Chapter 4

The Last Night

A/N: Really long. Last one. Hope you enjoyed.

"Gojyo, what are you doing?"

The ghost followed him back into his room at the inn. In his arms, a brown paper bag, clinking with liquor bottles. Nai couldn't get him to answer as the bag thunked onto the table in the room and he disappeared to come back with a glass, "So you're just going to drink yourself into oblivion?"

He finally addressed her, "Oblivion, death, what's the difference?"

"You're joking."

"No. Girly if I can't have you back I might as well join you."

"Gojyo! I came back to help you find peace!"

His calm smile was scary, "You did."

The Spector ran both hands through her hair, "You've lost it." Gojyo was back to ignoring her as he started mixing cocktails. As a bartender in life, she started to notice as his mixing turned lethal, "You can't mix those!"

The hanyou took a shot, "I looked at that note behind the bar a million times. You left me alone to tend the bar and made me a list of things to never mix. I remember some of the more lethal combinations." he laughed, "You'd kill me if any of your patrons got sick." Another shot.

"Gojyo please stop. If you keep knocking them back like this it will cause more than some nausea. It'll kill you."

"That's the plan."

She tried to knock the glasses off the table. Nothing moved saved for the liquid inside them swishing around. She was so nervous and scared that her ability to manipulate solid objects was completely gone. It took a lot of focus for a ghost to interact, and right now focus was the last thing Nai had.

"What are they going to do without you? How will they finish this journey without you?"

"How were we going to finish it without you?" he turned her question back on her.

"Shit."

The other three were all together in Sanzo's room. Hakkai and Sanzo both reading books and Goku blipping away on a game. A chill hit the room and Sanzo fidgeted in his seat, "Goku, close the window."

"It's not open Sanzo."

She tried screaming. Nothing. She had to do something, she was desperate, anything to get them to check on Gojyo. She approached the blonde and lent down close to his ear, "Gojyo. What is Gojyo doing?"

The priest fidgeted again, "That kappa better be sleeping. We need to get back on the road."

"He's been getting the required rest Sanzo." Hakkai assured him.

Nai panicked. Rest? He'll be permanently sleeping if someone didn't get in there and stop him. She tried Hakkai next, "Check on him. Go check on Gojyo."

"Maybe I should check on him."

"He's a grown man, Hakkai." Sanzo gruffed.

Goku chuckled, "The kappa could use a babysitter tho."

"Gracious you two." the healer smiled.

Nai screamed and shouted to the ceiling, to the heavens, "Help me!" Her pressure knocked over a glass of water next to Hakkai, it rolled across the table and shattered on the ground.

His smile dropped, "Gojyo!"

When the healer arrived in his room the redhead was on the floor on his back, his eyes clouded and his tanned skin was pale. The temperature in the room dropped as Nai's spiritual presence turned dark. She could see it, his soul leaking from his body.

Hakkai held his hands over the man's chest, "Sanzo!"

The blonde entered with Goku in tow, "What the hell happened?"

Goku picked up a bottle, "Look at all this alcohol."

Sanzo helped Hakkai drop him on the bed, Hakkai continued his assessment while Sanzo approached the table. Nai was once again in his ear, "He was mixing Sanzo. Lethal mixes. He wants to join me."

The blonde looked over his shoulder, "Nai?"

"What?"

"He started acting funny three days ago. On the day of her death."

"You don't think he was trying to kill himself because of it do you?" Hakkai was appalled.

Sanzo actually felt guilty, he openly blamed Gojyo for her death. Knowing full well the kappa felt the same way about her that he did. "Maybe he wants to join her."

"Hakkai!"

The healer looked up and in the general direction of the ghost. He couldn't see her, but he knew the voice calling his name, "Nai?"

"Yes, Nai, who else on this team is dead?" Sanzo thought the healer had been questioning him, not noticing that his attention was elsewhere.

"Gojyo will be soon, because of me."

The blonde spun around. It was highly possible for the spirit of a deceased person to be granted access to the world of the living. For them to change things around them, interact with solid objects, and be heard by those who were still flesh and blood.

"Nai."

The ghost felt something. He called out to her as if she were standing right next to him. He called again and she answered, "Yes Sanzo?"

He glared at her, her apparition now visible to the room, "Why do you feel this is your fault?"

"He'll be fine." Hakkai entered the room and fought the urge to shiver, it was absolutely freezing. But he would deal with the cold if it meant Nai's presence.

Goku put a hand through her gut, "So, I guess I can't hug you."

"You shouldn't even be seeing her!" The thick accent was obviously the merciful goddess and everyone in the room could tell she was extremely unhappy. She appeared and grabbed the apparition by the arm, "What the hell do you think you're doing?! You were to help him find peace not drive him to kill himself."

"I didn't do anything on purpose! I love him, i'd never hurt him!"

The blonde tch'd and turned his head away from the bickering goddess and ghost. She loved him huh?

