When they landed, Harry and the Baron stared. For completely different reasons of course. Harry stared because he thought it was the most incredible thing he had ever seen ever! The Baron was staring because, even in war-torn Korea back with the 4077, he'd never seen anything so violent before. Mercifully, to the Baron's mind, it was also over quickly.

"That was so cool!" Harry crowed, revealing their location to those who had previously been too busy fighting to notice them. "I want to learn how to do that! Hey, and I want to have long hair and pointy ears too! They look wicked cool!"

"Are you going to change your hair-colour as well?" the Baron asked dryly. "I think you should introduce yourself to these people, now that you've got them all staring at us – and before you go changing the way that you look."

"I'm Harry Potter, and I'm four! This is Baron, my guardian. We just landed here from, er," Harry looked at Baron, already having forgotten the name of the place they'd been, but also unsure if he should tell these people.

"Another dimension," Baron supplied.

"Genjo Sanzo, Son Goku, Cho Hakkai and Sha Gojyo," the blonde introduced shortly, pointing to himself and then each of his companions in turn.

The Baron, having been around for quite a long time with little to intrude upon his time, was exceedingly well read, and recognised the names from the legendary 'Journey West', though there had been many names and attributes given to these four characters in the myriad different translations. At least he didn't have to ask where he was and what was going on for this landing.

"Baron, can I change my hair and ears now that we've done introductions?" Harry asked.

"What's the kid talkin' about?" Gojyo asked, confused.

Baron sighed. "At out last stop, Harry learned a few things about himself. One of those things is that he has the ability to manipulate his appearance. Yes, Harry, you may," he added with a long-suffering sigh, though he was smiling as well.

"Do you mind explaining just what the hell you are?" Sanzo asked curtly. "Only we've been having a bad day and I'm not in the mood for any more surprises."

"I'm a doll," the Baron answered, watching as Harry closed his eyes and focused. "Brought to life, yes, but ultimately a doll made of wood. Harry is a human."

"He doesn't look human any more," Goku said, his big golden eyes staring at Harry's brand new pointy ears and the shiny black hair that now flowed down the kid's back.

"At least he hasn't changed the colour of it yet," Baron sighed. "He's rather fond of red hair."

"Can't think why," Gojyo said, honestly puzzled.

"Because all the cool people have red hair!" Harry answered earnestly, opening his eyes wide and grinning brightly. "There are some cool people who have different coloured hair too, but every person with red hair that I've ever met has been brilliant!"

"Better keep the kid away from Kougaiji and Lirin," Hakkai said quietly, "or he could become quickly disillusioned." He didn't like putting people down like that, but he also didn't want any child to lose such enthusiasm.

Baron sighed. "I suspect that Harry could get even the demon prince to play nice," he said, shaking his head. "He's like that. I hate to bother, I'm sure you're busy, but may we travel with you for a while? Just until our inter-dimensional ride catches up with us again and we move on?"

"How long will that take?" Sanzo grumbled. "We're on a tight schedule, and not exactly a child-friendly mission."

"Most stops have lasted roughly a year," Baron admitted.

"Aw, come on Baldy, let the kid tag along," Gojyo said with a grin. "These two aren't gonna take up much space in the jeep, and Goku will have someone closer to his mental age to play with."

"Do you really think that's a good idea, with all the assassins that get sent after us?" Sanzo countered, even as Goku gave an indignant "Hey!"

"I know how to use most weapons, if I can get my hands on them," the Baron said. "And I think that Harry is old enough to learn now. Serious situations will just make his learning stick better."

"You guys are teaching the brat," Sanzo stated flatly. "Let's get moving. We've wasted enough time talking as it is already."

Harry cheered and launched himself at Gojyo. "I get to come!"

~oOo~

At the very first town that the newly enlarged group came to, Harry begged to buy more film for the polaroid camera that the Baron still had. After all, he wanted to be able to put pictures of his new friends – and of the journey – into his book!

Sanzo, keeper of the credit card, had grumbled about wasting funds, even if the card did actually belong to the Sanbutsushin, but had relented upon the Baron promising that he'd find a good deal and a couple of packs of the monk's favourite smokes.

The cat didn't approve of the habit, knew it was unhealthy, but he also knew that trying to talk the monk into quitting while in a continuously stressful environment was foolishness. Hakkai took Sanzo's card and went with the Baron out to the shops to see what they could get, and how cheap they could get it for.

