Chapter Eleven: Hot Springs and Dilemmas

Akiko heard a voice say, "Come on, what difference does it make? We're all guys!"

Then another voice was heard making a sarcastic remark.

"Bankotsu no Oo-Aniki! Renkotsu is being mean to me!" the first voice whined.

"Renkotsu, leave Jakotsu alone. I need a bath anyway…" Bankotsu's voice replied.

Renkotsu sighed and Akiko heard yet another voice- Suikotsu's. "Bankotsu is right. We can trust Jakotsu." Judging by his tone, Akiko assumed he was the good doctor Suikotsu and not the killer Suikotsu.

Akiko found herself subconsciously looking carefully around the rock to see what was going on. The second she saw the sight of the four of them completely naked she gasped and turned back around to hide behind the rock. She could feel her cheeks burning and knew she blushing terribly.

She sunk deeper into the water, hiding still behind the rock. 'Oh no! What do I do now? I can't just get up. I suppose I'll just have to wait until they get out. Please don't come over here!' she thought nervously.

Akiko could hear the splashes of them getting into the hot spring. 'What am I going to do!' her thoughts were getting frantic.

"Hold on," Bankotsu said. "Be quiet, I think I just heard something."

A gasp escaped Akiko's mouth. She really hoped that no one heard it.

She heard Bankotsu move toward her. She panicked and did the only thing she could think of: hide under the water. She took a deep gulp of air and submerged into the water. Luckily for her, the water was a steamy white color from the temperature so it would be harder for her to be seen.

One underwater, Akiko opened her eyes. She could see the faint, blurry outline of something coming closer to her. She slowly backed up to find that the rock made a small cove-like trench at the end. It was pretty deep underwater so she figured it wasn't even visible from above.

Akiko was beginning to loose air and she could see the blurry outlines of the other three approaching. 'Why me?' she thought, trying to sustain air, hiding deeper into her hiding place. She could tell that they knew that someone was there and they weren't going to leave until they caught whoever it was.

She tried thinking up a plan. 'I suppose I could just come up long enough to tell them to leave. Of course then they'll wonder why I was underwater for so long and why I didn't tell them sooner. She sighed mentally. 'I have no idea what to do…' Akiko could no longer think straight. She was getting lightheaded. Her whole body was beginning to go limp. 'I have to go above water now. Any longer and I'll drown? Wait, why can't I move? My foot is stuck in the trench. I can't get free!' Akiko struggled to get her foot loose from the crack in the ground. It wouldn't budge. Now, she hardly even had any strength left. No! I can't die now! After everything I went through, I can't drown now…' And then Akiko found herself once again falling victim to sleep. But this sleep was different. It seemed so strange to her. Before she was fully asleep she knew that this time, no one would be able to wake her up.

/Bankotsu's Point of View (kind of)/

Bankotsu knew that someone or something was there in that hot spring. When he searched but didn't find anything, he figured it would be best if he got out before whatever it was came along again.

It wasn't until all of them were out of the water and they rejoined Mukotsu, Ginkotsu, and Kyoukotsu that something hit him: Akiko wasn't there.

"Hey, have any of you seen Akiko?" he asked, looking at his fellow mercenaries.

None of them seemed to know. "I remember that she was sitting and talking with us a while ago. Then I thought that she probably went to the bathroom or something and it made me remember that I was in the mood for a bath," Jakotsu commented.

"A bath?" Bankotsu said with a nervous feeling in is stomach. "You don't think that that thing I heard was…?"

He got up and ran to the hot spring. The rest of the Shichinintai followed him. They all searched for her in the water.

When they didn't find her Renkotsu said, "Bankotsu, she must not be here. Maybe she went for a walk or something.

"Maybe…" Bankotsu said softly. The others took this as a sign to let him be alone.

"We are going to go look around for her," the kindhearted Suikotsu told him. Bankotsu nodded.

After they left he sighed deeply. He hoped that they would find Akiko, but had a strange feeling that they wouldn't. He let his feet dangle in the warm water. He swished them slightly, just daydreaming. It suddenly dawned on him that something felt weird against his foot. He reached down into the water to brush it away. As it touched his hand, he realized that it felt like hair.

Bankotsu went under the water and felt around until he found what he had been searching for. He picked up Akiko's slumbering body and laid it down on the ground. Bankotsu got a good look at her face; it was so pale. Her lips had turned a bluish color and her eyes remained shut.

"Akiko!" he yelled, noticing she wasn't breathing. Bankotsu felt the pulse in her wrist and then in her neck. He didn't feel anything. Akiko was dead.

He carried her cold, lifeless body back to the inn. Once inside, he put her down and wrapped a blanket around her. He had been so relieved to see her alive, sitting on the porch earlier. And now, he had actually lost her forever.

