Circle Of Attention.

I have nothing to do with Saiyuki and as such have no rights to the characters. It's probably for the best. They wouldn't last long in my care. Doesn't stop the pain inside though.

As always I welcome all reviews and ideas. I want to make my stories the most enjoyable they can be and only the readers can tell me if I'm doing a good job of that! So press that button and R and R!

Chapter One.

"Shove over you stupid monkey!"

"I said don't call me that!"

"What? Stupid monkey? How about whinging little brat instead?"

"Ah you stupid water sprite! I'm going to tear your antennae off!"

"Well they seem to be in a lively mood today don't they Sanzo!" Hakkai said a gentle smile on his face.

Sanzo hunched deeper into his chair. "They're in a lively mood every day and it's getting on my nerves." growled the priest.

Gojyo and Goku wrestled each other on the back seat of the jeep. The Sanzo party had been travelling for three days without a single sign of an approaching town and tempers were beginning to fray. It was hot and dusty and with every single heavy thump on the back of his seat, Sanzo ground his teeth that little more.

"Get off me monkey!" Gojyo screamed.

"Not until you stop calling me that!" Goku shouted back hanging off Gojyo's scarlet hair.

"Shut up!" bellowed Sanzo pulling out his harisen and smacking both of them hard over the head.

"Ow dammit!" grumbled Gojyo.

Goku rubbed his head and pouted. "Sanzo that hurt!"

Sanzo settled back into his seat and pulled out his cigarette packet.

"Sanzo I would be much happier if you wouldn't do that while we are in Hakaryu. He doesn't like the smoke." Hakkai said chiding the priest.

"Suck it up I need a smoke." Sanzo muttered back lighting the cigarette hanging from his lips. "If you'd hurry up and get us to a god damn town then maybe I could smoke in peace."

"Hey Sanzo give us a cigarette I ran out yesterday. I'm dying here!" Gojyo said leaning forward and holding out a hand.

Sanzo turned and blew a puff of smoke into the kappas face. "Deal with it."

Gojyo balled his hands into fists and strained to keep himself from punching the nonchalant face. "You selfish basterd! Give me a smoke!"

"Now now Gojyo, just sit back down. I'm sure we will arrive at a town before long." Hakkai said.

"When?" Sanzo grunted around the cigarette.

"Yeah I'm hungry!" groaned Goku from the back seat clutching his stomach.

Gojyo slumped back into his chair. "You're always hungry monkey."

Hakkai quickly jumped in before another argument could ensue. "You know I think now might be a good time to consult the map."

The demon pulled Hakaryuu over to a layby on the cliff edge and pulled the map out from the side of his chair and unfolded it.

"Right this is where we should be." Hakkai said pointing to a small line following the edge of a mountain. "…and this is the town we should have hit by now and still haven't." He continued his finger sliding back down the line in the direction they had come to rest over a small town.

Sanzo closed his eyes and took a long drag from his cigarette.

"So why haven't we hit it?" asked Gojyo.

"We're not lost are we?" Goku moaned.

Hakkai smiled and put the map away. "No we're not lost. I'm sure of where we are but what I can't understand is why we can't find the town."

Gojyo frowned. "Couldn't we have driven past it?"

"Well I thought there was a slight possibility of that so I circled back… three times."

"I knew I'd seen that rock before!" Goku shouted.

"Stupid monkey." Goyjo said slapping Goku on the back of the head.

"Hey!"

Sanzo sighed. "Is it possible this town doesn't exist anymore?"

Hakkai shook his head. "The chances of that are very remote. I spoke with the innkeeper before we left. He said that they still receive trade from there and the journey was a fairly easy one."

"Damn it." growled Sanzo.

"Are you coming to the same conclusion that I have Sanzo?" Hakkai asked.

"Yeh."

"What?" interjected Goku. "What conclusion? I don't get it."

"He means demons are involved you dumb mon…"

Goku stood up and put his face next to Gojyo's. "You call me a dumb monkey one more time and I'll bash you're pervy little face in!"

"Now's not the time for a lover's tiff."

"Shut up Hakkai!" growled Gojyo.

Hakkai smiled and turned back to Sanzo. "So what do you suggest we do Sanzo?"

"Keep driving until we hit the next town."

"But Sanzo! If there's demons what about the people?" Goku quickly said.

