This was kind of long, so I'll split this into 3 chapters. Don't worry—I've updates them all at the same time, EVEN knowing I'd get less reviews that way (Cries) Prove me wrong!

Anyway, Please enjoy! TOTAL SAN/BAN MAN! TOTAL SAN/BAN! (Had to get that out first. Sorry.)

PS: I found a list of attacks Bankotsu's Banryuu can do. You'll see an example in the story. Hehe.

He scratched the spot behind his ear as he frowned, thinking. Banryuu rested on his shoulder while his hand cradled the hilt, making sure not to let his Baby fall.

Walking around at night was his favorite thing to do. Most people slept, as well as his own team. Or, what was left of them. The Band of four never really had a good ring to it, so he left it alone.

Bankotsu had found tonight quite bright, compared to other nights. Renkotsu had said tonight the moon would be very close, the colossal rock in the sky would be direly large. Of course within the shelter of the canopy of trees above him, it was hard to tell. He hadn't been in this forest much during the day, but he knew there would a large field within it where he could see this massive moon on his way to the stream, which is where he was heading. His Banryuu had a good sight today, lots and lots of blood. Infact, there were leftovers smeared all over his Baby, which is why he was heading to the stream to clean it off.

The mercenary had heard of a rumor around this forest. What was it called? It was named after that deceased hanyou baka. Bankotsu thought for a moment, rubbing his chin as he stared at the ground. Ah yes, this was the ever-so-famous 'Inuyasha Forest'. Jakotsu had giggled in joy as he walked through it during the day, knowing this is the place the hanyou had died. In the inside, Bankotsu knew Jakotsu was a bit upset he hadn't personally killed him off, but what could you do? It was actually quite recent he died. Jakotsu just missed him, Bankotsu guessed.

Not only had the baka died, but the rest of his team; the miko, monk, ninja girl, and little kitsune brat. That's why they say this place is inhabited by their ghosts, for they hadn't wished to die to soon. Of course, he not seen the other 4 members, only the baka Hanyou, for he was alone.

Bankotsu yawned, obviously not deterred. Well, if they did come back to 'haunt' him or whatever, he could simply slay them. Right? Yeah, totally.

Suikotsu had laughed before telling him you can't slice through a ghost. But whatever, I can too slice through a damn ghost. Letting his arm cross behind his neck, Bankotsu looked up into the foliage.

Finally walking through the last of the trees and into the field, the man halted.

"Damn…" It was so…large. The moon looked so close, it was as if he could touch it. It was so bright; the stars didn't even have a chance at out-shining it. Definitely something you don't see everyday. Beautiful.

'Why,' Bankotsu began to think, 'If there was a woman out there who could glow as brightly as the moon tonight, then…' He thought for the right expression. 'Uhh…Well, I don't know what I'd do. But what I do know is that no such woman exists!' With that, he smirked.

Looking more towards the southern area of the moon, he found a little piece missing. Or rather, something was blocking it. A silhouette, he had figured, was also enjoying the moon's light this night. Looking towards his Baby, he decided he might as well just keep walking—Banryuu was already stained enough tonight. Bankotsu continued his way, walking on the outskirts of the field, not wanting an awkward moment if he had just decided to pass the person on the way to the stream.

On his way, he continued to look at the moon. Could you blame him? The moon was just so eye-catching tonight. He tried not to let it bother him, but his curiosity always seemed to get the best of him and he kept stealing glances at the other person viewing the moon.

Before he reached the middle, he had recognized it as a woman with long brown hair. It was swaying with the grass as the wind blew. Once he was half way out of the field, he continued to walk—deciding not to turn and see her face. It's not like she would important.

Something seemed strange about the woman, though. Her outfit was of only black and reddish armor; he had seen that armor before. She had a rather masculine look, giving off the fact that she had been a fighter. Not being able to stand up to his curiosity anymore, Bankotsu turned to look over his shoulder.

All he could say before he knocked into the tree before him from not paying attention was that she was glowing.

"Ai-yaaaah…" Bankotsu mumbled as he rubbed his head. It was a good think he was in the shadows, he was sure that woman would have noticed him tumble to the ground.

He steadied himself back up before replacing Banryuu onto his shoulder.

"Ah-hah!" Bankotsu declared as his head poked through a few branches to see the stream just a few steps ahead.

Cutting straight the leaves and branches, the mercenary took one step, only to notice that to get to the stream, there was downward incline.

"Ack-k—" He slid down a foot or so down the incline before having a front row seat next to the stream's edge.

Turning around once he set the halberd down, Bankotsu sighed. "Atleast no one saw that…" With that, he turned giddy as he scooted a bit forward so he was sitting indian style next to the edge. He grabbed the hilt of his Baby and dipped her in the water before grabbing the cloth he had place in his chest armor. Bankotsu began to scrub his baby underwater, almost willed to hum. He loved getting the grim off of his beloved, especially watching the blood drift down the stream.

