Disclaimer: I would like to say that Gensoumaden Saiyuki does not belong to me at all. All characters honorably belong to Kazuya Minekura-san Sensei except for the storyline and the original characters that rightfully belong to me. The title "Love Potion No.9" is not mine too. I'm just borrowing it from a Hollywood movie.

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Gojyo: Hai hai! That silly girl fell ill at sudden, leaving all the fictions to delay…didn't I tell her to take care of her health…but no! She never listened to me! Baka!

Sanzo: Ch! She never listened to Hakkai, why would she listen to you anyway?

Gojyo: -___-;;;;        Hakkai: Ma ma minna-san… don't start an argument, we need to give Ayie-san a rest don't we? She really needs one.

Aiko: Yare yare desune… I guess I have to start things up. Ayie-san has a very bad fever these few days and she's really not feeling very well. She just laid herself all day on the bed, unable to do anything even to attend a convocation feast in her college… but she did finish this chapter and was able to upload it in FFNet. Thanks for reading and reviewing this fiction…trust us, ayie-san appreciated that a lot. Arigatou minna-san…

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Love Potion no.9

Chapter 8

Aiko mounted up the stairs, holding two overloaded grocery packs that limited her view. The only visible thing for her was in the scope in between the grocery packs, which was too narrow. She planned her steps, careful not to stumble down the staircase. It was a long way down and she was sure she's not in favor of having a broken legs or perhaps a broken neck!

"Just one more" she hissed as she peeked down to her feet.

The brunette put a step forward but it was too early before the next staircase. Her foot slipped and she started to rumble down. Aiko gaped, not able to stop from falling. Bracing herself for the fall, which will hurt so much, Aiko prayed that she would land on something soft. Ridiculous!

Out of the blue, someone grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up the stairs. Now, instead of falling down the stairs, whirling crazily and then stumbled motionless on the ground floor, she stood before the aisle; dumbfounded as any accidental survivor could be.

"Dai jou bu desuka?" a voice passed by her ears and she gained her consciousness, although not to the fullest. The savior had the grip protectively on her arms. Aiko looked to her side, her blue eyes so empty that you could see nothing at all.

A tall girl stood next to her, looking down at her worriedly. Her curly brown hair bounced softly above her shoulder. Hazel eyes rolled over and fell to Aiko's face. Her face showed anxiety and concern that Aiko thought the girl had freaked out of death.

Aiko snapped away and bowed slightly. "Arigatou" she thanked her. "Dai jou bou da" she explained and smiled to show that she's okay though she's still a little bit shaky.

"You must be careful next time" the brown haired girl warned tenderly. More like a mother to a child. "It's a long way down there…you might end up bedded in the hospital" a warm comforting smile lied across her delicate face.

The sapphire-eyed girl nodded obediently, making the other chuckled with amuse. Aiko blushed, realizing that she acted like a little girl, naïve and innocent, and ended up chuckling with the latter.

"Well, you take care and enjoy your stay here" the hazel-eyed lass released her arm and walked away. But then, she turned around and glanced at Aiko. "Be careful…take care of your friends especially the blond one" and with that, she descended the stairs and disappeared from the aisle.

Aiko was left astounded. What's with the warning? What can happen to Sanzo? Aiko shook her head with wonder and started to stroll to Sanzo's room.

"Ouch!" suddenly she felt her arm, of where the brown haired girl had grabbed, ached. She studied the sore spot and found it red with fresh bruise. As shocked as she was before, Aiko had come to realize that the girl's grip was a good tight grip. Now she remembered that as soon as she started to rumble and someone gripped her arm, she thought that someone was Hakkai, or any man available in the inn. The grip was so strong that she thought a man had saved him.

Aiko looked over her shoulders and stared at the shady staircase and then shook her head, denying all the suspicions she had playing in her mind.

"Perhaps she fights as well" she concluded and made her way clear to the bishounens' room.

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Hakkai studied the faces of his companions and giggled. The room had turned completely silent for the last several minutes that anyone would think that it was vacant. Neither Gojyo nor Goku made any attempt to start a fight or argument. Even Sanzo didn't make haste to whack their heads with the harisen or shoot them with shoureeiju.

