DISCLAIMER: I do not own Inuyasha or any characters of it. And I do not own whatever elements of this story that seem familiar and had already been used by other creative individuals before. But... I do own the idea of mixing all of these elements together into a new story!
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hey everybody! It has been a while (again). Yeah, two months was a pretty long break. But honestly, I had some real trouble with my muses and I had a huge writer's block during these two months. It was partly because my parents went on vacation so I had to look after a child who always stays with us during the weekdays. And my inspiration problem is still not solved completely so the first couple of installments will be posted at a bit slower pace than the one I usual keep. So please understand.
Anyway, I do hope this story will be just as fun as the previous ones that I've written, both for you readers as well as for me as the authoress :). But before I start with the story, there are a couple of things I should clarify first. As the Sengoku Jidai will be part of this story; I'll try to keep the structures and elements of that time period as original as possible, but since I've never studied about that period before, I might make some mistakes here and there. So please be easy on me all right?
Furthermore, you only need to know the Shichinintai (here's a link for an image of the group: http : www . inu-yasha . themoon . co . uk / n / shichinintai . php, without the spaces) and the basic evil and good characters of Inuyasha. Bankotsu is the main character of this story, you can search for his image on the same URL I gave you earlier. There's one thing I definitely want you to do before reading this story, namely forgetting the original plot :). This is an Alternate Universe and some things are quite different than in the original series. Like for example: Kagome isn't the reincarnation of Kikyou, the Shichinintai aren't zombies revived from the dead and so on. But if things aren't clear, feel free to ask me.
And last but not least, if you want to be notified whenever I update, just let me know through reviews and I'll add you to my mailing list. I'll be deleting my previous mailing list after I've notified everybody of this first chapter so let me know if you want to be notified again for this story!!
And last but not least, I hope you will enjoy as well as encourage me to write this story to its very end!! Have fun reading!
Yours,
Kittymui
'Italic': thoughts
-- --: locations
"...": spoken words
-.-.-.-: time gap
CAPSLOCKED WORDS: noises
:: DREAM SEQUENCE ::
'Where am I...?'
He found himself standing in a large space.
It looked like a room for gathering inside a fortress of ancient Japan. There were cushions and low dining tables made of wood turned upside down and spread all over the place.
There was only one word that could describe the situation around him:
chaos.
The screaming and wailing of men and women could be heard from the left and right, followed by short periods of hasty trampling and then eventually...dead silence.
'What am I doing here...?'
"Yo leader!! What are you spacing out for?!" a low and stern voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
He instantly snapped back into reality and turned to the one who spoke.
It was a young man of his age, who was one head taller than himself. He had a green cloth covering his hairless scalp with its knot tied at the lower backside of his head and its long ends hanging freely behind his back. Two dark-purple stripes ran from his brows horizontally down to his chin and a strange mark of the same color could be seen on his forehead just below the border of the green cloth.
The man was wearing a green haori and brown hakama. His torso was protected by orange-colored armor that ran to his knees and he had a long dark-purple sash keeping it together at his waist. And around his lower arms and legs, he wore arm and leg protectors made of strong dark leather-like material.
"What should we do now?" he heard him ask. "Burn this place down?"
There was a short moment of silence in which he hesitated. But eventually, he opened his mouth. "Yeah...let's do that."
"All right!"
The orange-armored man took a brown gourd from behind his back and pulled out the cork. He took in a large sip and spewed the gourd's content to the wooden floor.
However, what came out of his mouth wasn't liquid, but a large stream of burning flames.
And his laughter filled the room. "Wuhahaha, run for your lives!! Run before you get burned!!"
Within minutes, the entire room was enveloped by fire.
'What a horrible sight...' he thought to himself as he stared indifferently into the flames. 'We should quickly finish this and leave...'
Suddenly, a glimpse of black shooting pass an open doorway caught his eyes and he grinned. 'Running away huh?' he thought tempted.
Without hesitation, he ran towards the open doorway and into a corridor with his large halberd resting over his shoulder.
During his pursuit, he entered a room that had a small mirror standing on a low wooden dresser. He stopped running and approached it with curiosity written on his face. After picking up the mirror, he started looking at himself through the glass.
He saw a young man with blue-gray eyes. On his forehead, there was a strange purplish blue mark with the shape of a cross with pointy ends. Draped over his shoulder was a thin braid made from his long black hair.
