Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Saiyuki characters. They honorably belong to Minekura Sensei. Please don't sue me.
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Ayie: Yare…yare…someone want me to write another angst fic? He…he…I don't know if I'm really good in expressing those depression scenes. ^__^" What do you think Sanzo, should I write another angst fic?
Sanzo: No!!! Never!!! Ayie: Really? laughed cheekily Then, I'll write another angst fic which contains that soooo sad depressing deadly scenes and the main focus is you…ahak…ahak…
Sanzo: Oi! Are you picking up a fight with me? veins popping out on forehead
Ayie: Ch! I have no time to fight with you… ba-ka… by the way, thanks GS-chan for the profiterole. I loved profiterole…yum..yum… thanks for being concern GS-chan and Sk8er boi…Arigatou na minna-san!!! smiled merrily I'm feeling a lot better…that's why I loved writing…^__~. Yeeha!! flipped around in glee
Sanzo: Ch! She's going crazy already… Goku and Kazo: flipped around with Ayie
Gojyo: Thanks to all reviewers and readers… tapped temple with fingers… okay that's all!
Hakkai: That's all? Too simple…failed gives a thumb's down to Gojyo Gojyo: O__o"
Aiko: Actually Hakkai is giving a lecture to Gojyo on how to thank all readers and reviewers… looks like he failed again, for the umpteenth times…sighed and shook head in disbelief
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Chapter 21 – The Bloodshed
"K'so!" Hakkai leaned on his side and propped on one elbow. He held his aching head and shook it frantically. He blinked several times and glanced around him. There's a huge crack in the middle of the hall and a hole upon the dome, result of the explosion from the collision of the two beams. Xiang was staggering to his feet at one corner of the hall. Hakkai rose up and once again stood in fighting mode. The last explosion really made his body ached. Hakkai wiped the thin line of blood at the corner of his mouth.
Hakkai glimpsed at Aiko from the edge of his eyes and sighed with relief. The explosion did not affect the girl. He ought to be more careful next time, careful not to release any ki energy that might afflict the unconscious girl. Aiko was in no condition to protect herself if there's another huge explosion occurring in close distance to her. Hakkai wished he could form an energy barrier to protect Aiko and at the same time attacking Xiang. But that was beyond his ability.
"That's what make human so weak and useless… they worry too much for their loved ones" Xiang mocked as he formed a ki-ball from his right palm.
Hakkai absorbed the energy of the universe around him and let it flowed freely in his bloodstreams. He closed his eyes and drank the feeling when the energy arouse from inside him and emerged from his palm. A green beam gleamed in his palm. Hakkai snapped his eyes opened and released the ki-ball toward Xiang. "You were wrong Xiang… I was far from human!!" Hakkai yelled fumingly.
Xiang screamed as he fired his white beam to Hakkai and at the same time evading the blow from the dark haired youkai. His opponent had leapt away from his position and dodged his ki-blast. "Darn!" he muttered beneath his breath, disappointed at his failure. Xiang was taken aback when he saw Hakkai leaping toward him at full speed from beyond the smoke.
Xiang was not able to evade the attack in time, making Hakkai's fist slammed hard on his chest. The inner energy of the dark haired's youkai flowed from his fist and it released a blow straight onto Xiang's chest. Xiang was jerked away to the back. His cloth torn into pieces, result from the close distance blow.
Hakkai landed on his feet and watched the outcome of his blow. Xiang landed fiercely on his back. He flinched for a moment or two and lay motionless a little later. Hakkai stood at ease and stared at the white haired man lying on the floor, several feet ahead of him.
The emerald-eyed man waited for a few minutes before deciding to check on Xiang. He has to make sure that their enemy was dropped down dead. Hakkai advanced to the motionless body and squatted next to him. He reached out a hand and touched Xiang's neck, checking the man's pulse.
Aiko snapped her eyes opened, revealing a pair of sapphire blue eyes that gleamed brilliantly under the faint light of the sunbeam that penetrated through the hole up in the dome of the mansion. She blinked with tears at the stabbing pain in her eyes as the light shone upon it. 'What…?' Aiko sat up and shook her head, shoving the dizziness in her spinning brain.
