Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor do I own any of the other associated characters.

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The moment Kagome left the room, Inuyasha rolled onto his side and bit back a moan. It was all he could do not to curl up and clutch at his stomach; if he did that he knew he wouldn't be able to leave the position, and then what would he do if someone came in?

All that staggering around and bumping into things had renewed the horrible ache left behind by the gunshot wound. To top it off, he must have drunk that broth too quickly—it wasn't only the wound that was hurting. All together, it made him quite angry; mostly at himself, and partially at everyone else. Why did they all have to be fucking right all the time?

But mostly, he was angry at… at her. Kikyou.

Damn her, he thought, gritting his teeth to hold back another moan. There was something rough under his cheek, which he slowly realized was the wool of his discarded toque… well, Miroku's toque. He ignored it. Damn her, he thought again. And damn me, too, for thinking that… for believing that… Damn her!

As the pain began to subside, very slowly, he closed his eyes and cast around for something else to think about. There was an ample supply of topics, it seemed, all clamouring for his attention. Trying to focus, he allowed himself to relax in the bed, tuning out his surroundings for the first time in a long while.

The first question that came into his mind was of how exactly he had gotten here. He had a fairly good idea already, but no one had confirmed it… probably because he hadn't taken the trouble of asking. He could still try to puzzle it out, though…

He could remember all of the events leading up to his being shot, though he'd much prefer to simply forget, and then there was a long stretch of nothing. He must have been knocked out within seconds of being shot, and then he'd been brought here while he was unconscious. That much was obvious. Someone must have found him—taken pity on the freak bleeding to death in the woods, he thought with a renewed surge of anger—and taken him in.

Where did Miroku come in, though? Inuyasha was fairly positive that the older boy was indeed the same Miroku he'd known as a child, but how he'd ended up here was a complete mystery. As far as Inuyasha knew, Miroku had moved away into the city… not out into the middle of nowhere (Inuyasha could tell that this house was definitely not in some major population centre… the lack of outside noises was a big giveaway. He'd never been to a place with many people, but he knew that where there were lots of people there tended to be lots of noise, and the only noise coming from outside right now was the faint whistling of the wind). Perhaps Miroku knew Kagome's family…? But that wasn't the case, Inuyasha could tell just by the way Miroku treated them that he'd never seen any of them before in his life. Hell, he was even still calling Kagome's mother 'Miss' without so much as a surname to add to the title.

Inuyasha knew for a fact that the family's name was Higurashi… Thanks predominantly to the fact that there was a small, neatly printed white label stuck to his pillow, just below his right eye.

So Miroku had met this family only recently, and hadn't yet been given a formal introduction. It stood to reason, then, that Miroku had been the one who'd found him… in which case, it wasn't pity that had brought him here, but the fact that someone had recognized him. Inuyasha relaxed again, not even having realized that he'd tensed. If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was pity.

Funny how the world works, he thought, opening his eyes to gaze at the rain-streaked window. For everyone who betrays you, there's another idiot willing to take you in… He didn't know whether he was thinking of Miroku or the Higurashis, or even whether his slightly muddled mind made any distinction between them. He was tired again, and the hat was itching his cheek and getting steadily harder to ignore. Moving was so hard… he would have to settle for thinking.

He tried to remember everything he could of Miroku, but could only come up with a small dark-haired boy who seemed perpetually happy, who had lots of friends that Inuyasha could never meet. If it weren't for the strange instinct that told Inuyasha who he knew and who he didn't know, he probably never would have recognized the older Miroku at all. He seemed… embittered almost, despite all his politeness. As if he'd seen things, knew things that had come close to breaking him.

Inuyasha cast his mind back again, determined to remember more. The little Miroku had always been talking, often about his parents… he'd seemed surprised when he found out that Inuyasha didn't have a father, and talked about how his father was going to train him to use some mystic power. Inuyasha hadn't thought anything of it, though every time the topic came up Sesshoumaru would get annoyed…

Wait a minute. A mystic power? Set aside for now the fact that Miroku was a male… could it be the same as Kikyou's miko powers? Inuyasha continued to stare at the window, all pain forgotten as his mind worked furiously. Was this why his mother had let Inuyasha associate with the older human boy? At the time, Inuyasha had just been grateful for company that wasn't his adult half-brother Sesshoumaru, he'd never given any thought as to why Miroku was even allowed to enter the house.

