Bankotsu: The Castle Town

The band of six were sitting near a river, taking a break from their continuous walking. Bankotsu was leaning against a rock, with his Banryu resting at his side. He appeared to be talking to himself, and after a few seconds he would let out words like "Dammit" before punching the ground.

Jakotsu was playing with his Jakotsuto, while watching his brother's strange antics. Renkotsu was in the process of helping Ginkotsu clean his weapons, and was also watching his leader, curious, but not enough to ask Bankotsu why. Kyokotsu was laying on the ground, obviously oblivious to Bankotsu's suffering.

After a few more minutes of watching Bankotsu and his excessive 'dammits', Jakotsu looked at Renkotsu "Do you know what his problem is?"

Renkotsu shook his head, knowing what Jakotsu was talking about "Can't say that I do"

"He's acting like a crazy person"

"You're one to talk" Renkotsu mumbled under his breath. Jakotsu blinked not hearing his brother's comment "What?"

"Big brother is trying to figure something out, just give him some time"

Jakotsu sighed, and crossed his arms, "Fine, but I'm getting so tired of this"

Renkotsu turned his head to look at Jakotsu for the first time. He jumped of his mechanical brother, and was washing the oil from his hands with an extra blue scarf "What do you mean?"

"I haven't been able to go on the hunt for good looking men ever since we started looking for Band of Seven members" he sighed. Renkotsu rolled his eyes, and walked back to Ginkotsu "I'm sorry I asked"

"I'm back" a small nasally laugh broke out. Jakotsu rolled his eyes and fell to the floor knowing who it was. Renkotsu looked at the small man "Oh welcome back Mukotsu, did you find what you needed?"

Mukotsu nodded, and pointed to the basket on his back "Yes, this forest had most of the supplies I needed for my poisons" Mukotsu smiled. On his face, were two large red stripes that went from his cheek to under his large bug eyes. Mukotsu's smile left his face when he saw Bankotsu, on the other side of the river, let out a "No, that's so stupid!"

Mukotsu looked at Renkotsu "What's wrong with the captain? He was doing that when I left"

Jakotsu let out a loud groan and looked at Renkotsu "Can't we go raid the village over?"

"Enough Jakotsu" he spoke sternly. Jakotsu sat up and stared at the second in command "How come Mukotsu gets to leave" he pointed with a pout on his face. Renkotsu rolled his eyes "He was getting supplies"

Jakotsu crossed his arms, and looked away from Renkotsu angrily. "Perhaps someone should stop him" Ginkotsu spoke breaking the tension. Jakotsu smiled "Yeah good idea. Why doesn't the 'second in command' give it a shot?" he mocked. Renkotsu gave a small twitch and turned away "No, he needs his space"

"Yeah you're just scared, cuz Bankotsu looks pissed" Jakotsu mumbled. Renkotsu caught the gist of what Jakotsu said, but chose to ignore him. "I got it!" Bankotsu rose, and landed his fisted hand into his open palm. The other five quickly looked at their leader, for an explanation. "Got what?" Jakotsu asked. "I got an idea of who our last member can be"

"You know of someone?" Kyokotsu asked, finally getting up from his lazy position. "Well…no, but I figured out the kind of warrior we need"

Renkotsu nodded, interested with what Bankotsu's idea would be "Well, go on big brother"

"We need someone who can fight on close quarters combat"

"How do you figure?" Jakotsu crossed his arms confused. "Well you, Mukotsu, Renkotsu, and Ginkotsu fight from a distance. Kyokotsu fights in close range, but he's kinda slow, and I fight with my Banryu in close combat. We need to find a man whose fast, deadly, and can really do damage when he's right next to you" He smiled "That will make it even between the seven of us"

Renkotsu nodded, he would have figure the same thing out in a few minutes, but none the less Bankotsu had a good idea. "Well where to now, captain?" Mukotsu asked with a smile. "We head out" Bankotsu placed his Banryu on his shoulder's with a thud, and started walking threw the forest, followed by the other five.

