Here is the next update! I tried to fix as many issues as I can so let me know if you spot anything. Also, THERE ARE SOME VIOLENT SCENES AND LANGUAGE! READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

~Stay Caffeinated 3~

~Chp. 8~

Renkotsu suddenly barges in to the small dressing room scaring the living crap out of me.

"What. Did. You. Do!?"

I hold my hands out to him as if that would stop his enraged charge, "I sense that you are angry, and I acknowledge your feelings, but tempers will get us no where right now."

"The auction has been called off!" he hisses through gritted teeth as he continues to approach me.

I quickly rise and move about the room to create some space between us, "Ok…I admit….I may have….messed up a bit."

"A bit? A BIT!" He snarls closing in the gap with incredible speed before grabbing me by the collar and slamming me to a wall, "YOU BROKE HIS FUCKING WRIST!"

"But….BUT! In my defense…it was an accident."

I watch as his already frighteningly tiny pupils become even smaller, "So then by your logic, if I were to break your neck, I can simply tell Bankotsu that it was an accident."

"No…..you'd have to apologize first."

"IS THIS A FUCKING JOKE TO YOU!?"

An involuntary 'heuck!' escapes me as he slams me against the wall…..and again, followed by three more times for good measure.

My head swirls and my hands tremble against his in my failed attempts to get him to stop.

"Easy there, daddy dear. We wouldn't want to damage the goods before her big night."

Keeping me pinned to the wall, Renkotsu turns slightly to see an oddly elated Madame approach with what I can only described as a skip to her step. She flashes him a bright flirty smile before placing a hand on his to lower me to the ground.

She pushes the stunned Renkotsu back slightly and allows to me clingy to her for balance as I wait for the daze to subside.

She then begins to fix my disheveled appearance, "Yes, granted she did ruin what could have been a very profitable auction for me, but," She sighs as she takes a step back to appraise her work, "I can forgive it seeing as I just made more off of her this way than I could have ever imagined making with an auction."

She turns to Renkotsu, "Men lose all sense of reason when they are enraged." She gives off what would have been an attractive giggle…had she been attractive.

She opens her fan to hide the lower half of her face as she makes her way to the exit, "If I were a religious woman," she begins stopping short at the door, "I'd be praying for your very soul right now, but, luckily, I am a business woman and I just milked that idiot for every last cent he has." She lets out a hard laugh, and I glare at the back of her head.

I bet my life that if she turns around now, her eyes would be gold coins as she calculates her earnings from me.

She collects herself and opens the door, "Of course, daddy dearest, you won't have much of a daughter after tonight….assuming she survives it. You may want to consider putting some of your earnings to the side for nice funeral or I could just give you a spot on my property where I keep the other dead whores."

The door shuts behind her drowning out her laughter, and I lean against the wall,

"Give me back my blade." I voice after a moment of complete silence.

He scowls, "For what?"

I exhale, "Are we really doing this? Did you not just hear what the old hag said? I'm going to need something until you manage to set this place ablaze. You're seriously not going to leave me in that room unarmed, are you?"

"The plan stays as it is. It is not my fault that you made things harder on yourself than necessary."

I stare at him as a violent twitch hits my eye.

'….3'

"Alright, I get it. I fucked this up. I didn't follow your vague ass orders, I acted on impulse, and I fucked this up, but I did what I did because he was threatening an innocent woman. And in all honesty, it still worked out to our favor because now he is more determined than ever on having me in that fucking room with him. Sooooooo, I feel I made this shitty ass half-baked plan of yours better."

Renkotsu chuckles as he folds his arms across his chest, "Perhaps this is a deserved lesson for you to remember your place in life. Traveling with Bankotsu has filled you with a false sense of entitlement that he refuses to correct."

Another twitch hits me.

'…2'

Something in me begins to bubble and churn shaking the very core of my being like an unwatched pot. I feel my blood surging through body filling my ears with that hard deafening pulse, but this time….. this time…..it's different somehow.

There is no lag in time as I come to expect and appreciate. No feeling of invulnerability that fills me when the sound appears. No…now…..now…..

…something is burning.

"So," I finally begin, eyes closed in an attempt to keep myself calm, "So….according to you…. I deserve to be brutally raped and possibly killed because I…." I chuckle," …..Because I refused to be the 'yujo' you so desperately want me to be?'