Maybe Mother had thought he could help? Even if he was only a child…

Wrapped in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice when the door opened behind him. Rolling over quickly and concealing a wince as his stomach protested the sudden movement, he glared at the intruder.

Kagome glared impatiently back at him, closing the door behind herself before moving further into the room. Inuyasha's mind tried to remind him of the last niggling question, how Kagome could look so much like another woman whose name he refused even to think, but he ignored it in favour of returning the glare.

"Oh, stop that," said Kagome sharply, moving to the bedside. There was something in her hands. "I swear, you have to be the worst patient I've ever encountered!"

He snorted. "I'm sure you have so much experience," he said. He nodded towards the objects she was now placing on the bedside table. "What the hell are those?"

She glanced down. "These are new bandages," she told him, holding them up, "because those haven't been changed since you got here. These are painkillers." She held up a tiny white bottle and shook it slightly so that it rattled before putting it down beside a glass full of water. "I won't give them to you if you don't behave, though, so…"

"Whatever," he interrupted her. He'd never seen that little bottle before, or anything remotely like it, but if she honestly thought they would help… his attention, however, was mostly drawn to the last object she held—a nasty-looking instrument if he'd ever seen one. "What is that?"

She looked down at it, somewhat surprised. "This? It's an oral thermometer."

"What's it do?" he asked her suspiciously, even as she opened her mouth to tell him just that. She shot him a glance to tell him just what she thought of his rudeness, then continued.

"It's to take your temperature," she told him. "I don't care what sort of front you put up, if that wound gets infected you could get really sick. This is to check if you have a fever."

"How does it work?" he asked, slightly curious despite himself. The 'thermometer' had a very unsettling look to it, and he had to wonder what the need was for such a thing. Checking for fever was easy enough, after all—you just needed a decent ability to sense heat.

"Well," Kagome began slowly, "it works by… well, you put it in your mouth, and it senses the temperature and gives a reading. I'd demonstrate, but then this one wouldn't be sterile." She watched him with no small amount of confusion. He didn't know what a thermometer was?

Inuyasha was frowning again. Senses the temperature… an inanimate object? Sterile… and this was going in his mouth? "I'm not letting that thing anywhere near me," he growled at her.

She sighed in frustration. What is up with this guy? "Inuyasha, I have to know if you have a fever," she said with as much patience as she could muster.

"Well I don't," he snapped at her. "I'm a hanyou, wench! I don't get sick!" This was a blatant lie, but she didn't need to know that—he was fairly certain that his body's period of vulnerability was long over… and anyway, he knew for a fact that his mother had never used one of those… things on him.

"There's a first time for everything," she snapped back. "I'll bet you've never been shot before either, have you?" Before he could think of a reply (it was true, after all), she was leaning towards him with the thermometer in hand. He flinched away and she stopped staring down at him incredulously.

"Oh, for the love of…" she moved her hand slightly and watched him twitch again. "It's not going to bite, you know! It's no different than sticking a fork or something in your mouth…" She paused, considering. "Well, I suppose it is a bit different… I mean, forks aren't made of glass and full of mercury… but still—"

"Mercury?" He'd cut her off again, but her renewed annoyance was brought up short by the horror on his face. He'd gone pale quite suddenly. Then, before she could even move, he had twisted sideways and was trying to grab the thermometer out of her hand.

"What—what are you doing?" she yelped, pulling it out of his reach just in time. It seemed that he couldn't sit up, and for once she was grateful for this; it meant that he couldn't reach behind her and try to grab it again.

"Don't you know anything, bitch?" he snarled at her. "Mercury is poison!" Do you want to die or something?"

She stared at him for long moments. He stopped trying to reach around her and looked up at her face instead, perplexed.

"Didn't you hear me?" he said, a measure of uncertainty creeping into his voice now. Why wasn't she doing anything? "You'd better throw it away, wench! Now!"

Kagome stared at him for a few moments more, the edges of her mouth twitching slightly. Then, suddenly, she began to laugh.

"O-oi! What the hell is so funny?" he demanded when she didn't stop, peering up at her with anger and confusion mingled in his golden eyes. "What are you laughing at?"

"Y-you," she gasped out, still laughing. "You honestly… you really have never seen a thermometer before, have you?"

