A Dragon's Fang, a Human's Heart

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

A human with the power of a demon. To many such an idea sounds ludicrous, does it not? Well he's here to prove them wrong. He will journey across time with the love of his life on his journey as he fights for friendship, for honor, for life, and above all, for love. Rewrite of the Rise of a Warrior: Inuyasha.

14. Of Wolves and Birds

(Of Wolves and Birds)

"When the ten Fangs of Ryuhogo reunite after thousands of years, the Dragon Guardian shall at last fulfill his destiny and rid this world of the Jewel that has caused so much suffering, and begin a new era for all."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is bad." Kagome's head suddenly snapped up as she shifted Shippo into one arm and then gripped the hilt of her sword with her free hand "I can sense it, there's a jewel shard heading our way and it's coming at us really fast."

Sure enough, a large cyclone sped onto the scene from which Koga burst forth, and he screeched to a halt in front of the group, his eyes blazing as he scanned the area, or to be more specific the bodies of his wolves scattered across the ground "So who the hell are you supposed to be? And more importantly, what good reason could any of you have for slaughtering my wolves?"

'This is bad, this guy has three shards on him, he has one on his right arm and one on each of his legs too!'

"So you don't have an explanation for it? Then I don't have a reason to spare you."

"So you're the one controlling this bloodthristy pack?" this was when Inuyasha took a few steps forward and started running his mouth.

"And you're the one chose claws reek of the blood of my wolves, which means that you're the one who gets to die first."

"Go ahead and try it, I fucking dare you! How many innocent people have been killed by you and your mongrels? You reek of the blood of humans."

"Spare me the altruism." Koga let out a loud scoff "If you knew the first thing about who these people are and what they did mutt face, you'd know they were anything but innocent."

"Did- Did you just call me a mutt?!"

"No you're right, that would be an insult to canines. You smell so much worse."

"So what, you don't like my smell? Then how about I go ahead and solve that problem by cutting off your nose and stabbing some air into your gut!"

"I'd like to see you try."

"We all would, but we're not gonna." this was when Tatsu removed the sword strapped to his back, then promptly handed it to Kagome, and then he stepped up to the front "You're gonna be fighting me."

"Looks like we've got a brave one here don't we? Tempting as it might be the mutt's gonna die first, so step aside fresh meat."

"Not gonna happen, if you want him then you go through me, and even if you did you'd have to go through the rest of us, and they're all a lot tougher than you give them credit for."

"Oh for fuck's sake, someone just had to go and be the hero." Koga let out a sigh and then ran a hand through his hair "Alright fine, it doesn't really make a difference to me. If you're that insistent on defending him then I won't stand in your way."

"Good enough for me, now let's get this started." then the battle began as the two of them started running across the battlefield and clashing with each other, fists against fists, the two of them about keeping pace with each other.

Tatsu leapt over a kick and aimed one of his own at Koga's head.

Koga ducked underneath the attack and spun around to deal Tatsu a kick straight to the face, but he received a fist to the jaw at the same time, the force of the collision sending both of them skidding back a fair distance, and then he leapt onto the roof of the hut nearest to him "You didn't think I was gonna make this easy did you?"

"I would've been insulted if you did! Terra Spears!" Tatsu slammed both of his hands into the ground and summoned a barrage of spears made of earth that he sent hurtling forward.

Koga continued leaping across the various huts throughout the village, dodging every earth spear as he did so, and once he saw Tatsu blitz in front of him and channel some energy into his left hand, he leapt into the air towards him, using his right arm with the jewel shard to clash his fist against that of Tatsu, though the collision quickly began drawing blood from his arm 'He wasn't going to release that energy, he was just channeling it into fist in order to increase the power of his attack!'

"Don't let yourself get distracted in a fight!" Tatsu quickly dealt Koga a sharp kick to the side, the force sending him hurtling down into one of the remaining huts and crashing straight through it as a result.

Koga was able to rebound just as he hit the ground and dodge the next barrage of punches and kicks that came from Tatsu, and then when he found an opening he grabbed Tatsy by the wrist and hurled him a short distance away, and just as Tatsu managed to stop himself, Koga dealt him a fierce kick to the face that sent him tumbling backwards a fair distance.

Tatsu managed to stop himself after a moment and wiped the blood from his lip 'Looks like this guy is a lot tougher than he looks. It's times like this I wonder how the hell my gi and my glasses never get wrecked no matter how much I do. Oh well, I probably shouldn't let myself get overly distracted over thoughts like that. Welp, time to make the counterattack. Dragon Burst!" he then launched himself forward and unleashed a wave of blue energy from one hand.

Koga let out a roar as the jewel shard in his arm started glowing, and he promptly stuck his fist out to meet the blast head on, the force proving to be enough to cancel it out, but it also resulted in an explosion that sent both of them hurtling backwards, along with sporting some light burns across their dominant arms.

Tatsu took a moment to pull himself back to his feet and wipe away some of the exceess blood from his face, with Koga doing the same "You're pretty quick on your feet and you've got some serious attack power. Not bad."

"And it's pretty rare to see a human who actually knows how to fight, I'll give you that much at least."

"Tatsu be careful, don't let your guard down with this one!" Kagome called out to him, which got the attention of both of them "He's using the power of three jewel shards, he's keeping them on his legs and his right arm!"

'She can tell where I'm keeping the jewel shards?'

"So you're using shards of the jewel huh?" Tatsu gave a smirk as he cracked his neck "On one hand, that makes things a lot more interesting. On the other hand, it doesn't mean a damn thing if you have all the power in the world, unless you know how to use it properly."

"True enough, you've gotta take the power it gives you and make it your own. About time I fight someone whose got brawn and brains."

"I've spent years training in the ways of the warrior, and I've learned that you need a healthy balance of both if you want to survive and thrive. So tell me your name."

"As long as you tell me yours."

"You first."

"Fine. My name is Tatsu Kamikaze, I'm a full blooded human and damn proud of it."

"I am Koga, the new leader of the Wolf Demon Tribe, and I won't hesitate to rip through anyone that takes the lives of my comrades!"

"That sort of feeling goes both ways, so you ready for the next round?"

"You mean the one where you die?"

"See if you can back up that claim."

"Fine!" and so the two of them charged at each other again, trading a series of even blows.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, on the sidelines…

Miroku and the others watched as the battle between Tatsu and Koga raged on with renewed levels of ferocity "Well it would seem that they're about evenly matched, both in terms of skill and in determination."

"That really says a lot considering he's a wolf demon." Sango muttered.

"You've encountered them before I take it?"

"Not personally, but I have heard of them from other Demon Slayers. They're demons that preside over and control packs of wolves, and while many of them appear to be human, the reality is that they're no different from the wolves they command."

"And they're closing in from either side!" Shippo tried to hide himself further in Kagome's arms at the sight of the wolves closing in.

"Kirara." was all Sango needed to say to prompt Kirara to transform into her giant fire cat form, which proved to be more than enough to scare the wolves off.

"Ha, they totally just ran off with their tail between their legs!"

"You're welcome, but in any case it's up to Tatsu now. He just has to wrap it up with Koga and that will be the end of it."

"I've got a better idea, we don't wait for him to finish it and instead I blast that mangy wolf straight through the gates of hell." Inuyasha promptly drew the Tessaiga and got into a stance with it 'This is the perfect time to test the Wind Scar on that flea bag. When the flow of dark energy collides with the wind, it creates a fissure. I can pick up on the scent it leaves behind, and that right there is the Wind Scar! Now let this filthy wolf understand why you don't fuck with me and the Tessaiga!' he raised his sword and pounced forward as he prepared to unleash the Wind Scar, when…

"Something isn't right." Koga suddenly broke off from the attack he was launching on Tatsu and leapt back a fair distance, then turned to the wolves that were still present "Let's fall back for now, this is too dangerous!" he shot a quick glance at Tatsu "You get to live for now, but next time you and I are gonna settle things." and then he promptly took off within his trademark whirlwind, with his wolves following his trail as fast they could.

"Did… Did that bastard just run the fuck away?!"

"I'm pretty sure he did." Kagome could only blink at the sight, along with the others "What do you know, it looks to me like you got jilted."

"No idea what the fuck that means."

"You don't need to know that, what you already know is you just fight blocked me." Tatsu told him dryly "Seriously man, not cool."

"What, he called me a mutt. That's a line you don't cross with dog demons."

"And stealing my fights is a line you don't cross with me."

"You've stolen my fights with Sesshomaru twice!"

"Alright you two, that's enough." Miroku was quick to call them off "Inuyasha tell me, you were about to use the Wind Scar against Koga?"

"Yeah I was, but the coward up and ran away before I got the chance. I guess in the end, he was all bark and no bite."

"Perhaps, but at the same time this makes me wonder."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Well I can't help but wonder if Koga sensed the power of the Tessaiga before you could unleash the Wind Scar, and maybe his instincts told him that he was in danger."

