Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Never No Answer ❯ Killing comes so painfully ( Prologue )

Disclaimer: Saiyuki and characters belong to Kazuya Minekura and I’m sure a lot of

people who own stock or something… not me, though.

Sanzo was first aware of the heavy warmth of his own body. It felt like he had fallen asleep in a bathtub of scalding hot water. His skin was tight as if it had shrunk while he slept. All his muscles were heavy and tired, unresponsive when he demanded them to move. Sanzo could barely keep his eyes open, blearily staring at the ceiling and left to wonder what in the world had happened.

He was looking up at a flat and smooth ceramic roof, slowly letting his gaze roll down to find simple white walls bare, except for a few cheap and tattered painted wall scrolls with bold, black calligraphy writings. Sanzo doubted any of those idiot common folk would even be able to read what they said. He could tell that it was some kind of hotel room by the sparse personal things decorating the room. In fact, it reminded him of the same inn they had stayed at…the last night Sanzo could clearly remember.

He tiled his head up off the pillow a bit, glancing around to see a large, circular wood table in the center of the room with four old chairs surrounding it. An old, stained pine dresser was in the corner with a small mirror hanging on the wall over it. In the far corner of the room was a small refrigerator. That had better be full of alcohol, or he was going to stay in this bed and rot to death.

There was a locked door in a small alcove directly to his right. It likely led out into a hallway. Another open doorway faced the foot of the bed that led in to what must be a private bathroom. Inwardly, Sanzo was pleased that there was the prospect of a bathtub or shower where he could finally take his own damn sweet time in scrubbing the dirt from the road off. He hated the shared common bathrooms, always choosing to go late in the evening and early in the morning when it was unlikely for anyone else to be there. He didn’t want to deal with harassment from fat, ugly, naked older men far too horny for their age while he was trying to enjoy a shower. His own companions were worse choices, too fucking loud and playful around water. Sanzo didn’t need to hear their idiot comments when he was trying to close his eyes and relax, the closest he ever got to meditation these days.

Sanzo sighed, forgetting the bath to wonder how the hell he had even gotten here. His memory was one big, pathetic black hole as to whatever had laid him out in bed. Sanzo felt uniquely bone-tired and drained, like he usually did if Hakkai had been at work. Something must have happened; something that had caused such injury that Hakkai had needed to heal him? What could have happened to force the brunette to try and save his life with that power of his? He didn’t like it.

Damn the lack of answers. Sanzo hated not knowing, throwing his head back on the pillows in irritation. This left him vulnerable. He could only wonder at how long he had been out. Sanzo detested when Hakkai would cheerfully announce that he had been asleep for over two days or some other ridiculous number like that. It galled Sanzo to no ends that he had taken ‘days’ to recover sometimes. If he had been a stronger person, he wouldn’t be getting fucking mauled half the time. Sanzo seemed to attract stray bullets, knives, claws…and teeth, sometimes- mainly on the bad days.

Sanzo felt a headache coming on at that train of thought. His skull ached like it was going to become one of those goddamn migraines that he suffered from constantly. His brow was already tightening up as he became more irritated at being no closer to remembering what had happened to put him in a bed. It only tensed him up further when he couldn’t even move out of bed.

His neck was stiffening up almost intolerably around his pillow and Sanzo cursed this as well. It was another weakness, something that afflicted him because he was so cowardly and weak. For things he had done in the past, he paid for now with every little bit of pain. Sanzo almost relished it at times; feeling like it was a penance to be paid. He could get some satisfaction out of seeing his blood, to make up for the one that had already given his life to protect him. The stupid Buddhist monk had given his life to protect Sanzo, not as a High Priest, but as person with weak emotions. Komyou had gotten himself killed because he had allowed himself to care enough to throw himself in front of Sanzo so many years ago.

With a grin at the pain it caused, Sanzo looked down at his body to assess the injuries he had woken up with today. His left arm was sprawled out on the mattress on top of the covers, the rest of him hidden underneath the sheets. He considered himself lucky because he didn’t think he could lift the sheets up right now to look at the rest of his body. He was too damn tired and weak to even try. It was rather fucking pathetic and there was very little he could do to change it.

His wrist was wrapped up in thin linen wrappings, almost exactly how Gojyo wore bandages on his own arm everyday. Sanzo’s mouth tightened distastefully at the thought of the womanizing and loud half-breed. Gojyo’s only redeeming trait was the times Sanzo could grudgingly bum a cigarette off the bastard when he ran out and was desperate for a smoke, with Goku yelling in his ear and Hakkai laughing it all off like usual.

Sanzo turned his thoughts away from his unwanted traveling ‘companions’ and back to his own injuries. He would need to know exactly what had happened so he could pay back the favor with a hell of a lot of interest. Nobody was allowed to beat him without suffering his wrath. Sanzo had never been beaten twice by the same person, be it human or youkai… Even a group of youkai. Sanzo was disgusted that it had even happened once.

Grimacing, Sanzo noticed there was a large folded gauze bandage taped down over his shoulder. He felt like his neck was also wrapped up as well. An experimental lick of his lips discovered a large patch of medical tape on the outside corner of his mouth. Damn interesting. He’d very much like to know what had put him out like this, and if it was still alive. Because if whoever it was that did this to him was still living, Sanzo would very much like to make that not the case.

He wondered where his gun was. His robes and small personal belongings, the biggest concerns begin the sutra, and his gun. The robes were gone and Sanzo felt the fabric of an unfamiliar shirt and long cotton pants on him. Someone had chosen to give him a new pair of pajamas. Fucking wonderful. Sanzo’s head pounded in frustration that someone had taken it upon himself to strip him down to the skin and tuck him in a bed.

A stranger pawing at his naked body when he was unconscious was not a pleasing image. If it had been someone other than Goku, Sanzo would have the person’s head. Only Goku’s loyalty was infallible and Sanzo was sure that the dumbass ape hadn’t a clue that he should even appreciate a naked person. Goku didn’t have any inkling toward sex yet, no matter how old he really was. Sanzo knew that Hakkai was always so nice and respectful, but there was a dangerous, violent streak that ran though the man. Sanzo wouldn’t want to risk it with Hakkai’s dark streak. Gojyo was a sick pervert and would probably try something even if Sanzo were unconscious during it or not. The half-demon had fewer morals than Sanzo, at least when it came to sex.

Sanzo sighed with his head aching and the softness of the bed insisting that he stop thinking about such things and lie still. Sanzo didn’t want to move for another few years and despised the weakness at the same time. He was a monk, after all. Worldly pleasures shouldn’t interest him. Beyond cigarettes and the feeling of the Smith and Wesson in his hand, Sanzo didn’t find much to enjoy in life. He shouldn’t be relaxing in a bed right now. He should be out finishing this damn mission…

Sanzo fell back into the mattress, not able to hold his head up any longer. He felt like falling back asleep and not giving a damn when someone groaned next to him. Sanzo had enough time to take one sharp breath before Gojyo rolled over and flapped his arm over Sanzo’s chest.

He looked down in utter horror at Gojyo lying sound asleep, like Sanzo was nothing more than another cheap, loveless fuck that he could use as a pillow afterwards. Sanzo nearly gagged with revulsion before finding the strength to start up from the bed and throw the arm off with as much force as he could manage right now, like the touch was poisonous. It was, in a way.

What the fuck is going on? I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him, Sanzo chanted in his head as he struggled up in the bed. He looked around wildly for his gun; searching for the places Hakkai would have put it. The Smith and Wesson must be in the dresser so it would be hidden from sight. They all knew better than to try and hide his gun from him while he was sleeping whatever it was off. Hakkai had tried it once and the fury that followed was one not to be roused again.

Sanzo swung the covers off, ignoring the way the world spun and tilted sickeningly. He would not stay in a bed with Gojyo for one moment longer. What the hell had brought that man into his bed?! Did the bastard think he was welcome there? Sanzo growled at the lack of answers coming forward from his blank memory, his flesh crawling with the remembered touch of the half-breed.

Disgusting. Unacceptable, Sanzo thought bitterly as he dragged one foot over the mattress and got it on the ground. Damn it all to the deepest, darkest rotting hell he knew of. Gojyo was groaning and finally starting to rouse from his sleep even though Sanzo had thrown him off seconds ago and was now leaving the bed as quickly as possible.

What happened? What the hell happened? Sanzo wondered frantically as he took a step forward. First, he’d shoot Gojyo in the thigh or shoulder, somewhere bloody and painful but not life threatening and then get some answers. Depending on if Gojyo’s explanations were pleasing, he might allow the kappa to live. Might? He would kill the bastard for daring to sleep in the same bed.

Sanzo fell heavily when he took the third step, landing in a hard sprawl that nearly knocked the wind out of him. Sanzo bit his lip as his chin hit painfully against the floor, drawing blood. The loud smack of a body hitting the hardwood floor was finally enough to rouse Gojyo. Sanzo just knew that Gojyo would see fit to finally awaken when he was sprawled out on the floor like this.

What the fuck had happened to leave him this weak? Blood was leaking out like a faucet from his cut lip and starting to drip on the wooden floor. An unfamiliar and painful ache was centered in the area between his hips and his back. His whole lower body felt bruised and sore on the inside. Sanzo must have taken some heavy kidney punches or the like. It hurt like a bitch, even more then the fresh wound on his lip.

"Sanzo? What the hell are you doing on the floor?" Gojyo drawled as he raised his head up from the bed in mild curiosity. He still looked sleepy and bedraggled, his hair falling down over his shoulders, wearing nothing more than a pair of boxers and his usual tank top. Gojyo wasn’t fully awake yet as he examined Sanzo’s bent head and the shaking back turned to him, making a disappointed noise that went right through him.

I will kill him.

"What the fuck do you think I’m doing, you bastard?" Sanzo cursed, blood splattering as he yelled at Gojyo. Did he think Sanzo liked being on the floor, struggling around like a wounded animal? The half-breed was amazingly stupid at times, always falling victim to his softhearted emotions. Gojyo was a pathetic, romantic asshole that had chosen to fall asleep in his bed for some unfathomable reason.

"Shit, what did you do? You’re bleeding," Gojyo cursed, rolling out of the bed as he noticed Sanzo had blood covering his lower lip and chin. Gojyo was thankfully wearing a pair of plain white boxers and his familiar white tank-top. If he had been naked, Sanzo wouldn’t have spoken for how much time Gojyo had left to live. Being decently dressed had earned him a few more seconds.

"Of course I’m bleeding, you retarded piece of shit," Sanzo returned. Gojyo knelt down next to Sanzo on the floor, reaching out to grab at his jaw and examine him like a pet. Sanzo slapped Gojyo’s hand away and gingerly pressed his own fingers on the cut, noticing that his right arm also had wrappings from wrist to elbow. This just kept getting better and better. Sanzo could feel more bandages underneath the loose, borrowed pajamas. He could save those for examination later, when he didn’t have a half-breed staring at him like he was some fucking kind of entertainment.

"Well, excuse me for giving a damn, High Priest Sanzo," Gojyo drawled, making the title sound like a slur. Sanzo wanted his gun to put a bullet straight through the half-breed’s head. He didn’t have to listen to the redhead’s bullshit. Sanzo didn’t want to even see Gojyo right now. Why the hell was he in my bed?

