Disclaimer: I do not own any of Saiyuki or its fabulous characters. That honor belongs to none other then Minekura Kazuya.

A/N: This story was written with a sister story—Ahahaha, pun— and is best enjoyed when read side by side. The sister story was given the title Masculine Reflection by TheInkDragonRosette. We, my co-authoress and myself, hope you enjoy.


"I'm hungry," Goku whined

"You're always hungry, Monkey," Gojyo smirked. "It's a miracle you haven't starved to death."

"I can't help it," Goku said, wrapping his arms around his stomach. "You ate, like, half my breakfast this morning before I got any ya stupid kappa."

"That's coz someone didn't get their lazy ass out of bed this morning," Gojyo reclined back, the wind whipping his hair out of his face.

"THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU GET TO EAT ALL THE FOOD!" Goku yelled back.

"If you two don't shut up. Right. NOW. I'm going to plant a pair of bullets in your heads," Sanzo said tightly, reaching for the gun tucked in his sleeve. There was silence in the back seat. "Got it?"

"Oh look. A town," Hakkai said briskly, trying to divert attention before things turned into something of a one sided shoot out. Everyone's patience was starting to wear pretty thin after being on the road for the last couple of days. None of them wanted to sleep outside again for another night.

They pulled into town and asked a townsman where the closest available inn was. The man seemed to be in very high spirits, told them the only inn in town was near the square. They couldn't miss it. There was a large sign with two flowers and the name "Dual Lily Inn" printed on it hanging over the entrance.

"What's Duh-all mean?" Goku said leaning his head back and reading the sign out loud.

Sanzo beat him over the head with the Harissen*. "It's pronounced doo-uhl, you idiot. It means two."

"Maybe you should read more, Monkey." Gojyo walked around the two of them and into the inn, following after Hakkai.

"Like you've ever picked up a book, you perverted water sprite," Goku muttered after him.

Inside, Hakkai was waiting at the desk. There didn't seem to be anyone around even as Goku and Sanzo finally entered. "Hello?" Hakkai called.

A man walked up to the desks whipping his hands on his apron and wearing an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry gentlemen. I apologize for the wait. It appears that my foolish daughter has run off on me during her shift," he said grinding his teeth in frustration with mention of her. "How can I help you?" he asked giving Hakkai a smile that he reserved for customer service.

Hakkai smiled back at the man. "No need to apologize, sir. We were actually looking for a couple of rooms for the night."

"Oh, no problem." The man seemed relieved that the group was not offended for the wait. "If you could just sign the registry for me..." He turned around to get the room keys off the hook behind the desk and was vexed to see all but one set of room keys missing. "That stupid girl," he muttered.

Hakkai leaned over the registry book and his eyes briefly skimmed over the last two listed occupants: Saru, Her Holiness.

'Saru? Like as in monkey? Her Hol—Looks kind of like something Gojyo would write... I guess that's why Sanzo leaves signing in to me...' Hakkai chuckled to himself.

"I beg your pardon, sirs." Hakkai looked up. "But it appears that we only have one room available. It—it is meant to accommodate a large group of people such as yourselves, bu-but it is all we have. If, if that's not good enough, I could give it to you a—a discount. I'm sorry, we are the only inn in town." The man was going to give his daughter a firm talking too when he found wherever she'd snuck off to. How could she give two people from the same party their last set of double rooms?

Hakkai glanced back over his shoulder at his friends to see what they thought.

"Ah shit, and I was hopin' to scout out the local and find me some company for the night," Gojyo sighed, reaching into his coat for his cigarettes.

"Anything's better than sleeping in the damn jeep again," Sanzo growled.

"All right then," Hakkai turned back to the owner, still wearing his poker face smile. "We'll take it then."

After bringing their things up stairs to the room, Hakkai started going through their provisions. They'd been on the road so long that they were running low on just about everything. Hakkai figured that he'd do some shopping while they were in town. "Hey Goku, would you like to go shopping—" Hakkai looked up from the bag, and realized Goku was gone. "Where's Goku?"

Sanzo was sitting near a window reading a newspaper he'd bought downstairs. His reading glasses were sitting on the bridge of his nose. He had a cigarette between his lips, his legs crossed. He looked perfectly comfortable, and not likely to move from that spot for a while.

"He said something about 'smelling something good' and took off following his nose like the animal he is," Sanzo said with a detached tone.

"Oh. Then Gojyo, will you—" Hakkai didn't bother finishing. Gojyo was gone as well. "Then I guess I'll go shopping on my own. Do you want anything while I'm out, Sanzo?"

"Cigarettes," Sanzo said, holding out the gold card, not bothering with lowering the newsprint wall that separated them.

"Right. Should have guessed."


Translation:

*Harissen: This word is often use in Saiyuki fanfic. It is Sanzo's infamous paper fan that is used to discipline out favorite Kappa and Saru. It is a tradition tool used for discipline in Japan, such as a ruler is used by nuns for the same purpose. Hehee.