Chapter Four:
Independent Meetings
"Kagome! Kagome! Help! Inu-Yasha's acting weird!" Shippo cried as he scampered the remaining feet to leap into Kagome's arms.
Aforementioned hanyou appeared a few moments later, a saddened look on his face. When he saw Kagome, he offered a weak smile.
"Is something wrong, Inu-Yasha?" Kagome asked.
He looked up at her, his gaze changing from molten gold to a guarded soft bronze.
"No," he lied quickly, "I was just walkin'."
"Inu-Yasha doesn't just walk for no reason," Kagome thought, suspicions coming into her head, "something's wrong."
"See, Kagome? See? I told you!" Shippo exclaimed, pointing at Inu-Yasha from the safety of Kagome's embrace.
Inu-Yasha quirked an eyebrow at the young kit, "What're you talkin' about?"
Deciding this was her time to step in, Kagome chimed in, "Never mind, Inu-Yasha. Why don't we go see if we can find Kaede? I haven't seen her since we got here."
"Speaking of not seeing Kaede-sama," Miroku began as he walked up to them, "has anyone seen Tora around? He and I were supposed to meet and talk about certain... issues."
As though on queue, the jade-eyed tiger came out from the trees, a grin plastered on his face. It widened as he approached Inu-Yasha, Kagome, Shippo, and Miroku.
"Where've you been, Tora?" Kagome asked.
He gave her an innocent look, "Just walking around the forest."
"Is that everyone's excuse now?" Kagome thought, "Have you seen Kaede anywhere?"
The grin vanished from young Tora's face, being replaced by a serious look, "Hai, Kagome-san, I have seen her, but she doesn't want to be disturbed unless she calls you in. Speaking of which, Kaede-sama wants to see Miroku-san and Sango-san if you guys have a minute or two."
The exterminator and monk exchanged looks.
"She wants to see us?" They asked.
"Hai," Tora replied, turning to go back towards the forest, a smug grin on his face, "Inu-Yasha, Kagome-san, and Shippo-chan are all supposed to stay out, 'ya hear?"
The three nodded, watching as their friends disappeared into the forest, wondering what Kaede could be up to.
Shrugging and walking towards Kaede's unoccupied hut, neither hanyou, miko, nor kitsune heard a rumbling coming from a distance.
The wind picked up a little, then died down as soon as it had begun.
After traveling what seemed like forever, Kouga stopped on the outskirts of their destination, setting down a still-sleeping Venita. He shook her shoulder gently.
"Koishii, it's time to get up," she groaned, batting away his hand as though it were an annoying bug; he sighed, knowing he would have to do this the hard way, "If you don't get up, I'll have to tell Inu-Yasha and Kagome that you would rather sleep than visit them."
Venita's eyes snapped open in an instant, and Kouga watched as she sat up just as quickly, "No, you won't."
He couldn't help but laugh, "I'm sorry, Koishii, but I had to do it."
His mate growled mockingly, "One of these days, I'm going to hurt you."
Chuckling once more, Kouga helped her up, walking with her hand-in-hand into the village. They watched as a few villagers bowed to them, undoubtedly remembering them from when Kagome had banished her own friend, back then Leota, for an occupation that had not been her own choice.
Keeping their senses open to anything that may be out of the ordinary, Kouga and Venita saw Kagome, Inu-Yasha, and Shippo headed towards Kaede's hut.
Venita stopped, her mind whirling as though she had been spun around in a few hundred circles. Kouga stopped as well, looking back at his mate with concern.
"Are you all right, Koishii?" He asked.
"Kouga-kun," Venita began a little uncharacteristically shaky, "you do realize that I haven't seen Kagome-san since I became.... well, me? You do realize that, don't you?"
He smiled warmly as he gave her a hug just as warm as his smile, "I'm sure you two will work things out as you always have. Everything will be fine, Venita-chan. If things get rough, I'll help pull you out of there."
She looked up at him like a small child that had lost her way, "You promise?"
He smiled, "I'll promise you that if you translate for me what you said a few days ago."
Venita cocked her head in confusion, "Pardon?"
"On the day that we mated, you said something in your language, and you never translated it for me. I'll promise to get you out of any trouble with Kagome if you tell me what you said."
"Oh, you mean when I said, 'Os Fer shentin Ferna vort os Bre wer amt es. Jai berin su tao, et tao su mer. So derla des Reln de ta Kilde de Lunia'?"
