I do not own Inuyasha

Chapter Eleven

Touga's strength was returning to him quickly. One the first day of his return, his power level was close to that of Inuyasha's. After about two weeks it had risen to match Sesshoumaru's, and currently, about six weeks since that day, his strength was about the same as Ryokutsei's strength. He only had a little further to go until his strength was fully returned.

Kagome was utterly shocked at how strong Touga really was. She could feel his power rolling off of him in waves, his intimidating aura pushing against her much smaller and weaker one. Even when Kagome was a miko she knew she could never have gotten a scratch on him. He was much too powerful, and he still wasn't at full strength. His strength almost scared her... until she realized that she trusted him. She knew he would never hurt her, no matter how intimidating his power was. Although... she wondered why he wasn't simply concealing his aura. Surely that would be best, right? It would keep unwanted visitors away. But, then again, the strength of his aura would also keep unwanted visitors away. Nobody was surely stupid enough to actually go towards something so powerful, something that had no equal in the world... right?

"Touga-sama?" Kagome questioned, looking up at the inutaisho from where she was cleaning off her catch, a plump rabbit. Over the past six weeks Touga had taught her many things. Controlling her sensitive senses was the first thing she had learned. Then he'd taught her how to handle her strength. She had broken her favorite bow simply because she did not know how to control her strength. What she previously needed a lot of strength to do now only needed the barest minimum of her strength. After finally mastering her strength they sat down and had a very long discussion about instincts, and Kagome's face was bright red for the majority of the talk, but we'll get to that later. Now Touga was currently teaching her how to track and hunt game, moving stealthily and attacking with speed. So far Kagome had only managed to snag a few rabbits and squirrels, but she was getting better. They would stay at the cave for another few weeks until she mastered hunting and started to learn about her powers through actual training.

Touga looked over at his little onna with a light smile. She was a fast learner. She had learned what most inuyokai took years to master, starting from a very young age, in only six weeks. It was taking a little longer for her to get the hang of hunting, but he was sure she would master it quickly. He watched her as she skinned her morning catch by the fire, her furry tail swishing back and forth against the cave floor. Within three weeks she had grown her tail. It was a sign of power that not too many yokai had, with the exception of the wolf yokai. Her tail was still small, about the same size as a normal dog's tail, and looked like a black version of Kouga's tail, but in a few years it would grow out and become much fluffier as her strength grew. In a few centuries her tail would no doubt be nearly as long as Sesshoumaru's tail. Then he would have to teach her how to shift her tail into something she could carry around easier, like he did with his tail in the form of a cape. Sesshoumaru, for some reason, preferred to carry his tail as is.

"Yes, little one?" He asked as he watched her. Kagome smiled at him and offered him the cleaned rabbit. Already she was adapting to her new instincts, and she saw Touga as her protector and therefore her alpha. The alpha of the pack always ate first and got the best meat in return for his protection. The past few days Kagome had started to offer him the food she caught, but Touga always declined. Normally it was the alpha's job to hunt and provide for his pack, but Kagome was still learning how to hunt so she was the one doing all the hunting. Since she was the one hunting he would not accept the first pick in meat, but would instead eat at the same time as her. Only after she had mastered hunting would he start hunting once again. Then it would be her job to clean the catch and then offer him the best meat, and only then would he accept it.

"No, little one. You caught it. I will not take the best meat from your own catch." Touga told her once again. He was glad she saw him as her protector and alpha, but he would be fair about the game she caught. He did not need much to eat, anyways, so he would take whatever she did not eat.

"Please, Touga-sama? I feel bad when you get stuck with whatever I don't eat." Kagome said quietly. "It's bad enough I can only catch rabbits and squirrels."

"Don't worry about it, little one." Touga smiled lightly. "I do not need much to eat and, if I do get hungry, I will catch my own meal. You are still young and need all the nutrition you can get. You can ignore your instincts for now, at least until you can catch much larger game. Do not treat me as your alpha when it comes to food until you can catch so much meat that you cannot possibly eat it all."

"But..."

"Kagome." he interrupted, his voice firm in warning yet gentle. Kagome pouted and stared at the cave floor, and Touga found it hard not to laugh. They went through this every time and every time it ended the same, with Kagome being mildly reprimanded and pouting. Kagome slowly nodded and put the rabbit over the fire to cook. Her instincts were telling her to care for her alpha, yet her alpha was telling her not to. She had only been an inuyokai for six weeks, but her instincts were already very strong. She had not yet learned how to control them, either, as it was not something Touga could teach her. That came with years of practice and, even then, all inuyokai were still at the will of their instincts to some degree. Even Sesshoumaru could not fight off all his instincts. That was one of the reasons he fought with Inuyasha so much. Inuyasha constantly defied his dominance as alpha of the pack, and Sesshoumaru's instincts told him not to accept that and to put the hanyou in his place. Unfortunately it took several years for Inuyasha to get it through his thick skull that he could never defeat his brother.

Kagome sighed and waited for her food to cook. Then she ate in silence, trying to leave some of the best meat for Touga. Unfortunately Touga told her to eat it all, and he refused to let her leave without making sure all the meat on the rabbit was gone. Kagome was just finishing her rabbit when a strong aura suddenly appeared jut outside the cave. It appeared so suddenly that it startled Kagome, who was quick to hide behind Touga. Despite her normal spitfire personality, her new instincts were making her jumpy. It would take a while for her normal personality to return as her instincts made her quiet, easily frightened, and wary of strangers. That was why she was currently hiding behind the inutaisho, her tail fluffed up in response to her being startled like that.

