CHAPTER 2

There was a fork in the road that shouldn’t, by all rights, have been there. It wasn’t on the map… it wasn’t on any of the maps that they’d purchased, and it quite stumped them.

"It’s probably a new road," Hakkai noted. "These maps haven’t been updated in a while."

"Question being, which is the new road?" Sanzo’s finger the traced the road that they’d been taking. "We passed that… yes, there’s a slight bend in the road here. Seems to be going left. Perhaps we should take the left turning."

Hakkai peered at the road. "But the left track looks new. The right track looks older, and we should be following an old road."

Sanzo glanced up. Indeed, the left track had fresh dirt and was relatively clean, while the undergrowth was creeping onto the other one. The ground below the weeds was dry and cracked.

"So… what will it be?"

Hakkai stared at the road a little longer. "I’d rather not trust the maps. The bend isn’t very obvious, and it could be misleading. After all, these were drawn by hand."

"True."

"So… I guess we’d have to trust the road. Shall we go right?"

Sanzo leaned back. "You’re the driver. It’s your call."

"Right it is, then."

***

They traveled for a while, as night deepened and the forest grew closer and darker around them. In the backseat, Gojyo was nodding off and Goku was already snoring blissfully. Sanzo brooded in silence in the front seat, while Hakkai concentrated on the road.

"You know, Sanzo," he said after a while. "This doesn’t seem to be leading anywhere."

"I noticed," Sanzo said drily. "But we’re surrounded by forest, after all. Did you really expect to see landmarks?"

"I guess… we go on, then. I’d better pick up speed," Hakkai said.

"As you see fit."

They travelled for perhaps another hour before Hakkai started slowing down again. Something certainly didn’t feel right. "We ought to have hit the stream by now."

Sanzo snapped out of the light doze he’d fallen into and glanced across. "Did you miss it in the dark?"

"I don’t think so…" Hakkai frowned. "I think–"

His senses were assaulted by the stinging cold that betrayed the presence of youkai, just milliseconds before they burst from hiding.

Sanzo swore viciously, going for his gun.

"GET OUT!" Hakkai yelled. "They have explosives!"

From the backseat, Gojyo began cursing as well. "Goku! Wake up! GOKU!"

"Eh.. break–"

Gojyo grabbed Goku and flung him out as Hakuryuu transformed back into dragon form.

"SCATTER!" Sanzo yelled.

The world exploded.

Gojyo swore. And swore. His head was ringing from the proximity of the blast. Blinded by the light, all he could see were dancing spots that flashed purple-green-purple-green in front of his eyes. He couldn’t hear a damn thing.

The youkai were coming for him. Angrily, he strove to keep two at bay, when the third slipped under his guard. He leapt backwards, and then Goku was there with Nyoibou, to finish the job.

Goku said something, but he couldn’t hear it past the persistent ee-ee-ee sound in his ears. "WHAT?" he yelled. He couldn’t hear his own words. Goku shook his head and vanished off to the side. Another youkai went down with a crunch.

Comeon, Gojyo. Concentrate. Or you’re dead meat. He gutted another youkai with the flat-blade of the shaku-jou, not quite trusting himself to use the detachable cresent one. Not with Goku nearby, and his senses not working.

It would be funny, he thought wryly. Hakkai shoots Sanzo and I slice up Goku… all in the same day… accidents, yeah.

The ringing in his ears was subsiding, and he was slowly regaining his night vision. Enough to see the damn stupid youkai come charging at him straight on. With a snort of disgust, he casually deflected the sword stroke and kneed him in the gut. As the youkai fell back, retching, he took off its head with a single swipe.

"Learn how to ambush people properly in the afterlife, will you?" he said sarcastically.

"Gojyo!" the saru’s voice came drifting faintly to him. Goku came hurrying up. "I can’t find them!"

"Who?"

"Sanzo! And Hakkai!"

"Ch…" Sanzo would have exited on the left of the jeep. Both of us and Hakkai got out on the right. Which means that Hakkai might be around, but Sanzo might have gone in the other direction.

"Should we split up and look for them?"

"No. That’s the stupidest thing you possibly do. Search the area. They can’t have gone far."

Goku nodded, worried.

*

Sanzo hit the ground, rolled, and assumed a firing crouch. Sniped out the two youkai who came rushing for him, and leapt to his feet.

There was a thin whistle through the air. Ch! More explosives!

He leapt backwards as the small firebombs hit the ground and blew. Damn.. He tried to target the youkai who was flinging them, but there was another clatter nearby, and the ground exploded just inches away.

Swearing, he fired at the nearest enemy, and ducked away as a youkai with a morning star attacked from the left. Aimed and shot the attacker through the throat, then retreated back a few footsteps to reload.

There...! It wasn't just one youkai who was carrying explosives. There were at least half a dozen armed with these small firebombs.

More explosions, right in front of him.

I have to get out of range. Swearing, he took off running.

*

The big blast meant for Hakuryuu caught Hakkai as he tried to shield the dragon, throwing him off his feet. He hit the ground, hard, his right foot at an odd angle. A tingling wave of pins and needles and a sudden numbness through his foot informed him that he'd sprained his ankle.

