Chapter 2: First Game

"Gojyo! Let's switch seats!" Goku complained. "I'm dying because of you smoking in front of me!!"

"Ahh. I'm sorry," Gojyo said, not sounding it all. "I forgot there was a kid sitting in the back," he finished with a smirk.

"What did you say?!" Goku shouted incredulously.

"Stop it, you two..." Sanzo groaned at them from the front passenger seat with a vein throbbing on his head as he leaned against his hand. "If you want to fight, do it outside the car!" He really wished Myoko would quit humming along to the song on the radio and reading her book under the shade of her umbrella long enough to give those two a good whack. He had no idea how she could tune them out like that.

"Hahaha, just wait a bit more," Hakkai said patiently with a closed-eyed smile. "We'll soon be arriving in a town! We'll be able to stay a night under a roof for once."

—∞—

After driving a fair distance, they came upon the place Hakkai mentioned. They also happened to come across a fight at the same time.

"You bitch! Apologize right away!!" one of the thugs involved roared furiously.

"No!! You're the one who bumped into me on purpose!" the girl they were trying to harass said defiantly.

Myoko's ears twitched when she heard that, and she finally looked up from her book and lowered her dark sunglasses a little to see what the problem was, but it looked like Gojyo and Goku were already on the case, because they were out of the Jeep and marching straight toward the unsightly scene. Her own intervention seemed unnecessary.

"I told you we'll let you go as soon as you leave those bags," thug B said as they pressed in closer to invade her personal space while she clutched her bag of groceries protectively in her arms. "You don't want a scar in that beautiful face of yours, now do you? Eh?"

"Stop..." she started to protest again, when Gojyo's foot came crashing down on top of thug C's head, smashing it face-first into the ground.

"Uhuuuh!!" he grunted, grimacing in pain and disgust when he was forced to kiss the dirt.

Huh? the girl thought, surprised.

"Che! What a wuss," Gojyo scoffed. "Yo. Is there a hotel around here?" he asked the girl while he and Goku stared at her. "A hotel." He punctuated the sentence by grinding the thug's face under his boot when he tried to get up again.

"Huh?" the girl said aloud, still stunned.

"Who are these guys?!" thug A asked incredulously with a vein throbbing on his head as he turned to face the newcomers with the knife in his hand raised threateningly. "If you butt in, I'll..."

Goku sent him flying with a single punch.

"Euk! Uuak!" thug A groaned as he crashed back down to the ground. The startled girl took a step back, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Bingo~!" Goku said with a cheeky grin.

"Hey, hey! Goku!" Sanzo shouted, standing up in the Jeep. "Didn't I tell you to avoid, as much as you can, drawing attention?!"

Says the man yelling at the top of his lungs with a gold crown on his head... Myoko thought, taking note of all the people on the streets who had turned their attention from the fight to them and their unusual mode of transportation.

"I think we are also drawing attention, Sanzo," Hakkai pointed out with a smile.

"Forget it, Hakkai," Myoko said with a sigh, shutting her book. "These guys wouldn't know 'low profile' if it slapped them in the face."

"Are you asking to be slapped in the face?" Sanzo retorted shortly.

"Nah, I'm just saying good-looking people attract attention no matter what they do," she replied calmly with a perfectly straight face while looking directly at the monk, making Hakkai laugh and Sanzo face-palm to hide his expression, which was a mix of exasperation and something else that he refused to acknowledge. He had no idea how she could say stuff like that with such a serious look on her face.

"Yeah, you're 8.5 times more suspicious looking," Goku added.

"Compared to yourself?" the monk asked, sweat-dropping.

"Jeep...?" the girl they rescued mumbled, sinking to her knees. But there wasn't anyone who owned a Jeep around here... Who are these people?

Goku leaned down and picked up the apple that had fallen from her bag for her. "Here," he said with a smile, holding it out to return it to her. "We're travelers. Could you tell us of a hotel that makes good food?"

