Creatures of the Moon
Chapter Seven
He ran faster and faster in the dark, not stopping even for a second to change forms. He evaded low hanging branches and broken limbs of the trees on the ground as well, knowing that if he ran into any of these things they would slow him down and then they would surely catch him. Though they seemed to be about to capture him anyway.
His fear running through his body, he pushed himself just a little bit faster, a whimper rising in his throat. Knowing he must have stunk with fear, he didn't care, oh God, he didn't care just as long as he got out alive….
Movement to the left of him… dark eyes glinting in the moonlight to the right…. He ran so fast that the trees seemed blurs to him, but they followed not too far behind. His shoes made soft crunching noises when they crushed the fallen leaves, quieter than any human, but still noise and wolves had extremely acute hearing.
He wanted to howl but he was too close to town… too far away from his comrades… and surely they would spring into an attack the second he made a sound…
He could hear them around him, at least three behind and two on either side of him… but wait, hadn't there been one more?
The last wolf jumped in his path a few feet away, the she-wolf's teeth barred as she took a threatening step forward. He stopped and hastily turned around, but there was another wolf blocking his way and every way he turned, there was a wolf near. They had trapped him.
He tried to swallow the lump in his throat as goosebumps appeared on his arms and the hairs at the back of his neck prickled. It was six against one, him being a kid no less, hardly a fair fight, but nevertheless he put on a face of determination. If he was going down, he'd at least go down with a bang.
The banging on Kagome's door refused to stop, only growing louder as more time passed. It would pause for a second, as though the person outside were listening, then began again a few seconds later when the listening didn't seem to satisfy them.
Kagome yawned and flipped on the stairway light as she dragged herself down them, holding onto the railing for good measure. She glanced at a clock as she passed one, seeing it was only nine. Why was she so tried? Oh, yeah, from her last night stay-out-late-fest with Kouga. She hadn't gotten back too late—just before midnight—but her mother's lecture had taken up a lot of her sleeping time.
Her mother was still at work and her brother remained sleeping in his room, (though why he was already out by nine was beyond her. Weren't little kids suppose to stay up late?) which left her to be the one answering the door.
Feeling cross because of her lack of sleep, she pulled the door open abruptly, ready to snap at whoever had decide to come banging at her door.
The first thing she saw was Miroku standing in her doorway. "Miroku what—" she began irritably, but stopped.
Miroku was holding a small body in his hands.
The boy was covered in blood, his own presumably, as well as dirt and his clothes were torn pretty badly. He looked unconscious… or worse…. Most of his hair was coated with either dirt or the thick red liquid, but she noticed the familiar orange strands.
Oh God, it was Shippo.
Kagome's face became very, very pale. "Oh my God, what happened?" Kagome asked, her voice a whisper. She was frozen there at the door for a moment staring at them both with wide eyes.
"No time to explain right now," Miroku said and walked into her home.
Kagome immediately snapped out of it and began rushing around, grabbing items here and there. She took a few old sheets and covered one of the couches in her living room with them and instructed Miroku to put him down on it. Miroku did so without an argument or another word. Kagome began cleaning him up; the boy was so covered in blood that she couldn't tell where the wounds were and where the blood was coming from.
Miroku watched from the side looking anxious though exhausted. Kagome spared a glance at him for a second as she continued to treat Shippo. Miroku's shirt was covered in blood, but it wasn't his own, at least, she didn't think so.
"There are a few of my dad's old shirts in the top left drawer of the dresser in my mom's room," Kagome told him absentmindedly, not even looking at him as she said it.
"Your father died years ago," he said, leaving it his sentence open instead of asking the question himself.
"Yeah, but my mom couldn't bring herself to get rid of everything that was his. You can take one of the shirts, yours is pretty much done for."
Miroku nodded even though she wasn't looking at him and took off his shirt, dumping it in the bag with the bloodied sheets Kagome had used to clean up Shippo, then quietly walked out of the room. He came back awhile later, buttoning up a blue shirt as he came into the room, though deep in thought.
Any doubts about why the two packs fought were gone now as he looked at the wounded werewolf. This… the death and the wounded… all the mind tricks and unnecessary violence at random times… that's why they kept fighting. Because every time peace was almost reached someone would do something to piss the other pack off. The fact that the two leaders hated each other helped it along in addition to that.
Kagome turned to Miroku when he came in, just finished up bandaging Shippo. "How did this happened?"
"He was… attacked," Miroku said, slightly hesitant.
