Psycho-CJ: Hi, everyone, sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but I wasn't sure if I should post this chapter or go straight to the ending. So, I wrote some of this chapter, was going to junk it, wrote most of the ending, then decided to keep this chapter. Writing ending is such a pain in the butt. And it doesn't help that mom is working me like a slave since I'm going back to Washington on Monday. Luckily I got most of this done.

Evan: And as soon as she gets 75 reviews, she'll post it. So two more reviews you get the next chapter and we get to find out who the winner is.

Psycho-CJ: Soon Evan will have a birthday!

Evan: (wipes a tear away) I feel so loved.

Goku: Psycho-CJ does not own Saiyuki.

Sanzo: If she did, I would kill her to save everyone from the torment of her writing.

Psycho-CJ: Hey! I'm not that bad of a writer! Oh, yeah, this chapter probably should fall under the humor category. Enjoy!

XxxXxxX

Chapter 23: A Little R & R for Our Battle Worn Heroes

"Is the coast clear?" Gojyo whispers to Warner. The Vaerire surveys the empty streets then motions for Gojyo that it's safe. The two creep around the streets, Gojyo carrying Kougaiji by the legs, while Warner has the youkai by the shoulders. The prince has a ridiculous magenta scarf wrapped around his head to hide his point ears. That's all they need is the whole town to panic because there is a youkai in it. For some reason Warner had the scarf, but Gojyo prefers to not know why the Vaerire had it.

"Where are we taking him again?" Warner asks, doing his best to keep the weight off his bad wrist.

"There is a forest not too far from here. We can dump him there, one of his followers will probably find him."

"What if they don't?"

"It's not our problem. All I know is, I don't want him to be around when he wakes up considering Goku left with Evan, Hakkai is resting, Daycarthro is asleep, and I'm not stupid enough to ask that corrupt monk for help." Gojyo pauses for a minute when Warner looks like he is going to drop Kougaiji. "I bet Raven and Cassandra are probably getting cozy with each other." The two look at each other then burst into laughter.

"Sure they are," Warner gasps, trying to catch his breath. "This would be a lot easier if we had Hakuryuu—this guy's heavy."

"Hakuryuu wanted to stay with Hakkai, so it's up to us to clean up this mess."

"How did we get roped into being the clean up crew? We're hurt too."

"Ha, I'm perfectly fine."

"Is that why you're limping slightly?"

"Shut up."

"Hey! What's going on here?" A man asks, storming over to Gojyo and Warner.

"Shit," Gojyo swears under his breath.

"Hi, buddy," Warner smiles.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?" the man asks suspiciously as he eyes the unconscious person they are carrying.

"Well, you see..." Warner begins, but Gojyo cuts in.

"...our friend had a little bit too much to drink and we are trying to take him home before his wife gets mad. You know how scary women can be when they get mad."

"Tell me about it," the man laughs.

"We better get going before it gets too late," Warner says, as he shoots Gojyo a look that says 'This guy is heavy!.'

"You two must be really good friends. He's lucky that he has you two looking out for him. Take care," the man lightly punches Warner arm as he leaves, but it happens that was his bad arm.

"Ow!" Warner yelps, dropping Kougaiji as he rubs his wrist. The prince's head hits the ground with a loud thump. Kougaiji mumbles something under his breath, but then goes back to sleep. "Oops," Warner laughs sheepishly. He quickly picks the prince back up and the two continue their journey to dispose of the youkai prince.

"You really are an idiot," Gojyo mutters.

"It's not like he woke up," the Vaerire snaps.

"Hm," Kougaiji groans.

"You were saying?" Gojyo glares at the Vaerire. The two stare at Kougaiji, but he goes back to sleep. "Let's hurry up and dump him somewhere."

XxxXxxX

"Aw, Evan, I thought you said we were going to get food!" Goku cries as he rubs his growling stomach. Evan stands next to a river, gazing at the water. He dips a finger in to test the temperature, finding it colder than he wanted it to be. "If I don't get something to eat, I'm going to die!"

"Be patient," Evan replies, as he slips his shirt off.

"Eh, Evan, what are you doing?" Goku asks, turning his eyes away as Evan slips the rest of his clothes off.

"You pick up bad karma if you let demon blood stay on your body, at least that's what I was told as a child." He jumps into the water, the coldness numbing his skin. "Besides, it looks suspicious when two guys walk into a restaurant covered in blood," with that Evan lets his head slip under the water's surface. Several minutes pass, but still Evan hasn't come up for air.

