A tale from the past

by Kittymui

...a red one sprung from the corner of her mouth. At that moment, he finally realized what he had done. He held her lifeless body close to him and cried out his sorrow and regret. And then...he woke up. BanXKag.

8. Chapter VII

A TALE FROM THE PAST

-by Kittymui-

CHAPTER VII

- somewhere in the forests of the Northern Lands -

It was already evening when they finally found an appropriate place to stay the night. Because business wasn't going very well, they were forced to pass the nighttime in a forest.

They were called the Shichinintai. And as the name said it already, the seven of them made up the famous group of assassins who had never failed any of the assignments they accepted.

The leader of the group let out a sigh as he sat down near a tree trunk at the border of the clearing and placed his large halberd next to him on the grass. He pulled his long thin braid of black hair from behind his back to rest on his left shoulder while his blue-gray eyes scanned the nature around them.

The trees, illuminated up by the crisping campfire, had almost abandoned all of their brown leaves. If they can't find an assignment soon, they would surely lack the means to pass the upcoming season. The winter of the Northern Lands was not something to be underestimated. Without the proper clothing and preparations, the cold temperature and snowstorms could easily execute the strongest youkai. And the fact that they were now in the most northern part of the country troubled him even more.

Suddenly, he recalled a certain rumor that had been roaming these lands for some time now. It was about a female messenger from the East, trying to find assassins for a very rewarding mission. But the rumors also said that nobody had succeeded in accomplishing that mission so far.

Yet, instead of worrying of the possible difficulty of that mission, Bankotsu only hoped they would get to meet that strange individual soon.

With that thought pinned down at the back of his mind, he pulled out a small pile of paper, bound together with a small rope along the left edge, from his sleeve and a thin piece of carbon wrapped in a small cloth. After securing the carbon between his thumb and forefinger, he placed its tip on the light-brown surface and allowed his memories to lead the writing tool.

Halfway the fourth page, he was interrupted by one of his companions.

"Writing your journal again?"

It was Jakotsu who spoke. Sometimes he wondered if he was a woman in his past life. With his light-purple kimono-like outfit, knotted hair and interest in men, he definitely resembled one.
Ever since he told his friend that the two dark purple vertical markings on each side of his face brought out his manly side, there wasn't a single day that passed without him applying red substance on his lips, making him more feminine than before. But nevertheless, he was thankful that he used a powerful snake-sword instead of a whip or something similar.

"Yeah," he replied dully and turned his attention to his writing again.

Jakotsu sat down next to him. "You know, I can't stop wondering why you're always taking the time to scribble down the things that are already in the past."

"The fact that it is in the past, makes it even more valuable to write down," he explained without looking up. "Who knows what kind of great things we could accomplish. And when we do so, there is a chance that we won't live to tell the tale. That is when this journal will come in handy, don't you agree?"

Jakotsu shook his head and sighed. "You're too pessimistic Bankotsu, there's no way we would lose with a great leader like you."

"Actually, I'm being realistic. It's not like I'm the wisest of you all. In fact, I'm the youngest of the seven!" Bankotsu laughed. "And besides, we have only formed this group about a year ago."

"Despite that, we have managed to complete every single mission and become quite famous in such short period, all thanks to you!" his friend reasoned. "Remember the last mission? If it weren't for your nice tactics and skills, we wouldn't be able to assassinate that snake-boss. And there was this time that-"

"Would you please stop that ass-kissing already?" he grunted. "If you were a woman, I would almost think you fell in love with me!"

"If I were a woman, you would've already taken me by now," Jakotsu countered with a seductive laugh. But he stopped smiling when Bankotsu reached out his hand to his halberd. "Woah! I'm just kidding! No need to-"

"Shh!" he shushed him as he quickly put away the papers and at the same time, lifted his heavy halberd with his other hand.

With one swift motion, he swung the weapon at one of the trees at the other side of the clearing.

- TSJOK -

One of his comrades, who sat the nearest to the impact, jumped up of shock. "What the-" he shouted but was soon cut off by an unfamiliar voice.

"Hm, nice shot boy. If only you were born earlier, you would have spared me a lot of time and effort."

