When they arrived at the campsite Hakkai had pointed out on the map, Gojyo, Hakkai, Sanzo and Goku jumped out of the jeep and began setting up camp. They had done it so many times before; they each knew exactly what to do. Hong-san was left in the jeep, staring at them as they worked.
Sanzo and Goku quickly set up bedrolls beneath the cover of a large weeping willow, as it was too hot out to sleep in tents. Goku tied some branches together on the side closer to the road while Sanzo wove extra sticks and leaves in, providing additional coverage in case someone drove by at night.
Hakkai dug a shallow pit and lined it with flat stones he found by road. Collecting dry leaves, he met Gojyo coming back from the woods loaded down with branches for the fire.
As they set their loads down, Hakkai yawned, stretching a crick out of his back. Gojyo looked concernedly at him and grabbed his arm to make him sit down.
"I'm okay," Hakkai told him. "Just a bit tired." He yawned again and kneeled down to start the fire. Piling the branches in a neat pile, he heaped the dry leaves on top and held his hand up for Gojyo's lighter. When he didn't get it, he looked up at Gojyo to see what was wrong.
Gojyo was watching Hong-san as she gathered fallen branches and sticks from the ground and deposited them in a pile. Hakkai nudged Gojyo's leg; he jumped, and looked down and Hakkai with a grin.
"Sorry. Got a bit distracted there." He handed Hakkai the lighter and knelt down beside him. "There's something weird about her. I don't know what it is, but it's like she's never seen anyone friendly before in her life."
"Well," Hakkai said, stifling another yawn. "Maybe she hasn't." Gojyo shrugged as Hakkai lit the pile of leaves; a fire which soon spread to the twigs, then the larger branches. "Hong-san," he called. She looked over to him, her arms full of sticks. "Put the pile over here, we'll need it later."
He stumbled wearily over to the jeep with Gojyo, and began to unload the bags. Placing the one with food supplies by the fire, he went back for more. He sat on the front seat for a moment, catching his easily lost breath. His eyelids fluttered and in a moment, he fell asleep.
"We won't need dinner for at least an hour," Gojyo muttered to himself. Satisfied for the moment, he walked away a bit to smoke a cigarette. Coming back after finishing two, he saw Hakkai sitting up, but still slumped over the dashboard. He was watching the fire as it burned, red and orange at the edges, turning white with heat at the center, almost blue, yellow tongues of flame dancing and flying up into the air, then falling to the ground and glinting out.
Hong-san was sitting next to it stirring a small pot and adding a pinch of leaves Gojyo had seen her collect earlier.
"Hey Hong-san," he called, striding over. "What're you doing?"
"Cooking dinner," she replied timidly.
"Why?"
"Hakkai looks tired. I thought I'd cook so he could sleep. But, if I'm not supposed to…I mean, if you wanted…" She scooted back a bit, away from the fire.
Gojyo shook his head, "No, it's fine. I can't cook and the monkey's probably hungry." 'I don't know if this is the best idea,' he thought to himself. 'We still can't really trust her…'
She slid back forward and added another leaf from the pile by her foot.
"What are those?"
"It's just basil and thyme. I found some by that tree over there. I thought it would make the stew taste better."
"Stew?"
"Yes, the old cook back at the inn made it sometimes. He said he learned it from an easterner. He was fired for…for defending me from my father." She turned her head away, but not before Gojyo saw her scrub her eyes with her fist.
"Okay, okay. Keep cooking."
She nodded. "Dinner's about ready now anyway. Do you have bowls?"
Gojyo pointed to the bag with the food supplies. "In there. Second compartment. I'm surprised you didn't notice them when you took it." She gave a small smile as he went to the jeep to wake up Hakkai.
When he came back, he found Sanzo and Goku sitting down already and Hong-san pouring stew into four of the bowls. She took the ladle and nudged chunks of meat that were stuck to the bottom in the last bowl. She handed that one to Goku.
Sanzo looked at the four bowls, each of which had green herbs swimming in broth. He exchanged a three way glance with Hakkai and Gojyo. "Why don't you have a bowl?" He asked Hong-san, who had retreated out of the firelight to sit curled up in a patch of grass.