He was wearing a white haori with dark-blue coloring his left shoulder. The same shoulder was partly covered by a white shoulder protector with purple fern-shaped figures painted on it. His torso and half of his lower body was protected by armor with the same color and figures. And around his waist, a red sash could be seen with its two long ends dangling below the knot that was resting against the middle of his stomach.
"It's good to see you again," he smirked at his own reflection.
He dropped the mirror to the wooden floor with a clash and his eyes darted to the left and right. "Give it up! You can't hide from me forever!" he shouted with a loud and clear voice.
For one moment, he thought he had to turn the entire fortress upside down to find the one he was assigned to kill. But he was stupefied when a door of a nearby wardrobe, which was built in the walls, slid open.
'Talk about being stupid...' he thought as he watched a young lady come from behind the sliding doors.
She had long untied raven-black hair reaching her lower back and dark-brown eyes. She was dressed in a light-yellow kimono with red sakura-blossoms randomly embroidered on it .
"You're the hime of the Western Lands?" he asked straightforwardly.
The girl, with a surprised expression on her face, nodded.
He grinned as he readied his large halberd.
Without warning, he stabbed it through the girl's stomach. "You're making it far too easy for me, hime-sama," he chuckled as he looked into her shocked chestnut eyes.
He slowly pulled back his halberd and watched the princess fall down to her knees.
A soft consonant escaped her trembling lips.
"B..."
He was about to turn away and leave but stopped at hearing his own name.
"B-Ban...kotsu..."
Bankotsu widened his eyes and turned to the girl fully.
Two streams of transparent liquid flowed down her cheeks while a red one sprung from the corner of her mouth. Her eyes were filled with sorrow.
"Y-you..." Bankotsu gasped in shock.
Then, a name suddenly flashed through his thoughts.
"K-Kagome...?"
To his surprise, the girl smiled at him before she closed her eyes and started to topple sideward.
At that moment, he finally realized what he had done.
"Kagome!!" he cried as he let go of his bloodied halberd and caught her before she hit the floor.
He held her lifeless body close to him and caressed her soft cheeks.
"NO-O-O-O-O!!!!!!"
:: END DREAM SEQUENCE ::
Bankotsu's eyes shot open. His heavy panting echoed in his ears as he slowly got up from his bed with his hand placed on his sweaty forehead.
'It's the same dream again...' he groaned inwardly as he shifted both his legs over the edge of the bed.
A silent yawn escaped his mouth as he scanned his surroundings.
He found himself in a small room with white walls and a blue-gray carpet, which matched the color of his eyes. The size of the place was just enough for two beds, two desks, a large bookcase and a large wooden wardrobe.
Suddenly, the sound of pulling curtains could be heard and he was forced to close his eyes to protect his retina from the incoming sunlight.
"Geez Bankotsu, you still in bed?!" a male voice complained.
Bankotsu groaned as he slowly opened his eyes again and turned to the person standing in front of the small rectangular window.
It was a young man of his age and he was looking at him. He had short black hair and dark-gray eyes. He was dressed in a t-shirt with palm trees printed on it and a pair of short trousers that people typically wear during summer.
"Oh it's just you Jakotsu..." he mumbled.
Jakotsu has been his roommate from the moment he came to live in this student complex. It surprised him when he found out that he was also studying history just like himself. While it had only been a year since he came here, it seemed almost like they had been friends forever.
Jakotsu frowned. "What do you mean it's just me?" While saying that, his eyes couldn't resist noticing the long hair resting against Bankotsu's back and spread out over the mattress behind him. "You know, " he continued with a smirk. "You really do look like a girl with that long hair of yours."
Bankotsu immediately flashed him a grumpy look and stood up from his bed to make his way towards the wardrobe. "I thought you were going on vacation."
"Man, have you lost your memory? I told you it was today, didn't I?" his roommate replied.
"Oh right, sorry..."
"What's wrong with you today? Did the summer heat fry your brain or something?" Jakotsu asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice.
Bankotsu took out his navy blue college uniform and closed the wardrobe. "No, it's nothing. It's just a bad dream."
Jakotsu walked to his side. "That dream again?"
He nodded.
"You told me about it before. You've been having the same dream over and over again since your childhood, right?"
He nodded again.
Jakotsu thought for a moment with a finger placed on his chin. "You sure you'll be okay on your own for the whole summer? Maybe I should cancel my flight."
"No, I'll be fine. Really," Bankotsu smiled.
"You sure?"
He frowned. "Have I ever lied to you?"
