Chapter Three, New Places, New Faces
Over the following weeks, Aurelia had become a major part of the village, helping hunt and fish once her ankle had healed enough, even helping the ever aging Kaede gather herbs and spices when asked. The well still wouldn't open, but it was okay. She was adjusting better than she thought she would. She had always been more comfortable in the wilderness; it reminded her of how things used to be when her dad was still alive. She loved the brisk feel of the wind whipping against her skin, the way water from streams and rivers felt against her toes, even in the biting cold. Though winter was beginning to show its face, she had even opted for bare feet when the sun was shining. She always felt better without shoes anyhow. Her mother would always harass her about the risk of frostbite, but it never seemed to happen. She could play barefoot in the snow for hours and it wouldn't phase her in the least.
The first frost of the season was just beginning to fall, so Kaede requested that any remaining herbs be brought back to the village before the snow could blanket the fields, killing the last, lingering plants for the season. Aurelia, with her almost healed ankle, happily obliged, even taking the children along with her. Anko, Aia, and Haru, Miroku and Sango's children; spent most of the time chasing each other through the fields. Daisuke and Ahri on the other hand, stayed close to help Aurelia. They wanted to learn how to gather herbs like their mother, so Aurelia tried to teach them what she could. As she was bent over explaining the difference between an actual herb they needed, and common weeds, the wind suddenly picked up, and a cyclone stopped just short of knocking Aurelia over.
When the funnel dissipated, a tall, muscular, and tan young man was left standing before her, clasping her hands. "Hello there Kagome-" and before she knew what she was doing, her fist had already slid from his grasp and connected with his throat. She ran as fast as her still slightly sore ankle would carry her with Daisuke and Ahri following close behind, mimicking her screams. Sango and Miroku's brood however, ran not from, but towards the stranger. "Kouga!" they all exclaimed happily at once, as Aurelia and the other two children disappeared from view. "Are you alright?" Haru asked, giggling. "She got you pretty good huh?" Aia laughed, helping him up off the ground. "Consider yourself lucky. She broke uncle Inu's nose." Anko, the eldest of the three said haughtily. "Who was that? And why was she wearing Kagome's clothes?" He choked between breaths. So they began their giggly patchwork explanation.
Aurelia and the other two kids ran as fast as they could across the fields back to the village. When Kagome heard them screaming from the edge of town, she dropped everything and ran to her children. "What's going on? What happened? Where are Haru and the twins?" Kagome asked frantically. "We were picking herbs in the fields when this thing came out of nowhere and this guy came out of it and he grabbed my hand so I punched him in the throat and ran! He called me Kagome- I think he's after you! Oh god they were right behind me!"
Kagome let it process for a moment, before she burst out laughing. "Wait, you- you punched Kouga- in the throat?! BAHAHAHAHAHA!"
InuYasha came crashing through the trees and ran towards his wife and children. "What the hell is going on? I could hear the screaming all the way from the well!" Kagome had to cover her mouth to calm herself before she could explain. When she was done, even InuYasha couldn't help but laugh. "Serves that scrawny wolf right for sneaking up like that; especially since he thought you were Kagome." He shook his head, chuckling. "He probably caught her scent on the kids and thought you must have been her because of that kimono. Jackass." He scoffed.
Once again, Aurelia's first reaction was to punch first, before thinking. This was going to be a fun apology to make later. Kagome piped up to break the silence. "He hasn't been around since just after Daisuke was born, so I'm not surprised these two ran with you. The other kids will be fine; they're old enough to remember him from the last time he visited, so don't worry, they're safe."
Aurelia shamefully hung her head and sighed, walking back towards the hut to re-wrap her ankle and foot. The swelling had just about subsided thanks to her barefoot hobbling on the cool ground, and the pain was as minimal as the herbal paste they coated it with could make it, but until she could get back to her own time, Aurelia would continue to re-wrap it every few days or so. She supposed she'd apologize to the stranger known as Kouga when she saw him again. For the moment, all her mind was on was her ankle, and what she was going to do about entertaining the kids tonight.
She had been telling them the same stories her father once read her when she was a kid, to the best of hers and Kagome's memory, and tonight she had promised to tell them their favorite, "Little Red Riding Hood", for the god knows how many time. She had even managed to make a few rag dollish hand puppets from cloth scraps, straw, and carved wooden buttons. Luckily, Aurelia's grandmother thought, at one point, it would be a good idea to teach her only granddaughter how to sew by hand. Sure, her stitches looked like something resembling Dr. Frankenstein's handiwork, but they held. She had always preferred a sewing machine to do the work for her.
Meanwhile, back in the field, Kouga was slowly recovering his ability to breathe properly, and what was left of his pride. Haru and his elder twin sisters continued their explanations about Aurelia as they slowly made their way back towards the village. Kouga was only half-listening, his mind trying to wrap itself around the strange foreign beauty that was Aurelia. He could tell by the smell of her she was demon, but to what extent or what kind he couldn't peg. She smelled almost completely human, yet the intoxicating mix of feral earth and sweet mint danced under his nose from where her fist connected at his throat. The scent was strange, but nonetheless arousing. This girl, Aurelia, bore the strangest markings he had ever laid eyes on, as if someone had taken the finest of brushes and carefully painted her very skin. Not to mention she had one of the most remarkable looking bodies he had ever seen in his life. If he thought Kagome was perfect, this woman was beyond flawless. Not to mention no woman had ever raised a hand to him like that, not even his once beloved Kagome.
