Hello all. Im very excited to come back to this story. Miasma is my passion project, and was naturally the first story I updated after my long forced pause in writing, and ITJOTW is my most popular story so I wanted to give people more to read there, but this story has so much going for it, and I really wanted to push myself to delve into the meat of it. This is the most neglected of my stories, because it makes me nervous to write. Bankotsu is a hard character to write, and I'm so scared that I'll mess up my favourite character that I've hesitated with this story, to the point where its so far behind all the others. Now, it'll never catch up in chapter length to the other stories, being a much shorter plot, but it's just been left stunted and sad because of my fear. I mean, only two chapters, when I've managed over fifty chapters combined on my other stories?

But I'm trying to turn a new leaf. I've sat down and planned out each chapters events, from this chapter all the way through to the finale. I'm hoping having that solid plan, and rewatching and reading the Band of Seven arc, will give me the strength to really get into the meat and potatoes of this story. I truly want to do this idea, and this wonderful wonderful character, justice.

Before we begin, if you'd like to read more of my writing, head on over to my page where you'll find a Naraku story, an Inuyasha story and a Koga story to choose from. I update each of them when I can. At the moment I have a good solid amount to post so I'll be trying to figure out a schedule soon. And I have more stories coming in the future, with more wonderful characters from the InuYasha-verse to enjoy!

So thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Perfidious

The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from an enemy

Chapter Three

I hoisted a sack of rice up onto my shoulder, grunting as I adjusted it enough to be comfortable enough carrying it through the village.

"Good doing business with you, Reo."

I tipped my head. "And you, Aoto. Well wishes to the wife."

The merchant grinned at me and held up the pack of eggs I had traded to him in a farewell. "Our fifth child due soon."

"Oh?" I hated people, really I did, but this merchant passed through the village at the base of the mountain I lived on often enough to be useful, but not enough to get on my bad side. We were friendly enough that casual conversation happened. "Congratulations and all that."

"Thanks. Hoping it's a boy this time."

I laughed. "Fifth times the charm? Are you not overrun enough without a little boy to add to the toil?"

Aoto laughed heartily himself. "Keeps you young, Reo. I'd be miserable old bastard if I didn't have my darling children to keep me on my feet." He pat his rotund belly, and I could only think that if they kept him on his feet, they did a poor job of keeping him active. "What about you? Getting on in your years now, aren't you?"

I huffed, waving my hand in front of my face, batting away the words.

I couldn't imagine having kids in this lifetime. The cows and dog and occasional mercenary drop-ins kept me busy enough as it was. I couldn't imagine how much extra work I'd have if I had children running around too. Who would I have a harder time wrangling, a child or cocky mercenary?

I perished the thought.

"She didn't even name her dog. Woe betide any kids she has," a voice said from behind me.

Aoto's expression cycled through a few emotions, settling on wariness as he looked at whatever was over my shoulder.

If I wasn't already familiar with that voice, the shock would tell me all I needed to know about who was behind me. What were the chances? Was he summoned by my thoughts of him?

I shifted the rice bag on my shoulder and half turned. "Ho, Bankotsu."

He lifted his free hand to give a small wave as he drew up closer to us. "Reo, my favourite farmer. Miss us?"

I leaned over to see if Jakotsu was beside him, but the ex-chigo was absent. Why did the thought of Jakotsu alone worry me so much? I could just imagine the trouble he could get himself into. Bankotsu gave me almost the same feeling, too. I wondered if it was just the fate of the two mercenaries that any thought of them by themselves would fill me with dread at the thought of the absolutely mayhem they could find themselves in.

At least Bankotsu was here so I could keep an eye on him if he wanted to get into trouble.

"A friend, Reo?" Aoto questioned, bringing me back to the moment.

Bankotsu grinned, his free arm dropping onto my unoccupied shoulder. "Sure is."

"He shows up occasionally and eats and drinks me out of house and home," I inputted flatly, shrugging my shoulder to try and dislodge the man.

He and Jakotsu had a healthy appetite for the expensive sake I kept up on the farm, and had drank their way through a decent amount already. Their hunger was just as bad. If I didn't dole out their portions myself, I had a feeling that I would be licking the inside of the pot in hopes of some sustenance myself. Jakotsu certainly wouldn't leave me any if it were his choice. He talked at me a little now, but he wouldn't piss on me if I was dying of thirst.

