Knotweed Among the Wisteria

Chapter 6

"Get her in the bed," Shinobu ordered.

Inuyasha laid you as gently and swiftly as he could. His hand tilting your chin in search of any physical wounds where the blood stained.

"I feel it, but this doesn't make any sense," Inuyasha thought to himself. The heavy pulse of a spiritual energy reverberated through the air. Inuyasha's shock choking his words. An all too familiar presence now rest in the bed. His pupils shook as the ghost of a ravenette hovered over you, draping your figure like a sheet.

"Let go of her!" Shinobu shouts. Her hands swiping at Inuyasha's sharpened claws, almost piercing delicate skin. He draws back, hands coated in the black bile of drying blood. He's flush against the walls of the room, dizzied by the encounter. Your image returned just as quickly as it had changed.

"Out of the room Demon," Shinobu directs in a cold voice as she prepares to address your possible wounds.

"I'm not going anywhere!" Inuyasha bites back but remains plastered to the door.

"Then turn around idiot!" A girl with deep blue eyes orders him as she shields your body from view. Inuyasha's teeth bare to make a remark but they're quickly shut as he resigns to staring at the floor as his ears face the group. The sound of squeaking wheels and rolling rubber pass from the door as two little girls wheel a screen toward the bed.

There's ripping clothes, and the metallic sound of sharp sheers sliding over fabric. Your heart hammering in your chest as if it were to explode. The sheets ruffle and cloth scraps flop to the cart behind them. Trails of water drip from wrist to elbow as Aoi cleans away the stains of your face and chest. A dull thudding and thumping of your heart. Water sloshing and dripping as the smell of blood and water mix in the bowl and on the floor. There's a silence soon after as both women examine you: face and body both without bruise or injury. Shinobu held her fingers to your wrist and two more to her own. Aoi let her hand hover below your nose as she felt the air release against the back of it. As she monitored your breathing she held a hand to your heart. She lowered her ear to your lips as she listened to you breathe. There was no gurgle nor cough. Your skin was brought back to vibrancy and only cold from exposure. Her eyes found Shinobu in question but her superior's expression told nothing as she silently observed you.

________________

You were put in the room closest to Shinobu's office near the women's wing.

"What happened?" Shinobu questions, unsure of how to proceed as your pulse was suddenly calm and your breathing was regulated. All that was given was painkiller and general antibiotic herbs. 'Why was this girl puking blood only minutes ago?' She's met with silence as she stands over his seated figure. His gaze fixed on the end of the bed.

"How long has she been awake?" Shinobu interrogates.

"She was still asleep when we got to the well," Inuyasha states.

"What?!" Shinobu fumes. "Is she ill?" she hypothesizes.

"Aren't you the doctor here?" Inuyasha tuts, turning from her direction. "Should've just left her with the fortune teller."

"Yes, you should have," Shinobu affirmed sternly, "but as her current caretaker, this information would help significantly in her treatment," Shinobu replies with a fixed smile.

Inuyasha shivers at her practiced form of smiling malice, crossing his arms and pointing his nose to the air beside him.

"No... not that I know of," he replies in an indignant tone.

Shinobu studies him as he peers away from the room.

"That you know of?" She echoes, " are you not close?"