"Uh..."

But Sanzo interrupted him, glaring at Gojyo over the newspaper. "No, that was you."

Truth be told, Tenpou *was* having a nice long night until he woke up to a damn nightmare. He yawned just as the elderly innkeeper lady walked to their table. She smiled heartily at all of them and ruffled Tenpou's hair as if she were his mother or something so crazy like that. "Poor young man." she sympathized after asking them if they enjoyed their meal. "Must have been kept up by the ghosts around this place."

"Ghosts?" The word was enough to draw Sanzo's attention from today's paper. "Is that why you have six bolts on the door?"

The woman nodded gravely. "Yes, but they don't hurt anybody. The bolts are just to be sure it stays that way."

What an odd village this one was. "They why don't all of you leave and set up a home somewhere else?" inquired Goku, making a face. "I wouldn't want to share a town with a bunch of freaky dead guys."

Gojyo waved his cigarette in agreement. "The saru's got a point, lady. Besides, I'm sure there are nicer places than this frozen wasteland."

"Oh no!" the inn keeper. "We can't just do that! If anything, they scare raiders away. Who would want to ransack a haunted village? But most importantly, we wouldn't want to disrespect the gods. No sir."

"The gods?" Now it was Tenpou's turn to sound skeptical. "The gods have nothing to do with this place." The statement was turned into a bleeding pulp with one sharp comment from a certain priest.

"And you know this how?" Sanzo turned to him, raising a slim brow and shooting a critical glance.

"I don't. I only assume. Their business is among themselves and heaven. Not with humans." Which left another loophole for the a similar question. 'And you know this how?' It could have gone on for days, but Sanzo dropped the third degree before it could get bad.

"Ch,"

"Then there's the legend..." she continued, as if this story was repeated to a thousand different guests on a thousand different days. "...about the lake on the other side of the foothill. A lake of holy water, frozen to create a mirror half a mile wide. A mirror to heaven..."