Chapter 5

Not For You

"Goku you have to be still." Nai whispered harshly to the child next to her in the tree. Sanzo wanted them to stay hidden and it would be bad if one of them fell from the tree.

He apologized and sat quietly next to her. This was so suspenseful.

There was a little house, more like a hut, in the middle of the woods and the monk had managed to damn near beat it's location out of a villager. Sanzo knocked on the door and the man who answered it was, "Half-breed." Nai whispered.

Goku looked at Nai with his brows knitted together, "What?"

"Nothing Goku."

The man had long red hair and piercing red eyes, his skin was like hers, kissed gently by the sun. He spoke to Sanzo in such a smooth voice and she was so busy watching his lips that she missed when the two started fighting. She only took action when the man pinned Sanzo face first to the ground.

The man named Gojyo heard the dull clutching clack of the large gun being cocked and paused completely, still keeping a firm hold on the monk below him. "Get off him."

Gojyo knew that voice was feminine and glanced over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of her hips and legs, "What are you going to do girly?"

At that moment another man exited the house, he had brown hair and green eyes and he watched them with a horrified expression. Gojyo told him to run and he did. Sanzo cursed into the ground, "GOKU!"

Cho Gonou was cut off from his path by the small, agile, child and he stopped in his tracks. Nai stopped too. Her arms suddenly became week and she so badly wanted to clutch her heart. This man's fear was coursing through her and it hurt more than anything.

The tousle between the two didn't last long and the woman regained herself when Gonou pointed Sanzo's long forgotten gun at the boy. He felt the shotgun now on his back and he could hear the woman shaking. "He's just a child. Please don't shoot him."

"I won't! I…I just want everyone to listen to me."

The clearing just outside the house was eerie quiet as everyone stayed completely still. Nai could still feel Gonou and she wasn't sure how much longer she could even stand.

"That man has nothing to do with me so please do not punish him. I am the one who did wrong, I have committed a sin and I will pay for it. I just need a bit of time."

His green eyes searched the faces in the clearing before he took off. The moment he was out of sight Nai fell to her knees and Sanzo continued struggling under the man, "Get the fuck off me!"

"…He was just lying there in his own blood and he looked at me. His look was a plea for help. But me, I thought he might have laughed at me."

Nai wiped away a tear at the emotional story and lent against the wall of the house with Gojyo. "Do you mind me asking how old you are?"

He smirked, his mind going to his favorite place, "I'm nineteen. Did you want to play with me girly?"

She turned her face away to hide the blush, "No! It's just that…wait…but the women in town are like thirty!"

Gojyo sighed wistfully, "Yeah. They like em young and I like em experienced."

She had finally heard enough and entered the house, "That's disgusting."

He reached out and grabbed her elbow, startling her enough to the point where she almost swung until she saw his face, "Earlier. You looked terrified about something. What was going on?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Forget it." Gojyo brushed past her putting a cigarette in his lips.

"It was that man." Gojyo stopped to listen to her, "It was Cho Gonou, his fear. I was feeling physically what he was feeling emotionally."

"How…?"

She shrugged, "I don't even know."

Sanzo narrowed his gaze on the two as they entered the small kitchen. Upon seeing Goku eating all his food Gojyo began to fight with the child, only irritating Sanzo even more, "That's enough!"

Nai put the child in her lap, "Goku you know better."

"But I'm huuungry!"

The blond monk took a silent drag of his cigarette as the redhead put his out. It went on like that for a minute, the silence that is. Until Sanzo stood, "I apologize for disturbing you. Nai, Goku, let's go."

"Are you going to kill him?"

Sanzo rolled his eyes, "No. He will go to trial and his fate will be determined from there."

Gojyo stood, "I want to go. I'm the one who made him feel like this."

The group left the house and started into the woods. Sanzo crossed his arms as he watched Nai talk to Goku who was looking up at her intently.

"Hey." Sanzo found his back against the nearest tree and the taller man just before his face, "If you really are a high ranking monk you know what this hair color means. It reminded him of blood…of sin."

The blonde knocked his hand away; "If you're that worried about hair and sin I'll introduce you to a temple."

Gojyo cringed, "I'll pass on that."

Nai chuckled as Goku ran back to the two men, "But the way, a lot of beautiful things in this world are red. If you don't know that, you need to live a little more."

Before the man could answer the monk his head jerked back from his hair being tugged, "Hey you little brat!"

Goku put his arms behind his head, "It's cold." He said with a pout.

"What?"

"Your hair looked like a burning red so I thought it would be hot."

Gojyo just stared after the child as he ran to continue walking next to Nai. She looked over her shoulder and jerked her head for him to follow, "I know, he has that effect."

Cho Gonou didn't know what to think of this moment. He was going to die under the heel of the one he let get away. The demon was above him, chuckling, and talking about something the man didn't particularly care for.

If he were supposed to die like this, he would love for this demon to hurry the hell up. As soon as he thought that the foot disappeared and a jar landed by his face.

"That's…"

"My brother's eyes that you plucked out."

Gonou smiled small and got on his knees. "I see. You want repayment for this. Would it be ok if I give you my eyes?" The pain was blinding as he put his own fingers in his eye socket and plucked the organ out of its place.

"Stop it!"

Goku landed on the man's shoulders and held his hands. A deafening shot at the demon's feet made him jump. Nai smirked, as the end of her shotgun smoked, "Well ain't you the slippery one?"

The demon flashed his gaze between her smoking gun and the man still sitting on the ground. He went for the later until his head exploded and he landed with a dull thump on the ground.

Nai stuck out her tongue and pointed her finger to her mouth like a child, "Gross."

Sanzo rubbed the bridge of his nose, "No one told you to shoot him in the head."

"Then what do you suggest Sanzo-sama? It got the job done."

Gonou smiled lightly and stood as the two bickered lightly about the woman's use of force.

Gojyo put a hand on the man's shoulder, "You were going back there right? The place where it happened?"

"Yes. I was."

"Then we keep going. But you're not going to like what you see." Sanzo said boredly.

When they reached their destination the palace was nothing but a pile of ashes. Nai put a hand over her mouth and Sanzo started to rummage in his sleeves, "They burned it after they found the bodies."

"I couldn't save her again."

Nai frowned, "Sanzo, what the hell are you doing?"

The blonde plopped down on the small hill and put his hands together, "Shut up woman."

She smirked, "Are you chanting?"

"I'm not chanting for any one in particular so shut the hell up!"