Kagome didn't stop running, not even when her legs burned and begged her for a break. She had veered off the path and into the trees at some point, wanting to have a few minutes to collect herself before she was bombarded with questions and sympathy from her friends. Right now, she didn't want it. All she wanted in this moment was to be alone and absorb what happened and try to start coming to terms with it.
What a joke of a thought.
There was no coming to terms with this. There was no way to ever be alright with this. When she first started this going back and forth through time thing, she had always had the ending expectation that she would go home to her own time when her job was done and the jewel was whole. Now, because of Inuyasha and Kikyo, she would never be able to go home again. There had been a fleeting thought that maybe she could undo the seal over the well like she had broken Kikyo's spell that bound Inuyasha to the tree, but she had dismissed it. She had had it proven that she couldn't undo anything Kikyo had done since her return more than once, and she didn't think she could take it if it didn't work.
Plus, she didn't know what was done to seal it, so it wouldn't be possible to undo it anyway, and knowing the bitch like she did, Kagome doubted very much the corpse would undo it, even if she said please.
Coming to a break in the trees, though not really a full clearing, Kagome's legs finally said enough and gave out, the miko dropping to the ground. Though she caught herself, she didn't fully stop her descent, and instead tucked her head, curled into a ball on her knees, and cried into the grass, her hands covering her head. Were she honest, she didn't care what decided she was easy pickins at that point. She knew she had shards on her, and she knew something would come after her for them, she just couldn't bring herself to give a shit. At least if she actually died it would make what her family thought true and they wouldn't think she abandoned them.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, but she knew Shippo and Kirara were close. She could feel them. But, she was beyond grateful they left her alone. She still wasn't fully ready to face them or their eyes just yet. She wasn't sure what she would see, but she was pretty convinced there were would be pity and she knew she couldn't handle that, not right now.
When her blubbering tears slowed to whimpers and sniffles, she continued to stay in her position, deciding a few more minutes wouldn't be the end of the world. However, that choice was taken from her when there was a loud crash from outside the tree line, making her shoot up to her knees and look around. Seriously? She may have thought dying wasn't the worst thing ever right at the moment, but that in no way meant she fucking meant it.
She scrambled for her bow and Shippo and Kirara, who was transformed into her larger size, came running to her side, but none of them were fast enough to their goals.
Kagome closed her eyes, waiting for the pain of whatever it was that was coming for her, but whipped back around when there was a snarled growl behind her. Her eyes were squinted, her hair whipping around in the massive current created when Kouga showed up in the tree break. She watched with tears back in her eyes as the wolf wrestled with the biggest boar she had ever seen in her life. She had to have been really down and out not to sense his shards as he got close. She glanced over the body of the boar looking for a jewel shard, but was surprised to find out it didn't have one. It was just that fucking big.
It didn't take Kouga but a couple of minutes to kill the boar, but he wasn't exactly clean about it, nor did he take the care needed to avoid the animal's tusks. He had been caught in the side and tossed in the air, but he wasn't really hurt, though. Being it was just a regular boar, it didn't have the gusto as it's demoic counterpart, so really, it just pissed him off. Pulling the very rarely used steel from his hip, he twirled it in his hand before he dropped down and plunged the tip of the blade into the top of the boar's head.
Sniffing at it, Kouga then put his foot on the thing's head and ripped the sword free, swinging it hard out to the side to remove the blood before sliding it back into place. Glaring at what was now dinner, he growled quietly. "Asshole." Shaking his head, he walked towards his woman and smiled wide, not registering her very sour mood. "Hey there, Kagome."
Shaking in her spot until she was sure he was alright, the tears in her eyes overflowed and ran rivers down her cheeks as she scrambled to her feet and threw herself at him, startling the wolf, but not caring as she tucked herself into his chest with a loud, choked whimper.
Having no idea what the hell was going on, Kouga tightly wrapped his arms around the crying woman against his chest. Looking down at the top of her head as she bawled her eyes out in his hold, he was for once at a loss for words. Still, she wasn't crying when he showed up, so he started there. "Hey, none of that. It's just a flesh wound and will be gone in a hour, tops. No need to cry."
All that did was seem to upset her more.
Rubbing her back, the very confused ookami looked to the smaller demons present, giving them a look that clearly asked what the fuck the problem was.
Shippo looked at Kirara before he looked at the Demon Lord in front of him. It wasn't really common knowledge, Kouga not caring all that much for the title, but he was this region's Lord and Shippo knew it. They hardly ever ran into him in his own territory, so Shippo wasn't sure how to address him at first, but finally decided to forgo any type of formalities until told otherwise, and instead just told him what happened as he knew it. "Inuyasha did something really terrible."
Kouga just snorted, not really all that surprised. Resigning himself to diplomacy, he nodded once to the kit before looking back down at his miko. "It's okay, Kagome. We'll fix it. What did the mutt do this time?" For all the things he expected, her breaking down more wasn't among them. Honestly, he didn't think she could have gotten more upset. All he could really do at that point was slowly lower both of them to the ground when her legs gave out from under her. A soft growl kicking up in his chest, he rubbed her back as he returned his eyes to the kit. "What the fuck did he do?" He was never very good at diplomacy.
Now was the time that Shippo got nervous. Kouga didn't know about the well, or that Kagome was from a different time. But, under the blue and red swirling eyes of the much stronger demon in front of him, that fact didn't really matter anymore. Shippo answered him, telling Kouga about the well and the portal between her time and theirs. He concluded by telling the wolf prince why Kagome was so upset, and the terrible thing Inuyasha did, was he had Kikyo seal the well, trapping Kagome on their side and making it impossible for her to ever go home to her family again.
