Someone caught me. My equilibrium went haywire. As soon as I vanished from my time I felt an arm wrap around my waist and haul me up and out of the well. I blinked in the early morning light. It was already morning? I suppose that made sense; we had come to kaede's village rather late last night and I had gone through the well in the early morning hours.

I squeaked as we landed rather jarringly in the grass. Sesshomaru furious face stared down at me. His eyes were red (again) and his facial markings were darker and rougher than I had ever seen them. I blinked up at him.

"Um, good boy?"

Sesshomaru snarled and I flinched. Brilliant. This was what I had come back for?

"You lied to this Sesshomaru."

I frowned petulantly. Damn. Kaede was a nark.

"How so?" I asked carefully.

"You claimed that Rin was liable to die if you did not return to your time."

"Not exactly. I just said that she would get better with medicine."

He growled and allowed my feet to drop to the ground. But his arm stayed wrapped around my torso so that I dangled at eye level with him. He shook me. Ordinarily, that would have bothered me, at the moment however I was too distracted by the amount of strength he was showing.

"Wow! You're holding me up one handed!" I exclaimed goggle-eyed.

"You lied!"

I frowned at him, "I did not. And I don't know what you're so mad about; I came back didn't I? Let go." I wriggled until he dropped me the few inches to the ground, under no illusions that I had made him drop me.

"Er, Sesshomaru-sama, Kodi-san meant no harm. I'm sure she's sorry for misleading you," Kagome interjected from a few feet away. She and Inuyasha stood not too far off.

"I'm not sorry at all," I corrected her. The stupid demon! How dare he get mad at me just because he was gullible! My anger grew irrationally as I felt the familiar low ache in my belly. Oh fantastic, grand timing. I smothered a pained grunt and glared at Sesshomaru. He eyed me coolly.

"I will not show leniency to such disrespect ningen."

I sneered at him. Sesshomaru straightened suddenly his nostrils flaring.

"You are bleeding?" he asked in surprise.

"Ugh!"

"I do not believe I cut you. Were you injured in your time?"

"Ugh! Ugh! Shut-up!"

"Ningen, for the final time, do not speak to this Sesshomaru in such a way."

"I don't want to speak to you at all right now!" I spun and marched toward the village, ignoring Sesshomaru's growl. Kagome scurried to catch up with me. She whispered to me as we walked into Kaede's hut.

"Do you need the supplies now?"

"Yeah. Can you give Rin her medicine while I take care of it?"

"No problem. Here," she shoved a package at me and I ducked into a separate room connected to the back of the hut. I took care of business and ducked back out. Rin lay still on her mat, Kagome hovering over her. She was just closing up a small bottle of pills.

"You were right, it's just a touch of the flu. Although Sesshomaru-sama, the flu can be fatal to humans, especially in this time," Kagome stated loyally.

He ignored her and continued eyeing me. I shifted uncomfortably, the pains in my stomach increasing.

"You are still bleeding human," he stated. I scowled.

"I know. Don't worry about it demon."

"I am not worried," he replied haughtily. "However, it is in my best interests to ensure your safety. Where are you injured? It would be best if I were to heal the area as I did your others wounds."

I blanched and gaped at him. He wasn't talking about… with his mouth? My gaze grew fuzzy as the image took over my thoughts. I heard a muffled snort come from Kagome. Inuyasha guffawed. Oh God. I felt the blood rush back to my face. I was probably cherry red. I shook myself out of my daze.

"No! Jesus… Sesshomaru, it's not…"

"Kagome, you're back?" Miroku ducked into the hut, followed closely by Sango and Shippou. Kirara padded in after them. Shippou hugged Kagome in greeting before lifting his nose and sniffing in my direction.

"Oh no! Kodi-san, you're on your period? Are you grumpy like Kagome is when you're having your gekkei time? Because Kagome is always realy grumpy. She 'sits' Inuyasha bunches of time when she's bleeding."

"Shippou!" Kagome exclaimed. He ducked his chin at the reprimand. I groaned and closed my eyes. The hut had gown uncomfortably silent.

I peeked at Sesshomaru. He was stalk still; expressionless, frozen as he sat. Right. The stuffy youkai was probably embarrassed.

"Why don't we just concentrate on Rin getting better, hmm?" I said firmly, fussing unnecessarily with the blanket around the child's shoulders. She pouted in her sleep and nudged away from my hands. I sighed and quit bothering her.

I turned to Kagome, "Do you have the painkillers Kagome?"

She nodded ad ruffled through her bag, pulling out a little bottle. She handed it to Inuyasha to open. I accepted a bowl of soup as Kaede handed them out. Mild cursing brought my head up.

