Ride

by Splay

Nancy meets some interesting people as she goes on an adventure trip in a foreign land.

RIDE

'I don't like this van,' Bess remarked.

'What great weather,' George said ignoring her complaining cousin.

'Don't worry, Bess, we'll be walking mostly,' Ned said in mock consolation.

'I did not come to be bitten by mosquitoes,' Bess complained squatting one particularly large one away.

'Come on, Bess, they're not that bad… they're better off than scorpions and snakes, which we're going to encounter,' Ned chuckled as Bess gasped.

'Calm down, Bess,' Nancy who was at the wheel, spoke, 'this is just an ordinary safari; we're not going to encounter any dangerous creatures.'

Nancy was getting weary of driving for nearly three hours straight now. She, like the rest, hadn't had much sleep in the plane and the bickering was getting to her nerves.

'Do you want me to drive?' Ned offered.

Nancy smiled and declared the village was only fifteen minutes away, 'I'll manage.'

Though they knew that the village was remote with no comforts they're used to, they were eagerly awaiting a chance to bathe and get some sleep.

Nancy felt a bit despondent when the said village reached. It was very typically rural arid place with a few scattered buildings and some dried up trees. It was a wonder that there is a forest adjacent to it. Even before reaching their inn, their 'guide' spotted the dull rented red van and came bouncing to them.

'Welcome,' he beamed, his arms wide in a gesture suggesting of embracing the whole community. Seeing their weary faces, he shortened the welcome speech and took them to their rooms.

'Tomorrow we go the forest-place. Lovely!' he said as made a smacking noise as though it was tasty as well and left. They all slept in one room, which was provided with one single bed, one divan and something which looked like a thick carpet. Bess took the bed, Ned divan and Nancy and George, the carpet. After and hour of sleep, Nancy woke up to have a bath. When she came out, George looked prepared for bath. Nancy was already awake and alert by then. She decided to go for a tour of the village with George.

'Awake? Fresh? Hungry?' the guide asked; he'd popped pout of nowhere as soon as the girls stepped out.

'Yeah, yeah,' Nancy said enthusiastically. He was soon happily in between the two girls chatting rapidly in multiple languages. He promised them a hearty meal and while contemplating a place to eat, two guys came up to them.

They spoke in a mix of English and local language. They had apparently hired him as a guide on that day and were getting impatient with him.

'Sorry man, men,… New visitors… America!' the guide said as though that was a strong argument.

One of the guys looked at Nancy. She suddenly got gooseflesh – he was an extremely handsome guy with a dark tan skin color, inky black hair but what which made her react was the eye color – brown-orange. Catching her eye, he gave her a rather sly smile.

'Hi, I'm Parth, and this is my friend Dugan. We're form a distant city and had come here for a safari.'

'Why not all go tomorrow? Huh… huh?' the guide suggested.

The four clearly didn't like that. The guy called Dugan, a pale guy, with long hair and irritated expression, looked more irritated than the rest.

'The girls got van!' the guide said with finality. This cheered the men a bit.

The guide treated the four to lunch. It was a large open place with lots of tables with assorted stools and chairs. They all sat together.

Since Nancy and Bess were not familiar with local cuisines the three men ordered. During the long wait, Nancy decided that the two guys were quite unusual. Dugan was also rather good looking and had an intense look about him just like Parth. He was wearing faded jeans and a cream cotton button-down shirt. He had a silver ring on his right index finger and had the habit of scratching it with left hand.

Parth was indeed more cheerful than his gloomy friend but was considerably more flirtatious, Nancy decided as she noticed his eyes flickering to her face now and then. Maybe she was being over-conscious of his otherwise innocent looks because she was slightly affected by his looks. He was also wearing jeans and an ordinary T shirt. The only thing extraordinary was a small earring on his left ear.

The food arrived after considerable waiting and it was pretty good despite being spicy. She asked the guide to get two parcels of whatever she had for her still sleeping friends.

'What? The guide isn't coming?' Ned bellowed. He was already irritated that they were to go with two strange guys, and now this! The guy had the nerve to call up Nancy and tell her this and had added – 'there's nothing to guide. You go with the other two. Great time to you!'

Nancy sighed and closed her eyes contemplating what to do. Should they cancel their trip? But their destination was not an impenetrably thick forest and is unlikely to be dangerous. And there're these two guys, who knows the place better than they do…

'I say we go,' George said raising her hand. She wanted an adventure trip so badly, she'd have gone alone if everyone else ditched. Bess sighed and raised her arm half-heartedly.

'Alright. We go then,' Ned added smiling a bit.

'Thanks guys.'

It was decided that Ned would drive this time. They agreed to pick up the two guys from a bus stop near their lodging. Sure enough they were there with their backpacks at the right time. Bess squealed in delight as she realized that they were much better looking than she had expected. Ned looked at her reproachfully.

'No guide?' Dugan asked ludicrously, refusing to enter the van.

'Yeah, he had called me today,' Nancy provided.

'Then how the hell would we go?' he asked, frustration clearly written all over his face.

'Relax, Dugan,' Parth said with an appealing smile, 'it's just an adventure trip. There's no destination or anything. We just hang around the place and come back. I've got a map from the guide the other day,'

'Cool,' Nancy said appreciatively taking the map for a look as the two boarded the van. Upon general consensus, Parth sat himself on the passenger seat guiding Ned with his map, while Dugan slouched at the backseat with the three girls.

Only after three hours drive did the arid environment started to change. The change was subtle but since the travellers were so conscious of getting lost, they started to perceive every little change.

'Guys, we're nearly there,' Parth declared looking into the map.

Nancy peered out of the window – there were no humans outside – just acres and acres of greenery – not very thick but enough to give the cold damp look one usually associated with a forest.

'How about we take a break, Ned?' Nina asked.

He was more than just welcome to take a break

They had some snacks and Parth offered everyone hot tea from his thermos.

After the break everyone were more refreshed and were more acquainted with the strangers. Bess unsure of who to direct her attention to, since both Dugan and Parth were cute and attention-worthy, talked relentlessly until her cousin glared at her. Then she concentrated on Dugan, since he was the more proximate of her victims. Ned was evidently warming up to Parth, much to Nancy's discomfort, for some reason, which she herself wasn't sure of. Aside from their looks, Nancy didn't approve of them. Of course, she hadn't had said that aloud till then because that might arouse the general feeling that she's being a racist. Nancy half-suspected her feeling were based on racism herself. She sighed at looked at George who was resolutely staring out of the window.

Nancy leaned to the front to see the map in Parth's hands. He was giving directions for Ned, who with occasional question, was following whatever he was reading. The map though clearly made, looked old and worn out. Nancy wondered where Parth got it from. Their destinations, namely, Three leaf, Rock Park, Sacred pond and one Durga temple, were situated in one long arc, around 100 miles long around one rather wide more dense forest, over which something was written in local dialect.

'What that?' Nancy asked Parth.

He turned around and gave her a crooked smile before saying 'it's written don't enter!'

'Huh?' Ned asked.

'Well according to the guide, one ought not to go in there,' Parth continued, 'strange disappearing has been reported.'

'What?' Bess yelled and turned her attention to the front.

'It's rumour I think and it's only in that area. The places we're going to are regular tourist areas.'

This seemed to have satisfied Bess, but Nancy was sceptical – the guide hadn't informed them that. Why were not they informed about that? Nancy shook her head – now it's too late to worry about that. She concentrated on the map – they were nearing what which should be the temple that the map showed.

'Ladies and gentleman, our first destination approaches,' Parth announced as Ned stopped the van.

Nancy forgot all her uncertainties as she got out of the van. The place was beautiful. Amidst large trees and complete wilderness stood a small half-ruined temple. They weren't sure how to get in – there were no doors but plenty of openings at different levels. They all crawled in one which looked the widest. The inside was teaming with all sorts of creepy and crawly creatures, much to Bess's discomfort. The others were more intend on finding what was inside to notice the crawling creatures. There was a central structure, also made of stone, which was surprisingly intact and that too turned out to be tiny room, which housed the deity. The deity was not very clearly made but had a very fierce expression on her face.

'Creepy place! Let's get out of here!' Bess said.

They crawled out through a different opening for they couldn't really place where they came in from. They landed in front of a large Banyan tree. It was huge and most likely very old; probably as old as the temple was, for on its foot was a small statue – of what which resembled a gargoyle.

'Another creepy looking statue,' Bess remarked as she stepped carefully over various roots to make her way out.

'It's odd,' Nancy said addressing Ned, 'it's pointing in a different direction.' It was indeed pointing in a direction oblique to the temple.

Parth was squatting in front of the statue and studying it carefully. Whatever Parth did was making Nancy uncomfortable. She found this suspicious as well.

'It is pointing to the forbidden area direction,' George said, the map in her hand.

'Yeah,' Parth said straightening up, 'it is, isn't it? Maybe something interesting is situated there.'

'We are NOT going there!' Bess said.

'Relax, Bess,' Parth said laughing, 'Nobody said anything of going in there.'

'Come on,' Ned clapped his hands, 'all back in the van.'

Once again they started their journey. Parth volunteered to drive sensing NED must be tired, but he refused – he said he was feeling just fine. Then something odd happened, Dugan offered to drive.

'It's all right guys, I'm fine,' Ned said laughing; end of discussion.

Nancy after listening to George describing to an uninterested Bess the local animal population, decided to go through map once again. Unfortunately she chose her time to turn around just when Parth did the same. Their heads bumped into each other.

'Ouch!' both said.

'Sorry,'

'Sorry.'

Nancy realized that Parth had an intense smell. She correlated that with what she felt about his looks and his eyes and this sent a chill down her spine. It must have left some trace on her face, for Parth gave a very mischievous smile and said – 'I hope I didn't hurt you.'

