All Inuyasha properties belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm just futzing around with her ideas.
Enjoy!
oOo
The green tea slid down Kagome's parched throat with ease. She sent Kouga a small smile, half hidden by her teacup, as her mother asked the man questions.
Ms. Higurashi had walked out of her house this morning, wondering where the crying was coming from. She had been extremely surprised to see a strange man cradling her hysterical daughter.
His smile was the only thing that stopped her from her worst-case scenario plans of hitting him over the head with her purse. It was an apologetic smile for his behavior, but a tender one as well. The mother had stopped and carefully examined the scene. One of his hands cradled the back of Kagome's head, his fingers tangled in her long locks. The other was wrapped firmly around her shoulders and was rubbing small circles on her upper back.
It was Kagome's grip on the stranger that silenced all of Ms. Higurashi's mental warning alarms. Kagome's hands were at the man's sides, gripping his shirt like he was some kind of anchor. He was her support.
The older woman was very familiar with her daughter's need for comfort. On one hand, it stung that Kagome still needed such emotional help after all the time Ms. Higurashi had spent providing just that. One the other, it soothed her to know that Kagome had someone else to rely on. Maybe he could pick up the parts that Ms. Higurashi did not understand.
The stranger met Ms. Higurashi's gaze evenly. She nodded her approval, for now. Their body language and his willingness to comfort her daughter satisfied her motherly instincts. She would just have to get to know this young gentleman later.
She had. As soon as the two walked through the front door, Ms. Higuarshi had herded them both to the living room table for tea and conversation. Kagome had gratefully taken the tissue handed to her before making introductions.
"Mom, this is Kouga. Kouga, this is my mom, Ms. Higurashi." She mumbled, dabbing at her face.
"Please, call me Hanako." Ms. Higurashi interjected smoothly.
Kouga gave a small bow in respect. "Pleasure to meet you, Hanako-san."
The woman in question nodded happily at his manners. "You as well. Tea?"
Once the tea was poured and everyone was seated, Kagome tried to smooth things over with her mother. Kagome was a grown woman, but the only real boys Kagome had ever talked about were the ones from the Feudal Era or a random co-worker. Seeing Kagome draped around an unknown male was a very strange development indeed.
"Mom, Kouga is someone I knew from… from Before."
The elder woman immediately picked up on the code. "Before" stood for "before the well closed" and was a significant marker in all of their lives. She turned surprised eyes to the young man sitting next to her daughter. He looked so young, hardly older than her daughter. Kouga looked respectfully amused at her surprise.
"He's a youkai, Mom. They… they age differently."
"So you have been around all this time?"
Kouga nodded. "I may look young, but I have lived for a while."
"Five hundred years?"
Kagome and Kouga traded a look before he replied with that lazy grin of his. "Longer."
The questions had started pouring out and had not stopped. Kagome watched, fascinated. At first, she was worried, because her mother was terribly nice but voraciously inquisitive as well. Hanako had not always been so. Kagome suspected that her mother had become so After. After the well had closed, the older woman had wanted to know what had happened that had made Kagome such a mess. She understood that her daughter was capable of forming deep emotional ties with just about everyone. So she wanted to know what kind of ties they were.
Kouga did not seem to mind the inquisition. In fact, he did not seem to mind much of anything at all. He knelt at the low table, looking so calm. The Kouga that Kagome had known before was anything but calm. He had been similar to the whirlwind that followed him when he ran. He was gruff and boisterous and could never sit still.
In her living room he was relaxed, Kagome realized with awe. Even as he was peppered with questions about Before, he looked like nothing could touch him. It was a strange scene for Kagome to witness. He looked so self assured without looking remotely like the cocky wolf he had been before.
She didn't realize how curious she found it until his eyes met hers. She jolted, realizing she was staring once again. His eyes sparkled at her before returning to her mother.
"You claimed my daughter as your 'woman,' didn't you?" Hanako demanded.
Kouga nodded, not even flustered. "I did, Hanako-san. Your daughter is a remarkable woman and it is custom for wolves to declare their desire in such a way."
"You tried to claim my daughter?" If Kagome didn't know better, she would say there was ice in her mother's voice.
Kouga's smile simply flared to life. "Tried, being the main word. I never could understand that Kagome wasn't someone to be claimed."
No. No way that this was Kouga, Kagome thought as she sipped her tea again. At first, it had been funny, seeing Kouga sitting in her living room. But now, Kagome was just gobsmacked. The wolf prince she had left in the Feudal Era was every bit the cocky teenager that Kagome so didn't need in her life. This Kouga was… was…
Well she did not really know what he was. It was confusing and flustering her. She thought she knew him. She could predict every word out of his mouth in the Feudal Era. Now, even his speech was different, almost more sophisticated.
