Hello and welcome chapter 10!

What awaits our heroes? And what happens when Hakkaku and Ginta come to check up and Kouga and stumble upon on of Kyou's potions?

Read to find out!

---------------- - - --------------------------------- - - -----------

The Battle Between Three For The Heart of an Ookami

---------------- - - --------------------------------- - - -----------

It was a relatively quite afternoon. The birds were chirping happily, the sun was shining, no clouds in sight, it was fucking hot, and two ookami were running through the trees screaming. Oh yes, it was a lovely day so far.

"R-run faster Hakkaku, it's c-catching up!"

Hakkaku was panting heavily in sync with his friend, "I'm t-trying!"…that is until he fell… "Gah! Ginta! Ginta! Wait for me!" He pushed himself up and ran after his friend silently hoping the demon chasing them had either lost interest or just wouldn't catch him. Hakkaku finally caught up to his friend, "That was awful Ginta! Kouga wouldn't just leave a comrade to die!"

Ginta heaved and slowed down as he noticed the demon was no longer behind them, "Yeah, well I'm not Kouga…" the gray haired wolf plopped down on the forest ground, trying desperately to seize his breath.

"We have to find him…" the spiky haired demon sat next to Ginta, absentmindedly looking up to the sky as he spoke.

"No kidding. He only has…well, less than three weeks left to find a mate."

"Wha! Is that all? I thought he had more time, no wonder the elders have been getting antsy."

Ginta nodded and sighed, "You'd think he'd have one by now being who he is. Either way we have to find him before our clan is completely overrun by those damn kitsune."

"They may be small in size, but their numbers out number ours ten-fold! I just…" Hakkaku paused in mid sentence and picked something up off of the ground, "Ginta, what's this?" He held up a small box like object, it was made of iron and had swirled designs on it.

"How should I know?" Curiously Ginta took the box from his comrade and opened it, "Gah! It smells horrible!" he quickly put the lid back in place and took a deep breath of now fresh air.

"Maybe it's a weapon? I've heard of potions and what not being used as weapons."

"I guess it's possible, but, what's it doing here?"

"Don't know. Maybe some traveling warriors or something dropped it."

"It'd be a terrible waste. May as well keep it just in case that demon comes back. But let's not open it again…god that smelled awful!" Ginta scrunched up his nose at the memory and got up from the ground after Hakkaku.

"Come on Ginta, we should look for Kouga some more. I just hope we can catch up."

"We've done it before."

"Well yeah, but that's because he slowed down for us!" Hakkaku sighed, hopefully their leader would be moving at a normal pace so they could catch him. If not, well they were in trouble.

And so the two Ookami Youkai, right and left hand men of the infamous Yourouzoku leader Kouga set off to inform their leader of the trouble on the mountains, to drag him back, and to hopefully pick on him for not yet finding a mate and not get smacked for it.

They had been traveling for days on end since they had left the village. There were no signs of Naraku or the town they had been looking for. It was getting very tiring, not to mention frustrating. And as the time went by, only more suspicions were evident.

The sun was setting and the group was settling in for the night, Kouga had been trying to distance himself from Kagome, which every one found unusual. Even Kagome who was slightly happy about it found it odd.

'Why is he avoiding me so much? I mean, not that I mind, seeing him just makes these feelings I have worse, but why? Did I do something to offend him?' The young miko thought over reasons as to why her wolf friend was acting so strange, then it hit her, 'My god! Good lord no! Kouga-kun's and Inuyasha's sense of smell!' She blushed deeply as the thought came to mind, 'maybe…maybe Kouga and Inuyasha can…smell it…That would explain why Inuyasha gets those disgusted looks whenever I look at Kouga and feel that way…And it would also give a good reason for why Kouga-kun's been avoiding me.'

She sighed and shook her head free of the thoughts, 'I guess I should just be glad that Kouga-kun is good enough to not take advantage of me. God knows if he tried something when I'm like that I probably wouldn't do much to stop him…' Her blush deepened and she focused on unrolling her sleeping bag.

Kouga sat himself by a small river, it was getting harder and harder to fight the urges and not jump Kagome when she looked at him, when she gave off that sweet scent…He sighed, 'can't avoid her forever…maybe I should just give in.' He scowled at himself, 'no, that's not what Kagome would want and that's not how it should happen. Though, Kyou said that the potion wouldn't have reacted if Kagome didn't have feelings for me, so would it be alright? Would it be what Kagome would want consciously or unconsciously? If I did mate with her, would she go back to her normal self and hate me for doing it? That isn't a risk I can take, but if I don't, Kagome may die.'

The Yourouzoku leader dipped his feet into the chilled water, pondering over what could and couldn't be done, 'there's only about two weeks left before the next full moon. So Kagome's longing will be getting stronger…more and more demons have been attacking us, strangely none of them have demanded the shards; "by all means the heated scent will drive many a demon man insane. If you don't mate her Inuyasha or perhaps another will." Maybe that's why…the other demons can smell Kagome…' He sneered at the thought of any other taking his woman as their mate, "I can't let that happen…" he spoke to no one in particular, but some one was there to answer anyway.

