A/N: So, here's the fifth chapter of this. The plot really starts here, with the events in this being what makes everything else happen. The part at the beginning of this...I would really like your feedback as to how well it is written. I don't write stuff like that as often and I would like to know if you think it is okay or if it is really, really bad.

Also, I worked on different sides of the characters in this. For example, a bit more of an...angry side of Hakkai and a softer side of Gojyo.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story. I really appreciate all of the feedback.

Round 5: Poison

"Thank you, Gojyo-san." Kioko dug into her purse, pulling out a battered key. She smiled at the kappa, then unlocked the door to her house.

"Any time, gorgeous," he said with a grin. "You want me to bring your boy inside?"

Kioko nodded. "Sure. Here, come in." She held the door open for him and Gojyo walked inside, holding the sleeping Vatsa in his arms. "Wait—"

"Yeah?"

Kioko chewed on her bottom lip, looking a little uncomfortable. "Could you…could you not smoke in my house? I mean, I don't mind the smell elsewhere, but it'll just…I'd prefer not having smoke in the house," she finished, locking eyes with him as she did.

He paused for a moment, then stepped back outside where he crushed his cigarette under his heel. He would have rather kept smoking, but it wasn't like she was asking him to give up smoking for good. Plus, there was a good chance that if he got into her house that he could also get somewhere else…

"Sure thing, girl."

Kioko smiled at him again. "Thanks. Here, I can take Vatsa now—" She took the boy from Gojyo's arms. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll be back in just a moment." She walked through an open door, which Gojyo figured was the entrance for the boy's room. Then, doing precisely what Kioko said that he could do, he sat down on the couch, stretching his long legs out in front of him.

It was a pretty small house. Not surprising, he thought, as she was a single mother. Probably couldn't afford anything bigger. There was a small living room, which was where he was currently sitting. All it contained was the couch, a wooden chair, and a coffee table covered in a few water stains and scratches. An open doorway lead to what he could see was a kitchen. A bathroom and two bedrooms were the only other rooms in the house.

It wasn't really that small, he thought, leaning backwards and putting his hands behind his head. Hell, it wasn't that much smaller than the house he owned. Or had owned, before this damned journey had begun. That house could have been burned to the ground and he never would have known.

Not like there was anything important in that house.

Kioko came out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. "So, Gojyo-san…did you want to stay for a bit?" She sat down on the chair, absently straightening the newspapers and magazines that lay on the table.

Was that an invitation? "Yeah, I'd like that." Well?

Kioko had gotten up from the chair, clearing some of the clutter in the room. A nervous tendency, he supposed. Though the house was a little messy. Not surprising, when a seven-year-old boy lived there.

"I'm sorry, I really wasn't expecting to have company," she said, picking up the odd pieces of clothing that were lying on the ground and setting them in a wicker basket that sat in the corner.

"Eh, don't worry about it." His eyes followed her as she moved around the room. "If it's a problem, I can always leave." Not that he wanted to leave. Being alone in a room with a woman who was obviously attracted to him normally lead to a certain situation that he was entirely comfortable with. Though it would be nice if he could smoke…

"What? Oh, no. You don't need to leave." She continued to straighten things in the room, then stopped and turned to him. "Would you like anything to drink, while you're here?"

"Sure. Got any beer?"

That elicited a soft laugh from Kioko. "When I've got a kid in the house? Besides, we already got some of that earlier. Is tea good enough for you?"

He shrugged. "Sure." Tea. Sounded like something Hakkai would drink, not him. Ah, who really cared, anyway?

So, no alcohol and no cigarettes. But a good looking girl, which made up for the other two things. Mostly.

"I'll be right back, then," she said, walking into the kitchen. Gojyo watched the swing of her hips as she left, then shook his head and followed her.

The kitchen was pretty small as well, the sink piled with dirty dishes, a thin layer of dirt on the ground. There were a few muddy handprints on the cabinets and floor, small enough to be Vatsa's. Most likely were, thought Gojyo with a suppressed smile. From the state of the house he looked to be a bit of a handful.

"Hey, beautiful. I don't like being ignored." Gojyo shoved his hands in his pockets, leaning on the doorjamb.

Kioko gave a lopsided smile, filling a clean pot with water. She had just set it on the stove when Gojyo came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.

