Sekowari: So, Sanzo and Kohaku get in a fight. Not very shocking, for Sanzo, I mean. Okay. New chappie. What am I saying? What? Just R/R...at least that made sense...huh? I'm confused...

Chapter 12 -- Undergoing Training

The next day was progressing pretty well, not counting the excessive bickering of Gojyo and Goku, of course. The Sanzo/Ichiban Ikkou had decided to stay in the village for that day. Everyone was lounging in Hakkai's room (for some random reason).

"Oh Jesus, I didn't get an ounce of sleep last night. All because of someone next door…-ahem" Yasuko shot a look at Gojyo.

Across from her, Kohaku smiled and said, "Or something. After all, it's that 'something'that does the work for Gojyo. Call it an entertaining object, if you will. At least, for him anyway." Yasuko grimaced.

Arizu joined in. "What are you guys talking about? I didn't hear anything last night!"

Kohaku replied jokingly by saying, "There was a youkai invasion! You should of seen them! Screaming and making a WHOLE lot of noise! Man, no one could get any sleep!" She grinned, much to Yasuko's annoyance.

Arizu's eyes widened in surprise. "I can't believe I missed that! Did anyone get hurt?"

"Ahem, no…unless you count Yasuko of course. Her heart was broken. Eh, she had it coming anyways."

"I still favour Gojyo no matter what!"

"Okay…I'm just glad nothing bad happened." Arizu bounced off in glee.

"Man, Arizu's such a clutz. Do you think she actually believed that lie?" Kohaku said incredulously.

"From the looks of it, yes. And she didn't even question the Gojyo part." Yasuko nodded her head slowly. "Jeez, all that noise from yesterday is still ringing in my head. It's like a NIGHTMARE!"

Everyone turned accusingly towards the redhead. Goku whined, "Yeah, I couldn't sleep either, ero kappa!"

"Face it, no one could. Aside from Arizu."

Gojyo turned towards them. "What? I couldn't help it. You know that ladies can't ever resist my manly charms." Kohaku swatted her hand. "Pfftt. If that's the case, then I suppose Arizu, Ritsuki, and I don't count as females. Clearly, your charms don't work on us."

Sanzo rolled his newspaper noisily and smacked it on the table, calling for attention. "One question. Do any of you girls no self-defense?"

"If you mean fighting and protecting ourselves, then the answer is no."

"We know a little, but our skills aren't the greatest at this moment."

The priest remained emotionless. "If that's the case, then I suggest you start training today. I'm not going to take care of you four all the time during our journey."

"Fine with me. I prefer using archery, by the way." Kohaku had enjoyed this particular sport when the girls had went camping together last year.

"I still haven't mastered using chi, but I'm alright with katanas." The girls were well-aware that Ritsuki had taken special lessons from her martial arts sensei just to learn how to use chi as a technique. Katanas were better, since she had mastered the weapons when she was young.

Yasuko and Arizu didn't need much attention, since their ways of self-defense were pretty self-explanatory. Arizu used her loud mouth as a way of fending off enemies, and flying daggers – inspired from the movie 'House of Flying Daggers'. Yasuko was particularly fascinated by Naruto's 'sexy jutsu', and succeeded in making it work. Don't ask how she did it. Her handy grenades also come in handy when you need them.

Hakkai smiled at the girls' enthusiasm. "Kohaku, I believe there's an archery academy nearby. Goku can take you there. As for Ritsuki, she'll be with me. Seeing as how Arizu and Yasuko are rather well-prepared already, they can stay behind at the hotel with Sanzo. Does that sound alright to you guys?" Apparently, it wasn't quite alright. Arizu and Yasuko stiffened at the idea of being alone with the crabby priest. They quickly shook their heads and said, "Actually, we'll be around town with Gojyo. See, we don't want to trouble Sanzo." Yasuko elbowed Gojyo sharply. He doubled over with surprise and said, "Uh…yeah, the two girls will be with me."

"Tch…"

Kohaku skipped off happily to the academy. She couldn't wait to begin lessons. Upon arriving, she signed in and was led down long, winding corridors to a large gymnasium. Waving goodbye to Goku, she entered. The rest of the class was already there, along with their female instructor. The teacher smiled warmly at Kohaku, and took her to the middle of the gym.

