Kagome was the first to wake up the next day, she noticed. Rachel was still asleep in the bed beside her, and there was no noise outside in the other rooms. She sighed softly and just stayed in bed, not wanting to wake anyone up.

Her mind was zooming with thoughts of what she and Conan talked about last night. He wasn't really ba kid, but a brilliant detective poisoned, and the poison turned him into a kid instead of killing him like the men in black wanted it to do. She knew of a potion which would counteract something like that, and planned on making it, if she could somehow find the right herbs. Maybe there was a plant shop somewhere in this town she could look at. The potion wouldn't turn him back permanently, but it would turn him back to Jimmy Kudo for maybe a year or two before he'd turn back into Conan until another potion was made.

She wanted to do something for Jimmy. She felt like she had to. He wanted to be with Rachel again, really be with her as himself once more. She knew what true love felt like, and wanted them both to be happy. She knew they had only met just yesterday, and not under the best circumstances, but they were both still friends and she wanted to do something to help them... anything.

She was going to keep her promise too, to not tell Rachel or anyone else of Conan's true identity. She wasn't going to betray anyone, unlike a certain hanyou she knew. Her heart panged in her chest, it hurt so much to think about him. She had really loved him, and she just betrayed him...all for Kikyou.

Sighing, she wiped her eyes and looked over at Rachel, who was just starting to wake up. She smiled. "Morning, sleepy head," she greeted her once her eyes opened.

"Kagome...?" Rachel groaned, looking over at the clock. 8:00pm. She blinked in surprise. "Wow, you certainly are a morning person."

The miko chuckled. "I had to be, when I was traveling with my friends."

"True," Rachel smiled. She didn't know of her adventures in the feudal era, all Rachel knew was that she did a lot of traveling with her friends all over Japan and that was why she hadn't had the best of grades in school. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, a little I guess," Kagome smiled and just as she said this, her stomach rumbled. She flushed with embarrassment. Rachel just smiled. "How's pancakes sound?"

Kagome's eyes lit up at the mention of her favorite breakfast food. "That sounds great!" she exclaimed. Rachel chuckled and nodded, standing up and climbing out of bed. She put on some new clothes and walked out into the kitchen. Neither her dad or Conan were up yet, so she was quiet and made sure not to make any noise.

Kagome walked out of the room and over to the kitchen to help her, but Rachel instantly shooed her away. "No work for you for a while, Kagome. You were in a big car accident yesterday, you'd think I'd let you work at all?"

"But...I don't want to be a burden or anything, I want to-" Kagome began, but Rachel cut her off.

"Shoo, and go wake Conan and Dad up. Tell them it's time for breakfast," She told her. "That's the most work your going today."

"Who are you, my mother?" Kagome joked as she walked over to the guy's room.

Rachel seemed to be shocked still. Kagome just made a joke concerning her mother...and she had only died yesterday. Wasn't it a little soon to be joking? And why wasn't she like any other girl, crying over her parent's death? That's what she would do if her mother or dad ever died.

Something was definitely off here... she just couldn't put her finger on it. She just knew there was something special about her, kind of like Conan.

"Morning Rachel!" Conan smiled as he walked over, sitting at the table. Kagome and Conan both looked at each other with a smile, and this Rachel raised an eyebrow at. Did they know something she didn't? She was determined to find out! No one hid things from her.

"Good morning, Conan," Rachel smiled. "Did you have a good sleep?" she asked the ten year old detective as he sat down.

"Yeah, did you?" Conan asked her, looking up at her.

Rachel seemed to pause for a moment, and everyone noticed this -- except for Richard, of course. He just yawned. "Y-Yes, I did."

Conan frowned. Not another one of those dreams... he thought to himself, looking at her worriedly as her back was turned to him.

Kagome noticed her pause as well as her shaky voice too. She was worried. She knew she missed Jimmy from the talk they had last night, and she had to act fast.

"Hey guys, do either of you know of a flower shop that has all sorts of herbs in town?" Kagome asked, a curious tone in her voice as she looked around at the other three occupants of the house, who looked over at her in confusion.

"Yeah, I think there's one a few minutes away from here, but why?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, well..." Damn, I never thought up a good excuse, she thought to herself. "I just want to check it out. I love plants and nature, stuff like that you see." Lame, but true.

Rachel nodded. "I could take you there later if you'd like," she smiled. But Kagome could just tell that it was fake somehow. She knew very well how to fake smile.

"That'd be great, thanks Rachel," Kagome smiled and they all ate breakfast together that morning.

"No problem. Glad to help."

Kagome and Rachel, along with Conan, made their way to the flower shop right after breakfast that morning, leaving Richard behind. He couldn't care less about flowers.

Kagome was in awe of all the kinds that were there, and looked around for the right herbs to make that potion. She found most of them, all but one. She frowned.

