I've lived in the Demon-Slayers village all my life. I'm seventeen, the age to be married. Thing is, I've never met anyone I've actually liked. I've never met any man that I liked that way at least. According to my aunt Sana, there are plenty of guys I know in the village that love me, including my best friend Alric. It's so annoying though. The elderly women say I should meet a man and instead of fighting along side him, I should submit to him. I'm the best Demon-Slayer in the village. I can't just submit to whomever I chose.
Today is different though. While I was training Sango, my cousin, Alric said there was a group of men outside the village who wanted to know the way to the lord's castle. I had most recently been to the castle for a demon slaying so I would be of help. I walked to the gates, Sango and Alric close behind, and when they where lifted up, a group of what looked like samurai stood their. But they didn't look right. A tall man with what looked like a small canon came up and spoke.
"My name is Renkotsu. Please point us to the castle and we will be on our way." Who I guessed was the leader, Renkotsu, said. I didn't like the way he spoke. I could tell he couldn't be trusted. He and Alric began talking and I looked around at the group. There were six altogether and they all looked like psychos. I hadn't even noticed Renkotsu turn around, but I could hear his voice. "What do you think big brother?" he asked.
Behind the womanish looking man was someone I didn't see at first. I hadn't even seen him before he stepped around into view. He was small, just a little taller than me with black hair braided down his back. His weapon looked heavy so he must be strong. The way everyone looked at him with respect showed who the boss was. And he wasn't much older than me.
"I think that is a good idea. If that is the quickest way…." His blue eyes were suspicious.
"It is. You can ask my friend here how long it takes." Alric pointed to me. For the first time I really saw the man's face. He turned to me and something crossed his face, and it didn't look good. Too my surprise, it made me feel a little afraid.
"Only a half the day from the village." It took all my strength to project my voice enough. His look was making me feel inferior. I have never felt that way before, and it bugged me.
"Great let's go!" The womanish man said. They all turned to leave but he stayed, still staring at me. "Big brother?" someone called.
"Hold on a sec." He walked to me. Alric seemed to become uncomfortable and took Sango back in the village, leaving me alone with him. I had no idea what he wanted. Men like him just didn't care for girl's feelings. And he kept getting closer.
What seemed to take forever actually only took a few seconds. He stayed at least arms length away from me. He had his weapon on his shoulder, but threw it into the ground, leaving his arms open. I have to admit it scared me to death.
We stayed like that for awhile, his eyes never leaving mine. I was afraid that if I moved an inch, or even blinked, that he would attack. I was tense and ready to fight back when he spoke. "What's your name?"
"Yudorici." I answered, still tense.
"Well, Yudorici," He took a step forward. "Why are you so tense?" Another step, "You afraid of me?" He was whispering now, and it sent shivers down my spine. He was so close now that if I tried to run he could grab me. The only comfort I had was that he was human. I killed demons for a living, I could put up with a human male. I think.
He moved, and I closed my eyes, preparing myself mentally for what was sure to come. But instead of feeling him, I heard his sword come out of the ground. When I was able to open my eyes he was following his comrades that disappeared into the forest. My chest began to hurt and I realized I had held my breath. I didn't need to fear anymore. He was gone, and I'd never see him ever again.
Or so I thought. A few days later, I returned from another demon slaying. After I reported to my uncle, the master of the village, I went looking for Sango. She usually met me at the gates but she wasn't there. I asked the elders and they said they'd seen her go behind her house. I ended up finding her in the gardens next to the ponds. Her favorite spot to play. She had her feet submerged in the blue waters, kicking and splashing.
Sitting on the stone bench right next to her, was that man again.
He was talking to her, and she didn't seem to care. Kirara came out and landed in his lap. Then he petted her. Sango just laughed. I guess my hearing came back, because I heard what she said next. "I think she likes you!"
"Are you sure? Cats do like to stay warm." He was smiling down on her, when Kirara caught my scent. She looked up at me, meowed, and then ran over to me. She jumped and landed lightly on my shoulder, but I was too preoccupied. He was now looking at me with some kind of smirk on his face. "What's up Demon-Slayer?"
"What are you doing here?" My voice was colder than I had intended it to be. Kirara ran into Sango's waiting arms. He didn't seem affected.
"Is that anyway to treat a guest?" He got up and for the first time I noticed he didn't have his sword with him. He followed my gaze and smiled even larger. "Yea, you're uncle is pretty suspicious. He made me leave Banryu at the gates."
"Banryu?"
"It's his sword!" Sango answered. She stood and ran around the corner, smiling at me as she passed.
"So Demon-Slayer, why not show me around?"
"My cousin didn't do so? Hmm. Seemed like you were best friends." I mumbled. I turned away from him, leaving in the same direction I came. He followed me.
