So Danie was no help whatsoever this chapter U_U (mostly because I lost cell phone reception at some point durring the car ride so there wasnt much either of us could do about it lol)

I feel so ashamed! I feel like the characters are so OOC here! If they are please tell me!

EDIT: So I corrected a few things to make the characters a little more accurate but I also decided not to change a few things just for the sake of realism. I'll specify what I meant down bellow! SEE YA!

Now, ENJOY!

Kogaiji Houtou cursed his rotten luck. He had been taken away from his home by force alongside his half-sister to join in the Battle Royale program, after arriving at the arena and having the rules explained to them, Lirin had been executed on the spot for there had been a participant too many, and now, not only was he unarmed and stuck in a marsh but he was also incredibly exposed. The Yakuza had never anticipated to be chosen at any point in his life for the program mainly because his father was a man with great power and to be feared but, as the anonymous voice explained, that was all irrelevant in the given circumstance.

"Damn it." He cursed as he pulled himself from the mucky water.

Exhausted even if the program began, roughly, two hours ago, Kogaiji dropped himself on a hill with a lone dead tree. He used said deceased plant to lean on as he relaxed and regained the energy he had uselessly wasted on travelling the damp, muddy, smelly area.

"The smell…"

It finally occurred to Kogaiji that the swamp smelled utterly horrible due to his mind being occupied by more troubling things. Now that he was aware of the atrocious scent, he realised how worse of an advantage he was at against others; the odour would definitely stick to his clothing thus, once he would find his way out, the wind would carry it in any direction warning potential threats of his general whereabouts.

"Fuck." The Yakuza cursed again burying his face in his hands. "How the hell do I do this…?"

Taking a deep breath, Kogaiji calmed down and began to think rationally; he had been around battles, conflict and betrayal all his life, he was the son of a Yakuza – and not just any Yakuza – thus he would find a way to prevail.

First, a weapon.

The anonymous informer had told them all that weapons were stashed everywhere in the arena, some well hidden while others weren't, and that they would have to look in order to find them. As he thought about the statement some more, the realisation that there was a good chance of the dead tree holding anything of value came to mind. Using it as support, Kougaiji got to his feet, pressed an ear against the trunk, and then knocked on it softly. It was as he assumed, the tree was hollow but as he investigated the late tree, he noticed that there was no hole in which anything could have been slipped in.

Just as he was about to move on and conclude that he had been thinking hopefully, he decided to break down the tree with a powerful kick just in case there indeed was something in there. He couldn't afford to take chances in the given situation.

His foot easily passed through the bark and into the empty center of the tree, he pulled it out then proceeded to make a bigger hole to see by ripping off cracked parts of the trunk. A smile stretched on his face as he made out a white bag-like object which turned out to be a health pack. The thing had straps thus he could slip it on his shoulders and not have to deal with the burden of having a hand less to use. However, the only two downsides to the health pack were that it wasn't a weapon and it wasn't camouflaged but the last thing could be fixed easily.

Just as Kogaiji was about to pick up the smelly mud to use it to paint his health pack, he decided against it and figured that the disgusting scent would only stick to him longer if he did so. No, the best course of action was to get out of the swamp and then find normal mud to cover the pack with. Confident with his strategy and not feeling quite as glum as before, the Yakuza slipped the pack on his back and continued his way through the swamp scanning the area for a weapon.

Three hours later, Kogaiji finally found his way out of the damp ground and decided he would rest again before venturing into the dense forestry. He leaned against a tree again, not bothering to sit this time, and watched the marsh one last time. It was as he scanned the horizon that he noticed a distant silhouette move in his general direction. He squinted his eyes to make sure that whatever he was seeing wasn't a figment of his imagination.

Suddenly, a sharp object came hurling in his direction and the Yakuza barely had the time to dodge an otherwise lethal blow that, luckily, on grazed his cheek. Still, blood trickled from the small cut which annoyed the man dearly. Never, in the past ten years, had he ever been wounded or received a blow in any battle he had fought.