A silhouette appeared from behind the tree and walked into the clearing until the light of the fire revealed some features.

It was a woman. From the deflected colors, Bankotsu reasoned inwardly that she was wearing a white kimono with dark purple edges. And the thin stripes adorning her eyelids should be red, which was also the color of her lips.

"Who are you?" he demanded, his eyes fixed on her dark ones.

"Oh forgive me for not introducing myself," she apologized. "My name is Kagura and I'm from the Eastern Lands."

Bankotsu narrowed his eyes. "You're the messenger from the rumors, aren't you?"

"I'm surprised boy...I didn't think humans were this smart," she chuckled.

Right after she said that, the other six members of the Shichinintai jumped up from the ground into 'ready-to-fight' positions.

But instead of feeling threatened, the stranger from the East smirked. "You might want to hear me out first. If it doesn't sound good enough, you can still kill me," she reasoned.

'True...' Bankotsu thought as he held up his hand and gestured for his fellow members to sit down.

After they did as the leader told them, the woman spoke again. "As I said, I was sent by the lord of the Eastern Lands," she told them. "I assume you already know why I'm here."

"And I take that you already know who we are, so you can get to the point woman," he responded dryly. "What does the lord of the East want from us? I thought he despised the human kind."

"There is no need for you to know and I will not tell you either. You'll just have to come with me and meet the lord himself. He will be the one informing you about the complete outlines of the mission," was her reply.

"I see..." he said, propping his head on his hand that was supported by his slightly pulled-up leg. "Then...what's in it for us? And how do we know that you're speaking the truth?"

"Of course, I will give you part of the reward in advance as an assurance but you can expect a very large payment afterwards should you succeed," she said as she leaned against one of the trees. "As for your latter question...I guess I can only ask you to trust me."

Although not completely satisfied with her answer, Bankotsu still coped with it and shifted his gaze to the rest of the group. "Guys, tell me what you think," he ordered as his eyes moved to Jakotsu first, who sat the nearest.

"I'll follow you wherever you want to go leader," his friend replied without thinking. "If you accept the offer, I'll assist you to the very end."

Bankotsu smirked inwardly. 'I wouldn't expect anything else from you...' he thought as his eyes traveled to the next person.

"Jakotsu's right. Just give us orders and we will follow," was the answer of the one called Mukotsu.

Mukotsu the oldest of the seven, but he was also the one with the less opinions of his own. Although it wasn't his habit to dig into someone's past, he couldn't help but wonder from time to time what had caused his face to be so hideous. Besides a thick white robe, he always wore a cloth over his head and a veil that covered most part of his face except his eyes. But even with these things, he still didn't look like he was human. Maybe it was because of his unusual big eyes, small pupils and short length. Could it have been an accident with the toxins he's always carrying with him? He didn't know.

Bankotsu couldn't deny that he was quite useful regardless of his ineptitude to use weapons. Having a poison-user in the group would definitely come in handy someday. This was also the same reason why he allowed him to join.

"Same here," three voices said at the same time. It was Suikotsu, Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu who spoke.

Bankotsu had to admit that, of the seven, he knew the least about these three. Suikotsu once told him that he was a doctor before but that he could barely remember his past. Apparently, he was suffering some sort of amnesia. But his skills with the pair of steel claws that he wore on both his hands like gloves made him a worthy member of the Shichinintai. Suikotsu had spiked black hair and a somewhat unfriendly face, filled with green markings, which made people back away in fear. He was wearing a thick dark-green outfit and brown armor on top of it, protecting his torso and shoulders, and all of them kept together with a long light blue sash at his waist.

The other two, unlike the rest, were youkai. It was actually quite obvious at first sight, since Kyoukotsu was two times the size of the rest, in height as well as in breadth, and Ginkotsu was basically a demon with all kinds of weapons built in and around his body. Kyoukotsu had light-green spiked hair held back with a leather band, scars all over his vicious face and a mouth filled with sharp fangs. Ginkotsu had red hair, jaws made of pure metal and half of his face stitched away with the same material. On his strong back, he carried a huge iron backpack comprising heavy weapons like cannons and spiked wheels that can be shot out on his command. But nonetheless, the both of them were strong.

