Well, read away!
It was a very subdued hanyou that returned to the village, entering Kaede’s hut without a word and stalking past the current residents with barely a glance in their direction. He made his way to the back and to Kagome’s bedside, where he then sat cross-legged beside her and proceeded to watch her sleep. He could hear her breath rasping in her throat; his ears instinctively flattened to his skull as if to block out the disturbing sound, and his brow furrowed as his mind once again played over these most recent turn of events in his mind.
The well was closed to him. He could not return to the other world to ask Kagome’s mother for help, and now he had one more reason not to allow Kagome herself to return. If she went…what was to keep her from never coming back again? She’d even admitted that she wasn’t sure she’d want to…and he admitted to himself that he wasn’t sure if he’d blame her if she didn’t. But that still didn’t mean he was going to let her go, of course! He’d always considered himself to be strong, but Kagome, he was fast realizing, was the one weak point he had in his entire life. If he lost her now…
And yet, if he didn’t let her go back…he could lose her anyway, in a way even more permanent than a sealed well. At least with the well, there was always a chance that he’d see her again. As little as it seemed…
He growled softly to himself and hunched further down, golden eyes fixing on her pale, lax face as she mumbled a little in her sleep and shifted. She’d at some point kicked the covers away from her body, and when he moved to gently pull them over her again, he could feel the heat rising from her form, along with the smell of prolonged sickness. It was strong enough to nearly make him gag; frankly, he found it amazing that Kaede—with as much time as she spent tending the young girl—hadn’t caught such an illness herself. The old hag was apparently much more resilient than she seemed. Kagome, when she was lucid, always seemed to be muttering about how her sickness wasn’t something that anyone in the village had probably had before, and how she’d probably end up spreading a plague around if she wasn’t moved someplace safer. Yet another worry she insisted on shouldering, on top of everything else, no matter how much Kaede tried to reassure her.
He blamed himself, of course, for Kagome’s sickness, even though he’d die before admitting it. It was the stress she’d been forced to endure because of him, the worry of never seeing her family again, the worry of the well being destroyed…all because of him. Because of that cursed rosary and his damnable pride and…well…everything. Sitting there in the quiet of Kagome’s room, listening to her struggle to breathe, to live, he could almost admit that if he could go back in time and do everything differently, he would. It was almost frightening how easily he could see his mistakes, now that the one person he’d actually grown to care about more than life was practically on the verge of losing hers.
At the moment the rosary had snapped, at the moment the subduing spell had broken, instead of attempting to terrify her, instead of bullying her and making her angry and making her abandon the trust she’d gained in him, he should have been trying to show her just how deserving of that trust he was. Instead of making her fear him, he should have tried to make her realize that she didn’t have a reason to fear him. But no, he had to go and be a complete ass and ruin everything she’d tried so hard to achieve in making him a friend. Had being sat countless times really been that horrible? Sure, it was annoying at the best of times, but was her losing that ability to control him so utterly worth the cost of her friendship?
Three weeks ago, he would have heartily proclaimed that getting rid of that spell was worth anything to him. But now…now he was beginning to have second thoughts.
Kagome shifted in her sleep again and suddenly began to thrash; her voice rose into a low wail as she gave articulation to the nameless terrors that haunted her in her sleep. It was disturbing to him just how often his name seemed to come up during these moments; he just knew that it wasn’t for him that she cried out, but because of him. All he could do was reach out to stroke her cheek softly, trying to soothe her fears in the best way he could. If Kaede or even Shippo had been with her, of course, he never would have shown so much tenderness or concern for the patient. But they weren’t, and he was, and since she wasn’t conscious anyway, he had no qualms about offering her what measly comfort he could. He wondered what Kagome would think if she’d known she was receiving reassurance from the very creature who caused her so much torment to begin with.
Even Inuyasha was not without a sense of irony.
“Hush, Kagome,” he soothed, and stroked her hot cheek carefully with a clawed thumb, as he had done so many times already. “You’re safe here. Nobody’s going to hurt you. Just relax, okay?”
She grew still—the kind of deathly stillness that always made Inuyasha’s heart stop beating until she took her next breath of air—and she turned to nuzzle her cheek into the warmth of his palm, seeking more comfort. Inuyasha couldn’t stop the small smile that touched his lips at this action; it gave him hope that his friendship with Kagome wasn’t in such dire straights after all, even though she clearly didn’t realize what she was doing.
