The Wolf.

Kagome woke up, feeling slightly weary still as the sun poured into the cave. As she sat up completely, she found that Kirara was staring at her blankly. Ignoring it, she rolled up her sleeping bag and pulled out her tooth brush and water to rinse her mouth out. She thought of Midoriko as she prepared to head home, still unsure of what the "gift" was that the dead priestess had talked about. Would it be a weapon? She couldn't possibly imagine what it would be.

As Kagome exited the cave, she felt the sunlight hit her at full force, completely bright against her eyes. She shielded her eyes with her hand and groaned. And then she began to smell something old and dirty. Something bad. She glanced around her, not seeing anything that could be the source of the smell. Kirara came to her side, transforming to her bigger form. She growled and suddenly ran ahead of Kagome, who had to quickly gather her things and follow. When she ran, she found that she had been faster and no longer ached. The damage that Inuyasha had done to her seemed to have finally disappeared.

"Kirara, where are you going?!" Kagome demanded.

The miko continued running and finally slowed when she saw Sango's village. The stench she smelled was now stronger, causing Kagome to reach for her bow. Once inside of the broken village, she heard a voice and growling. Kagome rushed and went to the hut where Kirara now stood. The young miko latched an arrow into place and pushed into the hut. She gasped in surprise when she saw the occupant, immediately dropping the bow. Koga stared at her with equally large wide eyes.

"Koga, what happened?" Kagome asked, kneeling beside him.

"I could ask you the same thing," his rough voice replied.

"What do you mean? I wanted to pray so I travelled here, but you. Why are you hurt?"

"Take a guess," he muttered.

"Inuyasha?"

Koga continued to stare at her and Kagome figured she was correct. He smelled of dirty blood. Kagome set her bag down and took out a small first aid kit.

"I'm going to clean you up, okay?"

"Is this what your prayers got you?" Koga asked.

"A first aid kit? No, I-"

"Are you not aware?" Koga asked, motioning towards her body.

"I don't understand you."

"Well, you're definitely my mate," he grinned.

Kagome was beyond confused now. Koga gazed at her face and then averted his eyes to her head. Kagome lifted her hand and ran it over her head. Then, she froze. Sitting in her hair were two ears, at the top of her head. Koga grinned even more, laughing as well. Kagome yanked her bag in front of her and grabbed her mirror. Once taking sight of herself, she clapsed her hand over mouth to keep from screaming. Two black dog ears were nestled comfortably in her hair. Her eyes were no longer a chocolate-brown, but almost hazel. Two fangs peeked from her mouth. Was this a sick joke? Had this been what Midoriko was talking about? Why this? Why a dog, of all things? Was she a half demon now? Kagome wanted to cry.

"You okay?" Koga asked.

"No! I don't... Why this?!" She exclaimed, hysterically.

"You didn't do this to yourself?" Now Koga was confused.

"No! A spirit visited me last night, she told me... but why?"

"You're not making any sense."

"Nevermind me, I need to take care of your wounds. I told you to stay away from Inuyasha! Now look at you!" Kagome shouted.

"No 'nevermind me', I want to know what's going on here! And to hell with what you said, I have to defend my woman at all costs!"

Kagome sighed, exasperated. "Somehow YOU'RE still the only thing that I'm concerned about right now."

"Thank you," Koga smiled.

Koga decided to not question her for now, but gave her a fuss once she opened the strange box in her hands. He was still entranced by her new form, and the scent she now had. She smelled like a wolf, but it was appealing to him even more than her normal scent. Somehow, it made her exotic smell even more intoxicating. She explained her meeting with the dead woman and he listened faithfully but just didn't understand. Wh would they, whoever they were, want her to have a wolf in her? He wasn't foolish enough to think that he had any part of that fate, although he was certainly pleased.

"Take off your armor," Kagome instructed.

"Eh? You don't have to tell me twice," Koga smirked.

"Don't be gross." Kagome rolled her eyes.

Koga chuckled, but did what he was told. Kagome proceeded to fetch a large bowl of water from the forest and went back to the hut. As she entered, she found Koga carefully laying his armor down. She couldn't help but notice the defined muscles that bulked from his chest and arms. She blushed as she caught sight of the defined v-line that traveled down to his...

