Family First
Disclaimer:
I do not own Inuyasha or Yu Yu Hakusho.
"Hiei thoughts" also "everyone else's thoughts as dictated by sentence"
"Yoko thoughts"
"Kurama thoughts"
Chapter 9: Let the Storm Rage On; The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyways.
Koga leaned against the wall, watching the group file in. He had led them to the main conference room of the dens. Large and circular, he could fit his whole pack in here, even before Kagura decimated his numbers. The light from the fire pit in the center of the room flickered in their faces, as he locked eyes with many of the newcomers that were watching him closely.
Kagome was completely oblivious to the tension in the room as she took a seat close to the wolf prince. Sango and Miroku filled the spots beside her, leaving the spirit detectives to take the other side of the firepit and Sesshomaru to fill in the entrance in his typically intimidating way.
The Spirit Detectives watched the wolf prince carefully, Yusuke especially. If looks could kill, Koga would have been dead long ago.
Koga turned his attention to the miko and the other two that sat beside her, intentionally ignoring the heated looks.
"So Kagome, wanna tell me what happened exactly?" he questioned, his voice tinged with something Kagome didn't quite understand.
"Well.." Kagome paused, unsure how to spill the news to the wolf prince. "To make a long story short, Naraku and Kikyo are controlling Inuyasha through some sort of mind spell. He... Was forced to destroy the village we stay at." Kagome stated, her eyes staring off into the fire, rather than meeting anyone's eye.
"I see... Is that all?" Koga asked, his voice going low with dangerous intent.
Sango watched Kagome struggle to get the words out and decided to jump in. "No, he also attacked us as well. We all barely escaped with our lives. We met again shortly after we started our trek here, and thats when Kagome realized that he was under a mind control spell."
The room was silent when she finished. Suddenly, a growl erupted from Koga's throat. "You killed that bastard right?" He managed to get out around his growl. The tension in the room shot through the roof when everyone turned their eyes onto Kagome's prone form.
Kagome folded her hands in her lap, pressing down into her legs as she worried her lip.
"No. I wouldn't let them." Came her quiet response.
Instantly, Koga was pushing himself off the wall and starting toward her. Before anyone could stop him, he was in front of her, crouched down, to look her in the eye. Grabbing her chin roughly, he forced the priestess to look him in the eye.
"Are you fucking stupid Kagome?" He asked, his face scrunched back, his fangs flashing dangerously.
Kagome reeled back, shock written across her features. That was all it took for Yusuke.
Within moments, he was up and across the firepit, yanking Koga back and away from his cousin.
"Who the fuck do you think you are wolf-boy?!" Yusuke yelled, looking Koga in the eye once he found his footing again. Within moments, Koga responded with a blow to the head. Knocking Yusuke back Koga growled as he slid into a battle pose.
"What kind of fucking family member lets his cousin be beat to shit and lets the mutt that did it, live?!" Koga yelled back.
Yusuke's eyes shadowed over as Koga's words crashed into him like another blow. "The kind that lets his cousin make her own decisions, rather than trying to force my will on her!" He retorted, sliding into his own offensive position.
Everyone is on their feet, ready to pull the two apart at any moment. Kagome is the only one still sitting. Eyes cast to the floor, bangs hiding her expression, she sat still as stone watching the floor.
Sesshomaru's eyes traveled not to the two fighting demons, but rather to his student. He watched from the entryway as her aura got darker and darker with every verbal blow her cousin and friend traded. Narrowing his eyes, he focused his attention on the idiots trading blows in the middle of the cave. Sliding his eyes back to his Kagome, he watches as her shoulders start to shake and the room became tinged with the scent of her tears.
His own growl threatened to spill out of his throat as he watched these imbeciles make her cry with their senselessness.
"Yea, because that's going to protect her next time huh?! He HURT HER! And you're just going to let him walk free!" Koga yelled, throwing another kick to Yusuke's midsection.
