Creatures of the Moon

Chapter One

Inuyasha ran on all four, his wolf legs, as he and Kouga continued their deadly dance. They had moved away from the others as their fight continued, the first streaks of dawn's light making its way down through the curtain of leaves in the woods the two were in now. Their packs and fellow allies were far from them, their scent barely making it to their delicate noses, not that either were paying attention to such things as they snapped at each other with sharp teeth. All their energy was focused on killing the other.

Kouga was severely wounded, his fur thick with his own blood. The surrouding area was becoming blurry in his vision, black spots appearing all around him through his eyes as more blood was lost. His movements became sluggish and his mind became unclear, the only thought going through his mind telling him to kill. That thought alone was the only thing that kept him going, driving him to hurt Inuyasha, or at least try to.

As time moved on, some of his wits came back to him, the moonlight gone and some of his human traits, such as reasoning, coming to him, but that was not enough to help him against Inuyasha's attacks. The blood loss becoming too much, Kouga stumbled slightly and that was all Inuyasha needed. He took that second of weakness and attacked Kouga.

Inuyasha clamped down on the soft, tender flesh of the wolf Kouga's belly, tearing into his insides.

You're dead, Kouga, Inuyasha sneered at him, remembering Kouga's first words that night.

Kouga struggled, first trying to bite Inuyasha and then when that did not work, he tried to wriggle away. Inuyasha bit down harder and Kouga made a sound between a growl and a whimper as his feet gave way under him.

The wounded wolf fell into unconsciousness as Inuyasha continued to tear at his stomach. Finally when Inuyasha seemed to notice that his prey was out cold, he let go and backed away so he could go after the sensitive flesh of the neck. If he could just get at that, his powerful jaws could easily snap the other wolf leader's neck, killing him.

He snarled in satisfaction, as he moved closer to the unconscious werewolf's neck, about to get what he had been waiting for for years. Now the other pack of werewolves would be distraught and weak without their leader, making them easier targets to get to and kill. Finally, the war between the two packs would be over if he could just make the one kill….

Suddenly, he lifted his noise in the air smelling a human scent coming toward them. He had not known they had gone so far into the town to be so close to the humans. He growled softly and took a large whiff of the new human's scent, not wanting to have to deal with any humans seeing him at the moment. Maybe if they were far enough off he could just kill Kouga quickly and get away in time before they saw him….

Abruptly, he froze, recognizing the scent. Kagome.

I can't let her see me like this, Inuyasha thought panicked, not realizing that she would not have recognized him in his wolf form anyway

For fear of her finding him, Inuyasha fled the area, leaving the forgotten werewolf leader behind in his moment of alarm.

Kagome paused in her steps, hearing rustling and something that sounded like growling in the woods in front of her, but the sounds were quickly getting farther and father away, so she dismissed them from her mind. She continued forward, but her steps were more hurried now.

"Oh, no mom," Kagome muttered to herself thinking back to the conversation she had with her mom just before she left the house to walk to school, "I don't need a ride to school, I like walking." She kicked a pebble in front of her, sending it flying into the air until it crashed into a tree. "Just my luck if I get eaten by a bear or something like that…" she grumbled.

Kagome continued to grumble under her breath as she walked briskly, her arms hugging her jacket tightly around her to fight off the chilly fall breeze as her feet crunched on the fallen leaves. She could have been in a nice, warm, heated car right now on her way to school, but, no, she just had towalk, not wanting to make her mom go out of her way….

Kagome stopped short when she saw an animal lying, unmoving in the middle of the woods. Blood covered the animal's pelt as well as the ground all around it, the deep red liquid everywhere in sight. She felt her heart go out to the creature and moved cautiously forward, taking very small steps.

As she got closer, Kagome saw that the animal was a large dog… or could it have been a wolf? It was way to big to be any kind of dog she knew, but it was also bigger than a normal wolf too, not that she ever seen one before, but she'd seen pictures and the animal looked closer to a wolf then a dog. As the possibility went through her mind, she found herself freeze, but her concern for the animal was stronger than her fear of it. After all, the wolf… dog… canine creature…? Whatever it was, wasn't exactly aware of anything at the moment, if it was alive at all. One thing she knew for sure, if it stayed much longer in the condition it was in, if it was not already, it would be dead soon.

