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CHAPTER THREE

Interesting Confrontation...

"Soul Snatcher? You mean an ugly floating snake-thing?" Kouga asked, his face holding a slightly confused expression. He didn't need an answer to his question, the way he mentioned the stupid thing made the priestess, who looked strangely like Kagome, glare at him. Kouga sniffed the air discreetly. A slightly shocked look came to his face, but he quickly wiped it off before anyone could notice. 'Was this what who I caught wind of when I thought I smelled Kagome?'

That thought caused him to do a double take. His head flicked to Kagome, then back to this other priestess, then back again. Everyone just stared at him, not quite sure what he found so odd.

"Hey uhh could you tell me why you two look..." He sniffed the air, "and smell almost the same?"

Inu Yasha gave a small 'feh' at his question, but didn't take it upon himself to explain anything. Sango and Miroku were just kind of standing there, Shippo at their heals. It wasn't their place to explain. Kagome promptly realized Kouga had never actually met Kikyou. He had no clue what the connection between them was.

"I'm kinda her reincarnation..." Kagome said, figuring it wasn't a good idea to go on about how Kikyou was actually dead and made of nothing but clay and dirt, and how Inu Yasha was hopelessly in love with her. Kouga's face scrunched up slightly in what could only be confusion, but he never gave voice to his thoughts.

"Enough of this."

Everyone turned from the uninformed wolf back to the owner of the frustrated voice. It was not like Kikyou to be short tempered.

"I'm growing impatient, tell me, was it you who destroyed my soul snatcher?" She asked staring directly at Kouga. Kouga began to smirk, remembering just how easy it was to annihilate that annoying thing. 'What the hell does she need something like that for? She's obviously a priestess. And why the hell is Inu Yasha so quiet all of a sudden. Usually you can't shut him up! I'll never figure any of these people out...'

"Yeah, what of it? That thing was pathetic," he gloated.

'Bad move,' Kagome thought to herself, everyone else's thoughts along the same lines. She wasn't exactly sure why Kikyou was so angry about the soul snatcher, considering she had plenty more, didn't she? She could have just overlooked it and created another. Or maybe her powers were weakening and she wasn't able to sustain herself as well anymore.

Despite her reasons, Kikyou was here, and angry, and that could mean a lot of trouble. 'Why though, is she angry?' Kagome took on a serious look at the thought, mulling over the reasons that she had already concocted. 'Nothing makes sense! How would Kouga get involved in this even if she was weakening? Kikyou lures away the souls of dead human girls. He only has male wolves in his pack, right?'

"Kouga, who's soul was the demon trying to take away?" Kagome asked, her tone dead serious. Inu Yasha was completely ignoring everyone's presence at that moment, and was giving his undivided attention to the dead form before him.

A look of confusion crossed the wolf demon's features, both at Kagome's question and at the half demon's attitude change. Dog-breath never took an eye off Kagome when he was around, but now it was like he could care less. He wondered briefly how Inu Yasha was connected to this puzzle, because he knew, somehow, the stupid half-breed was connected, he always was. His thoughts were interrupted by a slight "ahem," by Kagome, a reminder of her question. He squelched his thoughts about Inu Yasha. Right now he had bigger problems. He wasn't exactly ready to tell Kagome who was staying with his pack, it could damage their 'budding' relationship. He looked down at the green grass of the field, searching for an answer, and began to get a headache when he couldn't seem to find one.

"Does it make a difference? It was in my lands, I killed it." Kouga said as nonchalantly as possible, making it clear that he was dismissing the question like it was of no importance.

Miroku read the brief panic on the wolf's face, and easily realized what it was that he was holding back. Obviously Kouga had a female with his pack, and he could take a few guesses at who it was.

"About time..." Miroku mumbled, but didn't realize he had done so.

"What's that?" Sango asked, hearing him say something, but not quite sure what he said. Shippo looked up, but said nothing, hoping Miroku would tell them both whatever he was thinking.

Miroku's features took on a look of contemplation, his brow furrowed slightly.

"What is it Miroku?" Sango asked, knowing that he saw something that she did not. He did not speak immediately.

"Kouga," he paused, putting his thoughts into words, "he was probably harboring Ayame with his pack."

"Well it's about time," Sango replied, slightly let down by Miroku's statement of what was almost obvious. Shippo felt like he was about to fall over, and he had them worried...

"That's not what's bothering me," Miroku said as he turned to completely face Sango. This startled Sango, her eyes showed it clearly as they grew in size. Shippo's ears perked up.

