A Time for Changes

Author’s Notes: Hey guys! It’s great to see people reading this story! I appreciate your reviews and would love some feedback.

 

Chapter 8 -  Piece by piece, I try to put you back together.

What the doctors had promised to be twelve more hours was a sorry underestimate. Her “fits” as they were named, still came and went throughout the hours. They slowly grew less severe, but happened, and Kagome could do nothing to stop the foreign burning pain that rain in her veins.

What the doctors could do was move her out of intensive care and into a different area that allowed her visitors to stay longer. Kagome signed a waiver that allowed her two “non-nuclear visitors” access to spend nights. Sango had simply put the form in front of her, failing to indicate she’d put Inuyasha on the list as well.

Sango was grateful to have Inuyasha with them. Sango and he had met on several occasions at bars or pool hubs, and while the guy was gruff, he seemed to make Miroku laugh and keep him from running after every short skirt around. Still, has he sat in the chair beside Kagome’s bed, she couldn’t help but feel he was thinking about something.

She’d called Miroku to tell him what was going on, but not to be alarmed. Miroku was already preparing a plane ride home on his next academic break, which was about a month away. He seemed guilty, but it was the best he could do. Sango reassured him that Kagome would be happy to see her lecherous monk of a friend, and Kagome would have  yelled if he’d ditched courses.

There was a knock at the door.

“Excuse me?”

Sango looked up from her magazine to see a nurse at the door. She stood slowly, “Hai?”

The nurse had a large bin filled with medical tools and rolls of bandages, “I’m afraid it’s time for me to change Higuarshi-san’s bandages. We need to keep them fresh and reapply medication.”

The female nurse, in her thirties, with blonde hair, turned to Inuyasha. He stood up slowly and tossed his book onto Kagome’s nightstand, “I get it, I get it. Keh, you can just tell me to get lost, not that I’m a lecher like Sango’s boyfriend.” He crossed his arms behind his head and growled again. “I’m gonna run home for a few things then, alright?”

Sango smiled lightly, “I’ll call you if anything changes.” Their eyes wandered to Kagome, who slept peacefully. “You should call Kikyo-san, Inuyasha-san. She is going to wonder where you’ve been these past two days.”

Inuyasha let out a “keh” before slinking out the room.

 

- - -

He jammed his keys into the door of his apartment, pushing the door open. Standing in the doorway, he turned back, looking at Sango’s door. The memory of her, collapsed, on the floor, was etched in his mind. From the back, her quaking shoulders, and canopy of midnight black hair, was so unlike the beauty the girl carried. The scent of her tears had been overwhelmed….and those eyes.

He fixed a sandwich, took another shower, and had a small bag of things to bring to the hospital. Sango and Inuyasha had agreed that when they each weren’t in class or at work to come visit Kagome as much as possible. Each of them felt they couldn’t leave her alone now that Koga-kun was gone.

He opened his phone and dialed.

“What do you want, half-breed?”

Inuyasha bit back a retort, “I need your advice.”

“My advice…” the cool voice repeated. “What would you need this Sesshomaru’s advice for?”

“Concerning demon blood manipulation.”

“Such a complex sentence for you,” the voice sneered.

“Damnit, Sesshomaru, shut up,” Inuyasha punched his fist into his thigh. “What happens if someone consumes demon blood?”

“It’s common in combat to absorb the blood of an enemy. One demon can obtain another’s power. You should know this.”

Inuayasha felt like he was pulling teeth with this conversation. He sighed, “What if it was my blood?”

The voice laughed slowly, “And who, in their right mind, would want the blood of a half-breed? A discounted taste?”

“It wasn’t by choice, Sesshomaru.”

“There would be no benefit of a demon consuming a half-demon’s blood. The power would most likely be weakened with the influence of those pathetic human emotions.”

Inuyasha slid onto a barstool at the counter in his kitchen and looked at the table, ears flattening against his head, “What if it was a human?”

“What?”

“Damnit, are you deaf? What happens if a human consumed demon blood? MY blood?”

There was a long silence from his brother. Inuyasha tapped his fingers on the counter, waiting, hating this silence. His brother was always a prick and could never give a straight answer.