"Get me a towel, asshole," Sanzo ordered crisply, choosing to ignore Gojyo’s comments for now. Gojyo blinked at the tone of voice, but didn’t even move, like he couldn’t understand the words. Obviously Sanzo needed something to sop all the blood up with. With a snarl at the bastard’s inability to understand the simplest of orders, Sanzo cupped his chin to keep the blood from dribbling further down his chin and tried to stand.

Sanzo got one foot under himself when the world went backward. It felt like the floor had suddenly been yanked out from under him as he collapsed for the second time that morning. He was lost, helplessly falling backwards with nothing to catch himself with.

Gojyo was fast, out of the mattress and getting one arm under him before Sanzo knocked his brains out on the floor. It would have been an embarrassing way to die, but Sanzo would have preferred it to the humiliation of looking up into those inhuman red eyes. He hated the way Gojyo looked at him, managing to seem predatory because of the color. He felt like he was being examined and measured up, which was something he despised with a passion.

They were silent for a moment as Gojyo held him, not letting Sanzo sit up on his own power. Sanzo gave the youkai till the count of three. If he didn’t release him, Sanzo was finding the gun and screw it if he wasn’t able to walk. He’d crawl if need be. Gojyo finally sat back up but took his own damn time in releasing the hold enough to allow Sanzo to sit on the floor.

Standing seemed to be out of the option for a while, at least until Sanzo recovered enough. He was dizzy from the worsening migraine as his skull tightened painfully around the grey matter inside. Why couldn’t Gojyo just leave him alone right now to curl up in the bed until he died from this excruciating pain?

"Say ‘please,’" Gojyo demanded. Gojyo smirked next to him and brushed his long red hair around one ear, waiting until he heard Sanzo use the old magic word. Sanzo ground his teeth for a moment, too infuriated to even speak in the face of Gojyo’s obvious disregard for his wrath.

"Go to hell," Sanzo hissed with enough ice to freeze the man to death just by being in the same room right now. Sanzo would die before begging like that. It was beneath him, so abhorrent that his skin crawled at the idea. He was High Priest Genjo Sanzo and he would bend knee to no one... Ever.

His headache was starting to worsen. It was Gojyo’s fault, for being so damn selfish when Sanzo was obviously stuck on the floor. Sanzo still would not say ‘please.’ He would take death before that, so all Sanzo could do was sit up on the floor a little straighter, ignoring the twisting of his stomach and the clenching of his throat that threatened to throw up what little was in his stomach.

"Well, I think that means I’ll be leaving now," Gojyo drawled, standing up beside him. Sanzo swallowed, trying to keep from being sick on the floor like a child. He was almost jealous of Gojyo’s uninjured state. Sanzo hated the feeling of nausea, rarely eating so he could avoid having anything to throw up later when the migraines got really bad.

Somehow the half-breed had avoided being scratched up in whatever fight Sanzo had gotten himself involved in. Gojyo’s shaku-jou allowed very few to come in range of actually injuring him. Usually Sanzo’s gun worked to the same advantage, but it seemed he had somehow managed to be overwhelmed. He couldn’t remember if he had used the sutra or not. It was impossible for him to imagine being beaten by the usual youkai they ran across. He tisked, not wanting to remember if it was going to be some stupid story like he had tripped and been knocked out by his own fool step. That was the only thing Sanzo could think of happening to him, because the demons simply just didn’t beat him up every other day.

"Good. Get the fuck out," Sanzo snapped, wanting to be alone to nurse his lip and to be rid of Gojyo’s irritating voice. The bastard’s voice seemed to be louder than usual, with his voice echoing between Sanzo’s ears and slamming against the inner walls of his skull. It hurt to listen to the bastard’s low voice right now. The thought of Goku coming in and being loud and worried as usual made Sanzo’s nausea worsen.

He wasn’t even sure what time of day it was to guess what meal the boy would stuff himself with. He just didn’t want to hear the boy eat, slurping and chewing with his mouth open, loud and obnoxious. Sanzo wouldn’t be able to deal with the ape without gagging him right now. All he wanted was peace and quiet to recover from this awful headache.

The door clicked distinctly in the silence Sanzo had made. He glanced over to see who had made the mistake of coming in. If it was some hotel employee, he wouldn’t have been able to handle the humiliation of being sprawled out on the floor and holding a hand to his broken lip. The person that walked in the door was going to catch hell for seeing him like this.

"Oh, Sanzo! You’re awake," Hakkai greeted in an astonished, polite voice. The man was standing in the doorway with Jeep fluttering behind his head, the reptilian set of red eyes staring in. It was like a having a smaller match of Gojyo’s eyes. Hakkai slammed the door shut and Sanzo winced at the painful crash, wishing that he had never woken up. Why couldn’t he have stayed unconscious for a while longer?

"Are you all right? You’re bleeding all over the place, Sanzo," Hakkai said with a more than the usual amount of concern in his voice. Sanzo glanced up sharply at the thin man that had already walked to the bathroom door. Jeep was following in lazily waves behind the man, chirping in those painfully high-pitched squeaks. Sanzo wanted his gun so he could shoot a bullet through that dragon’s head and silence it forever. They could buy a normal car. Screw the gas bills. As long as Sanzo wouldn’t have to hear it croon and whine ever again.

"He’s just perky. Already bit his lip getting out of bed," Gojyo informed Hakkai, like it was any of his concern to know why Sanzo was bleeding like a stuck pig this early in the morning. Or perhaps it was afternoon? Sanzo didn’t know, but the pounding in his head made him want to go back to bed and sleep the rest of his miserable life away.

"He wasn’t talking to you, youkai," Sanzo snapped, informing the animal of his place. He was fed up with Gojyo’s constant questioning and sentimental opinions that got them into trouble more often than not. Sanzo rarely felt any satisfaction out of helping people out like Gojyo and Goku, but Hakkai seemed to find in every good deed. It only delayed their mission more, taking another precious traveling day. Sanzo didn’t want to die of old age before finishing this. He refused to die on this stupid quest.

"Youkai bastard," Gojyo corrected, not about to let Sanzo have the upper hand for a single moment. Sanzo reached blindly for the gun he didn’t have with his bloody fingers. The desire to commit murder only burned stronger when Gojyo just laughed at the reaction. Gojyo wasn’t frightened of him anymore with the threat of death having worn off a long time ago.

Sanzo was going to do a limb shot for the next warning and after that it would be the last shred of his priestly patience. He couldn’t stand the way the half-youkai seemed to laugh at him all the time. Genjo Sanzo was not a man to be mocked lightly. It looked like he was going to have to finally back up his threats. If Sanzo really had his gun right now, he wouldn’t have made it an empty promise any longer.

"Gojyo, Sanzo is recovering. Don’t pick arguments right now," Hakkai admonished like the schoolteacher he had once been, the cordial smile never leaving his face the whole time. Hakkai came back carrying a towel without even being asked to fetch it, just like a good servant should. Why hadn’t Gojyo caught onto this system of order as well as Goku and Hakkai had? Jeep was following its master out of the bathroom, squeaking merrily.

"Here." Hakkai handed Sanzo the towel and he snatched it angrily out of his hand. Sanzo pressed it gingerly against his lip, wishing that he hadn’t fallen out of bed like some cripple, wishing that he wasn’t on the floor like a weak child. Gojyo stayed on the bed, grinning that insolent smile at the sight of the leader of this ragtag group slumped on the floor of a hotel.

Jeep was flying a lazy circle around their heads, not ready to take perch anywhere yet. It was distracting to have something that reminded him of a scavenger bird above his head. The dragon was making the headache worse for Sanzo, making his neck tighten unbearably as he held the towel against his bleeding lip.

"So, Gojyo, what did you do to make Sanzo fall out of bed?" Hakkai asked. Sanzo smirked at the man’s berating of Gojyo. The son of a bitch deserved it for daring to sleep in his bed. Hakkai knew that Sanzo wouldn’t sprawl on the floor without good reason, and the only other living creature in the room had been Gojyo at the time.

Surprisingly, Gojyo actually winced at Hakkai’s words, looking down to Sanzo on the floor guiltily before glancing away. Sanzo suddenly didn’t like being below their heads. He was used to being shorter by a small amount, but at least when he was standing it wasn’t quite as noticeable. If he trusted his legs to hold him, Sanzo would have chosen to stand right now.

He felt small right now and didn’t know why. Something was going on between the two with the way they shared guilty, concerned looks. They were pitying him, for what damn reason Sanzo didn’t have a clue. It was disgusting. He hated these emotions that his whole party seemed to fall victim to. Why couldn’t at least a single one of them forget his feelings for a moment and actually be of some use to him?

"He did it all by his own damn self," Gojyo returned, looking angry that Hakkai would accuse him of doing something to Sanzo. Hakkai only chuckled knowingly, probably coming up with his own deduction of what had happened and held out his arm for Jeep. Jeep squeaked after its master, finally sick of flying above their arguing heads. The dragon settled on the smiling man’s elbow, fawning and crooning.

Sanzo studied the angle of Hakkai’s face from his seat on the floor. As usual, that goddamn smiling poker expression was looking right back as Sanzo glared up at him. Except it was cracking at the corners; Hakkai looking a bit strained and too cheerful. Something serious must have happened. Hakkai wouldn’t look this worried otherwise. Sanzo could tell where anxiety was starting to take its toll on the brunette. Worry lines and large, blue bruises under his eyes were all very distinct.

"What the hell happened?" Sanzo demanded, wanting to know why they looked at him with pity. He despised those eyes. He didn’t want to be worried over. Sanzo was ready to forget the stinking gun and just believe he had the strength to choke Gojyo successfully. That would be enough to serve as a lesson to Hakkai about looking down on him. Then, he could crawl back into the bed and sleep without them watching him.

"You don’t remember?" Hakkai asked in a very worried and soft tone, his smile slipping a bit he looked down at Sanzo with concern. Even Jeep was silent and watching him in such a way that Sanzo knew it wasn’t a simple-minded, flying snake. It was just as much another person to stare at him. They both looked at him with unblinking eyes, knowledge about what had happened burning behind them.

Hakkai glanced to Gojyo, a disbelieving look shared with the scar-faced man. Sanzo gritted his teeth, wondering why the hell they were staying silent. What had happened that would make them hold their usually flapping mouths? Sanzo had never known Gojyo to hold his tongue. Why were they being hesitant to answer him?

"Of course I do. What I want to know is why you saw fit to crawl between my bed sheets, you piece of shit," Sanzo lied, turning on Gojyo. He didn’t want to admit to not knowing in front of them. It seemed like it would be admitting to a terrible weakness. What did they know to be so goddamn worried, and why didn’t he remember it?

"You almost died of hypothermia, Sanzo. I healed what I could back…there," Hakkai said with a pause and an angry look. Where the fuck is ‘there?’ Sanzo silently screamed, raking his memory for the answer. Nothing. It was like looking at a large, blank wall. No unveiling of the mystery like a curtain being pulled back as he remembered. Why wasn’t Hakkai saying any names, any descriptions beyond ‘there?!’

