Mai Otani Saiai

(Chapter Three)

Naiyori Speaks: Well, well, well! Chapter three is really late! Terribly sorry everyone, school is getting in the way and I'm working on the first chapter of an Alice 19th fic so yeah. Hehe. This chapter won't be the mot exciting chapter in the world but some important things will happen. And I can't forget, a fire is on the horizon of the future. Here are some more random words that may give ya a clue of what the future holds: Wolves, Blizzard, Death, Life, and Lost. This will be fun! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own NONE of the original InuYasha characters or the storyline. They are fully possessed by Rumiko Takashi, Thank you, Rumiko-sama!

Author Claim: Rakuen is fully developed and personalized by yours truly. That means I made her; get it? Yeah. So no stealing!

Chapter Three: Ano Yama

It had been three days now of steady traveling by horseback. Rakuen had hardly slept, tending to Bankotsu's wounds and making sure that they both had food and water to drink all while making hopefully good time towards the west mountain. Bankotsu was in a great deal of pain but was now able to at least sit upright on his horse.

"Rakuen, how long do you think it will take for my side to heal?" Bankotsu asked when the sun was in the middle of the sky on the fourth day of their trek to the West Mountains.

"Hm? Oh, I'd say a month or so considering you were gashed and you obtained a broken rib." Rakuen answered knowing this was not the answer Bankotsu had hoped for.

"Damn it..." he muttered. "Looks like we'll be spending a good deal of time at the Mountain cottage..." he said trailing off slightly. The place he had found on the mountain was nice and had a hot spring nearby, a good remedy for his wounds. "I'll have to start practicing with Banryu so I don't get rusty while I heal." Bankotsu thought out loud.

Rakuen laughed quite loudly. "Oh no you won't! You're not touching Banryu until you're fully healed. Heaving something that heavy above your head right after a side injury will not do you any good." Rakuen said firmly.

Bankotsu frowned. "Well who are you to tell me what to do? I've had worse injuries than this and been back using Banryu the very same day!" Bankotsu exclaimed in a pouty sort of tone.

"Maybe that's why you have so many damn scars... I should have let you bleed to death; you're as annoying as a fly." Rakuen muttered shaking her head. "Anyway, as your healer I say that you won't be able to safely wield Banryu for at least a few weeks." Rakuen said firmly again.

"You have got to be kidding me." Bankotsu muttered "As you can see I'm perfectly fine, see? I can even lift a saddle ba--" Bankotsu was interrupted by a searing pain in his side as he attempted to pick up the heavily loaded bag. "Damn..." Bankotsu said through clenched teeth as his hands instantly flew to his side.

"Told you." Rakuen said shaking her head.

"I should have killed you." Bankotsu growled sitting up straight again as the pain began to decrease.

"Like you would have." Rakuen smirked, knowing this remark would get to Bankotsu in one particular way or another.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean! I really should have killed you, you're so damn annoying! Why the hell did you even heal me? Why do you even give a damn what happens to me? I killed you whole village after all, what's your deal?" Bankotsu threw about ten questions to Rakuen at once and frankly, Rakuen didn't really have an answer. Why did she give a damn what happened to Bankotsu? Why did she heal him?

"I... I'm not really sure..." Rakuen answered looking over at the injured assassin. "I really don't." she said with a somewhat confused, almost embarrassed tone. What was going on with her anyway? Rakuen was sharp witted and usually wasn't confused by people, but Bankotsu had a way of confusing her.

Bankotsu laughed slightly. "You're strange, Rakuen."

It had been another few days now and they had finally reached the foot of the large mountain.

"You know Bankotsu, you could have picked a better location for you house you know. Like maybe at the bottom of a lake, or in a demon infested cave." She muttered sarcastically as she pulled on her horse's reigns slightly so that it would keep moving rather than try to munch on some tasty looking grass.

"Very funny, but the mountains are remote and it's not likely that anyone would be able to find me there." He explained as the horses started the climb up the mountain. It would only take a few more days to get to the mountain and for that Rakuen was grateful as she was extremely tired, she hadn't slept all that much the past few nights keeping an eye on Bankotsu.

On the mountain they would have shelter and a warm place to stay as the days and nights were growing short and cold, it would be a welcome comfort of a roof over their heads especially with Bankotsu's condition.

"Bankotsu... does it ever snow on the mountain?" Rakuen asked curiously. She had never before seen snow; it had never snowed before in the village she had lived in so she really knew nothing about it.