Nancy just smiled uncomfortably. She then turned her attention back to the girls and Dugan but her ears were in front listening to what was going on between Ned and Parth. Mostly it was directions which Parth was giving as to where to go. Nancy badly wanted to turn and see the map, but didn't was Parth to notice her doing so. After a long while, Nancy turned back, very slowly to glance at the map, which Parth was holding. They were supposedly heading for the three leafs, which is a natural park, and he ought to be giving Ned directions for that. Nancy from her position thought, at some points, that Parth was misleading Ned.

Ned was listening to what Parth was saying without hesitation – this made Nancy even more uneasy. Was Parth deliberately misleading them? She strained her eyes to see the map without moving her head; Parth had asked Ned to take a sharp right just then. Nancy had to stop herself from gasping out loud – Ned had entered a path which was going to lead them directly into the forbidden forest. Parth moved his head sideways, now Nancy can't see the map. Was he doing this deliberately? Or was he reading the map wrong? If that's the case, Nancy should say something.

'Parth, you got it wrong,' Nancy said calmly, 'the direction is wrong.'

'What do you mean?' Parth looked at her straight in the eyes. His face was serious and his eyes, angry.

Ned had slowed the jeep but didn't stop.

'Now we're heading straight into the forest,' Nancy said as low as possible – she didn't want to give an impression that she's panicked.

'No, we're not,' Parth said, trying to coax back the smile, 'a little more in this direction and a sharp left will lead us to a path which will take us directly to three leaf.'

He had held up the map for Nancy to read but quickly took it off and asked Ned to continue. Ned hit the accelerator with more confidence.

'Can I see the map, please?' Nancy asked, now trying to sound displeased.

'Now, Ned, why is your girl friend so sceptical?' Parth said, his old smile now in full force upon his face, 'she seemed determined to prove that I am wrong. You see, I do this on regular basis.'

'Come on, Nancy, they know better,' Ned said, his foot resting firmly over the accelerator.

Nancy wondered what she should do at this point – whether to look more suspicious than ever and refuse to continue with the journey or pretend all is well and good and go through with it. The forbidden forest can't be that dangerous now can it be? No, why would Parth want to go there so badly? Or does a road as he had said earlier, which will take them to three leaf exist? If that's the case, Nancy will be really embarrassed if she fusses now. But why wouldn't he show Nancy the map? Her two girl friends hadn't apparently noticed what had happened. But Dugan, by looking more annoyed than ever, seemed to have listened in completely and gave Nancy a very irritated look.

After a long time thinking of a plan and seeing no sudden right turns, Nancy decided to do something. She said – 'Parth, there's no road on the right side. If you don't want me to see the map, at least show it to Ned, he's the one driv-'

A sudden bump on the road stopped her from continuing. This was followed by a series of jerks and finally the vehicle leaned uncontrollably onto its right and remained like that.

'Oh my God! What happened?' Bess asked after she stopped her shouting.

By then all the rest had jumped outside to check what had happened.

'A flat tyre?' Dugan asked.

'Not to worry, we have a spare,' Ned announced.

But the van's right front tyre had fallen into a rather deep gutter and they couldn't hoist back the van. All except Bess tried to pull it up, out of the hole, manually. After various tries they succeeded. They all sat on the floor for a few seconds to rest. Then Ned got the spare out of the deck and with help from Parth, Dugan and George, changed the tyre. Ned with a sigh got back in the van, but now the van wouldn't even start.

'What's the matter, Ned?' Nancy asked sticking her head in.

'I don't know. This isn't starting…'

And after many tries, Ned came out and opened the hood. And soon all the boys and George had their heads stuck in trying to figure out what's wrong. Though worried about the van, Nancy was more disturbed with the surrounding. The area was denser and there was no proper road. She wondered whether they'd already entered the forbidden zone.

'What's the matter, Nancy?' she turned to find Parth approaching her, an out-of-place smile on his face. Wasn't he with the rest just now? And she also noticed with a jolt, that she had unconsciously roamed a good distance away from other, with Parth on her wake. She walked towards him, and towards the van, but he blocked the way. With his arms spread out wide he made her stop. May be she was overreacting, but something about him made her turn back and walk further into the forest, away from others. She panicked a bit and walked without thinking.

After about five minutes walk, she realized that the place was getting darker and darker and stopped when she could see no more. She spread out her arms to feel the trees, but horrors; she isn't feeling anything at all! She slowly backed away and ran into the more lit place she had come from. Suddenly being blocked by Parth didn't feel so intimidating. She felt that she was running through an empty space immersed in darkness. She has and excellent sense of direction, she was sure she had come this way. Why hasn't she reached others yet? She felt some hope as she felt various branches and leaves graze against her skin. The forest was getting thicker and thicker but no evidence of her friends or van. By then she had managed to get various cuts and scratches from jutting out branches and she was tired from running. She stopped and supported her hands on her knees and took some long deep breaths to calm herself. That's when she heard footsteps from somewhere behind.

She could hear distinct foot steps, sometimes hurrying, sometimes walking. Was it Parth? Being alone with Parth in such a place wasn't exactly a nice prospect, but still, it's a sign of humanity and may probably help her get back to the van. She wondered whether she should run away or towards the foot steps. She couldn't make a decision – so she walked at rather a fast pace away from the foot steps. She wanted to see the person, ask his/her help, but as the foot steps closed in on her, she found herself breaking into longer strides, until someone held her firmly by the arm.

Nancy whirled around, now somehow sure that it's Parth. But it wasn't –

'Sorry to stop you like this. But you didn't seem to hear me call,' the man said.

'Who are you?' Nancy said shrugging off her arm. The guy took away his arm and raised both hands in air as though in surrender and said –

'My name's Hakkai.'

Hakkai was a foreigner, Nancy thought, forgetting for a second that she was a foreigner herself. But he didn't seem to be from the locality – he had slightly up slanting eyes, narrow face, slightly pale yellowish complexion and was only about as tall as Nancy. Maybe he's an oriental. But he had brilliant green eyes; must be contacts thought Nancy, though he was wearing glasses as well.

'Are you lost as well? I'm lost you see,' he continued, with a very friendly smile. Nancy didn't trust him one bit and remained quiet. He waited for some response but when he didn't get any, he continued –

'I've been lost a while now; since I don't have a watch or cell, I don't know for how long, but I think it must be over a few days. I was just glad I saw another human being, that's why I stopped you.'

Again no response; his smile faltered a bit.

'Well, I found an abandoned hut nearby and am now living in it. I ventured out of it to see if I can get back and then I see you running. So, are you lost?'

Nancy pondered on what to say. What if he's a dangerous guy and is lying about being lost? She swallowed a fair few times and said – 'No, I'm not lost.'

'Ah, so you know where to return to?' he asked still smiling.

'Yeah,' she said not moving.

'Can I come with you then?' he asked coming a bit closer; she backed away promptly.

'No, I'm going by myself,' she said trying to put some aggression into her voice.

'Ok, you don't trust me, understandable.' He looked a bit upset and took some time observing the ground and said, 'then I'll be off, I guess. To my hut, you see, before that disappears as well.' And with a smile, he disappeared into darkness.

What had she done? What if she doesn't find her friends? Was letting go of that guy a mistake? At least she wouldn't have been alone…

'Wait!' Nancy cried out to the direction he'd gone. Since nothing happened, Nancy ran after him into the darkness with no hope of finding him. Until –

'Oof!'

'Ouch! Oh it's you,' he said rubbing his side to where Nancy's elbow had collided.

'Sorry,' Nancy said gasping, 'I… I am lost. I don't know why I lied; no I guess I do…'

'You didn't trust me, no, you still don't,' he said still smiling, 'it's ok. Only natural; what made you change your mind?'

'I'm lost. I'd rather be with a stranger than be with no one at all,' Nancy explained.

'So how long have you been lost?' Hakkai asked.

'Ten minutes…'

'Wow only so much? Then we may be able to find them,' he said eagerly, 'which direction?'

'If I could find them by just retracing my path, then would I be still here?' she asked.

'Good point. So you're saying that they're no longer there?' he asked.

'No, they wouldn't go without me; I just left them ten minutes ago. And it's not just them. The whole place seemed different!'

'Ah, that's one of my theory of as to how I got lost,' Hakkai said, his hand behind his head, 'I think this place is bewitched and is deliberately making people get lost… somehow!'

'Bewitched?' Nancy asked ludicrously, 'as in a magic forest?'

'You have any other explanation for why you couldn't return to where your friends were?' Hakkai asked.

'Well,' Nancy thought aloud, 'no, but still bewitched is a bit too farfetched.'

'Hmm,' Hakkai remained silent for sometime before saying, 'let's hope my hut hasn't run away.'

'The hut is still there! Thank God!' Hakkai said happily as they spotted the worn out building. The lighting had improved and they were no longer in any thick forest. The hut wasn't exactly a hut, but it certainly had four walls and a roof. But Nancy was surprised as she got in the hut; it was rather neatly kept with a bedroll kept to one side, one old shelf packed with what which looked like groceries and a large jug full of water on the floor.

'How did you get all these stuff?' Nancy asked, now feeling very insecure.

'I had my jeep with me and I'd some remaining stuff in it. I took them all in,' he explained.

'Where's this jeep? I didn't see any parked outside,' Nancy asked, 'and how could you manoeuvre a jeep through the forest?'

'Oh I barely managed,' he said smiling broadly and scratching the back of his head again, 'don't worry it's parked quite nearby. Are you hungry? I plucked dome wild berries today – looks good.'

Nancy didn't see the point on mistrusting the guy anymore. If he wanted to do something funny he had plenty of opportunity to do so. But he hadn't yet.

'Are you a tourist?' Nancy asked, 'I am you see. I'm from US.'

'Oh, I am from China,' she was right, 'and I'm travelling with three other guys, whom I am separated from.' He looked down for a while, face quite serious and continued, 'but I'm not a tourist. We four are on a peculiar mission.'