Kouga listened to the fox with full attention, not interrupting for any reason. It was quite the story, but with the reaction of the miko in his arms, and the fact there had always been something otherworldly about her, he didn't question the truth of it. Instead, he took it at face value. Having the sinking feeling there was nothing that could be done, all the wolf did was tighten his hold on her and hoped she calmed down soon so he could talk to her. Outside of that, he wasn't sure what else to do in that particular moment in time.
Quietly, Shippo told Kirara to go find Sango and Miroku. They were a pretty fair distance off the path and he wasn't sure they would be able to find them on their own. Once the neko was off to do that, Shippo slowly made his way over to the demon lord and Miko, being careful not to make too much noise. He had never seen Kagome so upset, and he didn't want to accidentally make it worse by doing something, no matter how small. Sitting back on his hunches when he was next to them, he lightly sat a hand on Kagome's leg, just to let her know he was there, too.
Kouga just continued to rub Kagome's back and raked his claws lightly against her scalp. It was the best he could do at the moment, but it never failed to calm down other upset females of his tribe. Though he was very aware she was human and not a wolf, he figured the same premise would work with her as well.
He was right to a point. By the time her human companions showed up, Kouga had calmed her down considerably, though mostly, between her crying and his actions, she was basically just put to sleep. Shifting his position slowly so as to not wake her up, he repositioned her in his arms so he could pick her up. Standing to his full height, he jerked his head to the side, silently telling the humans to follow him before he tore out of the clearing, leaving the humans to scramble onto Kirara's back and catch up.
For as fast as he was moving, and the fact he was in a rather thick forest, his movements were smooth and undisruptive to the sleeping human in his arms. He knew his territory inside and out, and knew that particular area was damn near overrun with all manner of demons and large animals, so he wanted to have this conversation in a better place they were less likely to be interrupted by something looking for dinner.
Kirara played hell keeping up to the wolf as he ducked, dodged, and hurtled different obstacles in his path. The humans on her back were quietly talking to each other about what Kouga was going to do. He looked beyond words pissed off and, and when Shippo told them he told Kouga what happened, they knew this wasn't going to be pretty. Neither human blamed the fox, though. Demonic standing dictated that when asked a point blank question like Shippo was by the Cardinal Lord of the region, he couldn't ignore it. It was no different than a direct order, and something else Shippo wouldn't have been able to refuse.
Miroku had been shocked when he was enlightened to Kouga's real position, and not just being the leader of one small tribe of wolves. He could see it though. Kouga had a natural leadership quality to him, so though he had been surprised, it hadn't lasted long. The questions he had were more about what the wolf prince was going to do when he got his hands on Inuyasha. Kagome had already given it to him pretty good, and the monk was sure the hanyou had learned his lesson. But this was Kouga, the other demon that had been vying for the affection of Kagome, and was seriously protective of the Miko. For her to literally fall apart in the ookami's arms, this spelled nothing good for the Inu. Also, as for as he knew, he was the only one that saw the mark on Kikyo's shoulder, so for the time being, he decided to keep it to himself.
Sango too was a little worried about what Kouga had planned for the baka. She was almost on the same page as Miroku, but she thought Kagome could have said sit a few more times before she took off. She was far more pissed off at the dead miko than she was the hanyou. Seriously, how could you do something so horrible without first making sure things were as they were supposed to be before actually doing it? She blamed Kikyo, wholly and fully.
Shippo was just as quiet as he could be. He had nothing to say on the topic at hand, not really knowing what to do about it himself. He would actually admit he hoped the wolf killed the idiot. It wasn't like he didn't deserve it. How anyone could be so selfish was beyond the kit. He tried to seal the well with Kagome on the other side all so he didn't have to choose between her and a dead woman, then went and mucked it up by not making sure she was on the other side before he had it sealed in a way that couldn't be undone. Under his breath, Shippo growled and crossed his arms. Inuyasha was nothing but a baka and he deserved whatever this Karma thing Kagome told him about threw at him.
Kouga didn't even pay any mind to the group behind him, his mind working in overdrive. He had never had any hopes for the mutt, but he didn't think it would ever come to this, that the fucker would actually banish someone from their home, knowing what that felt like. Sure, Kagome wasn't a child, but she certainly wouldn't have the tool necessary to live for good in a time not her own.
This was certainly going to cause all kinds of problems with this thing with Naraku, and with her mental anguish at the level he could feel in her aura as she slept, she would be easy pray for one of his mind games. Naraku could cause a serious mind fuck when someone was in top form, but how much more damage could be done when the person he went after was down and out like this?
Well, there was one thing the wolf was certain of. He wasn't gonna let that happen. If the stupid bastard wanted to be a fucker, Kouga would take no issue with taking over Kagome's protection and, if they ever run into the mutt, Kouga was going to relieve him of his head. He had only ever been playing around when they went at it in the past, but the time for playing was over. Had Inuyasha succeeded in what he attempted to do, Kagome would have likely been stolen from him forever, which Kouga took as a personal slight against him, and he wouldn't fucking have it.
As he ran, he had thought briefly of where to go, but decided to go the distance and return to the den. It wasn't that far off, only about another ten miles from where they were, and if he was gonna have a rather loud conversation with the slayer and the monk, he wanted Kagome to have a safe, quiet place to sleep off this round of upset before the next one started.