"Snow? Of course it does." Bankotsu said with a nod. "It snows for at least two months during the winter season." he said looking over at Rakuen.

"Really!? I hope we get to see it. What does it look like?" She asked excitedly.

"You've never seen snow!?" Bankotsu asked in a rather surprised tone. Where had this girl been all her life? "Well... It's white and kind of looks like sakura petals right after they've all fallen off the trees. But it'd much deeper and much whiter." Bankotsu explained.

"It sounds beautiful; I can't wait to see some!" Rakuen exclaimed in an excited tone, snow would be a new experience for her, and a good one at that.

"I bet you'll like it." Bankotsu said with a smile. "Thinking about it, you are a lot like the snow." Bankotsu was thinking out loud... "You're almost as pure as the snow and you're peaceful like the first snowfall..." Bankotsu trailed off. There had been one more thing he was going to compare her and the snow by but he silenced himself, blushing ever so slightly. "Anyway... I know you'll like it." He muttered trying to hide his embarrassment by looking straight ahead.

Rakuen smiled slightly. "And you're just like the rain, Bankotsu-kun. You're so calm at times but then you go into violent rages. See, you're just like the rain." Rakuen nodded satisfied with her own comparison.

Bankotsu laughed. "You're right, I'm just like the rain and you're like the snow." he nodded.

And so the rain and snow continued up the mountain

It was their last day of travel as Bankotsu had said. They would reach the mountain cottage the next day and boy was Rakuen relieved that she would finally be able to rest easily besides, they were nearly out of food and she would have to hunt.

"I'll have to do a bit of hunting when we get there..." she thought out loud at a rather random time which drew a loud laugh from Bankotsu.

"A girl like you hunting animals? Could you really do that? I bet you'd start crying before you'd even killed it!" he exclaimed as he continued to laugh.

"Is that so? Rakuen asked looking over at Bankotsu. She wasn't laughing at all. "You really think I'm that emotionally weak?" she asked raising and eyebrow. Who did he think he was!? She could hunt perfectly fine. After all, she'd lived on her own for at least six or seven years.

"Sure. All females are emotionally weak." Bankotsu shrugged as if it was nothing.

"Fine then, hunt for yourself. I don't have to share anything with you; you go ahead and catch your own food. Just don't come crying to me when you're writhing around on the ground with terrible side pains because your inner wound has started to bleed internally and said blood slowly shut down your systems." Rakuen said with a slight shrug. "I'm perfectly fine with that.

Bankotsu was unsure of what to say for once, Rakuen had stumped him. "Okay, okay. You win." Bankotsu said putting his hands above his head. I surrender, I prefer my systems to remain functional." he said with a slight grimace.

"That's what I thought." Rakuen said with a satisfied nod. Stretching from the seat upon her horse Rakuen yawned, she then leaned forward so that her mouth was close to the horses ear "Remind me never to drag a wounded assassin up this god forsake mountain, okay?" Rakuen whispered into the horse's ear, the mare nickered in reply.

"Huh?" Bankotsu asked cocking his head and looking at Rakuen with a confused look playing his features.

"Oh nothing, just talking to Arashi." She said casually patting the horses head with a little smirk.

"You named it?" Bankotsu asked raising and eyebrow and looking at the horse. He wasn't really one for pets, he just called them horse, or animal, names were for people in his opinion.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did name her." she said making it clear that the mare was indeed a female rather than an 'it'.

Bankotsu laughed out loud. "Well in that case I dub this one Sakuraniku." Bankotsu couldn't keep a straight face as he named the stallion. After all naming a horse 'Horse meat' was the funniest joke in history in Bankotsu's thought.

"Typical useless man." Rakuen said rolling her eyes. "I won't blame him if he bucks you off for giving him such a name as Sakuraniku." Rakuen sighed shaking her head in slight disgust.

"I think he likes it." Bankotsu laughed prodding at one of the stallions ears. He was asking to be bucked of but luckily Sakuraniku was in a good mood. If he hadn't been Bankotsu would have been in a great deal of pain at that point.

At last the rain and snow had made it to their destination, and just in time for Arashi and Sakuraniku were rather tired and quite glad to rest and graze as they pleased. Rakuen however was not exactly impressed with Bankotsu's cottage.

