A/N: HA! A new chapter, I rule the world, BOW BEFORE ME! Anyway, since I know that my wonderful reviewers will love this (or hate it . . ) Here you go, a nice little chapter

Trust

Chapter 2: Faith

"So Cho Gonou…we meet again."

Hakkai looked over at the man from his position on the scarlet haired hanyou, his eyes wide. "What do you want with me?" he asked, slowly struggling to pick himself up.

"You killed my brethren, now you die!" screamed the youkai.

"Who the hell are you?" Gojyo asked, helping his friend to his feet.

"I? I am Kou Tenkou, servant to Lord Homura. I was away from my brothers, delivering a message for the lord of the tribe. I returned and found every last one of them dead! Except…for one. My youngest brother, only 10 years old was still barely alive, he told me that you, Cho Gonou, killed my family! YOU KILLED A CHILD!" he yelled angrily, his voice rising in volume with each sentence.

Hakkai looked at the assassin with cold eyes, "I am Cho Hakkai, Cho Gonou died years ago." he told the demon quietly.

"Ha!" the youkai laughed, "I know a killer when I see one, even if you didn't carry tiny traces of being the murderer of my brethren, you have killed many others like myself…like yourself." his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"This tells me too!" he screamed and quickly, faster than light, he had appeared at the green-eyed man's side, slashed off the bottom of his shirt, and gone back to his defensive position by where the jeep had been.

Hakkai's shirt slowly drifted to the ground, revealing a jagged area of white skin on his flat stomach exposed. "See?!" the assassin continued, "You also bear the remnants of the wound that resulted from your sin! And to think…" he sniggered, "A man of the Christian faith too…how sinful."

Hakkai stared at the demon, "I have told you once, and I will tell you again, I am Cho Hakkai. My sins that I committed years ago are not atoned for, and never will be, for taking a life is against the will of God. I am a sinner who tries every second of my life repaying my debt." he said forcefully, but quietly too.

The youkai stared him down, "The only way to pay for the deaths of my friends…my family…IS FOR YOU TO DIE!" he screamed, "BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU!"

Fueled by his anger, Tenkou charged at his enemies. The two men dodged, but just barely, the attackers lengthened claws taking off a shoulder of Hakkai's shirt. Hakkai looked around wildly, searching for any sign of his attacker. Gojyo summoned his shakujo and standing back-to-back with his best friend, searched for the demon.

Suddenly, he was there, first in front of Hakkai, then in front of Gojyo. He smiled evilly and with a fluid movement, had punched through Gojyo's stomach.

"Ungh…" Gojyo groaned through clenched teeth as he collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from his wound.

"Gojyo!" Hakkai screamed, trying to heal his love.

"Not so fast, Gonou." The demon hissed, lunging at the distressed man.

Hakkai threw himself over Gojyo, trying to protect the injured hanyou. He braced himself for the death blow, but it never came. Instead, a gunshot, followed by an agonized scream, rang throughout the woods.

Hakkai raised his head to see his savior and watched Sanzo, with and unconscious Goku on his back, lower his gun and replace it in his robe, "If you're trying to get killed, then do it yourself." he said coldly, hoisting the monkey up on his back as he slipped, which ruined his cold look.

Hakkai nodded, then turned worriedly back to the scarlet haired man, who was groaning and bleeding profusely. Hakkai quickly put his hands on Gojyo's chest and pushed. Although it was hard, he found the stream of green glowing energy inside him and poured it out into the wounded man.

Hakkai found himself nearly unable to close the wound, but somehow managed to do so with his limited strength. The wound slowly closed itself, leaving a trace of pink skin. Hakkai smiled weakly at his friend before swaying slightly and collapsing to the ground. Gojyo managed to move his body so that the majority of the green-eyed man's weight fell on him.

"Sorry, friend." Gojyo muttered,

The demon watched the two from his position where jeep had been, holding the stub where his arm had been, 'So, Cho Gonou, you love this dirty half-breed…I will use this to my advantage.' he thought deviously.

He stood and bowed at Gojyo, whose eyes narrowed considerably, "Tell Gonou dear that I must be off, but I would dearly like to play again soon." and with that he disappeared.

Gojyo ran to his friend, "Kai? Kai?! Come on, Kai, wake up!" he yelled as he watched the older man's chest rise up and down in ragged breaths.