“It would kill them, this Sesshomaru presumes. I have no recollection of a human become a demon without the influence of the mating rights, such as your mother would have been.” There was a sound of papers shifting around, “Bloodlust and demon beast, how could the weak mind of a human assimilate with that?”

Inuyasha gulped, “Kill them how?”

“It won’t be a death that you pass on in your sleep, half-brother. The demon rage will consume the body as a vessel.”

“There’s nothing I can do?”

“If it is an exceptional human, perhaps with a strong will, the human might survive. Why on earth did you give away your blood? You are dirty half-breed?”

“She was dying, you prick! She needed to be healed!” Inuyasha felt like screaming. Why had he asked this asshole for help? “The beast did not protest at all. I don’t know why! Now she’s having contortions.”

“Then it will slowly kill her, even if it did heal her. Her body cannot keep up with the demon’s influence. You just prolonged her life to endure more agony. Congrats, you stupid hanyou. ----Click. --- Beep. Beep. Beep”

- - -

A new fresh set of bandages and a pat on the head reassured Kagome that her wounds were healing, slowly. While the doctors still kept the girl under observation, they said her skin had set to a point here stitches were not necessary. From what the doctor said, it was the influence of mix of blood in her veins.

The doctor was calm and patient with Kagome. She was weak, but seemed to have more of her insight back. With the bandages changed, she sat up in her bed, and looked and listened as best she could.

“We have found traces of another blood inside of you.”

“Another blood, sir?”

“Human, demon, and one more. There is a third.”

“Third…”

The doctor nodded and pat her hand softly, “There are faint traces of the blood of a priestess. The priestesses were an ancient race that purified the demons.” The doctor pulled out a painting of the old priestess, dressed in traditional garb, with a bow and arrow.

“Oh, I know about them,” Kagome smiled weakly. “They were alive in the feudal era.  They helped search for the Shinkon no tama.”

“Correct,” the doctor smiled as he tucked the photo away. “This blood might by why your body is responding negatively to the demon blood.”

“Are the bloods…competing?”

“For dominance, yes.” He sighed and looked at her, “I, nor do any other doctors, have any idea what we can do for you now. With the blood in you, your body will make its own decision. We can continue to treat your wounds, give you medications, and hope your body heals.”

“How long until…a choice is made?”

“No one is sure.  But it will be a painful process. There isn’t a way to sway your body either, it will choose on its own.”

“Will it be…painful?”

The doctor nodded slowly. “It would best if you had family to watch over you these next couple of months. When we discharge you the hospital will provide you with contact information so your progress may be monitored.”

Kagome nodded slowly and smiled, “Can Sango come back in now?”

The doctor got up and exited quietly, ushering Sango back in.  The two ladies sat together, Sango ran her hand over Kagome’s head and smiled weakly. “They said you could go home soon.”

Kagome chuckled, holding a hand to her chest as she tried to suppress the pain, “I’m not too sure where that is anymore.” She closed her eyes and smiled. “He’s really gone…”

Sango could say nothing to comfort Kagome as tears slipped down her face. Sango knew what it was like to be separated from the man you love, but Koga had just vanished into the night. He’d vanished the night she had been hurt, a connection Kagome had yet to share with anyone. She claimed not remembering what happened, and Sango had no reason not to believe that statement considering the damage she’d endured.

But Kagome could only wonder. Perhaps he was forced to leave because of his mother. That woman had her hold over him. He didn’t seem to have many options, and perhaps, it was simply to hide in shame for what she’d done. Her shoulders quaked lightly, but she did not sob, only quietly realized how hopeless her situation was.

“Kagome…you know you can stay with me.”

Kagome shook her head slowly, “You know in a few months Miroku-kun will come home. I’ve seen the boxes of his stuff slowly creep into the place and mine leave.” She looked at her and smiled, “Not that I even know where my stuff is now, considering Koga-kun is gone.” How much of an orphan was she now? No family, no home, and now her belongings were essentially gone too. Kagome laid back and bit her lip, trying to remain calm in this overwhelmingly hopeless situation. “Sango?”

“Yeah, Kagome?”

