Title: Destined to Kill
Author: SatineSatire
Disclaimer: InuYasha and its characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. The girl belongs to me.
Author's Notes: This story is focusing on the Shichinin-tai as a group and their friendships with each other, and as such there will be no romantic pairings in this story. Thank you to Trfchan, Kitabatakeneko, and Msbbt for reading over this when it was a work in progress, and thank you especially to Tsukiko for helping me to edit and revise until the story was ready. smiles I hope to make this into an AU series, but we'll see how that goes.
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He loved the smell of burning flesh in the afternoon.
The smoke was thick around him, and the hot flames caressed his face but he was undisturbed. When had his fascination with flames started? For a moment, he paused and gently swirled the flask of flammable liquid, ignoring the screams of agony and the echo of mocking laughter that was almost certainly Jakotsu having a great time. Renkotsu had a vague memory of being a very young boy and standing in front of a fireplace, watching the flames gently sway with the breeze that snuck inside. A voice – his mother, his father, who? – telling him to get away from there, because fire is bad and…
He blinked, suddenly jolted back to the present. Smiling faintly, he shook his head and wondered at the odd times that memories chose to reveal themselves. He tipped back the flask towards his mouth, and then spat out a shower of fire towards the little hut. It looked old and rundown anyway. He shrugged. More peasants dead, what a positively tragic loss. The thought made him grin and he turned around to see how the rest of his brothers were doing.
Ginkotsu, unsurprisingly, was nearest to him and Renkotsu gave his friend a genuine smile. The part man, part machine was a disaster to look at but he was a good friend and always watched Renkotsu's back. In times of war when it was difficult to know who could be trusted, he appreciated knowing that there was loyalty and trust between them. Sometimes he became anxious and even a little suspicious of the other Shichinin-tai but he quickly dismissed those thoughts. There was a fine line between caution and paranoia and he did not want to cross it.
Renkotsu refused to contemplate death – at least not his own.
"How is it going, brother?" he greeted Ginkotsu.
"Good," the other man growled. There were splatters of blood on his upper body, and he was casually holding the handle of his axe. The blade was deeply sunk into a woman's skull, and there was blood and gore pooling around her head. He seemed disinclined to remove the axe blade from her just yet, since he had not yet seen anyone else he wanted to bury it into. The flames flared more intensely from the hut, and Ginkotsu immediately pulled back the axe and moved to put himself between the flames and his friend.
"Let's go find the others. It looks like this village is done for," Renkotsu told him, and then walked away to survey the damage. Ginkotsu nodded and followed behind him, the axe still in his hand. There were bodies littered about the dirt path with slashes that had four close parallel lines. It was obvious that this was Suikotsu's work.
"Suikotsu!" Renkotsu called out, looking around for any sign of the man with split personalities. The group was always a concerned that he would be touched by some child in pain and revert to his pathetic good-doctor side. It hadn't happened in a long time, but it was still annoying when it did because then it slowed them down.
He needn't have worried.
Suikotsu came from behind a building, licking the blood from his claws. His black spiked hair was matted with blood and there were splashes of it on his clothes and face. When he wiped at his face, he succeeded only in smearing it but seemed completely unconcerned. "What? I was busy killing someone."
"I can see that," Renkotsu replied, glancing at the gore that decorated Suikotsu's clothes. The only troubling part of being blood covered is that they would have to get their clothes cleaned and that was wearisome. It was a shame they didn't have a woman to use as a slave and do menial tasks that were beneath them. He pondered this a moment, and then remembered why they didn't. Inevitably, Mukotsu would become offended in some way by her, and then they would be treated to the corpse of some poisoned woman. "Let's go meet up with the others, and then we can find elder brother."
Suikotsu nodded and walked beside Renkotsu. He glanced at Ginkotsu who trailed a few steps behind them. "Good killing, Ginkotsu?" he asked casually.
"Gesh," the other man replied, and gave a frightening parody of a smile.
Suikotsu laughed. Deep inside him were the faint cries of a kind-hearted man pleading to be released, but he paid him no heed. The wimp needed to understand that until he accepted that he was dark and murderous, they would always be split up. What a fucking idiot. Like anyone was all goodness and light. If they truly believed it, then they were just lying to themselves; everyone had a dark side. Some rejected it – the fools – and others embraced it.
The trio found Kyoukotsu speckled with gore, dismembered bodies around him. His ever-present demonic grin was firmly in place, and he looked arrogant as usual. The ball chain he usually used was at his feet, the chain itself in his large hands. He looked over at the other men. "Do you think I, Lord Kyoukotsu, will find an oni or a demon to chew on?" he asked, though the question was not directed at anyone in particular.
