The Angel & Wolf (being edited)

Grave

Shinto was buried 6 feet below under a tree, her favourite type of flowers placed atop her burial. Kyo sat on a makeshift swing one of the village kids had made; she stared at the grave, her eyes red and puffy from all the crying she'd done over the last two days.

She couldn't take it anymore; everything just hurt and felt numb. "Shinto...Shinto..." She sobbed into the wind before dropping to her knees. "I miss you so much." Her voice broke as she wept into the grass, the words echoing in her head like a broken record.
Kyo was never someone who liked to talk about feelings, but today had been a tough day, a hard day.

Everything seemed hopeless, and that's what killed her the most. It was her fault Shinto wasn't alive if only she hadn't been captured! Why was it always her leading her friends into danger?!

Koga watched Kyo on her knees, repeating the same thing she'd done since the angel had been buried. He knew it was hard to move on from loss; he'd lost an entire pack in the past.

But he knew better than to dwell on it; if you let it consume you, you'd never return from that bottomless feeling. So he decided to stop Kyo from destroying her psyche.

He quietly approached and stood beside Kyo, intertwining his fingers with hers. She looked up with a hushed gasp; there was a silence between them for a second before Kyo wallowed more. Roughly wrapping her arms around him.

Sobbing into his shoulder, "oh Kyo..." he embraced her. His heart ached for her, her loss, her sorrow. And the pain of living like this. But he had to be strong for her.
"It'll get easier," he murmured into her hair, letting his hand run through her soft locks.
"What?" she sobbed louder.
Koga took a deep breath before saying, "the grief will come back. The tears will start again." he tried his best to comfort her and reassure her that everything would be okay because it most certainly would not. Koga's eyes burned, but he refused to cry; Kyo needed him now. And besides, he wasn't the one who had died. That was on the angel.

Koga pulled away so that their gazes met. Kyo stared at him blankly. Her cheeks were damp with tears. He wiped them away, taking care to wipe any trace of dirt from her face. He smiled at her reassuringly as he placed his hands against her cheeks.

"You know you look adorable when your eyes are all red. Like a pouty child." He joked. Hoping for it to land nicely.

And it did.

Kyo snorted and pushed him back with a hand over her mouth trying to suppress her laughter. Koga smirked victoriously; it worked, and for a second, Kyo forgot they were supposed to be grieving.

Finally, she stared at him with a smile, a weak one, but still a smile.
"I'm glad you're here." She whispered as if speaking too loud might break something, maybe her resolve.
"Me too, even if you're such a baby about it." He teased.

<>

One who did not have someone to comfort them was Inuyasha. None of his friends knew Shinto well enough to say any words of comfort to him.

Kagome had tried, but he didn't want to hear it. He wanted her to shut up. Kagome, however, would never leave him alone until she could get something out of him.

He couldn't stand how she looked at or spoke with him, so he snapped at her. He said he'd rather she stop looking at him as if he were some lost puppy.

The schoolgirl's eyes flashed with hurt, but it did not earn him a command from the beads of subjugation around his neck. Kagome must have let it slide due to the situation, which made him feel like even more of an asshole for snapping at her.

"My misery is no excuse for my behaviour..."

Inuyasha's ears perked up at the sound of Kyo...laughing. How could the girl who was hit hardest by Shinto's death be laughing?

This irked him; he didn't know why; it just did. Inuyasha walked out of the hut towards the two wolves with anger written all over his face.

He could feel the rage bubbling inside of him, and when Kagome looked his way, she seemed a bit concerned.

Inuyasha suddenly grabbed Kyo by the scruff of her clothes and yelled in her face, "how can you be laughing when she's dead?! She was your friend!"

Koga used his willpower to remain calm as Kyo didn't know what to do. So Koga placed his hand atop the dog's and simply said.

"Let go, Inuyasha. She's done enough mourning."

Inuyasha glanced at the wolf from the side, "done enough? So she wipes her tears and laughs after like all is well?"

Koga's eyes squinted dangerously, "she laughed because I was trying to lighten the mood. She's allowed to move on."

All Inuyasha saw was red at the words move on; Koga was ready to defend Kyo from Inuyasha.

He punched the dog square in the jaw, sending his head crashing into the earth.

"Just because you miss her doesn't give you the right to act like a dick! You're not the only one that's sad she's gone!" Koga growled.

Inuyasha raised himself, spitting blood from his mouth. "You're right...I'm sorry, Kyo."

She only nodded in response.

Kagome came running over, grabbing Inuyasha's arm to help him up. "I think that's enough, Inuyasha."