Aiko dazzled as she stared down to her body. Her cloth was pierced and burned, no doubt from a ki-blast. When she finally recalled what had happened right before she was knocked senseless, Aiko stammered. She looked around and found Hakkai squatting down next to unconscious Xiang. Or is he dead?
Aiko narrowed her eyes down to Xiang's hand as she sensed a slight movement of the white haired man's fingers. Aiko's eyes widened with fear when a crazy thought struck to her mind. "Hakkai!!" Aiko reached out a hand in the two men's direction.
Hakkai startled at his name being called. He looked up to Aiko and smiled with relief. Less he realized that Xiang had opened his eyes and moved his hand. In a blink of an eye, Xiang grabbed him by his neck and held it in tight grip. Hakkai shrugged in pain as he was chocked down at his throat. Xiang's nail pierced into his flesh and crimson liquid trickled down from the wound. The white haired man stood up and lifted Hakkai up in the air until his feet was several feet above the floor.
Aiko staggered up onto her feet and looked at Hakkai being strangled by Xiang with fear. Any moment, with a slight movement of his wrist and fingers, Xiang would have snapped Hakkai's neck and brought that man to his death. "Shit!" Aiko shrugged as she formed a ki-ball in between her long slender fingers.
Hakkai panted breathlessly. His lungs were out of oxygen and the carbon dioxide was desperately needed to come out. His face turned pale blue and beads of sweat appeared on his icy cold face. He felt like the blood in his veins had stopped flowing and blocking all of his movement into a limit. Hakkai closed his eyes as he saw nothing but black tiny dots dancing before his very face. His eyes turned white.
Aiko was desperate. She had to do something before Hakkai went out of breath. She knew too well that the ki-blast that she intended to fire on Xiang would not afflicted him a bit, and matter could be worse if the impact of her ki-blast hitting Xiang might have made Xiang flinched and accidentally moved the hand gripping Hakkai's neck. That spontaneous reaction would surely result in Hakkai's death.
Aiko had no choice but to gamble on her own life. She would never let history repeated itself and what happened to Leon once again happened to Hakkai. She could not afford to lose Hakkai like she had lost Leon. Aiko forced all of her energy to flow down to her palm. The beam grew bigger and bigger as it drenched Aiko's power down to the last. When she's finally ready, Aiko fired the pink beam toward Xiang and at the same time she kneeled down to the floor.
Aiko gathered what was left out of her energy and charged toward the two men, penetrating through her own ki-blast and kicked Xiang on the face. The sudden attack made Xiang's grip on Hakkai's neck loosened and Aiko took that chance to grab Hakkai and made a runaway from the blast.
Xiang, left astounded at the surprise assault, was not aware of the ki-blast darting toward him until it was too late. He gaped at the pink beam that was coming closer to him. He stood motionless as the beam crashed against his chest and sent him soaring up above the air, and landed straight onto the hourglass.
The impact of the man crashing into it made the hourglass blown up into pieces. Shattered pieces of glass scattered all over the place, piercing every single flesh that it come in contact.
Aiko parried the darting pieces from coming in contact with her and Hakkai with her bare arms. She flung an arm around Hakkai and dragged him down to the floor, lying on their stomach to prevent the worst damage. The sapphire blue-eyed girl slammed herself onto Hakkai's back. Aiko wrapped her head with one arm and she protected Hakkai's with the other one. She hissed at the piercing pain in her flesh.
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The storm of shattered glass stopped a moment later. Aiko lifted her face and looked up to Hakkai. The man still got his eyes closed and his mind dozing off into a state of unconsciousness. Double slashed marks ran over his fair face and blood started to pour down from under the skin. "Hakkai…" Aiko called out of concern. The lack of oxygen might have caused temporary malfunction to his brain and that would lead into a severe injury. Aiko started to fret.
Aiko sat up and turned Hakkai's body, his chest facing up. There was a shallow hiss in that man's breathing. His torso heaved up and down with slight effort. Hakkai was barely breathing and his pulse is getting slower at pace.
"Hakkai…" Aiko put her hand on Hakkai's forehead. A faint pink light gleamed out of her palm and hovered over Hakkai's head. She forced out her energy to the last drop. She has to save that man. But then, there was not much energy left in her. She had used what was left of her energy to form the last blow on Xiang and there's no more to heal Hakkai. The faint pink light went dimmed after a moment, making Aiko sweating from head to toe. She's losing it!
