Best of Both Worlds

**This is my first attempt so it isn\'t all that good. Please keep in mind that I\'ve only seen through DVD 7 so if anything is out of order that\'s why.
Also: For reference, 10 thousand yen is about $92 and 20 thousand is about $184. Quite a bet between friends.**
((Good stuff is in chapters four and six currently. Story isn\'t finished yet. ^.^))


Chapter One
Sanzo opened his eyes to yet another, hot and humid day. Day…if one could call it that already. The sun had just barely crept over the horizon. He sat up in the borrowed bed, still completely tired but too awake to go back to sleep. It hadn’t been a restful nights sleep but then, by now, he’d forgotten what one was like. At least it hadn’t rained in a while.
He stretched his arms and made an effort to crack his back. I’ll probably be sitting in a jeep all day. He thought. That does wondfor for the back andse cse cheap inn beds are no better. Sanzo gave up after the second try and was slightly annoyed at the fact that once again his body wasn’t listening to his brain. He got out of bed slowly being careful not to step on Goku’s head. “Baka saru…” he growled. Goku was lying sprawled out over the floor directly next to the bed, still snoring. Usually, Sanzo avoided sharing a room with Goku because he was loud even in his sleep. There was just no shutting that dumb animal up. As Sanzo reached for his banishing gun, he almost smiled as he thought up an amusing way to wake the noisy bastard and probably the two next door as well. They were on the bottom floor, in fact, quite below the ground so if a bullet went flying through the floor there was no one who could get hurt and he wanted to see the look on Goku’s face…
“Sanzo…” Sanzo growled, annoyed that Goku had woken up too soon for him to try out his plan. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up, Goku.” Hve tve the monkey a slight kick in the head. “But don’t be too noisy. I’m going next door to get Hakkai and Gojyo up.”
“Why do you care if I’m noisy?” Goku sat up and yawned. “Especially since you’re getting them up anyway and I’m hungry.”
“You’re always hungry, baka.” Sanzo said and exited, closing the door behind him.

Gojyo rarely kept the door to whatever room he was in locked and Sanzo knew Hakkai wouldn’t have protested. They could take care of themselves. He turned the doorknob and quietly opened the door. Gojyo was lying face down on the single bed, stripped down to only his god-awful pants, snoring slightly…He’d never snored as loud as Goku but he’d made a habit of it since they’d left. The farther west they went, the worse his habits became. Buying cigarettes for the kappa was more expensive at every town, though Sanzo’s weren’t cheap in themselves.
Hakkai was resting in a light sleep by the desk in the room with his arms folded over and head in hands. Figures. Sanzo thought. Hakkai, get your act together sometime and throw Gojyo out of the bed.
He was brought back to his original plan as he closed the door behind him. Gojyo was the obvious target. He’d be easier to scare and get a good laugh out of. He raised his gun and aimed for the mattress right next to Gojyo’s head.
“Sanzo!” Hakkai’s voice called.
Sanzo dropped the gun to his side as Gojyo suddenly sat up. “What is it with you people? Any other day’d s’d still be asleep.” He fired his gun at Gojyo anyway and Gojyo jumped out of bed, petrified.
“Shit, Sanzo!” he exclaimed. “What was that for?”
The dreaded vein in his forehead began to swell. “Sanzo?” He felt Hakkai’s hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
Sanzo dropped the gun back to his side. “Yeah.” He said and went out the door in his calm, quiet, Sanzo way.
Gojyo turned to Hakkai. “What did I do to piss him off so badly?” Hakkai could only shrug.

Before Sanzo could return to his own room, Goku ran headlong into him. “Sanzo! Are you all right? I heard you fire your gun.”
“Yeah.” He replied again aontiontinued on into the room.
Hakkai and Gojyo stepped outside of their room. “Hey monkey…” Gojyo started. “What’s wrong with the monk?” Goku could only shrug.
“You know Sanzo.” Hakkai stated in his strange, half-amused tone. “Moody as can be. He was probably just going to scare you, Gojyo. You know how hard it is to wake you.”
“Me?” Gojyo scowled. “Try waking the monkey!”
“Try shutting your mouths,” Sanzo’s voice boomed. “Before I do something to REALLY scare you.”
“Waving your gun around and wasting bullets doesn’t scare me!” Gojyo replied as he placed a cigarette in his mouth. “What’d scare me is if you were nice for a day.” From the hallway, Gojyo couldn’t see Sanzo’s smile but Hakkai guessed it. The game was on.

