She was fine.

She was calm and collected and she was no longer jealous. Kouga and her had talked it over and really - there was no reason to worry or anything like that. She was in full control of her emotions. No, she was not staring at her phone like a mad woman, and she was not considering disobeying every rule to sleep over at Kouga's house every night. She would never. And yet, there was a tingling in her spine and there was an annoyance pressing at her. It was hard to ignore it as she checked for the millionth time if she had a new notification on her phone - she did not.

Everything had gone well.

Kouga had been quite accepting - and happy - about her declaration of three little words. It had not been planned but she would not take it away for anything in the world. She was glad she said it - it took away some of the stress she had been feeling.

That part of her life was almost all in order. There was only one thing left she had to fix; her own life. She was still jobless and directionless and that was something she had to fix. Maybe other things - like redheads living with her boyfriend - would bother her less if she actually had other things to focus on. Plus, she was tired of this endless cycle of doing nothing. Her life had to go somewhere at some point. Hanging out with the wolves was fun, being included in their life was great, but there had to be more than that. At the end of the day, they did their own things and they had their own sets of responsibilities - including Kouga.

He could not always be there.

She had to find her own kind of happiness.

Kagome led out a groan before she buried her face inside of her blanket. Why- why could it not be easier than this? Why could she simply not figure it out? Nothing appealed to her, nothing - nothing seemed like the right choice. A long time ago, she had been quite depressed and nothing had sparked her interest. She refused to believe that she still felt this way, to this day. Things had gotten a lot better in her life; she smiled more, she laughed more. Or had she simply been avoiding all of the problems that had piled up since the well closed?

Ugh.

"Kagome?"

At the sound of her mother's voice, Kagome's ears perked up. Had she really been complaining that loudly? "Mom?"

"Can I come in?"

Kagome smoothened her hair before rising up in her bed so that she could sit up straight. Her mother did not need to witness the mess that she had become. "Yeah," she finally replied as she fixed her blanket.

Timidly, Miyu came in, peeking at her daughter. She had heard a few sounds of desperation as she had been walking down the hall and it had caught her interest. Kagome was in a better mood these days, but it did not prevent her from worrying. Although her relationship with Kouga seemed to fill her with joy… well, often relationships came with their own sets of struggles and difficulties. She knew her daughter had lost a lot of her friends over the years, both because of her constant travels but also because of her depression. She did not have a lot of people she could vent to - and she probably did not want to talk to Kouga… about Kouga.

She wanted to be there for her daughter.

"Are you alright?" her mother asked as she sat at the edge of the bed.

She was great. She could not really tell her mother she was jealous; that fell under the very embarrassing category of things to not tell your mother. That and the sex thing. Actually, especially the sex thing.

"I'm okay."

She nodded. "How's Kouga?"

Kouga was always great. She did envy that about him. He always had a solution to a problem - and even when he did not he trusted his instincts. He had maybe done a few mistakes but he did not seem to dwell on them for the rest of his life. If only she had possess that skill. Her life would be much easier. He knew where he was headed and he had no problem following his path.

"He's good."

Miyu let her fingers drummed along her thigh as she wondered for the perfect way to express herself. She had never been shy speaking with her daughter and she had always been honest with her. Ever since she had begun feeling sad, it had been hard to have the same conversation as before. She did not want to risk upsetting her further - but she also did not want to lose her to this sadness.

"Kagome, I know you have been busier with your life lately, but if you need me, I am here."

And there was so much she wanted to say, and so much she wanted to talk about but she could not. Oh hey mom, I was super stressed because when I lost my virginity, I didn't wear anything. Imagine that, I could have been pregnant. It was not exactly the type of mother-daughter conversation Kagome wanted to have. Except, everything with her friend, everything with Kouga - that was her whole life at the moment.

"I'm fine, I've just been worrying over nothing."

"If you're worrying about it, it's not nothing, honey."