"It's not my problem."

"Sanzo!"

"Shut up!"

"Well Sanzo be that as it may, we only have a few days supplies left and possibly a week left until we hit the next town. What do you suppose we do when we run out?" Hakkai asked.

"Keep going."

Goku's face fell into a picture of horror. "Sanzo no you can't! I'll die of starvation!"

"You know damn well you won't you annoying little basterd." growled Sanzo.

"Ok well if you're sure that's the right thing to do Sanzo, I guess we really can't do anything but keep going." said Hakkai and he started up Hakaryuu and pulled back out onto the road.

"See what you did now! You made the priest grumpy again." said Gojyo prodding Goku in the chest.

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"That's it!" Sanzo shouted standing up and pulling his gun from his robes. "You sound like a pair of bickering children and I'm sick of it! I'm going to damn well kill you now before you can piss me off anymore!"

He levelled the gun aiming steadily at Goku's head. Goku jumped up and shoved at Gojyo deperatly trying to get out of the priest's way.

"Sanzo don't!" he cried.

Sanzo just frowned deeper and turned the gun on the two of them huddled in the corner. Goku moved again trying to duck out of the firing line. As he dipped down onto the floor he shoved a stray elbow hard into Gojyo's groin. Gojyo cried out and shot forward clutching at his crotch and slamming hard into the back of Hakkai's head.

"Woah!" Hakkai cried out as he accidently jerked the steering wheel hard to the left.

Sanzo lost his balance and cursing fell down and back into the windscreen. Turning he glanced over his shoulder in time to see the jeeps front tires careen over the cliff edge.

"Shit!"

The jeep fell down the vertical precipice jolting as it hit jutting bolders and branches of long dead trees. The bonnet caught on the edge of a rock causing the jeep to roll in mid air. Goku squeezed his eyes shut and dug his nails into the upholstery, hanging on for dear life. Hakkai's arms wrapped around the stering wheel his teeth gritted as every bump threatened to tear him out of his seat. Gojyo hooked his foot under the chair in front for support as he hung onto the door. His head was tucked into his chest and all he could do was hope it didn't connect with the moutain side.

The jeep lurched again as it hit another rock and Sanzo's head flew back, cracking hard into the windscreen and sending him crumpling to the floor. Hakkai leaned over to grab Sanzo's robes and pulled him into his arms. He wrapped himself around the priest cushioning the blows and fastened a steely grip back onto the steering wheel.

The sheer drop stopped suddenly, altering into a steep slope. The wheels connected hard with the ground jerking the men hard upwards. Gojyo let out a cry of pain as his leg was pushed upwards. A snap could be heard before he was bounced back into his seat again. Goku looked up, eyes wide. He watched as Gojyo's face emptied of blood, turning a sheer white.

"Gojyo!"

The slope began to level out and Hakaryuu's back wheels slid sending them spinning to a final halt at the bottom of the moutain.

No one spoke for a moment, allowing their hearts to stop hammering and their breathing to slow.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Hakkai finally still clutching onto the unconcious priest.

Gojyo's faced twisted into a mask of pain and he groaned as he leaned forward and grasped his left leg.

"Gojyo?" Hakkai said turning around as best he could, his face etched with concern.

"My leg. I think I broke my damn leg." he gasped out between pained breaths.

"Sanzo!" Goku cried out finally noticing the bloody priest in Hakkai's arms. "Is he ok?"

"I'm not sure Goku. Let's get out of Hakaryuu so I can take a look. Lend a hand to Gojyo."

Hakkai slid to the edge of the seat and turned. He scooped Sanzo up into his arms and climbed out. He glanced back as Gojyo cried out again and began uttering a long list of curses.

Goku looked up frowning. "He's stuck."

Hakkai sighed. "Here take care of Sanzo a moment."

Goku leapt from the vehicle and settled himself on the ground. Hakkai placed Sanzo gently down and rested his head on Goku's lap. He then turned and climbed into the jeep with Gojyo.

"Try not to move a minute Gojyo."

He squeezed in behind Gojyo until the water sprite was almost in his lap. He then hooked a leg under Gojyo's damaged one, apologising when he hissed in pain.

"If you could please change Hakaryuu." Hakkai said holding onto Gojyo and leaning back.

The jeep quietly 'kyued' in response and quickly reverted back to it's dragon form.

