Chapter Three: Shelter, Walks and Cherry Blossom
A/N did you like the story? So far? Gar- Yeah. Uhhh… Hope you'll like it again. Gee- I need to say something else… and… ahhhh... how was your guy's day? :D Anyways... I'd like to give really big kissies to the people who stood up for me.. adn those you read and also those whoreviewed... :D THANK YOU SO MUCH! i wouldn't have gotten this far with out you guys.. :D KISSMUAHKISS.. lol...
"No, I can't stay," Shinri told insisted. He shook his head.
"Yes, you can."
"No- I'm telling you I can't-"
"Yes you can."
"You don't understand. She has power over me. If I don't obey she could easily put me in exile or execution," Shinri tried to pull her arm away. He wouldn't let her.
"Do you want to leave your house? Knowing that you'll never come back?"
"What're you talking about? I don't want to leave my house, I want to stay here."
"Then stay," Bankotsu convinced her. She stopped struggling from his grip. Shinri turned around to stare at the ground.
"Didn't you just hear me?" She muttered.
"Relax, Shinri-San! We're here aren't we?" Jakotsu called out form the porch.
"If they hurt you again…" Bankotsu started out as a threat, he looked away, flushed. The girl, no taller than his shoulders, looked up to him with tears of happiness and a small smile. "What's wrong? What'd I do?"
"You didn't do anything wrong," she looked up at him and frowned, worried that she had made him angry.
"Yes I did. What did I say? Was it-"
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"Tell me. What'd I do?" Bankotsu gripped her arm. She loosened his grip by wriggling her arm around.
"You didn't do anything wrong."
"Then what did I do?" He asked persistently. She shook her head and turned around to look him in the eye.
"Nothing," she smiled.
"Hey, don't lie!" Bankotsu said, smacking her on the head.
"Ow... I'm not," Shinri whined a bit and rubbed in off. She then walked over to Ginkotsu. She and Renkotsu talked for awhile as Bankotsu blushed from what she happened.
"What's this? Are you guys now a couple?" Jakotsu yelled out, laughing. Renkotsu watched them and just enjoyed the fact that Bankotsu wasn't on his back. Bankotsu turned red. Shinri heard this as well and blushed too.
"Huh? NO!" he yelled at them.
"Then what just a happened? Wasn't that a lovers' quarrel? Were you worried about how you looked in front of Shin-?" Jakotsu was interrupted when he found it was covered by Bankotsu's hand.
"Heh- that should keep him quiet," he said as he kept his hand there. He always had to wonder, why does Jakotsu do that to hem? He shrugged and looked up at Shinri who was looking down, covering her blush. "Anou, just ignore him!"
"Hai!" she smiled and talked to, or tried to talk to Ginkotsu.
Jakotsu watched his brother stare at Shinri as she was conversing a light conversation with Renkotsu. Wanting to talk, he parted his mouth and licked Bankotsu's palm as his hand was still covering his mouth.
"Gross!" Bankotsu shrieked. He wiped the spit on to Jakotsu's shirt.
"Nani?" Jakotsu grinned.
"Don't say it so loud, baka!" Bankotsu whispered roughly to Jakotsu. He just giggled.
"You can't deny it," Jakotsu said as he smiled at Bankotsu. Bankotsu pushed him away and turned around to ignore his teases. Several minutes passed by as they all conversed until Shinri ran up her porch steps and stood on one step below where Bankotsu was sitting.
"Huh?"
"Can we take a walk? Or go to the village?" Shinri asked.
"Why do you want to?" Bankotsu asked, looking up. His chin rested on his palm as the arm he was resting on had its elbow on his left knee. His legs were crissed-crossed and his right hand was sitting on his hip. Shinri just stared up at the sky.
"Do I actually need a reason? Besides it's a nice day! Let's take a walk," Shinri looked back down to him and smiled. Bankotsu just stared at her until Jakotsu pushed him from behind his back.
"Uh-" Bankotsu tried to agree, but found himself to be too shy to.
"Jakotsu would you like to come too?" Shinri asked. He suddenly found his opportunity to be with her alone down the drain just when he gathered his courage to be with a woman.
"Hai," Jakotsu smiled. He then laughed and started his way down the road. Shinri followed as they invited Renkotsu and Ginkotsu. They declined. Then the two made their way fairly down the road. Suddenly it hit him like a ton of bricks: Shinri and Jakotsu were walking together… and Shinri would be alone. And he really didn't trust his brother with Shinri; after all, he did jump in naked with her in the hot springs.
"Ahh…. OI!" Bankotsu called out. Jakotsu grinned while Shinri turned around waved her arm in the air.
"C'mon! Let's go!" She called out. He stumbled from being embarrassed with his Banryuu he retrieved two days before, agreeing with her to take a walk. "Bankotsu?" she asked as she ran over to him. Shinri reached her hand out and grabbed his hand.