"But it was still touchy on the drive back, with the snow and fog," Hakkai explained with Jeep finally quiet and still on his upper arm. Sanzo didn’t remember any of it, but he still stiffened at the thought of snow. Snow was only frozen rain. Rain was always reminded him of that night. Sanzo gritted his teeth and waited for the answer to his second question. Gojyo was staying silent for once, looking somber as he remembered with his oh-so-convenient and accessible memory. Sanzo wanted to kill him.

"You didn’t have any body heat so somebody had to sleep with you to keep you warm. We couldn’t very well put you in front of the common room fire," Hakkai explained in a rush, noticing the homicidal look on Sanzo’s face. It was true that he would have rather died before he let a bunch of strangers watch his suffering, but having Gojyo in the same bed wasn’t an acceptable option either.

Sanzo pursed his lips in a displeased line as he pulled away the towel and checked if the bleeding had stopped yet. The white terry was damp with red blood and a careful prodding with his tongue told Sanzo that his lip was indeed still bleeding. What a great fucking way to wake up today.

"I was a gentleman, if that’s what you’re so goddamn worked up about," Gojyo defended rudely. Hakkai shot the half-demon a look that almost matched the furious glare Sanzo gave Gojyo as well. Hakkai looked like he expected an order to kill Gojyo from Sanzo and was more than happy to carry it out. It might not be a bad idea at this time to take advantage of Hakkai feeling protective and get him to beat the shit out of Gojyo. That might amuse Sanzo enough to drive away this headache.

"I didn’t even touch you…wrong," Gojyo trailed off suddenly, looking away from him. The prick blinked at his own words as he realized everyone in the room was not at all pleased with him. Then, Gojyo ducked his head with the utter audacity to look ashamed! Like the half-breed had felt the faintest fucking flicker of remorse at all in his entire life! What the hell was going on? Gojyo didn’t care about Sanzo enough to feel like he needed to defend himself. It was like he thought Sanzo needed to hear it.

Something very serious must have happened in the time that Sanzo couldn’t remember. He looked between the two people in the room, studying their reactions with disgusted curiosity as he put the towel back to his bleeding lip. They both were being silent and wary of him, like they had suddenly realized how very mortal and how easily Sanzo could expire despite being more than able to take care of himself. Someone needed to pay with for this beating, because that was all Sanzo could deduce it to be, so these two wouldn’t look at him with those pitying eyes.

Sanzo didn’t like being in the dark, but he didn’t want to ask them what had happened. He would wait for the memory to return naturally. Even if that took a hundred years. He would rather die without the knowledge than beg answers from one of the idiots he had to travel with.

Gojyo and Hakkai always got a little more sensitive when Sanzo had a brush with death. They always seemed to think it was their fault or along the lines of that usual shit. Sanzo was responsible for his own actions and the result of them, even if he had no fucking clue as to what had happened.

Nobody should feel like they were needed to act like a couple of depraved ‘protectors’ for him. The gun and sutra were more than enough. Genjo Sanzo took care of himself and no one else. He didn’t want them to get in the way of that with caring or feeling affection of some kind. He had burned up those emotions long ago.

"Well," Hakkai broke the silence politely with a cough before smiling and spreading his arms wide. Hakkai’s usual grin was back in place like it had never left. It was very suspicious. Sanzo didn’t like the way he quickly regained his composure. It felt like the brunette was dodging him somehow.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go to dinner," Hakkai explained to Gojyo, who in turn grunted and looked away from that damnable, steady fucking smile; serene as a saint’s. Jeep chirped on its master’s arm, knowing that they were talking about a meal of some kind. Gojyo didn’t seem interested, but Sanzo could tell the half-breed was thinking with his stomach. Sanzo would much rather starve to death alone in this room than deal with the three of them eating right now.

"Dinner?" Sanzo asked, suddenly realizing what Hakkai was talking about. Damn, it wasn’t even the afternoon but night. Sanzo detested rooms without windows, which was exactly the case right now. How long had he been asleep? How long had Gojyo been lying next to him? The headache was pounding harder with more questions that Sanzo didn’t know the answers to.

"Since you’re awake, how about we order them to bring up some food?" Hakkai suggested like Sanzo wasn’t sprawled on the floor with a bloody lip. Jeep was obviously hungry as it started to purr loudly, flapping its wings in excitement. Sanzo wanted his gun so he could blow every single living thing in this room’s head off.

He would have been able to stand being stuck with this mission if it had just been him and Goku. Sanzo didn’t give a shit if they would have to fight a little bit harder or hitchhike. Sanzo was more than used to flashing some looks for a ride. Goku predictably beat anyone who tried to collect on the empty promises Sanzo had made. It was a simple, practical plan that had worked hundreds of times already. He would prefer to use it again than deal with such idiots as Hakkai and Gojyo now.

"I’ll get Goku. He’ll be happy you’re awake. He worries about you, Sanzo," Hakkai informed him like he wasn’t already aware of the dumb ass ape’s misplaced affection for him. Goku would give his life for Sanzo just because he rescued him from that cave years ago. Sanzo had only finally got so irritated that he went and found the source of the nuisance. He wasn’t going to sit around with the same innocent, so sad voice begging to be rescued ringing in his ears all day long. Goku swore to follow him forever after that. The first day Sanzo released Goku had been the first onset of painful migraines and the last day of his peace and quiet.

"Like I give a shit what the idiot monkey thinks," Sanzo hissed as he turned his head away. Hakkai’s smile didn’t drop a single bit at Sanzo’s obvious disregard. He wanted them all out of his room as soon as possible. Jeep fluttered as it clutched to Hakkai’s shoulder and tucked its wings in to sit happily as the man walked out the door, taking the hint that Sanzo wished to be left alone.

Sanzo looked over to the remaining person in the room, left to wonder why the hell the man hadn’t left yet. Gojyo was clearly not welcome in his room. Hadn’t he already made that clear? He couldn’t understand why the bastard wasn’t leaving yet, but was so pathetically grateful that Gojyo wasn’t say anything. Sanzo’s head hurt too much to hear someone talk.

They were silent for a long time. Sanzo didn’t want to dignify Gojyo’s existence with an order for him to leave, which he knew would be ignored anyway. The bastard was looking to make himself very comfortable as Gojyo stretched his arms and yawned while Sanzo remained sitting on the cold floor.

Sanzo wanted a cigarette right now, struck by the desire to smoke rather than deal with this awful migraine. A little bit of tobacco would help relieve some of the stress building up in his temples right now. He didn’t care if Gojyo was in the room or not, as long as he was silent. After a few breaths later he felt the headache already starting to calm down to the rhythm of his heartbeat, a far less furious aching.

Still, with Hakkai gone it was one less person to witness Sanzo’s attempt to stand up. Sanzo wasn’t a man to waste opportunities. He didn’t want to show more people than necessary a live demonstration of how weak he was right now. Gojyo had already seen him fall twice, so what would be one more? Sanzo would have preferred that it was none at all but he threw the towel down and tried again regardless of the number in the audience.

Sanzo got one arm up on top of the mattress and tried to haul himself up. He managed a staggering rise that threatened to be another hopeless attempt when the world spun out of his control. His headache pounded, aching with every pump of blood throughout his veins. Sanzo no longer wanted to litter Gojyo’s body with bullets, but instead wished to turn one well-aimed shot to his own excruciatingly tight skull. Maybe a hole in his head could help the migraine.

"Lord, what the hell are you trying to do now?" Gojyo asked, looking disappointed in Sanzo for even thinking to move now. Sanzo only flipped him off, unable to say anything truly biting right now while he found his feet. He couldn’t spare the effort to yell at Gojyo anyway. His head hurt too much to spare words as Sanzo started to take a few shuffling steps like an old man. He ignored the feeling of his knees threatening to give out and the swirling nausea of standing up too quickly, though it had taken Sanzo a long while to even stand upright. His next few steps threatened to be the end of this little walking escapade.

"If you fall on your ass, I’m not helping you up," Gojyo promised as Sanzo swayed but continued with determined steps toward the table. After that little comment, Sanzo swore to make it to a chair just to spite Gojyo. He had only been concerned with first getting off the floor, but now it would be just because he would. Screw Gojyo. Genjo Sanzo did not ‘fall on his ass’ like the half-demon was obviously looking forward to.

"Get out of my room, you shitty, perverted kappa," Sanzo snarled, deciding that he did have the energy to try and curse Gojyo out of the room. Or maybe it was because he was feeling so lightheaded right now. The only choice left to him was to yell. Sanzo certainly wouldn’t stand a chance in a physical fight right now. Perhaps after a beer and a cigarette Sanzo would try to beat the crap out of Gojyo.

"You didn’t want me to leave last night," Gojyo leered, his voice heavy with insinuation. Sanzo was so shocked he looked back over his shoulder to the half-breed, wondering what the hell could have happened to give Gojyo that superior, sneering tone of voice. Sanzo couldn’t even remember the conversation he had last night to give Gojyo even the faintest reason to say such a disgusting, ridiculous thing.

"I don’t recall ever wanting your ugly face near me," Sanzo snapped back to Gojyo rudely. Why the fuck couldn’t he remember such important details such as what had spilled out from his mouth last night? What had he said to Gojyo? He must have gotten drunk or been so badly beaten he didn’t even know what he had been saying.

Sanzo staggered as his feet dragged on the smooth clean floor and threatened to send him stumbling. He caught himself with one hand on the back of a chair. Sanzo took a moment to get his breath back, breathing heavily as he used the chair as crutch. His own legs weren’t able to hold him up anymore, shaking badly. Sanzo put his hand on the edge of the table to hold himself upright as he pulled the chair out slowly.

Carefully, so it wouldn’t look like he was collapsing into the chair, Sanzo fell heavily into the wooden seat. The pain that blossomed in his hipbones and pelvis was extraordinary, stars spinning in front of Sanzo’s eyes as he leaned forward and tried not to gag. Oh, that had hurt. His whole lower body felt like a bruise. Sanzo shifted uncomfortably, trying to find a position that didn’t cause pain.

Sanzo had to accept that there was no way to sit without feeling like he was going to throw up from the pain. He sighed at the plain, threadbare, white tablecloth before him and noticing a few greasy stains on it. What kind of an establishment had Hakkai found for a ‘good price’ this time? Sanzo was no longer quite sure that he wanted to take a bath in this hotel, having not seen the state of the bathroom yet.

Sanzo’s head hurt even more at the irritation of being in such a cheap hotel against his will, small spots of white appearing in the corner of his eyes as it felt like someone drove burning hot iron nails through his temples. The Gods had given him a credit card with no limit. Sanzo had no reason to stay in shit holes all the time.

But, even more than a better room, Sanzo wanted Gojyo to leave him in peace. Sanzo didn’t care if it was either by the half-breed leaving the room or a sudden death as long as something would make Gojyo shut the fuck up. It was hard enough to find a place with few distractions to allow him the time to take nap or even pray, if the fancy ever took him again. Sanzo didn’t have an absence of faith in the Gods, having seen a few of the physical incarnations several times, he just didn’t believe in their good will. It seemed to have been rather lacking whenever it came to his life.

