A/N: This chapter was getting a bit longer than I usually keep them, so I'm cutting the extermination job into two chapters. Sorry about that!

A little warning that there is (non-explicit, non-main character) mention of non-con in this chapter, simply due to the nature of the youkai they're dealing with. But if you're very sensitive to that, then tread carefully. (You can skip to the end notes to see what kind of youkai it is to google it beforehand if that helps.) I kept it brief, but its aftermath is somewhat interwoven into the arc. Anyway that's enough ominous-sounding foreword for this chapter. Let the hunt begin!

The rest of the moonless night had gone smoothly. Kagome and Miroku's barrier had held firm, with only a few lesser youkai even encountering the outer edge of it to bump up by mistake. Kagome couldn't get the conversation from last night out of her head enough to be proud she'd kept them out successfully. Inuyasha had officially asked her to be his, and he her's. She suspected Miroku knew something had changed. Well, maybe it was hard to miss when Inuyasha – who never slept in his human form – let her fall asleep with her head in his lap. It's not like there were any pillows for the rocky cavern floor, but it was still far more intimate than letting her use his shoulder. Though the act also held a meaning to them that Miroku hadn't originally been there for.

Distracted by her thoughts, Kagome found it much easier to walk the rest of the trip to the village. That is, until they had to cross a rickety-looking plank bridge overlooking a chasm of bottomless mist. Inuyasha had started crossing it with barely any hesitation. Miroku followed a little more cautiously.

"Are you... sure this is safe?" she asked with trepidation in her voice.

At her question, Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at her, noticing she had yet to set foot on the structure. He gripped the ropes on either side and shook them, causing the entire bridge to sway with a mighty creak. "Seems safe to me."

Kagome backed further away from it. "Inuyasha, I swear to all the gods, if you don't knock that off-..."

Miroku, who had been on the bridge when it heaved, also seemed greatly annoyed and gave Inuyasha a warning rap over the head with his shakujou staff. "Let's not test fate, you fool."

Inuyasha sighed at both humans. "What? You want me to come back there and hold your hand?"

"Yes!" she hissed back, annoyed that he was teasing her. "Or at least stop shaking the stupid bridge!"

Miroku chose that moment to intervene. "Don't worry, Kagome-sama. I'm sure if there are any loose boards, Inuyasha will be the one to set them off."

"Hmph!"

Kagome gripped the right side rope cautiously. "I guess..." Taking a step onto the bridge, she was relieved to find it felt pretty sturdy and didn't sway with her weight. She gained enough courage after that to cross, though Inuyasha and Miroku were well on the other side before she even reached the middle. Skipping hurriedly over the last few planks, Kagome raised her arms in victory when she touched down on solid ground.

"Made it!"

"Keh, thought I was gonna die of old age before you did."

She shoved his shoulder. "Hush, you! Not all of us have hanyou jumping powers to fall back on!"

"Okay," Miroku interrupted, "enough flirting, you two. The village should be just past this valley. We should try to get there as quickly as we can."

Thankfully there were no more environmental trials before the village came into view. It was a little bigger than Kagome had expected a remote mountain village to be, but seemed normal enough, with some sprawling paddies and smoke rising into the sky from busy homes. It wasn't until they got closer that something gave her pause. She saw a similar furrow in Miroku's brow, but couldn't get a read on Inuyasha, whose back was to them.

"Inuyasha, do you... smell anything weird?" she asked slowly.

"Yeah. There are youkai scents mixed in with the humans'."

"So I was right..."

Miroku's staff jingled as he moved past her. "Let's investigate for ourselves and hear them out before we jump to any conclusions."

The village leader who greeted them was clearly not human – though he didn't seem interested in hiding that fact. His face was a tangle of brownish-grey hair that looked like a beard, but more overgrown, like it was trying to take over his whole face from where it disappeared into his mane of hair. A stern V, his lips were set like a mere slash across his face. More of a thick overbitten line than defined lips. Behind him swayed a whip-like tail that Kagome recognized as resembling a monkey's.

Inuyasha was sniffing again, and she watched as his eyes first widened, and then narrowed. Whether it was in suspicion or fascination, she couldn't be sure. Perhaps both.

"Every year, we receive a white fletched arrow from the youkai," the leader explained. "It marks the home of who is to be the next sacrificial maiden. Last time it was Shiranami-san."

The bestial man gestured to a woman in the crowd that had gathered, which Kagome assumed must be Shiranami. She looked heavily pregnant, but otherwise to be a normal human girl with no visible injuries or abnormalities.

"You get the women back?" Miroku asked in surprise.

The leader's face turned solemn in a way that gave Kagome shivers. "Yes, well... They do not want them for food. The youkai is a Kakuen."

Kagome wracked her brain, trying to think if she'd ever heard of that one. She was coming up blank, but Miroku seemed to recognize the name. "Forgive me for asking, but you also appear to be a Kakuen."

Nodding slowly, the headman went on as if just realizing elaboration was needed. "My name is Yamabiko... I and every male in this village are descendants of the Kakuen."

"All of you? It's been going on that long?"

"Yes. We cannot leave this remote village for obvious reasons, and it is said that even if we do try, we will degrade into regular monsters and give in to our latent nature. If we don't heed the sacrifice, our village will be ransacked and destroyed, and the girls taken away by force."

Looking around more closely, Kagome noticed that all the male villagers did indeed have similar monkey tails, ranging from short bobbed ones to long like Yamabiko's. All the women appeared to be regular humans.

"We finally heard that a group of exterminators had a hanyou amongst them," Yamabiko said, nodding towards Inuyasha, who stiffened. "Since we are of similarly mixed blood, we thought it would finally be a chance to call for outside help."

