Authoress:

1. is nervous because of beginning another story, therefore,

2. gnaws on Banryuu.

3. And does not own Inuyasha or anything in his universe, including Bankotsu:(

4. Likes comments and reviews:D

Patience of a Sinner

by artisanrox

Chapter 1.

The soft, grassy ground of the lord's garden gave way to unforgiving, stone-laden harshness under Akiko's feet, and in no time, she could feel the rocks tearing away at her skin with every step.

Tears streamed out of her eyes as her captor dragged her towards the forest in the late afternoon light. Unable to wipe the stinging sensation away due to her bound hands, she found it more and more difficult to see the ground, and began failing miserably at trying to side-step the stones and sharp rocks under her feet.

She turned back just long enough to see the dark smoke rising from the daimyo's castle in the distance. The now headless body of Yukio, who had resurrected and enslaved her for an interminate amount of time, lay in all its gore on the soft grass of his own garden. Though she could not feel an ounce of sympathy for the daimyo, she became sick at the sight. She had, in fact, wished his death to be slower, more painful, and more humiliating than it had been.

And now, though she had been released from the daimyo's control, she was still a prisoner. It made her wonder what was better: to be taken captive by a power-hungry lord, or to be taken captive by a ruthless mercenary.

She briefly considered Bankotsu would have been the safer bet, having known him since early childhood. However, a hostage was still a hostage, and the more she saw of him, the less she understood. And especially at this very moment, she was sure she didn't want to understand. He no longer seemed to be the quirky, clueless, phenomenally athletically talented boy she used to know. And now, to her added horror, he had posession of that awful stone, which was made into a pendant and suspended on a gold chain that hung around his neck.

"Weird," began Bankotsu, also glancing back for a short moment at the dead lord's body, his words breaking Akiko away from her thoughts. "He was the first target that almost laid out a welcome mat for me. The more dead I am, the more in demand I get," he observed coldly.

Forcibly taken out of her own thoughts, Akiko's head snapped toward the speaker of the frighteningly amused words as he continued dragging her toward the outer perimeter of the garden. "W...where are you taking me?" she pleaded, while sobbing.

"Into the forest," said her captor. The heavy geta under his feet kicked up dust as he hurried himself and the demonic girl along. "I need some rest, now," he said, his tone changing to obvious irritation. "I need to let this spell wear off with no one around to bother me." With a brief, particularily devious gleam in his eye, he added, "And I don't really care for sticking around long enough to be considered the area's new lord or something. So the forest is the best place for now."

Bankotsu continued to drag Akiko along toward the forest, getting increasingly frustrated with her stumbling, ever slowing pace. He winced as he grasped her waist more tightly, almost lifting her off the ground, and in doing so, sacrificing a little pain for the hope that it would hurry them to a resting spot. The powerful "Bridle" spell cast on him by his former instructor was making it excrutiatingly uncomfortable to touch anything at all.

Akiko had to stop her forced quick pace, the bottoms of her feet by now surely covered in cuts from the stony ground. She whimpered, and more tears streamed down her face and neck as she helplessly collapsed to her haunches. Bankotsu's arm released her all too hesitantly.

He growled angrily as he glared down at her. "Let's go! Move it, woman! I want us to be away from this castle. I'm in no mood to do any unnecessary work in trying to keep someone from taking you!"

"My...feet..." whimpered Akiko, her head lowered to the ground, and her eyes closed. She collapsed further down, fully expecting a thrashing from her captor for being so weak. "Can't walk on this ground anymore..."

She heard Bankotsu shuffle around, and a large rush of air, accompanied by a deep metallic whoosh, made Akiko sure he was readying the monstrous weapon he carried so frighteningly easily on his shoulder in order to cleave her in half.

She looked up at him, tears pooling in her strange, yellow demonic eyes. "Why are you doing this to me?" she sobbed. The tears in her eyes trickled down her cheeks, carving clean trails through her dirt-covered face. "Why?" After everything that's happened to the two of us...

He lowered his eyes for a moment, then turned his head toward the forest.

She squeezed her eyes shut, exasperated by his stony silence. I was such a fool for getting involved with him, thought Akiko. I was an idiot. If he does anything to me, I have no one else to blame. Maybe all those villagers warning me about keeping him around for too long were right.

"Woman..."

Yes. They warned me over and over again about keeping him as company, inviting him into my home. They were right.

Akiko heard a solid thump on the ground directly in front of her.

Opening her eyes, she was beyond shocked to see a pair of large geta there. She looked up for a brief moment at Bankotsu, utterly confused, gazing at his large, dark, calloused hand, still outstretched from throwing down his footwear.

Exhaustion was carved into the young man's gaze, and it only intensified his steely gaze as his cobalt eyes burned through her.

The two of them paused a moment before an angry "put 'em on, woman" broke through the silence.

She cast her confused gaze back down. The huge geta lay at his feet in the foreground. Behind him was his massive weapon, the bright red blood on it beginning to turn a sickening brown.

After another short pause, he saw her hesitation wouldn't be quelled unless he was a little more specific. He put a hand on his hip, inhaled deeply, and breathed out a long sigh directed at the still out-of-reach forest.

"Well? Put 'em on," his voice was now many times lowered, but the words were not a request. "And let's go get some rest. This disgusting spell is killing me, and so is my back."

Akiko stared dumbly at Bankotsu for a moment as he picked up his weapon and returned it to his shoulder. An amused, sneering grin crept across his face. "You've got pretty soft feet. That's what happens when you sit at desk your whole life."

Thoroughly offended and insulted, Akiko contracted her brow, and lowered her head.

After another uncomfortable pause and more verbal prodding from her captor, she picked herself up off the ground, almost falling over due to her bound hands. The cloud kicked up by her movement enveloped her extremeties even more thoroughly in dust. She made it up to her feet, and unsteadily slipped the geta straps in between her dirty, aching toes.

Bankotsu immediately wrapped an arm around her bare waist again, and his huge hand rested on her side. Akiko noted that the contact caused him to wince and grunt. Before she could give him another word of protest, he determinedly continued dragging her toward the forest.

Although the oversized shoes protected Akiko's feet from the rocky ground, she quickly found that they made it impossible to maneuver anywhere near gracefully. She ended up proceeding at practically the same painfully slow pace she had managed to muster in her bare feet.

The many-sizes-too-large geta clopped heavily on the ground. Akiko struggled to keep them attached to her feet, and she found herself unconsciously grunting and gasping as her short legs clumsily tried to simply maintain her balance, let alone maintain Bankotsu's hurried pace -- surely a snail's pace to him, despite his now bare feet, but a struggle to her.

As they reached the heavily wooded forest, Bankotsu sideglanced his captive, amused by her most unladylike, bow-legged, heavy-footed gait. He snickered, as this was something he never thought he'd see considering how she carried herself in her previous life.

Bankotsu thought back to when the priests recovered his weapon, and inadvertently gave the souls of those whose live he had taken an excuse to exact their revenge and attempt to kill him. Masakisho had asked him then what he wanted in life, and Bankotsu was more than happy to give him a rain check on the idea. He had never thought too much of anything he wanted for himself -- besides a full battlefield.

Well, he knew now exactly what to tell Masakisho to include in his reward.