Kunoichi- female ninja
Tanto- a knife like sword that could be thrown or used to stab
Tessen- was a fan with an iron frame that was used to club people. Some, like Akiko's, have a sharp edge on the outside for cutting as well
Also, this chapter contains some pedophile references, so you are warned.
Chapter seven: Seduction, Torture, and Death
They had already slaughtered three more villages since Akiko first joined the Shichinintai. Akiko enjoyed killing more and more every time. It was in fact beginning to bother her. She noticed some of the things Jakotsu did. How sadistic he could actually be. And she noticed that Bankotsu was right; she was a lot like him. She was a lot like the entire Shichinintai. She enjoyed killing, it didn't bother her, and getting paid to do it made it even better.
Akiko had even started using her other weapons. She had to admit to herself that seeing someone getting their flesh ripped off, their eyes scratched out, stabbed to death and everything else she could do to them was quite exhilarating.
Bankotsu had been summoned to see Lord Fukitsu to kill off some of his enemies. When he got back he was smiling ear to ear. "It was such a good idea for me to get Akiko to join us!"
"Why's that?" asked Kyoukotsu, confused.
"Well, that lord wants to kill this one guy, but he wants something from inside his castle. According to Fukitsu, it is so valuable to them that he'll destroy it before he lets the him get it."
Still no one got his meaning. Mukotsu gave him a confused look. "So? What's that have to do with my lovely Akiko?"
"We need someone to- your lovely Akiko?" He laughed hard for moment, but then stopped when he saw the looks that she, Jakotsu, and Mukotsu were giving him. "Right. Well as I was saying, we need someone to sneak in, steal whatever it is, and then kill this guy. Daraku I believe Fukitsu said his name was. And even better, he likes pretty, young girls so it would be easy for her to get in."
"Huh?" Akiko suddenly said, not sure if it was from Bankotsu suggesting she had to sneak into a castle and get something from some lecher or that he referred to her as "pretty".
Jakotsu snorted. "And who do you mean by 'her', Aniki? Surly you can't mean-" he looked over at Akiko with a foul look, "that."
Renkotsu took Akiko's face in his hands and studied her. "I suppose it would work. I think she's pretty enough."
Ginkotsu, Suikotsu, and Kyoukotsu all agreed. Mukotsu laughed. "Of course my dear Akiko can seduce this Daraku."
"Ahem," Akiko interrupted. "I don't know if I will be able to do this. I'm not really the 'seducing' type."
"You're a kunoichi. I thought you people were supposed to trick and deceive people," Jakotsu scoffed. "Some ninja you are."
She gave Jakotsu the filthiest look she could and he actually shut up. "Bankotsu, do I really have to?"
"Yep. But don't worry about it. It's not like you'll have to do anything. You can kill him long before."
"What if I can't figure out what I need to get and the only way to get it is to…"
Renkotsu smirked in an evil sort of way. "You won't. All you have to do is put on an act until you get him alone. That shouldn't be too hard.
Kunoichi carry weapons inside their clothes don't they? Once he is alone and if you still don't know what you need to get, then you can just torture it out of him."
This actually sounded like an all right plan to Akiko. "Very well. I will do it."
Akiko headed to the castle with everyone following her. She felt somewhat self-conscious of wearing merely a yukata. It had been ages since she wore anything besides her ninja outfit. However, it eased her anxiety knowing that she had a tanto and a tessen up her sleeve.
"We should stop here," Bankotsu told her as they grew nearer to the castle. "Someone is bound to spot Ginkotsu or Kyoukotsu if we go any farther."
"Okay. I'll be back when Daraku is dead and I have this treasure that he wants to keep so badly I guess."
"We'll still be around here to attack. If you aren't back by tomorrow night, we will make sure that you aren't hurt or anything. Remember, don't go falling in love with the person you are supposed to kill," he laughed.
She nodded. 'Why does that sound familiar?' she asked herself sarcastically.
Akiko reached the front gate. "Umm… May I see Lord Daraku, please?"
The guard looked Akiko up and down. "You can't be the girl Lord Daraku called for. She is already here. And I don't think you could be the other one. They said she was younger…"
"He didn't tell you he called for another one? Oh, well I was told to come here," Akiko lied quickly to get in.
"Do you have the proof?"
"What?"
"You need that piece of paper that was given to you to get in. It's for security reasons."
'Great. Do I kill this guard and just go in? No, they might find me suspicious. I'll just have to get rid of that other girl who is supposed to be coming and steal her piece of paper.'
