Naraku was a prick. In half an hour, Kagura had found out Kagome's weakness: the three boys in her care. It was obvious really, but yokais didn't think on those terms, not male yokais anyway, they only care about their OWN children. Female yokais were not so different from human women and could care for half breeds and adopted offspring alike. Such was the case of the human in front of her. Kagome cared too much and wasn't careful enough.

The Lord of the West also cared too much, but was overprotective as hell. That morning they assigned Kanna to search and kill the human woman that Sesshomaru was hiding, even if it was only a rumor Naraku took steps to act on it. A potential weakness to the most powerful yokai of the land was not something to pass on. Naraku truly hated The West. 'And how lucky that woman was' she thought. Kagura saw her once, not that she was going to tell Naraku. She did just enough not to fall on his nasty side but never gave her 100% on anything he asked of her. That's why she was thinking about Sesshomaru in the middle of her surveillance. He had been going to the same restaurant for a while and people talked about the food, but only a jealous yokai such as herself could tell that he went for the company. A server was going to be the Lady of the West, a human. A classic case of a weak flower that the beast wanted to hold in his paw without destroying. Really, Sessho had a savior complex. Kagura winced at the name and the memory that came with it. She had called him that in bed, once, and that was the last day she had the pleasure of his company. If only she knew the Lord wanted fragility, she could have pretended. Still, she had him once, many times. Maybe she could have him again.

.

"I have to talk to you"

"Fuck off"

"It's important"

"Dont give a shit"

"It's about her"

Inuyasha looked back at the eyes of the prince that he was destined to kill. He saw him entered the meeting as if nothing had happened, and when the meeting ended he corned Inuyasha to talk. Sesshomaru just smirked and went out. 'How am I going to control myself enough? If I kill him here, Sesshomaru would disavow me, and they would take the resources that I have to find her.'

"I don't want to fight. I think I know where she is but I cannot go looking for her," said Koga, with a strange tone of voice.

Inuyasha dared to take a whiff and froze. Koga smelled like many female yokais, sex smells. He wasn't with Kagome anymore, so he couldn't start a duel for her honor. And now he was giving up on finding her. Inuyasha felt something unexpected. Kagome didn't deserve that. He was sad for her.

"Keh, what a fucking coward you turn out to be," said Inuyasha with disappointment.

"If you must know, I am courting someone else and I don't want to give the wrong impression." Koga was getting angry.

"You forgot about her real quick motherfucker." By now, Inuyasha was almost laughing.

Koga growled "She is the reason that me and… Why we are together. And she is still my friend, I don't want her to be captured by Naraku, so hear me out or pay the price of your pride Inuyasha"

Inuyasha's smile died and dead serious he asked "what do you know?"

"I know nothing. I have no new information from spies or rumors. I just have my memories of our time together"

Inuyasha growled low, but Koga paid no mind

"I took her to the fringes once. She had asked to visit the compound, to know it for the first time, but I refused. I knew she only wanted to see you. So I took her to the place where my territory ended and yours began. I told her she was to cross that line no more. She asked a lot of questions about my lands and about yours but not one question was about the fringe."

Inuyasha's total attention was on the tale.

"It was strange for her not to be honest, but I remembered yesterday, when I met her she didn't trust me enough to tell me she was a miko but she didn't deny it. So I'm thinking that she knew all about the border life but instead of lying she just didn't speak about it, same as with the miko stuff."

Inuyasha knew that this was the truth, it just made sense, but these were dangerous, poor places and he was more anxious than ever. The only advantage was that he would look for her on one border instead of four. And without competition.

"Why did you give up" Inuyasha finally said after some time in silence

"Did you know, before we all found out, that she is a miko?" said Koga

Inuyasha was mad, he didn't like his questions answered with more questions.

"Just trust me with this. Did you know then? What she can do?" asked Koga

"Yes," said Inuyasha without seeing the point.

"I shouldn't have meddled in the first place, I always knew she wasn't my mate," said Koga

Inuyasha took out his sword. He had just confessed to using Kagome. This would not go unpunished.

