A/N: Hello everyone! It's time for another chapter. As always, I do not own Saiyuki, so on ward to chapter 7!

Chapter 7: Self-Pity and Poker

Goku sits on the grass, his golden eyes trained on Cassandra as she paces in front of him. Back and forth, back and forth, never pausing for a second. For fifteen minutes she has been doing that, muttering something to herself. At the moment they are a little bit outside of town, in a secluded field.

"Cassandra?" Goku asks. The blonde-haired woman stops and looks at Goku. "Why are you pacing back and forth?"

"Because I'm an idiot," she replies.

"Oh," Goku says, confused. "But I don't think you're stupid."

"No, I don't mean it that way." She drops down on the grass next to him. "You see, I don't have a lot of training in Waeruock magic so it takes me a while to remember certain spells, and at the moment I can't remember how I'm supposed to cast a scout-spell."

"Oh," Goku says, still slightly confused.

"I wish I wasn't so weak," she whispers, gazing up at the sky.

"I don't think you're weak." Cassandra smiles at him.

"But I'm not much use right now. I wish Raven was here." I might never see him again, she bites her lip at the thought. I have to stay strong. It won't do anyone any good if I break down now. "Hopefully, Evan will have better luck finding Raven than me."

"Do Warner and Evan hate each other?" Goku asks, wanting to change the subject.

"That's an interesting question. I'm not quite sure what they think of each other. They do fight a lot, but the two will back each other up, especially against Raven. If they are friends, they have a strange way of showing it." Cassandra laughs, not quite understanding why she finds Warner's and Evan's friendship so amusing.

"They're weird," Goku frowns.

"I know." Cassandra's hazel eyes seem to light up. "I just remembered how the spell is supposed to go." She closes her eyes, whispering in her strange language. At first nothing happens, but soon a mass of water forms in front of them, then breaks apart. Small orbs of water float around them as Cassandra continues the spell. Slowly the balls take shape and within seconds birds made of water fly around them.

"Cool!" Goku says as watches the birds in amazement. Cassandra finishes the incantation and opens her eyes. She smiles to herself when she sees how happy Goku appears to be. Just like a child, she thinks. We have a child who acts like an adult, then an adult who acts like a child. Cassandra holds her hand out and one of the birds lands on it, she then places the bird in Goku's hand. The brown haired boy pets the bird, which chirps in response. "He's so cute!"

"Raven and I call these guys scouts. You send them out to search for a specific thing and if they find something they report back. I'm hoping one of these guys will be able to find Raven." She says something to the birds in her language and the water-birds fly off in different directions. Goku throws his hands up and the bird he was holding takes off as well. Please find him.

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The rain splatters down on the outcropping of a large rock. Raven pulls his legs closer to his body, hoping that may help him conserve some of his body heat. He's cold, tired and hungry.

This seems disturbingly familiar, except there isn't a Waeruock or Daerenh coven after me. His eyes darken at the thought. I am being followed by that Kou guy. That guy is persistent, but I've had a lot experience in being hunted down. Raven runs his fingers through his black hair as memories from his past keep wanting to flood forward. He pushes them back, not wanting to deal with those things at the moment. He reaches down to his ankle sheath and places his hand on his dagger. Cassandra I hope you are all right. For some reason he hasn't been able to contact her which is worrying him to no end.

"Evan," he whispers, thinking of the black haired boy. He is worried about Evan most of all. The kid may seem tough, but he does have his moments of weakness. If the demons were to come after him…I have to stop thinking this way, it's not helping things one bit.

The rain begins to let up, signaling the end of his rest. He quickly scans the area, making sure his stalker hasn't found him then begins the long trek to find the others. Two days ago he sensed Daycarthro somewhere in this direction, ever since then he has been following his instincts, hoping it will lead him to Cassandra, Evan and Warner.

He freezes when he senses something approaching him. Without a second thought he dives towards one of the boulders that litter this area and uses it to shield himself. A dark shadow passes near him as a dragon flies overhead. Raven doesn't dare move in case he might give away his location. When the coast is clear, he moves out of his hiding place.

That was close, if I hadn't sensed him when I did, I might have been spotted and I doubt I would have been able to avoid a fight with him like I did last time. Raven isn't afraid of the red-haired youkai, but he doesn't want to attract unwanted attention. That's all he needs is for a demon to sense him then all hell will break out. I can't keep running forever. Sooner or later I'm going to have to fight him.

