A thorough shroud stretched from the trees all across the tangle of roots locked in the soil. Each stealthy breeze that crept its way through the leaves was never more than a small chill that touched the skin. The many shadowed greens drifted in one direction or the other with this dynamic presence but had little more pace than the narrow clouds that strode across the night sky. Tiny specks that drew the faint border between light and darkness came filtering down through the canopy from a weak sliver of the moon. Whatever nocturnal creatures that could have added their rustle to the sound of two quick feet were absent. The lone noises of Kouga's footsteps only had the company of the dead leaves layered over the ground and the soft dirge of the crickets. Yet, in spite of such a motionless night, one breeze came strong enough to carry an altered scent to him. The smell was one he had sampled before but only on a few occasions. Each time that the wolf caught it on his nose, the experience always felt like the first time. In an odd way, it reminded him of the first time he had met Inuyasha and took a breath of his unique aura. The unfamiliar feeling was similar, but also different. The normal scent was made of many varying things, one of them being the distinct signature that marked Inuyasha's dog-demon ancestry. On nights like this, however, that mark subsided and gave way to humanity. From Kagome, he had only heard of the way the hanyou looked in his human form but never saw it with his own two eyes.
Of course, Kouga detected the girl's presence gliding on the same breeze as Inuyasha's. Hers was unquestionably different and riddled with curiosities. Many strange, foreign aromas could be found in Kagome's unfamiliar variety of smells. Few of them were unpleasant, but they somehow could make one feel distracted and sometimes even vexed by how alien they seemed. The first time he was introduced to this girl, Kouga knew that she hailed from a very different place. In the end, it was the unsolvable mysteries of her aura that allowed the wolf to accept that she was not simply from another place, but another time entirely. The obviousness of her nearby presence prompted Kouga to slow his steps to a walk. The village he approached was becoming a familiar destination. The significance of everything there was gradually made clear to him with each visit. Whenever he came to this place, there was always another tale to tell or sight to see that was part of the half-demon's story.
The shrubs thinned and opened to give Kouga a full look at the dim sky. The multitude of stars was malnourished by the moon's thin curve. A few lights flickered in the midst of the simple homes collected across the clearing. A dirt path twisted through the trees and pointed in the direction of the settlement, trailing up to the silhouette Kouga saw standing against the foliaged background. She appeared to be wandering, but once every few moments, her head would linger on a bare tree that bent out from the edge of the woods. The transformed scent blew from the same direction that Kagome glanced. There wasn't the usual silver glimmer of Inuyasha's hair, which was strange to the wolf-demon, but Kouga saw a shape recoiled in the crooked arms of the tree and knew it was him. No doubt, a tree was ideal for the half-demon's night of vulnerability. All he could see was a shadow, not the black hair or dark eyes that had been described to him; the night was too dark for seeing such things. While he pattered his feet into the clearing, Inuyasha's human ears would not hear him. Kouga was invisible to him. Yet, as he came through the grass, a different pair of eyes caught sight of him. The wolf stopped as Kagome looked up at him. Her initial tension dwindled as she registered who she was looking at. A frail smile greeted Kouga on his approach. She turned away from the faint moonlight and met him in the center of the clearing.
"I was wondering if that was you." She quietly commented while the distance closed. Her voice was enough to tell Kouga that she was supposed to be sound asleep.
He formed his typical charming smile for her and stood close by while they watched the still moon. "I'd visit more if I could, Kagome." His mouth went going within moments. But the lack of response from the girl as she gazed toward the branches across the clearing told him there was no need for the usual effort in his dialogue. A little sound was the only confirmation that she provided for even hearing him. Kouga folded his arms and watched Inuyasha's shape shift in the branches slightly. Other than those few movements, the half-demon was still enough for his shadow to be seen as part of the tree he rested in. The wolf could scarcely tell where the lines of the tree separated from the hanyou's. "He asleep?" Kouga asked while he watched.
Kagome sagged. "I don't think so." She answered, shaking her head gently. "He'd never shut his eyes like this."
He gave her a short look. "Just what is it that he worries about so much?"
She pushed one of her loose strands of dark hair back in and mused over the question. "Anything, I guess." she replied softly. What little light there was seemed to collect in her eyes. They shifted back up to the tree's dark figure and pondered over the image. "…but tonight isn't like other nights."