Looking up from his work, Bankotsu saw the blood sway with the moving water, following it downstream. His eyes followed the stream before they caught sight of the moon again.

"Woah…" The stream seemed to go on forever, so he couldn't see the end. Where the Earth curved, it made it seem the stream to going off the edge into the distance—but not tonight. Tonight, it looked like it was connected to the moon. It was as if you had followed the stream, you would eventually walk onto the moon itself. Spectacular, really.

His hand stopped it's scrubbing for a moment to feel the wind cool his skin in all of the night's serenity.

"Ahh…that feels nice." Letting his halberd reach the bottom (since it was tall enough for half the hilt to still be sticking out of the water), he took his hand out of the water and let both arms support him from behind while he turned towards the moon. Bankotsu stretched his legs out and crossed them at the ankles as his head leaned back while he looked up at the moon and stars. More wind pushed his ebony bangs out of his eyes enough to clearly see the scenery.

About to close his eyes Bankotsu heard the sound of water splashing and turned to see his Baby tipped and submerged before completely lying on the stream's floor. He could see it though, it's just…it was all the way down there…under water. And it wasn't like he didn't like water or anything—but he was sure his brothers would jest about him 'falling in' due to his small stature or inability to manage Banryuu. Honestly—he was not short! They were just tall. They were like…what, 6"5 or so? And he was just 5-6 inches shorter and all of a sudden he turns into the 'midget'. Damnit.

Bankotsu averted his attention back to the drowned halberd and saw a few miniature fish swim past it.

"No, you're not small—the others are just big." Bankotsu assured. He sighed, wondering why he was talking to fish. Going back to his halberd, "I'll just get it later...no big deal. Maybe I can find a big branch or something." He mumbled under his breath.

"…Geeze, he's a weird one."

In a second Bankotsu looked to the source of that voice. It was so low he almost hadn't caught it at all.

Just across the wide stream was the young woman he had seen staring at the moon. He stared at her in confusing and surprise as she had just turned to look at the moon the moment he lifted his head. She was sitting on the edge with her ankles within the water.

He finally recognized her as the woman from the field.

"…Uhh…" Bankotsu replied, "Who the hell are you?"

The fact that his voice was louder and probably meant to be heard meant he was talking to her. The woman looked to him. Before she could answer he stood to his feet defensively.

"What are you doing here?"

"…You…you can see me?"

Bankotsu's eyebrow lifted up ever so delicately. "…Was I not supposed to?"

They both stared at eachother in silence.

"Who…are you?" The woman asked.

"I just asked you that, woman." Bankotsu replied, still having a disbelieving look on his face.

The woman looked down into the water and looked at her reflection. "I died here a couple of months ago…"

Bankotsu's eyes widened as silence ensued. She continued to look into the water.

"So…you're saying you're a ghost?"

The woman stayed quiet. "You probably don't believe me, because you cans see me. I'm even surprised you can. No one else could…"

"Well—now that you said that I guess I have to believe you, right? I mean even though I have no proof and I'm just believing what ever you say doesn't mean it's not true."

The woman suddenly felt a spark of hope, or whatever she felt, and she looked up.

She sighed.

The man before her was on his back, holding his stomach and rolling around as his body shook with silent laughter.

Waiting for him to stop, the woman took her feet out of the water to let them dry.

His last laughs turned audible as he sighed in defeat once he was finished. "So...hard to breathe…" Although he stopped laugh he still had a wide smile on his face as he wiped tears from the corner of his eyes.

"What could possibly be so funny?"

And again, he gave her an amused yet heretical look.

"You've got to be joking." He crossed his legs indian-style and faced her as one of his hands rested on his knee, as well as his other elbow occupying the other knee. "You say you're a ghost and yet I can clearly see you."

Out of habit, the woman swiped a few bangs out of her eyes. She stayed quite after rolling her eyes.

"Well aren't you going to try and prove yourself?"

"I don't care whether you believe me or not. You can see ghosts."

"Have you ever thought that maybe, I can't see ghosts—you're just human?"

He saw the woman's fists ball slightly. "I'm dead. I have a grave. I was buried here."

"…"

"Just west of here. You'll see 5 graves. One of them would be mine." 'Kirara and I were buried together I guess…I couldn't find her own grave.'

"Five?"

"I wasn't the only one who died. My four companions as well."

He gave her another weirder-out look as he stood. "I'll see for myself."

"Fine. Mine is the one that says 'Sango, The Taijiya'."

Brushing off his backside, he smirked. "Bankotsu, The Mercenary. Nice to meet you."

Sango blushed slightly, not wanting to sound proud or anything, as he walked west, where she told him.

Onward!