"She's a good kid." He placed his hands behind his head. I could feel his eyes boring into my back. I turned to face him again, almost knocking into him.
"Could you stop staring at me? I don't like it." He seemed honestly surprised at my angry tone.
"It bothers you?"
"Yes like it bothers most people I know." He caught some meaning in my words I hadn't intended.
"Oh, I'm sorry about that." He held out a hand to me. "Name's Bankotsu." He lowered his hand once he knew I wasn't going to take it. "So will you show me around?"
So I gave him the grand tour. I showed him all over the place and even introduced him to some of the villagers. I stopped doing that after the elderly women winked at me when he looked away. It took a few hours, but when it was finally finished, he had to leave.
"I'm worried 'bout the guys." He said. Like I care, I thought.
"Have a safe trip." I was able to smile sincerely. He was finally leaving. I couldn't help but to be happy.
"Your village is pretty cool." He called his back to me. He was already halfway to the forest. "But I'm disappointed. Not so great." And he was gone.
Disappointed? Not so great? What was that suppose to mean? We were amazing! We are unique! How can he be so dissatisfied? There is no other village like ours!
I decided I will not rest until he sees otherwise.
Only a week later, Alric and I went to a castle for, you guessed it, demon slaying. At the same time they had a battle going on and Bankotsu and his group would be fighting in plan sight of us. I would get my chance to show him.
The battle only had been going on for a few minutes when the blood drew out the demons. Unfortunately they were at the battle, killing everyone in sight.
"Their small, should be easy." Alric yelled running toward them. I followed upset. They wouldn't be strong enough to prove my point. Bankotsu won't be impressed with these.
Before we got halfway there, they had grown double in size, beginning to take a human-like form. The more they killed the larger and more humane they became. Soon I realized they were eating the people they killed, leaving bones in a sea of blood. Alric was now in range of one and threw out his chained weapon, slicing it in half, a green fluid, oozing out of it. As he moved on, it stretched out eating another dead man close by, regenerating itself. The demon became a man and turned to me, blood dripping from his mouth. His chest and teeth were stained crimson. My weapon, Gaikotsu, couldn't cut through him when I threw it. By now Alric had burned the bodies of the other demons, but couldn't get to me. Apparently the men in the battle thought we were part of it or something. I dropped my Gaikotsu and pulled out my sword, my last resort. It didn't do much good. He only got scratches.
He smiled and cut my left arm open with his teeth, making me drop my Katana. My arm was now bleeding too badly for me to fight back. Immediately after, he knocked me to the ground and I hit my head. I tried to crawl away, but something grabbed me and I was rolling away from the demon. When the world stopped spinning, I could see that the demon had ripped the ground up where I had just been not 2 seconds ago. I turned to thank Alric but found Bankotsu instead. He was unarmed and he was going to take this demon on.
"Are you crazy? He'll kill you idiot!" I screamed rolling onto my hurt arm, sending a stabbing pain up it. He didn't seem to falter in his plans. He just stepped over me and continued on to the demon. "Bankotsu, no! Wait for Alric!" Without turning to me he said, "Your friend is busy right now," and pointed to a group of men with Alric in the center. Poor guy.
"It's my job." I knew I'd lost but I was just too stubborn. He looked back at me mad, but his expression changed and he was trying not to laugh. I was pouting, childish, I know.
That was the chance the demon had been waiting for. He attacked, but Bankotsu was faster. He was running to his Banryu, the demon trailing him. Just as Bankotsu grabbed it, the demon raised his arm. Bankotsu turned and cut his arm off with Banryu. The demon screamed, hold what was left of his arm to his chest. I could see it in the demon's eyes. Bankotsu wasn't just food anymore.
I couldn't stand it. They were just exchanging blows and wounds. The closest weapon to me was my Gaikotsu, and I could grab it if I could get up. While I was deliberating, the demon kicked Bankotsu to the ground so hard, you could hear the rock break beneath him. In a flash the pain in my arm vanished and I was standing ready to throw my Gaikotsu at the demon, who thought my sudden recovery was funny. I'm not sure if he was laughing at my expression or the blood flying from my arm every time I flicked it. Just as I threw it at him, Bankotsu woke up. He jumped to his feet, Banryu in hand. Again, my Gaikotsu didn't get through. Bankotsu threw a warning look at me, and then returned to the demon. In desperation I looked all around me trying to find anything to use against this thing.
