New chapter again!! Hope it's good, but it must be spiraling, cuz reviews are dropping off. Oh, well. I know one thing. My dream of being one of those 100 review writers isn't any closer. But that's okay! I'm doing this for mine and other people's enjoyment. Only a little for glory.

Ch. 8 reviews

Aura Black Chan- it's no fixation like that. It's a pity trip. You could call it a "fic-sation." That's more accurate. I know. Stupid pun.

Ch. 9

Sesshoumaru had a hard time of sleeping that night after everyone else bedded down. Every sound in the forest that he usually slept with anyway was now making his head hurt very badly. Coupled with the slight anxiety he had from not being able to see, he was a regular insomniac.

As the night wore on, he began to feel ill from all the sound assaulting his head, which, at the moment, felt as if it had been hit with the Tetsusaiga broadside once again. And he was hungry.

Could this be any worse? He asked.

Suddenly, it began to rain. Everyone else was in a couple of tents Kagome had decided to bring. Inuyasha most certainly didn't trust him in one, so he'd taken to a tree.

Damn it!! IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!!!!!! NOW WHAT?!?!

Quite suddenly, a youkai's scent came to his nose.

RHETORICAL QUESTION!!!!!

He cracked his knuckles. It was only a small cobra youkai. He didn't even think it would be any trouble, but the previous series of unfortunate events had made him apprehensive.

"Identify yourself," he commanded.

As if he would have such luck. The youkai was aware of his blindness and planned to exploit it. It struck with incredible speed that even the taiyoukai was unable to procure. Sesshoumaru could tell where it was going to strike beforehand though, so he was able to dodge to the left and score with his poison-filled talons to the right. His aim was true, but the enemy was still alive.

I don't believe it wise to keep this fight near the camp. It could endanger Rin or the others. But mostly Rin.

He began to leap away, leading the youkai from the others and to the stream. On the way, he began to feel the wear of his many injuries—the loss of sight, his broken arm and ribs, and the concussion, not to mention the fact that he was still recovering from the chocolate poisoning. His youkai blood was healing as fast as possible the injuries, but with that final strike, Sesshoumaru knew that his arm was practically crippled. Lightning bolt stabs of pain were coursing through it, which even he couldn't ignore. He could barely twitch his pinky finger. But at the very least, he could course poison through the talons; and he could still use his tail. The huge thing uncurled from around his shoulder as he stopped. He was glad he wasn't wearing his armor, because the rain had already weighed down his haori, hair, and tail efficiently, hampering his speed.

"Damn!! I'm starting to shiver, but it feels stifling."

The taiyoukai lord was sure that his fever was going to spike any moment now, so he had to finish quick. Blindly, he charged and used every ounce of strength to embed his arm in where he knew the snake was.

"Gotcha," he whispered before collapsing with the already dead snake still "attached" to his arm.

"Yawn..."

Shippo stretched his little fingers and tiny fox toes. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he yawned once more.

The yawn brought a frightening scent to his nose. The scent of blood and decay.

"Eww!" he cried. "A dead youkai!"

He took another sniff and scented a certain Inu Taiyoukai's fighting scent and blood.

"Sesshoumaru? What's he doing there?"

Everyone was asleep except for Shippo, so he bravely took it upon himself to find his new groupie.

"Er...S-Sesshoumaru..."

He approached a clearing and yelled.

Sesshoumaru was sprawled out on the ground, butt in the air, with his hand practically cemented into a cobra youkai's midsection.

"Ahhh!!! Sesshoumaru's dead!!! KAGOME!!!"

Shippo ran back to camp, but then decided against waking the others.

They don't need to be waked up for this. Kagome needs to rest...I guess it's up to me to see if Sesshoumaru's okay.

So saying, Shippo made his way back.

"Okay...here goes..."

He approached Sesshoumaru and poked him softly.

"Sesshoumaru? Are you alive?"

The taiyoukai groaned softly, shifting his head a little.

"Sesshoumaru, you have to get up. You'll be hurt if you stay that way."

"Leave me alone...I'm going to...be sick..."

Sesshoumaru shivered badly.

"It's happening again..."

Shippo decided to try and burn the snake off of Sesshoumaru's arm.

"Fox Fire!!!"

Sesshoumaru's arm fell limp and at a grotesque angle onto the ground. The young kitsune put him on his back.

"What happened?!" he asked urgently. "What's going on?"

"Rain...youkai...fight..."

Shippo could make out that Sesshoumaru's night didn't go so well and that he was probably in a rotten mood.

"You, uh...need anything?"

"Water, please..." murmured Sesshoumaru.

Shippo nodded.

"I'll be right back. Stay up."

The kitsune went to the stream that Miroku had gone to before and filled a large bamboo thermos-like thing. As he returned, he found his temporary ward's face contorted in pain and his face was beet red. He was moaning in pain as Shippo poured water on his face.

Raarrghhhh!!!!

Sesshoumaru's eyes flew open, the entire whites changed red. His fangs grew disproportionate to his face as he grew angrier by the pain and heat in his body.

"Shippo, what's going on...oh my goodness..."

The young kit turned to Kagome.

"Kagome, you're awake! Sesshoumaru...well he said that he was fighting a cobra youkai. I found him with his arm in its stomach and he was really sick."

"It rained last night," Kagome snarled, "And I was stupid to leave him out there! His recovery has just been screwed up, as usual!"

"Wench..."

Kagome ran to the demon lord's side and began to stroke his hair.

"What is it, Sesshoumaru?"

"I think I'm getting sunburn from a fever..."

"When do you think it spiked?"

"Hn..."

"When did it become the highest?"

"It rose...at...nearly midnight...it hasn't been cooled down since, and I'm just about to lose my mind..."

Kagome shook her head. It was about 9:00 now. His fever had spiked and retained itself for ten hours straight. She was surprised he wasn't dead. A normal person would have died of brain failure. Then again, Sesshoumaru wasn't normal. A human would be dead in thirty minutes or so of such sustained fever temperatures.

"Oh, Sesshoumaru...oh, God..."

Shippo grabbed Kagome's fingers.

"Kagome...Is he going to be okay? I mean I know he's tried to kill us and all, but I don't want anyone to die..."

"Shippo...I just don't know anymore. It's getting complicated..."

That's all for today. Hope you guys like and review lots. If there's anything wrong with it, just tell me, I'll try to do better. Anyways, in case ya didn't notice, this was Shippo's turn to be in the limelight with Sesshoumaru.