Ten days later

Kouga was nearly going out of his ever loving mind. He wasn't used to being waited on hand and foot and, honestly, it was driving him up a damn wall. Never in his life was he so coddled, and the longer it lasted, and the more staff that asked him if he needed anything, the more he just wanted to go home.

Sprawled out on the grass in the gardens, a growl rumbled his chest when he heard the sounds of approaching footfalls. He was convinced it was one servant or another, and he was over them days ago. All he wanted to do was enjoy the sun for the first time in three days, and they were going out of their ways to take that away from him. Hearing a giggle, though, he cracked an eye open, seeing the amused face of his mate looking down at him. Making a face at her, his lip curled. "And, what's so funny, Mate?"

Grinning wider, Kagome crossed her arms as she looked at the extremely annoyed wolf prince. "You. You know all you have to do is tell them to leave you alone and they will, right?"

Narrowing his eyes, Kouga growled again. "I have."

A fang poking out from behind her lip, Kagome shook her head. "No, you haven't. You've said no, not right now, and maybe later. You have yet to actually say, 'leave me the hell alone'. They are doing their jobs, Kouga, and will continue to until you tell them not to." Giggling again at the look he gave her, Kagome crouched and clasped her hands together in her lap. "I've spoken to Naomi for you, so there shouldn't be anyone waiting in the shadows for you any longer."

Kouga grunted. "Well, Thank the Kami for small favors." Rolling onto his stomach, he saw she had a parcel in her lap, and nodded to it. "What do you have there?"

Picking up the parcel from her lap, she smiled as she held it out to him. "Your furs have been returned. I thought you might like them back."

Taking the wrapped package, he cut the twine with his claw, opening it to reveal his personal clothing. Dropping his head down chin to chest, he let out a hard sigh and set his hands on his fur. "Fucking finally." Hearing Kagome chuckle, he looked back to her. "My armor?"

She nodded her head back towards the doors she came out of. "In your room, shined and polished. That's what took so long. I guess the fur was clean days ago, but there was an issue with your chest plate. Daddy wanted me to tell you not to be surprised if it's heavy, but if it is, it should only be for another day or two." Propping her chin on her closed fist, she continued. "He also said when you can wear it comfortably, you can go home."

Cocking a brow at the rather surprising information, Kouga hummed. "Define comfortably."

At that, Kagome shrugged. "You'll need to ask Daddy. He wants to see you anyway."

Pursing his lips, a standoffish look entered the ookami's eyes. "Why?"

Making a face, Kagome shook her head. "I don't know. He didn't tell me. He just told me to bring you your clothes and tell you he wants to see you."

Nodding once, Kouga pushed himself up with his hands. Once he was standing, he held a hand out to Kagome, pulling her to her feet as well. Tucking his furs under one arm, he tossed the other over Kagome's shoulders as they walked back inside. He still had no idea what could be done about the impending separation. All he could do was hope Lord Touga had some kind of plan to keep what happened last time from happening again. It had taken far too long for both he and Kagome to fully recover, and the wolf prince was concerned if this wasn't resolved before he left, the next time would be far worse.

Separating at the steps, Kagome gave him a smile as she headed to the library, leaving Kouga to navigate the maze of halls and hope like hell he didn't get lost. He had thought the caves were a labyrinth, but the halls of the Western House put the tunnels to shame. And, of course, NOW was when the overly helpful staff decided to leave him alone. He didn't even know where Touga's office was. He knew how to get to his room, but he had never been to the Western Lord's private office before, so even if he did know his way around, he wouldn't know he found the right room anyway.

Deciding first to change out of the borrowed clothing, he headed to the room he had been staying in, finding his armor on a low table just as he was told. Tossing his furs on the pallet, he picked up his armor, a frown on his face. He knew without even putting it on it would be too heavy, leading him to question what the hell the fucker who cleaned it did to it. Checking out the chest plate, he narrowed his eyes, seeing there was a repair made, but it didn't look large enough to account for the extra weight. The only explanation to it was, he still wasn't up to his full strength yet. Grunting, he set his armor back down and turned to his furs with a smirk.

"Well, at least there's that."

Fifteen minutes later, he was pulling on his leg covers when there was a knock on the door. Knelt down and tying the string on the right leg to keep it in place, he called out for whoever it was enter, not looking up as he switched to the tie of the other leg.

Touga watched the wolf fluff his fur, his tail snapping behind him. You could almost convince the Western Lord the ookami was back to full health if not for the fact his armor was still where it was placed when it was returned. Clearing his throat, he grinned at Kouga when he turned over his attention after he grabbed his arm bands. "Almost back to yourself, Kouga-Sama."

Nodding as he pulled on his longer band and tugging it into place at his elbow, Kouga ran his hand down the fur to smooth it. "Almost. My armor is still heavy."

