Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki nor do I make any profit from them. I do own Kali.

Lynx Tiger: I know short chapter, I will lengthen the next one up 3.

Chapter Three: Name Signs and Signs of Doubt

Hakkai pressed an ice pack into her hands. Goku begged Sanzo to let her hang out for a little bit. He agreed, annoyed. However, the healer knew Sanzo like a book. Apparently the priest was worried about something. Hakkai had a suspicion, but he wasn't about to let it be known. He'd talk to Sanzo about it later.

Sanzo stood up, stubbing out his cigarette in the ashtray. One meaningful look told Hakkai that he should come. Seeing that Kali and Goku were busy with each other, he walked into the hallway. "With the bridge across the lake being down, we don't have much of a choice but to stay." Hakkai glanced over his shoulder. "Does Goku know what he's getting himself into?"

"No." Sanzo responded. "He'll figure it out soon. If not soon then probably when it's too late. He's not the brightest monkey in the jungle."

"He has his moments, you have to give him that much credit." Hakkai commented. He knew that Sanzo was worried about Goku being attached to the girl. It wasn't her fault the villagers were the way they were. However, the last thing any of the group wanted was to get in a mess that didn't have anything to do with them.

Sanzo knew that the monkey was going to get involved. Hakkai knew it too. Goku couldn't let things go. He was very sensitive about those who were stuck in the shadows of hate because they were different. He knew it first hand and he wanted to keep people from feeling that way. It was just something that Goku was cursed and blessed with.

Sanzo watched as Kali blushed furiously and Goku panicked. Both were stumbling over signs and stuttering words, trying to fix a sentence obviously signed wrong. "I'm not willing to stick around and watch it happen."

"Neither am I." Hakkai said simply.

"What is a sign name?" Goku signed looking highly curious. He remembered that he had to lean in forward slightly, and furrow his eyebrows because it was not a yes or no question. It was so hard to remember that to ask questions there was a lot of leaning and moving around. Hell, there was a lot of moving around and expressions for simple sentences.

Kali licked her lips and she had on her thinking face. He watched her as she finally figured out what she wanted to sign. "It's a easy way to sign your name. It's a better way than fingerspelling your name." She explained as she signed, so that he could catch a sign he didn't know and ask her about it.

He did the sign for EASY looking confused. She finger spelled it and he nodded, understanding what was. "What is your sign name?"

She shook her head, "I don't have one."

Goku frowned. He wanted to ask how to get one, so he decided to sign; NAME SIGN HOW?

The message, though vague was understandable to her. She made another thinking face. "Someone has to give me one." She decided it was safer to sign and talk. Talking was rough on her, she was unpracticed and it was hard to know if she was even using the correct words. "A sign name describes the person. For an example…" She made a G hand shape and moved it across her forehead.

He repeated the motion. "Could that be my sign name?" He was careful to sign as well though he was stuck. NAME SIGN….MINE? He decided to use instead since he didn't know the sign for COULD. She nodded and Goku was estactic. "I have a sign name!" He exclaimed.

Kali was lucky she could lip read. She was happy that he was happy he had a sign name. She was surprised when he was watching her intensely. She raised an eyebrow up, questioning silently what he was doing. Finally he made a K sign and brought to his lips and moved it away. The sign for TRUE with K.

Her eyes widened. Hesitantly she repeated the sign and he grinned. K-A-L-I he fingered spelled and did the same sign again. She was so shocked and touched that he gave her a sign name. No one in this village gave her one, all preferring to speak or to write out on pads of paper. Especially since the oralists told the village that it was the only way for her to be apart of the community.

To think that she had something that was denied to her because she was the only one deaf here. She hugged Goku tightly and signed over and over, THANK YOU.