CHAPTER 10

Warning : Angst, violence, character-abuse, swearing etcetc.. I should raise the rating.

Goku shifted his grip on Nyoibou and charged as Isir grinned at him, unmoving and wide open for an attack.

Instead of hitting his target, however, Goku found himself thrown off balance as a shape blurred into existence in front of him. Nyoibou hit metal with a resounding clang and Goku staggered forward from the momentum of his charge.

It wasn't Isir in front of him... it was another youkai, wielding a wide-bladed saber.

"Out of my way!" Goku snarled.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to get past me before you can even dream of picking a fight with Isir-sama," the youkai said mildly.

Goku leapt backwards and charged again.

As Chiro moved to parry, Goku inexplicably strafed to the side, avoiding him altogether. Chiro spun in confusion, calling a warning to his liege...

In time to see Goku bring Nyoibou crashing down on the double doors. There was a thunderous clang, but the double doors of solid bronze did not yield an inch.

"You can't escape that way, Son Goku," Isir called after him. "Neither is that the right direction to be going in."

Goku spun back, eyes blazing.

"You're supposed to be fighting me, remember?" Isir taunted. "Or are you coward enough to run?"

Goku's eyes flicked towards Chiro and back to Isir. "Then fight me yourself. Don't rely on your hencemen."

"I'm afraid that it wouldn't be a fair fight," Isir said, gesturing at the injured shoulder. "Sanzo left his mark, I'm afraid."

"Damn you!" Goku cried.

"Fight, Goku. You have no alternative," Isir said softly.

"Then I'll send you straight to Hell!" Goku bolted towards Isir. Chiro parried on his behalf, then lost ground as Goku beat furiously at him with Nyoibou, moving so fast that there was just a red blur. Isir watched the fight, captivated. The youth's strength and speed were admirable.. each stroke was backed up by a great deal of strength and was almost too fast to see. No wonder the Sanzo-ikkou was so powerful. Goku alone was a match for any normal youkai, and his weapon would allow him to tackle multiple, unarmed enemies.

Chiro, however, was neither a normal youkai nor unarmed. Realizing that he could not meet Goku head on, he chose to disengage and try for an advantage with range and speed. He had not, however, reckoned with the magical nature of Goku's staff, and realized his mistake a moment after Goku extended Nyoibou to deal him a staggering blow.

Isir applauded mentally. First blood had been drawn, and not quite on the side he'd expected it to be. He would definitely have a problem confronting Goku, in his current state. Fortunately, there were backup plans...

Goku and Chiro clashed again, the latter noticably favoring his right side. It was a pity that.. good fighter that he was, Chiro simply could not match Goku in speed or in strength. He was, however, a far more experienced fighter, and the outcome of the encounter was still very much in question.

Chiro parried another stroke from Goku with the staff then lunged in from short range with a dagger in his left hand. There was the sound of ripping fabric as Goku dived out of the way with a wince, and Isir noticed the growing red stain his side where the dagger had left a gash. So now they were equal.

The next few blows were traded without either side gaining any advantage, both sides alternately gaining ground and losing it. Isir could sense the growing frustration in Goku, a sense of urgency fueled by desperation. Chiro, on the otherhand, was a cold, calculating contrast, searching for any opening that his enemy availed to him.

They disengaged again, circling slowly, checking each other out for weaknesses. Goku was the first to charge and they clashed viciously again. This time, however, Nyoibou shimmered once and seemingly broke into three, taking its flail form that lashed down to catch Chiro across the side of the head. Blood flew from his mouth and he staggered back as Goku lunged forward again, opting to switch to fists to beat the life of out his enemy. Blow after blow swept in, and caught the crack of bone. The fight would be over soon. Goku raised his fist for one, final strike...

There was the shimmer of silver and abruptly, he staggered back with a cry of pain, the dagger protruding from one shoulder.

"Careless," Isir muttered.

"Urusai!" Goku yelled at him, tearing the dagger out with a rough motion that sent blood gushing from the wound. Summoning Nyoibou, he leapt for the kill.

Isir interceded as the end of the staff came crashing down, casting a ki-barrier over his fallen second in command. Goku stopped short, his face twisted in a combination of pain and frustration.

"That'll do, Goku," Isir smiled. "I'll fight you now."

"Bastard," Goku ground out. "You just used him to injure me.."

Isir inclined his head and regarded Goku with cool amusement. "You're beginning to sound more like Sanzo by the day. I wouldn't take after him, if I were you. He's a bad influence."

"Stop talking and defend yourself!" Goku lashed out with a high kick that Isir ducked back in the nick of time to avoid. The staff flickered out of existence as Goku pivotted and attacked, sacrificing the advantage of range for additional speed and maneuverability. Isir concentrated on evading, dancing out of range as Goku struck, half blinded by anger and his growing sense of urgency. When he finally summoned Nyoibou again, however, Isir decided that it was time to stop toying with his enemy.

"That's quite enough," he said smoothly, summoning a ball of ki.

Goku half-shielded himself from the blast with his staff, skidding backwards as the wake barrelled through the air to either side, the vortex split in two by Nyoibou. He leapt up in time to avoid another blast, and found himself racing along the side of the room in an effort to outdistance each successive attack.

This isn't fair! he raged, desperately seeking a way to eliminate Isir's massive advantage. If only he had a gun... or if only he knew how to focus his ki like Hakkai did...

But he can't keep this up forever, right?