'Oh,' Nancy wondered whether she should enquire after the mission. She didn't really think that her safety was dependant on the nature of the mission, but she was plain curious.

'I guess I should explain to you what we intend to do, since I think the nature of the forest is related to that,' he went on.

'There's supposedly a treasure hidden on the centre of the forest somewhere and according the local people, the forest has some means of making people lose their way or get themselves killed if they go too near it.'

Shit, they were treasure hunters, Nancy thought feeling nervous; so were those two, Parth and Dugan; that should be why they insisted on going into the centre of the forest despite the warnings. They even had a map!

'But Nancy,' Hakkai snapped her out of the thoughts, 'that thing which is hidden isn't a treasure trove; it's a stone, which upon touching will impart the person with immortality!'

Nancy sighed and said, 'and you believe in it?'

'I know it is the truth, but our mission is not attaining immortality,' he continued despite the evident disbelief of the listener, 'we are here to prevent two particular demons from attaining it.'

'Demons?' Nancy asked.

'Only demons can get immortality from the stone; and yes, two demons have set off to find the stone. We got the news way back and we have been on their tracks till now. We planned to get the stone and hide it away before they get there, but they beat us to it; they seem to have been more well-informed about the forest.'

'Probably they have a map,' Nancy said, their two newly-acquired friends in her mind. Hakkai suddenly looked up at her, locking her blue eyes with his sharp green ones and maintained his gaze for a while. Nancy stared determinately back careful not to show any fear but she soon realized that the purpose was not to cause fear but to make her believe in what he says.

Nancy and Hakkai had some of his recently-plucked berries and plenty of water he had collected from a nearby stream. Nancy approved everything about Hakkai – his looks, mannerisms, his tone of speaking, but still she couldn't trust him hundred percent. That was probably because he was trying to make her believe such a fantastic story.

'And presuming two demons are after the immortality stone,' Nancy asked exasperated at the whole thing, 'why do you and your friends bother about it?'

'My friends include a very high ranking Buddhist monk, Genjo Sanzo. He was informed of the two demons and he had asked us to follow. If they do acquire immortality, there's no saying what they will do,' he said.

Nancy wondered what to do… believe the story and deal with it, or disbelieve the whole thing as she was inclined to do. But that will make her dealing with Hakkai, whom she's currently depending upon, difficult. The supernatural aside, the whole thing actually made sense. She could sense an immense negative aura coming from the two, especially Parth and that they had the map and they had deliberately led them to the forbidden area. Besides, Hakkai seemed a real nice guy.

'What'll you do once you two find the guys?' Nancy asked though she knew what was coming.

'Kill them of course,' Hakkai said and seeing the sickened expression of her face, 'they're demons…'

'Hmm,' she averted her eyes from his. He himself looked awkward and resorted to scratching his ear clips. Nancy wondered vaguely why he was wearing three rings on the same ear.

NED and the others must be really worried, but as she knew, there was no point in going searching at that time. She had a watch and its luminous dial showed it was 11 30 PM. Nancy looked longingly at the single bed roll perched on the side.

'Don't worry, you can have one, I have three to spare,' Hakkai said smiling.

'For the other three? Where do you think they are now?' she asked.

'No idea,' he sighed as he got up and unrolled the bed, 'they are quite capable of taking care of themselves.'

'So, is this monk famous?' Nancy asked, 'I've never heard of a Genjo Sanzo.'

'He's not famous outside the Buddhist cult. Well his position is something similar to an undercover agent.'

'Oh,' Nancy mused, 'how are you planning to deal with the demons once they're caught?'

'We'll see to that once we come across it,' Hakkai said, 'right now I'm worried about finding the other three.'

The next morning, Nancy woke up feeling very optimistic in finding her friends. At the same time there was a nagging worry whether the 'demons' will attack her friends. She slapped her forehead in frustration – she's already established them as the demons who're after the immortality stone, when only a night back she didn't believe in existence of anything remotely supernatural.

'Good morning,' Hakkai came up to her bed roll and crouched low, 'how do you feel?'

'I feel very positive about finding my friends,' she had to smile at him, 'what's on your hands?'

'It's tea. Have some.'

Sipping a rather crude tea out of coconut shell in the abandoned hut after having slept on the floor, kind of creates a bond apparently, and Nancy found herself wanting to believe the magical story which he'd related so far.

'Are the other two priests?' she asked.

'No, they're just friends. We kind of help Sanzo in such missions,' he said chuckling.

'Are you Buddhist?' she asked because he didn't look anything like one.

'Oh no,' he said laughing, 'I'm Christian.'

Nancy didn't ask exactly why he and the other two are following a Buddhist monk trying to eradicate demons.

'What're the plans for today?' Hakkai asked as they finished their tea.

'Search for my friends I guess,' Nancy said and hearing her own stomach grumble added, 'look for more fruits of course.'

'Food first,' he said and got up.

'Are you going?' she asked.

'Yeah,' he hesitated and said, 'I think it's better if I go and you stay.'

'No, let me,' she offered, 'as a thank you for all you've done.'

'No, that's not necessary…' Hakkai said unhappily.

'No, no, I insist,' she said.

Hakkai stared at her hard for a while before saying, 'Alright, you may go, if you wish to, but don't wander too far away, ok?'

'Ok,' Nancy said trying to suppress a smile.

'And you take jeep with you,' he said covering his face as though in agony.

'I don't know to drive a Jeep, and hey,' she asked concerned, 'you ok?'

'I'll take you to jeep.'

Nancy followed Hakkai out of their hut into the wilderness and after a short distance Hakkai stopped and looked all around and sighed loudly.

'Where's the jeep?' she asked.

'Must be home,' he said looking tired and turned to head back to hut.

'What?' she asked bewildered.

'Come on, now, Nancy, back to hut,' Hakkai walked fast back into the hut.

'Hakuryu!' he called out loud once they stepped into the hut.

Nancy nearly screamed at what she saw – what which looked like a white flying lizard came out from under a shelf and flew to land on Hakkai's outstretched arm.

'Nancy, say hi to Hakuryu, alias Jeep,' Hakkai said smiling and brought the thing a bit closer.

Nancy jumped back but seeing that the thing was stationary and rather harmless-looking, she came forward and examined it – it was a small white dragon! Complete with bat-wings and arrow-point tail!

'Is it… is it… a dragon?' she asked the obvious.

'Yes,' Hakkai said, 'and a damn good one too.'

'Kyu…' the thing said.

'It's a dragon…' Nancy said disbelievingly. Now she was ready to believe anything.

'You travel on dragon…'

'Yes…' Hakkai said hesitantly, 'though this one is too tiny to carry four guys, but it can transform into a jeep.'

'Oh…'

After she was convinced that this is not a dream and she is not mad, she got reconciled to the idea that dragons which change to vehicle do exist. And since she had vehemently offered to go look for food half an hour ago, she was to take the dragon, in its dragon-form only as a companion.

'Does it do anything special?' Nancy asked.

'Isn't transforming to a jeep enough?'

'No, I meant,' she said rolling her eyes, 'attack people?'

'Don't worry he won't hurt you,' he said rubbing his face with the dragon's tiny muzzle, 'but he can breathe flame.'

Soon Nancy found herself wandering off in the forest with a basket in her hand and with a small white dragon circling over her head. She wasn't exactly afraid of the beast but it felt a bit awkward, especially since Hakkai had said that it can understand any language and will make an excellent travelling companion. To make things worse, it kept on making mewing sounds as though urging Nancy to talk.

The forest seemed an average forest then – with no special effects or undue darkness or disappearing props. Of course, there was a flying dragon… Nancy spotted some bushes bearing edible-looking fruits. She has to cross check with Hakkai before considering them edible, but still, her efforts weren't useless. She was filling her basket, trying to make small talk with Hakuryu, who make weird sounds in return; suddenly everything went quiet and as she looked up, Hakuryu was no longer there. She panicked for a second but then, the dragon had returned. But it was making a racket.

'KYUUU!'

'What is it?' she asked alarmed, especially since it had descended and had bitten her shirt and was urging her to follow it.

'Ok, I'll come,' she said. Immediately it let go and started flying in one direction, away from their hut.

Making sure the fruits won't fall, she rushed after the dragon. She hadn't travelled long before she saw the dragon suspended mid-air looking away from her.

'What's over there?' she asked as she came closer.

She had to screw up her eyes before it adjusted to intense light coming from a direction.

'Kyu,'

'What's that?' she asked. Then she spotted – there was a person in midst of the light.

Nancy was shocked out of her senses as she spotted an arm shooting out from the bright light. Then she saw the rest – white billowing dress, blond hair and black-clad arms. It looked like a woman trying to escape from what which looked like a very large bright vortex. Involuntarily, Nancy went towards it, but again Hakuryu had bitten her shirt and was pulling her away. On second thought, she felt, maybe the dragon had a point. How was she to save the girl? What if she gets trapped as well? Hakuryu was once again flying in the direction of their hut. She didn't hesitate, she ran as well.

'Hakkai!' ramming the door hard, Nancy screamed.

'Nancy, what happened?' Hakkai asked as he opened the door and pulled the struggling girl inside. He thought she was being followed.

'No, leave me,' Nancy said, 'Hakuryu led me to this girl… she's trapped… I couldn't do anything.'

'Calm down,' Hakkai said holding her by her shoulders, 'where did you see this girl? Where is Hakuryu?'

Nancy turned around, Hakuryu wasn't with her, 'he was just behind me… as a matter of fact he was ahead me, he led me here, damn it! Did he go back?'

Hakkai stared up into open sky aghast for a while, 'Hakuryu left?' he muttered.

He looked at her sharply and said, 'What did you see?'

