InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ A Wolf Prince's Love ❯ Poison ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Five:

The demon wasted no time and ran faster than ever before toward the Wolf Leader. Kouga stood perfectly still, waiting for the opportune moment. The scorpion was yards away now. With a fearful growl of pure anger, he ran to the demon, preparing a hateful fist. They were both running at full speed. With every intention to kill, the two youkai had no reason to hold back…

The scorpion was now just a few feet away from Kouga. The battle was going to be decided by their strength alone. Whoever made the biggest impact through their clenched fists, was to be the winner, the survivor. At least that's what Kouga thought…

`He exemplifies a very strong resistance to the venom that is now coursing through his veins.' The beast snidely thought to himself with a smirk. `But not for long!'

Kouga grinned cockily. He just knew he had more strength in his fist than his opponent. This was going to be an easy win. He stole a quick glance at Kagome. She was safe and out of harm's way.

`And she's going to remain that way.' He silently swore to himself that he would always protect her, as long as he was alive, no matter what.

“You're finished!” Naraku's incarnation suddenly shouted. He pivoted unexpectedly, and swung his tail to hit the unsuspecting wolf head on.

And it struck him.

Hard.

The air was sucked from his lungs as he flew some twenty feet away and smacked into the trunk of a nearby tree. Kagome's eyes widened as the blood from his internal wounds suddenly gushed its way out of his mouth. His eyes replicated a look of pure shock, but they didn't remain dazed for long. His limp and unconscious body fell to the ground with a frightening sound of defeat.

“Kouga!” Tears fell rapidly from her shocked and fearful eyes when Kouga didn't move. Clutching the katana tightly to her chest, Kagome ran as fast as her legs would allow, and even faster, to the place where he lay.

“Heh heh heh!” The demon cackled a deep and scornful laugh. “Mission: Accomplished.” He cocked his head in Kagome's direction, who was now kneeling beside Kouga, shouting at him to `please wake up'. She didn't dare touch him in fear of only making matters worse.

“Now, now, my dear. He would have died eventually, anyway. My venom is stronger than the bite of fifty of the deadliest scorpions in the world.”

He waved his hand in the air, matter-of-factly.

“The only reason he lasted this long is because of his youkai blood! If he were a mere mortal like you, he would have passed on the second my tail touched his skin!”

Kagome's hand shook as she gripped the hilt of her sword. The demon took a step closer.

“I'm afraid my Master's orders were to take you back with me after I killed the wolf. Now be a good girl and come quietly.”

She didn't move; only squeezed the weapon harder.

“Fine then, we'll do it the hard way!” Her enemy stated crossly as he swiftly stomped over to her. He reached a dark slimy hand out to grab her sharply by the shoulder. The miko darted away from him and unsheathed her sword.

`I only have one shot at this,' She thought. `Here goes nothing!' Before he could even turn around, she hurled it with all her might and shut her eyes, hoping it would pierce the target. The fiend sucked in a sharp intake of breath as the dagger-like object stabbed through his chest. A trickle of blood ran down his chin. His eyes filled with rage as he whirled around to face his new opponent.

“Why you little!” He struggled to move forward, but his knees buckled beneath him. He screamed in agony as he yanked the katana from his body. Kagome took a step back. He was now dragging his body toward her at an alarming speed. “If I have to die like this, I'm dragging you with me to the afterlife!” She turned and dashed to the right as fast as she could, but his speed was picking up by the second…

Kouga's eyes flitted open when he heard her scream. He painfully and slowly rose to his feet, quickly grasping the misplaced katana from a pool of the monster's black blood…

Kagome gasped for breath. The demon was now back on his feet, running toward her. It was only half of his normal speed, but for a human, that was very fast. She glimpsed behind her for a split second, only to see him plowing his way closer to her. He could only have been ten feet behind.

“Oh!” She gave a startled cry as she tripped over a loose stone and skidded to a stop on the dusty forest floor.

“Your death is assured!” He shouted as he leapt into the air, preparing his stinger to pierce straight through her. Kagome squeezed her eyes shut tightly, anticipating certain death.

“I don't think so!” A strong voice shouted as the katana sliced through the monster's skull, decapitating him with a cruel sweep of his hand. Kagome's rescuer landed gracefully on his bare, cloth covered feet. Kagome gasped as he stepped into the moonlight.

“Kouga,” She breathed as she jumped to her feet, not landing so gracefully. Kouga caught her arm before she hit the ground, pulling her gently to a standing position. “You're…alive…” She whispered with an utter sigh of relief.

