Hello, here I am again! Sorry for the long wait, all! Disclaimer's as always, nothing but Qing belongs to me, blah, blah…well, read and enjoy!

…

…

Chin Iisou did not flinch as Sanzo's bullet whizzed narrowly past him, oily smile still securely in place. He did not have anything to fear, after all, considering the incapacitation of two of them. And with Cho Gono's current emotional state, he couldn't even hurt a fly.

Just what he'd wanted.

…

"I'm not like you, Chin Iisou," The defeated look on the undead bastard's face was priceless even as Hakkai enunciated his words clearly. He had felt sick when he had to thrust his hand through his body, but the sense of triumph he felt pretty much evened it all out. He had fought his monster, and had won this battle. He had not won the war—he wasn't sure if he could—but this, at least, was something. "I'm not a thing without a past and a future."

At last, it was finally over. The thing that had once been the son of Hyakuganmaou was forever gone. The forest resumed it's activities, crickets chirped, and insects found their way back to their holes, carrying on with their little jobs.

Hakkai expelled his breath in a sigh; he was tired and drained from all that had happened, and what he wanted now was just to rest.

"Come on," Sanzo muttered as he lit yet another cigarette. "I don't want to spend the whole day just standing around."

"For the record, I still say 'yuck'." Qing said to no one in particular as she ran her fingers through her hair. Hakkai didn't miss the fact that Qing was deliberately avoiding him.

"No one asked," the monk grunted as he headed off.

"We'll need to get your leg treated, Goku," Hakkai told Goku, remembering that the boy was wounded. In the heat of the battle, he had almost forgotten about that. "It looks like it's getting worse."

"Yeah," Goku inclined his head towards Qing. "She didn't know how to bandage my leg properly."

Qing rolled her eyes. "What did you expect? I'm a cheerleader, not a medic."

…

It was all too freaky. Never in her life had Qing thought that Hakkai, of all people, had that sort of…past. She'd thought that he was always the grounded, least insane one of the group, and the fact that she had found out what had happened with his girlfriend…

What do I call her? She wondered. Girlfriend, or sister? It was just too unnerving. She had not encountered anything like this before, and she did not know how to react. Incest was taboo where she came from, and just plain gross. But here…

What kind of hell had Hecate gotten her into? The guy went psycho and obliterated a village and an entire kingdom of icky insect demons all by himself, and became a demon, too. In fact, all of them, save for Sanzo, were demons.

She shuddered. How weird was that?

I want to go home, she thought fiercely. Before I go insane. These people are so clearly nutcases. All of them were unlike anyone she had ever met or dealt with, and it was just too stressful. Sure, they were impressive, and she had seen another side of Sanzo that made her grudgingly respect him. He was not that much of a jackass after all, after the way he dealt with the situation, stepping back to let Hakkai handle his own demons without much complaint. Not like she was observing, or anything, but all this…it was just too crazy.

Especially Hakkai.

What was she going to do now?

She watched as Hakkai tended to Goku's injury with infinite patience, his soft laugh wafting over gently to her. He still acted, and looked like the same Hakkai she—to put it in the loosest sense of the word—knew. Was he going to go all psychotic again? He killed people. Demons and people just because of one person. She could not understand why. It was not like she cared about those people—and she really didn't mind him killing those demons, since they all kept trying to kill humans in general, anyway—but she came from a time where normal people didn't just massacre other people just because something really, really bad happened to them. It spoke volumes of his uncontrollable rage, and from what she knew of uncontrollable, it would most probably rear it's ugly head at any time.

It doesn't really matter, does it? Came a sudden thought. It all happened before he was here with them. I have nothing to be afraid of. It's not like he'll suddenly go crazy and try to kill all of us or something.

Right?

"You're not going to go nuts again and try to kill me or anything, right?" Qing asked suddenly, unable to help herself. There was just no nice way to put it—if there was, she probably wouldn't know—and she really had to ask.

Gojyo stared at her question.

Hakkai paused, taken by surprise. Was that the reason why she had been quiet all this time? He had to admit, it was strange to not hear Qing complaining about something or engaging in a verbal sparring session with the resident grumpy monk. She looked entirely serious, and he detected a hint of fear in her eyes. Fear, and doubt. "I believe not, Miss Qing," he said as gently as possible. "You can trust me on this."

