Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. But I will one day. You will all see…he will be mine…MINE….MINE!

Chapter 16: Cho the Exterminator

Giggle.

Snicker.

Cackle.

'Glare'.

Laughs.

"Alright already! I know, my hair, Ha ha, so funny. Enough is enough!"

"Makoto, I think it looks fine. It's just," giggle, "it's just a bit strange." Kagome suppressed the rest of her giggles but the others gave in. Makoto crossed his arms and flattened his ears to the side of his head to block out the sounds. "Seriously, it'll grow out soon enough anyway."

"Keh. But not before you all have a good laugh at my expense."

"Don't be so sore about it. At least this way maybe you could keep your hair somewhat in order and not all matted down. Maybe I should let Kita give InuYasha a haircut, too." Kagome joked. Shippou, Miroku, and Makoto scooted away from the hanyou.

InuYasha narrowed his eyes at Kagome. "Oi, wench! How about I get my claws to that bird's nest planted on your head!" The three men along with Kita, Tani, and Sango backed away and toward the door.

"Oh InuYasha?" Kagome said in an all too sweet voice. "Sit!"

"Kagomeeee……!" he whined from his position on the ground.

"What do you expect when I can't even get decent shampoo and conditioner! So now I'm suppose to be the perfect mate that takes care of the hut and pups while you're out kami knows where doing kami knows what and still look perfect when you get back!"

"Kagome, you know I didn't…"

"Sit!"

Miroku laughed and pointed down at the fallen hanyou. "InuYasha, my friend, you are indeed what Kagome has termed 'whipped'."

As soon as the spell had worn off Miroku was out the door with the furious inu-hanyou nipping at his heels. "Get back here Miroku! You perverted monk! I swear one more remark like that and I'll castrate you myself!"

"And you call me the perverted one! Besides, my lovely Sango would be furious if you do and you know how she gets when she is angry…"

"At least I'll die happy!"

Kagome and the others watched amused from a safe distance. The little fit ended, of course, with another 'sit' for InuYasha from Kagome and a bash to the head for Miroku courtesy of Sango and the Hiraikotsu.

"They're gonna be mad if you get caught." Hana whispered to her older sister.

"No they're not. Besides, Kirara's gonna come too. Isn't that right, Kirara?" the fire-cat mewed and looked back to where Sango was still yelling over her groaning husband. The youkai defiantly had a bad feeling about what was transpiring.

"Otou-san said you couldn't go anywhere with the boys. They're gonna hunt for youkai and they'll get in trouble, too!" Yumi insisted with an angry pout.

"Great, now Yumi's gonna tell Okaa-san."

"Not if she comes with us."

"You want to bring her along, too?"

"She can't tell Okaa-san if she goes with us, or she'll get in trouble too. I'm old enough to hunt youkai anyway. Okaa said she was your age when she started." Cho put Kirara on the ground and motioned for her sisters to follow her. "Come on Kirara! The boys won't wait long." Cho and the others made a quick stop by their hut and Cho picked up her mother's weapon, the Hiraikotsu, and tossed it heavily across her shoulder.

"Where have you been, Cho? I almost thought you had chickened out on us." A boy around seventeen was leaning against a tree with a half-smile across his face and his arms by his side. Two other boys around the same age turned around and walked up next to him.

"I told you I would be here, didn't I Kanaye?"

"And what's with the brats? Did you have to bring them along?"

"Hey!"

"Hush, Hana. I told her she could come as long as she stays out of our way. And Yumi would be a tattle-tail if we didn't bring her along, too. Now, are we going to do this or not?"

Kanaye smirked and led the way through the forest. "Otou-san said there was a bunch of serpent-youkai lurking near the village. Big, poisonous ones with big fangs and red eyes. You girls better just stay back and let us handle them."

Cho narrowed her eyes. "I can handle myself and my sisters, thank you very much. I'm a lot better than Senichi and Takai, anyway. My Okaa-san was a youkai exterminator after all."

"That doesn't mean you are. I bet you haven't even trained with that hunk of bone, much less know how to use it!"

"I do too! And I'll show you!" Cho stormed ahead of the boys, lugging the heavy weapon behind her. Hana and Yumi followed reluctantly behind her.

