A few days later - October 10th
Kagome hums to herself as she piles pickle after pickle onto her plate. She ignores the dense atmosphere of Sesshomaru's negativity. Her powers rise to ease the demonic pressure weighing her down. She wonders how many business deals he has secured simply from making the room uncomfortable with his energy. "Want some?" She offers, though she knows the answer. Kagome glances over her shoulder and pouts at the sight.
Sesshomaru is scrolling through his phone leisurely, not paying the slightest attention to her question. Rude. Fine, it's not like she wanted to share anyway. She takes a seat at the table, inhaling the sweet, sweet smell of fresh pickles. Her mouth waters, her stomach rumbles, and she thinks she could survive off of pickles alone. Satoru might object if there aren't any sweets in the house.
"Your mate is unhinged," Sesshomaru says, taking a seat next to her at the kitchen table. He curls his upper lip up, showing off his sharp canines at the mountain of pickles on her plate. His phone rests on the other side of him, far away from her mountain of delectable goods, as though somehow his phone will be tarnished by them. His shoulders are slightly hunched, giving away the amount of stress resting on his shoulders. It must be hard to run a business and keep those under him in check.
Kagome picks up one pickle and munches on it, her thoughts filtering as she chews. "Satoru isn't unhinged…he's just processing his emotions by throwing himself into his work." Mentally, she pats herself on the back. Satoru, taking on more missions to track down Naraku and pretending to search for the Shikon, isn't unhinged. Sesshomaru is just being dramatic and pissy because she turned down his demands to stay at the estate.
"The number of curses that he has–"
"That isn't a bad thing." She reaches for another pickle, humming as she munches on another. Judgment rolls off of Sesshomaru and curls around her like a blanket. Let him judge, she thinks, she'll eat this whole pile of pickles in one sitting just to irritate him. "Don't you have work or something to do? Go lord over your minions." Clearly, not working is causing him to stress out. She doesn't need a babysitter.
"Why else would this Sesshomaru be here?" he says, idly picking off a strand of hair on his tailored dark suit.
Why else would he…? Oh, that son of a…
"Get out," she says with a huff. "And send Shippo over instead. Much better company." She glances down at her gold watch. If she wants to make it on time to meet Megumi at the hospital, then she needs to head out soon-ish.
"The kit is busy assisting that other fox of yours."
"That's cause for concern." Kagome stretches her arms out in front of her and then pushes back against the table. She stands, dusting her hands on her leggings. She grabs her plate and rinses it off before putting it in the dishwasher. Clasping her hands together, she regards Sesshomaru, who seems lost in thought. "Ready?" Kagome tilts her head at Sesshomaru's blank expression. His face is usually a blank mask but there are levels to his lack of emotions and this level is telling her that he has no idea what she is talking about. "I promised Megumi-kun that I would take a look at his sister. There's like a curse or something on her." She could have sworn that she told him that when he came over.
"Must you help everyone?" he murmurs to himself. His glamor shimmers into place as he stands. The chair squeaks as he pushes his and hers back in.
Kagome beams. "Megumi-kun is meeting us there and then he's got a mission or something later. Satoru should be back home for dinner, so you don't have to hang out with me all day," she rambles on as Sesshomaru followers her towards the front door. She raises a brow at Jaken, sleeping with his hat pulled over his eyes. The obnoxious sound of his snores is hard to miss, and if he is doubling as the bodyguard, then that is also cause for concern. "Jaken could have come inside, ya know."
Sesshomaru ignores her and kicks Jaken in the side. The car door cushions his fall, only denting slightly from the impact. "Get up Jaken." Sesshomaru opens the back door for her, glaring at Jaken, who only sniffles and blubbers on.
Kagome sighs and then plasters a pained smile on her face. She feels for Jaken, she really does, though perhaps sleeping on the job wasn't the smartest decision he's ever made. "Well, Jaken, perhaps you can get checked out when we get to the hospital." She slides into the back seat. Her right eye twitches when Sesshomaru does the same, the space now cramped with him in the back with her. At least he smells nice and she won't vomit on the way there. Ijichi took her and the kids grocery shopping the other day, and she thought was going to lose it from the god-awful cologne Ijichi chose for that day. Jaken grumbles to himself up front as he starts the car and reaches back to get the address from her phone.
Sesshomaru glances at her from the corner of his eye. She opens her mouth. The question slithers down the tip of her tongue, threatening to spill out, but she catches herself and swallows the question back down. Another time.
"Hey," Kagome whispers, pushing the phone closer to her ear. There's soft classical music playing in the room. Megumi told her that familiar music helps coma patients.
