Chapter Three : Are ye ill, child?

Sometimes we lie to those we love. – unknown

"Kagome! You're back!" exclaimed Sango when Kagome appeared. Her friends were outside with Kaede, who was standing off to the side watching the others. Shippou had been playing with Kirara, but he launched himself at her as soon as she walked up, with a cry of "Kagome!" that morphed into an "Ack!" as Inuyasha snatched him out of the air by his shirt and growled.

"Oi! Didn't I tell you not to do that, runt?" Inuyasha asked him.

Kagome was looking pale. If Shippou had collided with her "injury" she didn't know what she would've done. "Thanks, Inuyasha," she said, taking the squirming, complaining bundle from Inuyasha into her arms for a hug clear of her stomach. He snuggled into her and she ruffled his red hair. Then she let him go and he jumped back.

"Come on, Kagome; come see what I drew!"

Kagome smiled and followed him as he led her to the pictures he'd drawn earlier. He held up his favorite—a drawing of them both by a lake full of pink and green flowers.

"Didn't you say lotuses were your favorite, Kagome?"

Kagome gave him a watery smile. "They are. Thank you, Shippou; I love it!"

Inuyasha looked over at her. He always knew when she as sad, though he didn't know why a drawing of her favorite flower would make her sad… unless it was one of those weird girl things where she cried because she was happy. Shippou seemed to think that's what it was; he scurried off and sat down to draw some more.

Sango came up behind her. "Kagome, do you want to go down to the hot springs for a bath? I feel like I could use one…"

Kagome opened her mouth to say yes but then she remembered something. She wouldn't be able to soak in the water until her skin was completely healed. She'd been told that the skin would soak up all the water and float away, like a soggy scab.. Oh, but she did need to wash it twice a day. How she'd manage that without Sango finding out was a mystery.

"Actually, Sango, I took a bath before I left. Can we go later?" she asked, hoping Inuyasha didn't realize or didn't comment on the fact that she hadn't. But she thought she saw his eyes narrow suspiciously as he talked to Miroku several feet away, and his ear was turned toward her. When he started to look over she shifted her gaze back to Sango's face.

Sango frowned a little, and Kagome very nearly confessed right there, but then the older girl nodded and sighed. Kagome felt bad for denying her friend the chance to wash up. All because of her other stupid "friends" and their stupid, stupid ideas…

"Now," Kagome said with a carefully straight face as she sat down and the rest of their group joined them. "Tell me what's been going on since I left."

She heard Miroku's staff jingle as he settled against the wall of Kaede's hut. They were still outside for now, though it would be getting dark soon.

"Well…" he trailed off.

"Keh! There was a stupid hoard of snakes in another village. We took care of them. None of them had shards or anything…"

"How do you know they didn't if I wasn't there?" Kagome asked.

"Keh. They were puny. Shippou could've handled them."

Shippou bristled. "I can handle more than that, baka!"

Inuyasha didn't look convinced. Kagome sighed.

"Okay. Where are we headed tomorrow?"

Inuyasha exchanged glances with Miroku. "Northwest," he answered after a moment. "The last time I smelled Naraku's stupid stench he was going that way."

Kagome nodded. "Okay. What are we doing for the rest of the day then?" she asked, looking around at each of her friends, and then settling her eyes on Inuyasha.

"Well, I was planning on bathing…" Sango started sullenly. Kagome winced.

"I think that's a wonderful idea— " Miroku started, lifting a finger to emphasize that point, before being whacked on the head by Inuyasha. But he continued, undaunted. "Why not join Sango, Kagome-chan?" he asked, rubbing his head.

"So you can have another girl to ogle, you pervert? I don't think so!" Inuyasha said, raising his hand to whap him again.

"Inuyasha," Kagome warned and then turned to Miroku. "Because I already had a bath."

Inuyasha's eyes shot over to her. He couldn't believe she'd told that lie twice. Sure, she probably had had a bath "before she left" but not as recently as she was leading Sango and Miroku to believe. Did she really expect him to believe it to? She was avoiding his gaze. His eyes sharpened. Just what was the wench up to?

Miroku nodded and so did Sango. Inuyasha kept his mouth shut and looked away.

After a few moments of silence Kagome got to her feet. "I guess I'll go see if Kaede needs help with anything," she said.

The rest of the day passed and the sun started to peek over the horizon. Inuyasha was just about to hop down from his tree and wake everyone up when he heard the girls heading to the river. His ears perked up and he rose, jumping from tree to tree until he was close enough to ensure their safety from any youkai that might appear, though if Kagome knew he was anywhere nearby, possibly spying, she'd "sit" him six feet into the ground. But he wasn't spying. He was just eavesdropping and watching out for them.

Sango's voice drifted to him.

"Why aren't you getting in?"

"Oh, I really don't feel like it, that's all."

"But—"

"Sango," Kagome said quietly. She looked around. For a minute she looked like she was going to admit something, but in the end she couldn't. "Don't worry about it," she finished lamely.

