Hello all!
Many apologies, I just realized that I forgot to write anything whatsoever at the end of the previous chapter, so I shall do it here. I am so sorry! Well, here's the next chapter…I hope you like this, too.
…
"Are you sure this is the right way to the Jeep?" Qing asked as she followed Goku. The dark forest was seriously starting to creep her out, especially since there was a homicidal psychopath somewhere out there—besides Sanzo. God knew how many 'Chucky' doll thingies were out there watching her right now.
She shuddered, and wished that she had a flame thrower or a low-yield nuclear device or something.
"Yeah." Goku frowned as he looked around. The trees looked all the same, and he wasn't too sure. "Hmmm…we've been through here, right?"
She squinted. "I don't know…they kind of look the same." She groaned. "We're lost, aren't we? This is just swell. I get lost in the middle of nowhere with a kid and who knows how many crazed Chucky thingies are out there?"
Goku frowned, mildly affronted. "I'm not a kid! What's a…Chucky? Is it edible?" At that word, his stomach growled and he groaned. "Great…now I'm hungry. Did you have to talk about food?"
She stared at him, aghast. "Excuse me, Mister Frog In A Well? Chucky's not edible. Didn't you watch the movie? The little freaky doll guy just goes around killing people and everything."
He looked confused. What did it have to do with a frog? "Huh?"
Before she could respond, he perked up as he caught sight of the Jeep in the distance. "Oh, look. Jeep's there! See, I told you we weren't lost!"
She snorted derisively. "You're going to have to be really retarded or something if we got lost in that short distance. What are we gonna get?"
Goku shrugged. "I'll get the water, you get the rest of the supplies. We're gonna have to bring everything back to them, anyway, and I don't know if Gojyo needs anything for his wound." Qing glanced over at him and realized that despite his tone, what happened earlier had shaken him to the core. She supposed that although Monk Boy shot at them on a regular basis, he'd never seen him actually shoot Gojyo before. She would be lying if she said that what had happened hadn't affected her in the least.
Rong Zi Qing was afraid, and she was furious that a mere person with a knack of dollmaking and just so happened to be a few fries short of a Happy Meal could make her feel this way.
Before she came here, she was fearless. She was everything a girl ever wanted, rich, beautiful, and popular. Her word had been law; every single thing she wore set the trend. She was admired and envied by the girls, and practically worshipped by the boys. Now, it seemed like a million years away from her. To survive, she knew that she had to fight. It wasn't that different from where she came from, really. Only in here, you fought with your strength, not your wits. And in here, Qing had been closely acquainted with the words 'fear' and 'terror' much more than she would ever care to be.
Back in her world, Qing had been on the top of the heap, the crème de la crème. Staying on the top had not been easy, but she was not going to relinquish the crown anytime soon.
Here, she decided, it would be the same thing, too. She had to get stronger, and it was only then that she would be able to go home. Stronger meant not bothering with other people's businesses.
Why should I even care, really? She thought. I'm just sticking with them until I can get home, so what happens is not my problem unless it's hurting me or impeding my progress. So far, it kinda looks like what's-his-name is ignoring me and going for the big cheese. Well, that's pretty much excluding me, which is a good thing. So why should I bother?
That particular train of thought, for some reason that was impossible for her to fathom, was gradually losing it's credibility for her. Annoyed with herself, she rolled her eyes and patted him on the shoulder. Oh, what the hell. These guys must be growing on me much more than I thought they would. Worse than Chia Pets.
"Gojyo didn't die, did he?" She pointed out. "The guy's like a cockroach or something; just look at his feelers! Now come on. This place is giving me the wiggins."
Goku shrugged. He didn't feel much better, but sometimes a little was enough. It was just strange that Qing would be the one who would try to comfort him; he didn't figure her for a mothering kind of person. But since Hakkai was now pretty much out of commission, he supposed she had to take over. Or something. "Yeah."
He had been generally fine with her from the beginning, but it rankled on his nerves whenever she said particularly nasty things to Sanzo, and so he pretty much disliked her on principle. Now, though, he was beginning to wonder if there was more to what he'd seen so far.