"You don’t remember, do you?" Gojyo questioned in what should have been left as an awkward silence like Sanzo would even want to answer him. Instead of saying anything, Sanzo glared at the irritating youkai who had managed to hit his main spot of worry right in the heart. What did Gojyo know of his thoughts?

Sanzo hated the half-breed’s cocky attitude and pride in his ability to crawl into anyone’s bed sheets. Now he had even managed to get between Sanzo’s as well. It was not an acceptable situation. He would not allow anyone to have the upper hand when dealing with him, ever. Sanzo was in control and he was sick of people trying to argue that.

"Do you think I’d forget it?" Sanzo snapped right back, not wanting to give Gojyo anything that would say he was right in his assumptions. Sanzo didn’t even know what it was he should be pretending to be upset about, but he would act as if he knew. Sanzo didn’t want to admit to any of them, especially Gojyo, that he didn’t recall what had happened.

Sanzo could just imagine what it would sound like. Someone had beaten him so thoroughly that he had been laid out in a bed, and yet he couldn’t remember who did it, or how, or why. All of those questions and more were unanswered as Sanzo looked back down at the top of the table. He was weak if he didn’t know what had happened.

"No… But…" Gojyo started, trailing off as he stared at Sanzo. At that hesitation and then his strange silence, Sanzo turned around in the chair to glare at the asshole on the bed with renewed determination. Gojyo stared right back at him with such intensity that Sanzo wondered what the hell could be so fascinating about his face right now. Gojyo traveled with him everyday. It wasn’t like his face had changed so much. Gojyo had no reason to leer at him.

Gojyo only studied him with red eyes narrowing as Sanzo remained silent. Why should he exchange words with a mongrel like Gojyo? He didn’t think that Gojyo had earned any words from him, being an all around disappointment when it came to serious conversation or anything else that ‘friends’ would do. Sanzo did not need to have companions. He needed people that would follow orders.

"Sanzo! Sanzo, you’re up!" Sanzo heard Goku yell excitedly before the boy threw open the door loudly. It slammed against the wall, making Sanzo wince again as Hakkai had made him do so before. Really, was it too much to ask for a little privacy and time to one’s own goddamn self just once in a while? Whatever Gojyo was going to say was quickly forgotten as Goku was immediately across the room and practically standing on Sanzo’s right elbow in his excited concern, looking him over worriedly from head to toe.

"You look okay. Hakkai told me to be careful. Are you feeling all right?" Goku asked in rapid-fire succession, dazing Sanzo with the sudden amount of energy next to him. Those big, round, golden eyes bore into Sanzo’s own like a dog awaiting praise from its master. Goku was hovering like a concerned mother at Sanzo’s elbow, waiting to hear any word that dropped out of Sanzo’s mouth.

He shrugged, not sure of the answer. How could someone say they felt fine and dandy when he didn’t even remember what had happened? What was so special about this particular time that made them all act so different? The question nagged him and Sanzo was unable to turn his thoughts from anything else other than what the hell had gone on however long of time that he couldn’t remember.

Also, why would Hakkai tell Goku to be careful around him? He looked over at the polite man in question, who only smiled as he entered from the doorway. The man had some kind of motive for telling Goku specifically to be cautious around him. Was it because Hakkai knew Sanzo would be pissy and didn’t want Goku to catch the worst of it, or was Hakkai concerned that Goku roughhousing might seriously hurt him?

"The kitchen said they’ll bring something up in a few minutes," Hakkai explained as he followed on Goku’s heels, much more reserved than the boy. Jeep flew in past Hakkai to settle on the bed Sanzo so gracelessly abandoned only moments ago with Gojyo glaring down at his new bed partner. A reptile served Gojyo right, the half-breed already so close to a snake.

Sanzo growled, wishing he could attempt the walk back to the bed even though it had taken so much just to get to the table. He would never dare so in front of Goku or Hakkai. All Sanzo wanted to do was curl up and sleep for the rest of his miserable life until this headache was gone.

"I ordered plenty of food for us all," Hakkai assured to Goku’s wide, pathetically- grateful face. Hakkai was very efficient in finding meals for them after having to constantly scout out restaurants that would serve enough to feed Goku and Gojyo. Hakkai had become an expert on getting a large amount of simple, cheap food that would do. Sanzo was used to better and he said so, annoyed that he was always forced to eat a new, shitty cuisine at the same table as animals.

"All right! Dinner, dinner!" Goku cheered, easily distracted from being worried over Sanzo by food. It didn’t matter to Goku if the meal was made from dirt, as long as it had been cooked. The dumb ass ape would eat anything set in front of him, no matter who fed it to him or what it looked like. Sanzo didn’t want to hear Goku eat right now with all of his clanging plates and yelling for a fourth serving. Sanzo’s head was splitting in half and the three other men in the room seemed determined to make it worse.

"Goku, get me a beer," Sanzo ordered coldly. He didn’t care how concerned Goku had been about him while he lay helpless in a bed. Right now, Sanzo wanted to drink away this cursed headache and then hopefully find his gun so he could shoot Gojyo and Hakkai. Goku would be allowed to live, since the boy did come in useful at times as he went to the mini-fridge without complaint.

"Here," Goku was especially practical to have around when the idiot was fast with setting a cold can of beer in front of Sanzo on the table. Goku took a seat next to him, staring at him in obvious joy that Sanzo was already awake and irritated with them all. Ridiculous how the ape found something to admire in him, no matter how rotten and black Sanzo considered his own soul to be.

He had just woken up and most certainly did not need Goku worrying, Gojyo leering, and Hakkai doing nothing wrong, which only pissed Sanzo off more. He hated how they all were staring at him, studying him as he opened the can of beer in silence. What was so damn interesting about a monk with the shit beaten out of him?

Sanzo would prefer not to be stared at like he was some kind of street entertainment. He knew about the looks women and men threw his way, looking at him like he was something for sale and undressing him with lusty eyes. He hoped that one day he would finally get a scar across his face and ruin this beauty that everyone gaped at. Sanzo wasn’t some whore for show. He despised all of the looks sent in his direction for being such a beautiful priest with the vision of a God. It was damn irritating.

Sanzo was sick of the praise. He’d rather be a leper than deal with it. Sanzo just wanted to get done with this pain-in-the-ass of a mission. He had never wanted to go on this journey from day one, much less surrounded by three idiots that fell into every single one of the traps set for them along the way. He was tired of having to lead those dumbasses out of messes of their own making. Sanzo wasn’t known for being a kind person, and yet he found himself rescuing those three more often then not. They couldn’t make it without him, and he did need them to finish the mission, no matter what he wanted.

"So, you feel better now?" Goku asked excitedly as Sanzo stared down at the top of the beer. Sanzo blinked, realizing he had been drifting off with his own thoughts. How weak. Sanzo nodded to Goku tiredly, more because he wanted the ape to shut up than because he thought Goku might deserve being answered. Goku smiled immediately and said nothing more which immediately made Sanzo’s headache started to fade.

In fact, he was starting to feel distantly numb as his headache became less insistent. It gave him no relief; only meaning it would hurt more later when the headache came back in full strength. It was something to dread as Sanzo reached out and picked up the can of beer. The beer was refreshingly cool to his skin, the metal moist around his palm. Sanzo wanted to rest it against the hard throbbing of his head but instead took a deep drink from the foaming can. If he got ripping drunk, he could drive off this incessant pounding pressure in his head.

"You call that recovering?" Gojyo demanded of Hakkai from the bed as he pointed at Sanzo’s heavy guzzling of the can. Sanzo didn’t mind the bastard’s comments, choosing instead to put the can down when he was finished and scratch at the back of his neck distractedly. Sanzo really couldn’t summon up the energy to give a damn about that insult, so he could ignore it. That was sharper than any biting words Sanzo could think of.

"It is Sanzo, after all," Hakkai answered back. Now, just what the hell was that supposed to mean? How could Hakkai even dare to sum him up in one sentence? It irritated him to no ends, and even worse was when Gojyo just nodded. Just exactly what went on between those two?

"Goku, get me some cigarettes," Sanzo demanded, wondering where the hell a newspaper would be. Usually Hakkai brought in one for him whenever he was laid out for a few days. Would Sanzo have to start writing up a list in the morning if he wanted anything done around here? These fools were all incredible lazy asses, except for Jeep who didn’t really even count, as the white dragon chirped from the bed. Annoying little lizard.

Goku was probably the only other single human-looking exception of the lot of them, already off and humming as he went to the top of the dresser in search of cigarettes. Sanzo didn’t think he could make the walk to the other side of the room anyway, realizing that he had been slanting in the seat unconsciously. He shook himself, reaching out and taking another sip of the beer while Goku retrieved a pack and a lighter.

"Well, what the hell do you want to do now, Sanzo?" Gojyo questioned as Sanzo grabbed the pack and was already tapping the tobacco down before he hissed at the jolting pain in his wrists. Sanzo gave up on packing the cigarettes as Goku set the large, silver lighter down on the table. It was a new one. His other lighter must have been lostY whenever he had lost it, probably during that blank hole in the time Sanzo couldn’t remember. It displeased Sanzo to no ends. He had liked that lighter too, thinking he might even take the time to refill the fluid instead of tossing it and buying a new one like all the others.

"What do you mean?" Sanzo shot back, wondering why there was even a doubt. Obviously, they would continue west once he healed enough to sit in the jeep again. Right now, his bottom just felt numb, tiny pricks of pain stabbing through him whenever Sanzo so much as wiggled his toes. He would probably fall out of the side of the jeep in his current state. He wouldn’t be able to take the jerking, hard road that was usually either dried up wagon wheel tracks or unexplored mountainous terrain. Some might consider such large expanses of untouched nature breathtaking. Sanzo considered it a damn inconvenience when there was no road.

"Are you going to do anything?" Gojyo asked vaguely again, waiting for him to answer. Sanzo glanced up from putting the cigarette to his mouth, curious why Gojyo was insisting on knowing his state of mind. Why were Gojyo and Hakkai dancing around the subject, not saying anything specific like names or places? Sanzo couldn’t deal with these word games right now. He lit up before answering such a ludicrous question.

"Asshole. What’s your point?" Sanzo addressed as he blew out a large cloud of smoke. Gojyo’s immediately angry face was enough to show that Sanzo had hit a mark. Gojyo hated it when his questions were disregarded, as Sanzo tended to do most of the time. The half-breed rarely ever asked a question worth dignifying with an answer.

Goku looked to Gojyo, expecting an answer as Sanzo took the cigarette out of his mouth and reached down with his other hand to drink the beer. Hakkai coughed politely and looked at Sanzo with one good eye, his expression unreadable. Sanzo watched his smoke drift out over the table with Goku’s large golden eyes watching every move. It was unnerving, to have such a rapt audience all the time.

"Don’t you want to find whoever did it?" Gojyo asked rudely as Hakkai gasped and winced at the question, like it was the worst thing Gojyo could have asked in the history of the world. What was Hakkai getting so agitated about? Sanzo looked out of the corner of his eye to see Goku tuck his chin against his chest. He couldn’t even see the boy’s eyes under the fall of his bangs. Goku wasn’t even saying a word. Things must have been bad to silence the loud, irritating ape.