Bankotsu didn't give into my pointed shrug. In fact, he leaned further onto me and pouted in my ear. "Aw, that's not what you think of me, really, is it, Reo? And after promising to help you, too."

Was that what I really thought? No, probably not. I didn't want to analyse my feelings for the mercenary in any sort of detail, but Bankotsu was self assured enough that I was going to avoid any kind of ego stroking if I could help it. The man didn't need any help inflating that ego of his.

"If you're offering help, you can make yourself useful while the adults talk." I hoisted the bag of rice, that was really starting to make my shoulder ache now, and shoved it into his chest. His arm wrapped around it immediately and held it in place without even a flinch or grimace at the weight. It was no small bag.

Part of me had hoped he would fumble.

No such luck.

Aoto's face had lit up as he watched us, and I knew that expression well. It was the same expression he'd had when he'd once seen me bartering with the headman's son, a man that had an interest in me that wasn't reciprocated even a little.

"Perhaps not just a friend?" the jolly old man suggested.

I snorted, shaking my head. "Nothing doing, old man. You butt your old nose out of peoples business or it'll get cut off. Then what will Emi think, eh?"

No vague threat or debunking could deter Aoto's jolly mood at the idea that I had found a man, though. For all his pleasure, you would think I was one of his brood that he was oh so proud of.

"This old man will leave the two of you to it." His grin widened as he bid us his farewells, and strolled off to go peddle his wares with others in the market.

"Bah," I shouted after him.

His shoulders shook as he bimbled away.

Bankotsu stood beside me, watching the interaction silently for a long moment. "Your husband will be devastated with your apparent lack of want of one." His voice was dry, and wholly too amused.

I groaned, shaking my head. "I shall not be forgetting that lie soon, shall I?"

The young man gave an easy smile and followed after me as I wandered in the same direction Aoto had ambled. I needed a few more things before I gave up for the day and returned to the farm for as long as I possibly could before having to return.

"Nope," he agreed with that infuriating grin.

Fantastic. Just what I wanted.

"Where's your friend?" I asked, eyes sweeping the marketplace in search of Jakotsu. I couldn't see any obnoxious weapons or oddly dressed men amidst the market-goers. I'd have assumed that he just wasn't there, if Bankotsu hadn't already suggested that Jakotsu was with him.

"They're already at the farm. I left them behind and came to look for you."

"Them?" I groaned. There were more than the two of them now? "If you intend to use me as an inn, I'm charging you. Feeding two of you is enough. Now there's more of you to feed?"

He had left payment in the past. I still could remember the surprise I felt when I'd found the string of coins on the floor of the room they used that first night. That money had waned pretty quickly, though. It wasn't cheap, running a farm like mine and any money I earned fed back into it very quickly. I'd seen no such payment from Bankotsu since, and if he and his band of freeloaders intended on continuing to visit me when the mood struck, then they would need to give up that life of freeloading.

"Pay me or I'll kick you out to the demons."

A laugh bubbled up in his throat. "You sure are demanding, Reo."

"We didn't get enough food, did we?" I asked, voice hollow in some strange mix of wonderment and horror as we approached my farm.

Jakotsu I could see sat on the veranda and sunning himself. That was no issue. I was familiar enough with Jakotsu and his appetite enough to have accounted for that. When Bankotsu had told me there was just one new person to contend with, I had bought just a little extra food to accommodate for one extra person for a few days.

I had not accounted for that one extra person to stand taller than my damn Noka.

"You say he's human?" I questioned, doubt and suspicion mingling in my voice. Bankotsu had given me a little information on the man that had joined his travelling band of idiots. But, getting a look at the man in question, I certainly didn't believe all the man behind me had said about him. No human grew to that size naturally. I wouldn't believe this man was human if not believing it meant my death. I'd take the knife to my stomach myself.

Bankotsu hummed from his spot sat in my cart amongst the barrels of sake and bags of ingredients. "So he tells us." He shifted around, leaning forwards and resting his arms over the lip of the cart so he could see what I was seeing. His braid slid over his shoulder and rested against my thigh. "He's a cannibal."

Well, I definitely hadn't accounted for that when buying extra food.

"Cannibalism warped his body that much?"

"Eats demons, too," Bankotsu supplied. He rested his chin on his folded arms. "I don't think he's all human anymore."

"You don't say." He looked far from human.

