InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Genuine Desires : Koga's Story ❯ Chapter Six : Covetousness ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

Covetousness

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`We could take him, the bastard.'

Koga bit back a growl and dug his claws into the branch of the high tree that he sat upon. The early sun inched upwards into the sky, giving the land around him unearthly glow. He had hoped that it would improve his mood, after Kai's unceremonious interruption yesterday, but it hadn't quite worked.

He knew that Kai had every right to protect Ayame and to blatantly warn Koga off. If the shoe was on the other foot, Koga would have done the same thing. But his anger was still as bright and raging just as strongly as before, and a couple of helpless bushes were the ones to pay for it.

`We should leave,' He thought tersely, prying his claws out of the branch with a wince.

But he knew that he wouldn't. He had made a promise to her, didn't he? No matter how foolish it may seem, he had promised that as long as she wanted him to stay there, that he would, and he was never the type to go back on his word.

`But if we stay . . . . We won't be able to take care of that,' His youkai voice reminded him.

Koga flinched and sighed, remembering with all too much clarity why he had been so adamant on leaving in the first place. How long would it take before she sent him on his way, he figured? `Stay until after the wedding,' His youkai suggested. `Because then, she won't need you anymore.'

But did she even need him now? When she had someone protecting her so viciously, so ferociously, was there any need for him to be there with her? Did he even have that right?

`No, I don't.'

Carefully, he made his way out of the tree and slowly ambled forward. He wobbled a bit, still not used to moving around so frequently, but he used a nearby trunk for leverage and pushed forward. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't need to. Following the gentle tug of the scent that clung on the air, giving in to his youkai's maddening desire to follow it, he pushed on, until he entered a clearing.

The brilliant rays of the sun shone on the clear blue water and reflected onto the pale skin of the woman sitting there. Her soft singing, sweet and clear, yet sad at the same time drifted to him, and he took a step forward.

The wind blew, carrying her scent to him again, and his eyes closed as it overwhelmed him. Fatigue forgotten, he cautiously took a step forward, watching as she turned her head slightly, regarding him for a brief moment before turning back to the water and continued to sing.

She didn't stop singing, even when he stooped next to her. She had stuck her feet into the water, kicking playfully as she sang a lullaby he recognized. Sticking his feet into the water, he let them float lazily as she sang a little louder, closing her eyes and letting her head fall back.

When the song was over she turned to him, grinning shyly. “Hey.”

“Where did you learn that?”

She blinked and shrugged. “My mother used to sing it to me when I was little. But when I got older, and we moved here, she stopped singing it.”

Something flashed in his gaze and he sighed, clasping his hands together with a shrug. “Mother used to sing something like that to me too, a long time ago.”

“Really?” Ayame leaned forward and looked at him with interest.

He nodded, and a hint of a smile graced her lips. “Once, when I was having a nightmare, I woke up to her singing it to me. I was just a cub then. That was after . . .”

He trailed off, and sighed, shaking his head. His eyes darkened, and she knew that he was remembering. But she stayed quiet, and he was thankful for it. His parents' death . . . particularly his fathers, was something that he had never been comfortable discussing. Only a few people knew the truth about it, and it was something that he had allowed to fade into the past.

“How old were you, when they passed?”

He winced. “I was . . . I was four.”

He heard her sharp intake of breath, but didn't turn to look at her. “I never . . . I never knew my parents, not really. But I always had gramps, so . . .”

H e nodded, but couldn't help the surge of relief that shot through him. He knew that her parents were dead. But he didn't want to be aware that she had grown up like he did, without a mother or father, a renegade, an outlaw . . .

A murderer.

Silence stretched between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. They both welcomed it, sitting in companionable silence until a shrill whistle broke through, startling them both. Seconds later, someone bellowed her name, and her face flushed with embarrassment.

Koga let out a breath of displeasure and sighed, standing to his feet as well. “Is that him? Your fiancée?” He asked, sneering.

She opened her mouth to say something, but could only nod.

He nodded again and shrugged, turning on his heel and stalking away into the opposite direction, feeling the man coming close to wear they had been.

“Koga . . .”