'Akiko… you died of a natural reason. I cannot avenge you. But, don't worry I'll kill Naraku for framing you. I will at least get revenge for that,' Bankotsu thought, wishing he had noticed she was missing earlier. About an hour later the Shichinintai returned. Bankotsu explained what happened. Jakotsu looked like he was going to cry. "Aniki, I am so sorry. I shouldn't have forced everyone to take a bath!" Renkotsu glared at him, but Bankotsu said, "Don't blame yourself, Jakotsu. She should have just warned us that she was in there." The last part, he said with grief. "Should we burn her body?" Kyoukotsu asked. Bankotsu nodded solemnly. "Yes. We should burn it with Dohanone and her other possessions too," he said going over to her stuff and picking it up. As he walked back over a few things fell to the ground. One of the things being the shard of the Shikon jewel that he allowed her to keep. Bankotsu bent down and picked it up, formulating a plan. "Do you think it would be worth it to use this shard of the jewel in order to bring Akiko back to life?" he asked mischievously. Renkotsu and Jakotsu both said at the same time, "no." "Jakotsu, I thought you said you felt bad." Jakotsu smiled slyly. "Well… maybe not that bad." "I think that you should bring her back," Suikotsu said giving Jakotsu and Renkotsu angry looks. Mukotsu grinned widely as he said, "Yes, Bankotsu. I think you should bring her back." "Me too," Kyoukotsu agreed. Ginkotsu made a "Gessssh" sound that was presumed to be a 'yes'. Bankotsu walked up to Akiko. "Good. Then it's settled. I'm bringing Akiko back to life." He bent down with the jewel shard in his hand and placed it over her neck. A black light glowed from the fragment. It embedded itself into her neck and the light disappeared.

/Akiko's (sort of) Point of View/

Akiko felt a warmth return to her body. When she was dead she had not feeling or existence. Now, she at least knew that she was alive. It bothered her though that she couldn't breathe. It still felt as if the water was clogging her lungs.

She sat up abruptly and coughed out a large mouthful of water. Akiko noticed that everyone was staring directly at her. Since of what happened the last time they did this she was a bit worried. However, she assumed the staring came from the fact that she had just been resurrected from the dead. Not like this was something they have never encountered before…

"Thank you for bringing me back to life," she told them happily. She did not remember what it was like actually being dead, but Akiko knew that for now she liked being alive better.

"Well, we need you alive to kill Naraku. That was the only reason I allowed it," Renkotsu said coldly.

Jakotsu smirked even though he still looked angry. "Yeah, that's my excuse too."

Akiko turned to Mukotsu to see what he had to say and saw the looks he was giving her. She glanced down at her attire to see that she had nothing on but a blanket wrapped around her.

"Where are my clothes?" she asked flushing red again.

Bankotsu shoved her belongings onto her lap. "Here. We'll leave," he said getting up and walking out the doors as all but one followed. The exception was Mukotsu. "You may still be groggy from being dead. I'll watch over you so you don't fall down and get hurt," he said very seriously.

Bankotsu sighed again and dragged the old Poison Master out of the room. As they left Ginkotsu made another 'gesh' noise making sure Mukotsu left with the rest of them.

Now, Akiko was alone. She got dressed and thought about what had just happened. She could not remember anything about the afterlife, but had a strong feeling that there was something. "Oh well. With the jewel shard keeping me alive now, I'll probably wind up like the Shichinintai- forever like this. Not alive, but not dead. I suppose I really am just like them now. I guess I'll remain a member for a while. Who knows, maybe I will wait a while for revenge. I killed people to without remorse and got paid for it. Can I really kill them and not be a hypocrite? No, I can't. They aren't really even that bad. Sure, they kill people, but I am no difference. I can't kill them anyway. I owe my life to them now. I'll still find someway to avenge my village, but for now I'm just going to stay with the Shichinintai," she whispered softly to herself, finishing getting dressed.

Later that night, Bankotsu decided that they had been staying at the inn for too long and it was time to leave. Since it was getting dark, nobody wanted to start heading out yet.

"Why can't we wait for morning?" Renkotsu asked irritably.

"Because we are leaving now," Bankotsu said in a voice that told Renkotsu that he could not argue.

All of the Shichinintai seemed tired and was lagging behind except for Bankotsu. Akiko figured it wouldn't hurt to walk with Bankotsu so she left the rest to sleepily drag their feet across the dark road.

"Bankotsu," she said softly as she approached, "why are we leaving now?"

A smile spread a cross Bankotsu's face. "I need to get someplace by tomorrow night. Since you died, I'm falling behind on my schedule and need to make up for lost time.

"Where are we going?"

The smile got bigger as he replied, "You shall see tomorrow night."

By the following evening about everyone wanted to just about kill Bankotsu. He forced them to walk the entire night. (Ginkotsu isn't a tank yet) The only time they got to stop was only for a little bit to get something small to eat. This in particular angered Kyoukotsu.

It was almost dark again when Bankotsu stopped for good. "Here we are," he said showing them a large castle type building. "We're stayin' here for a while. There's an old friend of mine who lives there. I'm sure he won't mind if we stay here."

"Okay…" Renkotsu said raising an eyebrow. "So you dragged us out here just to stay in someplace where someone you knew a long time ago lives?"

Bankotsu had a blank look on his face like this was a very strange question to ask.

"Forget it," Renkotsu sighed heading toward the castle building. "It's not like I really give a damn why were staying here anyway," he muttered with Ginkotsu trailing close behind him.

Everyone fell asleep quickly from the nonstop journey there. Akiko found a nice, soft futon to lie on and was thrilled to be able to get some rest. No sooner had she closed her eyes, though, she heard a gentle rapping outside her door.

"Yes?" she asked lazily.

Before she got a response Bankotsu slid the door open and came into her room. He kneeled down, grabbed her wrist and yanked her up with him. "Come on," he whispered.

"'Come on' where?" she asked, looking at her cozy, inviting bed and thinking about how much she wanted to sleep.

"Remember when I said 'you'll see' why I wanted to come here before nightfall? Well, you are about to see," he said happily and not seeming to be tired at all. "Now come one," he urged pulling her through the door.

Author's Note: Heh, I should have been studying for my German quiz instead of writing this, but what the hell, I'm good at Deutsch. :) A somewhat important note: if you wanted to send a review but couldn't, I enabled it to send me anonymous reviews. (Thank you, Spoon for pointing that out for me)