"Wha-…?" Sanzo was about to shout at Hakkai for giggling, which is forbidden at this time being, but he stopped abruptly for what came out of his mouth was a voice so frail and so tender it could melt men's heart. He clamped his mouth and turned his face away, blushing severely for the slip.

Hakkai's smile widened. That what's bothering his companions some minutes back. It was their voice, which had completely turned frail and soft like women's. The potion had worked. Gojyo and Goku had avoided bickering to veil their voice, which meant Goku had stopped whining 'hara hetta' and Sanzo had stopped shouting 'urusei'. Sanzo was completely dumb that he cursed every time he heard his own voice.

"Don't freaked out minna-san…your voice will change back to normal when the clock struck midnight" Hakkai assured. He studied the phial and smiled. 'Got to learn on how to mix this from Kei-san' perhaps he could use it to take a day rest from any noise that occurred every time Goku and Gojyo fight at jippu's backseat.

No answers from any of the men. Hakkai laughed. He could not take it anymore. It was quite a pleasure to get a day of peace but he missed the bickering somehow, but this…this is too funny.

"Go on… keep on laughing" Gojyo finally had the gut to talk. What to hide? He had already talked to a girl with his new voice. "Easy for you to say…you haven't drink the potion yet" the red headed reminded. Hakkai was so busy attending to their resistance of drinking the potion that he himself had forgotten about drinking it.

Hakkai brushed the back of his hair and chuckled embarrassedly. "Yare yare desune" was his favorite line.

"Never mind…he will have someone shoving the potion into his mouth after all" Sanzo's voice came out into the open and it came together with a mocking. His violet eyes leered at Hakkai blushed face.

"Whoa…true!" Gojyo agreed with the bouzu, which was much to Hakkai's amaze. It was once in a blue moon for the monk and the hanyou to agree on one thing. Usually, they would always have an argument on…everything!

"Sou ka…that's why you don't want to drink the potion yourself…" Gojyo teased his housemate, elbow nudged the latter's rib and smirked upon his face. "You want her to do it for you…you perverted!" he said.

"Iie…" Hakkai tried to defend himself but what he got was more pestering from the red haired man. He surrendered and ended up slapping his head and shaking it with nervousness.

Suddenly, the door was cracked open. They jumped back with alarm, ready to fight if it happened to be any of the perverted women downstairs. Even Gojyo despised women with perverted attitude. That kind of girl was not his taste.

"Tadaima!"

Aiko stepped into the room, pushing the door with her slender body and almost stumble to the floor. She staggered to the bed; careful not to drop the packs she's holding. The packs were dropped on Gojyo's bed and she sighed in exhaustion. It was not a good idea to go on shopping alone.

"Why don't you lock the door?" Aiko asked as she turned to face the men in the women's suit. She could still pictured the way the perverted women at the diner looked at her when she passed by them to get to the staircase. It was the worst hentai look she had ever encountered with. "The women downstairs might rush in and assault you"

The ikkou sweat dropped. 'This girl…what does she thinks we are…weaklings?'

Aiko realized that her remark didn't evoke strings of curses or words of rage from either the monk or the hanyou. That was new. She never expected silence from both of the men. Usually, words like that could boil their blood and steamed off their heads.

"Are? What's with the silence?" Aiko turned her heads here and there, looking at every faces of the men stood before her. Sanzo grunted and looked away, Goku buried his head under the pillow and Gojyo lied next to him, closing his eyes as if to sleep. Aiko scratched her head and looked at Hakkai for the explanation.

Hakkai raised his shoulders slightly and smiled. Aiko fumed over the silence. She hated it when the ikkou didn't talk. It caused her to fret.

"Hata harahetta ne!!!!!!" suddenly Goku burst out loud, throwing the pillow above his head somewhere on the floor. A loud grumbling sound broke into the air and he stooped down, clutching to his stomach and whining desperately for food.

