Hakkai woke to the sound of voices, speaking low by the fire. He didn't know exactly what time it was, but by the dim light coming from the banked hearth he knew it was late in the evening. Sanzo and the others had retired to their temporary lodging in another part of the mines hours ago. Although Hakkai was facing the wall, his preternaturally sharpened youkai hearing registered the words from the low conversation behind him without conscious effort, causing him to eavesdrop without intending to do so.

"...But you only just got here," Hari was protesting softly. "It's been over a week since Ichiro last saw you. Surely this can be put off until you two have spent a bit more time together."

"I don't think so." A masculine voice that Hakkai recognized as the trapper he'd been introduced to earlier this evening gave a low reply. "I've never seen the crazy youkai act this way before. They followed us all the way up from the river. There's something strange happening. I'll feel better once I have a clear idea of what's going on."

"But going there at night..." Worry made Hari's voice sound sharp.

"It's safer," Wei interrupted in an undertone. "You know that. I have a better chance of finding out what I need to know."

"But..."

"Hari." There was the sound of cloth on cloth then. "Please. I have to be sure that the crazy ones aren't planning anything that will put you and our son in danger. I'll be back before morning. I've already told Sanzo-sama that I'll guide his group back down to the river to look for that missing piece of demon power limiter. I promise I'll spend some time with Ichiro before I leave."

There was a long pause, then Hakkai heard her sigh, relenting. He was just about ready to stir, to draw their attention to the fact that he was awake, when he heard the trapper say, "I saw your father yesterday."

"Ah." Hari spoke with forced calm. "How did he look?"

"As well as could be expected," Wei replied quietly, "Given that it's been almost a year since he left. He was down by the river, poking around the spot where your patient washed up on shore."

"I see. Thank you for telling me."

"Of course." A chair scraped lightly against the floor as he stood. "I'll see you later."

"Wei. Please be careful."

"You know I will." There was movement, the sound of a fleeting kiss, and then the hunter was gone.

Hakkai had no recollection of dozing off after that, but the next time he opened his eyes, it was Ruri, and not Hari, in the room. The winged youkai woman had been reading a book, but as Hakkai rubbed the sand out of his eyes with a carefully crooked knuckle, she set the leather-bound volume down on the table with a loud thump. "Took you long enough to wake up," she said irritably. "It's nearly noon."

Hakkai thought the comment was uncalled for. He refrained from pointing out that he was recovering from serious injuries, so he might be expected to require more sleep than was usual. Rather than answer rudeness with more rudeness, however, he simply smiled as if she had made a joke, and gingerly sat up on the pallet, turning his attention to other matters. He had gotten quite a bit of rest, it was likely that today he could try his own hand at healing some of the damage he'd taken in his fall from the cliff.

As if to re-capture his attention, she gave a long-suffering and overly dramatic sigh. "I suppose you'd like something to eat."

"If it's no trouble," he said politely in answer to her question.

She gave an indelicate snort. The chair scraped back from the table as she rose to her feet. "It's a fine time for you to worry about not troubling us now. After all, that's just about all you and your friends are good for, isn't it?"

Hakkai glanced over at her. Her tone was unpleasant--she was deliberately baiting him. But there was more to it than that. He heard the barely-leashed fury in her voice. It was the same anger that had been present during their first conversation. Hakkai suspected he knew what was bothering her, and it would only get worse if it wasn't addressed soon. He smiled somewhat hesitantly and tried again. "You don't seem to like me very much. Have I done something to offended you?"

Slit pupil brown eyes narrowed, taloned hands curling into tight fists. "Your very existence offends me," she growled. "You don't belong here. It would be best for everyone if you chose to leave immediately."

She had to know that those words were unreasonable. Until Hakkai's broken leg was fully healed, he couldn't even walk on his own, much less leave the mines. Aside from that, going above ground before he had recovered his third ear cuff would be foolhardy. He had no idea how long he'd be able to maintain his sanity without limiters. Even if he managed for a little ways, was quite unlikely that he'd make it all the way to Tenjiku, the epicenter of the Minus Wave.

"Ruri-san," he began, "if this is about what happened up on the road..."

"Ah," she hissed, her taloned hands clenching into fists. "That's just it, isn't it? Those winged youkai that you fought with. They were crazy, of course, and you probably will say you were only defending yourself. It might even be true. ...But they weren't the first that you'd killed."

