A/N: Hi all! Thank you for the reviews! This update took a while due to some life issues, but I'm gonna try to make more time for writing instead of just thinking up new ideas and never using them. Enjoy the update!

Morning crawled over the ship at the pace of a snail. Abuto had spent most of the night assisting Ryu in picking out books and sifting through possibly plants and medications. They worked well into the sunrise before taking a break, and by that time, Abuto was sure that his lungs would have failed, had he been human. After countless ideas and an impossible number of coughing fits, he slapped the book in his lap closed.

His stuffed nose opposed a sniffle as he turned to the blue haired man across from him.

"Roots, barks, fruits, there's too much to go through."

Humming under his breath, Ryu leaned back and thumbed through another encyclopedia. Didn't stop to read any of it. Just sifted through as if the answer to their issues would pop out at him if contained on a page he passed.

"It's not like anybody else is going to find it."

"You look like shit."

As the smoker drew another cigarette to his mouth, he glanced up at Abuto. Raised a brow, then released the breath of a laugh.

"You're not looking so hot yourself."

A moment passed, in which the men abandoned their books and a lighter was flicked. They both needed food, but neither wanted to get up. It had hit Abuto like a train in the middle of the night. One moment, he was sleeping, the next he was jolted awake and coughing like his life depended on it. He'd made a quick trip to Ryu's room to accuse the man of voodoo. Reprimanded him for jinxing his good health that very day, and from there, sheer will had forced him to stay up and search for the quickest cure he could.

"That nincompoop crushed the gun you loaned her." A change of topic was in order, or Abuto's brain would melt to mush. His voice was even, and brought a touch of animation to Ryu's tired posture.

"Oh? I don't need guns. She's the one that ordered them, it's just easier for me to keep them when we're traveling." In unspoken unison, they pushed themselves from their seats on the floor and stretched their joints. Headed for the dining hall, where there was sure to be hot tea and broth. Pushing his hands into his pockets, Abuto rounded the hall to the door of the dining room.

"Good thinking, but if he knows you're giving her weapons..."

The warning earned little more than a snicker. In fact, if Abuto had to guess, he'd say that the consequences had already been considered.

"Duly noted."

They entered the mess hall and found it mostly empty, save for a handful of men that appeared to be perfectly healthy and in moods far too chipper for the early hours of the day. Or maybe they just felt like death. Whichever one it was, they had no interest in being a part of the merriment. After getting two humble little bowls of broth and cups of tea, they made their way to the usual table; not surprised to find Kamui and Ame already there.

The Captain was busy stuffing his face with as much as his cheeks could hold, while Ame had her head on the table and her tray pushed to the side towards him.

Abuto and Ryu took their places across from the pair, sighing and careful not to overexert themselves with the minor movement. After an all-nighter, the slightest thing seemed an impossible task.

"Ahbhuto!" With a full mouth, Kamui grinned the older man's name, and Abuto dully stared back at him. The red head swallowed a lump of food and continued. "You look awful!"

The fact that Kamui was smiling when he said it did nothing to alleviate the older man's less than sweet mood. He mutterd back, under his breath, and though Kamui couldn't hear what he said, no time was spent on decoding the interaction. He started to eat. Sipped his broth and let it sit in his stomach to get accustomed to the weight of it.

A little bug couldn't stop him from attending his daily duties, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't considering a mid-day nap.

"Can you put that out? It reeks." Shifting to eye Ryu, Ame tiredly looked to his cigarette. "Probably stale, or something."

Stale cigarettes had never piqued her attention before. Ryu had just opened his pack, but wordlessly obliged. Stubbed the ember on the edge of his tray.

"What's wrong with you? Not eating?" Quietly murmuring to the woman, Abuto set his bowl down in favor of his tea. Ame shook her head and turned away. Didn't offer an answer. Kamui, on the other hand, picked up the conversation.

"She's not hungry." A strip of fish was suspended in front of the man's mouth as he washed his previous mouthful down with juice. "Wouldn't even eat her toast. I think she's sick, too."

That didn't make sense. Turning to Ryu, Abuto frowned.

"Is that possible?"

The smoker shrugged. Took a mouthful of broth and leaned onto the table. There were too many unknown factors when it came to the mystery illness. Was it a common cold or flu? Something more? Without knowing what it was, they couldn't determine whether Ame was susceptible. So they ate in near silence after that. Kamui devoured not only his food, but the tray beside it, and the other three maintained their reserved comas. Hardly mumbled responses to any pleasantries.

When Kamui finally polished off the rest of his meal, he leaned back with a satisfied sigh and grinned at Abuto. The older man peered back and set his empty broth bowl on the table.

"Aren't you worried about getting sick?"

"Nah. I can't get sick; Ame is going back to the hospital today."

