I'm actually pretty equal with Miasma again, though I've definitely found that writing is more difficult. I'm sure you've noticed that I've been posting a little slower recently. I don't mean to be, and I'm sorry for that, but writing just isn't coming so easy right now. Writing when you're stressed sucks.

Please be patient with me. I'm hoping the stress with go away soon enough and I'll be back to my usual cheerful, write-y goodness.

That being said, this is the longest chapter so far, but I dont think too much actually happens.

In The Jaws Of The Wolf

Chapter Fourteen

"Hey Ginta, Hakkaku. You two go watch Koga's back for him," a voice called out.

What?

My attention turned away from Akari's sleeping form, so I could peer through the stalagmites. Sure enough, there was Koga, holding onto his hostage human, near the waterfall.

He hadn't been gone nearly long enough for a hunt, especially one he was leading, unless he was really lucky. He should be still chasing his own tail trying to find a deer right now. There was no way he'd gotten back, with or without a successful hunt, without me knowing. If not for being ribbed by anyone for not having caught anything, or the customary mini celebration of finding meat, then just because he hadn't come to see me right away like he said he would, I knew that the situation wasn't right.

Where was the fox kit?

That answer was pretty obvious to me, at least.

The kit had obviously learned quick to be able to pick up the ability to transform that well so young.

Interested in the situation, I edged out of our nest and began towards them.

"What are you talking about?" a young Wolf that Hakkaku was pretty close with... Kenichi? responded. "Ginta and Hakkaku already left for guard duty with Koga an hour ago."

"Hunting, actually," I piped up. "And we all know Koga's skills. Unless he let Hakkaku take the lead, there's no way he'd be back by now." We also all knew Koga's ego. If Koga was on a hunt, he was leading it unless I was there to reign him in. There was no way that he was letting Hakakku, easily the best hunter of the three men that went on the hunt, lead. My guess was they wouldn't be back for another hour at least.

"What'd you say? Then who the hell was that?"

"Anyone seen the fox?" I asked pointedly as I came up level with Joji, who was sat watching the scene with a mild interest. His eyes flickered up to me before returning to the Koga-imposter.

Realisation dawned on the scarred Wolf's face just as a cry of pain sounded. Koga leapt away from the wolf that had bitten his tail, and disappeared in a puff of smoke, to be replaced with the little fox kit. What had the girl called him when she was standing up to Koga? Shippo?

Around me, Wolves picked up arms.

"Not jumping in?" I asked Joji, uninterested in actually jumping in myself, eyes on the scene unfolding.

"I will when you do," was his just as uninterested reply.

Spectators it was, then.

The girl snatched up a spear lying at the mouth of the cave and waved it in a very unpractised threat. Even I could handle a spear better than that. Still, knowing a spear in unpractised hands could make a very dangerous weapon, the Wolves edged around her swings.

"She does have guts." I was genuinely impressed with the girl.

Joji snorted. "If any of them gets their hands on her, they'll rip 'em out."

True enough. Koga's word was law, but if Koga wasn't away, they were good at getting excitable. I still remember the hungry looks I got when I first came to the den. If I so much as breathed wrong in some Wolves directions that day, I'd have been chow.

"And she's gone," Joji commentated, watching the waterfall splash around her exit.

"She's really not going to survive the Wolves outside, is she?" I asked, though the question was incredibly redundant at this point. The chick was just about dead if someone didn't step in and remind the Wolves that Koga had a no-kill order on her.

Joji snorted. "Best go save the day."

"If they eat me instead, you're the one explaining it to Akari," I threatened, meandering towards the waterfall.

The human had trapped herself at the edge of a sheer cliff a surprising distance from the lake, the Wolves enclosing on her, weapons raised. This situation was becoming a mess, and I was more amused about that than I probably should have been.

"Koga's not- What the hell?" I watched the poor kit fly through the air from the cliffside. She'd actually just thrown her friend over the side of the cliff. He wasn't surviving that fall. What a cold-hearted bitch. Or was that some twisted mercy? Kill him quick with a quick impact that would kill him over the drawn-out death of being torn apart as a snack.

That riled the Wolves up even more.

That girl was going to die and Koga was going to throw a fit.

"Hey!" I pushed through bodies, elbowing and wriggling to get to the front of the built-up crowd.

"Conniving wench," a Wolf snarled, stalking forwards just ahead of me. "I'll devour you alive."

Against my better judgement, meaning my own damned survival instincts, I bodily stepped between him and the girl. "I wouldn't." If I was going to get eaten for this girl, I was going to be so fucking pissed. I half wished that I hadn't bothered looking up when he'd called out for Ginta and Hakkaku earlier. Especially when his glare cut through me.

My heartbeat was roaring in my ears, but I kept my expression as controlled as I could. Don't show him I was scared.

He could probably smell it anyway.

"Will I have to eat you first?" he growled.

"I'd like to see you try." A grin pulled at my lips, half challenge, half a nervous tick I wish would just fucking stop.

He liked that challenge, though. He stepped forwards, his snarl morphing into a wicked grin.

