A/N: All right…seeing as how a couple people still want this story to continue, I can keep it going for a while and explore a couple of the little things I threw in. Besides, I want to see if some of you keen eyed people caught my little hints…

Anyway, there will also be another story out soon, even if this one continues…so don't get confused. I would love to tell you guys a title, but that's usually the last thing that I end up doing when I write…

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My Only Hope
Chapter Thirty

"We have to stop…" Inuyasha coughed. "She won't quit bleeding…someone hand me her bag…"

Inutaisho glanced worriedly at her wound. He remembered having one like it after one of his battles…right before he died. The wound hadn't actually killed him, but he could have been pretty sure that it might have if Takemaru hadn't gotten to him first…

"Inuyasha…" he whispered.

"I know!" Inuyasha snapped. "I know…"

"It'll be all right." Kouga sighed.

Inuyasha took off the top half of his haori, which was soaked with his mate's blood. "Where are the twins?" he called.

Yuka cleared her throat. "Don't worry. I have them."

"Make sure they aren't harmed…" Inuyasha instructed. "Come on, Kagome…" He tilted her head up slightly. "Don't do this to me. You can't die on me…" he carefully carried her over to a nearby stream, and began to wash her wound. "God…it's bleeding even worse now…" he cursed.

"Just wrap it…quickly." Sesshoumaru commanded. "If you can slow the bleeding even a little bit, she should be able to heal herself a little better…"

"Not if she bleeds to death first!" Inuyasha snapped.

"Inu…yasha…" Kagome gasped, looking up at him. "What…happened?"

"Don't talk. Your side is bleeding badly…" Inuyasha whispered.

"I'm sorry," frowned Kagome, passing out again.

"You don't have anything to be sorry about, Kagome…" he smiled at her.

"Inuyasha, how is she doing?" Jin sighed.

Inuyasha shook his head. "She's unconscious, and she's still bleeding….She's so pale…" he shook his head. "The tenseiga won't possibly bring us back every time." He paused. "Sesshoumaru…if we end up…you know…I want you to watch after Shippo and the twins…"

"Don't dare talk like you've already given up on her!" Yuka screamed at him.

"He hasn't. That isn't what he's talking about. If Kagome was to die, he would lie shortly after. That's the way that the whole mates for life thing works…" Sesshoumaru explained.

Yuka nodded. "But…she isn't going to…"

Kagome groaned, yelping at the pain that simply breathing had caused her, and then quickly quieting. Inuyasha glanced worriedly at her for a moment, and then back at the group.

"She'll heal. It'll be a slow process…we'll have to hang out here for a while. I can't move her in this condition." He admitted. "I just hope that she doesn't lose too much more blood…."

"Have you bit her again?" Jin asked offhandedly.

Inuyasha blinked. "Excuse me?"

"She is linked to you physically and emotionally, Inuyasha. If you bite her again, not only will it strengthen your bond, but hopefully it will calm Kagome and her bleeding…"

"Bite her?" Yuka gasped.

"Demon mating ritual," Kohaku explained, shrugging.

Kouga paced. "So, she'll be all right?" he asked. "And the twins are all right?" He stopped pacing a moment, and waited for Inuyasha to nod. He stopped. "All right, then…Ayame and I are going to go get the rest of my tribe and head for the mountains to check on her tribe. We will come by the village as soon as we can…"

"That's fine…" Inuyasha agreed. "We don't need you to stay. Thank you for your help with getting my children back…" he added.

"Did you just…"

"Don't look too far into it, wolf. Just get going." Inuyasha warned.

Kouga nodded. "See you later!"

Inuyasha gently picked Kagome up, carefully laying her next to the fire that Sesshoumaru was building in the center of their camp. The twins grunted when they saw their father, but they could somehow tell that now was not the time.

Sesshoumaru, having built the fire, leaned up against the trunk of the nearest tree, and sighed deeply. Rin smiled and made a bed to the left of him.

Yuka watched Inuyasha with interest. It was true that her friend was badly injured, but she was also interested in what everyone else was talking about. Would Inuyasha simply biting Kagome help to stop the bleeding that would surely kill her? Despite the circumstances, she found that she was very curious about it all.

