Author's Note: Hello, it's me! I'm so sorry for the wait. I wanted to have an update for another story ready at the same time as this one, and that update took longer than I thought it would to complete. I hope you guys like this chapter, though it has some very graphic and sensitive material in it.

Lily23: Thank you for reviewing every chapter and always coaxing me to update (more than once usually, lol).

Urakih: You'll have to let me see the AMV, lol. It's cool to know something I wrote inspired one :)

Cattico: Your feeling about getting Jakotsu/Josue out of the house won't be easy is right... (dumb, dumb, dumb.... scary music).

MageofDarkness: I'm glad you decided to read it, and even happier to know that you like it :). I think Rumiko killed the Shichinin-tai off too soon too :(. Jakotsu is one of my favorite characters.

Ok, now before we go into this chapter I have to do this for the people who may have just skimmed the author's notes above.

Warning: This chapter contains graphic material pertaining to male on male rape and extreme violence. If any of these subjects offend you, please refrain from reading this chapter.

Chapter 5

Nasuti had gone all out for his last meal. He wanted to laugh at the handful of customers that had looked on jealously at the meal he was being served. It had seven courses. He had never had a meal so grand in his life and he enjoyed every morsel of it. Then he took a long bath, letting the hot water soak into every pore, and he washed his hair with great care and delicacy. He didn't know when he would have the chance to get a bath like this next, so he was going to live it up while he could. He shone Banryuu while he sat in his room, passing time.
Nasuti had brought the little fat horse out for him to inspect earlier that evening and he had strapped his supplies to it. All he needed now was for Josue to show up. Nasuti has already said her teary goodbye and had gone to bed for the evening, claiming she wasn't feeling well.
Bankotsu had kissed her cheek and thanked her for taking care of him. If he'd ever had a mother, he would have wanted her to be like her. Nasuti hadn't handled that compliment well, and she had all but run away from him to her rooms. Poor lady.
He sighed and sheathed Banryuu in the large purple cover Nasuti had sewn for him. She had even attached a strap so he could sling it across his back or strap it to the horse. He shook his head, thinking about the old horse again. That thing wouldn't live through three cities, but by then, he'd have secured another if he needed one. He laid back on the futon going back over the supplies he'd packed in his head. Food, a blanket, a carrying skin for water, soap, a towel, a comb, clean white coth to tear for bandages, a... whatever. He had everything he needed. He closed his eyes. He would take a short nap, and when he woke, if Josue still hadn't come....he sighed.
Hurry up, friend.
He dropped off to sleep after a few minutes of worrying and was only awakened again at the sound of someone knocking at the door, the outside door that led to his private privy. It had to be Josue, finally. What had he decided to do?
Bankotsu felt a strange fluttering in his stomach as he hurried through the powder, lit only but a single candle, to open the back door. "Josue! Josue?"
A tall figure stood cloaked in darkness.
"Bankotsu. Good, you're still here. I thought...that...I took too long."
Bankotsu frowned at the clumsy way the other boy was stammering. Took too long? How long had he been asleep? He reached out to take Josue's arm and pull him inside. The older boy stumbled up the step that led into the powder room and nearly fell forward into Bankotsu's chest. "Josue, what's.... oh gods!"
He pulled his hand back at feeling the wet stickiness of blood on his palm. In the candlelight, Bankotsu saw that his friend was once again in his woman costume, but his long hair was freed of its bind and spilled haphazardously around his thin body like a delicate shield of fierce curls and waves. Blood stained the long sleeves and skirts of the silk kimono he wore, and his usually pale skin was completely void of color. Eye make up ran down his cheeks and the red paint was smeared across his lips...lips that looked fuller and swollen. "What happened? Come on; come inside." Bankotsu took him more gently by the hands and led him into his room, sitting him down on his futon. A fine tremor ran throughout his friend's body, and Bankotsu unfolded the blanket at the foot of his futon to drape over Josue's shaking shoulders.
What to do? Find out how hurt he was... Bankotsu reached for one of the bloody sleeves to roll it up, but Josue flinched away from him.
"D...don't touch..."
"Sorry," Bankotsu said quickly, taking his hands away and putting them out in front of him so Josue could see where they were. "What happened? You have to let me see where you're hurt so I can help you."
