Saiyuki

Swift Current ~against the stream~ (3x3)

Air date: Apr 15, 2004

Goku and Gojyo are complaining about the heat, Goku saying how he'd love to cool off in a river somewhere. Hakkai checks the map: as it happens, they're just about to come to one. And so they do, but there's no bridge, nor boats available. A local kid tells them they won't be able to cross the river, but dashes off without saying why. Sanzo, fed up with saru/kappa squabbling, grazes them with a couple of shots and stalks off with Hakkai to seek a way across, snarling that those two should be tied to stones and tossed in to drown. At Houtou Castle: the old youkai 01, playing chess with Dr. Ni, is saying that rivers can't be underestimated; they may look calm on the surface but have powerful currents below, reminding humans how weak they are. And speaking of rivers, wasn't there a child named Kouryuu...? Dr. Hwang storms up, saying this is no time for Ni to be playing games: Lady GK is breathing down their necks about Kougaiji's progress and the need to acquire the sutras. Ni, moving his knight, casually says that something will surely happen soon. You're so sure of yourself, but you'll trip and fall flat on your face one day, she mutters. He thinks not. Nothing can trip me--I'm a ghost, he says. [--heh. Japanese ghosts have no feet, remember?] A local [judging by the piles of nets in his house, a fisherman] explains to the SI that a year ago youkai took over the river, and have destroyed any boat that tries to cross. But we're traveling west and have to get across, says Gojyo. Well, if they drive into the mountains, they'll probably find a suspension bridge...but it'll take them about two months to reach it. Well, that will never do. ==Ah, says Hakkai, so that's why that boy we met said it was impossible to get across. You met Kon?--says the man in surprise, and tells them that the kid is from the village on the other side. He came here on an errand for his parents, and has been trapped here by this village's refusal to send out a boat. His mother and little si