A/N: Once again, sorry for the month-long delay between chapters. I was stuck for a while, but now the ideas are rolling again. The plotkappas have returned.

Chapter 4: Nerve

-Earlier-

After Goku stormed out of the room, Sanzo and Hakkai had been giving each other a wide berth as they waited on his return. Sanzo had seated himself on the bed and pulled out the newspaper – not that he could concentrate on any of the articles, even after rereading them three or four times – while Hakkai began rummaging through his bags. The healer wasn't looking for anything in particular; which Sanzo knew due to the pair of eyes he felt on him the entire time he was reading.

Sanzo turned the next page rather angrily, casting a glance out the window at the night sky. 'Where the hell is that monkey?' he wondered, unable to keep himself from the slightest touch of concern. He tried to refocus it into irritation, but Hakkai was the number one offender in that category at the moment. 'And where the fuck does Hakkai get off acting like he knows everything about me? He's so worried about the stupid cockroach that he might as well be—'

"Sanzo," Hakkai attempted softly, breaking through the priest's thoughts. "We should stop this."

" 'We?' " the blond repeated mockingly, setting the paper down in his lap. "You're the one who's acting all pissy now that your beloved kappa pulled a disappearing act on us. I'm sure as hell not going to go out of my way to get that asshole back, so if you want to run after him, be my guest." 'That's right; if I act like I don't care, he'll back off.'

Hakkai's eyebrow cocked at Sanzo's particular choice of adjective regarding Gojyo, but before he could question it, a spike of youki diverted his attention to the hallway. His eyes darted to the base of the door as a powder suddenly blew through the narrow gap there.

"Sanzo!" Hakkai covered his mouth, remembering a situation just like this way back at the beginning of the Journey, but the priest was already swaying where he sat. Sanzo forced himself to a standing position, but soon fell to the floor between the beds, unconscious.

'Not again,' Hakkai thought, waiting a few more seconds for the sleeping powder to dissipate. He heard the creaking of the door opening and quickly stretched himself across the table, making it look as though he'd been knocked out, too.

The brunet's head was tilted towards the door and he kept his good eye open just enough to see a teal-skinned youkai enter the room, looking unsure. The youkai moved to the nightstand, set something down on it, and paused.

It was as good an opportunity was the healer was going to get. He silently rose, darting up behind the youkai and surprising him when he turned. Hakkai grabbed his arm before the youkai could withdraw his sword and the other hand went to the youkai's throat.

"Hello," he said, just clenching tight enough to put pressure on the youkai's windpipe. "We've been expecting you."

The youkai babbled out some nonsense about not being involved, but Hakkai wasn't exactly prepared to trust him. He dumped the stunned youkai into one of the chairs around the table and grabbed Sanzo's shoureiju that was lying nearby on the floor. Pointing it directly at the youkai, he grabbed his traveling gear and rummaged blindly, keeping his eyes on the youkai, until he felt a medium length of rope that they used to secure bags in Jeep. He looped it around the youkai torso one-handed, only lowering the gun when he tied the rope securely around the youkai's body.

"I was told that I wouldn't be killed," the youkai murmured to himself, over and over. "He told me it would be easy. Just deliver a note…"

"Who told you that?" Hakkai knew the nightstand was right behind him, but he wasn't going to let the youkai out of his sight to go retrieve the note. "What does it say?"

The teal youkai wasn't talking, except for repeating his dismay at being caught, so Hakkai decided it was best to wait for Sanzo to wake up.

-+-

It had been annoying enough going through that whole long Cho Gonou affair. Now Sanzo was paying for a few moments of weakness and had been entrusted with watching over the recovering murderer. Gonou didn't seem like the typical serial killer and was very oddly good-natured during the time he spent healing at Keiun Temple. Eventually, he picked a new name to remind him of his indebtedness to Sanzo and was released back into Chang'An.

It was less than a day after the newly renamed Cho Hakkai's release that he returned to the temple to ask Sanzo's permission on something. Hakkai had found that man from before, Gojyo, and wanted to know if it was okay to room with him.

