Another update for y'all!

Culture Shock

Chapter 8: Fears

Kougaiji couldn't have been any more shocked in his life.

"Wait, what?"

"I'm telling you Kou, it actually happened! I was there and I know one of those girls personally." Dokugakuji said for about the tenth time. It was understandable. Kou was a pretty strong-minded leader but there were times when something really unexpected happens and he is completely thrown off-balance.

Like the fact that a little girl literally tore a piece of land apart as a warning

Lirin had a different reaction than her older half-brother. "Ooh! Ooh! I'd like to fight that little girl! I wanna go see her! Can we Kou? Can we? Please? Please?"

"No."

"Awww! But Kou!"

Yaone stepped in and saved Kougaiji the trouble of shutting up his kid sister. He loved her but there were times when he wanted to strangle her to death because of the trouble that she brings him. "Lirin, you should be patient and let Lord Kougaiji think for a little. If you behave, I'll buy you a pork bun."

"Yay! Pork bun!" Lirin celebrated. Kou resisted from slapping his forehead. His little sister was so simple-minded. It scared him that her weakness could be made known so easily.

Kou rubbed his face, looking more tired than he's ever been. Dokugakuji felt a little guilty for bringing up the subject when he was in such a good mood but he had to say it sooner or later.

"Kou? Are you okay?"

"It's…just…how are we supposed to get the sutra now? Those women sound powerful and almost impossible to defeat." The son of the Ox King sighed almost brokenly.

"Really? I don't think that you should worry too much about that." He tried to assure him. "Kasumi is a really nice girl and she herself said that she liked your character. She also loves little kids like Lirin. I'm sure she'd convince her friends not to be involved during our future skirmishes with the Sanzo-ikkou…too much."

"What I'm shocked about is that Droopy-eyes is married! Can Monks marry, Kou?"

Kou sighed. "Apparently yes."

"Is she pretty?" Lirin asked.

"How am I supposed to know?"

Lirin ignored her brother's irritated expression and chattered on. "I bet she is! She must be really pretty if Droopy-eyes have any interest in her! I wonder what she's like? Is she nice? Or is she really cranky? Or maybe-"

"Enough!" Kougaiji roared. "If you want to find out so much, go and ask her yourself!"

"Good idea!"

Before Kou could even take back his outburst, his sister disappeared. Dokugakuji and Yaone looked worriedly at their twitching Lord. "Um…Kou?"

"That girl…is going to be the death of me, isn't she?"

"Don't worry, Kou. As I said, Kasumi loves kids so she won't do anything to Lirin."

Kasumi sneezed.

She wrinkled her nose. Why would she be sneezing all of the sudden? Was she beginning to catch a cold? That wouldn't be good. Kasumi decided to drink a warm cup of tea this dinner so it wouldn't become anything serious.

"Bless you." Kanzeon said. Kasumi sniffed and smiled. "Thank you."

One second…

Three seconds…

Ten seconds…

"Ohmykamiyou'rethatscaryGoddess!" Kasumi shrieked and fell off of the chair that she was sitting on. The rest of the group's attention fell on her and then to the amused Goddess who was currently laughing her ass off at Kasumi's late reaction.

Kanzeon wiped away a tear. "You hanyou are so hilarious! I think you just fulfilled a century's worth of boredom there!"

"What the hell do you want from us now, old hag?" Yuki drawled. "Are you going to dump another poor soul into this merry crew? Oh wait! You already did that to eight people. And one is a useless monk who hardly practices what he preaches and spews shit whenever he opens that goddamned mouth!"

"Yuki, Language." Suzume warned firmly.

"What? I know you were thinking the same thing! You're just too nice to say it!"

Well, Suzume couldn't argue with that. The monk was unbearably annoying.

"As much as I enjoy talking with the brat, I'm pretty tight on schedule. I'm going to have to make this short. The gate that I used to transport the four of you was jammed by something in the other side. The youkai that flowed into this place was an accident-"

"I knew she screwed up!" Yuki whispered loudly to the Hanyou children.

"-That I can take care of." Kanzeon stressed. "But there seems to be something else that your enemies added onto alongside the barrier to keep you four from succeeding in your task thus, the new recruits."

