DISCLAIMER: sadly, I'm sorry to say that I do not own Inuyasha or its characters. I know you're devastated.
CHAPTER 3: Curiosity Almost Killed the Wolf
Kagome did the first thing that came to mind as she laid eyes on the intruder who was huddled by her dresser, draped in her favorite fur blanket. "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
"Aaaahhhhh!!!" the cloaked thief wailed in return.
"AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"Aaaahhh!"
"AAHHHHHH!!"
"WHY ARE YOU SCREAMING?!"
Kagome paused as she came to a baffling realization. Wait a second, I-I know that voice. But . . . I-it can't be— "K-kouga?" she stammered uncertainly, her lips quivering with fear.
Delighted at hearing his name, and by the fact Kagome had stopped screaming, the hooded figure pulled the blanket from his head, revealing a man in armor and long jet-black hair which was now mussed from the fur quilt.
It is Kouga, Kagome thought with great relief, glad it wasn't some sicko who had broken in or something. That is, until— wait a second. "Kouga! What the heck are you doing here?! How did you . . . when did you . . .?!" She couldn't speak. She was too stunned to form even the simplest of words. How in the world could he be here in her room, when she and Inuyasha were the only ones who could go through the well? Had Kouga somehow gotten through the well as well? Well duh, Kagome. How else would he have gotten here? But how?! How?! If Kouga could somehow pass between eras just as she and Inuyasha did, then who else could? The thought caused sudden tremors to run down her spine and back up again.
"Kagome! Don't worry, sis! I'll save you!" declared a small, courageous voice from behind the appalled school girl. The determined boy barged in the room and hurried clumsily to his sister's side for protection. He planted his feet and stood resolutely, equipped with a large cooking pot which served for an appropriate helmet, and a dangerous looking rolling pin. "I won't let you hurt my sister!" he cried bravely.
So, the wolf noted with slight interest, he's Kagome's sibling, is he?
Before he could explain to the paranoid child that he meant no harm, a sharp, high-pitched voice cut him off. "WHAT. IS THAT?!!" Kagome screamed with inexplicable fury, pointing to a just noticed, pink bundle that had been tucked securely under Kouga's right arm. Blatantly the demon pulled it out, holding it out in front of himself as the others gaped at his all too bold gesture. "Oh, I had been meaning to ask you," he began with amazing innocence, as if he had no clue what he was holding up, "what is this?"
Kagome's fists clenched as she trembled with rage, and Sota's eyes were wide with fear as he gave Kouga the you-should-have-known-better look. It was almost sympathetic. Wow, that alien's done it now. He's dead meat. Stealthily, the boy edged toward the door before making his escape and sprinting down the hall. He didn't want to be in the way of his sister's wrath; he still had his whole life ahead of him.
Back in the room, resentment remained, and an almost visible miasma swirled around the fuming girl. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY BRA?!"
"Your what?" Kouga blinked dumbfounded. Did he miss something? Was he holding something valuable, or a precious family heirloom perhaps? If it was, it sure was an odd looking one.
"My BRA—!" Kagome spat viciously through gritted teeth (more like fangs), taking an almost intimidating step forward, even to Kouga. Somewhere deep within her mind, common sense still filtered through, telling her that it wasn't his fault; that he truly had no idea what a bra was. But in the front of her mind, there was only one necessary mission needing to be fulfilled at the moment; kill.
"What is, a bra?" The foreign word rolled strangely off his tongue and the wolf prince rubbed his chin in ponder, oblivious to the girl who was now approaching him meaningfully. Like a nocturnal cat, Kagome pounced, intending to snatch the very personal item out of his hand, but instead colliding painfully into the demon's chest and sending them both tumbling to the floor.
Because of her advantage of being on top, Kagome was able to swipe the bra from his loose grip. "What does it matter?! Just give it to me!" she hissed as she brought it close to her chest, sighing in accomplishment. Well, that's three times I've embarrassed myself today. I'm just glad I don't have to explain what bra is. So deep in her relieved thoughts was she that she had forgotten what she was resting on.
Beneath her, Kouga's lips broke out into a wolfish grin. "Does this mean you're accepting my offer as Queen?"
