Ok! I am not going to give this up. There is just a few more chapters left and I cant seem to stop when im so close to done. Plus I agree with one of the reviewers, I would lose a lot of self respect if I quit now.
This chapter has been sponsored by Demon Steel co. The world's number one manufacturer of youkai proof handcuffs.
Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Chapter 9
If she had thought the bathroom lights were bad then the hospitals lights were like staring into the sun… while standing on Mercury… at mid day… after having yours eyes dilated. Kagome had always hated hospitals, the smells of the chemicals, the smells of the infirm, hearing families crying and worrying for their loved ones. Inuyasha was in there somewhere behind the blue curtains and electronic doors.
The anxiety had been building inside of her since the moment she woke up to Sesshoumaru taking a mystery phone call. "It's Inuyasha, There was an accident." That was all he had said. Then he gave her a pair of sweats that she had to fold at the waist and tie as tight as possible and a t-shirt that she also had to tie so she wouldn't feel like she was going to drown in them and rushed to the hospital. She tried to get more out of him on the way there, but he seemed angry, seething might be a more accurate description.
"Is he ok?" she asked.
Silence
"What kind of accident?" She asked.
Silence
"Was it a fire? Did a plane crash on him? Was he attacked by bears?" She was starting to lose her patience.
More silence
"Bigdumbdog say what?"
A snort followed by more silence.
As soon as the emergency room receptionist buzzed them into the patient exam area Kagome took off in a sprint to the exam room the woman said he was in. Inuyasha was there, lying in a hospital bed with an IV and a few beeping monitors. She patted him down looking for any serious injury then let out a quick breath when she found none. He had a few bruises and cuts that were already healing, but other than that he seemed ok.
"What happened?" Kagome asked. She heard Sesshoumaru enter the room and close the door softly behind him. Inuyasha looked fine physically, but there seemed to be something wrong. He wouldn't look her in the eye, instead his gaze seemed to be fixed on the IV bag slowly dripping fluids into his veins.
When he didn't answer right away Sesshoumaru pushed him, "Tell her." He commanded harshly through gritted teeth. Kagome took a quick look over her shoulder at him. She could practically feel the anger rolling off of him like waves during a typhoon.
After a long pregnant pause Inuyasha spoke. "We were in a car accident. Kikiyo… her date drank too much and she needed a ride home. We stopped to get some food and hung out a little. The guy, shit, he just came out of nowhere. If it had been head on I could have swerved or something, but he hit from the side. I didn't even fuckin' see him." He shook his head and laid it back against the side rail on the bed. His voice was so strained, and he sounded like he was in a lot of pain.
"But your ok right? I mean, you don't look to bad. You can probably go home." Kagome asked oh so innocently.
Inuyasha pulled at his wrist which clinked against the bedrail. Now Kagome saw the handcuffs, she wasn't sure how she missed them before. At the shocked and confused expression on her face Inuyasha let out a humorless laugh.
"You didn't think those two cops outside the door were just there to make sure I was doing ok did you? I'm a demon; I was healed before the ambulance even got there."
Kagome glanced at Seshoumaru then back at Inuyasha and back again. Why would they be arresting him? He was the one who got hit wasn't he? Shouldn't they be arresting the other guy?
Sesshoumaru was the first to answer her unasked questions. "The other driver and the girl are dead. Inuyasha was drinking." Each word seemed carefully chosen and just as pointed as a blade.
"The girl? You mean Kikiyo is …" Kagome gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She and Kikyo may not have been friends, in fact they had a rivalry that went back to when they were kids, but her death was impossible to fathom.
"I would have died too if I were human. I guess being a half-breed has its upsides." His tone was cruel, mocking. He was punishing himself and damming his mixed heritage for allowing him to live.
The way Inuyasha was blaming his demon heritage, his self pity, set something inside of Sesshoumaru off. There was one thing in the world that Sesshoumaru could not tolerate and that was weakness. That was Inuyasha's problem; he was weak. He was a weak, pathetic, sniveling little shit that didn't deserve to be a demon if he could look that gift in the eye and curse it for making him superior to most beings. Inuyasha was their father's son and that was something to be proud of, not to spit at and blame for your short comings.