"Evan?" Goku whispers, when the demon doesn't surface. Goku creeps over to the river, straining to see if Evan has drowned in the river.

"Boo!" Evan shouts from behind him, kicking him into the water. Goku head pops up from the water as he coughs.

"What did you do that for?!" Goku shakes his fist at the demon who has a towel wrapped around his waist.

"The sooner you get washed up the sooner we get food," Evan laughs as he tosses a towel on the shore for Goku. Before they came to the river they had made a quick stop to Hakkai's room where they picked up a change of clothes and some towels.

"I-it's c-cold!" Goku shivers as he wades towards the shore. Evan meets him, but before Goku can climb out of the river, Evan shoves Goku back into the water.

"You still had a little bit of blood in your hair," Evan replies when Goku resurfaces. A mischievous smile crosses the golden-eyed boy. "What are you smiling about?" Evan asks. Goku grabs his arm and yanks him into the water. A second later Evan sputters water out of his mouth while glaring at Goku who happily jumps onto the shore.

"You have some dirt right here," Goku taps a finger against his cheek, while grinning at the angry demon.

"Whatever," Evan mutters. "Unlike you, I think it's nice here. I could stay here forever." Evan leans back, falling underneath the water again. Goku peels off his wet clothes and dries himself off before getting dressed.

"Come on, Evan, I'm hungry," Goku calls.

"Allright already." Evan steps out, shaking his black hair with his fingers to get the water out. He slips on his clothes, not caring his body is still wet from his bath. "Do you know of any place that is still open?"

"How far can you take us?" Goku asks, his eyes lighting up.

XxxXxxX

"This looks like a good spot," Gojyo announces when they enter the forest.

"This is too close to the forestline, someone might easily spot him," Warner replies.

"I thought the whole point of this was to put him someplace his people can find him."

"But here, anyone can find him. I don't want to be responsible if something happens to him."

"Oh well, it's not our problem." Gojyo shrugs his shoulders.

"Fine, I'll do it myself!" Warner lifts Kougaiji up, barely able to keep himself steady.

"Come on," Gojyo finally says, wrapping his arm around the youkai's other shoulder. "You're helpless!"

"Thanks, Gojyo," Warner smiles.

"Don't mention it, now hurry up. The sooner you move the sooner we can get this over with."

XxxXxxX

"Good evening boys, what can I get for you?" the waitress asks.

"I'll have one of everything!" Goku declares, not bothering to look at the menu.

"Make that two of everything," Evan yawns, not in the mood to see what is on the menu. Knowing Goku, he'll probably eat most of it anyway.

"Okay," a sweat-drop forms on her forehead. "I'll put that in right to the chef."

"Eh, Evan how are you going to pay for all of this?" Goku whispers.

"Don't worry, it's been taking care of." The demon takes a sip of his water to cover the grin on his face.

An hour later, Goku is leaning against his chair, rubbing his belly. Five towers of plates sway on the table and Evan watches the plates with a little awe that they have not toppled yet.

"Are you sure you're not a pig, instead of an ape?" Evan laughs.

"I'm not an ape!"

"Then you're a pig?"

"No!" Goku holds his head up high. "I'm a growing boy," Goku states matter-of-factly.

"Sure you are," Evan laughs. "We better get going, it's starting to get late." The demon signals the waitress to bring the check. A minute later the waitress arrives.

"Will that be all sir?"

"I think so." Evan pulls something out of his pocket. "You can put it on this," he hands the woman what appears to be a gold card. Goku's eyes widen when he recognizes Sanzo's credit card.

"Thank you, sir." The woman walks away with the card.

"Evan! That's Sanzo's card!" Goku shouts, Evan quickly covers his mouth.

"Hey, not so loud," Evan hisses. "And yes, I know that's Sanzo's card. Where else would I have gotten it from?"

"You stole it! Sanzo is going to kill you!"

"No, I'm borrowing it. It just so happens he's not aware of it—and we are going to keep it that way, got it?"

"But..."

"It's not like the money is Sanzo's. It was given to him by the Three Aspects to use on his journey. Since Kanzeon insisted Sanzo take care of us, and he wouldn't be doing a very good job if we all starved to death."

"I guess...but he is going to be super mad when he finds out."

"He won't find out and if he does, I'll handle it." Evan's eyes lower in thought. At least, I think I can, Evan thinks.

