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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 19, 2005 16:13:28 GMT -5
Darkness was fast falling over the land surrounding the smoldering ruins of the castle village that the Shichinin-tai had claimed as their own. The beautiful, faint glow of the evening sky did very little to in the way of making the aftermath of the blood-bath any less gruesome or disgusting. All around, bruised, burned, and poisoned corpses, along with those that were hacked to pieces, lay strewn across the ground among the ransacked homes -- some which were still giving off a faint whisp of smoke. The majority, however, had simply collapsed into piles of ash and debris. And within all of this carnage, the lovely Jakotsu stood, not at all unhappy or serious. It seemed that massacres such as these would forever be a form of entertainment for him. One had to wonder if he was immoral or if he simply lacked a moral compass to refer to. It was likely that he was suffering from some sort of mental problem. Perhaps it was something along the lines of being psychopathic. But, one could only speculate.
Now quite bored, the newly resurrected young man moved over to one of the few houses that had been left standing for use by the seven members of the band. Though he contemplated entering, this idea was quickly dismissed. Why pass-up a beautiful sight like the multi-colored evening sky and the sunset that was now accompanying it? And so, Jakotsu made himself comfortable on the steps leading up to the entrance, right leg crossed over his left, head resting on his balled-up right fist, and his eyes turned up towards the heavens. It was good to once more be alive and well.
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 20, 2005 13:32:30 GMT -5
The air was still and warm, the sunset gently peeked out through sparse, scattered clouds and turned the sky pink, purple and red. Beautiful as it was, Bankotsu couldn't help feeling a disconcerting sense of deja vu. What the hell was it about sunsets that got his back up? He grimaced as he thought more about it. It could have been the fact that the last one he sat in front of was the last time he'd seen Jakotsu alive, for want of a better word. Right before that Saimyoushou had dropped the blue hair pin into his lap.
But apparently, that memory was going to change. He smirked to himself as he spotted his comrade at the steps to the castle keep. "Oi! Jakotsu!" he shouted in that commanding tone of voice only he could master. Quickly coming up from behind his comrade and best friend, he looked down (for once) at the effeminate young man sat on the step beneath him and promptly sat beside him.
"This body feels different," he remarked in a somewhat nonchalant manner. It didn't bother him nearly as much as it should have done. To him, a body was a body and he couldn't care less about how he'd got hold of it. This time, however, he was ready to keep his wits about him concerning people who he may be "working for" - at this point he would take orders from no one.
"How do you feel?" Bankotsu asked, looking curiously towards Jakotsu beside him. He needed to know how his men were holding up. It was a fool who didn't learn from his own mistakes but it took a complete jackass not to learn from other people's. So, like an intelligent person, he'd learned a lot from Renkotsu last time.
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 20, 2005 14:00:12 GMT -5
Jakotsu jumped, never having been aware that any of his compatriots had been in the castle for any reasons. It was much more likely, he had thought, that they would be among the ruins of the village searching for any useful items (like sake) that might have been salvagable. Of course, Bankotsu's company would always be welcome, more so now than ever before. The Shichinin-tai had been given a third chance to live their lives. After one resurrection, the young man had learned to value his existance a bit more. However, after a second, he was beginning to cherish it. Each day one was granted meant so much more after being killed not once, but twice.
"Ah, Aniki!" Silently encouraging Bankotsu to remain with him on the steps, Jakotsu would move to the side slightly, granting his commander a bit more room. There were many questions he had for his comrade, most pertaining to what had transpired after his death and, of course, a few inquiries regarding the health of 'his' Inuyasha.
"Fine. Alive, again. I don't know why, though. Aniki, do you know who resurrected us? Was it the same person that we were supposedly working for the last time we were resurrected? Did they talk to you?" Why they had been given life again still remained a mystery to the man. Since he had been given no information, he could only assume that their would-be employers, whom they slaughtered, had given information to Bankotsu with the instructions that he inform his men of the situation. Of course, that information hadn't reached any of them as of yet because they'd been quite busy, what with massacring the village population and such.
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 20, 2005 16:02:43 GMT -5
"The same person?" Bankotsu wondered aloud. "Heh. Definitely not."
As usual, Jakotsu was full of questions. But, he reasoned, who wouldn't be in this situation? He himself wasn't so much but that was only because he knew the working of their current resurrection. He smiled. He envisaged future conversations with Jakotsu about their resurrection and being met with a blank look and "which one?" in a curious tone of voice.