"Can't let what happen?" Kouga jumped slightly at the familiar voice and turned in its direction.

"A-Ayame? What are you doing here?" His eyebrow twitched in irritation, this was not what he needed right now.

The she wolf huffed, "I could ask you the same question! Why are you traveling with those humans? The elders told me you were searching for a mate, I won't let anyone else have you Kouga!" She narrowed her eyes at him as a mother would a child who had broken a vase from playing ball in the house.

He growled at her, "You are not in charge of my affairs, woman! I will mate who I want."

Ayame growled right back at him, "If you want that human woman so badly then why haven't you mated her yet? You obviously don't pain for her that much! Don't you understand Kouga? You love is one sided! Get over it already! You made a promise, you said I'd be your mate…how can you-how can you just go back on your word like that and for a human no less?" unshed tears brimmed her emerald eyes, however she wouldn't let them fall, she had to much pride.

Sighing, Kouga absently rubbed the back of his neck, "Listen, Ayame, I didn't mean to make that promise. You were just a child…Right now, I don't even want a mate, this isn't my choice. And you're wrong, I do pain for Kagome, more than I do for anyone else! And if I was told the truth, then I now have proof that she feels the same way, to some extent anyway…" the last sentence was said hushed, he knew that Ayame would hear though, wolf ears where far more powerful and picked up a lot.

"Kouga…" Ayame looked to the ground sadden, quickly pushing it away she stated, "I'm traveling with you."

Kouga's eyes shot open, "Wha…?" brilliant comeback! The twitching eye made it even better!

"I said I'm coming with you. I won't let that human have you! I'll make you fall in love with me, I can't see the jewel shards, but you will love me!"

The mighty wolf leader twitched in his right eye, he knew if he told her no she'd just puff up and come anyway, and he knew if he used reverse psychology she'd take it as a proposal or something or at best just grin a lot. So he chose the best possible response and just twitched refusing to give her his answer or opinion.

After a moment of intense twitching Kouga rose to his feet and walked away, knowing the stubborn she wolf would follow. Within moments they were both within the camp area, luckily Kagome and the other Human's were sleeping along with the kitsune and neko, Inuyasha wasn't…

"What's she doing here?" The hanyou scuffed, glaring at the brown wolf who answered.

"Damned if I know…apparently she's stalking us…" he let out an agitated growl and sat by a tree leaning his back against it as he crossed his arms.

"I'm going to be traveling with you and your human friends for awhile." The white wolf looked to the inu-hanyou as she spoke as though clarifying her reason for being there.

"Like hell you are! We already took in one wolf, I'll be damned if we let another one in! It's bad enough with just him here!" He glowered, this was not going the way he wanted.

"I'm staying and there's nothing you can do about it!" Ayame glared at up at him and sat cross-legged on the forest ground her arms crossed much like Kouga's across her chest.

Inuyasha jumped down from his spot in the tree, "Oh we'll see about that!" he cracked his knuckles and poached the young she wolf.

"Inuyasha…"

He stopped at the sound of Kagome voice, she wasn't awake, was she? He looked to the miko who rolled over in her sleep. She was sleeping, "Are you…dreaming about me…?" he asked her sleeping form in a muted voice, aware of the possessive growl coming from the male wolf.

"Oswari…"

With that he fell to the ground with a large thud, moments later pushing himself up out of an Inuyasha sized crater, hearing the obvious chuckle and seeing cocky smirk of the damned wolf… 'oh I'll show him…' Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the wolf and jumped into the tree, he'd show him, but not now. He didn't want to risk waking Kagome; she was petulant when woken up.

Morning came swiftly and the group was up. Introductions were made and Kagome had no problem with Ayame traveling with them, or at least that's what she said.

Kagome was happy Ayame was there, but at the same time upset about it. She knew Kouga and Ayame were engaged and she knew that for some anomalous reason she hated it, she wanted Kouga all to herself and she just couldn't figure out why. However, with Ayame there there's no way Kagome would 'attack' Kouga and try to full fill what tempting thoughts have been plaguing her, right?

Wrong.

The day seemed as long as…well I don't know, but seemed pretty fucking long either way! Ayame was always trying to stay close to Kouga and glared at Kagome…a lot. Kagome sighed knowing wholly why, 'Ayame is a wolf demon, she can probably smell just as well as Inuyasha and Kouga-kun. I don't want to feel like that, I just can't help it…' she felt more and more angry every time Ayame came closer to Kouga. 'Why?'

