The moon shined brightly in the sky that night. Sweet summer winds swept slowly around the open field where our hero's slept, dancing around their slumbering bodies; yet something was not right.

Kagome awoke, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She took a quick survey of her comrades, to discover that Inuyasha was nowhere in sight. She rose from her sleeping bag, with every intent to find him; though she had a sickening feeling she knew where he had run off to. The jewel was complete, and the blood of Naraku still lingered around all of them; the shocking aftermath of a long battle and an epic quest completed. As they made their journey home, she felt a strong tug on her soul; Kikyou was never far from them, now. She had become much stronger since she first had fallen through the well, and when she closed her eyes, she could feel where Kikyou was. She began walking, seemingly blindly, into the forest. But Kagome was far from blind. For the first time in her life, she was seeing things clear as day.

As she walked, the forest seemed to become illuminated. Glowing orbs of dead souls diffused through the trees, a dead giveaway of her clay copy. She had the conformation she sought. She sighed, and turned back. Four years it had taken them to defeat Naraku; and in those four years, she had been forced to mature far beyond her years. In the beginning, while she was still very young and very naïve, she had thought that she would be happy – as long as she could be near Inuyasha.

But as time progressed, so had her feelings for him. It was heartbreaking to her, because she knew that as long as that wretched doll walked the earth, Inuyasha would never be free to love her completely. When she had finally come to terms with it, she began to analyze her love for him. He was her first love. She fed of his praise, his attention. And now she was starving. Every part of her ached, and it wasn't from the quest to complete the Shikon no Tama. She ached with the desire to be loved, completely; loved as she had loved Inuyasha.

She made it back to the camp, with every intention of lying down and going back to sleep, when something struck her. The jewel is complete, she thought. Why do I even need to stay with him? I know I said this is what I wanted, but… it's too painful. I just… I need to get out of here.

She packed what small possessions she had left into her large yellow backpack. Tears slowly carving paths down her cheeks, she kissed Shippou goodbye, and turned to face the forest one final time. Sayonara… Inuyasha.

A slow, painful walk turned into a fear-filled sprint. She ran through the forest, using all her strength to continue forward, and to mask her scent. She knew the hanyou had a keen nose, and she knew he would come looking for her.

"I'm tired of being strung along!" she declared. The forest replied with an understanding nod. She ran aimlessly, no clue where she was until the forest parted for her, and she saw tall cliffs ahead.

It took her a moment to realize where she had ran, but all it took was that small second of delay for him to smell her. The prince rose from his bed, almost unsure if what the wind had told him was correct. He ran full force in the direction of her scent, so light it almost seemed a figment of his imagination.

She felt a powerful force coming at her with lightning speed. A small smile made its way across her face as her mind put piece by piece together; giving her a conclusion that was to be one hundred percent correct; Kouga.

He was in shock. He stood there, blinking, trying to see if he was imagining her standing in front of him. He had thought of little else but Kagome; always on edge, always waiting to catch her scent on the wind. In his dreams, she would come to him like she had just now, without the company of her companions. He had fantasized about her wanting to be with him, fantasized about taking her into his home. He never thought it would happen. Never once, even in his wildest dreams did he think they would actually come true…

"Kouga-kun, you're staring. Are you okay?" she asked, worry making itself present in her voice.

Kouga snapped back to reality. "Ah… yeah I'm okay." So many questions flooded his mind. Why is she here? She's probably lost her way, and needs my help finding her way back… but why wouldn't dogface be hot on her trail by now? Why is she… "Why are you here? Have you lost your way Kagome?"

The question was an honest one, but behind it hid so many more questions. He waited patiently for the young woman's reply, expecting to hear that that damn dog had irrisponsably allowed her to lose her way. He had half a mind to not let her answer- to just go find Inuyasha and beat some sense into him.

