Somewhere in Shangri-la, as our story opens on a familiar scene….
"Do you want to die!"
The monk gave the two men in the backseat of the jeep a glare; pointing his gun threateningly at the both of them. His seatmate, a young dark haired man, smiled calmly at him; all the while keeping his hands and eyes on the wheel.
"They'll wear their selves out eventually. You should just ignore them Sanzo."
The monk simply turned to face forward, his gun disappearing into his robes.
"How can you really ignore them, Hakkai?"
The driver laughed a little.
"It's really simple. I can't."
"GOJYO, STOP KICKING ME!"
"WELL STAY ON YOUR SIDE OF THE JEEP, YOU STUPID CHIMP!"
"In the name of all things holy, shoot me…."
Hakkai simply laughed and continued steering the jeep on its course towards a small village.
"We'll be in the village in about an hour. Please, don't kill each other yet, ok?"
She glanced at the clock. 4:00 p.m. Damn, it was two more hours until her shift ended. This meant she wasn't going to get to the temple until 7:00 or later.
'I hate this job.'
Wearily, she sat the tray on the counter and sighed. How long was she going to live in this town? How long was she going to work as a waitress for her mother?
"How long until I get sick of living?..."
"Oh, stop thinking like that! You'll never kill yourself, 'cause you're a chicken."
She whirled around, startled; only to come face to face with her youngest sister. She rolled her eyes.
"Jana, why do you have to BUG ME? Go bus tables or something; I'm busy contemplating how to kill myself with a tea tray."
Her sibling contented herself by jumping up and sitting on the counter behind her, swinging her feet.
"You could always whack yourself repeatedly over the head until your dead. But that would be messy. And mom'll really be mad if you mess up her favorite tea tray, Rayne."
She snatched up the tea tray and stomped past Jana.
"Go ANNOY someone else, Jana. I don't have the time!"
The door swinging shut behind her seemed to finalize her statement. The young girl left standing in the kitchen simply gazed at the door; a mixture of sadness and anger reflected in her eyes.
"No, you never do."
"Sanzo, I'm hungry!"
Goku trailed behind the monk, tugging on his robes. They had only arrived in the small village 2 minutes, but Goku had already gone off on his normal mantra. Even so, Sanzo couldn't even concentrate on Goku's moaning because of the gnawing sensation in the pit of his stomach; one that had been there ever since the jeep rolled into the town.
'I know this place. I've been here.'
He shook his head, trying to clear away the feelings of déjà vu penetrating his thoughts. That was absurd; he had never been this far west in his entire life. Stopping to light a cigarette, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something, whether it was the town or not he hadn't decided, was familiar to him. He surveyed his surroundings, trying to place a face with whatever was causing the feeling of déjà vu; when he caught a glimpse of something in an alleyway. He glanced at the group, who were still arguing over whether to sleep first or eat; an argument that featured, as usual, Gojyo against Goku with Hakkai as the peacemaker. Satisfied with that fact that they were otherwise occupied, he strode into the alley, his hand, of course, on his gun hidden underneath his robes. However, as he reached the point of the alley in which the object he had glimpsed stood, he realized his gun wasn't going to do shit.
"Hello, Konzen."