Finally, the beam ceased. Hakkai is still in coma. Aiko had to save Hakkai by the old way. She opened up Hakkai's mouth and dragged her face closer to his. She took a deep breath and sunk her mouth onto Hakkai as she blew in air into the man's lungs. She disengaged and glanced over to Hakkai's chest. The man's torso heaved up for once and flattened again.
"K'so!" Aiko cursed with disappointment. Again, she blew in air as she sunk her mouth onto Hakkai's. Still, no sign of Hakkai breathing on his own. "Hakkai…please don't do this to me!" she pled as she lifted her face and started to pushed Hakkai's torso, trying to reactivate his heart. She pushed it several times and clung to Hakkai's cloth when her effort was futile. She wailed out loud.
"Hakkai!!!" Aiko sunk her face to Hakkai's chest. Her tears soaked the man's cloth and the salty drops dripped onto the man's neck. She lifted her drenched face and looked up to dumb Hakkai. His eyes were tightly clamped. Aiko buried her face back to the man's torso. Her shoulders trembled intensely as she tried to hold back the tears and the sadness.
"Aiko?" Suddenly a voice rang before her ears and a cold hand touched her by the face. Aiko looked up and found Hakkai smiling at her, weak but sweet. A wide curl appeared on her lips as she yelped with joy. Aiko hugged Hakkai tight in her embrace. Hakkai chuckled as he wrapped Aiko's with his arms.
After a moment, Aiko jerked away from Hakkai's arms and blushed. Hakkai stood astounded when the girl looked away from his face. Suddenly, the girl turned to him and punched him hard on the shoulder. "You dared to fret me like that again, I'll kill you on my own!" she yelled but then her tone was more out of relief than anger.
Hakkai cringed at the pain, making the girl panicked at instant. She quickly turned to his aid and rubbed his aching shoulder. "Gomen" Aiko gulped down the word as her eyes turned dreary. She sobbed faintly in between her breath. Aiko wiped the tears away before they could even trickled down to her cheeks. She didn't even looked up to Hakkai.
Hakkai smiled. Slowly, he pulled the girl back into his arms. He placed his chin on Aiko's head and landed a loving peck into the girl's temple. "Arigatou" he whispered at her ear as he tightened the embrace.
Aiko voluntarily surrendered herself into Hakkai's embrace. There's no more place she wished to be than in that man's loving embrace. They stayed in each other's arms for a couple of minutes before disengaging.
Those few minutes without interruption from Gojyo, Goku and Kazo filled their to the heartiest. Hakkai and Aiko stared at each other's faces and conversed through their eyes. Sapphire blue met emerald green before they glanced over to the shattered hourglass.
Xiang lied motionless in the lower section of the hourglass. He was totally battered by the last blow from Aiko. His body had burnt severely and there's no way he could survive that. Aiko and Hakkai rose up to their feet, but Aiko, being too weak after pushing her energy down to the limit to produce the last blow and to heal Hakkai, fell on her knees. Her knees turned to jelly as soon as she tried to rise up once again.
Hakkai immediately grabbed Aiko by her waist and helped her to stand upright. He coaxed the girl toward the white haired man. They towered the unconscious man and studied the figure that lied motionless before them.
"Have I killed him?" Aiko asked, feeling rather guilty that she had to kill her brother-in-law.
Hakkai dumbfounded. He doesn't know what to answer. The man seemed to be dead but then he spotted slight movement on Xiang chest. The man was still breathing, faintly. "No" Hakkai answered at last.
Aiko sunk down to her feet. She kneeled down next to Xiang and studied the man's face. The man didn't changed too much, except for the hair that had turned white and grew longer than before. Other than that, Xiang is still the same man she ever knew. Aiko sighed.
Suddenly, Xiang opened his eyelids and peered at Aiko from the corner of his eyes. He reached out one hand and tried to touch the girl's face.
"Aiko!" Hakkai was being aware of any surprise assault. He was well aware that Xiang would never be able to bring out another assault, but he didn't want to take the risk. But then, he felt calm at sudden when Xiang caressed Aiko's face lovingly and the girl didn't make any effort to break away from the man's touch. "Aiko?" Hakkai's tone had changed. He realized that the look in Xiang's eyes had changed thoroughly.
