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lightrobberTitle: Every Step We Take (tentative)
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None apply (yet)
Word count: 4273 (Why yes, it IS a monster of a prologue. Told you it'd be so.)
Every Step We Take
Prologue – Beaten Roads
It seemed to be yet another peaceful day for the Sanzo-ikkou, or at least as peaceful as it usually was with loud bickering in the back seats of the jeep and random death threats passing through the air when the ruckus became too unbearable. The dirty-green vehicle was steadily moving onwards, the driver obviously enjoying the much better road than the ones they had experienced before. Sun was slowly inching towards the horizon shielded by trees and distant mountain peaks, indicating the oncoming evening. It was almost an idyllic picture.
"My, it seems this will be quite a pleasant night for camping outside," Hakkai addressed no one in particular, filling the silence that had landed over them after his two most zealous comrades had finally become silent and settled to rest.
"Again?" Goku groaned, not feeling all too enthusiastic when the only meal they would get was another one of Hakkai's wonders made out of something conspicuous. That was no to say that Hakkai was a bad cook, – quite the contrary! However, this time would be different, as they had ran out of any food supplies two days ago. There was simply no way Goku would live through another grass soup with grass… whatever it was. He wanted meat. Right now, and a lot. Sweet-sour pork, roasted beef… Even a single meat bun would do a whole world of difference to the starving youth, yet he would never stop with just one. His stomach gave a loud and accusing grumble. "Hungry," he muttered silently, golden eyes trained on the rather poor landscape with rare trees, withering bushes, and sharp grass that somehow managed to survive on the rocks. That did not seem in the least promising for any type of food Hakkai could come up with.
The mountains they had just passed through had not offered much of a cover either, save for a few cave-like niches for them to spend the nights in. Sometimes, the air temperature had ranged from nearly icy when the night was late to almost singing hot when sun was high up in the zenith and they had moved from snow-coated peaks to rock-layered valleys. Early this morning, the four travellers had finally left the last big pikes behind and started on a way steady down the mountains. Now, when the evening approached, they were still quite high, and it would take a day or two for them to come to low land, and thinking of that prospect Goku's stomach gave another grumble, and he sighed wistfully. Luckily for the teenage heretic, Gojyo was not in a mood to start another verbal-turned-physical fight, not even thinking about insulting his comrade for his insatiable nature when it came to food. Oh, the redhead had troubles of his own. He was running low on cigarettes, reckoning there should be only two or three left in the pack, but never daring to check. If he would, there was the possibility that he could not stop himself from lighting one, and without knowing how far away the next village was, he did not want to chance lending a smoke from the high and mighty priest. Gojyo sighed. In fact, that same priest was smoking right now, making the situation even worse for the poor nicotine-deprived redhead in the seat behind him. So far, Hakkai seemed to be the only one not affected by the hardships they were going through. With a small smile on his face and sharp green eyes trained on the road, he looked like he was born to travel around the way they were doing right now.
Sanzo, at the moment ignorant to the rest of the world, shook the ashes over the jeep's side, not really keen on letting them fall on his white robe. Even if he would know of Gojyo's smoking dilemma, he would not care. The priest was struggling with a headache caused by the long day, and the bright sun that had been beating down on them for the past four days. He was not even able to enjoy the silence that had finally settled in the jeep, when any other day he would have savoured every moment that passed without quarrels breaking out between the water demon and the monkey.
"Ungrateful prick," sending a nasty stare at the front passenger seat, Gojyo murmured to himself, and then turned to Hakkai. "How far's the next village?"
"According to the map…" Hakkai hesitated, calculating their possibilities, "we sould reach it early tomorrow morning if we keep going the entire night. Otherwise – early tomorrow evening."
"Alright!" Goku punched the air with renewed enthusiasm. "Let's go the entire night, guys!"
Gojyo was about to jump in with a sexually-themed pun concerning the monkey's choice of words, but Hakkai managed to cut in first. "That, I'm afraid, won't be possible. Jeep needs his rest, too."
"Aw, c'mon, Hakuryuu!" Goku whined. "Can't you just wait until the next village? We're so close!" And as an afterthought he added, "Or I'll eat you!"
"Shut up," Sanzo muttered around his cigarette, but the subtle sound was drowned out in Hakkai's tentative laughter.
"Your threats won't change the situation, Goku. He's already reaching his limits."
"But the road's a better quality than those before! How's that fucking possible?" Gojyo shifted in his seat. Damn. If the baldy monk was not going to put out that cigarette anytime soon, there would be hell to pay. Almost every cell in his body was screaming for the regular portion of nicotine. Wrestling with the thoughts if he could survive twelve to twenty-four hours with only two cigarettes (or perhaps only one if he was really low on luck), he almost missed Hakkai's answer to his question.
"It wasn't always this way though, and he had to struggle quite a bit until we got off that rocky path back in the mountains. Not exactly a Sunday's walk in the park, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah, yeah," the redhead muttered, getting crankier as the minutes sped by. Precious minutes without nicotine. Fucking tormenting hours without precious nicotine, Gojyo corrected himself, but his suffering finally got eased a bit when Sanzo flicked the leftover filter away in the rare bushes lining the side of the road. The redhead could eventually take a relieved breath and relax back in his seat a little more comfortably, despite one Goku's feet resting on his side for some farfetched reason.