The grumbling sound was not the thing that caused Aiko to stammer. It was typical of Goku. Goku is not Goku until his stomach grumbled like the thunder in the stormy night. The girl felt like her blood had rushed up to her face and reddened it furiously and she had something in her that desperately needs to come out.

Aiko's face turned somewhat blue as she tried in vain to hold back her breath. But she could not help it no more and burst out laughing like crazy. She clutched to her stomach and bent forward, laughing her lungs out. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she had to cover her mouth with her palm to control the laughter.

It's the voice that came out from Goku's mouth that caused her to laugh, not the grumbling sound. And it's a bang from Sanzo's gun that caused her to clamp. Sanzo's silvery bullet missed her cheek by an inch and she swore she saw the bullet dashing before her eyes. Aiko gulped nervously.

"Gomen ne Goku?" she looked at the downhearted kid on the bed. Goku seemed to be really hurt by her laughter. Perhaps he never thought that she would end up laughing to his voice. Not like Hakkai a moment ago. Aiko saw the grief in the young heretic's eyes and she felt guilty for it. It's not her intention to laugh at him but she could not help it. The urge was too strong.

Aiko kneeled before Goku and ruffled the boy's hair lovingly. At first, Goku smacked her hand away and turned his back to her, pouting and mumbling silently. The girl didn't give up though and kept trying. This time, she wrapped her arms around Goku's waist and kissed the kid on his temple.

"I have a big nikuman for you" she whispered to his ears and the boy turned to her right away. His eyes widened and shimmered with joy. Wide smile sprawled across his face. Aiko was relieved inside. She held the boy's wrist and put another hand into the packs, searching for something, and then came out with a large hot steamed nikuman.

Goku drooled at seeing the treat and quickly snatched it away as Aiko held it out for him. He returned the favor with a merry 'Sankyu'. The nikuman was gobbled up and was finished in a matter of a second. Goku licked his finger and looked at Aiko.

"I'm still hungry"

Aiko had expected that. She reached into the grocery packs and brought out two big nikumans and a box of bento. The treats were handed to Goku and the boy sat cross-legged on his bed and started to enjoy his meal. Aiko smiled and glanced at Sanzo.

The beautiful monk still had today's newspaper held up before his face as if it was plastered to his hands. However, the man seemed to be restless even though he pretended to be cool and calm. Aiko smirked menacingly. She walked away from the bed and headed for Sanzo, who sat at the dining table.

Pulling a chair, she sank herself onto it. Aiko bent forward and propped her chin on her arms, staring at Sanzo with a wicked smile. She kept staring until the man before him became completely restless and unease. But he still kept the newspaper up.

"Sanzo, you owed me one hundred and twenty two dollar for the groceries" Aiko said as she kept on smiling. No respond from the blonde and that made her smile widened. It's time to tease the monk.

"Not to mention the extra payment for your make-ups, your shampoo, your body lotion…"she counted her fingers and there's no sign she's going to stop counting.

Numerous veins started to pop out on Sanzo's forehead and the blonde's brows twitched uneasily. His hand reached into his cardigan and in a fraction of a second, the harisen made its familiar appearance. It came out dashing onto Aiko's head.

"Urusei!" his voice was frail and delicate yet so strong and firm.

"Ittei…" Aiko moaned as she rubbed her head. This man was so mean and his voice was no better than his temper. But then, she looked up to Sanzo and grinned childishly. "Your voice was great!" and she scampered to her feet, running out of the room, as soon as Sanzo took out the shoreijuu and started shooting crazily in the air. Her steps were echoed by her laughter.

"Hakkai!" Sanzo turned to Hakkai and the latter smiled nervously. "You better take care of that girlfriend of yours or I'll have both of you dead" he warned as he slammed himself back to the chair.

"Hai hai!" Hakkai nodded frantically. He knew when not to make the monk angry and this is one of the times. He backed away to the door and scurried out immediately before Sanzo changed his mind.

"You better be right about this potion Hakkai…or I'll kill you!!!!" he heard the monk screamed as soon as he shut the door. He heard more blasts and Gojyo and Goku's shouting with fret coming from his companions' room as he made his way back to his room. Shaking his head, he smiled. 'Things were just the same even when they're women'.

