InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Unexpected Encounters ❯ nine ( Chapter 9 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: kittyb78 
Attempting to comfort her- Ban clumsily attempts to off Airi comfort in his own way.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.21.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 272 | Status: Work In Progress
Attempting to comfort her- Ban clumsily attempts to off Airi comfort in his own way.
Anime/Manga: InuYasha Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.21.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.2K | Visits: 272 | Status: Work In Progress
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inuyasha characters, they belong to Rumiko Takahashi. I do own this plot line.
Chapter nine:
As soon as they entered the castle kitchen she said in a flat tone, “You can put me down now,” still averting her eyes from him. He nodded and lowered her to her feet, making sure that she could stand before letting go of her waist. She stubbornly hobbled over to one of the chairs and sat placing her head on her hands, on top of the table.
Bankotsu sighed and ordered, “Stay put, I want Suikotsu to look at your foot.” He spun on his heel and left to retrieve the dual personality doctor.
Bankotsu walked into the pantry and found Suikotsu and Jakotsu busy cutting up the meat, as they had been instructed earlier. He ordered, “Suikotsu, I need you to inspect Airikotsu’s ankle, she fell on the way to the cave earlier.”
Suikotsu nodded and jumped up to retrieve his medical bag. Jakotsu pouted mumbling under his breath, “Why should I have to be the one stuck with the dirty jobs- its women’s work.”
Bankotsu raised a brow in question and Jakotsu fell silent pouting, while cutting the meat. Bankotsu nodded in satisfaction and left to return to the eating room.
Suikotsu came out of his room and joined his leader and his little sister and knelt before her instructing, “Show me the foot.”
Airi sighed but stuck her foot out and winced as he began poking it. He frowned, “Well it’s not broken, but you did give it one hell of a nasty strain.” staring at her with disapproval.
He explained to his raven haired leader, “We will need cold water and lots of it. I’m also going to need you to keep her off of this foot as much as possible for a few days, so the tissue has time to rest and heal properly.”
Bankotsu nodded and yelled, “Jakotsu, stop cutting the meat and get us a barrel of fresh cold water.” as he walked back over to the pantry.
Jakotsu bit his lower lip to keep from making a nasty retort and scowled as he marched off to get fresh cold water. Once he was outside and out of hearing range, he muttered annoyed, “Jakotsu do this, Jakotsu do that. What the hell is that all about anyways? Am I the only one who has to do any real work around here today?”
Kneeling beside the water he continued ranting to himself, “I mean seriously would it kill the bitch do a little work? What, is she a damned princes or something?” staring down at the bottom of his kimono that just got muddy he pouted whining, “And now my kimono is filthy- ugh whatever!” as he stood up to carry the water back inside scowling.
Bankotsu returned asking, “Anything else Suikotsu?” staring at his fourth in command anxiously trying not to show how badly concerned he was about her.
Suikotsu answered seriously, “Keep her here while I go get the herbs that I need and prepare the wraps.” Standing up and walking off.
Bankotsu nodded and pulled out a chair, straddling it backwards and stared at Airi, who had averted her gaze from him again. He didn’t like that she was purposefully avoiding looking at him, so he reached out and firmly held her chin turning her so she had to face him.
Sighing, Airi closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the pain shooting through her swollen and purplish ankle. He frowned asking, “Why won’t you look at me?”
Airi kept her eyes closed answering softly, “I’m too upset with you to look at you right now.” Thinking, “Damn he can be such a clueless baka sometimes.”
He scowled asking harshly, “And just how long are you planning on staying mad at me?” Thinking, 'Seriously it wasn’t like I had known about her grandfather; she could at least acknowledge that much couldn’t she?'
Airi’s lower lip trembled as she said hoarsely, “I don’t know,” jerking her chin free from his grasp.
He scowled. “Fine be a bitch.” He piped off and angrily crossed his arms over the back of the chair glaring at her.
Airi sighed and laid her head back down on her arms and they remained silent and the tension in the air mounted. The strange feeling of something eating at him increased and he silently questioned, 'What is this feeling and why is it plaguing me?'
