Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Saiyuki characters. They honorably belong to Minekura Sensei. Please don't sue me.

**************************

Ayie: Wah! GS-chan… I don't know you're feeling down right now -__-…I was wondering about you. Daijoubu desuka GS-chan? What happened? Goku, say something to make her feel better…

Goku: Hai hai! GS-nee-chan, are you sick? Here…here… have some chocolate profiteroles, Ayie-nee-chan baked it just for you… she learnt how to make a profiterole since she knows you ^__^…

Sanzo: I strongly urged you not to eat it or you'll end up having food poisoning…

Ayie: smacks Sanzo's head with a rolled newspaper…Baka namaguza bouzu! Chibi Sanzo… sorry for eating your profiterole, here have a chocolate sundae…gives chocolate sundae to Chibi Sanzo can you please tell GS-chan to mail me her e-mail address… I don't want her to be sad and all alone…tell her to mail me at hairi_war@yahoo.com. Please do so! ASAP!

Aiko: Okay! I guess it's my turn to do the thanks-to-all-readers-and-reviewers chore ^_^. We would like to say Arigatou to those who had reviewed and actually read this fic… GS-chan, Arista Niara, Sk8er boi, …kuroi-nekokun, Azzie, Rinrei, Saiyuki freak, Frei, tuthakkai, Lady Lanyara Artemisan, Prozact Addict, Imaginator, UltraM2000, Gallatica, CFTA Crissania, blackrose, and animegurl… I don't know if you guys still reading this fic…but millions of thanks from all of us. smiles happily Minna-san, please tell us if you like this fic or you find it sucks coz Ayie is still thinking about writing a sequel… if she found this fic entertaining, she'll write it for sure…if it's the other way around… you know how it'll turn out…either way…Arigatou minna-san!!

*********************************

Chapter 22 – The Baron

"Ch!"

Sanzo cursed while bringing up his shoureijuu onto parry, blocking the sword as he did so. He sent a deadly glare straight into Baron's eyes. He drained out his mightiest effort and forcefully pushed Baron away from him.

Baron smirked. Without warning, Goku came darting toward him with nyibou held up high in a bashing mode. Baron's eyes widened at that attack. Goku was fast and furious. His movement was so swift that Baron could hardly see where's the boy's actual position. With the blink of an eye, Goku's nyibou smashed him hard on his head.

The grey-haired youkai received continous blows from the itan and he was not able to evade it. The blows came too fast and too quick, immobilizing him from any movement that could help him block the attack.

Finally, he had a chance to counter attack when Goku stopped smashing him with the nyibou. He held his aching chest, coughing out blood as he tried to hold back the stabbing pain that crawled up to his upper body. He looked up to the brown haired itan. Goku was too strong for him. He would not be able to outlast this enemy.

'I guess I had no choice'. Baron's hand crept up to his neck, grabbing the necklace that served as the yoryukou limiter. He yanked the necklace away and tossed it aside.

Sanzo's eyes widened at that sight. Baron is changing into his original form. The beast is starting to emerge from inside the youkai's leader. "Goku! Look out!" he warned.

Goku eyes rolled at Baron. The youkai's ears sharpened and his eyes narrowed. His muscles started to grow and his body shivered. Numerous veins popped out from his muscles. The fangs lengthened and pointed with sharp ends. At the final state of his transformation, Baron howled out aloud fiercely. His howls sounded like the wolf howling to the moon, sending the creepy feelings up his opponents' necks.

"Sugee!!!" Goku exclaimed. When he first fought Baron, he thought there's no thrill at all in fighting him because the man wasn't able to react fast enough. Now, the beast who stood right before him looked more like fighter and that makes his heart jumped with excitement.

Sanzo hissed at hearing Goku's remark. "Ba-ka!" he muttered as he lit up a cigarette and smoked. 'Let the saru does all the works' He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms before his chest. The blond monk puffed out smokes and shook his head at seeing Baron's original form.

"Ch!" his usual line.

Goku stared at Baron. The youkai stared at him like he could swallow him down in one gulp. His red eyes rolled down and up, studying Goku as he did so. Saliva drooled from his out sticking tongue, dripping to the floor. He licked his lips as he looked at Goku, as if he's enjoying his last meal.