"So he's got brains to back up the brawn he has going for him." Tatsu frowned in thought as he heard this "Call it a hunch, but I get the feeling that the next time we run into Koga we're gonna have our hands full."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hours passed, and the sun was now setting over the skies above.

Miroku and Inuyasha were finishing up the task of digging the graves for the villagers that had been slaughtered "Well there we go, I think that was the last of them."

"Dammit, this is completely ridiculous." Inuyasha grumbled "All we seem to be doing lately is burying people that got slaughetered like fucking animals. I might as well become a professional grave digger, but I'm not even getting paid for it. I can't believe I let myself get suckered into another good samaritan act."

"It seems to me that every time we travel in the direction in which Kagome senses a shard of the jewel, we come across another village that's been completely annihilated. The battle to claim the shards of the Shikon Jewel has resulted in nothing but tragedy, and as such countless innocent villagers have lost their lives because of it."

"Yeah yeah we knew that already, so what's your point?"

"My point is that while I do believe that it is a worthwhile venture to take possession of the shards of the jewel to make it whole again before Naraku or any other demon can get his hands on it, I cannot approve of your intentions to seek out the shards in order to turn yourself into a full fledged demon. That is all that I'm saying."

"Don't start with all of that crap again, you're not winning any points for persistence. I'm gonna turn myself into a full fledged demon and I don't care what anyone else says, so don't waste your breath trying to stop me." and so he promptly walked away.

'The power that lies within the Shikon Jewel can be used for good or evil, but you have to be sure to think things through carefully Inuyasha. In all of the time we've been travelling together, have you ever heard of anyone that found happiness through the power of the Shikon Jewel? No good is going to come from it, the power it holds is one fueled by darkness and blood.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the group had settled down in the village for the night.

Tatsu was in the middle of gathering wood for their fire, with Shippo riding on his shoulder in his typical fashion "So have you ever heard of these Wolf Demon guys too?"

"Oh yeah, my parents mentioned them a lot of times." Shippo told him "They live in packs up in the mountains, and they think they're some kind of supreme wolf demons. Then they go and chase other demons off their land and claim it as part of their own territory. Smaller demons like me ended up being driven out and had to find somewhere else to live because the Wolf Demon Tribe took control of the mountains and they guard them ruthlessly."

"Sounds pretty hardcore. So what about this guy Koga, you hear of him before?"

"Nope. There are so many branches of the Wolf Demon Tribe that it's really hard for anyone to keep track of all of them. Koga said something about him being their new leader while you two were fighting earlier, so chances are he started some kind of uprising and took control of the pack using the power of the jewel shards."

"Huh. Makes sense to me, better him than Naraku anyway." the two of them made their way back into the hut and found Sango working on the fire "We brough more wood for you Sango."

"Thanks for that, we have plenty of wood for the time being." Sango told him "Just go ahead and set it down in the corner."

"Got it. Hey by the way, you know where Kagome took off to?"

"Oh yeah, I saw her walking around with Inuyasha outside not too long ago."

"Those two? Kind of weird, I wonder what that's about." then he looked down and took notice of how Kirara was nuzzling against his leg.

"She's been following you around constantly lately, I guess she must have warmed up to you pretty quickly."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, a short distance outside the village…

At the same time, Inuyasha had found himself face to face with Kagome on the side of a hill that stood overlooking the village "So do you actually need something? Whatever it is go ahead and spit it out, I wanna practice using the Wind Scar."

"Believe it or not, practice is actually what I need you for." Kagome turned around to face him and looked him dead in the eye "I want you to fight me."

"...Okay not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting that. Where the fuck did that come from?"

"I think you already know where it came from Inuyasha. You saw this morning the results of my training, now I need to put it to the test. I don't just mean in a sparring match either, I need to know that I have what it takes to stand on my own two feet in an actual fight. I know I could never ask Tatsu or Sango to do this because they would hold back, even after I'd make them swear not to, and Miroku doesn't know how to fight with a sword as far as I know."

"Which leaves me, the only other choice you've got."

"Because you're blunt and you don't care about holding back, and right now that's exactly what I need." Kagome took a few steps back from him as she drew her sword and dropped into a stance, two hands firmly gripping the hilt of the blade "So please."

"...Fine fuck it, I can live with that." Inuyasha leapt back a fair distance and promptly drew the Tessaiga "Let's do this."

"Right. Go ahead and make the first move."

"I was going to either way." then the battle started as he charged forward and promptly started thrusting the Tessaiga forward with a series of strokes.

Kagome quickly found herself forced on the defensive and evasive, avoiding each strike from the Tessaiga with a series of backsteps, and once she found an opening she started pushing back against him with her own sword, only to be sent reeling back a short distance by a palm thrust, though she was able to rebound before she was blown off her feet. She continued taking a series of step backwards as their fight ventured into the dark forest behind them, and she continued to evade each of his strikes, blocking the occasional strike and leaping over one or two as she kept on trying to evade him 'Okay so far so good, I think I'm holding my own against him. I haven't landed any blows on him, but neither has he.'

"You're never gonna win any battles if all you do is dodge!" Inuyasha continued his offensive streak of attacks, forcing Kagome to take a series of steps back.

Kagome continued dodging and blocking his strikes until she found herself with her back to the wall of a large tree behind her, which forced her to leap out of the way to avoid the next strike from Tessaiga, which promptly cut through the tree, but rather than run she then tried to leap off of the stump of the tree and thrusted her blade forward, which failed to strike him and she had to duck to avoid another stroke of the blade, so she climbed onto the stump of the tree that had been previously destroyed and started fending off his attacks once again.

'So she's trying to get the high ground to get an advantage. Smart move.' Inuyasha continued swinging his sword in an attempt to land a blow.

'I wonder, could it…' with an idea coming to mind, Kagome stomped down on the blade of the Tessaiga as it passed underneath her legs "How's that for strategy?"

"Don't forget who you're dealing with." Inuyasha needed only to raise one of his arms for it to be enough to free the Tessaiga with enough force to send Kagome stumbling off the stump she was on and back a fair distance until she hit another tree with a thud.

Kagome ducked underneath another slash from Tessaiga and started running through the forest, her mind racing 'Okay keep calm and think, do what dad said, I have to use my surroundings to my advantage.' she started cutting down a number of trees as she passed them.

"Trying some kind of distraction?" Inuyasha didn't waste any time in cutting through every fallen tree he came across with ease, whether it be with his sword or with his claws "Or is it just that you're trying piss me off?"

"It's something my dad told me to do, use my surroundings to my advantage!" Kagome then cut down a few more trees in between her and Inuyasha before taking off running, and she did so until she reached the end of the forest and found herself back on the grassy slope overlooking the village.

This came to a head when Inuyasha leapt overhead and dropped down in front of her, then gave a simple thrust of the Tessaiga.

Kagome was forced to duck underneath the blade, but then an idea came to her, and so she then thrusted her sword into the ground and used it to fling dirt and dust directly at Inuyasha's face, which subsequently caused him to cry out in pain.

"Again with the eyes, why the fuck is it always the goddamn eyes! And for fuck's sake, you got it in my nose too!" Inuyasha was left to clutch his face in pain with one hand, holding his sword with the other hand 'She used that little trick to deal with both my eyes and my nose at the same time. It's annoying as fuck and kind of painful, but pretty smart.'

'He can't see me or track my scent thanks to all of that dirt in his face. Maybe now I can get around him and try and knock him to the ground.' so Kagome slowly started tiptoeing her way around Inuyasha, careful not to make a single sound, only for her to suddenly step on a twig, resulting in a loud enough cracking noise.

Inuyasha's ears twitched at the sound of the cracking and he charged forward, with one stroke of the Tessaiga proving to be enough to knock Kagome's sword clear out of her hands, and then he thrusted his hand forward and dealt Kagome a palm strike to the chest, knocking her to the ground in a single blow, which allowed him to point the Tessaiga directly at her throat "That's it then, you lose this one." he sheathed the Tessaiga and used his sleeve to wipe the dirt from his face.

"I guess I wasn't good enough."

"Don't start whining over it." he promptly yanked her to her feet, then grabbed her sword and handed it to her "You weren't overconfident in your ability to attack, you made sure to get the high ground because you thought it would give you an advantage, and you made sure to use your surroundings to try and get an advantage over me. All things considered… I've seen a lot worse than what you showed me. At least you knew what you were doing."

"Inuyasha…" upon hearing this, Kagome couldn't help but give a small smile as she placed her sword back in its sheath "That might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me. I mean usually you interact with Tatsu a lot more than me, so I figured it was a guy thing, but now…"

"Don't get too sentimental about it, he's a decent sparring partner and he annoyed me less. But now you're somewhat less annoying to me than you were when I first met you."

"I can live with that. So how are things going with the Wind Scar?"