Seeing her puffy cheeks with tear tracks and the darkening purple ring around her neck, he sighed and his heart clenched painfully tight. What the hell was happening to him?
He was a mercenary after all! Mercenaries are cold and ruthless, but that’s part of why they were so efficient. Part of being a mercenary was learning to control or ignore silly nuances like ‘emotions’ and he was one of the best at doing exactly that. Over the course of his life he’d killed nearly two-thousand humans and demons and never once had he given so much as a thought to it- it was his job after all. Yet now here he was feeling like the world’s biggest asshole for making a girl that he barely knew cry. Scowling darkly he raged inside his head, 'What the hell is wrong with me anyways?'
She closed her eyes tightly and another tear slipped to trail down her cheek before landing on the rough wooden surface of the table. Bankotsu’s heart clenched so hard he couldn’t breathe for a full second as he watched the crystalline drop travel down her soft cheek.
His eyes spotted and rested on the purple ring on her neck and he felt a wave of intense anger run through him to the point that he was ready to kill the bastard who did it very, very slowly- until he remembered that he had been the one who did it to her; then he just felt… sick. His stomach churned and that puzzling feeling that had been plaguing him since earlier intensified a hundred fold.
Trying to get rid of the bothersome feeling and to calm his protesting stomach, he growled through his clenched teeth, “Damnit!” and stood up viciously kicking the chair that he had been sitting in into the wall, thinking annoyed, 'What the fuck is wrong with me?' He watched with slight satisfaction as the once beautiful chair splintered against the wall.
Airi jumped letting loose an involuntary whimper at the sound of his anger being let lose. Bankotsu heard it and his head snapped towards her. His cobalt eyes widened at the sight of her paling form, visibly trembling.
After staring at her for a long tense silent moment, he sighed and muttered, “Sorry,” and she forced herself to relax. He didn’t want her trembling in fear without there being a reason for it- that only made him feel even worse of an ass than he already did. His blue eyes began to swirl with mixed emotions as he stared at her and tried to think of something- anything that he could do to make her feel better, and more at ease around him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked quietly staring at her.
She whispered, “No, thanks.” And her hand lifted to her cheek finding the moisture. She sighed heavily and sat up to wipe her tears away in annoyance and scowled at her wet hands.
He felt his heart skip a few beats at how miserable she looked. Airi muttered, “Why am I crying?” annoyed at her show of weakness- especially around him.
Bankotsu’s voice whispered, “Because you’re hurting, and because I inadvertently caused it.” as he hung his head in shame.
Airi blinked and stared at him for a long tense moment, before she sighed and admitted grudgingly, “You didn’t know, you couldn’t have known.”
He lifted his head feeling a little better as he asked unsure, “Are you… still mad at me?” holding his breath as he found himself anxiously awaiting her reply.
Airi scowled and admitted sadly, “Not at you personally, just about what you and the others did.” He hung his head again and was shocked when she said, “But I’m a big girl and I will get over it- eventually.”
He blinked and lifted his head to stare into her eyes searchingly for a minute, before ever so slowly raising his hand and agonizingly slowly walking towards her, aching to comfort her.
He stopped right in front of her feeling nervous as hell. He’d never done what he was about to attempt in his entire life, he’d never felt a need to- that is until now.
He stared at her and thought nervously, 'Its okay you can do this… right? I mean it’s just two little words, just open your mouth and speak.' Feeling a little more confident, he rubbed his sweaty palms on the legs of his hakamas and thought confidently, 'I can do this.' He opened his mouth to speak and thought nervously, 'She’ll forgive me… right?' As uncertainty began to cloud his mind, he closed his lips and frowned and thought, 'I mean she has to right? I didn’t know, so she’ll have to forgive… right?'
Annoyed at how scared he was acting he thought disgustedly, 'Kami I’m acting like such a pussy,' That quickly renewed his resolve and he mentally scoffed at himself and thought determinedly, 'Okay here goes!' He inhaled a deep fortifying breath and looked at her saying sincerely, “Airi I’m….” Taking a deep breath he thought, 'You can do it man, just tell her!' He took another deep breath and muttered, “I’m... sorry,” holding her gaze.
