Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha and its characters, though I really wish I did.

Kat: I'm a big Kouga/Ayame shipper, hence this story, because I think, if Ayame was in the manga, her and Kouga would end up together, and such. Nods. Yeah...

It had been several months since Ayame had last been seen after her tribe was attacked, but she was back up in the mountains with the remainder of the wolves and wolf demons from the pack. The rusty brown haired wolf hadn't ventured down from the mountains for quite a while, and had slightly given up on Kouga remembering his proposal, but she still had hope deep down in her. A light breeze blew through the young wolf demon's hair as she sat on the peak of a mountain, looking down into the valley with slightly glazed over emerald green eyes, locks of hair blowing into her eyes, obscuring her vision, though she made no move to push them away. As a sigh left slightly parted lips, she pushed herself to her feet and straightened out the white fur skirt that rested on her hips and turned around on her heel, heading back to her tribe, her cloak billowing out behind her in the wind as she walked.

The wolf tribe had noticed a change in emotion from their leader's daughter, but would never try and talk to her about it since she had blown up at one of the other wolf demons when he asked her about what had happened between Kouga and herself.

(Flashback)

'Lady Ayame,' the wolf demon had said, coming up behind her up on the cliff one evening, 'why do you spend most of your time up here now?' He had gotten no response, so sat himself down beside her, looking to where she had her gaze glued; the valley was below, but he didn't know what she found so interesting about it, so just looked up from it. 'Did something happen with the wolf demon? What was his name...? Kouga, was it?'

Ayame turned away from the valley and glared at her fellow wolf demon, 'Nothing happened! He's a jerk and deserves everything he got from that half demon InuYasha!' Her voice had raised and chilled the man to his bones; he had even backed away from her while she was yelling. 'That bastard, saying he didn't remember his promise to me, how could he lie and not feel an ounce of guilt?!' she had raised her voice even more and several of her wolves had come up to see what was the matter, along with several of the demons.

'Now, now, maybe he did feel guilt but didn't show it?' he suggested, gulping after he spoke because Ayame just rounded on him, staring daggers at him. 'I-it was just a th-thought!' he stuttered, pushing himself back towards the path on the cliff, then quickly stood up as Ayame did so.

The female wolf had brandished her sword and was pointing it at the male that was in front of her, the point towards his throat, 'You're sticking up for him and you don't even know how much he hurt me?' It was rare that Ayame used her sword, and when she did, that was never good, because it showed how angry she was. Her eyes showed a hate that no one had ever seen before, they burned with fire, hatred that she had been holding in since her first visit back from the valley finally showing through the façade she had put on.

'L-lady A-Ayame,' he said, eyes wide in fear as he stepped back several paces, his eyes resting on the red hilted sword. As she sheathed it, his gaze dropped to her wrapped feet, looking at the bottom of the fur that hugged her calves somewhat loosely.

Licking her lips a little, Ayame turned around and headed farther up the mountain, hoping that no one would follow her and want to talk, she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment, just wanted to look down on the valley and watch whatever she could see. At times, she would look down to where she had run into Kouga when she had come down from the mountains and strain to see if he was there, but it was much too far for her to see, so she just watched it for a while before tearing her gaze from it.

(/End Flashback)

The wolf tribe tried to stand clear of the young female when she was angry, or looked it, only going to her when they would leave to go for a hunt to see if she wanted to join them; she would just shake her head and walk off. Once happy and bright with smiles, she was now miserable, missing Kouga and wishing she had never left her home in the mountains to find out he was engaged to another woman: A human, none the less. She growled lowly and glared at the ground, watching her feet hit it with more force than she would normally have hit the ground, even after telling herself that Kouga had no regret for how much he hurt her. 'That damn wolf,' she said to herself, clenching her fists, nails digging into the palms of her hands, 'how dare he put me in so much pain,' she looked down at her hands as she unclenched them, some drops of blood escaping the cuts. Her eyes traveled up her arms and at the white fur cuffs she wore and took one off, dabbing at the pool of blood in her right palm with it, her gaze softening.

'Maybe he really did forget,' she said quietly to herself as she walked into the den, keeping her gaze at the ground, not saying a word as several people greeted her. She didn't want to speak to them, she wanted to find Kouga, she would find Kouga, and she would give him a piece of her mind, tell him the truth, and tell him about all the pain he put her through. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she saw the scene playing in her mind; she let the smile cross her face and she laughed out loud, not realizing it until someone came up to her.

'Was it something we said that made you laugh?' the person had asked, hoping that it was them that had made the wolf demon smile and laugh openly. 'Was it?' the girl repeated, looking up at Ayame since she was taller.

'No, it wasn't,' Ayame replied, walking to the back of the den, ignoring the hurt look on the child's face as she passed by her. 'It was just something I thought about,' she said, looking over her shoulder at the girl's face, which seemed to have changed dramatically since the question was asked. 'But it was you who helped me smile,' she added, forcing a smile upon her pink lips, hoping that what she said would make the child happier; it did.

The young child smiled, her eyes lit up with joy and happiness, obviously believing she had helped Ayame to smile like she had once done before meeting up with Kouga. 'I really did?!' she asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as Ayame nodded, trying to keep the smile on her face, which was slowly starting to fade from her features.