A/N: Here is the next chapter of this little story (though it might not be so little, I've got a lot more planned for it). This is the chapter that the plot begins to really start in, though the next one will really make the whole thing start moving. Before I start the chapter, however, I've got some things to say:

There is a bit of swearing in this chapter. Gotta love Sanzo's mouth. He gets into a really bad mood in this one...

Once again, thanks to everyone. And now...

Round 4: Headaches

Hakkai scanned the semi-crowded street, looking for a flash of red hair that would show him where Gojyo was. A few bits of red caught his eye but upon closer examination they were nothing more than coats and banners. And Gojyo was definitely neither a coat, nor a banner.

"Hey, Hakkai?" He looked down to his side where Goku stood, holding several of the many bags that they had accumulated.

"Yes, Goku?" he asked, his eyes returning to scouting for Gojyo. He heard the boy sigh. "I may not be looking at you, Goku, but I am listening."

"Oh. All right. Well…" There was the rustling of a paper bag; Goku was obviously going after some of the food that they had purchased. "How long are we gonna be out here?" The sound of crinkling plastic as he opened whatever he had dug out of the depths of the bag.

Hakkai tightened his grip on the objects in his own arms as one of them began to slip. "I was planning on heading back soon. Though I highly doubt that Sanzo cares if we get back. Or not. He is probably waiting for food right now."

Goku gave a small laugh. "So, he's not caring about us, right?" His words were slightly muffled by his mouthful of food.

Hakkai shrugged, still scanning the crowd of the tall kappa. "I really don't know, Goku. Currently? He's most likely only thinking why his food and smokes aren't there. But at other times…"

"So…" There was a flash of movement that Hakkai saw out of the corner of his eye; Goku had stuff the rest of his pastry—for that was what he was eating—into his mouth. "Mwehre whaithing mfor mhe pherpherted kapha?"

"Excuse me? Goku, please don't talk with your mouth full."

Goku swallowed, wiping crumbs from the corners of his mouth. "I asked if we were waiting for th' perverted kappa."

A smile tugged at the edge of Hakkai's mouth at Goku's name for Gojyo. "Yes, we are. I'd like to see that he doesn't go running off with Miss Kioko. And in our conditions, it is best not to be separated like this for a very long time. One never knows when we are to be attacked again."

"Eh, bu' we'd know if any of th' stupid youkai were coming," stated Goku, spraying crumbs from his half-full mouth. "After all, we can sense their--what was it that you called them? Auras?"

"Yes, auras. Be that as it may, it is still best to stick together until we are all fully recovered." Hakkai looked up at the sky; it was growing darker, the sun dipping down towards the western horizon. Not quite there yet, but it was still getting late.

"Excuse me, um, Hakkai-san?"

Hakkai turned around, slightly startled by the quite voice. There, standing to his right, was the woman from earlier—Eshana, if he remembered her name correctly—holding Vatsa in her arms. The boy had his arms curled around her neck, his head on her shoulders. His eyes were closed and from the way he was breathing it was obvious to Hakkai that he was fast asleep.

"Ah, Miss Eshana. Is there something I can do for you?"

Eshana gave him a small smile, adjusting her hold on the boy so that she didn't drop him. "I was wondering if you had seen Kioko. She went off with your friend some time ago, and I haven't seen her since."

Hakkai shook his head. "No, I have notseen her. Or Gojyo, for that matter."

She sighed, looking to either side as she did so, careful not to jostle the sleeping child. "Wonderful. She needs to take Vatsa home."

Hakkai looked around, spotting a bench against the wall of a shop. "It might be a while. Would you like to sit with us and wait for them?"

Eshana glanced towards the bench. "Well, I would be able to see her if she was in this part of the town from that bench…yes, I would."

They walked over to the bench, Hakkai setting his groceries on the ground. "Goku, you can set those down. But do be careful that you don't drop—"

"I got it, Hakkai. Don't worry 'bout it." Despite his words, Goku dropped the bags to the ground, then perched on the edge of the bench, watching as the other two sat down. Eshana moved slowly, careful not to wake the boy in her arms.

Hakkai sighed as he watched the bags hit the ground. "Goku…"

The dark haired girl smiled. "Children never do listen, do they?"

Goku's eyes widened as he heard her. "Hey, I'm not a child! I'm—"

"Goku-san?" Eshana turned to him, no longer smiling, through her face bespoke no anger.

