Original Character Interview.

by artisanrox

CHAPTER 15. RECOVERY.

It took a long while for Akiko to catch her breath. When she did, she looked over and saw Bankotsu lying on the floor, faced away from her, his black hair in a long trail underneath him, and his ribcage still expanding and contracting heavily. She grabbed Bankotsu by the right shoulder, and pushed it down. Bankotsu unhappily obliged, and the raised half of his body turned over towards her. He ended up laying flat on the floor, except for one knee. When the back of his head hit the floor, he immediately glared out of the corners of his eyes at Akiko, his breathing forced, and every muscle in his body tensed. Akiko noticed his brightly flushed cheeks, making his cobalt eyes and dark eyebrows stand out in even brighter contrast than before.

"Hey. Do I have the job now?" she asked, leaning over him.

Bankotsu, still trying to recover from his defeat, turned his head away from her, and mumbled something unintelligible.

Akiko was annoyed. "Hey!" she said, pointing a finger at him, "I need to know if I'm officially hired or not!"

She crawled partway on top of him. She supported herself with a hand on each side of Bankotsu's broad ribcage. She glared at him, getting as close as possible so she could drink in his handsomely humiliated, blushing bishonen face better.

"So...I'll ask you again...does this mean I have the job?" she said more forcefully, punctuating each word, eyeing him with a huge grin on her face. She glared at him even more intensely when she finished her question, and he glared back. Her eyes were inches way from his own. Pretty yellow and searing cobalt eyes were locked in a dramatic staredown. The young man then squeezed his eyes shut.

Bankotsu breathed an almost inaudible "yes". However, Akiko gave the vaguest hint of a one-sided grin. Hey, I did whoop his ass. So...I have the right to play with him a bit!

She decided that the continued lack of enthusiasm in his answer did not please her. So she resorted to pulling out the heavy artillery.

Akiko slapped her hands around Bankotsu's wrists like little handcuffs, which caused him to inhale sharply again. She brought them up closer to his head, and pressed down as hard as she could to the floor. Of course, it wasn't anything at all painful, but she did get her point across. "I still didn't hear you!" she hissed in mock fury, leaning in closer to his face.

Bankotsu raised his head a bit as she asked her question again, and looked not unlike a tethered cat in a yard full of lightning rods during a thunderstorm. He bared his teeth and practically growled at her with deadly menace, but the deep scarlet flush of his cheeks betrayed his boyish embarassment. He struggled underneath her for a little more, then lowered his head back down to the ground, and closed his eyes helplessly. It was no use. She had won, and that was that. Bankotsu knew his own biggest downfall was that he was a man of his word.

Akiko got a much louder "yes!" this time. The word escaped from between his tightened lips, and through clenched teeth.

Akiko laughed lightly as he struggled a bit underneath her again. "That's better!" Her tone turned positively deadly again. "But before we get ready to go out there," she said as she gestured toward the main room with her head, "let's make this official!"

Never breaking her intense gaze at him, she released one of his wrists, and reached down toward him. She brought up the end of Bankotsu's braid, teasingly making the white hair tie flip back and forth inches in front of his nose. She released the other wrist and, with her teeth flashing, made an overly dramatic effort in pulling off the tie. "I'll just have to keep this as a souvenir of our interview!" she said nastily, waving it in front of him, as he glared back at her wide-eyed. She then started slowly unraveling his hair.

She couldn't take it anymore. Her victory was too exciting, and she threw the unraveled hair down to the floor in bacchic victory. "YES! YES! YES!" happily cheered Akiko, throwing up her head for a moment. She punched the air with her little fists, the hair tie in one of her hands.

"Wow," said Suikotsu.

"Gersh," agreed Ginkotsu.

"Hmmm," said Renkotsu.

"We better tell Mukotsu to stay as far away from her as possible when he gets back," said Kyoukotsu.

"Yeah," agreed Suikotsu. "For his own safety!"

Holy crap, thought Bankotsu as his hair fell around his neck, I know my men can be vicious...but this one...!