They eventually reached the village, Kouga still half daydreaming about whether or not this beautiful creature known as 'Aurelia' might be unmated, and what she may look like naked.
Upon their arrival, the wolf prince was greeted by none other than his rather smug faced former rival, InuYasha, and the monk Miroku; the demon slayers mate, and father of his adolescent escorts. "What're you laughin' at mutt; I heard she broke your nose." Instantly the hanyou's face melted from haughty to contempt. Miroku laughed, clapped Kouga on the back, and cheerily welcomed their former companion back to the village. "You disappeared for a while there; I was almost starting to worry about you." He said as they walked. InuYasha only feh'd. "I was starting to get my hopes up that somethin' finally got your scrawny ass for good. What's it been now, six years- six and a half, maybe? Where've ya been hidin?"
Kouga rubbed his still sore throat and grumbled at the arrogant half-breed, as he contemptuously replied "I've been around. I have my own shit to take care of mutt, a pack to run; same old, same old. Anyhow what's the deal with the girl? She sure packs quite the punch." Miroku laughed as InuYasha looked away, shame engraved in every feature of his quickly reddening face. "Trust me Kouga; he's well aware of that. She's from Kagome's time. She fell down the Bone Eaters Well a couple of weeks ago and landed here. We're waiting for the well to start working again so she can get back home; but we aren't really sure what's happening yet ourselves to be quite honest." Was that the point of that old god forsaken well, Kouga thought- to bring beautiful women from their time to his?
He sat dazed for a moment, caught up in the thought of the well spewing a fountain of beautiful women straight to his den. "Careful Kouga, she's deadly. That punch in the throat won't be the only injury you get if you don't watch yourself." Kouga's grin only widened, he loved a woman with spirit. According to the men in his pack, they made the best mates in the bedroom aspect, not that he knew anything about that firsthand. Wolves mated for life, only ever moving on at all if their beloved passed on. He had yet to settle down, still not quite finding the right girl. "I sure hope so" he said, his twisted smirk only reminding Miroku of his single days and his daydreams of old. "Then it's your funeral my friend. Stick around; I suppose we can get you two properly introduced while you're here."
Kouga smiled and thanked him, the conversation being broken up by children running between them, their breathless laughter only matched by their shouts of "Hurry up the show's about to start!" and "Last one there's a rotten egg!" Kouga looked at Miroku, his head cocked sideways in silent questioning, to which the monk replied, "Aurelia has her puppets out, and the kids love it. Come watch, you'll get to see her at some of her best. She's giving us parents a much needed break." Curious, he followed, staying just out of sight, but still close enough to peek. She was, he noticed, even more beautiful when she wasn't running away.
He could see the features of her face much better now, from the way her cocoa streaked snowy white hair naturally fell in large, soft ringlets against her sun kissed skin, to the way her icy green eyes sparkled and lit up when her soft pink lips parted to reveal her kind, pearly white smile. He thought it even cuter the way her lightly freckled cheeks and nose wrinkled when she laughed as she spoke to the mob of children at her feet.
"Alright calm down you guys" she spoke almost flawlessly. He could tell this wasn't her native language. It was close though, almost perfect, but with a slight, almost unnoticeable drawl. "I'm not starting until you settle down and stop fighting over where you're sitting. We all know this is far from the first time I've told this story." The children responded accordingly by quieting down and settling into a semicircular crowd around her. She then proceeded to tell a story about a young girl in a red cape taking food to her grandmother, both of them getting eaten by a sweet-talking wolf in a dress, then the hungry wolf who was just doing what he had to, getting cut open by a man in a strange hat with an axe and a bushy beard, and everyone living happily ever after except for the now dead wolf. Made no sense to him, but the kids loved it.
After the "show", Aurelia slowly made her way to her own hut, with children hanging on every limb. Anko and Aia were tightly wrapped around her legs, Ahri was seated on her shoulders using Aurelia's hair as reigns, and Haru and Daisuke were dangling from her arms, swinging in the air, and all laughing. Aurelia appeared to be enjoying herself despite the number of children, the twins alone being almost as tall as her, hanging on her like giggling hairless monkeys. She was strong, he could tell, and much more patient than anyone else he knew.
Watching the child covered beauty shuffle awkwardly out of sight, his thoughts were interrupted by Kagome excitedly shrieking his name. "Kouga I didn't know you were here visiting, how are you? It's been so long since I've seen you I almost didn't recognize you!" she said, smiling and hugging the handsome wolf prince. "Oh my, you got taller, and a lot more muscular. And where did this facial hair come from?" she asked, inquisitively poking his new to her muscles and scruffy vertical strip of beard he had allowed to grow on his chin. Kagome hadn't changed at all, aside from having yet another pup with her half-breed mate InuYasha. His sole purpose of visiting was to prove to himself that he could finally accept her decision. Now with the new addition of Aurelia to the mix, he could see himself being okay with the mutt winning after all.
