InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Bankotsu's Greatest Challenge ❯ The Journey Begins ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. Inuyasha and its characters are copyrighted to the amazing Rumiko Takahashi!

Bankotsu's Greatest Challenge.

Chapter 7: The Journey Begins

The Shichinintai, Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo all stood before Inuyasha once more. Each was in their battle stances.

Kagura hovered above his head on her expanded feather.

Miroku frowned. 'At least now we know who is indeed behind his strange actions.' He stared up at the wind sorceress. "What evil plot has Naraku cooked up this time?" His eyes fell back to Inuyasha.

The hanyou's normally amber gaze was now black and dull. "We've been ordered to kill you all." He lunged at Miroku with his blade drawn. "And that's just what we're going to do!"

Miroku jumped out of the way and landed a few feet behind the half-demon. "Kirara, help me! The rest of you run for cover!"

Renkotsu snorted. "You're not serious?"

Miroku used his staff to block the sword strike towards his skull. "Just do it. Inuyasha is very dangerous like this."

"Do as he says Renkotsu." Jakotsu drew his sword and ran over to assist the monk.

Kirara roared and leapt to the monk's side, growling at Inuyasha. Miroku climbed onto Kirara's back. "Let's go after Kagura." The neko meowed and flew into the air.

The rest hung back and watched the battle unfold.

Jakotsu licked his lips. "You're finally mine Inuyasha," he flung his Jakotsuo at the half demon. It hit Tetsusaiga and bounced off back to Jakotsu.

"If you think for one minute you can defeat me-" Inuyasha Ran towards Jakotsu. "Then think again!"

He rolled under the half-demon's feet and shot back up, flinging his sword again. This time Inuyasha was the one to leap away.

'Dodging those wretched blades of Kagura is no easy task.' Miroku grunted. "That's it Kirara keep charging towards her."

"Die already!" The wind sorceress hollered, sending more blades at Miroku.

Kirara dodged and flew behind her, where Miroku tried to get a good whack on her with his staff.

Kagura ducked the blow and snorted. "Stop wasting my time monk." She flicked her fan causing the wind to blow the monk and Kirara back.

'If Kagura didn't have jewel shards, I'd suck her into my void.' Miroku sighed as he stared at the three shards twinkling in the sunlight every time the witch shook her fan.

"I'm tired of this!" Renkotsu ran into the battle.

"The monk told us it's too dangerous!" Suikotsu reached out trying to grab his brother.

Renkotsu ignored Suikotsu's warning and instead took a drink of his concoction, spitting a wall of fire into the battle. "Ginkotsu fire!"

A loud boom echoed for miles when Ginkotsu fired his cannons.

When the smoke finally cleared only Miroku, Kirara and Jakotsu remained.

"They ran away again?" Sango blinked and then walked over to Kirara as she landed on the ground.

Jakotsu huffed. His lips pouted. 'Man, I almost had him too.'

XOXOXO:

Kagome and Bankotsu had been walking non-stop for the past four hours and were now working their way up a large mountain. When the climb became too steep for the priestess and she kept losing her footing, Bankotsu stabbed Banryu into the ground and hold out a hand to her.

Kagome placed her slender hand in his larger one and gasped as he pulled her over to him. "About another hour of this and we should reach a flat spot."

She panted with sweat rolling down her face. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

Bankotsu chuckled. "I've traveled nearly every inch of this land for many years now. I know which way we need to go. Besides Midoriko told us to go east and that's where we are going."

Kagome panted and nodded as she moved to stand beside him.

He raised Banryu to his shoulder and kept hold of her hand. "It'll be easier if we just hold hands till we reach the flat spot."

She blushed and nodded. "Um, okay."

Bankotsu made his way up the mountain path and used Banryu to push some low laying branches out of their way. "Why is your kimono so indecently short?"

She blinked. "Um, it's not a kimono. It's a skirt and it's part of my school uniform." Her free hand fiddled with the edge of her skirt.

Bankotsu's brow rose and he turned to look at her. "School…? What's that?"

She licked her lips. "It's where we go to learn about mathematics, history, science and stuff like that."

Bankotsu stared at her bare legs. "We? Who is we?"

She blushed and shifted her feet. "My friends back home and me."

Bankotsu blinked. "So where exactly is your home?" he tugged her up the path.

'He's bound to find out sooner or later.' She bit her lip. "I'm not exactly sure how to explain it."

He snorted. "Try." He tugged her arm a little harder than necessary.

She took a deep breath and sighed. "Well… I'm from 500 years in the future."

He stopped and slowly turned to her. He dropped her hand and pointed to a flat rock. "Sit."

She did as he instructed grateful for a breather.

He pinned her with a searching gaze and found no deceit in her eyes. He shoved Banryu into the earth and leaned back against it with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Explain."

She shifted under the intensity of his gaze. "Well, you were asking about my connection to the jewel right?"

He nodded.

She tugged the hem of her skirt trying to hide her thighs and spoke seriously. "I was told that I am Kikyo's reincarnation."

He snorted. "By the mutt, ne?"

She said. "Iie, by her sister actually."

He frowned. "The old miko is the dead miko's sister?"

Kagome nodded. She took a deep breath and continued. "When I first came to this world through the bone eater's well there was an enormous centipede demon and she chased me throwing me into the well and the jewel ripped out of my body and flew into the air."

His eyes widened. "You're telling me the Shikon no tama was inside you?"

She nodded. "After I freed Inuyasha from the tree, we got the jewel back from the centipede woman and he tried to kill me and take the jewel for himself."

Bankotsu snorted. "Duh, he's a hanyou."

Kagome's eyes narrowed at him. "Do you want to hear the rest or not?"

He blinked then clenched his jaw and nodded.