Minutes later Hakkai spotted a bridge still in a fair distance. It seemed that they had finally reached the river that served as a border between two districts. The brunette driver seemed to remember that, behind the river, people were speaking a different dialect, and he hoped they would still be able to communicate. And most of all, he hoped that would be a town with a decent inn, providing decent meals, and whatever else his companions needed. "Should we cross the river tonight and camp on the other side, or wait until morning on this side? Sanzo?"
Sanzo frowned, his eyes transfixed on the construction ahead. It did not really matter to him, but the closer they were to the goal, the sooner he would get rid of his annoying company. "Cross tonight."
Hakkai gave an approving nod. "Then tonight it is."
"I hope we're gonna be there soon!" Goku piped up, shifting in his seat with renewed energy. "Think of all the food that I could eat, and I'm starvin' already! Is there a town on the other side, Hakkai? Is there a restaurant that serves…"
A loud thwack silenced the cheery ranting. "Shut up or you'll be walking all the way to the next town!" Sanzo growled, putting the fan away. He would never admit it out loud, and not even to himself, but he would gladly get the answers on some of those questions as well.
But as they drew nearer to the river, the view on the bridge became clearer, and soon enough it turned out to be nothing more than burnt-down remains of a once-working construction.
"Well, this is unexpected," Hakkai commented, slowing down. The destruction seemed quite fresh, as the ground around the support poles of the bridge was black, and a rather wide area of grass had turned black and brown from the heat that had raved there not too long ago. It could not have been more than one week since the fire, the marks still looking fresh, but the wooden poles no longer smoking and turned to black coals, and no new grass growing to replace the lost.
"This sucks." Gojyo glared at the remnants of the bridge. If there was no bridge, they would not cross today. If they would not cross today, they might not get to a village for who knew how long. And no villages meant no cigarettes for him.
"But… but how will we get to next town? Isn't there another way, Hakkai? Eh, Hakkai?" Goku had stood up in the jeep and was scanning the surroundings, looking for any sign that could bring them on another road. It looked rather hopeless, though.
Sanzo was slowly developing an even worse case of headache; almost to the point where he felt obliged to put a bullet into someone. The destroyed bridge meant another detour, another delay. Yet the quartet was not given some more time to ponder about it. A scream slightly to their right cut through the uneasy silence, demanding their attention.
"Murderer!"
"What the?" Gojyo straightened in his seat, his interest arising. Even Goku forgot about getting to the next town (and what delicious food could he eat there) for the moment. All eyes trained in the direction of sound, the four travellers searched for the source. And it did not take them too long to notice. After all, the sight was in an almost perfectly clear display from where they had stopped, only a few trees shielding them from the view, and if Goku had continued looking around, he would have noticed it even before any sound was made.
A person clad in white was lying motionless on the ground, and another person with blood-stained hands was kneeling next to the prone figure. One more male was moving in on the site; apparently he had been the one to scream earlier as he once again opened his mouth to speak, "You cursed murderer!"
The next thing that struck the four travellers was the realization of who the person on the ground was. Or at least what he was dressed like – white ritual robes, short dark blonde hair, and a red rosary. And even if they had doubted the obvious, the male spoke again, erasing all possible speculations on the subject.
"How dare you? How dare you kill Sanzo Houshi-sama!"
There were more men approaching the scene now, a disgusted mutter coming from them. They were all clad like warriors, each one of them heavily armed and particularly deadly. Yet the dark-clad person kneeling next to the dead priest still had not moved. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the four travellers watching the scene yet.
"Eh? Just where the hell did those guys come from?" Gojyo frowned. He had sensed some demonic presence and figured that so had the other three, but there really had been no evidence so far. Now when they watched the five men army suddenly appearing around the corner, he could lay his hand on his heart and say that they were perfectly human. The only disruption was centered around the kneeling figure next to the priest.
"You get your filthy hands away from him, murderer!" a voice from the small crowd of five approaching men bellowed, and it finally drew a reaction from the accused person. His head jerked up, and he jumped to his feet, dark braid flitting through the air. Blood-stained hands clenched into small albeit tight fists.
"The Scripture!" another voice called out. "The Holy Scripture is gone!"
"You measly thief!" the first male pointed an accusing finger at the murderer. "Not only do you murder, but rob the dead as well?"
"That's almost like a show," Gojyo remarked, raising his hands behind his head and stretching slightly. At least this was nothing they should get involved into. Though somewhere deep inside he felt a pang of regret of not having a small exercise after all the tiring sitting in the back of the jeep.
"That's about to turn into bloodshed," Hakkai commented. "My, at least it's not a horde of youkai. But I wonder though…" A green eye glanced over at the white-robed man sitting next to him.
