-Ahhhh~~~ Thanks so much for the reviews and the overall views on the latest chapter *dies happy*. I'd love to hear your ideas on what I should do with the story and how it should turn out. Reviews are like my food! The more you feed me, the more I write! This chapter was reeally hard to write since my computer crashed. I could never stand disappointing my fans so I wrote most of this chapter on my phone :) ~~~-
Song of Change Chapter 13: Reunion
Worn pads scraped against the harsh asphalt as the black wolf trudged onwards along the dark, empty road. She sniffed the air despairingly and swung her muzzle towards the wind, hoping to catch some familiar scent of home. She was greeted with the harsh, eye watering stench of the road. She coughed violently as her eyes watered up, but she kept going, nearly swaying on her paws.
She was tired to the point that she hardly noticed the car until it was almost upon her. Letting out a yelp of surprise, Kagome forced her tired limbs to respond as she flung herself toward the edge of the road. Appreciative shouts came from within the vehicle as it sped by, and Kagome fled into the safety of the forest before the car decided to come back.
Deciding that now was as good of a time for a rest as any, Kagome flopped down onto some ferns, her chest heaving. It had been nearly four days since she had left the Shikon Mountains, the forest, and... Inuyasha's pack.
She hated to admit it, but she missed them. She missed Sango and her warm, comforting friendship. She missed Miroku with his playful, perverted antics, she even missed the strangely aggressive Ayame. Her heart ached when she thought of little Shippo without his parents, and...
Kagome sighed loudly and rolled over. "No. There is no way in all the seven hells that I miss him... ."
But she did. She did miss him. She missed Inuyasha. Stupid, selfish bastard that he was. She missed his snarky sense of humor, his pessimism, and his undying loyalty to his pack. Kagome snorted. There was no way that he would ever find out about this. Ever. And if he did? Well, that would be a convenient time to crawl under a rock and never be seen again.
"Back off! I'm trying to walk here!"
The car predictably paid no attention and breezed past the irate white wolf who continued to spew insults as it drove by.
After nearly being buffeted off of his paws by a large delivery truck, Inuyasha was a heartbeat away from turning back and giving up. "There is no reason why I should do this! None at all! Why should I care if she's gone..?"
Despite his protests, his brain began lining up reasons why he should care.
1) Sango would tear him to shreds, 2) He couldn't stand Shippo's whining anymore, 3) Koga would be insanely smug when he found out that Kagome fled his pack, and 4) In a dark, dusty, secret crevice of his heart, he missed her.
It was just so... Boring without her around... It was no fun arguing with Miroku, because he always had logical answers that snarky comebacks had no effect on, Sango would just snap at him, and Ayame probably didn't know that he existed. Kagome was fun to be around, Inuyasha loved to mess with her; her reactions were priceless!
Pushing the sentimentality to the back of his brain for later (never) use, Inuyasha checked the road behind him again, and resumed his slow, steady lope, pausing every now and then to give the air a good sniff.
When Kagome finally found her way home, she had nearly fallen into the fence. She was tired to the point that anything in front of her barely registered as anything but a blurry mix, and a fence, well, it didn't register at all. When she crashed into the chain-link fence, her body was too worn to do anything other than slump tiredly to the ground. Her vision slowly fading to black as she fell asleep.
When she woke up, she was greeted by the wet tongue of a wolf. Instinct kicked in and she backpedaled into a rock wall.
"Inuyasha! Back off! What the-!?" Her eyes widened as she took in the wolf in front of her.
"Hey sis!" The wolf smiled at her, said tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Kagome stared at her brother for a split second before tackling him to the ground. "Souta! Oh, you don't know how much I missed you! You have no idea how weird the past two weeks have been!"
Souta tried (and failed) to squirm out from under his packmate. "Oof! Get off me sis! You're heavy!"
Kagome sent her brother a reproachful glare, "I am not heavy! I'm thinner than ever and you know it! You can see my ribs! Look!"
She circled around several times to prove her point, finally sitting down with an offended huff. Souta simply laughed at her, tongue lolling out of his mouth.
Falling back into her normal protective/snobby/loving older-sister role, Kagome examined Souta quizzically, head tilting slightly to the side. He hadn't changed much since she had left, but he had grown some.
His ruffled dark-brown fur was still puppy-soft, the white patch on his chest looking softer than powdered snow. Despite his puppy-fluff, sinewy muscle was just starting to build up, causing his legs to seem long, awkward and gangly.
"Souta, if your legs get any longer, people are gonna start mistaking you for a giant, hairy spider."
Said wolf cringed at the proffered mental image. "Kami sis, that was something I didn't need to see."
Kagome merely shrugged, "You've gotta hear it from somebody..."
Souta waggled his ears. "Speaking of some bodies, why'd you think I was this... Inuyasha guy...? You know him well I
presume...?"
Well shit. So much for ignoring the existence of a certain bratty wolf. "He's... Ah, an... Acquaintance."
