Well hello, everyone! *insert insane author cackles* Welcome back to The Lucky Seven! Here we are at chapter three, and this chapter covers ages 5 and ½ through six. I was originally going to have this chapter cover ages five, six, seven, and eight, but then I realized I needed more room for character development. So an extension was needed! Besides, five chapters were asked for, and I'm damn well gonna give it. Plus I plan on Aikotsu being eleven by the time the actual story begins. These first four chapters are basically a prologue to the actual story but they are essential for context and whatnot.
Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha, all rights are reserved for Rumiko Takahashi and affiliates.
Chapter three: The Choices We Make
Suikotsu always thought it would be a cold day in hell before he ever saw a giant. But he'd be wrong. So, so wrong. He also had never thought he'd see his sister on a giant's shoulders, waving like the little ray of sunshine that she is.
But there the giant was, and there she is, perched on the green-haired man's large shoulder, waving her arm back and forth with a big grin. "Sui-nii! I made a friend! He's huge!" She shouts happily. She's easy to spot, in her pink yukata. She'd recently grown out of her favorite green kimono, which had utterly devastated the little girl, so they had bought her a brand new outfit. To their delight, she absolutely loves it.
He gives her a lopsided smile in return. "I can see that. Did you know that Bankotsu just got back? He has some snacks." At the mention of snacks, Aikotsu immediately catapults herself off of the giant, flipping and vaulting all the way to the ground, where she lands neatly on her feet like a pro. After giving him a quick hug, and shouting a farewell to her new friend, she's off towards camp, disappearing in a cloud of dirt.
"My name is Suikotsu," The doctor begins, "I'm Aikotsu's older brother. Who might you be?"
"I'm Kyokotsu." The giant introduces himself with a wide, toothy grin. Suikotsu looks closer. Is that a bat demon's wing in his teeth there?
Just where in the seventh hell did Aikotsu find this guy?
Funnily enough, Kyokotsu ended up being a MAJOR help in their group. It's all too often that they've fought a demon and killed it, but are left with the corpse. Thankfully, Kyokotsu loves eating demons. That's actually how he got to be as tall and bulky as he is; he just constantly eats demons. Well, he eats humans and demons, but prefers demons. Bankotsu can't tell if he's a cannibal or not, Jakotsu just doesn't seem to care, and all Aikotsu cares about is getting shoulder rides from her new friend/brother. He's also very helpful whenever they wake up to Aikotsu nearly getting kidnapped in the dead of night. Not that she doesn't help herself, what with her barrier and that strange lightning that had also saved her the first time. Kyokotsu is always allowed to eat the perpetrator after he's questioned by a violently angry Suikotsu and Ginkotsu, and he honestly doesn't care as long as he gets something to eat. Aikotsu enjoys making large bracelets and anklets for him to wear, and he always accepts them without complaint. Truth be told, he's just a gentle giant, and Aikotsu loves it. Ginkotsu is the only other one other than Mu-nii and Ban-nii to accept her constant floral jewelry and now she finally has someone else to gift them to without being told no.
...
At age six, Aikotsu begins to see that there's much more to her big brother Suikotsu than the kind-hearted doctor. It had started off simple. Jakotsu had found dinner, and decided to skin it in the camp instead of at the river because he didn't want to walk. He'd started cutting, and some blood splashed on her and Suikotsu. Now she'd just wiped it off and continued playing with Buyo, not really all that bothered, but when she had looked up to ask Suikotsu a question, he looked...scared, staring at his hands. She'd tried calling his name, to get his attention, and then he had begun to ramble about blood on his hands in a way that had her backing away against her will. He just kept scrubbing at his hands, over and over, near tears despite the fact that he'd already brushed all of it off.
Maybe he'd just had a bad nightmare the night before about blood. She understands. Sometimes she has really bad nightmares, where all she can see is fire and blood all around her. It scares her a lot, but she doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to look like a baby compared to her strong brothers. 'Should I grab him a bucket?' She ponders to herself as she and her six other brothers watch the seventeen-year-old scrub furiously at his hands without any signs of stopping. In the end, she decides to get him the water, and carefully brings the full basin down. After she sets the basin down, Bankotsu drags her back to him as they watch their brother frantically wash 'blood' off of his hands, muttering about how it's still there.
