A TALE FROM THE PAST
by Kittymui
CHAPTER XI
"Hijin Kessou!"
Shortly after the cry, a certain tree in the forest experienced a tremor, forcing some birds to retreat from their resting spots into the clear sky. After quietness returned, the airborne creatures settled themselves on a branch nearby and looked down at the cause of the disturbance. From their kin they had already heard about two silver-haired dog demons, who had been harassing the peaceful forest for the past couple of days. And they there were, standing next to each other, not very far from the base of the tree. Both of them were looking at the five parallel gashes that had sliced the hard brown bark.
"How was that one?" the younger one asked with a grin. He retracted his clawed hand and wiped off the remaining blood on his long red sleeve.
"Weak," stated the person beside him plainly.
His brother's criticism sent knives through his sensitive dog-ears and made the grin on his face turn into a scowl. "W-what? But I gave it my best shot!" he argued disbelievingly.
The tall dog demon gave him a lopsided look. "It was weak," he repeated coldly.
"I know that! Geez, you don't have to repeat that Sesshoumaru!" he snapped, but slightly recoiled when his brother turned to him fully with an extremely annoyed look on his face.
"No you don't understand," he said with a low voice. "It seems that your arrogance had risen to your head, as you are not addressing your older brother in a proper manner."
"I've had enough of this!" he pouted. "You've been telling me what to do ever since I won!"
Sesshoumaru slightly furrowed his thin brows. "Hmp, maybe I shouldn't have taught you. You're a disgrace to my claw attack."
This made Inuyasha's blood boil in anger. "Oh yeah? You're all talk and no actions. Why don't you demonstrate your so-called powerful attack then!" he spat with provocation.
"I find no need in doing so," was the demon's reply.
Inuyasha crossed his arms. "Heh! You just don't want to admit that I've actually mastered it in such a short time!" he concluded flat-out. "Let's see...if you do it, I will start properly addressing you from now on."
Sesshoumaru widened his eyes. "Insolence!"
Of course, he knew he was being more than rude and disrespectful, but if he could make him show the claw attack's true power, it was worth it. It took him two years to realize that he had mastered previous claw attack since the dog demon granted him no more than a 'hmp' as a compliment. This time, he wouldn't allow it to happen anymore. Without a clear demonstration, there was no way he could master this one.
He quickly took a step backwards when the dog demon suddenly raised his clawed hand. But he realized it wasn't meant to teach him some manners when he rolled up the long white sleeve and dug his sharp nails into his bare skin.
Without showing any emotions on his face, Sesshoumaru turned to the previous tree and raised his bloody claw. "Hijin Kessou!" he spoke with a loud and clear voice and slashed in the air.
Inuyasha watched in awe how several huge red blades were sent towards the thick trunk and raised an arm to shield his eyes from the dense dust cloud that followed the loud blast.
BWWAAAAMM
When he lowered his arm, he couldn't believe what he saw. The entire tree was ripped apart, leaving only a small part of its root in the earth.
He turned to look at Sesshoumaru, only to find him casually lowering his arm to his side. Without a word, the silver-haired demon turned to leave.
The hanyou eyed the increasing distance between them. 'Oh well...a promise is a promise...' he reminded himself and followed. "Aniue!" he called, which made the dog demon halt his step, giving him a chance to run to his front.
"What is it?" Sesshoumaru's face showed no emotions as he spoke, but Inuyasha swore he saw something different in his gold-amber eyes. "If I master it...will you persuade father and mother to summon back aneue?"
A flash of hurt in his brother's eyes didn't go unnoticed but that didn't hold him back. "I mean...you want me to master it, don't you? You promised to teach me Hijin Kessou because you wanted to motivate me. You knew I couldn't possibly forget about aneue, so you set up the harsh condition, forcing me to do my best, am I right? And while you were teaching me, you have become stronger yourself as well, haven't you?"
"It was for the sake of our territory," Sesshoumaru responded.
"But it wasn't the only reason, was it?" he questioned, noticing the wavering in his voice. "You chose to become stronger so you can guarantee aneue's safety, so she could return, right?"