"Wha- Huh? No-" He tried to pull his hand away, but she ended up pulling his hand instead. Tugging at his hand, she pulled him along and ran towards Jakotsu. She stopped by his side.
"Let's go!" she exclaimed happily. They all started walking together towards the village. Bankotsu kept quiet as Jakotsu and Shinri talked together. The afternoon sun seemed to make Shinri's fears of her aunt go away, made a happy Jakotsu seem happier and just made Bankotsu quieter. He lifted his hand and covered the sun from out of his eyes and wiped the sweat off of his brow. Shinri walked under the shading trees and Jakotsu in the middle between them.
"Shi-Chan! I feel I will meet InuYasha very soon. Hehe- he's too cute," he muttered.
"What'll you do if you do meet him again?" she asked with a smile. By this time, she figured out he was gay, but he was too funny when he was. She never was really bothered by it. Jakotsu shrugged.
"Kill him. I'll be the first," he giggled again.
"Eh?" she pondered.
"Hehehehhh--- he means he wants to marry him," Bankotsu interrupted. He looked up to the sounds of distant yells.
"InuYasha! SIT!" a female's voice was heard by them.
"Ahh.. InuYasha…" Jakotsu seemed to daydream until suddenly interrupted by a push from Bankotsu into a bush. He was utterly confused and responded to Bankotsu's actions with, "Nani?"
"Get in there!" he scowled and pushed Jakotsu back down. But he always seemed to pop back up. Instead, Bankotsu grabbed Jakotsu by the collar and pulled him down with him. Shinri was confused as she just stood there when she saw a few people walk towards her.
"HEY!! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT FOR!?" a boy in his mid-teens yelled at a girl with black hair.
"Shikon Shards," she said. Shinri watched them stand there, looking at the bush.
"INUYASHA!" Jakotsu jumped out and ran towards Shinri. Bankotsu jumped out and tried to grab him, but failed as he stumbled next to Shinri.
"Nani?" InuYasha asked. He looked at the person who called his name. InuYasha already knew who Bankotsu was already after meeting him two days ago. But he didn't know who that girl was or the other guy was. He looked familiar but at the same time he couldn't recognize him. But he did recognize the smell… "The Shichinintai!"
"Who's that?" Kagome asked, pointing at Jakotsu. Right then and there, Kagome and Sango had the same thing in mind.
"He's handsome," they said in unison. Both InuYasha and Miroku twitched their eyes and stared back at him.
"You don't recognize me, InuYasha?" Jakotsu asked, tearfully. "It's me, Jakotsu!" And all of a sudden Kagome and Sango had their bubbles popped.
"Isn't he the guy who loves you but wants to kill you?" Miroku asked.
"InuYasha!" Jakotsu smiled but then an evil glare flickered in his eye as he reached for his sword. He struck it once at them until InuYasha pulled out his Tessaiga and was about to attack them until Kagome stopped him. "I'll be the first to kill you!"
"Wait! What if they're holding the girl hostage?" Kagome asked. InuYasha looked at them.
Bankotsu just happened to over hear them and put his arm around her shoulders.
He put his faceclose to hers. Shinri blushed and was about to hit him until he spoke up.
"That's right," he told them. "If you don't do what I ask, then I'll kill her." Shinri had a blush creep on her face as wrapped his arm around her waist but stopped blushing as he pulled his Banryuu and put it to her throat.
"What're we going to do, InuYasha?" Kagome asked him.
"Feh!" InuYasha spat, "Well what do you think I'm going to do? Let her be killed by him?"
"Heheheh," Bankotsu grinned.
"Kaze No Kizu!" InuYasha aimed at Bankotsu, but Bankotsu jumped out of the way and while he was in the air, the half dog-demon jumped at them and pulled Shinri out of his grasp and jumped back to the group with Shinri in his arms. After setting her down he went back to fight Bankotsu.
"Why don't I have all the fun?" Jakotsu whined. Bankotsu smiled.
"You can have fun later," Bankotsu promised Jakotsu. He smiled again and continued fighting.
Bankotsu knocked the Tessaiga out of InuYasha's hands and had a hand-to-hand combat with him. After sending a blow to InuYasha, he heard someone call his name.
"BanBan-kun! DON'T HURT OR KILL HIM!" It was Shinri.
"Huh? Ban-Ban-kun?" he whispered slightly. Bankotsu got knocked in the head by InuYasha's fist and sent him in the air. His head hit a tree and he was knocked unconscious. "AUGH-"
"Bankotsu!" Shinri and Jakotsu got up and ran to Bankotsu. But without realizing it, InuYasha punched and knocked Jakotsu unconscious to the next tree.
Shinri looked around her. Her two friends were unconscious. How did that happen again?