He quickly approaches grabs me roughly by the color of my kimono, "Do not flatter yourself."

I laugh, "Really…..I'm 'flattering' myself now? Well, how else can you possibly explain your absolute fascination of me being a whore? Look where we are. Look at what you're doing to me."

I laugh a little longer this time, "'Flattering myself'…..no….you're just a pathetic man who knows he could only get the attentions of a woman through the paid services of a whore."

A sharp gasp escapes me as his hand encloses around my throat instantly cutting off my next breath.

I claw at his arm, choking and sputtering as he lifts me off the ground just enough so that my feet dangle. See that clawing his arm brought no results, I swipe at his face. He tilts back just enough so that I am out of range.

"Ten seconds. That's all it takes until you pass out."

My vision becomes blurred.

"From there, I can just keep holding on until you're good and dead, or I can let you go, you wake up ten seconds later, and I repeat the process until I get bored."

My arms begin to grow weak.

"8…9…."

Everything goes black.

~My eyes open to a warm light. In the distance I can make out two sitting forms. Their backs were to me, but I could hear laughter. Carefully, I stand. My feet make no sound as I begin my approach squinting my eyes at one form whose armor seemed so familiar.

I freeze, eye widening, as the realization comes to me.

'Daddy?'

My father drapes his arms around the other form….a woman….pulling her close to him. I hear her gentle laugh, and my eyes sting.

'M…mom?'

I break out in to a run tears streaming down my face, 'HEY! HEY! MOM! DAD!'

I grit my teeth as I pick up speed, 'PLEASE! MOM! DAD!'

I run harder, their forms becoming clearer and clearer. I begin to laugh as the tears continue to run down my cheeks, 'MOM! DAD!'

My father turns and smiles at me.

I smile back and reach out to him, 'DADDY!'

Something cold latches on to my ankle. Our finger tips brush as I fall to ground and the force begins dragging me back.

I kick and scream as I claw at the ground. My father chasing after me. His hand still out and open for me.

I push my body up slapping my hand into his and he grips me tight. I clamp my other hand to his forearm as I try to kick the person off me with my free leg.

The force pulls and tugs, and my father strains against it.

My grip begins to slip, and I cry out.

He continues to pull, but I feel his grip giving way.

'PLEASE! PLEASE DON'T LET GO!

The force pulls one last time, and I slip from his hands.

"DAAAAAAAAAD!'

It drags me back with a blinding speed. Away from the light….the warmth…..my family…

I land hard on my back in a sea of cold black nothingness. My tears being the only warmth I feel and my sobs the only sound.

I sit up trying to catch my breath. Trying to recover, but I lose it. How close I was to my family and how easily it was to, once again, pull me away from them.

I begin to cry uncontrollably in to my knees.

"I just wanna go home." I sob hugging tighter to me knees, "I just want my dad."

**Shhhhhh**

A cold hand finds its way to my back halting my tears immediately and lodging my sobs in my throat.

**Hush, now** it whispers **There's no time for that**

I freeze, not at the fact that the hand began to stroke the back of my head, but at the voice.

At my voice.

**There is too much to do**

I feel another hand rest its self of my cheek and slowly it turns my head.

I scream at the sight and push it….her….me…..away.

Blood coats her. Her face streaked with it. Her body darkened by it. Dark blue veins straining against her translucent skin on either side of her pale violet eyes.

She smiles.

**You cannot die. Not yet**

I try to put some more space between us, but she violently yanks me back to her.

**I WONT allow it!**

She grabs hold of my throat and I struggle to break free from her grasp.

She pushes me to my back.

**They must pay! They must suffer!**

Her face inches closer to mine.

Is this truly me? Is this who I am becoming?

**We are not afraid.** she says softly, ** WE ARE FURIOUS!**

She connects her lips to mine and the burning sensation within me intensifies.

**SHOW THEM YOUR RAGE!**

I kiss her back.

'..1'

I inhale deeply as my eyes open up to the ceiling. I lie there for a moment sucking in one breath after another when I feel a hand rest against my arm. In one fluid motion, I rise, snatching the arm towards me, latching my free hand to the person's throat and begin to squeeze.

The maid sputters under my grip as she tries to pull me off with her free hand. Oddly, I watch her struggle for a moment before gradually relaxing my hold on her throat but never removing it.