Now taking more caution than before, Kagome slowly went to the canine, kneeing down at its side. She did not even flinch as her knees slapped down against the blood soaked grass, only reaching a timid hand out to the canine's side. She prayed that it would not wake up and bite her hand off with a satisfied grin because she had been stupid enough to fall for its act.

However, the large dog was completely still and Kagome's hand touched his side, and to her relief, felt the faint rise and fall of its chest.

At least it isn't dead, she thought, relieved

From what she could tell, it was male—yes, definitely male. There were a few scrapes here and there on his legs, but then again, it was hard to tell how bad he was hurt since the wolf had such thick fur. There was a large gash in his stomach, but all internal organs seemed to still be intact, amazingly enough. The only thing the dog was in danger of was bleeding to death if it was not tended to soon.

Souta came running into the clearing, stopping when he saw her as he panted, exhausted from running after her. He was short, only around eight years old, still in elementary school verse her high school. He had short black hair that matched Kagome's and was always exceptionally enthusiastic, though at the moment, he looked annoyed.

"Kagome!" he whined, his voice breathy, with his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "You could have at least waited…."

His words died off abruptly, as he finally saw what exactly she was kneeling next to on the ground.

His eyes widened and he asked, "Wh-what are you doing?"

"It's hurt," she said simply, as she raised her hand to bring it back to the canine once more.

"Don't touch it," Souta told her as he rushed over, stopping her before she touched it. He then noticed her hand was already soaked with the animal's blood. "Are you insane? Kagome, that's a wolf."

He confirmed her suspicions, but she could not just leave the wolf in the middle of the forest. He would die and Kagome could not let that happen. It would weigh down on her conscience if she did, knowing she could have helped the creature. She could call a vet… but they would cage him and she did not think he deserved to be cut off from that freedom that he had probably known all his life. He was a free, wild animal and did not deserve to be locked up in a small cage like a common house pet. So, what else could she do?

Ignoring his question, she asked, "Souta, do you know that red wagon we have?" He nodded. "Can you go get it for me?"

She needed a way to bring it back to her home and figure out where to go from there. All she needed to do at the moment was to take this one step at a time. There was no way she was strong enough to carry the animal all the way back home, that was for sure. She was a fifteen-year-old girl, not wonder woman.

"But why would you need…?" then understanding, he complained, "Kagome, no! What about school? You'll be late and other wolves could come looking for him and be led right to us, plus it could wake up at any moment and wolves aren't very nice…."

He rambled on but Kagome stopped paying attention, knowing he could go on for a full ten minutes if he really wanted to. It was better just to concentrate on more useful things.

Kagome removed her jacket, ignoring how cold she became, and pressed it against the wolf's stomach to try and keep the pressure on the wound so it would bleed less.

"…and mom will be really angry if she finds out…."

Kagome cut him off there. "Well, she's not going to find out, is she?"

He shifted nervously from one foot to the next, as he leaned over her as he stood to get a good look at the wolf, but still be far enough away for his own comfort.

Kagome gave him a meaningful glare and he responded, sulkily, "no. No, she won't find out."

"Good, now go get that wagon."

"Fine," he told her, then muttered, "but if you get eaten, I'm so telling mom."

Kagome smiled wryly, thinking, If I do get eaten, it wouldn't really matter anymore, would it?

Souta ran back to the house as Kagome turned her attention to the wolf once more. His breathing was irregular, which was not a good sign, but at least he was breathing. Her jacket was almost completely covered in blood in a few minutes, making her one hundred percent sure she would never be wearing that particular jacket again. For once she was glad her mom had plainly refused to buy her that expensive coat she had wanted for the past six months.

He came back fifteen minutes later with a children's red toy wagon in tow. It was only a few inches off the ground and fairly small, the wolf just barely able to fit in it. With the help of Souta, both awkwardly lifted the large, heavy wolf—are wolves suppose to be this large?—and put him in the wagon.

