…I'm going to start jumping in time. So it won't be day-to-day so much anymore, but I'll try to give you a line on when the chapters are happening. Remember that this epidemic is a creation of my imagination and entirely impossible. I know very little about anatomy, so just go with me on it okay?...

"Akuchi…angry red cells appear in the back of the throat, the walls of the stomach destroying the mucus layer keeping the stomach acid within, and also in the lungs, but only on the front wall."

Kagome bit down on the end of her pen and continued pacing back and forth. Currently she was home, in her living room, and had been for the past hour. Her hair was pulled up into a sloppy bun with hairs falling out of the band everywhere. Normally Kagome was rather picky with her hair, but right now she could really care less. No one would see her anyway.

She'd spent the entire afternoon with Sango, Kohaku, and Shippou. Sesshoumaru had a meeting or something and Rin wanted to go visit Kaede to finish a Chinese finger trap, at least that's what Kagome got out of what the little girl said. Anyway, they went to the park to play and had some lunch. At five o'clock though, she said she had some work to do so she accompanied Shippou back to the boarding house. He didn't refer to it as home anymore, Kagome realized with a small smile. Her apartment was home and Shippou had wanted to stay with her promising to be quiet. Kagome knew better. She sat down on the couch for a moment, but immediately stood and continued reading her notes.

"Pigment of the skin, hair, and eyes slowly decreases…but four of the sixteen patients were albino, including Shi. They were worse off in the beginning, as if their disease was working faster…but why?" Kagome looked up to her ceiling, "Why should that matter?"

Kagome shook her head, shaking her bangs out of her face. The woman walked over to the kitchen and refilled her cup of tea. The water heated in a short few minutes. Kagome dunked the tea bag into the mug; she was out of the loose tea that was her preference. She stirred in some milk into the earl grey tea as well as one teaspoon of sugar. Upon setting the cup down on the living room coffee table, after a small sip of course, Kagome returned to her pacing.

"The problem is that it's almost like aids with its adaptability. Each person is different and even though we've tried vaccines to at least reduce, or slow the symptoms, the disease mutates in a few days and returns twice as strong. It even changes on its own without being forced, it's like the disease is evolving or something…how it spread though? It's…it's something in the genes…"

Kagome ran a hand over her forehead. A headache was beginning to pulse at her temples. She wouldn't give up though; she just had to think things through. She bent down, dropping the pad of paper onto the table, and grabbed her tea. Kagome held it in her hands feeling the warmth seep through the ceramic walls into her palms. She took a sip of the dark liquid and sighed softly.

"This going to be a long night…"

She picked up the pad again, her cup in the other hand. It was the only thing fighting off her headache.

"The cells in the throat prevent too much food being taken in. The ones in the stomach instigate throwing up. Would food aid in ridding the victim of the disease? The extra energy would recuperate the body enough to perhaps be able to combat the illness as is normal. Then why would the sphere-like cells also appear in the lungs? That decreases breathing, how is that helping? These cells are no where else, so far anyway."

Kagome read further, silently to herself. Her eyes widened suddenly, a thought coming to her.

"Wait...the disease isn't killing the new cells the body is trying to reproduce. The new cells are foreign…the cells the body is creating are diseased! So…wait…"

Kagome raised a palm pressing on her forehead. Anxiety was rising in her stomach, but also excitement was swelling as well.

"This thing isn't genetic meaning it's passed through the generation, but it is attacking the genes. Okay, so the disease is introduced somehow to the body. It filters up the spine through the blood. How does it get to the DNA though?"

Kagome sat down on the couch with a sigh. She was so close, she was on the verge and she knew it. What was the answer? Sesshoumaru's voice came back to her soon followed by Sango's. Kagome took a deep breath closing her eyes. She could do this, she could. She opened her eyes glancing lazily over the few magazines on her coffee table. One was a beauty magazine that was sent to her apartment by mistake since Ayame's name was on the label. Kagome would return in later, she just didn't have time right now. The second was a furniture catalog. Kagome needed new drapes and another desk for her art room. Kagome groaned, thinking of the yearly project waiting for her in the depths of the closet in there. It would have to wait; she still had a little while to finish it.

