InuYasha Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ AGainst All Odds ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 4 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha, or any of their affiliated characters. They respectively belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Rumiko Takahashi. Full credit for these wonderful characters and worlds, belong to them! I am however using Naruto, Sakura, Bankotsu, and Kagome {along with various others} for my own twisted enjoyment. The plot line of this story and all of its little twists however, I do take full credit for!

Thanks to my wonderful beta The Invisible Author, for her diligence and hard work.

--

Chapter Two:

Kagome and Bankotsu continued pressing deeper between the thick, tall trees, using their hands to move some of the taller and annoying weeds out of the way as they passed by.

The trees were dense, towering high above even the mercenary leader’s famed weapon, Banryu. Few branches even hung low enough to block Banryu’s path.

Kagome stayed right beside Bankotsu and frowned as she asked, “Hey, is that water I hear?”

He snorted, “Duh,” and continued brushing the weeds out of his face with an annoyed huff as he walked the last few feet before stepping into a weedless clearing with a small waterfall.

Kagome gasped, “It’s beautiful,” as her soft brown eyes slowly took in the breathtaking sight before her. There was a one-story tall waterfall carved into the face of the cliff in front of them. She watched awed as water glided over the rocky lip and fell down to meld into a deep, nice-sized pond of clear water, which was outlined by brilliant green flora.

On either side of the waterfall was a rocky cliff-face which had many uneven edges and even a couple of ledges that might be able to shelter a small person for a brief amount of time. Through one of the ledges on the left, was a small tree growing as if the earth itself had been shifted. The small tree bent over a bit as if perhaps it had been shoved halfway over while trying to make its break through the rocky surface.

On the right was a large tree, nearly as tall as the cliff itself and as large around as a huge boulder. It was obvious the tree was very old from its sheer size. One of its longest branches went out to stand above the water pool before bending down to kiss the water with the gentle brush of its leaves as a soft breeze went by.

Kagome’s eyes danced with absolute pleasure as she finished taking in the sight. Her eyes landed on a small boulder that had been flattened on the surface through the years of erosion. It stretched out slightly above the beginning of the pool of water and gave a good foot of room for a couple of people to perch on.

Bankotsu muttered, “Yeah, great,” as his eyes began searching for a decent spot for them to dig a fire pit.

Kagome heard the rudeness in his voice and huffed, “You have no appreciation for the beauty of nature.” scowling at him before moving into the clearing and away from the weeds.

He muttered, “I appreciate nature just fine as long as I have some form of water, food, and a good fire to cook with.” as he moved to the middle of the riverbank, right where the grass stopped, and knelt down to begin digging a fire pit.

Kagome sighed and started gathering some of the fallen pieces of branches for firewood and said, “You need to learn to relax every once in a while.”

Bankotsu snorted. “I’ll relax once I know where the hell we’ve been taken away to and exactly what the hell kind of situations we’ve been thrust into.” as his eyes slowly scanned for any possible dangers.

Kagome sighed heavily and scolded, “Bankotsu, you can’t be a soldier twenty four- seven, you need to remember that you’re still human too.” as she dropped the first load of wood beside him.

Bankotsu huffed while glaring up her and said, “We can’t all be as innocent as you are, Kagome. Some of us have to actually know what the hell we’re dealing with instead of trusting everyone we meet blindly like you do.”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed at him and she stomped her foot in a hissy, kicking up a bit of dirt in his face before huffing and storming off to sit on the flat boulder and stare at the beauty around her.

He sneezed and then growled, glaring at her retreating back before rubbing his temples and muttering, “Why me?” Taking a deep breath, he took the wood and dropped it into the hole, before rubbing two sticks together to start a fire, muttering under his breath the whole time about being stuck with an annoying little "goody-goody"

All the while, he kept Banryu close at hand in case of any unexpected dangers. His mind toyed with the idea of just cutting her in half and being done with it. As sorely tempted as he was to do just that, his warrior instincts told him that they were going to need to work together until they figured out what the hell was going on.

He scowled as he bent down to blow on the tiny flames and give the fire life. The tiny flames liked the dry wood and caught almost instantly. He nodded once in satisfaction and tossed the two sticks he’d used to start the fire into the fire.

He stood up with Banryu in his hand and placed a hand on his hips, glaring as he noticed the girl sitting there doing nothing while he did all the work. He grit his teeth, thinking, ‘Oh, hell no! She isn’t going to laze about doing nothing while I do all the work!’

Stomping over, he stood up straight and cleared his throat, startling her out of her admiration of the natural beauty surrounding them.

He huffed and ordered, “Get up off your ass and make yourself useful by finding something to collect us some water in. I'll catch our food.”

Kagome’s eyes narrowed as she faced him. He scolded, “Don’t give me that look, just do what you were told, girl.”

She stood up and kicked his shin, barking, “You need to learn some manners, jerk!” before stomping off to look for something to put water in.