The confusion and her previous crying session were giving her a headache.
Her mother continued, still determined to find something that Kagome could only guess at. "And what are your intentions towards my daughter now?"
Oh Kami, she hadn't even asked Hojo that. Kagome opened her mouth, ready to interject when Kouga smoothly stepped in.
"I wish to become her friend. I feel that while I always made my intentions clear, I never really communicated with your daughter. I wish to do so now."
Something sparked to life behind Hanako's eyes and she sat back, satisfied. She nodded her approval with a soft smile that was every bit as friendly as Kagome's.
The tension seemed to leak out of the room and Kagome felt it in her bones. She yawned and both people in the room noticed it with a frown.
"I should go," Kouga said, rolling to his feet.
"But you just got here," she protested as he pulled her up.
"Yes, but I think that's enough excitement for now. You look exhausted," he observed, running a light finger over the bags under her eyes.
"I'm fine," she mumbled before another yawn hit her.
He chuckled at her stubbornness. "It's okay, I will see you tomorrow."
Kagome brightened. "Tomorrow?"
"Yup." And suddenly he looked just like the teenaged prince she used to know.
She pulled him into a fierce hug. "Okay. I can wait for tomorrow."
He hugged back just as tightly before reluctantly detangling himself. He caught one of her hands and patted it before turning and saying his goodbyes to her mother. With a bow, he loped out of the house. Kagome watched him make his way down the shrine stairs and didn't move until he was around the corner and gone.
oOo
Kagome powered through her chores, interrupted by brief spats of absentmindedness. She would be working on her previously neglected sweeping job before her movements were arrested by a stray train of thought.
Kouga didn't have hair. Kouga was alive. Was anyone else alive? Oh Kami, there were actual youkai still around. What if nobody else was alive? Kouga grew up. He didn't call me his woman. Why? Why would I want him to? Why was he sniffing me? No one told him I was alive? Oh whoa, are Ginta and Hakkaku still around too?
These questions ran themselves around in her head until she could not take the strain anymore. When Kouga made his way to where Kagome had thrown herself under the Goshinboku, she just said the first thing that came to mind.
"Ginta and Hakkaku? How are they?"
Kouga's eyes crinkled as he laughed. "What, no hello? Not even a hug this time?"
Her face colored slightly as he sat down next to her. "Sorry. Hi."
"Hello," he greeted as he stretched out in the shade. "How are you?"
"Good," she lied, then immediately corrected herself. "Well no, not really. I'm… I'm kind of all over the place today. My mother said that if I was just going to be distracted, I could just be distracted over here and out of the way." She shrugged at her spot near the God-Tree.
Kouga's expression softened and he looked at the few visitors milling around the shrine grounds. "Is it me?" He asked.
"No! No, it's just that…" She turned so she could look at him in the face. "I have so many questions and then… and then it is you! You've changed so much!"
He titled his head towards her. "How have I changed?" He asked while Kagome wondered how he could look so joyful all the time.
She motioned frantically towards him while her words failed her. Seeing him dressed in a green polo, a pair of dark jeans and battered tennis shoes just compounded on her assertion. His hair was still so short, his claws were either gone or filed, his tail was gone, and his headband had disappeared. Every time she looked at him, it seemed like she picked up on something strange about his appearance.
He also acted so differently. His signature loud boasting had transferred into a subtle swagger. Instead of lavishing unwanted affection all over Kagome, he instead treated her to lingering, fond looks that she couldn't make heads or tails of.
It was almost like meeting a stranger and it made Kagome feel uncomfortable.
He laughed and caught one of her hands, stilling her. "Start with the simple things first."
"You look old." She said without thinking.
He placed a free hand on his heart. "Ouch! That's brutal, Kagome." He teased.
She blushed in embarrassment and shook her head. "No, I didn't mean it like that. You just look older."
"How old do I look, then?" He asked, leaning in and presenting his face for inspection.
She took his offering and studied his features carefully before answering. "Twenty-six."
He sat back, rubbing his stubble free chin with a smug grin. "Not bad, not bad at all for five hundred years."
She sat back too, stunned by his youth while simultaneously trying to get used to his older self. "You mean to tell me that you've only aged ten years over the past five centuries? Whoa."
He light heartedly shrugged. "Demon genes, what can I say?"
The former miko pulled up her knees to her chest and slumped into them. She picked at the fabric of her red hakama idly. She used to hate the miko garb because it was too easy to derive comparisons between her and Kiyko when they both wore it. But when she had gotten stuck, the traditional clothing reminded her of a very physical link to the past.
