-A Rival Band of Misfits-

by Meru

Story: Sanzo and his party encounter a band of demon musicians who are close pals of Kougaiji. Blood, romance, and tears will ensue.

A/N: It's chapter twooooooo!

Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki as it belongs to Kazuya Minekura. The lucky bitch >. ;

Chapter Two

Galloping into the restaurant, Goku had already begun drooling over the smell of meat buns, reminiscent of a rabid animal set loose on an unsuspecting world. And, to a certain extent, he was this animal, only the rabid nature was replaced by superfluous starvation.

"Meat buns! Meat buns! Gimmegimmegimmegimme..." he stammered as he absentmindedly lead the group to a table near the back of the room. Not that they had a problem with this; perhaps sitting back here would lessen the amount of unnecessary attention they were receiving, caused by the inevitable, irritating chimp.

Sanzo was getting annoyed with him already. "Just sit down and shut your mouth, monkey," he commanded. "You're drooling everywhere." Goku, however, paid him little attention.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! What's taking so long! I'm hungry!"

"Yes, we and everyone else in this place are aware of that," Gojyo blatantly pointed out. "And I swear to God if you get your damn drool on me -- "

"Hi there! Can I get you gentlemen started with something to drink?" A waitress with a full bust and teeny waist appeared at their table, a huge grin planted on her face.

Sanzo didn't bother looking up, and instead lit a cigarette. "Get me a beer," he demanded coarsely.

"Okie dokie!" she responded a little too cheerfully. "And for the rest of you handsome boys?"

At the invitation, Goku instantly flew into a flurry of words, only barely giving the poor waitress time to write everything he was saying down.

"So..." she said after he had finished, "uh, basically you want three of everything on the menu?"

"Damn right, lady!" Goku exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Hmm...okay! I'll be back in a flash!"

With that, she pranced off to another table, finally out of the group's faces. Gojyo sighed in apparent relief.

"Way too happy for my taste, man," he observed.

"I think that goes for anyone, not just you this time, Gojyo," replied Hakkai, gently stroking the top of Hakuryu's head.

As promised, they weren't forced to wait too long for the food and drink (though Goku had made unsurprising effort to complain about how long it was taking. . .until Sanzo whipped out the revolver and threatened to kill him, that is). And as a usual event in the duration of a meal, Goku and Gojyo began biting each other's heads off about the last remaining full plate, leaving Hakkai to try and find an excuse to tell the onlookers about their immature behavior and leaving Sanzo to ponder whether it would be easier to dispose of them or just to end his own misery. He ultimately decided on the former.

"WOULD YOU BOTH JUST SHUT THE HELL UP AND FINISH EATING SO WE CAN GET BACK ON THE DAMN ROAD!"

All went silent at this, save for two lone figures sitting at the bar who were sniggering to each other, their amusement no doubt caused by the delinquent foursome.

"Who the hell are those guys?" Goku asked, oblivious to the fact that anyone could hardly understand him, given that Gojyo's grip was fixedly placed on his right cheek as he had been prying it open.

"Bad news," Sanzo answered him. From his position, he could sense a slow, steady demonic beat deriving from the two sniveling onlookers. Sanzo was pissed at himself for not recognizing the disturbance before; and the fact that they didn't even look like ordinary humans.

The significantly larger of the two had tousled, dirty blond hair that hung down to his waist. He wore a long black coat and faded jeans with tattered remains of fishnet clinging to them. The eye that wasn't dawning the black patch was a cold grey-green.

The other was a small, scrawny character with bright blue hair put up in a series of knots and ties. He had a necklace of dark green beads strung around his neck that came together in front with a brown feather, and quite possibly his most distinguishing feature was the malicious violet eyes that accented the smirk spread across his face better than should have probably been allowed. Sanzo especially didn't like this one.

"What's wrong, Pistol-man?" the little one jeered, his smirk getting bigger. "No appreciation fo' the fans?"

Sanzo put on a smirk to rival that of this bickering, blue-haired fool. "It's not that. I just don't like you."

Violet eyes flashed an angry crimson. His companion chuckled. "Well, at least he's honest."

"Honest my ass! Now. . ." Blue got up from his seat, obviously geared up for a challenge. "Let's see if their skills are up to par."