Shippou shook his head and also followed from a greater distance, but still close enough in case they needed his help. While the others were too busy trying too kill each other, he noticed the whispering youths and eavesdropped in on the conversation. Cho was always a headstrong female, just like Sango. And she had trained with the Hiraikotsu, but still had yet to master the finer points, and still had a few problems with the weight. Mai was never much of a warrior, at it seemed neither were Hana and Yumi, but Cho had the warriors spirit. She always trained hard.

Shippou knew that Sango and Miroku were being overprotective of Cho when they refused to let her go on youkai hunting missions with them, they had reason to be. But he knew she had what it would take, if only given the chance. That's what brought him to his current position, following a bunch of 'kids' through the forest to make sure they didn't get themselves hurt.

"And how exactly are you going to track them down?" Kanaye asked, sneaking up behind the girls.

Hana and Yumi jumped. "That's what Kirara's here for. Her senses can pick up any youkai near here." Cho looked down at the fire-cat at her feet. "Got anything yet?" Kirara mewed back at her at ran to the right. The young group followed close behind Kirara. After a few minutes passed the cat stopped, sat down, looked up at Cho, and mewed. "Good girl Kirara." Cho looked to the others. "Hana, Yumi, find a place out of the way and stay there. As for you guys, try to keep up."

Shippou smirked. She was telling them to keep up! It took all he had to keep himself from laughing. But there was no time for that now, those kids were getting into more trouble then they had bargained for. Kirara had led them to the snake youkai alright, right into a whole nest of them. It was only a matter a time before dozens of them would come crawling out of the ground. Senichi and Takai

"Where are they, Kirara?" Kirara sniffed at the ground, following a trail. She came to a small hole in the ground and started pawing at the dirt. "Senichi, Takai, you two take the sides. Kanaye will take the back and I'll be in front. Attack as soon as you see one of them."

Hana and Yumi hid behind the foliage to keep out of danger. Shippou wasn't too far away, settled in a tree where he could easily jump down if anything were to go wrong. Unsteadily, mind you, he still isn't as fond of trees as InuYasha or Makoto.

A scream came from one of the boys and Shippou focused back into the present. Senichi was lying out on the ground, grasping and pulling on the object holding his leg. One of the youkai finally came out, just a baby, and had wrapped itself around the boy's ankle. In an instant he had dropped the sword he had been wielding and started trying to unravel the creature. Kirara growled, leaping from her place at the hole to Senichi's side. She grasped the youkai between her teeth and yanked the creature away.

The snake was thrown and landed with a loud hiss. Suddenly that small section of the forest was filled with a loud hissing coming from all directions. Shippou had been afraid of this. Once one came out of the nest, they would all come out, and he was right. Before the kids could grasp their current situation, dozens of the baby youkai came from all directions. Cho swung the Hiraikotsu low to the ground, taking out a few of the creatures. Kirara transformed and gnashed at the bombardment of snakes attacking her. The boys were so far holding their own with their swords, but more and more youkai were pouring out from the nest.

A particularly big snake youkai, around nine feet long with four inches worth of fangs propped itself eye level with Cho and hissed, flicking out its tongue at the girl and swung around its hook ended tail. She pulled the Hiraikotsu out in front of her to block the attack, grabbing hold of the leather straps and flinging it toward the youkai, sucessfully making contact with the youkai and slicing it in half. Cho caught the Hiraikotsu on its return trip and threw it behind Kanaye to kill the snake lurking around his feet.

He turned just as Cho was catching the weapon and gave her a questioning look. She grinned and shrugged her shoulders. He smirked back. Shippou looked between the two and rolled his eyes. Miroku wasn't gonna like that little interaction one bit. He turned to make sure Hana and Yumi were still safe and out of the way. Kirara was now pacing in front of their hiding place and killing any of the snakes that strayed too near. Sometimes Shippou thought that fire-cat was smarter and more aware of things than she let on.

For awhile it seemed like the kids were going to succeed, until one high pitched hiss sent all the babies back to their underground nest and the group to their knees covering their ears. Kirara growled and pawed at her own more sensitive ears. Shippou shifted uneasily on his branch. Things were gonna get a bit tougher, more dangerous, now that the mother was showing up. He couldn't risk it any longer, jumping from the branch and landing behind Hana and Yumi.

"Shippou!" Yumi yelled, wrapping her arms around the kitsune's neck as tightly as she could. Hana, Cho, and the boys turned around and flinched.

