Kouga slid his hands through the silky black locks of Kagome's hair. She slept with her head in his lap, her arms tucked up against her chest, as the boat dipped left and right over the waves. Behind them, the sun peeked out behind the horizon and painted the tops of the waves in golds and yellows.

"We'll reach land in another hour, Lord Kouga."

Opening his eyes, Kouga glanced at the weathered wolf-hanyou captain. His skin, as blue as the water he'd been birthed in, told stories of time and sun, of years spent sailing over ragged seas, of a life lived on the open ocean. "Take her in gently, Takumi," he said, lowering his tone so Kagome did not wake.

"Of course, My Lord." Takumi studied the miko curled up against him, her injured arm still tucked in against her side, and smiled. "Never thought I'd meet her. Some of the youngins' worried she'd purify them when they realized what she is."

Kouga frowned. "It's gotten that bad again?"

"Yes. The elders felt quarantining the island served the best interests of the enclave. You remember the devastation the Diviners wrought in the 70 years' war. It's worse now. They're more vicious, slyer. They get away with murders now by sneaking about like snakes." He paused and tightened his grip on the tiller as the boat crested a small wave and slid down it, before returning his attention to the sleeping miko. "The Shikon Miko couldn't have returned at a better time."

Kouga, loath to give Kagome any part in the war being fought in her name, scowled. "She's just a kid, Takumi. She's barely healed from fighting the war with Naraku. I don't want her going through anything else."

Takumi shrugged. "Children younger than her have fought and died against the Diviners. Your desires might not matter, Lord Kouga. We need her, and if she's anything like the stories say, she'll want to be a part of this."

The truth in the captain's words settled like bile in the pit of Kouga's stomach. Kagome lived her life in the service of others. Even in the feudal era when they'd all been hunting for jewel shards, she could have ignored everything and gone back to her time.

Instead, she'd fought tooth and nail for anyone who needed help, no matter what it cost her, no matter how it hurt her. How many times had he watched her staring sightlessly into the fires after a rough battle, when everyone else had fallen asleep?

And now…now she couldn't weigh more than a bag of rice. Her bones jutted out garishly and sorrow followed her every step. Her smiles, though just as frequent, lacked the carefree innocence of childhood she'd on their first meeting. He hadn't lied when he'd told her they'd had centuries to heal from the traumas of the war with Naraku—but she still carried every scar as if it had just healed over. "I can't cast her into one war when she's barely healed from the first one, Takumi. I can't do it."

Takumi studied his Lord and the Miko. Everyone new the story—how he'd wanted her the moment he laid eyes on her, how he'd fallen for her all over again each time they met, how he'd promised to wait 500 years for her. A love that crossed time. "The stories say she is the most powerful Miko to be born since Midoriko. She will survive this, and then you can help her heal."

More truth he didn't want to acknowledge. Who knew how long the war would last and with Kagome only having another 50-60 years before age stole her away, he wanted to fill her life with joy and happiness—not grief and pain.

Unwilling to concede, Kouga closed his eyes and ignored the captain for the remainder of the trip back to the mainland.

o.O.o

When they reached the shore, Kouga cradled Kagome against his chest and carefully vaulted over the side of the boat. She closed her eyes as they went over, but water barely touched her. Peeking down, she saw it only reached his hips as he waded forward up towards the beach. "I could have gotten out of the boat myself," she murmured.

He chuckled and held her closer. "You'd have been chest deep in water, Kagome. Plus, you're human and it's starting to get cold now. Last thing we need is you catching the flu."

Kagome huffed but didn't argue—but when they reached the shore and he still didn't put her down, she poked his chest with her good hand. "I can walk, you know."

Kouga stopped walking and hoisted her up under the arms, so she hung at eye level to him. "Would ya just let me take care of you for a bit? You know your friends won't let me near you the minute I bring you back to them."

She yelped and scrambled to grasp at his forearms. "Kouga!" Despite her protests, he did not loosen his grip or lower her to the sand. For a long moment, they stood there on the deserted beach as the sun began its ascent across the sky and stared at each other. She gave in first, color rising up her chest and neck to coat her cheeks as she dropped her gaze. "Fine. You can carry me—but don't get used to it," she mumbled.

"Good girl," he chuckled and, bringing her closer until she wrapped her arms around his neck, he scooped one arm under her legs and the other behind her shoulders. "I knew you could follow orders."

She screeched and slapped his shoulders, but nothing shook the smug grin as he carried her up the beach to an old jeep in an otherwise empty parking lot. "Worth it," he laughed when he finally set her down and she glared up at him.

"You're incorrigible," she muttered, "and that is not a compliment!"

Kouga laughed and smoothed a hand down the back of her head as he leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear. "Anything you call me is a compliment, Kagome. Especially when you say it with your cheeks all rosy and flushed with rage."