"Never get close to Suikotsu when he's like this, Ai." Bankotsu's voice rumbled from behind her, prompting a nod as they worriedly observed their brother. "Sometimes when this happens, he changes. He gets really dangerous. He won't think twice about killing you when he's like that, and the Suikotsu you know won't ever remember doing it." She gulps at his words, not wanting to imagine what Ban-nii's seen to make him actually afraid. Just to be sure, her barrier springs to life, surrounding herself and her six brothers, while a separate barrier surrounds Suikotsu. Even though she's scared, she still doesn't want him to get hurt.
It's only after several long hours of being confined in the magenta barriers that Suikotsu finally seems to calm down, appearing to be okay now that the 'blood' is off of his hands. He looks around uncomprehendingly as Aikotsu's barriers slowly dissolve into nothing, and he turns his head to see his little sister sitting next to Renkotsu, apparently in the middle of a lesson. One glance down at the basin at his feet is enough to clear things up for him, the situation beginning to make sense. He feels horrible, his stomach churning uncomfortably. "Bankotsu?" He whispers, gaining the attention of his brother and leader.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry, it happened again." He's silent as Bankotsu waves off the apology, eyes trained on the grass. "Was she scared? Seeing me lose it?"
"A bit, but I think it's passed." Suikotsu looks down, feeling guilty that he made his sister afraid. Bankotsu sees this, and claps a hand on his brother's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Ai is resilient, and she isn't one to hold a grudge, you know that." The two continue to spectate as Renkotsu teaches his sister, watching her face light up as she's praised for answering a question correctly.
...
Jakotsu isn't stupid. Well, he's not that stupid. When presented enough, he can recognize a pattern. And so, when Aikotsu continually rises in the morning with fresh bruises and scrapes and he just so happens to find a brand new kimono placed delicately with his belongings, suddenly everything from the last few days makes sense. Those marks aren't from training, they're very careful to not actually hurt her. So where are they coming from?
That night, fueled by an unexplainable determination to find out just where it is that she's getting these new injuries from, he follows her into the village they're staying near, and watches closely as she sneaks into a seamster's house and steals two beautiful kimonos. She's amazingly silent for a six-year-old, he has to remark even from his distance, but apparently not quiet enough, as the oil lamp turns on and a loud shriek of outrage echoes from the hut. The crack of a slap makes him snarl quietly, teeth setting to a grind, and his eyes narrow as Aikotsu is tossed out of the hut onto her butt, scooting back from the enraged tailor in fear. Her cheek is already swelling up, a dark red against her alabaster skin. "If I catch you in here again, I'll take your hand, you dirty street urchin! Get out! Get the hell out of here now!" Apparently, she doesn't leave quick enough for the infuriated shopkeep, and he kicks her several times in the stomach, certainly hard enough to bruise, if not break, something.
His eyes narrow into slits as Aikotsu curls up to protect her stomach as much as she can, which only results in the man kicking her in the back and the head before losing interest. After a final insult in the form of spitting on the girl, the shopkeep returns to his hut, and the lamp is blown out, leaving the strip that had once illuminated the beaten girl dark. She lies there for several long seconds, scarcely breathing no doubt, before shakily pulling herself up on her hands and knees, clasping a hand around her stomach and the other over her mouth, presumably to prevent herself from vomiting. Aikotsu finally drags herself to her feet and stumbles away through the treeline, back to camp, and this is where Jakotsu knows it's time to go, lest she find out about his late-night discovery.
But Jakotsu knew well, that shopkeeper would not dare hit Aikotsu ever again. Not if he had anything to say about it.
