Ok, this one is mostly gonna be about one of Maki and Hakkai's conversations in the middle of the night. It was mentioned in chapter 1 I think that Hakkai enjoyed talking with Maki about anything. Well, here's one of those! But first, thank reviewers!

Devil-Angel- LOL! Thanks for reviewing! Hope you like this chapter!

Doublelynn- LOL! That's what I thought about you guys! I thought yall were gonna kill me if I didn't get this chapter up soon! Hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 8

The next few weeks after the poison incident didn't seem much of a difference. Fight a few youkai, get through a few storms, and make sure Julin and Goku didn't eat all of the food. Hitachi and the girls didn't seem to be any different either. They still had no recollection of what had happened that night and the symptoms of the poison didn't occur again. So the guys' worries subsided and life went on as it was.

They decided to stop at the next town, hoping to get some better night's sleep than having to sleep on the ground or in the car, or in Sanzo's lap in Julin's case. But that was another day to two away. For now, they stopped at a secluded area, one that would give them some type of cover but still be open enough to sleep.

Hakkai sat staring at the now almost full moon. It was hard to believe how long it had been since he had last been with Kanan. He looked down at his hand, remembering what Gojyo had said about his lifeline being so short. It took him almost a week and a half to get the permanent ink off his hand when Goku drew on it to try and make his lifeline longer. He sighed a bit, knowing that no matter what his hands looked like, they would remain stained with the blood of the thousand youkai that it took to make him a youkai. Even so, he still lost Kanan, his beloved sister and lover. Hakkai sighed again closing his eyes.

"What's the matter with your hands?" Hakkai jumped and paled, startled that someone had snuck up behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see Maki standing there, bent over to look at his hands.

"Oh, nothing's wrong," Hakkai replied, calming his beating heart. How is it she seems to always be able to sneak up behind him like that?

"Liar," Maki said, taking a seat next to Hakkai. She took hold of his hand and studied it. She looked it over for any physical injuries and then for any internal injuries, finding nothing. "Your hands look fine."

"Yeah, there's nothing wrong with them," Hakkai said before looking up at the sky again. "Except that I wont touch anything pure with them. They're too stained to do that."

"I don't think so." Hakkai blinked and looked at Maki. Maki smiled as she held his hand. "I like your hands. They're very soft and gentle," she said as she felt his skin. She removed the clothing that covered it and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb. "I've never seen someone with hands like these. You should appreciate them, not hate them."

Hakkai smiled a bit at her and looked towards the moon again. Kanan used to say similar things. She always loved his hands and was always holding them or touching them.

"Hey, Maki." Maki blinked and looked at Hakkai, who continued to look at the pale moon. "Have you ever…been in love with someone before? I mean truly in love, like you can't live without them and you'd do anything to protect them?"

Maki smiled and looks towards the sky as well leaning back a bit with her arms wrapped around her legs likea small child, the same way she always does. "Yeah, once. It was years ago that I met him." She smiled and closed her eyes, imagining her lover once again. "I met him out by the river. I was fishing and ended up falling in. I would've gotten out on my own, but we had a bad storm the night before, making the water rise and current pick up. He was a traveling medicine man at the time and just happen to be passing by. He dived right in like a knight in shinning armor and pulled me out from under the water."

Hakkai looked at Maki as she talked about her past. Of all the times they ever talked, she never spoke of having a lover of any sort. Maki opened her eyes open again, looking at the stars. "Later on, we both got pretty bad colds. But he took care of us both, making sure we had food and a warm fire." Maki's eyes then saddened a bit, but her smile still remained.

Hakkai knew not to pry, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. "What happened to him?"

"Well," Maki said, looking down at the ground. "We fell in love with one another, and we lived together for a long time. Then the accident happened. He had gone out to town to get some groceries, and never came back. When I went to find him, I had found out what had happened, though now I wish I hadn't. A group of bandit youkai had attacked the town. He defended some of the people, but in turn lost his life." Maki closed her eyes, remembering what it felt like when she stood in the streets, looking down at the mangled mass of what was once her lover.

But then, Maki looked at Hakkai smiling. "That's when I met Hitachi, Julin, Kirashi, and Yukio, whom we have yet to find. They helped me get off my knees and carry on."

Hakkai smiled a bit. So that's how they met Maki. Maki cocked her head to the side, looking at Hakkai. "What about you? Do you have anyone you truly love?"

Hakkai smiled a bit sheepishly. "Funny you should ask that. I did, once as well. Don't be disgusted or anything with me, but I fell in love with my older sister."

Maki blinked a bit at him, surprised. "Really? Wow, that must've been a bit hard."

Hakkai looked back at the sky again. "Kinda, but not really. Her name was Kanan, I loved her with all my heart and she loved me in return. Well, one day some youkai came to the village. The village people gave her up to take their place. I was a human back then."

Maki blinked again, this time in confusion. "You were a human?"

Hakkai looked at her and nodded. "Yes. You know that old legend that if a human were to bathe in the blood of a thousand youkai, he himself would become a youkai?" Maki nodded. "Well, that's what happened to me. I had gone after the youkai to get Kanan back, but when I got there, it was too late. They had already rapped her and she was carrying the youkai's spawn." Hakkai looked at the ground, eyes also saddening. "She was disgusted with herself, and so, she took her own life before my eyes. That's when a man named Chin Yisou spilled his blood on me, making him the thousandth youkai whose blood covered me. It turned me from human to youkai. And then I killed him, however I was seriously wounded."

"How did you survive? I mean, a whole place filled with dead youkai? What did you do?" Maki asked. This story interested her more than the other stories Hakkai had told her.

"Well, I walked as far as I could, trying not to spill all of my insides out onto the ground. That's when Gojyo found me. I wanted him to just kill me, but instead he took me in and helped me." Hakkai smiled, remembering how Gojyo had pretty much shoved his guts back into his body. "Back then, my name was Cho Gonou, but then I changed it to Cho Hakkai."

"I see, so Gojyo helped you instead of killing you?" Hakkai nodded. "Good!" Hakkai blinked and looked at Maki. Maki sat there looking at him a bit sternly. "No one should ever ask for death, even someone who's lost everything. When you loose everything, you have to get up off your knees and try again," Maki said before looking back at the ground. "At least, that's what Hitachi said. She told me that when you're down to get back up, cause every time to get back on your feet, it makes you much stronger. You learn from mistakes done in the past and use that knowledge to keep on standing. That's why no one should ever give up and ask for death, because that just makes you weak."

Hakkai blinked a bit and then smiled. "Well then, I think we'd best take Hitachi's advice and not give up just yet."

Maki looked at him and smiled. "Yeah."

They continued their conversations for a while. Sanzo had overheard what Maki had said and looked at Hitachi, who slept with Kirashi's head on her stomach. What she said made sense. When you learn from your mistakes, you know how similar mistakes will feel like and how to handle them, making it so they don't have that much of an effect on you anymore. Hitachi was a smart woman, and she didn't seem like the type that would settle down anytime soon. So it was no wonder she knew things like that. Sanzo closed his eyes again after making sure that Julin, who was curled in his lap, was covered up. This was defiantly going to be an interesting journey.

Ok, that's chapter 8! Hope yall like it! Next chapter will be Goku and Julin! I think you'll have fun with that chapter. But first, you gotta review!