"I thought coming to terms with his feelings would help him let me go."

"It never works out like that." Sanzo started, "Realizing his love for you would drive him mad if he had nothing else to look forward to."

Nai could feel his intense anger in his gaze but didn't look away. She wasn't sorry that he let her get away.

The merciful goddess missed it, "You need to finish this mission. That idiot obviously doesn't think it's as important as this girl."

Goku scratched his head, "Why would he? I don't. I miss Nai."

"Goku…"

Hakkai sighed, "We all do."

"Then if he dies you'll finish the mission without him."

"He isn't going to die." Sanzo narrowed his violet gaze and approached the goddess, "We're not going to let him die."

"You'll be able to keep an eye on him everyday until you reach the end of this journey? You'll be able to keep him from attempting on his own life again?"

"She's right." Nai walked towards the room where he lay, "He'll see to his own death, so he can be with me."

"And you suddenly sound ok with that." The priest crossed his arms and glared at her. She hadn't changed. The same white t-shirt, the same curl to her hair, tan to her skin, same glint in her eyes.

"I don't have much against having him. Besides, what happens here never concerned me in the first place."

"We can't take you."

Nai put down the cup she was cleaning and hopped over the bar, "Excuse me?"

"The sanbutshin was clear about who to take on this mission. They didn't name you, Nai."

"So since when do you follow the rules Sanzo? Screw what they said, I'm going with you."

"No you aren't."

"Oh yes I am. If you expect me to sit around and wait for you to go to india and back you are sorely mistaken."

The blonde turned on his heel and exited the bar, "Fine. Don't blame me if you die though."

"You're coming back with me. You've done enough damage here." The merciful goddess glared at Nai as the woman joined her side.

Hakkai almost jumped from his seat, "What do we do about Gojyo?"

"Whatever you want. I tried to help him move on. If he loves me enough to die and be with me, I guess we let him kill himself."

The temperature in the room rose to a more comfortable level after the ghost and goddess left the room. Goku hugged his pillow close. "What do we do Sanzo?"

"She was right." he lit a cigarette after a couple frustrating tries with his lighter, "We can't watch the Kappa at every fucking moment."

"But Sanzo we can't let him kill himself! Whether it's to be with Nai or not!"

"We have no control over it Hakkai."

Goku put his face in the pillow, "He was in love with her…"

Hakkai shook his head disapprovingly as he left the room. The door to Gojyo's room opened and closed without a sound and he sat in the only chair to watch the redhead sleep. The pain of loss was one all of them knew, now double after the death of Nai. Hakkai wasn't ready to lose a friend over a broken heart.

He perked in his seat as Gojyo fidgeted under the sheets. The hanyou scrunched up his nose, rolled his head to the side a bit, and took a deep breath, "Nai?"

The healer was a bit heartbroken at the pleading, hopeful, sound that was his question and her name. It took him a few more seconds to answer, "I'm sorry Gojyo, it's just me."

He didn't open his eyes, instead opting for rolling over to face the wall of the small room. Hakkai sighed, "Do you really want to die Gojyo?"

"No." Was the immediate answer. He pulled the thin sheet higher over his shoulders and clutched it, "I've been afraid of dying since we started this stupid journey. But what do I really have to live for Hakkai?"

The man didn't have an answer. Not one that was true anyway.

Gojyo rolled onto his back, tears running to his ears. "She's waiting for me, man. She loves me too. It's the only thing worth caring about now."

"But Gojyo, maybe you should let nature decide when you join her? Just like the rest of us. We'll be together soon enough."

"What happens if I live past this mess? Grow old? All without her..."

The door opened, "That's not your call. If you choose for yourself, you may not end up in heaven. I actually know for a fact you won't." Sanzo put a hand on Hakkai's shoulder and the healer stood by his side.

The three of them watched each other for a long time before the redhead cleared his throat. "Why should I take your word? Her death was my fault by your count."

"Her death was no one's fault. But the will of the heavens." Hakkai flinched as Sanzo tossed his gun onto the bed. "But if you're going to kill yourself. At least do it properly."

"You're not going to do anything stupid are you?"

Gojyo grinned as he looked away from the rolling scenery to tussle Goku's hair, "No monkey. I won't do anything stupid."

"I'm sure she can wait for you Gojyo."

Sanzo snorted, "She doesn't have much choice but to wait for all of us. But if you want to go first Kappa, you go right ahead."

"Shut up, Monk."

Hakkai smiled, "How did you sleep?"

He went quiet for a moment, the breeze moved through his hair and he could have sworn he felt a hand run through it as well. His smile split his face and he lent back, lighting a cigarette, "I slept pretty damn good Hakkai. Pretty damn good."

The Merciful Goddess eyed Nai as she peered into the pond. The white robes suit her well and the red Chakra almost glowed on her forehead, "How do you feel about that?"

The new goddess smiled and brushed her hand over their image in the water, sighing, "You heard Konzen. I don't have much of a choice but to wait."