Even as Qing hunted around for the things she needed, she wondered if she'd been attacked by demons a little too much and had become as warped as the rest of them. Since when had she even bothered with what anyone else thought or felt, especially people like them? It was not like they could help her in advancing her social status or anything that was really important. This was just too strange.
So wrapped up in her thoughts was she that she didn't see Goku's eyes widen in surprise, or hear him shout her name as something hard slammed into her.
She saw the seat of the Jeep rush up to her, but she never felt it hit.
…
Meanwhile, unaware of what was currently happening to the other two, Sanzo brooded. Now both Gojyo and Hakkai were out of commission, and things were looking pretty bad for them. Who knew what was going to happen next?
I don't know what caused Chin Iisou's hatred, but one thing's clear: he doesn't want to kill Hakkai. He wants to break him.
That pissed him off a lot more than if Chin Iisou had been looking to kill all of them.
No matter how much or violently he denied it, the three of them had already become somewhat like his friends, even though he didn't believe in that particular notion. True, he still didn't trust them overly much, but he was at least comfortable enough with them not to be too hostile.
Hell, even the wench had pretty much reached 'barely tolerable' status despite all her bitching and whining and everything else annoying about her. Damn it all, he really must be going soft.
…
Once again, Hakkai was dreaming. This time, Kanan was holding his hand, and she was smiling and laughing with him. It felt so real, her hand was warm in his own, as if she'd never left at all.
I love you, Kanan…
"I found a job! The pay isn't that great, but it's enough for two people to live on. So let's live together."
"Gono…we aren't alone anymore, are we?"
Her eyes were a sparkling, piercing green that never failed to melt his heart…
As her face slowly faded away into nothing, he stepped forward and opened the door. It seemed like he was doomed to forever repeat this dream.
"Kanan, I'm home!"
Instead of his smiling lover, the entire house was empty, and it was a total mess, as if a hurricane itself had gone through it. Everything fragile was broken, and there were smudges of red on the floor. He stared, unable to believe what he was seeing. Her clothes were all on the floor, ripped to shreds, and again there were more of those red smudges…was that blood?
"Kanan…"
"We had no choice!" The village chief replied forcefully, then held his weeping wife and daughter close; it was as if the bastard was mocking him. "If we didn't offer Kanan, I would have to offer my daughter! You know, don't you? Hyakuganmaou is already in this village!"
He stared flatly at them, trying hard to suppress his rage. "So you used Kanan as a substitute?" somehow that enraged him all the more.
"Well, what did you expect us to do?" the village chief asked spitefully, glaring at him in barely disguised contempt. "The two of you don't even have parents, how could you even know how we parents feel? Besides, no one will miss either of you when you're gone!"
…
"Kanan," he said softly as he slid down to the floor half an hour later, gazing at his blood slicked hands. The stench of death hung in the village chief's room as bodies of those whom he had once treated as friends littered the floor. His rage abated, he simply wondered at the transition from mild schoolteacher to mass murderer. It hadn't seemed as difficult or impossible as he'd thought it would be; not that he thought about killing people that much, anyway. "I'm sorry, Kanan….you said you loved my hands, but they're full of blood now…I'll save you…"
I definitely will…
He didn't know how long he'd been awake, but he saw the ragged ceilings of the cave beyond the hand he had currently held up; one that was blessedly free of blood. The intensity of the dream still kept him off-balance, and for a moment, he briefly wondered if he was back in that place again…
…until a familiar voice spoke to him. "You're awake?"
Hakkai didn't bother to sit up, realizing that he lay on a hastily made futon. Sanzo sat at the mouth of the cave, calmly reading the newspaper. It was a strangely comforting sight, seeing him doing something as normal as that. Did that mean that everything was all right now?
"Where…are we?"
"We're still in the forest. Less than half a day's passed."
It seemed like forever. "I see."
Sanzo paused for a moment. "Do you remember the perverted fortune teller?"