She shook her head, not because she didn't believe him, but because she didn't like the sound of it, or how much her brother's friend was hurt. "Attacked by what?" she inquired, "he has bite marks and scratches all over him! Not to mention I'm pretty sure his right arm is broken, fractured at least." Miroku noted the splint on his right arm as she gently touched one of the smaller scratches on his arm, one that hardly broke the skin so hadn't needed immediate bandaging.
"I don't know, I only found him that way," Miroku answered a bit irritated, not at her, but at himself. Why couldn't he have arrived earlier? But his words weren't entirely true. He knew Kouga's wolves had done it and the cowards ran just before he got there. It was only suppose to be a warning he supposed since they didn't kill him right away, which they could have. They only ran when Miroku drew near and they could have attacked him, but didn't.
Kagome shook her head once more, more forcefully this time. "He's so badly hurt…" She began reaching for the phone. "I should call—" the hospital would have been her next words if what Miroku had done next hadn't caused her to gasp instead of speak words.
Miroku seemed to know what she was about to say because he grabbed her wrist painfully tight. "You can't do that," he said sharply.
If Shippo were brought to the hospital they would run blood tests and other tests as well, leading to many awkward and unanswerable questions because of the fact that Shippo was a werewolf. Seeing how the people at the hospital were painfully unaware of their existence (like most of the humans in the world), they would keep whatever 'new' specimen they could get there hands on and Shippo would be stuck there. Not to mention they'd risk exposure if they did figure it out or a newspaper decided to print a story on the strange patient.
"He won't last the night like this," Kagome told him softly, calmly though it was the opposite of what she felt inside. She was so panicked and worried about Shippo with so many questions running through her mind.
"Kagome, you can't," Miroku told her firmly.
"I don't want a dead child on my conscience when I could've done something to prevent it!" she argued.
He met her eyes. "You just have to trust me." Her eyes seemed conflicted. "Do you trust me?" Miroku asked, a bit offended.
They two stared at each other for a long time, neither moving. It was as though they were arguing, yet no words were spoken. Their eyes said enough.
Yes, she did trust him, she had to, he was one of her oldest friends. But on something as big as this… could she afford to trust his judgment?
Kagome felt the blood on her hand begin to cool and a few drops of it slid down her hand and touched Miroku's around her wrist, distracting her. Damn it, she had been in such a hurry she hadn't remembered to where gloves. Not good, definitely not good, especially when dealing with blood.
Kagome gave in first, sighing in defeat. "I have to go wash my hands."
She stood up and Miroku let her go, but stopped just when she reached the doorway, looking back at her friend warily. She trusted him but… why wouldn't he let her call? But something else was bothering her.
"Why did you bring him here?" Kagome inquired, "of all places, why here?"
"I didn't know where else to bring him," he responded while thinking, I can't find Inuyasha anywhere.
There was one healer in every pack, and when one healer dies, another in the pack would obtain the power to heal, replacing the old one. When the healer in their pack died four years prior, Shippo was picked next, when he was only four. Therefore Miroku had no one to bring him to since he was their healer and Shippo couldn't use his power to heal himself when he was unconscious. Inuyasha was no where to be found, but Kagome was close by and the next person on his list anyway since she knew how to take care of the wounded. Besides the pack, which was mostly a bunch of teens who wouldn't know how to bandage anything properly, Kagome was the most trustworthy. Plus, he had wanted to get somewhere safe close in case they had decided to come back and finish him off. Miroku wouldn't be able to take all of them.
Kagome nodded slightly before going into the kitchen and walked to the sink. She knocked the faucet on with her arm, letting the hot water wash over her hands and rinse the blood away. The water turned pink as she watched it mix with the blood and go down the drain and she kept staring at it, trying to put her mind on other things besides the boy lying in the other room.
Her hands became clean, but she couldn't stop staring, couldn't tear her eyes away from that one spot. It was one of those moments, when you couldn't help but stare off into space and couldn't seem to take your eyes away from whatever it is your looking at… but eventually, you have to.
Arms snaked around her waist and she felt light kisses on the back of her neck. She nearly jumped out of her skin, it startled her that much. She hadn't heard anyone walk in. Yet at the same time she felt like closing her eyes and melting into the person's embrace behind her…
Finally able to look away, she turned around in the person's arms since they wouldn't let her go. She came face to face with a grinning Kouga. Her heart that had been pounding since he startled her had begun to slow down, until it suddenly sped up again when she looked at him, his face only a few inches from her own.
"You scared me," she told him truthfully, "What're you doing here, anyway?"
"I came to see you, do I need another reason?" he asked playfully.
"I'm kind of busy…" she said, not sure how much she should say. The less people that knew about this, the better.
