Another day, another ITJOTW chapter!

Dan's settling into the tribe pretty well, so of course, we need some tension. Enjoy!

In The Jaw Of The Wolf

Chapter Seven

"What are you doing sitting around?" Koga questioned as he strode up to the alcove I'd woken up in. Akari must have carried me back inside.

I looked up at him, then back down to the pelt in my lap, that I was, just for a change, fixing up. "Fishing," was my single word answer. It was what my life was looking like it was amounting to right now. Sewing, sewing and more sewing. I'd still barely made it through the pile that had built up.

"Well quit it. We got hunting to do. Grab your bow."

I arched a brow at him. "You want me to go hunting?" The actual wolves had seen me hunt. They knew I was pretty good. I was pretty sure it was Nao that had bigged my hunting up in whatever wolfy way he could. Koga himself had been very up and down with his opinion of my hunting ability. He'd still yet to see it himself. Maybe this was a test. "I don't have any hakama."

Really, I'd barely packed any of my essentials. Most of what I owned was still down in Ando's hut. The only thing I had made sure to bring me was my sewing supplies. I couldn't stand the thought of going anywhere without my kimono. Anything else had been left. Practical hunting clothes had certainly been left.

Koga scratched his head as he thought of a solution. "Hey, Akari!"

The redhead popped up from behind a rock. "Yeah?"

"Did Ao leave behind a pelt? She was about Dan's size, right?"

Who was Ao? And more importantly, a pelt? I supposed it made sense to outfit me in a pelt. They looked sturdy enough and they left a wide range of movement.

"Sure. It'll be in the back."

Koga waved Akari off with a thanks. "All right, follow me." Koga turned on his heel and strode through the cave with purpose, his tail and ponytail flowing behind him in the same swishy motion.

I watched him go for a moment before rolling my eyes. "Wait up." I tossed aside the pelt I was working on trying to salvage - honestly that one was starting to look like a losing battle - and hurried after him.

Behind a frankly massive stalagmite was an entrance to a smaller cave. Koga ducked into it and gestured to me to follow, which I did.

This smaller cave was filled with all manner of weaponry and armour, from swords to bows to spears. I took my time admiring them while Koga veered off to the left side of the cave.

"Hey come here," he called after a couple minutes. He held up a handful of furs in one hand and a breastplate in the other. "This should do you."

"What am I supposed to wear under the armour?" I questioned. There was no cloth in that pile.

"Uh, nothing?" He replied as if it was obvious.

"I am not wearing bare metal on my skin. That's stupid."

He looked down at himself pointedly. He was wearing armour against bare skin. So were all the wolf tribe men, actually. It seemed to just be a thing for them.

I wasn't like them, though. "Yeah well, you're stupid. I'm not."

His lip twitched upwards like he was about to snarl, but in the end he chose not to. "Why don't you just cut up that kimono of yours and stop hounding me about it, huh?"

I held up my hands in defeat. "All right, I'll figure it out. Thank you."

He grumbled, and pursed his lips in something that looked dangerously like a pout. "Don't keep me waiting. I have mouths to feed."

It took some fanangling and time to figure out how to actually tie the pelt right, but with a bit of knifeplay, and a silent promise to hem the new way shorter length of my kimono when we got back, I was dressed pretty okay.

The pelt was showed more of my leg than I think I had ever shown before, and the leg warmers were just uncomfortable, so I'd left them behind. The arm warmers were pretty nice, though, and the breastplate was tight enough that it didn't rattle. Perhaps a little too tight around the chest. Whichever women had owned this before I did, she'd had a much smaller chest than me. It would work, though. It wasn't so uncomfortable that I was struggling.

"All right," I called as I left the cave, carrying the scraps of my cut up kimono. I could make something useful out of that. "I'm ready."

"About time! What were you doing in-" Koga stopped dead, eyes running over me. "You look like a Wolf."

I tugged at the pelt around my waist, hoping to cover a little bit more of my thigh. "Wasn't that the point?"

"It's a good look on you. Anyway, come on. We got mouths to feed and you're making us late."

"Late to what? The annual gathering of prey food?" I snorted, turning tail and heading to the alcove to drop that fabric in the basket and pick up my bow and arrows. Koga growled about taking my time. "I got it. I'm coming!"

Did he not have any patience in him?

The answer to that one was no.

For all his strong leadership (that people had claimed but I'd yet to actually see in action) the man couldn't be patient if his life depended on it. Especially when hunting.

He was all sniffing the air and running around looking for prey.

Nao and I shared an all-suffering look. Ginta was beside me snickering at my growing ire.

"Koga?" I called out.

"Yeah?"

"Will you give it a rest?" I demanded, stopping him sort as he made to dash off again. "If you keep running around, we'll never find anything. Get here and shut up."

Now he really was pouting. "You shut up!"

"Really mature."

Ginta, who had been trying his damndest to keep quiet, totally gave up, howling with laughter.

