Adult-FanFiction.org : Inuyasha / Yashahime

Stray	By : 3phemeral Category: InuYasha > Yaoi - Male/Male > Kouga/InuYasha Views: 10828 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, nor the characters from it. I make no money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter 2: Speak

Inuyasha and Kouga sat on one side of the short wooden table, shins flat on the bare floor of the meeting house. On the other sat an older man, skin seeming to droop as loose as the robes that clothed him. Behind him sat a small group of other men that comprised the rest of the village's council. For the first time that day, silence hung over the room as both parties considered the map that lay between them. The moment passed and the elder stood, back still hunched, tone held even so as to give the visitors no advantage.

"Well, alright. We'll consider your proposal."

The demons rose and bowed. "Thank you," Kouga said. "And we'll reconvene…?"

"In a moment," replied the elder. "We'd like to confer among ourselves privately."

"Of course," Kouga said with a nod, and turned to his companion. "Inuyasha?"

The hanyou nodded to Kouga, then the elder, and followed the wolf out into the street.

The afternoon sun had started to yellow, and the shadows that lined the road were growing long. The days were shortening, and winter would be arriving soon. Inuyasha wondered how Kouga was faring with just his pelts and chest armor in the chilling weather. Kouga wondered how long it would be before his people stopped causing cleared streets and shuttered windows. No sooner would they pass a house than down the street a mother grab her child indoors or the father clutch a weapon to his side.

"Feh," Inuyasha spat.

"And what's that for?"

"Boring and stuffy. You pulled me away from the den for this?"

"You were laying around and moping," Kouga said. "For weeks. Looked pretty boring already if you ask me."

"And you think this is exciting?" Inuyasha scoffed.

"In a way. Borders are being contested, the lifestyle of my people is in danger – that room, that table is the new field of battle!"

"Feh. I never did like Go."

"What?"

"With the board and the little stones?" Kouga's blank look said all the demon needed to and Inuyasha waved it off. "Never mind. I know I sure as hell couldn't teach you, and no one would want to play it with you anyway."

Kouga arched an eyebrow. "Okay?"

Inuyasha sighed and changed the topic. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait, keep walking around," Kouga offered.

More silence hovered, the quiet streets unsettling Kouga greatly. "So tell me, why did you fall in love with Kagome? What was that like?"

Startled, Inuyasha paused in his step, casting a sidelong glance at Kouga. "Where'd that come from?"

"You have a better idea?"

"…No."

"Well then?" Kouga grinned as he pushed the subject.

Inuyasha sighed. "It's not like I expected to. At first it was because she was so much like Kikyo."

"And then?"

"Hm?"

"You said 'at first.'"

"Oh." Inuyasha paused to gather his thoughts. "Well, in the end, they weren't really similar at all. Kagome was more... true. Who she really was. There was stuff hidden beneath Kikyo's caring surface, and Kagome wasn't like that. She was like me. She acted what she meant, good and bad. She wouldn't always tell me why she was upset, but she sure let me know she was."

Kouga nodded. "I see what you mean."

"So it's not like that for you, then? With Kagome or Ayame? You've never felt that toward anyone?"

Kouga laughed out loud. "It's really tense in the den, Inuyasha. Rebuilding the tribe, watching my back... The closest I come are Ginta and Hakkaku. I trust them, and rely on them, and with them it's never about politics. But I don't think it's quite the same."

"As long as you at least have someone like that. Helps you know who you are, you know?"

"...yeah."

"I do miss that. Though hell, here I am talking about this with you, so at least that's something!" Inuyasha laughed, offering a half-grin as a gesture of friendship.

Kouga rolled his shoulders as they walked, unbothered. "Really, I wouldn't worry about it. I know where to find females, and you've grown a lot since we met."

"Same goes for you. I'm shocked you don't have a mate yet."

"Let's say I haven't found anyone unfettered, without ulterior motives, to suit that kind of... deep relationship."Kouga knew he needed to be less succinct.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "'Deep' relationship? What's that supposed to mean? You've had a lot of shallow ones?"

