Chapter 2
The next morning Sesshoumaru started to wake up, hearing harsh coughing.
'Dear God that cough...' Sesshoumaru cursed in his head, got up and stretched for a moment. He took a look at the clock. 'Great. 5:32 AM...'
Sesshoumaru got up from his bed and put on his day clothes. But today he didn't put on his youkai-clothes with shoulder armor. Today he just put on normal human-clothes; jeans and a white T-shirt. He stepped into the corridor. Horrible coughing echoed everywhere in the apartment. Sesshoumaru couldn't help but sigh. He walked to Inuyasha's room door and looked in. Inuyasha coughed and coughed, holding his hand on his mouth. Slowly Sesshoumaru walked to him.
"Are you hungry?" Sesshoumaru asked when Inuyasha finally had stopped coughing.
"I dunno..." Inuyasha mumbled. This was followed by a long silence.
"Hmm. Wait", Sesshoumaru said and left the room. Inuyasha closed his eyes.
Sesshoumaru got in the kitchen, took a pot and a packet of porridge flakes from the cupboard and started to cook porridge. While he took a plate from the cupboard, he could hear his brother cough again. But something was different now. Now the coughing didn't make Sesshoumaru feel annoyed or angry. Now he felt... maybe... pity? Care? Sesshoumaru sighed again and took a look at the porridge. Seemed and smelt ready. So he turned off the stove and poured the porridge on a plate, and took it to Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha", Sesshoumaru announced as he came into the room. Inuyasha opened his eyes and gave a look at the arrival. Sesshoumaru put the porridge on his night stand.
"I made some porridge for you", Sesshoumaru said. The brothers stared at each other, and Inuyasha sat up.
"Uh... Thanks..." Inuyasha mumbled and started to eat the porridge slowly, his hands shaking a bit. Sesshoumaru looked at this, and was actually happy to see that his brother had at least some appetite.
When the porridge was gone, Sesshoumaru took the empty plate with him into the kitchen and started to wash it... When suddenly he heard a door being slammed hard, and someone running. Sesshoumaru took a look in the corridor, and saw Inuyasha disappearing into the bathroom. Sesshoumaru sighed and went after him. Then he heard sounds of vomiting, which made him hurry. And there Inuyasha was, on his knees, throwing up and coughing into the toilet seat. Sesshoumaru took a few steps towards him, without a word.
"Yuck..." Inuyasha whimpered, but had stopped vomiting. He stood up a bit unstable. Sesshoumaru looked at the toilet, and that sight shocked him. Blood.
"Get back in bed", Sesshoumaru ordered. Inuyasha nodded and walked away his ears drooping.
'I have to call father...' Sesshoumaru thought as he flushed the toilet.
Sesshoumaru went into his room and grabbed his phone, choosing his father's number. The phone beeped for a while, and finally a voice answered:
"Hello, Sesshoumaru." It was their father, Inutaisho. "Why are you calling me? Don't get me wrong, but you know I can't talk for very long. It's very expensive to call from Japan to America..."
"This is important", Sesshoumaru said. "Inuyasha has a fever of 104, and just a few minutes ago he threw up some blood."
"W-what?!" Inutaisho's horrified voice cried out. "Now you call an ambulance! Did you hear me?! Call an ambulance!"
"All right."
And so Sesshoumaru chose the number 911.
"Hello, this is Sesshoumaru Taisho. We need an ambulance.
After the call, Sesshoumaru went in Inuyasha's room. Inuyasha was laying silently in his bed.
"All right, Inuyasha", Sesshoumaru said. "Soon, an ambulance will come. You will be taken to the hospital."
Inuyasha didn't answer, just stared at his big brother.
In about 15 minutes the doorbell rang. Sesshoumaru opened the door and saw two ambulance nurses with stretchers, standing in front of him.
"Sesshoumaru Taisho, I assume?" the other nurse asked. Sesshoumaru nodded and let them in. He led them into Inuyasha's room and put the lights on. The nurses pushed the stretchers next to Inuyasha's bed, and one of them shook him gently from his shoulder.
"Hey, young man... How are you feeling?" the nurse asked and touched his forehead.
"Pretty much horrible..." Inuyasha whimpered.
"Don't worry, we will take you to the hospital. There are lots or doctors and nurses who can help you", the other nurser spoke with a calm voice. Then the nurses lift Inuyasha on the stretchers, tied him up with black belts, and pushed him out of the apartment, into the elevator. Meanwhile Sesshoumaru was putting on his jacket and shoes, took his phone and keys, and locked the door. When he got out of the staircase, he saw the ambulance, and Inuyasha on the stretchers, being pushed in. Sesshoumaru got closer to the ambulance, when the other nurse said:
"You fit in next to your brother. There are two seats next to the stretchers in the back of the car."
"Thank you."
The ambulance drove through Tokyo, heading to the hospital. Inuyasha coughed and coughed, and Sesshoumaru kept staring at him. How could this happen? It was just a normal cold, and here they were now, on their way to the hospital.
Finally the ambulance stopped in front of a huge building. The ambulance nurses took Inuyasha out of the car and Sesshoumaru followed them. He looked around. Just before him was a sign, that had a red cross in it. Inuyasha on his stretchers was pushed in from the doors.
