A/N: I am very pleased with my Naraku action figure. His head pops off! Mwuahahahaha! (Smile)
The scenes tend to change frequently, so to keep you from getting lost, I have so kindly typed up the setting in each scene. Actually, I think they're there mainly for me. That said, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or its characters.
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Chapter 1
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(At the hospital)
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"Sango, you know what time it is, don't you?" A man asked, holding a syringe in one hand ominously.
Sango gave no response. In fact, she gave no sign of life whatsoever, which instilled fear into her caretaker's heart.
Her face was pale and sickly as though her blood had been completely drained from her body. Her eyes were dull and bleak, with patches of darkened skin under them. They were nothing like how they had been a year ago, when her russet orbs had sparkled with radiance and life. Now, she was silent, and her chest was still.
"Dammit, not again!" The doctor cursed. He jogged to the other side of the room and desperately tried to get Sango to breathe once again. He gripped her shoulders and violently shook her, effectively snapping her out of her trance.
She cast her empty eyes onto the doctor, watching his lips move, but hearing nothing. Sango figured that her doctor was trying to tell her to breathe, but she had no way of knowing.
At last she reluctantly drew in a breath of air. It tasted bitter and stale, just like her heart.
The doctor gave a small smile. She's still holding on. He thought.
It had been a long time since Takashi Sango had been put into his care. The doctor had spent many memorable moments with her, leading her on the road to recovery. He also remembered the not so good days when she had given up hope and nearly flung herself out of the nearby window in despair.
The physician glanced up at the now bordered up window, recollecting how much trouble they had both been in after that event. But things had changed since then, ever since Kitada Inuyasha showed up. Sango had confided in the newer patient, which she had never done before. It was all thanks to that man that Sango had regained some of her senses. The doctor was forever grateful.
"Sango you have to," the man said. He hesitated on the next part. Almost everyday, Sango threw a fit when she heard the word 'medicine'. Drawing in a breath, he continued. "You have to take your medicine now."
"I don't need medicine, Kouga," Sango stated firmly.
Kouga sighed. Well, at least she wasn't screaming at him.
"Sango, it's required. You know this. Do you want to get better?" He asked her. The question was meant to be benign, but the effect was far from what Kouga had wanted.
"There's nothing wrong with me! Just leave me alone!" She yelled in his face.
Kouga wrapped his hand around Sango's frail wrist to prevent her from striking him, as she had done a few weeks ago. He remembered something in Sango's files stating that she had been an expert martial artist. Kouga definitely didn't want her pulling any moves on him while they were alone.
Sango stared at his hand in fear. She was being held down, and there was only one option for her when she was being restrained.
"INUYASHA!"
Kouga released her wrist as though it had burned him. "Shit!" He yelped. Inuyasha was trouble and Kouga knew it.
A few doors down, small dog-ears twitched on top of a white bed of hair. Inuyasha sat up in bed, wondering if he had heard Sango's voice just now.
"Inuyasha! Help me!" He heard again. That was definitely Sango.
Leaping up from his bed, Inuyasha broke through his locked door and flew down the hallway to his friend in danger.
Back in Sango's room, Kouga was pleading for her to keep her mouth shut. Whenever she summoned Inuyasha, Kouga was in for it. Not only was he unable to keep his own patient in check, but he was disturbing another doctor's patient as well. It was a miracle that he still had the job.
Sango's mouth had finally snapped shut, and Kouga held his breath, praying that Inuyasha wouldn't bust through the door at any second like he usually did. There was a slight chance that he hadn't heard Sango.
Yeah right, this girl has a powerful set of lungs. Kouga thought disdainfully.
Sango smirked at the poor doctor. Kouga gave her a questioning look, which quickly changed into surprise when none other than Inuyasha barged into the room like a madman. No pun intended, but this was a mental hospital after all.
"Sango!" He practically roared.
"Inuyasha!" Sango cried gleefully, clapping her hands.
Kouga couldn't believe his eyes. What was this, a classical love story? Guy saves girl, bad guy gets owned? Wait…he was the bad guy in this case…wasn't he?
Sango and Kouga watched and waited as Inuyasha performed his usual stage act of drawing an invisible sword at his waist and brandishing it at Kouga.
"Leave her alone!" Inuyasha barked, waving his hands wildly, still confident that there was a sword there. He shouted, "TESSAIGAAAAA!"
"Is that a threat, Inuyasha?" Kouga said with boredom, completely ignoring the fact that this newcomer patient was screaming incoherent words in his face.
"Watch out Kouga," Sango giggled. "That sword is pretty sharp," she played along. Kouga rolled his eyes and pressed his thumb against a small red button on his beeper, alerting security that another patient had escaped.
