InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reunion ❯ Chapter Eight: Kouga and Inuyasha ( Chapter 8 )

Chapter Eight

A/N: Greetings and salutations. I'm still here, I've just been busy. Raising kids is not an easy task! And, I'm not even going into what it takes to keep my mate happy (this fic is read by younger readers!) Anyway, I've neglected you, the reader, long enough. Get ready for a flurry of activity, I'm feeling very creative. grins evilly I do so hope that you enjoy. Oh yes, almost forgot. I don't own Inuyasha or any of the other characters. Now, let us begin.

Kouga dived at Inuyasha. Inuyasha had been expecting an attack since Kagome had announced their engagement to the jealous wolf demon. Instead of side stepping the attack, he grabbed Kouga's tunic by the shoulders and jerked down as he brought his knee up into Kouga's face. Kouga's head snapped back with enough force to tear the tunic from Inuyasha's hands. The stunned wolf demon landed on his back, blood streaming from his mouth and nose. Inuyasha did a high leap into the air, intent on finishing this fight quickly. However, as he brought his fist down, Kouga was able to recover enough to roll out of the way of the downward punch.

'Damn it!' swore Inuyasha, in his mind. 'He recovered faster than I expected! Must be the jewel shards!'

Kouga had rolled a few yards away and was crouched on one knee, breathing heavily. He brought a shaky hand to his face and wiped the blood from his mouth and nose. As he shook the blood from his hand, he looked at Inuyasha appraisingly. "Not bad, for a filthy half-breed!" taunted Kouga. He slowly stood, shaking his head to clear it. "But it still wasn't good enough! Now, I'll finish you and take my woman with me, along with your head!"

"My head is staying where it is!" shouted the angry hanyou. "And so is Kagome! She is my mate and you can't have her!" As he shouted this last, he charged Kouga and used his favorite hand to hand technique, "Iron reaver, soul stealer!" Kouga had recovered enough to dodge the attack, but he wasn't able to dodge all the attack. Inuyasha's claws grazed his chest, bringing blood a second time.

"What's wrong, Kouga? Moving a little slow, aren't you?" Now it was Inuyasha's turn to taunt.

"I'm still faster than you!" countered Kouga as he launched a kick attack at Inuyasha's head.

Inuyasha was able to get his arm up to block the hit to his head, but the force of the kick caused him to stagger a couple of steps to the side. 'I've got to end this fight before he fully recovers from that knee to the face!' thought the hanyou. 'Man! I hate not being able to use everything I have! I could kill him, but then Kagome would never forgive me! Maybe I can lure him in close enough to get my hands on him?'

Inuyasha sneered at the wolf demon. "You call that a kick? Shippou kicks harder than that! Even a human could have blocked that kick!" 'Come on, take the bait!'

"Oh, yeah! Well let's see you block this!" Kouga launched another kick attack.

Which was what Inuyasha wanted. 'Gotcha, baka!' he crowed in his mind. Even though this kick was faster than the last, Inuyasha was able to grab Kouga's ankle when he blocked with his arm. Using Kouga's momentum against him, he ducked under the kick and brought Kouga down with all his strength, slamming the surprised wolf demon into the ground, stunning him a second time. This time inuyasha had a definite plan in mind. When Kouga hit the ground, Inuyasha leaped on him and picked him up in a bear hug. "Now listen, wolf!" he hissed in Kouga's ear. "I could kill you, and believe me, I want to! But Kagome would never forgive me if I slew one of her friends. So, just admit you have been beaten and I won't have to hurt you anymore!"

"Never!" snarled Kouga. "I'm not going to be beaten by the likes of you!" And then he bit Inuyasha's arm.

Inuyasha growled at the pain brought from the bite but didn't loosen his grip. 'It's going to take more than being bitten to let you go!' he thought. Then Inuyasha felt something strange from the bite area. It took him a second to place, but when he did, his face contorted into a look of disgust and revulsion! Kouga was sucking the blood from his arm!

Inuyasha threw the wolf demon from him in revulsion. Kouga curled into a ball and spun in the air to land facing Inuyasha. He grinned, as he licked his lips. "Tasty!" he growled in the tongue of the canine youkai. He didn't want Kagome to understand what he was about to say. "You know, I am on a hunt. And now, I don't have to hunt for supper anymore! I never thought a filthy hanyou like you would taste that good, but I guess you have to be good for something! And this saves time, too. Now I can take my woman back to my cave and mate with her without having to go for food first!" He charged at Inuyasha.

"Never!" shouted Inuyasha. His revulsion at Kouga's sucking of his blood and Kouga's statement of intent to eat him brought back memories of his childhood. The times he had been attacked by bigger demons that had wanted to eat him and the fear he felt flooded into his brain, over riding his resolve to not kill Kouga. He charged at Kouga and as he came with in range, he drew Tetsaiga, transforming the blade as it left the sheath. He brought the draw into an upwards slash that cut across Kouga's chest, throwing him backwards to land heavily on his back.

As Inuyasha stalked toward Kouga, Kagome shouted at him. "Inuyasha, stop! You've proven your point! Let him go!"

"Not this time, Kagome! You don't know what he did; what he said; what he plans to do! And this time, I'm stopping him once and for all!"

"Inuyasha! SIT!" shouted Kagome. "Kouga, get out of here!"

Kouga staggered to his feet. "Now why would I do that, my love? When you have handed me Inuyasha's head?"