It was hard to find the last member of the band of mercenaries. The group followed a few leads, but they were always disappointments. Bankotsu would find them to be inadequate and have them killed, or they were just mindless demons that Bankotsu would kill. After a week or two of traveling Bankotsu added ten more demons to his list, and made a total of 907 demon deaths.

"Brother Bankotsu!" Jakotsu ran over to his brother. The group was walking down a path, and Jakotsu was now at his big brothers side "I think that there's a castle up ahead"

Bankotsu nodded "Yeah, I know"

It night was falling, and their vision was starting to leave them. Jakotsu sighed when his brother didn't catch the hint "So, you want to stop in an inn or something?" Jakotsu asked. Bankotsu had a small smile on his face as he spoke "Don't be ridiculous, we're just passing through"

"Yeah, but…" Jakotsu sighed. Renkotsu cut off the remainder of Jakotsu's complaining "Stop your whining Jakotsu"

Mukotsu let out a nasally laugh at Jakotsu's pouting, which was followed by an innocent kick in his direction by Jakotsu. "Hey" Mukotsu yelled back. Bankotsu placed his arm out to his left and motioned for silence. A loud sound was coming their way "It sounds like horses" Renkotsu spoke. Bankotsu nodded "Yeah, get ready" as soon as he spoke his crew jumped to fighting position. A large group of samurais were now in front of them, and some were on horse back. The one who was apparently in charge was carrying a large pike. He pointed it directly at Bankotsu's neck. Bankotsu made no movements, and simply stared at the above man, awaiting an explanation. "Turn your direction, or reserve yourself to death" The general spoke. He wasn't anything special, just an ordinary looking general, Bankotsu thought. Like any other general Bankotsu faced, he spoke as if he was more powerful then he was, he wielded a weapon that he couldn't wield to its full potential, and he was overly loyal to his lord and castle. The general continued "did you not hear me, fool?"

Bankotsu spat at this with a small "heh" and his cocky smile infuriated the man. "How dare you!" the general spoke in a low toned growl. He placed out his arm and a group of sword wielders surrounded the group. Bankotsu's expression didn't change as he stared at the general. A strange chill ran down the generals back. They were outnumbered, but that cocky child's expression hadn't changed. "Prepare to be killed" the general commanded. Bankotsu's bangs covered his eyes as he spoke "…Jakotsu…"

As soon as the words were spoken all the men that surrounded the group were slashed to the ground. Jakotsu pulled back his sword with a look of excitement on his face. The general's eyes widened with fright. Bankotsu smile widened as he saw this. He knew that this general was like all the others, they acted tougher than they were. The look of fear was pathetically masked as the general yelled for his second battalion. A group of archers appeared before the group. The same smile appeared on Bankotsu's lips as he spoke "…Renkotsu…" a soon as the words were spoken a blast of fire engulfed the archers. "You're demons!" The general yelled, pointing at Bankotsu with his pike in a panic. Bankotsu shook his head "Demons? Don't be stupid"

"You might have been able to destroy the villages surrounding ours, but my lords castle will not fall to a bunch of low level demons!!!!" the general yelled as he cocked his pike back to strike down on Bankotsu. The assault was easily dodged, and ended with Banryu gracefully chopping off the generals head "98" Bankotsu smiled. He back stepped quickly towards his group when the remaining soldiers ran towards him "Ginkotsu" Bankotsu smiled. The mechanical man unleashed his large razors, and successfully killed the rest of the soldiers. "Not bad men" Bankotsu smiled.

"Strange, they must have thought we were someone in particular" Mukotsu thought as he rubbed his chin. Renkotsu had his arms crossed as he looked at Bankotsu "I agree, but their wasn't any destroyed villages from the direction we were coming from"

Bankotsu wiped off the remainder of blood and looked at the other mercenaries "The one they were pursuing must be tough. Did you see how many men that they sent to kill him?"

"Are we gonna go find this one?" Jakotsu asked. Renkotsu nodded "If he wasn't coming from our direction, I assume that if we continue through the castle we might be able to find out the direction he's coming from, and eventually run into him"

"Can we at least kill the people we find in the castle?"

