A shout brought Gojyo up out of a sound sleep.

He was halfway to his feet, hands already out in front of him to summon Shakujou, before his brain kicked in and started working. He recognized that voice. Not that it was one he'd expected to hear so damn early in the morning, out here in the middle of nowhere. The monkey didn't usually get up before noon if he had the chance to sleep in. As Gojyo rubbed the cobwebs out of his eyes, he saw Goku jogging towards him across the stony riverbank, a broad grin stretched across his boyish face. "Hey, there you are! We thought we'd lost you for good this time!"

Goku was trailed by an annoyed-looking Sanzo, and by the dark-haired trapper they had met the previous night. And there was a huge brown dog. Gojyo blinked at it a moment, trying to figure out what kind of dog it was, and then decided that he didn't really care. He felt like shit. He wasn't a morning person at the best of times--and a long, fruitless night of searching combined with the stiffness brought on by an hour's unintended nap on the cold ground with his back up against a tree had made his normal morning mood even worse. He glared as Goku skidded to a halt in front of him. The kid was radiating enthusiasm and boundless energy, no doubt from a full stomach and a good night's rest. "I didn't ask anyone to come after me." Gojyo growled. "You didn't have to interrupt your beauty sleep on my account, you stupid monkey!"

Goku drew back a little at the vehemence in his tone. "What's wrong with you?"

"Oi." Sanzo interrupted sharply. "Don't blame Goku for your own stupid choices." Before Gojyo could lash out at him as well, something heavy was dropped into his lap--a full thermos. The metal sides were warm against Gojyo's chilled hands. "And don't let yourself fall asleep again. We don't need any dead weight around here."

Gojyo muttered an automatic retort, but the attempt wasn't even half-hearted. He already had the top of the thermos open, and was inhaling the steam off the hot coffee as he pored it into the cup that formed the thermos' lid. He drank two full helpings of the stuff, basking in the warmth and feeling the caffeine already starting to kick in. Goku passed him a box when he was ready for it. It contained leftovers from breakfast--that was saying something, that Goku had left him some. They were cold now, but damn good, nonetheless. Gojyo hadn't realized how hungry he was. "Thanks," he muttered around a mouthful of food. "How'd you guys catch up with me so fast?"

"The river curves a lot," Goku told him. "Wei showed us some shortcuts. He said he'd take us to some places where the river washes things up sometimes, that it would be our best chance of finding Hakkai." He hesitated a moment, then asked hopefully, "Did you find anything last night?"

"Nothing," Gojyo said, disgusted with himself. Sanzo had been right. It had been a stupid thing to do, to wander off on his own. "It was a complete waste of time."

Goku was silent. Then he rocked to his feet, his eyes focusing on where Wei stood a short ways off, his tranquilizer gun strapped over one shoulder, studying the rocky shore at the river's edge. "That's okay. You didn't give up, right? Isn't that what's important?"

Gojyo polished off the last of the food and closed the box as Goku went to join the hunter and his dog down by the water. Then he spoke aloud, because he knew the monk was in earshot, "Things don't look too good, huh?"

Sanzo kept his eyes on the lazy curl of smoke coming off the end of his cigarette. "This is a long ways from where we were ambushed. We should have found something by now. It's likely someone else got to him first."

"Do you think it was more of those bat-winged youkai?"

"Ch. How should I know?" The end of Sanzo's cigarette gleamed red as he inhaled a breath. He let it out slowly. "They want the scripture. I won't give it to them." He met Gojyo's eyes. "Not for any reason."

It would have been a waste of breath, to answer that pronouncement. Instead, Gojyo poured himself another cup of coffee, his gaze falling on the hunter again. Wei was talking with Goku at the edge of the river, while his dog roamed the bank, nose pressed to the stones. That was handy. None of the Sanzo party except perhaps the sharp-eyed monkey was any good at locating things in the deep wilderness. For them to have run across someone who tracked things for a living was a stroke of good luck. Well, they were about due for some. Gojyo was surprised, however, that Wei had chosen to accompany them. The hunter was expending an awful lot of time and energy to help them without getting anything in return.

