[Kouga takes some time to think about the future of his life & the lives of the two remaining pack members...]
Icy blue eyes stared up at the ceiling of the cave as Kouga let his thoughts wander over the past few days; he fought back the deep sigh that wanted to come out as a result of his thoughts. He looked down to see Ginta's head on the left side of his bare chest & Hakkaku's head on the right side of his chest as the two ookami youkai slept soundly.
Hakkaku & Ginta were the only two pack members he had left after the last attack on his pack; leaving it well known that the pack would never be re-built the way he had wished it could be. He let out a quiet version of the sigh that pressed in the back of his throat, watching as Ginta's head rubbed up & down against his chest softly, followed by a soft sigh. He smiled slightly at the younger ookami youkai & ran his fingers through his comrade's hair, listening to the soft moan that came from him. He listened to his breathing to make sure it was still even & he wasn't waking him up; it was still even as he kept running his fingers through Ginta's hair.
On his right side, where Hakkaku lay, he had his arm wrapped around his other commrade in a protective way. He didn't know what he would do if he were to lose either one of these two, or hell, both. He knew he would be lost; that was a definite guarantee he didn't like to think of.
He was watched over by these two, but at the same time he watched over them; keeping them from harm's way when worse came to worse. He had to find a couple of ookami females so they could try to at least start a new pack, but over the past few years it had been hard for any ookami pack to find new females; no one knew why.
He had been thinking this over carefully & he knew that even though it went against ookami pack tradition, if they wanted a pack to get started, like it or not, they were going to have to interbreed youkai species. He knew that to start a pack, a hanyou would not work, nor would a three-quarter youkai; it had been a full-fledged youkai that was born from pairings. But to interbreed youkai species, the other species would have to understand ookami youkai traditions & pack rules; because even though it would be a different species, it would have to be considered a pack member.
He looked back up at the cave ceiling & started going over possible mixed-youkai hybrids.
Snake... Not even going to go there... Inu-erm, no... But the Inu females might be willing to help out & it could make good offspring. I'll have to get back to that thought. The ookami youkai kept going over possibilities in his mind until he had gone over ever single youkai species he knew of; only coming out with a few "maybe"s & plenty of "no"s. When he rose his head some to look at the mouth of the cave, he saw the sky getting lighter, signaling to him that the sun would be rising in a few hours & he still needed some rest.
He looked down at his two younger commrades & smiled slightly, knowing that when they woke up they would want to stay at the cave for a little while longer & he would go soft on them today. He stopped running his fingers through Ginta's hair & wrapped his arm back around him before he laid his head back against the cold floor of the cave. He sighed softly as he closed his eyes, willing himself into a deep sleep; his dreams filled with nightmare after nightmare, every one reliving the battle that took his many commrades.