Chapter Two: Hot Springs, Apologies and Rice

A/n Ehm... maybe that wasn't real fluff…oh well... lol… hope you guys like this chapter!

Shinri put out the fire after Bankotsu left. She sat down, rested her cheek against her knee and wrapped her arms around her legs. Tears were beckoned by the emotion she was feeling but she cried too many times. With out a second thought, she crawled over to her bed and fell asleep.

For the next few days, she cleaned the house and went out to the field to tend it. She fed the animals and worked in the rice field. Somehow Bankotsu kept popping into her memories.

'What if I didn't yell at him? What would've happened to us? Does it matter if he did kill my dad? After all, I am reviving my dad,' she thought. 'But he was the one who killed him. Without Shikon Shards he would be 6 feet under right now. Damn it, Bankotsu. How did I find myself falling for you so quickly?'

"Shinri-San?" a voiced called for her. She turned around to see Renkotsu.

"Yes?" she growled under her breath.

"Are you sure you don't want to see Bankotsu once more?" he asked. Her eyebrows twitched.

"Why would I want to see him? He'll probably kill me," she retorted.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Jakotsu said that he killed all his girlfriends," she mumbled.

"That's true but-"

"Yeah, so he might kill me. We wouldn't want that would we?" She muttered. Renkotsu stared at her for awhile as she worked and walked off.

Hours passed by until the sun set. After she was leading the oxen back to the barn, she got out a clean set of clothes so she could bathe. Shinri took her clothes off and entered the small pool.

The steam helped clear her mind but thoughts of Bankotsu cluttered her mind. And after all those thoughts the steam didn't help the large headache from crying and thinking too much.

"Why did I yell at him?" she asked herself. She dunked under water to wash the dirt out of her hair, when she risen again, Jakotsu was standing by the hot spring. "Eh?"

"Oi, Shi-san," he smiled.

He quickly stripped off his clothes and jumped in.

"Ah! The waters so warm," he smiled. Shinri's eye became wide as she crossed her arms over her chest and blushed until her whole face was red. "Huh? What's wrong? We both like the same kind of people right?"

"I- -I do-don't-k-know!" she screamed, shutting her eyes. He moved closer and put his arm around her shoulder. He stuck out a fist in front of her face.

"See? We do like the same kind of guys! We like smart guys, hot guys and strong guys! InuYasha is all of that. He's so hot," he told her while using his fist and fingers to count. He looked at her. Shinri was shivering under his arm. "Don't you think that too?"

"Just stay away from me!" She yelled. She put her arm against his arm and pushed him away.

"Nani? Don't you, though? Bankotsu is very hot. I bet you think that," he said. Shinri turned her back onto him while blushing. "You aren't answering me? I'll change your mind for you. Let me do a free back wash for you, eh?"

He took a cloth and wet it. Shinri was ignoring him, trying to think of a plan to run out while not letting him see any of her. When she felt hands touch her back, she realized what just happened.

"Doesn't that feel cool? Tell me; don't you think he's hot?" Jakotsu looked at her again. She was shivering and her eyes were once again shut tight. He shrugged and continued washing her back for a few minutes until she moved away from him.

Shinri screamed as loud as she could.

"GET AWAY FROM ME, PERVERT!!!!! HENTAI!!!! WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO GET FROM ME!? HUH--"

Meanwhile, Renkotsu, Ginkotsu and Bankotsu were setting camp up in the forest. Only Jakotsu had seen Shinri walk to the hot springs so he departed them, telling them that he wanted to take a bath.

"Do you think you'll see her again?" Renkotsu asked.

"Huh? No, she doesn't want to see me again, remember?" he trailed off as he ate some rice. Just right after that they heard a scream. It was coming from the direction Jakotsu was at. He jumped up and ran towards him.

"Jakotsu-" Bankotsu trailed off as he saw Shinri in the hot springs. They made eye contact until she turned away and went to the opposite end, both their faces clearly red.

"Stay away from me, Bankotsu-sama," She stated with her back to him, "I don't know what your brothers were doing, trying to convince me to like you again."

'My head feels like it's gonna explode. Everything's spinning,' she ignored the warnings of fainting and continued talking. "Man.. this hotspring really is hot..."

'Again? So she did like me?' Bankotsu blushed even , bowing his head to hide it.

"What were you guys trying to do?" he asked, looking at Renkotsu and down at Jakotsu in the spring's pool. They turned their heads away.

"Hey… Just stay away from me ok?" She whispered. Bankotsu heard every word as her vision became blurry. She sank into the shallow waters. Her name was the last thing she heard.