Touga only chuckled at her, a sound that easily calmed her. She noticed how he didn't seem worried or surprised at all by the aura. She realized he'd probably sensed the aura from a great distance away, and it was likely that he knew who it was. Plus, the aura was much smaller than his own, although it was rather powerful, so he probably had no worry that he would be able to handle it should it be dangerous. Kagome relaxed slightly as she saw how calm her protector was, but she still stayed hiding behind him, peeking over his shoulder and looking warily at the cave entrance. She wondered who the aura belonged to. It was about the same strength as Sesshoumaru, maybe a little stronger, but she knew it wasn't the western taiyokai, seeing as he had been there only a few days ago with Ah-Un to deliver his father's armor (which Touga had yet to put on) and she knew he would not come again for a while.

"Do not worry, little one. It is only my cousin." Touga told her as an inuyokai with blond hair and silver eyes walked into the cave, bowing lowly to Touga, who nodded in response. "Hello, Rai. What brings you here?"

"Mother sent me, Touga-sama. She had sensed your power even from the southern palace." the inuyokai told him calmly. "It is likely my other aunts and uncles have sensed your return as well. They are most likely looking forward to seeing their newly returned nephew."

"That is likely true." Touga chuckled as Kagome peeked over his shoulder at the blond in the cave. He looked like Touga in stature, but his face was completely different. His hair was short and rather spiky, his face almost looked like Sesshoumaru's but with tanned skin. His markings were silver and looked like waves on his cheekbones. Then she saw his eyes. They were silver, like Touga's mother's eyes... but different. They were more steely and sharp, with one color of silver, while Tsukimi's eyes were swirls of different shades of silver. Still, his eyes were just as pretty as Touga's golden eyes were. Then she noticed the newcomer was looking at her, and she his behind Touga again.

"Might I inquire who the young one behind you is?" Rai asked his cousin. "She is clearly an inuyokai, but what clan is she? I have never seen an inuyokai with black hair and blue eyes."

"Ah, this is Kagome. She is not from one of the great eight clans." Touga told his cousin.

"But those are the only inuyokai in existence."

"Indeed, but she is not entirely a yokai."

"A hanyou? But she looks like a full yokai." Rai stated, looking at Kagome curiously. "She even carries the scent of one."

"Yes, she does. She is, indeed, a full inuyokai at the moment. But, really, she is a daughter of the kami." Touga explained, watching as his cousin's eyes grew wide in understanding.

"I see. How rare." the blond said in awe. "What is her purpose? Or has she already fulfilled it?"

"She was created to destroy Naraku, that fiend that caused chaos until recently, when she finally destroyed him. She was a miko before. Now that she has fulfilled her purpose she is getting her reward." Touga explained easily. He trusted this yokai and knew he would not divulge this information to anyone untrustworthy. He and Rai had known each other for centuries, after all.

"And what is her reward? Does it involve you, cousin?" Rain asked curiously.

"Hai. I am also being rewarded for allowing the kami to kill me. We are each other's reward." Touga smiled as Kagome blushed from behind him. Rai's eyes widened at this and he smiled.

"Ah, so that's it. Soul mates, huh? Congratulations, cousin. You are very lucky." Rai chuckled and Touga laughed with him.

"I am, indeed." Touga chuckled, glancing back at Kagome, who had relaxed some more as she listened to him talk. She knew Touga trusted this male, otherwise he would not have told him that she was a daughter of the kami, and that put her at ease. But she still hid behind Touga, her instincts telling her not to trust another male inuyokai that was not part of the pack. Touga and Rai may, technically be cousins, but there is no blood shared between them. All of Touga's aunts and uncles were created separately, with separate blood. They may be related by name, but they were not related by blood and that made Kagome unwilling to trust Rai just yet. Perhaps when her instincts settled down...

"I'm afraid I must be going now. Mother only wanted me to see if it really was you, cousin." Rai told Touga after talking to him for a while longer. Touga nodded.

"Give your mother my regards, and spread the word to the other clans that I truly have returned. I must stay here with Kagome until she is accustomed to being an inuyokai, but then I will return to my old palace. I will invite our aunts and uncles to my palace soon, so do tell them not to seek me out just yet." Touga asked of his cousin, who nodded easily.

"I will do that. It is safe to say that you will conceal your aura now?" Rai chuckled. "You are frightening some of the nearby villages with your aura. They fear the end is near for them."

"Hai. I haven't concealed it until now because I knew one of my aunts or uncles would get curious enough to send someone to see me." Touga laughed. With that said his aura vanished completely, startling Kagome. She looked at her protector in awe. She couldn't feel any power coming off of him at all. If she weren't looking right at him she would have thought he had disappeared from the world altogether. "I will see you around, Rai. Feel free to come with your mate to the palace wtih your mother and her mate." Touga offered. Rai smiled and nodded, giving Touga another bow before vanishing from the cave and from the area before Kagome could blink. Kagome just sat there and blinked a few times before Touga turned to her with an amused smile. "Little one, there is still some meat left on the rabbit. Go finish it."

-BREAK-

I gave you a longer chapter this time! Hurray! :)

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Aozora12