It was in the middle of the day and the team was now on the move. They had decided that staying where they were was going to be too dangerous. They were already enemies of Naraku, but now they had another person who was also hunted by him. They had to keep moving until Kaede was well enough to battle. Although if you'd asked her, she would have told you otherwise. They had decided to take her back to the village near the well so that she would be under the supervision of the old priestess, Kaede. You see, demons hardly ever get sick, especially adult demons. And having a battle against a demon like Naraku, and coming down with an illness hardly seemed like a coinsidance. InuYasha was carrying the young girl on his back to keep her wounds from, once again, reopening.

"Look there's the village!" Shippo said happily.

"Oh good, we can get some peace and rest and some real food!" Kagome also said happily.

"How's Kaede?" Sango asked.

Kaede's fever had finally taken hold and she was practically motionless.

"She's still pretty warm. Maybe she'll improve when we get her to old Kaede. She should know how to treat her properly, "Kagome replied after looking her over.

The travelers finally arrived at the entrance of the village and were greeted by the villagers, and finally old Kaede.

"Ye have returned sooner than I expected," Kaede said in a calm tone.

"Well we ran into some problems, and we needed your advice on something," Kagome replied solemnly.

"Yeah, we've got someone for you to look at," InuYasha said as he walked up to the old woman and turned to show her the young woman that he was carrying.

"So this is a girl from the different era of the well?" Kaede said as they were all sitting inside of her village hut.

"Yes, and now we need your help with her. A demon's wounds are supposed to heal quickly but she's come down with a sickness of some sort and the healing processed has slowed down," Kagome replied.

The old woman looked back to the young girl lying out on a blanket next to a small fire. She was sweating profusely and her fists were clamped shut.

"Let me ask ye a question. Has she been exposed to a battle with Naraku recently?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, she was in his clutches for about a day after he thought he had killed her. He kept her body in order to show us how powerful he is, but the thing is, she wasn't dead. At least we thought she was. She managed to stay alive somehow and ended up saving all of us," InuYasha replied.

"I see. I thought that perhaps she had. I believe that she has been exposed to Naraku's miasma, and because of that, her healing has delayed and she has fallen ill. I doubt that this is cause for too much concern, but it's probably the best thing that you have brought her here," Kaede remarked.

"What's going to help her get back to normal then?" InuYasha asked, now very concerned.

"Well she shouldn't move, it may cause the miasma to travel through her body faster, and secondly, I'll have to find the sinenso herbs that will heal this best. It shouldn't be too hard of a task, but I haven't seen much of those plants as of recently."

"What if you can't find the right herbs?" Shippo asked sadly.

"Then she will have to fight the miasma by force, and it may prolong the healing process. But I doubt that she will face death." Kaede said confidently.

"Do you hear that?!" InuYasha yelled, "You have to stay still! And don't think that we're not going to make sure of that either!"

"I don't think that she'll be able to move even if she wanted to," Sango pointed out.

"I agree, I think she's in too much pain, now, to not know to stay. For now, though, perhaps old Kaede and I should be looking for those herbs. The faster we find them, the faster she'll heal," Miroku added.

"I'll come too, the more people that go the faster we'll find this herb," Sango said as she stood up with the others.

"Me too! Come on Kirara!" Shippo said as he bounced out of the hut, following the others.

Now, it was only InuYasha, Kagome and young Kaede in the hut. InuYasha and Kagome sat nearby the young girl and leaned up against each other for comfort. Kaede's eyes were closed but she was not asleep. The pain kept her awake and every time she would flinch or shiver in pain, the two would cringe that much more.

"I've seen Sango fight the small amount of miasma, but Kaede was exposed to it for almost twenty-four hours! The delayed reaction to it must mean that she's going to be taking the full effect for days after this..." Kagome said sadly.

"Don't worry Kagome; she's too stubborn to be taken down by a little poison. She's got your spirit and mine and that'll make it twice as hard for her to be taken down." InuYasha tried to comfort the girl.

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"...Kagura..." Naraku called from within a small barrier where he lay in pieces slowly putting himself back together.

"Yes, Naraku..." Kagura stepped into the room.

"Take Kanna and Kohaku with you and KILL the girl..."

