I've finally caught up! It took me a while, and a lot of procrastinating, but I finally caught up with Miasma.

And you know what that means? I'm going to spend a shit tonne of time writing Miasma again and leave ITJOTW in the dust. I kid. I'm going to make a real effort now to keep them as equal as possible. Maybe I'll go one or two chapters over while I'm trying to write out canon plot for each the stories. It'll be easier to keep with the flow of a story if I'm writing a canon episode over a couple of chapters, as I'm doing right now in ITJOTW, and I'd rather keep that flow than stop partway through to write for something else and feel a little disjointed when I try to come back to it. But I won't let it go as far as it did last time. I do wanna keep these pretty equal.

For now, though, let's get on with the chapter!

In The Jaws Of The Wolf

Chapter Twelve

Koga's gentle breathing shifted my body up and down slowly.

At some point during the crying fit I had tired myself out with, the two of us had ended up on the forest floor, Koga leaned back against the thick trunk of a tree, and I laid against his chest.

My tears had since dried up, and the two of us laid together in silence as we listened to the calming sounds of the forest around us.

I didn't want to be the first to break the silence and admit what had really just happened. I'd just broken down and cried over Koga for people that I'd blustered that I didn't give a shit about. I could only imagine how hypocritical he thought I was being right now. I didn't want to think about it any more than I'd wanted to think about it when I first started crying.

"So," Koga murmured.

"Don't." Please just don't. He hadn't listened to me the first time, and I was exhausted but thankful for that. Now, though, talking about it was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do. "I'm okay. I'm fine."

I pulled away from the Wolf and stood up, wiping the damp tear tracks off my cheeks. Now I had cried, I could pull myself back together much easier. The release of all that emotion had me feeling a lot lighter, even if I hadn't actually voiced what had done this to me.

Koga hopped up to his feet as well and followed me as I started on the way back towards the den.

I just wanted to get home to Akari.

"Are you just going to pretend it didn't happen?"

"Yes!" I whirled on Koga, far more irate over the fact that he just wouldn't let it go than I probably should be. "As far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen. I don't want to talk or think about it again! Okay?"

Koga had cringed back when I started shouting, hands whipping up between us as if to defend himself from the onslaught.

So dramatic.

"I was only concerned for you! You're such a-" Whatever descriptor he planned to use was cut short when howling filled the air.

Both of us turned our attention sharply back to the village.

"They're being attacked," Koga growled, already starting back towards the village. "Stay here," he threw back over his shoulder. "I'll be back for you when I'm done."

He was gone in a swirl of dust before I could even open my mouth to respond to him.

Great.

Koga was so on edge it was palpable when he returned. He rubbed at his arms and stalked past me, frowning hard. He bent to grab the chest.

"What happened?" I hoisted up my basket and followed after him, almost tripping over one of the whining wolves that was also following Koga. There weren't as many wolves now, and they were all sticking closer than I'd ever seen them before. Even Nao was sticking close to the others, at the back of the group, nudging the slower wolves to speed them up. "Koga?"

"There was this half-demon, a dog. He killed the wolves." Koga's sentences were short and sharp, disturbed. "He had this sword. It felt dangerous. I didn't stick around to see what it could do. Hurry up. I'm getting you home."

I sped up obediently. "Getting me home? What's going on?" I didn't like how jumpy Koga was. He wasn't all that jumpy a person. He was pretty controlled from all I had seen of him, if a little too cocky at times. Something had really spooked him, and that really didn't bode well. Whatever had spooked Koga was clearly still around, and I didn't want to find out what it was if it decided to stick around.

"Between that half breed and the Birds, it's not safe for you outside the den right now." He'd clearly decided that we were going at a much too slow pace for his taste because a moment later he dropped the chest in my basket and hoisted me up. I yelped in his ear, clinging to the chest and basket to keep them from falling. "Catch up when you can."

And then he was moving.

He was really moving.

I'd seen Koga run at this speed before, of course. He loved to show off what the jewel shards could do, but I'd never moved at this speed before.

I felt like I'd left my stomach behind in the forest.

Not wanting to open my mouth for fear of what would happen if I did (I just cried on him, I really didn't need to puke on him too) the run back to the den was silent. Though with the wind whipping at my ears, I wasn't sure I'd be able to hear if Koga said anything anyway.

When Koga let me down onto my own two feet again, we were at the pass, just around the corner from the lush greenery and the waterfall that was home.

I felt light-headed, a little dizzy and very disorientated, and reached out to Koga for support. The basket and chest tumbled to the ground, but I was much more concerned about staying upright myself right now.

"Hey, you alright?" Koga asked, holding me up dutifully as I tried to find my feet. "Someone get Akari."

I blinked a few times, trying to come back to myself. "I'm fine. Just... how do you do that?" I had no idea how he managed to do that so often. The speed made me feel so sick.

"Heh. Guess I just have a stronger stomach than you."

"Dan? Koga?" Akari's familiar voice reached us a moment before his familiar warm hands found my shoulders, taking up the mantle of holding me up as I got over the sickness of being sped around by Koga. "What happened? Did you find him?"

I leaned against my Wolf's armoured chest. His hand came up, idly stroking at my hair.

"Yeah, we found him all right. He couldn't get past Dan and me." His drawl was beyond cocky.

"And you got the shard back."

"Uh-huh." Koga slapped at his forearm. "Nice and safe."

I'd noticed that the shard was now in his forearm when he'd come back from whatever confrontation there was in the village. It hadn't been high on my list of things to talk about in that moment, though. My guess was he'd done it when he was running back to the village.

