A/N: Hi guys! I'm glad you love the story! I hope your holiday season is going well! Sorry for the short chapter last time, it was a filler for this chapter so it had to be a bit short! I hope you all continue to stick with the story as I have many surprises in store. I really appreciate all of you and I really look forward to hearing from you.

Please continue reviewing! It really helps me as an author know that you are enjoying the story.

Anyhow, I don't own any of the characters. And I hope that you enjoy the story!

9

Inuyasha barreled down the hallway toward her, throwing his jacket and briefcase against the wall in the process. Kneeling in front of her, he pressed his hand to her face calling out her name trying to get her to wake up. "Kagome, come on Kagome. Wake up." He could feel the fire that was burning under her skin and he knew she wasn't going to open her eyes. Looking down, he saw her shirt was beginning to soak with blood.

Scooping her up, he cradled her against his chest. Sesshomaru, having heard the commotion, walked out of the parlor and shut the door behind him, making sure that Ileana didn't see. "What's wrong?" Concern covered his face as he rushed toward his brother and the girl in his arms. Inuyasha was frustrated with concern as he cradled her protectively to his chest.

"I don't know. I'm assuming her stitches or her injuries are infected because she blew the pain off and tried to handle it herself." He sounded angry, but Sesshomaru could hear the concern in his voice. "Keep Ileana in the dark. She doesn't need to be worried. I'll take care of Kagome. Play it down for the mothers, Ileana will see right through Mom and know something's wrong." Sesshomaru nodded, they had always been good at playing down the severity of a situation to ensure no one became upset. Their Mom had always been a bit of a worrywart when there was something wrong with someone she cared about.

Inuyasha started to walk away, not concerned at anything else his brother had to say. "Inuyasha," Sesshomaru called out at his brother's retreating frame. Inuyasha stopped, but didn't turn to look at him. "Take care of her. She's," He hesitated, "special."

"You think I don't know that." He snapped back, barely turning his head over his shoulder. Without another word, he strode forward, not missing a beat.

He really does love that woman, Sesshomaru inwardly thought as he watched his brother disappear out of sight with the mother of his child.

Inuyasha gently laid Kagome on his bed and pulled open her button up shirt. The dressing on her stitches was saturated in blood and he could see the redness on her skin spreading from under it. With a curse, he pulled off the bandage and saw the festering wound that marred her beautiful stomach.

All of her stitches had come undone, leaving a gapping hole from her hip to the bottom of her rib cage where the glass from her windshield had embedded into her. The edges were a brilliant flaming red and fevered, fanning out to consume her porcelain skin all the way to her belly button and around her side in the other direction. There was a pocket of puss inside of her wound that looked like a staph infection to his untrained eyes. Worry gripped his heart as he saw infected the injury was.

Picking up his phone, he dialed his brother's number and told him come to his room. Inuyasha knew that he had had formal medical training when he was trained with the Bureau of Investigation. Within minutes, Sesshomaru was slipping through his bedroom door.

"Is it that bad?" He asked with a steeled face. He stopped abruptly at his brother's side when he saw the wound. "Oh god."

Inuyasha looked to him, and Sesshomaru knew he was aware of the severity of her injury. "She needs to get to the hospital, now." Sesshomaru stressed.

It was like a switch went on in his brain. "Yes, yes she does." Inuyasha said, waking up from his shock. "I just thought we might be able help her here or that it wouldn't be so bad…" He looked like a little kid as he picked Kagome up in his arms again.

"I'll drive." Sesshomaru pulled his car key out of his pocket and threw one of Inuyasha's shirts over Kagome. Inuyasha cradled her protectively against his chest as they raced out of his room.

"Mummy!" Sesshomaru and Inuyasha froze as Ileana came running toward them with Izayoi and Kitori close at their heels.

Sesshomaru grabbed his brother's shoulder tightly before he had a chance to turn around. "Keep walking toward the car and don't look back. This isn't the way for your daughter to see you for the first time; you don't want her first memory of you to be you carrying her unconscious mother. Now walk." He gently shoved him forward and turned to bend down to Ileana's level, taking her little hands in his.

"Ileana, I need you to be strong, okay? Your mom has to go to the hospital, she's very sick." He was stern with her, but he knew she understood as she held back the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I'm going to make sure she's okay, but I have to go right now." Sesshomaru looked over at his mother and Kitori who stood rigidly behind Ileana. Ileana nodded at him and squeezed his giant hands.

"Take care of my Mummy, Uncle Sesshy." Her eyes told him she was many years wiser than her age. No normal girl of four would be able to compose themselves as well as she had. Gently, he kissed her forehead and rushed off after his brother. Ileana, like her mother, held herself together and refused to cry. Kitori and Izayoi grabbed each of her hands as they watched him go.

Inuyasha cradled Kagome in the front seat of Sesshomaru's Escalade as they barreled down the road to the Emergency Room. Her breathing was increasingly rising as her fever did and he could feel the sweat running down her body. He pressed a hand over her bleeding wound, trying to slow it down.

Sesshomaru's hands were steady on the wheel as he maneuvered through the rush hour traffic of Tokyo. With squealing tires, he drifted into the ambulance bay at the ER.

