Yeah... I know. I have two 'on hiatus' Kouga stories already, and two incomplete Bankotsu stories that aren't updated regularly, but here's the thing. My docs make me sad. I have hundreds of thousands of words written on started and stopped story ideas that never became full stories because I kept getting new ideas, and would write them down, then move on to the next, then the next, and then the next, and next thing I know, there are 37 stories in my Kouga folder, and five in the Bankotsu folder with a list of ideas for him that I refuse to acknowledge because of all the other WIPs, and... yeah, it makes me sad. This one already stands at over 20,000 words, and 9 chapters. I like it. I'm going to post it. I'm also going to continue the Bankotsu stories, and I'm eventually going to get back to Tied and The Contract.

For now... well... My name IS Kouga's Eternal for a reason *winks*

Enjoy!
Kouga's Eternal

*X*

"Inuyasha!"

Kagome stood there in a state of shock, unable to comprehend what her eyes were seeing. The fuck? She could sense the piece of her soul nearing them as well as the inu hanyou could smell the scent that went with it, but for the Gods, they were in the middle of a fight with a fucking shard enhanced... something. It was so distorted by the jewel Kagome wasn't even sure what it was, but she didn't really need to. All she had to know was it was big, it was mean, and it didn't seem to want to die.

She was so stunned, she didn't have enough reaction time to dive out of the way of an arm heading her way, and she only survived because the others with her were far less shocked at the turn of events than she was, and Sango was on it with her boomerang.

Leaping from Kirara's back, the slayer landed in front of the shell shocked Miko, and took up a defensive position until Kagome could once again regain her bearings. Sango, though wishing she was as surprised as Kagome was over Inuyasha bailing, she wasn't. She wasn't even slightly surprised by it. From her vantage point in the air, she had seen the eel demon soul collectors in the trees, and knowing the hanyou as well as she did, when he turned tail and bolted in the direction they were in, Sango sadly saw it coming.

This was becoming a regular thing with Inuyasha. It no longer mattered what the group as a whole was doing, either. As soon as the feeling of their demonic aura caressed Inuyasha's senses, he was gone. More than once both she and Miroku had woken and found themselves down a hanyou, and had since taken to shift sleeping so they wouldn't be caught off guard if someone happened on their campsite while everyone was unaware.

The two had agreed it was better not to tell Kagome about that, but at the look on the miko's face at the abandonment, Sango questioned herself on whether that was the right way to go. If she knew Inuyasha was sneaking away more than she knew, maybe she wouldn't look so heartbroken right now.

However, that was certainly something to ponder on at a later time. At the moment, there was something far more important to do. Readying her hiraikotsu, she spoke to the miko at her back. "Kagome! Snap out of it and get ready."

The miko jumped, almost like she was slammed back into her body when she heard Sango's voice. Heaving a sigh, she returned her attention to the bug youkai, and searched its body for the shine of the jewel shard. Knocking an arrow when she found it, she pour every ounce of her emotions into summoning her riki, knowing she was going to have to have one hell of a power surge to take this thing out without the help of Inuyasha.

Squaring her stance, she locked her eyes on the glow of the Shikon and pulled the bowstring as tight as she could. All she could do was pray there was enough speed and force to pierce the armor of the insect and hit the shard. When she let go of the feather, she called out as she always did.

"Hit the mark!"

All five of the remaining shard hunters watched as the arrow flew through the air, Kagome grabbing another from her quiver just in case. But, she put so much into that last arrow, she felt drained, so she wasn't sure she could do that again. It was so much easier when the stupid demons were shredded by the wind scar and all she had to do was pick the shard out of a pile of entrails or something.

Notching the next arrow, Kagome made ready to fire it when the first one made contact with the stomach of the bug. She only had enough time for her eyes to widen before the immense amount of hold energy literally made the thing explode, the backlash knocking both her and Sango off their feet and sending Kirara higher into the sky to avoid the very painful purification powers.

Landing with a grunt, Kagome caught Sango before she could completely land on top of her. Breathing hard and deep, the miko looked at the shattered body parts with wide eyes as they slid around clearing they were in. There were intestine hanging from tree branches, legs scattered all over the ground. There were blood pools forming and the thick smell of burnt flesh taking over the area, making her eyes water and throat burn. When she looked at herself, there was pieces of entrails and splatters of blood on both her and Sango.

Sango, once she recovered slightly, also looked around, her own eyes owlish size. "Whoa, Kagome." Looking back over her shoulder at the stunned Miko. "Where did that come from?"

Kagome just shook her head as she slid her body out from under the slayer and climbed to her feet. "I don't know." Looking up in the air, she cringed when she saw both Kirara and Shippo looking a little green. "Are they alright, Miroku?"

The monk frowned, but nodded. "I think so, but I do not think it wise for them to linger around so much holy energy."

Sango called up to him then. "Do you see a river, or spring, or anything from where you are?"

Looking around above the treetops, Miroku pointed to the East. "Looks to be a small lake about two miles from here. I'll take Kirara and Shippo and meet you at the fork that's about a mile straight that way. I do not think it will be good for either of them to be on the ground any closer than that."

After agreeing and Miroku flying off and out of sight through the leaves, Sango sighed and looked at Kagome, who was busy trying to pull a piece of bug out of her hair. "Should we wait for Inuyasha?"

Pausing in her attempt to free her hair from a very stubborn piece of nasty, Kagome looked at her best friend. "Why? So he can tell us how disgusting we smell while making cracks about how his precious Kikyo wouldn't have made such a mess of herself? Yeah, no thanks. He'll find us. He always does."

Slightly taken aback at the bitterness in Kagome's voice, all Sango did was nod and shoulder her hiraikotsu. She had to agree, she made a valid point. No matter how well Kagome did, or much better she was getting at summoning and controlling her powers, Inuyasha always had something negative to say about it and always belittled the amazing amount of progress the little miko had make by comparing it to Kikyo.

In just a few short years, Kagome had learned much of what other priestesses took a lifetime to learn, and that was something to be praised, not bashed. However, when it came to something that Kagome and Kikyo had in common, nothing Kagome ever did was good enough.

Once Kagome picked up the two shards of the jewel that the now very dead bug had possession of and put them in the jar with the others, the miko grabbed her pack and the two girls set out into the trees, taking the faster path to meet up with Miroku, Kirara, and Shippo, not knowing, or really even caring, where Inuyasha was or when he would also be joining back up with them.