A/N: I have decided to be evil with this chapter, but you will only find out how if you read…hope you like this chapter!

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My Only Hope
Chapter Twenty-Five

"Oh, Kouga…how long has she been dead?" whispered Sesshoumaru, showing an uncharacteristic blurb of emotion. He shook his head.

He frowned. "She died right before I came and found you. She managed to make it to me before she died…"

Sesshoumaru whipped out his tenseiga. "Stand back." He commanded.

"What are you trying to do?" Kouga gasped in shock.

"What does it look like? I'm going to bring her back. Get out of the way. She may know where they headed." Sesshoumaru told him.

Kouga coughed. "Bring…her…back?"

"Now we know you can hear."

"But how?"

Sesshoumaru swung the sword several times, and after a couple seconds, Ayame gasped and slowly sat up. She looked around, confused for a moment, and tried to stand. Her legs nearly crumbled like jelly underneath her, and she fell back against the wall.

"Ayame…are you okay?" Kouga whispered.

After a moment, she nodded. "Yes…" She glanced up. "Sesshoumaru?"

"We need your help, Ayame. I need you to help us find who did this to you. Do you know where they might have gone? We have to know soon. Kagome is pregnant. They can't get to her. Kumade has corrupted them, and if they get to her, they'll…"

Ayame frowned. She didn't need to know what they would do. Kumade had told her all the details months ago. She paled. "Kouga…did you see anything?" her voice was low, and she sounded frightened.

"I saw them go the opposite direction…" Kouga pointed. "They weren't headed towards the village."

"They won't try to attack until after Kagome's pups are born…" Ayame explained. "I can get the rest of my tribe to help us, but right now, we need to get to the village." Ayame paused. "I need to apologize to Kagome…"

"She knows the truth, Ayame." Sesshoumaru told her.

Ayame sighed. "I still feel bad."

"It's okay." Kouga wrapped her in a hug. "Let's go."

"I want to help her. I used to help my grandmother with the births in our tribe." Ayame informed them.

Sesshoumaru laughed. "Well, I don't know about that…" He chuckled, coughed, and regained his composure.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ayame asked Kouga, who could only shrug.

Kagome groaned. "Get it away from me, Inuyasha! The scent is making me sick to my stomach…"

"You have to eat something," Inuyasha whined.

"I don't want any…"

"But Kagome…" Yuka frowned. "You have to eat. Please?"

"Yeah, you're eating for more than just yourself now…"

"I can't eat that!" Kagome nearly gagged. "Do we have anything else to eat?"

Akira shook her head. "Sorry, sweetie. We could get something else, but it'll take a little bit longer. Is that okay? Is there anything that you want?" She paused, waiting for a response, but got none. "Okay…animal, vegetable, or mineral?"

Kagome shrugged. "Nothing that moves…or moved…" she specified.

"That narrows it down." Eri laughed.

Izayoi gasped. "Sesshoumaru! You're back! Did you find them? Is that…Ayame?"

Kagome paled. "Ayame? Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I don't know the mechanics of it, but I'm feeling great," she reported. "I'm so sorry about all this. It wasn't supposed to happen. How have you been? Are you sure you're all right?"

"I've been better…" Kagome admitted. "But I can't wait to see them…"

"Yeah…now you just have to wait six months, right sis?" Souta grinned.

Kouga shook his head up and down quickly. "Yeah. That's not so long, is it?"

"Not really, Souta." Sango answered him. "Kagome is just very excited. You can't really blame her, can you?"

"They are going to be beautiful children, Kagome," Jin smiled. "We can't wait to meet them, either."

"I hope no one tries to hurt you or the pups," Ayame whispered. "This is all my fault. I hate that I have caused all these problems…"

"It's not your fault…it's Kumade's…and we killed him. You've done what you could, so no one can place the blame on you anymore. Trust me. The demon who held the blame is dead, so try not to think about it."

Ayame nodded.

Kagome wrapped her in a hug. "It's okay, Ayame." She whispered.

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"You aren't going to like this news…" the first demon growled.

"What is it?"

"Ayame is alive. She is with Sesshoumaru and the hanyous." The first demon said. "There is no doubt in my mind that she has already told them of our plans…are you entirely sure you want to go through with this?"

"That is exactly what we are going to do. Whether or not they know that we are coming for them is besides the point, because we will come, and they are not going to live…not if I have anything to say about it…."

The first demon nodded, bowed, and left the room.

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It was Inuyasha's birthday, and Kagome found herself nearly ready to explode in her fourth month of pregnancy. Her pups, however many there were, were very active, and insisted upon lodging their feet in her ribs, or occasionally hopping around, as if they never wanted her to keep a meal down again.

The winter was starting, and the group had stopped traveling at all since Kagome had been in her third month. Despite the fact that it was Inuyasha's birthday this particular day, Kagome was surprised when Inutaisho came out of the hut with several boxes for her, and several boxes for Inuyasha.

