Another update! Huzzah! Life has been good to me recently and so here is me being good to you! Enjoy and review! =]
Disclaimer: Don't own Inu n'co
Chapter 11 Back to Square One
As I slowly gained consciousness over my body I knew something was wrong. My ears picked up on worried voices and hard words. My eyes snapped open and I searched frantically for InuYasha sure something had gone wrong while I was sleeping and he was in trouble. Scanning the room I found I was alone and so I followed the sounds of the voices into the lab. "What's going on?" I locked my eyes on InuYasha checking him for injuries but he looked fine. I did the same for Koga and Sango but they were both in similar condition. Other than their rigid stances and frowning faces nothing appeared to be wrong.
"You're green instead of blue." A new voice announced from somewhere off to the side of me.
My eyes spotted the new arrival and I looked between him and my friends askance. "I'm what?" I glared at him, "And who are you?"
"Miroku, I'm Koga's lab assistant and like I said you're green, look for yourself." He pointed to my arms and I slowly looked down suddenly worried.
"Oh…" My skin was tinged a hunter green that didn't look healthy, I imagined what I looked like with my silver hair and now green skin, probably like an alien. I stopped my thoughts reminding myself that InuYasha was an alien and he looked normal enough, especially compared to me. "What's wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you!" Sango protested as she came over to me. She took my hands and pulled them down looking with me at my green tinged skin. "Those are the nano bots."
"So they're alive in me still?" I frowned looking over at InuYasha but he didn't seem as distraught as I thought he might, he wasn't looking directly at me, instead his eyes were scanning my skin taking in the green hue. I hid my bare arms behind my back not liking the look on his face, or the way he was grimacing.
"We don't know, something's wrong, they should have turned blue, but don't worry this could be a good sign." Sango seemed to be over our little tiff this new hope shining in her eyes. I liked it very much and it gave me a little hope.
"I suppose you have a theory?" I didn't like being out of the loop and there was obviously something I didn't know. Had they learned something important while I'd been asleep? How long had I been asleep?
"The nano bots are definitely alive, but something's different, they aren't active or something, like they've been inoculated. If we can find out what caused it then maybe we can use nano bot technology in the future." Koga's words were excited, but he paused to think for a long moment before continuing. "Of course we'll have to find out whether they'll still do their jobs."
"Well that's just great, but more importantly, when am I going to look normal again?" I had never felt uncomfortable in my own body before but with my unnatural silver hair and my now green tinged skin I was in need of some normalcy.
"Well, it shouldn't be more than 24 hours but since this isn't a normal reaction we won't know for sure." Koga offered, he too seemed to be back on talking terms with me, though I could tell by the tight lines of his face that he was still thinking about what had transpired in his office earlier.
I wondered again at how long I'd been asleep. I wish there were a window somewhere so I could see outside. "Don't worry Kagome, I'm sure it'll be fine, you'll be back to normal soon." Sango gave me a small smile.
"Except my hair," I muttered fingering the silver strands behind my back.
"Actually that will be fixed soon too." InuYasha crossed the room and took my arms from behind my back. He took my hands and squeezed them softly. "My brother is on his way, he's agreed to help us find a way to resolve the bomb issue. And knowing my brother he won't come empty handed. We can fix your hair as soon as he gets here." He brushed the soft bangs from my face and placed a light kiss to my forehead.
"Thank god." I murmured, curious as to how they'd convinced Sesshomaru to come help me. It must have been Sango, she had a way of getting people to see things her way.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to run a simple test." It was Miroku's voice that came around InuYasha's large frame.
I moved around so to see him better. "What kind of test?"
"I want to see if the nano bots still function properly." Miroku shrugged making it seem like an obvious answer.
"Okay, how are you going to do that?" I stepped fully around InuYasha and moved toward Miroku, I hoped it was a damn good idea.
"Well it'd be best if we did this without a biased party in attendance." Miroku admitted.
I frowned unsure of what he meant, but Koga filled in the blanks for me. "He wants the rest of us to leave."
"Not going to happen." InuYasha answered for me, I judged the look on his face debating my chances of winning, but it looked like I'd need something to distract him away from this subject before he went postal.
