Authoress' notes: I still don't own Inuyasha or anything in the Inuyasha universe! Also, I'd like to note that sometimes it's annoying not be able to use an ! and a ? together.

Wayward Ransom, chapter 22.

Bankotsu leaned more solidly against the wall behind him, and examined his hands. His right hand was covered in little trails of crimson. Both hands were lightly dusted with an odd red substance; Bankotsu figured the powdery stuff was picked up from the haze that permeated the less hospitable places in the Underworld.

"So, you want the daimyo dead for some reason, too. Just like that old woman, huh?" said the young warrior as his eyes rested on the monk.

Masakisho shifted uncomfortably, and stood up, hoping some motion would relieve some of the discomfort he felt in dealing with a mercenary. Bankotsu's searing cobalt eyes continued to glare at him from out of the shadow in which he rested.

"You got anything to do with her?" Bankotsu said.

"N-no, not anything political," began Masakisho. "She is a well-respected sage in this area. I always figured most of her knowledge comes from having four daughters with such different, and sometimes difficult, personalities."

Bankotsu humphed indifferently.

"She...she lost someone very dear to her recently." He turned his back to his guest and walked toward the front screen. "She hates anyone that has any remote connections to the man or his former lord. Her daughter, Kodoku, was engaged to a wonderful man, a man connected to the old woman's family through generations of ancestors. However, he was out on business travelling, and was forcibly taken by the current lord's former boss. It was all a haphazard effort to defend his castle. Kodoku's fiancee was handed a spear with no training and no experience."

Bankotsu rested his head back on the wall, closing his eyes while he listened. He sensed that this sounded all too familiar.

"And all that was because the lord was growing careless. After his father passed away, he kept his family's power for over ten long years. He slaughtered any competition he would sense in the surrounding area, even temporarily joining forces with other daimyos to do it. One day, he stupidly allowed the majority of his strongest men to leave with one of his officers, thinking that no one would dare attack the castle. However, his arrogance proved detrimental. After a few days of their absence, his castle was attacked and in a matter of hours, humiliatingly razed to the ground!"

Finally, this whole story was getting interesting to Bankotsu. "And...his enemy?"

Masakisho turned toward the young warrior, eyes wide with horror. "That's the strange thing! They ripped through the castle so easily, where other armies would take days!" Masakisho looked down at the floor dejectedly, and shook his head. "So many men died that day. Kadoku's fiancee was one of them." He looked up again at Bankotsu. "And it's been the rumor that they were all killed by a group of ghosts!"

Bankotsu's eyes shot open, and he glared at the monk. He scowled deeply, slowly putting together the facts. The fiancee, engaged to the young woman who had just been in the room with him, was killed in the very same battle where the Band of Seven took their revenge against the daimyo that had betrayed them.

Masakisho shook his head again. "I don't know how they did it. That daimyo was so ruthless. He-"

"He was a coward," interrupted Bankotsu, grinding his teeth together. "So easy to kill. Just like all schemers. And all men who hide behind their power."

The young man's words completely puzzled Masakisho. He questioned himself on how the young man would know such a thing.

"He, and all his men, and all his forces. Along with every daimyo in Japan. All cowards."

Masakisho finally put all the clues he had garnered together, terrified at his realization. His face blanched to almost pure white. "No...you're not-"

Bankotsu's scowl melted and a relaxed, dark grin took its place. "Heh, yeah. I am one of those ghosts. I am Bankotsu, the one who you might have heard about. The leader of the Band of Seven. My men and I were the ones who took 'im down, in revenge for deceiving us and takin' off our heads."

"I...I recognized the weapons you were carrying. They are clearly from the Underworld, but I didn't understand-"

"Yeah. I fought my way out," stated Bankotsu nonchalantly. "That same bastard that cornered my men had me trained for a long, long time. Pretty successful, wasn't he?" Bankotsu chuckled darkly, and then lowered his head, a twinge of sarcasm written on his face. "Trained me so well, they can't even keep me in hell now."

"This is...this is really awful..." Masakisho said to himself. Masakisho's day was worsening by the hour, and he rubbed his hands together in worry. He felt so awful for Kokodu, yet...he felt obligated to help her mother, Shinyu, in assassinating the daimyo she hated so much. And the very one to do it was this young man. He recovered from his loss of words, and continued. "The curse has not been lifted yet..."

Bankotsu glared at him with a calm smirk, which worried Masakisho very much. He had heard on numerous occasions about the rumors of a curse involving his men at his resurrection. "No. It hasn't." After quite a long pause, he asked the monk, "So what's his name? I'm curious as to who managed to live this long."

"Yukio," said Masakisho. "After his boss was killed, he returned, built his own castle, and took over right where the daimyo had left off. And now everything is all the worse."

Bankotsu's brow lowered in anger. "Yukio. Yeah, I know that name. He was the only one I didn't find the last time I was there. I figured one of my men dragged him out and tore him limb from limb before I bothered to look in his office."