He ignored her and kept walking, wincing at her sigh of absolute forlorn.

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“Damn it!”

Han winced. “Did you see him?”

“No, but I know he was there. I could smell the bastard . . . Damn him . . .”

Han rolled her eyes. “Well, unless you saw him, this is pretty pointless, hmm?”

Kai uttered a fierce growl as he stalked out of the cave that Koga had been staying in. Han had known immediately that he wasn't there, and that he hadn't been for a little while, but Kai had insisted on going inside, and she hadn't said anything when he stomped in. He threw down a filthy fur pelt and glared at it with a scowl, snapping his head up at her incredulously, and with good reason.

Ayame's scent was all over it.

“Well, I think we should leave. If we stay here too long, he'll know we were here.”

“I don't give a damn!” Kai snarled. “He's going to stay away from her, or I'll kill him, the bastard . . .”

Han bit back a sigh and shook her head, shrugging with her palms face up. He just wasn't going to listen to reason, and she knew it.

It had begun innocent enough. After Kai had realized that Ayame had snuck off, he had stormed the village to find her. It hadn't taken him long to realize that Koga, who was missing from wandering the village like he usually does, might have been with her, and he stormed off like a mad man. He had brought her back a few hours later, and although he didn't seem as angry, she didn't miss the rigid way he was holding Ayame's hand or the funny look on her friends face. Once they reached the village, Ayame had muttered something to him and took off in the direction of her hut, and a few minutes later, he stormed into her house, yanked her out of the door, and they ended up here.

“What the hell do you want?”

Han turned to see Koga standing behind Kai, and she blinked. He was soaking from head to toe, and held a bucket in one hand. Inside she heard the telltale splattering of fish, and she grinned. If he was hungry, he could have come into the village, and someone would have given him something eat. But the fact that he did it on his own, despite him not being at full health yet, spoke volumes.

“Stay away from Ayame,” Kai bit out tersely.

Raising an eyebrow, Koga set the bucket on the floor and shook his head, sending water everywhere. She squealed and raised her hands to block it, and upon lowering them, eyed his smug smile. “And if I don't?”

“I'll kill you.”

Koga chuckled darkly. He shrugged and picked up the bucket, pushing pass Kai and into the cave. He stopped at the entrance. “If she seeks me, I'll go to her,” He said fiercely.

Han stared at the way his eyes flashed and she knew that although he was ill, Koga wasn't weak, at all. The crackle of the fury of his youki set her on edge, and she crept closer to Kai, grabbing his arm. It wasn't that she was afraid of him. She just knew that if anything was to ever get out of control . . .

“Let's go,” She hissed, digging her claws into his arm to get his attention.

He flinched and yanked his arm away, shooting her a dark look and rubbing his injured arm. He turned back to Koga. “Stay away from her.” And with that, he turned on his heel and stalked back into the forest that separated him from the village.

Koga turned and regarded Han. “Well? You're going to threaten me too?”

“They're getting married two springs from now,” She said quietly.

He blinked and remained quiet, setting the bucket back down on the floor. He stared at her for a long moment, and opened his mouth to say something. In the end, he decided against it, and shrugged. “It doesn't matter to me.”

“Doesn't it? Ayame . . .”

“When she marries him, she won't seek me anymore,” He said softly, turning his back to her. Then he walked away, leaving her standing there on her own.

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The fire crackled in the small clearing as the renegade youkai sat around it, feasting on their dinner. It had been years, since they had met like this. Although their number had decreased in the past century, their bitter desire for revenge flowed through their veins against the passage of time. One of the youkai, a panther youkai, threw the bones of his dinner into the fire with a growl. “How long must we wait, Jenki?”

The wolf youkai, Jenki, sighed as he threw his bones into the fire as well, turning and regarding the other youkai. The one who had just spoken, Misu, the panther youkai; the tiger youkai Ginta; his twin brother, Ryo; and the bear youkai, Morio sat around the fire, watching him intently. “Don't worry. We'll have our revenge, soon enough.”