"Is something wrong, Kagome?" Rachel asked her, noticing her frown.

"Yeah...I can't find one I'm looking for. I've found all the ones I needed except it."

"What is it? I'll help you look," she offered to help. Kagome smiled and told her, then they began looking once again.

"I found it! Over here, girls!" Conan exclaimed, holding up an herb in his hand. He had heard the conversation and wanted to help too. She was curious as to why she wanted to buy all these, but thought better than to ask her of it.

"Thank you, Conan!" Kagome smiled and walked over, taking the herb from his hands. Holding them all, she walked over to pay for them with the little money she had in her pocket. Luckily, it had survived the fire too.

'Well, goodbye for now, money,' Kagome sadly sighed. 'Maybe I'll get a job in this town... and find some other place to live instead of burdening Rachel and Richard...'

"Ready to go?" Rachel asked her, and she nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, let's go."

They all nodded and left after she paid for the herbs. Carrying them back to the apartment, she looked around.

"Do you guys have a metal pot I could use?"

Okay, now Conan was really curious as to what she was going to do with those herbs, as was Rachel.

"Yeah... what are you gonna do?" she asked.

"Er...make a sort of healing potion for my ankle," she lied to Rachel, then looked over at Conan and winked.

Eh...? he thought, blinking a few times.

This was getting more confusing by the minute.

"Sure, here," Rachel told her, putting one on the stove for her.

"Thanks!" Kagome's eyes lit up and she ran over to the stove, instantly getting to work.

It took about an hour until the herbs were cooked well enough into the potion, and then it was ready. Kagome smiled as Rachel gave her a small vial to put it in. "Thanks again."

"No problem," Rachel smiled. "How do you know so much about... the old ways of healing, I guess you could say?"

"I studied it in school, I was really interested in the subject," Kagome smiled and Rachel nodded. Not a complete lie, but not completely the truth eibther.

"Cool," Rachel smiled and Conan nodded in agreement. He'd never met anyone who was so interested in plants and herbs before. "Well, I'm gonna go take a bath. See you guys soon!"

With that, she walked into the bathroom, closing the door and locking it behind her...just in case.

Kagome grinned. "Perfect. Hey, Jimmy?"

Conan looked over to her. "Yeah?"

"I think you're smart enough to realize that this isn't for my ankle," Kagome pointed to the vial in her hand. Conan nodded to say yes. "It's a potion, but for your ... 'problem'." She didn't know what else to call it, really.

Conan's eyes widened. "Are you serious!?" he exclaimed, now quite excited.

"Yes," Kagome smiled. "I wanted to do something for you both, after all you've helped me so much in so little time. I learned from my mentor Kaede how to make a few potions, this being one of the few odd ones she found. It will turn you back to normal... but only for a year. Then it will wear off. I can make another one quite easily when it does."

Conan's eyes lit up and then he was over at Kagome's side, hugging her. "You have no idea how much this means to me!"

Kagome smiled. "It's the least I could do. Here," she passed the small vial to him and he looked at it. The liquid inside was pink and bubbling. "Don't worry... it kind of tastes like bubble gum, which is odd considering there's no flavoring inside it. But that's what Kaede said it was supposed to taste like....anyway, you need to drink it all in one gulp, and don't move after you drink it."

Conan nodded and drank it quickly, while Rachel was still in the bath. He couldn't wait to surprise her. Kagome couldn't either, actually. Even though she had known them for less than a day now, she loved them like they were her own family.

Conan felt like his insides were burning, just like the time he was poisoned. It felt like his bones were melting...but this time he was growing...growing...

About ten minutes later, Jimmy Kudo stood in front of her. Kagome grinned. "It worked!" she cheered, then blinked. "Hey...your clothes got bigger too!"

Jimmy blinked and looked in the mirror in the living room. She was right. That was odd, but he wasn't complaining! He walked over to Kagome and gave her another hug.

"Thank you," Jimmy smiled at her, and she nodded, smiling back at him.

"You're welcome."

"Kagome, are you hungry? I'll make us some sup...per...now..." Rachel's voice got slower and slower until it stopped as she got out of the bathroom after drying herself off and put on a new change of clothes. Both Jimmy and Kagome turned to smile at her.

"Hey, look who showed up while you were in the shower!" Kagome smiled, patting Jimmy on the back, who sheepishly grinned and rubbed the back of his head.

"I would've come earlier... but I was-" Jimmy didn't get the chance to finish, as Rachel had instantly run over to him, hugging him tightly around the waist as she started to cry.

Rachel... Jimmy thought with a small smile, holding her close to him. "It's okay, I'm back now." He gently rocked her in his arms, feeling a peace now that he had her in his arms again after so long. His fingers ran through her hair to get her to calm down ... or try to, anyway.

He noticed Kagome had left the room, probably to give them some privacy, and he smiled. He really would have to thank her for this...somehow.

TBC