CHAPTER 1

WAKING UP

She slipped her hand behind his head and brought a small wooden bowl to his lips. The unconscious wolf demon didn't even stir. So she set his head and the bowl down with a sigh. She was worried for Kouga's well being, but after his fight with Naraku's incarnation, he hadn't responded to too much.

Ayame stood up and looked back toward the cave's entrance. Kouga's two comrades laid along with the wolfs from both packs. She watched the moon shine in for a second and gave out another sad sigh. There wasn't much she could do now, but hope and wait that Kouga will fight to live…

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"Kouga!" He heard Kagome shout out his name in a blood curdling scream. Naraku's incarnation, Mouryoumaru, impaled him with one of his mantis-like claws. Kouga's blood splattered across the parched ground below. Mouryoumaru had already taken the Shikon no Tama Shards in his legs before Kagome and her friends had shown up. But there was nothing they could do for him now. Kouga could feel himself getting weaker with each slice and hit he received from Naraku's incarnation, but the moment he felt it bury its claw through him, he told himself, it's over…

He looked up toward Kagome and stretched out his hand out to her. Will this be the last time that I see you, he thought as his body began to give out and Mouryoumaru just tossed his limp body aside.

He closed his eyes as he felt himself slip into the darkness. He could hear Kagome's voice calling out to him, but his pain was just too strong. He had failed his comrades that had perished under Naraku's hand. He had fail himself… but most importantly, he had failed Kagome…

Kouga's eyes opened suddenly. Had it been a dream? Sweat drenched his body, making it glisten and his heart raced beneath his chest. He tried to move; to sit up, but couldn't. It ached beyond words and his body felt like it hadn't been moved in years.

"Kouga", he heard a woman's voice speak softly. He turned his head slowly to the cave's entrance and saw a silhouette walk gradually toward him. The day light shining behind her made it hard to tell who it was.

"Who's there?" His voice was hoarse and almost nonexistent. Her walk began to quicken and as she got closer he was able to make her face out. "Ayame?"

"Kouga! You're awake", she said while kneeling next to him and throwing herself over him with tears streaming down her face.

"Where am I?"

"You're in my pack's cave. Up in the mountains."

"How did I get here?"

"I was following your scent and trying to catch up with you to give you assistance with Naraku, like my Grandfather had asked me to do, but only found you seriously injured by someone called Mouryoumaru. Kagome and her companions had defeated him and she asked me to take you some where safe to heal and recover."

"Kagome…" He whispered to himself with a smile. She was always so worried about him. That's why he had to defeat Naraku, so that she won't have to worry about anything anymore.

"I can't just be laying around…" With a low growl from his throat, he finally and painfully forced himself to sit up. "I have to find Naraku… I was so close to getting him." Ayame realized that he had no idea how much time had passed since his fight with Mouryoumaru and now.

"Naraku's dead, Kouga…" His face went blank out of shock.

"How can Naraku be dead! Who killed him!"

"From what I hear, Inuyasha and his friends…" Anger began to boil his insides at the sound of that name.

"Inuyasha", he whispered enraged. How could a dog turd like him kill Naraku, he asked himself. He looked back at Ayame. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost three months."

"WHAT! Three months !"

"Yeah… After I brought you here, I heard that Naraku had been defeated a month later."

"I was here asleep while Inuyasha was out there killing Naraku?" He was disgusted by that. Abruptly, a thought hit him. If Inuyasha was fighting Naraku then Kagome must've been with him. "Kagome!" He looked franticly at Ayame, "Is Kagome alright?"

The concern and anxiety in his voice and on his face ripped her heart in half. He nearly died and all he can think of is her, she reflected to herself. The question torn at her like a ill fated arrow tearing through flesh. She stood up and coldly looked down before saying, "Kagome is fine."