"Maybe we should take a break from all of this for a while. I could really use something to eat." I decided this could wait for at least a few hours, it ended up waiting two weeks. We'd all been so stressed out lately that even the time clock counting down in my body wasn't enough to cast a shadow over our day. We were careful where we went with my green skin and silver hair InuYasha was sure to keep me covered up so no one would look at me. Not that anyone cared, except me of course.
Miroku made an interesting addition to our group, when he wasn't arguing with InuYasha he was flirting with Sango and neither of them seemed to like it very much, but I found it immensely amusing because it distracted away from my predicament. Koga was mostly quiet and reserved I knew he was still upset over my decisions but I wasn't going to apologize, I couldn't stop my feelings and I didn't want to have to explain myself. Even though the change of heart had been sudden, my mind had already chosen InuYasha, there was nothing that would change that either.
When Sesshomaru arrived the first thing on the agenda was fixing my hair, and when I had my dark tresses back I couldn't have been happier. InuYasha seemed to approve as well. By then my skin had also returned to normal which meant I was completely back to being just me again. We tried endless tests but never the one Miroku had suggested on that first day. Every time the subject was breeched InuYasha turned it down and the more time that passed the more desperate I became.
I weighed my options and knew I had to do something. I had to have one ally in this so I spoke to Koga alone for the first time in two weeks. "We need to talk." I pulled him aside and just to be safe checked to see that InuYasha was busy.
"What? Having second thoughts?" Koga was being a real shit and he was doing it on purpose, but I couldn't help feeling bad for him. He'd been betrayed by me, after all this time he'd spent trying to save me and I wasn't able to love him like I had.
"No, stop being petty." I snapped unable to control myself. "How well do you know Miroku?"
Koga frowned at me momentarily. "What do you mean?"
"I mean I'm going to let him do whatever it is he's planning but I need to know that you trust him, I trust your judgment, so tell me you trust him." I kept checking around us making sure everyone hadn't noticed our little huddle.
Koga looked over at Miroku then back at me. "Indefinitely." That was all I needed to know I was going to take this chance, but first I had to get InuYasha out of here.
"InuYasha? Would you do something for me?" I crossed the room to him giving him a warm smile and hating myself for my poker face.
"Sure, what is it?" His face was soft as he looked down at me, trusting me completely.
"I'm hungry, would you go get me something to eat?" I knew I was pushing my luck but he didn't seem to notice the farce.
"Yeah I could use some chow too if you're going." Miroku added helping me with my little lie without knowing it.
I could tell he was trying to remember the last time he saw me eat and my tummy gave a soft rumble to help my cause. He instantly gave in. "I'll be back, don't do anything stupid." He turned and spotted Sango. "Keep her safe." He pecked my cheek with a light kiss and left.
I waited and counted to ten giving him plenty of time to get outside and away from the building and then turned to Miroku. "What was your idea?"
"Kagome, what are you doing?" Sango gave me a wary look coming over to grab my arm. "Are you stupid? He'll find out."
I frowned at her. "Yes, I am, and I know he will, but at least I know what has to be done. I know he won't be happy with me but I need to know more than he needs to protect me. I'll be fine, I trust Koga and he says Miroku is fine, I'm doing this." I felt like I should have a head of fiery red hair for as stubborn as I was acting lately, but this was my life.
Sango didn't give me another glare instead she turned her attention to Miroku. "If you do anything I don't like you won't get the chance to face InuYasha's wrath." Her voice was dangerous but I liked that she was protecting me and allowing me to make my own decisions.
"Maybe you should go too." Miroku offered. "I have only one way to do this and it's not going to be pain free."
"I stay, you will tell me what's going on as it happens, and if I say stop you are going to listen to me." Sango was so serious I was afraid even if Miroku didn't seem to flinch at her words.
"I think you're going to be sorely disappointed, because this is Kagome's decision not yours and I'm not going to cause her pain just to hear her scream." Miroku replied simply, I like the way he handled Sango's anger, it gave me a reason to trust him. I wasn't comforted by his words though.
"Let's get this done before he gets back." I say referring to InuYasha.
