Fangs bared, Kouga glared up at Sesshoumaru from a tense, bristling crouch. “Who the hell are you?”

Even without her miko senses, the murderous intent radiating from the dog demon lord would have been pretty hard to miss. Slipping out from behind him, Kagome eased her way cautiously between him and Kouga, standing a little off to the side.

“This is Sesshoumaru,” she explained to the wolf demon, “Inuyasha’s brother.” At the inu daiyoukai’s abrasive look, she blushed, amending quickly, “Half-brother.”

“Half-brother, eh?” Kouga said, slanting his arms across his chest as he straightened. Sharp blue eyes glinted derisively at Sesshoumaru. “Your old man must have gotten around.”

Kagome grimaced. Oh no…

She had time to see Sesshoumaru’s eyes narrow before he vanished in a flicker–reappearing with Tessaiga’s point an inch above Kouga’s face. But the wolf prince was quicker, his Jewel-enhanced leg deflecting the blade as he flipped back to a safe distance.

“Must have struck a nerve,” Kouga grinned, resting a clawed hand on his own katana. “Anyway, what are you doing sniffing around my Kagome? Didn’t she tell you we’re engaged?”

“We are not!” Kagome corrected hotly, stamping her foot. “Don’t just go making things up!”

“Women,” the wolf prince said to Sesshoumaru with a commiserating head shake. “Always playing hard to get.”

And now this woman was advancing on him with clenched fists and a twitching brow. “Baka. I’ll show you ‘hard to get’…”

Sheathing his sword, Sesshoumaru caught her by the arm. “Enough of this foolishness.” His golden eyes cut to Kouga. “The girl claims you possess two of the last remaining Shikon Jewel shards. Will you side with us in the fight against Naraku?”

Kouga considered him shrewdly. “Maybe I do, and maybe I would…but I’m kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Aiding the northern wolf demon tribe?” Kagome ventured.

The wolf prince blinked. “Yeah…but how did you know?”

“We stopped by your place, looking for you. Kiba-kun told us where you’d gone and why.”

“Oh yeah?” Kouga smiled smugly, his chest swelling with masculine pride. “So, you really were searching for me, Kagome-chan. I hope those ingrates treated you right.”

“…They were very nice,” Kagome replied, wilting a little under Sesshoumaru’s baleful expression.

“Good.” The wolf prince nodded approvingly. “Well, I can fill you in on the rest of the details back at camp.” Stroking his chin, he muttered aside, “Really, you couldn’t have shown up at a better time…”

Wondering what that remark could possibly mean, Kagome collected her pack and mounted Entei as Jakken finally crept out from his hiding place behind a tree. Staring hard at Kouga all the while, Sesshoumaru alighted upon Ah-Un’s back, his loyal retainer looking on in similar mistrust as the alpha wolf sauntered over to Kagome.

“Who’s this guy to you, anyway, Kagome-chan?” Kouga asked lowly, eyeing the inu daiyoukai in turn.

Kagome tensed. “Sesshoumaru? W-well, he’s—”

A flurry of relationship terms ran through her head—sex-partner? lover? boyfriend?—each one sounding more absurd than the last.

“—my comrade,” she finished lamely.

“‘Comrade’, huh? Well, that doesn’t sound like much of anything.” As Kagome glowered, Kouga winked, giving Entei a brisk, firm smack on the haunch. “Nice horse, by the way.”

Said horse whipped his head around at Kouga with a fiery snort and glare, the wolf prince stepping back with his palms upraised. “Easy there, nag.”

Tossing his mane, the equine youkai cantered ahead of his own accord, punctuating his dismissal of Kouga with a flick of his blazing tail. Giving Entei a wide berth, the wolf prince took the lead, the six of them setting off toward the mountain that loomed before them. As the granite grey base came into sight through the trees, the wolf prince stiffened, cursing under his breath.

“Huh? What’s that?” Kagome asked as she drew up beside him.

A white funnel of wind—much like Kouga’s own cyclone—swept through the forest, branches shearing from the trees in its tempestuous wake. Glancing over at Sesshoumaru, she saw that his hackles were raised as well. As the whirlwind barreled toward them, Kouga took up a defensive stance before Kagome and Entei, a low growl of annoyance escaping his lips.

“Kouga-onii-samaaaa!” a pair of familiar voices cried out plaintively. Looking past the white twister, Kagome could just make out Ginta and Hakkaku’s sprinting forms.

“You idiots!” Kouga shouted. “I told you to keep her distracted!”

“We’re sorry—we tried!”

“Please forgive us!”

Her? Kagome wondered as the cyclone drew to an abrupt stop, a wolfish-looking girl with two long side-tails of red hair standing in the calm thereafter.

“Distract me from what?” she asked, her bright green eyes shifting from Kouga’s pack mates to  Kagome and her group. “Kouga-kun, who are these people?”

“Hi,” the young miko said with a small friendly wave, happy to finally be in the company of a fellow female, “I’m Kagome. That guy over there is Sess—”

“KAGOME!” the wolf-girl exclaimed, her face flooding red as she stabbed a finger toward the miko in accusation. “You’re Kagome?!”

Kagome shrank back from this unexpected hostility. “Er, h-have we met…?”

Releasing a long-suffering sigh, Kouga turned toward the baffled priestess. “Kagome-chan, this is Ayame. She’s—”

“Kouga-kun’s fiancée,” the demoness interjected, claws planting fiercely on her hips as she glared the other girl down. “You homewrecker!”

Kagome blanched as the forest went silent, every set of eyes fixing upon her for what felt like miles around.

Well, she thought, this is awkward…

---

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi

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