Bankotsu walked behind Kairi as they headed back towards the rest of the Band of Seven- Kairi figured they'd probably come up with some new weird name since she made it eight now.

Ugh, I get to spend all of my time with seven nasty, murder-loving men. Great. I probably won't get hired much anymore cause of this new reputation I'm building myself…

"Kairi, you're too quite!" Bankotsu said as he put his arm around her shoulder. "If you're going to be part of my group, you gotta let loose!"

She sighed, "On the inside I'm trembling with excitement," she said with a dull voice loaded with sarcasm. "See?" she gave him a cheesy smile.

"Ha. Very funny." He groaned. He slid his arm off of her slowly, making sure it hit every curve of her toned body. As his hand passed her hip, she shivered a little and felt goosebumps emerge on her skin. She felt a smile creep on her lips, and sensed his smug grin on his face. She almost thought- but only for a second- that he was just trying to be gentle. No funny business or anything.

Until he grabbed two handfuls of her ass.

She squeeled and smacked him in the face. "YOU PERV! TRY TOUCHING ME AGAIN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!"

He stared at her in a way that almost scared her. "I can touch you when I please."

"N-no! You cannot! I am not your prize to be won!"

He grabbed her by the throat. "If you ever fucking strike me like that again, you will be breathing dirt for eternity. Got it?"

She struggled to free herself from his strong hands. "Y-yeah."

"Only a yeah?" he said through his teeth, squeezing her neck harder.

"Yes, Bankotsu!" she gasped. He dropped her to her knees.

"Hmph. Get up, we still have a long way to go." He presumed towards their destination.

She rubbed her neck and thought, Since when have I EVER let a man push me around like that? I guess he is a mercenary… if I value my life I will just keep my mouth shut for the rest of this journey.

She got up, and they continued their trip in silence.

The Band of Seven's Base Camp:

"Brother! You're back!" squeeled Jakotsu. He took one glance at Kairi and groaned in disgust. "Why'd you bring her back? Is she our new wench or something'?"

"Excuse me?" Kairi gave him a look that screamed I'll-kick-your-ass-for-that.

Bankotsu shook his head. "No, Jakotsu. Believe it or not, she is actually a new addition to our Band of Seven."

"WHAT?" the men cried out in shock.

"Big Brother, you can't be serious? A woman? How is she capable of fighting and killing?" asked Renkotsu in an angry tone.

Kairi scoffed. "Typical men. I'm perfectly capable of fighting someone. AND killing. I do it everyday."

"Oh, really?" Suikotsu pulled his claws up. "Then try this on for size!"

He lunged at her, and as she went to attack him, Bankotsu pulled Banryu out in front of her.

"NO." he yelled. "The only person who will be fighting her is me. Besides, she needs a little training." he turned around and winked at her.

"Training? You have GOT to be kidding me." she rolled her eyes. This is getting really stupid. I shouldn't have agreed to this crap.

"Yes, you do. We have a job to do, and we need to be sure that you can carry out our dirty deeds." He threw Banryu over his shoulder and threw another wink her way.

The seven men laughed as her face grew red. "Fine." she sat down on the ground and pouted. She did not like giving in to him. It should be the other way around. Men were supposed to be falling for her, that's how she killed them.

A light bulb went off in her head. Maybe if I play along with their schemes, I can kill them! Then I would become a hero! But I have to get him to fall in love with me… Damn it. He's such a dick that all he'll want is sex.

She yawned. "Ah, it's getting kind of late. And I need to bathe."

Bankotsu chuckled, "You just bathed not that long ago."

She blushed as the men stared at her. "If you recall, that was cut a little short. So. I'm going now." She spun around on her heels and stormed off to find the nearest spring.

"Geeze, Bankotsu. What a winner you picked." Renkotsu mentioned.

They all laughed. "Well, she is a pretty good fighter. But, we won't have her for long, for she is just a decoy to get to Inuyasha."

"What'd ya mean, Big Brother?" Jakotsu asked with a puzzled look.

"Naraku told me that she's related to that Kagome girl. The one who can see the Jewel Shards. So I figured if I found her and let her in our group she could lead us to Inuyasha. Then we can kill him, the rest of his group, and maybe I'll keep her for a little while after that so I can get some satisfaction out of her." He winked, and the joined him in an evil uproar of laughter.

"Oh, Brother, you come up with the evilest of schemes!" Mukotsu proclaimed as he chuckled.

"Heh," he scoffed. "I do what I can. Now, let's get down to business…"

IN THE HOT SPRING:

Kairi was relaxing and humming to her favorite songs, being careful not to fully sing so that the Band of Seven couldn't hear her- especially Bankotsu. She's always been a really great singer. She was in a band at home. She could play the guitar, the piano, and had written so many songs.