Harry stayed behind with Gojyo, Goku and Sanzo at the inn and began his tuition in the art of fighting. On breaks between practising stances, because he was still just a little kid and didn't have the endurance yet for long periods of practice, Harry entertained his teachers and new friends by changing his hair colour, eye colour, ear length, and once even by changing Goku's hair colour. He made it the same violet as Sanzo's eyes, which made Gojyo laugh so hard he fell on the floor, and when Sanzo noticed, he snorted in amusement before ordering Harry to turn it back. Goku wasn't sure if he was ticked or impressed, but he was glad to have his own brown colouring restored either way.

Hakkai and the Baron returned in time to hear Gojyo trying to persuade Harry to change his own red colouring into something else, and Harry trying to figure out why anybody would want to get rid of naturally occurring red hair.

"Nothing you say will convince him it's not the best hair colour in the history of hair," Baron said with a chuckle. "Harry, I'll take a picture of you with Gojyo, and then change his hair colour for him, alright? Gojyo can decide for himself if a different colour suits him, after all, everyone has different tastes."

Harry clearly wasn't convinced of any colour possibly being better, but nodded anyway. Ten minutes later, Gojyo was examining his new black hair in the mirror. Harry had gone through every colour of the rainbow, as well as making Gojyo's hair silvery-white like an old man's, before turning it black.

"I still say it was better red," Harry said.

"I don't know, I rather liked that shade of dark pink you gave him," Hakkai said.

"I liked the blue!" Goku said, still chuckling about that one.

"Never make him blonde again," Sanzo ordered, to which everybody nodded.

"Yeah, that was a little creepy," Goku agreed.

"It will take some getting used to," Gojyo decided, "but I like the black. Though, if Hakkai is so fond of the pink, maybe I could learn to like that too. It was kinda close to the old red."

"Hang on, I got one more," Harry said, grinning.

Suddenly, Gojyo's hair became rainbow striped, and Goku fell to the floor laughing again.

"Okay, that's a good laugh," Gojyo allowed, "turn it back."

Harry nodded, and Gojyo's hair was his natural colour once more.

"It really is the colour that looks best on you," the Baron offered. "And if you like black so much, you can create a dye from iris roots to make it black."

Gojyo sighed in resignation, but nodded his acceptance.

~oOo~

Harry's talent for being able to change the way he – and his friends – looked came in useful whenever the party wanted to get in and out of a new town without being noticed. It certainly cut down on the assassination attempts and the strange looks that had come from people wondering about the group of men wearing sunglasses and head-to-toe cloaks.

He couldn't do much about Hakkai and Gojyo's scars though, he certainly couldn't hide the limiters, and Hakuryu seemed to shrug off whatever magic Harry tried to do to him, remaining always either a white dragon or a green jeep, and no colour-change attempts by Harry could alter him.

Still, after a nice quiet month of travelling without being noticed in which the party as a whole made a good deal of progress towards their destination and Harry made leaps and bounds in his training – sometimes literally, where it was called of him – Sanzo decided that they could probably stand to have some assassins come after them again, just to make sure they weren't getting rusty and to see if there was any new information to be had. The changes were all reversed before they reached the next town.

Assassins arrived just after they'd finished their evening meal.

"At least they let Goku finish eating first," Harry observed.

"But fighting immediately after eating does not allow for proper digestion," the Baron countered, even as he held a knife at the ready as though it were a sword – and in relation to his size, it really was. He was hardly the most imposing of figures there, being only as high at his ear-tips as some of the others were at the knee, and even Harry was more than a head taller than him now, but he was still dangerous when he had a weapon in his hands and his charge was being threatened.

Harry could only shrug in response to that. "Not much we can do except get it over with quickly."

Of course, Harry didn't fight, and the Baron played only the very minor role of tripping the enemy. It was really Gojyo, Hakkai, Goku and Sanzo who did the fighting. They'd wanted the fight from the moment they decided to have Harry make sure that they looked like themselves when he met them before driving into town. Gojyo and Goku seemed to genuinely enjoy the fight, while Hakkai just never seemed to let anything actually bother him, and Sanzo... well, he didn't enjoy anything really, but he was a little trigger-happy sometimes.

"You've been hard to find lately," a voice sneered from above once the fight was over. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were hiding."

"Not being spotted means we get where we're going faster," Sanzo answered. "Why, did you miss us that much Kougaiji?"

"Yeah," the bronzed red-head answered. "When you're not around to fight with I have to deal with my father's mistress acting like she's the queen."