Sanzo kneeled beside Gojyo, "He'll live, you know that he is much stronger than he looks." Gojyo nodded, words unable to come from his mouth, "Besides," the monk stood up, "If he truly wants to die, then he will. If you want him to live, then give him something to live for." the monk turned and walked off, the unconscious monkey king still clinging to his back.

Gojyo sighed and hoisted his friend onto his back, "I don't know what I can tell you, Kai. I know you love me, and I know I love you as more than a friend…but I'm not sure if it's that much." he followed Sanzo's steps, "Although…right now I' m afraid you'll die and if you do then I don't know what would happen then."

Hakkai, as if sensing that Gojyo was his source of warmth, snuggled closer to his love's back. This seemed to help him seeing as how his breathing began to even out. Gojyo sighed and walked to where the monk was standing.

The two men looked out at the now setting sun, "It's pretty, isn't it?" Gojyo said softly, "After all this shit that happened today it's kind of nice."

Sanzo nodded slightly, his eyes still locked on the scarlet clouds, "Yeah…" he agreed, his voice trailing off.

Gojyo was silent for a few moments before his curiosity got the better of him, "So," he said, "What happened between you and the monkey in the woods?"

Sanzo chuckled and lifted a cigarette to his lips, "If you're expecting something romantic, It's not gonna happen," he turned his head towards his feet, "The damned kid ran into a tree and knocked himself out."

Gojyo laughed, "Sounds like the typical Goku thing to do."

"Yeah…" Sanzo agreed quietly.

Gojyo wanted to see what was bothering the priest, but he wisely chose against it, and instead gently put Hakkai down, set up a bed for him, then lay him down. He was about to set up his own bedroll, when he noticed that Hakkai was having the same problems as before and shivering uncontrollably.

He looked over at Sanzo, then at Hakkai. Sanzo nodded and Gojyo climbed in the bed next to his friend and held him close, like the night before. Hakkai almost immediately curled into Gojyo's chest and stopped shivering. Gojyo smiled at Hakkai's seemingly quickly recovery and went to sleep.

Sanzo watched the two men sleep from his spot watching the sunset. Goku's weight suddenly seemed to weigh on his shoulders so he unceremoniously dropped Goku on his butt. However, instead of waking up, he simply lay there limply, his body sprawled out in the grass.

Sanzo groaned, "Last time, monkey." he said and set up a single bed. He pulled the monkey next to him and went to sleep.

A few days later the group was back on the road. Goku and Hakkai's conditions were far more serious than they had originally thought, so they had camped out in the forest. There was also the fact that only Hakkai could drive the jeep, mainly because Goku couldn't be trusted, Sanzo couldn't be bothered, and Gojyo, well let's save that story for another time.

Goku, the ever rechargeable monkey, recovered within a day, but Hakkai was a very stressed, weakened, and wounded man. He took two days to wake up, another to recover, and one more to be able to get up and walk around without falling.

It was then that Sanzo ordered them to go, they had already lost enough time as it was hanging around this forest. Sadly, after hours of driving around, they realized that they were trapped.

Gojyo groaned, "Ugh, Kami-sama knows I'll get trapped in a cave with some other long-lost relative," he paused, "I vote the bouzo to go."

Sanzo growled and cocked his Smith and Wesson and Gojyo ignored it, "Come on, you damn corrupted monk, it's been your turn to go for quite a while."

"I must say that I agree, Sanzo." Hakkai chirped.

"Yeah, Sanzo, you always send me!" Goku piped in.

The ranting about how Sanzo never did anything went on for quite a bit, also giving Goku and Gojyo the chance to see that Sanzo's constant threats to kill them were completely empty. "FINE!" The priest yelled irritably, "I'll go, so shut the fuck up!"

"I'll come too, Sanzo!" Goku offered.

"Fine," grumbled the monk, "Move your ass though, I'm not waiting all day."

"Ok!" The monkey answered before jumping out of the jeep to Sanzo's side, "Besides," he continued, We don't need you getting lost like Gojyo last time."

Sanzo muttered something unintelligible and stalked off into the woods, his eager charge trailing close behind.

Gojyo took out a cigarette and lit it, "Well, Kai, looks like it's just us for a while."

