InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Dial "H" for Hentai! ❯ The Smell of Blood ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

~*A/N: I first posted this a few weeks ago, but am not happy with how it turned out, so I've deleted it and am reposting the chapters as I give them a polishing. I've also downgraded the rating from R to PG-13, as the violence and language isn't as graphic as I originally thought it would be. Enjoy!*~
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha *pouts* But someday... *dreams*
Te He!


Chapter One: The Smell of Blood

All was quietly slumbering in Musashi's domain as the sun rose. Rays of sun began to filter through the trees, awakening the birds. Their early morning songs were the only sounds in the peaceful village. The villagers were beginning to arouse, yawning and stretching to banish the sleep from their stiff limbs. The group asleep in Kaede's hut was startled awake by a bloodcurdling scream. The scream quickly erupted into sobs, carried on the wind from somewhere within the village.
Inu Yasha, clutching his ears, sniffed the air. 'Blood,' he realized, 'human blood; a lot of it. And close, too.' He pulled his clawed hands from his ringing ears and noticed the blood staining them. His eyes shot open and he jumped up, quickly scanning his body for wounds or flashes of pain. Finding none, he surveyed his friends startled faces. No blood on them, either. Unless you counted Myoga, who had some on his mouth. His bloated body was a testament to how much he had fed throughout the night; he was swollen to the size of Shippo. Kagome looked at Inu Yasha, puzzled. He relaxed a little, the panic in him subsiding. Sango scanned the room and breathed a sigh of relief when she eyed hiraikotsu. It could just have been the early morning light, but Inu Yasha could swear he saw blood stains on it . . . Miroku stared confusedly at his staff in his lap. Inu Yasha thought, 'The gold looks almost red in this light.' He shook his head to dispel the thought. 'I'm seeing blood everywhere.' He turned to see Shippo cowering in Kagome's lap. Inu Yasha sniffed the air, smelling fear coming off of them all. Everyone turned and focused their eyes on Kaede as she sat up.
Kaede slowly stood, hobbling out of the hut and toward the sounds of distress. Slowly, everyone else rose and filed out of the hut, following her. A group of villagers was crowding around something, mothers quickly turning their children away and taking them into huts. The men were trying to block it from the women's views; a few women lay on the ground unconscious, others sat dumbly in shock, and one woman was bent over, vomiting, as they approached. The men's faces were grim.
"Lady Kaede!" one sobbing woman cried.
'Must be the one who screamed,' thought Sango. The woman tore herself away from her comforting husband, throwing herself into Kaede's arms.
"What is it, child? Pray, tell me?" the old priestess asked, her arms going around the sobbing woman. The woman didn't reply, only renewed her crying more vigorously.
"Lady Kaede," one of the men called. "You really should take a look at this." Kaede nodded, signaling someone to take the woman from her arms, and the men stepped back to allow her and the others. No one was prepared to see what the group of men had been concealing. Before them lay the body of a man, or at least what was once a man. The body had been bludgeoned and cut and decapitated, blood splatters everywhere. Gashes covered his torso, slicing through his clothing and exposing ripped flesh. The exposed limbs were swollen and mottled with bruises and welts. The head had been severed from the body, appearing to have been torn, not cut. It stood near to the body, held into the air by an arrow that had pierced through and was stuck into the ground. Kagome formed a mental picture of meat on a shish-kebab skewer, then shook her head to remove it.
Kaede's unprotected eye clamped shut, her lips disappearing as her mouth became a thin, white line. Inu Yasha covered his nose at the stench of blood, a disgusted look on his face. Shippo leapt into Kagome's arms, trembling and burying his face in her chest. Kagome whimpered, crumpling to her knees and clutching Shippo to her chest. Sango turned and vomited, Kirara looking up at her concernedly. Miroku doubled over, pressing his hands to his eyes, his breathing ragged.
"Inu Yasha," Kaede spoke softly, breaking the silence and forcing them to look at her instead of the grisly scene before them. "Can you smell demons nearby? Or an unfamiliar human scent?" He sniffed the air, and then the body.
"No, nothing unfamiliar. Just us, the villagers, and . . . " he trailed off, glancing at the red liquid pooling around the dead villager's body.
"As I feared," Kaede murmured, swallowing the bile that rose in her throat as she knelt to examine the body. Everyone watched in horrified amazement as she rolled the body over and even pulled the arrow from the ground to examine the head's wounds better. She removed the arrow and held it, setting the head on the chest of the body. When she was finished, she turned to the men. "Give him a proper burial. Hironobu was a good man, and deserves the same respect in death that we gave to him in life." She closed her eye and bowed her head slightly, a single tear sliding down her cheek. She wiped it away with her free hand, still clutching the arrow in the other. "You all, follow me," she said, leading them back to her hut.
Inu Yasha pulled Kagome to her feet, putting her arm around his shoulders while she clutched the trembling Shippo in her other arm. Sango and Miroku supported each other, walking with stilted steps, Kirara trailing behind them. When they entered the hut, they were all surprised to find a bloated Myoga still sleeping in the corner. "Damn flea," Inu Yasha snarled at him, releasing Kagome and stalking over to Myoga.
"Inu Yasha!" Kaede's command stopped him in mid-stride.