Very much aware of the potentially dangerous turn the conversation had just taken, Hakkai waited. As the silence lengthened, something inside of Ruri finally seemed to snap. She rounded on him, crossing the two steps to the side of his pallet, to stop with her face mere centimeters away from his own, the black bat wings on her back mantling with anger. "Do you honestly think that we're stupid? With my own eyes, I saw the aftermath of that battle four days ago, the bodies of the slaughtered youkai on the road. With that as a clue, do you really think that anyone here could overlook what that vine mark on you means? The legend of the thousand deaths is common knowledge among our kind. Everyone knows what happens to the murderer in the end." Her voice dropped to a furious hiss. "Itan!"

Hakkai grew very still. Immediately, the reason for her antagonism towards him became abundantly clear. It was difficult for him to keep his voice level as he spoke. "If you've known all along, why did you bother to help me?"

She gave a resentful laugh. "Because we didn't know. Not at first." She gestured angrily at the right side of his face, where the dark green vine pattern twined up his cheek. "Many youkai have demon marks on their faces. It wasn't until Hari started tending your injuries that we learned the truth. That the mark you wear wraps you completely, binding you in that form."

Despite his precarious situation, the odd phrasing of those words caught and held his attention. Hakkai had the sudden, fleeting thought that his humanity wasn't gone, only locked away...and that if there were any way to remove the vine mark, he could become a normal human being again.

...But no, it couldn't be that simple. And to shed the curse before he had paid in full for his sins would be better than he deserved.

"Make no mistake, there were several of us that wanted to put you right back where we found you, and let the river finish you off. We should have. I'd go drop you there in a heartbeat now if I could...but it seems that my vote has been overruled." She said the last as if it left an acrid taste in her mouth. She spun away from him then, striding angrily across the room to busy herself by the hearth.

Hakkai looked after her. It took him several minutes before he could bring himself to speak. Quietly, he said, "I didn't become youkai by killing anyone in your clan."

He heard her voice a wordless growl. "Liar." Sparks flew as Ruri jabbed at burning logs with the fire iron.

Hakkai looked down at his hands. Small comfort, there. The dark brand of the vine mark woven around his taloned fingers was its own accusation. Murderer. "I'm telling you the truth. You can choose not to believe me if you wish. But this happened over four years ago, before the Minus Wave first appeared."

He had surprised her, he could tell. She had obviously been under the mistaken impression that he was a newly-made youkai. Newly-made from the blood of her own clan members--no wonder she hated him so much.

But if he thought the truth would dispel her anger, he was wrong. Instead she seized on his words, pouncing like a cat. The fire iron clattered to the stone floor of the cave as she whirled to face him again. "Before the Minus Wave? I see. So you killed your victims in cold blood--and didn't even have the excuse that some outside force had made them crazy!"

"No." Hakkai said, carefully weighing his words as he spoke. "I'm absolutely certain that I was the one who was crazy, at that time." His voice hardened. "However, if you want to pass judgment, you're late. I've already been tried, found guilty, and sentenced. There's not a day that goes by that I don't live out my penance for my crimes."

"Hah. Penance." Her voice was scathing. Her gaze fell pointedly on the pair of his silver ear cuffs lying on the small table by the pallet, her eyes turning bitter. "I suppose you think that's what this is, being forced to live as a youkai. My sister looks at you and sees a demon using limiters to hide himself in the body of a human. But that's not what I see. I see nothing but a weak human being who has succeeded at locking himself away in the body of a youkai. You're pathetic. Worse than pathetic. You're not worthy to wear that form."

"Ch." A new voice cut in from the door. "That's rich. From what I've seen, the youkai living in this mine are in no position to judge the worthiness of anyone else."

A blond man in tan robes was standing in the archway of stone. "Sanzo..." He'd been so quiet, and Hakkai had been so distracted, that he hadn't even heard the monk approach.

Ruri turned to face the newcomer. "What did you just say?"

"It makes me sick," Sanzo said with disgust, walking into the room. He gave Hakkai a penetrating look, and Hakkai realized with some surprise that he was assessing how well the human-turned-youkai was holding up under this decidedly unpleasant conversation. He must have been satisfied with what he saw, because he turned back to the winged youkai woman and continued. "It makes me sick to see someone acting so self-righteous, especially given your own behavior. You think that you're better than he is? Open your eyes. How much better can it be, to lock members of your own clan up for an eternity in the depths of this mine."

"It's humane," she snapped.

"Ask your prisoners if they think so."

Ruri bristled. "Shut up, human. Who are you to talk? You don't understand our situation at all."