I can feel every muscle twitch and spasm beneath my skin as I take in how quiet the room is save the small pockets of air that tremble out of the maid's mouth.

"Where is my 'father'?" I note how eerily calm my voice is belying the absolute rage I felt coursing through my body.

"H….he….said to wait here…..a-a-and that if you woke….t-t-to take you to the room. I-I-I'm sorry….I….I didn't mean to startle you.''

"I wasn't startled." I say looking way from her and struggling to get use to my own voice. It wasn't different….but it didn't feel like mine.

We sit in silence for a moment as I tried to collect myself.

If I woke? IF I WOKE!? That son of a bitch tried to kill me…he tried to kill me and then ran away like the filthy fucking coward he is.

"Do you have a knife?" I ask darkly turning to her.

Her eyes go wide, "No, please….I'm sorry!"

My face scrunches in annoyed confusion before realizing that my hand remains on her throat although I wasn't choking her.

"Oh…sorry." I didn't believe my own apology as I remove my hand. "No….not for you. Do you have a knife?"

The maid scoots back before shaking her head no.

"Go fetch me one.".

"I-I'm supposed to-"

"We will go to the room after you bring me a knife."

"B-b-but your father said-"

My eyes narrow at her, "What is your name?"

"K-Ko"

"Ko…if you make me repeat myself again, that knife will be meant for you as well."

The maid quickly stands and rushes out the door.

Finally armed with a decent sized cooking knife sharpened to perfection, I silently follow Ko to the servicing room.

She slides the door open for me, and I pause before entering, "You need to leave." I begin, "You need to leave this place now, or you'll burn with the rest of them." I glance over at her and see her face pale. "Just thought I'd warn you." I step through and shut the door firmly behind me.

I glance around the room taking in its simplicity despite the status of this customer. "Either the madam really did screwed him on this room or he really is stupid when angry." I shrug not caring either way and begin my task of cutting the covers as best I could in to manageable strips.

The door finally opens with a slam as I finish braiding down the last cord, and I turn to greet him. My eyes narrow a bit in irritation as I stare at the bodies of two-for lack of a better word- lackeys flanking the man's sides.

I sigh, "Well this is embarrassing…." I mutter to myself recounting the braids as if they would multiply on their own to handle two more men. I shake my head coming to terms that I am under resourced and stand.

The man steps forwards, and I note that his arm is tucked under the topmost flap of his kimono top. I can make out the straps of a sling around his neck.

"Doesn't hurt to much does it?" I ask with a slight chuckle.

He glares at me, and I turn my attention to his company. I catch one of the lackeys jamming something into the door and pulls at it quietly to ensure that it doesn't open.

I smile.

"If I'd known I'd be entertaining three men, I would have made more ropes." I hold up one of my long braided cords to demonstrate and continue to smile.

"Ropes?"

"Yeah," I say seductively, "for a little 'extra' fun."

"That's cute," the man says as he signals and the men step forward, "but they aren't here for the 'fun'. I brought them to repay you for my wrist."

I place a hand on my chest as if touched by his remark, "Awww, well thank you, but no payments are necessary. I was more than happy to do it free of charge. In fact, that other hand is looking a bit too mobile if you ask me. I can give you a matching pair if you'd like." I smirk and wink at him, and his face flusters in rage.

"Start with her wrists" he says darkly, "and don't stop until she's begging for death."

The lackeys approach with twisted smiles on their faces.

"Just so you know," I begin as I casually inspect the rope in my hand, "the brutality to which I am going to use to kill the both of you should not be taken personally." I wrap one end of the rope around my hand, "I've just had a really shitty day today."

The first one charges at me. Once in range, I fling the rope out and slap him across the face. He stumbles to a knee in shock at the sharp sting from something as simple as braided rope, and I bring the rope down again with more force.

I proceed to beat the man with the rope for a few seconds until he manages to grab hold of it. I quickly unravel my hand and pull the blade from the makeshift holder in my sleeve. The lackey stares at the armless rope baffled for only a moment before looking up as I bring the blade down in to his eye.

He screams.

I grab a handful of his hair and rip the blade out before reinserting it in to his neck. I feel a dark smile spread over my lips as I drag the blade in a downwards diagonal motion allowing the blood to pool beneath us.

I push him from me, and he lands on his back with a solid thud.