"That's more forthcoming than we're used to," Hakkai muttered near Gojyo, the Baron and Harry.

"Trouble in paradise isn't confined to Shangri La," the half-breed responded, just as quietly.

"If she's a pain why haven't you killed her?" Goku asked.

Kougaiji growled. "Because she's the bitch who's got the scientists -" he cut himself off, scowling at them all before throwing a fireball at them and disappearing.

"Remembered who he was talking to," Sanzo muttered. "I get the feeling he doesn't care about his father's revival all that much though. It's someone else."

"And if he dislikes the mistress acting like the queen..." Hakkai continued.

"He's a Momma's Boy," Gojyo finished with a smirk.

"I missed that part of the legend," Baron admitted. "Was she as terrifying as her husband was?"

"Good question," Sanzo growled. "Wish I had an answer. I'm fairly sure she got sealed away at the same time as Gyumaoh, but I'm not sure if that was because she was as dangerous or if it was just guilt by association."

"A little of both, actually," purred a voice, drawing the attention of everybody to the figure leaning against the door frame. "But she was sealed separately, and much more recently."

"Merciful Goddess," Sanzo acknowledged.

"I thought it might be a good time to meet your new friends," answered the black-haired deity, pushing off the beam she'd been leaning on and walking over, kneeling down so that she was closer to eye-level with Harry and the Baron. "Very cute kid, and very interesting little statue," she said, standing again and turning to look over the stars of her favourite show. "So, you get one free question each since I'm here."

"May I ask what you meant about Kougaiji's mother?" Hakkai asked.

"Rasetsunyo was powerful in her own right, but she was also married to Gyumaoh as his queen. Gyokumen Koushu sealed her, used something of a dirty trick to do it too."

"But is she the kind to go around hurting people for kicks like Gyumaoh did?" Gojyo asked.

The Merciful Goddess shook her head. "No, she was the sheath to his blade, and the demons followed because she cared for them as much as they were inspired by Gyumaoh's strength."

"Can we unseal her? If we do, Kougaiji would probably stop fighting us and start fighting that mistress who's trying to wake Gyumaoh," Sanzo demanded.

The Merciful Goddess shrugged. "You still have to get there to do it, though with the founding scriptures, anything is possible."

"Isn't there a faster way there?" Goku whined.

Sanzo slapped the monkey over the head with his paper fan. "Shut up!"

"I'm just askin' Sanzo! I mean come on! She shows up wherever, whenever! I wanna know how she does it!" Goku complained, defending his head from any more strikes.

"It's because I take the Heavenly rout, not the Earth-bound one," she answered with a smug smirk.

Through this, Harry had been getting out his camera and checking to make sure it was good to go for picture-taking. With the device in hand, he walked up to the Merciful Goddess and tugged gently on the edge of her dress.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can I have a picture for my book?" he asked.

She smiled. "Sure you can cutie."

~oOo~

For the next few months as they travelled, the group headed west were met by Kougaiji, Dokugakuji, Yaone, and most often by Lirin – though her presence always meant that the others would be along shortly after. Through befriending the young demoness and various shock-tactics, Harry soon had pictures of these four in his book as well, and even got a few lessons from Yaone about what sort of things she did as an apothecary – she even wrote a couple of recipes in his book, and he just couldn't stop smiling all day when he got them.

Baron had refused to let Harry try mixing them himself though.

"No potentially dangerous substances before you're ten," the figurine insisted. "I don't mind if you want to watch other people make them, but before you're ten I'm not letting you handle them for yourself. Clear?"

Harry had sighed, but nodded before perking up again. "What about guaranteed dangerous substances?" the precocious four-and-a-half-year-old asked.

The Baron's green gaze had been so level it was perfectly flat.

"Ask him again after your voice breaks and your balls have dropped," Gojyo suggested with a laugh. "Come on kid, we're gonna play a game of mah-jong tonight, and you need all the lessons in that game that you can get. Can't only win at poker all the time."

"But I don't!" Harry objected. "You an' Hakkai win lots as well."

Gojyo chuckled. "Yeah, we do, but the monk and his pet monkey don't, so they want a different game tonight, and you do still need help with your mah-jong."

Harry nodded. "What's the stakes if one of you wins?" he asked. They always had a bet between themselves – that Harry and Baron weren't part of – when they played mah-jong.

Gojyo grinned. "Private room," he answered. "We've got two doubles and a single room. You and the Baron will be in a double with someone, and then two of us will be sharing a room as well, but someone gets a room all to themselves. Winner decides the sleeping arrangements."

