Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or Digimon

Chapter 5

No longer Human

A few minutes after Renamon had left Kagome had told everyone they should head home, and then she said, "Sesshomaru, I think it would be best if you go see how Rika and Renamon are."

Sesshomaru nodded his head and after telling Rin to behave and Jaken to keep Rin safe he jumped high into the air and formed his floating cloud and began to fly in the direction of Rika's house. Kagome and the others waited for Henry and Takato to wake up, and Kagome said, "Hey you two, you all right?"

Henry rubbed his head and said, "Yeah, that guy can sure pack a punch. What was his name again?"

Kagome sighed and said, "That is Naraku, and now that he has Kouga's jewel shards he is practically unstoppable. So, you sure you're all right?"

Henry and Takato nodded their heads, and as they stood up Takato asked, "Hey, where's Rika?"

Kagome paused a second and said, "Renamon ran her home. Naraku hit her in the shoulder with a black arrow, and the whole thing melted into her shoulder. After it was gone she just blacked out, and began to run a very high fever."

Takato and Henry looked at each other and Takato said, "What do you think we should do Henry?"

Henry stood silent for a few seconds before he said, "We'll go over in the morning, but right now I think she could probably just use some rest and some time alone with her family." Takato nodded and after saying good bye Guilmon, Takato, Henry, and Terriermon headed home. Kagome soon rounded up the others and got them back to the shrine with out incident.

The same could not be said at the Nonaka household. Sesshomaru arrived only a few minutes after Renamon had, but he could sense that the mood of the house had already changed. When he first arrived it was warm and inviting, now the place gave of the feeling of sorrow and worry. He slowly walked along the patio and stopped by the door he knew lead to Rika's room. He could hear several people breathing inside, but as he got closer to the door it opened and Renamon stepped out. She closed the door as she said, "So, where is everyone else?"

Sesshomaru could tell Renamon was bottling up a lot of her emotions, and he was silent for a few seconds before he said, "The two friends of Rika, the boys, woke up from Naraku's attack and said they would be by in the morning to see how she is doing. Kagome mentioned that she would try to get Inuyasha and the others down about mid afternoon to come visit if Rika isn't feeling better."

Renamon looked back to the door and said, "Sesshomaru, your senses are very keen, right?"

Sesshomaru nodded his head and a few seconds later Renamon said, "Then tell me. What has happened to Rika? What did Naraku do to her?"

Sesshomaru sighed for he had feared he would be asked such a question. He brought Renamon into an embrace and said, "I do not now what Naraku has done, and I do not know why Rika is running such a high fever for her scent doesn't carry the smell of one who is sick. Her scent has changed, but I can not say how it has changed, and what the change represents. All we can do is wait until morning. I may be able to discern more then."

Renamon smothered her head in Sesshomaru's tail, which was sitting on his shoulder, and began to cry. Sesshomaru held her until she finished and then with out a word he went up to the roof of the house while Renamon went back inside Rika's room to see if anything had changed.

It was a sleepless night for everyone at Rika's house. Her grandmother and mother took turns checking on Rika, but spent most of the night in the living room. Renamon spent the night sitting in Rika's room and keeping tabs on her condition. She was relieved that about midnight Rika moved a bit and pulled her blanket over her head. This was Renamon was able to relax just enough to fall asleep and rest her nerves. Sesshomaru on the other hand couldn't shake the feeling like Rika's scent was changing, and he had smelled the new scent somewhere before.

Sesshomaru thought as he gazed into space, "What could be the new scent be in Rika's scent. It doesn't smell human, yet it doesn't smell like a demon. What could it be? I have smelled it before, but where."

Sesshomaru thought back, trying to remember when he had first encountered this strange, yet familiar scent. He thought back to when he and Renamon had defeated Naraku, when he had saved Renamon from Kouga, when they had defeated Kagura and Kanna, and when Renamon was tending to his wounds when he had first joined up with Inuyasha and the others. Sesshomaru eyes widened as he realized that it was Renamon's scent. That Rika's scent was slowly changing into a mixture of her and Renamon's scent. He didn't know what it meant, but with every passing second Rika's scent changed until around 5:00 when the it finally stopped changing, when it was perfect 50, 50 split. Half the scent was Rika's and half of it was Renamon's.

Sesshomaru got down from the roof of the house at 6:00 and knocked on the bedroom door. After a few seconds the door opened, and Renamon stepped out while trying to stop a yawn. She rubbed her eye as she said, "What is it Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru walked past Renamon and closed the bedroom door behind him. He stuck the sheath of the Tenseiga in the door, sealing it shut, and then walked over to Rika's bed. After a few quite moments he gently lifted the blanket off, and saw why Rika's scent had changed. He left the blanket off and went back to the door. He replaced the Tenseiga on his belt and opened the door and motion for Renamon to come in. Sesshomaru was standing in between Rika and Renamon when he said, "Are you sure you want to see what has happened over the course of the night?"

Renamon nerves were at the breaking point when Sesshomaru stepped aside and showed Rika to Renamon. Renamon almost fainted on the spot. Rika had under gone a form of transformation. Rika's ears had changed into Renamon's long, furry, pointed ears. Purple arm guards had manifested themselves on her arms, and the worst of it was from her waist down. Renamon could see that her leg structure had changed. She legs were now shaped like Renamon. Scratch that, they practically were Renamon's legs. As a final touch Rika had also grown a tail exactly like Renamon's.