"It would be even better if it has a garage too," Hakkai added pleasantly.

"Um..." the girl said, blushing. "Then... how about to our house? But... that hair..." she said nervously, eyeing Myoko with suspicion.

"This?" Myoko said, touching her white locks. "I'm albino. Is that a problem?"

"Oh, no!" the girl said, looking extremely relieved. "Then, by all means, please follow me."

"... I was just mistaken for a youkai again, wasn't I?" Myoko whispered to the guys behind her hand. People never used to cause this much fuss over her unusual looks before. Did this mean it was because people used to just assume she was a friendly youkai instead of strangely colored human?

"It seems that way," Hakkai agreed with a wry smile, which he found funny since the girl had said nothing about any of the real youkais in the group.

—∞—

On her suggestion, their group of five followed the girl back to her family's hotel, and they parked Jeep under a covered area for the night before heading inside to eat. The food was delicious, but the company left something to be desired.

"He... Hey!! I'm the one who ordered pork!" Goku shouted angrily with a vein throbbing on his head when Gojyo tried to take a piece from the plate. "Give it!"

"Are you going to be stingy?!" Gojyo said, annoyed, eating it anyway just to mess with him. "Go and chew on some grass, you monkey!"

Their young hostess sweat-dropped as she watched, not quite sure what to make of them. It was hard to believe they were arguing over one plate, when the whole table was covered with food.

"Now you've done it, you C-class Kappa!" Goku yelled furiously.

"So what? You damn little monkey!!" Gojyo said defiantly with a vein popping on his forehead, flipping him off.

"Damn it!!" Eat quietly you punks!!" Sanzo snapped furiously, whacking both with his harrisen hard enough to send them crashing from their chairs to the floor.

"Excuse me, can I have some more tea?" Hakkai called.

"Oh, that sounds good. Could have a refill, too, please?" Myoko asked, casually taking advantage of the chaos to quickly and stealthily steel two pieces of pork while the others were down for the count.

"Haha," the girl laughed, smiling in amusement at their antics. These people are funny!

"Okay! Dear guests! Thank you for saving my daughter, Houmei!" the owner greeted them as he came out from the back to help her wait on them, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Dad," Houmei said with a smile.

"Thank you," Hakkai responded pleasantly in kind.

"Not at all," the older man said. "But tell me, did you all come from the east?" he asked as he set down their drink orders.

"Ahh... So?" Sanzo asked, pausing with his chopsticks over his plate.

"Heh! That's amazing!" Houmei said brightly, impressed. "These days, people don't go to the east deserts because of the danger. But you five came all the way over here unharmed! You must be really strong!" she exclaimed, causing them all to sweat-drop. "Especially when there's been rumors that five nasty youkais have been appearing. Whenever they pass by, thousands of dead youkai corpses are found lying around. Well, since they are fighting amongst themselves, there haven't been any casualties for us townspeople, but..."

"You know," Goku said, "that almost sounds like..." Before he could get another word out, Myoko threw a dumpling into his open mouth with a subtle flick of her wrist, and Gojyo pushed his head down against the table to shut him up.

"Sorry, sorry," Gojyo said with a crooked smile. "There was a fly sitting on your head. Oh, man! I missed it!!"

"..." A vein throbbed on Goku's annoyed head while he chewed on the dumpling with his head still pressed to the table.

"You don't have to worry about it," Hakkai told Houmei with a bright smile when he saw the puzzled expression on her face.

"...?" Houmei said, sweat-dropping again.

"By the way, what's the attitude of the youkais around here?" Sanzo asked.

"Well... there's nothing to say about them. Not too long ago, the youkais were living peacefully in this town," the innkeeper said. "But one day, they all disappeared after they devoured over ten of the townspeople. We humans just don't know what's going on."

So this town, too... Sanzo and Myoko thought grimly.

Everything is unfolding just as the Three Aspects said... This chaos is spreading through all of Shangri-La, he mused.