"Shinri!" Bankotsu yelled while jumping in the hot spring waters. He walked towards her as fast as he could and picked up her body. Her arms were still over her chest and the second half of her body was under water. "Renkotsu! Give me her clothes!" Renkotsu nodded and threw her clothes at him. Not wanting to embarrass her, he just opened the skirt and wrapped it around her in a form of a towel to cover everything from her chest to her thighs. Bankotsu jumped out of the water and walked towards their camp site.

As he laid her by the fire, he took a blanket from somebody they killed and covered her with it. He thought it over.

"Maybe I shouldn't use this blanket," he mumbled. Bankotsu switched blankets from the murdered man's blanket to his blanket, "This blanket might stink like me, but she'll get used to it." After he comforted her his brother's voice reached into his ear.

"Eh? Already kidnapping her?" Jakotsu asked. He straightened out his collar on his kimono. Bankotsu shook his head.

"No, just sleep. I'll watch out tonight," he stated as he sat with his back against a tree that was closest to Shinri. He sat cross legged as Renkotsu put the fire. Everyone laid on the ground with their own blankets while he just sat.

Bankotsu reached over to Shinri and moved her hair out of her face. He noticed her forehead was hot. She squirmed a little, making him pull his hand back. After calming down, he just watched her. He didn't know that Jakotsu was watching him. The odd brother just smiled and rested his head down on the grass, continuing his night by sleeping.

'What the hell? How come I'm having these emotions? I've only known her for a few days,' he thought as he rested his eyes on her. His eyes kept their gaze on her face until the sun began rising. Realizing that Shinri fainted in the hot springs because of the heat of the hotspring and the lack of food she had since they met, he got up to cook soup.

"Renkotsu," he whispered. "Start a fire and boil some water in this pot. We're gonna eat." Renkotsu groaned and blew fire into the fire place, walked over to the river to get water, came back and rested his head back down.

Bankotsu went to the closest farm, got a sac full of roasted rice and walked back. Of course he paid for it with Shinri's dad's money but somehow he couldn't really forgive himself for doing that. He shrugged it off as he approached the camp site. Glad as he was, Shinri was still sleeping and the water was ready for the rice.

"Ah, Bankotsu, you stole some rice?" Jakotsu asked from under the blanket.

"No, not this time. I bought it."

"That's a change."

"Yea, a change," Bankotsu said as he poured the bag of rice in the pot they were cooking in. "What'd you do to Shinri last night anyway?"

"Nothing, she just screamed when I joined her," he shrugged.

"You don't do that to girls, Jakotsu," Bankotsu said as he got up with a wash cloth. Jakotsu shrugged. "Can you cook this?" He asked to Jakotsu. He nodded.

"Going to take a bath?" he asked.

"No, already did," Bankotsu answered. "Getting hot water for her." He walked off as Jakotsu sat up and yawned.

"InuYasha, every moment, I prepare myself for you. Get ready," he said to himself, smiling.

The leader of the Shichinintai soaked the cloth in the hot spring and ran back, making sure it stayed hot in his hands. He came back panting a little but recovered and kneeled by her head, crossed his legs and left the cloth on Shinri's forehead. Jakotsu fiddled with his makeup and watched his brother's every move with a smirk. He knew it. He knew it... his brother did like the girl. Bankotsu usually never cared for his girlfriends at all. He rubbed around the eye shadow and mixed it with the other colors to see which would be best until he realized that there was very little makeup left.

"No more? I guess I'll have to buy some more then. Today, I'll just leave my face blank with no make-up. InuYasha won't be very impressed with me," Jakotsu muttered and frowned. "Oh, Renkotsu and Ginkotsu went out," he told. His brother nodded. With every second, Jakotsu watched Bankotsu stare at Shinri. He continued with a question, "You do like her, huh?"

"No," he lied. A blush covered his face. He converted his eyes to the rice.

"You're lying," he said, "You didn't kill her yet. You usually kill or hurt your other girlfriends after a day or after a few hours. Yesterday and the day before were five days, today's the sixth, almost a week, and I'm sure you're going to keep her alive, at least for a while. And when your girlfriends got sick, you wouldn't help them. Or if they fainted, you wouldn't bother helping them out of the-"

"Jakotsu," Bankotsu called out. "I'm not lying." Right then and there, his blush covered his whole face, but he couldn't show Jakotsu. He turned his back to him and let his head down. Jakotsu put down his make-up and crawled over. While Bankotsu tried to turn his head quickly, Jakotsu caught a glimpse of his red face.

"Eh? What's this?" Jakotsu teased. "Do you love her?"

"After almost a week, how could I!?" Bankotsu decided to cover his embarrassment with anger.

"You shouldn't do that Bankotsu. It's bad for your health," Jakotsu waved his finger at him.

"Do you want to eat?! Cause if you keep acting like that then you'll be starving!" Bankotsu threatened and screamed at the same time. Jakotsu pouted.

