Disclaimer: The characters of Inuyasha are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Challenge of the Wolf

January 12th

The bear demon missed me by a breath. I didn't have a chance to even draw my bow! Sometimes I think that the only way I'm going to kill a demon is if he happens to choke on me while swallowing.

"Aren't bears supposed to hibernate in the winter?" I'm not really expecting an answer.

"It's a bear DEMON, wench!" At least he didn't call me the other name yet today. I'm beginning to think that the b-word is my nickname. Sango says he uses it because he's a dog demon and he thinks of us as his pack. When I ask why he doesn't call her that she chuckles and gives a look to Miroku and they have a good laugh. Grrrrr.

When was the last time he used my name?

I shake my head. Letting my mind wander during battle is a good way to get killed. I may joke about demons choking on my bones, but I'd really rather that not happen.

So, back to the bear demons. Not only are bear demons big, but they are pretty darn quick too. You wouldn't think something that big could be that fast. The one that attacked me is already dead, courtesy of my favorite dog demon. Things that attack me generally don't have a very long life span.

So that leaves four more bear demons to go. Oops, make that three. Sango and Miroku just finished that one off. They really do make a good team. If only he could control his wandering hands…

I reach for my arrows. I'm not completely useless you know. I pull back an arrow and concentrate. I can feel my body growing warm. My eyes are closed, so I can't see the pink glow, but I know it's there. I open my eyes, find my target, and fire.

Ha! Right on the mark! Kagome the Queen of Archery strikes again! Ok, the miko power thing really helps out too. Thanks Kikyo!

The bear demon actually turns to dust. The only bad thing about it is that it really drains me of energy and I have to fight just to keep awake. I've used so much energy these past few days fighting off demons that I'm almost too worried about never waking up again to close my eyes and go to sleep.

The closer we get to Kanna and the mirror, the more demons we face.

I would love to say that I finished off the remaining demons, but that would just be a great big ol' lie. I sank to the ground, not even enough energy to blink. I heard Inuyasha and Shippo scream my name from across the clearing. I turn my head to see another bear demon behind me that we must have missed.

Looks like I'm going to have to rely on my bones to choke this one after all.

A blur of brown appears and suddenly I'm sitting on my rump on the other side of the battlefield. I wondered briefly if teleportation was a new power of mine. It wouldn't surprise me these days. Then I saw him. The wolf demon. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Kouga.

"Thanks Kouga!" I call and give him a friendly wave.

He turns around and gives me a toothy grin. He says something before turning to join the battle. I'm not sure what it was, too noisy.

I had almost forgotten about him. So this makes the second time he's saved me. Too bad he didn't bring my bow and arrows with me. Now I'm stuck on the sidelines again. I haven't figured out how to use my powers yet without the arrows to focus it on, so now I'm pretty much useless. Sure I put up a barrier here and there, but I can't really use it on them during a battle or our attacks can't go through either.

But before I could make a mad dash for my quiver and my bow, the battle was over. Sango and Miroku had taken down another bear demon, Kouga killed one, and Inuyasha killed the other two. Shippo was back in my lap.

"You did a great job of distracting the demons with your foxfire magic. And don't think that I didn't see that awesome protective shield you put around Inuyasha. I'm proud of you. All that hard work has really been paying off!" I brushed his hair out of is eyes. He puffed up his chest proudly.

I'm not just saying it to make him feel good either. Shippo really did do a great job of casting illusions that threw the demons off. And the barrier he had been working on actually worked this time. I don't know if the team knows what a great asset he is.

I think Inuyasha knows. And I think that's why he's a little rough on him. It would be awfully easy for the little guy to get too big of a head. Even though it is important for him to be confident in his abilities, it would be very dangerous for Shippo to be overconfident. He is still a small demon, and better at the defensive than offensive maneuvers. I don't even want to think of what would happen if he took on a strong demon alone. Although I don't like it when they argue, I gotta admit that Inuyasha is doing a good job of training him. Too bad Shippo doesn't see it.

I know I shouldn't coddle him. Really, I do know it. He's a demon and he needs to learn to be a demon… but I just can't help it! He turns those eyes on me and all my maternal instincts start screaming at me.

The sound of cursing suddenly fills the air and I cover Shippo's ears… or try to at least. I look up and see Kouga and Inuyasha looking like they are going to have a brawl. I jump up and stand between them. The last thing we need is unnecessary bloodshed… especially among allies.

"What's going on?"

Before I let one more word come out of my mouth, Kouga has grabbed my hands and pulled me close. He looks intensely into my eyes. Those are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. Ever!

"I have come to take you home."

Did I just hear him right? Kouga is going to take me home? Was that even possible? "I thought we had to use the mirror."

Inuyasha interrupts with another string of cursing, and yanks me from Kouga. Inuyasha holds on to my middle and puts a foot in the middle of Kouga's stomach and tries to push him away. Too bad the wolf demon didn't let go of my hands.

"You're going to rip my arms off!" I scream. I'm not kidding either. Both are extremely strong and I could feel the bones beginning to separate from the sockets.

Thank the stars above that Inuyasha immediately drops me. Unfortunately Kouga takes this as a win and decides I'm the prize. He throws me over his shoulder and takes off like a tornado! Inuyasha's cursing and Shippo's cries quickly fade. The whole world is a blur of colors… and I begin to feel a little sick… like I had ridden a loopy roller coaster too many times in a row.

"Stop!" I cry once I get my voice back.

He doesn't comment, only tightens his grip on me.

"Please! I'm going to be sick!" That got him to stop in a hurry.

