Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Gensomaden Saiyuki. They honorably belong to Minekura-san Sensei.

Ayie: Hu…hu… GMS the anime ended today. That's the last for me to see the ikkou live ~__~.

Sanzo: Are you blind….? We're still here with you…kono baka onna..!

The rest of the ikkou: He made a point there….Looked at Ayie sadly…you forgot about us…

Ayie: chukled with guilt Yare…yare…sumanen minna-san.

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Chapter 7 – The Starting Line

The roar of an engine filled the morning air of the forest, waking up all living creatures in it, as the green jeep entered the woods earlier at dawn. The ikkou traveled through the woods in order to get to the castle, the residence of the youkai leader, at the end of the forest. They left the inn at dawn, boarding the jeep half asleep and it looked more like sleep walking for Goku and Kazo. Thanks to Sanzo. He woke up before dawn and splashed a bucket of water on his sleeping companions, urging them to wake up as he ordered them to pack their things for the journey. They left the innkeeper to be totally displeased to see the wet futons and the flooded room.

The great red orb started to rise from the east, and the morning fog slowly faded away. Gojyo yawned noisily. He was about to stretch his arms when he felt a sudden weight stumbled upon his shoulder. Gojyo looked around and found Kazo is resting his head against his shoulder. Gojyo sighed. "Yada yada! What do you think I am? A babysitter?" Gojyo grunted, but he didn't make any effort of shoving the sleeping boy off.

Aiko and Kazo boarded the jeep with them as they need Aiko to look after the baby, and the girl couldn't ride her bike safely with a baby in her arms. Kazo on the other hand, couldn't help much as he didn't know how to ride a bike. After all his arms were far beyond reachable distance to the handle and he is still in his half-asleep state.

The main reason for having the girl with them was that the ikkou didn't acquire the skill of babysitting. They would turn insane the minute the baby starts crying. Don't put the blame on them because boys will always be boys.

Aiko smiled, seeing Gojyo's reaction as Kazo's head dropped to his shoulder. Even Goku slept soundly with his head rested on Sanzo's back. A moment ago when Goku's head tilted and leaned against his back, Sanzo was taken aback. Veins popped out everywhere on his head as he turned to whacked the boy's head, but seeing the sleeping figure, Sanzo just sat back silently and let the boy's head leaned against his back without a word escaped from his mouth.

Hakkai glanced to the rear-view mirror on the windshield and studied the image in it. He smiled when he saw the image of Gojyo and Kazo. 'They looked like brothers'. Both of the red haired seemed to be enjoying each other companies when they are not bickering. Hakkai liked the peaceful air that occurred when passengers at the backseat were asleep. Sanzo hasn't yet wasted another bullet of his shoureiju to the air and another smack on any heads at the backseat from his harisen for today.

"Aiko, you did a great job handling the baby" Hakkai complimented with a smile on his face. "He hadn't cry since we left the inn".

As soon as Hakkai finished his last word, the baby in Aiko's cradle stirred restlessly and squeaked with discomfort. Aiko started to get panic, as she knew what's going to happen. The baby opened his mouth and wailed out loud. The baby swung his chubby arms in the air.

            'Yare…yare…. There's go me and my big mouth' Hakkai sweat dropped.

"Hakkai! Next time don't you dare say the word 'cry' when the baby is around" Gojyo jerked up and shook Hakkai's shoulder. His sudden move made Kazo suffered the impact of having his head bumped onto the seat. The red haired boy opened his eyes on the spot.  

"Ittai…" Kazo rose up and rubbed his aching head.

"Arara…."Hakkai's eyes spun wildly and his head jerked back and forth as Gojyo shook his shoulder crazily. Gojyo is getting crazy again.

Aiko sweat dropped. She patted the baby in her arms edgily. Not knowing what caused the baby to cry at sudden was a disadvantage. But then, the babies' stomach grumbled out loud. 'So, that's it…. He's hungry'. Aiko looked at Gojyo.

"Eh…what happened? Are we stopping for lunch?" Goku snapped his eyes opened and yawned. He gawked at the sight of the wailing baby in Aiko's arms and quickly undertood what's going on. He clamped his mouth shut.

"Gojyo!" Aiko called for the red haired as she glanced at Sanzo. That monk looked terribly enraged and he could probably burst out any moment now. Gojyo froze and gaped at Aiko.

"Nanda?" Gojyo was pale all over as Aiko looked at him with a devilish grin. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he felt a sudden feeling of fear.

