Disclaimers on everything that I don't own.

By Winterwing3000

-Snippet One

Kouga lay on the dirt ground, which was covered with the stench of many demons and blood. It was finally over. After four years of chasing down this homicidal spider demon, Naraku, he was finally dead. However, just for his death, many lives were taken. He had sacrificed his own creations just to survive for the taste of victory against a battle which he was obviously loosing at the end.

A few months earlier, when Inuyasha managed to track down the whereabouts of Naraku, Kagome immediately asked Kouga to join their group in order to take him down. At first, the idea of working alongside with the mutt seemed quite disagreeable to him but relented for the sake of Kagome. After all, the sooner he killed Naraku the quicker he gained his revenge for his kinsmen.

At the battlefield, there apparently were more allies in it than Kouga would've thought. First there was the Lord of the West, Sesshomaru, brother of that hanyou. They've met once and their differences were solved as they 'saved' each other's backs. Then there was the panther demon tribe that Kouga had an unfriendly meeting with. They came on their own accord, why Kouga doesn't know. That mangy forest guardian, Ryoukan came as well along with other demons that came on behalf of Sesshomaru. And there was also that dead priestess, the past incarnation of Kagome. Half the battles were one on one, the strongest of them taking on certain individuals of Naraku's copies.

That small runt, expert of all weapons, Hakadoushi faced Sesshomaru who could have won with ease had that dead human boy not capture his ward. That copy managed to injure his foe while he rescued his ward but ultimately, the dog demon proved to be the strongest of them all. The panther demons went head on with the one who managed to change his body at will. Kagome and her past self battled with Naraku along with Inuyasha. Those other two of the mutt's group were going against that void girl with the baby carrying what he finally figured out to be Naraku's destruction.

The rest of the demons were attacking the hordes of wild demons that followed Naraku.

The wind witch who had single-handedly (with instructions of course) murdered the kin wolves from the north and east was dead. She received a fatal blow through her chest and many more when he battled her. Although, he couldn't say that he was in a better condition. He took multiple attacks, mostly gashes and bleeding wounds.

But now…

It was over. They had won.

He expected Kagome to come running to him, drawing him into her embrace but it was only a false hope. Instead she ran to that hanyou who lay severely injured, barely standing with is large sword pierced to the ground. The dead priestess was also returned back to hell, perishing with Naraku as she shot the final arrow with a bleeding wound through her stomach. After seeing Kagome react so tenderly to Inyasha, he turned away in disgust, realizing after so many years that she had chosen the dog over him. All hopes of her becoming his mate was extinguished, leaving a dull hole him his heart.

At first, when he 'kidnapped' her, he was only interested in her ability to see the Shikon no Kakera. But soon, time passed and he grew closer and started to deeply admire her. Soon, his feelings developed into what he thought were love. He pursued her, knowing that his competition would be that damned hanyou. And now, he was nothing to the girl. Feh, he was so pathetic, falling as low as to love a human. But he couldn't help it.

Kagome was such an open, friendly and caring girl. Her happiness was addictive as was her pure heart. Especially during the time when she was so determined to make him remember about… his promise.

Speaking of which, this land was up near the northern mountains, wasn't it? This was where that gross hair demon said Naraku was hiding previously. Does that mean that the Ookami no Shira had been attacked while he was stupidly traveling all over Japan looking for Naraku?

His mind subconsciously wandered, flashing back to Ayame, the female ookami of the White Wolf tribe.

She came down the mountain once to get him to marry her because her grandfather's land, the Elder, was being run over by many other demons who wanted their territory. She also said something about being a great jyaki surrounding the mountains all of a sudden. Could it have been Naraku?

Clenching his fist, he glared once more at the scene of Kagome and her new love and stood up, despite his wounds. His claws dug into his calves and pulled out the two shards embedded into it. He walked steadily toward them, Kagome's head snapped up as he approached and smiled kindly at him, but tired as well. "Kouga-kun, arigatou." She said as he handed the shards to her.

"Aa. Well, I'll be going now. It was nice knowing you Kagome." He gritted out of his teeth, swallowing back the lump in his throat. He nodded once and glared at Inuyasha. "You better not make her cry, Inukuro. Or else, I'll come and take her for my own."

"Keh. You wish wolf, you'll have to get over my dead body first." Inuyasha said cockily, lifting his head off his love's lap.

Kouga barely glanced back as he called to his two loyal friends. "Ginta, Hakkaku, we're leaving! Gather the wolves and let's go now!" he ordered, kicking his healing legs, spewing dirt everywhere as his trademark whirlwind left the scene.

"Chotto matte, Kouga!" Ginta called as Hakkaku whistled for the wolves to follow. Soon, they were following their leader, sniffing out his scent.

Kouga frowned as he headed north. Truthfully, he had no idea where he was going right now. Part of him wanted to run back to Kagome and challenge mutt-face to a duel so that they could rightfully take Kagome as their own. But another part of him knew that it was impossible either way. It was better if he left Kagome, after all…

There was one other person who he could take for a mate. But in any case, it was a long time ago since he last saw her. Ayame's determination to satisfy his requirements as his wife was quite astonishing. She even told him to forget of their past and look forward to their future.

He wasn't sure if he had the rights to see her. He had indeed remembered the past events, particularly the promise he had made to her when he rescued her from the Birds of Paradise during her last training session before she left for the mountains to finish her vigorous training. He was very sure that he was going to die in that deadly battle, thus wished to spare her the grief if she kept on loving him. She was an innocent pinning after him and she could've chosen a better mate, much more suited for the settled life, something that he couldn't be after he extracted his revenge.

But he already did that. So now what? Go back up to the mountains and regain control of the wolf tribes, which are naturally supposed to be underneath his rule, the Prince of Wolves? To smooth things out with the Elder and unite his tribe with Ayame's? But that would result in a marriage. He was almost positive that he had no feelings for the girl, so it would only be a political marriage.

It wasn't something that he wasn't familiar with. But to bind himself just for the sake of rebuilding his clan… would he be willing to sacrifice his independence for the future of the wolves?

Sighing, he admitted to himself that he would. It probably wouldn't be so bad since the girl would be Ayame. But, he still had to figure out how to rebuild things between the both of them. They weren't exactly close when she was in her younger years, but they were familiar with each other. So now… the bridge had to be mended and hopefully…

Things would be easier to handle once he reached there.

AN: Ahaha… I'm so stupid. Urg. I didn't even finish my other InuYasha fanfic and I'm opening another one. Geez… I've gotta stop biting down on more than I can chew. I'll get myself into a very deep grave one day if I keep going on like this. But it was too tempting not to write and it'll be a great shame if I just used up all those brain cells for nothing right…? Anyway, just to say, I was inspired by the DVD episodes of IY that I got yesterday, from 82-84. Yup yup, for those who follow, they're the Kouga/Ayame episodes! Squeeee! Drop a line won't you?