Disclaimer : It's not mine. It never was.
Kouga went back to his cave that night with a heavy heart. Kagome had left him and went back to her time for who knew how long. When he got back to the cave, he went in and found that the majority of the pack was out on patrols and the children were sleeping. Keiko had come back with him, and she immediately set to straightening things up and putting her herbs back in their proper places. Kouga, on the other hand, was restless. He wanted Kagome back, and he wanted her back NOW. Finally, he left the confines of the cave and went outside to where the springs ran down into the closest village. It was a night full of bright stars, but almost no moon. He sniffed the air carefully, picking up a whiff of Kagome on it.
"She must have been down here with the children this evening, playing with them." he said quietly. Her sweet smell was mingled in with the normal scents of the forest. The pine trees, the running water, the night time air, and the fragrance of the sakura blooms only enhanced what was already playing in the air. But he also smelled something else.
He got down off of the boulder he had sat on and found the highest concentrated area of Kagome's scent. Sure enough, he sniffed again, and underneath the smell of the pups, he found it again. There was something different about her scent. It was not as soft as normal. There was something changing in her body that was causing her to give off more pheromones than normal. 'It's probably just her blood time.' he thought, dismissing the scent. But something in his mind wouldn't let it drop. He had been around the females in his pack too long, and this was something he had smelled before on them. He just did not know what it was. 'Maybe the last time she used the Shikon it altered her scent.' he thought. 'That's crazy. It's never changed her scent before!"
Shaking his head and taking back to the air for a nighttime run to help clear his mind; he decided to forget about Kagome for a while. She would be back soon, and the more he thought about it, the longer it would seem. 'I need to find something to occupy myself for a while.' he thought desperately. 'Something to get my mind off of her right now.' Unfortunately, every thought he could possibly come up with always managed to connect itself back to Kagome.
The stars reminded him of the twinkle in her eyes. The trickle of running water reminded him of her soft laughs. The soothing calls of the nightingales made him think of her soft, loving voice. The warm nighttime air reminded him of her warm skin. Even his own pack members made him think of her because of the children. And no matter where he went, he couldn't seem to get away from her scent. Nor could he forget about the sudden change in her scent.
He was in for a miserable few weeks
*******************************************************
Meanwhile, in a village a few day's travel from Kaede's..
*******************************************************
Kikyou was tying up the loose ends of a bandage on the village elder's arm when the sun went down. He had cut himself while chopping wood earlier that day and left himself with a rather nasty cut. She had done her best to seal the wound off, but it would take time for it to heal. As she rose from her spot, the village elder thanked her profusely and asked if there was anything he could do to help her. She shook her head and told the man to take it easy the next few days. He only grinned and Kikyou began to walk towards the edge of the village.
She had been in this village since she had been brought back from the dead. The villagers hadn't suspected a thing, not knowing that she was actually a walking corpse at the time she had appeared to them. They had treated her with the utmost reverence and respect when they had found out she was a miko. As payment for her help in helping the sick and protecting the village, they had built her a small hut right on the outskirts of the village, close to the forest. She had brought Inuyasha here after the incident in the woods the other night with Kagome since he had been told not to come back to Kaede's village by Kagome.
He was still sulking a whole lot. Kikyou knew that he was still pining for her reincarnate. He had loved Kagome, and she knew that. In fact, she was beginning to think he still loved her deeply, even after she had almost killed him and her both.
That was exactly what was going to make her revenge so sweet on the both of them. Him, for betraying her with the other miko, and because of his betrayal fifty years ago. Even though it had been Naraku that had tricked her into hurting Inuyasha, she still felt as though he was responsible for it because he had been her weak spot, and Naraku had known it. She would take care of Kagome for taking Inuyasha away from her and causing him to fall so deeply in love with her.
Kikyou gave a wry grin and stepped into her home. Inuyasha was not there. 'Probably gone out to sulk even more.' she thought dispiritedly. 'It's okay, Inuyasha. Pine after her all you want. You've made your choice, and now you have to live with it. You turned Kagome down, and you know she's not coming back. Such a pity, my love. Such a pity.'
