First Time, Last Chance
Chapter 4
Kouga wiped the sweat from his brow with an impatient gesture. Damn it. This demon should've been dead by now, he thought irritably. With all due respect to modesty, it was well known that he was one of the stronger demons that inhabited this territory. He couldn't pretend not to know it, for after all, he was in charge of a whole pack. But with this heavy duty came the drive to protect all those charged under his care. If he didn't kill this demon, who knew how many more would dare tread onto his territory and attack his clan off guard? It was a dirty principle; but then again, what the hell did some of those atrocities know about honor?
The wolf demon growled as he pushed his lean figure towards the sky, the earth spinning wildly beneath his feet as he lunged towards the offensive demon. Hakkaku and Ginta ran underneath him, staying well out of his way as he prepared to strike. Those two, Kouga acknowledged with a grin, would have to gain some more battling experience someday. Despite the fact that other members their age had already killed hundreds of demons, Hakkaku and Ginta were reserved fighters. They would only fight if they saw that Kouga needed help, which was a rare occasion, if any at all.
Besides, he thought, the wind rising up to meet his sword as he sliced off a significant chunk of the demon's body, the two did well enough aiding his scouts, his advisors, and most importantly, his friends. In the pack, all the members were brothers, yet he considered his bond closest to those two.
"Nice job, Kouga!" Hakkaku yelled as the demon toppled, headfirst into the ground. Kouga nodded, but kept a suspicious eye upon the demon. Like he had said, some of the demons he had fought played dirty, and he wasn't sure if this demon was really dead or not. Well, only one way to find out. He adroitly avoided the spraying demon blood as he severed a few feet of its body. At least, if it were alive, that would keep it immobile until he finished it off.
Ginta and his companion approached the demon from behind Kouga. "It looks dead to me, Kouga."
Hakkaku blinked. "Yeah. It definitely couldn't be alive after that."
Kouga sighed softly, placing the blade of his sword on his shoulder in a resting position. "So it would appear."
Now that the battle was over, he could concentrate on more grave matters. His casual remark belied the growing bewilderment that had captured him only ten minutes before. That enigma of a girl. It wasn't like he hadn't seen a ningen girl before in these parts before...
It was just...
There was something about her that set her apart from any other ningen he had seen before. Who was she? She was not from around here, Kouga thought, a frown crossing his lips. Her scent only puzzled him even more. Where she walked lingered the sweet fragrance of spring flowers in full blossom. Yet, within the undertone of the scent was an unrecognizable smell. It was a cold and damp one, forcing him to truly wonder where she had come from. None of the other territories emitted that kind of smell...
He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples lightly, growing in fast confusion the more he thought about it. Hakkaku glanced at him. "Say, Kouga...shouldn't we be going back for that girl now?"
"She's pretty, don't you think?" Ginta quipped.
Hakkaku scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Yeah. But she smells weird."
Ginta shrugged. "I guess. Wonder where she's from. I've never seen anyone like her before."
"Neither have I," Kouga noted quietly. After a momentary pause, he opened his eyes. "Let's go."
He began walking towards the place where he had left the young girl, with Hakkaku and Ginta trailing him without a word. It was quiet, he thought suspiciously. Far too quiet. Where were all the birds? They had all taken flight with the arrival of the new demon, but why hadn't they come back? Something wasn't right...
Heavy vibrations in the earth beneath him acknowledged his suspicions. He turned just in time to see the demon's regeneration of its lower snake-like body and tail, the cracking of reborn bones causing him to flinch momentarily. "Hakkaku! Ginta! Find cover!" he barked suddenly. This demon meant business, and he knew it.
The two ran off and watched from behind a tree as their leader gripped the hilt of his katana with a fierce determination for extermination. With a smirk on his lips and his blood pumping defiantly throughout his body, Kouga was ready to fight. "Let's continue from where we left off, shall we?"
The demon shrieked loudly, and from somewhere behind him, Kouga heard his friends yelping in pain. He winced at the shrill vibrations blaring into his ear, yet covered an ear with his hand and swung with his other. However, the noise had caused him a certain unsteadiness in his attack, and he ended up only cutting off a small portion of its upper body. Not even enough to slow it down. The serpent swung forward with its tail, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground. Then, mouth agape, revealing thousands of sharp teeth, the demon lunged towards him, and he braced for the attack.
When he suddenly heard her angelic voice calling out to him. "Kouga!"
The wolf demon turned his head. It was her, standing atop a hill. There was something very different about her now. She appeared almost to be glowing, radiant with unfiltered power as she firmly an arrow in her hand and strung it through her bow.
