Forsaken

Arguments, Mistakes, and Guilt

"What do you mean that I have to obey you?!" A girl dressed in a weird kimono that left nothing to the imagination shrieked at the wolf demon in front of her. A monk in purple robes with dark brown eyes and a gold tipped staff in one hand looked back and forth between the arguing pair. These arguments had become worse and worse as the season for mating came closer and Kouga's instincts began to take over. Even though Kagome had been studying demon laws and culture, she was not able to handle or accept the fact she was about to become part of that culture, subject to its laws, and would have to follow its social structure while abandoning her own. Sango and Inuyasha had both tried to talk her out of doing something that she had no real concept about, but the stubborn girl had said yes to Kouga anyway. The monk, Miroku, personally thought that the girl had said yes out of pure spite of them trying to 'tell her what to do' when they were actually trying to make sure she did not end up in a situation that she would not want. That is exactly where she was now. Something else tingled at the back of the monk's mind, but for the life of him he could not catch what it was. He knew it was something important, but he just decided to let it come to him in time. It would appear when it was ready to. Until then, the argument between miko and demon was getting extremely heated.

"Woman! We are not going back to that village so you can disappear for Kami knows how long. The season starts in a week and that is when that court mark is going to be changed into a proper mate's mark. We are not going and that is final." Kouga was adamant that they were going to mate that spring and the monk could see that the girl was not ready for the committment that she had agreed to in the previous summer. Miroku would have teased the girl if the situation was not so serious.

"You are not going to tell me what I can and can not do. I am my own person. You do not own me!" Kagome screeched and stomped her foot like a petulant child that was not getting their way. In fact, in many ways Kagome acted like a child even though she tried to act grown up. Those thoughts reflected something Miroku had remembered hearing, but for the life of him he could not remember where. As with before, he just shrugged off the confusion convinced that the information would come to him when it was ready. As he returned to the verbal fight, he caught the girl about to do something that she would deeply regret.

"Kagome! STOP!" Miroku tried to intervene before the girl actually went through with her actions, but she paid him no heed. Kagome's spiritual energy gathered about her and condensed before exploding towards the unknowing ookami that was still yelling in mid-rant. Miroku moved as quickly as he could, but he could not block the entire blow from the wolf demon. Kouga looked surprised as he felt the sharp, almost blinding pain that coursed through his system and the weight that fell upon his body. He looked at the body of the monk, unconscious and shaking with aftershocks from the clash between his spiritual energy and the miko's, in shock before turning shocked and hurt eyes to the girl that stood before them. Kouga did not want to believe that the girl he had chosen to mark had just tried to purify him into dust. He did not want to believe that what the mutt had said about the girl had been true.

Flashback

It was first and last time that the mutt and the wolf had ever talked seriously and civily to one another. Kouga had asked Inuyasha why he protected the miko so fiercely and the answer that Inuyasha had given him had shook him to the core and made him hate the mutt even more than he did already.

"I do not protect Kagome because I want to. I am forced to. Every time I try to leave, to go back to my life before I was involved with all the humans, she uses the powers of the rosary to summon me back. I just want my life back, alone and in my forest."

"Yeah right! Kagome would not be so inconsiderate. I see that coming from you more than her. In fact, I have seen you tell the girl that she could not go home."

"Kouga, she is still considered a child where she is from and if you had not noticed she acts like one. The only reason I want her to stay here is so that we can find all of the shards and I can leave having fulfilled my debt to her. Kagome does not understand anything about demons and you would do well to remember that. If you want proof, ask the kit. She knows nothing, but she insists that she is right, just as a child would do. Even Shippou is more mature than she is." The next Inuyasha saw was Kouga's fist in a straight line for his face.

End Flashback



Things had gone from worse to even worse after Kagome tried to force Kouga to submit to her wishes. Outwardly they looked as though they had fixed things, but everyone in the group could feel the tension between the two. Kagome had conceded defeat, only because she felt guilty, and decided to go home after the mating season was over instead of during it. She really had not wanted to mate Kouga, she just thought that she could change her mind when the time came or avoid it all together by going home, but she had been informed by Sango that once the courting mark was placed on her only Kouga's death or the rejection of her by his Youkai would be able to reverse it. Neither condition had happened, though they were surprised by that. They would have thought that Kagome's attack on Kouga would have his Youkai rejecting her in that instant, but the mark was still there.

