Disclaimer: InuYasha and all it's characters do not belong to me.

Determined Love

Prologue

"Koga!"

"It's ok, little mutt." Shayla cried harder, struggling to break lose, but despite his fatal injuries, he held onto her as he raced across Japan. His eyes were glazed with pain, but also with a dying determination to save the one thing that mattered to them all. Until now, he had hated InuYasha, but looking into the young woman's green eyes, he saw only Kagome in her. He had teased this brat without remorse, but despite that, he saw her mother's courage and innocence, the compassion that had won over so many, including Sesshomaru.

He didn't stop until he was at the Higarashi shrine, careful to avoid Kagome's parents. They had meant to surprise them with Kagome's appearance at the right moment, but something had gone horribly wrong and it was all his fault. He had to make things right, before it was too late. This one girl, not even a half demon, was their one and only chance to save this future and the past.

Koga crashed through the door to an old shed, halting at the edge of an even older well. Everything had started here, and it would also end here. "I need you to listen to me, Shayla. Can you do that for me? There isn't a lot of time and I don't have the strength to hold out much longer."

"I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Tiredly he placed her on the edge of the well, his hands brushing aside the tears that never wouldn't stop falling. "I never wanted to tell you this, but you look so much like her that I couldn't help but say all those nasty things. I didn't want to be reminded of how much I loved her, hating your father, and envious that you were their child and not mine."

"Koga, please... I can't do this alone."

"You have to." Reaching down, he plucked the pink shards from his legs, struggling to remain conscious as he placed them in her hand and closed her fingers into a tight fist. "Use your mother's powers to hide those. It always worried them that Kagome couldn't sense the jewel when you had it, but that ability is what's going to save us now. I need you to find me in the past, help me do the right thing that I didn't do before. I have to destroy the Shikon Jewel and this future must never happen. Do you understand?"

Shayla nodded, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Koga, I'm scared."

"I know, but you're strong enough to do this." He cupped her face, a single tear sliding down his face in regret. "I never noticed how grown up you've become. Perhaps in a few more years there might have been a possibility for us. You're the key to it all, Shayla. Please, you have to stop Naraku."

"He'll find me."

"No," he whispered, brushing her lips with his own before shoving her hard into the well. Koga watched as the blue lights wrapped around her, taking her far away from the future and the terrible mistake he had made. "You have to change my mind, and that I hope doesn't get you killed." He sensed the approach of Naraku. With the remainder of his strength, he shattered the well crushing in the sides, and destroying any chance for Kagome to return to this time or for Naraku to follow after a girl rushing to change the outcome of a five hundred year old battle. None of them had thought to see if Naraku had been destroyed then and thinking they were safe, had allowed Koga to keep his two shards to rule his clan. What an idiot he had been, his vision fading as he slipped into unconsciousness and ultimately death.

Shayla sat at the bottom of the well for a long time, her heart shattered in so many pieces she didn't think it possible for her to recover. She held onto the two shards as if they were her only piece to everything she had lost in a few hours. "Koga..." Silent tears turned into loud sobs, her entire body shaking violently. In her terrible grief, she pounded her fists against the side of the well, oblivious to the pain and blood that splattered her face and ground. It hurt so much, like a fist wrapped around her heart and left behind was a gaping hole.

"I think someone's down there," she heard someone shout. Shayla didn't move or acknowledge the voices calling down to her, the hands that searched her for injuries, or the yellow eyes that only made her cry harder. She now knew that Koga had somehow pushed her back into the past, only reminding her what she had just recently lost. Shayla screamed, her cry echoing throughout the forest, and all that could hear stopped, feeling her mind numbing sorrow.

Shayla fought wildly to get free, but everything suddenly went dark when a fist drove into her chest and rendered her unconscious. "What happened to her?"

"Let's get her to Kaede's and worry about that later," InuYasha suggested. She looked no more than 17, but InuYasha had a sneaky supsicion the girl was much older than that. He felt a slight demonic aura around her, but she was definitely more human than demon. His heart reached out to her, as if seeing her cry was beyond his ability to cope with. Her clothes were similar to the ones that came from Kagome's time, not of Feudal Japan.

Kagome nodded, her trip to the future forgotten. The girl's fingers clutched tightly around something in her hand, and nothing InuYasha did could pry them open to see what it was. He finally gave up, more worried about the girl's sanity when she woke up. Everyone waited throughout the night and the next day before the girl finally woke up, but she said nothing, her eyes staring out the window.

"She reminds me of Sango after the death of her village, as if she's lost everything that mattered to her." The girl didn't appear to hear anything they said, lost in her world of loneliness and sorrow. She refused water and food, slowly withering away. The poor girl had lost the desire to live and there was little any of them could do to help her.

Just as they were about to give up on her, a whirl wind rushed into the room, stopping at Kagome's feet. "Koga," she gasped, trying to pull her hands free.

Sango gasped, watching the girl move for the first time in days. Her green eyes fell on Koga in stunned disbelief and without warning, she wrapped her arms around his waist, crying into his furred armor. "Wha..."

"Koga, just hold her," Kagome pleaded. "We found her in the well and nothing we've done until now has gotten a response."

"Who is she?"

"We don't know, but we think she's from the future."

Koga growled, but did as Kagome asked. After what seemed like an eternity, the girl finally fell asleep, tears still streaking down her face. There was blood all over her, and suddenly he froze. Was that his blood he smelled? "You said she's from the future?"

"Her clothes are from my time. She has to be," Kagome spoke.

Koga started to shake in cold terror. Who was this girl and what did she have to do with him? He smelled death and the girl's reaction to him sent a chill down his spine. "Koga?" Kagome started to ask.

"You smell it to, then?" InuYasha questioned the wolf prince.

"How can I not?" Very carefully he lifted the unconscious girl into his arms, turning towards the door. "I think I'm going to keep her for awhile."

"You're not going to hurt her are you, Koga?"

"That depends, Kagome. If she's a threat to us, I won't have a choice."

"I think we can handle one girl," InuYasha scoffed.

"Then explain why she reeks of all our blood and death! It surrounds this girl and I refuse to have her anywhere near Kagome! Besides, it's like you said. I'm the only one she's responded to since you brought her here, which is perfectly fine with me. I promise that if she's not a threat, she'll be completely safe with me, Kagome."

"But..."

"No," InuYasha growled, siding with Koga. It shocked the wolf demon and for once he didn't have a snide remark. Perhaps the mutt wasn't as stupid as he thought; InuYasha had no desire to place Kagome in danger anymore than Koga. "We've got enough to deal with Naraku lately we don't need to add her to the problem as well. Koga is more than strong enough to handle her and he isn't as likely to go easy on her if she's an enemy."

"See you later, Kagome." Just as quick as he had appeared, Koga was gone.

"You can't believe she's a danger to us," Kagome shouted.

"Do you expect me to take the chance? Something isn't right and Koga had a valid point. She's covered head to toe in our blood. Whether or not if she's the reason, we'll let Koga figure it out."