Chapter Fifteen: Exorcism
Even though he knew it would be hard for him to do, Bankotsu decided that he had to stop kissing Akiko. He was afraid what it would lead to if he didn't. However, Bankotsu never got to stop himself.
"Bankotsu, I don't feel good!" Akiko said, sitting up suddenly. She held her stomach for a moment before she crawled over to the door and threw up what little she had eaten lately.
"Well that certainly broke the mood," he said sarcastically to her. Her reply was a mumbled, incoherent sentence that was drowned out by the sound of her retching again. He sighed and kneeled down beside her, pulling her long hair back behind her shoulders.
Akiko made another noise that Bankotsu thought translated to 'Arigatou' and said simply, "No problem."
By the time Akiko's episode was over, she was crying and complaining her throat hurt. Bankotsu sighed, cursing himself for ever giving her the Shouchuu. 'I should have known it would be too strong. It was supposed to calm her down from the whole Warusa thing, but she ended up being in a worse state than she already was.'
Bankotsu's thoughts were ended when he felt Akiko lay her head on his lap. "Bankotsu, I really don't feel good. My stomach hurts, my head is pounding, and my throat burns," she whimpered softly.
He began stroking her hair again, learning from the last time he did it, that it would help her go to sleep. "I know. And I'm sorry." She made another soft whimpering noise before falling asleep. He leaned back, resting his back against the wall and soon joined her in slumber.
Akiko opened her eyes slowly. Immediately, her head pounded like she had been hit with a ton of bricks. "Oww…" she mumbled, closing her eyes and resting her arm across her face to conceal light.
"So, the sleeping beauty has awoke, has she?" came Bankotsu's voice. Only it sounded like he was yelling it in her ear. "I gotta tell ya," came his voice again, "you're a real lightweight when it comes to drinking."
She removed her arm and looked at him smirking down at her. "What are you talking about? The last thing I remember is drinking that foul tasting drink and then blacking out. …And now my head hurts really bad."
Bankotsu made a noise that sounded like a combination of a scoff and a snort. "Why does that not surprise me? You're probably going to get sick again because of the hangover."
"Well, hearing that certainly makes me feel better," said Akiko with bitter sarcasm. But, she knew Bankotsu was right. She could already feel her stomach churning and tasting the sour flavor of vomit in the back of her throat. "I really think I'm going to puke again."
"Hmm… Speaking of which, Wareme- I mean Warusa came by earlier today. He wants to know if you'll meet him somewhere later on."
Akiko tried to stifle the laugh at both of Bankotsu's Warusa insults, but she didn't have the strength and it slipped anyway. Bankotsu, hearing her laugh, smiled a bit himself. He had been serious with both things and did not purposely intend them to be funny, but laughed along with her anyway.
"You're not going, are you?" he asked when she didn't say anything.
She sighed, thinking about her options. She didn't want to make Bankotsu mad, but for some strange, unknown reason, she didn't want to hurt Warusa's feelings either. "Maybe."
Bankotsu's response was completely different from what she was expecting. He smiled brightly and said mischievously, "Let's see if you still want to go after your exorcism."
"I probably will wind up going, even after my-" she cut herself off when it registered what he just said. "Exorcism? What for? I'm not possessed by demons."
"Sorry, but your possessed by something. Renkotsu told me about how you mentioned the coldness. That started happening right before you met Warusa right? And suddenly you are thinking of marrying him! What else could it be? You do only feel it when you're around him, right?" he added on quickly.
Akiko thought back to how she felt the iciness in her soul right before she headed down the path where Warusa was. Then, during his fight with Bankotsu when she was more worried about him. And of course when she couldn't say no to him as he forced her to make wedding preparations. "You're right. That is when I felt it."
A look of relief swept over Bankotsu. "I thought so. Suikotsu got Kikyou-sama to do it, too, so we know that that bastard's tricks will never work on you again."
The magnified sound of their conversation made Akiko's headache worse than it had been. "I'm going to start getting ready for my exorcism," she said, sitting up, running her fingers through her messy hair. Bankotsu nodded and left so she could get ready in privacy.
After a quick bath, she changed into a different outfit and tied her hair back. Her stomach still felt queasy and her head was still pounding. Drinking some water and washing her mouth out of the bitter taste, she decided now was as good a time as ever to have the exorcism begin. 'Should I eat something for breakfast?' The mere thought made her want to retch again. 'No, I don't think so.'
"Ready?" Akiko heard Suikotsu ask as she came to the main part of the building. Suikotsu had become the Good Doctor once more. He was eagerly waiting to assist Kikyou in the exorcism. Akiko had only heard about Kikyou. She never imagined that she'd meet such a powerful miko.
"You are Akiko?" Kikyou asked in a calm, pleasant voice; Akiko nodded her reply. "Hello, Akiko. Shall we proceed?"