The youkais who have gone berserk are inflicting more terror amongst the humans, hastening the destruction of the balance at the same time, she thought.

It's a vicious cycle... they concluded.

"I hate youkais," Houmei suddenly said harshly, jarring them from their thoughts and startling the others. "I wish all the youkais in the world would just disappear!"

"Houmei!" her father said, trying to calm her down.

"They eat humans! They're nothing but monsters!" she cried angrily, clutching the serving tray tightly in her arms. "It's impossible for humans and youkais to live together! Even the townsfolk say so!!"

"Houmei!" her father repeated sternly. They shouldn't be making a scene in front of their guests, especially when... "I'm really sorry," he apologized on his daughter's behalf. "One of the victims killed by the youkais was a friend of hers."

I see... no wonder, Myoko thought sympathetically, observing the tortured expression on the younger girl's face while Houmei tried to compose herself. The unwelcome memory of the battered and bruised body of her teacher flashed through her mind. The death of a loved one isn't something you can just get over that easily... When someone you care for dies in front of you, it's hard not to get poisoned by hate. She then noticed how Houmei's outburst had affected Goku, and how troubled he looked on the poor girl's behalf. She caught his eye and gave him a gentle smile to comfort him.

Hakkai set his chopsticks down and smiled politely at their hosts. "... Thank you for the food. Did you make all of this, Houmei-chan?" he asked in an attempt to change the subject to something more less sensitive.

"Um... yes," Houmei replied.

"Really?!" Goku asked excitedly, his expression doing a complete one-eighty as he smiled at his new favorite cook with the brilliance of a thousand white-hot suns. "Wow!! I haven't had such a good meal since the last time I can remember. Thanks~!"

"Ah..." Houmei said quietly, surprised, and hid shyly behind her tray. "Thank you..."

"Mm. This meal definitely tops my chart, too. I wish I could cook like this," Myoko agreed with another radiant smile.

"I wish you could cook like this, too," Gojyo muttered sardonically under his breath, but she still caught it, and before he could blink, Myoko had flipped her chopsticks around in her hand and had them shoved up his nose in lieu of her fingers for a nose hook. "O-O-O-Owww!!!" he cried in pain, flailing his arms in a panic. "The hell's that for, you bitch!? You really gonna attack someone for speaking the truth!?"

"It's not what you said, but how you said it," she replied with a semi-annoyed look on her face, raising her hand to pull his nose higher. She didn't like his tone.

Gojyo couldn't believe she would attack him over something so minor. Normally, she would just smile and laugh it off. It usually took a lot more than that to provoke her. Except when it was that time of the month, of course. "Goddammit, are you PM—OOOWWWW!?!"

"Myoko, hand chops are fine, but can you refrain from doing nose hooks at the table?" Sanzo deadpanned with a small vein on his forehead, starting to get annoyed by all the fuss Gojyo was making. The idiot should know better than to provoke her during Shark Week.

"Hand chops are not fine!!" the half youkai shouted incredulously as she finally removed her chopsticks, massaging his poor nose. "Don't encourage her, you stinking monk!! Geez, you're so violent, it's no wonder you can't get a m—ahh!!" His rant was cut short by a swift hand chop to the head from Myoko before he could finish the stupid insult he tried to hurl at her.

"Who cares, I'm awesome," she stated firmly with a perfectly serious expression.

Sanzo was honestly beginning to think Gojyo was too dumb to live.

"Hahaha, you two seem to be on a roll tonight, in your own ways..." Hakkai laughed with a smile. "I don't suppose you have any chocolate, do you?" he asked Houmei and her father wryly, also coming to same conclusion as Gojyo, but handling it much better. He had heard from Sanzo before that the best way to cope with an upset Myoko was to keep your distance and throw chocolate (or one of her other favorite foods) at her if she growled.

—∞—

After dinner, they moved to the interior balcony on the second floor to play cards before bed.