"What?!" he growled, "That damn flea sleeps while an innocent man lays murdered! How anyone, demon or not, could have slept through that scream . . . "
"Inu Yasha," Kaede interrupted. "All of you, please, be seated."
"Who could have done such a horrible thing?" Shippo asked, looking up at her.
"It's gotta be that damned Naraku!" Inu Yasha yelled, slamming his fist into his hand.
"I agree," nodded Miroku. "Who else would mutilate someone in this way?"
"But why?" asked Kagome innocently. "He would have no reason to destroy this man's life, other than for sport."
"That's reason enough for a demon like him," mumbled Inu Yasha.
"To scare us, Kagome. To enrage Inu Yasha, even. That beast thrives by hurting others," Sango replied, hate in her eyes. Kagome stared fixedly at the ashes of last night's fire.
"I do not believe it was Naraku," Kaede spoke, all eyes focusing on her.
A muffled grunt came from the corner, followed by a yawn and a sigh. They all turned to see Myoga blinking back at them, his eyes still sleepy. "Wha-What are you all looking at me like that for?" Inu Yasha rose and stomped over to him, picking up the engorged flea by the head and growling at him, nose to nose. "Muh-muh-muh-my lord?" Myoga stammered. *Sweat drop* Inu Yasha growled again, throwing Myoga against the wall and storming back to his seat. Myoga slid down the wall to the floor, his head spinning, 'What'd I do now?'
Kaede cleared her throat, "As I was saying, I don't believe it was Naraku who killed Hironobu."
"Who's Hironobu?" Myoga asked, rubbing his head, earning himself hateful glances from them all and another growl from Inu Yasha.
"Why not Naraku, Kaede? Whom do you believe did it then?" Kagome asked, returning everyone's attention to the priestess.
"Because, Inu Yasha would have picked up his smell immediately. I even asked him if he smelled anyone unusual. His reply confirmed my suspicions. This man was killed by human hands." They all gasped. She shot a glance at Inu Yasha. "Or possibly hanyou . . . " Their heads all snapped to look at the startled Inu Yasha. "Or maybe even youkai," Kaede finished, turning to look at Myoga. They all followed her eyes, glaring at the flea demon.
He looked at them all, eyes wide, and stuttered, "Muh-muh-muh-muh-me?! Kill a human?!" He then looked down at his bloated form, face turning red. "I may drink their blood, but the chance of me drinking enough to drain them completely is unfathomable!"
"That's right!" snapped Miroku. "He couldn't have! There was blood everywhere! He couldn't have drunk it all!" They all murmured in agreement, looking at the floor but replaying the grisly picture in their minds.
"That's true," murmured Kaede. "He did not drink it all, but . . . " she stopped there, examining the forgotten arrow in her hand.
Kagome blushed, her eyes going wide, "That looks like one of my arrows!" She gasped, realizing what she was implying. Kaede simply nodded, setting the arrow down, then looked at Inu Yasha's hands. He quickly crossed his arms, hiding his hands within his sleeves of his kimono, scowling at the ground. Kaede's eyes then went to hiraikotsu, which Sango had left leaning against the far wall.
Sango slowly crossed to it, holding it up for examination. "There's blood on it, but I know I cleaned it after our last battle," she blushed. Kaede next let her eyes fall on Miroku's staff, which he gripped in his hands, laying it across his knees. He too looked down.
"Blood," he whispered. Shippo looked from one to the other, going to Kaede's side. Kirara followed him.
'No way,' Shippo thought. 'There's no way my friends did this! Not even Inu Yasha! I give him a hard time, and he can be a jerk, but I just can't let myself believe he'd do something this awful!' "No way!" he yelled aloud, startling them all.
"I would like to believe so too, Shippo, however, the evidence is against them. Hironobu was a good man, very well liked and respected. He has lived in this village since he was a child, and I have known him all my life. I assisted in birthing his many children, as well as his many grandchildren. They all still live in this village as well, so much of the village is his family. Every villager has lived here since childhood, and I know them all well. None are capable of this type of violence. The most lethal people in this village are the people in this room. I trust you all, but when faced with this . . . " she trailed off, spreading her hands in confusion.
"So which one did it?" piped up Shippo. "How do we solve this? And what will happen to the . . . " *Gulp* " . . . murderer?"
"That, I cannot answer just yet," Kaede said, patting his head. "I will have to think. You all stay here, and do not consider leaving this hut, much less this village." Kaede shot them all hard looks, picking up Shippo and leaving the hut, Kirara following them.
"Well, now," Miroku said, clearing his throat. "So, who wants breakfast?"
"Baka!" Sango glared, slapping him upside the head.
'What?' Miroku thought, rubbing the back of his head. 'It's not like I tried to fondle her this time or anything?' He looked up to see everyone glaring at him.
"And just how do you intend to get breakfast if we can't leave the hut, if you don't mind my asking?" Inu Yasha asked sarcastically.
"Uh, yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking." He blushed. "Kagome! Don't you have any of that instant food from your time in your bag?" Miroku looked at her hopefully.
"How can you even think of eating at a time like this?" Kagome screamed, clenching her fists at her sides.
"Uh, Kagome?" Sango quietly asked, turning red. "I'm actually quite hungry myself. Aren't you?"
"Uh, well, I guess until now I hadn't thought about it, but now that I do, I guess I am," Kagome looked down, blushing. "So," she sighed, "Who wants ramen?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~< br /> So, wha'd ya think? Maybe I suck at writing, I don't know. This is my first fanfic, so reviewers, pleeeease be gentle? If it sucks, I'll take it off or whatever, so let me know, K? K!