A Fools Dream
~Chapter: 3~
"Ow, dammit!" cried Goku as a rush of crimson strands flew into his face, tickling his skin in an uncomfortable manner. They were on the next leg of their journey, and had been since they had left the town about three days ago now.
"What's the problem?" Gojyo asked, moving his head slightly over his shoulder, as the wind blew fiercely in his face, created by the fast speed Hakkai was driving at. 'I swear he gets a kick out of this…I mean who would guess that he of all people could drive like this?!' the redhead thought, as he pushed some hair out of his face.
"Ow! It's that damned girly hair of yours! It's blowing in my face!" the young youkai said in a heated tone, as he swatted the stray strands away from his face. He let out a frustrated growl, as the wind blew the plume of red back in his face.
"Hey, my hair ain't the thing that's girly around here, your whining is!" the half-breed shot back, turning his face to glance over his shoulder to see Goku's angered expression, "if you're unhappy, just move your seating position, idiot,"
"I don't whine like a girl, and stop calling me an idiot! Bastard kappa!" the youth snapped, once again brushing the strands out of his face, only to have them blown back into his face yet again. Gojyo chuckled lightly as Goku let out a frustrated cry, but was taken by surprise as the teen took a sudden hold of his hair, and began to twine it viciously into a bun.
"Hey! Get your dirty hands off of my hair, you crazy ape!" the redhead exclaimed in surprise and anger, as he threw his hands off of the secure hold he had to keep himself from flying out of the jeep, and clasped them about the younger youkai's. He struggled to remove the hands, only causing pain to shoot from the roots that were planted in his scalp, making him sure that the struggle would result in the removal of a few, if not all of his hair.
"It's not my fault if you can't control you hair, asshole, and don't call me an ape!" Goku replied, as he shoved his body into Gojyo's back, trying to keep him from releasing the grip he had on his hair.
"Fuck you, brainless bastard!" the redhead growled, as he managed to successfully pry off a finger, only to have it snap back in place once he had let go of it. He grit his teeth in frustration and rolled off of his seat, landing on the base of the jeep with a 'thud', feeling the wind being driven out of the young youkai as the half-breeds weight fell upon him. He reached behind him, and over his head, his hands meeting with the tousled tufts of brown hair belonging to his assailant. Goku let out a cry of pain as Gojyo tugged at his hair, "Ha, fair's fair, or as you'd say 'What goes around comes around,' brainless ape!" he chimed, wincing as the other tugged at his long strands.
"Quit your fighting, bastards," Sanzo growled from the front seat, his harsh words amazingly managing to break through the sounds of their struggle. His brow twitched when they continued to fight, and it appeared that they had no intention of stopping, "I said stop fighting, you fucking assholes!" he roared, as he turned about and smacked the pair with his paper fan. The jeep came to a sudden, screeching halt, sending anyone who wasn't securely seated lurching forwards, or in the case of Goku and Gojyo, crashing into the backs of the front seats.
"Dammit, Hakkai! Why did you stop like that?!" Sanzo snapped suddenly, having had not enough time to quell the anger he felt towards the previously squabbling pair, who were now groaning in pain as they pushed themselves up off the base of the jeep.
"Ah, I'm sorry Sanzo…but there seems to be a battle going on ahead, which seems to be a little one sided," the dark haired driver replied, smiling apologetically and giving a look that matched. Sanzo scowled and looked ahead, sure enough there was a battle consisting of a dozen youkai and two people, one of whom appeared to be knocked unconscious. "So…what should we do?"
"Help out of course! You never know, the person may be a really good looking woman, and may be in the mood to reward us…well, namely me," Gojyo answered quickly, before the monk could reply. He had managed to bring himself up to survey the scene, and was now ignoring the death-glare that the blond was fixing on him, while Hakkai merely chuckled.
