We all know the disclaimer, we've all read chapters one and two...now here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy!
Ch.3 Far away, nearby
"Kyuu!" Hakuryu chirped, hoping to awaken the four males on the other side of the door. The small, white dragon flittered about as sounds of muffled groans and curses emitted from the room until finally one of the occupants shuffled his way to the door and opened it.
"Kyuu! Kyuu!" Hakuryu continued his alarm call, only aggrivating the four males who were still desperately wanting more sleep.
"What is it, Hakuryu?" Hakkai groaned, not sounding too annoyed. He knew that the dragon wouldn't have disturbed them unless it was something important, and this seemed fairly important.
"Why's their door open?" Gojyo mumbled from the doorway, it was still slightly ajar, the kappa was leaning in the doorframe looking across the hall.
"Whose door?" Hakkai got up and looked in the same direction his red haired comrade was looking.
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"Sanzo! Goku! Wake up!" Gojyo shouted while shaking them both, he managed to jump out of the way of the bullet Sanzo greeted him with for disturbing his slumber.
"Hey, asshole! Those chicks ditched!" red eyes narrowed "I thought we were interested in that sixth Sutra they're after?".
"Man...can't we eat breakfast first?" Goku whined wile his eyes were still closed, head still on the pillow...hell, he was most likely talking in his sleep! But, of course, that didn't stop Sanzo from dragging him out of bed, somehow managing to get the monkey's clothing on by the time they reached the lobby.
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"Which way did they go?" Sanzo eyed the small dragon as it chirped again and flew down the road towards the store the Inn's owner had mentioned the night before.
Hakuryu stopped for a second to try and figure out where the girls could've gone from there but Sanzo had another idea in mind.
"Excuse me, but did a group of women pass by here earlier?" the blonde monk asked a tall, balding man inside the store, assuming he was the owner.
The man eyed them for a moment then nodded "Yeah, actually they came in to buy a few things before headin' out. Said they needed to catch up with that monk...".
Goku, Gojyo and Hakkai looked at Sanzo and pointed "This monk?".
"Hwahwa!" the man chuckled before bowing slightly "Didn't even notice! My apologies, but no. The monk that came through here a while ago...".
"Ok, I'm confused now..." Gojyo shook his head, "Maybe it was a monk from Tani's temple?" Goku shrugged, still wanting to believe the girls were honest.
"Which way were going, do you know?" Sanzo continued to question the store owner, discussion about the girls can wait.
"I reckon they're headin' where that monk said he was headin'..." the man rambled on "Y'go right out through the west exit and head west northwest".
"Thank you!" Hakkai called out over his shoulder as he and the other three, plus Hakuryu, sped towards the west exit of the town.
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"Man! Can't we just buy some food before we leave!?" Goku whined but kept up with the others sprint for the exit.
"Who do you think that monk is?" Hakkai asked aloud, knowing the others were probably wondering that as well.
"I don't know, but it definately raises alot of questions..." Gojyo slowed his pace just enough to light himself a cigarette.
"Like how Tani's temple sent her and those girls on a mission but yet they're all dead?" Sanzo growled out.
"Huh?" the other three stopped short to hear Snazo explain himself. The blonde monk caught his breath quickly and nodded "She said, when we first met them, that her mission was to fix the demon situation...and avenge the deaths of her priest and people...".
"So...what? She's taking orders from dead people?" Goku raised an eyebrow as he scratched his head, trying to figure out what Sanzo meant.
"No, dumbass! He's saying that they just keep spouting one lie after another!" Gojyo smacked the younger one upside the head.
"Hey! It's not my fault I can't think straight right now! I'm starving!"
"Well...as confusing as Tani's story is, this really raises further more questions..." Hakkai announced from the opening of the towns west exit.
As the other three joined him and the white dragon perched on Hakkai's shoulder, they looked down at where the green eyed man was focused.
"Where the hell did they get a vehicle!?" Gojyo blurted at the sight of tire marks on the ground, disappearing into the sandy distance.
