Part I

Chapter 2

Hakkai found that much of the day's grim work was already finished by the time the children led him to the edge of the woods beyond the hamlet's small cemetery. Several men from the main town had joined those who lived here, and with Goku's and Gojyo's help as well, the digging of a mass grave for the dead youkai had already been completed and the bodies placed into it. Hakkai's companions were among those covering them with shovelfuls of dirt, perspiration glistening in the sun on their shirtless arms and backs.

Gojyo paused for a few minutes, lanky frame leaning on his shovel's handle, when he caught sight of Hakkai. "Hey, lazy bastard, nice of you to finally wake up and join us now the work's already done!"

"You're the one who didn't wake me," Hakkai responded evenly. Almost unconsciously his mind registered how lithe and sensual Gojyo looked even covered with sweat and grime.

Gojyo dropped to the ground, sat with his feet apart, arms resting on his drawn up knees. "Make yourself useful and get a smoke for me from my shirt, why don't you?" He nodded his head toward his shirt, thrown in the grass a few feet away.

"So I'm your servant now, " Hakkai observed as he handed the cigarette to Gojyo and leaned over to light it for him.

"Suits me," Gojyo grinned back at him.

Hakkai removed his own shirt, folded it neatly, and placed it beside Gojyo's, then picked up the shovel to continue his companion's chore. The little dragon drifted around him for a few minutes then curled up contentedly on his shirt, enjoying the early autumn sunshine.

Gojyo drew in a deep puff of smoke, held it in his lungs, exhaled slowly, his eyes studying his friend. "You sure you're not still too tired for this, Hakkai?" He didn't often see the brunette wiped enough not to be up and working hours before himself.

"I had enough sleep," Hakkai returned noncommittally.

"Hey! No fair! No getting someone to take over your job, you lazy cockroach!" Goku aimed a kick at Gojyo's butt, but the older man grabbed his extended foot and off-balanced him, cuffing him on the side of the head as he landed heavily on the ground.

"Ow!" He tried to punch Gojyo back, but the half-youkai, his reach longer, held him off.

"Serves you right, you damn monkey, for getting me into this dirty job to start with!"

Hakkai paused in his shoveling. "Guess his heart's in the right place, eh, Gojyo?"

"Ch-" Gojyo sneered. He hated it when Hakkai sided with the damned monkey. He took another long drag on his cigarette, this time blew the smoke into Goku's face.

* * *

When Hakkai returned in mid-afternoon, Sanzo was sitting on a bench in front of the small, rough house where they were staying, cigarette in hand, his tight lips and the angry tension in his shoulders apparent to Hakkai from across the clearing.  The monk stood and took a few strides toward the other man. "Where the hell have you been? We should have been on the road hours ago! Where are the bakazaru and the damned kappa?

"Good afternoon to you, too, Sanzo." The usual smile played at Hakkai's lips. His green eyes met Sanzo's violet ones directly. "I seem to recall telling you two days' rest."

Sanzo growled. "Collect the other two idiots. Too late to get to the next village, but we can at least get into town and stock up on supplies. Get rooms at the inn tonight and get an early start tomorrow."

"The supplies are already taken care of—or will be soon. Gojyo and Goku went into town a little while ago to the public baths with a few of the others. I gave them your gold card so they could get what we need."

Violet eyes flashed. "The baths?" But before Hakkai could explain, he continued. "Get our things together and we'll meet  them at the inn."

"No need, Sanzo. The villagers here have extended their hospitality for another two nights." He saw Sanzo bristle at the length of time, but continued calmly over his rising protests. "The burial ceremony for the two who died will be held at dusk, and they've asked us to join them in the funeral celebration this evening. Goku and Gojyo spent most of the day helping them bury the youkai and prepare the graves. It would be disrespectful for us to leave at this point. I know you won't want us to go now under those circumstances."

Hakkai's tone was matter-of-fact. He knew not to argue with Sanzo. Just state the facts plainly, with the expectation that he would recognize the expedient course of action and would capitulate without seeming to have backed down on his own demands.  It didn't always work, but Hakkai's manner certainly was more effective at getting his own way with Sanzo than Goku's whining or Gojyo's goading.

