Author Note: (PLEASE READ)

Below is a summarized chapter of what was supposed to take place ten or so chapters after Kagome's training in the Kai Province. Originally, she was supposed to return to the village but realize the Daimyo had sent a letter to Kaede requesting Kagome's help, thus, she and Sango were supposed to team up and fight their very first demon together. But since I have no other choice but to start a new story, I decided to switch it up and just have this scene take place after Kagome is picked up from the training grounds by Yuuta. Imagine that the Daimyo sent a letter to Tsubaki instead, requesting Kagome's help. (Doing it this way gets rid of a lot of unnecessary chapters and speeds things along)

FYI- with this change, the Hell Painter will not be the first demon/human Kagome has confronted-Because Tsubaki has taken her training to a new level and was there to witness Kagome's spiritual power in action with other demons. Kagome can now wield the staff in battle, bow and arrows, can transfer spiritual power into any object, has the ability to make subjugation beads, heal wounds, ability to hide her spiritual power whenever necessary, erect barriers, and the beads around her wrist are no longer necessary to keep the sacred jewel from turning black and tainted. (I may or may not add more skills to Kagome in the new story, but if any of you readers come up with anything, please feel free to share any ideas to add onto Kagome.) :)

Idea: The Hell Painter

Summary:

After Yuuta picks Kagome up from training. Yuuta accompanies her on this mission.

Shortly after her training, Kagome is immediately summoned to the Kai Province to meet with the Takeda Family, one of the many branches. Kagome is asked to find Princess Tsuyu, who went missing two weeks ago. The only evidence left behind were beautiful scenic paintings and a love letter.

The Nurse Maid who watches over the princess explains that the princess started receiving a painting day by day, each more beautiful than the last. "There was no name signature on the work, but my lady was very pleased by the gifts. She sent me out each day to search for the nice gentleman who painted them, but I could not find anyone, no name or face. Judging by his beautiful brush strokes, he must be a well renowned painter," The maid and princess thought. "It wasn't until one day, the princess received yet another painting, but this time, there was a letter left behind."

"A letter from the princess's kidnapper?" The maid nods, and explains that "he wanted to personally meet with her, but he tried many times but the guards wouldn't allow him entry. He explained he came from a humble background and was not worthy to be seen by someone of great magnificence, but he wanted to present to her his most treasured painting, hoping it would win her favor and become his woman. The princess felt a sense of pity for the painter and realizing it would be difficult to meet with someone such as him, she decided to recklessly leave the house…" The maid wipes a tear away. "Our dear princess has always been the type to do things her own way. I'm sure she met with him, but after, he must have kidnapped her. She hasn't returned in days, and our soldiers could not find any signs. However…" The maid pulls up a beautiful silken pink kimono, holding it out to her. The maid explains she fears the worse has happened to the princess and asks for Kagome to save her and bring her back home safely.

If this was not the work of a demon, then it was obvious it was a human… A kidnap no doubt. How did security let something like this happen to their princess? Still, there was no telling if she could find the princess, especially if she wasn't dressed in her signature kimono. For all she knew, she was either dead, taken far away, or hiding amongst the villagers, locked away, raped… there were so many different scenarios that could have happened to the princess.

"If he went out of his way to bring her paintings day by day and meet with her, I doubt he's killed her. Judging by the letter, it's clear he holds a fondness for the princess. I believe she must still be alive. We should search the villages nearby. Don't let any person slip from our sight. He could be hiding in plain sight."

Kotatsu is sitting in a cave far from any villages and he is painting with his ink, the color a dark red. He uses his brush diligently against the scrolls, the sounds of crying resounding behind him in the darkness of the cave. He has a flashback:

He is hanging outside the palace walls, looking around hedges and corners to avoid the soldiers. He manages to climb over the wall and scramble to the open shoji door. He places his painting on the doorstep and quickly hides when he sees the princess cross the terrace with her maids behind her. She was beautiful, her smile, her radiance, her sweet perfume wafting towards him from the gentle breeze.

The princess notices the painting and is astounded by its beauty, looking out across her gardens curious. Who left it here? It was addressed to her. She smiles and returns to her rooms. Kotatsu smiles to himself. He made her smile, with his own creation. He would continue doing this until he could meet with her. He gets caught by the guards and beaten up by them.

Day in and day out, he continues the process, sending her a painting a day, but not leaving his name. he manages to overhear her conversation with her maid, saying how wonderful the painting was and how she would like to meet the artisan. He gets so excited by this, he decides to put his plan into action the following day.

The next day, he sends another painting, this time, with a letter addressed to her. He explained he came from a humble background and was not worthy to be seen by someone of great magnificence, but he wanted to present to her his most treasured painting, hoping it would win her favor. The princess felt a sense of pity for the painter and realizing it would be difficult to meet with him, she decides to secretly hide the letter from her maid, storing it beneath her kimonos. The next morning, she would go out and meet him.

