az: Suddenly felt moved to revise this again. Basing the general plot on the original piece I wrote in the past and now permanently deleted. Probably doing the same to Silent Soul as well. A part of me felt sad for losing all those reviews but I hoped somehow old followers could find this story and hopefully stil follows it. We'll see how the story would change.

This should be set based on the anime with some adjustment to manga to connect it. But the timeline should still be post Homura arc and before RELOAD Gunlock/Reload manga.

Old Nightmare

Chapter 0: Prologue

Written by Izzu alias honou-no-izzu

o

o

Son Goku merely laid his eyes towards the clutter of food served at the table before them without even touching it. Noticing this peculiar behaviour, Hakkai paused between eating as he looked up towards the boy.

"Goku... is there something wrong? Why aren't you eating?", he asked as he placed a hand on Goku's shoulder. His eyes flitted towards Sanzo's direction as he seemed to be uneasy as well.

Goku shrugged to himself. "Nothing. It's just... these few nights, I had a very horrible nightmare. It seemed so real... it scared me. Wonder why... I can't seem to get my mind off this—"

Without warning, Gojyo laughed. "...just a dream? You don't usually lost your appetite because of it in the past so why now—don't make such lame excuse—"

Goku frowned at him as he got up from is seat and looking as if about to jump on Gojyo before a hand stopped him on his track. The hand forced the young boy to sit down as Goku turned towards Sanzo.

"Don't take that bait, stupid monkey. The pervert don't deserve it, you should just go eat—"

"But—"

"JUST SHUT UP AND EAT, YOU STUPID MONKEY!"

Everyone jumped at that outburst as Goku closed his mouth. Goku cocked his head at him as he noticed Sanzo pinching the side of his head, as if in pain. He rose again to check on him before Sanzo slapped his hand away when he tried to touched his forehead.

"Sanzo? Something wrong with you—"

"I'm fine!"

"You don't look so fine, Sanzo. And don't talk to Goku like that—"

"CAN'T ANY OF YOU JUST—"

Both Hakkai and Goku immediately got up and rushed to catch him as Sanzo swayed a bit when he suddenly got up to leave the table. Gojyo stared at him in surprise as Goku looked at him worried. Hakkai sighed as he helped Sanzo sit.

"Sit down. I'll go find something to ease the pain. You had a migraine, did you? I'm sure I had something in my pack... wait here—" said Hakkai gently as he went off. Goku slowly approached Sanzo before wrapping his arms around him.

"Oi," Sanzo quipped but didn't push the boy away. "What're you doing? Let go of me."

"Does it make you feel better? Don't make me scared... Sanzo."

Sanzo snickered. "Idiot. Just keep your mouth shut."

Gojyo started to snort at himself, seeing such tender moments in front of him before Goku threw Sanzo's paper fan at him. Hakkai laughed as he returned shortly after that and helped Sanzo to taking his medications.

xxx

He wanted to cry. He really did. The pounding on his head was that unbearable, it felt as if his head about to break. And Goku being all worried and not his usual hungry self made him more depressed. Genjo Sanzo was not this weak—yet, a part of him yearned for such gesture of comfort.

And what was that dream that he saw last night?

He doubted that his dream was anything related to the one that had bothered Goku these few days—he just wondered why both of them happened to get one at the same time. And what was all that about? Perhaps because recently with the incident involving Homura and his posse calling him Konzen and stuffs—he ended up having these dreams but why was his head so in pain? No doubt this Konzen or what other names mentioned had anything related to him but still—! Why was he so troubled by it?

Come to think, he thought he had heard Kanzeon Bosatsu called him that before...

God! He never felt so fragile... thank goodness Hakkai arrived with the pain-killers fast enough. Falling to the deep oblivion of sleep was such a bliss. Not having to think... or hearing voices calling on him over and over again felt so much like a luxury...

xxx

"Hakkai, how long is it before the next stop?"

Hakkai shrugged as he glanced sideways towards Gojyo. "Still long way there. A lot of hills and mountains and sands... unless you wanted to navigate and find us a better short-cut—" he said as he threw the map at Gojyo's face before continuing to drive.

"I sure am envying these two on the back for sleeping so soundly. Despite the sun right now and this kind of weather..."

"Maa... you can't blame them. I ended up having to give Sanzo the strongest painkiller I had—and Goku haven't been able to sleep well these few days. It was a relief to see him eating something in the end and actually calm down. And I see that rest was what Sanzo needed right now..."

Gojyo snorted as he grinned.

"Honestly, buddy... you were like our mother. It seemed all you did was watching over them—"

Hakkai laughed. "Doesn't that makes Sanzo the father? Honestly—"

"Don't kill me with laughter, Hakkai! I can't imagine Sanzo being... oh you idiot. Now that image is stuck!"

Both of them laughed as they continued their journey west. But unknown to them, at the far distance; danger loomed before them as it hinted for even more pain and sorrow than what they had already faced in the past...