CH04: Enter Kouga, Rival in Love

Kagome had fallen asleep laying on top of the covers, but she awoke under the covers. Her shoes had been removed, but other than that, she was still clothed as she had been. Inuyasha was sitting on the other end of the bed, leaning against the wall. His golden eyes were watching her. He immediately looked away when he noticed that she was awake.

"You don't seem like the kind of person to just sit there and take abuse." She muttered a quick apology as Inuyasha was slammed against the bed.

"I didn't have a choice. After the escape fifty years ago they began to take precautions. I was lucky enough to be the first one to receive the new treatment." He parted his hair and pointed to a small lump on his spine at the base of his skull. "The teachers, and higher officers, all have the ability to trigger it. Mine usually just hurts like hell and paralyzes me for a few moments. If I really piss them off..."

"Have you tried taking it out?"

"Of course I did, the first time one of those bastards used it, but any tampering just sets it off."

Both their cards began vibrating, interrupting their conversation. They headed to the hall and checked at the terminal. They were to report to the briefing room for a mission.

"The word around the base is that Inuyasha finally got himself a girl." Miroku said with a lecherous grin as they entered. "Oh what could you to possibly be up to, alone together, in a room with only one bed."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha growled pounding the monks head vigorously.

"I didn't know what I was doing. It was an accident." Kagome explained, "There's nothing going on."

"Feel free to have an accident with me any time." This time Sango smacked him, ignoring his as he lay on the floor feigning unconsciousness, knowing it was just another ploy to grope her.

Kaede arrived, carrying a manila folder.

"Sit down." She instructed. They all complied. "A demon has been attacking a small town near the mountains. The wolves were sent to handle it, but they have yet to return. We fear that they have been killed. Ye shall find the demon and slay it. Also ye are to determine if the wolves still live. Deal with them appropriately if they be alive, else ye shall destroy them. Have ye any questions?" Kaede waited for a moment, "Ye shall leave immediately."

Inuyasha's main weapon was his claws. Miroku had his sutras. Sango carried her own unique weapons everywhere she went. They had to detour to the armory solely for her benefit. Sango suggested that she choose a bow she liked and maintain it herself. It would be much easier if she did not have to get used to a new one every time. Kagome selected a bow much like the one that she had used for her testing and a quiver of plain wooden arrows. There of course were other arrows, from plain steel shafts, to ones that split into multiple projectiles, and even some with exploding heads. Kagome, however, was unsure about how the differences in weight and material would affect her spiritual powers, deciding instead to stick with what had worked for her before, plain old wooden arrows.

Afterwards they headed off to a section of the base that Kagome had not seen before. It was a large hanger filled with several helicopters. Half were black, and the other half painted with a green and brown camouflage patterned. A pilot was there waiting for them.

"Why don't we just drive?" Kagome asked. She had never flown before, and had reservations about boarding anything that did not have a pair of wings.

"This is faster." Inuyasha replied.

"We only use ground vehicles when transporting things that are too dangerous to be allowed to escape, like uncontrolled demons." Sango explained, "If there was an accident in a helicopter, anything transported would likely escape in the crash and it's guards would be in no shape to stop it, and likely die."

"Don't worry, it's just a security measure, all of our equipment is in excellent condition." Miroku assured her tapping the side of one of the machines with his staff. This jiggled loose a screw and a piece of armored plating fell from it. "Except this one, which we purchased second hand from Canada." The monk grinned nervously.

The flight proceeded without incident. As soon as they had exited the chopper, it took off.

"Where's it going?" Kagome asked, "How are we supposed to get back home?"

"We'll call for a chopper or a taxi or something if we survive." Inuyasha said, clearly unconcerned.

"So where is this demon?"

"Don't know. It didn't have a tracker, so that means it was one of the original escaped demon, or a demon's offspring."

Inuyasha got on his hands and knees and began to sniff around. "This way."

"You found the demon?" Kagome asked.

"No, but there's lots of blood, wolf blood." Inuyasha raced off.

Kagome, Miroku and Sango followed close behind, though they slowly lost ground to the half demons superior speed. Ahead of them Inuyasha stopped. When they caught up, they found out why. Before them was a field. Hundreds of wolves and humanoid demons wearing fur who had wolf tails were strewn about. They had been brutally massacred and dismembered. Each was full of deep cuts.

