Chapter Four: The Morning After
I felt the cave heat up, and reached out to scratch Kirara's haunches. My hand grasped air. 'Damn,' I thought. 'Second time today..' I had forgotten where I was again, and peeked over to where Kouga had been asleep the night before. Gone.
Hmm... I scratched my head and yawned as I sat up, almost unwilling to
get out of the nest of fur I'd been sleeping on. Believe you me, the cold ground
just doesn't compare to warm, dry fur. 'Now,' I crawled out of my nest,
tied the katana to my hip once I'd reached it. 'If Kouga ditched me I'll
hunt him down and cut his hair off..' I took a few steps out of the cave, and then
leaned against rock to stare at the rising sun. I never woke this late
when I was with Kagome and everyone. I never quite felt safe sleeping in,
despite Inuyasha and Miroku there.
Not that Kouga was especially reliable nightwatch. I'd had to wake him up once more the night before, stifling sleep-deprived laughter at his rolling around on his back with his legs and arms in the air like a pup. The boy definitely kept his demon side more so than Inuyasha did. I smiled into the dawn while I thought this, and almost didn't hear him when he spoke.
"Ohayo.." I turned around to see him sitting atop the cave entrance, one leg curled in front of him and the other dangling over the edge. He was watching me almost as intensely as his wolves were. One stood at either side, ready to pounce or lay down, I couldn't tell which. I eyed them suspiciously, having seen their handiwork before. Kouga smirked at me petulantly, his shoulders slightly raised.
They were wild animals. Not only youkai, but wild animals served to
attack us on the occasion while we hunted for jewel shards.
Nevermind how cute they were or how fluffy. They had teeth
in those maws. Big, sharp, wicked-looking teeth that had
known the taste of human flesh. The gray one scratched at the
ground, whined a little bit as it stared at me hungrily. I tensed up,
waiting for it to just try and attack. Kouga reached out without
looking and put a calloused hand on top of the dog's head,
willing it obedient, I guess. The dog immediately quieted,
and laid down at it's master's side.
"Worried, hunter?" I pursed my lips, realizing that he was enjoying this. "You gonna take me home now or what?" I crossed my arms, wishing I had my yukata on over this hunter's garb. The demon would have to carry me all the way back, and I wasn't really sure how ready I was to have that few layers of clothing between us. I faintly thought about if this was what Kagome thought about before she rode Inuyasha's back. It was really quite an intimate position, if you thought about it.
Kouga sighed, his shoulders drooping, almost unnoticeably.
"I was joking..only joking." He scratched the ears of the gray wolf
that had been aggressive and then turned to face it, kneeling in front of it.
He held it's snout in one hand, and got mere centimeters away from it,
eyes staring intensely into it's own. "Be good. Or else." he said, as though
talking to a misbehaving child. It's ears drooped, and Kouga released
it before he hopped down.
"Watch it," I growled, as he landed right in front of me. He snickered and
turned, crouching down in front of me. Wondering what I was getting
myself into, I climbed on as gracefully as I could, which wasn't very,
and held on for dear life. I gulped as he grabbed underneath my thighs,
mindful of his claws. I put my head down against his shoulder and faced
outward to keep his hair from whipping me in the face. It was probably
longer than mine, down.
Not that I'd ever seen it down. Not that I'd ever really seen him do anything than spout off about how Kagome was 'his woman' and all that. It didn't bother me, of course. He was just taking me home after kidnapping me, by accident, I might add. This was all just a misunderstanding, and things would go back to normal, including my brain, once it was all sorted out. Or as soon as he stopped holding the back of my thighs so tightly like that.
Or me. He had me pulled so tightly against his back I couldn't move. Which, don't get me wrong, I understood. I didn't want to bounce up and down against him anymore than he wanted me hitting his butt every step of the way. But, it was a tad more intimate than I was comfortable being with someone who I didn't know very well and attested to being in love with my best friend.
Not that he had a chance. Did he? I bit my lip, watching over his shoulder as we made our way quickly in and out of trees. The wolves trailed behind us, making me wonder if I should worry about being bitten in the ass..
I laughed a little at that, enjoying the feel of wind on my face. Kouga wasn't so bad. He had a sense of humor, at least. Unlike the grumpy hanyou or the monk. Any jab I would take at banter with Miroku always ended up one way: with Miroku getting slapped.
Rightfully so, I thought, grinning. Kouga turned his head slightly,
his cheek brushing the top of my head. I blushed a little bit at this.
'Toooooooointimate...' my stomach quivered at our proximity and
his eyebrows knitted together.
"What's so funny?" he demanded, a smirk threatening his mouth.
His mouth. Even when he was angry, I'd always seen the wry
twist it had to it. It was so expressive, he was so expressive.
Unlike some frustrating, unavailable bakas that like to play
lets'-piss-off-Sango...
He turned back to watch our path, jumping up into a tree and scaring the shit out of me. He noticed, feeling me tighten my grip which circled under his arms and up around his shoulders. It was then that I saw it for the first time: The smirk. The smug, self assured smirk that really, REALLY pissed me off. A little bit. And kind of made me laugh inside, too. He was soooo haughty it occurred to me why he and Inuyasha fought all the time, even taking away the Kagome factor. They were too much alike.
