A/N: Hmm…you guys are getting warmer…read to find out…and for crying out loud, please review!

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My Only Hope
Chapter Twenty-Two

"Let go of my son…" demanded Inutaisho. "Either way I'm going to kill you, but if you let him go first, I might be nice and make it quick for you…" he offered. "I knew something was wrong. Even for most demons it is practically impossible to be in two places at once."

Kagome took a step backwards as Miroku and Sango ran to her aid. She raised her bow to the air. "Why?" Kagome whispered. "Why would you do something like this?"

The group looked at the creature's face, shocked to see Hojo staring back at them. In a swirl of wind and dust, Hojo quickly transformed, and reappeared looking more normal than anyone expected. He had Inuyasha's Tesseiga in his hand, and moved it swiftly to his throat. One of Inuyasha's arms was effectively pinned behind his back, and he was bleeding heavily from some of the gashes caused by the claws that Hojo had wielded on him.

"How did you get to be like this?" demanded Kagome. "Please, Hojo…please just let Inuyasha go. I don't want to have to hurt you. I thought you were my friend…"

"Kagome!" he screamed in anger, causing her to jump. "I thought you were smarter than that! I would have thought you would have figured it out way before now! Think about it. You'll figure it out." He growled.

It took Kagome only a few seconds to realize what he must have been talking about. Her mind flashed back to that day at school, when she had unfortunately ran straight into Naraku on her way home. She gasped with realization and frowned deeply.

"You knew about that?" she nearly screamed, once again dropping her sword to the ground with a loud clunk noise. "You knew he was there! You…you let him take us?" Kagome growled. "Do you know what he tried to do?"

He laughed. "I've known about Naraku for over six months now," he revealed.

"What?"

"You see, one day I came by your house, and I happened to see Inuyasha come out of the well house carrying you. You were sleeping, but I was interested…you know, wondering what you were doing in a well house, and why you were going around with a demon…"

"Then, at school, all your friends could manage to talk about was some guy named Inuyasha. I decided to tell your mother. I thought she would want to know that her daughter was infatuated with a demon, and spent her days jumping down a well. You know what surprised me? She already knew! And not only that…but your own father was a demon…."

"Oh…she made me promise not to tell you the truth. The way I saw it, I didn't think you would want to know that you were some sort of demonic half breed…"

"Excuse me?" screamed Kagome, feeling the rage grow inside her even more.

"Kagome…calm down. Pick up your sword…" Inutaisho whispered.

Hojo frowned. "I talked to your grandfather. I figured maybe he would arrange something for us…but even he supported your love of the hanyou. It made me sick…"

"You don't have a lot of room to talk! What did you do to yourself? What did you let Naraku do?" Kagome demanded.

"Naraku…" Hojo smirked. "Yes, I met him the day after I talked to your mother…and no, you have that all wrong. Naraku did nothing to me himself. He's dead, after all…isn't he? No…others came to me for help. They knew that I knew you, and that if I showed up here, my sudden appearance would convince you to destroy that well, trapping you here and making it easier for them to kill Inuyasha so that you two won't reproduce…"

"Then what are you doing if killing Inuyasha is supposed to be their job?" demanded Miroku, his head cocked to one side.

Hojo laughed. "I have these powers on loan for a while," he smirked. "When they told me who they were after, I wanted to do it myself…"

"Let him go, Hojo!" screamed Kagome. "Don't you understand? You have his sword! Without his sword, he could change…"

"I won't give him time to change." Hojo promised.

"You can't kill him, you idiot!" screamed Inutaisho. "Do you know anything about what happens when two demons perform the mating ritual?"

"I don't think I want to hear it," he growled.

"I think you do." Replied Sango quickly. "You see, when the male bites the female, she is bonded to him for life…spiritually, emotionally, and physically…" Sango trailed off. "In other words, if you hurt Inuyasha, you hurt Kagome. If you kill Inuyasha, Kagome will die shortly after. Do you understand?"

"You're bluffing!" Hojo accused her, and Kagome became very pale. If Hojo didn't believe Sango, he might try to kill Inuyasha.

