There was a quiet groan on the air, pulling Kouga from his mind and back into the present. Slanting open his eyes, he looked down from his perch to Kagome, who finally seemed to be waking up. Even before he found her, he knew he was too late, but he wasn't expecting to find a, clearly, no longer human Kagome in a puddle of dirty water. After he moved her to a safer, and dryer, location, he spent the past several hours trying to figure out exactly how he was going to explain things to her, but honestly, he had no idea what happened, so wasn't sure he was going to be able to.

Dropping to the ground from the branch he had been sitting on when she moved, and landing a measured distance away, Kouga crouched to his palms and the balls of his feet and dipped his head. "Hey there, Kagome. You alright?"

Slowly rolling to her hip and holding herself up with one hand, Kagome slipped her fingers into her hair, another groan in her throat as her head continued to pound with every beat of her heart. The first thing she did was 'shush' softly before her quiet voice sounded out. "Loud... shhhh soooo loud." Slowly she opened her eyes and looked for the familiar voice. Once she was looking at the wolf prince, she swallowed hard. "Why is everything so loud?"

Kouga looked away from Kagome's now inhuman blue colored eyes, biting into his bottom lip as he too gulped. Must stay back... Don't touch...

Clearing his throat, he let out a breath and looked back at her, keeping the volume of his voice as quiet as he could to compensate for Kagome's newly heightened hearing. "What do you remember?"

Scratching the back of her head, Kagome repositioned herself so she was sitting, her head now cradled in her hands. She searched her memories for anything to answer the question, but after a few moments, she shook her head, shifting only her eyes to look at Kouga. "I don't know. It's..." Trailing off, she shook her head again, dropping her eyes. "I remember water. I was at the water. I took a..." Eyes snapping back to the standoffish wolf, her eyes were wide. "It wasn't water."

Dropping his head, Kouga growled in his chest. Great... this was perfect. Looking back up at her, he shook his head. "I really doubt it." Looking off to the side, he then hummed before standing. "Come with me."

Kagome blinked at him. "Kouga?"

Grinning at her, hoping to put her at ease, he locked their eyes. "I'm gonna need you to trust me."

Kagome's voice was still soft. "You know I do."

Grin growing, he held out a hand, even knowing that was a horrible idea. "Then come with me."

Kagome looked at the hand in front of her for a moment before she slowly set her hand in his, snapping it back when it felt like she was shocked.

Kouga watched as Kagome's eyes went out of focus and sighed. Fuck... that ain't good. Knowing the damage had been done, he moved to crouch right in front of her, crooking a finger under Kagome's chin and tilting her head back to look at him. Once he had her attention, he smirked at her. "Ignore that."

Kagome shook her head as best she could with her chin still being held hostage. "What was that? It was..."

Kouga nodded and cut her off. "I know." Licking his lips, Kouga tsked and let go of her chin, grabbing her wrists and pulling her to her feet. Walking backwards so he didn't break eye contact with her, he backed himself through the brush to the hot spring on the other side of the foliage. When he felt his heel overhang the edge, he moved to the side and pointed to the water. "Take a look."

Kagome glanced at the water before looking back at Kouga. Her eyes were scared, but when Kuoga crossed his arms and leaned against a tree with a nod of his head, she let out a slow breath and knelt at the edge where Kouga just was and looked down into the water. She saw it right away. With a gasp, one hand flew up to her face, settling under her no longer brown eye. She moved her hand to cover her mouth, but when she heard Kouga tell her that wasn't all, she turned to look at him, and saw him point up at his own ear.

Letting out a whimper, Kagome looked back to the hot spring and moved her hair, a cry leaving her throat when she saw the new point to her ear. She then heard a scratching noise, drawing her attention to her hand that held her weight, or more specifically, the sharp points her nails were curled into as the gouged lines in the stone she knelt on.

Returning her eyes to her reflection, tears welled up in Kagome's eyes. She said nothing, knowing there was nothing to say. It was silent for a time before Kagome's attention was drawn from her appearance to Kouga's reflection when he appeared next to her. She swallowed hard, but still couldn't think of anything to say.

Kouga clicked his tongue and crouched, draping his hands over his thighs as he looked at her when she looked at him. His voice was soft, but held little room for doubt in his words. "I'm going to make you two promises, Kagome. The first is, I'm going to do whatever I have to, to help you through this. The second is, I'm always going to right next to you, and will make this as right as I can for you."

Kagome looked at him, uncomprehending. Slowly, she shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. "What happened to me?"

Kouga shrugged. "I'm a little fuzzy on the details myself to be honest. I don't really know. What I do know is, yesterday I had my blood stolen, and today, you drank it."