I flick the blade clean as the second one charges at me. This one is faster and a lucky swing connects knocking me off balance. He follows it with a solid hit to my stomach. I drop the knife and fall to my knees.

He grabs a handful of my hair and connects three more punches to the side of my face before letting me fall to my side.

"Stupid little slut!"

He reaches for my head again, and I use the opportunity to grab hold of his arm. I snatch my blade up and ram it in the center of his wrist. He screams, and I yank it free by cutting through to the side causing him to scream louder.

I pull his arm towards me causing him to fall forwards and as he approaches me, I run the blade in to his temple. He lands on me, and I watch as his face jerks and twitches before growing still.

I push him off and stand.

I exhale as I bush myself off a bit. I could hear the man struggle with the jammed door.

"HELP! GET ME OUT! HELP!"

"NO STOP!" I scream as I reach towards the second lackey, "PLEASE STOP! YOU'RE HURTING ME! AHHHHH, PLEASE." I pull the blade out and fling it clean, "NO, GOD NO PLEASE!"

I rush towards him.

"HELP!" He screams

"HELP!" I scream louder drowning him out.

I snatch him away from the door and press the blade to his throat halting his next scream.

"SOMEONE HELP ME! HE'S HURTING ME! PLEASE!" I yell out loud, "say one more thing," I whisper softly in his ear, "and I'll cut your tongue out. Am I clear?"

He gives me a trembling nod.

"Good boy."

I let out a blood curling scream as I break his other wrist. My scream drowns his out and I throw him to the floor.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

I nod in approval, "That one actually works so I'll let it slide."

I leave him to writhe in pain as I walk over to grab my ropes.

"You're gonna fucking pay for this" I hear him whimper from behind me, "My…my father will make you fucking pay."

"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, someone is about to lose their tongue privileges."

I stand, ropes in hand, and make my way back to him. He tries to move away, but I grab a hold of his ankle and yank him towards me.

"What's your name?" I ask simply as I begin to bind his feet together.

"Fuck you, you crazy bitch."

I throw my hand out and grab his face squeezing his cheeks so his lips pucker. I flash the blood stained blade in front of his face.

"Tongue!" I bark.

He shakes his head no and whimpers.

"Either stick it out or I'll carve it out. Your choice."

After a few seconds of no response, I move my hand from his cheeks and grab hold of his lower lip. In a fluid motion, I slice it off.

I scream to drown out his scream, and I grab his now bloodied face, "Tongue!" I command again.

"Hlease…..hlease don't…"

I feel my face scrunch in disgust as I look at his bloody snotty face. He breathing is weak and his body trembles with each exhale. "My name is Yaruki." I finally say, " I want you to remember it."

I tap my blade against his exposed bloody row of lower teeth, " I also want you to remember this kindness because if you call me out of my name one more time," I tap a little harder on one tooth, "I will not be so merciful."

I move back down and finish binding his feet. I grab the next rope and reach for his arms. He lets out a pained cry as I pull his arm from its sling.

I roll him over to his stomach and throw his arms behind him. He lets out another pained cry, "I want to explain something to you." I say softly as I proceed to bind his arms together.

"I am not proud of what I am about to do to you. I take no pleasure in this. This is not who I am." I tighten the ropes just to hear him cry out again. I flip him on to his back and he lands on his wrists.

I drown out another one of his screams with my own.

"But…..I need to do this….. or else I'll go mad." I grab his face once more, "Open."

He whimpers.

"I'm not going to take your tongue…..not now anyway. Open."

He complies, and I place the final cord between his teeth and tie it tightly behind his head.

"Have you ever been angry?" I ask looking him in the eyes, "I don't mean upset or irritated, but truly enrage. To the point where you just…you just want to…..to…." I stab the blade in to his upper arm and a muffled scream escapes him, "to do that." I say in a breathy manner, "to just do that over and over and over." I pull the blade out again.

"That's where I am right now…..." My vision becomes blurred with tears, "and I hate it…." a sob escapes me, "I don't want to do this, but I…..I….have no choice….." I grab hold of the arm I stabbed and squeeze it as hard as I can.

Another muffled scream.

"I need someone to feel what I am feeling…..I need you to suffer with me."

I let go and watch as tears fall down his face.

I place my hand on his cheek and he flinches, "This will not be fast." I push the blade into another part of his body, "This will not be painless." I find another spot, "You will die a slow and agonizing death."