"It's him" Aiko whispered as she held Xiang's hand tight in her own. "It's Liamm" Aiko explained as she looked down to Xiang's face. The chip must have been damaged when the blow hit him.
"Reika…?" Xiang, who was now Liamm again, called out with a feeble voice. "Gomen… I killed your sister and I killed your fiancée, now I almost killed you" he apologized.
Hakkai kneeled down next to Aiko. He put a comforting hand upon the girl's shoulder. The man had finally being himself again, but at the moment when his death is near. The serene look upon Hakkai's face dimmed.
"Iya!" Aiko cried softly. "It's not your fault" she denied.
"Nothing can change that Reika… I failed to protect your sister and I killed my own brother, your love one" Liamm insisted that everything happened in that girl's past was his fault.
Aiko shook her head, making the braid at the back of her head swayed frantically above her shoulders. "It's not your fault Liamm-nee-chan… it's not" Aiko kept denying. No more tears in her eyes, but the look on her face displayed great sorrow.
Hakkai was stunned. 'Leon and Liamm were brothers?'
Liamm turned his head to Hakkai. A faint smile appeared on his trembling lips. "Hakkai-san, please take care of my sister-in-law for me" he grabbed Hakkai's hand in his own. Hakkai bore much resemblance to his brother Leon, no wonder he kept seeing Leon in that man's feet. It feels like his brother was there next to him. "I know you would love her as much as Leon did… may be more" he whispered. The pain in him prevents him from saying anything much. He moaned at the stabbing pain and flinched.
Hakkai nodded slightly, making a promise out of the nod. There's a sudden wave of grief emerging from deep inside him.
Liamm smiled peacefully. "Wakarimashita… I'll be leaving soon, your sister is waiting for me" he said as he looked upon Aiko's face. Then he turned his gaze up, staring at the sky beyond the dome. Leya was smiling down at him, waving out her hand for him.
"Liamm?" Aiko cried softly as she sensed that she's going to lose him any second now.
"Sayonara Reika…" Liamm ended that with him closing his eyes forever. His hand slipped away from Aiko's. Aiko hung her head low.
Hakkai bowed his head as a sign of respect. He glanced up to Aiko. "Daijoubu desuka Aiko?" Hakkai asked worriedly.
Aiko gathered her strength and rose up to her feet. "Daijoubu da yo" she answered a moment later, making Hakkai sighed with relief. She looked down to the man who lied lifeless on the floor. She bowed her head slightly and turned around, heading for the stairs.
"Aiko" Hakkai stood up and ran after Aiko.
"We're wasting our time here Hakkai" Aiko said. She glanced at Liamm from the corner of her eyes and smiled. She had finally managed to bring Liamm back into his human self even though the cost was to lose him.
Hakkai smiled quietly. Deep down inside him, he knew Aiko had kept her promise but then she had also succeeded in her goal. "Ikkuzo!" he said as he grabbed Aiko's hand and they ran side by side to the next floor.
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"Ahem!" a voice that sounded so strange put the guards into a halt. They glanced to the dark side of the dungeon, waiting for any possible attack. They brought their spears into parry modes when they saw a dark figure appearing from the dark alley.
Gojyo appeared from behind the edge of the wall and brushed the locks that fell upon his face. An unlit cigarette was stuck in between his lips and he was holding a lighter that gave tiny glint as he stroked the flicker with his thumb. "Ch!" he grunted and looked up to the dumbfounded guard. "Anyone of you got a lighter?" he asked.
The guards, totally astounded by the sudden appearance of the man of crimson hair shook their heads foolishly.
"No?" Gojyo repeated the replies. He raised his shoulders and said "Well then, it's just not your lucky day". With that, Gojyo swiped his shaku jou and slashed the guards' guts with the blade at the other end of shaku jou. The guards yelled in agony before they vaporized into the still air. Their screams attracted more youkais into the carnage. Gojyo flung his weapon onto his shoulder and smirked at seeing the swarm of youkai that started to crowd the aisle. "Yada yada… won't it be easier if you just hand me the key and let me leave in peace?" Gojyo said sarcastically.
"Why? Are you afraid?" one of the youkai mocked as he grinned idiotically.