Another blast lighted on his heels, close enough that he could feel the heat. Another struck the wall nearby as he rolled out of range, sending a shower of dust and gravel down on him. He can't keep this up forever. And when he stops... I'll go straight for the kill. Clinging to that grim hope, Goku evaded another attack as he frantically sought an opportunity ... any opportunity to counter attack.

As Isir continued his relentless assault, however, it did not seem likely that such an opportunity would surface any time soon.

***

The pain was what drove him out of the darkness. There was just too much of it to be ignored, and any attempt to drift back into unconsciousness ended in dismal failure.

Sanzo cracked his eyes open.

He was still in that dank corridor, plastered against the far wall. Damn, but he hurt all over .. it felt as if someone had ripped his guts out and taken a hammer to his right arm. And he'd probably cracked his skull open from the impact with the wall. Certainly, the spinning in his head and the red wash of blood that kept filming his vision over suggested that.

But wait, hadn't this been inflicted during his fight with Isir?

...What fight with Isir?

It was Hakkai who'd.. and Goku.. and.. shit.

Why the fuck was he still alive? If Goku hadn't been able to survive Hakkai's ki attack, then why the hell was he, a human, still fucking alive? It would have been so much damn easier to just have..

Ah shit.

I can't die, right? he thought unhappily. I owe it to Goku to hunt that bastard down, preferably before he kills the kappa... and there's still the mission...

Fuck. Thrice damned fuck. He would much rather have been dead.

It took every ounce of his willpower to drag himself off the floor. His gun, amazingly enough, had survived. One bullet had been discharged; he couldn't remember having pulled the trigger.

Painfully, he staggered to his feet. The nausea receded after a few seconds of leaning against the wall, and he ventured a tentative step forward. When he didn't fall over, he took another one.

Several dozen paces down the corridor, he stumbled across Goku. It was exactly as he had left him, eyes staring at infinity, the golden limiter missing from his head... Dead. Cold. Lifeless. He wasn't even bleeding - the heat of the blast had cauterized the blood vessels. Sanzo frowned. If Goku wasn't bleeding, then why was blood dripping down his robes, creating a glorious mess?

No answer came to mind. He shook the thought away, too weary to care. He had to hunt Hakkai down, then return and...

No. Last rites for the dead were pointless. He had not stayed for his master's funeral; he was in no shape to conduct Goku's. He might not even be alive to do so.

He felt an incredible surge of guilt as he stepped away. For a moment, there was something other than blood obscuring his vision, until he swiped it furiously away. If the bakazaru had died in the normal course of things, in a fight or on the road or something... that would have been nobody's fault. But.. the damn idiot had died... died protecting him. As if he needed protection. As if he needed anything or anyone.

Shit. He was running out of energy, and despite his mental protests to the contrary, those damned, stupid, human emotions of guilt and grief were wrenching at him...

Anger welled up then, anger at his own weakness, anger at Goku, and above all, absolute fury at Hakkai.

This guy would rather bite off his own tongue than betray me. Those were the words he had uttered to Chin Isou, that centipede bastard, just scant months ago. And how wrong, how utterly, completely, absolutely wrong he'd been proven.

But Hakkai had slipped up. Hakkai had made the mistake of not making sure that he had been dead. And Hakkai was going to fucking pay...

***

"Well," Gojyo said between gasps, "It seems that there are walls aplenty."

"You could say that," Hakkai replied, as they raced through the bowels of fortress.

Indeed, walls, not just of brick and mortar, but also of armored guards, perpetually cropped up in the most inconvenient locations. Slamming from the ceiling across perfectly empty corridors or crashing down behind them.. or simply crashing after them, they barred the way when the pair could least afford delay.

Gojyo cast a quick glance over his shoulder and whistled. "Reckon... there're at least 20 of them."

"I'd place it closer to 30, actually."

"Probably forty by now."

"Couple of hundred."

"Can't argue with that."

They pounded down another side corridor, desperately trying to outpace the pursuit. "We can't keep this up much longer," Gojyo noted.

"I know. We're destroying the foundations of the building. The whole place will--"

"That's not what I meant! We can't keep this up for much longer!"

"Oh. Sou desu. That too." Hakkai screeched to a halt. "Oh dear. We seem to have run into a dead end."

"They're right behind us," Gojyo reminded him.

"Very well. Stand back, please."

"Hakkai..."

"I'll be fine. Here.. goes.."

Light and magic.

There was a high-pitched whine and the sharp stink of ozone as the far wall exploded into flame and withered into a cloud of dust. Hakkai nodded in satistfaction, and stepped through the rubble.


And halted abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Gojyo demanded.

"We seem to have a slight change in altitude ahead," Hakkai replied.

Gojyo sprang over.... and slithered to a stop inches away from a sheer drop. The very heart of the fortress lay before them : walkways illuminated by shimmering candles, spiralling staircases leading towards untold heights... and untold depths. Beneath their feet lay sheer blackness. The bottom could have been a meter or a mile away.

"So. Back the way we came?" Hakkai suggested.

Gojyo glanced once over his shoulder and back again. "I never retreat. Do you?"

Hakkai looked at him, surprise lighting his face for a moment. Then he smiled warmly, laughter dancing in his eyes. "Neither do I."

And should it be further than it seems, then at least we'll fly as birds for one glorious moment before death embraces us.

"Ready?"

A nod.

And they sprang over the edge into darkness.

***