'Wait?!' Goku was astounded. He turned his head and glanced over his shoulder, looking at Sanzo. "Sanzo, do you think he's a man eater?" he asked.

Sanzo studied Baron's face. Giving a hand gesture, he says "Probably… don't worry he could only chew your arms because the rest of your other part was rough" Sanzo said in a sneer. It's a good entertainment though, seeing Goku being chewed to his bone by the youkai.

Goku sweat dropped. He pouted at Sanzo's sneer. "Ch! You are so mean!" he glanced back to Baron, but the latter was nowhere in sight. 'Where did he goes?' Goku looked up as he heard a whooshing sound above his head. He gaped at the sight of evil Baron bashing his sword to his head.

Goku brought up his nyibou just in time to block the sword from piercing his skull into two halves. Goku held up one foot and kicked the youkai hard on his groin. The youkai jerked away from him and groaned at the pain in his sensitive part.

"Sansetsukon!!!" Goku cried aloud, summoning for his three jointed sticks. Out of the blue, the nyibou transformed itself into three jointed sticks, joined together by chains. He swung the sansetsukon and darted toward Baron as the latter dashed toward him with his sword intended to crush his opponent.

Goku leapt up into the air and swiped sansetsukon onto the sword, wrapping the latter with the chains. The chains made a whirling sound as it twirled around the sword and locked it in a deadly grip. Goku yanked the sword away from Baron's hand and tossed it to the floor, several meters away from the battlefield.

Baron was left disarmed. He bewildered at realizing that he had lost his only weapon. Within seconds, a punch landed on his face, courtesy of Goku's fist. He staggered on his feet, wincing at the pain in his nose. He cupped his nose and hissed painfully.

Goku pulled himself away from Baron and landed on the floor with a loud thud. He regained his balance and stood again in a fighting mode. He summoned his nyibou right after he steadied himself. The sansetsukon vanished and was replaced by the almighty nyibou. Goku tightened his grip around nyibou and absorbed the feeling of power from his one and only weapon, which had never failed him before.

The evil Baron swept the blood pouring from his nose with the back of his arm and looked up to Goku. He hadn't had the chance to beat Goku even in his true form. 'This kid is way too strong for him'

He must do something to outlast this one opponent and he has to do it quick. Baron leered his eyes around and finally spotted the monk leaning against the wall. He glanced back to Goku and realized something. He smirked. 'How can I be so blind?' He now realizes that Goku never get his eyes off Sanzo. It seems like the kid was protecting Sanzo while he's fighting.

Baron laughed heartily and suddenly vaporized into thin air. Goku was left astounded. He looked around, searching for the latter and finally sensed Baron at his back. Goku spun around and spotted Baron teleporting in next to Sanzo.

Sanzo was taken aback by the sudden appearance. He held up his shoureijuu but Baron acted faster than him. The youkai smacked the gun away from the monk's hand and caught the latter by his neck. He twisted his arm and locked Sanzo's neck in a deadly grip. He used Sanzo as a human shield, shielding him from Goku.

Goku halted. His intention to attack Baron disappeared at seeing Sanzo being held like that. Any slight movement of him will cause Baron to snap Sanzo's neck and the monk's bone will crash with it.

Sanzo's breath is getting harsher and shorter. He's losing his breath. The blond man struggled fiercely to set free but Baron's arm is twice as big as his combined together. Harkuryuu and Nimmiku tried to help. They blew off flame into Baron's back but the latter's armor prevented the heat from burning his skin. The youkai didn't flinch a bit and it made matter worst.

With one single gesture of his hand, Baron smacked the little dragons away. The latter two soared away from the carnage and slammed hard to the wall. Both Harkuryuu and Nimmiku descended to the floor with a thump. They cooed helplessly at each other.

"Harkuryuu! Nimmi!" Goku called out for the poor little dragons. He looked at the dragons for a while and turned his gaze back to Sanzo and Baron.

