I'm hoping to be able to upload next week but I have fallen a little bit behind because of school work midterms are coming up! But I'm very happy how these chapters have turned out. No Kagome and Kouga will never end up like she and Inuyasha! I hope you enjoy and if you do I would love a review! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kouga couldn't explain the joy of watching kagome dance. Warmth burst in his chest as he watched her dancing around, her cheeks rosy and glowing. He felt pride in watching her take part in his customs, wolf or no wolf, she was part of his pack, and he was enjoying watching her have fun.

She was laughing, she had taken a few more sips of sake "for courage" she had told him, shy at dancing and soon she relaxed, her shy steps soon getting into the rhythm with his encouragement.

She spun around to look at him and squealed when she thought she would collapse, it wasn't the alcohol but still he grabbed onto her, and her eyes met his, and he let go of her waist, his own face burning, was it the fire? Or was it her contact?

She laughed, and slowed down, out of breath from all the dancing.

"Tired?" he asked, the feast would go on until morning and he could tell her energy was slowly draining.

She nodded, "but I don't want to sleep yet." she yawned, shaking her head. I want to keep having fun with you.

"Do you want to go sit down somewhere?"

"Mmm, let's find a spot."

"Soo what were you talking about with hojo?" he asked, he really didn't mean to ask but the question slipped out before he could stop himself.

"Oh we didn't really talk much, mostly about the feast and his name."

"Is he…funny?" Kami, he wanted to cringe at himself, but curiosity ate at him.

"Umm I'm not sure, I really didn't get to talk to him much, but I guess I did laugh when he told me his name." she said laying down.

"Is his name weird to you?" He still wasn't sure where kagome came from, all he knew was that it had to do with the well, and maybe she thought some names were strange to her.

"No," she laughed, "it's just...ah I knew someone who's name was Hojo, back in my world."

His interest piqued, another hojo?

"Really?"

She nodded, "yea, I guess…I guess he was my first love." she snorted, "well more like I might have been his first love." it hadn't hit her until she was back with inuyasha and she had slapped her forehead, that poor boy, she had thought. All his attempts to go out with her and she blew him off every time, well she did have to save the world.

"What was he like?"

"Hmm, he was a very sweet boy, always asking if we could hang out, bringing me all kinds of remedies for my illnesses."

He frowned, "were you very sickly?" she always seemed fine to him, except when she had been in harms way thanks to Inuyasha.

She giggled, "not at all, but my grandpa and mom were always making excuses on why I couldn't go to school, and hojo would hear about it and bring me something at school so I could get better. Eventually I figured he had a crush on me, but I didn't figure it out until I stayed here permanently."

He didn't know what school was but he assumed it was important if she saw him often, and he frowned, if they saw each other, had they been serious?

"Was he courting you?" to him it sounded like it, getting her gifts, trying to make her feel better, and then more curiosity grew, "did..he ever make a move on you?"

"No," she smiled, "I don't know if he was courting me, he never officially asked me to be his girlfriend."

"Do you…regret not taking that chance with him?"

She smiled, "no, hojo was a sweet guy but, and I'm sure he's making someone very happy now, but I didn't hold that affection for him, is it the same for wolves? What he was doing?" she knew the answer, at least part of it, but she wanted him to explain.

He nodded slowly, "yea, I mean for us we get the person we like gifts, food, ya know stuff like that… try to make them feel better when they're sick, what he was doing for you."

"Kouga?" Now was her chance. She had to know now that the alcohol had mixed in with her bravery.

"Yea?"

"Were you…courting me back then?"

The tone shifted from playful to more serious.

"Yea," he flushed, if she wanted to know, he would tell her "well at least I was trying to...you never gave me any sign back. But you were also in love with him and eventually… I had to give up." he shrugged, he had given up because she was happy, and if she was happy, he could live with it.