"Kouga! Duck!" she yelled. In the following seconds that ensued, it seemed like slow motion. He pressed his face closer to the ground, and just in that moment, she released her arrow straight into the mouth of the demon. It felt like the earth had shattered when the serpent writhed around in pain, its insides being torn apart violently. It cried out in agony several times, and Kouga picked himself up off the ground. The ningen girl was running towards him now, two extra arrows clasped between her fingers. The demon, engulfed by a dying rage, whipped its body towards her, hissing wildly. Kouga moved with unhindered agility, the swift ring of his sword echoing throughout the land as he cut it in half with one blow. Yet, it was a second too late, and the demon had cut into the ningen girl with its devious tail. She flinched in pain for a moment, but regained her composure, and with her eyes glowering, pointed an arrow at its forehead and released it.
She seemed abruptly shocked when its body glowed quickly, and shattered into thousands of pieces. The wind carried it away, headed to the land of the deceased. For demons, perhaps that resembled some type of eternal hell. Who really knew?
"Ginta. Hakkaku. Are you all right?" Kouga asked, turning towards his companions.
"We're good!" Ginta replied, while Hakkaku gave him some sort of salute.
The girl, however, didn't seem to be faring as well as the two others. She was shaken up, but why? Had this been her first encounter with demons? And what skill she possessed! Kouga neared her, lifting a brow.
Hakkaku and Ginta were crowded around her, full of questions and a wolfish curiosity. The observant and sensitive Ginta moved closer to the girl, peering at her downcast face. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, but it was a brief nod. It was obvious that she far from it. Kouga sighed, keeping a respectable distance as his two friends comforted the girl. He'd let them handle it for a little bit. Meanwhile, Hakkaku had satisfied his curious nature by examining some sort of cloth object that she carried on her shoulders. He started sniffing around into the object, prodding and curious.
"Hakkaku..." Kouga crossed his arms. This was not exactly the best time for that. Hakkaku grinned sheepishly at the wolf demon, but left it alone.
"So what's your name?" Ginta asked softly.
"...Kagome Higurashi..." she replied.
At the name, Kouga felt his heart pound. A dull ache throbbed in his forehead. Kagome? If he had never met her before, which he knew he hadn't, then why did her name make him feel this way? The way that it registered so easily in his mind worried him.
That was it. He had to know who she was in detail, where she came from, everything that she could tell him. There was something about her...
And he was going to find out what.
However, this onset of questions came to a screeching halt as soon as Kouga noticed the gaping wound on her shoulder. Damn it. She was hurt! And she hadn't even realized it yet. He'd have to heal her himself.
Kouga stepped forward. "Ginta. Hakkaku. Go back to the den. I'll be with you soon. I need to speak with...Kagome."
As the two nodded and rushed off, he was alone with the ningen. He crossed his arms, unsure of how to begin talking to her. After all, he'd never bothered to actually speak to the ningen...
Well, there was no point in this silence.
Kouga took a deep breath and stepped forward...
Shock.
That was what Kagome Higurashi was feeling at that moment.
Absolute shock.
She had just killed a demon. A demon. This had to be some sort of hideous dream that was being caused by something that she had eaten. She knew that she shouldn't have eaten those eggs. Those things were bad news. This was all a delusion. She was going crazy.
Where...had she gotten that type of power? She had never touched a real arrow, so how had she been able to aim and fire it like that? The moment that she had touched the bow with the arrow, Kagome had felt fire well up in her spirit, and she couldn't remember the details of what happened afterward. It just happened. In the clearing, with that other demon, the arrow had been calling to her, and as for the bow, she had found it lying abandoned elsewhere in the forest. When she had stumbled upon the bow, it was lying propped against a tree, with soft leaves surrounding it in a ceremonious circle. Almost as if it had been expecting her. She had picked up an extra arrow or two on her way towards the battle.
"Are you hurt?"
The question drew her away from her train wreck of thoughts, and she turned to stare straight into the eyes of the wolf demon. The intensity of his eyes chilled her straight to the bone, and she took a step backward. But in doing so, she tripped. His arms shot out and caught her, cradling her protectively in an embrace that resembled a hug. Kagome felt herself blushing, and the fact that he was still observing her certainly didn't make things much better.
Bits and pieces of her dreams flew back at her. Hadn't...hadn't someone been holding her like this in her dream? Her body shivered in response to the familiarity of it all. It was just a dream then, but Kagome knew, with the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, that it was reality right now.
She found her attention slipping away from her after being pulled once more toward his eyes. His eyes flickered over her face, the flecks of blue glimmering softly as he did so. But in exploring the depth of color, Kagome felt a chill. His eyes reminded her of an ice wall, blocking out any visible trace of emotion. So cold...
At this, she shivered again, which brought both of them to their senses.
"Are you hurt?" He repeated again, releasing her to sweep his eyes over his body.
