Yaaaaaay for chapter 2!  I'd like to thank the people that have reviewed so far.  It makes me happy to write a story that doesn't focus on the main characters, but for anyone who is wondering, the tachi will definitely be in this fic.  Just…yeah, wait and see.  Stuff.

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Something Is Real

Part 2

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"He has to be close." Hakkaku told his friend as they jogged along the path that Kouga's smell emanated clearly from.  "He wouldn't just forget about us, right?"

"Course not." Ginta agreed, wiping his brow and glancing at the wolves that were running along with them.  "Companions are important to Kouga."

"Yeah, he wouldn't just abandon us." Hakkaku felt a tiny bit more confident now.  "He needs us."

"What does he need you for?" Ginta asked the other wolf youkai, reaching up to brush the black tuft of hair on his otherwise silver head back into place and out of his face.  "Whenever he's in trouble you just hide."

"So do you!" Hakkaku exclaimed, his mohawk of spiky silver hair seeming to bristle with indignation.  "When's the last time you got him out of a tight spot?"

"Hey, if Kouga can't kill something, there's no way that we can." Ginta answered after an angry pause.  "We know our limits, unlike him."

"He's always getting in trouble." Hakkaku agreed.

"He's too proud." Ginta added.  "Can't just let things be the way that they are."

"Like this Naraku guy.  He sounds pretty bad to me." Hakkaku cast a wide-eyed look to the trees around them as though expecting Naraku to leap from the bushes and gobble him up.  "Why can't we just let someone else take care of him?"

"Yeah, the way I figure it," Ginta panted, getting extremely tired after chasing Kouga's trail all night long, "if this guy keeps pissing people off, eventually some really big guys will come together and just get rid of him."

"Like Sesshoumaru." Hakkaku recalled the cold brother of Inuyasha and he glanced around nervously once more.  "He was scary."

"Yeah, someone like that, they aren't on Kouga's level." Ginta agreed.  "I don't think that guy goes around chasing after bad asses just to prove he isn't scared of someone stronger than him."

"I wonder why he wants to get Naraku." Hakkaku pondered.

"Probably something to do with that little girl." Ginta decided after a moment of thought.  "When you have a companion like that who can't take care of themselves, you constantly have to save them from bad guys who want to kill them just to piss you off."

"You think Naraku tried to attack her?" Hakkaku asked, seemingly surprised that anyone would knowingly cross the frightening lord of the Western Lands.  "Does he want to die?"

"Naraku's gotta be pretty strong if he's fucking around with Sesshoumaru like that." Ginta surmised.  "That's why I say we should just go home.  It's not like we'll make any difference in a fight like that anyway.  It wouldn't matter whose side we were on, it wouldn't change the outcome at all."

"I think Kouga could do some damage." Hakkaku opined thoughtfully.  "I mean, he has those Shikon shards after all.  They make him even stronger than before."

"It's not like we can make him change his mind, anyway." Ginta shrugged.  "He's too stubborn.  And I don't think I'd like to face our companions when I die if I hadn't tried to avenge them.  Kouga's got a lot of honor, don't you think?"

"Now if he only had the power to back it up." Hakkaku snorted.  "I know he's way stronger than either of us, but do you think he could even beat Inuyasha?"

"I don't know.  They're pretty close, but with that sword Inuyasha has…" Ginta trailed off and stopped short.

"Hey, what's wrong Ginta?" Hakkaku slowed and turned to face his companion, who seemed to be staring at something off to his left with intense concentration.  "Do you see Kouga?"

"No…but I smell that girl."  Ginta spoke up after taking another deep whiff of air.  "You know the one…Ayame."

"That one that wants to be Kouga's woman?" Hakkaku smelled the air, searching for the scent trail that Ginta had picked up on.  "What do you think she's doing around here?"

"I don't know…maybe we should just go find Kouga and tell him.  Maybe she needs help or something." Ginta suggested.  "Right now what's important is catching up to Kouga before we lose his trail.  It'd be impossible to find him if that happened."

"Good thinking." Hakkaku made a determined face before the companions started jogging along the path once more in search of their leader.

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"Kouga!" Ginta sighed in relief as he put on a little bit of extra speed.  "You can feel it, right Hakkaku?  He's just up ahead!"

"It's about time." Hakkaku grumbled, panting from the exertion of constantly running.  "I thought he'd forgotten about us."

"He wouldn't do that!" Ginta exclaimed happily as he started to slow down, looking around the slowly brightening area to see if he could spot his leader.  "Hey, I bet he's sleeping in that cave up ahead waiting for us."

"Think he'll let us take a break?" Hakkaku asked hopefully.  Ginta shook his head ruefully, part in answer and part in response before he ran straight into what seemed like the hardest wall ever constructed.  The strange thing was that he couldn't see a wall of any sort.