He looked Jakotsu in the eyes and smiled. Maybe I can do things differently this time around, he mused to himself. He thought he'd learned about not having any regrets the last time this had happened but he wasn't going to take any chances with this one. But where to start? The logical thing, he guessed, would be to answer his questions. "Yeah, they spoke to me," he began.
"You're not gonna like this," he laughed, smirking at Jakotsu. "But we were resurrected by witches. Apparently we got the same clay-body treatment as that miko did. Probably why it feels weird."
It was true. Unlike last time, these weren't their original bodies.
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 20, 2005 16:14:19 GMT -5
"Resurrected by women," Jakotsu grumbled irately, not liking the concept of owing his existence to a female at all and given a body that was not even his own! Perhaps he was not as blessed as he once thought. But, at least he was able to once more think, feel, and sense. It was not exactly what the young man had hoped for, but he would cope.
"Well, at least we are alive, and they were probably cut to pieces sometime during the battle in this village. So, I guess I shouldn't think about it too much. You didn't answer my other questions, though." Had Bankotsu consciously avoided his inquiry regarding why, exactly, they had been brought back from the grave, or did he simply not know? And, if he didn't know, would he ever find out? Would any of them? Those that were involved in the actual resurrection were dead or far, far away by now and with them went this information. Suddenly, he felt a bit of remorse over hunting down and killing ever woman in the village. Not for very long, but for an instant, he had.
"Do you know?"
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 20, 2005 16:39:00 GMT -5
"Well, Jakotsu," he started again, in a more friendly tone this time. "You'll be happy to know that both the reason and the means for creating us are gone. Some stupid up-his-own-ass Daimyou thing. But we killed him along with the rest of these jokers. So we're free to go out on our own. No ties!" he added proudly.
Reaching over his shoulder and then to one side, Bankotsu stopped and looked at the floor beneath him, glaring at it almost fiercely enough to burn holes in it. His hands felt so empty and light and... wrong. The Banryuu was actually gone this time. Broken. It felt like a death.
He wondered idly if he could fix it... who was he kidding? He'd seen it shatter as he died.
The brief moment of loss was completely overtaken by that burning, raging anger that constantly coursed through his veins. He wanted to kill. He wanted to rip lives to pieces and see blood staining the floor where he stood. He casually looked about; So far, so good, he thought to himself. But this thirst was far from sated. His comrade beside him knew it as much as he did.
That in itself was somewhat calming. But his friend's presence always was. He found it hard to imagine why so many others found the man frantic.
Sighing vehemently as if he could blow out some of his frustration, he turned his head back up to look at the now darkened sky, then back to Jakotsu. "Ready for some fun?" he asked, patting him on the back.
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 20, 2005 22:14:56 GMT -5
"Well, that's good news. Now we're finally free to do as we please and work for ourselves! We don't have to focus our attention on anything but what we feel like focusing it on! Now I can hunt Inuyasha! He is still alive, don't you think, aniki?" The only thing Jakotsu knew was that the hanyou had outlived him, but that didn't account for the great deal of time after his death. Of course, Bankotsu couldn't possibly know for certain either but the young man was actually searching for reassurance more than concrete facts.
"Where's Banryuu?" Jakotsu might not have noticed had his companion not reached over his shoulder and suddenly looked so troubled and frustrated. There really was only one explanation for that. This begged the question: what had happened to Bankotsu's Banryuu and, if it was destroyed, who had destroyed it? And when? So much seemed to have happened after his death.
"So much must have happened after I was gone," he commented remorsefully, feeling as if he had been left behind somehow. The world had simply passed him by. But, Jakotsu's melancholy mood could and would last only so long. The very mention of the word 'fun' would have the man in an upbeat mood once more.
"Ready, aniki. But, there's no one left to kill around here." Killing had become synonymous with the word 'fun' when speaking with Bankotsu -- and any other member of the Shichinin-tai, for that matter. Jakotsu, of course, had a much broader definition. His included rape, torture, and beautiful men.
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 26, 2005 11:59:56 GMT -5
Bankotsu would have loved to reply "No, Inuyasha's dead. I killed him." Unfortunately, that would be a blatant lie and soon exposed for the spouting of crap that it was. He looked over at Jakotsu's eagerness. "He'd better still be alive," Bankotsu snarled, cracking his knuckles menacingly. "I've still got a score to settle with that hanyou bastard."
