Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own Inuyasha characters. None. Zip. Nada.
A/N: In this chapter, my young-ins, is where Sango develops feelings for Bankotsu. Whoopie! xD
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Sango-chan…
She closed her eyes, hand clutching against her heart in inevitable guilt. Predictably, Inuyasha was by her side, arms around her stiff body, in order to calm and ease her culpability. Of course, it couldn't be helped. After all, Sango had been the one to demand Kagome to get herself to safety and make sure to come back with Inuyasha and the Monk.
"Inuyasha.." Kagome began, not exactly sure of what to say, "I didn't know what to do— I was sure she could have taken care of herself, and- and you know--" Her words were cut off as Inuyasha growled, tired of her blaming herself for everything.
"Shut up, for once, Kagome," Inuyasha stepped back, hands held aloft on her shoulders tightly as he snapped, "We know it couldn't be helped. And…as much as I regret Bankotsu disappearing before we caught up to him—at least, you weren't taken as well." He gulped as Kagome, tear-filled, embraced the half-breed warmly.
"You are sweet." She whispered, voice muffled against his chest.
Kagome's heart sank at not knowing Sango's fate, but the pain was tempered by the fact she had felt the guilt ever since she had awoken. She knew Sango would never have left her alone for this long. She felt so empty without Sango's presence. A presence that made her feel safe and able to share her feelings with ease.
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The air reeked of bitter, rotten stench. And Sango was definitely not one to coward out on a rampant amount of demons attacking the village. She was a demon-slayer. She wasn't about to abandon an intensely wrecked village. She could feel Bankotsu's strong arms pushing her back against the wall as he lifted his sword, Banryuu, into the air grimacing as he kept his hostage safely behind his back.
It was until Sango had urgently whispered into his ear, voice breathless, "I can fight!" he let her go reluctantly as she grabbed a sword, strangely like her Katana, from a man that lay motionless on the ground, blood spilling carelessly around his lifeless body.
Although her leg strained with pain, Sango had hastily ducked in time to avoid a narrowly missing tail being whipped in her direction. Sango had immediately stabbed another pig-like demon that charged toward her, slicing all the way through his guts, blood splattering on her freshly new clothes. She swerved to her right, left knee bent as she tripped yet another demon.
A pair of bear demons had cornered Sango into the wall, snarling viciously as they swiped toward her and she flinched unable to move anywhere because of the pressure on her bruised ankle. She awaited the impact on her skull and received nothing except a dark chuckle from her left, "Watch yourself, warrior." Bankotsu smirked, whirling his sword in a spinning action and slicing through four demons at once.
With a look of triumph and wilful determination, Sango sunk the sword she held into the eagle demon's lanky legs, who had been getting ready to peck the life out of Bankotsu. "Watch yourself, mercenary." Sango mimicked him, a faint smirk hidden behind her shaded face. He merely grinned as they, the taijiya and the mercenary, back to back finished off the last of the demons, making sure to aid one another throughout the battle.
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Sango sighed, hand clutched below her ribs and she fell to the floor, exhausted. Never had she felt this weary and drained after a full-out war battle. The village had gory bodies strewn all over it's grounds and roof tops.
She felt the familiar touch of the mercenary grasp her arm and haul her into a standing position. After picking up his belongings he grabbed a freely untied horse and settled Sango on top of it. Bankotsu simply shot a irksome look toward the horse, as it neighed over the light load of the woman upon its back.
And then idly removing the shard within his sword, which decreased the usual weight of his sword. He plucked it gingerly within his wrist and then climbed up behind Sango, after tying the sword securely beside the horse's side.
Sango felt something flutter distantly in her chest, as Bankotsu climbed behind her, his warmth spreading through her like wild-fire. Hadn't she noticed before how his navy blue eyes glittered a cobalt blue in the moonlight; even though through the daytime his eyes were strangely like Miroku's, except a lot more cocky looking. Sometimes, through the nights at the village (in which they stayed in for almost three days), she noticed how gently he slept. Almost like a child. So innocent, so purely quiet. But the thought wavered slightly, for she had been tied securely to his own wrist, unable to break free.
When she woke up and found herself placed in his lap (even though she slept across the room, away from him, she found herself back in his arms during the night), she had just once-- and it wasn't intentional-- she was only trying to push herself out of his lap, she jad brushed her fingers across his toughly-built chest. His muscles rippled every so often he moved through his sleep.
And for a moment, as she sat on the horse's back, Sango felt strangely hot around him. Ears reddening and a blush creeping to her cheeks. She didn't know why she felt like this around him. And he manged to get under her skin so much. He pissed her off for everything he did. His smirk, his body movement, his statements alone irritated her. Kagome had said this to be also another reason when someone fell in love...