He sat up. "No, but he knows what I've done—"
"As well as your old name."
"Yes. And he hates me."
"I've heard a rumor that there is a survivor from the Hyakuganmaou clan." Sanzo did not bother to look up from his newspaper. He didn't want to see Hakkai's vulnerability. Calm and thoughtful, the man had always been the stabilizing force of the group, but now it seemed like he was the most emotionally unstable of them all.
"Hyakuganmaou…" Hakkai echoed shakily. He hadn't heard that name in a long, long while. "I thought every single one of them was killed." By me.
"If you asked me, they got off too easily." Sanzo muttered, taking off his glasses.
"Is that any way for a monk to talk?" Gojyo teased as he appeared a little way from the entrance of the cave.
"Gojyo?"
Gojyo shook his head, looking mildly frustrated. "No dice. I couldn't find them anywhere in this fog."
"Couldn't find them?" Hakkai echoed, confused for a moment. Who couldn't he find?
And then it hit him. Why were there only the two of them here? "Goku? Miss Qing? Has something happened to them?" he was already beginning to panic. If they were hurt, or worse, dead, it would be his fault, and—and—
"After you collapsed," Sanzo explained, pulling no punches. "They both went to get water and supplies. We haven't seen either of them since, along with Jeep."
Hakkai frantically moved to get up and try to find them himself, but Gojyo shoved him back down. "You stay put!" he snapped. "It's you he's after!"
Hakkai glared at his friend, unable to believe what he was hearing. Goku was missing, and here Gojyo was telling him to not do anything? "Are you telling me to sit by and watch as more people get hurt because of me?"
"There's a word called 'muichimotsu'." Sanzo said evenly, before Gojyo could say anything in response.
Surprised by the interruption, the two of them turned from each other to see that Sanzo was already standing outside, cigarette pack in hand. "If you encounter Buddha, kill him. If you meet your ancestor, kill him. Beholden to nothing and no one, live only for yourself." He paused for a long moment, remembering his master.
"That's the one and only piece of knowledge my predecessor passed on to me." He turned back to them, amethyst eyes steely and determined. "That's why I go on killing anything and everything that gets in my way. Regardless of who they might be. If you understand that, calm down and get your strength back. I don't need people who'll just be in the way."
It was the first time Sanzo had said something like this. Hakkai stared at him for a long moment. It seemed like Genjo Sanzo knew just how to play the game; he was a born leader, all right. He knew that would work on his teammates and what wouldn't, and did not waste any time on consoling people.
Hakkai sighed and sat back down. What else could he do but obey? "All right."
…
"So what's the plan?" Gojyo asked a little later as they walked along. Hakkai had gone back to sleep, his exhaustion overtaking him once again.
"What plan?"
"The monkey and the chick, of course!"
"Their whereabouts are unknown, and the fog won't lift. I'd say we're pretty much screwed."
"I hate being stuck like this." He put a cigarette to his lips.
"If we lose even one of us, he wins."
Gojyo crushed the empty cigarette pack darkly, remembering the reactions of his teammates when he got hit by that damn doll. He hated that he had been the one who caused them to fear and Hakkai to panic. "Fuck it, I ain't gonna die. I mega-hate losing."
"Knock off that 'mega' shit." Sanzo took a long, slow drag from his cigarette.
"What is it, then?"
He thought for a moment, then shrugged carelessly. "Ultra-hate."
…
The first thing that Goku felt when he came to was pain.
A lot of pain.
"Ow…" he groaned, trying to move his arm and failing miserably. It seemed like his entire body had gone on strike for the time being. He blinked a couple of times, trying to remember where he was. Well, at least the sun wasn't shining too brightly at the moment.
Catching sight of the twenty-foot high cliff that he'd fallen from, he simply groaned and leaned back. It hurt too much to even think right now, and it seemed like his innards were exploding. The excruciating throb of pain in his left leg caught his attention. "It must be broken or something," he muttered to himself. His mouth felt like cotton wool, and he felt like he had just been hit by the side of a mountain.