-It probably won't be finished though…I'll carry it over into next year…this one has promise.-

The third was Time magazine whose front article was positively electrifying.

"Maybe it's like nicotine." Kagome said while leaning her head back against the couch.

Kagome's eyes shot open and she hurled herself forward. She mumbled the lines underneath the article's heading, at least the part she needed. It was talking about new effects on nicotine and the best ways to quit or something. It was meant to snag any reader's attention and make them buy the magazine. In this case, the tactic worked too.

"Nicotine is absorbed through tissue…could Akuchi pass through the brain tissue to the DNA?"

Kagome shrugged. It was highly unlikely that the human body would let something so feral past their defenses so simply.

"Unless the body thought it was harmless…wait…so if it could get to DNA…what if it rearranged the structure? That would explain why the new cells being created were diseased…wait…no…the body isn't producing those diseased cells, but….mutated blood cells…it's a disease of impure blood."

Kagome sat back against the couch. She was suddenly tired and staring at the wall opposite her.

"The body is trying to purge itself of the foreign bodies, the red blood cells…so the victims are throwing it up, but when the body replenishes itself as a natural process, only mutated cells are created. It's a never ending cycle. Then when older blood cells end their usage and need to be replaced, mutated cells take their place."

Kagome sat forward leaning her arms on her knees.

"These can't be the only cells though…the pigment, if this disease can rearrange the structure of DNA then it is also erasing. Attacking the general strands to remove pigmentation from the body…what does this do? Pigment allows for…sunlight…UV rays…and the patient can't get the vitamins from the sun that actually makes the skin healthy. No, there's no reason for this. This loss of pigment is probably only a side effect of rearranging the DNA strands."

Maybe it wasn't though because there was one test of UV radiation. The spherical Akuchi cells had changed afterwards. Their shape was oval instead of the perfect sphere. Was this disfigurement a sign that the cells were weakened? Their structure had been visibly altered; this couldn't be just a coincidence. If the disease wished to erase pigment, the body wouldn't be able to take the UV rays. Was this the answer? UV rays, was that all it would really take? Too much radiation like that would injure the patient and do more damage than anything else. It was a lead though.

"There's still the prevalence is albinos and how the disease is introduced. It would make sense that the disease wasn't actually more prevalent in albinos, but more advanced. This birth defect is a lack of pigmentation already so it's only logical that the disease…has less work to do? This would mean that the lack of pigmentation isn't a side effect and blood cells aren't the only ones being replaced. This pigmentation though is still a marker of how far along the disease is. When the skin cells lack pigmentation completely, all cells have been replaced and are therefore all mutated. The body cannot survive…"

Kagome smiled sadly into her lap. This was true for every patient except those with the albinism because their skin was already lacking. Perhaps that was why Shi's death was so unexpected.

"The disease recoils from sunlight…we'll have to do tests to prove this. If it is a 'nocturnal' disease thriving in the dark, then we'll have to just smoke the sucker out. Though there's one thing…Akuchi is like a parasite, living off a host. Wait…" Kagome reread something she'd missed, "Ew- it thrives on mucus? So that's one reason why it enters the stomach and why the mucus layer is slowly being eliminated. Then it's also at the back of the throat because it can have access to the nasal cavity. Humans can't be the only living species that has this viral disease."

Kagome chewed on her lip absently wrinkling her nose slightly. Questions kept firing into her head and the answers were beginning to connect, not just exist as assumptions as many had been.

"However, this replacement of cells should occur faster than it does…the body rapidly replaces millions of cells a day. How can the patients live for a year or two? Maybe…the disease is being destroyed by the little sunlight that the patients do get from their healthy cells left in their skin."

Kagome sighed. She'd have to talk to Miroku tomorrow, but for tonight she was finished. Her brain couldn't take anymore. Kagome left the yellow legal pad on the couch. She stood, rubbing her eyes and headed for her bedroom. It was only ten thirty, but she was beat. How time could fly when you're not paying attention. Four hours had passed by and she had had no clue. Kagome yawned and was barely able to change before falling asleep.

