Sango ran her hands through Kirara's fur as the demon bounded in the air. She busied herself for a moment absently staring at the trees that rushed past them below but Miroku brought her attention back.
"Sango, what do you think?" The monk leaned to his right to be able to peer at the girl's face in front of him. Sango twitched but reluctantly turned to look back.
"About Inuyasha?" She already knew.
The dog-demon had shocked them all when he brushed by Kagome demanding she find another "ride". Or moreso, let Kouga carry her since he abruptly had a change in character and refused. Sango frowned thinking about it. It took them a few minutes to coax the poor girl out of her shock and convince her to let Kouga carry her. The wolf demon even went about it hesitantly. This was not how they needed to start one of their most dangerous ventures ever.
The thought made her look back down to the ground where she could see the spinning dust. Kouga had swept Kagome up in both arms like he'd had only a few days ago and ran with her. Of course, he'd slowed himself to their pace and the tornado was only mild.
"Or more appropriately what's gotten into him. I've never seen him treat Kagome-sama in such a way." Miroku added.
"I know he went looking for Kikyou. So maybe it isn't really a what but more of a who." When the words left her a moment of silence developed over them and even Shippou twiddled his thumbs.
Miroku leaned back and raised his voice so they could hear him over the shifting wind.
"Even if he found Kikyo, like he has in the past, I don't understand why this would make him so hostile towards Kagome. But then that begs us to consider, what do you think he found when he found Kikyou?"
Sango dug her fingers into Kirara's fur with more ferocity and shook her head. "That's just it. Even if we could picture scenarios of Kikyou being hurt or not, I can't imagine why that would cause Inuyasha to act this way to Kagome."
Shippou perked up. "He wasn't just acting like a jerk to Kagome. He's wasn't very nice to us either."
Miroku and Sango seemed to consider that for the briefest of seconds and then shifted their thoughts.
"Do you remember if Kikyou was even hurt during the last battle?" Sango asked, straining her memory. "I know the scorpion ran toward her, but I don't know if it actually hit."
Miroku nodded and continued for her, "Inuyasha had gotten to her around that time. I can't imagine she'd been hurt."
"But she must have or he wouldn't have ran after her, right?" Sango continued their exchange.
Shippou stood up to get the attention back. "Since when does Inuyasha ever need a reason to go after Kikyou though?"
The tiny kitsune brought up a good point and left the others forced to lap into silence.
Miroku shifted the staff in his hold bringing a protest of jingles. He suddenly took a breath and lowered his voice.
"Perhaps we're over examining this. Perhaps it's more simple."
Sango shifted around to get a better view and urged him to go on. Miroku took a second again to organize his thoughts before continuing delicately.
"We know Inuyasha has had feelings for Kikyou and both Kagome-sama. But perhaps he's found Kikyou and chosen her. And now is—"
Sango finished for him, bringing a hand up to her mouth, "distancing himself from Kagome."
Miroku nodded in the stressed air. "The more he puts her away from him, the less difficult it would be."
Sango frowned and cast a brief look to the tornado below them.
"I'm afraid you might be right."
Below them, Kagome's thought swirled around the very same dog demon. She sighed, trying to shift the weight in her chest without moving too much in Kouga's arms. The wolf demon didn't intrude on her thoughts much, holding her uncertainly to give her as much privacy as he could. Kagome found herself somewhat thankful for the warmth his arms provided her but couldn't let her thoughts go. She leaned her head against the armor and didn't bother to fight the hurt emotions.
She'd known Inuyasha for a fair time and never seem him act so….bitterly contemptuous. She vaguely wondered if Kikyou was what brought this. During the last battle, Inuyasha had carried her on his back as she tried to fire a sacred arrow to hit the Shikon jewel in the demons head. His moving kept messing up his aim when Kikyou appeared. The demon charged her and Inuyasha dropped her. Kagome's hip throbbed at the memory and she tried to shake it. Maybe Kikyou got hurt because he was holding her and now blamed her for it. After all, Inuyasha's love for Kikyou was unquestionable.
Kouga perked up when he felt the girl in his arms curl herself even tighter. The smell of her sorrow was being swept away by the wind and he at first didn't mind just feeling the warmth of her body so close to his. But any enjoyment he got out of it—especially since the shock that the mutt even would allow him to carry Kagome—was being killed by her mood.
"He doesn't know about us, Kagome." Kouga finally spoke up but didn't look at her. He made an effort to push the excess anxiety down to his feet to keep running. "His nose can't tell. He's just being the usual stupid puppy he always is."
Kagome shifted when she heard Kouga talk. Her memory briefly fluttered back to Inuyasha telling her she smelt like Kouga's "ugly scent". The idea made her irritation flutter back up for a second. With the single distraction, Kagome shifted again with the small room she had and urged her energy back.
"Whatever, he'll get over it in a few days." She tried to assure herself more than him. In a second, she pictured sitting him into the core of the earth for him being so utterly rude but dropped it.
Kagome took in her surroundings with more careful observation this time and let out a breath.
"Thank you for carrying me again Kouga. I probably should have asked instead of letting Inuyasha offer you up like that."
Kouga turned to look at her with that sentence and let a brilliant cocky smile grace his face. "Of course I would carry you. You're my woman after all."
Kagome's face burned before she could react and she mentally kicked herself for giving him the opening. A brief thought urged her to bury her face back in his chest but she resisted knowing he could hear the pick up in her heart rate anyways.
She did avoid his eyes, opting instead to let her eyes absently focus on the ground next to her. She wanted to chide him for being a brat and embarrassing her, but she knew she couldn't talk with the way she reacted to his stupid stare. Kagome chided herself instead, urging her heart rate to get it together and stop making her act like a school girl with a crush. After all, Kagome mentally reminded herself, it wasn't her crush that was the over-kill here. And they did kiss after all. She wasn't just reacting to nothing.
Her thought train really didn't help when she looked back toward that stupid cocky smile and focused on those very lips that'd graced her mind. Kagome blushed worse but owned it, instead popping her chin up with a superior attitude and settled on "You're running kinda slow Kouga. The others will be far ahead of us by now" instead.
The wolf demon pulled her closer to his chest, with a gentle rumble of laughter, and kicked the ground to speed up.
~*~
So, as you can all see this is a plot with them getting together and not a plot just of them getting together. There will be other awesome stuff but the awesome pairing will be there with it.
