Impossibility 4

It was decidedly unpleasant, Goku thought, being out of the warmth of the inn, trudging in search of Gojyo who-should-have-known-better. In the normal course of things, he wouldn't have minded. But now Sanzo was injured, and even if he was in the good care of Hakkai, Goku would still have liked to be there.

"Oy, Gojyo? Gojyo!"

It was dark, it was cold, and the cursed wind was picking up again.

Gojyo wasn't in any of the other inns. Gojyo wasn't in the bathhouse. Goku figured that Gojyo, stupid kappa that he was, had gone after that youkai on the outskirts of town.

"At this time?" Goku asked sourly. "You'd better give me half your dinner for going to look for you!"

He took the winding path towards the other end of town. The streets were deathly quiet this night. Everyone had barred their doors and turned off the lights. It was eerie.

"Oy, Gojyo...!"

The path had taken him right to the edge of town. Still no sign of Gojyo. He'd probably jumped the fence and gone outside, since the youkai was outside...

Oh well, he was getting colder and hungrier by the minute, and he wasn't up to serious thinking. He leapt over the fence, and set off.

***

Hakkai was replacing the cloth over Sanzo's forehead when the priest snapped awake. Fever-bright eyes flicked from Hakkai to the rest of the room, and back again.

"Are you--"

"Goku," Sanzo interrupted. "Where is he?"

"He went out."

"He's in danger," Sanzo said, struggling to sit up. The attempt was aborted in the midst of a coughing fit. Hakkai grabbed the medicine from off the table behind him. "Drink."

"Drink?" Sanzo spluttered. "Fuck it..." But he reached for the bowl anyway.

"I'll hold it," Hakkai said firmly, trying to ignore the unease that Sanzo's earlier words had caused. "Your hands are shaking."

Sanzo would have eyeballed him, if the coughing fit hadn't subsided to give way to a shaking fit.

"Drink," Hakkai admonished, and when he took that tone, even Sanzo listened.

"Goku's in trouble?" Hakkai asked, when Sanzo had drained the bowl, wincing only a little at the taste.

"Where is the ape?" Sanzo demanded.

"Gojyo went out. I sent Goku to look for him."

"Gojyo went out? Him too?"

"There was the rumor of a youkai on the loose. I think -- I can't be sure -- that Gojyo went to check it out. It's been two hours since."

"Shit. Idiots." Sanzo glanced up at Hakkai. "That leaves two people to go after them. And I can't."

"I'm certain Goku will be able to fight his way out of anything," Hakkai said.

"Not if he doesn't know what he's fighting against."

Hakkai paused. "He didn't meet Zakuro when we did..." One didn't reflect on how Sanzo knew what was happening to Goku. One didn't reflect about how oneself never had that talent...

"So aren't you going to go and look for the two bungling fools?" Sanzo asked.

"If there is an enemy targetting you -- then that would be the most foolish thing to do," Hakkai returned.

"Oh, so you're advocating we leave them in the lurch? That's a first." Sanzo reached over and retrieved the gun from the side table. "Well, it's your choice. Personally, I'd be rather glad to be rid of them, anyway."

Not helpful, are you?

"No, I'm not," Sanzo replied, and Hakkai realized that he'd given voice to his thought.

"I'll leave Hakuryuu," Hakkai said eventually. "Send him to look for me if anything happens."

"It'll be too late by the time he finds you," Sanzo said.

"Too late to help, maybe. Hopefully, not too late to pick up the pieces."

"There won't be any pieces to pick up," Sanzo vowed softly. "Except theirs."

Then there was nothing to say. Hakkai spoke several words to Hakuryuu, who nodded his assent and flew to perch by Sanzo's side. "Take care," Hakkai wished both of them, and stepped out of the door.

I know this is a trap, he thought furiously, But what else can we do but walk into it ... with our eyes open?

***

He'd been stabbed. He knew it -- he'd been stabbed enough times to know what it felt like. Pity the idiot who'd not gone straight for the throat though, because gut wounds didn't kill you; not immediately, at least.

Gojyo slammed his elbow back and felt it impact solidly. He hadn't brought his weapon -- oh, stupid, stupid move, but he could still kill a youkai with his bare hands. He turned as the attacker staggered backwards, and dealt him a solid kick to the guts. The knife came for him and he avoided the hasty swing, stepping into position to catch the knife hand. A sharp twist broke the wrist. He stamped -- hard -- on the attacker's toes, and rammed two fingers into his left eye.

Blood went spraying, and the youkai howled in pain.

Big guy, just as they said. Big, stupid brute. Probably stronger than me, but not smart or quick enough.

He jerked on the youkai's wrist hard enough to hear bone grind, and sent the knife flying.

Jump back, his instincts told him, and he did that just as the brute's other fist came flying towards his face. Missed by a hair. Then Gojyo dived back into striking distance. One solid uppercut, and the youkai's head jerked back with a snapping sound. There was a strangled moan, and the youkai thudded heavily into the ground.

Okay, there's another. There has to be another one -- the one who spoke to me just seconds before...

Gojyo looked around. The darkness obscured any possible threats. He'd lost even the meager glow of the end of the cigarette. It had dropped out of his mouth when he'd been attacked.

Blood was mapping a trail down his stomach, and now it started to hurt. Subtly at first, then with feverish intensity. Alright, Gojyo. You're officially in deep shit. Balance went momentarily awry, and he staggered. A full fall was stopped when his hand met something wooden.

The fence!