"What the hell? This thing is broken Kagome!" Inuyasha growled. He was twisting the pill bottle violently in his hands.

"Agh! Don't do that, you'll break it! Give it to me. It's just child-proofed is all!" I snickered at the hanyou's disgruntlement. He jerked away from my grabbing hands as I tried to save the bottle. He twisted it again in his hands and the plastic snapped with a muffled pop. I yelped and lunged forward. It was too late, the few pills that managed to escape being crushed in Inuyasha's fists exploded from the bottle, arcing through the air and straight into the kettle of soup.

I moaned.

"Er… Eh, who cares. You can't be in that much pain," Inuyasha scoffed to cover up the blunder. A strangled noise emerged from my throat. My fingers twitched, still outstretched toward the only thing that would've given me any relief in the next few days. I could practically feel the beast in my belly sharpening its claws in glee. Just as I gathered myself to launch at him Kagome spoke.

"Inuyasha sit!" the hanyou crashed to the floor with a startled expression on his face. I eased back and simply glared at him.

"Ugh wench, what was that for!?"

Kagome bent toward him, careful to keep a frown on her face. She whispered to him, "Be quiet Inuyasha! I just saved you. Honestly!"

She hadn't meant for me to hear that, so I ignored it. But she really had saved him, I had been ready to rip the baka a new one. Not in a lot of pain? I was already feeling it and I had barely started!

"Sorry about that Kodi. I'll just pop back through the well and pick up some more," Kagome offered kindly.

"No! Kagome, you know we have that shard to go after. We can't waste any more time! It's one of the last pieces. It could be the last piece! Naraku already has a bunch of shards, we can't let him get this piece too!" Inuyasha snapped angrily, nevermind that his voice was muffled from his face being pressed into the ground. I sighed.

"It's fine. Inuyasha is… right. I'll survive without the pills," I agreed reluctantly. Ugh, I always tried to make sure I never went through my period without painkillers. My cramps were always horrible. "You guys are going after another shard?"

"Uh-huh, I sensed it not too far off from here. We're going after it today," said Kagome.

"And it's one of the last shards? What are you going to do once you have them all?"

"Go after that Naraku bastard," Inuyasha answered.

***********************************************************************

After Kagome and her friends (Pack? I'm pretty sure she would be the alpha of that group.) left, the hut was mostly silent, save for the uneven breathing from Rin.

I lay down on my stomach to ease the tightness in my belly and dragged over the book Kagome had left for me. I stuck a pocky stick in my mouth and flipped it open. Ew, what the heck? This was a history book. Why would she think I would want to read this? I was in history for goodness' sake. I flipped through a few more pages before giving up on it. I bit the chocolate end off the pocky stick.

"What is that book?" Sesshomaru broke the silence.

"Just a history book," I looked at the binding. "Early Japanese History to Modern Day."

"That is a recording of major events from now until your time?"

I glanced up at him and noticed the avaricious glaze in his eyes. His face held the same barely constrained wanting he had shown yesterday during my bath. My mouth went dry before I firmly told myself the lust in his eyes was for the knowledge the book held and not me.

"Uh, y-yesh. I mean yes, that's what it is." It was also in english. I smiled, "You want to look at it?"

"Hnn."

I handed the book over to him and waited. Sesshomaru snatched the book and laid it open with the care of a woman with a baby. He frowned at the first page and flipped to another, and another, until he was riffling quickly through the pages. An impatient breath huffed out of him as he slapped the book shut.

"What's the matter Sessho? Little trouble?" I asked, pocky sticking out of the side of my mouth. My feet bobbed above the small of my back.

"Hnn. Your book is… flawed."

"The book is flawed? Really. You can't read it and that makes the book flawed?"

Sesshomaru remained silent. He handed the book back to me.

"It's probably better for you not to know Sesshomaru. If you knew you might change history, either inadvertently, or knowing you, completely on purpose."

Sesshomaru ignored me.

"Hmmph. It's not my fault you can't read it. It's in English. I wouldn't expect you to be able to read English. You don't have to be embarrassed about it."

"This Sesshomaru is not embarrassed."

"Don't lie. You're upset because I know something you don't. You're the type who needs to feel superior about everything."

He growled. I laughed and flipped the book open and began to read to aggravate him. Plus, my cramps had begun to worsen and I needed the distraction.

Two hours later:

"Are you ill human?" Sesshomaru asked calmly as my breath caught in my throat.

I muffled a groan in my arms as my belly tightened around what felt like rusty knives, "No you stupid dog, I am not 'ill.' I am dying!"

