After finishing their very filling meal, the Band of Seven made their way down to the center of the village, planning on buying a few supplies for their journey back to claim the reward from some Lord out in the west. Bankotsu heaved a long sigh, hoping for something to come along and cure him of his current boredom. Maybe a horde of demons attacking? Perhaps even a lowly beggar come to attempt a robbery on them? Or better, yet, if that strange girl were to appear again. That would definitely cure the leader of mercenaries of his boredom. However, it didn't seem like any of those possibilities would be happening any time soon.
Ordering the group to pair up and split up, in order to finish up at the market faster, Bankotsu walked away with Jakotsu aimlessly into the crowd. Eventually the two of them finished with the market, both carrying a sack of items containing non-perishable foods and a couple of other non-essentials. Instead of catching up to the rest of the group, however, the two made their way down to a creek and began to walk along side it, unaware of where it may lead. Bankotsu and Jakotsu were just about to turn around when they heard an angry, deep voice yell their way from the top of a bridge.
"You two there! Halt immediately, or suffer the consequences!"
Bankotsu lazily looked up at the man dressed in full samurai gear and snorted in disdain. Wondering what the man could possibly want. Jakotsu looked around the area for a minute, looking confused before pointing a single finger towards himself.
"Who? Us? What'd we do?"
"You have trespassed on Lord Akihiro's land and are thus under arrest! The Lord himself will decide your fate."
The samurai, who had walked over to the two mercenaries while talking, was now right in front of them, one hand on the hilt of his katana. "You two will be coming with me quietly and alive, or quietly and dead. The choice is yours." He added after looking over their weapons. Instead of responding with words, Jakotsu simply began to laugh,a high pitched, squealing-like laugh, Placing his hand on top of his own weapon, the Jakotsuto, he licked his lips at the samurai before replying, "You sure you wanna do that, cutie?"
Preparing himself for battle, the samurai gulped loudly before unsheathing his sword and readying it in front oh his body. Jakotsu merely smiled wide in response, about to cut the man into pieces when he felt the pressure of a cold blade on his throat. "He asked you to come quietly, mercenaries, do you really have a problem with the request? Or are you simply itching for a fight?"
It was the girl from the meat restaurant, except this time her smile was replaced with a hard lined mouth and fierce eyes. Jakotsu glared in the girl's direction, wondering how she snuck up on him so quickly. Looking past Jakotsu over to Bankotsu, the girl addressed the leader casually, as if they were simply acquaintances meeting over a cup of tea.
"Is this one always so quick to attack?"
Bankotsu pondered over this question for several moments, "Nah, usually he taunts his oppponent for a while before attacking," he shrugs, "maybe he's in a bad mood today." The girl nodded, pulling her blade away from Jakotsu's neck before turning her attention onto the samurai, his sword still drawn.
"You can put that away now, Junichi, there will be no need for force today. I will take it from here, thank you."
"B—but miss! Protocol says that any trespassers must be taken to—"
"I know what protocol says, however I am giving you an order to forget about that right now and return to your post. I will deal with these two on my own, no need to bother his Lordship over such trivial matters."
Her tone alone leaves no room for argument and the samurai leaves in a hurry, not even bothering to look over his shoulder to make sure the girl was all right. Running her hand through her ebony locks, the girl huffs out a sigh and turns to the two men with one eye brow higher than the other, giving them a quizzical look. Bankotsu returns her look with a a smug smirk and bumps Jakotsu on his shoulder, letting him know to take his hand off the handle of his blade.
"Well that was stupid of you." Jakotsu blurts out. "Did you think I wouldn't attack you because you're a woman? Because I would never hold back cutting the throat of a bitch."
"No, what was stupid was you about to attack that poor man for doing his job. It's not his fault your on his Lordship's property."
"Well we didn't know that, there should be, like, a sign or something that says 'watch out, this is the Lord's land'."
"Akihiro doesn't care whether or not you know this is his land, all right? Just because you're new in town doesn't mean he'd let it slide."
"Akihiro? No Lord before that? Doesn't that seem a bit informal to you, Jakotsu?" Bankotsu cuts in, his words making the girl frown, "Yeah, that's quite the slip up there, and the guard was so quick to follow your orders. What are you? The Lord's mistress or something?" He continues.
"Or something." She states vaguely, the color draining from her face. "Look, you two can go now, okay? Go on and assassinate some people why don't you?"
"Maybe we will, perhaps this Lord of yours has some enemies he'd like us to kill for him, for a price, of course."
The girl's shoulders tense noticeably, causing Bankotsu to wonder why. Jakotsu seemed to have noticed as well and asked "Why, is there someone he does want to kill? Someone you want to save, huh? Another lover? Yes! That's it! You fell in love with someone and the Lord became jealous! Jealous enough to want to kill this man, perhaps?
"No. You're completely off the mark." The girl's tone, much like when she had talked to the guard, left no room for discussion. "All right then, spill. Who does he want to kill?" Bankotsu asks, now slightly interested.
"No one, he just—," she sighs, "he just wants to find someone."
"Someone you care about?"
"Yes."
"But not a lover?"
"No."
Bankotsu wasn't all too sure why, but for some reason this new information made him a little happy. "So then why," Jakotsu begins, "did that guard take orders from you?"
"Because, I am Akihiro's daughter."
A/N: There's one of the new changes. Tell me what you think!
Pastry~