Sooooo...I made a mistake, in my excitement to speed up the process I completely forgot to update a kinda important chapter..please forgive me. The elder episode is actually chapter 14, and chapter 15 is Just a Dream.
"Sooo, what did you want to talk to me about?" It had been giving her anxiety ever since he had told her that he wanted to talk, wanting to talk never meant anything good, but he was adamant that she eat first.
"I actually wanted to get you away from toji, he's a nice guy but sometimes a bit too forward, I can introduce you if you want." he really hoped she would say no, he had no right he knew that, if she wanted to meet him he would introduce them.
"No, no" she laughed, " I think I'm okay. He seems nice but I don't think he's my type"
I wonder what is
"I'll be going with ayame to talk to the elder's about our union."
She was sitting on the floor of her room, and rocked herself gently, "I see…and…you want me to go with you guys?" she hoped that this was not the case.
He shook his head, "no, that probably would make things a little…weird to be honest. But I want you to stay here if possible, I don't know if they'll want to talk to you, they shouldn't because it's between me and ayame, but if they need you, ginta and hakkaku will come fetch you okay?"
She nodded slowly, trying to stay calm. Ayame had warned her that there was a huge possibility that she would be dragged into this, yet she didn't feel prepared. How could she possibly prepare? What would she even say? What would they even ask? A jumble of thoughts racked her brain.
"Hey." his voice snapped her out of it "It'll be fine. Just answer them honestly okay? It'll be fine." he repeated.
"Okay." she responded quietly, "how is your back doing? Does it still hurt?"
"Nah, whatever you put on me made me feel better, but some of the leaves fell off, sorry."
"Can I take a look?"
"Yea sure," he crawled closer to her, facing away from her, "you're gonna have to help me with my armour, my arm is kinda sore."
Heat crawled up her neck, and gingerly she helped him take it off, she looked at his back, his wounds were still there but not an angry red anymore, they were starting to turn pink now, wow, she thought, yokai's really do heal quickly, she admired her skills a bit more, grateful that she was finally of some use. Gently she touched the new scars and he jumped, startled at her touch.
"Oh, I'm sorry, does it hurt?"
"No, it just…surprised me." he answered, feeling a blush coming on. What are you? A pup, she's just checking.
"Hey kagome-eh? Oh, am I interrupting something?" They both turned to see ayame standing at the doorway, smirking at them.
"No! No, I was just checking on his back, sorry!" she stammered trying to put some distance between them.
"Relax kagome, I'm just teasing, I just came to get kouga, we need to talk to the elders." her playful voice waned , she was nervous about this and he could tell.
"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked, attempting to put on his armour but failing, kagome took pity and helped him.
Ayame flushed, "I-I don't know what you're talking about, let's go!" she demanded turning on her heels and walked out.
Kouga chuckled, "we'll be back."
Ayame and Kouga walked out, a shared look of uncertainty between them. In short they had each respectively made their cases, with the elders listening, and asking a few questions. A few asked ayame if she was unable to bear children, and if that were the case then the unication was null, which kouga jumped to her defense and said that was not the reason, a few of the questions seemed to imply that ayame was to blame which angered both ayame and kouga, but they tried to remain calm. In the end they had asked for some clarification and sent them away without letting them know.
"Soooo…I think that went…" he started, trying to think of a word to sum it up.
"Interesting." she interjected, and he nodded.
"I don't know if they will let us," he frowned, "but if they don't I guess…our union will stay." he said quietly. If it did remain he wasn't sure how they would move forward in their lives. Things had changed too much in their relationship to go back to whatever they were doing, but if it was what the elders wanted then it would be difficult to get out of it.
She placed a hand on his shoulder, "hey, it'll be okay. Even if they say no, they cannot force us to stay together like that, they can't force us to have kids, we've already said we work better as friends." still she was worried about the outcome.
He gave her a worried smile, "yea they can't force us…" yet he worried that there was a chance that the elders would punish ayame for his actions, and he was worried they would come and intervene and he knew they were not fans of humans.
A door opened and they turned back, "send Kagome in."
Kouga's face fell when he saw them enter, damn it they must have just come in, he grimaced and ayame's hand fell in shock.
"They came?" she gasped softly.
He nodded stiffly, "shit."
"Sister, they want to see you." Ginta said, knocking on her wall.
Hakkaku and Ginta gulped, glancing at each other anxiously, they had been told to get kagome to go talk to the elders by them, hesitant but with very little choice they had to retrieve her.
Kagome walked out, scanning their faces, they looked worried and her heart hammered in her chest.
"Okay." she knew they would not hurt her, kouga would not allow it, yet anxiety and worry gripped at her heart, she stood up straight and let them walk her down to the room, no, they would not let them see she was scared.