And then her eyes fluttered open, gazing blindly about the room in confusion for a moment until they landed on Inuyasha, who was watching her hopefully (it was the first time she’d awoken for nearly two days now). Then, as the confusion cleared from the fever-glazed orbs, her already-pale face blanched to a sickly white hue, her eyes widened in what could only be described as utter terror…and she screamed shrilly at the top of her lungs, scrambling out of her bedroll and frantically pulling herself away from him as quickly as possible, half-sobbing in her fright.
Inuyasha sat there, frozen in shock, and gawped at the terrified girl. He barely had time to gather his wits again to try and calm Kagome before two very worried figures burst into the room; he was immediately set upon by a very furious Shippo. “What’d you do?!” the child screamed in his ears. “What’d you do to Kagome, you asshole?!” Understandably, the Kitsune was extremely upset at the sight of his hysterical surrogate mother, who was now being comforted by a rather confused Kaede, but even Inuyasha was shocked at the vile name the little kit spat at him. Kagome would not be pleased; of course, he would be blamed for teaching Shippo that word in the first place.
But now was neither the time nor the place for such petty thoughts.
“I…I…she just woke up and…she saw me and…she got scared…” the poor hanyou stammered, trying to make sense of the situation as he stared at Kagome’s shivering form. It didn’t help that Shippo was now busily chewing on his head in retaliation; he absently swatted the kit away, never taking his stricken eyes from the frail girl huddled in Kaede’s lap. His face, unbeknownst to him, held an expression of extreme hurt overlying the shock, and his golden eyes were dark and vulnerable. Kaede couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor hanyou, although she was well aware that he’d brought it all on his own head. “She was having a nightmare again.” Inuyasha’s voice had dropped to a hoarse whisper. “I…I was only trying to help.”
He rose to his feet, head lowered so that his silky bangs shaded his eyes, then turned without another word and bolted from the room. Kaede sighed and, when Shippo would have started after him, she grabbed the kit by the tail and drew him close to her. “Wet a cloth for Kagome’s head,” she instructed. “Leave the hanyou be for now. He has much to think about, and ye would only be a distraction.”
Shippo grumbled, but did as the miko had commanded. Kagome had calmed considerably now, staring at the door with an almost befuddled expression. Her eyes had gained back a bit of lucidity. “K-Kaede…what’s…I…did I…do something?” she asked hesitantly, attempting to reign in her feverish thoughts.
“Ye were dreaming, child, and when ye awoke, ye mistook Inuyasha as another nightmare, is all,” the elderly woman soothed. “Get ye back to bed, now, before ye catch a chill.”
“But what about Inuyasha?” Kagome murmured; she was clearly worried about the hanyou. “I didn’t hurt him…did I?” Then she shook her head, giving a bitter little laugh. “What am I talking about? Of course I didn’t hurt him,” she mumbled. “I don’t think he has any feelings to be hurt. He wouldn’t care about anything I said, anyway.”
“Be not hasty to judge him, child,” Kaede told her wisely. “And do not worry for him, either. The best way to help him is to get better. He has been watching over ye faithfully these past days, bringing as much comfort as he can, hoping as hard as the rest of us for ye to become well. He is more worried than ye may believe.”
“Why? Because he’s afraid of losing his precious shard detector?” Kagome muttered bitterly as she curled up on her bed again.
“No. Because he fears to lose a precious friend,” Kaede replied gently. “Sleep now, child, and try to become well, for the sake of poor Shippo, if for nothing else.”
Kagome’s expression softened as she looked at Shippo, smiling at him gently and holding out her arms to him. He gladly accepted her hug, which he had sorely missed these past weeks, before reluctantly parting from her so she could rest. “Kaede,” Kagome murmured as her friends left the room. “Could…if you see Inuyasha…could you please tell him that…I’m sorry for hurting his feelings?”
Kaede smiled at her patient, her single eye shining with faint relief. “Ye may tell him so yourself when ye see him next,” she replied firmly. “It will mean much more to him coming from the one that matters to him most. Now sleep.”