"I don't." She snapped. "You're not exactly Mr. Balanced, and you've got serious anger management issues."

"Qing," Gojyo started in defence of his closest buddy. "You don't understand stuff, so don't talk like you know about it."

"What I know is this," Came the hot response. "You killed people. Okay, so they maybe aren't like saints or anything, but you killed them. Because you were pissed. And nothing you can say to me is gonna make that all right."

Hakkai remained silent, unable to say a thing. Weren't these words the same ones he had told himself over and over again? He was no longer fit for his beloved Kanan anymore; his hands were soaked in blood, and he would never be able to wash them away. Sanzo and the others had never judged him by what he'd done, had never accused him point-blank of what he was. He knew that what he had done had been inexcusable, but the rage had been all-consuming, his despair, his anger…it was all that drove him then, when his beloved had been snatched away from him.

"What, wench, can't you take the heat?" Sanzo suddenly asked, a cruel smile curving on his thin lips. His eyes were hard and unyielding. "We've all killed people here. What are you going to do now, cry and run away to your meddling goddess?"

Qing's eyes widened. "I—"

He cut her off, eyeing her dangerously. "You think you're so perfect, don't you? You go on and on about your pathetic idealist rules; you know nothing of what life is like here, who are you to make judgements?"

She scowled. "I'm speaking as Miss Sanity here, that's who!"

Sanzo snorted, coldly amused. "Take a look around, girl. You're in a world where the weak are prey, where people kill to survive. What would you do," He raised his gun and cocked it. "If I were to kill you now?"

He leveled the gun at her. Moving faster than she ever did in her whole life—now that it seemed that her survival depended on it—she scrambled for her bow and arrow and brought it up, fighting to keep from trembling. She was afraid. Hell, she was afraid and confused and heaven knew what else. But she was Rong Ziqing, and Rong Ziqing would never concede defeat. Next to Gojyo, Goku stiffened, sensing the danger to his guardian.

"I'd like to see you try." Her voice was not as strong as she would like it to be, but then again, it was still remarkable that she could even say anything through the huge lump that was in her throat. The guy looked like he really meant to use the gun on her.

"Will you kill me?"

"If you're going to shoot me."

You see now? A little voice whispered in her mind. This is why they have to kill. In a world like this, only survival matters. Just like you have never lived in their world, they have never lived in yours. Herein lies the soul of your test, young one. Will you show your cowardice now?

Hard amethyst eyes bored into her own in silent challenge. She stared right back. As crazy as she thought Hecate to be, she knew that the goddess would never abandon her to a bunch of psychotic nutjobs. There must be something that she wanted her to learn from them. But what was it? Why them?

Well, I'll find out sooner or later. Until Hecate decides to take me back, all I have is time. Might as well make the best out of it.

"And don't be stupid," Qing told him disgustedly, belatedly remembering what he'd said to her earlier. "I'm not going to cry and go back to Hecate just because I found out Hakkai and you guys killed a whole bunch of people."

"I didn't kill people." Goku scowled.

Sanzo tucked his gun impassively into his sleeve, ignoring Goku. At least the woman's got some backbone. "Pity."

…

This time, though, Qing was the one who found Hakkai on his balcony, staring up at nothing in particular. The incident with Chin Iisou had been resolved, and Qing had a few days to get over the trauma and plenty of time to think. Six months ago, she wouldn't have believed that she would be thinking about a person who single-handedly annihilated a whole lot of people and demons, much less befriending them, but life was weird that way.

They had checked into an inn earlier that evening, and the others had already retired to their rooms for the night, having had four long days on the road. Qing, who had the room next to his, surprised them all by not making up any kind of fuss about it, considering that she hardly spoke to Hakkai for the past couple of days.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, honestly. It was just that…no matter what Sanzo had said, what the strange little voice had told her, she still needed time to accept it. And she had been surprised to realize that it was not as difficult as she had thought it would be. It was more sad than horrifying, actually. To lose the one person in the world you were soulmates with—the eww factor of incest notwithstanding—must be pretty heartbreaking. Qing knew that she could not possibly be that devastated, but what she did not understand, she saw.

