Prince Freakin' Charming
Why do you look so familiar?
I could swear that I have seen your face before
I think I like that you seem sincere
I think I'd like to get to know you a little bit more
I think there's something more
Life worth's living for
Who knows what could happen
Do what you do
Just keep on laughing
One thing's true
There's always a brand new day
I'm gonna live today like it's
My Last Day
-Avril Lavigne
Prelude:
"Reality's a bitch… you can't blame all that crap on yourself…it wasn't because you didn't love her enough…Ah hell, like I'm one to talk.I don't have anything important in my life. I guess I really wouldn't know."
Just once…I think I want to know… What exactly is love? Not that I want it particularly. You don't need love to get laid.
The love I couldn't get…
The love he couldn't protect.
While blaming our own powerlessness
We're watching illusions fade into a sea of blood.
Chapter One: Damsel in Distress
Gojyo pressed his back up against Sanzo's, holding his shakujou tightly and grinning in spite of himself. Hakkai moved in next to him, his shoulder touching Gojyo's his back against Goku's, and the protective circle was complete.
"Damn, there are a lot of them today." The hybrid muttered.
"Yes, it would seem this is the largest group we've fought in several months."
"How annoying." Sanzo muttered.
"Guys, we don't got time for this! I'm hungry—we gotta' finish these uglies up fast so we can eat!"
Gojyo ignored Goku's complaints about hunger and glared back at the youkai nearest to him, a wiry, short man with harsh, blue eyes. He heard Sanzo cock his gun. Beside him Hakkai was gathering chi, ready to attack. The half-blood slid his hands along the shaft of his weapon, feeling the reassuring steel of it and taking a deep breath. Most of these youkai were weaklings, but there were so many of them that it didn't really matter how strong they were. Their sheer numbers might be enough to thwart the Sanzo team.
The leader youkai smiled viciously, pointed soundlessly at the foursome, giving a silent command to attack, and just like that, the whole mob was rushing at them, tongues hanging lose in their mouths, teeth and eyes gleaming in the light, claws stretched forward, aching to saw into warm flesh.
With a flick of his wrist, Gojyo sent the chain of his shakujou flying through the air, catching the light of the dying sun, the crescent shaped blade slicing smoothly through muscle and bone, blood spraying down in a bloody storm. It speckled his face and got lost in the crimson color of his hair.
His teammates were alive with movement in the same moment, Goku leaping up, nyoi-bo swinging back and forth, busting skulls and breaking bones, killing in an efficient, brutal manner; Hakkai released the chi he'd built in a deadly wave of heat, energy and light that engulfed his immediate enemies, blowing them back into trees and over the cliff they were precariously perched on. Through it all, Sanzo was standing perfectly still, firing his gun off, shot after shot. His aim was perfect, and he was able to kill many enemies by himself, but Gojyo couldn't help resenting his method of fighting. Everyone else actually had to put some effort into it.
A tall, blonde youkai ran at Sanzo's back, grinning like the devil; the priest didn't see him coming, went on shooting only what was directly in front of him.
"Dammit!" Gojyo mumbled. It was unusual for Sanzo to be careless enough to let someone come up behind him, but it did happen occasionally, and then one of his teammates had to save him. Gojyo twisted around and flung his arm in that direction, sending the blade and chain in a precise line toward Sanzo's assailant, just as the priest turned around. The blade severed the man at the waist and blood exploded from both halves of him, spattering the front of Sanzo's perfect, white robes. The youkai screamed and writhed in the dirt, dying slowly.
"Goddammit, Gojyo!" Sanzo screamed.
Gojyo grinned, and began to recoil his chain, but before he could make a smart ass comment, another youkai got in under his extended arm and sliced into his side.
"Gojyo!" Goku shouted.
A warm wash of blood spurted from the new wound. It was shallow though, since the man had been barely an arm's length away and his claws had only barely sunk in. It was slightly painful, but more than pained, Gojyo felt angry. That never would have happened if he hadn't dropped his defenses long enough to help Sanzo.