Koga and I turned on him in unison. "What are you laughing at?!"

We looked towards each other again in shock, then started laughing ourselves.

It took a minute for me to regain myself. "Just... stay here and let me and Nao do our thing for a little while, okay?" Nao and I had gotten pretty good at working together when he'd follow the village hunting party. I trusted Nao to help me hunt more than I trusted Koga's ability.

"Fine," Koga conceded.

Finally.

"You should have seen her! I couldn't even hear that first one and she shot it right between the eyes."

Koga, prickled by Ginta's story, grumbled as he hung up one of the two boar I'd managed to take down on the hunt. "I coulda got it just fine."

Akari, caught between laughing at Koga's pettiness, and listening to Ginta's tale, crossed his arms over his chest with a grin. "Sounds like a pretty successful trip. I'll have to come along next time. See your skills for myself."

"I might mistake you for a boar and shoot you instead," I responded in a deadpan.

All three men laughed.

A few Wolves were hovering around us, watching the gathering.

"Looks like a pretty successful hunt," one said.

"That human must be pretty good luck."

A couple more compliments came flying my way, then-

"I'm not touching a damned thing she caught."

Hackles raised at that. Koga and Akari both turned with snarls. Even Ginta was scowling as he squared his shoulders next to me. "Joji," he growled under his breath. The one that gave Koga a hard time. Akari's younger brother. Great.

"If you don't want her food, then you can starve," Koga said simply, the snarl barely kept from his voice.

"What if I eat her?" I could see the wolf that was talking now. Strangely, he looked like an older Akari with black hair. "She is just a human after all. What else is she good for? What can she bring to this tribe, huh?" he called out to the rest of the pack.

A few of them piped up with a few comments and agreements. She's just a human. Why would she be here?

"Food, you moron," Akari bit back. "Those boar didn't bring themselves in. How about clothes? Some of you are already wearing things she's fixed."

Joji snarled back at her brother. "It's not enough."

Akari jerked forwards, but I grabbed at his pelt before he could. This wasn't going to go away if Akari and Koga and Ginta kept just protecting me. If I wanted any standing in this tribe, I was going to have to do something about it.

"How about this?" Internally, I seriously hoped that what I was doing was right as I reached for the little pouch I had tied to the sash of my kimono. I plucked out the shard, shuddering as I did, and tossed it to Joji. He scrambled to catch it in mid-air, and looked down at it in total shock. I had no idea what it was, or what it did, but from what Ginta had said, it was powerful. Maybe it would give me the boost in this tribe I needed. "Is that enough for your tribe? You already have two, right? In Koga's legs. Does a third one make me being here any better? Does that redeem my human nature, Joji? Or are you just going to find a thousand things wrong with me being here?"

"That's a jewel shard."

"Where did she get that?"

A firm grip on my shoulder span me around. "You said I have them in my legs. How can you tell?!" Koga demanded, intense eyes boring into mine.

"I- I can see them. Can't you?" The glow wasn't bright, but I could definitely see it. I'd assumed everyone else could too. Couldn't they?

"You can see them?" His shock melted away and a grin took its place. "Well, Joji? Does that redeem her?"

The demon blinked a couple times and held the shard out towards Koga. "Y-yeah."

"You hear that?" Koga boomed, his voice carrying around the entire cave. "This woman is one of us, human or not, and if any of you have a problem with that, you know where the exit is."

A broad arm wrapped around me as excited wooping began around the tribe. A weird sort of celebration. "You are one hell of a girl, Dan. A new surprise around every corner!"

"Uh yeah." I was confused. What had happened?

Whatever it was, it was something good. I wasn't receiving any glares since I'd thrown that shard at Joji. He hadn't seemed to have recovered yet. He was still just standing there like I had shown him something he just couldn't understand.

What the hell was going on?

Info

Stalagmite - I always learned that stalagmites might one day reach the ceiling of a cave, while stalactites hang on tight to the ceiling. One way to remember which one is which.

Review Corner

Buzzk97 - I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I hope this chapter lives up to the rest so far. I actually based Nao off one of my cats. She's a real demon cat. She'll hiss and growl at nothing and attack you just because she walks close to you, but she'll very rarely attack me. She still hisses and growls at me, but I can pick her up and cuddle her without being mauled to death. Most other people that meet her are scared to even get close to her. Nao is definitely a fun character to write, even if he doesn't actually have any dialogue that Dan can understand. He'll be sticking around well into the future.

And that's a wrap! This ones a pretty short, but important chapter. It also means that the actual plot is coming our way soon. Probably in the next chapter or two. I think ITJOTW is going to win the catching up with the plot race with Miasma. Speaking of Miasma, I'll be posting over there before my next chapter here, so go check it out if you're interested in Naraku. That fics working out to be a lot darker than this one, and it's a hoot to write.

Anyhow, see you next time!