She twisted her face, unsure of how to proceed; could she talk about that with her mother? She was convinced her mother did not have a jealous bond in her body. She was simply a kind and loving person. "A pack has been staying with Kouga's pack."

"And that's bad?" All the youkais she had ever known were kind creatures - but - they were all kinds of humans, so it was fair to assume there were all kids of youkais.

Kagome sighed; she would have to admit a bad side of her personality. "I just- there is this girl."

Miyu could not help the smile that reached her face. "Another girl?"

Could she hide her face in shame now? God she felt absolutely stupid. This is why she needed friends that were not her mother. "Yes, a girl who used to be in love with Kouga."

"Ah."

"I mean - she thought they were engaged to be married." Alright, promised - but whatever, it was the feudal era's version to being promised to each other.

"And were they?" She could feel her daughter was about to go on a rampage and she did not want to interrupt.

"No." Although… "A little. Well, Kouga made this promise…" she sighed. "But he had been so young - she had been so young, it was - it was just a silly thing to comfort her. It did not mean anything." How many times had she spun tales and told little white lies to comfort a child? She had done it to Shippo more than once. It was a thing. It should not be held against a person and it - it should not define anybody's life. "And then - well, when she found out about me… she was out for my head."

"She tried to hurt you, now?" Miyu frowned. This light hearted story was taking a direction she did not quite appreciate.

"No," she quickly retracted. "Before, she tried to kill me before."

"Oh."

"Now, she was…" She was not rude, she was not nice or impolite or lovely or… she had not been anything really. She had been a neutral regular human being. Then again, she had been quite touchy with Kouga… "She was okay, I guess."

"Okay?" She knew that hid something else.

She groaned. "She kept touching Kouga."

Miyu let out a small chuckle before reaching out for her daughter's cheek. "Kouga loves you." She had seen it in his eyes the first time she met him. She had known it before he even admitted it to himself. And she saw the changes in her daughter as she developed feelings for him. She was a silent actor in the scenery but it did not mean she missed some of the details. "He only has eyes for you. He's very devoted."

"I know." And she felt bad when she threw her jealousy fit at him. And an I love you even came out of it but - but it did not dissipated her worries. Even now, she was concerned about Ayame's presence. "I just- I don't like that she's over there with him, and I'm over here."

It was probably the only way she could say this without asking for permission to stay there.

"Are they a lot of people?"

"Yea, more than they should be in that house." They were probably crammed more than it was allowed and it was… most likely uncomfortable. As long as nobody was sharing Kouga's bedroom with him… she was okay with it.

"And now you want to go over?" Her daughter had not asked, but she could hear it being subtlety implied. Kagome was indeed an adult, one who had to make a lot of decisions she should not have way before it was time. Her adventures on the other side of the well had aged her. And - and she trusted her. She was not quite sure she would be thrilled to always have her over there, coming in and out at all times of day and night. But, there were a lot of people. And Kagome was worried. Worry could bring about a bad spiral and she wanted to avoid that.

"I - I didn't say that." But she was thinking it. Except now all she could do was blush because - well, she knew what could happen between Kouga and her.

"Then you should go."

"W-what?"

"For one night, go spend one night. See that nothing is wrong, and then come back the next day."

Kagome blinked once, then twice, trying to make sure that she had heard her mother right; she was giving her permission to sleep over? She was not going to argue. Although, now she felt even worse. It was trust that her mother was putting into her and she did not want to break it or ruin it. "Thank you," were the words she settled on before hugging her mother.

Now, she just needed one more thing; she needed her arrival to be a surprise.

She was still quite not at ease with making a random appearance somewhere that was not her home but they had told her time and time again to treat it like her own house. Well, she was about to do that.

Not because she wanted to check up on Ayame or anybody else. She simply wanted to surprise her amazing boyfriend with a surprise sleepover.

Nothing wrong with that right?

-U-

"Sis?"

Hakkaku beamed a smile while he looked at her. It was the first time Kouga did not tell them she was coming over. Usually, it was accompanied with a huge speech about how they needed to be on their best behaviour. And any kind of teasing that was related to sex was prohibited. Although - they always did it anyway. If they did not make fun of that, what else were they going to make fun of?

