It was uncomfortably quiet.

Kagome pulled her sleeping bag farther over her head, trying to dispel the feeling that Miroku, Sango and Shippo were all studiously doing their best not to stare at her. Since she had run into the woods after Inuyasha's…accusation and returned, the hanyou had been missing. She could just imagine him sulking somewhere close enough to watch over them, but far enough that he could take out his frustrations.

They had already listened to him furiously attacking trees in the distance.

As if Inuyasha understood anything! He didn't trust her at all. As if she would—Kagome winced—get wet over one kiss! Especially when she wasn't even in love with the guy! Inuyasha should know better by now than to think that she would run off with Kouga. Yes, the wolf-prince was a friend, but she…it wasn't like she had a crush or something on him?

Did she?

She didn't…think so. Kouga had eaten humans. Humans! And everyone was so sure that she had completely forgotten about the first time they had met, but she hadn't. She suspected that Kouga's changes were mainly temporary in a ploy to seduce her into helping him find more Jewel shards. Some changes were probably true, but she didn't expect Kouga to change so fundamentally in such a short time.

Although sometimes, it seemed like he had.

Ok…so maybe she liked the attention Kouga lavished on her. It was a far cry from the sulky hanyou who yelled at her because she wasn't young or pretty, couldn't cook, couldn't fight, couldn't run fast enough…It was nice to meet a guy who complimented her! Kouga liked who she was and HE never compared her to anyone else.

Kagome bit her lip as she imagined Inuyasha somewhere, sitting in his tree, thinking that she had betrayed him. Just when Inuyasha was starting to let his guard down enough to start something with her—he'd kissed her twice already!—Kouga had to come along and ruin all that progress.

But haven't you seen him kiss Kikyo? a voice whispered to her. He probably kisses Kikyo every time he goes to meet her. He gives her confessions of love even though she's betrayed him. And yet he cannot forgive a kiss that wasn't even your fault!

It wasn't fair of her to judge Inuyasha for still being in love with his ex-girlfriend, but he was judging her for almost the same thing, wasn't he? Did he care about her at all? The blockhead was probably upset to see someone who looked like his perfect Kikyo kissing someone else. Was he only jealous because of her face?

The thought made her stomach hurt.

He's tried to kiss me before when he was thinking of Kikyo. Is that what's been happening between us? She lay in silence, trying to quiet her mind before the tears could begin; she was failing. Doubt crowded into her heart as she recalled the times that Inuyasha had tried to kiss her when they had first met. It made her ache, made her want to run into the forest and sit him into oblivion even if she couldn't see him fall.

"Goodnight, Kagome-chan." Sango's voice was quiet, conveying her sympathy for the young miko's plight. Kagome listened as the woman settled, setting the Hiraikotsu into a different place. "Goodnight, Houshi-sama."

"Goodnight, Lady Sango." Miroku returned. "Unless…?"

"No."

There was a small, brief sigh.

"Shippo? Are you comfortable with Kilala?" Kagome didn't hear a reply, so she supposed that the kitsune was already asleep. "Houshi-sama, do you think it's safe to leave her unbound? Maybe we should—"

"I will take the first watch," Miroku comforted. "Our Lady Ningyo won't be causing problems tonight if she will stay in her place. And if not, an ofuda will restrain her properly."

"Thank you," Sango replied softly.

Countless moments drifted by as Kagome waited for the others to settle again. That Miroku, not Inuyasha, was to watch over them tonight made her uncomfortable. She always knew that they were safe with Inuyasha perched in his trees listening with his inhuman senses. He saw things that they didn't see in the night darkness.

If only he weren't so stubborn!

Kagome shifted in the bag. Her side was sore but she didn't dare roll, not with Miroku watching. She was already embarrassed enough that they probably thought she was lusting after Kouga—which she wasn't. At least Miroku hadn't made any jokes about the incident. Not yet, anyway.

She felt restless. Bored, she scratched at an itchy patch of skin above her breasts. If her new perfect nails were good at anything, it was scratching. The mutated things hadn't chipped or broken once so far. Kagome could understand why Inuyasha was so proud of his. They were more useful than she thought. And pretty.