"Alright," her friend conceded. She finished stripping off her clothes and got into the hot spring to wash off the dust from traveling. She reached for Kagome's shampoo.

Kagome moved behind a rock so that Sango couldn't see what she was doing and pulled up her shirt. She hissed when her fingers accidentally brushed across the wound, but Sango didn't hear her. While Sango closed her eyes and washed her long hair, Kagome used the antibacterial soap she'd brought to clean her skin. She washed it, then patted it dry and put more ointment on it. Then she pulled her shirt down over it and nearly screamed when Sango suddenly resurfaced in front of her and asked, "Can you pass me the body wash?"

Kagome exhaled slowly and forced a smile. "Sure," she said, passing her the bottle. "I'm sorry I don't feel like getting in today." She thanked her lucky stars that Sango hadn't seen her tending to her stomach. But now she felt like she could relax, so she leaned back against the rock she was hiding behind. "Didn't anything interesting happen while I was gone?" she asked sullenly.

Sango smiled a bit. "No, nothing… You take the shards with you when you go, so the youkai don't seem as interested in us. It's quiet when you're gone… unless that stupid monk is driving me crazy. I'm glad you're back, Kagome."

Kagome smiled back and got to her feet. She brought her friend a towel for when she climbed out of the water to get dressed. "I guess we can head back now… Inuyasha's probably waiting for us."

With a grunt, Inuyasha raced back to the village to head them off. He was greeted with the sight of Miroku also exiting the trees. He growled in the back of his throat. "Where do you think you've been?" he demanded, cursing himself for not realizing he was there watching the girls. "I'll pound you into the ground if you don't stop spying on them!"

Miroku's face paled. "I would never," he protested. "I'm a monk!"

"Yeah, a corrupt one! Stay away from— on second thought, I'll just let Sango pound you when she finds out!" he said, cutting off as the women broke through the trees.

Miroku's face fell. "Inuyasha," he pleaded, "She'll kill me…"

Inuyasha glared. "Just stay away like we've all told you to, monk!" he ground out quietly, stomping off. What he'd heard from Kagome bothered him. She was acting so strange… She wouldn't even bathe! That told him something was wrong more than anything else.

"Let's go!" he said when the girls came up, and started walking away.

"Wha--wait, Inuyasha! We haven't even eaten, and I have to repack all my stuff!"

"So what! We have to go!"

"No, Inuyasha, we're staying here."

"No. We're. Not. Wench!"

"Yes. We. Are. Stubborn!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Sit!"

Inuyasha went down with a growl into the dirt.

Kagome stormed away and went into Kaede's hut. Shippou took off after her. Inuyasha growled but then followed her in and sulked against the wall.

"Well, I guess that just leaves us my dear Sa—" Miroku started, after looking around to ensure that they were alone.

"Touch me and die, monk," Sango bit out, turning to glare pointedly at the hand hovering a few inches over her rear. She walked past him into the hut, shaking out her shoulders almost as if to dispel her irritation.

"Ahaa…" Miroku laughed nervously, feeling as if he'd just escaped death by a narrow margin. Kirara twitched her tails and pranced past him inside; unimpressed with his behavior. He followed the cat and seated himself on a futon on the floor, his staff resting across his chest on his left shoulder.

Sango sat demurely on a futon near him, while Kagome sat next to Kaede helping her cook. Shippou sat on top of Kagome's sleeping bag and Inuyasha sat like Miroku against the wall with Tensaiga across his chest. Kaede left the fire and went to retrieve something. A moment later she came back to Kagome and handed her the bow and arrows that she'd left here. Kagome thanked her and grew quiet.

"Are ye ill, child?" Kaede inquired after a moment, stirring the pot over the fire. Inuyasha's attention sharpened. He frowned.

"I'm just tired," Kagome assured everyone, blushing a little. She started to add that she'd be fine tomorrow, but in all honesty it might be a couple weeks before her skin was completely healed. And she didn't know how long it would be before she was completely back to normal since it was really the guilt that was the problem, not the pain.

Kaede peered at her with her good eye searchingly, but said nothing else about it. Inuyasha, however, kept frowning and took a deep breath, shifting through the scents that came to him. Shippou's was marring Kagome's but he could still tell that the scent of the man he'd smelled earlier was gone and the other, strange scent on her skin he didn't recognize was fading. Neither scent had been that strong anyway. But he could smell her emotions too and under the smell of false happiness was a layer of anxiety. Almost like fear. What was she afraid of? And where had she been with her friends the day before? And, above all, why didn't she want a bath? They were always stopping so Kagome could have a bath in whatever hot springs or river they found. And she had lied about bathing before coming back. If he had to guess he'd say she hadn't bathed since the morning of the day he showed up to get her. Well, that was technically before they left. But he didn't know Kagome to find loopholes like that. And she hadn't bathed just now, even though she'd come back from the river with Sango just now.

As the sky darkened further and his friends settled down, Inuyasha watched over them, puzzling over the mystery of Kagome.