Authoress here. It feels so rewarding to start a new chapter to a story, especially after being gone for a week. Which wasn't fun, by the way.

Like I promised, I'm going to type "my bloody heart out" in an attempt to make up for being gone so long. But not literally. I need that to live.

Heh, heh. That was stupid.

START CHAPTER

It hadn't taken very long to learn the name of the new, thriving town where Goku hoped to find food and Gojyo hoped to find women.

"Aelis, huh?" Sanzo had said, eyeing a sign that was done in overly perky pastel colors. "This is one of the few places where the youkai haven't caused trouble."

Rolling by in a jeep was causing attention to be drawn to them, as it was the only iron vehicle most of the civilians had ever seen, but the members of the Sanzo party didn't appear concerned.

"We shouldn't stay here for very long," Hakkai said quietly, making it clear that his calm face had been a convincing act. "We don't want to bring any harm to this town."

Machira watched the peoples' eyes follow them as they drove slowly down the main street, and felt herself growing uncomfortable. Being a female, she was always kept out of view by her parents, who had been very over protective of her since she was born.

"Does that mean we can't stop to get a meal?" Goku asked worriedly. Even though he was a demon boy aged 18, there was nothing more important to him than a good meal.

Machira turned her attention to the young demon who sat to her left, and smiled kindly. "I'm sure we can stop somewhere." She shifted slightly and winced, her weight landing on her badly burned left hand that had not yet healed.

"How are your wounds doing?" Hakkai questioned, having noticed her expression of pain when he glanced into the rearview mirror on the jeep.

"Fine." It was easier to lie to Hakkai when she didn't make eye contact, and she was sick of being such a hassle.

Hakkai chuckled softly, switching his attention back to the road. "It's pointless to try and lie to me, Machira. I'll have to change the bandages tonight."

A blush crept up on her cheeks, and she stared fixedly at her knees. The jeep hit a bump seconds later, succeeding at startling her, jarring her sore body, and causing her to throw out an arm to steady herself. Her hand landed on one of Gojyo's, and for a second both were too startled to react.

Machira jumped when she realized her hand was resting on the warm flesh of another person's hand, and she yanked it back quickly. Gojyo didn't comment on the event, but he was pleased on the inside. His youkai blood made him more in tune with things, and he had observed that her pulse sped up when she noticed whose hand she was touching.

Although she was carefully avoiding meeting his eyes, it was obvious that she was blushing a darker shade of magenta. Her hair was short enough where it didn't hide her face completely, and Gojyo itched to brush it away from her face, take her in his arms, and hold her close. He kept those thoughts to himself, however, and cast his gaze to the buildings on the side of the road. She would never like him even if he stopped with the sexual advances (which seemed to greatly annoy her) that he slipped into every conversation. Oh well, he thought to himself, dismayed. There are other women out there.

"This can't be where we're staying." Goku placed his hands on his hips as he took in the small, shabby inn that Hakkai had pointed out minutes earlier. "It's a total dump!"

Hakkai sighed, looking at the stubborn demon boy. "I'm sorry, Goku, but this is all they have to offer."

Goku's face fell; he had apparently thought they were trying to save money by not picking a better inn, and that news had saddened him greatly. Giving up, he threw in a last retort. "They better at least have a kitchen."

Upon seeing what the room that she was supposed to sleep in looked like, Machira stopped in the doorway. She and Gojyo had been assigned to share a room by the method of rock-paper-scissors, but she hadn't expected this.

The innkeeper had said it slept two people, but had neglected to mention the details. Sitting in the middle of the room was a neatly made double bed.

Gojyo was behind her, and upon looking over her head he figured out what had made her stop walking. He sidestepped past her, and shook his head a little. "Well, this is a strange turn of events. I guess you wanna go to a different room, then? I mean, you're obviously scared about the idea of sharing a bed with me," Gojyo commented slyly.

"I am not," Machira replied stubbornly. Her mind was in turmoil as she processed what he had said. He knew she was stubborn and wouldn't admit she was afraid of anything, but was he trying to use it to his advantage?

"It's fine. I'll just sleep on the floor over there and-"

"No!" The forcefulness of her reply caused Gojyo too glance at her, shocked. "I...I'm sick of causing so many problems around here. I don't mean to interfere with anything. Y-you take the bed, and I'll sleep on the floor."

Gojyo looked at her evenly, considering what she had said. "Here's a better idea. We'll share the bed, and I swear I won't try anything."

Roughly an hour later, after Hakkai had carefully changed all her bandages, Machira swung her legs over the edge of the bed she and Gojyo were sharing, prepared to sleep on the floor to ease her pounding heart.

"What are you doing?" A hand descended on Machira's shoulder, halting her.

"Uh..." She scoured her mind for a good excuse, but found none.