Kagome was quick to shake her head. "I didn't drink any..." Kouga cocked a brow and it hit Kagome like a wrecking ball. "The water." When he nodded, it was like she was hit in the chest. It knocked the wind from her lungs and kinda made her wanna throw up, but she fought it back. Licking her lips. "How? How did you get your blood stolen?"

Though it was a rather sore spot for the wolf, both literally and figuratively, he presented her his back and, bending far enough forward, he pulled up on the bottom of his armor while slightly pushing down on the fur pelt around his waist, showing off the nasty looking wound that refused to heal properly because of the purification energy still present in his system. He would have to give one thing to bitch that shot him, she didn't lie. The fucking injury hurt something awful.

Kagome gasped at the sight, reaching towards Kouga's back, but stopped just short of actually touching the skin. "What happened?"

Slowly and carefully replacing his clothing, Kouga sat down and turned to look at Kagome, setting his hands on his bent knees. "I was helping one of the cubs hone his hunting technique when I was hit from behind with a holy arrow. Thankfully it wasn't strong enough to actually kill me, but it was still really fucking strong... hurt like you wouldn't believe." Pausing, he pulled down the arm band, revealing the long gash to his forearm where he was bled from. "She took quite a bit, but wouldn't say what it was for." Shaking his head with a growl, he pulled his band back into place. "The bitch terrified one of my cubs and nearly killed me."

Kagome jolted at the last statement. "You have cubs?"

Snapping back to himself, Kouga blinked. "What?" Realizing how that sounded, he shook his head. "No, they aren't mine as in mine, but mine as in my responsibility as the Alpha of the pack."

Kagome nodded and dropped it as she pulled her knees to her chest, then wrapped her arms around her shins. Propping her chin, she frowned. "It had to be Kikyo."

To her surprise, Kouga shook his head. "I saw the onna, Kagome. It wasn't her."

"One of her priestesses then. It has to have been her, Kouga. Who else would do something like this?" Then she huffed out a hard puff of air. "Whatever 'this' is."

Kouga again shook his head. "I don't know."

Looking off to the side, Kagome frowned and reached up, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. Blinking repeatedly, she blew a raspberry with her lips before turning back to Kouga. "Besides the obvious... changes, would your blood have done anything else?"

Scratching his brow with the tip of a claw, Kouga took a moment between her asking the question and him answering. Kagome had a temper, and he was positive this would set it off. Recrossing his arms, Kouga nodded. "Yeah, it did. All this time with the hanyou and a slayer, how can you know so little about demons? Granted the mutt isn't exactly a demon, but still, the fox."

Kagome shrugged and lowered her eyes. "Demon blood isn't something we talk about. And leave Shippo out of it. He's a child."

Kouga snorted. "No, he's not. That fox, I guarantee, is older than any of the cubs of my tribe, and is probably pretty close to Inuyasha's age. You cannot be deceived by appearance when it comes to full bloods. You don't actually think you and I are the same age, do you?" When she only glanced at him before dropping her eyes again, Kouga chuckled. "I've been alive for over two centuries. I'm only a handful of decades younger than the Western Lord, and even he's not that old for a demon. There are some, though not many, still alive from the day demons were created. At no point in our lives do we age at the pace a human does. As a matter of fact, we age so slowly in comparison, we do look like children for nearly a century."

Though she filed away what he said, Kagome looked back at him. "What else? You said your blood did more than just... this. What did it do?"

Tapping a claw on his bicep, Kouga cocked a brow. "Where are my shards?"

Kagome bulked at the question. "In your legs."

Kouga leaned closer to her, and lowered his voice. "Can you see them?" He watched as she glanced down at his shins, her eyes going wide before snapping her eyes back to him. Keeping his voice low, he took the longest route he could to the final destination. "You don't smell like you used to. You used to smell like cherries and Sakura Blossoms."

Kagome nodded. "And now?"

Kouga tsked. "And now, you smell like me... and cherries."

Not understanding, Kagome made a noise in her throat. "Okay. Your blood was in the water, so I guess that makes sense. But... you're being evasive. Now is not the time to be evasive. Be you, and tell me what's really going on."

Scooting closer, Kouga reached out and set his hand on Kagome's, locking their eyes and hoping she put the pieces together on her own. "Your aura is gone, Kagome. You share mine now." When incomprehension entered her eyes, Kouga stopped trying to adhere to human sensitivities and laid it out on the line. "You're mine now."

The noise that came out of Kagome's throat was a cross between a grunt, a groan, and a gasp. Her voice shook when she spoke. "Not like yours as in yours, but your responsibility, like with the cubs?"

Kouga shook his head slowly. "No. Mine, as in mine. You having my scent will keep other male demons away from you, and the sharing of my aura binds us together. Whoever did this, whatever their actual goal, mated us."

