So my exams are over... AND I PASSED MY REQUIRED COURSES! So, to thank you all for patience... MASSIVE MAY UPDATES!

I hope you guys like it and that it's worth the wait!

Hospitals were never considered a safe place for Sesshomaru, the smell of antiseptic and sterilization almost too much for him, coupled with latex and disinfected scrubs made his nose wrinkle in disgust.

It was no different than when he was a child, not that he had to visit the place often, having the immune system of a demon. This therefore made the graveness of the situation all the more serious if his mother, a demon that could stand on her own, was here, even after her surgery and recovery.

"Mr. Takahashi?"

Sesshomaru's head lifted from his coffee cup to the doctor that joined him, the demon's light blue eyes looking over his mother's charts.

"Are you Sesshomaru Takahashi?" the other pressed.

"Yes," Sesshomaru nodded, his breath deep as he tried to retain his composure, "how is my mother?"

"Healing well from the surgery," the doctor informed him, "I am Dr. Yamamoto, I'm your mother's doctor."

"And… what happened?"

"We believe she had something of a stroke caused by a blood clot from somewhere other than her brain," the demon explained, "it's called an Embolic Stroke."

"But where did the clot originate from?" Sesshomaru pressed.

"That we don't know, unfortunately," Dr. Yamamoto seemed severely apologetic, "because of her demon biology, where it came from could have healed. However, her assistant commented that she had been complaining of leg pain earlier, so we think it might be that."

"So what you're telling me is this could happen again?" the demon asked, his fear hidden behind his stoic mask.

"Very likely," the doctor admitted, "we've given her some blood pressure medication, it was unusually high and she told us she was under a great deal of stress-"

"She's awake?"

The doctor looked up to the demon, his eyebrows raised in surprise, "yes, for some time now; keeps demanding she be sent home."

"How much longer will she be here?" Sesshomaru pressed, his jaw tightening at the thought of his disgruntled mother fuming in her hospital bed.

"About another day or two, until the tests are finished and we've had any other procedure she might need," Dr. Yamamoto explained, "but, that's another thing. Does she live with anyone?"

"No," the demon shook his head, "my father and her divorced several years ago and I moved out of the house at eighteen," he shrugged his shoulders, "she doesn't even have one home in the first place; she owns several apartments in various cities, she only owns a house in Japan for registration purposes."

"Do you know anyone she could stay with?" the doctor pressed, "'I'm afraid she'll need constant care and monitoring."

"Do you fear another stroke?"

"Yes and no; we'll know more after the tests, but she needs to recover, preferably with someone there to keep an eye on her and care for her should she need it."

"Would she need to hire a nurse?" Sesshomaru continued.

"We'll see after the results come in," Dr. Yamamoto explained.

"And… was there any damage… from the stroke?"

The demon feared that his mother had some permanent damage, that she wouldn't recover from this.

"I could have been a great deal worse," the doctor assured him, "when she woke, her memory was intact and she had full function of her limbs, but we think motor control in her legs might be impaired."

"I-Im-"

"It doesn't appear very drastic and with some physiotherapy she looks like she'll heal splendidly," Dr. Yamamoto told him quickly, "trust me, she'll be fine."

"That's good," Sesshomaru sighed in relief.

"We'll keep her here for a few days," the other pressed on, "she might need another operation depending on the origin of the clot."

"How long will the recovery process be?"

"It depends on what the extent of the damage is," he told him, "because she's a demon, shorter than a human's, but she'll need to be monitored for at least thirty days, perhaps longer."

"Alright, is there anything else I should know?" Sesshomaru asked, his body shifting uncomfortably.

"When the tests come back and we know more, we'll let you know," the doctor promised, "would you like to see your mother?"

The demon sucked in a deep breath, unsure if he was truly ready to face his mother.

"If she can have visitors…"

"Of course she can," Dr. Yamamoto nodded, "come, I'll show you to her room."

Nodding, Sesshomaru followed the doctor towards his mother's room, the door opening to the private hospital room, the regal demon lying the bed, her lips pursed and her hands around a magazine, her head looking up to her visitors.

"Good afternoon Ms. Sasaki," the doctor murmured kindly, "your son is-"

"I know damn well he's here, I've known for an hour," the demon woman snapped, "now leave us alone."

His lips tightening into a thin line, the doctor nodded to her before Sesshomaru, the door shutting behind the doctor, the two demons left alone in the room. The demon looked his mother over, seeing her without make-up for the first time since he was four. It both surprised and impressed him that, even though she was hooked up to tubes and in a horrendous hospital gown, she was still radiating an imposing aura.

"Hello mother," Sesshomaru started, hating the silence that filled the room.

"Hello Sesshomaru," she nodded, "how have you been?"

"I suppose I should ask you that question," the demon told her, moving carefully towards his mother, "what happened?"

"Nothing drastic," InuKimi brushed off, "ask him when I can go home."

"Mother-"

"I'm fine," InuKimi brushed off, her face disgruntled as she shuffled uncomfortably in her hospital gown, "ask him when I can go home."

"I did," her son insisted, "he said it's dangerous for you to go home alone for now, in your condition-"

"I can hire servants," the woman snapped, "I'll be fine."

"He just wants to keep you safe-"

"I'm a demon," she emphasised, "I'll be fine. I'm basically healed as it is!"

"You had a stroke!" Sesshomaru told her exasperatedly, "you cannot brush this off like a scrape!"

"It wasn't a full one," InuKimi shot back, "they think it was caused by Deep Vein Thrombosis that moved through the blood to my brain-"

"Well, that makes the situation all the better," the younger demon grumbled, his fingers rubbing his temples.