"K'so!" Sanzo muttered his breath. He yanked one arm to the front and brought it back to his side with all his might. His elbow hit Baron right at his gut. The sudden pain in his abdomen caused Baron to loose the grip on Sanzo's neck. The youkai leader backed away a few steps, releasing Sanzo and cringed at the pain with grimace. Sanzo was not satisfied. He turned around and kicked the latter at his face, causing Baron to spit out fresh blood. The monk attacked continuously, giving one blow after another with his bare arms. He punched. He kicked. He slapped. He smashed the youkai with his feet. He whacked the opponent with the harisen. [O_o"?]

Goku jaw dropped at seeing Sanzo beating the youkai to death. 'He must have been really annoyed at being used as a bait like that' He shook his head with disbelief and rubbed his eyes, as if making sure that he's watching it right.

The last blow from Sanzo caused Baron to land furiously on his back, to the floor. He propped on one elbow and wiped the thin line of blood trickling down his chin. The evil youkai stood up and gained his balance. He swung his hands in circular motion and chanted something from beneath his breath. He closed his eyes, crawling deeper into his meditation as he did so.

"Sanzo, watch out!" Goku warned as he realized the gray haired youkai's intention.

Sanzo was taken aback. He looked at Baron. He could finish the youkai with maten kyumou and makai tenjo. But then, he's risking Goku and the little dragons to death by using it. After all, he didn't have much time left.

Baron snapped his eyes opened as he completed his chant. Huge aura emerged from his body and fiery beams flowed down to his hands. He clasped his hands together and released a large ki-beam toward Sanzo and Goku. The beam moved so fast that the latter two didn't have time to evade the blow.

***************************

Both Sanzo and Goku closed their eyes and covered their face, preventing the worst possible damage. But the blow didn't reach them after few moments. They snapped their eyes opened and were astonished to see huge energy barrier protecting them from the blow. They gaped at the sight of the pink and green barriers joining together, forming large hues of pink and green all over the chamber. The barriers protected them from the fiery beam released by Baron. 

"Hakkai! Aiko!" Goku yelped in joy at seeing the brunettes stood before them, forming large barriers with their kis. Both of them must have outlasted Xiang. They looked terribly weary and feeble, especially Aiko. The pink barrier was fading away slowly. She must have been badly battered in their last battle.

The joined kis were able to vanquish the fiery beams and returned it to the owner. The beam hit the gray haired youkai and sent him soaring up to the sky. The blow caused his armor to shatter into pieces and torn his cloth apart, revealing him bare-chested.

Aiko sunk to her knees. She had used all of her ki to form the barrier. She knew to well that Hakkai's barrier would not be able to parry them as Hakkai himself is weakening. Hakkai ran to Aiko, glancing over Sanzo and Goku while he darted toward the girl. The latter two got the clue. The emerald-eyed man handed the job to vanish their enemy to them.

'It's okay! You two already did so much' Sanzo picked up his shoureijuu from the floor. He cocked the gun and pointed it to the youkai. He blasted a bullet and it went through the youkai's chest.

Goku on the other hand, hopped on his toes and leapt up into the air, bringing nyibou into good use. He swung the nyibou on top of his head and bashed the totally battered youkai straight and hard on his face. There's crack noise, signaling that the youkai's jaw was crushed. Baron howled with agony. Blood splattered from his mouth as he landed furiously to the floor and again cracked one elbow.

Without mercy, Sanzo blasted another bullet of his shoureijuu and sent it penetrating the youkai's skull. With that blast, the youkai vanished and then vaporized into thin air.

As soon as the black dust disappeared in the air, the door of the chamber was spread opened. Sanzo, Goku and Hakkai looked up to the door.

**************************

Gojyo, Kazo and Yumi dumbfounded at seeing Baron vanquishing into the still air. They looked around.

"Arara! I missed all the fun ne?" Gojyo sneered as he entered the chamber, crouching Yumi to her feet with the help of Kazo.

"You're late ero kappa" Goku jeered.

"K'so! Wait till I get to you later kono baka saru!" Gojyo replied, sticking out his tongue at the corner of his mouth.