I'd heard some stories over the years of the way cannibalism warped a person, destroying their mind and making their body follow. No story I'd heard, or mountain-wandering cannibal I'd had the misfortune of meeting (and I had had the misfortune of meeting one) had ever had their body quite so entirely warped by the practice, though. Human flesh and all the connotations of it truly changed a person, but not that much.

But demons? A human ingesting demon flesh had hundreds of stories of madness and woe. Demon flesh was a blight on humans. It destroyed a human from the inside out.

Most humans, at least.

Apparently if you had the will to overcome that madness, you became… that.

"You say he eats demons?"

Bankotsu hummed in agreement.

"Then he can go out into the mountains and drum up his own food. I don't have enough to feed him." I wasn't losing all of my food to a beast like that as a favour for a group of men that were imposing themselves on me. It just wasn't happening. I wasn't that kind-hearted a person.

I had a life to live and I wasn't in the business of sacrificing the few comforts I had for others.

The little extra food I had bought to accommodate this monster would come in handy, and give me a little more time between now and me having to go back down into the village again. I liked to put as much time between visits as I physically could. My food store was woefully barren right now. I couldn't have left it any longer than I did.

"Sure, I'll tell 'im."

Good. I didn't fancy myself being the one to tell the behemoth before us that I wasn't going to be feeding him and he'd have to hunt his own dinner while the rest of us sat around the fire eating a stew I would be making for us when everything was unloaded from the cart and put away.

Introductions were made the moment the cart drew close enough.

The beast's name was Kyo.

I expected him to have a fancy name, though I couldn't tell you why. Kyo was a name that seemed to suit him, but at the same time felt like it came up woefully short of him. It was an odd sensation.

That night, long after the others had gone to bed - Jakotsu in the room he and Bankotsu had unofficially claimed as their own, and Kyo outside - I sat up stoking the fires in the hearth while Bankotsu warmed his hands sat opposite me.

The silence between us was amicable, pleasant enough that neither of us were too bothered about the other being there. I certainly usually cared about company when I spent my evenings decompressing from the day, especially with company at the farm. But Bankotsu's aura was so relaxed that I didn't feel too uncomfortable just resting with him.

Until Bankotsu leaned back and made himself comfortable on the floor. He's removed his armour hours ago, and was now lounging in just his kimono and hakama. Gone was everything that made him look like a warrior. Now he was just a man, comfortable and enjoying the time he'd been afforded. He looked normal. And without all the layers of weapons and armour and intimidation, he looked young and unassuming.

Relaxed like that, he looked handsome.

"You keep staring like that, you'll make me nervous." He didn't sound nervous, nor did he even bother to crack an eye open to look at me while he spoke. If someone made me nervous, I'd have an eye on them all the time. Not so much the case for Bankotsu, aparrently.

I let out a hum and stoked the fire again, attention forcefully on the embers trying to cling to life under the large pot still slowly bubbling away. "You don't seem like a man that gets nervous."

He chuckled, grin pulling at his lips. "Know me so well already, huh, Reo?"

I snorted, chasing a chunk of burning wood around the fire pit. "More than I'd like to know you, at any rate."

That was true enough the first couple times the man had showed up at my door. I wanted nothing to do with him, and had no interest in helping him out. Now, though, I wasn't so sure. I liked Bankotsu. He was easy to get on with, charismatic and fun. Somewhere along the way, I'd come to enjoy being around him, like right now. I felt relaxed and comfortable enough around him. The man had grown on me. It was quite a surprise to me that he had.

I had no intentions of letting him know that.

I could only imagine how big his ego would inflate if he knew that he had broken through. I wasn't about to let that ego inflate any more than it was.

The silence stretched for a little while longer, before once again, Bankotsu broke it. "Have you thought about it?"

It. I knew what it was he was talking about almost instinctively. The promise he had made me to help me with doing something worth remembering me by. I'd thought on it every single day since he had put forward the offer. It lived in the back of my mind day in and day out.

What could I do to be remembered in this world?

No matter how much I thought on it, the answer that I want never came. Every suggestion my mind could give just fell flat. It didn't feel right. It wasn't the thing that I wanted to be remembered by. It wasn't good enough to use Bankotsu's boon for. Every single idea, and I had had dozens of them, just wasn't good enough. Some days it plagued me. Some days I thought for hours and just got more and more frustrated as I did. One such day had left me with a bowl shattering against the wall as the frustration got too great. It was all-consuming those days.