Before the car had a chance to stop, Inuyasha had the door open and was rushing through the doors. Nurses stopped in their tracks as they saw the Prince of their country come through their door. Blood dripped through his fingers onto the floor as they stared. "I need a doctor!" He yelled, prompting everyone back into action. A gurney came rushing toward them with a doctor attached to it.

He quickly laid Kagome onto it and pulled his shirt off her. The doctor took one look at her and started shouting. "Get me an IV with heavy antibiotics and prep the OR in case we need it. I need all idle hands on deck people!" In a flurry, the doctor whisked her off. Inuyasha followed after, refusing to be separated from her. "Prep some bags of O Neg. if she loses anymore blood we're going to need them!"

A nurse ran beside him, taking down vital details about Kagome. "When did she collapse?"

"About thirty minutes ago."

"Age?"

"Twenty-three."

"Name?"

"Kagome Higurashi."

"How was the previous injury sustained?"

"In a car accident two days ago. She had her spleen removed as well after the accident." The nurse's face slightly grayed as she mentally calculated a time frame and the severity of the infection the woman presented with.

Inuyasha was about to growl at the nurse when the doctor started to shout again. "We're going to need to go into the OR people!"

"Doctor! What the hell is happening!" Inuyasha shouted, impatience taking control of his tongue.

"Your Highness, we have to get her into the OR now! I'll deal with you once we've stabilized her. Hiro! Start pumping cold fluids into her to bring her fever down. Toromoru! Call the anesthesiologist and tell her to get down here, now. The rest of you, prep for surgery! We've got to get this infection controlled before it starts to become septic. Let's move people!" Inuyasha moved to follow them when the doctor put his hand on his chest. "I need you to stay here! Now listen to me so I can help her. Go sit in the waiting room and I'll come get you when she's out of surgery. I need to do my job and you need to do yours."

Inuyasha stopped as the doctor ran after the rest of the surgical crew into the OR. A nurse grabbed him by the arm, but he hardly noticed. It had taken mere minutes to get her into surgery, but to him it seemed like an hour. Sesshomaru came running into the ER after finally being able to find a parking spot. Nodding, he took his brother's arm from the nurse and led him into the waiting room.

Inuyasha paced the waiting room, ignoring the eyes of the people watching him. Worry was etched across him and Sesshomaru's faces, but Sesshomaru sat calmly in a chair watching his brother. After about five minutes, Inuyasha sat down in the chair across from his brother and hung his head, settling in for the wait.

Six hours later, the doctor came out in his green surgical scrubs. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both rose to their feet as soon as he came through the door. "Your Highnesses, Doctor Hojo." He said holding out his hand. They both shook it before Inuyasha's patience wore thin.

"How is she?" He didn't know how he felt in that moment; it was a mixture of anticipation, fear, and worry. It was the safe feeling that had been making him feel sick for the last six hours.

For the first time, the doctor smiled at the brothers. "She's stable. You got her in here just in time, within the next hour she would have started to become septic. It appeared she had a staph infection that she must have contracted from going through the windshield of her vehicle in her car accident. When she was stitched up, her wound was sterile and protect it from infection spreading, but when she ripped her stitches out, what I'm guessing was yesterday, it began to fester. I want her to stay in here for the next few days though so that I can make sure that we cleaned out all of the infection. She also lost quite a bit of blood, but not enough that she needed a transfusion."

Inuyasha went to open his mouth to say something, but Sesshomaru quickly cut him off. "Thank you, Doctor. When can we see her?"

"I'll lead you back there now." He gave them one last smile before leading them back to her room.

"Why did you cut me off?" Inuyasha growled quietly to his brother.

"Because you looked like you were going to bit his head off for wanting to keep her here." Sesshomaru whispered back smoothly. He opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it, knowing he was right.

Doctor Hojo gestured Kagome's room before leaving the boys in peace. Inuyasha rushed into the room without waiting for his brother, going straight to her side. She had more tubes connected to her this time than she did two days ago and her IV drip was a sickly yellow color.

Gently, he smoothed her hair off of her forehead and kissed it. She had scared the hell out of him by putting on a brave face, but he should have been more observant and picked up on her pain. Guilt washed over him as he realized he had been so self-absorbed with getting to see Ileana he had over looked her mother and her feelings.

Sesshomaru watched his brother with soft eyes. He knew the two of them would eventually work out their differences. Ileana was proof that at one point there was something between them, and from what he had seen of his brother around her, he knew there was still something there.

Quietly, he moved a seat to her other side and sat down next to the bed. Tenderly, he picked her hand up in his and gently ran his thumb over it. He knew he had nothing to worry about; Kagome would pull through for Ileana, he was sure of it.

Inuyasha's eyes never left her face as he continued to gently stroke her cheek. She was still very pale, and the florescent lights made her skin look sallow. He was going to tell her when she opened his eyes. He was going to tell her how he felt. Gently, he ran his hand down her face and took her tiny hand in his, never letting go as he drug a chair over to her side. Neither of the boys spoke, they just held each of her hands and watched her, waiting for her to open her eyes.

Shortly after the boys settled in, a nurse came in to check her vitals. Seeing that nothing was a miss she turned to leave, but Inuyasha stopped her. "What is your name in case we need anything?" He asked.

"Kagura." She said with a smile and continued out the door.

Stay tuned for another chapter!