Chapter 4: Another Encounter

While the rest of the Band of Seven were off doing a mission, I was, for once, not alone. Bankotsu decided that this was a mission that could play out without him and so there he was. To be honest, I could have used the time alone. I made the mistake of allowing Bankotsu to sleep by me and now he always does it. Between that, his constant hovering and the rest of the team, I was being smothered.

"The least you could do is chat with me, Misaki. Quit being such a slouch." Bankotsu whined.

"Ok. Why in the world would you pass up the oppurtunity to have your little pow wow so that you could sit here and force me to converse?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm starting to regret it." He sniped.

"Ugh..." I rolled my eyes and looked at him. He looked so dejected. "Aw alright." I groaned.

Bankotsu perked up, his eyes fastened to me. Way to throw on the pressure.

"Uhh... Well... you um, mentioned something about living in a small village. Mind telling me more about it?"

"Oh, uh... I mean, what else is there to say about it except that it was small and quiet?" Bankotsu said, suddenly nervous. Why is he squirming?

"Oh come on, Bankotsu! Did you have any people your age? Friends? Family?"

"Yeah, I had some." He said, diverting his eyes.

"Some what?" I said, irritated. He begs for conversation and then tries to ditch the topic.

"Some family. Some people my age." He got up, grabbing Banryu and started to walk off.

"Any of them your friends?" I leapt up, following close behind.

"None that matter anymore."

"Really? There isn't one person that stood out to you? Not a name? Nothing?!" I said, stopping in front of him to cut him off.

"Erm, well..." He shifted uncomfortably. "Why... why do you want to know this?"

"I don't... I don't know..." I said, suddenly as hesitant as him. "I just, thought it would help me get to know you better..."

"Any luck?" He said, as he began to walk past me.

"Not at all." I said, chuckling. I turned to catch up to him. "So, what? Do you just want to seem mysterious or is there some negative connotation to talking about your past?"

Bankotsu looked at me out of the corner of his eye, his expression blank. "Let's just say I don't like to talk about it."

"Oh... I know the feeling. I lived in this wonderful little village with my mom and dad. I had one really good friend, Nisume, and a few other good ones. But, as you must've gathered, it didn't last..." Bankotsu's attention had shifted fully to me. We stopped walking. I don't know how he drew this out of me, but I kept talking. "Everyone was wonderful. My parents. The elders. The kids. Everyone just accepted everyone... almost like you do with your team... with me..." I stole a glance at him, and he just stood there, his eyes fixated on me, his expression soft.

"Sounds pretty good." He said with a dredge of meloncholy.

"Yeah, except... ha! Look at me - saying that I get why you don't want to talk about and then... talking about it." I put my hand on my face and laughed nervously. Bankotsu held his gaze.

"Well? You can go on if you want." He said, almost hungry to hear me open up.

"Well, when I left town to study under Master Totosai. With the time I took to create Banryu. The time it took to lose it to a demon... by the time I got back, it -" I took a sharp breath. I had begun shaking and sweating. "It was all burned to a crisp. From what I know, everyone had perished. First, it was my father, a great half demon, who fell victim to an attack of numerous full demons. Then, without the hanyou to protect them, the rest of the village fell to bandits. My home was destroyed and..." I trailed off, something catching in my throat.

"And then you began to wander." Bankotsu finished.

"Yeah."

"And, as fate would have it, the very same person who sleighed the demon that took your sword was the one who was supposed to kill you, but ultimately couldn't."

"*Wouldn't*" I corrected.

"That's wrong..." He said, dropping his head. "I couldn't." It suddenly got quiet. Where were we supposed to go from here?

"Oh, that's right, cause I got the better of you." I said, poking fun, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah, right. Like that was the reason." Bankotsu retaliated, without missing a beat.

"I did get the better of you when we first met, Bankotsu."

"To clarify, I wasn't necessarily trying. We both know I'm stronger and faster."

"You can NOT base your comparison off of you throwing me in the river! I was laughing too hard to stop you!"

"Why not? You're basing your comparison off of your view of our first encounter!"

"Hey, don't test me, now. Or else you'll find out just how weak a human really is." I chuckled.

"Tch. Yeah, ok. Like you could beat me."

"Hey! I beat you once before!"

"If I remember correctly, I believe you failed to nail me."

"I would have more than beaten you if I had followed through."

"That's what you think."

"Are you saying you lost on purpose? I saw you grimace!"

"I'm saying I never lost. Did you not see me put my hand on your blade? I would have diverted it into the wall had you continued. I was not done - I merely stopped because you stopped." Bankotsu explained, only succeeding in hyping me up more.

"Ok, maybe it wasn't as clear-cut. But if I was sparring with you and not going for the kill, therefore hesitating, I'd beat you, hands down."

"Is that a challenge? Woman, don't take me lightly."

"Puh-lease! I could beat you any day. So long as it's a spar, I'll win every time!"

"Oh yeah?" Bankotsu said, pointing his sword at me with a haughty grin. "You wanna go?"

"Tch, alright lover-boy." I said, pulling my priestess sword from it's sheath. "Let's see what you can do."

"Ready?" Bankotsu said excitedly. "Here I come!"

Bankotsu surged forward, almost instantly colliding swords with me. He's faster than last time. I held my ground, pushing back the great Banryu just far enough to dodge off to the side and take a swipe at Bankotsu. He quickly retaliated with a big swing of Banryu, forcing me to dodge out of range.

"Holy shit, you are capable of harming someone!" Bankotsu exclaimed, looking down at his torn haori and the clean-cut wound which had begun to bleed a bit. "Granted it's just a graze and it wasn't aimed in a vital area but... damn. I'm impressed." He said, readying Banryu again.