There were pretty much people in the ER. Still there was a free bed for Inuyasha, and he was lift off the stretchers to the hospital bed. Sesshoumaru found a chair for himself and sat next to his brother's bed. Inuyasha laid there, panting and coughing. Then Sesshoumaru lift his hand and grabbed Inuyasha's hand. The boy turned his head towards Sesshoumaru. Sesshoumaru could see the pain and tiredness from his brother's eyes. He squeezed his hand a little.
It took about half an hour before the doctor arrived.
"So, Inuyasha Taisho, the youngest son of my friend, doctor Inutaisho?" the doctor assured.
"Yes. And I am his older brother, Sesshoumaru. Our father is not around at the moment."
"Well, how are you doing?" the doctor asked with a smile and touched the boy's forehead. He listened his lungs with a stethoscope, took his blood pressure and heart rate, and finally his fever.
"He has a fever of 104, and a horrible cough..." the doctor told with a sigh. "This is a severe pneumonia. Clearly. He will be put on the children's infection ward."
"Can this possibly... be dangerous...?" Sesshoumaru asked maybe a bit worried.
"I would say yes, but don't worry. We will do everything we can for him. First we will give him an antibiotic drip right after you get to the ward."
Inuyasha was put on an another hospital bed. One nurse showed the way, the other pushed the bed. Sesshoumaru followed them a few meter behind them. They went to the third floor, and there was the children's infection ward. Inuyasha was pushed in.
"Like in the ER, we have pretty many patients here", the nurse told, and pushed Inuyasha into a room. "But this bed is empty. You were lucky."
Inuyasha nodded slowly, eyes barely open. Again, Sesshoumaru got a chair for himself and sat next to Inuyasha.
"You look tired. Would you like some coffee?" the nurse asked Sesshoumaru.
"Yes. Thank you", Sesshoumaru nodded, and the nurse left the room.
Sesshoumaru looked at Inuyasha.
"I am sure they will give you some medicine soon", Sesshoumaru said and sighed.
Soon the nurse entered the room with a cup of coffee. She also had a transparent bag with some liquid in it. She took a needle out of her pocket and grabbed Inuyasha's hand.
"This will maybe sting a little", the nurse said and stung the needle on the boy's hand. Then she connected Inuyasha's hand to a tube that led to the fluid bag.
"This is the antibiotic drip", the nurse told. "And the other thing..." The nurse took a small, plastic cup with a white pill from her pocket. She walked to the room's tap and filled a sippy cup with water, bringing it to Inuyasha. She pressed a button in a remote control that laid on the night stand. This made the bed's back to rise. Inuyasha grabbed the sippy cup and took the pill.
"That was a strong painkiller, and it can make you feel a bit light-headed", the nurse said. Sesshoumaru nodded as the nurse left the room. Then he turned his eyes back to his little brother, and, for his surprise, he saw he was crying quietly.
"Big bro... I can't stand this pain anymore..." Inuyasha whimpered, starting to cough again. You don't hear something like that from Inuyasha's mouth, unless something is really wrong. Sesshoumaru sighed and put his hand on his brother's shoulder, stroking him, saying nothing.
Time went by. Now it was almost 8 PM, and suddenly Sesshoumaru's phone started ringing. Quickly he took the phone out of his jacket's pocket, put it on his ear and said:
"Hello, father."
"Hello, Sesshoumaru. How is Inuyasha? Is he fine? Have you perhaps already returned home?" Inutaisho asked.
"No. He was put in children's infection ward. The diagnosis is pneumonia. I am still here with him."
"Oh my dear God..." Inutaisho sighed sadly. "Well... Is he awake?"
"Yes, I am afraid he is. Why?"
"Give him the phone."
And Sesshoumaru did. Inuyasha opened his eyes as he felt the phone on his ear.
"Hey..." Inuyasha whispered, starting to cough again.
"Hi, my dear son. This is dad", Inutaisho said with a sad voice. "Are you in pain?"
"Well... Yeah..." Inuyasha nodded.
"I want you to know that I'd love to come to you right away, but I just can't. You see, this conference is very important for my occupation, and..."
"Yea, I understand, dad. I..." A coughing fit here. "...I'll be fine."
"A big hug here from America", Inutaisho said. "For both of you."
"Yeah..." Inuyasha whispered and gave Sesshoumaru the phone.
"I will be returning home soon", Sesshoumaru said to both Inuyasha and his father on the phone.
"But as long as Inuyasha needs to stay in hospital, you, Sesshoumaru, will stay with him!" Inutaisho ordered. "I... I can pay you a little, just as long as you don't leave your little brother alone there..."
"I am not as cowardly to ask you to pay me for something like this", Sesshoumaru said and turned his head towards his shivering brother. "I can be here at daytime."
"Thank you. You have grown into a real man. Good night, and tell Inuyasha, that I love both of you. So, so much" And so the phone turned off. Sesshoumaru got up and started putting on his jacket. Inuyasha opened his eyes and said:
"So you're leavin'..."
"Yes, but I will be back tomorrow morning." Sesshoumaru started walking towards the room door, but turned back and said:
"Try to get some sleep."
Sesshoumaru yawned as he walked the hospitals' corridors. He rubbed his neck and sighed. Damn. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening. But, what's worse, he couldn't have carried on his studies! The hospitals' main doors opened automatically before him, and Sesshoumaru stepped out to the dark winters' eveing, heading towards the bus stop, thinking. What was this all about?