"But then again, falling from that height and just getting a broken leg means I got let off easy." He sighed and allowed himself to rest a little more until his body felt less like a gigantic bruise. "They're probably looking for us right now…it's not like they'll just leave us here."
Chin Iisou…who the heck is he? The guy knocked out Qing and attacked me so suddenly, I had no choice but to run. The guy's like a snake; wherever I went, he followed. And then…and then I fell here…the guy is a psycho, and he smells just like a corpse. He snorted to himself. This is the first time I've ever run away from something. "Chin Iisou," he said aloud, looking up. "He's definitely got some kind of vendetta with Hakkai…but what was it? And why is he gunning for Gojyo, Qing, and me? It's just too weird…"
"Kyuu!" Came a happy chirp, and the next thing he knew, Jeep landed lightly beside him, flapping his wings. "Kyuu!"
"Jeep!" he exclaimed gleefully, his pains mostly forgotten. Heck, he thought that he would never see the little white dragon again! "You…you followed me here?"
Jeep nodded.
"Ooh, you're so great!" A delighted Goku glomped on the unsuspecting dragon, earning a winded chirp from said dragon. "Even if I'm dying of hunger, I will NEVER AGAIN think of eating you!"
This, in itself, was highly disturbing, because it meant that Goku had thought of Jeep as food at one time or another. Thankfully, Jeep had decided not to pursue this matter, pleased as he was at finding the monkey again.
Letting go of the dragon, Goku's smile faded as he remembered something. "Jeep, if you're here, where's Qing? Did Chin Iisou take her away?"
"That creepo's not taking me anywhere," A familiar voice grumbled from above him. "So he's the one who attacked me?"
Startled, Goku looked up to see an annoyed Qing, who was kneeling over the edge and looking down at him.
"Qing!" he shouted happily, pleased to see that though she looked pretty roughed up, she was at least alive and talking.
She winced at that, putting a hand to her head. "Do you mind? I feel like I've just been hit by a Mack truck, and I was just treated to the wonderful feeling of the ground doing a Tilt-a-Whirl impression twenty minutes ago. So please, no sudden loud noises, okay?"
Again with the incomprehensible speech. "Uh?"
"Oh, forget it." She peered down at him and made a face. "Ew, what happened to you?"
He looked uncomfortable. "Chin Iisou. It's uh…kind of a long story."
Qing raised an eyebrow. "You fell running from him?"
He deflated. "Okay, so it isn't that long."
She looked him over critically, taking in his bruises. "You look like a mutant."
The insult was totally lost on him as he looked aghast. "Well, whaddya expect? I just fell twenty feet!"
"Better you than me, is what I say." She paused and looked around furtively. "And I'd like to get out of here before that twisted freak decides to come back. Can you climb up, Goku?"
He reluctantly nodded. "I can try."
It took all his strength to get to his feet, and he winced as pain exploded from his broken leg. Leaning against the side of the mountain, he gritted his teeth and tried to somehow get his balance without aggravating his leg too much.
"Hey, are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he bit out, fighting against the intense pain. "It's just a broken leg—"
"Just a broken leg? You couldn't have told me that sooner?"
"I'm fine, really," he insisted. It was upsetting enough that he had run away from Chin Iisou like a coward, and to be incapacitated because of his broken leg, especially in front of a girl, was humiliating. "I can get up there in a min—"
"Is this a macho thing? Handicapped man against the mountain?"
He was insulted. "I'm not handicapped! I'm just—"
She rolled her eyes in exasperation, obviously not understanding how the male mind operated. "Paging Mr. Testosterone Poisoned! Which one of us is lying in pain at the bottom of a mountain?"
"I'm not lyin—"
"Jeep, I need you a moment. Hold on for a while, Goku."
The dragon obediently flew upwards with a chirp, obviously eager to help.
Sighing to herself, she shook her head. "God knows why I always get stuck with the icky work. I'm telling you, no one has suffered like I have."