"Because of the moon?" Kouga inquired.
Kagome shook her head again. "No. It isn't just that." She murmured and joined her hands at the waist. She stared down at the wandering blades of grass while Kouga waited for her to continue. For a while, the only ones that spoke were the persistent crickets. She drew a breath and resumed. "You see… when he changes, the effects aren't just in the way he looks." She said, fiddling with her fingers. "He says that when it happens… it gets harder to control his feelings too."
Kouga felt his brow rise. His eyes returned to the distant silhouette and he began to recall all of the difficult events of the last few weeks. A question raised by those happenings floated to the top of his head as he processed the knowledge.
Kagome inched closer as the wolf looked forward across the open space. "Kouga, I'm really glad to see you." She reassured him. "But if you're thinking of staying for the night, can you just give him his space?"
"Yeah…" Kouga nodded in a simple agreement. Kagome promptly thanked him and turned back to the dimming lights of the village. Another breeze tickled the wolf's nose while he watched Inuyasha repositioning himself again. For a brief second, the light touched him in the way just proper enough to define the outline of his face. Still, Kouga couldn't make out anything other than his general form. "Who was she, Kagome?" he asked with few further thoughts.
She visibly drooped at the question. "It's a long story." She attempted to satisfy.
Kouga's arms loosened. "I've got time." He added, encouraging a better answer.
She gradually looked back to him and saw the hungry mind beckoning behind his pupils. It was clear that the wolf would be better off knowing the complete tale. So, Kagome began to walk through the grass with Kouga. "He wouldn't want me to tell you this." She began while the wolf politely listened. Her head tilted up to the veiled stars as she went. "She was a priestess… her name was Kikyo. She used to live here in this village."
Kouga rubbed his neck while they strolled away. "Some kind of friend of his, then?"
What crossed the girl's face almost looked like a smile. "Fifty years ago he was in love with her." She honestly detailed.
He stopped. To Kouga, the very idea of Inuyasha in love with anyone was near impossible to imagine. Everything he had seen and heard from this person was a conflict with the image of affection. Though it was hard to picture, it was strangely wonderful to think of. His eye met Kagome's. "…and he still is, right?"
Her head lowered. "It's… complicated." She sighed, alluding to events that would take the whole night to describe and explain. Kouga followed while she wandered under one of the trees. "…and now that she's gone…" she paused, suddenly bearing a different look. "…I can't really say I know how he feels."
Kouga joined her in the shadow of the leaves against the bark. "He ended up sealed to the tree, but that was Naraku's doing, right?" he said, thinking aloud.
Kagome gave a short nod. "Whatever he's feeling right now, tonight is the worst of it." Her voice came with a hint of sorrow. The words went to no one in particular, more so, they were disembodied thoughts prominent in the girl's head. The soft melody of the forest filled the quietness that passed for the next few minutes. At least, they felt like minutes to Kouga. He was still experiencing the challenge of trying to imagine Inuyasha showing affection. Each action, an embrace, a gift, a smile, a kiss, all seemed so unnatural for the hanyou's mannerisms. Kagome faced him as the odd pictures ran their course. "Kouga… you know loss. Probably better than he does." She stated all of the sudden.
His head bowed. "Naraku's handiwork has a way of being followed around by death." A bitterness stung in his tone.
The mention of the name seemed to sadden them both. Kagome gazed back out into the clearing. The moon hadn't moved an inch. "Is there something you think I should do?" she asked him, watching a cloud drift across the thin crescent in the sky.
Kouga crossed his arms. He let a long sigh go and quickly found his answer. "The packmates that Naraku killed were like family to me, Kagome." He spoke with a low head. "But I can't say I know how he feels either… not all death is the same, really."
Her disappointment was clear, but not surprising. Kagome took another look out toward Inuyasha's tree. "I just hate sitting and watching like this." She breathed out in a forlorn manner.
"Well…" Kouga continued, scratching his head. "I do remember someone, this friend I had when I was still a cub." The memories came up and he couldn't help but grin at several of them. "One of a kind, really special and he was… well, he was important to me." Quite suddenly, the wolf's fond expression withered. "Then one day, he just… died. Maybe because he was just old, I don't know. But that wasn't what I thought; I got really mad when it happened."