"Tada~!! I have eight," Goku said proudly, showing them his hand as they played Black Jack. "Eight!!"

"Sixteen," Myoko declared with grin after she flipped hers over.

"Ah! I have twenty-one," Hakkai said with a brilliant shit-eating grin as he displayed his winning set.

"No way!" Myoko said, totally disappointed. She was sure she had him this time! She pouted and popped another piece from the chocolate bar they had procured for her into her mouth.

"Uak! You bastard! How many times is it?!" Gojyo exclaimed incredulously with a small vein throbbing on his forehead. Hakkai had won so many times that it was getting ridiculous.

It's been ten days since we left the temple... Sanzo thought while he watched the other four play from the next table over, recalling something else the Three Aspects told him that he had chosen not to mention to the others yet.

Also, for Gyumaoh's revival... the inheritance your sensei left behind... is needed.

"!!" Sanzo gasped, shocked. The scripture I carry, the Maten Sutra has the power to break away darkness, and Sensei's, the Seiten Sutra has the power to create light. The night Sensei's murderer took his life... when his scripture became missing... Why is that in the West? he wondered.

"... zo. Sanzo?" Hakkai asked, making Sanzo start when the monk realized he had been trying to get his attention. "Would you like some coffee?"

"Ahh. Thanks," Sanzo said, accepting the cup.

"It seems as though after hearing that conversation during dinner... the humans' anxiety and fear about the existence of youkais have grown," Hakkai observed.

"Yeah... Since most humans don't know the reason for the disturbance, to them it will only seem as though the youkais are showing their true nature," Sanzo agreed.

"And it's not like they'll understand even if we tell them," Gojyo added.

"Yeah, people have a hard time accepting those who are different to begin with," Myoko agreed, joining Sanzo and Hakkai at their table. "Plus, even if they understand the cause, it doesn't change the fact that they're being attacked."

"Gojyo may not have a problem... but if it weren't for the youkai power limiters, Goku and I wouldn't even be able to walk through the streets," Hakkai reminded them. "It seems even Myoko, a normal human, is under suspicion because of her looks."

"Only by the ignorant or unobservant," Myoko quipped. "It should be pretty obvious I'm human, since I'm not wearing jewelry or anything else that could be a power limiter."

Sanzo glanced between them. The Three Aspects said he had orders from the Merciful Goddess to go West with these four in order to find what he was looking for. But with these kind of guys... he thought, sweat-dropping, as Gojyo and Goku began yet another stupid and petty fight over the cards.

"What?! Just because you won, don't get so full of it!!" Goku told the perverted kappa as they started to wrestle.

"You're the one who asked for another game!!" Gojyo retorted irritably, pushing down on the little monkey's head.

Hakkai and Myoko smiled wryly at their antics and sweat-dropped, too. But her smile tensed as her eyes slide to the side when she heard movement below and sensed a negative shift in the atmosphere, and she saw a whole troop of strangers entering the inn. It was an unpleasant feeling. "Those people..."

"Huh?" Goku said, pausing his side of the fight to look at the men and women below. "Ahh. They're the guests who just signed in as a group. Some kind of traveling performers or something."

"Oh, did you find that out from Houmei-chan?" Myoko asked him playfully with a teasing grin.

A traveling troupe? Sanzo thought, gazing down at them.

Gojyo also moved closer to the railing to have a look for himself and grinned. "The dancers look so damn hot!" he leered with a salacious smile, admiring the women's curves. "Should I invite them to dance in my bed?"

PHWEEEEEP!

"Instructional guidance!" Hakkai interrupted with his whistle and a brilliant shit-eating grin before his comments could get more R-rated.

"Way too much information, bro," Myoko added. He could do what he wanted, but she didn't need to hear about it.