At the mention of a Scripture, Sanzo's head had jerked up a little bit higher and his eyes had narrowed a little bit more. They had lost one Scripture to the desert sand, and now suddenly another one had crossed their path. It called for more than a coincidence. And knowing that Kougaiji was after the scriptures, it would only be a matter of time until he got to this one. Or perhaps… Sanzo eyed the murdered that held a demonic presence about him with even narrower eyes. Perhaps he had already gotten to this one.
"Scripture?" Goku perked up, his interest peaking as well. "Hey, Sanzo--!"
Either the semi-loud call or, more likely, the name of choice made the murderer whip his head towards the four travellers in the jeep. Pale eyes narrowed, and a curse slipped past knitted together lips.
"Oy!" Gojyo blinked in sudden realization. "It's a chick!"
"Ch." Sanzo snorted, annoyance spiralling up. When it came to women, whether human or demon, or half on half, the redhead was always thinking with his other head.
The group of warriors had also noticed the quartet observing the scene, and while they were distracted trying to figure if they were of a threat or not, the woman put a distance between herself, the dead priest on the ground, and the rest of them. She was obviously trying to find a way out, but the situation clearly was not to her advantage. Behind her, there was only the edge of a cliff and a raging stream of water below.
Sanzo contemplated the banishing gun in his possession and whether this female was worth a bullet or not. They did not know if she was the culprit, although the evidence was more than enough to assume that she was. Still, she had not shown any real threat yet. In fact, the situation had not meant a thing to Genjo Sanzo until a scripture had been brought into the picture.
"Sanzo Houshi-sama," one of the men called out to them, recognising the blonde monk for who he was, "help us stop this murderer!"
"We can't allow a monster walk around freely!" another one added, hand clenching around the lance he carried even tighter.
"Why would a cute babe like that…" Gojyo started, but was cut off.
"Shut up!" Sanzo growled, hand clenching around his Smith and Wesson. He was annoyed at the foreigners for even thinking that he was some sort of walking embodiment of charity and goodwill. The dead priest was just another dead body, the thief was just another common one, and he was not interested in dealing with the current situation. The only thing remotely interesting was the Scripture.
"Ha! Stupid water sprite!" Goku laughed. "You are so lame!"
"What did ya call me, monkey?" The redhead grabbed for the teen's shirt to give him a rough shake.
"Hey! Let go, you stupid cockroach!" Goku drew his fist back for a punch, but Sanzo interrupted.
"Shut up!" Irritated to the depths of his soul, he drew the gun on them. "Or I'll kill you."
Both culprits immediately dodged, fearing any stray bullet that could fly their way.
"Sanzo, we might have a problem," Hakkai cut in. His eyes had never strayed from the woman, therefore he had seen something that had slipped past the other's attention. The minute some of the men had tried to attack her, she had pulled out a chain whip, throwing two warriors to the ground. It looked very much like she had killed them, as they did not move anymore. Though he had to ponder about the reasons why she still had her limiter on, because her appearance spoke human.
"You filthy demon!" With an angry bellow another man charged at her. The chain unfolded through the air, and he dropped to the ground much like the other two.
"Huh?" Goku blinked. "Demon? As in – youkai?" Golden eyes narrowed at the female, and finally he was able to acknowledge the feeling he always got around demons. The only thing that made him frown was that he did not sense anything remotely evil about her, and that she was still wearing her power limiter. Usually, if a youkai went around killing, they had long gotten rid of it.
"All of you shut up," Sanzo muttered. He had had the peculiar feeling that something was wrong with the picture, and he still had it. The only thing that he really could put a finger on was the absence of Kougaiji. After their little trip through the desert, he had learned that the demon prince was taking care of the search of the Scriptures personally. It did not made sense that he would not be here at a moment like this, or that he would kill a priest for the holy script when he had clearly stated that those were not his intentions. And even less sense made this meeting with another Sanzo priest in a godforsaken place like this (even if the priest in question was dead). The gun lifted towards the female. In a voice as calm and cold as snow on mountaintops, Sanzo spoke to her, "The Scripture. Hand it over."
Grey eyes narrowed in his direction, the female not even bothering to turn her head properly. "You'll have to kill me first."
"It's her burial," Gojyo commented dryly. Even though the female was obviously on the side of their enemies, she was pretty enough for him to consider spending some time with her. Also, it was always a shame to see a pretty girl getting killed, no matter which side she was on.
"Ch." Sanzo pulled the trigger without remorse. The chain hissed and unfolded as she tried to block the gunshot with it. The bullet tore through the air and lodged in her left shoulder.
A pained yelp, stumble backwards, and she fell over the edge.
"Damn," Sanzo cursed, taking his finger off the trigger. He had meant it only as a warning shot and a mild injury, but had not taken notice how close the female had been standing to the cliffside. From his viewpoint, it had looked as though there still had been more of a distance. Now the murderer was gone, and the Scripture along with her.
"Second that." Gojyo sighed. "Why are all the pretty babes either taken or on the wrong side?"
"The next bullet goes to your head, cockroach!" Sanzo spun on the redhead, unleashing his pent up annoyance. He wanted to pull the trigger badly, and it was even worse when he knew that he would have to make sure the redhead lived and was able to finish the journey.