Nodding, assuming it would be, Touga leaned on the door frame. "I thought it might be. Truth be told, young wolf, I was surprised at its weight when you first turned it over to me."

Kouga chuckled as he pulled on his wrist cuff. "It was light as a feather, Lord Touga." Then he frowned. "At least it used to be. I never noticed its weight until recently."

Not surprised, Touga glanced at the armor in question. "You were running on very little, Kouga. I would be more surprised had it not gotten heavier than the fact it did. At the rate of your continued improvement, however, I don't think the sun will rise tomorrow before you can wear it again."

Crossing his arms, the wolf leveled the inu with a look. "Then I get to go home, right?"

Touga shook his head. "No. Not until you can wear it comfortably."

Pursing his lips, Kouga cocked his head to the side. "Define comfortably."

Crossing his arms, Touga hummed. "When you can not only wear it, but move properly while wearing it. Considering you are taking my daughter home with you, I would like to know you can actually protect her if there should be a need."

Brows shooting up to his headband, Kouga jolted. "She's going with me?"

Touga nodded and pushed himself to stand up. "Yes, though I want to be perfectly clear about this not being permanent. In order to keep this situation from escalating to the point your prolonged separation did this time again, I came up with the best solution that could be under the circumstances."

Face flattening, Kouga grunted. "I can only imagine what my old man had to say about that."

Touga simply lifted a shoulder. "Not much, actually. He agreed to it, but more for you than anything else, I'm sure. There are rules and terms of this, however. The first, and foremost, you keep your fucking fangs to yourself. Am I clear?"

Unable to help himself, Kouga grinned wide enough to flash one at the inu lord. "Crystal."

Leveling the ookami with a glare, Touga snapped. "I am not playing, Cub. If you bite her, it will be your last act in this life."

Grin not faltering, Kouga chuckled. "Of course, Touga-Sama. Wouldn't dream of it." Seeing the inu's face flatten, Kouga shrugged. "I being serious. This blood bond shit is bad enough right now. No need to make it worse."

Humming in his throat, Touga didn't disagree, which was why that rule was in place. Nodding once, he continued to lay out the rules, including returning to the West. When Kouga groaned at the demand, Touga smirked. "It is for her. In three weeks time, there will be a mentor arriving to begin aiding her in learning to better control her shadow nature. Unless you want to one day wake and find she has vanished from under your nose while sleeping, it is something that must be done. I want to oversee it, so it will be taking place here. It will be up to her how long this takes. As she gets more control over her abilities, the less often she will be under the tutelage of someone else, and the less often she will be expected to return."

Kouga certainly agreed something like her vanishing in the middle of the night was something to be avoided, and though loathed to admit it, the best place for her to learn to control something like that was in a place she was already well acquainted. Taking a seat on the bed, tucking a foot under him, he leveled the Western Lord with a look of contemplation. "So, let's see if I'm understanding you, properly. I get to go home when I can, what? Turn a series of backflips in my armor? Kagome goes with me when that happens. I'm not allowed to bite her, and I assume nothing else as well. I bring her back for this training in her abilities for some amount of time, and then get to take her back with me after round one is over, only to repeat this process for an undetermined amount of time?"

A corner of lips turned down and Kouga's eyes crinkled in the corners. "While I'm not opposed to taking my mate home, this doesn't sound like it'll solve anything of importance, other than the issues from our separation. Do you even know the level of responsibility I have at home? I imagine it's on par with Sesshoumaru's here. It may or may not even be possible to drop what's going on to bring her home and stay here until some stranger decides Kagome has accomplished whatever goals they decide are needed to be reached. The words turn my stomach to say, Touga-Sama, but this arrangement won't work, at least not for long. You and I both know there will come a time I will be unable to return with her, and after so long being together, the separation will be worse."

A brow raised on Touga's forehead as he listened to the very valid points the prince brought up. After a moment, he spoke. "And here I thought you would be like your father and have petty concerns about the arrangement."

Kouga snorted. "Well, unlike my father, I haven't been able to ignore the situation, have I?"

Humming in his throat, Touga shook his head slightly. "I suppose not. Have you any other concerns that need to be addressed while it's being discussed?"

Scratching his brow, Kouga clicked his tongue. "Yes, actually, though they have nothing to do with the presented arrangement."

Clicking his claws, Touga pushed himself to stand, and waved a hand to the ookami. "Come. Let's discuss them and see what agreements can be reached."

*X*

Kouga sat with his arms and legs crossed on a pillow across from the irate inu lord, unfazed and straight faced. It was Touga's idea to discuss Kouga's concerns about Kagome. The way the wolf thought was, if he didn't actually want to hear them, he shouldn't have asked. The wolf had plenty, and most of them came from the way Kagome was raised and doted on. The life she was used to wasn't going to happen on the mountain, and Kouga thought that was something that needed to be addressed.