"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu called in warning, as enemy youkai charged him. Releasing the dragon, Hakkai summoned a ball of ki and fired.

Several black spheres came hurtling towards him, nearly invisible in the darkness of the night. He evaded, dodging backwards, as they clattered to the ground and exploded. Several more were already arcing through the air. He flung up a barrier, and the blasts licked against the blue shield.

He lost ground again as another group of youkai attacked him from short range with swords and maces.

They're forcing me back, he realized. But it was impossible to stop them, as they closed in from all directions but one, attacking viciously and flinging explosives at his feet whenever he ran.

There're too many of them! It was hard, fighting without support in the blackness of the forest, when his eyesight and nightvision weren't as good as theirs. And they weren't making the mistake of grouping together. They were attacking individually, from multiple directions. It was impossible to take them down at the same time. Especially when he couldn't even see where they were attacking from.

"Well, Hakuryuu.. it looks like we have to run." Wincing slightly, and hoping that he wouldn't do his ankle permanent damage, he turned and disappeared into the forest.

*

Goku and Gojyo found the road empty. The ground was scorched by fire and littered with youkai corpses and discarded bullet shells, but there was nothing alive there.

"You know.. I thought there were more youkai than this," Goku pointed out.

"The bulk of them must have gone after Hakkai and Sanzo. I thought I heard blasts."

"Well, it's all quiet now. I don't hear anything." Goku tilted his head, listening.

It was quiet, now that his hearing was returning to normal. Very quiet. "Well, smell anything, saru?"

"Gunpowder. A lot of it."

"Must be the blast. But how about the other two?"

"I can't smell anything over the gunpowder. But it seems to have go in two directions." Goku pointed.

Gojyo groaned. They had to be two completely separate directions.

"Let's follow," he said, picking one at random. "And I thought we could have a peaceful night. Ah shit."

"Yeah. And we haven't had dinner!" Goku wailed.

Complaining under their breaths, they followed the trail into the night.

*

Sanzo ducked around a tree and slammed bullets into the magazine. Got two in before a youkai popped up on his left. Without missing a beat, he elbowed it viciously in the stomach, slapped the magazine back into place and slammed his fist, gun and all, into the attacker's face. There was a gurgle as the youkai fell back, and Sanzo snapped off a shot that punched straight into an eye. The youkai fell without a sound.

One bullet. He ran, trying to put more distance between him and the attackers, as he tried to reload again. Bloody annoying. This time, he managed to refill the magazine before another youkai got into attack range. He took it down with a head shot and spun.

Youkai eyes glowed in the darkness. He couldn't quite make out their forms, but the dull glow gave the game away, and he fired. There were screams in the darkness.

Explosions to his left and right, close enough for him to feel the heat and dust generated.

There! He targeted a shape in the darkness and fired. It went down with a scream, and he was out of bullets again.

There were no more blasts as he reloaded, just short-ranged attacks. It seemed that he'd gotten the ones with explosives.

He reloaded quickly, ducking and evading blows and sword-thrusts all the while, then took out an attacker with a heart shot. Emptied the magazine again by taking down another four, and paused in the sudden quiet.

The sense of youki was fading. Cautiously, he glanced around as he snapped the gun open again and loaded the next five bullets.

Nothing. No more attacks.

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Except..

He now had another problem.

He was totally and absolutely lost.

*

Hakkai leaned against a tree and sighed. Somewhere in front of him was the bloodied corpse of the last youkai they'd encountered.

Running had been every bit as horrible as he'd thought it'd be. His ankle was starting to swell. The shock was wearing off, and it was starting to hurt.

"And the trees are too close to drive through, aren't they, Hakuryuu?"

"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu nodded his head in affirmation.

"So.. where does that leave us?"

Hakuryuu launched off his shoulder, flew a little distance away, and paused, flapping his wings.

"I guess you're right," Hakkai replied with a smile. "So.. walk it is."

They trudged through the trees for hours. Hakkai didn't have much of an idea where they were going, and relied on his instinct instead. Every now and then, he sent Hakuryuu out to perform air reconnaissance, while he rested his ankle. But it was difficult for Hakuryuu to see anything, even from a bird's eye point of view -- or dragon's eye, in his case -- since the dense foliage effectively hid most of the ground from above.

Hakkai sniffed. The air had achieved that slightly chilled and damp feeling, that deep, restful silence that indicated that it was the deepest part of the night. A few hours to dawn.

He couldn't quite go on without a break. Not if he ever wanted to take his right shoe off again. The ankle was definitely swelling, and he needed to bind it.

"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu came shooting back to him. "Kyuu! Kyuu!"

"You found something?"

Hakuryuu nodded.

"Who was it?"

Hakuryuu shook his head. Not a 'who', then. Probably a 'what'.

"Let's check it out."

*

"I'm..." Goku took a deep breath. "HUNGRY!"

A fist crashed down onto his head. "Shut up, bakazaru!"

Goku's stomach growled viciously.

"See?" Goku said. "I'm hungry! And there's nothing to eat!"

