Koga and his group came to a halt immediately as a sudden scream pierced through the air. He gave a wary look to his men and darted off in search of the sharp cry. The fellow members of the hunting party followed closely behind, prepared for anything. True, they all loved a good fight, but the sound had not come from a wounded animal being attacked by some foreign clan; when they pushed past a few more branches the figure on the ground was finally clear to them. It was no animal, just as they had feared. It was a woman, face down upon the ground.

Koga rushed to the demon's side on the ground and a few of his companions followed suit. They began to observe her, carefully. It appeared as though she was unconscious, but that was not their concern for the moment. Koga rub the hem of her furs between his fingers to get a good feel and then nodded to Kane, the man across from him.

"She is one of us, milord?" he questioned.

Koga nodded and took hold of her chin, gently turning her head to one side to get a look at her face. His eyes went wide for a moment, a very brief moment, before he got to his feet and turned back towards camp, "Bring her to the clan healer. Make sure to scour the area here for any sign of what attacked her. I want a full questioning once she is well enough to speak, then report back to me." He gave his orders, and ran off back towards home.

He sat atop his usual boulder, not five paces from a warm fire. Only a few hours before they had found the girl in the forest, and now she was being treated for whatever wounds they could find. That is, if they weren't already fatal. He slumped his head down into his hands and sighed, rubbing at the back of his eyes to release some of his tension. Kikyo silently slid up behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders, placing a gentle kiss on his neck. A smile formed on his face, replacing the tired grimace that had been stuck upon his mouth since he returned early from the hunt. His arms slid around behind him to lock her small frame in place against his back.

"What troubles you, my lord?" she whispered to him softly.

He released his grip on her and turned around in one quick movement, locking her up in his arms this time for a tight hug, "Nothing your touch cannot heal." he said, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Milord?" called a husky voce from behind.

Koga sighed and loosened his grip upon his mate, cocking his head around to his chief warrior, "Yes, Kane, what is it?" he grumbled.

"She is awake now, sire. Do you wish to sit in on the interrogation?"

"Yes, I suppose so. I'll be there in a moment, if you'll excuse me." he said to his friend with a slight nod of the head, watching as Kane gave a rigid bow before heading off to the healer's chambers. Koga turned back to Kikyo and smiled, caressing the side of her face gently, "I won't be gone for very long. I'll see you at dinner, love."

She nodded to him with a faint smile to hide her slight disappointment. Though he was lord of these people, he was always up and about, acting as one of them. He was, in fact, a great leader and acted as though he were no different from any one of them. "It could be hard at times," she thought, "to be betrothed to such a noble lord of demons."

He slid his hand through her hair and gently guided her head closer to him as they both leaned in for a much needed kiss, warming her cold body. He kissed her softly as she slid her arms around him to hold him close, wishing she never had to let go. Never before had she found such happiness, nor had she been treated like such an importance to anyone, not even when she practiced as a priestess and healer for the humans. Most of them felt as though she were dirty, knowing of some of her past with InuYasha; they believed him to be a half-breed even filthier than the priestess who consorted with him. She was shown respect only by those who pitied her or needed her medicinal skills for the time being. Only once she was part of the clan, part of something she had previously detested, did she truly find where she belonged.

Kikyo released her hold on Koga and smiled at him brightly, "Go then, my lord, I will be waiting for you here."

And at that he headed off to the healer's den, dreading whatever excuse poured from the wounded's mouth, "Of all of my people, why was it her who must play victim?" he asked himself. The last thing he wanted was to be in that room, with that girl, listening to one of her sob stories.

"Lord Koga!" cried a teary voice as he entered into the healer's chambers.

With a slight grimace, he cleared his throat and fained a concerned look. Kohana sat up slowly on her straw mattress, showing obvious signs of injury as she grunted in pain. Immediately Kane rushed to her and assisted in helping her sit up. A faint blush came to her unusually wan cheeks when the blanket covering her slipped down onto her lap. Koga raised a brow as he observed the bandages wrapped around her entire torso, stopping just beneath her collarbones.

"So she truly has been wounded…" Koga pondered, directing his gaze to the ground as Kane placed the hem of her blanket back into her hands. With a sigh, he took a seat opposite the mattress and looked back at her, wondering how she could muster up such a joyous smile if she were in fact wounded so badly.

Kane cleared his throat and spoke up first, "The healer has just retired for the evening, as dinner will be served soon. I was briefed on the case, however." he stated, as if asking permission to continue. Koga nodded to his friend and kept silent, waiting for him to go on. "Kohana was impaled through the stomach by an arrow. She also suffers from random gashes across the abdomen and across her chest, as if by knife. The healer will need to cleanse the wounds a few more times for treatment, and Kohana will be given some herbs for pain and infection. She believes that we were lucky to find Kohana so soon after infliction. A serious infection could have set in before anyone realized she was missing; if it had been too long, she could have died from loss of blood."

"I don't remember much of what happened." Kohana explained, "You see, I felt a surge of pain pierce my flesh from behind – that must have been the arrow they speak of – I remember falling -- I must have hit my head after the gashes, because once the pain increased and spread further, I screamed, but I remember nothing else. I don't recall seeing anything or anyone – there must have been a person there, where else could that arrow have come from?" she questioned, pointing to a small table at the center of the circular den. A slender arrow sat in the middle, stained in a crimson that could only be Kohana's blood.

Koga squinted, he knew that arrow. It did not belong to anyone from the clan originally. It was, no doubt, human-made. "No…" he thought, "It could not be hers, she would not harm one of us, one of her own now. Someone must have found her old belongings or…or something."

Koga stood and left the room as fast as he could without breaking into a run. He wanted to get out of there, away from her, as soon as possible. Her thoughts could cloud his mind in an instant, poisoning his true emotions and instincts. Kohana knew him all too well, she knew how to manipulate his every move; but he would not let her try again, he would not let her get close enough to even think about turning him from his mate. Not again.

A/N: Wow, that one didn't take as long as I thought it might! XD But it's there, and I'm quite pleased with the turnout. Hope you all like it! Actually, I loathe cliffhangers. But they make the end of a chapter better with some juicy tidbit of information that makes you want to turn the page and begin the next chapter. Plus, I love leaving others in suspense! I must be evil, non? XD R&R!

--Sagittarian's Bow