And finally, he turned to the remaining member of the group. "Renkotsu, what do you think?"

He, Renkotsu and Jakotsu had been friends before they formed the Shichinintai. And as long as he knew him, he had always been the one with a different opinion about things. But no matter how deviant he was; he had never done something hazardous to their friendship.

Renkotsu also had two vertical stripes on each side of his face like Jakotsu, but his were thicker, red and they marked his cheeks from the bottom of his lower jaw to his eyebrows. There was also a strange mark on his forehead that looked like a bull's head from the front. He wore a cloth over his bald head and a light-green shirt underneath his long orange colored armor, held together with a dark purple sash at the middle. The ends of his sleeves and pants were wrapped inside leather arm and leg protectors, just like Bankotsu himself.
Bankotsu's haori was white with a navy blue spot on his left shoulder and the armor he wore over it was light blue of color with dark blue fern-shaped figures painted on it randomly. The sash that was wound around his middle was deep red. And he, too, had a marking on his forehead, but his resembled a cross-shaped scar and it was dark blue.

While he had his favorite halberd, which he named Banryuu, Renkotsu carried a brown gourd at his waist. Even today, Bankotsu was still not able to figure out how his comrade managed to turn the liquid content of his gourd into pure flames when coming out of his mouth.

But his train of thoughts crashed when Renkotsu gave a totally unexpected answer.

"I'm in."

Bankotsu widened his eyes. He was indeed very surprised with Renkotsu's reply but he also realized that it's up to him now to decide whether they should accept this assignment or not.

There were in fact countless reasons to doubt credibility of the woman's story, but time was running out and money was needed in order to survive.

"All right, we accept your offer," he eventually decided.

"Sounds reasonable," the woman agreed. "When are you ready to leave?"

He thought for a while before answering. "Traveling to the Eastern Lands on foot will certainly not be easy since winter will be arriving soon...so we need to prepare ourselves properly," he explained. "First I'll have to check if the prepayment is enough to purchase the needed things and then we'll decide what to do next."

Kagura raised a brow as she took out a bag from her sleeve. "If it's not enough, why don't you just raid some nearby village or something? It'll be fast and easy, and you're all used to killing people, aren't you?" she suggested, handing over the money.

But Bankotsu immediately flashed her an irritated look. "Don't mock us, Kagura. No matter how cold-blooded we are when taking out our missions, we never kill people without a reason," he told her as he stood up and snatched the bag out of her hand. He didn't realize it before, but now that he is standing, the woman turned out to be slightly shorter than himself.

"Tsk, as if money is a good reason for killing people. So much for an atonement," she muttered.

Out of anger, Bankotsu jumped towards his halberd, which was still stuck into the tree, and pulled it out with his free hand. "We had already accepted a sinful existence the day we decided to be assassins," he snapped as he pointed the sharp weapon at the woman. "Even if you are the one who hired us, if you dare to ridicule our way of being assassins again, I will surely cripple you before having you lead us to your lord!"

When he received no response, he lowered his halberd and estimated the rough quantity by measuring its weight. After confirming that it contained enough money for their journey, he turned to the rest. "Let's hit the hay guys! By sunrise, I want all of us ready to move out!"

"Understood!" they acknowledged all together.

-.-

Within a couple of days, they managed to make all needed procurements. By the end of autumn, they headed out for the Eastern Lands.

During their journey, they had come across some thieves and bandits who wanted to rob them of their valuables. Fortunately, they formed no threat for the Shichinintai as well as Kagura; hence, no huge delays had taken place. But because of these battles, Bankotsu found out that Kagura was actually an element-user, one who used a fan to control the winds.

After entering the foreign territory, he saw large differences between the landscapes of the North and those of the East. While they could still find some green and blue among the rocky areas in the North, the East consisted of masses of mountains and stark surfaces. Kagura told them that the Eastern Lands had always been like this. The only water here was the small creek that flowed between the Eastern and Western Lands and the only forest was the one that accompanied that creek.

