If anyone's able to help me, she will, Kouga thought to himself as he quietly footed through the forest. She's female, /and/ half-human. Surely she can tell me something about what goes on in Kagome's mind.

            Kouga was out in search of a half-wolf demon named Shempra. Her father had been a full wolf demon, her mother a human and a powerful sorceress. Her father had been a friend of Kouga's father, genuinely respected by the whole pack, and the two cubs had met up a few times when he came to visit or help. Shempra grew up to be rather solitary as her father had been, choosing not to live with a pack, but wandered on her own. But Kouga remembered she loved the forest of her birth, so he figured he'd at least pick up her scent there.

            "Greetings, Kouga," came a voice from above him, hidden in the trees. "What brings you to my woods?"

            "I wanted to ask you a question," he answered. "But would you mind coming down first?"

            His request was greeted with a low growl. But none the less, Shempra jumped down from her perch, landing in front of Kouga. Two wolves joined her from the nearby bushes. Koga was at 5 second loss for words. It had been years since they had last seen one another. Her short, uneven, dark auburn hair hung loosely around her face. On her right side, it was longer, and was tied into a ponytail. She wore a long skin, covering her from shoulders to knees, but not hiding a beautiful figure.

 "Well then," she said. "What can I help you with?"

"I'm sorry if you were hunting," he replied.

"We were. But these two can continue without me," she assured him, patting the wolves heads.

"I wanted to ask your advice."

"About what?"

"It deals with a human."

"Because I'm half I understand them all?"

"I thought youd at least be able to offer some perpective."

"All right. I might as well take you to our home. Zame, Kame, keep hunting. Follow me, Kouga."

To the ends of the planet, he thought. Then one of the wolves whined.

"It's all right Zame." She planted a kiss on the wolfs forehead and she and Kouga departed from the two.

"Zame's protective?" Kouga asked.

"Yes. He takes pride in the care he takes of his women."

"You speak as if he's pack leader."

"/I'm/ the pack leader," she stated sternly. "But he's also the only male in the pack. Its only natural he wants to protect Kame and me."

Shempra's home turned out to be a small cave almost hidden from view by the trees. The remnants of a fire lay in the mouth, and several skins lay in a pile inside. Three bowls, a bucket of water, and a small washcloth sat beside them. Shempra laid two of the skins out, and she and Kouga sat down.

"Well?" she asked. "Let's hear it."

Kouga began by telling her of his first encounter with Kagome. Shempra couldnt stop laughing.

"Y-You cl-cl-claimed a hu-human as y-your o-own?!?" she managed to say. "A-Are y-you cra-zy?!?"

Kouga sat, indignant, and wait for her laughter to subside. "Are you finished?" he asked.

"In all honesty, I cant believe shes still /talking/ to you. She must have incredible understanding."

"Your father /didn't/ claim your mother for himself?"

"No!"

"Oh. Then what /did/ he do?"

"Well, they met up when Father was wandering, and found they got along rather well, usually anyway, so they decided to travel together. I guess spending all that time together, they fell in love."

"But if he didn't claim her...?"

"Well, he kind of did. Just not the way you're thinking." Before she could continue, Kame and Zame arrived, four dead squirrels in tow. "Oh! How sweet! They thought of you too, Kouga!"

"Squirrels?" he asked. "Is that all you eat?"

"In these woods, it's all you can get. But they're surprisingly filling. Have you ever had one?" she asked, trying to start a fire while being as far away as possible from it.

Still afraid of fire, Kouga thought. "Whatever you say. So, what were we talking about?"

"Ah, yes, my parents. As they spent time together, they found they really loved each other, and decided to be life mates. Of course, since mom was human, she wanted to get married too, according to the traditions she grew up with." Shempra had the squirrels on sticks and was sticking them into the ground near the fire.

"Do you want help with that?" Koga asked. She's so afraid of that fire, and pretending not to be to save face. Hopefully, she'll accept my offer.

"I've never been one to refuse help with cooking," Shempra cheerily replied. He got nearer to the fire than she was to cook the meat. "Careful Kouga," she warned.

"I am," he replied dismissively. He then proceeded to burn his arm. "EEOW!!!" I yelped in pain.

"I warned you," she said. She picked up the bucket of water and washcloth and brought them near me. "Here," she said. She soaked the cloth in the water and laid it on the burn. He cringed at the sting. "Ich liebe sie. Danke zucker," she whispered. I felt my arm soothe and cool. Then she lifted the cloth. The skin was completely healed over.

