Chapter 2:

"OMFG!!!!!!" the boy threw himself aside as the barrel of a Smith and Weston smoked high in the air. Rubbing furiously at his face tears welled up at the corners, gagging and choking under the glare of Sanzo's gun "I-I-I kissed…A FUCKIN' OLD MAN!!!!!"

Bang!

"Want to repeat that skinny? It was no walk in the park for me either…" Sanzo growled rubbing his throbbing nose, is it broken? Damn there was a lot of blood coming out...stupid prick.

The kid shoot back and equally menacing glare removing his hands to show and already appearing bruise across his nose bridge.

"Hey you old fart! THIS IS YOUR FAULT DON'T POINT THAT TOY AT ME JACK ASS!!" he yelled, I feel so violated!! (TT-TT)

Sanzo's finger just managed to quiver at the triggerwhen Gojyo and Goku tackled him, although they'd seriously regretted doing such. Disgusted and furious, little could the kid do but watch this guy pretending to be a monk bash the crap out of the two. Hakkai broke the trail of indecision squatting down beside him.

"I apologies for the other three, did I hear correctly when you mentioned not having supplies with you?" Hakkai smiled making the kid sink back a little nervously.

"Yeah…I'm out and so are you, I dunno how we're gonna get through this desert like this, it'll take three days—,"

"THREE DAYS!" Gojyo and Goku roared amongst the beating of Sanzo's harisen in which the kid wondered: exactly where'd he put that thing?

"Oh my, that will be a problem considering our condition…" eyeing Hakkai, he mentally smirked.

"Hey I could leave you guys here are grabs some supplies from a village round here if you got some cash, it's like hours away!"

"Exactly how will we know if you'll come back…?" Sanzo returned stroking his fan dangerously.

"Oh I will…" he forced a smile. I will leave you here to rot ya nasty…

"I don't think so…You're taking us with you…"

"WHAT!? No way, I go alone!" Sanzo gave him a deadly side glance, however he remained unfazed.

"If you're broke how can you go anyway…?" Sanzo gleamed in the triumph as the kid hung his head, curling a fist.

"Hmm… If I recall correctly there aren't any villages in the desert on the map," Hakkai butted in, noticing the kid sulk suddenly.

"Who said it was in the desert!"

"Ah…you did." the Sanzo-ikko said simultaneously.

"Grr! Well I can't show you, how do I know if you're demons or not?" the air grew noticeably chiller here as the kid said this, regretting it too as he washed an eye over the bland faces of the group. Sanzo lit a cigarette, clicking back the safety on his gun.

"How do we know you're one?" he growled putting it up against his forehead "You've got two choices, one take us, two die. I recommend two,"

"Son of a—," Sanzo raised an eyebrow and the kid glared, then sighed "Fine but if you tell ANYONE where the village is I'll kill you lot myself"

"Well aren't we brave… you got a name kid?" Gojyo smirked leaning on Sanzo's shoulder.

"Yea, but you guys'll call me Ryu (Dragon) for now. I only give my name to people who matter," Ryu snipped pulling his hat on as a vein popped onto Sanzo's brow "So how do you s'pose I carry the lot of you?"

"Can you drive Ryu?" Hakkai smiled letting Jeep drift of beside him. Goku gave a small laugh when Ryu gawked at Jeep miraculous transformation.

"I can try!"

"…we're gonna die…"

Ryu heard the snips of gasping breaths over his shoulder and frowned, the desert night's air was becoming frigid and he was beginning to worry about this group. Glancing at Sanzo in the passenger's seat beside him, curled in his robes and a blanket, he was asleep but Ryu could see him shivering.

"This sucks, it's cold, we all hurt and worst of all I'm hungry…" Goku whined squeezed into the back seat with Hakkai and Gojyo, the only one of the Sanzo-ikko whom managed to stay awake "Hey Ryu I thought you said this village was a few hours away?"