"Kirara makes a good partner to practice with, probably because of the fact that she can't talk back, but in any case having her around works. Anyway I smell dinner, so I'm gonna head back and eat."

"You're not gonna leave me behind are you?"

"Not if you get the hell moving." and so the two of them started walking in silence, which he broke after a moment "Just gonna throw this out there, the old man said something about how you can forge a deeper connection with your sword if you give it a name."

"A name huh?" Kagome looked at the sword on her back and frowned in thought for a moment, but then it suddenly came to her "I got it! I'm gonna call it Seishin Rozu!"

"Spirit Rose, how the hell did you come up with that?"

"Well Shinsei because of how I can channel my spiritual powers through the sword, and Rozu because it kind of reminds me of a rose. Like a rose it's beautiful to look at, but if you get too close and touch it in the wrong place then you can bleed."

"Uh huh."

"...You get it? You see it's because a rose can have thorns that can make you bleed, and the blade of the sword can-"

"Yeah I got it, it just wasn't funny."

"It wasn't supposed to be funny, it was supposed to be a metaphor." this little exchanged proved to be enough to prevent either of them from noticing multiple sets of eyes watching them from within the woods.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the sun was just beginning to rise.

Koga let out a sigh as he knelt down in front of a grave on the mountainside "Hey, it's me. I'm sorry, I know I should come by more often, but I've been pretty busy with the pack and all of that stuff. I can imagine you know what I did to that village yesterday." he let out a sigh as he hung his head low "I can also imagine how you must be feeling about that. I'm sorry, I know you never would've wanted me to do something like that. Even after what those people did to you, even while they were doing it you never fought back, you never tried to defend yourself if it meant hurting them. But I don't have that kind of strength in me, I can't look past what they did to you. I just hope you can take comfort in the fact that what they did to you, they can't do to anyone else in our tribe. All I really want is to do right by you, to follow in your footsteps and do right by the rest of the pack." it was at this moment that he turned his head and found a number of wolves approaching him "Well what did you find out?" he was met with a series of howling and growling "I see, so that sword the mutt wears really does use some kind of strange demonic magic. Dammit, I can feel my fur still on edge just thinking about it. The human bastard is one thing, but that mutt could be a real problem. But at least now I know what I have to do next. That girl with the sword has the power to see the shards of the Shikon Jewel shards, I can put her skills to very good use. But don't think this makes up for killing that kid, I told you before to let the younger ones go and you ignored me." he was met with guilty whining, to which he rolled his eyes and looked back at the grave, and his expression softened "Today is the day we're gonna end this, I promise, and that girl is how we're gonna do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Inu Gang…

At the same time, Inuyasha was leading Tatsu and the rest of the group into the mountains, his face close to the ground as he tried to catch a certain scent "Alright I picked up the scent of the wolves so now I'll be able to lead us to them no problem. That cocky bastard is gonna pay for running is mouth like that, I can't believe that he called me a mutt!"

At the same time, Shippo just let out a sigh from where he was riding with Kagome in the basket on her bike "I don't blame him for getting upset over being called a mongrel, but when he's going around and sniffing the ground he sure as heck looks like one."

"I heard that Shippo, come over here and say that to my face, I fucking dare you!" that proved to be enough to scare him into hiding behind Kagome.

"He can hear me from that far away? What a bloodhound, talk about canine power."

"Canines are carnivorous, remember that you little runt!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the others…

At the same time, Miroku and Sango were flying on Kirara's back and searching around the side of the mountain, when they both took notice of a certain something "Do you feel that? I can tell there's something very ominous in the air."

"So you could sense it too then?" asked Sango.

"You did as well?"

"Not me directly, but I could tell that Kirara has been very restless lately."

"And I can feel a foreboding energy approaching, and from what I can tell it seems to be very different from the wolves."

"Do you think there's another demon present?"

"Perhaps." it was around this time that Kirara had taken notice of a certain figure soaring the skies in the distance, but they didn't take notice of it and promptly returned to the ground to meet up with the others.

"It's about fucking time you guys decided to show up?" Inuyasha let out a scoff "Fly any slower if you can, we sure as hell want them to get away."

"Tell me something Inuyasha, can you hear or smell anything unusual about the area we're in right now?"

"Oh right, so I'm your fucking faithful terrier all of a sudden, you only come to me when you need me to sniff out a scent or heard something with my little doggy ears?! Dammit you guys piss me off, every single one of you!"

"Calm down Inuyasha, I didn't mean any offense by it. All I wanted to know was whether or not you sense another presence in the air like we do."

"Well it doesn't matter now, we've got incoming. Take a look." Tatsu drew his sword off his back and gestured up to where a number of wolves were hurtling down the cliffside towards them, to which he was quick to try and fend them off, but he quickly found himself being tackled off the side of the cliff.

"Tatus!" of course Kagome and the others didn't waste any time in fighting off the rest of the wolves, though she was quick to discover something wrong 'What gives, why are the wolves only attacking Inuyasha and the others?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Tatsu…

"Get the hell off of me you damn dirty dogs!" Tatsu didn't waste a second in freeing himself form the jaws using an iron club he summoned, and then he stopped himself from falling further down the cliff by embedding the blade of his sword into the cliffside, but just as he was about to start working his way back up he noticed something out of the corner of his eye "What the hell is that?"

"You're lucky I have other business to attend to, so you get to live!" Koga suddenly burst past him as he ran up the cliffside, only to look down and noticed a long iron chain hanging onto one of his legs, with Tatsu attached to the end "Trying to hitch a ride?"

"Call it payback for that little sneak attack with the wolves."

"That wasn't a sneak attack, it was supposed to be a diversion, just like this." he then used his right arm to crush the chains in his hand, leaving Tatsu to try and rebound, but then fall into the river at the bottom of the mountain, while Koga himself burst up the cliffside and leapt high into the air, then crashed to the ground in front of the group and dealt Inuyasha a swift yet powerful kick to the face that sent him reeling back "First the birds, then you'll be next mutt face, but this one comes with me!" he suddenly bolted past and slung Kagome over his shoulder (Shippo still on her own shoulder), and then he took off running along the cliffside.

"Kagome hold on!" Miroku and the others tried to chase after her, only to find the remaining wolves blocking his way as they pounced at him "Kagome!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the kidnapper and his two victims…

"What are you doing, let go of me!" Kagome, with Shippo still hanging onto her shoulder, tried to reach for her sword on her back in order to cut herself free, only to find nothing there 'Crap, it must have fallen off when he snatched me away like that!' and then things got bad when she noticed him coming to the edge of a cliff, but showing no signs of slowing down "Wait what are you doing, what the heck are you doing?!"

"What the hell does it look like? Cliffs like this one are nothing to me, just watch!" so Koga then leapt over the edge of the cliff "Did you forget about the Shikon Jewel shards that I keep in my legs?" he was met with only the sound of her screaming in terror "That's a yes, but you don't give a damn." so he reached the other side a fair way's down and planted both of his legs, still freefalling down the cliffside until he came to a stop about halfway down "There you see, there's nothing to it so now can you shut the hell up and stop screaming?!"

"I'll scream as much as I want to!"

"...Ask a stupid question." Koga let out a sigh as he regained his footing and began jumping up to the top of the cliff, forcing himself to tune out Kagome's terrified screams as he did so. It didn't take him long to reach the top of a cliff, and then he gave a quick look back and smirked "Looks like your friends back there can't keep up with me, nobody can run as fast as I can."

"Well of course they can't, you're the one with the jewel shards jammed in your legs! You don't get bragging rights if you're cheating you know."

"You wanna run that the hell by me again?"

"You've got a lot of nerve just up and taking me like that, what do you want with me in the first place?"

"You've got some skills that I need to put to good use." Koga's head suddenly snapped up as a large shadow began looming over them "And I think now is the best time for me to put them to the test."

"...You saw that too right? Was that a bird? Please tell me that was just a really big bird."

"If they were just really big birds then my life would be a hell of a lot easier." Koga glanced up and took notice of several large predatory birds closing in on them "I rest my case."

"What the heck are those things?"

"They're not a pack of canaries, I can tell you that much, and I bet they came here looking for some food. Take a look and see if any of them have a jewel shard, can you tell?"

"Wait what?"

"I know that you have the power to see the shards of the jewel, you could tell how many I had and where they were when I ran into your group yesterday. Do any of those birds have any on them?"

"No I don't think so, I can't see any of them from here anyway."

"Take a good look at them, not even the ones over the cliff?"

"No, none of them."

"Then I'm not gonna bother wasting any time on them, if you don't want them to try and make a grab for you then keep quiet and keep your head down." and so Koga promptly took off running at full speed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the main protagonist of the story…

"Oh for fuck's sake…" Tatsu let out a sigh as he pulled himself out of the river, only to see a few of Koga's wolves staring at him, and then take off running 'Why bother to ambush me, then just take off like that?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later, on another part of the mountain…

"Ginta! Hakkaku!"

