Chapter 3

A Wolf's Honor

By inusgurl

Little time passed. Nothing happened.

Kagome opened one eye cautiously to discover Kouga down on the ground with a gash on his face—-blood dripping.

It had to be the work of Inuyasha.

And there the half demon stood catching his breath, with sweat coming down on his face like a waterfall. That one punch possibly took out half the power that he had left. But this was a serious issue that called for serious measures. It was nothing like the other encounters he had with Kouga. Usually he wouldn't be able to defeat Kouga this quickly because of the shards in his legs. But if it was for Kagome's benefit, he didn't give a damn if he was close to death. That, to Inuyasha, was what love did to you.

Kagome sat up astonished and relieved at the same time. She stared at Inuyasha and smiled brightly.

"Oh, Inuyasha! You finally came for me!"

She took a step forward, intending to run, to reward Inuyasha with a bear hug, arms spread out wide.

"No!" He shouted pointing a claw at her. "Don't move an inch. Who knows when he'll wake up?"

He sighed and walked towards her, hand on the scabbard of his fang. He never took his eyes off of the fallen wolf.

And for good reason.

Kouga picked his face up with his eyes wide with fury. His claws and teeth were bared. Inuyasha guarded Kagome behind himself with one arm, placing the other on the sword. Kouga and Inuyasha (with Kagome behind him) stared each other down going in a circle…classic fighting stance. Finally, Inuyasha took a deep breath and said what he had to say.

"Kouga...how dare you. I can't blame you for being this way because I too am canine and I know exactly what you are going through. What you want to do to Kagome, however, is not why I have the desire to tear you apart.

He stood up straight and continued to talk. Kagome, bewildered, looked on as he spoke.

"How dare you Kouga. You say that I deliberately put Kagome in danger. That I let her get into trouble (NOTE: IN THE 17th issue Kagome was about to be killed and Kouga saved her, then said Inuyasha let her get into danger—Inusgurl). And you know damn well that I would do anything to save her. And here you stand. Before you went berserk on us, you told her you'd protect her and keep her from harm...and she trusted you. You knew that your canine senses would kick in soon, you just didn't know when. You knew that you were taking the risk of harming an innocent girl. You knew it. How dare you do such a thing and how dare you say such a thing to me?"

"Inuyasha…" said Kagome. "Now I understand," she thought.

"Kagome," he whispered. She snapped out of her daydream and listened. "When I give you the signal, you run. Don't look back...just run. I'll distract him...then hopefully catch up to you."

"Hopefully?" She didn't like that plan...but ...oh well.

Inuyasha slightly pushed her away and took out the sword. She searched for some kind of signal and successfully found one when Inuyasha's eyes looked to the side quickly and then back at Kouga.

She began to run as fast as she could. Gym class really paid off. Pain in the stomach arose once again and she wished for painkiller pills to drop from the sky at the moment. To ease the pain, she bowed her head while running.

Inuyasha and Kouga's arms clashed together. Both sets of teeth bared at one another. Blood escaped each arm, but only one arm was bleeding severely. The owner of the impaired arm collapsed to the ground in pain and moaned. The victor ran to Kagome.

Minutes passed. Kagome became tired, but nonetheless, she had to keep going. Inuyasha told her so. But it hurt so much. But Inuyasha gave her strict orders. Hell…if Inuyasha told her to jump off a damn bridge would she do it?

Hell no.

So...like the rebel she was ...she walked. Head still bowed to ease the pain...she walked into something hard. It felt like armor. She kept her head down fearful of who it might be. She deceived her self and looked into Kouga's scary eyes. The blood on his hand dripped. Inuyasha's blood.

She turned around with Inuyasha nowhere in sight.

"Wha…what happened to ...Inuyasha..?" She managed to say finally.

Kouga grabbed her hand tightly. His other hand reached out to take her then and there, but he wasn't ready for the slap that she gave him.

A hard one that he felt.

She squirmed her arm out of his grasp and ran, despite the pain. She managed to look back...but he wasn't going for her.....instead he stood looking at the sky as if...thinking about something somewhat pensively.

Kagome found this opportunity to run. No questions asked. She turned again and didn't find him anywhere near her. With a deep breath, she rested again not knowing whether or not she could take this anymore.

Suddenly, she was pulled behind a tree with a bloody hand over her mouth and a hand around her waist. He held her tightly and she struggled in his grasp. She muffled a scream. It only took the person one time to tell her to shut up...and she did. Inuyasha! She didn't know whether to be grateful or kill him for frightening her like that.

"Don't make a peep." He looked around the tree. No one.

He released her.

Bad idea.

She spun around, hands on her hips, and admonished Inuyasha like the child he was.

"Inuyasha! Don't you every scare— urmph!"

He clamped his hand over her mouth and put his pointer finger to his.

"Shut up!" He whispered. "He's gonna hear us if you don't stop talking, not to mention shouting at the top of your lungs!"

Nodding, she looked down ashamed at what she just did, but perked up again when she noticed Inuyasha's wound.

"Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot? Don't move it! Do you need bandages? What is—?"

"Kagome, Kagome. I'm fine." Liar.

"Well…w-why did you leave me like that? I-I could've been hurt pretty badly saying it to the least."

"I left because I thought you were long gone and wanted to meet up with you. That was the plan…wasn't it?"

"Well…it wasn't a very good one." She huffed and got back to reality. "Now what do we do. I mean…for all we know he can't control himself so I'm basically not safe here. So…the only plan is to get me to the well where I'll be safe in my own time and where he can't get me. It'd just be better if I came back until you came and got me, right?"

Inuyasha stood amazed. She just took the whole damn speech he was gonna give her. That was his job!

"Y-yeah. That's right. Actually, as a fellow canine…I understand that he won't be his normal self until tomorrow at dawn…so we have until then. So, what are we waiting for? Get on my back. Quickly...and no arguments."

Kagome scrambled onto his muscular back. Inuyasha prepared to jump....but something didn't exactly feel right…one second her weight pressed on him…and the next…it's...not…

"Kagome?"

He turned. Having her struggling in his grasp, Kouga smirked at the growling dog demon. Kagome could do nothing but try to get his arms off from around her neck.

Kouga smiled back roguishly at Kagome and began to lick her face, throat, and shoulders continuously.

Inuyasha couldn't take it. With every lick, his anger swelled up more and more. It drove him angry to see Kouga speak to Kagome. It made him furious to see Kouga hold Kagome's hands in his and talk to her sweetly. But now, it drove him insanely berserk to see the same wolf close to her licking her face.

"You...Bastard! Don't touch her!" He brought down the fang massively, careful not to strike Kagome, but aiming for Kouga's head.

But he missed.

And in return, Kouga jumped high in the air skillfully with Kagome still in his grasp and came down using the shards in his legs to kick Inuyasha in the face.

HARD. Ouch.

And as such, Inuyasha fell back into the dry ground forming a perfect crater as if Kagome had just yelled "Sit". He trembled in pain with indescribable bruises while Kouga smiled and ran off with Kagome.

"Inuyasha?! Inuyasha! No! Inuyasha get up! Inuyasha…

Inuyasha couldn't move a centimeter—not even his head, and was thus, tortured by Kagome's screams for him that faded away into the distance…