Enjoy!

My name is Bankotsu. I am a mercenary.

It's been days since that Miko walked away from me, after returning Banryuu to it's original size.

I've been searching for her the whole time, for two reasons.

One: I needed her powers. She would be able to free me, and the rest of the Shichinintai from Naraku, the creature who resurrected us, and bends us to his will, using the Shikon no Tama.

Two: I still had her damn dagger with me! And she still wanted it back.

Tonight, I've finally found her. She ran into a room, and slammed the door.

I could hear her arguing with the person inside, and then some banging around as the lights went out.

What the hell was she doing?

I realised why she was running only an hour after the lights were all out.

One room was still lit, and I could see the silhouettes of two people skinning other people, beheading them, and trying the skins on like clothing.

She already knew they were trouble. I didn't know why she was staying.

But, if she stayed, she was going to have to fight for her life... and I wanted to watch.

I sat up on the wall.

After a few hours, one of the figures made its way to the room where the Miko was hiding.

He opened the door, and stood in the doorway.

I could hear the Miko talking.

After a minute, the second figure went over there.

They stood for a moment, then entered the room.

I heard blades clashing, pained screaming, and a lot of foot-fall.

It wasn't very long before I saw blood flying out of the room, and heard heavy panting.

I saw other figures appearing.

She was up against that family of psycho-killers, wasn't she? Unless she was killed in there, this was going to get very interesting.

To my surprize, she came running out, a bloody sword in her hands, and ready to strike.

I must say, I enjoyed the show.

She was ruthless. I'd even say she rivaled Suikotsu.

But, in a way, she surpassed him.

She didn't just kill her victims. She tortured them.

I almost felt sorry for them, as I watched her impale them, cut them to pieces from the toes up, lop off their limbs, and, right at the last two enemies, drown them in the horses' water troph.

Her technique was so elegantly, and cleanly brutal. Yet, clumsy enough to drench herself in blood.

At the end of it all, I caught a glimpse of her face. She was scared. But, also furious.

I began to wonder if she had a reason for killing them so painfully.

The Miko sighed, like she had just gotten back from a hard day of work, and headed back into the room where she had probably killed the first two figures, not even bothering to close the door.

I looked around at the mess she had made, and applauded, slowly, at the work she'd done.

"I was right." I said. "She's perfect..."

Mori's POV:

My name is Mori. I am fifteen years old.

I can't be sure why I'm lying here on my side, barely awake, feeling sticky, and sore.

I remember Jouhiki and Mikao coming into the room, prepared to kill me, and the young lord, and I had pulled out the hilt to fight.

I remember getting angry, because they had turned this poor boy into an orphan, like me.

But, after that, I don't really remember anything.

I slowly opened my heavy-feeling eyes, and was horrified, at first, when I saw the young lord infront of me, his face spattered with blood.

Then, I realised he was breathing, and felt a wave of relief wash over me.

I slowly sat up, groaning in pain, and looked down at myself.

I was covered in blood, and was sleeping in a puddle of it.

Horror struck me once more, and I looked around.

There was blood, and torn cloth everywhere.

Right above the young lord, Jouhiki and Mikao were hanging from the ceiling, by their necks.

I recognized the thing holding them up there as my kimono obi.

I covered my mouth, got up and ran outside.

That was a very big mistake.

Whatever had gone on in the young lord's room had gone on a thousand fold outside.

Impaled people by the gate. A pile of people that had been cut to pieces all over the ground. Two people drowned in the troph by the stables. And three hung by a thin string infront of the lord's bed room, their necks covered in clotted blood.

I fell to my knees, leaning over the pourch, as I began to feel like I might be sick.

I vomited a couple of times before I remembered that the young lord was still alive, and would be scarred for life if he saw all this.

I went back inside to him, pulled some bandages out of my bag, and wrapped them around his head, making sure to cover his eyes.

He woke up as I was beginning to tie it off.

"What is this?" He asked, reaching up, and taking hold of the bandage.

"Leave it on!" I nearly screamed at him.

The young lord let go of the bandage.

"Why?" He asked.

