Panic in The Pack and A Cute New Face

"I'm huungry!" Goku whined for the third time.

"Shut up you stupid monkey!" Sanzo yelled, whirling around and smacking said monkey upside the head with a paper fan.

"Ow! Geez, I can't help it," Goku muttered, rubbing his head. "We haven't eaten since breakfast for cryin' out loud."

"Sanzo, Sanzo," Gojyo sighed, slinging his arms over the front seats, "You, of all people, should know that food is all that our one-track monkey's pea-sized brain has the room to think about."

Sanzo merely grunted a responce while Hakkai laughed. Goku, however, failed to see the humor in Gojyo's comment.

"My brain's bigger than a pea! And don't call me a monkey, perverted kappa!!" he exclaimed, balling his hands into fists.

"What'd you say?!" Gojyo retaliated, spinning around to face the youngster with fists of his own, "I can't understand your screeching, you damn chimp!"

"Say that again to my face, you stupid cockroach!" Goku yelled, grabbing the red-head by the collar of his shirt. The verbal banter continued for a few minutes until Sanzo got fed up with hearing it.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"You wanna die?" he asked, seething.

Before either of the two now terrified back-seat passangers could respond, they all found themselves lurching forward at the sound of wheels skidding on the dirt road, Hakkai having slammed on the breaks.

"Holy shit!" Gojyo exclaimed, his hands white-knuckling the rim of the jeep, "Hakkai, a god-damned warning sure woulda been appreciated!"

"Sorry about that," Hakkai replied, smiling apologetically.

"What was that all about, anyway?" Goku inquired, head poking up to the front of the vehicle between Hakkai and Sanzo.

"Well," Hakkai said, trailing off and pointing.

In front of the jeep (Goku and Gojyo had to stand to look) the guys saw a small, somewhat fluffy creature curled up in the middle of the road, trembling.

"What is it?" Goku asked.

Hakkai turned to the youthful brunette with a patient smile.

"I'm not totally sure, but..."

"It looks like a wolf," Gojyo interjected.

"Exactly," Hakkai agreed, "Although that one's just a baby."

At that point, the helpless creature looked up at the jeep, ears quivering from its trembling, and let out a long, loud whine. Then, it clumsily stood and attempted to scamper away, only to yelp in pain.

"It looks like its leg is injured," Hakkai observed, his smile gone and replaced by a look of concern.

"I don't care what the hell it is or what's wrong with it," Sanzo grunted, looking down so that his bangs shadowed his eyes, "Let's go."

"But Sanzooo!" Goku protested, "We can't just leave it here. It's so cute!"

"We're leaving! Now!"

Upon hearing this Goku pouted for a moment, fuming. Then, he hopped out of the car, sprinted over to the pitiful pup, and brought it back to the jeep with him. The pup, obviously exhausted, didn't protest aside from snarling at him.

"Can we take it with us, then?"

Sanzo turned and shot a long glare at Goku, then sighed - knowing the headache he'd get from arguing with him - and turned back around.

"Do what you want."

She was, at the moment, sitting in the middle of her home. It was relatively deep within the forest, so as to avoid the humans and youkai. She could hear the river off in the distance, but it wasn't close enough to worry about flooding during the rainy season. It was a somewhat small clearing with some flat boulders that made comfy sun-bathing spots and some dens that were dug underground. At the moment, the girl's home was in a panic, with her family barking and growling at eachother, trying to figure out what they should do about the missing pup.

So, the girl sat amidst the chaos, trying to help keep the remaining puppies calm. She wished the pack leader would hurry up and return from the hunting trip he had taken with about half the pack. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long; after a few minutes the hunting group arrived and order was shortly restored. Two groups out of the pack were organized; one would stay behind with the pups, and the significantly larger one would search for the missing one. The girl was grateful to be part of the latter group, for although she loved the little ones, they were a handfull.

With a short farewell to the pack elder, the girl was dashing through the forest, searching for her lost "sibling".