Chapter 31: The Thought That Counts and Comforting Instincts

Kouga's eyes widen as his nose twitches, "How…how are you still alive? And why do you smell like a full demon?"

The grin remains along with the low guttural voice, "Puny wolf, you are not strong enough to kill me. I, on the other hand…" he says before quickly twisting Kouga's let a hundred and eighty degrees like it was a peanut butter jar lid.

Kouga can't help but let out a howl of pain as he falls to his other knee, hands bracing him against falling entirely to the ground, "Dammit!" he growls out "You weren't this powerful a moment ago. What the hell happened!"

Suddenly Inuyasha is beside him, and then a foot connects with his ribs, sending him across the field and cracking a few at the same time.

He rolls onto his back, coughing up blood, "What the hell? He was half-dead, I won. Where did he get this power?"

Inuyasha then comes into view, sneering down at the beaten wolf, moon just in view behind him above the trees. He roughly picks Kouga up, looks like he's going to say something, then closes his mouth and give him a powerful right hook to the jaw instead, causing Kouga's head to jerk back while once again sending his body flying across the clearing.

In the woods, Kagome has tears in her eyes. Before it had been a fairly equal fight, now Inuyasha was simply slaughtering Kouga slowly. She watches as he hits him across the grassy opening again and again, almost seeming to get some kind of sick pleasure from it. What had happened to him? This wasn't the Inuyasha she knew and… . She shakes her head, ending that thought would only further her distress. Her eyes search the heavens as if entreating it to help. Instead they fall on something that makes her throat tighten and her skin pale. "It's the blue moon." She whispers to herself.

She looks back to the 'battlefield', Inuyasha still pounding Kouga. If she called out, tried to stop him, her life would be in very real danger, but if she didn't…no. She couldn't live with herself if she let Inuyasha continue like this. She would have to trust him, that he could hold his bloodthirsty instincts at bay long enough to let her know what was best to do.

The cry rips from her throat almost as if it had a life of its own, "Inuyasha! Please, stop!"

Everything stops, He…he somehow knew that voice. He drops the wolf and looks around, his attention finally drawn to a soft glowing. His eyes widen a little as he begins to recognize the voice, small dots of blue swimming in the seas of red. His female. His female was crying, "Please, Inuyasha, stop. Please, don't kill him. Don't kill." He hears her softly say. He growls, he must kill, if he didn't then the wolf would threaten his female's pack again, his pack. He feels a new wave of protectiveness wash over him with this thought and he growls low. The wolf would not be given another chance to hurt his pack.

Suddenly, he feels a comforting pulse. He blinks, looking around to try and find the origin of the pulse. Again, a pulse. This time he can tell where it came from, around his neck. He looks down. It had come from his female's gift. He looks to her and notices that his gift, proudly hanging around her neck, was pulsing gently in time with his.

He jumps over to her, the wolf forgotten for the moment, lightly growling when he senses her tense. The most important thing to do at the moment was to comfort her. His instincts nearly scream this fact at him. His pack should never cry or be scared, it was his job as alpha male to make sure of this.

Still acting purely on instinct, since the logical, human side of him had fallen dormant/unconscious when the wolf had cheated, he lightly nuzzles her hair. She tenses again, and he doesn't like it, so he repeats his previous actions. This time he feels her relax slightly and he smiles.

He then wraps his arms around her and is pleased when she melts into his embrace, "Please Inuyasha, no more fighting. You've won. Let's just get Grandpa and Souta and go home. Please?" he hears her softly request.

Home? Yes, that would be best. Get the pack to where he could protect them most effectively. He momentarily bursts with pride at how wise his female is before quickly gathering her up and leaps off, using his nose to locate his other pack members, leaving the near dead wolf, forgotten, in the field.

Minutes pass, seeming years of agony to the young demon, before suddenly the figure in white appears beside his broken form. A hand reaches out and waves over Kouga, causing a strange purple light to come over him. In a matter of moments, it was as if nothing had happened at all, his body restored to near perfection. Blinkingly, Kouga opens his eyes, sees the familiar white fur and hurriedly gets up to bow before him.