Sanzo hadn't forgotten about Gojyo, although in front of Hakkai he pretended not to know who he was talking about. Just thinking about the intense red-haired man gave him chills. The priest had told himself that since he was never going to see this Gojyo character again, he didn't need to worry about the momentary lapse of sanity he'd had.

Gojyo came to visit, mostly to chew Sanzo out for not telling the truth about Hakkai. It hadn't been Sanzo's fault the kappa was too stupid to get the meaning of what he'd said, but the blond didn't dwell on it for too long as he noticed Gojyo outright leering at him.

"What?" he'd snarled, a little more harshly than he'd intended to.

"Do you like the 'do?" Gojyo asked, pointing to his head. Of course Sanzo had noticed that Gojyo had chopped all his hair off. It almost offended the priest that the long, silky red strands were gone, but he brushed off that thought with a callous comment about it being better than the kappa angsting.

Suddenly, Gojyo took the bandana off and his normal locks tumbled to his shoulders. Sanzo felt a surge of lust – the hair always did that to him for some reason that only the gods knew – and he felt himself push up from his chair. He tried to walk over to Gojyo, but he kept getting further and further away, until Sanzo couldn't even see him anymore…

Sanzo shot up from the floor, trying to get control over himself. He focused his blurry vision on the room and the other two people in it. 'Wait…'

There was a teal youkai tied to one of the chairs in the room, with Hakkai pacing in front of him and holding the shoureiju. Sanzo used the bed to prop himself up and forced his body over to the driver. "What the hell is going on here?"

"This is the person responsible for knocking you out, Sanzo," the brunet explained as he handed the gun back to the priest. "He also brought us a note… it possibly has something to do with Gojyo's disappearance." From the expression on Hakkai's face, Sanzo sensed the man's subtle sarcasm.

Legs shaking, Sanzo went back over to the nightstand and picked up the piece of folded paper. Opening it carefully in case it contained any other unwelcome surprises, he found simple block handwriting.

'Genjyo Sanzo,

You may have won today's battle, but it was at the expense of one of your teammates. He will be delivered back to you in three days if you comply with these demands: hand over the Maten Sutra peacefully and return to the East. Meet with me on the same battlefield where we fought today at that time for the exchange. If you refuse to agree to this, it will be difficult to return your hanyou to you in one piece.'

At the very bottom of the note was a smear of red. The metallic scent hit Sanzo's nose and he swallowed. "It's blood," he remarked, faintly hearing Hakkai make a noise of surprise. "Probably Gojyo's blood."

Hakkai looked back at the teal youkai. "Who told you to deliver this note?"

Kishin glanced down at the ground. "What happens if I don't tell you?"

"We kill you." Sanzo immediately pointed the shoureiju at Kishin's face. "You lose your usefulness if you keep quiet."

Hakkai bent down to reach Kishin's eye-level. "We'll let you go without any hassle if you just tell us who's responsible for all this."

"Yeah, right." Kishin turned his head away, closing his eyes. "I'll get killed no matter what I do. That's how the Sanzo-Ikkou works."

"Not necessarily." Hakkai stood up straight again. "If you're just being used and have no intention of actually hurting us, there's no point in harming you."

Kishin took a deep breath, considering. "I don't remember his name," he lied, "but it was some youkai who said he wanted me to deliver this to Genjyo Sanzo. He said that he worked for Lord Kougaiji."

"Kougaiji?"

Sanzo and Hakkai both looked at each other, realizing that they'd spoken in unison. Neither had known the youkai prince to resort to kidnapping, but if the youkai who'd taken Gojyo was claiming to work in his name, the situation had become all the more serious.

"We need to find Goku," Hakkai suggested. Sanzo looked back at the captured youkai, trying to take in his words. "One of us should go look for him while the other watches over…" The healer trailed off, unsure of how to refer to their prisoner.

"Kishin," the youkai offered helpfully, then grimaced and looked at the ground. "Merciful Goddess, I suck at this."