Kagome,
rather than protesting, merely looked thoughtful as she obediently slid
down beneath her covers and closed her eyes. In no time at all, she
was asleep again. And for once, the nightmares did not come.
A week later…
The day had finally come.
After nearly a month of complete bed rest, Kagome had finally managed to shake whatever illness it was that plagued her, and her health had slowly begun to improve with each passing day. Her body was no longer wracked with coughs, her fever had finally gone away—hopefully for good—and the only reminder of her prolonged illness was the weakness that plagued her body. And a slightly scratchy throat.
Quite frankly, she was amazed to still be alive after going through something like that. She really didn’t remember much, but the strain on Kaede’s face was all too evident that she’d been in a more serious situation than anyone would admit to. She wondered, if she’d died, would her family have ever known what’d happened to her? Would Inuyasha have been kind enough to go back and tell them what had happened, or would they have been forever left to wonder?
And speaking of Inuyasha…she realized that the hanyou had been avoiding her for the past week, ever since she’d awoken to find him hovering over her and, still caught up in a fever-dream that she could no longer remember, had screamed and tried to flee in terror. She’d caught him once or twice, sneaking into her room when he thought she was still asleep, bringing cups of fresh water or hot broth. He always seemed skittish now when he was near her, and as soon as he realized that she was awake, he’d shoot her an almost panicked look again and hurry away, as if he was afraid that she’d start screaming again at the sight of him. The behavior was most un-Inuyasha-like, and she wondered sadly if she’d really hurt him, after all. At any rate, he never had given her the chance to say she was sorry.
But at the moment, she wasn’t worried about Inuyasha. At the moment she was waiting rather impatiently for the village healer to finish his examination of her throat and tell her whether or not she was fit enough to go outside. Her strength had gradually been returning to her, with the help of surprisingly warm weather for this time of year and the determined care of Shippo and Kaede. And yes, she admitted grudgingly, Inuyasha, when he wasn’t completely ignoring her, was also a great help. She had noticed that his attitude had changed toward her (aside from the whole avoiding her thing). He seemed quieter, not nearly as high-strung as he usually was. It was as though he was walking on eggshells around her, trying his hardest not to upset her in any way. While she appreciated the effort, she couldn’t help but wonder if he really meant it; if he was truly trying to make amends for his horrible behavior towards her, or if it was merely because he was trying to ease a guilty conscience.
The healer finally seemed satisfied, after nearly five minutes of poking and prodding Kagome’s body in various places, and straightened up, carefully placing his supplies back into his pack. Kagome winced when he picked up a small clay pot covered with soft leather; she knew from personal experience that it contained live leeches, used to bleed the fever out of a body. The insides of her arms still ached where a couple of the slimy little suckers had been attached days ago. Times like that were what made her miss the modern era more than ever, where a cup of hot herbal tea and a few doses of penicillin would have taken care of her little problem in no time at all and she wouldn’t have been used for leech food. Of course, she did have her first aide kit, but the only thing left in it was a roll of gauze and a few bandages, which were as useless as the healer’s medications. Needless to say, hope for her recovery had been waning at an alarming rate.
Strangely enough, it was Inuyasha who had finally saved her.
According to Kaede, when her fever had taken a turn for the worst, and she lay nearly dead because of it, the hanyou seemed to go nuts, nearly tearing her pack to pieces as he stubbornly sought out any possible cure that might remain, despite the hopelessness of the situation. And, lo and behold, he’d actually managed to find the single remaining packet of aspirin in the entire kit, which had somehow fallen out and made its way to the very bottom of the huge bag. A single packet would hardly do anything to affect Kagome in the state she was in…but at least it was something. He had given her the medicine right away, and surprisingly, it seemed to chase away the fever and hold off the coughing attacks just long enough for the healer’s many medicines to finally begin taking affect.
After that, it was all uphill from there. And it was nothing short of a small miracle, in the healer’s opinion. He would have gladly taken more of Kagome’s miracle-working medicine with him, had there been any left. As it was, Kagome was secretly grateful that there wasn’t; after all, it wouldn’t do for her to go messing up the entire timeline by giving a doctor five hundred years before her time a chance to study the medicine discovered several hundred years after his.
“So, what’s the verdict, Doc?” she asked flippantly. “Am I allowed to get up or are you still going to keep me chained to my bed?”
