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Of Butterfly Wings
Chapter Ninety-Nine: Karma
Kagome checked in at the front-counter, signing document after document as the nurses briefed her on Momo's condition.
It was just as she'd thought. The woman had developed stage four ovarian cancer.
Apparently Momo had tried to get it treated when she'd first gotten diagnosed at stage three. She'd had everything removed as a safety precaution but several months later, her doctors discovered that the surgery had been performed too late. The cancer had spread through her body and now, there was little they could do. All other treatments failed and soon, she would be nothing more than a withered corpse.
"We believe that she has two months at most." A doctor explained to her as he kept his voice low, as if concerned that she might break down and cry.
"That's shorter than I expected." Kagome commented.
The doctor flashed her a look of pity but she paid it little heed. Would two months of misery make up for the lifetime of pain she'd caused? It certainly didn't seem so.
"Will Kikyou be coming? I know she requested to talk to the both of you." The doctor questioned.
She merely shook her head, "It's just me. After today please ensure that you do not contact myself or my sister regarding our mother any further. This was a decision she'd made for herself a long time ago."
The man sputtered before he nodded and scurried off, allowing her the chance to finally enter her mother's hospital room.
Kagome sucked a breath through her nose.
She could do this.
She slid the door back and gradually made her way inside.
Sitting up in the bed like a waifish stick figure was what remained of her egg donor. She couldn't bear the thought of considering her a mother a moment longer.
Momo's figure had grown impossibly thin. By now she was barely skin over bones. Her cheeks had sunken in and the beauty of her youth had become but a faint memory. In its place was a sickly pallor and yellow-rimmed eyes.
It seemed as if the cancer had already destroyed her liver, or had her excessive drinking done that?
"Funny," Kagome folded her arms over her chest. "Your appearance is starting to match that dried up stone you call a heart. I'd say that you'd need to lose a few more pounds first. Really hit the mark for a walking skeleton if you want to advertise your true personality."
"My baby!" Momo cried out, reaching her arms towards her. "Come here!"
She wasn't sure if her mother missed what she'd said or if she simply ignored it.
"Nah, I think I'll stay right where I am." Kagome folded her arms over her chest.
If she walked any closer to the woman then she'd be liable to punch her. Hitting a woman dying of cancer never looked good in the eyes of the law no matter how justified she was. Plus as much as she and Touya enjoyed using his handcuffs for sex, she didn't want him to be forced to arrest her. Granted, he'd probably die of laughter first.
"Tell me something," Kagome pushed on, "Why are you here?" Her eyes thinned as the woman shifted on her bed. "You live in Tokyo. The Shrine is in Tokyo. So what are you doing here in Fukuoka?"
She already knew the answer but she wanted to hear it from Momo directly.
Being a mom for several years now, she'd learned a thing or two about wrangling answers from those who didn't want to admit their guilt.
"Answer me, Momo." Kagome demanded. "Otherwise I'll walk right out that door."
"Please don't!" Momo sobbed as she reached for her again.
Kagome remained where she stood, not flinching at the pitiful display the once proud woman was putting on.
"So talk." She warned her again.
Momo's chin quivered as she began to speak, "I asked to be transferred here because I wanted to spend my last days making amends." She leaned on her palms in a futile attempt to close the distance between them, "I know that I screwed up in the past but I swear that I'll be a better person from now on! I just want to see my girls before I leave this world."
By now Momo had broken down in full hysterics. She cried so hard that her breaths came in pained gasps. The heart monitor beeped noisily as the woman carried on.
The very sound grated on her ears.
She felt a cold pooling of fury coil in the pit of her stomach.
"Did you know that Endeavor was physically, emotionally and verbally abusive towards his family?" Kagome asked.
"What?" Momo peered up at her in utter confusion.
She pressed on, "When I first met him it was when he had cornered Touya and was trying to force him to enter the hero course against his will. I confronted Endeavor back then and called him out on his behavior." She then pinned the older woman with a sharp glare, "Do you know what he did after that?"
Momo shook her head slowly, as if still confused as to where she was going with this.
"He changed." Kagome answered for her. "It was slow and a painful process for him, but he worked hard to make amends with his children." She glanced at her, "I also think the day he met you was the day he saw what his future would be like if he didn't change."
"I'm being honest! I have changed!" Momo pleaded once again.
Kagome continued to keep her distance, "You know what really sets you two apart? Enji never tried to force any of his children to accept his apologies or forgive him. He asked them to let him atone for his sins with his actions." She fought the urge to sigh when Momo's wailing grew to a fever pitch. "You haven't changed at all. You're demanding that we forgive you and pretend that all is right in the world because you're dying. Well news flash, being ravaged by cancer doesn't give you a hall pass to forgiveness."