"Ah... well, it's a long story." She said, impatiently. She wanted to get out of the wild, away from anywhere Inuyasha could find her. "Would it be okay with you if I came up to talk about it? I'm very tired and I wish to rest." The statement was not false, but masked with her fear of having to face him.

Kouga could sense her impatience, and decided it would be better to sort things out in the comfort of his own dwellings. He wanted to ask her so many things, but her comfort came first. "Of course its okay! After all, you're MY woman!"

He flashed her a cocky grin, grabbed her by the waist, and dashed off to his den; I'll find out what happened first, he thought. Then I'll convince her to stay. A wicked grin crossed his face as he ran, pondering what exactly he would do now that the gods had turned in his favor.

Kouga had listened quietly and calmly to Kagome as she spoke to him, telling him about the strange triangle between Inuyasha, Kikyou, and herself. But inside he was raging. How could anyone possibly make the decision to stay with the cold decay of a resurrected woman made of dirt and bone, when a warm, soft, loving woman reached out with love for them? I should kill him for that, he thought.

"…And so I just… turned away from them all and set out in a random direction. I'm not ready to go home yet; and that's when I ran into you." Kagome's voice broke his concentration. She sat on his bed made of soft furs, absentmindedly smoothing out the silky pelts, her body with him – but her mind off in the clouds.

He watched her quietly as she stood and walked to the entrance of his cave, peering out through the waterfall at the stars above. It looked to him as if she was asking them what she should do next, her chocolate eyes searching the sky for answers. In those soft brown orbs he could see so many things; pain, sadness, longing… confusion. He looked away, not quite sure what he should say or do, but when the scent of tears hit his nose he acted upon his instinct.

He was beside her in an instant, twirling her around to face him. He wrapped his arms around her, his hands running through her hair in an effort to offer comfort. He had expected her to be shocked, to push him away, muttering something about everything being wrong, but instead she curled her hands up to her chest and wept. Whispering soothing words in her ear, he coaxed her to the ground and pulled her onto his lap, rocking her back and forth as a mother would a child.

When she had started to cry, she couldn't remember. The pain flowed through her body like a flood, and how she found herself in Kouga's strong, protective arms, well… that too was lost on her. She cried hard, the pent up pain of years and years of love- love that seemed wasted to her. She wanted to be strong, to tell herself that it wasn't a waste, that even though Inuyasha never really loved her, she could brush the pain off and continue as she always had. But things had changed. Her enemies lay defeated in their graves, the jewel safe around her neck. For nearly four years she bottled up the pain inside her, and turned it to strength – but she was filled to the brim with it, and as the walls she had built to support her pain crumbled, she couldn't shake the feeling of being relieved that it all was over.

How long she had been in Kouga's arms, she didn't know. But as her tears subsided, she knew she had found clarity in his embrace. It wasn't his embrace that had given it to her, she knew. She cared for the prince as a friend, and even though his looks were stunning, deep inside she knew that no matter how he felt for her, she would never truly be his. Inuyasha had stolen a piece of her heart, just as Kikyou had stolen a piece of his. She laughed to herself silently at the irony of it all, feeling calm wash over her.

She turned to look at Kouga's caring eyes, and staring deep into their depths, she realized that at that moment, she wanted to feel something other than this calm, comfortable numbing sensation that had taken over her soul.

As he smiled at her, smoothing out her hair, and pushing her bangs away from her eyes, she had come to a decision. She would give Kouga a part of her that Inuyasha could never have back. Her desire to feel something was strong; she knew she could never forget Inuyasha… but she could replace him.

R&R! I want to know what you think; I get a little sick of ooey-gooey lovey-dovey fanfic's so I decided to take a different spin on things. I know it's a bit OOC, but that's why it's a fanfic and not in the manga : P

Chapter 2 will be a lemon; but I haven't completed it yet – Review so I know if it's even worth finishing! I have no one to help me edit and revise so I will take your comments very seriously as I'm a firm believer in the powers of constructive criticism

Azshara