InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Nigatsu no Hoshi (Stars of February) ❯ Disfavored Alliances part2: Enter Kouga ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: not yet…I'm still saving my money so I can make an offer Rumiko Takahashi can't refuse…only the "rest-of-the-money-I'll-make-in-my-lifetime" to go.

Suteki: okay, here's the continuation. I STILL haven't heard a word from any of my readers. I'll patient though. I'm having fun with it, and I'm positive that people will start liking it more and more when I get to the battle. All right, that's all I got to say then I guess. Oh yeah, I'm gonna like writing this chapter because I get to borrow Kouga-kun! God I love him.

Chapter 3

Disfavored Alliances: part 2 - Enter Kouga!

When the two of them returned Sango had been ecstatic. They had found her pinning Miroku to the ground with her hiraikotsu while he yelled, " I thought you where unconscious and needed mouth to mouth, it was completely harmless I swear! All with good intent! My dear Sango please calm your rage before you do something you will regret!"

The couple coming from the woods sighed in unison. Kagome had to pry Sango off of him and then inuyasha had to hold her back as kagome helped the poor lecherous monk off the ground. She then dragged Sango to the nearby hot springs and told inuyasha to do the same with the monk. (Since there were two hot springs that connected to the same river, but neither party could see the other from where they were, thank goodness). They didn't need to fight with shippou though, since he and Kirara had played what looked like tag for hours on end, both were zonked out in a little ball by the fire. So the group left them to be, if they were to awake, they would find them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Thank you kagome, I really needed this. That damn Bouzo get me so riled up."

"Its alright Sango, I think we all needed to relax tonight. I'm just glad that we were able to find a place near such a nice hot spring. The waters perfect, not too hot, and not too many cold spots. Not to mention we all get our own personal springs."

Kagome stretched out on the silky bed of the spring, digging her toes into the warm soil. Sango watched her and did the same, flinching back a little when her toes dug into a particularly hot spot in the dirt.

Inuyasha had literally thrown Miroku into the spring; he had been trying to escape to get a peek at the girls, "to make sure they were alright" as he put it. Then he quickly stripped down and jumped in himself, landing on top of the monk that was in the middle of trying to escape again.

"Aahhhh! Inuyasha, you psychopathic lunatic! You trying to break my back?"

"If that's what it'll take to keep you away from the girls, then, yes."

After some time, the girls were busy talking about nothing in particular, while the guys just sat in silence.

"Oi, Sango"

"Yeah kagome?"

"I'll wash your back if you wash mine!"

"Alright, turn around"

Sango scrubbed her back with the strange "loofa" creature that she always brought from her time. Kagome just leaned forward and enjoyed it.

"Okay, your turn Sango, thank you, that felt great."

Sango turned around so her back faced kagome. Kagome brushed Sango's long damp hair over her shoulders and out of the way; instantly her eyes fell to the scar left from her younger brother, Kohaku…

"Sango-Chan…what do you suppose will happen to Kohaku? I know you've probably thought it over, and have realized that his jewel shard will need to be removed one way or the other…"

Sango sat quiet for a moment, and kagome could feel her friends body shake under her hand…'she's crying…oh no, I didn't want to upset her this much. But I know that we need to talk about it before the time comes when we confront him and Naraku.'

"I don't know what I'll do…I understand that either way, his shards going to have to be removed from his back…along with his life. So, I guess there's not really much I can do…except, I want to be the one to take the shard, not Naraku, not even you kagome-Chan…"

"…Sango…"

"I want a chance to see if I can completely rid him of naraku's control once and for all. So, that way, he can die in peace, and so can I. I want to hold him in my arms and look into his eyes, eyes that show emotion, ones that I remember the young, innocent, and loving Kohaku having. Not the cold and confused ones I see in him now."

With that, she put her face in her hands and gave way to racking sobs that she had apparently been holding in for several years. There was nothing kagome could do, she knew that. So, she simply cradled her distressed friend in her arms, rocking her, and whispering words of encouragement into her ear. "gambatte kud asai…he'll be happy Sango, he'll be happy to know that he's free, and that you were there to free him…"

A few dozen yards away, Miroku and inuyasha continued to sit in silence. But if inuyasha wasn't human on this night, he would have been able to detect the scent of tears. He could have even tasted them, for they were also saturating the water to the point that they were in the steam that hovered over the guys' hot spring. But nonetheless, he wasn't in his hanyou form, so he sat as silent and undisturbed as his monk friend. Actually, he was becoming uncomfortable at how calm things were…

"so Miroku…what is it that you plan to do after this is all over anyways? You've never really mentioned it before…"

"I'm not really sure myself inuyasha. I have no family to return too. And I have no real home. I guess I'll just start a new, as would be the plan for most of us I presume…I would love nothing more than to settle down and have a family…"

"you, settle down?? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. What with the way you're chasing around every female creature you see walk by."

