A/N: Dec 8, 2018:
Wow! I can hardly believe that i'm actually posting a new chapter to Snow White and the Wolf! For a time there i was afraid that my writer's block would never be resolved. I want to thank ALL OF YOU so much for reading, reviewing, and suggesting everything that you have! All your comments helped to keep me working on this story until I finally figured it out, which oddly enough, when I stopped fighting it, sorta happened on it's own ;-)
I'd like to say a *Special * Thank you* to Wolfgodess12! Thank you so much for letting me bounce sooo many thoughts and idea's off of you over the summer! Unfortunately, as you can tell, I hit a total wall with this story, but I kept going back and thinking things over, and it's like a light bulb has finally gone on! lol. I hope school is going awesome for you, and that just maybe you get a chance to read the new chapters! *Hugs!*
Also, I'd like to shout out to bunniculasama! You'll be happy to know that i was able to finally follow your advice and I followed the breadcrumbs I'd left myself! I actually started laughing when i finally 'saw' them, lol ;-)
Really, truly, EVERYONE who read, left a suggestion, a comment, a joke, THANK-YOU! This story only exists because you guys didn't give up on it, and neither did I! I hope you like where it goes, it's not all figured out, but i have the gist in my head, and quite a bit written out. Not sure how often I can update, but rest assured it won't be in six months! ;-)
OMG! I almost forgot, I went over the first three chapters, and massaged them a bit. Chapter 3 actually has over 2,500 new words! So not sure if you want to go back and re-read that first, but be sure you do :)
See you soon! Hugs! oxo Lady p.
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"Oh, shut up already will ya, Miroku! You'll be glad we didn't stay with those weirdo monks believe me! Something didn't seem right about them." InuYasha growls from his seated position around the newly lit campfire, arms crossed stubbornly into the large sleeves of his Haori.
"Really, InuYasha," Miroku's head tips forward, body slouching, as he stares at the slowly building fire, tossing bits of leaves into the dancing flames. "I don't feel like having an ethical debate with you right now about the merits of calling your potential host a, 'soul sucking parasite,' because they asked you to make a donation to the temple."
The hanyou snorts derisively.
"It certainly didn't deserve the up close introduction you gave that poor priest of the Tessaiga." Miroku sighs at the memory. He'd been so close to a real bed, and all those lovely serving woman.
Shippou can't hold back his giggle, "Oh wow, yeah that was funny, I thought he was going to pee his robes!"
"Shippou," Sango's stern tone immediately silences the little kit. "It's not nice to laugh when someone is scared," she reprimands gently when Kagome doesn't, although now the slayer has a much better understanding of why exactly her friend is acting so strange.
"Sorry, Sango," the kit pouts, head lowering.
"Whatever, say what you want, there was something fishy about those two." InuYasha's chin juts stiffly into the air.
Propping his elbow on his knee, Miroku rests his chin in his palm as he gazes thoughtfully into the fire. "Sure, InuYasha, whatever you say," mind still whirling with thoughts of the lovely maidens he'd seen working at the shrine as they toured the grounds before the hanyou's ugly little incident.
"Keh, you're just pissed 'cause you couldn't flirt with those women at the temple," InuYasha scoffs, turning a knowing glare on the monk.
"W-what ah, are you talking about InuYasha?" Miroku chagrins under Sango's narrowed glare. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm a man of Buddha and such things . . ."
Kagome tunes out the bickering. "I'm gonna, ah . . . go get some more wood for the fire," she calls out, but Miroku and InuYasha are too busy playing verbal racket ball to pay any mind. Shippou watches the two squabbling adults with great amusement, eyes wide and ginger topped head bobbing back and forth.
"Hey, Kagome, I'll come with you." Sango's penetrating and knowing gaze in her direction makes the miko's face flush.
"Yeah, sure, Sango, that'd be great." Together the two girls walk out into the low setting daylight, having decided not to take to the road today after the failed Temple excursion; instead they'd walked off into the adjoining forests bordering the temples lands. When they get far enough away from the camp that she's sure the others won't hear them talking, Sango turns an expectant quirked eyebrow to an already blushing priestess.
"Okay, Kagome, are you ready to spill about what happened between you and Kouga?" she asks, giggling at the look of embarrassed shock that flits through the miko's expression.
"What?! S-sango . . . I-I don't . . ." Kagome stutters, all the while Sango's eyes blaze knowingly into hers, and the miko knows there's no point lying to her best friend. She takes a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. "How did you know?" she smiles hesitantly.
"Come on, Kagome, we've been travelling together for years, and I know you a lot better than that." Sango smiles indulgently at her unusual friend. "Besides, after I saw Kouga's face this afternoon holding that flower, it wasn't hard to figure out," she winks playfully, grinning wider.
Kagome can't help but giggle at the memory of the blushing wolf demon, when another thought hits her, and her eyes widen in panic. Does InuYasha know? She curls her arms around her middle, the notion sending a terrible tremor running through her.
