The tension had drained away by the time the group sat down for breakfast—so much so Kagome almost grinned about nothing but the lightness in the air. Her heart still beat fairly fast and she tried to convince herself she'd wiped the blush off her cheeks long ago. If her companions noticed anything strange, they didn't comment on it.
"What else do you have in here Kagome?" Shippou asked digging through her bag with all of the tiny kits fury.
Kagome jerked to the side to avoid a package of noodles that Shippou swung behind him and shook her head.
"Move and I will show you." Kagome urged him while trying to knock the kitsune away. Shippou only started to dig more frantically.
Kagome turned her attention back to her adult companions who sipped silently. The conversation had swayed away from Naraku, everyone in the den silently agreeing that it was far too early to have to think about, and drifted to the weather for awhile.
Kouga came and went, darting around to check on morning tasks. Each time as he past, Kagome popped her head up to meet his gaze and almost swore her blush came back again. She gave him a small smile, afraid of attracting too much attention, and the wolf prince almost seemed to grin at what Kagome was beginning to think was her discomfort.
"How long do you think this will last for?" Sango placed her bowl down and gestured to the outside of the cave.
Miroku frowned, almost reluctant to answer as he cast an absent glance toward the front of the cave. "There isn't much telling. But perhaps when it lightens, our trip won't be so bad."
Sango's expression downturned. Leaning closer, she lowered her voice just a notch.
"I don't want to wear out our welcome here."
Miroku nodded just as Shippou popped his head up. Cheeks stuffed full enough to form balls on either side of his head, the fox waved his arms.
And said….something.
The three elder companions furrowed their brows until the fox swallowed the mess. He then repeated, "we can't wear out anything if Kagome is with us."
He gave them a toothily grin and Kagome groaned. Turning her head away, she stared at the wall instead.
"It's not just that." Sango tried to keep the weariness out of her voice. "If Inuyasha is trying to find us he might have no luck. Our scents would have vanished from the trail by now and are too covered up by this…wolf den."
Kagome's emotions jumped downwards at the mention but she twisted her head at the sudden gasp.
"Or he may have already found us." Miroku commented.
Kagome's eyes frantically rushed past him to spot out the wet dog demon that stood just at the edge of the cave. The top of his fire-rat cloth was gone and he held the transformed Tetsusaiga over his shoulder.
Kagome's heart skipped a beat.
The bunch of them stood but not before Inuyasha marched forward. He didn't speak at first, his golden iris' shrunken against the whites of his eyes.
"Inuyasha." They almost spoke in unison.
Inuyasha didn't look at her. Barely skimming his eyes over the other three, he announced, "Get your stuff together. We're leaving now."
"Inuyasha," Sango went to protest and hesitated.
He didn't humor them long. Twisting around, he faced the exit. Kagome's heart pulsed when she felt the Shikon jewels. Turning around, she spotted Kouga in the front of the cave.
'Oh this is not happening.' Springing up, she dashed to stand between the two. Inuyasha's stance didn't change, his expression never altering.
Kagome uncertainly looked between them and she finally focused on Inuyasha. Sucking in a breath, she stood up to her full height.
"You can't just show up without a word about anything and rush us out." The words didn't hold the power she'd hoped but she continued. "Especially not in the pouring rain." She popped her head up to stare at him in his eyes. But something wasn't right with them. The shadow in his iris's threatened to chill her to the core.
"I can't do this right now, Kagome. We need to go." His hand snatched out and grabbed her wrist. Without a second to spare, he twisted his weight and threw her over his shoulder. Shifting his sword down, he threw it in his sheath and made for the door before Kagome could even let out a yelp of outrage.
Inuyasha secured his arm around her waist and Kagome pounded at his back in frustration.
"Put me down!" She demanded but her breath was taken out of her when he turned around.
"Get your shit, we're leaving now!"
Sango, Miroku, and Shippou almost uniformly sprung back. With that, Inuyasha turned back around and headed for the front of the cave. Kagome caught a wave of nausea for all the spinning.
Kagome opened her mouth to complain again when Inuyasha's growl silenced her.
"Move you stupid wolf or I'll cut you down."
Kagome jerked in alarm but Inuyasha's grip held firm.
She faced the ground behind Inuyasha's back and could only picture the wolf standing between them in the exit.
Kouga's muscles tightened and his hackles rose as a new surge of adrenaline ripped through his body.
"She wants to be put down." He almost spoke through gritted teeth and his voice dropped to a guttural warning, "Put her down."
~*~
Few things, I'm totally going to move this to the Mature rating just to open my options a bit more. So if you're searching for it via search engine you might have to change the options a bit.
Two, if you guys have never heard the song "Lil' red riding hood" by bowling for soup you must check it out. If you catch the Kouga reference it's awesome
And three, the idea behind the story was to be an Inu/Kag/Koug triangle with Kouga and Kagome ending up together in the end. And I realize I haven't been very consistent with that except for the few times Kagome mentions being sad about Kikyou. In fact I'm not even sure I won't change it but whatever the case, I'll try not to confuse people with the inconsistency from now on.
