOWN, MISS I-CAN'T-BREATHE-DUE-TO-ONE-OF-MY-VITAL-ORGANS-BEING-AN-EMPTY-BALLOON-RIGHT-NOW! YOU JUST DON'T GET IT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!"Sango screamed, exhausting herself and sinking into Ayame's nearby wheelchair, for her broken hip.
"Are you done yet?" Kagome asked wryly, hoisting herself into a sitting position, grinning down at her best friend, who sat in a mudstained peasant top and miniskirt still, and couldn't have looked less threatening if she tried.
"Sure." Sango said, panting in the chair.
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"Am I the only one here whose ears are ringing?" Kouga asked in the lush, private waiting room Inuyasha had demanded (obnoxiously, of course), his clear voice piercing the silent tension in the small room.
"Let me just be the first to say this, okay? I will never drive in one of your road-eating shiny monsters again, you hear me Inuyasha? If it does THAT to Sango, I don't wanna be a part of it!" Miroku said, pointing at Inuyasha "threateningly", standing up and pacing around the room.
"I'm sorry Miroku, but if you think that's bad, you should've seen what she did once the tabloids came through a couple days back. I heard 'em on the way up there in the cab. Something about dragging thongs places, and no hesitations..." Inuyasha shuddered at the recollection, and relaxed back into the chair, pulling the baseball NY hat with built-in ear covers (AN: Kawaii, no?) down over his head, and promptly decided to snore. Loudly.
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Sesshoumaru said dryly, smirking gently at Rin, who sat smiling in the chair next to him.
"Ah please!" Shippou piped up from his little corner where Inuyasha had banished him after he'd fount out Shippou had been in the trunk the whole time. "Disgusting are the noises he makes when he's with the strange ladies with beachballs on their ribcages!" he said innocently.
Amidst a loud chorus of snoring from one corner, four jaws dropped, and four faces flushed red.
"Uhhhh...How about we wake foghorn over there and go and see the ladies!" Mr Mireshi exclaimed nervously, having just regained his voice. "I'm s..sure they're awake now!" And with a nervous laugh across the room, they all rose for the door, Sesshoumaru kicking Inuyasha as he went past to get him out the door. Miroku however, hung back a little until everyone had turned the corner leading to the elevators, and ran full-tilt towards the hospital store.
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"Well – " Kagome was cut off when a small herd of people swamped into her and Ayame's airy room. Yup, it was all of them...
Inuyasha, Mr. Mireshi, Miroku, Sesshoumaru, Rin and even tiny Shippou had turned up, most with sheepish smiles on their faces, some with shocked glances at Sango, who was still heaving in the wheelchair, and two with filthy scowls on their faces.
They all filed into the room, Miroku jostling in behind everyone with the hugest bunch of flowers you ever saw, just to be his usual conspicuous self, with a large message of
"Congratulations" spelled out in carnations. After all, since when was Miroku ever subtle? Ever?
"Mwahahahaha Kags, who's your daddy now?" Miroku said proudly, nodding his head in the direction of the hothouse flowers, his trademark smile on his face.
"Uh, that'd be me, I think!" A confused, humorous voice said from the doorway. In the door stood a tall, mature man with gray sideburns, and short dark hair. He possessed the same dark eyes as Kagome did. He had a small woman next to him, who smiled in at the nine pairs of eyes staring back at them.
Kagome squealed happily, albeit a little hoarsely (not easy to squeal with one lung you know) and stretched her arms out towards the couple in the door.
Watching the happy family with jaw agape, Inuyasha quickly regained his "manners".
"Uh, hey, hi you guys, my name's Inuyasha Mireshi, up-and-coming photographer, and the guy who's paying for your daughter's healthcare! Who are you?" Inuyasha said, his plastic smile plastered all over his face.
"Oh, young man, I've heard plenty about you. Starz Bazaar is an excellent read these days!" Kagome's mother said brightly, earning a scowl and eyebrow twitch from the collapsed Sango. "I'm Kinira Yanura, and this Kagome's father Hanoko Higurashi, nice to meet you!" She held out her hand to him.
"Um, great." Inuyasha said, unprepared for the cheerful response.
"Inuyasha, for god's sake, be nicer to my parents!" Kagome snapped at him, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at him disapprovingly, like a mom reprimanding her young son.
"Well, helloooo, I wasn't told they were coming, and like I said, I'm paying, I deserve to know this kind of thing!" Inuyasha snapped right back, determined not to lose to a girl again.
"Who asked you to pay, can I just ask?" Kagome said, threatening to stand up to face Inuyasha.
"Well if you decide to have some lousy catfight to make up for it and damn near kill yourself doing it, do I have a choice?" Inuyasha said, striding up to Kagome's bedside, forcing the small crowd of people around her to migrate backwards, and slowly, ever so slowly out of the door.