Kikyou looked out of the nearby window and saw Inuyasha sitting in a tree, facing back towards Kaede's village. She could tell he was thinking about the girl, and she put on a smile. 'Let's see if I can get her off of your mind for a little while, shall we Inuyasha?' And with that final, sadistic thought, she went out the back of the hut to where her lover was sitting. 'I definitely can't have you pouting about her all the time, now can I? It's time to do something about it....'
*******************************************************
About the same time..
*******************************************************
Sango and Miroku had just dropped Shippou back of with his family and were on their way back to Sango's village. It was getting dark, and the two companions had been traveling all day long. When they had left Shippou with his family, he had told them that if Kagome came back to see them soon to come and tell him. Sango and agreed to it, and she and Miroku had left the hyperactive, overprotective kitsune with his real mother and father.
They had traveled in silence most of the day. Mainly because of their own individual thoughts on what had transpired between their friends the day before. They were both angry with the hanyou for what he had done to Kagome. Sango was royally pissed off with him. 'I do believe she would have killed him if Kagome had let her.' Miroku thought as they pulled out some food and blankets as they made camp.
He had not tried to talk with Sango while Shippou was with them. At any mention of the white-haired hanyou's name, Shippou would go off on a tangent about 'stupid bakas like him giving other demons a bad name'. When Sango had finished fixing the food, he sat down beside her and waited. He could tell she wanted to talk, but wasn't sure where to begin. They ate in total silence until finally, Sango's temper broke and she stood up and threw her food to the ground. 'Oh dear, here she goes.' he thought.
"I can't believe this!" she said. "Inuyasha should have known better! What was he thinking, going off with that bitch Kikyou! He's lost his mind, or she's done something to him! He loved Kagome, I heard him say it himself...!!" And so on and so forth she went for the next ten minutes, kicking anything that got in the way of her pacing trail. "That's what happens when you give your heart to someone to love! It gets ripped out and threw back in your face! Men! What's there problem anyway?! Always causing problems..." Miroku just watched silently as she fumed. It would do him no good to interrupt her right now, and he knew it.
Besides, he hadn't been slapped in over two weeks, and he wanted to keep it that way!
Finally, when she calmed down and sat back down, Miroku decided to speak.
"Feel better now that you got that out of your system?" he asked gently, hugging her. Sango pulled out of his embrace and moved away from him. He frowned at the sudden coldness in her disposition towards him. Her anger had obviously spilt over and was now causing some animosity towards him, and he didn't like it. When she pulled away, Miroku wanted to kill Inuyasha himself for upsetting her.
He had been slowly working Sango's emotional barriers down since they had defeated Naraku. She would let him hold her and hug her now without him getting slapped. He tested the waters with Sango gently, moving slowly because he had waited so long for her to let her guard down and allow him to show her how he felt.
And he was not going to screw it up.
But now, he had a feeling that she was going to throw those carefully constructed barriers up again. And he did not want to loose her because of what had happened to Kagome at the hands of Inuyasha.
"How could he do this to her, Miroku?" she asked quietly. "Kagome's been nothing but good to him the whole time she's been with him, even before we came along."
"I don't know, Sango." he answered. "I don't know why he done this." Sango looked up at him and he could see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. His first instinct was to reach out and hold her, but he held back. She would come to him when she felt like it. He sighed and spread out a blanket to sleep on. "Sometimes people take for granted what they have, and when it's gone they find out that they made a mistake. Now, whether Inuyasha tries to rectify his mistakes or not, I know not."
"It's not right." she said. "Kagome shouldn't have to go through this alone." Miroku gave her a half smile and shook his head.
"She won't be alone long, love." he said. "I have a very strong feeling that Kouga will try to make her feel better now that Inuyasha is out of the way."
"She doesn't need another guy right now." Sango said angrily. "She's going to have a hard enough time getting over the other one. All he's going to do is confuse her even more."
"But, you're overlooking one important aspect about Kouga, love." Miroku said gently.