"Oh. I believe I left that somewhere. Let me go find it," she said and quickly ran off to find the girl.
Akiko searched frantically and almost stopped and began to make a new plan when she saw a girl approaching. She could immediately tell just by looking at her why she was going to the castle.
"Who are you?" she asked in a kind of fearful voice. Akiko wondered what she was afraid of. It's was not as if Akiko looked like some robber or thug.
'I suppose I could understand why she is so afraid. She doesn't look like she could be more than 11 or 12. And I guess walking through the forest at night and suddenly seeing someone just standing there would be kind of scary.'
"Hello. What's your name?" Akiko asked the young girl. For some reason she didn't really want to kill her.
"I'm Itami," said the girl.
"Itami, would you like me to do you a favor?"
"What do you mean?"
"If you give me that piece of paper saying you are to see Lord Daraku, I will take your place tonight."
She looked at her surprised that she not only knew where she was going, but that she was willing to go for her. "Why would you do that for me?"
"I just feel like it. So can I have it?" she asked rather quickly.
Itami nodded and gave her the paper. "How can I ever repay you for this?"
"It's no problem. Bye, Itami."
The little girl waved and smiled as Akiko went back towards the castle.
"Damn it!" Akiko said to herself. "All of these delays. I could have already killed him and gotten that whatever the hell it is I'm supposed to get already."
Finally, she reached the guard again. "Here. I have proof I was supposed to come here."
The guard studied it for a moment. "Fine. Come with me." And he led her through the castle to Lord Daraku's room.
When they got there, Lord Daraku was already forcing himself upon a young girl. This one looked older than Itami, but still younger than Akiko.
"Come on, Kunou, don't put up a fight. We both know that you'll give in so why bother trying to resist me."
Kunou sighed and stopped trying to struggle out of Daraku's grasp.
"By, the way, Kunou, where's your sister? I ordered for her to come see me too. How come she's not here yet?"
Kunou sighed sadly. "Itami had to do something before she came here. She shouldn't be too much longer now."
"Oh well, I guess for now only you will have to pleasure me," he said smiling in a disgusting way.
"Milord, here is the other girl," the guard interrupted.
Daraku finally noticed the two people standing in his doorway, watching him. At first he looked angry for the interruption, but once he got a glance at Akiko his ugly smile returned. "Leave us, Shuei. Come here, girl."
The guard bowed and left Akiko alone with Daraku and the still miserable looking Kunou. Akiko walked over to them and sat down.
"So," he said still smiling, "What is your name?"
Akiko panicked and thought of the first name that came to her head: her sister's. "My name is Myoko."
"Myoko," he repeated. "So why are you here, Myoko?"
"Itami was killed by a demon and so I was sent in her place," Akiko lied. She saw the shocked look of terror in Kunou's face.
"K-killed?" she asked
"Yes, and you are to return home, Kunou." Akiko thought it was for the best that Kunou didn't see someone being murdered. She remembered how it felt when she first saw it. Of course she was younger at the time and the people she saw die were the ones she loved. But still…
"Hold on!" Daraku interjected quickly. "I am paying her for tonight. She stays."
"I don't think it'll matter if she doesn't get paid because she hasn't really done anything yet."
Daraku gave her an angry look of defeat. "Fine. But only because cute little Itami is dead."
By now, Kunou was crying. She got up quickly and ran out the door.
"It doesn't matter. We can have more fun without her," Daraku said smiling in his sickest was yet.
Akiko smiled. 'Yes, it will be fun when I am torturing you to death, you bastard.'
She pulled out her tessen slowly. Daraku just watched, enjoying how it was going so far. However, he was no longer enjoying it when she dug the blade into a pressure point in his chest.
He screamed out in pain and fell to the floor. Akiko made small, jagged cuts through all of the joints that caused the most pain. He whimpered. The pain was so horrible that he could not get up, call for his guards, or defend himself.
"You have something that Lord Fukitsu wants. Where is it and what is it?" she whispered to him.
He struggled to speak. "Go to Hell you bitch."
She sighed. "If you don't tell me, then I will have to actually torture you. I don't think you would like that, would you?"
His eyes grew in fear. "Fine, it is that jewel shard over there," he pointed to something wrapped in a cloth.
Akiko walked over to it and opened the cloth. And there inside was a small shard of the Shikon Jewel glowing pink. She studied it for shot time. "How do I know that this is really what I am supposed to bring Fukitsu?"
"Don't worry. It is. That is my most sacred treasure."
