Little Red Riding Hood

Title: Little Red Riding Hood
Author: Pucie
Chapter: A Mate By Any Other Name


A/N: Sorry about the bit of darkness in the last chapter, I’ve got to go back and put a warning in my author’s notes at the beginning of the chapter. Urgh, I’ve been so tired lately I just keep forgetting things. Anyway, This one is better, I promise. I just needed to add that little piece of disturbingness to the last one so you could kinda get a glimpse of what kind of hell he was living in for the past year. Yes, very out of character for Ayame, but when I make a character evil, I give you a character you feel good about hating. For further reference though, in the rest of the chapters when anyone talks about his time spent in “servitude” to Ayame, it will contain no graphic details, because writing that little bit bothered me, but for the sake of the story, I thought it had to be done. Ok, I know I’m longwinded, but on with the story! And this chappie will be longer!


A Mate By Any Other Name

Upon hearing Inuyasha’s desperate call, her head jerked up sharply in surprise. “Great,” she muttered to herself. She still couldn’t shake off the lingering effects of the dream she had had about the wolf prince. As she hurried back to the village, she just couldn’t get over how real it had felt. . . .and even after she had awoken she had felt as if someone was staring right at her the entire time she was in the forest. ‘Weird,’ she thought to herself, while at the same time shouting to one impatient hanyou, “Don’t get your fundoshi in a wad! I’m coming BAKA!!” She reached the edge of the village where he was waiting for her, “You know, you don’t do very well under pressure, ya know that right?” she said to him, as she sent him a glare and hurried by him to go to the hut where Kikyo now appeared to be in labor.

“Oi, WENCH! What in the hell do you mean by THAT?” he yelled at her retreating figure.


Koga laughed at the scene presented by the pair of friends, ‘Thank the Kami’s. NOT mates.’ He thought to himself. But abruptly silenced himself when he noticed the hanyou glance his way.

“Who’s there? I’ve been sensing your aura for the past day or so, but I can’t seem to get a good whiff of you. . . I know you’re there, whoever you are, you might as well show yourself!” he heard the hanyou say quietly in his direction.

‘Well, I guess there can’t be any harm letting dogshit know I’m back in the area,’ he thought grinning to himself. He jumped down from his perch in the tree to land about ten feet away from Inuyasha.

“FLEABAG? Is it really you?” Inuyasha asked as he squinted and rubbed his eyes as if not believing the sight in front of him. “What the fuck do you want? You let Kagome go, ya know? Besides don’t you have a mate now?” he said crossing his arms across his chest and tapping one of his feet.

Kouga sighed, ”You still don’t think before you speak, do you dogturd?” he grinned as he waited for a response.

“I’m not as gullible as I once was, besides, my mate is in labor, and I need to get back to her, so just answer my question. . .Do you or do you not have a mate now in Ayame? If you do, you need to leave right now. . . .Kagome, that girl is like a sister to me, always has been, and I refuse to let anyone hurt her like I used to.” Inuyasha replied seriously.

“What do you mean “used to”? Doesn’t it still break her heart to see you with someone else after she loved you so much? She only ever flirted with me to make you jealous. . .or didn’t you realize that, you thick headed half-breed?” he sneered.

“ I really don’t have time for this, I want to see my pup being born, but suffice it for me to tell you that, after her wish on the jewel she didn’t love me anymore, and realized she never did. . . .Only Kikyo’s SOUL did? Understand Kouga? Kagome was granted a soul that is uniquely hers, and realized who she really wanted, and that’s all I’m gonna say. . “ He said and turned to leave.

Kouga was confused, ”Who did she want? Muttface!” He ran up and grabbed Inuyasha by the shoulders, “ WHO DID SHE WANT?”

Inuyasha sighed, then looked a little curious as he sniffed the air suddenly, “You’re not mated either are you? But you’re not innocent anymore either, what happened to you?” he asked the wolf quietly.

Kouga looked down quickly, blushing, “No, I’m not mated, I couldn’t mate a female that I couldn’t love, but the price I had to pay to be free of the betrothal to Ayame was high, and I’ll leave it at that. . .” He suddenly looked back up, “Answer my question, please, as my friend, who did she want?”

Inuyasha suddenly grinned, “Ask her yourself, she’ll be free as soon as Kikyo is done birthing. I’m sure it would be better if you got your answer from her, besides it is her decision who she decides to share that information with.”

“Fine, but I can’t hang around at the moment, I need to check up with my pack, I haven’t been to see them in a year’s time. I must make sure that all is well with them. Don’t tell her that I came by. . . please Inuyasha, I want to surprise her when I come back. . .”

“That’s your descision, if you don’t want her to know, I won’t tell her. . “ he replied, “Later Kouga!” he said as he started walking back to the birthing hut quickly.

“Thanks Inuyasha! I will return soon!” and with that Kouga started heading back to his pack in the east.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever” he muttered as he walked into the hut to join Kikyo, Kagome and Kaede.

“Inuyasha, why did you tell me she was in labor already? You Baka! It was just her water breaking and another contraction!” Kagome scolded before he had even make it in the door completely.

“Well, how was I supposed to know? She was screaming!” he shot back at her.

Kikyo laughed from her spot on the floor, “and then he ran out before I could explain anything to him.” She sniffed her mate.

“Who were you talking to outside, mate?” she asked with a quiet question in her eyes.

“Oh, it was no one, just one of the villagers wanted to know how you were doing,” he said giving her a clear look that said not here, not now, and winked.

She quickly glanced at Kagome, and then back at her mate, and smiled, cocking her head to the side a little, just before she was caught up in another contraction, and grabbed his hand for support.