XxxXxxX

"Okay, this is as good as it gets," Gojyo announces, as they step into a clearing.

"It seems deep enough, but should we really leave him out in the open like this?"

"Oh, no, I am not going any farther than this!"

"I guess this is okay then," Warner sighs. "How about we bury him, or something."

"Bury him?!" Gojyo gapes.

"Well, not bury him alive or anything like that. We could cover him with leaves or something."

"You are a strange man," Gojyo raises an eyebrow at him.

"Why do people keep saying that?!" Warner yells. Warner lowers the youkai prince's head to the ground, careful not to bop him again.

"Maybe because it's true." Gojyo watches Warner throw leaves onto the youkai.

"There, now people can't see him easily."

"One last thing," Gojyo smiles as he takes something out of his pocket.

"What are you doing with that lipstick?" Warner asks.

"You'll see."

XxxXxxX

The inn remains silent as the sun slowly rises above the horizon, declaring a new day. Sanzo suddenly wakes up when he senses someone is in the room with him. His mind follows the intruder who quietly creeps up to him. Sanzo grabs his gun and points it at the person.

"What the hell?" A familiar voice snaps.

"Evan," Sanzo replies, examining the man, who looks about the same age as him. How could the child and this man be the same person. From a distance a person might mistake Raven and Evan as being the same person since they are both the same height and build with the stark black hair. But besides from those three physical traits, the two are completely different. "What are you up to?"

"Up to?" Evan says innocently. "I'm insulted you would think I am planning something. Have we not gained each other's trust after everything we have been through?"

"No," Sanzo answers, his voice flat but hiding a threat of death if Evan doesn't answer his question.

"Fine, you always have to ruin my fun," Evan's lower lip juts out, which lacks the same effect when a grown man is doing it. "I was worried about you. I didn't stay around last night to make sure you didn't have any serious injuries." Sanzo raised an eyebrow, finding it hard to believe Evan would actually admit he was worried.

Maybe Evan's personality changes with his body? Could there be more to him than I previously thought? Sanzo thinks to himself—that was until he saw a faint sliver of gold hiding in Evan's left hand.

"Then what is that in your hand?" Sanzo asks, raising an eyebrow.

"What hand?" Evan asks innocently, only to cause Sanzo's eyebrow to twitch.

"That hand!" Sanzo points to his left hand, which he tries to hide behind his back.

"Maybe you are seriously hurt, you're seeing things," Evan begins to back away, but Sanzo roughly grabs his wrist, forcing Evan to open his hand. Sanzo's gold card rests in the demon's hand and Sanzo becomes deathly quiet. "Now, where did that come from?" Evan asks in awe.

"Stupid demon!" Sanzo yells, smacking him repeatedly with his fan. Evan sidesteps the monk and puts a safe distance between them.

"You left me no choice," Evan points an accusing finger at Sanzo. "Goku was hungry last night, with all the hard work we did, we deserved to eat. I was being nice enough to return it before you noticed."

"You stole it last night," Sanzo repeats slowly. Evan, having been around Sanzo for almost a week, knows that is a bad sign.

"Oh shit!" Evan yelps, disappearing from sight.

"Get back here!" Sanzo yells, completely throwing off the blankets and flinging the door open as he searches for the demon.

XxxXxxX

"Oh, I can't believe those two are already at it," Warner groans as he rubs his eyes. Gojyo looks at the door with bloodshot eyes.

"Great, now Sanzo is going to be in a bad mood all morning."

"Isn't he always in a bad mood," Warner mutters. "We clean up their mess then they wake us at the ass-crack of dawn. We are really unappreciated." Warner pulls the blankets over his head about to fall asleep once more when a gunshot startles him. "Damn it!" Warner jumps out of bed, stalks out of the room and slams the door behind him. In the hall, Evan runs passed him followed by a very pissed off Sanzo. Warner watches them disappear down the hall then walks over to the room Raven and Cassandra are staying and bangs his fist on the door. "Hey, pretty boy. Wake your ass up right this minute and take care of your stupid brother." The door flies open and Raven glares at Warner.

"I know," Raven says shortly as he storms down the hall where Evan and Sanzo took off in.

"Really Warner, do you always have depend on Raven to keep Evan in check?" Cassandra asks, running her fingers through her blonde hair.

"I just do it to see you baby," Warner replies, checking out the Daerenh sorceress. Cassandra smiles at Warner, which is never a good sign. She picks up one of Raven shoes and heaves it at the Vaerire, knocking him flat on his back.