"Survival, Inuyasha," Kouga began, sobering. "I have to provide for my people, a job I cannot do if I have no people. It was largely me, Ginta, and Hakkaku, and the two of them mated a long time ago. Someone had to repopulate us. The northern tribe's inclusion helped, but the marriage to Ayame was limiting, too - a wife is a bit of a stigma. And I guess a part of me was waiting for someone like you had in Kagome. I just... haven't. I was jealous of you, I guess." He laughed. "It's not the first time I've wanted what's yours. First your woman, then your marriage."

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. "What DO you have against me, anyway?"

"Nothing. At least not against you personally. You've had things that anyone would want, not just me," he said dismissively, giving a toss of his hand.

"Feh. Look where it's gotten me, though. I'm still out peddling for company." Inuyasha crossed his arms and hunched his head slightly as he walked, that infamous pout flaring as he fixed his gaze on the ground.

"Nah. You're here now. We'll get you on your feet," Kouga responded, his tail flicking as he walked.

"If you say so." Inuyasha scoffed and shook his head as he followed his friend, whatever that meant for them.

The road had worked its way full circle around the village, and no sooner had they returned back to the meeting hall entrance than one of the younger men opened the door.

"Lord Kouga?" he asked, and the murmur of voices behind him died down as the council became aware the demons' return.

"Yes?"

"The council has reached its decision."

Inuyasha's head snapped to Kouga, and the wolf looked back, raising his eyebrows. "Here we go."

-------

Kouga punched the floor beside his knees. "So what, you're telling us we came here for nothing?"

The elder spoke evenly, confident of his upper ground. "On the contrary, we greatly valued your input and listened-"

"Listened so intently you heard NONE of the sense of our proposals?" Kouga yelled.

"We gave them…" The elder averted his eyes as he answered. "…due consideration."

"Due consideration?" A growl underscored the comment as his gaze flicked to the guards and back. "My people have held this land for centuries!" His thighs tensed as his body raised off his shins.

"And now it is our land," the old man replied quickly, sharply.

Kouga growled. "Says who?"

"We do," the elder answered surely and slowly, head held high in the face of Kouga's rising temper.

Kouga sprang to his feet, his hand snapping to the grip of his sword. "Kouga!" Inuyasha barked. Metal sang at the door when the guards drew their own swords. The dog demon and the other councilmen stood, reaching for weapons as Inuyasha put an arm in front of Kouga. The elder sat quietly.

"Everyone, stand down!" Inuyasha commanded. Kouga didn't know he could do that. "If this was a fight, this town would've been destroyed by now. You're lucky you have demons trying to negotiate with you." The councilmen sat down, and it took a glare from Inuyasha to get Kouga to do the same. He continued. "If you wish to deny the wolves the right to their hunting grounds, and you refuse to give them a portion of your goods as payment, then you are inviting a cutoff of your supply routes." Kouga looked quizzically at him.

The elder scoffed, dismissive in his arrogance as he looked up at Inuyasha. "Is that a threat? You'll starve us?"

"Remember your place. Very outmatched." Inuyasha crouched and hunched over the table. "You'll be the ones starving yourselves. We're giving you a chance. Your village is surrounded by wolf land"-He motioned to the map-"on all sides. They can and will take what they need. You don't seem to understand who actually holds the power here. They know the woods. They have the instinct for survival."

The elder glared at him, the other councilmen fidgeting uneasily behind him. "And your wolves have other hunting grounds. You can survive elsewhere. You've said so yourself."

"Until when? Until humans have taken all their other lands and the wolves starve to death? No one is foolish enough to think there won't be more like you. And you can either be the one to broker the peace between humans and demons or be the one to carve the split between them deeper in stone. And that's a powerful enemy you'll make." Inuyasha sat serenely in his place before the elder, arms crossed again, his easy confidence as he delivered the ultimatum enough to make a few of the councilmen eye one another.

"Ha!" the elder laughed heartily. "Powerful, you say? That's just like you demons, resorting to violence."

"Feh!" Inuyasha scoffed. "Spare me! What hand have we raised against you?"