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"Keiji Mio...that name sound familiar to you, Kaida?" Tani quickly glanced over her shoulder at the blue haired girl but kept a better eye on where she was driving.
"I've told you time and time again...I don't remember that much!" Kaida rolled her eyes, a deep sigh of frustration escaped her lips.
"But, maybe it would trigger a memory if you thought more about it..." Nariko nudged the younger girl next to her in the back seat.
Momeru nodded "They say that you can lock certain memories away without trying or realizing...they're usually bad, unwanted memories...but sometimes...you need them...".
"Hang in there Momoe-chan, we'll take a quick coffee break soon" Tani lightly elbowed the red eyed female whose head was starting to bob again in her exhausted state.
Kaida decided to sprawl out more in the back seat to rest up and regain her strength, 'Keiji Mio...?' she focused as she drifted off into a meditative state.
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"Just because you finally got your damn food doesn't mean you have to eat it all at once!" Gojyo wrinkled his nose at Goku's fast paced inhaling of his food.
"Buhg gy wuhd zgoh ungree!" was the gurgled resply from the younger male, a few bits of half eaten food spattered the older, red head.
"Ugh! Fucking gross! Chew and swallow before you talk, monkey! Are you a man or an animal!?"
"Shuddahp!"
"Both of you shut up!" Sanzo yelled, gripping his gun in one hand and the paper fan in the other as he wondered which one he should use.
"Both of you behave yourselves or we're not getting ice cream!" Hakkai joked, only to start laughing when he saw the vein throbbing near Sanzo's eye.
Goku opened his mouth to say something but the quick look Sanzo gave him made him wait until he swallowed to speak.
"So...are those girls good or bad? I mean...yeah, they've lied to us a bunch of times, but...they did say they wanted to help...".
"That could have been a lie too..." Sanzo calmly replied, Hakkai frowned at the thought and shook his head "No...I don't think it was a lie".
"Really!?" Goku sat upright, happy to hear at least one good thing about the girls they met...sure Kaida was bit cold and Tani seemed like a female Gojyo...but Nariko and Momeru seemed genuinely nice.
"Don't fool yourselves" Gojyo interrupted "A couple of pretty faces like theirs are the best for deception!".
"You're just mad that none of them would sleep with you!" Goku stuck his tounge out at the red haired man. Another minor arguement was about to errupt but Sanzo interrupted that.
"As much as I hate to admit this, Gojyo might be right..." the blonde rolled his eyes at the kappa's smug grin "Whatever it is they know...it's seems important...".
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"Came through here about a month ago...strange man".
"Strange, how?"
"He never really showed his face the whole time he was here..."
"Really? No one saw his face?"
"No...he wore a hood over his head the whole time..."
"Did anyone catch his name? Or some prominent feature?"
"Oh yeah...you never forget a man with markings all over his arms!"
"Markings? Like writing or-?"
"I told you, he was very strange...low voice, strange markings on his arms...mentioned somethin' about findin' a legendary Sutra...oh, I think he called himself Keiji. Keiji Mio!"
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"Kaida, wake up!" Nariko gentley shook the younger girl awake "We're having a quick break from driving".
Kaida sat up from the backseat of the vehicle and looked a few feet away where Momeru and Tani were setting up a sort of picnic area for the four of them. She streched and let her joints crack and pop from her cramped, curled up position. She tried to focus on the name, Keiji Mio, while she napped, but could only remember their conversation with that store owner.
"Were you able to regain your strength?" Momeru asked, a slight toned of anger in her voice, but no one ever took it personally.
"Yeah, I think so...I'll make your coffee, if you want" Kaida jumped up of the vehicle, landing next to the red eyed insomniac "Why don't you grab a cold cloth?".
Momeru slowly nodded "Hai, hai..." and dragged herself towards their supplies to place a cold cloth across her eyes, a quick but temporary wake up for her.