"What the-" two wolf demons bolted upright from their place on opposite ledges overlooking a large waterfall, and they lit up at the sound of the familiar voice "Hey guys it's Koga, the leader's come back!"

Sure enough, Koga screeched to a stop with Kagome still slung over his shoulder "Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting."

'What the heck is this place?' Kagome looked around at the dozens of Wolf Demons and actual wolves surrounding her 'Ask a stupid question, I think I just landed myself right in the den of the Wolf Demon Tribe!'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Inu Gang…

"Well that could've gone better…" Tatsu let out a sigh as he made his way up the cliifside path until he met up with Miroku and Inuyasha "Getting thrown off the side of a mountain by a pack of wolves and having to climb back up the old fashioned way, not a great way to start the morning. Seriously, I had to hitchhike up the side of the cliff just so that I could go and get my sword back."

"Their reason for attacking you and sending you down the mountain was to get you out of the way." Miroku noted "It would seem that Koga's plan was to kidnap Kagome all along."

"...What?!"

"He grabbed her and took off like a fucking coward." Inuyasha grumbled as he held out Seishin Rozu to him "That's why the wolves retreated, their master got what he wanted so there wasn't any point in staying."

"Yeah very interesting, can we just get back to the part where Kagome just got fucking kidnapped by that bastard!"

"Calm yourself, Sango and Kirara are searching for her right now." Miroku then looked up at the sight of Sango and Kirara "Well how about it Sango, was there any sign of her?"

"No, I ran into a little problem in that regard." Sango told him "I was almost able to catch up with them, but then I ran into some heavy interference."

"With what exactly?"

"Get on and I'll show you in person."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few minutes later…

It didn't take long for Tatsu and the others to find what Sango was talking about, in the form of a number of demon birds "What the hell are these things supposed to be?"

"I can't say for certain, but I can say there were a lot of them." Sango told him "Not just 10 or 20 of them either, from what I could tell they covered the entire mountain."

"Which means we're not just dealing with wolf demons here."
"And these creatures must explain the forebody energy we sensed." Miroku noted "I can imagine that these mountain peaks are their territory, and if Sango found these flying demons to be such a challenge…"

"Then we're dealing with more than just the Wolf Demon Tribe here, I literally just said that less than a minute ago." that came out harsher than Tatsu intended, and he let out a sigh "Sorry, it's just that…"

"I know how you feel, we will find her but we need to stay focused and collected so that we can observe the situation clearly." it was at this moment that Miroku looked down and noticed a series of screaming mushrooms on the ground "Those are Shippo's warning signs."

"Which means that he got taken along with Kagome, and he probably left these here so that we could follow them."

"They're leading straight into the mountains, so that's probably it." Inuyasha noted "And shit, the screaming is almost as annoying as him."

"We don't have any time to waste, let's get moving." and so Tatsu promptly took off running and climbing the side of the mountain at full speed, with Inuyasha and the others trailing short distance behind him 'I'm coming Kagome, just hang on until I get there.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the den of the Wolf Demon Tribe…

'Okay, this is officially a whole new level of freaky.' Kagome looked around at dragged through the den by Koga 'This place is full of man eating wolves and skeletons!'

"Hey about time you got back Koga, so who's the woman? She's pretty good looking prey either way, can I have one of the legs? No wait give me the liver, I call dibs!"

'Don't tell me, he brought me here so they could eat me?'

"Let me stop you idiots right there." Koga promptly shut them up as he threw Kagome onto a bed of straw, his tone sharp "This woman is off limits, anyone tries to take a bite out of her then expect me to take a bite out of you." that made all of them back up in fear.

'Oh now I get it, I brought me here because he knows that I can sense the shards of the jewel, and that means he needs me. At least that means I'm safe for a little bit longer.'

"Besides, I've got plans for our pack and I need her for it to work." Koga glanced down and noticed his wolves looking agitated and tugging at his tail "Oh yeah, then there's this one." he held up his tail to reveal the dazed form of Shippo "I totally forgot about him grabbing onto my tail when I took the girl, I just assumed he fell of somewhere. I guess not. Alright go nuts, see if you can get something out of him." so he grabbed Shippo and hurled him into the middle of a circle of wolves in the corner.

"What the-" Shippo snapped out of the stupor he was in, only to be horrified when he realized he was surrounded on all sides by wolves "Oh no, Kagome help!"

"Come on kid you're a fox demon, have some pride."

"Hey hold on a minute!" Kagome promptly rounded on Koga "Do you want me to help with the jewel shards or not? If anyone lays a hand on Shippo then you can forget about that, I don't care what you do to me."

"What the hell are you coddling him for, he's a demon."

"He's a kid."

"And if you keep coddling him he's never gonna survive on his own." the glare he was receiving only intensified "Alright fine, and I've gotta admit that you've got a lot more guts than I gave you credit for." so he made his way over to the wolves and started lugging all of them out of the way "Alright come on you heavy bastards, get moving. You guys have packed on a lot of weight again haven't you, alright you're not eating anything else for the next few days. Alright fine deal's a deal, here you go." he picked up Shippo by the tal and tossed him over to Kagome "A deal is a deal after all."

"Uh… yeah I guess so." Kagome promptly caught Shippo in her arms and tried to calm him down a little bit 'I can't believe he just saved Shippo, so does that mean this guy actually has a nice side to him?'

"Get the hell out of the way, we've got injured coming through so make some room!" it was at this moment that Hakaku and Ginta got everyone's attention directed towards two injured wolf demons being brought in there "Don't just stand there staring at them, go and get them some water and fast!"

'Those claw marks and the feathers he's holding…' Koga looked down at one of the wounded, and then he turned towards Hakkaku and Ginta "Was it them?"

"Yep it was them, they launched an attack during the midday changing of the watch. These two were the only ones that were able to escape, but the others fell off the cliff to their death or were carried away by them."

"Dammit." Koga gritted his teeth and clenched his fists to the point where his hands were bleeding.

"Such terrible wounds." Kagome took a few steps forward to get a closer look "What happened to them?"

"You saw them earlier, those bird demons that we ran into on the way here. They call themselves the Birds of Paradise, but our tribe has been at war with them for decades and there's no doubt that this is their doing. If you want proof then look at the claw marks they have on them, and the feathers he's holding over there. They're brutal demons and we've lost many to them, without any sort of warning they swoop down in silence and capture their pray in their sharp and powerful claws."

"Then what do they do?"

"What do you think they do, like any predator does with their prey they devour them. We've come across some of their nests before and we've found them to be littered with the bones of hundreds of Wolf Demons, maybe even thousands."

"And even you don't stand a chance against them?"

"That's just it, even with three shards of the jewel I can barely fight them on even ground. Sure the shards make me more powerful but they've got numbers even greater than ours. And what makes it worse is that one of the birds possesses a jewel shard of his own, and now he's even more powerful than I am. One incident in particular is proof enough of that, in a single swoop he was able to kill 50 of our wolves in an instant. Even with three shards I can barely stand against him, I have to do something before those flying rats are able to wipe out my comrades completely. The only way to stop that from happening is to find a way to restore the balance of power somehow, which is where you come in."

"So your pack is in danger because of the Birds of Paradise, and that's why you need me to find out which one of them has the jewel shard."

"You catch on pretty fast, that's good. I need you to scout out the bird with the shard, and then we'll attack its nest and steal it from him, or else the fighting between our tribes will continue to drag on and the lives of my comrades will continued to be sacrificed senselessly. I promised her that I would end this before too many lives would be lost."

"She?"

"Someone dead, that's all you need to know. So how about, are you gonna help us out?"

"...Alright, I'll help you. It's for the best if I cooperate, either I help them out or they're gonna rip me apart. The only way I'll be able to get myself and Shippo out alive and see Tatsu again is to head out and help with defeat these birds.'

"For now we have to focus on treating the wounded."

"I can help you with that actually, just give me some space." Kagome knelt down next to one of the injured wolf demons nd began forming a series of hand seals "Rin. Pyo. Toh. Sha. Kai. Jin. Retsu. Zai. Zen." her arms began glowing with white energy as she placed her hands on the wolf demon's chest, which allowed him to open his eyes and sit up after a few moments, much to the awe of those present "Take it easy and try not to move around too much, it takes a little while for it to take effect."

"That…" Koga took a minute to find his voice "What the hell did you just do?"

"It's a healing spell that I learned from my grandfather. I hate fighting, but I want to do what I can to help people." she then went on to use the Healing Hand on the other injured Wolf Demon, which allowed him to come around after a few moments.

'She's got this fire in her eyes, but she seems so warm and gentle too.' Koga found his own face turning red 'What the hell is this feeling in my chest?'

Shippo on the other hand, he had his own plan in the works 'Go ahead Kagome, string them on for a little while longer. My mushrooms are leading Tatsu and the others straight to us.'

