Once dinner was both cooked and finished, Kagome got Shijima dressed before tucking him in bed to finally sleep. Shippo had already laid out the extra bedding Kagome had and was already snoring away next to the raven youth.

Inuyasha reclaimed his usual spot by the door and watched as Kagome slowly put Shijima to sleep, staying in place for extra measure onced Shijima closed his eyes. Kagome ran her hand through his hair a she watched Shijima's chest rise up and down, Inuyasha simply just stared before letting out a small noise from the back of his throat, his whole body ached from his long journey back from Miroku's and Sango's home especially since he rushed back still perplexed on the scent he had picked up.

something about it just left the back of his hair tingle uncomfortably, he'll just have to stick around to make sure everything will be fine.

Inuyasha didn't realized he was deep in his thoughts until he was blinking into a cup that was held in front of him, reaching up and slowly taking the cup he felt a small finger poke the middle of his eyebrows and looked at Kagome.

"you already have a small wrinkle there for always furrowing your brows like that, don't add anymore if you can help it." moving to sit in front of him, Kagome stroked at the fire that was slowly dying in front of them before placing her hands in her lap.

"keh, whatever.." still holding the cup of tea, Inuyasha looked into the brown liquid that was reflecting his image

"today was unusual than the other days.." Inuyasha snapped up quickly and looked at Kagome

concern was etched on the miko's face that she bit her botton lip in worry, "everyone fell sick all of a sudden, i've even had to look at Rin-chan who was feeling fine this morning, I don't even know how it even spread that quickly or what it could've been.."

still looking at the miko in front of him, Inuyasha clutched at the cup he held tightly, he let out a soft huff of breath before asking "..what do you mean everyone fell sick?"

shaking her head Kagome looked at the fire that was dancing in front of her " it's exactly as I said, Everyone even the children were complaining of both head and stomach pains, some were fevered and many bed ridden..but-" glancing towards the sleeping pair that were under their furs Kagome furrowed her eyebrows slightly "it's odd that neither I, Shijima, Shippo and Lady Kaede didn't get it.."

Listening intently, Inuyasha shot a look at where Kagome was glacing and set his cup down, "then don't worry so much on it, prob' someone brought a stomach bug and got everyone sick"

Furrowing her brow even further Kagome looked towards the Hanyou "I don't think this is a simple stomach bug Inuyasha, a stomach bug wouldn't spread this fast and get everyone sick as quickly and if it was how would that explain the head pains? the fevers?"

Inuyasha frowned and only gave a shrug as his response, he didn't know what else he could say and he sure wasn't going to tell her about what he had talked with both Miroku and Sango about, not until he was sure if what he came up with was right.

sighing in resignation despite what she felt like could be a bad omen of some sort, she decided to put the topic to the side for right now until she can get a better grasp of what was happening to the villagers. She didn't want to over analyze anything until she knew better of things.

Kagome didn't notice Inuyasha move towards her until she felt a tap on the middle of her brow that she blinked in place

"wrinkles can appear there right? then listen to your own damn words and stop furrowing your brows idiot."

smiling slightly, Kagome lightly pushed inuyasha back and laughed softly

while both Miko and Hanyou were busy with their conversation inside the comfort of the small hut, they didn't notice the passing of a shadow that entered the village.

"please make sure to take these so you can recover quickly"

"thank you Lady Kagome.."

nodding and exiting the hut she had entered, Kagome let out a defeated sigh and trecked towards the next home she had to visit. No matter how much she tried, many people still weren't getting better and some even seemed to look worse than how they had looked before. it's been a couple of days now that had passed since everyone had fallen ill and she still didn't have any idea what was causing it.

She had looked all over the forest vicinity to see if any plants had maybe been picked and consumed, when that wasn't the case then she had Shippo see if maybe any demons were around them and was releasing any toxins but that had also not been the case either.