All he wanted to do now was charge his attacker and end him on the spot but, but his opponent was clearly armed whereas he wasn't thus, it would have been unwise to do so. Reluctantly, Kogaiji turned his heels and made for the woods but not before glancing at the tree trunk in which an arrow was lodged. He turned back to the silhouette that was charging in his direction and noticed another arrow headed his way. Kogaiji dodged again and came to the conclusion that, whoever was attacking him, had a crossbow.

Angered but vowing to find the man in order to kill him, he fled in the forest to find a weapon but also lose his assailant. While he had been travelling the bog, Kogaiji noticed a mountain peak to the south and, deciding it was unsafe, began to travel north hoping to find a water source with which to clean himself from the scent or shelter where a weapon could be hidden.

However Kougaiji couldn't help himself from feeling shameful. It wasn't his style to just runaway from a battle without putting up some level of resistance so he stopped running and considered his options. He had little time to make a decision.

*-_-III-_-*

Sha Gojyo, who had been having more luck with the program than Kogaiji Houtou despite the fact that he had to descend a plateau, had found two weapons in a time span of two hours. The first had been a handgun and the other had been a crossbow. They were both weapons he didn't necessarily like since he wasn't the best when it came to aim but it was something he would have to make do with until he found a sickle or a sickle-like weapon.

After an hour of travelling the forest he stumbled into a bog. It was a smelly bog with few hills and contained a fair share of dead trees and it was while Gojyo was inspecting the horizon that he noticed a silhouette travelling. It didn't seem to be moving in his general direction or to have spotted him thus he hid immediately and kept an eye on it. He could scarcely make out the head from the rest of the body, let alone the face, due to the large distance that separated the both of them.

Unsure if he should fear the opponent or not, he decided it would be best to follow him or her to wherever they were headed to, keeping the original distance between he and them. Thus, for an hour, he stalked his potential prey until it stopped at the border of the marsh to rest – though Gojyo had feared he had been spotted for a moment. During the few minutes that followed the silhouette's pause, Gojyo decided it would be then that he would have to decide what to do; he had two long-range weapons, one of which made an explosive sound if used, the other who was rather silent but not as deadly as the former.

In the end, if Sha Gojyo ever wanted to return to civilisation and continue with his life, the ten other participants would have to die and he knew he would at least have to kill one of them. Hence, he came to the decision rather quickly and decided he would hunt down the participant he spotted so early in the program and kill him or her.

But wasn't there only one girl…? Sha questioned in his mind, The chances of that being her are pretty low…

Brushing away the thought that had temporarily distracted him, Sha Gojyo stealthily ventured towards the silhouette, trying his best to stay undetected which ended up failing quickly enough. The prey had noticed him but didn't seem whether or not Gojyo was a friend or foe, and the latter, taking that into consideration, took the opportunity to load the crossbow with the arrows he had found with it and fire a shot. Aside from a loud snap once the thing launched the arrow and a sharp but faint whistling in the air, the weapon had been rather silent and the shot seemed direct as well.

For a moment, Sha Gojyo had been convinced he had managed to land a one-shot kill but the prey dodged at the last second. Quickly, Gojyo loaded another arrow and shot it as well while running towards his prey lest he decided to make a run for it. The prey stood for a moment, rapidly assessing what had just happened and which weapon had been used to attempt to take away his life before dashing in the forest.

"Shit!"

Sha Gojyo doubled his speed but he knew that the prey would continue running and would lose him quick enough in the forest. It wasn't like he was a hunter so there was no way he could easily find him again.

By the time he reached the location to where the prey had stood to rest before hand, all that was left was the arrow he fired that landed into the tree. The other was nowhere to be found among the many twigs resembling it laying on the floor.

"Well damn." Gojyo sighed scratching the back of his head. "I lost him."