"That's not very nice."

"Then quit teasing me! I don't-"

"Bankotsu?" a voice groaned.

'The smell of the blanket is familiar. I like it,' Shinri thought. They both looked down at her rubbing her eyes. "Where am I?" She asked as she observed the forest she was in. She tried to stand up as she leaned against a tree.

"You got a fever," Jakotsu smiled.

"Huh? Oh- You're a… weird man," she trailed off as she almost fell. Bankotsu rushed up to catch her. She looked up to his face. "I told you to stay away from me." Shinri coughed and kneeled down.

"That wasn't an option. You were about to die in the hot springs," Bankotsu said. She nodded. Everything was still spinning and he legs were wobbling.

"Why is it so cold?" She shivered. As she rubbed her arms for warmth, she felt that her arms were bare. "Huh?" Shinri looked down and saw that her bottom garment of clothes was used as a towel. She then blushed covering her cleavage. Then a set of clothes were thrown at her face.

"Change over there," Bankotsu stated. She nodded and hurried behind the tree to change. "Oi, Shinri-san?"

"Hai, Bankotsu-kun!" she asked, blushing from behind the tree. 'This is weird... why is he helping me? EEK! Did he see me naked in the hot spring? What happened? I'm so confused...'

"Shinri-san!" Bankotsu called again. "The rice is ready. Do you want some?"

"Hai," she slightly smiled as she walked out from behind the tree adjusting her.

"There're no chopsticks, just use your hands, okay?" Bankotsu told her. She nodded as he served her a bowl of rice and watched her eat it quickly. He smiled at this and shook his head. What was he doing? He couldn't smile. It would be weird if he did it out of… watching a farmer's daughter eat? The more he thought about what she actually was to him, the more he became confused.

"Thank you. This is good rice. Who cooked it?" she bowed.

"Jakotsu," he looked away as he pointed to his brother. Jakotsu waved at her and smiled as she thanked him for the food. Bankotsu suddenly realized that he was jealous of his brother. Why though? 'Because he could cook,' he thought to himself. Then a thought of teaching himself how to cook was coming to his mind.

"May I have more, please?"

"Er… Hai," he said, as he served more. She smiled and ate some more. After a while, they waited for Ginkotsu and Renkotsu to come back. It was well past noon when they came back and they all chose to go back to Shinri's house.

"Bankotsu?" Shinri asked while they were walking. She and Bakotsu were standing next to each other, while Jakotsu and Renkotsu were sitting on Ginkotsu. Suddenly Jakotsu looked up to watch.

"Hm?"

"I've decided, that I don't want to be angry with you anymore," she smiled.

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because, I said I would revive my dad with Shikon Shards right? So if I do, it wouldn't make a difference," Shinri stated. He looked at her, shocked.

"What if you don't find a shikon shard?" he asked. She pondered for a bit then looked up at him.

"Then, it still wouldn't matter. Renkotsu said that when I'll die, I'll see him in heaven. That would be good enough," Shinri laughed and smiled. "I promise not to get mad at you anymore. Even if you kill me." She said as she pointed to herself.

"Huh? What a strange girl," Renkotsu said to Jakotsu.

"And brave too," Jakotsu responded.

"C'mon Banko-kun! We're almost there!"

"Banko-kun? Don't call me that," he told her. She just smiled. Shinri grabbed Bankotsu's hand and ran towards her home. When she entered her home, she found her aunt, uncle and cousin there.

"Where have you been all night? Don't tell me you were working in the field, you weren't! You liar," her aunt spat out.

"But, I didn't say-"

"Quiet, Shinri!" her uncle bellowed.

"Hai," she nodded. Shinri started to squeeze Bankotsu's hand.

'Ow... Ow... Ow... why is she squeezing my hand so hard?' Bankotsu thought. As Jakotsu walked in, and looked at them, they all stared at him in his kimono.

"I know where you've been," her aunt continued. "You've been fooling around with these boys, huh?"

"No, I haven't auntie," Shinri bowed her head, "Please tell me, why you're here."

"Do we have to tell you?!" she demanded an answer.

"No, auntie," she whispered.

"Good," her aunt grinned. "But, have you been spending nights with these boys? Probably for money?"

"No! They saved me from drowning. Please don't yell, auntie," she whispered.

"You lie too much," her aunt frowned. "You don't deserve this house or this farm. It was good that your father died. Now we can claim it. So why didn't you notify us, telling us that your dad died huh?"

"Because I'm using a Shikon Shard to revive him," she told them. Her head still in a bow.

"Idiot! You say that, but will you do it?"