Soon Nancy and Hakkai were running in the direction from where Nancy had come. She had an approximate idea of where she had seen the light and the girl. After describing what she had seen, Hakkai had been frantic. Nancy didn't get to ask anything though; he had asked her to hurry.

Nancy nearly screamed as they arrived at the previous area – the bright spot had managed to become brighter and the white robes billowing out were now tainted with red. The black cloth underneath the robes had also apparently been torn for she could make out bare skin with blood on it. She looked up hearing shrieks – Hakuryu was hovering above this dangerously close and occasionally breathing flames.

'Hakuryu, no! Go back!' Hakkai screamed as he ran towards the light.

'No, Hakkai!' Nancy yelled seeing Hakkai's madness.

'Stand back Nancy,' he shouted and added, apparently unnecessarily, 'I have no choice.'

Hakkai bend a bit and brought his hands together and in between in hands a small ball of intense light appeared and started to grow. Nancy had to close her eyes as she couldn't take the total effect of both the lights. But she opened it after a few seconds to see Hakkai's ball of energy make contact with the light which had trapped the girl and then a loud scream erupted from somewhere and the light was suddenly sucked out into nowhere. Then everything became still and pitch dark.

The white and red clad figure was lying prone on the ground and Hakkai slowly approached it. Nancy followed and both crouched low.

'Sanzo? Sanzo!' Hakkai said as he slowly turned the person over.

'Sanzo? You mean the priest Sanzo?' Nancy asked ludicrously.

'Oh my God! Sanzo!' Hakkai said seeing his face.

It was a guy, Nancy realized wonderstruck, a very feminine guy with longish blond hair and wearing long white robe. But thoroughly bloodied – every inch of him appeared grazed, and his robe and whatever he wore underneath were torn at several places. She looked at Hakkai, who was now gently slapping the unconscious man's face – no response.

'Help me take off his clothes,' he ordered. After a moment of confusion, Nancy got to her feet and bend over Sanzo.

The guy was indeed wearing a lot of things. Nancy worked on the hash which apparently kept the robe in place, while Hakkai was rolling something up, which soon disappeared into his shirt. And then he concentrated on getting some kind of chest plate he was wearing out of the way be fore peeling the entire robe off. Underneath the robe, he was wearing denim pants (much to Nancy's surprise) and skin tight sleeveless shirt and a pair of arm warmers. She clearly agreed with Hakkai as he abandoned any attempt to save the shirt and ripped it off Sanzo's body.

'Nancy, please don't be alarmed ok, I'm going to heal his wounds,' Hakkai said with a strained smile as he build up another glowing ball in his palms and held it over a particularly large gash on his chest. Nancy let out a small gasp as she saw the wound close underneath his hands. Who are these guys?

After repeating the action a few more times, Hakkai declared that he'll be ok and the rest can be done in the hut. He suddenly got up, staggered and fell flat on his back. For a second, Nancy thought it was an act, but she was by his side immediately.

'Hakkai,' she asked feeling for his pulse; it was strong but rapid.

He opened his eyes and blinked several times and then smiled broadly, 'I'm fine, really. We have to get Sanzo out of here before he gets hypothermia.'

He got up, brushed his clothes and bend down, slid his arms underneath the totally out monk and picked him up. Nancy couldn't imagine a relatively frail looking man as Hakkai could carry a guy (equally frail though) so effortlessly. Hakuryu transformed as he approached the dragon. He deposited the unconscious man rather unceremoniously on the back of the jeep and covered his body with the battered robes before climbing into the driver's seat. Nancy got into the passenger seat and the jeep took off.

'Can I be of some assistance?' Nancy asked Hakkai. Once in the hut, Hakkai had placed Sanzo on his bedroll, completely undressed him and slowly worked on each of his wounds. Nancy deliberately stood away as it clearly would be inappropriate if she helped then. But it didn't seem fair that Hakkai was doing all the work.

'Oh, Nancy, I would really like it if you could fetch me more water,' he said, his odd smile back with full force.

'Of course,' she jumped up, snatched the empty pail and before he could suggest, called out for Hakuryu and together they left.

'Be careful!'

'Yeah.'

Hakkai had told her earlier about the local water supply – a nearby stream. She had no difficulty finding it but as she filled up the pail with fresh clear water, she wondered whether she'll find their hut. Feeling a little panicked she looked around only to spot Hakuryu. He blinked a few times before fixing his deep red eyes into her pale ones with such a reassurance that she felt a bit overwhelmed. She held out her arm and stroked the creature. It made a happy kyuing sound before rising to air to guide her towards the hut.

'I'm back,' she said unnecessarily as she entered

'Great,' Hakkai replied, his voice rather heavy, 'can you bring the water here?'

Nancy approached them rather cautiously – she didn't want to see a priest naked. She sighed with relief as she saw him covered up till his chin with various things, including all their beddings. Hakkai must be seriously worried about him catching hypothermia.

'All his wounds are healed. Have to clean him up though,' he smiled as he wrung a large towel into the pail.

'Shouldn't we clean before healing the wound?' Nancy asked – basic first aid, clean and then dress, thought technically this wasn't regular cleaning and dressing.

He laughed before replying, 'My healing works in a different way. It cleanses the wound before closing it.'

'Oh wow, eek!' she averted her eyes as Hakkai just pulled off the thick covering over Sanzo's body.

'I'm sorry but I was hoping you'd help,' he said with a low chuckle. 'But if you're uncomfortable with it, don't.'

After making sure Sanzo had up to his hips covered, Nancy took another towel and went to other side of the unconscious man. There was only one source of water though and it was fast depleting. She wanted to offer to go for another water-fetching but shut her mouth as she saw Hakkai's face. Exhaustion was clearly written all over his face and his eyelids were drooping. He was getting clumsy with his hand as well. He realized that he'd been caught.

'Sorry, I'm really tired,' he said.

'Don't be sorry, why don't you rest? I'll clean him up,' she said and added, in her head, 'however inappropriate that might be.'

Hakkai had curled up on the floor beside Sanzo. Nancy felt a bit guilty – she should've brought her bedroll for him, but he was out before she could say Jack Robinson. She sighed and came back to what she started – cleaning one bloody monk. One pretty faced gorgeous monk, she thought and later chastised herself for it. But it was distracting, as she wiped his perfect face, save a few bruises and a swollen lip; so distracting that she started to feel guilty. This is a monk! A holy man! She had a boyfriend – Ned! But she had to continue with the job at hand and thinking about Ned, she worked her way through his neck, chest and abdomen and his legs, mid-thigh down. She refused to budge the cloth on his hips.

Nancy took a deep breath to concentrate her energy to turn the man over to clean his back. Apparently it proved to be very easy – he was quite light weight. His hair was also bloody but she couldn't spot any scalp wounds; probably Hakkai healed them as well. She was checking constantly on Hakkai as well – she didn't want to be caught drooling. But Hakkai was so deeply asleep that he looked unconscious. After covering up Sanzo properly, she went over to Hakkai and gently prodded him on his side.

'Um? Nancy?' he asked groggily.

'I'm done. Sort of – you have to clean up the remaining… And why don't you sleep on a bedroll?'

Hakkai smiled and got up and before he could yank down Sanzo's covers, Nancy went off to get the bedroll, which she unravelled a good distance away from Sanzo, at one corner of the hut.

'Your bed's ready, I think I'll wait outside,' Nancy said as she closed the door behind her. Hakuryu accompanied her outside. She heard a faint thank you.

Unaware to herself, Nancy had dozed off leaning on the door, with Hakuryu resting his tiny head on her lap. Somewhere in her subconscious, she heard Hakkai's voice.

'Hakkai?' she inquired rather stupidly.

'Kyu?'

Only then did she realize she was outside and sleeping completely exposed to all hostile elements of the forest. With a yelp she got up, looked around, clutched the little creature and got into the hut. And then looked around – Hakkai was sleeping on the designated bedroll and her eyes strayed hesitantly to the other side of the room, where Sanzo was resting, or rather getting restless.

Nancy breathed heavily but didn't move, just watched as he slowly surfaced. In his struggle, he had pushed away most thick stuff off his body and currently had only one ordinary blanket over him, which, much to Nancy's discomfort was not doing a great job covering him up. She fought an urge to run out of the hut as she saw him snap his eyes open and look around. Probably because she was stone-still that he didn't seem to notice her, which was quite evident as he discarded all the clothes off him and was trying to get to his feet. Tried, but failed and fell into the bedroll in a heap.

Nancy, out of reflex, rushed to his side and squatted beside him. 'Are you ok?' she asked trying to imagine him fully clothed.

With a spluttering noise, Sanzo gathered the scattered bedding to hide his nudity and opened his mouth to curse. But only a hoarse grunt came out.

'You were screaming,' she said, 'probably that's why!'

Sanzo continued to stare at her looking very pissed off and disoriented at the same time.

'Don't worry, I'm a friend of Hakkai's; he's sleeping over there,' she pointed. Sanzo followed her gaze ad relaxed a bit seeing his comrade.

'He's tired from having healed you,' she said catching a trace of concern in his eyes; and added, 'I think you should rest as well.'

Sanzo tried to glare at her and ask her to get the hell out of there, but his body wanted to obey her. He saw one of her arm rising up, in an obvious attempt to push him back into bed but he didn't give her a chance for that – he was out before she touched him.

She squatted besides the unconscious man after covering him up with all the stuff, which was on him before he woke up. Hakuryu settled besides her and they continued their silent watch over until Hakkai woke up.

'Didn't Sanzo wake up yet?' Hakkai asked as soon as he was lucid.

'He did and went back to sleep… but I think he's really unconscious,' Nancy said remembering the way he all but fall into the bedding.

'Oh,' Hakkai came over and bent over Sanzo with a ridiculously serious expression on his face. After a couple of minutes he seems to have satisfied himself that the monk is fine and the weird smile was back on place.

