Disclaimer: I don't own anybody on Inu-yasha. I just own the story. Anyway you already know Kouga will die. ::sniffing and crying:: even though I don't want him to. It'll just make things more interesting. Enjoy!!!!

Refurbished and revised: 9/9/09

The Death of Kouga

Betrayal

The morning sun barely rose above the thick leaves in the sky. Birds just begun their morning routine for searching for food for their chicks. Their lovely melody could be heard throughout the forest. Kagome's ears didn't get to hear this lovely music. Instead, when she woke up, all she could hear was the screaming hanyou. Her eyes fluttered gently as they adjusted to the light and she stretched her ivory limbs. Here we go again, she thought to herself as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Inu-yasha marched over to Kagome in a huff and shook her more forcefully than necessary, trying to coax her to get up.

"Kagome! We don't have time for you to be lazing around. We need to go searching for jewel shards today! Now wake up!" He walked away from her to clean up their somewhat messy campsite. The young girl sighed heavily for she hated the way Inu-Yasha got when it came to their endless search for the Sacred Jewel shards. She grumbled lightly as she stood up, wearing a mid-thigh length night shirt, and began to roll up her sleeping bag. She shuffled her feet again the dirt until she made it to her signature big yellow bag. She stuffed the sleeping bag inside effortlessly.

Miroku sat cross-legged against a tree, his staff resting in his folded arms, ignoring the screaming half breed stomping around like a child throwing a temper tantrum. However, his yelling didn't bother him. He always seemed to be the only one to know how to channel out Inu-Yasha and come to his own peace within his head. Sango, however was getting irritated with Inu-Yasha's ramblings.

"Inu-yasha, would you just stop it?! You yelling isn't going to speed anything up!" Today, Sango seemed to not be in the best of moods and to hear Inu-Yasha bark around the campsite like a true dog wasn't helping with her already screwed up mood.

Shippo and Kilala were still sleeping soundly, curled up in a mass of fur. Inu-yasha decided not to bother the two demons because Inu-Yasha knew if he touched or harmed Shippo or Kilala, he wouldn't hear the end of it from Kagome. So he simply left them alone.

After a few more minutes, Inu-yasha slowly calmed down. He was now his normal self which relaxed the entire group. This also allowed the group to actually get ready for their journey instead of being obstinate and not wanting to pack at all. Eventually, everyone was ready and they walked off to find more jewel shards. Luckily, they only found two of the Sacred Jewels. They were both oddly just lying on the ground as if someone had dropped them accidentally. Inu-Yasha's amber eyes sparkled brightly as he picked up the shards. He jumped around triumphantly, his chest high just like his head. The rest of the members could only chuckle at the hanyou.

Continuing their search, Inu-yasha picked up a familiar scent that graced his nose ever so gently. It was similar to the scent of Kagome, but it was a certain distinct smell of different types of earth coming from the being. He immediately pin-pointed who the person was. It was his old love Kikyo. He sighed to the smell. How much nostalgia that scent brought. He needed to see her again. Not only because he thought she was beautiful; it was because he missed the real Kikyo. The imitation of Kikyo he was usually around wasn't the same. It never was the same.

"Inu-yasha?" Inu-yasha suddenly shook his head, his ears twitching a little, as he brought himself back to reality.

"Yeah?"

"Do you see how cute Miroku and Sango look together," she asked happily as she looked over towards the couple. Inu-Yasha's eyes diverted in their direction and seen the two of them playfully hitting one another with a glint in their eyes that couldn't really be described. Inu-Yasha smiled at them, even though he didn't quite understand how hitting conveyed love. But unfortunately, Miroku took the game too far and decided to place his hand on Sango's butt. Sango quickly smacked him, leaving a big red bruise on his face as she walked away from the perverted monk.

"Ahhh man," Kagome pouted, her entire posture slumping. "They were just having a good time. Miroku needs to stop thinking dirty."

I wish I could have a good time with Kikyo, Inu-Yasha thought to himself. "Kagome?" Kagome turned her head away from Miroku and Sango to gaze at the white haired half breed.

"Yeah, what is it Inu-Yasha?"

"I smell something," he said as he sniffed the air again. Kikyo's scent entered his nose again and he tried his best not to sigh at the lovely scent. "I don't quite know what it is so I will check it out myself." He had to make up some type of excuse to be only with his old love.