"I needed to make a point." I said.

"And you certainly did. It's been a long time since someone got a scratch on me, let alone torn my clothes. Welp, my turn."

Bankotsu surged forward again and we clashed. This time when I pushed him back, he pushed harder. It took almost all my might to deflect him this time and only off to the side. In response, Bankotsu swiped Banryu horizontally, causing me to I jump straight up and land on top of the massive blade. Oops. Electricity began sparking at me feet as Banryu rejected my contact with it. Gotta bail. At the same moment I pushed off to bail, Bankotsu swung with excessive force throwing me twice as far as I intended. It was then that Bankotsu took the oppurtunity to gain the upper hand. With lightning speed, he appeared in front of me, taking swing after swing, pushing me back with each one.

I was off balance, trying to block and dodge. Backed against a tree, I finally regained my footing and clashed swords with him. This is it. I pushed his blade back an inch and smirked. I got him - And suddenly, the force behind his hands doubled, pushing me back. I quickly grasped both hands onto my blade, stopping it mere inches from my face. My back against the tree, I had nowhere to go but forward. Off to the side with this kind of pressure would be too risky.

"Haaaaaaa!" I pushed back with all my might - and he matched it, pound for pound. I... I can't overpower him. And with that realization, Bankotsu quickly stepped back and disarmed me in an instant. My blade spun violently off to the side before hitting the ground. I leaned back against the tree and hung my head in shame. A mere human just defeated me.

Bankotsu smirked before throwing Banryu into the ground. He took a step closer to me. I grimaced, readying myself for the cocky victory speech. How embarrasing.

"You won." Bankotsu stated cooly.

"What do you mean, I won? You had me backed against a tree with no weapon."

He looked at me with softness in his eyes. "Because there is no way I could hurt you. I can't win against you. Not ever." He ebbed a little closer to me. "Not in a spar or for real. Not with our swords. Not hand to hand. Half the time not even verbally." He chuckled.

"That shouldn't count like that."

"Too bad. That's how I call it. Even now, you could strike me down and I'd be powerless. Given if I couldn't dodge, that is. I just... I can't hurt you." Bankotsu said, staring into my eyes.

It was then that it finally sunk in. We were alone. This sweet little moment, might not be so innocent. Bankotsu edged a bit closer, refusing to relieve me from his stare. Those deep blue eyes bore into me, almost as if he was searching for something. Something else than what I was giving him.

"Well, I couldn't possibly hurt you either. So, let's say it's a draw." I said, a little breathless.

"That's not the same." He said, leaning forward to speak into my neck, giving me goosebumbs.

"No, it's not just that..." I trailed off. He pulled back for a moment to look me in the eye.

"Don't stop. Keep talking." he breathed, averting my gaze to look at my lips for a moment.

There's hunger in his gaze, but there's also something more—an almost violent longing that goes deeper than simple lust. A strange tightness squeezed my chest, and I felt like I was falling further into this trap of a life, losing even more of myself. "What do you want from me, Bankotsu?" I finally whispered, lifting my hand to cradle his cheek. "What do you need?"

He didn't answer right away. He closed his eyes and leaned a bit into my hand, as though absorbing the sensation. I felt his hand lightly encasing itself over mine. He held my hand, pressed against his face for a few moments. "What do I need..." His brow furrowed as he contemplated my words. He turned his face into the palm of my hand and took a deep breath in, taking in my scent. He chuckled a little, rubbing his cheek into my hand. "What do I want...?" I felt myself flinch and his grasp on my hand tightened a bit. He opened his eyes, showing those big blue irises, a shadow flitting through them. I gulped a bit and tried to take a step back but I merely pressed myself into the tree that had been behind me. Damn. What are you going to do? "What's wrong, Misaki? Why the sudden change? I thought you wanted to know..."

"N-never mind! I don't need to know." I said in a low panic, pulling my hand away from his face. He didn't let go, though, and instead held my hand level with his chest. I wish I had diverted the subject. I wish we had kept the subject light and easy. But there was no going back. Especially not this time.

"Too bad. Cause I'm going to answer you. I think you can already tell what I want though." He said with a devilish grin. He barred his free arm beside me, bracing against the tree and then shifted his body toward my free side, blocking my only escape. His eyes locked with mine as he ducked his head to be eye-level with me. He loomed over me and all around me, enveloping me with his entire being. Heat emanated from him. He brought my hand up to his heart, being sure not to break his intense gaze. My heart was hammering in my chest; whether it was from fear or anticipation, I wasn't sure. "God, I love to see you squirm." He chuckled.

"I... I..." I stammered, trying to think of a way to get him to understand that I didn't want this.

"Shhh." He hushed, moving ever-so dangerously closer to me. His lips were inches from mine. The rigid tension of his body surrounded me in the most unsettling way. My heart was going wild and my entire body started to tremble as I instinctively recoiled from his advances and shut my eyes tight.

"Damn it, Misaki..." He whispered under his breath. He then sighed and relaxed a little, moving his face away from mine. "Yeah, I want you, but I also want you. What I need is for you to stay with me, and if that means I can't have you, then I guess that's how it's going to be." He looked straight into my eyes, his eyes swimming with restrained emotions. "I won't do anything unless you want me to. From now on, whether you are with me or not rests in your hands. I'm willing to hand over all of my control." He released his grasp on my hand and let his hand slide off the tree. His arms then slowly fell to his side. With that, he turned on his heel and started walking in the other direction. "I promise I won't push..." He paused for a moment to pick up Banryu and tilted his face toward me a bit so I could see the gleam in his eye."... much."

And there I stood. Shocked, trembling, and full of unbridled emotions. Alone. Wondering what the Hell was I in for next...