Hello! If anyone else is familiar with my other stories, welcome to my new one. If you're not, then, just welcome to this odd story. This came from an immense lack of sleep and a huge case of yaoi on the brain one night. Plus I wanted to try out something that had...political-type issues attached. It's un-betaed and I can't find anyone interested enough ((grumble)) so if anyone here has interest, don't hesitate to contact me. I would adore a beta. And, above all, please enjoy. :D

In time, Kouga had known he would regret his bold and open proposal to Kagome. He regretted it now the most as an angry tornado burst, without warning, into his tribe's territory. The guards stepped back from this force submissively, and all paused to bow respectfully as Kouga's furious father skidded to a halt in front of his son.

Kouga lowered to one knee. "Father—"

"Pup, you owe me an explanation." The elder wolf did not even attempt to suppress the growl that came from his throat. "And for the sake of your hide, it had better be a damn good one."

"Yes, sir."

In his mind, he knew he was as good as dead.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Well, I knew this would happen sooner or later," Inuyasha grumbled, while scanning a long piece of parchment in the manner of someone that obviously had no desire to be doing so, but had to anyway, and was also quite irritated with what they were reading.

"What does it say, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, peering over the hanyou's shoulder curiously.

Crawling around on the back of the parchment, Myoga read what he could of the wording on the back. "It is addressed directly to Master Inuyasha, from the castle in the Western lands. What could they possibly want?"

"They're asking about Sesshoumaru's whereabouts." Inuyasha snorted, his eyes fixed sardonically on a particular passage. "They can't find the bastard anywhere, and apparently it's been near seventeen months since they've seen him. Saying something about a meeting he's needed for…heh. He really doesn't give a damn about anything but himself."

"Sounds like someone we all know," Shippo remarked. The remark earned him a thwack on the head.

"Shut up, little runt!"

"SIT, boy!"

THUD!

Miroku calmly walked over, took the parchment from Inuyasha's twitching claws, and looked the letter over himself. "I don't understand. Why would they send this to you?" Sango stepped beside him to look at the letter just as Inuyasha picked himself up from the ground.

"Well, Inuyasha is Sesshoumaru's brother. Perhaps they figured that he was the best person to contact," she suggested lightly.

"It's more than that!" Inuyasha snatched the paper from the monk's hands. "Those bastards at the castle share Sesshoumaru's sentiments of me. If Sesshoumaru's missing, it's only expected that they would look to me as the cause." He rolled up the parchment with a huff. "Well, he ain't my responsibility. Whenever Sesshoumaru decides to get home, that's his business."

"You aren't going to reply?" Sango asked.

"Of course I'm going to reply. I'm going to tell them to get off my back!"

"How effective that will be…" Miroku muttered amusedly.

Kagome and Sango groaned as Miroku's comment managed, successfully, to enrage Inuyasha. An argument seemed inevitable—that is, until a very familiar whirlwind sped in their direction. All previous actions stopped for a moment as Kouga came to a full stop, looking solemnly at Kagome. She became puzzled. Inuyasha failed to notice the serious expression and greeted the wolf as normal.

"What're you doing here, you mangy wolf? I've got enough problems without having you around."

"Can it, mutt," Kouga snapped, though with less heat than he normally produced. This allowed Inuyasha to look carefully at the wolf's slight glower and furrowed brow, and the inuyoukai quickly became just as confused as Kagome was. "This is the last you'll see of me," Kouga continued.

"What?" Kagome was shocked. "Why?"

"I've come to tell you, formally, that I am withdrawing my proposal, and my claim on you." At this, Kouga knelt humbly on one knee.

"Wait a minute, what claim?" Inuyasha snapped. Sango stepped forward.

"Why would you do something like this so suddenly, Kouga? I thought you said you loved Kagome?"

Kouga rose again and looked at them all, considering for a moment. "Regardless of whether I do or not, it was not my place to lay a claim on her. Someone has called me on it and reprimanded me for my actions. So I withdraw it now and I apologize for the trouble it has caused you." He turned to leave, turning a farewell glance on Kagome.