She comes up with a plan to meet with him with her guards and maids. She would take a walk around the town and meet him on the outskirts of the village. She arrives, looking around for him, but he is nowhere to be seen. The maid asks if this artisan will appear, but she isn't sure. She waits for a while, hoping to meet with him, but as the day continues on, the sun high in the sky, she sadly leaves, believing he wouldn't show up. She returns to the palace.

Kotatsu was there all along, hidden in the bushes. He had hoped to meet her alone, but he couldn't since there were so many soldiers and eyes watching. He curses. He talks to himself about how he wanted the princess to notice him and wondered how she would react upon seeing him and his desire to have her as his own. A demon overhears him and offers to help him. He is scared at first, but he asks if there is truly a way to win the princess's favor? The demon nods, "not only that, but should you desire vengeance against anyone who has ever slighted you, then I will give you my power…."

Kotatsu is excited and wants this power. He is blinded by his desires and the demon offers up its own blood, spilling it into his ink jar. Kotatsu looks at the ink jar in surprise. "Use my blood to create your demons. Use your armies and you will certainly receive your most cherished desires." The demon will watch this all unfold from the sidelines.

Kotsatsu stares at his ink jar that night and a second letter written to the princess. He would try again. If he blatantly just attacked the palace with his ink, he wasn't sure what would happen…was it a trick? Would this ink really create his own demon army? It wouldn't backfire, right? He decides to test it out. He gets revenge on people who have bullied him over the years, people who cheated him out of money and so forth. He begins creating paintings made of hell scenes, the corpses of soldiers on the battle fields fueling his desires. His paintings become morbid and dark.

During three days. He gets a creative idea. He wants to create his ideal self. Tall, buff, long hair, fine clothes. He uses all these different inks, colors, a dab here and there of the blood to make different colors. Yes yes! This is good! No one has ever done this! he takes a blade and cuts his hand offering his blood to his new creation on the parchment.

The blood is immediately sucked up by the ink on the paper. suddenly his creation comes to life, seeping from the paper and suddenly stands before him, his hand suddenly caught inside his ink creation and he realizes it's taking more of his blood. He manages to pull away before its all taken and collapses on his butt, staring in awe at his creation. He was handsome, long hair, dark skin, black and white eyes. The more people he kills the more human he will become. His human half must be alive, cuz he feeding off the blood. Cant talk yet until it kill people and then he will start to come to life and look less of a painting.

His creation turned against him and chained him up and put him into a wooden barrel inside the cave. His creation makes several cut marks on Kotatsu's human arm and mixes his human blood with the demon ink blood. Creation pours his own ink into the barrel, kills people and pours their blood into that barrel with the blood ink and it almost submerges Kotatsu who is tied up in the barrel. The blood ink is circling through his cut on his arm, that blood is keeping the creation alive, and the painting is drinking off that. He needs to keep kotatsu alive, the ink is flowing through kotatsu's body keeping him alive. So, the creation needs to keep killing and killing to retain its form.

A few days later, no painting has arrived to the princess. She wonders why he didn't show up when he did. She decides to sneak out and see if he will be there waiting. She goes to the spot, dressed in her pink kimono. She arrives at the outskirts of the village and looks around. Its nearing sunset. She hears footsteps behind her and turns, and is grabbed from behind, her mouth muffled.

Present time now

She is tied up in the cave, looking terrified at the shriveled form of Kotatsu tied up in a barrel of blood, making moaning sounds. He is so out of it, he doesn't know she is there. She worries about this young man, not knowing it's the guy who wanted to meet her or sent her those paintings. Will she end up like him or worse?

Back to Yuuta and Kagome. They are looking for him. Imagine an epic fight scene against the creation and all the paintings that come to life. Kohatsu dies in his own creation, similar to the episode. After saving the princess, they return her to the palace, and Tsuyu is safe. She happens to be the younger sister of the present Daimyo, who was mentioned earlier in the story. Kagome later gets rewarded with silk, food, a horse, and so much more as it gets delivered to Kaede's Village.

(Like I said, this is just a brief summary of what happens after Kagome's training. All of this will be briefly mentioned in the new story and so much more.)

When I get around to posting the new story, it will be officially two months later.

I'll bring in familiar characters, some ideas from the Inuyasha Movies, Naraku and his backstory, Kagura, Kanna, and let's not forget about Souta! Like I said before, this will be a much shorter story, and I won't drag it as much as this one. xD Don't worry, Kagome and Youko will still have their first meeting! It just won't happen immediately yet, but it's also not that far away either. The chapters that come before that will make up for its brief absence. I promise. :)

I probably won't start posting the story until I have a lot of chapters prepared, but I'll likely post it on Archive of Our Own for the time being. Keep an eye out! 😊 Thank you, everyone, for enjoying this super long story.