"Any particular reason you asked me to come in?" he mumured, dipping his head so that it was close to her ear. He saw Kioko's cheeks flush as she moved away, turning around so that she faced him.

"Well—I-I just thought that it would be the polite thing to do, Gojyo-san," she answered, one hand twisting in the material of her skirt.

"You know that you're really cute when you're nervous?" He ran one hand down the side of her face, tangling his fingers in her silver hair. He saw her eyes widen slightly and he wondered if she would bolt; she had been incredibly confident earlier, but now that they were alone together she had begun to waver between that confidence and a bout of shyness that intrigued him.

"Ah…Gojyo-san—"

He leaned down—there was a good five-inch difference in their heights—and laid his lips to hers. Softly, slowly. Better not to make her bolt. He felt her stiffen in shock, then relax against him after several moments. It was a very simple kiss, but slowly he deepened it until she pulled back.

"Um…" She bit her bottom lip, looking at the pot on the stove. "I should—"

"Eh, forget about it." He brushed his lips across the corner of her mouth. "Turn the stove off. We can turn up the heat somewhere else."

Kioko laughed at his words. "That's a pretty bad pick-up line, Gojyo-san. Besides," she said as he ran a hand through hair, "the walls are very thin in this house. I'd think it best not to—"

He silenced her with another kiss, drawing her close. She tentatively reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself into the kiss.

Without breaking the kiss Gojyo drew her out of the kitchen and pulled her onto the couch. Her breath was coming faster and Gojyo held her close, his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly.

"Gojyo-san?'

"Yeah?" He ran his hands down her back, making her shiver. "What?"

"We-we really shouldn't—" Her voice broke off as he kissed the side of her neck. Her eyes closed and she set her hands to his shoulders, pushing herself away. "This is just going too fast…"

He tangled one hand in her hair, pulling her into another kiss. "Hey," he whispered against her mouth, "I won't go any further than you want, got it?"

He felt her nod. The corners of his mouth twitched in a smile and then he kissed her again.

…

"Sanzo. Sanzo!"

Hakkai groaned and turned over, pulling the pillow over his head as he did so. He really didn't want to get up yet; the sun hadn't even risen over the horizon and he had been up so late the night before that he wanted to sleep for as long as he could.

"Sanzo!"

Goku's voice was as loud as ever, even with the pillow covering his head. Hakkai sighed, trying to ignore him. He expected to hear a gunshot within moments; Sanzo didn't like being woken, especially not to the boy's yelling.

They had called in a doctor the night before. Well, not the same doctor as before. His assistant. They had been told that there was an emergency somewhere else in the town and he wasn't able to come. The assistant assured them that he had quite a bit of training and would be able to deal with Sanzo's wound easily.

He had worked late, taking out the old stitches and cleaning the wound. Cleaned it and then sewed the priest back up. It had taken a bit of time, though, as he had to reopen the wound to disinfect it.

Hakkai would have closed the wound for Sanzo at that point, except that it was still infected and his chi would not work. Hakkai himself was also still injured and Sanzo had refused to let the green-eyes man risk harming himself by helping him.

"Sanzo, wake up! Sanzo!" Goku's voice was growing more urgent by the moment. In Hakkai's mind that was still clouded by sleep, he wondered why Sanzo wasn't answering Goku and why he hadn't already heard a gunshot.

Then he felt someone shaking him and Goku's frantic words. "Hakkai! Hakkai, Sanzo's not waking up! Hakkai, wake up, I think something's wrong! Hakkai!"

Hakkai rolled over, moving the pillow so that he could look at the boy. "Goku, it's still early. Perhaps Sanzo just wants to sleep—" Then a thought hit him that made his sit straight up.

Sanzo was the lightest sleeper of the four. With Goku yelling, he should have woken. He'd even woken once when Goku had rolled over in his sleep, when they were out in the woods, sleeping in the jeep.

So he should be awake now. Especially since Goku was yelling.

"Hakkai?" asked the boy as he got up and walked over to where Sanzo was. He was lying there, facing the wall. Motionless.

"Sanzo?" Hakkai sat down on the side of the bed, looking at the priest. His face was stark white; beads of sweat glistening on his skin. His eyes were closed and he didn't move at Hakkai's words. Not that he had expected him to; if he weren't awakened by Goku's shouts then his voice would do nothing.

Goku, his hair mussed and his eyes wide, sat down next to him and shook Sanzo violently.

