curiouzkatt: well, I promised to Sanzo I'll be nice, and I lied. xD

Disclaimer!

I do not own the characters here, try as I might. xD Genso belong to Minekura Kazuya, as Warriors belong to Erin Hunter.

Prologue

Early morning sunlight filtered the small book shop of a fairly large town. Specks of dust could be seen floating and disappear after passing the streaks of light through the window. Everything was still inside the shop, as the usual hubbub of the town's daily life escalated to its comfortable level of noise.

DLING!

The ringing of the small bell echoed through the shop, breaking the trance of silence. Footsteps creaked along the wooden floorboards while a beautiful pale hand browsed at the book titles. The hand stopped at a book Entitled "Warriors" and carefully took it out.

"Ah, a book about cats!" a man's soft voice exclaimed, flipping pages. "Interesting…" he muttered, adjusting his monocle, emerald eyes widening at the vast series in front of him.

"Do you like the books, sir?"

The sudden question startled him and turned to his right, finding a pretty young woman with dull red hair and amber eyes, smiling pleasantly at him. "It's a rare collection." She continued, gesturing to the books. "I put a high price for them, but if you're really interested, I give discounts."

Hakkai laughed at the official-sounding proposal, but he guessed Sanzo wouldn't mind. They may never come this way again, and he was almost certain of that. And besides, when he finishes the books, he could donate it to some other town. "I'll take the whole set, miss." He finally decided, smiling happily, starting for the door. "If you'll excuse me for a bit, I will just go look for my financer."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Wide golden eyes peered at the stacks of books on Hakkai's bedside table, and then the floor space they occupied. Yes, he knew they were books and that you read them, but he just can't help but wonder what Hakkai found interesting in them. You can't even eat such things! He looked up at Hakkai who was already more than halfway of his second book.

"Neh, Hakkai…"

"Hai, Goku?" Hakkai asked, marking the page with his index finger.

"You can't eat these…" he began, about to add his question on why the older man bought such things, but his thoughts got dislodged, thanks to a boot that flew to his ace.

"Is food all you ever think about, baka-saru?" the voice was so full of purpose to annoy the youngest of the group.

"That hurt, you cockroach!" Goku hurled back, throwing the book where it came from. "You didn't let me finish!" he yelled and leaped onto the red-haired man and soon enough the two were rolling on the inn floor, continuing to shout insults at each other while Hakkai tried to reason out with them to calm down.

"All you ever think about is that stomach of yours!" growled Gojyo, pinning the smaller one by holding him by the head with one hand and using his free hand to put aside a lock of long red hair. Goku took this opportunity to kick the older man, sending him flying across the room, just as the door to the room opened, making Gojyo collide with something yellow. "Oof!"

BLAG!

Goku winced. He knew who Gojyo had hit, and he knew it wasn't going to be good for him or Gojyo. The red-hair scrambled up, staring at the blond monk that lay quite still in a heap on the floor.

"S-Sanzo?" Gojyo ventured tentatively, poking the monk's head. No movement. "I think you killed him!" he yelled to Goku over his shoulder, but the moment he did, he felt a familiar pain shoot through him and in the next instant he was nursing a bump on the head. Blood roared in his ears as he feebly stood up and watched Goku try to reason with the monk.

"But I didn't mean to!" the saru began, a feeble attempt to curb the monk's temper. Gojyo just sighed and re-entered the room, closing the door behind him. He stuck his tongue out at the kid once before plopping down on his bed and lighting a cigarette.

"And it was Gojyo who started i- ow!"

"I don't care who fucking started it, you hear??!" Sanzo commanded, finally keeping his fan in his robe sleeve. "Ch!" he muttered, letting down half of his robe to reveal his black spandex and armlets. With a smooth movement, a cigarette was between his lips and was soon lit as he rested on his bed. "Stupid idiots." He scorned, turning to the window. A drizzle has began to fall, and the darkening sky promised rain to come that afternoon.

"Hakkai"

Sanzo glanced briefly at the boy who looked up at the brunette with begging eyes. Hakkai didn't turn from what he was reading but placed a hand on the boy's head, healing him ever so lightly. He watched the two for a while, then thought: they still had a long way to go, and there will be a lot more days like this, traveling with these idiots. He let out a small sigh. The monk looked back out the window, just as lightning streaked through the gathering dark clouds. He took a long drag of his cigarette then puffed out a good amount of smoke.

He just had to bear it.