"Alright, guys. You've had enough, now get out of here before the mother shows up. I'll take care of things here while all of you get back to the village." Senichi, Takai, Hana, and Yumi nodded and all but flew back toward the village, Kirara following to make sure they all got back safe.

"I can't go yet, Shippou! I want to do this. I can do this." Cho covered one of his hands with her own, dropping her weapon to the side. "Please let me do this. Kanaye and I have been training. Please?"

Shippou put on a stern face and crossed his arms, completely intending on saying 'no'. One look at her hopeful gaze and he sighed, slumping his shoulders and shaking his head. "Miroku's gonna have my hide for this you know." Cho squealed and hugged Shippou, jumping up and down. "You better pick that up and get ready if you seriously want to do this."

Cho hardened her features and picked up the Hiraikotsu, slinging back over her shoulder and joining Kanaye who held his sword out in front of him. In the distance they could here a hissing shriek as the creature got closer and closer. Then there was the sound of groaning trees and rustling bushes as the creature grew yet even closer to the two.

"Hiraikotsu!" Cho threw the heavy weapon to the sound of the noise, receiving a sheik in return and catching the leather straps just as the youkai came into view. It loomed way over the youths' heads, deadly fangs dripping with acidic venom that made the ground below sizzle. Shippou gulped and stepped back out of the way. If that girl got hurt in the least it would be a battle between Sango and Miroku to see if he was either killed by sutras or Hiraikotsu. Pft. Forget Sango and Miroku, not to mention the others, Tani, a simple human, would do much worse than any monk, or miko, hanyou, or youkai exterminator could ever do.

Kanaye was the first to charge after the youkai, holding his sword parallel to his body, hitting the underside of the snake with a loud metallic clang. The sword bounced off without so much as a tickle to the youkai. Stunned, the boy didn't notice the snake's hooked tail as it flew toward him, but luckily Cho did. She whirled the boomerang around and it easily blocked the razor sharp hook from removing Kanaye's head from his shoulders. Kanaye gave a quick smirk and nod to Cho, quickly gaining his footing and backing away from the youkai.

"It's scales are too thick, my sword can't get through."

"Then we'll have to find another way. The Hiraikotsu can block attacks against it but not much else."

"Check around, look for any weaknesses."

"Right."

Cho took careful glances as she avoided attacks from the youkai and dished out her own attacks. The snake's body was covered with those scales! How can you defeat a youkai that was covered with impenetrable armor?

"Cho! The mouth! It's that snake's only weakness!" Kanaye yelled, his sword being flailed around in the youkai's mouth as it tossed its head. The sword finally loosened and landed in the brush.

"Get your sword! I'll distract it." Cho ran up behind the youkai and pinned down its tail with the giant boomerang. The youkai hissed and turned its head, the acid venom still seeping from its fangs, dead set right on Cho. She rolled to the side to avoid one of its fangs. It attacked again and she rolled to the other side.

"I got 'em!" Kanaye had his sword in hand, sticking into the mouth of the youkai and Kanaye plunging it even deeper. A drop of venom seeped into his shoulder and he released the sword with a scream. Cho signaled him to move out of the way, aiming at the sword's handle before throwing the Hiraikotsu. Her aim was right on, one end of the boomerang hit the sword's hilt and shoved it into the back of the youkai's mouth. For a few seconds Shippou, Cho, and Kanaye wondered if it had worked. The snake youkai staggered, swaying from side to side before finally crashing to the ground.

Shippou ran out, picking the girl up off her feet in his arms in a big bear-hug. "You were great, Cho! I can't believe you actually did it!"

"Come on Shippou, I thought you had more faith in me than that." She teased.

"Any way about it, you better get back to the village for damage control. I doubt Hana and Yumi can keep silent for very long."

Cho nodded and turned to check on Kanaye. His shoulder was a little burned, but nothing too serious. "Let's get back to the village and get you to Oba-Kagome."

A/N:

:yawns: sleeeeppp….. needddd……

Truth be told, the last three chapters were add-ins. Didn't plan them at all. XDD I felt like I was kinda neglecting Sango and Miroku's kids.

Anyway…the next few chapters are big ones, back to the real subject.

As always:

www dot freewebs dot com / kachiki (underscore) tsucasa

for fanart, points, links, yadda yadda. Any idea's for more, sign the guest book or e-mail me.

Gomennasai for being so late with all these chappies. New chap will be out in two-three days tops…unless something happens….