Hakkai carried the light girl into the jeep, as Sanzo had ordered them to leave tonight. He placed her gently in the backseat, while Goku and Gojyo supported her. The wind caused her sleek black hair to whip gracefully in the air; Gojyo observed the child and stated, "I never expected the goddess to be so young and inexperienced. From what I've heard, they were trained to be perfect warriors. I mean, even Gyuumaou was killed by one of them."

Sanzo explained, "Bosatsu told me that they grow physically according to their psychological maturity. Mizuki clearly was never trained for this."

The blond monk sighed in exasperation and continued, "And somehow I am stuck as a babysitter for this thing."

Goku snored in the back loudly as he fell asleep against Mizuki, and Hakkai mused, "Wasn't that what you thought about Goku at first?"

Sanzo ignored his comment, and took a deep breath of smoke. Gojyo couldn't take his eyes off the glowing pure being in the moonlight, and muttered, "I wonder if she'll grow up to as pretty as her legendary sister, Amane-sama. And then I won't seem like such a paedo."

Hakkai grunted in disgust at this inappropriate comment.

Mizuki was on someone's strong back with her arms wrapped around this person's neck, murmuring, "Ken-nii..." As she opened her eyes to see Hakkai's brown hair instead of Ken's familiar raven hair, she jumped in shock and nearly fell off his back.

Luckily, she steadied herself and stood up gingerly, apologising immediately, "Sorry for making you carry me, Hakkai..." He smiled at the embarrassed girl and asked, "Did you rest well?"

Sanzo, who was in the same hotel room, snapped, "Course she did. She slept all the way to the next village." Her face grew red in shame and she bowed instantly to Sanzo in apology, saying, "I am so sorry..."

Hakkai patted her head and reassured, "Don't mind Sanzo. It seemed like you had a nice dream. You kept saying 'Ken-nii'." Her face turned to a deeper shade of red and Gojyo raised his eyebrows at the girl's tomato red cheeks.

Hakkai asked slowly, "Is he Mizuki-chan's boyfriend?" Even Sanzo turned to look at the flustered girl out of curiosity. She shook her head profusely and replied, "He is my brother and my beloved."

Sanzo nearly choked on his cigarette and Gojyo's mouth fell open; everyone in the room was still shocked that Mizuki was into incest. Hakkai bent down slightly to stare into Mizuki's ocean blue eyes and repeated, "Brother?"

She tilted her head in confusion and explained nonchalantly, "Yes. I have been betrothed to Ken-nii since I was born."

Sanzo muttered darkly, "The people upstairs sure are barbarians."

Gojyo too shivered at the thought of Mizuki betrothed to her brother and questioned, "Mizuki-chan, isn't that...er...a bit weird?"

She merely shook her head and stated, "All my siblings are betrothed to one another. In fact, Ken-nii was sent to Earth five years ago and went missing. That's why the Emperor sent me to guard the sutra."

There was silence in the room as everyone digested the information; suddenly Goku said out of the blue, "Does this 'Ken' know you're here?"

Mizuki shrugged and pressed her hand on her warm chest, stating with faith, "But Ken-nii is still in this realm. I can feel him."

Hakuryuu mewled quietly and jumped onto her shoulder, licking her cheeks. Sanzo stared at the giggling girl and looked away abruptly; he had heard chilling rumours about a rogue saintly being snatching 3 out of 5 sutras for Lady Koushou.

If the rumours were true, the priests guarding the sutras were slaughtered mercilessly. Another reason that Sanzo wasn't that welcoming towards another guardian from the heavens was that all the remaining guardians seemed to have abandoned their missions and perhaps even betrayed their cause.

Raito, the God of Lightning, went missing with his sutra taken and his accompanying priests long dead. Jiima, the God of Earth, have been rumoured to be so gravely injured that he had been in hiding ever since his sutra had been stolen too. Fuyuko, the Goddess of Wind, was once captured by Lady Koushou and no one heard from her since. Amane, the Goddess of Sound, claimed fame by proclaiming herself the protector of the great capital village and enlisting the village's help to keep her sutra safe.

No one had heard much about Ken, the God of Fire, apart from the fact that he had flaming red eyes. Sanzo frowned at the ignorant girl before him, who knew nothing about the real circumstance she was in; she was clearly sent on a suicide mission.

Mizuki felt Sanzo's unwavering stare on her and walked away with Hakryuu still perched on her shoulder. There was a loud growl from Goku's stomach, and Hakkai chuckled, breaking the silence and suggesting, "Time for dinner?"

Mizuki couldn't help but nod too as she hadn't eaten for a day since the road trip. As they walked downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel, she caught sight of three men in hoods huddled together in a table. However, she was immediately distracted by the steaming dim sum brought by the young waitress.

Within minutes, Goku and Gojyo were stuffing their faces with delicious buns; Hakkai sighed in disappointment and handed a meat bun to Mizuki. She thanked him and began to feast on the savoury bun, feeding bits and pieces to Hakuryuu.

After clearing the table of food, she realised that Hakkai and Sanzo were staring at the suspicious-looking hooded guests across the room. She also noticed a rather large package on one of the chairs around their table. At that precise moment, the young waitress couldn't restrain her curiosity and reached for the package; "What do you think you're doing, Miss?" the hooded man growled ominously, snatching her wrist and tightening his grip gradually.

The waitress screamed in pain and pulled at his clothes, revealing his spikey pink hair and elongated ears. The hooded trio were clearly youkai and the customers in the restaurant yelled hysterically, running towards the exit. Within seconds, they were the only ones left in the room with the three youkai and waitress.

Gojyo warned, "Hey, better release the cute girl or you are in for some trouble." Goku and Hakkai already stood up, readying themselves for the fight. Mizuki's heart began to beat quickly; she forced herself to stand up and took her jewelled dagger out.

Hakkai caught sight of her shaking hands and reassured, "Mizuki-chan, we'll take care of this. Just stay back and Hakuryuu will protect you!"

Without warning, Sanzo shot the other two youkai in the heads, leaving the main youkai. Luckily, the waitress escaped from his grip during the confusion.

The remaining youkai raised his hands in surrender, begging, "Please...don't! I won't do it again!" Mizuki was still in shock, seeing the two youkai drop dead in seconds, and was flabbergasted to hear the click of Sanzo's gun, readying the next shot. She knew that the pink-haired youkai would soon follow the fates of his companions, and jumped towards Sanzo, grabbing his hand with the gun.

The shot missed the youkai, who couldn't believe his luck and left with his package. There was complete silence in the room; Sanzo shrugged the girl off him and aimed his gun at her. "Sanzo!" the other three shouted worriedly. Mizuki stared determinedly at the gun, which was aimed directly at her forehead.

Sanzo growled, "What do you think you're doing? You let him go!" She felt Hakuryuu shiver slightly at the sight of the gun, but she held her ground, defending herself, "He surrendered, and no one was in danger! Aren't you a priest? You should show mercy to those who repent!"

Sanzo glared at the child, warning, "Mark my words. You will regret this decision." No one said anything until Hakkai cleared his throat and stated, "It's late. Should we head out again?"