"Oh…but..didn't you care that I was human? I mean…don't you want kids one day?" After seeing how the hanyo's often were discriminated, she wasn't sure if kouga would feel okay with it

He shrugged again, "I did declare you my woman, so it didn't matter to me if you were a demon or human. So I guess you could say I didn't really care if my kids would be hanyo's one day. As long as they came out healthy."

She nodded and looked away, and a memory of lizards and the look of horror on inuyasha's face when he discovered them came up and she let out a small laugh, and he looked at her, cocking his head.

"Hojo was kind of dense too I suppose, but polite, I didn't love him, but he also made me acknowledge what a good boyfriend he would have made, had I accepted him."

"Why didn't you?" he asked, as much as he disliked this Hojo guy, he didn't sound that bad, compared to the mutt face.

"I was in love with Inuyasha," she said softly, the hurt in her voice wasn't there anymore, "Inuyasha was so different, he was dense too, but he wasn't sweet like Hojo, he was rough around the edges, not that I blamed him, all his life he was never accepted, by humans or by yokai's…but he always did the right thing, he wasn't a bad person" she stared at the stars, carefully avoiding kouga's look "I accepted him for who he was, but in the end that wasn't really enough. I wasn't her, Kikyo, I mean, just an incarnation of her."

He nodded, "You look nothing like her." he stated.

"Really? So many people say I look like her, and it doesn't help that I'm also a miko." her friends had never compared her but so many had each time they traveled, someone always told her that she looked exactly like a miko that had lived 50 years ago, each time it stung and made her wonder who she was.

"There is no one like you." he said, boring his eyes onto her and she felt her face warm, and something fluttered in her stomach, "there is only one Kagome." My kagome.

"Thank you." she said, shivering at his words.

"Are you cold?" damn it, he should have brought her something, and he regretted not grabbing another tea.

"A little," she lied, she didn't want to admit that it was him making her feel this way, how his words were affecting her.

"Here get closer to me." he said and she did, inching towards him until they were almost shoulder to shoulder.

He removed his cloak and placed it around her shoulders and she felt guilty.

"But won't you be cold?" she asked.

"Nah I'll be fine." The cloak was more to show his status as a leader.

"Here. We can both fit." she threw part of his cloak around his shoulder so they were both covered and suddenly he felt shy at their proximity.

Clearing his throat he asked, "so, back where you came from, did you have a lot of potential mates?"

She giggled, "no, I didn't, just hojo and inuyasha and well you were technically one without me knowing."

He was sure there were many others, like the hanyo's half brother, he had sensed some attraction towards her but Sesshomaru never acted on it, claiming he was disgusted by humans, yet somehow always traveling with a human child.

"How about you? What was your first love like?"

He shrugged, "I had crushes and everything, but she was different. She was sweet, and strong, I was surprised when she slapped me too, I guess that's where it started."

A memory racked her brain, was it her? Or was it someone else who had also slapped him.

"She slapped you?'

He chuckled, "yea, it had hurt too. But I admired the fire in her, and how far she went to saving a kitsune, I wanted that...After all, it was you." He smiled, his fang sticking out, lately she found that absolutely adorable, wanting to run her finger over his lip where the fang overlapped

Her face burned with what he said. "Hey you deserved it."

He nodded, "well yea, I had kidnapped you and then declared you my woman, I'm surprised you didn't purify me on the spot."

Kagome threw her head back and laughed and he grinned at her response, he was only half kidding.

"So kouga..how are you doing with…with the unification ending?" she asked, she didn't think he was hurting but still she wanted to make sure he was okay.

"I'm happy it's done with, and I think Ayame does too, she seems to be moving on with Ezume slowly, he's had a crush on her forever. I'm just glad she's not stuck with me because of our obligations." Being the children or grandchildren of leaders was not easy for either of them "As long as she's happy with him, and besides she's welcome to stay with our tribe whenever "

"What do you mean?" her face paled. Was he kicking her out? Surely he was not cruel enough to do that.

