"What are we doing today Kagome?" Kouga was behind her, just walking into the cave.

"Its time for another trip to the clearing; could you grab that basket there?" Two months ago Kagome would have never assumed he wanted to go with her but by now she knew he would actually disapprove of getting left behind. He wanted to help her; she just didn't know why he was so bent on helping her. The truth was he had finally come to understand how much she meant to him, how beautiful she was on the inside and how much he needed to be near her.

To Kouga she was perfect, the way she would put her hands on her hips and give him a fierce scowl full of chilly fire if he made her upset, how she tenderly cared for each person that came to her no matter what or who they were. He adored the fire of her soul, the passion to help no matter the consequences to herself; he wanted to see everything and know everything about her so he would stay for hours listening about her describe her time and her family knowing that she missed them terribly. If she had to do something he would keep an eye on her two little ones, even if she hadn't asked and he knew that if they were to come to harm it would hurt the woman deeply.

"Hey did you know that fox demons have an adoption ritual?" Kagome asked casually and Kouga felt as if she had read his mind.

"No I didn't know that Kagome. Why?" Kouga already knew why.

"I asked Shippo last night if I could adopt him for real. He has been like a sun to me since we first met and I want him to be happy. He said yes, he want to start calling me Mamma. But it's not official till his teacher comes down and binds us together. He left this morning to go and fetch her. I actually feel bad for Aisu. Its not that I don't want to see her happy but I think she would feel insulted if I asked ya know?" They were just entering the clearing as Kagome spoke.

"Let's set up right here in the middle. And Kagome, I thought you already knew; Aisu like Shippo." Kouga loved the look of shock on Kagome's face, and he loved having information she didn't.

"OH! Okay then I guess that makes sense..." Kagome had a far off look in her eyes.

"It doesn't have to make sense Kagome; if she likes him she likes him. They both deserve happiness and if it is found in each other than that's perfect. It won't be anything big for a few more years though so no need to worry or something." Kagome looked at Kouga's clear blue eyes and was happy he could tell her this news.

"I think your first patent is here Kagome." Kouga pointed to a short red haired woman limping towards them.

"Mirusiko, you're back again? Will you tell me what happened this time?" Kagome laid the lady out on a blanket and started cleaning her leg wound.

"No my lady, I am sorry for worrying you. It is my burden to bare my lady and it would only cause you harm." Mirusiko was already feeling better under Kagome's soft touch and started to nod off into sleep. When Kouga was sure her breathing was regular in her dreams he turned to Kagome with questions in his eyes.

"She has been here every week I've come down with one wound or another, and usually some that she tended to herself that I review. She will only tell me her name and nothing more. It worries me but I can't force her to talk to me about whatever she is doing that is so dangerous."

"If you want Kagome I can help her home and see if I find anything. Would that help ease your worry?" Kagome was deeply impressed by his offer, and the slow bonds of friendship that had grown the last few months tightened and solidified at his words, making Kagome happy.

"That would be wonderful Kouga, I worry about her. She is too young to have so many wounds." Kagome smiled sadly at the girl as a centipede demon came crawling into the clearing.

Another part of Kagome's practice was that she helped anything whether it is demon or human or flea. Kouga admired her strength and worried over her safety on the sidelines.

The day passed swiftly, one demon or human coming after another and Kagome tending each in turn until the clearing was bursting with her healing patients. There was an unspoken rule about fighting and not one creature offended another in any way, knowing that the priestess would be very upset. Kouga quietly followed behind the patched up Mirusiko into the forest as dusk approached, intent on cleaning Kagome's mind of its worries.

Kagome herself packed up the little remants of her supplies and hiked back up to her cave and had a peaceful dinner with Aisu before turning in for the night; exhausted by her day but happy at what she had accomplished.

Another night passed, and morning rose in the east again. The day was spent by Kagome and Aisu gathering new supplies, collecting adn cleaning the old bandages and wrapping more herbs. In all of the comotion and work Kagome only realized at the end of the day that Kouga had never shown up. She was used to his presence and his smiles, and it made her worried for him.

