It was one of those wounds where it looked like, if you poked it, puss would squirt out. Kodo traced her fingers along the sickly-yellow ring that surrounded the wound in her side. It looked like a nasty giant bug bite... and she was covered with them.
"Ah! Damn it!" Kodo hissed in pain. Hakkai was cleaning one of the larger one's on her arm. He just smiled and rubbed twice as hard.
"I know you don't mean that! I'll bet you didn't even make a sound when you were receiving these injuries!" He began to wrap it up. Kodo glared at him.
"Yeah, but that's different! That was in the heat of battle!" Kodo joked. Telope sat in the corner, giggling.
"Why is you need bandage, Kodo-oneesama?" Telope asked. Her voice sounded even more childish than ever when she asked questions. Kodo thought for a moment.
"Well... Cactus needles hurt like fuck!" She smiled, nodding her head with conviction. Telope cocked her head.
"But you gets stabbed in the face and impaled through the torso so much, doesn't that hurts more?" Kodo shook her head.
"You would know, Tel-chan... you're the one that gets impaled through the heart all the time!" Telope blinked for a few seconds.
"Oh yeah! Me forgets, sometimes..." She looked down. Hakkai finished bandaging Kodo, and she jumped up off the chair.
"So where is every body?" She asked very chipper.
"You should know... Goku is always hungry!" Hakkai motioned towards the door. Telope hopped outside and all the way to the restaurant across the street, singing happily in a language that only she understood. Kodo walked after her, smiling nostalgically. She shook herself, though, realizing that a twenty-six year old was making her think of the simple childhood years.
After the incident with the cactus last night, Kodo had plenty of time to listen what really happened on the way to town.
"It seems that cactus had psychic powers and was controlling us." Hakkai said. "I woke up and it made me walk all the way to that chamber it was living in."
"I didn't wake up at all! It totally wiped my mind!" Goku added. Everyone stared at him for a few moments then laughed at the thought that there was any mind to wipe.
"So... That's why I woke up with a headache...?" Kodo asked.
"Actually, I stepped on your face..." Sanzo replied.
"I thought you said the cactus didn't control you...?" Gojyo asked.
"It didn't." There was an uncomfortable pause. "Anyway, I followed you guys down there, and when I got there the cactus just put me to sleep."
"The cactus told Telope to burn things... but the torches no worked so me asked it if me could stab instead, and he say 'Sure!'" Telope's smile faded slowly when everyone gave her a terrified look... except for Kodo, who was used to this sort of thing.
"Well... I guess that was pretty interesting, huh?" Kodo asked, not wanting the silence to continue.
"My question would be why was that thing so easy to kill?" Sanzo asked.
"It was only a chapter 3 demon, Sanzo! It didn't stand a chance!" Hakkai replied.
"Huh?"
"Nothing..."
Kodo sat down heavily on the wooden chair. She sighed and glanced around. Gojyo was playing cards with some creepy dude. Kodo jumped when Telope suddenly appeared behind him.
"What does two sixes means?" She asked, staring intently at his hand. Kodo's eyes widened and she tried to pull Telope away from him. Telope fought back and there was an awkward struggle until Kodo grabbed Telope's ear. She was immediately pacified. Kodo looked down and saw Gojyo putting his face on the table.
"Damn... I've been on a loosing streak ever since I met you two!" He stood up and pointed an accusing finger at them, frustrated. Kodo was about to assume a fighting stance when one of her wounds popped open.
"GAHH!" She cried, tipping over. "Err... those cactus thorns hurt like hell! I need a drink!" Gojyo sighed and laughed. Hakkai, Goku and Sanzo walked in just as Kodo was getting up.
"You're just in time!" Gojyo hailed them. "Kodo had a wonderful idea. How about we celebrate a healthy recover with a couple (dozen) rounds of drinks!"
"Wouldn't that be kind of unhealthy?" Hakkai asked.
"Nonsense! Have a seat! Drinks are on Sanzo!" Gojyo ushered them to a table. Telope's eyes suddenly widened.
"Is... we... DRINKING???" She cried happily. "I LOVES you guys!"
And... the first round!
"Well... this is nice!" Kodo said to Telope. She nodded in approval.
"Just to let you know, I'm not going to take the rap for the underage drinkers, ok?" Hakkai warned, chugging his first glass.
And the fifth round!
"Koduu...uneesama! We has nu done this fur lung time!" Telope laughed, licking the glass clean.
"Nope we hasn't... ahaha! I just talked like you!" Kodo started giggling abnormally.
"Z...z...z..." Oh! Goku's out!
And the tenth round!
"You can't... just decide whether I am... sexually active or not! That's MY decision... just keep the fuck away from me! I have a gun!" Sanzo pulled out his gun, fiddling with the barrel.
"You so... wasted!" Kodo sniffled, shaking her head. Telope jumped up on the table, pouring another glass down her throat. She set it down and started to undo her top.
"Is hut in hur!" She said. Kodo jumped onto the table, too.
"Nuuu! Don't!" She cried. Gojyo laughed and clapped his hands.
"Yeah! Take it off!" He whistled. Telope gave him a vacant look, then looked back at Kodo, starting to lift up her shirt.
"DON'T!" Kodo tackled her onto the floor, trying to pull her shirt back down with her reduced dexterity, often missing and poking her in the face.
"But ee wants me to does!" Telope cried, smacking Kodo in the face. Kodo yelled.
"Dun't lissen to 'im! He's gonna getchuu!" Kodo grabbed Telope's arms, but she was fighting her off.
'oow! gerroff! ahhh! duuun't!' For about five minutes, Telope and Kodo wrestled on the floor. Gojyo watched grinning and laughing.
"Gojyo... are you doing what I think you're doing...?" Hakkai asked, afraid to know the answer.
"Uh... Kinda..."
"Dude! SICK!" Goku got his second wind! Sanzo sat with his head propped up on his hands on the table, staring off into the great blue yonder. With all the smoke around him, and the glass of beer next to him, he looked like he could've been on a Cowboy Bebop wall scroll.
Finally the struggle was over and the two were passed out on the floor, Telope's feet in Kodo's face... Not in the most dignified positions. Finally, Hakkai sighed and stood up slowly, and looked around. All the other customers had left, and the bartender looked like he was about to fall asleep himself.
"Fuck if I'M gonna clean this mess up..." He pushed in his chair and walked out the door.