"Well, see ya, fleabag!" Inuyasha turned on his heel, not particularly caring. Miroku and Sango stood quietly, puzzled. Kagome watched him for a moment, also puzzled and a little sad to see him leave. He was a good person, after all.

"Kouga, wait!" she called. Kouga stopped, having begun to gain momentum to take off. Inuyasha turned as well, grumbling about Kagome's attitude and looking slightly pained. "Kouga…" Kagome approached him. "Why can't you come see us anymore? What happened?"

"I told you. I should not have made my proposal." Kouga smiled. "But don't worry. Mutt-face can take care of you just fine, can't you, mutt?"

"Go home, bastard!" Inuyasha snapped. Kagome didn't hesitate to "sit" him.

Pressing forth with his own curiosity, Miroku also stepped toward the still saddened ookami. "If you don't mind my asking, Kouga, what is it that disallows you from pursuing Kagome?"

Kouga tensed. He looked at Kagome.

"You can tell us, Kouga," Kagome said reassuringly. "I promise we'll listen and understand." Kouga swallowed hard, still uncertain. His muscles and instincts were desperately fighting his brain and telling him to get out of there as soon as possible. His father had demanded as little contact with Kagome as possible after he gave her the news.

And Kouga didn't want to go against his father. Especially not at this time.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Once inside the Alpha's private hall, his father faced him firmly, arms folded high across his chest. He was authority, whether Kouga was Alpha of this region or not. He was formidable. Especially now, and Kouga knew he had to be cautious.

Kouga looked very much like his father. Everyone who looked at Kouga would always say so. Countless women would squeal in the young wolf's presence, saying how handsome and manly he was, just like his father.

But when you saw Taizou's powerful figure next to the smaller form of his son, there could be no comparison. Taizou's features were sterner, his eyes were darker, and he looked much less like a scrawny cub than Kouga did. Kouga was still growing, and he got a glaring reminder of that whenever his father came around. So of course, no matter what the fawning females said, Taizou was far more intimidating than his son.

"Explain, Kouga." Kouga said nothing. He had bowed his head shamefully. This did not help matters. "Explain, Kouga. What level of impudence compelled you to break your vow and propose to a human woman? Do you not honor our connection with the Western lands?" Kouga still said nothing. "Speak, boy!"

Kouga swallowed hard, but looked his father in the eye. "I have no excuse, Father."

Taizou's expression hardened further. "I see. You chose to disregard your vow, then. It means nothing to you? Betrothed, since you were a child, and this means nothing to you? Do you not value promises, Pup?"

"No! I mean…" He gave his father an insistent look, a look that meant loyalty. He would not betray his promise. "I still honor the promise I made, Father. It was my careless…infatuation that bid me to make that proposal to the woman…"

"Carelessness is no excuse, Pup. You'll have to withdraw your so-called 'claim' on this human. At once." At once. Taizou's stern way of letting Kouga know that this was not an option. It was an order. And as his son, Kouga was obligated to obey.

"Yes, sir."

"You are to have as little contact with her as possible afterwards. Understood?" Understood. This was another word of Taizou's that meant business. Kouga's fists dared not clench, no matter how infuriated he was becoming.

"Yes, sir."

"And you are to apologize formally to the Inu no Taisho's family. I will arrange a meeting with them shortly. Understood?"

The final order. Kouga had to obey. "Yes, sir."

"Good. You'll leave at once."

Kouga's heart was heavy. But he deserved this. He had known this would happen the very moment he'd proposed to Kagome.

'I just wish I didn't care about her so much now…'

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Kouga remembered his father's orders, and he felt bound by them. Yet, seeing Kagome's soft brown eyes gazing at him so reassuringly, he now felt that she deserved to know why he could not contact her anymore.

"Kagome…by proposing to you in the first place, I broke an oath that I made for my clan several years ago." He sighed. "If I were to pursue you more, I would be further dishonoring that oath and shaming my clan. I've done enough already."