Renkotsu shrugged, used to the man's arrogance by now. "Maybe when the corpses start attracting some lower demons to come feast on their remains. But in here? I doubt this village was big enough to have its own oni." He looked up at the ogre-like man. "We're going to find the others and then meet up with elder brother."
Kyoukotsu's expression did not change, but he picked up his ball chain and lumbered after them. Even more so than Ginkotsu, he stood out among the Shichinin-tai and wasn't particularly close to anyone. Still, like the others he obeyed their young leader because despite his youth, he could still tear apart anyone, regardless of their age, height, or strength.
They found Jakotsu taunting a handsome young man, who was bleeding profusely from several wounds on his chest and face. "Oh, aren't you handsome," Jakotsu breathed and leaned down to lick the blood from the man's face. This had to last. He didn't know when he would next find someone so attractive that he wanted to cut them up and feel their slick blood on his hands. "Yes, you are."
Renkotsu looked at the perverted scene with mild disgust. Honestly. "Jakotsu, stop playing around and get serious. We're done here and we just have to find Mukotsu and elder brother."
Jakotsu's head snapped around, his beautiful dark eyes wide and accusing. "You're always so mean to me! You never let me have any fun! Do I make you stop when you're reading boring shit or playing around with your fire? Well? Do I!" he demanded, dramatically getting to his feet and putting his hands on his hips. "No, because I'm considerate!"
Ginkotsu growled, and Jakotsu fixed his stare on him. "And don't you start with me either! You'd side with him no matter what! You're all against me!" When Suikotsu snickered, he too was given a baleful stare.
Renkotsu closed his eyes, and slowly counted to ten. He opened them and gazed at the huffy man before him. "Are you through?" he asked politely.
Jakotsu flicked his face up towards the sky, considering. "… yeah."
"All right then. Finish up your little game, and then we can go find Mukotsu next." Renkotsu stared, as Jakotsu suddenly had the wide-eyed expression of a child that had been caught doing something naughty. "What did you do?" he asked suspiciously.
"Me? Nothing!" Jakotsu chirped brightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about!" He took his sweet time executing the young man on the ground that had already been near death anyway. When he looked up, all of his brothers were staring at him. He fidgeted with his sword. "You're just going to get mad at me and yell at me!"
"Oh, god," Suikotsu muttered, running a hand through his black spikes.
"I will not get mad and yell at you," Renkotsu answered patiently. "Unless you don't answer me right away. Then I will be very, very angry."
Jakotsu hesitated, tugging at the hem of his yukata. "Um… well elder brother told me that he didn't like that we had to scrounge around for food and that looking for the good sake always took too long," he babbled. "So he wanted me to let some girls live so that they could serve us, and then we could kill them when they weren't useful anymore."
Renkotsu stared blankly. "… And?"
"And I forgot… And then he's going to be mad at me and I don't like when he's mad at me and you've got to help me find one woman that's still alive!" Jakotsu concluded by looking at the others with large pleading eyes, his expression sweetly hopeful.
Suikotsu laughed. "Everyone's dead, Jakotsu. You're fucked."
"Is that invitation, Suikotsu?" Jakotsu responded seductively, more out of habit than any interest. Yeah, right. First, he needed to tame that wild hair, and those green marks – What was he thinking? And the split personality? Way too much baggage there.
Suikotsu glared at him viciously. "You ever come near me and I'll cut your—"
"We'll look around while we try to find Mukotsu," Renkotsu interrupted the other man. "But you better pray, Jakotsu. You know how… sensitive Mukotsu is and any woman that you didn't kill, he probably did."
Jakotsu's shoulders slumped, but a moment later he was bouncing away ahead of the others, looking for any signs of life. It didn't take long for them to find Mukotsu standing over a woman, angrily ranting at her. The woman's eyes were unattractively bulging and she was desperately trying to pry his hands from her throat. Her lips were parted but no sound other than strangled gasps emerged. A few moments later, her struggles ceased and Mukotsu straightened, breathing heavily.
Jakotsu peered down at the woman. He wasn't a great judge of attractiveness in females but she seemed the right age for a servant. "Did you leave any of them alive, Mukotsu?"
The peculiar-looking little man looked up. "No," he said, still angry. "They fled at the sight of me. You know I can't stand it when women are so rude to me." He knew that he was not perhaps the most attractive man, but that didn't dampen his desire for women. Unfortunately, he had yet to come across one that would not cringe when seeing him. Surely there must be one out there, though… and someday he would find her.