The next day, he keeps a close eye on her. She doesn't flinch whenever Bankotsu pats her on the shoulder, where a large bruise lies, but he can see it still hurts. The red mark that had been on her cheek has all but faded, miraculously. "Jakotsu, it's your turn to stand guard for Ai." Jakotsu nods and follows the girl without his usual sneer or harsh words. Instead, he keeps a close eye on their surroundings as she prepares for her bath. From behind a tree near the bank, he can hear her hiss in pain as her muscles protest. "Ouch.." She whispers, nearly inaudible. He says nothing, stewing in his confusion. Shouldn't he still hate her? True, he doesn't have any real reason for hating her, least of all for things she can't control, such as being a child and a girl. So why did he hate her so much? Is it because she always got so much of Bankotsu's attention? But she is incredibly smart, and she's very capable at making defensive barriers. She's skilled at hand-to-hand combat, even if she doesn't like.
'Screw it,' He decides, honestly done with being petty. Hating her doesn't make his life any easier, in fact, he thinks it's giving him wrinkles.
Once she's finished her bath and dressed, Aikotsu is thrown for a loop when her brother gathers her in a giant, careful hug. "You aren't half bad, ya know, for a girl." As she stands in his embrace, wide-eyed, tears sting in her eyes, though they aren't from pain or sadness. No, these are happy tears. She's finally done it. Jakotsu doesn't hate her.
That's all she's ever wanted. "Thanks...Ja-nii." She says, her voice cracking. She's been ignoring all of her cuts and bruises for weeks, knowing that her brothers wouldn't complain if they were hurt, and if they could take it, so could she. She had grown up knowing Jakotsu didn't like her, both because she was a child and because she was a girl. For him to not only compliment her, but hug her, is a major deal. She trembles in his embrace, biting her lip to keep from bursting into tears then and there. In the end, all the pain she's endured until now has finally paid off. It's worth it, no matter how much it hurts.
The day after that isn't as easy on her. Although she'd done her best to make sure the shop owner didn't kick her, he'd still landed some good shots at her stomach, and now every breath feels like someone's thrust a sword in her ribs. Her shoulder positively kills with pain, and the bruises on her back aren't doing very well either. In short, Aikotsu's essentially having the day from hell. Still, she says nothing, knowing deep down that her brothers wouldn't show pain even if they were seconds from dying, and she was not a crybaby. She could take it.
At least, that's what she kept telling herself every two seconds as the pain grew worse and worse during their walk to the next village. Her vision keeps going in and out of focus, leaving her view of her brothers blurry at best.
'Don't...cry. You're not..a baby. Why..are there two Ja-nii's?' Black spots grow larger, obscuring her sight until it's all a black blob, and she drops to the ground, unconscious.
When the brothers hear a thump behind them, they don't think much of it. After all, Aikotsu could have dropped her pack by accident, or she could be doing acrobatics again. However, Jakotsu instantly knows something isn't right. His assumptions are proven correct when he whirls around to find Aikotsu, face down on the dirt road, out cold. "Aikotsu!" He exclaims in shock, running over to try and wake her. His six brothers are right behind him, worried.
"Is she okay?" Bankotsu asks, on the verge of hyperventilating. Ginkotsu watches his sister with worry, Mukotsu starts examining the area to see if there are any obvious reasons for her losing consciousness, Renkotsu is ready to set something on fire, and Kyokotsu wants to kill someone then and there. Suikotsu is quick to give Jakotsu a long, dead-eyed stare, prompting the boy to throw his hands up in surrender.
"I didn't do anything, okay? All I know is I woke up the night before to see her sneakin' off and when I followed her, she had gone into that nearby village and was apparently trying to steal something." Jakotsu says, doing his best to preserve his innocence. He feels bad for ratting her out now, but it was the only way he could possibly survive 'til tomorrow.
Snarling with his teeth set to a grind, Suikotsu breathes in deep, and within an instant his doctor persona takes hold of him. With the precision only a medical professional could possess, he carefully peels open Aikotsu's kimono, although he's entirely unable to hold back his gasp of utter horror at the sight of the countless bruises that stain her skin. The largest bruise easily spans the entirety of her waist, the very top of it disappearing into the bandages wrapped around her chest, while the bottom of it ends down by her navel, stopping just short of her fundoshi. Ginkotsu's chest heaves, and he plops to the ground on his rear with a jarring thud, horrified.
