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Actually, there weren't any notifications sent to my e-mail adress so I wondered what happened... then I checked my stories and I found 15 reviews (not a lot, but hey, it's better then none, I suppose!).
So thank you again! ^^
PS: Yeah, I know that a few characters aren't showing up, but they will soon! Just you wait ;)
~Stars Of The Moon~
Chapter 14
The Shichinintai began moving again.
With their bellies filled, they continued their search for the one who saved the men from Hell. There was only one problem. Two, actually. First, wherever they went, a demon or two would pop out of nowhere and attack them. And that resulted with them getting their wounds treated by Hikari.
The L. Healer told them that a demon was coming whenever she sensed one. And everytime, she proposed that they keep moving without any worries. But would these arrogant men listen?
Of course not.
And whenever she mentioned that the demons were strong, she insisted that they turn away from it and ignore it. And if they came their way, they should just run. But would they listen?
Of course not. They just got more pumped up.
"Men," Hikari mumbled to herself as she treated Bankotsu's wounded arm. "Just how arrogant can they get? I try to warn them, but all they do is get themselves hurt."
Bankotsu looked at her grim expression and knew what she was thinking. "It's not our fault we want to fight. We have to test out our new skills on something. And there aren't any-"
He didn't finish. "And there aren't any villages around lately."
It seemed that Hikari didn't notice that he stopped. "If you just resist the urge to fight, we might not need to stop every time you get hurt and continue to move!"
Bankotsu decided that is was wise to keep his mouth shut. Jakotsu, who was sitting next to him with his injured shoulder, kept quiet as well. This time, only the two of them got hurt.
Oh, and the second problem?
After a moment of silence, Hikari asked, "By the way, wouldn't it have been easier if you started searching for your 'savior' by the place you woke up? There may be some clues near Mt. Hakurei, so why didn't you just go that way instead of searching all over Japan clulessly?"
...
...
...
Most of the Shichinintai members facepalmed (Ginkotsu couldn't). Bankotsu groaned, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Hikari raised a brow. "You mean you didn't?"
The leader stood up and announced, "Alright, as soon as everyone's ready, we start heading for Mt. Hakurei."
"And how do we do that?" asked Renkotsu, who was lying against Ginkotsu. "For all we know, we can be a week's travel away from that damn mountain. And we don't even know where to go."
"That's why..." he took Hikari by her shoulder and hugged her to him. "... We have this beauty right here."
Hikari rolled her eyes. "In case you don't remember, I can only sense things from a maximun of five kilometers, not fifty."
"True, but don't you still remember the direction Mt. Hakurei is at?"
Oh. Of course she did. But she hated the way he was using her. She sighed. "... Yeah. The direction of the Ox-Tiger. In other words, Noth-East."
He grinned. "That's the girl I know."
Suikotsu spoke, "But... we don't know where we are now. Last I remember, we were heading to... the West? And after that, we took a few turns. Who knows where we are now."
Bankotsu frowned. "Hm. Good point." And he glanced at Hikari again. And his grin reappeared. "But we have someone here who can tell where to go by looking at stars. Am I right, Hikari?"
She inwardly groaned. She hated how possesive he was acting. "Yes, I know how. But that means that we're going to have to travel during the night and sleep during the day."
"That's... going to be a problem," said Ginkotsu.
"How so?" his leader asked.
Renkotsu told him. "The strongest of the demons appear most at night. And we won't be able to see much in the dark."
"The demons won't be much of a problem," Bankotsu shrugged. "However-"
"Oh yes, they will be," Hikari interrupted. "It's already bad enough that we're having problems with demons at daylight. We're going to be at a high disadvantage if we fight at night.
"We won't be able to see much and we're probably going to get our asses whipped everytime we find a demon. And believe me, I don't want to see anyone get killed because of a stupid idea like this!"
Bankotsu didn't object. Now that she nocked some sense into his brain, traveling at night did seem like a stupid idea. He sighed in defeat. She won again... Or did she?
He folded his arms across his chest and asked her, "Then what do you suggest?"