'I surely hope they aren't hiring us to aid them in cultivating these lands...' he thought to himself while they ascended a muddy hill, but he shook his head. 'Nah...if they really wanted to do that, they would be hiring farmers instead of assassins.' Which suddenly reminded him of the thought of becoming a farmer and leading a simple existence, with the one he would protect with his life. It was something that crossed his mind once; an ambition he abandoned long ago.

-.-

When they arrived at their destination, the winter was already taking its first steps aside to make way for the next season.

If there were any trees or plants, they would unmistakably be budding right now. So the leader thought upon passing the barren garden of the fortress.

After entering the building at the end of the garden, the wind-user led them through a dark and damp corridor until they reached a pair of sliding doors. "Naraku, I have returned again," she said and pushed them open with both hands.

"Hmp, took you long enough Kagura..." a low voice responded.

Never have Bankotsu felt such an intimidating atmosphere. 'Maybe it's because of the lacking of light...' he reasoned inwardly as he and his companions walked further into the room. Regardless of the time of the day, the room looked as though it was already evening.

The one who spoke was sitting on the floor at the back of the large room. His features, which were only slightly visible because of two dim light sources to his left and right, became clearer with each step Bankotsu took.

He stopped the moment he had the clearest view of the person known as the lord of the Eastern Lands.

Long, curly black hair framed a subtle face that possessed a rather eerie calmness. And a pair of crimson eyes was looking at him with a penetrating gaze. "So you're the leader of the famous Shichinintai."

"Yes, my name is Bankotsu," Bankotsu replied.

The lord had the looks of a human, but after seeing the rest of his body, Bankotsu knew he wasn't one. His arms and torso were covered with some strange kind of armor, which was spiked and gray. Through the open and sleeveless dark-purple vest the lord was wearing, Bankotsu swore he saw something like an eye in his armor somewhere near the area of his stomach. And below, he was wearing a black hakama, of which the ends were hidden behind a pair of boots.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw something moving behind the youkai. 'Are those...tentacles...?' he wondered. But his thoughts were soon cut off by his low voice.

"You have done well Kagura, I will give you back your heart for your hard work," he said as he made a ball of light appear above his hand and sent it flying to the wind-user.

'Her heart?' Bankotsu thought puzzled as he watched the ball disappear inside the body of the woman who stood beside him.

"I'm finally free..." he heard her whisper to herself.

Giving him no time to elaborate on this, the man named Naraku turned to look at him again. "I had expected you to arrive earlier, did you encounter problems on the way?" he asked.

"The cold winter of the North forced us to make preparations before departing. And we did come across enemies during the journey," Bankotsu explained.

"I see...and I thought my underling was slacking off from her duty." Without warning, the lord suddenly raised one of his hands and shot out a black ray in their direction.

Thinking that it was meant for him, Bankotsu quickly lifted his halberd from his shoulder and moved it in front of him protectively. But the black mass took a turn at the last moment and hit Kagura instead, which took her completely by surprise.

He watched how it went through her body and hit the wall behind them with a crash, creating a small cloud of dust.

"Naraku...you..." the wind-user groaned as she fell backwards. Right before she hit the floor, Renkotsu dashed forward and caught her.

'H-he killed one of his subordinates...just like that...' Bankotsu thought, his wide eyes fixed on her lifeless body.

"Don't be surprised Shichinintai. I'm sure you would have done the same if you had a useless minion like her." There was not a single drip of mercy in Naraku's voice as he said that.

"You see...for a decade, I had to witness how each assassin she hired failed to accomplish the mission I gave them. There were, however, some of them who got very close, but ultimately they couldn't even kill the one I wanted dead," he explained as he stood up. "So tell me...is there a need to keep such a minion, who brought me nothing but disgrace?"

'He made her obey him by keeping her heart...and finished her off when he didn't need her anymore...' Bankotsu concluded inwardly. He couldn't deny that he and his group had done unforgivable things before but what this man did was worse.

"I assume Kagura hasn't told you about your mission yet, has she?" the youkai changed the topic. "Actually, the task I'm about to give you concerns the Western Lands."