"Sanzo! Wake up! Hakkai, what's wrong with him? He's not waking up! Hakkai!" Goku's voice was rising shrilly, getting louder and louder.

"Goku, stop that." He grabbed the boy's hands and took them off of Sanzo's shoulders. "Listen, I don't know what's wrong. Just—"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by the sound of pounding on the door and a man's voice.

"Be quiet in there!"

Hakkai closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then walked over to the door and opened it. "Yes?"

A large man was standing there, one hand on the doorframe, glaring at Hakkai. He wore nothing but a pair of shorts. Across the hall was an open door, a woman with heavily painted eyes and lips standing there, wrapped in a sheet. She was smoking, staring at him.

"Can you tell your kid in there to keep it down?" bellowed the man, bringing his eyes level with Hakkai's. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

Hakkai glanced towards the woman, then looked back at the man. "I'm sure. And I am very sorry. I will make sure that you hear nothing else from us."

The man just muttered something under his breath, then turned around and headed back towards his room. "You had better. Or else—"

"Is there a problem here?"

The soft voice made Hakkai turn to his left. Standing there in the dim light from an open door was the woman he had escorted back the night before. He saw other doors opening up and down the hall, angry and confused faces poking out to see what was happening.

"Nothing, Miss Eshana. I am sorry if we disturbed your sleep."

Eshana stared at him, then rubbed a hand across her eyes as she yawned. "Yes, well it would be nice if you could keep it down."

The man who had pounded on their door turned around. "Yeah, Missy? Good luck getting them to shut it, he said with a sneer, then turned and headed back to his room, wrapped one arm around the girl, slamming his door with the other. Hakkai winced as the sound resounded around the hall. Eshana just shook her head.

"Bastard," she muttered. "Louder than you. And I'm not just talking about the yelling and door slamming. Anyway, are you sure that nothing is wrong? My room's right next door, and it sounded like something wasn't right."

Hakkai shook his head. "No, no. Nothing is wrong. Just a little argument, that's all. Thank you for your concern."

She gave him a half smile, then yawned. "You're welcome, Hakkai-san. Now, if you'll excuse me…" She pushed her door back open. "Good…night. I suppose it should be good morning…eh, whatever."

"Good night, Eshana-san."

The clicking of the door told him that she was gone. Hakkai sighed and turned back into his own room. Goku was still sitting beside Sanzo, shaking him once again. "Goku, you are going to have to keep it down, all right?"

The boy looked up at him with large eyes filled with worry. "But he's not waking up! I don't think that he's all right. Can't you do anything, Hakkai?"

Hakkai stared at Goku for a moment. This was so like all those other times that Sanzo had been hurt, only this time Goku hadn't lost control. Yet. "I can try. Here, turn him over and get that shirt out of the way." Whatever was wrong, he was sure that it had something to do with the wound in his side.

Goku hurried to do what Hakkai had said. As he moved Sanzo's body the man twitched ever so slightly. His eyes were moving below the closed lids. Caught in a dream?

With the shirt removed, Hakkai could see that the wound was…was fine. No redness, no bloating, just the stitches puckering the skin. Then what was keeping him in this sleep?

"Goku." Hakkai turned to the boy. "Can you sense anything to be wrong with Sanzo?" Sometimes Goku was able to…to smell things that other people couldn't. Maybe he could tell what was wrong. After all, the wound was fine. Then—

"Yeah," said Goku, sitting on the side of the bed, eyes trained on the priest. "Yeah, something's wrong, Hakkai. I don't know what, though. But…but it's not th' wound. It's…" His voice trailed off and he looked down, hands fiddling with a piece of the bedspread. "I-I don' know. But something's wrong. I know it!"

Hakkai took a deep breath and closed his eyes. This was getting out of hand. What was wrong? His side was healing and he had no other injuries that Hakkai knew of, so what was causing this? Goku said that something was definitely wrong and the boy wouldn't lie. So what was wrong?

Had the assistant done something? Unlikely, yet possible. But likely. And yet—

"Hakkai?"

Goku's voice made Hakkai's eyes snap open and he stared at him. "What is it, Goku?"

"A-are you all right?" he asked, looking more worried than ever. Hakkai frowned.

"What do you mean, Goku? I'm fine."