"Don't out your anger on me, you phony monk!" Gojyo spat right back, and earned a bullet in his general direction. "OY!!!" It had flown right through his hair, the heat of it too close to his skin for comfort. A few red strands fluttered to the floor of the jeep. "Don't go shootin' at me just because you fail at somethin', baldy!"
"Why, you…"
"My, my." Hakkai commented from his seat, the firm mask of a smile never wavering. "Everyone seems to have gone so lively all of a sudden."
"I'm hungry!" Goku complained, risking another stray bullet flying through the air. "This is nice and all that we sorta' beat up the bad people, but when are we gonna stop to eat?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like we'll be going any further today." The brunette driver indicated the destroyed bridge. "I'd say we have already stopped, Goku."
"All right!" The youth punched the air victoriously, and jumped up to his feet. "Let's eat something now!"
"Just… shut up." Sanzo rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the headache that was plaguing him all day, the loss of another Scripture only adding to it. He could only hope that it remained unreachable for Kougaiji as well. Preferably, if it drowned along with the female murderer and disappeared from the face of Earth. He did not know where exactly the bullet had hit, but he knew for sure that it had reached her. Dark clothes were very useful when one needed to hide conspicuous things like bloodstains, and the priest could only guess if it had hit close enough to the heart for her to not survive the fall and the following stay in water or not. He wished for the second.
While the Sanzo party had been distracted, one of the three surviving men had approached the vehicle. "I thank you for your help even if it was a bit too late." He bowed in gratitude to the Sanzo priest.
"Ah," Hakkai smiled pleasantly, "these are dangerous times. Everyone should watch out a bit more."
"So we have noticed," another one of the strangers stated dryly, and brushed black hair away from his face. Piercing black eyes measured the Sanzo's companions up and down.
"So what're you guys doing here?" Goku perked up, with curiosity studying their clothing and weapons. They carried themselves like elite warriors, dressed in dark robes, each of them sporting a weapon that could be deathly in anyone's possession, but even more threatening when there was obvious skill in the wielder's hands. Their facial features were sharp and weathered, never smiling. The energetic youth even managed to forget about food, his interest arising to unseen heights upon discovering something he had never seen before. During the journey, he had learned a lot of new things, and was always looking forward to more. "And is that a real Sanzo priest?"`
"He was." The third male came forth after making sure that the priest could not be saved anymore. He had soft brown hair unlike his other two comrades, and his eyes were equally brown, kindness and sympathy shining through the calm gaze. His appearance was not very fitting for the armoured clothes he wore. "We were accompanying Sanzo Houshi-sama on his journey, and upon coming here, we found the bridge destroyed."
"While looking for alternate ways to cross the river, we left Sanzo-sama alone because he wanted to pray undisturbed, and you can pretty much imagine the rest," the warrior that had first approached them supplied. "When we heard the commotion, the gang of youkai had already struck and he was not to be saved anymore."
"His journey?" Goku blinked. "So where was he headed?"
"I don't think that would be any of our concern, Goku," Hakkai pointed out, a subtle smile resting on his features.
"We don't really know it ourselves." The brown-eyed warrior shrugged. "He never spoke much. But he did mention that his destination was not far from the next town."
"In fact, he was quite intent in continuing his way alone, insisting that he did not need protection in this area."
"Oh, sure," the third warrior cut in, blue eyes sparking up angrily. "Look what it led to! And he did not even have an apprentice that could take his place now that he's gone. Imagine what we will be reporting to..."
"Why don't you all just shut up?" Sanzo raised his voice a bit, interrupting the rant. "You're giving me a damn headache." And it was true. All the talks about Sanzos, their duties, and all the other priestly crap that came along with the title was always annoying the hell out of him.
Hakkai laughed nervously, recognizing the twitch of the priest's eyebrow. "Now, now, Sanzo. There is no need to turn to violence."
"You sure of that?" Sanzo muttered under his voice, getting more comfortable in his seat and closing his eyes, hoping that the loss of the image could ease the pressure in his temples.
"It's all fine and dandy, but we need to move, Hakkai. It's getting kinda late." Gojyo pulled out a cigarette, temporarily forgetting that he had only one more left and that they would not be reaching the next town tomorrow.
"You're right, Gojyo. But it doesn't seem like there is another road anywhere near. Did you forget that already?"
Goku laughed at the redhead. "HA! You are SO lame!"
"Oi!"
"Actually, there is," the brown-eyed foreigner said, unbeknownst to him interrupting something that could have turned out not very pretty. "It follows the flow of the river that way, down these mountains." He indicated to their right. The first thing the four travellers saw through the rare trees were wilting bushes. "That road doesn't appear to be used in years, though. There might be a bit of a difficulty with your vehicle."
"I do believe we will be just fine." Hakkai smiled pleasantly after a little bit of inspection of the said road. "Shall we go today or wait for tomorrow? Sanzo?"
"Go." That one low growl said everything.
"Very well then. Let's go, Hakuryuu." He started up the engine again. "Thank you for the information, gentlemen."
"You are welcome."
And without further ado, the group of four continued on with their way.
