Sanzo

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." I muttered, as the car jolted over a bump. The morning wasn't going well, as far as I was concerned, not only did Hakkai seem distracted and was driving recklessly as a result, it had been much more difficult that usual to leave the town. The people displaced by Ryptcore and his army had clung to my robes and begged and cried for me to stay, but we couldn't be deterred. I just wanted this journey to be over as soon as possible.

I meant what I said. I didn't know how much more nonsense and idiocy I could handle. Between Gojyo being even more unbearable than usual, the she-demon who wanted to join us, and the youkai general who wanted to kill me, I felt like I didn't even have room to breathe. Not only was I leading the idiot brigade, babysitting a handful of misfit youkai and fighting for my life every day, my teammates were unbearable, and my enemies were dangerous. At times I felt like we'd never get to India.

One thing was for sure. When we finally did get there, I was going to make sure that whoever had started the revival wished they hadn't even thought about it.

"I know just how you feel." Hakkai said, even though I knew that there was no way he understood how I felt. "The people were certainly frantic to get you to stay, weren't they?"

I didn't want to think about those people or what would happen to them. I didn't want to be tempted to care. I just snorted.

"Oh well. They shoulda' known better than to count on Sanzo." Gojyo said suddenly.

Immediately I was irritated. He hadn't said much all morning, but just the sound of his voice reminded me of the stupid things he'd done yesterday. "I never said anyone could count on me."

"I know, right? You're a shitty excuse for a Priest."

"Gojyo." Hakkai warned him, a little too late.

I got up, bracing myself on the seat against the wind, and pointed my gun right at his face, "And you're a poor excuse for a half-Kappa, and unless you want to run to India, I highly suggest you keep your disgusting mouth shut. Or should I shut it for you?"

Gojyo just smiled which only annoyed me more. "Go ahead and shut it for me, Sanzo-chan; I might have more to say later on."

At that moment, it was very tempting to take him up on that—pull the trigger, and no more Gojyo to put up with. I struggled to think of a good reason not to.

I saw Goku watching us nervously and felt Hakkai's gaze as well. Gojyo just kept smiling. God it was all so unbearable.

"Don't get cocky." I jammed the barrel of the gun at his face, "And don't think I won't just dump you somewhere if you piss me off today."

"Fine. You win."

"Just shut up. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit, Gojyo." I sat back down, ignoring Hakkai's caustic expression. He'd been upset all day, so he likely would have been angry no matter what I did.

"What mercy." Gojyo sneered after a while. "What a fortunate, unworthy soul I am to be the recipient of Master Sanzo's forgiveness."

I ground my teeth and fired a shot into the air.

He was quiet after that—they all were—but only for a few minutes.

Goku seemed to forget that anything had happened and started whining, "Sanzo, I'm hungry."

Those words were so commonplace to me. Goku was always hungry, and I was getting a little tired of always being the one who had to fix it, "We just left the town three hours ago, Goku. We can't stop right now."

"Why not? I'm starving! 'Sides, you an' Gojyo are all pissy. We need a break. C'mon, Sanzo!"

"We don't have time, Goku. Now shut up."

"Please try to be patient, Goku." Hakkai stepped in. "Just a few more hours, and then we'll stop for some lunch. There's a little town on the way, so we should be able to eat somewhere nice."

"But I'm hungry now! Don't we have leftovers from the inn?"

Gojyo snapped, "No. You ate them all, remember?"

"Did not! You helped!"

"I was out all night!"

"That doesn't mean ya' didn't eat dinner!"

So not in the mood for this…

"Both of you, shut up before I kill you!"

"Sanzo, c'mon, please? Justa' short break!" I felt him gripping my seat. "Please, please!"

Hakkai glanced at me, keeping one eye on the road, "It might be nice to take a short break in a while. After all, we didn't get to eat a substantial breakfast before leaving this morning."