"Onegai! Can you hold the baby for me?" Aiko looked at Gojyo with a puppy look and eyes that shone as bright as the stars. Gojyo jerked back, eyes and mouth wide opened and his hair stood upright. "Pweeaseee" Aiko plead, blinking her eyes several times.

"Why….why me?" Gojyo stuttered.

"He's hungry, so I want to get the milk" Aiko explained as she kept on smiling. "I want you to hold the baby because you looked soooo kawaii with kids in your arms"

Gojyo sweat dropped. 'This girl is making me crazy'. But he could not win over women. He grunted and reached out both hands without looking at Aiko. Aiko grinned as she put the wailing baby in Gojyo's offering arms and reached out for the baby basket.

Gojyo looked down to the creature in his arms. He held the baby away from his body as the baby struggled restlessly in his hands. "Will you please hurry up?" he shook the baby to stop him from crying. Actually he tried to rock the baby, just the way Aiko did last night. What he didn't know was that he did it wrong.

Sanzo's paper fan landed on Gojyo's head without alarm.

"Oi! Nande sun dai yo?" Gojyo still hold the baby firmly.

"Are you trying to kill him by holding him like that?" Sanzo pointed his finger to the baby. Gojyo looked at the baby. The baby flailed helplessly as Gojyo held him upside down. His cries got even worse and louder than before. Gojyo quickly held him in an upright position. The little guy's face was flushed red.

"You should hold him close to your chest" Kazo tried to help. Gojyo looked at him with doubt but then the elder red haired cradled the baby close to him. The baby babbled softly and rested himself in Gojyo's arms. He stopped crying and started to sob.

"Ah! He stopped crying!" Gojyo was awestruck. The technique did worked. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" he laughed like a villains in the movie. Hakkai chuckled at that man's attitude while Sanzo sighed with disbelief. Goku and Kazo grinned devilishly.

"Oi kappa! I don't know you are such a good babysitter" Goku teased the man. He knew Gojyo wouldn't fight back as he's holding such a fragile creature in his arms.

"Heh! Thanks to you, I got all the experience from babysitting you" Gojyo never failed to strike back on the spot. Goku pouted. Now, he's the one who could not fight back, fearing he would hurt the baby. "Ho…! Ho…!" Gojyo laughed hysterically. At sudden, a foul smell filled the air.

"Eu…what was that smell?" Goku pinched his nose, so did Kazo as the smell got even worse. Gojyo's face was distorted as his nose wrinkled to the smell. He sniffed around, he was sure the smell came from near him or worse from under him! He looked down and found a stinky stain on the babies' diaper.

"Argh!" Gojyo howled with disgust as he immediately held the baby away from him. Every one of them got a distorted face.

"Oro…time for nappy change!" Aiko smiled edgily.

"UWEEK!!" Gojyo, Goku and Kazo turned their heads outside the jeep and started to puke.

"Ch!" Sanzo's nose wrinkled as he's vainly tried to prevent himself from vomiting.

"Kyu…kyu…" Even Harkuryu and Nimmiku cooed in vain.

"Yare…yare..desune" Hakkai smiled. He slowed down the jeep.

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Goku and Kazo sat beside Aiko, watching the girl to finish her task, cleaning the baby and change his diaper. Everything that has Dai in it would fascinate them inside out. The baby was named Dai, a name picked up by Sanzo when Goku plead him to name the baby with his puppy eyes. The name escaped from Sanzo's mouth in a matter of a second. When they asked them why he picked up the name, Sanzo simply answered "You wanted a name, so that's a name". Actually Goku wanted to name the baby but Gojyo and Hakkai protested. Even Aiko seemed to disagree with the name he picked up. He was to name the baby after a food, Chop Suey! Dai sounded okay, after all it was given by Sanzo. Everything from Sanzo was good.

"Aiko!" Kazo broke the silence.

"Nanda?" Aiko still busy with her task that it does not allow her to pay much attention to Kazo and Goku. The boys sat next to her, watching as she's completing her work. They kept staring since Hakkai stopped the jeep so she could clean Dai.

"How do you know whether a baby is a boy or a girl?" asked Kazo, which caused Aiko to clamp her lips. The question even struck Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo to stammer.

"Sorewa…" Aiko was thinking of the best way to answer the question, so what will come out later would not embarrassed her. It took her quite some time to think of the answer. She looked at the baby and an idea suddenly popped out from her brain. "You see… a baby boy has a foul smell and a baby girl does not" her answers resulted silent protests and grunts from the older males.