Josue's gray eyes were glassy and slow to focus. A dazed half smile came to his lips. "I...I decided. If you'll...you'll have me... I wanna go...with you. It's ok?"
"Of course it's ok, but first I have to make sure you're ok! Now...what happened? Why are you covered in blood?"
Bankotsu was starting to get the feeling that all of the blood coating his friend's clothing wasn't his. "I was bad.... I was... Papa tried to... and he had friends....and they....oh gods... Oh gods, what have I done?" Josue's head dropped into his bloody hands as he began to weep.
Bankotsu knew something horrible had happened to his friend, and he had to calm him down so he could tell him about it. "Josue....Josue, how about we wash the blood off your hands, ok? Let me help you wash off, and then we can talk. Whatever it is; it can't be that bad."
"I killed them," Josue was uttering. "I killed them all. Bankotsu..." He raised his head suddenly, staring at Bankotsu, his eyes full of pain. "I killed my Papa and his friends. I used Jakotsutou to cut them to pieces, and their blood got all over me. I would have washed it off...but I was so late. I thought you would be gone."
Bankotsu blinked; Josue's voice was so shaky and light. He spoke like someone coming out of a trance. "You killed your father? Why? He did something to you; I know he did. Did he and his friends hurt you?"
Josue's breath was starting to hitch in his throat and he pulled the blanket tighter around himself. "I....I never killed anything before. The blood splashed everywhere...and they screamed. They called me a demon cause I was laughing while I did it. I liked it. I tasted the blood; I liked it so much. I killed my own Papa and laughed... What am I?"
"Josue, please calm down. You're scaring me. Lets wash you up, ok?"
"I was gonna say 'yes'... I knew I was gonna tell you 'yes' before.... but I wanted Papa to have money before I left. I was gonna go out tonight. I dressed up and then I heard voices. Papa had people over... I don't like the people he invites over, because they like to do things the men from town won't. They... they held me down....and they.... And I told them to stop; they hurt me! They were hurting me! Then Papa... oh gods, Papa... no!"
Bankotsu felt ill. Josue had been raped by a group of men in his own home and then raped by his own father!
"They ripped my clothes, and pulled my hair, and touched me everywhere, and they...they... I felt something tear, and there was so much blood... One kept putting his tongue in my ear..." Josue rubbed at his ears violently, coating them with blood. His pale face was now smeared with blood and tears. "And when they stopped... when they left to go drink... they just left me there, lying on the floor, bleeding. I... I got up and I went to get Jakotsutou. It hurt to walk... but... I never wanted to...hurt anything.... that bad before. I killed them all before they even knew I had left the house, and even after they were all dead, I kept cutting and cutting. They had to hurt! I had to hear their flesh tear! They died too fast! They didn't hurt like I did!" He collapsed onto his side, weeping heavily.
Bankotsu wanted to touch him, but knew he'd react poorly to it. "Josue...Josue it's ok." He stood fuming, watching his friend having a breakdown, totally helpless. If Josue hadn't already killed the bastards, Bankotsu would have done it.
"I can't stay here anymore... I can't do it. If you don't take me, I'll kill myself."
"Josue, I want you with me!" Bankotsu all but shouted at the other boy. He wasn't hearing him. "Please, please look at me. Let me see where they hurt you, and let me clean you up. We'll leave when I'm sure you're ok."
Now was not the time for anger; now was a time for tenderness...and since Bankotsu knew nothing of tenderness-- he was a boy after all-- he decided to go get Nasuti.
"Josue, I'll be right back. Please don't move."
He got a muffled sniffle as a reply and he took that for an affirmative. Bankotsu ran down the narrow hall to the end where Nasuti's quarters could be found. He knocked on the door and called her name desperately. The woman came to the door, her eyes pink and puffy and her hair a tousled mess. "Bankotsu? What are you still doing here? What's wrong?"
"It's Josue. His father and some of his friends...hurt...him, and he needs help. Please?" Bankotsu was already grabbing her by the arm and pulling her down the hall.
The woman barely had time to squeak in surprise before her bare feet were padding down the wooden hallway. He burst through the beaded door, bringing Nasuti with him.
"I'm back.; I brought Nasuti," Bankotsu approached the futon again. Josue still laid there in a quivering heap, hiccuping softly.
"What happened, Bankotsu. There's so much blood," Nasuti whispered. The blood from Josue's clothing had soaked through onto the blanket.
"He was assaulted by a bunch of people...even his father," Bankotsu said softly. "He's delirious or something. He won't let me touch him and he needs to be washed. There's blood all over him."