He tilted his eyes upwards and scanned the forest, he tried listening carefully for steps in the distance but his efforts were without fruit. Seeing no other option than to venture in the woods as well, he took a step and froze immediately. A hand landed on his shoulder, gripping it tightly and he could feel someone's breath tickling the back of his neck.

"You lost something?" the man hissed.

Sha Gojyo barely had time to turn around to see Kogaiji Houtou, enraged, before the arrow he had lost was stabbed into his neck with a violent force. He fell on the ground, clutching his bloody throat and desperately tried to breath what with the blood invading his lungs, and before he could even attempt to retaliate, Kogaiji had jumped on top of him and begun stabbing him in the neck anew.

It had taken several more stabs to the neck before Sha Gojyo's body went limp and his eyes flickered of all sense of life. Kogaiji then stopped to breathe and stare at what he had just done. His opponent's neck had been completely mutilated and some of the blood and splashed onto his face, something he didn't mind at the moment. Slowly, he stood and examined the body quickly noticing the crossbow with the arrows and then what seemed to be the butt of the gun hanging out of the deceased's pocket.

Without remorse or hesitation, the Yakuza scavenged the body and studied the weapons which brought a smile to his face. The gun he had found was loaded, containing eight bullets to use wisely and the crossbow, which was used to attack him, was still in perfect condition with twelve more arrows to shoot with.

Content and feeling that his luck had finally turned; Kogaiji resumed his course to the Northern part of the arena calmly. He didn't feel the need to run anymore but more that of remaining quiet in order to not bringing in the attention of other participants. He had been the hunted and now he would become the hunter.

I found two weapons, Kogaiji thought, I also have a health pack. All I really need now is some food to eat and also some mud to camouflage the bag.

*-_-III-_-*

An hour passed before Kogaiji started to notice a variation of colour among the thick green. At first he had been weary and thought it to be an opponent – a threat – but he soon concluded it was a building. A temple, really, with red bricks and yellow roofing; the general style of the sanctuary was Chinese something Kogaiji recognized easily from his many trips to the main land country.

Wearily, with his crossbow loaded and his gun placed perfectly if he needed to use it rapidly, he ventured forth. There was definitely something incredibly important in that establishment that would evidently be of great use to Kougaiji – perhaps there was also food, the Yakuza was starting to feel hungry. As a result, he proceeded to enter the temple by the front gates coming up on a statue of Buddha. It was the fat Buddha, the one with a jolly look on his face and big earlobes; he was gripping a gourd marked with the Chinese letters for wine and his free hand formed a sign expressing wise judgement. This, Kogaiji knew, meant for one to be humble with the quantity he or she ate and to never be gluttonous.

Immediately, Kogaiji climbed the statue which resonated upon his contact with it and began searching it for an opening. It was made of metal which meant that they had to cut something open to place whatever it was – most likely food if the Yakuza based himself off the open hint that was the statue. Fast enough, he found hinges on the back of the Buddha's neck thus he lifted the head and jumped in the empty inside. He almost felt bad for defiling a religious statue but he reminded himself of his current situation and the guilt went away immediately.

Hidden in the hollow area where the jolly fat man's foot was, Kogaiji fount a basket. He picked it up, noticing a note and read it with difficulty what with the scarce light he had access to; it read:

Wow, good job, enjoy your reward. Either you were pretty smart to understand the hint or you were lucky to find this. Either way, do enjoy and, may we suggest that you stay here to eat your meal? It is safe and unless someone is as smart or lucky as you, you have nothing to fear.

Kogaiji grinned and took a seat before he eagerly opened the basket only to find a bottle of wine and a sandwich. This technically wasn't his favourite combination, he would have been more happy with more Japanese food, but he wasn't much in a situation to complain so the Yakuza quickly devoured the sub and took two gulps of wine. He didn't dare take more for fear of accidently getting intoxicated and thus killed by being so careless.