"Shit!  What was that!" Ginta groaned from where he was laid flat, still unable to move as Hakkaku skidded to a halt behind him.

"Ginta?  What's wrong?" Hakkaku asked, utterly dumbfounded as to why his friend had suddenly fallen back to the ground as if hit by some invisible force.  "Did you trip?"

"Ran…into something." Ginta was still having difficulty getting any movement out of his body.  He felt numb all over, as though he'd been struck by lightning.  "Hey…Hakkaku, is there…a wall or something?  I didn't see anything."

"Uh…no, it's all just air here." Hakkaku reached an arm forward, sweeping it around to demonstrate his point, but his palm struck something that flashed and threw him back slightly, leaving his entire arm numb to the shoulder.  "There's…something."

"A barrier?" Ginta guessed.  "Why is there a barrier?"

"Kouga's in trouble again?" Hakkaku ventured, and Ginta let out a deep sigh.  He was feeling a faint tingling throughout his limbs, which hopefully meant that he'd be able to move pretty soon.

"How are we supposed to get through it?" Ginta wanted to know.  "I can't even move anymore.  How's your arm?"

"Totally numb." Hakkaku bit his lip and glanced at the cave, leaning over to pick up a rock with his good arm.  He tossed it at the entrance, and while it sizzled slightly at the edge of the barrier, it passed through without any problem.  "What kind of barrier does that?  The rock went right through."

"I don't know, but I'm not using my body to test it again." Ginta grumbled.  "This is the worst.  It feels like I'm being stabbed with a million needles, and when I try to move it's even worse." The wolf youkai twitched an arm slightly before remaining motionless until the sharp sensation could fade away.  "We don't even know for sure that Kouga's still in that cave.  Maybe it's something else."

"Lemme check." Hakkaku stepped closer to the barrier, but was cautious enough to stop before he was near the area where he thought the barrier extended to.  "Hey!  Kouga!  Can you hear me!?" Hakkaku yelled at the top of his lungs, hoping that perhaps Kouga would emerge from the trees behind them instead of from the other side of the cave barrier.

"Get up!" The wolves heard a woman's voice yelling irritably from inside the cave, and they looked at each other in confusion before both followed their instincts and raised their noses to try and catch the smell of the other person in the cave so she could be identified.  "Seriously, someone's out there making a racket.  Make them go away, I'm still sleeping."

"Someone's here?" Kouga's voice was immediately recognizable by his two companions, but it was a disappointment to hear it coming from inside the cave.  With some difficulty, Ginta sat up and began rubbing the feeling back into his arms and legs.

"Kouga!  It's us!" Hakkaku called out, waving his arms around as though Kouga could have possibly seen the movement through the rock cave wall that was blocking the wolves from seeing their leader.  "What's going on?  Why's there this barrier here?  Who's in there with you?"

"It's not Kagome-oneechan." Ginta noted, more to himself than to anyone else.  "Smells youkai…kinda familiar."

"See?  Get out there." The woman was still nagging Kouga, who was now barely visible inside the cave, facing the woman as she scolded him.

"Just go back to sleep and shut up then." He told her, leaving the cave and looking surprised to see his followers gathered outside the barrier that locked him in.  "Ginta, Hakkaku, what's up?"

"We should ask you that!" Ginta managed to get to his feet, but his legs still felt a bit odd.  "What's with this barrier?  What happened to you?  We were just following you around and suddenly you sped way the hell up.  We've been trying to catch up to you since then."

"And now we found you, but you're stuck in that barrier." Hakkaku sighed mournfully.  "You are stuck, aren't you?"

"Of course." Kouga rolled his bright blue eyes as though the question was utterly ridiculous.  "Naraku trapped me here."

"Who's in there with you?" Ginta was still curious about the female voice from before.  "She smells kinda…"

"Never mind that, it doesn't matter." Kouga cut off the wolf and stood in a contemplative stance, one hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully.  "Is everyone all right?"

"Oh…yeah, we're all fine." Hakkaku gestured to the wolves who were sitting and standing behind Ginta and himself, looking longingly at the leader they couldn't get near.  "This barrier is pretty weird though.  Did you know when I throw a rock, it goes right through?"

"Yeah, it only affects youkai." Kouga waved his hand dismissively.  "Is there anything weird going on out there?  I thought something might be up if Naraku was making a move against me."

"Uh, we don't really know." Ginta admitted, scrubbing at his two-toned hair sheepishly.  "But we did cross Ayame's path when we were chasing you."

"Ayame?  What's she doing here?" Kouga looked horrified, and it was unclear whether he was scared for the girl's safety or for his own sanity.  "Did you see her?"

"No, we thought we'd meet up with you before going to look for her…if you wanted to, of course." Ginta amended.  "You think she's looking for you?"

"Probably." Kouga muttered an unintelligible curse under his breath and scrubbed a hand through his dark bangs.  "Listen, I need to get out of here.  We have to figure something out."