"Yudorici!" I looked up and found Alric, finally apart from the crazy men, throwing something at me. It was a jar of oil. That's when I got an idea. Fire destroyed their flesh, but didn't destroy their bones. I could set Gaikotsu on fire and destroy the demon, but not lose my favorite weapon. I poured the contents of the jar onto Gaikotsu and, using a torch that one of the few men left standing had, set it aflame. Trying not to burn myself, I twirled it around my head looking for the opportune moment. Bankotsu pushed Banryu into the demon sending him backwards and into my range. Screaming I threw Gaikotsu at the demon, whose eyes where wide with fear. Gaikotsu broke through him this time setting him on fire. His screams were hurting my ears. After a minute the screams stopped and the form in the flame collapsed. The demon had been killed.
I still couldn't feel the pain. The adrenaline hadn't worn off yet, for any of us. Renkotsu was putting my Gaikotsu out. Kyokotsu, the largest one of all of them, was poking the last of the charred demon. Mukotsu, the shortest, was sitting in the shade mixing more poison. Jakotsu, the gay-cross-dressing man, was watching Alric's every move, making him very uncomfortable. Many times he threw me a scared look. Ginkotsu, who was half metal it seemed, was herding the last of the men to the castle as prisoners I guessed. Suikotsu, who had metal claws, was talking to Bankotsu. He was wrapping his wounds up and he looked uninterested in whatever Suikotsu was saying. So I thought I would go save him.
"May I talk to Bankotsu a minute?" I hid my arm from him since he was drilling Bankotsu. I didn't feel like being ridiculed at the moment.
"Sure." He stalked off to Ginkotsu, glancing back at us every once in awhile.
"Thanks. I couldn't get rid of him." He smiled.
"So you're a mercenary." I wasn't asking.
"Yea. When'd you figure that one out?" He leaned back against a tree, never taking his eyes off mine.
"Not too long after you left." I slid down next to him, laying my head on my knees. I couldn't look at him. The failure finally hit me.
"You're really annoying, ya know that?" I looked up but he wasn't there. He was sitting next to me, his annoyance clear.
"No actually. What's so annoying about me?"
"Get over it. Everyone needs help once in awhile. It's not the end of the world. Just because you're the best doesn't mean you are any different than the rest of us." He was right. I couldn't do everything on my own. If he hadn't helped me today, I would be demon food. I really owed him.
"Thanks for your help Bankotsu." I felt my simile stretching across my face. His eyes grew wide and he looked away from me.
"It's not a big deal." He said.
And that's when the adrenaline wore off. My arm was screaming in pain, even worse than when I first got it. Using it to fight was a really stupid idea on my part. Bankotsu ripped my sleeve open from the elbow to get a better look at it. It was really sick looking. Dirt and demon slime was in the wound and the fire had burned my skin on both arms. I thought I was being careful….
He took care of me. He wouldn't let Suikotsu, who I found out was a doctor before becoming a mercenary (Weird I know!), near me. The water stung, but he got the dirt and slime out. He also used the cold water on my arms, so I wouldn't feel him rip off the burnt skin as badly. After wrapping my arms up in clean cloths, he set my wounded arm in a sling, so I wouldn't hurt it anymore. He was a pretty good doctor.
The next battle they had wasn't for awhile so Bankotsu was going to follow me back home, much to Alric's dismay. I think he was jealous of Bankotsu, who was not only carrying his own weapon, but was carrying mine too. The whole walk home Alric stayed just out of hearing range yet he stayed in sight. He didn't want to leave me alone with him, but also didn't want me to hear him grumbling. I got to talk to Bankotsu the entire way, though. He and Jakotsu had been friends for along time, even before he was gay. He was seventeen, turning eighteen in a month, so he was a few months older. Of course I told him about myself too. I told him about my mother, who died when I was very little. I told him about my new cousin Kohaku, who was born three days before and I told him how much I hated everyone telling me to get married. He just laughed.
"What's so funny?" How could he laugh at my problems?
"My mom pushed it so much I swore to never get married. That's another reason why I like this job. It turns girls off." And we laughed a little too loud. Alric looked at us then back at the road.
At sunset we returned, Sango waiting eagerly at the gates. Before the gates where high enough for me to pass, she was hugging me, glancing at Bankotsu. The moment he could, Alric ducked under and stalked off to the master without one hello to Sango.
"What's his problem?" She asked. She was sad and felt betrayed.
"He's just being a sour-cat." Bankotsu said, smiling at her. Bankotsu left his Banryu at the gates, like last time, and we went to see my uncle. Alric had already told everything to him and he wanted me to rest, glancing at my arms worriedly.
"Dear how about you go see Kohaku. I think Sango is eager to show off her new brother." Uncle smiled warmly at a bouncing Sango.
"I'm sure she is." We let her drag us in to the next room where my aunt was sitting holding a small sleeping baby. Bankotsu wouldn't let him go once he held him. I could hear him whispering to Sango about being an only child. I was too but Sango was close enough.
Sango became tired and she fell asleep in my lap. Sana took Kohaku back from a reluctant Bankotsu, and laid him in hid crib. Then she lifted Sango from my lap and walked out the room. We followed her closing the door to Kohaku's room, until Sana returned.