"Yeah?"

"Please, don't talk so loudly. I would prefer not to wake Vatsa." She gave him a small smile, leaning back so that she was resting against the back of the bench.

Goku stared at her for a moment, then smiled back. "Sorry. I'll be quiet."

Beside Eshana, Hakkai gave a small laugh. "Surprising how quickly he will stop talking when asked nicely. I should tell Sanzo about that."

Eshana ran a hand through Vatsa's red hair, smoothing it away from his face. "Yes, asking a kid nicely tends to—wait, did you just say Sanzo? As in a…a Sanzo priest?" There was a slight quaver in her voice and he noticed that she had straightened just a bit when she had realized he had said the name Sanzo.

"Well, yes," Hakkai said, inwardly berating himself. Sanzo hadn't wanted word getting out that he was a priest; the blond man wasn't a fan of large crowds intent on speaking with him. Though he didn't quite see the harm in telling one person, except that they could tell another, and that one another, and so on, until everyone knew. "One of our...friends is a Sanzo."

"Oh. That's…" She seemed to grasp for the right word to use. "That's interesting. I mean, I had heard rumors that there was a Sanzo priest staying the town, but no one had really seen him, I passed them off as just that. Rumors. So, he really is here?" She turned her head, watching him with dark brown eyes.

Hakkai nodded slowly. Goku was distracted by something else; the boy's attention span was very short, and as Eshana's questions were not directed towards him… "Yes," he answered, reaching up and taking his monocle from his eyes, using the edge of his shirt to wipe away dust accumulated from the day. "Though I would…ah, prefer that you do not spread about that he is there. We are only staying here for a little while and would like to remain unnoticed. Get into as little trouble as possible."

To his relief, Eshana nodded. "I understand, Hakkai-san. Just the rumor of a Sanzo priest staying here is creating quite a stir. If everyone knew that the rumors were true then there would most likely be a bit of an…shall we say, uproar? And the gods only know that we need another uproar." The last of her words were filled with sarcasm as she shook her head.

Hakkai looked at her with interest. "What do you mean? Have there been other things before this?" He replaced the monocle over his right eye, glade that it was no longer slightly obscured with dust.

She nodded, watching Goku draw patterns in the dirt with his foot. Hakkai smiled; he was most likely very bored by this. "Yes, there have been. Well, I haven't been here constantly for the last few years, so I haven't seen it all firsthand. But about three years ago was when the forest suddenly became more dangerous. There were strange deaths; people were afraid to go near it. I think that—I wasn't here for this, but Lok told me about it—a priest came through and put up some sort of charm or another, and there were no more of the deaths. At least, no bodies were found after that, but people still continued to disappear."

"A Sanzo?"

She shrugged, though she was still careful not to jostle Vatsa. "It might have been; no one has been able to tell me for sure. But that was only the first thing that happened. The second," and here she sighed and her shoulders slumped slightly, "was a little over a year ago. I'm sure you know what I am talking about." She looked up at him, a question in her eyes. Hakkai nodded.

"You're referring to the youkai and their loss of sanity."

She smiled, though her face was tinged with sadness. "Yes. What else? When they lost their sense of self…I knew several youkai that lived in this village. It was a very sad time. To see people that you have known for years, who are even your friends, go insane and kill…" Her voice trailed off and she looked down at Vatsa, at the red-haired boy who had just shifted in his sleep. "Even Vatsa lost friends at that time. Poor Ginkaku and Kinkaku. We don't know what happened to them."

Hakkai blinked as he heard the two names of the boys. He turned so that he could see Eshana fully. "Did you just say—?"

"Ginkaku and Kinkaku?" Goku had sat up, abandoning the sketches that he was making in the dirt. "Hakkai, weren't those th' names of th' two guys that we met?"

Hakkai nodded slowly. "Yes, Goku. Those were their names."

Eshana's gaze was jumping between the two of them. "Wait. You—you've met them? Where?" The pitch of her voice rose as she spoke; the boys had obviously been important to her.

He swallowed. The two boys… "We met Kinkaku in the forest, several days ago. Miss Eshana…"

"Kinkaku? In the forest? And Ginkaku, where was he? I've never known those two to be separated. Oh, how was he? He—without his parents—they—"

Hakkai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Miss Eshana, Kinkaku and Ginkaku are…they aren't…they are no longer among living."

