Ryura, Kyora, and Jura and the Inuyasha universe belong to themselves and Rumiko Takahashi.

I own Kara, Shauna, Mikira, the concept of Barrier Pox, and the plot.

Profiles for the three girls are in my profile.

Enjoy!

Kara wakes up with a yawn. She quickly gets out of her bed, which consisted of a large cushy mattress, many pillows of varying thickness and a few blankets. She makes the bed as best she can, considering what it was made out of, then gets dressed and goes to make her breakfast, passing Ryura's closed door on the way. When she gets to the kitchen she finds Joura, Kyora, and Shauna already awake and eating their breakfasts. Nodding in greeting, She makes herself an omelet and sits down at the table, just as Miki sleepily walked through the door. "G' morning."

Kara looks up from her breakfast. "Morning. I left half of my omelet in the pan for your breakfast." She looks around. "Is Ryura not up yet? He is usually awake before me."

Kyora shakes his head. "I haven't seen him."

Joura nods in agreement, "Same here. He looked a bit pale yesterday. He may have caught something."

Kara frowns. "Caught something? I'll check on him after I finish breakfast."

Kyora looks at her "When you find out what is wrong, come back and tell us."

The dragon demon nods, then starts eating again. "I will." Once done, she puts her dishes in the sink and walks out of the kitchen. She heads out of the kitchen and through the living room, heading to the dragon themed hallway. Reaching Ryura's room, she knocks lightly on the door. "Ryura-sama? You awake?"

A low mutter is her only answer.

"I'm coming in. Okay?"

Another mutter.

She gently opens the door and peers inside. None of the lamps had been lit, making the room dark. Kara cautiously walks inside, spotting the Dragon War God sitting up in his bed.

He turns to glare at her. "What is it?"

She shrugged "You weren't there for breakfast and we wondered what was wrong." She moves over to a lamp "May I light this? It really isn't good for you to stay in the dark like that."

Ryura nods, but squints his eyes when she lit it.

She turns around to face at him again and a startled look crosses her face. "Oh. No wonder."

"What?" Ryura growls in annoyance. His head hurt and the light was a bit too bright, making his mood worse.

Kara looked a bit dismayed. "You have Barrier pox."

Ryura looked terrible. He was covered with red blisters and when he opened his mouth to demand an explanation, Kara could see there were red spots on his tongue as well.

"Barrier pox is an illness that most full demons and Humans get if they live behind a barrier for a few years. Hanyou can get it too, but it isn't as common. There is a rather extensive cure" She explains, and then turns to walk out the door. "I'll be right back. I have to tell your brothers what is wrong."

She hurries down the hall and finds everyone gathered in the living room. Kyora looks up from a book. "So what was wrong?"

Kara sighs. "He has Barrier pox." At the brother's confused looks, she explains once again. "Barrier pox is an illness you can catch only once. For some reason, Full demons and Humans usually get it after living behind a barrier for a few years. The cure is a bath in this special pond, at midnight. However, once the person has taken the bath, they get a fever that lasts for five days. During that time, someone has to take care of them."

Shauna smirked. "I thing you should."

Kara looks at the phoenix girl in alarm. "Me?"

"Yes you. We could still catch the pox if we take care of our brother when he has the fever." Joura agrees.

"But!"

Miki grins, "Aw come on! It's not like you have anything else to do! And he likes you best out of the three of us."

The dragon girl sighs in defeat at the wolf demon's comment., knowing she was right "Oh alright. Now when he is gone for the bath we need to fill the room with incense and steam from the pond water to clear his room of any contamination. Miki. I want you to get a bucket or two full of the pond water, with some of the algae in it. You remember the way. Right?"

Miki nods "right!" she the hurries off to complete her chore.

Shauna gets up. "I suppose this means I'm looking in storage for the incense burners and the steamers." She leaves, heading for the storage room. "I guess this means you are explaining everything to Ryura" she calls over her shoulder.

Kara nods. "Yeah"

Kyora smirks "Good luck"

She smiles at the Phoenix War god, "Thanks." Then turns and heads back down the hall.

She knocks at Ryura's door again, then enters. "I'm back."

The War god opened the door and glares at her. "Well? I suppose you know of a cure."

Kara took a deep breath. This was not going to be good. "There IS a cure… but I don't think you will like it"

"Damn it just tell me already!" Ryura snapped. Kara sighed, "The only cure is at a secluded pond. On a moonlit night you are to walk in, buck naked, and scrub with a special algae what is found in the bottom for three minutes… and you are supposed to face west."

Ryura's eye twitched. "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Now tell me the REAL cure." He growled. Kara gulped "It IS the real cure… Well you don't have to face west, but… Uh… Can I explain?" She flinched as the dragon god glowered at her "Make it quick. I don't feel very generous right now and being sick is making my mood worse."

Kara nodded "Understood. The pond has these special water plants that as far as we know are the only cure on the island. There are water lilies that bloom only under moonlight, and the pollen supposedly cures the illness that is in your throat and mouth. The algae cures the blisters on the skin. In the time it would take to completely finish scrubbing, you would have been in the water long enough for the plants to cure you. Then…"

Ryura interrupts her, "No way in hell am I going to go walking through the forest wearing nothing but my skin!" He glares at the Dragon girl, daring her to challenge him.