Her eyes widened. "Me?"
"Yes, you. You said that my idea was a stupid one, so what do you think we should do?"
She saw the challenge in his eyes. And she growled to herself, "Cocky little..." "I'm not the leader here. I'm just a captive."
"You have a lot more freedom than a normal captive. In fact, we're even calling you by your name. So what do you think we should do?"
Hikari glared at him, and he smirked. He wanted to win. And he wasn't about to go down without a fight. "Then if it's a fight we wants, it's a fight he'll get. I just hope he's not going to cry after I win," Hikari thought.
The rest of the Shichinintai members felt the atmosphere changing and felt uneasy.
"Do you think we should do something?" Mukotsu whispered to Renkotsu.
Renkotsu shook his head, and a smile appeared on his face. "Let them. Let's see how this is going to end."
Hikari thought hard, all the while holding Bankotsu's gaze. "We want to get to Mt. Hakurei. To the North-East. I can look at the stars to tell where we're going, but we can't travel at night. And I can't tell where we're going in the morning since I can't see a thing.
"Looking for directions on our own is impossible in that case. The only way we can continue moving is by asking directions. Maybe travelers, or villagers. But once they see the Band Of Seven, they'll freak! Only I can talk to them, so maybe if I ask Bankotsu to give me more freedom... No, Jakotsu would complain..."
And she had an idea.
It might kill her, but it was worth a shot.
She closed her eyes.
Bankotsu thought that she had given up, but he could tell that she was concentrating. Concentrating for what, exactly? For a plan? Or did she just feel something and tried to see if she wasn't imagining anything?
And she opened her eyes.
"There's a village nearby," was what she said.
*O*~*O*~*O*
Kagome laid down on the soft grass and looked up at the sky.
She heard the news.
"My time is in danger too."
The thought horrified her, but then she heard Sango say that the Resurrector may not waster his time in the future too much. Now that she and Inuyasha were back here, the Resurrector would probably stay here.
And she felt relieved. A little.
It has been two days since Mistress Centipede attacked her and Inuyasha. Her friend's leg was healing slowly. He started feeling his leg again, and started walking.
The Inutachi would be on the move again.
A shadow crept up on her and blocked the sunlight. Miroku's face appeared. "Hi, Kagome."
She smiled and sat up. "Hi Miroku. How's Inuyasha doing?"
"Not too bad. Kaede's treating him right now, and I just came out here to get some peace and quiet."
"I know what you mean."
Nobody wants to hear Inuyasha screaming when Kaede is treating him.
Kagome remembered something. "Oh! That's right."
She started patting her clothes as if searching for something. Miroku looked confused. And she found it. She held out the sutra her grandfather gave her and showed it to Miroku.
"Do you know what this thing does? My grandfather gave it to me."
He observed it for a second and took it. "Let's see here..."
"Gandpa said that it was going to give me protection, but he's probably wrong again," said Kagome.
Miroku blinked. "Well this certainly explains it."
"Huh? Explain what?"
"You know how you weren't poisoned, but that Inuyasha was, right? It seems that this sutra protects whoever is holding it from any type of poison. It's a rare sutra these days." He gave it back to her.
Kagome looked surprised. "Really?" She smiled. "Looks like I got lucky."
The monk smiled too. "Indeed. And right now, we're going to need all the luck we can get."
He turned around and said, "I'm going to go back to Inuyasha. He's going to start wondering where 'that lecherous monk' got to."
Kagome watched him leave, and looked back at her sutra. "That's right. These days, we're going to need all the luck we can get. Now that the Resurrector actually shows himself now and then, we're bound to bump into him some day."
Naraku's face came into her mind. "What if he's the one reviving everyone? We're going to have to beat him, of course but... What if he came back stronger than he was before, like the demons? This isn't the first time he's using henchmen, after all," she thought, thinking about the Band Of Seven.
"And if he is responsible, then how did he come back? Did we really kill him all those months ago? Or did he just play dead, and waited for us to lower our guard before stabbing us in the back?"
Hikari showed up in her thoughts. She missed her friend so much.