Now he could see something -- a wavery light in the distance, where a street lamp was still lit. If the other youkai hadn't attacked him by now, he wasn't going to attack him in the middle of town. With an effort, he half climbed, half fell over the fence, one hand clenched over the wound. Then, with the world swimming madly before his eyes, he staggered like a drunken firefly towards the light.

He didn't make it. The darkness expanded and the light went flickery and vague, then vanished altogether.

***

It had started to rain. Goku bemoaned his bad luck, cursed Gojyo, and continued walking.

After a while he paused. "I know you're following me," he announced. "Stop hiding."

Nothing moved, but the darkness seemed to change, seemed to shift in shade and texture. Goku took another step. Rainwater flattened his hair and dripped into his eyes. He swiped madly at the film of water, blinked -- then he saw a flash of red, somewhere ahead.

"Gojyo?"

"Oy, kid, get your ass over here!"

He ran towards the sound. "What are you doing, stupid kappa?"

There was no reply. The wind whipped into his face and his feet crunched against the soil.

"Gojyo! Where are you?" he yelled.

"Over here!" the voice called, but it seemed farther than before.

"Where--" then he stepped onto empty air. "Oh shit!"

He hit the ground with a splash. He swore, sitting up and swiping at his eyes to clear them. His elbow came up against a wall of sorts, and one hand brushed against some wooden object in front. He blinked, sheltering his eyes from the rain with one hand as he cautiously regained his feet.

He was in a pit. The townsfolk had mentioned something like it -- how they'd sometimes set traps for dangerous animals ... and youkai. There were stakes in the pit, that was the wooden thing he'd felt. It was pure luck that he'd missed it.

"Now how do I get outta here?" Goku demanded. He couldn't see the opening, not with the rain coming down hard and fast. But they'd said something about a ten foot drop.

Goku dug his fingers into the side, trying to lever himself up. The loosely packed soil crumbled away at his touch. He turned to the stake, only to find that the sides had been greased. Whoever had designed this trap hadn't intended anyone to be able to get out of it. Meanwhile, the water was rising. Not that he expected it to rise high enough to drown him, but it was icy cold.

He could bet now that the Gojyo he'd seen or heard had been a fake. He could bet that someone had deliberately led him into this mess. This meant that... either no one was coming to his rescue, or Hakkai would be on his way... which left...

"Oh damn you, whoever you are!" Goku cursed. He summoned Nyoibou and dug it into the ground, trying to use it for leverage. But the smooth metal end slipped on the loose soil.

Then -- something hit him on the shoulder. A fistful of soil. And another. And several more hitting the ground beside him. Goku glanced up, but he still couldn't see anything. But he could very well guess that, somewhere up there, there was a bunch of ... youkai, probably, trying to bury him alive.

"Oh damn it," he swore.

***

Hakkai raced through the dark as fast as his legs could carry him. The rain made it almost impossible to see, but he could sense something -- something that probably involved teeth and claws and a whole lot of youryoku. But if the rain made things a little more difficult for him, then it also masked his approach.

Hurry, every instinct told him.

He saw them at last, when the rain faltered momentarily and the wind gusted the other way. Three of them, bent over some thing, absorbed in their work. And above the crunch of shovels digging into earth, he thought he heard something more -- a voice.

Hakkai blasted one of them away before the other two looked up. As they charged towards him, he took one down, then the last slipped, tumbled sideways... and disappeared.

"Holy shit!" the wind brought a voice to his ears, and he was sure of it now -- it was Goku. At the same time, there was a scream, a youkai howl of pain. As he rushed forward, he saw why.

They'd -- or someone -- had dug a trap. Once, it had probably been covered with leaves and twigs, but then someone had triggered it and now that cover was gone. It was wide... almost six feet by six feet. In the center, two feet apart from each other, stood four large wooden stakes, sharpened to a point.

The youkai had fallen onto one. It protruded through his shoulder as he thrashed helplessly, screaming in agony. Hakkai winced, and fired. The scream twisted into silence.

"Hakkai!" another voice called. "Down here! Be careful!"

"Goku?" he moved as far forward as he dared -- he didn't trust that the very edge would hold his weight.

"Yeah! I need help! It's really deep!"

Hakkai checked his person. Nope, no rope. "Extend Nyoibou," he called to Goku. "And pass me one end. I'll pull you up."

"Alright!"

Hakkai dodged backwards as the end of Nyoibou came shooting out. The magical weapon could extend at its owner's will, and theoretically had no finite length. Which was just as well.

"Whoops! Did I hit you?" Goku called.

"No. I have it. Come on, let's get you out of there."

"Right!"

With a thunk, Nyoibou hit the ground. Hakkai and Goku flopped down beside it, gasping for breath.

"Good thing you came when you did," Goku said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Oh... I didn't manage to find Gojyo. I thought I saw him, but I think it was a trick." Goku glanced over. "Did he get back?"

"No," Hakkai brushed the hair out of his eyes.

Goku swore, muttering an expletive that he could only have learnt from Sanzo. "I'd continue looking for him, but I don't think we should split up again."

"It would be a bad idea," Hakkai agreed. "But let's have a quick look around. He can't be too far from here."

"And Hakuryuu's here," Goku pointed out. "Just in time too!"

"Hakuryuu's here..." Hakkai looked up, as the dragon came towards him, a white blur of movement. "Oh. Oh no."

***

(You probably *don't* want to hear about the outtakes regarding fried-youkai-on-a-spit, anyway.)