He leaned down to support her head and whispered in her ear once the contraction had passed, “Kouga came by, he’s not mated,” then he leaned back up and grinned at her again. She smiled back at him briefly before once more being seized by another contraction.

Kagome looked at Kaede, “Kaede, she seems to be in full-blown labor, should I give her the potion now? It is ready. . .”

“Yes child, and quickly, although her hanyou blood will make it work faster than it would for a human, it will still take a minute or two for her to feel the effects.” Lady Kaede responded.

As soon as the contraction had passed, Kagome had tilted Kikyo’s head up just enough for her to drink the mixture, something she had to do quickly as the next contraction was descending upon her rapidly. As she lay there, and held Inuyasha’s and Kagome’s hands for reassurance, she suddenly unleashed a fierce glare at her mate, “THIS IS ALL you’re fault, YOU STUPID male. WE ARE NEVER ever GOING TO BE rutting again. . .EVER” she alternately yelled and hissed at him.

Kagome couldn’t help but laugh at the astonished look on Inuyasha’s face as his jaw hit the floor, and she suddenly heard him whisper, “ever ever?” and saw a tiny tear form at the corner of his eye as he sweatdropped.

“Don’t worry, Inuyasha, every woman says that,” Kagome said as she reached across to pat his hand reassuringly, ‘But they. . “she tried to continue but was interrupted by the laboring woman between them.

“YEAH BUT, I mean it!” she yell/hissed at her mate, and then the potion began to take effect and her eyes took on a glazed look.

“Ahh, the pain potion just kicked in, it will be a lot easier from here on out,” Kaede said as she wiped her sister’s brow with a cool, damp rag. “Kagome, child, ye need to get in position to catch the children as they come out.”

“Hai,” she said as she moved down to ready herself to help Kikyo birth her children.

“Ok, Kikyo, when I say push, you need to push, I can already see the head,” she said as she moved her hands into position.

“1,2,3 and push!” she cried, and she watched as Kikyo bore down and pushed with all her might and then stopped.

“That’s good work, Kikki, good work, a few more pushes and you should be done, ready? PUSH!” she said as she suddenly had to catch the baby. Kikyo, had evidently pushed harder than she realized.

“Ok,” she said and glanced quickly at the baby, ”He’s out!”

“Wait! Wait!” Kikyo suddenly cried out, “It feels like there is still something in me!”

Kagome gently handed the newborn to Kaede, and knelt down to look back at Kikyo.
“Twins! You’re having twins! Push Kikyo! PUSH! The second baby shouldn’t be as hard as the first, it appears to be smaller!”

With one last push, Kikyo managed to birth the last baby, “It’s a girl!” Kagome squealed excitedly. She and Kaede quickly bound and cut the cords, and cleaned up the babies, so that they could place them in the new mother’s eager arms.

“So, what shall you name them?” Kagome said as she settled back to rest.

Kikyo, looked to Inuyasha and nodded. “Well, the boy we are going to name Kohaku, in honor of Sango and Miroku, they did so much for us, and even accepted us into their village. . . Even before Sesshoumaru accepted us back to the castle.” Kikyo said.

Kikyo laid her head back to rest as Inuyasha reached for the girl and held her in his arms, and continued where his mate left off, “The girl. . . . .we decided a long time ago that if we had a girl we would name her Kagome. Without you, there would be no us,” he said gesturing to himself and his mate, ”We would consider it an honor for our first girl child to bear your name, you mean so much to both of us, sister”
Kagome began to get a little teary at their confession, but found that they weren’t through. . . .

“We wanted to know if you would do us the honor of being our children’s godmother?” Kikyo asked shyly.

“Of course! You don’t even have to ask!” she exclaimed.

“Sure we did, baka! How else would you know we wanted you to be the god mother?” Inuyasha said impertinently.

At that they all shared a good laugh, and after saying their goodnights, Kaede and Kagome left to go to their own huts. It had been a long day, and everyone was happy when the end appeared.

+=+ Two Days Later +=+

Kagome walked out of the hut where Kikyo still lay resting, and started over to the herb garden that was currently blossoming between her and Kaede’s respective huts. She was happy to see that both the new mother and pups were recovering well.

Inuyasha and Kikyo’s plan was to stay in the village another couple of weeks before they traveled back to their home. Even though he shared Sesshoumaru’s duties, until Kikyo and the pup’s were strong enough to defend themselves, Sesshoumaru had granted his brother a temporary leave of his duties. Sesshoumaru, himself understood the pressures of being new parents, and had two lesser members of the Inu-Pack, who were completely trustworthy, take over duties for both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, only temporarily of course.

As she knelt over to tend to the herb and vegetable garden, she suddenly froze as she felt a familiar aura enter the village. She and Kaede had erected a barrier around the village a day ago, so that if anyone did try to come to harm Inuyasha, his mate, or his pup’s, then they would have an advanced alarm. It allowed everyone to pass back and through, only scanned them to find their intentions. Which was why she froze, this particular aura was demonic, familiar, and had come to see her only. . . . .”What the?” she muttered as she felt the aura come to stop right behind her, on the other side of her hut. She quickly entered and rushed through the hut. Though she knew the aura was a familiar demonic one, she couldn’t quite place it. She thought fleeting to the other day, the day that Kikyo had given birth, and vaguely remembered feeling it in the forest.

She reached the front of her hut, where the owner of said aura seemed to be waiting patiently. Reaching out to pull aside the heavy curtain of burlap that served as her door she said,” Hello, how may I. . . . .”she trailed off as she took in the figure of the male demon who now stood in front of her looking rather nervous, ‘how odd, he never used to be unsure of himself before’ she thought before she said. “Kouga” just before she fainted. . . .


A/N: Yes this time they are REALLY meeting, no more tricks like that, promise!