Hey minna! Sorry about the slight delay – I know I said a week between updates, but this time I'm a few days behind schedule. Grr. Stupid things like work, band rehearsals, performances, flat tires – what a week. But…I'm here now! Aren't you happy?

Disclaimer: I dare you to sue me. You'll get maybe two dollars. Really. But just in case, I don't own Inuyasha. (I do own Mizumi, though. She's mine!)

Tempting Fate

Chapter 4: New Possibilities

"Kagome!" The raven-haired girl looked up to see a beaming Kouga racing towards her. Sighing inwardly, she braced herself for what she knew was coming. True to expectations, the wolf youkai skidded to a stop in front of her, raising an immense cloud of dust. He didn't seem to notice as he engulfed both of her hands in his own. Coughing slightly, she greeted him.

"H-hello Kouga-kun."

He ducked his head to peek under her bangs and look directly into her eyes. "It's been three days – are you ready to stay here as my woman yet?" Kagome determinedly ignored the muffled laughter coming from nearby.

"No."

"Oh." Undaunted, he gave her hands a quick squeeze. "I'll see you a little later, then." He bounded away once more, leaving Kagome standing alone. She turned to Mizumi, whose shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. Narrowing her eyes in mock annoyance, Kagome folded her arms huffily. "Oh, cut it out." Mizumi's answer was a soft guffaw. "Oh for crying out loud – fine, let it out. You know you want to."

Mizumi tried, she really did. But the pressure was just too much. "Bwa ha ha haaa ha ha! Oh – oh…" She gulped for air, then burst into uproarious laughter all over again at the look on Kagome's face. "Ha haa ha! Oh, man, I can't believe he does that every day! Just count yourself lucky that nobody else is usually around – you'd never hear the end of it." She rolled into a sitting position, wiping tears of mirth from her face as she did. Kagome, on the other hand, just looked confused.

"What do you mean, 'I' would never hear the end of it? It's Kouga-kun who looks silly from all of this." She widened her eyes as Mizumi shook her head gently.

"No, Kagome, you've got it backwards. The other females in the tribe are getting quite offended that you will not take the wolf prince as a mate." At Kagome's disbelieving look, she continued. "Think about it…he's pretty much the best the tribe has to offer, and you're turning it down. They're feeling snubbed, for lack of a better word. Upset on his behalf." Kagome seemed to think on this information for a few minutes while Mizumi idly broke a stick into smaller pieces for no particular reason. At a rather gusty sigh from her new friend, she looked up. "I can't just say 'yes' to Kouga-kun, Mizumi-chan. I love Inuyasha more than I could ever love him, just like I told you." Mizumi suppressed a low growl in her throat before the girl could hear it. Oh yes, she had told the wolf about her precious Inuyasha – and away from the forgiving light of Kagome's memories, the hanyou sounded like a rude, arrogant, pushy and selfish ingrate. Kagome's hesitant voice broke the train of her rather uncharitable thoughts.

"Ne, Mizumi-chan, I was wondering…about the females in the tribe. I thought Kouga-kun led a pack of males, not a huge group like this." Mizumi just smiled.

"When you first met him (hey, I know, he kidnapped you – don't get yourself in a twist!), yes, Kouga led his pack and that was it. But no pack lasts very long without females…right, Kagome?" She grinned as Kagome began blushing. "Ah, I see you understand. Well, Kouga knew that too, so he came and found our group of females to take back to his pack as mates. So, we now have a tribe, and Kouga is our leader. Simple!" Kagome fought the blush back down to reasonable levels. Then, a thought occurred to her that had her blushing all over again. "If you were brought back to be mates, then who is your mate?" Truthfully, Kagome was slightly appalled that she hadn't thought to ask Mizumi this before. Mizumi's cheerful face had creased in an uncharacteristic frown. "I don't have a mate. There are more females now than there are males in our tribe; you might say that Kouga got a little greedy, bit off more than he could chew. Well, when the mates were chosen, I got set aside."