Aoi leaned against her scythe (wherever she got that weapon is a mystery as well as all the other random weapons she pulled out of nowhere). "So what's the new danger?"

"Are you familiar with a man named Dr. Ni?"

"Nope!" Goku piped.

"Never heard of him." Gojyo drawled.

"Don't care." Sanzo grunted.

"I don't think I remember." Hakkai admitted sheepishly.

Kanzeon rolled her eyes. "Really, do all men have such short memory spans? I would've thought you four would remember him."

Suzume seemed to be thinking deeply at the mention of the man's name. "Dr. Ni…Ni Jianyi? Are you speaking of that man?"

"You know who he is?" Goku asked curiously.

"Kouryuu, don't you remember that time when we were sweeping up the temple-

"We were always sweeping up the temple." Sanzo retorted gruffly.

"-And that little boy wanted to play with us?" Suzume went on as if her companion never spoke. "He had a stuffed doll, remember?"

"No."

Gojyo interrupted the conversation with a huge grin. "Wait, wait, you two knew each other when you were kids? Now why is this news to me, Sanzo-sama? No wonder you're so soft on her!" Yuhwa was sitting right beside him, shaking her head at her brother's antics. He inherited their Grandfather's habit of seeking trouble all right.

Click.

"You have three seconds to shut up."

"Ooh, is the Monk getting defensive?" Gojyo mocked only to narrowly dodge a well-aimed bullet a second later. "Oi, you trying to kill me, fake monk?"

"I told you to shut up, didn't I? Since you seemed as if you were having a hard time ding that, I thought that a bullet would be the perfect thing to help you do that."

"Why you-

"Girls hate persistent boys."

The arguing was put to a halt when Suzume spoke those words. Aoi let out an impressed whistle. "Boy, if we knew that we only had to say that to shut them up I would've said it a whole week ago."

Hakkai gave Suzume an uneasy smile. "Now why does that sentence sound so familiar?"

"Hey, didn't that 'Kami-sama' guy say that or somethin'?" Goku asked while chewing on his pork bun. "Is Dr. Ni his real name?"

"Kami…sama?" Yuhwa questioned quizzically. "Doesn't that mean 'God' in your language, Aoi?"

"Yeah, I guess that twit was a narcissist."

Sanzo lit his cigarette. "So you're saying that creepy kid is that Dr. Ni?"

"Then we can beat him no problem! We already defeated him before!" Goku piped up optimistically. Suzume shook her head. "Unfortunately, he wasn't who I wanted you to remember and…wait, you beat that poor kid up Kouryuu?"

Sanzo snorted. "He wasn't such a 'poor' kid when he fought all four of us."

"Still, it was four against one. And I don't think he knew any better. His teacher was the one who corrupted him so badly." Suzume retorted. "Don't you remember, Kouryuu? The first person that said that?"

Sanzo growled at the memory.

"You take the right side and I'll take the left, Suzume." Kouryuu ordered. Suzume nodded and rolled up her sleeves. "Okay! I'll finish before you this time, Kouryuu!"

Kouryuu rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. As if I care about those things. Why do you like playing those kid games, anyways?"

"Well, they drive away boredom right? Auntie Kaede said that when a person becomes boring, then they'd become a zombie! If you keep it up, you'll become a zombie too!"

"As if! Besides, what the heck is a zombie?"

Suzume shrugged. "I'm not so sure…the way Auntie Kaede said it made it sound scary, though. Something about the living dead."

"How the hell does a dead be alive?"

"Hey! Let's play!" A voice interrupted. The two looked up to see a pale, blonde boy. He had a piece of cloth over an eye for some reason. He was holding a doll and was wearing a smile that made both Kouryuu and Suzume very uneasy. He went up to Kouryuu. "Wanna play?"

The boy grabbed his arm.

Kouryuu jerked back and began struggling his arm away from the other boy's touch. "Stop! I don't want to! Let me go!"

Suzume, seeing her friend in trouble came to his side and pushed the strange boy away from Kouryuu. "He says that he doesn't want to! Now stop!"

Thud

The doll fell onto the ground.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Suzume apologized and Kouryuu echoed after her.