"What oath is this, Kouga?" Kagome asked, her soothing voice lulling him into security and compelling him to say more.

"Since I was a small child…I have been bound by blood…in a betrothal."

Even Inuyasha faltered. Sango seemed the least surprised, and considering her knowledge of demons, one could say she had been expecting an answer like this.

"A blood-oath," she said thoughtfully. "This kind of bond is usually made between two separate demon tribes to form an alliance." She looked almost suspiciously at Kouga, as if questioning the reasoning behind it. "How old were you when this bond was formed?"

"Of legal enough age," he replied. "I was 45 years old."

'That's young for a demon…' Inuyasha got to his feet, and stepped forward, strangely mesmerized by the subject now. He ignored the bits of dirt still sticking to his clothes. If anyone had been paying attention to him right now, they would notice that he was having a hard time taking his eyes off Kouga for a reason even he didn't know.

"So it was an arranged marriage or something?" Kagome asked, copping a righteous attitude, as if it were the most appallingly unjust thing she had ever heard.

"It is very similar, but demon betrothal customs are also meant to create a sense of loyalty between the two that are intended," Miroku explained.

"That's why there must be a ceremony, to bind them in blood before they actually mate," Sango said, frowning deeply. "To break such a promise is highly shameful to both sides of the bond…"

Kouga bowed his head, before he could see Kagome's piteous eyes turned on him again. "Yes," he said. "That is why my father has arranged a meeting with my betrothed's family. I am to apologize to them formally. We leave for the Western lands tomorrow."

Inuyasha finally snapped out of his reverie. "What…did you say…?" he asked; but he had trailed off so quickly that no one seemed to hear him.

"The Western lands…why does that sound so familiar?" Shippo wondered aloud.

"The Western lands used to be controlled by the Inu no Taisho, Lord Touga," Kouga explained. "They are still considered his lands, even though he is deceased. I am betrothed to his second son."

"But that can't be!"

Three concerned faces and one considerably aggravated expression turned to Inuyasha, who had become unfathomably hysterical within the few seconds of Kouga's explanation. He was on the verge of hyperventilation. His eyes raced across the parchment that he had initially regarded with disinterest, but now seemed to be studying very closely.

"What's the matter with him?" Shippo asked.

"Inuyasha, are you alright?" Sango asked uncertainly. Kagome approached him and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Inuyasha, calm down! What's the matter?"

Inuyasha rose swiftly and marched over to Kouga until he was right in the wolf's face, and he thrust the parchment forward.

"This! This is the meeting you were talking about!"

"What?" Kouga snatched the parchment, studying it, and turning it over a couple times. His lip curled as a sign of his further irritation. "You have no idea what you're talking about." He thrust the parchment back at Inuyasha, snarling at the other, "My affairs have nothing to do with you!"

"You flea-bitten idiot! They have everything to do with me! Lord Touga was my father!"

Kouga fell to silence.

"Oh…wait, that's right," Sango said suddenly. "Since Sesshoumaru now controls the Western lands, that must mean your father once did."

"Sesshoumaru?" Kouga was beginning to panic. He looked from Sango to Inuyasha, who was staring at the parchment hopelessly; and then he looked once again to Sango.

"Sesshoumaru is Inuyasha's older brother, so that must mean…" Miroku went on, earning an incredibly distraught whine from Kouga.

"Older brother? The Inu no Taisho…?" He looked at Inuyasha. "But you…that means…"

Numerous different shocked and incredulous expressions surrounded them (except for Shippo, who was confusedly glancing around for something). They stared at each other in the same manner. Inuyasha's lips trembled as he began to form the words that neither of them really wanted to hear.

"…we're…betrothed…?"

And Shippo, still glancing around, asked, "Where did Myoga go?"

Ah...yeah...context at the end seemed a tad rushed to me. And I spent hours trying to look up Inuyasha's father's name...that's what I found on four websites, and as my four sources rule goes, that's what it is. Once again, any takers for the beta? Would be appreciated. :D Hope you enjoyed it, and I do hope you'll continue to read.