Unwanted Visitor
Sanzo watched the widows, trying to catch a glimpse of the shadow again—something to give him an indication of what they were dealing with. He pushed away the now distracted kappa with his bound arms. Gojyo sighed, unable to ignore the succession of sounds any longer, and slid heavily off the priest.
"Sounds like company. Great. Always when I'm having fun…."
Sanzo pushed himself up with some difficulty, muttering to Gojyo, "We should get outside or we'll get trapped in here…." He slipped silently out the broken door with caution, waiting for the disappointed redhead to follow. "And untie me, goddammit…."
Seeing the great Sanzo-sama struggle against his bonds was almost too amusing for Gojyo to handle. Snickering in a very obvious manner, he trailed after the priest, reaching out for the end of the sash hanging from Sanzo's wrists. "Hold your horses, bitch…." He twisted and tugged until the knot came undone. "I think I saw two shadows, but I wasn't really paying attention." The priest shot him a scathing look in response then stepped out into the night, immediately scanning the area for signs of movement.
With a shrug, Gojyo continued, "You do know Shaku Jou is inside, right?"
Sanzo glared at the kappa, not believing that he could be so dense as to not pick up his weapon in the face of probable battle. "So go get it, idiot. Why didn't you pick it up in the first place?" Close by, the priest thought he saw a dark silhouette heading toward the edge of the roof, but with his human eyes he couldn't be sure.
"Well, you were in such a freakin' hurry to get out!" Gojyo left his side and went back through the broken door, only to be greeted by the clank of a chain and crescent shaped blade slamming into the wood next to his ear. "Crap…."
The priest turned his attentions from the shadows for a moment when the thunk of metal embedding itself in wood reached his ears. Backtracking to the door, he was sure Gojyo had done something incredibly stupid, probably involving the accidental removal of all or most of his foot by his own weapon. Instead, he saw the blade pull out of the doorframe with some difficulty and with said kappa nearly at the wrong end. The blade and chain disappeared back into the darkness, only to come flying out again moments later.
"Huh, bad aim…." This would have been true, had the attacker been aiming at Gojyo. In fact, he was currently after Sanzo, who dodged the blade that sailed past the kappa, but only just. He tripped over the edge of his robes, which had been hanging down too far due to Gojyo's earlier exploits, stumbling back into the wall.
"Shit, kappa! What are you doing?"
"Someone's got my damn weapon! What does it look like?"
"Augh, can't you do anything right?" The priest jumped gracefully to his feet and pulled out the gun, pointing it through the open door. As soon as the enemy showed himself, he would receive a nice-sized hole in the head.
"Oh, I would have done you right, that's for sure…" Gojyo muttered, unable to do much but dodge as he was weaponless and the enemy had not yet come out of the cabin. The chain snaked outward again, but the kappa jumped too soon and it caught him around the ankle. The chain tripped him, landing Gojyo flat on his stomach. "Goddammit."
Sanzo shot him caustic glance, but, naturally, it was lost in the darkness. After an amusing few seconds of watching Gojyo claw at the ground while he was being dragged backward toward the figure in the cabin (and seriously considering leaving him to it), the priest fired a shot at what he hoped was the attacker's head. Literally hanging on by his nails alone, Gojyo cursed vehemently as the weapon pulled him closer, but looked up when he heard the shot explode from the priest's gun. The chain around his leg went slack and he gave it an experimental tug. "Did you get him?"
"I think so…." Sanzo cautiously moved closer and peered into the dark room. There was a large figure lying on the ground, pool of blood around it glittering faintly as it spread over the floorboards. "Yeah, right in the head, looks like…." He jabbed the corpse in the head with his toe, just to be sure.
"Good" Gojyo remarked, trailing the chain back into the pole of Shaku Jou. He picked it up and retracted the blade into its proper place, feeling a lot more secure with the weapon back in his hands. Examining the pole for damage, he muttered, "Uhn, this guys had sweaty hands…."
Blood from the dead man was beginning to leak out into the dirt. Sanzo watched it in a disinterested fashion, slipping his gun back into his robe. "We should move this thing," he mentioned absently, gesturing downward. Gojyo ignored him, completely blasé about doing any work. Dragging a corpse out in the cold to bury it definitely fell under that category.
"Pheh, you can use him as a blanket."
Sanzo frowned and wished, not for the last time, that he had a cigarette. He leaned against the outer wall of the building and looked up to the sky. "I don't need two deadbeats riding me all night. Toss him out before I shoot your nuts off."
The redhead wasn't in much of a mood to argue, and grabbed the limp hands of the dead man roughly, muttering, "Why's it always me?" With a grunt of effort, Gojyo pulled the body along, cursing under his breath. Sanzo watched him idly, wondering it he'd be able to get back to sleep after this little ordeal. Not that he'd hardly been able to sleep in the first place, but he figured he was tired enough now to sleep through anything. The body left a pooling trail of glistening blood behind it, some of the red liquid splattering on the hem of his robe.
"Oi, watch what you're doing, baka."
"Shove it, monk," Gojyo snapped, shoving the corpse past the doorframe. What a night this has turned out to be…. "Man, what I wouldn't do for a drink right now…."
"No kidding," Sanzo answered. That would be the perfect way to get a bit of rest—get thoroughly soused and pass out for the rest of the night and most likely the day as well. But, unfortunately, booze was hard to come by when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere in a cabin that looked as if it had seen better days. "Hurry up. I don't want to be out here all night."
The only answer he got was a low, irritated growl from Gojyo, yanking the body none too gently across the dirt. His mood got worse with every step, images of various painful activities he'd like to do to the priest right now running through his head. When he thought he had dragged the body far enough, the kappa dropped it under a tree. " 'Ey! How do you want me to bury this guy? Dig a grave with my hands?" he called back to Sanzo sarcastically.
"No, just leave the bastard there. No one's here to see the body and we'll be gone in the morning." Sanzo watched the kappa with distracted amusement. His eyelids started to droop, leaning heavily against the wall. The blond man would have fallen asleep standing right there if he hadn't been so cold.
"Fine." Gojyo ambled back to the cabin, attempting to keep his thoughts positive. Fortunately, the kappa's imagination was in no way lacking, and he found himself almost warmed by the fantasies of good drink and better sex. Silently, he mourned the absence of the wonderfully satisfied feeling in his stomach after both.
Seeing the redhead returning, Sanzo forced himself awake enough to walk back into the room. As he turned, the priest noticed out of the corner of his eye something short and bedraggled moving near the entrance to the cabin. On closer inspection, he could make out a small, stooped figure standing directly in the pool of blood near the door on all fours with it's deformed head bent to the ground. The rustle of Sanzo's robes as he turned alerted the thing to his presence. It looked up and fastened round, lamp-like eyes on the priest, looking slightly amphibian with the pale orbs set on either side of a crooked snout. In its silhouette Sanzo could see that it had a very bony body and long, sagging ears. Startled, he watched it stare intensely at him and hobble closer, uneven nostrils flaring in and out. Gojyo was about to inquire about the possible explanations as to why the now dead man had had his weapon, but was stopped short when his vision fell on the grotesque creature blocking the path. A decidedly unpleasant smell wafted up to his nose from the creature, wiry limbs and long ears along with the blood on its feet adding to its bizarre appearance. It took all Gojyo had in him not to yell in surprise, watching in morbid fascination as the creature approached Sanzo.