Treasure
Chapter 2:
Everyone Deserves a Name
The girl ran as fast as she could through the forest. With absolutely no idea where she was heading; her only goal was to put as much distance between herself and the Shichinintai as possible. With a loud thud, she toppled back and hit the ground after colliding with something hard. She rubbed the back of her head as she looked up to see none other than Bankotsu standing over her. "Now what would you be doing all the way out here?" He said looking down at her with a rather irritated look on his face.
"You wouldn't happen to be trying to run away, would you?" He asked sarcastically.
She looked up at him in amazement that he was able to catch up so quickly. She scrambled to get away from him as he took a step forward and reached down for her. Bankotsu grabbed her up firmly by her arm. He was a little shocked when she smacked him across the face with her free hand; leaving a red mark on his cheek. To the girl's surprise he returned the physical assault with a cocky smirk. "Well, you're a feisty one, aren't you?" He teased as he backed her up against a tree, he had both of her hands pinned over her head with just one of his.
He watched amusingly as the girl violently thrusted about trying to free herself. Fighting him was like wrestling a brick wall. The whole time she fought with him he didn't budge an inch. At last she gave up breathing heavily. "I figured you'd wear yourself out." He chuckled slightly.
"But still, I can't figure it out, why were you in the dungeon in the first place? Care to enlighten me?" He asked curiously, still holding her hands firmly together.
"I've been down there off and on my whole life..." The girl started, she then looked away from him.
"For being a disobedient slave..." She mumbled, ashamed.
'Disobedient slave huh? Well, that figures...' He thought to himself.
In some way, he thought her fighter attitude was cute. She seemed to not care how much bigger or stronger her opponent was. No doubt, it was that attitude that's been getting her thrown in the dungeon. He was well aware of the fact that she just wanted to be free. No one needed to say it. Unfortunately, he couldn't let her go just yet. Not until he found out who she was exactly.
"If I were to let you live; I trust that disobedience wouldn't be a problem with me, now would it?" He squeezed her wrists roughly; it was more of a statement than a question.
She cringed under him, as he crushed her wrists together before reluctantly responding. "No, it wouldn't..."
"Now that's a good girl. Maybe you are smart after all." He smirked.
He led her back to the castle and village ruins, and ordered her to go ahead and get cleaned up in the castle wash room. As she did that, Bankotsu scavenged some of the few remaining homes for clothing. "Uh, Big Brother... What are you doing?" Renkotsu asked confused.
"I'm finding our little slave girl some new clothes." He said as he looked through the belongings of the used-to-be residents.
Renkotsu watched concerned as Bankotsu tossed clothes and other miscellaneous items about. "Brother Bankotsu, I do wish you'd reconsider. This girl seems like she's going to be nothing but trouble." He tried to persuade Bankotsu to leave the girl.
"Come on now Renkotsu, I'm not going to have our servant running around in rags." Bankotsu stated, avoiding Renkotsu's real issues.
"People might begin to question our character." Bankotsu stated only half serious.
Bankotsu had already made up his mind about her. She was going with them; whether her, or his men liked it or not. He tossed Renkotsu a change of clothes, and some slippers, along with some bandages and ointment he found. Renkotsu looked at the items in his hands questionably. "Go give that to the girl, and take care of all those wounds on her back." Bankotsu ordered.
"Come on now, Big Brother, I can't. Have Mukotsu do it. He'd be more than happy." Renkotsu objected, he didn't want anything more to do with her.
"I want her cleaned up, not molested." Bankotsu stated.
Renkotsu started to object again, but before he could say anything Bankotsu cut him off. "Kyoukotsu won't fit in the castle, Ginkotsu has no arms, Jakotsu would kill her. And Suikotsu would have to let his better half take over, and you know how bad everyone hates dealing with him. Now Renkotsu, stop arguing with me and just do it." Bankotsu said getting rather annoyed with Renkotsu's defiance.
Renkotsu huffed and stormed off to the castle. Inside the wash room the girl was relaxing inside the enormous tub. She could practically swim in it. The floors and walls were made out of expensive stone. Emerald curtains draped down from the windows (that seemed to reach from the floor all the way to the ceiling). The walls were aligned with varnished oil lamps that gave off the right amount of light. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the edge. "If you're done loafing around; I'd like to get this over with, please." She opened her eyes to see a very angry looking Renkotsu.
She sighed annoyed. "You have got to be kidding me." She mumbled.
"No I'm not, now hurry up and get out." He hissed throwing a towel on top of her head.