The grin didn't stay on his face for long. He barely managed half a step towards me when he fell flat on his face, a massive dead boar on his back.

"Hey!" an annoyed voice called from the cliff above us. Koga stood at the edge of the cliff, glaring down at us. Ginta and Hakkaku flanked him, both looking just as annoyed with the situation. "You know Dan's off-limits!"

He'd arrived just in time to keep me from becoming dinner. Which meant that Hakkaku had definitely led the hunt. I guess I was wrong to assume that Koga was always led by his ego.

The Wolves scrambled to help up the man that had been half-flattened by the fat boar. That was going to make an amazing meal. It was going to feed a good chunk of the den.

Distracted as I was, I didn't notice Koga's descent to our level until he was right in front of me. "What the Hell is wrong with you?" he demanded, scowling down at me. "I can't protect you when you basically feed yourself to them."

My hackles raised quick. "Get lost, Koga. If I hadn't jumped in, they'd already be picking her bones from their teeth." I threw my arm out to gesture to the girl, who was petrified, her hands clutching at the front of her strange clothing. "You're welcome, by the way. Your humans safe."

"But you might not have been if I wasn't here. Akari's still not up and about, and Joji isn't going to save you if it goes to the dogs. You gotta stop being stupid when I'm not around!"

By this point we were toe-to-toe and snarling right in each other's faces.

"It's not your job to rescue me, Koga. I'm plenty capable. How about you find your own mate to protect, yeah?"

He grit his teeth and bared them in a growling snarl that promised he was not done with his yelling. I squared my shoulders, more than happy to continue on, too, if he was that intent of scrapping with me.

Ginta, who had followed the alpha down the cliff, grabbed Koga's arm, drawing his attention and his ire away from me. "Koga, the little guy's flying. He's over there."

Koga and I both followed Ginta's pointed finger.

The little guy. The fox kit.

He could fly?

Maybe she wasn't so cold-hearted after all. She'd given him the chance to escape but ruined her own chances at the same time. That... That was pretty impressive. The girl cared more about getting the kid to safety than herself. That was downright self-sacrificing of her. I wasn't sure I would do the same thing in her place. Especially when the threat was being eaten alive.

"I'm going to make you my woman."

Koga's declaration to the human woman left the entire lot of us in stunned silence for a few seconds.

In those few seconds, everyone found their voices, and their opinions.

Hakkaku groaned "but what about Dan?" so quiet that Koga wouldn't have heard. I did, though, and elbowed him sharply, just managing to turn myself in the process. Damned armour.

"She's meant to end up with Akari," Ginta whispered back to Hakkaku. He earned a glare instead of an elbow, though with his stomach bare, I'd have probably fared better. Why couldn't Ginta have been on Team Koga?

"Hey Koga," another wolf interjected, sparing our little group a glance. "I thought you were going to eat her when you were done with her. Not marry her."

"You don't want her. She's a human," Kenichi added.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" I jumped in, brows drawn down into a frown. What did it matter if she was human?

"Well, you're... Humans are..." Oooh, Kenichi didn't want to fight that fight with me. I could already see him losing all his confidence in his argument. Yeah, too damned right. There was nothing wrong with being human.

Koga turned an insult over his shoulder at them. "This woman can see the sacred jewel, like Dan. The Birds of Paradise aren't the only ones with a shard you know." He threw his arms out in a grand gesture. "With both of them, we'll be able to gather all the sacred jewel shards in the region."

Oh. Now it made sense. If she was like me, then she'd be a lot of use to us.

I turned my gaze back to the girl, eyeing her critically. She didn't look like much. She was probably about my height, and much skinnier than I was. But I supposed I didn't look much, either. Our ability, if they were the same, didn't rely on physical prowess. Still, what was it that made the two of us similar? I couldn't see anything physically that would link either of us.

One of the older Wolves had said that I had spiritual energy, like a shrine maiden or priestess. Could she be one herself?

Koga wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her against his armoured chest. "Your name's Kagome, right? Wolves mate for life, so you're mine now. Got that?"

Oh, he was such an idiot.

The slap that rang out when she pulled herself away from him and lashed out was beautiful. "I don't belong to anyone! Get your hands off me!"

"Oh!" My delight had to be voiced. I hadn't seen anyone physically stand up to Koga, beside Nao at least, since I had punched him.

My noise of delight was echoed with noises of horror from the others.

"That chick just slapped Koga!" Hakkaku howled.

Ginta responded, just as caught between amusement and horror as Hakkaku was. "Honeymoon's over. She's dead now."

I wasn't so sure. Koga seemed to like strong individuals. Joji was mouthy as fuck, but Koga kept him around instead of killing him. Ginta and Hakkaku fired shots at him on the daily, and they were his closest friends. I'd punched him on our first meeting, and ended up the only human up until now that wasn't on the menu. My guess was that slap had just put her amongst the ranks of Koga's favourite people.

I was pretty sure she was safe now.

"I'm not some slave at the auction," the girl continued on, fist clenched in front of her and scowl on her face. "You can't put in a bid and claim me as your property. Besides, I'm not available. I'm already kind of seeing a guy. Sort of."