The other two men paused at that comment. This definitely wasn't a typical enemy for them.

"I'll stay here." Sanzo decided as he sat on the chair opposite Kishin.

"Are you sure you won't kill him?" Hakkai asked, moving towards the door.

"Just go find the monkey. I won't waste a bullet on this guy."

-+-

Upon exiting the inn, Hakkai looked up and found Hakuryu perched on the roof of a nearby building, jerking his head back towards the forest and chirping impatiently. Knowing that the dragon had gone off with Goku in the first place, the healer figured it best to follow him.

Hakuryu literally led him straight into the heat of battle; Kougaiji was concentrating on throwing his fire attacks right at Goku, who couldn't get close enough to hit back with his staff. The boy was mostly spending his time jumping around avoiding the flames.

Dokugakuji and Yaone stood on the sidelines, prepared in case their lord required their assistance. Lirin was pacing back and forth near the other two, making jabs in the air and yelling suggestions to her older brother, who did not look amused.

Hakkai walked straight up to Yaone and Doku, who detected his presence right away. "What's going on here?"

Yaone immediately moved to face him; Doku hung back slightly, resting his sword at his side. "Kougaiji-sama has returned for the Maten Sutra. We suggest you hand it over immediately."

Hakkai tried not to show his surprise. "You already sent someone for that."

Doku leaned on the sword. "What are you talking about? Kou doesn't make anyone else do his job for him."

"Well, I could've sworn—" He was cut off when Goku was finally able to zip up close enough to get in a punch. Kougaiji stumbled backwards, his concentration broken momentarily. It was barely a second before he hit back, knocking Goku away. It didn't deter the younger man as he looked for a new opening.

The two fighters were completely oblivious to the others talking nearby. Goku dissipated one of Kougaiji's fireballs with the top of the Nyoi-bo, but the prince blocked him when he came in to punch once again. Hakkai was watching out of the corner of his eye, but his attention was diverted back by a flash of metal.

Yaone had her spear out and stepped forward against Hakkai. "Now that you're here, we must face each other as well."

"I'm afraid that I really don't have time for that today," Hakkai replied, taking a step back and stirring up the chi in the center of his body, just in case. "We have a much bigger situation on our hands."

"Oh yeah?" Now Dokugakuji was raising his sword towards the healer. "What might that be?"

"Ask your leader; it seems that it was his idea."

At that, Yaone lunged right at him, barely giving Hakkai time to dodge. He knew that she was taking his comment as an insult towards Kougaiji and Hakkai could hardly blame her; however, he also knew that kidnapping was taking it a little far for this group. He didn't add anything else on to his statement, as he was too busy avoid her spear, along with Doku's interfering sword.

Goku ducked yet another blast and happened to glance over at the other fighters. "Hakkai? What're you doin' here?" he called.

Hakkai shot some chi over to Yaone's left, intentionally missing her, but causing her to hesitate. "I came to find you. I succeeded in that endeavor."

"Great. What's up?"

Hakkai and Goku were now backed up against each other. The rest of Kougaiji's group circled them. "Aside from being outnumbered, we may have a lead on our missing friend."

"Missing?" Lirin stopped and crouched down to the right of Hakkai. "Who's missing? Don't tell me Baldy ran away!"

"Oh, like we'd tell you!" Goku shot back, narrowing his eyes at her. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping!"

"I have a feeling that they already know," Hakkai said, raising his hands in case a chi blast was required. He addressed his next comment to the prince. "One of your subordinates told us that he was sent to us in your name. He delivered a ransom note as well."

Kougaiji had finally acknowledged the healer's presence. "Ransom note? Don't be ridiculous. I would never kidnap anyone." He crossed his arms over his chest. "It's a coward's method."

Goku blinked, just as confused. "Yeah, Hakkai, Kougaiji would never kidnap anyone. That other youkai had ta be lyin'."

"What is this 'subordinate's' name?" the prince demanded, taking a few steps closer to Hakkai.