She groaned as she climbed out of the tub, dried herself off, then wrapped the towel around her. "Sit." He ordered, gesturing in front of him.
She sneered but obeyed, sitting down in front of him. He pulled the towel down enough to be able to access the wounds on her back. She yelped painfully, as he intentionally rubbed the ointment into her wounds as hard as he could. "I don't know why Brother Bankotsu would be bothered with an annoyance like you. I should have just left you down in that dungeon." He sneered.
"It's not like this is my idea of fun either." She retorted back at him.
He began to wrap the bandages around her waist a little too tightly. "Maybe that mouth of yours is what gets you in so much trouble. It's a wonder you're still alive." He said as he kept wrapping the bandages tighter and tighter.
At this point it was becoming difficult for her to breathe. "I'd like to think people keep me around for my charming personality." She said with some difficulty.
"Hm... How cheeky..." Renkotsu mumbled, before pulling the bandages one last time and tying them up.
"Let's see how quick you are to talk back now." He hissed in her ear.
She tried to take a good deep breath, but the bandages would only allow shallow breathing. "Now, hurry up and get dressed. I'll be waiting for you outside." He said leaving the room.
Slowly she got up, and walked over to the counter where the change of clothes lay. She slid the pale green kimono with pale yellow floral print on. It was form fitting and stopped about her mid-thigh. She wrapped the matching obi around her, and slid on the shoes that also went with it. She looked through the counter drawers until she found a brush, and began brushing her long light brown hair. She walked over to a mirror as she pinned part of her hair back. Looking into the mirror was like looking at a stranger. She had never seen herself outside of regular servant's clothes. She was quite pleased with what she saw. The colors of the kimono accented her pale skin perfectly. It was a great choice of clothing for her. "What's taking so long!" Renkotsu pounded on the door.
'I'm just someone else's slave now...' She thought to herself as she turned to meet Renkotsu outside.
The others were all still lounging about and drinking. Bankotsu was distracted from his men when he saw Renkotsu and the young girl approaching. Her hair shone vibrantly in the sun and his mind automatically drew up memories from his child hood. 'Your hair shines when the sun hits it, and the grain doesn't. So you stick out instead of blending in' He quickly erased the thought from his mind however.
He tossed the girl four bags and gave her a list of things they may need on their journey. She was to fill each bag with the items, then come back and clean their weapons. All while the group sat down to discuss the next steps in their plan. There was a total of four more villages that the Lord that hired them, wanted them to destroy. Three smaller ones, and one main village. Bankotsu decided it would be best to all split up and take care of the smaller ones, then all reunite for the bigger one. Renkotsu and of course Ginkotsu were to go together, Jakotsu and Kyoukotsu were together, and Suikotsu and Mukotsu were together. Bankotsu would be taking the girl with him and going ahead to the main village. Each group picked up their weapons and the bag the girl had packed for them and headed out for their destination.
A short while into the journey; Bankotsu noticed the girl's shallow breathing. He raised his brow and glanced back to see the girl propped up against a tree. "What's wrong with you?" He stopped to ask her.
The girl motioned to her bandages. "They're too tight." She panted.
Bankotsu sat down his Banryu and walked over to the girl. "Oh, well... Here turn around." He said.
He had her turn around and loosened her kimono just enough to get to the knot in the bandages. "So, what's your name?" He asked as he untied the knot.
He was almost afraid of what she might say. After all, if it was who he thought; what would he do then? She didn't respond to him. "Ok. So you don't want to tell me your name... I guess I can understand that." He said shaking his head, and laughing slightly at her stubbornness.
He started to unwrap the bandages some. "I don't remember." She said finally.
"You what?" He asked confused.
"No one's ever called me by a name, since I can remember." She stated.
Bankotsu was shocked to hear that. He's heard and seen some pretty unusual things in his life, but someone who hasn't been called by their name in so long that they forgot it all together was new to him. "Breathe out for me." He said dropping that whole conversation all together, as he adjusted the bandages.
"That better?" He asked.
"Yes, thanks." She said awkwardly as she fixed her kimono.
As they continued on Bankotsu spent most of the time thinking to himself. 'Ai? Eh no. Kaida? No... Miko? No that's too girly.' He tried to come up with a name that he could call the girl.
'Ug, this is hard... The only thing I ever named was, well Banryu...' He got kind of irritated with himself that he couldn't think of anything.
'I'll think of something eventually... After all, everyone disserves to have a name, if nothing else.'