Kagome coughed. "She's telling the truth, Hojo. Why do you think my father sent my mother and I to the future?" she asked him.

"Because in the future, Kagome's father didn't exist, therefore when he died here, his dying did not affect Akira." Inutaisho explained. "Give my son back his sword before he rips your arm off…" he advised.

Hojo shook his head. "No." he glared defiantly.

There was a swish sound, and Hojo flew back and into the wall. When he opened his eyes, he had one of Kagome's arrows lodged in his chest.

Kagome ran up to Inuyasha, who, despite obvious injury, stood on his own in an effort to preserve his pride. "Inuyasha…are you all right? Take your sword…" Kagome commanded him.

"Nice shot, Kagome!" Miroku jumped.

Kagome nodded slightly. Despite the events that had just taken place, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty for shooting Hojo down. She shook the thought out of her head. He wasn't who he used to be anymore. He'd lost his mind. He was going to kill her mate. He deserved it.

Inuyasha groaned. "Damn." He frowned.

"Are you hurt?" Kagome worried.

"Yeah, but that's not our problem. Our problem is you shot him before he actually told us who juiced him up with demonic energy…"

"He said 'they' every time he mentioned something about it. That must mean that it's a group…" Inutaisho reminded.

"Rin…" Kagome whispered, picking the small girl up carefully and cradling her in her arms. "She's out cold. I wonder how long she's been unconscious like this? We need to get her back to Sesshoumaru before he starts to worry…"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Well, there isn't a lot Sesshoumaru worries about, but I think Rin definitely qualifies to go in the small category of things that he does care about…"

Kagome smiled. "She's the closest to a daughter he's got right now, Inuyasha." She reminded him, and he couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Come on," Inutaisho waved. "Let's get out of this stinky cave." He paused. "Inuyasha, how are you doing?"

"Well, I was almost beheaded by my own sword…that's a little embarrassing…but other than that I'm pretty sure I'll live. I just wish we figured out who is behind all this. I mean…I don't want something like this to happen again…"

"We'll figure it out soon enough," Inutaisho promised.

It was a while before they finally got back to the hill that was overlooking the village. Outside Kaede's hut, Sesshoumaru was perched on a log waiting for them. Kagome handed Rin to him almost immediately.

She sighed. "Rin is exhausted. I'm not sure what happened, but I'm hoping she may be able to tell us when she wakes up. Can you stay here for tonight? When Rin wakes up in the morning, I really need to talk to her."

"About what?" asked Sesshoumaru.

Kagome smiled. "Lady Kaede trained me. She taught me everything I know. I want to start teaching Rin." Kagome explained.

Sesshoumaru nodded. "All right."

Jin ran out of the hut with Akira and Izayoi close behind. "The boy…he disintegrated!" Jin reported.

"I killed him, father." Kagome nodded. "He was inside the cave with Rin. The Hojo that was here with you all was some sort of demon puppet or something. Hojo was working for whoever is after us…but I didn't get a chance to find out who it was before I took him out…"

"You killed Hojo?" Eri gasped.

Kagome nodded. "He'd lost his mind. He tried to kill Inuyasha. I had to take him down." She explained.

"We told you things can get weird around here," Inuyasha frowned.

"I'm fine." Eri smirked. "So what do we do next?"

"So what do we do next?"

"You shouldn't try to do anything anytime soon. I don't want my friends pulled into this anymore. I want to know who I can trust, and I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"Kagome?" Rin whispered, and Sesshoumaru bolted upright.

"Rin?" smiled Kagome. "How are you feeling? Do you know how brave you were in that cave with those demons? I'm proud of you…"

Rin nodded. "They tried to hurt Rin, but I told them Lord Sesshoumaru was going to come and get me, and he was going to be mad at them. They were mean."

"Rin…what did they look like? What kind of demons were they?" Inuyasha asked.

Rin shrugged. "There were many. There were panther demons, snake demons, bear demons, and a couple Rin recognized…"

Sesshoumaru's eyeballs nearly popped out of his head. "What do you mean, Rin? How did you know the demons?" he demanded.

Rin sighed. "Rin has seen some of them at Lord Sesshoumaru's castle before." She answered.