Suikotsu doesn't know what to say, so he settles for gently applying a salve meant to help heal bruises, and carefully redress her. The three brothers are subdued as Aikotsu sleeps in her travel bedroll. "She isn't to get up under any circumstances, understood?" He sternly instructs his brothers, watching as all of them nod with somber expressions.
A few days after the brutal discovery of Aikotsu's wounds, Bankotsu confronts her. "Why didn't you say something?!" He shouts at her. Suikotsu is otherwise unphased, although the deep gouges in the dirt made by his claws say all too much of his thoughts on the matter. Jakotsu carefully watches the interaction between his brother and sister, ready to jump in at any moment.
Normally, he'd delight in the child getting berated, and possibly struck, but her actions had appealed to him. The fact that she had gone through the trouble of stealing things, being caught, and being physically punished as a result just to give him something made his heart feel uncomfortably warm. Truth be told, he didn't have anything against her personally, it was just that she was both a child and happened to be female. However, he appreciated that she would risk life and limb just to get something for him, the one person in the group who, arguably, disliked her presence the most.
"What were you thinking?!" Bankotsu continues with his tirade, absolutely incensed. "You could have been killed! Did you ever, for one second, think of that?! Answer me!" As the crack of Bankotsu's hand echoes off of Aikotsu's cheek, time stands still. The air freezes over, and Jakotsu's heart - slowly frosting over thanks to the six-year-old - drops to his feet. Aikotsu's hair covers her eyes, although the bright red handprint on her cheek, the very same one the store owner hit, is visible for all eyes to feast upon.
As though the rage clears, if only for a second, Bankotsu looks at his silent sister, before his eyes drop down to his hand, staring at it in bewilderment, as though he can barely even recognize it as his own hand. Then, his anger once again seems to take hold, and his face grows hard again.
Jakotsu decides it's now time to step in, before anything else can happen. He quickly gathers the silent six-year-old into his arms, turning to the side to keep her further away from Bankotsu's rage. Although rare, Bankotsu is absolutely deadly when angered enough.
"I think that's enough, Bankotsu." He says calmly and amicably, hoping to diffuse the situation. Aikotsu is limp and silent in Jakotsu's arms, staring sightlessly at the ground. Ginkotsu looks relieved that Jakotsu had stepped in. He would have jumped in had Bankotsu gone any further, leader or not.
"Get out of my way, Jakotsu. She has to learn a lesson." Bankotsu's voice is cold and hard, though Jakotsu is mostly undeterred.
"Bankotsu, you know I wouldn't stand up to you unless I had a good reason behind it. You know I also normally hate children, especially girls, so why would I bother pulling her out of this situation unless I had a reason?" Slowly, Aikotsu pulls herself out of her brother's arms, moving to stand in front of Bankotsu once more. Her head is lowered, but she doesn't move to protect herself. It's almost like she wants him to hit her. As if she knows he's stressed and doesn't know what to do.
Bankotsu's teeth gnash, torn between his fury that she never said anything about getting hurt, and pain that she had been hurt in the first place. He wants to hit her. But he doesn't. He can barely believe he even hit her once. He doesn't know what to do. But just looking at her, head lowered, curled in on herself, yet accepting if he chooses to strike her again, he's unable to do anything.
So he abruptly turns on his heel and stalks away, needing to be anywhere but here.
Aikotsu ends up sleeping in between Jakotsu and Ginkotsu that night, as opposed to her usual spot next to Bankotsu. He's still giving her the silent treatment, leaving her to her own thoughts. The slap mark on her pale skin faded away, but the emotional pain still lingers like a bad taste in her mouth. She doesn't blame him for hitting her. She would have done the same thing, probably. Still, it hurts; the first person she trusted hitting her in the face. He was angry with her. This is the first time he's ever been angry with her.
