9. Subdue Them to the Useful and the Good

Kikyou wasn't fond of subterfuge, but she understood that there were times where it was necessary. This was such a situation. Her best bet at finding answers were the Shichinintai. They had been brought to life by the same strange whim of fate that had seen her standing where others had been buried. There was no allegiance between her and them, so if she wanted them to cooperate, she needed to craft one.

Her plan was to approach each of them separately while Bankotsu sent them on several errands at the market. What these individual tasks were she had no idea. Her objective was to talk to them and offer to remove heir oppressive leader.

Now Ginkotsu and Kyoukotsu had ignored her entirely and walked away. They would warn him. Jakotsu would have killed her outright if they hadn't been in public, and he had stopped himself with a visible effort. He would also bring word back to Bankotsu, no doubt, that someone was after his life. Hopefully, her new ally would calm him enough not to find her and murder her in her sleep.

Mukotsu, on the other hand, had agreed to her plan to remove Bankotsu from the equation. His idea of a plot against their leader was to sit down with her off the beaten path and find a solution there. Kikyou was a lot of things, but she wasn't stupid. There was an excellent chance he just wanted her alone. She had told him they could meet at a dockside inn the same day instead. No way was she going to let him isolate her. He had agreed but without any real enthusiasm and the Miko had made sure not to drink or eat anything he'd had his fingers near.

Their plan wouldn't hold up to close scrutiny. Mukotsu was vile but not very bright. Either that, or overthrowing Bankotsu had never been his intention, and he set them up for failure deliberately. It might make sense. If all he wanted was a defenceless woman at his mercy, it was sufficient, assuming she was naïve enough to fall for his tactics.

There were two men left, and one of them was currently bent over a table of tongs and other equipment. 'Renkotsu,' she said, and his entire posture went rigid.

Pulling himself up to his full height, he stared down at her. His face was expressionless, but his stance oozed danger. 'And you are?'

'Kikyou. We haven't spoken, but I believe we should remedy that.' With him, this would be easier than the others: She had gathered enough information to have an opening. 'I need to warn you. Bankotsu doesn't trust you.'

Renkotsu's steely gaze lingered on her, unwavering and cold. 'Tell me something I don't know if you want me to keep listening.'

'He plans to … remove you. And sending you away doesn't seem to satisfy him. I overheard him saying that he expects you to stab him in the back, and he'll sleep easier when he knows you no longer exist.'

A sigh came from the other man. 'In that case, I should just leave.'

'Or you take matters into your own hand.' She lowered her voice. 'Bankotsu likes to kill without aim or reason. You, however, seem to be a lot more sensible. You know how to walk the fine line between efficient and too dangerous to employ.'

'If you are suggesting that I kill him before he has a chance to kill me …' He faltered and tilted his head. 'What would you gain, anyway?'

'Peace,' Kikyou said simply. 'There can be none with Bankotsu. He destroyed you all twice, but many more people lost their lives unnecessarily on the way. Being a mercenary and enjoying your work is one thing, but pointless slaughter is something else entirely. You are capable of the former, I believe. He is not.'

Renkotsu eyed her, but unlike Mukotsu it seemed more like an assessment of the harm she could do. While that didn't mean he was a safe person to talk to, he wasn't after his own private victim. 'So what do you want to do?'

'In three days, the poison I slipped Bankotsu will make him very sick. That will be the time to strike.' Mukotsu had shot this idea down and come up with a mad plan of his own to lure his leader away just before Riku left the port. She had managed to persuade him to do it in three days–when Bankotsu would be safe after the actual attempt on his life while looking like death. This was the most dangerous part of Kikyou's plan: She had to meet Mukotsu in advance. That might give her a chance to hand over Renkotsu just after him, however.

'Agreed, then. Find me on that day in the evening on the ship. I'll make sure he doesn't recover. And you will have my gratitude.'

Kikyou had to stay on her guard. This man wouldn't leave a witness of how Bankotsu had died. She watched him walk away. 'You are bright, but you underestimate me,' she said under her breath. The only believable answer would have been that he no longer needed her if she weakened him already. He'd be in for a surprise.