"They'd better be bringing more cigarettes," Sanzo grumbled, his unspoken consent implicit in his change of subject and more relaxed posture.

"I told them." Hakkai decided not to push his luck by insisting that the monk shouldn't be smoking. "Let's go in. I need to clean up." He also wanted to check on Sanzo's rib and give him another draught of something for pain. It wasn't lost on him that the man was still pale and had not come out looking for them when he had awakened, but had waited here. He was sure Sanzo was still hurting far more than he would admit.

* * *

Willing or not to admit his pain, Sanzo used his discomfort and tiredness as the excuse to absent himself from the evening's services and feast. Bored with the tameness of the funeral party and the lack of tempting female companionship, Gojyo joined him for a while to play cards and nurse a couple of beers, but he left to seek Hakkai's company when the monk fell into a moody silence.

Scanning the various groups scattered around the common area defined by the semi-circle of small houses, Gojyo spotted Hakkai playing a game with four or five of the resident children. He had noticed earlier in the day that a boy and girl had been shadowing Hakkai since he'd come out to the gravesite, now and then bringing him a snack or a drink of water and asking him questions about their journey.

Gojyo lit up a cigarette and leaned against a rough column supporting the cottage's porch roof. He watched Hakkai take his turn, rolling marbles into a circle drawn in the dirt in the middle of the group. The kids squealed as Hakkai's marbles struck their targets, and he laughed with mock evil at the dark-haired girl opposite him, softly shouting "Gotcha!" as he captured her marbles.

The child looked determined as she took her own turn, aiming for a stray marble of Hakkai's near the edge of the circle. Her eyes met Hakkai's triumphantly as she took his marble and grinned, "Gotcha back!"

"Again!" moaned Hakkai, looking wounded. "You guys are too good for me! I give up."

"No, no! Play another round," they clamored.

The small, stern old woman who had gathered the children to safety during yesterday's fighting had appeared near the group. "It's getting late, children. Time for you to get to bed and let this poor man rest."

Hakkai, still kneeling with the kids, surveyed their disappointed faces. "If they promise to all go to bed without argument afterwards, " he began, meeting each pair of imploring eyes in turn and then turning to their grandmother, "might they play one more game with me?"

She smiled benevolently, consenting, and Hakkai immediately began to reset the game amid their gay cheers.

From his perch on the porch stairs, Gojyo observed that Hakkai was enjoying himself as much as the kids. He rarely saw his friend this relaxed and... contented was the word that came to mind. "Happy" would have been too strong, given the darkness ever present in Hakkai's eyes. But in four years of living and traveling with him, Gojyo had come to appreciate anything that could bring real warmth to the guarded, often empty smile that Hakkai nearly always kept on his face. He felt more contented and relaxed himself when he caught the warmth in the brunette's genuine smile now.

A short while later, Hakkai sent the children to their grandmother, and his face colored with surprise and pleasure when the two kids who had watched out for him all day tackled him with a double hug.

"I see you've made some friends," Gojyo remarked as Hakkai joined him on the porch steps, the ever-present dragon close behind him. Hakuryuu perched for a minute on Gojyo's outstretched hand, gave his palm a feathery flick of greeting with its tongue, then sought its usual place on Hakkai's shoulder.

"Mmm," answered Hakkai. "It's been a pleasant change to be in one place for a day, and with families instead of at an inn."

Gojyo nodded in Goku's direction. "Well Sanzo certainly wouldn't agree with you. But the monkey seems to be enjoying himself."

Hakkai had noticed earlier that Yanane had drawn Goku into a small group of young people alternately exchanging stories, singing to the accompaniment of a guitar played by one of their number, and playing a pantomime game. Now they watched Goku collapse into laughter with the others as Yanane and a friend from the village silently acted out a spat between two quarrelsome youngsters.