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It took him ten minutes to convince Aiko not to get back into the next room to tease Sanzo. She was in favor of that somehow. Every minute or two, she kept rising up from the bed and walked to the door. It was his glare that stopped her at each time.

"Why are you keep looking for trouble with Sanzo by the way?" Hakkai studied the phial he had in his hand.

"Just for fun" she answered and sank herself down on the bed, next to Hakkai. Hakkai slapped his head with disbelief. This girl was as childish as any kids would be. He looked at Aiko and smiled. How he wished he could take the girl into his arms and cuddled her till morning comes. But with his new look things would get rather awkward for them to be in each other's arms.

"So…you haven't told me anything about love potion number nine ne?" he asked sarcastically. Aiko gulped edgily. She shuffled her feet and looked down to her laps. "I have to ask to know about it?" Hakkai continued, rather hurt at Aiko's ignorance.

"Sorewa…" Aiko stuttered a bit. "I didn't mean to hide it from you Hakkai but I was not so sure of using it to solve our problem…I mean Kei-jii-san gave the potion to me to make the people of Okadia fall in love with the man from Keioka" she explained.

"Do you think it will work?" he asked. Taking the girl's hand in his, he looked straight into Aiko's deep blue eyes.

'I know the potion will…Kei-jii-san's potion never let us down before" Aiko reassured. Hakkai had to agree with the remark. He had seen the outcome of Kei's remedy and the proof was in his comrades' new voice.

"Then stop worrying and start planning for a way to use it" Hakkai gave a solution and kissed her hand.

"I know…" Aiko hunched her shoulders and sighed. "I hope it could be as easy as you think it is" she was worried all over. She had the reason to worry for many lives were at stakes if she were to fail the task.

"I'm worried if our plan doesn't work" Aiko started to mumble. "What if we failed?"

"We will not" Hakkai promised and he caressed Aiko's face. "Don't worry, we'll be just fine…Kazo will be just fine" he assured more and more. 'You're not alone…we're here with you' Hakkai looked at Aiko's hands and gripped it tightly. Suddenly his eyes fell on the bruise on Aiko's arm. He immediately rolled up Aiko's sleeve and studied the bruise. It was a fresh new bruise.

"Aiko…what happened when you're out shopping? Did someone attacked you?" he asked with great concern. Hakkai quickly flowed his ki onto the bruise and healed it right away. The bruise was gone after the green beam faded.

"Iie…I almost fell down but a girl grabbed me by the arm and yanked me up" Aiko explained. The bruise had completely healed. Thanks to Hakkai. "Her grip was so strong that I thought it was you who had saved me"

Hakkai's brows twitched. "What do you mean?"

"Well…her grip almost as strong as yours…a man" Aiko bit her lips. The women in Okadia must have been so used to not having a man around that they turned to be as strong and as gallant as the men themselves. But her sense as a woman tells her that the strength of the brown-haired girl was somewhat different.

"Don't bother on it too much…"Hakkai smiled. "The next time you're going out…I'm going with you" he decided. He knew Aiko could protect herself but judging on their last encounter with Xiang, he didn't dare to take another risk. He almost lost her back then and there's no way he's letting history repeats itself.

Aiko shook her head back and forth. "Well…I guess that could be considered, since you guys had already taken the potion for your voice" but then she realized something. Hakkai's voice was still the same. "Wait a minute! You haven't drink it!" she snapped.

Hakkai chuckled edgily. He had forgotten about the potion. However, he held up her chin in his hand and studied her face as she wondered restlessly.

"Well…perhaps you can make me drink it" he smiled and she blushed.

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"Anything?" Goku asked as he leaned on Gojyo's shoulder. He looked at the wall as if he could see what was beyond it.

"Nope!" Gojyo backed away from the wall. He was sure nothing happened between the brunettes next room. If something happened, he would know. An expertise he was. "I bet it'll take them forever to sleep together" he said sarcastically.