"Why are you whispering?" Satoru asks on the other line. There's an edge to his tone, and she half expects him to warp to her. His trust with Sesshomaru is fragile at best.
"I don't know. Seems appropriate for the setting." She shrugs, turning away from Sesshomaru and Megumi's pointed looks. "I'm at the hospital with Sesshomaru and Megumi for Tsumiki. I told you that this morning." She frowns. She could have sworn she told him.
Satoru hums. "Don't overdo it." A bang blasts through her eardrums. Satoru curses. "One second," he says, followed by a cluster of screams. "S'orry about that. Any sign of fatigue, you call it quits, okay?" There's more commotion on the other line.
"Yeah, yeah," she says, turning back around. She focuses on the Tsumiki's comatose state and the burden etched on Megumi's face. "I won't overdo it."
"That's my girl. I'll see you later."
"Be careful," she says and hits the end button. "What?" She stuffs her phone into her purse and takes a spot on the bed next to Tsumiki. Tsumiki's brown hair is fanned out in a way that makes her look like an angel that is just resting its eyes. There's no pain or sadness on her face. It's somewhat eerie, and Kagome's heart goes out to the families that are going through the same thing as Megumi.
"He makes you happy," Sesshomaru states.
"Don't sound so shocked." Kagome takes Tsumiki's hand in hers, flashing a gentle smile to Megumi. "We'll get your sister fixed up in no time."
"Thanks, Kagome-san," Megumi says. His hands clenched at his sides, betraying the calmness that he is trying to project. Sesshomaru tenses from the other side of the bed, hovering in case things go awry.
Kagome closes her eyes to drown out the extra stimuli and emotions from Megumi and Sesshomaru. She pushes, searches, for the core darkness that has taken root in Tsumiki. A tendril of fear creeps up, wresting with her mind as she battles it back. Whatever has cursed her is strong…really strong.
Tsumiki thrashes, but Kagome only tightens her grip. Her hair sticks to her forehead. Beads of sweat slide down her neck. Her shirt sticks to her. It itches, but she can tune out the discomfort. Sesshomaru and Megumi shout her name, but she's not going to give up when she is so close. She flinches at the sound of glass breaking. The machines go haywire. The beeping helps her to stay grounded in the present. Keep going, she tells herself, keep going. The serpent wrapped around Tsumiki's soul hisses. The vile, putrid smell makes her want to hurl.
"Ssstay away," it hisses, thrashing about. Its ruby colored eyes go white as the purification takes hold. "Mine, her ssoul is mine." It gives one more jerk as its body evaporates. The darkness fades away, leaving behind a ball of light.
She may not have been able to save Cho, but at least she could save Tsumiki. Kagome opens her eyes, blinking slowly as her vision wavers. Tsumiki's face scrunches up in confusion. Kagome lets her hand go with a wince. She was gripping the poor girl's hand rather tightly towards the end there.
"Tsumiki!" Megumi says, his hands shaking. There are unshed tears in his eyes. It's the most emotion Kagome has seen from him.
There's a breeze in the room, cooling her heated skin. She follows the glass trail to the broken window. Did she do that?
"Megumi…what's going on…" Tsumiki coughs, her voice hoarse. She attempts to raise her arms, but after so many days, months, of un-use, even that action seems to be too much.
In hindsight, they should have brought some water for her and maybe a new set of clothes instead of that hospital gown.
"Grab her and let us depart," Sesshomaru says, walking around the bed. He picks Kagome up bridal style.
"Hey! I can walk." She pushes - well attempts to push back against Sesshomaru. Perhaps she expended a lot more energy than she thought did.
"No time. You would slow us down with your attempts at walking."
Megumi snaps into action, carefully unhooking Tsumiki. "He's right, we can't stay here."
"Why? All I did was get rid of the curse," Kagome says, twitching in Sesshomaru's arms. What she needs is a nice long bath and maybe call Satoru on the way home to share the good news. Her eyelids flutter as sleep threatens to pull her under.
"Got rid of what?" Tsumiki asks, but her question goes unanswered.
"That's exactly why we need to leave."
"You cracked my veil," Megumi says. A wisp of a smile touches his lips as he looks at his healed sister. "Others might be drawn to this location now…not to mention the staff might have some questions."
Oh. That is bad
A/N: Thank you everyone for supporting the story! Trying to write original work and the self-doubt affected my update schedule. I will do better!
Side note, I have an idea where Geto convinces Kagome that he's the good guy. So it would be an enemies to lovers for Gojo and Kagome (if I ever write it).