“I need to draw. Please…can you find me a sketchpad or something? Anything? I just…” she ran her hand over her eyes to stop the tears. “Please, I just need to.”

“Of course, Kagome. Let me go see if the hospital’s gift shop has anything.” With something very close to a run, Sango dashed from the room to help alleviate her friend’s pain.

Kagome laid there, chest heaving, feeling the heavy darkness swallowing her up. The weight that sat against her chest was like sinking under the surface of the water. It was groggy and alienating. “Kami…please…”

- - -

Inuyasha had taken the time away from the hospital to clean more of his own home.  He felt an overwhelming guilt. How could he visit the hospital knowing he was what was killing Kagome? In his confusion and sadness he had called someone over, and when the knock was heard at the door, he felt another wave of regret.

“It’s open.”

Kikyo entered slowly, pushing the door behind her with a click. She was black slacks and a white blouse, her hair tied up in an elegant bunch, with a pair of thin black-wired glasses perched on her nose. “What is it, Inuyasha?”

He rubbed the back of his head and frowned, he left his ears exposed, Kikyou had known his secret for a while now. “The demon saliva research you had done with the United Nations…”



“What do you wish to know, Inuyasha?” her voice was firm, but quiet. It seemed the girl could always tell what the hanyou was thinking. She had pulled her glasses from her eyes and folded them up, letting them hang on the open top of her blouse.

“Did you ever look into the healing properties of our blood? As demons, I mean.”

She raised an eyebrow and took another few steps towards him, “We choose not to cross-contaminate blood. Those few who have never made it long through the study program, so we chose to stick with just saliva.” She turned his head to look into her eyes, “Why the sudden interest in my research?”

“Well, you left me for so long for those studies, I wanted to know if they were worth it, keh.” Inuyasha always got defensive when he didn’t want to answer a question. He felt himself pulling out that cocky and flightly part of himself.

She looked at him slowly and put her arms around his neck, “I left all of Japan, not just you.”

He let out a small growl and pulled her closer, “But you left me most of all.  You spent all that time away just for some demon saliva when you had mine all this time?”

Kikyou seemed unfazed by his possession of her, “Your blood is not pure, Inuyasha. Not only might it not be as potent, the affects it could have on humans is even more unclear.” She watched him frown and she rubbed one of his ears, one of her spellbinding ways of keeping him in line. “From your very birth, your being is unstable. Why risk that on the humans?”

He smirked and sniffed the side of her neck, watching her chest rise and fall with steady breaths, “But you came back to me.”

“I came back to Japan, just as I had left Japan.”

“But you found me. I could have been anywhere in Japan.”

Kikyou this time smirked and stroked his ear again, “I knew you were waiting for me, as a loyal dog would.”

“Would a hanyou’s blood kill a human?”

Kikyou pulled away slowly and studied him. Why would he bring this up? “There is a possibility. There’s no telling how a body reacts to foreign invasion.”

“So there’s not a guaranteed death?”

She crossed her arms slowly, “Why are you so curious about this, Inuyasha?”

Inuyasha crossed his own arms, “Keh. Someone on the street said hanyou blood spread like AIDS did, until it finally destroyed you. I couldn’t just kill the bastard cause I didn’t know the truth.”

“What are you doing today?”

Inuyasha looked around his apartment and sighed, “I have one more errand to run, but I am mostly free.”

“Then take me to dinner, Inuyasha.”

He studied her one last time but nodded, “Seven tonight.”

Just as quickly as she had arrived, Kikyou was gone.

Inuyasha slumped down onto his sofa and ran his hands over his head. “Damnit, I can’t tell her I gave my blood to that girl. She’d never trust me. Damnit.”

Beast: She’s calling you

Inuyasha sat up and looked around, his ears twitched. “No one is calling me. I don’t hear anything.”

Beast: The girl, she’s calling you. Don’t hear it. Feel it.

Kami…please…

Inuyasha stood up and walked to the front door, resting his hand on the knob. “Hey, beast, what does this mean?”

Beast: Sharing blood makes pack members. Pack member calling you.

“Pack? I barely know her.”

