Bankotsu: The Message

"My Lord…"

The lord of the castle, was a tall lanky man, middle aged man. There was nothing special about him. He like most lord, carried an air of superiority that he hadn't earned. He looked down at the bowing man. He was strong, and his ferocity in battle was a strong asset to his castle. "Speak General" he sighed, as if the man was barley worth his time.

"I regret to inform you, my lord, that the rumors are indeed true…"

"Rumors?" he asked. While he wouldn't admit it, he wasn't the most aware lord. He didn't bother himself with the problems of the lands. His mind fell to more materialistic values.

"Yes my Lord. The Band of Seven. They are headed this direction, as the rumors had said. They had just finished destroying the Korichi-tama clan in the East. They are now traveling here, to the Northern Lands"

"The Band of Seven?…" he slowly repeated to himself. Yes, they sounded familiar. They were a murderous group of mercenaries. With the on slot of wars it was only natural for such characters to make themselves present. He laughed to himself, "They are said to be quite devious, but why should I fear this? Is our castle not the strongest in the region?"

"Pardon me my Lord…if I may…"

The lord gave his general a curt nod. The general lifted his face, covered by a thick mask, carved with the image of a dragon's face. An image of power and strength. "As you have said my Lord, there is an air of war that surrounds the region. It is already known that the eastern castle from us, the Tokuarshi Clan, are planning attack with us. There is also an air of tension in the Western and Southern castles as well"

"What are you saying General?"

"Simply that, with the Band of Seven arriving, the spark of tension will be ignited. Their name is known throughout the lands. They will provide the confidence for opposing castles to engage in war…wherever they travel, destruction and death follow closely behind"

"…will you not be able to stop them?" the lord asked accusingly

The General tightened at this, he would not admit to being beneath them, but the rumors were very detailed. "…It is said that the Band of Seven can do the work of 100 men. Many have even declared them to be demons rather than humans…"

"What is it that you wish General? You disdain the Band of Seven, you do not wish for them to be hired by any castle, with good reason, and yet you believe them to be too strong to fall by our own hands…"

"I believe that the Band of Seven should be used to our advantage…"

"Advantage?…You wish to hire them?" he took it into consideration, "With them…we could claim domination over the other clans…yet there is still a matter of earning their trust…I don't wish for my future lands to be as devastated as the Band of Seven's previous battlegrounds"

"Your thoughts are indeed wise my Lord"

"You have thought of a solution?"

"Quite, we will arrive to them first, before the other clans have the chance"

"Yes?…"

"We will quiet all the unrest in the lands by attacking are strongest adversary, the castle in the east. With our power shown, we will then offer a chance for union…"

A large smile fell on the lord's face. "Ah!" he nodded in realization, "They will have no choice but to agree to our proposal, lest we unleash the Band of Seven on them. There is of course one problem General"

The General watched as the Lord walked towards an ornamented set of samurai armor on the opposite wall. He gently ran his fingers across it, "It is not wise to rule those who lack trust…The Band of Seven won't serve under us forever…while a temporary union may be voiced by our enemies, it will not remain after the Band of Seven departs. Nor will the Band of Seven serve under any one lord, correct?"

"Indeed my Lord" he nodded, "You are wise in your reasoning. I believe I have a solution to this"

"Is that so? Prey tell…"

"…what better to seal our deal of unity then uniting against a common enemy?"

"A common…enemy…?" the lord parroted slowly. His eyes glowed with realization at his general's plan. It was shear genius, and completely fail proof. "Yes….yes…" he pounded his fist into his open palm, "I believe it shall work rather nicely. Go forth, you have my approval"

"Aye, my Lord"

The Band of Seven were heading northward, after having done a nice job of obliterating several armies in the east. Their last one had been particularly brutal. In fact, Korichi-tama castle looked more like a barren field than an actual village town. Bankotsu laughed to himself as the group headed down the forest path, "You guys are getting really good at this…"

"You think so big brother?" Jakotsu laughed

"Yeah" he gave a gentle shake of his head, "You bunch of blood thirsty animals kill so many people, I was barely even able to get a kill in myself…"

Suikotsu pointed an accusing claw at Ginkotsu, "The big guy over here killed most of them when he blasted down their castle…"

Ginkotsu gave a few deep chuckles at this, "…Gh-yes…"

Bankotsu gave a gentle shrug at the laughter behind him. It was true. He wasn't able to kill as many as he wanted to when he battled their last castle. He was up to a good 940 human deaths. One more battle, and he would be to meet his quota for human lives. "Then I'll slaughter ten more demons, and Banryu will truly be unstoppable…" he let the thought consume his expression.

