Kagome was awakened moments later as a shrill, inhuman cry rang through the forest. She tried to ignore the pounding in her forehead as she propped herself up, feeling around for her bow and arrows. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, gritting her teeth as she head began to throb harder.

She did not know what was happening around her, but somehow, she knew that she probably didn't want to know. The wails that reveberated through the forest told her enough. She herself didn't know the extent of Bankotsu's power; she had yet to see what was so unbelievably amazing about the great Bankotsu, leader of the Band of Seven.

All she knew was that whoever or whatever he was fighting obviously was not winning.

The cries faded to silence after a few long, excruciating moments. The forest fell silent, the only sound coming from the trees above her as wind trickled through the air and rustled their leaves. Kagome sucked in a deep breath and opened her eyes just enough to see the carnage before her. She gasped at the sight.

Before her was a giant, black and crimson colored demon. It must have been one of the biggest that she had ever seen, easily standing about three stories tall. It was laying face down on the forest floor, various broken off limbs strewn around it. Blood seeped from many of it's wounds, an ever expanding pool of crimson gathering around it's body. The most shocking sight, however, was right on top of it's back, silently chopping away at the demon's skin.

"Bankotsu?" Kagome gasped.

He glanced up, and before Kagome could blink, he was at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked quickly.

"I-I'm fine but... how did you kill that demon?" she asked, still staring at the massive carcass.

"Oh, that?" Bankotsu snorted. "Do you honestly think that a demon that small could possibly beat me?"

"Well..." Kagome tore her gaze away from the demon, gazing up at the mercenary. "Maybe." Bankotsu narrowed his eyes.

"Okay," she sighed, shaking her head. "No."

Bankotsu grinned victoriously and walked back to the demon, hopping on to it's back and shoving his Banryuu in to a rather large hole in it's skin.

"What are you doing?" Kagome asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm trying to find all the damn jewel shards that this thing has," Bankotsu muttered. "I figured that you could help me out?"

"Yeah... yeah, I can," she nodded, pointing toward an arm that lay a few feet from the body. "You could start there, there is one in it's wrist."

Kagome laid down in the grass, rolling on her side and watching Bankotsu as he chopped away at the arm. With each cut he made to the demon's thick skin, blood would spray upward and sprinkle around him like raindrops. Some would land on his face, dotting his cheeks like crimson freckles. She couldn't help but to cringe as she examined him; he was covered in blood. His feet squished against the dampened ground as he circled around the dismembered body, surveying it with squinted eyes. His toes up to his ankles were stained red, but he didn't seem to care. He continued to trudge through the blood-soaked grass as if it was merely rain water beneath his feet.

"Help me out here," he barked sharply. "Don't you see I'm standing in blood and I'd like to get to a hot spring some time before next year!"

So he did care.

"Oh, um," Kagome's head snapped up. "There's two in his chest and- and that's it."

"See, it wasn't so powerful," Bankotsu smirked as jumped back on to the demon. "It only had three jewel shards. I mean, come on. I even have more than that. It was no match."

"Someone is cocky," Kagome mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Bankotsu raised his eyebrow, not looking up as he started to chop away at the demon once more. "What was that, wench?" he asked casually.

"You heard me," Kagome snapped. "And don't call me that."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you don't like to be called wench," Bankotsu chuckled under his breath. "So-rry," he added sarcastically.

"You know, Bankotsu, my 8 year old little brother is more mature than you," Kagome sighed, shaking her head.

Bankotsu gasped, holding a hand to his heart. "How terrible!"

"Smart ass," Kagome muttered.

Their 'pleasant' conversation ended, and a comfortable silence engulfed the two. Kagome found it ironic that she could ever feel comfortable around someone like him. But strangely, she did. Well, most of the time. She had slowly warmed up to Bankotsu because in a way, she had no choice. Bankotsu was all she had, at least for now. She had no way of going home to her family, and she was probably never going to go back to Inuyasha.

There was an ache in her heart every time she thought of Inuyasha; he had hurt her, yet she still missed him. She still loved him, yet at the same time, she hated him. She hated him for lying. She hated him for loving Kikyou. She hated him because she was jealous.

Bankotsu was so much different from Inuyasha. In a way, he needed her just as much as she needed him. She was all he had. Something drew her toward him; she wanted to figure him out.

That is when it clicked.

She wanted to figure him out. Kagome wanted to know what lay behind the cold exterior of Japan's most fear mercenary. She knew that deep down, he had a heart and he had feelings. She felt an intense desire to break his mask and find what lies beneath it. He was human; he had emotions. Before Kagome knew him, she had only seen the dark side of Bankotsu; the hatred, the anger. Now, she wanted to see the rest. She wanted to see him love, she wanted to see him genuinely happy.

Kagome knew that he had a caring side. Sure, she had only seen it once or twice, but what mattered was that it was there.

She was going to do it. No matter how difficult he could be, she was going to do it. She was going to crack that emotional shield.

"Uh, Kagome?"

"What?" she asked immediately, snapping out of her own thoughts.

"Can you stop staring at me?" Bankotsu asked calmly. "It's kind of creepy."

Kagome's cheeks turned pink. "Oh, um, yeah, sorry," she mumbled. "I was just... I kind of got lost in my own thoughts for a minute there, I guess."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Huh?" The question caught her off guard.

Bankotsu sighed, narrowing his eyes. "What were you thinking about?" he asked again.

"Oh, nothing important."

Kagome felt a coy grin slide on to her lips as she watched him jump off of the demon, landing on the ground gracefully. He slid his Banryuu in to it's sheath and padded over to her, offering his hand. She grabbed it and allowed him to tug her to her feet gently. Her body swayed slightly as she took a step forward, her vision still spinning. Bankotsu frowned, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her from tumbling over.

"Are you alright?" he asked impatiently.

The dazed smile never left her face as she nodded, prying his arm off of her. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Bankotsu narrowed his eyes, watching her closely as she stumbled down the wide forest path. After a moment, he ran to her side, his eyes scanning over her face suspiciously. She noticed, specifically, that he was staring right at the goofy grin on her lips.

"Stop staring, it's creepy," she mocked, and he rolled his eyes.

"What are you smiling about?" he asked.

Kagome was silent for a moment, ignoring his impatient stare. She let out a sigh of relief as her vision became straight once more and the pain in her head began to subside to a tolerable ache.

"Well?" Bankotsu snapped.

"I'm just happy," she shrugged, shaking her head.

Bankotsu crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes as he glared ahead of him. "You're too happy all the time."

Kagome gazed at him fondly, her smile only growing larger. She had a mission now, and she was determined to accomplish it. No matter how long it took, she was going to crack Bankotsu, whether he liked it or not.

i'm sorry for the wait. i meant to get this chapter out a few weeks ago but a breakup kind of took away all of my motivation for a while. im not completely happy with how this chapter turned out but i think it's good to start up the romance like i want to. :p

anyway, i was going to make this in to some epic fight but i figured that that would be better later on. you'll definitely be seeing Inuyasha and a few other familiar faces showing up. the story will get more interesting after chapter 15.

i hope you enjoyed it and review if you'd like. :]