More muffled screams with hard stifled sobs sound.

"….and for that…I am sorry."

I press my lips to his for head as my blade finds another soft fleshy part.

"Let us begin."

MUKOSTU'S POV

"You stupid, stupid fool!" I scold at myself as I stumble though the smoke laden halls of the brothel trying feel my way to an exit. "No woman is worth this! She would of have certainly rejected you moment she saw your face. And now here you are, dying in a whore fire for some slut!" Another explosion rocks the building, and I collapse to my knees to weak from the lack of air and practically blinded by the smoke.

I let out another wheezing cough. 'No, it can't end like this!' My hands tremble as I feel the tears well up in my eyes. 'I admit I was not a good man, but I don't deserve this!'

The wood of the building gives way somewhere down the hall and a gust of smoke and heat knocks me back as it swirls through the building looking for an escape as well.

'I don't want to die!' "h….h….help!" I manage to rasp out, but I doubt anyone could hear over the roars of the flames.

"p….please…..i….i don't want…to…to die…"

I sense a presence to the side of me and quickly snatch my hand out to grab them, "p….please….h…help."

The figure stops, and I try to see through the smoke, but it was futile. I let out another deathly hack and cling tighter to their clothing. 'They will save me damn it! I deserve to be saved!'

Finally, I feel them step closer and kneel allowing me to catch a glimpse of their face.

It is her.

My angel….My Mahime…..

Her blood splattered face seems to give off an eerie glow as her violet eyes bore in to mine.

"P-please….h-help…"

I reach up and place a hand on her cheek. She stares at me for a moment longer before nodding.

I cling to the back of her as she powers her way through the smoke and flames. My legs are wrapped around her waist, my face is buried her long soft black hair. She smells of blood and perspiration and it turns me on.

I hope she can feel me as I continue to press and shift against her back.

Finally, we make it out in to the fresh air, and I feel her support under me disappear. My grip around her throat tightens to the point of strangulation as I struggle to get my legs back around her waist.

No….I want to stay like this for a little while longer…..I was almost finished…..

She struggles to get my grip free before stopping.

My breathing grows heavier as I continue to shift and move against her.

Suddenly, she jumps up and falls backwards slamming me so hard against the ground that it knocks the wind out of me, and my grip loosens.

She rolls away and stands.

I struggle to get the air back into my lungs, and she stands over me. I see her lift a leg up and bring it down.

The pain to my groin causes me to black out.

YARUKI'S POV

I stare down at the disgusting unconscious creep contemplating slitting his throat as well.

Scowling, I decide that enough of that has been done for today and settle on another hard kick to the groin. I spit in the creep's face for good measure, "I should have let you burn." I say softly before turning away from him.

"YOU! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

The Madame approaches me and cuts her hand across my face, "You filthy little slut!" She slaps me again on my other cheek only this time her nails dig in to my skin. I flick my arm down to the ground and the blade frees itself from its resting place against my forearm.

I swing the knife across her face slicing her eyes and the bridge of her nose.

She screams clutching her face.

I grab hold of her hair and snatch her head back to expose her throat. Placing the blade against it, she immediately silences. I watch as the blood runs down her face like tears.

"Where is my 'father'?"

"H-he stole from me…..took the metal man…and….and…left…right as the building caught fire….."

"Did he say where is was going?"

She swallows, "Not to me….but….but I over-heard him talking….talking with the metal man…..they were….were meeting his brother…..his big brother…."

I frowned.

Sometime ago, Renkotsu developed this annoying habit of referring to Bankotsu as 'big brother'. It immediately became a thing among the three men and every time it happened, Bankotsu would become even more arrogant than he already was.

Even Jakotsu would occasionally call him big brother, although he would only really do it whenever we were alone together since he knew it irritated me so.

Normally, he would simply refer to Bankotsu by name.

"Where?"

"I…I don't know."

I press the blade harder against her throat, "Don't lie to me."

"Please…I…don't know…"

"Which way did he go?"

"East….he went east."

"What's the closest village east of here?"

"J-jin….j-jin…..Jinje village."

I pull her closer to me, "If you're lying to me….I'll come back….and your sight won't be the only thing I take."

I release her and begin making my way towards the Jinje Village. Hoping and praying I reach the bald bastard before Bankotsu.