"I suppose so." Hakkai bent over and rummaged around in his bag. He grabbed the desired items and nimbly leapt over the seat so he was next to Gojyo. He grinned as he held up a bottle of his favorite rum and a deck of cards.

Gojyo grinned in return, "I like how you think, man." he said and grabbed the booze.

The two men began to play poker as the sun set over the line of trees and as the night wore on the two men shared as many bottles of wine as they had. Gojyo finally threw down another losing hand and lay back, his eyes directed at the stars, "It's a nice night tonight, wouldn't you agree, 'Kai?"

His friend gave no answer so Gojyo turned his head to see why his friend hadn't answered and was surprised out of his mind to find Hakkai passed out in his seat. Gojyo flicked his lightly and the demon made no response. The hanyou whistled, "Well I'm be damned by the devil, Hakkai's fucking drunk for the first time ever." he laughed.

Gojyo turned his gaze back to the sky, not noticing the small grin on his friend's face.

Hakkai was currently pretending to be drunk so as to get Gojyo to not pay attention to him, so he moaned quietly and shifted his dead weight towards Gojyo so that his body fell onto the kappa's lap. This was generally very un-Hakkai like, but he was currently freezing and he didn't need his love worrying.

Gojyo felt Hakkai's weight fall onto his lap and he looked down in surprise at the brown haired youkai. He went to move when he felt the other man shiver involuntarily and snuggle closer into his lap. Gojyo chuckled, now it was getting a bit obvious that Hakkai was most definitely not drunk. However, Gojyo was not homophobic, his best friend was too 'proud' to admit how cold he was, Hakkai had been his best friend for over five years now, plus he did like the demon as more than a friend, so he let him rest on his lap. As if assuring Hakkai that it was ok, he slung an arm over the demon's waist and let it hang there. "G'night, Kai." he mumbled as he drifted off. But before he was completely asleep, he heard his friend murmur softly, "Good night, Go."

Needless to say, Gojyo slept with a smile.

Sanzo stalked off into the woods, the ever cheerful monkey trailing in his wake. For quite some time Goku followed the monk in silence, something Sanzo hadn't experienced for nearly six or seven years now and he savored it. At last Goku couldn't not talk anymore, "Hey Sanzo?" he asked.

Without realizing that Goku had been silent to soften his mood, the monk answered in a fairly kind tone, "Yes, Goku?"

"It's smells….weird in these woods, like something isn't right." Goku said, his brow creased in worry.

Sanzo nodded, "Yeah, I noticed it a few minutes after we left Gojyo and Hakkai in the jeep."

The two men continued to walk further into the woods, each looking warily about them into the forest. Someone was watching them and Sanzo had a good idea of who it was.

A/N: Hello everyone who has read and reviewed my story, or is planning on it sometime in the future. I'm sorry that this chapter and how short it is, but I'd rather have to leave you guys off with a huge, unbearably annoying cliffhanger, as opposed to a somewhat smaller to no cliffhanger. Seeing as how it generally takes me a few weeks to update and all…

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, if you catch any errors then feel free to tell me in a review.

As to those of you who reviewed, here are my thanks and answers to questions:

Crimson1: First off, Thank you so much for reviewing my story!!!!!! You are one of my favorite writers on this site and I think your stories are very well written and have a great deal of talent. Once more, I thank you.

Reina-183: I took your advice and made the chapters shorter than before, hopefully this will get me more readers. Thank you very much for your advice and your review! Oh yes, and um…that wasn't me who walked out of the sermon, that was my friend Rob 3. Sorry if you thought otherwise, I was just relating a story he told me and my friends at an acting program I do in the summer. ;

Chobit 00: Feel free to seduce Goku if you wish, I want Hakkai Hmm, that just gave me a good idea, reviewers are allowed to claim characters from Saiyuki in my story now! Thank you for the idea Chobit 00-san!!

Wilson: Ack! I am going to finish this! I promise! Oh yeah, about Dokugakoji and his mom, I heard this from a source that could or couldn't be very reliable. I'm pretty sure that this is revealed in Saiyuki Reloaded. I figured that it could be a decent angle to work with later on, or in sequels. Thank you for your review!

Owners

Dragid - Hakkai

Chobit 00 - Goku