"Sounds good, if you'd come over here and lay down." Miroku motion to the metal exam table and went to an overhead cabinet to pull out some bottles and a fresh packet of utensils. "The nano bots work on three different levels, deep muscle, organ, and epidural. We need to test all three levels to make sure they are responsive."
"You're going to cut her open and see if the nano bots fix her? Isn't that risky?" Sango was there beside me holding my hand but I was trying my best to be unresponsive.
"Well yeah it's risky, but I'm pretty sure the nano bots are still working." Miroku sounded confident, and I hoped he was right.
"So you really think they got inoculated somehow?" Sango asked but didn't give him a chance to answer. "That's really stupid you know, what could possibly have inoculated them? It's not like we gave her anything and we didn't put her through any kind of machine that has that kind of power."
"I don't know how it happened, but I do know that she isn't feeling any pain at all, and the dye didn't give us the right color so something is different." Miroku answered, he motioned again for the metal table and I noticed Sesshomaru move over to guard the door like InuYasha would sense my danger and come running through the door at any second.
"Um…" I looked behind me at Koga but he wasn't making a move, and Sango next to me gave my fingers a reassuring squeeze. I nodded and got myself up onto the table. I lie down but I was extremely tense, as solid as the metal beneath me.
"Relax." Miroku told me as he gently pulled up my shirt to reveal my stomach. "I'm going to numb you up here a bit, but be prepared for pain, I can't numb you all the way, but this will help a little."
I held my breath and waited for the twinge of pain that would come with the needle. It hit right above my right hip and I jumped a little, but Sango was there next to me holding my hand and I felt myself relax a little.
"Koga would you come hold her, I don't want to mess this up." Miroku smiled down at me reassuringly but I wasn't comforted.
"Stay calm Kagome, it'll be alright." Koga brushed my hair momentarily before placing his hands on my shoulders, the small amount of pressure was just the beginning. "Sango take her legs would you?" Sango nodded resolutely and then I felt her weight on my thighs.
"Remember, relax. It'll be over before you know it and then it'll just be a bad memory." Miroku's voice was calming and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"Okay, get it over with." I muttered, Miroku's head bent over me and I saw a familiar glint of a scalpel, my head swam with panic and I closed my eyes against the hard lights above me, but I never felt any pain. I didn't get the chance to.
"If you touch her with that thing you're as good as dead." InuYasha's voice was seething and my eyes snapped open as my head turned to find him. He must have realized this was the first time we'd been apart since I came here and thought it was strange that I was sending him alone instead of going with him. Or maybe he'd just come back to ask me what I wanted. Either way I was in deep shit now and if looks could kill I'd already be dead. Koga and Sango let me go and I sat up uneasily. I hated being deceitful but I needed to know, I was running out of time.
"InuYasha, please we need to find out, it's the only way." I swung my legs over the side of the metal table and felt an odd sensation in my side, or rather lack of feeling.
"Not like that you don't, you don't know how the nano bots are going to react, and they may not heal you, did you think about that?" InuYasha was halfway across the room and even though he sounded angry his eyes were more worried than anything.
"We can't wait any longer, I have 8 days, less than that. We can't wait till I fall and manage to hurt myself to find out. I have to know." I tried to get up but instead he came to me.
"InuYasha I think she's right, I mean if the nano bots are still working and we can test that then maybe we can use that acid formula without hurting her permanently." Koga offered his idea, one that I knew had been brewing since we'd found that the nano bots weren't just going to kill me, but instead live inside of me peacefully.
InuYasha glanced up momentarily at Koga, I couldn't tell if he was seriously thinking about letting me go through with this, or trying to think of a way to convince me not to. "Okay, we do this, but we do it slow. One small cut first to see the response, I'll not allow them to just cut you open and leave it all to chance."
I nodded at him accepting his conditions, I liked it better this way anyway, I wanted him to be here and watch over me. "Let's get this done then."
Still numb, I lie back down and feel the pressure where Miroku presses on my hip. I frown and his finger's move away from my skin. "Can you feel that?"
I lift my head and see he's got his hand pressing down a few inches higher than where I last felt him touch. "Nope, so this one isn't going to hurt?"