"Wha?" I was in amazement.

Shempra smiled. "Didn't you know Mother was a sorceress?"

"Well, yes, but I didnt realize you had followed her footsteps."

"A bit. But Im not nearly as powerful as she was."

"Not yet, anyway."

"That's sweet, Kouga."

"Thanks." He couldn't believe how gorgeous she looked in the firelight.  "I-I-I think the rodents are about done. Ill check." Bravo Kouga, he thought as he looked the meat over. Way to ruin a mood. Wait, Im in love with Kagome, aren't I? Wolves mate for life. Never mind we've never actually mated. And she /is/ always with InuTrasha. Perhaps I /should/ be moving on.

"Well?" Shempra asked, breaking his thoughts. "Is it done?"

"Yeah," he replied, and brought the meal back to the trio. When each had their respective toasted rodent, it was time to chow down. Shempra shared her bowl of water with her guest. During and for awhile after the meal, there was a comfortable silence.

"Do you plan to stay the night?" Shempra eventually asked.

"If you're willing to share your cave with me," the wolf demon replied.

"Sure. We don't mind, do we?" The two wolves sat and panted, as if they were the happiest creatures on Earth, nuzzling each other.

"Are they...?"

"Mates? Yeah. It was kinda funny at first. They could barely stand each other. But the sane moments became longer and more frequent, and soon they were keeping each other warm at night."

"Do you wish for that?" Koga asked. Shempra showed a downcast look. "I'm sorry. That was outta line."

"It's alright, Kouga. There are few in the world who does not wish for that warmth at night. But I choose a solitary life, I do not meet up with many others. Wishing doesn't change much, either."

"Acting on your wishes does."

"And what do you wish?"

"I used to know. But this time I've spent with you... It's not the same as any time I've spent with anyone else, even Kagome."

"I doubt you have gone to many people for advice."

"Are you kidding? No one in my pack even knows why I'm here."

"But they know you're here."

"They know I'm out looking for my old friend Shempra and that I was going to start my search here, as I know it's your favorite place to be. I daresay they may think I'm trying to claim you or something."

"That /would/ be funny."

"Why?"

"Well, nothing against you, Kouga. If you wanted me, I'm sure you would want me to come join your pack, right?"

"Naturally."

"Therein lies the problem. I'm not done wandering. I don't know if I ever will be. I just came back to bring these two home."

"They're done wandering?"

"Yes."

"But you're a pack!"

"We were. Now Zame and Kame are a family. They should act like one. What about when Kame gets pregnant? I can't have the poor creature climbing over rocks and rough terrain in that condition."

"I see your point. Are they going to live here?"

"Yes. Unless they can find a pack with less of a wanderlust."

"They would be more than welcome to come with me."

Shempra looked at her friends. "Would you like to join Kouga's pack? If I remember correctly, it's warm with plenty of skins, and hidden from view."

"You remember correctly," Kouga informed her.

The two wolves looked at each other, then Shempra. Then they whined.

"No!" Shempra scolded. "We've been over this. And I can take care of myself as I did before we met."

Zame licked Shempra and barked. "That's my good boy," Shempra cooed. Then she looked back over at Kouga. "It would appear you will have two more with you when you leave."

Kouga gave a single nod.

"Well, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to turn in," the half-wolf said. "If I'm gonna get an early start tomorrow, I'm gonna have to."

"Any particular destination?" Koga inquired.

"Somewhere I havent been yet. Perhaps I'll go West this time. Or maybe South.

"

"Or North."

"Or East. Good night, Kouga."

"Good night, Shempra." He watched as she fell asleep, curled up on a skin near Kame and Zame. There is enough room for me near her, he thought. I just have to hope she doesn't kill me when she wakes up and finds me that close to her. As carefully and quietly as he could, he crawled over to Shempra and curled up next to her. He could feel the warmth of her body cradling him as he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before Kouga opened his eyes the next morning, he could feel the absence of  Shempra's warmth behind him. At least I know she didn't kill me, he thought as he opened his eyes. He looked around his surroundings. The scene was the same, minus Shempra, and the two wolves were awake.

"Well, shall we catch ourselves some breakfast before we go?" Kouga asked them.

Kame turned her head and barked. In the direction she was pointing, lay some fresh fruit.

"She thought of everything, didn't she?" Kouga said, mostly to himself. He helped himself to the fruit, made sure everything was as he found it, and took off with the wolves in tow.

In the distance, Shempra watched him leave the forest and head back for his pack. "Someday, Kouga," she whispered. "Just not toady."