In a flash of movement, he was no longer there. Sanzo prepared himself for whatever was coming, but when nothing happened, he let his guard down. Something crashed behind him, and he spun around to see a livid Gojyo on the floor, wiping blood away from his lip. Blue was about three feet away from him, squatting with his chin close to the ground, that damn smirk on his face bigger than ever.

"Why you lousy little son of a bitch!" the redhead snarled, picking himself up off the floor. "You'll pay for that!"

Blue snickered. "I can't wait to find out. . .!"

"And what the hell is this?"

Both parties averted their attention to the voice of this new comer. She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed over an eye-catching chest. She had a long waist and slim hips that dawned a blue miniskirt. Over the miniskirt was a black garter belt that held up light blue stockings that were ripped right below the knee. Silver hair was draped about her shoulders, and from beneath the stray strands, bright fuchsia eyes sparkled with a mild humor at the scene reflected in them.

"I mean, I leave you guys alone for five minutes," she continued, "and I come back to find you like this?" She looked to Sanzo and his compatriots. "Fighting lightweights, no less."

Blue stood up and scratched the back of his head in what could have been called modesty. "Heh, sorry Chicka. Didn't mean t' leave ya outta the fun."

She scoffed. "You're full of shit, Jigen, and stop calling me 'chicka'."

Jigen grinned and cocked his head to the side. "Right! Lady 'Taru." He made an elaborate bow.

"The 'lady' don't work either," she warned him, afterwards finally noticing that everyone in the restaurant was staring at the lot of them. "All right, folks! Party's over! You can go back to meaningless conversation now."

Slowly the room began to pick up its normal degree of voices, as the silver-haired beauty dashed their hopes of any more entertainment. And a real beauty she must have been; Gojyo found himself unable to take her eyes off her.

Now that is a real woman, he thought longingly. Unfortunately, his mental image of her naked was rudely interrupted by the colliding of Sanzo's paper fan with the back of his head.

"Ow! What the hell is wrong with you!"

"We don't have time for your little love affairs," Sanzo explained. "We have to move on. Now."

"Oh, I don't think you'll be going anywhere." Sanzo turned to face the girl. "And why should I care what you think, Lady?"

She seemed to ignore the comment and went on. "Well take a look outside. I trust you'll find the conditions to be less than travel-worthy."

Reluctantly, Sanzo did as she said, looking out the window of the bar to see nothing but a dank, white mist. He wasn't convinced. "So? It's fog. We've dealt with worse."

"I highly doubt that. It may just look all pretty now, but in about an hour or so that fog'll turn poisonous. Said to keep the, uh, demons away."

Sanzo did not like the way she had said 'demons'. "That's bullshit."

She held up her hands in mock defeat. "Whatever. Don't say I didn't warn you. C'mon boys, let's go."

At this, Gojyo's hope dropped. If they really did leave tonight, he would probably never see her again. Yet another hot babe lost to the wind.

"You're giving us all this advice, and you're just gonna leave without even telling us who you are?" Hakkai put in. Gojyo secretly thanked him. At least now he would have a name to go with that gorgeous face.

The girl looked reluctant at first, but then grinned broadly. "Mitaru. Though, it's probably better if you don't remember it."

The trio left the bar then, leaving the four hellions standing there, staring after them. "Aw man," Goku began to complain. "I was kinda hoping for a work out too." He yawned. "Sanzo, you sure we have to go? I'm tired. And hungry. . . ."

"You can sleep in the car," the priest resolved quickly. "And maybe if you're lucky, Gojyo'll let you eat him."

Gojyo glowered at the divine select of Buddha. "I really hate you."

"I dunno. . ." Hakkai seemed unsure about something, and Hakuryu was flying in circles around his head, squealing impatiently. "I'm definitely not getting good vibes from whatever that shit is out there. I think that Mitaru girl may have been telling the truth."

Sanzo looked to the window again. The mist had grown thicker, and the restaurant was starting to empty. It seemed people wanted to be home before it got too dark. "Damn it. . ." Sanzo muttered, slipping a cigarette from his pack. "More delays."

It seemed they would have to stay there, at least until morning. Still, there was something about the whole thing that Sanzo didn't find too easy to swallow. Between the two at the bar, and that silver-haired girl. . .Mitaru? Yeah, that was it. Something about that girl made Sanzo uneasy. And damn did he hate her for it.