Goku looked over at Sanzo again, not meeting Hakkai's eyes. "It's just…you looked kinda…weird just a moment ago. I guess. I was just wondering…"

"I'm fine. I was just…thinking." He supposed that thinking, especially thinking in circles as he had been doing, could make him look 'weird,' as Goku had said. He reached for his monocle where it sat on the table, positioning it over his eye. "Goku, do you remember if anything odd happened last night? When the doctor was here?"

Goku screwed up his eyes, thinking hard. "Odd? I dunno, Hakkai. Th' guy came in here an' fixed up Sanzo."

"Think, Goku. Please. Did he do anything to Sanzo that might have brought this about?"

Goku rubbed his hands across his eyes. "I don't remember, Hakkai! If I did, I'd tell you! I'd—" He stopped, his arms dropping and his eyes going wide. "Hakkai! I remember!"

"Well?" urged the man, sitting down beside Goku. "What do you remember?"

"The sleeping thingy! He gave Sanzo that thing to drink! Remember?"

Hakkai frowned again. "The sleeping draught? But that was just—" He stopped and thought about it for a moment. It was possible... "You were right there when that happened, Goku. Did anything about that sleeping draught seem wrong?"

"Well, kinda—"

"And you didn't say anything?"

"Hakkai! Don't get angry at me! It wasn't a really big feeling, that it was bad! It was kinda just a-a feeling. Does that make any sense?" Hakkai shook his head but Goku continued anyway. "But-but I didn't think that anything was wrong! An' I was half asleep, Hakkai! An-an—Hakkai, is Sanzo gonna—?"

Hakkai set a hand to the trembling boy's shoulder. "Look, we're going to fix this. If it is poison, then we have to get him help. Fast." If it was poison, then they might already be too late. He could only hope that it had been some sort of drug.

"Yeah!" Goku jumped off the bed. "But what?"

Hakkai got up as well, going to his neatly folded clothes and began to pull them on. "I'm going to go and get a doctor. I don't know much about poisons, but it hasn't killed him yet, but I doubt we have a lot of time left. I want you to stay here with him, just in case anything happens. Stay alert, Goku." He would get the real doctor, not the assistant. Hopefully, it would be in time.

"Gotcha, Hakkai."

Hakkai laced his shoes, then turned and headed to the door. As he was about to open it he paused and turned back. "And don't let anyone in while I'm out."

"Not even Gojyo?"

Hakkai gave a small smile. A very small smile. "Not even Gojyo. Besides, I doubt he will be back for awhile."

"Okay. Just hurry."

Hakkai nodded, then left the room, heading down the hall and down the stairs.

There weren't many people in the smoke filled bar room. Only a few sitting at tables and one leaning on the counter with a cup before them. The barkeeper stood behind the counter, straightening dusty bottles of alcohol. He looked up as Hakkai entered the room.

"Ah. Mr. Hakkai-san. How—"

"I'm sorry to be impolite," said Hakkai, cutting off the man's words, "but I need to know the way to where the doctor lives. Right now."

The man raised his eyebrows. "More problems? Damn, you guys have it hard." He set down one of the bottles, wiping his hands on a clean cloth. "Look, the doctor lives close to the outskirts of town. It's a ways away and pretty hard to find if you don't know what to look for."

Hakkai tapped his fingers on the counter impatiently. "Even so, I need to know how to get there."

The barkeeper shook his head. "I'd tell you, but it would take you some time to get there. And from the tone of your voice, I'd say that you need to get there quickly. I'd take you, but I can't go running around—"

"Then get someone who can take me!" Hakkai took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "I am sorry. But you figured it correctly. It is urgent that I get to the doctors. Now, is there anyone who can take me?"

The barkeeper opened his mouth, then closed it again, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Well, anyone in here could take you, but—" he leaned across the counter, speaking softly so that only Hakkai could hear him, "they ain't the best type of people to be traveling with. I'd suggest—"

"Good morning, Lok-san. Oh, and good morning Hakkai-san. It is good to see you again."

"Ah." The barkeeper glanced over to the stairwell. "Eshana-san. Good morning."

The dark-haired woman sat down at the counter. "Do you have any coffee made? I'm going to need it."

"No sleep?"

She shook her head. "Bit of a disturbance earlier. Yelling and the such. I'm sure that Hakkai-san here could tell you more about it."