'Hungry?' he asked bringing the fruit basket which Nancy had filled in the morning.

'Yeah,' she reached over and took one ambiguous pink fruit and bit into it. Eating reminded her of Ned and others and wondered whether the two other tourist were really immortality seeking demons.

'Have some more,' Hakkai said biting into his second ambiguous fruit.

'He might be hungry when he wakes up,' she said eyeing the monk.

'Kyu,' the little dragon, who was nibbling on a fruit too large for its body, seemed to agree.

Hakkai chuckled softly, 'Hakuryu seems to like you a lot; then again it's been a while since he's in female company. I'll go get more fruits. Let's finish this lot. I'm feeling ravenous.'

At Hakkai's insistence Nancy allowed herself one more fruit and let him finish the rest. As soon as that was accomplished, he got up saying he's going to get more fruits.

'Aren't you taking Hakuryu?' Nancy asked just before he left.

'No, he's staying here,' he smiled and left.

Nancy managed to fall into a deep sleep despite her resolution of not to do so. There was a strange man in the room, albeit a monk. But she did and the dragon betrayed her by not waking her up at the right moment. She woke up hearing small noises all around; no, not small noises, actually a racket. She opened her eyes wide, taking a minute to panic for having slept in the first place and saw a stranger. She gave out a small cry of surprise before she realized that it wasn't a stranger, but the priest she had cared for earlier. That thought didn't comfort her entirely as he was standing just in front of her, wearing nothing but his jeans, his height (nothing remarkable though) towering over her and his handsome face bearing a very unpleasant glare.

Nancy scrambled to sit upright, adjusting her rather filthy clothes to more presentable position and stared back. They spent some time like that. She stole a few glances to the rest of the hut searching for Hakkai and was disappointed.

'Who are you?' he said, his voice clear but harsh.

Nancy felt a desire to kick herself as she found herself opening her mouth but to have no voice.

'Tch!' he said and walked away and sat heavily on the floor a good distance away from her. Hakuryu circled on top of him and settled beside. Nancy must have imagined this but she was certain the little dragon's face registered respect as it trained its red gaze upon the irritated monk. The latter unconsciously settled a hand on top of the dragon in some crude form of petting. This made her feel a bit relaxed.

'Hakkai went to get you food,' she said trying to sound brave.

'Who are you?' he said looking at her.

'Nancy. I met Hakkai yesterday,' she said feeling quite composed but a bit smitten seeing his violet eyes.

'Who found me?' he asked.

'Hakuryu did. He brought me to you but you were trapped in a…'

'Where the hell is Hakkai now?' he shouted looking extremely pissed off.

Hakuryu was the first to break the strained silence between them. He seemed to have picked up something. Nancy felt weird as she seemed to have understood what the dragon meant – Hakkai was nearing. And she was right; soon the door was opened and at the threshold stood Hakkai, with a rather full fruit basket in his arms. His face broke into a huge grin seeing them. But it was soon lost as found himself slammed against the wall by a fuming Sanzo.

Nancy was so shocked that no sound escaped her. Sanzo was hissing audibly as he held Hakkai against the wall a full feet off the floor. Hakkai soon regained his smile even in the awkward position indicated to Nancy to take the basket off him. She obliged. And they began conversing in Japanese. Sanzo's words sounding so spiteful that they may be insults but Hakkai's replies were calm and even cheerful. Nancy understood Japanese a bit and she understood that Sanzo was mad at Hakkai for leaving him alone with a strange girl. After a few minutes, whatever happened between them seemed to have been forgotten and soon Sanzo was helping himself to fruits.

'There's no need to be secretive Sanzo,' Hakkai said as the monk seemed to suggest to their mission by hints and clues, all in Japanese, 'I already told Nancy everything about our mission.'

'And I understand Japanese,' Nancy said happily, 'sort of.'

'Everything's just great,' Sanzo said, 'so when's this little picnic going to end? We have no clue whatsoever about the whereabouts of the demons or the position of the stone…'

'Er…' Nancy began-

'… and we're sitting here cooped up eating fruits!'

'At least I didn't get myself attached to a vortex,' Hakkai replied.

Sanzo clenched his fists and looked wildly about as though searching something.

'Is this what you're searching for?' Hakkai hurled something to Sanzo – a revolver.

Sanzo rolled his eyes and sat himself down cradling the gun.

'Well…' Nancy once again attempted.

'Yes, Nancy?' Hakkai prompted.

Nancy wondered how she should say that she suspected two of her travelling companions maybe the demons in question. She shifted uneasily seeing two pairs of eyes boring into her.

'Well…'

'You already said that,' Sanzo snapped.

'We had two strangers in our travelling group and they had a map and it was them who prompted us to go deeper into the forest,' she paused and explained the strange feeling she got when they approached her, especially one of them, Parth.

The two men remained silent brooding over Nancy's words.

'And,' she really didn't want to say this, because it felt totally wrong, 'don't be offended Hakkai, but these guys kind of resembled you.'

'Oh?' he seemed genuinely surprised.

'No… I mean not the face or anything physical but the aura. No… they had an evil aura and you don't but something like you!'

For some strange reason both Hakkai and monk seemed satisfied with this.

'Were they wearing any ornaments?' Hakkai asked almost timidly.

'I think so… Parth had an earring.'

'Tomorrow morning we'll set off then to find Nancy's group,' Sanzo declared.

'What about Gojyo and Goku?' Hakkai asked referring to their missing comrades.

'The hell I care!' Sanzo replied.

Nancy started to feel hopeful at the same time nervous at the prospect of meeting two demons. Now she was convinced that those two were the ones whom the monk's group was searching. She prayed that her friends were safe and were not doing anything which might piss off the demons. Nancy felt uncomfortable at the prospect of sleeping in the same room with the two men. But it was not as if she had other choices. With a silent prayer Nancy settled on one remote corner of the room, farthest from the priest's bedroll and pulled the sheets covering as much of herself as possible. But she allowed herself to fall asleep only after the other two had settled themselves. Hakkai had tactfully placed his bedroll in between the other two.

'Where is Hakkai?' the monk's voice penetrated Nancy's consciousness the first thing in the morning.

'Huh?' she looked all around and slowly where she was and who the cute guy bellowing in front of her was became evident to her. Something was missing – oh yeah… 'where is Hakkai?'

Sanzo gave a low growl, his spastic hands clenched over his revolver. Nancy recoiled a bit and finally when Hakkai's disappearance was established, she rose to her feet.

'Bastard! I told him we were to leave in the morning… He might have gone looking for those two idiots,' Sanzo said fuming.

'He might have gone for water or food,' Nancy replied realizing that the monk had been up for a while now seeing him nearly dressed for the journey.

'This long? I don't think so!' Sanzo got out of the hut. Nancy and Hakuryu followed.

'Shouldn't we look for him?' she asked wondering why the dragon was left behind.

'I told him we were to leave in the morning,' Sanzo muttered.

'I'll go look for him; come on Hakuryu,' Nancy said seeing that the monk did not intend to budge.

'No. We're leaving,' he said and glared at the dragon as though daring it to question the decision.

Hakuryu whimpered.

'But what about Hakkai?' Nancy asked appalled.

'Mission is the top priority not who does it. I intend to stop them at any cost. Let's leave,' he said with forced calm.

'But…' Nancy said sure she'll be shouted at.

Sanzo's eyes blazed as he was about to throw something nasty at her but stopped hearing a scream.

Nancy in her profession has heard various screams of various types and this was definitely what she'd have called a blood curdling scream. It didn't sound human at all but the first thing which came to her mind was Hakkai's face.

'Hakkai?' Sanzo said and without a second look took off in the direction of scream. Hakuryu followed screeching its lungs out. Nancy spend a second hesitating before taking off behind them. Something about the scream didn't seem right – it was Hakkai's but why did it sound like that?

The scream rent the air one more time, this time followed by a series of shouts of Hakkai's name by an unknown voice. Nancy could barely keep up with Sanzo and she realized she was feeling a bit dizzy and was sweating quite profusely. But she disregarded it and kept running partly out of concern for Hakkai and partly due to fear of further separation. She stopped dead as she rushed into Sanzo. He was standing still staring at something in front of him. She was feeling out of breath and wanted badly to support onto the solid monk in front of her but didn't dare. Something told her that he wouldn't have noticed any way.

Nancy gasped as she craned her neck and beheld what which had shocked Sanzo into stillness. Hakkai was evidently being attacked by a tall redhead guy, who was apparently forcing an injured and bloody Hakkai into the ground. Hakkai was on all the fours, with his clothes torn to shreds hanging about him, his mouth open wide as though trying to scream in vain. His assailant's arms were around his waist and he seemed to be trying to push Hakkai to ground. Nancy wondered ludicrously why Sanzo is not making a move as to save him. She stepped forward but Sanzo extended an arm and stopped her.

'Help him,' she begged.

'Gojyo is trying to help,' Sanzo spoke his voice very soft.

The name Gojyo registered – one of their missing comrades. Sanzo slowly approached the two and slowly and soundlessly crouched beside them. The redhead looked at him and nodded as though acknowledging his presence. He was also gasping – apparently holding him down was great effort.

'Hakkai,' Sanzo called out to him. Nancy couldn't see Hakkai's face but his body evidently relaxed as he heard Sanzo speaking. It was all Japanese, at least Nancy thought so, and was too complicated for her to understand. Sanzo slowly raised his right hand and rested it on Hakkai's head. He sagged and would've fallen onto the ground if it was not for the redhead. He held Hakkai and slowly lowered him to ground and turned him so that he was lying on his back. Nancy had another wave of dizziness and Hakkai's bloodied face swam before her eyes. She saw claw marks on his chest and neck. But the last thing she saw before passing out entirely was a young boy with golden eyes.