Once my feet were on the ground I raced to the bushes and begin to hurl. Seeing all the blood and gore in the battle was hard enough on my poor stomach, but the pain in my arms, getting tossed around like a rag doll, and the speedy getaway was more than I could handle. Of course the smell of me being sick just continued to make me feel even more sick. So the cycle continued until I had absolutely nothing left in my stomach. There is the possibility my stomach might be somewhere in that mess too… you never know.

I'm not sure what Kouga was doing while I was being sick, but I know it wasn't helping me out by holding my hair back (we'll not go into details there) or patting my back or doing anything else to console me. Likely he was looking disgusted. Like I said, I don't know, I was kinda busy at the time. After I was finished I leaned against a tree and closed my eyes.

As it turned out, me being so sick was for the best. It gave Inuyasha time to catch up with us. He was one unhappy half dog demon when he saw the state I was in. I could almost swear that his eyes turned red. He used every swear word I knew, plus a whole bunch of other words I'll just have to assume were swear words, since that's all he seemed to be using at the time.

After bringing into question Kouga's heritage, parentage, and sexual preference, the wolf demon finally gathered his wits and began to fight back.

Usually I would have tried to stop an unnecessary fight. But the wolf was responsible for my stomach and the horrible mess I was in, so to heck with him. Just so long as Inuyasha doesn't actually KILL the guy I'll stay out of it…maybe he'll just hurt the wolf a bit.

"If you touch Kagome again I will rip your throat out!" Inuyasha threatens, well, there were some added swear words in that sentence too. 'Promise' is probably a more accurate word than 'threaten' actually. He looked perfectly willing to do some throat ripping out right then and there.

"She's my woman, I claimed her! It is my right to touch her!"

Whoa whoa whoa. What?

Before I can ask what in the world he was talking about, I feel something soft against the back of my hand. I look down. It's Shippo. He's patting my hand, trying to comfort me. I smile at him, trying to ease his worry.

Suddenly I realize that Inuyasha has practically lost his mind and is actually going to kill Kouga. I looked down at Shippo. Oh no! Not in front of Shippo!

"Stop this fighting now!" I scream. Naturally no one listened to me. So I did something that would get me scoldings for weeks to come. I jumped up and stepped in between the battling demons.

Well, it stopped the fight. Inuyasha somehow managed to change the direction of his leap at the last moment. It was the first time I recall him ever actually looking scared. Unfortunately because I was so caught up in this new emotion in those golden eyes that I wasn't paying attention to the wolf demon who had been barreling down on Inuyasha.

Ooof!

I can't breathe… and I hurt. There are angry voices all around me. I can't make anything out though. Ouch. I think I'm laying on a rock. Oh please let that be a rock and not a broken rib.

The pain is incredible. I feel like my body is on fire. Even if I wanted to be tough and bite back the groans, I don't think I could have. Besides, I hurt way too bad to even pretend to be tough. I moved my fingers. Good, not broken. Toes seem to be okay too. I hear people talking and someone takes my hand. If it wasn't held so gently I could have sworn it was Inuyasha's hand holding mine.

I open my eyes to find myself staring once again into gold. I smiled. At least I think I did. I frowned and closed my lips, then ran my tongue along my teeth. With a sigh of relief I smiled again. Whew, all my teeth were there. I hadn't exactly noticed a bunch of dentist signs around here. I made a mental note to start paying more attention to my dental hygiene.

Blood stained Inuyasha's face and his clothes that weren't there when he first came to my rescue. I hope he didn't kill Kouga in front of Shippo.

"Is he dead?" I ask with a voice like sandpaper.

First Inuyasha looked hurt, then sad, then mad, then downright furious! It was more emotion that I had ever seen from him, I think. And all in a blink of an eye.

"That's the first thing you say when that THING nearly killed you? You almost DIE because of HIM and HIS health is the first thing you ask about?" He dropped my hand and turned around in a huff.

"I didn't want you to kill him in front of Shippo," I whisper. I'm not sure if he heard me, but his hearing is really good, so he probably did.

I try to sit up, but Inuyasha pushes me back down. He doesn't look mad anymore.

"Rest."

I grunt in a totally unladylike fasion. "I think I'm laying on a rock."

Inuyasha gives me a sort of smile, rolls me to the side, and throws the rock. I'm sure it was completely accidental that it bounced off of Kouga's head.

"He can't do that, can he?" It occurred to me that this world has many strange customs that I'm not aware of. And being a demon, he might have even more.

"Do what?"

I peer over at Kouga. Shippo is poking him with a stick to see if he is alive. Miroku is trying to keep Sango from beating what was left of the wolf into a more mushy pulp. I look back at Inuyasha.

"Claim me… he can't do that can he?"

He snorted. "He can't have you."

"But CAN he?" Feeling a big panicked here.

Inuyasha sighs angrily, glaring at the wolf demon. "Demons claim their mates, their lifelong companions. Like your parents. If you are unclaimed… then he can try to claim you. But you would have to accept him before you became mates."

Whew! "So as long as I don't accept him he can't claim me."

Hard golden eyes looked at me, trying to tell me something without having to actually TELL me. "I said that you won't be MATES."

"But I could still be claimed?" There is a slightly hysterical pitch to my voice that I couldn't stop.

Being "claimed" didn't sound good at all. In fact, that sounded really REALLY bad. Suddenly the unconscious wolf demon being repeatedly poked by a sharp stick looked a whole lot more dangerous.

"Don't be stupid," Inuyasha scolded as he thumped me lightly on the head. "I already said he can't have you. So quit looking so scared."

Air whooshes out of my lungs in relief. I felt safe again, so I closed my eyes. First thing when I wake up I'm going to take a nice long bath. But for right now, all I want to do is get a little rest. We can keep searching for the mirror when I wake up.