Life with Koga
By Alicia Maxwell
For those of you who don't know, I'll start my story off a few years ago and explain how it got like this…
I was eighteen back then, and for a human during the feudal era, I was way past the age where I should have settled down. However, since my life involved a lot of travel between that time and mine, which is the last 1990's, and since I have a demonic soul, I wasn't a good choice for a mortal man's wife. That's when I went to Koga.
I wasn't too keen on the idea for two reasons. First, no matter how I said it to myself, a woman proposing to a man sounded really stupid. Second, in my previous life, I had been Koga's step-cousin. That made us nearly related and that turned me off the idea even more than the stupidity of proposing to a man did. Despite my arguments against the idea, I still went through with it.
I called Koga out to the cliffs one day. He seemed a bit surprised when I told him to come alone but he agreed to meet me there. I had the whole script of what I wanted to say, written out, in my head. Then, Koga came hiking up the cliff, calling to me and I forgot everything….
We sat down on the edge and began to talk about random things- rain, the construction of "Mother's" shrine (for he too called my mother Moro, "mother"), insolence of the lower ranks, how the elimination of the Northern Tribe got absolutely no reaction from the Southern Tribe… then finally, he asked me.
"Alicia, why did you call me up here?"
"Well Koga… I… uh… kinda wanted to… pitch an idea here and see if it flies," I answered.
"How are you going to pitch an idea if an idea can't even be touched? And who are you pitching it to?" he asked dim-wittedly.
"I mean, I'm going to propose an idea to you and see if you agree with it, idiot!"
"Oh…" Koga responded, "So what is it?"
"Well, I was wondering what you thought about joining our tribes together," I stretched back on the grass.
"Joining the Eastern and Western Tribes huh? Going after a huge jewel shard like our northern brothers did?" he asked. "Let me remind you that they, and a quarter of my men, ended up dead because of that incident."
"No. I have no plans of war on my mind," I responded sharply.
"Then what? You guys want to learn to hunt humans for food?" Koga blinked.
"No, we most certainly do not. I'm not placing myself on the main menu just because I'm stuck in this human form," I snapped bitterly. "I just happen to think a union between our tribes would prove worthwhile."
"Who would step down?" Koga asked. "If we're going to unite, our tribes would share one leader. There are two of us."
"I don't expect you to step down," I assured him, "but I don't intend to step down myself."
"We can't be united if our tribes are lead by two different alphas," he insisted.
"As long as the alphas are one alpha female and one alpha male, we can have two leaders of our unified tribe," I replied.
"I don't get it," Koga stated honestly.
"I'm suggesting we unify the tribes and rule together as mates, you dolt!" I shouted.
"Okay, talk about freaky," Koga said. "Didn't you once kick me in the gut and order me to 'drop dead' just because I kissed you?"
"Well… yeah but...," I scratched my nose. "Oh come on Koga! I'm desperate!"
"'Desperate'!? What am I, your last-ditch effort at having a family!?" Koga yelled.
"Actually, that'd be Hakkaku. You're my first effort and if you turn me down I'll go to Ginta and then, like I just said, my last-ditch effort is Hakkaku," I replied.
"I'm your first choice?" Koga blinked. "Forgive me for asking but… why on earth would you make me your first choice!?"
"Do I really have to explain, Steel Fang?" I asked. "You're the only demon I've respected all along, since the day I was born."
"What about your father? You're half goddess, half demon aren't you?"
"I never knew my father. Mother speaks bitterly of him and he left her before I was even born so obviously, I didn't respect him at all."
"So I'm the only one huh?" Koga looked over at me. "Never expected you to say that after wailing on me all the time. I still have the bruises from when you threw me against the wall three months ago."
"Sorry," I laugh nervously. "So what do you think?"
"I think," he smiled, "we should go announce this to the guys."