Grabbing his foot, Yusuke threw him backward, into the fire pit, knocking the fire into embers. "Who the fuck are you to tell me how to handle my own cousin? Obviously, you know nothing about her, since you're trying to control her every movement! No wonder she won't mate you!" he retorted, faking a kidney shot and going for the face.
"At least I wouldn't fail her the way you did!" Koga growled out, throwing a punch to Yusuke's chest.
That was the last straw for Kagome. She shot up from her sitting position. The room filled with the electric buzz of her holy powers and her skin lit up. Tears in her eyes, she stood fists clenched waiting for Koga and Yusuke to realize their pending danger.
Everyone else turned their attention to Kagome, momentarily forgetting the woman in question was in the room.
Yusuke was the first to notice her. The first thing he saw wasn't her holy power, it was the tears in her eyes.
Noticing where Yusuke's eyes had fallen, Koga turned to see the woman he was madly in love with, staring at them like she hated them.
Both stopped moving and gulped;
"Shit." they both thought.
Kagome stalked toward them slowly, her holy power crackling around her, filling up the room and suffocating the demons in the cave. Her eyes glowed with the unshed tears and light of her power as she looked at the two men.
Looking between the two, she enunciated her words slowly. "How. Dare. You." she whispered.
Both men slumped at the condemnation in her voice. Instantly Koga opened his mouth to defend his case. Kagome turned her fiery glare on him first, cutting off his defense.
"NO! You have said enough. Let me make one thing clear to you. You. Do. NOT. Own. ME! I will make my own choices, rather or not you agree with them! No one ever asked you to come to my rescue! In fact, I came to let you know for YOUR protection! Do NOT condemn my cousin for actually respecting my wishes! At least HE cares enough about me to trust me!" She spoke evenly, even as the first tear hit her cheek.
Like a beaten dog, Koga shut his mouth and looked away, shame radiating off of him.
Turning her hurt eyes onto her cousin, Yusuke visible shrunk from her rage. "And you... Why are you doing this? Why are you attacking ALL my friends? Are you trying to make this harder on me? You have made every encounter with the people I care about here a huge ordeal! I don't care if you want to protect me, you're a little too late! I've made my own decisions, made my own friends and my own enemies, and if you can't respect that, you can take you and your shit, and go home. I don't need someone I have to babysit."
At that, Yusuke's head shot up, his eyes shining with hurt. "Kags.." he whispered. But instead of listening, Kagome closed her eyes, more tears falling down her face. Choking back a sob, she turned and stalked out of the cave, pushing past Sesshomaru.
All eyes followed her out of the cave. The air in the room still stung with her holy power, but more with the scent of her tears. Both men stood their for a long moment.
Sesshomaru made sure Kagome was far enough away from the meeting room before he moved.
In a flash, he stood in front of the two demons. They had just enough time to look up at him, before his fists connected with both of their jaws, throwing them into the wall behind them.
Yusuke and Koga both hit the wall hard, sliding down, holding their broken jaws.
Identical glares met the demon lord as he stalked toward them slowly. Standing above them, he looked down his nose at the two men on the floor.
"You imbeciles are not to injure the miko further with your foolishness. Should either of you do so, you will have much more than broken jaws to worry about. Am I understood?" He stated calmly. With no dissent from them, he turned to look at the rest of the people in the room.
"That also applies to the rest of the room's occupants. Should anyone else conduct themselves with such foolish behavior, you will be considered warned, and I will not repeat myself."
With that, he stalked out of the room, in all his regalness.
No one said another word.
Kagome sat on one of the cliffs edges, high up on the mountain. Staring at the waning moon she thought about Inuyasha as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"His human night will be approaching soon... we have to find him. I have to find him. To hell with everyone else. They don't understand. They don't know he would never give up on me.."
Kagome closed her eyes as more tears made their way down her cheeks.
"I really should stop crying so much... Inuyasha would just call me weak. And I can't be weak anymore. Everything is going to fall apart if I don't get a handle on these things fast."
Heaving a sigh, Kagome wiped her face, trying to pull herself together.
