Disclaimer: InuYasha belongs to Rumiko Takahasi and her publishers. No profit is made from this story. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 26 – It's a WHAT!

InuYasha marveled that once again Kagome's words seemed to be coming true. The woods which had appeared to be quite far from the plateau's edge in reality were reached before the sun had set. If there were no major obstacles the possibility of returning home could soon become a reality.

Home soon. InuYasha marveled that he actually wanted to return home. At one time it certainly would not have mattered, but now with friends like Kaede, Miroku and Sango and with little Shippo acting more and more like a son, there really was a world he wanted to return to. Actually had to return to, he was working on convincing the little bat hanyou, Shiori's mother to move to their village, Shiori's very survival would one day depend on a long term stable environment. Her mother would grow old long before the little hanyou would be ready to be on her own, just as Jinenji's was. One day soon InuYasha knew he would have to help Jinenji deal with the terrible loss of his human mother. Hell, he even looked forward to seeing his stupid brother, what the great inu daiyoukai would say about his hanyou brother's increase in power was sure to be amusing.

Noticing her mate's introspection Kagome was curious "What are you thinking about?"

InuYasha smiled and replied "Just thinking about going home and how Sesshomaru will react to my new powers."

Laughing Kagome countered "Well then, we'd best find the relic as fast as we can, get home and let you show off for your brother."

Picking up on the couple's conversation Tsuru inquired "Speaking of your brother, I was wondering about any special powers he might have that you may have inherited and can now possibly access."

Thinking for only a moment InuYasha replied "Let's see, he can fly, not only on his cloud of youki and in his true inu form, but also as a ball of pure youki energy. He's also a poison youkai in both his true and human form, in his inu form his bite can be poisonous and in his human form his claws can be poisonous. In his human form he can also extrude an energy whip from his claws and he retains part of his fur in a long ruff which he can control and use against enemies, that's all we know about, on top his immense physical strength."

Tsuru quickly countered with "Other than using your sword to channel your youki do you have any other methods of attack?"

Smirking InuYasha decided a quick demonstration was in order and turning towards a boulder and quickly channeling his power through his claws cried "Iron reaver soul stealer!" Instantly the boulder was smashed into a dozen smaller pieces.

Looking suitably impressed Tsuru gasped "That's quite impressive! More importantly you were channeling your youki without even thinking. Can you do anything else?"

Nodding InuYasha replied "Yes, if I'm bleeding I can take my blood and harden it into sharp projectiles that I can throw."

Tsuru gave a low whistle "Dam, your very blood is a weapon. I bet once you get complete control of your unbound youki you'll be able to manifest some sort of controllable weapon like your brother's whip, right now both of your attacks are ones you essentially throw, you release your youki as projectiles. That attack you just demonstrated, what did you call it – iron reaver soul stealer – try it again, but don't think about throwing your youki. Think about it streaming from your claws."

Looking doubtfully at the crane youkai InuYasha once again faced a large rock, but this time he concentrated and slowly extended his arm, fingers pointing directly at the rock. Instead of the wild arcing slashes of energy InuYasha's iron reaver soul stealer usually created, thin controllable bullets of youki energy rushed towards the target. Though the bullets of energy were much smaller than InuYasha's normal attack and only lasted a moment the result was devastating, the rock blasted apart with such force that only powder remained.

Squealing with excitement Kagome rushed to her mate's side exclaiming "Unbelievable, you've created a youki gun!" at everyone's look of confusion she added "In my time there are weapons called guns made out of metal, they fire an exploding projectile called a bullet, they're set off by black powder and can kill from a great distance. InuYasha's youki just now acted like bullets being fired from a gun."

Not exactly sure what Kagome was talking about the little princess seized on the important facts inquiring "So do you think my Yasha will be able to do that when he's older?"

Nodding Tsuru assured the little princess "As far as I can tell InuYasha and Yasha are identical in every way, along with levitating I believe Yasha will someday be able to match every feat InuYasha can perform.

Satisfied that her mate would someday achieve the same level of power as his older counterpart, the little princess focused on the immediate necessities, dinner and a good night's sleep. "That's so wonderful, but right now why don't all of you look for our dinner, while Kagome and I start a fire and smooth out the ground here so we can all get a good night's sleep!"

Laughing Kagome had to admit the little princess certainly had her priorities straight "She's right, we're getting close to our goal and a good meal and a good night's sleep will do us more good than anything else."