She always seemed to try to cheer people up, even in the darkest of times. When someone was troubled, she always found a way to make them smile again.
Kagome couldn't imagine her being happy with the Band Of Seven.
But... then again, Sango mentionned this earlier, a little after Hikari was captured: "When she spoke about her relationship with Bankotsu, she looked... like she was dreaming. She looked happy."
"Are she and Bankotsu really that close?" she wondered. "Then again, Bankotsu did keep saying that I was a lot like her. He kept on bragging about how Hikari is, like he knew a lot about her."
She felt a little spark of envy towards Hikari. "Bankotsu's probably the loyal type, so there's no way that he might try to cheat on her."
But inside, she knew that she was happy for her. Even though Bankotsu was a total jerk, he does kinda look like a good type for Hikari. He didn't say much about her beauty, unlike other men. And Hikari was strong enough to fight her own demons.
Maybe they really are in love.
But if they were, why did Bankotsu kidnap her? And why did she look so upset about it?
Did Hikari maybe fall for someone else durinf the time Bankotsu was dead?
All this thinking was making her miss her friend even more. Kagome missed her smile, and the soft sound of her flute when she wanted to cheer her up after she got into a fight with Inuyasha.
Kagome groaned, and laid down on the soft grass again. She looked up at the sky.
And she wondered if Hikari was looking at the same sky as her, at that very moment.
*O*~*O*~*O*
Hikari suddenly felt something poke her at the back of her mind. And she looked up at the sky in confusion.
And she smiled.
She didn't know why she did. She just did. That's all.
"Something wrong?" Bankotsu asked.
She shook her head. "No, nothing."
"Lady Hikari!" A little boy ran up to her and pulled on her blue kimono sleeve. His little eyes were wide with worry. "My friend got hurt! Her knee is bleeding! We have to go quick!"
The kid already started running away, and Hikari followed. "Alright, there is no need to rush!"
She said over her shoulder to Bankotsu, "I'll be right back, you just go search for someplace to stay at!"
Bankotsu scowled, "Yeah, yeah."
He remembered what she had said after she announced that a village was close. He and his brothers all thought that they were crazy when she mentionned a village.
And then, they heard her idea.
FLASHBACK
"Before you say anything, hear me out," Hikari said.
They kept quiet.
"Good," she sighed. "I'm thinking about asking for directions from the villagers. I'll see where we are right now and we'll head for the direction of the Ox-Tiger."
"It won't work," Renkotsu said. "Once they know who you are, they're going to want to keep you for at least a day. And even if you get a new name, they'll recognise you from your swords and appearance."
She nodded. "I know that. I'll stay there for a night, and I'll get directions. You men can stay hidden, at least a kilometer or two away from the village so that the villagers don't see you. It's as simple as that."
"Doesn't sound to bad," said Suikotsu.
"Except for the fact that we won't be able to kill it," Jakotsu mumbled.
"And that we can't go to see the women," Mukotsu added.
"Oh, no it's not," Bankotsu objected. "You're going to be free to do anything you want for a whole day. And what if there's a demon problem? They're going to have to keep you there for a week, and by then, you might forget what we're looking for!"
"Believe me, I haven't sensed any demons nearby," she said calmly. "And I'm not the type to forget anything or to go against my word."
That was true. The leader didn't have anything to say against that. But he still couldn't leave her alone. Who knows how many men can try to take advantage of her and... he didn't dare think about the rest.
So he said, "I'll come with you."
It was her turn to look surprised. "What?"
"You heard me. I'm not going to leave you alone in that village. Someone needs to look after you."
"I can look after myself fine, thanks."
"I don't think so. You never know when someone might try to trick you with their innocent faces. You need someone to go with you."
She glared at him. There he goes again, with that same protective aura of his. Geez. "What about your face markings? If someone of the village recognises it, we're both dead."
He grinned. And all of a sudden, the purple star on his forehead vanished, and left his skin completly intact. As if the marking wasn't ever there. "Excuse me, but just what face marking are you talking about?"