Nasuti gasped. "That bastard. That drunken bastard. His own son... but... oh, you poor boy. You never had a chance, did you?"
Bankotsu knew she wasn't just talking about that night. Josue's entire life had undoubtably been a nightmare. "He's coming with me," Bankotsu said. "I asked him this afternoon."
Nasuti looked up in surprise.
"Help me clean him up?"
"Of course," Nasuti nodded. "Um... how do we go about this? Is he...lucid?"
Bankotsu frowned at the word. "Lucid?"
"Aware– Does he know where he is?"
Bankotsu nodded. "Josue? We want to take you to the bath house. I'm going to help you sit up, so don't be scared."
Bankotsu reached for the other boy and was encouraged when he didn't flinch away. Carefully he sat him up, supporting his weight on his chest. Nasuti gasped at the blood on his face. "All of this blood... is it all his?"
Bankotsu didn't answer that. "Help me stand him up."
Together Bankotsu and Nasuti got Josue into an unsteady standing position, balancing him on both of their shoulders, ignoring the disgusting feeling of drying blood on their skin, staining their clean clothes.
They trudged to the bathroom, practically carrying Josue between them. The boy seemed to weight next to nothing. In the bath house, they sat him down on the floor and went about undressing him. Josue allowed them to take the blanket, but when Nasuti reached to untie his kimono he shrieked.
"Josue, honey, please. We have to see where you're hurt. Bankotsu and I are not going to hurt you. Let us take care of you," Nasuti purred soothingly, reaching out to smooth the boy's hair, but he kicked out at her and scooted away, eyes wild.
"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"
Bankotsu shook his head, "He keeps lapsing in and out. Sometimes he knows where he is and who I am...and then sometimes he thinks he's there. What do we do?"
Nasuti shook her head. "Bankotsu, you talk to him again. He might let you get closer."
Bankotsu frowned but nodded. He knelt before Josue. "Josue? Look at me. Who am I?"
Josue's dilated gray eyes focused on Bankotsu. "Bankotsu...." His fine brows burrowed together in confusion. "Did you forget who you are?"
Bankotsu almost chuckled. "No, but I though you had. Josue, do you think I would hurt you, or bring someone near you who would hurt you?"
Josue shook his head slowly.
"You're not acting like you know that. I want to help you, and I've brought Nasuti who also wants to help you. Now, let us..."
Josue shook his head. "No one's taking off my clothes."
Bankotsu let out a frustrated sigh. "Well then...how..."
"Josue," Nasuti spoke from behind Bankotsu. "Will you take off your own kimono then?"
After a second's thought, Josue nodded. He swallowed harshly, then began to pull at the sash binding his kimono closed. The pale lavender robe was opened to reveal dark bruises painted over his torso, some in the shape of hands. Vicious red scratches marred his arms and throat where nails had been raked over the skin.
"Oh gods..." Nasuti murmured.
Bankotsu stifled a growl. Bastards...
"Can you come over to the edge of the pool to wash off?" Nasuti asked him softly.
Josue nodded wearily. Slowly he stood, reaching out to catch Bankotsu's arm for balance. The rest of the kimono pooled around his ankles and Nasuti had to look away, covering her mouth in horror.
Josue's inner thighs were almost black with palm shaped bruised. Dried blood crusted over his legs and shaking his head, Bankotsu grabbed a towel to wrap around the other boy's waist. "Nasuti-sama, you can look again. He's covered."
Nasuti shook her head. "Just bring him to the water. We have to wash it off...all of it."
Bankotsu agreed silently and slowly brought Josue to the edge of the tub, where he sat him down.
"He doesn't like deep water," Bankotsu remembered. "He told me his mother tried to..."
"Drown him," Nasuti finished for him. "It was the talk of the town."
Bankotsu grimaced. "We can sit him on the stairs leading into the pool; that way he'll be in the water, he won't have to stand, and it won't go too high on his body to make him uncomfortable."
Nasuti nodded, "You move him. I'll get the soap and towels."
"Alright. Josue, we're going to have to move again, and I need you to help me." Bankotsu helped Josue inch over to the stairs of the bath and slowly he lowered him onto the second stair. Josue hissed in pain at putting pressure on his bottom, but remained still. The water came up to Josue's torso, and Bankotsu prayed he was ok with that. He heard Nasuti coming back with the supplies. Bankotsu stripped down to his undergarments and slid into the pool letting the water rise up to his neck. "I'll wash the bottom; you get his face and upper body cleaned up."
