Disclaimer: The only way it'd be possible for me to own Saiyuki was if I was Minekura Kazuya. Which I am not.

A/N: See, told you I wasn't reliable. Still though, I want to apologize to all the fans out their who've been waiting patiently for this. Astral Writer, who's writing the companion story Feminine Reflection, and I have run into some difficulty with getting chapters cranked out. Updates may become less frequent and more sporadic. Please, just bare with us.

The rest of lunch had gone on normally. Or, about as normally as lunch ever could be between a Sanzo party. The plates were removed by the daughter of the innkeeper, and somehow a pack of cards had gotten onto the table. From there, it wasn't long until someone suggested a few hands of poker, and everyone was roped in to it, whether willing or not. They were deep into the game now, everyone surveying everyone else, subtly, to see if they should cut their losses or not. Everyone but the Gokus', who had started this playful fight of nudging each other a while ago. It'd had been going on for so long, most had ignored it, and didn't see it gradually escalate from little bumps to jabs with the elbow. Finally, the male Goku seemed to get fed up with the game, and playfully punched his double in the shoulder. Of course, since when has a monkey ever been able to control themself? The girl flinched slightly, before rubbing her shoulder. It looked like that punch had actually hurt. If Hachiko knew Goku as well as she thought she did, she knew the girl wasn't just going to take that. And she was right, since the monkey girl then put her cards down, and used both hands to forcefully push her double out of his chair, the chair toppling in the process. She went back to her hand as if nothing had happened.

The male Goku when he crashed to the floor. He looked up at his female counterpart, who was sitting in her chair, acting like she didn't notice him, swinging her legs under her seat. Goku got back on his feet. "What the H-!"

"Will someone separate them already!" Gojyo hollered. "They're really fuckin' with my concentration here."

"She started it. She nudged me first!" Goku said, finger forcefully directed at the girl simian.

"He continued it! And he punched me." she defended, her lip pouting just a tiny bit. Was she being manipulative by pulling out the hurt-puppy-look? Maybe just a little bit.

"You shoved me!" Goku shouted, looking at her, shocked.

"Because you punched me! It kind of hurt too. You're not supposed to hit girls!" she defended, looking slightly hurt about it. This one was genuine. She hadn't liked that punch. That Goku was like her, she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Don't play that card. You're just trying to mess with my head. Sanzo says that all women are just evil vixens!"

The two Gokus, wrapped up in their little fight, didn't notice when four pairs of eyes turned on the previously mentioned priest. The male Sanzo remained stoic, a silent acknowledgement that he had indeed said such a thing, and he saw absolutely nothing wrong with the statement. Even with half of the people at the table being female.

"Your Sanzo's weird then, cuz mine always says it's men that are perverted and stupid, and Goumei's just strange like that!" Female Goku retaliated, causing the focus to shift over to her Goumei's expression a little more indignant than everybody else's. 'That bitch!'

"O-kay then, how about we not have a battle of the sexes and just..." Hachiko started, butting in to try and stop the impending train wreck, but quickly running out of a way to stop it.

"...get back to the game. Heh heh, shall we?" Hakkai smiled, finishing off Hachiko's incomplete sentence, and helping diffuse the situation.

"Eh, I think I'm good," Gojyo said pushing his chair back and standing up. "You were going to win anyway."

"Um, excuse me," Hachiko interrupted, sounding slightly offended, before laying her cards out to reveal a winning hand. It's not that she needed to win, or anything, but she felt like credited should be awarded where credit was due.

Hakkai looked at the hand with a smile. "Wow, another coincidence. I have the same hand." He chuckled, revealing his hand to prove it.

Hachiko grinned at Hakkai. "Yeah, coincidence... probably." she said.

Gojyo narrowed his eyes at the two of them. "Point taken," he sighed. "I'm going out for beer." He said before turning to head for the door, a hand held up over his shoulder for goodbyes.

Goumei got out of her chair and jogged to catch up to him, grabbing her jacket in the process. "I'm with you. I need to get out." she muttered, throwing a glare over her shoulder at Sanzo, still kinda pissed about the whole thing.

"Figured you'd follow my lead." Gojyo smirked, to which Goumei nudged him playfully. Cocky bastard, she pulled it off much better.

"Well," Hakkai started, "What do we want to do now?" Their card game had just kind of ended.

Hachiko clapped her hands together in front of her. "Well, there is a festival tonight apparently. It certainly sounded interesting." she suggested, her mind now curious at the possibilities that could come from having male doubles around. She really hoped there wouldn't be too much property damage.

Goku perked up at that. Festivals were always fun. She was just about to ask Sanzo if she could go, when she remembered how annoyed the other had been earlier. So... Sanzo probably wouldn't go with her... But she really wanted to go. Her face lit up as she got another idea.

"Sanzo, could I go to the festival if other Goku came with me?" she asked, volunteering him to be her chaperone.

The male Goku's faced twisted in repulsion. He didn't seem to want to hang out with her. Kind of understandable after that little fight.

"No! That's just as bad as having you watch yourself." Sanzo barked, not even wanting to think of what two monkeys could get up to.

"Aw, come on. You won't let me go on my own." she whined.

"Uh, why can't she go on her own?" Hakkai asked, voice piqued in curiosity.

Hachiko looked up and elaborated over their last experience of letting their monkey roam a town by herself. She breezed through Goku being sick, just giving enough detail so that they'd understand.

"Hey, is there going to be food at this festival?" the male Goku suddenly asked.

Hachiko blinked owlishly. "Well... I suppose so. It is a festival." she reasoned. It wasn't like she was in charge of it, so she didn't know why they'd assume she'd have the answer.

Both Gokus turned on their Sanzos, ""Can we go Sanzo? Please!""

Neither of them replied at first as they were assaulted by the pleading looks on the monkeys' faces. At last, the male Sanzo gave in and sighed. "Fuck. Fine, I'll go with you."

"Yesss!" his monkey cheered.

Female Goku blinked and pouted as the other Sanzo agreed before hers. It looked like the female Sanzo was no where close to breaking. An idea occurred to the monkey. "Can I go with them then?" female Goku asked, pointing to the other Sanzo and Goku.

"No. One monkey is more than enough." the crownless Sanzo said, shooting down the female monkey's question.

Female Goku pouted, turning back to her Sanzo. She really wanted to go. The woman finally seemed to give in, at least a little. Sanzo sighed, rubbing at her temple. "Hachiko," she demanded, seeking an alternative.

…

There was no answer. She looked up, only to realize that their bespectacled companion had already left the room. Sanzo felt a vein throb in her forehead, then another when she noticed the male was also gone. The two healers had snuck off silently during the argument. That bitch just pulled a stunt she'd expect from Goumei. She was definitely going to hear about it later. But for now, she had a monkey she had to deal with. "Fine. We'll go."