While Kagome was busy grilling Kouga about what he had been up to, Aurelia was busy listening from inside the hut. Luckily the children were good and tired, enabling her to sneak out from under the child-pile she was buried in. Slowly easing out from behind the shadows of her doorway, Aurelia walked towards the group seated around the fire, only Kouga's sudden silence and lack of attention giving away her approach. He awkwardly shot upwards, trying to be polite. Aurelia smiled and hung her head humbly. "There's no need for pleasantries, if I recall; I owe you an apology for punching you in the throat mister-" "Kouga!" he clumsily blurted.
"M-my name is K-Kouga…" He hung his head and shamefully looked at his feet, a faint redness building in his cheeks. "Aurelia. Aurelia Tukoni. Pleased to meet you Kouga" She said courteously, holding her hand out to shake his. He instead took the offered hand in his and uncomfortably exclaimed "Oh the pleasure is all mine- it isn't every day a man such as me comes face to face with a goddess of beauty such as you!" Aurelia's eyes were wide in almost panic, as she quickly slipped her hand from between his; an uncomfortable "Thank you?" all she could say before awkwardly sitting down.
Kagome, being the attempted match maker she was, decided THIS of all times would be good to leave the two of them alone, as she and Sango quickly dragged their husbands away from the ensuing disaster that was Kouga's failed seduction. Once the others were out of sight, Kouga quickly composed himself, and tried to apologize for his terrible behavior. "I'm so sorry," he laughed as he sat down next to her, rubbing the back of his head. "I never get like this, I swear. Please, if you'll allow me to start over?" He asked. She nodded, conceding to his request. "Please do."
He cleared his throat. "Hello Lady Tukoni," he said rather ceremoniously, shaking her hand, "My name is Kouga, leader of the Eastern wolf demon tribe. I should be apologizing for startling you my lady, getting hit was my own fault." Aurelia blankly stared at him for a moment before bursting into laughter, "There's no need for those kinds of formalities here Kouga, though I do appreciate the thought. And please, just call me Aurelia, I'm no Lady." She said heartily, leaning playfully to bump into him. He smiled; glad to at least have partially improved his chances with her.
They spoke for quite some time, the hours passing as if moments. Looking up, the moon hung directly above them, signaling midnight. Both, thoroughly tired, stood up, and gave a warm hug goodnight, Kouga vowing to return in the morning to see her again. As he disappeared into the night, she sighed heavily, knowing full well Kagome and Sango were waiting up to probe her for information the moment she got back inside. The men had decided to stay in Sango and Miroku's hut for the night, and leave the slightly larger one with the extra room attached for the women and children. It was a win-win for everyone. The men didn't have to listen to the girls gossiping, and the women had space for them, and their brood of children.
"Sooooo, how'd it go?" Kagome questioned eagerly as Aurelia entered the hut. "Spill it. Do you like him?" Sango inquired immediately after. "Ok slow down; one at a time ladies. First, Kagome, it went well. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but we have a lot in common. Second, Sango, he's a bit of an acquired taste, but I think so. He's more of a gentleman than I'm used to so he's got that going for him. He's VERY good looking, which is also a plus, and he's actually interested in me, so I do think I could give him a shot." Sango and Kagome nearly exploded in so much excitement that you would have thought they had money riding o
"But" she continued "what if the well starts working? What do I do then? My only family is on the other side. From what you've told me Kagome, Kouga will never be able to go through. I'll have to choose sides, especially if it doesn't stay open. I don't want to get either of our hopes up if that's the case. I'm my father's only child. His family line dies with me. It won't do them any good for me to have babies here; I can't continue the line from the past. Or better yet, what if I'm on one side and my kids are on the other and it decides to close off again? What then?" She ranted, flustered, "Either way, I'm not sure what I'd do. I mean, let's say I get stuck here and something happens to my mom? The only family she has is my uncle Jon and my cousin Evelyn. I know my deadbeat stepdad is bound to do something to her, especially if he finds anything out about my grandma that I told you, and I don't want to miss saying goodbye because I decided playing footsie with a guy 500 years in the past was more important. It's a lot to consider."
Their jaws were on the floor. "I never really thought about it like that. Did you Kagome?" Sango asked. Kagome's thoughts went to her own mother. "No, but then again my mom always understood. I'm certain she misses me, but she's the one that told me to come back when I could." Aurelia slumped against a wall, uncertainty written plain as day across her face.
"Kagome…I want to give him a chance, I really do, but I just don't know how to deal with that damn well. If it would make up its mind I would give you an answer in a heartbeat. Yes. If it stays shut and I'm stuck here, then sure, I would go for it. If the damn thing would just stay open, like you say it used to, I'd do it, but I just don't know yet. It's just too much to put in perspective at once." Both women nodded in understanding, albeit slightly disappointed, before deciding it was time for bed.