At least she knew the reason for the sad emerald eyes.

To hold on to sadness for so long, to smile through the pain…it was admirable, indeed. And besides, how could she not talk to him? He was the one person she had come to rely on, and the one person she was beginning to really like.

"Miss Qing?"

"Hi," Qing began a little hesitantly, stepping out onto his balcony. "Your uh, door was unlocked, so I decided to come in."

"Did you need anything?" he asked carefully. It was obvious that she had already finished with her nightly beauty rituals.

"Can I sit down?"

He blinked. That wasn't what he had expected her to ask. Nevertheless, he slid over on the wooden bench to make space for her. "Of course. Have a seat."

"Thanks."

They were silent for a long moment before Qing finally spoke again. "Hakkai?"

"Yes?"

"Are you doing the whole loser-man pining thing again? 'Cause it gets tiring."

Hakkai blinked, not quite knowing what to say to that. "I'm sorry?"

She shrugged. "Well, I'm here to tell you to get over it. You know, let it go. You can't live in the past forever. Move on to the living. Smell the roses. Did I mention to let it go?"

He had a mild, surreal feeling about the entire thing. "Twice."

"Right." She nodded, looking pleased with herself. "Good." Then she sighed. "Look, comforting people isn't really my thing. It's just—does it still hurt?"

The word 'I'm fine' died on his lips. He had expected her to ask the question Gojyo occasionally asked—"You all right, man?"—but how should he answer this? It was blunt and straight to the point, something none of the guys—even Goku—would ever ask. Should he lie? Or should he tell the truth? What was the answer to that kind of question?

He finally settled on a thin smile that barely touched his eyes. "A little lesser than before." There. A relatively vague answer that would satisfy her. Then he remembered something. "You are not afraid of me now?"

"What?"

"These past few days, you've never once looked me in the eye."

She snorted. "Don't give yourself so much credit. I was horrified, not afraid. Not everyone's got friends who went Charles Manson on a village and a demon kingdom. Takes some getting used to."

"Who is this Charles Manson?"

"A homicidal maniac." At his involuntary flinch, she shrugged. "You asked."

"Did you come here just to tell me this?"

"No." She shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "Remember when you found me out here on my first night?" Without waiting for him to respond, she continued. "Well, I thought you could use a little company right about now."

He took that in. "Thank you for your consideration, Qing, but I'm—"

Qing expelled an exasperated breath, already knowing what the man was about to say. "Just shut up, Hakkai. I'm not going to pry or ask stupid questions or anything. I'm just gonna sit here."

For all of Qing's faults—many and glaring as they were—leaving a friend alone was not one of them.

"And," she started again after a moment's silence. "Not to sound Oprah or anything, but I'm here if you want to talk."

A needless, but appreciated gesture all the same. "Thanks."

They sat like that for a long time.

…

You will be our hands. You will exact our retribution.

Vengeance is mine to have.

Offer your obeisance, and you shall taste it.

She had a purpose, and she would fulfill it. There was no other way, and there was nothing else. She had nothing else.

But here…now…

Now…

Where am I?

"Ah, the wildcard has awakened." A smooth voice sounded somewhere above her. He sounded so faraway, yet so near at the same time.

Who…? Who are you?

"Pardon my manners, Sorceress. My name is Nii. Professor Nii Jienyi at your service."

It was still pitch black, and she could see nothing. She could only feel the cold metal against her back, and there was something holding her wrists down. It didn't feel like she had her normal clothes on, and it disturbed her greatly. Where the hell was she? Where had the Erinyes sent her?

The voice was still talking, but she had tuned him out a long time ago. He spoke senseless words, things that didn't matter a bit to her.

Shut up…I have no need for your useless speech.

What she had in return was a soft, amused laugh. "You will do well to treat your elders with respect, girl. Rest now. You will see the Empress tomorrow, and we'll see what you can do."

The Empress…what kind of a place was she in? Was the bitch sent here, too?

No matter. She would find out soon.