Kogaiji then crawled out of the Buddha head and jumped back on the polished floor of the temple. He decided it would be best to continue scavenging just in case he found a weapon that was much more useful than what he had. He would search for bullets and perhaps a silencer since he assumed there had to be one somewhere.

First, he searched the remainder of the first floor, finding an empty storage room, a praying room and a room filled with more religious statues none of which hid anything. Then he searched the second floor which contained a large meditation room, a living room also containing religious statues and nothing more. The third floor was just one big meditation room with windows on every wall. Finally, the fourth floor was a sacred room in which was kept a religious artefact that deemed the sanctuary fit to be called a sanctuary. In the center of the room was a staff, perfectly polished and well decorated that practically sparkled with religious importance.

Seeing as he had already defiled most of the temple, Kogaiji decided it would be best to leave the staff where he had found it.

The Yakuza retraced his steps and it was half-way down the second floor that the presence of another made itself known to him. He immediately readied his crossbow and ventured down the stairs as silently as possible, careful to distribute his weight equally with every stride as to avoid the planks to creak beneath his feet. However, unluckily for him, he came face to face with another participant of the program.

Both reacted quickly, Kogaiji fired the arrow from his crossbow and the other quickly shoved the weapon aside in order to avoid the lethal shot. Swiftly, the stranger tackled Kogaiji but the Yakuza was still able to kick him off. Seeing that he wouldn't have the time to reload another arrow, Kogaiji climbed back up the stairs to create some distance and pulled out his gun. He shot hastily but missed the other who had dodged.

Without thinking, the Yakuza jumped down the stairs in pursuit of his opponent who had expertly disappeared in a matter of moments. "Fu—"

"Wait!"

The voice came from behind and Kogaiji simply had no time to pivot for he was pinned to the ground by his opponent who held on tightly to both of his wrists. Kogaiji scowled at his position; it was just so weak and submissive he hated it, he was unable to see his assailant's face nor look him in the eyes when he deliver the final blow.

"Can—"

"Just do it!" Kogaiji interrupted abruptly, shivering lightly at the breath tickling his ear. "Don't tease me just do it! Kill me!"

"Uhh…I just wanted to talk." The stranger admitted sheepishly. Abruptly but rapidly, he changed Kogaiji's position as to be able to look at him in the face; his wrists, however, were still pinned above his head. "Your sister was in this mess too wasn't she?"

Kogaiji glared fiercely. "What's it to you?" he hissed.

"Well my brother was in this mess too." The man explained, "Remember? His name is Sha Gojyo. We don't really look alike but he's still family, I want to know if you saw him."

Kogaiji froze, how would this man react if he knew he had killed his little brother?

"No." Kogaiji lied quietly, "I didn't see him."

There was a moment of silence shared among the two in which Kogaiji held his breathe until the other spoke.

"Then I don't know what to do." The other admitted with a airy laugh. "I'm not sure I want to let you go because you might try to shoot me with your gun…then again, this position is rather awkward."

Kogaiji just glared at the man and his odd remark. He had nothing to say because the man's guess of the outcome of setting him free were rather straight on. "So what should I do?"

"…Why are you asking me?" Kogaiji asked after a moment.

"Because I don't know what to do." The man rationalised. "I need a fresh perspective."

"I understand that but it's pretty stupid in this circumstance to ask someone else for advice," Kogaiji schooled, "They're most likely going to tell you something that could end up killing you."

"Perhaps…"

"You don't have a criminal record, do you?" Kogaiji asked.

"No, sir, none." He confirmed with a proud smile, "I'd like to say I'm as good as they come but I have done my share of wrong-doing. The proof is the way my little brother turned out – I really regret that."

The stranger was awfully chatty and it didn't take much for the Yakuza to realise he had no malevolent intensions. And the more things continued, the more Kogaiji realised it was something he could turn to his advantage. At first he thought of just telling the stranger something to get himself killed but then he decided it would be more productive and wise strategically to keep the participant alive and use him. Yes, he would create an alliance in which he would command, together they would kill the others that stood in their way and then, when the other wouldn't be expecting anything, Kogaiji would wipe him out. The latter did seem to be rather dense.

