{The Road Between Souls}
{chapter 1 - at the start of this road}
Okay, I'm going to warn you now. If you are a fan of Kikyou, LEAVE NOW.
While this is not a Kikyou-hating fiction, she never existed, and never will, in
this fiction. Kaede's elder sister was born Kagome, a cheerful, pretty girl that
had vague priestess powers that were never fully developed.
That being said, let's get a few more things straight: 1: this is an AU, or alternate universe fiction. Meaning - almost everything is different. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father didn't die. Sango and Miroku's stories are basically the same. You'll figure everything out except I'll tell you names. Shuuraishi-sama is the Lord of the Western lands. His mate is Lady Shirobou. Human. Everything else is the same.
~~~
"Kagome-sama!!!" The frantic cry broke the peaceful silence that swirled around the small village. A pretty girl with gray-blue eyes looked up, blowing her hair out of her face.
"Houjou-kun?"
"The youkai wolves have attacked!" Houjou all but sobbed. Quickly, Kagome stood up, snatched the bow and arrows from his hands, and took off at an incredible pace, straight toward the temple where her younger sister was hopefully guarding the Shikon no Tama, the village's only item of real value.
There, she saw bloody devastation. At least a third of the humans had already been killed, the animals running for cover. Kagome crouched, feeling her anger burning. Slowly, she drew an arrow out of the quiver. While her arrow-spells were normally very powerful, her aim was, more often than not, horrible.
"It will HIT!" she cried out, letting the arrow fly. As it zoomed through the air, heading straight for a large gaggle of wolf youkai. Kagome listened with satisfaction as her arrow struck home, making a very amusing squelch as it sliced through flesh.
She let out a sigh, and reached for a fresh arrow. Several minutes of shooting later, a male who was, quite obviously, the leader, called a retreat.
"Ja ne!" she called out cheerfully. "See you again soon!"
He blinked, then took off at a hyper-speed run.
~~~
Hours after the fight was over, Kouga slunk back in to the village head's business room. There, he was greeted by a frightened old man.
"Wh-what do you want?" the man stammered. Kouga allowed himself a fangy grin.
"To come to an agreement, my dear friend. So tell me: who was that woman shooting down my men today?" His eyes clearly stated that he wanted an answer, and he wanted it now.
"My daughter, Kagome." he said, the pride in his voice pushing away his fear.
"Hm..." Kouga perked up as Kagome walked in the door, bearing a plate of rice balls.
"Eh?" she blinked, clearly confused as to what he was doing in her father's room. She shrugged, then set down the plate, bowed, and turned to leave the room. Kouga smirked, then reached up to grab her wrist, forcing her to spin on her sandaled feet to look at him, bending forward slightly.
"Now that I can see your face, you're kinda cute," he said, not bothering to remove the smirk from his face.
"Haah?" she was, quite obviously, very confused.
"All right, that settles it!" Kouga said cheerfully. "Kagome, you're now my woman!"
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?!?!?" Whatever Kouga had been expecting as a response, it hadn't been the shriek and the slap she dealt him. The village head buried his head in his hands, sobbing as he was now quite sure his tiny little settlement hadn't a chance.
Kouga simply blinked as the bruise inflicted healed immediately. "So you've got spunk. I like that. That changes nothing!"
Kagome slumped to a sitting position, shock taking over her features. There was no real love between her father and herself; he was simply proud that his middle child was powerful enough to protect him. In fact, the senior Higurashi-san was quite the coward, and ruled the village through the guidance of his son Houjou - who in turn looked to the young priestess who was also his little sister, Kaede. Kaede, however, rarely ventured from the shadow of her strong-willed elder sister Kagome, and therefore acted upon her advice.
The so-called village head knew none of this, thinking that his son was quite the political genius, never guessing that his eldest daughter was the real backbone of the tidy, orderly farming village.
But at this particular moment, none of the three present were thinking of this; if Kouga had even a slight idea about how the town was run, he wouldn't have cared at all. He had set his sights on this beautiful human girl, and what Kouga wanted, Kouga got.
"I accept your offer to take my daughter," the head said meekly, hoping Kagome would, for once, be docile and obedient. Luckily for him, she was still a bit dazed, and allowed herself to be led away as Kouga reached out and took her arm, his smirk in even more evidence than usual.
"Good choice, jiji. Say goodbye, Kagome, 'cause you'll never see this foolish old fart again!" the youkai's gleeful crowing of a victory so easily won made a chill of fear shiver up and down Higurashi senior's spine. Kagome allowed herself to be hoisted onto Kouga's back as he swaggered out of the little hut, kicking the door down.
~~~
Kagome leaned her head against Kouga's shoulder. I don't even know his name, she thought, mentally bracing herself for what she was sure would be a difficult and abuse-filled life. Well, it shouldn't make him that mad if I asked him his name, she reasoned, hoping it was true.
"Ah...what's your name?" Kagome asked timidly, inwardly happy that the youkai leader had kept his pace very slow, so as to not scare or hurt her.
"Kouga." he said calmly, looking over at her. He wore an odd grin now, as if he were silently laughing at her. Kagome tilted her head in confusion.
"What's so funny?" she wondered aloud, wincing slightly when she realized how accusing the remark sounded when spoken.
"You look so scared. You don't have to be." came the reply, and with that, Kouga sped up, enjoying the squeals of delight from his new mate. The happy little sounds were not to last, as he increased his speed to a dangerous level, and instead of pleased sounds, she began to cry out with fear.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Stop going 'kyaa-kyaa' in my ear!" Kouga yelped, much akin to a kicked puppy. "I told you you don't have to be scared!"
"I AM scared!" she shouted shrilly. "Kyaa-kyaa-kyaa!" And so they journeyed on, Kouga sorely wishing that his cave was closer to the village.
~~~
Upon arrival at the den of the youkai wolf-tribe, Kouga spun Kagome around into his arms.
"Let me deal with the tribe. Don't let 'em scare you. If they try, just slap 'em like you did me. That should shut them up."
"Okay, Kouga-kun!" Kouga looked at the dainty human girl in his arms. Her fear had vanished and she seemed fairly optimistic about the rest of her life, and Kouga felt very lucky to have taken this woman as his.
"Oi, Kouga, is that our dinner?"
"No, you morons, she's my woman now!" Kouga scowled. "This is Kagome."
"Ko-Kouga, that's a human girl you got there."
"Shut up, you nitwits! She can fight better than most of the whole lot of you!" At their leader's glowering scowl, the youkai wolves backed down considerably.
"By the way, don't disturb us tonight." Kouga said over his shoulder, heading to a much smaller cave that was his. Yanking aside the wood slats that counted as a door, Kouga set Kagome down on the ground, then knelt to spread out several skins on the ground, which would serve as a bed. Kagome felt her heart thumping loudly as he reached for her, then set her down, carefully climbing on top of her.
"I told you to not be scared," he murmured huskily in her ear. "I'll be gentle with you." Kagome decided to believe him, and forced a shaky smile on her face. Kouga took it as permission to continue - which he did.
~~~
Maa, there we have it. That was kinda hard to write, as I didn't know how the tribe members referred to Kagome or what their reaction would be to her.
I hope you enjoy the rest of the story! From the outset, this must look like a KougaxKagome fiction, but it really isn't. Read on; a startling development in Ch. 2 shifts most of the plot!
Ja ne and pretty please review!
-Katra Winner