"Of course! You wouldn't have to-"

"Have to worry about you? Who said we did or would? We came here to claim the house," her aunt continued. "And exactly how are you going to find Shikon Shards? You're so weak. You probably won't go out to find it. If you start tonight, you'll die tomorrow morning."

"We'll help her," Bankotsu interrupted. His eyes were glowing with hatred for them.

"Stay out of this, commoner. You shouldn't interfere with us 1st class people," her uncle told him. The cousin snickered.

"Do you want to wash your ne-" Bankotsu stopped when Shinri squeezed his hand even harder. 'Itai!!!' She looked at him from under her hair, with eyes pleading him not to kill. He nodded.

"Eh?" Jakotsu noticed that their hands were still linked.

"You bitch," her aunt called her. The aunt and uncle glared at her.

"You think because you have them, that you sleep with them, you think that they'll protect you?" she scolded Shinri. She only looked down though. "They're nothing but commoners who know nothing!"

"Please don't say that," Shinri began, lifting her head up. "They're good, kind people. They didn't sleep with me. Even if I wanted them to, they won't let me lose my dignity, so please don't blame them."

Bankotsu stepped back to her words. Good? Kind? She actually thought they were people? Usually others would call them monsters.

"Hah! You lie again? Like I said before, you're nothing. Remember when you're mom died?" she retorted. Shinri nodded as tears came to her eyes. At her mother's funeral, her dad was off selling her goods for food and she was left at her aunts. She was abused everyday and they worked her like a dog. When her dad came to get her, which was the best day of her life, she cried tears of happiness. She was only seven years old.

"Auntie, please," Shinri called out.

"Humph!" Her aunt ignored her. "Let go of his hand and look up to me." Shinri did as she was told and automatically her aunt back-hand slapped her.

"Ah!" Shinri screamed out as she fell to the ground.

"Shinri-San!" Bankotsu yelled out. He kneeled down to her and helped her get up.

"Hm, you didn't have to do that," Jakotsu glared. He reached back for the sword.

"No!" Shinri said, as she blocked his view of them.

"Huh!"

"Don't kill them! They're good people too!"

"But-"

"It doesn't matter, just don't kill them…" she looked down and turned around.

"Huh? Stupid girl, don't say that!" her aunt yelled as she walked past. Shinri kneeled down to them. Her cousin looked out from the corner of his eye and kicked her. "We already buried him, so don't try looking. Bye for now. When we come back, we expect you to leave. We'll back here in three days for this house and the field. Don't forget to leave the oxen and horses and your kimonos too. Now's a good time to leave." She nodded.

Shinri ran out the door and bowed again.

"Thank you for your visit!"

"Humph!" the cousin snarled as they all walked away. Shinri shrugged.

"I'll start packing then," she suggested. She took out her nice kimonos, folded them and left them in the corner for her aunt. They were the same size, so she took advantage of Shinri. After packing what she little else she had, She stuck it in her sac and tied it around her shoulders. "I'll just go now. I don't want to bother you so I'll just go off and try to make living somewhere. That's fine, right?"

"Shinri-San," Bankotsu called out in a sympathetic voice, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," she told him through the tears that slid down her cheeks. Shinri was lying, he knew it, and she knew that, everyone else figured that out, so why would she lie? Bankotsu and Jakotsu watched her step down the stairs of her porch. She walked passed Renkotsu and Ginkotsu but after a few more steps past them she stop in mid- step. With a turn, she waved and said, "I guess I'll see you around. Ja ne!"

Bankotsu couldn't allow this. He stared at with disbelief as she continued down the main road, seeing that she was confused, knowing that she didn't have anywhere else to go. This was too much to watch. After all the trouble he went through just to stay by her side he wouldn't let her slip out of his grasp. Not this time. Not again. He jumped over to her and pulled on her arm, which made her turn around.

"Huh?"

"Oi! Who said you were going anywhere?"

A/N WHOA! That took the whole day to write! I was sitting on my ass for 8 freaking hours!! Whoa! ... i have no life...LOL. Anyways... did you enjoy it? I hope so! :D Sorry for updating so late!!! I'll continue soon. And if you come across the word 'pot' in my story, it's not Kikyo(no offense to Kikyo fans). CoughcoughKaori-chancoughcough.

Oh Yeah! You better read her bomb-ass InuKag Stories too: Joy-Chan!! (-look that up on the search engine)! And there's another author who really great at writing stories if you like Yu Yu Hakusho, then she writes those too… Orrie!! (Look that pen name up too! Uh—don't add the exclamation points for both their names.) teehee, don't take it personally if you're not in here... Since my very first FF... they've been there for me... teehheee...

ANYWAY!!! TIME FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT PARTS OF THIS A/N!!... i wanna thank Orrie, ShameruMizunori, Joy-Chan and Corrina!! YAY!! THANKS!! I LOVE YOU!!