A/N: Thanks sooo much for the kind reviews guys! I really appreciate it!! I'd like to take a moment to recognize the three readers that actually read my author's notes. Thanks for reading this top to bottom!! Isolde Eris, melody and Pie-Was-Here...YOU ALL GET COOKIES!...but by cookie I mean this shout out. Thanks for sticking for reading these crazy notes...and thanks to everyone that has stuck with me so far!

I'd also like to apologize profusely for updating so late. The reason for the delay was...erm...well...band camp. (and no, I'm actually not joking...the first one to leave a NICE crack about it in a review will get a medal of honor though!) ANYWAYS!

I do not own Inuyasha. He and his friends are all creations from the mind of Rumiko Takahashi.

o0o0o0o0o0o

Swirling mist and a damp thickness invaded his limbs and his mind as he struggled to open his eyes. He found that his energy was wasted, however, as his eyelids did little more than quiver. He tried to speak, but found his voice too tired to do little more than keen softly as he remained helpless on the floor. The only real thing Inuyasha was aware of was his own thoughts and the sound of a soft voice speaking softly in his ear.

What...What happened? Why am I so weak?

Inuyasha struggled once again, trying to raise his body from the ground; however, he found his efforts wasted once more. He whimpered again, using whatever energy he had to attempt to communicate with the voice just beyond his grasp. At once he felt a chilling dampness press against his forehead followed by his throat and chest. Shortly there after, Inuyasha realized that his skin felt as if it had been set ablaze.

I...I have a fever. I'm sick?

The half demon fought with consciousness as recent memories floated lazily through his mind. He watched as Kouga brought him closer to Kaede's refuge. He could feel the weight of the earth supporting him as the wolf dropped him to the ground. He could hear Kagome's worried tone as they embraced. He could feel her warmth breath against his cheek as she spoke to him, ensuring him that he was okay. Then there was a searing white light and his body began to burn again, both in his memories and in the waking world.

This pain. Its the same pain from when I transformed yesterday. It...but it's never hurt like this before!

He relived the transformation in his mind. It began with his claws, causing his hand to tremble and ache terribly as if a deep cold was working its way from his bones. He watched on, unable to tear his mind away from the memory of his fangs lengthing and his ears sprouting on top of his head once more. It ached with an uncontrollable ferocity that Inuyasha had never experienced before and he felt himself stagger, half limping on his broken leg. However, it was the pain that he currently endured that mirrored what he saw next in his foggy mind. With the reemergence of his demon blood, the most excruciating burning feeling he had ever experience invaded his body.

Kagome watched with fear shining in her honey eyes. She had traveled with the man before her for five years now and never once had she ever seen him sneeze, let alone fall so suddenly under the choke hold of a fever. It had been a full day now since he had arrived, a broken being, carried in Kouga's arms. She could feel her heart beginning to shatter once again at the memories and she fought back the sting of salty tears with all the emotional strength she had remaining in her body. It was barely enough.

She had been by his side throughout the night to cool his body from the raging fever. She blushed a bit as she remembered being forced to strip him to his under layers to allow heat to roll away from his body instead of becoming trapped in the restrictive clothing. Kagome dipped the ragged cloth in her hands into a bowl full of fresh spring water. It was absolutely chilly to the touch, but she knew that it would be one of the few things that could save Inuyasha in his time of need. Working quickly, Kagome wrung out the cloth so only the cool dampness remained and pressed it to his hot forehead and dragged it across his face, down his neck and rested it on his chest.

"Oh, Inuyasha. Please. Just wake up," cooed Kagome as she wiped away the sweat on her forehead.

Kaede had been kind enough to warn her that something severe like this may happen with Inuyasha's return. In fact, Kaede had almost ensured it. Kagome removed the now warmed cloth from Inuyasha's body and continued her ministrations even though she was deep in thought.

"But, Kaede. Why? Why is this happening to him? Shouldn't everything be back to normal now?!" asked Kagome as she dragged Inuyasha inside as carefully as she could.