"Yea, if you fly. Err… we should be close by now…" Ryu said amongst unraveling his cloak "Hey, throw this over the three of you and give Sanzo one of your blankets. The cloaks ratty but it's better than what you've got,"

Goku grinned happily, Ryu wasn't such a bad guy; in fact Goku quiet liked him long as Sanzo and Ryu didn't talk. For some reason there happened to be a distinct hatred between the two upon meeting, Goku guessed it was because of the kiss, he made a mental note never to do the same. He threw his blanket over Sanzo and grabbed Ryu's coat, a brief second his hand slipped over something icy and jerked back. From what he could see in the moonlight Ryu was only wearing something white and baggy, without sleeves.

"Aren't you gonna be cold? You're hands are freezin',"

"Na, I'll hold out till we get there."

"Hey Ryu why are ya drivin' without th' lights on?"

"Oh err…I don't wanna get caught," Goku was slightly shocked by this comment.

"Caught? Did ya do somethin' bad?"

"Not really, I'm not exactly welcome here."

After an hour Ryu finally pulled at the clutch slowing Jeep down "Damn, this is fun, too bad it's over"

"Ha?" Goku shrunk back as the moon disappeared behind a colossal sand dune, over shadowing jeep like a gigantic monster, Goku felt unbelievably small in its wake, he'd rather Ryu hadn't stopped here. "This is a village? It's a sand dune!"

"SHUSH! It's a disguise to hide it from the demons, this village is a refuge!" Ryu snapped in no more than a whisper "Look you can just see the wood pillar's sticking out the top see?"

Goku followed Ryu's finger to find not much more than half a meter of thick wooden logs poking out the top, they'd been shaven down to follow the basic shape of the sand dune and just beneath those were hidden dark slots, camouflaged as well. Goku gathered they were guard posts.

"Now I know why it wasn't on the map…" Hakkai's voice made both Ryu and Goku jump, he handed Ryu's cloak back with a smile as Gojyo and Sanzo briskly hopped out of Jeep for him to transform back.

"Wait where you guys awake this whole time?" Ryu glared as Gojyo sneered.

"Adults should always supervise children right Sanzo-sama?"

"Ch. So how the hell are we supposed to get in, I don't see a gate,"

"It's on the other side…" Ryu snipped throwing his bag over his shoulder approaching the dune base.

"Ah…a lovers quarrel," Hakkai chuckled getting two very bland glares. Ryu drew both daggers out, placing a finger into the rings on ends of the blades hilts, a small clink of chains sung as the kid swung the swords, drawing out chains. He drew an arm back and cast up a blade like a fishing line, the blade sliced soundlessly through the air and finally bugged into the top of the pillars. Doing the same with the other Ryu checked if they were secure.

"Oh so that's what those rings are for, interesting," Hakkai muttered folding his arms, looking over his shoulder he noticed Sanzo's eyes harden dramatically as he examined the weapons. Hn…so Sanzo thinks so too?

"Hey you guys. We're gonna have to take one at a time since I only have two…" Ryu blinked to find only Hakkai and Sanzo standing on the ground beside him, Hakkai happily pointed up just as Gojyo disappeared over the pillars "What the—,"

"You where saying?" Hakkai grinned taking a hilt of a blade.

"N-nothing…"

Inside the village was alive with life, beyond the walls the village was far more complimentary than expected, the buildings were well kept, each two even three stories high, the ground had been paved over and lamps assorted every few meters along the neatly choreographed streets. Fountains of water appeared every now and then among cross roads, and the city was dark and soundless in sleep.

"There's a huge building near the west gate, the bazaar is its courtyard. See that building towering over there?" Ryu muttered pointing things out.

"Nice tour… where's the hotel?" Sanzo demanded taking a drag of his cigarette, Ryu twitched.

"Well ya can't go now; they'll arrest you before tomorrow jack ass,"

"So what do you propose Ryu?" Hakkai asked. Ryu took a while to answer screwing up his face in distaste.