Over the last year of journeying, he'd fought tons upon tons of youkai, only very rarely getting hurt when one of the most powerful youkai went up against him. Sanzo barely even got hurt, mostly because his comrades were there to help him out. Being injured so trivially was humiliating, and if there had been any less youkai to face, it never would have happened.
Furious at the man who'd injured him, Gojyo slashed down through the shoulder with the other end of his shakujou, severing his arm, and then he kicked him in the stomach and sent him falling over the edge of the cliff.
That bought him an extra moment of peace and he pressed his free hand to the hot wound, putting his fingers in it to try and determine how deep it was. It wasn't too bad. Just annoying.
"Dammit."
Regardless of how minor the wound was, he was still injured, and this would definitely slow him down. He spun around, angrier than ever, killing four youkai with a single flash of his weapon.
The next thing he knew, Hakkai was beside him, looking worried, "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. It's not bad."
Hakkai was distracted for a moment and had to pause to kill a few youkai who were getting closer, but then he took a second to asses the wound with his eyes, "I'll heal it as soon as we're done here; can you still fight?"
Gojyo's face and ears got slightly hot. He wasn't prone to blushing, but he didn't like being treated as inferior or incapable, so he repeated himself, "It's not bad: I'll be fine."
The fight raged on for a few minutes, and slowly the four of them began to thin down the number of assassins, but, as he had predicted, the wound slowed Gojyo down considerably, and he found himself falling back further and further, toward the edge of the cliff, as his friends advanced forward, barely aware. That made him all the angrier. Except for Sanzo, he was already the weakest of them, and he couldn't afford to let a wound get in the way. He slaughtered the next few youkai in a particularly ruthless way.
The youkai must have noticed that he was injured and thought he would make easy prey, because they began to close in on him, cutting him off from his comrades. That only enhanced the fury, and he killed them with relish.
Hakkai moved toward him, "There certainly are a lot of them today."
Gojyo just mumbled, "Fucking bastards."
His friend looked at him out of the corner of his eye, "If the wound is giving you trouble, perhaps you should-"
"It's not." He snapped.
"Of course not…"
"Goddamn Sanzo…"
"Are you going to blame him?"
Gojyo snorted and decapitated another youkai, "Maybe."
Hakkai shook his head disapprovingly and began to say something, but didn't get the chance. A particularly large youkai jumped out of a tree right above them and landed so close in front of Gojyo the hybrid had to leap back in surprise, putting him dangerously close to the cliff's edge.
Grinning, the youkai shoved him the rest of the way, sending him off the edge of the cliff.
"Gojyo!" Hakkai jumped forward, just a little too late, clawing at the air in a futile attempt to grab the hybrid by the shirt.
Then Gojyo was falling. It was a strange sensation, and it seemed to take forever; at first it was unreal, just a gentle, backward motion, like taking an elevator down. His body fell, his stomach seeming to be pulled back up toward the cliff, along with his hair, limbs and clothes, Hakkai getting smaller and smaller at the top of the cliff. But after the moment of shock had passed, and Gojyo realized what was happening, that his feet were no longer safely planted on the ground, he waved his arms frantically and kicked back and forth, as if he were trying to fly. A scream tore from his lips.
He hit the river below hard and was plunged under, engulfed by ice-cold, blue green. His eyes were wide open. He stared through the murkiness, panicking as bubbles streamed from his open, screaming mouth. He hit the bottom, but not hard enough for it to hurt, and the current immediately began to drag him down stream, slamming him once or twice against a few rocks. Flailing his arms, Gojyo propelled himself up to the surface, gasping and sucking in air frantically, coughing up the water that had gotten into his lungs.
The hybrid whipped his hair back and forth, getting it out of his eyes, and looked around.
Already the current had taken him several yards from the point where he'd fallen, and he was being taken further and further from his comrades. Muttering curses, he began to swim, not daring to fight the current. He just needed to get to the bank so he could focus on getting back up the cliff.