Inuyasha has also been acting strange as of late that it wasn't helping her ease her nerves either, he'd been disappearing in the middle of the night and only shows up in the middle of the afternoon for a quick visit and then once again leaves. Kagome had tried to stop and question him of his behavior but all she got was a harsh look and snap of " don't worry about it."

Seeing as she was lost in her thoughts, Shijima ran up to Kagome and tugged on her clothing "momma?" snapping out of her trance Kagome quickly looked down at Shijima and smiled slightly, there was another thing she had kept in mind, neither her boys or Lady Kaede were sick even Inuyasha was safe.

Shijima looked up towards Kagome and held up a small yellow dandelion that he had picked from the ground when he ran up to his mother "you look sad momma.." crouching down to be at eye level to her son, Kagome scratched behind Shijima's ear earning her a soft sigh in content and then grabbing the small weed Shijima presented to her. "i seem to just have many things in mind Shiji"

Kagome looked at the dandelion and slowly twirled it in her fingers, she loved the color yellow, it meant happiness and clarity, and right now with everything that was going on yellow seemed appropriate to lift her spirits up just a little bit.

Shijima placed both his hands behind his back and tilted his head slightly "would it be okay for me to be with you today?" Slowly standing up Kagome nodded "of course you can Shiji, you dont ever have to ask me" Smiling widely Shijima quickly grabbed Kagome's hand, laughing softly at her pups excitement Kagome placed the small dandelion into her
herb basket she had on her and started walking once more.

"everyone smells weird momma, are they okay?" Shijima looked down at his feet before looking back up ahead to see a small hut that was in their line of sight.

that was strange, he was sure that this hut wasn't there before.

frowning slightly at Shijima's question, Kagome indulged her pups curiosity " just a bad cold Shiji, everyone will be up and full of energy again once it passes" Slowly nodding at her response, Shijima tighten the hold he had on his mother's hand.

he started to feel a small tingling feeling crawl down his back the more they got closer to the odd hut.

He didn't know why but he didn't want to be near that home, it was making him feel wary. Seeing as her son was beginning to slow his pace Kagome arched an eyebrow up but before she could question his sudden change of attitude a sudden movement caught her attention and with swift movement, Kagome pushed Shijima behind her and looked at what caught her eye.

A tall man walked out from the side of the hut carrying a bundle of fire wood, He wore a brown like robe with its sleeves rolled up exposing strong arms, the robe was paired with a dark brown hakama that was dirty with both dirt and grass stains. His hair which was tied to a low ponytail was maroon color but looked as if it was a brighter red under the sunlight, he had a lean but firm built from what Kagome was able to tell but she didn't recall ever seeing this man before but before she could keep examining him, Brown eyes looked towards her direction regarding her with a indifferent look before setting down the pile of fire wood and wiped the sweat that had formed on his brows, but even wiping it off, sweat still rolled down from his face. Glancing back up at the miko he rolled his right shoulder to ease the small tension that had built.

"i wasn't expecting any visitors to come by" a deep honey voice rolled out from the mans tongue, Kagome had all but relaxed her posture from the tension that had built up when examining the man before her. "I was just passing by to see if anyone else may need my help but I see you were not affected with the sudden sickness that befell everyone here, i'm very much happy to see that"

nodding at that, the man set about rearranging the firewood in front of his hut " I was out of the village due to work and just got back this morning"

Shijima who was peeking at the man from behind Kagome's leg tighten his hold on her clothing trying to analyze the one in front of them. Kagome feeling the grip Shijima had on her patted his head before regarding the man once again with a friendly smile" Then please don't let me hinder you on what you are doing" before she turned away, the man shot a glance at the herbal basket that Kagome had on her arm and nodded once more.

"be safe on your way back Priestess" Waving a brief goodbye at the man, Kagome had already turned around beginning her walk back before she suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"I don't suppose I know your name seeing as I have never seen you around before.."

Shijima who once again went back to his mothers side, Looked over to the man as well as he saw him stand up and straightening himself before he heard a deep voice call out,

"Yukio"