"I-you-argh!" she sputtered and spun around to yank open the door to the jeep.

Chucking, Kouga tried to help her up into the high seat but raised his hands and stepped back when she snarled at him. "You keep growling at me like that and I can't be held responsible for my actions," he teased.

Grasping the 'oh shit' handle, she hauled herself up into the seat. "You try anything wolf-boy, and I'll purify every single digit dangling from your body."

A feisty Kagome never failed to amuse and arouse in equal measure—especially when she wanted so badly to put him in his place. "Oh yeah?" Sauntering closer, he slung one arm through the open window and lounged between her and the door to block her escape. "I don't think you mean it. I think you might like my dangling bits, given the right…encouragement." He grinned up at her and set his free hand on the door frame to the side of her head.

Kagome smiled sweetly. "I dare you to try something."

He stared at that smile—all teeth—and fell in love with her for the dozenth time. He couldn't help himself. Leaning forward, he reached out and brushed a stray strand of hair from her cheek. Then promptly yowled as she grabbed his hand and bent back his index finger, before zapping him. "Kami—fuck—shit!" Ripping his hand away, he stepped back and popped the burned finger into his mouth to stare up at with wide-eyed wonder. "I'm crazy for you Kagome. I'm a complete goner."

After burning him and bending his finger back, a declaration of love fell horrendously low on the list of reactions she'd expected from him. The cursing suited him, but not the rest. Unsure how to respond, she opted to shrug and primly crossed one leg over the other as she leaned back against the bench seat. "I did warn you."

"You did." Grinning like an idiot, he spared one long glance at those bare, tanned legs, before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side. He climbed in and then reached under the seat for the keys.

"Where are the seat belts?" Kagome asked as she felt around the seats for straps or buckles.

"Had 'em removed when I first got it. Those lap belts did a lotta harm and didn't offer much protection." He glanced at her as she took hold of the grab handle and grinned at her tight grip. "Relax. Anything happens, my reflexes will get us outta here no problem. But if it makes you feel better, when we get back to town and I get settled back into my accounts, I'll re-install them."

"How old is this thing anyway?" she asked. The dials and displays behind the wheels looked like something her grandfather would have driven when he'd been younger.

"I got it in 1954, right after Kaiser released it. She's a beauty, isn't she?" Plugging in the key, he let out a long sigh as the engine turned over smooth as butter. "Can't believe the pack kept her in such good shape for me."

"Wait!" Kagome slapped a hand on top of his as he reached for the gear shift. "Are you telling me you haven't driven a vehicle in…in..how long have you been sealed, Kouga?!"

He chuckled and drew her hand to his lips to press a kiss atop it. "I got sealed in 1957. If it's 2024…about 67 years or so I guess."

"Do you even remember how to drive after all that time?" she demanded, flushing as his lips brushed against her skin.

"Sure I do. It's like riding a bike." Letting go of her hand, he pressed the clutch in and rolled forward before shifting into gear. "See? Nothing to worry about."

Kagome closed her eyes and hung on to the grab bar for dear life. As if he sensed her discomfort, he didn't say a word. Only after several minutes passed in silence did she peek an eye open. The world went by easy as pie and she relaxed marginally in her seat. "I'm surprised you're not speeding," she admitted, and glanced nervously at the speedometer.

"I might be reckless with my own life behind the wheel, Kagome, but never with a passenger's—especially yours." Letting go of the gear shift, he settled his hand on her knee and squeezed lightly. "You can trust me."

True to his word, Kouga kept the jeep at the speed limit. At a stop light, he took his hand off the wheel suck on his burned finger. "I'm sorry I burned you," she murmured, flushing as she eyed the shiny pink skin of his knuckle.

Kouga raised a brow and glanced over at her. "Why? I provoked you. You defended yourself." Lifting the hand resting on her knee, he traced his knuckles across her cheek. "You don't ever have to apologize for defending yourself, Kagome."

He dropped his hand back to her knee after shifting into gear and getting them through the light. "I forgot how much you like to touch," she said after a while when the heat of his palm sank down through the thin, clean yukata the islanders had gifted her.

He looked at his hand on her knee and then met her eyes before returning his attention to the rode. "Does it bother you?"

Remembering dozens and dozens of nights curled up on her side by a dying fire, alone and hurting, Kagome bit her lip and looked away. "No. No, it doesn't bother me."

She couldn't say what he made her feel—not yet. But she could give him this one thing, this acknowledgement that his touch, even in the casual grasp of his hand on her knee as he drove, eased the unbearable weight of solitude in the pit of her stomach. Without a word, her eyes on the scenery passing the passenger window, she set her hand on top of his and tucked her fingers against his palm.

o.O.o

By the time he rolled to a stop in front of Kagome's small cottage late that night, Kagome slept soundly with her head on his thigh again. She lay curled up on her side on the bench seat, buried under an old, ratty blanket they'd found in the back.