"No," I replied in favour of trying to explain. I didn't think I could articulate all the thoughts running through my head, or how no thought seemed to be good enough.

"It's a good think I'm patient then, huh? Got all the time in the world to help, when you eventually make up your mind."

I hummed lowly in response, mind caught up in trying to figure out what I wanted out of life again. What could I possibly do that would make me be remembered?

"You thought about the other thing I said that night?"

Forgetting about the quest for being remembered and just living for today, to just live to my fullest and enjoy what I did every day.

I had. I brought with it its own frustrations and risks. It was all very well living life to your fullest and doing whatever struck your mood when you were a traveler and didn't have any obligations tying you down, like Bankotsu. I had to think of all the responsibilities I couldn't evade before I thought of just doing what I wanted and being happy with that. By the time a more frivolous fun decision came along, it was so inconsequential that it barely felt like it was worth my time to even make the decision and chase the high.

I lived life in the mundane and couldn't see an escape.

I sighed and stood, leaving the fire poker sat at the edge of the hearth. I was done thinking about it. It gave me far too much frustration. I couldn't afford to break anything else as an outlet. "I'm getting tired. I'm going to bed."

"And here I thought we could spend some time and get to know each other better."

I paused in my exit, turning sharp eyes to Bankotsu. I wasn't a well-traveled woman. Really, I knew little of the way of the world outside my farm. But that didn't mean I was an innocent. I wasn't totally naive, despite how my lifestyle could leave me to be. The tone Bankotsu had made the suggestion in lit a fire under my skin. The same sort of roiling heat that the kiss he'd given me at his last departure did. The memory of that kiss was still fresh. It had become the subject of my thoughts on living for the moment more than once.

My experience was... limited. Before Bankotsu had taken those kisses the last time we had seen each other, I'd only known the touch of two men. Neither had quite the presence that Bankotsu had. Neither had made me feel the way Bankotsu did. Neither of them made me want to do something stupid quite like Bankotsu did. If he were just a one-time traveler, maybe I would have given into to the thought, but it was clear now that Bankotsu would show up time and time again until he got bored. I couldn't let anything happen while that was the case. That would just lead to more, to misunderstandings and to hurt feelings.

That scared me.

The thoughts I had of the man lounging before me, with that grin on his face, scared me, and the consequences of it all scared me even more.

I didn't feel this way about people. I hated people. I kept distance from them. There was a me and there was a them. Never an us, and the fact that I had thought, even in passing, of an us with Bankotsu was worrying in a way that I wasn't sure I could put into words. What I could put into words was how much I wanted to get away from the feeling before it became something bigger, stronger and entirely too much for me to handle. Especially with Bankotsu hinting the idea of living for the moment again and making suggestive comments.

Tongue-tied, I span on my heel and headed towards the shogi that led to my room, intent on escaping the feelings setting my skin on fire.

I gripped the frame of the door and began to pull it open, but a hand came over my shoulder and flattened mine out on the wood, and a body pressed firmly against my back. I jumped, a little gasp of surprise escaping my lips. How had he moved so quickly and silently? That wasn't possible, was it? He was so stealthy. Too stealthy for a man of his bulk.

His other hand pressed to the shogi over my other shoulder, effectively boxing me in and keeping me firmly in place.

Heat boiled under my skin, and the room seemed suddenly devoid of air.

"Where are you going?" His breath was a hot whisper against my ear. I could feel his nose pressed into my hair.

And I could feel everything else.

My next breath was a little too audible for my liking, a little too close to a moan.

Bankotsu breathed out long and slow chuckle into my hair.

I tried in vain to open the shogi again, but Bankotsu had a strength I could never even dream about competing with. He wanted me here pinned against this door so he was going to have me here pinned against this door.

Why did I like that thought so much?

Why did I want to give in to that feeling and how it would snowball? Why did it seduce me so?

Lips brushed against my neck, just above the collar of my nagajuban. The shiver it drew from me was almost violent.

I swallowed thickly.

Bankotsu released my hand.

He hadn't even stepped back before I had flung open the door and hidden inside. I pressed the door shut, forehead coming to rest on the frame.

I couldn't, I told myself forcefully. I just couldn't allow myself this. Not with how messy it could turn out to be. And, truly, it could turn out to be messy. Bankotsu didn't seem like a man that could settle down, and if I gave in to anything carnal, I could give in to the other thoughts that had settled into my mind after the lust had washed through it - the days working the farm together, the evenings cuddled together by the fire, the nights sharing a futon.