Lok filled a cup with coffee and handed it to Eshana. "Here you are." Then he looked over at Hakkai and back to the woman. "Eshana, are you up to trudging around the town tonight?"

"Hmm?" She took a sip of the coffee and swallowed. "Why?"

Lok gestured toward Hakkai. "This man here needs someone to get him to Matou's."

"Oh, so there was trouble." Eshana set down her cup. "Yeah, I suppose I could take him. It is still early and I won't be meeting Kioko and Vatsa until noon…" She glanced at Hakkai. "I'm assuming that you want to leave now?"

Hakkai nodded. "Yes, if it isn't any trouble for you."

She shook her head. "No trouble." She stood up, brushing her hands down her skirt out of habit. "Come on. I'll show you how to get there."

"Thank you, Miss Eshana. And thank you also, Mr. Lok-san." Hakkai turned and followed Eshana out the door. He remained alert and ready to fight if he needed to. When one thing went wrong it was inevitable that something else would as well.

…

The sun had begun to shine through the windows when Kioko woke. She lay next to Gojyo on the couch, both still fully clothed. Nothing had happened that night; they had simply spent time holding each other, occasionally talking. Though most of the time had been spent with Gojyo kissing her senseless. He really was a good kisser.

She absently raised her hand to her mouth, tracing her fingers along her lower lip. He had been a really good kisser. He had tasted of smoke and spice, a combination that was most interesting. While she tended not to like the smell or taste of smoke he was…it was fine, really. With him.

She was very attracted to him. Didn't know him that well and knew that she wouldn't have the time to get to know him very well. He would be leaving soon; she knew that and that had been part of the reason why she hadn't let things go to far. It wouldn't be good to take up with a man that she knew nothing about. It also would be far worse if she ended up getting pregnant from the encounter; one child was all she could handle at the moment.

Beside her, Gojyo moved slightly, his crimson eyes opening. "Morning, beautiful."

"Hey," she answered, her voice quiet. "You stayed the whole night?"

"Yeah. I'm not the type to run off just cause I can't get into a girl's bed." He moved his arm from where it lay beneath her head. "Damn, my arms asleep."

Kioko smiled. "Thanks for staying."

"No problem." He laid his mouth to hers, kissing her softly. "Though I had probably be getting back to the inn soon. Or the idiots'll worry." Despite his words, he didn't get up.

"Well?"

"Ouch. You want me gone?" He put a hand to his chest, faking pain. "That hurts."

She laughed. "Well, you probably should get going. What will Vatsa think if he finds you here?"

"That he's getting a new dad?"

Kioko slapped him lightly on the arm. "That's not funny, Gojyo-san. That's exactly what he will think. I don't want to get his hopes up. Besides, I know that you're leaving soon."

"Yeah. I'll be heading back to the inn in a moment."

"Not that! I mean, you're going to be leaving this town."

There was a moment of silence. "Yeah. I'll be leaving. Too soon, if you ask me."

"Me too." She remained on the couch as he stood up. "So, you're going?"

He nodded. "Sun's up. And your son will be up soon. You're right. So…unless you want me to stay?"

She sat up, leaning on the back of the couch and watching him. "Well, I do want you to stay. But…I'll see you again, won't I?"

"Sure." He leaned forward, kissing her on the cheek and then on the lips. "I'll see you around, Kioko."

Then he turned and left, closing the door softly behind him.

A/N2: So, I want your opinions on the two parts with Kioko and Gojyo. Did that stuff come around to fast? Did it make you want to stop reading the story? If you don't like romance stories, don't worry. There isn't going to be a lot of it in this (from what I have currently planned). I'm actually planning to make this story pretty long and having several 'arcs.' This is the first one; I have two more currently thought out, but I don't know how long any of them are going to be.

Also, things are still going to mostly focus on the Saiyuki boys. But Kioko, Vatsa, and Eshana are all going to play roles in this arc (to a certain extent), and Lok-san's going to make a few more appearences. So, I hope you are enjoying this. If you have any questions, comments, or found any errors in this post (or have ideas and/or guesses as to what is going to happen next) just review and tell me there.

Thanks to everyone who's reading this,

Raven

P.S. The title is going to change to 'Changing Fate' very soon, and that will be the last time that it changes. I really don't like the current title, so tell me what you think of this new one. If you hate it, please suggest a new one. Thanks.