What could be so serious to unnerve all of them so? They all were acting like Sanzo was a bomb, ticking away in the silence as they waited for an answer. How were they expecting him to react? Sanzo wasn’t sure if he should pretend to be angry or not. Gojyo stared at him balefully; those eyes watching him try to think about what was happening. Why couldn’t he remember?!

"Maybe," Sanzo drawled as he sat his beer down mechanically. He wasn’t sure what they were even talking about, but he didn’t want to sound like Genjo Sanzo had just rolled over and taken the blows. Someone had beaten him good and spat on him at the end… He thought. There was no real evidence to him being beaten or not. He could have fallen off the side of a mountain for all Sanzo knew.

But, if Sanzo could remember the exact details, he could be more specific in how he would take the proper course of revenge. No living creature had managed to look down on him and live long afterward. Once Sanzo had his gun, he would make them all regret acting like this toward him, but for now Sanzo could brew until he knew whom he had to kill. Killing one of these three might relieve some stress, but also take away someone who knew what had happened.

"Sanzo, I’ll. . . I’ll find them," Goku promised, looking down at the useless fists he made in his lap. The boy was shaking with barely contained anger, his eyes staring down at the table as he remembered what had happened. Sanzo doubted that if he had done something so idiotic as to fall off a mountain that Goku would be acting this incensed.

"Do as you wish," Sanzo conceded lazily, shrugging to show he didn’t care what any of them chose to do as long as their duty to follow him was filled out. He wanted to get back to taking a bath every day, to having a sure meal and roof over his head if he read off some old scripture to a roomful of monks once a day- and most importantly, not having to fight off hordes of slavering youkai every five minutes. Screw swearing off worldly pleasures. It sucked royally to be out in these backwater towns all the time.

Besides, if Goku felt there was some reason to get revenge, the less work Sanzo would have to do in the end. He didn’t particularly care how the punishment was carried out unless someone had really insulted him. If it were a gang of roving youkai, Sanzo would let that faceless horde get wiped out without a care. If it had only been one though, that might require his personal attention, just to make sure everyone was taught a lesson.

He was not a man to be easily trifled with.

"Sanzo, if you feel like you need to talk," Hakkai started, breaking in as Goku said not another word. What the fuck? Sanzo thought furiously, his hair on the back of his neck rising at the thought of Hakkai having the pretense to offer his shoulder. What right did Hakkai have to ask him that, as if he was suddenly weak and falling apart? What did they know? Why were all of them acting like he was made of glass?

"You think I want to pour my heart out to some bastard like you?" Sanzo snapped, feeling dizzy and furious. Gojyo only stared on curiously from the bed as Sanzo glared murder at Hakkai. What had happened to make them think he was so vulnerable right now? He would kill the next person to dare present a ‘caring ear.’

"No, I didn’t think so," Hakkai laughed bitterly, the smile on his face faltering slightly as Sanzo glared up into the gambler’s face. Hakkai looked a little angry with Sanzo being such a prick, but he didn’t care. He wanted to get them all to back the hell off, livid that they were all trying to mother him. Sanzo especially hated Hakkai’s perfect mask that hid his emotions. Sanzo couldn’t read the man's expression to find out what the hell was going on, left to only guess at what Hakkai might be thinking.

"If I did want to talk, it wouldn’t be to a group of fucking idiots like you," Sanzo informed Hakkai and the rest of them. He finished off the beer in the next swallow and took another drag from the cigarette as they were all silent, properly berated. Wasn’t this a perfectly nasty little development? He would throttle the next person stupid enough to ask him if he was all right.

Goku took the hint and was wisely silent, finally understanding that stupid comments lead to getting hit with a fan. Gojyo shrugged at Sanzo’s complete lack of manners and closed his eyes like he was going to try to go back to bed. How long had Gojyo ignored Sanzo’s usual distance and slept next to him like a lover? It drove Sanzo to homicidal thoughts. He didn’t want to deal with them right now.

"Then," Hakkai started right as the door opened, ruining whatever silence and respect Sanzo had finally managed to cultivate again. Sanzo was ready to murder the person who stepped in after he had put the three back in their places. Just when he had checked them to confirm just who was in charge, a stranger thought it was a good idea to not even knock on the door.

"Hello! I brought up the food, Hakkai," a girl giggled, obviously already infatuated with the pretty face that had ordered food only minutes ago. Hakkai’s politeness tended to be read as flirting for these common village girls. There was one in every village, some girl that got besotted with their looks or reputations.

The girl was deftly carrying two large trays in each arm, only slightly shorter then Gojyo and looking twice as strong. Sanzo couldn’t believe there was a woman this tall, even taller than himself, Sanzo realized with a grit of his teeth. She had large breasts held in by a white, one-piece dress that hugged her form tightly. But her voice was cute and young, bizarrely out of place on such a tall woman.

"Thank you, Miss Li," Hakkai offered graciously as he rushed over to hold the door for her. She smiled, batting her big, blue eyes like an old hand at love. Goku didn’t look over to see if he could help her, even though he was usually very nice when food was involved. Goku was more concerned with staying close to Sanzo right now, watching him with a protective, silent gaze as Sanzo blew smoke rings irritably.

It was strange.

"You can call me Mei, Hakkai," she said with calculated shyness. The act was so transparent Sanzo thought he might vomit. She looked up at Sanzo and smiled at his being awake, about to open her mouth to say some stupid goddamn worship about having the Genjo Sanzo in her place of employment. The kind of simpering manner she was using to flirt with them disgusted him.

He flicked his ashes out on top of the table, a large clump falling to the polish wood. She stared at him, the welcoming speech effectively muted as she stared in stunned astonishment at his open rudeness. Gojyo laughed as he got up from the bed in only his boxers, grinning at her open mouth as she gaped at the bare muscles of his chest and stomach.

Sanzo snorted, feeling like he would very well be ill at the obvious flirting Gojyo was engaging in. The two of them seemed to think they were actually being subtle as Gojyo sat down next to Goku. Mei shook her beet-red face at Gojyo’s unabashed showing-off of his body. It was the usual sort of depraved act the youkai bastard did every day when a female was stupid enough to wander close enough.

"Sanzo, your cigarette. Really, would you try to mind it a bit?" Hakkai asked, lying for his attitude while he placed the tray down on the table. Like Sanzo was so absentminded as to let ash fall on the table without it being on goddamn purpose! Hakkai smiled and took one tray from the frozen girl while Sanzo glowered at Hakkai for covering up for him.

He didn’t want to be excused. Sanzo wanted this idiot child to get a fucking clue that she meant absolutely nothing in his eyes. He hated this kind of village, this kind of hotel and more than likely this kind of food Hakkai had ordered. Sanzo would die before eating something made by Mei. He reverently hoped she hadn’t cooked it herself or some idiotic love struck gesture of such.

He’d kill Hakkai later, he decided, as the brunette helped place food on the table. Sanzo realized he was feeling a bit hungry, hoping that there would be something plain enough to stomach. Sanzo hated the taste of over spiced foods or delicacies. Plain rice and vegetables would be good enough.

Mei began to place the large, overflowing platters of food down on the table, smiling and giggling as Gojyo said something ridiculous about her beauty that Sanzo couldn’t catch through the disgust he felt. Gojyo really would go for anything on two legs, even this tall, hulking ‘woman.’ Sanzo pinched the bridge of his nose with the cigarette burning down to the last good part before the filter. He hated this.

Goku put a large, over-packed bowl of wild rice in front of Sanzo, dropping it noisily on the table. Sanzo blinked down at the bowl in surprise, realizing it was actually just plain, white rice. Small, black dots were drifting across his vision, painfully familiar. He let go of his nose, giving up on trying to relieve the aching of his skull.

Sanzo smirked at the development of his harsh migraine, the pain so sharp that he could only enjoy it. If he didn’t find pleasure in it, Sanzo would have gone mad with the pain by now. His skull felt like screws were being slowly tightened into it. He was starting to have a hard time just remaining steady on the chair despite the fierce order he gave his body to remain tall and straight. Genjo Sanzo did not fall out of chairs. He took the last bit of tobacco left in the cigarette in one heavy suck before snubbing it out on the table and leaving the filter hissing in the wood.

"Whoa! They’ve got egg rolls. Look, look, Sanzo," Goku cried, hefting one up in front of his face. Sanzo looked down at the sizzling, light golden wrapping that was still glistening from being cooked. Steam drifted up from it and the smell of meat was sickeningly strong in Sanzo’s nose. He flinched back from the greasy thing and found himself going further back than he thought he would, the chair no longer behind him.

He body just gave out around him, his muscles going limp and even as each joint painfully seizing up in tight balls. Sanzo felt himself falling back slowly… Goku’s wide eyes as his face was glimpsed for a moment in perfect clarity. Sanzo had enough time to blink in surprise at the chair being swept out from under him before he hit the cool wood floor. Mei screamed distantly from the other side of the table.

"Sanzo!" Goku cried, dropping the egg roll as Sanzo stared at the floor in front of him. One arm was trapped underneath his side, digging into his sore chest and ribs. The other hand was on the ground in front of him, every finger spread out and relaxed despite the burning ice that was between his knuckles. He just stared at this new angle of the floor, the chair legs and Gojyo’s bare legs visible under the table.

"What the hell just happened?" Gojyo yelled as Sanzo stared at Goku’s boots taking two steps until they were right in front of his face. He couldn’t lift his head to look at Goku, still too pissed that his chair was standing, unaffected by Sanzo’s own heavy fall. He thought that for sure the chair had been knocked down with him, or snatched out from under him. That was the only way to explain such a lack of coordination.

It was absurd for him to be on the floor and the very chair that had caused the whole thing could have at least fallen with him. It couldn’t possibly be because of one beer. It didn’t go to his head like that, migraine or not. Oh…the migraine. His poor, aching brain was throbbing so much that Sanzo almost welcomed the oblivion of passing out cold. At least that way he could escape the humiliation of falling off his chair.

"Sanzo? Sanzo," Goku repeated, like saying his name enough times would rouse him. Sanzo wanted to reach up and strangle the idiot, but he just didn’t have the strength. Instead, his let the excruciating pressure building behind his eye sockets overwhelm him, dragging him into unconsciousness. * * *

It was foggy. It was so goddamn thick and gray that Sanzo couldn’t see twenty feet in any direction. The sky was dark even through the fog, likely ready to snow at anytime. A storm was starting to brew, ready to drop on their heads. Everything was covered in a heavy, beading wetness, mist that got Sanzo’s face wet even though he was sitting in the front seat with the windshield in front. Moisture shimmered on the thick, green pine trees and white snow, making everything look like it had been frozen.

The forest they traveled though was oddly clean with a white and untouched cover of snow on the ground. There wasn’t even a trace of snow melting off the trees or any dirty spots on the ground from animals or fallen branches. There was an odd feeling about these supernaturally clean woods, the silence so weighty he could taste it.

Sanzo didn’t like this fog settling on the snowy mountain pass. Sanzo hated it with a furious passion. Snow was almost as bad as rain, except everything was so eerily quiet. At least snow didn’t sound like rain, but instead the fog was swallowing every noise they made. Nothing moved in these woods except the jeep Sanzo was riding in with the usual bunch of idiots.

