AN: I wasn't going to update til tomorrow, but it's done now, so I figured what the heck. Thanks for all the reviews so far. Hope you enjoy. ~safarigirl

Night Rain

Chapter 6

Sanzo glanced in the rear view mirror. Amaya was dozing, her head resting against Gojyo's shoulder. The car was oddly silent, even Goku hadn't complained about being hungry for a while. The priest sighed and shifted his stare back to the road before them. The girl was at least good for one thing: he could finally think in peace.

Except his thoughts kept returning to her. Who she was, what she was? They had been traveling together for a day and a half and he still couldn't figure the girl out. He sensed something about her, something familiar, but he didn't understand what his instincts were trying to tell him. He fished his smokes out and stuck the butt of one in his mouth. It sat there for a moment, resting on his lip, as he searched for his lighter. He was just inhaling the first drag when he felt it.

"Sanzo," Hakkai warned.

"Yeah, I know."

"Won't these guys give it a rest?" Gojyo chimed in from the back seat.

Hakkai chuckled. "We are pretty popular. At least we'll get a workout."

"I'm too hungry to fight right now," Goku complained. He peeked his head over the seat. "Sanzo, what about Amaya?"

"Right. We can't have her in the middle of this," Hakkai added. Sanzo frowned.

"That's why I didn't want her to come with us." He sighed loudly. "Leave her with me."

The jeep came to a stop. In the back, Sanzo heard Gojyo whisper something to the sleeping girl, but he couldn't make out the words.

"What?" she asked sleepily. Sanzo didn't answer. Instead, he got out of the jeep as the first of the demons materialized out of the forest. Goku was at his side in an instant. Hakkai stood on the other side of the jeep. Sanzo felt more than saw Gojyo and Amaya step out of the back. The second it was empty, the jeep transformed back in Hakuryuu. The little white dragon took to the air.

"Sanzo party," the lead demon called out, slapping a large stick against the palm of his hand, "hand over the Maten Sutra and we'll kill you quickly."

"Sanzo," Amaya whispered as she crept closer to the priest.

"Stay behind me," he replied in a harsh whisper. He turned to the demon and pointed his Smith and Wesson at it. "No."

Next to him, Goku materialized his Nyoi-Bo. He twirled it around his hand before letting it rest casually over one shoulder, a huge grin on his face as he did. The demon growled at them.

"Then we'll come and take it!" He signaled and demons rushed out of the woods towards the party. Two were met by a blast of chi from Hakkai. Another fell as Goku leapt at it, kicking in its head. The crescent blade of Gojyo's shakugetsujou cut through a forth and fifth.

Sanzo's focus moved from his companions. Three demons were running at him. Behind him, Amaya whimpered and grabbed a handful of his robe. Sanzo only spared her a single glance – he felt a rush of déjà vu - before firing. Three shots, three dead demons. A shot to a demon that was behind Goku while the youngest member of their group was dealing with two in front of him. His fifth shot found a demon that was trying to sneak up behind Gojyo.

"These assholes just don't give up," Gojyo commented through the cigarette that hung from his month as he swung his weapon around, killing the demons in front of him.

"They are persistent," Hakkai responded with a small grimace when more replaced the few he killed.

"Yeah," Goku added, taking a brief break to lean against his staff. He jabbed it out into the gut of a demon that rushed toward him. "This is bull-"

His sentence was cut short by Amaya's scream. Sanzo turned around and shot the demon that was grabbing at her, dropping it to the ground in front of her. He took a step toward the blue-eyed girl as he reloaded his gun, standing over her protectively. She was kneeling, her entire body shaking. Gun reloaded, Sanzo turned back around to focus on the rest of the battle.

He emptied the barrel, dropping a demon per shot and thinning the horde. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a yellow blast of chi further thin the demon population. Goku and Gojyo were equally doing their parts until there were only a few demons left. Sanzo flicked his banishing gun open and casually reloaded, not worrying about the remaining demons. His companions would take care of them.

"Sanzo!" Goku and Hakkai yelled at the same time.

Sanzo spun around. The demon leader was in front of him, a huge evil grin on his face, his sword leveled at Sanzo's mid-section. Goku and Gojyo were too far way. Hakkai couldn't send out a chi ball without hitting Sanzo in the blast. His gun wasn't loaded yet and the demon was too close to dodge out of the way.

