Chapter 4 - unerving

~*~

Kagome stood silently in the freezing, high rise parking lot the werewolf clan used as a large garage.

And a meeting place.

Shivering slightly, she wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her goosebump adorned skin, trying to keep warm as werewolves slowly trickled into the parking lot, whispering curiously amongst themselves as to why they were called here.

"Cold?" asked a husky voice located next to her ear. "Let me help keep you warm. . ."

The girl flinched as she felt freezing arms snake slowly around her middle-

Until Inu-Yasha came bounding up and punched Kouga in the face.

"KEEP THE frack OFF MY MATE, KOUGA!" the silver haired werewolf snarled, wrapping his warm arms protectively around the female's middle and glaring down at the clan leader, now sprawled on the floor.

"Damn you, Inu-Yasha!" the other male glared, trying to fix his damaged jaw. "She should be my woman! Finest wolf in the pack, she is! Ergo, she should be mine!"

"You didn't want me when I was human!"

"Well. . . you were human then."

"Pig!" Kagome glared, kicking Kouga in the side before storming off to talk to Sango.

"No! I'm a WOLF!"

"It's a saying, you nimrod," Inu snickered, couching down beside the battered and bruised pack leader.

"Whatever," the black haired male groaned, rubbing his side before looking icily up at Inu-Yasha. "So what the hell is this all about?"

"Naraku."

"What about the bastard?"

"You know what he's been doin'?"

"No. Haven't heard anything from him since Kikyo dropped him like a hot potato."

"That's what I thought," Inu-Yasha replied seriously, flopping down next to Kouga and putting a thumb to his chin, deep in thought. "Only today, I smelt him on Kagome."

"You WHAT?! Not my-!"

In an instant, the silver haired wolf grabbed the collar of the leader's shirt and yanked him painfully forward. "Finish that sentence and I swear I'll kill you."

"Er- You WHAT?! Not YOUR woman!"

"Better."

Kouga rubbed his sore neck as Inu released him from his grasp. "So what had he been doing with her?"

"Cornered her in an ally from what I can smell. She told me he warned her about us. And he kissed her neck. . ."

The clan leader arched an eyebrow. "What? No growls? No snarls? He kissed your woman on the neck and you aren't storming around Tokyo, trying to kill him?"

"Believe me, I WANT to," Inu-Yasha spat out, clenching and unclenching his fist. "But that's not what concerns me at the moment."

"Ho? Then what, pray tell, what does?"

"Kagome. Come here."

The wolf in questioned glanced over her shoulder, apologized to Sango for the interruption in their conversation, and then slowly walked over to her mate, sitting next to him on the ground.

"Show him," Inu commanded quietly.

Kag nodded and slowly shifted her hair from her neck, showing the black haired werewolf the kiss mark.

"By the goddess. . ." Kouga whispered, reaching out trembling fingers that didn't quiet touch the girl's skin- after all, Inu-Yasha was still there. "It's like she's been kissed by silver. . ."

"I know. . ." Inu-Yasha sighed.

Kagome just nodded, slowly moving her hair again.

Her stomach was churning nervously and she wasn't feeling very articulate.

"But she couldn't have, could she?" the leader continued. "I mean, from what Kikyo said, the boy had a lot of piercing- he could have easily had a lip ring- but he'd have had to be wearing silver jewelry for that to happen."

"Exactly! And if he was another werewolf, then how could he be wearing silver?!" Inu concluded, slamming his fist down on the floor in frustration.

"But Kikyo wouldn't have gone out with a mortal!"

"He could have lied. . ."

"He could be wearing jewelry with only a little bit of silver on the tip of the stud. That wouldn't really affect him, would it?"

"I don't know!" the silver haired, half-werewolf growled angrily. "But we need to figure this all out. That's why I think we should all go out and find him."

Kouga glanced at Kagome. "Is this what you wish?"

Kag raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. . . I want to see him explain himself. . ."

"Right then. If that's what Kagome wants, it's what Kagome shall get," the pack leader smiled kindly, ignoring Inu-Yasha's jealous/angry/murderous snarls.

"Excuse me," Sango piped up. "But someone needs to stay with the pups. Not everyone can go searching."

"Right then," the pack leader clapped his hands. "You, Sessho-Maru, and Kagome will stay."

"And WHY must *I* stay?" Sessho-Maru questioned coolly. Though his voice was just about expressionless, it was easy to tell he was annoyed.

"Because we need to keep someone with power here. Sango is staying because she suggested it, Kagome for her protection. I need someone I can trust here to watch the whelps."

"And you can't trust Sango and I?!" Kag cried, half exasperated and half annoyed.

"Er- well, I also want him here to protect you. . ."

Sango rolled her eyes but didn't argue.

"Right!" Kouga called. "Everyone else- in the cars! We're going to find Naraku!"

