LXXXIX

De Future

Curious and just a bit hungry, Kagome pokes open the package Shippou brought her as he speeds away, and finds it full of onigiri, though missing the nori. They're a bit far from the coast, and the Wolves trade with other yōkai, but not generally with humans, so there are some things that they don't usually have. Rice and vegetables are easy, but it occurs to her that this is another one of the things she can ask Kouga for. Miso, too. How long has it been since I've had miso soup?

Overlapping with her thoughts, Shiori speaks up from beside her as she begins unfolding their last pile of furs. "It's been almost a year, Kagome. Will you be mating our Alpha soon, or is there more he needs to do to win you?"

"Huh? Wha… how did you…" Kagome's brain takes a minute to process that Shiori's question has nothing to do with what she'd been salivating over in her head. "Oh, I didn't… Sorry, I was thinking about soup." She tries to make her voice sound only curious, and not concerned. "Is that… how long a courtship is supposed to take? A year?"

Shiori shakes her head slowly. "No, it takes as long as it takes. Mikoto was looking very pleased with himself earlier, but he's been after Harumi for half a century, and she broke from a hanyō named Toro a few years before that. She wasn't with our pack then, she came from the north, but I heard she'd been courting him nearly as long."

"Fifty years! Twice?" The idea boggles Kagome's mind. What on Earth could take so long as that?

"Mm-hmm. But I only made Ginta and Hakkaku wait three, and Suzume mated her Kazuki after two seasons. They say Kameko agreed to mate her Alpha after only seven days, but who would dare ask her? I don't believe it, anyway. What male could prove himself in so little time?" She gives Kagome a look out of the corner of her eye. "There are many who feel the same about you, I suppose. In that they don't dare ask."

Kagome meets that glance without flinching. "Are you reminding me I didn't really answer your question before?"

Smirking, Shiori shakes her head. "No, not really. It's not a fair one to ask, except in fun. And even if I did get a real answer, do you think our Alpha would forgive me for knowing before he did?" Shiori looks up at where Kouga has started beating his own furs, and there's humor and a hint of apprehension mingled in her expression. "But there's been lots of talk, since it's been so long that you stay with him every night."

Immediately thinking of what that kind of statement might mean among humans, Kagome almost flinches. "O-Oh? What kind of … talk?"

Shiori stares at her very seriously for a moment, then breaks out in laughter. "What do you think? Good things, at least those that I hear. They think you'll choose him soon, and the pack will grow again. That our Alpha will be strengthened, his power doubled in you. There's a few complaining about why you're taking so long, being human and happy, but they've been hushed by smarter people."

She looks pleased with herself. Kagome assumes that she is one of those smarter people, lifts an eyebrow, and gets a Wolfish grin in return. "Don't worry, Kagome. A year isn't anything, even for humans. You should be careful, though, that Kouga-sama isn't taking advantage of your good nature."

"My – what? Why? What?" Good nature. She almost lets out a disbelieving pfff, but settles for stuffing a rice ball into her mouth instead. Miroku must have made these and sent them back with his message, they're actually seasoned. She decides she can forgive him for his taijiya reports, in exchange for not having to supervise Ginta's attempts at home cooking.

But Shiori only wrinkles her nose, and lifts an eyebrow at her. "You don't think it's taking advantage for him to keep you in his rooms instead of giving you your own? For him to drag you off to sleep with him every night?"

Kagome snickers, almost chokes on her rice, and has to wash it down with spring water. "No, it's not, because that's not true. There is no dragging going on, unless it's me dragging him off to stay and actually sleep with me." She rolls her eyes. "Nobody's thought that I sleep every night just because I'm human, have they?"

Shiori taps her fingers on her elbow, shaking her head slowly. "Maybe not, but didn't he keep you in his furs before he even made the courtship promise? The morning he brought you to us, he brought you to his room. How can you choose to gift him with your presence that way? It's not really fair, is it?"

Kagome waves her off, swallowing another mouthful of onigiri. "No, no, I have a room –"

"It's full of clothes!" Shiori holds her arms apart. "Piled this high!"

"Yes, but that's not Kouga's fault." She pauses, remembering his gifts, and flushes a little. "Well, maybe it is, but not like that, and anyway half those things are from you. I just… haven't wanted to sleep in there."