"No, you won't feel a thing." Miroku smiled and I felt relief wash over me. Sango took my hand and gave it a squeeze. I could sense her ease from her previous discomfort. InuYasha was by my shoulder his hand playing in my hair, I knew Sesshomaru was off in the distance but close enough to see the results as they happened. Koga had backed up a bit but I could still see his face light up with excitement and I wondered if that meant Miroku had made the incision.
"Miroku?" Sango's voice was worried above me, I wanted to know what was going on.
"Give them a moment." Koga's voice suggested and I could just imagine what was happening, nothing.
I closed my eyes to hide my disappointment. "What now?"
"Nothing we can do, we'll just have to find another way." Miroku didn't sound disappointed just chagrinned
Let's get this bandaged and we can try something new, Sesshomaru any comments?" InuYasha asked and I felt his hands on my stomach.
"Don't patch her up just yet." Sesshomaru didn't speak much but when he did everyone listened, even InuYasha. Sesshomaru was standing over me when I opened my eyes. "Still no feeling?" He asked as his fingers pressed on my flesh. I shook my head. "Don't sew her up, you used 100 ccs?"
"Yes. What are you thinking?" Miroku asked moving to a cabinet to collect some bandages.
"Just give it some time." Sesshomaru moved away from me and Miroku cleaned up the six inch wound on the right side of my stomach.
"Okay you can get up now." Miroku put his hand on my shoulder and helped me to sit up.
I pulled my shirt back into place and looked at InuYasha. "I really am hungry. Let's go get us something to eat." We all agreed on getting Chinese, and were sitting in the nearby park eating with our chop sticks when the feeling in my side returned. It tingled at first and I brushed my finger over the bandage through my shirt. One minute everything was fine—we were talking and laughing and forgetting the world as we knew it—the next thing I knew I was in immense pain, the cut above my hip burning like it was on fire. It was like the space travel all over again, I dropped my chopsticks and the square container of rice I'd been eating and I tried to stand. By now I had everyone's attention but all I could think about was not throwing up.
"InuYasha…" I lost my breath as I doubled over in pain.
"What's wrong with her?" I heard Sango's panic above the roar in my head. "Kagome! InuYasha? What are you doing?"
I was aware of hands on me, someone picked me up and laid me out flat which I automatically responded to by curling in on myself. I flinched through my withering as the bandage over my cut was removed. Whatever they saw caused silence and I tried opening my eyes instead I only managed to blink my eyes trying to understand what I'd missed in my agony. "They're fixing her." Miroku breathed above my head awe in his tone.
"They're hurting her!" Sango voice was tense, there was no doubt she was troubled by the discomfort smeared over my features.
The pain finally eased up the nausea didn't seem to go away, but I was able to sit up and look for myself. My side was scar free and pain free now that the process had finished out, and when I looked around me at my friends I dreaded my next question. "What does this mean?"
No one answered me until we were all back inside Koga's lab, and I thought for a moment that maybe they hadn't heard me and I was getting ready to ask again when finally I was answered.
"It means that the acid plan is out, there's no way we're cutting you open if it's going to hurt like that." InuYasha's voice was firm and no one contradicted him outright.
"Well…" Miroku's voice trailed for a moment, and he stepped back at InuYasha's glare. "Just hear me out."
"InuYasha, I want to hear." My voice held power I didn't know I had, but it seemed every time I voiced my opinion he let me win. I don't know if it was because I was going to die soon, or because he respected my wishes, but I liked knowing he'd let me do things my way.
"If we put her into a medicated coma we can do the procedure without causing her pain, and then just wait it out till she's healed up like normal." Miroku explained.
"We can't use the acid on her if the nano bots can't heal her, she'll die before she heals." Koga interjected.
"Is there any way to alter her pain receptors?" Sango wondered aloud, trying to find another solution.
"I doubt we could come up with anything in time, we can't numb her up since we know that it also numbs the bots, maybe we should test an anesthetic, put her under and see if the bots heal her up." Koga looked at InuYasha careful with his words.
"I think we should try it." Miroku took Koga's side but I knew it was a good idea to try even if the growl that came out of InuYasha meant he didn't agree. "We can make it a very small incision, nothing that will be terribly painful for her, like a paper cut or a skinned knee."
"InuYasha, don't be stupid, you know it's a good idea." Sesshomaru gave his opinion regally taking Koga's side.