"This is you're winter house? This thing is supposed to keep you warm and dry during the winter? Are you out of you puny little mind!" Rakuen practically exploded when she saw the condition of the cottage; and rightfully so as there was first of all no front door, second of all the boards of which the house was actually made of was beginning to rot and fall apart, there were holes all throughout the walls to let drafts in. Apparently Rakuen had her work cut out for her with Bankotsu wounded and winter approaching within a month.

Bankotsu cringed as Rakuen yelled; at least there was even a place for them to stay right. "Keep your head on! All it needs is a bit of work and it'll be plenty war; besides, there are blankets and a fire pit. You didn't have to go and shout your head off." Bankotsu said shaking his head "Sheesh it must be that time of month..." he added with a mumble.

"You are absolutely out of your mind, sicko!" Rakuen exclaimed glaring at Bankotsu. She then sighed. "Well, there's no time to waste. Make yourself useful and gather firewood, but for heaven sakes be careful and only pick up small pieces of wood. I'll start patching these holes up." Rakuen said turning and looking for something, anything to patch the holes up. Her search ended at the bottom of a small stream that ran close to the cottage. Her answer was clay, nice thick clay that would stay in place once dry and wouldn't run off in the rain. The larger holes would have to be patched with deer pelt, and a door could be built easily enough, maybe this wouldn't be so bad; it would still take a while but no nearly as long as it would have if they had to patch it with only wood.

Bankotsu was picking up stick for the fire as ordered and was actually finding bending over to be a bit painful, he knew Rakuen was right about his wound; despite over a week passing since the fight where he had been wounded he was still quite torn up inside. Gosh that Rakuen was always bossing him around! And damnit she was always right! My god just thinking about her made Bankotsu's blood boil... but then again, she was the only one he'd spared. Why had he spared her? Why was she different from the other girls he'd killed? And why the hell was he thinking about her so damn much! Gah! He had just worked himself into frustration by just thinking about someone that had never happened before. Shaking his head he walked back to the cottage with the wood.

Rakuen had stared to gather the clay and was beginning to slowly patch up the holes. Even Bankotsu could help a bit after he'd put the firewood near the fire pit.

It was evening now and the fire inside the cottage was cracking warmly. Rakuen had made a makeshift door for the time being, she made it by draping a thick blanket over the empty doorway. It would work until they could actually get a door. She'd also made two beds; one on each side of the room. Her belongings (and Banryu) were set beside the bed leaning against the wall. The rest of Bankotsu's items were near his bed. She was keeping Banryu until she deemed Bankotsu ready to wield the heavy weapon once more.

The two of them were currently sitting on opposite sides of the fire, eating fish that Rakuen had caught in the small stream where she had found the clay. "You know, Rakuen... you aren't a bad cook." Bankotsu said as his polished off his fish. He'd just handed out a rare compliment, after all Bankotsu was a very prideful person and rarely gave glory to anyone but himself.

"Ariagatou, Bankotsu. I'm glad you enjoy my cooking." she said finishing her own fish, throwing the bones into the fire. Those bones make Rakuen think of Bankotsu's name. Bankotsu was a rather odd name. "You have an odd name, Bankotsu." she said in conclusion. "Barbaric bone... or brute strength." she commented, well, the name did its justice. Bankotsu was rather barbaric and she had to admit, he was pretty damn strong if he was able to wield that halberd like it weighed nothing.

"Oh really, well your name is interesting as well. Rakuen... paradise." he said thinking about it. "It sure does have a nice meaning... to bad it doesn't fit you though. Bankotsu was joking for once and even Rakuen could tell that he was just poking fun.

"Haha, very amusing bone-san."

They both laughed at this little game...

After their laughing had ceased they sat in silence for a while. Rakuen staring at the fire... Bankotsu at something else. It was Rakuen who spoke next. "Well, I'm not sure about you but I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep now." she said standing up and making her way towards her bed. Before she did however she took he dark brown hair from its tie and let it fall lose, it fell nearly to her backside, she hadn't cut it once.

Bankotsu nodded. "I'm going to stay up a bit longer." he said watching her move toward her bed and took her hair down. He then looked down at the fire. The snow and the rain were silent again. An hour or so passed and Bankotsu grew tired as well. Upon getting up he walked slowly towards where Rakuen was sleeping. Looking down at her sleeping body he smiled ever so slightly. "Good night, Rakuen." he whispered and turned to his own side of the room. He received no answer for the snow was long since asleep. Settling down the rain also fell asleep.