"Hey Hakkaku. I'm not intruding I hope?"

"What? This is your home," he said as he led her in, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's just Kouga didn't tell us you were coming…" His eyes finally landed on her black bag. "And he didn't tell us you were staying over! This is great. Wait." He frowned. "Are you guys going away for the weekend or something?" Maybe it was a secret thing. Maybe he wanted to get away from it all. Maybe he wanted to get Kagome away from Ayame. The scents, the hints - everyone had kind of noticed the jealousy that had been going on. Except - Kagome was family and Kouga was their alpha. Nobody would dare mention it. They might all joke about sex, but this was a topic they were not yelling to touch.

Not in a million years.

"He, hm, he doesn't know." Suddenly she was blushing and she forced her glance down as to not meet Hakkaku's eyes. "I hope it's okay."

Hakkaku's nose wrinkled at the scent of shame. "Kagome, it's your home too. You come whenever." He was never very good at the whole consoling thing - but he was hoping the troubles from yesterday were solved. It had seemed like it - unless they had all guessed wrong.

"Where's Kouga?"

"Hm, I'm sure he's on his way right here." If someone could spot Kagome from a mile away, it was him.

"Kagome?"

Just as he had guessed. Hakkaku grinned at Kagome before removing his hand from her shoulder. "I will leave you two alone." Either they had something to resolve, or they had something to celebrate. Whichever one it was, he did not want to intrude on the moment. "See ya, Sis."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked as he leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead.

If someone asked her that one more time, she was going to regret coming uninvited. Instead, she put a smile on and lifted her bag. "Surprise sleep over!"

He arched an eyebrow. "And it's okay?"

She nodded. She was not about to tell him that this was all possible thanks to her sharing her jealous insecurities with her mother. Never in a million years. "My mom thought it might be good for me." Which, really - was not a lie. "And I know you guys have a lot of people over already…" She blushed. "I figured nobody was sharing your room with you." At least she hoped not.

He grinned before leaning into her ear. "Nah, my bed has been quite lonely."

He was not about to pass up this opportunity, especially not after the latest development they had. He did not expect it to come out of such a situation but he was thankful for it.

A shiver ran through her and she could not help but lean into him. His presence was strong and powerful; he pulled her in with each breath he took. Everything was better than it was before she spoke those little words. She could not regret them. She would not. He did only have eyes for her. She had barely set a foot in that he had been heading for her.

"Hey Kouga, where did you go?"

And that voice totally ruined it for her. She re-opened her eyes, letting reality set back in.

Kouga found it hard to ignore the annoyance that was rolling off Kagome's aura. He was certain even Ayame could sense it. He had been avoiding her as best he could because they were not that close and it made Kagome uncomfortable. Two valid reasons. Still, despite her annoyance, Kagome smiled at Ayame approached them. He knew he could not let this kind of situation go on but he was quite unsure as to how to deal with it. He did not want to fully lash out at Ayame but he did not want to ignore the problem. Not if it would cause problem with his relationship. Kagome came first. And it was not as though she asked him to do anything about it, but he did not want her to be uncomfortable.

"Ayame, I'm a little busy right now."

The statement startled both her and Kagome.

"Oh."

"I'll talk to you later," he said as he put his hand on the small of Kagome's back and began to lead her away.

He could easily tell that Ayame was ticked off, but Kagome was smiling. "What was that about?" she asked, as subtly as she could. She never said he could not talk to her. She had simply mentioned that she found her quite annoying.

"I wanted to talk to you," he said with a big grin. "I told ya, nothing going on between me and her." If she had remnants of feelings, he had never noticed, she had never acted upon them and well, he did not care. He had the one woman he always wanted, and he could not be happier. It was all that mattered to him.

"I know." She did. She simply needed to remind herself from time to time.

Before she even realized it, he had led her up the stairs. At first she raised an eyebrow, teasing him.