Not even a minute later, guards were swarming around the room, blocking Sango from Inuyasha's vision. The security guards worked to corner Inuyasha while coming up with a plan on how to get him back to his room.
Kouga stood up, Sango watching him fearfully. She knew what was coming.
"No! Please! We'll be good, just don't!" Sango begged. Kouga looked at her with pity before sliding a hidden syringe into her vein.
Sango looked at him in shock before collapsing onto her bed, fast asleep.
"Sango!" Inuyasha persisted.
The girl was already unconscious.
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(At Miroku's high school)
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The students in room 116 of Kuroyama High School snickered as one of their classmates stood behind the unsuspecting teacher, mimicking his every move. Shimizu Miroku, the class clown as they called him, could hardly contain himself as he scratched his butt just as the old teacher had. The rest of the class burst out into fits of laughter.
"Now what is the meaning of this?" The feeble teacher demanded.
The class fell into hysterics as Miroku grabbed two erasers and clapped them together, creating a chalky dust. He cleverly used this distraction to make his way back to his desk, where other students cheered and patted his back in admiration.
They watched as their teacher swatted at the air, trying to rid the dust that was obscuring his vision. As the chalk particles settled onto his clothing, the instructor noticed that one Shimizu Miroku was in the same state as he— covered with white powder.
"Shimizu! Get to the guidance office immediately. I'm sick of this attitude of yours!" The professor snapped. Grinning and clearly enjoying all of this attention, Miroku stood and exited the room.
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(In the guidance office)
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"Miroku, back again?" The guidance secretary said with a frown.
Miroku chuckled and flashed his brilliant smile at her before entering the guidance counselor's office.
"This is hardly a time to laugh, you know," the secretary called to his back. "You've been here every day thisweek!"
Miroku shut the door behind him, muffling the secretary's bothersome voice.
"Back again?" The guidance counselor said, repeating his secretary's question. He eyed Miroku's white clothing suspiciously. Noticing the old man was giving him a strange look, Miroku swiftly brushed away some of the dust and crossed the room to take a seat in front of the enormous desk.
"Uh yeah, do you always do that?" Miroku asked stupidly.
"Always do what?"
"Repeat that secretary. You've done it a lot since I've been here," Miroku said observantly.
"Well you would know, wouldn't you? You've been here every day this week!"
"You're doing it again," Miroku stated simply, leaning back in the squashy chair.
"You can be quiet," The guidance counselor snapped menacingly.
"Yes sir," Miroku said quickly.
The two men sat in silence for a minute, one trying to figure a way out of punishment, the other trying to find the perfect penalty for one who disrupted classes frequently.
"Your teacher called from upstairs, said you've been misbehaving again. So I've decided that your sentence-," Miroku flinched at the word 'sentence'. It sounded too much like he was on death row or something similarly horrific. "Will be…" He paused.
Miroku squirmed in his seat. Why the hell was it taking the counselor so long to talk? He wanted to get it over with nice and quick, without the torture in between. The counselor chose the opposite.
"You will serve three weeks as a volunteer at Hideko Institute. Maybe this will straighten you out a bit. It will certainly teach you how to treat other people, especially since I'll arrange for you to meet with a few patients during your stay."
Miroku's face fell. He had to volunteer at a hospital? Filled with old people and cripples? Not happening!
"But sir! I have no medical training so I don't think I'll be able to perform the jobs given to me," Miroku pointed out, hoping to change his mind.
"Nonsense. You're not going to be administering medicine to the patients or performing any kind of surgery! You'll do ordinary things such as help the doctors and talk to a few patients to keep them company. One of the lead doctors there is a good friend of mine. You'll meet him tomorrow. His name is Fujimoto Kouga," said the guidance counselor.
Miroku nodded in defeat, but something caught his attention…
…
"TOMORROW!" He shouted.
"Of course. The weekend is a perfect time for you to start. You'll be there for three hours a day helping out. Understand?"
"Are you kidding?" Miroku said indignantly.
"No I'm not. You may leave now. I'll be sending out a letter to your family informing them of this as well as a call to Fujimoto-san. He'll be pleased to meet you. Have a nice day and stay out of trouble unless you want more from me!" He stressed the last part of that sentence.
Miroku had never run out of an office as fast as he did then.
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(At hospital – Next morning)
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Miroku grumbled, leaning his head on his fist and staring outside at all the buildings speeding past. The reflection from the car window could be seen on Miroku's bored face. He was spacing out as usual, but inside he wanted nothing more than to drop off the end of the earth.
"We're here," came a gruff voice from the driver's seat of the black and beaten Hyundai. Miroku looked up at the building, then back at his foster father, Mushin. His eyes were clearly begging Mushin to turn around and drive him home.
"Sorry, no can do, Miroku. You brought this one upon yourself," Mushin answered Miroku's silent question.