“You seem to be in very good health now, Kagome,” the man replied, his face as serious as it always was. “You may leave your room for short amounts of time, but do not overtax yourself. If the fever comes back again this time…we may not be able to save you.”
“I understand,” she replied cheerfully. “Thanks for the help, Doc!”
He shot her an odd look at the strange nickname she seemed to have dubbed
him with, before nodding stiffly and leaving the room. One of his
neighbor’s horses had just birthed a foal, and he wanted to make sure that
it was healthy. Nodding politely to Kaede, and somewhat nervously
to the two demons sitting inside the hut, he hurried outside to attend
his other duties.
“Hey! You’re not supposed to be out of bed yet!” Shippo protested as Kagome stepped outside her room some time later that day. She seemed awfully shaky and pale, and she looked positively skeletal due to the weight she had lost. But she also looked determined, and everyone who knew her knew also that there was no arguing with her when she had that look on her face.
“The healer said I could get up, just not to overtax myself,” she replied firmly. “I’m just going to sit outside and get some fresh air. I don’t care what he says; fresh air is good for you, and I’m tired of being stuck in that room! I practically forget what the sunlight looks like these days!”
“The sun is barely even up anymore,” Shippo protested, trying with all his might to push her back into the room, shoving his tiny form against her legs. The really sad part was that he was almost succeeding, and that just made Kagome all the more determined not to budge.
“Well, then, I’ll watch the sunset,” she insisted. “Shippo, I’m not as strong yet as I should be. If you keep pushing on me like that you’re going to topple me over,” she warned with a smile. The little kit immediately stopped and looked up at her mournfully. She smiled at him reassuringly and stepped toward the doorway, only to be halted right inside by a very determined-looking Inuyasha. She sighed; Inuyasha was a hundred times more stubborn than Shippo could ever hope to be, not to mention a lot stronger. No way would she be able to get past him if he didn’t want her to. “I’m sitting just outside. I won’t go anywhere. I just want to watch the sunset,” she stated in exasperation.
He shot her a suspicious glare, then reluctantly moved to the side so she could squeeze past him. Before she got more than two steps, however, she felt his hand come to rest gently on her shoulder. Startled, she glanced back at her. He was staring at the ground, a pensive expression on his face.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” he murmured, still not looking at her. He seemed…uncharacteristically shy, and her heart went out to him.
She smiled at him shyly. “So am I,” she agreed quietly. Then, after a slightly awkward pause, she asked hesitantly, “Inuyasha?”
“Hmm?” He looked up and met her gaze, his golden eyes serious.
“Thank you. For taking care of me,” she told him sincerely. “And also…about the other night, I…”
“Keh. Forget it,” he muttered, his hand dropping from her shoulder like a stone.
“No, wait,” she insisted, her own hand coming up to grip his gi. “Let me say I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been trying all week but you haven’t been making it easy on me, you know.” She scowled slightly. “I wasn’t in my right mind, you know that, don’t you? It was the fever that made me dream like that and…and I didn’t know you.”
“You don’t have to say anything.” He was beginning to look uncomfortable, as he always did whenever she tried to get him to talk about their emotions. “The fever had nothing to do with it. It isn’t the first time I heard you muttering in your sleep. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen that look on your face, either.”
Her brow furrowed. “I can’t help what I dream, Inuyasha,” she told him uncertainly. “It isn’t like I can control my subconscious or anything.”
“No. Your subconscious is what lets loose all the emotions you try and keep bottled inside,” he growled back. “All it does is let go of how you really feel.”
She looked at him strangely, and shook her head a little. “You think it’s my fault, don’t you, that I feel the way I do? Why are you mad at me for something that you brought on all by yourself?” she demanded, her voice rising slightly as anger began to take over. She fought valiantly to recover her temper; another huge fight with Inuyasha was the last thing she needed to deal with right now.
“Keh,”
he muttered, turning away from her. He would have stalked away then
and there, but her grip on his gi, as weak as it was at the moment, stilled
him. He wanted to scream back, to argue like he normally would, but
he just couldn’t bring himself to do so because the simple matter was,
she was absolutely right. He had brought it all on himself, and he
didn’t have any right to be angry with her for being afraid of him.
