XLII
Utrinque Paratus
It is late in the evening when they return to the den, Kagome dozing with her head against Kouga's shoulder. Not only deer, but boar and rabbits and birds snatched out of the air did he hunt; strong, fast, agile, she's never seen anyone move like him.
She doesn't know that was the point.
Kouga is doing everything he can to impress her, everything he can think of to prove that no one else could provide for her like he can. He has shown her his skill, his great talents – that he is an excellent hunter, a great war leader, that he can protect and that he can fight...and that he can be merciful. That he knows to respect the cycle that sustains him, of which he is a part and over which he rules.
He is on the edge of declaring his intentions openly, but something of innocence in her still prevents him; the way she desires without knowing fully what she desires, the way she steps toward him and then always steps back.
What would she say if he told her loved her; that he wanted to mate her – to make her his – to keep her for all time?
What would she say, Kagome...his miko, alone, away from her family, no one to rely one but him, no one else to...trust?
What would she say?
It's only that he doesn't know yet that restrains him.
The moment she'll say yes, he thinks to himself. The moment she'll say yes, and I'm sure of it – that's when I'll ask her.
Kouga is still afraid that he might scare her; afraid that if he scares her, she'll run away.
Where would she go?
But as soon as he thinks it, he realizes it wouldn't matter; Kouga knows Kagome well enough now to know that she would just run, without thinking – that she would run until she was hopelessly lost, until maybe even he couldn't find her.
"But the moment you'll say yes, Kagome -"
And if that night he holds her more tightly, demands from her a goodnight kiss – well, that is just his due; she can't object to that. She doesn't.
He feels the heat of her blush and smiles to himself in the darkness.
It is not long before she falls asleep; not long before she is still and quiet against him, her breathing a low murmur, her heart a lower murmur still. The sound throbs at him. He considers what he should do tomorrow; he thinks about the ways she can begin to contribute, besides fighting – besides risking herself beside him.
He knows that she will not possess the skills that a human woman of his own time might posses - what she has told him of her future, its ease and luxury, tells him this; her own softness, her own fascination with the world that is as natural to him as breathing – that tells him more. She is a healer by nature...a weapon against his world...but she is helping him. And then there is that more elusive gift which she has not yet recognized; the future. She knows what is coming...
When she is deep asleep, Kouga presses his lips to her shoulder and then leaves the furs behind her, wanders out to stand in front of the den and stare at the moon. It is luminous, enormous, and it tugs at him; he hears the voices of his pack as the run wild beneath the bright, silver light, and promises himself that the next full moon he will not run alone.
Kouga vanishes. The Wolf takes his place. Ookami, Alpha, the greatest of his kind, he lets out a ringing howl and leaps down from the high rocks and across the river to the trees.
He joins the pack as it runs, chasing down the moon.
Alone in the mountains, his face to the north, a single man sits alone and sighs and shifts himself a little closer to his fire. The moon is full overhead, a luminous eye peering down at him, watchful and bright, and he draws the silk of his priestly robes closer to his body; the night is chill. Autumn is deep, and at night the wind wears the first cutting edge of winter.
He hears wolves howling, and sighs.
"Not too close, but not too far away, either."
He hears a greater howl, something more than a mortal wolf could make, and feels an eerie tingle crawl across his back.
Youkai!
The power he carries tells him so, and he clenches his right fist, feels the beads there, the solemn promise of them, feels the leaking energy of the terrible wind that is bound behind their enchantment.
He looks up and his violet eyes peer out into the darkness.
"No sleep for me tonight..."
His name is Miroku, and he is a servant of Buddha.
In a glass vial, which he carries deep in his robes, he carries two fragments of the shikon no tama. He is following a rumor that will take him to another; the rumor of a bakeneko, a terrible beast, burning its way through the forests north of Echigo unchecked. There have also been Neko in the north, just like there have always been Inu in the west and Ookami in the south and east. The rumors have attracted him because they speak of new and sudden power, where before there were only the usual beasts.
"Shikon no tama...it must be."
He desires not the gem itself, but the enemy he knows he will one day encounter if he keeps following it.
"Assuming the wolves don't eat me first..."
He settles in for the night, the fire before him, and his back against a tree.
A/N: There we are, another chapter as promised...and another person of interest makes his appearance. I wonder what's going to happen next...Yes, I am making an evil face right now. This chapter's title, "Utrinque Paratus", translates to "Ready for anything"! Much thanks, reviewers; onward, as always!
*Note: As of 8/1/13, I have finished additions to my manuscript (see profile for details, they excite me!) and shall now resume posting daily updates! Expect a new chapter within the next 24 hours!
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