Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or Naruto.

Chills and Supposed Ills

She lifted the clear vial to eye level. The thick, blue contents of the bottle looked more like jell-o than the intended liquid, and in her opinion, it was only slightly less revolting than her guardian's last great idea. As far as potions went, it resembled the 'Black Memory' she had taken three years ago, and she was still feeling the phantom pains left behind by that incident. She wanted nothing more than to throw this vial away – far, far away. Never to be found again.

Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

She uncorked the vial with a small pop. She gave it a tentative sniff, finding that it smelled mostly like herbs. Thank Kami for small miracles, she thought with a slight grimace. "Well," she muttered aloud to help steel her resolve. "To long life and good health." With that, she tilted her head back and quickly upturned the contents in her mouth. The jelly-like substance plopped out in small chunks. Eugh, she frowned as it began working its way down her throat. She figured if she ever got it into her head to eat some slugs, the feeling and taste wouldn't be too far off because it was taking all her willpower to not hurl it back. She swore that if she ever found the idiot who had up with the bright idea of –

The door behind her clicked opened. "Kagome…?"

The sound of his voice caused her to jump. The vial slipped from her fingers as she whipped around to face him. "I-Itachi," she stammered, surprised. It thought he was sleeping! Her eyes darted nervously between him and the bottle that had rolled to a stop near his feet. Please don't notice it. Please don't notice it. Please – no! Kagome strangled a cry as Itachi bent and began feeling around the ground for the vial. Please don't find it. Please don't –

Kagome cringed as his fingers closed around the small bottle.

"What is this?" he asked, bringing it to his nose and giving it a delicate whiff.

"It's…uh…medicine?" Belatedly, she realized it sounded more like a question than an answer. Alright, calm down, calm down! Don't panic, Higurashi! She could still salvage the situation. "It's, um…for me?" She really needed to work on this whole dishonesty thing.

"Kagome." he intoned, a slight warning in his voice. "The truth."

And she really hated it when he used that tone. "It's…well, it's the…" It always scrambled her wits. Knowing that it was pointless to scramble for answers now, her shoulders slumped in resignation. "It's the new experiment."

"You mean it's –"

Sensing the direction of his next question, she quickly blurted out, "It's called the 'Blue Talent' – one of the five Elemental Potions that the lab has been working on. Theoretically, it's supposed to grant the user the ability to utilize the water element. What you're holding is the improved version. The original potion was given to ten subjects with a success rate of 30 percent. Of course, by success I mean survival, and none of them actually performed any –"

"Kagome," Itachi cut in. "You're rambling."

Busted! "I-I am?" Kagome squeaked.

"And you only ramble when you're trying to distract me."

Kagome winced. It was at times like these that she felt their understanding of each other was a double-edged sword. "Why would I do that?" she asked, hoping she sounded convincing. Please don't ask. Please don't –

"Why is it empty?" he countered, giving the empty vial a slight shake.

– ask. Kagome shot Itachi a wry look. Why couldn't he just do what she wanted for once? True, she hadn't actually said anything out loud, but he was her best friend. Shouldn't he be in tune with her thoughts?

Sighing slightly, she closed the few steps between them until they were standing face to face. Plucking the vial from his fingers, she opted for a teasing tone. "What? Are you disappointed? Don't tell me you actually wanted it."

"Kagome." The warning was back in his voice.

"Fine, fine," Kagome grumbled, keeping her posture light and relaxed as she pouted. Inwardly, however, she was going through a mini breakdown as she scrambled for a satisfactory answer to his question. Apparently, she took a minute too long because he shifted in a clear sign of impatience. "I got rid of it." she blurted without thought. Damn. She did not operate well under Itachi-induced pressures.

"You got rid of it." he repeated. There was definitely a note of skepticism in his words.

"Yep," Kagome grinned.

"How?" he challenged.

Kagome knew there was no satisfactory answer to that. Itachi's cell room was a closed-off, immaculately-white prison box. Even the bathroom – separated from the main room by a door – was essentially a smaller box within a bigger one. There was no plumbing to speak of. In Itachi's world, sinks did not exist, bathtubs were literally wooden tubs, and toilets were simply smaller versions of the bath tub. Waste was taken out every morning by another lab assistant, and water delivered directly inside upon her requests. If she claimed to have dumped the potion in one of the 'tubs', he would know it was only a matter of time before the 'missing potion' was discovered by another.

It was, after all, the main reason why all experimental potions were vibrantly color-coded.

"Magic," Kagome answered, ignoring Itachi's frown. "It's magic." she repeated. "Plus, who cares about how I did it anyway? Come on, we better go. They're probably impatient to see how well this worked."

"Kagome –"

"Do you still remember the seals for the Water Dragon Jutsu?"

"Yes, but –"

"Then again, water element isn't your first nature. Are you sure you'll be able to pull it off? I think they're only going to give you a small basin of water to work with. Maybe we should go for an easier jutsu. They didn't exactly specify –"

"Stop it," he commanded, his hands moving to wrap around her shoulders in a firm grip. A brief looked of irritation flashed across his face, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing," Kagome replied, surprised by the steadiness of her own voice. "I haven't done anything that I haven't done before." Pausing, she carefully moved his hands from her shoulders and cradled them in her own hands. "Please," she murmured, staring at him with complete seriousness. "Trust me."