Qing disappeared from the edge and appeared a couple of minutes later. Goku, who had been leaning against the side, looked up curiously.
He didn't have to ask, though, because the looped end of a rope tumbled down next. "Grab hold of that and hang on." She instructed. "You'll be up in a minute."
He stared at the rope. "Where'd you get this from?"
"You didn't notice? Hakkai stuck it under the Jeep's backseat the other day, just before we set off."
He was impressed. He didn't know that Qing could take her eyes off her self-grooming sessions long enough to see what other people were doing. "You actually noticed what Hakkai was doing?"
"Will you just grab the rope? This place is giving me the wiggins and you're really not helping."
"But—"
"Just hold it, okay?" Came the testy response. She was not in the best of moods, thanks to that particularly annoying throb somewhere at the back of her skull. Thank God she wasn't bleeding. Having bloodstains on top of the tear she'd made in this top would really be the worst thing that could ever happen to her. She was going to have to wear this thing for a little while longer, after all, and she liked it blood-free.
He took the looped end, and Qing disappeared once again. This time, though, he heard the start of an engine, and he felt himself being slowly pulled upwards. The pain wasn't too bad now, though scraping against the jagged side of the cliff wasn't exactly a painless experience.
As soon as he got to the top, Qing took the rope from him and helped him up.
"Thanks," he told her, surprised that she was actually being…nice.
She looked mildly uncomfortable as she helped him to the waiting jeep. "Well…you have on occasion saved my butt and stuff, so I'm doing you a favor."
A favor?
…
A twig snapped and footsteps caught their attention immediately. The two men turned to see Goku and Qing running back towards them.
"Hey, there you are!" Goku announced happily. "I thought you left us behind!"
"Yeah, what are you guys doing out here?" Qing asked as she panted, face flushed with exertion.
"Goku? Wench?" Sanzo stared.
"You idiots!" Gojyo snapped, inwardly relieved that they hadn't been killed or anything, and pissed that they had taken so damn long to come back.
"What?" Qing frowned as Gojyo gave Goku a noogie prize. "We got lost, that was all!"
Gojyo was still tormenting the monkey, who was struggling to get free. "We got the water and the supplies, but then we got lost."
Qing giggled as she watched the two of them, seemingly taking no offence at being called an idiot.
"Goku! Miss Qing!" Hakkai exclaimed as he walked out of the cave. He'd heard their voices and had come out to see what was happening. "You guys are okay!"
He ran towards them and checked Goku over to see if he was hurt in any way, then turned worriedly to Qing and did the same. Heaving a great sigh of relief when he realized that neither of them were even the slightest bit scratched, he smiled and relaxed, almost slumping over. "Thank goodness. Please, don't worry us like that again."
Goku nodded. "Right. Sorry."
Qing smiled. "Never again."
Sanzo was still watching them, his features schooled into an emotionless expression. "Oi."
"Huh?"
"Yes?"
"What happened to Jeep?"
"We got separated along the way," Goku said as he made his way towards Sanzo, patting his arm. "Don't worry, we'll find him when the fog lifts. Anyway, let's get outta here, this forest gives me the wiggins."
The last word itself was a dead giveaway, the strangeness of it and the staunch knowledge that his ward definitely did not know that particular word cemented his suspicion.
The monkey walked on, and stopped when Sanzo spoke again. "Goku."
The click of the gun caught everyone by surprise, especially since it was now pointed point blank at Goku. Sanzo's face was a hard mask.
"S…Sanzo?" the monkey stammered fearfully as the cold barrel of the gun pressed against his head. "W-what's wrong? What's going on here?"
"Sanzo?" Hakkai asked worriedly, wondering if the monk had finally snapped. Why was he holding the gun to Goku's head?
Gojyo was likewise stumped as he watched the scene before him with apprehension. Was this the monk's idea of a joke? Somehow it didn't seem very funny. "Dude, what're you doing? That's Goku, for fuck's sake!"