When it looked like the Lord of the house finally ran out of steam, Kouga tapped his finger against his bicep. "Forgive me, Lord Touga, but you asked. Getting pissed off about the answer doesn't lessen my concern over the issues I presented to you. The Eastern Den is not run like the Western Palace. We show our love and care for our mates through physical affection, not material possessions. We show our place through actions, not by what we wear. Station and status are not a matter of birthright, but by what we offer to the pack as a whole. When my father dies, I will have to prove I deserve to take his place. It's not just going to be given to me like yours will be given to Sesshoumaru. If there is a better leader among the clan, he will be the one to take over, though as surely as I sit before you, I will be be our pack's alpha. You have every right to raise your daughter as you see fit, but as my mate and future alpha female of my pack, I cannot sit back and allow her to be raised is such a way she will be detriment instead of an asset."

Anger not quelled by the prince's explanation, Touga grunted. "And you believe she will be as she is now?"

Kouga didn't even hesitate with his answer. "I do, actually. While I've been here I have seen her do very little for herself. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact she's not been at her best, but she doesn't even dress herself. Though I can assure you she will be adequately taken care of, she will not be waited on hand and foot as she's used to. The thought she will be is a detriment."

Narrowing his eyes, Touga growled in his throat. "Bold, Cub."

Kouga merely shrugged. "Perhaps, but she is my mate, and I'm allowed to be. What's more? I need to be. Mate or not, I cannot allow a single female to completely change the way things are done, when they are done the way they are for a reason. We do not hide behind walls and guards. The Cave is open and though we have protections in place, there is no better defense than the pack itself. We protect each other if needed, and that will go for her as well. Though no fault of her own, she is a spoiled, pampered, princess, for lack of a better term."

Cocking a brow, Touga crossed his arms. "Are you not a prince, Kouga?"

Unaffected by that, Kouga answered. "Only when it comes to my fellow wolves, not everyone else. My father is a Cardinal Lord, not a Cardinal King. Those titles are reserved only for our own race, not the residents of our lands. Kagome isn't a wolf, therefore I am not her prince, and she will be no princess. Lady? Absolutely, though not in the meaning she's raised to be. Alpha Female? Absolutely, though not if she doesn't learn what it means to be an alpha and can prove she deserves it. Princess? Mine surely, but other than that, not even slightly unless you know how to turn her into a wolf. Currently, Kagome would be the perfect Lady for some pampered lord that sits on his ass all day and have others do his bidding. I would also go out on a limb and say that was probably the life you had envisioned for her, but that's not how we do things in the East. She will be looked to for guidance and her decisions regarding that will be followed. Those decisions must be sound and given with very little thought. Be honest, Touga-Sama; do you think she's currently capable of doing those things?"

Leaning back slightly, Touga actually listened to the young wolf, taking in everything he had to say, and though he loathed to do it, he had to agree on more than one point the cub made. With close to destine in his voice, Touga grunted again. "I concede your points. But, what's this proving nonsense? She will be the mate to the alpha."

Kouga just shrugged. "What's your point? I told you, titles are earned in the East. If someone can do it better, they will. Regardless of who any given pack member is mated to, it comes down to what they can do for the pack as a whole. My mate or not, if Kagome can't do the job, someone else has to. She has to learn to lead. The future of the clan literally depends on it. Admittedly, no male will ever listen to her, but the women and cubs will. If her decisions lead them into something fucked up, we're done. Our clan cannot prosper without them, and the East will fall."

Touga's lip curled. "That is an awful large weight to put on the shoulders of a female."

Kouga disagree. "Maybe to you, but my mother did it. My grandmother before her. Generations of females in my line have done it. Every pack has an alpha female, and they all do it. Females are not helpless, Touga-Sama. They are some of the strongest demons I've ever met. They can, and will, rise to any challenge. Sure, they're also nice to look at, but females are much more than their looks and their ability to breed.

"One of the biggest differences I've witnessed between my house and yours is how females are treated. Here, they are coddled and pampered. In mine, they are revered. They are looked up to, and younger cubs strive to be like them. And, before you point out the difference in our canine heritage, Kagome is not the first non-wolf to be faced with the position. First in my line, but not the first inu to be the alpha female of a wolf pack, and they also handled the position just fine. It's not that it cannot be done. It's that, right now, it cannot be done. Kagome is more than just an inu heiress. She's a canine, and that makes this possible, but only if things change... drastically."

Humming in his throat, Touga's lip curled. "You certainly have a lot of negative things to say about your mate, Cub."

Kouga rolled his eyes. "Then you're not listening, or at least don't understand what I'm saying. I have nothing negative to say my woman. However, I have a lot of negative things to say about the way she is in comparison to what I know she can be. If you don't agree, then I'm not the one with the negative view, and I'll go on document saying she doesn't belong here."