"What?"
"Kouga does love her. For who she is, not what she isn't." Sango blinked and let the words sink in. It was true. The wolf prince had been pursuing Kagome all throughout their travels. And the way he was treating her the night Kagome left had been no exception.
"How do we know he's not going to get her for a while, then break her heart, just like Inuyasha did. You know as well as I do that those two waged an ongoing war to out do each other." Sango said, the disgust evident in her voice. "Inuyasha had something that Kouga wanted. So, he would treat Kagome like a queen, just trying to get a rise out of Inuyasha. I'll bet he tries to win her heart, then dumps her. Just so that he can prove to Inuyasha he could do it. Sounds like something a man would do."
Miroku shook his head. 'She's on another man bashing escapade.' he thought. 'Great. Just great.'
"Umm, Sango," he asked quietly. "You do realize that not all men act like Inuyasha does. I do believe that Kouga loves her, and will do what it takes to help her through this."
"He doesn't love her. He's just trying to show Inuyasha up one last time." she said finally. "Love is something that can't be trusted. Someone always winds up getting hurt in the end."
"Sango, I'm hurt that you would think that." he said. "I would never do anything to you like what Inuyasha's done. How can you say something like that?"
"How do I know that?" Sango shot back. "How do I know that you'd never leave me for someone else?"
"You don't trust me?" he asked. "After everything we've ever been through, you still don't trust me? Sango, please, don't take your anger for Inuyasha out on me. I've done nothing to deserve this." He looked over at her and could see that her own emotions were running ragged. She started to cry and Miroku's control broke.
He went over to her and hugged her gently. She cried for her best friend. Cried for what she was going through. And she cried because of her own mixed up feelings about the monk who was holding her at that very moment. She knew he loved her, and she knew she loved him. But her common sense was still telling her to run away from what was happening between the two of them. It confused her to no end. When the tears finally subsided, Miroku looked down at her and smiled.
"Feel better now that you've cursed the whole male side of our species?" he asked. Sango smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I do." she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Miroku. I..I do trust you. It's just that.seeing Kagome like that, and knowing that it could happen to us..I don't want to ever have to go through that."
"Don't worry, love." Miroku said, rocking her gently. "If Naraku couldn't break us apart, I highly doubt anyone else will." Sango smiled and pulled her blanket out of her bag. It was time to get some sleep; they had a long walk tomorrow to get back to the village. "You know, Sango, there is a saying that a wise man once told me."
"What? Stay away from mad women?" she asked, punching him in the shoulder. "I think that's something every man is born already knowing."
"No." he answered with a grin. "It was that hate and misunderstanding often give way to something much more powerful than mortals can understand. Something that can change a person's life in the blink of an eye. " Sango nodded, understanding the underlying meaning of the phrase. Miroku stood from his spot and retrieved the other blanket. As Sango spread hers on the ground, Miroku brought it over so they would have something to cover up with.
"You know," Sango said as they lay down to sleep. "Kagome told me a saying that a wise person once told her also. And I do believe it's true, even five hundred years in the past."
"Really? What was it?" Miroku asked as he pulled Sango closer to him.
"Women's fault's are many. But men have only two. Everything they say, and everything they do." Sango giggled when she heard Miroku groan.
"It had to have been a woman." he said. "Only they can come up with something that cruel for us men." Sango laughed and pulled the covers over her and Miroku.
It was not too long before the exterminator heard his even breathing and soft snore. She turned over and snuggled up to him. 'I know you'd never do anything to hurt me, Miroku.' she thought. 'I just hate to see someone as good as Kagome go through this. We finally get ourselves straightened out, and now Kagome is having problems.' She closed her eyes and smiled. 'Besides, I won't let any girl get within a hundred feet of you. So, you're out of luck, monk. You got me. And if you ever want to get rid of me, it's going to be just as hard. I love you, Miroku.'
A/N : Okay people. How'd I do? Are they getting worse or better? I can't tell myself, since I have a tendency to lie to myself. Anyway. Leave me a review and tell me what you think. Later.