"Then why are you so quick to judge another's situation when you don't understand it at all?" Sanzo ignored the way Hakkai's uninjured hand tightened convulsively on the edge of the blankets at those words. "Or is it that the situation doesn't really matter, in the end. It's just an excuse. Because it's easier to take out your frustrations by using someone else's guilt then by being forced to face your own."

She jerked. He had struck a nerve. "What we're doing is not wrong!" she cried. "It's the only way we can protect ourselves! It's the only way we can protect the crazed youkai! What else is left??"

"Don't bother telling me," Sanzo said coldly. "I'm not here to judge you. I couldn't care less. I just refuse to stand by and listen to people pointing fingers when their own hands aren't so clean. Consider that, next time, before you lock people up and throw away the key."

She stared at him in shock, as if unable to believe that he had just uttered those words. Then her expression twisted...in anger, in shame. She hid her face with a hiss, then turned on her heel and bolted from the room.

"I must say, that certainly went well," Hakkai said brightly into the calm that followed the storm. "I suppose they'll kick us out for sure, now."

"Ch. Like that would be a bad thing? This place is annoying. It's filled with all these fucking sanctimonious youkai." Sanzo stepped over to the fireplace, reaching into the sleeve of his robe for his cigarettes. "Before you get any stupid ideas, I didn't come here to visit you. This is the only place in this whole damn mine where there's ventilation enough to smoke."

Hakkai hid a smile. "Of course." I wouldn't dream of saying otherwise.

Sanzo lit up, the smoke from the end of his cigarette drawn off to vanish into the fissure in the stone.

"Sanzo," Hakkai said, turning serious, "I'm a bit surprised that you're still here. I thought that you and the others were planning to go back to the river and look for the missing power limiter today."

The monk made a noise of irritation. "There's been a complication. Our guide conveniently decided not to turn up this morning. Since the kappa and the monkey can't tell west from east half the time, it looks like we're stuck here until he decides to show."

Hakkai looked at him in concern. The conversation he had overheard last night had led him to believe that the trapper truly intended to return. But if something had happened, if he had somehow been delayed...

Following that line of thought was useless. If something had happened there was nothing that Hakkai could do about it anyway. Bedridden from his injuries, stuck in youkai form without his full set of demon power limiters...Hakkai's mouth pressed down into a grim line. He glanced over at the small table beside the pallet, and after a moment he reached out a taloned hand to collect the two pieces of his limiter from the stand. "This has turned out to be quite a problem, hasn't it," Hakkai said quietly, staring down at the silver bands resting in his palm. "You may have no choice but to leave me here."

Sanzo took a drag of his cigarette. "This place echoes with emptiness. Over half of the youkai that originally lived here have already succumbed to the Minus Wave. It's only a matter of time before the rest of them fall. Their only hope is for us to succeed at our mission." White smoke drifted out on the air. "Someone told me once that it was a problem, to leave fighters behind."

Hakkai shook his head. "The situation is different, this time." This wasn't like their previous encounter with Kami-sama, when Gojyo had made the decision to go off on his own. Getting stuck here was not Hakkai's choice. At the moment, however, he had no alternative, until the third ear cuff was found.

"Bullshit."

As Hakkai looked over at him, the monk continued. "The situation is no different. If you stopped to think, you'd remember that. We went back for the idiot kappa, after all."

Hakkai's eyebrows went up. Surely he hadn't just heard reassurance in that low voice. He was surprised. And...touched. "Sanzo..."

"Enough." Sanzo didn't allow him the leisure to savor the feeling. "You talk too much, Hakkai. Shut up and let me enjoy my cigarette in peace."

It would be impolite to laugh. Hakkai hid a smile as he replaced the limiters on the bedside stand, and picked up the book that lay beside them. "Very well."

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Hari returned in the evening. She brought some food for Jeep with her this time, and fixed some more of the medicinal tea for Hakkai before setting about her usual ritual of efficiently unpacking and re-packing her portable medicine bags. She didn't speak much, so out of respect, Hakkai didn't either. He could tell that her mind was preoccupied with other things.

Hakkai yawned, and he covered it absently with the back of one hand. The tea had been stronger than usual this time. The painkilling medicine was making him sleepy. He yawned again, and only just barely managed to keep the empty mug from slipping through his fingers. He carefully set it aside on the table beside his limiters so that he didn't break it by accident. Then he tipped his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. It was late, anyway. He should get as much sleep as possible so that he could try to work more healing magic on his broken leg in the morning.