"I… I feel like we're so different now." She rested her cheek on her knee and gazed forlornly at him. "It's seems like I don't really know you that well anymore." She confessed.
He sighed and gazed out at the shrine grass again. His eyes captured Kagome's attention. There were so many different things about him, but his eyes were the same. Nostalgia caught in Kagome's throat, and she swallowed, trying to get the knot out.
"We have changed and that's something neither of us can help." He threw himself on the ground, sticking his hands behind his head. He gazed up at the leaves overhead briefly, before throwing another grin her way. "We're just going have to get to know each other again, then." He stuck his hand out towards her. "Hi. I'm Kouga."
She giggled, which is what he had been aiming for. "Hi. I'm Kagome." She stated with a firm handshake.
"Hello, Kagome-san," he said with a wink. "It's very nice to meet you. Do you happen to work here by any chance?"
His teasing was rewarded with a large smile. After spending such a long time without it, he savored the sight.
"I do." She responded. "I'm a shrine maiden, born and raised here."
He gasped dramatically. "This is your shrine?"
"Haha, it's my family's shrine, yes."
"Well, it's an honor to meet you."
She sniffed and stuck her nose in the air. "As it should be."
He couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped him. She looked so imperious but delight twinkled in those deep eyes of hers, ruining the effect. The wolf continued the game once he had gotten himself back under control.
"How old are you, Miko-san?"
"I'm twenty," she answered cheerfully. "How old are you, Kouga-san?"
"Twenty-six." He responded cheekily and Kagome collapsed into giggles.
She had relaxed. The miko had stopped curling into herself, and now her limbs were stretched out, with her hands on the grass behind her. She looked vaguely happy, which cheered the youkai considerably. She may have changed, but being joyful was a fundamental part of her personality. It would be terrible if that changed.
Still breathless from laughter, Kagome tried to continue. "W-what brings you to the Higurashi Shrine today?"
"Well," he started, "I was out of the country for a few years. When I came back, I saw that the school girls were wearing skirts- this -big." He held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart as demonstration. "Now, I used to have a friend that used to wear skirts like that too. So I tried to seek her out and hoped I hadn't missed her. But it was pretty hard, because the only person that knew when she was never really liked me that much. And it's never a good thing when a grown man hangs around a junior high school, you know?"
She giggled at the thought of Kouga lurking in front of her school. "No, no it's not." She agreed.
He sighed deeply, as if he had discovered the consequences of doing that first hand. "I had everyone I knew that was in the area look for my friend and no one could find her. So one day, I'm standing in line to buy my groceries and there's this woman in front of me. The only reason I really paid attention was because her hair smelled amazing. And I couldn't help but realizing that it smelled really, really familiar. So I started sniffing her ponytail."
Kagome gasped in shock like this whole scenario was strange to her. "You did? But, isn't that kind of breaking personal boundaries?"
He nodded gleefully. "Yeah. And she stomped away so fast that I didn't have time to figure out why it was so familiar."
"I don't stomp," she interjected but he continued as if she had not said anything.
"By the second time though, I realized who she was." He pinned her with a gaze that took Kagome's breath away. "And I was extremely shocked and extremely happy. I had almost given up hope."
His words covered her like a blanket. She felt warmth creep up her neck and it startled her back into breathing. Breaking his gaze, she blinked and cleared her throat.
"So what happened?"
His eyes stayed piercing, but the rest of him relaxed. "She left before I could say anything."
"That's horrible!" She grinned.
"It was! Then, I saw her again and thought: 'Good, this is my chance!' I wasn't even going to sniff her but I guessed she sensed me behind her. She whirled around so fast; I thought she was going to hit me."
Kagome felt guilty about laughing, so she smothered her giggles behind her hands. "Did she?"
"Even worse!" He exclaimed. "She tried to purify me!"
Kouga's faked hysterics sent Kagome into another fit of laughter.
"I-I am really sorry by the way."
He waved it off, laughing himself. "I already said it's alright. It makes sense. I shouldn't antagonize a miko."
"Hmm," she agreed and looked out at the shrine grounds once again. They sat there in companionable silence for a few minutes before Kouga spoke.
"They're great."
"Who's great?"
"Ginta and Hakkaku. Forgot already?"
Kagome waved off his teasing. "No! Of course not." She tilted her head towards him and smiled with her whole body. "They're great?"
"Hai." He confirmed. "They still run things when I'm away… which tends to be a lot."
Kagome tilted her head, silently asking for more information, but he waved it off.
"You don't want to hear about my work life, it's pretty boring."
