"I can't believe her!" I thought, "I'm right! She needs my help! All of them do!" "She must be doubting my strength, so I guess I'll just have to prove it to her!'. "Easy!" I said. Stomping off into the distance, I continued to rage about it in my mind. I wasn't even sure where I was going. I just….keep walking…. Like I knew where I was heading yet…. I didn't. "I'm sure they think I'm gonna come back, huh?" I mumbled "Yeah right!". I suddenly stopped. 'Hold on,' I thought 'Where am I?'. The realization of the fact the I had no idea where I was, spooked me. I was in a forest. I could figure out that much, with the trees and bramble thickets. It was... dark, very dark. The trees blocked almost all sunlight from getting past. I could hear crows squawking in the distance. This was most definitely a forest, but a creepy one it far had I gone, I had been running after all. I continued to observe my surroundings. I couldn't hear anyone, but I could smell something somewhere near, and It was slightly familiar… The Band of Seven! Mainly I could smell Jakotsu, and even as little as I wanted to see him, I had little to no other choices to find out where I was and how to get out of werever was here. Though, more or less I had a plan.
I walked toward their sent. It was easy to smell them, they smelled of corpses and grave soil. It wasn't the best smell in the world but It was at least it was somewhat faint on them now, since coming back to life for the second time. I walked less than a mile before I reached my destination.
"What the heck, are you do'in!" I shouted. Jakotsu had taken down the top of his Kimono off and was waving it my direction!
"I've told you before haven't I ~? I'm helping you track my sent, because that's what you're following right~?" Jakotsu chuckled.
"Whatever, quit being weird!" I said in a tempered voice.
"How painfully cruel of you to say to Inuyasha~!" Jakotsu whined.
"Shut Up and put your shirt back on!" I shouted.
"Jakotsu!" A voice called, as Jakotsu finished re-tieing his kimono. Bankotsu appeared with the rest of the Band of Seven. He and the others stared at Inuyasha. He had been their main threat after all and he had killed about half of them. "Shouldn't you be with Kagome and the rest of your little group?" He asked with annoyance. I snarled with disgust at the mention of her.
"No," I spat "I'm not going back to her in a million years!" I realized suddenly that if I were going to pull this off I was gonna need act kind toward them. In a calm voice I explained, "I left her because I no longer had Interest in her.". The Band of Seven was quiet, staring with hate, unlike Jakotsu, whose eyes seemed to be sparkling with hope that he would get the chance to date me now that I was single. "I followed Jakotsu's sent to find you, Bankotsu." I paused waiting for somebody to speak. Nobody did so I continued, "I have a favor to ask of you, an offer really." I said.
"Really…" Bankotsu spoke in a low voice. I smirked,he was being awfully cautious. That was what a good leader might do, but why with him when before they had thought that they, a bunch of humans, were stronger than demons. Which, I had to admit when it came to it, they were right. At least they learned their lesson to mess with me though, I thought.
"This might sound odd," I said, careful not to smile and make them think what I knew it really was. "But I would like to join The Band of Seven, weather or not you want me as of now, I can be quite useful if given the right task, also I want you to take me to Naraku, sometime, I need to ask a favor of him too." I said acting completely normal.
"What's in it for us?" Bankotsu said. Was he stupid, I basically just told him less than a second ago! I attempted to repeat myself, in a calm voice.
"I travel with you and do what you want." My voice was as calm as I was ever going to get it. But Bankotsu repeated himself as well, different wording at the least.
"And what will that bring us." He sounded a bit irritated now. Was I going to have to repeat myself again?!
"And what will that bring us." I said a bit irritated with him. Of course I understood he would do what I want, but what need did I have for him. We didn't even have connections with Naraku anymore. I hadn't even caught a glimpse of him since I died. Telling Inuyasha this would save me a lot of time, but I want to find out exactly what he wants from Naraku,. Inuyasha again repeated himself, with an attitude this time though.
"Like I said, I travel with you and do what you want, how much clearer could that get, all you gotta say is deal or no deal!" He said impatiently.
I didn't like his attitude, but the odd thought of him, traveling alone, offering to join the band of seven, meaning he would kill innocent humans, and wanting to speak with Naraku, the thought was too odd to be considered odd, or even be real, right? I kept calm, despite his attitude. I figured it would be best to just tell him, but I could tell my brothers wouldn't be happy with me for letting him join.
"I get your message," I said calmly "but I've got no use for you on my team." Inuyasha looked almost disappointed. Unexpectedly Jakotsu spoke up.
"Oh~ Please, brother Bankotsu! Can't he come with us!", of course Jakotsu would be the only one happy to have him. Inuyasha seemed to take Jakotsu as a way to aid him into our group. I could see his smile, his smirk. I knew he only wanted to use us, but the curiosity of what he would say to Naraku still tugged at my thoughts. "Find him a use," I said trying to make it not so obvious that I did want him, "and he can come.". Mukotsu joined in.
"Do you know how to cook?" The short ugly man asked.
"I do." Inuyasha said. We had all become accustomed to finding leftovers from the villages we slaughtered. The food got old quick and wasn't very tasty anyway, so I could understand why that had been Mukotsu first question.
"How good is it?" Renkotsu said.
"How goods what?" Inuyasha asked.
"Your cooking." Suikotsu said.
"Ask me that? Why not try it instead?" Inuyasha said simply.
"Sounds good~!" Jakotsu said, then he turned to me. "Brother Bankotsu, won't you let us eat his food?". I still didn't trust Inuyasha completely, but the old village food was pretty gross, so I gave in.