She nodded. "When he attacked me Kaede pulled out the beads and chanted until they fastened themselves around his neck. After that she told me to say a word and I said the first one that came to mind."

His brow rose. "So the beads around his neck are like a leash?"

Kagome blushed and nodded. "I guess you could put it like that." She brushed her sleeve over her forehead trying to wipe the sweat away. "I'm the only one who can use them though and only by saying the word."

He blinked. "Which is?"

She blushed. "Sit,"

Bankotsu blinked a few times and then burst out laughing while holding his stomach. "That's poetic justice."

Kagome shrugged. "It was the first thing I could think of."

After Bankotsu finished his laughing fit he tossed her a canteen. "Drink up. We still a long way to go before dark."

She nodded and drank deeply from the canteen before capping it and tossing it back to him.

He drank deeply and then capped it and placed it over his chest. "So you're the Shikon no tama's guardian then, ne?"

She blushed. "Only I kind of accidentally shattered it into millions of tiny fragments and now I have to collect them all and restore it before Naraku gets his filthy hands on it."

He choked a bit and slammed his fist against his chest. "Broke it?" How?"

She sighed. "I was actually trying to save a little village boy from the demon bird that had swallowed the jewel. I saw its foot latched onto the kid and took the foot and tied it to my arrow."

Bankotsu's eyes widened.

She shrugged. "I figured even if I was just learning to use a bow the foot had to return to the demon, right?"

Bankotsu chuckled. "Let me guess, the foot went to the demon but the arrow struck the jewel and shattered it, right?"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Hai."

He chuckled. "No doubt Inutrasha was pissed."

She sighed. "Hai he was furious. That's when Kaede explained that Inuyasha and I had to work together to restore the jewel."

Bankotsu stood to his feet and smirked. "You're definitely one of a kind miko."

She frowned. "Is that supposed to be an insult?"

He shook his head and grinned. "Iie."

She huffed and stared at the scratches on her legs. "If I had known we would be hiking, I'd have gone home and changed into jeans leaving my uniform there where it was safe."

He blinked. "That's right you were talking about this 'school' thing."

She stared at him. "Hai?"

He sighed. "I know what mathematics is, but you mentioned some other stuff."

She frowned. "History and Science?"

He nodded. "Hai, what are they?"

'How can I put it so he would understand it?' She chewed her bottom lip. "Well… History is learning about things that have happened in the past."

He scratched his head. "Have you ever gone to your time and read about something that you went through here?"

She blinked. "Eh, kind of. In fact The Shichinintai is in my history book."

His eyes widened. "Eh?"

She smiled and reached into her bag pulling out the book. She flipped through the pages and showed him. "Here, look."

XOXOXO:-History Book Passage-XOXOXO:

Perhaps the most infamous group of killers from the Warring States Era of Japan was a group known simply as the Shichinintai.

They were said to have traveled from the Eastern province brutally slaughtering villages in their wake. They served no one lord, but found temporary employment in any battle they came across.

Although there were said to be only seven members they could do the work of 100 men and their raids were un-necessarily savage. Those slain by the Shichinintai were sliced to pieces, burned alive or melted beyond recognition. The only people capable of such atrocities are those with a real penchant for murder.

The most dangerous of all was their leader: Bankotsu. Although he was the youngest member he was also the strongest. Single-handedly the seventeen year old mercenary lead a vicious group of ruthless murderers and kept them all in line. Some say he knew his men so well that he could handle the jobs of each of them but chose not to.

Although many a warlord had employed this group after witnessing the atrocities by this group, the warlords started having second thoughts about the mercenaries whose strength and power they now began to fear. So they sold them out and ordered them hunted down.

The Shichinintai put up a hard fight but it was all in vain. They escaped into the mountains but they were completely outnumbered by the warlords' vast armies of soldiers who came after them. They were finally captured at the base of Mt. Hakurei.

Each was beheaded and their bodies were buried, still the villagers feared their curse and decided to quiet the seven souls and erected a tomb at the base of Mt. Hakurei. This memorial is known as 'the seven man mound'.

XOXOXO:—End Book Passage—XOXOXOXO:

Bankotsu smirked at her and his eyes filled with pride. "Hey, we made it into the history books." He grinned boyishly.

Kagome sighed and closed her book. "Hai," she replaced the book in her bag. "Grandpa used to spend the evenings telling us stories that his grandpa had passed down about these times."

Bankotsu blinked. "So, did he ever mention anything about us getting married?"

Kagome frowned. "I remember he started a story about some apocalypse once, but I don't recall him ever mentioning a priestess and mercenary marrying." She sighed. "Then again I never did listen to the end of his stories."

She stared up at him. "Anyways, now you know about me. Tell me a little about you?"

He shrugged. "There is not much to tell."

She huffed. "Come on Bankotsu. I answered your questions."

He sighed and rubbed his chin. "What do you want to know?"

She frowned. "Well, why did you become a mercenary?"

Bankotsu took a deep breath and stared into her eyes. "It was something I could do to dull the pains of a bad childhood."

She nodded. "What about your family?"

He stood up and turned his back to her. "My mother died when I was really young and I never knew my father. I doubt the bastard even knew I exist."

She bit her lip and saw his shoulders tense. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories or old pain for you."

He snorted. "I'm a mercenary, I don't feel pain."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Even mercenaries still have hearts and can feel. No matter how much they try to hide it."

Bankotsu blinked a few times and then shrugged off her hand. He picked up his weapon. "If we want to make it to the top of this mountain before dark we need to get going."

She nodded and picked up her bag and bow slipping them over her shoulders. "Ready when you are."

XOXOXO:

A/N: So that's it for chapter seven. Let me know what you think. XD