It was interesting how completely infused she felt after such a day. Her muscles ached to be up and moving instead of confined to this sleeping bag. She wanted to find Inuyasha and knock him senseless for having such double-standards. It was fine for Inuyasha to kiss Kikyo.

Find a different male.

What?

I've been hanging around the Feudal Era too long. Next thing you know I'll be barefoot and pregnant, working in the fields and using my textbooks to build a fire. Maybe Grandfather's right; maybe I do need to spend more time at home before I—

Kagome gasped, legs interlocking as she twisted to press her face into the head-cushion. Warmth nearly overwhelmed her, stretching through her limbs. Her skin was on fire. She shut her eyes forcefully waiting for the sensation to pass.

What…what's happening? Shemoaned into the cushion, throat aching. Her muscles were cramping as she gasped for air in the sleeping bag. Her jaw hurt from clenching and she purposefully relaxed it, hating the way her teeth felt like they were vibrating.

She tried to call out for Miroku, anyone.

I'm going to die! Help! Someone!

Kagome's hand clutched against her chest as the source of the pain intensified. Furious, intense heat was centered inside her heart and she desperately hoped that Miroku was watching and would come to her aid. Something was wrong! Why wasn't anyone helping her?! Her mouth vainly tried to find the breath that she needed to scream. What was—

Kagome twisted again, violently.

Hands were touching her. Miroku's face wavered over her in multiples. Then Sango's. Then Shippo's. She tried to move her mouth but she didn't know if they could hear her.

"Kagome!" Miroku loomed over her as Sango checked the girl's vitals. "Shippo, go for Inuyasha—quickly!"

"Inuyasha!" Shippo ran into the forest screaming. "INU-YASHA!"

"Houshi-sama, can you feel that?" Sango whispered fervently.

He nodded.

Both he and Sango had nearly been incapacitated by the force of Kagome-sama's powerful aura. It was twisted around her own body, inflicting what he could only imagine on the girl. Even now he could feel bile rising in his mouth at contact with the girl's skin.

"Kagome-chan!" Sango touched the girl's face, with effort. Miroku winced as he watched the sickened expression wash over the taijiya's face as she was forced to retreat, vomiting. He was tempted to do likewise, but he breathed heavily, focusing on protecting himself from a similar reaction by pulling on his own reserves of spiritual powers to shield himself from Kagome-sama's.

"Focus, Miroku!" he ordered himself. He closed his eyes, attempting to find the place inside himself where his powers lay coiled. Any moment now they would awaken and he could tend to Kagome-sama without fear of falling sick. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead as Kagome's aura fluctuated again.

Miroku vomited.

Far enough away that he couldn't hear them, but near enough that he could smell them, and see the light of their fire through the foliage, Inuyasha sat perched in his tree. He was extraordinarily angry, more so than usual. He wanted nothing more than to slice Kouga open and hang him by a tree so that his entrails swing in the wind. Maybe something would eat him.

Stupid Kouga.

Inuyasha snorted, pushing his clawed hands deeper into his sleeves. The forest around him echoed his feelings; he had sliced most of the thick oaks in this area. It had kept him from turning that rage onto Kagome. He wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense into that skull of hers…lusting after some dirty, diseased, wolf-fucking son of a bitch that had put his hands on her. Kouga had no right to kiss Kagome!

He was going to ask Kaede if there was some way to leash Kagome, the next time they were in her village. Some way to keep the stupid girl where she belonged; maybe something that would keep her on this side of the well. The miko was completely useless without him. And yet every time Kouga batted those stupid eyes at her she fell for it! All because he "loved" her and bragged about it every time he saw her!

"Kagome needs to learn what reality is," he shifted uncomfortably. The smell of Kagome's arousal had affected him deeply. The girl had definitely been turned on. And by some shitty wolf that smelled like piss!

Too bad his anger did nothing to kill the blood flowing south.

"Calm down you bastard," he growled, shifting his hakama. "Kagome didn't smell like that for me."

"Or maybe Kagome was bragging about what a real demon looks like? Women certainly don't react that way for some stinking—" He slammed his head into the wood behind him, gritting his teeth against the echo of Kouga's words. What the hell did Kouga know anyway? His tribe didn't even have any women!

