"He's been waking up constantly for the past few days, Sango. He usually isn't awake for longer than a few minutes, but it's better than him being unconscious 24/7." Kagome said over the phone to Sango a few days after he woke up.

"That's good. So any idea when he'll be back on his feet again?"

Kagome sighed.

"I have no idea. Honestly, I think it may be a while. He's still really sick."

"Oh… Well, let him know I said 'hi' then, okay?"

"Okay. Will do."

"Well, I'll talk to you later then Kagome. I have homework to do still."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye."

That night, Kagome woke up to the sound of Sesshomaru coughing. But it didn't sound like it was coming from the bed. She quickly sat up and looked at the bed. He wasn't there. She heard him cough again, and she immediately stood up.

'It sounds like it's coming from down the hall…!'

She quickly opened her door and ran down the hall to where the bathroom was. Sure enough, he was there, sitting on the ground, coughing and shaking. He was very pale, and was leaning over the toilet. She was instantly by his side, her extremely tired mind struggling to figure out what had happened. And that's when it happened. His body suddenly convulsed and he vomited. Kagome was horrified when she saw that he was throwing up blood. Once it was over, he started coughing again. He was shaking harder, and she began gently rubbing his back. There wasn't anything else she could do. After a few hours, it finally seemed to be over. Kagome flushed the toilet and then slowly led him back to the bedroom. Once he was back in bed, she pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and brushed his hair out of his face. She continued gently stroking his hair for a while, and didn't stop until she was certain he was asleep.

Kagome and Sango were walking to school alone that morning, not really knowing where Miroku was, and not having time to wait for him. Kagome was telling Sango about Sesshomaru and what had happened the night before.

"Oh, it was horrible, Sango! He was throwing up blood for at least an hour. You should have seen how pale he was…"

"That's horrible…"

"Yeah…"

"Was he any better today?"

"I don't know. He was still asleep when I left."

"I hope he gets better soon."

"Yeah, me too…"

The two of them walked on in silence for a while, when they suddenly heard someone calling their names. They turned around to see Miroku running toward them as fast as he could. They stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Hey, where were you? You were supposed to meet us at the train stop." Sango said, frowning at him and crossing her arms.

"I slept in." He admitted, smiling sheepishly.

"Really? That's not like you."

"Yeah, but I was super tired last night."

"Why?" Kagome asked. "Did you go to bed late?"

"No. I went to bed at the same time as always."

"Then how come you slept in?"

"I've been pretty stressed lately." He said. "It's been making me tired."

"Stressed?" Kagome asked "About what?"

He just shook his head.

"It doesn't matter, really." He said. "Now come on. We're going to be late."

Sango shrugged and started walking, not really seeming to care, and Miroku followed her. Kagome lingered behind for a moment.

'What could he possibly be so stressed about? It's not like him to worry about things… What could it be?'

She sighed, her tired mind trying in vain to come up with an answer to this latest puzzle. She was suddenly pulled from her thoughts when Sango called back to her from about ten feet ahead.

"Hey, are you coming?"

"Yeah, sorry!"

'This is gonna be a long day…' She thought as she ran to catch up with her friends.

At lunch, they were all ate in silence for a while, then Sango remembered that she needed to grab something from her locker before her next class. One way or another, she ended up dragging Kagome and Miroku along with her to her locker before they had a chance to finish eating. Sango had just retrieved her book when they suddenly heard loud angry voices and what sounded like a group of people fighting. They all exchanged looks and took off toward the sound. They were surprised by what they found. Inuyasha, Koga, a boy Sango recognized as Bankotsu, and Koga's friends Hakaku and Ginta were all locked and in a violent fight with Naraku and his new group. Naraku had split off from Inuyasha's group about a week ago, and things had been getting extremely tense between the two groups ever since then. Bankotsu, Hakaku, and Ginta were friends of Koga and Inuyasha, but they'd never gotten involved in the fights before. They were generally much sweeter than Inuyasha and Koga, and didn't like to fight that much. But when push came to shove, they were more than willing to help their friends. Naraku's new group was still lacking members, and so far only consisted of him, and strange lipstick-wearing boy named Jakotsu, a boy named Byakuya, another boy named Hiten and his brother Manten. They were all just like Naraku, and they loved to fight and hurt others. Sango and Miroku quickly leapt into the fray and began to help Inuyasha's group. It took several moments for Kagome to decide to help, and it wasn't much longer before they chased the group away. Once they were gone, Sango turned around and surveyed the damage. Inuyasha and his friends were all bruised and panting, but none of them were seriously hurt.

"Mind telling me what happened?" She said to Inuyasha.

"We got in a fight, what's it look like?" He replied.

"I mean what happened?" She said. "As in, what happened to cause the fight?"

"That bastard Naraku and his friends started it. They attacked us out of nowhere." Inuyasha replied.

"Yeah. What he lacks in speed and social skills he makes up for in cunning and brute strength." Koga muttered.

"Understatement of the century." Bankotsu replied sullenly.

"So everyone's okay then?" Kagome suddenly asked.

Inuyasha looked at her and then quickly looked away.

"…Yeah, we're fine." He said quietly, looking everywhere but at her.

After that, the bell rang and they all went to class. Kagome went to her art class and sighed sadly when she remembered that she was sitting alone again today. Sesshomaru was still sick. Her mind had been taken off of him for a while, especially during the fight, but now she was thinking about him again. She looked over at his empty seat and resisted the urge to sigh again.

'I hope you get better soon…'