This author is very tired, but new chapter! Thank you all for the kind comments! I will have Inuyasha bits here and there but they will not be together, the anime made me sad in the mistreatment of Kagome. And I can't wait to write more Ayame snippets. Good luck to you Small Town Girl 2014! Thank you always for the kind comments, and I hope teaching goes well for you :) I know teaching can be rough, but I've had great teachers influence my life growing up.

Anyways, here's a new chapter, reviews are always appreciated!

"Soo… how do wolves even…court?" She asked, as soon as Ezume was out of ear shot, he had gone to go get them food, and ayame had politely requested that kagome's be cooked, this would give them time to discuss. He had given Kagome a strange look, and shook his head. Cooked food? Humans. But he obliged. Some demons did like cooked meat but it was very, very uncommon, often resulting in strange looks from other demons.

"Well, I don't know how different it is from humans, but the guy usually is the one to make the first move, he'll give her little gifts, like flowers maybe." she smiled down at the flowers in her lap, "he'll provide food, so he'll go out and hunt for her and offer it, usually her favorite catch, hmm he'll fight over her, although it can go both ways, sometimes girls fight over their guys if another girl gets too friendly." she said eyeing Ayami with disdain. Ayami was sitting far away from them laughing with a group, and ayame tapped her fingers on her chin, turning her attention back to kagome.

"Hmm I guess a lot of touches, like grooming wise." She saw Kagome's eyes widen and she laughed. Grooming? Like moneys and birds?

"The grooming part has to do more with the wolf wolves, not like the demon wolves, but physical affection is very strong, like bumping noses, that doesn't really change, but the physical touch is also to let their scent rub off on you, lots of touching is important. It lets the others know that you are theirs and they are yours." She didn't mention that Kagome had Kouga's scent all over, it was very faint but a subtle marking sign and he probably didn't even notice what he had done. She knew for a fact others could tell, and almost no one ever challenged an alpha over a mate, it did happen, but it was rare.

"Oh I see." She frowned, kouga had done some of those things, he had gotten her flowers in the past and food, had he been…courting her? Or had he done those things to make Inuyasha angry? Sure, he had declared her his woman, proclaimed his love, and had made every attempt but it was the latter. Right?

Ayame noticed the shift in her friend, Kagome was mulling about something but before she could say anything Ezume came back.

"Here take this!" A wolf thrusted a cup at her.

"W-what is it?" Startled by the wolf, she jumped but grabbed the cup.

"It's sake!" He grinned, and that's when she noticed his flushed face. She nodded tentatively and looked down at the drink, and gave it a careful sniff. Nothing.

The wolf giggled, "it'sss not poison! Like thiss! " He gulped down his own cup and cheerfully set it down waiting for her.

She nodded slowly, she wished Ezume and Ayame had stayed but they had wandered off to go dancing. As much as she had wanted her friend to stay, she was not about to drag ayame down and let her miss out on all of the fun, after all, from the way it sounded and her joyful expression when Ezume asked, this was probably the first time she had been dancing with someone.

Kagome failed to notice how the wolf's eyes glazed over a bit more after he finished his drink. He lost interest in waiting and walked off, offering more people drinks along his drunken path.

She eyed the drink again, "well…bottoms up I guess." she mumbled, giving the drink another sniff and drank the liquid. The liquid burned her throat going down, and her face soured. But slowly a warmth spread through her chest. She would have to find another drink soon. She got up, stumbling a bit and she giggled, why was everything suddenly so funny?

He wasn't sure how to approach her, it felt like she had been avoiding him all day and he understood why. He needed to apologize to her, but he wasn't sure when he would get the chance to be alone with her. She and Ayame had been glued together all day, but he couldn't tell if it was intentional. Either way he would find her and apologize even if ayame was nearby.

He glanced around, where is she? He frowned when he saw ezume and ayame dancing together. She wasn't with ayame?

"Heeyy kouga." a voice brought him out of his concentration and it made his hairs stand up. He stiffened, and turned around to look down at ayami.

"Ayami." he gave her a nod, hoping she would take the hint.

She did not. "Kouga darling I haven't seen you in forever!" she said, latching on to his arm.

He gritted his teeth, stay calm stay calm you're a guest here. He gently pulled away his arm, even though he wanted to shake her off violently. Her aura was annoying him already.

"I saw you yesterday." he continued looking around for kagome.

"I meant we haven't had time alone together." she almost whispered, fluttering her lashes.

He scowled, "I have to go. Have you seen kagome?"

Ayami frowned, and her eye twitched, "no, I haven't seen the miko.", she put on another smile, "why don't you and I go dancing?" she offered, trying to grab his arm, but he snapped his arm back.

"I don't dance." his irritation was growing, how could she not tell? He finally spotted kagome, she was walking funny towards ayame, her body swaying, "I have to go."

"Wait!" ayami cried, but he left before she could plead with him.

Why was the world moving so much? She was trying to walk to ayame, but had to stop herself every few steps giggling to herself as the snow crunched beneath her. Also where was kouga? She still had to apologize to him.

"Kagome?" she spun around a bit too fast and felt herself sway until his arms steadied her hips.

