It's a Super Snow Moon, so I had to, lol wrote pretty much all of this today and finished a couple minutes ago. I'm tired... it's been such a long day and people were assholes and didn't tip me as good as they should have, lol. (my percentages were awful today;;;; ) but enough about me complaining about this double, hope y'all enjoy!

Kouga closed the door and let out a huff. He felt bad for the girl, and he hoped he would be able to do more for her. For now, they needed to get started on a meal for her, and make a comfortable environment for her. He made his way further into the house, making a beeline for the kitchen. He quickly started pulling down pots and pans, trying to be as quiet as possible. However, it seemed as if the small amount of noise he was making alerted at least one other wolf in the house.

"How's she doing, boss?" Kouga looked up and saw a worried looking Ginta peeking around the corner of the kitchen. Kouga waved him in, and the beta gingerly stepped onto the tile, still looking and acting meek.

"Not good.. but we expected that. How's he doing?" Kouga asked, not hiding the venom that invaded his tone when he mentioned the werewolf they had captive in the basement.

Ginta stiffened, his instincts telling him to turn tail and hide at his alpha's tone, but he stayed put, knowing it wasn't directed at him. "He's uh... not... happy..." He really didn't know how else to put it.

"Good." Kouga glared down at the food he was prepping. Ginta was nervous of the fact his alpha was wielding a very sharp knife.

"Uh.. is there anything you'd um.. need help with?" he offered.

A smile started to work its way on his face. Ginta immediately started to relax as his mood started to shift into a more pleasant one. Kouga set about instructing Ginta what to do. It was small tasks, mostly chopping things, grating ginger and garlic, and adding sesame oil and rice vinegar to the pan.

Kouga took over the cooking, which was likely for the best; he was the best cook out of the entire pack. Ginta watched him carefully, hoping to pick up some of Kouga's skill.

It didn't take long for him to finish and Ginta watched as he plated the dish. He set everything on a tray, picked it up, and then started to walk out of the kitchen. Ginta was quick to move out of the way. Kouga had to hold back a chuckle; it always made him laugh at how eager the pack was to please him at times.

He made his way to the room Kagome was in and lightly knocked on the door. He waited for her to give him the go, and when she did, he opened the door and stepped in. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but not as bad as they had been before. There was a small pile of tissues next to her and Kouga gave her a soft smile, hoping to give her any sense of ease. He closed the door behind him with his foot and approached her slowly and cautiously. "Hey, I made you some food." he said, keeping his voice soft.

"Thanks..." she replied, giving him a weak smile. Her voice was still hoarse, and it broke his heart. He soon reached the side of her bed and placed the tray on the bedside table next to her.

As he moved to pull up a chair, she looked over at what he had made for her. It was quite the spread, and she felt like she could cry. It was baked salmon with some veggies and a bowl of brown rice on the side. It looked delicious and she couldn't wait to dig in.

Once Kouga was all settled, he moved the tray closer and held it out so she could grab it. She reached for it and pulled it onto her lap. She picked up the chopsticks and started to dig in. She was right, it was delicious. The skin on the salmon was crispy, and the filet itself was cooked to perfection. The seasoning was great, and the spread of vegetables and brown rice was nice as well. After her first bite, she had to resist the urge to devour the entire plate in one go. She did her best to take her time, savor it, but she was still eating a little faster than usual.

She took a piece of salmon and set it on top of her brown rice. She then scooped it up, being careful not to drop any rice, and ate it. She could feel tears well in her eyes. "How'd you make the brown rice?" she asked once she finished what she had in her mouth.

Kouga was grinning from ear to ear. "I cooked it in some chicken stock I had left over."

"Homemade or store bought?"

"Homemade."

"Tell me your secret?" she asked, returning his grin with one of her own and batting her eyelashes at him. Kouga simply laughed and shook his head.

"You'd have to pry it out of me."

"I'm sure I could find a way." she teased. Once she realized what she was doing, she had to fight back her sudden embarrassment. Was she flirting? With a guy she barely knew? She shoved another bite of food into her mouth. Yeah, he was super cute, and charming, and a phenomenal cook, but was that really all it took?

Her eyes shifted as she glanced up at him, and at seeing the large, excited grin he wore, she realized that yes, yes that was all it really took. Who knew the way to her heart would be through food? She couldn't kid herself, she always knew that. Still...

The mix of food and the minor flirting with Kouga helped to cheer her up and temporarily forget her problems. She continued to ask him questions about the food between mouthfuls. His voice was deep, husky, soothing.. it sent chills down her spine. She could feel something stirring in her, and she willed it to not. She couldn't handle a crush right now. Sure, maybe it had already developed, but she could ignore it and everything would be fine and dandy.

