River of Stars Ch 9 bit – Flawed Prototype

“Have either of you checked how thick the walls are?” Sanzo demanded.

Hands tangled in each other’s hair, their younger idiots glanced his way. And eeped.

“Check it. Now,” Sanzo demanded, revolver aimed. “Because the last time I looked, SG-1 was right next door, and if I end up putting a bullet through one of them because I was aiming at you, I will be very. Ticked. Off.”

Eyes on him, Gojyo and Goku disentangled themselves. Swearing, yes – but under their breath, and moving, so who cared?

“It has been a long day,” Hakkai allowed, putting an arm out the window so Hakuryuu could land easily, and carrying a tired dragon over to the snacks. “Even without the usual assassins.”

“Kougaiji’s been quiet too long,” Sanzo said darkly, picking the chocolate peel off one of the cherry-lemon fruit candies Goku had missed. And there was another thing he wanted to get out of Kanzeon, where and when had she gotten cacao trees off Earth? If it was real chocolate, and not something alien entirely. “He’s got to be up to something.” And being around youkai was contagious, because he had to consciously not growl. “I think I finally figured out why Kanzeon hasn’t pinned Houtou Castle down, though.”

“Yeah?” Gojyo bounced back, now that the threat of imminent death was staved off. “I mean, I’ve heard Goa’uld can miss pretty big things on a planet, but she always struck me as smarter than that.”

Sanzo nodded. “Koushu’s got the Muten sutra.”

“The sutra that rules nothingness, and buries targets in darkness-” Hakkai cut himself off. “You think it might have a way to block normal sensors?”

“Would explain why we can’t find her,” Sanzo said shortly. “And why Kougaiji’s bunch tend to teleport. If he leaves someone he can sense there as a marker – doesn’t matter what sensors get blocked, he can find home.”

Gojyo grabbed a salty thick potato-like chip; purple, but otherwise fine. “And you didn’t figure this out before, oh mighty leader, because…?”

Sanzo snorted. “When’s the last time we had a few free days to do the damn research?”

“So we need to grab Kougaiji the next time and go with him!” Goku smacked a fist into his palm.

“Not that simple, monkey,” Gojyo started. And paused, an odd respect crossing his face. “Actually, it could be that simple. As long as it’s all of us. Not bad.”

“Hmm.” Sanzo nibbled the last of the chocolate shards, now picking apart the gold-and-ruby sections inside. These were the really good part of the candy, in a whole different way from chocolate-bitterness. The acid bite of citrus and cherry and sweetness tingled, made some of the knots in his shoulders loosen….

And he could almost hear Hakkai taking notes in his head about adding those candies to their road supplies. Because gods forbid the thousand-slayer should miss a chance to mother him.

Hakuryuu thumped onto his shoulder, one claw full of fried fish. :Silly flock-leader. Needs to eat.:

“I know, damn it,” Sanzo bit out. “If Kanzeon built my code from scratch, why am I so damned buggy?”

Dead silence.

Sanzo chomped the rest of the candy, just to hold back the swearing. Right. Hakkai knew, because the healer knew everything about his damn trick metabolism. But Goku hadn’t known. And from the way he was staring, Gojyo definitely hadn’t known.

“No one gets through the Five Gorges alive,” Sanzo stated, eyeing Gojyo’s slack-jawed stare. “I’m… like the Hua sisters. Only it looks like Kanzeon took the chance to tuck in extra, surprise, you’re a kami genes. To go off when I got stressed. Which, who’d have thought, I managed to do getting you jokers out of the Maoh’s castle. And the rest is history. Or maybe xenobiology. Got it?”