“Do I hto sto sit next to the monkey?” Gojyo started as usual as they climbed into the jeep. “He might give me lice.”
“Just don’t sweat on me or I might get one of your diseases, pervy water sprite!”
“Sometimes I wish I could sit up there with you, Hakkai.” Gojyo said annoyed.
“Alright.” Sanzo said and stepped out of the jeep.
“Alright what?”
“Alright sit up here with Hakkai.”
Gojyo’s face twitched. “I never sit up front…”
“Just sit down.” Sanzo shoved him forward and moved Goku out of the way as he lifted himself into the back seat.
Gojyo found himself at a loss for why Sanzo would change seats with him like that. He probably just wants to share the back seat with monkey boy. He thought. Can’t be more than that.
Several hours later Gojyo cursed loudly and tossed his lighter into the backseat. “Just my luck. It’s a dead soldier. How far to the next town, Hakkai?”
“A while yet.” Hakkai replied with a smile.
“Shit.” Gojyo felt two taps on his arm and turned around to see Sanzo offering Gojyo his lighter. Gojyo’s eyes widened. “What the hell is with you?”
“Do you want it or not?” Gojyo took it, quickly lit a cigarette and threw the lighter back to Sanzo. He’s just sick of hearing me complain…That’s it. But that wasn’t it. Throughout the day, Sanzo passed him several cans of beer, loaned him his lighter several more times without complaint and even managed to carry on a polite yet pointless conversation. After Sanzo straight out asked him if he wanted another beer Gojyo turned to Hakkai. “Pull this jeep over. I’ve got to piss.”
Hakkai shrugged and stopped the jeep and Gojyo, Hakkai and Sanzo stepped out. Gojyo tossed his cigarette away and went over to one of the stonewalls of the canyon. Sanzo eyed Goku who was fast asleep in the back seat with his mouth wide open. “Do you think I’ve scared him enough?” Sanzo asked Hakkai. “I’m sick of being nice to him.”
Hakkai laughed. “That depends on how much you say is enougHe pHe patted his friend on the backf yof you can keep this up until we get to the next inn, I’ll take up the bill myself. I don’t think you’ll last that long, though.”
“Yeah?” Sanzo raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got ten thousand yen that says I can put up with him until tomorrow morning. That means you keep the monkey in your room tonight.”
“Then we have ourselves a wager.”
“Let’s go!” Gojyo shouted from the passenger seat.
Sanzo stopped offering Gojyo beers and instead forced himself to try and talk to him. Gojyo made a few responses but eventually turned back and said, “Shut up, Sanzo. You’re scaring me. You’re not even this nice to Hakkai! At least, not in the jeep like this!”
Hakkai glanced into the back seat and swerved the jeep sharply to the left. “Sorry.” Hakkai said with a smile. “Guess I should pay more attention to what I’m doing.”
Sanzo rolled his eyes. Sanzo didn’t care if Gojyo or Goku knew. It wasn’t a big deal to him and, as far as Hakkai had told him, it didn’t matter to him either. It was those damn, rainy nights… For a moment, Sanzo’s mind drifted back to that night…the first night.
It had been raining and neither of them reacted well to the rain. Gojyo was off somewhere with a woman, Goku was raiding the kitchen and that left he and Hakkai alone. If there was blame to be placed it was on Hakkai for being too willing to talk to him. Hakkai was the only one who knew that not all of these rainy nights had been s rem remembering his master’s death. There was another death that linked him to Hakkai because it was a death in the same nature.
In the three years between their two meetings, Sanzo had found himself a young woman to whom he became attached. Goku had seen her only a few times and Sanzo had him convinced she was just a nice, friendly person. Yet, he’d spent many rainy nights with her…then one rainy night…she was gone, the note said killed by her own hand but he never knew why and they never found a body. He’d never been allowed the time to properly mourn her death because of Goku and the fact that the matter had to be kept private. He was still, supposedly a priest of high virtue.
After hearing the story Hakkai had urged his friend to mourn her death. To this, Sanzo replied that he didn’t know how. He’d sworn never to become close to anyone again after his master’s death and he’d done it just the same. It was the one time that Sanzo remembered clearly just falling apart by allowing all the grief pent up inside of him to leave his body at once.
When Goku came back to the room that night he found Hakkai and Sanzo huddled together by the windownzo nzo didn’t know to the day how much Goku had seen but he had obviously seen enough to tell Gojyo. Hakkai just wanted to make him feel better…
“Sanzo!” Goku sma San Sanzo upside the head with his paper fan and Sanzo immediately grabbed it back.
“What is it, monkey?”
“I’m hungry!”
Sanzo growled. “Shut up.”