Hi all! Okay, so I know plenty of you were very disappointed with the end of the last chapter. Of course, that means that I succeeded in tricking you all. Bwahaha. Those of you who have left this fic, given up hope because of the last chapter, then...well, you're not reading this, then, are you? Why am I talking to invisible people? Anyhow, for those of you who stuck around, YOU get to see what actually happened. Not to worry, folks; I would never leave you dangling in the wind forever. Enjoy chapter five.

The night of the ceremony, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo had left, hoping to catch Kagome returning…it was a slim hope. The next afternoon, Inuyasha thought for the very briefest of moments that he would have liked to say goodbye. One week later, that day was nothing but an insignificant spot at the very back of his mind.

Trying to at least accept some company, he'd befriended Mizuno. The young wolf was filled with massive amounts of energy and he talked excessively, especially when he was nervous. Inuyasha often thought of bashing him upside the head just to get him to shut up, but among the rest of the pack he was the more favorable company. He filled up uncomfortable silence when Inuyasha just didn't feel like talking, and he was very good at avoiding unpleasant topics.

However, some unpleasant topics were not meant to be avoided. Kouga was definitely one of those topics, and he was brought up often. Inuyasha tried his best to steer clear of any subject with Kouga's name attached to it, but even he found himself bringing him up.

The times that this frustrated him the most were always when he didn't realize he was doing so.

A perfect example would be the day that Inuyasha spent an unusual amount of time within the deeper chambers of Kaijito's cave; sharpening some old blades at his own insistence. Mizuno didn't question the odd request out of eagerness to have some company. Inuyasha did prefer to be outdoors, feeling the sun on his face and the wind tickle his sensitive ears; but a relentless drove of wolves kept him inside. For some strange reason, many of the wolf families had been presenting their children to him with hopeful sparkles in their eyes. It was as though they were trying to gain his favor on something.

Inuyasha stared disinterestedly at the long, flat blade currently in his hands, sharpening it in a perfunctory fashion, his curiosity bubbling up in an attempt to ease his boredom. Without looking up, Inuyasha grunted once to get Mizuno's attention. The young wolf's tail wagged eagerly at the sound. He had been aching for conversation. He quickly set aside his own neglected blade and set his bright eyes on Inuyasha.

"What is it?" he asked.

Inuyasha struggled to keep his tone indifferent, though the wondering was killing him. "Is it…normal…to be bombarded by mothers and their cubs for days on end?" The question sounded strange, but Mizuno treated it casually enough. In fact, he almost seemed disappointed in the question.

"Oh, that. Well, for you, I guess it would be; with the ceremony being over and all."

Inuyasha glanced away from the blade he held. Mizuno looked distracted again, and he'd flopped down onto his stomach. His green eyes dulled with boredom as they wandered along the rows of swords leaning against the cave walls.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's an Alpha thing," Mizuno explained, vaguely. Inuyasha growled irritably. Mizuno laughed. "Sorry, sorry. It's just a boring old ritual; I just don't think it's all that exciting to explain." He paused and his eyes turned to Inuyasha, he sat up. "But I guess you should probably know the details. It's about Kouga's heir."

Inuyasha frowned and tried to turn his attention back to the sword-sharpening. "Damn it."

Mizuno laughed again. "You wanted to know." He idly began to trace patterns on the cave floor.

"Give me the details, then."

Mizuno sighed, most of his interest focused on the movement of his finger. "Well, it's like this: the way the tribe works, the Alpha and his mate are obligated to choose a fairly young, eligible cub to become the Alpha of the pack later on. The chosen heir can either be the Alpha's own cub, or the cub of anyone else in the pack." The high-pitched sound of the sharpening metal stopped suddenly. Mizuno looked at Inuyasha, amused to see the half-demon's face screwed up in distaste.

He waited a moment, and delighted in hearing a distinct, "Ugh," from his companion; then he continued.

"The Alpha usually chooses their own cub over anyone else's of course," he said, "but, as is obvious, you and Kouga couldn't possibly produce a cub. So you'll probably be hounded by the rest of the pack for quite a while. I wouldn't be surprised if Kouga's been visited a few times today, too."

Inuyasha groaned. "Is there a deadline for all this nonsense?"

"Mm, you've got about sixty years, I imagine."

"Sixty?!"

For a moment, some of the sharper blades in the cave looked awfully appealing to Inuyasha.

"Well, you'd be required to raise the cub yourself from the point you chose it, so it'd need to be fairly soon. You know, before the cub…or you…get too old." Mizuno's smile was apologetic. "The pack voted on the deadline…sorry."

Finally Inuyasha set down the half-sharpened sword, abandoning his work. He was too annoyed to do a proper job.

"I don't understand why that flea-bitten bastard couldn't have just told me himself."

Mizuno frowned. "You guys haven't really talked to each other at all, have you? I mean, not since…you know, the…ceremony."

Inuyasha shook his head, producing an even deeper frown on Mizuno's face. The half demon glared at him. "What?"

"You really should communicate more. You might give the pack a really bad impression."

That got Inuyasha's full attention. His eyes got wary and his whole posture straightened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it's just…people have been talking—"

"—about what?"

Mizuno looked at Inuyasha's wide eyes. The half-breed looked incredibly nervous, and focused. In light of his companion's sudden change in attitude, Mizuno answered very cautiously, "Well…concerning the ceremony…from what people heard happening in that cave…some pack members were worried you were being overly rough with each other. And if you guys don't communicate, then…well, people might start to assume that you really want to kill each other."