"Honto?" Goku was amazed. He sniffed at Dai, who wasn't properly cleaned and jerked back with a distorted face. Harkuryu perched on Goku's shoulder, joining him to sniff at the baby. And poor Harkuryu, he just flew away, breathless. Nimmiku flew after Harkuryu.

Goku vomited again. The smell was bad! Goku's nose wrinkled as he looked back at Dai. "Yurkh! Dai was a boy for sure!" he confirmed his thought.

Aiko smiled with relief. Hakkai laughed slightly as Gojyo rolled on the ground, laughing his heart out. Sanzo smiled a ghostly smile and was able to hide it somehow. They may totally disagree with Aiko's answer but it did help.

"Aiko?" Goku called out with a flat tone in his voice.

Aiko didn't like the sound of that voice. She thought she knew what was going to come out.

"Can I make Dai mine?" he asked innocently. Goku seemed to be enjoying Dai's company so much that he rarely whined for food that day. They have to admit that. So, it's not weird when he wanted to have the baby for his own sake. "I'll make a good dad"

Hakkai and Aiko were flattered at that remark. 'This is soooo cute'

"Oi saru! The baby has his own mother, get one of your own by making it yourself" Gojyo exclaimed, foolishly. He didn't even realize what the outcome of his silly statement. Hakkai slapped his forehead as Aiko shook her head with regret. 'Don't this man knows how to shut up?'

The red haired silly joke would surely result for another deadly question, a question that they won't be able to answer without embarrassing themselves.

Goku looked at Gojyo. "Eh! You can make a baby?" the question left Gojyo to dumbfound. Now he realized his mistake. He made a big and terrible slip of the tongue. 'Nice going'.

"Explain it kappa, you're the one who bring it up" Sanzo said coldly. Gojyo stood silent and whistled to himself, pretending to not listening.

Goku turned to Aiko, hoping for the answers.

Aiko sighed. "Gojyo, I'll get you for this!" warned her as she sent Gojyo a deadly glare that promises death. She turned back to Goku. "Well, you need a girl to make a baby" she tried to answer it appropriately, but actually she's running out of idea. 'Why…why…Why I said that? Good, now I'll be facing a bigger problem to explain the continuation'

"What you should do with the girl in order to make a baby?" Kazo's turn to ask another deadly question. Aiko shuddered. 'Why in the world I even came out with that statement'. She shook her head.

"You fu…" Gojyo is going to make another slip of the tongue when Hakkai clamped his mouth shut with his palm. Even Aiko darted toward him and stomped her foot on his head. Gojyo fell on the ground with little tiny winy birds flew around his aching head. His eyes spun wildly.

"You don't contaminate their mind with your foul language!" Aiko warned him.

"Hai hai!" Hakkai smiled a nervous smile to see the girl's sudden reaction. Sanzo sighed. Looks like he doesn't have to use his mighty harisen on that kappa's head for today.

"Hakkai! Why do we need a girl to make babies?" Goku tugged at Hakkai's sleeve. He wanted the answer right away.

"Yare…yare" Hakkai sweated and smiled uncomfortably. He wanted to walk away when Goku and Kazo stopped him. "Looks like I cannot escape…" Hakkai rubbed the back of his head and chuckled.

Aiko laughed slightly. She looked down to Gojyo who was coming around. 'Let the kappa takes the responsibility for his own act'. She turned toward the curious boys. "Boys, you can ask Gojyo about it" she sneered. "He knew very well how to make a baby"

"Oi! Are you crazy?" Gojyo looked at Aiko with surprise. 'Now, he's damn dead'

"Ah! That's right, ask him" Hakkai agreed to Aiko's suggestion. 'Whatever, just let him be safe from answering the boys' deadly question of the day'.

"Hakkai! Don't you dare!" Gojyo warned as he glanced with dread to the two boys marching toward him. 'Shall he tells them the truth?'. He looked at Sanzo. The oh-so-high Sanzo-sama seemed to have the most comfortable moment. 'That's right, troubled the monk'

"Ask Sanzo…after all he's a mo…"Gojyo was about to continue when all of a sudden Sanzo appeared behind him with his Smith and Wesson pointed to Gojyo's head.

"One more word and you're dead" warned Sanzo, ready to pull the trigger.

Gojyo raised a white flag and stared at Sanzo with eyes in tiny dots. He sweat dropped.

"Gojyo!" Goku and Kazo claimed for the answers.