Back home, ha. She thought. Kairi lived in Katy, Texas in the modern age. She found herself in this era when she was 15, falling through a pond at her house. Her cousin, Kagome, also found her way through this era at her shrine. Kairi had met Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo upon her last visit here. She occasionally went home to visit her family and go back to school, but it was summer and she didn't have to be back for awhile. So she had stayed longer than planned this time.

She sighed and sunk into the water. A real shower would be nice. She came up out of the water and rubbed her eyes. As she opened them she saw two female figures.

"Kairi!" squeeled one of them.

Kairi screamed and ducked into the water. The girls pulled her up.

"LET ME GO!" she kicked and splashed.

"Oh, calm down! It's just us!" said the other one.

Kairi stopped, opened her eyes and smiled. "Kagome! Sango!"

"What are you doing?" Kagome giggled.

"Well, the last time I tried to take a bath I got jumped by a bunch of creepy drunks so I decided to take one now! Anything exciting come up with you guys?"

Sango sighed, "Still looking for shards. And any trace of Naraku."

"Naraku?" Kairi gave them a puzzled look. "You didn't tell me about that, Kagome."

"Well, Naraku has most of the sacred jewel shards. We're trying to get them back."

"Do you know where he is yet?" she stared in wonder.

"Well, we've heard he revived a bunch of murders called the Band of Seven. We ran into one of them the other day. His name was Jakotsu." said Kagome.

Kairi's eyes got wide. "The Band of Seven?"

"Yeah, have you heard anything?"

She gulped. "Uh, yeah. Just that they were ruthless killers and that I better watch out for 'em. All that stuff."

I better not tell them about what happened. I don't want them to know of my plan just yet. She thought slyly.

"Oh. Well if you want, you could come with us and help us track them down." Kagome offered.

Kairi sighed. "Nah, I have a lot of jobs I gotta do." She splashed water on her face. "Plus I just remember I need to start on all this college stuff. Ugh. Busy bee."

"Oh, I'm not exactly there yet. But I know how stressful school is." Kagome smiled at her. "Lucky, you get a long summer break."

"Yeah, it's great." Kairi headed for her clothes. "I'm glad I saw you guys. But I gotta go get some sleep. Training tomorrow." Oh, boy.

As she dressed, the girls said their good-byes and Kairi headed back to the camp.

I feel terrible for lying to them about the Band of Seven. But I just started today! I need to get to know them better, and when the moment comes, I will tell Kagome and the others and we can destroy them.

BACK AT THE CAMP:

As she returned to the camp, she saw a campfire and the guys had out bottles of sake and were laughing.

"Hey, look who's back!" slurred Mukotsu.

She waved and bit her lip. "Can I have some?" she looked towards Bankotsu and batted her lashes.

"Ha! You and sake does not sound like a good combination." he didn't sound as drunk as the others.

"Oh, come on! I know how to handle my drinks." She held her chin up. She wasn't too proud of some of the things she had done at parties before, but she has learned her limit.

"Yeah, how old are you?" Jakotsu snickered.

"I'm seventeen!" she protested. Not old enough to legally drink back home in Texas. But who cares, no one could be here to arrest her if she drank.

"Fine, fine. Take some." Bankotsu handed her the bottle. She stared at it, then looked down at him and smirked. She swished the bottle to see how much was left, lifted it to her lips, and downed the remaining substance. As she finished, she sat on the ground and tossed the bottle back to Bankotsu. She wiped her lip as the men stared at her.

"What the hell was that?" Suikotsu asked.

"Oh, I've only drank once or twice…" she blushed.

"Pft, yeah right." Jakotsu rolled his eyes.

"I'm already scared to let you drink more." Bankotsu blinked at her.

"Oh, I'll be fine. I won't drink more than three cups, max. Promise."

THREE BOTTLES OF SAKE LATER…

Kairi couldn't stop laughing and she didn't exactly know why. They weren't really that funny, but then again she had drunk a whole three bottles of sake herself…

Bankotsu wrapped his arm around her waist. He had about two and a half to himself. Where did they even get all this sake, anyway?

"I thought you said you could handle your drinks?" Bankotsu whispered in her ear.

She giggled, "Well then I guess I was lying." She whispered and giggled some more. She didn't know why she let herself drink this much. Maybe she was trying too hard to make a good impression. Whatever, she thought, I'm kind of in the mood… maybe Bankotsu and I will…

"I'm beat." Bankotsu hiccupped. "Time for bed."

"Me too," the rest of them groaned and yawned. Bankotsu stood up.

"Kairi, follow me." he ordered sternly.

Jakotsu giggled a bit. "We all know what they're going to do." The all laughed, even Kairi.

"Hehe, yes sir." She said seductively.

Bankotsu stared at her for a second and smiled. He took her hand and led her deep into the forest.

They sat down next a tree. Kairi sighed, "SO, am I loose enough for you yet?"

He smirked. "I don't know…" He rubbed his hand up her inner thigh.

"Wanna find out?"