They took a road obviously not used often by the unbroken snow that followed dangerously close along a river still flowing strong next to them despite the frozen overhang of ice on the banks. Sanzo loathed rivers, like the one that he had first been found floating in, intimidated by the fact it could take him back so easily. Pity he hadn’t drowned when he was some squalling baby, because that would have saved him some of the pain and irritation now of having this forsaken, hopeless mission. Sanzo wouldn’t get into anything deeper than a bathtub willingly; much less take a swim in the rushing water. It was nerve-racking just to drive so close.

Sanzo took a deep breath of the cold fresh air and glared at the windshield wipers going back and forth in front of him. Sanzo was already regretting his insistance they leave this morning from the lazy little town they had found to spend last night in. Hakkai and Gojyo had wanted to stay and wait out the oncoming storm while Sanzo demanded they try to find the next town before it came down. Goku just agreed with him, so they all had learned to not listen to Goku’s opinions.

Sanzo hated this stupid mission with the constant trudging through the elements. He hated this kind of weather. Anything damp was not pleasing. He hated the people he had to travel with. It was miserable, tedious, and he felt like vomiting whenever he thought too long on just how much longer he had until this mission was completed.

"Rock, paper, scissors," Goku chanted out loud, breaking the hypnotic silence in the jeep’s wake. There was a second’s pause so quiet that Sanzo felt like they had entered a tomb. He stared moodily forward; waiting for the next outburst he knew was coming. Hakkai pleasantly grinned in the driver’s seat next to Sanzo, wrapped in a heavy, white, winter jacket. Hakkai obviously wasn’t picking up on the same unease that Sanzo sensed as he settled into his own heavy coat, wishing that he had thicker pants on under the robes. They flapped annoyingly against his legs, waving the cold on him despite the heavy jeans.

"Aah!! How did you know? Sanzo! Sanzo, Gojyo’s cheating," Goku whined from the backseat. Gojyo snickered at the accusation, making Sanzo glance back to see the half-breed sitting there confidently with his eyes closed and his head turned the opposite way of Goku. Gojyo had a boot braced on the middle divider between the seats and his heavy leather jacket unzipped in the front without a care in the world. The usual bandanna held the long, red hair back, but the two untamable strands in front were hanging down with the fog and wetness in the air.

"No, he’s not, you dumb ass ape," Sanzo snapped back, knowing that the half-breed had no reason to cheat at a child’s game. Gojyo probably played with his eyes closed the entire time, not that it was anything special with how predictable Goku was at this game. The ape always picked scissors.

Goku made a choking noise that Sanzo didn’t even bother to turn around and investigate. Sanzo cared little if his words hurt Goku because he was only speaking the simple truth. Goku knew better than to expect a monk to lie just so they all could assuage their carnal emotions. Sanzo didn’t give a damn about the moral of this group as long as the job got done soon.

"What, what, is the great Sanzo-sama defending me?" Gojyo swooned mockingly. Sanzo didn’t even have to look back to have the Smith and Wesson immediately trained between Gojyo’s eyebrows. Goku snickered at the youkai bastard under Sanzo’s aim, obviously pleased Sanzo was taking his side for once.

Gojyo had the utter audacity to laugh as well in the face of Sanzo’s threat. He turned his head to look down the barrel of the gun and the sight on the end just once before firing. The bullet passed so close that it grazed the top of Gojyo’s ear and several strands of hair fluttered down. There was a moment’s pause where the sound of a gunshot didn’t even echo in this frozen winter forest.

"Are you trying to kill me, you damn crazy monk?" Gojyo screamed before there was an inhuman howl behind them in the impenetrable fog. Hakkai grinned as he slammed on the brakes calmly and cranked the jeep to a left so they could avoid a large tree that had fallen across the road. It was a trap if he had ever seen one, meant to keep them from passing.

Sanzo sighed at Gojyo for not noticing they were being followed in this fog and Hakkai’s lack of observance for allowing them to be blocked in like this. If any of them had a single bit of common sense, they would have known there was a considerable amount of numbers trying to surround them in the fog. He had noticed the smelly bastards the first time they had tried to flank them.

Sanzo shrugged as he flipped out the barrel of his gun and checked the ammunition. He pried out two used shells with his fingernails like he had all the time in the world, one empty from what, Sanzo couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter anyway. He tossed them to the side before unzipping the front of his jacket. Sanzo would want it open if there was some fighting to be done so he would be able to move. He reached into the robes on the inside, his flesh flinching away from his cold hands as he dug out new bullets with numb fingertips. The arm warmers did little to save his fingers from the cold.

"You could have fucking said something," Gojyo snapped as he stood up in the backseat of the jeep. Gojyo put his hands down and held them out as the shaku-jou materialized. The two curved blades on each end didn’t shine like they usually did in this heavy fog, the steel already wet with the mist. Gojyo jumped out from the backseat, smoothly hefting the long metal weapon up for a ready position as he searched the woods over the heavy collar of his jacket, waiting for the attack to come from the silent grey fog.

"You should have noticed, you stupid bastard," Sanzo sent back, loading two new bullets and snapping the cylinder back into place before aiming into the fog. He could see no movement in the mysterious forest around them, no footsteps in the snow under the trees. Only dead silence gave Sanzo any clue to how many were in the forest. Where could the youkai attack be coming from?

Goku leapt out over the side of the jeep and onto the snow-covered road easily with his staff forming into solid reality between his hands. A shadow detaching from the fog was all Sanzo glimpsed before a slavering, filthy youkai came howling at them. Goku immediately spun and slammed his staff into the throat of that one particular early arrival. Snow flew up as the body hit the ground before the fog echoed with what sounded like hundreds of youkai screaming at once. Sanzo looked around the forest between the trees, youkai coming at them, and up at the sky once just to check where he was being attacked from. No youkai were coming close enough to use the sutra yet. He’d like to keep that a surprise for as long as possible, especially for these idiotic youkai that had thought to get in his way.

"Now then, I suppose we should say ‘hello," Hakkai proposed like they were meeting new friends and not being attacked by unknown youkai. He dismissed Jeep from its vehicle form and the dragon chirped happily as Hakkai sent it up into the forest. The little, flying snake would be in danger if it stayed in the possible line of fire. Fighting tended to get very widespread and chaotic with the four of them.

The screaming kept going on as Sanzo aimed into the fog, irritated that they were being attacked so loudly and slowly. Most of the youkai were hanging back, waiting for their brothers to finish off the job. In fact, Sanzo looked up to see five youkai come rushing out the forest, all looking exactly alike with the same: long ears and wild hair. Some were wearing heavy, winter armor, some only the barest amount of clothes to be decent. Those ones were more hairy and animal than the other less completely gone youkai. At least a few retained a bit of intelligence, enough to realize that they had landed in hot water if the demons were presumptuous enough to attack Genjo Sanzo.

Sanzo felt before he saw Hakkai gracefully sweep both hands out, gathering together chi from the very air. A small, glowing sphere grew out of nothing and shone between his palms dangerously, packed without enough spiritual power to make Sanzo’s hackles go on end. Hakkai smiled despite the tremendous amount of destructive power he was barely holding in check, and Sanzo had enough sense jump back several steps back and shoot straight through the center of a youkai’s skull with large claws out and arching toward Hakkai’s back. The body jerked in midair and fell like a stone on to the ground covered with its own blood and splattered grey matter.

Hakkai nodded his thanks before tossing the gathered ball of chi out at the original five demons that were still coming at Sanzo, unaware of what was coming straight at them at the same time. The shimmering ball gained speed and size as it flew at the group of youkai rushing them, then there was an explosion accompanied with a large display of light as demons howled in pain before being blown apart. Small pieces of charred flesh and small flecks of bone dusted out from the black, scorched snow, held up oddly with the heavy moisture in the air. A pine tree behind the band of youkai was splattered red around the trunk, nature’s innocence forever stained.

Hakkai nodded to him and they both turned back to fighting in their own private way. The brunette had only paid back the favor of Sanzo keeping him from getting killed by a good, old-fashioned youkai pat on the back. More youkai were coming at him again, howling and so numerous Sanzo wondered if there was a small army hidden in the woods before them. He could spot dozens more youkai waiting in reserve behind the trees and fog.

Gojyo took a turn at killing as well, not about to be left behind as he swung out with one half-moon blade. The chain cut through the air, curving and slicing across the chests and stomachs of several youkai that got too close. The demons fell back in large sprays of blood and organs falling out from the new openings in their bodies. The chain retracted to the end of the shaku-jou and Gojyo slapped the metal length into his palm, very pleased with himself. It was almost too easy and effortless for him; Sanzo couldn’t bear to watch.

"Well, I suppose we were in need of some exercise," Hakkai laughed from behind Sanzo as Goku slammed the heel of his boot into a youkai’s chin in front of the grinning man. The demon went down and Goku ground his foot into the youkai’s face before stabbing the rounded end of the nyoi-bo into the weak spot where the ribs started to separate. Hakkai only chuckled at being interrupted and shrugged, stepping ever so slightly to the left to avoid another youkai trying to chop him in two with a sword.

The youkai underneath Goku screamed before the body sizzled and exploded, destroyed by the raw power of Goku’s attack. There wasn’t anything really special about his staff beyond the ability for Goku to extend it great lengths as he demonstrated, lengthening it so he could catch a youkai flying through the air on the collarbone. The true deadly force came from Goku’s fighting spirit, the raw power he barely had a fraction of control over.

"They won’t make me run," Sanzo snapped, refusing to exert that much physical labor in the snow and fog. He aimed and three shots rang out true, one into the heart of the closest youkai that was now in front of Hakkai and trying to take another swing with the sword. The bullet hit square in the middle of the back of that filthy youkai head.

The second flew at the neck of a youkai to Sanzo’s left and blew a hole through its throat. The last went into the mouth of another one of these smelly demons trying to take him from behind. Sanzo sniffed at the carnage as all three went down around him before spitting to the side in disgust. It was what they deserved for trying to make him run around like the usual helpless human victim.

"I should send some more your way and make you work harder then," Hakkai offered benignly as he reached out to grab a new youkai’s neck and tear out the throat with his bare hand. Hakkai’s smile didn’t falter a bit as the youkai fell back with a watery gurgle Even Sanzo had to cringe at that messy murder. Gun shot wounds weren’t all that bloody at first.

Hakkai dropped the hunk of flesh he had ripped off the youkai on the snow and gracefully took the wrist of another youkai that lunged at him. He used the brute’s own momentum to get a hand on the shoulder plate of the captured arm. Hakkai broke the youkai’s joint as if they were dancing, fluid in everything he did.

Sanzo covered up the painful screaming with another shot of his own, the last round sent into the eye of one of the bare-chested youkai. Sanzo hated those dirty beasts the most, ignoring it as the body fell down to reveal half a dozen more coming at him. Hakkai snapped the youkai’s neck for his second move and dropped the still body into the snow heavily, running forward to take on more youkai face to face.

Sanzo held his hands together in front of him for the only time he would ever pray. He chanted the words known in his heart as the sutra began to stir and lift on his shoulders, waving with the hidden spiritual power. Sanzo let the written scripture take in his life and soul, sending every bit of his will into the mystical paper on his shoulder. He may not believe in the religion that had given him the sutra, but Sanzo could use it with a skill few of its other masters in the past had demonstrated.

