Authoress here. Again.

My internet has been acting up lately, making it hard to connect and load web pages, but I'm faithful to fanfiction, so I've been doing it anyway.

That, and my hands hurt. My fingers keep cramping up.

Oh well. It'll get better over time.

START CHAPTER

The woman's hazel eyes flitted to each of the men in turn, then she asked cautiously, "What's going on here?"

Hakkai smiled gently. "Ah, you're awake."

"Awake?" she repeated nervously. "What are you talking about?"

"You live in Solla, right?" Goku asked.

"Yes, I do," she answered in a rather dignified manner, her gaze shifting to him.

Sanzo spoke next. "When we got there, you were unconscious. What happened?"

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, and it was then that she noticed the bandages she wore on both hands. "Youkai attacked. I live on the far edge of town, so I saw them coming in time to grab a sword. I was fighting them...not paying attention to the building next to me that was on fire."

Gojyo nodded. "That checks out. We found you underneath a collapsed wall of a building."

"What happened to Solla?" she asked quickly, her eyes boring into Gojyo's. It was dark enough where she had just to notice the telltale signs that he was a half-demon.

"Demolished," came his reply.

Bandaged hands clenching to the side of the bed, she looked at them in disbelief. "That...that's not possible. There were countless armed guards all over the city. A group of demons couldn't have destroyed it."

"That," Sanzo said curtly, his icy voice like a blunt knife. "Depends on the number of demons."

Her grip lessened as realization sank in. "There must have been a hundred of them. I only managed to kill about fifteen..." She trailed off and squeezed her eyes shut. When they reopened, her voice seemed to quaver. "Who are you?"

Each of them in turn introduced themselves, and she gave a small nod to each of them, then when they were finished she said quietly, "My name's Machira Furuwaki."

"How old are you?" Gojyo asked, ignoring the looks from the others who knew already, even this early, what he was planning.

"I'm 20," she replied, her eyes again meeting his. As if understanding what he was hinting at, she crossed her arms protectively over her chest. "Why?"

He shrugged. "No reason."

"If there wasn't a reason," she countered coolly. "Then why did you ask?"

He gave her a crooked grin. "Just wanted to make sure I'm not robbing the cradle too much."

Any other girl Gojyo had met would have blushed and giggled girlishly at that obvious bit of flirting, but she didn't even crack a smile. "I suppose this is your bed, then?"

He nodded, and replied slyly, "But it could be both of ours, if ya want it to be."

At hearing that remark, she stood up. "Where had you intended to sleep?"

Confused, he pointed a spot on the floor (a pillow and blanket had been thrown down to make it more comfortable) on the far end of the room. He watched as she walked over to it and sat down, her back against the knotty pine planks that made up the wall. "Have fun in the bed by yourself, then."

"Oh, he will," Goku remarked immediately, raising his eyebrows several times to indicate that there was sexual innuendo hidden behind his words.

That triggered the usual onslaught of verbal abuse and occasional physical assaults between the two, and left Machira free to lay down with her back to them and pull the blanket up to her shoulders.

Quite suddenly, Sanzo kicked her in the back of the leg. She rolled over to look at him, outraged at his nerve, but realized he probably had something important to say if he was disturbing her. Sure enough, when he realized he had her attention, he flung a question at her. "You said you lived at the far edge of town, right?"

"Yes, I did," she answered, her voice cool and even with practiced calm. "Why?"

"Because there weren't any houses on the far edge of town," he spat, his purple eyes narrowing. "Would you mind telling us the truth now?"

Gojyo and Goku had stopped fighting when Sanzo had addressed Machira, but she hadn't noticed. Instead, she kept her eyes locked on Sanzo's. "Certainly," she replied lightly. "Later. At the moment, I think I'd like to rest." With that, she turned her back to him again.

Sanzo clenched his fists so hard, his knuckles turned white. Though she couldn't see him, she was delighted that she was annoying him so much. "Listen, you little bitch." That caught her attention once more, and she sat upright, her eyes glinting maliciously. From all his travels, the priest knew that to insult a female warrior was all it took to make her pay attention.

"What did you just call me?" she questioned through clenched teeth. He laughed to himself. It was easy to catch her attention; easier than he had originally thought.

Ignoring her, he continued, "You're our guest here, and we could easily just dump you on the street. If you'd like to sleep outside, be my guest." A sweeping motion with his arm, directed at the doorway, let the sleeve of his robe fluttering and Machira looking at him evenly, which he hadn't expected.