Opting against pointing out the clear faulty logic behind that, Abuto chose to address the impossible task of accomplishing such a feat.

"Really?" Glancing towards the woman, he frowned. "How'd you get her to agree to that?"

"Ame?" Still smiling, Kamui nudged the woman. She sighed, leaned up, and crossed her arms.

"I was wrong, Kamui was right, and I'm a mean old lady that should eat her radish." Her head plopped back onto the table and she glared at the man beside her. "Satisfied?"

Nodding, Kamui turned back to Abuto.

Okay, then.

Just before heading out, Ame bumped into a person that was eye level with her. She'd broken away from the men as they shuffled off to discuss whatever business they had. The illness, most likely. In some strange turn of events, the men that had been amused by their captain falling ill were in the reverse position, and Kamui was good as new, as far as any of them could tell.

The person Ame bumped into had popped out of nowhere. Walked around the corner of the bathroom just as Ame tried to enter, and was wrapped in a white towel from his shoulders down. Amber hair spilled over his shoulders, and he stared at her through a knowing frown. Pale as the rest of them, yet odd.

Muttering an apology, Ame squinted at the man and his odd use of the towel. Looked him up and down, for good measure. It was a man, clearly. Most Yato were men. Like over ninety percent of them. But staring at him, Ame felt confusion descend upon her at startling speed.

That dainty chin, and those long eye lashes. The way the towel was tucked.

"Oi... Are you... A woman?"

Surprise crossed the person in front of her, and before Ame could react, her hand was being clasped.

"You can tell?!"

"It's really not that hard!" Leaning away, Ame turned her head as the apparent sole other woman of the ship advanced towards her. Back into her personal space. The woman shook her head and her brows raised as she refuted Ame's claim.

"No, but it is! I've been here years and nobody's noticed!" Water splashed across Ame's arms as the woman shook her head. Desperation clung to her features, and she clutched Ame's hand tighter as she added onto her claims. "I even shower with the men and they have no clue! They don't even look down- they never look down!"

"Uh," Pulling her hand away, Ame retreated a few steps. Maybe she should go back to the bedroom to use the secluded bathroom. "I've uh, gotta do a thing."

Who'd have thought that all in all the time Ame had been on the ship, there had been another woman that slipped under her and apparently everybody else's radar? As she backed away, still staring at the woman, Ame couldn't help but frown.

"Don't forget me! Hey- I know you're the Captain's human, but we could do things together! Like- girl things!"

As the woman clutched her towel, Ame turned on her heel and high tailed it back to the bedroom. Did anybody else know about this? There had to be at least one other person on the ship; all of the men couldn't have missed a random Yato woman idling about with them for so long.

The walk to the hospital wasn't particularly far, but by the time they arrived, both Ryu and Ame had broken a sweat. Kamui, on the other hand, was perfectly fine. The bastard. If anything, Ame had been around him when he was sick, and if anybody could have gotten their germs on her it was him. They entered the building and signed in as usual. Visiting with a doctor didn't take long, and the interactions were lax.

Everybody had grown accustomed to one another in the frequent check ups after that toxin run in. As Ame slid onto the examination table in the pristine room, Kamui and Ryu occupied themselves. Ryu mostly focused on isolating a nurse. It didn't take much asking around to find a woman keen on Yato physiology. The subject matter wasn't exactly common, and only one person came to mind when he asked a doctor. That led him to getting an isolated check up, and leaving with the short woman in a powder pink dress.

Initially, surprise had crossed her when seeing him. They'd shared a hushed conversation that Ame couldn't pick up on, and then the woman whisked him away with her clip board tucked firmly to her chest. That left Kamui and Ame with the boring formality of blood work and ghosting any inquiries pertaining Ame's new found injuries.

"If you don't give your body time to heal, everything will just get worse." The blonde standing beside Ame swiped a cotton pad over her jaw and throat before retrieving another to continue with her arms, hands, and everything else that caught her eye.

"Yeah, yeah." Sighing the words, Ame allowed the woman to take hold of her chin and angle her head back to dab at an injury she hadn't been aware of but definitely felt when the antibiotic gel hit it.

"You should be more cautious of your health. Too much of this and it'll all break down. You're supposed to be resting still."

Kamui's ears pricked up at the bit about breaking down. Was that possible? Like a car or a ship? Humans got hurt enough to stop functioning altogether until they got new parts or something? Like robots? He didn't think they were that different from Yato. Weaker, sure, but this was news to him. It was a relief that there was a step between them dying, though.

"I've been resting." Murmuring back to the woman, Ame was permitted to look down again as her hand was re-wrapped. "Just the other day I had a whisky with friends after some light exercise."

The dry tone earned an arched brow and pause, yet without saying a word, the nurse turned to a clipboard she'd set beside Ame. She clicked her teeth, and shook her head.