"Sure…" I said with a sigh.
We took off, walking no more than a few miles before we found a suitable forest clearing that we could use as a rest stop. I and the rest of the band of seven sat down on the grass. Bankotsu sat close to me, most likely intending to talk with me about why he had let Inuyasha join. Before this though he gave Inuyasha his first order.
"Inuyasha! You may start by getting logs for us to sit on, rather than bare grass. You might also want to get firewood. Can't cook without it." He said. Inuyasha didn't seem to be happy about the fact the Bankotsu was treating him like a servant already, but he set off into the forest to gather wood anyway. "Renkotsu," Bankotsu whispered to me, I looked at him, "You would not be so upset with my decision if I did let him join us?".
"You are our leader, Brother," I said to him, "I trust that you have good reason for the decisions you make for The Band of Seven.". He nodded, and then got up, and sat down next to Jakotsu, and spoke a few words to him. Probably warnings not to annoy Inuyasha to death. I stared at blades of grass. I never quite understood why we called each other 'brother', we weren't even actually brothers, or related at all. Just friends that happen to all have the last part of our names end with 'kotsu'. Before I knew it Inuyasha had returned, the demon was able to carry all the firewood and 4 huge logs, all at once. Demon strength was truly incredible! We sat on the logs and I spoke to Bankotsu about Inuyasha's name and what we should address him by if he did actually end up joining us, Asking if we would call him something like 'Inukotsu' to keep our reputation, and If we would address him by 'brother'. Bankotsu had said he would discuss it with the whole group, including Inuyasha, all at the same time. We turned to Inuyasha as he mumbled to himself.
"Come on...," Inuyasha grumbled as he struggled to start the fire. "Damn wind!" he said. Sighing he turned to me. "Mind helping me out? Use some of your fire stuff." he said. True it was my specialty, fire and all. I pulled out the odd looking bottle and drank some of the fluid inside. Inuyasha had seen this before so he knew what to expect, and moved aside. I blew hot flames from my mouth, the wood caught fire, and Inuyasha smiled and said his thanks. He tended to it for a while until it burned strong. He then went off to gather his ingredients. He came back with a whole bunch of herbs, fruits and vegetables, Most of them I didn't even recognize. Inuyasha took out a Suribachi bowl, a bowl that was unglazed and scored with ridges, they were usually used for grinding sesame seeds. He took out a Surikogi, a wooden pestle, used for grinding the seeds. Where had he got those? He threw a few herbs at a time in the bowl and crushed and grinded them with the Surikogi. "Jakotsu?" He asked.
"Yes!" Jakotsu said happily. Inuyasha handed Jakotsu a bucket,
"Could you go and get some water for me?" Inuyasha said, his eyes not leaving the herbs he was preparing. Jakotsu, without saying a word, got up immediately and ran away into the forest holding the bucket Inuyasha had given him. Inuyasha threw in a few more herbs, and repeated his grinding action. To Mukotsu this action looked familiar, he did this often to ingredients he used to make his poisons, that was Mukotsu's specialty. Inuyasha set aside the herbs, and looked up to see if Jakotsu had returned, He hadn't yet, but even though he had ran there, he couldn't run back without spilling all the water, so it was understandable. Inuyasha took a piece of firewood he had collected, this piece was flat and had no bark on it. He placed it in his lap and got one of the vegetables he had gathered. It was green and looked sort of like a deformed apple. After a while I recognized this as a Green Pepper. Surprisingly, he cut it up with his sword. I had heard that his sword had two forms, the huge sharp version, that I usually saw, and this one, it's blade was just as long but it was thin, dull, and looked really old. From what I had heard, this version of wasn't supposed to be able to cut anything. Jakotsu came back shortly after Inuyasha had cut his third Pepper. Inuyasha took the the bucket of water from Jakotsu and dumped it in a large bowl. After a while of watching him, we all seemed to get bored. I and Bankotsu talked together for awhile, mostly about the latest army's looking for mercenaries and which ones we might be volunteering for, that's what we did. Each one of us came from a not so happy story but eventually, we all found each other. Bankotsu and Jakotsu apparently grew up in the same village, both had killed their parents. They escaped from the village together and became the first two members of the Band of Seven. When Jakotsu came over and joined our chitchat, we dropped the business talk and talked like friends would. About an hour passed before Inuyasha finally announced his meal was done.
"Lunch is served." He said with a rather confident voice.
"It's about time," Bankotsu said, though, he seemed rather grateful that the food was done.
"Sorry for the wait everyone, since it would be your first time to taste my cooking, I wanted to make it as full course as I knew how to do." He said with a smile. Inuyasha took eight wooden plates and gave one to each of us, the eighth was for him.
"Now, I don't know how much of what you want so feel free to instead get your own food." He said pouring some liquid into wooden cups.
"There's Sushi, Rice, and even my personal favourite, Ramen. There are bowls for the Ramen over there, Homemade Soy Sauce, and chopsticks over there.". He finished by giving us each a cup. The drink it held was pinkish-purple. Jakotsu sniffed it.
"It smells kind of sweet!" Jakotsu exclaimed.
"What… is it?" Suikotsu said.
"It's a juice made from Berries and Fruit, trust me you'll love it!" He said with a smile.
After dinner, we all went straight to bed. With our full stomachs I doubt we could have kept awake any longer even if we had wanted to. The food had been amazingly delicious, and Inuyasha had been showered with compliments for the rest of the night.