At least Sanzo was looking a little better this morning. The color had crept back into his face, and he moved with only a few lingering traces of stiffness, even though the wound on his arm must still hurt like hell. Gojyo caught him casting an impatient glance or two in his direction, and knew that the monk was ready to get moving again. He bolted the rest of his coffee, put the lid back on the thermos, and stiffly got to his feet.

The trapper must have taken note of the sudden activity, because he made his way over to Sanzo, shaking his head. "There's nothing here either, Holy One. We can try a bit further downstream. There's a place just before the river widens out a bit, where the currents often carry things into shore."

Sanzo ground out his cigarette. "Then lets get moving."

The hunter nodded over at Gojyo. "Good to see that you survived the night all right."

Gojyo shrugged in reply, rolling his shoulders as he stepped away from the tree he had sheltered under for his unintended nap. "I've spent worse." Gambling for a living made him skilled at reading people most of the time, and he watched the other man carefully as he added, "It's awfully convenient for us that you've decided to help out."

Wei was being honest, or he had a damn good poker face. "It was the least I could do, for a Sanzo priest. Besides, I was afraid you might have wandered into one of my traps in the dark, so I might have been responsible, if something had happened to you."

"Heh. I'm a difficult man to trap," Gojyo said, tossing his red hair back over his shoulder with a smirk, thinking back on all his lady friends who had tried. He fished around in one pocket and drew out a pack of cigarettes. "Pretty damn big traps, if you're worried about people getting caught in them. You don't hunt rabbits, then. What do you catch up here, bears?"

"Sometimes," Wei replied.

Sanzo glanced back at him sharply. But the hunter continued, oblivious. "There's an island in the middle of the river, back a ways. As I was telling Sanzo-sama, I have a boat, and think that it would be a good place to check for your friend, if we don't find him at this place up ahead."

Gojyo only nodded, lighting up his cigarette, and the hunter left him to catch up with the other two. Gojyo let himself lag behind, far enough that he could ignore the buzz of occasional conversation. He kept an eye on the partly cloudy skies overhead, looking for the telltale silhouettes that might herald an attack from above. It was about time for them to be ambushed again, he figured. He really was surprised that they hadn't seen any more of those flying youkai. When Gojyo wasn't looking at the sky, he was studying the ground at the edge of the river, looking for any trace of Hakkai. Still nothing on that front yet, either.

The heavy lump of misery in Gojyo's chest hadn't gone away since last night--it had only gotten worse. All their hours of searching had been meaningless, they hadn't found any sign at all of the fourth member of their group. Something that Goku had told him yesterday caught in his mind. He's alive, the monkey had said, with that freaky seriousness that came over him sometimes. There was no room at all for doubt in his earnest expression. Jeep's still with him. If he weren't alive, Jeep would have come back by now.

But Sanzo's comment, that someone else might have already found Hakkai, made a whole new set of concerns spring up in Gojyo's mind. What would the youkai do if they found Hakkai alive? Would they kill him? Torture him? Turn him into the new leader of their little raiding party, if the Minus Wave had already converted him to fight for the other side? Gojyo shuddered. Reaching into the pocket of his leather jacket, he drew out the handkerchief and unwrapped Hakkai's ear cuff from the cloth. The little silver band gleamed brightly in the sunlight. He rubbed it between his fingers as he walked. The cool, smooth metal was solid and reassuring in his hand.

"Do you mind if I take a look at that?"

Gojyo jumped, inwardly kicking himself for fidgeting. Wei had turned up, practically at his elbow. Damn, but that man should learn to make some noise. "At what?"

"At whatever it is you seemed determined to wear down to nothing with your fingers," Wei said smoothly, falling into step beside him. "Can't be good for a little thing like that, can it?"

Gojyo debated with himself for a minute, but couldn't think of a reasonable excuse to decline. He reluctantly handed the ear cuff to Wei.

The hunter held it up in the sunlight. "Ah," he said softly, as if to himself. "That would make sense."

Gojyo frowned at him. "What would make sense?"

The hunter gave him a sidelong look as he handed the ear cuff back over. He opened his mouth to say something--but never got the chance to speak, as the dog beside him suddenly burst into a frenzy of barking. His head jerked up in unison with a tiny click, which Gojyo recognized as the cocking of the hammer on Sanzo's Smith & Wesson. Wei sprang forward, yelling "No! Don't!"

