Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki or anything else that anybody in the known universe could sue me for. I own nothing.

One Man Army

Gojyo was in very serious trouble. He realized that maybe he shouldn't have wasted his air on saying things that hurt the big-guy's feelings.

When the hell is my mouth gonna learn to check in with my brain?

When some people were nervous, they ate or played Sudoku, Gojyo said things he probably shouldn't. This became apparent as his vision became flecked with darkness. He knew he had to do something. To his right hand he summoned his shakujo and dug the crescent-moon blade deep into the beast-man's neck. Hoping to get some blood. A sizzling sound came from wherever the blade touched, followed closely by the smell of burning flesh.

All Gojyo got in return was to smash to the ground again.

This time he knew for sure that he passed out.

VVVVV

Gojyo must have woken after only a few minutes because big-and-ugly was still glowering over him. "Now tell me, little man. Where is scripture?"

"Huh?" Gojyo's mind was too much of a slurry to come up with anything widely smart or outrageous. But still he wasn't about to just hand over the Maten Scrpture to this nutcase.

Gojyo tapped into his energy reserves. Well, he didn't necessary have energy reserves so much as gathering the will to rise. When big-and-ugly made a dive for Gojyo's neck again was when his body decided to get moving. He missed another chokehold by literal mili-inches. The half-breed rose to his feet, and once again summoned his shakujo.

Third time's a charm, right?

From where he was he flung the chained blade over his shoulder like a fishing rod, finally it seemed that the blade did it's job and at least broke the skin. This was followed by that same burning sound. It must have been something in the shakujo that the guy had a weakness too.

Well, whatever it was it mustn't have been much of a weakness because the next thing Gojyo knew big-mean-and-ugly had grabbed a hold of the chain with both hands (despite the smoke already coming from them) and ripped it out of Gojyo's hands before he could blink. Gojyo gave a nervous smile, "Oops."

Uh oh. This guy must have known that the shakujo was a bound weapon.

Years before he was born his father had made a pact with a fiend of the lower plain. Nothing like the pact that Kougaiji had with his fiend or anything, otherwise Gojyo would have roasted this guy by now. But basically the rule was that when his sons came of age they would never be defenseless. Dokugakuji's sword was also a product of that deal.

And as long as someone was holding on to it, the shakujo wouldn't return to energy form. The bastard was a whole lot smarter than he sounded.

"You know nothing?"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about..." a very smooth lie, even by Gojyo's standards. Perfect balance of desperation and weariness.

The large man reached down and picked up his equally large club. "Very well then, little man."

Gulp.

Gojyo did the one logical thing: he ran the hell away!

The half-breed leapt hastily over bits and pieces of rubble, praying that he didn't misjudge and break his leg. He didn't bother to look behind him, the whatever-the-hell-it-was behind him just barreled through anything that got in his way. The obvious sign that the much larger man was getting closer were when the crashing sounds got louder.

A sudden sense overwhelmed Gojyo, the same kind of sense from when Hakuryu was trying to communicate something. This time it screamed: DUCK!!! In big neon red letters. Being one to listen to his gut instinct he dove just as that large club shot over his head. If that thing had actually hit him it would have broken his spine...

"Hey!" Gojyo yelled, suddenly angry through the shock, "Those things are for hitting! You don't throw a fucking club!" His thoughts briefly lingered to a time when he'd said the exact same thing to Sanzo about his paper fan.

Either beast-man didn't care, or he didn't care because he kept running toward Gojyo with all his might.

Does today suck for Scorpios or what?

He was up and on his feet running again before the creature came within distance to grab him again. But his little pause had helped the larger creature gain distance on Gojyo.

"This guy must be on steroids from goddamned Krypton!"

Almost as soon as he finished saying it something hit him from the side, small and concentrated, but enough to topple him to the ground. A confused Gojyo saw the troll of a man swinging the shakujo by its chain, looking like the immense physical pain he must have been in didn't even bother him.

Damnit! The bastard had hit him from a distance with his own goddamned weapon!

The troll-man came up to Gojyo.

The troll-man raised a foot to squash him.

The troll-man was really quite the blockhead and wasn't ready for when Gojyo jumped up, grabbed his foot, and pushed him backwards.

"Timber!" Gojyo shouted as the guy went down with an enormous thud noise. Giving Gojyo time to pick up his shakujo. "Well wouldn't ya know it it's true. 'The bigger they are the harder they fall'."

Gojyo knew staring into the beast-man's eyes that he wanted to kill Gojyo after this, he'd literally toppled the man's honor and he felt that he had to do everything possible to make sure Gojyo paid dearly for it. Although he was smug from his small victory, Gojyo couldn't contain the shivers that ran down his body from head to toe.

"Hakuryu!" He called, and hoped that his fear wasn't too apparent in his voice.

The big man wasn't coming, just glaring death at him. If looks could kill...

"Little man," He boomed, "I will kill you."

Gojyo gave a nervous smile as the jeep pulled up by itself, "Sorry bub, you'll have to stand in line."

As much as he hated to leave Hakkai's body behind, he wanted to live even more, and he wasn't about to risk his life by hanging around there...just to look for a corpse.

"Just to look for a corpse"? Is that it? Am I really proclaiming him dead?

He knew he might as well. It was a miracle that Sanzo had survived the building's fall, and even if Hakkai had survived the initial collapse then by now he would have either died of smoke inhalation or his injuries. In a logical world there was no need to hang around.

Logic. Is that really it? Or does this guy just scare me shitless and I'm coming up with excuses not to stay?

It was probably one of the hardest decisions he'd ever had to make, but Sha Gojyo climbed in the Jeep and took off like a bat out of hell.

VVVVV

They were speeding down the road by the time Hakuryu tried to connect with him again.

With a single 'kyu' feelings that were quite similar to his own overwhelmed him again. Such as loss, pain, guilt.

"I know, I hate to leave Hakkai behind too...But is there really any way he's alive?"

Warmth flowed over him, reserves of strength.

"Yeah, Hakkai is one of the strongest people I know but...A goddamned building fell on his face. Even Sanzo barely survived."

An absence of warmth. And Gojyo found himself thinking of the violet-eyed monk.

"...Sanzo's strong too...he won't die."

He could almost hear the little dragon's thoughts. Basically saying: "You try to convince yourself for god-only-knows what reason that Hakkai is dead? But you tell yourself that Sanzo will survive his injuries without a doubt?" To Gojyo, that was the English equivalent to the thoughts he got from Hakuryu.

"I know. Maybe I am being stupid about this...But I don't wanna risk my life for a dead body..."

There he went again, assuming Hakkai was dead.

When tears began to form on his crimson eyes, Gojyo tried to tell himself it was just the dragon again...

VVVVV Chapter End

AN: Sorry. Short chapter. But please tell me what you think via review.