"Is that all you think about, you pervert, adding a new name or number, to your ever growing list of bedded women?!" Goku exclaimed, pulling himself up and leaning against the seat in front of him, which happened to be Sanzo's. He looked ahead and watched as the standing figure among the youkai, dodged an attack from one of the attackers and rammed what looked like a blunt weapon into the space between their shoulder blades. The figure then continued to dance out of the way of weapons and attacks, keeping a suitable distance between the youkai and the fallen figure. "Hmm…well we are a little out of practice, and they are in our way…so let's go!" the youth sang out, and jumped out of the jeep, making his way towards the battle while calling out for his Nyoibou, clearly ignoring the protesting cries and threats that the monk was giving him.
"Hey! Wait up!" Gojyo cried, leaping out of the jeep after him, their earlier disagreement tucked away for a later time, and possibly date. He disappeared in a rush of red, blue and brown; a barely discernible figure directed towards the fray ahead, their voice crying out for their weapon, which promptly appeared in a sudden gathering of light. Hakkai chuckled and shook his head in amusement as he saw the two making their way eagerly towards the battle, then looked up to meet the angered face of Sanzo, who had stood up in his seat, fuming silently.
"Maybe, we should join them," the dark-haired man suggested, his voice coming out low and tentative.
~*~
Dodge, Sidestep, Dance and Twirl – these were the keys to survival that had been trained into her, since the time she was able. Slash, Jab, Parry, Leap and Follow-up – these were the etiquettes to offence, which went hand-in-hand with the keys to survival. Currently these techniques had been called upon yet again, this time against a dozen or so youkai. They had outnumbered and overpowered a foolish girl, whose motives were a mystery, as she had simply come upon the group preparing to do as they willed with her unconscious form. She jumped back from an attack, and slashed her weapon out towards them, rending a deep gash across their belly, and then leaped out of the way as another youkai prepared to place a well-aimed blow with a club. She continued to block and dodge the many attacks that came her way, waiting for an opening so she could counterattack, but none seemed likely for the moment.
A sudden flash of red accompanied by a battle cry caught her by surprise, the sound accompanied by a howl of death, and red liquid to be sent across her path. Another cry erupted, followed by the sound of rending flesh and crunching bones as a body was severed, the contents spilling out, as again a similar red liquid was sprayed about. She pushed back a youkai that currently had their weapon against hers, and then gripped the casing that gave her weapon the illusion of being blunt, and removed it to reveal a polished blade. As the youkai gained their balance and made a rush towards her, she drove the blade into their gut, the tip protruding way past their back. She grunted under the heavy weight of her would-be attacker, and heaved with all her strength, sending them tumbling backwards, their life extinguished, leaving a bloody stain on her grey robes.
She drew her elbow back, the sound of cartilage crunching, as the jolt of a successful impact ran through her arm. She turned about, her robes flying about her, as she prepared to attack and slashed across the youkai's body, watching it cry in pain as it fell to the ground at her feet, its life expelling from the empty shell of its one-time body. Her eyes flew up, catching sight of the battle commencing ahead, two more had joined her fight, the fight she had taken upon herself when she had spotted the injustice about to happen. She sought out the unconscious figure, and found them safely aside, a sigh of relief passing through. She sheathed her blade, and made her way to the figure, watching as the two newcomers dodged and fought against the rogue youkai. The taller of the two had caught her attention, crimson hair whipping about his tanned face – a half youkai fighting against full-blooded ones, a curious sight indeed. The shorter had brown hair and seemed to be enjoying himself, as he leapt over the attackers, ramming his red coloured weapon into them, whenever there was an opening.
A sudden flash of light filled her vision, and she instinctively dusked as whatever the thing was roared her way, taking with it any youkai that had been in its destructive path. Gunshots followed shortly after, the cries of more dying youkai filling the air, just who were these people and why were they aiding her, or rather taking part in this fight. Time seemed to fly past unnoticeably as she kept her head down, not sure when it would be a convenient time to rise from where she lay, close to the unconscious girl. Cries and various sounds she thought she'd never hear filled the air between her and the others; despite the training she had, she really wasn't prepared for this kind of violence, as it was different to the ones she dealt out.