She disagreed. "You work?"
He smiled and shrugged. "Some people would say that I don't work enough." He paused, and the smile dropped off his face. The sun suddenly stopped reaching them through the leaves above. The miko shivered.
"I would think that there are a few other things you would like to know about," he whispered.
Inuyasha. He was the elephant-or rather hanyou-in the gap between them. She had wanted desperately to ask, but didn't believe Kouga would willingly volunteer information.
She looked away, feeling guilty for thinking about Inuyasha so much when his rival lay right next to her. To her surprise, Kouga grabbed her hand and gently encouraged her to scoot closer. His eyes were sad instead of angry or jealous. When she was about a handbreadth away, the wolf youkai sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Feeling uncomfortable with his closeness, she tried to pull away at first. His touch was gentle while his grip was firm.
He matched her gaze evenly. He was offering comfort for what he was about to reveal. The realization that his news would require comfort caused her to slump into his side.
"Dog-breath lived a stupidly long life," Kouga began after a pause. Even though his words were harsh, the way he said it seemed more congenial than angry. "He never changed. His first solution was to swing his sword and ask questions later… But he never forgot you." Kouga pinned her with a gaze. "No one did. Not the two humans who traveled with you. They even named their first daughter after you, and had a whole litter of pups. The kitsune barely made it through the first few years. The mutt was able to help him and now the kitsune has five tails." Kouga took a breath.
"Inuyasha searched for you for a very long time, wanting to make sure you were safe. We came in contact with each other near the end, because of my duties. He felt the years pressing in on him and told me that if he couldn't find you in time, then he would tell me all he knew. He needed someone to take care of you.
"I had left and when I came back, the hanyou was gone. I never got to hear where you were, which I think he planned that way, the bastard. But… he died at a hospital in Tokyo twenty years ago, two floors down from where a baby was being born to a young couple that went by the name of Higurashi."
Kagome, who had already been in tears when Kouga first mentioned "Dog-breath," burst into sobs at that statement. He had come for her! All those years of mourning and grieving and waiting were in vain. He had come for her; he just couldn't make it.
"I-I-I was… a-always soooo a-angry." She hiccupped. "He-He p-p-promised to protect me, and n-never showed up. S-sometimes I… I ha-hated him!" She buried her head into Kouga's chest, and for the second time, he held her in comfort.
"I honestly doubt you hated him," Kouga soothed. "You were a lot of things, but everyone could tell of your loyalty to the ones you loved. And… and you loved him most of all."
Kagome didn't know what to think. She just remembered being so angry. She had spent so much time calling Inuyasha a hypocrite for promising protection to two women and never really going through with it. After that fateful day when she finally let go, she had thought she had let go of that anger.
When Kouga spoke, the guilt crashed down on her as she realized that maybe she had not let go at all. She knew her inner thoughts. No matter what Kouga said, she had been angry. Maybe not at Inuyasha necessarily, but it was his face that was attached to it. He symbolized the cruel workings of Fate.
But he was always a pawn of fate too, wasn't he? How must it have felt for him? Did he know she was coming into the world at the same time he was coming out of it?
Just as Kagome felt guilty again for not thinking of Inuyasha's feelings, Kouga spoke up. His voice rumbled through his chest and it was strangely soothing. He told her stories. He told her of the first time they had seen each other after the fall of Naraku. It was vaguely amusing, their posturing and insults were the same. When Kouga had bitterly asked if Inuyasha was treating Kagome well, all of their anger seemed to fall apart.
They bonded in a strange way over her. They both promised to find her, to protect her. To keep her, Kouga added mentally, but never said out loud. They both thought that the first person to find her would be the one who would get to claim her.
He looked down at the sobbing woman in his arms and chastised himself. All this time, he was still hell bent on claiming her, even as tears for another stained his shirt. He knew-dammit-he knew that she would never be claimed. She was too headstrong, too defiant to just roll over and allow herself to be stuck with someone she did not want. Despite this, he tried to pretend that if he said it enough, it would make it so.
Five hundred years and he still hadn't figured that out.
Kouga did figure one thing out though. The hanyou doubted if he would make it to Kagome in time. Inuyasha had left Kouga with enough information to sustain Kagome. Kouga knew about her friends, her kit and what happened to most of their mutual friends. The only thing Inuyasha had not given him was Kagome's location, just in case. His arms tightened around the woman in a brief wave of possessive anger. He had wasted so much time trying to find her all because the hanyou wanted her for himself.
Taking a deep breath of her scent, Kouga knew he couldn't really blame the half-breed.
The wolf would have done the same thing.
oOo