"If Kouga intercepted one of Kikyou's demons that attacked Ayame, that must mean Kikyou can now take away a demon's soul, or at least she is trying to."

Sango stared at the monk for a moment, digesting everything he just said. He still looked deep in thought.

"We should be on our guard, just in case something happens" she said in a somber tone. Shippo looked over to where Kagome and Kouga were standing; he had a bad feeling about this.

Kouga still hadn't answered her question to the point where she could obtain the information that she needed and this period of inaction was beginning to grate on Kagome's nerves. Kikyou was quite obviously not going to be patient, and Kagome always felt slightly anxious when Kikyou was around. The usually calm priestess began to raise her bow in anger, but she still said nothing.

Normally a threat to the group would automatically spring Inu Yasha into action, but not this time. He barely even moved from his spot, his muscles just slightly tensed, his eyes hardening.

'Crap! What am I supposed to do now! She's not aiming at any one in my group, it's just Kouga, and I hate Kouga, there's no reason for me to but in. He may have helped us... but so did Kikyou... and Kikyou... ' Inu Yasha made his decision, he wouldn't interfere, obviously Kouga brought this upon himself.

Miroku and Sango just stood in indecision to the happenings, not quite sure how they should react. Whether Kikyou was friend or foe wasn't all that important right now, this really wasn't there business. It was between Kouga and Kikyou.

Kouga seemed not to notice the actions of the dead priestess and just continued to look at Kagome, hoping that she would let him off the hook. His hopes were crushed as she opened her mouth to speak once again, probably to reinforce her question.

'If I get rid of that wolf, I'll have gotten revenge for my soul snatcher, but more importantly it will serve as the perfect distraction. What luck running into that girl here.' Kikyou slowly began to raise the arrow to her bow while she formulated a plan. 'It's the only way', Kikyou raised an arrow from the pack on her back, aligning it with Kouga, but just slightly off.

A slight wind tousled Kagome's hair, but more importantly brought the strange change in scent to Kouga. Kouga turned his head away from Kagome, who was about to speak. Realization struck hard and fast. There was no time for thoughts as he scooped Kagome up in his arms. A faint purple light whizzed by his head, narrowly missing both him and Kagome. It landed in a tree on the other side of the opening, embedding itself deep into its bark. As Kouga landed from his quick movement he set Kagome down.

"What the hell is wrong with your friend!" He asked angrily while making sure that the arrow had not hit her either. Kagome just looked at him, not exactly sure what she should say. After all, Kikyou wasn't exactly her friend. Kouga watched the look on Kagome's face fade to sadness, and he assumed then that this priestess person was not an ally to them, at least not to all of them. He backed away from Kagome, saying a brief, "don't worry, I'll take care of it. I've gotta protect you." He turned to face the threat upon him and his 'mate'. No one was allowed to hurt Kagome, and he'd be sure that this priestess never would.

Sango was ready to pounce as that arrow sped through the air. She had jumped from her resting position on a rock but a steady hand held her back.

"We shouldn't interfere."

"You're kidding me, that arrow almost struck Kagome!" Sango yelled at the monk, who currently had a very tight hold on her forearm. The contact was making her skin tingle slightly, but she pushed that feeling aside.

"This is Kouga's doing, besides, who knows how Inu Yasha would react were we to intervene and so much as touch Kikyou. We all know how he feels towards her," he said, not relinquishing his hold on the demon slayer's forearm. Sango just scowled at him. She understood the undead priestess' sadness, but that still gave no reason to let her hurt Kagome. She also knew of Inu Yasha's feelings towards the priestess, but she was sure he also possessed those feelings for Kagome, or at least some of them.

"What if she hurts Kagome!" Shippo chimed in worriedly.

Miroku's reply was even, and straight to the point. "Should that happen, we'll wait for Inu Yasha to take action, if he fails in doing so, then we would have no other choice." Miroku felt the muscles of the girl's forearm ease some. His grip finally loosened on Sango's arm, and she slowly drew it away.

"We'll do it your way, but if she so much as scratches Kagome, I'm not hesitating."

"Yeah, Kikyou's mean," Shippo added.

Miroku gave a firm nod, accepting everything they said.

Inu Yasha was stunned when he watched Kikyou release her arrow. That arrow had just barely missed not only Kouga, but Kagome as well. His heart began to raise, he was about to jump towards Kagome when he realized that Kouga had already removed her from danger's path. When his brief worry subsided his reasoning kicked into action. He quickly acknowledged that it was somehow Kouga's fault that Kagome was nearly hit. He looked over to where Kouga had just set down an unharmed Kagome, feeling a pang of jealousy that he had not been the one to grab her and bring her to safety, but he kept his mouth shut. Kikyou was here. Times like this always confused him. He had loved Kikyou, and there in was his problem. What was there he could do?