"Of course I haven't, my mother was smart enough not to stick me full of mercury when—if I ever got sick," he retorted. "Not that I ever did," he added hastily.

This sent her into waves of fresh laughter. I really shouldn't be laughing, she thought desperately, trying to stop, but he's… oh, it's just so funny! "Then you… you never really…" Kagome lifted her hand to brush her hair out of her face, her back shaking with laughter. Ohh… explaining this is going to be interesting…

The movement was a mistake. Faster than she could blink, Inuyasha's hand shot out and grabbed hold of the thermometer. Belatedly, she tried to pull it back—the result, of course, being that the fragile glass tube shattered into several pieces and spilled the aforementioned chemical over both of their hands.

Kagome shrieked, jumping up. "Ah! Idiot! You broke it!"

He pulled his hand away and started rubbing at it furiously with his other hand. She stopped him hurriedly. "Don't touch it! Wait here, I'll go get Mom."

He froze in the bed as she ran out of the room, calling for her mother. He could see the red liquid on his hand. It looked like blood, though he knew he hadn't been cut by the glass… wasn't mercury supposed to be grey? Or maybe Kagome had been cut… a sick feeling began to grow in his stomach. Had he inadvertently caused Kagome to get poisoned? He knew about mercury, his mother had known about it and so had Kikyou, apparently it could be deadly… was Kagome going to die? The sick feeling just kept growing, but he didn't move.

After what seemed like an eternity, Kagome ran back in with her mother. Her hand was clean. Mrs. Higurashi instantly bent down with a cloth in hand and wiped off his hand until there was no trace of the thermometer's ex-contents on it, then knelt and cleaned all the broken glass and the rest of the chemicals off the floor.

"Will it be all right, mum?" Kagome asked anxiously. "I know mercury's really bad for you…"

Inuyasha snorted at her ignorance. "Really bad for you? That stuff can kill you, wench! What the hell were you thinking, bringing that in here?"

"Well, it wasn't dangerous so long as it stayed in the tube," she retorted, and would have continued had her mother not begun to giggle.

Mrs. Higurashi tried to contain her laughter as both her daughter and Inuyasha turned to glare at her, but it was difficult. "Is that what you were so concerned about, dear?" she said to Kagome. "Well, I'm afraid you needn't have worried… all the thermometers in our house are full of red alcohol, not mercury!"

She folded up the cloth and placed it on the bedside table, turning to place a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Would you like to go into the other room, dear? I can change Inuyasha's bandages…"

Kagome smiled weakly, touching her hand unconsciously. Inuyasha felt a stab of guilt as he noticed that it was indeed cut slightly. Mrs. Higurashi didn't seem to have noticed. "No, mum, I can do it," she said. "Why don't you go see to Souta? Isn't he going to a friend's house today?"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her. "Certainly, dear." She glanced down at the cloth on the table with something like amusement lingering on her face. "Would you like another… uh… thermometer?"

"Hell no!" burst out Inuyasha, at the same time as Kagome replied dryly, "no thanks, mum. Maybe later…"

Mrs. Higurashi laughed again, picking up the dirtied cloth and leaving the room. Kagome was left standing in the middle of the room, staring at Inuyasha, who stared back.

"This is only because I've decided to believe you about not getting sick," said Kagome warningly, finally moving to sit down in the chair again.

"Keh! What's not to believe?" he responded, watching her move. The faintly mocking look on her face right now reminded him more of Kikyou than ever, and he tried not to shudder.

Kagome shrugged, reaching out for the bandages again. For a time they sat in silence, while Kagome carefully pulled away the older, bloodied bandages and replaced them with the new ones. She couldn't help but cringe every time she saw the wound—but she would keep going, because Mother was busy downstairs getting the shop ready and sending Souta off to his friend's, and she had been entrusted with this task. She managed to keep the feeling off her face, though… but it was hard. She'd never seen so much blood before in her life, even though the wound was closing…

Inuyasha tried to lie still and not wince as she tightened a bandage across his abdomen. It seemed that the wound was healing cleanly, at least—morbidly he wondered what had happened to the bullet, as there was no exit wound. Nobody else seemed to have thought of that, and he wasn't about to mention it.