"There's only one problem with that, Priest Sanzo." She gave him the smallest of smiles. "Considering you need to know "the truth" to insure that it's safe to be in my company, I'm more than certain you'll wait until morning."

Sanzo was silent. He knew she was right, but didn't feel like taking a hit to his pride by admitting it. Instead, he stomped to his bed and settled down to go to sleep, calming his fiery nerves.

Minutes later, when the lights were out and Machira was fairly sure the others were asleep, she climbed silently out of her bed and snuck to the small bathroom. Shutting the door silently behind her was no easy feat; it squeaked loudly when she moved it, and once it was closed she deftly slid the metal bolt lock into place. She felt along the wall for the light switch, and flipped it up. The instant light was blinding, and she had to squint her watering eyes. When she had recovered, she examined her reflection in the mirror. She reached up to push hair from her eyes, and froze when she saw the reflection of her bandaged hand in the mirror.

Quick as a flash, she lowered her hand. She rolled up the sleeve of her loose shirt, and saw the wounds on her arms too we covered by cotton bandages. A flash of anger passed through her as she saw her shirt had slid up when she moved her arm. She could see clearly that there were also bandages under her shirt. Upon removing said shirt, she gritted her teeth, her breath escaping in a low hiss. On her upper back had been four shallow gouges. To bandage them, which someone had already done, meant that someone had lifted her shirt. Tugging the garment over her head, paying no heed to the shooting pain from her burned hand, she willed herself not to be angry. It was only her back, after all, and surely whichever man it had been had tried his best to preserve her modesty.

But what if it had been Gojyo? He had already proved that he was interested in one thing only when it came to her, but unquestionably a priest wouldn't have allowed such defilement of her honor. Would he?

In her mind, she conjured an image of Sanzo. He was good looking from a woman's point of view, that she would admit, but he was a bit too crude for her liking.

Goku was a different sort of person. From what she had gathered, he was only eighteen, but she silently reminded herself that looks could be deceiving. The gold headband adorning his head had caught her eye when a stream of moonlight had glinted off it, and she instantly recognized it as a Youkai power limiter. Any sort of demon made her nervous since the assault that had nearly killed her and wiped her hometown off the map. And it had all been her fault...she shook her head sharply to rid herself of that thought.

Hakkai seemed like the reasonable one of the group, meaning the doctoring of her wounds had probably been his doing. Her anger diminished as she realized that what he had done had probably saved her life. If her modesty had been tarnished along the way, so be it.

She chuckled softly herself as a picture of Gojyo swam into her mind. He was fairly close to her age, and had already thrown out two obvious hints that he liked her. But in relationships and flirting, she reminded herself, there's always a catch. Thankfully, she already knew what this one was so it wouldn't come as a surprise. Gojyo wanted to sleep with her, and that was that.

She paused as her hand moved to shut off the light, and realized that since the darkness had cloaked the four men, she didn't really know what any of them looked like. It was going to be a shock to wake up in the morning and see them as they truly were, that much she knew.

Before any other ideas could plague her mind, she switched off the light and slid the bolt to the side. The door swung open, but thankfully this time it didn't creak. She supposed that it only made noise when it was closing, and an experimental poke proved her right.

She felt her way along the wall until her foot touched the blanket she had been using, and settled back down. When she shut her eyes, she realized with a jolt that she wouldn't be able to sleep well that night. Her mind was swarming with unanswered questions.

A voice shattered her thoughts. "You should get some sleep."

Her eyes searched through the shadows until she realized that the speaker had been Gojyo, who was upright on his bed.

"Don't tell me what to do," came her immediate answer, complete with bad attitude, even this late at night.

In reply, he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and walked toward her. "Okay, off the floor."

At once she knew he was trying to be kind, but she was too stubborn to go back on her actions from before. She had chosen the floor as a way to tell Gojyo that she didn't want anything to do with him, and would rather spend the night on the floor than occupy the bed that was to be his. "I like the floor," she lied. Truthfully, the floor was very uncomfortable, and she couldn't seem to lie down without hurting a sore part of her body.

He smiled a bit. "Nice try, Machira. I'll sleep here, you take the bed. Easy as that."

"No thanks, Gojyo."

He heaved a sigh. "Didn't want to have to resort to this." She had time to cast him a confused look before he had picked her up and swung her over his shoulder.

Conscious to the fact that the others were sleeping, she hissed softly, "Put me down, bastard!" She tried to wiggle free to no avail.