She growled. Damn. She forgot about that. (A/N: I bet you forgot about it too, huh? Remember, Renkotsu disguised himself as a monk once, so his purple arrows weren't visible. But then, they reappeared again. Like magic :D)
She sighed in frustration. "Fine, fine, I guess I can deal with someone stalking around."
Bankotsu smirked. Turns out that he won in the end.
END FALSHBACK
But now, he isn't feeling as cocky as he was before. It's only been an hour that he and Hikari arrived in the village, and already, Hikari was being surrounded.
The villagers figured out who she was. Their description of her was 'A beautiful maiden dressed in a blue kimono, her long black hair coming down to her waist and flowing in the wind, having eyes as blue as the clear sky, and a smile rivaling an angel's'.
And of course, the two demon blades on her back.
She decided to keep them.
It was thanks to Buddah that nobody recognised Bankotsu. The rumour has spred that the Band Of Seven has been resurrected, and he was going to have to be careful if he didn't want to get caught.
He had to borrow Suikotsu's clothes to look like a normal man, even though it made him look real weird.
And he kept Banryuu.
That's right, the rest of his brothers and Hikari insisted that he leaved Banryuu behind, but Bankotsu held his companion close like a baby and his favorite toy. He even whined like one.
So in the end, the huge sword followed him everywhere. Turns out that the clothes weren't even useful since Banryuu was enough to get people suspicious.
He and Hikari were taking a stroll around the place for a few seconds, and already the people started coming. Of course, they held their distances because of Banryuu. Because of its size and because people were scared of it.
Bankotsu watched Hikari leave and felt annoyed. "She is NOT going to leave me alone HERE. Not with all these people around. Not with all these people who are going to drive me crazy." He refused to believe it.
Well, she just did.
He growled in frustration and went after her. Before long, he found her surrounded by a bunch of children with worried expressions. Hikari was kneeled in front of a little girl and looking carefully at her knee.
"Who are this little girl's parents?" she asked to the kids around her.
The boy who came to get her answered, "Her father's out gathering food, and... her mother... well... she's..."
His pained expression was enough. Hikari understood what it meant. And she felt an even greater sympathy than she felt before. "I need someone to go get me some water and cloth!"
"We'll get it!" Two twins said together and ran off together.
They rushed past Bankotsu and he watched them leave. He turned his head back to the small crowd and looked at Hikari. She was hugging the girl in her arms and whispering comforting words to her ear. It seemed to work.
He watched as her beautiful face melted into a smile. He hadn't forgotten the reason why she was so fond of kids.
She was a child herself once, only he lived a hard life. A very hard one, in fact. She didn't want children to know the same suffering she did. The least she could do was keep them happy and smiling.
Then, he wondered how she would be with her own children if she would ever have any.
He smirked.
"Not if. When."
There was only one person good enough for her. And that was him. And the only children she would bear will be his.
"Hello, sir."
He jumped as a man came up behind him and spoke. The man was about in his early twenties and was an inch taller than Bankotsu, and looked rather handsome. Although, his eyes sparkled with something that made Bankotsu feel uncomfortable.
"Er... hi."
The man smiled. "My name is Shoji. Nice to meet you," he said as he held out his hand. "You were the man accompanying Lady Hikari when she got here, am I wrong?"
Bankotsu guessed that this was the part where you take the guy's hand, shake it, say your name, smile, and say 'nice to meet you too'. But he only did the first three steps and didn't do the two last ones. "... Bankotsu," he said as he shook Shoji's hand.
Shoji's eyes slightly widened in shock. "Bankotsu? Wasn't that... the name of the leader of the Band of Seven?"
Shit. He blew it. He should have changed his name. If he didn't come up with an idea fast, he could kick his ass goodbye from here. "Oh, um, yes... Well... my mother hated me when she gave birth to me... and she wanted to give me the worst name possible. The name of a famous band of killers was 'perfect for me', she thought."
"Ah, I see," Shoji looked liked he pitied him. "I'm truly sorry."
