Conflicting Interests

A/N: After a long break from writing, ( blame World of Warcraft, addictive game that it is. ) I'm going to start back up with this story. I also went back and fixed all of the mistakes in the first chapter. And thanks to everyone who reviewed. I had no idea people would enjoy it that much.

(apply all disclaimers here)

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Ch.2

Goku blinked at the teenage human standing on the hood of the jeep. Sanzo continued to point his gun at the dark-haired stranger, despite that he hadn't offered them any violence yet. No one spoke for a long time it seemed. Goku noticed that even Goyjo was silent, watching the two standing to the side of them from the corner of his eye. He glanced at Hakkai, who was gripping the steering wheel with enough force to turn his knuckles white. The demon couldn't place it, but there was something very different about those three.

"Look, We're not here to fight you, alright?" The one named Yusuke said, holding his hands out to show he was unarmed, " I'm guessing you're the four guys traveling with that 'scroll', or whatever."

Sanzo narrowed his eyes and cocked the revolver's hammer back in response.

"Right...I'll take that as a 'yes'..."

"What business do you have with us?" Hakkai asked calmly, though the tension in his shoulders hadn't lessened. Goku shifted in his seat slightly to peer around Goyjo at the other two. One was a red head much the like water demon, except visibly younger with an expression that reminded him of Hakkai in a way. The other was even shorter than he himself was, with an almost child-like face, but the look in his eyes cleared any misconceptions brought on by his small stature. Goku turned back to Yusuke as he spoke.

"A friend of mine is in trouble, and since I don't know where we are or where he is we can't exactly go looking for him. I need that," He motioned to the scripture around Sanzo's shoulders," to get him back. Some wack-job in a lab coat sent him off somewhere."

"Lab coat, huh?" Goyjo said, glancing at Yusuke," Did this 'wack-job' have a name? Let me guess... Ni?"

"Lucky guess, I take it you know him?"

"We have met, unfortunately," Hakkai answered.

"Well, he told me he needed that scripture or he wont tell us where he sent him. He said you guys stole it from him, but I got the feeling that was a load of crap. I know we seem suspicious as hell right now, but believe me when I say I'm not on that guy's side, I just want to get my friend back. If I could just borrow-"

"Sorry, but it's not my problem," Sanzo lowered his gun and turned to Hakkai," Let's go."

"Hey, at least think about it first!" Yusuke protested.

"I did, the answer is no."

"Look, I'll try to get it back for you if I can, but it's important to me that I save my friend."

"Not a chance."

"We could just take it by force," the black-haired demon said. Goku frowned, he didn't like his tone at all.

"No, Hiei," Was Yusuke's reply. The small demon snorted and looked away, but didn't say anything else.

The teen closed his eyes for a moment, then said," Fine, I'll fight one of you for it then."

"Thought you said you didn't come here to fight us?" Goyjo said, arching an eyebrow.

Yusuke clenched his fists," If it's the only way to solve this, then so be it. Me against one of you four. The one who doesn't get the shit kicked out of him as much wins."

"Out of the qu-"

Goku stood up,"...I'll fight you."

He heard Sanzo sigh," Sit your ass back down, you're doing none of the sort."

"But we...," He protested. He knew how important the scritpure was to Sanzo, except he believed this stranger's words that he would bring it back to them. Surely they could work it out? Fighting for it seemed like a good idea to him.

"We're leaving, we've already wasted enough time."

"But Sanzo-!" Goku stopped when he noticed he no longer had the monk's attention. Sanzo had gone rigid. As if in a horror movie where the monter is standing behind you the monk slowly turned his head to look at the black-haired demon standing off to the side.

"It was you," He whispered. All three of the other occupants in the jeep blinked at him in confusion. Did he know the demon from somewhere?

He was smirking, his eyes on Sanzo, but he spoke to Yusuke, "I agree, we have wasted enough time. This is pointless Urameshi, the human obviously isn't going to give up that item without us removing it off his lifeless corpse," At the last two words his smirk became wider. Goku really didn't like him now.

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A trickle of sweat ran down the side of his face. The evil aura this demon emanated was off the charts. He hadn't felt it a minute ago. Why was he the only one noticed it? Was it being directed specificly at him? Sanzo's eyebrows drew together in a scowl. This one didn't fit the bill of a typical demon either. At least none that he had ever laid eyes on. He quickly glanced at the one beside him, the red-head, who was standing quietly with his arms at his sides, looking some how detached from the whole situation. Sanzo couldn't tell what he was with the other one so close, but he doubted he was human. Come to think of it, the dark-haired boy standing on the hood of the jeep probably wasn't human either. More of a reason to keep the scripture as far away from them as possible. He had a feeling this situation was going to turn bad very quickly.

You should be afraid, human.

Sanzo gritted his teeth at the voice in his head, Who are you?

I suggest you hand it over now, Yusuke may have other ideas on how to obtain that scripture of yours, but I have no qualms with killing you all. Save yourself the trouble and submit.

Get the hell out of my mind. He growled at the demon.

Have it your way.

The odd presense in his head vanished, as did the evil energy he had felt, but his nerves were still on edge. He gripped the revolver tightly, waiting for the blow of the first attack. He vaguely heard one of his team-mates trying to get his attention, and didn't respond until Hakkai reached over and put a hand on his shoulder.

"What?" He asked.

Hakkai motioned to the side," It would seem Goku has decided for us."

A muscle in his face twiched as he turned to the front to see that Goku was in fact standing face-to-face with the teenager a few feet away from the jeep. The idea of getting out and dragging Goku back while beating him over the head with his fan came to mind. It was very tempting.

"I'm going to fight him for it," Goku stated to his group.

"Have you finally lost your mind, monkey?" Goyjo asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe. But I still want to do this."

Sanzo snorted," I never agreed to any of it. Get your ass back in the jeep, now."

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The spirit detective made a face at the blond man's reply, which had been uncalled for in his opinion. Of course he hadn't expected it to be a simple walk in the park, though Hiei had stated that only one would be a match for them, but Yusuke was starting to wonder if he had rushed into it too quickly.

Ah, what the hell ,He thought, I haven't done anything I don't usually do.

It always turned out right in the end. Or that was what happened most of the time.

"Hey," Yusuke said to him," he called you Goku, right?"

The other smiled slightly," Yeah."

"Well, nice to meet you Goku. Too bad the situation is so screwed up, 'cause you seem like you'd be fun to hang out with."

Goku's smile grew for a moment, then faded as he turned to look at the one he had reffered to as 'Sanzo'. The man was glaring at them enough that Yusuke almost flinched. The word 'sourpuss' came to mind before the spirit detective spoke.

"I'll assume that Goku here doesn't get the final word, so unless everyone agrees we're going to have to find another way to do this."

Yusuke smirked," If any of you guys are feeling left out we could always do a three vs. four fight."

His face went serious as he looked directly at Sanzo," 'Cause I'm not leaving here without that. I've never abandoned a friend, and I'm not about to start now."