He bent down to rub his bruised shin, glaring at her retreating back, while muttering, “And people wonder why I prefer my own company.” With a heavy sigh, he placed Banryu safely against the stone slab and pulled his hakama and haori off, setting them with his treasured weapon, before diving into the water and moving over to where he would catch them some big fish.

As he caught the struggling fish, he flexed his biceps and tossed them over his head onto the river bank, several feet away from the fire.

Kagome muttered under her breath about "rude, bossy, arrogant males" while she started searching through the brush with her bow and arrows slung across her back, and ranted to herself, searching for something to use as a bowl or bucket.

She scowled when all she found was large leaves, muttering, “How is this supposed to help?” sighing she picked a few of them up and carried them over to the pond.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she noticed Bankotsu was in the water with his bare chest dripping as he heaved another rather large fish onto the shore. She blinked. She’d never seen a half naked male before except when she was bandaging Inuyasha. But he’d never been as muscular as Bankotsu.

She stood unable to tear her gaze away as she watched his muscles contract and bulge as he continued fishing for their dinner. The muscles rippled beneath his bronzed skin like the water in the waterfall moving fluidly with every move he made.

It certainly was a sight to behold as the water droplets flew through the air and rolled off of his hair to fall back into the pond. His skin glistened with the moisture, and for a minute she thought that even an arrogant jerk like Bankotsu held some beauty.

Bankotsu finished his task and blinked, and then smirked as he noticed the girl watching him. He thought amused, ‘So even Miss Goody-Goody Miko isn’t immune to my natural sex appeal, eh?’ getting a large ego boost.

His smirk widened as he called out, “Yo miko, I know I’m hot, but would you stop staring and start working?” causing the embarrassed teenager to blush and turn her back to him.

His deep chuckled grated on her nerves and she spun around yelling, “You’re such a- “ stopping and blushing redder and as she turned away again while he stepped out of the water in nothing but his fondushi, which was now soaked.

The grin on his face widened, showing his gleaming white teeth as he unabashedly strutted out of the water, exposing his naked skin to the sun. The water rolled down wide expanse of his muscular chest, down his rock hard abs and down his legs to drip onto the ground.

He flipped his braid to drape over his shoulder and began squeezing the excess water from his hair, leaving the braid in place, as he asked smugly, “You were saying?”

Kagome’s breath hitched a bit and her face bled crimson as she refused to look his way, muttering, “Put your damn clothes on.”

Bankotsu stared at her and asked, slightly amused, “Why? Am I making you nervous?”

She huffed , “Just shut up and get dressed.” tossing his clothes at him as he moved towards the fire.

He rolled his eyes and noticed that his fondushi was mostly dry. Sighing he pulled on his hakamas and tied them at the waist. Deciding to let his hair dry before donning his haori, he said, “You can turn around now, I’m decent.”

She could hear the amusement in his voice and turned around to lay into him verbally, but stopped with wide eyes at his naked chest. He walked up so that he was standing just a few inches away from her and tapped her nose, saying, “My face is up here by the way,” pointing to his face as he tilted her chin up.

She became annoyed by the arrogant grin on his face and the smug note in his voice. She slapped his hand away and growled, “Put your damned shit on.”

He grit his teeth in annoyance and shot back, “Not until my braid dries. So you will just have to control your drooling and deal with it.” flipping his wet braid over his shoulder and walking off to collect the fish.

Her face flushed and the blush even spread to her neck as she growled, “You...You-”

He rolled his eyes and asked, “Did you get something for the water or what?” bending to arrange some stronger, longer sticks over the fire as a makeshift spit to roast their fish on.

She huffed and said, “All I could find were these,” thrusting the large leaves into his face.

He looked up at her with a raised brow and asked, “Well?” expecting her to get the water.

She huffed admitting, “I’m used to a pot or at least a bucket.” as her eyes fell to the ground.

He let out a long exaggerated sigh and said, “Figures.” Taking the leaves and dragging her over to the water by hand.

She blushed and then snapped out of it as she was yanked over to the river. Bankotsu huffed as he dragged her to kneel down and explained, “Take these and watch.”

Taking the two leaves, Kagome watched impressed as he used his hands to shape the large leaf into the form of a bowl and dipped up some water. Bringing the make shift paper bowl to his lips, he drank deeply as the refreshingly cool water poured down his hot, dry throat.

He smacked his lips in satisfaction and showed her how to shape the leaf, before she too drank.

His eyes rolled upward as he heard her little mummer of pleasure and he spotted some coconuts. Grinning he jumped to his feet and climbed up the tree. He took a dagger out of the back of his hakama and cut down four good-sized coconuts, laughing as they nearly fell on her.

She yelled, “Hey, watch it!” glaring up at the man with a playful glint in his eyes.

He shrugged saying, “It’s not like I can control where they fall.” smirking as the last one fell behind her. Kagome jumped before glaring and growling at him.

He chuckled and flipped over upside down, saying impishly, “I didn’t realize your chest was so big.”

