Chapter 7: Surprised

The jeep rattled along merrily. All around, they were surrounded by lush green forests, and chirping birds.

"Sanzo, I'm getting hungry! When can we stop to eat?" Goku whined. 'Where do you think we are, stupid monkey, for you to stop and eat?" Gojou said from beside him. " We must ! Or I`ll die of hunger!" Goku cried. Sanzo just stared ahead stonily. "Saa, Goku, I don`t think you'll get any food for now, unless we go hunting," said Hakkai. "Then lets go!" Goku cheered.

"Sanzo, you don`t mind if we stop a while, do you?" Hakkai asked. "I don't care," was all Sanzo answered. Hakkai looked at Goku and shrugged his shoulders. Ever since what had happened...but ah... they weren`t supposed to talk about it. "Let's go, Goku. Gojou, coming?" "No way. Let that monkey do something good on his own for a change." Hakkai and Goku disappeared behind the trees.

Sanzo took out a cigarette and lighted it. Looking at him skeptically, Gojou took out his pack too. Only.....

"Damn! I've finished my last cigarette!" He exclaimed. He tapped Sanzo on the shoulder. "Pass me one."

"I thought you hated the taste of mine."

"Damn you, corrupt monk. How dare you remember these kind of things! Pass me one, c'mon!"

" No."

"Selfish corrupted monk."

Gojou cursed and climbed out of the jeep. Then, he remembered something. I'll get you back for this, Sanzo, he thought.

"Sanzo, still thinking of that 'Goddess of Love'?" he smirked. "Of course, she and Homura are a great pair.... you are..... YIKESSS!" A torrent of shots flew all around him. Gojou turned chibi as he tried to dodge the bullets.

"URUSAI! Get out of my way!"

Gojou finally took cover behind some thick bushes. Aah, that monk. Can`t even take a simple joke the way it is, he grumbled to himself, kicking some leaves. Now what am I going to do before Goku and Hakkai comes back with food...... Suddenly Gojou heard a faint noise. Someone`s crying nearby, he thought. None of my business, I'm getting out of here. But when he turned his back, the crying noise became louder. Arrghh, I hate these people!

He walked over to where the noise was, and peeped from behind some bushes. There, in a clearing, he saw a beautiful girl, with long brown hair tied up with a huge ribbon and a striking porcelain complexion. Where have I seen her before, he thought to himself. Then, he accidentally stepped on a branch, that made a -krrck-! sound.

The girl looked up. Gojou walked out, his hands stuck deep in his pockets.

"I just passed by. What are you doing out here alone?" he asked nonchalantly.

The girl suddenly brightened up. "Gojou!" she exclaimed before throwing herself at him. "Ohh, I'm so glad you found me!"

"What the....!" Then it suddenly dawned on him. Yeah, he had met this girl before. "The bigmouth Goddess of Wealth huh," he proclaimed. "You can take care of yourself, I'm going back."

" No! Wait, Gojou, listen to me. You got to help me ! Please, please, please!"

"What do you want?"

The girl sniffed, but didn't answer him. "You can tell me."

"Well you see... it's like this. I was feeling bored, so I went to err...my dad's room.... and took out what I thought was a ball. It's really beautiful, and can reflect all sorts of lights on it. So I played and bounced it and bounced it...."

"And of course it bounced off Heaven and fell somewhere down here."

"YEAH! You're so clever Gojou. What I need now is..."

"I'm supposed to help you find the ball."

"Yeah! Oh, thank you, thank you Gojou!" the girl jumped around him happily.

"Matte.... I would expect to have a reward....."

"Well...." she screwed her lip thoughtfully. "I know! Remember that girl and her family whom you saved from youkai long ago? Meilin? If you find back my ball, I'll bring you to her."

Gojou was momentarily taken aback. How in the world did she know?

"Is it a deal? Is it? There's not much time left! I need to find it before dad returns!"

"Aah, okay, okay, you sure you can bring me to see her?"

"No problem. By the way, you can call me Natsumi, " she winked at him.

" I've never seen a name paired so badly with a person before."

"Whaa..t!"

"You look more like winter, than summer (natsu)."

Natsumi sighed. " Okay okay, can we go now?"

They walked. In circles. When they returned to the same spot Natsumi had been on, she burst crying. "We're lost! Now I won't be able to find it!"

"Quiet. We'll find it." Gojou sweat dropped.

