Why do we have to go back to the village?!" InuYasha barked.

"Because I need to restock on things! Medicine and food don't find their way into my bag." I said back.

"If you ate what I caught…"

"I'm sorry, but I can't eat fish, deer, or rabbit every day!"

"Probably because you don't try hard enough!"

"SIT!"

InuYasha fell into the ground with a loud 'thump'. It wasn't as if I didn't try, it was just disgusting having to eat unseasoned meat and fish. We returned to the village to also get some rest. InuYasha may have the stamina to run around day and night, but Miroku, Sango, and I don't. We were welcomed back warmly by Kaede, and given shelter. The sun had already set, so I decided to go take a bath. After getting the weeks' worth of sweat and dirt off my body, I dressed into a clean set of my uniform and started back toward the village. As I walked, I noticed the sound of crunching leaves and grass coming toward me. I took an arrow and notched it onto my bow.

"Who's there?!" I asked.

"If I wanted to kill a worthless human as you, it would have already done so."

"Sesshomaru?" I asked.

He glared at me, and I stared back at him until I noticed that Kazumi was in his arms. I could tell something was wrong just from looking at her.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked calmly.

Sesshomaru was silent. He didn't know. That's why he's here. There's something wrong with Kazumi, so he came to a human for human care.

"We have to get her to the village." I said.

Her chest was moving up and down, but at an unsettling pace. I hurried back to the village with Sesshomaru. When we were outside Kaede's hut, InuYasha decided to come out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?!" He shouted.

"SIT! We don't have time to waste!"

InuYasha face planted and Sesshomaru and I entered the hut. He put Kazumi down on the futon I brought out for her, and stared at her. He really does care about her. The only other person he would do this for was Rin, but even that was rare. Kaede and I looked over Kazumi, trying to find out what sickness she had. When I tried to wake her up to ask her how she felt, she didn't budge.

"How long has she been asleep?"

"Two days."

"Two days straight? Kaede, have you heard of anything that keeps the victim asleep?"

"Only poisoning have I seen lead to such a thing." She replied.

"Did she eat anything weird?" I asked Sesshomaru.

When he shook his head slightly, I was confused. What was causing this?

"Sesshomaru, step outside for a moment." I told him.

He narrowed his eyes before doing as I asked. We both knew there was no time for formalities.

"Have ye heard of such a sickness?" Kaede asked.

"Yes, but she couldn't have it. It's not even on this continent…"

I shook her some more, but I still got no response from her. Her body felt like dead weight. It was scaring me. Her body was strangely cool, and her skin seemed to be getting paler. She was dying.

"Kaede, watch her. I'm going to get some water and as many herbs as I can."

I quickly left the hut and got water from the nearby river. I also stopped by the garden and got as many medicinal herbs as possible. I ignored the calls I got from Sango and Shippo, and rushed back to the hut. I got back to the hut and put the water down.

"Child, she woke for but a moment!" Kaede told me.

"She did?!" I asked.

"Yes. She said that she felt unbearably hot on the inside and cold on the outside, and her limbs feel like lead."

"That was it? No headaches, itchy throat?"

"No, Child. Nothing else."

"Is it just a fever? There's no way, unless it's a super high one…"

I sat and thought about it. I'd assumed she had a fever, but fevers have more symptoms than that. I cleared my mind and started from the beginning. She's cold and hot, can't stay awake for more than two minutes, and started two days ago. Her skin's changing, and her breathing is getting shallower…

"Open her kimono. Maybe there's a parasite." I suggested.

Kaede helped me open Kazumi's kimono, and that was when things clicked. On her chest, a pink circle was embedded, and the jewel shard sat on top. I quickly snatched off the jewel shard, making the circle disappear as well. I held my breath with anticipation, and let it out when Kazumi's breathing began to regulate slowly.

"The child had a jewel shard?" Kaede asked.

"I gave it to her for safe keeping, not realizing that I put a purification spell on not only it, but her as well." I explained to Kaede in a hushed voice.

Kaede quickly took the spell off of her body, and I placed a new one on the jewel shard only before putting it back around her neck. I redid her kimono, and placed a cool cloth on her head. How could this have happened from something as simple like that?

"Sesshomaru, you can come back in."

Sesshomaru came in at that moment, and gazed down at Kazumi.

"She should wake up in the next hour or so."

He sat down by Kazumi, and gave us a look that said 'leave'. Kaede and I left him with Kazumi and went on to eat dinner.

"We shouldn't be eating so calmly when Sesshomaru is in the village!" InuYasha exclaimed.

"We can, and we will, for Kazumi's sake." I told him.

There was silence at the mentioning of her name. After explaining what Kazumi had said about her history to them, it was hard to speak about her. I never would have guessed that a tragedy like that happened to her.

"Anyway, she'll be fine after she rests." I said.

"What was wrong with her?" Sango asked with a concerned look on her face.

"It was just a really high fever." I lied.

"You're lying." InuYasha said.

"Why would I lie?" I asked him in return.

"You're hiding something, and I don't like that."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb! I know you're lying, and so do you!"

"SIT!" I yelled at him as I stood up. "Kaede, Shippo, Kazumi should be awake. Let's go see how she's faring."

The little kit jumped into my arms, and Kaede followed me. As we walked to the hut that Kazumi was in, I spoke in a hushed tone to the two.

"Is InuYasha following us?" I asked Shippo.

After he sniffed the air, he shook his head.

"Good. Kaede, Shippo, I need you guys to keep this a secret." I whispered to them. "I gave Kazumi a jewel shard, and that's why she got ill. Kaede and I fixed it though, and it shouldn't affect her now. It's a secret. Don't let anyone know, okay Shippo?"

"Is that why?" the demon child asked.

"Yes. If InuYasha were to find out, he would freak out. Don't let Sango or Miroku know either. The more people that know the less of a chance there is of it staying a secret."

"But why would ye give her such an object?" Kaede wondered aloud.

"It's safer to keep them separated." I answered.

Once we were a couple yards away from the house, we changed the subject. Sesshomaru had acute hearing too. When we entered the hut, Kazumi was looking up at Sesshomaru with a daze in her eyes. What had the two been talking about?

"Hiya, Kagome, Shippo, Kaede." The young woman said with a small smile.

Her skin's slight pale pink shade had returned and her eyes were no longer covered with a black mist, but were back to their usual nut-brown hue, filled with liveliness.

"I'm glad to see you're okay." I told her with a smile.

"Boy was that weird. One hell of a fever, huh!" she exclaimed.

I couldn't help myself from chuckling as Kaede gave a small sigh. An hour ago, she looked as though she was about to die. I should have known better than to just place my spiritual energy on her. My energy was purifying her as it kept the shard pure of evil. In shorter words, my carelessness almost killed a friend. I have to be cautious of what I do. That also means that she is not human. When she changes between forms, she's still a demon in both. One just covers the other up… Now that I think about it, I did the same thing to her a long time ago, when we had been possessed by Tsubaki. I tried to heal her, but purified her instead. They weren't kidding in social studies when they said history repeats itself.

"You've been quiet for some time. Are you alright Kagome?" I heard Kazumi ask.

"Yeah! Sorry, I kind of dazed off." I said, slightly embarrassed.

"I know all too well how that feels." She replied back with a hearty laugh before laughing at her own laugh.

She really is something else. I shouldn't tell her that the cause was the jewel shard. Things would be simpler without her knowing.

"Oh! Are you hungry? You've been asleep for two days." I remembered.

"Now that I think about it…" she mumbled as she looked at Sesshomaru.

When Sesshomaru left the hut without Kazumi, she assumed that she would be staying the night here.