On his right was a straight, rock wall, clean-cut and faceless, with very few handholds, and the stone looked smooth. That was where he'd fallen from.
On the other side was a glossy, green bank, wet and grassy, lined by tall, thick trees and weeds.
He swam for the bank and crawled up out of the water, getting up easily, shaking his hair and removing his jacket to try to wring it out. He coughed a little more and dropped onto the grass when he was a safe distance from the water, stared back up at the cliff, half-expecting to see Hakkai diving in after him, but there was no sign of any of his friends.
Again, he surveyed the cliff, searching for any place he might be able to climb back up, but as far as he could see, it was the same, even plane for all the way along the river.
Mumbling, he got up and tested his body for any breaks. He seemed fine, other than the slash in his side, so as long as he followed the river west he should run into the others eventually. They would finish with the youkai eventually, maybe in another half-hour or forty minutes, and then they'd be looking for him. Maybe. In any case, there was nothing to do but to keep moving and see if there was some way to get back to them.
With a sigh, Gojyo lit a new cigarette and began to walk along the bank, keeping his eyes on the cliff for any sign of the others.
The woods around him were peaceful and deep, the sun casting a somewhat green light on the ground, the trees throwing long, dark shadows in his path. There were a few bird calls, but for the most part, it was silent. He kept himself alert, just in case some of the assassins decided to make sure he was dead.
Really, he probably should have been dead, or at least injured. It had been a good drop from the cliff to the river, and he had barely missed the rocks. Even then, he should have drowned or something.
Gojyo shivered. The sun was setting, and the evening was coming in, making the world considerably cooler, and here he was, soaking wet. With the way his day was going, he'd probably get hypothermia and die.
It hadn't been too good a morning. Sanzo kicking him in the side had been the morning alarm, and then he'd been chewed out for letting the fire die. Goku had inhaled most of the food, leaving the others with only a very meager portion, so everyone had been irritable all day long. They'd gotten into Jeep and driven as far as they could on the road, Goku bitching about hunger and boredom and anything else that crossed his tiny mind. Eventually, Gojyo had gotten fed up with it and spent a few minutes yelling at Goku, until Sanzo had gotten fed up with that and turned around to hit him numerous times with the fan. Hakkai had been the only one who'd been tolerable for the whole day.
But Gojyo was having a hard time being annoyed with him lately. It had only been a month since Ikku, a fiercely strong youkai who had wanted revenge for friend lost in Hyakuganmaoh's castle, had killed Hakkai and sent Gojyo into that hellish period of life when the only thing he'd been able to think about was his best friend, lying there, dead, covered in blood. After he'd gone looking for Hazel, only to find that Hakkai's body was gone, Gojyo hunted down Ikku, and all the other demons and humans who had been involved in Hakkai's murder. He'd killed some of them, including Ikku, but it hadn't changed the fact that Hakkai was dead, and Gojyo had spent days, wandering alone with his anger and grief, blaming himself for his friend's death. Nothing had gotten through to him, not even when Sanzo had said he'd seen Hakkai and that he was alive.
Eventually Gojyo had gone looking for Sanzo and Goku, and had discovered that Hakkai really was alive, that he'd been revived by a youkai mage named Soo-Lin, and after helping his friend to remember the last four years, which had been lost somewhere in the process of dying and coming back, they had traveled on, things quickly going back to normal, except for the fact that Gojyo was reluctant to let Hakkai out of his sight.
It was a strange emotion, really, to be so constantly worried about someone, but those days when he'd been so sure that Hakkai was dead because of him had been so horrible, and so unbearable, like the worst nightmare he'd ever experienced, he hadn't been sure at the time that he could survive it. But Hakkai was okay now; he had most of his memories back, though he did need to be reminded of some events every now and then. And Gojyo was going to make sure it stayed that way.
The hybrid stopped suddenly.