"None. Yet. Yet you promise you will."

The hanyou's neck craned forward as he glared. "I promised we would embargo your trade roads. I said nothing about violence."

"Which would cause us to starve. It may not be violent, but it achieves the same result," the elder sneered.

Inuyasha collected his thoughts. "If you want the lives of all your people on your hands, that's not my problem. Kouga's taking responsibility for his. He's still trying, hell if I know why, to reach a peaceful solution to this mess. What other city can't house you, on some other land? And what do you have to lose from open trade with the wolves? A constant meat supply for your village is possible by trading goods, long-standing peace between your peoples is on the table, and that's not to mention the protection for your village the wolves would provide being their trading partner. And you want none of this?"

"We can hunt this land for ourselves and get our meat that way. We can defend ourselves from outsiders like you just fine. Don't make me prove it."

"Now that's what I call resorting to violence," Inuyasha quipped.

"Get out." The elder stood abruptly, and his council followed. "Now."

Kouga rose, standing rigidly, fists clenched. "Let's go, Inuyasha." He turned and started for the door.

Inuyasha stood still for a moment. "Yes, Kouga," he said, and followed the wolf demon out.

Back on the street, Inuyasha sighed and looked to the sky as he caught up to Kouga. "So, back to the den?"

"Not much else to do."

"They're not going to like what happened."

"No, they won't," Kouga replied, crossing his arms. "And the consequences for the humans will fall where they may."

"You don't think it'll call your competence into question?"

"I had to convince my men not to attack the village in the first place. They'll likely be glad they're free to do so." Kouga sighed.

"You're not worried about how this will look to the rest of the humans?"

Kouga glared at Inuyasha. "What are you talking about? Since when have I ever cared about that?"

"Well, sorry!" Inuyasha scoffed sarcastically. "What happened to the guy excited to do battle with his words? Who's gonna listen to you if they don't respect you or your people? You just saw how uphill the fight is as things are now! Imagine how much harder it'll be after you start preying on them!"

"If they fear us, they respect us." Kouga's lip curled as his gaze strayed to the council's hut,"Besides, we've survived this long on our own. We don't need that land. We have other hunting grounds. We'll just take this territory out of the cycle like I planned all along."

Inuyasha looked concerned as the pair left the village's limits and entered the forest. "But like I said in there," he said, gesturing back, "the humans will keep encroaching."

"Then we keep running."

"Feh!" Inuyasha closed his eyes, crossed his arms, and raised his nose. "I guess losing the jewel shards in your legs didn't hinder your ability to do that after all, did it?"

Kouga's head snapped around. "Don't talk to me like that."

His nose still raised, he opened an eye and looked out of its corner at Kouga. "Why? I'll say whatever the hell I want! If you want to kick me out because of it, you're more than welcome to. I'll find somewhere else to live. I don't need you."

That condescending pose Inuyasha struck raised Kouga's hackles, but he was right. And even if he wasn't, he had quite a bit of confidence – more than Kouga had. It was admirable. He had to find some way to strike back, though.

"You have to stop running, Kouga. Before long, that den'll be the only land you have left, and it's not good for you guys to be stuck in one place like that."

Kouga knew how petty his bite back was, but didn't care. "You know what? You're just too worried about what others think."

"Do I sound like I'm too worried about what others think? I just told you I'd leave if you didn't like what I said. And my whole life has been a fight for respect from everyone, and if your plan is to make them fear you, that's the worst of all, trust me. At least you have a people. At least you have a homeland - for now, anyway. Welcome to my life. I think I know what I'm doing."

Kouga's brow narrowed at the lecture and he grunted. "And you showed up on my threshold because that was working out well for you?"

Inuyasha finally lowered his head. "Point taken."

There. He admitted defeat first. "As is yours," Kouga conceded.

"So how do you move forward?"

"We work together, somehow. The two of us can't both be right and wrong at the same time."

"So what does that entail? I'm just staying with you. What could I possibly do?"

Kouga nodded in self-affirmation. "You'll be my advisor. You'll keep me from running. You've been living with humans for years. You know how they think."