Footsteps behind her alerted her of another's presence. Turning her head, she saw red out of the corner of her eye.
She returned her gaze to the moon.
"I'm sorry you had to see that back there. It was quite unsightly." She said into the silence.
Standing behind her, Kurama observed her sitting form. Legs thrown carelessly over the edge, hands behind her, supporting her weight. Hair thrown over her shoulders waving lightly in the nights breeze. Face turned up to the sky, he thought she looked too sad.
"Still the prettiest human I've ever seen. Although this scene jogs a vague memory of my former life... I once saw a maiden sitting just like this in my travels..." Yoko whispered his mind.
"How do I fix this Yoko?" Kurama mentally asked his counterpartner. Looking at her sitting in the dark alone left him wanting to comfort her, but unsure how.
"Do you want to fix this?" Yoko asked slowly.
Ignoring the fox in his head, Kurama followed his instincts.
Making his way to her, he sat himself down at the edge of the cliff beside her.
"I am... sorry it went that way. I was unsure how to fix the problem myself." He started slowly, watching her face.
She heaved a sigh and looked down the cliff to valley below. "It's not your fault. There was nothing to be done. It had to happen. I just wish... I don't know. I don't know what I wish. I would say I wish everyone would get along, but you would think me naive." She slid her head to look at him watching her. Shooting him a smile, she returned her gaze to the sky.
Kurama was unsure how to respond. Instead of addressing her statement, he took a different route. "What do you have planned from here on out?" He asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
Heaving another sigh, Kagome tilted her head to the side. "Well. From here, I'm going to spend a day meditating on that hill," She pointed to the highest point in the rocky ranges across from them, "to try and see if I can sense the jewel. Then, we travel that way, we'll eventually make it closer to Naraku. Closer to Naraku, means closer to Inuyasha. And he'll be expecting us, so he'll make himself easy to find."
Kurama watched the wheels turning in her head as she thought.
"She's been leading a pack for a while. She know's exactly what to expect from this expedition, you can see it in her eyes." Yoko observed.
"You've been doing this a while." Kurama commented offhandedly.
With a bitter laugh, Kagome turned her gaze back to him. "I don't know if that was sarcasm or not, buuuuut no. Inuyasha used to lead. Miroku stood second in command, then Sango, and then me. I've never really took charge of anything except food and Shippo."
Startled, Kurama met her eyes with confusion. "But you naturally lead your pack. They look to you for guidance. You seem to have the plans for this down to a tee."
Kagome laughed again, shifting her weight to pat his shoulder. "I appreciate your confidence. But this is just a recent development. I'm still a little girl, stumbling around, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Only thing I've got going for me is I've become a little smarter, a little more calculating, gained better survival skills, and become a little more jaded." Smiling at him, she tilted her head as she observed him.
Under her scrutiny, he shifted in his spot. "What is it?" he asked.
"Mm. Nothing really. You and Yoko still don't trust me though." She replied, returning her gaze to the valley as she kicked her feet against the cliffs.
Furrowing his brow, Kurama looked at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Smiling, Kagome focused on her shoes as she spoke. "I've learned that the only way to make real friends here, especially with demons, is to gain trust and respect. I don't have those, and I really can't trust you either, because you have no reason not to turn on me. Not that you will. But it means we still aren't friends. I would like to be your friend Kurama. And yours too, Yoko." She ended quietly, a blush staining her cheeks, even in the dark.
Kurama took a long moment to process what she said.
"What a very intelligent human. She has it down. I can respect that alone." Yoko commented. Both men sat in silence thinking about what she said.
Almost simultaneously, the two came to the same conclusion.
"While I understand what you say, Miss Kagome, I think you're mistaken. Your ability to lead your pack, the stories I have heard about you, your daily actions, the way you took care of Kuwabara when we first got her, even your ability to stand up to two fighting demons without flinching; has gained my respect."