Glances were cast around, and the apprehension thickened around them. They were wavering---they had heard the tales of how he had aided in the battle against the hanyou Naraku and succeeded. They feared his alliance with the angry hanyou InuYasha, and his miko mate from the future, as well as the tai-youkai, Sesshomaru. `You've grown strong, son of Takeshi,' He thought solemnly.

“How old is he now?” Morio asked quietly.

“In three months he'll be twenty five,” Jenki answered. “We'll go and get him then.”

“And with it, the rebirth of the Takao.”

Grunts echoed around the small group and Jenki reached forward and grabbed a stick, poking into the fire absently as the men chatted, recalling different memories among themselves. He had been sent to find the last living member of the legacy they had prided themselves on. The Takao, a dynasty of wolf-youkai who lived across thousands of miles. For years he had searched for Taro, the son of his brother, the next in line for the throne. Ever since his brother's untimely death twenty years ago, he had been forced to reign as ruler. But as life would have it, his mate had been killed, as well as his two sons, and he had only a limited time left before he would join them.

He had taken off with his brother's best friends, the men surrounding him in search for the son who had been presumed dead years ago after hearing of his part in the defeat of Naraku. He had been overjoyed to hear that someone of his bloodline stilled lived, and without a second thought he took off, crossing thousands of miles until he finally reached the continent in which his kin thrived.

`In three months, I'll have you again, Taro.'

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The loud clang of the metal bucket falling out of Kagome's hand sounded obscenely loud in the hut as she whirled on her heel and stared at the entrance.

`What was that?'

As quickly as it had unsettled her it disappeared, leaving her edgy and shaken as her skin erupted in goose bumps.

They were watching her.

Her throat constricted and she stared at the entrance to the hut. The youki was probing, driving, maddening, and she bit back a scream as they slowly shrank back away from the hut, leaving her alone with her thoughts. Her wits came back to her, and she scrambled for her bow and arrows, rushing out of the hut and racing towards the edge of the village, ignoring the worried looks the villagers were shooting her as she stormed out into the forest.

The feeling crept over against, sliding against her skin, and she felt herself break out into her sweat and her mouth went dry. As Kikyou's reincarnation, she would be able to battle this malevolent spirit that was battling her youki with every fiber of its being.

Suddenly it changed directions, and ignoring the voice in her head that warned her that maybe it wanted her to follow it, she changed directions as well, bending slightly as she headed thicker into the forest, using her bow to protect herself from outstretching bushes that threatened to smack against her skin.

A flash of intrigue and surprise flittered through her, and she felt a surge of triumph. It hadn't been expecting her to realize that it was trying to flank her. She avoided following directly behind it and veered off to the right, intending to come back around and corner it off in the small clearing that led to a spring that she knew very well.

A flash of youki made her stumbled and she bit back the urge to retch. It felt as if it was sliding throughout her body, a slithering ugliness that was completely at odds with the purity of Kagome's spirit. It battled against the protective barrier covering her heart---the Shikon No Tama---and her chest constricted painfully. She fell to her knees and gasped, realizing with horror just what had happened.

It knew who she was.

She bit back her panic and stumbled to her feet, biting back her bile and weakly aiming her bow and arrow. Turning as she tried to locate them, she muttered an unKagomelike curse and dropped the bows and arrows to the floor, flinging her arms out as she stretched her arms out. A beautiful wind erupted around her before billowing out, causing branches to snap as a sharp pain erupted throughout her body, the suddenly release of energy that she expelled in a shockwave. With a hiss of shock and a cry of pain, the youki crept back before it vanished completely, and Kagome sighed with relief, dropping to her knees.

The back of her eyelids began to burn, and the world began to tilt painfully as she struggled to keep a reign on her consciousness. With a grunt of frustration, she fell flat on her face, and blackness enveloped her.

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A/N

I've decided to remove Genuine Desires. After I finish with this, I will rewrite it, and then upload it again. The story line will ultimately be the same, but most of it will change. For those of you that enjoyed it, I'm sorry. But it won't take very long, I promise you that. Just give me time to reread it, and then I'll have to make a whole new plot chart. Also, I'm looking for a beta, if anyone's interested.

Enjoy!