"Yare yare desune!" Hakkai shook his head with disbelief. He looked down to Aiko. The girl was coming around. She rose up and shook her head hastily. Hakkai sighed with relief. 'She's okay!'. For a moment, he thought Aiko was dropped down dead. He brushed a lock of raven black on Aiko's face and landed a soft loving peck on the latter's forehead. "Daijoubu desuka ne Aiko?" he asked when he lifted his face from Aiko's face.

Aiko smiled sweetly. "Hai!" she chirped, almost singing. But the truth is she' bluffing.

Hakkai smiled. 'Okay… he's not blushing anymore and neither did Aiko'

"Yada yada… I see we've got a lot of improvement here" Gojyo smirked at seeing Hakkai was being less embarrassed to show his affection toward Aiko and the latter was not blushing when she received it. 'That's an improvement right?'

Yumi nudged Gojyo's side with her elbow, soft but alarmingly. "Let them be" she whispered. She almost forgotten the real feeling of loving someone when she lost her beloved husband but now she's getting it all back at seeing the two brunettes in love.

"Ch!" Sanzo grunted. Now what? He's getting Hakkai as his not official brother-in-law? Having Aiko as a sister by oath is one problem and now having Hakkai as brother by bond is going to be total disaster. He could never win over Hakkai or Reika, now combined them together, he would definitely lose for his entire life.

"Keiro!" Yumi cried out, looking at her baby in the energy barrier. She darted toward the barrier and entered it with haste. The energy barrier seemed to drain out all of her energy but Yumi ignored her feeling of weakness and grabbed her baby at instant.

Yumi came out from the barrier with the baby in her cradle. She rapidly planted numerous kisses on her son's face. Tears trickled down her face as she kissed Dai lovingly.

Aiko, Hakkai, Kazo, Goku and Gojyo watched the scene with a serene look fell upon their faces. 'Don't ever separate a baby from his mother'. Thin smiles appeared on their bruised and bumped faces. Sanzo on the other hand, just turned his gaze away.

Suddenly, the floor beneath their feet grumbled and the ceiling above the heads shook violently. The world around them started to rumble furiously. They staggered on their feet, gaining the balance. The whole roof is starting to collapse on their heads.

"K'so!" Sanzo cursed again. Yumi entering the barrier was a terrible mistake. Baron must have cast some kind of spell to prevent anyone entering the barrier even though when he's dead. 'This man doesn't know how to give up'

"Shit!" Gojyo swore. Baron intended to kill them and he's doing it even when he's dead. "Ano baka!" he muttered as he smacked a crumble from the ceiling falling on his head with his shaku jou. The ceiling shattered into pieces and started to fall down on their heads.

"We have to get out of here!" Hakkai reminded as he helped Aiko to rise up to her feet. He hovered one arm across Aiko's head and protected her from the falling ceiling. The girl clung to his waist, tight and secured. She was totally weak and feeble, and Hakkai could not ignore that fact. He must get her out of the mansion fast!

The rest of the ikkou scampered out of the chamber. The whole mansion was falling on them and it's falling fast!

The emerald-eyed man looked around the chamber, looking for something as he made a runaway through the door. Sanzo, Goku, Kazo, Gojyo, Yumi and Dai were far ahead of them. "Harkuryuu! Nimmiku!" he called when he spotted the two little dragons at the corner of the chamber. The little dragons flew toward him and perched on both of his shoulders.

"Harkuryuu! I need you to transform now!" Hakkai ordered as he lifted Aiko into his cradle, much to Aiko's protest.

"Hakkai… I can walk…" She said, almost whispering. Hakkai knew it better that Aiko was too weak to walk. She would only slowed down their paces and at the same time endangering her own life. Hakkai glanced down to Aiko. The sapphire blue-eyed girl is dozing off into a state of unconsciousness again. He had no time to heal her with his ki.

"Kyu!!" Harkuryuu cooed once before transforming into a green jeep. Nimmiku flew down from Hakkai's shoulder and perched on the windshield of the jeep.

Hakkai settled Aiko down at Sanzo's seat and he himself hopped in to the driver's seat. Quickly, he switched on the ignition and stirred the gear. He stepped on the accelerator and drove jippu away from the crumbling chamber. He flung an arm around Aiko's shoulder and pulled the girl so she would lean against his body. He put his arm on top of Aiko's head, preventing the falling roof from hitting her.