"Bye guys!" Kagome said brightly, changing her cold tone completely to bid her friends goodbye, including Miroku who was carrying Sango out of the room bridal style. Kagome chuckled briefly as she realized what Sango would do when she realized people would have actually seen her in Miroku's arms.
"Excuse me bitch, but what's funny?" Inuyasha scoffed, lightly poking her shoulder.
"Excuse ME mister! I don't know who you are, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch my baby girl while I'm still kickin' boy!" Hanoko snapped, stepping between Inuyasha and Kagome.
Inuyasha was about to give the old man a piece of his mind, when he glimpsed a horrifying, horrifying scene before him...
Yup, it was really happening. There was HIS father, his WIDOWED, LONELY, FAIRLY CHARMING old man, GIGGLING, yes, GIGGLING with Kagome's mother!
He had to be kidding me here! No way his father could choose NOW to practise his elderly flirting skills! No, not like he didn't have enough problems!
"I wouldn't be worried about MY touching sir, if you look behind you..." Inuyasha said weakly, pointing behind Hanoko.
"KINARA!" Hanoko yelled, striding up to his wife, who blatantly ignored him, turning to face Mr Mireshi, laughing merrily.
The two easily walked out of the room, talking quietly, and the second they were out the door, Hanoko ran out after them as fast as his cane would let him go.
Inuyasha swept a clawed hand through his beloved hair in exasperation, of course checking for split ends once he finished, and turned back to Kagome, forgetting they had been fighting before his father decided to get himself a girlfriend.
He was met with a pale, pale face of a shaking female before him. His blood ran cold and his skin prickled as he jumped to Kagome, kneeling by the bed.
"What? Tell me what's wrong!" Inuyasha hissed.
"Nothing...Just...I swear my MOTHER was just flirting with your FATHER...unless this morphine has me hallucinating or something..." Kagome said breathily.
"Umm no, you saw right I'm afraid, wench. Ain't nothin' you can do about it..." Inuyasha sighed with relief.
"By the way, sorry for asking, but are your parents married?" Inuyasha asked.
"Nope. They hate each other. Born out of wedlock, bastard that I am! " Kagome giggled.
"Well that's one thing we have in common." Inuyasha said, his grin falling a little.
"You think they'll get married?" Kagome asked airily, giggling slightly.
"FUCK, NO!" Inuyasha yelled, until something dawned on him...this seemed a little familiar. Could Kagome be...high?
He looked around him for the little button the nurses had given Kagome to administer morphine herself, saw it, and groaned.
It was just under his knee, where he was kneeling next to Kagome's bed. Great, he had just gotten some chick he seemed to have adopted lately totally high on her morphine. Inuyasha quickly eased up off the button, and turned back to the now sleeping Kagome, who now sniggered in her sleep. Flicking a quick glance at Kouga who was asleep in the chair next to a gently snoring Ayame. He looked at the youkai's grip on his girlfriend's hand, and the peaceful way their breathing synchronized in the evening light, and he felt wistful. He looked at Kagome and noticed that maybe, just maybe one day soon, he could have something like that with someone...someone like her...
And with that thought whirling through his brain, Inuyasha quietly shut the door, and went to find his psychotic "family".
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"Yeah...uh huh...TOMORROW?" Sango screeched down her cellphone, for the second time in a day.
Miroku decided to take apart the bomb that was Sango before it really exploded.
"Shhhh..."
"Tomorrow?" Sango said more quietly. "Since when? Did you not hear about the accident? That BASTARD'S presenting an award and is nominated? Okay, you know what, I have to yell at you tomorrow night, but for now, as sure as my ass is tight and Miroku's groping it, we'll be there! Don't worry about that last sentence now actually...Bye." Sango cut the man off abruptly.
"What?" Miroku asked simply, looking at his distraught love in front of him.
"Remember the awards shows Kagome and Inuyasha have to go to together for the next three and a half weeks?"
"How could I not? Obsessive much?" Miroku replied dryly, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, think of one coming up, fairly soon." Sango said, her hands still over her face.
"Ummm, Academies, Golden Globes, ummmm...UH OH." Miroku said in a low voice as he realized what Sango was getting at.
"You got it?" she asked.
"Only if you do." Miroku replied.
"After three." Sango stated, raising her head from her hands, her eyes meeting Miroku's.
"Three..." Miroku said, looking at Sango with an identical troubled face.
"Two..." Sango's stomach began to churn as she choked out the number.
"One..." Miroku whispered.
"The People's Choice Awards" the two intoned together, with a low moan of despair.
AN: That'd be it peoples! See, I am two whole days early, I'm really proud. Hopefully, you all liked this, and you'll review for me, with any questions/comments/suggestions you might have. I love you all, and tell me what you think of the new pairing! Love you to shreds, once again!
Love Inukagchick11 xxx