Raven pauses for a second and looks up at the sky as a bird flies by. Cassandra!

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I don't get this, Warner thinks in frustration as he loses another hand of poker. How can I lose so many hands to these guys? The blonde monk is an okay player, the red head and I are about even, but the brunette keeps winning effortlessly.

"Sumimasen, I'll go easy on you guys next time," Hakkai smiles, when he wins another hand.

"That's what you said last time," Warner replies. Hakkai shuffles the cards. He has to be cheating, Warner concludes. It's like I'm playing against Evan or a pissed off Raven. The Vaerire takes a look at his new hand. All right, I got a good hand this time. He glances at Hakkai who is still smiling. Does he have a good hand too? No, he has been smiling the whole time. This guy has to be a pro. He looks back at his cards. There is no way he can beat this hand. If I bet it all I might win my money back, but if I'm wrong I'll lose it all. But it's not like I can use this money back home. Besides Evan is here. If worse comes to worse I can have him go out and win us some money to live off of until Daycarthro picks us up. Warner bets all his money.

"All right, show 'em," Warner announces after all bets have been placed. Gojyo shows his hand first which causes Sanzo to swear and throw his cards on the table. Okay, my turn. "Straight," he announces with a smile, Gojyo swears when he sees Warner beat him again. Hakkai places his cards down. "What?" Warner shouts. "A royal flush!"

"Looks like I won again," Hakkai replies as he collects his winnings.

I can't believe I am actually wishing Evan were here!

"We're back!" Goku announces when he and Cassandra enter the commoner's room.

"Oh joy," Gojyo says backhanded.

"Cassandra, Hakkai won all my money," Warner whines.

"Did you try to cheat?" Cassandra asks. A pair of purple and red eyes glare at him.

"You wouldn't happen to be cheating?" Sanzo growls.

"Yeah Warner," Gojyo cracks his knuckles.

"I don't cheat!" Warner snaps. "Evan is the one who cheats!"

"Raven said you cheat more than Evan does. He has even caught you a few times."

"That's when I first started playing. Besides Raven wouldn't know since he hasn't played with me and Evan for a while."

"Yeah since the incident?" Cassandra says, laughing at him. Warner turns his head the other way, so she doesn't see the look on his face.

"Incident?" Hakkai asks.

"Yeah, Warner why don't you tell them about it? I'm pretty curious myself what actually happened between you guys." Cassandra takes the seat between Hakkai and Warner.

"Nothing happened," Warner lies.

"Come on Warner, what was it about?" Gojyo asks, smirking at him.

"Whatever it was, Raven was in a bad mood for the rest of the week," Cassandra adds. "The game room had been trashed and the three of them wouldn't even look at each other. That was a fun week," Cassandra sighs, remembering how thick the tension was in the house.

"We were just playing one of Evan's games and things got out of hand," Warner shrugs, trying to act indifferent.

"Ever since then Raven refuses to play cards with them and neither of them will tell me what the fight was about."

"I'll tell you what happened, but you have to give me something in return," Warner smirks. Cassandra glares at him then slams her foot down on his.

"Some people never learn," she mutters. Goku takes a seat next to Gojyo and notices something under Gojyo arm, which is resting on the table.

"What's this?" Goku asks as he picks up the ace hiding under the red-head's arm.

"Speaking of cheaters," Sanzo replies, glaring at Gojyo.

"Hehe, where did that come from?" Gojyo laughs nervously.

"You cheated and you still lost," Warner laughs. "Now I don't feel so bad about losing."

"Speak for yourself," Gojyo rebukes.

"But I didn't cheat. Evan taught me almost everything I know."

"Then you did cheat," Goku grins at Warner.

"I'm beginning to dislike you," Warner sighs. "So Cassandra, how did it go?" Warner decides to change the subject.

"I sent out some scouts to look for him, It'll probably be a while before they find anything…"Cassandra trials off as she looks out the window. Why does it feel like one of my scouts is already returning…?

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A/N: I think that's a good place to end this chapter.

Rook thanks for the suggestion. I was having trouble with the transition and the idea about the poker game seemed to fit in perfectly. I hope you like it. There is another poker scene later on in this, but it won't be for a couple more chapters.\

Thanks for all the reviews. Till next time!