"So, all traces of the toxin are gone now, and you're good as new, but your blood chart was a bit strange. How have you been feeling?" Raising a page from the board, the blonde kept her eyes on the chart as Ame dropped to the floor beside her. A second was spent examining her handiwork; a plausible attempt to turning Ame into a walking mummy.

"Peachy. Everything's perfect-"

"Ame," Much to the woman's dismay, she was called out before she could slip out of the room and make for the ship. Kamui took to his feet and snagged her arm to pull her away from the door. "She's sick."

"Sick?" The word was echoed back to Kamui and the nurse's green eyes washed over Ame anew.

Shooting a glare towards the carrot-topped man, Ame turned her head as he nodded.

"She wouldn't eat today, and keeps complaining about smells."

If Kamui was trying to irk Ame he was doing a fine job of it. She could tell when she was sick, and this was hardly anything to worry about. Nothing to bring to the attention of medical professionals. If anything, all he accomplished was to murder time with his outlandish statements and unnecessary information. Internally writhing in contempt, Ame faced the nurse again. She'd have crossed her arms if she didn't think the gauze over her skinned elbow would pop.

The nurse hummed under her breath and referred back to the documents on her clipboard. Didn't say anything for a while, and left Both Kamui and Ame searching her face for an answer. When Ame glared at Kamui, he grinned back at her, as though he saw nothing wrong with throwing more possible health issues on the table. Ame wouldn't have minded if they never returned to the hospital again, including the visit she was suffering through now.

"How is your..." Glancing towards Kamui, the nurse paused. Then faced Ame with a slight frown. "Are you regular?"

"She's the most normal Human I've met!"

Silence followed the statement, in which, both women did nothing but blink at the man. Then Ame's lips twisted with far too much humor to conceal. When the blonde in front of her covered her mouth, barely able to hide the jump of her shoulders, Ame couldn't help but laugh. Loudly.

At the sight of the women nearly doubled over, Kamui made a strange face that only intensified their sudden bought of laughter and churned his curiosity. What was it? Was he wrong? A lot of people had been acting like the things he'd picked up from Ame were unusual lately. Iori had told him that Ame taught him wrong, the nurse was laughing, and apparently, Ame thought that him calling her normal was funny as well. Maybe she wasn't?

"No- I mean yes-" Finally breaking away from the momentary lapse of conversation, Ame patted the nurse's arm to regain her attention. "Yes, I am." Even the thought of whatever the nurse was getting at was preposterous.

"We couldn't identify a few things in your chart, but everything looks normal."

Nodding the woman's words away, Ame turned to Kamui. He picked up the thought of leaving and started past the women, only offering a brief excuse. He was going to get Ryu. Likely checking on the status of his investigation into the mystery sickness, like the fine Captain he was. His exit was hardly acknowledged, but as the door closed behind him, Ame found some much needed privacy with the woman that had been keeping up with her medical status.

"What do you mean couldn't identify?"

"Exactly what I said. Could not identify. But there were trace amounts of hCG-"

"What?" Cutting the woman off, Ame felt her breath catch. "You're mistaken, that's impossible. Give me that." With one swift grab at the clipboard, there was no chance that the blonde could have refused. Ame took the files from her and flipped through to the fourth page to read the results for herself; fully aware that the nurse wasn't a rookie, and was in no sense incompetent. If anything, as long as Ame had been out of the field, her medical training could have been null for all she knew. There was no need to treat Yato like troops in her unit; they healed too quickly.

After running over the words no less than four times, the woman set the files down and helped herself to a drawer against the wall. Before the nurse could advise otherwise, Ame had jabbed a needle into her vein and was pulling blood from herself. Hands extended, the blonde nearly jumped to her side.

"What are you- you can't-"

"Well I'm doing it." Extracting the full vial of blood, Ame took a moment to compose herself. She eased it from her arm as carefully as possible, but her mind was reeling at the indications. She found herself thankful that Kamui had taken his leave. Then realized that he wouldn't have known what it meant if he had been present. Probably wouldn't realize anything unless it was spelled out in bright, bold, flashing letters. But nothing was absolute. It was an error on the hospital's part. After a nearly dry swallow, Ame composed herself enough to steady her hands. Offered the needle to the nurse and frowned up into the woman's jade eyes. "Test it again."

After nearly half an hour of medical talk that Kamui could barely grasp, Ryu and the woman he'd left with seemed to reach an agreement that was still beyond Kamui. From the way they were acting, it was good, and Ryu was granted a small bag full of something that he and the nurse unanimously agreed was experimental. They found Ame at the entrance of the hospital. Just waiting. When the men came into sight, she perked from her spot against the wall and started ahead of them with a simple muttering of "let's go", and the men were pleased to oblige.

Abuto was in store for a rancid herb treatment, only his would be ingested. Which was far better as revenge for that bath.