Bankotsu wanted to growl at him, but kept his mouth shut. He hated to see the look of pity in people's eyes, especially if that pity was for him. Pity ment weaknes and he certainly didn't like being weak.
Shoji continued, "Couldn't you have taken another name?"
"I don't need another name. One is good enough."
"Yes, but what if some people take you for the leader of the Band Of Seven...? With that large sword of yours, I wouldn't be surprised if many thought so..."
Bankotsu blinked. That's right, this guy was that clueless. "I'm not afraid of them."
Shoji smiled. "A brave man you are."
Bankotsu casted his attention back to Hikari. The twins returned, and she was now treating the kid's injury. He couldn't help but feel a little envious towards the little girl.
That injury was nothing compared to what he had. And yet, Hiakri was looking at the child with more compassion in her eyes.
In those beautiful eyes of hers...
"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Shoji suddenly asked.
Bankotsu lightly growled at him for interupting his gazing at Hikari, "You already did."
"Oh... then I'll ask something else."
There was a short moment of silence, and then, the man asked, "Are you and Lady Hikari perhaps... lovers?"
The question caught him totally off guard. Bankotsu's eyes widened and he stared at Shoji in shock. But he didn't say anything.
Shoji wasn't looking at him. He was looking at Hikari.
Looking at her with those eyes. The type of eyes you only give to some you love. Or at least someone you're interested in. And that look made Bankotsu want to kill him. It wouldn't be too hard, right? Banryuu was in his hand, and a single slash would be good enough to-
"She's a woman with a rare beauty," Shoji said. "Rumour has it that she has the heart as strong as gold, as pure as light, and as warm as fire. The sight of her smile is enough to cure the worst of sicknesses. It was told that once one meets her face to face, one will die without any regrets."
"You can't always believe in rumours," Bankotsu said with a smirk.
"So you know her very well, do you not?"
He blinked. Did he have to answer that? "... You can say that I do."
"So am I correct? You are lovers?"
He didn't answer immediatly. If Bankotsu lied, Shoji would probably start trying to make a move on Hikari. And he was sure that Shoji wasn't the only one running after her. Other will try as well. And he was pretty damn sure that he didn't want that.
So he told him the truth. His truth, at least, "Yes, we are."
"... I see."
There was no emotion when he said that. Nor any warmth in his eyes from before.
Bankotsu was convinced that this conversation was over. So he left Shoji and walked over to Hikari.
The little girl she was taking care of stopped crying and was standing up, surounded by her friends who were asking her if she was feeling better. Only the little boy who came to get Hikari stood back and watched.
Bankotsu saw her whisper a few words to the boy, and the boy blushed. Then, when the kids ran off to play another game, the boy followed.
Hikari must have already known that he was right behind her, since she said, "That boy... he loves her, you know."
He nodded. "It's kind of obvious from the way he came to you screaming like a demon was about to take him away. And then, he looked so depressed when he said that her mother died."
Her eyes grew softer. "It's kind of cute how kids can start falling in love at such a young age."
"Hey, it doesn't take much, you know. Girl gets in trouble, boy saves her, and that's it. Girl's in love and won't let go of him. When the guy falls in love, the girl just needs to give him a smile, and there we have it, young love."
She smiled at him. "You sure know a lot about these things."
He shrugged. "Don't forget that I lived in a village once too."
Hikari stood up. "Come on, we should go find a small temple to stay at. We'll find out where we are and we'll head back out to your brothers tomorow morning."
"Right."
Hikari must have sensed people living inside a temple already, so she lead the way. On their way there, people stared. Some stared with smiles, and some others glared. Most of those glares were from men. And those glares were surely for him.
It seemed that Shoji has told everyone that they were lovers. "Looks like word spreads out pretty fast here," Bankotsu noticed. And by the odd way Hikari was shifting her glance at everyone, she must have noticed that something was odd.
But whenever she looked at someone who was glaring at Bankotsu, those people's faces would light up to a smile, and would lose their warmth as soon as she looked away.
Those who were smiling probably felt happy that even the last of the L. Healers found her other half. Children stared with wide eyes of shock, or awe as she and Bankotsu passed them.