"Oh? What's the matter, Myoko?" Gojyo said with a devious smirk, deciding to tease her. "Jealous?" he asked, leaning down and moving in to put his arm around her, only to be stopped short by the sensation of having something cold and sharp pressed against his throat. In that split second, Myoko had reached back and drawn her blade from her umbrella just enough to scare him.

"Don't make me stab you," she retorted emotionlessly with an expression that said she was not to be fu—messed with.

A bead of nervous sweat slid down the side of Gojyo's face and the back of his neck as he carefully removed himself from her personal space. "... Why am I the only one you're giving such a hard time tonight?" he asked, chagrined.

"Because you're the only one who keeps provoking me," she answered coolly, as if it should have been obvious, earning a small laugh and wide smile from Hakkai, which he covered with a cough. Gojyo seemed to be a slow learner when it came to their favorite nun.

"Tch. Idiot," Sanzo scoffed under his breath. It served him right. He turned his attention back to the traveling troupe. It hadn't escaped his notice the way Myoko had tensed up when they entered, and since she tended to have the same sharp level of instinct when it came to sensing malice as a wild animal, even when she wasn't consciously aware of it, he thought it bore the need for further scrutiny. He soon realized why when he focused in on one man who had his head heavily wrapped in a scarf. The stranger was staring straight up at him, and there was a strange look in his eyes. ...? the monk thought, his frown deepening with suspicion and concern.

"So, what are we going to do tonight, Sanzo?" Goku asked. "Houmei told me that because of the traveling performers, the common room is full, but they still have vacant singles."

"Is that so. Well, let's see," said Sanzo, eyeing the troupe with suspicion again. "We don't know when or where the youkais might strike. So it would be wisest for us to stick together. Is what I should say. But having come all the way to an inn, I don't want to see your sleeping faces. I see your mugs often enough, and I don't want to have to see them here, too," he concluded, turning on his heel to walk away and head for one of the private rooms. "Dismissed!"

Myoko and Goku both yawned as they all immediately went their separate ways without protest. She might have argued against splitting up if she was in a better mood, but as it was she was more concerned about finally getting some space to herself than safety at the moment.

"How understanding of him," said Gojyo. He didn't want to see a bunch of guys' sleeping faces either, and he hated to think of what might happen to him if he and moody Myoko were kept together in a confined space for much longer.

"My, everyone's so honest with themselves," Hakkai remarked with a smile. "Good night."

—∞—

Myoko's eye twitched a little as she lay wide awake in bed, staring up at the full moon outside her window, unable to sleep thanks to her haywire hormones, even with the pain reliever she borrowed from Houmei. The air felt abnormally stuffy, and the crickets seemed especially loud somehow. She was pretty sure it was just her, though. Which made it all that much worse. This is gonna be a long night... she thought, sweat-dropping. I hope those guys from earlier don't cause any trouble... Ah, I hope I didn't just jinx us.

—∞—

The door to Sanzo's room opened silently as the man with the scarf wrapped around his head crept in stealthily with a knife clutched in his hand. The intruder licked his lips as he drew closer to Sanzo's bed, gripping the deadly blade with both hands as he raised it high above his head to strike his sleeping victim.

"!!" he gasped when Sanzo suddenly sat up and grabbed his wrist to stop him. The monk pressed his thumb into a pressure point on his hand to force him to drop the knife. "Euk!" the intruder grimaced as the weapon fell to the floor with a clatter.

"Sneaky bastard," Sanzo sneered, keeping a firm hold on his attacker as he jumped from his bed to pin him to the floor with his other hand gripping the scarf on his head.

The intruder gritted his teeth and winced in pain at the harsh impact, but he quickly pulled his head free from the scarf to escape, revealing his true identity as a youkai when his pointed ears and youkai mark were exposed. "Damn it!" he cursed as Sanzo dodged the desperate swipe he took at his face with his sharpened claws.

Sanzo retaliated with a swift kick over the top of the youkai's head, bringing him to his knees. "How weak."