My own stomach growled, but I hoped they didn't hear. I didn't have time to be hungry—I had to sort through the giant mess that was being woven around us, and I didn't have time to get involved in any of my physical needs, or in my teammate's emotional issues.

"One more hour." I relented. "Then we'll take a break. A short one."

"Yaaay! Thanks, Sanzo, you're the best!" Goku cheered, jumping a little in the seat.

"The best?" I heard Gojyo echo him quietly, "The best pisspoor example of a monk with a stick up his ass?"

I ground my teeth again, felt the gun still in my hand.

"Let it go." Hakkai advised me softly.

I tried to. Evidently, Gojyo was going too be insolent all day, and it was exhausting threatening him every time he said something impudent. Letting it go looked like the best strategy.

We drove for another hour. Everyone was surprisingly quiet as we drove. Apparently the dimwits in the back didn't feel like arguing today, and they'd run out of stupid road games to play. All the better, since I didn't have the patience to deal with their childish antics.

The only one who did much speaking was Hakkai, but he stuck to essential topics, like the route we were taking. In fact, the route was more or less the only thing he wanted to talk about.

We wound up driving into a somewhat remote, but sunny mountain pass. The air was crisp and clean, and I felt myself grudgingly beginning to relax. There we found a clearing on the side of a creek and sat down to eat. Even there, everyone stayed surprisingly quiet, and I noticed that Hakkai hardly ate at all.

At some point while we were sitting there, I noticed a shadow shifting through the trees. I knew it was that youkai woman, but there was nothing I could do about it as long as she didn't approach, so I just slipped into my annoyance and kept a wary eye open. If the others noticed, no one said so. Today, everyone seemed to be distracted. Hakkai kept staring out into the distance and toying with his limiter cuff, while Gojyo looked like he was brooding. As far as I could tell, Goku was just rattled by the dissention in the air.

Whatever. I didn't have time to worry about their problems.

After taking a twenty minute break to eat, we got back into the Jeep and continued up the pass. I stayed lost in thought for most of the drive, considering the strange things that had been going on lately, especially the most recent occurancs: Hazel's bizarre message about Ryptcore, and the female youkai's request to join forces with us. I found the news about Ryptcore disturbing, even though I was trying not to show it, and of course letting the other youkai join us was out of the question. All that running off about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer was bullshit. I didn't want my friends or my enemies anywhere near me.

Ahead of us, I saw that there was a fork in the road. One path wound its way up through the mountain and back into the thick, dark trees. The other was shorter and led to the wide mouth of a dark cave.

Hakkai stopped and consulted the map. He looked at it a while before murmuring, "How odd. This cave doesn't appear to be on the map, Sanzo."

"So? Keep driving up the pass then."

"Yes, but-"

"What? No, let's explore!" Goku chimed in. "Maybe there's somethin' awesome in there!"
"We're not explorers." I reminded him as patiently as I could. "We're on an important mission."

"I know, but we could still use some fun, right? What if there's somethin' way cool in that cave? Like treasure!"

"Then we're going to miss it."

"Awe, Sanzo, what's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that we're way too good at getting sidetracked, Goku, and we're on an important trip."

"Fine." He slouched back in his seat, looking disappointed.

Hakkai switched gears and started to roll forward, toward the pass.

Gojyo stood up suddenly, "Wait."

"Wait for what?" I snapped.

He pointed back toward the cave, "Look."

Reluctantly, I followed his gesture, just in time to see a man emerge from the cave.

"Who's that?" Goku asked quietly.

"Hn. How the hell should I know?" I snorted, but I couldn't help staring. Something about the man seemed weird. He was tall—too tall to be natural. His head was shaved and his upper body was bear, and he had scars all over all over his face and torso. His ears were long and sharp.

"Is that a youkai?"

"It appears to be. But is he alone?" Hakkai sounded nervous, which I thought was pretty odd in itself.