-----------
Part 1
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None apply (yet)
Word count: 4273 (Why yes, it IS a monster of a prologue. Told you it'd be so.)
Prologue – Beaten Roads
It seemed to be yet another peaceful day for the Sanzo-ikkou, or at least as peaceful as it usually was with loud bickering in the back seats of the jeep and random death threats passing through the air when the ruckus became too unbearable. The dirty-green vehicle was steadily moving onwards, the driver obviously enjoying the much better road than the ones they had experienced before. Sun was slowly inching towards the horizon shielded by trees and distant mountain peaks, indicating the oncoming evening. It was almost an idyllic picture.
"My, it seems this will be quite a pleasant night for camping outside," Hakkai addressed no one in particular, filling the silence that had landed over them after his two most zealous comrades had finally become silent and settled to rest.
"Again?" Goku groaned, not feeling all too enthusiastic when the only meal they would get was another one of Hakkai's wonders made out of something conspicuous. That was no to say that Hakkai was a bad cook, – quite the contrary! However, this time would be different, as they had ran out of any food supplies two days ago. There was simply no way Goku would live through another grass soup with grass… whatever it was. He wanted meat. Right now, and a lot. Sweet-sour pork, roasted beef… Even a single meat bun would do a whole world of difference to the starving youth, yet he would never stop with just one. His stomach gave a loud and accusing grumble. "Hungry," he muttered silently, golden eyes trained on the rather poor landscape with rare trees, withering bushes, and sharp grass that somehow managed to survive on the rocks. That did not seem in the least promising for any type of food Hakkai could come up with.
The mountains they had just passed through had not offered much of a cover either, save for a few cave-like niches for them to spend the nights in. Sometimes, the air temperature had ranged from nearly icy when the night was late to almost singing hot when sun was high up in the zenith and they had moved from snow-coated peaks to rock-layered valleys. Early this morning, the four travellers had finally left the last big pikes behind and started on a way steady down the mountains. Now, when the evening approached, they were still quite high, and it would take a day or two for them to come to low land, and thinking of that prospect Goku's stomach gave another grumble, and he sighed wistfully. Luckily for the teenage heretic, Gojyo was not in a mood to start another verbal-turned-physical fight, not even thinking about insulting his comrade for his insatiable nature when it came to food. Oh, the redhead had troubles of his own. He was running low on cigarettes, reckoning there should be only two or three left in the pack, but never daring to check. If he would, there was the possibility that he could not stop himself from lighting one, and without knowing how far away the next village was, he did not want to chance lending a smoke from the high and mighty priest. Gojyo sighed. In fact, that same priest was smoking right now, making the situation even worse for the poor nicotine-deprived redhead in the seat behind him. So far, Hakkai seemed to be the only one not affected by the hardships they were going through. With a small smile on his face and sharp green eyes trained on the road, he looked like he was born to travel around the way they were doing right now.
Sanzo, at the moment ignorant to the rest of the world, shook the ashes over the jeep's side, not really keen on letting them fall on his white robe. Even if he would know of Gojyo's smoking dilemma, he would not care. The priest was struggling with a headache caused by the long day, and the bright sun that had been beating down on them for the past four days. He was not even able to enjoy the silence that had finally settled in the jeep, when any other day he would have savoured every moment that passed without quarrels breaking out between the water demon and the monkey.
"Ungrateful prick," sending a nasty stare at the front passenger seat, Gojyo murmured to himself, and then turned to Hakkai. "How far's the next village?"
"According to the map…" Hakkai hesitated, calculating their possibilities, "we sould reach it early tomorrow morning if we keep going the entire night. Otherwise – early tomorrow evening."
"Alright!" Goku punched the air with renewed enthusiasm. "Let's go the entire night, guys!"
Gojyo was about to jump in with a sexually-themed pun concerning the monkey's choice of words, but Hakkai managed to cut in first. "That, I'm afraid, won't be possible. Jeep needs his rest, too."
"Aw, c'mon, Hakuryuu!" Goku whined. "Can't you just wait until the next village? We're so close!" And as an afterthought he added, "Or I'll eat you!"
"Shut up," Sanzo muttered around his cigarette, but the subtle sound was drowned out in Hakkai's tentative laughter.
"Your threats won't change the situation, Goku. He's already reaching his limits."
"But the road's a better quality than those before! How's that fucking possible?" Gojyo shifted in his seat. Damn. If the baldy monk was not going to put out that cigarette anytime soon, there would be hell to pay. Almost every cell in his body was screaming for the regular portion of nicotine. Wrestling with the thoughts if he could survive twelve to twenty-four hours with only two cigarettes (or perhaps only one if he was really low on luck), he almost missed Hakkai's answer to his question.
"It wasn't always this way though, and he had to struggle quite a bit until we got off that rocky path back in the mountains. Not exactly a Sunday's walk in the park, wouldn't you say?"
"Yeah, yeah," the redhead muttered, getting crankier as the minutes sped by. Precious minutes without nicotine. Fucking tormenting hours without precious nicotine, Gojyo corrected himself, but his suffering finally got eased a bit when Sanzo flicked the leftover filter away in the rare bushes lining the side of the road. The redhead could eventually take a relieved breath and relax back in his seat a little more comfortably, despite one Goku's feet resting on his side for some farfetched reason.