"You... I'll kill you!" the youkai screamed with fury as he tried to move to attack again, only to freeze when he found the monk's revolver aimed straight at his head.

"Who were you going to kill?" Sanzo asked coldly.

"!!" the youkai gasped as a bead of nervous sweat slid down the side of his face.

"Hmmm... Nice tricks you used back there," Sanzo told him. He had done a good job of suppressing his youkai energy until now. Pointy ears, a birthmark shaped like a symbol—with just one glance, it's obvious to tell he's not human—proof that he's a youkai. "Who sent you?" he asked, pulling the hammer back on his gun. "Tell me who violated what was forbidden and gave rise to this chaos." And... Images of his old master and blood splatter surfaced in his mind, a reminder that his scripture had somehow fallen into the hands of these people. He wanted answers for that night. "Tell me. I'll give you 10 seconds."

"Kuk...!!" the youkai grunted anxiously, gritting his teeth.

BANG!

"Well?!" Sanzo demanded impatiently with a vein pulsing on his head, firing the first round past his ear.

"U-aak!! It's only been two seconds!" the youkai shouted anxiously, cringing in fear. Sanzo pulled the hammer back again. "I... I don't know who's behind it! We're just following Kougaiji-sama's orders!"

Kougaiji? Sanzo thought, recognizing the name. The son that was born between Gyumaoh and Rasetsunyo. I've heard that he's talented in both martial arts and sorcery. But there's no way that he could have that much power to be able to revive Gyumaoh alone. When Gyumaoh was put down five hundred years ago, Kougaiji was supposed to have been sealed away in Houtou Castle in India. Who broke the seal on Kougaiji? Whoever did it is most likely the one who is plotting to revive Gyumaoh.

"You sure you should be taking so much time here?" the youkai asked, getting his attention to make sure it stayed on him when he caught a glint in the darkness behind the monk.

"What?" Sanzo asked, frowning and furrowing his brow.

"The other rooms have been ambushed, too. By now, your friends—"

"Hmph! So what?" Sanzo scoffed with a smirk. "Sorry, but, I'm not the kind of guy who would worry about the well-being of others." He never would have brought the others along in the first place if he didn't think they could take care of themselves. And he really pitied the poor soul who got stuck with Myoko in her current state.

SHNG.

"Uk!" Sanzo said, surprised when his wrists were suddenly caught tight in a sticky string, forcing him to drop his gun. It clattered against the floor and went sliding across the room. "Kuk!" He gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself free, but they wouldn't budge. Spiderweb?!

"That's right, priest," a feminine voice sneered. "This is not the time for you to worry about others."

Sanzo looked up as its owner emerged from the shadows and saw in the gleam of the moonlight that the spiderweb binding him was connected to the hand of a female youkai with a rose-shaped mark on her chest. A spider youkai! Of course, how could he have been so stupid, to let himself get distracted like that?

The spider youkai stuck her tongue out and licked her lips with anticipation, her eyes shining with malicious excitement. "Since you're going to die!"

"!" The crease in Sanzo's brow deepened when he noticed another disturbing detail in the dim light. In the youkai's other arm, she was holding an unconscious Houmei. "You've captured a hostage?!"

The spider youkai smirked. "No one has ever escaped our Dark Spider clan's webs, Priest Genjo Sanzo!"

—∞—

"Ho-Houmei...!!" her father gasped, struggling to get up from the floor of the kitchen, where the youkais had left him after giving him a beating to get him out of the way.

—∞—

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Sanzo's face as he glared at the youkai.

"I've captured a big one today, eh? Haha!" she laughed, completely confident in her victory.

There's been a change of dimensions from the floor to the ceiling, Sanzo thought, continuing his struggle to break free. Is this an illusion due to her powers?

"Stop the useless resistance," the spider youkai told him. "Don't you care what will happen to this girl?"

Sanzo's gaze hardened. "Stop it. I'll kill you."

The spider youkai laughed through her nose and smirked.