In the wake of a storm, a wolf no longer alone.

Kouga sat silently beside the unconscious woman. It had been a week since he brought her here to the cave and still she did not wake. She had only made a few noises from time to time, and she hardly shifted in her sleep at all. It was disturbing really. Humans being silent for so long was incredibly odd in his past experience. Kagome was always screaming about something, and that demon slayer Sango was always yelling at the monk. Seemed kind of funny now that he thought of it, of course this one was unconscious so screaming at him or arguing with him was out of the question at this point. He shifted uncomfortably at the idea of comparing this woman to Kagome. That could accidently make him either fall in love with this woman or hate her depending on how he was feeling that day, or what he heard about Kagome and Mutt Face.



Kouga looked down at the woman’s face and brushed her bangs out of her face. Her hair was an interesting color. He hadn’t seen a human with that coloring. The chocolate brown that turned red in the candle light. He had seen it in demons, hell he had seen all different rainbow colors on demons, but only black and very dark brown on humans. He ran a hand across her pale skin slowly, turning her head to inspect her features. High cheekbones, ivory skin that hadn’t seen work, she was definitely a noble woman at one point. He suspected that she hadn’t been for a few years or so though. Her feet were worn slightly, suggesting travel, and though nobles did travel they did so in carriages, not on their own feet. The ends of her hair were ragged, though she obviously was able to hide it well. With all of that she was still more beautiful than most women he had come across.



“Kousuke?”



The voice stunned him out of his drawn back inspection. Her voice was delicate but lower than most. It was sultry. Kouga turned and looked up at the woman’s face. Her eyes had flickered open and she was staring at him now, but her eyes were glazed over. She was still in a dream state. He couldn’t help but frown slightly.



“Kousu-“



Kouga looked away sharply as her eyes fluttered closed again and her breathing was slowed again. Kouga couldn’t help but be curious about the identity of the man that she obviously had thought, in her confused dazed state, he was. It was uncomfortable for him that the woman, whom whether he chose to admit that he thought of like an object or not, was brought to life in front of him. She had a voice, a past. She was no longer just the sleeping woman. He kept his head turned away from her. He felt somewhat ashamed of himself for thinking that way. He supposed that he treated all women like objects at first glance. Kagome had been one when he first met her hadn’t she? Well maybe not to the same degree. She still walked and talked. She didn’t just lay there.



He stood up sharply and pushed the curtain open as he stepped out. The frown cut into his face once again. Kouga made his way to the entrance of the cave slowly and stepped out into the cold night air. It was silent in the cave for once. Most of the wolves were already asleep, curled up on pelts. He only went to visit the woman in the middle of the night. It was the least noticeable. It would look bad for him to be looking after a human woman again. He would be thought of as weak all over again.



Kouga looked down at the stream beneath the caves entrance and jumped down into it causing the water to splash and ripple around him. It had been a while since he had had a decent bath. He hadn’t had one since he brought the woman in. He had to wash the blood off of him, or at least the smell of blood. It brought on a combination of disgust and hunger and he didn’t really like that feeling. He stripped off his armor and his pelt before dunking his body under the water. It was nice to finally get the dirt and sweat off of his body. He reached back and pulled his tail into his lap and scrubbed the fur until it was clean, before reaching up and scrubbing the hair on his head until it was clean.



He got out of the water slowly and shook off, not too far off from what a dog would do. He pulled his clothes back on and looked up at the cave entrance and to his own shock the woman was standing there, wrapped in an animal pelt. He leaped up to the rock and stood in front of her.



“Enjoy the show lady?” Kouga asked, almost sharply though he hadn’t meant to.



“Who are you?” there was that voice again, Kouga felt a blush raise to his face and thanked the night that it would have been impossible to see in this darkness.



“Kouga, leader of the wolf demon tribe, and you?” he replied looking at her slowly. The way she carried herself was like that of a broken woman, and it made him quite curious about her.



“Megumi.” She whispered slowly looking down. “Are you the person who found me?”



Kouga looked up at her slowly. “Yeah. What of it?” he made it seem like it was nothing special, but to his own dismay it seemed like she caught on to his little charade.



“Thank you then Kouga.” She bowed slowly to him, but there was a small smile on her face and he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed for himself. “Why did you help me?” she asked looking back up at him.



Kouga mentally cringed. He really wasn’t going to be getting out of this any time soon now was he? He didn’t really know why he helped her so he just decided to tell her how it was. “I don’t know why. I used to be friends with some humans-“ if you could really call them friends “I guess that might be why.” He stared at her oddly with his head tilted to the side, he really didn’t get her. Shouldn’t she be scared out of her mind or something? “Why aren’t you scared?” he asked.



“I have felt that which is worse than death, no human, demon, or god, could do to me what has not already been done. There is no reason for me to fear a group who has saved my life and bandaged my wounds. I can only thank them, not fear them.” Her voice was soft to Kouga’s ears and she had turned her head to look at the moon, revealing the pale skin of her neck. He could hear her slow but steady beat beneath the ivory layer.



“Who is Kousuke?” he spat it out quickly truly curious but wanting to seem as if he really didn’t care. That it was just matter of fact. But as he said the name the woman visibly flinched and she took a step away from him.



“I said his name then?” she asked softly, but her voice was shakier than it had been before.

Kouga only nodded as a response.



“My former husband, he was killed a few hours after our wedding service by a great demon who wanted to use our families castle for its own.” She looked down and away from him for a few seconds and then walked back into the cave and into the make shift room that they had created for her. It only took a few seconds before he could smell salt and knew she was crying behind the animal skin.



Kouga did not follow after Megumi. He only stood still, watching her leave before he turned and walked back down to the creek. He sat on a large boulder protruding over the running water and looked up at the sky silently. He had nothing to say to the woman, he could not console her, he didn’t know how to really. He had never had a mate, so he had never known the pain of losing one. The moon shone silently as Kouga stretched out and fell asleep under the night sky.