"Hey, you okay?" a clear voice asked, the owner keeping their tone gentle so as not to frighten her. She sensed them kneel over, feeling their shadow falling over her as the came in for a closer look, "Hey…can you hear me?"
"Why are you even bothering, they're probably just unconscious or something," came a harsher tone of voice, much different from the one that was looking over her.
"Are you sure they're unconscious? They could just be faking it, since they probably don't want to look up to see the kappa's ugly face," came another, much lighter voice, which suddenly cried out in pain as something obviously hit them. She felt a hand place itself gently upon her shoulder, shaking her gently, trying to rouse her. What was keeping her fro responding, was she afraid, or was it that she didn't want to see their faces for fear of being recognised. She could feel the pressure becoming slightly greater as whoever it was, was attempting to roll her over, when she let out a low moan, a tactic she hoped would tell them that she had been unconscious all this time. She pushed herself up slowly; making sure that her face was well hidden in the shadow of her wide-brimmed hat, the garment used to keep the Sun out of her eyes as she travelled. The one closest to her was young; he had dark hair and amazing green eyes, the right one bearing a monocle.
"Are you okay?" they asked, as her eyes flicked up to survey the others. Sure enough, the one with red hair was a half-breed; the shortest of the four was rubbing their brown-topped head, as they shot death glares at the taller man. Her eyes continued to wander and fell upon the last one, the unusual crown of blond hair topping his head, and effectively masking the minute red chakra upon his brow, that marked him as a Sanzo. His piercing violet eyes bore into hers; scrutinizing her and the situation they had found her in. "Excuse me…" the green-eyed man prompted, recapturing her attention.
"Ena…my name's Ena, thank you for helping me," she said, keeping her voice purposely low and deep, hoping that it would throw them off her true self. She pushed herself up, coming to her feet and made sure that her weapon was securely at her lower-back, "I must be going now…please, make sure this girl gets to the town safely, I fear she may need medical help of some sort," she continued, indicating the unconscious girl, and stepped away from the group of men. She nodded and bowed, then turned and continued on her way, keeping her pace deliberately calm so as not to arise any form of suspicion.
"Did that seem weird to you in any way?" Gojyo asked, once the person they had just lent their aid to relieved themselves of their company. Hakkai came to his feet and moved towards the unconscious form, and began to check her over.
"Yup, it sure did…but we have to get this girl to the town, I can only examine so much," Hakkai said, leaning back from the girls body and indicating the extent of his medical abilities. Sanzo scowled in displeasure, he obviously didn't like the idea of taking another person's advice other than those he would like to hear it from – this girl wasn't their problem, she had been found by that oddball of a traveller and was now flung into their hands.
"I say we just leave her here for some other traveller to pick up, she isn't of our concern," he said, his voice stern and final as he spoke his decision.
"But Sanzo, we're heading to the town anyway, can't we just lug her along and leave her at the hospital or whatever medical place they have?" the young youkai asked, stepping between the elder monk and unconscious girl.
"That would be a more logical idea, considering the likelihood of another traveller passing by within the next few minutes of our leave," the green-eyed man mused, trying to keep his personal opinion out of the conversation.
"It would also be the most gentleman-like thing you'll ever do, and possibly the only one," the redhead said, trying the approach of flattery, "plus no-one'll know but us, and we're not gonna tell anyone," Sanzo scowled and shot each one a withering glare, this was something he hated greatly, having his word over-ridden by the three he travelled with.
"Why do I even bother speaking my ideas, when it'll always be torn down by pathetic excuses and attempts to soften my mind," the monk hissed, keeping with great effort to keep his tone under control, "it's a vain attempt, so you idiots can do whatever, I don't care," he turned about and made his way to the jeep, leaving the three youkai to do whatever they wished or agreed upon. The three smiled and followed after their leader, the girl being carried by Hakkai, as they returned to the jeep and continued the remaining journey to the next town.
~*~*~*~
A/N: Thanks for being patient, I'm sorry for the late update, but as can be seen, I'm back from my holiday and ready to complete this story among the other one I'm working on for FF7.