Her eyes widened briefly and she thought, 'Wait… he’s apologizing?' Blinking she thought, 'He didn’t strike me as the type to apologize for anything- ever.' Noticing how nervous he looked she thought, 'He looks kind of cute when he’s nervous,' Mentally slapping herself she thought, 'What the hell?!' Staring into his eyes she could see uncertainty crowding in.
She didn’t like seeing him so unsure so she blinked and said softly, “Thank you, I know that wasn’t easy for you to do just now, but I’m glad that you tried for me... and it’s okay. Like I said, you didn’t know.” Taking a deep breath she said softly, “I forgive you.”
His heart soared at the knowledge that she was forgiving him. His heart felt light and that consuming feeling that had been eating at him, began to slowly lessen inside his gut. She forgave him- that was all that he needed to hear.
He decided to take a chance and reached over gently brushing the hair away from her face and said, “I’m so sorry that I hurt you Airi.” allowing his fingers to very lightly trace the purple ring around her neck, before pulling her into his arms and burying his nose into her hair that had fallen loose of its tie during their skirmish.
Airi blinked a few times and slowly raised her hand to run it along his back in a comforting manner as she continued repeating softly, “Its okay.” She felt him lean into her and hold her just a fraction tighter.
Sobbing she said sadly, “I just wish that I had been able to grant his dying wish is all.” as she buried her face into his shoulder and began crying again.
He held her tighter, feeling guilty for taking that from her. He silently vowed that even if it took the rest of their lives, he would make it up to her. He continued to hold her until her sobs ceased and pulled back vowing seriously, “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again. I’ll make this up to you somehow Airi, I promise.”
She blinked and pulled back staring into his eyes, seeing the intensity of his vow there and nodded before closing her eyes and leaning into his chest. In her entire life she’d only had her grandfather swear to protect her, until now.
She was afraid to believe this was happening, scared that it might turn out to only be a dream. Bankotsu kissed away her tears and he continued to whisper to her comforting her. He was about to lean in and brush his lips against hers, when he heard a voice being cleared loudly and they jerked apart.
--
A/N: And there you have it chapter nine- enjoy XD
Chapter nine:
As soon as they entered the castle kitchen she said in a flat tone, “You can put me down now,” still averting her eyes from him. He nodded and lowered her to her feet, making sure that she could stand before letting go of her waist. She stubbornly hobbled over to one of the chairs and sat placing her head on her hands, on top of the table.
Bankotsu sighed and ordered, “Stay put, I want Suikotsu to look at your foot.” He spun on his heel and left to retrieve the dual personality doctor.
Bankotsu walked into the pantry and found Suikotsu and Jakotsu busy cutting up the meat, as they had been instructed earlier. He ordered, “Suikotsu, I need you to inspect Airikotsu’s ankle, she fell on the way to the cave earlier.”
Suikotsu nodded and jumped up to retrieve his medical bag. Jakotsu pouted mumbling under his breath, “Why should I have to be the one stuck with the dirty jobs- its women’s work.”
Bankotsu raised a brow in question and Jakotsu fell silent pouting, while cutting the meat. Bankotsu nodded in satisfaction and left to return to the eating room.
Suikotsu came out of his room and joined his leader and his little sister and knelt before her instructing, “Show me the foot.”
Airi sighed but stuck her foot out and winced as he began poking it. He frowned, “Well it’s not broken, but you did give it one hell of a nasty strain.” staring at her with disapproval.
He explained to his raven haired leader, “We will need cold water and lots of it. I’m also going to need you to keep her off of this foot as much as possible for a few days, so the tissue has time to rest and heal properly.”
Bankotsu nodded and yelled, “Jakotsu, stop cutting the meat and get us a barrel of fresh cold water.” as he walked back over to the pantry.
Jakotsu bit his lower lip to keep from making a nasty retort and scowled as he marched off to get fresh cold water. Once he was outside and out of hearing range, he muttered annoyed, “Jakotsu do this, Jakotsu do that. What the hell is that all about anyways? Am I the only one who has to do any real work around here today?”