Nancy could have sworn she heard screams repeatedly in her head and somehow felt it wasn't exactly happening in her head. She didn't open her eyes as soon as she surfaced – mainly because she didn't have enough energy. She heard a gruff yet kind male voice asking who the woman was in Japanese. She heard Sanzo say that she was a lost girl found by Hakkai. He also added something about two demons. She opened her eyes to see Sanzo standing a good distance away looking thoroughly unconcerned. Near him, with his face half-hidden by ridiculously long red hair was a stranger. She felt hurt and missed her friends – they'd have been around if she'd passed out. Can't they see how tired she was? Then she saw Hakkai – he was sprawled on the ground, with his eyes closed, his breathing irregular and laboured. After a final curious glance to Nancy, the redhead crouched beside the unconscious man.

Nancy slowly got to her feet and swayed and looked around for support and spotted a boy. She had seen him before, she was sure. But where? He cocked his head as though intrigued and offered a small arm. She caught him and overbalanced and almost fell on top of him. He caught her entire body weight and didn't even sway – she had expected both of them to crash down. He helped her towards Hakkai and made her sit on the ground beside the unconscious man.

'How is he?' she asked Sanzo looking up at his standing form.

'Will the lady not talk to commoners?' the red head asked with a sly smile. 'Hi, I'm Gojyo.'

Gojyo's English was very rusty and he was willing to go any lengths to communicate with her.

'I'm Nancy. What happened to Hakkai?' she asked.

'He lost his head,' he explained casually, 'happens every time.'

Sanzo grunted impatiently and asked Gojyo to carry Hakkai and follow him.

'Goku help her.'

The forest was rather thick to manoeuvre a jeep and consequently the group walked with Gojyo carrying Hakkai and Goku supporting Nancy. Sanzo with a totally indifferent attitude led the group and Hakuryu hovered above them making soft 'kyu's. Goku hasn't spoken anything yet; she wondered whether he was mute. But later he proved not as he yelled in glee seeing a large fruit bearing tree quite farther from where they were standing. Sanzo gave an impatient grunt and the boy's face fell and he argued a bit with Sanzo in Japanese. Nancy didn't understand what had transpired but by their expression could understand that they were arguing.

Nancy remembered the day when she had met Hakkai and what he had said regarding the disappearing habit of their hut. She wondered whether it will still be there. She was feeling very unstable and wondered whether she was coming down with something. Goku seemed to be stronger than he looked for he was supporting nearly the whole of Nancy's weight. But then, they were an abnormal group. After much later, they reached the hut and once inside Goku deposited her onto the bedroll Hakkai had used. She wanted to point out that she had used the one farthest from the door but simply didn't have the energy to stand up and walk to it. She made herself comfortable.

Gojyo deposited Hakkai, who now seemed semi conscious and was struggling against Gojyo, onto Sanzo's bed. The latter didn't seem to notice the difference in positions. Goku went to them and squatted beside Hakkai. Sanzo said something to him and after sometime he went to Hakkai's foot end and held onto his ankles firmly. Curiosity and concern for Hakkai made Nancy speak up.

'What's going on? What happened to Hakkai?'

Hakkai let out a hoarse scream, which sounded a lot like 'Hakkai'. Then he kept mumbling something looking up at the ceiling.

Nancy thought she was hearing things when Sanzo said that his earrings should be removed.

'Are you mad? We can't handle him then!' Gojyo spat out.

'You found him like that…' Sanzo began.

'Hakkai is injured… He's bleeding,' Nancy spoke up seeing that they weren't doing anything to the wounds.

'Most of it isn't Hakkai's!' Sanzo said looking at her.

'Sanzo…' Gojyo said warningly.

'How can you tell?' Nancy said, to her the whole thing looked like Hakkai was attacked by a large animal and was consequently bleeding. She wondered vaguely which animal possessed five claws.

'What's on him is human blood. Hakkai isn't human!'

Nancy was shocked into silence. For some strange reason she totally believed Sanzo. The resemblance to Parth, the inhuman scream, the unusual claw marks…

'If he's not human…'

'Yeah he is also a demon. And the blood is of some human he had attacked and the claw marks are made by himself. After attacking the human he must have lost his head and tried to inflict damage to himself.'

Nancy didn't say anything; she found that she couldn't speak at all. Overwhelmed by all the information she closed her eyes and sank back into the mattress. She suddenly opened her eyes as she registered that Hakkai had attacked some humans? Like her friends humans? Why did Hakkai attack humans in first place? For answers she looked back at the group. Gojyo was sitting besides Hakkai, supporting his upper body against his chest and had firmly gripped his wrists. Hakkai was looking up at his friend's face, eyes widely open and mouthing something inaudible. But he seemed quite calm. Nancy thought she heard him say 'who's Hakkai?'

Sanzo who was crouched beside them suddenly came forward and extended a hand reaching for Hakkai's left ear. Hakkai's eyes shot to his hand and kept saying 'no'. He pleaded with Sanzo and sounded so desperate that Nancy had a good mind to rush forward and squat the monk's arm away. But the three of them were looking so resolute that she guessed it might be for the best. She jumped as Hakkai screamed and had to blink several times to convince herself that she wasn't seeing things. Hakkai's appearance was changing.

He became slightly bigger – broader and taller and the muscles of his bare chest and arms were becoming more prominent and an intricate pattern, which appeared like wines, was growing all over his skin. Her gaze travelled to his face and she gasped as she saw a long mane of hair, which definitely was not there before and long pointed ears. That was the demon form of Hakkai – the earrings might have been some form of restraint. She remembered Sanzo asking if Parth and his friends had worn any ornaments – he must have been thinking of the restraints.

Hakkai now appeared more relaxed and wasn't struggling. He sagged into Gojyo's arms and lay still breathing heavily. Sanzo spoke softly to him, in Japanese, Nancy couldn't comprehend most of it but realized that he was addressing Hakkai by another name – something like Cho Gono. And he also spoke of revenge and that he shouldn't kill anymore and again a lot of things which she couldn't understand. Later in his conversation, the name Hakkai came up and she could see that the demon had started to become restless and Gojyo and Goku struggled to keep him in place. Abruptly Sanzo clamped down his hand on top of Hakkai's head with such a force that his whole body jerked and started to chant. Nancy couldn't understand one word he spoke and was aware that it wasn't even Japanese but she could feel an unnatural calm settling down upon her. She found herself feeling drowsy. But before becoming completely unconscious she had the presence of mind to realize that it's very unsafe to fall asleep in midst of four relatively strange men.

It was nearly dark when Nancy woke up. She was aware that her body was not functioning optimally and was feeling terribly cold. She tried to sit up but couldn't – she could barely keep her eyes open. Suddenly she was grasped on the shoulders and yanked to a sitting position. She cried out at the sudden movement.

'Sorry. Are you hurt?' the person who pulled her up asked. She had to stare for sometime before realizing who it was – Gojyo.

'I feel lousy, but not hurt, no.'

'Hm,' he pulled out a cigarette from somewhere and lit it. Seeing her expression he grinned and got up and walked outside.

She looked around and spotted Sanzo, who was staring at the receding figure of Gojyo with an uncharacteristic expression. Meeting her eyes, he huffed and looked away.

'How's Hakkai?' she asked looking at his unconscious form.

'The same,' the monk replied.

But he didn't look the same; he was back to his human form with the three ear-clips attached. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully. The boy, Goku was by his side staring at his face with a sad expression.

Nancy stood up and rearranged her clothes, which was now impossibly dirty and took few unsteady steps towards Hakkai's bed. Seeing her approach the boy stood up and helped her walk the remaining. He was one decent fellow, Nancy thought as he carefully helped her sit down beside Hakkai and then resumed staring at his friend.

'When will he up?' she asked craning her neck, to Sanzo. She knew that it's nearly impossible to communicate with the boy next to her.

'It's been a while since Hakkai's lost it. Time waste…'

What a heartless monk, Nancy thought and she had a great urge to remind him who had pulled him out of the vortex just over a day back.

Sanzo's voice seemed to have penetrated Hakkai's consciousness; he was getting restless.

'Hakkai,' Goku called out as he gently shook the unconscious man by the shoulder. He repeated this several times vigorously and Nancy had a good mind to stop the boy but Hakkai's eyes opened and he stared wide-eyed at them.

Hearing Goku's calls, Gojyo had come in and now all the four was huddled around a conscious but silent Hakkai, who continued to stare. He locked his eyes at Nancy's for some time and then smiled slightly. Seeing this, Gojyo clapped the man on his shoulder and got up and held out a hand.

'I think he should…'

Hakkai's smile widened as he took the offered hand and stood up. He held onto Gojyo for a while as though unsteady. He regained that weird smile as he looked at Nancy and said – 'it wasn't your friends.'

It took Nancy a while for that to register; how did he know?

'One native, he attacked me first; thought I had cash with me,' he might as well added 'duh' as he looked anything but rich right then.

'And?' Sanzo spoke looking more irritated than ever.

Hakkai flushed at this and looked so remorseful that Nancy had a good mind to ask Sanzo to shut up.

'Things got out of hand,' Hakkai said, 'and before I…'

'You killed him, didn't you? When you could've easily blocked the attack and run the hell away, you chose to mutilate him,' Sanzo said, his face grim.

'I did not kill…' Hakkai said, now very pale, 'I did not want to hurt him. He attacked me with a –'

Sanzo turned his back on them and walked out of the hut muttering something about a cigarette.

'I did not kill him,' Hakkai said to no one in particular and hung his head in dismay.

'He's just suffering nicotine withdrawal,' Gojyo said clamping a hand on Hakkai's shoulder and gave it a slight shake.

The boy, Goku stared in confusion; he hadn't understood anything – the entire conversation being in English.

