#bankotsuu

It wasn't as if she had expressly-- Well, no, that was a lie. She had dressed the way she had to impress her date; of course, the price for looking how she did was rather expensive.

Chewing lightly on the inside of her cheek (she would bite her lips, but they were painted red), Reita navigated her way through twisting suburban streets with relative ease. It wasn't long before she pulled up in front of the house she'd seen a handful of times.

Shoving the stick into park, Rei rolled down the passenger side window of her mustang, stretching out her ankles in her heels as far as she could.

The young woman sent a text to her soon to be date almost immediately.

     In her experience with battle, 

Sango immediately learned that not a single soul—no matter how driven—is invincible; weaknesses plague all, e s p e c i a l l y for a human warrior. The risk of injury and death abruptly increases and one can no longer afford a careless mistake.

Physically, she is in her prime, able bodied, light on her feet, and quick to respond in the face of immediate danger, she was not formerly titled the strongest taijiya of the Demon Slayer Village without reason. 

So how, how did this slip out of her control so easily? Usually, she is able to restrain her thoughts, remaining focused, solely focused on the task at hand, but during an offensive charge with Hiraikotsu in grasp, an unexpected flashback invaded her mind. 

                                                    —Kohaku. 

Is her gut trying to tell her something, is he in trouble? His name unfortunately distracts her, unintentionally leaving herself open for a counterattack. In consequence, a vivid burning slashes through her upper body, pain searing through her chest—dammit! Hurry, fall back, Sango! Three second self assessment, heart is still beating, limbs are intact, so fight! 

                  "H i r a i k o t s u!" 

Her weapon is unleashed, propelled by an incorruptible will to survive; when it finally emits its own demonic aura and toxins, eradicating the demon, the taijiya still refuses to relax. As soon as Hiraikotsu returns, Sango senses another presence within range and her left hand rises to cover her profusely bleeding chest. 

     If Inuyasha were to be completely honest with himself, then he'd have to admit that he'd probably drank a tad bit too much tonight - honestly though, he'd needed to wind himself down after the day he'd had.

     Though the hanyou wasn't the most social of creatures most of the time, he'd still come to the bar in hopes of clearing his head from the frustrations he'd faced throughout the day. His father probably wouldn't have been pleased to find him in such an establishment, but after the argument they'd had earlier that day, Inuyasha couldn't say that he really gave a damn about what the old man wanted. Honestly, the silver-haired youth didn't exactly want to play the part of a perfect son to the man who hadn't been around during his upbringing - why should he?

     Thankfully, the matter was soon pushed into the bad of his mind as a pleasant buzz filled his head instead. Even when there was no alcohol involved, Inuyasha found that it was far easier to relax when he wasn't at home and around his so-called family - it seemed like all they did was remind him about how much of a disappointment he was, as though he needed to be told that fact. Those thoughts were far from his mind though, and by the time he was ready to leave, the hanyou had forgotten all about whatever had pissed him off in the first place.

     Things had been fine until he'd realized that he'd forgotten his jacket in the bar and found himself needing to stumble his way back. Trying to remember where he'd been sitting proved to be somewhat difficult with the amount of alcohol he'd had that night, and suddenly, Inuyasha was wishing that he hadn't had quite so much. Part of him said that he shouldn't bother looking for it, but he actually liked that jacket. The sooner he found it, the sooner he could resume staggering his way back home, though the prospect of actually getting there wasn't really something that Inuyasha was excited about.

""Achoo!" Sparks flew in every direction as the sick dragoness sneezed. 

Kara sniffled, staring out at the rain as it drenched the area outside the cave. The rain had started a day ago, and there had been no shelter to be found until they had finally stumbled upon the cave. It was a good thing they had found it, as the rain was so thick that they hadn’t been able to see very far in front of it. Only the odd warmness that was the dry cave interior had alerted Kara to the place.

Needless to say though, they both had caught colds, and Kara was busy stewing up some hot stew as they let the fire she had made warm the place up further. At this point, neither had cared enough to be self conscious. They were both nude, while another fire warmed and dried their clothes. Bankotsu had remarked about how much steam the soaked clothing was letting off. Kara had only grimaced.

They were both covered in the many blankets Kara had hoarded over the years, and Kara had covered the sleeping area, where ban was, with soft pelts and furs to keep people warm. She was slowly getting her strength back after being in the chilly rain, but neither of them were going to be going out until they either ran out of food, they weren’t sick anymore, or the rain stopped.

Finally she checked the brew of herbs that helped cure a cold, and made her way to where her equally sick companion was sitting.

Kimi had been pushed to the ground minutes before Bankotsu had gotten there, her hands scraping on the concrete as she tried to catch herself. She had made the poor decision to just close her eyes and wait for it to be over but when the kicks and dust stopped hitting her she took a peek and looked up only to see her attackers running away and Bankotsu standing nearby.

A hurried hand pushed her bangs from her face, her other hand raising to her hood to tear it forward and over her horns. Running as fast as she could to her friend, a farmer named Omoe's home, she skidded to a stop to catch her breath, smiling wide and waving at a passing acquaintance.

Reita sighed to herself, looking down the road to Omoe's cottage; it seemed she had already left on her journey, though Rei had come all the way back to town just to say goodbye.

The sky was clear without a speck of clouds on this morning as one young brunette began to get ready for her day of college classes. The last thing she did was switch her headband for her usual red bow accessory that sat on top of her head every day. She checked herself in her bathroom mirror one more time before heading out wither her satchel slung over her shoulder, heading towards her first class.