At least she hoped it would...

It wasn't long before she finished her food and Kouga was standing up, taking her tray and getting ready to leave. She felt this pull on her heart. She needed him to stay. Just a little longer... "So.. umm..." He stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at her, quirking an eyebrow. Gods he was cute... "Ummm... how long do you think it'll take for me to heal? Can I.. get up and walk around at all?"

Kouga pondered this for a moment, his eyes shifting up towards the ceiling as if the answer was written up there. She had to resist the urge to look up herself, though it wasn't that hard to fight, seeing as Kouga was standing in front of her. And she was attracted to him. Very, very attracted to him.

The blush was much harder to fight.

"Well, even with the full moon waning, it shouldn't take that long to heal."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, cutting off Kouga's train of thought. Right.. she was new...

"Y'see... wolves tend to get stronger with the full moon. That means more strength, heightened senses, and improved healing abilities." She nodded along, trying to wrap her head around this. He smiled, holding back a chuckle. He appreciated her effort. "As the moon starts to wane, so does all the improvements it brought you as it was waxing. At the new moon, we're at our weakest, though we're still stronger than most humans."

"I... think I understand." She pulled her lower lip between her teeth as she tried to process the information. Kouga grinned, finding it cute how her eyebrows furrowed together and her canines dug into the skin of her lip. His smile faltered for a second; better to not think about that too much.

"You don't have to try and learn it all right away. There's a lot to go over and teach you.. It's probably gonna take a couple weeks."

Her eyes widened at that and she looked up at him in shock. "A couple weeks? Is that how long I'm going to have to be here and heal? What.. what about my friends and family? They don't know where I went.. well, except Sango. What.. wait.. where's my phone?" The sudden barrage of questions and panic sent Kouga's head spinning. It took him a couple seconds to process the information before he was able to answer her properly.

"Well.. it shouldn't take you that long to heal. You don't have to stay the entire few weeks it'll take to teach you, but I do recommend that you do, as it would make things easier for all of us. As for your phone.. well..." He looked away sheepishly and she narrowed her eyes at him.

Under her intense gaze, he sighed and walked back towards her. He set the tray back down on the bedside table, then reached for the drawer. He opened it, and then pulled her phone out. Her mouth fell open as she took in its state. The screen was completely shattered; several chunks of glass were missing from the spiderwebbed screen. She could feel tears welling in her eyes. "Wha..."

"It must've fallen out of your pocket when you tripped... We found it close to where you had fallen, and we think it might've landed against a rock or something." He carefully passed the phone off to her and she took it from his hands gingerly. She looked it over the best she could, trying not to cut herself on the cracked screen. She pressed the home button but nothing happened.

"It's dead..." she breathed, unable to believe it.

"Sorry... If you need to contact someone you can use mine.." he offered, hoping to soothe the hurt that was starting to take over her.

Kagome sniffled. "Yeah.. if.. if you wouldn't mind."

Kouga nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and unlocking it before handing it to her. Kagome set her broken phone down and took his. He gave her a soft smile before picking the tray back up and leaving the room. A part of Kagome wished he hadn't left, but the other was grateful for the privacy he was so ready to provide her. She really appreciated it.

Now alone, she looked down at the phone in her hand. The background was a picture of a waterfall, somewhat amateurly taken. She was certain he had been the one to take it. A weak smile curled her lips as she pressed the icon for making calls. It took her a second to recall Sango's number, but once she did, she typed it in immediately and pressed the call button. It was a couple rings before she picked up.

"Hello?"

"Sango.."

"Kagome! Oh my god, are you okay? What happened last night?" she asked, worry clear in her voice.

Tears streamed down her face once more. Would she ever stop crying today? "Oh Sango, so much happened, you wouldn't believe it..."

Sango began cooing and shushing Kagome, doing her best to console her over the phone. "Where are you? Can I come get you or something?" she asked after a while.

"I umm... I don't know-"

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!" Sango screeched. Kagome had to pull the phone away from her ear, wincing at the intensity of Sango's yell. Her best friend then proceeded to go into hysterics, asking how badly she must be hurt to not know where she is, or worse, if she had been kidnapped and, oh gods what had they done to her?

"SANGO!" Kagome's yell was able to stop Sango and the line was completely dead, save for Sango's breathing on the other end. "I'm safe, I promise. I just tripped in the woods and got injured pretty bad. I passed out, but this guy Kouga found me and he's helping me. He's very sweet and nice and charm-" Kagome pressed her lips into a tight line. She prayed, prayed, that Sango hadn't caught her slip of the tongue.

