***Sorry about the long wait and the shortish chapter, I cut it off because the next major plot point takes place several days after this chapter ends. I've finally got a little bit of time, and Ardespuffy reminded me that some people are actually wanting to know what happens (I forget that only I know how this ends). So don't worry, I won't abandon this so close to the finish line. We'll get to the end…eventually…***


Sanzo felt strange as he sat in Yakumo's office, taking up the chair that the dead man used to. He had to admit, the two men who had been charged with sorting out the mess downstairs had worked well. Yakumo's body had already been sent for funeral preparations, and the remaining corpses were in the process of being cleared away.

He'd also received word that the few survivors were currently facing interrogation. Having performed more than one of those himself, the blonde knew that it probably wouldn't take too much longer to get the answers he wanted. It was all well and good for gangs to talk about undying silence and loyalty, but these men had already proved themselves to be disloyal.

Faced with the choice of a quick death or a lengthy, painful one, there was a high chance that at least one of the traitors would become disloyal to their new master and spill everything.

Sanzo suspected that the attempted coup went higher than the average grunt level: that was why he'd been sitting in the office for an hour and a half, fending off question after question from the assembled district heads as he waited for information about the rebellion. Out of the eight or so people across from him, he only recognised two: the man who had called the meeting together, and Kanzeon.

The transvestite bitch was sitting in the centre of the room with the other men standing behind her, disinterestedly examining her long nails as the others argued. The room was split into two factions: those who would honour their former boss' wishes by tentatively accepting Sanzo as their new leader, and those who steadfastly maintained that an outsider couldn't lead them.

Quite honestly, the blonde couldn't care less about what the group thought. He was in control, and if they didn't like it, he had no problems with them leaving. He'd just deal with them later.

Two men, neither of whom Sanzo could name, were interrupted from their heated argument when a loud knock came at the door. Guessing that it was the guy he'd put onto the interrogations- and the sole district head missing from the meeting- Sanzo stood and pushed through the assembled group, opening the door.

The man he'd sent out for information was standing there with a grim look on his face, and so Sanzo immediately stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. "What do you know?"

"There's good news, and there's bad news…"

"Just get the hell on with it," the blonde snapped. His patience was running out- it had been a long day, and it was still only mid-afternoon.

"The guys involved with the attack were all from Kanzeon's district. As far as I can tell, she's the only head involved, and it looks like she was attempting a straight-forward takeover, using you a convenient excuse to get at Yakumo. You might wanna watch your back."

"Tch," Sanzo muttered dismissively as he walked back into the office, hearing the man follow him. Taking his place at the desk again, the blonde blocked out the discussions still going on around him.

There were two ways he could handle this: the easy way, and the hard way.

The easy path would have short-term repercussions, and could easily backfire on him. But the hard path would involve a lot of careful manoeuvring, and possibly give Kanzeon enough time to bring some of the dissenting leaders onto her side.

Sanzo was a man of immediate action: it didn't take him long to decide which course to take. The district heads were still arguing amongst themselves, now paying very little attention to their new boss. No one even noticed as Sanzo reached into his jacket, quickly pulling his revolver and letting off two shots.

The result was instantaneous: at the sound of the first shot, all conversation ceased as the standing men instinctively dropped into crouches or behind cover, drawing their own weapons. Kanzeon let out an ear-splitting shriek as the first bullet pierced her forehead, but the noise fell into a watery groan as the second hit straight after.

She slumped into her chair, convulsing slightly, as blood dripped onto the floor and Sanzo placed his gun onto the desk. Looking around, he could see a number of gun barrels pointing directly towards him, but he calmly sat back in his chair.

"What the fuck was that?" One of the dissenters growled from where he was crouched against a wall. Sanzo regarded him with a cold stare, letting the silence stretch before he answered.

"She was responsible for the attack on Yakumo. Would you prefer I let her live?"

There were a few uneasy looks around the room, and Sanzo leaned back in his chair with an eyebrow raised, waiting to see if someone would openly confront him. Finally, a man with dirty blond hair stood up on the other side of the room.

"How do we know you ain't just bullshitting us? That you aren't just gonna shoot us all and be done with it?"

Sanzo ignored the Colt that the man had trained on him, his glare unwavering as he dared the idiot to challenge him further. "I trust that I'm working with reliable information. As long as I don't find out that I've been misinformed and none of you fire the pieces you're holding, then everyone here will live. For now."

"But you're an outsider. What the Hell do you know about the way we do things?"

Unimpressed by the man's attitude, Sanzo picked up the switchblade that Yakumo had left on the desk and began twirling it between his fingers. Without looking up, he asked the man, "How many years have you been in this business?"