"Maybe…like a human could get through there, if it only affects youkai." Hakkaku spoke up after some thought on the part of all three wolves.  "We could go find Kagome-oneechan."

"Yeah…yeah, but it doesn't do us any good if she can get in and out." Kouga pointed out.  "I'm still stuck in here."

"Yeah, that's true." Ginta agreed.  "Maybe we should go get her anyway.  I bet she could figure something out.  She's really clever, you know, Kouga."

"Of course she is." Kouga snorted derisively.  "Like I'd want some average woman with no brain."

"Isn't there some way to break a barrier like this?" Hakkaku asked.  "Kagome-oneechan's a miko, right?  Couldn't she fix it?"

"I don't know if she knows that kind of stuff." Kouga considered.  "Plus, this isn't a very…miko type barrier.  Since it gets it's power from youkai."

"Maybe that priest she travels with would know something." Ginta suggested.

"Wait!  Doesn't Inuyasha's sword break barriers?" Hakkaku looked at both of the other youkai in excitement.  "I'm sure I've seen it before…it turns red and cuts right through the strongest barriers!"

"Hey!  That's right!  I remember that!" Ginta slapped his forehead, as though amazed that he hadn't thought of it before.  "Kouga, we'll go get Inuyasha and he can cut you out of here in no time!"

"No!" Kouga protested immediately.  "I don't need help from that Inukkoro.  There has to be another way."

"Kouga…" Hakkaku and Ginta exchanged glances before the mohawked wolf turned back to speak to their leader.  "I know you're in charge and all, but don't you think that this time maybe you should listen to us?"

"No way." Kouga sat down cross legged and affected a stubborn pout.  "There is no way I'm accepting help from that piece of shit."

"He's helped us before!" Ginta pointed out.  "Remember when Renkotsu was trying to kill you and he protected you?"

"I didn't need him then and I don't need him now." Kouga insisted.  "Figure out something else."

"Kouga…are you really saying that if we get Inuyasha and he cuts this barrier…you'll just stay in that cave cause you don't want his help?" Ginta furrowed his brows in irritation.

"Don't go behind my back on this." Kouga crossed his arms and looked away, maintaining the stubborn scowl on his face.

"Okay then…we'll just…come back when we think of something." Hakkaku and Ginta exchanged glances again.  "Wait here, okay?"

"Like I can go anywhere." Kouga answered irritably before getting up and returning to the cave's interior.  Hakkaku and Ginta walked back the way they had come until they were sure they were out of earshot.  Still, they spoke in hushed tones to be sure they wouldn't be overheard by their leader.

"Kouga's being really stubborn about this." Ginta told his companion.  "What should we do?  Inuyasha's probably the only one who can get him out."

"Yeah, unless we go to Naraku and he decides to just listen to us and let Kouga out." Hakkaku rolled his dark eyes.  "Like that will happen."

"We have a better chance of getting Inuyasha to help." Ginta agreed.  "He has Kagome-oneechan with him, and she won't let him just ignore us."

"Yeah, she can get him to listen." Hakkaku nodded slightly.  "The only trouble is…if we do get his help, will Kouga really just stay in that cave?"

"For a little bit…maybe.  But I think Kagome-oneechan can talk to him and then he'll be more reasonable." Ginta guessed.  "She's good at getting stubborn guys to pay attention."

"Yeah she is." Hakkaku agreed.  "No wonder Kouga thinks she's so good.  Hey…you think he still can win her away from Inuyasha?"

"I don't know…I think she really likes Inuyasha a lot." Ginta shrugged.  "But you know, they're so much the same that I don't see how she can pick between them."

"Hey…I wonder who that girl in Kouga's cave was." Hakkaku changed the subject.  "I know I've smelled her before somewhere."

"Yeah…it was real familiar…and she was definitely a youkai." Ginta rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  "I wonder if she pissed Naraku off too?"

"He's got a lot of enemies." Hakkaku surmised.  "It wouldn't be really surprising."  He frowned slightly as Ginta turned away and moved toward the edge of the path.  "What is it, Ginta?"

"Ayame…she's coming this way." Ginta told his friend.  "We should go catch her before she runs into that barrier and explain what's going on."

"Yeah, she'll probably want Kouga's help and that'll just get him more worked up." Hakkaku rolled his eyes.

"Maybe we can help her with whatever she's having trouble with." Ginta suggested as his friend followed him in the direction of the female wolf.  "I bet we could be useful.  I mean, we aren't as strong as Kouga, but we still are good fighters."

"Yeah, maybe." Hakkaku nodded slightly as he patted the head of a wolf looking up at him sadly.  "Don't worry, we'll get Kouga out."  Ginta sighed loudly and continued to lead the way deeper into the forest.  They would get Kouga out, whether he liked it or not.

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The End (Of Part 2, That Is)