Ϡ

Only one man was missing, and by the time she found him, she almost had to give up. She needed to get onto the ship soon to make sure Bankotsu made it through the night. Riku should be shielding him from his men, pretending that he had left the vessel even, until Kikyou came.

Suikotsu was nervous. He was rushing over the market, giving several stands a cursory glance before hurrying to the next. He was clearly looking for something. 'Can I help?' she asked.

As with the others, she had stood close behind him when she spoke. All the rest had been mostly unfazed by that, but he jumped visibly. Then he stared at her before he jerked back into motion. 'Kikyou-sama, please forgive my rudeness, but I really have to find … maybe you can help!' He looked around and leaned in. 'Please help me. Bankotsu is sick and if this is what I believe, it will kill him. He needs medicine, urgently. This market has everything for a killer but nothing to heal. The only stand with anything useful is closed today, and I …' He swallowed, worry visibly eating at him. 'I have to help him. You probably think he doesn't deserve it, but … Even if I don't know if I will stay with them, I can't just let him die. Not like that.'

As if her body acted on its own accord, Kikyou reached out and cupped the frantic Doctor's cheek. His eyes flew wide, but he didn't move away. 'Calm yourself, Suikotsu-sama. I will help Bankotsu. It's not as bad as it looked, I removed most of the toxin before it could do serious harm. I'll be on the ship later tonight and make sure he is fine. You stay with the rest.'

'I can help, I can …'

'I know you are capable, but you will be more useful by staying away.' She lowered her hand and Suikotsu's eyebrows knitted. 'One of you did this to him. I … was going to test you as I did the others, to try to conspire with you to kill him, but that would be insulting. You didn't do it.'

'Never,' the Doctor said roughly. 'Not even when … Not like that.'

'Then stay with the rest. Bankotsu will be safe, but one of you made an attempt on his life, and that person needs to be kept from him while he is weak. Help me save him, Suikotsu-sama. Help me by keeping them away.'

'Do you know who it was?'

For a moment, she hesitated. 'Mukotsu or Renkotsu,' she said eventually. 'Both agreed to help me kill your leader. Although I think the disgusting old man just wants to catch me off guard.'

'Please be careful, he would do unspeakable things to you, Kikyou-sama. You would not survive, and you would go through hell before he allows you to die.'

She sighed. 'I had that impression. Do you … know, by any chance, if Bankotsu got any information out of Renkotsu? He thinks he's the most likely one to understand why we are alive.'

'So that's what he wanted. No, Renkotsu shot him down. Repeatedly. I … don't remember. I was already dead.' He looked at his hands. A tremor ran through them, the way Kikyou had seen before when he had panicked that blood was sticking to them long after they were clean. 'I should still be dead. I have taken so many lives, I …'

Shaking her head, the Miko took his hands into hers and held them firmly until his eyes met hers. 'I have told you before that all men have darkness in their hearts. You seem well in control of yours.'

'Maybe I am, but I remember, Kikyou-sama.'

'I wasn't finished. You were also mistaken. Any soul can be redeemed Suikotsu-sama, especially that of a man who is sick. You aren't a bad person. You never were. You were broken, either by nature or events, I don't know that, but you seem better now.'

'It was an event. And maybe dying cleansed my soul of the rage, but what if it comes back?' Suikotsu's voice was barely above a whisper. 'What if I lose myself again?'

'Then you will have to fight it,' she said. 'You know what you carry in your heart now. That gives you an advantage. Go back to Riku's ship. Go back and pretend as much as you can. Tomorrow, Bankotsu will be fine, even if he doesn't seem that way. You need to trust me. If you don't, you will doom me and him. Can you do that?'

A soft smile formed on the Doctor's face. 'I trusted you with my soul, and I trust you with his life, Kikyou-sama. And I am grateful you do the same for me.' He bowed. 'Before this is over, I would like to speak with you more.'

Despite herself, she felt a smile of her own tug at her lips and an emotion she had thought she was no longer capable of. 'I am sure we can arrange that,' she answered quietly. He stopped just within sight and looked back at her. Even at this distance, there was a promise in his eyes. The thing Kikyou needed to work out now was whether she could return what he offered.