They were both going to be miserable when they were finally mated to one another. More than that, Kouga seemed very distracted lately. It was to point of worry for the rest because they were sensing the demon attacks before the demon of their group was. Miroku decided to pull the wolf demon lord aside and to investigate what was going on with him.

"What is troubling you, Kouga? You are distracted lately, and I daresay more quiet than usual." Miroku questioned in a soothing voice. Kouga did not really understand how it went from answering that simple question to spilling everything that had happened from what he and Inuyasha having sex to relieve his own stress to the problems between him and Kagome to the strange feeling that he had that he was needed somewhere else, but he did not know where. He was so confused and he did not know what to do. It was during the explanation that Miroku's mind finally supplied the information that been niggling the back of his mind for a while.

"Where is Inuyasha?" Both demon and human looked at each other. After a moment, Kouga shrugged his shoulders.

"I figured the mutt had left to clear his head and would be back when he was good again, especially since the kit went with him."

"You mean Shippou hasn't been with us either."

"No. You did not realize that their was no toddler running around your feet like a cyclone before passing out on the mutt's shoulder? And you called me distracted." Kouga snorted. Miroku, on the other hand, was panicking inwardly. How could they have not noticed the absence of two members of their group? He needed to talk to Sango. With a hasty farewell, the monk set off to find where the demon slayer was.


Sango was in shock at the fact that even she had not noticed that they were missing members of their group. It also made her feel slightly sick to her stomach to realize that the reason why was because they had focused so much attention on Kouga and his proposal to Kagome who actually accepted it this time. After that one argument between Kouga-Kagome and Inuyasha-Sango, they had not really paid any attention to the needs of the other individual members of their band and now they had absolutely no idea where they were and they could only guess as to why the two had even left.

"Should we tell Kagome? Does she deserve to know?" Sango did not really want to tell the immature miko because she had seen how the girl treated Inuyasha if he went to relieve himself without asking. To tell the girl that the hanyou had been missing for quite awhile and that he most likely had the kit, Shippou, with him would cause her to go into one of her childish rages. She would probably end up summoning the inu from whatever place of peace he had managed to find and there was no guarantee that he would be touching Shippou when the summoning occurred. That would leave Shippou by himself in a place that would be relatively unknown to him and most likely scared out of his wits.

"No, I think that she should come to the realization on her own. We never stood up to her about her actions against him and we called him our friend. I do not think that we were very good friends. At least this way, we can make up for it in some capacity, even if he is not here to witness it." Sango nodded her agreement. Neither of them realized that there were being overheard by a female with red eyes. Oh-ho! She had found great news to take to her maker. Maybe this would be the thing to grant her the freedom that she was constantly pleading for.


Naraku was extremely pleased at the information that Kagura had given him. He still did not grant her the freedom she was hoping for, for it was too much fun to watch her hopes subtly rise only to be crushed by him. What could he say? He was bored and he did not want his main source of entertainment to leave. However, this new information was more important. The dog, Inuyasha, had disappeared and that meant that he would no longer need to deal with the hanyou. He did not really care to step in that mutt's way, especially considering whom his brother was, but some things could not be helped. Now he could actually leave his palace and do some dirty work for himself instead of the puppets. He wanted to experience the thrill of a fight every once in a while, but Inuyasha, he grudgingly admits to himself, could exterminate him if he truly wanted to do so. It was now time to reek some true havoc upon that little piss ant group. Deep laughter echoed down the multiple corridors that made up Naraku's castle.


A/N: Please keep the reviews coming. This is the fastest I have ever updated, but it's because I am on a roll. I even updated my other story faster than usual. Maybe it is because of the new year coming in. REVIEWS please. I will also make it my goal to give snapshots of Inuyasha's life and the gang's in the next couple of chapters. This story will have a bit of a slow plot because of that, but it should help to lessen the confusion of the last version. ENJOY!