"My castle?" Sesshoumaru coughed.

"That means…"

"There are demons at my castle that are plotting against my family?" Sesshoumaru growled. "This can be taken care of very quickly." He paused a moment. "Who were they Rin? Tell me." He ordered.

Again, she shrugged. "Don't know…only seen them a couple times…" she admitted. "They don't like Rin. They don't come very often…" she sighed. "Rin doesn't like them either," she decided after a moment.

"I see," nodded Sesshoumaru.

Inutaisho frowned. "Do you think you know who it is?" he asked.

Sesshoumaru nodded again. "Oh, I know." He assured the group. "Now all I have to do is go take care of the problem. I'll be back in a couple days. Keep an eye on Rin for me. I'm going to go find out who was behind all this…and who conned the human boy into trying to do what he tried to do as well."

"You'll be all right by yourself?" his father called.

"I can handle them, father." Sesshoumaru answered quickly. "And it won't be gently, either…" he added under his breath.

"All right," Inutaisho nodded.

"Kagome…" it was Souta.

Kagome blinked several times. "Yes, Souta?" she called.

"Are you okay? You don't look like you feel well…" he frowned.

Kagome sighed. "I'm fine, Souta." She promised him. "Besides, I don't get sick, remember?"

He nodded. "But you were just sitting there staring…"

"I was only thinking, Souta…" she explained.

Inuyasha wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close, and whispered, "Kagome, what's wrong? What are you thinking about that has you so scared…and you can't use me as an excuse anymore…" he added. "Something is bothering you pretty bad. Care to explain?"

"Not in front of my mother. She'll think I'm worrying over nothing. Can we go to the meadow?" Kagome replied after a short silence.

Inuyasha blinked in confusion, but quickly nodded. "Sure…"

Kagome took a deep breath, letting it slowly out through a small circle she had formed with her lips. She sighed, glanced at Inuyasha, and began. "Inuyasha, I'm not sure I can handle all this. I mean…I'm used to the battles and everything. That's not what I'm afraid of. I'm not used to my family and friends being here, and having to worry about them. Kaede is gone. She was strong, and she could protect the village…but I'm not that strong, Inuyasha. If these guys snatched Rin, who's to say they won't go after my brother, or my friends, or Kohaku, or my mother…"

"Kagome…calm down." Inuyasha whispered. "Everything is going to be fine. You don't have to worry about this by yourself, remember? You're strong, but you can't take on everything by yourself. That's at least part of the reason why I'm here…" he reminded her.

"But Inuyasha…"

"Kagome, everything will be fine. They all knew the danger in coming here…and besides, do you think I'm going to let something happen to you, or your family for that matter?"

Kagome shook her head. "You think it'll be okay? Even after what happened to Rin?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Kagome, I trust you more than anyone on the planet, and I also think you should trust yourself." He paused. "I think you should be more worried about your safety and the safety of our pups…"

"Inuyasha…we don't have any pups yet."

"We will one day!" he replied in a whiney voice.

Kagome laughed. "Thanks, Inuyasha. I feel better now…" Kagome smiled.

"That's what I'm here for…" he grinned, hugging her.

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"We are attacking prematurely…we do not know if these pups will be as everyone says they will…and there is no way to know something such as this until the hanyou has had a pup."

"We are trying to avoid the confrontation at all!" growled the other demon. "We need to attack prematurely!" He took a deep breath. "If we allow the pups to be born, we have no idea what could happen!"

"There are no pups to worry about!" screamed the first man. "And from what I saw, the female hanyou is vulnerable! She fears for her family and friends…"

"Then we shall go after them next."

"Why! They have nothing to do with the conflict! Lord Sesshoumaru will have our heads for taking Rin from the castle anyway! Attacking again so soon would be very unwise!"

One of the panther demons hissed. "Who said we had to have your permission to do anything? You're certainly not the brains of the operation!"

"It was only a suggestion," he whispered. "We don't want to lead them straight to us…"

"If that's the case, then you just failed horribly." The group turned around to see Lord Sesshoumaru staring angrily at them.

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A/N: Told you it wasn't Naraku. Please review and let me know what you think!