They finally arrived in front of the temple and looked inside. "Hello?" Hikari asked.
"Oh, come in, come in!" An old voice sounded from another room.
An elderly woman and a young girl about Hikair's age showed up, bowed, and smiled warmly at them. The old one said, "Please, stay for as long as you like, dear travelers. Of course, you're going to have to pay a few yen."
The young lady stared in shock and whispered to the elder. "Grandmother, can't you see? They're Lady Hikari and her husband!"
Hikari blushed at the word 'husband' and Bankotsu smirked.
The grandmother came closer, closer, and a little too close to Hikari to see her clearly. And then, her voice yelled, "Why of course! Forgive me, my Lady, please, just make yourself comfy and forget about what I sais about paying! Do as you like here, please!"
Hikari looked surprised and insisted, "No, no. Please, don't give me so much respect, I should be the one to adress you with such words. And also, I will pay just as any customer, I don't want to sound too unfair here."
The old woman brushed away a tear of joy with her sleeve and wheeped, "Oh, it's so good to know that there are still young people like you who respect their elders. I can finally die in peace."
The L. Healer smiled. "I just need two rooms for-"
Bankotsu interupted her with a grin, "Ah, ah, ah. One room."
She blushed and exclaimed, "What? Absolutely not! That-"
The old lady seemed to have a gleem that matched Bankotsus' and said, "Masa, dear, please take these two to their one room."
"Umm... yes, Grandmother."
And before they knew it, they were walking down the hallway. People had the same expressions as they had when Hikari and Bankotsu were outside. Some still glared, and some smiled. Hikari glanced at Bankotsu and he caught her eye.
"We're discussing this later," her eyes said.
Inside their room, Masa was showing them what was what. "This is here is the closet. And if you like, we can give you new clothes and a free washing. we wouldn't usually do this, but you are a special guest, and Grandmother would certainly perfer you to have the best comfort."
Before Hikari could answer, Bankotsu flashed her a smile and said, "Yeah, that would be nice, thanks." He wanted to get out of Suikotsu's clothes ASAP.
The healer spotted a light blush show on Masa's face. The girl's tone was so light that they almost couldn't hear it. "Yes. Umm... umm... you can com downstairs... anytime to eat..." And she went outside.
They watched her leave, and on her way out, they saw other people looking at them.
And they breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed.
"Bankotsu..." Hikari started. "Just what did you tell them?"
"I swear on Baryuu, I didn't know that this would happen."
"If you put it that way, then I believe you," she said. "But I'm asking you what you told them."
"Can't you just read their minds for that?" He desperatly didn't want to tell her. It may make him sound too protective, and therefore, she'll get upset and possibly send him unconcious. He knew what she could do when she was angry.
"There's too many thoughts going through their heads. I can't tell what's true or not. Some of them are thinking that we're getting married, and some of them are saying that you hypnotized me with some evil spell."
She didn't have anything bad to say when it came to the 'marrige' part, so Bankotsu thought that it was okay to tell her. "I told one of the men of the village that we're lovers."
"... Lovers?" Hikari didn't sound outraged. That was a good sign. Or was it...?
"Yeah."
She faceplamed. "I can't believe this."
Bankotsu was surprised that she hadn't broken one of his bones yet. She asked him, "What made you tell the villager that we were lovers?"
He looked down at his shining halberd. "This guy, Shoji, asked if we were. Of course, I could have told him that we weren't, but he had that look in his eye. It wasn't a leacherous look, it was more like... Soft. Too soft to give to someone you didn''t even talk to.
And he looked into her eyes. "If I didn't tell him that we we lovers, I'm sure that he would have tried to make a move on you by now."
Hikari sighed. "When I traveled alone, I never had any problems like these since I didn't have any close relationships with anyone. And the guys just made a move on me without even bothering to know if I was taken or not."
Bankotsu felt a twinge of jealousy and fury at the same time. Jealousy because the men actually had time with Hikari's soft side, never her hard side. Fury because they were flirting with his woman.
"And what was that about?" she asked suddenly.