"you see my dear friend, " his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I know that I wouldn't be able to settle down at the moment, so I figure, why not have fun now? Live every day as if it were your last, for tomorrow was never promised to any of our lowly souls. Wouldn't you agree inuyasha?"

"keh, that's about what we do now, isn't it? We live each day fighting monsters, putting all of our lives on the line, not really worrying about `tomorrow' ever arriving."

"then why is it…that you have yet to make kagome yours? I know that you love her dearly, if you are not sure the both of you will survive the night, why not make it worth it?"

"because monk, I am not a hormone crazed Hentai like yourself. Besides, what makes you think that there is anything between the two of us?! Mind your own god damned business."

Miroku smirked at how defensive inuyasha always got when he mentioned his relationship, or lack-there-of, with the beautiful young miko kagome. He was starting to get annoyed. Since he wasn't getting any action from Sango, he was relying on his friend to make the moves on kagome, so he'd have some entertainment along they're trip. But the sexual tension between the two drove him insane sometimes.

"well if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you plan to do once we destroy Naraku?"

"feh! Depends on whether we all survive this thing. To tell you the truth, I haven't had anything in mind, just go with the wind I guess. See what happens, and then just go with it."

The conversation would have persisted, but they heard a scream from the other end of the creak.

"you guys!! There's 2 jewel shards coming at us fast! You had better…oh no…"

"KAGOME?! ARE YOU OKAY??" but there was no reply on the other end.

" ANSWER ME DAMMIT!…crap Miroku, what's going on?"

kagome still had Sango in her arms when she felt the tang of shards, and they were approaching at an alarming rate. She tried to warn the others, but it was too late, the culprit stood infront of her before she could finish voicing her warning.

"kou-kouga…Kun?" kagome was frozen in disbelief. There stood Kouga, the prince of the demon wolf tribe, in all his glory. She noticed how tan his skin looked, even in the night. He had nothing on but a few of his fur wraps, on his arms, legs, shoulders, and hips. She started to blush unfortunately, since she knew he would most definitely get the wrong idea. `why is Kouga here? And why is he looking at me so weird?…oh F***!'

kagome tried to hide herself from his view by pressing her body against Sango's, only allowing him to see her back. although neither of them were completely naked, because they had learned to wear what kagome called `stringed bikinis', as a lesson from all the unwanted attention they got from Houshi-sama. But she was still showing too much flesh to feel comfortable infront of him, since she knew that no women around here ever wore anything so skimpy.

"Kouga-kun! What the hell are you doing here? Trying to scare the hell out of us?"

He stayed speechless, jaw on the ground. `what the hell was his woman wearing? She wasn't naked, but what in the seven hells was that thing?'

"oh! Kagome, gomen. I didn't mean too. Where's dog breath? I can't smell him in the area. I smell the Houshi…wait, what's that?"

`oh no! he smells the human inuyasha…inuyasha would be pissed if Kouga saw him in his human form!' she had to stop him from finding out.

"Kouga, don't! Wait!" but it was too late, Kouga was overwhelmed in curiosity. He could smell inuyasha, but at the same time, it wasn't really him. It was a human aura he felt, not a trace on youki in it.

Inuyasha and Miroku had hurried to throw on their clothes to see what kagome was trying to warn them about. They were about to turn and run towards them, but inuyasha ran straight into something hard and…fluffy?

`Sesshoumaru?' he thought. But when he looked up, he was struck with fear. `oh shit! No! anyone bit him, I would have rather it be Naraku! Dammit!' he didn't notice, but the last curse was spoken out loud.

"Dog Crap, is that you? What in Kami's name happened to you? You're, you're…human?"

inuyasha tried to growl in reply, but it just sounded like a whimpered cough. Kouga smirked at the pathetic noise he knew was meant to be a threatening growl.

"this is great. I never knew this about you, this is quite interesting. I've heard rumors of hanyou's that turned human at times. But who would have thought that the all-powerful `Lord Inuyasha', `protector of my woman', would be among those unfortunate ones. I should have guessed really."

Inuyasha was raging in anger. `how dare this flea bitten wolf insult him like that?'

Luckily, though, Kagome and Sango came running down the path along the stream, trying to catch up with Kouga. Although, in their hurry, they had forgotten to change. They saw a very pissed off inuyasha, glaring up at the laughing wolf prince.