His countless assumptions were answered with an uninterested grunt. "You're annoying me."
Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "Aneue must be very disappointed if she knew you had rebuild your stupid wall of pride that she had tried so hard to break down." His comment definitely made something snap as he saw the slight twitch of the pointy ears, but he was dumbfounded when Sesshoumaru began to walk away. Out of anger, he pulled at his fire rat's robe, revealing his bare chest and dug his sharp nails into it until he drew blood. 'You will admit it!' he thought determinedly. "HIJIN KESSOU!"he cried and sent large red blades flying randomly towards the trees in front of the dog demon.
GRRRRRRRROOOOMMM
Large pieces of lumber and branches crumbled onto the grass with heavy thumps and Inuyasha realized with widened eyes that he had torn a row of trees from their roots. 'I..I-I did it...' he gasped inwardly. Suddenly, he felt very weak in his legs and fell down to his knees on the floor. "Urg..." he groaned, as if his strength was being sucked out of his small body.
The dust settled down after a short while and revealed the graceful backside of Sesshoumaru, who had stopped walking.
"Feh! Walk away if you want!" he scoffed between heavy pants. But to his surprise, the dog demon started walking his direction instead of away.
He stopped before him and finally broke the silence between them. "Do you really want to see your sister?" he asked as he reached out a clawed hand.
"Don't you?" he returned the question and took his hand to stand up.
The two brothers fell silent again, as if they were trying to find a meaning behind the rustling of the leaves. "Tomorrow," Sesshoumaru finally spoke. "Tomorrow, I'll speak to father and mother."
"I'll go with you!" the hanyou decided.
"Do as you wish," he said coolly and turned to leave.
Inuyasha adjusted his pace until they were walking side by side. "But...what if they refuse?"
"Then give up."
The hanyou scowled and fastened his steps to block his brother's way. "I'm not going to give up!" he snapped.
The dog demon suddenly put up an amused smirk.
"What's so funny?" he asked in puzzlement.
"You remind me of her," Sesshoumaru replied with a softened expression.
"Aneue?"
He nodded. "She, too, never gave up that easily," he told him and softly patted his head between his canine ears. "You have grown, Inuyasha."
Inuyasha smirked. "Of course! I'll be turning 10 soon!"
Both of them began to walk again. "Ne...aniue?"
"What is it?"
"Do you think aneue still remembers my birthday?" he asked.
"She couldn't possibly have forgotten," Sesshoumaru reassured him.
"...the day she left."
.-.-.-.-.
'Time really flows like a river...' she thought to herself as she moved a piece of charcoal over the paper surface of her journal. 'I'm so sorry for not writing to you for such a long while...so much have happened since the last entry...'
Yes, a lot of happened. First, she found a young man in the creek, who was having a near-dead experience. Though he had now completely recovered from the severe wounds and gashes, there was nothing they could do about his eyes. Fortunately, Sango had some knowledge about poisons and made an antidote for snake venom, which protected the man's eyes from further danger, so there's a chance that he might be able to see again someday. Not long after he woke up, she found out that this man named Bankotsu was actually an assassin. She knew Sango wouldn't let him stay any longer if she heard about his profession, that's why she decided to keep it to herself. She didn't deny that it could be dangerous to keep him here, but she couldn't bear to send away a man who was barely able to defend himself, so she was determined to let him stay.
Kagome smiled to herself as she wrote. 'By the way, I haven't forgotten about your birthday. If only I could celebrate it together with you...but I guess it can't be helped, can it? How is Sesshoumaru onii-sama doing? You've probably already noticed his proud character, haven't you? He's probably trying very hard to forget about me, isn't he?' She exhaled a small sigh before continuing. 'To be honest with you, I don't want to be forgotten, but I don't blame him if he chooses to. Memories are the roots of sadness and sorrow, so being able to forget is a good thing...'
"What are you doing?"
Kagome stopped writing and turned to look over her shoulder. "Oh, you're already awake. Have you slept well?"
"Yeah," he yawned as he sat up.
"Wait, I'll bring you something to wash your face with," she said and quickly stood up after she put down her writing tools.