Suzume heard laughter from behind and whirled around. "Now, now, girls hate it when boys are persistent."

He was like a crow.

"Come here."

The boy rushed over to the man's side before making a face at both Suzume and Kouryuu's direction. "Coming, Sensei!"

The man walked over to the pair. "Oh! You're a boy? You have such a pretty face. I thought you were a girl."

Suzume could tell that Kouryuu was a bit pissed at the man's mistake. She stifled a giggle. It wasn't the first time that her friend was mistaken as a female.

"Hmm? There's another?" The man knelt down in front of Suzume. She finally got a better look on his face. He was a young, bespectacled, dark-haired man wearing the garbs of a Sanzo priest. "Oh! It's a cute little sparrow!"

Suzume shifted uncomfortably as she felt her hair being tousled. "Um, thank you…sir?"

"Well," The man said briskly while taking off the strange golden crown (Suzume never knew what that thing was called nor did she care) and gave the pair a slightly unnerving smile, "I'll be going then Suzume-chan."

Suzume thought it odd that he knew her name. She found it even more odd that the man, despite being a Sanzo, didn't have that chakra thing on his forehead.

The kid behind him stuck his tongue out at Suzume.

"You think I would forget?" Sanzo scoffed. "That bastard called me a girl."

"Who are ya talking about Sanzo? Huh?" Goku questioned. "Who called you a girl?"

"Ukoku Sanzo, otherwise known as the ex-youngest person to become a Sanzo, is the Doctor Ni Jianyi the goddess was speaking of. He's a dangerous man."

"He was also the man who kicked all your asses just recently." The goddess added helpfully. Realization finally dawned on the Sanzo-ikkou followed by anger and embarrassment.

"The guy who killed Hazel!" Goku gasped. (Though, he was understandably unaware that the narcissistic, youkai-hating blonde was in fact alive.)

Suzume suppressed a smile. (Special ability to see the past and the future, remember? She knows things. Everything.)

"That crow bastard!" Gojyo snarled. Kasumi jumped and attempted to cover Kiku's innocent ears. "Language, Gojyo-nii! Language! There are children here!"

"If he can swear-

"-can we swear too, Kasumi?" The twins piped mischievously.

Aoi smirked. "Nah, you two didn't win swearing rights yet. Wait 'til you're Ikki's age and I'll think about it."

A snore was heard from the teenage turtle-hanyou.

"He really did a number on us!" Hakkai laughed though, to the onlookers' horror, there seemed to be a dark cloud that was appearing over the normally cheerful man. The children whimpered and leaned closer to Kasumi.

"He called me a girl!" Sanzo repeated angrily.

Yuhwa took control of the conversation, seeing that it was going nowhere. "So, you're saying that the threats that this guy is going to bring in are going to be a handful."

"Yes! Someone who gets it!" Kanzeon exclaimed in relief. "Now, listen well. Dr. Ni somehow took control over the gate that I used to bring you four here. He was the one who led the youkai horde over to this side. That little stunt was just a test to see how the gate worked. That madman is now going to try bringing three monsters to where you are. They're-"

BOOM!

The whole inn shook violently. Kanzeon cursed under her breath. "Dammit, I'm out of time!"

"What's happening?" Aoi yelled as another deafening BOOM shook the place once again. She protectively put her arms around the twins. "Aren't you going to help us?"

Kanzeon bit her thumbnail. "I have to go! The other gods will realize that I'm gone if I stay any longer! Good luck!" She snapped her fingers and disappeared.

"…the heck?" Aoi shrieked.

"I told you she was useless! She didn't even finish her freaking message! What the hell did that crazy doctor send at us?" Yuki shrieked from her seat. Kasumi sniffed the air. "…Youkai?"

"Again?!"

Sanzo snorted. "Sounds a bit more than that."

"What else do you smell, sweetheart?" Gojyo asked nervously as Kasumi sniffed even more with a strange look over her face. "Wait…not just youkai from our home…the scent's familiar…yeah, it can only be-

"It's the scent of Chinese youkai that she smells!" Sado announced proudly. "I can sense about four of 'em out there with my bare feet!"

"…"

"Erm, how do you… 'sense' them exactly?" Hakkai questioned after an awkward silence.

