Disclaimer - I do not own any of the Inuyasha characters, even though I wish I did.
"speech" 'thought' flashback/dream 'other thought'
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Chapter 2: Will You Stay?
Suddenly screams started to come from outside and Kouga shot up and ran out of the room. Kagome reacted as well and bolted for the door to discern the cause of the pain filled screams. When they arrived at the source they found that a few stray youkai had wandered into the den.
The cries came from the youkai themselves. Kouga's pack was fending them off nicely it seemed except for one that just wouldn't fall. Kouga rushed to aid his comrades, yet even his presence didn't seem to help much.
Suddenly a bright purple light flew through the air and struck the rouge youkai, disintegrating it. All heads turned to the direction in which it had come from only to see one lone 'youkai' girl. It would seem that Kagome had kept her miko powers through her change. Kouga smiled at how strong his woman was.
Kagome took one last look around the room before she bolted for the entrance only to find Kouga blocking it. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked, his voice a little too serious. Kagome bit her lip in concentration as her gaze darted around the room, searching for a way out.
"Kagome," Kouga's deep voice pulled her from her frantic thoughts. "Kagome, please clam down," he said as he reached out for her, but she flinched away from his touch. It tore him up inside to see her like this. If only that mutt could see her like this, would he be sorry now?
Kagome dropped to her knees. She gave up, for now anyway. She couldn't find one way out at the moment and it didn't seem like Kouga was about to let her go out the front. Letting out a sigh she bowed her head in momentary defeat.
Kouga grimaced at the scene that played before him. He didn't want to make her stay, but he didn't want to lose her. At the moment, he supposed, it was all he could do. He hooked one clawed finger under her chin and brought her face to meet his.
As she looked into his eyes she saw what he was trying to prove, but she didn't care. He loved her and cared for her, so what? Hadn't Inuyasha loved her? Or at least hadn't she thought he did? And the others, they never took even a glance back at her when they left, and hadn't they cared for her?
These thoughts only served to depress Kagome further. Kouga could see the hurt in her eyes and vowed that he would heal her. "Kagome," he whispered her name, also falling to his knees.
Kagome looked up and saw Kouga near what she believed were tears. Was she really hurting him that much? 'Maybe,' Kagome thought, 'Maybe, he is different.' She had never seen that kind of look for her on any of her friend's faces or Inuyasha's. His name sent a pang of pain through her heart and she almost began to cry again.
Kouga was always different from Inuyasha though. She still wasn't to sure, but she could try, just one more chance and that was it. Reaching out a shaking hand, she cupped Kouga's cheek and brought his eyes up to meet her own and gave him a weak smile. She hadn't smiled in so long it felt strange to her now, kind of nice you could say.
Kouga's eyes lit up immediately and he felt like a weight had been removed from his heart. His Kagome was smiling at him. He would imagine it was something she hadn't done too much of in the past year, if she had at all.
She slowly stood up grabbing his hand in hers bringing him up with her. It was weird for her to see the proud ookami youkai on his knees that way.
Kouga brought his hand up to cup her cheek as he looked deep into her eyes. He looked her over, taking in all her new features and found himself wanting to take a closer look.
It was too late when Kagome had noticed that Kouga was moving in closer and he brushed his lips against hers. She stared at him in pure shock. When she heard a shuffling sound she turned and saw all the others of Kouga's pack exiting the cave or going to other side caves.
She wondered why briefly before her attention was drawn back to Kouga. He kissed her again, more passionately this time.
Kouga noticed everyone leave and knew what the motive was behind it. They were thinking he would like some time alone with Kagome, and he did. He pulled away again to look into her sparkling violet eyes, and then he noticed that she seemed to be a little dazed and he smirked to himself.
He got the hint that his pack-mates gave him, but that was not the place. Picking her up, he brought Kagome back into the room she had occupied earlier. He lay her down on the furs and he climbed on top, careful not to put his full weight on her. He bent down his head and captured her lips once more.
Kagome's mind raced. She wasn't exactly sure what was going on either, but something deep down kept her from stopping him. Something inside her told her she wanted this.
'Mate,' the voice flashed through her mind; a voice she had come to know in the last year. It was her youkai, her inner beast and it wanted to mate with Kouga. The problem was Kagome just wasn't ready for it.
Kouga knew that he shouldn't do this just yet, but his inner beast urged him forward. He ran his hands up and down her body tugging at the material that covered her flesh from his touch. His eyes began to bleed red and his mind started to cloud and he heard his youkai screaming at him to mate with her. He didn't let his beast take over though; he wanted to be gentle with her and be able to stop if at any point she told him to.