He knew the woman didn't want to have to deal with Josue's more sensitive areas. Bankotsu accepted a towel and soap from Nasuti and dipped beneath the water to get started on the cleaning process. The damage was unacceptable. Bankotsu had seen the aftermath of rape before on young girls and young boys, but this was something different. This wasn't just rape it was savagery. It was as if the men had wanted to rip Josue apart. He grimaced every time Josue's body spasmed when he touched the towel against tender flesh. He came up for air briefly to see the tears of pain streaking down his friend's face. Nasuti shushed him and ran a towel over his face, ridding it of blood and face paint, and Bankotsu went back under. He scrubbed the area between the loins, feeling more than just the crustiness of blood coming off on the towel. He shuddered in disgust as he wrung the towel clean and started on his legs and feet. Next, Josue would have to stand so he could get his backside. He wasn't looking forward to that.
He came up again for air. "Nasuti?"
Nasuti looked sadly at Bankotsu. "You through up there?"
"Yes."
"Josue?"
Sleepy gray eyes gazed at him. "I need you to stand up for a bit and turn over onto your belly. Can you do that?"
Josue's head dipped in compliance and Bankotsu helped him into a half standing position and turned him over onto his belly. "Nasuti, can you hold his head and make sure he doesn't slip."
"Of course." Bankotsu did not let go of Josue's side until Nasuti took Josue's shoulders. "Thank you." Taking a deep breath, Bankotsu lathered the towel up with soap. "Josue, this is going to hurt-- a lot. I'm sorry."
The boy didn't scream like Bankotsu thought he might and he gave him credit for that, but he went so still Bankotsu suspected he had passed out for a moment. He tried to be as gentle as he could, but he was so ill at ease he was sure the wounds weren't cleansed as well as they should have been. He wrung out the towel, not bothering to try to wash it. He was going to throw it out. He washed his hands carefully. "Hey, you still ok?" He touched his friend's bare back.
Something unintelligible was mumbled back to him and Bankotsu sighed. He looked to Nasuti, "Lets get him out of here."
With Nasuti's help Bankotsu got Josue out of the pool and they laid him on the deck, dabbing his dry with a large white towel. Nasuti stepped a way for a moment to grab a robe to drape around his body and a large basin. "Bankotsu, fill this basin with water so I can wash his hair. I didn't want to do it in the pool; he's got so much of it, and it would have taken too long."
Bankotsu hopped up like a bunny and took the basin to fill it to the brim. He set it down beside Josue. "Should we comb it out first so it won't tangle so easily later?"
Nasuti shook her head. "We'll get the filth out of it first, then we'll worry about tangles."
Bankotsu nodded. Josue laid on his side while the two set about rinsing his hair free from blood and anything else polluting the fine tresses. The water turned red after a few dunks and Bankotsu had to pour it out and refill the basin. They washed the bottom top half first, then the bottom half, carefully pulling their fingers through the silken curls to disencumber them as they went along. Josue was quiet for the entire procedure. When they were finished and Nasuti was wrapping Josue's hair in a towel, Bankotsu crawled over to check on his friend's state to find him asleep.
"He's out," Bankotsu whispered.
Nasuti tied the towel. "Poor thing. Where is his father now? He's not coming after the boy is he? We'll have to go to the chieftain about this..."
Bankotsu was shaking his head. "He's not coming...at all, ever."
Nasuti looked confused, "Wh...." Then she gazed at Josue's blood soiled clothing, probably realizing that all that blood couldn't have possibly been his.
"Oh..."
"Wait until we have gone and been on the road a day before you go to the chieftain, please?"
Nasuti sighed, but nodded.
"Do you think he'll be ok to leave tomorrow morning?" Bankotsu stared at his slumbering friend. "We need to leave as soon as possible, but I don't want to hurt him more."
"You will need to leave in the morning, if you want to be out and a good ways down the road before anyone finds.... the body. Even without me going to the chieftain, someone is bound to go to the house. The old man comes into town at least once a week; he has friends... all dirty men."
Bankotsu grunted. He didn't care about the old man... "I'll have to take some things off of the horse. Josue will ride and I'll carry some things. We'll have to go back to his place in the morning though...to get some of the things he may need."
"You can't take him back there! I can find clothes for him right here; what else could he possibly have of value there?"
Bankotsu's mouth was a straight line. "I can think of one thing, and I'll go and get it for him myself."
"Ban..."
"He can sleep on my futon tonight," Bankotsu cut her off. "Will you help me lift him again?"

Author's Note: Ok, all done. What did you think? Like it, hate it, don't care either way? Let me know! Please review ;).