Gojyo refused to let Hakkai go to the lake for a wash. After much bickering, it was agreed Goku will fetch water and bring it to the hut. Hakkai resumed his glum attitude while Sanzo spent the entire time outside. Nancy felt the atmosphere around Hakkai change and she felt slightly insecure and she stepped outside. Sanzo materialised in front of her so abruptly she jumped. He stood stock still and stared at her for a good while; she wondered if he was contemplating molesting her or something seeing the intensity of his violet gaze.

'Give this to Hakkai,' he said finally thrusting what which looked like a lot of uprooted shrubs into her hands. She continued her stare, which enraged him further, 'medicinal stuff. He can't do the healing thing to himself!'

Nancy looked up from the herbs to Sanzo unable to contain a smile and was very surprised to see him flush. He huffed and left into the wilderness. She clutched the herbs to her body, which wasn't very wise since her dress was very dirty, and ran into the hut and barged in.

'Aargh!' Nancy jumped out with the same force as she'd barged in.

'I'll have the herbs,' Gojyo stuck his head and an arm out with the door ajar, his face bearing the most malicious smirk she'd seen on a guy's face.

She slid down and squatted on the ground, her legs suddenly weak; what were they doing? Was Gojyo cleaning up Hakkai or something different altogether? She rested her head on the wall and slowly turned her head to see Goku slowly approach the hut as though planning to enter it.

'No, don't enter,' she said feeling foolish.

He cocked his head as though intrigued, 'nani?' And went inside and even had the audacity to leave the door open.

'Oh,' Nancy heard him say once inside, and then went out, closing the door behind him, without a second glance. Maybe they were established gay guys…

Soon Nancy found herself sitting amidst the four men inside the hut eating assorted strange looking fruits. This time she had to fight for food as Goku and Gojyo were strong competition. The hostility between Hakkai and Sanzo seemed to be forgotten and Hakkai seemed unabashed in Nancy having walked into whatever she walked into, save for a slightly reddened complexion. Gojyo was even making passes at her, which made her wonder what his sexuality was.

'We start tomorrow early in the morning,' Sanzo declared getting up, dusting his now off-white robes.

'After food,' Goku added eating the last fruit in the basket as slowly as possible.

'I agree with the animal,' (or monkey) Gojyo said snatching the half eaten fruit from the boy's hands. There was a brief brawl which ended by Sanzo shooting the remaining fruit into smithereens. Nancy clapped her hands to her ears at the sound of the bullet.

'Now, now,' Hakkai said, 'stop it. You're making our guest uncomfortable. We leave after food.'

That seemed to settle it.

The next day morning after two large ambiguous fruits each, for which again there was a brawl, the five of them started off at around 5 am, according to Nancy's digital watch. She found it strange that these guys were equipped with bed rolls, flasks, bags and even mini tents, but none had a watch. The plan was to find out the demons and when enquired how to locate them, Sanzo's reply was: 'just follow the stench.' Nancy wanted to argue since she felt that Parth smelled the same as Hakkai, and both didn't classify as stench.

'How exactly will you… get rid of the demons?' Nancy asked rather hesitantly, she was curious, but knew the answer is going to be far from pleasant.

'That'll depend on who among us confronts them first,' Hakkai said turning his smiling face at her, 'I'd use my chi, Goku and Gojyo have their weapons and Sanzo would use his gun.'

'Oh, so you can kill them that easily? I thought you need wooden or silver or…'

'You read too many vampire novels,' Sanzo remarked, 'our weapons're specially designed to kill them.'

'It is nearly impossible to kill demons with ordinary guns,' Gojyo added.

'But Sanzo's gun can?'

'Yup,' Gojyo said and added wryly, 'isn't that just convenient!'

'After you find your demons, what're you planning to do to me?' Nancy called out over the racket of the large jeep making its way amongst the cluttered trees.

'We'll help you find your friends, Nancy,' Hakkai said from the front.

'The hell we will; we leave as soon as our job is done,' Sanzo said from the passenger seat. Nancy's heart sank.

'Don't worry, we won't abandon you,' Gojyo said from beside her, 'that monk is actually all heart.'

This earned Gojyo a smack on the head from the passenger seat, with an outrageously large paper fan.

Nancy knew that already what she was actually worried was whether her friends were ok.

'Those demons aren't likely to attack your friends, Nancy,' Gojyo said reading her mind, 'they'll remain as docile as possible at least until the find the stone.'

'I hope they haven't found it yet,' Nancy said looking away.

'Be optimist- Gyaaah!'

'Look out, Hakkai!'

'Hold on, guys…'

The jeep was going very bizarrely and now and then was midair. Nancy could hear 'kyu's emanating from the machine as it helplessly made it way totally uncontrollably through the narrow steep downhill path. Suddenly she had a sensation that she herself was suspended midair. The jeep had transformed and all the five was tumbling down the hill along with the dragon (in its true form), which seemed to have lost consciousness. She felt intense pain searing through her arm and shoulders as she bumped onto a rock and was literally thrown away well ahead of her current position. She closed her eyes bracing herself for the impact but she landed on something relatively soft. She opened her eyes to find herself lying on top of Sanzo face-to-face, their entire lengths stretched out against each other. This comfortable position was short-lived as they were again sliding and even in that situation Nancy noticed rather happily that Sanzo had put his arms around her preventing her from being trampled between him and the ground. But soon the speed increased and she found darkness clouding her vision and with dismay realized that she might soon lose consciousness.

'Nancy, Nancy, wake up,' she heard a familiar voice say as the first rays of consciousness penetrated her being.

Hesitantly she opened her eyes to see the worried face of Ned. Heart leaping she jumped up and threw her hands around his neck, which she regretted soon as her whole body hurt.

'Ou!' she said as Ned wrenched her off him.

'I was so worried,' he said holding her very loosely for he feared he might hurt her by squeezing any tighter.

'Where're…' she stopped as the handsome face of Parth loomed in front of her.

'We were so worried about you,' he said with convincingly concerned expression.

Before she could reply, another person glomped her screaming – Bess was weeping and didn't realise the agony her friend was in.

'OUCH!'

'Bess watch it, she's hurt,' George said grinning.

'Sorry, sorry, oh Nancy!'

'I'm alright! You guys ok?' she said her eyes flitting to Parth and Dugan, who was standing a few feet away.

'Yeah, why wouldn't be? We had the van for a shelter and supplies… You were out there all alone,' George said.

But you were with demons, Nancy mentally added and mentally corrected herself – so was I. They did look much cleaner that she was but slightly underfed – probably they didn't get as much fruits as she had managed to eat the past two days.

'Help me up,' Nancy said offering her arm to Ned and revelling in it – she had missed him terribly. He pulled her to her feet and she stretched widely to realize that something was stuck on her back. She felt it – it was a gun! It was wedged neatly into her jeans, with only a bit of the butt projecting out. She didn't take it out and examine.

'Back hurts like hell,' she explained her apparent confusion seeing Ned's worried expression.

Soon she found herself sitting near a fire with all her three friends holding her in three different ways. She didn't say anything about her four mysterious friends mainly because she didn't want Parth and Dugan to be alarmed. The gun was given to her deliberately; there's no way that gun will accidentally jump into her waistband. Maybe Sanzo wanted her to kill them? Can't be… Maybe it was for protection… She was confused. She looked up at them sitting together at the other side of the fire. They seemed too ordinary now; maybe she got too used to Hakkai's strange aura.

'Why don't we look for a shelter?' Parth, who suddenly got up suggested.

'We have the van,' Ned said.

'No offence but it's a bit too congested for all of us,' Parth said, 'maybe we could find a cave or something.'

'Good idea,' Nancy said jumping up so suddenly, causing Bess, who was literally stuck on her to be nearly thrown off, 'let's go.'

'Hold on,' Parth said flashing his prize smile and coming closer as though to intimidate her, 'you just came here. You rest with your friends; Dugan and I'll go.'

'No, I don't want further separations,' Nancy said looking back into the dark grey eyes as fiercely as possible, 'we go together or not go at all.'

'Nancy…' Ned muttered warningly, especially since he thought Dugan had growled.

After a few seconds of exchanging intense glares, Parth smiled and raised his arms disarmingly and said, 'ok, ok, as the lady wishes,' and turned back and picked up his bag.

The other three quickly packed their stuff and followed the receding figures of Parth and Dugan into the thickness of the forest.

'I think we should have let them go by themselves,' Bess, who was clutching Nancy's arm muttered; she was shivering slightly.

'Nancy' Ned said, 'why're you so worried about being separated from… them? You don't seem to trust them so much.'

'That's why,' Nancy said and stole a meaningful glance at her boyfriend, hoping he'd decipher what was going on in her head. Of course he didn't do telepathy but he obviously understood something's up and nodded.

'Guys,' Parth yelled from somewhere ahead of them and flashed his torchlight at them, 'this space seems big enough for tonight!'

Nancy felt a bit disappointed when she realized that their motive was indeed finding a place to sleep. Again a fire was managed and all sat around huddled together; Nancy noticed Parth's golden earring flash in the firelight.

After probably an hour of sitting still, Parth jumped up, 'did you hear that?'

'No! What? WHAT!' Bess said looking wildly about her.

'A weird noise, Dugan?'

'Yeah…' Dugan jumped up as well, 'it's coming from there,' he pointed to somewhere further into the depth of the cave.

Was it heightened hearing capacity of demons or are they faking it? Nancy looked at the two men instead of the surroundings like her friends were doing.

'You guys wait here,' Parth said, 'let's both…'

'No!' Nancy said jumping up making Bess stand along with her, 'let's all go check it out!'

'It's too dangerous, I'm not coming,' Bess said, her face paper-white.

She didn't want to expose her friends to any dangers – she had the ultimate demon-killing gun. She had no idea what lay beyond the cave and what would happen if those two actually get a hold of the stone. She wanted all her friends near the gun.