"Fine," he replied just as quietly, dropping her onto the soft bed where he had been sleeping moments before.

She sat up, and made to climb off. "Not here."

He placed his hands on her shoulders, and pushed her head back onto the pillow. For a brief moment, Machira was aware of her heart fluttering. When she met his eyes, the clouds covering the moon shifted, throwing a shaft of light on the two. She had been about to say something, but clamped her mouth shut. Blood red eyes. He was a half demon.

As if reading her mind, he provided, "I'm not like other demons, and I'm not gonna hurt you. Just try to get some sleep." He removed his hands, briefly touching her cheek, and crossed back to the spot on the floor where she had been sleeping.

She pulled the covers up to her neck, momentarily defeated, and pressed a hand to her heart. Why had it started beating faster? The shock of learning what he truly was, she decided firmly. Another jolt hit her. She hadn't learned that until after. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly. It was not possible for her to have feelings for someone related with the group that had destroyed her life. Was it?

Deciding to think about it when she wasn't tired (struggling against Gojyo's iron grip had tired her out considerably), she let her eyes droop shut.

When they opened again, she flinched. A ray of sunlight was shining directly on her face. She sat up, letting the covers tumble away from her, and saw Sanzo was sitting, fully awake, on a small wooden chair. She was less grouchy and stubborn than she had been the night before, and made the first move. "I suppose you want to hear the truth now, then?"

He nodded. She was definitely in a better mood today. It seemed she had come to terms with the fact that he hand a hand in saving her life, and was trying to repay him by being nicer and more cooperative.

"I see," she replied quietly. She hadn't yet realized that the other three were awake until she saw that Hakkai and Goku were sitting on a moldy couch, watching her silently, and Gojyo was sitting on the top of a small dresser.

Sanzo was watching her expectantly, as right as he was about to prompt her to start talking, she did. "A few days ago, the exact amount depending on how long I was unconscious, a large group of Youkai came into our town. My father was somewhat of the ruler of Solla, so they came straight to our home to speak to him. They said that four great and powerful demon slayers were headed towards us, and they wanted our help in killing them. We didn't want to agree to their plans, but when the lives of everyone in Solla were put on the line, my father hastily accepted."

She paused, and averted her eyes from Sanzo. It was very unnerving to lock eyes with that man, she had realized. She had been right to think that she would be shocked by appearances when the sun was up. She took in the other three men's appearances quickly before she continued.

"After the chat, the demons said they would be back the next day to arm the townspeople. When they arrived, I was waiting for them. I shouted to them that we would not help them after all to kill the demon slayers, and that's when they attacked. It was a massacre, and it was completely my fault. I lived because they thought they had fatally wounded me. They left me to die, but you found me and saved me, and for that I thank you all."

She fell silent, unsure of what to say now that her story was completed.

"Four demon slayers," Sanzo repeated to the others, brushing away her thanks like it was a fly buzzing around his head. "They must've meant us."

Hakkai nodded. "They killed everyone in Solla because they believe that if you aren't going to fight for the same cause as them, that makes you the enemy."

Suddenly, all of them froze. Machira felt a creepy tingle sneaking up her spine, and knew from experience what it meant.

"Youkai," breathed Goku.

"But it's not just one this time," Hakkai replied, standing up. The other men followed suit. "The other was just a scout. But this time, they've sent the army."

END CHAPTER

I love cliffhanger endings.

A special thanks goes to:

Cesmith: There are a lot of questions I have to answer now that I threw all those loose ends out there, and I hope you like the explanations. It's Gojyo's love of the ladies that landed them in this situation anyway. Will he ever learn?

Shadow of The Flame: It wasn't this fic that's gotten flames, it's my embarrassment of a Kenshin fic. I thought people would understand that my first ever fic is bound to be bad, but I didn't expect the flames. I appreciate the compliment on this fic gratefully. I'm always pleased to hear that people like what I write, and I hope you enjoy the next chapters.

PenPusherM: Oh, fun! You don't need Purdy Colors when you read my fics? Maybe you should rest your eyes, then, if you're seeing pretty much the same thing for both. Thanks a lot for always being there to review even my crappiest stories! It's nice to get a positive review from someone who's never seen the series before. It's really good, though. I recommend it.

I'll try and update soon. If I'm lucky, my cousins will let me use their computer to post updates. Imagine, a week without a computer.

Barbaric.

Authoress over and out.