Hunted By The Wolf

Hunted By The Wolf
Chapter 5: Setbacks
by OnlyAThreat

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Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews,
(even if you do hate me for leaving it how I did.)
I really, really appreciate you all taking the time
out to let me know what you think.

Oh, and Fudge: I do suck, don't I? :)
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Someone was stomping on my head. There had to be. The pain
couldn't really be compared to anything else. I shifted, realized
what a bad idea it was, thank you, throbbing pain. It was dark,
I could see that from the lack of any light beyond the thin veil
of my eyelids. Oh, now that was new..


There was something attached to me, a leech probably. I'd
most likely fallen into a swamp and was now going to die the
very dignified death of being sucked to death by a creature
one hundredth of my size.


Most swamps, however, have water or peat bog or something
wet to attest to what they are, and I was dry as a bone.
And there were hands. One holding the back of my head, the
other supporting my upper back. No, swamps didn't have hands
either.


I cracked my eyes open, willing the pain in my head to not worsen,
or at least stay the same. Hair. Long, black hair that wasn't mine.
And this wasn't a leach. Not one you'd see in a swamp, anyway.


"Kouga..." I rasped out, trying to move away.


"Stop. Don't move," he commanded, head raising momentarily to
address me. His teeth were streaked in blood. My blood. It had
dribbled off to the sides of his mouth, giving him a feral look that
terrified me just a little bit. I stilled, afraid to defy him while he
was so close to so many important arteries.


"You'll..." spit. "Move the.." Suck. Spit. "Poison." Spit again.
"Faster." Oh. He was right. Is that what he was doing? Sucking
out the poison? That would explain the yellow tint to the blood
covering the lower half of his face. I cringed, wondering just how
I had put myself in this position. It wasn't a good one.


Finally, agonizingly, he was done, and he sat back to look at me.
He removed the hand supporting my upper back and laid me down,
still holding my head. After wiping the blood off of his face with
the back of his hand, he sighed.


"I'm glad you're awake," he said quietly, looking down. I grimaced
as he let my head go, gently laying me back against something warm
and soft. And panting.


"You're resting my head on something that wants to eat me?" I asked
meekly. He smirked at that.


"He won't eat you. He saved your life," He reached out over me and
probably scratched one of the wolves with us earlier. Before the
hell wasps had attacked us. I sighed. I wasn't really in a position
to argue.


"That's how we got away." I closed my eyes, trying to will myself
to sit up. I hated looking this weak in front of anyone, much
less someone I didn't really know all that well. Kidnapper.


I smiled softly at that, discounting fate and all that other
cosmic, celestial bull that Miroku always rambled on about
whenever we were feeling particularily hopeless. This was
not fate. Accidentally getting kidnapped and ending up
with a wolf attached to my neck was not fate. It was
a joke. A big joke on Sango.


He sat back on his haunches, head turned towards what
I could only assume was the exit, for what little light there
was came from that direction.


"Where are we? And how did they get us back?" I said
finally, moving to sit up. Mistake number two.


Shooting pain went down my left side as I moved up to
my elbows. I grit my teeth and pushed. There. I sat up.


Kouga's eyebrows knitted together, and he reached out to
put a hand behind my back. I shook my head, not enjoying
any of it a bit. I was thankful that he understood warrior's
pride and stopped himself from helping me. Of course
he would understand that.


"Well," he stated, gruff all of a sudden. "The poison didn't
last long for me. I picked you up before any more of the
damn bugs could get at you and took off. We didn't really
have a chance. That wasn't a swarm, it was more like
we'd walked into a hive. After looking back," his face
darkened. "I realized that we probably would have died
if we hadn't run. They were everywhere, Sango. Thick
as air. I couldn't see the trees through them."


I breathed shakily. Of course Naraku rears his ugly
head when I'm separated from my group. When
would he do otherwise? Spineless, cowardly
piece of shit...


He abruptly ended my thoughts. "We can't stay
here forever. I know how badly you want to get back,
and I still feel real bad about being the cause of all this."


Kouga's eyes made me feel for him. He really, genuinely
thought that this was his fault. I smiled up at him.


"I get hurt constantly. More lives than a cat, Kouga."
He looked doubtful. "If not this way, I would've been
hurt another. Though, you DID kidnap me...and I do
deserve more deer now.." He laughed suddenly, and
nodded, taking his hand away from his chin.


"Alright, I get it. I owe you. I owe you big time."


"You did save my life." I reminded him, and reached
up the left, uninjured arm to scratch the hide behind me.
"But you, Kouga. You owe me deer."


He shrugged and started towards the exit, growing
silent once more. He seemed to be listening for
something. I held my breath, hoping that they'd
be gone and not hanging around to attack us at
the mouth of the cave, which, of course, was
conveniently covered by a rock. 'Back where we
started, I guess..' He cussed and stomped
back to where I sat.


I frowned. "Still there?" Shit. This was bad.


This wound wasn't going to heal without bandages
and hot water. Ugh, I thought. Gangrene of the upper
half of the body. No thank you.


"Well..." he started uneasily, and then cleared his throat.
"I don't want it to get infected." What was he talking about?


Before I could protest, Kouga was on his knees beside me, his
face, once again, in my neck. I 'eeped,' not really sure if this
was a good idea, and made to move away. One hand went
to gingerly grip the injured shoulder, and the other reached out
to wrap around the upper part of my good arm. His tongue.


"So you're going to lick it!?" What? "How is this going to keep
it from getting infected?" I demanded, still trying to move away
sneakily. He lapped at the wound gently. He was missing a lot
of wound and covering a lot of skin. This was making me
uncomfortable.


He wouldn't answer, and I made a few noises of discomfort until he
stopped. This. Was getting. WEIRD.


The wolf demon sat back on his heels and wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand. Smirking. I hated that smirk.


"You said it yourself," he began in a tone I remotely recalled
hearing before. "I'm canine. As gross as it sounds, the
spit heals."


I considered this for a moment, accepted it skeptically, and
then something snapped in my head. Kagome. He was
using his Kagome voice with me! What the hell was
he trying to pull here?


I eyeballed him suspiciously and moved away.


"Well, uh, thanks for the bath." I couldn't help it. I wasn't
trying to be rude or thankless for his saving of my life
and all, but...he shouldn't be talking to me like that.
I wasn't Kagome, and there was no way I was getting pulled
into that whole situation. No way.


He watched me for a moment, and I turned away.


No. No way.


"Try to get some rest," he said quickly, and stood to walk away.


"Where are you going?" I called out. "I think there's an exit back here,"
He was long gone. This was an echo of his reply. Damn jewel shard
legs. I sighed. Weird. Weird weird weird. Just what I need.


To like Kouga licking my neck.

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Poor Sango.