Chapter 33 - Acceptance

This was written for Stella's proverbial Challenge, Prompt: Curiosity killed the cat. Words: 350

Kouga frowned from his place in the bushes where he had been watching and listening while hiding his scent and aura. He had noticed Kagome's presence hours ago, but he also sensed Sesshoumaru, which confused him a great deal. Inuyasha hated his elder half-brother, so why was he there?

He found out pretty quickly that something was going on between his Kagome and the Western Lord, something that upset him a great deal, but he continued to watch, hoping to learn what exactly the relationship was between the two. Seeing Kagome holding Lord Sesshoumaru's hand made his heart ache, but what he just heard was worse.

She would allow them to fight for her, but it seemed as if she was certain who would come out victorious. She told Sesshoumaru not to kill him! Did she have so little faith in his strength? Yes, the Western Lord was powerful and skilled in battle, but so was he! Didn't Kagome know that?

He also learned that she was serious in her denials of his claim. Kouga had always believed that she rejected him for Inuyasha's sake, to spare the hanyou's feelings and his pride, but apparently he was wrong. She truly didn't want him. She was falling for the taiyoukai, had basically said so. Now he wished he had never come, had never seen and heard all he had, because the Lord of the Eastern Lands was heartbroken.

The alliance between the East and the West was important and it could not be broken. Kouga knew that much. Fighting for a woman that didn't want him was foolish, he knew that as well. The wolf ached to just walk away, to pretend he'd never sensed them at all, but Inuyasha was leading them directly towards his den. It would be a great deal more embarrassing to have to relinquish his claim in front of his pack, so Kouga stopped masking his scent and aura and stepped out of the bushes, startling the humans and Inuyasha as well, though he fought to hide it.

"Hey, Kagome," he said half-heartedly. "How are ya?"