This continues for the next few days, and Aikotsu begins having more nightmares. This time, along with the normal fire and blood, there's a new one. Bankotsu is standing above her, Banryu in hand, glaring down at her. "This is your fault." He hisses in the dream, forcing her to look at the bodies of her brothers and Buyo strewn about all around her. "This happened because you didn't tell us you needed help."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I didn't tell you!" She cries in the dream, bowing her head to look at the ground, unable to bear seeing the faces of her dead family around her, and the one living family she has left glaring down at her with eyes full of hate, blame, and malice.
"You did this yourself, and now you'll pay the price!" He declares, and then he swings Banryu.
It's the third night in a row that she wakes up screaming and crying that Bankotsu finally decides to give it a rest. Yes, he's still mad, but his anger is brewed from worry. Still, he knows now that he shouldn't have struck her, and he feels immensely bad for it, and now his actions have given her nightmares. So, as Aikotsu huddles against a tree with her hands clapped over her mouth to muffle her sobs, he stands. She freezes, looking up at him with tear-filled brown eyes that flicker with horror and pain. He isn't going to lie and say it doesn't hurt when she flinches as he draws nearer. But she's definitely entitled to do that. After all, he did smack her in the face days ago, and has been giving her the cold shoulder ever since. He sits down next to her, moving his braid over his shoulder to his back, and gently tugs her until she's in his lap.
"I'm sorry." Bankotsu whispers into her hair, honestly wishing he could turn back time and stop himself from ever hitting her. "I'm sorry I hit you and yelled at you. I lost control, and it's unacceptable." His heart hurts, and his eyes sting with impending tears that he doesn't dare let fall. Men don't cry, he reminds himself. "I betrayed your trust, I made you upset, and I am so sorry that I did that to you. I shouldn't have hit you, shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm sorry I ignored you for three days, and I'm sorry that I made your nightmares worse." Aikotsu's back is shaking and she wriggles around until she's looking at him in the eye, her dark eyes wet with tears.
"You said it was my fault, that everyone was dead because I didn't say I needed help!" She cries, trying her best to not wake up her brothers. Bankotsu sighs, letting her bury her face in his neck.
"Then this is a lesson, Ai. We've both learned something from this. You learned not to keep things from us, especially about your health, and I learned that hitting you and getting angry at you isn't the way to deal with an issue like this. Actions and decisions you make can affect others, cause and effect, ya know? It's all in the choices we make." He whispers, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back as she trembles in his arms. "Now, we have to wake up early tomorrow, so we should get some sleep. Why don't you sing that lullaby you usually hum?" Nodding a bit, Aikotsu clears her throat and begins softly humming the tune of a lullaby from the very depths of her memory. She isn't quite sure where she first heard it, and she doesn't remember the words, but the tune is always fresh in her mind.
Thankfully for Bankotsu, she's asleep within minutes, her previous bout of tears exhausting her to the point where sleep was inevitable. He frowns sadly down at the crown of her head, wishing for not the first time that he could go back in time and stop himself before he ever even hit her. He feels horrible about it. His fists clench, his dark eyes burning.
No. He will never hit Aikotsu again.
This time as Aikotsu sleeps, her dreams are no longer filled with pain and blood and fire. Instead, a fuzzy image paints itself and a warm feeling fills her chest. She watches a woman and a man playing with a little girl with short black hair. She can't see the adults faces, but she instinctively knows they're smiling. "You're so cute, Haruko!" The woman gushes.
"Can you walk to Daddy?" The man asks, and she watches along with the adults as the little girl struggles to her tiny feet and stumbles along until she falls in the man's lap. He sweeps her up into an embrace, holding her dearly. "You did it, my little Haruko! I'm so proud of you!"
She doesn't know who the adults are, or who Haruko is, but for some strange reason she feels like she's known them her whole life. Like they've always been there with her, from the very beginning. A beginning that she can't remember.
She doesn't know who the adults are, or who Haruko is, but for some strange reason she feels like she's known them her whole life. Like they've always been there with her, from the very beginning. A beginning that she can't remember.
Who are those people? And who is Haruko?
AND CHAPTER THREE IS DONE, MY DEARS! I'm practically jumping up and down like a kid high on sugar. I can't wait for you guys to see what I have planned!
Join me next chapter!
-FH19