His ears pricked up as his comrade mentioned his halbeard. Eyes reluctantly falling to the ground for just a moment before he picked himself up again, he refused to look him in the face. "Banryuu's gone," he said stubbornly. "Something else I need to settle with that half-wit..." he added in a mumble.
The image of Banryuu in front of him, suddenly splintering into an uncountable amount of fragments and raining down on the surrounding area burned in his eyes. The only way to settle the stinging through his body that surfaced whenever he thought about it, was to hunt Inuyasha down and pound him to death.
Now it seemed he would have to rely solely on his own hands to defeat his enemies. Unless I find something else... NO! He was resolute in his refusal to replace his partner, nothing could possibly measure up to it.
Looking back to Jakotsu he shook his head. "Meh, you didn't miss much, don't worry."
So much about Jakotsu ripped at him. Each time he had died, he had such a weighty regret hanging over his head. Determined not to let the chance slip again, Bankotsu turned to his friend and opened his mouth.
All of a sudden, it was as if he'd lost his voice. He tried so hard to speak but no words came out. Maybe it's a sign... he wondered solemnly. He sighed and decided against it. There would be plenty more opportunity. At least he hoped there would.
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 26, 2005 12:17:12 GMT -5
The news that Inuyasha had not been killed to his partner's knowledge drew a cute, yet oddly sinister, chuckle out of Jakotsu. His little play-thing had not died. That was certainly good news. He had a score to settle with Inuyasha and many, many ways to settle said score that were exceptionally brutal and perverted. But, by the sound of things, Bankotsu might be trying to do the very same thing -- without the rape, of course.
"You have a score to settle? Inuyasha is the one that killed you? Well, you can't kill him before I get to have my fun! He killed me too, you know!" Were this conversation not so very serious, that final statement might have been amusing. But, the young man would not laugh. The hanyou had been the one to end his second life, just as he had apparently ended Bankotsu's. Perhaps they could make a deal of sorts where both of them would be pleased?
"Well, I must have missed something. You and Renkotsu both outlived me. Didn't you have a climactic battle with Inuyasha, the hoshi, and those two whores?" That is how he had been imagining Bankotsu and Renkotsu's death. He had been completely unaware of the power struggle between the two and the fact that Renkotsu had been dispatched by Bankotsu before the final battle. So, naturally, he imagined the two fighting back to back for their lives and slowly being overwhelmed after inflicting a good deal of damage. Too bad his fantasy would be ruined -- if Bankotsu decided to go into great detail about the time after his death, that is.
Lost in thought, Jakotsu would miss Bankotsu's attempt to force a few words out. Whether that was good or bad luck for the commander of the Shichinin-tai was dependant on his own interpretation.
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 26, 2005 12:27:45 GMT -5
Bankotsu's odd sense of floating solemnity soon came to an end after Jakotsu's remarks about his death. He smirked and laughed to himself as he recalled how it had actually ended. "Heh, I'd forgotten just how little you'd know about this," he said, a grin plastered across his face. "That's... not exactly what happened," he added sarcastically.
He looked the man firmly in the eyes. "I know what he did, Jakotsu. The Saimyousho brought me your hair pin," he remarked, pointing to his friend's up do. He sighed and looked back out of the darkened horizon. "You're right about the climactic battle on my part though. Still, the monk and those two bitches didn't seem to have enough guts to show their faces. But they are useless so you can't blame em," Bankotsu laughed derisively.
Rubbing his forehead, he sank into thought for a moment. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what to do about Renkotsu... keh, I'm certainly thinking about doing some restructure of our hierarchy, that's for damn sure."
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 26, 2005 12:36:15 GMT -5
Jakotsu felt as if the man was leaving some large event out. It was plainly obvious that he'd skipped a good deal of time between receiving the hair pin and the climactic battle between himself and Inuyasha. Renkotsu simply disappeared somewhere between the two events. Was it wrong to continue to press his commander to tell the entire story and not bits and pieces of it? What did it matter? He would do so either way.
"Aniki, what are you leaving out? You got my hair pin after Renkotsu took my shard like you told all of us to and then you fought Inuyasha alone. What happened to Renkotsu? How did he die? What did he do?" Restructuring of the heiarchy obviously meant Renkotsu was no longer trusted, but beyond that, Jakotsu was at a severe knowledge deficit. Had Renkotsu done something with his shard? The man had assumed that his comrade had taken the shard to give to Bankotsu, just as their leader had ordered. Perhaps he'd done something a bit different with the shard? And, what about the other shards? Had he taken more? Poor Jakotsu. His view of the Shichinin-tai as an unbreakable union beneath the undisputed command of Bakotsu was beginning to crumble.
