Presence

By: Aspara

Gojyo wasn't sure when it started. In fact, it probably started long before he actually noticed it, and the thought just freaked him out. If it started much much earlier than when he first noticed it, the saru must've had a hell of a time.

He wasn't saying that Sanzo had a bad body, but hell, he thought he heard the saru crying once.


The first time that it occurred to him that something might be happening was when Sanzo specifically asked for two separate room in an inn a couple of months back. Now, this was odd. If Sanzo was anything, he was private. He would not willingly share a room with anyone. Unless, of course, he got something out of it.

Hakkai was the one who asked Sanzo who would stay with who, knowing that Sanzo preferred to room with him because he was apparently more quiet [no dirty connotations here] than the other two. Both he and Gojyo were actually surprised when Sanzo said that Goku would room with him and that the said boy actually whimpered.

Goku never whimpered.

The morning after, Goku refused to speak to any of them, bowing his head to hide his face, and every time Sanzo forced him to speak, there was an odd tremble in the boy's voice.


You could just imagine what Gojyo thought of all of this.


~0~


"Goku," the monk said.

The boy was in one of his quiet moods again. Gojyo guessed that it was due to the odd sounds that he had heard that night but he didn't say anything.

It was obvious that Goku didn't want to actually say anything but it was also a given that he didn't dare ignore the monk. "H-hai . . .?" was the soft shaky reply.

"C'mere."

Goku just stared at the monk in surprise. "Nani?"

Gojyo raised an eyebrow. Hakkai gave the man beside him a questioning look. "Sanzo," he said, "we're moving."

Sanzo ignored them.

Knowing that no matter what he did, he would eventually give up to his master, Goku stood up from his seat and allowed the monk to pull him into his lap.

"Oi Sanzo-sama," Gojyo drawled, hoping that his voice sounded bored instead of worried. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm making use of my slave," the monk answered before burying his head into the crook of Goku's neck. A lick caused the boy to shiver.

Gojyo was getting annoyed. "Slave? I thought that he wasn't your slave."

"I recently found out that him being my slave has its perks."

"Like what?"

Gojyo never got an answer since Hakkai immediately stopped and demanded that Sanzo allow Goku to return to his seat since he was getting bothered and couldn't drive properly.



"Gojyo."

The said man looked up to see the worried face of his best friend. "What is it Hakkai? Sit."

They were in a bar near the inn that they were staying at. Gojyo couldn't bear to think of what the monk might be doing to the saru and decided to, hell, get himself drunk. If the terrible blast of music and the alcohol didn't help him forget about what he thought he knew, nothing would. As expected, he didn't forget. The only thing that he accomplished was that he was probably going to get a hangover the next day.

"Gojyo," Hakkai said, sitting down and grabbing the half-full bottle of sake from Gojyo's hands and drinking it himself. After the drink he looked at the red head solemnly. "I'm worried about Goku."

Gojyo smirked. "Thought so. You're so much more—what's the word?—perceptive than I am and I expected you to notice it too." It was just then that Gojyo realized that his bottle was gone and was in Hakkai's hands, empty. "Hey!"

"Stop it Gojyo. It's no time to be fooling around. Goku might get seriously damaged if Sanzo continues."

Immediately, as if it were some will of God [Kanzeon waves], Gojyo turned sober. "Damaged huh? Exactly how much do you know Cho Hakkai?"

"Much more than I want to Sha Gojyo," Hakkai admitted.

"Then why don't you tell me what you do know."

Hakkai took a deep breath. "It was about a week after Goku killed Homura that Sanzo started acting . . . weird. I don't really know what happened but for some reason he just started looking at Goku, if you know what I mean. Goku, of course, never took any notice, being the child he is. Although," he looked at Gojyo, smirking, "I don't know how you could've missed it."

"I don't exactly spend my time observing the monk. YOU just like watching EVERYONE," Gojyo retorted.

"Anyway," Hakkai continued, ignoring the defensive reply of his companion, "do you remember the time when it was raining and Sanzo was acting in his usual mean way?" Gojyo nodded. "Do you remember the fact that Goku went in Sanzo's room to check on him?"

Gojyo shook his head. "I think that I was drunk then or something."

"Well, Goku checked on Sanzo but he didn't come out for a long time. I got worried and looked into them. I saw," something akin to anger flashed in Hakkai's green eyes, "Sanzo screwing with Goku while Goku just pleaded him to stop, crying. I couldn't really do anything. I don't think that Goku would've liked it if he knew that I caught them in such a position."

An uneasy silence reigned between the two men. Hakkai's face was downcast and his fists were clenched tightly. Gojyo's was pale and repulsed.

"Kami-sama," the redhead breathed. "It's worse than I thought then."

"Wait 'til you here about the part with the ropes."

Gojyo looked sick. "I'd rather not."

Silence reigned between them. They were both trying to compose themselves, trying to think of what to do rather fruitlessly. No matter how much they wanted to help their young friend, they couldn't figure out how without hurting Goku. Actually, they also didn't know what to do about Sanzo.

"Any solutions?" Gojyo finally asked, his head aching from thinking and alcohol.

Hakkai sighed and shook his head. "None."


The pain continued.


A/N: Hey, admit it, there are absolutely no fics out there with Sanzo being a sick bastard with Goku. Yes, I know all you Sanzo lovers are itching to strangle my neck. Do so. I've been playing with the thought of writing this for some time now and since I'm rather stuck with my other fic, I decided to write this. Of course my original *plan* is a lot darker but, I shall keep my morbidity to myself for the meantime.

To anyone who's reading my other ficcy, Lust, let me just inform you that it may take a while because I am having a writer's block and am clueless to how the fic should go. That or I'm just too lazy. Take your pick.

Goku torture ROCKS!