I posted this one pretty quickly. Maybe it's because I got excited because the last chapter got a comment *wink wink nudge nudge*. And yes, I'm sorry about all the cliffhangers. They just sort of happen. I promise my intention *probably* isn't to torture you. I feel like I'm using a lot of asterisks*****. Ehem. Let's get to the story, shall we?

Normally, the shifting muscles of A-Un's back as they walk would lull me to sleep even in broad daylight, but after yesterday, I'm wide awake. I twist my hand so my palm faces away from the grey sky, studying it. Last night, something came out of my hands. It was so cold my first thought would be ice, but it didn't feel hard, and judging by the way it absorbed into that spirit, it didn't behave like it was a solid object, either. I clench my fist and open it again, almost expecting something to change. I've already come to accept that magical things exist, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still just a regular human from the modern era with the only special thing about her being a weird allergy. At least, it shouldn't change that. It's not like I'm some mystical chosen one or something. If I was, I should have heard something about a prophecy or something by now.

I let my hand fall onto my face, covering my eyes. Chosen one? Prophecy? This isn't a freaking book.

Something pokes at my side, and I turn my head so slip my eyes out from under my hand, coming face to face with Rin.

"Hey, if you're not sleeping, can you make room for me?"

"Yeah, sure." I sit up, leaning against one of the necks, and Rin jumps up onto the still moving beast and settles in front of me.

"I scolded A-Un for leaving you last night."

I blink, taking a second to realize what she's talking about. "Oh, it's fine. I told him to take off if there was any trouble."

"But you could've died if you hadn't been able to stop that fire! Speaking of, how'd you do that, anyway? Are you a priestess? Or do you have some sort of amulet that lets you use magic?"

My eyes fall back to my hands that lay limp in my lap. "I'm not a priestess. The only 'amulet' I can think of is this jewel shard," I absently touch my collarbone, "but I don't think that's what it was." It's the only magical thing about me, yet I vaguely remember...I think it was Kaede who said she felt something from me before I even had it.

"So you don't know how you did it?" Her head tilts curiously.

"I don't."

This sends her into deep thought, her gaze still trained on my face. I can only imagine the kinds of wild explanations she's scheming up, her being a kid and all.

"How old are you, Rin?" I suddenly wonder.

"Mm…" She messes with her fingers, counting in an odd fashion. "Um, ten? Maybe eleven?"

So young. "How'd you end up following Lord Sesshomaru?"

Her hands fall and she smiles, revealing her missing tooth. "I found him in the woods injured." I startle. Injured? Sesshomaru? Could that have been when he lost his arm? Rin beams, apparently looking past me, and I glance over my shoulder to find Sesshomaru glaring back at us over his own shoulder. He really doesn't like it when people discuss his missing arm, does he? "He didn't really need my help," I turn back to Rin, "but he was just so beautiful sitting up against that tree that I wanted to, anyway! So I kept on visiting him! Then my village was attacked by wolves, and it gets kind of blurry after that, but after the attack I met Lord Sesshomaru, and he felt better, and I went along with him! How about you? What's your story?"

"Well...I was staying at a town when he found me...it was also being attacked, actually, and he saved me."

"And that's why you followed him?"

"Actually, no. I'd been looking for him for awhile, and I'd actually met him once before. I wanted to follow him then, but there were things holding me back."

"Why were you looking for him?"

"It's...kind of complicated. I guess I wanted to see him in real life instead of in pictures."

"What are 'pictures'?"

"Oh, I mean drawings. I've drawn and painted him before."

"Without having met him?"

I wince. "...Yeah."

For some reason, Rin appears to light up at this. "Are you an artist, Ren?"

"I...am." I scratch at the back of my neck. It kinda feels strange to say that, considering I haven't so much as seen any art supplies for the past month or so. I did bring some from home, but I left them all at Kaede's house when I left to find Sesshomaru.

"I wanna see!"

"Huh?"

"I wanna see your art! You said you made Lord Sesshomaru, so I want to see it! Can I please?"

"But I don't have any of my stuff with me, and even if I did, I don't have my best works." In this era, the only things I've made are the plant book, and that sketch of Sesshomaru in Kagome's notebook, each of which are far beyond me right now.

Rin remains unfazed. "That's fine! We can just go to where your stuff is! Lord Sesshomaru!" She leans sharply to the side to get a clear view of him as he walks in front of us, and I shoot out a hand in fear that she'll fall off. "Can we go? Please? Don't you also want to see the art Ren made of you?"

A sudden jolt pushes a gasp from my lungs and I barely manage to grab ahold of Rin's arm to keep her from tumbling off of A-Un. When we're both steady, I glance forward to find that our whole party has stopped.

"Is something wrong, My Lord?" Jaken stares up at his master in question.

Sesshomaru turns sideways, and my heart quickens when our eyes meet. "Jaken, join Rin on A-Un. Ren will walk with me instead."

"M-My Lord! But s-she...that human…"

A sharp glare mutes the sputtering imp and sends him hobbling over to me. It's kind of pathetic, watching him struggle to mount the dragons with his short stature. I simply slide off, entrusting my modern clothes to A-Un.

My fingers lace together as I watch Sesshomaru anxiously from beneath my eyelashes. Why this change all of a sudden?

We pick up walking again, this time with me walking just slightly behind in Jaken's usual place. My tattered sandals trudge slowly along, the straw used to weave them beginning to come apart. It doesn't help when a light sprinkling begins, and the ground begins to soften.

"Tell me why you were looking for me."