The healer didn't back down. "He told us that he was called 'Kishin,'" he responded coolly. "He also seemed very amateur in his attempts at not being detected."

"I've never heard of anyone by that name. There must be a mistake."

Goku, Dokugakuji, Yaone, and Lirin all watched the conversation between Kougaiji and Hakkai, slightly in awe. The language remained formal the entire time, but something simmered underneath their words. It was a challenge of sorts – an affront to Kougaiji's honor that he be accused of such a thing.

"Then, perhaps you should ask Kishin-san yourself."

Goku felt his mouth fall open. 'There's no way Hakkai's seriously sayin' he wants Kougaiji to come to where we're stayin'!' However, Hakkai's suggestion was nothing compared to the prince's response.

"Perhaps I will."

-+-

Sanzo had given up on Kishin no more than fifteen minutes after Hakkai had left in search of Goku. The priest wasn't about to reveal any kind of weakness by asking about Gojyo – not that he was concerned anyway, he told himself – and the youkai was mostly fixated on the shoureiju that Sanzo kept in plain view at all times. 'He's already scared shitless of me,' Sanzo thought. 'Asking questions is going to get me nowhere right now.'

In a way, it was almost flattering to think that rumors of oneself had spread so far that you were feared by more than a few dozen people. Sanzo was mostly interested in anonymity, but this was an interesting twist. He considered if it was possible to play on this.

Kishin had no idea what to think of the human standing nearby. From all the accounts he'd heard from others, this Sanzo was a dangerous, youkai-murdering psychopath who defied all the laws of his religion. It seemed that the rumors weren't too far from the truth. However, Kishin was still alive and he decided to take advantage of that however long he could.

Sanzo lit up another cigarette and the smoke drifted over, making Kishin cough. When violet eyes flashed dangerously in his direction, the youkai sucked in a painful breath. "S-sorry. It's not a big deal; my buddy Shou smokes, too. He just doesn't usually blow it in my face—" He stopped when he heard the click of the gun's safety going off.

"If you know anything at all about me, then you'd know that I hate people who talk too much," Sanzo commented, casually checking the chamber of the gun. He scanned his weapon slowly, giving the youkai time to sweat. "The more they blab on and on, the less patience I have in letting them live."

Kishin swallowed. "You promised your friend that you wouldn't—"

He received another fierce glare. "I don't have friends."

The youkai decided it was wise to shut up now.

Sanzo turned back to stare out the window. The sun was now down and he could see the faint outline of the moon high overhead. Goku and Hakkai had been gone for a very long time, but that didn't concern the priest very much, beyond his usual aggravation at being kept waiting.

Instead, he was annoyed with his body as it began to subconsciously expect what had become a nightly ritual. Either the two would share a room, or Sanzo would be alone at the window like this, and Gojyo would come over and start it.

"I need you, Sunshine," the kappa would whisper in his ear and then that would be Sanzo's cue to turn around. They'd kiss, deeply and passionately, while preparing for the next step.

In the two months that they'd been together, Gojyo had been teaching Sanzo the art of foreplay and the priest had to admit that he almost enjoyed it; Gojyo would tease him with kisses and trailing his fingertips down bare skin. Sanzo had been surprised the first time when he realized they'd made out for an entire hour and still weren't ready to move on to the sex.

The sex – he'd never been a part of something so passionate before. It was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. It was a point during the night when Gojyo became Sanzo's entire world; there was no Mission, no battles, no responsibilities. He willingly let his guard down and let himself breathe…

"You… uh, you still there?"

Kishin's voice brought Sanzo back and the priest jumped involuntarily. He glared extra hard at the prisoner, for good measure; Sanzo hated when someone shocked or startled him, since he liked to think himself impervious to most of humanity.

Before Sanzo could think up a witty response, he heard familiar footsteps clomping their way up the stairs. 'At least the monkey's back…'

"Sanzo!" Goku burst in without knocking or any sense of formality, as usual. He looked out of breath and his eyes were wide.