"Class, I want you to meet Kohaku. She is new here, so make sure she feels welcome. For today, she will be training with us." The students murmured their greetings. Kohaku skimmed over all of them, and immediately noticed a young male who stood apart from the others. He had a sour face plastered on him, and didn't seem to be enjoying the fact that the new student happened to be a girl. Kohaku never got along with overbearing people, and was even more shocked when she was placed as his partner. Looking closely, the male had extreme ivory skin, as if all the blood had been sucked from him. His eyes were a ghostly pale blue, giving him a strange, eerie effect. His pitch-black hair made a sharp contrast. Kohaku definitely wouldn't be forgetting his appearance.

"Er…hi, my name's Kohaku. It's great to meet you."

The male rolled his eyes in reply. "Don't state the obvious. The instructor already told us your name. By the way, since you're new here, I suggest you don't make a fool of yourself. It'll humiliate me more than you, seeing as how I'm your partner…unfortunately." Kohaku was too stunned to reply. What kind of a greeting was that? The guy did not make a good first impression. She swallowed her anger, and struggled to remain calm.

"So, what's your name?

"...Ryuji." The male turned away after saying this. Now it was Kohaku's turn to roll her eyes. 'Yes, I'm sure I'll enjoymy timewith him…'

Kohaku's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the teacher. She held up an arrow and pointed to the end of it. "Now, can someone tell me what this section of the arrow is called? Anyone?" Kohaku grinned and said, "The buttfeathers!"

The class and teacher laughed in amusement. Beside her, Ryuji said monotonously, "It's called a knock." The instructor cleared her throat. "Yes, good for you, Ryuji." The said person merely scoffed and leaned towards Kohaku. "I told you not to embarrass us. What part of that don't you get?"

The class now moved on to target practice. Kohaku pulled her arrow back as far as she could, and let go. It sailed forward in the air and landed on the ground in front of the target. Kohaku frowned, but considered the shot a pretty good one. She handed the bow to Ryuji. He stood in a perfect stance, aimed, let the arrow fly, and achieved in hitting a bull's-eye. Much to Kohaku's dismay, he continued to do so for many shots. Through gritted teeth, Kohaku muttered, "Ryuji, don't you think you're a little too good to be in this class?"

"I think not. Perhaps it's because the rest of the class doesn't meet standards." Kohaku swore that she saw the guy smirk. This simply angered her even more. 'That's it. I'm going to prove him wrong. Even though I'm worse than him, I will get better! Improving my skills will allow me to achieve my goal faster.'

Kohaku was fairly good at archery, and the teacher often complimented her, but she still stubbornly refused to lose to Ryuji. Time seemed to fly by, and in the end, a competition had begun between the two rivals. Arrows were shot like crazy. To the rest of the class, they were both equally good. Panting in frustration, Kohaku narrowed her eyes and aimed for her goal. Seconds ticked by, and then –

"YES!" She finally got a bull's-eye, and Ryuji did not. After a while, Kohaku started to get the hang of it. At the end of the lesson, Kohaku was declared the best archer. She was giddy with happiness. Ryuji walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders, spinning her around to face him.

"Look, fool, just because you're better now doesn't prove anything."

Kohaku merely smiled and said, "You're wrong, Ryuji. It proves that you're a worthless git." She winked at the enraged teen and walked out of the gymnasium. Once outside, Kohaku threw back her head and laughed at the warm sunshine. 'Also, it proves that I'm capable of achieving dreams. All you have to do is try.'

Sitting around, Kohaku saw that Goku had come to pick her up.

"So how did it go, Kohaku?"

"It was awesome!"

"Sounds great!"

Meanwhile, Hakkai and Ritsuki were training hard in the forest.

"Concentrate! You have to let the chi flow through you, and then direct it to your target."

For the millionth time, Ritsuki desperately tried to channel her chi at the large tree before her. She only succeeded in hitting Hakkai, or at least missing him by an inch.

"Gomenasai, Hakkai-san! I'm honestly trying!"

"It's alright, I'm sure you'll get it."

Ritsuki was really starting to get angry at herself. 'Why does Hakkai make things seem so easy? I have to get this right!'

She let all her boiling anger out, and the chi flew towards the tree, finally blasting it into pieces.

"Thank god…" Ritsuki sank to her knees in relief. Hakkai helped her up and smiled at the now setting sun.

"It took us all day, but you've done it at last. I believe we can head back to the hotel now. Congratulations!"

"I can't wait to hear about Kohaku's day!"