At this Kagome looked up at him sharply. Instead of meeting her gaze, it was his turn to stare up to the moon. "And while nothing has happened to make me explicitly trust you, Hiei has told me about that night in the clearing. And I have seen the way you interact with others. Especially your kit. He adores you. All of your actions and words since we arrived here, have shown me your worth. Sometimes, Miss Kagome, you can rationalize things that haven't happened yet." Meeting her gaze, Kagome saw not the green eyes that she had grown accustom too, but rather golden eyes, much like Inuyashas. "What can I say miko? My human counterpart has made me more trusting than I should be." He smiled at her slyly. His voice was deeper when he spoke, and Kagome could almost see the silver fox sitting in Kurama's body. With a start she realized she was meeting Yoko for the first time.
Smiling radiantly, she held out her hand. "Nice to finally meet you Yoko." She said.
Grabbing her hand, their eyes never left hers as they bent forward slowly. Bringing her hand to his mouth, he laid a slow,open kiss on her hand. Despite her attempts, the blush crept up her neck to her cheeks. "Trust me Kagome, the pleasure is allllll mine." He purred sensually.
Kagome all but yanked her hand away, muttering as she looked away. She refused to look at the fox until he cleared his throat. "I hope Yoko didn't make you uncomfortable Miss Kagome." Kurama said, a blush staining his own cheeks.
Looking over at him through the corner of her eye, she saw that he had returned to normal. Suddenly, she started laughing. "My goodness, you could have warned me why he never comes out!" Kurama's blush only deepened as she doubled over, laughing at him. He was just about to retort when he felt a presence behind him.
Turning around to face the new comer, Kurama moved attention to where Koga stood, arms crossed as he looked away from the two on the ledge. Kagome followed his gaze. Clearing his throat, Kurama stood. "I'll let you go for the night Miss Kagome, have a good night." He said, strolling passed the wolf, hands in his pocket.
Kagome returned her gaze to the moon, her smile fading. Koga noticed the change in her aura. Beating himself up even more, he found that though he got here, he couldn't approach her. She sighed into the night sky.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you Koga. I said some pretty mean and hurtful things, and I realize that-"
As soon as she started to apologize, Koga's feet carried him toward her of their own accord. Kagome heard his knees hit the ground behind her. Startled, she started to turn, but his arms wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her back. Engulfing her in his warm embrace, his strong arms holding her gently, he buried his face into her hair. She felt his mouth open, as though to speak. Patiently, she waited for him to speak. After a long moment, nothing came out. Downcast, he closed his mouth with an audible gulp. Kagome sat silently for a moment and was just getting ready to open her mouth again when-
Small, sad whines slipped from his throat. Kagome sat motionless, trying to process this noise. The longer she sat silently, the louder his whines got, and the more he tried to hide in her hair.
That's when it hit her. Her kit did this when he's done something wrong. This...this was an apology. Not a man's apology, but a wolf's. Heartfelt and prideless, he was apologizing more than he ever could in words. This apology is probably one of the most sincere apologizes she would ever get from him. Smiling softly, she placed her hands on his arms. Leaning her head back to his shoulder, she sighed.
"Thank you." She whispered.
Nothing else was said between the two.
Koga and her sat through the night, watching as the sky turned from night to day.
As the sun began to rise, Koga rose from his spot on the cliff. Kagome looked up to him with a small smile. Bending down, Koga pushed her hair away from her face before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. Murmuring about heading back to get his pack started for the day he strolled off, leaving Kagome sitting on the cliff by herself. Sighing, she picked herself up and began her trek up to the mountaintop she was to spend her day on.
Kagome found a suitable spot, under one of the few trees that high up. Settling herself down, she slipped easily into meditation, searching for her inner peace.
She felt like she had just closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, the sun was high in the sky. Standing up she stretched out, looking down on the wolf tribe down at the bottom of the mountains. She watched them work, looking like ants from her position. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled.
"Shit, I should have thought to bring food... Good work Kagome." Sighing, she sat back down. "Maybe if I catch a hint of the jewel, I can go back early."
With that, she fell back into meditation, this time looking for the jewel that was as familiar to her as her own soul.
