Cursed Ink of the Hell-Painter

[ ACT I ]

Nighttime in a field. A painter sprints across nervously while a bunch of people chases him on horses with raised weapons. He carries a few paintings in his arms.

Horseman 1: After him! He has a Sacred Jewel fragment!

They fire some arrows at him which miss at hits the tree right in front of him.

Painter: Damn! (takes a painting which glows)

Horseman 2: Get the Jewel fragment from him! (notices something and looks up)

A horde of demons appear across the sky and fly towards them.

Horsemen: (frightened) Demons!

The demons attack the horsemen ravenously.

Horseman 3: (raising a bloodied hand) Help!

Painter: (looks on) These demons are thirsty for blood! (laughs) Drink your fill! Suck out their blood! (raise up a bamboo ink container with a Sacred Jewel inside)

[ End of ACT I: 52sec ]

[ Title screen: Cursed Ink of the Hell-Painter ]

[ ACT II ]

Daytime. A flock of crows fly past. INU-gang looks on at the field of corpses of horsemen from last night.

SHI:   Huh?! What’s this?! Warriors defeated in battle? Looks like they were slaughtered.

KAG:  (sighs) I really can’t stand this… Everywhere we go, there’s nothing but war.

INU:   No, this wasn’t a battle.

KAG:  Huh?

INU:   Strange… The smell… I don’t smell blood at all.

MIR:   (raises a hand in prayer) Probably the work of some demon. And no ordinary demon at that. Which means, it probably possesses a Sacred Jewel fragment.

INU:   Miroku! Let’s get one thing straight! I have no intention of teaming up with you! I’m not giving you any Jewel fragments!

MIR:   (smiles) What you mean is…first come, first serve. Right?

INU:   Absolutely!

MIR:   Well then, I shall take my leave. It’s probably better this way.

MIR walks off.

SHI:   He seemed quite dependable.

KAG:  Say, Inuyasha… Miroku is going. Huh? Where’s Inuyasha?

A yell is heard. Cut to INU grabbing the clothes of a struggling man while he looks at a long piece of paper.

Man:  Help! I’m supposed to deliver that!

INU:   (sniffing the paper) Is this the thing I smell?

KAG and SHI arrive at the scene.

KAG:  Sit!

INU crashes flat faced to the ground. The man takes his paper and runs away.

INU:   (runs up to KAG with clenched fist) Hey! What’re you doing?!

KAG:  He’s just an ordinary person! What’s with you anyway?

INU:   At that last place, I got a whiff of ink. If I follow that scent of the ink, I’ll find the demon.

SHI:   And you kept such information from us?!

INU:   If we don’t hurry it up, Miroku will get the Jewel fragment!

KAG:  (sighs) Oh dear… Do you dislike him that much?

INU:   (shouts) Don’t tell me you like his type!?

KAG:  (straight faced) Very much! Nah, just joking— (notices INU gone)

INU:   (stands a distance from KAG, looks at his hands and says to himself) Oh… Is that how the wind blows?

KAG:  Listen to me, will you?!

SHI:   He’s so stupid!

In a mansion. The painter kowtows to the lord.

Lord:   What?! You killed all the soldiers? Alone? If that is true, I will gladly hire you.

Painter: Thank you! I had heard that those mercenary soldiers were becoming a nuisance to you. I thought it the perfect opportunity to demonstrate my strength.

Subject 1: My lord… (whispers to the lord’s ears)

Lord:   (shocked) What?

Cut to painter being thrown out of the mansion by two subjects.

Subject 1: What ‘heir to a powerful family’?! You’re just a wandering artist from the capital!

Painter: Err…no! I AM powerful and killed those soldiers! I am not an artist! Please let me see the lord again!

Subject 1: Fool! (beats the painter with wooden stick)

Subject 2: (beats the painter with wooden stick) One of our men remembered you from yesterday when you tried to sell your worthless paintings!

Painter: (struggling) Damn!

Princess: You there! Do not be so harsh!

A princess appears inside the mansion and looks on at the scene.

Subject 1: Yes, Princess… But… (turns to the painter) Damn… You’re lucky she saved your life.

The princess walks off.

Painter: (gapes at the princess) So beautiful…

On a bridge above a rapid river. The two subjects hold up the painter who is rolled in a straw mat and tied up.

Subject 1: Good riddance!

They throw the painter into the river. He bobs up and down the water, struggling for air.

Subject 1: Good luck! Don’t catch a cold! (laughs)

Subject 2: Never come again!

Evening, downstream. The drenched painter walks along a path.

Painter: (hugs his painting, thinking) Damn! Damn them to hell! I can summon my demon brigade and defeat any and all enemies! I deserve to become a warlord! No one should have any complaints! I WILL own a castle! I will prosper! (image of the princess appears) And yes! I will wed a princess! There is nothing I can’t accomplish!

