Hunted By The Wolf

Hunted By The Wolf

Chapter 6: Red as the Sunset

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every other day if I'm lucky.
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My body had felt the fatigue of the poison and given in
shortly after Kouga had gone. I was thankful, to be honest,
because being left with my thoughts raging on the whole
stiuation wasn't exactly pleasant. These past two days were
something I would try to ignore and forget, mostly because
they only complicated matters further. And kami knows just
how complicated things could be.


I woke up alone, with sunlight coming in through the
tiny cracks between the entrance and the boulder. No buzzing.
That was a good sign, but where was Kouga? Had he left me alone
all night? Or was it still the same day... I grit my teeth in irritation
and tried to get up. The wolf behind me stirred and put his face up
to lick my cheek. Sighing, I wiped it off. As much as I
appreciated the gesture, Kirara's DRY nuzzles won out.
What can I say? I'm a cat person.


"Thanks," I breathed, and pulled myself up. The point where
my shoulder and neck met was still sore. Wounded, I probably
wouldn't make it far on my own. Without youkai hearing or
senses, I couldn't tell if the saimyoushou were still lurking out
beyond the cave. Saimyoushou. Naraku knew we were
here, didn't he? Looking on it now, the attack was bizarre.


Saimyoushou weren't Naraku's primary means of attacking. They
were usually just his nasty little spies, and even then Naraku
normally only sent them against houshi, not myself or any of
the rest of us for that matter. Was it the only way...a last line
of defense? I had no way of really knowing what area I was in,
as I hadn't seen the direction Kouga had taken me, not to mention I
wasn't very familiar with wolf country if that's what we were in.


I pulled myself into a comfortable position, trying not to lean on the
wolf too heavily. He was a sweet animal, now that he didn't want to
eat me. He'd stayed with me while Kouga was gone, and didn't
protest that I used him as a pillow or backrest. Good dog, I thought.


We had to still be in the north, because we hadn't been traveling for that
long, an hour maybe, which of course at Kouga speed probably meant
about five hours for my little tribe.. Maybe we had been right. Naraku
could have possibly had a hideout or something he didn't want us to
find. If he'd sent the saimyoushou after us for getting too close, it would
make sense. Perhaps he'd had too little time to summon larger,
less obvious demons and he'd lashed out with what he could.


It would make sense. I sighed. With my luck, however, we'd just
actually wandered into a hive of hell wasps, like Kouga had
suggested. Kouga. Where was he? He wouldn't leave me here
without at least telling me he was leaving, would he? No. Not
without taking his wolves with him.


Not that he owed me for anything. The kidnapping wasn't
really anything new, I supposed. He'd done it once before,
though he hadn't taken me quite so far away and realized his mistake
before it was too late. Funny. You'd think with his sense of smell
he'd be able to tell it was me and not Kagome. I'm sure we
don't smell very alike. After all, doesn't Kagome smell like
Inuyasha? She does ride on his back all over the countryside-
his scent must stick to her somewhat. Hehe. The fool.


Well, he owes me a ride home at the very least, I thought as I
looked around. How long had he been gone now? I let out
a whoosh of air as I laid back. I was tired still, and quite hungry.


Noise. What was that? Were the saimyoushou trying to
gouge out the rock around the boulder. The wolf behind me nudged
me off and stalked in front of me, head low and ears against his
head. Not good. I wasn't just being paranoid, and I knew that
now. My katana, of course, had been lost in our escape, and so
I was helpless. I could barely move without the left side of my
body throbbing in what I could only hope wasn't permanent
nerve damage. I had a lone wolf to protect me from a swarm of
angry, sneaky saimyoushou.


If that's what this indeed was. The rock began to give. Noise
from the boulder being nudged aside was a slow grinding.
It was a huge slab of rock, and would take a large
number of the slightly frail bugs to move. I braced myself, crawling
backwards to put distance between myself and the entrance.
It was giving.


'Here we go again,' my traitorous mind complained at my
predicament, and I could only hope Kouga would come back
in time to run me out of here, again, with my tail between
my legs. 'Or his tail between your legs,'


What the fuck!? Now was not the time! The wolf was
growling, shaking in agitation. The boulder gave, and light,
blinding and somewhat welcome all at once poured in from
the outside. The red eyes that could be seen, once the hulking
figure in the cave's mouth materialized, were crazed and searching
hungrily for a target. The wolf threatened to attack, and the
thing roared back. The wolf backed up, gnashing teeth in
an effort to ward off an attack. Red eyes came closer, and
my heart began to beat once more.


I knew those eyes like I knew the scratches in hiraikotsu.
Which hung in all it's glory from the creature's back.


"Kirara!" I cried out happily, lifting up my arms as if
to embrace the cat demon from where I cowered. My
beautiful little companion had found me! She recognized
my voice and made to run to me, and, to my own surprise
as well as hers, got her ass stuck. In the cave's mouth.

I fought between the laughter at her predicament and out
of sheer relief, deciding on not laughing at all. Poor girl.