"You don't want to know!" I said. "Just leave this on, and I'll tell you when you can take it off. Hasume-chan!"

Her aura moved slowly toward me.

She hesitantly peeked through the door.

"Mori?" Hasume said. "Are you... alright now?"

I gave that just a bit of thought. That little bit of thought was enough to make me realise what had gone on last night.

I pointed to myself, so as not to give anything away to the young lord.

Hasume nodded once.

I wasn't sure what to think. I was horrified, yes. But, other than that, I didn't know what to do.

"Hasume-chan, take care of the young lord for a bit, will you?" I asked. "I've got something to do."

Hasume nodded slowly.

I took Jouhiki and Mikao's bodies out of there, and gathered the rest of the bodies.

I buried them all, using my Miko powers to make it go fast, so that we could get out of there quickly, and the ground would be hallowed.

I said a little prayer for them, and then went back to find the young lord scratching the blood off of his face.

"What is this stuff?" He asked. "It itches."

I took his hand, and led him out.

"Don't worry about it, just follow me." I said.

We got out on the road, and I began to lead him away, not really looking back to see what he was doing.

"Blood..." I heard him gasp, suddenly.

I stopped. He bumped into me, and stumbled back until he fell on his backside.

I looked back at him, and saw that he had moved the bandages just enough to see me.

I turned to him, and knelt down to meet his eye.

"I'm really sorry." I said. "The maids, the guards, your parents... they weren't who you thought they were. Everyone you knew there was killed before, and during my visit. I know the pain of losing parents, so, apparently, I've gone and killed the people who killed your parents."

He crawled backwards away from me, looking horrified.

"I avenged your parents." I said. "It's sort of okay, right?"

He shook his head. "Murderer!" He said.

I couldn't believe this. His parents had been killed. I avenged them. Why wasn't he... His reaction wasn't what I expected. I didn't think he would worry about the fact that I had killed so many people, because they tried to kill him, and had already killed everyone he once knew.

This kid was no mere spoiled brat. He was so much worse.

I stood up, and grabbed the hilt, and drew a bloody blade.

I pointed it at the boy.

"Run." I said. "You're not worth this."

He sat there, shaking with fear.

"What the hell are you staring at?" I snapped. "Run, damn it!"

He jumped up, and took off running and screaming.

I was angry, and frustrated, and scared, and all-around miserable.

I went to a nearby river, and dove in, working to wash the blood off of me.

When I came back up, I felt like I had defiled the water. Like I was some kind of poisonous creature.

I crawled back up onto the bank, and looked at my refflection in the water.

I didn't look any different. Yet, I didn't recognize myself.

Tears came to my eyes.

I didn't know why I was so upset. I don't know why I was the one crying.

I wasn't hurt. I hadn't lost anybody.

But... I began to remember what went on that night, and how I felt as I killed all those people.

I was furious with them, for murdering that boy's parents. He was a relatively good kid, and a good son, and they killed those lucky parents.

I took it upon myself to avenge them, and probably defiled my soul in the process. Because, once they were dead, I felt relief. No. Satisfaction. And pleasure. I was pleased with myself for killing them.

I raised my head, and found myself walking on the road. I hadn't even realised that I had gotten up, and walked on down the road.

I saw a camp. It was a camp for a small army, by the looks of things.

One of the warriors looked up at me, and his eyes widened.

I looked down at myself, not particularly interested in what he was looking at.

I hadn't managed to clean all the blood off of me, and looked like I had walked right out of a horror movie.

Looking back up at the warrior, I saw him grab a weapon.

"Tch." I scoffed, starting on my way.

I heard shouting in the camp, and didn't really pay attention to what was being said.

All I heard was 'kill'. I froze, right there, and looked at the army readying their weapons.

I drew my blade.

Hours later...

I watched from up on a cliff, as the tents burned, and took in the scent of rotting corpses.

Why had I killed them? What had they done to me?

Nothing. I had killed them for no reason.

Tears streamed down my face. I was becoming some sort of monster. Only, I was still human.

I felt so impure. Filthy. Deformed. Evil.