She didn't look too sure about that fact, though.

"Y-you're taken?" Koga stuttered. "Don't tell me you're with that dog-eared mutt InuTrasha."

Dog-eared mutt? The half-demon that had killed our wolves? He'd stolen her from the half-demon's group? I wasn't sure I had any words for how stupid an idea that was on Koga's part. The half-demon was obviously going to come after a jewel-detecting girl from his group. We already knew that he'd killed wolves before. If he came to us now, we were going to end up with a lot of dead Wolves on our hands.

Koga was such a fucking idiot.

Oblivious to my inner commentary, Kagome carried on. "His name isn't InuTrasha so don't insult him! He's brave, courageous, really good hearted when he's not being a jerk, and he's got a great name so say it right. InuYasha!"

Oh her rant was hilarious. Koga's reaction to it even more so. He looked so confused.

He really wasn't good at dealing with women. I thought he and I just clashed, but it looked like the idiot just knew how to put his foot in his mouth when he was speaking to the opposite sex.

Then to make things so much more entertaining, Koga pouted. "I don't see what you like about him. I don't care." With an air of finality in his words, Koga turned away from the girl and hoisted the boar up over his shoulder. "Next time I see him I'll put a spear through his heart and feed him to my wolves. Then he won't be much competition any more. Just a pile of old bones."

Smug, he began back towards the den. "I'm sure I'll be able to keep my mate plenty safe," he said as he passed by me.

I stared at his back, open-mouthed.

Did... Did he do that because I made that comment?

He was not that petty.

Was he?

Akari had woken in the time that I was out of the den, and was doing just fine now. He was bright as he always was.

"Did I miss anything exciting?" he asked, stretching his arms above his head.

Oh, did he miss something. "Koga's got a mate now."

His brows shot up. "What? Are him and Ginta finally a thing?"

I choked on my laughter, and just couldn't stop. I was crying before I could finally gain my breath back again, Akari patting my back, looking both worried and confused.

"A human," I responded. "He brought her in this morning. She can see jewel shards too. She also slapped him when he told her she was his woman. I am so sorry you missed that." Akari would have got a kick out of seeing that.

He looked pretty distraught at the thought of having missed that too. Next time he'd be more careful on patrol. "I need to meet this chick. I have to see the person that slapped Koga and got away with it."

"Then let's go meet her." She was back in the alcove, looking more annoyed than scared this time around. Though that changed when Akari and I approached her. She eyed the two of us warily.

"You're Kagome right?" I leaned against the edge of the alcove. "I'm sorry Koga's such a gigantic idiot."

It felt right to apologise for Koga's... Koga-ness. The idiot had really messed with Kagome.

"You're the other girl that can see the jewel," Kagome replied. "I didn't think demons could."

"Demon? Dan? She's about as sweet and human as you can get." Akari nuzzled against me, ignoring my elbow driving into his side.

"You're human?" That surprised her. "But the wolves... Were you kidnapped too?"

Akari was loving this conversation. He snickered in my ear, holding me close. "I feel sorry for anyone that kidnaps Dan. She just appeared one night and made herself at home. Haven't been able to get rid of her."

"Like you'd want to." Akari didn't want to get rid of me any more than I wanted to get rid of him. I nuzzled against his cheek with a smile. "I ended up here through some pretty special circumstances. Now this is my home as much as any of the Wolves call it home."

"Only because we're scared that you'll eat us if we get you angry. Don't be fooled, Kagome. She's scarier than any demon when she's in a mood. I'd rather go against all the Birds of Prey at once than Dan."

I didn't know I had such a reputation. "You're just worried that I'll make you sleep outside."

"Too right. It's cold and wet out there."

Kagome had such a bright smile on her face. "You two are so cute together."

Well, I wasn't so sure about cute, but we were happy, and for me that was far more important.

"How long have you been together?" she asked, leaning forwards, hands clutched to her chest again.

We were happy to answer her questions, of which she apparently had dozens and by the end of our conversation, we were all laughing and joking around with each other like old friends.

Kagome was fun.

"All right, everyone up." Koga's voice cut through the air at the mouth of the cave. "Grab a weapon. We're ending these Birds once and for all. Dan and Kagome are going to lead the way."

Well shit.

That's a wrap!

I realised something about myself while writing this. After so many times watching these episodes through the years, I could actually write out some parts of the dialogue in these chapters without referencing the episode. I did, of course, but quite often, I'd write in the dialogue I remembered, then rewatch the scene and fix up the mistakes I made. I hardly made any mistakes. Maybe I need to not watch InuYasha so much.

Do you spy a Heathers reference? I spy a Heathers reference. See if you can spot it. It's not the most in your face reference there is, but it's there!

I hope the Kagome's-my-woman moment lived up to everyone's expectations. It clearly didn't go down exactly like it did in the show, even though it was pretty much word-for-word, but it just fit with the way Koga and Dan are. They're just so frustrating together. I swear they argue more than talk nowadays, but it's so much fun like that. They argue passionately.

I just love them.