Authoress here. Who else? I mean, really, who would want to post stories under my name besides me?

Sorry for the long absence. I haven't been able to get on this computer in awhile. My sister likes to draw anime on the computer.

I'm back for the time being, so I'll do my best.

START CHAPTER

"Damn I'm hungry!" Goku whined. "I want food! I'm so hungry I could eat a building!" Sitting in the basement of a building that he hadn't seen the outside of, Goku was chained up and disgruntled.

The heavy metal door of the room he was seated in banged open, and Ankara stomped in. "Shut the hell up, you whiner!" In her hands was a tray of food. "I brought you something to eat. If you don't like it, I'll shove it down your ungrateful throat," she snapped, placing it on the floor in front of him.

Indeed Ankara did look irritated, but also watched Goku carefully as he ate as best as he could from his chained up state.

"This is great! Thanks!" Goku said between mouthfuls. Watching him eat was a little funny, but his gratefulness made it so that Ankara couldn't laugh.

Ankara blinked at him slightly openmouthed, then glanced away. "No problem. Just quit whining now, okay?"

Goku nodded exuberantly as he finished off the meal. "I won't complain anymore, I promise." He laughed a little. "I must look a little stupid right now."

Despite herself, Ankara chuckled. "Only a little. You have some food on your face, though."

"Oh." Goku began trying to remove the offending bits of the meal from his face, but Ankara crouched down beside him with a cloth napkin.

"Here. I'll do it," she said firmly.

As she worked, Goku's eyes moved to meet hers. "You said before you were in love with a demon. What was his name?"

Ankara lowered the napkin and sighed. "It doesn't matter. He went to the other side by choice, and I can't bring him back. It's worthless to even hope that he could change back to the man he once was."

"Oh...sorry then," he replied.

"It's fine. It was a long time ago," she explained, carefully avoiding his eyes. She started to stand up and walk away, but his clawed hand caught her wrist from between the chains.

Startled, she looked at Goku. "Let go."

Slowly, he shook his head. "Unchain me, Ankara."

She was silent and unmoving.

"Ya know, for a hooker, you're really alright," Goku informed her with a toothy smile.

Ankara sighed angrily. "I'm not a hooker, you idiot! My friends and I dressed and acted like that in hopes of capturing the half-demon, not you. What a shock it was to us when we recognized you wandering alone."

Goku frowned at her and released her wrist.

"Narrin is leading your friends here right now. We have chains prepared for all three of them. They're walking into a trap as we speak." Ankara couldn't bear to look at Goku anymore, and left the room.

Goku hardly noticed. All three of them? They don't know about Machira! His smile returned. At least there was hope.

-Outside-

"So this is where that idiot went?" Sanzo was looking grouchy as always as he examined the building that Narrin had said they could find their friend in.

Narrin nodded, her lies coming all too easily. "He's stuck downstairs, but he wouldn't let us near him to help. He's been whining about being hungry this whole time, too. Quite annoying, really."

Hakkai smiled. "Well, that sounds like him, now doesn't it?"

Machira frowned despite the relief of having found where Goku had ventured off to. The other woman hadn't even become aware of the fact that she was there. Deciding not to make herself noticeable, she sidled closer to Gojyo. He cast her a confused look, as she had recently yelled at him for doing something similar. "Trust me," she mouthed.

He nodded, slightly confused, and followed the others as they headed in through the door with her lagging slightly behind so that she was hidden behind him.

They walked through winding corridors that made them grow more suspicious. If Goku had really wandered in by himself, he would've given up trying to find his way by now and started shouting for food.

Hakkai sent Sanzo and Gojyo a look that expressed his doubts about the authenticity of the woman's story, but they went on nonetheless.

As she reached a large door, Narrin turned around to look at them with her back pressed against it. "I'll warn you now: that stupid demon boy isn't in the best of moods right now."

"I figured as much," Sanzo replied sourly. "After all, he's stuck in here with you people."

Narrin's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but her tone remained as it was before. "I'll take that into consideration when you assholes need something from us."

Gojyo smirked a bit. Out of all the people he had ever met, he'd have to say that Sanzo was the best at making people angry. "Nice place you got here," Gojyo commented offhandedly. "It's like a maze down here."

"It is a maze, moron," Narrin replied, angry that they all seemed to know how to irritate her. "I don't know who made it, but it's a maze on purpose."

Hakkai smiled. "We'd like to go get our friend now, if you don't mind."

"Aren't you the falsely polite one," Narrin snapped as she opened the door for the men and unnoticed woman. She strode into the large room ahead of all of them, and then spun to face them. She pointed off to her right. "He's over there."

As they stepped into the room, Ankara and Emiko snickered. It was too late for them to escape now. A golden chain identical to the one holding Goku entwined itself around Sanzo, who had been the first to walk in. Goku was indeed off to the right.

"It's a trap!" he shouted, his warning coming too late.

Another chain twisted itself around Hakkai, and a third bound Gojyo.

Machira stood frozen, waiting for a chain to wrap around her, then realized the flaw in the plan that had been designed to capture her companions. They had never noticed that she was traveling with them.

Emiko stepped away from the wall where she had been standing unnoticed, and laughed. "That was too easy!"

"Yeah," Machira replied, stepping forward. "Wasn't it?"

Emiko recoiled in shock. "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, that's right!" Machira replied in mock surprise. "You never noticed me, huh?"

"She's injured," Narrin observed, glancing at a bandage that was still wrapped around Machira's left arm. "This is going to be simple."

"Kick her ass, Machira!" Goku shouted from the other side of the room.

Machira looked over at him and laughed, her gaze quickly shifting back to the two women front of her while she replied. "How many of them are there?"

"Three, I think," came the shouted reply.

Machira glanced around. There was no sign of another woman. "Shout if you see the third." She smirked at Narrin and Emiko. "I've got some ass to kick." She took a step forward. "No one messes with my friends."

"Actually," a cool male voice responded. "I don't think it's them that you should be concerned with."

END CHAPTER

Cliffhangers!

Haru: She feels the need to announce what's already making loyal reviewers angry.

Shush. I'll attempt to get the next chapter up soon, but if it's not...(waves fist in the general direction of the school building) You know what to blame.

Authoress out.