"It's crowded downstairs." Half of it was from his pack and the other half was the intruders. He hated it when it was this packed but it was his only option. He had to keep everybody in line especially when it came to his territory. He liked his life here, he had been able to keep it going for a long time. Most of all, he had found Kagome here and he did not want people to start questioning who they were, or to attract attention. He did not want to be far from her, and he would do anything he could to keep his life just the way it is.

For the first time, since losing everything, he found this perfect. This was the life he wanted to live forever.

"It adds atmosphere," she said with a smile as she followed him into his bedroom.

As soon as he stepped in and closed the door, he made a run for the bed. He let himself collapse on top of it, while a long sigh made its way past his lips. All the scents, all the noises; it was annoying the fuck out of him. This was better, this was quieter. And he knew what would make it perfect. Her.

"Come here," he whispered.

He wanted to bury his nose deep in her hair and forget about everything else around him.

A smile was drawn upon her lips as she joined him into the bed. She crawled on top of him, burying her face in his chest while he wrapped his strong arms around her. Her dark locks of hair were tickling his nose and he finally let his shoulders relax. This was good, this was peace.

"If I pretend they ain't here, will that make them go away?"

"I wish," she replied with a chuckle.

"You know, it's often gonna be like this."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't get to …" Fuck, he was not trying to have this conversation right now. He was supposed to be relaxing. Having a discussion about something far, far away into the future was not relaxing. Idiot. "I - I don't get the little house with the white picket fence and shit. I'm gonna live with the pack."

She moved her head away from his chest and stared at him intensively with the tiniest furrow of her eyebrows. "Who do you take me far?"

"W-what?"

"I know," she replied aggravated. "You're not human Kouga, and I'm never gonna expect you to be."

"It means no privacy."

She sighed. "I'll get used to it." Sex was a new thing to her and - honestly she had a feeling that they enjoyed teasing them so much simply because they got such a rise out of them. One day, everybody would be used to it and nobody would pay attention to anybody. At least, it was what she kept telling herself. She could not believe that throughout all the years, they spent every moment spying on everybody having sex. It could not be.

"Never alone."

"We'll kick them out once in a while."

He grinned. "A lot of eyes and a lot of opinions."

"The more the merrier." For a second he felt like he was the one trying to run out of the relationship. If she did not know him any better, she would think he was trying to find reasons to break them apart. But he was Kouga and he had waited a long time for them to be together. Although… her recent fears… this was not helping. She had considered the fact that she was not good enough for him, not youkai enough. And now that he was pointing out all of these details… it was as though he was feeding those insecurities. "You're not gonna get rid of me mister," she teased, trying to hide her fear.

He gripped her face with his hands. "I'd never wanna be rid of you."

And he meant every word.

He already considered himself the luckiest man alive to have her by his side.

"Although… Now that you love me. This might be gettin' a little too serious."

She smacked him hard on the arm, the slap echoing through the room.

"Ah yes, and there's also the violence."

She teasingly narrowed her eyes at him and he chuckled.

This was what he wanted forever.

Minus the annoying pair of ears lingering around the door.

-U-

It stared at her.

And she stared right back.

The tiniest dog with the floppiest ears was just tilting his head, observing Kagome. She could not help but break into a smile. The tiny creature was mesmerized by the bag of goodies she had on her lap. Her mother's friend owned a veterinarian clinic, and they were having a charity event to help abandoned pets. Out of the kindness of her heart, her mother had baked a few things to help out. Since Souta had a soccer match her mother could not miss, Kagome was in charge of the delivery. It did get her out of either houses she often went to (her own and Kouga's) and she welcomed the change of air.

Also, Buyo was no longer the cutest thing in the world. He was the fattest thing in the world though.

"Kagome?"

Kagome raised her head and was met by Kamisa. She jumped to her feet and hurried in her direction after one last look at the puppy. "My mother wanted me to deliver these," she said as she dropped the cupcake box on the counter.