Bankotsu's brows furrowed together. "I thought there was a barrier protecting the Western Lands," he reasoned.

"That's true, but that barrier has a weakness. And there is a way to destroy it. But you probably didn't know that, did you?"

The smirk on the lord's face made him even more despicable but Bankotsu decided to bear the insults until he had heard the whole story.

The barrier had existed even before he had learned how to wield a weapon. His parents, who were still alive back then, told him so many times not to go near it, saying that everybody who tried to cross the border would die. He could clearly remember what he saw on the day he and some friends went to the forest where the borders of the three lands met. Very large troops of the East, consisting of huge youkai, were marching towards the Western Lands. That time, he thought that the ruler of the West would definitely lose the war. But he was shocked when the entire army was reduced to ashes as soon as they crossed a particular creek.

And now, hearing that the barrier actually had a weakness and that it could be destroyed made him a little bit confused. However, he remained composed and calm on the outside, while waiting for Naraku to continue.

"The truth is, that barrier can only prevent youkai from entering, but it renders the Western Lands vulnerable for humans," the crimson-eyed man explained. "But I would be underestimating the human armies of the West if I wanted to win the war using human soldiers. The failed attempts of the assassins I sent so far is a clear demonstration of that. That's why I'm looking for the best of the best."

He cleared his throat before continuing. "The reason why I have been sending all those assassins is because I wanted to take out the person who created that barrier."

"You mean...the princess of the Western Lands?" Bankotsu confirmed.

"Yes, if she dies, the barrier will cease to exist as well."

This information really surprised Bankotsu, though he had to admit that it sounded quite logical. Somehow, a strange kind of excitement began to fill his heart as he imagined how famous they would become if they succeeded in killing the princess and destroying the powerful barrier. Not to mention that it is something that could not be accomplished by preceding assassins.

His thoughts were cut off when Naraku made a sudden remark. "I sense jyaki coming from your group."

Bankotsu turned to the lord and nodded. "Yeah, Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu are both youkai," he said as he gestured for his two companions to step forward and line up in front of the lord.

"You do realize that they cannot accompany you once you enter the Western Lands, don't you?"

He nodded again. "I know, but I decided to put both of them near the borders and have them back us up in case we're in a disadvantageous situation."

"You know...I'm getting really tired of all of this...I really don't want to see failure this time..." the lord suddenly confessed.

"Don't worry, we won't disappoint you! After all, we are the famous Shichinintai!" said Kyoukotsu.

"I believe your words Shichinintai...but still...I need some assurance..."

Bankotsu felt that something wasn't right about the way he said that and quickly ran to his two youkai comrades. "You two! Step back!" he ordered.

But it was already too late as an invisible force threw him backwards to the wooden floor.

"Bankotsu!" the others cried and ran to his side. "Are you okay?" Jakotsu asked as he helped him up.

"Y-yeah," he replied with a groan. Back on his feet, he quickly turned to Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu, only to find them trapped inside a black barrier. He flashed a threatening glare at Naraku and growled. "What the hell are you doing!"

"Kukuku," Naraku laughed. "Since they cannot help you with your mission, I decided to keep them here. They'll be my little assurance."

Bankotsu scowled. "What do you intend to do with them?"

"Well that depends on your actions, great leader."

"What do you mean?"

"It means that you are only allowed to succeed," the youkai smirked. "If you fail, both your companions won't live to see another day."

"And if we succeed?" one of the Shichinintai asked.

"I will return them to you alive and well. And of course, you will be grandly rewarded for your efforts," he replied.

"What if I refuse?" Bankotsu snarled.

His reply was a chuckle that couldn't sound more malevolent. And almost instantly, Bankotsu began to wonder if they shouldn't have agreed to come in the first place.

"I'm afraid you don't have that option, Bankotsu," the lord replied with a grin. "If you refuse, your two buddies here will die in an instance."

The leader let out a sigh, realizing the trouble they had put themselves in. "Is there anything we should know about before starting the mission?" he gave in.

