*****

Silence

The journey has not affected you as it has the others because you have been on it ever since your name belonged to you. The miles travelled in a jeep akin to the miles travelled on foot, the endless procession of inns a reflection of the many temples before, the blood you spill no different whether your enemies are youkai or human and, in the end, the search is the same.

There are, of course, always differences and the journey changes the further you go west.

Lately the inns are small and poor and as the attacks come more often it is dangerous to be separated anyway, so you sleep two or four to a room.

Except once, recently, when the inn is opulent and the city is safer than usual and the idiots have been annoying you more than usual so you spend the money on single rooms for everyone-

And start awake in the middle of the night.

You have become too used to sharing a room, and with no rain beating against your window you can clearly hear the lack of Goku's snores or Gojyo's heavy breathing and even Hakkai's laughter would be preferable to the silence.

The journey is long and hard and arduous, but you are not on it alone and these kinds of hardships create a bond between those who endure them.

A bond. Friendship.

Attachment.

The gods you serve are cruel; the only gifts they give you are the ones you never wanted.

*****