"What's your name?" the Yakuza asked.

"Oh," the taller man exclaimed, flustered, "I'm sorry, I assumed you remembered my name from the listing. My name is Dokugakuji Sha, and you're Kogaiji Houtou."

"You remember my name?" he asked raising an eyebrow; perhaps it wasn't all that surprising since the other did remember that he had a sister.

Had.

Dokugakuji blushed lightly and turned his gaze away, "Of course," he admitted, "When I first saw you, I thought you were beautiful. If the circumstances would have been different, I would have asked you out – maybe."

Now the Yakuza became incredibly flustered, "Why are you saying that?" he stammered, Kogaiji now understood why their current position was awkward.

"I figure the chances I live through this are really small," Dokugakuji explained, "So I thought that there was no more place for regret or shyness. If there's something I wanted to say, I would say it and that was one of them."

Now Kogaiji felt completely disoriented and wasn't sure whether he truly wanted an alliance with the man – even if it was to use him. Then again, what Dokugakuji said held a lot of truth; as much as he didn't want to admit to it, Kogaiji had just as little chance as the other to get out of the program alive thus there was no room for regret or shyness anymore.

"Dokugakuji." Kogaiji began doing his best to forget what the former had just confessed, "Would you want to join in an alliance with me?"

Dokugakuji blinked. "A-are you serious?" he stuttered, "This isn't something to get me killed is it?"

Yes. "If it was do you think I would tell you?" Kogaiji asked unimpressed.

"Good point." Dokugakuji granted. "How can I believe you?"

Kogaiji considered the question for a moment, "Grab the gun." He ordered. "I'll handle the crossbow, you can have the gun."

Dokugakuji nodded and did as he was told. He released the Yakuza and reached for the gun that had been dropped not too far away then he stood, offering his hand to Kogaiji to help him up. The latter took it without thinking much and, before he knew it, was pulled into a kiss.

His eyes widened dramatically and Kogaiji quickly pushed the taller male away. "What the hell are you doing!?" He scowled darkly.

Dokugakuji smiled faintly, "No more room for regret, remember?"

8 participants remaining.

IN MY DEFENSE KOGAIJI ISNT ACTING LIKE A WHIMP! HES ACTING STRATEGICALLY! HES BEING SMART! (thats all I can say to make myself feel better lol)

I wasnt sure whether I was going to add a new pairing in this story (You: LE GASP! THERE WERE GOING TO BE PAIRINGS!?) but then I really wanted to put them in so I did xD I think thats the limit of that though lol

Anyways, some of you MAY wonder WHY I brought in different character perspectives and thats because I kinda wanted to follow Battle Royales written style because thats what the author did. His main characters were obviously uhhh...that guy and girl and Shogo (the only name I remember because I loved that character lol) but he also wrote about the perspective of the other participants because they were doing stuff at the same time too. I mean, its not like time stops for them if the main characters are around xD Besides, this is called Saiyuki Royale, not Genjo and Goku Royale lol

But if you missed them, theyll be back next chapter xP

Ummm...so feel free to rip on me for making the characters OOC (hopefully I didnt so I can get a high five out of this) but be gentle ;P

EDIT: So earlier I talked about things I didn't change for the sake of realism and some of you might have picked up on some of the things but I'll still give an example to explain what I mean. So I was told that Kogaiji was someone rather honour oriented - now I made him a Yakuza's son so he's basically a thug, and then in his current position, who in the right mind would respect honour? Let's be realistic here, most people who say : 'I'M GOING TO FIGHT HONOURABLY!' end up dead within seconds. Needless to say, I will try to make him a little more honour oriented but it won't be that evident because, well he's basically a thug's son and in a life or death situation.

SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!