Three steps brought him even with Sanzo. The monk had his gun raised, aiming at a youkai who had just come into view around a bend in the river. The youkai was crouched on the riverbank, black wings mantled over the ground. Gojyo knew that if Sanzo had intended to shoot without provocation, the demon would already be dead. But the hunter didn't know that. Wei threw himself onto the ground at Sanzo's feet, head pressed to the stones in supplication. "Please, Holy One," he said desperately, "I beg you, don't shoot him!"

The youkai Sanzo was aiming at hissed. He was an older one, his short, shaggy hair turned almost completely to silver. He scanned the little group with canny black eyes, obviously taking stock of the odds. Four against one. He hissed threateningly, fanning his wings, as common sense warred with the directive of the Minus Wave. Youkai were never very brave when they didn't have numbers on their side.

Sanzo spared a glance down at Wei. "Well, are you going to give me a reason not to shoot? After all, they're what you're hunting up here, aren't they?"

Wei pressed his face more firmly to the stones. "Please forgive me. I know this one," he murmured.

Goku looked at him in surprise. "You know that youkai?"

"Yes."

The youkai apparently decided that going for reinforcements would be more advantageous in this fight than throwing its own life away uselessly. It launched itself up into the sky, its heavy wing beats taking it higher and higher. Sanzo tracked it with his gun, but still refrained from pulling the trigger.

"You never mentioned anything about being friendly with crazed youkai," Sanzo said to the trapper flatly, as the youkai vanished from sight.

"He wasn't always crazy." Wei raised his head, but didn't meet Sanzo's eyes. "...And I wouldn't exactly call us friends." He bowed against the ground. "Thank you. Thank you for sparing him, Sanzo-sama."

"Ch." Sanzo tucked the gun away into the sleeve of his robe. "Your hospitality from last night has been repaid. But when he comes after us again, I'll shoot him without hesitation."

When. Not if, Gojyo noted. He wisely kept his mouth shut, though he wondered himself how long it would take the youkai reinforcements to find them.

"Hey," Goku spoke up suddenly into the silence that followed, his eyes fixed on the spot where the youkai had been. "I think there's something over there."

The something on the ground proved to be old blood, splashed over stones that had been noticeably shifted out of place. Wet claw marks on the rocks marked where the silver-haired youkai had been standing only a few minutes ago to examine them. But there were also older marks, in the soft sand that filled in the gaps between the stones. Other youkai had been here first.

"This is it," Goku said quietly, as he reached down and untangled a fragment of cloth from where it was caught on a half-buried branch. He held it out to Sanzo. There was no mistaking the color. It had been torn from Hakkai's tunic.

"He was alive when he landed, at least" Sanzo observed coolly. "Dead people don't leave a blood trail."

Wei studied the ground. The blood trail didn't go far, it ended only a few steps away from the edge of the water. He picked up something--a tiny red piece of fluff, which looked like the nap from some fuzzy material. "He was taken by some winged youkai," he said with absolute certainty. "But not by the same ones that attacked you." He looked off into the distance. "The place where they live is a full day's journey by foot, over some rough terrain. But I'm sure that's where your friend has been taken."

"Where is it, exactly?"

Wei hesitated. "These mountains are rich in mineral deposits. There's an old abandoned silver mine where this clan of youkai have made their home." His eyes fell on the sleeve of Sanzo's robe where the monk had placed the Smith & Wesson, and he said respectfully, "Holy One, these youkai are peaceful creatures. They haven't been affected by whatever it is that made all the others go crazy. They don't want any trouble from humans."

Gojyo saw those violet eyes narrow, in that completely un-reassuring way that was so characteristically Sanzo. "If you're looking for some kind of promise not to harm them, I can't give it to you. I won't hold back, if anything gets in my way."

The hunter looked distinctly uneasy. But he seemed to come to a decision quickly, nonetheless. "It shouldn't have to come to that. There won't be any problems, if we're only going there long enough to claim your lost comrade." He straightened, and nodded to Goku and Gojyo in turn. "Please, all of you, follow me."

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