It was a rare event that night, as Goku won the game and assigned Sanzo to share the room with Harry and the Baron, while Hakkai and Gojyo shared the other. Hakkai and Gojyo shared a room often, both they and Goku had shared a room with Harry and the Baron numerous times. It was a new experience for Sanzo though, even when the kid had been with them for half a year.

The blonde priest was surprised at how quiet the kid was. The Baron just sent him to the bathroom to wash up before bed, then when he got back the kid sat on the bed and meditated for thirty minutes.

"He'll keep going until he's told to go to sleep," the Baron said quietly. "He was only doing five minutes when we first joined you. I've been letting his time for this get longer though," he explained before rousing the child and tucking him in. "Say goodnight, then have pleasant dreams."

"Goodnight Baron, goodnight Sanzo," Harry said, pulling the blanket a little closer to his chin and closing his eyes.

"Goodnight Sanzo," the Baron echoed, then hopped down from the bed and, standing rigidly, returned to his wooden form for the night.

"Damn," Sanzo muttered to himself, trying not to think about having just watched the cat turn into the figurine he had always stated he was. "No wonder the kid is good at Hakkai's chi lessons. Goku could stand to learn a thing or two from him, rather than just teaching him how to fight."

~oOo~

"Baron says I'm five today," Harry announced when he sat down at table with Hakkai, the only other person awake yet. The inn had been empty enough as well as big enough that they'd all been able to have their own rooms the night before, though Baron and Harry had shared as always, and Hakuryu slept in the same room as Hakkai most times they stayed at an inn or tavern.

Hakkai looked up at Harry in surprise. "You've really been with us that long already?" he asked, shocked. "It really doesn't feel like it. But then I suppose we've all just been taking one day at a time on this journey."

Harry nodded silently.

"Well, would you like to celebrate?" Hakkai asked, unsure how to react to the normally happy boy being so solemn.

Harry shook his head. "Every time I have a birthday, the inter-dimensional leap comes not long after. Sometimes the same day. I figure if I maybe don't celebrate, then I won't go away, and I'd really like to stay with you guys a bit longer," the boy explained.

Hakkai laughed. "I'd like it if you could stay with us too," Hakkai said, laying a hand on the boy's head and carding his fingers through the – today – long and dead-straight magenta strands. "But I don't think that it's you having a party that triggers your leaving. I think it's probably just Fate deciding that it's time for you to move on and meet new people who can teach you new things."

Harry's shoulders slumped.

"Have you ever not liked where you ended up?" Hakkai pointed out.

Harry shook his head.

"Then you'll like wherever you go next. I'm going to talk to the chef about getting a cake to celebrate with," Hakkai said, patting Harry's head one last time before getting up from the table.

"What are we celebrating?" Gojyo asked, coming in just as Hakkai left through the other door.

"You coming out to Hakkai," Harry answered, staring at his breakfast.

"What?" Gojyo yelped. "How'd-? I mean!"

Harry chuckled and shook his head. "You'll want to work on that poker face," he said. "I'm five today."

"You brat! You made me think Hakkai had figured out how I felt about him! And all the time it's just your birthday?" Gojyo said, glaring at Harry over the table. Then his brain caught up with his ears and mouth. "Hey, it's your birthday? Happy birthday kid. You're now that much closer to those potentially damaging substances."

Harry really laughed at that. "Thanks Gojyo," he said. "I needed the laugh. I always leave not long after my birthday."

Gojyo slumped down into a chair next to Harry. "That's why you looked kinda bummed huh? Fair enough. But seriously, how'd you figure out my feelings for Hakkai?"

Harry smiled. "When there are lots of women around for you to choose from, you manage to pick the ones with the sappiest story, or have dark hair and green eyes, and for preference both. Now, who does that remind me of?" Harry asked, dramatically tapping his chin with a finger, pouting his lips and squinting his eyes like he was thinking really hard.

"How come you noticed and no one else has then?" Gojyo asked.

Harry blinked. "Because you're Gojyo, you've got red hair and you're the best, so I paid extra attention to you so I'd know how to be the best when I grow up," he explained. Besides, he could remember Gojyo saying that if Hakkai liked the dark pink, he'd get used to that colour.

"If you're planning on emulating Gojyo, I never want to meet you as an adult," Sanzo said as he entered, a smoke already being tapped out of its box.

