Dearly Beloved by Aviel
Reluctance
Disclaimer: Though it saddens me to say it, I don’t own anything relating to Takahashi-sensei’s Inuyasha. However, the plot and/or ideas of this drabble series do belong to me.
A/N: None. :) Update 2 of 2.
Chapter 33: Reluctance
“Why are we at the hospital?”
That was it: the dreaded question.
Sesshoumaru knew it was foolishness on his part to hope, to wish, and to pray that she hadn’t asked him. But he had known that Kagome would notice the strangeness of the situation right off the bat. And seeing how it wasn’t as if there was anyone else in the room that could withhold the information from her, he sure as hell couldn’t.
However, this didn’t mean that he couldn’t try. Or, try to stall as he scrambled to provide a suitable answer to her inquiry. Though that last thought had him cringing inwardly, he couldn’t deny the truth for what it was: He was like a person fumbling around in the dark for a flashlight, blind and desperate for any sign of familiarity or relief.
So, without thinking, Sesshoumaru’s lips moved. “You fell yesterday,” he found himself telling her.
Kagome’s brows furrowed as she regarded him with a critical eye. He saw the worry etched into her features.
“I did? I don’t remember that at all.”
“You hit your head on the way down.”
She mulled it over, nodding afterward. “That would make sense, I guess, but a small bump shouldn’t have warranted a stay at the hospital, unless it was…” she trailed off, suddenly afraid. “…Serious.”
Since she was neither dead nor dying, Sesshoumaru assumed she realized that something else must have been terribly wrong with her.
“I don’t have some kind of a freaky illness, do I?” she asked, a nervous laugh rising from her throat.
Her anxiety was beginning to eat at him. “No.”
Hands twisting the bedsheets, Kagome admitted quietly, “I don’t understand, Maru-kun. What’s wrong with me?”
“Nothing,” he breathed. “Nothing is wrong with you.” The lie rolled easily off of his tongue, but left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
Startled, Sesshoumaru’s eyes flashed to hers; he had been staring at the space on the wall above her head, and he hadn’t even noticed. The male opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out.
Well, not at first.
Finding his voice, he replied, “I will retrieve your family. They are waiting outside with Inuyasha.” If that wasn’t an obvious diversion, he didn’t know what was. He was only certain that she had caught it and was very displeased with him.
“I know you’re not telling me something. Is it so bad that you had to resort to lying?”
“…Yes.”
“Will I die?” Her tone was decidedly calm, steady.
His was not. “You do not have a disease.” He had narrowly avoided that one, too, but the thought still wasn’t comforting.
“Then tell me what’s going on!” she shouted. “Or so help me, Sesshoumaru, I will hunt down the doctor and ask him myself!”
A moment passed before:
“…Our little Hatsuko is gone, Kagome.”
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Original Posting Date: January 16, 2013
Prompt: For Riku Ryuu’s Random Prompts, Cheat
Words: 500