"They didn't even touch whoever did this. All the blood is wolf blood."

"Don't count us out yet!" A disembodied head growled as it and it's comrades reassembled themselves.

"What the hell is going on?" Inuyasha cursed as wolf limbs began to fly at him in an attempt to rip him limb from limb.

"Hiraikotsu!" Sango's boomerang had no effect. Some of the dead wolves attempted to attack her, but Miroku placed himself in front of her and formed a barrier.

"Where's the demon that's doing this?"

"Show yourself demon!" Inuyasha called as he further mangled the attacking corpses with his claws.

"If you insist." A woman's voice laughed. "Dance of blades!"

"Watch out!" A brown blur grabbed Kagome just before blades of wind came ripping through the trees.

"Kouga?" He had been in one of the pictures that they were shown before the mission.

"You should be safe here." He said.

"What about Inuyasha and the others?"

"Mutt-boy can die for all I care." Kouga replied, "Besides, it's too dangerous to go back. I never even saw the witch before most of my pack was dead pack was dead."

"Even if you are not brave enough to face the demon, I have to go help Inuyasha." Kagome said.

"I can't allow that." Kouga said, "What kind of man would I be if I let my mate go into danger?"

"Mate?"

"That's right, you're my woman now."

"Like hell she is!" Inuyasha interrupted.

"Inuyasha!" Kagome inched towards the much more familiar canine, more surprised by Inuyasha's protective growl than by Kouga's claims.

"I have to agree." A woman's voice laughed on the wind. "You will all die before you have a chance to make good on your claim.

"Blades of blood!" Inuyasha slashed in the general direction of the voice, slicing branches from the trees in the process.

"That was pitiful." The wind whirled around the tree of them, carrying the voice with it. "Dance of the dragon!" Whirlwinds gouged trenches in the ground around them. Inuyasha used his own body to shield Kagome.

"Keep my woman safe for me!" Kouga ordered as he used Inuyasha's head as a step as he leapt into the air towards the woman who was sitting on a giant floating feather. Inuyasha growled, but continues to shield Kagome from the attack.

"Dance of the dead!" Kagura brought forth Kouga's slain comrades who grabbed him before he could finish his attack. They slammed him into the ground. Several pinned him down while others started punching and kicking the helpless wolf.

"Kouga!"

"We'll save you!" Two other wolves appeared from hiding to protect their leader, but were quickly driven back by the undead army. Inuyasha had his own share of wolf corpses to deal with.

Suddenly, the barrage of bodies stopped as the Woman fell screaming in pain. She landed face down on the ground with a sutra on her back. It had burned a hole in her clothing, revealing a spider shaped scar. Miroku and Sango came from the woods. Sango stood with her Hiraikotsu ready as Miroku approaches the demon's body to ensure that it was disabled. At the last second, when Miroku was too close for Sango to let fly her weapon, the woman rolled over and pointed her closed fan at the monk's face.

"Blasted monk!" The woman cursed. Miroku raised his right hand to protect his face as a beam of light shot from the fan. The woman laughed at the pained expression on Miroku's face. "Enjoy this gift monk. You fought Kagura of the wind, and now the wind will be a part of you. It will devour everything you care about until the day that it kills you." Kagura plucked a feather out of her hair and it grew to a large size. With one more blast of wind, Kagura flew into the air and off into the distance.

"Miroku! Are you okay?" Sango asked.

"No!" The monk warned, "Stay back!" A slight wind began to build up. Instead of passing in a single direction as wind normally would, this wind swirled around Miroku as if being drawn into the wound on his hand.

"What's happening to you?"

"Keep away from me!"

"Look at the leaves!" Kagome pointed out. Indeed, leaves, and dirt and other debris were scuttling along the ground and into the vortex.

"Stay close to me. I'll protect you." Kouga said, pulling her from Inuyasha who was standing between her and the vortex.

"Like hell you will!" Inuyasha warned with a growl.

"She's my woman! I'll protect her."

"I don't smell your mark on her, but she better not stand so near you, or she'll begin to stink like a mangy wolf."