Hari continued to rummage around on her workbench. The persistent noise made Hakkai reopen his eyes, in spite of his fatigue. Although Hari seemed to be doing her best to block his view, Hakkai could see that not everything she was packing was medicine. He lifted his head and his gaze sharpened. Now that he was paying attention, he realized that very little of it was medicine. The things going into the bag were more like the items in Yaone-san's arsenal. Hari was obviously getting ready for a physical confrontation.

She must have felt the weight of his stare. She stopped. The dagger that she had tried to mask from his view with a towel was slowly laid down on the bench.

"You noticed," she said quietly, her back still to him. "I knew that you would." She sighed with an odd sort of resignation. When she turned to face him, there was a soft, sad smile on her lips. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to involve you. But I have no time to waste, and there are items in this room that I need."

Her tone disturbed him. Hakkai had not thought to ask Sanzo or the others when he saw them earlier this evening if Ichiro's father had returned. Rather than risk inquiring about him directly, he said, "You told me that your clan only goes outside to help survivors of the battles on the road."

"Yes," she said. "Unless something important happens." She looked away from his gaze, her brown eyes settling on the fire. "The vest that the human priest wears," Hari asked suddenly. "What is it?"

The abrupt change in subject to something so close to home caught him completely off guard. It was too late in the evening, and the dose of medicine had made him too drowsy for this. It would be all too easy to let something slip that might put Sanzo in danger. Fortunately, the constant verbal sparring that accompanied the journey West made defenses half-instinctive by now. Letting his head loll back against the support of the wall once again, he said lightly, "Why do you ask?"

"One can't help but sense it's power." Her voice was too loud, too careless. It sounded wrong. Dangerous. "It must be a holy item of some sort."

Hakkai summoned a pleasant smile to mask his deep unease. It took more effort than usual. The adrenaline that he felt flooding through his veins did not seem to be having any effect. "He's a Sanzo priest. Many priests have holy items."

She turned to look at him. "Not many have items so powerful that they are of interest to youkai."

He blinked at her as the implications slowly sank in. It took too long, as if his thoughts were moving in slow motion. That's when he realized, his gaze drawn almost reluctantly to the empty blue mug by the bedside. The tea had been stronger than usual. Hakkai had been careless, and Sanzo would be justifiably furious with him, for having foolishly allowed himself the luxury of trust.

Hari crossed over to him. She wisely stayed beyond arm's reach, though by the growing heaviness in his limbs, Hakkai knew that she had little to fear from him at this point. "Why?" he asked, his voice sounding weak and slurred in his own ears.

"It's not poison," she said softly, her dark eyes sad. "Just something to make you sleep, so you can't interfere. You and your dragon, too." She glanced over at Jeep, who was curled up on the blankets, slumbering peacefully. "I don't want to harm you...any of you. But what else can I do? They have taken my husband." She bowed her head. "I would have thought you of all people might understand."

Hakkai felt a chill sweep through him at those words. However, there was no time at the moment for him to worry about how much his markings and his scars may have revealed to her about his past. He had to stop her. Whatever drug she had used on him had left his concentration too fractured to use ki, a fact Hari must surely have taken into account. Fortunately, it had not yet robbed him of his thoughts, or his speech. Forcing his numbing lips to shape sound with some effort, he ruthlessly asked, "What will happen...to your son...if you fail?"

Hari's expression hardened. "I won't fail. Tell me. The vest. What is it? Why do the crazed youkai want it so badly?"

Hakkai's vision was starting to blur now, but he had to answer her. Not for his sake, or for Sanzo's sake, but for her sake. For hers and the sake of the youkai who would only die if by some small miracle she actually succeeded in stealing the Maten Scripture. "If the four of us...do what we're supposed to...it may be part of the answer...to stopping the Minus Wave."

She stiffened, staring at him. "You're lying."

"No." The wall was sliding against his back, the pallet came up under his elbow. He could barely think now, for dizziness caused by the drugged tea. "If you interfere...your clan...may never be...cured."

Taloned hands fastened to the collar of his shirt, hauling at him. "You're lying!" she cried.

He looked into her eyes, and saw that they were brimming with tears. "You know I'm not," he murmured.

The shirt collar slid through her nerveless fingers. His only support now gone, Hakkai tumbled over backward onto the pallet, the abrupt motion combining with the effects of the drug to send senses reeling beyond his control. The last thing he saw was Hari's pale face, her expression stricken. Then even that vision wavered and faded out, and his surroundings were swallowed by darkness.

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