The pain that came with this was unbearable.

"I want to die..." I said.

All of a sudden, I felt something stab me in the back.

I gasped in pain, not feeling strong enough to scream.

"That can be arranged!" came a familiar voice. "Of course, it won't happen until later."

I looked to my left. Bankotsu walked around, leaving the blade in my back, and leaned against a tree, folding his arms over his chest.

He was looking out at the burning campsite.

"Not bad!" Bankotsu complimented. "I didn't get to see this one, but, hey, I like the finale!"

I frowned. "Glad someone does." I said, sarcasticly.

He looked at me. "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked.

He pointed at my back.

"Returning your damn dagger, that's what!" Bankotsu said. "I would've had it here a lot sooner, but, after that show you put on last night, I had some thinking to do."

I half heartedly looked toward my back, and spotted the hilt of Kokoroha.

I reached back, and pulled it out of my back.

With great care, I observed the repair job.

Not bad. I saw no obvious signs that another metal had been used to fix it.

I took care to look on the hilt, and found the inscription my parents had put there: Our precious angel. Forever... Mama and Papa.

Tears fell faster. "Your angel has fallen..." I breathed.

"Hey." Bankotsu said.

I looked up at him. "Since I repaired that, when you said I didn't have to, I have a few demands in exchange for it." Bankotsu said. "I'll even throw in the death of your choice, if you still want to die when I'm done with you."

I rubbed my tears away, and stood up.

"It can only help me, at this point." I said. "What is it?"

"You know of me, and the Shichinintai." Bankotsu said. "So, you probably know that we were caught, and beheaded ten years ago."

I stared at him. "Ten years ago?" I said. "Then, how...?"

"We were resurrected by a youkai called Naraku." Bankotsu went on. "He's given us a task, in exchange for a second chance at life. We can handle the task. However, as the only one who's ever met him, I don't trust him. He's going to spite us."

I nodded slowly. "Seeing as how you're a Miko, I think you can help us." Bankotsu said.

I nodded again. "Why me? There are plenty of Miko out there. More skilled than I am." I said. "Why pick me?"

"If you don't want to, just say so. I'll kill you, and be on my way." Bankotsu said.

I had never heard of the Shichinintai asking for help. Especially not Bankotsu.

If he was asking for my help, and didn't care about my skill level, it was serious.

Maybe I was needed. Maybe I had a purpose after all.

"I'll need training." I said. "I'll need occassional breaks, to do as I please."

"Those are given." Bankotsu said.

I nodded. "That'll be all, then." I said. "As long as I can have those two things, I'm at your beckon call."

He gave me a funny look. "That can't be all?" Bankotsu said.

"Take it or leave it." I said.

Bankotsu stared at me a moment longer, and smirked.

"I don't think I've ever tolerated this kind of attitude from anyone." Bankotsu said. "Let alone begun to like it."

I rolled my eyes. "And you were gettin' onto me about flattery!" I said. "Are we staying here, or what?"

He sighed. "You're not much fun, are ya?" Bankotsu asked.

"I'm tired, I'm sore, and I'm a monster." I said. "Now, maybe it's different for a male mercenary, but, I don't feel so hot! I've never wanted to kill myself so badly in my life!"

I stuck Kokoroha into my bag, and folded my arms.

"First time, huh?" Bankotsu asked. "Think you've lost your humanity? You want to die, and die slowly?"

I looked at him. "I killed for the first time when I was twelve." Bankotsu said. "I think I had a good reason for it. But, I was beating myself up over it for days before I realised that it felt good to kill... My whole village treated me like a criminal, until I up and killed them all."

He had felt this way before? Was this true? Was there a way to feel better?

"Sou ka..." I said.

Bankotsu nodded, and started away.

I stood for a moment, not really sure if I could trust him.

But, then, I was now a cold-blooded killer. Another killer would be the only person I could trust in this world.

I followed him on into the night, wondering if this new life style would be the one I had been looking for all my life...

Bad cut! Bad cut! Bad cut! But, I've dragged it out too long! I have to use that as the cut! Please review!