"Don't worry," Sango adds, reading the miko's thoughts. "I don't think InuYasha noticed, he was too busy growling at Kouga to pay attention to anything else," she grins, seeing the relief that swims across Kagome's face at her words.
Kagome nods, hating how relieved she feels. Absentmindedly, she starts reaching for some branches and kindling, gathering her thoughts the same way she gathers the wood, one gnarled and twisted piece at a time.
"Well, you're right," she smiles, laughing lightly, grateful to be sharing her secret with someone. "It's just . . . I don't . . ." damn, why is it so hard for her to put coherent words together?
"Aren't sure how you feel?" Sango finishes, arching a dark eyebrow at her.
"Exactly!" Kagome exclaims, collapsing onto the soft grass beneath her, needing to take some weight off in more ways than one. The kindling falls to the ground, forgotten, and Kagome leans her back against the tree behind her, watching as Sango quickly follows suit, sitting next to her.
"Well, what do you know?" Sango grins, leaning into Kagome and nudging her with her shoulder. "Sometimes that's the best place to start," she beams.
Kagome laughs, pushing back against Sango's nudge, she nibbles her bottom lip, thinking. "He confuses me . . ." a silly grin dangles at the corner of her mouth, "I guess . . . I guess he always has. He just seems so overbearing, and over the top at times, and then . . ." Kagome's eyes take on a dazed, glossy appearance that doesn't escape the slayer's notice, "and then there are moments when it's just me and him, and it's like he's a different person. Kinder, sweeter . . ." Kagome's mind trails off when storming eyes flash behind her lids, sending a tremor rippling through her.
She licks her lips. "And when I see him now, when he looks at me . . . all I can think about is his lips kissing mine." Kagome's cheeks burn red even as Sango's jaw drops open, her eyes all but knocking against the side of the miko's head.
"Kagome!" The slayer struggles to keep from shrieking as she grabs hold of the priestess, shaking her in her trembling, excited grasp. "Oh my gods, I can't believe you kissed Kouga!" Sango squeals in hushed low tones, bubbling with delight, eyes bright with the sheen of excitement.
"Twice," Kagome grins, holding up her first two fingers.
"What?!" Sango shrieks before slapping her hands over her mouth, "Oops, sorry," she giggles.
The priestess can only laugh alongside her friend, the slayer's energy more than infectious. "Believe me, Sango, I know how you're feeling," Kagome's face beams, a healthy blush staining her cheeks.
"So . . ." Sango's eyes glint in eager anticipation. "What was it like kissing Kouga?"
The sight of Kagome's eye lids closing as she breathes in, and her hand rising to her chest touching her heart, are subtle signs that the slayer notices with great interest. The long deep sigh the priestess makes, tells even more.
"Oh, Sango," Kagome's eyes widen, filling with a dazzling glow. "It was more than anything I could have imagined," the smile that lights up Kagome's face is a million watts at least. "I . . . it felt . . . it was . . ." she fumbles for just the right words, but none seem to fit quite right. "Oh gods, it was . . . utterly consuming," Kagome flushes, hands pressed to her cheeks as though she might contain the flames she can feel burning on her face.
Sango does a perfect swoon, mock fainting across Kagome's lap, one arm covering her face. "Gah! Kagome, you're killing me!" she giggles.
Kagome laughs, shoving playfully at the slayer in her lap. She always knows how to make her feel better.
"It just . . . it sort of . . ." needing her friend to understand just how much the kiss had affected her. "He kind of . . . broke my world apart." As she says it, Kagome can't hold back the sudden forming tears, or the welling emotions that lodge in her throat, coloring her voice.
"I'm not really sure what to think anymore . . . how to feel. I've been with InuYasha a long time, and nothing's ever felt like this with him. Not even close. What . . . what does that even mean?" the miko's eyes plead for help in understanding the avalanche of thoughts threatening to turn her brain into mush.
"And . . . am I . . . am I even ready for it?" Kagome trembles with the power of all the new feelings coursing through her, fuzzing her thoughts to everything that isn't Kouga's piercing eyes that burn her to the soles of her feet, or his hungry kiss that could so easily devour her soul.
"Oh, Kagome," Sango's eyes soften, seeing her friends tormented feelings. It's clear that something has sparked between her and the wolf – something most unexpected – and the loyal, steadfast miko is struggling with all the awakening feelings inside her, attempting to understand what they mean.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Kagome. All this with Kouga is very new. Give yourself sometime to think about what's happened and what you're feeling. You don't have to make any decisions right now," Sango's warm, understanding smile does much to soothe the miko's frantic, galloping heart.
Nodding gratefully, Kagome rubs the back of her fist against her cheek, rubbing away the few droplets that had escaped. "You're right, Sango," she smiles meekly, feeling less overwhelmed.