"What?"
"The smile you gave to Masa, what else?" She said as if it was obvious.
"Oh, well I needed to change into something." And something popped up into his mind. He smirked, "Why? Are you jealous?"
She frowned. "Why would I be jealous? I've seen so many tricks pathetic tricks of yours, I think I forgot how to be jealous."
She just had to bring down the mood. "True, true."
She sighed. "Anyways, I guess we're going to have to deal with those looks for a day." She took off her shethes from her back and placed them on the ground. "I'm going to go ask someone where we are, and if possible, I'll ask for a map."
She started heading outside and said, "You can stay here if you like. And look around. I'm guessing that this won't take too long."
"Guessing?"
She shrugged. "Who knows, I might get caught into a deep conversation about my 'husband'." She walked out and closed the door behind her.
Bankotsu smirked as the thought came into his mind. "Hikari's husband, Bankotsu... kinda has a good ring to it."
He looked at the room. It was fancy, of course. with someone like Hikari here, he wouldn't be surprised if the owner of this temple wanted them to feel at home.
There were paintings on the walls, and beautiful lanterns on the ceiling. If he opened the door to outside, he had a full view of the village. The folded beds in the closet were soft and there was no doubt that he and Hikari were going to sleep like babies tonight.
He paused as naughty thoughts went through his mind. Apparently, 'Hikari', 'sleep', and 'babies' made a certain part of his body harden.
And when something shiny caught his eye, he looked at Hikari's swords.
He never understood how she could leave these powerful blades anywhere she wanted. He remembered her saying that they were passed down from her father. Her great father... So why won't she bring them everywhere with her?
A few minutes later, Hikari came back holding something in her hands, and was followed by Masa right behind her. The smell of the air from when the girls came in told him it was food.
The healer placed her small table on the floor, and Masa placed her table right next to hers.
Masa pulled out some clothes from under the small table and said, "These are the extra clothes you asked for."
She smiled at her. "Thank you, Masa." She pulled out a few coins from her pocket and gave them to the girl. "Here's the amount of money we owe you for the night."
Masa's eyes widened in shock. "But... But this is too much! You should be paying a lot less than this..."
"Oh, please. I know that we're special guests, but we should still be paying just as much as the other travelers here. Take it. I'm guessing that it should cost this much for the beautiful room we're staying in."
The servant smiled gratefully. "Thank you." And with that, she went out.
As soon as she was gone, Bankotsu jumped onto his food and dug in.
"You should have told me you were hungry," Hikari teased.
As expected, Bankotsu finished eating before her. After their meal, she showed him the map she got from Masa's grandmother. "We're here," she pointed to a small hill on the map.
"And where are we supposed to go?" Bankotsu asked impatiently.
"Here." She pointed to a bigger hill colered in a light pink. "Masa's grandmother told me this map is old. The maps these days took off Mt. Hakurei and replaced it with a moutain of shattered rocks."
Bankotsu analysed the distance between where they were and Mt. Hakurei. He groaned. "Judging by the distance, I'd say it'll take us over two weeks to get there if we travel by foot."
Hikari didn't seem to care. "Then I guess there's going to be more traveling." Her gaze traveled through the map, when something caught her eye.
He wondered what was wrong. "What's the matter?"
She still seemed distracted, but she shook her head. "... No. Nevermind. It's... nothing important."
Bankotsu tilted his head. "... Alright, then. I'm going to go change into the clothes the girl gave me."
"Okay."
Even though he put the subject aside, he still wonderd why she seemed so disturbed when he looked at the map. He went to get his clothes, and as he passed by Hikari, he took a quick look to the map she was holding.
And he understood why her mood suddenly changed.
The map was probably over six years old. And probably a very special and very secret one.
How did he know?
Because that map had the secret village of the legendary healers on it.
Now the chapters are going to shorter than the others since I'm impatient with finishing this story (I can't work with two stories at once!). Even though there's probably going to be 10 more chapters or so.
Plus, I have so many projects to do... T.T
Anyways, hope you liked it!
~FoxRain7~