Kagome flushed. Make that four. Ineptly, she jumped to her feet and practically leapt away from him as though he were a venomous snake. "No! No! No!" she stated emphatically as she became suddenly skittish, the bra dangling as she waved her hands vigorously in front of her. Kouga climbed to his feet as well, only much more gracefully. He smirked at the rising color in his mate's cheeks.
It was no use; Kagome knew she wasn't getting anywhere with this abashing situation. Her face was only getting redder by the second. And the more scarlet her face became, the wider the wolf's smirk grew. She came to the decision of changing the subject. "Kouga," she said firmly, placing her hands on her hips and struggling to reduce the shading in her cheeks, "look, I'm sorry. I don't know how you were able to get here, but there's no way you can stay."
Her stern tone resembled that of a mother speaking to a child, and Kouga immediately frowned at her words. She wanted him to leave? But he didn't want to leave just yet. He wanted to wander this peculiar world for a while, to investigate new things. "Not just yet, Kagome," he protested, his eyes roaming the room with hungry curiosity. "You live in quite an interesting place and I wanna explore it a bit more." He watched as her firm gaze faltered slightly, and he went in for the kill. "Come on, what could you possibly be worried about?"
Let's see, number one—
"I won't mess anything up," he reassured. She still didn't look convinced. "I'll let you show me around."
The girl held her gaze a moment longer, his almost pleading eyes boring into hers, before relaxing her tense shoulders and releasing an exasperated sigh. She then turned her head to the Gods, shrugging helplessly. What can I do? I mean it's not like I have the strength to actually force him back into the well. I guess I'll just have to hope for the best. "Alright," she agreed quietly, her anger gradually cooling down, "as long as you stay out of my personal stuff from now on."
In an instant, the wolf was beside her, grinning with glee. Oh, This would be fun. He had had no idea that this world even existed, and a wolf always looked forward to scouting new land. He waited impatiently for his woman's signal, his tail wagging with excitement. Kagome turned and gave one of her classic sweet smiles. "Well I guess I should probably show you around the house now, huh?" That was his cue. He whirled past her as quickly as a tornado, stopping momentarily in the hall when he noticed she wasn't following him. "Kagome?"
From her raided room, Kagome sighed again as she now had the time to slowly take in his little "exploration". The covers from her once neatly made bed were now scattered among the floor, with many things such as makeup kits and stuffed toys laying sloppily beside them. She had been so absorbed with the idea of him with one of her bras, she hadn't noticed the rest of the disaster he had caused her room. If Miroku had been here, he would have probably been examining one of her bras as well; except there was no doubt, being the perv that he was, that he would have most likely had a pretty good notion of what he was looking at. "I'll be there in a sec," she called wearily to the eager demon, "as soon as I take a long, hard look at my life."
Er—
"What's this?" "What's that?" "What's this do?" "Ooo, can I touch it?" was all Kagome heard on the brief tour of the upstairs and was all she heard on the way downs as well. Though she would never admit it, it was kinda annoying. But she guessed she understood, he was in a new area after all; did it hurt to be a little curious?
As soon as her foot descended from the last step, she felt a rush a wind fly past her and knew right away it could only be Kouga making it clear to her that his patience had snapped. He ran by her and disappeared from view as he entered the living room. It was only a moment later when Kagome heard the expected scream. "Aaaahhh! You're not dead?!" she heard her brother cry in shock as she entered the room, finding the demon standing with his arms crossed and a look of boredom on his face as he stared at the frightened child who was positioned "safely" behind the couch.
"Sota, Sota," Kagome reassured gently, sliding in front of Kouga when she saw her sibling reaching slowly for the rolling pin, "it's okay. He's not an alien. His name's Kouga. He's another friend from the feudal era."
The wolf felt his heart ache slightly at her words. Why did she keep saying that? "We're friends." She was his woman, why did she keep refusing to accept it? It's because of that stupid mutt! As long as he's still around, her feelings for that insolent puppy'll remain. Kouga growled silently to the dog that formed in his mind.
Sota eyed the "friend" suspiciously. "Are you sure, sis? Sure he hasn't manipulated you into believing that?"