"See something you like?"

Again, Kagome blushed. She kneeled down next to him and dipped a thick cloth into the water. Gently, she wiped it across his back, feeling each gash beneath her finger tips. He didn't seem to mind her touch on his wounds and laid perfectly still. Kagome bit her lip. She felt awful that this happened to him. She knew that Koga was wreckless, which was why she didn't want him to get involved in the first place. Kagome took out a small bottle of alcohol and poured it onto his shoulder. Koga felt the stinging sensation, but did not move. He was accustomed to pain of a greater force.

"You're good at this," he noted.

"At what?"

"You know, taking care of people, of me."

"Don't mention it, someone needs to do this for you."

"That's why you're my woman," Koga smiled.

"Anyway, why are you alone? Aren't Ginta and Hakkaku always near?" Kagome asked.

"I ordered them back to the den, they can't disobey me."

"You shouldn't do that, Koga. Considering how things ended."

"My packs safety comes first. As does yours, that's why I attacked the mutt face."

"Look how hurt you've gotten, it could have-"

"Kagome, don't worry about me. I'm strong and I can take care of myself. This shit isn't that bad."

"You can sit up now."

Kagome sighed and bandaged his shoulder after cleaning and drying the wound. He sat with his back to her, causing her to glance over his muscles again. She finished cleaning his other markings and motioned for him to put his armor back on. She put her things away and watched him carefully. Koga was no doubt a strong demon. He didn't accept defeat and he watched over his pack. But, one thing that bothered Kagome immensely was that he did not allow them to take care of him.

"Now, back to you," Koga said.

Kagome looked up at him, somewhat surprised by the serious note in his voice. She touched her new wolf ears and couldn't help but giggle. She had always thought Inuyasha's ears were the cutest and now she had a pair of her own. Kagome was as curious as Koga, but she felt no evil within her. She trusted in Midoriko and knew that the priestess had not given her something she could not use to her advantage. Still, Kagome had no idea how to use her new-found gifts. What could she do? What new skills did she have? Kagome again glanced over at Koga. He could help, couldn't he?

"You need to return to your friends," Koga stated.

"Yeah, you're right. Are you going to return to your pack?"

"No, I'm going with you," Koga smirked. "You probably know that hanyous are not widely accepted, but you're part wolf now. You've got a special kind of youkai in you, and you'll need to know how to work with it, along with my pack."

"Your pack?"

"Inuyasha is gonna be a real problem, Kagome. I'm going to get my fellow wolf clan leaders involved and figure out our next move. I want you to come with me."

"Koga, I can't just leave my friends."

"You said your miko made you this way because she thought it would help, right? I can help you even more. I can train you properly and helpwith your new strengths. Your humans can come, but trust me when I say you'll need me."

Kagome felt something stir within her, something that almost seemed to call to Koga. It wanted to be near him. She felt her skin flush and turned away from him, knowing he was watching her. So, she did want to be with him? What would her friends think? Would they indeed want to go wit her to Koga's den, with his pack? She knew her friends would not be judgmental, but a part of her felt like she should simply take time apart from them so she could become acquanted with the wolf side.

"Stop your worrying," Koga huffed.

"I'm not worrying," she pouted.

"I can smell what you're feeling, dummy. So I know you're lying and I know you want me," he said seductively.

"I certainly don't!"

"Yeah, whatever. I was still right about part of that, you WANT to come."

"... You're right, Koga. Maybe you can help me."

"We can give your friends the details and figure the rest out from there, sound good?"

Kagome nodded and smiled. She hadn't expected to see Koga and she was genuinely glad that she had. She couldn't deny that he was truly good to her, even when she knew he needed to fully recover from his own problems. Still, Kagome knew he was strong. She also had to admit that he looked as handsome as ever. The last meet with him certainly had caused her to look twice at him. Before, she had never really noticed how good-looking and muscular he was. Kagome wasn't a girl anymore and she admitted that, but she wasn't ready for how attractive she was beginning to find him. What could that mean, if anything?