Sanzo raised an eyebrow curiously. "What are you so worked up about?"

Goku took a moment and a few deep breaths. Kishin was watching the newcomer intently. "Hakkai says we gotta bring th' youkai down to the forest. Kougaiji an' the others are waitin' there. They said they didn't send anyone!"

"Kougaiji?" Kishin sat up straight in the chair, ignoring the rope that held him firmly in place. "His Highness is here? Right now?!"

Sanzo looked straight at Goku. The boy never lied and when the priest thought about it, Kishin's connection to the prince was hazy at best. "Fine, then. But it's your idea, so you handle him."

Goku blinked. "Huh?"

-+-

It was even more of a hassle to get the youkai out of the inn without being noticed by any humans. Goku had ended up throwing a sheet over Kishin's head and leading him down the stairs, explaining to the confused night clerk that the man underneath was very sick and possibly contagious with some sort of disease. That kept away any questions.

Sanzo brought up the rear, which was unnatural for him, but he was loath to let the youkai out of his sight. He still kept the thought in the back of his mind that Kishin's ineptitude could be an act or a trap of some kind. 'Taking him to meet Kougaiji might be a mistake in that case. We'll have to keep him under our control.'

Back in the clearing where the fight had taken place, Sanzo and Goku led the prisoner over to where Hakkai was standing. Across from him stood the entire Kou-tachi, looking on with varying degrees of interest.

Goku finally pulled the sheet off and Kishin's eyes darted around cautiously. He finally noticed the group of youkai and gasped, falling to his knees.

"Kougaiji-sama…" he whispered, getting down as far as he could to the ground. He'd never met any sort of youkai royalty before, but he knew he had to be as subservient as possible. A part of his mind still desperately wanted to go home.

The prince stepped forward and looked down at the teal youkai. "You say that you are called Kishin. Who sent you and why are you claiming that you work in my name?"

Kishin opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was too overwhelmed to gather his thoughts at the moment.

"He said that he didn't remember—" Hakkai started, but Kougaiji kept his attention on the youkai.

"I was asking him."

Goku balled his hands into fists. "Hey, that guy was tryin' t' kill Hakkai an' Sanzo an' they were the ones who tied 'im up! I think they'd know!"

"Goku," Sanzo's tone was firm and the boy looked up to him with wide golden eyes, but remained silent. "I want to hear what he has to say," the priest continued, withdrawing a cigarette.

"Okay, okay," Kishin managed, looking back up but still avoiding his prince's intense purple eyes. "I work at the prison a couple of hours from here… it's for enemies of Gyuumaoh-sama's who have been captured in battle. It's just… there haven't been any prisoners there in forever. Then today, some guy showed up dragging a hanyou behind him and said he was working for you, My Lord."

"A hanyou?" Kougaiji looked over at the Ikkou, noticing that only three of them were present.

Dokugakuji stepped up behind the prince. "What happened to Gojyo?"

Sanzo sighed. "Did you even listen to that guy? He just told you." He took another long drag, looking as indifferent as he could.

Kougaiji, meanwhile, was deep in thought. Something from the other day was nagging at the back of his mind – something that was connected to all of this. He ran over the events of the previous day: deciding to go after the Sanzo-Ikkou, finding out about the embarrassing relationship, and Seiran's plan to… kidnap…

"That fool," he snarled, making Yaone and Doku turn to him in concern. "I should have known he'd disobey me."

"Who?" Now that there was a lead, Sanzo took a step forward. He pointed the shoureiju at Kishin. "This clown's telling the truth, then?"

Kougaiji remembered who surrounded him at the moment and narrowed his eyes. "This doesn't concern you, Genjyo Sanzo."

"It's a member of my group that your man kidnapped and it's my inconvenience," Sanzo retorted, ignoring the odd looks he was receiving, both from his own group and the Kou-tachi. "If that moron went and got himself taken by someone you know, then I think you should let us in on your little revelation."