Kouga nodded, "That's right. What does it mean?"
She thought for a moment, for translating from her own language to Japanese was not Usu-Venita's strong point.
"It translates to: 'One's heart recognizes love before one's mind will admit it. I belong to you and you to me. So declare the Rules of the Children of Lunia'. And the Children of Lunia is what we wolves of the Inside call ourselves, for we believe that if one follows the Rules of Lunia, then we shall be placed at the right hand of the Goddess."
Kouga nodded, "All right, then I give you my promise to aid you if push comes to shove."
Venita smiled, "Thank you, Koishii, that means a lot to me."
It was Kouga's turn to smile as he put his arm around his love's shoulders, "Well that's because you mean a lot to me, my Fire Wolf."
This caused Venita to giggle, a sign to Kouga that it was all right if he resumed their walk towards Kaede's hut, where their three 'targets' had already sat around the still-burning fire.
Kouga knocked on the frame to the side of the mat that covered the door.
"Who is it?" Kagome's voice asked from inside.
Venita's throat seemed to freeze, for she could not speak. Instead, she merely knocked once more.
"Whaddya want?" Came Inu-Yasha's whining voice.
"You gonna open up or what?" Kouga asked, his arm still around Venita's shoulders.
Scrambling came from inside the hut and Kagome greeted them at the mat. For some reason, Venita had broken free of Kouga's grasp and slipped behind him, hiding from Kagome's searching brown eyes.
"Hi Kouga-kun." She greeted, a bright smile on her face.
A low rumbling came from behind Kouga, so low that it appeared only he could hear it.
"Venita-chan must still be experiencing the possessive behavior that takes place after mating," Kouga thought, the rumbling growing dangerously close to becoming loud enough for Kagome to hear, "It's good to see you too, Kagome-san."
Venita's growling died down a little, but Kouga knew it would start again if anything else of the sort happened.
"Hey Kouga?" Shippo asked, taking a few steps forward.
"Hai?"
"Did Venita-sama come with you?"
Silence and tension followed Shippo's question, and all present shifted when Kouga didn't answer immediately, his eyes averted from them and looking at the fire instead.
As Kagome, Inu-Yasha, and Shippo watched, their hopes plummeting with each passing moment, a small, tanned, delicate hand with inch-long claws appeared on Kouga's shoulder. The small hand squeezed his shoulder lightly, pulling him back so the owner could step beside him, just visible in the doorway.
Shippo's eyes widened as he watched the white-haired woman step forward, her deep blue eyes glowing in the firelight. Kagome stepped back a few steps, and Inu-Yasha stood from his place by the fire. Kouga grew bold and put an arm around Venita's waist, a small clicking sounding in his brain.
"Then again, it seems I'm still experiencing the possessive behavior." Kouga thought, trying very hard to hide an amused smile at his small discovery.
Taking a few brave steps forward, Shippo looked up at Venita, who still wore an old pair of jeans that she'd brought with her after Kagome had brought her back after banishing her. Her top having mysteriously disappeared a few days ago during her and Kouga's... escapade, Venita had been running around in a black sports bra that had also been brought back with her.
"Venita-sama?" Shippo asked, his voice holding a large amount of awe within it.
Cobalt eyes softening, Venita nodded, "Hai."
"I don't care what kind of blood you have; I'm just glad you're back!" He exclaimed, holding onto Venita's neck as though it were the only thing keeping him in reality.
Shippo's statement warmed Venita's heart and she placed a hand on his back to let him know that she was there for him. He released her neck and smiled at her, eyes brimmed with tears he would not allow to fall. Venita raised her eyes to Inu-Yasha, who nodded behind Kagome's back. That's when Venita's gaze fell on Kagome, who wore a blank expression.
Eyes of sapphire searched eyes of garnet, and it seemed that both of them would never speak to each other, for they both now had blank expressions. Shippo, who seemed to be the smartest of them all, hopped onto the floor with a hopeful look on his innocent face.
Venita nodded in Kagome's direction, "Higurashi, Kagome-sama."
Kagome returned the nod, "Usu-Venita-sama."
Kouga, Inu-Yasha, and Shippo could only watch as human woman looked to demon woman. Their faces were void of all emotion, their eyes holding different tones and levels of feeling.
