There have been some guesses made about the killer but I'm not telling who it is yet! Keep guessing, people! It's fun! The first person to get it right gets a prize. Since the only thing that I can give you guys is a fanfic or a drawing, you get to pick which one you want. But you can only ask for fanfics from an anime I know and don't ask for a fanart, I suck at drawing anime characters. You can ask for a bishie though or something XD

The fic is almost done! Two more chapters before an epilogue. Or maybe I'll blend the epilogue with the last chap.

Since this fic has been successful, I'm planning on another nursery rhyme/song fafic. I've got something in mind already though suggestions for a nursery rhyme/song would be greatly appreciated.

CHAPTER THREE: HAKKAI

Three little ducks went swimming one day
Over the hill and over the bay

With only two of them left—three if they counted Hakuryuu—Sanzo and Hakkai were slowly becoming more paranoid. They barely slept or spoke. They were constantly on their guard. Between them, they managed to kill an average of ten forest creatures every day, thinking that it was an assassin or a youkai.

Their eyes had gone hollow, only lighting up with panic or a sudden adrenaline rush when they were on the look out for possible attempts at their lives. They lived in constant fear; movements jerky and nervous.

There were almost no attacks by youkai anymore. In the three weeks since Goku's death, there had been only two youkai attacks and they were obviously not Gyokumen Koushou's assassins; probably local gangster groups after the reward money.

They stayed up all night in small inn rooms where the chances of a surprise attack were next to none. They sat together on one bed near enough to deal each other death blows should either one of them prove to be the killer.

Their trust in one another was—at best—strained. They had no one else to rely on but one another and though they might harbor suspicions, there was actually nothing else to do except try and believe in each other.

When one had to leave to use the bathroom, Hakuryuu would accompany him, ready to fly back to the other one for help if the one he was with was attacked. It was a system that they had worked out after a few days.

It was one rainy night in a small town when Hakkai excused himself to go to the bathroom.

xxx

Sanzo immediately leaped towards the door when he heard the little white dragon making a commotion outside. He followed Hakuryuu down the hall, running while thumbing back the safety on his shoureiju.

His heart was pounding in his chest. Only a few minutes had elapsed since the healer went out of the room; there was a chance that Hakkai was still alive and fighting whoever was responsible for picking them off one by one.

When he saw the body in the hallway with a crowd gathered around it, he knew it was too late.

xxx

Name : Cho Hakkai
Race : human turned youkai
Age : 22
Height : 181 cm
Weight : 69 kg
Description of injuries : cause of death was strangulation. Minor scratches on hands and fingers.

xxx

There really was nothing for him to do. After chanting a sutra for the dead—again—he paid the inn owner and left, unmindful of the storm he was walking in. Hakuryuu perched on his shoulder, wings spread above him in an effort to shield him from the rain.

Sanzo walked on, the only thing in his mind to finish the journey so that his friends' deaths wouldn't be a waste.

Mother duck called, "Quack, quack, quack!"
But only two little ducks came back