"Kagome..." Oh gods... "Were you just about to say charming?" Kagome could practically see the look on Sango's face, she could hear the smirk in her tone of voice. She was going to hear about it now...

-S/L-

Kouga sighed as he set the dishes in the sink. He'd come to wash them later.. for now, he had a more important matter to attend to. While Kagome was making her phone calls, he was going to go down into the basement and interrogate the wolf they captured. He could feel his blood begin to boil just thinking of the mutt downstairs. He couldn't stomach thinking of the bastard as a fellow wolf; he was more like a mangy dog than a wolf.

The alpha made his way to the door that led to the basement and soon began his descent. As soon as he had opened the door he could hear the bastard screaming and cussing. Kouga rolled his eyes. This was going to be fun... Kouga cracked his neck and knuckles as he went down the small flight of stairs. It was only a couple seconds before he touched the floor of the basement and came face to face with the captured mutt.

As soon as their eyes locked, the mutt's protests and curses increased in both number and volume. "Let me out of this fucking cage, you goddamn bastard! What the fuck did I even do to get into this shithole of a room?!" he screamed, rattling the door of the cage he was trapped in.

"Shut up, you know why you're here."

"Uh, no I don't, idiot. Otherwise I wouldn't be fuckin' askin'!"

"Don't play dumb with me, you mangy mutt!" Kouga strode closer, pointing an accusing finger at him and pinning the dog down with a glare that would've made him drop dead on the spot if looks could kill. "You didn't take the necessary precautions that you're supposed to do, and you turned an innocent girl!"

The mutt's eyebrows furrowed together, and Kouga could see the gears turning in his head. Suddenly, his golden eyes widened as it all came back to him. "Kagome..."

This was news to Kouga. "So you know her, then?"

"Yeah... I.. oh fuck..."

Somehow this made things even worse in Kouga's mind. The fact that this asshole knew who he turned made things so much worse. How could he do this to someone who was, he assumed, a friend?

"Why didn't you tether yourself? You know you're supposed to tie yourself down before the full moon takes effect on you." he snapped.

"Th-the woods have been safe for years! No one goes in there anymore. How was I supposed to know she was followin' me around?" he fired back.

"It doesn't matter if they've been safe or not, you still need to abide by the rules! And you honestly expect me to believe you couldn't tell she was around with your heightened sense?"

The mutt snarled. "What does it matter to a lycan like you, anyway?"

"It matters because us lycans always have to clean up after you! We're the only reason the humans don't know about us. If you just followed the proper procedures, then we wouldn't be in this mess, and there'd be one less cursed one in the world!" Kouga slammed his hands against the bars of the cage, but the stupid mutt didn't back down. He continued to challenge him. Cheeky fuck... "If you don't have a safe spot in your home, then you go out into the wilderness and tie yourself down in such a way that you won't be able to escape and-"

"I know the fucking rules, alright?!"

"Clearly you don't!" Kouga knew it was unfair to use his alpha voice, but from what he could tell, this was going to be the only way to get through to the bastard. It worked, as he began to cower slightly.

Kouga straightened himself out, puffing out his chest and glaring at the mutt in front of him. "Give me your name."

The mutt did his best to resist Kouga's power, screwing his eyes shut and looking away. He was still submitting, but he was doing some things of his own power, like refusing to answer. Kouga snarled at the insolence.

"Give. Me. Your. Name."

"Inuyasha..." he growled out; it sounded pained. Good.

"You're going to have to go to the council, Inuyasha, you know this, right?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. He had forgotten the penalties of breaking the rules and turning innocent bystanders. However, something struck him and he had to force back his smirk. "But what about Kagome? Aren't I supposed to train her?" he asked.

Kouga could hear the gloating in his voice and it only added fuel to his fire. The wolf smirked at the mutt and it pleased him to see that Inuyasha's confidence and gloating reduced immensely at seeing the look on his face. "I'll be taking care of her training. You've proven yourself to be irresponsible, and you'll be punished for it."

He watched as Inuyasha took this information in and let it process. Once it looked like it had all clicked in the mutt's mind, Kouga was turning on his heel and leaving the room. A snarl sounded behind him.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going? We're not through here! Hey! Hey, you fuck! I'm talking to you! Don't ignore me!" But that's exactly what Kouga did as Inuyasha threw obscenities his way. It didn't matter to him; the mutt could say whatever he wanted, but the end result would still be the same. He was going to pay dearly for what he had done, and Kouga couldn't wait.