Minutes later Hakkai spotted a bridge still in a fair distance. It seemed that they had finally reached the river that served as a border between two districts. The brunette driver seemed to remember that, behind the river, people were speaking a different dialect, and he hoped they would still be able to communicate. And most of all, he hoped that would be a town with a decent inn, providing decent meals, and whatever else his companions needed. "Should we cross the river tonight and camp on the other side, or wait until morning on this side? Sanzo?"
Sanzo frowned, his eyes transfixed on the construction ahead. It did not really matter to him, but the closer they were to the goal, the sooner he would get rid of his annoying company. "Cross tonight."
Hakkai gave an approving nod. "Then tonight it is."
"I hope we're gonna be there soon!" Goku piped up, shifting in his seat with renewed energy. "Think of all the food that I could eat, and I'm starvin' already! Is there a town on the other side, Hakkai? Is there a restaurant that serves…"
A loud thwack silenced the cheery ranting. "Shut up or you'll be walking all the way to the next town!" Sanzo growled, putting the fan away. He would never admit it out loud, and not even to himself, but he would gladly get the answers on some of those questions as well.
But as they drew nearer to the river, the view on the bridge became clearer, and soon enough it turned out to be nothing more than burnt-down remains of a once-working construction.
"Well, this is unexpected," Hakkai commented, slowing down. The destruction seemed quite fresh, as the ground around the support poles of the bridge was black, and a rather wide area of grass had turned black and brown from the heat that had raved there not too long ago. It could not have been more than one week since the fire, the marks still looking fresh, but the wooden poles no longer smoking and turned to black coals, and no new grass growing to replace the lost.
"This sucks." Gojyo glared at the remnants of the bridge. If there was no bridge, they would not cross today. If they would not cross today, they might not get to a village for who knew how long. And no villages meant no cigarettes for him.
"But… but how will we get to next town? Isn't there another way, Hakkai? Eh, Hakkai?" Goku had stood up in the jeep and was scanning the surroundings, looking for any sign that could bring them on another road. It looked rather hopeless, though.
Sanzo was slowly developing an even worse case of headache; almost to the point where he felt obliged to put a bullet into someone. The destroyed bridge meant another detour, another delay. Yet the quartet was not given some more time to ponder about it. A scream slightly to their right cut through the uneasy silence, demanding their attention.
"Murderer!"
"What the?" Gojyo straightened in his seat, his interest arising. Even Goku forgot about getting to the next town (and what delicious food could he eat there) for the moment. All eyes trained in the direction of sound, the four travellers searched for the source. And it did not take them too long to notice. After all, the sight was in an almost perfectly clear display from where they had stopped, only a few trees shielding them from the view, and if Goku had continued looking around, he would have noticed it even before any sound was made.
A person clad in white was lying motionless on the ground, and another person with blood-stained hands was kneeling next to the prone figure. One more male was moving in on the site; apparently he had been the one to scream earlier as he once again opened his mouth to speak, "You cursed murderer!"
The next thing that struck the four travellers was the realization of who the person on the ground was. Or at least what he was dressed like – white ritual robes, short dark blonde hair, and a red rosary. And even if they had doubted the obvious, the male spoke again, erasing all possible speculations on the subject.
"How dare you? How dare you kill Sanzo Houshi-sama!"
There were more men approaching the scene now, a disgusted mutter coming from them. They were all clad like warriors, each one of them heavily armed and particularly deadly. Yet the dark-clad person kneeling next to the dead priest still had not moved. Neither of them seemed to have noticed the four travellers watching the scene yet.
"Eh? Just where the hell did those guys come from?" Gojyo frowned. He had sensed some demonic presence and figured that so had the other three, but there really had been no evidence so far. Now when they watched the five men army suddenly appearing around the corner, he could lay his hand on his heart and say that they were perfectly human. The only disruption was centered around the kneeling figure next to the priest.
"You get your filthy hands away from him, murderer!" a voice from the small crowd of five approaching men bellowed, and it finally drew a reaction from the accused person. His head jerked up, and he jumped to his feet, dark braid flitting through the air. Blood-stained hands clenched into small albeit tight fists.
"The Scripture!" another voice called out. "The Holy Scripture is gone!"
"You measly thief!" the first male pointed an accusing finger at the murderer. "Not only do you murder, but rob the dead as well?"
"That's almost like a show," Gojyo remarked, raising his hands behind his head and stretching slightly. At least this was nothing they should get involved into. Though somewhere deep inside he felt a pang of regret of not having a small exercise after all the tiring sitting in the back of the jeep.
"That's about to turn into bloodshed," Hakkai commented. "My, at least it's not a horde of youkai. But I wonder though…" A green eye glanced over at the white-robed man sitting next to him.