"I'm here, I'm talking, I'm lucid, and I have full mobility," the demon woman pointed out, her head standing proud and tall, "it's obvious it was nothing-"

"Nothing that almost killed you," Sesshomaru told her, "and the doctor told me there's a risk it could happen again."

"Could," his mother emphasized, "doesn't mean it will."

"If they find where the clot came from, then you're right, you won't," the younger demon murmured, "must you be so difficult?"

"I no longer wish to subject myself to a battery of tests and become someone's pin cushion," the woman snapped, "what is the problem with that!?"

"Those tests are to find out what's wrong with you," her son argued, though as to why he no longer knew.

"There is nothing -"

"I don't know how many times I've repeated this, but it clearly hasn't sunken through yet," his hands supported themselves on the mattress, "you had a stroke, you are unwell, they're worried about another one; not to mention your blood pressure is well above normal."

"I'm just a little stressed out from all these shows and magazines I'm doing," InuKimi protested, "once this wave ends, I'll be back to normal."

"No, once this wave ends, you'll take on another one," Sesshomaru murmured, "you always need to be working."

"I can take a break you know," the demon woman snapped.

"Forgive me, I've just never seen it happen-"

"The doctors coming back, ask him when I can go home."

Sesshomaru's mouth opened in shock as his mother settled back to her hospital bed, the magazine flicked open once again, effectively signalling the end of their conversation. Her son sighed deeply, figuring to move around the room to calm himself. She had always been like this, insistent that she had the last word, that any decision she made was the final one, and he would just need to live with it.

True to her prediction, the doctor knocked once more on the door, smiling as he was allowed entry by Sesshomaru.

"Pardon me for interrupting you two-"

"What were the results?" InuKimi cut him off, "when can I go home?"

"Unfortunately, not for a while," the doctor murmured, "we've found the origin of your clot. It was as we assumed, it came from your leg."

"So… what's the next step?" Sesshomaru murmured, looking from the doctor to his mother who seemed blissfully unaffected by the news.

"That's what I need to talk to your mother about," Dr. Yamamoto murmured, "would you mind-"

"He can stay," InuKimi told him, "what are my options?"

"Well, we think you might need a stent put in in your leg to keep the flow smooth," the demon told the two of them, "as we suspected, you'll need some physiotherapy to regain full use of your legs."

"My legs can heal on their own-"

"Not to this degree," the doctor tried to assure her, "ma'am-"

"What's next?" the woman pressed on, her hands smoothing the folds in the blanket.

"And you'll need someone you can stay with," the demon seemed defeated, Sesshomaru rubbing his forehead in frustration.

"I'll hire someone," InuKimi muttered, "now if that's everyone, can you get my discharge papers ready?"

"I will after you're in recovery for surgery and are healing as I would like," Dr. Yamamoto stood firm, his eyes glancing to Sesshomaru, "but if you agree to the surgery, I'll grab the consent form for it."

His lips tightening, Sesshomaru let the doctor close the door behind him before he turned back to his mother.

"Don't start Sesshomaru," the demon woman cut him off, "I'm getting a stent put in, and then I'll have an assistant come by and check up on me-"

"That's not good enough mother," Sesshomaru murmured, "you need physiotherapy in order to get back on your feet, both literally and figuratively."

"You are my son," InuKimi pointed out, "and so you know that because of our heritage we're stronger than any human!"

"But what if you don't," her son asked exasperatedly , "what if this isn't one of those things that can heal on your own?" he sucked in a deep breath, "which is why… you should come live with me until you're healed."

Her amber eyes looked towards him, her face slacked before a laugh broke through her lips, her body folding overtop of itself before she clapped a hand to her mouth.

"Oh Sesshomaru," she continued to laugh, patting his arm, "I know I'm not feeling well, but you don't need to go joking about something like that!"

"Well I'm glad I made you laugh," Sesshomaru muttered, "but I was completely serious."

Her lips were still smiling as they looked up at him, her face falling at the seriousness of his.

"So you are," she told him, her lips pressing together, "in that case, no."

"Mother-"

"I am not a child," his mother spat at him, "I do not need to be cared for by some nurse-"

"I'm not asking you to be babied," Sesshomaru retorted, "and I don't want to subject you to it! All I'm asking is for me to help you! It won't kill you!"

"And if it does?"

The demon stood tall, his jaw tightening at the stubbornness of his mother.

"Then at least I'll be right," he muttered quietly, his mother seemingly taken back at his words. "Mother," Sesshomaru started once more, "please; I can take care of you-"

"You work constantly," she pointed out, "and you don't even know how to cook-" her tongue flicked over her lips, "well, I guess you don't have too, you've got her."

Sesshomaru looked down at the magazine she showed to him, the picture of him and Rin staring him in the face. At this he licked his lips, his lungs expelling in a deep sigh.

"I should have figured you'd have seen that," the demon muttered, "I was going to tell you about her-"

"When?"

"When you started accepting my calls," Sesshomaru snapped, his eyes closing as he struggled to reason with his mother. "Mother-"

"Who is she?" InuKimi pressed, "she can't be your girlfriend."

"Dare I ask why you think that?"

"Because she's human," his mother pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, her son sucking in the millionth deep breath, bracing himself for the unknown, just thankful they were in a hospital.

"Her name, mother, is Rin," Sesshomaru started slowly, "and I've been with her for almost a year now, and to answer your question, yes, she is a human."

Things, the demon suspected, could have been infinitely worse and thought his mother handled the news rather well considering her heart continued to beat while she fainted.

Phew... so? what did you guys think? Reviews please ^^