Ch. 4: The Horrible Truth

Over the next rising and fallings of the sun, Kouga, watched over the couple anxiously, waiting for the perfect moment to go and "claim what's his". But, what he did not know was that he was also being followed; by a pair of emerald green eyes.

To Kouga's greatest fear was that, Kagome and Inuyasha forgave each other, and acted like nothing ever happened between the two of them. He was confused on what really was happening.

"This isn't right!" Kouga snarled, slamming his fist into his other palm, "What aren't they separating?" Bewildered and frustrated, the Youkai jumped silently onto a tree branch nearby, yawning, slowly closing his blue eyes, falling fast asleep in the large pine.

Bump… Bump… Bump… Kouga awoke with a start, still half asleep, not really noticing how the rumbling awoke him until he was bumped out of the tree, landing hard on his tailbone. Slowly rubbing his behind, he had not remembered he was spying on a certain miko and hanyou…

"Kouga?" exclaimed the soft, yet startled voice of a young woman.

"Kouga! Why I outta…" grumbled a rough voice of a half-demon, moving closer to his rival, his Tetsusaiga unsheathed, ready to kill.

"Inuyasha! This is hardly the time!"

"Inuyasha? Oi, Kagome!" Kouga yelled out loud, suddenly remembering why he was there, "Kagome, did the Mutt hurt you?"

"Eh? No…" she started but was cut off by more rumbling in the earth, "Is this an earthquake? No… wait… Inuyasha I sense a jewel shard!"

"A jewel shard, eh?" Inuyasha replied, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that the jewel shard is held by that demon." The hanyou pointed to a large spider demon, no visible as it came out of hiding.

"It must want the jewel shards!" said the young miko, her hand, tightly gripping the glass bottle of jewel shards hung her neck, as if she were protecting them.

"Don't worry Kagome!" Kouga said reassuringly, jumping in front of her, "I'll protect you."

"The only thing you're gonna be protecting is your hide, once I'm done with it." Inuyasha growled, cracking his knuckles, flashing Kouga his claws.

"Yeah right Dog-breath. Kagome's my woman!"

Kagome just stared at them both, blinking. "You guys! Has it ever occurred to you two that there's a humungous demon that has a jewel shard?"

"You're right, Kagome." Inuyasha agreed, his back to Kouga, bearing a smug little smirk, "I'll take care of this trash later... Now die, demon!" The half-demon stuck at the giant spider, making it scream bloody murder, before it struck at Inuyasha. Missing, Inuyasha shouted, "Wind Scar!" her sword producing a massive wave of energy, as he swung at the spider demon with the Tetsusaiga. "Wha-? Where'd it go?" Inuyasha stuttered, when the demon just disappeared before the Wind Scar hit.

"Inuyasha, look up! It's literally on top of you!" shouted Kagome, pointing to an ominous object blocking out the sun. Before he had time to react, Kouga ran, jumped, and trusted his legs into its "gut", hurling it into the dirt. The demon laid there motionless. "That was too easy…" Kagome murmured, eyeing the spider carefully. And she was right… The demon took advantage of them when Inuyasha and Kouga had their guard down.

"Ah!" shouted both Inuyasha and Kouga in unison as they were both stabbed by the claws on two of its eight hairy legs.

"Inuyasha!" shouted Kagome, watching in horror from the safety of the sidelines.

"That damn demon gonna get it now…" the hanyou muttered, grimacing when he stood up, with the help of his Tetsusaiga.

"Don't bother Mutt-face…" growled the wolf, also getting up slowly and painfully.

Kagome started running over, her expression worried and scared. "Inuyasha!" she yelled, yet again. The spider demon heard her cry and started making its way silently over to the unaware teenager.

"Kagome!" shouted them both.

"Get the hell out of here!" shouted Inuyasha, but it was too late, the giant demon was now literally on top of her. Screaming, the young miko was too late to grasp a bow and arrow, and was whacked to the ground by its front leg. Kagome didn't move until after a few long moments, when the spider's fangs were hovering over her, dripping a deadly poison.

"Inuyasha!" she screamed, as it was about to strike.

"No, Kagome!" yelled the hanyou suddenly finding the speed to save her by blocking the bite with his Tetsusaiga. "Kagome! Get out of here!"

Nodding, Kagome ran away to safety. That's when Kouga took action. "You hurt Kagome! No you're going to pay!" he hollered, as he struck at the demon, punching it constantly.

"Kouga, damn it!" growled Inuyasha, "Get out of the way!" At that, Inuyasha sent another Wind Scar at the giant demon, Kouga just barely getting away. The demon screeched before it was hit, blasting it into hundreds of pieces. Smirking, Inuyasha fell down to his knees, cringing.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" Kagome said kneeling down beside him.

"Yeah fine. You?" he asked looking at her, head to toe.

"Just a few bruises is all…" she murmured, a slight blush came to her cheeks, "Here let me check out that wound of yours…"

Kouga just watched all of this, confused and kind of heartbroken. "This isn't right…" he thought, "Why is my woman tending to his wounds?" Then it hit him; he was living on false hope all this time. "Why?" he asked himself, as he bounded off into the forest, before Inuyasha and Kagome knew he was gone.

A/N this chapter was a lot better length. And now here comes Ayame and Kouga's moments…