The brown eyes of Higurashi, Kagome held confusion, anger, and questions.
Inu-Yasha looked at the more attractive reincarnation of his previous love, Kikyo. Some called her 'the copy' of Kikyo. Though sometimes calling Kagome that in the heat of an argument, along with shard detector, Inu-Yasha never meant it. He merely wished to see the fire in her eyes.
But he never expected to see a wildfire headed straight towards him.
If he ever forced himself to admit it, Inu-Yasha would have to say that he preferred Kagome to Kikyo any day. But then that got him thinking about the promise he'd made to his first love.
"Quit thinking about it, Moron!" His mind yelled, using Venita's voice for some odd reason, and then switching back to his own, "It's really nice to see Venita-sama again. Shippo and Lunia are right: she is the same as she was. Being mean and creepy is all an act."
Kouga was beginning to not like the way Inu-Yasha was looking at his woman. He locked eyes with the hanyou and shook his head, stepping closer to Venita and wrapping his arms around her waist. In turn, Inu-Yasha returned the nod, glancing over at Kagome with a small possessive glint in his eyes.
Kagome, whom was oblivious to what had happened behind her back, was touched that Kouga was now resting his cheek against Venita's neck. Though not knowing why the act was done, Kagome did know that she wished Inu-Yasha would put his hands on her shoulders like when Venita had first been released.
"How have you been, Kagome-sama?" Venita asked, her eyes swirling the emotions of trust, sadness, and most importantly: answers.
"Fine, and you?" Kagome replied, seemingly forcing the words past her throat.
"Better now that I have returned to the place I first saw in this world," Venita said, looking past the near-trembling miko to Inu-Yasha, "how have you been, Inu-Yasha-san?"
"Feh."
This caused Venita to smile, "Same as ever I see."
Kagome looked ready to say something, for she was shifting nervously, "Venita-sama?"
Venita's blue eyes were wide like an innocent child's when she turned to look at Kagome, "Hai?"
"C-Could you come with me for a minute?"
"What do you need?"
"I just need to talk to you about something."
"Well if that is all you need, the please call me Venia-chan. Got it?" Venita demanded, feeling proud of herself for suggesting the name change first.
"All right... Venia-chan," Kagome said shakily, "then call me K-chan."
Both girls nodded, large grins on their faces. Venita turned in Kouga's arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek and a smile. When he returned the smile, Venita turned to Kagome.
"Ready to go, K-chan?"
"Hai!"
"Can I come with you guys? Inu-Yasha's still acting weird." Shippo asked, his green eyes in 'pleading mode'.
"Of course you can, Shippo-chan," Kagome smiled, "and if you don't mind, Venia-chan, I'd like it if Kouga-san came, too."
Venita's mind began going into overdrive.
"What could K-chan want to talk about with Kouga-kun and I? What's going on around here?"
"Venia-chan?" Kagome asked, concern in her voice, "Do you mind if Kouga-san comes?"
"No, of course I don't. I'm just wondering what you want to talk about."
"Just a few...things. We've talked about it before, and I just wanted another point of view from Kouga-san's perspective."
"All right," Venita said, "where are we headed off to?"
"That hot spring that you and Sango-san ganged up on me."
Venita smiled at the memory, "By the way, where are Sango-san, Kaede-sama, and Miroku-sama?"
"They're having a meeting about something. Tora's with them, too."
"Uh-oh... if Tora's with them, they just might be plotting the very thing I've promised to do! They must be scheming a way to bring K-chan and Inu-Yasha together!"
Venita felt like dancing and howling a moon that was not yet visible. If that was what they were talking about in their secret meeting, Venita wanted in on it as soon as possible, for she had some pretty tricky things up her sleeves. Even Naraku would be jealous of her tricks, and that was saying something.
She learned from the best, after all. Lunia was such a great teacher.
A/N: Woohoo! I'm done with this chapter! The title of the next chapter is:
Chapter Five: Cloud 9 Revisited
Oh, & if you all want to know in advance who was watching Inu-Yasha & Kagome from behind the tree; you know, the one:
--Two eyes aged with wisdom watched the group, mainly focusing on Inu-Yasha and Kagome, "I must make it my number one priority to get those two together, and I shall use Tora to help me."--
If you want to know who that is, they shall be revealed in the next chapter!
Please review & take guesses if you like! :)
Ookami-chan