"Brother Bankotsu?"

He turned to his left to see Renkotsu. The taller brother spoke after getting Bankotsu's attention, "There's been talk of a lot of tension in this area in particular…but there will be a large amount of hostility here…"

"What's wrong with that?" Bankotsu smiled, "All it means is that it won't be hard getting work here"

Mukotsu gave his nasally giggle, "Quite, and the payments will be exceptionally higher than usual to ensure we work for their army…"

Renkotsu looked down in thought. He didn't have a good feeling about this. True, there would be a large profit to be made…but there was too many castles involved. There was too much politics in the area. When there was one army against another it wasn't as complicated. Now there was 4 note worth castles at war. Negotiations and treachery would surely come into play. It wasn't wise to think of things in such a black and white way. Was Bankotsu aware of this? He gave a weak nod to the confidence Bankotsu wore…perhaps he should trust him. "As you wish, big brother…"

Bankotsu stopped walking as a familiar sound entered his head. His brother's repeated his action. Bankotsu smirked as a man on horseback came their way. His stead came to an abrupt stop when it arrived in front of the group. "Are-are you the Band of Seven?"

The soldier was a funny looking man, a few years older than him perhaps. He was scared, and masked it poorly. Bankotsu smiled at this, it was the biggest mistake the fool could make. His thoughts were confirmed when he heard Suikotsu let out a small grumble of delight. If there was a particular victim that brought Suikotsu joy it was the ones who would tremble in fear…even better, the ones who would deny the fear he could instill.

Bankotsu answered, listening to his brother move his claws back and forth impatiently, "Whose asking?"

"I-I was sent by the Lord of Kurisaki Castle to the North…"

Bankotsu noted the red flag that the man carried, adorned with twin white triangles. It was the symbol for their clan, most likely. He watched the mousey man continue, "…He-he wishes to-to-…" his words faded out as his eyes met for the first time with Suikotsu's.

Bankotsu watched as the man's face turned a ghastly white. He began to twitch and fidget with the horses reigns. The horse itself grew nervous by the man's actions and began to move uneasily. A smirk fell on Bankotsu's face. The man's appearance had served to resemble that of a small mouse… "Meaning Suikotsu's the cat…he's got the claws for it"

He shook the laugh away and looked back to the fear ridden messenger. "To enlist us in an upcoming war?" he finished.

The messenger gave a single nod, "I-Indeed…I have the….decree…" he began to fumble with the bag at his side as he tried to pull out the scroll given to him. He froze as an eerie and deadly voice came from his blind side. "…need some assistance?" the voice resembled a threatening moan than anything else. The fidgety man fell off of his horse in fear. He let out a loud scream as he did so, causing the horse to gallop off into the distance. Suikotsu looked down at the frightened man.

Bankotsu shook his head in delight. He knew this was going to happen. The fool would have been wise to keep his cool…the fool was marked dead before he even arrived here. He knew his comrades wore the same anticipating gleams.

"Well…" Suikotsu spoke to the fallen soldier, "Isn't that a bit of bad luck…" again there was a low growl hidden deep in his voice. He held out his claws. "Here…" he grimaced in delight, "Let me help you up…"

The man scurried back in fear, "ST-STAY BACK!!!!"

"There he goes enticing his prey again…" Renkotsu shook his head in a halfhearted way.

"How long you reckon this guy has?" Jakotsu asked

Mukotsu placed his fingers to hi chin in a contemplating way, "…I doubt he's a biter…"

Jakotsu looked down at Mukotsu, "Oho, No way!" he smiled, "This guy is totally going to take the bait!!!"