"Do you really think you need to go alone? The creature could have jewel shards."

He had to lie to her. He couldn't possibly tell her the truth. "Yeah. I think it's a demon. I don't want you to get hurt though Kagome. Please, just stay here with the rest of them."

Kagome nodded even though there was a slight worry in her eyes that Inu-Yasha hadn't noticed. Without taking another glance at her, Inu-yasha was gone. His intense speed and balance allowed him to run on and off the branches with ease. As he neared his destination, the scent began to get darted to the right as he continued to follow his nose. His magnificent eyes spotted Kikyo, sitting on a tree branch with her legs dangling off gracefully. Her head rose as she heard him come closer.

"Inu-yasha. I have longed to see you once more. Did that wench Kagome hurt my hanyou?" She leaped off the branch, falling to the ground like an angel, and walked over to him. She began to stroke and play with his ears with a slight smirk on her face. The actions of his highly sensitive ears made Inu-yasha purr. "I see that my Inu-yasha has missed me."

Inu-Yasha only groaned in pleasure at her devilish fingers.

Fifteen minutes had came and went since Inu-yasha left. The gang had began to get quite worried and equally curious as to where the dog demon had ventured to.

"Kagome. Where is Inu-yasha," Shippo asked, while taking a lollipop from Kagome's bag.

The young miko sighed before responding. "I don't know. He said something about a demon and just left. But it shouldn't take him that long since he already mastered the Back Lash Wave."

"Kagome. Want me to go help?" Shippo asked innocently. He always wanted to please Kagome no matter what the circumstances were. "I'm a full demon unlike Inu-Yasha, so I could pick up his scent in no time."

"Yeah. I guess so. Miroku, Sango?" The two were flirtatiously playing again. During their game, they had ended up laying down together in a giggling mess, Sango on top. Fortunately, nothing went wrong as it did previously.

"What is it Kagome?" Sango turned her head to face Kagome, propping her head up on her right palm.

"Me and Shippo are going to find Inu-yasha." She didn't wait for any type of reply before she ran into the woods with Shippo on her shoulder. Shippo raised his head in the air and took in a deep breathe.

"He's only a few feet away. Go to the right." Kagome nodded as she took Shippo's lead. Slowly, but surely, they both could hear Inu-yasha's voice and another voice along with it. Kagome decided to crouch down behind a thicket of bushes.

"Shhh. Stay low and be quiet." Just to make sure he wouldn't say anything, Kagome covered his mouth with her hand and listened closely to the two. Inu-yasha's voice was muffled, but clear enough to hear.

"Kikyo. I promise you. Once we get all the jewel shards, I'll return to you."

"What about that incarnate of mine?"

"She'll just help get us closer and closer together. Now trust me on this. I will protect you from Naraku or anybody who'll hurt you. Even Kagome. I'll hunt them down till they're dead."

Kagome gasped. She couldn't believe Inu-yasha would kill her just to protect Kikyo. She couldn't really believe her ears. It was as if her ears had decieved her. This was not the Inu-Yasha that would become bashful as they spoke gently to one another near the fire. This Inu-Yasha was a different Inu-Yasha; a person that Kagome didn't know at all.

"Inu-yasha. I love to hear you say that. It has always been something I have longed to hear." She collapsed in Inu-yasha's arms and he instinctively wrapped his strongs arms around her. "Inu-yasha if you truly love me, will you kiss me?" Inu-yasha couldn't possibly think of anything else to do. He leaned down and and their lips met together in raw passion.

Kagome could stand no more of the actions she was hearing. She walked out from the bushes in a pecuilar calmness while leaving Shippo behind. "Ka-Kagome," Shippo stuttered softly. He didn't want her to just leave like that. He couldn't tell what was going to happen and was slightly worried. But Kagome didn't reply. Instead, she stared at the couple in front of her, her angry eyes focused more on Inu-Yasha than Kikyo.

When Inu-Yasha noticed that Kagome was there, he disconnected his lips from Kikyo's, but didn't let her go. "Kagome, I can explain this."

"Inu-yasha. I thought you told me that you loved me. What happened to that?" Kikyo simply rested in his arms and silently snickered to herself.

"Kagome," He let Kikyo go and took a shaky step forward, "I'm sorry." Kagome couldn't believe him. her body went into autopilot as she went and slapped Inu-Yasha roughly, a small tear sliding down her face.