Nancy turned sharply and looked at Ned and Bess, her face grave, 'we're all going,' she said in a harsh whisper.

'Alright!' George said in agreement.

One look at Parth at that moment, confirmed Nancy's suspicion – they were indeed demons and were thoroughly pissed off at Nancy's persistence.

'Fine,' Parth said, not bothering to hide malice from his voice, 'looks like you love adventure.' And he looked at Dugan, nodded and took off into the darkness.

Nancy didn't hesitate, she mustered all her energy and ran after those two not bothering whether he friends are following her or not.

'Nancy, this is insanity!' Bess gasped as she ran to catch up with her friend.

'Yeah, hey what's that?' Ned asked as he saw the silhouette of the running men against a bright light.

'There's something there,' George said but kept running.

'We should stop,' Bess remarked slacking her pace but seeing her friends racing on, she just followed.

Nancy had to squint as the sudden change in the lighting – she had entered a very bright place. When her eyes adjusted, she saw her friends in similar discomfort and confusion. What was this place? Where're the two demons? Then she saw the source of light – it was coming from an enormous box. Hands shielding her eyes she walked closer and realized that those two were standing right behind it.

'Open it, Dugan,' Parth said, not bothering to lower his voice. Followed by Dugan's grunts in obvious effort.

'What do you two think you're doing?' Nancy said, 'that thing might contain something dangerous.'

'It doesn't. It actually contains a treasure,' Parth said; his face was still not completely visible.

'Ah! You're treasure hunters,' George remarked angrily.

'Yeah,' Parth said, 'don't worry, we'll let you have a share.'

'But –'

Everyone fell silent as the box opened with a mighty creak and Dugan's heavy breathing was alone audible for something.

'Touching the stone… Immortality… Demons!' Hakkai's voice echoed in her head as Nancy saw the two approach the opened box.

'No, hold it!' Nancy said, her voice slightly trembling. Where were those four? She'd expected them to appear suddenly now that everything was revealed. But nothing's happening.

'Oh, come here, don't you guys want to see. Here let me show you,' Parth said as he plunged his hand inside.

'Hey stop right there, or I'll shoot!' Nancy said grabbing Sanzo's gun and pointing it at them.

'Nancy…' Ned's breathless voice made her realize that they were all in deep fix. What was she doing? If she hadn't done anything but just fled with her friends, at least they won't be in danger. But these two will become immortal. Her friends… guilt surged through her especially as she caught the terrified expression on Bess's face.

'Don't touch it,' Nancy yelled trying to sound as bold as possible, 'let's all leave here.'

'God! What a persistent girl! All right, Dugan, let's drop the act,' Parth said in mock agony as he reached for his earring and added, 'but I get to eat her.'

Bess's scream echoed in the cave as Parth and Dugan transformed into their demon forms. Nancy was prepared for this and since they were evil, she'd expected very evil looking terrible forms appearing, but…

'You guys aren't that impressive,' Nancy said feeling suddenly brave – they didn't look as threatening as Hakkai had when he went demon-mode.

'You aren't surprised?' Parth asked, his voice betraying suppressed anger, 'I'd love to hear how you found out, but right now I have something important to do.'

'Do NOT touch the stone! Ned don't come closer!' Nancy said as she approached nearer to them.

'Or you'll what?' Parth demanded removing his hand from the box.

'I'll shoot!'

'We're terrified!' Dugan said nastily and lunged at her.

BANG! Once again Bess screamed as the bullet hit its mark.

Nancy's heart sank as she saw Dugan continue to smirk. Why didn't the gun work? Parth had started to laugh. Oh no! They will surely kill them all. But –

This time it was Dugan's scream which rent the air – he was bent upon himself and looked up at her – his face was pale and registered pure terror. And in the next minute he was blown into a million pieces.

'Wow!' Ned remarked.

'The banishing gun,' Parth said, his face as pale as Dugan's had been. His eyes flitted between the stone and Nancy.

'Don't you dare,' Nancy warned training the muzzle to centre of his chest.

Parth sighed and lowered his arms and hung his head in dismay. Feeling victorious but unsure as to how to proceed further, Nancy slacked the grip on the gun.

'Arrgh!' something caught her waist from behind and lifted and threw her on the ground. The gun flew out of her grip and fell on the ground.

'Nancy!' Ned yelled but a thick black tentacle appeared from nowhere and hit him hard on his belly and he was thrown off.

Nancy tried to scramble up to get to the gun which lay a few feet away but found herself bound to ground – many small creepers had appeared from the ground and had bound her on place. She tried to reach for the gun it was just out of reach. She yelled as Parth suddenly came forward and pressed his feet on her hand.

'Nancy,' Ned cried out seeing Nancy scream as the demon ground her hand on the ground.

Parth suddenly kneeled in front of Nancy and grabbed Nancy by her hair and pulled her to face him. 'Thank you for dealing with Dugan. One less immortal demon in the world to compete with. But I really hate your guts, you bitch!'

'You honestly think you can become immortal just by touching a stone? Get real!' George called out from some distance. Nancy looked up – she too was wound all around by what which looked like thick roots.

'I'll demonstrate it to you all right,' Parth suddenly got up.

'And how will we do that? Have a go at you with that super-whatever-gun after you do stone-touching?' George ventured. She was buying time, Nancy could tell, but for what?

Strangely this got Parth's attention. He went over to the gun and hesitantly picked it up, as though afraid to touch it. He stood up and next moment he had dived out of the way and rolled on the ground and stared into the darkness.

Others registered what had happened only a few seconds later. A soft but distinct metallic swishing sound was heard and as soon as Parth had rolled off, was followed by a crash.

'Yup, he will be totally immortal after the stone touching,' came a familiar drawl from the darkness.

'You can also try eat a Sanzo for immortality,' another voice.

'Hakkai? Gojyo?' Nancy called out.

Parth looked around frantically – the enemies were still invisible.

'What? Who?' Ned muttered.

'But the girl demon wasn't immortal – she had eaten a Sanzo!' Gojyo screamed as he loomed forward, a large metal-something in his hand, swinging it at Parth as he approached. Parth ducked as rolled off. He was awfully fast.

'Well, Gojyo, I was trying to mislead him,' Hakkai became visible now, and was conjuring up the healing light-ball in his hand, but right now then, it was a weapon as it exploded as he aimed it at Parth.

Parth lunged at the crate holding the stone and rolled off with it.

'The stone, guys!'

Goku having said his share in Japanese appeared from above, fell on top of the Parth and gave a good blow on his face and kicked the crate. The box flew a short distance, fell and broke down and a gleaming white stone rolled out.

'Nooo…' Parth tried to escape from Goku, but the boy had planted himself on top of the demon, with his short legs clamped around the demon's neck.

'May be you should try eat a Sanzo and go for the stone if that fails; we have one whole and healthy here,' Gojyo said smirking at the fallen demon's face.

A gun shot was heard; Gojyo and Bess screamed this time.

'Quit shooting at me, idiot monk!'

'You bastards are so going to die!' Sanzo muttered approaching the fallen demon.

With a face as expressionless as ever, Sanzo trained his gun at Parth's face and said – 'try eating me in your next life.' Followed by a bang.

Bess screamed once again.

All the conjured up roots disappeared but the group, except for Nancy was still on the ground confused. Bess batted away the hand Gojyo offered and inched closer to Ned.

'It's all right, guys. They are friends,' Nancy said beaming, especially at Hakkai, who was now walking towards her.

'You dealt with Dugan beautifully Nancy,' Hakkai said.

'You mean, you guys were watching us? Why didn't you intervene earlier?' Nancy asked.

'We arrived at the moment you blasted Dugan,' Gojyo said, giving up on Bess.

'Who are you guys? How do you know Nancy?' Ned asked feeling slightly jealous seeing his girl friend all comfortable around three good looking guys.

'This is priest Sanzo,' Nancy introduced, 'the magical gun belongs to him.'

'And these are Hakkai, Gojyo and Goku, his…

'Servants,' Sanzo finished for her.

'The hell we are! You ungrateful son of a…' Gojyo finished it in Japanese.

'Let me see your hand, Nancy,' Hakkai said offering his.

Without any hesitation she laid her injured hand on his and when she heard a gasp from her friends as Hakkai brought a glowing hand to hers, she said, 'relax guys, he's healing.'

Nancy flexed her fingers – amazing – it was as though it was not even scratched. 'You're something!'

'Ah ha… ha… ' Hakkai laughed scratching behind his head, 'it's nothing.'

Ned looked like a mini-thunderstorm.

'So?' George said timidly, 'what are we going to do with the stone?' Gojyo started at this – Hakkai, Goku and himself were standing a good distance away from it. Nancy realized that those three are demons and apparently aren't so hyped about immortality.

'Only demons turn immortal on touching it,' Sanzo said smirking slightly catching the pissed off expression on Gojyo's face. He bend and picked it up and threw it towards Nancy, who caught it. Hakkai standing besides her gave a yelp and jumped back a step. 'Do what you want with it!'

'Don't tell me you can't destroy it? With that gun of yours?' Ned said irritation at the whole scenario finally showing.

Nancy prepared for a burst from Sanzo but surprisingly all he said was, 'That stone is also immortal.'

Nancy looked at the stone – it was a perfectly round colourless stone and was slightly luminescent. She looked at Hakkai, who was looking at it as though it was a large repulsive bug. Will he turn immortal if he touch it? She had to fight an urge to shove the stone into his hands.

'Can I really keep it?' she asked feeling slightly excited.

'Yeah,' Sanzo said, a ghost of smile on his persistently irritated face, 'just don't give it to any demons.'

'Parth and Dugan appeared totally normal until they removed their fashion accessories,' George said, 'how do we know who is a demon?'

'The stench!' Sanzo hollered, before turning his back on them and walked out of the cave.

Fin.