"Kirara," I called out. "You've got to transform. The wolf
won't hurt you, I promise." I looked down to the snout
which was half turned at me in a snarl. "Right, wolf?"
I glared at him. He'd better not. I'd have his skin made
into a coat. He let out a snort and backed away from Kirara
further into the cave. I nodded and gestured her towards me.
She growled angrily and shook her two tails in an effort
to move loose. Not that I expected her to want to
drop a couple exponents in size while a snarling wolf sat
by.


"Kirara, transform already," I pleaded, and sighed with
relief as her form shrunk into that of a cute kitten. The
wolf sat back, perplexed at his enemy's sudden lack of,
well, being a threat. She bounded to me, keeping a
wary on the confused wolf, and hopped into my lap,
nuzzling my chin over and over again with her own.


I fought back tears at her display of affection, and jumped
when I heard a masculine, not to mention smart ass
voice next to me.


"Awwww...isn't that cuuuute...." I glared up at him. Fine time
for him to show up.


"Thanks for dissappearing, jerk." I muttered. He doubled back.

"I didn't dissappear, hunter, I was out in the back, looking around
for something for you to eat when you woke up. I heard the boulder
move and came running." He crossed his arms over his chest and
glowered back down at me, daring to question his loyalty. I shook
my head.

"Well, if they were saimyoushou, myself and the wolf would be dead."

Kouga shrugged. "The wolf can run. He probably woulda been fine."
The toothy smile irritated me, but before I could yell at him he reached
down with his stupid youkai speed and scooped up Kirara. She squeaked
in surprise, shocked out of her reunion reverie and looked up at him.

To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't scratch an eye out. She blinked
cutely a few times and then mewed, batting at his bangs. Stupid.

Stupid bangs.

He snickered and put out a clawed finger for her to bat at from where
she sat in his arms. I didn't want to see this. I didn't want him to
get attached to her, or more importantly, for her to get attached
to him.


You see, he and I, we weren't going to be traveling companions
for very much longer. Especially not that Kirara was here. I was
going to get back home where I belonged and away from this weird,
charged situation. I silently thanked kami that she'd found me
and was about to alert Kouga to my decision when I was interrupted.

By a voice I didn't particularly need intruding right now.


"I fucking knew it! I told you, Kagome!" Inuyasha's loud, unbidden
mouth interrupted my thoughts as he stalked into the cave with his
sword drawn. "I told you the idiot wolf had taken her!" He crossed
his arms, looking smug, but somehow stupid at the same time.


Kagome followed, one hand clapped over an eye, and she sighed.


"Didn't I tell you!?" he spun on her and got in her face. Oh. They'd
been fighting. What a surprise.


I had to hold in my laughter when she yelled back in his face. "Yes, ok
you were right!!" He shrunk back a bit, his ears flattening at her
sudden loudness. He grumbled, one fang staying attached
to his lower lip.


"So don't get pissed next time I suggest that maybe the mangy
wolf did it," he grumbled and turned his attention back to us.
"Yer fuckin' dead, wolf." Kouga watched the exchange boredly, and
continued to hold Kirara, unconcerned by Inuyasha's sudden
threat. Or, surprisingly enough, Kagome's entrance.


Odd.


"Ehhhh...why do you always intrude on peaceful moments and
completely ruin 'em, dogshit?" Inuyasha growled at this, and Kouga
gently set Kirara back on my lap. I put my hands over my face
to prevent any flying fur to get into my eyes, but peeked after
several moments. Nothing was happening. And Kouga was
bending down next to me. "C'mon, Sango," I took his hand,
and the other wrapped around my waist to aide me. I reddened
a bit, realizing how odd this exchange was, especially in front
of Inuyasha and Kagome. I was going to hear about this later.


"She needs her wound cleaned, Kagome, could you do it?"
Kouga finally addressed her after he put my good arm over his
neck. Yeah. I was definitely going to hear about this later.
Kagome's eyes were wide, but she nodded in silence and
met me halfway, where she went to support me on the
opposite side of Kouga.

"What happened?" she whispered in alarm, and tried to peek around
to my other shoulder. I shook my head.

"I'll explain the whoooole thing later.." I said tiredly, and made to move
with her out of the cave. As we passed Inuyasha, I think he began
to pick his jaw up off of the floor, though I couldn't be sure.

We made our way to a nearby stream, Kirara leading the way.
Kagome was silent, though I could see her stealing
glances up at me out of my peripheral vision. I could feel it.
She never let me get away without an explanation.


When we reached the water's edge, she gently helped me
to sit and pulled out her first aid kit from 'the pack.'

"Oh Sango," she said sadly as she went to unbutton the
neck of my hunter's uniform.

"What?" I asked, eyebrows coming together. Oh my god.
Did he leave a mark when he was attacking my neck?


"Your uniform. We'll have to get it mended at a village," she
surrendered, holding the flap away from my neck. "What did
this, anyway?" She froze and looked up at me. "Kouga didn't-"


"NO! No no no, Kagome! Of course he didn't.." I knew I was
blushing furiously, but I couldn't help it. No. What she was
suggesting was... "Er...he didn't do anything. But he did
save my life," I said tiredly.