"Better than smelling like a mutt." Kouga countered, though his rebuff did not have the effect it should have as he began to slide away from both Kagome and Inuyasha. "What the hell!" He cursed as he clawed his way out of range of Miroku's current predicament that had been forgotten by the two canines during their arguments.

The hole was now a visible black dot on Miroku's hand. It was still growing, in both size and power. After a bit of experimentation, with his friend well back from him, Miroku managed to create a seal to stop the curse from spreading or sucking anything in, temporarily.

"We'd better return to headquarters. I don't think this seal will hold for long. I will need help from someone with more experience to completely seal this hand. "Sango... If I don't make it..." He looked at her with glassy eyes for a moment as if about to cry. Sango slapped him, leaving a bright red mark on his cheek.

"That hand was cursed long before that witch did anything to it."

The entire team, and the three surviving wolves were picked up by an unmarked black helicopter. Inuyasha sat alone in the back, as far from the noise of the main rotor as he could get. Kagome sat near the middle. Kouga sat opposite her, giving her lewd looks that reminded her of the monk who lay on the floor, milking Sango's concern for all it was worth.

"Hey, sis!" One of the surviving wolves sat next to her.

A slight warning growl erupted simultaneously from two canine throats as the other wolf sat on her other side.

"I'm Hakaku." He introduced himself.

"And I'm Ginta." The other continued. If not for their obvious physical dissimilarity, one would think that they were twins by their actions.

"What do you mean, sis?" Kagome asked warily.

"You're Kouga's woman now. That makes us family."

"One big happy pack."

"I didn't agree to that."

"And she never will!" Inuyasha said, glaring at the wolves and bearing his fangs. "Besides, what will Ayame think?" He asked with a smirk.

"You mean he's hitting on me, and he already has a girlfriend?" Kagome asked.

"Not girlfriend, fiancée." Inuyasha explained.

"That's not true!" Kouga insisted.

"Maybe you should stop going around promising to mate with girls. You're almost as bad as the monk."

"I never proposed to her." Kouga said, "It's all in her head."

"And there's nothing in yours, you mangy wolf."

"It doesn't matter what either of you think. I don't belong to anyone!."

"So, your entire pack was slaughtered?"

"Yes, Sir! And when I see that wind bitch again, I'll tear her apart!" Kouga growled.

"You'll have to be reassigned then."

"I can take her myself."

"No, as was seen today, you just don't have the power needed to take such a high caliber demon. You'll have to be assigned to another squad. Perhaps, Inuyasha's team. You have already become familiar with them."

"No way I'm joining any team where that half-mutt it the leader!" Kouga cursed.

"Just because he has seniority, does not mean he's the leader..."

"Hmm..." Moushin inspected the cursed hole. "Hmmn..." His humming was almost rhythmic.

"So, is there any way to seal the curse?" Sango asked.

"Patience, my dear Sango, this is obviously a very powerful curse, it cannot be taken lightly."

"Hmm... Hmm..."

"Master Moushin?"

"Hmm..."

"I think he's asleep." Sango observed.

"Wake up old man!" Miroku gave the elder monk a good smack to wake him.

"Huh?... I could do wit some sake."

"That's probably what knocked you out in the first place." Miroku said irritably. "What about the curse in my hand?"

"Sango will kill you long before that truly becomes a problem."

"The other curse..."

"As I see it, the hole will grow and become more powerful. Eventually it will swallow you up. You should refrain from using it if possible, even though this curse could be used as quite a formidable weapon. That should slow down its progress."

"I see..." Miroku said, "How long do I have?"

"As I said, Sango will probably kill you before this does. Unless it was damaged, you could live a good five or ten more years even if you used it constantly. Maybe ever thirty or more years if you kept it sealed."

"I see."

"What! That damn wolf is joining us? Isn't one pervert per team enough?" Inuyasha grumbled as the base commander explained his decision.

"You are going to need more power if you want to defeat other demons of Kagura's caliber." The commander stated, "Until other arrangements have been finalized, this is my decision."

Inuyasha cursed. He was so weak that the boss thought he needed help from a stupid wolf. He'd soon see who the strong one was. Inuyasha chuckled sneakily as he thought of a way to show everyone how strong he really was.