Beast: and yet she is calling to you.

He threw open his door and looked at Kagome’s door, surprised to see a box at the foot of it.  He sniffed the air and could smell that wolf. A growl rumbled, louder than intended to be. With his sneaker he kicked the box on the floor.

It was a fairly large sized box, taped shut many times with packing tape. Attached to the top of it was an envelope containing a letter. There was no name on it, but its scent screamed of the wolf. Inuyasha had no idea when Kagome or Sango would be back to this place, so with a sigh, he hoised the box under his shoulder and carried it.

“Damn fucking wolf. If I ever see him again I’ll kill him. He hurt fucking..god..how could he do that?”

With his free hand he tied up his bandana before sprinting down the streets, avoiding anyone who might be able to see or detect him.

- - -

He entered her room and found Sango wasn’t there. This was surprising, he was sure Sango would have called him to say she had to leave.  From the entrance he could already see the room was different, a mess. There were piles of paper on the floor; crumbled up, ripped, some so small it was like confetti.

“Oi, what did you do in here?”

He walked further into the room, putting the box down on the floor that wasn’t covered with paper.  The letter had been removed and tucked into his pocket for safekeeping. With some precision and delicacy he made his way to her bed.

Kagome was buried in a sketchpad, one Inuyasha did not recognize. She had a pencil in her hand, also not something he’d seen her work with before.  Crazed would not be the right word to describe her, but Kagome clearly did not look like herself. Her hair was scruffy and need of a comb-through, her gown slightly askew without being inappropriate or revealing, and her nails and fingers were grey from the graphite.

On the side table was a box of colored pencils, and eight colored crayons. It looked like a desperate attempt to get Kagome some art supplies.

“Oi, Kagome-chan, what the hell are you doing?”

She said nothing before ripping the page from the binder and crumpling it up. He reached out and snatched the paper away, resulting in her ripping off the corner she’d been holding onto.

“Hey! What did I tell you about crumpling up your artwork!”

Her eyes shifted to glare at him before almost immediately starting another sketch.

Inuyasha perched himself on his usual chair and looked down at the sketch. It was nothing more than a pair of eyes lost in the squiggles and swirls of her dancing pen. The pair of eyes, only shaded with grey, looking trapped beneath the web of random lines that looked nothing more than jus that, lines. What was she trying to draw?

He put the paper down on the side table and bent down to pick up another one. “You sure are killing the trees today, aren’t you?” The next sketch was a similar sketch, a pair of eyes, this time colored red with the waxy crayon. These eyes seemed angry; he felt his insides flinch at the hate radiating from the eyes “Kagome-chan, who is this?”

She continued to draw.

“Damnit, are you pissed at me? Why aren’t you saying anything? Where the hell is Sango-chan?”

Her pencil strokes slowed, “Talking to staff about the hospital bill…someone paid for me.”

“Someone paid your bill?”  He tilted his head and bit his lip.  The letter emerged from his pocket and he looked down at it.  “That box, over there,” he gestured to it, “It was left outside of Sango-chan’s place. But I know it’s for you. This was with it.”

Kagome stopped drawing entirely and looked at him. “A letter?”

Inuyasha nodded slowly and held it out in front of her, “I think it’s from…” his voice lowered, “the wolf.”

Kagome put down the pencil and let the sketchbook lay in her lap. She took the letter slowly and opened it. Inuyasha noted the sketch in her lap was currently the starts of some sort of warrior. Long raven hair with a sword, but a man.

 

Dearest Kagome,

As you read this I am being forcefully sent back to America with my mother where I will spend my days workin’ for my father.

While I am not without my own wounds, I cannot imagine what you have been left to.  I have no doubt though, that you are alive. I can still sense you everywhere…

Kagome…I could not save you. I…would give anything to know you are safe in the hospital, recovering, and resting. I can only think of your tear-stricken face in my arms when we were separated…

When I arrive in America I will speak to my father about you. While mother is furious, more than I have seen, he is my alpha before she is.  I will announce to my father my formal rights to court you. It will take some time, but Kagome, I will come back for you.

I promise Kagome, I will come back on hands and knees, to beg you to forgive me for the pain she has put you through…that I have put you through.