"Go to hell," Sanzo suggested, flinging out his hand to direct the sutra. It split into hundreds of long separate scrolls leaping out to wrap around youkai that dared attack a high priest. The sutra only needed to touch before it burned away every part of darkness in the soul. For youkai, the darkness was their entire body pumping with their foul demon blood.

They all screamed in the last moments of pain as the sutra devoured them, shattering their bodies into thousands of tiny pieces before burning away the soul as well. There would be no reincarnation for these youkai, and Sanzo didn’t give a damn if karma caught up to him or not. Those things needed to be gotten rid of, one way or another. If he had to kill them himself and break every vow he made as a priest, so be it.

Sanzo withdrew the sutra, forcing it to come back to its small and familiar form around his shoulders once again. He sighed as the rush of power settled back to normal before he looked for Goku. The ape was cheerfully throwing himself through a foray of attackers, punching and kicking like it was all a wonderful game as he broke bones.

Sanzo supposed it was just a game to Goku. None of these youkai were any real matches for his strength anyway. It was nothing more than wave tactics, trying to overwhelm them by numbers alone. Sanzo wasn’t sure how many he had killed but he wasn’t about to start taking count now. The commanding force was foolish to try and direct this sort of cheap attack on him.

The barrel glinted silver in the misty grayness, something cold and firm to believe in. Six empty shells fell to the snow softly, sticking upright in the ice. Sanzo didn’t mind the youkai that ran at his back with a heavy club in its hand, loading new bullets without concern. Goku took care of it in short order, punching the youkai in the sternum and jaw before anyone even realized he had moved.

He slipped new bullets smoothly into the chambers one by one, unhurried despite the fighting chaos around him right now. He trusted those three idiots to protect his back for a few seconds at least… or at the most… Sanzo flicked his wrist and the cylinder locked back into place, reloaded and ready to be emptied in order.

Sanzo didn’t bother to pull the trigger as two youkai came at him from either side. He just stepped back and allowed Hakkai to take aim. The two demons were consumed by a large, bright white ball, their bodies nothing more than shadowy outlines before breaking apart with the force of the explosion. He turned away from the roaring of the explosion to look at Hakkai with displeasure. The man should have taken care of the youkai before Sanzo even needed to think about dodging.

"Really, Sanzo. You shouldn’t play around like that," Hakkai admonished with a gentlemanly grin. He turned away from Sanzo to move out of the way of a clumsily wielded broadsword. Hakkai dodged the first swing and hit the youkai’s wrist with the edge of his palm, forcing the numb fingers to drop the sword.

Immediately and gracefully, Hakkai slammed his fist into the chin of the youkai with such strength he sent the demon flying back through the air. It landed in the snow with a wet, crunching noise that surely meant there were broken bones. The demon had blood coming from his mouth and a dazed look in his eye that Sanzo quickly took care of with one bullet.

"Why can’t you idiots keep them off my fucking back?" Sanzo yelled at them all so he could be heard over the screaming still ripping through the fog and trees. It was impossible to tell how many youkai were waiting to attack them, but Sanzo felt this was more than the usual band of youkai blocking their path. It was just too many for that.

There had to be a leader here. This many youkai would never fight together and attack under explicit orders for it to be so well orchestrated as to come in waves. Youkai weren’t smart enough to strategize like that without having some kind of higher-level youkai. He wanted to finish this as soon as possible, Sanzo quickly sick of picking off these small fries.

Hakkai was moving gracefully through the group of youkai that had begun to encircle him, hitting some demons physically here, and then using a gathering of his chi to explode some unlucky youkai there. All the while, that cold smile was still on his face, like each one of them was a lost, dear friend. Except, one didn’t go about mass-murdering his friends as Hakkai was doing now.

Where the hell is the leader?! Come out so I can send you to hell, Sanzo ordered silently, not about to yell useless threats if the leader of this idiotic attack wasn’t in the trees. The uneasiness he felt was increasing with the screaming of the youkai. They were starting to disturb something here. The forest was quiet for a reason. Sanzo was right to think that this place deserved the respect given to the dead. The youkai were rousing old bloodstains here.

"You need to exercise more, Sanzo. You smoke a lot, so you should work out a lot," Goku argued with his simple logic, twirling his staff in wide circles to slam into a youkai’s skull. The blow sent the demon flat on its face into the snow, the back of its head visibly dented. Goku kept spinning the nyoi-bo to hit a different youkai with a staff of its own on its temple, throat, stomach and then groin so rapidly that it seemed like one continuous movement.

Sanzo growled in reply to Goku and shot at a youkai who was trying to rush him with a large pike in hand. The head snapped back with the momentum of the bullet but continued falling forward. Sanzo dodged the corpse to let it fall in the snow without any more thought. He had already forgotten the murder and was shooting another large and bearded youkai in the temple as its head was turned to look at Goku.

"I agree with Goku, you shitty monk," Gojyo called out his opinion across the battlefield as he spun the shaku-jou above his head. The chain went out to cut around the small group that had tried to close in on him, sailing around bizarrely in the air before the chain went taunt and snapped the blade back to the staff in an instant. Everything was still for a horrible moment, the angered cries cut short.

Limbs fell separately from the bodies as torsos, arms and legs exploded apart. Gojyo only grinned in the center of it as blood splattered out around him and stained the pristine snow. He looked up at Sanzo with a smirk on his face, well aware that he had shown off yet again.

"Fuck off. I’ll kill you," Sanzo swore back to the half-breed that stood in a relatively clean circle of white snow in the center of all the carnage. Sanzo wasn’t pleased at all that Gojyo had managed to kill shit, since there were more than enough coming to fill those empty places, waiting patiently in the fog as they screamed to disorientate them. Sanzo refused to allow it to work. The others seemed to ignore it as well, finding contentment in fighting.

Still, where the fuck were all these miserable youkai coming from? There seemed to be no end to the demons appearing out of the thick grey to replace fallen ones. Just how many were still waiting in the woods, biding their time until Sanzo was too worn out to fight? It seemed like they might possibly have enough to truly overwhelm them.

What am I thinking? He snorted at his own doubts. Sanzo shouldn’t be concerned about his fighting party’s abilities. Each of them had an efficiency to survive that almost bordered on immortal. It was nothing more than honing a few combat skills and getting lots of practice. There certainly was enough hands-on experience to gain with youkai trying to stop them at every major road stop along the way.

Sanzo hated it all. He turned around and held his arm up straight to press the muzzle against silver youkai hair. Inhuman green eyes flashed up at him, all sanity gone from the face that was trying to rush past his guard. Sanzo pressed the tip of the Smith and Wesson against its forehead, the safety pulled back as he looked calmly in the youkai’s wild eyes. All that was left was animalistic desires with demonic intent.

Sanzo pulled the trigger without remorse.

The bullet shot out the back of the youkai’s skull and into the snow behind before the head snapped back lamely a moment later. Sanzo fired at the two youkai coming from behind that one, not caring about the body falling to the snow with muscles still twitching in death spasms. The new pair went down with their bodies flinching back and crumpling like the cheap aluminum of empty beer cans Sanzo used for target practice.

His gun needed to be reloaded again and more youkai than before were coming at him. Three, hulking, male youkai were the most immediate threat with thick fur on their chests instead of any sensible winter clothing. Sanzo felt like he was looking upon a particularly ugly species of a rather hairy ape. A female youkai was coming up from slightly behind as well, howling with rage as she came at him barehanded.

Sanzo chanted the first words for summoning the sutra before something slammed into base of his skull. Sanzo fell face-first into the snow, unable to put his hands out in time to catch himself. He dropped his gun as his whole body gave out and refused to respond. Darkness tinged the corner of his vision and Sanzo could only pant in the cold wet snow starting to soak his front side.

He’d be damned to black out right now! Sanzo forced himself to roll over and kick the youkai standing over him in the balls. He wasn’t going to fall down like a woman after getting punched in the back of the head. It hurt like a bitch but Sanzo had already paid back the pain tenfold as the youkai crumpled, howling weakly and clutching at its groin as it rolled around the snow in pain.

Sanzo got one elbow up under himself, his fingers numb and heavy as he scrabbled in the snow to find the hilt of his gun. His lips were too cold to make any of the words to command the sutra and his teeth were chattering helplessly. One of the original trio that had closed in on him grabbed the front of Sanzo’s coat and hauled him up to his feet, huge sharp teeth grinning in triumph.

"Sanzo!" Goku called out, suddenly dropping the block he had locked in with a youkai’s sword as he noticing the blonde was in serious trouble. The dumb ass ape jumped away from the youkai he was fighting and rushed across the snow and still bodies to get to Sanzo without a glance back. Youkai watched in confusion as Goku passed them by, holding up their weapons and blinking as the boy didn’t engage a single one of them.

Of course the ape would just drop everything and come to his rescue, like the stupid, predictable idiot he was. He wasn’t about to need that protection. Sanzo grabbed the elbow holding onto his coat and punched with his other hand. The crossover connected with the side of the youkai’s jaw and Sanzo was dropped to the snow again.

Sanzo didn’t look to see if he had done any lasting damage. He just stayed on all fours and looked around widely for his gun, his hands ghosting over the snow for the feel of the cool handle. Where the hell was his gun? Sanzo couldn’t see Gojyo and Hakkai from his spot by the river’s edge. He had to find his gun.

Goku was busy with the third youkai, already slamming the nyoi-bo into the demon’s face. Blood flew up and Goku rushed under it to go for the second youkai and the female one coming to the male’s help. Sanzo needed to find his gun and take care of his own hide, because being ‘saved’ was not an option.

A youkai screaming in his ear gave Sanzo the chance to look around just in time to see the one he had kicked in the groin come at him again. Sanzo was picked up around the waist and lifted from the ground in one sickening, lucid moment. All he could see was the bloodstained snow underneath him, large, white holes stirred up from fighting. Then, everything went shockingly dark and cold and… wet.

Sanzo opened up his eyes blindly to find himself underwater, his nose filled with the river as he was plunged into the freezing current. The youkai still had a grip around his waist and was holding him down under the surface of the water as they were tossed downstream, probably trying to drown him. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t swim and the water was colder than Sanzo could ever have imagined, freezing him in a single instant.

He would not die like this! Sanzo elbowed the youkai holding him in the gut, hard, over and over again until the arm around his waist released. Immediately Sanzo was lost in the dark current of the river, unable to tell which way was up as the current carried him away from the youkai. The water was so damn cold he couldn’t even move anymore to try and struggle to the surface. He was choking on the river, not knowing how to swim or breathe underwater and unable to fight against the freezing cold temperature of the river.

A sharp and beaten boulder breaking out of the water collided against Sanzo’s back with enough force to knock the air out of him. Or, in this case, the water Sanzo had pathetically swallowed in his struggling. He scrabbled with wet hands and found an edge to cling to before the river could tear him off the rock.

Sanzo held onto the boulder for all he was worth, not giving a damn how much his fingers felt like they couldn’t grip a damn thing in the icy water. He cut his palms open on the slick rock and didn’t feel a thing, only concentrating on hauling himself to the surface. His head finally broke free of the river to a take deep, soggy breath of air.