"...Yes... Naraku." Kagura said.

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"Come on Kaede! You've got to eat something!" Shippo tried to coax the demon girl into a warm bowl of soup, but she turned away.

The little boy sighed and said, "She hasn't eaten a thing since the battle with Naraku. Do you think that the miasma is keeping her from feeling hungry?"

"Most likely, but we should keep encouraging it. If she doesn't eat, it could cause the poison to be even more potent," Kaede replied.

"So no sign of the sinenso herbs anywhere?" Kagome asked.

"No, it may take more time to gather it than first expected. I think if we made a trip out to see Jinenji and his mother, we may find what we're looking for, but for tonight, we're really of no use," Miroku replied.

"So... How was that you were able to get out of the grasp of Naraku?" Kaede asked.

"Kaede managed to live from the poisons of Naraku's hold on her and she managed to make the Tetsusaiga transform. She's the reason that InuYasha is alive too. She formed a spiritual barrier against Naraku's attacks on him and kept any one of them from hitting either of them," Sango stated.

"Is that so? Then she must have had great power in order to be in such a state and still manage to use the techniques of the Tetsusaiga. But what about Naraku? Did she manage to defeat him?" Old Kaede asked.

"Unfortunately no... She managed to bring him close to death, but I'm afraid she may not have had full ability to kill him because of her own state. Naraku has managed to flee for the time being, but I'm sure that he is suffering right now as well," Miroku stated.

Kaede added small wooden logs to the fire in the middle of the room as she thought.

"You do not believe that Naraku would be able to come after you after such a battle?" she asked.

"He'll probably be after us sooner or later, but I wouldn't doubt that he's still trying to pull himself together right now," InuYasha stated.

Kagome yawned and said, "We better get some shut-eye if we're going to find Jinenji in the morning."

"Aye. And I have some herbs to allow the girl to sleep through the night as well."

Old Kaede had brewed up some herbs that would help the young Kaede sleep through the night at the very least, and she needed the young girl to drink it down with a mixture of soup. InuYasha picked the girl up by the shoulders slowly and propped her up against his chest and held a small cup of the soup up to her mouth.

"Come on Kaede, you need to drink this down," he told her easily.

"I'm...not hungry..." she squeaked out.

"I don't care that you're not hungry, you're going to take this!" he started to growl at the girl.

Kaede tried to move away but InuYasha wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"You're going to sit here with this soup to your mouth until you take it down, so you may as well give it a try," InuYasha demanded.

"Please, Kaede, just drink it down for us," Kagome pleaded.

The girl looked into Kagome's eyes. She knew that look. She remembered this same situation every time she had been sick when she was younger. Her father forcing the medicine to her mouth, and her mother pleading with her. And the turn-out would always be that she would end up having drunk the horrible tasting liquids.

After looking over the situation, Kaede allowed InuYasha to pour the warm brew into her mouth slowly while her sore, swollen throat just barely allowed for it to be swallowed.

The group sighed together in relief. They knew that if she had at least drunk a warm soup, then she could start to heal faster. And with the young Kaede slowly drifting off to sleep, the others managed to get themselves to fall into a dream state as well.

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As a special treat, I've decided to start adding small excerpts from the next chapter into the chapter before that. So Enjoy!

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"Shippo? What is it?" InuYasha said staring at the scared child.

"Kagura and Kohaku are attacking Sango and Kagome!"

"What?! Come on Miroku!" InuYasha shouted as he practically flew out of the door of the hut.

"I'm right behind you!" Miroku said grabbing up Shippo and running close behind InuYasha.

The old priestess grabbed her bow and quiver quickly and said, "Do not worry, we'll be back shortly!"

She ran outside and gathered up some horses and some of the men in the village and they rode off towards the spring.

"Mom...Dad... I've got to help...them... but I can't get to my feet... USELESS!! I'm so useless! Whether I was a child, or now as an adult... I'm so damn useless..."

Kaede then heard the blanket door to the hut shift and her eyes darted in that direction.

"So this is where you've been hiding..." Kagura stared at the girl with her beady red eyes and smiled a horrible smile...

Kaede stared back at her, trying to move the muscles in her body, but to no avail.

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