Kagome stayed frozen in her spot on the ground as Inuyasha and Bankotsu started their little battle. She wasn't ready to see him just yet. It was too soon, why did he have to come for her?
Took him long enough.
Bankotsu was right. She'd been gone for days. In all their time together, if they were separated, he would scour the land for her. It wouldn't be long before he found her. Even in her time era, he would jump through the well to pull her back within a couple days' time. She knew what that meant. While she was being held prisoner by the Band of Seven, he was elsewhere fucking that soulless, clay look-a-like. Before, that would've broken her heart. But that thing's already broken. She was pissed.
I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him.
The ringing of metal sliced through her train of thought. Bankotsu and Inuyasha throwing blows and swings at each other like a violent dance.
"You bastard! What did you do to Kagome!?"
"Nothing she didn't want me to, half-breed." Bankotsu taunted with a smirk.
Kagome blushed at the comment.
He's not wrong there.
Shaking off her embarrassment, she glared at the mercenary. Now he wants to bring that up?! After ignoring her all morning, now he wants to gloat to Inuyasha. The act pissed her off even more.
"You really expect me to believe that?! As if Kagome would let a corpse touch her! She's not that desperate!"
Excuse me?
"She did more than let me touch her, mutt. You should've heard her scream my name." Bankotsu said before smashing his Banryu into the ground where Inuyasha stood before he leaped out of the way.
The more they taunted each other, the hotter Kagome's blood boiled. She swore steam was blowing out of her ears.
"YOU'RE LYING!" Inuyasha screamed before he striked. Bankotsu swiftly deflected the blow before delivering his own.
"Oh, you wish I was. Don't you, Inuyasha? You can't stand the idea that the miko might want someone other than a pathetic mutt like you?"
"Anyone with eyes can see that girl's love for me. She wouldn't do that. You don't do that to someone you love. I doubt you even know the meaning of the word!"
"Love? Heh! Who needs love when there's power?"
I've had enough.
Kagome thought before she made her move. She could see her bow and arrows near, no one was paying attention to her. Fast as she could manage, she reached for her weapons and drew her arrow, channeling all her hurt and rage into the stone tip before releasing. The arrow glowed pink and it shot past the Band of Seven and hitting its target - a tree between Inuyasha and Bankotsu. But no one was expecting the tree to explode as the pieces glowed pink. Even Kagome was a little taken back by the velocity of her power but at this moment, she only cared about one thing. Giving these two jerks a piece of her mind.
They each slowly shifted their gazes to the furious priestess; each expression was of pure shock.
"THAT'S ENOUGH! OUT OF THE BOTH OF YOU! WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?"
Inuyasha winced at Kagome's outburst, she'd never cursed before.
"K- Kagome- " Inuyasha started before he was cut off.
"YOU!" She seethed at him, "You've got a lot of fucking nerve. Love? Are you kidding me, Inuyasha? You think I've got any love for you left in my heart after what you did? What you've done to me, over and over and over and over again. You have no right to say that about me! You know what you don't do to someone you love, Inuyasha?" She was silent for a moment as if waiting for an answer, but she continued, "You don't hurt them like it's a fucking hobby, you stupid, stupid jerk!"
Bankostu watched the verbal beat down with piqued interest. She was really tearing into him without hesitation, as if she were a broken dam pouring aggressively all the things she bottled up over the years.
Could it be that she was telling the truth last night?
"Kagome, you can yell at me all you want but you can't possibly want to stay here with them! You belong with me! I came all this way to find you, I'm taking you back with me!"
"SHUT UP, INUYASHA! I bet you didn't even know I was gone! I don't belong to you or with you, and I'm not going ANYWHERE with you! SI-"
She stopped short, the familiar command still on her lips.
The subjugation beads.
They were gone. She's the only one who could remove them, unless ...
The raging storm in Kagome calmed as the final thread snapped. The only remaining tie between her and the half demon had been severed.
"Go back to Kikyo."
"Kagome! Just listen to me. Come back with me and we can work this out."
"I'd rather die than go anywhere with you." Venom seeping through her voice.
Inuyasha gasped, the blow of her words sending him back a step.
"I am not some possession; I am not some prize. I'm not your woman or your wench, I am no one's shard detector, I am no one's anything! I am a fucking person and I will not tolerate this shit from any of you anymore!" She shifted her eyes to Bankotsu and the Band of Seven, "If you don't like it then you'll have to kill me."