At the mention of a Scripture, Sanzo's head had jerked up a little bit higher and his eyes had narrowed a little bit more. They had lost one Scripture to the desert sand, and now suddenly another one had crossed their path. It called for more than a coincidence. And knowing that Kougaiji was after the scriptures, it would only be a matter of time until he got to this one. Or perhaps… Sanzo eyed the murdered that held a demonic presence about him with even narrower eyes. Perhaps he had already gotten to this one.
"Scripture?" Goku perked up, his interest peaking as well. "Hey, Sanzo--!"
Either the semi-loud call or, more likely, the name of choice made the murderer whip his head towards the four travellers in the jeep. Pale eyes narrowed, and a curse slipped past knitted together lips.
"Oy!" Gojyo blinked in sudden realization. "It's a chick!"
"Ch." Sanzo snorted, annoyance spiralling up. When it came to women, whether human or demon, or half on half, the redhead was always thinking with his other head.
The group of warriors had also noticed the quartet observing the scene, and while they were distracted trying to figure if they were of a threat or not, the woman put a distance between herself, the dead priest on the ground, and the rest of them. She was obviously trying to find a way out, but the situation clearly was not to her advantage. Behind her, there was only the edge of a cliff and a raging stream of water below.
Sanzo contemplated the banishing gun in his possession and whether this female was worth a bullet or not. They did not know if she was the culprit, although the evidence was more than enough to assume that she was. Still, she had not shown any real threat yet. In fact, the situation had not meant a thing to Genjo Sanzo until a scripture had been brought into the picture.
"Sanzo Houshi-sama," one of the men called out to them, recognising the blonde monk for who he was, "help us stop this murderer!"
"We can't allow a monster walk around freely!" another one added, hand clenching around the lance he carried even tighter.
"Why would a cute babe like that…" Gojyo started, but was cut off.
"Shut up!" Sanzo growled, hand clenching around his Smith and Wesson. He was annoyed at the foreigners for even thinking that he was some sort of walking embodiment of charity and goodwill. The dead priest was just another dead body, the thief was just another common one, and he was not interested in dealing with the current situation. The only thing remotely interesting was the Scripture.
"Ha! Stupid water sprite!" Goku laughed. "You are so lame!"
"What did ya call me, monkey?" The redhead grabbed for the teen's shirt to give him a rough shake.
"Hey! Let go, you stupid cockroach!" Goku drew his fist back for a punch, but Sanzo interrupted.
"Shut up!" Irritated to the depths of his soul, he drew the gun on them. "Or I'll kill you."
Both culprits immediately dodged, fearing any stray bullet that could fly their way.
"Sanzo, we might have a problem," Hakkai cut in. His eyes had never strayed from the woman, therefore he had seen something that had slipped past the other's attention. The minute some of the men had tried to attack her, she had pulled out a chain whip, throwing two warriors to the ground. It looked very much like she had killed them, as they did not move anymore. Though he had to ponder about the reasons why she still had her limiter on, because her appearance spoke human.
"You filthy demon!" With an angry bellow another man charged at her. The chain unfolded through the air, and he dropped to the ground much like the other two.
"Huh?" Goku blinked. "Demon? As in – youkai?" Golden eyes narrowed at the female, and finally he was able to acknowledge the feeling he always got around demons. The only thing that made him frown was that he did not sense anything remotely evil about her, and that she was still wearing her power limiter. Usually, if a youkai went around killing, they had long gotten rid of it.
"All of you shut up," Sanzo muttered. He had had the peculiar feeling that something was wrong with the picture, and he still had it. The only thing that he really could put a finger on was the absence of Kougaiji. After their little trip through the desert, he had learned that the demon prince was taking care of the search of the Scriptures personally. It did not made sense that he would not be here at a moment like this, or that he would kill a priest for the holy script when he had clearly stated that those were not his intentions. And even less sense made this meeting with another Sanzo priest in a godforsaken place like this (even if the priest in question was dead). The gun lifted towards the female. In a voice as calm and cold as snow on mountaintops, Sanzo spoke to her, "The Scripture. Hand it over."
Grey eyes narrowed in his direction, the female not even bothering to turn her head properly. "You'll have to kill me first."
"It's her burial," Gojyo commented dryly. Even though the female was obviously on the side of their enemies, she was pretty enough for him to consider spending some time with her. Also, it was always a shame to see a pretty girl getting killed, no matter which side she was on.
"Ch." Sanzo pulled the trigger without remorse. The chain hissed and unfolded as she tried to block the gunshot with it. The bullet tore through the air and lodged in her left shoulder.
A pained yelp, stumble backwards, and she fell over the edge.
"Damn," Sanzo cursed, taking his finger off the trigger. He had meant it only as a warning shot and a mild injury, but had not taken notice how close the female had been standing to the cliffside. From his viewpoint, it had looked as though there still had been more of a distance. Now the murderer was gone, and the Scripture along with her.
"Second that." Gojyo sighed. "Why are all the pretty babes either taken or on the wrong side?"
"The next bullet goes to your head, cockroach!" Sanzo spun on the redhead, unleashing his pent up annoyance. He wanted to pull the trigger badly, and it was even worse when he knew that he would have to make sure the redhead lived and was able to finish the journey.