"I'm not hungry," she murmured. "And there's not a lot. I though you would want more."
Hakkai shook his head. "No, no. Come eat." He took out a fifth bowl they had in case another one broke. He, Gojyo and Hakkai all poured some from their bowls into hers. He smiled thinly, offering it to her. "See, there's plenty."
She took the extended bowl and reached into her sash for a pair of chopsticks. "Thank you," she said softly, and picked up a piece of meat with some herbs stuck to it. As she raised it to her mouth, she saw the four men staring at her, with Sanzo's violet eyes regarding her with silent scorn, Goku's gold ones confused, Gojyo's crimson orbs staring intently at her and Hakkai's calm emerald ones merely gazing upon her.
Unnerved by their silent scrutiny, she lowered her eyes and bit into the morsel. After chewing and swallowing, she put the rest in her mouth and looked up.
They lowered their gazes as she looked up, and began eating. Goku finished his first and looked eagerly in the pot for more. Finding none, he glanced around the fire, hoping someone would have some they didn't want.
Hong-san, seeing he was still hungry, held her mostly full bowl out to him. He took it, confused. "Aren't you hungry?"
Hong-san shook her head and drew back to sit in the grass she occupied earlier. Curling up with her arms next to her knees and her head tilted onto one her shoulders, she waited for the meal to finish.
As each of the men placed their empty dishes in a pile, Hakkai opened his hand revealing bits of meat he had picked out of his bowl. Hakuryuu, in his natural form, flew over and alighted on his wrist. He bent his long neck and began munching on the offered food.
Hong-san smiled at the dragon, then as he finished his meal and began nudging Hakkai's cheek lovingly, she laughed softly. When Hakkai looked over at her, she bit her lip. "Sorry." Quickly turning away, she collected the dirty bowls and chopsticks and stacked them up. Standing up with them, she began walking away.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sanzo fixed her with a cold stare.
"I-I saw a stream up the road a bit," she mumbled. "Maybe a mile. I thought I'd wash the dishes for tomorrow."
Sanzo nodded. "Fine. But try to be back within the hour."
She nodded and continued to walk away toward the road and back the way they had come. Soon she was lost in the dark of the woods.
"How much you wanna bet this is the last we see of her?" Gojyo asked, lighting up another cigarette.
"I don't think so." Goku shook his head at Gojyo's suggestion. "She didn't take her clothes or books."
"Gods help us," Gojyo muttered. "The monkey actually has a point. This girl, she gets ready to run away in a time when demons would rather kill you then help you, and she brings a bag of books. And you didn't see her a few nights ago, when her father burned those books. She was in tears. Yeah, I know some people like books, but she looked like someone just killed her dog, not burned a few wads of paper." He shook his head and took a drag from his cigarette.
Hakkai sat by the fire on a large rock, petting Hakuryuu and trying to stay awake. "She apologized for laughing," he said as if to no one. "She came from a home where she was punished for laughing. What kind of a man was he, to dissuade joy and youth so badly that she feels happiness is wrong?" He shook his head sadly and yawned. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to bed." He walked over to his bedroll and lay down with Hakuryuu on his stomach; soon soft sounds of snoring came were heard.
The other three walked around the clearing, trying to collect as much firewood as possible before all daylight was lost. Enough to last the whole night, if not more.
When they had a large pile of stick next to, but not too close to, the fire, they sat back and watched the last of the suns rays disappear behind the trees. They decided to choose watch order before it was time to go to bed, so there would be no arguing in the dead of night.
"I'll take first," Gojyo declared. "I want as smooth a night as I can get."
"Hakkai usually has second," Goku said. "So unless we want to make the watches longer…"
"I'll take second," a voice said from the shadows. They turned around to find Hong-san putting the cleaned and dried dishes back in the bag. "Y-you don't need to make them longer. I can even watch the whole night if you'd like to sleep. I won't run away."
So she had heard their quiet exchange. "No," Sanzo shook his head at her.
"Oh. Okay." She nodded slowly and walked back over to the patch of grass. She took off her sash and shoes, unaware of their watchful eyes, and set them aside. As she curled up once more, to go to sleep this time, she seemed to blend into the ground until only Goku could hear or see her.