"Sanzo!" Goku cried again as the demon lunged. Sanzo waited for the ripping pain, the heat of the blade, the cold of the blood. Instead, the demon twitched, his month open in a silent scream. He slid off of a stainless steal blade to reveal Amaya standing behind the demon, twin sai in her hands. Her head was down, staring at the blood that dripped off her weapon.

"Amaya!" Hakkai called out. Sanzo felt the healer stop at his elbow as Amaya raised her head. Her blue eyes, so vibrant only a moment before, were dull and blank. She took a step forward. Sanzo raised his gun.

"What the hell is going on?" Gojyo yelled. Sanzo ignored him.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded as he aimed the gun at the girl's head. She took another step forward. As she did, Sanzo noticed a necklace hanging loosely around her neck, resting just under her collarbone. His eyes darted back up to her dead eyes when she stopped, the barrel just touching her forehead. Dead eyes locked with Sanzo's purple gaze. She raised her weapons and pointed the tip of one at Sanzo.

"I will shot you," Sanzo said with a calm he didn't feel. The tip of the sai pressed against his chest, just over his heart.

"Amaya, stop it," Goku yelled.

"Goku!" Hakkai yelled.

"Let me go, Hakkai. Sanzo!" Sanzo blocked it out of his mind, ignoring his companions. Only the girl in front of him existed. The point of the sai pressed harder into his chest, pricking the skin.

"This is bullshit," he whispered before shouting, "Snap out of it, Amaya. Amaya!"

It was like he flipped a switch. The light can back into her eyes. They shifted from Sanzo's purple orbs down to the sai still pressed against his chest and bounced back up to Sanzo. The weapons slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

"I don't-" her eyes rolled back into her head before she could finish her thought and she followed her weapons to the ground. Sanzo reached out, catching her before she hit the dirt. He gazed at her. She looked so calm now that she was unconscious. A thousand thoughts ran through his mind, the most prevalent being who the hell was this girl and why didn't he put a bullet through her skull, as he gently tucked a stray strand of caramel hair behind her ear.

"Sanzo!" Goku cried, breaking the moment.

"I'm fine," the priest replied more harshly than he intended as his hand snaked around the girl's neck.

"And she seemed like such a nice girl, too." Gojyo said as he lit another cigarette. He casually linked his hands behind his head as he puffed on the stick. "What the hell just happened?"

"I suspect that her limiter came undone," Hakkai guessed, crossing his arms over his green clad chest. Sanzo nodded in response even as his fingers explored the back of her neck for the clasp to the simple silver chain.

"That demon must have grabbed at it when he had her," Sanzo replied as his fingers brushed against the clasp. He struggled with it for a second before it closed beneath his slender digits. Task completed, Sanzo scoped the girl into his arms and held her against his chest.

"Let's go before more of them decide to show up. Hakuryuu."

Three blank faces met his stare as he settled into Jeep. Goku snapped out of it first and bounced to the vehicle, taking his customary seat behind the blond priest.

"You're serious?"

"You're an idiot," Sanzo replied to Gojyo's inquiry. The half-demon turned to his friend, but Hakkai was already making his way to the driver's seat.

"Hakkai!" The human-turned-demon looked back over his shoulder at the redhead and shrugged.

"Come on, Gojyo," Goku called from behind Sanzo. "Hurry up, man. The next town shouldn't be that far, and I'm starving."

Sanzo rolled his eyes at the statement even as Gojyo shrugged. Hakkai hide a chuckle beneath his hand and a well-timed cough. The healer stepped on the gas after the half-demon hopped into the back next to Goku. Sanzo missed the snide comment that started their fight, his attention back on the girl in his arms. His mind continued going over the battle, and, more importantly, what happened to Amaya to make her change from a frightened girl to a killing machine. There was more to it than a snapped limiter, Sanzo could feel it.

"We're going to have to watch her," Hakkai said, his voice barely heard over the bickering from the back seat. "We don't know what happened back there, Sanzo. She could have been sent to kill you."

It was strange how Hakkai's thoughts seemed to parallel his own. "I know."

"You pesky brat, you're taking up all the room back here."

"I am not, cockroach. Move your damn legs. They're on my side."

"I have long legs. I can't help that you're a midget."

"Take that back, water sprite."

Sanzo felt the vein in his forehead throbbing. With one swift move, he grabbed his fan, reached around, and smacked both Gojyo and Goku upside the head.

"Will you two shut the hell up?! I can't think with all that noise," he yelled as he turned back around in his seat and adjusted his hold on Amaya. He stared at her pale face for a moment before closing his eyes. He needed to figure the girl out and quickly.