When he did not show for the whole of the morning the next day Kagome set off looking for him, abandoning her chores and leaving Aisu to clean the meat they had caught.

Her cave flows into a valley and across the valley is another set of cliffs, behind the cave is the dreaded grounds of feeding the birds of paradise had ruled, littered with the bones of generations of Wolf demons. After scanning the area for Kouga's essence Kagome set off towards the clearing, since that was the last place she saw him.

Following the direction he had taken when walking with Mirusiko Kagome found the light signs of his trail. They led her to the far edge of the valley, through a pass and into another lovely bowl of greenery between the cliffs. She came across a large and badly damaged glade where a battle had obviously taken place. Countinuing into the glade she found the remains of a snake demon, or something similar. She found a freshly broken path behind the head of the demon and followed it into a small dense alcove made in the trees, where the leaves partially covered a bleeding and asleep Kouga.

Rushing to his side Kagome gently wiped the leaves away, finding many gashes and cuts that mostly hadn't closed yet which worried her even more; Kouga should have healed some already, he was a full demon after all.

"Kouga, Kouga please wake up." She settled his head in her lap and stroked his messy hair out of his face.

"Ka-Kagome?" He inhaled deeply, smelling Kagome close to him and opening his blue eyes to meet her brown ones hovering over his face upside down.

"Good, you're alive. Damn I didn't bring my bag with me. I have nothing here to treat you with. How am I supposed to get you home through two valleys with you bleeding everywhere? What were you thinking?" Kagome kept rambling on and tears fell from her eyes onto his face, she never noticed the smile he had at her concern.

"Tell you later. If I can get up enough I might be able to howl out a rescue, my wolves will be around somewhere, they can help. Lift me up Kagome?" Kagome put her arms under his and pulled him up against her chest so he was nearly sitting up; the entire action caused him to groan with pain.

Filling his lungs as much as he could he let out a long tormented howl into the air, letting the note rise and rise, continuing long after he had stopped? All the energy he put into that howl left him falling back into unconsciousness,

Knowing it could take awhile before a wolf could get to them Kagome quietly covered Kouga up in the leaves again, and erected a barrier around him with her powers before trying to find a stream. Today had a little luck in it; she was wearing her priestess robes and her blue cloak because of the chill in the air and the clouds building on the horizon. She stripped of all of her clothes when she found the stream and looked at them critically, fastening her undergarments back on she pulled the light woven pants that went under the heavy over pants back on as well. She pulled the Shirt on and instead of folding it back the way she usually did she let it hang to her mid thigh, tying it tight before pulling her cloak over herself again. That left the large heavy material of her pants and she slowly shredded them into twenty or more bandages, then she tore the rest in half before soaking one half.

Even with the chill in the air Kagome walked back to her barrier and laid the wet cloth on a flat rock. Pulling all of the leaves away from Kouga again she began cleaning each cut she found before tying a red bandage around it. She started at his legs, having to remove his fur guards and set them aside to stop a gash on his leg.

Luckily for her he seemed to have no wounds below his waist wrap and she was glad she was alone because of the immense blush she felt creep over her skin at her examination of him. Ignoring the bad thoughts that came to mind over his body she slowly cleaned his very badly cut torso, rolling him onto his side to see another large gash on his back, she cleaned and dried them all before winding a long length of bandage around his whole chest.

At the last moment she had a thought in her head, and slowly she bent down to smell his blood; she had no idea why it mad her curious but before she even thought about it she licked the last inch of the gash on his back that was still leaking blood. The taste was like metal, metal and sweat and earth but it was potent and she had to concentrate hard on continuing her work. She was just finishing wrapping his hands when two wolves came snuffling up to the barrier.

"Are you friends to the Eastern and Southern Demon Wolf Packs?" Kagome stood on her side of the barrier, waiting for confirmation that these were friends.