"I'll do second," Sanzo said. "And Goku can take the rest of the night."
"Hey, why me?" Goku complained. "Why can't the water sprite do it?"
"Because you can sleep all day."
"So can he."
Sanzo took out his gun and pointed it at Goku forehead. "If you want to sleep longer, just say the word," he growled. "I'm so ready to kill you right now."
"Okay, okay. I'll do it. But if we do this any more Gojyo gets a turn too."
Sanzo and Goku retreated to their bedrolls, pulling the covers up high to ward off any bugs that might think them food. Sanzo pulled down his robe leaving him topped in skin tight leather. He extracted his gun from the folds of cloth and placed it by the pack of clothes serving as a pillow.
Gojyo lit up a cigarette and leaned against a large tree by the beds. When he slapped a droning mosquito against his arm, he looked over to the grass where Hong-san silently slept wondering if the bugs were feasting on her as well.
Padding softly over to her, he looked down to see her curled up tightly with her forehead resting against knees and a light brown cloak covering her still form.
He shook his head and went back to the tree; taking a drag from his cigarette, he tossed a few more branches into the fire and stirred it up with a stick.
Leaning against the tree he sighed and slapped another mosquito. It would be a long night.
Two hours after Sanzo's eyes closed and Goku's snoring began, Gojyo snubbed out a last cigarette. He stood creakily up and stretched out his back, shaking out his hands and feet.
'Time to wake Sanzo up,' he thought glumly. 'Bets on how fast the gun is at my head. He's got the reflexes of a demon.'
As he shook his head out one last time, he felt a small hand tentatively touch his shoulder. In a flash he was spinning around with his foot extended; as the form fell heavily to the ground, he had his shakujou over its neck, with a prong on each side. Nudging it with his foot, he tossed aside the cloak covering it.
A head of red hair showed up against the leaves, with frightened eyes of the same color beneath.
"Hong-san? Oh for the love of…"
He banished the shakujou and squatted by her side. As he grasped her hand to help her up, she squeaked and squirmed out of his grip. Scrambling backward, she quickly rose.
'Well, this probably didn't help with her opinion of other half breed,' he thought grimly. 'Damnit. We can't have someone scared of me sitting right across in the jeep from me.'
"What're you doing up?" he asked, trying to keep his voice kind.
"I-I thought Goku would b-be tired and if I t-took a watch he'd g-get more sleep," she stuttered, eyeing him wildly. "Cause I c-can sleep on the road t-too and I won't fall as-sleep, promise."
Gojyo thought about it. "Well, as long as you wake the monkey up next, I can claim a mistake. Just make sure Sanzo doesn't see you."
She nodded fervently and gestured toward his bedroll.
"Okay. I'll go to sleep," he smiled at her. "Wait, do you have a weapon? In case someone tries to sneak up on us, you kill them and yell as loud as you can."
She nodded again and pulled out the kitchen knife she had used on Hakkai.
"That'll work." He blinked sleepily at her and walked over to his bedroll. The last thing he saw before he closed his eyes was Hong-san standing quietly against the tree with the knife stuck in the wood behind her.
An hour and a half after Gojyo fell asleep, Sanzo woke up and looked around. He should have been woken up by now. Scowling, he looked around and saw both Goku's and Gojyo's slumbering forms. The fire hadn't died low, but perhaps Gojyo had left it with plenty of wood because it was clearly well into the second watch.
He sat up, glowering at Gojyo. The man had obviously left the watch to the girl, who had run.
Looking around he saw shapes that looked slightly like her bags, but she could have made a fake bag for just this instance.
Silently cursing Gojyo, he leaned against the tree and looked around. At the end of this watch, he would go wake up Gojyo and make him stand the whole night. Any demon could have attacked while he slept peacefully.
A few minutes before he was ready to wake Gojyo up, he heard a voice go 'whoa!' and a loud thump. Spinning his gun around, he focused it in on the area that the noise has come from.
He cocked his gun and pointed it at the small explosion of leaves at the foot of a small oak tree. He held it steady for a moment, then scowled and put it away when he saw red hair showing through the leaves swirling in the air.
