The scent of rosemary assaulted his senses, this time closer than before, and startled him awake. It was strong, enticing him to pursue what was not physically there for him to caress. There was a distinct difference in this tantalizing waft of weightless air. The scent was augmented by the hint of damp earth, and yet, still retained its original appeal. In an instant he was sprinting, weaving through the trees, dodging obstacles blindly. Kagome was nearby. Something inside of him refused to believe the reality of what he had just witnessed earlier. He dismissed it as nothing more than a projection of his greatest fear and pressed on in search of the woman he longed for. Wind swept the treetops above, making the shadows cast along the ground distort the patches of moonlight painting the ground.
Kouga's heart raced. He was nearly within reach of her—the only woman he'd ever loved. He broke through the throng of trees that made up the forest and stumbled into a clearing. Moist blades of grass reflected the moon's light, casting away the shadows that huddled in the surrounding forest. The scent was strongest here. His eyes scanned the surrounding area and found the object of his avid pursuit. She stood with her back to him, raven tresses taken by the wind's forceful direction.
A voice that was unlike Kagome's shattered the silence that existed in the clearing. "Who are you?"
"Kagome . . .?" The wind tore her name from his mouth and reached the woman's ears.
"I am not who you seek. Now leave before I destroy you."
Disillusioned, and in desperate need of closure, he took a step forward.
"Do not come near me. I am not the one you seek. Do not force me to kill you needlessly. Leave now if you value your life." The last was said with an edge of bitterness that could not be ignored.
"Who are you?" Kouga ventured closer, caution lost to him. This was not Kagome, he was certain, but yet . . . she smelled so striking similar to her that he could hardly tell the difference.
Kikyo turned to face Kouga, hair clinging to her face before being torn away to dance in the wind sweeping across her back.
"This is your last warning. Leave or I'll have no choice but to shoot you." Her threat was backed by an arrow pointed steadily at his chest.
Brown eyes met blue from only a few feet away, an arrow and the potential for a painful death establishing a barrier between them.
"Who are you?" Kouga's question penetrated the deep silence that sat heavily between them.
"Who I am is none of your concern."
"Are you Kagome? Are you the woman I love?" The question held a plea captive that Kikyo didn't quite understand.
"I am not who you think I am. Now leave!" The force of her words acted as no more of a deterrent than the wind slicing through the blades of grass at their feet. Kouga took a bold step in her direction. Without thinking, she released her arrow, aiming for the ground as a warning.
She drew another arrow from her quiver and poised it against her bow. "One more step and the next arrow is going straight through your heart.
She watched his eyes, watched him think over the possibilities, the consequences, and knew in an instant what he would decide. He was fast though, faster than she expected and he was within arm's reach before she could fire a second arrow. In the blink of an eye she was flat on her back, pinned beneath his weight. She fought against him, frustration lancing through her. He held her fast and peered down at her with confusion peppering his expression.
From this close he could tell from scenting her alone, that though she looked like Kagome, she was not who he had assumed her to be. And not only that, when she finally gave into his strength and met his gaze, he saw a sadness reflected in those dark pools that Kagome's eyes couldn't possibly possess. In those depths he saw pain and knowledge of things no one should experience in this lifetime or the next. This woman beneath him was not Kagome.
Knowing this, he knew he should've rolled off of her and apologized for his rude behavior, but he didn't want to move. Something about the intensity of her dark eyes held him fast above her.
"Who are you?" His breath caressed the cold perfection of her face, warming only the surface of her frigid body.
Her pain liquefied itself before trailing down her face to mingle with the moisture that saturated the stretch of grass beneath her. Kouga brushed the back of his hand against her wet cheek gently and Kikyo turned into the caress, lashes resting against her pale cheekbones.
"Kikyo . . . My name is . . . Kikyo."
A silence built between them; time seemed to freeze so that all that existed in that moment were the two of them.
"Does this mean you will leave me too now that I am no longer the person you seek?" The bitterness, the genuine anguish that tinged her words, seized his heart and wouldn't let go.
He stood and offered her a hand, which she accepted with a firm, cool grip.
"It seems we have something in common. We've both been discarded, forgotten."
"How can you assume to share something in common with me, when you know nothing about me or the pain I have suffered through? I do not even know who you are." Her anger warmed the air around them.
"I am Kouga, leader of the wolf demon tribe. And I believe I understand a little bit of the pain you've suffered through. Kagome, the woman I had mistaken you for, is in love with my rival Inuyasha . . ."