"We are scouts for Prince Kouga. We heard a call on the wind for rescue and came." The larger wolf tried to peer through the pink shield at the voice that had asked them. Kagome had never really considered the wolves that didn't look like Kouga could speak, but on the other hand it was more of a series of growls that she could recognize there meaning more than actual words.

"I'm going to let down my barrier, I'm Kagome and Kouga is badly wounded." Her barrier dissolved back into nothing and she let the wolves approach her. They sniffed at her in surprise, whining at her smell and taking in the blood that stained the entire front of her shirt and arms but also her lips. Not knowing what to say about it they moved forward to there Prince and leader. She had nearly wrapped him up completely in red like a giant present but most of his bleeding had ceased for now because of it. His armor and furs were piled neatly to the side with the last of the cloth and her cloak.

"We have to get him back to the den quickly; he really needs real help instead of water and bandages. I'm afraid if we move him too much though that he will bleed more. What do you suggest?" Kagome knelt next to him, stroking his hand in hers.

"If you can help us move him sister than we can put him on my back, you can ride on Linu and we will reach the den soon enough he could still be saved." Kagome moved aside while the large male wolf lay down next to Kouga, his head pointed at the Princes feet. Kagome reached under Kouga's torso, hauling his heavy weight up against hers before leaning his chest against the wolfs back; Linu bit his bandaged leg and pulled it over her mates back so Kouga looked as if her was sitting on the wolf. Kagome grabbed the last of the cloth and tied Kouga to the wolf with his permission before putting her cloak over his back to keep the oncoming rain from making him ill as well. Jumping onto Linu's back with Kouga's armor in hand they set off running through the trees.

They caused quite the commotion coming into the immediate area of the den; anything with a nose came to find out why there Prince was soaked in blood. Ignoring all of the questions Kagome slid off of Linu's back and started shoving and yelling at anyone who came to close to the large wolf who she still did not have a name for. Ginta came from the crowd and recognizing Kagome he started giving orders for everyone to clear the way. Thankful for the help Kagome walked beside Ginta into the main cave all the way to the back where Kouga usually slept.

"Ginta. Kouga has been badly wounded, I found him in the next valley and all I could do was bandaging him up. I need a wolf to go and get my medical supplies and my friend Aisu from my cave. I need to clean his wounds." Kagome helped ease Kouga onto his furs before turning to stare at Ginta who still hadn't moved.

"NOW Ginta!" It was like a shock to his system, Ginta jumped at the power in her words and felt compelled to do as she asked, looking back at her as he left he wondered how it had happened.

"I need fire, it had started raining on the way and Kouga is cold and a little wet. He will need a clean wrap also." Kagome spoke to no one unparticular but anyone close by went to work on what she had asked of them, willing or not.

It was twenty more minutes before Ginta flew back into the room panting from his run, shaking off water and setting a large basket down next to Kagome. Aisu followed behind him a minute or so later, also wet. The basket was covered with a skin to keep it dry and Kagome moved everything in it around before pulling out a stone bowl and a pestle.

"I need hot water, Aisu could you boil some? And did you bring extra bandages?" Aisu was already getting really good at being Kagome's assistant and loved to learn anything she could already almost able to have a full conversation speaking aloud; she had brought everything needed.

Kagome ground herbs and fermented juices into the bowl before adding small amounts of water turning the whole thing into a creamy salve. Unwinding each bandage from the arms down Aisu and her worked the salve into the cuts and re wrapped clean white bandages around him. The large gashes on both his chest and backs were trickier, she tried to just leave the bandage on it but it bled too quickly and she pulled out the lightest thread she could find and a curved needle.

"What are you going to do sister?" Ginta watched everything with rapt attention.