"Well," he called back, running along and then hopping from tree to tree,
snickering when I'd let out an "Eeep," everytime he made a particularly
wide gap.
"Well what?" I managed to get out as I held on as tightly as I could.
"What are you laughing about?" He demanded again. I smirked,
realizing that I could wipe that smug smile right off of his face.
"Oh...really just about how alike you and Inuyasha are-" I couldn't breathe.
We were dropping now from a particularly high tree, and I just couldn't take a breath. We met the forest floor, and he abruptly let go of my legs. I dropped off, fell back against a tree trunk to catch my breath.
"What did you say?" he raised his voice, defiantly getting just a little too in-my-face. I'd caught my breath now and felt overt irritation pooling my head.
"Just back the fuck off!" I yelled into his face, forcing him back.
"It was a joke, Kouga, so don't get all worked up." I turned my back to
him, crossing my arms and kicking the tree trunk as hard as I
could.
"Besides," I retorted. I could feel his stunned silence behind me,
couldn't resist. "You are a lot alike. You're both stubborn,
quick to fight, have the tempers of a boar...face it. You're
both canine, after all," I finished, turning around. Wow.
He was laughing silently, holding his stomach. My jaw fell open. What was so funny? I mean, I knew this was funny to me, but it should be infuriating to him...shouldn't it?
He reached out as he doubled over, finally letting his laughter escape. He held onto a tree trunk next to him, his claws digging into it. I winced. I hoped he wasn't crazy and about to attack me, and this was his weird youkai way of showing it.
I stood quietly, slightly in shock, for a few minutes until he recovered and wiped tears out of his eyes.
"Done?...weirdo.." I mouthed, starting to walk in the direction we'd been moving. And then, the idiot had to open his mouth.
"You want me." He said, laughter evident in his stupid, arrogant voice. The audacity was what made me turn around, look at him from under my bangs and smirk. I wasn't even angry.
"Ohhh Kouga...self-delusion does fit you quite well." My smile dropped as I turned back around, leaving him to follow or go back to his kidnapper's hideout. Jerk.
"You wish," I whispered, knowing he'd hear me. He jogged up to me and walked backwards, smiling good-naturedly.
"C'mon, Sango, just admit it. You, like most other females,
just can't resist this hot young wolf," I tried to close my
mouth as my head whipped over to stare at him, but to no
avail.
"You're nuts. Seriously, seriously fuckin' nuts." I laughed,
my eyes wide. "Living in the forest with nothing but wolves
has made you delusional, wolf-breath." He glared at me
for my use of Inuyasha's pet name for him, and I smiled
sweetly back. I could hear one of the wolves behind us
growling and I turned around.
"Shutup you overgrown dog! I'll kick your ass just like
I'll kiss your master's!" The wolf did stop, but not for
the reasons I'd hoped. I realized what I'd said. 'Shit'
I mentally groaned. Both wolf and it's prince blinked, staring
at me for a few seconds before Kouga broke into uncontrollable
laughter. I turned red, but not because I was embarrassed.
I was gonna murder him.
"Well," he snickered between howls of laughter, "I guess that ends that argument." The wolves seemed to grin at me as they scampered past us, realizing that there was no real conflict to be had between myself and the youkai. I growled, ready to strangle him, when I heard a familiar buzzing.
I dodged out of the way right when the damn thing dove for my face. "Saimyoushou," I breathed, drawing the katana. Where there was one, there were usually many.
Kouga quieted and crouched to jump. He flew at one, growling and claws ready. He got it! I thought excitedly as I danced with one, trying to slice it in half. I finally killed the damn zippy thing and turned around just in time to see it happen.
Kouga was kicking at one right as another dove and stung him in the shoulder.
I felt my heart stop, and couldn't get to him quickly enough.
'If you don't save him, you're a goner, too, Sango,' My brain rationalized. I bent down to where he crouched, gripping the poisoned muscle, and held the katana out in front of us. I pulled his arm over my shoulders and we staggered as quickly as we could away from the clearing. Kouga whistled, and the two wolves came running, ready to defend their master.
I could still hear the damn things! They were following us. I set Kouga's now poison induced sluggishness against a tree and turned around. I managed to kill a few, but the damn things were just too fast!
And they caught me off guard. I turned to make sure Kouga could still defend himself, and his face was what told me all I needed to know. I hadn't killed them all.
I felt the bite of the poison more than the actual wound itself.
It was in such a tender spot, too. Did it have to choose such a
hard area to heal, I thought, as the edges of my vision darkened.
The crook of my throat and shoulder was bleeding, and I could
barely feel the warm blood coursing down from the wound.
The damn thing had penetrated my hunter's uniform,
ripping through the fabric like nothing.
I breathed something, not quite conscious as I fell to the ground.
Why? Don't really know. But I couldn't think of anything,
or anyone, more specifically, at that moment.
"Kouga," I said weakly, and then my head connected with a rock.
Whoo...long chapter...