"One night, we'll put you up for one night but you guys owe me,"

Leading them through a series of back streets Ryu often paused accordingly as a couple of guards patrolled by, obviously this village was up tight to ensure their safety but this looked a bit exaggerated. The longer they went the less wonderful the housing grew; till they came across a street with small housing in serious need of patching up. Ryu paused again pressing up against the wall.

Gojyo caught a glimpse of Goku's face.

"Goku, what's wrong?"

"This village…it doesn't…feel right," he muttered adding more quietly "there's defiantly something not right about it,"

Gojyo looked up the street, yea he knew what Goku meant, setting foot here felt like he'd just stepped into a warm bath, seeping in and draining him of strength but he couldn't gather if it was demonic or not.

Ryu glanced quickly around a corner; there was only a group of people not far down the road, they could pass without trouble if they went quickly and quietly.

"Okay let's go…" and darted forward, others followed in toe. However as Hakkai pushed himself to run, a sudden pain shot up his side, gasping his knees buckled and he clasped.

"Hakkai," Gojyo drew back helping his companion to his feet, he felt Hakkai shuddering as his hand rapped around his waist, it was wet and sticky as Hakkai rasped for air.

"Hey someone's sneaking around over there!"

"Crap!" Ryu back tracked in front of the two whispering "Go to the last on the left and say I sent ya. I can handle these goons no sweat,"

The group of men down the street suddenly glared, cracking their knuckles, beginning their advance. Gojyo nodded and carried Hakkai out of sight.

"So the little traitor is back...?" the men growled at Ryu.

"Yea so what are you guys gonna do 'bout it?"

"TAKE THAT!!!"

Hakkai pressed himself up against the bed head, rubbing the blind spots he'd received from the strong sun light searing through the large curtain less window opposite. He discarded the dust from his eyes washing them over the cramped small room he and Gojyo was given straight after entering the orphanage they now used as a refuge. The mattress on the floor beside him was empty, the blankets all bunched up messily at one end, Gojyo was awake but not in the room. It was a petite place, and gave off a warm radiance like a family home despite the lack of furniture and the unruly amount of children's possessions lingering over the place. Hakkai felt strangely at peace and looked to his hands; he was surprised to see no grazing or raw flesh. Neither did his wounded side hurt any longer.

The door creaked open slowly as Gojyo's heavy boots stomped over to him, filling the room with the scent of tea.

"Mornin' Hakkai," Gojyo greeted setting a cup of warm tea into Hakkai's hands and seated himself down on his makeshift bed. Hakkai took in one glance of Gojyo, trying to piece together words. Gojyo smirked "Yea I was surprised too. All the wounds just upped and left over night,"

"How…peculiar, is Goku and Sanzo--,"

"Yea. They're fine, still asleep and there's no way your going to get me to wake them up,"

Hakkai gave a weak chuckled placing his cup on the small worn bedside table; he'd managed to push himself onto his feet but that was as far as he got before his body gave way.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Hakkai,"

"My body is so weak," Hakkai gasped propping himself onto an elbow.

"I think that came with the miraculous healing. You should stay in bed,"

"No thank you, someone should thank Ryu and the orphanage hostess for putting us up for a night," Hakkai smiled. Gojyo sighed putting a cigarette too his lips, just for kicks after all Hakkai would likely nag him if he lit it around kids, he always did think rather of others then himself, this was no exception.

"Got any clue how this happened?"

"I'm afraid not, however we can be sure its no normal human ability. This range of healing may even surpass mine,"

"Hey Hakkai, did you get a nightmare last night?"

Hakkai gave Gojyo a blank stare; now that Gojyo mentioned it he could vaguely recall a terrible dream, something of a black monster pinning him down, ripping into his body. The fire that surrounded it burnt his flesh, and its eyes…red glowing slits above a wicked cruel smile. Hakkai shuddered, however the memory grew more clouded the longer he thought and he cast it aside.

"Yea, I figured,"

Hakkai looked up as he heard the creak of the floor panels outside, the muted feet of someone leaving their doors side. His eyes narrowed.

"One thing is for sure…we'll have to leave as soon as possible,"