Hong-san stood up, the short cigarette in her hand lit despite the fall. She took a quick pull from it, then threw it into the fire. Picking up the largest branch, she tossed it into the fire before taking out another cigarette and holding it next to the fire until it lit up. Taking a drag from that one, she turned to the tree and stood on her tip-toes and reached up to the branch she had fallen off of; pulling the kitchen knife out of the wood on her former perch, she stuck it into her bag and turned around to wake up Goku.
Hong-san took two steps forward before spotting Sanzo. She squeaked and tightened her hand around the cigarette, effectively smothering it. It looked like it hurt but she seemed to ignore it. Instead, she appeared to change right before his eyes; with her back stooping, her shoulders curving over and her crimson eyes widening to plate size above the hand placed over her mouth.
Sanzo narrowed his eyes at her; she was supposed to be asleep. "What were you doing? Why did Gojyo leave you on watch?"
She trembled as he glared at her. "I'm r-really sorry. Gojyo s-said that I could wake Goku up s-so he could get more sleep and I-I kept watch and don't get mad at Gojyo 'cause it w-was my f-fault and I just wanted t-to help." Her eyes filled with tears as the ferocity of his scowl greatened.
"And why shouldn't I be mad at him?" Sanzo demanded. "That perverted idiot didn't listen to me!" She shrank away from him as his voice rose. He sighed and made a visible effort to lower his tone.
"You need to go to bed now. It's my watch anyway." She nodded and started walking back out to her patch of grass. "Wait, Hong-san." she turned back around. "Sleep over here. We need to stay together."
She reached down, grabbed her cloak and walked back to the tree; slinging the cloak over the branch, she hoisted herself up and arranged her self in the crotch of the tree.
"No." she looked back down at Sanzo. "I meant on the ground. If anyone's in trouble we need to be close enough to help, however much I hate to admit it." He shook his head to himself. 'What am I doing? I'm taking care of this girl like I'm her mother or something!'
She widened her eyes again and stopped, not knowing what to do. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'I can't sleep near them, but Sanzo said I had to. I can't disobey him; he'll hit me! I saw him hit Goku with the fan, what's to say he won't hit me without it if I say no?'
She slowly climbed down from her branch and stood in front of the three sleeping males. 'Hakkai seems really nice. But then again, so did Bran. Then he…' she banished the thought from her mind, shaking her head to rid it of the idea that Hakkai would hurt her. But it wouldn't leave. She simply didn't trust him enough. Nor Gojyo. 'Gojyo looks scary. I guess I really shouldn't be afraid of him, but he knocked me over and looked like he was going to kill me. Not Gojyo.' She shifted her gaze to the slumbering Goku. 'He was really nice and he let me sit with him so I wouldn't get myself a concussion. I guess he's okay.'
She took her cloak, carefully laid it down next to, but no too close to, the sleeping form, and curled up on it. After a moment, she too was asleep.
Sanzo scowled at her. Why the hell had he let her come along? It was her business whether or not that man did anything to her. Why couldn't she have run away without stealing from them?
He lit up a cigarette and contemplated the glowing tip for a moment before taking a long pull from it. The stupid kid couldn't come with them to stop Gyumaoh; The Sanbutsushinhad assigned the task to the four of them, not some damn kid who'd get in the way. There was no way she could even fight.
Sanzo stared moodily at the cigarette until the line of ash dropped onto his hand. He cursed and shook it off, then stubbed it out, not bothering to light another one. Sitting down at the bottom the tree, he placed his gun within easy reach and tossed another branch into the fire.
Goku woke to the smell of meat sizzling in the fire and the sound of arguing from the two more aggressive of his companions. He closed his eyes again for a moment before feeling hot air hit the back of his neck, once, twice, and a third time; he stiffened and carefully opened his eyes. He slowly turned over to his other side to see who was behind him.
Hong-san was lying facing him, close enough to feel her breath on his skin. She looked like she had moved in the night, as her cloak was several feet behind her. The sun was rising right behind her and made her hair seem to glow in the light. Her pale skin contrasted sharply with her scarlet hair and blue shirt and looked smooth and soft all over, except where a few bruises remained from her life with her father.