No light flickered out of the pretty little windows, but Kouga didn't need light to see the figure hulking on the roof. He didn't need light to catch the rich scent of freshly cut grass as the figure jumped down from the roof and landed lightly on the balls of his feet before he approached.

He rolled down the window then lounged back against his seat. Resting his elbow on the window frame, he greeted his old friend. "Been a while, mutt face."

"Back at ya, wolf cub." Leaning his arms above his head on the door frame, Inuyasha peeked down Kagome's sleeping face. "Knew she had something to do with this. Figures she'd sleep through all the damn drama though."

Resting a proprietary hand on her shoulder, Kouga smirked. "She always stirred the pot real well back then. What did she do this time?"

Inuyasha noted the possessiveness with a raised brow, but when Kouga only looked at him, he let it go. "Woke you up. You and a whole slew of missing demons we've been searching years for. C'mon, let her sleep. We can keep an eye on her from the porch."

He glanced down at her. She slept peacefully, just like she had on the boat. Easing a hand under her head, he carefully lifted her up just enough to scoot out from under her before letting her rest on the seat. He managed to ease the door closed with a quiet click before he followed Inuyasha up the walk and sank down next to him. "I've been trying to figure out why she's been sleeping so much—but if what she did to wake me up reached far and wide enough to unseal multiple demons, it makes sense. That's a lot of energy spent all at once."

Inuyasha nodded. "We're not just talking a handful of missing youkai. Hundreds of missing have turned up at the borders of enclaves—and even more as murder victims on the human news. The Cabals are struggling to save as many as they can. Sesshoumaru went to Court to try to explain what happened and get the appropriate stories and glamor's in place."

Kouga closed his eyes and loosed a long breath. "It's been almost seventy years. I'd hoped I'd wake up and find the war had finally been resolved but its only gotten worse." Scrubbing his hands over his face, he sighed again. "Fill me in. What have I missed?"

Inuyasha told him everything. As he spoke he lowered his tone so their conversation didn't carry to his sleeping friend. He crammed seventy years of history into brief descriptions, doing his best to articulate the most important things Kouga needed to know in short, simple sentences.

An hour passed, then another, before Kouga ran out of questions to ask. "So…Kagome is immortal?"

"Yeah. Best as we can figure—and she seems to think so, according to the deal she made with the jewel."

"She didn't say anything," he murmured and studied at the jeep sitting innocently in the driveway as if he could see inside it to where Kagome slept.

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably. "She might have been worried how you'd react. Me and Sango didn't exactly take the news well."

Leave it to the hanyou to fuck things up again. Shaking his head, Kouga stood. "I don't care how it happened. Her being immortal just means I get more time with her." He took a step towards the jeep then stop and turned back to Inuyasha. "I'm giving you notice mutt face. This time, she's mine. I waited 500 years for her. If you know what's good for you, you'll stay outta my way."

Rolling his eyes, Inuyasha stood as well and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Let her hear you say something stupid like that again and she won't be." His gazed drifted towards the jeep. He sighed and loosed a long breath. "I lost my chance a long ass time ago. You got nothin' to worry about from me."

"Good. Keep it that way." He moved to the driver's side and dug the keys out of his pocket but stopped once more and looked back at him. "Ginta? Hakkaku? My pack?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "We haven't heard from or seen them since you disappeared. We searched for them but we figured you'd all been sealed or killed-some wondered if they'd gone into hiding after you disappeared, you being King and all."

Kouga smothered the grief trying to choke its way up his throat and opened the jeep. "I'll find them." He darted a glance back at the empty cottage. "I'm guessing the rest of the your pack is in the Western Enclave now?"

"That's right. You remember how to get there?"

"I was sealed, not struck dumb." Shaking his head, he climbed back up into the drivers seat and eased Kagome's head back into his lap. He'd just turned the engine over when Inuyasha sauntered over and leaned on the closed door. "You forget something?"

Grinning, Inuyasha nodded in Kagome's direction. "Just one thing. You aren't the only one with a claim on her."

Narrowing his eyes, Kouga gritted his jaw to keep from snarling. "Who?"

"My brother. He proposed to her a few nights ago." Chuckling, he stepped back from the jeep. "Thought you should know. See you in the morning at the pack house. Make sure she gets there in one piece."

For a long moment after Inuyasha stepped back into the shadows and disappeared, Kouga stared into the night and processed what the idiot had said. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled.

o.O.o

Word Count – 3036

a/n – long awaited, but hopefully worth the wait. I was going to reintroduce them to the whole group, but I'm still figuring out how to write Kouga. Hope you guys enjoyed it. :DD