"With my bare feet!"

"Yeah, we sort of got that already." Gojyo assured him.

Sado scratched his head. "Well, it's a talent that Dad gave me through his blood. The vibrations that are sent throughout the earth when a person is moving tell me where they are and how many there are. I can "see" better than everyone combined in this room as long as my feet stays rooted to the ground. We moles need to way to get around somehow, you know."

"Oh…I see."

Kasumi patted Sado's head. "Great explanation there, Sado."

"Ooh! Ooh! A whole horde of-

"-youkai! Kasumi, let us fight with you this time? Please? Please? We wanna kick some youkai-butt too!"

Aoi spun her scythe experimentally a few times before setting it down with a final 'clunk'. "Not today, kiddies. We need to get rid of these critters like, pronto. We're in a village filled with a good amount of people, if you two didn't forget. Maybe next time."

"Awww!" The two chorused in disappointment.

Kasumi frowned. "I don't know, Aoi. I think we'll be needing the kids to help out. There's a lot of youkai that was sent to this side. If we don't want any people getting eaten, possessed, cut-up, maimed, or worse I think we need them to join us."

Suzume stood up and reached for her bow only to be stopped by Sanzo. "Kouryuu?"

"Oh no you don't! You're not going to shoot all those shiny, shaman arrows and pass out again! You just woke up and it took you a whole day of sleep to recover!" He angrily pointed at the door. "There's no way that I'm going to lug you around for the rest of the week! You're heavy!"

Translation: I don't want you to get hurt again.

Thank Kami Suzume can interpret Sanzo-nese fluently.

"It will only be a shot to close up the gate, that's all." Suzume assured her childhood friend. She patted his arm that was still restraining her. "Thank you for worrying about me."

"I wasn't worried, damn woman!" Sanzo spluttered while releasing his grip on her as if she was a hot oven. "Fine then! Just go! Hell if I care what happens to you!"

Suzume nodded thankfully and made her way outside with the rest of the group.

"Anyone got anything else to say to me?" The priest asked angrily, daring anyone to make a comment. Especially a smirking kappa. "I'm NOT worried about that stupid woman, dammit!"

There was a moment of silence when all eyes were on Sanzo.

Surprisingly it was Ikki who snorted and managed to lazily lift his head up. "Monk in denial." He grunted in amusement.

A lethal fan slapped the poor hanyou's head. "Aren't you supposed to be outside?!"

Ikki rubbed his head grouchily, "Suffering jet lag. I want more sleep. 'Sumi didn't mind when I didn't join in."

"JUST GET OUT!"

"Fine, fine. Ikki's leaving, grouchy monk."

The door slammed shut, once again leaving the room to be silent.

Then, it was boldly broken by a slightly alarmed question.

"Where's Bi-dam?"

BOOM!

Bi-dam jumped just in time to avoid a disturbingly well-aimed blast from a Japanese youkai. His sweaty hand gripped the equally sweaty hand of Sora. The pair ran like hellhounds were at their heels, although the situation was not that different.

This thing doesn't know when to give up, does it? This seems a bit problematic.

Do you think we'll make it to Kasumi in time?

Bi-dam's brow creased with worry. Lets hope so. Dammit all! If only I had a weapon on me! I really have to ask Mom to make me a good sheath so I can carry my sword around 24/7.

"Slow down, children. Your moving around is making it really hard to kill you!" The youkai hissed in frustration while readying another blast.

"Yeah, and we'll come to you just like that because you want to kill us." Sora said sarcastically before Bi-dam roughly jerked her away from the incoming blast. "Don't talk, just run!"

BOOM!

Bi-dam quickened his running pace when he saw people ahead. Adults.

To a child (okay, a child who lived nine whole lives so far but still a child at heart), Adults meant safety and protection so he made a beeline toward them.

Bi-dam, I don't like the smell of those adults. They smell like youkai too.

Well, darn.

The childish part of Bi-dam wanted to go to the group of four because he was scared for his life. The more mature and cautious part of him, though, knew that it was smarter to follow what Sora said.

So, should we avoid them?

Surprised that Bi-dam was asking her for advice, Sora blinked. Um, I think we should head toward them anyways. They don't feel dangerous. They just feel strong.