"It's a simple problem of insubordination," Kougaiji said, turning away from the priest. "A problem that we can handle alone. Yaone, Dokugaku, Lirin!" He called each of them and they responded in the affirmative. "We're heading out to the prison immediately."

"Wait a minute!" Goku darted forward, staying only a few feet clear of the prince. "What are you gonna do with the kappa when you find him? An'… an' what about him?" He pointed directly at Kishin, who was still down on the ground. "He's your guy!"

"I don't know him and he doesn't work for me." Kougaiji was firm in both stance and words. "You can release him. He poses no threat."

"And as for Gojyo?" Hakkai asked.

"I don't care what happens to him. I will discipline the offender and then your teammate can return to you on his own, if he wishes."

"Listen," the healer continued. "There's a very good possibility Gojyo is injured. Considering that he might not be able to walk or move very well at all, we need to be there to help him. Surely you wouldn't just leave a rival to a death by starvation or infection. That wouldn't be very honorable."

Kougaiji was on the edge of snapping at Hakkai. He had never taken issue with the human-turned-youkai up until now, but it seemed that the man was very good at pushing all of his buttons in just the right way to eat at his sense of duty. It also didn't help that he could feel Dokugakuji's eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. 'I do have to remember that Sha Gojyo is Dokugaku's brother… It would be cruel of me to just let a relative of a friend die.'

He stopped, knowing that everyone else around him had stopped moving as well, waiting for what he was going to say next. "Very well. If you insist upon tagging along—"

"Hey!" Goku interjected, but the prince ignored it.

"You may follow us to the prison, but from there you are on your own. This isn't some sort of team-up. We're enemies… remember that for when this ordeal is over. We'll face each other again, in fair combat."

"Whatever," Sanzo said with a sigh. He couldn't bring himself to care even one bit about Kougaiji's insistence on fair play. The only positive outcome was that if Gojyo really was injured, the prince and his friends would wait a little while before engaging in another battle. 'At least I get an occasional break from some of the people who annoy me.'

"Kougaiji-sama." Yaone spoke for the first time since Kishin had been brought to them. "It's already nightfall. Even using the dragons from the air, we wouldn't be able to locate the prison in the dark. It would be better to wait until morning."

"It's in the middle of nowhere," Kougaiji insisted. "I'd prefer to get there at night, when it will be harder to be detected. Besides, I don't have problems seeing in the dark." He directed the comment towards the priest, knowing full well that youkai vision was much better than that of a human's.

Sanzo didn't even notice, as he'd gotten out another cigarette and was staring back at the lights of the town. Internally, he'd found that the conversation, even between their supposed enemies, was lacking. There was a certain voice that would have chimed in many times over and despite Sanzo's attempts to ignore that fact, he found the absence of Gojyo's banter quite annoying. He clenched the cigarette tighter between his fingers when he realized the absurdity of being annoyed by the lack of the 'annoying' kappa.

'Would he even agree on anything anyone's saying?' Sanzo wondered, exhaling and watching the smoke rise up. 'Hell, he'd probably be bored already and be trying to bum a smoke off of me.'

"Sanzo?" Goku's voice brought him back to the present and he looked down at his charge.

"What is it, monkey?" Sanzo turned back to see that everyone was looking at him expectantly. "Did I miss something?"

"Kougaiji-san and the rest are going to camp out here tonight and we'll head out in the morning." Hakkai stated this matter-of-factly, but Sanzo guessed that what had transpired while he was zoned out involved more wheedling on the part of the healer and the apothecary.

"Since I'm the only one who has a limiter on hand right now, I'll go pick up some supplies for the night," Yaone suggested, all but confirming Sanzo's suspicions. "After all, Hakkai-san did mention that one of the convenience stores was still open late."

"Someone like you actually camps?" Sanzo muttered, flicking the ash off of the end of his cigarette in Kougaiji's general direction.

"It's not a problem," Kou said, though he sounded more self-assured than he felt at the moment.

