They pulled into a small gas station in a small town with a name of dubious pronunciation a while after nearly falling off a poorly maintained bridge. It had seemed pretty tame, all things considered. Yumichika jumped out to fill the tank and was faced with the renewed revulsion of seeing the jeep from the outside again. At least the interior wasn't quite as awful. Most of the dust had blown away or worked its way into their clothes.

He reached back over the door and poked Ikkaku, who looked like he was going to fall asleep. "Hey. Move. You look crusty and disgusting. Go clean up in their bathroom."

Ikkaku yawned and stretched, and some of the blood smeared on his chest started to flake off. He dragged his hand carefully under his nose, then caught site of the result and stared. He grinned "I look like a badass."

"You look like a corpse. Stop getting blood all over the seats."

"You don't even like this car!"

"And yet, the idea of it being a hideous color on the outside and in a hideous state of filth on the inside does not appeal to me. Go."

Ikkaku went to roll his eyes, but it turned out to involve scrunching up his nose, so he quit. He flapped his hand placatingly instead as he got out and headed for the gas station convenience store. "Want anything?"

"See if they have any of those sandwiches. Not the nasty ones. You know. Or maybe corn nuts." He was fiddling with the pump, then was struck by another thought. "And no Oreos! If you buy them, I'm not letting you back in the car!"

Ikkaku waved behind him one last time and the station door swung shut behind him. The cashier went back to not ogling obviously at the bloody shirtless guy through the station window. Yumichika gloomily watched the bill climb higher. Jeeps were were not the best choice for cross-country travel on a budget. On the other hand, it took almost no time at all to clean the windows.

As the gallons continued to tick by, Yumichika began to wonder how the Hellbeast had been able to drive this far. As far as he knew, she didn't have a lot of money. Was she buying gas? She might have even stopped here, considering the size of the tank on that monstrosity of a bike she had taken. That wasn't even taking into account the physical impossibility of her riding it at all, of course. She was not much a fan of physics.

He had just finished paying as Ikkaku came back, corn nuts, a huge bag of chips and a case of off-brand caffeinated soft drink in hand. "No sandwiches. No beer, either. Weird place."

"Could you go back and ask the cashier if she's seen the Hellbeast? I feel like she couldn't get much farther without stopping."

Ikkaku shrugged, set down the food and went back in. Yumichika saw him talking to the cashier, who immediately looked incredibly confused. Probably didn't know what a Hellbeast was. Ikkaku apparently clarified, because she laughed and shook her head. Looked apologetic, and Ikkaku did that placating wave thing again.

No. Well, there were a lot of little towns out here. Could have been any of them. They would find her sooner or later, then capture her and bring her home, even if they had to run her off the road.