"Come in." a voice rumbled, momentarily startling her, damn their sense of hearing.
She walked in, and looked around the room, an old white wolf sat next to a woman with long wavy black hair, and next to her was a tan man, and four other wolves.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes," the white wolf replied, "hello again kagome."
She bowed her head in greeting, "hello chōrō, I'm glad to see you here."
He gave her a brief smile, "as am I, but today child, we want to talk to you about kouga and ayame's union."
"I see…what is there that you want to ask me?" hoping it would be quick.
"We believe that you have played a part in this union separation, and for the pain of ayame." the woman replied, her bright blue eyes examined kagome, and for a moment she held her breath. The woman was beautiful, but also quite terrifying .
"Chiyo, ayame asked for this too," chōrō gently scolded, "we know that they are not happy together, do you have any idea as to why? We had decided that they were a good fit, so it's surprising to us that they both want to end the unification between our tribes, we rarely make mistakes like this."
"If I may speak freely, I think they work well as friends, but I have never seen them be very uh romantic I suppose, or at least it almost seemed…one sided."
The woman cocked an eyebrow but remained silent, she turned to the man on her side and whispered something to him, and he nodded, his face remaining stoic.
"Did you seduce kouga?" a wolf asked, and the other wolf coughed at the bluntness.
Kagome bit her tongue, "no I did not seduce kouga. He used to love me, a long time ago when we first met, but since his union I thought..that those feelings ended. Kouga and ayame opened their home to me, I wouldn't do that to her or to him."
"Oh child, kouga has not stopped loving you." Chiyo replied, "what do you think Jiro?"
The tan man replied, "No. He has not. "
Wow straight to the point
"What will happen to the lands that kouga has received from the union?" a wolf asked.
"Ayame has asked that we still honor them, Ren." chōrō replied.
"And what will happen to Ayame if the union is done?" the female wolf asked.
"Kei, we haven't gone to that point yet, but she would come back with me to the northern wherever she sees fit"
"And as for kouga's position? Does he still get to be chief?" Chiyo asked.
"That would be up to us to decide, but he has the support of his people and I don't think they would take kindly to us taking that away from him." chōrō rumbled, all that trouble that he went through for their unification, all of it to go down, this was the man ayame had wanted.
"Kagome, do you have feelings for my son?" Chiyo asked, cocking her head.
"Y-your-… you're his mother?" kagome stammered.
Chiyo chortled, "yes child, our son" she gestured towards Jiro, " now answer the question."
Kagome's cheeks tinted, and examining the pair in front of her, she could see some of the resemblance, especially the mother's piercing gaze and the man's golden tan "I…I think kouga's a great man and I do appreciate his friendship..." she stumbled over her words. Why why was this so embarrassing?
"That's not an answer."
Kagome paused, "I-I do. He's sweet, he's thoughtful and kind…and I do have feelings for him but… "
"It feels wrong?" a wolf asked.
Kagome nodded, "I loved someone, and they left me for someone else, I feel like I'm betraying ayame just by admitting to this, it's wrong! Which is why I won't do anything about it."
Chōrō smiled sadly at her, "kagome, I know that it feels wrong to you, but I raised ayame, she will understand, and she accepts kouga's feeling." he sighed, "in a way I'm glad that she asked for this union to end. She has never said it but she was unhappy, and most unions have pups by now, we need the tribes to grow."
"Kagome, I'm going to be honest right now, we don't like humans, especially miko's, the only time we love them is when we eat them, but kouga is our only son, and we want him to be happy, right Jiro?"
Jiro nodded.
"At this point I don't care who he ends up with, but you've also shown your strength by helping with the demon hawks, and for saving my son." she smiled sadly, "I want to thank you for that."
"It was no problem, kouga has saved me countless times." she replied, brushing over the eating humans part.
Chiyo regained her composure and cleared her throat, "I just need to get this out of the way. If you get with kouga can you give him children?"
Kagome's cheeks blossomed red, "c-children? I'm not even with him!" hell they hadn't kissed or even, well done anything to suggest other than friendship.
Chiyo rolled her eyes, "I'm not asking for that right now, but I'm not getting any younger, I would have expected he would have at least three litters by now! I don't care who his mate will be at this point , I just need to have grandchildren, I don't care if they'll be hanyo's or full demons, I just need to see them before I die!"
Kaome considered it, she did want children, right now was out of the question. She had expected to have one with Inuyasha, but he was always careful to pull out at the last minute, and she wondered why, until she caught him with Kikyo.
"I think one day I'll have children, I would be willing to but I'm not even with ko-"
"Well that settles it," chiyo replied, "I give my blessing to you, and I agree for the end of the unification."