"Damn, does Raven keep stones in those or something?" Warner groans. He gazes it up when he sees a shadow fall over him. Cassandra picks up the shoe from the floor and cast one even glare at him as she turns on her heels and returns to her room.

Suddenly Evan appears in front of Warner, a small smile on the tips of his lips, but it fades when he sees Warner sitting on the floor.

"What happened to you?" Evan asks, poking at the red mark on the Vaerire's forehead.

"Nothing," Warner replies, swatting Evan's hand away. "Where the hell were you last night?" Warner demands. "My wrist has been throbbing since yesterday night. Look at it, it's swollen to twice its size!" Warner holds up his arm for the demon to inspect.

"It doesn't look broken," Evan replies, as he kneels down to him. He pushes his fingers against the tender flesh, causing Warner to gasp. "Cry baby. It's just fractured. Last night, I was impaled, had my femur snapped, and was stabbed a few times and you don't hear me whining about it."

"You're whining right now!" Warner snaps. Evan roughly grabs Warner's wrist and after a second lets go, the injury healed. "Now shut the hell up, before I show you how it feels to have your internal organs ruptured."

"I like to see you try, demon!" Warner growls.

"After all this time, you still haven't learned to shut up." Evan takes a swing at Warner, only to be thrown back when water wraps around him, preventing him from moving.

"Are you done with your little fit?" Raven calmly asks the glaring demon.

"Release me now," Evan hisses.

"Only if you promise to behave yourself. I will not tolerate you two fighting this early in the morning. Now you two go back to bed or I'll make sure neither of you wake up for a long time." Warner gulps while Evan mutters something under his breath.

"Hey, I want to go back to sleep, he was the one who woke me up."

"Had a long night with Gojyo?" the demon smiles suggestively. Warner, being dense, fails to pick up on what Evan is implying.

"As a matter of fact we did!" Warner shoots back. Raven rubs his temple, not believing what an idiot the Vaerire is.

"I don't want to know. I'm going back to sleep, don't either of you dare wake me up again," Raven opens the door and disappears inside.

"That's not what I meant!" Warner yells, realizing how wrong what he said sounded.

"Then what did you do last night?" Evan frowns when he sees he can't move. At least I can't get into trouble. Having a blood thirsty Sanzo after me is bad enough without having a pissed off Raven. Suddenly Evan's eyes widen as he looks down the hall. Ah, I forgot about Sanzo! "Um, Warner, since I healed your wrist and everything...do you think you can help me get out of this restraint-spell?" A clicking of wood sandals on the floor causes Evan to frantically struggle against the water binding him.

"Every man for himself," Warner dashes to his room and closes the door behind him. Evan rolls across the floor as he tries to find a way to break the spell. The clicking stops and Evan weakly looks up at the Sanzo towering over him.

"What's wrong? You can't run anymore?" Sanzo asks, a slight smile forming on the monk's usually straight lips. Evan might have been able to handle an angry Sanzo, but a smiling Sanzo...

"Ah! Someone help me! Raven?! Big brother?!" Evan cries, but no one comes to his aid. "Someone..." Evan calls weakly.

XxxXxxX

Psycho-CJ: Thanks to Rook, Sumitra, Ali, Mystique Pixie, and Curiouzkatt for reviewing.

Evan: And a couple comments to the reviews...

Ali—I'm glad you like the fight scenes and the sequel will probably have way more than this one did, I didn't realize the fight scenes were so short until I read over them. Next time I promise to make the scenes a little longer.

Rook—I promised you I would finish this and I'm glad you enjoyed it so far. Your reviews are what really kept me going. ^_^

Curiouzkatt—I don't think you're birthday is on a bad day, it's five days after mine and it might be a little cool if his birthday was on that day just because it is on the 13th. ^_^ And you never know, there's still time to be the 75th reviewer. And what you said about Japanese is exactly why I try to refrain from using it too much. I hate writing something that is wrong.

Mystique Pixie—Thanks for helping me out with this chapter, your comments really helped me to get over my fear this is dragging. I really should stop doubting myself.

Sumitra—Sorry about it ending soon, but if I were to make it any longer, the story would probably drag.

Gojyo: (shakes head) But she's writing a sequel?

Psycho-CJ: But it'll be a whole new story, so the story won't drag, and once again if anyone has any ideas for the sequel let me know.

Goku: Till next time!

Psycho-CJ: And good luck!