"Yeah, women are bitches," Jakotsu agreed immediately. "I'll stick with men. Although it's so difficult to find a good one these days." He sighed. "All the good ones are taken. Or die too quickly. So unfair." He looked up when Ginkotsu came back holding two frightened women by their waists.
Renkotsu looked over and laughed. "Looks like Ginkotsu's saved your ass, Jakotsu. He's found you some women."
"I don't want them," Jakotsu retorted, offended. "What would I want with a woman? Please!" He went over to Ginkotsu and stared at the women. "This isn't going to do! They're old enough to be Bankotsu's grandmothers! Even I know there's no appeal in having someone old doing the serving! And besides, just listen to their wailing! I just want to…" His hinged sword flinched out, and one of the woman's heads flew off to land beside Mukotsu. Her lips continued to move for a moment and then her expression glazed over. The old woman that was still alive immediately clamped her mouth shut, though was unable to wholly stifle her whimpers and sobs.
"Well, that seems to be all that's available," Suikotsu shrugged. "So one woman is better than…" He paused when he heard a scraping sound coming from a small shop untouched by the fire. Gesturing for the others to be quiet, he made his way over to the shop and pushed aside the door. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he called out in a soft, deceptively gentle tone.
The young woman hiding in the back of the carpenter shop under the worktable froze immediately. There was a sheet over the table that provided some protection, but if they looked beneath the sheet, they would easily find her. She had heard the men talking outside and had been trying to crawl to escape through the back doorway. A board propped against the hall had begun to slide and she'd stopped it, but not quickly enough. Her entire body shook, and she tried to hold her breath to stifle her panting. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed fervently that he would be unable to hear her pounding heart.
Suikotsu glanced around, guessing by all the wood and tools that a carpenter had owned the shop. He saw a small sandal in the middle of the floor and drops of blood leading to a table in the back of the shop. He smiled slowly. How kind of them to leave a trail behind. Walking slowly and deliberately, he finally reached the table. He paused to draw out the terror that the hidden person was sure to be feeling.
She began to sweat when she heard someone stop right in front of her hiding spot. Her body shook uncontrollably and tears slipped down her cheeks. The silence seemed to ring in her ears and after a moment, she wanted to shriek or run or do anything just to end the horrible waiting period. Pressing her fists to her mouth, she tried to remain silent but a faint moan of terror escaped.
Suikotsu yanked the sheet off the table and glanced down. "I found another woman!" he called out to the other men. "And she's not old."
She looked up to see a feral man with green slash markings on his face. Instinctively screaming, she tried to bolt away from him. A fist with claws protruding slashed down, just missing her. She managed to reach the door but a tall… person with a curved sword blocked her passage. Scooting back frantically, she looked wildly between the person blocking the front door and the man blocking the back.
Jakotsu glanced down at the girl and made a face of disgust. "She's not old. But she looks gross. Her hair is a mess and she's all dirty! And she's bleeding all over… Oh yeah." He grinned suddenly. "I remember her. I sent my Jakotsutou to wrap around her, but then pulled it back when I saw a cute guy. I thought I killed her but I guess not." He shrugged unremorsefully. "Maybe later I'll finish the job."
Renkotsu looked over Jakotsu's shoulder. The girl really wasn't in the best shape. Her hair looked like it had once been in an updo but it had fallen and bunched to one shoulder. Her yukata was torn and blood was oozing from Jakotsutou's wounds. One gash on her ankle was bleeding onto the floor. She was deathly pale and her pupils were so enlarged that he couldn't even tell what color her eyes were. In short, she was not what he would have called attractive by any means.
But she was young, and she was alive.
"If you want to live, you'll stop that blubbering and get up," Renkotsu barked unsympathetically. "And tell us where there's food and—"
"The best sake," Jakotsu interrupted. "Elder brother doesn't like the cheap stuff because it tastes nasty."
The girl breathed unevenly and stared up in bewilderment. Her eyes darted around. Even if she could manage to kill one of them, there were several others and she would be easily killed. Fighting was not an option. If she ran, then the… man?... with the hinged sword could cut her like he did before. She winced, the pain of her wounds finally reaching her awareness. If she was quiet and obeyed them, maybe they'd let her go. At the least, it would give her time to calm down. Her senses were flooded and she was having a hard time functioning. Managing a jerky nod at the one that had spoken directly to her, she painfully got to her feet… determined to live.