Shiori looks at her out of the corner of her eye, then drags up the last fur to hang. "If you're lonely, the pups will keep you company."

"Um." Kagome squints at her. "They do, anyway. I think the trouble will be if I ever want them to stop. But that's not the point, I want Kouga to keep me company."

"Ahh you're just as bad as he is, I see. We're all blaming our Alpha unfairly, then."

"Shiori!" But Kagome giggles despite herself, because even if Kouga started it, she has definitely continued, and that without complaint. Good night kisses, and good morning kisses, and… "Maybe. A little bit. He's just so…"

Shiori's face pokes back around the other side of a hanging bearskin and startles her. "Mm-hmm. I've seen that look on females before, going after Kouga-sama. Lucky for you, he looked back."

Kagome sticks out her tongue. "Jealous?"

Shiori grins at her through the gaps between pelts. "Mmm… no. Not now. Maybe a hundred years ago I would've been, but I've got enough trouble of my own these days."

"Ginta and Hakkaku would be enough trouble, I don't know how you handle both."

"The only way to deal with them is to handle both."

Kagome gasps out laughter before she can stop herself, and Shiori disappears on the other side of the last fur on the line, then comes back with a sturdy stick in each hand. "Here, it's our turn. Beat them as hard as you can, and try to stay down wind. You don't want to be breathing a whole winter's worth of dust."

The effort of beating the furs precludes further conversation for a while. It's hard work, and more physical than anything Kagome has done in a while. Naturally, she doesn't have the stamina of the Wolves around her, but no one complains when she takes the breaks she needs, and if anything they seem surprised she can do as much as she does. Partway through, the air is too choked with dust and hair for her to breathe, and she retreats into the den with her own furs to restore her room to some semblance of order.

By the time the day's work is done, the sun is setting, and Kagome is more than happy to go splash herself clean in the shallows of the river's spring runoff with the other females, even if afterward she's shivering and grateful to wrap herself up in fur.

Clean, dry, and content, she sits with Shiori and Suzume, her sister, on the riverbank in the last of the sunlight. With combs of carved ivory and bone, a gift from Kouga, Kagome and Shiori comb Suzume's hair. Then the sisters switch, and finally it is Kagome's turn. Quiet herself, she listens to the two of them discussing their mates, their children, and which of their males was most impressive in the last hunt.

Kagome thinks of Kouga, dressed in a leather loincloth and the sun-burnished gleam of his own skin, alone and bringing down every kind of prey that runs in his mountains. She smiles to herself, remembering, and says nothing. Wouldn't it be rude to compare him with the sisters' mates? They already know he's the best of them. That's why he's Alpha.

The sound of their conversation, the current of her own thoughts, and the fingers and claws gently parting and combing her hair lull her into a daydream. If she says yes, she'll join them, Suzume and Shiori. If she says yes, she'll become one of them, just like them as much as she can be, one of the mated females of Kouga's pack. Kouga's mate. A partner in everything forever.

She'll have children of her own someday; little hanyō, black-haired and bright-eyed. She imagines a brother and sister, the boy with Kouga's tail, the girl with dark Wolf ears. They run out of the den in her mind's eye, laughing, demanding that Kouga pick them up. Won't that be lovely? A boy with my eyes and Kouga's face, and a girl as cute as he is –

"Kagome?" Shiori's voice comes as if from a distance.

"Don't bother, she must be thinking of our Alpha. Look at her silly grin." Suzume's laughter is audible in her words, but there's nostalgia and nothing unkind in her teasing.

Kagome opens one eye to look at them, blushing a little, then shrugs. "Yes, I am. I was thinking about if we had kids… pups? … what they might look like."

Shiori hums a pleasant little sound under her breath, and smiles. Suzume giggles. "You are thinking of his pups? You will say yes, and then you will find out. But you never know with hanyō how they'll look, they come out as they choose. They'll be strong, anyway. Our Alpha's blood will tell."

She stands then, and with a swift movement of one hand and an ivory stick ties up the length of her brindle-patterned hair. "I'll leave you to your daydreams, Kagome, I have a room to put back together. Come for evening meal some time, yes?"

She leans in to brush cheeks with her sister, dips her head in Kagome's direction, and turns away. Shiori watches her go, then turns to Kagome again, and the tilt of her head keeps Kagome where she is.