Gojyo looked at Aiko. She's giving him a warning glare that probably says 'Foul language and you're dead meat'. He turned to Sanzo, the monk gave him the same glare except that he's holding a gun in his hand. Hakkai on the other hand, just smiled.

"Ch!" Gojyo sighed. Today wasn't his lucky day. "I'll tell you when you two were old enough" he said at last.

"I'm already five hundreds year of age" protested Goku.

"Hai! But you have a brain of a five year old baka saru and the kiddo next to you was not any different from you" teased Gojyo.

Goku and Kazo exchanged glances. "Don't call me saru! Kono ero kappa!" Goku was the first one to yell at Gojyo. He tugged at the locks of hair on Gojyo's head, causing Gojyo to yelp in pain.

"And don't call me kiddo!" Kazo followed then. He leaped up and landed on Gojyo's head, causing the red haired man to stumble on the ground.

"Let go off me you sarus" warned Gojyo, as he pounded continuously on Goku's head and tried with vain to shove off Kazo from his head. The war started.

"URUSEI!!" Sanzo's harisen smacked Gojyo, Goku and Kazo right on their heads. The trio let go off each other and clung to their heads, moaning endlessly.

"Sanzo…it's not my fault…" Goku cried.

"I'll kill you if you don't shut up right away!" warned Sanzo, vein popping out of his forehead.

"Ma…ma Sanzo" Hakkai tried to calm the raging monk. "We need to find food for lunch"

The word 'food' made Goku and Kazo completely forgotten of their latter question. At the same time, their stomach grumbled.

"Harahetta!" both of them cried.

The elders of the group sighed with relief. 'They forgot'

"Okay, we need volunteers, who'll go and collect the firewood?" asked Hakkai. Nobody raised a hand. Hakkai sweat dropped.

The decided who should do the chores by using paper-rock-scissors cast. They cast it in three round. The first two to lose will get the firewood, the second pair will go fishing and the last two remained would stay and looked after the baby.

Goku and Gojyo were the first to lose, followed by Hakkai and Kazo and the last one remained were Sanzo and Aiko.

"Argh! Why did I always end up with this saru!" Gojyo grunted as he was assigned to collect firewood with Goku.

"Don't call me saru! Kono ero kappa!" Goku kicked Gojyo's foot, causing the latter to hop around on one foot. Gojyo chased Goku into the wood when the pain in his foot eased.

"Looks like we're going fishing ne Kazo?" Hakkai looked down to Kazo. He patted the boy's head.

"Oki!" Kazo chirped merrily.

"Soreja" Hakkai greeted their last remaining companions as they walked abreast toward the river.

'Hai…. Looks like I was bound with the boring monk and a baby who doesn't know how to speak'. Aiko shook her head. She looked at Sanzo, the man was reading a newspaper. Her lips curled slightly. She went back to her incomplete task, attending Dai.

"The monk will not say anything, it will get a little bit boring here so it's up to you and me to cheer things up" Aiko said softly to Dai, holding the baby high up in front of her face. She made funny faces to the little boy and Dai giggled happily, amused at her face.

Aiko sat cross-legged on the ground and put Dai onto her lap. She held a bottle of milk for Dai to suck on. She held the bottle in one hand and rested her chin on another. Aiko was completely exhausted. Fatigue had overcome her since Dai appeared. She hadn't had a good rest for few days now, even before she met the ikkou.

Sanzo looked up to Aiko from the corner of his eyes. He could clearly saw that the girl was overtaken by fatigue and the lack of sleep. She hadn't had a good night sleep last night. In fact she wasn't sleeping all night long. They could hear her talked to the baby, assuring him to sleep. Aiko was the only one to survive his splash of life later in the morning. Sanzo woke up to find Aiko already packed their things up and prepared their breakfast.

"Oi! Are you going to doze off?" Sanzo asked in a stern voice. He didn't even turn his gaze toward her.

Aiko startled. 'Was the fatigue too clear on her face that the monk could see it?'. Aiko smiled. "Iya!" she  replied. The baby on her lap has already finished his last drop of milk and now he's dozing off to dreamland.

Aiko carefully lifted the baby and placed him in the baby basket, nestling him in the warmth of the wool blanket. Smiling at that sight, Aiko then leaned herself against a tree bark. She stretched her legs and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She sighed and glanced around.

The sound of the river made Aiko fell silent. That sound reminded her of someone, someone very dear to her heart and someone who taught her how to love and to be loved.