"Why?" Mizumi bounced to her feet, grin back in place.

"You can't guess? It's because I talk too much!" Kagome gave a sympathetic smile and stood up as well. "C'mon, Kagome, we'd better get this fruit we were supposed to collect back to the other females. Atsuko-sama will have our hides if we forget!" The mention of the formidable older female was enough to get Kagome moving. She picked up her sack and began walking back to the caves. Mizumi followed, deep in thought.

'I like you, human girl. I can see why Kouga does, too. That Inuyasha character sounds like bad news to me. You'll see – I'll make you like it so much here that you won't want to leave at the end of two weeks. But,' she grimaced, unseen by her friend, 'Kouga definitely needs a hint or two about what he's supposed to be doing! I swear, that guy has no brains when it comes to women!'

Not much could be said of Inuyasha at that point. Sulking out in the forest was good for a time, but it got boring pretty quickly. Coming back hadn't been a great idea either – his ears were still ringing from the yells a few nights ago. Of course, it didn't help that all of the condemnations that the group had thrown at him were ones that he was directing at himself anyway. An attack from two sides. Lovely.

Shippo's attitude in particular really had him stumped. Since that unfortunate incident where the kitsune had called him weak (had said that Kouga could beat him!!) the kid had barely said one word to him. Instead he had busied himself in helping out while the villagers rebuilt their homes in the wake of Naraku's attack. He himself had tried to lend a hand, but a few things were going against him. For one, he knew nothing of building houses; and two, Shippo made it very clear that he wasn't welcome. Ordinarily the little youkai's anger wouldn't have fazed him – he would have simply smacked the brat on the head and gone on with what he was doing. But this time the insults cut deep and he didn't want to sit around and take it.

Silently fuming, he had taken refuge in Kaede's empty hut. All of the usual occupants were out at the moment. Miroku and Sango were in the village, helping where needed. Kaede was attending people who had been injured in the attack and the boys were assisting the builders. Typically he had no idea where Kirara was. Probably with Sango, he mused. And Kagome –

He caught himself painfully at that thought. Kagome was with Kouga. With Kouga. Ugh.

Inuyasha settled himself in a corner of the hut and simply sat there. He raised his head to see what was going on when Kaede returned from her duties, but said nothing. When he heard the boys approaching, he pretended to be asleep. Kohaku paused beside him for an instant upon entering the hut, as though suspicious of the hanyou's 'sleep', but Shippo just barrelled straight on past, making a beeline for Kaede and the promise of food. Inuyasha's ear twitched when his sensitive hearing picked up on a slight commotion in the village, but he dismissed it as unimportant.

"Look out below!" someone yelled. Sango didn't stop to ask questions, she just dove to her left. Miroku, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Right now he was sitting on the ground, dazedly rubbing his much-abused head where the falling hammer had landed. A villager quickly scrambled from his perch on the roof, grabbing up the offending object and apologising profusely. "Ah, I am so sorry, houshi-sama, it slipped! Truly, I did not intend to hit you. Are you alright, houshi-sama?" The poor man was beside himself, trying to bow and make sure Miroku was okay at the same time.

Much to Sango's annoyance, the apparently guilt-ridden village carpenter was not the only one who had noticed Miroku's mishap. A few concerned (and unnecessarily pretty, in Sango's opinion) girls had flocked to help the victim of the wayward hammer when he had fallen on the ground. Having conveniently cut her off from the houshi, they braced him up, one of them laying a hand on his head to check for any wounds. At this sight, Sango's fingers itched for the feel of her Hiraikotsu in her hands. 'One good throw and they'd be running for their little lives,' the warrior thought grimly. Abruptly she shook herself, banishing such ridiculous thoughts from her mind. 'Get a hold of yourself, Sango,' she told herself firmly, 'they haven't done anything yet.' She waited for Miroku's reaction to the situation he was in.