"What were you writing?" he asked when she returned to his side with a bucket of water and a clean towel.
Kagome was surprised and cast a glance at the pile of papers, bound together like a book, which she had put down on the low table. "Eh? How did you know? "
"The scent of charcoal isn't really that difficult to recognize and it didn't sound like you were drawing," he explained with a small smile.
"I was writing my journal," she told him, while removing the cloth around his head.
"Really?" he said surprised. "I like to keep journals too."
"You do? That's a coincidence," Kagome smiled and examined his lowered eyelids while placing the wet towel in his hand. "Your eyes look a lot better today! I think it's safe for you to open them now."
Bankotsu cleaned his face and handed back the towel. "I'll try," he replied and slowly lifted his eyelids.
Kagome's jaw dropped a little as she looked at his face. They were a bit hazy, but unmistakably blue-gray of color. She didn't notice it before, but now that he had fully opened his eyes, he was actually quite good-looking. With his long black hair and his forehead's cross-shaped mark accompanying his depthless eyes, she had to admit that he could almost match up with Sesshoumaru's beauty. While the dog demon possessed a kind of gracefulness that no other demon or human being could outmatch, this young man possessed an unique kind of handsomeness mixed with arrogance and gentleness.
"Kagome?"
His voice made her snap out of it. "I-I'm sorry...it's your eyes..." she stammered, realizing that she had been staring at them for the past couple of minutes.
"What? Is something wrong with them?" he asked with a slight panic in his voice.
"No no...they're fine!" Kagome reassured him. "It's just that they're really nice...I've never seen eyes with such color before..."
"T-thank you," he blushed slightly. "I recall they were blue-gray if I'm not mistaking."
"They are," she told him. And within seconds she found herself staring again. His white traditional outfit was really making his eyes stand out.
.-.
Bankotsu could practically feel her eyes on him and dropped his gaze out of embarrassment. "S-so...do you like keeping journals?"
"You may find it strange, but I'm keeping this journal in the hope that someone will read it someday," she said. "So it's not really about liking it or not."
If it was someone else, it might have been strange to hear that a journal was kept for someone else to read, but to Bankotsu, it wasn't something unusual. "To be honest with you, I keep my journals for that reason too."
"You do?" She sounded surprised.
"As an assassin, I'm wary of the dangers that lurk in the missions we accept," he explained. "That's why I write things down, so people would know about our accomplishments even when we're sent to the lowest level of the underworld."
"That's pretty sad..." said Kagome.
"Well, you can look at it from a brighter side," he smiled. "When I have finally grown tired of killing people. I'll be able to read back what I've done in the past..."
'...and regret about it for the remaining years of my life...' he added in his mind. "Hmm...never mind," he broke off and turned to her. "How about you? I presume you aren't writing your journal for the rest of the world, are you?"
There was a hush before a reply was given. "You remember when I told you that my parents were killed and that my sister and I fled to this place?"
He nodded.
"The truth is, I also had a little brother when we left our home. But we abandoned him in front of a large mansion we came across on our way." Kagome took a deep breath. "I know it was cruel of us, but there was no way we could raise him by ourselves."
"He probably doesn't even remember that he had any siblings, let alone knowing who I am," she admitted. "I know the chance is very small, but even so, I want to believe that he would find this journal someday and that he would remember this sister of his after reading it. That's why I've kept a journal ever since I was able to write. I want him to know what kind of life I led and all the things I had experienced in the time that we were apart."
"Maybe my sister was able to cast aside her personal feelings and forget about our little brother, but I can't," she finished.
Bankotsu suddenly felt a huge lump stuck in his throat. Something inside him told him that he was making her remember something awful and he opened his mouth to apologize.
"Don't feel sorry for asking," she cut him off. "It's not like I'm planning to forget."
"You're not? But they're bad memories, right?" he said surprised.
"No matter how sad and painful, they're too precious for me to abandon," she explained. "These memories are probably going to be the only ones of my parents and little brother, that's why I will hold on to them forever."