This dark man chuckles before saying, "Well done Kouga. You did exactly as told and everything worked out exactly as I predicted. Inuyasha's control has been weakened and the power has been awakened. Now come, it's time to set up for the next phase of my plan." With that a dark cloud descends on them, evaporating moments later to leave nothing behind except the chill in the air that always seems present after the presence of pure evil.

A.N. Wow! I can't believe I got this out so quick! I haven't updated this fast since back when I already had the chapters written out from a year ago lol. So, what do you think? Inuyasha's instincts actually aren't 'kill kill kill'! I think I may have overdone the 'his female' thing, but I'm not sure, tell me what you guys think! After all, that's what reviews are for lol! So, just what is Naraku planning? And how is it that Inuyasha hasn't fallen over from blood loss? Answer to those questions and more in future chappies, though exactly where even I don't know! Now, onto Reviewer Replies!

Kiara-Star- Thank you for the compliment, and Inuyasha didn't have the Tetsusaiga was because he believed that it would be a hand to hand fight and, unlike Kouga, he plays fair. Plus, even if the sword had it's usual sealing properties, Inuyasha's been holed up in his castle for nearly a decade and probably wouldn't know about them. I promise to update asap as usual.

Lady Kagewaki- I'm figuring you've gotten this far, so I'm going to combine all of your reviews thus far into this one reply. First off, thank you for reading my story and reviewing so many of my chapters. I don't believe I've ever had someone do that before, so you can imagine my surprise when one day I just kept on getting review after review by the same person! Lol, but seriously, thank you, it meant a lot to me that you spent your time and reviewed them. I would also like to thank you for your comments and compliments, there's nothing like someone telling you what your doing right to make your day all that much better! I look forward to receiving more reviews from you in the future.

RebelWriter- Lol, you know, I thought it was about time he quit kidding around myself lol. Unfortunately, the wolf/pig (boy THERE'S a nasty image) can't die quite yet, as Naraku still needs him for his plan. But fear not! In the end I'm sure they'll both get what's ultimately coming to them.

Ameku Kanitsuki- Well, it looks like Kagome didn't listen to you whatsoever, how rude! Lol, well, at least you got to see some Kouga butt-kicking, and I promise later on in the story there's more where that came from!

glenlightarrow- Thank you very much. I promise to update as soon as possible.

Starflower-Gem- Thanks a lot! You try to figure out what it was that I got just the right amount of and I'll keep putting it in lol.

RoseMaiden- Lol, well it looks like your wish came true! Then again, Kouga can't win, he's a jerk, not to mention that Inu-chan can't lose 'cause he's the hero! I promise to update asap!

animekat- Well, now you know! I'll update as soon as I can write the next chappie out lol.

Dark Mistress Serenity- Thank you very much. I will update as soon as possible.

Inu Youkai Gurl- Lol, thank you very much, I'm glad you like it so much. I promise to try and check out your story as soon as I have a free moment on my hands!

ThatOneNerd- Lol, sometime this month was a bit general for my tastes, so I decide to update this week! Thank you a lot for the compliment, I think it did too.

Rikki- Well, I hope my story didn't kill you for too long, I got this out as soon as possible. Thanks for the compliments as well.

CatHanyouNelia- Lol, I'm sorry, I really am. But I couldn't help myself, the story has a mind of its own and tells me where to start and stop, I have like, basically no control over it whatsoever. Well, at least now you know what happened, so hopefully I don't suck anymore lol.

galaxy guardian- Well, even if there's no need to thank you for the praise, I'm going to do it anyways lol. Thank you very much, your compliments mean a lot. I hope you liked seeing Kouga get his butt handed to him, even if it was only temporary. Kagome probably would slap him, but I don't think she wants to pass out from his breath lol. I mean, come on, the dude's been living in the wild for how long? And just how important do you think brushing his teeth was on Naraku's training repertoire? Lol, thank you once again and I promise to update asap.