"The way I am to understand it, child, is that this demon is feeding on Inuyasha's demon powers. Inuyasha will be quite afflicted until ye, Lady Kagome, are able to forgive him and yeself for your crime. Do ye understand?" asked the elderly priestess with a somber visage.

"Our crimes? I...I don't understand," replied Kagome as Sango returned with a full bucket of ice cold spring water. Miroku followed closely behind with two more buckets.

"Ye will in time, child. But until then, Inuyasha's fate is sealed," answered Kaede as she left the hut.

"But I still don't understand what my crime is...or what Inuyasha's could be for that matter either!" cried Kagome as she applied a gentle pressure to the freshly cooled cloth upon his forehead. She watched as water dribbled from its edge and trickled down his face to where his ears should have been if they were not atop his head. Carefully, she brushed away his bangs that were matted together with a mixture of sweat and spring water.

"Inuyasha, what on earth is our crime?" she asked him although she was aware he wouldn't be able to answer her in his condition.

The half demon struggled to get his voice to cooperate because to him, it was all to obvious. He knew the crime that both needed to admit, but he was unable to speak it aloud.

Kagome. Don't you see? My crime. Keh. My crime is giving up my first love for you. And your crime is throwing away your life in your era for me. Kagome, our crime is falling in love!

Inuyasha's muscles seemed to relax a bit from the strain with the admission to himself. He could feel the intensity of the fever licking his body diminish, even if it was only slightly. Sensations around his body seemed to become more obvious as well. The cool breeze floating in through the tied back door tickled his skin and helped to ease the strain of his high body temperature. He could hear the sound of the grass moving in the breeze just outside the door. However, the one thing he wished he couldn't sense was the scent of Kagome's falling tears.

He choked a bit as he fought for his voice, "Don't...cry...wench."

Kagome immediately halted midway from the bowl to Inuyasha's body. She looked at him and watched his chest heave with each breath. She watched his ears flick in irritation from the influx of noises. She gazed, longingly, at his eyes that remained closed, but she was certain that she had heard his voice.

"Inu...yasha?" she asked as she pressed the cooled cloth against his jawline and the pulse point in his neck.

His breath hitched as he forced himself to open his eyes. The sunlight pouring into the hut was unbearable and his eyes couldn't seem to hold their focus, but Inuyasha refused to allow them to close again.

"Kagome, please. You have to say it," he begged her with a voice heavy with emotion.

"You...You're awake. Oh Inuyasha!" she sobbed as she flung herself onto his warm flesh.

I love Kagome. Dammit. You need to say it too, Kagome. Or this will never end!

"Kagome. Say it. Please," begged Inuyasha as he allowed his eyes to close once again.

"You want me to say that when you're still recovering?!" Kagome asked. She sat up abruptly at his request as well, completely unsure of what he had just asked her to do.

"No. Don't sit me," whispered Inuyasha as he began to lose reality once more, "But please, Kagome. You have to say it."

Oh, Inuyasha. What do you want me to say? I don't understand. You're not trying to get me to sit you at a time like this, right? Is it just your fever speaking?

Kagome pulled the cloth away from his forehead and began to soak it once again. She watched as Inuyasha's breathing became labored once again and noted almost immediately the way the heat seemed to roll off his body as it had when she had first brought him into the hut. The cloth hit the edge of the bowl, sending the water flying through the air, until it landed in a messy puddle on the ground.

"Inuyasha?" she asked, realizing that he was succumbing to his fever once more.

"INUYASHA! Don't you dare leave me!! I LOVE YOU!" cried Kagome as she fell upon his chest weeping.

A strange white light began to swirl around the miko and the hanyou as soon as the words spilled from her lips. It circled the couple violently, like that of a tornado, until a fierce wind picked up and began noisily blowing objects around Kaede's hut.

Is this it? Was this the crime I was supposed to admit to? That I love Inuyasha???

"I love you, Inuyasha. Please. Don't leave me," begged Kagome as she did her best to embrace the man on the floor.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

A/N: Yea, yea. I'm leaving this on a cliffy. Muahahaha. Sadly, there will only be one more chapter after this. I can't believe another story is drawing to a close!! Anyways, as always, please review and let me know what you think. Thanks again!!

:0D