"Well, since we aren't united anymore, she's welcome to go back to her original pack." he said and he saw kagome wince.

"That makes sense.." she trailed off, it saddened her to think that ayame wouldn't be around her so often.

"But she won't leave immediately if she doesn't want to of course, it's not like she's being kicked out," he assured her, "but she'll probably leave once ezume wants to unify with her, which I don't think will take him too long to ask."

She felt some reassurance that her friend would not leave so soon. As long as her friend would be happy she couldn't complain. She yawned, and felt herself getting more tired, the days of being around strangers were catching up with her. Kagome wasn't necessarily an introvert, but her energy was drained. She moved her arms slightly to get more comfortable not noticing her fingertips brushing against kouga's, but he did, he closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing heart.

It means nothing he rationalized.

"Kagome?"

"Mmm?"

" I just wanted to say you looked…you look really great tonight."

She felt the butterflies stir again, "thank you…you also look really nice today." It was now or never, "I umm want to give you something." she said, feeling nervous. What if he hated it? Or thought it was silly?

She dug into her pocket and shyly showed him the pendant. He looked down at it, a stone? A gift from kagome?

"It's a pendant, it's supposed to be for goodluck and for protection…I know it probably doesn't really work but after the hawks I-" she was rambling but luckily he stopped her.

"Thank you kagome." he grabbed the pendant from her hand, and studied it, "I have never gotten a gift from anyone." he admitted.

"Really?"

"Other than you, like when you gave me that crunchy bag."

"Oh the chips! Well, I mean you could have been hungry."

"My woman took good care of me back then." he teased, looping the pendant string through his loincloth and he patted it. She smiled and gently bumped against his shoulder.

He gazed down at her, and she caught his eye, she couldn't tell what emotion was running through him, and then his eyes skimmed her mouth. Her mouth looked soft and inviting and he wonder what they tasted like. He leaned down slightly, "kagome?" he murmured.

"Mmm?" his face was inching closer and she felt her face gravitating towards his, tilting to the side, eyes closing.

"I-" his eyes softened as he focused on her mouth.

"Hey guys! The games are- ohh" their heads recoiled instantly, and kouga shot a glare at Ezume who had run up to them.

"We'll be right there." he said gruffly, turning his head and feigning a cough, his face burning with embarrassment and shyness.

Kagome's face was crimson in color. Did we…almost? Oh Kami.

He cradled her close to him, he wasn't sure what time it was but he had a good estimate. He was proud of how long she had managed to stay up, one minute she had been sitting next to him laughing at someone's joke, then the next he felt her head leaning up against him, and she was passed out. The same had happened to ayame, and ezume had carried her off.

Kouga didn't want to wake her up, she looked so calm, with her head resting against his shoulder. He waited a few minutes enjoying her warmth and the peace, some people were still up but he was tired too. The music had stopped long ago, and the fires were slowly dying. He hooked his arm under her knees and pulled her close, making sure to pull her head close to his chest. He walked to her room, with every intention of leaving her in her room but stopped when he heard someone in there, no he heard two someones in there.

And then he heard the noises.

It happened sometimes, drunk wolf demons in their confused state walking into the wrong room and hooking up, or sometimes they just didn't care. Kagome stirred, looking up at him through bleary eyes.

"Kagome?" he half whispered, turning away from her door.

She didn't say anything but nestled closer to his chest and wrapped her arm around his neck going back to sleep.

He wanted to laugh at how adorable she was, he shook his head and brought her to the only place he could think of, his room. Even drunk wolves knew better than to go into alpha's rooms. As gently as he could he set her down on his bed and she let go, curling into a ball. He grabbed a blanket and covered her and layered his cloak. Then he looked at the mat that he still had laid out.

Well I guess this is where I'm sleeping he thought. Wolves had no problem sharing spaces, but humans were more prude about situations like that. He yawned and laid down looking over at kagome.

"Goodnight kagome."