Disaster
By Selenity Jade

Prologue
Rating: M

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, though I fantasize about versions of him some fan authors come up with. And while I am still ticked off at FFnet for their sudden censorship (which made me have to take down my fic and lose hundreds of reviews, which would tick anyone off), I am still posting here and elsewhere. So if I owned Inu, why would I put up with that?

Warnings: Some of this will be redundant with the anime, until a certain point. Keep in mind that I won't be staying with the canon plot line after a bit. Also be warned, I don't like Kikyou, but I also don't hate her. I also like Kouga, and I don't even dislike Hojo. They all have their good points, and the reason for their existence in the show, and a lot of it I will twist into some serious angst. I am an angst-whore. You can blame my friend, Rose by Twilight for that. Though if you ask MaraJade03, she'd say she picked up angst from Rose AND me. And Kouga is a major character throughout this story, and he's not some evil, kidnapping bastard. He's simply an amoral human eating youkai, okay?

Any and all format problems are FFnet's fault. I can't get it to stop. Oi.

Characters: Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kouga, as well as some Miroku and Sango, Rin and Sesshoumaru, although before you perverts go further, she's still like 8 years old. Since I'm not a pedophile nor do I wish for a pedophile audience, their relationship is strictly platonic.

Spoilers: Some, here and there. Mostly the arc involving Kouga, and how he met Kagome, and certain episodes in which he might have played a part if only he'd been there.

Notes: Yes, I am sorry, I swore to update Gone first, and then work on finishing up my fanfiction before starting ANYTHING new. sigh But this idea won't go away. But look on the bright side... At least I'm writing! And as far as I know, no one has done this, though I'm pretty sure I am not the first to think of it, and just haven't read any. And for those of you itching to kill me... please calm yourselves. I'm going through 'A Saiyajin's Heart' right now so I can do the sequel to it, as well as looking through Gone, The Demon Within, and Thin Lines as those have been 'requested'. I will then edit ASH, and I will start its sequel, as I'm tired of the death threats already. To other authors out there, NEVER leave a fic ended with a cliffhanger. You'll get cussed out. A lot.

And don't worry, the rest of the chapters will only have notes on the bottom for the most part, not the beginning, and only if I have something to say, or a review I wanted to comment on.

And now, the story...

She walked up behind him as he sat on the hilltop a few dozen feet from the rest of her group. She hesitated for a moment before squaring her shoulders and sitting down beside him, careful to keep enough distance to satisfy a certain member of her party who was surely watching them fiercely even now.

"Can I look at the wound on your arm?" she asked quietly, glancing at the dark-haired youkai. She was careful to keep her voice as inoffensive as possible as she was sure he'd refuse just to prove how strong he was. It seemed like most men in this time were trying to prove how much they didn't need medical attention.

He didn't answer for a few heartbeats before he glanced at her, his ponytail falling over the opposite shoulder. He turned his gaze from her as he held out the still bleeding arm so she could look at the place where he had foolishly imbedded what he thought was a shikon jewel shard, but was in fact something like crystallized miasma. "Sure," he answered finally, and just as softly with an empty, careful voice.

She blinked at him, a bit shocked he had agreed so readily. She almost smiled sadly as she opened the first aid kit she had brought with her and began rummaging through it for the necessary equipment.

"Why so surprised?" he asked after a long pause in which the only sounds were of Kagome searching through her box of medical supplies.

"It's just..." She hesitated, worrying her lower lip between her teeth, and using his arm as an excuse to buy herself some time to answer, she dabbed a thick pad of gauze with alcohol. "I expected you to blow it off like you're too strong to accept anyone's help with these 'measly scratches'," she answered, mimicking Inuyasha's common response to her prodding to look at his injuries.

He snorted almost softly. "I wouldn't have accepted anyone else tending to my injuries."

She frowned, wondering if he was going to start in on his usual 'You're my woman, Kagome!' speech. She half-hoped he would. This quiet he seemed to have seeped in since Kagura left them was unnatural to him and it worried her. When he didn't immediately start spouting his usual outrageous declarations, she ventured another question. "Why not, Kouga-kun? If you can admit to being injured-"

"Because I intend to make you mine, Kagome. Females look after their males in the pack, so why shouldn't I let you tend to me? I don't need to ignore serious wounds to know I'm powerful."

She felt that familiar expression come into her face, the one that she knew must look almost pained as she fought from laughing aloud. He seemed so oblivious to where her heart truly leaned. He would never change; even after everything that he had just been through. She sighed almost sadly, wondering how this youkai could be almost as clueless as Hojo-kun from back home. Sure, she liked the guy, both of them, but couldn't they see that treating her like property or bringing her therapeutic sandals wasn't the way to woo her? Besides, she wanted someone else... She resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder at her friends and a certain silver-haired stubborn hanyou who was most certainly growling by now. After all, she was – gods forbid – actually touching the wolf youkai.