"There's no need…" Kyokotsu smiled "I think our guy beat us there"

Bankotsu and Jakotsu turned to see a large amount of smoke above the castle. Bankotsu smiled as he started towards the castle. He turned to the men behind him "Let's get a move on men!"

They all quickened their speed after Bankotsu. When they arrived at the castle they found it to be in chaos. There weren't any soldiers around to protect the screaming villager, probably because Bankotsu had them all killed. The band of six stared at the scene curious to find the cause. "We'll split up" Bankotsu yelled at his group" Mukotsu and Kyokotsu. Ginkotsu and Renkotsu, and Jakotsu's with me. Got it"

The group all gave there nods of approval and went their separate ways. Bankotsu noticed that the dead humans they found were slashed open, almost like a sword…no more like claws. "Brother Bankotsu!" Jakotsu yelled as a figure was seen in front of them. Bankotsu took notice and stopped. The scene looked familiar to Bankotsu. There was a man standing over a pile of corpses. He pulled his hand back as his latest victim fell to the floor. Jakotsu blinked at the scene "whoa" he worded out. The shadowed man quickly turned at that comment and ran towards the two brothers. "GET BACK JAKOTSU!" Bankotsu yelled as he ran in front of Jakotsu.

The man slashed down at the Banryu, with what appeared to be man made claws of some kind. Bankotsu quickly pushed the man back with his Banryu. He stared at his opponent's appearance. Something was different about this one, but what? The man had spiked black hair, and had the expression of a wild animal. He growled at Bankotsu with his claws bared, and ran towards him again. Bankotsu continued to block the on slot of attacks with his Banryu, a strange expression on his face. "Brother Bankotsu" Jakotsu yelled "Are you okay?"

Bankotsu slightly turned to see Jakotsu, but it was all the man needed. A slash mark landed on Bankotsu's arm. Bankotsu quickly flipped back, and gave Jakotsu an annoyed type of pout. Jakotsu rubbed the back of his head "…oops…sorry"

The man smiled as Bankotsu's blood dripped off his claws "So…are you going to fight me or run away?"

Bankotsu's eyes narrowed at the man, and he placed Banryu into the ground besides Jakotsu "Don't get so cocky…you're injured too"

The man smirked at Bankotsu. He was right he had injured himself not too long ago. He didn't remember when or how it happened, but it was during one of his villager slaughters. Actually, there was quite a bit of injuries on him. "Is that why that bastard didn't attack me" the man thought. He didn't feel the pain; rather he refused to acknowledge it. His chest was bleeding through his brown kimono, and his left arm had a deep gash in it, probably from a type of farming utensil. He also had a limp in his leg, and a slash running down his back. The man started to laugh at this "Is that so? But which of us can last longer, huh?"

The man charged Bankotsu again, but his attack was dodged. The man continued to relentlessly charge Bankotsu without any intentions of stopping. Bankotsu jumped to the side, with his bleeding arm held to his chest. The clawed man missed his target, and his claws landed in the burning wood of a house. The man turned to the side in time to see Bankotsu's fist land into his face. The man was sent through the burning house, and landed hard on the floor. The tried to rise, but the pain he had been ignoring caught up with him and he fell back to the floor. Thoughts ran through his head as he tried to rise. Why was he even doing this? He enjoyed it, but when did it start? Why couldn't he remember anything, and why was this bastard kid attacking him? Bankotsu looked at the fallen man, and moved to enter the burning hovel, but to Bankotsu's dismay the burning house came crashing down on the clawed warrior.

