"…me?" He gave her a blank, confused stare. The two keys dangled in his hand as he did so, as if he was struggling to remember. This only seemed to irritate her more, her gaze never moving from his. It made him not want to break it, something about her anger towards him made him feel a deep guilt. But what? What could she be angry at him for?

"Uhm…Bankotsu?" His brother, Jakotsu, snapped his fingers to get his brother out of his prolonged daze. Bankotsu shook his head and walked toward the man in drag, focusing completely on the set of keys in his hand.

"So…this is what you're into then?" Hiten smirked and Yura nudged his arm gently. He glared at her and she returned, though she had to mentally admit intimidation. Hiten ignored her and looked back up, obviously Bankotsu knew the guy, but why did the girl know him? Clearly he had pissed her off, and they were both cuffed.

"Shut the fuck up." Bankotsu responded dryly, letting his brother loose. Jakotsu sighed in relief and rubbed the red indents on his wrist.

"Forget her…let's leave her to rot brother and…well, well, who is this?" Jakotsu purred, blatantly winking at Hiten, who cringed in response. He watched the drag eye him up and down and heard Yura giggle lightly before he decided rejecting him would be worth the fight.

"Don't fucking touch me." He spat and Yura bit her bottom lip, clearly immune to his angry wrath.

"Oh…I like 'em feisty." Jakotsu took a step nearer and Hiten held up the night stand that the keys had been in, ready to chuck it at the lunatic's head. Jakotsu merely seemed amused as he pushed his boundary, taking a step closer and watching Hiten step back for every step he took.

"You don't fucking remember!" The woman shrieked and Bankotsu winced. She took the pillow Jakotsu had thrown at her and threw it at the man, like that was any punishment or use in general. He took a cautious step closer and she growled, readying a fist.

"Sh…sweetheart, you must have me mistaken." He cooed, holding up the key between his thumb and index finger, showing that he meant no harm. She had her jaw tightly clenched and her nails dug deeply into the skin of her tender palm. He held his hand out and when she made no gesture, he took her cuffed wrist and turned the key until it was open. "…see?" He smiled nervously. She lunged her body and being it was unexpected, he fell back, grunting as his spine slammed against the hard floor.

"I hate you!" She shouted in a clearer voice than before, clawing across his face and trying to rip his hair out. He hissed as he tried to pry her wrists away and Yura attempted, though her uneasy efforts couldn't keep up with Kagura's angry assault. The three stopped at the sound of a gunshot and they stared in the direction of the bathroom. Bankotsu roughly shoved the girl off his waist and ran in, seeing Hiten pointing a gun and Jakotsu, panting and disheveled, who just missed the bullet.

"What the fuck?" Bankotsu snarled and Hiten glared.

"I told him not to fucking touch me." He lowered the nose of the handgun and Jakotsu huffed, adjusting his clothes.

"I say someone's way too uptight." He rolled his eyes, unfazed by the ordeal. Bankotsu snarled and snatched the gun, pulling the trigger at Hiten's foot. Hiten went to tackle him but stopped at the sound of a light click. They stared as Bankotsu did it again.

"One…bullet?" Bankotsu checked and frowned. He shuffled through his gun and frowned when he found the same. "Well…you…wasted yours. Lucky I don't find you useful enough to waste mine on." Hiten went to reach behind his back but stopped, he'd only pull that one if he really had to. It wasn't like he was going to kill this fairy bastard, anyway. Just a nice shot in the leg would suffice. Bankotsu threw the useless gun aside and leaned back against the sink. They stood in silence for a few moments before the women entered.

"We should get going…" Yura mumbled.

"That psychotic bitch will kill me in my sleep." Bankotsu scoffed and the girl growled.

"Name?" Hiten asked, staring at the floor beneath his feet.

"Jakotsu." The drag grinned and Hiten felt his eyebrow twitch out of frustration. Instead of glaring, he averted his eyes to the unfamiliar girl, who was glaring into space. Maybe she was more aggressive than him? He doubted it. The thought did make him smirk.

"Kagura." She said with confidence. She seemed almost opposite to the other one, Yura. Very blunt, and though he did admire her courage, he wondered what problems it would bring him. He didn't like taking orders, and up to here he had been somewhat guiding the lost caused boy and clueless girl. He nodded to her and she nodded back.

"The guns only have one bullet…" Bankotsu sighed and Yura cocked her head. "So no more fucking around with them until we figure out what it's for." It sounded more like a question than an order, Hiten remained silent. There was a pause before Bankotsu turned on his heel, quickly making his way by the girls in the doorway and walking outside. Jakotsu followed and Hiten refused until he watched the girls do so.

The silence they walked in was eerie. Bankotsu and Hiten had grown accustom to looking for small shelters to the side, and seemed to be the only two doing so. They were almost out of water and all tired. The heat took a toll on them, but they didn't exactly trust each other enough to sleep around one another. Bankotsu tapped Hiten's shoulder and pointed ahead. Hiten looked over lazily and blinked, it wasn't a shelter; it was a man approaching them. They stopped walking and only then did the others do the same. The man seemed to take notice to them and stopped across from them.

"What's up there?" Hiten asked, his tone raspy from dehydration. The man had a resemblance to Bankotsu's features, he was much paler, and his eyes were more lenient to a scarlet color, like Hiten's.

"Who the hell are you?" He scoffed and Hiten sighed, tired of the amount of fighting.

"We woke up here…" Bankotsu cut in, catching on to Hiten's annoyance. "Kind of in the middle of nowhere…but these tracks lead to where you were coming from and well…me and him started at the end of them." He gestured toward Hiten and the man pursed his lips. He glanced around. A peacemaker, an angry bastard, a pissed off woman, and one who didn't know what the fuck to do.

"I did too…" He finally said. "Hoped I was going the right way…" The last thing he wished to do was admit he was wrong. "Ryura." He said, nodding in acknowledgement to the others.

"Yeah, yeah." Hiten scoffed. "Friendly introductions later." He walked ahead.

"So where are you from?" Yura asked the only other girl alliance she had. Kagura shrugged dismissively. Yura frowned and they heard the ones ahead of them laugh lightly. It wasn't reassuring, but maybe hopeful. Kagura grabbed Yura's wrist and pushed between them, getting the view of some civilization. It was some distance away, but it was visible. Was it over? Just like that? She smiled.

They didn't take notice to the distraught frown that appeared on Bankotsu's face, or the way he looked around anxiously. They didn't take notice until he tackled Hiten to the ground, a bullet from the distance whizzing straight by his head, or where it would have been had he not been roughly pushed aside. They stared ahead in fear, some paranoia.

What were they walking into?