She awaited any further note, Kagome had been listening carefully. Kouga had adopted a glazed look in the eyes while he remembered his companion. The early years of his life weren't often allowed back to the surface. The girl watched him intently. "How did you deal with it?" she asked him.
Kouga chuckled. "To be honest, I don't think I ever did, not in a very healthy kind of way, besides." He tried reassuring her with a grin. "Anyway, it doesn't bother me so much anymore. The thing that I really needed was time, I guess." His gruff voice finished.
She looked back at him, seeming to be somewhat doubtful. "You really think that's all he needs?"
The wolf casually leaned off of the trunk. "Well, if I'm wrong, you're probably right about the 'space' thing." He acknowledged, expressing his concurrence by taking the first steps back where he came from. "I'll see you later Kagome, on a better night."
She watched him step out of the shadow and take one last look across the grass. Just as he began to walk back into the trees, Kagome thanked him and said her farewell. Kouga returned a final, friendly gesture and began making his way home.
_________
A myriad of stars cradled in the crackled outline of the leaves above spread over Kouga's head. The silence of this place was peculiar to him. After so many months of falling asleep to the continuous noise of crickets, their absence was a stirring change. As far as Inuyasha had taken them both, the foliage around them had been abandoned by the more sensitive creatures and left him alone with the sound of water trickling over the nearby rocks. Every once in a while a pleasant wind would bring relief to the horrible heat that refused to leave his brow. Fortunately, the rest of his body was kept at a decent state with the water that surrounded it. The sound of the stream had led him to this place, a dent in the middle of the forest where the water collected in a reticent pond. The roots of the trees that surrounded it snaked into the surface from all sides. A few dead leaves could be seen wandering around on the opposite edge where the stream entered. Watching them in their aimless drifting, Kouga found himself twitching awake several times. He was quite certain that the last time he had fallen asleep had lasted longer than the others.
He tried to venture a guess as to how many days it had been since the scorpion struck him. The puncture didn't bleed anymore, but it still throbbed every few moments and the obvious hole below his shoulder was still considerably deep. He had tried to his very best effort to wash himself clean, but the feeling didn't go away even when he exhausted his weak arms with all of the scrubbing. The wolf took a short look at his clothes draped over the rocks a few meters away. It was what remained of his attire, anyway; they had been ruined and he was glad to get them off. The metal of his chest plate bore several tears, the fur was practically caked in dried blood. If he had any other choice, Kouga never would have planned to put them on again. He kept staring up at the motionless sky and admired a particularly bright dot he noticed in the midst of a cluster of many dim ones. The smell of the fresh water was a strange reminder of Inuyasha. Kouga had few things to compare to the hanyou's scent, but this instance actually had some similarities. The uncomfortable symptoms that choked him only nights before were still clinging to him. Most of all, he still felt like he had the worst fever of his life. Indeed, if he wasn't in such a condition, this water would be freezing.
The wolf-demon lifted his arms out and stretched them over the rocks. Finding a place that was just deep enough for him was an annoying challenge. Able to rest his head back on a very conveniently shaped rock, the wolf was tempted to allow himself to simply go to sleep where he was. Sleep was more appreciated by him now than ever before. For all he knew, he had been sleeping on the floor of that cave for an entire week and yet, he felt his eyes pleading for rest every time he opened them. He could only imagine the way he must have looked, being so weary. Dozing off would have been so much easier if a certain series of thoughts didn't keep coming back. True, he was grateful for finding this place that he needed so greatly, but his own words were replaying over and over, whether he was asleep or awake. Kouga wasn't even certain if those words had even been spoken the night before. Nearly every shredded memory he could collect was so delirious that he couldn't differentiate them from his dreams. The chaos of his secret thoughts, it seemed, had spilled over his solid memories and landed him with a very exhausted head.
