A/N: I was supposed to do a funny piece with Kouga misunderstanding some of Kagome's stuff.
9. Kouga
He ran.
He ran, following the scent of blood and his pack mates mingled in the air. He already knew he was going to arrive too late to see any of his pack members alive.
His pack,his foolish comrades, now were all dead. All, but two, who ran far behind him, calling his name. It echoed in his ears, twisting from a plea to slow down to a shout for help, to come and save the day like had had done so many times before.
But he knew, he knew deep in his heavy heart, that this time the help would arrive too late.
He knew he was going to arrive to a scene of slaughter, limbs severed, guts strewn across the field, blood splattered on the trampled grass. He was going to stand on the edge of the field, where his comrades had fought and had been killed twice.
He was going to lay his eyes on the red and white figure standing alone among the fallen wolves, a silver dog, a mutt, tamed by humans with a collar around his neck.
He knew that the mutt wasn't responsible for his pack members' death, not the first one. He had been merely defending himself and his pack against the raised dead, just to be framed for killing them. No, Kouga knew, that the one responsible for decimating his pack was Naraku's spawn.
He didn't want to run towards the field full of regret, pain and death. He didn't want to see their faces twisted in horror, their eyes dull. He didn't want to scent their bodies growing cold, their blood seeping into the dirt. He didn't want to hear the wind swirling above them as it picked them to fight again, this time to battle him along with the mutt.
He willed his legs to stop, to turn in any other direction, but he couldn't stop what was going to happen. He couldn't not go to his pack mates. He howled in despair and loss, but his voice never left his throat, the howl choked and more a sob than a melodious song of a grieving wolf.
He stopped finally, his feet glued to the ground at the edge of the field. The mutt was there, standing with his back turned at him, shaking the blood off of his claws. His friends were nowhere to be seen, just like Kouga's remaining pack mates. Inuyasha's ears twitched and he turned his head to look at him with those damn golden eyes, eyes of an alpha of a pack.
"You're too late."
"I know." Kouga bit back, his voice low.
"You could've prevented this. You could've ordered them to stay put," Inuyasha turned to face him, his robes dampened by wolf blood.
"I know, damn you!" Kouga barked. Somehow, this Inuyasha seemed to be as cold and stoic as his older brother, not barking aggressive insults at him
"You erred as the alpha of a pack," Inuyasha stated and looked around at the corpses. "Your thirst for power killed them."
"Says the mutt who wants the jewel for himself!"
"I would never endanger my pack to get power," Inuyasha glanced at him with the fire his eyes usually held when he looked at Kouga. "And you still cling to these accursed shards, knowing well how much suffering the jewel had caused your pack. You're endangering the rest of them by insisting to hold on to these. Naraku will come to collect them eventually."
"Are you trying to give me orders, mutt? A wolf would never obey a dog" Kouga shouted. He wanted to leap at the hanyou and punch him, but he knew that he couldn't reach him."
"So dogs are more civilized, but deal," Inuyasha shrugged. "We relinquished out pride of wild creatures, we learned from humans."
"Exactly!"
"Then, pray tell, why is a mere dog hanyou more powerful than a pack alpha? Why is he capable of keeping his pack alive while you failed so m miserably? If it wasn't for me and my pack, you would have been killed by Naraku a hundred times. You are weak."
.
With a shout of rage and defiance, Kouga sat up from where he had been sleeping. His two pack members were luckily still asleep despite his shout and Kouga rubbed his forehead just to find it covered with sweat.
He glanced at his legs to see the jewel shards' glow less brilliant than it had used to be. He winced, it meant that he had to seek out Kagome and get her to touch him to restore the pure light in the shards and make the nightmares spawned from regret and guilt go away for a while.
But they never went away for long. A week or so after meeting up with Kagome his nightmares would return. He would see his dead comrades. His fears, regrets and woes would be thrown into his face by the man that shouldn't be as strong as he was, who was so much beneath him, that Kouga didn't bother to call him by his name.
He stood up to walk out of the cave they were staying in and watch the sunrise. He had to find a way to grow stronger. He had to find a way to get rid of that nightmare. He had to accept his faults and grow past his insecurities. He had to become a better alpha, so next time he saw Inuyasha he could look in his eyes and see something else than what he saw in his dreams.