To the group of four, then

"GAH! PLEASE HELP US!" Bi-dam hollered as helplessly as he could. The leader of the four, it seems, turned first and caught sight of the running children. He seemed to be attempting to chant some spell and aimed it at the youkai behind them. The fireball that appeared between the man's hands and it shot at the youkai's face, temporarily stunning it. "Thanks."

"What are you children doing out here alone? It's too dangerous." The man scolded (?) and checked them over for any injury of some kind. "Are you two hurt? Did that thing do anything?"

"We managed." Sora said with a breathless grin. "We were too fast for that bugger."

He seems nice enough, Bi-dam.

Don't let your guard down.

"We're fine." Bi-dam assured the man. "I just need some sort of weapon to finish that thing off. Your fireball was able to stun it a little but you need a much more forward approach to defeat the youkai. Do you have any?"

Suspicion flashed across the man's golden eyes at Bi-dam's request. Bi-dam didn't mind the suspicion. He was more relieved that this man was no idiot. "How are you so confident in wielding a weapon like that? You seem a little too young."

"You see that thing over there?" Bi-dam asked while pointing back at the recovering youkai. "My friend here and I had to grow up fighting these creatures every day or we'd be dinner by now. The question should be: Why isn't this eight-year-old armed?"

You sound really old, Bi-dam. Sora teased. Are you sure you're eight?

If only she knew.

There was a snort coming from the back and a taller and more muscled man came into view. He looked at Bi-dam with amusement. "Here. I have a weapon, kid. If you can lift this thing, I'll let you use it."

"Dokugakuji!" A pretty woman exclaimed. "He's just a child!"

"Yeah, Doku! Besides, that kid looks scrawny! How can he lift your weapon?" A younger girl (Goku's age, maybe?) stated rudely while pointing at Bi-dam.

"Look at his eyes." Dokugakuji said calmly, mostly aiming his statement to the leader of the group. "Does he look like a child to you?"

Everyone looked at him.

It was slightly unnerving, but Bi-dam kept still at met all their gazes coolly. It was the poker face he used to use during his days as an assassin. It helped a lot when he had to kill his…younger targets.

Yes, that life was one of his darkest lives that he lived.

Bi-dam's eyes slowly closed.

At first, the Assassin that Bi-dam once was had no name and he always covered his face. Remorse? He never knew what that was. Happiness? He never realized that the emotion even existed. Mercy?

What was this mercy? The Assassin only killed mindlessly, that's all. He even killed the people who saw him doing the act if that was necessary.

"Please…spare my child! You can kill me, just don't kill my baby!"

"You monster!"

"Mister? Why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt? Mister? Mister? Ouch! OUCH! Mister, why did you hurt me? It hurts! It hurts! Please stop it!"

But then…

"If I let you kill me, will you spare my sister and watch over her? She is innocent. I am the true sinner here. Kill me and spare my sister."

Why he accepted that man's offer was beyond his understanding. Even more confusing was why that girl he had to watch over looked at him with that strange emotion. Yes, she screamed at him for killing her brother at first. That was a natural reaction after he killed but she quieted down after a while.

"Mr. Assassin, I pity you."

Pity?

He never knew it when he saw it.

The girl was called Anahita, a Persian just like he was…or he was told to be. If he were any interested in appearances, he would've thought of her as beautiful. But he wasn't, so he perceived her as a clumsy and simple-minded.

He slowly learned that Anahita was much slower and clumsier than him physically. He had to slow down in his missions or carry her if he wanted to move in a faster pace. Protecting her was also a bother. He taught her how to use the knife instead so she could at least defend herself against the petty attackers.

Slowly…

Ever so slowly, he became attached to the Persian girl.

When she was wounded, his mind was sent into a panic for the first time. Panic. This emotion unsettled him but he quickly took her to the closest doctor to check her wounds. When the doctor told him that Anahita would be fine, he felt as if a huge weight was lifted out of his chest, letting him breathe again.

Relief

"Anahita, are you still hurting?"

"No, I'm better now. Thank you for saving me, Mr. Assassin."

He was never thanked before.

"Mr. Assassin, do you have a name?"