So, with a heavy sigh, he very gently unfisted Kagome’s hand from his clothes
and, after giving her palm a gentle, almost soothing stroke, carefully
set it by her side and walked away without another word, leaving a very
confused Kagome to stare after him.
And now, for your reading enjoyment…a small parody. This one’s for you, Siggy. ^_~
Inuyasha: *softly* “I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
Kagome: *somewhat shyly* “So am I.” *After a slight hesitation* “Inuyasha?”
Inuyasha: “Hmm?”
Kagome: “Thank you. For taking care of me. And also…about the other night, I…”
Inuyasha: “Keh. Forget it.”
Kagome: *panicking slightly* “No, wait! Let me say I’m sorry, okay? I’ve been trying all week but you haven’t been making it easy on me, you know.” *scowls* “I wasn’t in my right mind, you know that, don’t you? It was the fever that made me dream like that and…and I didn’t know you.”
Inuyasha: *haughtily* “You don’t have to say anything. The fever had nothing to do with it. It isn’t the first time I heard you muttering in your sleep. It isn’t the first time I’ve seen that look on your face, either.”
Kagome: *looking slightly annoyed* “I can’t help what I dream, Inuyasha. It isn’t like I can control my subconscious or anything.”
Inuyasha: “No. Your subconscious is what lets loose all the emotions you try and keep bottled inside. All it does is let go of how you really feel.”
Kagome: *now beginning to look really pissed* “You think it’s my fault, don’t you, that I feel the way I do? Why are you mad at me for something that you brought on all by yourself? After everything that’s gone on, you blame me?! You…you coldhearted jerk! I can’t believe your gall! Just…just…OSUWARI!”
Inuyasha: *WHAM* “@^&$! Bitch! I….wait…how the hell did you do that?! I’m not wearing the damned rosary anymore!”
Kagome: *looking utterly confused* “I-it was a natural reflex on my part, but…it shouldn’t have affected you! Unless…” *a big, evil smile appears on her face as she eyes Inuyasha up*
Inuyasha: *looks nervous and begins backing away* “W-wait, what’re you looking at me like that for…”
Kagome: *firmly* “Inuyasha…Osuwari!”
Inuyasha: *THUD* “Ow! Dammit! Knock it off! How’re you DOING that?!”
Kagome: *laughing maniacally as she rubs her hands gleefully together* “I was right! You’re not under the spell anymore but your body is so used to being slammed to the ground at that word that it does it on its own! YES! You know what that means, don’t you?”
Inuyasha: *whimpers* “No no no no…”
Kagome: *Posing like a professional bodybuilder* “I HAVE THE POWER! Woohoooo! Look out, Well, here I come!”
Inuyasha: “NOOOOOOOOO!”
The end ^^;
Ahem. Sorry. This idea was just plaguing me, but I wasn’t sure if I could fit it into the actual story (considering it’s all…you know…angst. So, I thought, why not make a parody? Just a little humor, to relieve the stress, ya know? Heehee Well, you know what to do! R&R please! ^_~
Btw, more about the mysteries of the well and why Inuyasha’s locked out of it later on. ONE of you guessed right about why he can’t get through, but I’m not saying who until later. The rest of you…well…you’re ALMOST right. Excellent guesses. ^_~
Someone mentioned in a review that aspirin has been around since as late as the 1500s, but that’s not entirely true. It actually goes back even further in time, to around 500 BC when Hippocrates (“the father of modern medicine”), would ground the bark of a willow tree to make tea. You know, willowbark tea which is supposed to have healing properties.. Anyway, the bark contains salicin, which is a basic ingredient of aspirin. By the late 1800s, salicylates had become the standard drug for the treatment of arthritis, but the treatment was harsh to the stomach. The German chemist, Felix Hoffman, set out to create a less-irritating medicine for his father’s arthritis, and after time he developed synthesized acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) and viola! Aspirin was born.
It is now used as the basic ingredient of at least 50 over-the-counter medications, which are probably a hell of a lot stronger than willowbark tea could ever hope to be. So yes, while the medicine of ancient Japan might not really help with Kagome’s condition, the medicine she has is probably a lot stronger and might have been at least helpful enough to jumpstart her body in the right direction for those medications to take effect. And if it wasn’t…well…just pretend, okay? I mean it IS only fanfic after all.
Until next time!
Quickening
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