"Care to make a wager?" he eyed Jakotsu testingly

"The usual?"

"Indeed" he giggled back. Renkotsu rolled his eyes with a smile at his friends antics, "You'd think that the two of you would tire of this…"

"What's the matter?…" Suikotsu took a step closer, "…Do my claws scare you?…"

"No P-Please…"

Suikotsu ignored the sniveling man and took another step forward. The man scurried back again, now with his back trapped behind a tree. Suikotsu casually strolled towards him with a twisted smile, "Why do you run?…"

"STAY BACK!!!" the man finally yelled, pulling out the small sword at his side.

Bankotsu let out a bored sigh. The idiot would have been wise to of kept still and quiet. That way Suikotsu would have quickly lost interest in him. "Oh, well…at least it kept Suikotsu preoccupied…"

The messenger brought the sword down towards Suikotsu. Suikotsu's grin widened as he sidestepped the attack, and let his claws slice through his prey. He gave a weak moan, his eyes filled with fear, and fell motionless to the floor.

"…idiot…" Suikotsu sneered

"I WIN!" Jakotsu gleamed with delight. Mukotsu let out a small sigh in defeat, as Jakotsu looked down at the loser. "I get your sake tonight!" he teased.

"Why must you always kill the messenger Suikotsu? It's bad form" Renkotsu reprimanded in a bored fashion. Suikotsu shook off the blood from his claws, "I can't help it when they act all fidgety like that. It's like their begging me to slice them in half…" he shrugged.

"In any case" Bankotsu began, "Grab me the letter he was fishing for, since you're the one that stopped him"

Suikotsu rolled his eyes and began looking through the man's bags. Unfortunately, the messenger wasn't the most organized. His bag was filled with scrolls, "HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO KNOW WHICH IS THE RIGHT ONE!?" he yelled in surprise.

"Think of that the next time you decide to kill a messenger before he gives us the message" Bankotsu shot gently. Suikotsu let out a low grumble as he set forth to his task, mumbling about not being a damn scribe as he did so.

"It seems you were right about finding work rather easily…but don't we already know where to go?" Renkotsu began, motioning to Suikotsu who was angrily going through every scroll, "We head to the northern castle, we already know their insignia from the flag the horse carried…"

"…true…" Bankotsu nodded mischievously at this, before changing the subject. "He said they needed assistance…"

Renkotsu nodded, "Indeed. Do you believe this to be against one army, or against them all?"

Bankotsu thought on this. His men had fought single handedly against an entire army before, no problem. They could even possibly take on two…anymore would be more than a challenge… "We'll have to see what the Lord of the northern castle says. I suspect that if we are battling against more than 2 armies, we will need the assistance of their army as well"

Renkotsu nodded in agreement, before turning back to Suikotsu. The clawed warrior quickly jumped up, waving a piece of parchment in his hands. "I FOUND IT!" he loudly boasted.

"Good" Bankotsu nodded as he started off down the road. Suikotsu watched quizzically as the other members of his band walked past him, following Bankotsu. He looked at the parchment and then to his retreating teammates. The reality slowly hit him…they never needed the damn scroll. "WHAT THE HELL?!!"

"Hurry Suikotsu or you'll be left behind…" Jakotsu called after with a chuckle in his words. Suikotsu felt his temple throb as he roughly crinkled up the useless piece of paper and roughly throw it at the corpse beside him. "…bastards…" he mumbled before rushing to catch up with his fellow brothers.

Suikotsu is so awesome in this chapter. I love picking on him too, he's so cute. XD I can see Ban doing something like this too.

So some of you may be happy to note that I decided to take my time with the ending. Since it's the climax of the story and all, I thought it would be best not to rush over it. That being said, I'm going to have about 3-5 more chapters instead of wrapping it up with 2-3. It depends on how much I decide to write. So, I'm gonna start on the next chapter, as soon as I post this. Please Review and tell me what you think.

Thanks for reading and reviewing,

Much Love,

Merky15