LXVII
Graviora Manet
Days pass, and the first month of the year goes by in cold stillness, full of the falling of the snow. Kouga waits breathless within himself for the first night of the full moon, for the run that is coming. This month, this moon, he will not run alone. He wants Kagome with him, beside him, running with him - and though that cannot be he knows he can carry her, his woman, have her on his back and near him.
That will be enough. That will be…something. Beautiful. He must do this thing, must have her beside him not only for his wants but for his needs. It is the other half of courtship. She must learn him – grow to know him. All of me, Kagome. The lighter half of his being, the Kouga she already knows…and the half of himself that is dark things. The wild unleashed.
The half of him that once kissed her with blood on his mouth.
He thinks she is growing used to it, too. The Wolf that he is, the Wolf that defies her expectations of youkai. He thinks that if he asks her she will say yes, just as she says yes now to all other things…but the time has not yet been right.
Kouga watches her now as he always watches her, even when she is not aware of it – by scent, by sound, by sight, he does not let her leave the range of his knowledge. His precious woman, he will keep her safe from everything and anything.
He has not forgotten the darkness that begins in the north, the darkness he encountered when first he went seeking a way to attack the harpies. He tracks it, watches as it encroaches on other borders. It comes ever closer, as if seeking the boundaries of his territory – the scent of it, the feel of it, is an oily slickness that corrupts his senses and perhaps his soul, lingers clammy on his skin and drives him again and again to be certain of Kagome's safety.
Kouga knows without knowing that if that power touches her, something terrible will come of it.
He only wishes he could define to himself what something terrible is.
Shippou stares through the undergrowth, through the trees. He is bad at listening, always has been. He shouldn't be here now, should have waited in the den as he was told, but the silence there in his mother's absence drove him out following the path of his father's vengeance.
Papa?
The blue of his father's fox-fire is a cascade of brilliance, the force of a waterfall the likes of which the world has never seen, and still the lightning his enemy wields shatters it into a storm of tiny droplets that beat with cutting force. Power, power and light. They detonate reality into shards of sight sharper than glass.
"Papa!"
The fire is dying, and in its wake Fox-bright eyes are closing in a final surrender.
"Papa!"
The fat one laughs, and laughs, and laughs, and the one with the terrible weapon descends finally from the sky, moves forward with his arms crossed and looks down at the fallen body of his foe, Kitsune smoking with the futile failure of his own flames.
Despair, despair. Not papa too. In Shippou's thoughts is his mother as he had last seen her, blood streaming from her body, the warm green of her eyes blinded by red.
He cannot close his eyes when the blade goes up, and down, pierces his father's throat and spills the tide of his life across the ground. A whimper escapes him, but only one. All he can think is that there is no point in crying now. The most terrible thing has happened, and now-
He hears words, and within him something curdles like old cream.
"Heh, heh, Hiten! It'd be a shame to let a nice pelt like this one go to waste, don't you think?"
"What, this old thing? You like it, Manten?"
"Don't you think the shade matches my hair? It's perfect!"
"Well, it'll be a messy job, but just for you, little brother."
Shippou watches the blade come up and down again…and again. He looks because he cannot turn away. He watches because his muscles have frozen, his bones dissolved to gelid jelly. Fingers work under the fur, under the skin, and beneath them his father's flesh is revealed as streaming gore.
He can't scream the scream that is choking him. Bile burns in his throat, but he watches – he watches.
Shippou sees it all.
Many strange things are noted in the den of the wolves of Echigo as the day of the full moon arrives. The silent and often-irritable Saya has spent much of her time smiling, and more still in the company of a human deemed dangerous by all but a few. Kouga observes, as he sees Kagome observe, but what incites her to smiles only confuses him. What does Saya see in the human? She has her own difficulties, her own strangeness…is that enough to explain?
That he himself loves a human woman doesn't factor into his thoughts. Kagome is different, and her difference has its obvious explanation. The man is…just a man. It occurs to him finally that perhaps that is the reason. He listens when she asks him to run with her – scowls, then shrugs almost at once. If she would carry him, let her.
"But I will run beside you, Saya – I can do that, you know."
"Can you, Miroku? Can you run beside the Ookami while the full of the moon beats in our blood?"
"You'll just have to wait and see won't you?"
Kouga turns away and considers that if this man is willing to run with Saya, then Kagome will certainly run with him. He follows the strongest thread of her scent and finds her in the snow, crawling through tunnels in the deep drifts, laughing with the pups that pounce on her.
Warmth suffuses him. One day, they will be his pups she is laughing with. Our pups, Kagome.
"Woman, it looks cold in there – come out and come warm up with me."
Her glance turns to him over her shoulder, nothing startled in it.
"I felt you coming – Miroku's been teaching me how."
There is pride in her voice, but she struggles back out of the snow and stands, brushing white powder from her robes. When she is close enough, Kouga takes her in his arms despite the damp of the snow that melts on his skin.
"Tonight is the full moon, Kagome. Tell me you'll run with me – tell me you'll run with the pack."
She pulls back from his chest to look up at him, bemused.
"Run with you? You've got some idea of how I'm to do that, I suppose? I'd never keep up, and I can't run in the snow –"
"I'll carry you. You can sit on my back, and you'll be as safe as if you were here in bed, so say yes, Kagome."
She wrinkles her nose at him.
"Yes, Kagome."
But she laughs at his scowl, tightens her arms around his waist and kisses him.
"Of course I will, Kouga, of course I will. What time do we leave? Where are we running to?"
He rubs his cheek against her cheek and speaks close to her ear.
"When the moon rises. Where the moon calls us."
He feels her shiver in his arms, and knows it is not from the cold, and smiles.
The moon rises over Echigo, and the voices of a hundred wolves wail to greet it.
The moon rises over Shippou, and he swears vengeance on the grave he's dug through frozen ground with bleeding hands.
The moon rises over Inuyasha, sitting vigil over a sputtering fire while Kikyou lays in the trance or sleep that has overcome her every night since they left the youkai onsen behind.
The moon rises over the north, and is eclipsed by the sudden boil of a potent miasma – by the odor and presence of whatever rot is spreading outward.
A/N: A chapter, a chapter! Just finished edits on another book last night - Wolf of the West, to be released the day before Valentines next year, woo! This chapter's title, "Graviora Manet", translates to..."The worst is yet to come." bwahahaha. Oh yes, there's much worse than this ahead for our poor doors. Shippou's sorrow in contrast to Kouga's dark premonitions...I wonder what else will become visible in the light of the moon this night? We'll find out next chapter...which should hopefullybe soon!
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