The members of the Band of Seven looked to their leader for some kind of command or signal. Bankotsu didn't even acknowledge them. He just stared at her.
There it is.
The fire in the miko's eyes. Hot, wild and untamed. Her fight from last night a mere ember to the inferno blazing in those chocolate pools. And he'd never seen anything so sexy. He smirked at the priestess.
"That's not necessary, Kagome." Bankotsu spoke smoothly.
Kagome's eyes were guarded, she wasn't sure where this was going.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm saying that you are no longer my prisoner."
Kagome's eyes widened while Inuyasha and the rest of the Band of Seven were stunned silent.
"W-wh – what?"
"I'm giving you an option."
Kagome held her breath.
"You can join us." Bankotsu said with his signature smirk.
Shouts of protests came from the mercenaries.
"WHAT!?" Shouted Jakotsu, "Big Brother, are you insane!?"
"Big Brother, you can't be serious?" Renkotsu said.
Bankotsu turned his glare to his brothers, silencing their protests immediately, before returning to the priestess.
He continued, "Join us. You wouldn't be a slave. Believe it or not, miko, I wouldn't mind keeping you around. It's nice to have such a pretty face in company." Kagome's reddening cheeks betrayed the serious set in her eyes.
"Over my dead body!" Inuyasha shouted.
Bankotsu gave the hanyou an irritated look, "By the looks of it, mutt, you don't have a say about it."
"She's coming with me! End of story! Come on, Kagome. Let's leave while we still can." Inuyasha reached for Kagome's wrist and tried to pull her away, but she didn't go willingly like he expected.
Kagome nearly growled at the fingers that dared to touch her. Seeing this, Bankotsu gripped his Banryu ready to strike Inuyasha again. But he was not prepared for the lovely priestess' reaction. Kagome whirled on Inuyasha, her delicate fingers glowing a faint pink, as she closed her fist and drove it into his jaw. The force lifted him off his feet and threw him back a couple feet landing on his backside.
Fuck! That hurt!
Inuyasha inwardly groaned, "What the hell was that –" he stopped short at the malice in her gaze.
"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again." She hissed through gritted teeth. Her body quaking with anger.
Holy shit, Bankotsu thought.
Kagome stood tall and spoke in a calm voice, "Let me make myself perfectly clear, Inuyasha. We. Are. Done." Inuyasha's stomach sank with each word. He knew she was angry, but they've gotten through their troubles before and thought this would be no different. Now, he was starting to think otherwise.
"You made your choices, and now I'm making mine. The love I once had for you … it's gone." His chest tightened, she can't be serious, "Leave, never come before me again. Go back to your clay whore."
With those words, she turned away from him, not paying any mind to him as his body shook with anger. She looked at Bankotsu.
She really was telling the truth. Bankotsu thought as he stared into her eyes. Will she stay with me?
"Bankotsu … I'd like to return to my family." She spoke softly to him, almost sounding tired, "If you truly are setting me free, I wish to return home."
She has a family?
Bankotsu didn't remember his family. He'd never known the loving embrace of a mother and the closest he'd had to a father was his master. Kagome had something he never did, and for some reason, he didn't want to take that away.
He took a deep breath and said, "So be it."
Kagome gasped. She didn't expect this. He really was letting her go, but his eyes … they looked almost … sad. She couldn't understand the way her chest clenched at the sight. She should be happy that he was letting her go home, but it was like a part of her wanted to stay. With him.
Mother, grandfather, Souta …
Kagome sighed in resignation, "Thank you, Bankotsu," she whispered before retrieving her belongings and making way towards the Bone Eater's well, not sparing Inuyasha another glance.
Bankotsu watched her as she walked away from him. Committing each detail to memory before she disappeared into the trees. He wouldn't stop her, no matter how much he secretly wanted to.
Goodbye, Kagome.
When she was no longer in sight, he turned his sights to the mutt still on the ground.
"Heh! You really are pathetic, Inuyasha. You had a dame like that in your grasp and still managed to lose her. Ah well, you know what they say about broken dogs." He gripped his Banryu tighter, "They're better off being put down."
He prepared to strike but Inuyasha growled and jumped to his feet, leaping high into the trees. His amber eyes turned red, his claws sharpening, hungry for blood. He ran at top speed, arriving at the Bone Eater's well long before the oblivious priestess.
Foolish miko. I'll teach her a lesson she'll never forget.