`Oh crap…too late. I'm so sorry inuyasha.'

Inuyasha would have taken a swing at Kouga, but he heard footsteps running towards them, so he glanced over his rivals shoulder. What he saw made him completely forget that he was totally humiliated, not to mention just a tad bit angry. There was his kagome, running through the forest, almost…naked. `What the hell? Did Kouga see her like that?! Great, he's never gonna leave if he has the choice to gawk at his wannabe-mate, in almost nothing.'

With that, he ran to meet her, as kagome started to say his name, he grabbed her and threw her to the ground underneath him.

"Dog Crap! What in the seven depths of hell, do you think you're doing to my woman? Get off of her!"

inuyasha didn't pay attention, but kagome was equally confused, and was blushing ferociously.

"in-inu…yasha? What are you doing?"

inuyasha couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, also blushing when he realized what it must look like to everyone. So he quickly ripped of his fire rat coat and wrapped her in it. "what were you thinking wench? Running around like that, and infront of him? What, are you trying to impress him or something?" he stated as he rose her to her feet, and quickly turned around in an effort to conceal his blush.

But before she could answer, Kouga was between the two of them, holding Kagome's hands in his. "kagome, did this jerk off hurt you?…" then his eyes went wide, and without a word, he started undressing her again. `oh gods, what are they doing to me?' she thought to herself.

"Kouga-kun, what are you doing?" she asked while trying to stop his hands from removing the fabric. "I'm sorry kagome, but I can't stand it! You smell like dog breath! You have to take this off!"

"jackass! Get away from her!" inuyasha couldn't control himself, and he swung at the back of Kouga's head, knuckles cracking against his skull.

Meanwhile, Sango was off to the side, partially hiding herself behind a bush when she noticed the intense gaze she was receiving from Miroku. But now, both her and Miroku's eyes were wide as they watched inuyasha and Kouga fighting about Kagome's clothing. When they saw inuyasha attack Kouga, Miroku started to move towards them, knowing that inuyasha was defenseless in his current state; and Sango tried to get back to her clothes unnoticed, also knowing that she might be needed to break up the two, and didn't want to have to do it in her water proof under garments.

Kagome was gonna die. First inuyasha pounces on top of her for some unknown reason. And then here's Kouga, trying to undress her? What in the world was going on? They should be fighting over Inuyasha's appearance shouldn't they? When she came out of her thoughts, she saw the two men throwing fists at each other. Inuyasha, off course, was receiving most of the punches, and barely laying a hand on Kouga. `crap, this isn't good, there's no way inuyasha can hold his own.'

"Kouga! Stop it! Leave inuyasha alone. You too inuyasha! Stop this!"

"no kagome, you are my woman, and once I get rid of this hanyou-gone-human, I can take you away with you, and make you my mate officially. " kagome blushed again.

"keh! You bastard, you're not taking her anywhere. You have to get through me first. And besides, what makes you think that she actually wants to go anywhere with you, crap-for-brains?"

"its obvious, why else would she have come after me in that little thing she's wearing?" Kouga grined as he hit inuyasha low in the gut.

`please forgive me inuyasha, believe me, if Kouga had one of these id do it to him instead.'

"Osuwari!"

"NOO! Oomph!!". Inuyasha had been in the air, flying towards his opponent when kagome used the magic word, and he plummeted a good 4 feet down to meet the ground with his face.

"serves you right, damn dog."

"Kouga, will you come with me?"

"where too? I still have to kill flea boy right here?".

Inuyasha's curses were muffled by the soil of the earth. `where's she taking him? Dammit, why cant she do that to Kouga?'

But by the time the spell wore off, they were both gone. Sango came running back in full attire, followed by the monk, who had apparently gone to spy on her when he saw kagome step in. "where's kagome-Chan, and Kouga?

"feh, kagome ran off with him somewhere."

Kagome lead Kouga back to the campsite. She told him to stand still as she rummaged through a small bag she had with her. Inside she found an antique wooden necklace she had found in Kaede's hut. She stood infront of Kouga, `I hope I can do this…' she held out the necklace and put it around her friends neck. He stared at it in confusion, but before he could ask her about the strange gift, she laid a hand around it, closed her eyes, and started to chant something. The rosary glowed for a moment, and then she stopped. She backed away from him. `the word, I need a different word than "sit", or both of them will get hurt instead of the one I want. Lets see…ah! Got it!'