"Kouga?" whispered Kagome. "I'm giving you a chance to get away."

"You stopped him from killing me and have made him helpless before me." stated Kouga, drawing his katana. "You obviously prefer me to him. I knew that you loved me, and after I take his head, we will go back to my cave and mate all night!"

"Kouga! NO! Kouga!" Kagome screamed.

"Don't worry, my love!" Kouga said, moving to stand over Inuyasha. "This won't take long." As he said this, he raised his katana over his head and prepared to strike.

And this is what Daremo saw as he looked past Miroku and Sango. He raced by the two, putting all his speed into his run. 'I'm not going to make it!' he thought desperately. 'I've got to do something!' He pulled his short sword on the run and threw it at Kouga with all his might, hoping to at least distract the demon from completing his cut. He did better than he expected. The distance was too great for a specially aimed shot, but he did aim in the general direction of Kouga's upper body. He got lucky. Kouga was too intent on taking Inuyasha's head, he didn't see the short sword coming until it slammed into his shoulder. Kouga screamed in pain and frustration. Staggering off to one side after losing his grip on his katana, he pulled at the short sword embedded in his shoulder.

During this reprieve, Daremo made it to Inuyasha's side. He knelt beside the fallen lord. "My Lord Inuyasha! Are you hurt?"

The compulsion spell lost its effect at this time. Inuyasha lifted his head and growled, "No, Daremo. I'm not hurt." 'At least not physically.'

Daremo moved to help Inuyasha to his feet but was waved off. "I'm fine, Daremo! Now, where is that damn wolf! It's time I finished this nonsense!"

Inuyasha saw Kouga leaning heavily against a tree. He had managed to pull the sword from his shoulder and was breathing hard from the strain. "Let's end this, Kouga!" Inuyasha stepped toward the wounded wolf demon.

Gripping the short sword he had pulled from his shoulder, Kouga stepped away from the tree. "You're right, half-breed! Now to kill you like I should have long ago!"

Before they could reach each other, an arrow appeared in Kouga's thigh. Screaming in pain, he dropped the sword and clutched his thigh with both hands. He looked to see who had shot him and his mouth dropped open in shock. Inuyasha turned his head to see who had fired the arrow. His eyes widened when he saw that it was Kagome! She had another arrow drawn back and was aiming at Kouga.

"Inuyasha." she said , quietly. "Go take Kouga's jewel shards. He doesn't deserve them anymore."

Kouga reached for the dropped short sword but was stopped by an arrow at his fingertips. He looked up in shock at Kagome. She had already drawn another arrow and was aiming it at him.

"Don't move, Kouga!" she commanded.

"Kagome?!" he asked. "How could you do this to me? I love you!"

Kagome regarded him with cold eyes as Inuyasha searched for and found the jewel shards in Kouga's legs. "Consider yourself lucky, Kouga. I could have powered up that arrow in your leg with miko energy. If I had, it would have blown off when I shot it! And as for why," her face became like stone and her eyes became even colder except for a single tear that ran down her face. "You tried to kill him! That, I can never forgive!" She turned to the two unwounded wolf demons from Kouga's pack. "Take him and go!"

The two demons looked at each other and then at her. Both nodded and gathered up Kouga. As they left, one looked over his shoulder and said, "Goodbye, sister. I wish you could have stayed in our pack." That said, they joined the other two demons and disappeared into the forest.

Inuyasha and the others watched until they were sure that the wolf demons were gone, then Kagome began sobbing and ran to Inuyasha. Throwing her arms around him, she tried to hug him, but it was like hugging a statue. Inuyasha made no move to take her in his arms. She stepped back from him and looked into his face. What she saw there caused her heart to sieze up inside of her. His face was blank, totally emotionless. He held out his hand and dropped Kouga's jewel shards in the dirt at Kagome's feet, then he turned on his heel and started walking toward Daremo.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called after him.

He ignored her. "Daremo, do you still wish to deliver that letter to my brother?"

"I do wish to." answered the warrior.

"Inuyasha? Please answer me!" Kagome called again.

"You saved my life. The least I can do in repayment is show you to Sesshomaru. Get your horse and lets get out of here."

"What about the others?" asked Daremo.

Without turning to face them, he called to his companions. "Miroku! Sango! Shippou! Kirara! I'll be back in a couple of days. Watch over Daremo's companions while we are gone. And watch over Kagome, as well." He began to walk off.

"Inuyasha! PLEASE?! Give me a chance to talk to you!" Kagome begged, her voice thick with the tears she was shedding. "I know I scewed up bad. But I still love you!"

Inuyasha's shoulders hunched as if he had been hit in the back. He didn't turn to face her, he didn't think he could handle that. "Kagome." he said, his head bowed and his voice thick with emotion. "I still love you, too." He lifted his head up. "But right now, I don't like you very much and I need to get away before I say or do something that you won't forgive." Inuyasha looked at a mounted Daremo. "You ready?"

Daremo nodded.

"Then lets get the hell out of here." And he began to run.

"Inuyasha? Inuyasha? INUYASHA?" Kagome screamed in anguish. "Oh God! What have I done? What have I done?" She collapsed in tears in the middle of the clearing.

A/N: Sooo... Are you ready to kill me yet? Just wait. The best is yet to come. It's still a couple of chapters away, but I promise you won't be disappointed.