Then, he heard it. Oddly, he heard it before he smelled it, the sound of a single foot touching the grass just a small distance behind him. There was no need to turn and look. Kouga had known it was only a matter of time before his solitude was left behind. The air carried Inuyasha's presence to him and he could feel the eyes discovering him. Just like the wolf, though, the hanyou had no words to give as he approached from the trees behind. His eyelids stayed shut while he listened to the patter of the half-demon's walk. By the way that he heard the footsteps stop, he knew that he was being looked at. The eyes could have been curious, worried, upset, or angry. One or the other was uncertain for Kouga; he decided to listen. For a minute, the silent exchange was the only thing that was heard.
He listened to him coming closer. "…You look different with your hair like that." Inuyasha's raspy voice came breezing to him. The statement reminded Kouga of how few people ever saw him without his hair tied back. Somehow, he had even found stains on that small accessory as well. There were plenty of things that he considered responding with, but he ended up returning the soft sound of a deep breath and kept watching the leaves hovering on the water's flat surface, it was enough to tell the hanyou that he was listening. Understandably, the right words were hard to muster. Hearing Inuyasha talk so carefully was a very new experience. He pushed another sentence when Kouga said nothing. "…How are you feeling?"
The wolf was somewhat relieved at the simple question. The answer was practically in the sweat on his brow. "Tired… sick…" he exhaled deeply. "…and very, very hot."
Kouga said nothing else, but his slow pant was enough to hear the truth in that answer. "…It hasn't been long…" Inuyasha murmured. "Just try taking it easy…"
A small grin crept to the corner of the wolf's mouth. "Can't do much else…" he said absently while he listened to the distant stream. Inuyasha quietly stayed where he was with little to think of or Kouga to expect. The quiet grew long again and the wolf-demon's blue eyes swayed between the sky, the leaves, and the water several times. All the while, the one standing not so far behind him kept eyes on his still form. One was waiting for the other to speak again. Seconds became minutes with no passing voice and Kouga released a heavy sigh. "You don't need to be here, Inuyasha…" he reassured weakly.
The hanyou shifted. "You could have told me where you went."
He massaged an ache from his brow. "I didn't want to wake you." The wolf replied.
Suddenly, annoyance boiled up in Inuyasha's tone. "Hey!" he growled, eliciting Kouga's eye contact. Even in the shroud of the night, the hanyou still looked fatigued. "You know how long it's been?" he irritably questioned the other.
"Not really." The wolf answered truthfully.
"Four days." Inuyasha clarified, crossing his arms. "I know. I was awake the whole time watching you choke… and bleed." The anger gradually simmered back down, his hard stare faltered. "…thinking you were gonna die."
Inuyasha's head sank. He paused, then walked softly to the edge of the water and rested himself near Kouga. Eye contact was avoided while he settled himself and stared down into the pool. "…and it would have been my damn fault." He murmured to himself almost too soft for the wolf to hear. Kouga listened carefully as he stared toward the stars reflected across the water, distorting as they grew farther away. Inuyasha was nearly close enough for them to reach out and touch, but no such movement was made. As he summoned his courage, their eyes avoided each other. It seemed that the hanyou was watching the same thing that he was.
He allowed his tired eyes another rest. "Someone wise once told me something important." Kouga began, feeling Inuyasha's eyes turning to him as he did so. He swallowed. "He said… when something bad happens, everyone's mistakes play a part; it's never just one person." It was surprising how few words it took for his voice to become scratchy again; it had been a long time since he had used it. The wolf-demon pushed a portion of his wet hair back over the shoulder and cleared his throat. The other waited quietly for any further speech from him. Kouga let his eyes slip open to the starry pool once more. "Inuyasha… something keeps going through my head. I think it might have been a dream… I don't know…" he hesitantly voiced to him. "Did I… say something the other night?"
He heard a soft exhalation from the half-demon. "I remember." He let out simply, confirming Kouga's fragmented memory.
The knowledge struck a deep chord in him. He couldn't help but feel slightly sicker in the stomach when he heard it. The wolf could feel himself recoiling in his place in the water. He cycled a deep breath in and out. "Are you… angry?" he asked, the voice nearly stuck in his throat.