Eshana went extremely still, pausing even in her breathing. "Wh-what?" she finally managed, her voice gaining a hoarse edge. "They're dead?" Hakkai noticed that her face had lost quite a bit of its color.

"I'm very sorry." He set a hand on her arm as she began to breathe again.

"How?" she asked, her face wiped of all emotion, as though admitting anything was really wrong would be too much for her.

So he told her, the whole tale of how Kinkaku had been traveling with a monster, how he had used the gourd to steal souls, and how there had been the confrontation in the forest. How his and Goku's souls had been sealed in the world of the gourd and their meeting with the spirit of Ginkaku. And finally how Kinkaku had been killed by the one who he had believed in. He did, however, gloss over the things that she didn't need to know, things that he knew were not to be told.

Eshana was silent through the entire tale, up until Hakkai mentioned Kami-sama.

"Wait, slow down," she said, her eyes wide as she tried to digest what she had just heard. "Kami-sama? A Sanzo priest? Can you explain that to me? I am afraid that I don't quite understand."

Goku had returned to drawing in the dust as Hakkai had told her the tale but now he spoke up. "Him? He was just some freaky guy who though he was a Sanzo."

Hakkai gave a small laugh, though it was at Goku's description of Kami-sama and not at the seriousness of the event. "Well, what Goku just said is fairly accurate. He was, in fact, someone who had studied under a Sanzo. We figured that out. Eventually. But he didn't have the title or a sutra. He was…child-like, to say the least. He believed that everything was—" and here he laughed again, but it was a cold laugh, "—God's personal toy."

Eshana sat completely still, her face frozen. Then she inhaled deeply and Hakkai could see that she was willing herself to remain calm. "Is he still alive?" she asked, her eyes dark, her voice low. He shook his head.

"No. We…I have to say that we killed him. His 'fortress' in the forest is gone, as are all of his enchantments."

"That is very good. If he were still alive…" Her voice trailed off and she swallowed. "He had no right to do that to the twins. No right at all." Then she turned to him and her eyes were still full of contained anger. "What did he look like?"

"Hmm? Well, I hardly thing that it matters now…" Hakkai saw the look on her face, knew that she needed to know. He had already told her so much; a little more couldn't hurt. "He had very light blond hair…and a red discoloration over his right eye."

"Interesting." Eshana seemed to withdraw into her own thoughts for a while and Hakkai made no move to disturb her. Whatever she made of the information wasfor herand for her alone.

He doubted that Sanzo would have wanted him to tell her that much. He wasn't actually entirely sure why he had. He supposed that it was mostly because this woman had known the two boys and that she deserved to know what had happened to them. And telling that story led to the knowledge of the strange man who had lived in that forest.

Goku was sitting on the ground, one hand tracing outlines in the dirt, the other riffling through a bag that sat next to him, apparently searching for something to eat. He gave a little crow of delight as he found whatever he had been looking for. Hakkai watched as he pulled out a package of rice crackers and ripped open the top. Then the boy looked up and opened his mouth.

"Hey! Gojyo! You perverted kappa, we've been waiting for you for th' la—"

"Goku!" hissed Hakkai, clamping a hand over the boy's mouth. "Remember what Miss Eshana asked you to do?"

"Oh, yeah. Be quiet. Sorry, Eshana-san!"

"That's quite all right, Goku-san. He didn't wake, just please don't yell anymore." Eshana stood as Gojyo and Kioko walked towards them, the kappa's arm around the silver-haired woman's waist.

"Stupid monkey. You should keep that mouth of yours shut."

Kioko took one look at the four of them waiting there and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, Eshana! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you with Vatsa for so long!"

Eshana ruffled the sleeping boy's hair, then handed him over to his mother. "Yes, well, it was fine. It gave me time to speak with Hakkai-san. I trust that the two of you had a good time?"

Kioko smiled up at Gojyo, who grinned at her. "Yeah, we had a good time. But it is getting late…"

"Yes, very late," cut in Goku impatiently. "And all that waiting's made me hungery! Come'n Gojyo, you made us skip dinner!"

"Ah, shut it," was Gojyo's response to this. "So, Kioko, I guess you'll be heading home with your friend, then?"

Kioko glanced over at Eshana, who was now standing there with her empty arms crossed. "Well…I will be heading home, but Eshana isn't staying with me."