"You've got a deal" Goku said. Betting was the last thing he wished because he could never win over his comrades. Even now, he kept wondering why he keeps losing every time they played Ja-Ken-Pon to decide who have to bring the biggest luggage when Harkuryuu was not in a mood of transforming. But now, he dared to bet since he believed on Hakkai and Aiko; that they're not cowards when it comes to love.

"Deal!" They shook hands.

"Ch! Baka!" Sanzo muttered as he burnt another cigarette to its butt. If anyone ever sees him right now, they might despise him for being a woman that smokes. What the hell he cared about others? He's not a woman and never will be.

"Saru! Get off me!" Gojyo shoved Goku away from his body. They had been listening to Hakkai and Aiko's conversation through the wooden wall since the latter entered their room. 

"Don't call me saru you ero gappa!" Goku pouted and kicked Gojyo on the leg.

"Teme!!!!" with that Gojyo dashed at Goku and landed him on the floor. They struggled violently, tugging at each other's hair and biting each other's arms.

"URUSEI!!!" Sanzo yelled at the top of his lungs. He coughed then, disapproving the frailness of his new voice. However, that didn't stop him from whacking the daylights out of Gojyo and Goku's sight.

"Ittei…" came out the slow moans from the broken men on the floor.

Sanzo turned around. His gown flailed gently in the air as he swerved around and headed for the window. Placing his hands on the windowsill, Sanzo bent forward and observed the view outside the room. The town was normal, no different from any other town they had stopped at except that there were no men in this one.

Suddenly, he spotted a woman with great orange hair walking along the road, carrying basket full of flowers. Somehow, the lady seemed to realize that she was being stared at for she looked up to him and smiled sweetly. Sanzo was taken aback. He retreated from the window and stood a little further back. His heart pumped viciously. 'What the heck was that?' he cursed himself for being panic at sudden.

The high-rank monk turned to the door and twisted the doorknob. His intention was to go out of the room to get some moment of peace even though he doubted that he would get it as soon as the saru opened his mouth.

"Sanzo…" it was just about the right time as he had expected for the saru to open his mouth. Sanzo sighed. "Where are you going? Can I come?" Goku tugged at Sanzo's robe and gave the monk his deadliest puppy look ever. His golden orbs shimmered and he beamed up to Sanzo's face.

Gojyo smirked at the scene and waited for the bouzu to forfeit at Goku's weapon. Three months they had been together and Sanzo would only ignored the puppy look when he's out cold.

"Uh! Okay!" Bingo! Gojyo applauded silently for Goku because his effort paid.

"But no food!!!" Sanzo warned.

"Okay!!!" Goku chirped merrily as he trailed over Sanzo out of the room. They slammed the door closed behind them and left Gojyo alone.

Gojyo rose up from the floor and crossed his arms at the back of his head. "I'm all alone…better take a walk myself" he said to himself and went to the door. May be he could have a drink at the inn's diner and gambled for some money. Moreover, he's running out of money already.

The door was opened and he stepped out of the room. Locking the door and keeping the key inside his pocket, Gojyo glanced at the door of the neighboring room. He shook his head with annoyance and walked away, heading for the stairs.

"You let them together and nothing happen…you're fool Gojyo!" he mumbled and started descending down the stairs. His direction was the diner down the stairs.

To be continue…

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Ayie: This fic is definitely going to its doom…less reviews? Less people reading it? It's okay, still hadn't affect me to write it. But WRITER'S BLOCK!!!!!???? Argh! That was the major problem…how can this fic survived when I had no idea on how to continue it…however, I'll still write it…hope it'll turn all right.

Hakkai: Brace yourself ayie-san…don't give up now. Less reviews doesn't mean your fic sucks…and how do you know less people read the fic?

Ayie: I don't know and I'm not saying I'm giving up…I love my fic and I won't stop writing it…this is my treasure!!! Ops! Gomen! Okay…thanks to GS-chan, my dear thanks for all your support. I needed all that badly since I'm in my worst shape right now. Arista-san…I know how busy student's life can be, make it worse if you're doing part-time job! Fueei-chan, I've read your fiction and trust me they're great! Keep it the good work. Bai bai…