Masakisho screwed up his face in horror. But he could not resist the notion that a lot of lives would have been more comfortable in the long run if Yukio had indeed been killed that day.

Bankotsu continued on, oblivious to his words' effect on the monk. "Used magic a lot to help 'im finish his dirty work. Bastard."

Masakisho studied the face of the young man. "I just...don't understand..."

"What's there not to understand about me?" Bankotsu asked pointedly.

"The reason I brought you here...was...the tearstains that mark your face. I knew you had to have been through something horrible."

Bankotsu's eyes went wide with shock. He reached for one of his borrowed blades, which were placed close to him. Bringing up the flat of the blade to his eyes, his reflection revealed that indeed, streaks were cut into the red dust that covered his face.

The young man chuckled sarcastically. "That's because...hell's pretty painful this time of year." Bankotsu said as he lowered the blade and turned toward the older man.

Masakisho was still at a loss for words. The young man had been polite, he definitely had a sense of debt and honor...but Masakisho couldn't reconcile the idea that the young man was the leader of a ruthless band of criminals in, quite literally, one of his past lives.

Just then, the front screen opened, and through it stepped Raidonichi and Kanaye.

"Hey, Kanaye. Raidonichi," said Bankotsu. His friendly greeting only served to further confound Masakisho.

"Hello. We were short on medicinal herbs, so we had to go searching for some," said Raidonichi, handing various healing things and bandages to a grateful Masakisho.

Kanaye looked up at his teacher, annoyed. "I shouldn't have to waste my time lookin' for stupid plants! You should be teachin' me how to fight!" said the boy.

Bankotsu rolled his eyes irritatedly. If the kid only knew.

Masakisho offered to dress Bankotsu's wounds personally, but Bankotsu refused with a gesture, and took some long lengths of cloth from Masakisho. Shifting himself caused a shooting pain in his injured hip, and he winced for an instant.

Raidonichi laughed at the boy's ignorance, and patted Kanaye on the head. Kanaye didn't take too well to that, and tried to bat his arms away. "Now, patience, Kanaye. A true warrior has to learn how to tend to his wounds if he should ever have the misfortune to meet someone stronger than himself."

Bankotsu looked at the boy concernedly. He bit one end of a long cotton cloth given to him by Masakisho in between his teeth while fastening the other end to his arm. "And just remember, kid," he said, speaking through his teeth as he sideglanced the boy, "there's always someone out there stronger than you." He finished wrapping his arm, then briefly scowled at it, remembering how that one, the one named Inuyasha, had defeated him. What was the half-demon's secret? Bankotsu almost continually asked himself now. Why couldn't Naraku defeat him? Why couldn't I defeat him, and at least bring some honor to my men?

Kanaye was clearly offended by Bankotsu's honest words. "That's stupid!"

"That's reality, kid. Just like lots of things that can't be helped."

"Well, there's no one stronger than my teacher Raidonichi! And once I'm trained, I'll be the strongest man ever!" Kanaye said, making fists.

One of Bankotsu's eyebrows cocked upwards, and a dismissive "yeah, whatever, kid" was said as he continued to attend to himself.

Masakisho dismissed Raidonichi and Kanaye, who promptly left through the front screen. "I must be going myself," he said. "You can rest here until you are-"

"-I'll kill him tomorrow," interrupted Bankotsu.

"But you won't be prepared to do that tomorrow!"

"Monk, I'm 'prepared' now."

Maskisho insisted. "You can't just leave. We will need to prepare a weapon for you. The daimyo's phoenix will not be easy to battle."

Bankotsu huffed in annoyance. The hell did he need a weapon for? He could take a demon down with his bare hands. He'd done it enough times already. He could have done it in seconds with the half-demon...but...there was something about that half-demon...

"And preparing the weapon will take some time. Purifying powers need to be added to it. We had a miko pass by here and we recovered some used arrows that contain some of her purifying power. Somehow we might be able to graft their power onto a weapon that would be sturdy enough to defeat the phoenix."

Bankotsu chuckled loudly. Purifying powers indeed. "Monk," he began, with deadly menace in his words, "did I show up at your door looking like some kind of saint? Maybe you need to find that Hakushim or whatever-his-name-was to do this for you."

"Well, it will not be easy at all trying to get this purifying power into your weapon...that is why this will take so long."

Bankotsu still had a wide grin on his face, amused that he would be given a weapon with purifying power. However, Masakisho continued to explain himself.

"The stone...you need to know everything about our stone before you recover it. It keeps the monster alive. If the stone isn't taken from it's body, or the other half shattered, the creature could easily be healed or revived. If we graft purifying power into your weapon, it will be one more advantage to you."

"Advantages aren't very interesting to me."

"The purpose of this advantage isn't to upset you. It's necessary. The phoenix is ruthless-"

"I can guarantee that I am even more ruthless."

"No! You don't understand!" Masakisho protested desperately. "We know that the monster is under the control of our stone, which enhances its powers. It's strong, fast, and can use just about any element against you."