Jakotsu dropped his eyes to the uniform in his friend's hands. "You going to college today?"
"Yeah, it's the last day today and I promised to help out with cleaning up the classroom." Bankotsu explained.
"Hmm okay," his roommate responded as he looked at his watch. "Oops, I have to go now or I'll miss my plane!"
He placed a hand on Bankotsu's shoulder. "You take good care of yourself okay?"
"I will," Bankotsu replied with a smile. "Now go! I'll be fine!"
Jakotsu hesitated for a moment but then a suspecting look appeared on his features. "Don't you dare make a mess out of our room while I'm gone, or I'll strangle you with my bare hands."
Bankotsu returned an arrogant look. "As if you can. If you don't go now, I'll be the one strangling you!"
He watched his roommate pick up a large gray rucksack and make his way towards the door.
"All right! I'm off!" Jakotsu announced while opening the door.
Bankotsu waved his hand. "Have fun!"
After the sound of the closing door, he put the uniform on his bed and started undressing himself of his sleeping outfit.
To his shock, the door suddenly opened again and he quickly hid his torso with his t-shirt in his hands.
"Geez Bankotsu, quit acting like you're a woman! It's not like I've never seen you in your underwear before," Jakotsu's voice sounded from behind the slightly opened door. "Oh well, just wanted to wish you a nice and calm summer. Okay, bye-bye!"
With that, the door clicked again.
Bankotsu sighed as he continued to dress himself. 'I guess he's right.' he thought to himself. 'I should have made some plans for myself this holiday.'
The idea of visiting his parents did cross his mind earlier but he determinedly rejected it afterwards. His facial features formed a sad expression as he reminded himself how determined his parents were about sending him to a shrink after hearing his story about the recurring dream.
This was also part of the reason why he applied for a university that was located miles away from home.
-.- Later -.-
"Hey Bankotsu!!"
Bankotsu raised his gaze and saw one of his friends standing in front of the large gate of the campus.
The young man had short, slightly curled black hair with some highlights in his short bangs. He was dressed in their college uniform and carrying a black rucksack over one of his shoulders.
"Mornin', were you waiting for me?" Bankotsu smiled as he ran towards him.
As he approached his friend, he noticed the presence of another person who was standing behind him.
He figured it was also a student since their uniforms matched. Although Bankotsu could swear he didn't make the acquaintance with a bald student, he still seemed kind of familiar with his dark-brown eyes and pointy chin.
"Have we met before?" he finally asked, looking at the familiar student who was one head taller than him.
He was surprised when the bald student smirked and turned to his friend. "See Suikotsu?! I told you he wouldn't recognize me," he chuckled as he held up his hand. "You lost! Now hand over your wallet!"
At that moment, it struck Bankotsu like a lightning bolt and he walked up to the bald lad. "R-Renkotsu..??" he asked hesitatingly.
"Took you long enough," he responded as he took some bills out of Suikotsu's wallet and threw it back at the owner.
Bankotsu blinked. "What did you do to your hair?!"
His friend turned to him fully. "Well you know, it's getting hotter every year so I thought it would-"
"His girlfriend told him to do it!" Suikotsu cut him off teasingly.
"Shut up!" Renkotsu snapped as he turned away of embarrassment.
"You're girlfriend told you to?" Bankotsu repeated with a raised brow. "But I thought you loved your hairdo!"
"I did!" his friend replied. "But Kagura said it was-"
And again Suikotsu cut him off. "Kagura said this, Kagura said that... Don't you have your own opinion?!"
"Wait until you get your own girlfriend!" Renkotsu spat annoyed as he pointed at the long thin braid that was draped over one of Bankotsu's shoulders. "I'll bet even Bankotsu would cut off his long hair if his girlfriend told him to!!"
"Ha! But the thing is...he doesn't have one yet! So you're just talking crap!" Suikotsu reasoned.
As the three of them walked through the open gate, Bankotsu sunk into his own thoughts while his friends continued to argue with each other.
He couldn't help but notice the great resemblance of his friend Renkotsu and the man of his recurring dream who ruthlessly set everything on fire. If his fellow-student hadn't shaved all of his hair like today, he would never have thought that one of the characters in his mysterious dream would be someone he knew.
But he shook his head slightly. 'It isn't really a big deal when your friends appear in your dreams.' he comforted himself inwardly.
He snapped back into reality when he accidentally bumped into someone who was apparently walking the opposite direction.
"Oh, excuse me!" Bankotsu apologized with a polite bow.