"Woaah!" she cried out, holding on to his forearms, and she laughed, "I sspun too fasst."

"Are you okay?" he was frowning, still holding on to her, in fear of her toppling over. Why was her speech so slurred, and her face so rosy? His blue orbs looked down at her, trying to make sense of it, and she gazed back at him, a lazy smile growing on her face.

"Wow, your eyes are SOOO pretty." how come she had never noticed how blue they were and how his eyes had tiny grey specks in them?

He wanted to blush, but a tinge of displeasure built up, "what's wrong kagome?"

She looked down at his arms still holding her, he wasn't putting any pressure on her but his veins stood out and certain thoughts came to mind, her scent turning spicy, and he quickly let go of her, and she wobbled.

"Nothingss wrong." she blushed, pushing the thoughts to the side, "I feel great. 'specially after the drink-s!"

"What drinks?"

"Umm sake, someone gave me drinks" she frowned, "it tasted kinda funny. But it made me feel soo good! Have you have some?"

He ignored her question, he wanted to murder whoever gave her the drink, "how much did you have?"

She looked pensively, "hmm one? One and a h-half? Kouga I feel realllyy dizzy" she said, swaying again and his arm shot out to grab her side.

"Let's get you some water." he sighed, leading her somewhere far away from the curious eyes

"Do you feel better?"

She nodded while sipping on her tea. He had forced her to drink water and then he brought her a cup of tea, it tasted awful but with the look he had given her, she wasn't about to argue with him. She took one final gulp and she laid down on a mat someone had left out. She still felt like the world was spinning too fast, how were people staying on their feet?

"Kouga?"

"Hm?' he was sitting up looking at nothing in particular, but not at her.

"Are you mad I drank?"

He looked down at her, is that what she thought? That he was mad at her?

He sighed and ran his finger through his ponytail, "no I'm not mad at you." relief flooded her, "I'm mad at whoever gave you the drink." he said.

Oh.

"Why?"

He turned to look down at her, "what they gave you isn't regular sake." he saw the alarm cross her face, "it's not dangerous to humans, but it's a lot stronger than human sake. So one drink would be okay, but I don't know how two drinks or more would affect you." He had seen young wolves not know their limits until they woke up the next day, laying somewhere random with a pounding headache.

"Oh." she closed her eyes, the dizziness fading away slowly.

"I'm not mad at you." he repeated, "but whoever gave you the drink should have been more responsible. I'm sure they were being nice, in including you, but humans are not meant to take that much sake. You could have blacked out. " He worried that someone might take advantage or try to hurt her, she was still a human to them and not everyone was quite as welcoming as his pack was.

She got up to protest, no way would she have blacked out, but she almost fell over, her protest forgotten as his arm wrapped around her before she fell. He cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry," she said, "but I'm okay. I didn't black out."

He nodded, "it's okay."

"And I'm sorry too." she repeated.

"You just apologized." she must have been even tipsier than he thought.

She shook her head but stopped, "I'm sorry about last night."

He felt a pang in his chest, she regretted being near him, she must have known "no kagome, I'm sorry."

"Why should you be sorry?" her eyebrows furrowing.

"I barged into your room last night and-"

"And I made you get on my bed and stay with me!" she whispered, "I made you uncomfortable!"

And then he burst out laughing, he grabbed onto his stomach with his free hand, and she frowned. Why was he laughing? But soon her frown disappeared, as she found that she liked his laughter, she had rarely seen him full on belly laugh or even relax.

"You think you made me uncomfortable? I thought I made you uncomfortable!" he said once his laughter died down.

"N-no! I thought I did because I basically forced you next to me." her face flushed, and she felt her side grow warm with his hand still on it.

As if reading her thoughts his hand retreated, and she missed the sense of warmth.

"No kagome, you did not force me. Wait, is that why you've been avoiding me? Because you thought you made me uncomfortable?"

She buried her face in her hands and nodded.

"Kagome," she peaked out from behind her hands, "I could never feel uncomfortable around you." his gaze pierced hers with his sincerity, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. She grabbed her tea and drank it to hide her smile, but the tea was cold and he could tell.

"I'll get you another cup. Wait here.". She sighed in relief, so the whole thing had been a misunderstanding, and she smiled, so she hadn't made him uncomfortable. Which was good but she still felt a small ounce of shame. They were friends of course but she couldn't help but think that what she did was inappropriate.

Kouga was kind so she shouldn't doubt his sincerity when it came to his actions, he hadn't stepped out of line last night so why would he be sorry? She bit her lip and smiled, and shook off her thoughts, no he was a friend and they had hung out innocently and he-wait a minute what had been taking him so long? She realized that at least ten minutes had passed by. She got up, maybe the tea was being made and he was waiting. Her dizziness was mostly gone when she got up, and she walked towards the music.

She looked around and froze, he was with ayami who was hugging him and…he was hugging her back, his back facing kagome. Ayami threw her head back and laughed at something he said.

And for a moment kagome felt something that she shouldn't have. Something that she never imagined she would feel towards kouga, it made her sick in the pit of her stomach. It was the smallest of tinges, something that as quickly as it had come up, went away.

She felt jealousy.