Koga eyed the weapon but continued "I just… I just wished she was mine because she seemed worth it, you know? And I knew her as a normal human. The thing is... I am not worthy of her, I lied and cheated, and when she comes back, I'll beg her forgiveness and ask for her friendship"

"You have no right to ask her anything" said Inuyasha, barely opening his mouth, his jaw expressed all his anger.

Koga's look of remorse turned insolent "you are the fucker that let her go in the first place, she will not mate you anyway, so I'll just befriend her true mate, the blacksmith Akitoki loves her thought he met her once; Ginta and Hakkaku like her too much; I hear Bankotsu desires her; as well as that human she befriended. Hell, even Jinenji likes her, the giant loser, any of them could beat you." Koga turned around and was laughing when Inuyasha spoke.

"Turn around and fight coward"

Koga didn't turn "yes Inuyasha, your anger proves that you don't deserve her either, come and waste time with me while she is starving or do you think those places are cozy".

Inuyasha was frozen in place, and after a while, he put his sword away. Koga was right, he hated to lose time, Kagome came first. And he was sure that Koga had cracked it. She was in that place..

After a while, his excitement passed and a calm certainty filled his mind, only to be interrupted by jealousy. The mission was planned; he had to think about it, but naturally he thought about everything else Koga said. 'I don't really believe that he does not want her. Until he has mated, I'll keep my eye on the wolf'. He reached his destination and opened the door to their gym. Bankotsu was weight lifting, the fucker.

"Hey boss," he said seeing Inuyasha

He went straight to the point "I hear you wanna fuck with me, is that right?"

"Wha… What?" said Bankotsu, confused

"I hear you are interested in my mate," said Inuyasha now with his sword in his hand

"N...no boss, I would never"

"Are you or are you not interested in Kagome?" said Inuyasha

Bankotsu looked even more confused and because of that, less afraid "but wasn't she Koga's mate?"

Inuyasha transformed his sword as a reply

"I'm sorry… I ... I didn't knew but now I know ok, I'll apologize to her ladyship as soon as I see her," said Bankotsu leaving the building.

Inuyasha stuck his sword on the ground, angry. But this time it was with himself. If Bankotsu were to tell her about this, she would know that he has just as bad as Koga. Calling her a mate when he didn't ask her to be his, when she hadn't accepted. This had to stop, this one sided relationship he had with her, because without her input there was no relationship. He had to practice and get better in days, maybe hours. In the meantime, no one was going to be alerted or suspicious. He had to act like always, or they would find her out before he got to her.

.

The greatest yokai of them all had a human concubine, according to gossip. Kagome thought of the last time, the only time she had met Sesshomaru. He didn't seem in or out of love; he had a powerful personality and was very strict so if these rumors were so strong it meant that there was truth in them. She smiled a conspiratorial smile that turned upside down when another thought crossed her mind. If Inuyasha was serious, and he always was, they would soon announce his matting with Kikyo. She was not trilled to hear the news but was sure to be happy for him when the time came.

Cleaning spilled sake from the counter, she approached her boss and ended her shift. This was going to be a cold, maybe rainy night, so she went dumpster diving a few streets over. A new sleeping bag or a big blanket would do it, but she was unlucky and would have to sew a few holes in a sweater and mend socks because everything else had been taken. On her way back she remembered about Kohaku and got up earlier tomorrow, because they took the trash out at 5:00am in most places and maybe she could find something for each of them so that no one was cold in the nights.

Her spirits improved, and as soon as she came home, she repaired the garments. Every day was busy for her and she had little time before bed. She had a lot of free time back when she lived among humans. It was only a temporary thing for her life always brought her back to The Fringe. She wished to have used that time properly and learn to knit or do something useful, but she was busy in other ways, trying to hide themselves and contain her power.

Looking at both directions in the street, she did magic, as Sota said. To set the world back on track, said her mentor. But really, it was just to uncover what was once beautiful. She stepped inside the hut. In the middle bed was Kohaku. With a bright pink light, she holds onto his shoulder and the tainted fragment of the pearl that he had stuck on him glowed too, turning purple and then lilac and finally white. She smiled, exhausted by the purification, and went to sleep. Kohaku didn't seem to feel anything.