"What?"

I growled, "The muscles in my abdomen and legs are cramping. It's normal. Leave me alone."

A few more hours:

"You are quite pale."

"At least I'm not paper white dog boy!" I snapped irritably. He frowned at me. His attention was diverted by a noise from Rin.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" the girl mumbled as she sat up. "Rin was sick."

"Sesshomaru, your talking about yourself in the third person is obviously contagious. Rin honey, are you feeling any better?"

Rin grinned at me. She was still a bit pale but looked heaps better. I got up and rested my hand on her forehead. Her fever was gone. I smiled back at her and smoothed her hair.

"Your fever's gone. How's your stomach feel? Do you still feel sick?"

"No. My tummy is better. Oh-no!" She turned big sad eyes to Sesshomaru. "Did I mess up your schedule Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Hnn."

I threw my book at him, he caught it the ratfink. I patted Rin on the head, "He's just kidding Rin. We were planning on coming to Kaede's village remember? So we actually got here early!"

She nodded, but her face was still pinched in a comical way on such a little kid. She looked up at me, "Are you sick too Kodi-san? You look sick."

I wrinkled my nose at her, "No, I'm fine."

"Ok. What are we going to do now?"

"We will leave-"

"We're going to stay here until you're all rested up," I slanted mean eyes at Sesshomaru. "If we left now you might get sick again."

He gave me a superior glance, "As I was going to say, we will leave within the next few days. Besides Rin's illness, you are in no condition to walk, weak creature that you are."

I frowned at him. I wonder what he would do if I punched him? Probably block it. I scowled.

"What's that?" Rin pointed at the pocky box in my lap. I handed her a piece and took another for myself. I offered the box to Sesshomaru with a supremely martyred look on my face. I was banking on Sesshomaru seeing my reluctance and taking a stick out of spite. Miracle of miracles, he took one. Although once I saw his nose twitching as he sniffed the chocolate I decided my trick had nothing to do with it. With his nose the sweet probably just smelled really good.

He bit into the sweet and I watched as he allowed the chocolate to melt on his tongue before chewing. He gave me a significant glance and I handed him the box, suppressing a smile. He silently helped Rin finish up the box.

**************************************************************************

"Sesshomaru you look a little… um, are you sweating?" I asked in astonishment. Rin had fallen asleep after a snack and Sesshomaru had retreated into silence. I had returned from a trip to the restroom to find him… well I didn't know how to describe it.

He turned his head away from me, ignoring my question. I stepped closer, "Really, you look really white. I mean, whiter than normal. Do you think you caught Rin's cold?"

"Youkai do not catch human illnessness," Sesshomaru growled.

"Even your voice sounds funny. Hold still I'm going to check your temperature," I stretched out my hand to his forehead and he jerked back. I frowned but my eyes widened when his face pinched and his mouth tightened. He had turned positively green. He was gone instantly.

I listened in shock as the sound of retching filtered in through the mat door. I stepped out after him and hurried over. He was bent at the waist against a tree. Good grief, he had managed to get rather far away. Another spasm shook his back and I pulled his hair back for him.

"What are you doing?" he growled between pants.

"You're going to get your hair dirty. It looks like you did catch Rin's cold."

"I am not ill." I gave him a dirty look as he heaved again. "That is to say I do not have a cold. It was your human food. I could feel it unsettle my stomach almost immediately after eating it."

"The pocky? But I feel just fine… Oh! Chocolate! It couldn't be, Inuyoukai can't digest chocolate?" I petted the top of his head as he coughed. "Guess not. You are a dog after all."

"You knowingly gave me something that was harmful to dogs?!" Sesshomaru asked in outrage, looking up at me.

"Er… sorry."

"What is the matter?" Kaede asked from the relative safety of ten yards away.

"Sesshomaru ate something that didn't agree with him."

Sesshomaru straightened stiffly. His face was flushed. I squashed my inner squeal girl as she wondered loudly if he would look like that after exertion of a different kind. He had just puked for goodness sake.

"Priestess, you will watch the child and this girl. I will return shortly," his words were barely more than a rumble. He turned and disappeared into the trees.

Kaede trudged back with me.

"You think he's mad at me?" I asked curiously.

"Ah, no more than usual."

"Thanks a lot."

When Sesshomaru returned, once again his pristine self he was silent as the grave. When I tried to ask if he was feeling better he got snarly.

"We will not speak of it human. In fact, this Sesshomaru would be greatly pleased if you would remain silent for the remainder of our stay here."

I rolled my eyes.