"Don't out your anger on me, you phony monk!" Gojyo spat right back, and earned a bullet in his general direction. "OY!!!" It had flown right through his hair, the heat of it too close to his skin for comfort. A few red strands fluttered to the floor of the jeep. "Don't go shootin' at me just because you fail at somethin', baldy!"
"Why, you…"
"My, my." Hakkai commented from his seat, the firm mask of a smile never wavering. "Everyone seems to have gone so lively all of a sudden."
"I'm hungry!" Goku complained, risking another stray bullet flying through the air. "This is nice and all that we sorta' beat up the bad people, but when are we gonna stop to eat?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like we'll be going any further today." The brunette driver indicated the destroyed bridge. "I'd say we have already stopped, Goku."
"All right!" The youth punched the air victoriously, and jumped up to his feet. "Let's eat something now!"
"Just… shut up." Sanzo rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the headache that was plaguing him all day, the loss of another Scripture only adding to it. He could only hope that it remained unreachable for Kougaiji as well. Preferably, if it drowned along with the female murderer and disappeared from the face of Earth. He did not know where exactly the bullet had hit, but he knew for sure that it had reached her. Dark clothes were very useful when one needed to hide conspicuous things like bloodstains, and the priest could only guess if it had hit close enough to the heart for her to not survive the fall and the following stay in water or not. He wished for the second.
While the Sanzo party had been distracted, one of the three surviving men had approached the vehicle. "I thank you for your help even if it was a bit too late." He bowed in gratitude to the Sanzo priest.
"Ah," Hakkai smiled pleasantly, "these are dangerous times. Everyone should watch out a bit more."
"So we have noticed," another one of the strangers stated dryly, and brushed black hair away from his face. Piercing black eyes measured the Sanzo's companions up and down.
"So what're you guys doing here?" Goku perked up, with curiosity studying their clothing and weapons. They carried themselves like elite warriors, dressed in dark robes, each of them sporting a weapon that could be deathly in anyone's possession, but even more threatening when there was obvious skill in the wielder's hands. Their facial features were sharp and weathered, never smiling. The energetic youth even managed to forget about food, his interest arising to unseen heights upon discovering something he had never seen before. During the journey, he had learned a lot of new things, and was always looking forward to more. "And is that a real Sanzo priest?"`
"He was." The third male came forth after making sure that the priest could not be saved anymore. He had soft brown hair unlike his other two comrades, and his eyes were equally brown, kindness and sympathy shining through the calm gaze. His appearance was not very fitting for the armoured clothes he wore. "We were accompanying Sanzo Houshi-sama on his journey, and upon coming here, we found the bridge destroyed."
"While looking for alternate ways to cross the river, we left Sanzo-sama alone because he wanted to pray undisturbed, and you can pretty much imagine the rest," the warrior that had first approached them supplied. "When we heard the commotion, the gang of youkai had already struck and he was not to be saved anymore."
"His journey?" Goku blinked. "So where was he headed?"
"I don't think that would be any of our concern, Goku," Hakkai pointed out, a subtle smile resting on his features.
"We don't really know it ourselves." The brown-eyed warrior shrugged. "He never spoke much. But he did mention that his destination was not far from the next town."
"In fact, he was quite intent in continuing his way alone, insisting that he did not need protection in this area."
"Oh, sure," the third warrior cut in, blue eyes sparking up angrily. "Look what it led to! And he did not even have an apprentice that could take his place now that he's gone. Imagine what we will be reporting to..."
"Why don't you all just shut up?" Sanzo raised his voice a bit, interrupting the rant. "You're giving me a damn headache." And it was true. All the talks about Sanzos, their duties, and all the other priestly crap that came along with the title was always annoying the hell out of him.
Hakkai laughed nervously, recognizing the twitch of the priest's eyebrow. "Now, now, Sanzo. There is no need to turn to violence."
"You sure of that?" Sanzo muttered under his voice, getting more comfortable in his seat and closing his eyes, hoping that the loss of the image could ease the pressure in his temples.
"It's all fine and dandy, but we need to move, Hakkai. It's getting kinda late." Gojyo pulled out a cigarette, temporarily forgetting that he had only one more left and that they would not be reaching the next town tomorrow.
"You're right, Gojyo. But it doesn't seem like there is another road anywhere near. Did you forget that already?"
Goku laughed at the redhead. "HA! You are SO lame!"
"Oi!"
"Actually, there is," the brown-eyed foreigner said, unbeknownst to him interrupting something that could have turned out not very pretty. "It follows the flow of the river that way, down these mountains." He indicated to their right. The first thing the four travellers saw through the rare trees were wilting bushes. "That road doesn't appear to be used in years, though. There might be a bit of a difficulty with your vehicle."
"I do believe we will be just fine." Hakkai smiled pleasantly after a little bit of inspection of the said road. "Shall we go today or wait for tomorrow? Sanzo?"
"Go." That one low growl said everything.
"Very well then. Let's go, Hakuryuu." He started up the engine again. "Thank you for the information, gentlemen."
"You are welcome."
And without further ado, the group of four continued on with their way.
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Part 1