Gojyo sighed. They'd lost the trail after a while. They had found a river - a stream, actually - which was good. Streams were landmarks, and Hakkai had been talking about one earlier. And people in the stories always followed the streams to their destinations. Sooner or later, if they kept following the stream, they'd find Hakkai and/or Sanzo.

Problem number 1 : Hakkai and Sanzo might not have the same idea.

Problem number 2 : Streams definitely weren't edible.

Goku was rambling on about meat buns and dumplings, and every possible way you could cook noodles or fry rice, and all that talk was making him hungry.

"Ah, I'm tired. Let's just sit here and wait it out," Gojyo grumbled. "And I want some sleep."

"But we haven't found them yet!" Goku said, bouncing up and down.

"Yeah, but they're nowhere nearby, are they? You can't smell anything."

"No... but--"

"So there's an equal chance of them finding us here, as us blundering into them in the dark, right?"

"Think they're together?"

"No. We're not lucky enough for things like that to happen. We'll have to find one, then find the other, probably."

Goku sat on the bank and sulked. "And we don't have food!"

"If you don't stop talking about food, I'm going to eat you!" Gojyo snapped.

*

There was a glow of light in the darkness. Hakuryuu chirped and looked at him.

"It's a house," Hakkai said, limping towards it. "They might have seen something.."

It was a house. A small, well-built wooden cabin with a fence around it and a garden. A stream ran past the back, possibly the very stream that they'd been supposed to find.

"I guess we're not that far off track, then! I remember that there were some little settlements in this part of the forest."

"Kyuuu..?"

"Because there aren't many youkai.." Hakkai frowned. "Well, maybe the attack earlier was an exception. Probably a group that followed us into the forest."

He limped up to the door and knocked.

There was the sound of footsteps. A gate was opened, just a little.

"Sorry about the disturbance--"

"You're human?"

"Well..."

The gate creaked open a little wider. "Oh, you are. You'd better come in. It hasn't been too safe out there recently."

"I--"

A hand shot out and pulled him through the gate.

He found himself standing on the driveway, a neat, narrow path leading up to the door. A rather short, middle-aged man was standing in front of him - presumably the fellow whom he'd been talking to. He held a rake in his right hand, and a relieved look on his face. At the door, half-opened to reveal a friendly yellow glow, was a women. The slightly worried expression eased up when she saw him - or more precisely, saw what he appeared to be. Human.

"How can we help you?" the man asked.

"Actually, I'm looking for some companions. Has anyone passed by..?"

"What would they look like?"

"One's a priest, golden-haired and purpled eyed. One's a tall man my age, long red hair, smokes, wears a blue vest and brown pants. The last one's a youth, about 18, wearing a red shirt and an orange cape. Brown hair and eyes."

"I thought I saw someone running past earlier in the night. There was quite a bit of commotion. Quite a large pack of youkai after something." He shuddered, fingering the rake that he'd been holding. "I don't know where all these youkai have come from. We never used to have a youkai problem."

"Which way did he go?" Hakkai asked. Might have been Sanzo. Gojyo and Goku were together, the last time I saw them.

"I'm not too sure... back past the house, I think," the man indicated.

"Thank you. I'll be on my way.." Hakkai turned back.

"Are you injured? You're limping," the woman, coming up beside her husband, said in concern.

"Just a small sprain," Hakkai replied, smiling.

"Come on, we can't have you wandering around in the dark with a sprained ankle," the man said. "You'd become youkai fare in no time. Why don't you wait until it's light?"

"You'll never find your friends, wandering around in the dark. Dawn is just a few hours away. You'd better let us take a look at that foot of yours," his wife added.

"Mummy... a dragon!" a small voice called from the door.

Hakuryuu perked up his ears.

"Yes, it's a dragon," Hakkai said, as a child came running up. "His name is Hakuryuu."

"Mummy, can I pet it? Will it bite?" the boy, probably no more than 8, tugged at his mother's skirt.

"He won't bite," Hakkai assured them. "Hakuryuu, say hello."

"Ohhh.. he's really cute.."

"Won't you come in for a while?" the woman asked.

Hakkai glanced at the dragon and the kid, who'd already become friends. Of course, the food bribes that the boy was slipping to the dragon had something to do with it. No separating them, at least for the immediate future.

"Well, I guess so.."

***

"All goes according to plan, Isir-sama."

"Excellent. Just a matter of time, then..."

TBC. Those horrible words.

***

Sf : LOL! Maybe I should have added : I'm trying not to seriously debilitate the Sanzo-ikkou such that they get dangerously close to the Point of No Return. *nod**nod*
Muse : Which means they can look forward to lots of little scratches, but nothing life threatening. ^^
Gojyo : I'm *really* looking forward to that!
Hakkai : You can die from too many papercuts, you know.
Sf : I know. I can also die from a lack of good fanfic. I'm halfway there already.
Sanzo : Shall I speed up the process?
Sf : -_-;; So generous, Sanzo-sama. But no thank you.
Goku : Does 'debilitate' mean we get more food?
Gojyo : No, bakazaru! It means 'injure'!
Muse : sf, stop showing off your vocabulary.
Sf : *innocently* what vocabulary?
Muse : *dangerously* Quit that before you get seriously debilitated..