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Post by Bankotsu on Jul 26, 2005 12:46:56 GMT -5
Letting out a frustrated sigh and realising just how big an impact this could make on his friend's view of the group, of Bankotsu even of himself, he putt his arm around Jakotsu's shoulders; in a firm but friendly manner. How the hell did he say this? There was no way of sugar-coating it. Hell, Jakotsu was a big boy, he could handle it.
Releasing his grip after patting him on the back, Bankotsu decided to simply come out and say it. "Renkotsu didn't take your shard to give to me," he began stoically. "He took it for himself." He left a pause. "I'm afraid we just can't trust him."
He felt a pang of guilt and patted Jakotsu on the back once more to make him feel better. It wasn't his fault that Renkotsu had turned on them but he felt compelled to make it up to the unsuspecting members of their group. "But I can still trust you. I can always trust you. And you're my oldest friend so that's what counts.
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Post by Jakotsu on Jul 26, 2005 12:56:15 GMT -5
"Oh." What was Jakotsu supposed to say to that piece of news? He'd always felt that the Shichinin-tai were completely united -- a group that owed allegiance to one another and one that would always be free of betrayals and attempted coups. Bankotsu had been an excellent leader until they were betrayed and remained an excellent leader after they were resurrected. Why would someone hope to overthrow him? This made no sense. Was power more important to Renkotsu than stability and victory?
"Renkotsu took shards for himself? I guess. . .we can't trust him." Though he had never been particularly fond of Renkotsu, the young man had never actually expected this sort of traitorous behaviour out of him. He wouldn't expect it out of anyone of his comrades. All seven were commited to each other. Or, that's at least what he thought. Or, what he once thought. A pat ont he back was hardly a remedy for this. A big part of Jakotsu reality had just been shattered.
"Is that so?" Somehow, this scene seemed familiar.
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Post by Bankotsu on Aug 24, 2005 5:43:03 GMT -5
"Of course it is! You know that... right?" Bankotsu suddenly became rather cautious. The kind of things that could be going through his friend's head right now were very serious. If Renkotsu had been lying to him all this time then why not Bankotsu too? Most adults wouldn't think that way but this particular comrade of his had a tendency towards a very childlike outlook on the world. Especially when he was faced with something either overly serious or overly confusing. This one could easily count as both.
That bastard had ruined things for all of them. "Jakotsu, just because he was lying doesn't mean I am too. I wouldn't- I mean... Not to you, never to you."
Bankotsu leant forwards and caught Jakotsu's gaze. "You believe me... right?"
He could see what had happened. I swear, if Renkotsu has been brought back again, this lifetime of his is going to be very short indeed.
Of all the people he had known, the only one he had wanted to protect was the man sitting beside him right now. Typical Jakotsu, he'd been the one who'd taken this to heart the most. He could count on Suikotsu and the others not to care but this boy? No, no. Most things he would just brush off and leave alone, or at least he'd appear to anyway. Try though he may, Bankotsu lacked the ability to shrink himself down and swim around inside Jakotsu's head until he figured out what he was actually feeling.
He only hoped this wouldn't have too big an impact.
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Post by Jakotsu on Aug 28, 2005 14:43:40 GMT -5
"I believe you, Bankotsu."
Every single bit of jubilation he'd been granted from his second resurrection was now sapped right out of the young man. He was now quite serious -- as serious as he ever would be, that is. For the first time since they had laid eyes on each other again, Jakotsu had actually addressed Bankotsu directly. Probably the first time in a year or so, not counting the time they had been unhinged from this mortal coil. It was a bad sign. Try as his comrade might, Bankotsu would never be able to piece Jakotsu's child-like outlook on the world back together. Not completely, at least. He had finally sampled the bitter-sweet taste of betrayal by someone he had once trusted with his life.
"We were the original members. It's the others. . ." How could he ever fully trust his fellow warriors again? If Renkotsu was capable of such actions, why not the others? What about Genkotsu, who was always close to Renkotsu? Was he part of the betrayal as well? This would be a permanant scar.
"I guess we'll just have to be careful then, aniki. Are you going to punish Renkotsu?" Dumb question. He, of course, expected the leader of their party to discipline the traitor, but hearing the punishment put into words would ease Jakotsu's troubled mind.
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