Inuyasha smirked and narrowed his eyes. "So I'm valuable to you, huh?"

Kouga arched an eyebrow. "Of course! So?"

"Like Kagome was?"

Kouga rolled his eyes.

"Like Ayame was?"

As Inuyasha pressed his questions, they echoed in Kouga's heart. "Inuyasha..." Kouga lightly asserted, inserting as much quiet gruffness as he could muster. Mustn't… overreact…

"And you know what that means…" Inuyasha trailed off musically.

"INUYASHA!" he barked. Indeed, Kouga did know. And it was nagging at him the last couple days, stalking him, encircling him quietly. Inuyasha just sounded the attack call.

It meant he was developing feelings for the mutt.

Oh, he knew Inuyasha was attractive from the moment they first met. Anyone who can't size up their opposition from the start, especially in matters of the heart, doesn't deserve to be in the hunt. The half-demon's baggy getup could only really hide so much. Strong hands, slender wrists, sinewy neck, narrow waist, pronounced ankles – hallmarks of good mating material, and Kouga's mind filled in the gaps covered by fabric. He knew he didn't really stand a chance against – or with – the hanyou, but it was admirable watching Inuyasha fight for Kagome, time and time again. Watching him get jealous, defend her, protect his friends – no, the entire land! He was the kind of figure people tell stories about to tell their children to teach them how to act. They'd probably leave out his gruffness and the dismissive aggression in his humility, but those weren't the important things regardless of how endearing they were once you got to know him.

"Sorry," Inuyasha said, straightening.

Kouga fumbled for some kind of explanation. "Kagome was about greed. Ayame was about survival. And I need you for that too, but the difference is I didn't really care about her." Had to close the curtain. "Besides, you feel more like a kinsman." But leave it open just a crack… "Like Ginta and Hakkaku. I need more of that, you said so yourself. And with them mated off, it feels a little empty, you know?"

"Believe me, I know."

Wrongness washed over Kouga like a thick fog and stopped him in his tracks. What was that? He took a defensive stance, darting his eyes about.

Inuyasha drew closer and scanned ahead himself, hand at Tetsusaiga. "What is it?"

"Something's not right."The quietness of the forest was thick with unease and desperation, like cornered prey. .

"Like what?"

"I smell..." Kouga sniffed at the air. "Fear? No... And not malice..."

"Anxiety?"

"Yeah." Kouga slowly straightened. Inuyasha followed suit. "On edge. Just a hint of it." He clenched his fists once more. "Your job may start right now."

"What's going on?"

"I can't know until we get closer. But keep Tetsusaiga close. Word of our return would've been relayed by the border guards by now, and it's making people nervous for some reason."

"But we were only gone for a couple days."

"Sometimes that's all it takes."

"All what takes?"

"An uprising. But with this much anxiety…" Kouga sighed, exasperated. "I'd suspect a challenge." Both of their minds whirred with plans of action.

"Kouga-sama!" Hakkaku's voice cut through the Ginta and Hakkaku emerged from the forest slowly and huddled together. Once they were in the clearing, Kouga and Inuyasha saw that Ginta was leaning on Hakkaku like a crutch.

"Kouga-sama, it's horrible," Ginta said, coughing.

"It's terrible! Ayame-dono-"

"Her mate, he-"

"He's sitting on your throne!"

Kouga growled. "Damn it."

Hakkaku continued. "You have to face him when you return."

"I tried to stop him, but he's too big," Ginta said.

Kouga took a deep breath, then puffed out his chest and stretched his shoulders back. "Alright." He rolled them and stood straight again, hands on his hips.

"Alright, what?" Inuyasha asked.

Kouga turned his head to look at him, a vulnerable look betraying his confident stance. "You're right. I've got to take care of this."

"How? He's practically twice your size." Inuyasha quipped, hand still resting on Tetsusaiga's hilt.

"Thanks for reminding me…"

"Well, he is."

Kouga smiled weakly. "I do have an idea, though..."

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side, ears perked. "Well?"
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