"It'll be a great help," Kamisa replied with a smile. "A lot of these poor buddies don't have a home," she said as she petted a cat that was on the counter.

Kagome joined her into the petting, scratching behind the cat's ear.

"Your mother tells me you saw a wolf."

Not exactly. More like a half human wolf. "Yea…" Now, she could not help but wonder how that conversation came up.

"I don't think I've ever heard of wolves coming this far into the city."

"He must have been lost," she replied, focusing her attention on the cat as to not let her notice the lies she spoke.

"That is the problem with big cities. It affects the animals' instincts." She grabbed the box from the counter and turned around to give it to her colleague. "You know, not a lot of people would have stopped to help."

"I couldn't leave him like that." Short sentences were the best; she did not know what story her mother had given her and she did not want to over share. Although, there was some truth to what she was saying. After all, she had not known the wolf's true identity when she tried to help. And she had even called herself an idiot for helping. But - something in her had forced her to help. Was it because deep down she recognized Kouga, or because she could not let it suffer?

It did go against everything in her nature. Mikos were supposed to heal and help. Then again, Mikos were supposed to be Youkais' natural enemies - not their intended.

She was never very good at the whole Miko thing anyway…

"Have you ever considered this line of work?"

"I'm sorry?"

Kamisa shrugged her shoulders. "You seem very calm and patient with the animals - and they seemed to trust you. A wounded wolf should be more aggressive, not calmer. Maybe there is a venue for you in this field."

She had never considered it. Why should she? She barely passed her classes and every since she returned from the well her life had gone down the drain.

"I - no, I never thought of it."

"Something to think about," Kamisa replied with a smile. "Thank you for bringing these, and please thank your mother for me."

"Will do," Kagome said as she walked away from the counter.

Her? Dealing with animals?

She could barely take care of herself properly. Her messed up education had ruined all her chances at become anything.

-U-

"So what are you gonna do about her?"

Kagome sighed, resisting the urge to bury her face into her hands and stay there forever. She had made the mistake to come straight to Kouga's house after her little delivery. The boys were out and about, getting a tour from Kouga and the pack. They had wanted to visit and Kouga had refused to let them go on their own. She did wonder what made him so paranoid of packs exploring the city; she could only imagined that one time, things turned out completely horrible.

Unfortunately, that left her with the girls. That did include Ayame, that had to stay behind like all the other females.

Except, it was not Ayame trapping her into a room with no escape. No, instead she was held prisoner by Kasumi, Miya and Yumi. Although the girls had grown on her, it did not mean she appreciated the little interrogation. After all, it was their fault that she had all those insecurities and fears to begin with! If they had not scared her with the not youkai enough thing, she might not have ended as jealous as she had.

"About who?" she asked, playing innocent. Kagome was very convinced that Ayame could hear them talk from where they stood. Having four walls meant nothing in this house; everything could be heard from anywhere.

"You know who," Yumi hushed.

"I'm sure she can hear you."

"Good," Kasumi pitched in. "She should hear about how you'll kick her ass for going after your man." Nobody had actually seen anything - and they knew Ayame from way back but… this was interesting and this was gossip. They had heard about the little jealousy - and they had heard Kagome and Kouga. Oh and they knew about the I love you that was shared. All of it was now widely known. Nothing really interesting happened anymore. Whenever there was novelty, it was always related to Kagome. They had all been together so long that, everything was boring.

Not this though.

"I'm not gonna do anything."

Miya pouted. "Why not?"

"Because there is nothing to do. Kouga and I are together. Ayame is not interested in him."

"How do you know?"

"How do I know what?"

"That Ayame doesn't want his little cubs?"

"She is more ready."

"Yea, are you ready for kids?"

"She would probably mate him right away."

"Wouldn't be complicated to live the lifestyle."

"Okay stop." For the first time, Kagome actually raised her voice around them. "It's fine that Kouga and I are different. Things are different now and - we help each other cope with that. And I don't know what Ayame wants but it doesn't matter. Kouga and I are together and nothing is going to change that."