Being so close to the side of the overhang above the hot spring, when Kagome jerked back in shock at the statement, she went over the side and landed in the hot water with a splash. When she resurfaced, coughing and sputtering, she looked up at Kouga, who was looking down at her with amusement on his face. Wiping her hair out of her face, she spit out another mouthful of water before calling up at him. "Mated? As in... like..."

Kouga propped his chin on his closed fist with a nod. "Yup, just like that." He watched her face, and even though it flew through a massive amount of emotions, he didn't actually see the anger he had been prepared for.

When Kouga pointed out to her she didn't seem angry, Kagome's lip curled. "You're right. I should be really, really mad but, I can't do it." Cocking her head to the side as she treaded water, she licked her lips. "Why can't I get angry over this?"

Kouga moved to lay on his belly, holding a hand down to her. When she took it, Kouga effortlessly pulled her out of the spring and on to dry land. Neither one move to give the other space. Kouga though, continued to fight against instinct for the time being and instead just gazed down at his woman. "I don't care." The smirk that Kagome would know anywhere graced his lips. "The fact you can't though, works really well for me."

A brow slowly slid up Kagome's forehead, a smirk of her own pulling at her lips. "Does it? Well, tell me, Kouga. Does this?"

With no warning to the wolf, Kagome grabbed his arm. With surprising little effort, she jerked Kouga off his feet and into the water below her. Looking over the side of the rocks she was still on, she giggled when Kouga surfaced, then she squealed at the look on his face and took off into the woods. Behind her, she heard the water displace when Kouga got out. With bark of laughter, she ran faster.

Her sight was so clear now, clearer than it had ever been. She had often wondered how Inuyasha could run so fast through the woods and not run into anything, but now she knew. He had told her how much better his sight was than hers, but she never would have guessed there was that much difference.

At the thought of Inuyasha, Kagome slowed to a stop, waiting for Kouga to catch up. She turned to the side when she heard him behind her, and have him a look between annoyance and acceptance. "You know I have to go back to them, right?"

Kouga grunted. "Why? Your place is with me now."

Kagome sighed and crossed her arms. "I get that, but they're my friends and, whether or not he's actually a child, Shippo needs me. I didn't say anything before I left and they're probably really worried."

Though first he made a sound of disgust, he did relent when her face turned pleading. "Alright, I'll help you find them."

Smiling at him, Kagome again turned and began walking. "I couldn't have made it that far, right? They should be around here somewhere, shouldn't they?"

Falling in step next to her, Kouga crossed his arms. "You might not have at first, but I didn't cross any of their scents when I found you, and you're not where I found you. You don't know exactly where you were when you drank that blood laced water, plus the chance of them even still being there is pretty slim."

Looking up at him as she clasped her hands behind her back, Kagome cocked her head. "So, where are we, exactly?"

Kouga cocked a brow. "You don't recognize the place?" When Kagome shook her head, he pointed with one arm to the mountain they weren't that far from. "My den is up there. We are well within the boundary of my territory. It was the best way to protect you when you were out cold. I know every inch of these lands, and who normally inhabits them."

Nodding her head, Kagome looked to the ground. "So that would put us on the Eastern coast, right?" She looked up at him only long enough to see him nod before looking back down in thought. "Well, if it hasn't rained since you found me, do you think you could find their scents if we went back to where you found me?"

Kouga hummed. "Possibly, but you know you could, too."

Kagome frowned. "No, I couldn't. I don't know what they smell like."

Grabbing her arm, Kouga pulled her to a stop and turned her to face him. "But that mutt knows what you smell like. You smelled like you until about three hours ago. He could have found you if he was looking."

Brow creasing, Kagome blinked. "You don't think he is?"

Kouga shrugged. "I don't know, but you were out for a while, Kagome. There's no reason he wouldn't have shown up yet if he was actually looking."

Glaring off to the side, Kagome actually growled in her throat. "The only reason he wouldn't would be because of Kikyo." Turning that glare on him, she asked, "Still don't think she had anything to do with this?"

Kouga held up his hands. "I never said she didn't. I said I didn't see her yesterday. I also didn't smell a graveyard where I found you, and that's what the bitch smells like. She literally smells like the rotting corpse she is. That scent was no where present."

Getting a little more irritated, Kagome snapped at him. "Was anyone's? Did you smell anything but me when you found me?"

Kouga shook his head. "Nothing but the forest."

"Then you need your nose checked, because I still had my riki when I was at the water. I know I did, because I sensed the shards in my bag back at the camp. I didn't lose it until after that. It doesn't just vanish, Kouga. It went somewhere. So, unless there is another self-important Miko out there that wanted my powers, it was her!"

Kouga's own temper igniting, he barked back. "So the fuck what if it was!? Do you honestly think by finding the mutt, and hopefully by extension her, this will all magically go back to the way it was? That's not how this works, Woman."