RENKOSTU'S POV

I exhale allowing the flames to warm me as I ran through one explanation after the other about Yaruki's death. My stomach churns slightly at how Bankotsu could possible react. There was no denying his attraction to her, but perhaps providing a more useful substitution would quell his anger.

I frown. I should have grabbed a whore while I had the chance as a peace offering. If there is even an ounce of actual leadership in that fool, he'll see that I did him a favor by removing such a distraction.

My eyes fall on the fascinating being across from me. Ginkotsu was not much of a talker, something I value greatly, but he could speak. He told me about where he was from and how he had requested to become the way he was.

My eyes scan over his weaponry noting some pieces are a bit dated and others could use some sharpening. I make a mental note to pick up more parts for him after meeting with Bankotsu and entering Jinje.

"~Gesh~ The woman…"

"What about her? She's dead now."

"Was she not a member?"

"No." I say flatly, "just some yujo big brother fancied. She served no real purpose and had no real value. Once big brother sees your potential, he will forget about her."

"~Gesh~"

I look up at the night sky. We were not that far from Jinje village and this cross road is where we agreed to meet once all this is over.

The mission was far shorter than I originally believe, so it maybe some time before Bankotsu arrives.

I look down and over to her bow and quiver shaking my head at the waste.

"Dying in a whore house like the whore she was. Fitting."

Suddenly, something strikes the bridge of my nose with such force that blood pools out instantly. I cover my face and stand, "WHAT THE HELL!?" Ginkotsu rises as well readying his cannon, but I could hear no other sound or movement.

I scan the small clearing scowling at every leaf and trunk. Ripping my hand from my face, I grab my gourd, "SHOW YOUR SELF YOU- GAHH!"

Again something strikes the bridge of my nose in the exact same spot as the first only this time the item was larger bringing far more force that the last.

I fall backwards clutching my face again as my eyes begin to water from the pain, "Fuck!"

Ginkotsu fires in the direction he believes the attacker is hiding in, clearing out a large chunk of the forest. The smoke clears, but still no sign of the coward.

I growl again and stand, "You fucking bastard!"

This time I am stuck in the back of my head, and I collapse forwards on to my knees grasping the spot where it hit me. I see something roll off to the side and turn.

Rocks?….ROCKS! They were throwing rocks at me!

My body trembles from a mixture of rage and irritation at such a childish move.

"You don't look to good Renkotsu. What on Earth happened?"

My blood runs cold at the mock concern in her voice and slowly I turn my head forwards to see her.

She stood in the clearing made by Ginkotsu. Her body and face streaked heavily with blood, but I doubt that any of it is hers. Her bow is in one hand and her quiver rested peacefully on her back. She gently tosses and catches a decently sized rock in the other hand. A pile of rocks, all increasing in size, rest at her feet. The one in her hand being the current smallest.

My eyes glance over to where her bow and quiver once were to see if it was a mere trick of the eyes, but no, they were gone, and I didn't even see her take them.

Ginkotsu aims his cannon at her.

She catches the rock and holds up one finger, "Stay out of this, Metal Man. My quarrel is not with you."

He glares at her and grabs hold of his cannon cord.

She scowls and immediately throws the rock in her hand at him. It lodges itself deep in to the barrel of his cannon. "Fire and you explode." She says darkly before picking up a larger rock and proceeding to toss it up in the air again.

"Now then, Renkotsu. Let's play a game. You have three chances to tell me why Bankotsu keeps me around. For each guess you get wrong," she catches the rock again, "You get another rock to the face. Get all three wrong, and the rock will magically transform in to an arrow. Get it right, and you might just live."

She glares at me,

"Might being the key word."

I stand, "Your purpose….is to be a fucking whore-"

The rock strikes in the same spot as its first two predecessors knocking me completely to my back. By this point, the lower half of my face is drenched in blood and my body trembles from the searing pain.

"Just so you know," she begins, "I'm counting that answer as two. You got one fucking more. So I suggest you take this seriously and use that fucking brain you value so damn much."

I sit up and open my mouth to speak, but stop.

Three times.

Three times she's struck me in the same spot without fail.

At night.

With only a campfire as any source of light.

I look over to Ginkostu. She even managed to jam his cannon.

I glare up at her, "Your aim." I say bitterly.