"Don't insult me." He heard the half-demon's prompt response. In truth, it wasn't what Kouga expected to hear, yet it flowed through Inuyasha's voice as clear as the day. Turning his surprised eyes to him, the wolf saw a deep firmness in the hanyou's returning gaze. "You think I don't know better than that? That I'm just like everybody else?" he harshly questioned the moment their eyes met. The wolf felt his stomach stir again, but not in the way it did before, what he felt wasn't shame or fear. Inuyasha gave a huff and crossed his arms. His gaze fell away from Kouga as he continued. "I remember what you said. You said a lot of things that night…" A pause came. He inched himself toward the edge of the pond, letting one of his bare feet hang down into the cold water. For a while, he stirred ripples in the reflective surface with his toe and watched the images flicker and wave. "…stuff I never thought I'd hear… least of all from you." His pyrite eyes shifted from the rippling waters straight back to the wolf's. "I've got no right to be mad at you, even if I wanted to be." He completed.
The wolf's blue eyes hardly even blinked as he listened. Inuyasha finished with an unmistakable, honest gaze. He let himself sink into the chilled water as far as he would go and let the heat wash away. Several long, deep breaths filled Kouga's trembling lungs as he reveled in all wonderful forms of relief. He couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from curving and hardly made the effort to do it. One cool, satisfying moment passed and he brought himself back up, letting all of the gathered air vent back out in a huge sigh. "Thanks…" he said as he let his sore eyes drift closed.
He didn't see if Inuyasha had nodded, but liked to imagine that he did. For a while, he was able to feel peaceful. The half-demon stayed where he was, tossing pebbles into the water while Kouga listened to the small plopping noises. The reason for the other's continuing presence was unclear to him and when he thought about it his brain found another reason to bring the worries back.
The dog flicked another tiny rock out of his fingers; Kouga opened his eyes. "Inuyasha?" he addressed out of the silence. "What will you do now?"
Nearly a minute passed with no sound from him. The hanyou thoughtfully rolled another pebble between his fingers and tossed it in. "Don't know." He finally said under his breath.
Kouga watched one of the ripples fade away just as it entered his sight. "Inuyasha…" Another leaf fell from the trees hanging over the pond. "…if you go… I don't think I can follow you."
The leaf spun in the air and gently touched down to the surface. He stopped just as he was about to toss in another speck of rock. "I never said that." The half-demon grunted before tossing the pebble in farther than before. The circles spread out over the reflected stars while the wolf-demon's pupils followed their progress. They reached their threshold and vanished, leaving the surface flat again.
"You stood there, Inuyasha." Kouga suddenly spoke with a subtle forlornness.
The hanyou's two eyes slowly fell back onto the wolf prince, gazing down with a dim look. The icy blue of his irises appeared to shiver.
He swallowed. "You just stood there… in front of that demon." Kouga reminisced as his brow deepened. Inuyasha drifted back to the scenery in front of him and stayed there. "…waiting."
When there continued to be no eye contact with him, Kouga pushed himself out of his nook in the rocks and drew closer, sending a trail of distorting waves across the water. He stared hard at him, trying to draw the other's returned gaze, but Inuyasha just lowered his head and blinked. "I just want you to take care of yourself, okay?" he spoke in his gruff voice.
"…"
The wolf inched closer and tried to look up to the half-demon's low stare. "Please… I need you to stay alive."
He blinked again. The hanyou's hand trailed up through his silver hair to rock back and forth on the scalp just below one of his white, drooping ears. "…Need." He whispered, repeating Kouga's word. The fingers glided back out of his silver locks and came to rest on his leg. It was a long wait before the half-demon's eyes shifted back upward and he sighed a short "Alright."
"Your word?" the wolf pushed further, still not at ease with his worries.
Inuyasha heaved another sigh but, at last, he shut his eyes and gave one clear nod of the head.
_________
The four paws of a wolf ran steadily over the dry ground. They traversed the distance between the increasingly thick shrubs as the valley rolled between the shadows of the cliffs. Twigs broke and dust billowed up behind the canine as it went swiftly through the obstacles, following its trail. The scent was from a creature that clearly didn't wish to be found, judging by the way it twisted and faded in a wandering path. Still, this silvery animal had faced greater challenges before and this task was a simple feat for him. He stopped just at the edge of a thicker patch of bushes that even boasted a few short trees in the distance. For a while, its grey tail swayed behind while the air was sniffed for a decent bearing to follow. Then, unfaltering, it leapt into the shrubs and began to navigate through the ever-thickening leaves. The wolf's nose hovered close to the parched soil and closely followed the smell underneath, over, and through many stubborn branches. Many more minutes of careful tracking went by as it navigated through the maze of foliage. The trail would change every so often and send the canine in a completely different direction. Arriving at a thick wall of tangled branches, it pawed carefully through and emerged from the leaves and out of the shade. Slight heat, just a small degree more than what the wolf's fur was comfortable with, radiated down from the harsh sun. No more cliffs were there to shield it as the valley opened and revealed the distant horizon of green just at the edge of the territory.