"Oh, so you are staying at the inn?" asked Hakkai, speaking softly to the dark-haired woman, who nodded, keeping her eyes trained on Gojyo.

"Yes."

"Well, then," said Gojyo with one of his enticing smiles, "why don't I walk you and the boy home? It ain't good for a pretty girl to be out alone after dark."

"Kioko—"

"Yes, Gojyo-san. I would like that very much," Kioko responded, cutting off Eshana's words. "Eshana, I will see you tomorrow?"

Eshana inclined her head, still eyeing Gojyo suspiciously. "Yes. Until then…Good night, Kioko. Sha Gojyo." She turned to Hakkai. "And thank you for the conversation. Good nig—"

"Miss Eshana, if you like, we can walk with you back to the inn. We are heading the same way, after all." He smiled and after a moment saw Eshana nod.

"Thank you. Here, I can take some of those bags for you, if you want…"

"Why, that is very kind of you."

"Hey, Hakkai? I'm still hungry."

…

Damn headache.

Sanzo threw down the newspaper; he had read through it once already, there was no need to read it again. Nothing would change and there was really nothing in it worth knowing. His head was throbbing like mad, just as the wound in his side was hurting more than ever.

Damn, this wasn't a good day.

He took off his glasses, folding them carefully and setting them in their case, leaving that on the table. He crushed his cigarette in the ashtray, then rose from his chair.

Only to feel another bolt of pain shoot through his side. He wavered on his feet, unsteadied by the pounding in his head and abdomen.

He ground his teeth together, hard enough to distract himself from the pain. Then, one hand on the back of the chair to steady himself, he moved slowly towards his bed. He stumbled slightly, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face. He released his hold on the chair, taking a few steps. Then stopped, cussing violently as he felt the wound throb, the skin stretch as it strained against the stitches.

Jeep launched himself from his perch on the windowsill, flapping around his head, making annoying cheeping sounds.

"Stupid animal," he growled. "Why the hell didn't you go with Hakkai?"

The white dragon only cooed, landing on the edge of the bed and watching him with beady red eyes. Stupid animal.

He took another step and a fresh wave of pain caused him to shut his eyes tight, breathing hard. One hand found its way to his side, clutching at the stitched wound.

"Damn it," he whispered through clenched teeth. "Damn it all to hell." He took another step, fell, and just barely hit the bed. He pulled himself up, lying down on the mattress, willing the pain to recede.

At least the others weren't around. He wasn't strong, that he knew, but he hated to act weak around anyone. He pulled a blanket around him; he might as well get some sleep. Maybe the damned headache would be gone in the morning. He highly doubted that his side would be any better, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He shut his eyes tightly; even the dim light that was filtering into the room through the window hurt them.

The dragon was still on the bed; he felt him move slightly, setting one clawed limb on his leg and making a cheeping sound that had an almost worried tone to it. However, the small sound hurt Sanzo's head even more.

"Fucking animal! Get the hell away from me!"

And, of course, his outburst only made the headache worse.

There was the sound of footsteps from the hall, each step like the tolling of a bell, resounding in his head. He tightened his jaw, clenching his teeth. The sound of voices, laughter, and then the door creaked open. Sanzo felt Jeep leave.

"Oh! What is that?" came a soft female voice, tinged with curiosity. He heard Hakkai's familiar voice answering her.

"This is Jeep. He's been with me for several years now."

The sound of Jeep's cooing and then the woman's voice again. "He's adorable. Is—"

"Sanzo! Sanzo, we've got food! Can—"

Goku's voice was just too much noise for the priest; he twisted around, propping himself up with one arm and glaring at the boy.

"Shut. The hell. Up!" he all but yelled. Goku wilted visibly, sitting down on the floor with a dejected look on his face. The voice of the woman faltered and he saw that she stood in the doorway, Hakkai just before her. The black haired man walked into the room, closely followed by the woman.

"Now, Sanzo, we have company. Could you not yell?" Hakkai set down several bags on the table, pushing the ashtray and newspaper to the side as he did so. "Miss Eshana, you can set those down here."

Sanzo glanced at the person Hakkai had directed the last of his words to. A woman around his age, who looked no taller than Goku. Dark haired, but with nothing to set her apart from any other woman he would pass by in the streets. Just another annoyance to add to his already very shitty day. And she was staring at him with an expression as though he was some sort of insect.