She smiles brightly, "~Ding Ding Ding!~ That's right. My fucking aim, and to be honest," She resumes tossing and catching the rock, "since I've been with Bankotsu…Its. Only. Gotten. Better."

I shield my face and stand.

"Now, round two. Give me ONE. FUCKING. REASON why I should keep you alive. And do remember that you wasted a guess earlier, so you still only have one left."

I swallow annoyed at how I let such a child best me, but, for some reason, I could not stop shaking.

I settle that it was merely the pain pulsing through my face. I'll be damned if I ever admit she was terrifying.

I glance around trying to find something that would turn this to my favor, but nothing I thought of or saw worked.

If her aim is as good as I am beginning to believe, risking any sort of attack on her by either me or Ginkotsu would merely force her back into hiding. And with the bow and quiver in her possession, that would be a very dangerous situation.

I growl realizing that she left me with no other option but to play her stupid little game.

…One reason to keep me alive….Bankotsu.

It had to be Bankotsu.

I look up to her and open my mouth to speak but stop when I look in to her eyes. Despite the calm expression on her face, her violet eyes gave off a different sort of energy. A darker one than any I've seen from her before. Fueled purely by rage.

And the answer came to me. The true answer.

"It's a trick question," I begin, "in your mind, there is no reason to keep me alive."

"~Ding! Ding! Ding!~ I guess you aren't as stupid as I thought." She drops the rock.

"Well done, Renkotsu. Would you like to know what you won?" She pulls an arrow from her quiver and loads it…

"A quick death."

She aims the arrow at me and pulls back.

"Burn in hell, you fucking piece of shit."

"~YAAAAARRRRRUUUUUKKKKKIIII~!"

We both freeze at the suddenly cheerful sing song voice.

I hear rustling from behind me, and Yaruki's eyes narrow to mere slits on her face.

I see Bankotsu appear in my peripheral and despite myself, I let out a soft relieved sigh. He steps in front of me, and I could practically hear the smile on his face.

"~Hey! You miss me?"

She doesn't move or speak.

"I gotta admit. This look you got right now. Really doing it for me. You should get pissed off like this more often."

Silence is her only response, and I use this distraction to remove myself from her line of fire. I catch Bankotsu's quick glance in my direction, and Yaruki shifts her aim back on me.

"Hey now, don't tell me a few hours made you lose all interest in me. That kinds hurts." Bankotsu steps forwards and she directs her aim towards him. "There, that's better. Now talk to me." He takes another step towards her, "What 's got you pissed off now, huh?"

She releases her arrow, and he dodges it with ease.

"You really shouldn't waste your arrows like that, Yaruki. Your aim maybe good, but you forget that I'm still pretty fast."

"Fight me." She finally says lowering her bow.

He folds his arms over his chest and contemplates her request. "No." he answers and she glares at him before lifting her bow.

"Fight me! You fucking coward!" She releases another arrow and again he dodges it and closes the distance between them.

"See and that's why I'm not. You're too pissed off now."

She throws her bow down and scream charges him, pulling what looks like a bloodied cooking knife from her sleeve.

She swings the blade at him with stunning speed, but Bankotsu merely seems slightly impressed. He catches her flailing blade arm, bends her wrist just enough to disarm her, and palms her hard in the center of her chest knocking her flat on her bottom.

He kicks the blade away from them and crouches down to her.

Her body trembles and her breathing is haggard and impossible to control. Her eyes are furious.

"See, you've regressed. All that hard work and you're not even using what I taught you because you're too angry." He shakes his finger at her as if he were scolding a child, "You're fighting with emotions." He lightly taps her temple, "Not with logic"

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" She connects a punch to his face before lunging at him.

I watch the two wrestle for a moment in awe. Yaruki, wild and violent like an animal, and Bankotsu, calm and stoic at first as he deflects a good majority of her strikes, but I could see the growing irritation in his eyes with each hit she does successfully get.

He finally manages to pin her down, and she lets out a scream that could awaken the dead.

"Enough, Yaruki!"

Her scream continues, and he growls in irritation. He snatches her up from the ground to change hold positions so that he could cover her mouth.

She fights against him as she continues to scream.

"Dear god, does she have demon lungs or something?!" Jakotsu cried out blocking his ears.

I watch as he gets her in to another hold position, but in the process places his forearm too close to her mouth.