“Yes,” He nodded leisurely. “But I'm gonna need some medicinal herbs fast if I want to stay that way.”

She grinned at his amusing remark. But soon after, a more serious look crossed her face. She focused her watery eyes to his pained ones.

“You have no idea how scared I was back there.” She whispered shakily, clenching her fists at her sides.

Kouga sighed and stepped forward, lightly grasping her hand.

“It's okay,” He soothed. “He's gone now.”

Kagome scowled and shook her head.

“No, no, no!” Her voice cracked. “I thought you were dead!” She whimpered, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!” He groaned, becoming very stiff in her arms. She let go immediately.

“Oh! I'm so sorry!” She gasped, her voice full of concern. “Are you all right?!”

“I'm…f-fine.” He winced, forcing a smile. `Chikushou! This is the first time she's hugged me for real…and I had to be injured!'

“No, you're not fine.” She tapped her foot impatiently, hands on her hips, an annoyed expression gracing her features.

“Nani? What did I do?!” Kouga asked, backing up a step.

Kagome scratched her chin in deep thought.

“Hmm…you're coming with me.” She finally announced.

“W-where are we going?” He suddenly grew a little afraid after looking at her facial features. “Is it going to hurt?”

She all of a sudden burst into fits of laughter, clutching her stomach with one hand and wiping tears from her eyes with the other.

“What happened to that tough attitude- haha!- I always thought you had?” She said in-between her hysterics.

His face turned a bright shade of red.

She wiped stray tears from her eyes before she answered his question.

“You're coming with me back to my time, and yes I think the medicine you'll be receiving just might sting a little!” She grinned.

“Excellent…”

“Now come on, we have to go tell Inuyasha and the others where we're going, okay?”

Kouga pondered this for a minute before he sighed and gave in.

“Okay.”

“Oh, and you'd better not give me any trouble!”

He made a face that had `who, me?' written all over it.

Kagome didn't buy it.

“That means no fighting with Inuyasha, you know.”

He nodded.

“I'll be good. Cross my heart and hope to-“

“Don't say that, baka!” She giggled.

Kouga shrugged his shoulders, admitting his defeat.

Kagome turned toward the forest and beckoned for him to follow.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, occasionally glancing at the stars above them.

“Is this the direction of your homeland?” Kouga asked.

“Yeah, why?”

Kouga pointed to a distinct area in the air. “Because, you're following the North Star.”

Kagome looked up for what seemed to be the hundredth time that night.

“Ne, you're right.” She twisted her head so she was looking at him, and smiled, slowing her quickened pace down a little to match his.

He grinned back.

“So, how are you feeling?” She asked.

He shrugged. “Better than I was.”

“Hmph. You're lucky you have youkai blood. Otherwise you'd be dead by now.” She observed as she watched him walk with ease.

“Gee, that's a positive thought.” He smirked down at her.

“Hmm,” He ceased his confident stride when he caught a familiar scent on the air. “Inukur-I mean-Inuyasha is nearby.”

“Good. We're not lost then.” Kagome began to walk again.

Kouga stole a glance at her and then strolled beside her once more.

“I think I can see a campfire up ahead.” He said, squinting his cerulean eyes and bringing a hand up to shade them.

“That would be our destination.” Kagome narrowed her eyes as well, but only saw shadows of the distant campsite. “We're almost there.”

-oooooooooo-

“Inuyasha, just go to sleep.” Miroku yawned. The hanyou had been up the whole night, scanning the woods for any sign of Kagome from his perch on a high tree branch. He jumped at every sound, and had even lashed out at a poor defenseless forest rabbit.

“No way, not until Kagome comes back.” Inuyasha plainly stated, folding his arms across his chest in a rebellious notion, and sticking his nose in the air.

Shippo snickered. “Miroku, just drop it. There's no way Inuyasha is going to rest until the love of his life is back, safe in his arms.” The fox youkai dramatically hugged himself to add more emphasis on his little joke.

“Hmph.” Inuyasha muttered as he leapt down from his position in the tree.

“My friend, it certainly is a good thing that you care so deeply for Kagome-sama, but she may not come back until noon tomorrow. She is very tender hearted, so she'll probably look for Kouga all night if she has to.” Miroku set his hot drink down on a sturdy stone and weighed the possible solutions on both his left and cursed hands. She also made a promise to us, saying she'd be back by a certain time tomorrow morning. If you're wise at all, you'll trust her to come back on her own, at the designated time.”

Inuyasha blinked. Miroku sighed.

“So basically, Miroku is telling you to stop worrying about Kagome and go to sleep. Again.” Sango said in an annoyed tone of voice.