"Kagome, you don't have to say if you don't want to, but I really am curious. You seem so happy with our Alpha. If you're not yet saying yes, but you won't stay away from him, how are you going to show him when he pleases you more?" And she snickers a little. "Or does he not care as long as you stay near him?"

Kagome flushes, shrugs, and avoids looking Shiori in the eye. "No, I… Hakkaku told me that I was supposed to escalate things when I was happy with him, and I have. But I guess you're right, or maybe I'm just not very creative with that kind of thing. I don't really… I only had one idea, but I'm not sure it's allowed?"

"Mm…hmm. Well, you know the courtship rules."

Kagome nods once, emphatically. "Yes. Unless you mean something else than what Hakkaku and Kouga have told me-"

"No, but I don't suppose any of the males told you why the rules are what they are? Not our Alpha, not Hakkaku in his lessons?"

"Why?" Kagome frowns. How dumb, they hadn't. And she hadn't thought to ask, either, which was even stupider. Haven't I learned not to make assumptions yet? "No, I mean… I guess I kind of wondered, but humans have a similar custom, so I figured yours was for the same reason."

"A human custom?" Shiori sounds honestly curious, and Kagome shrugs.

"Um, the same thing, like I said. No sex until marriage, which is as close to a Wolf mating as humans get. It's because there might be kids, mostly, and so that people can tell who the father is. And humans don't give themselves so much leeway as you guys do, it's not considered socially acceptable to do… all those other things. Humans don't even kiss each other in public."

"Oh." Shiori is quiet for a moment, and then shrugs. "What a waste. Well, we don't worry about knowing who fathers what pups, scents tell us, if nothing else. But it's true that pups are the reason for the limitation. Who wants to rely on a male to provide without a bond to tie him? Who would entrust the future to someone without such a bond, male or female? It wouldn't be fair to the ones yet to be born."

Then she tugs lightly at the ends of Kagome's hair. "But that's all, only one thing forbidden. There are no other limits on how we can choose to give each other pleasure, how we learn the ways we fit together, or if we fit together."

"None? Really? Because I…" Kagome looks over her shoulder, as if Kouga is going to suddenly appear out of thin air, and then gestures for Shiori to come closer. "I wanted to…" She drops her voice to an even lower whisper, and barely manages to get half the words out, even this close to Shiori's ear.

Before she gets too far, Shiori stops her, patting her shoulder, grinning and obviously trying not to laugh. "Kagome, you are a wicked woman, miko or no. And yes, you can do what you want, assuming he allows it. He might not, and if he doesn't you should be prepared, and not upset by it. He won't reject you because he doesn't want it, but because it might be too much for him."

Her fingers grip Kagome's shoulder tightly then, and she leans in closer. "I do have to warn you, I know you have good intentions, but you must do this thing only if you are in control." And her grin widens, until it shows her sharpest teeth. "Not just of our Alpha, but yourself. I was a courted female, I remember the temptation of a forbidden thing. Don't risk your beautiful future for a moment of passion. Our Alpha would be furious, absolutely enraged – with himself."

Kagome shakes her head hard. "No. I won't." She huffs out a breath. "Or at least, I would make sure to get out a yes, first." She smiles faintly, but Shiori only rolls her eyes.

"That doesn't count, Kagome, we've all heard you get out lots of yeses."

"Shiori please don't remind me –"

"That you live in a Wolf den?"

Kagome sighs. "That you don't all suffer from occasional, spontaneous deafness. A girl can dream, okay?"

"It might not help much, but it's not like you're the only one. Even if you can't, we can all hear each other, too."

Kagome is still for a long moment before she heaves herself to her feet. "Actually, that does help. Anyway, I suppose I should get back inside. Thanks for the advice, Shiori."

"Any time." She stands, and Kagome leans over to brush cheeks with her, then turns and makes her way back up to the den. She's halfway up before Shiori calls to her again. "Kagome, I thought you put your room back together already."

"Yes, but I have to help Kouga, don't I?"

A wave of murmurs goes through all the Wolves outside who can hear her, and Shiori shakes her head slowly, laughing. "Kagome! He's not going to let you!" But she crosses the river in three quick strides then, before Kagome can call after her to find out why.

At the southern edge of Echigo, beyond the furthest foothills of the Ou Mountains, the morning's promise of fine weather has long since disappeared in a deluge that washes out the landscape with grey. From within the low, narrow confines of the hole in the hillside where the woman Sango lies unconscious, Miroku watches it pour down with narrowed eyes.