"No. My mother threw me away without giving me a name. My teacher found me and raised me but he never gave me a name."

"Hmm, then I'll give you one. From today, your name is Arsalan!"

He never had a name before.

"Okay, I got it!" Anahita grinned while holding up a fish. The fish's tail slapped her face and escaped back into the water, leaving behind a stunned Anahita with a red slap mark on her right cheek.

"Pfffft."

Anahita's shocked expression became questioning. "Did you…just laugh?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You did! You did!"

He never laughed before.

"Hey Arsalan, can I see your face?"

"…" Arsalan reluctantly took his mask off of his face. He uncomfortably waited as Anahita's eyes looked at him with wide eyes. "You're younger than I thought you would be."

"I am? How old did you think I was?"

"About thirty."

"So you thought I was an old man."

"…Yes?"

He never showed anyone his face before.

"Here." Arsalan wrapped a shivering Anahita with his coat even though she already had one on. She looked at him with concern. "A-Are you-u sure?"

"I'll be fine."

He never…

"Flowers." The assassin said simply as he held them out to the blushing girl. "You said they were pretty so I bought them."

"U-Um, thank you?"

Never…

"…Arsalan?"

Anahita stared up at the Assassin who was currently on top of her. It would've looked as if they were sharing a romantic moment like all those cheesy love stories did if it weren't for the fact that both were covered in blood.

Thank Allah that they were all his.

He never thought that the girl would mean so much to him

"Anahita…safe?"

"Idiot, you're the one with a hundred arrows lodged onto your back." Anahita sobbed.

Arsalan let out a shaky sigh in relief. "Anahita…safe. Shhh, don't…cry."

He never thought that he would desire to live a little longer during his last moments.

"I…lo-" Arsalan choked on his blood. The feeling of urgency and dread in the prospect of dying surprised him. Shouldn't he welcome this fate? He was trained to accept this scenario years ago. He should just let go and welcome death's embrace-

No

He couldn't die now.

Not with Anahita alone. He couldn't leave Anahita alone. He wanted more time with her. He needed more time. Just…a little more time.

Anahita's tear-stained face was the last thing he saw when he drew his last breath-

But that was only because he wasn't able to say, "I love you".

Bi-dam opened his eyes.

Not all of his lives were honorable, but Bi-dam was willing to repent in this life for all of his past sins.

"…I see what you are saying." The one called "Kou" sighed. Dokugakuji handed Bi-dam his weapon. All blinked in surprise when Bi-dam seemed to show no strain in holding the weapon. "…What?"

You're uber-strong, Bi-dam. How can you hold that sword so easily?

I'm a Blacksmith. I held heavier things than this.

He let the blunt edge of the blade rest on his shoulder and calmly walked toward the youkai. What was to fear if he had a weapon on him? Bi-dam readied himself in front of the youkai.

The youkai snorted at Bi-dam's small form. Kougaiji stiffened and prepared another spell just in case the young hanyou needed help. "How hilarious! A whelp hanyou is challenging ME? Weren't you the one I was chasing moments ago? How can you ever think of defeating ME? I'm Orichimaru, the Lord of all Snakes! I'm the God of all creatures that crawl on the ground! I'm-"

"You really like the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Bi-dam interrupted offhandedly while picking his ear. "Mom is going to throw a fit if I don't go back soon. I bet Kiku is also worried about you, Sora. I'll finish this quickly and then we can go back to eat lunch. I'm starving!"

The youkai (ahem, Orichimaru) bristled in fury at Bi-dam's indifference. "How dare you! I'll just shut your rude mouth up permanently then, brat!"

You made Mister Lord of the Snakes angry, Bi-dam! Sora's urgent voice echoed in the corners of his mind.

Relax. I know what I'm doing.

Seconds after he said that, Bi-dam was right behind the youkai. The sword that he held was angled in a way that showed he finished a slashing motion.

The shocked youkai spluttered, "Im…possible" before blood gushed out.

"Snake Lord my ass." Bi-dam snorted sardonically. "And I wasted three minutes with a guy like that. Talk about disappointing."

The blood drummed onto his skin like rain and the smell of death covered him like a cloak.