The wolf's dark eyes briefly skimmed over the scene. The sun, however hot, was beginning to fall low on its path into dusk and then nightfall. Its nose went back to sniffing the ground for a few seconds, searching for the targeted presence in the dust. Before long, the wolf sprung back into a directed run and down the valley's slope. The trail stayed direct for the next many paces. Then, quite suddenly, the ground dropped into a short ledge. Another check was made when the wolf stopped in his tracks. His senses still provided the same information and led him maneuvering his paws in steps down the steep drop. The first landings were successful, but the next ones touched down on unstable dirt and eventually sent the wolf sliding down the rest of the way, leaving a cloud of tan dust drifting in the breeze behind him. At last, it landed on flat ground again at the foot of another thick collection of shrubs that grew higher than the eyes went. A dark, pointed ear twitched at the small noise that came from the other side of the leaves. It was hardly a whimper, but unmistakably from the voice of a child. Once more, the canine went rustling through the bushes and snapped through several twigs. When it came out the other side, the sight of a small boy in a fur set of clothes met with the grayish wolf's eyes.
The presence of the creature was noticed immediately. By a noticeable difference, he was smaller than the wolf. The boy had a head full of dark hair that flowed down his small shoulders, skin that had been raised under much sunlight, and two icy, blue eyes. They eyes did not show fright, however. Instead, they merely turned back to the wide forest spreading out across the distance just at the bottom of the dry slope. Gently lifting its paws, the wolf approached from behind the young creature and came to sit beside him. It quietly looked over the cringing child, eyes shifting from a bruise on his temple to a cluster of scrapes on his shoulder and to the deep, bleeding gash just below them. The boy had his left arm secured tight against himself; the limb was the center of many recurring shivers that went through the whole body. Each injury was difficult to ignore, but it seemed that the young wolf-demon cub was doing just that by staring out across the horizon in front of him.
A voice came, not from the child, who was, to tell the truth, abnormally silent. Instead, the words came in a tone that carried the subtle use of many, many ages. It was a voice that had the sound of a canine's vocals, yet was also eloquent in its pitch.
"You're very far from the den, Prince Kouga" spoke the wolf in his rare, aged tones.
The young wolf-prince wearily shook his head. "You don't have to call me that, Silver." He said in his youthful voice, keeping the arm locked firm in the nook of his lap.
The wolf laid himself flat next to Kouga. "Sorry. Old habits, you know." He kept looking over the variety of cuts and bruises that could be found on nearly every part of the boy's body. The moment he saw Kouga sitting here, he had smelled the salt of tears and could now see that more were on the delicate verge of spilling. "To be quite frank, Kouga, you look like you should be getting bandaged, not wandering at the edge of our territory." The silvery canine got back on his paws and circled around to the child's other side, which was even worse than the left one. What caught the wolf's eye most instantly was the purple, nearly black spot all across Kouga's shoulder. More blood was smearing from three more small cuts that came slicing from the edge of his forearms. Instinctively, he gave them a short sniff and the wolf cub winced without the injuries even being touched. "What were you doing?" Silver questioned the smaller creature, worry riddling his look.
Kouga looked away. "Just… playing." His voice shook as he replied.
"This 'play' looks more like battle." The old wolf commented as he circled back around the other side again.
Kouga suddenly clenched his eyes shut and gave a thick grunt. In a moment, the occurrence passed, but not without Silver noticing the pain. He knew this elder wolf-demon well enough to remember how talented he was at seeing the smallest details. "I'm okay… I'm fine." The youth half-whimpered.
Silver's old, focused eyes gave him a long look. The pain Kouga was in was clear through the trembling of his little body. Sitting himself next to the battered child again, the canine showed him a solemn look. "Kouga… I'd never demand the truth from you. I just request and hope to always receive it."