By late afternoon, the clouds have rolled in thick and heavy, and rather than letting up, the rain seems to be intensifying. "Well, stuck in here in a storm isn't how I wanted to spend the next few days. What do you think, if I sent her more food as a bribe would Kagome-sama let me escape?"

The wolves sitting in a semicircle around the entrance growl faintly at him, and he grins to himself. "I know, I don't think so either. I'm quite limited in what I can make her, anyway. I suppose if she'd sent word of some kind you would already have said?"

This time the answering growl is distinctly laughing. "I thought as much. And why would the lovely Kagome-sama care about little old me, right?"

Huff.

"Right." He sighs again, and sits back as far as he can, resting his head against the wall of the cave and stretching out his legs. He should be meditating, focusing on his sutras, but the words won't sit comfortably in his brain. Instead, he makes the day's second pot of rice; more onigiri for Kagome, a meagre bribe if ever he saw one, and porridge for himself.

He watches out of the corner of his eye as the patrol that have been keeping him company get up, tails wagging, and dart out into the rain, taking the rice balls with them – but he's not alone for very long. In only a minute, a new group of Wolves runs up, water beaded on their fur, and take up the positions their kin had left, even their postures the same.

Should he have listened to Saya and let her come? Argued with Kouga and brought her? But no, she would be even more bored than I am. Who knows what she'd get up to. "Besides, I've got female company, don't I, Taijiya-san?" But she doesn't answer; she hasn't moved except to blink at him once and gasp painfully, a brief moment of consciousness that had woken him from a doze just after dawn.

Perhaps it's that, or having been up all night before he barely managed the catnap she woke him from, or hours listening to nothing but the sound of the rain. Perhaps it's a combination of all three, but gradually Miroku feels himself slipping into sleep. He has a very strange dream, in which Kagome turns herself into a rabbit, and then begs him to cook her and serve her to Kouga. He's only just started explaining to rabbit-Kagome that she won't fit in the pot when he's startled awake by the sound of a sharp bark, and then a lingering growl.

There are no rabbits and no Kagome in the cave. How long has he been sleeping? It's impossible to judge the angle of the sun through the overhanging clouds, but at least it doesn't seem like it's set completely yet. Another bark, this one sharper, slaps him into awareness, and he looks down at the taijiya, but her face is unchanged, her body limp in unconsciousness. Why are the Wolves still growling, is it just a mistake?

No. Wait. He can see it now, she's just pretending to be unconscious. She's actually awake, with the fingers of her right hand slipped inside the seam of her sleeping roll. There's a faint, metallic gleam that reflects the light of embers in his banked fire, probably a knife of some kind, or a kunai.

She's very clever, he'll give her that, but she also must be absolutely insane.

Has she forgotten there's a half dozen Wolves blocking her way out, never mind him and the weather? Doesn't she have enough awareness of her own condition to realize that it would be two separate miracles for her to stand and take a step? Or maybe she would rather die than live captive in yōkai hands.

It's been one thing to watch her with an eye on her condition, to make sure she stays alive and breathing. He never thought Kouga's fears and warnings were actually meaningful, that this woman, taijiya or not, would be so stupid as to try something like this. But I suppose yōkai have good reason to know more about taijiya than I do.

Miroku doesn't say anything, doesn't give away that the Wolves have alerted him, that he's watching her. He waits for her to pull the metal object from the seam. A knife, indeed, a very short and sharp one like the one he keeps up his own sleeve. As soon as her fingers close around it, he acts, rapping the backs of her knuckles sharply with the end of his staff and forcing her to drop it.

He knocks it out of her reach, then picks it up and examines the edge. "Definitely could have cut a few throats with this. If you were capable of lifting your arm that much, that is." He watches her fists clench, sees that she's about to try pushing herself up, and pats with the flat of his palm very gently in the center of her back.

She gasps; screams; collapses. It's far more of a reaction than he expected, and he pauses, frowning, letting his hand linger on the bandages. Too warm. And her eyes, now that he can see them, are glassy. The wounds must be infected. He moves his palm to the back of her neck, then her forehead. Yes, she's feverish now, and clammy, but unlike earlier her eyes stay open, staring at him.