Back in Hakkai's room (again), the girls began chatting away about their eventful day. Kohaku drawled on about how obnoxious Ryuji was, and how she finally beat him at archery. She received cheers and applause from her friends. (Arizu: "He got owned!") Ritsuki lay on the bed and sighed in contempt as she thought of her success. Arizu and Yasuko gladly babbled about the great time they had when they went shopping in the marketplace. They purposely mentioned how Gojyo was being too careless, and got them all lost. The redhead was given an excellent beating on the head, much to the girls' delight. Arizu and Yasuko slapped high fives.

"I believe this calls for some celebration, what do you think?"

"YAY!" Everyone cheerfully went out, and Sanzo was dragged after them.

At the restaurant, Kohaku kept talking non-stop. No one seemed to mind, but it was really annoying the priest. At last, he went over the edge.

"Why can't you just shut that mouth of yours for once? It's getting on my nerves, you good-for-nothing prick! If you're going to talk, you can kindly get out of here, cause I don't want to hear your crap!"

Everybody went silent. Slowly, Kohaku stood up. She clenched her fists, took a breath, and said, "Listen to me, Genjyo Sanzo. I've already had one nuisance to deal with today, and I don't need a second! If I'm correct, all the people here are just about fed up with that serious attitude of yours! If you feel like yelling, then you go outside! I'm sick of you losing your temper when no one's done anything! I'm just trying to make our group whole! Can't you even understand that?"

"Trying to make this group whole? Excuse me? Let me tell you something. The only hole in this group is you! If you don't cooperate, I'm leaving you and the other three by yourself!"

"You – shut up now!"

Before Sanzo could scream back at Kohaku, a burly, gruff man walked up to their table and said, "Listen priest, why don't you and your trophy wife take this outside? The other customers in here are sick of you yelling."

Sanzo was ready to go mad. His eyebrows twitched violently. "Exactly who are you trying to kid? This stupid bitch here is a trophy wife? What kind of a contest in hell did I win?"

Hearing this, Kohaku spun on him in sheer rage. "You shouldn't be talking – no one would want you as a husband anyways!"

"I'd rather die first then marry someone as messed up as you!"

The burly man had slowly backed away by now. It was clear that Kohaku and Sanzo could lash out and kill someone at any moment. Looking closely, the rest of the Ikkou could swear that they saw menacing auras swirling around the two people. Shooting each other death glares, Kohaku and Sanzo huffed and stomped off back to the hotel.

The remaining 6 people just sat silently and stared after them. Smiling meekly, Hakkai said, "Well, knowing Sanzo, I dare say that that argument went pretty well!"

"Yup, it was their first argument too!"

Gojyo chuckled to himself. "They're just like an angry couple!"

With the two still mad at each other, the Ikkous were very quiet back in the hotel. Kohaku and Sanzo had both shut themselves up in their respectful rooms. Supposedly, they were fine with that, but not the others. The remaining 6 were huddled together in Hakkai's room (what did you expect?), waiting for something to happen. Goku was so nervous that he looked as if he was ready to have a heart attack.

Ritsuki broke the silence by saying, "I get all jittery about the fact that they're still not talking to each other. Technically, Kohaku isn't a person who argues and fights with others. Don't you think Sanzo's overdone it?"

Sweat trickled down Goku's face. (It's that bad.) "W-Well, Hakkai, Gojyo, and I are all pretty used to this by n-now…" Gojyo glanced at him. "Judging from your flippin face, I'd say that's a white lie for you."

Yasuko got a far-off, dreamy look in her eyes. "This reminds me of the time when the girls and I went to Korea." Arizu snapped her fingers. "Yeah! It was the most scary when things were quiet. Usually, something bad must have happened. We had to beg a hobo-ish man to take us to his poor, shabby-looking, Chinatown-ish, apartment. Hell…Babies were wailing at the wake of dawn, and wives were beating their husbands. Can you believe that?"

"Land of the Morning Calm…in fact, it was too calm. And when it was loud, that was even worse."

The three girls sat on the ground, recalling their latest trip to Korea. The reason was because Yasuko had been on a wildpursuit to find the Korean singer Rain. Clearly, all faults were blamed on her. It was also her fault that the girls were now stuck in Tougenkyou…Nothing could be heard except the steady ticking of a clock.

"I actually prefer the excessive shouting over this quietness…it's creeping me out."

Everyone sighed inwardly in agreement. Goku whimpered.

Arizu whispered hoarsely, "Korea…"

Sekowari: I've never visited Korea. o.O I only know who Rain is. Drink rain -- save water. What was thaT? What?...