*

"They still haven't found anything," Kagome informed her friend, hanging up the phone two hours later.

Sango sighed and returned her eyes to the pups.

Though adult werewolves generally kept their children with them, there were a surprising number of orphans. They lived in a group with a motherly wolf named Rose- who was currently out with the others- to watch over them.

Even pups with living mothers and fathers spent most of their time here, however, playing with the others in the large, light blue apartment, decorated with posters, toys, and huge, comfy couches.

Sessho-Maru said nothing when Kag announced the lack of findings. Instead, he just turned to face a pup named Rin, who was currently playing with his hair, tying bright pink ribbons into it.

"Would you stop that?"

"But Sessho-Maru sama! You look so pretty!" the little girl giggled.

". . . But I don't want to be. . .*pretty*."

Kagome covered her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"Let's talk over here," Sango smirked, pulling her friend into a corner, but making sure to keep pretty Sess in sight.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, watching Sessho-Maru get his hair done rather then talk.

But a question had been nagging at the back of Kagome's mind, and she couldn't ignore it any longer.

"Sango-chan?"

"Hm?"

". . . Kohaku's your brother, isn't he?"

The older werewolf glanced at her friend from the corner of her eye before slowly answering. "Yes. . ."

"So. . . um. . . Why doesn't he live with you?"

Sango was quiet for a moment, pulling her knees to her chin and resting her head upon them.

"Well. . . our parents both died. . . that left us alone. . . And I'm not old enough to take care of him myself. . . so he lives here."

"Oh. . ."

"But when I'm old enough, he'll be living with us."

Kagome smiled. "That's good."

The older girl allowed a small grin to tug on the corners of her lips. "Yeah. It will be. . ."

Another moment of silence passed, and then-

"Hey!" giggled a little male pup, bounding up to the girls, his bright orange hair falling out of a pony tail as his green eyes sparkled. "I'm Shippo! Will you play a game with me?"

"What kind of game?" Kag laughed, allowing the child to tug her to her feet.

"Um-um-um-um-um-I know! I know! Okay- we color!"

With that, he sat down and motioned for the teen to join him as he pulled out some paper and crayons.

Kagome rolled her eyes and sat down again.

"Would you like to draw too, Sango-chan?" the ebony haired wolf smiled, handing her friend a piece of paper and a blue crayon.

Sango laughed softly and took the items in question.

*

"This is the full moon!" Shippo showed the girls a few moments later, displaying his paper of colorful scribbles. "And this is me an' Rin an' Kohaku all playin' in the snow!"

"And what's this?" Kagome asked kindly, pointing to an unnamed piece of the portrait.

"That's Miroku-san getting beaten up!" he smiled innocently.

Sango squinted. "Looks sorta like him. . . Only he's usually flatter then that. . ."

The boy looked at the picture too. ". . . I guess you're right. . ."

"I still think it's a lovely picture, Shippo-chan," Kag beamed, hugging the pup.

Shippo grinned widely back before running off to show Rin and Kohaku his masterpiece.

"So. . ." the brown haired teen smiled, examining her nails innocently. "When do you and Inu-Yasha plan on having whelps?"

"Sango-chan!" Kagome cried, whapping her friend over the head and trying to hide her blushing cheeks.

"What?! You know you BOTH want them. . ." Sango snickered, ducking another blow.

"What about you and Miroku? I think the pair of you will probably intoxicate this pack with pups!"

"Shut up!" the now blushing Sango muttered.

Kag rolled her eyes, hid a smile, and glanced out the window at the city, trying to quell the sudden rush of adrenaline fear and anxiety she felt.

Speaking of Inu-Yasha, Miroku, and the others. . .

How was their search coming?

*

"Nothing," Kouga sighed, kneading his temples as he finished talking to another werewolf pack leader.

"Not one pack in the Tokyo area has a member named Naraku! Hell, no one's even heard of the bastard!" Inu-Yasha growled in frustration, rubbing his face with his hands and muffling a line of profanities.

"Well, we still have one more pack to try," Miroku stated, trying not to sound as weary as he felt.

"Well, let's go then," called one of the other wolves in monotone as everyone trouped for the cars.

This lack of information. . .

Was unnerving.

*

The group of searching wolves parked silently in front of an old building near the sea side, where they had heard the final wolf pack generally hung out.

Rough and rude, most people- and wolves- generally avoided them.

But Inu-Yasha and the rest were desperate to find more information on this 'Naraku'.

The crawled out of the car and stepped onto the sandy parking lot, their footsteps muffled by the cashing of the sea.

Slowly trouping into the large, rotting wooden shack with the words 'Charlie's Bar' blinking in dying green and red lights, the group of wolves silently slid from the darkness of the cold, gray winter twilight and into the shadows of the building's inner depths.

And that unnerving feeling grew

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