The young wolf winced as he pulled his still arm in tighter. "Are you gonna take me back?" he asked, swallowing deeply.
Silver bowed his grey snout. "I think that would be wise."
In Kouga's blue eyes, a deep dread welled up the moment he heard his answer. His head slowly sunk and it seemed that the shaking had grown worse. There was no actual mention of opposition, but Silver wasn't one to make decisions for anyone. "Kouga?" he gently addressed, gesturing to the young wolf's lap with his black nose. "Is the arm broken?"
The questioned entered Kouga's ear, sunk in, and then the boy began to strain against the tremor that followed. His eyes clenched, but it was too late for him to stop the tear that slipped out and trailed down his cheek. In spite of his hardest efforts to bring the tear back up, it found its way to the very edge of his face and finally dropped off; Silver's dark eyes followed it the entire way. Slowly, the wolf-prince formed a shaky nod and tried to push any other tears back up with his free hand. "I—" he sniffed. "I think so…" the three words came out almost in the form of sobs.
Silver scooted up to Kouga's side and offered him a place to rest his head, to which Kouga accepted while he wept. Keeping his left arm as still as possible, the boy buried his nose in the wolf's colorless fur. Silver's coat was strange with the way it was coarse in some places and very soft in others. The little wolf-demon searched for one of the softer places for a while and found one just above the front leg. He let his small forehead rest in the comforting fur while a few more tears spilled out. Silver's scent always succeeded in creating a soothing feeling.
The elderly wolf sat sturdy while Kouga leaned into him. One of the young prince's tears went soaking into his coat; the smell reached his sensitive nose and left him thinking aloud. "Sometimes I wish I was able to cry." He said thoughtfully.
The youth heard him and felt a small laugh escape. The reaction left a soft smile on his face. Kouga took a few long breaths and let his face lift away from Silver's welcoming fur. The pain still throbbed in his arm, but his childish sense of humor managed to maintain the relieving grin for a while. The large wolf's snout pointed down at Kouga's fragile smile and returned a happier gaze.
"I can't really help you with that, Kouga." Silver spoke, referring to the arm that the boy still had tucked in his lap. "I can carry you back and I'm sure someone will take care of it."
The young wolf's expression faded. "But… you said your back was hurting."
Silver bobbed his nose. "There's enough strength in these bones for you, Kouga."
The boy looked up at him with the same rueful feeling as before and stayed down on the ground. He gave no reply while Silver patiently waited for him to do so. More painful throbs would sear in the child's arm whenever it was budged. Eventually, Kouga asked for enough time to watch the sunset before returning to the den. Whether or not he meant what he requested, Silver granted it, much to the boy's relief.
An orange tint appeared in the sky as the bright light touched the horizon and continued its gradual movement down to perform the day's conclusion. Kouga wiped the tears from his eyes and settled back down with his injured arm still nestled where it was. Silver sat close by and watched. Despite the young prince's apparent desire to watch the day end, the morose expression didn't dissipate as Kouga endured the recurring ripples of pain in his bone. The sun had never felt more slow. Just as half of the bright circle dimmed to yellow and sank below the foliaged horizon, Silver laid down at Kouga's side with his paws stretched outward. Without a glance, the young wolf-demon's free hand found its way to the wolf's neck. Wordless, little Kouga began to rub deep into the grey fur around his shoulders and searched for the proper spot. No other person in the entire wolf-demon tribe was able to do this as well. At least, no person who was alive today.
Sadly, Kouga's motions were detectably slow and absent as they went; they failed to comfort Silver's sore joints as well as they normally did. The wolf heard the boy grunt in pain again and felt the jolt travel all the way into the fingers that stroked his neck. "Kouga? Would you like to tell me what's wrong?" he asked the silent youth. The boy cringed into a pained groan just as Silver finished his question. He lifted his small hand away and tried to massage the discomfort from his injured limb. The grey wolf watched with pity. "Perhaps we should go back, Kouga…"
"No!" The cub yelped instantly. He hung his head low. "I don't wanna go back there…" he whimpered. "…Just a little longer."