"I will take it to him. But know that if you are lying, I will return and make you suffer horribly. And if you try to run, I will hunt you down." Akiko said malevolently. It surprised even her how evil it sounded.
"Okay! That's not the treasure. It is actually the demon claw. It is kept in the basement of the castle."
Akiko smiled happily at finding a jewel shard and pocketed it. She walked over to Lord Daraku and shoved the blade of her tanto into his heart. She twisted it once and pulled it out. This time she avoided the stream of blood that poured out. After all, she had to go to the basement and steal this dragon claw that he spoke of.
Even being a master of stealth, it was relatively easy to steal the dragon claw. From what Akiko could tell it was some kind of spider like demon claw. She heard that they were supposedly used to kill demons. The venom of this type of spider demon had and even more toxic kind in their claws than in their fangs.
On her way back, Akiko saw Itami and Kunou walking. They both stopped when they saw her.
"It's her. She's the one who offered to take my place at the castle," Itami told her sister.
"Why did you say that she was dead?" Kunou asked her.
"I just wanted to help you get out of that place. I don't think you have to worry about having to go see that Lord Daraku ever again," she smiled, mostly at the thought of the guard Shuei finding his dead body.
Kunou and Itami gave her a kind of frightened look. Similar to the one Itami gave her the first time she saw her. They both thanked her once again and headed back home while she went to go see the Shichinintai.
"So, you're back, huh? That was quick," Bankotsu said as he saw Akiko coming toward him. "What's that?" he pointed to the long, green spiral claw in her hand.
"Demon claw. It's what Daraku was keeping from Fukitsu. Among other things," she added, pulling out the sacred jewel shard.
Everyone gleamed at it. "Here, Bankotsu. You want it, don't you?" she handed it to him, but he pushed her hand back.
"You are the one who snuck in there, put up with Daraku's bullshit, found out what the treasure was by torturing him, then killed him. I think you deserve to keep it."
"WHAT!" everyone else said, somewhere between angry and amazed that Bankotsu would let her keep the jewel shard for herself.
Kageyu walked up to her and looked at it. "I agree with Bankotsu. I think she should be allowed to keep it too."
That night they found an old, abandoned inn. It was fairly large and had nice rooms. It looked like someone had already driven everyone out of it and had stayed there quite a while back. So the Shichinintai decided to stay there for the night.
As Akiko lied on her futon, she began to think about death. 'Why do I feel so strange? It isn't as if killing bothers me anymore. So why do I have this weird empty feeling inside?
Everyone I care about has died. I know what it feels like to have someone you love leave your life forever, and yet I do it to other people. Do I really not feel bad about it? I mean I am pretty full of hatred and revenge. Maybe killing is my way to vent it. But I think I really do feel bad about it.
I wonder what death is like? I fear it myself, and yet I kill others. I can only imagine how horrible it must be to die. To leave this world and to never return…
But the Shichinintai were resurrected. They know what death is like. Maybe I could ask them. Would they mind if I bring up what death is like? Maybe they don't like to remember it.
I have to ask them. I cannot stop thinking about death. I can never get rid of this feeling unless I know.'
She sighed. There was a feeling of loneliness and emptiness in her heart. She just wanted someone to talk to right now. Akiko debated whether or not she should do what she wanted to. Would he be mad? What would he think of her?
After contemplating both ways for what felt like forever, she finally decided that she would do it. She would go talk to Bankotsu.
Akiko looked over at Kageyu who was sleeping in the corner. She did feel bad that Kageyu, the only one left she cared about, wasn't the one she wanted to talk to, but the person she hated most was. It was still pretty dark out. Judging by the position of the moon, it was around midnight. She slowly opened the sliding door and crept quietly to Bankotsu's room. When she got there she opened his door as discretely as she could. The last thing she wanted was for someone like Mukotsu or Renkotsu to catch her. She didn't even want to think about what would happen if Jakotsu caught her.
'Wait!' she thought suddenly. 'What do I care if any of them find out? I'm just going to talk to Bankotsu. And that's all. I have nothing to be afraid of.'
She walked quietly up to him and kneeled down. "Bankotsu," she tapped him lightly on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes and rubbed them drowsily. "Akiko? What's wrong?"
A/N: Wooh! My longest chapter yet! By the way, Kunoichi would go in disguise to trick men or whomever they were supposed to kill. One of their codes was that they could not fall in love with the person they were to kill. So that is what Bankotsu meant by when he said that. Please review, k! And thank you to everyone who has so far.