Gojyo brought his shaku jou in parry as the latter youkai tried to bash his head with a sword. The red haired hanyou swiped the shaku jou and sent the youkai dashing to the wall. The youkai crashed hard to the muddy wall and stumbled on his face to the ground with a loud thump. He then shattered into black dust that later vaporized at instant.
"Yes! I'm afraid…" Gojyo admitted, much to his foes' joy. But then he added with a grin upon his face "I'm afraid that I have to kill you" Gojyo darted into the swarm of youkai and lashed his opponents with the blade at the end of his deadly weapon. He flipped the blade and sent it spiraling out on the end of its chain. The blade ripped a youkai's chest as it made its way back to its source. Blood splattered across the muddy wall. The green color of the mud mixed with the crimson color of the blood and formed disgusting color of black.
"Hiyarkh!!!" the yelling sound made Gojyo turned his head around. A youkai charged above his head, bringing down a club with him. "K'so!" Gojyo didn't have time to evade the attack. He flung one arm across his face, preventing the worst damage on his face. A couple of scars are enough. He doesn't need another.
Before the club could make contact with his face, Gojyo heard a lashing sound, a sound of something slicing fresh flesh. He opened his face as he felt tiny drops of liquid smeared upon his face. A line of crimson liquid streamed down his eyelashes as he snapped his eyes opened. Gojyo moved his arms away and glanced in front of him.
Kazo hold a thumb's up before he struck at another youkai, slicing the latter's throat with a good use of his katana. Gojyo shrugged. 'Help always came in late'. Gojyo turned around and flung his shaku jou, sending the blade dashing toward a pair of youkais. The chain wrapped around the youkais and later gashed them as he yanked his shaku jou away.
"Kazo!" Gojyo called out as he brought up his shaku jou to a parry from a youkai's spear as the latter sent his weapon smashing to his gut. The owner of the mentioned name turned his head abruptly to the source of the calling as he lashed another youkai at his face. "Get the key!!" Gojyo ordered. The man dispatched his opponent as he twirled his shaku jou and hurled the youkai away.
"Hai!" Kazo leapt away from his coming opponent and landed on the latter's head. He smashed the skull of the youkai into pieces as he sent him crashing down to the floor. The youkai shattered into dust and Kazo made his way through the carnage, bringing down several youkai with him as he ran through while he waved his katana frantically in the air. 'They key… the key… where's the key?' Kazo eyed every single youkai, looking for the key.
When he finally spotted the key, clinging at a youkai's waist, Kazo walloped over the latter and sent him stumbling down to the floor. The young hanyou smacked the youkai with the hilt of his katana and grabbed the key. Mercilessly, he swiped his katana and slashed the youkai's throat with a single twist of the weapon. Blood smeared on his hands. 'You could never turn back if you come with me Kazo… would you ever be able to accept the fact that you'll turn into a murderer when you came with me?' Aiko's voice rang in his ears.
"Murderer or not… I just wanted to be with you!" came the answer.
Kazo lunged away from the dead youkai's body and darted toward the stone prisons. At the second prison, he smelled blood. Human's blood. Kazo narrowed his eyes as he peeked into the dungeon through the steel bars. He saw a dark figure being chained to the wall, limp and weak. Kazo turned around and looked at Gojyo. The elder hanyou was smashing his shaku jou down to his opponent's face and sent the latter to the land of the dead.
"I've found her!" Kazo rang as he shoved the key inside the lock. He twisted the key and kicked the bars opened. Kazo smacked a youkai that came dashing to his back with his fist, turned around and kicked him by his gut. The latter bent down at the twang of pain in his abdomen. Kazo went into the dungeon and advanced toward the figure.
"Madame?" Kazo called softly as he went nearer to the woman. The woman with the golden hair lifted her face and looked up to Kazo. At first she cringed at seeing Kazo's hair but later eased down when she realized that the man standing before her was just a boy.
Yumi narrowed her dreary eyes and studied the boy's face. She never knew this boy. What he's doing down here? "Go away boy… if Baron finds you here, he'll kill you for sure" Yumi warned as she gave a pathetic look to Kazo. Tears trickling down her bruised cheeks.
"No… we're here to save you and we're going to save your baby too" Kazo reassured as he lashed the shackles with the edge of the blade from his katana. The blade was so sharp that it cut the steel smoothly. Yumi stumbled limply to the floor but was supported by Kazo before she could even reached the ground. "I got you" the hanyou boy said soothingly as he helped Yumi to stand on her feet.