Miroku was perplexed. He was seeing stars, and it wasn't even dark! He opened his eyes, trying to get his bearings – then shut them tightly as the world spun nauseatingly around him. 'Ugh, not good. Feels like I got clobbered by Hiraikotsu or something.' Cautiously he cracked one eye open to try and look again. To his relief, this time his surroundings had decided to stay still. Now they were just fuzzy. "Houshi-sama!" Now where had that voice come from? It sounded slightly familiar…

"Houshi-sama! Houshi-sama, are you alright?" Hn, more than one voice now. Interesting. "Houshi-sama, your head!" Yeah, it hurts. What else is new? He sighed at the feel of a cool, soft hand on his brow. 'That's nice…' As the world slowly came into focus, he couldn't help but notice that his helpers all seemed to be female – and young and pretty at that. 'Ah, this must be heaven.' Suddenly he stiffened, bringing cries of protest from his new friends. 'Can't be heaven – Sango's not here.' Uh-oh. That meant…

"Er, ladies, please! I'm perfectly well, thank you for your help. Now, I really must be going!" He hurriedly shooed the girls away, flapping his hands at them to make them move. One quick check confirmed his fears – his dear Sango looked ready to explode. He struggled to his feet and tried to get to her, only to have his way blocked by the still-apologising man with the hammer. After a quick battle of pleasantries (had that guy really offered him a chicken as compensation?!) he finally made it back to Sango's side. "Um…hello?"

No reply.

"Wow, I never realised that rebuilding a few houses could be so dangerous! We will have to be more cautious when we are walking through the village, ne?" Silence. Okay, that wasn't working – new tactic. "I am glad you are alright, Sango." That got a reaction.

"Me? What are you talking about?"

"Why, that hammer could just as easily have hit you rather than me, Sango! If anything had happened to you, I would never have forgiven myself!" he declared, playing his role to the hilt. "I swear, I will protect you from evil woodworking tools in the future, my love! Ah, look out! A saw! Run, Sango, run!" He pushed her into a jog, 'guarding' her from the 'saw'. Finally, she couldn't take it any more. Sango grabbed his arm and dragged the clown off towards Kaede's hut. Once they were there, she held him by the shoulders, shaking her head at his antics. "Idiot," she muttered, then started laughing softly. All seemed to be forgiven (not that he had done anything to be forgiven for, he reminded himself sharply), and he was about to take advantage of Sango's nearness when –

"Ah! Hold it still, Shippo, don't let it escape!"

"I'm trying, Kaede, but it won't stop flapping!"

"Would catching it in a net help?" A faint whoosh was heard, followed by laughter and much cursing.

"Hee! You caught him, Kohaku! But I think it was the wrong 'him'!"

"I'm gonna skin you, you little runt!"

"Kitsune-bi!"

"OWWW!"

Miroku and Sango raced to the doorway of the hut, staring at the sight that met their eyes. Kaede was standing in a corner, trying to catch her breath. Shippo was bouncing with…excitement?…in another corner. Kohaku was standing in the middle of the room, a net still in his hands. And in the net was Inuyasha, his face red with fury. And did he look…singed? "Kaede-sama, what in the world is going on?"

"I might – well ask – you that," the old woman puffed tiredly. Miroku peered around, then scratched his head in bemusement. White feathers everywhere… "It was – delivered to you – after all."

"Huh. I don't believe it – the old fool actually gave me a chicken!"

Kagura looked at the figure before her with hooded eyes and silently cursed her decision to come foraging in this corner of the woods. As soon as she had come close to his hiding spot, Naraku had sensed her and called his servant to him. He was weak – undeniably so – but the magic in him still pulsed strongly. The hanyou was recovering.

When the human miko, Kagome, had attacked her master, she had been powerless to do anything but make a run for it. The purifying power from that blast would have killed her if she had stayed in the castle. After Naraku's escape, she hadn't known where he was. She had tasted freedom for a few weeks, going wherever she wanted to – but that was done with now. He had her again.