Hakkai steered the steering wheel hastily, avoiding the jeep from knocking with the falling walls and ceilings. He slowed down his jeep, picking up Sanzo, Goku, Kazo, Yumi, Gojyo and Dai without putting the jeep into a halt. There's no more time to waste.

Sanzo hopped into the frontseat when Hakkai made a hand gesture, signaling him to do so. He quickly understood at seeing Aiko nestling in Hakkai's protective arm, as she sunk into a stream of unconsciousness. Sanzo pulled Aiko into his arms and took over the task of protecting that girl from Hakkai. Hakkai moved his arm away from Aiko shoulder when he was sure Aiko was safely protected and put it on the steering wheel. He needs both hands on the steering wheel, considering on the road they were going through was totally rough.

Gojyo reached out a hand for Yumi and the latter took it in her own. He pulled her and lifted her up into the backseat. Then, he himself hopped in the jeep, settling beside Yumi and her baby.

Goku and Kazo looked at each other and then smiled. This is the time to play. They hopped around and jumped from the crumbling wall into another and finally jumped into the jeep.

Hakkai smiled as he swerved the jeep frantically to the left and then to the right. 'Okay, the jeep was over crowded…'. Hakkai patted the steering wheel. "Harkuryuu, I know this is too heavy for you but please hang on" he whispered.

"Kyu! Kyu!" loud assuring coos emerged from beyond the engine of the green jeep. Nimmiku nuzzled the windshield and cooed lovingly, as if she was saying 'I know you can do this honey'

Hakkai smiled in glee. They reached the stairs. Hakkai stirred the gear and stepped on the accelerator with full force. Jippu went down the stairs, shaking fiercely as it did so. The passengers on board shook tremendously. They held tight to each other, fearing that they would get thrown off board if they let go.

Finally jippu came at the end of the stairs. Right after the reach the ground floor, the stairs behind them crumble to the ground. Bit by bit, they could see the darkening sky above their heads as the roof was making its way down to the earth. The mansion was crushing its way to flat.

Hakkai drove them out of the mansion just in time before it flattened to mother earth. Jippu screeched, swerved madly to the right and turned back with a halt when Hakkai twirled the steering wheel and stepped on the brake. They halted right before where they started, in front of the mansion.

The ikkou, together with their rescue target stared at the collapsing mansion. The mansion didn't take too long to get flat. It brought down everything with it and buried them together with it.

"Everyone all right?" Hakkai asked, glancing at the back.

"Yep! Safe and sound!" Gojyo gave a thumb's up. Hakkai retreated his gaze to the passengers next to him. Aiko was still unconscious but there's nothing to worry about. She'll take a few days of recovering but she'll be fine.

"Harahetta…" there were moans emerging from the backseat.

Hakkai sweat dropped. Sanzo's hand itched for the harisen but then he was holding Aiko and that prevented him from reaching for his paper fan.

"Daijoubu da yo minna-san… we'll get bed and breakfast soon!" Again, Hakkai stepped on the accelerator and then stirred the gear. He drove the jeep away from the battlefield and headed right back into the woods. Deep down inside, he prayed silently for the souls of the dead ones.

The daylight was slowly fading away as it was replaced by the afterglow. The red orb submerged in the west, giving way for the darkness of the night to take over the shift.

To be continue….

****************************

Ayie: Wah! This fic is getting nearer to the end… may be I'll end it in the next chap or may be after two more… I'm a bit relief but then I'm terribly sad. Tell me dear readers and reviewers… how do you want me to end this fic? It's not that I'll entirely follow your suggestions but then may be your idea could enhance the fic…who knows? ^__^

Sanzo: On one condition… don't get me crying at the end of this fic… I'll kill ya!

Ayie: Ch! Urusai! Well, let me know soon… thanks again for all the supports and encouragement… and tell me should I carry on with the plan for a sequel?

Gojyo: Ayie, shut up and save that question for the last chap!

Ayie: :P… Gomen!