Deciding My Fate

Chapter 39: The Cursed Ink of the Hell-Painter (1)

Emi's pov

I didn't have any reservations or ill feelings towards Miroku, I felt bad for Miroku because he had to face the idea of death with his wind tunnel. He actually wasn't a bad person, he just flirted and was a little too handsy. In the past few days we've gotten to know him, he's asked me to bear his children and has more than once groped me. Each time he did something, I smacked him around harshly. I scrunched up my nose when I caught onto the smell of death, having a strong sense of smell sometimes really was a disadvantage. "Huh?! What's this?! Warriors defeated in battle? Looks like they were slaughtered." Shippo stated, "I really can't stand this... Everywhere we go, there's nothing but war." Kagome said, "Yeah, I can't stand it either. But I don't think this was a battle." I said, crossing my arms as I looked away from the scene. "No, this wasn't a battle." Inuyasha said, "Huh?" Kagome looked confused, "Strange... The smell... I don't smell blood at all." Inuyasha sniffed the air, I did the same and noticed he was right. This was odd, why did we not smell blood? The soldiers were all human. Miroku raised a hand in prayer, "Probably the work of some demon. And no ordinary demon at that. Which means, it probably possesses a Sacred Jewel fragment." Miroku stated, "Miroku! Let's get one thing straight! I have no intention of teaming up with you! I'm not giving you any Jewel fragments!" Inuyasha snapped, making me roll my eyes. "What you mean is...first come, first serve. Right?" Miroku asked, "Absolutely!" I shook my head at Inuyasha, "Well then, I shall take my leave. It's probably better this way." Miroku said, he then walked off and left us. I knew that he most likely would end up a step ahead of us, Miroku proved himself to be a very reliable and dependable person. "He seemed quite dependable." Shippo said, "Yeah, he does. I think he'll be good to have around though he is such a pervert." I stated, "Say, Inuyasha... Miroku is going. Huh? Where's Inuyasha?" The three of us looked around, my ears twitched and I heard a shout come from a ways away.

"Help! I'm supposed to deliver that!" A man shouted, "Is this the thing I smell?" Inuyasha questioned, the three of us arrived to see Inuyasha terrorizing this poor man. "Sit!" Kagome screamed. Inuyasha crashed flat-faced to the ground, the man took his paper and ran away. Inuyasha ran up to Kagome with a clenched fist, "Hey! What're you doing?!" Inuyasha snapped, I growled at him causing him to step back a bit. He knew that I was not going to let him disrespect her, "He's just an ordinary person! What's with you anyway?" Kagome questioned.

"At that last place, I got a whiff of ink. If I follow that scent of the ink, I'll find the demon." Inuyasha stated.

"And you kept such information from us?!"

"If we don't hurry it up, Miroku will get the Jewel fragment!" I sighed heavily, this idiot. "Oh dear... Do you dislike him that much?" Kagome quipped, sighing as she looked at Inuyasha. "Don't tell me you like his type!?" Inuyasha yelled, he took off without Kagome noticing that he left. "Very much! Nah, just joking-" Kagome finally noticed that Inuyasha was gone, "Where did he go?" I looked around and found him, pointing out where he was standing. He seemed to be thinking about something, which made me wonder what was going through his mind.

"Oh... Is that how the wind blows?"

"Listen to me, will you?!" Kagome shouted.

"He's so stupid!" Shippo said.

"Yeah, he is." I agreed, "Who are you calling stupid?!" Inuyasha snapped, "Me! Cause you are acting stupid!" Inuyasha and I started arguing which annoyed Kagome as we continued looking for what was possibly responsible for the massacre of those soldiers. We eventually found ourselves on the path of whatever Inuyasha was smelling, my ears twitched and the smell from earlier came back. Inuyasha ran off to track it down, coming across a painter who was soaking wet and I followed after him. "Inuyasha, wait!!!" I ran after him as he went after the painter who was just admiring his work. Inuyasha appeared behind the painter and grabbed his collar, I knew that he was going to do something to the guy if he didn't his questions. "Hey, I want a word with you!" He said, "Wh-what?!" The painter stammered, something about this guy made me iffy. He seemed very off and I had a feeling that things were probably going to get wild.

"Huh?! Not again!"

"That's the sixth one! He never gives up!" Shippo said. "Inuyasha, what are you doing?!" I smacked his shoulder, "Let me handle this!" He yelled, "Wh-what?! Who are you?! I'm a powerful...!" The painter paused, making me stare at him in confusion. "I'm just an ordinary artist!" He said, I shook my head in disbelief. "An artist?! Just what did you do? You reek with the smell of blood mixed with ink!" Inuyasha said, I sniffed the air and scrunched my nose when I realized that he was right. "Lemme go! Lemme go!" He struggled out of Inuyasha's grip and ran off, but Inuyasha chased after him.

"Hey, wait!"

"Inuyasha, no!"

The painter turns around and flings open his painting of a demon, the demon suddenly gains colors and enlarges into a real one. It towers over Inuyasha and I, it growled and attacked us. Inuyasha and I immediately dodged the demon, my heart pounding in my chest as I looked at the demon. There was no weapon around that I could use to keep that demon at bay, the only thing I had to use was my claws. "What?!" Kagome yelled, "A demon!" The painter sprints off into a boat and rows away, "Hey, wait! You!" I don't get it, how did this guy pull a demon out of his painting? There was no way he did that and he's solely human, there's something wrong with this guy. The demon growls and swings his weapon at Inuyasha and me, both of us dodging it. Inuyasha quickly pushed me out of the way and unsheathed Tetsuiga. "Let me handle this," He said and leaped into the air, he swung Tetsuiga downwards and sliced the demon vertically into two. "Hah! Just big in size!" Inuyasha smirked, landing gracefully on the ground in front of me. The demon falls backwards and explodes making me gasp. Black liquid bursts out of his wound, making me back up quickly as it rained down on Inuyasha. Lucky for me, I backed up enough to avoid getting any of the blood on me. "Black blood!" Shippo said, I squirmed and felt grossed out by the stench of the ink and blood. It was starting to make me feel sick to my stomach, Inuyasha didn't look too well either and I knew the stench had to be making him sick too.

"That's blood and ink!" Inuyasha fainted, causing Kagome to rush towards him as I started feeling light-headed. "His nose is too sensitive and the stench of the blood and ink got to him." Shippo explained, "Snap out of it, Inuyasha!" I nearly passed out as I made my way over to Kagome, Shippo, and Inuyasha.

"Emi, are you alright?" Kagome asked, "She must be feeling sick too. We need to get them away from this stench." Shippo said.