Narrowing his eyes, Touga growled. "Watch that tongue, Cub, or I will remove it. Kagome is a puppy and..."

Shooting up from his pillow, Kouga finally got fed up with the conversation going no where, and decided it was time to throw the bullshit concept of diplomacy out the window since there was no way this issue would be solved with it. "The fuck, she is. If she was a puppy, there would be no mating between us. She is a young demoness, yes, but she is sixty-five fucking years old, and long since out of puppyhood. You need to allow her to grow up, and stop treating her as though she is half her Kami damned age. There is no reason, outside your refusal to allow her to mature, that she cannot already control the shadows she was born to command. You forget, Touga, your race is not the only one to have the shadow breed, and I know just as much about them as you do, if not more. At sixty-five, she should damn near be able to have the shadows do her fucking bidding, not fear sleep on a moonless night because they still control her."

Standing with his fangs bared, Touga snarled. "What yourself, Wolf."

Snarling back with his own fangs showing, Kouga growled. "I will not. Kagome being my mate far supersedes her being your daughter. Don't think for a moment we remain here by your demand. It's for no other reason than by MY allowance." There was a chuckle in the ookami's throat at the look that passed through the inu's eyes. "Uh oh... this cub knows the laws. What are you gonna do now?"

When Touga growled at him, Kouga crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "I'm done humoring both you and my father and I am certainly done seeing my mate suffer because of your flat out refusal to take the situation seriously. This bullshit has gone on long enough, and I will no longer tolerate any of it. Bouncing back and forth between the lands is not only a copout, it's impossible on many, many levels. Don't give me this 'it's for her' bullshit, either. It's for you and no one else. Now, I've been away long enough. I'm going home in the morning, and I'm taking my mate with me. You wanna oversee her with this aid? Fine. You can come to the East when this demon arrives and stay for however long they do. I'm sure Sesshoumaru is be more than capable to oversee your duties while you're gone since you actually allowed him to grow up."

Placing his hands on his desk, Touga leaned forward and lowered his voice, a level of malice present he has never once used on someone that was still considered to be a cub. "If you do not change your tone, you will not live to see the morning."

A slow smirk split Kouga's lips and a chuckle rumbled his throat. "You might be able to intimidate my father into getting your way, but it's not going to work with me. The difference between me and my father is I'm not afraid of you. I will tell you the same thing I told Sesshoumaru when he made his threats the day I arrived. You are certainly welcome to try, and I'm sure you will. You'll probably even win in the end. But, if you think I'm going to back down just because you're older than me, you're out of your fucking mind, Dog."

Snarling loud, Touga snapped his teeth. "You're a disrespectful little shit, aren't you? Do you think bravado is going to raise you in anyone's view?"

Chuckling again, even knowing he was pushing his luck, Kouga grinned. "And do you think intimidating a cub into doing what you want them to does anything for you? I might still be a cub. I'll admit that. But I'm no child for you to manipulate. My father might back down and let you get your way, but he has no stake in this. Neither do you, actually. It's not you that suffers, so how you think you have a say in this is beyond me. This is between me and Kagome, and she's plenty old enough to begin making decisions for herself."

Touga grunted. "Your accidental mating would prove otherwise."

Cocking a brow, Kouga snorted. "Had you treated her her age and not coddled her like a puppy for so long, it might not have. But it did, and there isn't anything you can do about it now."

Touga grinned. "I can kill you."

Kouga locked his eyes on the Inu's, not a scrap of fear to be found in his blue orbs. "Then do it. I've already said you don't scare me. Threatening to kill me does nothing to change that. Believe it or not, I'm not afraid to die, and once again, I'm certainly not afraid of you. It's not my attitude that pisses you off anyway. It's because you know I'm right. I'm also right in saying accident or not, it doesn't make our mating any less real, or my standing as the actual one in charge here any less accurate. That's what pisses you off more than anything, you not being in control of something you deem so important. It burns you you have no actual say in what happens. It guts you to know a mere cub has higher standing in your own house over a member of your pack. It kills you a little more inside with every passing moment. I dare you to deny it."

Crossing his arms, Touga regarded the wolf before him. Kouga was certainly smarter than he thought, and very much the ruler Ryushi never hoped to be. Why Ryushi had a set a balls when he was in his own lands, once he was in someone else's, he folded, every time. It was one of the reasons Touga had the wolf come to him instead of the other way around. Kouga, however, didn't seem to suffer from the same, and held his ground in a way that might not be the most respectful, but was extremely effective.

Making a noise in the back of his throat, Touga kept his voice flat and void of emotion. "There may be hope for you still, Cub. Your tactics could use some work, but that golden tongue of yours certainly knows how to fly."

Kouga snorted hard, though chose not to be the one to tell his father in law his gift of gab wasn't what earned him that particular compliment. Instead, he just grinned. "So I'm told."