The youkai reached and pulled something from behind his back; I assumed he had a sword strapped there, but then he slung over the top of his shoulder and aimed it at us, and I could see it was a gun of some kind. Like a grenade launcher.

"Holy fuck!" Gojyo yelled.

"Jeep Transform!" Hakkai's nervous voice had escalated to panic.

I heard Jeep chirp, and then the seat I was sitting on was suddenly gone, and we were all sprawling in the dirt. The others scrambled to get out of the way, and Hakkai grabbed my arm, dragging me to my feet and screaming something I didn't catch.

There was a loud boom, and then an explosion that shook the ground and launched us all forward, and much to my annoyance, I found myself face down in the dust, Hakkai practically on top of me. A deep, dark laugh echoed around me, and I turned around to look at the youkai.

He was marching toward us, the grenade launcher still aimed, a twisted smile on his mouth. I could see that his eyes were purple, like mine, but there was something deranged about them.

The others were getting to their feet, and I stood up as well, digging my gun out and aiming it at him.

"Very brave, Genjyo Sanzo." He had a voice like someone scraping mud up from the bottom of a river. "But courage won't get you very far with me."

"An assassin?" Goku asked.

"He hasn't made any demands for the sutra." Hakkai mused, "In fact, if his attack had succeeded the sutra would be gone. In that case, could this possibly be General Ryptcore?"

"Close, Cho Hakkai." The man said. He was just a few yards from us now, "The name is Xiong. I'm Ryptcore's first officer. His right hand man."

"You are?" Gojyo looked him up and down, "An ugly bastard like you?"

"I'd watch my words if I were you, Sha Gojyo. A mutt like you has no place to make personal comments."

Goku stepped forward, nyoi bo ready, "I don't care who ya' are. If ya' came ta' kill Sanzo you'll have ta' get through me first, ass-face."

That just made Xiong laugh, "Oh no, don't hurt me, Son Goku—I wouldn't want to anger the Sage Who Equals Heaven."

This bastard seemed to know everything about us. Maybe this Dethbreed was a bigger threat than I originally thought.

"Now." He grinned, revealing yellowed teeth that had been filed into points, like a piranha's. "All of you prepare to die."

He fired the grenade launcher again and the tree I'd been standing next to went up in a mushroom cloud of fire and smoke. I barely managed to move in time. "Dammit!"

I rushed to crouch behind a rock and aimed my gun at him, firing several times. Xiong stepped out of the way like I was tossing Frisbees at him. "Goddammit."

He aimed that thing at me. I dove. The rock exploded into a million shards of granite. He kept firing, one round after another, the grenades hitting right behind me and exploding. Boom. Boom. Boom.

In the confusion, I ran headlong into Gojyo. We both fell down hard, writhing there and trying to get away from each other.

"You motherfucker!"

"Sonnova bitch! Goddammit, Sanzo!"
"You two!" Hakkai yelled. I heard his voice but I didn't see him anywhere, "Move!"

I scrambled up, tripped and rolled behind a large boulder. Gojyo jumped over me and crouched there as well. Hakkai and Goku were already there. Goku's head was bleeding and Hakkai's clothes were torn. I felt dirty and tattered as well, and the fight had only just begun.

"Any ideas?" Gojyo demanded.

"I'm sorry to say this, but it looks like direct attacks might be the only effective method of dispatching him." Hakkai said. "My chi and Sanzo's gun haven't been working. He simply dodges.

"Direct attacks. Got it." Gojyo got up, "That's you an' me, Goku."

"Right!" Goku sprang up too, and before we could stop them, they both ran off.

"Wait a minute!" Hakkai called after them. "We need to make a strategy."

It was too late. I dared to look up over the rock to see how they'd fair.

Goku ran in and jumped up high over Xiong's head, swinging down at him, while Gojo ducked under the grenade launcher and swiped at his face with the blade of his shakujou.