"I must get new Shikon shards," he rasped at her. Annoyed, she shook herself to attention and thought about the problem. "The wolf prince has two – "

"I know that," he intoned coldly. That voice still had the power to send shivers down her spine. "Search out the tribe's hiding place, but don't attack it. Come back and tell me where the wolf is, and we will prepare." He turned from her, obviously dismissing her. She stormed out of the shelter, gritting her teeth in anger. 'Why, oh why couldn't he have stayed gone?'

Kouga walked over to where Kagome was sitting in the firelight, Mizumi's words from earlier still ringing in his ears. She had caught him by himself and given him something of a talking to.

"If you're going to win Kagome, Kouga, you're going to have to put a little more effort into it! First, don't just leave her here with the tribe – she'll think you're ignoring her."

"Kagome?" He caught his breath as Kagome turned to face him. With her hair shining in the light just so…she really was stunning. "Are you doing anything right now?" She glanced at the floor, then looked back up at him.

"No, not really. Did you want something, Kouga-kun?"

"Yes, actually. I wanted to show you something, if you would let me. Will you come with me – er, please?"

"Secondly, learn to use some manners!"

Kagome smiled at him, setting his heart thumping. He grinned when she seemed to be waiting for him to pick her up and start running to wherever it was he wanted to go. "No, Kagome, I think it would be nice if we walked tonight. Do you mind?"

"Thirdly, stop racing around all the time! If you run everywhere with her, she won't be able to see what's going on. And you simply look like you're in a hurry, which is just plain weird."

"Ah…sure. Walking is good." Mildly stunned, Kagome watched as he extended his hand towards her, obviously expecting her to take it. Feeling the eyes of the tribe on her, she saw no option but to slip her hand into his, allowing him to tug her along. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed Mizumi beaming at her, giving her the 'thumbs-up' signal that Kagome had taught her earlier. Kagome blushed and looked straight ahead, trying not to be so aware of Kouga's presence beside her as they walked.

Kouga led her to the rise that they had passed over a few days ago, just before he brought her to his tribe. It was a view that he loved, and he had decided that this was the best way to start showing Kagome that he was better than the inukkoro. Mizumi's voice sounded in his head once more.

"Don't talk all the time. Get used to being around her for more than a few minutes. Show her who you are when you're not fighting with her friends!"

The moon hung above them in the sky, casting a silvery glow over the mountain on which they stood. Kagome's face looked pale in this light, he noticed, but her blue eyes seemed to shine. Turning to face the way they had come, he laid one hand on her shoulder and gestured at the scenery. From this distance the fires of his tribe were clearly visible, creating a warm contrast from the darkness around them. "This is what I wanted you to see." Kagome shifted uncertainly on her feet.

"But Kouga-kun, I've seen this already."

"No, not quite, Kagome. You've seen it, but without knowing what it means. From here," he pointed, "to here is the territory of my tribe. This is the place where there are lives to be lived, games to be played, mates to be claimed – " he looked at her, "families to be raised." The pair stood for a few moments in silence, just looking. When he started speaking again, she looked up at him without hesitation. "This is where everything that is dear to me can be found. Including you, Kagome."

He had startled her. Regretfully he watched as she took a step back from him, recovering her lost distance from her captor. "This could all be yours if you wished, Kagome. This is what I'm offering you. This," he swung one arm around in a sweeping motion, "is who I am, what I do. I protect the ones who live here, I live alongside them, I watch them grow. It's all I want for you, too."

The silence that fell was uncomfortable at first, but then the discomfort seemed to disappear. Kouga was enjoying just being able to look at Kagome when he wasn't fighting at the time. Kagome, on the other hand, was feverishly repeating one word over and over in her head.

'Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha, Inuyasha…'

She mustn't forget Inuyasha. She loved him! But – this was a side to Kouga that she hadn't seen before. And she had to admit…she liked it. Perhaps a little too much…

A warm current of air broke her desperate concentration. Glancing upwards, she caught sight of a blurred white shape in the sky, too low to be a cloud. Kouga, too, looked at what had stolen her attention, but was unable to make out the shape. "What was that?" she asked softly.

"I don't know," he answered equally quietly. "But it definitely wasn't a bird. Perhaps we should be getting back to the caves." He reached out once more for her hand and was pleasantly surprised when she took his own in her soft grip. When they got back he led her to her sleeping quarters and bade her goodnight before going to his own den.

Mizumi looked over from where she was lying under her sleeping furs and grinned at Kagome. "Nice night?"

"Mmm," was the absent-minded reply. Mizumi stifled a chuckle as her friend stumbled into bed and fell asleep within moments. 'Yup. Nice night – well done, Kouga.'

Kagura sped back to Naraku's hiding place, her mind still going over what she had seen. She had found the wolf prince, yes – and the girl who had the remaining Shikon shards in her possession.

All of the shards were in one place. Naraku was going to love this.

Uh-oh. That's really all I can say. I think the only happy one around here is that chicken. (It escaped, by the way - couldn't kill a defenceless chicken - but it might be back!) Update in about a week, give or take a day or so.

Next Chapter: Sneak Attack.

Reviewer replies from Chapter 3: Welcome…Home?

ShadowHeart: Hmm, I try not to go too far towards either straight comedy or straight angst. Otherwise it gets too heavy. Mizumi is my very own, first ever OC and doesn't appear in the series. But I love her.

Lady Tiger Lily: I read your stories, very nice. That whole habit of him leaving her alone is something I'm trying to cure him of *grin*.

Stripe: 0.0 Really? Now that is a compliment. But somehow I don't think Rumiko Takahashi will pick up my idea. Too bad, I guess.

Momentum: I liked that ice cold/raging Sango comment too. Came up with that one on the spot, I was very impressed with myself! But then I swear sometimes this story is writing itself…gah!

MoonAngelOrb16: On the edge of your computer chair? Well, just don't fall off! (Like I do…eep!)

Murasaki Kitsune: Me, write a fic without M/S fluff? You have got to be kidding.

The Mosy Holy Mango: Heh, cool screen name. Thanks for the 'dudes', made me laugh. Sorry about the vocabulary thing. I just have to confess – I belong to the manga fandom, not the anime. Have never seen it, actually. That's why I use the Japanese terms. To tell the truth, I clear forgot what the gokurakuchou were in English! Thanks for the tip.

FairyAngel24: … ?

Aamalie: No Ayame in this fic. Sorry to her fans, but it ain't gonna happen. I go by the manga, and I have yet to see her in it. So, no. Don't really know her character, so I won't write her – otherwise I'll write her OOC. No thank you. As to the females question, well, this chapter answered it. You gave me the idea! Thanks, really. How's Splintered Coral going?

Lyrlythe: Nice name, very pretty! And thank you for putting me on your favourites! *hugs* Yay! My updates take about a week, not years – you exaggerated, feh. But you're right, it does feel like years (or at least a few months) when you're waiting for a fic to be updated…. -_-*

Akaro: Yeah, I made Mizumi up myself. Glad you like her, she's already making things interesting.

Jessica T It's Me!!!: Yep, saved the best review for last. Mwa ha ha ha! So, you don't know if you want Kouga or Inuyasha to win? Hee, that was the whole idea! Glad it's working. I just can't see Kouga as the villain in my stories – it doesn't really fit. This is much better. Ah, Shippo – yes, they all have to grow up some day. And the M/S fluff helps break the tension – thank goodness, or I'd go mad writing all this heavy stuff. Phew! Next Chapter soon!

Re: the mailing list. I have a list – if I update, I email the people who really wanna know when my chapters are up. If you want to be on it, let me know. And if you leave a really nice review, I'll put you on it anyway, you have been warned ^_^.