INU:   (appears behind him and grabs his collar) Hey, I want a word with you!

Painter: Wh-what?!

KAG:  (cycles towards INU) Huh?! Not again!

SHI:   (in basket) That’s the sixth one! He never gives up!

Painter: Wh-what?! Who are you?! I’m a powerful…! (pauses) I’m just an ordinary artist!

INU:   An artist?! Just what did you do? You reek with the smell of blood mixed with ink!

Painter: Lemme go! Lemme go! (struggles out of INU’s grip and runs off)

INU:   Hey, wait!

The painter turns around and flings open his hell painting of a demon. The demon suddenly gain colors and enlarges into a real one. It towers over INU, growls and attacks INU. INU dodges.

KAG:  What?!

SHI:   A demon!

The painter sprints off into a boat and rows away.

INU:   Hey, wait! You!

KAG:  (looks at the painter, thinking) What’s going on?! Is he a demon? No, he’s human.

The demon growls and swings his weapon at INU, who dodges. INU unsheathes TET and leaps. He swings TET downwards and slices the demon vertically into two.

INU:   (lands) Hah! Just big in size!

The demon falls backwards and explodes. Black liquid bursts out of his wound and rains on INU.

SHI:   Black blood!

INU:   That’s blood and ink! (falls back and faints)

KAG:  Hey! (holds up INU)

SHI:   (pinching his nose) His nose is too sensitive and the stench of the blood and ink got to him.

KAG:  Snap out of it, Inuyasha!

INU groans, his eyes twirling.

The painter runs across a field and stops. He leans on a tree to catch his breath while looking back at INU-gang.

Painter: (nervous) Who is he? He got the scent of the blood and ink on me. (smiles) But there’s nothing to fear… Behind me, I have battalions of demons under control.

Nighttime in the mansion from earlier on. MIR is speaking to the two subjects at the entrance.

Subject 1: An exorcism?

MIR:   I can sense an evil shadow over this mansion. I can exorcise the demons in one night.

Subject 1: Fool! This mansion is blessed each year by a priest of status which you’ll never attain!

Subject 2: Go on home! Lately, we’ve been plagued by rogues who seek access to the mansion! Evil shadow! Hah! (walks into the mansion with subject 2)

MIR:   I see… (sighs) Too bad, I spend the night in the forest tonight. (turns around and walks off)

A dark cloud looms over MIR. Two red spots glow.

MIR:   (gasps) Is that for real?! Run! The evil shadow is here!

Subject 1: What’s going on now? Is he still at it?! (turns around and yells) Argh!

Subject 2: (turns back) Wh-what!

The dark cloud flies towards them. As it gets nearer, two demons jump out and attack.

MIR:   The bull-headed demon and the horse-head demon! I’ve only seen them in religious depictions of hell!

Maid: Someone! Save the princess!

MIR:   (smiles and runs) Coming!

In a room in the mansion. The doors slide open only to reveal another door. This goes on continuously.

Painter: Princess… Princess! Princess!

Cut to a dreaming painter in his hut. His body is shaking. Paintings of hell surround him.

Painter: (talks in his sleep) Princess!

Cut to his dream where he tumbles to the princess. Her back is facing him. She turns around and smiles, and her eyes glows in red.

Painter: What is the matter?! Your face…?

Demon-Princess: Your blood… I want your blood! (grabs the painter’s neck)

Painter: Stop! Stop! Stop!

Back to mansion. MIR runs to the princess in a room. The door crashes open and the bull-headed demon and the horse-headed demon rush in.

Painter: (voice-over) Stop!!

The demon suddenly dissipates into ink and fly out of the mansion.

MIR:   Wh-what is that?!

Back to the painter who wakes up from his dream in terror.

Painter: (yells) Please stop! (gasps for air)

Outside the hut, a dark cloud rains black liquid.

Painter: (opens the door) Black ink rain?!

The rain suddenly stops and fly into the hut. It rushes into the ink container on a table.

Painter: So while I was asleep, the ink took on its own? (stares at the container)

In the mansion. MIR is seated across the lord. A feast is laid out in front of him. The princess sit behind him.

Lord:   Monk… Pardon the rudeness of my men earlier. I am so glad that you protected my daughter!

MIR:   No need to thank me. However, you must not let down your guard yet. I doubt if the attack by the demons is over. Now, let’s see… I think it’s best if the princess stays with me tonight. Same bedroom…one bedding.

INU:   (in the background) Hey! Whaddya intend to do when you have her alone?! You lecher!

INU, SHI and KAG arrive in the backyard on her bicycle.

MIR:   Oh! Kagome and Inuyasha!

INU:   Damn… (looks around) We’re late!

KAG:  Miroku, did the ink demons appear here, too?

MIR:   Ink demons? Were those demons made of ink?