"Then I won't stay long." He brought his hand up to stroke her cheek before resting it on her waist, which made her blush and squirm uncomfortably. He moved back slightly, looking her up and down. "Nice pajamas."
She looked down at her silver spaghetti strap top and blue bottoms with silver crescent moons on them. She gave him a lopsided smile. "I wasn't planning on having visitors," she said dryly. Noticing how his hands suddenly were resting on her hips and remembering his actions just before, she asked suddenly, "Kouga, you do know we're just friends, right?"
But he didn't seem to hear her words.
Visitors? Kouga sniffed the air of her house, smelling a few unusual things. The scent of blood was clear… the blood of a werewolf. Two werewolves.
He had suddenly let go of Kagome and was out of the kitchen before Kagome knew what was happening. She hastily followed after a few bewildered moments. She went into the living room only to find Miroku and Kouga having a stand off, literally both standing, both tense and ready to attack the other any second.
Miroku's hands were in fists and he stood in front of Shippo protectively. He wouldn't let Kouga finish what he had started with his wolves. He wanted nothing more than to attack and kill Kouga, but he couldn't do that with Kagome around. He wasn't even sure he could do it without Kagome around, he wasn't strong enough to beat him.
"What are you doing here?" Miroku asked with an edge to it.
"Me? What about you?" Kouga retorted.
Miroku's arms shook with tension, just wanting to attack Kouga so badly. "Don't even start, you—"
They continued to argue, cursing freely though choosing other words cautiously, until Kagome stepped between them, cutting off their view of one another. She put a hand to each of their chests and pushed them forcefully apart and down, effectively making them sit down in two chairs across from each other.
"If you don't stop acting like five-year-olds, both of you are getting out," Kagome told them sternly.
They both stopped arguing but continued to give each other death glares, the tension still clear in every muscle of their body. Meanwhile, Kagome moved back to kneeling by Shippo's side.
Kouga nodded toward Shippo. "What happened to him?"
Miroku's grip tightened on the chair until his nails were digging into the wood. "You know what happened," he said with irritation through gritted teeth.
Kouga was offended by his anger, but his eyes held a bit of perplexity and Miroku felt a small flare of doubt within him. The enemy's leader seemed so clueless…. No, he must be playing dumb, Miroku concluded, at least, dumber than he is already.
The tension so thick in the air it could have been cut with a knife, Kagome was about to say something to make the air more calm, when suddenly the phone began screeching, making her jump. Wanting to escape the uncomfortable air of the room, Kagome sprang to her feet and went to the phone in the kitchen as opposed to the one in the room.
"Hello?" she asked when she had finally grabbed the phone and stopped its annoying ringing.
"Kagome?" she heard the voice through the phone ask.
"Inuyasha," she said back with mixed feelings.
She heard his exasperated sigh. "You're still mad at me for snapping at… that girl?" he asked, not remembering her name and almost saying 'that wolf'.
"Noo," she responded dryly. She began moving around the room as she talked, unable to stand still.
"Can the sarcasm, I'm sorry, alright?"
"You don't sound very sorry," she retorted.
"What, do you want me to get down on my hands and knees and beg for forgiveness?" He started to sound pissed off.
"It'd be a start," she told him.
"Kagome…"
She stopped walking abruptly and let out a sigh. "Look, I got to go, I'm a little busy. I'll see you tomorrow." Kagome hung up before he could respond.
She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding before turning toward the door. Now she'd have to go back into that tense room with a wounded, possibly dying, child. Oh, well.
Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and stepped bravely in. Yay for her.
Both wolves followed Kagome's movements as she rushed out of the room to answer the phone. True, they could have listened to the conversation with their good hearing, but they were more occupied with arguing amongst themselves. Besides, conversations where you could only hear one party always came out wrong.
Miroku turned dark blue eyes to look at Kouga's lighter ones as soon as Kagome was gone.
"It was one of your wolves that did this," Miroku growled at Kouga. He only took his eyes off the other wolf for a second to glance at Shippo.
"They wouldn't act without my command and I didn't tell them to do this!" Kouga said sharply.
"And who do you think did this? I smelt the wolves and the bites don't lie."
Kouga looked to the pup. His blood overpowered any scent he could get of his attackers, beside they had probably been careful only to bite and make sure not to stay near him too long or brush against him so that their scent wouldn't stay with him."It could've been your own wolves," Kouga argued, switching to human speech, those his voice had a more animal sound then human.
"We're not like you. We'd never do this to our own," Miroku practically yelled at him.
Kouga didn't like the implied remark. "And what the hell makes you think we would?"