He had come to a road that was running parallel to the river. It was a light, soft brown, but the dirt looked rich and there was a column of grass growing down the center, like not many people had walked there. He stood for several moments, looking up and down the road, trying to decide if he should follow it or stay on the river side. It looked like it came out of the deepest part of the forest, stretching back so far he could barely see it in the distance where the light was especially dim. But it ran forward, following the river perfectly for as far as he could see, reaching into the west. A road meant a town. And a town meant bars. Bars meant booze and cigarettes, cards and women. And food.
If there was a town nearby, Sanzo and the others would wind up there, eventually, even if they were just looking for him.
Decisively, Gojyo set out down the road, carrying his jacket over his shoulder and puffing casually on his cigarette. He was starting to dry off, even though he still felt cold; soon though, he hoped, he'd be warm and dry in a bar, surrounded by gorgeous, single girls. He smiled at the thought and walked slightly faster.
As he went along, the road seemed to get a little wider and a little more traveled; he even saw tire tracks from a wagon or a bicycle. There was definitely civilization of some kind nearby. The longer he walked, the further away the river seemed to get, and soon he was cut off from it by a thick wall of trees, and could barely hear its laughter across the distance. That bothered him a little, since he couldn't see the cliff anymore, and therefore, if they came looking for him, he wouldn't be able to see his friends. He put that out of his head, assuming they would catch up to him as long as they were going in the same direction.
He must have gone a couple miles before it started to get darker, and he began to get anxious for the town. His wound was really bothering him now, sharply aching when he walked and breathed, and he was worried that the smell of blood would attract wild animals. Or hungry youkai. Gojyo walked a little fast, whistled to himself to try to keep his mind occupied with something other than danger.
Up ahead he could hear the creaking of wheels, a distant, vague sound; he paused and held his breath to listen, just to make sure that's really what it was. When he was positive that there was some kind of a vehicle in front of him, Gojyo hurried forward, all but running around the bend.
But he stopped short.
Immediately after he turned the bend the tree line ended and there was a long, steep hill directly in front of him, so steep it looked like it lead right up into the painted, evening sky.
And in the middle of the road was a young woman. She was shorter than he would have liked, dressed in modest clothing with long sleeves, a long skirt that covered everything but her feet, and a collar that closed around her neck. Even so, he could see that her figure was slim and perfect and beautiful. Her long, black hair was swept up into a very modest bun, but that only exposed her slender neck and beautiful face. It was an angel's face, shapely and small with a well-structured jaw and a dainty nose. Her eyes were large and almond-shaped, a bright, crystalline blue. Both of her hands gripped the handle of a small, bright red, tin wagon that was loaded with groceries. She was staring right at him, pink mouth open a little, cheeks flushed from exertion. Her skin was a dark tan, like a lot of people here in the far west.
"Oh." Gojyo said stupidly. "Uh, hi." What the hell? Hi? Since when do I say hi to a woman? He cleared his throat and struggled to correct himself, searching desperately for some smooth, suggestive words that would make her laugh and blush, but they wouldn't come, and he found himself simply staring back at her, clearing his throat again and again.
Eventually the woman spoke, "Can I help you? Are you lost?"
"Who? Me?"
Blinking once, she nodded, "Of course."
"Oh, uh, no. Not me. I'm…just heading west."
The woman looked interested, "You're a traveler?" Then she reassessed him, "It doesn't look like you have any baggage at all. Don't you even have a sleeping bag?"
"What? No. I mean. Well, I do but…"
"Did you lose it?"
For the second time that day, Gojyo felt his face warming up. He didn't understand what was happening. Normally he was a smooth-talking fiend when it came to women. Normally he swept them off their feet and got them into the bed when he'd only just learned their names, and they were happy to oblige, but this girl was different, and for some reason he was stumbling all over himself. He tucked hair behind his ear. Realized that exposed his scars and covered them again. Put his hands in his pockets and toyed with his lighter. Took them out again to sweep hair out of his eyes. He felt so nervous it wasn't even logical.