"Inuyasha? How do you know of him?"
Recognition shone within the depths of her eyes. Perhaps they shared more in common than she thought.
"I know him because he stole the woman I loved, tonight, right before my very eyes." His voice reflected a neutrality that bellied the searing stab of pain shooting through his ravaged heart.
"So . . . he chose her . . . over me . . . ?" The sadness had returned, radiating like an invisible, flame-like aura engulfing her flesh.
She turned away, tears forming in her eyes. She knew that a day would come when Inuyasha would move on to her reincarnation. Clinging to a memory of what she had been was no longer satisfactory to him. Her reasons for continuing on this earth had been grossly reduced. While Inuyasha moved on, she was stuck in the body of a memory cast aside and so easily forgotten.
"I see . . ." Her tone was resigned, and trembled with the reality of a pointless existence. "Perhaps there are some similarities to the situations we've found ourselves in, however, the similarities end there."
Kikyo picked up her bow and quiver of arrows. "This is where we part ways."
She was barely two steps away from him when he caught her wrist. He whirled her around to face him and drew her tight against his chest. Her bow and quiver slipped from her grasp, coming to rest silently in the blanket of grass stretched beneath their feet.
"Let me go! Please, let me go!"
She fought him with dwindling resolve to resist his embrace. How long had it been since she'd been held this way? Why was it that in his arms, and not Inuyasha's, that she felt like herself? Her pain and sadness seemed to melt away.
After several minutes of attempting to break free, she relented, arms dropping limply at her sides. Kouga shivered when Kikyo returned his embrace, cool hands splayed against the bare flesh of his upper back. He stroked her hair, taking note of the silky feel of each strand trailing through his fingers. He had no idea what had compelled him to comfort this woman. Perhaps it was the pain reflected in her eyes; it mirrored the hurt he was feeling inside from a wound freshly torn open.
Kouga stepped back enough so that he could view her face without breaking their embrace and locked gazes with her. He cupped her face, damp with silent tears. He brushed away the stray trails of moisture running down her pale cheeks, and captured her lips with his. It was a tentative press of intimacy, uncertain and yet firm in its intentions. He expected her to fight, to recoil and destroy him like she had threatened to do moments prior, and yet, all she could do—all she wanted to do—was cling to the affection Kouga was so willing to share with her. She needed it; she craved it more than her continued existence on this Earth.
Her hunger for what he so graciously gave to her without knowing much more than she knew about him, astounded her, and the desire to fill a vacancy in her heart, long since forgotten radiated from within, and morphed the kiss into a heated, starving beast of passion. And yet underneath the uncontrollable desire boiling beneath her cool skin, was a primitive, almost childish need to be comforted.
Kouga responded in kind to her sudden aggression with some of his own. Breathless gasps for air were no hindrance to the passion that was building between them. Heat ignited wherever they touched. And yet, guilt struck them both, and they parted, wearing matching expressions of confusion.
"This isn't right . . ." Kouga's expression morphed into one of guilt.
"We're both suffering from indirect rejections and I can't help but feel like I'm taking advantage of the fact that you are very much like the woman that broke my heart. A selfish part of me wants to pretend you're her and move on as though I never witnessed such a heartbreaking scene."
Kikyo dreaded this response from him. "I'm sorry I'm not her . . ."
Before she could say more, Kouga reached for her again, drawing her into another fierce embrace. All the words, all the curses she wanted to direct his way, melted away in his arms.
"But . . . The other half of me wants to love you better than anyone ever has. I know you're not her and I've come to terms with that. I want you Kikyo. I want to ease your pain, comfort you, make you happy and . . ."
Kikyo latched her lips onto his this time, silencing him before he could utter more. She'd heard all she needed to hear.
She stepped away and locked gazes with him. "That's all I ever wanted to hear. I've longed for someone to see me exactly the way I am."
She said no more. Words were a wasted effort when she could easily express every syllable she voiced with equal or greater emotion and force.
They were both hurting and this seemed like that most natural way to ease the pain and move on.
A/N: So this is part of the second half of this story. I'm really like this pairing from a psychological romance standpoint, and I enjoy writing about their pain, and helping them work through it. I'm curious to see what you all think, and that will determine whether or not I should make this into a full blown story. Naturally there will be a lemon, and I was going to write it in this chapter, but I feel it's way too soon. I'd like to play around with these two more and perhaps thrown in some more complications.