Kneeling beside the water he continued ranting to himself, “I mean seriously would it kill the bitch do a little work? What, is she a damned princes or something?” staring down at the bottom of his kimono that just got muddy he pouted whining, “And now my kimono is filthy- ugh whatever!” as he stood up to carry the water back inside scowling.
Bankotsu returned asking, “Anything else Suikotsu?” staring at his fourth in command anxiously trying not to show how badly concerned he was about her.
Suikotsu answered seriously, “Keep her here while I go get the herbs that I need and prepare the wraps.” Standing up and walking off.
Bankotsu nodded and pulled out a chair, straddling it backwards and stared at Airi, who had averted her gaze from him again. He didn’t like that she was purposefully avoiding looking at him, so he reached out and firmly held her chin turning her so she had to face him.
Sighing, Airi closed her eyes and tried to breathe through the pain shooting through her swollen and purplish ankle. He frowned asking, “Why won’t you look at me?”
Airi kept her eyes closed answering softly, “I’m too upset with you to look at you right now.” Thinking, “Damn he can be such a clueless baka sometimes.”
He scowled asking harshly, “And just how long are you planning on staying mad at me?” Thinking, 'Seriously it wasn’t like I had known about her grandfather; she could at least acknowledge that much couldn’t she?'
Airi’s lower lip trembled as she said hoarsely, “I don’t know,” jerking her chin free from his grasp.
He scowled. “Fine be a bitch.” He piped off and angrily crossed his arms over the back of the chair glaring at her.
Airi sighed and laid her head back down on her arms and they remained silent and the tension in the air mounted. The strange feeling of something eating at him increased and he silently questioned, 'What is this feeling and why is it plaguing me?'
Seeing her puffy cheeks with tear tracks and the darkening purple ring around her neck, he sighed and his heart clenched painfully tight. What the hell was happening to him?
He was a mercenary after all! Mercenaries are cold and ruthless, but that’s part of why they were so efficient. Part of being a mercenary was learning to control or ignore silly nuances like ‘emotions’ and he was one of the best at doing exactly that. Over the course of his life he’d killed nearly two-thousand humans and demons and never once had he given so much as a thought to it- it was his job after all. Yet now here he was feeling like the world’s biggest asshole for making a girl that he barely knew cry. Scowling darkly he raged inside his head, 'What the hell is wrong with me anyways?'
She closed her eyes tightly and another tear slipped to trail down her cheek before landing on the rough wooden surface of the table. Bankotsu’s heart clenched so hard he couldn’t breathe for a full second as he watched the crystalline drop travel down her soft cheek.
His eyes spotted and rested on the purple ring on her neck and he felt a wave of intense anger run through him to the point that he was ready to kill the bastard who did it very, very slowly- until he remembered that he had been the one who did it to her; then he just felt… sick. His stomach churned and that puzzling feeling that had been plaguing him since earlier intensified a hundred fold.
Trying to get rid of the bothersome feeling and to calm his protesting stomach, he growled through his clenched teeth, “Damnit!” and stood up viciously kicking the chair that he had been sitting in into the wall, thinking annoyed, 'What the fuck is wrong with me?' He watched with slight satisfaction as the once beautiful chair splintered against the wall.
Airi jumped letting loose an involuntary whimper at the sound of his anger being let lose. Bankotsu heard it and his head snapped towards her. His cobalt eyes widened at the sight of her paling form, visibly trembling.
After staring at her for a long tense silent moment, he sighed and muttered, “Sorry,” and she forced herself to relax. He didn’t want her trembling in fear without there being a reason for it- that only made him feel even worse of an ass than he already did. His blue eyes began to swirl with mixed emotions as he stared at her and tried to think of something- anything that he could do to make her feel better, and more at ease around him.
“Are you hungry?” he asked quietly staring at her.
She whispered, “No, thanks.” And her hand lifted to her cheek finding the moisture. She sighed heavily and sat up to wipe her tears away in annoyance and scowled at her wet hands.