Kagome's voice raised as she felt her blood pressure rising, "You're using your terminal disease as an attempt to force myself and Kikyou into maintaining contact with you." She pointed at the woman accusatorially, "How dare you play innocent and demand that we forgive you! Even if the police couldn't prove it, we both know that you were the one who led Inuyasha right to us! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? What if he'd decided to attack? What then?"
Momo sank into a heap of skin and bones on the hospital bed. The deep, wailing sobs that tore from the woman's throat sounded like the cries of a banshee in her ears. Although she didn't think that there was much of a difference between the specter that was her egg donor and the banshee. They both achieved the same result.
"I didn't do it! I'm so sorry!"
Kagome swept her palm over her face in frustration, "If you're going to continue denying it, don't apologize right afterwards and act like you're innocent."
She straightened her shoulders.
Honestly she was getting tired of this. Hearing the woman wail and cry was irritating enough, but seeing her beg for forgiveness was just something that she couldn't bear. Not after everything that woman had put their whole family through.
Her relationship with Kikyou had been fractured for most of their lives due to her interference.
She'd lacked confidence in both herself as a personal and in her physical appearance after all the side remarks their egg donor had thrown her way. Momo had spent much of her early teen years tearing her down, calling her fat because her curves were viable through her clothing and worse of all, she'd called her vulgar when men leered at her before she'd even turned thirteen.
When she'd first started dating Touya, she didn't believe herself to be all that attractive. She thought she was just average at best and ugly compared to other girls with more slender figures. It'd taken a long time for her to accept that Touya truly did see her as the sexiest woman alive. It made her cherish her husband all the more for his efforts, but she couldn't begin to forgive her own parent for foisting that image onto her in the first place.
The very thought of someone speaking to Yua and Hina the way Momo did to her just made her blood boil.
"Do you recall what I said to you when you kicked me out of the Shrine?" Kagome pinned her with a pointed look.
If possible, Momo's face turned several shades paler into a deathly white.
"No!" She shook her head furiously, "Please no! Anything but that!"
Kagome didn't budge as Momo managed to clamor off the bed and crawl towards her feet.
"I don't want to die in an assisted living facility! Please, at least send me somewhere else!" Momo threw her arms around her legs and Kagome had to physically stop herself from kicking the woman reflexively.
"Why would I do anything for you?" Her voice remained cold as she held completely still, not trusting herself to not hurt the invalid.
Kagome continued, "I've already signed the paperwork. You've emptied almost all of your bank accounts and insurance wasn't willing to cover much." She shot her a baleful look, "You're going to the only place you can afford."
She'd been surprised to learn that she and Kikyou had been listed as Momo's Power of Attorney. The woman had used the Higurashi surname for them both but after she showed proof of her maiden name, she'd been permitted to look over all of Momo's accounts, documents and even what little remained of her will. There was a clause in the will that stated that any grandchild born with the Crystallize quirk would inherit the Shrine. Little did Momo know that she had every intention of bulldozing that house and selling off the land to a heteromorph housing developer.
"You're rich, I know you are!" Momo's crying suddenly morphed into a furious screech. "I saw that interview on TV! You can pay to send me somewhere else! You ungrateful child!" Momo beat her fists against her shins as she melted into a heap on the floor. "Do you know how much I've sacrificed for you both? Yet you bitches turned on me! Is this the thanks I get for bringing you into this world?"
Kagome took Momo's wrists into her hands and crouched in front of the tantruming woman. She leveled her gaze with Momo's and spoke low in a deep and furious tone.
"Your first mistake was believing that we owed you anything for giving birth to us." She held fast as Momo squirmed, trying futilely to wrench her hands out of her grip. Kagome continued, "Your final mistake was thinking you could use your cancer to garner any sympathy. You've made your bed so now you get to lie in it for what remains of your pathetic life."
The nurses moved in as they took notice of the commotion, swarming between the two of them in an instant.
"Remember this," Kagome finished as she made her way towards the door. "While you're withering away in a facility that will give you all the treatment you deserve, all of your grandchildren will grow up never knowing who you are. They will never know your name or the legacy of the Crystallize quirk. The last of the Higurashi line will die with you and none of us will shed a tear when you're gone." She gave one last parting wave at the woman, "I hope you enjoy what's left because none of us will be there to see it."
With that she stalked out of the hospital, Momo's shrill cries of fury and despair rang like music in her ears.
Tomorrow would be a new day.