When he raised his gaze again, he found himself facing a tall man. He was dressed in the uniform of the same university, but it was white instead of Bankotsu's navy blue one. He had long silver-white hair hanging loosely behind his back and amber-colored eyes that conveyed nothing but indifference.
A soft 'hmpf' escaped the tall man and he walked pass Bankotsu without sparing him another glance.
"Geez, what's his problem," Renkotsu muttered, turning to Bankotsu.
"That's Sesshoumaru Asahara, he's from the last year," Suikotsu explained.
"You know him?" Bankotsu asked as they continued walking towards one of the buildings on the campus.
His friend shook his head. "But he's quite well-known, because of his short temper and cold character."
"However, he wasn't like this several years ago," he continued. "I heard that his personality suddenly changed because of his beloved sister."
Bankotsu turned to his friend. "What happened?" he asked.
"She fell into some strange coma on her 20th birthday and hasn't woken up again ever since," Suikotsu replied.
"That's terrible," Bankotsu said as he dropped his face.
Renkotsu raised a brow. "Why are you sounding so surprised?"
"Exactly," Suikotsu agreed. "His sister is one of our classmates and she's been absent ever since last year autumn. Don't tell me you've never noticed."
"Really? I had no idea..." Bankotsu responded with a clueless expression.
"If only I could remember what her name was, I'm sure you have heard about her before," his friend pouted with a sigh.
"It doesn't matter," he said with a smile. "We better hurry to our classroom since we promised to help out with cleaning."
And the three of them hurried into the School of History building.
-.- Afternoon -.-
"By the way," Bankotsu suddenly turned to his friends while sweeping the classroom floor. "Have you ever heard about the Sengoku Jidai?"
"The Warring Age? Well kind of...we had a guest-lecturer talking about it before if I'm not mistaking," Suikotsu replied as he cleaned the windowsills. "He talked about the four Lands that were always at war with each other. Why do you ask?"
"They mentioned vaguely the fall of the Western Lands," said Bankotsu. "And that it was because the lord of the Eastern Lands succeeded in assassinating the ruler of the Western lands. But what I still don't understand is why nobody stood up against the invasion? Didn't the lord of the Western Lands have any heirs?"
His friend thought for a moment. "On the contrary, the lord you're talking about had two sons and a daughter. The princess, however, was killed during the take-over."
"And his sons?" Bankotsu asked.
"The oldest of the two fought bravely when their fortress was under attack but eventually, he too, died in battle shortly after his father," Suikotsu explained. "As for the younger one..."
"Did he die as well?"
He shook his head. "He went missing."
It took Bankotsu by surprise. "Missing??"
Suikotsu nodded. "He was nowhere to be found during the massacre and his whereabouts remained unknown ever since."
"I see..." Bankotsu responded.
Suddenly Renkotsu broke into the conversation with a duster in his hand. "Well, if you ask me, he was either killed along with his kin or simply just escaped before the whole thing took place.
Suikotsu raised a brow. "You were listening?"
The bald student laughed. "Cleaning isn't really mind-consuming work, you know?"
Bankotsu failed to suppress a smile as he watched his friends', but then he realized something. "Wait a minute," he said as he turned to Suikotsu. "How is it that you know so much about what happened in that period?"
His shorthaired friend chuckled. "My entire family have studied history, remember? I have history running through my veins!" he said proudly with his hand placed on his chest.
"Ah...right..." he responded with a faltering voice.
At the same time, a teacher entered the classroom with a pile of papers in his hands. "You there," he said while looking at Bankotsu, could you please clean the blackboard for me? As you can see, my hands are pretty full at the moment."
"No problem!" Bankotsu smiled.
"Thanks a lot!" the teacher returned a smile before disappearing into the hall again.
He picked up a cloth and began to clean the chalky surface.
Come to think of it, he was the only one with a strange reason for studying history. 'Who else would study the past because of a dream?' he thought inwardly.
In his mind, suddenly appeared an image of himself wearing the ancient clothes and armor of the Warring Age.
'Why am I dressed like that? Why am I always dreaming about that era?' he pondered.
The image of himself suddenly faded and made way for the one of the raven-haired girl of his dream, whom he killed with his own hands.
'Was I assigned to kill her?' he reasoned in himself. 'Then why was it that I felt so much guilt and regret afterwards?'
Before he knew it, he was already standing at the gate in front of the campus again. He snapped out of it when he heard his friends' voices.