"I'm true to my word, Machira," Gojyo said quietly. "I won't touch you."

"I know," she replied in a low whisper. "But-"

As Gojyo opened his mouth to interrupt, loud yelling pierced the night air, causing the pair to jump. Machira crossed quickly to the window, and spied the reason. A group of celebrating villagers had a youkai chained to a wooden pole and were preparing to burn him alive.

A second later, Gojyo was beside her, surveying the scene.

"We have to help him!" Machira hissed feverishly.

Gojyo didn't look at her. "No."

"What? They're going to burn him alive! We have to do something!"

Gojyo shook his head, and finally met her eyes. "I can understand what you're feeling right now, Machira, but if we help that demon then the townspeople will turn on us as well. We don't like fighting innocents."

A sudden knock at the door resounded through the room, and Gojyo left his spot at the window to answer it. Hakkai, Goku, and Sanzo entered and shut the door hurriedly behind them. The four chatted quietly amongst themselves for a minute or so, then Gojyo broke away from the group to grab Machira and pull her away from the window then out the door with them, all without an explanation.

"What's going on?" Machira asked nervously, aware that the men around her all had grim expressions on their faces.

"Hakkai, Gojyo and I are demons. If we don't get out of here soon, it could be all of us roasting in that fire," Goku explained quietly.

As they passed the vacant front desk, Machira bit her tongue rather than ask if anyone had paid for their rooms. It was better to remain silent sometimes.

Hakkai peered out the front window, then moved hurriedly out of sight. "No good. We have to find a back door."

"How about a window?"

Hakkai followed Machira's gaze to a large window. "Better than nothing."

Before they could take a step towards the window, however, the front door swung open to reveal a group of men carrying weapons of all sorts, and flaming torches that cast an eerie glow around the room. "Where do ya think you're goin', demons?"

"Out," replied Sanzo shortly.

The man in front eyed the group, then grunted, "Buddha-boy an' da bitch can go, but youse demons are comin' with us."

A few seconds later, he was clutching his reddening left cheek, and Machira looked livid, her hand still raised in the air. She offered no explanation for her actions, but it was understood.

"Now that that's taken care of," Gojyo said, amused. "We can leave."

The man, his pride and his check bruised, unsheathed a sword that he had been carrying in his belt and swung it so the point was touching Machira's nose.

She knocked it aside easily with the back of her hand, and heaved an impatient sigh. "Stop with the child's play, please. My friends and I would like to leave without having to beat down a group of angry townspeople."

Hakkai smiled at the men calmly, causing a few to grip their weapons tighter with unease. "If you think a mob of ten of so can defeat us, feel free to try it, but I do warn you against it."

It seemed that the men wouldn't listen to reason, so the Sanzo party had no choice but to knock them all out cold. It seemed that Gojyo was having fun bashing townsfolk over the head, which was more than slightly amusing to watch. Sanzo was using the butt end of his gun, and Goku his staff.

It wasn't long before they were sitting in their usual spots in the jeep, driving away from Aelis before the break of dawn.

"That was an eventful night," Gojyo commented, to break the silence more than anything else.

Machira scoffed. "That's a bit of an understatement."

Gojyo cuffed her lightly in the shoulder, and grinned. "Fair enough."

Goku groaned. "Couldn't we have at least stayed for breakfast? I'm so hungry!"

"No," Sazno replied flatly. "We'll probably find another inn soon."

"How many towns are we going to be driven out of before that happens?" Goku asked angrily. "I'm sick of this crap! Just because we're demons, people hate us. It's not fair." The young demon crossed his arms, and carefully stared out at the passing trees. "Sometimes I wish I was a human."

"Trust me on this- it's not all it's cracked up to be. Humans are pathetic compared to demons," Machira replied quietly. "If I was a demon, I would've been able to save my hometown. Be happy with what you are, Goku. You can't change it. I could, by killing 1000 demons, but I don't want that." She stopped talking abruptly, catching the mirror reflection of Hakkai.

"That's how I became a demon," Hakkai replied offhandedly, although it was clearly still a sore subject to him.

"Oh. I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know."

"It's alright." Hakkai smiled at her in the rearview mirror.

As they came to the top of a hill, Machira straightened up from her slouched position. "I've been here before." She took in the landscape and the bridge up the road, visible in the moonlight. "It was so long ago that I don't know the name anymore, but I've been here."

Gojyo eyed her, bemused. "When?"

Leaning back, Machira responded, "That's just the thing. I can't remember that either."

END CHAPTER

Whee! Cliffhanger!

I'll try and get the next chapter up to avoid getting my throat cut. (cough) PenPusherM is a scary opponent.

I was going to continue saying thanks to my reviewers separately, but I'm a lazy bum. I'll just say this to everyone who's reviewed:

Thanks! Your reviews are what keeps me going!

Authoress out.