"Bankotsu, maybe you should stay the night. Then you can leave." She said when he started to make a bee line for the front door.
"I wouldn't feel right ma'am." He was still heading for the front door.
"It won't be a problem son." My uncle said wrapping an arm around my aunt.
"Thank you but I really should get back too the guys." Almost there.
"Its just one night. Please? You can leave first thing in the morning." I really didn't want him to leave then. I seemed to have won him over. He was going to stay in the room next to me, since Sana didn't want me to be alone with my injuries. I could take my arm out of the sling though. And the moment my head hit the pillow, I was asleep.
My dream was weird. Bankotsu was there and he was talking to me. Not just talking to me but holding me in his lap. Then he kissed me! I really shouldn't be dreaming this stuff but it made me happy too. Thing is it went dark after that. Then everything had a crimson tint to it. And Bankotsu was lying on the ground, dead and covered in blood. Then I woke up. How could such a sweet dream turn into such a nightmare? I didn't deliberate over it long. I was fast asleep soon.
That morning I woke up tired but the sun was in my face, ruining my chances. I got up to go get something to eat and when I opened my door I ran into Bankotsu going in the opposite direction.
I don't know what I was thinking. I think I was too tired to think, but I kissed him. Not a short kiss, but a prolonged kiss on the lips. I even closed my eyes! Before I could break away he leaned in and lightly held my head with one hand and wrapped his arm around my waist gently holding me to him. I laid my hands on his chest and drew myself closer. I was wide awake now, but something about kissing him made me want to continue kissing. Slowly my hands were rising to his neck and just as slowly his grip on me became tighter. Soon I was pressed against him and my arms were in a choke hold around his neck. We didn't hear her approach.
"Eww." And we were separated in a flash, his hands at his sides, one of mine at my side the other held at my chest. Sango was staring at us with a disgusted look on her face. I could feel the blood rushing to my face. My five year old cousin caught me making out with someone I'd only known for a week and a half. Yet I didn't regret it. I guess he was too good at it.
He was just as embarrassed as I was. He walked into his room, his face blood red. I walked to the main room for breakfast but I wasn't hungry anymore. I'd lost my appetite along time ago. Sango stared at me while she ate.
"Do you like him?" She was serious and wanted an answer.
"Why? Does it matter? I can't. Our jobs would conflict." I was a sorry excuse and she knew it. She continued to stare at me and I sighed. "Yes I think I do."
"Then tell him!" She was very excited now. She was almost in my lap. "Tell him before he leaves!"
"It's not that simple. Now I'm sure he wants to get out off here even faster." I didn't try to hide how sad that made me. After that we were quiet. After awhile Bankotsu came out ready to leave. We walked to the gates silent, embarrassed and we didn't want to disturb the quiet town. He picked up his Banryu and headed for the gates, which had already been lifted. It hurt to see him go but I knew it just couldn't be. I realized we weren't going to say anything to each other so I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm.
"Yurie," I liked the way that sounded. "I'm sorry."
"No it's my fault. I'm the one who jumped you." The blood flowed to my face at the memory of it.
"Yea but I shouldn't have ignored you like that. I acted like a jerk." He dropped my hand, but took another step to me. "I really like you."
"I do too." My voice was a whisper. We both leaned in this time and it was just a short kiss, but it was still awesome! "You'll come back won't you?"
"Of course, as long as you don't run off with that other guy." He smiled at me joking.
"Don't worry. He's not my type." We kissed one last time before he left.
Three days later he came back, like he promised. And we continued that trend for a long time, two months. Finally Alric met a princess he like who just happened to like him back, so Bankotsu lost his competition. And on the fourth month we got engaged. After I turn eighteen, we'd get married. He only had one battle left and then he'd come back to live at the demon slayers village, which had become home to him.
While he was gone I received a letter from him saying the lord had gone crazy and they were in hiding. In month he would come back and it would hopefully be over. And so I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally the month was up and the gate watcher said they saw someone coming to the village. I immediately thought it was Bankotsu, but when the doors opened, it was a prince. He told me his father had all of them killed including my fiancé. He couldn't stop him or the general. And I fell to the ground screaming. Everything went downhill from there. My demon slaying became so bad, three years after his death I was forced to stop. And then I had all the time in the world to think about it. I ended up becoming heart sick and finally on my twenty-eight birthday I collapsed. My heart sickness became physical sickness and I went into a coma. They couldn't get me to eat or drink anything, and three days later I died, leaving everything behind. I'm not sure if I consider it suicide. I know I had wanted to die for a long time, but I couldn't help it if I became sick. It doesn't matter anyway. I had nothing to lose at that point.