Devotion and Sacrifice
By Danyealle
(fanfiction/angst)
Chapter 6
A soft growling in his ear woke Kouga with a start but he quickly settled down when he realized it was just Rin dreaming. Carefully, he turned onto his side. Looking down, he had to grin as the human girl and the fox kit shifted around and clung to his chest. Here he was, the leader of the wolf demon tribe-a being that was suppose to be feared, and he was sharing a sleeping bag with two children who seemed to view him as a combination best friend, play mate, protector and father figure. More strange was that he loved the hell out of it and wouldn’t change it for the world.
Yes, he would readily admit that he always had a soft spot for the kit. Any being that would give Inuyasha that much hell was good in his books. Rin, well, she had stolen his heart. Both children were expected to be watched by that nasty little toad Jaken but since he didn’t trust the toad at all he had taken over much of that duty and done so gladly.
He didn’t learn until a bit later on that the situation had unexpected upsides. Both Kagome and Sango had mentioned just how adorable it was, something that made him roll his eyes. But then they had mentioned something else-that it showed just how good of a father he would be and that women loved that. OK, he liked that part, a lot! One of the unexpected things it had was attract women as well. When they saw him with the kids they seemed to flock to him in droves, he loved that.
Laying there, getting comfortable, while both kids settled back down into the deeper recesses of sleep, he quickly scanned the rest of the campsite for anything out of the ordinary or dangerous. No, he hadn’t sensed anything that was an automatic thing. All was calm and everything seemed normal, that was until he glanced over where Sesshomaru and Kagome were.
Blue eyes wide, he stared at them. Kagome was sleeping perpendicular to him with her head resting on his thigh. That wasn’t anything new, she often slept like that since coming back and the silver haired male insisted she sleep close to him. It was Sesshomaru that was surprising him. Leaning back against a convenient tree, the taiyoukai was gazing down at her peaceful, sleeping face like a love-sick puppy. While doing that he was alternating between running his fingers through her sleep-tousled hair and gently stroking her face.
Like most men who had spent time around Kagome on a regular basis, Kouga knew that look well. It was the look of someone who had succumbed to the oblivious miko’s charms. He almost chuckled out loud because they all had thought Sesshomaru was one male that may well be immune to the inadvertent charms of the futuristic miko. Turns out he was just as susceptible as the rest.
Like everyone else, Kouga knew that the little miko and the inu-taiyoukai had developed a close bond that was easily defined as friendship. They most assuredly liked each others company and talked about all kinds of things, most of which Kouga had never heard of and couldn’t make heads or tails out of. They also seemed to have come to a compromise on many things. There were times she knew to listen to Sesshomaru without question. On the other hand, Sesshomaru learned there were times she knew exactly what she was talking about and shouldn’t be questioned. For everything else, or so it seemed, it was negotiable. From his perspective, Kouga thought the two actually made a damn good team. They knew their stuff.
All of them had also noticed that since she returned the two of them spent a lot of time alone together. Yes, much of it was spent training either with tetsusaiga and various other fighting skills but they also spent time just talking. No one was really sure what they talked about, nor did they mention the topics to anyone, but that time together did seem to cement a bond between them.
Looking back, Kouga was pretty sure that Sesshomaru was the reason that Kagome had been able to pull herself out of the depression she had been in when she returned. Though he was deadly and not what anyone, other than Rin, would term a ‘nice guy’ you always knew where you stood with him. He was blunt, to-the-point and didn’t sugar-coat anything he said but he was honest and didn’t play games with you. If you were under his protection, like Kagome was, he would protect and defend you viciously. He took his word and honor dead serious. He might be vicious but he had honor. You saw all of that when it came to the way he dealt with Kagome.
At first, when she had come back, Sesshomaru seemed to know she needed to be treated a bit more gently by everyone, including himself, and had adjusted accordingly. As she slowly returned to something that was close to her ‘old self’ all of them had reverted to their ‘normal’ behavior but that gentleness, if that was the right term for it, had remained from Sesshomaru. It was obvious that he had a soft spot for Rin, everyone could see that, it also appeared that the mighty demon lord had a soft spot for Kagome as well.
Shutting his eyes, Kouga grinned inwardly. Well, maybe soft spot wasn’t right either. It appeared to him the Lord of the West had developed feelings for the little miko. In that naked, unguarded moment he had witnessed that was obvious. It appeared to him that it was more than just lust or a passing fancy; it seemed to be something far deeper. That, however, led to the question of Kagome’s feelings for him. Was it like with most men around her, one-sided other than friendship on her end? Or this time did she return those feelings?
Brow furrowed a bit, he was actually a bit worried for his friend. No, he wasn’t worried about Sesshomaru hurting her, you always knew where you stood with him, he was worried that she wouldn’t allow herself to fall in love again. That, if she allowed it to happen, would be the greatest shame in the world. For someone who had so much love to give to force themselves to never again feel the greatest pleasure in the world would be the saddest things.
Maybe, he thought as he drifted off to sleep again, he would talk to her about it soon. Big brother to little sister.