"Shita, otoko!"

she hoped it would work, and all her doubts about her abilities as a miko vanished when she saw the rosary respond and send the wolf boy to the ground with a loud "Thud!"

"KA-KAGOME! Why'd you put this thing on me! I thought it was Inuyasha's personal torture! Not mine!"

"sorry Kouga-kun, its for both or your safety. And my comfort."

Before he could get up, her heard kagome run back towards the stream where they had left her friends. When she got there, she saw inuyasha and the others sitting down, most of them confused, and one looked like he was going to explode.

"So, you go off to mate with the wolf pup?!"

"No inuyasha! For your information…" she was cut off by a hysterical kitsune. "Inuyasha inuyasha!! You'll never guess what okasan did to Kouga!"

"Oh I can. Wait, you saw them! What kind of example are you setting for your little boy wench?"

Shippou just blinked in confusion. "No no inuyasha, she put one of these things on him!" he tugged at the rosary around Inuyasha's neck. This time it was Inuyasha's turn to blink in confusion…"you what?"

"Yep, and here he comes now, you can see for yourself."

Sure enough, the group saw the enraged whirlwind coming towards them.

"Inuyasha you arsehole! Did you trick her into doing this to me? You put a spell on her didn't you?!"

"No you worthless wolf, I told you she didn't love you."

"That's not saying much for you now, is it?"

"Alright you two, shut up! I can threaten the both of you now, so behave!"

They both quickly shut up.

"Okay, good. Now Kouga, why are you here?"

"Well, I was on my way to confirm the suspicions I was informed about by a neighboring clan. They said that they had heard and witnessed some things that connected to Naraku. Each message I received led me to believe that he was here. And along the way, I caught your scent and came to see if you were coming for Naraku also. Are you?"

"Yes Kouga-sama, we heard from our sources that Naraku was hiding here."

Inuyasha was glaring at Kouga from under his bangs. He had made sure that he was sitting next to kagome, which wasn't much of a problem since she was still wearing his hakama, and Kouga seriously didn't appear to want anything to do with it.

"Well, this is perfect then. Kouga-kun, would you like to assist us in the battle with Naraku? We were planning on paying him a little visit first thing in the morning."

"Oh I see, because poor inuyasha over here is having a lapse at the moment, he's not strong enough to protect you or himself. I told you that you would have been safer with me. If I had known that he was like this once a month, I would never have allowed you to stay with him in the first place."

"Ay! She's alive still ain't she?!"

"Doesn't matter arsehole! You probably couldn't sense a boulder coming at you, let alone a demon!"

As Kouga picked up the largest rock he could find, which was about the size of his head, and started to throw it towards inuyasha, kagome said it again, "Kouga? Shita otoko!" Kouga, for the second time within the hour, hit the ground with a sickening crunch as the rock landed on his back after he flew to the ground.

Inuyasha started laughing hysterically, "This is great kagome! Now I have a chance to kill him, and he cant even fight back." inuyasha got up and started towards him, bad move, "Osuwari."

While everyone was getting their kicks out of watching the two rivals being slammed into the ground repeatedly, two red eyes watched them in a mirror held by a little girl that was pale as snow. "So, they finally made it? I will enjoy this battle, I will finally be rid of that bastard Naraku…but what's this? Inuyasha is a human? That's interesting. But he wont be much fun if he isn't able to use his demonic powers, so I'll just conveniently let this slip my mind when I report their arrival to Naraku, what do you think Kanna?"

"…" the little girl remained silent, blank eyes unfocused on anything, but there was the visible threat of a tug at the corner of her mouth.

"I think it's a good plan too, my sister"…

JAPANESE:

Bouzo: insulting term for Buddhist priest

Gambatte kud asai: cheer up!/keep your chin up! said to encourage someone basically(this might clear some things up for those who have watched the subbed anime.

Shita otoko: down boy. (sorry, it was the only phrase I could think of besides, "heel", "bad boy", and "stop it". So, I thought this was the best)

Suteki: so, what you think aye? I promised make it go faster, but I got carried away again. I hope you weren't too upset about Kouga getting a collar, but its like, the only thing I've never seen in other peoples stories, and I wanted something really original. And personally, I was starting to get mad that Kouga was always the one laughing at inuyasha, so I thought I'd just give him a wake up call., lol. I'm so mean. Alright, next chapter is the start of the fighting! And I mean, the GOOD fighting. So be patient, I try to be a fast updater, but I'm gonna be spending a little more time on this next chapter. Till then, tata!

I know you're probably sick of me repeating myself, believe me, I am, but here I go: R/R! dozo to arigatou? (means "please and thank you")

*u*