"Get Dan inside. She's still looking sick. I'll be back later." And with that order, our leader was off again, bolting back towards the pass at his sickening pace.

"I'm worried about him." I shifted around on Akari's chest so I could look up at him. He was laying back, staring up at the cave ceiling. Most of his loose wild hair had been dragged over to his other shoulder, so my view of him was pretty unobscured.

He hummed quietly, his fingers tapping a gentle rhythm against my ribs.

"He's not back yet." I turned my attention to the thin view I had of the rest of the den through the stalagmites that encircled us. "What if that half-demon that killed the wolves found him?"

After Koga had left, I'd sat down and told the other Wolves what had happened while we were out, excepting my crying fit of course. We'd mourned together for the lost wolves.

Akari pulled me closer and tilted his head so he could kiss my forehead. "He'll be fine. He spends a lot of nights out. He's out more than we see him. You know that."

I did, but I still worried. Koga wasn't as infallible as he seemed to think he was, and with another wolf-hunting demon in the area, I was on edge.

"C'mon. Let's head outside." Akari nudged me up off his shoulder, then hopped to his feet and dragged me up.

Apparently manhandling is a Wolf thing, because it took only a few stumbled steps for Akari to scoop me up into his arms and carry me through the dark den, snickering when I struggled in his grip. "Akari!"

He didn't let me down, or say anything until we were halfway to the pass. Then his genius idea was to drop me into the freezing pool.

I yelped and scrambled through the water to get back to the bank. "Akari! You're dead."

He danced out of the way of my grasping hands as I hoisted myself out of the pool, cackling away to himself.

He didn't get far with his escape before I did manage to grab him. Now, one thing that I will never find fair is that demons tended to have a lot more strength than humans. So much so, that even as I pulled and yanked at the demon's arm and clothing, there was no way I was going to get him the few feet I needed to get him in the water.

I gave up with a scowl and instead slugged his arm. "You're such an ass."

He didn't even pretend my punch hurt, just chuckled quietly and wrapped his arms around me. "I'm your ass, though." A few kisses to my cheeks and nose lessened my scowl.

Now, Akari being Akari, he couldn't just leave it at that. One grin was all I got before he jumped into the pool, dragging me along again, cackling like the beast he was.

I clung to him tightly, eyes squeezed shut, until I could feel the air against my face again.

"How are you still alive?" I demanded, thumping at his chest as he waded us through the water back towards the bank. How had Akarki not been murdered for being a little shit to anyone that spent more than five minutes in his presence? If I had the strength, I would have probably murdered him a long time ago. The ass deserved it.

"People like me," he replied with a grin, pressing me against the bank with his body. His lips teased against mine gently.

Those sweet kisses soon heated up when his hands slid up my thighs, that wrapped around his waist at the smallest prompt. His lips trailed down my throat and his hands skimmed up to the sash that held my kimono closed. My hands found his pelt, dragging it upwards.

Ginta and I sat together on a higher bank of dirt above the pool, soaking in the late morning sun.

"I knew it. You and Akari were meant to be," Ginta crowed, grinning down at me so wide his dimples lit up his face full-force.

I smiled, hand lifting to touch the mark on my neck that I knew he had clocked pretty much as soon as he had come to join me on the ledge. "Yeah," I agreed with a little smile. I liked that, the idea that we were meant to be. The two of us together felt... Amazing. It was practically perfect.

"When did you do it, though? I thought you two were in the cave all night."

"Well, not all night." I stretched out my toes. "I was worried about Koga. He's still not back. So Akari threw me in the lake." Ginta snickered. "Yeah, I thought you'd find that funny. So, he threw me in the lake and, well, things just went from there."

We shared a bright smile and settled down in the warm grass again.

"I'm glad you settled in the den so well, Dan."

"Me too, Ginta." This place was home. It had the sort of cosiness and feeling that I'd always dreamed of having back at the village but never quite had. I had actual friends here. A family. Love. I was beyond thankful that I had punched Koga in the face that first time we'd met. Without that, I wouldn't be here today, feeling like I belonged.

"Hey, it's Koga!" Hakkaku called from his perch just above us. "Koga's come back!"

Finally. I was going to rip him a new one for making me worry about him not coming home.

"Hey, Koga!" Ginta greeted.

"Hey guys. I'm back."

I pushed myself up so I could see him down below, and furrowed my brows. He had a girl dangling from his shoulder.

What was he up to now?

Reviews!

buzzk97 - Ginger is just such a good colour. The brighter the better! Thank you, I really do appreciate it. It's just a bit of shit going on with me and my now ex. I'll survive it. I've got Koga and Naraku to see me through it, after all. She will, actually. I don't think she'll interact with Rin too much in the future, but she will meet her again at least once, in the events of episode 99. I'm not too sure how that'll go, but we'll find out when we get there! That's still quite a way off, though. This chapter and the next are focussed on episode 36, and the next few chapters after that will likely be focussed on 37-40. I'm expecting that'll run us four or five chapters minimum, then we'll be into some original plot again.

I'm sure it wasn't such a well-known thing back then, but our Dan has some serious motion sickness. Poor girl. I really don't envy her. I get motion sickness bad myself. I've only been in a car like three times since March, and each time I've felt (sorry InuYasha) dog sick for it. Poor Dan would be a total mess in that situation. It sucks she's going to end up with the speedster. Girls gonna have to deal with speed quite a lot in the future. It's going to be torture for her.

Also, Dakari is such a beautiful ship and I will fight anyone that doesn't think so.

Also also: Ginta dimples.