"You're a few years late in hearing about me," Inuyasha said suspiciously. "What took you so long?"

Yamabiko fidgeted with his hands. "I'm afraid my only answer is that news travels slow out here. We never encountered or heard of Naraku until it was long over."

"Have you ever tried to defend yourselves?" Inuyasha pried again. "If you're basically a village of hanyou, then surely you can fight off one youkai."

Miroku looked thoughtful, but Yamabiko answered again. "It's... not that simple, unfortunately. The beast can read our thoughts, which makes attacking it next to impossible."

"I think I have a pretty good grasp on the situation..." said Miroku. "If you would be so kind as to allow us a quiet spot where my friends and I can strategize. I fear we'll really need it, this time."

…

The room they were given was much more spacious than Kagome expected, but she was beginning to think they were staying the night at this rate. Inuyasha was sitting close beside her, obviously on edge from Yamabiko's story. She could only imagine how overwhelming it must be to find a secluded village of other hanyou, never mind what an awful predicament they seemed to be in. It was likely a little more personal all of a sudden.

"Miroku-sama... What exactly is a Kakuen?"

The monk heaved a troubled sigh before answering. "They are extremely rare, but occasionally you hear tales of travelers being beset upon by mononoke in the form of man-sized monkeys. They particularly target women, because... well, Kakuen are only male, you see. So their only way to procreate is to kidnap human women and violate them. Some writings depict them as being able to speak and even read minds. It seems at least that latter part is true."

Kagome felt a horrible shudder roll through her at the description. "So when the men here say they can't leave for the woods..."

"It's likely they will degrade, lose themselves, and become full Kakuen."

Silence ticked by as the group sorted through the information in their respective minds.

Then, Inuyasha spoke, sounding strained. "We never should have brought Kagome here..."

"Hey, none of us knew what type of youkai it was!" she responded.

"In any case," Miroku said quietly, "it sounds like the maiden is pre-selected by this arrow. I don't think Kagome-sama is in any extra danger just from being here."

Inuyasha glared angrily. "Oh yeah? Would you still be saying that if it were Sango?"

"Inuyasha! Stop it!" Kagome scolded. "There's no point fighting about it anyway, I'm already here."

The hanyou turned his gaze on her, staring in warning. "You're not getting involved in the fight."

"You could use me as bait! This thing sounds too dangerous to take head-on!"

"No!"

"Perhaps," Miroku cut in, "Inuyasha should be the bait."

"What?" Kagome and Inuyasha asked in unison.

"If this thing reads minds, it will naturally be attracted to a straightforward opponent like Inuyasha. Meanwhile, Kagome-sama and I have had some spiritual training and know how to clear our minds for meditation. With that tactic, we may be able to catch it off guard."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes and looked about to answer, before the sliding door peeked open, causing the trio to look towards it. Silhouetted by the light outside stood the girl from earlier, pregnant belly held in her hands. "Excuse me..."

"Shiranami-san, wasn't it?" Miroku asked.

"Yes... I'm sorry, but I overheard you all talking. I thought maybe I could help, since I've actually met the Kakuen face-to-face..."

"By all means! Please, sit down."

Shiranami did so with difficulty, but looked much more relaxed once she'd managed. "I'm happy that you have a dog youkai with you," she said, then. "As a monkey beast, the Kakuen has a natural aversion to dogs."

"We're not exactly looking to scare it away," Inuyasha sighed out gruffly.

"No, but it will at least think twice before raiding the village when it catches wind of you," the woman replied calmly. Her composure was honestly impressive, Kagome thought, considering all she'd been through as the previous sacrifice. "Your plan is good, I think. I don't think it can read more than one mind at a time. At least not without great difficulty. But I wanted to warn the miko-sama that if it manages to link to her mind, there is a drugging effect it uses so that its prey will... keep still and quiet."

Kagome swallowed thickly past her rising sympathy for this girl. "Thank you... for trying to look out for me. I'll probably only be in the battle if necessary, though."

"Only if absolutely necessary," Inuyasha chimed in. "And that ain't gonna happen."

Kagome sighed, but let out a sound of agreement. Then she addressed Shiranami again. "What about you and the baby? Are you... safe?"

"Unless we anger it into attacking the village directly, then yes. Even then, I'm sure the other villagers would protect me... They do everything to help protect and care for us sacrifices and the babies. I know that when I give birth, I'll want for nothing... and neither will she." Shiranami touched her belly hesitantly.

"Oh!" Kagome exclaimed excitedly. "You know the baby's gender? How can you tell?"

The woman's face paled a little. "I..." Then as quickly as it left, she'd masked her face back into one of placid humility. "Well, I guess I don't," she laughed, "but I'm hoping it's a girl."

"We'll go into the mountains today and kill this monster," Inuyasha put them back on track. "None of you will have to be afraid of it again."

Kagome internally praised her hanyou. He had a heroic side that came out more often than he gave himself credit for. She could only hope they'd put Shiranami and the other villagers at ease in some way until they'd exorcised this youkai once and for all.

A/N: Kakuen are pretty horrifying youkai, but barely anyone seems to know about them. I was debating which to use, but honestly a lot of Japanese folklore falls more into the ridiculous or outright funny territory as far as defeating them, and I didn't want to just make something up. I admit I wanted something hateable that people would want exorcised.

My main excuse for this chapter was I've been reading too much of the manga "Ken'en" ("Like Dogs and Monkeys"), which is about a small village of Kakuen that a priest tries to sic a Spirit Dog on, but the dog and a Kakuen child become friends instead after a mishap. It's sadly not translated into English anywhere, yet... I may have to do it myself someday, if I ever finish all my other self-inflicted projects, haha.