Ahh, it doesn't matter, he thought dismissively, nearly biting through his tongue as Kagome settled another strip of gauze into place. Youkai healing powers'll take care of it soon enough…

Finally Kagome finished her task, resisting the urge to pat the edges flat as she knew it would only hurt him more. Idiot, she thought almost fondly, watching as he opened his eyes slowly. Are you trying to make me think it doesn't hurt?

"Finished?" he whispered.

"Yup," she said lightly, standing and pushing a small trashcan back beneath the bedside table. It was nearly filled with the discarded bandages. "You okay?"

He turned his head to stare at the window once again. "Keh! Of course," he said, though his voice was softer than usual.

Kagome's eye fell upon the remaining items on the table. "Do you want a painkiller?" she asked him.

"No," he said in the same quiet voice.

Crazy, she thought, frowning at him. She picked up the tiny bottle, leaving the glass of water, and then hesitated, reluctant to leave. It has to be so boring, in here all alone… Briefly her concern with his mental state warred with concern over his physical condition… and surprisingly, it won out.

"Hey," she said, "do you want to come into the other room for awhile?"

"Hm?" he turned slightly so that he could see her. "No…"

"You sure?" she said coaxingly. "I know it can't be much fun just staying in here all the time."

"I'm fine!" he said sharply.

"You don't ever get lonely?"

He hesitated for a little bit too long. "Keh! Of course not!' he said, and coughed suddenly. "Just go, wench," he muttered when the coughing had stopped.

"Come on," she said, trying not to let her feelings show on her face. Why was he so sad? She almost preferred the anger… "Just for a minute, okay? I think Miroku's watching TV in there…"

"The bouzu?" Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. "I thought he was supposed to be asleep."

"Well he isn't," said Kagome. It was true, her mother had told Miroku to sleep, but the last time she'd seen him he was leaning back on the couch and watching some sort of news show. For some reason she'd been surprised by that; she'd felt silly a moment later, of course. What else would he be watching? Pornography?

"All right," said Inuyasha after a moment, interrupting her thoughts. "I'll go."

"Okay!" Kagome grinned at him. "Here…" she held out her hand and he took hold of it after a moment. He surprised both of them by getting up without much help. She started out of the room, still holding his hand, and he followed her, careful not to stumble. Inuyasha's ears twitched as he entered the hallway—he could hear Mrs. Higurashi downstairs with Souta and the old man, and there were strange noises coming from the room Kagome was leading him to…

Miroku looked up when they entered, grinning at Kagome and then sitting up in surprise when Inuyasha followed her. "Inuyasha! Are you sure you ought to be…"

"Stow it, bouzu," growled Inuyasha, allowing Kagome to lead him to an armchair. He glanced curiously at the television as he sat down. "I don't see you as being in any position to talk."

Miroku sighed. "Still as rude as ever, eh, Inuyasha?" He pressed the mute button on the remote control, leaving the news anchorman to mouth silent syllables at an unseen camera. "Well, I suppose if you've been deemed well enough to come in here, you're well enough to answer a few questions…"

Inuyasha was at a loss as to what to say. If he refused to answer, that would be the same as admitting weakness. But he wasn't sure whether Miroku would ask him questions that he'd be willing to answer… "Fine, bouzu," he said at last. "Just be quick about it." Kagome sat down in a chair opposite, listening intently and adding to his trepidation.

"Firstly," said Miroku, leaning forwards on the couch, "I must ask you to stop using that nickname for me. Would you prefer that I called you hanyou out in public?"

Inuyasha frowned. "I don't see how that would be a bad thing," he began.

"Inuyasha, I'm beginning to wonder whether your mother ever did tell you why you weren't allowed out of the—" Miroku broke off when he remembered Kagome's presence. She was staring at him with a very odd look on her face. "Well, Inuyasha, people don't exactly welcome the presence of hanyou, or even youkai, in their midst," he said. "You're lucky even to have found this house."

"Keh," said Inuyasha, glaring at the television. Kagome was brought out of her confused wonderings when she noticed the look on his face—the same look as he'd had upon seeing the thermometer. He's not going to tell me he's never seen a television either? she thought with disbelief.

"Fine," said Inuyasha at last. "I'll stop using the nickname—Miroku."

"Good," said Miroku, settling back on the couch. "Now, next question. I suppose part of it's been answered already, but… what exactly happened to you last night? Obviously it culminated in you being shot, but the events preceding that are still unknown."