Pulling his older counterpart along Yasha added, though only InuYasha's hearing was sharp enough to pick it up, "It's always best to do as she says, she'll get what she wants in the end anyway, so it's best not to fight it."

At InuYasha's incredulous look the little hanyou added with a smirk "Her father decreed that she was to marry a Prince of his selection, yet here I am, her mate; as a female she was not to rule her own lands, well I doubt the King will be handing me the crown, do you?"

Nodding his head in understanding InuYasha replied "So she always gets what she wants."

Yasha's smirk grew bigger as he concluded "One way or another, and I'm just glad that I'm what what she wants."

Three days had passed and while the group traveled deeper and deeper into the dense woods that surmounted the plateau, but they seemed to be staying the same distance from the vague feeling that Kagome continued to receive.

As another day passed in fruitless pursuit the little Princess bemoaned "This is ridiculous, no matter how fast we travel towards that 'ripple' we feel, we never get any closer. It's almost like it's running away from us and if that's the case we'll never catch up!"

Kagome, who had secretly been thinking along the same lines, concurred "Think about it, this thing has got to have defenses and what better defense than to run away."

InuYasha thought a moment and added "We need to find a way to trap it in one place and I hate to say this, but we need to split up. Tsuru, Yasha and the Princess should go at it in one direction and Kagome and I should go from the other direction, then we should try and trap it in between. The point will be to trap it so it can't keep hiding from us."

"But how will we know where the others are or in what direction we should be herding it?" was Kagome's question.

Yasha smirked wiggled his puppy ears and replied "That's the easy part, InuYasha and I can hear each other even if we're miles apart."

At Kagome's frankly dubious look Yahsa added "As long as we're actively listening, we'll be able to hear each other over great distances."

"But how will we know what we're looking for?" Tsuru interjected.

Rolling his eyes InuYasha reminded the crane "That's why you will have the Princess and I will have Kagome with me. They will have to guide us and let us know when we are getting close. Hopefully once we get whatever it is trapped we'll be able to identify it as what were looking for."

As Kagome climbed onto InuYasha's back and the Little Princess mimicked her elder counterpart's actions with Yasha, InuYasha advised "Why don't you head out straight to the left while I head out right.

Several fruitless hours later InuYasha was just getting ready to call it a day. He and Yasha had been endlessly circling each other and the "ripple" which was moving in unpredictable spurts and was making abrupt directional changes.

Finally, the two hanyou managed to get into a rhythm, slowly spiraling inward, herding the vague "ripple" into a tight noose.

Suddenly, InuYasha, Kagome still perched securely on his back, burst into a small clearing just as Yasha, the Princess and Tsuru emerged from the trees on the opposite side.

Scanning the small patch of scraggly grass which covered the tiny clearing InuYasha suddenly let Kagome slip off his back as he sprang forward. Abruptly zeroing in on a particular spot of dirt he began to furiously dig.

Moments later Yasha joined his older counterpart in his digging, then after a few tense moments both hanyou seemed to convulse, hands furiously grasping at something in the dirt.

Finally, after what seemed to the others like a small eternity, InuYasha straightened up, hands grasping a small furry object.

Edging closer Kagome ventured to ask "What is it? What did you find?"

Carefully holding out his hands InuYasha displayed his prize and replied "It's a Mountain Mole youkai. No wonder we couldn't find it, it's been hiding underground running through a labyrinth of mole tunnels."

Leaning over to peer at the furry plump rodent the Princess ventured to voice the question that was on everyone's mind "But where is IT?"

"Inside I guess." was InuYasha's prompt reply.

Then before anyone could voice an objection InuYasha felt over the mole's furry stomach and, using a sharp claw to make a clean incision, popped out a small hard object. As the object left his body the mole emitted a loud squeal of outrage, wiggled free of the startled hanyou's grip, expanded to Shippo's size, and morphing into a ball of pure youki sped off into the distance radiating what sounded suspiciously like laughter.

Quickly recovering his wits Tsuru bent over InuYasha's hand and inquired "Well what is it?"

Uncurling his fingers so all to see the ultimate goal of their journey Kagome couldn't help but blurt out "It's a netsuke*!."

*Netsuke – tiny Japanese carvings originating in the 15th or 16th century which are always attached to a cord, the other end suspending a pouch or other container. The netsuke helps secure the cord to the wearer's belt/obi. They can be simple or elaborately carved out of any material including ivory and wood or made out of ceramic.