Kagome couldn't suppress rolling her eyes. "Would you just cut that out? He's the leader of a wolf-demon tribe, he's a friend of mine, and he somehow got through the well, okay? So stop the alien nonsense, would ya?"
The boy's gaze hardened on the stranger and his expression became unreadable. Both Kagome and Kouga watched with fascination as he then slowly rose from his hiding place and made his way with straight shoulders and a puffed out chest over to the wolf-demon. In a soldier like fashion, he held his chin high as his tiny hand shot out in front of him. Kouga blinked at the gesture. "I call a truce then," his lips broke abruptly into a goofy smile, "nice to meet you."
Apprehensively, Kouga accepted the strange gesture and let the boy take his hand, which was then shaken quite vigorously.
After the awkward greeting process, Sota backed away and held his arms out on each side of himself as a T.V. host would. "And welcome to my office."
Ignoring the fact that he had no idea what an "aw-fiss" was, he eagerly accepted the welcoming, leaping into the middle of the large room and letting his eyes roam aimlessly to each of the objects that caught his attention. Meanwhile, Kagome stood in the background and smiled warmly. "Look at them," she giggled, "they're already getting along. Hey, I know! Maybe I can get some snacks for us to eat." As soon as the words left her lips, as if on cue, her stomach gave a monstrous growl. "Well," she stated, rubbing her belly gingerly, "if they're not hungry, then I sure am. I haven't eaten all day."
With that said, she made her way to the kitchen and began rummaging ravenously through the cupboards while not exactly sure what she had a hunger for at the moment. And then she saw it, once she moved the peanut butter and stale potato chips out of the way, there lay a neat row of Ramen in all different kinds of delicious flavors. "Ah hah! This'll hit the spot!" She hurriedly grabbed two of the containers; one for herself; and one for Kouga. Inuyasha really loves Ramen. Maybe Kouga will, too, since they have so much in common. She paused suddenly as her thoughts reluctantly drifted to the half-breed. He had made her so mad. But what could she say, she couldn't stop thinking about him. Inuyasha. She missed him. And somehow, she felt as if she were robbing him in some way: by having Kouga here in her era.
Her brows furrowed in defense. Well it wasn't her fault. How could she have known that he could go through the well, right? The hard thing would be explaining. With Inuyasha's narrow-minded system, he would immediately jump to conclusions, and Kagome didn't want that.
"Aaahh! Kagome!!"
The girl sighed at hearing her brothers wails once again. Gently, she set the Ramens on the table and dragged herself to the sliding door which led to the living room, her eyes holding a look of annoyance. "What is it now?" she sighed feebly as she opened the door.
Her face paled.
The small space where the television had once been, was now empty. In the middle of the room, Kouga stood with a wailing Sota at his heels, holding the T.V. high above his head, a look of disgust on his face. From its depths, static roared loudly as a wounded cry for help, nearly drowning out her brother's screams. "What are you doing to the T.V.?!!!" Kagome bellowed, grasping her head in devastation.
Kouga's head snapped in her direction, his fangs bared in resentment for the contraption he held above him. "Some guy dared to threaten me, and he said he knew where you lived!"
"It's just a movie!" she cried hysterically. "Now just put it down!" She then directed her glare accusingly toward Sota. "And why didn't you stop him?!"
"I t-tried! I-I tried!" the boys said between sobs as he held tightly to the wolf's ankles, not sure who he was more afraid of. "He was j-just to s-strong!"
Roughly, Kouga let the object fall from his fingers and plummet to the floor, satisfied when he heard it hiss and sputter as it made contact. That would teach that guy never to make threats against him or his mate. "Noooooooo!!" the boy balled, digging his fingers deep into Kouga's fur leggings. "My T.V.!! The only joy in my life!! What have you done?! Do you know how many sins you've just committed?!!!"
Meanwhile, Kagome stood speechless as she gawked at the now dead T.V.. And the only thing that ran through her head in that moment was: How the heck am I gonna explain this to mom?!
A/N: okay, this time, I was just busy. And I'll probably be this busy for a while longer. So once again, sorry it took so long. Can you ever forgive me (makes the puppy dog face)? Please keep reviewing!!! Pweeeze!!!