Both of them had begun to relax in Kagome's presence before, but once she was gone their muscles were strained again, ready to jump at the other at any moment. Kouga's eyes started to change to those of a wolf until they heard the door open and Kagome walked forward. Kouga's blue eyes changed abruptly to those of a human once more and the two wolves glanced away from each other to look at Kagome.
Kagome was suddenly very nervous as both their eyes were on her. She had this sudden feel of anxiety, like a deer caught in the headlights or a rabbit knowing its being hunted…. Oh, yes, definitely the latter. However, she pushed the feeling down and continued walking forward.
"Who was that?" Miroku inquired.
"Inuyasha," Kagome replied offhandedly.
Kouga looked angered at just his name and more so that she had even talked with him. Miroku looked even more annoyed. "How come you didn't give me the phone?" It came out a bit meaner then Miroku had intended.
Kouga jumped to her defense, but Kagome quieted him with a look. "you never told me you wanted to speak with him, or that you were looking for him for that matter!" she replied, his voice just annoyed as his face looked. She pointed to Shippo. "Now help me move him upstairs."
"Why?" he asked, sullen by her words. She was right though. Damn women and their need to be right.
"I might be willing to not bring him to a hospital against my better judgement because it seems so important to you, but if my mom comes home and finds him like this, then we'll have no choice," she informed him.
He sighed and gave in, doing what she asked. Miroku took hold of Shippo's upper body while Kouga held his legs and began trudging up the stairs, slowly and carefully. Kouga had not wanted to even touch the other wolf, but Kagome had given him such pleading eyes, asking him to help, that he couldn't resist her. What was it about her that made him do things that he would never do for anyone else?
They walked upstairs and put Shippo down on another sheet Kagome had laid out on the floor of her bedroom while Kagome went to fetch some disinfectant and band-aids from the bathroom.
"Need help?" the voice asked behind her.
Kagome jumped and dropped the cotton balls she had just grabbed. She spun around to look at Kouga, her hand over her pounding heart. It was the third time she had jumped tonight, the second time because of him. How was he so silent?
"Alright, that's it, I'm getting you a collar with a little bell on it. That way you can't sneak up on me," she informed him.
He smirked and she threw the cotton balls and band-aids at him, which he caught easily, while she carried the bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Once they reached the room she began working on cleaning the rest of Shippo's smaller wounds.
She frowned as she touched a part of his arm. "I could have sworn there was a small cut here early…" Kagome began, but trailed off. Miroku was suddenly nervous.
Damn it, he hadn't thought of everything when he brought him here. Miroku had been too panicked about getting him treated and over-looked the possibility of Kagome noticing the rapid healing. Now how was he going to get him out of here before she saw too much? "Must be your imagination," he said uneasily. Kouga snorted and Miroku glared at him. "What are you even still doing here? This doesn't concern you," Miroku told him.
"Miroku," Kagome said warningly, while wondering why all her friends seemed to have attitudes lately. Both wolves abruptly turned their heads toward the door as though they heard something. "What is it?" she asked curiously. She didn't hear a thing and they didn't reply.
She shook her head and went back to her work, but a minute or two later, she heard it. Her mother had just come home. Kagome's eyes widened. "Shoot, I'm grounded and not suppose to have people over." If it was possible, her eyes widened even further. "And all those bloody sheets downstairs..."
In a second she had rushed out the door to go hide the evidence and divert her mother so she wouldn't come upstairs. Miroku watched her go, smiling slightly and shaking his head.
"Hey… wolf!" Kouga said, not knowing his name.
"Miroku," he growled at him.
"I don't care, just look!" he snapped back urgently.
Miroku turned, irritated, and was about to say something, but stopped when he saw Shippo. The young werewolf was twitching on the floor, the most movement he'd done all evening, probably the only movement. He shuddered once, twice, then suddenly, he was changing.
His hair grew out longer as did all the hair on his body, becoming thicker and changing to a darker color, a reddish-brown. Bones and muscles moved and slid around, though the change was much smoother and less painful than Kouga's kind would ever be, which made Kouga watch him with distaste. Sharp long teeth replaced human ones and his ears moved to the top of his head, turning into wolf ones. Finally, instead a boy, a wolf, only half-grown since he was still a pup, lay on Kagome's floor.
Kouga cursed at the wolf's instinctive change. The boy was hardly even conscious now, but his body knew he'd heal faster in wolf form, so it changed.
"We can't let Kagome see him this way. I don't know how'd she react…" Miroku said. If she saw… if she found out… Inuyasha would have his head. It was his fault for bringing him here.
Kouga made a quick decision. "Just get him out of here, go back to your den."