"And remember, Kagome, no one can tell you who you can and can't be kissing," Sango squeezes the miko's arm in a supportive gesture, "not even InuYasha."
The hanyou may think that he has Kagome all tied up in a neat little bow, but Sango is more than happy to see Kouga take a real shot for Kagome's affections who had only ever been caring and attentive to the miko, if not overly confident and eager on more than one occasion. But Sango, who'd grown up learning the ways of, and battling different youkai, understands that Kouga is just behaving like any wolf demon would in pursuit of a mate.
"Thanks, Sango," Kagome smiles, leaning against her friends shoulder.
On the far side of a large clearing, far enough away that Kagome is unable to sense the pull of his jewel shards, stands a lone armored wolf, gazing up into the slowly darkening sky with his eyes squeezed shut. A tail flicks slowly in concentration, while gauntleted arms hang limp at his sides.
He hadn't meant to listen to his woman's conversation with his powerful hearing. He'd been waiting for night to descend, far enough away that the stupid mutt wouldn't catch his scent. After everything that had happened that afternoon in front of the temple, and the memory of Kagome's anxiety as she had run from him, trying to tell him no, had almost broken his wolfish heart. But Kouga had felt Kagome's heart in that kiss – in her kiss, and he'd needed to see her again, needed her to know that whatever happens between them, he's already hers, heart, body, and soul.
So when a woman's shill scream had rung out, Kouga's hearing, which had been adjusted to its most sensitive setting in case his woman should need him, had immediately zeroed in. It was then he'd heard Kagome's soft voice, "Believe me, Sango, I know what you're feeling."
The tone of her words had seemed curious to Kouga, but realizing that she must be speaking privately with her pack mate due to her hushed tone, and detecting only their two scents in their vicinity, Kouga had been about to withdraw his hearing, to give his woman her privacy. It was then the slayer had spoken, stalling the Alpha wolf's breath.
A few minutes earlier…
"What was it like kissing Kouga?"
The wolf can literally feel the moment his heart stops working, suddenly falling silent, his entire being focused on a little clearing sitting on the other end of the large sprawling forest. Fuck! He should stop listening, he should withdraw, this isn't right. And yet . . . there's a part of Kouga that is dying to know, needs to know. As he wars with himself, Kagome's soft answering reply nulls the wolf's decision, her words ringing out across the vast distance, carried under the light of the waning moon to the wolf's pointed ears, and straight into the burning fires of his soul.
"It was more than anything I could have imagined . . . it was . . . utterly consuming."
"Utterly consuming." Those two powerful words ignite a river of lava in Kouga's blood. The sound rushing in his ears drowns out everything around him in loud, thunderous heart beats that roar to life with such power he's afraid they'll burst through his chest. The eyes of his inner beast snap open, bleeding with newly awakened power.
*patience* the voice rumbles, knowing it can't be long now.
"It just . . . it sort of . . ." Kouga's ears twitch at the uncertainty that suddenly floods his woman's voice, he's so tuned into her it's like she's screaming into his ear. "He kind of broke my world apart."
The words thrill him as she speaks, "I've been with InuYasha a long time and nothing's ever felt like this with him. Not even close . . ." Kouga can hardly believe what he's hearing after all the years of hoping, wishing, aching.
"What . . . what does that even mean? And . . . am I . . . am I ready for it?"
It's the pain and uncertainty radiating in Kagome's voice that pulls Kouga's growling, snapping youkai back in, cooling the molten fires in his belly like water to flame, and filling him with a sense of guilt and shame. As the slayer's voice begins to reply with sage advice, the wolf quickly withdraws his hearing back to the clearing, his heart soaring alongside.
Kouga's eyes snap open – wide and dilated, crackling with an intense blue fire. He grunts, gripping his chest, his heart racing. He collapses to the ground beneath him, his legs feeling suddenly too weak to support him. A surge of incredible warmth explodes through Kouga's soul, bursting open like a volcanic eruption, and breaking open what had once been stable ground. A riot of thoughts and emotions tear through the wolf's mind like pyroclastic rocks torn free from their vaults of magma as the words he never should have heard ring in his head, taking up every measure of space in Kouga's being.
"Utterly consuming . . . He kind of broke my world apart . . . Nothing has ever felt like this."
He takes deep steadying breaths as the surge of power rushing through him slowly fades, easing Kouga's racing heart. As Kagome's words loop in his mind swelling his spirit with incredible joy, it makes the Alpha wolf wonder, if Happily Ever After's really do exist, is it possible that there just might be one out there for him?
Leaning back onto his arms, Kouga gazes into the depths of the glowing, twinkling sky – only a sliver of moon hangs in the ethereal light. With Kagome's words warming his heart, suddenly nothing seems impossible or too far out of reach, not even the stars. The side of Kouga's mouth quirks up in a silly wolfish grin, hell if he wanted too, he could fucking fly.