"That's a very beautiful way of thinking," he complimented her with a warm smile. 'She's so strong...to be able to think that way...' he thought to himself.
"Thank you."
Just when he felt another awkward silence coming up, Kagome got up to her feet. "You must be hungry, right? I'm going to prepare something to eat."
.-.-.
"You sure you don't need any help?"
Kagome picked up the empty platters and walked towards the sink. "Thanks, but I can handle it myself," she politely declined. She scooped large portions of water into the sink and began to wash the dishes.
As she scrubbed the dirty spots, she suddenly caught a content sigh coming from behind her. "I hope the meal was agreeable," she said through the sound of splashing waters.
"It's more than agreeable! I've never had something this good before," he laughed.
"I'm happy to hear that," she smiled.
After she finished drying, she turned around, only to realize that Bankotsu had settled down near his huge halberd, of which the edges were wrapped in thick pieces of cloths. He was running his hand over the fabric with his eyes looking straight ahead. "Your older sister...Sango right?"
"Yeah, what about her?" she responded as she sat down next to him with her legs folded beneath her.
"What does she do?" he asked curiously. "I mean...she's hardly by your side during the day."
"That's because she's the one earning our living," she explained. "She exterminates demons for villages and towns for money."
"Hmm...your words are telling me that she's pretty strong."
"She is," she agreed. "She's been doing that for as long as I can remember."
"And you? You must be quite strong yourself, having a youkai taijiya as an older sister."
Kagome fell silent for a moment. "I'm not that strong compared to my sister. Sango's much older and wiser than me and she's more experienced with everything than me," she confessed. "I am always the one needing protection."
"You don't have to degrade yourself like that," he comforted her. "I'm sure you have your own strengths as well."
"I guess..." she mumbled softly. 'Strengths...huh?' she thought as she remembered how people used to address her besides 'the princess of the Western Lands'...
...the pillar of peace.
It was an honorable title, there was no way she could deny that, but to keep it she had sacrificed a lot. It took away her family and happiness and gave her nothing but fear in return, fear for her life, because she was the creator as well as the destroyer of the barrier. With her strength, she had brought peace to these lands, but in return, she was bestowed with a heavy burden and a lifelong irony. There were people who wanted her to live, and there were those who wanted her dead. She was simultaneously being loved and hated. She didn't want it but she wouldn't want another one to be burdened with it.
.-.
'Is she...' Bankotsu wondered until a soft tap caught his ears. 'Great! Nice job Bankotsu...first you kept making her remember her past and now you made her cry...' he mentally smacked himself.
He hated to see women cry, not that he could see her right now. Instinctively, he lifted his hand and searched for her face. "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to make you cry..." he said as he found her cheek and started wiping the tears with the ends of his white sleeve.
"And I thought my tears had dried long ago..." she chuckled awkwardly. "I must look horrible right now..."
"You don't have to worry about that since I can't see your face right now," he reasoned as he lowered his arm.
"I'm...sorry..."
"Hey, we've been through that already remember? You don't have to feel guilty about it," he reminded her. "Besides, the poison won't be able to destroy my vision permanently thanks to your sister's medicine, so it's only temporary that I have to rely on my other senses."
"I guess you're right..." she gave in.
"Right, now I'm getting curious about your looks," Bankotsu commented. "Do you think you can describe how you look like?"
"Well, there's nothing special about me. I have a pair of eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth. What else do you want to know?" she replied dully.
Bankotsu furrowed his brows, as it was definitely not the answer he wanted to hear. "Very funny," he said with a hint of sarcasm.
She sighed in defeat. "All right...I have chestnut-colored eyes and long black hair, which is always hanging loosely behind my back since I don't like to tie it up. I'm slightly shorter than you and I'm usually dressed in traditional clothes when I don't have to go outside. And if I do go outside, I wear a dark-blue robe on top. Is that a qualified answer?"
"Any wrinkles?" he joked.
"What the...! I'm only nineteen!" she exclaimed.
"Aha! So you're nineteen!" Bankotsu grinned. "Sorry about that, it's just that women tend to hide their real age in front of men so I had to think of something to make you speak truth."