Toku and Taka began to whine, shaking Yuka back into reality. She rocked them slightly, and retreated into the shadows with Sesshoumaru to watch Inuyasha and Kagome.

Jin smiled. "Inutaisho, that boy of yours is pretty oblivious, isn't he?" he whispered.

Inutaisho blinked. "Huh? About what? Inuyasha knows what's going on, trust me…he values Kagome's life more than he values his own…"

"Not him. Sesshoumaru." Jin pointed. "I think he is interested in the human girl…"

Now Inutaisho's eyes really did go wide. "Ha! That'll be the day! Sesshoumaru…in love with a human…" He calmed himself slightly before finishing his sentence. "Jin…honestly…you should have heard the things he said about Inuyasha's mother…"

"People change, my friend. Sesshoumaru has a human ward now. More than seventy years have gone by since you first died, remember?"

Inutaisho nodded. "That is true. We shall see…" he nodded.

Inuyasha moved slowly so that he could pick Kagome up. She was still unconscious, and did not even call out in pain when she was moved. Inuyasha shivered in worry as he brought her closer to his body. He could hear her shallow, labored breathing, and feel her breath on him. Her body was burning with fever.

"Kagome…I hope this works…" Inuyasha whispered to his mate. He moved her hair to the side, and slowly brought his fangs down and into her neck.

He could feel warmth spread through his body, and eventually, Kagome regained her natural skin color. When he felt he had done all that he could, he pulled back, leaning up against a rock and allowing Kagome's head to rest on his chest as she slept through her pain.

Yuka gasped. "He…really bit her…"

"Yes…did you think he wasn't going to?" Sesshoumaru countered.

"But…doesn't that hurt her?" Yuka continued.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "Of course it doesn't hurt. I'd imagine it feels quite nice." The color drained from his face, and he quickly shut his mouth.

Sango nearly laughed out loud. "Miroku…did you hear what Sesshoumaru just said to Yuka?" she asked the monk, who quickly nodded.

"So, do you think Sesshoumaru and Yuka will…" he began, but Sango glared warningly at him before he could finish his thought. "Never mind, my dear Sango. If you would rather I kept my mouth shut, then I shall do so."

Sango nodded. "Well, you don't have to stop talking…just stop voicing such perverted thoughts…"

"Even if you're the one I'm thinking about?" Miroku smiled lecherously.

"Miroku!" Sango growled.

"All right…I'll be quiet…"

Yuka yawned, leaning up against the tree next to Sesshoumaru, and trying to move so that having a twin in each arm while she slept would not prove as difficult as she guessed it to be.

"I don't want Inuyasha to have to worry about them tonight," Yuka said to herself. "He has spent enough time worrying in the past few days to give a normal person heart failure…"

"Hand them here." It was Sesshoumaru.

"But you…"

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Just hand them here. You need to get your sleep. They'll be fine." Sesshoumaru took Toku and Taka from Yuka and quickly set each twin in the last place anyone would have suspected Sesshoumaru to set anything…on his tail.

Yuka blushed. "Does that hurt? Is it uncomfortable? You really don't have to do that, you know? I could manage just fine, and I…"

"It'll keep them warm. Don't worry about it. Just get some sleep." Sesshoumaru advised.

"Yeah," Jin whispered. "He definitely has a thing for that girl. I wouldn't let anything just sit on my tail like that…"

Kagome was sleeping soundly against Inuyasha's chest. Her breathing had become less labored and more rhythmic. It set Inuyasha's mind at ease that she was beginning to do better.

Kagome groaned in pain, and whispered something in her sleep that was not even audible to Inuyasha's sensitive ears.

"It's all right, Kagome. Everything will be all right. Just sleep…" Inuyasha whispered in her ear.

Soon, Inuyasha's exhaustion began to catch up with him, and, despite his resolve to stay awake, he soon drifted off to sleep. Jin, Sesshoumaru, and Inutaisho were the only three left awake.