Kouga budged his broken arm back inward and continued to stare starkly into the vast distances just beyond the wolf territory. Gradually, he let his hand go back to Silver's soft neck and rest there. His sluggish fingers stretched and contracted one more time, then halted. A swallow collided with another wincing motion that traveled on Kouga's bones. He shortly recovered and went back to watching the sun on its slow procedure. Haltingly, he spoke again.
"Silver? What's out there?"
The old wolf raised his head and took a long look across the treetops tessellating outward. He slowly let his head rest on the ground again and answered. "Other demons, territories, forests, mountains, rivers." He listed in his wolfish voice. "…humans as well. It's the whole world, Kouga."
The little wolf-demon tilted his head in curiosity. "How big?" he inquired.
Silver's head repositioned an inch. "Oh, it's bigger than you know, always bigger than you think." He fondly replied. "You can travel and live for a thousand years and there will always be more to see." He exhaled deeply through his wet nose. "It makes the world special."
Kouga continued to gaze outward as he listened. The sun had gone deeper. His small noises of discomfort would revisit the ears every few minutes and Silver could always feel the twinge coming to an end in the cub's fingertips. Truthfully, seeing someone as young as Kouga was with such injury saddened the elderly canine. He had never encountered the boy in such a condition or seen him with anything beyond a few bruises and perhaps a cut or two. However, in spite of his concerns, he was a demon who valued a person's secrets. He was quite certain that Kouga felt the same. Besides, patience was a tool that never failed him in all of his long years.
"Silver?"
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something important?" the prince's youthful voice sounded.
One of Kouga's fingers began circling the wolf's right ear, pushing it down and letting it stand back up. "Of course." He responded in his weathered tone.
The cub hesitated for a moment, then allowed his question to come to speech. "What would you think if… I ran away?"
Silver quickly came out of the relaxed state Kouga's strokes had lulled him into and propped up on one of his paws. His dark, wolf eyes looked straight back at the boy's. "Why would you do that?" he asked further, curious.
It seemed that the reply had come up, but never left the cub's mouth. Kouga's head lowered and he groaned again as another jolt came from his arm. "…I dunno."
Silver sat himself back up, taking a long look at the descending sun. "The world is vast, Kouga, it's true. But it's also dangerous" he said, gesturing to the grounds with his paw. "…And here is where it's safe, it's where you will be safe until you can survive on you own someday. One day you will lead the pack." The silver-furred wolf described to him.
"But…" Kouga swallowed. "What if I don't want to?"
The wolf straightened himself up, gazing intently off into the distant scene. The sun was more than half consumed by the dusk. He vented a long breath. "…You're the heir to our tribe, Kouga. It's not a life that many demons will have."
Kouga clutched his aching arm as he listened to the elder demon. "But I don't want it." He quietly responded to the declaration. "Why should I?" questioned the youth in a tone that nearly sounded like anger.
Silver faced him with the closest thing to a smile that a wolf could compose. "That's a very easy question." He declared with confidence. "You're young, Kouga, very young. I scarcely remember the days when I had so much of my life ahead." The orange filling the sky had dimmed, a flare of gold forming around the circle of light in the center. He turned his wolf eyes back toward the sunset and continued. "Young though you are, you have the power to lead."
Kouga patiently awaited his friend to continue. The repeating aches in his arm were still there, yet dulled in their significance by what he listened to.
"Let me tell you something important, Kouga." Silver resumed as he gazed of into the darkening sky. The sun's generous light was collecting while the overhead colors began to fade away. "I've lived a long life. I remember when your father inherited the pack, your grandfather, and the man before him." The wolf pawed the ground, going back through his memory. "I remember all the way back to when demons such as me were the ones who held the earth." He reminisced to the young cub behind him. The light became caught in the wolf's grayish fur and, as Kouga had decided to nickname him, reflected a color that was truly silver. "And of all the leaders that I have seen inherit this tribe, you alone have given me the greatest hope for a better pack."
In the middle of the harsh ache he was experiencing, young Kouga was given a reason to smile again. "Really?"
Silver faced him again and bowed his head. "Yes, Kouga." He spoke clear and honest. "You are different from men like your father..." Concluded the wolf.
"…And that is why your cubs will not bleed as you do."
OKAY! Done. Let me know what you think of this character, because I really like him so far ^^