"I actually…I got separated from the guys I'm traveling with…my stuff's still with them."
"Separated?" She looked him up and down, "Did you get wet somewhere?"
He laughed forcibly, "No, but I will soon, if you let me."
The girl just looked at him with solemn eyes. And rightly so. The joke didn't even make much sense.
He cleared his throat again, "Sorry. I, uh, fell in the river."
"Oh!" She put a hand to her mouth, "My goodness! Are you okay?"
"Uh, yeah…I'm fine. It was just a little inconvenient." He kicked at the dirt. He wanted to get away from this strange girl who was making him feel so nervous, but he couldn't move. He couldn't keep walking, go right past her and ignore her. He didn't want to. "So, is there a town nearby?"
The woman began to pull the wagon again, voice strained by the effort of dragging her load up the hill, "You could call it that if you want to. There's not much in it."
"But it is a town, right?"
"Uh-huh. I'm going there right now."
"Does it have a bar?"
"Just one. It's a shitty little place, if you know what I mean."
He laughed, a little too loud.
"It's the only town around for miles though; your friends will probably wind up there if they're going west too. If you want to come along with me, I can help you get settled in."
Gojyo really wanted to say that would be great and make some kind of stupid, suggestive joke about sharing a room or something, but all that came out was, "Yeah. Thanks."
The girl held out her hand, "I'm Jiya."
He took it carefully. It was smooth and soft like silk, warm like summer. "Jiya…" it was a pretty name, and he liked the way it rolled off his tongue. Something about it made him think of Jien. The sound was similar. "I'm Gojyo."
Jiya smiled for the first time since they'd met; and hers was a face made to smile. The expression in her eyes lit up and dimples appeared in her cheeks, and her whole face glowed brightly, like the sun. It made him feel warm all over, and a shiver sped right through his spine, up into his brain. He held her hand a little longer than he meant to.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Gojyo."
"Yeah…"
She giggled slightly, and went back to pulling the wagon.
It took the hybrid a moment to realize he should help, and he went around to the front, "Uh, so, that looks pretty heavy."
"It is. I've been pulling it for miles, ever since I left the last town."
"Uh, I meant, if you want, I'd be happy to pull it for you…"
Jiya gave him a look, then sort of laughed to herself, "Okay, sure. If you want." She handed the handle to him, "Help yourself."
Gojyo grinned and took the wagon handle, began to pull it up the hill while Jiya walked beside him, stretching her arms. It was a little heavy, but not too bad for him. He could easily get it up the hill.
For a few moments, they walked in silence, then she asked, "So, Gojyo, where are you and your friends going?"
"Oh, just west…we're sort of on a business trip."
"And where are you from?"
"Way,
way back east. We've been on the road for over a year."
Jiya gave him a startled look, "That long? Wow, I bet you've seen a lot of exotic places."
"Nah. We're in a hurry. Not much time for tourism."
"Isn't it dangerous though? Traveling with so many youkai around?"
"Let's just say they don't like messing with us. We hold our own."
She laid her soft, warm hand on his forearm and murmured, "You must be really strong."
The touch made Gojyo wild; his face and ears burned and his stomach shuddered, full of crazy butterflies. He hadn't reacted this strongly to a woman since he was a kid.
His tongue got twisted as he tried to speak, "So, uh…so, do you live in the town or…?"
"Yes. I've lived there my whole life, unfortunately."
"You don't like it?"
"Not
at all," she shook her head, "it's too small, and the people
are hateful. Everyone gossips and gets into other people's
business. It's small, so there's no market, and I have to walk
five miles every week to buy food for my family."
Gojyo's heart sank, "You've got a husband and kids, huh?"
She snorted, "Hell no. I've got a fat boyfriend who thinks that we're married, but no husband, and definitely no kids."
"You're not married to him?"
"No. And I don't want to be."