"Jakotsu?" She ran over to him as well. This made InuYasha, Kagome, Sango, Miroku and Shippo wonder what really was going on.
"What? Hey, Kagome, why is she trying to help him?" InuYasha asked. Kagome looked back at him. "And I thought she was a hostage."
"I don't really know," she answered back.
"InuYasha, let me step up, and comfort this beautiful young lady," Miroku said as his hands were outstretched, twitching, eyes closed, eyebrows concentrated down and a grin on his face.
"You pervert!" Sango commented as she slapped Miroku. InuYasha had a twitching eyebrow and Kagome just stared at Bankotsu and Shinri.
'She's trying to help the leader of the Shichinintai,' she told herself.
"Hey!" Shinri called over to them. They all looked over to her. She pointed at the half dog demon. "Why'd you hurt him like that?"
"Huh? Me?" InuYasha asked, pointing at himself. Kagome, Shippo, Miroku and Sango looked up at him as well.
"Well duh, who else?" Kagome asked.
"And why'd you even fight with them?" Shinri asked.
"Hey! It's not my fault! I thought I saved you from the bad guys—huh?" InuYasha said as he witnessed the girl pull over Bankotsu and Jakotsu to the side of the road. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What do you think she's doing? She's trying to get him up and going again," Kagome told him.
"Feh! Who'd want to help guys like that?" InuYasha argued back. Kagome sighed and stared at him.
"I'm very sorry for what happened," Miroku said walking next to Shinri and kneeling next to her. She looked up and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess," she shrugged as she wiped the blood and sweat off of Bankotsu's face. "Tjhank you for your concern?" She was quite confused by his actions.
"Miss, would you like to bear my child?" Miroku asked her. Shinri's eye became wide. "I see that you're a very kind person. With your attributes and our looks, wouldn't we bear a perfect child?"
"Huh? … Um-Um—Sorry! I don't really want to get into anything right now, I think," Shinri told him waving her hands around.
"Here he goes again," Shippo muttered. The others agreed.
"After being alone you have no where else to go, so why not…" Miroku paused for dramatic effect and stretched out his hand to grope her bottom. But, unfortunately, he was kneeling by Bankotsu's arm and when his hand tried to reach for Shinri, Bankotsu's hand shot up and grabbed Miroku's wrist inches away from her bottom. "Huh?"
"Don't even try touching her," Bankotsu said, still lying down. His eyes were closed but his lips were moving. He tightened his grip on Miroku's wrist. "Or I'll kill you." He let go and avoided killing him just for Shinri's sake.
"Bankotsu!" Shinri smiled in excitement and jumped on to him, giving him a hug. "How's your head? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Bankotsu smirked back at her. He turned around to look for Jakotsu. "What the-"
"Heheheh," Shinri nervously laughed. 'Please don't kill them,' she thought.
"What happened to him?" Bankotsu asked.
"Well- you know. When… two people love each other... I mean when there's one sided love, that person who loves ends up knocked in the head…?" Shinri asked, confusing herself.
"Huh. Typical. Let's go back to the house, Shinri," Bankotsu said, picking up Jakotsu. 'Augh... my head hurts.'
"Hai!" she smiled, following his command.
"Keh!" InuYasha called out after watching this. "What's going on?" Kagome tugged at his sleeve.
"I think… they… are lovers," she told him, out loud. Right then and there, Shinri and Bankotsu stopped in their tracks, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to fight back---
"Scratch that..." Kagome said after witnessing thier freeze-still.
"Hey! Who told you we're lovers?!" Bankotsu yelled out, pointing his Banryuu to Kagome. She saw that he always eased up when he was next to Shinri; that he was always avoiding murder and taking the easy way out of battles.
"Well, take a look at yourselves," Kagome said, "She treats you with concern… and you listen to her too." Bankotsu blushed.
"We're friends! Aheheh," Shinri confessed, blushing uncontrollably as well.
"Hey! Who cares if they're lovers or not!? I wanna know why she's following him around like some slave!"
"I don't think she's a slave," Miroku said. "She's a young maiden who's very lonely and needs company." He said out loud. Miroku turned his attention to Shinri, walked up to her and closed both of her hands in his palms. "Please allow me to accompany you for awhile and cure you of your loneliness."
"Eh? Um..." Shinri didn't know what to do. Her face grew warm and unfortunately for him, Bankotsu noticed this with eyebrows twitching.
"Oi! Let go of her hand or I'll cut them off so you'll never get to use them again!" Bankotsu said aggressively. He stepped in between Miroku and Shinri and guarded her.
"Um," Shinri began, "W-Wo-Would- y-you li-like to come with u-u-us to-to-to-m-my house? You can eat dinner and um.. um...stay for the night if you have no where else to go," She looked down at her shifting feet, shy and blushing. All of a sudden a fist came down on her head as it sent her on her knees.
