Chapter 1: Item unseen
As the group continue on with their journey, the weather begins to intensify with something unusual. "This isn't good." Inuyasha tells them as he sniffs the area carefully. Unlike before of rain that come down from the sky, it somehow has a different scent. "What is different about the rain, Inuyasha? They have the same scent as always." Shippo hops onto his shoulder to sniff along with him.
That is until Kagome blinks her eyes. "I sense a shard." She tells him. Not wasting another second he turns around to see her looking around them. "Can you tell where it's coming from?" He asks anxiously. Kagome keeps on looking around and then look up to the sky. "It's coming from the clouds." She confirms it. Just Miroku and Sango get onto Kirara's back a flash of lightning spooked Shippo as he shivers in fear. "We need to find shelter. Flying isn't going to be the best idea." Sango tells them as they make a run for it, so that neither of them would get struck by lightning.
As they keep on running, Kagome felt something poke her foot. "Ow." She groans sharply as she kneels down to check her show to see that something went through the sole and her sock. "Kagome. What's the matter?" Sango comes to her level. "I don't know. I might have stepped on something sharp, and it somehow poked my foot." Kagome responds as Sango helps Kagome onto Kirara's back to prevent any injury or pain to spread.
They find an old hut in the woods. "Let's go in there." Miroku tells them. They head in before the rain increased. As they settle down, Kagome feel a tinge of pain coming from her foot. "Kagome, do you remember what you might've stepped on?" Miroku asks her. Kagome takes off her shoe and sock to see if the bottom of her foot is bleeding. Upon looking at it, there's nothing. "How strange. I could've sworn I stepped on something sharp. And yet there isn't any wound on me." She explains to him.
Inuyasha stealthily sniff the foot, "Nothing. I walk barefoot and I would've know a sharp item when I saw one." He tells her casually. Kagome knows that he, Shippo, and Kirara walk barefoot. But that's what demons and half-demon are like. Unless more powerful demons would wear footwear like Sesshomaru. "I might've stepped on a sharp stone or something." Kagome continues to examine her foot. No blood is seeping out. No bruise. Not even a sliver of that matter.
"Speaking of sharp items, Kagome. Where did you say you saw the jewel shard?" Inuyasha asks her. Kagome gasps. "On no. That shard is in the sky but I couldn't pinpoint where specifically." She looks outside and then looks down in shame, almost forgetting the small item. "Hey don't worry about it. We can go get when the rain passes by." Sango reassures her as she looks at the foot. Inuyasha takes his sword and is about to walk out. "Where do you think you're going?" Miroku asks him sternly. "What does it look like, I'm going out to get rid of the clouds of the sky so Kagome can pinpoint the sacred jewel." Inuyasha replies arrogantly. "Sit." Kagome growls as the beads around Inuyasha's neck slams him down onto the ground. "No way you're going out there. It's raining like crazy out there as we speak." Miroku explains the situation outside.
Soon enough the lightning flashes around the around. As soon as the lightning flashed, Kagome screams in pain. "Hey you're not afraid of lightning." Shippo points out to her. Kagome shakes her head. "It's not that. All of a sudden I felt something stabbed me from inside of me." Kagome explains what she just went through. Not just that, she's beginning to shiver uncontrollably. Inuyasha removes his outer haori and wraps her in it. "It shouldn't be from the rain." He warms her up. "No it shouldn't be the rain. It started to rain when we got in." Sango gently disagrees with him as they look outside to see the rain continuing to pour.
Somewhere else in the area where the group left, a new individual arrives on the scene. "So it's her that has the power to sense the sacred jewel shards. It's too bad that she won't be able to have that ability anymore." It spoke as it picks up what appears to be a pebble with a red dot on top of it. "And her blood is the key to make that happen." It smirks as it disappears without leaving a trace of its presence.
Nighttime came in rather quickly. So they group make their dinner with what Kagome brought with her from the future. "Sweet, ramen!" Inuyasha smiles widely as he is about to swipe the Styrofoam cup from in the backpack. Before he about to bring it out, Kagome is panting rapidly. "Kagome." Sango comes to her side. "What's wrong?" She asks worriedly. "I-I don't know. One second I was okay and then somehow I felt so weak all of sudden." Kagome answers slowly. Sango places her hand on the girl's forehead. "You're burning up. Do you have any medicine in your bag?" Sango asks as she takes the bag. "It's in the first aid kit." Kagome tells her the directions of the box.
Sango opens it up and looks inside. "There should a bottle of medicine." Kagome tells her. Sango picks it up and gives two little pills to Kagome. "Here's some water, Kagome." Shippo brings her a bottle full of water for her. Kagome smiles sweetly. "Thanks Shippo." Kagome takes the medicine. Soon after she begins to feel drowsy and lies down. "Kagome, don't go to sleep." Shippo shakes her as she falls asleep.
"Can you guys come here and see if there's anything wrong with Kagome?" Shippo look at Inuyasha and Miroku to come over. Miroku gets to open side of Kagome's body as Inuyasha sits behind her. "Can you detect anything unusual of her spiritual powers, Miroku?" Sango asks him. Miroku raises his hand over the girl's body. "I can feel that something is out of place." He tells them. "Like what, exactly?" Inuyasha asks him. Miroku does it again to get any more details of his observation. "It's hard to say that her powers are getting weaker or getting stronger at a given second." He tries to explain the problem. "So when she was shivering, her powers were weakening, and she started to burn up when her powers were getting stronger." Shippo asks in a more sense tone.
Everyone kind thought that he might be right about this. "Maybe. But there's something else that's slipping my fingers though." Miroku tells the kid seriously this time. "What is it? If we don't know what it we can't find the solution." Inuyasha asks hastily. "What I'm trying to say here is that something might be manipulating her powers without us knowing. If we can trace where that is coming from, we'd have a chance to put a stop on it." Miroku explains to him. Inuyasha sniffs her scent and can tell that something corrupted her scent as well. And by the looks of the outside, it's raining thus making it slim to none to track it down.