Gojyo gritted his teeth and grimaced as the two men hit the floor. Hakkai leaned further back with Gojyo taking the weight away from the kappa's leg. His own leg managed to cushion Gojyo's broken one from the short drop so the jolt of agony Gojyo was prepared for became just a sharp twinge.

"Thanks man." Gojyo gasped out.

Hakkai nodded and gently shifted out from beneath Gojyo.

"Let me check on Sanzo before I heal that leg."

The youkai walked over to Goku and crouched down.

"Why won't he wake up Hakkai?"

"He took quite a bang to the head Goku. I'm sure he's just knocked himself out."

Hakkai smiled and then gathering his chi he ran his hand just above Sanzo's body, checking for any other injuries before checking the priest's head wound. There was a large gash in the back of his scalp but as far as he could tell there was no other damage. He pushed his chi into the gash and watched as the skin began to knit itself back together leaving only a small pinkish mark behind.

"There." he said looking up at Goku. "He'll be fine."

Goku frowned with worry. "But there was so much blood!"

Hakkai gently smiled a reassuring smile. "That's because he had a cut on the back of his head. Scalp wounds always bleed a lot. It's because they have a good blood supply. He'll be up and about and moaning about his headache in no time."

Goku sighed with relief. "Good."

"Uh Hakkai, I don't want to be a pain or anything but could you come sort me out. I think I'm going to throw up."

"Oh I'm sorry Gojyo of course."

The healer quickly went to the kappa's side and pushed his chi into Gojyo, knitting the broken bone. Sitting back on his heel's he looked up tiredly at his friends face. It was still pale and clammy in appearance but looked a lot less nauseated then before.

"Thanks Hakkai."

"I don't want you to walk on it just yet though. The bone's still weak. It needs time to heal and the only way it's going to do that is if you get plenty of rest."

"And where exactly do you expect me to do that?"

Hakkai suddenly noticed their surroundings. They had come to rest on the very edge of a dense forest. There wasn't a single sign of a town or dewellings anywhere.

"Ah. Yes I see."

"Stay here with Sanzo." Goku shouted suddenly. I think I smell food!"

Goku gently placed Sanzo down then rushed to his feet and into the forest.

"Goku! Don't run off!"

"Ah leave the monkey" said Gojyo laying down on the dusty ground. "When his nose sniffs out food there's no stopping him."

Hakkai sat down and called to Hakaryuu.

"Are you quite alright my friend?"

The dragon 'kyued' and settled in Hakkai's lap. He closed his eyes and dozed while the men waitly quietly and patiently for Goku's return.

Twenty minutes later and Goku came crashing out of the forest.

"I found somewhere! It wasn't food that I could smell, well not food we could eat anyway but there's a small cave not far from here. Looks like it was an animals home but all the bedding and food in there is old and rotten. I cleared it all out for us and fetched some fire wood so we're all good to go!"

"Well what do you know. The monkey did something right for once." remarked Gojyo."

Hakkai beamed up at Goku. "Wonderful! Now I want you to help Gojyo take as much weight as possible off that leg while I carry Sanzo."

Goku grinned and helped Gojyo to his feet and let the water sprite put a hand on his shoulder. Hakaryu took to the sky allowing Hakkai the freedom to go and carefully lift the unconcious Sanzo into his arms.

The party set off on the short walk, the silence being punctuated by the occasional swearing of Gojyo when Goku jostled his injured leg. Finally a few minutes later a small cavern entrance came into view. It was carved into the side of the mountain as it curved around and was covered in foliage making it easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. Goku dropped Gojyo unceremoniously onto the cavern floor, causing more shouts of pain and swearing to be issued, and turned his attention to the fire. Hakkai gently placed Sanzo near the unlit fire and pushed an old heap of moss beneath his head.

"This should do for now. When Sanzo wakes up we can start thinking what our next move shall be."

Gojyo slid over to Sanzo and searched through the priests robes before finding the cigarette packet. Settling himself against the cave wall and resting his leg on some more of the same old brown moss, he lit up he chucked the lighter towards Goku.

"Yeah I'm not looking forward to that moody basterd waking up. He's going to be pissed we crashed and even more pissed his head is killing him."

Hakkai smiled as Goku finally suceeded in lighting the fire. "Well I guess we should savour the calm before the storm while we still can then."