Hours passed, and the sun was making it's decent back into the night before Kagome finally caught the barest hint of the jewel to the far reaches of the southern lands. Her eyes shot open with a gasp, finally. Looking to sun, she gathered her bearings, stretching her sore and stiff muscles with a groan.
"I can't believe that was so easy... he has to be luring us in." Heaving a sigh, she decided to worry about that later. Taking another look at the pack in the valley, she decided to take a dip in the river before heading back. The river ran along the side of the mountain, so she started down another path, losing sight of the pack.
Kurama, along with Shippo, crested the mountain top Kagome resided on, just before the sun reached the mountain on it's way down. Shippo had asked Kurama to take him to take Kagome food.
Agreeing, partly to appease the kit and partly because he wished to see the miko, he walked up the hill with the kit on his shoulder and food in his arms.
When they reached the hill, they could smell the lingering perfume of Kagome, but the miko was gone. Shippo instantly jumped down, sniffing the ground.
"Kurama, I think she was sitting right here! This is where her scent is strongest!" Shippo announced with excitement.
"Good work Shippo. Now can you tell me where she went?" He asked, smiling at the kit gently, even though he already knew her scent headed toward the smell of running water.
Scrambling down onto all fours, Shippo tracked her scent till it dropped to a path down the side of the mountain.
"She went this way Kurama! This path leads to the river, she probably went to bathe!" Pointing the kit nearly vibrated in excitement.
Walking toward the excited child, Kurama scooped him up, placing him back on his shoulder, and starting back down the other side of the mountain.
Kagome shivered as she slid herself into the water.
"Jeesh! Can't it at least be a semi-decent temperature?"
Washing quickly, she took a deep breath before submerging herself under the current. Kicking off the bottom of the river, she pushed toward the center, looking for deeper waters.
Under the water, all she heard was the rush of the current and for a short moment, she was calmer than she had been in days. She closed her eyes for a long moment, letting the momentum of the water rush over her as she relaxed as she dove deeper into the inky water. For a long moment, all her senses left her as she rested suspended in the water, allowing herself to be without awareness for a moment.
Needing breath, she pushed for the surface, reemerging with a gasp.
As soon as she hit the surface, her senses came back to her from where she had left them at the bottom of the river.
Like a ghost, she felt him, crawling up her spine and lodging himself in her gut in a sick, sinking sort of way.
That vile feeling that made her soul feel dirty.
Naraku.
"MOMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAA!"
whew! Wow. I am actually really happy with this chapter. It took care of all the speed bumps and at the same time got us to meeting Naraku.
This chapter covered a lot of ground.
Next chapter:
Kurama/Yoko is going to see what happens when you mess with Kagome's kit.
Naraku is going to show just how dirty he plays.
The guys are going to find some common ground.
And then...maybe some new characters. ;)
Thank yooooou all for reviewing.
Let me know what you guys thought! (:
Reviews:
Kedakumi: I hope her display lived up to your expectations (: But she still had both men cowering from fear of her wrath. Bwahahaha!
Lady Artimes Blaine: He was really just overprotective and possessive because he had already heard about what happened, and he was so excited that she was alive. I'll try and communicate that in later chapters. But I think the group needed to get out their aggressions early in the story so we can move on to the good stuff :) I'm actually leaning that way! But I think I'ma make it more complicated first!
sverhei: So sorry it took so long! I've been really behind on updating. Koga has always been one of my favorites, he'll be just fine, he's such a cutie. (:
kristina. .3: I'm edging that way. I don't know what about Kurama that keeps getting put on hold, but I think we're TOTALLY going to see that next chapter because remember, he's got her kit. I'm so excited to write the next part bwahahaha
SarcasticSapphire: I'm leaning that way! Thank you for your input!
gurlygenes: yea hopfully this chapter explained that more? I hope so! I was so excited about this chapter! haha Sesshomaru is by far my favorite character hahaha
Thank you all so much! I will update soon, keep the reviews coming!
