Misery in the Mountains

"Sanzo, can we stop and eat? Please?" whined Goku again. We had been walking for maybe an hour, and I could tell Goku was just getting started. The path was pretty non-existent so, with everyone following behind me, we were literally beating through the bush. The undergrowth was thick and I was getting beat up a bit, but never said a word. I was busy concentrating, watching out for any 'trapdoors' and keeping my eye on the sun's position so we never got lost. I did know these mountains, but I wasn't taking any chances. And, I didn't want to say anything, but I was also keeping an ear open for youkai; they hadn't attacked the town yet, and even though there were no resident youkai, an attack could happen at any time.


"You better not get lost, kid," said Sanzo, looking around almost uncertainly.


"I'm sure Roku knows what he's doing," Hakkai said cheerfully from behind me, and Jeep, sitting on his shoulder, chirped in agreement. I grunted a reply while bending back an overgrown tree branch out of my way, making sure to break it as to not hit the others.


"Wow, you're pretty strong, kid," said Gojyo, pausing to examine the branch as we passed it. "Woulda never guessed just by looking at you, but you could put Goku to shame in a fight."


"Hey! That's not fair, he's not starving like I am!" said Goku hotly, and from his silence I figured he probably was wondering what would happen if we got in a brawl.


"Hey, could you guys be quiet? Stuff an apple in his mouth or something," I said, pausing in front of a thick bush, the trees all around us quiet and foreboding.


Hakkai tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "Is everything okay?"


"There's a small clearing up ahead, and sometimes bandits camp there," I whispered back. "I'm listening to see if there's anyone home."


"Why wait here, then? Let's go find out!" said Goku, and holding out his arm, a staff appeared. I tried to say "wait, stop!" but he ran past me and vaulted through the bush.


"Crap!" I said, and lead the way running forward. I didn't hear anything, but that didn't matter, you didn't have to kill someone loudly. We broke through the underbrush seconds later to see Goku standing in the middle of the clearing, only big enough to fit a group of maybe ten and a small fire. He looked around the empty clearing, then looked at me. "Where's the bandits?" he asked.


"Not here, thankfully," I said, rolling my eyes. Sanzo strode up to Goku and reaching into his robes, brought out a huge fan, which he proceeded to whack Goku's head with. "Stupid monkey!"


"Ow, Sanzo, knock it off!" Goku said, trying to protect his head from the attack. "That's exactly what I intend to do!" Sanzo said angrily, making the final slap extra hard.


"Will you two get a room?" asked Gojyo, ignoring Sanzo's death threats as he looked up, cigarette smoke sailing lazily into the sky.


"Well, I'm guessing we got off lucky, from the look of relief on your face," said Hakkai, and I grinned. "Very lucky. Of course, you guys can take care of yourselves, but if we can get through the mountains without alerting every bad guy here, so much smoother this trip will go." I stretched, then sat on the ground. "And besides, since we've paused, why don't we chow down? I'm hungry, too, and we've got a ways to go before we get to any dependable shelter."


"Are you serious? We can eat, alright!" said Goku, become my best friend and sitting beside me, looking at me like a dog does when waiting for table scraps.


"I guess there's no point in denying our stomachs," said Hakkai smiling, and he sat near me. Gojyo was looking around, then sighed. "Guess we got no other choice," he said, sitting beside Hakkai.


"We keep going, and not stop until dark," said Sanzo, still standing. His arms were crossed and he was looked straight at me, daring me to say no.


So I did. "No," I said, looking right at him, drooping purple eyes fighting bright, red ones.


"I must have misheard you," he said quietly. "I thought you said, 'no'."


"Well, sorry to disappoint, but you didn't." I was only getting a little ticked, but he looked positively livid.


"We keep going, right now," he said. Nobody spoke, everyone wondering who was going to win this little power struggle. I had no intentions of backing down.


"I say no, we're going to rest for a few minutes."


"We leave right now, or you're not getting paid," he said, the vein on his head throbbing.


I shrugged. "Don't pay me, that's fine. I'll just go home and you guys can lead yourselves outta these mountains, just watch out for bandits, trapdoors, demons, monsters, and all the other things lurking in the Trapdoor Mountains, never mind starving to death, dehydration, and falling off cliffs, or just getting plain old lost. You guys might be able to kick demon ass, but you'll never survive getting through the mountains without my help, but if you think you can, be my guest." The whole time I was talking, I spoke calmly and almost cheerfully, but my voice was steel underneath.


Sanzo continued to glare at me, then suddenly whipped out a handgun and pointed right at my head. "Sanzo!" Hakkai said warningly.


"We go right now, you lead us through the mountains, or I kill you," he said, and from the look in his eyes, I could see he wasn't kidding. However, I didn't feel scared as I looked down the barrel of that gun, but a bit of rage, mostly at his arrogance. "You're going to kill me over a lunch break? Well, let me at least finish my sandwich before you shoot, but just so you know, India's not going anywhere, whether we take a break or not, jackass."


"Wait, how do you know we're going to India?" asked Hakkai, almost suspiciously. I glanced at him, an eyebrow cocked up.


"Everyone knows who you are, and where you're going. The Sanzo group, right? You're not exactly ones to blend in with the crowd," I said, then turned a glare to Sanzo. "Whoever put you in charge, however, is not very good at judging character." Sanzo just continued to glare at me, but I could see that he was at least thinking about not killing me.


"Hey, you knew who we were, and you still charged us that much to take us over the mountains?" Sanzo growled, shocked. The look on his face, despite the gun pointed at me, caused me to laugh loudly. "It's not my fault; I hardly get any money working odds and ends, so I was going to try and make as much I could, no offense."


"You're not a youkai?" Gojyo asked, and that sobered me up real quick. "A youkai, are you serious? Do I look like one to you?" I wasn't sure whether to be offended or relieved wasn't more serious.


"Charging us that much, you might as well be a demon," Sanzo breathed.


"Um, Sanzo? Are you going to stand there all day pointing your gun at Roku or what?" Goku asked suddenly, and I looked over at the boy-monkey. I wondered if Sanzo was just going to shoot me, or lower his gun. So far, he usually ignored Goku or hit him, so I had this sinking feeling that I was a dead man. I closed my eyes and waited for the gunshot sure to come. I heard a sigh, then Sanzo growled. "Fine. I'll let you live, but fuck with me one more time, and I will show you the color of your brain, got it?" I opened my eyes to see him sitting on the ground, gun gone, arms akimbo across his chest, staring me dead in the eyes.


"Whatever you say," I said. Like I said before, he was a prick.


"I'm glad that's over," Hakkai whispered to Gojyo, who nodded slightly. "No shit. Sanzo sure can an ass, huh?"


"If I had a beer, I'd drink to that," I said, laughing. "I can hear you, you know," Sanzo grumbled.


"Okay, so now that that's over, can we eat, please?!" asked Goku, and I grinned. I shoved my arm into the other bag I was carrying and pulled out a meat bun and apple, then tossed 'em to the boy, who grinned widely and gobbled them down. I tossed the same thing to Hakkai and Gojyo. Sanzo was sitting with his eyes closed, so I called out "Hey, prick!" His eyes flew open in time to an incoming apple. He caught it deftly with one hand, then looked at me suspiciously. Dammit; I was hoping it was gonna whack him in the head. Oh, well.


"I'm not getting paid to carry your weak, starving body through the mountains, that costs extra for mental anguish."


"Bastard," he said, flipping me the bird.


"I'm glad to see everyone's getting along so well," Hakkai laughed.