"Does it matter?" said Inuyasha, still glaring at the television. "A bitch named Kikyou tried to kill me with a shotgun, and that's all you need to know." Bitch, he thought sourly. I thought she was going to… to… and then she shot me!

"I'm afraid that's not enough," said Miroku calmly. "For instance, we already know that your would-be murderer was named Kikyou, but we don't know why she shot you, or what you were doing that warranted her doing it."

"If I knew that, bouzu, I wouldn't be here right now!" snarled Inuyasha.

"I told you not to call me that," said Miroku, unperturbed as ever. Kagome was looking slightly distressed. "So you claim not to know why you were shot."

"Yeah," said Inuyasha unwillingly. To have had even that much information dragged out of him went against all of his instincts.

"Hm," said Miroku thoughtfully. "Well, at the very least you seem to have known this Kikyou woman somehow, prior to her… ah… shooting you, anyway."

"Yeah," said Inuyasha, not looking away from the television. His expression was caught somewhere between annoyance, reluctance, and growing curiosity. Kagome nearly laughed as the image on the screen changed, causing him to jump. It was obvious that he was becoming distracted.

"Care to tell us anything more about this woman?" said Miroku when Inuyasha failed to elaborate.

Inuyasha turned away from the television and fixed him with a glare. "No."

Miroku sighed. "Very well, do you have any ideas as to why she may have shot you?"

Inuyasha turned away with a snort. "Sorry to disappoint." Suddenly his eyes widened.

Kagome followed his gaze to the television screen, and Miroku, seeing the expressions on both of their faces, lifted the remote and turned the sound back on.

The screen had just flashed onto an image of a young girl's face, a pale face framed by a mass of straight black hair. The announcer's voice cut back in and droned on as if it had never been interrupted. "…body found in a ditch early this morning. The girl's identity has been confirmed by local authorities to be Dosei Kikyou, a resident of the town of…"

"Turn it off," growled Inuyasha, struggling upright.

Wow, thought Kagome, watching the screen as the picture of the girl—Kikyou, she supposed—was replaced by an image of some trees. No wonder Inuyasha thought I was her… we could be twins…

Miroku was frowning at Inuyasha. "What—" he began.

"Turn it fucking off!" shouted Inuyasha. He dove off the chair towards the television, landing on his knees and fumbling with the controls. His claws dug long gouges in the stiff plastic beside the knobs.

"Quickly!" Kagome hissed to Miroku, frightened for the condition of their only television. Miroku lifted the remote slowly and pressed the power button. Inuyasha sagged against the screen as it went black, panting.

There was a long silence. Inuyasha pressed both his hands against the ground, breathing in long gasps and staring at the ground with his face hidden by his long hair. Finally he turned to face them, amber eyes flashing with anger once more.

"What?" he demanded.

"That was the woman who shot you, wasn't it," said Miroku. It wasn't a question.

Inuyasha sat down in front of the television, folding his arms across his chest. "Yes."

Kagome looked from Miroku to Inuyasha. "She's… dead?" That was probably the last thing she'd expected. The look on Inuyasha's face was also the last thing she would have expected. She wouldn't have thought he would be happy, but… why would he look so…

"Keh! Would you all just shut up!" yelled Inuyasha suddenly, leaping awkwardly to his feet and swaying slightly. "I don't care and that's it!"

Miroku watched him, his face blank. "I never said that you… oi!"

Faster than Kagome could track with her eyes, Inuyasha had run out of the room.

: 00:00:

Fixxorz of typo... whoops... (there aren't any computers in teh AU-world, by the way)

Woo, longer chapter that time… anyway, there were a few Japanese words in here. Yes, I know it's not set in Japan, but I'll still use a few of the words… I have my reasons.

No, Kagome is NOT an idiot... in my experience people generally assume that thermometers contain mercury, no matter what colour the stuff inside of it is... well, my beta says otherwise, but I think so anyway, so... it's staying as it is!

Dosei means clay… makes sense, for Kikyou, ne? Bouzu basically means idiot monk, something along those lines. Why Inuyasha still calls Miroku that in this AU will remain secret for a little bit longer, though. (I'm going for the slow approach in terms of giving things away.)

As for a question that was asked in a review… it was a very good question, and I had the answer posted briefly… before I realized that I probably shouldn't have done that. There is a reason for it, I assure the asker… it just won't become evident for a little while.

Taa!