The silence that preceded this urgent statement contained much relief on Inuyasha's part, and a great amount of awkwardness. Inuyasha grunted again.

"Uh-huh."

And he had been worried. Of course no one suspected a thing.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"There's no way in hell I can do this. I can't even look at you without getting sick to my stomach." Inuyasha clumped about half the furs in the room together and shoved them a suitable distance away from the wolf. He was short his haori, which lay on the pile of furs next to Kouga; who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, without his armor.

They had started to remove their clothing in an attempt to do what their bond required of them, but stopped…quickly.

"It's not like we have any choice," he grumbled at the half-demon, tossing him his haori. Inuyasha put it on immediately. "If we go out there tomorrow without having…done it…the tribe will know. Even if we lied they'd be able to smell it."

Inuyasha curled up on his set of furs, turning away from Kouga. "Well, then I'll think of a convincing way to fake it."

"Fake it?" Kouga stared at Inuyasha as though the half-breed had just sprouted antenna. "You can't fake…what the hell, mutt?"

"What else can we do?" Inuyasha snapped, turning around to face his sort of mate. "Look, if you're so eager to get off, go rut in the corner. Otherwise, shut up and let me figure out something, all right?"

Kouga grumbled a little. "Whatever you come up with, it had better be good, mutt-face."

"Trust me, it'll be better than anything you could come up with."

Kouga scowled. Inuyasha spent several minutes in silence, and Kouga quickly grew impatient. He got up and started to pace around. This did not fail to annoy Inuyasha.

"Knock it off, wolf; I told you I'm thinking of something."

"Well, you're taking too long. I don't want the pack to start getting suspicious. We're supposed to be—" Kouga swallowed down his disgust, "—mating right now. And if we don't walk out of here smelling like sweat and sex, then we'll be in trouble."

Inuyasha sat up, flexing his claws, firing a poisonous glare in Kouga's direction. "How about I beat the shit out of you, and then you can go rut in the corner. How's that sound?"

Kouga looked surprised for a second. Then he said, "As long as you're not the only one doing the beating, I think it sounds like a decent idea."

There was a pause. Inuyasha gave the wolf an incredulous stare. "Huh?"

"I'm saying we fight. It could provide a pretty convincing cover."

Intrigued and smirking, Inuyasha got to his feet. His claws twitched at the prospect of fighting. Kouga returned the smirk.

"I should give you more credit. That's not a bad idea, wolf." He cracked his knuckles; completely ready. "If we do this right, we'll be off the hook."

"Exactly."

The fight ensued then and there. Throughout the night, growls and shouts of fury and pain were mistaken by the rest of the pack for cries of ecstasy. At first everyone was pleased by the couple's unexpected enthusiasm. Their concerns originated from the sounds of ripping flesh and dripping blood, and though it was not much, they wondered if the two were becoming too rough.

The tribe awaited the next afternoon worriedly.

Kouga and Inuyasha did not sleep. What hours were not spent fighting were spent, as Inuyasha had so bitingly stated, rutting in the corner. Kouga let his impatience be known as he stroked himself at a breakneck pace, his back to Inuyasha.

"Hurry it up, mutt. We don't have any time left."

"Shut up, flea-bag; I've got a lot more to work with than you do."

The morning before they were to leave the cave was spent popping limbs back into their sockets and checking over any exposed skin. They had tried to be careful not to leave any large marks where they could be seen. The numerous claw-marks and bruises they had accumulated throughout the night had to be hidden. Though, the considerably smaller, now bluish-colored mark Inuyasha had left on Kouga's very sore collarbone, they had decided to pass off as a strange-looking love bite. The thought made them both retch, but it was better than being caught in their lie.

"Let's hope this works," Inuyasha muttered, adjusting Tetsusaiga at his hip.

They exited the cave, looking around them warily, waiting for someone to call them out. But nobody did.

'It worked,' Kouga thought. A glance out of the corner of his told him that Inuyasha was just as relieved and amazed as he was.

They had just fooled the entire pack.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Inuyasha broke out of his reverie as a hand waved in front of his face. Mizuno, apparently, was trying to get his attention. How annoying. He glared at the young wolf.

"What?"

Mizuno drew his hand back and held it protectively to his chest as though Inuyasha had bitten it. "Sorry. You looked like you were really lost in thought."

Inuyasha was going to reply, but he couldn't remember exactly how he would have responded as an older, female wolf rushed into the cave. At first he panicked and his eyes darted about for a cub. He was certain that he was facing another heir prospect; but he couldn't see a young one anywhere.

"Ah, Prince Inuyasha! I've been searching everywhere for you!" The woman sounded relieved. "Prince Kouga says he needs to see you."

This was a surprise. "What for?"

The female concentrated on this for a moment. "Umm…I don't know. He didn't say. He told me it was incredibly important, though."

Inuyasha's eyes widened. Had someone found out after all?

"All right. I'll go see him." He brushed past the woman, headed for the one place he knew Kouga would have to be. In the Alpha's Hall.

The woman and Mizuno stared after him, somewhat baffled by the urgency of his response.

Okay, so...what did you think? So, I didn't give you any smex...but, aren't Kouga and Inu just the cleverest darned demons in the world? Coming up next, what do you do when your daddy gets to be more trouble than he's worth? Vague? I hope so. Lol. But, that's in the next chapter, so don't give up on me yet! Tootles!