Chapter 4. The Miko and the Mercenaries
Kagome slowly woke up and her eyes was hazy and unfocused at first and when her eyes slowly started to focus she looked up at a ceiling that she somehow knew she had seen before and she slowly tried to sit only to let out a loud yelp in pain and fell back down on the mattress and pillows and whimpered slightly. 'What the hell happened to me?' She thought as she looked down on her body that was covered in a quilt but she could see that she had bandages on her arms and shoulders and she saw her body glowing with her reiki and she frowned a little until she gasped in horror when all her memories came back to her of what has happened and then what she had heard Naraku say before she fainted and she started to tremble in fear. 'I thought I was going to die. Why am I still alive? D-did Naraku revive me like he said? N-no I don't want this, not again!' Her thought slowly started to make her panic until she heard someone clear their throat and she let out a frightened squeak and turned her head towards the sound and looked at Suikotsu who sat in front of a desk and it looked like he was mixing medicines and her eyes widened in fear when he stood up with a bowl and after he had mixed in some water walked over to her and looked down on her with a very irritated glare. Kagome tried to move away when he walked to her only to feel even more in pain and she felt how tears filled her eyes and started to fall down her cheeks.
"S-stay away….!" Kagome tried to scream but her throat felt dry and scratchy Suikotsu just walked to her and sat down at a chair infront of her bed.
"Calm down, you are still trying to purify the rest of the miasma. Drink this, it will help a little and will take away some of the pain aswell." Suikotsu said as he reached out his hand that was holding the bowl towards the girl. Kagome looked at Suikotsu then at the bowl and slowly shook her head only to whimper more in pain as tears fell from her eyes. Suikotsu looked at the girl and sighed as he stood up and then sat down at the side of the bed right beside Kagome and he took his free hand and helped her slowly sit up and brought the bowl to her mouth. Kagome started to tremble when Suikotsu touched her and looked at him with panic in her eyes.
"Just drink it, Naraku thinks you are dead. Bankotsu brought you back to our hideout in order to save you, for what reason I don't know. I have given you this medicine ever since and I won't touch you more than I have to, Bankotsu don't want anyone to touch you, which is understandable but you are still in too much pain to move apparently so just deal with it and drink your damn medicine so I can go and get Bankotsu. He wanted to know as soon as you woke up." He said as he looked down at the trembling girl as he held the bowl closer to her mouth.
Kagome heard what he said and got confused but she was to afraid and in too much pain to fight him of so he slowly started to drink the murky green substance in the bowl and grimaced when she felt how bitter the taste was once Suikotsu saw that the bowl was empty he took it away and placed the girl back down on the pillows and stood up and walked back to the desk and put the bowl down and looked at the girl in the bed who looked back at him with fear and confusion in her eyes and he couldn't help but feel very displeased over the fear. This was the girl that they had been fighting for three years after all, she had never shown fear during any of their fights with her group, maybe it was because he or his brothers wasen't the ones to make her feel the fear that bothered him but after what she had experience he couldn't really blame her either. Suikotsu let out an annoyed sigh and walked to the door.
"Just wait while I get Bankotsu, he will explain what happened after you fainted in Naraku's castle." Suikotsu said as he left the room and closed the door behind him and left Kagome alone in the room.
Once Suikotsu had left the room Kagome started to slowly look around the room and recognized it as the very same room that she had woken up in the first time when Bankotsu and Renkotsu had kidnapped her, even her yellow backpack was there in the exact same place it had been left at, they hadn't bothered to bring it with them when they had left for Naraku's hideout. Once she had looked around enough her thoughts started to wander and she slowly leaned her head back against the pillows and looked up at the ceiling. 'What happened after I fainted? Why would Bankotsu decide to save me? It doesn't make any sense. I'm their enemy, wouldn't he be glad that I was dying? What does he want with me?' Kagome's eyes slowly widened in panic as other thoughts came up in her mind 'What if he plans on doing the same as Naraku did?! N-no I don't want that! I don't want to feel that pain again!' Kagome couldn't help but cry even more when those thoughts entered her mind and she closed her eyes and took a slow and deep breath to calm herself and once she breathed out she opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling again. Whatever Bankotsu wanted with her she would have to wait until he came and told her but if it was what she feared she wouldn't stick around long enough for it to happen, she would find a way to escape or die trying. With that decision made up she just had to wait and see what the young mercenarie leader wanted.
Suikotsu came down from the third floor and walked in to the living room where the rest of his brothers where and he looked at them all before he looked at Bankotsu who sat in his usual chair with an cup of sake in his hand. Everyone in the room looked at Suikotsu when he walked in. Suikotsu looked at Bankotsu for a few seconds before he spoke.
"She is awake, Bankotsu. She is confused and scared. Which isn't all that wierd with what happened to her. Whatever you think she can be of use to us will not happen until she can move passed what Naraku did to her. Right now she can't even stand it when I touched her just to give her, her medicine. She is a wreck though I am impressed she actually is alive and awake. Her reiki is still working on purify the miasma it seems to take very much time but I haven't seen any miasma as potent as Naraku's so it does not surprise me that it takes time." Bankotsu looked at Suikotsu and nodded and took the rest of his sake in one gulp and put down the cup down on the table in front of him and stood up and walked out of the living room, Renkotsu and Jakotsu followed close behind him since they wanted to see for themselves that the girl really was awake.
Suikotsu sighed and turned around on his heel and walked after them and they all walked up the stairs to the third floor and Bankotsu walked up to the door that was the room where Kagome was in and opened it and walked in and stopped a few feet from the bed and looked at the girl in the bed. She was, just like Suikotsu still purifying the miasma and her body still glowed in pink and she was crying. He had never been good at dealing with girls who was crying so he sighed and walked to the chair beside the bed and sat down in it and as soon as he saw the others had entered the room and Suikotsu closed the door he told them with one look to stay where they stood, the last thing he needed was to make the girl panic and hurt herself even more and he then looked at the girl who was staring at him as she held the quilt tightly with her hands over her body.