"What the hell are these things, can you eat them?" that was when something else got Shippo's attention, which just so happened to be Hakkaku and some of his wolf with a large stack of his mushrooms "These things are gross, don't pick them if you can't eat them you muts!"

'They picked all my mushrooms, now how are Tatsu and the others going to find us?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Inu Gang…

By this point, Tatsu and the others had made their way along the path leading up the mountain, only to run into a problem "Well that's the last of the mushrooms, how typical they should run out right at a fork in the road."

"For the love of fuck, where the hell did they go?" Inuyasha grumbled "Shippo's stupid trail up and led us to the middle of nowhere."

"Plus I can smell the stench of wolves all over the place, I can tell that and I don't have your sense of smell. Which raises the question, can you pick up Kagome's scent among the stench or is it too much for you?"

"Forget about that right now, we've got another problem. I'm starting to pick up the scent of birds, and I can tell you right now that it's not a turkey dinner." he gestured upwards as a number of Birds of Paradise, a very large number of them actually, started hurtling down towards the group.

"We don't have time to deal with these flying rats, we have to get Kagome and Shippo, so the the fuck out of my way you flying rats! Iron Spear Storm!" Tatsu leapt into the air and started firing a barrage of iron spears from his fingertips, ripping through every one of the birds in their path, only for more of them to appear before him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Kagome…

'How the heck do I end up in these situations?' Kagome looked around at the cave she was in, her mind racing 'This whole thing is kind of freaking me out, what did I do to deserve being kidnapped by Koga and taken to his wolf den as some kind of jewel detector? I mean he's already got three shards, one in his right arm and one on each leg, and he's able to fight Tatsu one on one pretty evenly. The Wolf Demon Tribe are at war with the Birds of Paradise, and they're planning to steal the jewel shard that one of the birds has. That's where I come in, and I have to make sure I stay useful to them or me and Shippo are gonna end up as their lunch. I mean I know I made a promise to help Koga, but I wish I could help Shippo get out of here. Speaking of Shippo, where the heck did he go?'

"Stand up." that was when Koga got her attention, or rather Shippo transformed into Koga, if the fox tail sprouting from the small of his back was anything to go by "Come on Kagome, don't make it look suspicious okay? I know what I'm doing." this prompted her to stand up, to which he grabbed her by the arm and started leading her out of the cave.

It was at this moment that one of the wolf demons spoke up "Hey Koga what gives, where the hell are you going with the human wench?"

"The woman needs some fresh air, this place stinks to high hell and I'm pretty sure it's not because of the wolves. Come on woman, keep moving." so he and Kagome continued onwards towards the exit, though not without garnering some suspicion from that wolf demon.

"Hey Ginta, Hakaku, why don't the two of you go with Koga and watch his back in case the human wench tries anything."

"What the hell are you talking about? Koga took Ginta and Hakkau with him when they left for guard duty an hour ago."

"Wait what, but then who the hell was that?" the wolf demon sent a number of wolves forward, to which one of them bit down on Shippo's fox tail.

"What the-" Shippo let out a yelp of pain and promptly dropped the transformation, which led to him and Kagome having spears pointed at them from almost every direction.

"Not so fast you little shit, you try and make fools out of us will you?"

"Uh… Well that didn't work."

"It's the thought that counts." Kagome promptly grabbed hold of a spear that was lying a few feet away "Shippo listen, whatever happens don't look back!" she grabbed hold of him and took off running out of the cave and along the cliffside path.

"Get the fuck back here you little bitch!"

"Shippo keep moving! I'm praying that this is going to work!' thinking quick, Kagome took a step and drove her spear into the ground, unleashing a small wave of spiritual energy that stopped the wolf demons in their tracks and sent a few of them staggering back with some noticeable burns, allowed them to keep running.

"Kagome stop!" Shippo forced her to screech to a halt when they reached the edge of the cliff, much to his horror "Oh this is bad, now we're trapped!"

"Maybe not, you can transform so you can fly can't you?"

"Yeah on my own, but I don't think I'll be able to fly with you."

"That's good enough for me!" she grabbed Shippo by the arm and promptly hurled him over the cliff, him transforming into his giant pink blob form as he glided downwards.

"You're not getting away you little shit!" one of the wolf demons grabbed hold of some chains and tried to catch Shippo in mid air, only for it to be stopped by Kagome throwing the spear and catching the chains.

"Shippo just be careful, go find Tatsu and the others and fast! Well the good news is that he should be okay, but the bad news is that I'm stranded on the edge of a cliff surrounded by bloodthirsty wolf demons, and I don't have my sword with me.'

"You conniving wench, I'm gonna devour you alive!" the lead wolf demon let out a snarl as he prepared to pounce at her, only for a boar to literally fall from the sky and land square on his skull.

'Huh. Well I mean I've heard of the saying about pigs flying, but…'

"What the hell?"

"What the fuck did I say about trying to take a bite out of her? I warned you that you were gonna answer to me." as it turns out, Koga and the others had returned, and he looked less than happy about what was going on.

"Koga check it out, looks like the little guy is trying to make a getaway." Ginta pointed out "You want me to go after him?"

"Forget it, just let him go. We've got more important things to focus on right now, if he's smart then he won't get in the way." Koga dropped to the ground in front of Kagome, and then he began studying her 'So she risked her life to save her friend over there. She's smart, she's got guts and she's loyal to her companions. Looks like there's only one thing to do. Guess what, I'm gonna make you my woman."

"...One more time?" was all Kagome could think to say.

"You heard me."

"Hey what the hell Koga?" one of the wolf demons was quick to round on her "I thought you were gonna eat the wench when you were done with her, not marry her. You don't want someone like her, she's nothing but a human."

"Stop and think for a second, this woman has healing abilities and she can see the shards of the Shikon Jewel, and in case you forgot, the Birds of Paradise aren't the only ones that have shards you know. With the powers she has at her disposal, we can gather all of the jewel shards in the region. Can you imagine what we can do with them?"

"That… That would make us incredibly powerful, and our pack would be unstoppable!"

"That's the idea, so this woman has way more value to us than some average female demon. You said your name is Kagome right? Well guess what, wolves mate for life so that means you're mine now." he put an arm around her and shot her a smirk "You got that?"

"Uh… I don't belong to anyone, get your hands off me!" Kagome snapped out of her stupor after a few seconds, freed herself from Koga's embrace and then promptly slapped him straight across the face, which was followed by a stunned silence.

'...Okay not going to lie, I wasn't expecting that.'

"That chick just slapped Koga!" needless to say, the rest of the wolf demons were less than discrete about voicing their opinions on the matter as they backed away in hear "Honeymoon is over, this bitch is as good as dead now."

'Way to be discrete guys.'

"I'm not some slave at the auction, I'm not some sort of thing you can just put a bid on and claim me as your property." Kagome looked away from him, blushing as she did so "Besides I'm not even available, I'm already kind of seeing a guy, sort of."

"Wait what, you mean you're taken? You don't mean that mutt with the dog ears Inutrasha."

"I'm not talking about him, and his name is Inuyasha."

"So what then, you mean the fresh meat from the village yesterday?"

"Don't insult him like he's some sack of meat. He's brave and courageous, and he's got a really good heart and is always trying to protect people, so don't look down on him just because he's a human. His name is Tatsu, you got it?"

"That one huh?"

'What the heck am I saying, talk about living in a fantasy. Come on Kagome, you know how he feels about you but I don't feel that way about him… or do I?'

"Well he's got decent taste if nothing else, and I'll admit that by the standards of humans he's a pretty decent fighter, but don't think for a second that I'm not gonna put a spear through his heart the next time I face him. But that can wait right now, defeating the Birds of Paradise comes before anything else." he shot a quick glance over at Hakkau and Ginta "Prepare the wolves and give the woman anything she needs so she's ready to fight. I have something else to deal with, I'll be back later." and so he promptly took off in a whirlwind.

"Where's he going?"

"He's got something else to do right now, personal stuff." Hakkaku told her "So tell us what you need for battle sister, and we'll get it for you."

"Okay first, don't call me sister. Second, I'm not Koga's woman or anything like that, but I still agreed to help you so I'm gonna keep my word. I need a few things though, mainly a bow and a quiver of arrows, and a sword."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the Inu Gang…

"Iron Spear Storm!" Tatsu rebounded off the side of the cliff and fired another barrage of iron spears from his fingertips at the Birds of Paradise, ripping through them with ease "Now get a load of this one!" he summoned an iron club and started infusing it with energy, then through it at the next group of birds hurtling towards him, engulfing all of them in the fiery explosion that followed "And that's why I call it the boomstick. So how does it look Sango, you think these things are allies from the Wolf Demon Tribe?"

"I'm not sure, I think it's too soon to tell." Sango told him.

"Either way we're ripping them apart if it means getting to Kagome. Speaking of which monk, if you're gonna sit there brooding then do it on your own time."

"I'm actually pondering something that can help us." Miroku told him "What I'm thinking is that perhaps we should let one of the birds capture us."

"And why in the flying name of fuck would we do that?"

"Calm down and think for a moment. If this area is the hunting grounds for the bird demons, then there should be a number of birds and skeletons of their prey scattered everywhere, but I don't see any sings of wolf bones."

"So you're thinking that the bird demons and Koga's pack of wolves are allies?"

"That's what I suspect, but I could be mistaken about this."

"So if one of us gets captured then they'll get taken to the nest, which might be near where the wolf den is and then we can get Kagome and Shippo out of there."

"That is my theory."

"And if it turns out to be wrong?"

"Quit whining, if it's wrong then we'll just kill them and keep searching." Inuyasha promptly leapt into the air and was picked up by one of the birds in its claws, but it was only after he was being taken away that a thought struck him "Hey wait a fucking second, why in the hell couldn't the monk be the one who gets captured? It was his idea!"

"Well for one, you've got a lot more durability than the likes of Miroku and Sango do, and the second we do find Kagome you can just claw your way free and rip that thing a new one before it could even blink." Tatsu promptly started blitzing along the cliffside to follow after him.

"Then why the fuck aren't you doing it?"

"Well for one, the second we do find Kagome I can get her out of harm's way and drop kick anyone trying to hurt her without wasting time. As for the second reason, I'm calling it payback for you interrupting my fight with Koga yesterday."

"Fuck that you coward, get over here and switch places with me!"

"Hey you're the one who decided to barge in on my fight like a dick!"

"I was testing out the Wind Scar on that mangy wolf, it's what he gets for calling me a mutt right to my face!"

"You barged in on my fight in the middle of it like a dick, that's the sort of thing you just don't do! It's a dick move in every sense of the word."

"You interrupted my fight with Sesshomaru by hitting me in the fucking jaw!"

"Hey I never interrupt your fights with him when they really matters, and besides you got to beat up Jaken so what are you whining about?"

"Tatsu!" it was at that moment that Shippo suddenly crashed into him from where he was running along the mountainside path "Oh come on, we have to resuce Kagome but then I show up and Inuyasha went and got himself captured! I let you out of my sight for a minute and look what happens!"

"Yeah get a grip already, where is Kagome right now?"

"She's back at the wolf den, she helped me to get away so I could find you guys and then we could go back and save her, but now we have to save Inuyasha too!"

"Actually that's part of the plan."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back at the Wolf den…

"It's almost time…" Koga let out a sigh as he knelt down in front of a certain grave "Just a little bit longer and the Birds of Paradise will be gone, and our pack will be safe. I promised you that I was going to make sure that our pack would survive and thrive, and that's exactly what I'm going to do." he took a quick sniff of the air, then looked back as his expression hardened "I thought I told Hakkaku and Ginta to take care of you."

"They did." as it turns out, Kagome was standing a short distance behind him, a quiver of arrows strapped to her back, a bow in one hand and a sword in the other "Then they went off to take care of your wolves."

"Fine, let's get moving." he stood up and turned around, then stopped when he noticed the look she was giving him "What?"

"This is more than just about wanting the jewel shards isn't it?"

"Don't think this is just because of a personal vendetta. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to avenge those we've lost, but if you're talking about that…" he glanced back at the grave "Then you're dead wrong. You want to know who it is don't you? I see the look of curiosity in your eyes, and I'm not an idiot."

"So then, who was it?"

Koga let out a deep sigh as he turned back to the grave "Her name was Akari, she was my older sister. She was the one who took care of me, taught and raised me. We lost our parents at a pretty young age, because of those damn bird demons that attacked us out of the blue. I didn't see how it happened but from what I've been told, I should be glad that I didn't."

"You mean the Birds of Paradise?"

"No, these were other bird demons. I'll find their leader one day and make her pay for she did to my family. My sister was, well she acted more like a mother to me after that. Unlike most of our pack she didn't see humans as a source of food or some kind of pests, she was gentle and full of compassion, and she didn't hesitate for a second to go out of her way for someone in need. You actually remind me a lot of her."

"So then.. How did she…"

"How did she die? It was about six years ago, another attack by the Birds of Paradise. They cornered her near some human territory and outnumbered her at least 50 to one, but she fought off all of them single handedly. In the end she was on the ground in a bloody heap, but she still refused to back down. There was only one bird left by that point, but it knew that alone it couldn't beat her, so it went for the next best thing. It turns out some human kid was wandering nearby when the battle was raging, and the bird decided it could use a meat shield for itself. Being who she was, Akari wasn't about to let that happen, and she shielded them from that attack with her own body, before killing the bird itself. It wasn't long after this that the rest of the people from the village nearby showed up, and I did not long after, and you know how they thanked her for doing what she did to protect the kid? They stabbed her through the heart while she was too weak to fight back or defend herself. The kid tried to stop them and explain what she did, but they didn't want to hear it and ran the kid through too, something about the "Demon possessing him and trying to turn him against his own kind" and the like. I tried to get through to stop them, but she called out to me with whatever strength she had left and told me to run. I still hate myself for listening to her when she said that. I don't know how far I ran or for how long, but I didn't stop until my legs gave out on me and I broke down crying then and there. It wasn't until a few days later that I came back, and I found out that a few of Akari's wolves had brought her body back to the den, or what was left of it anyway. You know what those humans did? They skinned her body and made a fucking pelt out of it!"

"Koga…"

"Go ahead and chastise me all you want for what my wolves did to that village, but as far as I'm concerned, those fucking pieces of cur had it coming for a damn long time."

"What do you-" and then it hit her "You mean that…"

"The village you found my wolves ripping apart? Those people were the ones that did that to my sister. I know my sister didn't hate humans, and I don't even make a habit of going out of my way to go after human villages, hell I even let the younger ones live, but those people deserved all of the suffering they got. Humans are nothing but lying pieces of shit that use every dirty trick they can think of to survive."

"...Not all humans are like that."

"You're talking about you and your group aren't you? Maybe you guys don't do that sort of thing, but I've seen more than enough of it from dozens of other humans. You can say whatever you want about my pack, but at least Wolf demons are honest with people."

"Koga…"

"Let's get moving, the sooner we kill those flying rats then the sooner this can end once and for all." and so he promptly took his leave, with Kagome following behind him in silence 'Again with this feeling in my chest. Whenever she gets close to me, I feel so… so warm.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, back with the Inu Gang…

"Wait what?" Shippo glanced over at Tatsu from his place on his shoulder "You mean this is all some kind of plan?"

"A plan on Miroku's part at least, so that probably speaks for itself." Tatsu told him dryly "His theory is that since there's a chance of them being allies, Inuyasha getting captured is the perfect way to have them lead us straight to the Wolf den, and Kagome by extension."

"So Miroku came up with that stupid idea? The Wolf Demon Tribe and the Birds of Paradise are mortal enemies, they're preparing to go to war with them right now and Kagome is there in the Wolf den. I mean how far did you guys look to find any wolf bones, I saw the valley littered with tons of the

"...Remind me to hit Miroku over the head with a club later. Hey Inuyasha the plan isn't going to work, turns out they're enemies!"

"God dammit, right now I don't give a shit about the wolves or these fucking rats with wings! I can only think of one person I want to rip a new one! Right after I get this rat with wings to let the fuck go of me!" Inuyasha promptly clawed his way through the bird demon holding him, which sent him falling into a pile of bones with a loud crash "You're gonna pay for this Miroku, now get the fuck down here and fight me like a man!"

"We both know that he won't, and besides getting Kagome out of there is the most important thing right now."

"So do we wait for him to catch up?"

"The others probably will because they know how pissed he is, but with Kagome in danger like that I'm not taking any chances." so on that note, he summoned a chain from one hand and then hurtled it downwards, to which it grabbed onto Inuyasha by the leg and promptly hoisted him into the air after them, earning a string of cursing from him as a result.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with the main heroine…

The mountain was silent, with the exception of the wind howling around them.

'It's about time for us to get this underway.' Koga looked up at the Birds of Paradise circling the peak of the mountain, then turned back to the large number of Wolf Demons behind him, all of them armed with weapons and awaiting his command "This is it men, so I want all of you to listen and listen good. When we go up there and give those rats with wings everything we've got, it's not just about defeating them. It's about standing up and fighting. There isn't a chance in hell that I'm gonna give up our home and our pack to some filthy bastards that think they can look down on us like we're inferior to them. I'm not backing down, and I know that none of you are gonna back down either. So today we fight, we fight for our home, we fight for our tribe, and we fight for our comrades! Now who's with me?" he was met with cheers "Who's with me?!" he was met with more cheers, and then he turned his attention back to the birds.

"So this mountain is the nesting place for the birds?" asked Kagome.

"You're damn right it is, and aside from them already being as powerful as they are, one of them possesses a Shikon Jewel shard, and what I need you to do is find which one of them it is."

"I can tell you this for a fact right now, I can sense a jewel shard on this mountain. I can't count on Tatsu and the others to come and save me right now, I have to cooperate with them in order to stay alive.' it was then that they noticed one of the birds swooping down towards them.

"Shit, looks like they're onto us. Okay guys you take on the lackeys yourselves, Kagome you're coming with me." he wrapped an arm around her waist and started leaping his way up the cliffside, in which he encountered a number of Birds of Paradise, but promptly ripped through them using his right arm and his legs "Take a look Kagome, can you sense which one of them has the jewel shard?"

"I can't concentrate on that while you're fighting and carrying me like this, give me a second to readjust." she promptly reajudsted herself and mounted his back "There, at least this way I can fire arrows at any of them."

"Smart move."

"I can do a lot more than just sense jewel shards, but speaking of which…" her head suddenly snapped up "I sense it up there, it's right ahead of us up on that cliff!"

"Which means that's where we have to go." and so he advanced forward towards the the base of the cliff.

It was at this moment that a massive bird demon (which happened to have two heads) burst forward from within the rock, both of them smirking maliciously at the sight of them "We've been waiting for you, you have shards of the Shikon jewel and both of us brothers have been searching everywhere for those. How convenient it is that you've decided to bring them right to us, it saves us the trouble of having to hunt you down like the filthy mongrel that you are."

'Looks like I just found the leader of the tribe. Of course the leader is the one who has the jewel shard, I can't believe I didn't think of that from the start. Well how about it Kagome, can you tell where the jewel shard is?"

"Yeah I can see it plain as day, that thing has it in its mouth." Kagome promptly drew the sword she had strapped to her side and got into a stance "Just hold on, I can take care of this in a few strokes."

"So you can see the shard of the jewel we possess, and you'll be sure to get a good view of it as we devour you whole! The skin and blood of a wolf and a human, such a combination is absolutely delectable!" the lead Bird then hurtled forward and attempted to devour the two of them.

"Just one clean strike and-"

"Nope!" Koga suddenly grabbed onto Kagome and pulled her out of the way before they could be devoured, and then promptly made his way down the cliff with her in his embrace until he met up with Hakkaku and Ginta while they were chaining down a bird demon "Hey."

"Koga what's going on, did you find it?" asked Ginta.

"Yep, now keep Kagome safe and stay down here."

"What are you going to do?" asked Hakkaku.

"What do you think, I'm gonna go up to that thing and rip its jaw wide open." Koga then grabbed a spear from the corpse of a nearby bird "Keep Kagome out of danger."

"I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing." Kagome told him firmly "You shouldn't go after that shard on your own either."

"I'm going up there because I'm the only one here strong enough to take on that rat with wings and come out alive. I know you've got skills, so if you really want to put them to use then help the others deal with the ones down here. Here goes nothing!" Koga gritted his teeth and bolted up the side of the mountain at full speed.

'This isn't going to end well, I just know it.'

"No need to worry about him sister, Koga can take care of himself and in the meantime, we'll get you to safety." Ginta told her.

"Wait sister, you guys are still calling me that?"

"Of course we are, I mean Koga did claim you as his woman before, so it's only right that we treat you like one of us now." Hakkaku told her.

"I already said that I'm not Koga's woman, you got it? Anyway I'm not running from this fight, I promised to help you and I'm not backing down."

"But- Get down!" Hakkaku pushed her to the ground as a bird came swooping down towards them, only for Ginta to get caught in its claws as it started flying away "Ginta!"

"We have to save him!"

"It's too late, he's gonna be taken up to their nest and devoured."

"It's never too late, and I won't stand by and let that happen!" Kagome promptly locked and loaded a Sacred Arrow and fired it, the arrow purifying the bird in an instant, leaving Ginta to fall to the ground with a loud crash in front of them "You're safe now, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I- I think so." Ginta took a second to snap out of his stupor "You really are a good shot actually."

"I've been doing a lot of practicing, and I had a few good tips."

"Well either way you saved my life sis, I owe you- Look out, there's more coming!" he pointed at where a number of them were swooping down towards them.

"Stand back and keep your head down." gripping her sword with both hands, Kagome took a step forward as she guided her stroke and unleashed a wave of spiritual energy from the blade, which promptly purified six of the demons coming towards them.

"You can fight with a sword too?"

"I've done a lot of training in it recently, but don't let down your guard!" Kagome looked up and saw another bird demon hurtling towards her, and she prepared to guide another stroke of her sword, when…

"KAGOME!" it was at this moment that Tatsu burst onto the scene and cut down the bird demon with a single stroke of his own sword, and then he gracefully landed on the ground "Looks like I got here just in time, are you okay?"

"Tatsu… Yeah I'm fine, thanks for saving me. I don't think I would've been able to get my sword ready in time."

"Don't try to feed my ego if that's what you're going for, I saw how you handled the other rats with wings. You really have gotten stronger."

"Not strong enough, I do have to work on reaction time."

"Do what I do when I'm in the middle of a fight and find something I need to improve on, make a mental note of it and then stick it in the back of my head. Anyway Shippo gave me the short version, apparently the wolves and the pigeons from hell are at war and you somehow ended up in the middle of it."

"That's the short verison but yeah, we have to get rid of the bird demons first."

"Leave that one to yours truly, I've got some hardcore rage to let out." Tatsu promptly morphed two iron clubs in his hands and coated them with his own energy "Your brothers back there have seen the original boomstick, now you'll get to see the twin variant!" he hurled both iron clubs into the air, resulting in a chain of explosions that lit up the sky and incinerated almost every bird demon that was hit by it "And that's why they call it the boomstick."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes in the movie."

"What movie?"

It was at this moment that Koga looked down from where he was climbing up the mountain, and he scowled at the sight of Tatsu "Great it's the fresh meat, he's the last thing that I need to deal with right now. Look I'm busy meat sack, if you want to finish a fight then come back some other time. I've got more important things to deal with, so I'm gonna give you a chance to walk out of this alive."

"Yeah I would if it wasn't for the whole thing with kidnapping Kagome, now I'm pretty much out for your blood."

'So that's what this is about, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Like I said, take this chance to get out of here while you can, but you be sure to keep your hands off my woman, you got that?"

"...You wanna run that the hell by me again?"

"What is there to run by you, she's pretty much the perfect woman. She's strong, she's loyal, she's beautiful, she can fight and she can heal."

"Flattery isn't going to change the fact that you're living in a fantasy." he then shot a quick look over at Kagome for confirmation, to which he received a single nod "See even she gets it, you're trying to convince yourself more than any of us."

"It's not a fantasy, I've claimed her as mine! I'm in love with you Kagome!" now that made more than a few jaws drop Don't you see Kagome, our meeting is something that was always meant to be! You're far better off with me and you know it damn well, so I say it's time to make a clean break and give up on that pathetic meat sack over there. He's not good enough for you, so do yourself a favor and just forget about him. Once you've been with a real warrior like me you'll never go back to scraps again, with both of us leading side by side, I can guarantee that the Wolf Demon Tribe will be the strongest in all of the land!" he barked out a laugh full of triumph, which earned a series of cheers from the other wolf demons.

'...Well on one hand he's insanely direct in his approach, and I pray to the love of god every single day that I can find that kind of audacity for myself.' Tatsu spared another quick glance over to see how jaw dropped Kagome looked at his little speech 'But on the other hand, not a single bastard talks down to her like that when I'm around. Kidnapping her, using her like some kind of tool and then humiliating her in front of your pack for all the world to see. Yeah, that's one way to sign your own death warrant." Tatsu gripped his sword and started charging up the side of the mountain.

"I already said that I don't have time to deal with you, take my advice and get the hell out of here while you still can."

"Not on your life, it's all fun and games until you bring Kagome into this. Now I pretty much have a taste for your blood."

"Tatsu don't waste time, the birds are the most important threat right now!" Kagome called out to him, and then her head snapped up "Koga I can sense the jewel shard, it's up there by about another 50 feet!"

"What the-" Tatsu stopped in his tracks and nearly fell back down the mountain before he snapped out of his stupor 'Great, first he kidnaps her and now she's helping him. I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. As much as I love her, and I sure as hell do, I don't get women.'

"About ⅓ of me wishes to say that you will come to understand them one day."

'And what do the other ⅔ of you say?'

"That I've lived for thousands of years and watched over the land of the living for thousands of years after my death, and I still don't have the slightest clue."

'Well at least I'm not the only one.'

Kagome watched as Tatsu and Koga advanced up the mountain, and then at the sound of footsteps she glanced back to see Inuyasha, Kirara and the others arrive on the scene "Oh hey, when did you guys get here?"

"When the flea bag up there professed his undying love for you." Inuyasha told her dryly "So what the everlasting fuck did we miss?"