Kagome handed him her blood-soaked jacket. "Keep the pressure on the wound," she instructed.

"Why do I have to do it?" Souta questioned, annoyed, "it's your idea to bring it home. I don't want anything to do with it."

Though he seemed exceedingly curious about the wolf, Souta was not stupid enough to not realize the danger it presented too.

"First of all, you're not strong enough to pull this thing with the wolf—dog inside. Second, I can't tend to it and pull the wagon at the same time—"

"…how about you don't tend to it at all?…"

"And third, you're closer to the ground since you're a shrimp."

He stuck out his tongue at her after her last reason while she crossed her arms, giving him a meaningful glare, then immediately regretting it, since she managed to get blood all over her white shirt from her blood coated hands.

Their staring contested lasted for a total of thirty seconds before Souta got uncomfortable and gave in. She smiled triumphantly while he grumbled about how she so owed him big time. Kagome winced, knowing she'd have to do whatever he said for the time being, or he would squeal on her.

Kagome gave a defeated sigh. What's a family without some blackmail?

Grimly, Kagome pulled the wagon behind her, while Souta tried to help the animal and keep up with the moving wagon at the same time. Every muscle in his body was tense, as though expecting the wolf to wake up from its unaware state. She swore he had jumped five feet in the air when they went over a bump and he thought the animal had moved on its own.

They reached their house and Kagome decided to bring the canine up to her room with some help from Souta, where she could better care for it, while Souta wondered when his sister had gone insane and how come he had never noticed before.

She, herself, was not thrilled at the idea of having the predator in her home, but if she had to look after it through the night, she wanted to be able to do so without being looked on with suspicion from her mom. If they put him in her shed she would have to leave the house repeatedly to check on it, so this was the easiest way.

Then how come she had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach?

That's how she sat an hour later, with the predator on a pile of towels on her floor with her sitting across from it. She did not bother changing out of her clothes, seeing as how she was about to get more blood on them. Kagome had strips of sheets she was going to use as bandages along with some disinfectant and other materials.

She tried not to wince every time she touched the wolf as she began nursing it.

Calm yourself, Kagome, she told herself.

She just had to think of it as a dog. Yeah, that was it. A cute, loveable, really, really, really, big dog. That could wake up at any moment and tear her to itty, bitty pieces with its razor sharp claws and teeth alone. Oh, god.

Okay, so the dog analogy did not work.

Souta walked into her room but Kagome was too engrossed with bandaging the wolf that she did not even notice.

"Kagome, you're gonna be late for school," he told her.

"I'm not going," she replied as though it were an obvious fact, not even glancing at him while she said it. "What about you? Aren't you going to be late?"

"I've missed the extra help I was going in for, but I have to leave now to make it to class."

Still, he didn't move.

"I don't understand why you're even helping it. It's a killer and would attack you in an instant if it saw you even close to it. Maybe it was suppose to die in the woods and that's what's suppose to happen. Maybe it's fate."

"Well then I just have to change that. Since when did you get into all this fate and destiny anyway? You've been talking with Grandpa too much, haven't you?"

She turned to look at him then, giving him a half-smile. Souta, however, was not smiling and not even looking at her, his eyes fixated on the animal on her floor.

"Kagome… what if it wakes up?" he asked, worriedly.

"Well that's easy. I get up and run like hell," she joked.

"So not funny," he informed her, then added, "I don't want to have to come home after school and see the police here and have to identify your body. 'Yes, officer, that's most of her body… I think I saw her left pinky somewhere in the kitchen…'."

Kagome scrunched her nose at the mental image, but answered, trying to make him relax, "look, I just want to help it, then we'll…"

"…we?…" he squeaked.

"Yes, we'll bring it back where we found it while its still unconscious. Then its pack can take care of him from there."

"But doesn't the pack reject a wolf if it has the scent of human on it?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's with birds, not wolves."

Neither said a word, until Souta finally could not stay silent any longer and plus, he had a short attention span as most children did.

"I'm gonna go now, 'kay? I'll get your homework from Inuyasha, I s'pose," he told her.