Akiko was overjoyed, and now that she was calmed down a bit, she was done being nasty. Well, at least for now. "I can't wait to start rehearsal!" she said, more quietly. Unconsciously, she put her head down and pressed her lips to Bankotsu's mouth, in an effort to finish what she so desperately wanted to finish before. Her mouth still attached to his face, her eyes flew open in shock, realizing what she just did. She quickly pulled away a bit from the young man with a hand covering her lips, staring wide-eyed at the mark left on his face from her lipstick. He opened up his eyes in response and curled one side of his upper lip in the anguish of remembering how she resisted his charm, and ended up kicking his ass.

Still acting as if she sadistically bolted him down to the floor somehow, he shifted his head and torso a little. A sound escaped from his throat which didn't quite sound like a sigh, and wasn't quite a full growl, either. And all this, while he just glaaared at her. Hard.

Akiko didn't know what to make of it. She took her hand away from her face, and looked back at him. He was completely silent. And still. Except for his rhythmic, heavy breathing. It almost seemed like...he didn't object to what she just did.

THEN...Akiko got the hint.

Bankotsu was one of those guys!

Since she beat him at his little game...he was now putty in her hands! So whether she decided to torture him or kiss him, or maybe even do both at once, it didn't matter now!

She forced herself to look him in his eyes again. She still got a deadly, but silent, glare in return.

Then, she dared herself to kiss him again. Just to see what he'd do.

She lowered her head again, and pressed her lips firmly to his. He widened his eyes, and took in a quick, sharp breath, which to Akiko suspiciously mimiced sheer terror. Once she made contact again, he struggled a bit, whimpering softly as if he were in pain. But the only thing wounded here was his pride!

This time she framed his strong jaw with her hands, and pressed his chin with her thumbs, encouraging him to loosen up. She was giddy with amusement when his mouth eventually opened all the way for her. At first she could tell he wasn't too happy, but he surprisingly ended up just going along with whatever she did while laying like a rag doll. After a bit, he even pressed back! He didn't seem to be too upset about her curiosity after all.

She kissed him for quite a while, running her fingers once or twice through his silky black hair with one hand, unraveling what was left of his braid in the process. She could feel his breathing even out with the other hand, which she had placed on his chest. His lips, now that she could fully enjoy them, were surprisingly soft compared to the rest of him.

When she broke contact, he lowered his head submissively back to the floor, and it lolled over to face one side. His eyes closed again, and even though he was still breathing heavily, Akiko noticed that he looked, and felt, quite relaxed.

Akiko exhaustedly rested her head on his chest, which rose and fell irresistibly. "I admit...I wanted to...do that...since I first saw you." She opened her eyes wide in worry, and said "I don't think I could have lasted much longer, honestly. You almost did me in!" She closed her eyes and just laid there for a moment longer, recovering from it all.

Wow! What a kick-ass job interview! Now wait...this IS for a job... she thought.

After a brief pause, her brow furrowed and her hands stiffened into fists again. She did indeed remind herself that this was for a job. And she was now laying on top of an unbearably handsome young warrior. Who had just hired her. And he was naked. And they were on the floor.

It was all so distracting!

But, no! She couldn't afford to get distracted now!

"Business...this is...business!" she reprimanded herself through her teeth, loud enough so Bankotsu could hear. She pounded the floor with a fist to emphasize her words.

Suddenly, she shot up from his chest and pointed an angry little index finger at the young man beneath her, whose mouth was now smeared with lipstick, and also had a small spot of it in the center of his chest, too.

"But anyway!" she yelled at him.

Bankotsu's eyes cracked open, and he loudly drew in another quick breath. He had been taken completely out of his relaxed mood by her sudden anger. He snapped his head up from the floor, and supported himself with his elbows and forearms, a wide-eyed, almost terrified look on his face. She so owned him now, and both of them knew it.

"That's not what I'm here for!" she shouted at him as menacingly as she could. "Get your clothes back on, and let me sign those papers...now!"

"Hey, Suikotsu."

Suikotsu, standing wide-eyed with his ear against the door, flicked his eyes up at Kyoukotsu. "Yeah, what?"

"Nevermind Mukotsu being proud of him. If she wasn't a woman, Jakotsu would be pretty darn proud of her!"

Renkotsu's eyes went wide in the realization that his comrade was on to something. "I think you're right, Kyoukotsu!" he whispered.