It then being Yanane's turn to draw in a new partner, she sought their visitor. "Your turn, Goku." She took his hand and drew him aside, and Goku's eyes sparkled as she suggested a scenario for them to mime and they took their allotted minute to roughly plan their actions.

"Yanane has made a real effort this evening to include Goku and make him feel comfortable with the others. Half a dozen years in the monastery with Sanzo and another on the road with us certainly haven't given him much opportunity to interact with others his age, or even see how normal teenagers act," Hakkai reflected.

"Not that he's by any stretch of the imagination a normal teenager," Gojyo responded wryly. "Either way, I'm not getting the impression that Yanane thinks including Goku is much of an effort. Seems to me she's rather enjoying herself."

The two watched the small group a while longer, both noting how frequently the half-youkai girl glanced in Goku's direction and how, when their turn was ended, she took a new seat beside him in the circle of young adults. The space between him and one of her cousins was narrow enough that she had to wriggle close to him to fit there. Goku, attention on the next pair of mimes, slid aside to make more room and didn't seem to notice when, within a few minutes, she was again shoulder-to-shoulder and thigh-to-thigh with him, her head inclined slightly toward his.

Gojyo shook his head. "What a waste. Pretty thing like her, and he's totally oblivious."

Hakkai chuckled. "Jealous that he's getting the attention of one of the only eligible women, Gojyo?"

"Nah, a little too thin for me. And still too young. I like 'em experienced enough to know how to please. But the baka's wasting a perfectly good opportunity."

"He's inexperienced in that, too. Unlike some people we know."

Gojyo elbowed Hakkai. "Enough already. I've been really good about that lately, in case you haven't noticed."

"Only because the opportunity hasn't presented itself, I'm sure," said Hakkai.

"Maybe," Gojyo responded, momentarily glancing directly into his friend's eyes. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though he would continue. But just as quickly, his gaze returned to Goku and his group, his further thoughts unspoken.

The two dropped into companionable silence, each wondering how Goku might respond if he were less oblivious to the girl's attraction and a little more familiar with the usual course of human relations. They each found themselves looking at him a little differently, viewing him for the first time the way the girl might be seeing him: taller than he was when they'd started out, though neither of them had really noticed before; deeply tanned from all their time on the road in the open jeep; arms and shoulders still slender, but strong and muscular; golden eyes warm and bright, the depth of their color enhanced by the golden diadem in his hair; laughter and smiles emerging readily and without pretense. It took them by surprise that he seemed older, too—less the whiney monkey kid than Gojyo, at least, was ready to give him credit for.

As the group with Goku and his new friend dwindled, Hakkai yawned.

"Tired?" Gojyo asked. "Looks like things are breaking up here. Why don't you go to bed?"

"And you? Sanzo's likely to push us into leaving tomorrow. I told him two days rest, but I'm expecting to have to fight it out with him in the morning."

"I'm gonna grab myself another beer and a smoke. I'll be over soon.  I'm pretty tired myself after all the digging today."

They rose together. Hakkai thanked their hosts for the evening and they thanked him and Gojyo yet again for all their help. Then he went into the cottage where they were staying.

Gojyo had thought to join Goku, but as he approached he realized that the others had left, and Goku and the girl had fallen into what seemed a quiet, serious conversation. For the second time that night, he found himself taken aback by his youngest traveling companion. He resisted the impulse to tease the kid, wondering what would happen if left to his own devices. Instead he went to sit with his beer in the shadows of the porch outside the door Hakkai had entered.

"That was fun," Goku remarked to Yanane after the others had either returned to town with their families or gone into their homes.

"We often play it at celebrations when there's a large enough group of us," she told him.

"Gojyo plays cards and gambles a lot. And he and Sanzo and Hakkai play cards together sometimes, especially to pass time on rainy nights. But the only thing I usually play with them is Mahjong."

"Do you have a family at home?" she asked. "Brothers or sisters or cousins?"

Goku shook his head.

"What about Sanzo and Hakkai and Gojyo?" she prodded.

