Chapter 6: Reclaimed hanyou
~approx. three days later, Suikotsu's village~
Rose runs into Kikyo near Mount Hakurae, and the two enter the village together, exchanging news of recent happenings. Rose is wary of the village doctor, knowing by his scent that he is a member of the Band of Seven. She doesn't say anything about it, however, as she can also sense that the doctor is separate from the killer in some way.
The two women stay in the village for a few days until Inuyasha and the others show up and attack Suikotsu. Rose is in the village when Jakotsu and the others attack. Unfortunately, when Suikotsu turns from the doctor to the killer, Jakotsu spots her trying to protect the village children, and tells Suikotsu to bring her along. Alive.
As Suikotsu grabs her around the waist, his weapon cuts into her hand slightly, giving her a close range weapon of her own. She whips her body around, her bleeding hand making contact with Suikotsu's cheek. The electricity in her blood temporarily paralyzes his muscles, causing him to drop her and allowing her to make a run for the relative safety of Inuyasha's group. Jakotsu grabs hold of the chain flying behind her, though, before she gets very far, and wraps the end around part of Ginkotsu, tethering the defiant woman before he launches himself at Inuyasha. She tries to take hold of Jakotsu as he runs past her, hoping to transfer some of her electrified blood to him like she did Suikotsu, but by then Suikotsu has recovered from his temporary paralysis, and grabs onto her wrist, careful not to touch the blood as he drags her onto Ginkotsu, saying, "Oh no you don't, girl. I don't know why Jakotsu wants to bring you along so badly, but I'm tempted to hurt you worse than that scratch for what you just did to me."
She tugs her hand out of his grasp and licks the wound to close it, knowing she can't afford anymore blood loss this night. She then resigns herself to returning to Bankotsu for now, growling when Mukotsu gets too close and backing more towards Suikotsu. She'd rather face the angered killer than the perverted poison master.
As she watches the fight between Jakotsu and Inuyasha, she smells another inu-hanyou nearby and turns towards the scent to see the brother who looks the most like the former Western Lord. She calls out to him, "Greetings, inu dhamphire. Be warned, the apparitions have laid claim to the white twin."
Both Mukotsu and Suikotsu turn to look in the direction she was looking as the young man calls back, "Thank you for the information, raiju. I will take steps to correct the situation and protect the black twin."
Before anyone else can figure out the strange code, Rashun turns and leaves the area. Suikotsu and Mukotsu turn to the captured woman with confused looks that make her laugh a bit under her breath. Naraku's samyosho show up a moment later, and the Band of Seven members retreat with their reclaimed prize sitting with her arms crossed at Jakotsu's feet so he can keep an eye on his brother's errant pet.
When they rejoin Bankotsu and Renkotsu at their hideout, the mercenary leader is delighted to see the golden-haired hanyou among them as well as Suikotsu. He listens with a confused expression as the men relay to him the strange conversation his pet hanyou had with the inu hanyou at the village.
Of course, then he looks at her and says, "What was that all about?"
He gets a stubborn expression as his answer. After that, he puts her in a room by herself and attaches her chain to the wall. Instead of trying to escape, though, she decides to just stay put for a few days, slightly hoping that she can take out a few annoyances at the full moon. Too bad she would need to drink someone's blood sooner than she would transform into her other form. Come to think of it, so would Nadeshiko soon. Maybe when her need for blood became too much, her instincts would override the illusion Naraku put her under long enough to get them both out of the Band of Seven's range….
~approx. three nights later~
Rose wakes up to the sound of the shoji screen that serves as a door to her room opening. She looks up to see Nadeshiko in the doorway, panting heavily as her inu-gold eyes swirl with vampire-red and her fangs start to drip in anticipation. Rose has felt a similar urge creeping up to her for the last two nights, so she's glad to see that her theory about Nadeshiko's instincts was right. Her own eyes slowly turning red, she stands up and quickly cuts the chain near its base, then both of them slip away from the hideout to find the nearest inhabited village.
Rose's chain regenerates before they reach a village, but rather than stop and pick it up like last time, she cuts it off again without stopping. The two of them work together to lure out prey to the edge of the village that leads away from the Band of Seven's hideout, intending to head towards the temple once their hunger has abated somewhat. Nadeshiko agrees that she shouldn't completely sate herself before they head to their destination, as it is her hunger for blood keeping Naraku's power at bay for the moment.
Once Rose is sated completely, and Nadeshiko has fed to the point where she's not about to go berserk but still at a point where her instincts are keeping the illusions at bay, the two of them head for the temple of the Eastern Forest Goddess, and to a temporary safe haven. Rose keeps cutting the chain short before it can drag the ground and make noise, but she's in too much of a hurry to realize that she's leaving a trail for Bankotsu to follow in the morning. It's nearly sunrise when the two of them come across Inuyasha's camp, and ask permission to stay with them for a little while until they can reach the Eastern Lands. Nadeshiko being Inuyasha's niece, his answer for her is yes. Everyone but Shippo is suspicious of Rose, however, because of what happened at Suikotsu's village, namely her not putting up much of a fight when she was captured. Shippo of course knows why she didn't fight too hard, since she told him that Bankotsu was the only one who could remove her collar because of the curse she was under. The look she gives him says not to tell the others about it, though.
Eventually, the adults agree to let Rose stay with them as well. At night, Rose sleeps in a position similar to Inuyasha's customary one, only she usually has Shippo or Kilala in her lap instead of a weapon. Her clothing makes it somewhat difficult for her to sleep comfortably this way for long, though, and after the first couple of nights she ends up accomplishing it by leaning her back against Inuyasha's side, much to his embarrassment.