"Hey Bankotsu! Any plans for the summer?"
It was Renkotsu who spoke.
But he shook his head. Unlike his two friends, who had eagerly participated in a 20-days expedition in Europe, he wasn't going anywhere.
His friend sighed. "That's too bad. We'll be sure to send you a postcard."
He smiled. "Thanks! You two have fun okay?"
"You bet!!" Renkotsu and Suikotsu responded in unison.
After waving to his friends, Bankotsu turned to the opposite direction and started to walk.
He could surely use the long summer to find out more about the strange dream.
The fact that he chose history above hundreds of other courses was merely because of this reason.
Yet after finishing the first year, he hadn't solved even the slightest part of the mystery.
Bankotsu halted his step when he noticed several individuals standing in front of a fence of an old building.
Among them, he recognized two fellow-students and he decided to ask them about the strange gathering.
"They're going to have this building demolished," said one of them.
"It used to be a library but they had to close it down because of the old infrastructure. It's really a pity because I heard that the books aren't going to be transported to another place," he explained. "And right now, we're trying to contact the city hall to ask if we could explore the place for useful literature. Since this used to be a library, there is a big chance of finding some old antics among the books."
'Antics huh...' Bankotsu thought. 'Maybe I would be able to find something as well...'
His thoughts were cut off when the other student put away his cell phone. "I'm sorry guys, but we aren't allowed to enter the building. They said it was too dangerous."
The gathering adjourned in disappointment and the crowd dissipated.
But Bankotsu didn't walk away. His eyes were still fixed on the old building. 'If I can get in there...maybe I can find something that would explain why I'm having this dream over and over again...' he thought.
His gray-blue eyes darted to the left and right. After he made sure nobody was watching, he quickly jumped over the iron fence and entered the small forsaken garden.
He was relieved when he found an unlocked window at the backside of the building and entered before anyone could spot him.
As he walked over the squeaky floors of the corridors, he came across several spaces filled with bookcases and piles of books. Not knowing where to start, he arbitrarily chose a room and starting scanning the titles on the dusty shelves.
Tons of dusty covers entitled with old words crossed his line of vision. There were a lot of titles among them he had never heard of before. But none of them stole his interest.
-.-
After exploring for about an hour, Bankotsu decided to give up and leave. He was certainly going to take a bath when he gets back to the student complex. Never in his life had he seen so much dust and spider webs before.
Yet, when he passed the doorway of the room he lastly visited, something in his mind told him to go back.
It was like a strong restless desire that made him turn around and enter the room again.
The orange color of the setting sun filled the room through a couple of lowered vertical blinds.
Bankotsu slowly scanned his surroundings as he retraced the path he walked before.
Suddenly something caught his eye.
Something was reflecting the sunlight on top op an old wooden chair at the end of the room near the windows.
Without further thinking, Bankotsu walked up to it and gazed down at the glistening object.
It was a thin strand of hair. And he concluded that its silvery surface was the cause of the reflection.
As he lowered his hand to pick up the strand of hair, he noticed the book lying beneath it. He removed the strand of hair as his target of interest shifted and picked up the book, which was lying with its back-cover facing up.
After sweeping off a layer of dust, he turned it over and examined the front-cover.
It was vague and the words were already starting to deteriorate, but Bankotsu could unmistakably read the title written in gold:
Sengoku Jidai: the fall of the Western Lands
His eyes widened in surprise. Thinking that this might be the book to solve the mystery, he took it with him and left the room.
Luckily, nobody was around when he jumped over the fence and landed onto the sidewalk.
With the book secured against his chest with one of his hands, Bankotsu quickly walked into the direction of the student complex he lived in.
-.- later that afternoon -.-
"There's nothing like a nice cold shower," he said with a pleased sigh as he came out of the bathroom and entered his shared bedroom.
Bankotsu dried his long hair with a towel and tied it into a rough braid before settling himself on the chair in front of his desk.
His eyes fell on the book that was resting on the wooden surface.
As he took a deep breath, he carefully opened the book and began to read the first words written below the word "Preface"...
Next chapter: Preface, Chapter I
-.-
No spoilers!
-.-
Vocabulary:
Shichinintai: literally 'seven-man-group'
haori: short silk jackets
hakama: Japanese pants
hime: princess
-sama: honorific suffix. People add this to the names of people they respect.
-.-.-.-
Posted: 5 December 2004
Last Edited: 5 December 2004
Spelling check: YES