…

The next few days passed, with them moving relentlessly towards the West. And of course, one could not forget the minor irritants that cropped up along the way. Gojyo and Goku were most grateful for the occasional delusional troupe of demons who thought that they would be able to kick the Sanzo-ikkou's collective ass.

Qing, for one, did not bother with the fighting unless she was forced to, and Sanzo preferred to save his bullets for more worthwhile demons. The two of them still exchanged barbed remarks on a daily basis, but it was easy to see that their relationship had a little more…mutual respect to it now. Not that either one of them cared, anyway.

Right now, though, the entire gang's moods were significantly lifted. Sanzo was generous enough to book into a relatively well-furnished inn and the restaurant actually had enough food to go around.

"Ahhhhh, I'm full! Man, they really do serve good food here!" Goku announced happily, leaning back from this thousandth plate of fried noodles. The fact that they had good food did not hurt, too. The waiters had not worked fast enough to clear the plates from their table, so a whole stack of plates and bowls teetered precariously over all of them. Qing, the only female in the group, was—for the first time—too sleepy to make any scathing comment about the state of the restaurant.

"It's been a long time since we've had a proper meal," Hakkai agreed as he took a sip of his green tea. He was happy, too. This meant that Jeep would have a chance to get a good rest, and he would be able to replenish their food supplies.

"Tea's a bit weak." Sanzo muttered. "An average restaurant, I'd say."

Goku was in too good of a mood to be affected by his guardian's somewhat dour opinion. "Hey, Sanzo, what do we do now?"

"We get supplies, then leave tomorrow morning."

"Well, then." Gojyo stood up, as if that settled everything.

"What's up, Gojyo?"

"We're leaving tomorrow, accommodations are taken care of," he grinned wickedly. "So there's only one thing to be done. It's time to hit on some chicks."

Qing rolled her eyes. "Figures."

…

"You feeling well, woman?" Sanzo asked abruptly as soon as Hakkai and Goku left to do the shopping. It did not escape his notice that the wench was quieter and much more irritable than usual for the past couple of days, and it would be really troublesome if she were to fall sick. She didn't even complain when Sanzo booked one room instead of five.

A fatigued Qing was resting, curled up on her own bed, and had opened an eye to regard him. "Cramps, but I'll live."

Sanzo glanced at her through his reading glasses, then said. "Pull up the blankets. I don't need you catching a cold on top of everything else."

"I'm fine," Qing told him, a little ruffled that he was treating her like a five-year old burden. "I just need to sleep a little, that's all."

With a grunt, he poured a cup of tea for her and placed it on her bedstand, then placed two painkillers next to the cup. Without saying anything, he went back to the table and his newspaper. Qing stared down at the cup and the painkillers in surprise. Why was he being…nice? "All right, who are you and what have you done to the real Sanzo?"

Sanzo glared at her. "If I knew you would be that ungrateful, I wouldn't have done so."

"I just thought that it's not like you to be nice, that's all."

"I'm not being nice. I just don't want you to get sick now. It'll be a whole lot of trouble."

She scowled at him. "Why thank you, Mr. Sensitivity."

He wasn't even looking at her. "You're welcome."

…

"You're the best, Hakkai!" Goku gushed happily as he trotted with the taller man down the crowded streets. It seemed like today was market day, because even at this hour, people were still busy shopping. Arms full of groceries and the food that Hakkai had so kindly purchased for him, Goku was about to ask for something else when something caught his eye.

Right down the alleyway, he saw the unmistakable back of Gojyo with a girl who only reached to his waist. Either the chick was a midget or—

Horrified, Goku froze in his tracks and gaped at the bizarre sight. He knew that Gojyo was a pervert, but a pedophile? Was he really that desperate? The mental image of the perverted kappa running through grassy meadows with a five year old was just too disturbing. And besides, what would they—Oh, his brain was hurting already.

"Hakkai!" he squeaked. "Hakkai, come and see something! Gojyo is—Gojyo—" He sounded very much like a fish out of water at the moment, simply because he could not bring himself to finish the sentence.

A curious Hakkai came over, glancing around. "What about Gojyo?"

"He—he's dating a little girl! Look!"