The gun never wavered. "Sanzo…hey, Sanzo. Sanzo…"
"It's not you." He announced flatly, pointedly ignoring the past few comments from the onlookers. "You're not that dumbass monkey."
"I-it's me, Sanzo!"
Hearing that word from this thing's mouth sickened him to no end. "Let me tell you something, the only person who can say that name is that dumbass monkey."
A gunshot, and Goku fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes, crumbling to dust shortly after.
Sanzo leveled his gun at a wide-eyed Qing and said coldly. "If I shoot you, will you crumble, too?"
She backed away immediately. "N-no! Of course not! I mean—I—I didn't know that he was a shikigami! I'm Qing! I swear, I really am!"
He took a step forward, his eyes narrowed. Hell, he'd always wondered what it would be like to shoot the wench in the head, and now he finally had a chance to do it. "Shut up, bitch."
"Look, I c-can prove it! I mean—how do you know that I'm not real? I—"
His diction was deadly. "I said shut up."
Before she could say anything else, a bullet tore into her skull.
"She wore black shoes, not brown ones." He muttered offhandedly as she crumbled to dust before their very eyes.
Gojyo goggled at him incredulously. "Dude, you noticed her shoes?"
Sanzo was clearly not in the mood for stupid questions like these as he glared at him. "What about it?"
"Do you know what it means when you notice a girl's shoes?"
"Who cares?"
Gojyo looked like he was about to say something, but then thought the better of it and shrugged. The forest around them had plunged into an unearthly silence, reminding them of their present situation. Casting the previous thought away, he focused on the task at hand. Which meant taunting the cowardly freakish demon and settling the score. There would be plenty of time to tease the corrupt monk later. "Come on out, Chin Iisou! The esteemed Lord Sanzo's pretty pissed off right now."
"Those were pretty well-made dolls, too." Chin Iisou's smugly annoying voice wafted out to them. He was right, the bastard had not been too far away from them. "How did you know?"
"You should do your homework," Sanzo responded coolly, without a trace of emotion in his tone. Hell, he could've been talking about the weather, what with all the inflection his voice held. "Goku's first line is always 'I'm hungry.'" He paused for a moment. "And the wench is not nearly as pleasant."
"You should talk." Gojyo muttered under his breath, just out of range of Sanzo's hearing. Inwardly, he was still wondering why he hadn't seen those points in the first place.
The fortune-teller cackled, looking mildly contemptuous. "Oh, really? How…intricate."
The gun was now pointed at the offending demon. "Where are they?"
"Well, what do you think? Are they wandering around in this fog? Or are they…"
…
Prettystupidgirl: Hello, hellooo! Ack, not the fan! Thanks for the nice reviews you keep leaving behind for me, it's very much appreciated.
Sukilovesanime: I hope you like this story too!
Risika Tziporah: All right, I'll go check out your fic one of these days!
Sanzo-sama's Lover: Thanks for the vote of confidence on Qing, LOL. I did my best not to make her a Mary-Sue, no matter what it seems like on face value, so that people can actually kind of connect with her in a way…of course, I'll check out your story! I don't have anything against Mary-Sues, actually. They're pretty cool in their own way, and hey, it's a free world.
Setine: Thanks!
T: Thanks so much for thinking so highly of my story, LOL. I hope this chapter was to your liking, too.
Pacioli: LOL, thanks!
Alowl: Yup, it's pretty much a Mary-Sue with a twist. I put her beauty in as a pretty much in-your-face thing, and made her extremely superficial for amusement purposes a la Cordelia Chase, but she's pretty much still a person and still learning and growing up.
Saiyukisexy: Thanks! OC is called Original Character, something like Qing is…
Steph: Thank you very much for your kind review. I appreciate it very much, and it was kind of why the next chapter came out faster than usual. You noticed the Sanzo-Qing-Hakkai triangle? LOL you're the first person to say that! I'm happy and flattered that you like Qing and my writing, and I shall definitely do better in the future. Qing took quite a lot of effort to develop and implement, but encouraging and nice reviews like yours make it all worthwhile. Take care.