"Dammit" Bankotsu growled "You better not be dead"

He quickly ran towards the house and began to remove the burning debris from the injured man. Bankotsu turned as he saw Jakotsu help out as well. Jakotsu smiled at his brother, and Bankotsu nodded as the two continued. The man's face was finally seen, and unconscious. Bankotsu grabbed the injured man, and carried him away from the fire. Bankotsu panted, as he fell to the floor besides Jakotsu, the injured man, and Banryu. "Brother Bankotsu!" Renkotsu yelled accompanied by the rest of the band of six. "Is all well brother?" Kyokotsu asked. Bankotsu rose, and nodded "Yeah. Mukotsu we're gonna need your help"

Mukotsu looked at Bankotsu's arm and nodded "I see captain, but you shouldn't worry that injury is deep, but it should heel fine"

Bankotsu shook his head and looked down at the injured man "not me, him"

Mukotsu walked over to see the man better, and his expression looked more serious "oooh I see. He has quite a bit of injuries. Some of these look to be quite old, he must have been fighting for a while, days probably" he looked over towards Kyokotsu "Would you mind carrying him? We need to get him out of this area, there's fire everywhere"

Kyokotsu nodded, and easily lifted the groaning man "Where to?"

Everyone turned towards Bankotsu. He pulled Banryu out of the ground, and began to walk "Let's hurry"

The group sat in a forest. Renkotsu had made a fire, and was busy working on something with it Jakotsu sat next to Bankotsu who still had a strange look on his face. Ginkotsu sat besides Kyokotsu near the entrance to a small cave. Mukotsu was inside the cave, helping treat the injured man's wounds. Bankotsu was holding the claws that the man had worn. They looked like knives attached to a type of glove. They were old, and worn out. Blood stained them completely. "So, what do you think" Jakotsu asked kicking his feet back and forth while sitting on a large rock. Bankotsu snapped out of his thoughts, and looked at Jakotsu "About what?"

Jakotsu blinked confused at his brothers confusion "about what?" he repeated "About that guy"

Bankotsu looked away "oh, I don't know"

Jakotsu rolled his eyes "Is he gonna be our newest member?"

Bankotsu remained lost in his thoughts again. Something wasn't right about this guy. According to Mukotsu he had been injured for days, and was most likely on a killing spree those days. Further more it was like those injuries didn't even bother him. "And his expression. He was definitely ruthless, but there was something else about him too…he looked like he was…"

"Big brother" Renkotsu cut off Bankotsu's thoughts, and knelt down to his brother's level. "Huh, what is it?" Bankotsu asked. He looked down to see what was in Renkotsu's hands. Renkotsu held clawed gloves similar in style to the mans. The blades shone beautifully, not yet stained by blood, and were much larger, deadlier. The gloves themselves were also new, and appeared to be made of some type of brown leather. Bankotsu smiled, "So that's what Renkotsu was working on" Bankotsu looked up at his brother "Thanks, they came out beautifully Renkotsu. I'm sure he'd enjoy them"

"What's the deal Mukotsu?" Jakotsu asked as Mukotsu exited the cave. "Well…" he smiled "you'll be glad to hear that he'll be making a full recovery"

"Very good Mukotsu" Renkotsu nodded. "Has he awakened yet?" Bankotsu asked. Mukotsu shook his head "Well…not really…."

"What do you mean?"

"Well he hasn't spoken to me, but he's been talking…to himself actually"

"To himself?" Jakotsu blinked. Mukotsu nodded "Yes, like he's having an argument with himself. Almost as if he's dreaming. I've never seen anyone dream like this before. He speaks in two different voices. I gave him a type of potion that should calm him down though"

Bankotsu looked to the side in deep thought, his eyes narrowed as he turned away from the group "I knew there was something wrong with him…"

"Captain, if I may…" Mukotsu started. Bankotsu snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Mukotsu to continue. "Well captain…" he continued "perhaps now I should turn to your injury"

Ginkotsu nodded "Gh-yes, Brother Mukotsu's right"

Bankotsu looked down at his still bleeding arm. He had almost forgotten all about his injury "oh…" he looked at his pleading brother's, and then to his arm. His entire sleeve had been covered in blood, and his brothers were all worried about it. He chuckled to himself; it wasn't as bad as it looked after all. He sat down and nodded at his smallest brother "Have at it Mukotsu" he smiled.