MIR and KAG sit in the mansion, while INU sits outside, in the backyard. SHI sits on his lap, eating.

MIR:   An artist who manipulates the demons?

KAG:  But he wasn’t a demon.

MIR:   I see… It could be that this artist is using the power of a Sacred Jewel fragment.

KAG:  Then the one who attacked this mansion just now…

MIR:   Yes… I’m sure that they are demons controlled by the artist.

SHI:   Demon drawings by the artist come alive…?! The power of the Jewel fragment is amazing! Huh? Inuyasha? Are you part of this conversation?

INU:   Keh!

KAG:  How long are you going to sulk?

MIR:   What’s the matter, Inuyasha?

INU:   Shut up!

KAG:  Why can’t you depend on Miroku just a bit? He’s so jealous!

INU:   Wh-what?! Who’s jealous!? (gasps)

MIR:   (holds KAG’s hands) I see… Kagome, you do accept me then?

KAG:  (pushes his hand away) Yes. After all, you have a Sacred Jewel fragment.

MIR:   Huh? (a pink glow appears on MIR’s chest)

KAG:  Two… No, you have three.

MIR:   You have sharp eyes…

INU trudges towards MIR immediately.

KAG:  Sit!

INU:   (crashes on the floor near MIR) Kagome!

MIR:   These are fragments that I accumulated. Taking them will make you a robber.

INU:   You should talk! Who was that used that tanuki to try to steal Kagome’s fragment?!

MIR:   Oh… You have such a sharp memory…

The two subjects eavesdrop on the group’s conversation from outside.

In the lord’s room. The two subjects report to the lord.

Lord:   What?! That artist manipulated the demons?

Subject 1: Yes, sire! I understand he possesses a Sacred Jewel fragment.

Lord:   A fragment of the Sacred Jewel?! I’ve heard rumors… One fragment can increase your power many-fold…! A jewel to treasure, indeed!

Subject 2: We will take it from that artist!

Subject 1: Also, that monk seems…

Lord:   He possesses it, too?

Later. MIR is sleeping in a room. Cut to the two subjects rushing into the room and piercing the bed with swords. MIR appears behind a screen.

Subject 1: (shocked) When did you?!

MIR:   (mad) What’s going on?! I have done nothing wrong to warrant your attack! (smirks) At least, not yet.

The two subjects run toward MIR, raising their swords.

Subject 2: Hand it over! The Sacred Jewel fragment!

MIR blocks their attacks with his staff. The subjects fall backward. INU and KAG rush into the room.

INU:   Miroku, what happened?!

KAG:  Aren’t these men of this castle?

MIR:   (holding the subjects) They mentioned something about a Sacred Jewel fragment. Now, start talking.

Subject 1: We just wanted your Sacred Jewel fragment!

Subject 2: Our lord went to get the one the artist possesses.

MIR:   So you know where the artist is? Where is he? Answer me!

Cut to MIR getting onto KAG’s bicycle swiftly.

MIR:   Kagome! I’m going to borrow your contraption!

KAG:  (chases) Wait for me! Me, too!

INU appears from behind and grabs KAG and SHI.

INU:   (sprints) Hang on! We’ll catch up! (thinking, worried) The enemy is created by the power of the Jewel fragment!

MIR:   (thinking, worried) Mortal men won’t be able to defeat it!

The lord surrounds the painter’s hut with an army of subjects.

Lord:   Go forth!

The subjects rush toward the hut with raised swords. Inside the hut.

Painter: (laughs) I have an infinite number of soldiers! All I have to do is paint more of them with that ink! Come forth, ye demons of hell!

The painter flings a few of his paintings. Demons rush out of the hut and attacks the subjects. They yell in terror and run away. The lord’s horse neighs nervously.

Lord:   Wait! Someone! Calm my horse!

INU, KAG and SHI arrive. INU puts a hand on TET.

SHI:   If you slay them, the noxious odor will overcome you. What’ll will you do, Inuyasha?!

INU:   Shut up! (leaps and slays some demons)

Lord:   You saved me! I will reward you later! (runs off)

KAG:  Ughh! This ink smells awful!

SHI:   Inuyasha!

INU’s eyes go twirly and faints.

SHI:   How long must you sleep, Inuyasha?!

A demon flies towards them.

KAG:  (cowering) Inuyasha!

MIR dashes in and destroys the demon with his staff.

MIR:   (glad) Miroku!

A horde of demons loom towards the group. MIR faces them and remove the beads around his right hand.

MIR:   Stay behind me at all times! I shall open my Wind Tunnel!

MIR sucks in the horde of demons into his Wind Tunnel.

Painter: (peeps out of his hut) What’s that?! My demons are being sucked in?!

MIR closes his Wind Tunnel and falls on his knees. The demons are gone.

KAG:  Miroku!