"Well…"

"Kagome!" it was at this moment that Shippo flung herself into her arms "What happened, are you okay, he didn't do anything to you did he?"

"Take it easy Shippo, I'm alright. But yeah, it's kind of a long story."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, with Koga…

"Alright you flying rat, where the fuck did you go?" Koga reached the peak of the mountain and looked around "You said 50 feet more right, cause there's nothing at the peak!"

"Nothing except your demise!" this was when the lead bird swooped down from above and hurtled towards Koga at full speed, forcing him to go on the evasive.

"How about you chew on this you damn dirty bird, or better yet choke on it!" Koga thrusted his spear forward and tried to use it to pry the bird's mouth open, only for that to fail miserably and for his right arm to get caught in its teeth.

"Thank you for giving us a hand, now we're going to tear it off!"

"Not… Not on your fucking life you rat with wings!" gritting his teeth, Koga kicked out a few of the bird's teeth to free his arm, but at the cost of the shard in his arm falling out, leaving him to crash to the ground with a loud thud. He slowly pulled himself up to his knees and spat out a small amount of blood 'Great, it got the shard in my arm and now it's about to make a comeback for the ones in my legs.' he gritted his teeth from the pain, then looked back at the sound of a series of footsteps approaching him "Oh great, what the hell are you doing here?"

As it turns out, Tatsu was standing before him, an iron club slung over his shoulder and the look in his eyes blazing "Well at the moment, trying to weigh my options. On one hand, you're the one who kidnapped Kagome and basically professed your undying love for her in front of your entire tribe, even though I'm pretty sure most of that was just bravado, but at the same time you subsequently humiliated her for it, not to mention you're basically using her like she's nothing but a shard detector in your eyes."

"And on the other hand?"

"You never actually tried to kill her or hurt her in any way, but the pigeon from hell up here can't say the same thing. Guess who gets to die first. Stand back and watch, you're about to see a mix of raw power, hardcore rage and a little bit of jealousy."

"So the Wolf Demon has two jewel shards left, I can only imagine the amount of power we're going to have when we take them from him!" the two twins on top of the lead bird demon barked out simultaneous malicious fits of laughter.

"Yeah I'm gonna tell you now, that's not going to happen." Tatsu coated his iron club with energy and then hurled it towards the lead bird before it detonated, engulfing it in the fiery explosion that followed.

Koga was left in awe at the sight of the blast 'So much power in one attack… this bastard was fucking toying with me wasn't he?'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the moon had long since risen over the mountain.

"Wind Tunnel!" with the battle about to come to an end, Miroku took the opportunity to suck in the remaining Birds of Paradise into his Wind Tunnel, much to the awe of the Wolf Demons that had survived the battle 'That's the last of them, now it's all up to Tatsu.'

"Done and done, the big bastard didn't even put up a fight." Tatsu promptly leapt down the side of the mountain with Koga slung over his shoulder, and then he promptly set him down on the ground near the rest of the wolf demons.

"You were able to kill the demon with one swing, an impressive feat I must say."

"And I got two jewel shards out of it."

"I could've done that too." Inuyasha grumbled.

"Yeah yeah posturing and bravado and the like, you went and mastered the Wind Scar and you wanted to show off."

"I'm showing them why you don't want to mess with some real power, and now that the pigeons from hell are out of the way I say the only thing left to do is deal with the flea bag wolf." he gripped the hilt of the Tessaiga, only to find Tatsu grabbing him by the back of his robe "What the hell are you doing?"

"Stopping you from fight blocking me again. You got Sesshomaru and this one is mine, so spare us the superiority complex. Besides he's hurt, all you're gonna be doing is kicknig a dog when he's down."

"Spare me the pity… I don't need it…" Koga tried to pull himself back to his feet, only to end up stumbling "Try to look down on me…"

"Take it easy Koga, try not to move." Kagome told him from where she was healing the wound on his arm.

"Forget it… I've still got enough energy to whip him…"

"Again with the insults, you're going down you goddamn fleabag!" Inuyasha barred his claws and charged at him.

"Nope." Tatsu grabbed Inuyasha by the waist using a set of iron chains, stopping him dead in his tracks, then turned to the other wolf demons "Get him out of here before either I change my mind or he breaks loose, and I can guarantee neither of those is going to take long."

"R-Right." the wolf demons promptly grabbed onto Koga and pulled him away, with the rest of the tribe following their lead.

"Now then, you gonna rage at me instead?"

"You're damn right I am!" Inuyasha clawed away the chains and promptly rounded on him "Why in the name of fuck did you let those cowards go?!"

"He was hurt and I think there's been enough fighting for one day, believe it or not there are some people who know when to call it quits."

"And what, let someone walk all over you and look down on you like that! You have to show scum like that they can't mess with you!"

"If you did attack him then all you would be proving is that you're an arrogant jackass who can't control himself and has no problems with fighting dirty."

"What about the fact that he kidnapped Kagome and almost got her killed, how the fuck are you not going insane over that right now!"

"Years of self discipline, I'm taking the jewel shard in his arm as payment for that. I'm letting him off this time, but the next time he tries anything like that I'm going to kill him without any hesitation."

"Then why wait for it?"

"Because I asked him not to." Kagome told him flatly "Koga was hurt like he said, and besides he was good to me so this was my way of returning the favor to him. Besides he's nowhere near as bad as I thought he was, sure he holds a lot of hate for humans, but I understand why he feels that way."

"Oh for the love of-"

"Okay enough with throwing a tantrum." Tatsu told him dryly "It happened, it's over, she's safe so there's no point in brooding over it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go and manage my own anger." and so he promptly made his way down the side of the mountain.

"For fuck's sake, now what's he gonna do?"

"I believe he's simply going to channel his anger in a productive way, as many disciplined warriors would do." Miroku told him calmly, which was immediately followed by Tatsu letting out a roar in the distance, then an explosion that lit up the night sky.

"So much for his preaching about self control." Inuyasha let out a scoff and turned away "Fine fuck it, just forget about it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the sun was rising over the skies above.

Kagome looked at the two jewel shards she held in her hand "These were the two shards the bird had, Tatsu gave them to me before he…" she cringed slightly and looked around at the sound of various trees being chopped down "Yeah."

"And one of them came from Koga's arm, he lost it in his battle with the bird." Miroku pointed out.

"But won't he come after us to try and get it back?" asked Sango.

"That possibility does indeed exist."

"Which means that we'll have to be ready for him."

"And that Tatsu and Koga are going to fight again." Kagome let out a sigh "I don't see Tatsu get upset too often, but when he does…"

"It's not hard to figure out why." Inuyasha let out a scoff "We drag our asses up here to save you, you don't have a damn clue the amount of crap I had to deal with, but it doesn't take too much does it? A few sweet words and you practically melted into his hands."

"Come on Inuyasha, are you still mad we let him go?" she was met with a huff "Yep, he's still mad about it." she glanced over to see Tatsu making his way back up the mountain, covered in dirt and smoke but otherwise unharmed "Hey, are you doing okay Tatsu?"

"Fine." was his blunt response as he continued walking.

'Yeah, that's when you know he's in a bad mood. He doesn't really lash out or anything, he's just a lot more blunt than usual, and occasionally he comes off as passive aggressive. Not to me, but in general.'

"Well I just wanted to say thanks for coming all this way to save me, and I'm sorry if I ended up worrying you and the others."

"I would've no matter what, you know that." again his tone was rather blunt.

'Oh I get it, he's mad because of Koga saying that he loved me. It's not like him to be jealous, but then again I didn't know how he felt about me either not long ago. Hey listen, about Koga… I'm not interested in him or anything, he's not my type."

"He's loud and brash, reckless and arrogant, doesn't know when to shut up, if anything he's exactly what Inuyasha would be if he was a wolf."

"Yeah, that's actually a pretty accurate description."

"Yep." he grabbed hold of his sword and strapped it onto his back.

"We heading out?"

"More or less." he then spared a quick glance over at Sango "Hey Sango, you mind if the two of us borrow Kirara for a little while?"

"Sure I don't mind, but what are you going to do?" asked Sango.

"Aside from heading back home and getting some kind of hold on the lives we have outside of all of this, I'm gonna do something I've been putting off for long enough as it is. I'm going after the third Fang."

A/N:

Now comes the second half of the two parter featuring the debut of the Wind Scar, in which the Inu Gang find themselves in the middle of a war between the Wolf Demon Tribe and the Birds of Paradise, which they quickly put an end to, as is to be expected. This is only the beginning of Koga's arc throughout the story, of which you're going to see much more later on.

So yeah like I said, I'm a pretty sizeable fan of Koga, but I do admit that out of everyone in the series, I think he got done the dirtiest. I'm working to change that in this story. As you can see, I'm starting by giving him some more depth to his character than we got in canon, and it's going to progress from there. As for how that gets receive, you're just going to have to wait and see.