"…What?" Came the confused reply. Sanzo glanced up but remained silent, not about to repeat his question. The man got the hint eventually, his brow furrowing as he answered.

"Just over twelve years, I reckon."

Sanzo let out a quiet snort. "Pathetic. I was in this world before I could walk. Don't try and tell me what I do and don't know, you imbecile.

"Now, I want you all back here at this time tomorrow. Anyone who has a problem with me taking over is free to leave this organisation: providing that you stay out of my way, I won't kill you. Those of you who aren't complete idiots, you can continue business as usual. And take your stupid questions somewhere else, I don't want to hear them."

The silence practically rang around the room, but no one made to leave. Rolling his eyes, Sanzo stood and made his way to the door. He paused before opening it, looking back over his shoulder as a few whispered conversations began. "And somebody needs to deal with that body."

Pulling the door open, he stormed out of the room, slamming the wood behind him with a loud bang.

Despite the threat of a rebellion, the apparent idiocy of half the people left in the office, and the fact that this was entirely new territory, Sanzo couldn't find it in himself to feel completely annoyed. Because really, he no longer had to answer to anyone but himself, and that was definitely a preferable situation.

'This might not be such a horrific position after all.'


Gojyo sat on his- no, Goku's couch, leaning forward to drum his fingers along the coffee table as he tried his hardest to concentrate.

He had just enough money to get by, no job and no idea where Sanzo could have gone. Screw being back at square one, he wasn't even on the fucking board at this point.

Over the past few days, he'd thought more than once of going back onto the street: he knew that he could scrape together quite a few grand in a week or less. But then he'd imagine Sanzo's reaction if the blonde ever found out about it, and his desperation would be overtaken by the desire to stay alive.

Even Goku had encouraged him to stay away from the old business…though that wasn't helped by the fact that the boy was always coming and going from Zakuro's club.

The boy must've been somewhat of a romantic: Gojyo had explained the whole situation to him, and the characteristically childish response had gone along the lines of, "Well if ya like him so much, y'may as well make sure he's gonna be happy when you see him next, right?"

Gojyo didn't have the heart to tell him that he might not see the blonde anymore; or maybe he just didn't want to admit that to himself.

After all, he'd completely cut his ties with his brother this time, the second last person in the city who'd actually had his back. Now it was just him and Goku, the boy once again graciously allowing Gojyo to crash with him in the redhead's former apartment. The chances of him tracking Sanzo with absolutely no inside contacts were slim to none, if that.

And as much as he hated to think it, the kid could easily give him away if Jien's men were still poking around. He wouldn't do it on purpose, Hell no: but Goku had quite the mouth on him, and Gojyo doubted that he even knew what 'discretion' meant. But the guy meant well, and Gojyo could respect that.

Sighing to himself, Gojyo shifted to lie back on the couch. He wasn't getting any further in his plan to track Sanzo down, and he knew that if he let his mind wander too far, he'd start getting melancholic again.

Hell, the only reason he hadn't thrown himself off the balcony yet was the knowledge that Sanzo was out there, somewhere.

Gojyo couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped him. God, he was so pathetic right now. Again.

…Maybe he could find a way to contact Hakkai, the man had helped him out before, and it seemed like the brunette knew a lot more than any single person should…it was possible that he would know something about where Sanzo had disappeared to…

No. No, he couldn't do that: Hakkai was too close to Jien. And even though he'd helped Gojyo out more than once, the brunette's loyalty was uncertain. Gojyo wanted to trust the man, he really did; but years of being on his own had taught him that no one else could truly be trusted.

And that went double when gang members were involved.

He'd thought his brother was pretty close to being trustworthy: of course, that had all disappeared when he'd found out the stupid, petty reason why Jien wanted to kill Sanzo.

A pathetic ex-whore wasn't worth fighting over. Especially when one party involved steadfastly maintained that he didn't give a single fuck about the man stuck in the middle of the argument.

Gojyo almost believed that Sanzo did care, just a little, because of what he'd apparently done in the hospital all those weeks ago; he just wasn't stupid enough to completely believe it. He would make the blonde admit it to his face, and then he would allow himself the satisfaction of knowing he'd broken through Sanzo's barriers.

Gojyo smirked, glad he'd managed to stave off the impending depression: he wanted to get that satisfaction, and what a good feeling it would be when he did.

Filled with a new determination, Gojyo sat up straight. He wasn't sure exactly how he'd do it, but he was going to find Sanzo.

And when he did, the man was going to find out just how serious Gojyo had been when he'd said that he loved the blonde.