The domestic thoughts that had no place where Bankotsu was involved.

I could hear his quiet laughter, and the soft footfall. Then the sound of another door sliding open and closed, and nothing.

They stayed six days.

Six long, arduous days.

I spent an embarrassing amount of those six days skittering around the cocky mercenary as he settled intense gazes and smirks on me any time we were close enough to be able to.

I made sure I wasn't the last one with Bankotsu in the main halls at night. I ate breakfast and left to work as early as I could in the mornings.

I sent the dog - Tadao, I was reminded loudly - to cause trouble if I was ever caught just a little too close to Bankotsu.

By the end of those six days, I was jumpy, and had a near-permanent flush on my cheeks, and every thought I had of the man was giving into the desires that were bubbling up between us. The smug air that followed him around made me certain he knew that I was feeling like this.

Goodbyes were as quiet as usual. Jakotsu barely spared me a thought. Kyo didn't seem much for pleasantries, either. Both went off ahead, followed by a perfectly happy dog. That creature would probably be happy to leave me for good the moment someone accepted him.

Bankotsu once again lingered a moment, just long enough to grab my chin and plant a firm fiery kiss to my lips.

The stone I threw at him hit the back of his head dead on again.

Goodbyes were quickly becoming a tone for target practice. That was a decision made in the moment, and the pleasure it gave me made me think that I could just live for the moment, even if just for this moment, watching Bankotsu walk away and laugh, rubbing at the sore spot on the back of his head and nudging Jakotsu to try and unbalance him as he caught up.

Information Time!

Noka - a traditional style of Japanese home, often used by farmers like our dear Reo.

Shogi - the thin wooden sliding door in traditional Japanese homes. They're often made with lattice and thin rice paper.

Review Corner

Emiko Bankotsu - I'm glad you like the tidbits at the end of the chapters. I like sharing some of the cool facts I find out when I'm doing research for these sorts of fics. Sometimes I find out some really cool things, but this chapter was lacking some. Bankotsu isn't exactly the domestic type himself, so I think they'll get along just fine, even with Reo's now slightly messy feelings. At least, I hope so!

Kuinasuki - Thank you! I'm having fun writing it when I can. Yeah, I miss the times when new Inuyasha fics were coming out all the time. I'm just hoping I can contribute even a little when I can now so the well doesn't entirely dry up. We don't want a bone-eater's situation going on here, do we?

xXRitz-aholicXx - Thank you! I really appreciate the support. I hope I can keep being able to post good chapters for you to read.

We have another chapter! And new faces being introduced. I'm very excited to start forming the Band of Seven now. It's very very exciting to see the group we all know and (presumably) love come together in all its brilliance. We still have a way to go before we get to the point of the whole Band being present, though.

This chapter didn't come to me super easily. I have so much planned for later in the story, but getting to that point without rushing through it is turning out to be kind of difficult. I'm struggling, guys. But overcoming challenges is all part of writing, and when we get further along, I know I'll be proud of what I've written and come to enjoy the process even if I'm struggling with the challenge.

Now, I know this is a story still in its infancy, but I really appreciate any and all feedback people want to give. I really love hearing what you all think.

Also, a friend of mine is learning to play the Ocarina, and she sat on call with me while I was writing this chapter and played me Inuyasha's lullaby over and over again as she learnt it. It was absolutely amazing. Best background noise to write about InuYasha characters to, honestly. She's amazing.

And I really need to rewatch this arc again. While I love Bankotsu, he's a really difficult character to properly keep in character for me when I don't have a point of reference. I'm currently still in recovery, and away from my copy of the manga, so I can't just drag a book off the shelf whenever I need to reference something. It's very inconvenient. I think that's one of the reasons this chapter is giving me a lot of issues. I need to knock off the Bankotsu related rust and brush up on the nuances of his character.

Tragedy has befallen us, and we must have a moments silence. While I've been rereading the Band of Seven arc, my copy of volume 9 of the manga has given up the ghost on me. The entire cover and a good portion of the couple chapters has just entirely peeled away from the main book. Funnily enough, right at Bankotsu's first appearance. Can you tell what bit I read too much? I've read this book so much since I got it that its just dead now. I don't know whether to just let it be as it is now, or try and get hold of a new copy of it. I feel so bad for hurting a book, but it has been well loved through its life.