Disclaimer: See Chapter One

Legend:

'……' thoughts

"……" speech

Enter the Wolf's Den

By: wolf demoness

Chapter Nine: "To hold with the hare and run with the hound." Ibid

Koga and Yuuka ran from the Council chamber to Koga's hut. The path was dark, but that was no bother to the wolves, whose night vision allowed them to see even on a night such as the one they now traveled through. It was dark. The moon's face was hidden from the night sky and only the stars served to guide their steps. When the two demons reached Koga's home Yuuka slowed to a walk. She stopped before the door to Inuyasha's room and looked at Koga nervously before stepping through the doorway and into the room. When Koga entered he couldn't believe his eyes. There in place of the silver haired hanyou he'd sheltered these past weeks was a black haired young human man. Koga walked over to his bedside and knelt on the floor. At first he'd wondered how a human had gotten into his home, but as he looked down on the sleeping face he could recognize the hanyou's features. In repose Inuyasha looked peaceful and as helpless as any human would be once they entered the wolves' den. If he so chose Koga could end the human's life in an instant, a slight wound that no demon or half breed would suffer from would be all that was necessary to stop the beating of his heart. And yet the human slept, seemingly all unaware or perhaps unconcerned of the danger that surrounded him. Tentatively Koga picked a lock of hair up from the pillow. "Yuuka, what's happened to him?"

"I…I've heard rumors," she said and moved to sit on the floor next to the Alpha. "I never thought that it was true though."

"What is it?" Koga asked, an edge of panic on his voice. Koga was worried, he wondered, what if Inuyasha was stuck this way forever? The hanyou-turned-human would be dead in no time at all; there was no way the wolf demons could protect him from his enemies forever. Koga couldn't turn him away from the pack after they'd sheltered him for so long, could he? It would be easy to drop Inuyasha off in the forest and leave him for the scavengers to find, but in a way Koga felt that the hanyou was his responsibility. His woman had done this and so he had to repair the damage she had done.

"I've heard stories. Stories that say that there's a period of time in every half demon's life when their demon blood recedes and the hanyou is left as a human."

Koga sighed in relief, "Then it's not permanent?"

"I don't know. I've never seen this before, but the stories all say that the half demon will return to their demon form after a certain amount of time."

"Can you guess how long?"

Yuuka shrugged, "I honestly have no idea."

"Yuuka, don't tell anyone about this. He's obviously kept this secret for a reason," Koga mused aloud.

"That or it's never happened before," Yuuka pointed out.

"We keep it between us," Koga said with an air of finality that precluded any further discussion.

Yuuka stared at him, appraising her long time friend and leader. At last, under the weight of the demoness' gaze, the Alpha wolf turned from observing the hanyou. "Koga, why are you protecting him?"

Koga drew his hand away from the human's hair, "I don't know."

"Does it have something to do with what happened in the village?" Yuuka asked.

Koga tried to hide his shock by returning to his study of Inuyasha's silky black hair; it was interesting stuff. 'I didn't know human hair glittered in torch light,' Koga though to himself. "What are you talking about, Yuuka?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Koga. Ever since you came back with him you've been creeping around like a shadow. You keep coming in here to stare at him and you never talk to any of us anymore. Ginta told me that you went to the village to get help, but came back alone. Why was that, Koga?" Yuuka pressed on not giving the Alpha a chance to respond. "We're all worried about you. Ginta's has been hoping that you'll come and talk to him that's why he's commandeered your guestroom. He could tell you were troubled when you came back from the village. But you haven't come to any of us. We're your friends, Koga. We want to help you, but your making it very difficult."

"I know, Yuuka. I'm sorry. I just need some time to think things through."

The green-eyed she-wolf apparently wasn't pleased with this; "You've had time. Now," she pounded her fist on the floor in emphasis, "it's time to start talking, before you drive yourself mad with worry." Koga didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. "The pack is worried," she said. Yuuka paused and looked at her dejected friend. Maybe she should have let Ginta deal with this, she mused; she hadn't handled this at all well. She hadn't meant to add to his burden. She reached over to him and clasped his hand; "I'm worried."

"Yuuka," Koga took the woman's hands in his and held them to his heart. He paused for a moment trying to find the right words for what he had to say. "I don't understand it all myself, Yuuka. Trust me to come to you when I'm ready?"

"You are my pack brother, Koga. It hurts me to see you like this. But I have faith in you, just don't keep me waiting too long."

"Thank you, my friend," Koga smiled as he met the demoness' eyes. "What would I do without you Yuuka?"

"Well, for starters you'd have a horrible limp. I did some of my best work on that leg of yours, you know," Yuuka teased.

******

The two wolves stayed by Inuyasha's bedside all through the night. About an hour after Yuuka came to collect Koga from the Council chamber, Ginta came home. Guessing that Koga would be with the half demon he went directly to the guestroom where he knew the three demons would be. Yuuka heard Ginta coming down the hall and roused Koga to go out and meet him, telling him to hurry to if he didn't want the little secret they were keeping to be exposed. Koga managed to get Ginta to leave the two of them be only after promising to sit down the next day for a nice long conversation about why he'd suddenly become a basket case. It seemed that though Yuuka was easily appeased Ginta was much harder to deal with.

At about midnight Inuyasha's fever returned. His human body was too weak to deal with the poison in his system. Yuuka hurried off to her hut to bring more medicines to help him fight the boar's venom. As Yuuka was gone Koga sat with the human. "You cause a lot of trouble, you know that don't you?" he asked the sleeping young man. Inuyasha's head turned to the side; surprising Koga so that he drew back from the futon the other man was lying on. The dark haired man's eyes blearily opened. Instead of the amber orbs the demon usually sported deep chocolate brown eyes tried to focus on the startled Alpha. Koga crept nearer to the bed, bringing his face so close to the other's that he could feel Inuyasha's breath ghosting over his cheeks. He thought he heard the human whisper "wolf" before he fell back into a deep sleep.