The inu hopped over Sango, sauntered slowly over to Miroku, and slugged the monk on the skull as hard as he could.

Miroku muttered a few incoherent curses, and calmly sipped his tea.

“Inuyasha never changes his ways, does he?” Shippo inquired with a sigh.

Inuyasha sat next to the kitsune on a rotting log.

“What?”

Shippo moaned as he too received one of the half demon's hard strikes.

“That was for your stupid `love of my life' remark earlier.” Inuyasha spoke in a high-pitched mocking voice when he repeated Shippo's words.

“You hold too many grudges!” The little fox whined, rubbing the bump on his head. “Kagome says that's a bad thing to do!”

“I don't give a rip what Kagome says!” Inuyasha shouted.

“Osuwari!”

“AH!”

Kagome came and sat down on the log next to Sango. Kouga stood behind her, not saying a word.

Sango turned her head around and smiled at her friend. “Oh, hello Kouga.”

“Yo.” The said wolf flashed the taijya a cocky grin and waved.

Inuyasha jumped out of his hole when he heard Sango's greeting.

“NANI?! What on earth is he doing here, Kagome?!”

Kagome scowled.

“He got hurt really bad protecting me from one of Naraku's incarnations and-“

“Whoa, whoa, Kagome-sama, slow down.” Miroku's face depicted a very stern look. “One of Naraku's incarnations attacked you?”

“That's right.” She nodded.

“Hmm.” The Houshi stroked his chin, deep in thought. “What could Naraku be plotting this time?” He said more to himself than to the others.

“All we know is that he came to take Kouga's life.” Kagome glanced at Kouga and gave him a reassuring look. Kouga smiled warmly back.

Inuyasha growled at the exchange and took a threatening step forward. “That Wolf put you in danger!”

“Hey! How was I supposed to know something was gonna come after me tonight?!” Kouga growled back.

Kagome cleared her throat. Kouga took a deep breath and sighed very slowly, allowing the anger and hate he felt for the obnoxious hanyou to melt away. For the time being, at least.

“Hmph.” The wolf crossed his arms over his chest and sat down next to Kagome.

“Inuyasha, Kouga has promised to behave himself. I suggest you do the same.” Kagome warned.

“Ha. I don't havta do nuthin'.”

“Oh yeah?” Kagome fumed.

“Uh oh.” Shippo's eyes widened.

“Here we go again.” Sango sighed.

“That was not so wise on your part, I must say, Inuyasha.” Miroku informed.

“Osuwari!”

Inuyasha's face collided with the muddy forest floor in a loud thud.

Kouga pointed at the sight and guffawed uncontrollably.

“Ow.” Was Inuyasha's only response.

Kagome stood, grabbing Kouga's hand and yanking him up with her. “I'm taking him back home with me, Inuyasha. We'll be gone for a couple of days.”

Miroku and Sango exchanged confused glances at Kagome's forward actions.

“What?!” Inuyasha snarled from inside his hole.

“Kouga was poisoned, stupid! I have to make sure he'll be all right!”

Inuyasha crawled out of the three-foot trench in the ground. “You never did that for me!” He moped.

“That's because you're too STUBBORN!” Kagome yelled, a ferocious look gracing her façade.

“Yipes!” Inuyasha leaped back into the deep hole in the ground once more.

Sango, Miroku, and Shippo jumped behind their logs for safety. Kouga's eyes widened and he scooted a bit to the left.

Kagome stuck her nose high in the air. “Hmph!” She stomped off in the direction of the Bone Eater's Well. “Come on, Kouga!” She shouted over her shoulder.

“Yes ma'am!” He immediately rose and ran after her, glancing back at the Houshi and taijiya. “S-see ya in a couple of days!” He called. They waved shaky hands from behind their hiding spots in response. Kouga turned his attention back to the fleeing Kagome.

“This way!” She ran into a small clearing and stopped when she reached the familiar well. Kouga halted when he got to the well and peered into its cavernous depths.

“This?” He pointed down in a shocked manner. “This is where you live? Inside a well?”

“No, silly. I have to jump through the well to get home.”

Kouga raised an eyebrow.

Kagome sighed. “You'll see.”

With that, she grabbed him by the hand and leapt into the well, dragging him with her.

Kouga opened his eyes. All around him were shining blue lights and he seemed to float in midair. He exhaled in awe of the beauteous sight. But it ended almost as soon as it began, and they landed gently at the bottom of the well. Kouga glanced up and gasped at what he saw next. They certainly weren't in Sengoku Jidai anymore!

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'd appreciate it if you would review to tell me what you thought.

Until next time.