I bolt straighter at the sound of his voice, raindrops falling on my cheeks. "You were listening?" When he doesn't grace me with a response, I answer, "It's like I told Rin. I've...drawn you."

"How?"

My fingers tighten around the sleeves of my dress. He isn't asking my methods, and as much as I'd like to, it would be insulting to answer as if he were. "Well, um...I'm not exactly sure, really. I've just...always known about you...somehow…"

He's silent for a moment, thinking. Then he says, "It appeared to me as if the power you used last night surprised you. What do you know about it?"

"Not much," I shake my head. This is so humiliating. He finally wants to talk to me, and all I can give are non-answers! "The first time it happened was during the attack on the village. I did something to one of the bird demons that hurt me. I'm not sure what, exactly. I didn't stick around to check." He ponders this again, and as he does, I offer, "Before that, I was told by someone that there was some sort of power inside of me. That was the first time anything related to it happened."

"Who told you this?"

"She was a priestess named Kaede."

"Kaede." I wait while he absorbs her name. A small cough, however, distracts us both, and we turn to see Rin covering her mouth with both of her hands. When she notices us, she lowers them and smiles.

"I'm oka—" She breaks of coughing again.

I break away from Sesshomaru and reach into the folds of my uniform shirt. I pull out a couple smushed flowers and press them into Rin's hand. "Chew these into a mush before you swallow. They should help your cough." At least, I hope they will. I only heard about their use from Kaede. This'll be my first time using them.

The girl gladly accepts the plants and I rub her back as she chews. Rain just isn't her thing. Luckily, after a few more soft coughs, they seem to stop. When I ask if she feels better, she nods.

"Rest on A-Un until the rain stops."

"Okay, Lord Sesshomaru." She obediently lays atop the beast and closes her eyes.

Unfortunately, the rain continues the rest of the day and into the night, and Rin's cough soon returns. After giving her flowers a second time, I run out, but Jaken insists that she's fine, and that she's just annoying whenever it rains. Even if it isn't serious, though, it must be unpleasant for her to be constantly coughing.

We walk mostly through the night, only setting up camp when the sky begins to brighten. With the rain still going and my legs aching and worn, we fall asleep without fire or food. Still, however, the rain persists, and after another day and night, Sesshomaru brings our little caravan to a cave and announces that we'll stay until the rain has cleared. His motivation is clear. As the rain has dragged on, Rin's coughs have slowly increased and deepened. Some of her coughs sounds distinctly painful, and even while she sleeps, the coughing doesn't stop. When she snuggles against A-Un, I lay a hand on her forehead and find her hot.

"She's sick," I announce, stomach knotting. Were there any plants Kaede said were good for fevers? I can't remember. What do I do then? Can't fevers kill children? And we don't have any medicine! How am I supposed to take care of her? I mean, even if there was medicine, I've never looked after a sick kid before!

"Sick." Jaken clicks his tongue. "Humans are so weak. Now demons like us, we don't get sick."

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, comes to kneel beside me, and mimics me by placing his own hand on her forehead. The sight of his tight jaw and unhappy eyes drops my knotted stomach to my feet.

"What do humans do," he suddenly inquires, "when one of them is sick?"

I race to think. I've never taken care of a sick child, but my dad once came down with a stomach bug, and I had to take care of him. He's not a kid, but this is similar, right? How different can it be? Right?

"S-She needs to keep eating and drinking." I bite my lip, wondering about a fire. Should I light it? Keep her warm? But she has a fever! Shouldn't we get something to cool her off? Like what?

In my distraction, I don't realize Sesshomaru's left until Jaken exclaims, "Ah! I should have followed him! He must have realized it's a waste to keep a sick human around and decided to abandon her! Oh Lord Sesshomaru, wait for me!"

When the imp darts out of the cave, I glance at A-Un. One head snorts and tosses its head, the other rolling its eyes. Yeah, I agree. Jaken is definitely wrong.

What can I do, though? The pattering rain draws me to the cave's mouth. I hesitate, not having any sort of container, and eventually settle for cupping my hands and catching the rain. I'm forced to adjust my hands a few times to retain the water better. Once my hands are full, I carefully hurry back to Rin, kneeling down and putting my hands to her lips. Groggy eyes watching, she obediently sips from my hands. I repeat this a few times until Sesshomaru wanders back. Kneeling back down, he opens his palm to Rin, revealing a handful of what look to be berries. Rin smiles weakly, and slowly picks at the food until its gone. My own stomach growls at the sight, but I resign myself to another day of little food. Right now all attention goes to Rin.

Since we don't light a fire, I switch my sandals for my socks and boots and throw on my uniform shirt over the dress. It may be summer, but with all the rain it's gotten a little chilly. Rin, already asleep, is moved by Sesshomaru so that she's situated in his fur. I take her place sitting against A-Un.

Even though we're in a cave, and the clouds have kept the world dark, the way Sesshomaru's head never turns away from Rin is more than enough to tell me he's worried. He's worried, and I can't say anything to comfort him.

Please, I pray, snuggling up against A-Un, whatever gods are out there, whoever's listening, help Rin.

And for some reason, when I finally fall asleep, I'm comforted by a strange certainty that my prayer's been heard.

In case you were wondering, the time Rin found Sesshomaru injured was not the time he lost his arm, and although Ren's not incorrect by thinking Sesshomaru gets irritated if you pay attention to his missing arm, the big picture in fact is that he dislikes people talking about any loss or failure of his in general. Just to clarify. Leave a favorite, hit that follow button, feel free to also leave a lengthy comment if you so desire, and I will see you all in the next chapter!