The snow and the rain slept without interruption, the mountain was silent... but they were not alone on this mountain and many dangers lay in the future.

It was the morning of the seventh day the snow and rain had spent in this cottage, and it was looking more and more efficient every day. Most of the small holes were fixed and a door was in the making. Perhaps Rakuen had been too hard on Bankotsu, carrying on about how drabby the house had been. They still had work but they were moving along quickly. There was also a small and empty cave near the cottage, big enough to for Arashi and Sakuraniku to shelter in. Bankotsu and Rakuen were working on a fence and gate to go across the front of the cave so that neither of the horses could randomly decide to wander off one day.

Another thing that Rakuen had found much to her delight was a hot spring a short distance from the cottage that was a real treat after such a long trip with nowhere to stop for a bath. It was also good for Bankotsu's wounds and so Rakuen had told Bankotsu to go a soak while she made their lunch which consisted of cooked rabbit meat, courtesy of Rakuen. She would be quite happy to brag to him for catching the rabbit. It would serve him right for saying she couldn't hunt!

Bankotsu had just returned from the hot spring, his hair completely down and ripping wet. The meat had finished cooking, he was just in time. Rakuen handed him a piece of the meat. "This looks too dark to be fish..." he said taking a cautious bite of the meat.

"That's because it's not fish. Its rabbit." she said with a smirk as she began to eat. "I told you I could hunt." She said after she had chewed and swallowed.

"Yeah, Yeah, you can give it up already." Bankotsu muttered as he took another bite of the juicy meat. They finished the rest of their meal in silence, after he had finished Bankotsu attempted to braid his hair, but he was having quite the difficult time getting his arms to move to the motions of the braid, as every time he moved his arm it tugged at the gently sealed scars.

Rakuen smiled slightly. "Here, let me help." she said standing up and making her way to Bankotsu. She then kneeled behind her and took his hair into her hands. She was stunned at how soft the assassin managed to keep his hair! It was a smooth as the finest silk! As she began to braid his hair Bankotsu grunted. "Stop pulling so hard..." he muttered as she braided.

"You want it tight don't you? So I suggest stay quiet and bearing it, you hardly even complained when you got a gaping side wound and a bit of tugging bothers you." Rakuen said shaking her head.

She had a point and Bankotsu once again fell silent until Rakuen had finished braiding his hair. "Ther." she said standing up and making sure the braid looked right, she nodded with satisfaction. Bankotsu also stood pulling the braid over his shoulder in order to see it as well. "Ariagatou." he said flicking it off his shoulder.

"You're welcome, Bankotsu-kun." Rakuen said with a smile as she began to work on the fence again.

It was late now, much later than Rakuen should have been awake until, Bankotsu had gone to sleep hours ago but Rakuen found herself unable to sleep that night so she was sitting on a boulder beside the small stream that ran beside the cottage. It wasn't all that cold that night but there was a significant chill. Rakuen was absorbed in thoughts about how she'd gotten to this place, and to that ever remaining question: Why had that assassin truly spared her? Sighing she closed her eyes for longer than a moment but when she opened them a terrible chill ran down her back. She was being watched, watched by many eyes. She couldn't see anything. But she could feel.

Now Rakuen wasn't really one who scared easily but something about this feeling petrified her, she couldn't move... and it was a rather good thing she didn't... within a few moments at least a dozen small pairs of small yellow eyes began to emerge from the shadows. The creatures had Rakuen nearly surrounded and there was really no way that Rakuen could get back to the cottage without them catching her. Ever so slowly she stood up as the eyes inched closer. Then something else caught her eyes, the sheen of many silver-gray pelts shining in the dim moonlight.

"Wolves...!" Rakuen gasped and it was just loud enough with a howl the wolves began to come closer and closer. They were closing in on their prey, the small of food from the cottage had attracted them; but the sight of living breathing prey excited them. They growled and a few of them howled as they came.

Rakuen was frozen in fear as she began to slowly back up, she tried to scream, she tried to cry out but no words came. As a bloodcurdling howl from the Alpha was heard the words suddenly flew back to Rakuen.

"Bankotsu!" her scream echoed over the mountain...

Naiyori Speaks: And yet again, I end with one of our friends in a desperate situation! Once again sorry this took so damn long! Hopefully chapter four doesn't take so long! Rate and review please!

Translation: The title means "Mountain".