"Man, I bet we got a good day ahead of those guys now!" Tani grinned "Sure, I feel bad about their vehicle being stolen, but whatcha gonna do!? Not our problem!" she laughed loudly.
"Yes...I do hope they don't have anywhere important to go anytime soon then" Nariko frowned slightly "That would truely be a shame...".
"Hai, hai..." Momeru lazily nodded "Truely a shame...truely...a...shame..." her head bobbed a bit with each word but she managed to keep herself awake.
"Now, Tani...what have we learned from this last experience?" Kaida had a tone of sarcasm in her voice, completely ignoring the compassion Nariko and Momeru expressed for the Sanzo-ikkou.
"Umm..." the blonde thought long and hard "If you don't make that coffee quicker, you'll have, yet again, wasted your energy?".
Kaida looked down to see she hadn't set a fire under the kettle yet "Damnit!" she shook her head "I mean, no! You need to keep your big yapper shut about the Sutra! Now we have competition for it!".
Pink eyes blinked in confusion "But...we're ahead of them...".
"So!?" the blue haired girl was more focused on the kettle now than the priestess.
"So...we'll get first dibs then, right? It's ours!" Tani jumped up and down, clapping happily...not noticing the enormous vein throbbing by Kaida's eye.
"Oh, I do hope so!" Nariko's purple eyes twinkled in hope "Then everything will go back to normal!" her hands clasped as if in prayer.
Momeru simply nodded "Yes, as long as we can find it first...of course, none of us really know where it is. Kaida doesn't remember the whole story...".
"Oh...right..." Tani calmed down "I'd never heard of it until you mentioned it" she motioned towards Kaida.
"Yeah, and Nariko and Momeru have never heard anything about it either..." amber eyes glanced at the two "Unless, it's just that someone doesn't remember, which that doesn't help any either!".
"I think we should all calm down and try not to get ahead of ourselves..." Momeru poured the liquid from the whistling kettle into a mug.
"At least we have an interesting lead!" Tani grinned "I mean, how often do weirdo monks come around talking about a sixth Sutra?".
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The sun was setting in the distance, the sky steadily grew dark, making the path hard to follow, even with the headlights.
"So far, so good!" Tani stretched, they finally made it to some wooded area, probably a good fifty miles away from the next town "I think we're making great time!".
"What did we say about getting cocky?" Kaida raised an eyebrow, arms crossed while tapping her foot.
"Cocky? I thought we just weren't allowed to get ahead of ourselves?"
"Argh!"
"We've found a small, natural hot spring...I think it's just big enough for the four of us!" Nariko smiled while holding up towels for everyone.
Momeru nodded "Imagine that...I can soak while making coffee at the same time..." the faintest of laughs escaped her lips.
"And if you fall asleep, the hot spring can then be a geyser!" Tani joked as she grabbed a towel, the other three did so as well then headed towards the hot spring.
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"Hakkai, you look like you're about to pass out...pull over!" Goku pleaded, of course, he more so wanted to eat dinner but Hakkai's health was just as important to him...almost.
"I agree! We've been driving for hours! We can't see the girls tire tracks anymore! Our best bet is to wait until we reach town and ask around" Gojyo whined, feeling about as hungry as Goku.
Hakkai glanced over at Sanzo, the blonde monk seemed too tired to tell the other two to 'shut up' which meant that it was probably best if they did pull over and camp out.
"This seems like a decent wooded area..." Hakkai looked around "I guess I'll get food started!".
"Great! I'm starving!"
"What else is new?"
Sanzo massaged his temples as Goku and Gojyo started up again, he got up and started to walk away.
"Where are you going, Sanzo?" Hakkai looked up from his position on the ground, trying to start a fire.
"I'm gonna check out the area...just in case..." the blonde lit himself a cigarette then handed the lighter to the green eyed 'chef'.
Another chapter complete! I hope everyone who reads this enjoys it! Please review, and I'll get to writing the next chapter as soon as possible! Thank you!