"Do you have any idea what you have done Inuyasha?" Sesshoumaru growled out.
"What I've done? I didn't do shit-"
"SILENCE! That girl you accidentally killed is a councilman's daughter. Her father is trying to gain the support needed to pass a new law requiring demons who commit crimes against mortals to be tired in human courts and held in human prisons." Sesshoumaru's voice was soft but dangerous as he spoke to his brother as if he were a child.
"Well I didn't do shit against her! There was no crime!"
Sesshoumaru closed his eyes and reigned in his temper before he attempted to explain again. "You were drinking-"
"I had a few beers. I'm a half demon, they didn't really do anything. I wasn't even close to drunk." Inuyasha interrupted.
"Idiot, I know that, you know that, the demon counsel knows that, but in the eyes of the human law you are underage and were over the limit. In our courts you won't even be punished. In theirs you will be used as an example and your punishment will be severe and unmerited." Sesshoumaru choked back a sigh and composed himself as much as possible. "Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for me to clean up this mess?"
Inuyasha bristled and lunged toward Sesshoumaru only to be stopped by the handcuffs holding him to his bed. "The punishment isn't unmerited! I deserve it! It's my fault …it's my fault."
Kagome reached out and placed a gentle hand on Inuyasha's shoulder which he shrugged off before lying back down in the bed.
"Fine," Sesshoumaru growled. "If it's your fault and your mess then you clean it up. I am releasing your trust fund and I want you out of my home in a week."
Kagome gasped. Sesshoumaru couldn't just kick his brother out on the street like that, could he? Inuyasha was so torn up about what happened. Of course it wasn't his fault, but naturally he was feeling guilty as anyone would in this kind of situation. Sesshoumaru's callousness hurt. It hurt to see that he could be so cruel. It hurt to see that the boy she once knew grew into a man who was capable of such heartlessness.
"Oh Sesshoumaru." She whispered, just before Inuyasha exploded.
"Trust fund? What fucking trust fund?" He growled low and dangerous.
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow and smirked. "The one out father left you when he died."
"How much?" Inuyasha struggled through his rage to ask.
"A little over ten million. 500,000 to be released per year." Sesshoumaru was speaking casually, but even with out yelling or using expletives like his brother, but the words were filled with hate and anger.
Inuyasha chuckled mirthlessly. "So you knew about it all along didn't you? You knew about me. When my mom was working two jobs and barely scraping by you had this money. When I was going from one foster home to another, being knocked around and starved, you had this money."
"You were my father's mistake to correct; not mine." The words were like bullets, each one selected for its accuracy and ability to inflict the maximum amount of damage.
There was a moment of horrible silence in the room. Not even the monitors dared to beep. Kagome wiped the tears from her eyes that she didn't even realize had fallen. She reached out for Inuyasha again and this time he didn't knock her hand away. He grabbed unto it and held it as if she was the last person left in the world. And in a way she figured that she kind of was.
"Ill have my shit out by the end of the week. Then I never want to see or hear from you again. Get out!"
Sesshoumaru turned on his heel and left the room. And it broke Kagome's heart watching him go.
Once outside the room Sesshoumaru reigned in his temper. Inuyasha had pushed too far. Sesshoumaru never asked for a brother and never wanted one. If he did Inuyasha wouldn't have been the one he chose. But, now Inuyasha would no longer be his problem. He would have made the funds available years ago, but his mother refused to acknowledge that her husband had been unfaithful and therefore refused to fulfill her duty as executor of Inuyasha's trust. She figured sweeping the problem under the rug would make it just go away. Sesshoumaru knew better.
He waited outside for a moment for Kagome to say goodbye and catch up. When she didn't exit the room he glanced in the paneled window next to the door. Kagome was curled up on the bed next to Inuyasha and he had his one free arm wrapped around her body. Her shoulders were shaking and he could smell her tears over the strong scents of disinfectants and the infirm. She was crying. Sesshoumaru left the hospital knowing that it was his fault. He did that.