Kagome shook her head nervously. "No- I'm fine!" Except for the fact that she was now in a totally different time period. And the fact that she had just killed a demon with a power that she had never known to exist before. No, everything was just great.
He stiffened, and Kagome cautiously followed his gaze down to her shoulder. Her uniform had been torn open there with the demon's claws, and there was a deep gash in its place. Her blood had mostly soaked up the patch of uniform there.
"You are hurt," the wolf demon snarled. At the roughness of his voice, Kagome backed up. But, unfamiliar with the concept of an individual's comfort and discomfort space, he followed her until he had trapped her between himself and a tree. Kagome shifted uncomfortably. Didn't he know that he was intruding into her personal space? There wasn't a way to escape him now.
"This looks deep," Kagome heard Kouga mutter. The wolf demon lowered his face to her shoulder, sniffing at the wound gingerly. His eyes masked his thoughts behind a shield of azure blue. His hands pressed gently on her arms, so that she wouldn't move. But...
What was he going to do?
Kagome panicked as he pressed closer to her shoulder. He wasn't going to touch it, was he? Still tender from battle, the wound tingled with pain, and Kagome flinched at the thought of someone touching it. It would only make it hurt worse! He had to leave it alone!
"Matte! Don't touch it!" She yelped, trying in vain to pull back from his grip.
Either he didn't hear her, or he was trying to ignore her, for he didn't look up once. Kagome winced, waiting for the pain to shoot through her limbs once he touched the wound with his fingers.
She waited for the pain that she knew was probably coming...
And then, Kagome felt her senses tingling when something warm and soft washed over her shoulder. Her heartbeat skyrocketed as the sensation repeated itself, and she felt the flutter of her stomach as the warmth devoured her.
He was licking her.
Her blush, which had died down by now, faithfully rose up and engulfed her face in a swarm of crimson. She had to do something to stop him! But as his tongue rolled over her shoulder, the dizzying feeling that she received sent her plunging into a wave of weakness. It felt...good.
She was trying to make herself think properly, but the only sense that she could make out was that this felt good. Very good. Kagome, snap out of it, she ordered herself. But it wasn't working.
This was all very...unnatural. But he was a wolf demon, she suddenly understood. That was what they did for members of their pack whenever wounded. It was natural for them. But she was a human!
Kagome stiffened at the sudden pain that shot through her shoulder. The rippling pain moved through the rest of her body, and brought her back to her senses. She pushed Kouga's arms away, which caused him to cease his actions. He straightened his head, watching her carefully. The warmth fled from her body immediately, her shoulder still bristling in delight where he had been…
...Tending the wound.
"What are you doing? Your wound needs healing." Kouga moved to restart the healing process.
"Matte!" Kagome yelped.
He looked up again, his brow raised in a skeptical glance.
"Isn't there...another way to heal it? Couldn't I just have a bandage or something?" Kagome blushed.
He blinked, as if he didn't understand her discomfort, and then nodded. "Hai. But we'll have to return to my den."
Thoughts of home fluttered into her mind. Home...she had to worry about getting home too, didn't she? Had it really been just an hour ago that she had been sitting at home with her family opening presents? She knew that she shouldn't have gone into the shrine. That well had always given her a feeling of dread, and just look at where she was now...
On the other hand, Kagome sighed, Kouga said that the wound was deep. It was just better to focus on recovering for now. She had to worry about surviving first, then returning home second.
"You..."
Kagome looked up at the sound of Kouga's voice.
The wolf paused, shifting his position. "...You don't have to worry about me hurting you...I'm a demon, but I don't attack ningen like other..." He snarled at the demon carcass behind him, "...demons do."
Kagome was evidently surprised by his words, even comforted. He didn't seem like the type to say such things...
Was it really safe for her to leave with him? Kagome paused, ignoring the fluttering of her heart as she brought her eyes up to meet his. Kouga stared back at her with that intense, solemn gaze of his, clearly curious to know what she was doing. But he didn't speak a word, only smirking very lightly.
His eyes were glowing...
Warmth seeped through her body, and it was then she knew he was trustworthy. "Hai. I'll go with you."
He smiled softly, for the second time since she had met him. Swiftly moving forward, he scooped her up into her arms, despite Kagome's protests. "Are you ready, Kagome?"
The way that he had spoken her name made her blush for some unknown reason, and she leaned warily against his shoulder. "I'm ready."
She was ready...
(A.N.: I'm leaving for vacation soon, and I won't be back for two weeks, so I'm doing my best to update as much as possible! Please review this chapter and let me know what you guys think! I'll be back with an update for my stories as soon as I can, so please be patient with me! Much love to you all! -Xi)
Matte- Means "Wait!"