A group of four people were walking through the forest. Suddenly the tree tops rustled, and something bright fell directly on to the group's path. "Kou, look!" A tall guy picked up a shiny ball.

"Waah, KIREI da na!!" Yaone and Ririn cried out in delight.

"What's this?" Kougaiji took the ball which Dokugakuji was holding out to him. The ball, in his hands, suddenly emitted a bright white light, and when the light cleared, kanji appeared on it.

"Ill-e-gal des-tiny..?" Kougaiji read out. "How weird. What's it got to do with me?" "Maybe some kind of futuristic ball?" Dokugakuji guessed. "Ah, I don't care. I just want to find that god and REPAY him back for last time. Lets go." Kougaiji walked off.

Two hours and more roundings later, the other two unfortunate people were again back at the same spot.

"You really are no use, Gojou." Natsumi pouted and folded her hands across her chest.

"I don't have special powers like you. At least I tried. You were crying out the whole time."

Suddenly the bushes rustled. Natsumi turned towards the sound, startled. The sounds got louder. She couldn't stand it anymore.

"Gojou!!" She ran and jumped right onto him. She hugged him tightly.

"Gojou! I'm scared!"

Gojou, at first startled, looked gently. "Maa, there's nothing to be scared of. I'm here aren't I?" Natsumi smiled up at him.

The bushes parted.

"Look who we have here." It was Kougaiji and his gang. "Aah, red-haired mister, you hanging out with a girl here?" Ririn looked curious. "Do you remember the safety precautions before doing THAT?" Yaone asked worriedly.

Gojou stiffened, then yelled. "It's not what you think! I'm just doing a good deed!"

Natsumi caught sight of something flashing in Kougaiji's hand. She suddenly ran towards him. "My ball!! You found my ball! Thank you!" She reached out to take from him. Instead Kougaiji held the ball out of her reach.

"Your ball? Why, it dropped right on me. Finders keepers." Kougaiji said.

"No way. That's cause I threw it from above. Kaishite!" Natsumi jumped up and down, trying to get her ball.

" Kougaiji, don't bully small kids. Let her get her ball back so she can stop bothering me," Gojou said.

"Nahh, Gojou, you want to fight me for it?" Kougaiji was smiling sideways now.

Gojou got his weapon ready. But Natsumi held up her hand at him. " I'll fight with him."

She held up her hands and called, " Golden Rope!" A long rope suddenly appeared all around her. She moved her hands, and the rope suddenly shot directly at Kougaiji. It wrapped itself around him, and squeezed hard.

"Yaaah!" Kougaiji screamed. He dropped the ball as he was struggling to free himself. Natsumi punced upon it with a delighted cry and rubbed it. "Oh, I've missed you! Now lets go back to Daddy." She was about to fly off when Gojou suddenly said, " Big ribbon girl, you forgot about that guy." he pointed at Kougaiji who was nearly suffocating.

"Omigoodness!" She snapped her fingers, and the ropes instantly disappeared. She suddenly jumped towards him, and Kougaiji help up his arms in defense. She smiled sneekily.

"It's not good to bully small kids you know, Kougaiji, " she whispered, moving closer to him. Kougaiji suddenly blushed. Natsumi giggled, then suddenly kissed him on the lips.

Gojou, Dokugakuji and Ririn stared in surprised, openmouthed. Yaone squeezed her fists.

Natsumi pulled back to see Kougaiji's face which had turned bright red. Suddenly the ball she was holding emitted a bright light. Natsumi held it up, surprised. "Lo-vers." she read. Kougaiji saw it too. Then Natsumi suddenly blushed. She knew what that meant. This must be the famous matchmaking ball.

Finally she got up, and lifting up a victory sign said, " I won't forget you Kougaiji! You'll see me sometime or other!" Then she turned to the others. "Goodbye, y'all, I have to get back. Thanks Gojou!"

With that she disappeared in a flash of golden light. Kougaiji looked up, a little dumbstruck. Matchmaking? Lovers? What about the words before when he had picked up the ball? It had said Illegal destiny. And she was going to see him again? Now that would be interesting. Kougaiji smiled to himself.

*Author's Note: God, this is like, so confusing! I originally wanted Natsumi to be only with Gojou but Kougaiji insisted on coming out! And it twisted and turned..... oh well, lets see if Gojou is really luckless in love, or will he finally get a chance in the following chapters!*