Kagome let out a small grunt. "And how old might you be?"
"I'll be turning twenty-four this winter," he replied.
"Twenty-four!" she gasped confounded. "I thought you were younger!"
"Hahaha, I guess you're not good at judging people's ages by their looks," he laughed aloud. "Too bad I can't see your face right now. I bet I could have guessed your age in one try!"
.-.
Kagome smiled. She didn't understood how he was able to cheer her up like that, but it felt good nevertheless.
"Good, you're smiling again," he said relieved.
"Huh? How did you know that!" she cried with wide eyes and waved her hand before his eyes.
She was shocked when he suddenly grasped her hand with excellent accuracy.
"I'm not lying," he told her. "I really can't see."
Kagome tried to shake off his grasp. "You're not really convincing at the moment, did you know that?"
"How can I possibly miss your hand when you're creating so much draft by waving," he argued. "And I figured out your change of mood from the tone of your voice and the pace of your breathing. Do you believe me now?"
Instead of answering his question, Kagome gazed down at his warm hand, which was tightly wrapped around hers. She parted her lips to reply but found herself unable to produce audible words. There was just too much distraction.
.-.
'Her hand...its cold...' Bankotsu noticed the large difference between their body temperatures and slowly let go of Kagome's hand. "Are you cold?" he asked worriedly. "If so, you should wear a bit more clothes."
"Y-yeah...I'll do that," she replied and got to her feet.
"By the way, if your sister only returns at dinner time, doesn't that leave you unprotected in the meantime?" he asked, filling up the silence as Kagome searched for an appropriate attire.
That moment, the fire cat, which had been sleeping in the corner of the room, squealed to proclaim her existence. She ran towards Kagome's side, who had put on a simple brown mantle that reached her knees.
"Remember Kirara? When Sango's away, she's responsible for my safety," Kagome said as she knelt down and stroked her milky fur. She picked up the small demon and knelt down next to Bankotsu. "Here," she placed her on his lap. "This is Kirara. Kirara, meet Bankotsu."
She had to suppress a giggle when Bankotsu slightly flinched of the sudden weight placed on his lap.
"This tiny creature was able to drag Banryuu out of the creek?" he cried dumbfounded, which instantly earned a displeased growl from the fire cat.
Kagome raised a brow at the unfamiliar name. "Banryuu?"
"That's the name of my halberd," Bankotsu clarified while gently patting Kirara's head as a gesture of apology. "But how is she capable of protecting you? She's so small!"
Kagome laughed. How he reacted now reminded her of how her own reaction when Sango first told her about Kirara's abilities. "Don't be fooled by her size at the moment. When she transforms, she'll even be able to fly up to the sky with both you and me on her back."
"That's pretty handy," he said as he continued to pat the fire cat.
In the quietness that followed, Kagome had her eyes fixed on Bankotsu's other hand, which was resting on his halberd.
"Bankotsu?"
"Hm?"
"Do you...intend to continue being an assassin after you've recovered?"
The question made Bankotsu speechless and reminded him of his two companions, who were still being held hostage at Naraku's lair. He painfully realized that he didn't really have a choice and averted his gaze. "Yes," he finally replied.
"I see." Kagome shook off the disappointment that began to fill her heart. 'It's not like he'll quit being a killer just because of me. I don't even have the right to stop him, and moreover...why should I care? I'm not even his wife or whatsoever.' She immediately interrupted her mental monologue before it unlocked more of those ridiculous ranting. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted back to Bankotsu. 'Does he even have one...?' she wondered, and before she knew it, her voice was already giving away her thoughts. "Your wife must be very lonely," she mumbled, almost instantly realizing what she just said. 'Baka! Baka! Baka!' she smacked herself repeatedly in her mind as blood rushed up to her cheeks.
She felt even more uncomfortable when Bankotsu responded with an amused laughter. "I'm not married Kagome," he told her.
Kagome widened her eyes in surprise. "You serious? I mean...don't you feel lonely sometimes? Or are you planning never to bind yourself to someone because you're an assassin?" she asked with an unbroken sentence. 'Why am I asking all this? It's really none of my business.' she mentally scolded herself. 'Although it would be a shame if someone like him decides to stay unmarried for the rest of his life...'
