*Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or its characters. I do own, however, the original characters: Mayumi, Shouta, Momoko, Daisuke, Kenta, and Nanami. Using my original characters in your own stories is not permitted, unless with my consent. Thank you.

Chapter 7

Blood and Soap

"Inuyasha! Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed.

The witch snickered at the struggling, shackled Kagome. She had begun pouring various liquids from dusty vials into an ancient urn.

"This brew will empower the jewel shards to their fullest potential," the witch said. "And finally, I will become powerful enough to wipe out the disgusting race of humans in this world. And, I will be able to avenge dear mother."

The young witch pulled her hand out of her dark robes and clutched the precious amulet that hung from her neck.

"Mother, I will avenge you."

Meanwhile, back in the town, the crowd began to discuss the matters at hand vociferously.

"A human? Killed Lady Kaede?" someone cried out.

"It was not Inuyasha?" someone else wondered. "It must have been that Kagome girl then!"

"No, no! It wasn't her!" Shouta screamed. "Where is Momoko?"

Inuyasha began sniffing the ground again vigorously, and with a more positive attitude now, since his name seemed to be cleared.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing?" Shippo asked.

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to find Kagome!" he yelled. "But there isn't even a trace."

Shouta searched through the crowd to seek out Momoko's mother. Maybe she knew where Momoko was.

"Excuse me," Shouta asked the wizened lady. "Do you know where Momoko is?"

"She isn't resting in bed, my dear?"

"No, we went to visit her earlier. You see, Inuyasha picked up a scent, and..."

The crowd began roaring again, more loudly.

"Hey, wait a minute! Is that a sword he's carrying?!?" Shouta's dad wondered, noticing Inuyasha's scabbard, containing the Tetsusaiga. "Yes, it is!"

The crowd moved over, surrounding Inuyasha.

"You killed Lady Kaede!" someone yelled.

"No, I..."

Daisuke pushed through the crowd and approached Inuyasha.

"Hm. May I see that?"

"What? The Tetsusaiga?!? No way!" Inuyasha said.

"See, he did kill her!" a person shouted.

"Alright, here," Inuyasha said, and he unsheathed the Tetsusaiga.

Daisuke grabbed it, and quickly walked back to Kaede's house to examine it. The crowd rushed over to the house, and waited just outside.

"Is this gonna go on forever?" Inuyasha whined. "And where is Kagome?"

Shouta rushed out of the crowd and ran over to Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, no one knows where Momoko is! You know, the nice gossip lady? The one that tried to clear your name yesterday? Well, she seems to be gone. Her mom keeps saying that she's sick in bed, but we know she isn't!"

"Yeah, so?" Inuyasha said, not even paying attention.

"She's gone missing Inuyasha!" Shouta explained. "Just like Kagome!"

"Yeah, but I don't know this Momoko's scent anyway," Inuyasha explained. "Hey, wait a minute. Maybe..."

Inuyasha knelt down and began sniffing the ground again. He peered up occasionally to look at the noisy crowd. But then, he began running toward Momoko's house.

Meanwhile, Daisuke appeared out of Kaede's house and began speaking to the crowd.

"The sword doesn't seem to match the hard metal particle," he stated lucidly. "I don't believe it was this Inuyasha you seem to be accusing."

"Not Inuyasha?" the crowd began to wonder and talk aloud again.

Daisuke waited awhile, cleared his throat, and spoke again.

"I do not know, who, in fact, killed Lady Kaede. However, I think it is only proper to begin a burial as soon as possible for her."

The crowd talked noisily again, while Inuyasha peered inside of Momoko's house, with Shippo and Shouta, and Myoga on his shoulder.

"She isn't anywhere," Shouta said. "Weird that Lady Kaede was killed, and two people have gone missing, in only two days!"

"Yes, it is," Myoga concurred.

Inuyasha sniffed the floor everywhere carefully, and eventually picked up the same scent as the previous visit.