"I'm going to stitch this wound and the other ones on chest. Aisu, give me that small jar at the bottom and the bottle there." Kagome had sake in one bottle, very very strong stuff and she cleaned the needle and thread with it. In the jar was a creamy mixture that dulled nerves in areas, like anesthesia. She rubbed a small bit on the outsides of his cuts and slowly wove the thread through his skin in a neat line, knotting it off and adding the cleansing salve. The chest required more time but she had a steady hand after so many other wounds she had dealt with in this time and they were re bandaging his torso in less that an hour.

"That's all I can do. Until he wakes up and I can give him herbs to keep infection away." With the stress of making sure he would be okay finally leaving her system she started to shiver.

"SISTER! You have been soaked to the bone this whole time. Why didn't you tell us?" Ginta was worried about her, and knew that even in Kouga's condition he would turn him inside out if Kagome fell ill on his watch.

"I hadddnt evvvennn nnoticeddd." Kagome's lips were blue and as they watched her eyes rolled into her head and she collapsed next to Kouga in his bloody furs.

"Oh no. Kouga's gonna kill us. We have to get her dry and warm fast. Little girl, I'm going to go find them both clean furs and wrappings, can you get her clothed again while I work on Kouga?" Ginta stared at the little expressionless girl.

"Not alone."

"I'll get you some help then." Ginta hurried out and started finding more furs for them to get warm under and to replace the bloody one around and under Kouga, he lucked out and found an old fur and hide dress for Kagome that looked the right size.

"What are you doing Ginta?" Linu was standing near him.

"Sister is wet to the bone and I needed to find her clothes. Cant have her getting sick on us now can we?" He grinned at Linu while she just glared back at him.

"You aren't planning on taking a look at her are you? You'd have to change her clothes." Ginta bared his teeth and grimaced at the same time.

"No, I was going to find help for the cat demon of sisters. She said she couldn't do it alone." At his words Linu turned and growled at the wolves in Den, getting the attention of every female inside.

"Sister Kagome needs our help ladies; she has taken great care of Kouga but at her own expense." Two females closest to Linu stood and walked to the back of the Den before Ginta blinked.

"They will help her. Something is different though Ginta, she is different. No one can tell what it is yet but we are worried for her." Linu went and lay next to her mate, letting Ginta walk back to Kouga's bed.

"Here is a dress for sister, and you can use this to dry her off. I'll wait on the other side till you're done before helping Kouga." He stepped behind the curtain that hid Kouga's quarters while the two wolf females and Aisu worked to remove the wet and bloody remains of Kagome's clothes. Aisu knew that Kagome did not like her priestess clothing and told the wolves they could shred them making it easier. Her bra was not bloody and they worked with each other to figure out how to remove it without tearing it but her underwear were ruined. Moving the shredded clothed aside they rubbed there hands along Kagome's appendages to warm her up while Aisu dried off the water. Aisu then lifted Kagome's arms while the white haired older she wolf supported her torso and the younger she wolf slid the dress on; Aisu and the white haired one each holding Kagome's hips up so the dress could be slid all the way down.

Despite the circumstances in getting her into the dress they all halted they're work as they admired the snug and beautiful fit of the soft dress.

"My name is Aisu, thank you for helping, the other wolf can come and help Kouga now, and I will stay here and dry her hair." Aisu smiled at the wolves

"You're a cat demon? You are very kind to sister. My name is Uagi and this is my daughter Usani. We have food if you would like some, and you can stay in our circle tonight if you wish. Usani will find you when sleep is descending." Uagi and Usani left the confines of there leaders quarters, after a nod of accent from the cat demon and carrying the bloody bandages and clothes to the fire.

Ginta quickly re wrapped Kouga's waist cloth and then rolled him to the side to remove the bloody fur with a clean one, handing it to another wolf to set out for cleaning. Finally he laid the fur over the two of the sleeping figures, happy at the scene they made.

"Kagome had a blue cloak on, what happened to it?" Aisu looked up just as Ginta was leaving.

"I don't know, I'll ask though. Is it special?" Ginta saw the girl nod before he went off in search of the cloak, finding it and having it cleaned as well before giving the order for diner and sleep.