Xiong turned his head to the side so that Gojyo's attack barely missed, and then took a step back so Goku simply smashed the ground, creating a huge crater on impact. Dirt and rocks and all kinds of debris went flying.

"Holy shit!" Gojyo stared at the crater. "That was almost my head, you dumb monkey!"

"Well maybe ya' shouldn't get in my way!"

"Maybe you should watch where you swing that thing!"

Unbelievably. Xiong was standing right there behind them, and they were going to start bickering?

"Idiots!" I lifted my arm over the boulder, aiming with my gun again, "Don't just stand there!"

Xiong swung both his arms out like a gorilla, and hit the two of them at the same time. Goku went flying in one direction, flipping around and digging his staff into the ground to steady himself, while Gojyo went in the other, slamming back into a tree, cussing profusely.

In the same instant, they sprang back at Xiong, each of them kicking high, trying to get him in the face. He was about nine feet tall, so they weren't having much luck.

Hakkai jumped over the boulder, "It appears this won't be as easy as I thought. Excuse me, Sanzo." He rushed off to fight as well.

"Damn." I stood up, aiming carefully. Maybe if the other three distracted him I'd be able to get a shot in. If I hit his head, it just might be enough to finish him.

It was hard aiming with the others out there, fighting and getting in the way, and I had to stop myself from pulling the trigger several times. Still, no matter how fiercely they were attacking, I couldn't help shake the feeling that they were just flies buzzing around Xiong's face.

Xiong screamed. At first I thought one of them had injured him. Then the ground began to shake and a strange, purple wind started to blow. The ground beneath his feet crumbled a little, leaving him standing in a shallow, bowl-shaped pit. With another shout and a sudden, violent gesture with his arms, my teammates were suddenly blown back, and then Xiong charged, rushing right at me. For a moment, I was so startled, I couldn't react. Then I started to fire my gun over and over. I only had five shots left, and I fired them all, one after another.

The youkai darted to the right, then to the left. One bullet scraped his bare arm and I saw a splurt of red-violet blood. It didn't slow him down.

He was right in front of me then. Like he'd just appeared there. His mouth was still grinning that hideous, yellow smile. "Hello, Sanzo."

I squeezed the trigger.

Xiong's fist hit me right in the face. I felt my body lift up and fly through the air, pain exploding through my skull. I hit the ground hard and skidded a couple feet. Dust rising up around me. The gun was rattled out of my grip. When I opened my eyes, Xiong was standing over me, laughing, "This was all too easy."

"Get away from him!" Goku sprang out of nowhere and kicked Xiong as hard as he could in the back of the neck.

The youkai cried out, and this time I knew it was from pain; he staggered forward, tripping over me and falling in a heap not far off.

"C'mon, Sanzo!" Goku pulled me up.

The others were standing there, tattered, breathing hard, but they looked ready to keep fighting.

I swung around, eyes searching for my gun. It was lying a few feet away, the silver shining in the sunlight. I dove on it. Xiong got up. He swung at me. I barely managed to dart back, balancing my attention between my gun and my enemy.

He came forward, jabbing and kicking at me. I ducked his fist and dodged his other attacks, each time getting out of the way in the nick of time.

The others came at him again, swinging their weapons and shouting. Goku swung at his legs, trying to break his knees, but he jumped over it, ducked just in time to let Gojyo sail over him. He turned around and bashed Hakkai in the face with his elbow before he could do anything. I finally got to my gun, aimed and fired.

Nothing happened. I remembered it was empty, began fumbling for the bullets.

I had only just gotten one in when I felt someone standing behind me, whirled around and stuck the gun in their face.

The Ashara smiled at me impudently, "What a greeting. Hello, Sanzo."

"You? What the fuck are you doing here?" I realized for the first time that my mouth was bleeding, and I had to sputter through the blood.

"I came to help you of course. I said that I would." Gracefully, she stepped past me; I watched her, but I couldn't decide if this was a good thing or not. She smiled and winked at me over her shoulder, "You're next." Then she jumped into the fight, going at Xiong's face with her claws.