Harry ducked his head. "Don't say that Sanzo," he begged. "It's my birthday today, and soon I'll probably disappear on another inter-dimensional hop and never see you again."

Sanzo froze, the search for his lighter halted by those words. He was suddenly confronted with the memories of Gojyo and Goku in the back seat of the jeep fighting over stupid inanities just to pass the time, and the foreboding feeling that they'd be bemoaning the kid's not being there for the next few thousand miles – and none of the Baron's specially made tea to help him relax any more. He'd be back on standard whatever that they could buy and relying on beer and smokes more. There was suddenly one less person he'd be able to share a room with while also getting a good night's sleep.

"What's up?" Goku asked, yawning, as he finally joined them. "What's for breakfast?"

"Take a wild guess you damn monkey. All the same things that are usually available for breakfast!"

"And cake," Harry added, just a little unhappily, as he spotted Hakkai coming back from the kitchen with a rather large cake on a trolley.

"Cake? Why are we having cake? Not that I'm complaining!" Goku asked, grinning in excitement.

"Because today is Harry's birthday, correct?" Baron asked as he entered, carrying Harry's packed bag over one shoulder, with the camera held in his hand and Harry's ever-fattening book under one arm.

Hakkai nodded. "I see that you're all packed in case you disappear during the celebration," he noted.

Baron nodded. He didn't actually have luggage. He didn't need to change his clothes, clean himself or eat, his enjoyment of tea completely aside. Harry on the other hand needed changes of clothes, his toothbrush and comb, and would not enjoy being parted from the gifts he'd been given at earlier birthday parties and the two Christmases he'd gotten to enjoy.

Harry pouted when he saw the bag that his guardian was carrying. "Today?" he asked.

Baron nodded. "Not immediately, but within the next twenty-four hours."

"Within the next twenty-four hours what?" Kougaiji's voice demanded from the door of the inn.

"Cake!" Lirin cheered, rushing straight in.

"Hey, we haven't even sung Harry 'Happy Birthday' yet! No cake until we've sung the song and he's blown out candles!" Goku said, intercepting the girl. If he wasn't allowed to dive straight into the cake, then neither was she!

"Harry's birthday?" Yaone asked, blinking in surprise.

"Yep," the boy answered. "And I always leave around about the same time as my birthday."

"So if you would oblige the birthday boy and all stand around him and the cake for a photo?" the Baron requested politely. "Then we may have cake and farewells."

Dokugakuji frowned. "Some birthday present, having to say goodbye to people."

"I'm gonna miss all of you guys a lot," Harry said, claiming hugs from them all – even Sanzo – once Baron had taken the picture and Lirin and Goku had started on the cake.

"Oh, we'll miss you too," Yaone said, kissing his hair softly.

"Yeah kid, you were just getting good at mah-jong," Gojyo added with a lop-sided grin that didn't reach his eyes. "An' it was real fun watching you win the poker game in the last town."

Harry smiled. That was a good memory for him too.

"What did you do with poker winnings?" Dokugakuji asked. He'd already heard the story of where the kid had learned to play poker. He hadn't been too impressed, but it was too late to change now.

"I bought Harry a couple of sets of clothes with some of it, then spent the rest of it on more of these," the Baron said, holding up the now-developed picture of everybody around Harry and the cake. "Enough to last us two years if there isn't anywhere to re-stock at our next stop."

"Can everybody please write something on that page?" Harry asked, watching the Baron stick the photo onto a new page in his book. "So I'll have more than just the picture to remember the day by?"

Gojyo gave Harry one more thing to remember the day by, and one more photo to put into his book before he disappeared. He kissed Hakkai and told him how he felt.

"Gojyo?" Hakkai asked, stunned.

"Harry figured me out," he admitted. "And I couldn't let the kid disappear not knowing if we'd get together."

Hakkai smiled at his friend, and pulled them together again.

Harry, Lirin and Dokugakuji were all cheering, while Baron just smiled and took a picture for Harry. Under that photo, Hakkai and Gojyo wrote just a small message: "Thank you Harry."

The boy picked up his book and hugged it, smiling around at everybody, then he and the Baron faded away.

Yaone blinked. "He really just disappeared."

"Hope wherever he lands, he's appreciated. He's a good kid," Kougaiji said.

"Hey Sanzo? Think you could chant the sutra for this?" Gojyo asked.

"Yeah," the blond said, pulling his hat out of his sleeve and sitting down on the floor. "Yeah, I think this deserves a little chanting."

~oOo~