Kagome heard when the door opened and she saw Bankotsu and his brothers come in to the room and she instinctively held the quilt tight in her hands and held it against her body as she watched Bankotsu walked to the bed and sit down in the chair beside it while the others stayed in front of the door. She looked at Bankotsu and she clenched her teeth slightly.
"Do you want some water before we talk?" Bankotsu looked at Kagome while he asked that, they had been trying to make sure she got some water while she was unconscious but there was a high chance she wanted to drink some water now that she was awake. Kagome looked at him for a few seconds and nodded slowly, she could still feel the bitter taste of the medicine Suikotsu had made her drink and even though the pain had subsided a little she was thirsty and she still felt like her throat was scratchy. Bankotsu watched as she nodded and looked back to his brothers.
"Jakotsu, take some of the water on the desk and bring it here." He said and his voice was showed that he would not hear any of his complains over the matter. He figured that since Jakotsu was not interested in girls what so ever he was the best choice to let near the girl right now. Jakotsu sighed and walked to the desk and took a clean bowl and filled it with water and walked up to Bankotsu and handed it to him and then stood behind the chair Bankotsu sat in and watched the girl in the bed, he was amazed on how strong her reiki was, she hadn't stopped glowing since they had left . Bankotsu took the bowl and slowly stood up and sat on the side of the bed just like Suikotsu had done and looked at the girl.
"Can you get up by yourself now that the pain is not as strong or should I help you?" He asked and the girl immedatly stiffened at his question and looked at him and slowly started to try to sit up, once she was sitting up he handed her the bowl with water. Kagome took the bowl carefully and put it to her lips and drank the water slowly and let out a sigh when she felt the water go down her dry throat. When she had emptied the bowl she put it down in her lap and looked down and frowned a little, her body was still glowing pink but it didn't seem like she was using her powers on a conscious level which made her feel slightly worried, she had gotten a lot better at controlling her reiki during these three years but the fact that her powers now seemed to have a will of it's own was unsettling. Her musing was interupted when Bankotsu spoke.
"Do you feel better?" Bankotsu looked at the girl. He couldn't believe she was actually alive and how strong her reiki was, he had never heard about anything like this before. It seemed like her power was an bottomless well of pure energy. Kagome looked at him and blinked slightly and was filled with confusion again.
"I… I guess. Why did you save me, though? It doesn't make sense" Kagome looked into Bankotsu's blue eyes trying to see what he really wanted from her that was making him go against Naraku. She was certain that Naraku wanted her to die.
"Because you hadn't given up on your life even after what he did to you and I want me and my brothers to free of him and I know you can help us with that. We will help you in your fight against him if you help us. We can even train you so you don't have to rely on others to protect you, if you want." Bankotsu said, he did hide some of his reason to save her but that was his business. Kagome looked at him and her eyes grew slightly wider. 'He wants my help to free them from Naraku?! And they will fight with us to defeat him?! But how can I possibly help them?! Do I even want to? They have killed so many people. But if I can help them wouldn't they be good to have on our side?" Kagome mentally slapped herself for her thoughts there were no guarantees that they would help them after all.
"I don't know if I can help you, you guys don't really have any real bodies. What keeps you in a body of blood and flesh is the jewel shards in your necks. I don't know how to keep you alive if the shards were to be removed." Kagome looked at them in confusion while she talked, she wasn't a Kami after all. Bankotsu smiled a little before he spoke
"I know it's not easy but you're power is very strong and I know you can do it and as I said, we will help you find Naraku and kill him and if you want to we can train you once you are healed so that you won't be a victim again." Kagome looked at him with very confused yet scared eyes before she slowly nodded.
"Okay, Bankotsu. I don't know if I can trust you and your brothers but I will give you all a chance. I don't want something like this to happen ever again." Kagome's voice was low and the guys could all see that she didn't trust them but they ignored it, if she had trusted them like it was nothing they knew something was wrong. Bankotsu slowly stood up and extended his hand towards Kagome who flinched in fear slightly, looked at Bankotsu with cautious eyes before she slowly reached out and shook his hand and as soon it was done she immediately pulled her hand away from his as if she had been burned and Bankotsu knew it was going to take a lot of time for the girl to get used to be touched in any way and he nodded and walked to the door and opened it and looked over his shoulder to her.
"Suikotsu will come to you to get you some medicine until all that miasma is gone from your body, Jakotsu will be the one to make sure you get food and water until you can come down and get it yourself. I'm sure you will feel a little bit more relaxed towards him since he won't have any interest in you, right?" Bankotsu asked as his brothers waited for the girls response and Jakotsu's lips twisted into a displeased scowl but he didn't say anything since Bankotsu was right. He looked at Kagome and waited for her to answer and met her gaze before she looked towards Bankotsu and the rest of his brothers.
"Okay, thanks, I guess." Kagome looked at them and felt slightly relaxed to know that Jakotsu would be the one bringing her food and water. The worse Jakotsu could do was kill her, he wouldn't try anything on her. After hearing her response Bankotsu nodded and left the room with his brothers following him behind him but before Jakotsu could leave Kagome's voice stopped him and he turned and looked at her.
"How long have I been out?" Kagome looked at Jakotsu and bit her lip slightly hoping he wouldn't ignore her. Jakotsu looked at her for a minute and then sighed.
"You have been sleeping for 4 days now" Jakotsu then turned on his heels and left the room and closed the door softly and left the girl alone to her own thoughts until he had to go back and make sure she got something to eat.