"It has been quite a long day." Inutaisho commented.

"It's been a long year," Sesshoumaru corrected him. "You should have seen everything that was going on earlier this year. It's been so hectic…"

Jin nodded. "Yes, well, hopefully things will finally begin to calm down."

Sesshoumaru scoffed. "Calm? Here? That's almost laughable."

"You want things to calm down around here just as much, if not more so than any of us, Sesshoumaru." Inutaisho smirked.

"How so?"

Inutaisho coughed. "You're over seven hundred years old…still young as far as demons are concerned, yes, but don't you want a family of your own? Do you ever plan on finding a mate and producing an heir?"

Sesshoumaru's eyebrow rose. "Father, most female inu-youkai run away from that kind of commitment. No one wants to go through what I have sat and watched Inuyasha and Kagome suffer through in these past couple months…"

"But you do have feelings for Kagome's human friend, don't you?" Inutaisho pressed. "What about her?"

Sesshoumaru glanced up in surprise at his father's statement. "Father…she is human, and I…" Sesshoumaru paused. "I do admire her…she is a remarkable human, but…"

"Sesshoumaru…at a loss for words. Wow." Jin gasped.

"Her being human can not be your reason. You have no problems with that human girl, Rin. You've taken her in, haven't you? Or is it something other than that?" Inutaisho frowned.

"No. It is nothing of the sort." Sesshoumaru snapped, averting his eyes quickly. He was slightly worried that his father was reading this much into his thoughts.

A sudden wave of realization hit Inutaisho like a ton of bricks. "Sesshoumaru…"

"Drop it, father."

"Sesshoumaru, you have nothing to worry about. Yuka is accepting of Kagome and Inuyasha, and she is very accepting of Jin, me, and yourself. She will not condemn you. Not all humans are like that. I would have figured you had learned that since that little girl has been with you for so long…"

Sesshoumaru growled in worry as Yuka stirred in her sleep. She groaned, turned herself over, and was quiet once again. "I said drop it!" Sesshoumaru fumed. "Do you want her to hear you?"

Inuyasha scoffed. None of them had a clue how long he had been awake, nor how much of the conversation he had heard. He shifted his weight so that he could talk to his brother and father without waking Kagome.

"I see our father has struck a sensitive string, eh?" he smirked. After a short pause, he smiled. "Let me give you some advice, Sesshoumaru. If you step off of your soap box and tell her how you feel, you'll feel a lot better…"

"Marvelous advice, coming from you. It only took you three years to admit your feelings to Kagome…" Sesshoumaru countered.

Inuyasha reddened. "That was totally different!" he yelped.

"Inuyasha?" he looked down.

Kagome was staring up at him. "Kagome…are you okay?" he asked, concern dripping from his voice.

She sighed, groaned, and nodded. "I'm alive, aren't I? What happened? I remember hitting Naraku…and then…"

"He hit you pretty good before you killed him," Jin explained to her.

Kagome nodded. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I daddy? Oh, god! Are the twins all right?" she gasped.

"They're asleep." Sesshoumaru pointed, and Kagome could not help but smile.

"Thank you, Sesshoumaru."

"Don't mention it." He shrugged. "Are you feeling well enough to travel?"

Inuyasha glared at his brother, but Kagome nodded. "Yeah, I guess. We need to get out of the forest anyway…" she added worriedly.

Jin nodded in agreement. "I'll wake everyone up."

Inuyasha wrapped Kagome in a hug. "I'm glad you're feeling better today, Kagome. You scared the hell out of me yesterday, you know…" he told her.

"Sorry about that," Kagome sighed. "I couldn't feel anything. I was so angry. I can't even really remember most of it. Was I hurt that badly?" she frowned.

Inuyasha blinked. "What's important is that you are feeling much better now, and my twins are safe. My family is all right…" Inuyasha repeated more to himself than to anyone.

"We aren't in the clear yet, Inuyasha. Not until we've gotten safely back to the village…" Sango reminded him.

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A/N: Heh heh. Not really a cliffy, but I figured you guys would get it. Please review and let me know what you think!