MIR:   (weakly) It’s the first time I’ve sucked in so much evil at once. I’m a bit exhausted…

INU:   (thinking) Damn! Being rescued by this guy…!

Rumbling noises are heard from the hut.

KAG:  What now?

A huge three-headed snake bursts out of the hut. The painter rides on its neck.

KAG:  This is also an ink painting, isn’t it?

INU:   (runs to the snake) I won’t let you get away!

The snake demon rushes towards INU, who dodges. It rushes towards MIR, SHI and KAG, who shrieks.

INU:   Kagome! Where’s the Jewel fragment?!

KAG:  (stands up and stares and the painter) I see it! Inside the bamboo container on the waist!

INU:   Got it! (leaps onto the snake demon and turns back) Right! I almost forgot to tell you! Hey, Miroku! Stop showing off by yourself!

Painter: Stubborn punk! (flings open a painting) Go! Kill him!

Several demons appear from the painting and flies towards INU.

INU:   Keh! Create havoc, will you?!

INU punches the demons out of the way as he moves up the snake demon.

MIR:   (impressed) Oh! What kind of trick is that?

KAG:  He’s just slugging them.

INU:   (reaching the painter) What?! Giving up? Repent and turn over the Jewel fragment!

Two of the snake demon’s heads turn around and spews fire and INU.

Painter: The burning fires of Hell will consume you, bones and all!

The fire burns INU.

INU:   (angry) Why you…! That’s enough outta you! (runs up the snake’s neck with TET) Fool! As if I’d let a human kill me!

Painter: I’ll never let you have it! I’m going to grasp happiness with this Sacred Jewel fragment. (leaps off the snake demon)

INU:   Enough, I said!

INU slashes the bamboo container away from the painter. He swings TET again, slashing the container into two. Ink bursts out of the container. The snake demon dissipates into ink. The painter falls on the ground, rolls and crashes onto a tree. He lets out a yell of pain.

Painter: (shots up) My ink…! I’m losing my ink!

He picks up a sword and thrusts it into his arm. Blood spills out. He throws the sword aside and looks up at the floating droplets of ink.

Painter: Oh, ink of mine! (raises his bloodied arm) Here is blood! (smiles wildly) Come and suck this blood! Gather round this blood!

The ink rushes towards the painter and surrounds him.

INU:   That fool!

Painter: I will not let it go…no one shall have my ink! (laughs)

The painter suddenly gasps. He is surrounded by ink and his body starts to shrivel.

Painter: Blood… My blood is being devoured by the ink! Help me! Help…me!

INU looks on helplessly as the ink devours the painter. The painter falls over and collapses. MIR, KAG and SHI rush to INU.

INU:   Stupid fool… Devoured up by ink!

KAG:  How did this happen?

INU:   The evil ambitions of the artist turned the ink into evil blood-sucking ink. He let his own blood be sucked up before he’d part with the Jewel. He went mad because of the Jewel fragment.

The Sacred Jewel glows in the puddle of ink that used to be the painter.

MIR:   (thinking) The Sacred Jewel fragment that I came in search for is evil. It’s too dangerous to touch.

KAG picks up the fragment.

MIR:   (shocked) Wh-what…?

KAG:  Who wants to hold it?

INU:   Why must we discuss it?!

KAG:  Well, Miroku saved us.

MIR:   Kagome, you hang on to it.

INU:   Huh?!

KAG:  Are you sure? (smiles to INU) Aren’t you lucky?

SHI:   (jumps onto INU’s head) Miroku is so mature.

INU:   Humph!

MIR:   (thinking) She purified that tainted jewel fragment just by picking it up…

[ End of ACT II: 19min 54sec ]

[ ACT III ]

Daytime. The gang walks along a path.

KAG:  (glad) Huh? You’re coming with us?

MIR:   Yes! I think it’s much more fun in the company of a pretty girl.

KAG:  Oh dear!

INU:   (sulks) Keh!

MIR:   Besides, despite his looks and manners, Inuyasha seems to be quite nice.

INU:   (turns around) Huh?

KAG:  (thinking) By slaying the artist, Inuyasha could have ended it all quickly. But instead, Inuyasha tried only to destroyed the ink. That’s right… He just doesn’t realize it… Inuyasha is quite a nice fellow.

[ End of ACT III: 20min 34sec ]

[ End of episode 17: Cursed Ink of the Hell-Painter ]

[ Preview for next episode ]

It's been some time since Inuyasha inherited Tetsusaiga. By right, he should be at ease with this sword made from the fang of his father. But I remember his brother, Sesshomaru said, 'The power to slay a hundred demons with one swing…the Tetsusaiga'. Sesshomaru appears yet again and demonstrates the power of Tetsusaiga, and destroys an entire mountain! Next episode, 'The Alliance of Naraku and Sesshomaru'!