No one else had noticed the exchange between the two because the focus was immediately settled on celebration. Kagome and Kouga sat staring into each other's eyes. His eyes were filled with questions and doubt, hers were filled with fear.
Kagome was shaken from the stare when Sango's arms wrapped around her with a squeal.
"We did it Kagome! We lived and we ended up being happy!" Sango said with a smile. Kagome managed a weak imitation as she joined in the celebration. Shippo had announced the marriage out across the land.
Ayame served drinks with an overjoyed expression, and even Naraku's bride looked pleased. Everyone was overjoyed expect for Kouga and Kagome, because now they had a lot to discuss. The party was stretching into the night. The kings were downing Sake and laughing with their sober wives.
The newly married men were playing tricks on each other until Kaede walked in wearing a servant's gown. She bowed at the princes and handed them vials of red liquid. They all thanked her and then she made eye contact with her girls.
Kagome felt a tug at her heart to run to Kaede and plead for her to take her back to the academy, to save her from her husband's wrath that was building as the night went on. The princes all slipped the vials into their outfits without a second thought and continued to be merry.
When the moon was at its peak and Kagome's nerves were about to explode, Shippo walked in, bowed and then announced.
"It is time for the last bit of the ceremony to take place. Please excuse the princes and their wives." The princes all stood and stretched out their hands for their brides. When Kagome took Kouga's hand however, she could feel all his emotions hit her like a wave.
He was so confused, and he was angry. She could not feel malicious intent, but she could feel pain. She had hurt him, and she didn't even know how. She did not know why that happened.
They left the building and started to walk to their perspective buildings. Sango was slapping at Miroku because his hands kept wandering. Kikyo and Naraku kept a small distance apart but they were in a deep conversation. Then Rin and Sesshomaru were a joy to watch. Rin held on to Sesshomaru but she would stop them to stare at the flowers with a childlike innocence.
Kagome and Kouga were cold. The minute no one else could see them Kouga dropped her hand. He walked ahead of her while she hung back slightly and felt the waves of pain crashing into her. She stopped then as she stared at the pond that held their memories.
She touched the mark on her neck and it made him stop. He turned around then and stared at her as she looked at the frozen lake. Kouga smiled a little then as Kagome continued to keep her hand over the mark.
He lifted his arm then and touched his mark. Kagome turned to him then, a shocked expression covering her face. He smiled at her and shook his head as she dropped her hand and he followed suit.
Kouga walked over to her then, and with each step, tears filled her eyes. He was about a foot away from her then and looked down into her eyes.
"Why? I just need to know why you lied. I need to know the truth. We are bound Kagome. You don't even know what these marks mean do you?" Kouga asked as his eyes searched hers for answers.
Kagome shook her head and lifted her hand to touch the mark she had caused. When her fingers grazed it, Kouga closed his eyes and smiled.
"Kouga I will come clean, a hundred percent. First, tell me what these marks mean." Kagome as she gazed at the mark intently, surprised at the intricate design. Kouga took away her hand then and looked at it.
"The marks are special. They connect my soul to yours. When you touch your mark it tells me things. It tells me how you are, where you are, what you're doing, what you're feeling. The marks are permanent; they only leave if one of us dies. It is a symbol to all other demons that you have a mate." Kouga said as he played with her hand, tracing the lines. Kagome smiled at him then and then asked,
"What is the next part of the ceremony? If it's what I think it is, I don't know." Kouga then threw back his head and laughed so hard he started to cry.
"Love, no, it is not that. I will explain soon. But we will not do that until the council deems it worthy, it's a long process. Now come on, you have to come clean to me." Kouga said as he stared into Kagome's eyes.
"When I entered this competition, I did not want to. In fact I begged not to be entered. Before this, I was an orphan. I do not know what my parents are, or who they were. I grew up as a human; I was treated like a human. Well, below a human, I was training." Kagome looked to the sky then as she reviewed the past.
"What were you training as?" Kouga asked as he felt Kagome's honesty overflow his senses.
"A priestess, I was training as a priestess. I woke up hours before dawn and went to bed hours before dark. I prayed at least eight times a day, I worked for everyone. I was no one, but I was me. Being a priestess was something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life. I was comfortable. Then, after sunrise prayers, my Spiritual mother said a decree has been sent out, and I was forced to leave." Tears spilled onto Kagome's cheeks as she remembered what she used to love.
"You, were going to be a priestess? You?" Kouga asked with slight disgust in his eyes. Kagome could feel his embarrassment and shame in her life path.
"I was. I am not now. It was all I knew Kouga. I was dropped off as a newborn, my spiritual mother she raised me, she loved me. She trained me to only know that life. So all of this is new to me, I did not know what a carriage was. I never experienced scented bath soap. I never dreamed of wearing silk. I never ate anything expect for rice, fish, and deer. I never thought about love, I never played on marriage. I did not know so many other races existed or even what went into other cultures such as this. This mark? I had no idea what it was, and I did not mean to hurt you when I bit you, I just let my instincts take over…Because I do not know any better."
Kagome was crying at this point because she was revealing her soul to the man sitting next to her. He did not look at her with the disgust anymore; he looked at her like he would a wounded animal.