Koga jumped back when he heard the door slam shut behind him. Yuuka was at the door, a steaming pot of water cradled to her breast and a bundle of herbs clutched in her other hand. She was looking at Koga intently. Koga blushed and said, "He opened his eyes," feeling the need to explain his actions to the other wolf without really knowing why.

"He did?" Yuuka seemed startled.

"Yes."

Yuuka put her burdens down on the floor and walked over to crouch by the futon. "How long was he awake for? Did he say anything?"

"It was only a few seconds. He mumbled something. I think he called me a 'wolf.''"

Yuuka threw her arms around Koga then got up and began to bounce around the room happily. "He's getting better. He's getting better," she chanted as she pulled Koga up to dance with her.

******

After Yuuka had ministered to the human and his fever had begun to subside Koga told her to get some rest. He promised her that he'd alert her at the first sign of movement or deterioration in the young man's tenuous medical state. She insisted that she needed to monitor her patient, but Koga reminded her that he did know enough about doctoring to tell when a fever was increasing. After she went to bed Koga was again left with the unresponsive human.

The sun was beginning to rise when the wolf noticed that strands of silver were bleeding through the human's glossy black mane. Rapidly his hair was bleached a shining silver and very soon Koga was looking down at the very same hanyou he come to know and, well not love, but tolerate. No, that wasn't the right word either. Well anyway, Inuyasha was back to normal. The rest, Koga was sure, didn't bear thinking on.

Koga reached his hand out and placed it on the demon's forehead to see if the transformation had wrought any change in the fever the he was suffering with. And sure enough it had. The fever was gone. And what's more, at the touch of his hand Inuyasha's eyes began to blink open. Koga withdrew his hand and waited to see what the other would do. Inuyasha first looked around to room then turned to look at Koga. Quickly he tried to sit up. "You're injured," Koga said as he pressed the half demon back onto the bed with a hand on his chest.

"W..wh..why…" Inuyasha tried to rasp out end in a coughing fit. Koga quickly retrieved a glass of water and held the glass to the silver haired demon's lips as he drank. When the glass was empty Koga replaced it on the small table in the room's corner. Inuyasha looked at him steadily, appraising him with his eyes. "Why am I here?" the hanyou asked his voice scratchy from disuse.

"My men and I found you in the forest."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"What was I supposed to do? Let you die?" The half demon just stared at him flatly. "Would you have left me if I was in the state you were in?"

The demon sighed and relaxed against the futon. "No, I wouldn't. The village?" he suggested.

"Wouldn't help." The half demon just lay back and closed his eyes. "You're not surprised are you?" Koga asked with a hint of wonder in his voice.

"No," came the soft answer.

"Why not?" Koga asked softly.

"They didn't want me there."

"What did you do?" Koga reasoned that the hanyou must have done something, rumor had it that the village Kagome stayed at was quite take with the silver haired young demon. He must have done something seriously wrong to have the village's opinion of him change so rapidly. The half demon shrugged in response, then winced realizing that yes, he was injured and no, it wasn't a good idea to move around a lot. "That's not an answer," Koga growled.

"Kagome was mad at me," the demon whispered without any of the usual venom in his voice he normally used to address the wolf.

'Well, that's a start,' Koga thought. "Why was she mad at you?" The Alpha tried to keep the rising dread he was feeling out of his voice as he brought his former chosen into the conversation.

"She…" Inuyasha fell into another couching fit then paused to catch his breath, the fever had left him very weak and his wounds weren't healing well. "She was upset that I was killing the squirrel and rabbit demons in the forest."

Koga furrowed his brow in confusion. "They would have attacked the village once the winter set in, surely she must know that," he said.

"Tried to tell her…wouldn't listen," Inuyasha said as he drifted back to sleep.

"Inuyasha. Inuyasha, stay awake for just a moment more." Koga gently tapped the half demon's cheek to bring him around. "Did you see Kagome in the forest the night you were injured?" he asked in earnest. He had to know what really happened that night. For weeks he'd felt like he was being torn apart he needed to know what exactly Kagome had done.

"Yes," the demon breathed out sleepily.

"Were you injured when you saw her?" Again a sleepy affirmative was his answer. "And she left you out there," it was more of a statement than a question, but the hanyou answered it anyway.

"She didn't know…" the demon yawned sleepily, "…I was hurt. Too busy yelling…then she left." Inuyasha's eyes were closed and he was more than half-asleep.

"Why was she yelling?"

"Didn't go to Kaede's birthday party. The boar attacked…went there instead…left her present in her hut." The demon gave another sleepy yawn as he settled farther under the covers. "I wonder…if…if she…got…it…" Inuyasha trailed off, as his breathing became deep and even.

Koga rose and turned to walk out the door. As he opened the door he came face to face with Ginta, who looked very grave and solemn. "You heard." Ginta nodded. "Send out a message to the scouts. Kagome is banned from the territories surrounding the den. If she's seen in our outer territories she is not to be harmed, but she's not to be helped either."

Ginta nodded again then placed a hand on Koga's shoulder sympathetically before he turned and left to make the announcement to the Council.

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A/N: Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed this little addition to the story. I'm really thrilled with all the wonderful reviews I've gotten in the last few days. I was especially excited when I read the review Lychee2 sent in. That's it! You have it exactly! I couldn't have characterized the way Kagome is being portrayed better myself! Thank you for noticing! I was almost sure that I'd missed the mark so to speak and had made Kagome seem unnecessarily vicious rather than simply misguided by juvenile pride and arrogance.