Water crashed down on his head in a second attempt to drown him, making Sanzo fumble his bloody grip. He was freezing to death, he was going to drown and that same cursed youkai came hurtling down the river to grab Sanzo around the neck like he was a drowned cat. He couldn’t fight at first, too confused by the sensation of being in so much water to feel anything more than the cold.

It was too damn icy. His skin was freezing off as the heavy robes dragged him down in the water. Sanzo tried to knee the youkai in the stomach through the wet and clinging robes, not giving a damn if the demon was the only thing keeping him from drowning. Sanzo refused to be saved by something he should have killed four bullets ago.

He still wasn’t as strong as he would like with his blood freezing in his veins. Sanzo couldn’t even form the words to chant the sutra underwater, if it had been able to work in the river in the first place. His gun was back at the cursed riverbank and his muscles were useless now.

The youkai was inhumanly strong with a fist in his robes and fighting against the current at the same time, ignoring how Sanzo tried struggling away weakly. Somehow the youkai managed to haul both of them out of the water and onto an unfamiliar snowy bank, clawing at the snow for a grip to haul them up from the river.

Sanzo was tossed forward to land in the snow and all he could do was cough weakly and shiver helplessly on the icy ground. His clothes were plastered to his body; soaking wet and freezing cold fabric soaking up all of his precious body heat. The snow was incredibly warm compared to the river and Sanzo could only miserably vomit up dirty river water from his lungs.

The youkai wasn’t having such a hard time as Sanzo, shaking off his wet coat like a dog coming up from playing. Water splattered Sanzo all over, shockingly cold and ruining what little of him had managed to dry so far. He squinted, finally taking the time to take notice the beast that had saved him from the river. Sanzo would be damn well sure to know whom he should return the favorY with a bullet between the eyes.

It wore a pair of loose, ruined jeans that barely covered the ankles. Bizarrely enough, the youkai had a pair of new shoes. It had probably stolen them from some poor, wretched human mugged along the way. The youkai was one of the larger and furrier ones, just as Sanzo’s luck would turn out. It was covered in a thick, black fur that didn’t seem to really have any starting point. A thick head of hair melted into a heavy beard that went to the heavy chest fur covering the shoulders and back.

"Priest, you alive?" the youkai growled with a voice that just might possibly be intelligent. Sanzo still didn’t want to answer such a stupid question, choosing to concentrate on wrapping his arms around himself to preserve what little body heat he had. Big, yellow, slitted eyes blinked at him as the youkai scratched the fur loose of dirt and ice from the river, more concerned with keeping itself warm than the human catch it had hauled up like a prize fish.

Apparently the youkai came to the realization that either Sanzo was too stubborn to answer his questions or the frail human in front of it was unable to speak with the cold. The demon reached down and grabbed Sanzo around his upper arm with bruising force and unceremoniously hauled up him up to his feet. He sagged and punched the sternum in front of his face, not about to be some hapless victim.

The youkai hit Sanzo so hard across the face he dropped back into the snow and lay there in shock. Sanzo tasted blood in his mouth as he licked at it irritably. This youkai would pay, as soon as he could shake off the stunning strength of that blow and gain his feet. The youkai lifted Sanzo up again by the back of the robe like he was a sodden cat, shaking him for a good warning.

Sanzo thought he might end up being sick all over again instead of thinking of trying to fight free. He was nauseous as the snow spun under his feet; the woods here eerily clean like when they had first entered the forest. His vision swam wildly, Sanzo noticing wavering marks of old, old blood. The trees were soaked with a misery so deep Sanzo wondered why he hadn’t noticed it before.

There were the leftover emotions from people being killed here, horribly and without rites of passage. Souls were crying here, in limbo from their agony at death. They were begging him; wordless pleas that Sanzo couldn’t even begin to understand. He tried to struggle with the youkai; tried to get away so he could run out from this cursed forest.

The youkai slapped him across the face with the back of his hand like he was a hysterical woman, except this strike nearly knocked Sanzo’s head off his neck. He could only glare at the youkai, unable to spare the breath to give this unforgivably violent and soon to be dead demon any harsh words. Sanzo was too cold to yell back anyway. He saw stars but blinked as the spiritual wailing receded a bit after the blow.

Sanzo hated it with a passion when he faded off into the spiritual realm, drawn into sensing things he would much rather ignore. All those souls were harmless, shifting afterimages of a person’s emotions frozen at the pain of death. They would find no peace, but neither had the will to look for it either. He didn’t need to think about insignificant things. There was nothing he could do for spirits so long dead.

The youkai kept dragging him along in the snow when both Sanzo’s legs went out underneath him immediately after standing. He couldn’t even kick out at the youkai’s knees with his whole body numb as snow melted on his drenched clothes. He was so cold. Wasn’t this youkai freezing its stupid ass off?

The youkai finally figured Sanzo was not going to be able to walk on his own and stopped. Sanzo sagged down on the clean, white snow as the youkai gave him a break to tremble with the sickness of being so goddamn cold. At least he still had the sutra on his shoulders. If he had lost that in the river, Sanzo would have insisted they go back and find it.

It still irritated him to be given the chance to recover. The youkai must be afraid of Sanzo dying like the frail human being he was. Just how weak did he look to this youkai? Granted that he was a damn pathetic sight right now with his hair soaking wet and his fingernails turning blue, Genjo Sanzo should still be able to strike fear into the heart of any demon, half-drowned or not.

When it became obvious that Sanzo wasn’t able to stand on his own, the youkai reached down and grabbed him by the arm again. The youkai hauled Sanzo over its shoulder like he was an unwieldy piece of meat. One big, fat hand wrapped around both wrists while the other went behind the back of his knees to keep him taunt over the youkai’s shoulder, bent around the youkai’s neck.

"Your face better be worth this, monk," the youkai spat out grudgingly. Sanzo couldn’t even phantom why he was being saved with the ground wavering under them. He couldn’t even struggle against the hold, just so goddamn thankful that the youkai had a small bit of body heat coming from his shoulders. He didn’t care where the demon carried him. Whatever it was would be better than trying to fare by himself in the snow after a dip in an icy river.

He didn’t even have the sense to think about what the youkai meant by his ‘face.’ Sanzo only panted as the demon’s large shoulder blades dug into his ribs. His robes were wet sodden things on the youkai’s back and Sanzo took pleasure in the fact he was getting the demon wet.

Sanzo would find satisfaction in anything that would get the youkai back for making them fall in the river in the first place, until he could actually shoot the demon. Sanzo could bid his time for now as the youkai carried the monk to whatever place it had in its small little mind. Hopefully it was somewhere warm

Perhaps Sanzo would even be lucky and the youkai was going to deliver him to the leader that he had sensed earlier. Maybe there would be a sane, intelligent enough youkai that Sanzo could actually reason with it. Sanzo would usually much rather prefer to find a weapon to work with or just screw it all and go barehanded, but he didn’t think he could fight right now. His muscles were too cold to respond properly. Sanzo was going to lose his fingers for sure.

The freezing cold ripped at his thoughts as the wind started to blow against the youkai’s back. Or perhaps there was no wind at all. Sanzo couldn’t even figure out where the ground was as every outline in the world faded into the same grey of snow and fog. It was too cold, a bitter chill that Sanzo had never known before. He couldn’t feel his feet or hands anymore, the limbs nothing more then stiff numb things at the end of arms and legs.

Dizzy from the jolting sway of the youkai’s steps, Sanzo felt the presence of the dead souls becoming stronger. It felt like a vise around his skull right now, tightening into each temple. All he heard were the astral wailings and hopeless moaning of leftover feelings. These ghouls weren’t entire souls or even shades, Sanzo reminded himself sharply. There was no reason to be effected by them.

But, Sanzo didn’t have the peace of mind to be able to chant and keep them at bay. These dead presences were coming closer now that he had gone deeper into the forest and become separated from those three. At least Hakkai might have been able to help Sanzo fight off wandering spirits.

They were probably being drawn in by his aura, ‘feeling’ or whatever it was they sensed. All of the things out in the forest knew Sanzo was a religious person. They sensed it like he was the sun coming out from behind the clouds, water in the desert, food after starving. They knew that Sanzo was the only thing that could release them from their unchanging hell.

However, these souls had passed away long ago. Sanzo had no reason to feel any pity for them. They were too fucking stupid to realize the priest was freezing to death. He would die before he could get around to saying a proper death prayer. Sanzo didn’t need their annoying cries in his head to add to his problems. He would pray for them in his own damn time, if at all.

"Whatever you’re doing monk, stop it before I knock you out," the youkai warned him suddenly as it glanced around the woods suspiciously. The youkai was likely sensing the gathering apparitions that were starting to follow slowly in their path. Even a demon as brainless as this one would have to feel the spirits that were seeking out Sanzo.

I wish I could, you shit-for-brains youkai! Sanzo snarled back silently, too cold to speak since all he could do was tremble on the youkai’s shoulders. It was cold, so very cold. Sanzo wanted this youkai to put him down and let him curl up pathetically in front of a warm fire. He wished to kill this youkai. He would never look at snow again. They were only traveling through deserts from this day on.

Sanzo glanced behind them to see the indistinct, shapeless figures following in the youkai’s footprints. They were moving slowly like they were being pushed by the wind Sanzo had felt earlier. He guessed there must already be a dozen of the things, but with the ghosts drifting and melting into each other Sanzo couldn’t be sure of their numbers.

The closest one was very far back down the heavy footprints the youkai had made in the snow behind them. The drifting grey shade moved across the ice like the waves of an ocean were moving it. The base of this incarnation of dead resentment was sweeping the footprints of the youkai with its insubstantial body. More trailed after the first few to clean up what the first one had missed to return the snow to its clean and untouched state.

Sanzo’s eyes widened in realization. It made sense now why the woods had been so unnaturally clean. These wandering souls had enough matter to brush snow off the limbs of trees, erase footprints and other mars on the snow like it had never been. This was why the woods had such a strong malignant feeling the entire time.

But, it wasn’t possible! These wandering ghosts were just feelings from the moment of death, with no personality or soul or anything to give it intelligence. It didn’t have enough spiritual energy to have a solid body like the ones that were able to move things or haunt certain places they had been attached to during life.

So, why the fuck were these things hounding them and hiding the footprints? It was too much to handle with Sanzo’s blood freezing in his veins. He was starting to shake instead of tremble, the muscles trying one last attempt to work up some sort of warmth but failing miserably. Sanzo felt his eyes drifting close and vaguely knew he shouldn’t fall asleep right now.

AUTHOR’S NOTES: ‘Chi’ versus ‘ki?" There was an argument about this, but we never really came to a decision. ‘Chi’ sounds cooler, so there. Also, Hakuryuu versus JeepY um, obviously Jeep easier to spell. I’m lazy at heart and don’t want to type that much. And hey, quoting Clockwork Orange ‘A little bit o the ultra-violence.’ But, thanks for reading this!

Any errors? (outcry from the public: YES!) Please report any shitty writing you come across, so I won’t do it again!

Thank you to Cutelikabu for editing!