Miroku sighed. "So I guess that means you're getting rid of me to go drinking with a bunch of women, am I right?"
"Hit the mark!" Mushin said happily. Miroku shuddered. After all, who wanted to picture an old (not to mention fat) man completely smothered by beautiful women having a good time? Especially while you were stuck in a hospital when nothing was wrong with you!
Mushin got out of the car and headed to the other side to drag Miroku out by his feet.
At long last, the pair headed up to the building to find a doctor waiting for them. Miroku suspected this man to be Fujimoto Kouga, whom his guidance counselor had spoken of yesterday at school.
"Good morning!" Called the man from the entrance. Miroku and Mushin approached him. "I'm Fujimoto Kouga, pleased to meet you. You must be Miroku, yes?" Kouga stuck out his hand to the younger of the two.
Miroku took his hand and shook it firmly. His intuition had been correct— this man was the one known as Kouga.
A few minutes later, Mushin had departed and Kouga was leading Miroku down a luminous yet narrow hallway. Anywhere you looked, there were doors. Tons of doors, all with bars on the windows. Miroku had never seen any hospital like it. It was unnerving and left an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Just what kind of hospital was it?
"Where are we going, Fujimoto-san?" Miroku disturbed the eerie silence.
"Please call me Kouga. We're on our way to see one of my many patients. I have one to check up on right now, so it'll be a good chance for you to meet some people here," Kouga replied.
"Oh…sounds great," Miroku muttered sarcastically.
Without warning, a screech echoed throughout the hallway, piercing through the air, making Miroku's ears ring. What the hell was that? A crow or something? He thought dumbly.
Kouga turned onto another hallway sharply, heading toward the direction of the hideous shrieks. Miroku followed closely behind, not wanting to get lost in a place like this.
Up ahead, Miroku could make out a group of guards restraining a man in a hospital gown, who appeared to be fighting and thrashing about for his life. Miroku's eyes widened, wondering why the patient was acting so out of line.
Kouga was quick to take action as he forced his way to the man to help out. Miroku watched the patient scream and pull at his binds, his eyes full of terror. Looking through a nearby window, Miroku saw another patient sitting on a small metal bed with what had to be the most uncomfortable looking bed in existence. The room was purely white.
White. This was an insane asylum!
Miroku was going to have a word with Kouga once he was finished with his business here.
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Just a few minutes later, Kouga gave up and let the guards take care of the crazed patient.
"Kouga!" Miroku called. "This is a mental hospital, isn't it?" Miroku narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Yes, yes it is," Kouga said sheepishly. He continued his walk down the hall, knowing the new apprentice did not like that answer one bit.
And as Kouga had guessed— "Why am I here with a bunch of crazy people! It's bad for my health! Why here of all places!" Miroku raged, following closely behind.
"Miroku, please calm yourself!" Kouga lifted a hand to silence Miroku. "I won't be exposing you to much, just a few of the minor cases. Don't worry about that."
Miroku sighed in relief.
Kouga scratched his chin. "Besides, I wouldn't want to get sued if one of the chronic patients attacked you at any given time…" Kouga trailed off, imagining what would happen.
Miroku halted and stared at Kouga with disbelief. Was this guy for real?
Miroku nearly lost himself in his anger, but then, through the clearing madness came a fragile looking nurse with her hair pulled back into a bun and skin as smooth as a pearl. This strange girl caught Miroku's attention and he became entranced. Who was she? He had to know her name, at the very least.
The mysterious nurse rushed past, dropping pens and papers all over the place. She turned around to see important files flying behind her. She yelped and chased after the papers and rolling pens. Miroku found the perfect opportunity to introduce himself as he picked up a pen and handed it to her in all his suave glory.
The cute little nurse blushed and smiled at him. "Thank you," she said.
Miroku winked at her. "The name's Miroku. And what might yours be?" He asked.
"I'm Minage Koharu."
This place might not be so bad after all.
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A/N: Heheheh. Kouga in a white lab coat. Oh my god. (laughs) Anyway…
Yeah I know, there are a LOT of Koharu haters out there (cough MANDAZ cough), but she just makes things more interesting between Miroku and Sango! She won't be in this story much so don't worry about that.
The same applies to Kouga. This was his debut chapter and now he'll be appearing less and less. Oh Well. But there will be plenty more of Sango and Inuyasha as well…and Kagome has yet to make her appearance.
About Koharu's surname Minage (snicker) it means 'suicide by jumping into a river, ocean, or volcano, or from a high place'. Appropriate, huh?
NEXT CHAPTER: Miroku meets Sango and Inuyasha gets a new doctor.
Please review! I want to see if this story works out better than Dying Gratitude, since that one kind of died.