01-27-10: I changed nothing :]

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You're Kinda, Sorta, Basically, Pretty Much, Always On My Mind.

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I Do Not Own Inuyasha

"Talking"

27. The Stench of Ink

"'Jewel Detector'!? Keh! I am not anyone's jewel detector! I'm not anyone's anything! If he thinks I'm giving him the jewel once it's put back together then he's wrong!" I splashed my face with water and ran my wet fingers through my hair. How stupid. I ran away after saying such embarrassing things. I shouldn't have. Now things were going to be awkward now that everyone knew. But he should have known better to either have not done those things to me or he shouldn't have called me nothing but a jewel detector. I was more then that.. wasn't I?

I sighed and stood up. Now really wasn't the time to start stupidness again. First he didn't trust me, then he thought I was weak, then I transformed, then I ran away, got sick, had that dream, and now this? I should stop it before it becomes something even worse.. stop this idiotic cycle of stress and pain.

I turned back towards the village mumbling a little song to myself. I let my mind wander through the past few months. I was so conflicted. I wanted to make life peaceful and yet it's always me who over-reacts. I'm always the one who runs away. The one who is quiet, never really speaks my mind. Why was Inuyasha's strange affectionate behaviour such a problem for me? Well of course it was strange but.. why did it have to keep bothering me.. and in my dream.. why the hell did I end up falling for him and betrayed my sister?

I rested my hand on one of the hilts of my swords. After so much time.. how come I never used these either? Why on the new moon didn't I just take Inuyasha's words as an effect from the poison and just fight off the youkai myself? I let my hands drop to my sides. Why was I still so.. human?

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"This is atrocious."

We looked upon a gruesome battle scene. Bloody and dissembled corpses lay everywhere in a lake of their own blood. There seemed to be at least 200 of them, and the rustic sent of their blood mixed with ink made me sick to my stomach.

"Their bowels were torn out without exception.. wasn't a battle was it?" Miroku mumbled to himself.

"Was it a youkai..?" Shippo squeaked holding his nose.

"Probably." I replied.

Miroku held a hand close to his face and bowed slightly. "Rest in peace." He looked toward us. "This was not the work of a low level youkai. Looks like they had a shikon fragment, doesn't it..?"

The small shard around my neck seemed to grow heavier at these words. If we could catch this demon.. then we'd get another shard.. Finally we were making some progress.

"Oi, Miroku!" Inuyasha barked. "I'll tell you this now.. I don't feel like cooperating with you. So I'm not gonna hand over the fragments."

"'First come, first serve' is what you're saying, right?" Miroku asked with a sly grin.

Inuyasha growled.

We parted shortly after. It seems the monk wasn't comfortable with the commitment of being in a group, or maybe it was because this group consisted of youkais of some sort. But whatever the reason I was sad to see him go. It was thanks to him after all that I recovered from my illness. And even if he was perverted, he provided that small distraction I needed from thinking about the situation between me and Inuyasha.

So now we ran as fast as we could, Shippo sitting comfortably in my backpack, following the scent of ink. We didn't speak.. well except for the one time we had to stop because Inuyasha had gotten too excited and attacked an innocent man carrying rolls of parchment. It turned out the man was just delivering a message, a feudal era mailman. After being sat.. a few times.. Inuyasha gave up on harassing the poor man and we went back on our way.

I didn't know what to say to him. He acted like what I said earlier never happened and really I was happy for this.. but still I wondered what he was thinking.. now and during those times. But at the same time I didn't want to know. It could turn out to be another disastrous situation and I was trying my best to avoid those.

But suddenly Inuyasha jumped off course. I growled under my breath and ran after him. He was probably at it again. Going to harass another innocent human. But I smelt the ink as well and of course I was just as curious and suspicious so really I couldn't complain.

We reached a road where a short, balding, bug eyed man was grumbling to himself, staring at a piece of parchment with a drawing of a beautiful girl on it. "Ahh.. soon she will become mine.." I heard him sigh.

Inuyasha grabbed the man by the collar, giving him his best dirty look. The man yelped and stuffed the page in his kimono.

"Hey there." Inuyasha growled. "Let's step aside and have a talk, okay?"

"Wha.. What do you want!? I.. I'm just an artist!" The man stuttered.

I walked towards him and the old artist's eyes watched me the whole time. As I got closer I noticed a familiar stench mixed in with the ink. "He reeks of human blood." I stated staring carefully at the man. Was such a human this weak capable of the murder of 200 samurai? It didn't seem likely.

"Le.. let go of me!" He shouted pulling away.

"You wont get away!" Inuyasha called after him.

The artist swung around with an evil smile and ripped his kimono shirt apart revealing a large three fingered youkai arm. The arm shot out towards us and we jumped out of the way just before we were struck. As I looked up again, the arm had emerged fully from the artist and was now a giant of a creature, dark green, with large fangs and bright yellow eyes.

"Oni..!?" Inuyasha gasped. The artist scurried into a boat at the river a few feet off. The oni was just a distraction.