Kagome's eyebrow rose in confusion. "What is this for? I don't want anything! This is Inuyasha's day!" Kagome protested.

"Yes, but I thought this would be a good idea since the pups will be born soon…" Inutaisho nodded. "And don't try to argue. It was mostly Inuyasha's idea now anyway."

"What is this?" Kagome demanded.

"Open it and see." Inuyasha smirked. "I'm not going to tell you."

Kagome rolled her eyes and glanced at the packages several times before gingerly picking the first one up and slowly opening it. She was careful not to rip the paper as she pulled the box out of its wrapping.

She opened the first box, and gasped. Inside was a haori, much like the one that Inuyasha was currently wearing. Hers was different, though. It was a forest green color. Kagome stared at it in wonder for several seconds. Her mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it.

"Who?" she asked.

"Open the other one…" Inuyasha smiled.

Kagome closed her mouth, nodded, and started working on the second package. Inside this package was one baby-sized navy blue haori, and one baby-sized light blue haori. Under this were two baby blankets.

Kagome smiled. She recognized the first baby blanket as her own from her childhood. The second was one that Kagome did not immediately recognize. Her mother smiled.

Inuyasha kissed Kagome lightly on the lips. "See sweetie, we decided to turn this into a bit of a baby shower for you as well…"

"Thank you, Inuyasha…but you didn't have to…" Kagome trailed off. "This was your birthday…"

"And in two months I'm going to be a father. It's a pretty good trade off as far as I'm concerned. Sit back and relax, Kagome…we aren't exactly finished yet…"

Kagome jumped. "Inuyasha! What's that mean? Mom! Tell me you guys didn't let him…"

"Oh, they did…" Ayame nodded to her.

Miroku approached next. "Hello, Lady Kagome. If you would please get up and follow me?" He took her hand and slowly led her to the edge of the village. The others followed closely behind her. Miroku stopped outside one of the bigger huts, and turned around.

"Okay, Kagome! This is it!"

Kagome blinked. "This hut is deserted, isn't it? Why are we here?"

"Because the villagers have fixed it up. It's yours. There are three bedrooms, a living room, and…why not just look inside for yourself?"

Kagome felt the breath catch in her throat. "It's…for us?" she whispered, feeling light headed. Inuyasha steadied her, but his mouth was open as well. Apparently, this had taken him by surprise as it had Kagome.

"What did you guys do?" he gasped.

"We didn't. The villagers did it, remember?" Izayoi reminded them. "You should thank them."

"We will." Kagome nodded.

She took Inuyasha by the hand, and the two of them walked through the hut. The villagers had put in a tatami mat in Inuyasha and Kagome's room, and in the next room, there were two cradles. In the third room, Shippo's, by the look of it, was a tatami mat and several small toys. His eyes lit up, and he jumped forward in excitement. Kagome gasped.

"Thank you, guys…" she smiled. "This is great."

"We knew we all couldn't fit into Kaede's hut." Inutaisho laughed. "In fact, we're in the process of building several more huts around other areas of the village. Izayoi and I will need one, and your mother and father will need more room for Souta, and Sango and Miroku will need a place to stay…"

"Eri and I are going to stay in Kaede's hut for the time being. Besides, I don't like to stay by myself…" Yuka told her.

Kagome nodded. "That sounds lovely." She nodded. "I'm glad we'll be staying in the village."

"Well, we don't have any reason to go anywhere else now, do we?" Inuyasha smiled, wrapping Kagome in a hug. "I mean, there's no jewel to look for, Naraku is gone, and my sons are on their way…"

"Sons?" Kagome smiled playfully. "What if they are girls?" She thought about this for a moment. "I kind of hope they're girls now, just because you said that…"

Inuyasha frowned. "Aw, Kagome!" he whined.

"We'll see…" she whispered, kissing his forehead.

Akira smiled at her daughter as she sat on a log just outside the hut. Inuyasha joined her, and soon, Shippo jumped up onto his father's shoulder. Inuyasha wrapped Kagome in a hug as she shivered in the cold.

"They're good together…" Ayame whispered, and Kouga and Sesshoumaru nodded. "We can't let anything bad happen to them…" she swore. "I won't let anything bad happen to them…"

"We'll do what we can to protect them as long as the threat still exists." Kouga promised.

"I don't think things will start to get interesting until after the pups are born…" Sesshoumaru whispered. "I've said it before, but the closer she gets to the day of delivery, the more I worry about it…"

"There won't be anything to worry about if we can help it," Jin promised.

Kagome yelped. "Speaking of things to worry about…"

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A/N: Bwa ha ha ha! I will update soon…if you review…and the next chapter promises to be much longer! Hope you liked it…