He had told her, when she had been too busy pretending to ignore him, he talked and told her many stories of his past. He told her of how his father was a menace, a cold-blooded killer but his mother-- his mother was merely the most compassionate and honest woman of the village. And of the way he described his mother, she sounded strangely like Kaede except a hell of a lot more considering. He told her when he was just the age of nine, his mother had kept the identity of his father a secret. It was too painful for her to reveal it to the village men and women. He told her how the villagers somehow managed to find out and in a fury of hate, they killed his mother. And drove the nine year old boy out of the village, managing to kill the rest of his siblings in the assault. He was spared. And he vowed to particularly no one but himself that he would kill every last one of them.
Sango had felt the sympathy at the time, slapping her across the face. The sympathy just slapped her. And Bankotsu just assumed her continued sobs to be for her own loss; for her own brother. Had he not known how distasteful she felt for the village. Just a nine year old boy-- and Sango had realized not too long ago of how sorry she felt and all the more into his company.
She imagined herself, in a temporary moment, eyes closed-- she imagined herself enthralled in in his arms, his head bent and nearing his own soft and supple lips toward hers-- wow, wait, what? Shaking her head from the indecisive thought. Her eyes fluttered open and she came to meet a pair of navy blue eyes, inches away from her own. Flushing, Sango snapped immediately, "What are you doing, mercenary?"
She hadn't even noticed him pulling her down and setting her beside a tree, in a clearing of the forest. And when the hell did he light fire?
"My name is Bankotsu, taijiya." he leaned back, an arrogant frown framing his face.
"And my name is Sango, you dolt."
They both glared at each other silently, each completely unaware of what was going through one another's mind. And then Sango cracked, for the first time in three days, she burst out laughing at his incredibly cute attempt to glare at her. Bankotsu just wasn't the type to glare. He was more along the lines of...cocky-bastard-who-smirks-even-when-in-the-midst-of-life-threatening-situations. It was just...comical. She bowed her head as unlady-like hee-haws continued in their midst. And she grabbed onto his shoulder to keep herself stable.
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Bankotsu cocked an eyebrow upwards, lost in words as she laughed. A grin slowly dawned upon his lips and then the most bizarre thing happened-- Sango touched his shoulder. Not to hurt him or to swat him away from her. She had held onto his shoulder for support, like a friend or a somewhat- daresay- flirty touch. His eyes fluttered slightly, as her soft breath of laughter blew across his face. Her breath smelt like peppermint and strawberries. What in the fucking world? How could someone smell this good right after they'd have gone through a gruesome battle?
As Sango suppressed her chortling laughter into mannerly giggles, she wiped away an escaping tear.
"What's so funny?" Bankotsu inclined his head to the side, confused all the more.
"You." she replied, rolling her eyes.
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Gods, she was so hot. Bankotsu licked his parched lips gingerly as Sango swapped her hands through the air, trying to swat mosquitoes and bugs away from her. He gulped, unable to take his eyes off her lithe figure. Her silky hair was hung high in a ponytail, bangs feathering across his wide forehead. Oh how he longed to run his fingers through her hair. Her creamy skin looked so damn succulent and tantalizing, a pink colored hue forming upon the mound of her cheeks. The eyes, a honey-colored exquisite pair of eyes twinkle in the fiery light. Her luscious, full and darling lips glinted a light pink in the in the fire's warm colors. And then she spoke, with the very same lips.
"Do you, uhm, have water?" she asked, fingering a twirl of her hair absent-mindedly.
"I-uh...yeah. Uh- hold on." Bankotsu was caught off guard by her question as he was too busy admiring her impossibly fine features. He grabbed a wooden water container and rolled it toward her. And she hungrily drained the container of its liquid. Gasping as relief washed over her.
"You smell."
"Excuse me?" Sango's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I mean- I don't mean- would you like to take a bath?" he asked, his previous comment was not how he imagined to approach her. Sango's face softened and she ran her fingers through her hair and then stared limply at her blood marked clothing.
"I suppose a bath-- hey!" Sango face pinkened, arms unstable as Bankotsu sweeped her into his arms, smirking plainly to annoy her, "Let go, mercenary!" Bankotsu only tightened his grip below her.
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Sango's breathing quickened. She knew- she was sure she hadn't felt this weird around Bankotsu when he had been so close. But this time, it was so different. His presence was so damn complicated. She was falling for him. And hard. So hard. She gulped down her desires, hiding away her arousal at the slightest touch Bankotsu made with her skin.
She growled. She hated being so vulnerable around him. so easily manipulated by his touch and phrases. And when he had picked her in his arms, Sango hid her apparent love for his touch and snapped a 'hey!'. But he just stood there, smirking visibly under the moonlit shade. His lips looked so soft in the blue hue of the moon ray and so demanding.
"You wanted a bath, taijiya." he shrugged, "I'm just helping you."
"Help--helping me?" Sango stuttered another crimson shade creeping to her creamy skin.
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There was simply no explanation of how it happened. They both knew why it happened. Of course, Sango felt ashamed, as if throwing away her honor, the legacy, her pride and the dignity of her clan. Everything was just washed away. And the only thing she could say-- or just huff out apparently...she just merely gasped. The attention, the warmth of his hands. Her eyes fluttered as she heaved a sigh through her lips selfishly...
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A/N: Want to know what exactly happened? Wait for the next chapter! xD