Kyou of course, didn't miss this and was enjoying the scenes to there fullest every time Kagome got angry and tried to hide it. 'Hide all you want, you're not fooling anyone Kagome-chan.' And of course because Kagome smelled the way she did and was getting jealous the way she did over Kouga, Inuyasha and Ayame were both pissed off, where as Sango, Miroku, and Shippou were mystified, and Kouga was well…happy, proud? It was hard to tell. 'what fun…' Kyou smirked.

It wasn't long before Inuyasha and Kouga both turned to look in the same direction and ran full speed. The other's followed confusedly, the human's and Shippou didn't have the sense of smell Inuyasha and Kouga did, and Ayame didn't know the odor well enough to know what was wrong.

The stopped in a vacant field and Sango nearly snarled, "Kagura…" she looked around franticly for her younger brother Kohaku, "Where's Kohaku?" She glared at the wind witch as did Kouga and Inuyasha.

Kyou didn't know what this all was, but it seemed interesting enough so she just literally sat back and watched the scene play out.

Ayame had never met this 'Kagura' person, but she did know who she was and why Kouga hated her so much. The she wolf got into a fighting stance she would battle if she had to.

The red-eyed wind demon laughed, "Kohaku is not with me, he has stayed back with Naraku. I have come to take your life and the shards as well." She gave her trade mark smirk and the battle commenced as she opened her fan, "Fujin no Mae…"

The two ookami had been running, only stopping for food and rest. It had been days and their noses told them they were getting close to Kouga. They both stopped hesitantly. "G-Ginta…you smell that?" he stuttered and sniffed the air once more, hoping he was wrong.

"Yeah...it's Kagura…" both wolves gulped and began running faster, Kouga might be in trouble. As his right and left hand men, it was their duty to help their leader, as much as they hated the thought of dieing in the process.

They had been running towards the battlefield for an hour in Kagome's time, and until the sun reached a different spot in the sky in their time…don't you love telling time?

They had just reached the outskirts of the battle field and looked on in horror, Kouga and Ayame were cut and bleeding from many areas on their exposed flesh, Inuyasha wasn't faring much better he did have his sword out though, and the humans had minor injuries…except for the one sitting on the ground…laughing…that's not normal…

"Kouga! We're coming!" Hakkaku shouted as he and Ginta sprinted towards their leader, they had to do something to help him, but what? They weren't nearly as strong as he was, 'wait, the potion weapon!' Hakkaku grabbed the box that he had tied to his pelt and threw it at the wind user. 'Please hit!'

Ginta gasped as he saw his friend hurl the box at their enemy, 'That's it! Please hit, don't miss, don't miss!' he silently prayed in sync with Hakkaku, face falling when Kagura's wind blades sliced right through the box.

Soon after Kagura sliced the box, she began to feel funny…she inhaled the air that smelled… 'awful! What's that revolting smell! What's this…this feeling…?' she then looked up seeing Kouga charging at her, she could feel herself flushing, which was a first… She jumped out of the way and looked to the other wolf, the female, she was holding her head in her hands and blushing deeply, probably having the same shocking thoughts Kagura was. An urge came over the wind user and she found she was no long able to control her body. That's when she leaped…right onto Kouga!

"Kouga!" the wind user gasped out his name held his arm tightly afraid he would disappear if she let go.

"You! Get away from my Kouga!" Ayame jumped next to Kagura and grabbed Kouga's other arm. "He's mine!"

Kagura growled at the she wolf, "Yeah right! Like a little whelp like you can please a man like Kouga!" She tugged the great yourouzoku leader who was once again twitching and for good reason, towards her.

"Back off! He's my fiancé! He'll be my mate!"

"No! You're wrong he will be my mate!"

The two youkai started playing tug of war with Kouga's arms glaring and yelling at each other…and all through this all Inuyasha and Shippou could do was watch.

Kyou was laughing uncontrollably, Kouga was asking Ginta and Hakkaku what the hell they did, and Sango was chasing Miroku around saying "let me bear your child!" and "I'm not pregnant yet!" when he got nervous and ran.

Kagome, Kagome had finally snapped. She stalked up to the fighting to the fighting females and screamed, "You two get away from my Kouga! He loves me!" with that the sweet little miko did something unexpected, that's right…she slapped the two youkai females…not normal slapped, oh no. Kagome bitch slapped them then attached herself around Kouga's waist while snarling and hissing when the other females tried to get close.

- - - - --------- - - - - - - - - - -- ---------- -- - -- - - -- - - - - - -- -------- - - - - -- - - - - -----

And so it ends…Kagome's crazy, Kagura's insane, Ayame's…normal? And Sango wants Miroku! All the while Kouga has become a breeding stud and Inuyasha committed suicide. Oh yeah, and Ginta and Hakkaku are just lost and confused…I don't have anything planned for Kyou so we'll say Kouga and Inuyasha killed her out of spite!

What a happy ending…

And for the record, I don't think this is really it…n.n;;

I just haven't figured anything out past this point so it's the end until I come up with something more.

Sigh, I hate writer's block with a passion. I'm welcome to ideas…

Please review!

Ja ne.