Intervention; Thy Name Is Bakusen'O! || lunamist » vonlane

Chapter 8

Pacing the large study, Lord Kouga found his tired blue eyes scanning over the same territory. How many times had he been made to wait in this very room? Running a frustrated hand through his silky, dark brown hair, the wolf Youkai thought the number to be far too high, and yet he continued doing it. Sucking in a deep breath, Kouga let all the air from his lungs go in one large exhale, letting his body flop down into an oversized chair as the oxygen left his lungs with an audible, "Damn it mutt." Arms splayed out on top of the chair's armrests, long legs set wide in front of him, Kouga scrunched his form down into the cushion cradling his ass. Inside his head, his mind was wondering down familiar territory. Territory he'd thought he'd put to rest over a century ago. But ever since the Wolf King had thought he'd caught the familiar scent of one InuHanyou mutt, his mind had been mired in the past.

Recent days had found Kouga lost in thought, and on more than one occasion, Ayame had had to physically slap him to rouse the distracted Youkai from his musings. But at the end of the day, his long past relationship with the half-breed whom dared think himself the equal of any purebred Youkai, was the reason why he was sitting here for the umpteenth time, waiting for the perfect Lord of the West to grace him with his presence. Although he wasn't exactly sure why, Kouga had long ago figured out that the only reason Lord Sesshomaru tolerated his continued verbal lack of respect, along with his penchant for foul language, was deeply rooted in whatever relationship the DaiYoukai had had with his little brother, Inuyasha. Oh, Kouga was well aware that Lord Sesshomaru had been nothing but cruel to Inuyasha, but the past few centuries had given the Wolf King reason's to think the great DaiYoukai's attitude towards his brother had changed. Which was odd considering Inuyasha had been dead for well over four hundred years. Or, was it five hundred? Truthfully, Kouga had no idea, nor did he know how the Hanyou had met his end. All he really knew was that he hadn't seen nor heard any mention of the half-breed in centuries, and with the way society was now, all Youkai (mixed blood or no) were both known and catalogued. It was an essential move that had been made about one hundred and fifty years ago.

You see, Youkai populations had indeed begun dwindling and soon it was clear which species was on the fast track for world domination. Sure, Youkai were stronger, longer lived, and more vicious in their nature, but what they also were was poor breeders, although not for lack of trying. For whatever reason's, the gods had seen fit to decrease the fertility of Youkai and increase that of humans. Hence, humans had sheer numbers on their side, something Youkai could never compete with. And so, the most powerful Youkai put their differences aside and began formulating a plan. By that time, almost all of the lesser Youkai had been destroyed, making their task of integration into human society much easier as the more powerful Youkai had the ability to mask who they were and for those not possessing that ability, the tricky fox Youkai had provided the means for concealment.

For all of Inuyasha's abilities, Kouga seriously doubted the half-breed would be able to mask his own Youkai by himself. In short, there was nowhere for Inuyasha to hide. Besides, hiding from the world had never been what the Hanyou was about. Once, Kouga had stupidly asked Lord Sesshomaru if he knew what had happened to Inuyasha. Truthfully, he hadn't expected an answer and had been surprised when Sesshomaru had quietly answered, "The Hanyou is at peace." Well, if that didn't sound like a declaration of eternal slumber, Kouga didn't know what was.

Sliding down deeper into the comfort of his chair, Kouga allowed himself that brief sense of loss when he thought of his mutt-face friend and rival. Oh, how he'd loved taunting the Hanyou. Of course he'd never have admitted it at the time, but he'd relished the fact that the two of them were so equal in both abilities and power. Fighting with Inuyasha was always a thrill, he was one of the few Youkai who could give as good as he got, both physically and verbally. Even after all these years, Kouga felt the weight of his sadness at the loss of such a creature. "Half-breed or not, you were one tough son of a bitch," Kouga muttered, then laughed when he thought of just how ludicrous those words actually were. After all, if Inuyasha had literally been a son of a bitch, then he wouldn't be a half-breed at all.