"Bi-dam…you got blood all over your, well, everywhere." Sora said a little dazedly while staring at the mess that he made. Bi-dam looked back at the people behind him and gave them all a chilling smile. "Yes, beautiful isn't it?"

"Do you want me to clean it off of you?" The woman called Yaone asked in concern.

Bi-dam shook his head. "Nah, let the blood stay. It's been a while since I felt it on my skin." There was a strange look that crossed Bi-dam's eyes, a dangerous look of calm insanity that put Kougaiji in an edge. "Let Yaone clean the blood off, child. It looks unsettling on you."

"Really? I thought it looked good next to my hair and eyes, if you know what I mean."

A strong hand landed on Bi-dam's shoulder. "Kid, I think it's a good idea to drop the weapon and let Yaone clean you up."

Bi-dam, you're scaring me.

Sora's small voice in his mind snapped him out of his strange mood and caused him to drop his sword. "Ah…"

Are you back to normal?

Bi-dam looked at his bloodstained hands and looked back up a bit sadly. "I guess I…did it again, huh?"

Repenting for your past sins are hard when you already have a plate full of sins that you will make in the future.

He allowed that little, red monster to swallow him up again.

When will he finally drown in the sea of blood that he made?

"Sorry about that Sora. You must've been scared. Let's go back to the group."

Are you still hurting?

"INCOMING YOUKAI!" The twins shrieked before chucking rocks, nuts, and shrunken at the youkai.

It was a relief when Suzume closed up the gate but there were a whole lot of youkai that remained in their plain. Sado covered most of the weaker youkai that walked on land while the twins took care of the weaker youkai that flew.

This time, Hakkai joined into the fray and helped the children when they missed a couple of youkai.

Aoi and Kasumi kicked strong ass as always.

Yuki tapped her foot impatiently. "What's taking them so long? It's almost lunchtime and they didn't even kill off half of the youkai!"

"…Shouldn't you help them, Yuki-sama?" Komu asked meekly.

"You know the answer to that question already."

"It's no." Komu said dejectedly. "I'll shut up now."

Suzume smiled contently as she leaned against Sanzo's arm and held little Kiku on her lap. "They seem to be having fun, don't you think Kouryuu?"

"Who cares?" Sanzo asked grumpily while flipping through the newspaper. He growled in annoyance when some youkai blood got onto it. "THAT'S IT! THOSE YOUKAI ARE GOING TO DIE!"

Sanzo began shooting bullets at random and jerked back in surprise when the bullets actually went through most of the youkai flesh. "It hit?"

"Aoi made your bullets stronger the other day, remember?" Suzume reminded patiently.

And image of a cackling Aoi throwing his bullets into the youkai goo came into Sanzo's mind. "Oh."

"What're you saying! 'Oh'? You almost shot all of us dead, ya fake monk!" Aoi shrieked angrily.

"Awesome! I can kick some youkai ass now!" Goku celebrated.

"Does anyone care about Bi-dam?" Yuhwa asked exasperatingly. "He could be eaten by now!"

"I'll help find the kid. Don't worry about it…Sis." Gojyo finished a bit awkwardly. Yuhwa breathed a sigh in relief and shuffled through a bag that she produced out of nowhere. "Here. Take this. It's Bi-dam's sword but it's really useful against youkai. You'll be able to stand a better chance against them when you go out looking for him."

"Um…cool sword?"

Yuhwa smiled. "Thank you. Bi-dam made it himself when he turned six. It's his first weapon that he made actually. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Whoa, that's pretty cool! Bi-dam made this when he was six?" Goku looked at the weapon in awe. "He's really talented!"

"Yeah." Gojyo agreed.

Yuhwa smiled softly at Gojyo's expression. "If you would like, I can teach you how to make swords after this chaos is all over."

"Wha-? Really?"

"Of course," Yuhwa said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You may be called "Sha Gojyo" but that doesn't mean that you're not a Kim. And I won't accept that my own little brother doesn't know how to make a weapon."

Goku jumped up and down. "Can I learn too?"

"Well," Yuhwa paused a little bit, "if you don't mind getting burned, sure. Though your height might be a little problem."

Gojyo smirked. "Ha! Heard that? She's saying that you're still a kid, stupid monkey!"