"The compassion of you humans never cease to amaze me," the lord laughed. "Don't worry, you will not be restricted by time nor will I send anyone to keep an eye on you. But heed my warning; if I hear anything about you failing the assassination, I will immediately vent my anger on the two demons here. You do understand what that means, don't you?"

He nodded in defeat and turned to his trapped fellow members. "Kyoukotsu, Ginkotsu...I will definitely come back for you, I swear!"

"Don't let us be a burden to you leader," said the green-haired demon. "Kyoukotsu's right, we believe in you Bankotsu; we know you wouldn't let us down," the red-haired one agreed.

Naraku cleared his throat to get their attention. "I will have my servants prepare some rooms for you to stay the night. Before you leave tomorrow morning, be sure to come to me first. I will give you an amount of money that you'll need for the long journey." After he said that, he summoned a male servant and ordered him to lead them to their quarters.

Before leaving the chamber, Bankotsu looked at the two behind the black prison for the last time. The truth is, he couldn't guarantee them that they would succeed, but he will do his best. And if something unfortunate should happen, he prayed he would be faster than the rumors to save them.

-.- one month later -.-

"Bankotsu?" It was Jakotsu who spoke.

"Hm?" he responded without looking up from his journal.

"Shouldn't we make haste? You never know what Naraku might do to Kyoukotsu and Ginkotsu if we don't hurry up and accomplish our mission."

Bankotsu looked up from the papers to his friend. "I know what you're thinking, but Naraku still wants us to take out the mission, that's why I'm pretty sure that he won't try anything stupid. Besides, he won't gain anything if he killed the hostages right away."

"I guess you're right..." Jakotsu responded.

Just when Bankotsu was about drop his gaze to his writing again, he suddenly remembered something important and turned to the rest. "Hey guys, I think it would be a good idea to think about a gathering point in case we got separated," he told them as he put away his journal. "Any suggestions?"

"Sounds good, but the problem is that we don't know this area very well," Renkotsu reasoned while building a structure for the campfire.

"If we can't think of an appropriate location, why not take this spot as our gathering point?" Mukotsu suggested.

The four of them were sitting inside a cave high up in the mountains that were located near the forest between the East and West. It had already been a month since they left the fortress, and this afternoon, they had finally found this abandoned cave that offered them enough protection to take a break. Before crossing the border, they figured it would be wiser to gather more information about the enemies' territory first. Since they were only given one chance, they had to make sure that their mission was flawless.

"Then it's decided," Bankotsu confirmed. "When Suikotsu returns from his patrol, we'll tell him about it."

"Come to think of it, Suikotsu's already been away for more than an hour," Jakotsu recalled. "You think something's happened?"

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing serious," he reassured him. 'Suikotsu's strong...he should be okay on his own if something did happen...' he told himself.

Suddenly, he caught a hissing sound coming from the cave entrance.

- HISS...HISSSSS -

Everybody else jumped up after hearing the same noise and grabbed their weapons.

"Nice sense of alertness Shichinintai...no wonder you managed to accomplish every mission without serious injuries..."

"Who's there!" Bankotsu demanded with his halberd in his hand.

A shadow of a snake appeared in the dark opening. "I sure hope you haven't forgotten about us," it hissed.

Shortly after that, the number of shadows increased exponentially until the entire exit was overshadowed. "You've got a lot of nerve killing our leader, now it's time for revenge!"

'The tribe of the snakes...!' Bankotsu realized, recalling their last mission. 'If Kyoukotsu or Ginkotsu was here, we would have noticed their presence long before they had the chance to ambush us...!'

"There's no escape! Tonight, you all will die!"

With that, the swarm of snakes rushed into the cave

'We have no chance of survival if we all stay on this side!' he concluded and turned to Renkotsu. "Renkotsu! Now!" he cried.

Understanding what he meant, Renkotsu quickly took a sip from his gourd and sent a breath of fire towards the incoming reptiles.

Without another second to hesitate, Bankotsu dashed towards the cave entrance before the temporary path closed again.

On his way out, he slashed at the snakes, not giving them the chance to surround him completely. And to his relief, he finally reached the open air.

