Sorry for the late update! Been buzy. Thanks to all of my reviewers! I really appreciate it.

The green-eyed man had just finished cleaning up. He seemed to be saying something to the other people. Ava wasn't scared anymore, more bored come to think of it. Her eyes were hurting slightly from opening her eyes in shock so much. She was vaguely annoyed at her own extreme reaction.

She felt the dragon flutter out of her arms. She hadn't had time to see where they went as she noticed the men were walking towards her. She jumped to her feet, ready to give a fight if they picked one. She knew she wouldn't last long though if they did. For one she was outnumbered and her wound still hadn't completely healed yet...

All of them walked straight pass her except the smiling green-eyed man. She turned around to see where the rest of them were heading and she realized the dragon had turned back into a jeep again. The blond guy sat in the passenger seat in front. The brunette had gotten in, but the red head seemed to be lingering by an open door. She heard someone clear his throat. She whipped her head back to face front again and berated herself internally for being distracted and leaving herself wide open to the green-eyed man to attack.

He gave her that weird smile of his, pointed to himself and said,

"Hakkai."

Ava looked at him blankly. Surely by now he knew that she wouldn't understand a damn freaking word he said.

He walked past her and pointed to the blond.

"Sanzo." He chirped in a cheerful tone.

"Goku." He said as he pointed to the brunette who gave her a small wave.

"Gojyo." The red head said as he pointed to himself.

Ava looked warily for a moment, before it dawned on her that they had just introduced themselves. Just to confirm this newfound realization, she pointed at the green-eyed man and repeated,

"Hakkai?"

He nodded his head.

"Sanzo...Goku....Gojyo..." Ava said as she pointed to the respective people. Not once did the blond monk look up.

Now the rest were watching her expectantly.

Well, it would only be manners to tell them her name too...

She sighed.

"Ava." She said as she pointed to herself.

The Gojyo guy seemed to have said something and grinned at her almost, lecherously?! Before she herself could even react, Sanzo stood up and whacked Gojyo's head with an oversized paper fan.

Wait a minute.

Where did that come from?

Ava quietly mused as she watched a loud verbal exchange going between the blond and red head. Hakkai interceded and said something, which seemed to calm them down reluctantly.

Hakkai gestured to the car door that was propped open by Gojyo. Ava looked at it warily. Now what did they want her to do? Gojyo seemed to have lost his patience then and grabbed Ava's wrist and pulled her to the door, and promptly pushed her into the jeep.

Ava bristled at the rough treatment and threw Gojyo a dirty look as she settled herself into a more comfortable sitting position. Gojyo then plunked himself into the car and slammed the door. Hakkai got to the driving seat and started the engine.

After what seemed to have been eternity on the road to seemingly nowhere, though she knew it was only midday then, she learnt their routine.

1) Gojyo and Goku would quarrel loudly.

2) Sanzo would get so annoyed that he would either brandish his weird paper fan and whack them or wave a gun.

3) Hakkai would then say something that would settle them a bit.

A relative silence would cloud them for a moment, before the whole cycle would start again.

The first three times or so were vaguely amusing. Then it grew vaguely irritating. She got used to it after it happened about eighth time, she learnt to ignore the noise. But that didn't prevent her from getting unsettled every time she heard the gun shot though. One shouldn't wave such dangerous instrument so carelessly. Besides, it was a waste of good bullets.

She did along the way realize why she was placed between Gojyo and Goku was to prevent her from escaping. That thought made her panic fleetingly. Then she calmed herself down when she realized that even if she did escape, she had nowhere to go.

She noticed certain patterns in the people though as she observed every one of them.

Goku would constantly say something like "Harahette!" And clench his stomach. This was always met with various ranges of reaction from everyone there. Judging by how voraciously he ate the two times she ate with them, she guessed it met something like "Hungry". It almost made her laughs when she heard him say that word and his stomach growling to substantiate his words. Or it could also possibly mean he had a stomachache from eating too much.

Hakkai more often that not was quite still and quiet. He would only talk to placate the others when they were fighting. Other than that, his hands were at the steering wheel and his eyes on the road. Only occasionally she would catch him watching her from the rear view mirror.

Sanzo, well, he was strange. He would sit at his seat, back straight and eyes closed. Then suddenly he would get up, turn around and smack Goku or Gojyo when they got too loud. Then settle back down as if nothing had transpired before that.

Gojyo annoyed her. He kept getting too close for comfort. He leaned a lot on her. Ava would scoot as far as she could and would bump into Goku. Goku would look at her enquiringly and she would just avoid his gaze. When Gojyo's hands began to wonder, she had enough. Ava stood up and slapped him. Goku burst into peals of laugher at that. Even the stoic blond gave a snort. Hakkai laughed politely and urged her to sit back down. She did so, only after glaring hard at Gojyo who raised his hands up in mock surrender.

When Ava saw the first sign of civilization in the horizon, she sat up abruptly and leaned forward as far as she could to make sure. Gojyo and Goku grabbed her and pulled her back and held her tightly.

She sighed in frustration as she pointed forward. They turned to look. They relaxed their hold on her slightly as they saw that they were approaching another village. She shook away Goku's hand and swatted Gojyo's lingering one. She slouched back in the seat and crossed her arms and fumed slightly. Their grip was very strong. She glanced down at her arms and saw red finger marks where they grabbed her. She almost thought they were going to cut off her circulation when she first felt their touch.

Goku seemed to be a bit sorry about it; he smiled at her almost apologetically and scratched the back of his head. He had said something to her. Not that she knew what it was anyway...

She bit back another sigh and glanced away. She slouched more into the seat and willed the jeep to bring them to the village faster. She needed space away from these weird men. A very large space.

I had to stop there. My creative juices dried up. See ya next time!