"Is he always like this?" he heard her say, followed by a low chuckle from Hakkai.

"Yes. Most of the time, at least."

Sanzo shut his eyes again, turning on the bed so that he faced the wall. "Just keep the noise down, got it?"

"Whatever you say, Sanzo."

"I should probably get going," the woman—Eshana—said, a nervous note lacing her words. "Thank you for walking me back, Hakkai-san."

"Oh, it was nothing, Miss Eshana. Do have a good night. And don't mind Sanzo, he is just in a bad mood."

Were his head not hurting so much, Sanzo probably would have said something to Hakkai at that point. As it was, he simply curled into a tighter ball, wishing he could block out the noise.

"I will. And thank you again. Good night, Hakkai-san, Goku-san."

There was the creaking of the door as it closed.

"Sanzo," said Hakkai, pulling out a chair from the table and sitting down, "you didn't have to be so rude."

"Yeah, well, I didn't think that you would be the one to pick up a whore. I thought that was the damned kappa's job." His voice came out sounding harsher than he intended but he didn't really care. The whole world could just go to hell.

Hakkai was silent for a moment, regarding the priest with emotionless eyes. "Goku?"

"Yeah?" The boy was quieter than normal, Sanzo's first outburst having driven all energy from him.

"There's no time for me to make anything to eat. Why don't you go downstairs and get something to eat?"

Goku perked up instantly. "I can? But…but I don't have any money, Hakkai."

The green-eyed man smiled at him, pulling some from his pocket. "Here you are, Goku."

"Thanks, Hakkai!" The boy hurried out of the room, the money clutched in his hand. The door clattered shut behind him.

With a sigh, Hakkai turned back to the priest. "Now, Sanzo, can you tell me what's going on?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sanzo was in no mood to be answering questions, but Hakkai wasn't about to give up.

"You aren't usually this volatile," he said, stroking Jeep as the dragon settled on his shoulder. "I can tell when something is wrong. You can't hide it from me, even though you try. Despite the fact that I only have one working eye, I'm not blind."

Sanzo growled in annoyance. "Fine. You want to know what is wrong? I've got a fucking massive headache and my side feels as though someone's holding a knife to it. Happy now?"

Hakkai shooed Jeep away and walked to the bed. "Sanzo, I should have a look at that wound, if it is still hurting."

"It's only been a day, Hakkai. It's not going to heal that fast."

"Sanzo…"

"Go to hell, Hakkai!"

Hakkai set a hand to his head, sighing. "I'd prefer not to, Sanzo. I think one trip into death per year is all I can handle. Now, I want to see to that wound. If it has gotten infected…we could end up staying here a lot longer than you planned on. Besides," he continued, keeping his voice level and devoid of any emotion, "Gojyo and Goku aren't around. And even if they were, it's not like they haven't seen you injured before."

Sanzo was silent for a moment. "Fine," he growled, pulling himself into a sitting position. He winced, then pulled back the side of his shirt, exposing the wound.

Hakkai inhaled sharply as he saw it. "Sanzo, you never noticed this?"

The flesh around the wound was red, inflamed. Infected, and Hakkai could see that it was most definitely not healing correctly.

Sanzo shook his head. "No."

Hakkai held his hand several inches away from Sanzo side, allowing a small amount of his chi to form in his hand. Then he sighed and released the power.

"If you had let me heal you properly a while ago then this would be an easy task. As it is, the stitches need to come out before I can do anything. And even then…" His voice trailed off uncomfortably.

"And even then?"

He raked a hand through his hair. "Even then, I don't know if I can heal infection. I couldn't heal the poison from the scorpion youkai—or any poison, for that matter—and I have a feeling this is a similar case."

Sanzo gritted his teeth together in irritation. "Fine, damn it. Call the doctor back, for all I care. Just keep the kappa and the monkey out of my business."

Hakkai inclined his head. "Of course. Besides, I have a feeling that Gojyo won't be around for a while."

Sanzo leaned back against the wall. "That bastard had better not make any messes. I am not going to clean up after him."

Hakkai just glanced at him, the headed towards the door to find the barkeeper and send for the doctor.

A/N2: This was an...interesting chapter to write. Actually, after I wrote that Sanzo had a headache, I woke up with one. Pretty weird...Anyway, questions, comments, and constructive critisism are all appreciated.

Until next week,

Raven