"Yeah, the blood," Inuyasha said. "But that other smell, what is it?"

"Is it Momoko's scent?" Shouta wondered.

"It smells like..."

Inuyasha sniffed some more and then leapt over to a wooden table. Atop of it sat flowers, a bamboo wind chime, a jar of a foamy mixture, some dry leaves, and an old folding fan. Inuyasha picked up the jar and sniffed the concoction inside.

"This is it right here! Wow, that's strong stuff," he said while recoiling. "This is what I've been smelling!"

"What?" Shippo wondered. "I wonder what it is?" he said while dipping a finger in it.

"What are you stupid? It could be poison for all we know!"

"Hm. Let me see that," Shouta asked.

Shippo handed him the jar. Shouta looked at its murky green color and felt the surface of its slimy texture.

"Hey, I know what this is!" he said. "This is just Momoko's homemade soap for cleaning clothes! We have some too at home, I think."

"Hm. This is most interesting, Lord Inuyasha!" Myoga said. "You say you can smell it everywhere?"

"Yeah. But what's the point in following its scent?"

"Think about it, Lord Inuyasha! Perhaps this scent will lead you to the missing Lady Momoko!"

"Yeah! And maybe Kagome too!" Shippo chimed in.

"Hm. Alright. Let's go."

They all agreed.

Meanwhile, the crowd decided to hold a burial.

"I guess we should do the proper thing," Shouta's dad said. "If Lady Kaede were alive, she wouldn't want us arguing like this."

"Yes," everyone agreed.

"I shall prepare her body for a burial," Daisuke told the crowd.

The crowd began to disperse at last and Daisuke began the embalming process.

Momoko's mother walked back home, and noticed that Shouta was right; Momoko was gone.

"Now where could she have gone?" her mother wondered. "Well, I guess I'd better make lunch. That daughter of mine is so hardworking; she just needs to take it easy for once. She's probably out tending the vegetables again, or something, but she always knows when it's time for lunch. She'll be back."

Shouta's dad returned home, his wife urging him to sit down and eat.

"Where is Shouta?" she asked.

"I don't know. I thought he returned here after everyone left," Shouta's dad said.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha began sniffing the air again, inhaling the strong soapy scent, and the lingering smell of dried blood.

"Over this way," he told them.

With Shippo worried, Shouta troubled, Myoga terrified; they all followed Inuyasha beyond the outskirts of the village, past the acres of prosperous vegetables, and into the darkness of the forest.

Rushing blindly, only relying on his enhanced sense of smell, Inuyasha followed the scents. Time seemed to be irrelevant, for the moon already made its appearance. The others, still following Inuyasha, were dependent on him to lead. But he was close; he knew.

"I can smell it everywhere!" he thought.

After awhile, they began to tire; their bodies trying to resist the aching fatigue. They decided to rest for a moment, with the blackness of the night and the cold wind making them shiver.

"Why are we stopping? We have to find Kagome!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Lord Inuyasha, you need your strength for whatever lies ahead," Myoga said.

"Yeah, we all need our rest," Shippo added.

"I just hope they are alright," Shouta thought.

Meanwhile, an enshrouded figure observed them from afar, prudently and patiently peering from behind an old tree.

Inuyasha stood up.

"Let's go. We have to find them."

The shadow cautiously slipped closer to them. It snuck, flowing with the shade of silhouettes, with the darkness.

Inuyasha heard it.

"What?"

Suddenly, there was an abrupt hissing noise, and soon, an overwhelming vapor was in the air, a thick tainted mist. It appeared to have a dreamlike element to it. It quickly influenced them. Inuyasha was on the verge of fainting.

"Kagome..."

Soon, they were all influenced; rendered helpless to the potent mist, and all were strewn about across the forest floor, passed out completely.

The shadowy figure came out of hiding.

"Okay," the familiar voice said. "I believe I should take you to Lady Mayumi now. She has dire plans for you."