Inu-yasha staggered back at the unexpected slap. He never would have guessed that Kagome would hit him instead of screaming her almost ritualistic 'sit' command.

"You can stay here with your dead clay pot for all I care. I see you're not the person I was falling for." Kagome barely had time to walk away before Inu-Yasha gripped her arms and pinned her to the nearest tree. She inhaled through clenched teeth at the searing pain traveling down her spine. As her once tightly closed eyes opened, she could now see the quite bitter face of Inu-Yasha. He quickly let go of her arms to slap both of her cheeks, leaving four red scars on each cheek going down to barely touch her lips.

"Don't ever talk about Kikyo that way damn it," he yelled with venom dripping with every syllable. It took everything in Kagome's power to not cry. "If you ever talk about Kikyo that way I'll..." But she broke. Kagome burst into tears. Inu-yasha took the time to actually look at the damage he caused. Blood dripped from her clawed face, now scarring the beauiful face. Kagome collasped to the ground, crying and shaking. Inu-Yasha's endless devotion to Kikyo and his sudden rage was too much for her and all she could do was cry. She hiccupped and sniffed countless times as she hugged her quivering body.

"Ahh man. I'm sorry Kagome." He kneeled down in front of the girl to try and cup Kagome's bruised face. She swatted his hand away, denying his apology in terror. Inu-yasha couldn't actually believe how scared she got. He could literally smell that she was frightened of him. She was scared of what he was going to do next.

Shippo could not watch his friend being in that state and jumped out of the bushes to comfort her. "It's ok Kagome. It's ok." He kissed her cheek innocently, trying to ease away the pain she felt. He made sure not to kiss the claw marks in case it would sting.

Inu-yasha just starred. He simply didn't know what to do at this point. He didn't know if he should he help her or just stand there and look dumb-founded? He couldn't decide on anything. Kikyo on the other hand found the entire situation to be funny. She almost enjoyed to see the young reincarnation curled up in a crying ball.

Shippo turned around to look at Inu-Yasha. He was boiling with rage. He was completely disgusted with the way Inu-Yasha treated Kagome as if he had never even cared for her in the first place. His growled deeply before jumping off of Kagome's lap and sinking his teeth into Inu-Yasha's ankle. Inu-Yasha screamed in intense pain at the sharp teeth. He began to swing his leg back and forth, all in a futile effort to try and get Shippo off of him. He then decided to stomp on the little fox demon to get him off. Shippo, now battered and beaten as well, released his death grip on the dog demon's ankle and lay limp on the dusty ground.

Kagome looked at the small Shippo lying on the ground looking almost dead. She stood up shakily before taking a step forward. "Inu-yasha. Are you...?" She picked up her little Shippo and held him close to her breasts. "Is something wrong with you? You don't seem like yourself."

Inu-yasha couldn't believe it. He didn't know why she thought something was wrong with him. He hadn't changed as far as he knew. Everything was completely the same.

"I guess you don't love me as much as I thought. I guess I shouldn't really care either. I have spent so much time, too much of my time on you and you've betrayed me. I wish I could just take back all the time I wasted on you," she said with a soft voice as she gently petted Shippo's head. "You really have changed. I really shouldn't have gotten my hopes up." She laughed, more to herself than at Inu-Yasha. "I can't believe I thought about bearing you a child." Her smile faded away and she soon returned back to her solemn features. "Dreams can only stay dreams. But unfortunately, yours have come true."

Kagome turned around slowly and walked past back from wence she came, not uttering another word to the couple. Inu-Yasha took a few steps forward and reached his hand out in front of him. "Ka-Kagome.... wait," her screamed after her, but Kagome simply ignored his voice.

As she reached a half way point on her journey to reach her companions, she stopped and began to cry. It seemed to come out of nowhere as the gentle tears slid down her cheeks and over her scars. Kagome had been forcing back a few tears to be able to speak complete sentences to Inu-Yasha. She cringed slightly due to the sting of the tears, but continued to cry. She sniffled a few times before readjusting Shippo in her arms and continued walking.

Inu-Yasha instantly caught the smell of Kagome's tears and quickly felt bad for his actions. He sighed. He said his quick good byes to Kikyo and went to join his companions.

I'm sorry...

Kagome.

So finally done. Do you like the fic? This chappie has nothing to do with Kouga. I had to explain some things first. Give me enough good reviews and I'll write another chappie. Bye for now.