Kouga watched her leave, a sad little smile on his face. He didn't want to step aside, really he didn't but what he really didn't want was to be put on a leash like Inuyasha. She would've done it. She wasn't just playing when she said she'd put one of those damn rosaries on me. His smile began to widen. So she hadn't lost her spark, like he had feared would happen. She was still as temperamental as before, only now her aggression was quicker to surface than it had been . The thought that she hadn't just wilted under him made his smile break out fully on his face. He couldn't help it, he was ecstatic. The demon attack on her hadn't broken her like it would have any other human. In fact it seem to have strengthen her even more. So what if it took her a year to sharpen that edge? The simple fact that she had come back was all he needed.
She said she missed me too.
Yeah, what was a year? She came back and she thought of him. That band loosened almost completely from around his chest. He knew what he was going to be doing for the next few days. He was going to return to the pack, put a surrogate in command in his place, grab Ginta and Hakaku, and then resume the search for the Shikon jewel shards. With any luck he could be back before dog-turd returned so he would be the one Kagome traveled with.
"Oh yeah, Inuyasha's really gonna love that! I can hardly wait to see the look on his face." Kouga said out loud. He took one last moment to inhale deeply of the air around him. Kagome's scent was strong on the air and he relished in smelling her scent again. If he wasn't careful that smile might be permanently etched on his face.
The shards in his legs gave him the ability to move so much quicker. On his run back to his pack he thought on who to leave in charge. It had to be someone with enough dominance in them to keep the rest of the pack in line. He had forbidden them from hunting humans because of Kagome. This had not gone over well, he had to kill so many good hunters. He couldn't deny it had weakened the pack. Enough that small groups of the other demons they'd run off the mountain began making attempts to return. Still one else had tried to challenge him for the place of Alpha. And although the smaller demons tried, they had not been sucessful.
Would they still follow me if I didn't have the extra power of the shards?
He damned the hanyo in his mind, if Inuyasha hadn't said it, he wouldn't be second guessing himself now. Kouga growled and picked up his pace. His feet barely made contact with the ground, only his toes and the very top of them softly touched it.
Once, the hanyo's words would not have effected him. Now the words were heard, analyzed, filtered through his mind like advice from a trusted friend. Friend? Since when has Inuyasha been his friend? He was a rival and sometimes ally, not exactly an enemy, but friend no he could not be. Well. the wolf prince reasoned, if he wasn't a friend or an enemy exactly he could just be ignored.
Kouga shook his head. He just spent a good amount of time thinking on other matters besides his pack. Still maybe it was because of the hanyo's words that although he hadn't give up on getting more shards, he no longer actively sought them out. He settled down, in a manner of speaking. To prove that his pack followed him not the shards in his legs. He laughed out loud, it caused him to slow his pace to catch his breath.
Damn mutt, he manipulated me afterall.
Well with Kagome's return, he will once more actively seek out jewel shards. Power is always nice to have but it wasn't that much a priority now, his future mate was. He had to show her she could count on him. She said she missed him. But that didn't necessarily mean she wanted him. He knew she desired him, now he had to convince her to want to stay with him.
That wasn't likely to happen if she met up with Inuyasha before he could get back. With renewed determination he sped up once more.