He felt his heart skip a few beats at how miserable she looked. Airi muttered, “Why am I crying?” annoyed at her show of weakness- especially around him.
Bankotsu’s voice whispered, “Because you’re hurting, and because I inadvertently caused it.” as he hung his head in shame.
Airi blinked and stared at him for a long tense moment, before she sighed and admitted grudgingly, “You didn’t know, you couldn’t have known.”
He lifted his head feeling a little better as he asked unsure, “Are you… still mad at me?” holding his breath as he found himself anxiously awaiting her reply.
Airi scowled and admitted sadly, “Not at you personally, just about what you and the others did.” He hung his head again and was shocked when she said, “But I’m a big girl and I will get over it- eventually.”
He blinked and lifted his head to stare into her eyes searchingly for a minute, before ever so slowly raising his hand and agonizingly slowly walking towards her, aching to comfort her.
He stopped right in front of her feeling nervous as hell. He’d never done what he was about to attempt in his entire life, he’d never felt a need to- that is until now.
He stared at her and thought nervously, 'Its okay you can do this… right? I mean it’s just two little words, just open your mouth and speak.' Feeling a little more confident, he rubbed his sweaty palms on the legs of his hakamas and thought confidently, 'I can do this.' He opened his mouth to speak and thought nervously, 'She’ll forgive me… right?' As uncertainty began to cloud his mind, he closed his lips and frowned and thought, 'I mean she has to right? I didn’t know, so she’ll have to forgive… right?'
Annoyed at how scared he was acting he thought disgustedly, 'Kami I’m acting like such a pussy,' That quickly renewed his resolve and he mentally scoffed at himself and thought determinedly, 'Okay here goes!' He inhaled a deep fortifying breath and looked at her saying sincerely, “Airi I’m….” Taking a deep breath he thought, 'You can do it man, just tell her!' He took another deep breath and muttered, “I’m... sorry,” holding her gaze.
Her eyes widened briefly and she thought, 'Wait… he’s apologizing?' Blinking she thought, 'He didn’t strike me as the type to apologize for anything- ever.' Noticing how nervous he looked she thought, 'He looks kind of cute when he’s nervous,' Mentally slapping herself she thought, 'What the hell?!' Staring into his eyes she could see uncertainty crowding in.
She didn’t like seeing him so unsure so she blinked and said softly, “Thank you, I know that wasn’t easy for you to do just now, but I’m glad that you tried for me... and it’s okay. Like I said, you didn’t know.” Taking a deep breath she said softly, “I forgive you.”
His heart soared at the knowledge that she was forgiving him. His heart felt light and that consuming feeling that had been eating at him, began to slowly lessen inside his gut. She forgave him- that was all that he needed to hear.
He decided to take a chance and reached over gently brushing the hair away from her face and said, “I’m so sorry that I hurt you Airi.” allowing his fingers to very lightly trace the purple ring around her neck, before pulling her into his arms and burying his nose into her hair that had fallen loose of its tie during their skirmish.
Airi blinked a few times and slowly raised her hand to run it along his back in a comforting manner as she continued repeating softly, “Its okay.” She felt him lean into her and hold her just a fraction tighter.
Sobbing she said sadly, “I just wish that I had been able to grant his dying wish is all.” as she buried her face into his shoulder and began crying again.
He held her tighter, feeling guilty for taking that from her. He silently vowed that even if it took the rest of their lives, he would make it up to her. He continued to hold her until her sobs ceased and pulled back vowing seriously, “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you again. I’ll make this up to you somehow Airi, I promise.”
She blinked and pulled back staring into his eyes, seeing the intensity of his vow there and nodded before closing her eyes and leaning into his chest. In her entire life she’d only had her grandfather swear to protect her, until now.
She was afraid to believe this was happening, scared that it might turn out to only be a dream. Bankotsu kissed away her tears and he continued to whisper to her comforting her. He was about to lean in and brush his lips against hers, when he heard a voice being cleared loudly and they jerked apart.
--
A/N: And there you have it chapter nine- enjoy XD