…The Next Day at Hama. Corp….

"That…that is…"

Miroku sat back, wide-eyed. His mouth was trying to form the words trilling around in his head, but was failing miserably. Kagome would have normally thought it was funny, but her mind was completely set on the business at hand. Blue eyes turned to Bankotsu who sat across from her and next to Miroku in the small conference room. Jakotsu was next to her and the other two seats were left open. Folder upon folder was spilled out across the table with various documents here and there.

"There are a lot of assumptions…but if even one of them is right, mainly concerning the DNA rearrangement…we may have found somewhere to start." Bankotsu reasoned.

"We'll need to do a lot of tests to prove this and gain hard data as evidence."

Kagome nodded, this had all passed through her nimble mind already.

"I spoke with Shiori. With approval, UV radiation will be used on…" Kagome check the name Shiori had given her over the phone, "Kazuo Shiro. He's eleven years old and one of the oldest patients inflicted. That's one more thing…why is it prevalent in children?"

"It could be because their bodies are still developing…their cells are changing and reorganizing all the time due to outside influences." Miroku said, throwing in his two cents.

Bankotsu nodded, watching the two interns who had become the heart of their operation. The girl was innovative and clever, but Miroku was her logical reasoning and on his own a thoughtful observer. They made a great team for certain.

"I'll speak with Takarashi-san, but there isn't any reason why these tests shouldn't occur on time. Will you two be witnessing the testing on scene?" Bankotsu asked addressing Kagome and Miroku.

"Yes." Kagome answered.

Miroku simply sat back and nodded at Bankotsu's look that was asking for conformation of this fact. Kagome was so much more focused. She was always determined, but there was clarity to her eyes and the usual emotion was gone from her voice. She was steadfast and thinking clearly. The consequence of what should happen if they should fail seemed pushed off into the distance at this moment. Before it had always hovered in the tension of her shoulders and worry etched so easily in her features. He wondered, what could have brought this on? Whatever it was wasn't at all unwelcome. Kagome's assumptions had brought to light new questions of his own and also he may have an idea as to the cause.

"One thing…" Everyone turned towards Miroku, "Obaruka has come out with some new machinery…highly advanced and supposedly…there have been rumors that they were untested. Also, I've seen some thick, black smoke leaving their ventilation towers."

Jakotsu caught on, "Yes, its smell is horrid. There have been concerns as to its safety entering into the atmosphere, but the president ensures it isn't malevolent."

"It is Naraku...you can't trust anything he says." Bankotsu replied, sounding much like Sesshoumaru.

"They call it miasma…" Everyone turned to Kagome, "I looked into online this morning. Anyway, it's right alongside carbon monoxide. There's no evidence to prove it's poisonous, but its elemental makeup is strangely similar. It shouldn't exist…but if I'm following right, Miroku, then its possible this could be a cause to Akuchi, but it would have to have changed while in the atmosphere. If this smoke acts like nicotine, it could seep into the blood after being drawn into the lungs."

"There's no reason we can't look into it. It's a lead and that's all we really have to go on, but this has to stay quiet. Otherwise Naraku is going to start covering up any mess he may have left behind. Still these are all circumstantial claims, we'll need more than that." Bankotsu said.

The company present nodded and soon the conference was emptied. Kagome hefted the load of folders onto her desk. She worked on straightening them and along with Miroku's help they got them to fit back into the filing cabinet, which was then locked.

"Miroku…" Kagome never finished her sentence.

"Kagome, I think you've done it." Miroku said with triumphant excitement lighting his eyes.

"Maybe, but not without your help." Kagome smiled softly.

"Come on, let's go out for lunch."

"Okay…I want oden!"

Miroku chuckled at her enthusiasm. She was normal again, but she seemed so different than she was a week ago. It wasn't the Naraku thing, so what could it be?

…A lot of dialogue in this one. I hope no one is confused about the disease. I didn't want Kagome to think of it all in a straight line, so I wrote her thoughts jumbled and somewhat contradicting. Oh and I'm going away again for the 4th of July so you won't hear from me for like a week and a half, but I'll be back! Safe journey to anyone else leaving for vacation!...