Miroku raised an eyebrow. "You'd let me just leave with him? And not finish what you started?" The last part was said with bitter. Miroku was only glad that Kouga didn't know that Shippo was their healer. If he did… he might change his mind and kill him then and there, regardless of what Kagome would know or think. It would give them an advantage in their battles since the next healer did not receive their powers right away, let alone they didn't know who the next one would be. So while none of them could heal their wounds, Kouga was attack at full force.
"I didn't do this and you know it," the enemy leader responded.
"How could I know it? And you just happen to be in the area after he's injured? It might not have been you directly but your wolves—"
Kouga used his speed and jumped forward, snapping at Miroku and surprising him. Miroku just managed to avoid the attack but stumbled back, his back hitting forcefully into Kagome's desk. Miroku slid to the floor and before he could recover, Kouga had a suddenly clawed hand around his neck. His hand was between that of a human and wolf as it squeezed Miroku's windpipe.
Miroku was about to punch Kouga, but the other wolf threw him from him and into the desk once again before he could. "You wolves are pathetic, hardly worthy of being called wolves. Go with him before I change my mind and kill you both here," Kouga snarled.
Miroku wanted to rub his sore throat, but that would have been seen as a sign of weakness and he would show the enemy no weakness. "Fine, but how could I leave with him without Kagome seeing him?" Miroku inquired as he got to his feet. Kouga nodded his head toward the window. "You have got to be kidding me." It was a small window and in his human form it'd be a tight squeeze to get through… if he could at all.
Kouga shrugged. "I've done it before and when I was injured." Before Miroku could ask why he had been in Kagome's room, he continued looking at the wolf in the room, not much more than a pup, "take him. I don't want her to find out."
Miroku watched him carefully and not just because he viewed him as a threat. "If things continue how they are… she'll eventually find out about all of us," he concluded his voice void of emotion as though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Kouga didn't answer only thought. I know… and that's what I'm afraid of. What if Kagome reacted like she did?
Miroku brought him back to reality. He had already opened the window and gathered Shippo wrapped in the sheet in his arms. "This isn't over."
Kouga only nodded slightly while Miroku went to the window. He looked back at Kouga only once before jumping out of it. Once his feet hit the ground, he started running off into the night. Kouga watched until they disappeared into the woods, then shut the window.
The door opened noisily a few minutes later and Kouga turned to look at Kagome. "That wasn't too easy. You guys have to leave now while she's in the shower—" She suddenly noticed the two missing people. "Where'd they go?"
"…left when you were distracting your mom," he said after a moment's thought. He was pretty damn proud of his quick thinking.
"They what? I didn't even see them slip past us…. but what about Shippo…?" she trailed off.
"He won't die tonight. He'll get better," Kouga told her and he said it with so much confidence that she could do nothing but believe and trust him. That was new to her. Since when did she actually trust him?
Shaking her head to clear her mind, she said, "come on, I need you to get out of here quick before you get me more grounded." Kagome reached forward and took hold of his hand, pulling him out the door and downstairs, as though she wasn't sure he'd follow otherwise. He'd probably just lounge on her bed if left to his own devices, never leaving. But eventually she'd have to sleep in her bed and if he was still there... Ah, bad thoughts, very bad thoughts, she scolded herself as her face heated up.
She quickened her pace and they reached the front door. Kagome ushered him out quickly, but he stood in the doorway, making her unable to shut the door. Well, unless she wanted to hit him with the door, which wasn't below her to do in the right circumstances, like if an annoying salesman came to the door. However, now wasn't one of those times.
"Kagome…" He seemed about to say something more, but she was suddenly nervous about what he would say if she let him talk so she interrupted him.
"Thank you for helping, it means a lot," Kagome told him honestly. On a sudden whim, she leaned in closer to give him a kiss on the cheek to show her gratitude, but he moved at the last second to claim her lips instead. Her eyes widened in surprise as his lips brushed against hers hungrily. Then she closed them, responding to his kiss lightly.
Waves of desire rolled off her, mixing into her scent so that he could smell the aroma. His warm hand was cupped around the back of her neck, underneath her hair while the other was wrapped around her waist possessively, bringing her abruptly closer, so much so it made her squeak. The squeak, however, made him devour her mouth faster, so much longing thrown into one kiss.
Kouga released her suddenly when he heard her mom shuffling around upstairs. He growled softly in annoyance but decided it wasn't a good idea to get her into more trouble, though he wanted to continue. The second he let go of her, he smirked at her and turned before running into the woods surrounding her house.
Kagome closed the door in a slight trance and leaned heavily against it, while one of her hands went to touch his kiss-swollen lips. She might have told him they were only friends and her brain found that logical, her heart, however, didn't entirely agree.