"Shut up, cockroach! That's not what she meant and you know it!"

Yuki jumped up out of nowhere and whacked the squabbling pair harshly. "You two, do your jobs and look for the kid already! The youkai horde is beginning to thicken!"

"Yes ma'am!" Goku said and obeyed out of fear. Gojyo just grumbled before doing the same. He turned to Yuhwa. "We'll find him, don't worry." And with that, he threw himself into the cloud of youkai.

Ikki slowly rumbled toward the fight, taking his sweet time to get there.

Hey, he's a turtle hanyou. And his nap was interrupted. Can't blame him for being a bit late.

"TAKE COVER!" The children screamed out of fear when a huge youkai decided to send a huge fireball at the children's direction. Hakkai was about to go over and help them but was stopped by Aoi. "Whoa, whoa, if you go in front of a fire blast like that, you won't last a second in this kind of battlefield!"

"But Miss Aoi, what about the children? Aren't you the least concerned about their well-being?"

Aoi chuckled as an explosion sounded behind her. Hakkai winced. "I would've gotten rid of that youkai a long time ago if I thought those kids couldn't handle it. They ran to Ikki for a reason. Look."

The Healer's eyes widened in surprise when he saw that the children were safe and unburnt. The only person who looked at least a little different was Ikki, whose clothes were slightly singed. "Oh…my."

"He's a freakin' turtle hanyou. They have super-strong skin inherited from their youkai parent so they make the best shield. And the best part is, they don't care if they're used as a shield. Well, they're not aware of it more like." Aoi said while sweatdropping as she watched Ikki yawning and blinking as if nothing happened.

Bi-dam sat alone on top of the hill, curled up in a ball.

Kami, I screwed up big time. Why did I had to snap?

Does this happen a lot? Sora's quiet voice asked.

He mentally shook his head. No, it only happens when something triggers my…dark persona like blood, death, or some sort of violence that is caused by me.

How many times?

In my life? About twice. One was when a noble bullied me and threatened to kill Mom 'cause he wasn't satisfied with his sword. The other time was when a youkai killed my friend.

Do you hate me now?

"Hey kid, you okay?" Dokugakuji's voice snapped Bi-dam from his mental conversation with Sora. Bi-dam made no movement to suggest that he heard him. Dokugakuji sighed and sat down right beside him. "You know, we're not angry at you for what happened. We know that you didn't mean it."

Bi-dam just shifted away from the swordsman.

"You're pretty good with the sword, strong too. I'm impressed that you were able to cut down the youkai in mere seconds." Dokugakuji continued. "Don't be ashamed that you're talented."

A snort was heard. Dokugakuji took it as an improvement and went on.

"You don't have to cry-

"I'm not crying!" Bi-dam snapped while jerking his head up to pin Dokugakuji with a defensive glare. "I stopped doing that ages ago!"

Booming laughter filled Bi-dam's ears and surprised him into standing up. "What's so funny?"

"You act a lot like my little brother, kid. You look a lot like him too." He knelt down to Bi-dam's height and messed up his hair. "So don't make that kind of face. My little brother did that a lot when he was your age. You look like an old man when you frown like that. Enjoy your childhood when you have it."

Bi-dam rolled his eyes at the man's words. "Stop worrying about me. It's not like you're my Dad. I got Mom to worry about me enough."

"Yeah, let your mother worry. You're only eight after all."

I like this guy, Bi-dam. I think you should listen to what he's saying.

Bi-dam snorted but he gave Dokugakuji a small smile. "Fine, I'm young. I get it. Thanks for the talk, by the way. I sort of needed it."

"Anytime when you need it. You took down a youkai by yourself for us so I guess this will make us fair. What was your name again? I didn't catch it."

Bi-dam allowed himself to grin. "I never told you."

"My name is Bi-dam, Kim Bi-dam."

And CHAPTER FINISHED! Whew! I thought I was going to faint!

Like this chapter? Don't like?

I thought Bi-dam interacting with his father without knowing it might've been a good scene to write so I wrote it. It's true that characters take control of the story.

Next chapter will be a Aoi/Hakkai chappie with more drama! So until then, please wait!

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