There was a slight pause before Itachi gave a hesitant nod.

Kagome smiled as she dropped his hands and wrapped her arms around him in a loose hug. "Trust me," she repeated, "I got rid of the potion in the same way I always get rid of your drugs. The only difference is that I usually do this at my place."

"I know." Itachi answered, a slight frown creasing his face again. "But how did you…?"

"It's a secret," Kagome answered, making sure to keep her tone light and teasing. She didn't bother to correct his assumption about her living space. He didn't need to know that, as his caretaker, certain precautions had been taken against her as well. Her guardian was a suspicious woman by nature, and honestly, she would be more surprised if her guardian hadn't taken precautionary measures to prevent the possibility of her tampering with his drugs.

Except…

An ice-cold flash of pain lanced through her body, causing her to tighten her arms around Itachi. Breathe, breathe! Kagome quickly chanted to herself as she struggled to maintain a measure of composure.

"Kagome? Kagome, what's wrong?"

…She hadn't considered the possibility that she would go as far as to 'tamper' with the drugs with her own body.

"N-Nothing," she stammered before quickly clenching her teeth to stop it from chattering.

"You're shivering."

Kagome inwardly cursed. The blue potion had turned out a lot more potent than expected. The only upside (if it could be called such) was that it hadn't completely crippled her like the 'Black Memory'. "I-I'm okay," she answered, sniffling loudly and making a show of sneezing in succession. "It's just a cold I caught last night."

"But you seemed fine just –"

"Here," Kagome continued, acting as if she hadn't heard him as she pulled back and pressed the empty vial into his hands. "Give this to the guards. They'll take you to the testing room."

"You're not coming?"

"I'm –" A second surge of icy pain shot through her body, causing her face to twist in discomfort.

"Kagome?"

"I-I'm feeling a little woozy." Kagome grimaced, feeling the shivers intensify. "I'm going to s-sit this one out. Will you be okay a-alone?" At his nod, she relaxed a little. "Well, you better g-get going before they get impatient and b-bang down the door." she joked weakly.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Itachi asked, concerned when he felt her stumble on the way out of the bathroom.

No. She felt cold – so cold. At the moment, she wanted nothing more than to curl into some thick blankets and sleep. "Y-Yeah," she answered aloud, knowing he was still waiting for an answer. "Just m-me being my u-usual clumsy self!" she laughed, sounding somewhat strained.

Swallowing hard, she forced herself to move again, wobbling her way towards Itachi's cot, which suddenly seemed to be infinitely far away. He offered her his hand, but she quickly swatted away his attempts to steady her, knowing that if he touched her, he would know that her 'cold' had worsened.

Collapsing onto his cot, she faced him and urged again, "G-Go on, they're w-waiting."

Itachi nodded, but he stood rooted to the spot, frown never leaving his face.

"Don't w-worry; I'll be f-fine." Kagome said, lips curling slightly in weak smile. "I-I'll be right here, waiting for you w-when you finish." In her state, she doubted she could have left even if she had wanted to. "Go on…" Her eyes lingered on his back as he went and opened the door, handing the empty vial to one of the four guards waiting outside. And, even though it hurt her to see him treated this way, she continued to watch until he had been led away, hands bound tightly with chakra-suppressing restraints.

It wasn't until the door had completely swung shut, cutting him off from her that she finally allowed herself to collapse into a shivering mess. Pulling his threadbare blankets around herself, she buried her nose into his pillow, taking comfort in the familiar scent.

She was cold, and her eyes felt heavy, but she didn't dare fall asleep. She was afraid if she did, she'd never wake up again. She wasn't afraid of death though. At times, she had even felt that she would welcome it. Her family was, after all, probably waiting for her on the other side. But then, as soon as she thought that, she'd remember Itachi and how he'd be all alone. And, more than anything, she wanted to protect him from that loneliness.

It would be easy – so easy – to simply let go, but she was determined to live for him.

For his sake, she'd do anything. So she stayed awake and tried to will the shivers away.


TBC

Author's Note: Initially, I had meant for this story to be short – like 3 chapters. But somehow, it spiraled out of my control, and now it's going to be pretty long. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing, but my friend told me she finds my idea for this story to be "angst-y, icky, and just plain freaky". Not quite sure I understand, but I'm assuming she was freaked out by the fact that Itachi is blind (or, more accurately, eye-less).

Anyway, it took longer than I expected to update because I was out of the country recently. I actually have a ton of essays and homework that I need to catch up on because of the impromptu trip. But I'm procrastinating, and I figured I might as well type up one of the chapters that I've been working on.

I'll update again when I catch up with my backlog of homework. I actually have the next chapter of this story and the next chapter of 'Aniue' done. Unfortunately, they're handwritten drafts. So, I'll have to find time to type them up later.