She bites down through his glove and in the light of the fire, I see that she drew blood.

Reflexively, Bankotsu cries out and punches her in the side of the head with a solid THWACK!.

She goes limp.

"Fuck!"

Everything goes still and the only sound is Bankotsu struggling to get Yaruki to let his arm go.

Jakotsu removes his hands from his ears realizing she stopped and rushes over to Bankotsu.

"Shit!" he stumbles back startled.

"What?!"

Jakotsu crawls back towards the two and waves his hand in font of Yaruki's face. He snaps his fingers at her, but she doesn't move.

"Her eyes are open, but I think she's out cold. Scared the crap out of me for a second there"

"Well she's still got a hell of a grip on my arm if she is out. Help me get her off!"

The two struggle for a moment before finally prying the unconscious Yaruki's teeth out of Bankotsu's arm. He pushes her off him and stands gripping and shaking his arm as he fights through the pain.

Jakotsu walks over and gasps as he inspects Bankotsu's arm, "I can't believe she bit you! What is she a fucking dog?!"

Jakotsu makes a move to kick her in the head, but Bankotsu snatches him back with his good arm causing him to fall on his butt.

"Don't!"

"OW!" Jakotsu looks up at him in hurt disbelief, "Bankotsu that hurt!"

"Sorry," he says half-heartedly as he proceeds to help Jakotsu back up, "but don't. She's already out. She won't feel it anyway."

Jakotsu pouts and rubs his sore butt.

Bankotsu steps closer to the fire and takes a minute to inspect his arm properly, gripping and ungripping his hand and flinching slightly at the pain.

"You ok?" Jakotsu asks crouching next to him.

"Yeah, looks worse than it actually is."

The two stay there for a minute before Bankotsu dark cobalt eyes rise to meet mine. He stands and walks over to me.

I fight the urge to step back. I could see the irritation still settled on his face.

"Geez, she did a number on you too, huh?" He asks in a friendly tone, but the force used to grab the back of my neck belies his attempts to put me in to a false sense of comfort. He drags me closer to fire and pushes me down forcing me to be unnecessarily close to the flames, "Yeah," he says darkly as he roughly angles my head to get a better look at my nose, "You must have done something real messed up to get her that pissed, right?"

I say nothing and try to pull away, but he keeps a firm and steady grip on me, despite the wound on his arm.

He is far stronger than I initially believed.

"I mean, I can only assume so since she did this," he flicks the bruised portion of my nose, and I let out a short grunt of pain, "And this." He indicates towards his wounded arm.

"But you know what?" he asks crouching down next to me and pushing my face just a bit closer to the flames.

I clench my eye closed as the heat begins to scorch the blood on my face.

"I'm not even going to bother asking what you did because I think this," he flicks my nose again, "is punishment enough."

Again, I attempt to pull away, but he keeps me locked in place.

"However, I do think some level of betrayal happened and if there is one thing I can't stand is a fucking traitor." He flicks my nose again to ensure his point is getting across. And it was. Painfully.

"You're not a traitor, are you Renkotsu?"

"N-no, big Brother."

"And you do understand that we are a group…a team….…..hell family if you want to be, right?"

"Y-yes, big Brother."

"And you also understand the Yaruki is a part of this family too…..right?"

"Y-yes, big Brother."

"Good." He yanks me away from the fire, and the sudden coolness of the air stings my face.

Despite being away from the flames, Bankotsu keeps me hunched over so that we were still eye level.

He presses his forehead to mine and smiles warmly, "And just like I won't allow anything bad to happen to any one of you, I expect you not to allow anything bad to happen to any one of us. Am I clear?"

"Yes, big Brother."

He pats the side of my shoulder warmly before releasing me and stepping back, "Glad we could have this talk. Now, let's get cleaned up, yeah?"

I exhale slowly as he begins to walk away, and glare at the back of his head as my body trembles in rage.

The arrogant little punk!

"Oh! Right….right….." He stops and I freeze, "One more thing, Renkotsu."

I swallow hard as I stare at the back of his head, "y-yes, Big Brother?"

"For your sake," he begins, "she better wake up, because if you made me kill my sharp shooter tonight….

~You will become one of the 1000 humans I promised my Banryuu.~

Hope you enjoyed it~ Let me know if you have questions. I was trying to attempt something and I hope I did it well.