"But he makes you do all the shopping? I mean, it's dangerous, isn't it? These woods are crawling with youkai."
"He's too much of a coward to go himself, or even to just come with me. I'd leave him in an instant, if I had somewhere else to go, but my parents are dead; they died in a fire a few years ago, and left me with nothing. I live with my boyfriend, because he provides for me. That's it." Her eyes were burning fiercely now, "Believe me, if I had another choice, I'd have left him years ago."
"That's too bad." He murmured, dwelling on the hand that still rested on his arm.
"What is?"
Finally, Gojyo was able to say something right; he looked at her and smiled his most daring, charming smile, "I just hate to see a bird in a cage."
Jiya stared back at him, her crisp blue eyes wide with wonder, her mouth parted and shivering slightly; they had reached the top of the hill, and the sunset made her glow a radiant orange. The wind played with her stray strands of hair. For a long time, they just looked at each other.
At last, Jiya pointed down the hill, "See? There's my town."
Gojyo forced himself to tear his eyes away and looked to where she was pointing. About a mile away was a tiny composition of buildings and streets, surrounded by forest on all sides.
She sighed, "It's sill going to be a good twenty minutes before we're there."
"Not necessarily." Gojyo smiled at her.
Jiya gave him a confused look, "What?"
"I've got an idea." He rolled the wagon back and forth, testing how well it rolled; it creaked a little, but the wheels seemed well-oiled. "It's all downhill from here, right? Get in the wagon."
The girl just stared at him like he was crazy, "You want me to get in the wagon?"
"Yeah, and we'll just coast into town."
Jiya looked doubtful, but he urged her, and she eventually gave in, mumbling as she did so, "I really meet the weirdest people."
Gojyo laughed to himself, and gripped the side of the wagon, putting his jacket in and then grabbing the handle; his heart felt a little tense as he tossed his cigarette down and crushed it, "'Kay, you ready?"
"We're gonna' die." She mumbled, hanging onto the sides of the wagon and gritting her teeth.
"Nah. We'll be fine." He started to push the wagon, over the crest of the hill and then down until it started to gather speed. Soon it was flying along and he had to run to keep up. Grinning at Jiya hugely, he jumped in and grabbed the handle.
The wagon bounced wildly down the hill, jig-jogging back and forth, speeding over ruts and hills, a cloud of dust flying up behind it, the wheels shuddering from the speed. Gojyo's hair flew back in the wind, and Jiya's bun came undone. The girl gave a high, shrill scream and threw her arms around his waist, holding on tightly and screaming again, "Make it stop!"
He just laughed, "I can't."
Gojyo wrenched the handle hard to the right to avoid hitting a large tree branch that had fallen into the middle of the road. The town was getting closer and closer; a cat wandered across the path and he swerved to try to hit it, but the creature leapt agilely out of the way and then hissed angrily.
People had gathered at the bottom of the hill and were staring, pointing and talking amongst themselves.
The hybrid heard Jiya screaming and laughed, "Relax a little, would ya? It'll be fine."
Soon they were within the boundaries of the town, the wagon wheels hopping along the rough, cobblestone road, people dodging to get out of the way, older people shaking their heads in disapproval and then going back inside. Gojyo yanked back hard on the wagon and it began to get slower and slower, coasting easily to as stop, and dust settled in a cloud around them.
Jiya was panting and still holding on tight, her hair a mess, her eyes wide, body trembling, but her mouth was smiling sharply.
He jumped out and offered her his hand, "There you are, Miss, safe at home."
She was trembling so hard she just about fell as she got out of the wagon, and he swept her up into his arms so that their faces were just inches apart, and Gojyo really wanted to kiss her. He forced himself to abstain, since she belonged to another man.
"Oh…my…God," Jiya heaved as he put her back on her feet, "that was terrifying…but…I haven't had so much fun in so long…"
He grinned, "You're welcome."
She didn't answer for a moment, kept her back to him, and then reached and grabbed his jacket, inspecting it carefully for a few seconds before she whirled around, face filled with horror, hair tumbling down around her shoulders, "Gojyo-San! You're bleeding!"
"What?" He had totally forgotten about the wound from earlier, and he looked down at it now, "Oh, yeah. I forgot."
"You're hurt! And I made you pull my wagon for me!"
"Really, it's not that bad. I don't even feel it."
Jiya knelt in front of him, even with everyone watching, and peeled his shirt up to get a look at it. Gojyo jumped in surprise when she touched the sensitive, damaged skin and gritted his teeth. Her fingers were so smooth, and cool to the wound, it was soothing in a way.
"You shouldn't have exerted yourself."
Now he was shaking, but he wasn't sure why. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
The girl opened her mouth to say more, but a loud, booming voice cut her off, "Jiya! What are you doing?"
She leapt up immediately, struggling to get her hair back in a bun, and Gojyo looked around just in time to see a huge man emerge from the crowd. He had dark hair and skin like Jiya, but his eyes looked black; he was built like an ox, standing about six-six and weighing about three hundred pounds. He looked mean. Meaner than mean.
"Shen!" Jiya smiled but Gojyo could see how forced it was, "I brought the groceries you wanted."
The man stopped in front of her, jaw set, and it looked for a minute like he was going to hit her. If he did, Gojyo didn't have any qualms about killing him. But in the end, the man just snapped, "What's your hair doing down? Fix it!"
"Of course, Shen." Jiya said quietly, putting her hair back into the prudish bun. That was disappointing since her hair had been so gloriously shiny when it was down.
Shen pointed a thick finger at Gojyo, "Who's this kid? What are you doing with him?"
"Oh, this is Gojyo-San: he's a traveler I met on the road, and he needs a place to stay. I thought we could put him in an extra room."
Gojyo glared back at Shen, not even wanting to pretend to be polite. He lit another cigarette.
"No. He can't stay with us. What do you think this is, a bed and breakfast?"
"But Shen, he's hurt!"
"I don't care! He can't stay in my house!"
"Well, where's he supposed to go? There's no inn in town. Do you expect him to walk the whole five miles back to the next closest town? It'll be dark soon."
"Where he goes is not my problem, Jiya! Not get these groceries inside."
Gojyo opened his mouth to tell Shen that treating his woman like property probably wouldn't get him any loving at night, but a sharp look from Jiya silenced him, and her tone dropped, "Please Shen, please, it would mean so much to me, if you would just let him stay with us for one night."
Shen sneered and started to say no again, but stopped and seemed to become suddenly aware of all the people standing around, witnessing him turning a stranger out. So then he snorted, "He can't stay for free, Jiya;" he looked at Gojyo menacingly, "Hear that, kid? If you're gonna' stay with us, you'd better pay up."
"Pay?" Gojyo turned his pockets inside out, producing only small change, ""What, you want a cigarette?"
"If you can't pay then you can help me with the chores tonight and tomorrow morning."
"Shen-"
"There's plenty to do around her: wood to chop, horses to feed. Plenty."
"Shen, he shouldn't be chopping wood when he's-"
"Shut up, Jiya."
Gojyo looked at him contemptuously, nodded slowly, "Fine, I'll chop your damn wood."
Shen snorted and turned to go inside, shouting at Jiya as he did so, "Get the food inside."
Once he was gone, Gojyo mumbled, "'S he always like that?"
"More or less. Sometimes worse."
"And you put up with it? Damn, if I were you, I'd be giving him the bob-it treatment."
Jiya chortled slightly, "He feeds me, that's all that matters."
"He acts like an over-controlling mother. How much of an age difference is between you?"
She shrugged and grabbed a bag of food, "He's almost thirty. I'm eighteen."
"That's a little gross. If I were you, I'd leave him for some hot, young guy."
Jiya gave him a plaintive smile, "Things aren't always that easy, Gojyo."