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HAPPY 2003!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* Throws lots and lots of confetti into the air. *

Ok, I'm kinda confused right now. Do you people want me to respond to reviews? If you do, tell me, otherwise I'm not going to because it takes up a lot of space.

D i s c o v e r i e s

Chapter 3: The Sickness

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining in the sky with only a few wispy clouds to mar its progress across the great sea of blue where it resided. The shard hunters were investigating a rumor of a shard somewhere in the Southern Lands. They were walking along a dirt road, heading towards a village where they believed that they would get a good night's sleep.

"Kagome!" Kagome turned around when she heard Sango call out to her. She stopped and waited for Sango to catch up to her. "I want to talk to you about something.'' Kagome nodded her head for her to continue. "Kagome, what are we going to do after the jewel is completed?" She asked, "Are you still going to give it to Inuyasha or are you going to keep it and go home?" she inquired, turning towards Kagome. "Because we", she spread her hands indicating the group of shard hunters, " have been talking about it and we would really love it if, after we have collected all of the shards, you would either stay with us in feudal Japan or come and visit us often. We would really miss you if you didn't come to see us." She looked pleadingly at Kagome, waiting for her to answer.

Kagome stopped, a thoughtful look on her face. "For the first part of your question, I would have to say that I'm still thinking about it, though I do know that I'm not going to give it to Inuyasha, but I don't know if I should keep it and protect it, or somehow get rid of it. What would you do?" Kagome questioned. In truth, Kagome had been thinking about the exact subject quite often of late.

Sango looked at Kagome, a slight frown marring her features. "I don't know either, Kagome. It's such a large responsibility. I wouldn't want to make a decision if I weren't positively sure that it was the right one. But, you still haven't answered the rest of the question." She turned back around, staring off into the horizon.

"I'm surprised that you even have to ask, Sango." A smile graced her features. " Of course I will come and visit you. I don't know about living here though. You know that I have a life on the other side of the well, but maybe we can figure something out."

Sango smiled, "That's great, Kagome-chan! We were worried that after what Inuyasha did to you, you wouldn't want to come back." She said Inuyasha's name in distaste. "Of course, Shippou was the worst off. You know that he considers you his mother. He would miss you the most if you didn't come back."

"I know." Kagome smiled a sad smile before turning back to the road. They had been traveling for quite some time now, searching for the shards. At the moment, they were looking for a demon that supposedly carried three shards with him. When passing through a village about 5 miles back, they had heard rumors about where the demon was located. Supposedly, the demon was staying in a flying castle above an island. Kagome smiled wryly. It was also supposed that the demon was 30 feet tall, that it could burn down villages by spitting fire, and that poison was constantly dripping off its body. 'Villagers always over exaggerate when it comes to demons.' Although, she had a nagging feeling that what they were speaking was close to the truth for once.

Kagome turned her head and looked at her friends. At the moment, Sango was walking next to Kagome, seemingly depressed from the last time that Miroku had groped her, although she would never admit it. His face was still red from where she had slapped him. Kagome smirked. 'It's so obvious that those two like each other. They're the only ones that refuse to admit it.' She glanced behind her. Miroku was walking about 10 yards behind her, while Shippou was carelessly frolicking in-between them. She smiled at Shippou. 'He can be so cute at times.' Shippou, in turn, ran up to Kagome and jumped onto her waist, giving her a big hug that can only come from the love of a child. Kagome hugged him back, softly stroking the hair on the top of his head.

Kagome was about to say something to Shippou about how cute he was when she felt a small tug towards the back of her head. She stopped walking, her back stiffening up. She felt another tug, this time stronger though, followed by two smaller ones. Her senses went on all out alert. She turned to the others; "The youkai is close. I can feel the demon and three shards of the jewel. It must be the youkai that the villagers told us about." She felt the shards coming closer. "And it's coming towards us at a very quick pace."

"Everyone get ready!" Miroku shouted, setting his staff in the 'guard' position. Sango reached behind her on to her back and grabbed the large boomerang that was resting there, while Shippou prepared himself to unleash his foxfire. Kagome, who had already lifted her bow off her shoulder and had knocked an arrow to the string, aimed at the source of the Shikon shards, turned to Shippou, and asked, "Shippou, I need you to go into the forest and hide, alright? This demon is to dangerous for you."

"But Kagome-"

"No buts, Shippou. Now go!" Shippou looked into her eyes, knowing that she wasn't going to let him fight this one. He nodded his head and ran into the forest. The others just continued to wait for the demon to come.

They only had to wait a few moments before the demon appeared. It burst through the forest to their left, crushing the foliage to the ground. Wherever it stepped, the grass turned brown, shriveling up into itself. The demon, in itself, was utterly disgusting. It was about 15 feet tall, it's skin brown and wrinkled. It was covered in boils that were oozing a pasty whitish liquid, seemingly poison, that seeped out from its sores and coated its entire body. Kagome knew that if she were injured, she would not want the poison to get inside any of her wounds.

It let out a fierce cry, turning its eyes on Kagome. "Where are your shards, miko?" It hissed, ignoring her companions and settling its intense gaze on Kagome instead. "Give them to me! They belong to me! I must have their power!" It leaped at her, startling her with its speed. She tried to shoot it, but could only jump to the side to avoid being injured as its claws grazed past her head.