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Hakkai glanced at Kazo from the corner of his eyes. That young half-breed is gathering water from the river by using a bucket he found drifting in the water. That kid managed to lift the bucket full of water with less effort than he expected. That seemed abnormal for the strength of a ten year old.

"I think we have enough fish for lunch?" Hakkai asked for any comment, or rather a compliment if he was judged by the amount of fish, which was mountain-high.

Kazo gaped at that sight. Jaw dropped. "That was huge!" the words escaped from his mouth unexpectedly.

Hakkai smiled, he was well aware that the fish he caught would never fill Goku and that boy would still starved throughout the day.

"Can I have it all?" Kazo looked at Hakkai with puppy eyes.

Hakkai gulped. "Yada…yada…" he scratched his head. 'Oro…I guess the fish was not enough after all, now that we have two growing kids on board'. He smiled at Kazo. "Well, I think I have to fish for more" he said.

Kazo chuckled. "No need, I was just kidding!" he mentioned, making Hakkai sighed with relief. "After all Aiko won't let me eat all that, she said I'll just put myself to sleep" he continued happily. He helped Hakkai tied the fish together with a string.

Hakkai glanced at Kazo. The kid was just as innocent as Goku. Both of them have bright eyes that bring delights to others.

"Why are you going to the west ne Kazo?" asked Hakkai. He couldn't help wondering and later asking for answers.

"We were summoned" Kazo replied so simple that Hakkai could not get the hint of the real situation. The boy seemed to not realize the elder's intention.

"Summoned?" Hakkai couldn't stop asking. He wanted to know more. "By whom?"

"I dunno" answered the boy naively. "A woman, she always came to us at night and gave us orders" Hakkai was taken aback by that latter answer.

"She always gave Aiko a peck on the cheek and Aiko would fall asleep soon after" Kazo continued. "Aiko hated her for that but I kind of like that woman and I really hoped she would come and visit us more often" he lifted the bucket of water, waiting for Hakkai to move.

"Why?" Hakkai rose up, lifting strings of fish to his shoulder. Now they are heading back to their campsite.

"Well, Aiko had this difficulty to sleep, the only time she would sleep for the whole night was the time when the nice lady kissed her" Kazo explained. "I'm grateful for that because Aiko never had a good night sleep since the massacre" he felt sorry for her sister.

"Aiko seemed to suffered nightmares everytime she tried to sleep, her past kept coming back" Kazo could see it clearly in his mind the nights he had been through. Aiko would wakes up in the middle of the night and never give any effort to sleep again. Every night was the same. Never did he wakes up in the morning and found Aiko sleeping soundly.

"What past?" Hakkai asked, trying to unlock the secret.

"Aiko witnessed the death of our family and her fiancée in front of her eyes" Kazo explained. "They died saving her from a youkai clan who wanted to do some crazy experiment on her" Kazo's voice was indeed to low.

"All of them died in her arms" Kazo ended his story with a soft sob under his breath. Hakkai stood silent. He looked at Kazo with sympathy as the boy's eyes started to form pools of tears. The tears were quickly wiped away by a swift movement of his arm brushing his face.

Hakkai's heart torn apart. He stared at the boy whose back now is facing him. He was about to put his hand on his slim shoulder but was taken aback when Kazo suddenly turned around. A smile formed on his lips.

Hakkai couldn't help more but to smile back.

"Harahetta! Can we go back and eat now?" Kazo pleaded, tugging at Hakkai's arm.

"Yare…yare!" Hakkai laughed. "Gomen" he didn't let go off Kazo's arm but he held it firm in his own. He pulled the boy behind him. They walked abreast to the campsite.

Kazo laughed happily. 'It feels like he's here with me'. He looked up and found a tall man with dark hair of shoulder length staring down to him with a smile on his face. 'Leon?'. The image of the man suddenly vanished, changing into Hakkai. Kazo smiled.

Kazo hugged Hakkai's arm close to him and Hakkai returned that with a warm smile and a tighter grip on the boy's hand. He doesn't know what happened in that boy's past and what was in Aiko's, but he'll soon find it out.

To be continue…..

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Ayie: I've give you the hint of my Ocs past but then for complete background, you would have to wait in later chapters. Arkh! Thanks azzie-san for reminding me about turning on the anonymous review. Actually, I never realized that since I never update the settings…Gomen minna-san, thanks for reviewing. Bows head

Goku: Ayie-san, how do you make a baby?

Ayie: Oro…?