"Kouga probably sticks it to those two that follow him," he mumbled against his chest. The thought slightly eased the hurt that was clawing at him; Kouga was some other wolf's bitch and he was just pretending with Kagome.

He grinned.

Inuyasha was in the middle of enjoying his private joke with a good scratch when a force hit him, knocking him from his branch with a yowl of surprise. He fell on his face, moaning. His skin began to crawl. Sickness washed over him like every time Kagome nearly hit him in with one of her purifying arrows. As if he were about to burst into pieces.

"Inuyasha! INU-YASHA!" Shippo. "Inuyasha, where are you? Kagome is dying!"

Dying?

"Kagome!"

"Inu-YASHA!" Shippo bellowed. "Pl-ease!" The boy's sobs reached his ears; he forced himself to his feet as quickly as he could to move back towards camp and the panicked kit.

Kagome!

Inuyasha found the red-haired fox quickly, scooping him into his arms as he ran. It took the scared kid a moment to realize what had happened.

"Inuyasha!"

"What's wrong with Kagome?" he grunted. "Was it that damn fish?"

"Kagome was pretending to sleep in her bag when I went to sleep, but then I woke up and she was acting really weird! She keeps…twisting."

"Twisting? She's having a seizure?" Inuyasha had only seen a seizure once, when he was a kid. It had scared the hell out of him. His stomach sickened even more than it already was at the thought of Kagome experiencing something like that.

"I dunno." Shippo squirmed away to hover nearby, watching.

Inuyasha felt it before he stepped into the campsite. There was a massive wall of energy surrounding his friends that made him double over to catch his breath. The smell of multiple evacuated dinners made his nose wrinkle. Only Kagome was capable of this kind of purifying aura, even though there was something weird about it.

Oh shit—Kagome's doing this?

The miko's body was half-entombed inside her sleeping contraption and half on the grass underneath. Her hands were digging into the dirt as her torso convulsed.

"Kagome!" he called, holding his sleeve to his nose. Both Miroku and Sango were busy dry-heaving, which was strange. Why would a miko's aura have an effect like that on humans? Inuyasha tried to move forward against his better instincts.

"Kagome!"

Something wrapped around his legs.

"Eh, leggo you—" Nori's arms were weakly trying to contain his legs from moving forward. Kilala was lying beside the ningyo and both looked sick. "Kagome's aura?"

"Mew," the kitten cried softly, twitching.

"I have to try," he answered roughly. Her arms slid away from his knees before the girl collapsed.

The pain, nausea and overwhelming…sickness washed over him as he stepped forward. Prickles rushed over his skin that intensified with every step. He stepped over Miroku and nearly fell on Kagome; his legs wouldn't carry him any farther.

"Kagome?" he whined.

"Inu—Inu…" Kagome's eyes opened to peer at him dimly. "Help."

"What's going on?" he croaked. Thousands of needles were rolling over his skin. If he didn't move soon he might pass out.

"Inuyasha," Sango gasped, pushing herself up. "You have to move. Kagome could kill—"

Inuyasha's slumped, unconscious.

"Rin, cease your chattering already! Your voice is so grating!" Jaken covered his ears. "Can we not have a moment of silence you little pest?" The girl giggled, glancing back to her flinching caretaker. He needn't have worried—his lord seemed not to be listening, as was only fitting. Their puny worries were nothing compared to the Daiyoukai's concerns of domination and power. Of course he did not listen to them.

Jaken sighed wistfully.

"What is it my lord?" Rin skipped forward, peering over the cliff too. "Isn't it a pretty night?"

"Rin," Sesshomaru ignored her question. "You will stay with Jaken."

"Oh yes, milord!" Rin stood on her tiptoes, beaming.

"M-milord?" he stuttered. "Is something the matter?" He never expected an answer, but he still asked in the vain hope that one day his lord would find enough compassion to answer his lowly servant. For decades he had been serving the strangely beautiful man. Every night he prayed that Sesshomaru would not threaten to kill him.

"Hn." Sesshomaru disappeared.