She nodded, seemed satisfied, and then set about to cleaning
the wound. Oh, it would feel so much better tomorrow
morning after it had been cleaned.


"You know Sango, it's already halfway healed. You heal
fast, you know that." I looked away, intent on a rock,
hoping I couldn't turn any redder than I already was.

"It was a saimyoushou," I declared, hoping to change
the subject. "A swarm of them attacked us south of here.
Kouga had been taking me back to all of you and they'd
come at us out of nowhere. First there was one, and then
too many. I don't really remember anything after one stung
me," I explained, leaving out the dialogue between myself
and the wolf youkai on purpose. Why was I hiding
his stupidity, anyway? It's not as though I wanted
it to continue. Did I feel guilty? I sighed when I was
done, signalling that I was finished as she listened intently.


Should I feel guilty? It's not as though Kagome harbored
feelings for Kouga other than friendship. Did she?


I looked down at Kagome's intent, focused face. "Kagome,"
I began slowly.
"Hmm?" She replied.
"Do you, you know, find Kouga attractive?" She stopped and looked
up at me, confused.
"Well," she said, blinking and looking back to my wound after bending
towards it once more. "I suppose he's good looking. Why? Did
he ask you if I did?" she smiled softly, always flattered by his
attention. I paled a bit then. Things would get weird. I could
just see it. Kagome not really sure how to act towards
Kouga if he were ever around just for me.


No. Better not to open that box.


"Yeah," I said, laughing, putting a hand behind my head. "He
complained about Inuyasha a lot, too." She giggled, began to
wrap gauze around my shoulder to underneath my arm. I
winced slightly as the gauze stuck to the wound, and she
did the same.

"Sorry, Sango." She tried to finish quickly, and then I
remembered something.

"Kagome, where's Miroku?" she looked at me, confused, and
then blinked a few times.
"Oh yeah...well, I thought he was behind us. I'm sure he's at
the cave by now. He was on Kirara's back until she wriggled
him off once I guess she caught your scent a ways back."
She laughed at this, and then bit her lip. "I guess I forgot
about him when I found you and...Kouga." She smiled at me,
and I looked away at the expression she held.

"Well, let's get back, I'm sure Inuyasha's been bitching about
not being able to find jewel shards during my hiatus." She
helped me stand, and Kirara weaved in and out of our legs
for a second until she began trotting in the direction of the
cave. We followed, and when we got to the cave, we were
surprisingly met with the sight of Inuyasha and Kouga
not fighting. Or even arguing.


Kagome and I shared a look as she helped me limp over
to the rest of our party. Miroku smiled at me, and was
on me before I had a chance to protest. Kagome moved
away to let him hug me, and I stood with my arms at my side,
shocked that houshi wasn't groping my ass.

"Sango! I was so worried." He held me at arm's length and peered
into my face. "You're unharmed?" he asked, brow reflecting concern.

"I'm...I'm fine," I stumbled over the words, recovered from my shock.
The growling was what brought me back. I turned around to find it's source
and it stopped. Kouga and the two wolves leaned against the mossy rock of the
cave's outside.

"I don't know what his problem is," Kouga said hurriedly, and shrugged after
referring to the male wolf. The wolf's head moved to the side, one brow
raising at him. The wolf snorted at him and then trotted to me to lick
the back of my hand. I smiled and leaned over to scratch his head.

Which, of course, being in front of Miroku was a mistake. Kouga's
focus moved behind me as soon as my facial expression dropped.
I growled and turned to hit the houshi in the head, but was stunned
by Kouga's reaction.


Kouga had sneered, but only for a split second, and then turned away.

What. The. Fuck.

I huffed at the monk and limped away towards Kirara.

"Kouga," I called out, drawing his attention back to me. His face
lightened up slightly, though not by much. "I thank you for saving my
life." She transformed and I stepped over her, allowing myself to be
lifted as she stood up. I gave him a crooked smile and put a hand up.
"I suppose we're even now. Arigatou." She pushed off then, and I
was thankful that she was so in tune to me. The kitten just knew
when to take her cue.

Inuyasha, Kagome, and the monk followed at a steady pace, and I
told Kirara to fly slowly so that she could keep pace with the three
of them. Three. Where was Shippo? Hmm.

The sunset was red, gorgeous at this point in the day. We soared
over the trees with it to our right side, and I smiled into it. I had missed
the light so much being shut up in that cave for so long. How
could the wolves stand it? I wondered. How did Kouga stand it?

Though I suppose you'd grow used to it, especially if you'd lived
in a dark cave your whole life. It wasn't as though you'd be shut
up all the time. From what I understood, wolf demons could be
migrant, moving with the seasons or as they pleased.


They signalled us down when they decided to make camp, which wasn't
long after we'd set out, it being so late in the day. I sighed happily and
went to greet my friends. It had been a long day.

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You asked for a long chapter, you got it.

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