I growled and ran towards the river. He wasn't going to get away. Human, youkai, oni, what ever he was, he was obviously the man we were looking for. But just as I had reached the river bank, a large golden staff came down in front of me, missing my legs by inches. I yelped in surprise and I heard Inuyasha swear behind me.

I whipped around with my hands on my swords, but Inuyasha was faster. By the time I had turned fully around the oni was destroyed with Tetsusaiga. I huffed with frustration, but it was a bad idea. The oni bled black blood and since Inuyasha had rushed right in he was now completely drenched in it.

Shippo gasped just as the scent hit me and suddenly his little fingers were covering my nose. The scent was of ink and blood, but it was fresh and very strong. I swayed dangerously on the spot but thanks to Shippo I had only gotten a small whiff and soon later the dizziness passed.. But Inuyasha unfortunately didn't have a Shippo to save him from the scent. He passed out 3 seconds later.

It was a huge annoyance and took a long time before Inuyasha was well enough to stand up again, and what else was an annoyance was carrying him a large distance to where the scent wasn't that strong anymore.. but some how little me and Shippo had managed. We were now in a village making our way to the lords house.. or was it the princess's? I wasn't really paying attention to anything but the familiar voice I heard amongst the few very unfamiliar.

"As an expression of gratitude.. Would you please bear my child?"

I sighed. "You're a disgusting man, Miroku."

The monk turned around. He was holding the princesses pale hands in his own as they knelt upon the floor. "Oh! Kaori-sama!"

"Kaori! Are you really gonna rely on this lecherous bastard, you bitch!?!?" Inuyasha shouted.

I growled and kicked him in the head. "Shut up, dog."

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"A suspicious painter, you say?"Miroku asked sipping soup from a dark red bowl.

"Well.." I replied, laying on my stomach dangling my long tail over the top of my head so I could see the snow white tip. "It wasn't like he was a youkai or anything.. but he was controlling a pretty big oni.. which came from his stomach, by the way."

"Hm.. I see.. That painter could be borrowing the power of a shikon fragment." Miroku said, thinking aloud to himself.

"Inuyasha aren't you gonna join in on the conversation?" Shippo asked from Inuyasha's shoulder. The hanyou scoffed. He had his back turned to us, sitting on the far end of the room. He'd been glaring out into the dark forest for the whole conversation, wallowing in jealousy. It was obvious it was jealousy.. the boy was practically dripping in its sent.

I sighed. "How stupid.."

"What's the matter Inuyasha?" Miroku asked.

"Shut up!" Inuyasha snapped.

"He's just jealous." I sang.

"I di.. I'm not jealous of anything!" Inuyasha shouted, turning fully around to face me.

"Is that so?" Miroku grinned. He took my hands once more, and I groaned inwardly to myself. "Then that means you, Kaori-sama, must have been searching desperately for me."

I rolled my eyes and pulled my hands from his grasp. "Well not really. You remember I knew you had a jewel shard? Well my senses were still weak after having not been used for so long and as we were passing through I sensed two more on you."

"Eh."

"Wha.." Inuyasha jumped up and stalked towards us, cracking his knuckles.

"Osuwari." I sighed.

"Kaori!" Inuyasha hissed. "Why have you kept quiet until now?!"

"I collected these on my own." Miroku stated. "Taking them would make you a thief."

"So!?"

"Uhmm.. Hoshi-dono.." A well dressed man peeked into the room, looking sweaty and nervous. I noticed his dark eyes flickered toward Inuyasha, Shippo and I, before he gulped nervously. Pssh scared of a few youkai? "About your plan to protect the princess.. have you forgotten?" The same girl from before stood beside the sweaty human looking shy and worried.

"Ah! Please don't worry!" Miroku said, a little too enthusiastically. "We'll help. We'll help."

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"Night after night, the messenger youkai appear. The princess is taken to a place she doesn't know of.." Miroku explained keeping his eyes on the pale beautiful woman before us. "So then the youkai's master, who we should defeat, is in that place. And for that purpose, the princess must be taken there again tonight."

The princess sighed.

"We'll defiantly save you, don't worry." Miroku reassured.

"Okay.."

So now we sat in a large bush staring out, waiting for something to happen. For some reason.. I felt like we were really waiting for nothing.. Miroku looked over my shoulder and noticed Inuyasha glaring into the darkness.

"Hn? Inuyasha you're going to assist in this job as well?" The monk asked.

"Keh! It's not that." Inuyasha growled back.

"The scent we picked up from the oni and the artist is here.. and it's getting stronger." I informed him. "That's really the only reason we're here.. sorry."

Miroku sighed in disappointment but said no more.

But then at that moment a large dark mass crossed the moon. I noticed the size of it.. the moon I mean. It was full.. or so it seemed to be. I guess I missed my transformation during my illness.. I hadn't really noticed it..

Something flicked the side of my head, and I glared at Inuyasha.

"You're dazing off.." He stated not looking at me. I growled silently but said nothing, and went back to the dark mass over the moon. It was a large group of oni, in the middle of the group was a large wooden carriage, much like the one Inuyasha's fake mother had been in. The group of oni stopped at the princess room and pulled her from it and into the carriage.

"Hime.." They whispered. "Come, come, tonight as well.."

End Of Chapter 27

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