She squints at him, bleary and obviously suspicious, but he just stays where he is, blinking mildly at her. "No, you're not hallucinating. I'm not a Wolf, I'm not even yōkai, Taijiya-san."

"Who –"

Her voice is hoarse, and he frowns at her, considering how best to move her so he can give her a drink. He gets on his knees and reaches across the wounds on her back to her shoulder, and then hesitates, seeing how she tenses. "My name is Miroku, Taijiya-san. A Buddhist priest." He grabs her arm then, and carefully, easing her through the motion, manages to get her on her side, facing him. "Water?"

She hesitates. He sees her try to lick dry lips, watches her eyes turn from his staff to where he'd tucked her knife away. Then she seems to relax, though he's not sure he believes it. "Yes. Please."

He pours a cup from his waterskin and holds it to her lips, cautioning her as he does so. "Slowly. You're in bad shape, you've been unconscious nearly two days."

She drinks greedily despite his warning, holding herself up on one elbow and breathing deeply between gulps. She drops heavily against the ground when the cup is empty. "Two days? What did she do to me?" She? She must be Kagome, but Miroku is absolutely positive that this woman's wounds have nothing to do with her. "She barely touched me, but the pain-" A shudder wracks her body, and the taijiya squeezes her eyes tight shut against it.

Remembering what Kagome told him, while they worked through the night, Miroku is both irritated and bemused. "If by she you mean Kagome-sama, she took a shard of shikon no tama from your back. Then she treated your wounds, and tried to save your life. Is still trying, you could say, since she's the reason I'm here."

"No –"

"Yes." He frowns at her; is it the fever, or is she always this ridiculous? "What could I possibly gain by lying to you? It was in your old wounds, Taijiya-san. Whether they're weeks or months old, I couldn't say, but not healed at all, as if they were fresh. And judging by your fever, probably festering now despite our attempt to prevent it."

"No, no. Kohaku, he… but Kagewaki-dono said-" She stops, sucks in a deep breath and then another, and another, until whatever spasm seized her passes and her eyes flutter half closed.

"Here." She blinks at him, and this time lets Miroku tip the cup of water he's poured against her lips a little at a time. "I've made some porridge; you should eat a bit after this. And while you do, let me tell you a story, Taijiya-san. You've made a dangerous mistake and it's my job as a Buddhist to protect you from it, if I can."

"Message…"

"No, I don't mean bringing the message. I don't even mean coming here, that's probably the only thing that might save you. But you came here believing all yōkai are beasts or evil, and even worse, you don't understand that things that seem beautiful and human are usually lies. " And he smirks a little bit. "Usually. Kagome-sama's not, but she's off limits."

From behind Sango come a half dozen agreeing huffs, and she freezes, then slowly turns her head. "Wolves. I need to-"

"You need to shut up, and stay still, and listen. Besides, you don't really have much choice, do you?"

"Buddhists. Always… a pain. And you – just like her."

To speak less than well of him is one thing. To speak less than well of Kagome… Despite himself, Miroku is disturbed by the sudden, eager hunger in the crimson eyes of the Wolves filling in the cave's entrance. Their growls are no longer teasing, playful, just to make the woman fear. Saya has taught him the difference. Saya. Is this the purpose for which you intended your lessons? He stares at Sango. Not fear but murder is on her face. Probably not.

"Don't be an idiot, Taijiya-san, at least not more than you can help. Kagome-sama is one of a kind. And alas, my beautiful Saya isn't nearly as close to me as Kagome-sama is to her Alpha. But I suppose that's my own fault, for not committing." He can see the implications of his words sinking in slowly, the fury and a kind of fascination mingled with disgust on her face.

And that's what Kagome-sama saw? Well, no wonder she was angry. He's angry himself, come to think of it. That look is as good as saying his lovely Saya is someone of whom he should be ashamed. "But that isn't the story I was going to tell you, Taijiya-san."

A/N: hum hum hum I sing a little song…. OF DOOM! Ahem. I had so much fun with this bit, and the upcoming bits, you have no idea. Seriously, Miroku is a Buddhist, that means he acknowledges all lives as sacred. Murderous evil yōkai are one thing, but he's not genocidal. Things that are Coming Soon: Kagome has An Idea (yes, it is smut). Kouga has a Plan (and holy venison steaks, it might actually be working). Oh! And this chapter's title, De Future, means "of the future".

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