Kagome growled again. "If she's involved, it's a spell, Kouga."

Growling back, and for Kagome quite darkly in her opinion, Kouga glared hard. "Maybe that took your powers, but it wasn't a spell that took my blood. It wasn't a spell that put my blood in your veins. I will admit that I stay the fuck away from the magic of the world, but even I know you cannot force mate by magic. That can only happen by the ingesting of blood. You are no longer human. My blood did that. Not a spell."

Stepping back in the face of Kouga's own anger, Kagome held up her hands. "Okay, damn I get it. I understand what you're saying. I'm not trying to start a fight here, but as you pointed out, I'm not human and I was yesterday. That looks like magic to me."

Kouga dropped his head back on his shoulders, sighing hard. "But it wasn't." Running his hand down his face, he returned his sights to Kagome, closing the distance between them before grabbing her hands like he always did, though he did stand closer to her than he used to. Taking both her tiny hands in one of his, he crooked a finger under her chin and tilted her head back. "Magic didn't do this. This isn't the first time a female drank the blood of a male demon without either knowledge or consent. It happens all the damn time, and most of those the female doesn't even know the person the blood belongs to. This? This isn't as bad as it could be. At least you know me, and you know I would never do anything to hurt you. Others don't have that. It's not magic. It's... it's simply demonic mating at its fucking finest."

Kagome snorted without amusement. "Sounds like it."

Kouga, however, was rather amused. "We aren't civilized, Kagome. Not a single demon is, nor would any of us claim to be. We kill for sport and slaughter for fun. You've seen what happens when the mutt's demon side is released. That's not all that far off from any other demon you have ever crossed paths with. The only difference is, the higher up the ladder of evolution, the more control over that half of us we have. Even one day you will make your first kill for something other than food, and you'll like it."

Kagome scoffed. "I will not."

Kouga grinned. "You will too. Be it in self defence or tribal offense, you will kill eventually. My guess is it will be in defense of one of the cubs."

Pulling her chin free, Kagome frowned. "One of the cubs? Isn't that their parent's job?"

Kouga shook his head. "We're a pack, Kagome. We look out for everyone, from the alpha all the way down to the omega, and everyone looks after the cubs. Those ornery little bastards run off, don't listen, and get into all kinds of trouble. Truth be told, they aren't all that different than human children in that sense. They just tend to think they are a little more invincible than humans, and because of that, they get into much more dangerous shit."

Kagome pictured what he described and a tremor danced down her spine. "Sounds fun."

Letting go her wrists when it seemed she calmed down, Kouga settled his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. She followed the unspoken instruction without a fight, bringing a smile to Kouga's face. Looking down at her again, he hummed. "It can be. Sometimes the situations they get into are pretty funny, actually." Pausing, Kouga looked up to the sky, his lips pursing. "Well," returning his eyes to hers, "it'll be getting dark soon. Why don't we go to the den for the night and start trying to find your friends in the morning? We won't make it back to the western lands before night fall."

Kagome jerked back. "Western Lands?"

Kouga nodded. "Yeah. I found you about two miles in under Sesshoumaru's watch."

Kagome actually choked. "Excuse me?"

Kouga snorted and shook his head as he released his mate and turned to head home. "I don't see why you don't understand that. You were incapacitated within his lands. At the very least, it would be his duty to keep an eye on you while you were as defenceless as you were. I just happened to get there before you woke up."

Jolting at the words, Kagome jogged to catch up, looking up at him when she was in step. "Do you think he knows anything about what happened? I had no idea I crossed the border." Then she frowned and looked down. "That does explain things a little though."

Glancing down, Kouga hummed. "What does about what?"

Kagome shook her head and sighed. "Inuyasha won't cross into the West."

Kouga snorted. "To the first part of the question, no. If he did, he would have told me. As to the mutt refusing to enter into the land of his birth, he's more of a bitch than I thought. Those lands are just as much his responsibility as they are Sesshoumaru's, and it's actually quite sickening to hear he won't even step foot on them."

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome snipped. "In his defence, Sesshoumaru has tried to kill him in the past, and threatened to do so again if Inuyasha is ever caught on his lands."

Rolling his eyes, Kouga stopped, grabbed Kagome's arm, and hoisted her over his shoulder, much like the first time he ever took her to the den. Taking off at breakneck speed, Kouga spoke loud enough to be heard over the wind his running created. "He's a bitch. It's against demonic law to kill an heir to the lands, and you know as well as I do, Sesshoumaru is all about law and order. Neither might acknowledge it, but the mutt is a western heir by birthright."

Tucking her chin, Kagome closed her eyes and called back. "I'll take your word for it."

Knowing the moment they started to ascend the mountain, Kagome held on tighter and waited for it to be over, hoping her stomach would find her again since it was once again left at the bottom.