"You're quite nosy, did you know that?" Bankotsu smiled. "But the fact that I'm not married right now, doesn't mean I'm never going to get married."
Kagome whined inwardly, realizing that she could have spared herself a lot of embarrassment, had she given him more time to explain.
"Even a merciless assassin like me wants to settle down someday with a very special woman whom I shall love with all my heart," he continued. "I just haven't found her yet."
Kagome blushed. It was the first time she heard a man saying that, not to mention that it sounded so sincere and promising.
"And you?" he suddenly asked, cutting off her thoughts. "You don't intend to stay here and live with your sister for the rest of your life, do you?"
"Of course not," she said. "But like you said, I haven't found that special someone either."
Kagome had deliberately told him a lie to shorten a long story about how she wanted her future life to be. Truth is, she had no control over it at all. Before anything, she had to make sure she survived all the attempts aimed to take her life. And then she must find a way to return to the fortress safely before even thinking about marriage, since she would never marry without her brother or her parents' blessings.
Not wanting to give him another chance to ask any more of these questions, she quickly stood up. "I've really chatted long enough. If I don't start doing some housekeeping, I won't have enough time to prepare dinner before Sango's comes back."
"Don't let me be in your way," Bankotsu smiled and scratched Kirara below her chin. "I'll just amuse myself with this little fluff here."
The afternoon went by calmly. By dusk, Sango returned and the three of them had a fairly quiet dinner with the delicious broth Kagome made.
.-. that night -.-
"Get up..."
Bankotsu, who was sitting on the floor against one of the wall, slowly opened his eyes. Was someone talking to him?
"I know you're still awake, now get up," the same voice hissed.
He realized it was Sango's voice and silently pushed aside his blanket.
"I'll wait for you outside," the woman said impatiently and walked away from him.
'What's going on...?' Bankotsu thought puzzled and got to his feet. He caught a calm breathing coming from the other end of the room and figured out it was Kagome. 'She wants to speak to me alone huh?' he concluded inwardly. With one hand trailing alongside the wall, he carefully made his way towards the door opening and stepped out of the house.
As soon as he closed the door behind him, her voice called to him from a distance. "Over here."
"What is it?" he asked as he finally stopped before her. A gentle breeze caressed his cheeks as it blew pass him, carrying the scent of blooming flowers with it.
The taijiya took her time before speaking her thoughts. "I just want you to know that you're only staying here because Kagome wants you to," she declared openly. "Had it not been for your vulnerable condition, I would have sent you away the day you woke up from your coma."
Bankotsu slightly scowled at her honest yet harsh words. "So...you called me out here just to say that?" he said with a clear irritation in his voice.
"I don't know how you got yourself injured like that, and honestly I don't really care," she continued coldly. "But what I do know is that you are putting our peaceful lives in danger by just staying here. You really shouldn't have appeared in the first place."
He nonchalantly pulled a strand of his long hair from his face and tossed it over his shoulder. "Isn't it a bit late to realize that?"
His remark obviously aggravated the taijiya as he heard her throw out small grunt. "I know what you are and what you do Bankotsu," she snarled. "Assassins are all the same to me, they're nothing but enemies and you...make no exception."
Bankotsu was slightly offended by how she boldly lumped him together with the low-class assassins, but he decided to let it slide. For someone whose parents were brutally murdered, it seemed natural for her to prejudge him like that.
"But since Kagome is so determined to let you stay, I'll just have to cope with it, don't I?" she added scornfully. "However, I suggest you stay inside the house as much as possible, since revealing yourself would only draw your enemies to this place."
After saying that, she started walking into the direction of the house, but paused in her steps when their shoulders formed a straight line. "Mark my words Bankotsu, if anything should happen to Kagome, I will kill you with my own bare hands."
While the sound of her footsteps drowned in the nocturnal noises, Bankotsu just stood there, submerging into a sea of thoughts.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey everyone! I was in a very good mood so this time, I decided post a nice long chapter for a change. Why? Because I got a 9.3 for the test I made last week (from a scale of 1 to 10)! Enjoy reading this new chapter!