"No, it's not a good idea, it wasn't the cut that caused her pain, it was the nano bots, it doesn't matter how big or small the injury is, it's still going to hurt to heal her." InuYasha gave his opinion with no second option. He wasn't letting them cut me open again, no matter what I said to try and persuade him.
"Are we just going to wait till she accidentally trips and falls down a flight of stairs then?" I was impressed to hear Sango voicing this question.
"Are you going to push her?" InuYasha faced off with her but I knew he didn't pose much of a threat, and Sango didn't appear to be worried.
"No, but who's to say it wouldn't happen?" Sango held her ground even when he stepped toward her.
"You are on dangerous grounds here." He seethed and I almost felt the need to step in. Sango held her own though and she said something that wasn't quite heard before InuYasha backed off a step.
I wondered what was said, but whatever she had said had clearly changed his mind, even if it was reluctantly. "As long as it's okay with you, then you can go through with it."
"Thank you, let's get this done then." I turned to Koga, "You don't happen to have a more comfortable exam table do you? I don't think my back can handle another round on that metal one."
Sesshomaru was able to conjure up a soft gurney that he had rolled into Koga's lab and it wasn't much longer before everything was hooked up and ready and I was lying back looking up at everyone grouped around me.
InuYasha decided for me that they were only going to prick my finger just enough to make it bleed. It seemed silly now that they were putting me under in order to do what most diabetics had done daily, but we'd do things InuYasha's way to keep him from going crazy.
"Okay Kagome, if you would count backwards from ten" Miroku had me all hooked up to a monitor that beeped like the ones I'd seen on tv, and now he was placing a mask over my mouth and nose. I counted like he'd asked but didn't get past eight.
The first thing I felt when I came to was the reeling in my stomach and the need to throw up over powered my need to orient myself before trying to move. I jackknifed on the gurney and it shifted under me, and the moment I could see what was going on around me I emptied my stomach onto the floor. The pain was only a passing wink, my finger burned for a long second and then it was over. I silently thanked InuYasha for the small prick and then allowed myself to cry.
"You alright?" I was surprised by Sesshomaru's voice and then turned to see him sitting there next to me in a chair that hadn't been in the room before.
"The nano bots are causing the pain, there's no way to fix it, and eventually they're going to kill me, the more I get hurt the faster they do their job." I wiped my mouth wishing I had a tooth brush and tooth paste. Sesshomaru and I were alone, and it didn't appear that anyone had heard me wake up. "Where is everyone?"
"Sleeping." Sesshomaru was as talkative as usual. "How can you be sure it's the nano bots causing the pain?"
I shrugged momentarily and thought about my reasoning. "On my trip back to Earth, I was in pain like this—nauseous, my insides were eating away at me making me feel like I feel now—it must have been the bots. I guess that means that the ship must have inoculated them somehow. When InuYasha gave me that sedative it helped but now that the bots are being active again they are causing the same pain again, which can only mean they are going to kill me. Right?" I really wanted him to contradict my words, to give me some false hope, but he was only silent.
"I'll go tell the other's you are awake, I'll give you enough time to clean yourself up if you want." He rose from his seat. "You are a fine female, it would be a shame to lose you as a sister."
He was gone before I could express my gratitude, I couldn't believe he saw me in such a way, it filled my eyes with more tears. I didn't have much time so I rushed to quickly sop up the mess I'd made on the floor. I pitched the blanket I'd used as a mop into an empty trash bin. I watched as my hands shook and felt my body tremble along with them. I was going to have to live with the fact that I was dying all over again.
"Kagome?" InuYasha was there as I turned to face him he already knew the answer to the questions they had. "We'll figure something else out." He pulled me into his arms his warm embrace trapping my shaking limbs.
"Back to square one again." I murmured, I didn't know if Sesshomaru had said anything about what I'd told him, if he'd voiced my opinion on the nano bots, but it was time to give up and head somewhere safe to die. I was down to six days and I wasn't taking another 5 days to make up my mind.
End Chapter
AN: Pretty quick update for me I think : ) Hope everyone liked it I'm almost finished and I'm sooooo excited! Leave a review and tell me what you thought!