She turned her attention to her little brother for a second and smiled at him. "Thanks, Souta."

And I'm sure Inuyasha will be thrilled at the idea of having to get my work for me, Kagome added silently.

Inuyasha growled in annoyance. "What do you want, Miroku?"

He sat on the school's bleachers like he always did with Miroku and Kagome during their off periods together, except Kagome had not showed up to school that day. And he was in a bad mood about that a fact. What if Kouga had waken up when he had fled and attacked Kagome? He would have to find and kill Kouga very slowly if he harmed her in anyway…. Hell, he'd kill him slowly anyway.

By now, wolves of both packs knew Kagome as part of his pack, even if she was human and knew nothing of the wolves that surrounded her constantly. Since he had dated her on and off for the past two years and had been friends with her long before that, she had the protection of all the werewolves in his pack and his rivals dared not touch the human girl.

Just like Kagome, everyone besides the wolves themselves were blinded to the predators around them. Well, that's not true. There were a few who knew, but most turned out to either die "unexplainable" deaths or became werewolves themselves, whether by choice or accident. Though some did lead happy, normal lives… just not many of them. That's why he often feared for Kagome's safety. Anyone who was around them for too long always ended up in the line of fire.

"You could at least try to be a little nicer, Inuyasha. After all, I do have some information for you. But maybe now I just won't relay the message…" Miroku stated with a dramatic sigh.

"Miroku…" he said warningly. As leader of the Pack of Longwood and Miroku being one of his wolves, he could order him to tell him the information, but he tried not to because with ordering… it ruined the friendship between the two.

"Okay, okay. There's a new student, just transferred from not too far away."

"So…?"

"Well, she's one of us too, but of Kouga's pack."

Inuyasha growled menacingly at the mention of the other wolf's name. He had been so close to destroying him forever…

"She'll learn the rules. Someone from her pack will let her in."

The school ground was neutral territory, seeing that some members of both packs attended the same school, which, in all, was risky business since they were always at war, though the two different groups stayed as far away from each other as possible. Once and a while a fight would break out in school between the lower wolves, but it was always broken up fast by one of the older wolves or more powerful ones, such as Inuyasha or Kouga.

A small few of the wolves that had taken part of the fight last night were absent from school that day, but none were dead. It was hard to kill a werewolf since the attacker had to deliver a deadly blow that would undoubtedly kill the enemy quickly. They were fast healers, so the wound had to be truly fatal to kill them. Inuyasha had seen the pack leader when he was young get his entire throat ripped out only to recover from it later, but it took a very strong wolf to do that. The stronger the wolf, the easier he—or she—healed.

Inuyasha himself had had a few scrapes and wounds from his and Kouga's fight, but most were entirely healed by now, and the ones that were not were covered easily by clothing.

"It's a shame though, she's pretty damn hot," Miroku said with a defeated sigh as lay back on the bleachers.

Inuyasha sneered. "You think anything with legs is hot. Just wait until tomorrow when you find a new infatuation with a different girl. You're all over every kind of woman."

Miroku tilted his head in thought. "True, but with humans, you always have to be so gentle because they're so fragile and we're naturally strong."

"That's why I was always so afraid to be with Kagome…" Inuyasha admitted with a sigh.

"Anyone with eyes could see that. It's why you always pushed her away and she got angry with you." He paused. "It's nice to get with other female werewolves but…."

"…you've gotten with most of them already."

"Exactly." A devious smile tweaked his lips upward. "Now with the new werewolf girl…"

Inuyasha growled fiercely and turned to give him a deadly glare. "No, she's like them, not us."

Miroku backed down not about to argue with his friend and leader. If he went too far, Inuyasha might end up ordering her away from the new girl. At least now he had a glance to "accidentally" run into her in the hallway, though he doubted he'd be able to do anything more than that.

"Sometimes I miss being human," Miroku told Inuyasha as he watched the clouds drift by.

"Feh," he responded, "I never even got the chance."

Unlike Miroku, Inuyasha had been born a werewolf since his father had been one, though his mother had not. Sometimes the child was born a wolf to mixed parents, sometimes not, but Inuyasha had been. Miroku, however, had known of werewolves, after discovering Inuyasha's secret when they were young children, but it was not until middle school that he had been bitten badly and changed during the next full moon.