[ there was a space, as if he failed to write something]

I have packed your sketchbooks. My mother attempted to throw away everything that had your scent, but I was able to get the books back for you. All of your art is safe and some of your clothes are being shipped back to Sango’s.

My mother has covered your hospital bills; I think to give you no excuse to come back to us. I have enclosed some many to pay for an apartment for you for the year…so you can recover. 

Kagome, don’t take her words to heart. You were never anything less than the woman I fell in love with four years ago. I…every moment with you, with me, was precious.

Kagome…please wait for me. I will write soon.

I am sorry.

 

Koga—

 

“Give me…the box…” her voice shook.  She clenched the letter in her hands, knuckles white.

Inuyasha lifted up the box and place it on her lap. With his sharp claw he sliced open the tape and watched her desperately rip open the lid, “Easy Kagome-chan, you’ll hurt yourself.”

She pulled out a sketchbook and a envelope filled with money. With a scream of frustration she threw the enveloped across the room, bills flying free, and buried her face against the lid of book. “Why did this happen?” she cried loudly, the loudest her voice had been since she woke up yesterday.

Inuyasha pulled back, listening to her wails and words grow louder as her body shook. He felt the black pulse jump from her skin, once, twice, and then a third. As the hysteria grew, so did the pulsations she failed to notice.

“Kagome-chan…I don’t…”

“They think money will make it better for me? So what, I won’t be homeless?” she cried harder. “I’m still alone. Everyone is gone now! I have no where to go!”

He felt something in him sink. His beast was howling. He’d never felt his beast this unhappy, even when Kikyou left them two years ago. Inuyasha picked up the pieces of paper around the room, feeling he could not stop her from screaming and crying. Maybe it needed to happen…

The papers were stacked, the money collected, and she was still crying, but her words had stopped. Her graphite-smudged hands were pressed against her eyes, as if she was trying to keep her own eyes from falling out.

He left the belongings on the side table.

“Why…why did Kami take everything from me? What did I do in my past life that I earned this?”

A new wave of contortions ran through her body. She gripped the silver bars of her bed to steady herself, pushing the box and pads aside, tumbling them to the ground. Inuyasha scrambled to collect them and when he looked up, he caught her cough up a puddle of blood onto the hospital bed.

Beast: Calm her down; she’s aggravating the blood.

Inuyasha reached out for her, “Where the hell is Sango-chan? She’s here right? No one took her from you, right?”

Kagome struggled to stop coughing, her eyes flickering between reds and icy blues.

“She may have Miroku but she won’t abandon you, Kagome-chan. She’s been here the whole time!”

Kagome cried, “I can’t go back to her!” Blood slipped down the sides of her lip

Beast: You’re not helping her.

Inuyasha’s eyes shifted red as he climbed onto the bed and leaned his forehead against hers, “Calm down.”

“Everyone’s gone…everyone I love is gone…”

“Calm down now…”

She cried harder against his forehead, still clenching the bars with all her strength.

“Stay with me.”

She lifted her head up, moving their foreheads apart, “…..what?”

“Stay with me,” he said again, his voice in his lower tones still. “Miroku’s moved his things out. You can stay there…right across the hall from Sango.”

Her eyes fell back into their normal cerulean hue. “Stay…with you…but…”

He rested his forehead against her, beast purring, as Inuyasha pulled the reins back to his control. “I said we’d get through this. I’m the one who gave you the blood. You’re hurting cause of me.”

She bit her lip and looked down, “But…they said it was a demon’s blood. You’re…you’re just…my coffee maker man…” she laughed weakly.

Inuyasha smiled too and flicked the side of her head; “I’ll explain it later.”  His beast purred one more time before he reached out and ran his hand along the top of her head. “Sleep until Sango-chan gets back, and we’ll work on getting you out of here. I promise I’ll help you.”

She nodded slowly, “Don’t make me any promises, Inuyasha-san.”  She lay down and rolled over, her back to him, “No one has made me a promise and stuck around to keep it. I can’t believe your promise.”

 

Author’s Note:

Song “All We Have” by Anberlin

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