Yumi glanced down to the boy who was supporting her waist and helping her to walk. "Who are you?" she didn't remember knowing that boy before.
"You left your baby to my sister and Hakkai… so we come here to save you" Kazo explained briefly as he looked up to Yumi's face. The lady was totally battered and bruised.
At instant, the image of the young couple that she met at the market place flashed before her eyes, a girl with her hair in a braid and a young man with a monocle. Yumi smiled weakly. "Sou ka…" she hissed. 'So they took the responsibility of reuniting me and my son'
Yumi stammered at seeing another man entering the dungeon with shaku jou in his grips. "Daijoubu desuka?" he asked as he lent her a helping hand with the walking. 'This is the man that I bumped into when I was chasing after the couple'. Everything is coming back to her now.
The two half-breeds crutched Yumi to walk out the dungeon. They halted before the shelf of dead bodies right in front the dungeon. Yumi cringed with horror at that sight. She never saw so much bloodshed before. She sunk her face to Gojyo's chest as the latter made a gentle hushing sound, trying to calm her down.
"Now… let's get you out of here" Gojyo said as they walked out of the basement to the stairs and headed for the next floor.
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Sanzo and Goku studied the huge door that blocked them from the chamber. They looked at each other.
"Sanzo?" Goku, as usual, waited for Sanzo's order.
"Ch!" Sanzo turned his gaze away.
"Yukata!" Goku chirped as he brought his nyibou to attack mode. "Now please stand back Sanzo" he said. Sanzo backed away a few steps, pulling Harkuryu and Nimmiku's tails with him as he did so. The two little dragons cooed alarmingly at being pulled like that and flapped their wings frantically.
Goku darted toward the door and lunged in the air, bringing down nyibou and crashed the door opened. He landed steadily on his feet, a few steps inside the chamber. Goku rose up and glanced around the chamber.
Sanzo entered the chamber a little later, with Harkuryu and Nimmiku hovering over his head. They stared at the baby curling up in the large energy barrier at the center of the chamber.
"Ma…ma… what a pleasure to have you here" the husky voice made Sanzo and Goku turned instantly at the throne beyond the energy barrier. A youkai with grey hair was sitting at the throne, smirking at them. Baron!
"I give you two choices… die instantly or suffer before you die" Sanzo slammed the bullets into the barrel and cocked the shoureijuu. He glared at Baron from the corner of his eyes and pointed the shoureijuu toward the youkai's leader.
Baron laughed menacingly at that remark. He looked at Sanzo when he ceased laughing. "I don't need to choose anything because the one to die here is not me… but it's going to be you and your friend" Baron mocked as he rose up to his feet and walked down from his throne.
"Ch!" Sanzo pulled the trigger and the bullet penetrated the air with great speed. It hit the target right on his chest.
Baron jerked back slightly and stared at Sanzo as he steadied himself. Sanzo's eyes widened as he realized that the bullet didn't gave any effect to Baron. There's a slight burn on the youkai's chest but the bullet didn't hurt him a bit. Sanzo glanced at the bullet that had fell on the floor and looked back to Baron. Beyond the shirt that he's wearing, Sanzo could see the armor beneath.
"K'so" Sanzo cursed slightly as the youkai darted toward him with a sword in hand.
To be continue…
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Ayie: Sankyu Sk8er boi for the tips on how to deal with depressions… it helped a lot. I wrote something when I'm sad and it helped to chase the depressions away…Thank you!!
Gojyo: Sorry for being OOC in the last few chaps… er…Sk8er boi…you mentioned before that you are a she…smirked would you care for a date with me? winked
Goku: Kono ero kappa!!! kicked Gojyo's leg…er…Sk8er boi-chan, do you know how to cook? Can you cook for me?…Looked at Sk8er boi with puppy look
Gojyo: Oi! Baka saru… I was going to ask her out first… shoo! whacked Goku's head
Hakkai: Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Gomen for that Sk8er boi-san… they are being naughty again. O__^"….Sanzo, it's your turn to thank all readers and reviewers.
Sanzo: Ch! Thanks!!
Hakkai: slapped head in disbelief…yare…yare… sweat dropped