As he watched her, her eyelids fluttered slightly; a sure sign she was waking up. Goku quickly sat up and scooted over, before linking his fingers together and stretching them high above his head, hearing the joints crack. He turned around to see Hong-san looking at him, but as soon as she saw him facing her, she muttered an apology and began bundling up her cloak.
She served them their meal, under protest from Hakkai, and put out the fire. As the four men packed up, she ran to the spring to wash their used dishes and to fill a large sealed jug with water.
Hong-san was back before they were finished, and helped them put everything in the jeep, carefully avoiding contact with them. After that, she and Hakkai scattered leaves over the campsite to make it look like it hadn't been disturbed. When they got back in the jeep, Hakkai twisted around in his seat and smiled at Hong-san. She smiled back, a bit nervously.
"You know Hong-san," he began. "You don't have to do everything. None of us are invalids, and we can pull our own weight."
She muttered something and ducked her head to avoid looking at him,
"What was that? I didn't quite catch it." Hakkai smiled innocently at her as she carefully looked up.
"I-I want to help. I like doing things. At least for you guys." The last part was said so softly he almost didn't catch it. She lowed her head again and moved to very edge of the seat, as to give Goku more room.
Hakkai raised an eyebrow, but said nothing; turning back around, he switched on the gas and started driving.
They drove in silence for a while; a peaceful silence, with the birds twittering loudly in the trees besides the road and the sun gently warming the jeep.
Hong-san soon found that teetering on the edge was not very comfortable; she slid closer in and saw Goku had done the same. She was right next to him, but made sure he could still move at anytime.
Gojyo saw both Goku and Hong-san sitting stiffly side-by-side and laughed to himself. Goku didn't know what he was getting himself into.
Hong-san soon grew warm and quite sleepy from her lack of sleep the night before. Her eyelids fluttered and she rubbed her fists in her eyes in a futile attempt to stay awake. Soon they began to close again and without any warning, her head drooped and landed gently on Goku shoulder.
Goku started, but sat still when he saw Gojyo's gesture to be quiet. He shrugged with his free hand and looked to Hakkai and Sanzo for help.
Hakkai saw what happened in the rearview mirror and smiled at Goku, who glanced at Sanzo. "Don't think I'm going to be quiet because the brat needs to sleep," he said irritably. "She's already enough trouble without stopping me from yelling."
"Don't worry about that," Hakkai laughed softly. "I doubt much short of a battle would wake her up. She looks sound asleep."
Goku looked down at the girl sleeping on his shoulder and grinned. "I like her better this way," he said to Gojyo. Then seeing the look Gojyo gave him, he scowled. "You know I didn't mean it like that, you perverted water sprite! I just meant it's better then all the sorrys and meek stuff! I don't like girls like you."
Gojyo smirked. "I'll bet. We'll see."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Goku asked suspiciously. But Gojyo just smirked all-knowingly.
Goku scowled at the other red-head, then spoiled the effect by yawning.
"Ha. Does the likkle baby need a nap?"
"No! I'm just....a little tired."
"Sure." Gojyo watched Goku as he followed Hong-san's example. He yawned again, struggling to keep his eyes open and not wake Hong-san by moving too much. Soon his head drooped, and it landed softly on top of Hong-san's. His closed eyes fluttered for a moment in a futile attempt to wake up, then he too was fast asleep.
A/N
I'm so sorry for not updating! I was at camp, then in Maine, and now school started. I just got some new medication a week ago which makes me really drowsy and I've been to tired to see the letters. I tried but they turned all blurry. I know all this is absolutely no excuse at all. I'll try really hard to get the next chapter out, but a plot bunny with really sharp fangs bit me, and told me to go HP. Of course I'm still writing this one, I have so many plans for it, Homura included. I do believe there'll be some of Seiten Taitsen in here. The Gaiden part just might be abandoned, though. I had a great idea for it, but not enough of one. I'm babbling right about now, and I really need to dunk my head in a bucket of ice water. This chapter's a little short because I think I needed more details, so to avoid that in the future, do you know anyone willing to be a beta reader. I need one, and I don't trust my friend who's reading this to do it. (Nyah nyah) Gonna post now, so (I stole this) 'Until the future happens (Which it often does) LOVE, PEACE, and other such concepts.'
Many thanks to:
Kai/Ray:
Romeo: