'Y-you're right, Sango…' Ayame stuttered, looking up at Sango while she gnawed on her lower lip a little. 'I… I do need him… and I can't live without him.' Her voice was quiet and shook a little as she spoke, but it was full of determination and showed that she actually did believe the words that she was speaking. She needed him; that was all that mattered to her at the moment. Now she knew that she would never have lasted more than a day without the man who had always been there for her, even through the roughest years of her life. 'I do need him,' she said louder, sitting up straight as she nodded her head in agreement with herself. While she watched Sango for a few moments, she thought through her head what she needed to do to go back to Kouga, other than get up and walk to his house. 'And I'm going to go get him back!' she said happily, brushing away the tears that had fallen onto her cheeks. Standing up, she smiled at Sango, and nodded in thanks then walked back to her room and changed out of her pajamas into actual clothes.

Sango smiled happily to herself, glad that she was able to help knock some sense into Ayame's head before she did something dumber than usual. 'Glad I could help you,' she said, despite the fact that she knew that her friend couldn't hear her now since they were in two separate rooms on different sides of the apartment. 'I'm just happy you understood how much you two mean to each other…' She grinned and jumped up, spinning around a little as she ran towards Ayame's room, deciding she could walk with her a little to Kouga's since she wanted to head over to Miroku's house now that she had done what she intended to do. 'You heading over to Kouga's place now?' she asked through the door, leaning against the frame as she waited for an answer, yawning a little. 'If you are, I'm going to walk with you a little and then branch off and go find Miroku, okay?'

Ayame nodded to what Sango said, knowing quite well that a nod was not able to be heard, and replied in a talking manor, 'Yeah, that's fine.' She looked at herself in the mirror, looking herself over as she grabbed a brush and started to bring it through her hair, hoping to get rid of the mass of tangles she had gotten while she had been sleeping. Her pants, which she wasn't exactly happy with since they were the only clean ones she had, had a hole in the knees and her back pockets; the bottoms were frayed and had lost about an inch to all the fray. The shirt she wore was a plain gym shirt; this one was hers since Kouga's was now sitting in her laundry basket. 'Hm…' she mumbled then shrugged a little and tossed her brush onto her bed and opened the door, jumping back a few paces when she saw Sango. 'Eep!'

The brunette stared at Ayame for several minutes, and then started laughing, which eventually made Ayame start laughing, but not for the same reason as Sango. 'Did I scare you?' Sango managed to say between fits of giggles as she clutched her sides to stop the pain that she knew was going to be coming. Her reason for laughing was Ayame's face and reaction; Ayame always had those priceless looks of fear whenever something scared her even if she knew it was going to happen or was there. 'Sorry about that,' she said, her giggling starting to slow down with every passing moment, 'I forgot you scared so easily.' That gave her an idea, not for her to do, though, but for someone else, but it'd have to wait because she knew Ayame wouldn't be in the mood later when she was with Kouga. 'You ready to go?' she asked as she linked arms with her room mate and started towards the front door.

Ayame didn't need to answer the question, because, even if she wasn't ready, she had no choice but to follow Sango out of the hallway and towards the front door since she was king of attached to her at the arm for the moment. 'Yeah, not like I had a choice to come now or not, though,' she muttered under her breath as she rolled her eyes, and shook her head somewhat. She pulled her arm out of Sango's and put her hands back behind her head and looked up at the sky with a yawn, watching the stars glitter in the sky. Sighing deeply, she shook her head and looked at the ground, then to Sango, trying to figure out a way to put what she was thinking into words. 'Hey, Sango?' she asked, raising one of her eyebrows to her.

'Yeah?' she responded, looking from the door she had just locked to Ayame, trying to see if she could figure out what was on her mind before anything was said.

The rusty-haired girl stayed silent for several moments as she played the conversation out in her head, mumbling something inaudible under her breath as she glanced at the ground again. 'You remember when Kouga asked me to be his mate a while ago?' she asked, looking up since she had a good feeling Sango would only nod in answer instead of say something. Sango nodded. 'I want to take up his offer now… I mean, I really wanted to then, but I was still going through hell and I didn't want to bring him into it… Now that I've started taking control of everything, I want to be with him forever.' She sighed and looked back to the ground, wrapping her arms around her as a chill went through her spine, causing her to shiver. 'I did then, too, but now I know that things might work out better than if I had accepted back then, you know?' This time she didn't look up, but continued gazing at the ground, hoping she wouldn't need to look up to find out Sango's response.

Sango nodded, 'I know what you mean; you didn't have to expand on what you first said.' She glanced at Ayame and sighed a little, trying to think of something to say. Truthfully, she knew that if Ayame and Kouga became mates, Ayame would probably end up moving with Kouga, and Sango didn't want her best friend to leave her yet; there was so much they hadn't done together and hadn't told each other. 'Ayame, if you do this, you need to be positive it's what you want because if you figure out it'd the wrong choice after he's marked you, there's no turning back. Wolves mate for life.' Her brown eyes locked onto the ground as the two walked down the street, only a short distance from where they would separate and go their separate ways. 'Just know I'll always be here for you if Kouga doesn't cut it, okay?' she said and looked back up, only to get pulled into a tight hug soon afterwards, which caused her to stumble back a few steps. 'A-Ayame?' she asked, blinking in confusion at the girl now holding tightly onto her, trying to push said girl off.

Ayame had buried her head into Sango's shoulder beside her neck and was hugging her tightly, not wanting to get off despite Sango's wishes and attempts to push her off. 'I know we mate for life… and I know it'll be too late then, but I know I want to do this. I've wanted to since before we started going out. When he asked me last time, I… I just didn't know what to do because it felt so surreal; I didn't think he had actually asked me.' She looked up at her, her face slightly pink from her blushing since she had admitted she never really hated Kouga before they started going out, then pulled away and watched Sango, her eyes watering somewhat. 'I never hated him,' she said and spun on her left foot, putting her arms out some, 'I've loved him ever since I set eyes on him!' A great weight had now been lifted off her chest and she was so excited to have finally told someone, other than Kouga, the truth about how she had always felt about him.

A smile crept across Sango's features and settled on her lips as she watched Ayame, glad to see her actually doing something other than sulking around and lying about her feelings. She grabbed Ayame's hands and stopped her from spinning, laughing a little as she shook her head, 'You're making me dizzy!' Her gaze drifted from Ayame to the next street which was only a few minutes walk from where they were currently, which would mean she would keep going straight while Ayame would turn to the right. 'Everyone knew you loved him since then, he even knew, you were just that bad at hiding things, and when you came home drunk, you just started talking about how you wanted him and didn't really hate him.' As a deep blush crept over the wolf demon's nose and onto her cheeks, Sango chuckled and started walking again, hoping to be followed because she didn't want to just stand there anymore. 'Kouga even told me that you had walked up to him and said that you loved him; he told me that's what got him to ask you out since he knew you wouldn't say no.'

Ayame skipped after Sango then started walking when she had caught up to her and nodded a little, putting her hands back behind her head like they were earlier. 'Hm… I had always wondered why he looked at me like he did,' she said, looking up at the sky thoughtfully. 'I mean, he just gave me this weird look when he saw me in the halls, and it made me nervous; I don't know why it made me nervous, though.' She shrugged as she finished her sentence then looked back to Sango, not really sure if she wanted to know what else she had admitted when she was drunk. 'I'm glad I told him, though, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't be with him now, and I wouldn't be as happy as I am.'

The street Ayame needed to turn on came up, so the two girls stopped walking and looked at each other in silence until Ayame pulled Sango into another tight hug, whispering something into her ear. 'Don't do anything you won't regret with him,' she said, snickering some as she pulled away, 'and if he molests you, don't tell me you didn't enjoy it because I know you will.' With a wink, then a wave, Ayame turned to the right as Sango waved back and continued walkingforward, shaking her head to herself at the demon's comment.

-

While Sango wasn't paying attention, she ran into someone and looked up, trying to make words come out of her mouth as she thought, but stopped when she realized it was Miroku. 'I thought you went home?' she said in more of a question, raising an eyebrow at him as she grabbed his hand and laced fingers with him happily. She leaned against his shoulder and started walking down the street in the direction she had been heading in, ignoring any pleas that Miroku had to go another direction (not like he had any). 'Well, we can go there together then, right?' she asked and looked up at him with a smile, watching as he nodded with a smile to match hers. Stopping, Sango turned and stood in front of Miroku and draped her arms over his shoulders and stood up straight, leaning forward as she kissed him passionately.

The kiss made Miroku's breath catch in his throat as he stared down at her, his eyes wide in shock, not just by the kiss, but by the look Sango had when she broke it, obviously pleased with his look of shock. 'S-Sango,' he stuttered, a barely visible blush creeping onto his cheeks as he watched her, slowly getting over the moment of surprise. He smiled and pulled her up against his chest and kissed her back, breaking it several moments later with a shake of his head. 'You can't just kiss me and not let me kiss you back,' he said jokingly and took her hand, entangling fingers with her, and started walking again. 'Especially when you know you drive me insane by teasing me like that,' he added with a laugh as he glanced down towards his girlfriend. He raised an eyebrow at the look on Sango's face, not having expected to see her looking at the ground sadly, 'What's the matter?'

'Miroku…' she asked, looking up at him as they walked, glancing back towards the ground soon after, 'can I live with you now?' She had a feeling that might be asking too much, or that it might make Miroku think he could do whatever he wanted to her if he said yes, but she didn't care at the moment. All that she wanted was to be with him after turning him down for six years, and now that she had him all to herself, she wanted to make sure it stayed that way. 'I… I understand if you don't want me to… I was just… curious is all…' Her voice was quiet, but still audible, and she looked back up to him with a slightly quirked eyebrow, hoping that the turn down wouldn't be too harsh.

'Don't want you to?' Miroku asked, taken aback that Sango would actually think he didn't want her living with him. He smiled and pulled her into a tight hug, whispering into her ear, 'Of course you can live with me; I wouldn't have it any other way.' He smiled and kissed her forehead as he pulled away from her, locking his purple gaze onto her Sango's brown gaze happily. 'But… why do you want to move in with me so suddenly? Don't take that the wrong way, because I really am glad you would actually think of moving in with me, I'm just wondering if you and Ayame got into a fight is all.' That had been more of an explanation than Miroku had thought he'd have to give, and he realized he had probably said too much, but it was too late for him to take what he said back. 'I'll shut up now…' he muttered, rubbing the back of his head nervously as he forced a smile on his lips as he bit his lower lip slightly.

Sango stayed silent and just looked up at Miroku silently, trying to figure out how to put the reason into words; she had what she wanted to say in her head, but it was putting it into words that was giving her trouble. 'No, we didn't get into a fight… We have nothing to fight about anyway, so that couldn't be the reason,' she said with a slight shrug, leaning her head against his chest as she sighed happily. 'She's just going to be with Kouga forever now, and I don't want to live in the apartment without her…' Nodding her head, Sango looked up to Miroku, groaning as she rolled her eyes at the look of confusion that had settled on his face. 'Ayame's letting Kouga take her as his mate when she gets to his house. They're going to be with each other forever when they mark one another…' she said, sighing sadly. She was happy for Ayame, she really was, but she was going to be losing her best friend and wasn't going to be able to live with her unless Ayame and Kouga got into a fight, which she kind of doubted would happen.

Miroku nodded in understanding then stopped and raised an eyebrow at Sango, 'And Kouga never told me he was going to do this?' An exasperated sigh left Sango's slightly parted lips as she started walking again, mumbling something about Miroku being an idiot under her breath. 'Or did he and I just didn't pay attention? Yeah, probably the latter,' he said and shrugged, walked after Sango as he grabbed her hand to slow her down. 'Hey, it'll be alright, so don't worry about it. You and Ayame will still get together; there's no way Kouga could take up all of her time, you know.' He shrugged a little then wrapped an arm around Sango's shoulders and looked down at her, still sensing a little bit of uneasiness from the girl.

'I know he would never be able to take up all of her time…' she mumbled and shook her head, keeping her gaze averted to the ground as she groaned. 'Still… I get the feeling that maybe she'll forget about me.' Sango sighed and looked up to Miroku, shaking her head somewhat since she knew that Ayame would never forget about her. 'I'm not sure why I think that, but I just have this bad feeling about that… kind of like a bad dream you don't want to come true.' She paused and looked back to the ground, leaning up against Miroku's shoulder with a small yawn, wrapping her arm around his waist happily. 'And I don't understand how you didn't know Kouga wanted to mark her; he made it so obvious when he announced it at the club last year.' A small laugh came from her as the memory played out in her head, laughing even more when she remembered Ayame's face after hearing the announcement.

Miroku pondered Sango's last statement for a few silent minutes, then shrugged as he snaked his arm around Sango's shoulders, pulling her against him. 'Well, you're right; it's amazing I don't remember that, but it has been a year, and I don't exactly need to remember things such as that, you know.' He smiled a little as he looked down at the brunette by his side, 'She won't forget you, Sango. Ayame thinks of you as her best friend; she'd never forget you after moving out and in with another guy. I'm sure that she would be astonished to hear that you think she'd forget you.' For some reason, Miroku felt like making his sentences longer, even if they had no point, and using larger words than normal. 'You shouldn't assume she'd forget you when she'd never do that; she loves you too much to do that so easily.' With a slight sigh, he bent down and pulled Sango into a tight hug after sensing that she was upset, and ran his hands through her hair, hoping to calm her some. 'Shush, Sango, it'll be alright,' he whispered into her ear.

-

Ayame stopped several feet from Kouga's door, her arms wrapped tightly around her as she shivered some when a breeze blew by, sending chills down her spin when it hit the bare skin on her arms. She had walked to Kouga's house and had made it there, but now she needed to walk the rest of the way up to his door and knock, and Ayame had a feeling that might take a while. Inhaling deeply, she lifted her right foot off the ground and set it in front of her, doing the same with her left until she got to his front door. Gnawing softly of her lower lip, she lifted her hand up to knock on the door, leaving it inches away as she thought out the plan in her mind, hoping it would go her way and Kouga would take her back. One last reassuring thought to herself later, she had knocked on the door and was standing outside in the cold, looking at the doorknob for any sign of movement from it to warn that someone was coming. Tears started to pour down her cheeks after standing outside for several minutes with no movement from the inside of the house; could Kouga be avoiding her now?

As Ayame turned to leave, her gaze downcast to the ground and her neck bent as she watched the sidewalk pass beneath her feet, something from behind made a noise that caught her attention. 'Ay-Ayame?' the voice asked groggily, rubbing his eyes as he started towards her with a raised eyebrow. 'What're you doing here at this hour?' Kouga put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him, watching as she stared up at him through her glossy eyes, tears staining her cheeks. He placed his hands on the side of her face and brushed away her tears with his thumbs, then pulled her into a hug, whispering in her ear, hoping to calm her. 'Ayame, don't cry anymore; I'm here for you. No matter what, I'll be here for you.' Pushing raven hair out of his blue eyes, Kouga picked Ayame up bridal style in his arms and walked into his house, closing the door with his foot when he got inside.

Ayame whimpered several times as she nuzzled into Kouga's bare chest, sobbing silently while she wrapped her arms around his neck, saying something incomprehensible to him as she cried. 'K-Kouga… I'm so sorry… I… I shouldn't have said we needed the break; I don't know how I thought I could go more than a day without you,' she said, looking up at him, her lower lip quivering while tears obscuring her vision. 'I never thought that it'd cause me this much pain without knowing you were there. I never knew I needed you as much as I do now and I'll never make a mistake as dumb as this one. I'll never do it again, Kouga, and I want to be with you forever.' The last part of what she said was muffled some as she buried her head into his chest and started to sob into it while Kouga ran his hands through her hair. 'I was afraid you might not want me anymore when you didn't answer; I was so frightened that I'd never have you back.'

'Shush, Ayame, please stop crying,' he whispered to her, sitting down on the couch as he pulled the sobbing figure tightly against his chest. Kouga rested his head on her shoulder, sighing as he listened to her last sentence, then shook his head, waiting until he found a break in her whimpers and sobs to start talking again. 'Not want you? Ayame, I love you more than anything else in this world, and there's no way I'd not want you anymore. There's nothing I'd want more than you; nothing can ever replace you and nothing will.' He smiled slightly when Ayame finally looked up into his eyes, and kissed her softly, yet passionately, on the lips, issuing every bit of feeling towards her could in his half awake state. 'I told you last night before you left that I needed you with me, and I'm still saying that. I'll never change my mind about needing you to be with me, Ayame, and don't think I will.' A smile crossed his features as he nuzzled her softly, glad to get a nuzzle back, no matter how small and light it was, 'I said I'd wait forever for you, and I damn well will if I really have to.'

'Oh, Kouga,' Ayame said and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, resting her head in the crook of his neck happily. 'I've been thinking… now that I know I need you, and I know you would wait for me forever, which I think means you need me,' she said, and raised an eyebrow to Kouga, who nodded. 'I want to be your mate, Kouga. I want to be with you forever; I want to be yours and yours alone. Does the offer still stand?' she asked, looking at him hopefully as she rested her forehead against his, waiting for the answer.

'Of course the offer still stands,' Kouga said, practically jumping with joy when he heard Ayame wanted to be his mate. 'It would stand forever, just like I would wait forever.' He smiled and nuzzled her, wrapping his arms around Ayame's waist as she pulled away from his neck. 'Mark me first if you really want to do this, okay?' he said, locking eyes with her as she nodded her head slowly.

Ayame nodded and slowly lowered her head to Kouga's neck, kissing it softly as she let her fangs graze across the skin. She winced slightly as she slowly dug her fangs into the skin on his neck and Kouga winced a bit, holding tightly onto Ayame as she started to lap the blood up from the wound she had caused. Now she was a little iffy about having Kouga do the same to her because if Kouga winced, she knew she'd probably end up crying by the end of it, but it was too late to turn back. As she began lifting her head up from the mark, she licked it once more, then kissed it softly and looked up at Kouga, tears already stinging the corners of her eyes.

'Don't be afraid, Ayame,' Kouga whispered into her ear as he licked the rim of it, slowly leading a trail of kisses down to her neck. 'I'll make it as quick as I can, okay?' Ayame nodded slowly in answer to his question, biting her lower lip as she closed her eyes tightly. Kouga started to lightly bite and nip at her neck, hoping that by the time he did dig his fangs into her neck, she'd have been somewhat numb to the pain, though highly doubted it because it was Ayame he was talking about. 'Are you ready?' he asked, though didn't wait for the answer, and dug his fangs deep into Ayame's neck until he could taste the blood.

Ayame whimpered and let the tears that she had been holding back fall down her cheeks as Kouga lapped the blood up, then hugged her tightly to his chest. 'It's alright, Ayame, we're together now. We're together forever like you and I both wanted.'