Bankotsu grunted in annoyance. It seemed to him that since a weapon upgrade would be necessary, this "phoenix" would be an incredible challenge. Either way, he knew Masakisho was right. He needed a lot of rest before attempting to deal with the stupid bird.

He knew this would not be easy. Airborne opponents always gave him the most trouble, but on the other hand, that's what made them the most interesting to kill. Bankotsu always welcomed the opportunity to spar with a worthy opponent, human or not. Yukio would most certainly not be a worthy opponent, but nevertheless, killing him would be utterly satisfying for many different reasons than the bird.

Masakisho rubbed his hands together again. There was so much he had to do now, and there was so much more the mercenary had to know. "Do make sure you stop by the hot spring later on this evening," he said, breaking the silence between the two of them. "Raidonichi uses it quite often, and will probably fill you in on a few things if you see him there, also."

Bankotsu's face brightened. "Hot spring! Hey, now that sounds pretty good. Thanks."

Masakisho thought for a moment. "Would you like Raidonichi and a few backup troops to accompany you to Yukio's castle?"

Bankotsu lowered his eyebrows at the man, offended. "You don't know who I am."

"The villagers are just as angry as you are. You can lead them. Any one of them would be more than happy to take down the daimyo himself. Let them accompany you. It'll be for their sake, if not yours."

"Absolutely not," angrily answered Bankotsu. He paused for a moment, and a melacholic, thoughtful expression washed over his face. "I don't give a crap about the villagers," he said quietly, causing Masakisho to gasp. "They don't concern me. I do this to clear my debt with you and the old woman...and for my men." He looked away for a moment. "And...because it's the only thing I know how to do."

Masakisho was ready to go to another room, but he couldn't help satisfying his curiosity before he retired. "That tassel around your neck...I know I've seen it before."

Still looking away, Bankotsu's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. It's from the grave near the cottage in the abandoned village a little way from here."

"Ahh, yes. But that is not a grave, that's simply a memorial."

"No one is buried there?" Bankotsu turned his head quickly toward his host, shocked.

"No. The girl...the goverment probably took her body and-"

"How did you know about her?" Bankotsu asked in an angry whisper.

Masakisho paused. "I was there. I was passing by that cottage, and heard an awful ruckus. I saw the daimyo's guards stationed all around, escorting villagers away from the cottage, but somehow the daimyo's guards didn't see me. They were driving everyone away from that cottage, and I figured they were up to no good. Then...the girl was in there...I heard everything. I knew then that the awful things I was seeing was partly the government's responsibility. Then I saw you walk in. It was truly awful."

Bankotsu's sarcastic smile returned. "Yeah. We were all cornered like animals. People think that villagers and daimyos and soldiers can't be vicious. They're wrong." He turned toward Masakisho, searing anger burning in his eyes. "That's why I always had to be stronger. My men always had to be stronger. That's why we were so strong together...it was because we all knew that we could never be strong enough."

"I agree," said Masakisho. It was something he'd never say had he not seen it for himself. "That was another reason why I ended up taking you in. I'm hoping that I can help eliminate the curse of the Band of Seven. So everyone can rest in peace."

Bankotsu humphed sarcastically. "My men are at peace now. However, I'm still around." He flashed a wicked grin at Masakisho. "Probably it's to make sure no one does anything stupid and disturbs them. Think so?"

Masakisho flinched, not wanting to answer that question. He continued. "I-- I erected both that memorial and the stone on your gravesite. When it was split in half, I knew we had some terrible curse to befall us. We thought the purifying prayers that kind miko offered for us would help...but..." Masakisho looked dejectedly down to the floor. "So in spite of the pain suffered by dear Kodoku and Shinyu, I feel obligated more than ever to help you."

Bankotsu merely snickered, and humphed sarcastically again at Masakisho's brief display of arrogance. Nevermind, he thought, he had worse done to him in his life than mere words.

Masakisho put a hand to the screen, to retire to a separate room. But before he opened it, he looked back at his guest. "Who was she? I've always wondered. I'd like to know so maybe I could make a more acceptable memorial."

Bankotsu looked away again, his brow knitted. "Someone who...tried to teach me a lot of things...and I was too stupid to learn them," he said dismissively.

"I see," said Masakisho, sliding the door open. "Well, you are welcome to help yourself to anything here in this building. And as part of our debt to you, we will give you anything you desire when you...you..." Masakisho made a disgusted face, unable to bring himself to say "kill the daimyo".

"Yeah, I know. Well, anyway, have a good evening," said Bankotsu, this time with a relaxed smile.

Masakisho shook his head resignedly at his guest's honest concern, opened the screen, and disappeared though it. The young man's strange dichotomy of innocence and killer instinct was too puzzling to comprehend. But to compound that, he was worried also about running into Shinyu...and having to have to do a lot of explaining. He figured he didn't see Shinyu that much, so he would most likely be all in the clear with her.

Or at least he hoped.