Hakuryu reappeared from a high branch in a nearby tree and transformed into Jeep. Hakkai then offered Yaone a ride back into town so that she wouldn't have to walk. When everyone but Goku and Lirin seemed to be reading into it, Hakkai reassured them that for now, they were just being civil to one another. In the meantime, Doku agreed to take one of the dragons and drop Kishin off back at his home.

"For your trouble," Kougaiji offered to the guard. "Do you have a family? Wife and children?"

Kishin shook his head slowly. "No, but I am taking care of my parents… They're elderly…"

"Very well," the prince decided. "You'll be returned to your home and I'll send some money so that you can take care of your parents. Think of it as a retirement package for your years of hard work guarding the prison."

Kishin blinked. "T-thank you, My Lord."

As this transpired, the Ikkou prepared to head back to their hotel room for the third time. Settling himself into the front passenger seat, Sanzo wondered if he shouldn't spend a little more time paying attention to the lives of the people around him.

'Shit, what am I saying? Forget being infected by the kappa's stupidity, I think it's a full-blown disease.'

-+-

Sanzo and Goku returned to their room, but Hakkai suggested that he go out and buy some things as well. In his opinion, Yaone was already going out and it might be dangerous to be alone at night.

Sanzo personally thought Hakkai was trying a little too hard.

The two healers headed out, mostly just making small talk until they arrived at the small store. It didn't have a lot of supplies and the cashier looked half-asleep, but at least they were the only customers in the entire place.

Hakkai was debating between two different flavors of coffee – Sanzo really preferred the dark roast, but the regular in the same brand was on sale – when he noticed a presence over his left shoulder. Yaone was looking over, inspecting his choices.

"I didn't know you drank coffee."

"Only rarely." He put back the discounted can, inner bargain-hunter screaming in defeat, and tucked his choice under his arm. "Sanzo drinks most of it, as does Gojyo…" He stopped, smiling apologetically. "I'm sorry. This is really unusual for us."

"When you spend a lot of time with someone, it makes it all the more obvious when they're missing," Yaone said, offering back her own reassuring smile. "You get used to the way things are."

They paid for the rest of their items and left, to what was probably the relief of the exhausted cashier. Yaone had three bags and Hakkai only one, so he naturally offered to carry some of her things for her.

"You really don't have to be so nice," she insisted when they took a breather by sitting down next to a softly bubbling fountain. "As Kougaiji-sama said, we are enemies."

He laughed. "That's true. Besides, I'm actually a very evil person." He tried to make it sound light-hearted, but it came off as more ambiguous instead.

Yaone paused for a moment, trying to figure out if he was joking or not, then finally smiled along with him. "I'm sure you are."

Hakkai looked up at the stars, taking a deep breath. He could feel Yaone's warmth next to him on his left and he tried to focus on something else before his mind started wandering to things he swore to avoid. "Who is this person that Kougaiji-san thinks is behind all this?"

Yaone folded her hands in her lap before speaking. "His name is Seiran. He was just promoted to directly working under Kougaiji-sama this year. He always seemed like a patient, rational man… however…"

"However?"

"This last time we saw him, he acted a bit differently. He almost argued with Kougaiji-sama when his plan was rejected."

"His plan…" Hakkai put his hands down on the stone and used his arms to prop his body up. "I suppose that the kidnapping was part of the plan? Once Kougaiji-san rejected doing such a thing, he took matters into his own hands."

"That seems to be the case." Yaone copied Hakkai's actions and looked up at the stars as well. "It's just so strange; we've never known him to be so impulsive."

"Is it possible that someone else is working with him?" Hakkai realized that Yaone's fingers were brushing his own and quickly adjusted so that they were no longer touching.

"I suppose so, but I wouldn't know who."

Hakkai had leaned back again before noticing that his left hand had slid back and was up against Yaone's right hand again. He waited to see if she would object to the hand's position, but when she didn't say anything, he decided he needed to continue the conversation so as to eliminate the awkward silence.

"Why would he take Gojyo? Or was the plan just to kidnap any one of us that he could get a hold of?"