"Hello, Kikyou-sama. Yes, I am ready. Although, I was wondering… what is this going to be like?"
Kikyou shrugged. "It depends on what is possessing you and how much it wants to stay inside. From what I can tell, this shouldn't be too difficult. All I ask is that you sit here," she said, pointing to a mat in front of her.
She obeyed and sat down before the miko and the doctor. She saw Kikyou's gaze fall to her neck. "You have a shard of the Shikon Jewel?"
Akiko put her hand to where the jewel fragment glowed in a black light. "Yes, I do."
Kikyou nodded. "I should warn you that in the process of the exorcism, it might become purified."
"It's okay."
Kikyou nodded again, but did not comment on it anymore. She closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them again. She placed two of her fingers on Akiko's forehead and she felt the icy feeling of her possessor enter her body.
"What's going on?" Akiko asked nervously. After all, she was supposed to be getting rid of this demon or whatever it was.
As if she was reading her mind Kikyou responded, "In order to finish this evil force off, I need to draw him into incarnate." Akiko relaxed and allowed her to finish her job.
Kikyou said a prayer under her breath and touched the jewel shard in Akiko's neck. The darkness that enshrouded it, dissipated immediately and the shard became pure. It now glowed in a pinkish clear light. At the same time, Akiko felt her possessor leave her body. It was different than the other times it had just went away for a little while. It was like she knew it could never command her again.
She gasped as she finally saw what it was. A white, smoky, transparent figure floated weightlessly above the ground. It had long wispy hair and a bunch of white robes on. The glassy pupiless eyes that were sunken in to its pale face held anger in them.
"Damn you, wretch! Warusa is going to be cross with me now!" The, assumingly male, specter said to Kikyou. "I was the only thing that was making Akiko like him. And now… she's going to be angry." He looked nervously over at the dumbfounded ninja sitting only a foot away from him.
"And you are?" she snarled after a moment.
"The name's Chouyouma!" he replied happily. His happy disposition was quickly ended, however, when he appeared to have thought of something. "Wait, if Warusa is mad, just imagine how mad that Naraku will be!"
"Naraku?" the other three shouted in surprise. "Naraku is behind all this?"
Chouyouma made a noise that said he didn't mean to mention Naraku's name. "Heh, I mean… uh… Okay, you caught me. Naraku promised to make me powerful if I helped that incarnation of himself."
"This Warusa man is one of Naraku's incarnations?" Kikyou asked worriedly.
Chouyouma raised a wispy eyebrow. "Yeah, he is. And he is going to be really mad when he finds out I didn't make you fall in love with him," he said, gesturing toward Akiko. "I've got it! I'll stay with you."
Akiko gave him a death-glare. "I don't think so. Not after you make a deal with someone who framed me for betrayal and wants me dead. Then possess me so I'll marry one of his incarnations against my will."
Chouyouma smirked smugly. "You'd be surprised what you can find out about someone by seeing into their soul. I know your predicament and I can help you with problems. It's what I do."
"Is that so?" she asked, still in an angry tone even though she was kind of considering having this apparition around for a little while longer.
Kikyou sighed and got up. "My work here is complete. So long Suikotsu, Akiko, Chouyouma."
"Good-bye, Kikyou-sama," Suikotsu and Akiko said together. Chouyouma, who seemed to have a grudge against Kikyou for ruining his plans, said nothing.
After she had gone, he asked, "So, can I stay or not?"
Akiko glanced over at Suikotsu who seemed to have taken a liking to the strange ghost. "Do you want him to stay?"
She thought about it for a minute and was about to say 'no' when she heard a certain someone interject. "I like him. He may be useful too."
"Not to mention he is neat looking!" came another familiar voice from behind her.
Akiko turned around to see Bankotsu and Jakotsu walking through the door.
"We were listening to your exorcism," Bankotsu explained.
"Then so it is. I can stay," the annoying specter said happily, shrinking down to the size of a small dog and perched himself on Akiko's shoulder.
Ordinarily, Akiko would have made some sort of protest, but at the time, she just felt like throwing up and getting away from all the commotion. However, that plan was ruled out immediately ruled out when the owner of the strange building barged in.
"As much as I hate to interrupt your conversations," he said with strong hints of loathing in his voice toward Bankotsu, "I've just received a message from someone. You and your horde of killers have a job."
Author's Note: Woot! Thank you very much to all who review. (I've been forgetting to do that lately) Just so you know, Shouchuu is an actual Japanese drink. It's supposedly pretty strong. Never had it though so I can't tell you what it's like. Wareme is a derogatory name for someone. It roughly translates to something along the lines of 'cunt'. Also, sorry this one took longer than usual. I've been grounded for getting into a fight at school. Not to mention I've just been in this really weird/bad/apathetic mood lately…