Kara snorted. "Afraid someone might see you?"

Ryura's glare intensified. "No! I just don't want to." His only response was a raised eyebrow "Then how are you going to get rid of the terribly itchy blisters?"

The blue dragon huffed. "My body will overcome it." Both dragons locked eyes, glaring at each other in a match of wills. Ryura reached over to scratch a red spot on his other arm. With out breaking eye contact, Kara reached over and slapped his hand away. "No scratching!"

Ryura had an almost comical pout on his face. "But it itches!"

"Then do the cure!"

"No!"

This time Kara's eye twitched. "You are being rather immature about this." She then sighs. "Listen… There is one more thing to the cure. After the night in the pond and the person returns home, the water takes effect. The person gets a fever that lasts about five days as the water cures the body. During that time, someone has to take care of them. Someone who is immune to the Pox."

Ryura scowls, and reaches over to his arm again. Kara growls slightly in warning, but stops when he simply starts rubbing the arm. "What's your point?" the War god asked, slightly miffed that she had kept this from him.

"Well, I was thinking, since you so love to order me around, that for those five days I am that person. Meaning that I wait on you hand and foot, and carry out your every order."

Ryura smirks evilly, the irritating blisters forgotten as he contemplates the possibilities. "Sounds good. But did you actually think of that?"

"Actually, once I found out what illness you had, my sisters pushed me into the job."

Ryura chuckles at her predicament. "They certainly like planning these kinds of things. Now why didn't my brothers volunteer?"

"Because they still stand a chance of getting the Barrier pox. Once you get Barrier pox you can't get it again, and my sisters and I, along with most of the islanders, have already had it. Besides, they were right there with my sisters in getting me to do this."

Ryura smirks, an idea coming to mind. "Alright, I'll go along with this 'cure' of yours. But only if you serve me for the entire week instead of just five days."

Kara gapes at him, then scowls when she realizes that this is the quickest way to get him to comply. "Fine. When it nears lunchtime I'll pack a lunch for both of us, as well as a dinner for you and take you to the pond. There is a hut there that you stay in until nighttime. Also bring a towel and a robe of some sort for after you get out of the pond. You have until sun-up before the fever sets in."

Ryura raises an eyebrow. "Bossy little thing, aren't you? Why cant I just wear the clothes I wore today when coming back?"

"Because they will be contaminated and if you use them you ruin the effects of the water's cure. You re-infect yourself." Kara ground out, her patience nearly run out. "I'm going to prepare everything. See you around noon." The dragon girl turns and walks away, deciding that she had spent enough time with him.

She goes back to the living room and sits down in a chair, fuming.

Kyora raises an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

"Oh. Just the little fact that dear Ryura-sama refused to cooperate until I agreed to carry out his every order for a whole week instead of just five days." The dragon girl grumbles.

Shauna walks in, managing to hear her reply. "I think he is taking advantage of this."

Kara nods. "Yeah. I hope I don't go insane. Do we have everything?"

The phoenix girl nods. "Yeah. And Miki just got back."

"Good. Once we leave you are going to start with the incense. Do that for an hour and a half, and then take out all the papers and scrolls that could be damaged by the steam, especially the painting. Then start steaming the room."

Shauna nods. "An hour and a half for that too. And then I dry everything. Got it. It's almost lunchtime; you'd better start making the lunch and dinner for the trip."

Kara nods and heads off to the kitchen.

Joura chuckles. "I'm glad I'm not sick. I can imagine Mikira being overjoyed with the idea of taking care of me. She would probable baby talk me and fuss over everything, and give me flowers to make me feel better. I would probably go crazy."

Shauna nods. "Miki is a bit scary with the way she deals with stuff."

The two brothers nod in agreement and go back to their stuff.

In the kitchen Kara hums to herself as she makes the food. Singing always relaxed her, and she was feeling a bit better as she made the lunches. She made a bento box for both of them, then paused. 'What do I pack for dinner? There aren't fish in the pond, so I guess I'll have to pack that ramen stuff that I got a few years ago from that trading ship. I still have all the ingredients.' She thinks, then heads to the pantry. "Let's see. Dried noodles… sauces… sliced vegetables… check…check… check… check… yeah. That's it. I have everything. And the place has a fire pit and bowl, so I don't need to pack those." The dragon girl packs the food in a basket and smiles in satisfaction, only to groan as realization strikes. "Starting now, I will have to suffer his presence for more that I ever have in he entire time he has been on this island. Why me?!"

Hearing the remark, Miki pops her head in "Silly Onee-san! It's because you are more patient than any of us. Even I know that! Oh, and Nee-san says it's time to head to the lake."

Kara sighs. "Alright. Let's get this over with." She picks up the basket and starts to head to the dragon's room.

"Have fun!" Miki calls.

Kyora, Joura, and Shauna start chuckling as Kara's shoulders stiffen at Miki's words. They continue laughing as she starts grumbling under her breath as she continues on her way to the ailing war god's room.

Miki looks back and forth between the chuckling trio and Kara in confusion. "Did I say something wrong?"