Takashi woke up to find himself in his bed, his hand clenched in his mother's grasp as she lay by his bedside. He felt so bad he was afraid to open his eyes. He let out a groan as he began to feel the throbbing aches in his chest and the freezing cold all over again. A terrible cough forced its way out from the hollow of his lungs. He could only compare this agony he felt to something trying to rearrange his insides.
He struggled with all his strength to speak to his mother.
"M-Mom...My whole body huuurrtss..." Another abominable cough escaped from his throat. He could barely hear his mother sigh with relief; his hearing seemed muffled. He felt her place her free hand onto his head and brush it against his sweaty bangs.
"Takashi? Are you okay? Please say you're okay..."
"I don't know Mom...I can barely breathe..."
His mother gasped as he lurched forward, his chest heaving as he winced and opened his eyes. To her terror, as she had feared at the dinner table, they glowed a shimmering gold in the darkness of his bedroom. But just as suddenly, he blinked and they returned back to their dark hazel brown. He threw himself back onto his pillows, wheezing as he attempted to rub off whatever caused the terrible pain in his eyes. Kagome stared at her son, lying there as he writhed in pain. His entire body was drenched in sweat; his fingernails were oozing with puss; every muscle visible was twitching and convulsing. She lay her head on his chest and began to sob.
"Please...just let this be a really bad cold..."
"...Kagome-"
She turned around to see her grandfather standing in the doorway.
"...I think you should just leave him alone for a while...he needs to rest for what he's going through right now."
She sniffled and nodded, kissing her son on the forehead and walking out the door.
Kagome opened up the door to his bedroom slightly to peek in at her son, who was finally resting, though wheezing and heavily sweating.
"Please don't be dying..."
Takashi could barely hear conversation by his door through is stifled hearing. His mother sounded like she was upset...
Of course she's upset; I'm practically dying! Oh well...I guess I better at least try to get some more sleep...maybe it'll help me get better, or maybe I'll die in my sleep; either way, I'll be out of my misery.
Takashi turned over and did his best to find sleep. After several hours, when slumber finally claimed him, he suddenly experienced violent nightmares...

***
A dark creature stood before him...its entire body was blanketed with millions of tiny spiders. He stood there, shaking in fear as the spiders crawled off to reveal a glowing jewel, floating in mid-air. He nearly cried out as he saw that the spiders were approaching him...

***
"...Takashiiii..."
Takashi's eyes snapped open, and without hesitation he slowly crawled out from his bed. His eyes had turned a ghostly pale-blue, and his face held no expression. His strength had apparently returned, and he walked out of his bedroom, down the stairs and out the door...

***
"Somebody help me!!!" Takashi called out in his nightmare. The spiders crawled forward, scuttling along the ground and lunging towards him. As they crawled up his legs and onto his bare chest, they suddenly began to melt into his skin. He screamed as he watched them sink into his flesh, their legs wiggling out from the surface as they buried themselves deeper.

***
In the light of the moon, a silver string shimmered, hanging off of Takashi's neck. It seemed to pull him in the direction of an old hut, as if he were a puppet. The wind blew wildly around him as he walked closer and closer to the hut. When he entered and closed the door behind him, he walked down the stairs and stared blankly down into the pits of the dry well sitting within.

***
As the spiders all vanished into his skin, Takashi felt relieved, but still disturbed from the shocking experience. Suddenly, the glowing jewel hovered towards him, and like the spiders, molded itself into his skin, near his heart. He suddenly felt numb, and then a rush of heat flowed through him. He fell to the ground, panting for breath, but gasped as he saw a puddle on the ground, but instead of his reflection, he saw a monstrous creature with similar features as he, but with glowing red eyes and enormous fangs staring back at him, grinning. He screamed, and the monster simply laughed at him from within the reflection.