"So where is our beautiful human friend at?" Miroku asked.

"Not here," Inuyasha said shortly. When Miroku lifted an eyebrow inquisitively, he continued, "what are you looking at me for? I don't know where she is."

"I was only curious," Miroku replied defensively.

Curiosity, she decided. That was what had driven her to take the stray, dangerous wolf into her home. It was the only explanation. That and also her need to help others, whether human, animal, or whatnot. Though those were not good enough reason for her to bring the wild animal inside her home.

Souta was right.

She was crazy.

The wolf was all bandaged and it was now late in the afternoon. She checked on him every once and awhile, being very carefully when she drew near and was amazed at how rapidly he healed. There had been a small cut on his paw that she swore was there that morning, but it was gone now. Had she only imagined it?

Kagome's mind continued to run random thoughts through her brain until it froze when suddenly the wolf twitched on the floor.

Kouga twitched coming back to awareness. His paw was the first to move, reaching out slightly and he was exceedingly aware of the painfully throb that went through his wounded stomach every ten seconds.

He growled softly and thought, wait until I get my hands on you, Inu-turd. You're going to die a slow death by torture.His bruised ego was what hurt the most, though his stomach was coming in a very close second. Though he wondered why Inuyasha had not killed him. Not that he was complaining, he liked being alive, but why was he? Was Inuyasha going soft or was he a coward? He smirked at the thought, which was a sinisterthing on a wolf's features.

He had not opened his eyes yet, the unconsciousness still holding him firming in place until he fought his way back up to the surface, so that he was alert of his surrounding once more.

But something was wrong.

He was neither in the field in the woods nor in his home with his pack. He… he could not recognize where he was or any of the scent around him.

Kouga went into a panic, suddenly springing to his feet as his eyes flew open. He heard the squeak of a human and immediately snarled, a relax action. His nose found the scent of the girl first, her scent mixed in with her fear, then he turned his head to look at her, but only for a moment, then disregarded her. He looked all throughout the room, darting this way and that, looking for a way to escape. The entire room reeked of her scent also, meaning he most have been in her room. So she thought of him as a pet, did she?

He snarled and took a threatening step forward toward the girls, hackles raised. The girl reached out a timid hand slowly toward him, but he growled and snapped at the offered hand, but she brought it back to her just in time. A few millimeters more….Let me out, bitch, he snarled at her, though, of course, she did not understand him.

He knocked things over, trashing the room, as he rushed around the room, searching, his eyes darting around, looking for a way out. The girl was huddled in the corner absolutely still, probably hoping he did not bite her, or worse, kill her. He took no notice of her, not even looking at her at all except for that first time and even then he had not gotten a good look at her.

He was going crazy, feeling claustrophobic and trapped in the small room. He would not be kept a prisoner, he would not let someone keep him captive like… like some dog.

There were bandages wrapped around his torso, but he could not shake them loose, not unless he changed forms and he was too panicked to even attempt to change back, not to mention he would not change back in front of a human.

But those thoughts were far from his mind as his wolf instincts were taking over. If she would not let him out, he could force the human to let him go… He shook himself, the human side telling him not to, but that was all the say the human half had. He was in wolf form so the animal, the predator in him was dominant and in his panic, even more so.

He spotted an opened window in the room with only a screen keeping him from the outside world. Kouga had been on the bed, tearing up the sheets in all his wildness, but now he gnawed at them, trying to make them let go. When he was finally free from the evil white sheets, he made a jump for it, barely fitting through the small window, taking the screen crashing down with him into the ground.

Kagome watched him go wild with wide eyes then saw him finally leap for the window, taking the screen down with him as he fell. She flung herself to the window, leaning out of it to see below her, her curiosity getting the best of her once again.

The wolf lay unmoving on the ground for a few moments and she felt her breath catch in her throat, before it shakily got on all fours. He made a run for it, toward the freedom of the woods nearby without even a glance back at the place that had held him captive.