He had to do something though. No matter how much he cared for Kikyou, he couldn't let her hurt Kagome, Shippo, Sango, or Miroku, even if it was an accident.

He took a step toward Kikyou. "What are you planning to do here?" He asked, the anger he had tried to push into his voice not showing nearly as much as he had hoped.

Kikyou glanced Inu Yasha's way with cold eyes. 'If only you knew' she thought, and once again raised her bow, not yet fixing it with an arrow but turning herself to face Kouga and Kagome.

"I won't allow you to hurt them." Inu Yasha's voice was firm, drawing Kikyou's attention back to him.

Kouga saw Kikyou's distraction as an opportunity and lunged toward her with all his speed, landing right next to her. Kikyou saw the sudden movement out of the corner of her eye and turned back to face where Kouga had landed. But it was too late, she was quite obviously caught off guard. Kouga lifted his leg, which emanated power from his jewel shard and swung a powerful kick at Kikyou.

He underestimated her abilities though, and was moving slower than usual, assuming there was nothing she could possibly do to stop him. She quickly lowered her bow, causing her powers to flow into it and deflect the demon's kick from making contact. Kouga looked stunned at what he had just seen. He had attacked at point blank range and there was no way for her to escape, and she... completely thwarted his attack with a single move.

"What the hell do you think you're doing wolf boy!" Inu Yasha yelled as he ran towards where Kouga and Kikyou were standing. He was enraged at the thought that Kouga had just dared to try and hurt Kikyou. He didn't even notice when Kikyou retreated back a bit. Inu Yasha landed close to where Kouga was standing, a deadly expression on his face.

"Whatda ya mean, what am I doing? She shot at me and Kagome, what the hell do you think I'm doin'?" Kouga retorted as he bent down in a position, ready to attack.

'Shot at Kouga and Kagome?' Inu Yasha thought. No, he wouldn't let his mind accept that, Kouga was the one who caused the arrow to be so close to Kagome. He gave voice to his thoughts as soon as possible.

"The only reason that arrow was any where near Kagome was because you were near her, you idiot!" Inu Yasha said as he looked over to Kikyou. She was simply standing there, watching them both, no emotion in her eyes.

Kagome watched from a distance as Kikyou averted Kouga's attack with ease. Kouga had set her down on the other side of the clearing but, she could still plainly see and hear most of what was going on. She could already tell this was going to be one of those horrible battles that she had hoped they would be able to avoid. Inu Yasha would never let anyone harm Kikyou.

Not long after Kouga's kick, Inu Yasha appeared next to him, already blazing with anger. Kouga and Inu Yasha began to argue. 'This could get really ugly really fast,' she thought sadly. Listening closely, she heard Kouga say that Kikyou had shot at both him and her. She watched the half demon's face fill with astonishment at the statement, only to be washed away by anger the next moment.

Kagome thought about the shot. Kikyou was a perfect marksman, but that didn't account for Kouga's speed. If Kikyou had aimed for where Kouga had been standing, which was a short distance from her at that time, then the arrow would have missed both her and Kouga by a mile. But she hadn't. That arrow was close. 'Kikyou could have tried to predict Kouga's movements and shot towards me...' Kagome told herself, though she was still questioning that theory. Kikyou had tried to kill her before, was it that unbelievable that she would try to again? 'After all, If I die, she can take the rest of my soul and be with Inu Yasha.'

Kouga and Inu Yasha were still arguing.

"The only reason that arrow was any where near Kagome was because you were near her, you idiot!" she heard Inu Yasha yell once again. He was always defending Kikyou, no matter the odds. She began to wonder what Inu Yasha would have done if that arrow had actually hit her. Her heart lurched painfully as the answer came to her. Nothing...

'That's right Inu Yasha,' Kikyou thought as she pieced together more of a plan in her mind. 'Keep on defending me, you must give me more time.' She knew her bow had taken a brutal blow when she had used it to ward off that wolf demon's attack, but she would still be able to fire two arrows from it before it broke. That would normally be enough to down most of her foes without a problem, but this time would be different, she wouldn't be able to shoot at her target without distracting a few people. Sure, she was good, but was she that good? It would be an easy task if her bow were not in its current condition. Could she succeed with just two arrows at her disposal?

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