Abruptly, Yaone stood up and Hakkai could see a blush appearing across her face. "I'm afraid that we really shouldn't be talking like this, Hakkai-san. We're… we're enemies and sharing information like this is forbidden. I'm truly sorry. I should've said something earlier—"

The healer felt startled and it must have shown, because Yaone kept apologizing. He held up his hands in a placating manner. "Now, now, it's not your fault. I know that we both find it… difficult to think of each other as enemies."

Hakkai froze as soon as the words left his mouth. 'Have I gone mad? What am I saying?' This had gone beyond the level of polite and professional and had become exactly what he had been trying to avoid. "What I mean to say is—"

Yaone was still blushing as she grabbed up her bags of supplies. "Kougaiji-sama and the others will be wondering where I am. Your friends probably as well… That is, they'll be wondering about you…" She babbled on for a bit as she tried to adjust her things.

Hakkai had a sinking feeling. He had ruined their perfect moment, however unintentional, and now Yaone was fleeing. "We'll still… see you tomorrow then, Yaone-san?" He wasn't sure if adding the honorific would help ease her discomfort, but he figured it couldn't hurt.

"Yes," she said. "Good night, Hakkai-san." With that, she turned her back to him and darted off down the street towards the forest.

Hakkai sat there for a minute longer, resting and closing his eyes, trying to recover. "It's been a long day," he decided quietly.

-+-

Yaone cursed herself as she ran back to the place where they were camping for the night. Her loyalties lay with Kougaiji and no one else; to even consider having a close conversation with one of his opponents was almost treason in her mind.

She stopped a few feet outside of town, dropping the bags rather gracelessly and leaning against a tree, panting. "I'm an idiot," she whispered between shallow breaths.

It wasn't as though these were new feelings – Yaone had always felt admiration for the men in her life, in a familial or professional sense, and had even fancied herself in love with her prince at the beginning of her service to him. In reality, it had been something of an infatuation for Yaone, a harmless crush that wouldn't lead anywhere. Yaone had decided not long after that she was no longer interested in crushes and meaningless pursuits of romance.

Of course, no sooner had she decided to give up on such things when her prince got a new mission: eliminating the Sanzo-Ikkou. Yaone had gladly taken on the role of assassin for her lord, but found the Ikkou to be formidable opponents beyond expectations. Another thing she hadn't expected was for her regular sparring partner to care about her wellbeing as much as he did.

Cho Hakkai was extremely difficult to fight. Yaone first assumed that he was going easy on her or pitying her because of her gender, but that turned out not to be the case. She was relieved that his actions weren't motivated by sexism; anytime she had experienced that in the past, it had only led to her beating up the so-called "superior male."

Instead, Hakkai chose not to fight in earnest against her because he saw how useless it was. Neither had a deep desire to kill the other and he explained that he found her interesting to talk to. She was impressed by his tactical skills and knowledge; it was no surprise that he was the most educated member of the Ikkou. Most impressive to Yaone was the fact that he was one of the few males in her life who never made blatant attempts to hit on her and spoke to her like an equal.

Yaone didn't remember the exact moment when she transitioned from liking that to wondering why he hadn't overtly flirted with her and why it bothered her so much that he didn't. However, she decided it must have been the point at which they almost stopped fighting altogether and began having longer, more in depth conversations. Yaone felt sick when she realized she missed the sound of his voice when they went too long between confrontations.

"Yaone?"

She jerked up, whirling around and ready to fight when she noticed that Dokugakuji was the one addressing her. Relaxing only slightly, she started to once again pick up her things. "I'm sorry I'm so late. You've already returned from taking Kishin-san home and I'm so slow—"

"Hey, chill out."

Yaone felt a strong hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Doku offering her a smile and a wink. The tall youkai grabbed two of her bags from her and started off through the trees. Looking past him, Yaone could faintly make out a fire in the background.

"You're entitled to spend as much time with your 'friend' as you want." Doku paused and waited for her to catch up. "I won't tell."

Yaone wondered if she was doomed to spend the rest of her life with her face bright red.