She gasped, wide-eyed and her hands flew to her chest as she growled, “Hentai.” And delivered a resounding slap to his face, hard enough to cause him to sway a bit and have to fight in order to regain his balance and keep from falling out of the tree.

“Hey, what the hell was that for?!” he demanded, flipping to land on his feet, glaring at her with one hand on his burning cheek and the other firmly on his hip.

She scoffed, “Serves you right for behaving like that idiot, Miroku.” as she knelt down and began picking up the coconuts.

Bankotsu huffed and rolled his eyes, muttering, “I was just trying to lighten the mood. Crazy girl.” and stomped over to flush his face with the cold water and assuage his burning cheek.

She rolled her eyes and carried the coconuts, two at a time, over to the fire, using a hand sized rock to try and crack them open, but to no avail.

He chuckled and said, “You’ll never get it that way,” taking the coconut and using his dagger stuck between a crack in the boulder, to smash the coconut on. Smirking he handed her the two jagged halves and proceeded to crack the rest, before dipping his dagger into the water and rinsing the sticky milky juice from the blade. He flicked the blade dry and sheathed in back into the back of his hakama.

She blinked and said, “Uh, thanks.” as she began drinking the sweet milk and then began using her hands to scrape out the gourd.

He sighed and said seriously, “look we’re going to have to work together until we can figure out where we are and what is and isn’t safe to eat okay? SO let’s start with some ground rules.”

She blinked, “Ground rules? Why?” and stared at him, adding, “Yeah I think we should stick together a while.”

He rolled his eyes and said, “Because in order to keep us both safe, I’m going to need you to do as I say.” Seeing that she was about to argue, he placed his hand over her open mouth and scowled, saying, “Just shut up and let me finish.”

Kagome's eyes flashed with annoyance and she shoved his hand away, huffing. Bankotsu sighed, rubbing his temples and thought, ‘Stay calm, she’s just acting like a normal, annoying girl.’

Once he was in control and his ire abated, he stated bluntly, “You obviously don’t know the first thing about living off the land; I do. Therefore, we do as I say.” She glared at him, but admitted to herself that he was right. She didn’t know the first thing about being in the wild. Without her pots and matches she couldn’t even start a fire.

Much as she loathed the fact, without him she’d be dead in a few days at best. Sure she could fight, but she didn’t know how to hunt for food and had no idea what berries were and weren’t poisonous.

The fact that she was going to have to rely on him didn’t sit well with her, but she was smart enough to know that she really didn’t have any choice at this point.

Seeing that Kagome realized the gravity of their situation currently, Bankotsu began laying down the rules. “Rule number one: When we travel you stay right beside me and keep your sense peeled. If anything around us feels strange to you, tell me- immediately.”

She nodded. He continued, “Rule number two: do not, under any circumstances, eat anything unless I say that it is okay.” Adding, “In fact, don’t touch any plants unless I clear them too.”

She sighed, feeling like a child being lectured and nodded. He said seriously, “Rule number three: Until we know exactly what the hell is going on, you are not, I repeat not, to tell anyone we may come across about our little situation. If anyone we happen to run across asks, you’re my sister or my cousin.”

She scrunched her face up at the thought of pretending to be related to him. Noticing her look he sighed, “Trust me, I’m not too thrilled about it either, but this way no one will try to separate us, and I can better control both of our safeties.”

He added seriously, “If you don’t follow these simple rules, I won’t be held responsible for your safety and well being any longer. I’ll just leave you to fend for yourself and go off alone.” staring at her to show how deadly serious he was.

Since they were here together, he somehow felt responsible for her, probably because of the fact that he was a born leader. But if she refused to obey his rules, he’d wash his hands of her and go off alone, leaving her to her own foolish nature and not give it a second thought.

Kagome sighed heavily and pouted, “What am I, a baby?” feeling like a child.

He chuckled, “No, not a child. But you’re not used to the wilderness or the inherent dangers of the wild.” Adding, “I refuse to be responsible for someone who won’t obey simple, common sense rules.”

Noticing her frown, he said, “Look, it’s not any easier for me. I’m used to traveling either by myself or with a group of blood thirsty killers. Being around a priestess isn’t my idea of fun anymore than your being around me is to you.”

She sighed and her faced looked sad as she stared at the falling water. As much as she hated the fact that they were stuck dealing with each other, it didn’t change anything.

He sighed and began carving out the coconut gourds to make two bowls, and the other two were made into water buckets, as he stabbed a couple holes at the tops and shoved some sticks trough, tying some of the big leafs over them to keep out dirt and bugs.

--

A/N: Okay that one actually got longer then I intended. Oh well that’s the second chapter. Enjoy and comments are encouraged, but not required :D

--

Preview of the next chapter:

The new ‘Team Kakashi’ are working to find Sasuke, before Sasuke kills Orochimaru, while Kakashi heals up at the hospital.

On the other hand, Bankotsu and Kagome are still traveling together and begin to slowly open up to each other.