He saw her coming and punched her in the stomach, and she crumpled to the ground. A moment later, the others were there too. They all got up again, standing shoulder to shoulder, holding their weapons, but they kept their distance.

"Good to see you again." Jade smiled at Hakkai, wiping some blood off her lips.

I saw how unhappy he was to see her, "What do you want, Asahara?"

"Just to help."

"Great." Gojyo snarled, "You got an idea how to beat this guy?"

"No. But if you fight him as hard as you fought me last night, and your comrades do the same, I think there shouldn't be a problem."

Goku stared at Gojyo, "You fought her?"

"What did you think I did with her?"

"No time for that." Hakkai crouched. "Here he comes."

I watched in disbelief as they all attacked again. This Xiong guy was definitely one of the strongest enemies any of us had ever face. One-on-one, I'd be no match for him. Not even Hakkai would be. Hell, not even Goku. Not with their limiters on. All five of us together though should be able to do it.

"Fuck it." I dropped my gun, and ran to join them. I slammed against him, hit him in the stomach as hard as I could. It felt like hitting a wall.

Xiong stumbled back. Goku hit him with his whole body, bashing him in the face with his knee. Hakkai was right there behind him. He struck him square in the kidney with his elbow, and Xiong doubled over from the pain.

"All right!" Gojyo laughed, he swung his shakujou around and slung the chain at Xiong, "Now we're talkin'!"

The blade whistled through the air and sliced into the youkai's arm.

"You insects!" Xiong jumped back, wielding his grenade launcher again. "You'll never defeat me. Not even if there's an army of you!"

"We'll see about that." Goku ran at him. He and Jade hit at the exact same moment, knocking Xiong back so that he stumbled into the mouth of the cave.

Goku kept going, smiling. "It's the end of the line for ya', ugly!"

"Cocky idiot." I yelled, "Goku, watch it!"

I shouldn't have. My voice distracted him, and Xiong grabbed him by the ankle, swung him around and slammed him against the wall of the cave. Goku fell to the ground, rocks tumbling down around him.

"Goku!"

"Crap…" Goku forced himself to get up. He looked like that attack had really hurt.

Xiong had his grenade launcher ready to go, aiming it right at Goku. "I remember now. You're Genjyo Sanzo's little pet, aren't you, boy? Let's see how well he fairs without you."

I was too far away: I couldn't help him. Hakkai and Jade were standing off the side—there was no way Hakkai would get there in time. This just couldn't be happening.

Gojyo skidded in from the other side—I'd almost forgotten about him. The worthless kappa knocked Goku back, "Move it, kid!" Then he stabbed one of the rocks directly above him with his weapon and twisted. It was just enough to break it loose, and immediately a torrent of boulders came raining down.

Xiong fired. The grenade flew forward. It hit one of the boulders as it was falling. There was a bright explosion and a ringing boom of thunder. Xiong was blown backward, his body skidding across the dirt. The mouth of the cave all but blew apart, rocks coming down all the harder, blocking the entrance.

"Gojyo, Goku!" Hakkai ran toward the cave, but it was too late. The cave mouth was completely sealed.

I ran too. Hakkai and I reached the pile at almost the exact same time, beating on the rocks and pulling some away.

"Dammit!"

"Gojyo! Goku! Can you hear me?"

"Goddammit! Idiots! You idiots!" I clawed at a handful of dirt. Pulled loose a rock and dropping it.

Jade stepped up next to us, "There's no time for this! He's still alive!"

I looked over my shoulder. Xiong was getting up, barrel of his grenade launcher smoking, one half of his face all but blown off. He was bleeding and panting.

"In that case let's finish him." Hakkai turned away from the mouth of the cave, that piercing, angry look on his face. "What do you say, Sanzo?"

"I say send him to hell." I took a step forward, beginning to chant.