Silence fell upon them as Kagome, InuYasha, Miroku, Sango and Shippo stared with sweat drops.
"Why are you asking them that? …When they tried to kill us, huh?" Bankotsu asked. Shinri just covered the bump on her head with her fingers.
"OOOOOOWWWW!!!" Shinri complained. "That was harder than last time. Itai…"
"Well?"
"Oh um- They tried to save me. And even if someone else was taking me as hostage than they would've saved me there too! Hehe," she giggled hesitantly, scratching the back of her head. Bankotsu was taken back.
"Huh. Just like you, right?" Bankotsu reached of the top of her head and patted it as she blushed and closed her eyes and smiled.
"She's like a .. pet," Sango said. Everyone nodded.
'I like the feeling when he pats my head. He's so gentle to me…' she thought through a small smile. She opened her eyes again and gestured Kagome to come along with them.
Walking along through the cherry blossoms, Kagome and InuYasha kept quiet as did everyone else.
"How do we know you're not going to kill us when we're all sleeping huh?" InuYasha spat at Bankotsu and Shinri. By this time Kagome had grown frustrated that InuYasha always questioned the people who invited them to stay at their place.
"Sit, boy!" Kagome screamed out.
"Why do you keep doing that?" InuYasha fought back with her after getting up.
"Just leave them alone, it's not like she's going to kill us."
"How would you know? We got a girl who we don't even know hanging around a guy who kills for a living! He probably rubbed off on her." He frowned and crossed his arms while walking with them none-the-less.
While InuYasha was saying that, Shinri's bangs began to shadow her eyes as her head bent lower and lower. Bankotsu noticed this and tried to comfort her but was too shy to. After a few more strolls, they reached their destination.
"Oh? They're gone?" Shinri asked, referring to Ginkotsu and Renkotsu.
"Ah- Again…? They'll be back later," Bankotsu said with Jakotsu over his shoulder. All of a sudden, Shinri blushed, looking at her house.
"Gomen-nasai. My house isn't very big," she apologized, scratching the back of her head.
"You got that right," InuYasha said as he looked at it.
"But it'll do for tonight," Miroku said, as if apologizing for what his comrade had commented. They all walked in her house and set down their things.
"Wow, it feels so nice to put my backpack down for once," Kagome sighed.
"Shinri-san," Bankotsu called out as he put down Jakotsu on one of the beds.
"Hai!" She responded.
"Why don't you go get food?"
"Ok!" Shinri happily responded as she glided through the doors. When she did go down the steps, she saw Ginkotsu and Renkotsu, and waved at them. She turned around to face the house and yelled out to Bankotsu, "They're back!"
"Didn't I tell you?" Bankotsu grinned at her. Shinri smiled back at him and started off to find food.
"Can I come with you?" Kagome asked. Sango also helped out.
"Thank you," she smiled at them too. They all started for the village and when they got there, they bought a few fishes, rice and vegetables. On their way back, Kagome asked Shinri a few questions.
"Hey Shinri," Kagome asked.
"Huh?" Shinri asked, she turned to her with a basket full of fish.
"Do you have a crush on Bankotsu?"
"A crush?" the girl with the fish didn't know what that was.
"You know. When you start to like someone?" Kagome asked. Sango just stood there, letting Shinri guess on her own.
"You mean if I like Bankotsu?" Shinri asked. She blushed and suddenly found the fish so interesting. "Um-Uh... Um... No…. I don't think so."
"Do you love him?" Kagome asked. Shinri stopped where she stood.
She didn't really know. She was only 16, how was she suppose to know what love was? What was love anyway?
As she looked up at them with a heavy blush, covering her whole body, she shrugged and walked ahead of them so they couldn't read the expression on her face.
Shinri wouldn't admit that she realized that when she thought about Bankotsu, her heart would feel lighter than anything else. And when she looked into his eyes, she felt, maybe they were made for each other. But if only… he didn't kill her father. Even if she forgave him for that, she couldn't trust him. Why though…?
It's because he killed the only person who treated her with unconditional love.
Why did she feel that she wanted to hate Bankotsu even more every time her thoughts of her father came into mind? Why did it feel that her heart hurt and was tearing in two when she felt that she had to choose between her father and Bankotsu? Why did she even choose Bankotsu over her father?
Shinri thought, 'Did she really hate him?'
Yes.
Why?
Don't know.
She pondered this until a voice whispered in her head. Shinri tried to shake it out of her head but it got louder and louder.
'You-'
No.
'Love-'
Stop.
'Bankotsu.'
That wasn't true was it? No, it wasn't, she tried to convince herself. But the voice, now screaming inside her head yelled louder and repeated itself.
'You love Bankotsu.'