Hakkai looked in the direction of Goku's shaking finger, but there was nothing there. "Are you sure you aren't seeing things, Goku? There's no one there."

"I'm telling you, I SAW them! The girl could not have been older than five! Or something!"

Hakkai laughed. "You must be imagining things, Goku. Gojyo might be many things, but he isn't a pedophile."

…

Slow, even breathing was the only sign that Qing had already fallen asleep, which meant that it was the green light to reach for a cigarette. He'd abstained from smoking in the room so far because he was in no mood for the wench's bitching, and besides, he had one last stick left, and he fully intended on enjoying it.

Lighting up the cigarette, he inhaled deeply and was about to go back to reading his newspaper when a mild chill touched the air, signalling nightfall. Hakkai and Goku sure were taking their own sweet time shopping. Either that, or Hakkai had to make a pit stop to feed the damn monkey's bottomless pit of a stomach.

His gaze flicked involuntarily to the sleeping young woman, and he scowled lightly, placing the cigarette onto the ashtray. Damn wench never listened to him, did she? She was curled up into a ball, and it didn't take a genius to see that she was feeling the chill more than he was.

"Stupid wench." He muttered to himself. He had half a mind to leave her where she was, but had stood up and moved over to her instead. It wouldn't do for her to fall sick and be more tiresome than ever.

He pulled the covers up to her shoulders, and was relieved when she did not even stir. It'd be annoying if she awoke halfway and saw what she was doing. The painkillers and the tea in the cup were gone. Well, at least the wench did something right. She'd been extremely quiet, though; he would've thought that she would be a lot bitchier when she was in pain.

Come to think of it, he thought idly, watching her sleep. She hasn't been that bitchy nowadays. Her inherent self-centeredness was still fully intact, but it was lacking the distinct cattiness she had possessed in abundance during her first few weeks here. He had also begun to see her—through subtle observation—as she was.

The girl, though exceedingly annoying, had a bite of steel in her that none of the females in this world had. Despite her fear of demons and the unknown, despite the number of times she'd almost gotten killed, she had never walked away. She might have bitched to kingdom come, and he might have snapped at her right back, but she had never once run away, not even when she found out about Hakkai and his past. He had thought that she would have left for sure, but she surprised him by staying and by struggling to understand the world she had been thrust into. Had she really changed that much? Or was he beginning to see another side of her that he had never seen before?

Watching her sleep, however, he realized just how young she really was. When all the carefully applied make-up was wiped away, a girl-woman, not much older than a child, was left in the place of the spoilt, haughty, self-centered bitch. A child who was still trying to make sense of the world around her. Briefly, he wondered what her world was like. Was it extremely different from this world?

But then again, why, really, would he care? What the hell was wrong with him?

Hakkai better hurry his ass up, he thought irritably, stalking back to his table where his newspaper was waiting. Damn wench affected his thinking even when she was sleeping. Never mind the cigarette still burning in the ashtray; he was in the mood for quite a few packs of the damn things.

…

AN: Screw Ffnet's damn rule. I'm still replying to my reviewers.

Steph: Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too!

Risika Tziporah: Hey, thanks for the compliment. How goes your Saiyuki story?

PrEtTyStUpIdGiRl: LOL sorry for the late uploading of the chapter. I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll post the next one as soon as possible!

Pacioli: Thanks! There's a tad bit more…feeling in this chapter as compared to the rest, I'm taking the romance bit really slowly so it's believable, considering Qing's and Sanzo's behavior towards each other.

SukiLovesAnime: Hey there, thanks for reading!

Sally: Thank you for your compliment. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Cherryblossoms: Well, here you go!

Sanzo-sama's Lover: Hey there, thanks once again for reviewing so kindly. LOL thanks for reading through all my chapters. Yeah, she's grown a lot, hasn't she? Brown shoes, eh? I'll leave you to find out what noticing someone's shoes mean…hee.

Muffliato: Thanks!

Flamestrike: Heehee, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Faerie Rocker 91: Hey there, thanks a lot for reading my story. LOL some of the other OC stories are not that bad. I could recommend uh…one to you that's actually good, if you like. See 'The Monk's Bride' by Pacioli. It's pretty well-written too. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, too!