"In that case, I shall distract him for you." With that, he leapt forward, chi flowing from his hands.

Asahara lingered a moment, looking at me with glittering eyes, and then she loped after Hakkai, her own purple chi beginning to glow on her fingertips.

I watched them light into Xiong, hitting him hard and then again, in the face and the stomach; it was incredible how well they were working together, playing off one another's attacks, fighting like a pair of wolves—like a couple of animals. I couldn't be distracted by that though.

Jade managed to knock Xiong down, and Hakkai stepped on his throat, "Now, Sanzo!"

With a shout, I released the Makai Tenjyo, feeling the holy power flowing through my body, rushing forward like a tidal wave. Hakkai dove out of the way. In a blinding flash, it hit.

The explosion echoed through the hills around us.

When the smoke cleared, I stepped forward, hands tucked in my robes, looking at the body, searching for any signs of life. Xiong was just laying there, his body a gory mess of burnt flesh and stringy muscle. His face was mostly intact, eyes wide and staring, mouth frozen open, capturing his final moment of pain.

"He's dead." Hakkai said, coming to stand beside me. "I guess the Makai Tenjyo was what we should have tried in the first place."

"Feh. Good riddance."

"Do you think he was really Ryptcore's first officer?"

I shrugged.

"He was." Jade answered. She was a few feet away, hands behind her back, smiling. "I met him before. Cruel bastard."

I didn't have time to waste paying attention to her. Now that Xiong was dead, we had a new problem to sort through.

Without a word, I turned around and walked back to the cave, staring up at the mountain of debris that was in my way.

"Those idiots." I started to dig. "They'd better not be dead in there."

Hakkai joined me, "I quite agree. After all, if this was just the first officer, I believe we might need their help fighting Ryptcore."

Ryptcore. Great. Just great.

"I don't know how much more of this bullshit I can take."

For a few minutes we dug in silence, but I knew we weren't making much progress, and the longer it took, the more certain I was that we were going to find them buried under the rocks. I tried to tell myself I didn't care. I tried to tell myself that it shouldn't matter. Still, the more I dug, the more frantic I felt, and I knew that I did care. At least a little.

"You're wasting your time." Asahara said. She was sitting on a stump, just watching us, and the distance she kept between us made me feel like she was an animal, observing us with wild eyes.

"They're not dead." I snapped.

"Undoubtably, Priest. The half-blood is harder to kill than a cockroach, and your little boy is famous for his strength and technique in battle. It would take more than a little rock shower to kill them."

For some reason it annoyed me that she was talking about Goku and Gojyo as if she knew them.

"Then what do you mean?" Hakkai asked.

She got up and drifted closer, moving so gracefully she almost seemed like she was floating, "I'll tell you, love. See, you might recall, this is my land, and this is my mountain. I've been this way many times before. This cave leads through the mountain and into a valley on the other side."

"So what?" I spat, still digging.

"There's another way around the cave." Her shone eyes as she pointed to the road we'd meant to take all along. "That road will take you due west, the way you're trying to go, but if you want to see your friends again-"

"They aren't my friends."

"If you want to see FlamingHeart and the Seiten Taisei again, you must go south. And I can show you the way to go."

Hakkai got up, "Why should we trust you?"

"Ryptcore will be coming soon." She said slowly. "He likely knows already that his officer has been killed—he no doubt has spies all around—so he'll be coming for you himself, mark my words. You will need the help of the other two if you wish to defeat him. Now you can either stay here and keep digging, and Ryptcore will seize the opportunity to kill the two of you and then go find the others. Or you can trust me and be reunited by this very night. Suit yourselves."

She was walking away, heading for a wall of shrubbery, which she simply pushed aside like a curtain, and disappeared behind.

I looked at Hakkai, and he looked at me.

"What should we do, Sanzo?"

I shook my head and held my gun tightly, "Like we got a choice?"