He slipped his hand into her shirt and lightly grasped her breast massaging it. "Kouga," Kagome moaned out his name. He could smell her arousal and she his, but Kagome didn't need to smell it she could feel his. Suddenly she pulled away breathing a little heavily.
Kouga looked at her, but not with the pain filled looked she had expected, it was a look of understanding. "It's ok, Kagome. We don't have to now, just promise me something. . ." he paused and waited for some form of acknowledgement from her.
Kagome didn't want to make any promises. She wasn't very trusting just yet and she didn't want to get tied to something. She didn't move in the slightest and simply waited for Kouga to finish his sentence.
Kouga took her silence as a sign she was listening. ". . . Don't leave. Please, will you stay with me?" He asked and Kagome was knocked for a loop. He wasn't going to make her stay?
"What if I say no?" Kagome asked her voice devoid of any emotions that she may have had at the moment.
Kouga turned his eyes upon her face trying to see what she was saying to him. "Then you're free to go," he said with such pain in his voice that it almost made Kagome wince. She just couldn't help the next words that came from her mouth.
"I make no promises as of yet, but for now I will stay. I'm not sure for how long." she explain only hoping it was clear enough so that he understood. Perhaps not as his eyes began to sparkle with unspeakable joy.
"You won't regret it Kagome," he told her as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. "Are you hungry?" he asked as he let her go.
She thought about it for a moment and then nodded her head. He rushed out in search of something for her to eat. Kagome sighed as she watched his retreating back. She really didn't know how long she would stay, but for now it wouldn't hurt to enjoy his company, would it?
"WHERE IS HE?!" Came an angry female voice from outside the room. Suddenly the door was forced open and a familiar woman with red hair was standing there with Ginta and Hakkaku hanging on trying to stop her.
"KOUGA I'VE HAD IT WITH ALL YOUR MOPPING. YOU'RE NOY GOING TO FIND HER SO JUST GIVE UP AND MATE WITH ME ALREADY!" the girl seemed to be yelling at Kouga even though he wasn't there.
"Ayame we told you he's not here," Hakkaku told her, apparently again. Then it all came back to her, she remembered the young youkai girl and how she had wanted Kouga. It would seem from what she said that he still refused her though.
Ayame looked around the room and found that in fact Kouga wasn't there and she had just yelled at some strange woman. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized. "Wait a minute, who are you and what are you doing in Kouga's room?" she asked the irritation creeping back into her voice. After all Kouga had put her through about the whole Kagome thing there was no way that he went and picked someone else.
"Ayame, how dare you speak to--" Ginta started, but was abruptly cut off.
"--I don't think I asked you now did I?" Ayame said as she turned back to Kagome waiting for her explanation.
"I don't expect you to remember me. I've change so much after all, and I didn't even remember you at first. I'm Kagome, remember?" she asked as a strange silence fell over the room.
Ayame leaned in to take a closer look at this claimed to be Kagome. She didn't look anything like how she remembered her and she appeared to be a youkai when Kagome was a miko. Then she caught her scent and it was unmistakable, this was Kagome. "But, how?" Ayame asked in awe at the change the girl had been through.
"I don't know," Kagome admitted. Ayame could see that Kagome didn't like the subject and decided to change it.
"So have you and Kouga mated yet?" she asked in total innocence. Kagome shook her head no and Ayame gave her an understanding look. "It's ok; just take your time, especially with what you've been through." Ayame soothed. Kagome gave her a questioning look. "Oh, I don't really know much about it, but from what I heard you deserve time." Ayame amended.
The silence returned in full force until a voice came from outside the room. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" the voice shouted at an unknown person.
"That sounded like Kouga," Ayame commented.
"WHERE IS SHE KOUGA?!" another voice shouted back. 'Who was that? He sounds . . . familiar.' Kagome thought as everyone else rushed out of the room.
She managed to grab Ayame before she left and asked, "What's going on?"
Ayame gave her a sad look and said, "Just stay here and don't move." With that she left and closed the door behind her. There was some more incoherent yelling before Kagome finally couldn't take anymore and cautiously opened the door.
As she stepped out she caught sight of someone running past her. "Kagome," the figure whispered as he stopped running. Kagome recognized him immediately, it was . . .
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InuyashaForever1989: Yay a cliffy and I hope you all enjoy the story so far. Don't forget to review. Just push the little button down there, you know you want to. See you all next chapter.