"I thought that for a bit."

Kagome jumped, startled, as Ayame's voice echoed in.

"When he made me that promise, I held on to those words every day." Granted, she had been pretty young back then - but it had been her life line. He had been the hero of her dreams, the promised prince. She knew that he had it in him to solve all of her problems. And then, he turned away and took away all the dreams he had given her. Worst of all, he had taken them away to give them to someone else. For a while, despite his constant denials of her demands, she had taken comfort in the fact that he had not ended up with Kagome. That comfort could no longer exist.

Although, it was not like she had stayed - hung up on him.

She had never mated - it was too messy and difficult. Also, she had never found a wolf that could hold her interest. Nobody blew her out of the water like he did. He made such a strong impression on her that it was impossible for anybody to beat that.

They stayed in touch, they became friends and then - and then that was that. She enjoyed every lingering touch, she enjoyed every smile that was thrown her way. Could she say that she was still in love with him? She did not know. But she had never fallen in love with anybody else.

Neither had Kouga apparently.

She had not gotten the whole story - not everybody knew it - but Kagome stood there fully human and yet, she looked just as young as she had five hundred years ago. It was like some twist of fate had united the two of them. It was like they were meant to be and fate had found a way to make sure it happened. How could she fight that? She had all that time with him and it never changed his mind. All that told her was that perhaps that relationship was never meant to be more than the crush it was.

However, Kouga represented a lot for her. And she would be damned if she let him go to someone who did not deserve him.

She had done about everything she could to set Kagome off. The lingering touches, the constant presences. It had seem to work because she was ticked off - but it had yet to push her over the edge. What was Kagome willing to do to fight for her man? That was what Ayame wanted to know. So far, she was not impressed. Until she was, she would not leave her alone. If she wanted to be intended of someone like Kouga, she had to be willing to fight for him. Ayame certainly was not the only female who ever showed attention towards him. He was quite a catch and whoever got to sink their claws in him had to prove that she was worth it.

"But apparently he felt that way for someone else," finally added Ayame as she made eye contact with Kagome.

"He was just trying to comfort you," Kagome casually added, never breaking the eye contact.

"Maybe," she said as she took another step forward. "You know, you never did answer their question."

"What do you mean?" She could hear the sound of her own heart drumming. Ayame had not said anything yet but Kagome still felt challenged. The only problem was - she was never very good in a confrontation. She avoided them. The best solution was one where nobody got their feelings hurt. It did not seem like this was one of those situations. And somehow, lately, she was always the one being caught in the middle of those.

"You never said what you were going to do about me."

"W-what?"

"You never said what you were going to do about me," she repeated more slowly this time.

"I'm not gonna do anything."

Ayame tilted her head to the side, her red hair swaying across her shoulder. "Wrong answer."

"Kouga is mine, I don't have to do anything about you."

"I didn't say I was going to let you have him."

Kagome's eyes widened, her breath harshened as she took a step in the redhead's direction. "Let me?" She scoffed. "You don't own him."

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't make your life difficult." It was easy to annoy a couple and it was easy to start a discord. There just had to be doubts and fights and the rest would follow by itself.

"You're not gonna be here forever."

"I could be."

"Kouga wouldn't let you."

"This is a lot more complex than Kouga just doing whatever the fuck he wants." She smirked. "Then again, I wouldn't expect you to understand how youkais work."

She was so tired of hearing this same sentence over and over again. "Just butt out of things that do not concern you," she finally said as she walked past Ayame, bumping her in the shoulder as she did so.

"Make me."

"W-what?" Kagome stopped dead in her tracks. She might not have been challenged often but it was easy to recognize when someone was provoking her.

"Make me."

She did not want to fight Ayame. There was no reason for a fight. Not only that but it was not the right way to solve this. They had nothing to fight about; Kouga and her had a relationship and Ayame and Kouga did not have one.

"He fights for you, but you can't fight for him. What a good intended."

That's it. She was going to punch her.