"Kagome, I will teach you anything you need to know. As for the silk and food, where I come from we eat only rice and meats, and we wear animal skins, we wear silk here because we keep up appearances. You will learn of my culture, because when we head to the south you will be thrown to the wolves, quite literally, because you will be queen over packs of wolves and all manner of wildlife." Kouga said with a smile as he wiped away Kagome's tears.
"In the north you would have been queen over evil beings. The north is the jailers, they capture and torture, they are spiders after all, and they enjoy the pain. If you chose Sesshomaru you would have been a queen over dogs, fleas and ticks, with stuck up rules and regulations. In the East you would have been the queen of parties, of never ending fun as Miroku calls it. In the south however you are queen of the wild. You will run with wolves, hunt with your pack, and raise a family in happiness and freedom." Kouga smiled at her as he held her face in his hands.
He then reached into his pocket and pulled out the red vial from earlier. He placed it front of Kagome and said with sincerity.
"We will find out your race, but until then I cannot take any chances. In this vial is a life potion. It is used for humans to match the life span of their demon counter parts. Miroku's family, they seem human right? Well he never told you they have spiritual powers, insane spiritual powers. His family took these back hundreds of years ago and because Miroku was born to his father and so on, the wives take the potion. I knew you were curios." Kouga said with a smirk as he pulled the cork out of the vial.
"Will you spend eternity with me? Will you let me help you?" Kouga asked as he presented the vial. Kagome thought then, about what Kouga had said and how much it hurt when she thought she would lose him. So she took the vial and drank it. The concoction was bitterer than Kagome expected and it burned her mouth and throat.
Kagome grabbed onto Kouga's shoulders as she tried to speak but her throat hurt so much she couldn't, and then she slumped into him, asleep. He easily picked her up and took her into the makeshift eastern palace.
He laid her down on his covers and smiled at her sleeping face. She was his forever; he just hoped that more than anything, she would remember him. Kouga then got up and walked back out into the garden to find the other princes sitting there.
"She asleep wolf?" Sesshomaru asked with a bored expression. Kouga was about to go and show Sesshomaru a piece of his mind when Miroku placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Now we just wait till they wake up? And then what, wait till we get back to our homes and then even more waiting for each councils decision." Miroku said with a groan as he sat down and ran his hands through his hair.
"They do that so our wives can bear children at the same time idiot. Once the consummation happens they want them pregnant and then it doesn't matter after the first child. This is why our fathers took concubines." Naraku gestured to Sesshomaru who responded with a deep warning growl.
"Oh yea Sesshomaru, How if the mutt?" Kouga asked with amusement. Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at Kouga before rolling his eyes.
"I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I will ever take a concubine." Miroku said dreamily as closed his eyes with a smile and a blush. Naraku laughed and rolled his eyes.
"I will, especially when Kikyo is pregnant. Like when I become King I will find just one girl and make her my all-time concubine." Naraku said as flipped a stone in his hand. Sesshomaru kept quiet about the entire situation as he looked to his makeshift palace.
"Our mates know it is a possibility for sure. But until she makes me extremely unhappy I will not disgrace her like my father did my mother." Sesshomaru said as his eyes stayed glued to the makeshift palace. Naraku and Miroku however turned their attention to Kouga. Kouga felt a lot of pressure at that point.
He did not want to tell the guys that he was afraid of what might happen because he did not know about his mate's species yet. So he settled with a shrug and a sigh. This in turn made Miroku's jaw drop.
"You cannot be considering it Kouga! Out of all of us, it was you who would never take one! I thought wolves mated for life!" Miroku said dramatically.
"I never said I would take one Miroku. We do mate for life but so does every other demon out there, we wolves just hate concubines. In my legacy only my great great great great grandfather took a concubine. So no my answer is a no right now, but in a few hundred years I will not know our situation." Kouga said as he looked away. Miroku was about to get into an outrage when Sesshomaru shook his head and then said,
"Miroku, my half-brother has been waiting for you around the palace lately, call him over once and while. He gets lonely. And tell your half-brother, to stop acting like a servant." Miroku laughed and nodded.
"I will take that into consideration Sesshomaru. But now I am going to go to sleep. I think we all need to sleep. Good luck on tomorrow Kouga, we hope for the best." Miroku said as he got up, stretched and walked toward the eastern palace. Naraku left with a wave and then Sesshomaru stayed making eye contact with Kouga.
"I saw what happened tonight wolf. Do some sniffing around. By the way, be careful, after Kagome got sick, there is someone out there that wants her dead." Sesshomaru said before walking away. Kouga clenched his fists and closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and looking to the sky.
"I do not normally do this. But please let her keep her memory. I don't know what I would do without her, and even though she would be here in body. I won't have her fighting spirit beside me…so please…I beg you…" Once he was finished he yawned widely and walked into his palace to find Kagome still sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face.
He laid next to her then and smiled at her sleeping face. As he was closing his eyes he felt Kagome curl closer to him and sigh. He in turn looked down at her as he lay on his back with a smile. He really did love this girl. He was hoping he was prepared at what life was going to throw at him.