Kouga was watching her when she finally glanced back at him. She simply gave him a mysteriously sad smile, and started cleaning his wound. He didn't wince at the alcohol sting, nor flinch when she began bandaging it. After she was finished, she glanced up at him to find him staring out into the night again.

"I guess I'll go if you... want to be alone then. You're patched up now," she said, shifting her weight to stand up.

"Wait, Kagome," he said as he carefully avoided looking at her.

She paused glancing at him curiously. "What is it, Kouga-kun?"

He was silent for another moment. "I say that you're mine, or I intend to make you mine, but that doesn't mean I'm going to force you. I know that you don't have strong feelings for me yet. I do the stuff I do because I'm making it clear to Inu-koro I'll fight him for you later if I have to. Partially it's to piss him off, though. I..." He glanced at her, and Kagome was saddened to see his blue eyes darkened by grief. "Before Kagura did..." He paused before continuing, his voice hoarse with pain. "Before she destroyed my pack, I simply wasn't ready to settle down, even though when I did, I knew I wanted it to be with you. You're strong for a human, you're pretty, and you're feisty. You can sense the Shikon shards and you can sense youki. You're worthy of me."

She blushed slightly, surprised that he was actually talking with her seriously and complimenting her, not declaring his intention to 'own' her. "I... Thanks, Kouga-kun, but..."

He held up a hand. "Let me finish. Now... I want revenge for my pack. I need to get stronger to kill that fucking wind sorceress and the demon behind her slaughter of my pack. I had a lot of time to think up here while you fought with Inu-koro about his stupid broken arm. I don't think I'll fail to avenge their deaths, but I'm not sure I'll be alive afterwards either."

He glanced at her, his eyes fierce with agony and grief. "She killed my family, Kagome," he growled to her. She stared up into his icy cobalt gaze, her eyes filling with tears. She was so used to his cocky – and flighty – attitude, she was having trouble finding the pain filled wolf youkai to be the same man. Sango had mentioned that wolf demons felt a strong bond with their pack, but if she hadn't been staring up into the young wolf youkai's eyes, she'd have missed the telltale sparkle of unshed tears.

"She killed my pack and the pack is the most important thing to a wolf. She killed them all and then... used their corpses like puppets!" His voice was steadily rising as he nearly yelled this at her though Kagome knew it wasn't her Kouga was angry with.

He clenched his fists, looking away from her, and it was obvious to her he was fighting down those tears. Maybe it was one thing to let her tend to him, but he didn't really know her well enough to cry in front of her. That would expose a kind of vulnerability if she understood some of the more human-looking youkai she'd met. Kouga was one of the few full-blooded demons to treat her as an equal – or rather, not as something disgusting just because she was mortal and human, and she highly suspected that he'd have treated another demon the same way he treated her – and she would respect his wish to hide his pain from her. This time put a lot of stock in gender separate jobs and roles. Women cooked, cleaned, had the babies, and cried at everything. Men hunted, killed, built things, and never ever cried. It was stupid, but there it was.

After he seemed to get himself under control, he finally spoke again. "I don't know if I'll survive it, but I'll die to avenge them if I must. I won't die until I avenge them however, and I can't... settle down until that's accomplished now." He looked at her. "What I'm saying is... I know you're not mine yet, and you may never be mine, if I die avenging them, or if I should live and you choose...him or someone else." He yanked at his ponytail a bit irritably at his sudden babbling. "I want to come with you to hunt Naraku and Kagura," he finally declared, his fierce gaze holding her own.

Next Chapter: Find out Kagome's reaction to Kouga's odd... 'request', and the wolf demon's reasoning for it. And Inuyasha's obvious response to it as well.
AN: This is a prologue people, so it's meant to be short. Until I get this fic out of my system enough to work on Gone, Thin Lines, and The Demon Within, I'll work on this. So fans of Gone, you can read this for now. It's the same series, right?

Also, I moved, and changed email addresses and LOST all my beta contacts and even who they were! So this chapter has NOT been beta'd, and if any of you have been my beta, email me with your contact information, as well as what fandoms you can beta for me!

Kouga will be odd until he's done being upset about his pack, after all none of US got to see him truly grieve after the fight with Inu, so no one can say what he did or when. This is an AU fic, so there will be differences in character, just small ones.

Mailing List: I have one, I just can't find it... I might separate it into different mailing lists though, so if you want one for all my works (DBZ, SM, IY and Trigun fics along with anything else I write (except originals)), then let me know. If you want one just for Inuyasha and the separate fandoms, speak up now! Whichever gets the most votes wins.

Plugs: I used to do this years ago, but felt I should start again. IY plug of the moment: Keolla's Behind the Masquerade: http/www. fanfiction .net/s/ 1200528/1/ (remove spaces). It's cute, go read. I like it, because it's sweet, but there are slight OOC problems, but that's because it's an AU.

Thanks: Hmmm, let's see, I think this time I'm simply thanking Inuyasha for being so damned grumpy. Yes, you heard right. I like badass, grumpy, cold, sexy men. Not for me in real life, because usually that just leads to badass heartbreak, but I LOVE them in my stories.

Lovies!