Renamon just stood their in silence as Sesshomaru said, "I can still smell the change occurring, though it has slowed down greatly. If we can not undo this in three days time, she will transform completely from human to digimon."

Renamon was on the verge of tears when she said, "An…and after that."

Sesshomaru lowered his head slightly as he said, "She may never be human again."

Renamon collapsed on Rika's bed, and began to cry over her tamer, who may have to spend the rest of her life as a digimon. Sesshomaru quietly walked out of the bedroom, and closed the door behind him, giving Renamon time alone with Rika. He slowly walked toward the kitchen and dinning room where Mukino and Seiko were still asleep. He gently woke them, and after a few minutes of light talk he broke the news to them. The pair almost ran to Rika's room to see if it was true, but Sesshomaru already knew what he would find.

Sesshomaru waited for a good thirty minutes in the living room before he heard the door to Rika's bedroom open. To his surprise there were four sets of foot steps walking toward where he was seated. As he turned his head he saw Mukino and Seiko walk past the door and toward the kitchen, going to get breakfast ready, while Renamon and the newly transformed Rika came walking into the room where he was.

There was an awkward silence until Rika said, "Sesshomaru".

Sesshomaru turned his head and waited for Rika to say something. After a few more seconds of silence Rika said, "What are we going to do? Will I turn into a full digimon, or can we fix this?"

Sesshomaru turned and faced forward as he tried to think of something they could do to at least by themselves some more time. He then got struck with an idea, and hoped that it would work. With out a word he stood up and walked past Rika and Renamon. He stepped outside into the court yard and summoned up his flying cloud at his feet. After taking one last look at Rika and Renamon he flew off, going in search of a possible cure, or at least something to by them more time.

Once Sesshomaru was out of sight Renamon heard someone knock at the front gate, and then she heard Takato yelling, "Hey Rika".

Renamon turned toward Rika and asked, "Do you want me to send them away?"

Rika shook her head and said, "It would do no good trying to keep them out of the loop. They would find out about it eventually." Rika then began to walk toward the front gate with Renamon right behind her.

Let's just say that Takato and Henry's reaction wasn't as bad as it could have been. After fighting the D-Reaper little caught them off guard, but they didn't expect Rika to be up and around so soon. After talking for a while Henry suggested going to see Miroku. He thought that with his spiritual power he may be able to undo the spell Naraku put on Rika. After talking about it for a few more minutes they decided that it would be the best course of action if they did go and see Miroku. Rika was thankful it was a little bit cold that day, because she could wear a trench coat to cover her arms and tail. She also put on a brown hat to cover her new ears.

As they walked down the street to Kagome's they meet up with the other tamers, but once Rika showed them what had happened to them they all wanted to go to see Miroku and try and help in any way possible. So, for the first time, all the tamers would meet all of the hero's of the feudal age, minus Sesshomaru of course.

They were at the shrine in a few minutes, and when they arrived they saw that Kagome had talked Inuyasha and the other to help her grandfather with the shrines biyearly cleaning. When Rika came within the shrines gate she was immediately assaulted by a volley of the old man's useless sutras, but Kagome soon put an end to that. After Inuyasha had come over to where the all the tamers were standing and noticed that Rika was dressed strangely.

Inuyasha walked over and asked, "Why are you dressed like that?"

Renamon stood beside Rika and said, "That arrow that she got hit with yesterday did something."

Inuyasha got a puzzled look on his face until Rika took the jacket and hat off. Inuyasha took a step back and then said, "Yikes, I see what you mean." Inuyasha then regained his composure and asked, "So, why did you come here. I would imagine it would have been better if you had stayed at your house."

Rika pointed off to another part of the shrine where Miroku was examining some old seals that kept the shrine safe, and replacing ones that were beginning to wear out. Inuyasha got the hint and yelled, "Hey Miroku, come over here."

Miroku looked toward Inuyasha and saw Rika for the first time. Once Rika and the others had told him what Sesshomaru thought had happened he quickly began to try several different remedies that ranged from herbal to spiritual.

It was about mid morning when the Tamers had first arrived at the shrine, and by it was late afternoon before Miroku said, "I am sorry Rika, but I have tried anything and everything that could have broken the spell or stopped it from progressing. Sadly, none of it worked, the spell is still as strong as it was."

Rika put her hand on Miroku's shoulder and said, "Thanks for trying."

Inuyasha had been watching Miroku doing his medical procedures, but after Miroku announced he wasn't able to cure Rika he said, "What about the Tenseiga. Could Sesshomaru's sword do anything?"

Miroku shook his head and said, "It is doubtful. The Tenseiga's power lies in its ability to bring 100 humans back to life with one swing. Only if Rika died would it have an effect on her, and then it would only revive her and heal her wounds, she would still be affected by Naraku's spell."

Henry then looked around and said, "Hey, where is Sesshomaru? I haven't seen him today."

Renamon answered, "Sesshomaru left a little while after Rika woke up. He didn't say a word when he left, but I got the feeling that he might know of something or someone that may be able to help us."