"She WHAT?!" Inuyasha's snarl could be heard across the entire village by the time the sun had risen.

"Well, when Sango went to go wake Kagome for their watch you were already asleep-

"And Kirara showed me that she had gone to her own time, and was safe there." Sango rushedly ended Miroku's sentence as the monk tried to use pressure points to hold the hanyou down. Their silver haired friend was positively fuming.

"She took advantage of my human night to sneak away! Oh, I'm going to have words with her! Let go!"

"In Kagome's defense, you've been incredibly overbearing ever since she got sick, you know." a certain red haired fox kit quipped. Beside him, Kirara mewled in agreement.

"Shut up!"

Practically roaring, the hanyou ripped out of Miroku's grasp and whipped into the air, tearing up the very ground beneath his feet in his wake. Miroku sighed.

"Will he ever have better anger management" the monk asked, rubbing his temples with a free hand.

"Probably not when it comes to Kagome." came Sango's response. Shippo and Kirara exchanged agreeing glances.

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Kagome grimaced. She had been poked, prodded, and force fed soup until her stomach ached. And gone through three sets of siphon beads already, and it had only been a couple hours since she had gotten home. The understanding of that quite frankly scared her, as when she had tried to space using the beads apart her fever had spiked more violently than before. It came quicker now-the rise in her miko abilities' assault. Her mother came in every fifteen minutes on the dot to check her fever, but never told her what the number was, even when the girl asked. She couldn't even drill Sota-Sota and her grandfather were out on some kind of boy's day trip. Just her luck.

And every time Kagome had tried to get a straight answer out of Nodoka, her mother had masterfully evaded answering every question. Then exhaustion from her body fighting had taken over, and Kagome had ceased questioning, no longer having the energy for it. She had turned on her TV, throwing in a movie about some mindless drama. At least her aching body was able to find some comfort in the bed beneath.

All the while, her newly minted youkai 'pet' had stayed by her bedside, quietly watching. When her fever would spike, she had learned to watch the dog, as he would turn and put his head on the bed, staring at her. A couple of times the large black wolfy thing had left the room, returning in a moment with her mother again-who would take her temperature and then not tell Kagome what the instrument read.

The TV seemed to enthrall the dog for a few minutes. Blatantly Kagome wondered if the youkai had ever seen a TV. Probably not.

The hinges on her door squeaked again, and Kagome tiredly raised her eyes, expecting to see her mom's hurried pink sweatered figure-only instead to see a very familiar traditional white and red ensemble, worn by a small frail looking woman with deep lines throughout her face. The youkai dog rose, and Kagome could see his raised hackles from her position on the bed.

"Relax, Inu-Yokai. I am not here to harm your sister. I am here to see if I can help her regain control of her other half."

Sister? Groggily the thought puzzled through Kagome's mind before slipping away.

"Kagome, this is Priestess Alka. She's going to see if she can help your aura regain some balance." Nodoka explained. Kagome stared blearily at her mother. How the heck did everyone seem to know what was wrong?

Kagome had had enough miko training to understand the concept. This was something basic all with miko abilities learned when they first entered training-to find impurities in chi, or life flow/aura, and help everything move smoothly within the person's soul energy as it was supposed to. Because the body and spirit were so intricately intertwined, this could heal illnesses, help heal broken bones faster, solve a cough, pretty much any imbalance or sickness, and even help the person psychologically if the miko was skilled enough.

She stared blankly at the two women, the youkai dog staying in an oddly protective standing position with one eye turned towards her-until she nodded tiredly to the two women and relaxed back into the pillows.

The elder priestess' hands rested about six inches above her body, and began to glow with a soft light.

Black dots burst in front of Kagome's eyes, and her blood scaldedinside of her, while another part from somewhere within her rushed to protect her-at an unbearably high cost. Kagome's ears rang as she became aware that she was screaming, screaming as lightning and fire coursed through her, each trying to destroy each other with her soul in the middle of it.

When the pain became so horrid she couldn't even scream, her body began to convulse. Faintly, Kagome realized she was having a seizure. She couldn't even see properly anymore, and she was so, so far away as her mother, the youkai dog, and the old priestess' all began to move at once.

"She's going to hurt herself if we don't pin her down!" the priestess's old voice ordered. For a moment, Kagome's vision cleared despite the pain as she tried to focus, tried to fight it, and she saw that around her as her body shook, her miko powers lashed out at the walls of her room angrily, along with literal..lightning? Her head cracked against the headboard of her bed.

A heavy weight covered her, and she felt fur and smelt winter-and heard a high pitched yelp as her powers bit into the dog.

"Move it!" a familiar snarl practically roared, and from far away Kagome heard the breaking of glass. The dog was literally thrown, snarling, off of her form, and much stronger arms covered by a familiar red haori pinned her properly.

"How long until this stops old hag?!" Came an irritated, partly desperate plea from her silver haired best friend.

I'm going to bite his face off when this is over. Unbidden, a somehow familiar male voice rang through her head. Instinct took over, and her spirit clung to the line that suddenly appeared from the voice, as though it was a lifeline. Because it was. As much as the comforting scent of the friend that had been with her through many battles and her development as a miko was.

Something was mumbled back to the hanyou, but it was only a few agonizing eternal seconds more before her miko powers settled, having drained themselves without Kagome's command. She lay trembling, becoming aware of the ice cold sweat that coated her skin.

"Inuyasha...get off."

"You sure you aren't going to crack your skull in now? Hell, what the crap is going on?" the hanyou said as he sat up, letting Kagome shakily rise into a sitting position.

"Mom?" Kagome hated that her voice sounded so...meek and full of fear as she realized she was catching her breath, her chest heaving and struggling for air. She tried to steady her breaths as she became aware of it.

But Nodoka wasn't paying attention to her daughter. Her gaze was fixed firmly on Priestess Alka. The old woman shook her head, sighing.

"This time we can't get the seal back onto that half of the girl, Nodoka. Her blood has matured, and is fighting it too hard from the other side. I'm sorry." the old woman's voice did sound truly remorseful.

"Is there nothing we can do?" Kagome's mother's voice sounded like she was getting ready to cry, Kagome realized in alarm. The old woman paused.

"In the old texts, there speaks a legend of a dragon youkai that has the ability to render miko abilities useless for a time. Say..perhaps five hundred years ago, if I remember correctly. Perhaps if siphon beads were made from the bones of that beast, your daughter would be able to keep the war of the two sides of her blood at bay for a while."

"That would take away her choice!" Kagome's mother's voice was sharp, agonizingly so.

"She has a choice, yes. To live, or to die."

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