I would like to thank those who reviewed. Nice to know someone actually is reading this. Hopefully it won't take me so long to update again.

Sorry peoples! J Character development really sucks sometimes.

All type in Italics are thoughts.

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I should go get her. She's had enough time to get over whatever her little problems were.

What if I'm her problem?

Maybe she isn't going to come back. Nah, I've pissed her off worse than this before and she's always come back. Damn it! I'm bored! Okay, tonight I'll go and get her.

Inuyasha sat in Kaede's hut trying not to feel the eyes of Shippo boring a hole into his head. Looking to his left he saw Sango cleaning her weapon with the intensity of someone possessed.

Keh! What's her problem? Stupid females, at least when they decided to go psycho on us they do it together. Okay how long is it gonna take them to fall asleep? It's still early, maybe too long.

A low growl emanated from his throat. Shippo trying think of ways to get the hanyo to go get Kagome, jumped at the sound. No one else seemed to notice. Finally deciding that the more he pushed the less inclined Inuyasha was to do anything, he stopped pestering the hanyo. Patience, being one of the few things he learned early on, was going to take its toll on the little fox. But whatever it took he was willing to do. Just as long as Kagome came back. He missed her so much.

Shippo looked over to Inuyasha once more. Eye contact was made for a fraction of a moment but it was enough. Inuyasha was going to get Kagome soon! He had enough with waiting patience was so obviously not one of Inuyasha's merits. But how soon? Knowing Inuyasha it could take another three days for him to get going. No that was too long.

"Sango. Do you know what happened to Miroku?" Shippo asked innocently as he could. He didn't want her to know he saw what happened at the hot spring. Even trying as hard as he could, he couldn't quite keep a small ghost of a smile from his face. Lowering his head he pretended to be interested in checking on his own arsenal. All toys of course. He was an illusionist not a fighter.

"Where is that monk tonight?" Inuyasha finally noticing that Miroku wasn't with them, asked.

"He should be in soon." was all Sango said.

"Maybe you should go see what he's up to Inuyasha." Shippo suggested. Now he had an excuse to leave. And if Miroku happens to come in before Inuyasha, he could say he was still out looking for Miroku. Go get Kagome!

"Feh!" Inuyasha snorted , still he got up and made his way to the huts' opening.

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Firelight played across the features of a man deep in thought. All around him people and beasts moved. He did not respond to them, but he was aware of them. His thoughts all tangled up on a girl. A human girl with miko powers. Why was she so entrancing? When he announced he would make her his woman, he was aware of the strife it would cause amongst the other full wolf demons. It was alright if the spawned wherever they wished, but that was a luxury he could not really afford.

His pack couldn't tolerate favoritism. But something about that girl had him all riled up. No matter how hard he tried, his need was sadly obvious to all. Whenever he came in contact with her his controlled slowly slipped from him. Sometimes not so slowly, leaving his actions to be of a pup entering his first heat.

Kagome. She had helped him defeat his enemy. She protected him when he was injured. She showed all the strength and varicosity of alpha wolf. Even when faced with aggressive opposition she stood up to him. Her pup, that fox child, was in danger and her hackles went up. Metaphorically speaking. The strength and surety of her convictions if anything happen to the kitsune made him save the brat. She caught his interest. That she had helped defeat the birds of paradise earned the respect of the pack. She'd proven her strength. Her right to issue the challenge to mate. To claim him as her mate.

Kagome stay with me.

Those words never really left his lips but they passed through his touch and actions. He would not be thinking on it if she hadn't staked her own indirect claim to him. She had subdued the hanyo, defended the pack, defended him as if she was his mate and had every right to do so. He hadn't thought about taking a mate. Not for a long time from now at least. But that was before he met her. She had somehow got him thinking on it. So what if she wasn't a demon. She had miko powers of her own. Kindness. Caring. Intelligence. Beauty. The pups they would have together!

But first he had to get her back to his den. Back here where she belongs. At his side as alpha female. Kagome. She was his weakness. And she really wasn't even his.

That damn mutt! HE had her.

But she wasn't his either. Kouga had come to the conclusion that to get her, he had to literally let her go. She couldn't feel as if he had her on a leash.

Not like that damn mutt.

Even as his pack mates carried him away injured from battle with the birds of paradise, he heard the hanyo. His instincts to claim her rose to the surface. How was he going to convince her to stay with him and let that hanyo go? As cocky as he acted sometimes he knew that he had no real claim to her. Even if she had issued the claim to him.

She's not demon. She didn't know she placed the challenge.

He understood that if she had been aware of it she probably wouldn't have issued it. Still he had placed a vocal claim. None of the other wolves would dare to try to claim her for their selves. He had given her protection as well. Even if was from his own kind. Other demons would know. He was nobility after all. Only those more powerful than him would dispute it. It wasn't likely to happen, she wasn't a demon.

The only obstacle is that damn mutt! She can't help but care for him, it's her nature. She can't have any true feelings for the hanyo. Not like she does for me. Not like I have for her. She doesn't push me away when I'm near her. I see it in her eyes, she's glad to see me.

The small amount of affection she had given him, gave him hope that maybe….

Maybe if he could learn to stop challenging that mutt every time he came into contact with him. Maybe Kagome would see that he was ….

"Hey Kouga, you feel like to going with us for a hunt?"

Hunt? The only prey he cared about was currently in the company of an unworthy mongrel. Can't spend all day moping around here. A hunt sounds good. My prey is to the south.