Greets,
Kittymui
.-.-.
'Italic': thoughts
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-: time gap
-CAPSLOCKED WORDS-: noises
.-.-.
Next chapter: Chapter XII
.-.
What will Bankotsu do now? Will he leave in spite of his blindness? Or is he mature enough to suppress his anger and stay? Please look forward to the next chapter!
.-.
Vocabulary:
ne: in this context, this word used to draw someone's attention.
hanyou: half-demon
aneue: royal/honorable older sister (an old respectful way to address your older sister)
aniue: royal/honorable older brother (an old respectful way to address your older brother)
Hijin Kessou: Flying Claws of Blood, a claw attack used by Inuyasha. (Actually it wasn't clear in the series who had taught him this attack but I chose Sesshoumaru in this story.)
hanyou: half-demon
onii-sama: a very respectful way to refer to your older brother
youkai: demon
taijiya: exterminator
baka: stupid
.-.-.
REPLIES ON REVIEWS:
sessywuver: Thanks!
Angel of Darkness and Death: I'm happy to hear that :)! Thanks for reviewing!
eMeLyNoOoPeE: Yeah, it is indeed very sad, but even so, you would still be following this story to its end right? This whole story is mainly about this extraordinary tale from the past, so I really hope readers would enjoy reading this part :).
darkenedmoonlightflame: Hey don't worry about that. I won't abandon a story before finishing it. By the way, Bankotsu is still blind so he can't see how Kagome looks like, but he'll be able to see again :) someday when the time comes, hehehe.
toxiclollipop: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it!
xxprincess-sakuraxx: Sorry for the lateness of this update, but I made it longer than unusual so it should compensate each other right:)
ally-wolf-goddess: Thank you! I'll try to update as soon as possible!
Mizumei: Thanks! Like Kagome said a couple of chapters ago, the antidote she applied on his eyes doesn't help him restore his eyesight, it only prevents the poison from making him permanently blind. So Bankotsu won't be able to see for a while. Hope that wasn't too disappointing :).
Skitzoflame: Yup, he sure is :)
Skye: I'm doing my best! Thank you very much for telling me that, it's very encouraging :). As for your question, do you really want to know? It would spoil the suspence, wouldn't it?
Inukamisashi: Hahaha, that makes perfect sense! Yeah, the best parts are yet to come :)!
sakurakitsune14: Yup, I totally agree with you. That's why I'm wondering if I should make my next story of this pairing as well hehehe.
Fluffy'sbabe: I'm very sorry, I must have missed your review. Shame on me...but nevertheless, thanks for reviewing!
Wake-Robin: Thank you! I'm glad you liked that chapter!
Duzzie: Thank you for reviewing :). I can't wait for your reaction, when I finally make them reunite -grins-.
shadows-insanity: Oh I hope I'm not taking too long to update, but it is a long chappie so you'll forgive me right? -puppy eyes- I got the third movie from the internet, there are places where you can download them.
BelleDayNight: Nice long review :), thanks a lot! Hahaha, it sure is depressing, but I hope that won't prevent you from reading the tale from the past :). I enjoyed writing the part between Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha, so I'm definitely happy to hear that you liked reading it!
FanFic-Faerie-Rikku91: Haha, since the series showed nothing but dispute between the siblings, I decided to change that :). Thanks for reviewing!
sesshomaruobsessed: Thanks! I'm glad you're loving it! As for your question, I don't think anyone will be able to fall in love with someone he or she only read about in a book. Since Bankotsu doesn't have any memories of his past life, it will take some time to develop the same feelings again right? Actually, nobody of the present time knows about his or her past life, so Sesshoumaru is only cold because of his nature and because he worries about his sister in coma.
downcast aquarius: Don't worry about that, I don't expect readers to review every single story or chapter I wrote :). But you made me very happy by letting me know that you liked my previous stories and that you're following this one, thank you very much!
Posted: 18 March 2005
Last Edited: 18 March 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!