***
Takashi sat on the well and threw his legs over, staring down into the darkness of the well.
"Come to me..."
Takashi nodded to the unknown voice, and pushed himself off the side.
Suddenly, the string broke, and Takashi blinked in shock, his eyes returning to their dark brown color once more, and violently shook his head as he awoke from his stupor. But as he left one dream, he believed he had entered another.
"What's going on?!"
Takashi was floating aimlessly in an endless world of vivid light. He lurched over as he suddenly felt his heart squeeze, and he looked down to see a pink light glowing from his chest. He was so afraid he covered his eyes, afraid to see where he would end up next
"I'm just dreaming...I'm severely hallucinating because I'm ill...I...-huh?"
He lowered his hands from his eyes. Takashi just realized that he no longer felt the terrible throbbing pains and the freezing cold he had felt before he had fallen asleep. His strength and stamina had returned, and he felt perfectly healthy.
Suddenly, the shining lights vanished, only to reveal his location as what looked like a ditch with wooden walls. He stared up from this whole to see the clear night sky, a brilliant crescent moon illuminating the sky. He found a vine connecting from bottom to top of this hole, and struggled to scale the wall by climbing up with it. When he reached the top, he felt extremely nervous as he found himself in the middle of a clearing in what looked like a giant, lush forest.
"Where am I?"
"Half-breed spawn!!!"
"Huh? -AH!"
Takashi turned around to see a giant snake hovering over him, larger than he ever thought possible for a snake...Heck, larger than he thought possible for an elephant!
"Die, loathsome vermin!!!"
The snake could talk?!?! The snake lunged forward at Takashi, opening its mouth wide to reveal terrible fangs. Takashi dodged just in time, and luckily the snake's teeth were lodged deep into the ground for a few moments, allowing him a head start for escape. He ran as fast as he could, maneuvering around the large trees as he searched for some way out.
"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
But suddenly, Takashi tripped over a root, and fell over wincing in pain as he saw his bloody ankle. When he looked back up again, there was the snake, staring him dead in the eyes with its wicked, cold, sharp stare.
"Another little pest to be devoured by a snake! DIE!"
"KITSUNE-BI!!!"
Takashi felt both relief and fear as he saw a huge fireball fly towards them, hitting the snake in the back of its head. The snake whirled back and lashed its tail, hitting Takashi in the head and knocking him out.
The snake turned around, to find a tall young man with red hair and aqua green eyes standing in the trees. His fingers had strong, sharp claws; a long, wispy, furry tail swayed gently back and forth from behind him. The snake hissed at the attacker and bared his fangs, ready to strike. The young man looked down with grave stare.
"Leave the boy alone and leave here at once!"
"I know you...you're that fox pup from the village nearby! How dare you interrupt my meal?"
"I heard somebody call for help...that's a good enough excuse for me...-Oh, and by the way; I'm not a pup."
"He is nothing more than a worthless half-breed! Why bother to help him?!"
The fox chuckled.
"Not all half-breeds are as weak as you think; this very forest is named after one!"
"It was given that name only by the pathetic humans who lived in fear of him. No self-respecting demon would name so much as a rock after him..."
"Let's stop chattering; leave here or die."
The snake demon shook the earth beneath him with the force of his laugh.
"Please, don't make such ridiculous comments; a fox demon is one of the weakest demons in existence! They rely on illusions and nothing more."
"Heh; well, that may be true for MOST fox demons..."
The fox leaped into the air, casting his silhouette in the moonlight.
"But I'm the exception!"
Raising his claws in the air, he lunged down toward the snake. As he plummeted towards the earth, his claws glowed with the same blue flames he had used to attack the snake demon before.
Takashi reawakened at the sound of a terrible, garbled scream, still dizzy from the blow to his head. His vision was blurry, but he could see something falling to the ground and throwing his body up into the air for a few moments before landing back down on the soft ground. All he saw before passing out again was the vague shadowed image of somebody approaching him and kneeling down beside him.
"Ugghhn..."
The unknown rescuer lifted Takashi up over his shoulder, and casually walked through the forest to whatever was their destination.