Sango jumped over towards Kagome, standing between her and the demon. "Hiraikotsu!" She yelled out, throwing the giant boomerang at the demon. It arced over her head, flying towards the demon's waist, but the demon just brought its hand up and knocked the weapon off its course, throwing it into the surrounding woods. Kagome's eyes opened in alarm as the demon threw Sango's weapon into the forest, where it would take some time to find. She readied anther arrow and shot it towards the demon. It struck the demon's thigh, glowing brightly while purifying the poison that touched the wound. With that extra time, Kagome closed her eyes and focused her powers on finding where the shards were located in the demon. Her eyes snapped open and she yelled out "The shards are in its chest, a little to the right of its heart!"

Miroku attacked the demon on its side, slicing his staff in a horizontal motion to distract the demon from his companions. "Shoot it, Kagome!" He yelled out as the demon turned to him and swiped its hand towards him. He blocked with his staff; the demon's claws only inches away from his face.

Kagome pointed her arrow, infusing it with her magic, making it glow a faint blue. The demon, having seen her from the corner of its eye, turned just as she shot the arrow. It reached out, trying to catch her before she could shoot. Kagome's eyes widened as she saw the clawed hand come soaring towards her. She turned, jumping to the side, so that she could escape from the demon's path of destruction, but wasn't fast enough, and its poison-coated claws caught her right arm, slicing it from elbow to wrist.

Kagome let out a scream of pain as the poison entered her wounds at the same time her arrow connected to the shards in the demon's shoulder. The shards were knocked out and Kagome's arrow started to pulse with a blue glow. The flesh around the arrow dissolved and the demon let out a scream of pain as it slowly began to melt. It sunk to the ground, half of its body a bloody mess. As its flesh disintegrated, its bones were the only clue that it had even been there in the first place.

Kagome gasped in pain. She held her arm to her stomach as the poison from the demon swept through her body. She leaned on her bow, staggering over to where the shards lay on the ground after being knocked out of the demon. She reached down and picked them up, purifying them with a touch, and slipped them into her pocket. Her vision blurred and she dropped to her knees. The last thing that she heard before she slipped into unconsciousness was the voices of her friends calling out her name.

~~~

Kagome awoke to the soft murmuring of her friends and a voice that she had never heard before. She slowly opened her eyes, but had to snap them shut after her head exploded with pain. After her eyes had adjusted to the light, she tried opening them again. She looked around at her surroundings. She was lying on a pallet in a hut. Across from her was a table and to her side a fire was gently burning in a fire pit. The table was covered in bags of different kinds of herbs with a mortar and pestle set in the middle. Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and someone whose back was turned to her were sitting in a corner, quietly talking about something that Kagome couldn't quite hear. She sat up, leaning on her left arm. A small moan of pain made its way from her chest when the wounds on her right arm were pulled.

Her friends, hearing her moan, turned toward her. Sango, seeing her try to sit up, rushed to her side. "Kagome, you need to lie down. You're really weak." She pushed her back down into her prone position.

"Where am I?" She asked, glancing around at the hut that she was in. "And what's wrong with me?" Sango glanced at her nervously, chewing on her bottom lip. "Tell me!" She forced out, gritting her teeth against the pain in her arm when she tried to move it.

Sango glanced at Miroku, who nodded his head. "You remember the fight, right?" Kagome nodded her head. "Well, after the demon attacked you, you fainted. Some of the demon's poison got in your wounds." She sat down. "We carried you back to the village where we first heard of the demon. The priestess treated your wounds and is allowing us to stay in her hut until we have figured out what to do next."

"How long until the poison is flushed out of my system and we can travel again?" She turned towards the priestess. Her friend's faces grew even more worried at that question, their eyes sad and their movements depressed.

The priestess walked towards her. She looked to be in her late 30's, early 40's and was dressed in the usual red and white of a miko's garb. She sat down next to Kagome, speaking in a soft voice. "The type of poison that was coated on the skin of the demon that attacked you is extremely harmful to humans. Demons are the only things that have ever been rumored to survive this poison without crippling side effects." Kagome paled, her blood draining out of her face. "You should have about one month to wrap up any business with your family and friends before the poison totally consumes your system. I'm sorry for having to tell you when you are like this..." The priestess stood, walking towards the door of the hut. She turned her head towards Sango and Miroku. "I'll give all of you some time to talk it over by yourselves." She left, leaving a crying Shippou and a stunned Kagome in her wake.

Shippou launched himself at Kagome, pressing his head to her chest. "I don't want you to die, Kagome!" She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her in a motherly embrace. "It's ok Shippou. It's ok…" She trailed off, mumbling in his ear. 'I should probably go home… I need to say goodbye to my family.' She looked towards Miroku and Sango. "We should probably head back toward the village. I really should go home and tell my family." She smiled a small smile at them.

Sango knelt down beside her and hugged her, squeezing Shippou in-between them. "I agree. You should probably visit your family. Do you think you are up for traveling?" She stood, standing next to Miroku.

"I'll be fine. It's not that far, right?" She sat up, ignoring the accompanying wave of dizziness.

Miroku frowned, noticing when Kagome swayed and her eyes went out of focus. "If you're sure that you're ok, then we'll leave tomorrow at sunrise.

"That'll be fine."

~~~

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