But when he turned around, he realized a swarm of snakes was still rushing into the cave, where the rest of his comrades were. "Cursed snakes!" he roared furiously, swinging his halberd to stop them.

"You fell for it, leader of the Shichinintai..."

Bankotsu turned to the hissing voice, but as soon as he did so, a shot of liquid hit him right in the eyes, totally surprising him.

In a split second, a tremendous pain began to burn away his vision.

"AAARRRRRCCK!" he cried out loud.

But he refused to give up. While he bit back the pain, he rushed towards the direction where he thought the cave was and raised his Banryuu single-handedly in the air. Much to his shock, a sudden paralysis struck his body and prevented him from swinging it downwards.

"What's the matter leader of the Shichinintai? Having a hard time to move?"

Bankotsu knew that the snakes were responsible for the paralysis as they were beginning to tighten their bodies around him using their strong muscles. 'Chikusho...I c-can't breath...' he cursed in himself.

As he struggled to draw oxygen, the added weight of the reptiles made him lose balance and topple to the side.

With all his might, Bankotsu managed to regain his balance again when something unexpectedly gave him a push towards an unknown direction. The next thing he knew, he was experiencing a fall that seemed like an eternity.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Just to clarify some things:

Kagome created the barrier when she was about 6 years old. And three years later during the spring season, Kagome (9) had to leave the fortress. At the same time, Naraku ordered Kagura to bring him those who can take out the princess of the Western Lands. And like he said in this chapter, he had been sending (human) assassins to assassinate Kagome for almost a decade, not knowing that she had already left to live somewhere else. But as mentioned, all these attempts failed because the assassins were too weak and inadequate. Because Naraku heard about the famous assassin group called Shichinintai in the North he decided to use Kagura for the very last time to bring them to him.

And in a nutshell: This chapter takes place in the 9th year since Kagome's departure. Kagura and the Shichinintai started their journey towards the East at the end of autumn and they arrived at Naraku's fortress at the end of winter.
Then the Shichinintai set out to their new destination and arrived near the border between the East and West almost a month later. While they settled down to think about what to do next, they were caught off guard by some old enemies of the North who wanted to avenge their boss (which was the target and victim of their previous mission).

Bankotsu is now about 23 years old, so the barrier was created when he was still 10. He formed the Shichinintai more than a year ago, when he was around 22. And I know that Suikotsu is suffering from a split-personality disorder in the original series, but I chose to use amnesia because I'm not planning to let his other personality play a role in this story.

Hope this clears up a bit about the events and time gaps :)! And I hope you liked this chapter! Please tell me with a review okay? Thanks!

Greets,

Kittymui

-.-.-

'Italic': thoughts
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.: time gap
-CAPSLOCKED WORDS: noises

-.-.-

Next chapter: Chapter VIII

-.-

We'll be switching the perspective back to Kagome again so be sure to look forward to the next chapter!

-.-

Vocabulary:

youkai: demon
chikusho: damn it
shichinintai: literally means 'seven-man-group'

-.-.-

REPLIES ON REVIEWS:

Wake-Robin: I'm glad you think that way :). Hope you liked this chapter too!

whitewolfmoro11: Thank you!

Skitzoflame: Very good guess :)!

x0xprincess-sakurax0x: I would never forget updating don't worry!

anata no egao: Thanks! I will!

Kokoro Mizu no Kaze: Was this soon enough?

sakurakitsune14: Hahaha, luckily I didn't bet my life on it or else I wouldn't be replying your review right now :)!

Angel of Darkness and Death: It really sucks to be suspended, but I'm glad you had a nice birthday despite of that! Thanks for reviewing!

azn-sakura17: Hahaha it's okay :). A little bit late but still, I wish you a very happy (belated) birthday!

Sirayme: I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hope you enjoyed this one as well!

Duzzie: Thanks for reviewing! And nope, Kagome won't be seeing Inuyasha grow up, sadly enough. Hope you liked this one too!

Posted: 8 February 2005
Last Edited: 8 February 2005
Spelling check: YES

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters of it. And I do not own whatever elements of this story that seem familiar and had already been used by other creative individuals before. But... I do own the idea of mixing all of these elements together into a new story!