Souta waggled his ears suggestively, " A one-night acquaintance maybe...? Damn, sis, I always knew that you didn't like the whole arranged-pairing thing but wow."
If Kagome had been embarrassed before, now she was positively mortified. "Oh kami, Souta no. Nonononono! Me and... That arrogant little-! Never. No."
Souta twizzled an unconcerned ear, "It sounds like you know him well," Here Kagome had to refrain from strangling her little brother, "did you meet him while you were gone...?"
Deciding to ignore her urge to murder her younger sibling, Kagome launched into a detailed (and overly dramatized) explanation of her adventure.
After she finished, Souta stared at her wide eyed and slack-jawed. "Did all that really happen to you sis? Even the evil creepy-rapist wolf?"
Kagome nodded sagely, "Yup! It's all true, especially about Naraku. He's just... Eurgh." Just thinking about the him made Kagome's fur bristle in agitation. If she never saw him again, she wouldn't complain.
After pondering her tale for several more seconds, Souta jumped to his feet, tail wagging wildly. "Anyway, enough about you, lets eat! The people just dropped off a deer, and it's fresh!"
At the mention of food, Kagome's stomach rumbled hopefully, making Kagome wince. She hadn't eaten since before she had run away from Inuyasha at the cliffsides, and at this point, any food would be welcome.
"Thank kami. I'm starving!"
"Well hurry up then! If you don't get a move on, there won't be any food left!" Souta grinned at her toothily, and raced out of the den, tail flagging behind him.
After rolling her eyes at her brother, Kagome yawned and stretched leisurely, giving each of her sore limbs a shake for good measure before heading out of the den;
The park where Kagome's pack lived was situated at the outskirts of a small town, on a large, rocky mountain with more pine-needles than grass. The park itself was small, and attracted little attention, save for the odd college student needing to do a report on the breeding and relocation of forest wildlife. There were several other species of animals other than wolves residing in the park such as bears, badgers, skunks, moose, foxes and deer. It was the only home Kagome had known since puphood, and it was warm, comforting, familiar and cramped.
Ever since she had been relocated to the forest, there had been no boundaries to how far Kagome could go. Now, whenever she turned a corner, it seemed as if there was always a fence to meet her and block her passage. It had been comforting before, to know that there were boundaries to the world, but now it was unsettling. Row after row of chain link fences loomed above her, making her feel trapped. It was not a comfortable experience.
Shaking off the unsettling thoughts that clung to her like a shadow, Kagome turned her attention towards the trees, and followed her brother.
Several reports had been been aired on the radio after Inuyasha had made the mistake of taking the shortcut through town instead of following his original forest path, and after nearly being shot by the local ranger, it was a mistake he did not plan to repeat. The town had been so confusing! There were two-leggers everywhere, and more of their metal... things spewing up fumes and exhaust than Inuyasha had ever seen before.
At first, people had thought he was a stray dog(a very offensive thing to think, in his opinion), but then as more and more people identified him as a wolf, the rumor spread. Soon, people were stopping on the roads and popping their heads out of windows to catch a glimpse of the white wolf.
But then some complete moron had the bright idea to call in the park rangers to subdue the 'rabid wolf' that was 'rampaging' in the city.
Things had rapidly gone downhill from there.
Now exhausted, bedraggled and just put upon in general, Inuyasha stood in front of the wildlife park where Kagome's scent had led him. He paused at the entrance, mentally weighing his options
Having had his fill of human structures for the day, the white wolf slunk around the corner, searching the fence for any faults or chinks in the seemingly-flawless chain linked fence.
"Kami damn her! Couldn't she pick a better place to live?" Inuyasha eyed the fence in mistrust and snorted. "Females. I'll never understand them."
Kagome stared at the deer, and the deer stared back, its dead frozen eyes staring at her. Boring holes into her soul. Her mother shot her a confused look, and Kagome gave her a cheesy smile in return, and returned her attention to the deer.
It was frozen stiff! How was she supposed to eat it? Souta looked up from where he was gnawing on an icy leg, and frowned at her. "Vhat afh youh whatimng fuh? Driigh imn!"
She shot her brother an exasperated glare and sat down in front of the carcass, watching as it slowly defrosted and dripped onto the ground. Ew. Since when had she been a picky eater? Normally, she would have dug into the deer, like a furry... Frozen... Melting... That wasn't helping. After hunting with Inuyasha's pack, the only thing that seemed edible was something fresh, warm and definitely not frozen.
Her mother looked at her in confusion, "Is something wrong honey? You haven't touched your dinner, and I know you must be starving."
Shooting the deer another glance, Kagome stuck out her tongue. "Nnnoo, I think I... Uh... Suddenly lost my appetite. I think my long walk has uh... Made me tired." She gave an unconvincing yawn and grinned again, slowly edging towards the path that led to the den.
She bumped into something furry, warm and very, very familiar.
Oh shit.