Goku paused, giving thought to their relationship, which he usually just took for granted. "Sanzo took me to live with him in the monastery when… when I was younger, " he finished awkwardly. "We met Gojyo and Hakkai later, a few years before the Three Aspects told Sanzo to go west with us… They're our best friends." Goku felt the truth of that as he found the words to say it. "Sanzo might not say that, though," he added.

"What about you and Sanzo? Are you friends? Or is he more like family to you?"

"Sanzo is… Sanzo," he said simply. But he continued to turn the question over in his mind. Were he and Sanzo friends? What made him feel like Hakkai and Gojyo were his best friends?—especially that stupid kappa Gojyo! Did he feel the same way about Sanzo that he did about them? Did Sanzo feel that way about him? He wondered whether Sanzo really felt that way about any of them. It left him feeling empty to think that even after all they'd been through together the last four years, Sanzo might rather be traveling alone—without even his company.

"Goku?" Yanane's voice pulled him from his reverie. He wasn't sure whether she had asked him another question.

"I should go up to see if Sanzo's feeling okay tonight." He began to get up from the blanket on which they had been sitting.

She gently tugged on his arm. "Stay a little longer?" she implored. "The stars are really pretty tonight."

Goku realized that most of the lanterns in the clearing had been put out, and the moon and stars and the soft glow of candles from a couple cottage windows were their only light. He lay back against one of the low log benches on which the group had been sitting earlier, his weight on his forearms, his head tilted back against the bench to look at the sky.

Yanane sat beside him, her legs curled under her, her elbow resting on the bench, and her head leaning on her hand, face tilted toward his. She looked into his eyes, her expression warm. "Why do you wear the crown?" she asked, tracing its outline with her finger.

"It's a limiter," he explained. "You wouldn't want to see me without it. I—"

He wasn't sure how much he wanted to or should tell her. But he found her very easy to talk to, and no one had ever seemed interested in knowing much about him before. "Without our limiters, Hakkai and I are full youkai," he told her. "We both get bigger and stronger… and a lot more dangerous. Especially me. I don't remember what happens when I go youkai, but it makes even Hakkai and Gojyo scared. I get… I can't control it when I'm youkai. Sanzo's the only one who can stop me, and he gets really mad at me, mad enough to kill me with that gun of his… If he couldn't stop me, I might kill all of them."

She was silent for a moment, taken aback by his admission.  "Does it happen often?" she asked, wide-eyed.

He shook his head. "I've promised them I'll never take it off again." He paused, thoughtful again. "You're half youkai, like Gojyo, aren't you?"

She nodded.

"How come your brother and sister aren't… like you?"

"Tomaki's not really my brother, " she said. "He's actually my cousin. Our father—Tomaki's and Himiko's father—is really my uncle. My mother was his sister. She died when I was born, and my father went back to his youkai family. My aunt and uncle raised me with their family, and I've always thought of them as my mother and father. And they've always loved me and treated me like their real daughter… even when it meant they had to move out here away from town when I got older, because some people in town hated us because I'm a half breed."

"You shouldn't be living out here now, though, with the youkai attacking people." His eyes met hers, concern for all of them in his expression.

"Don't worry," she smiled. "Until the other day, there weren't many bothering us. And now you and your friends have taken care of those."

She leaned over and kissed his forehead lightly. "Thank you again," she whispered.

He scrambled to his feet, confused by her action. "You… you're welcome," he stammered, backing away a step or two until he tripped on the edge of the blanket. "I think I'd better go in to Sanzo now," he said. But he hesitated, unsure of himself, still feeling the brush of her lips against his brow.

"Sure," she responded, unperturbed. "I should go in now, too." She folded the blanket over her left arm and linked her right arm in his left.

As she walked to the house with him, Gojyo snickered to himself at the uncomfortable look on Goku's face.

***TBC***

Thanks to all of you who took time to review the first chapter. Since this is my first post to ff.net, it's great to know someone is out there reading and to get the positive feedback. If you continue to enjoy this, I hope you'll let others know it's here.