Disclaimer: NO I do not own Inuyasha. That awesome privilege belongs to Romiko Takahashi. Thank you!

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Chapter 17: Last Hope

He was ready to rip his own hair out. His father hadn't listened to him. He hadn't really expected him to but still...

Inuyasha was back in the crappy hotel room, looking up at the ceiling while laying on a bed that was probably more disgusting than he really wanted to think about. Th cops were back, this time picking up a prostitute. From what he could hear she was running around topless and the cops were doing their best not to look at her bouncing...

Yeah.

But that didn't matter. His father hadn't listened to him and that left Inuyasha with only one other option.

His way too damned perfect brother. The lawyer extraordinaire who was no doubt going to be a judge himself in a few years. The man Inuyasha would literally rather shove bamboo shoots under his fingernails than ask for help from. Sesshomaru.


He took a deep breat, closed his eyes, and pressed the button. Sesshomaru's house was a large mansion guarded by gates that you needed to talk to someone through an intercom to get into.

"Who is it?" a very formal, very uptight voice asked.

"Delivery." Inuyasha said.

He had 'borrowed' a brown UPS truck and uniform and knew he was in even deeper shit than he had been before.

"Leave it on the door." The voice said.

"Yes, sir." Inuyasha said as the gates opened.

He drove forward and put a cap on his head. If his brother saw his face before he saw the pictures Inuyasha was screwed.

To say the boys hated each other would have been like saying a blizzard was mildly chilly.

Sesshomaru was cold when angered, like an ice storm, but Inuyasha was like a burning fire. Sesshomaru had done everything that was expected of him without any complaints, in fact he seemed to enjoy it. Inuyasha had fought every step of the way and found himself in more juvenile detention schools than actual schools. Sesshomaru thought Inuyasha was hot headed, foolish, and worthless. Inuyasha thought Sesshomaru was stuck up, high and mighty, and full of himself.

But for all his other faults, Inuyasha could admit that his brother had a fair sense of justice and a special feeling of disgust for those who warped the law. Sesshomaru would fight for Kagome because it was right and because he hated to lose.

So Inuyasha grabbed the envelope he had placed the photos in, along with a sealed letter from him asking for help, and walked to the door. Sesshomaru would see the pictures first, then he would read the letter. Inuyasha would never live down asking him for help but remembering Kagome's torn and bloody form was enough to give him the courage to put the large cardboard envelope on the ground and leave before Sesshomaru could recognize him.


Sesshomaru was sitting on his back porch, sipping tea, when his butler came forward with an envelope in his hands. His gardens were flawless and birds chirped delicately from the branches of the trees. He sat in the shadow of his home with the finest tea in the most expensive china before him.

"Package for you, sir." his butler held it out to him.

"I haven't ordered anything." Sesshomaru said without looking at him.

"It has your name on it, sir."

Without a single change in expression, Sesshomaru held out his hand and the butler placed the envelope in it.

He set down his tea and tore open the cardboard with one of his sharp claws.

He emptied the contents onto the table and his eyes narrowed.

Before him were a bunch of photographs. Scars, a bleeding girl with unfocused eyes, a filthy kitchen that would never pass inspection, and a couple of a building that looked like it should be condemned.

"Who delivered this?" He asked picking up one of the pictures of the bleeding girl. It looked like she had been eaten.

"UPS, sir."

"I meant the person." Sesshomaru said noticing an envelope amongst the pictures.

"Just a regular man, sir." his butler responded as Sesshomaru opened the piece of paper.

"Describe him." Sesshomaru said opening the letter.

"A dog demon, sir. Judging from his hair."

"You aloud my brother to get to my front door, Jaken?" Sesshomaru asked recognizing the scent that lingered on the letter.

"He said he was UPS-"

"My brother is currently enjoying a stay at Hinazuka." Sesshomaru said not taking his eyes off the letter. "Why would he be delivering me a package?"

"I didn't know it was your brother, sir." Jaken squeaked.

Sesshomaru didn't respond as he was, once again, looking at the photos. "What do you know about Hinazuka, Jaken?"

"It is a place for incurable criminal teens." Jaken said almost like a question.

"Yes. It is." Sesshomaru picked up a picture of the bleeding girl. His brother, damn him to Hell, knew Sesshomaru wouldn't be able to say no to his plea for help when he saw what was actually going on at that place. "I'm going back to work, Jaken. Get me my things."

"Yes, sir." the green imp bowed and left.


The room was dark, cast in shadows, with the only point of illumination a lamp on a dark oak desk.

Inutaisho worked late a lot, more often since his son had been sent away, so his secretary was unconcerned. Nor did she care when he requested a file on a girl he never tried. He was eccentric at times and convoluted at others.

So he sat in his office, pouring over the girls file. Despite what he had said to him, Inuyasha was still his son and if he said a girl was innocent than she was innocent.

"Kagome Higurashi." he said re-reading words he had already committed to memory. Only one count of possession and she was sent to a place it had taken Inuyasha multiple counts of assault and one count of arson to go to.

And he knew the judge that had scent her there. He, like Inutaisho, had a delinquent child, but his son couldn't get caught and he took it out on all the teenagers that passed before him.

Inutaisho bit his lip as he looked at her spotless history.

"Mr. Takahashi, Sesshomaru is on the line." his secretary told him over the intercom. "He says it's urgent. He mentioned something about photos and Inuyasha?"

"Put him through." Inutaisho said closing the file.