Once again sorry for the long delay but rather than list a long list of excuses here's the next chapter ;)
For what it's worth
Chapter 4 Not right
Goku sat on the side of the small bed watching the young woman cook. She paid no attention to him as she cooked. The hut Goku noticed was rather small too small for more than one person to live in.
"So." He started breaking the awkward silence that filled the room.
She glanced back at him. "Yes?" she asked stirring what ever was in the pot.
"Do you- I mean did you live here alone?"
"No I lived with my parents." She said turning back to the stove.
He paused looking around the room again. He saw nothing that indicated that anyone else lived in the hut with the girl.
"What happened to their stuff then?"
"I burned it."
He frowned. "Why?"
She didn't answer right off but finally said. "It was too painful to keep there things around."
Goku was no expert on people but something about the girl's story seemed off. He couldn't quit put his finger on what it was but the feeling hung in the air like the smell of the food.
Sanzo lit another cigarette as him and the others continued their track through the woods. Something about this whole situation seemed off. He wasn't sure if it was this 'curse' that the village girl was talking about or if it was something else.
"I hate to sound paranoid but I have bad feeling about this." Said Hakkai smiling brightly as always.
Gojyo lit a cigarette as well. "Maybe your just paranoid." He muttered.
He glanced over at him. "I don't know. Something seems well odd." He said placing his hand on his chin in thought.
Gojyo took a long drawl of the cigarette then said. "With the wonderful luck we have it probably is a trick or something."
"But we left Goku with her. Who ever or what ever she is."
"Goku can handle things himself." Said Sanzo as he dropped his cigarette on the leafy ground and stamped it out.
"Right." Said Hakkai nodding
"And if this whole thing is a trap we'll beat the shit out of who ever what's to kill us this month." Said Gojyo as he put out his cigarette
"Or whatever." Chimed in Hakkai
Sanzo stopped walking down the long leaf covered path.
"What's wrong?" asked Hakkai
"The trees." He said not even looking up at them.
"What about them?" he asked as him and Gojyo looked up at the trees.
The trees to the right of them were dead or dying. They were twisted and sick looking. The trees they had just past and the ones behind them were normal trees.
"Holy shit." Said Gojyo as he and the others noticed for miles and miles the trees looked like that.
"What do you think caused this?" asked Hakkai.
Sanzo didn't answer his question instead he said. "Let's go. No point standing here any more."
They began down the path the leaves that were once beneath their feet were gone or dead.
"No I have a bad feeling about this." Said Gojyo as he crossed his arms across his chest frowning.
The tree line began to shrink and they soon noticed that their little 'nature walk' had ended.
"No more creepy trees." Sighed Gojyo as he relaxed a bit.
"That's because they all fell." Said Hakkai pointing to the piles and piles of dead fallen trees.
"What ever this curse is it seems to have it out for nature."
Sanzo saw the shrine up a head and started walking a bit faster. The two tried to keep up with him but he wouldn't slow down despite their complaints.
He ran up to it. It was a very small shrine which probably was used for offerings before it was cursed. He opened the small door of the shrine and went pale.
"Sanzo?" asked Hakkai when he and Gojyo finally caught up with him.
He fell to his knees.
"Sanzo!" they both yelled running to him.
Goku still didn't trust the village girl nor did he believe in her alibi. Despite the nagging pain he got up off the bed. "Okay lady I don't know what your game is or why you're lying to me but I know something ain't right!" he protested.
She began cackling loudly. "My dear Goku." She said turning around to face him.
He gasped.
Her face had changed into a disgusting disturbing sight. "Your friends have fallen into my trap."
"I knew it." He grumbled. "This place wasn't cursed at all."
"It is cursed. It's been cursed for years now. No one had noticed it because of how isolated this village was."
"So what happened to the villagers?"
"I ate them." She laughed nodding to the pot she had been cooking with. "That lunch is going to be you and your friends." She cackled charging at him.
"I'm no one's soup!" he yelled pushing her away. He quickly ran out of the hut and began running toward the path that Sanzo and the others went down.
"Run all you want!" he heard her call. "The curse will eventually get you too!"
