Remember ages ago, when I started this fic? It was originally a completely different story to my other (now completed) Saiyuki fic 'Broken Bonds'.

This is no longer the case.

Though it goes by the same name, the story has changed drastically, with only a few elements of its predecessor woven in.

This is now the sequel to 'Broken Bonds'.

Surprise!

A great deal of thanks and recognition goes out to Yoong, for without her constant assistance I'd have had neither the motivation nor information to continue on with my plans for a sequel. So thanks, dude. I owe ya!

For those of you who haven't read 'Broken Bonds', you're going to need to. 'Else you won't understand anything in this fanfic. Speaking of which, sometime soon I'll clean up 'Broken Bonds'. You know, spelling and grammatical errors corrected. I won't re-write it, so it'll still be written in my old style.

Someone asked me why I never update my fanfics anymore..

I think it was part-too-busy, part-too-interested-in-other-things and part-too-depressed.

I only ever received a few reviews for a chapter, which is way less than the good old days.. (Do I write worse than I did then? It doesn't seem possible…) So I kinda assumed that no-one really cared…

Then I had a realisation, only just last week:

One person is enough.

If even only one person likes my story and wants to read it, then I do owe it to them to continue. I hate it when people quit writing on me, so I shouldn't do it myself. As long as someone other than myself is interested, I'll remove the stories from my head (And constantly activated imagination) and put them online.

But I'm not psychic, so if you like it and want me to continue, please just take a few seconds to say so.

That's all I ask.

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Gold and Silver

By: Von

Sugarfire@cutey.com

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The moist rich egg of the earth split open with a barely audible hiss.
A movement stirred within it.

The child raised his head, brand-new eyes taking in the vast world before him. Thousands of new sensations bombarded his mind, the icy air, the damp stone.

But what enthralled him with the massive shape of the full moon watching over him. It glowed with a cool light, that reached down and caressed his smooth skin.

The child smiled, face lighting up with the pure enjoyment of life.
Golden eyes shining with light.

Son Goku was born.

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Pale lids opened, Sapphire orbs flecked with silver gazed at the first sight of a new world. The child raised a hand and studied the pale flesh.
Long, sharp nails caught the light.

She glanced away, up at the sky, where a huge blue/green jewel floated serenely. Entranced, the child stood upon the crystal that gave birth to her. Silken white hair flowed down, brushing gently against her ivory skin. Long tapered ears restrained the strands from covering her face.

A glow seemed to emit from the pretty jewel, a golden light that called to her very being. A longing swept over the delicate child, intense and irresistible.

Her mouth worked hesitantly, words forming, a whisper on the wind, sighing from the depths of her silver soul.

"Goku..."

'I am coming...'

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"Ok Goku…. breath in…….. and out…………try to ignore Grandpa…"

The boy frowned deeply. His eyes were open, since both Akyla and Grandpa agreed that a battle – when he'd require absolute self-control -  was not a good time to be looking at the inside of your own eyelids. Therefore he was practicing centring himself while Grandpa was standing on his hands in front of him, singing rude little rhymes, as one of his beloved goats balanced precariously on his feet.

He probably would have been easier to ignore had the aged Youkai not been singing about little babies and how they were made…

..substituting Goku's and Akyla's names in the song as often as he could…

..subtlety was clearly not a part of the water Youkai's mentality.

Occasionally, when he said something especially vulgar, Akyla would set his hair on fire or the grass under his hands would suddenly violently combust. This rarely deterred him though. He'd just happily cartwheel to a non-flaming patch of land, or put the fire right out with his own powers over water.

After six months of this, Goku barely batted an eyelid.

He'd made quick progress, with either one or both of the Youkai instructing him on something at any given time of day or night. Akyla usually let him know she was about to teach him something… Grandpa… He often didn't.

Like the lessons on how to fly…

"Wake up, young sonny-me-boy! We've got milks to goat!"

"Wha..?"

Goku's bleary reply was cut off, as the blue-skinned man grabbed his ankle and dragged him out of bed, onto the floor and through the living room.

"Good morning for it. Nice and crispy."

"H-hey! Lemme go! Grandpa!"

He twisted, trying to dislodge the other Youkai. The man had a surprisingly unshakable grip though, and continued to dreamily drag the teenaged earth Youkai through the house and out onto the cold wet lawn.

Goats scattered as the two approached. Grandpa yelled dedications of love after their hastily-retreating bodies, before turning back to Goku.

"Well, it seems the milk has run off. So I guess I'd better find something else for you to do…"

The man gave some thought to this – or appeared to – while Goku struggled even harder to escape. He could put up with 'Goating the milks' as Grandpa termed the insane 40-minutes-worth of furious horn-and-hoof fighting, but when he turned his thoughts to other things for him to do…

Well, it was usually less painful to just beat himself up with his own staff.

"Ah! I got it!"

The Youkai leered into Goku's frightened face. "Your task for today, sonny, is to not hit the ground. You don't eat till you manage it. Get going!"

Before Goku had time get over the horrifying prospect of no food, he found himself lifted by the scruff of his neck and the seat of his pants and then hurled bodily into the air.

Far, far into the air.

Grandpa stayed down on the ground, peacefully goating his milks, pausing only occasionally to 'help' Goku stay up.

He'd broken four ribs and bruised practically everything else before Akyla had returned home and caught Grandpa a furious smack upside the head.

Funnily enough, it had only been when Goku had saw that Grandpa was otherwise occupied, and that there was nothing between him and the hard ground, that his powers had finally kicked into protective gear. He'd screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable impact, for a good five minutes before his curiosity had finally gotten the better of him.

Cracking open an eye, he peered at the innocent-looking ground, which hovered mere inches away.

Slowly, he begin to rise, until he was well over ten feet up. The pain in his ribs was forgotten as he gave a triumphant shout.

His yell attracted the attention of the angry fire Youkai and singed water Youkai. Both grinned proudly at their floating student, then winced as his concentration wavered and he plummeted back down again.

Now he was once again working on strengthening his unconscious bond with the Earth's life-force. He had long ago established conscious contact with it, but both his teachers were adamant that he keep an unconscious bond with it on an even keel for a month at a time before they even considered training him to consciously tap the energy available to him. His connection was naturally strong, and if he pushed too hard, or even not hard enough, he could easily throw nature completely out of whack. Tsunamis, Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Volcanic eruptions… you name it, it could happen. All were so easy to trigger for the earth Youkai, as earth was the rare element that required absolute balance at all times. Fire constantly consumed, and needed only to be reigned in. Water needed small measures of balance… too much 'oomph' here and a small village over there was suddenly swamped by impossibly-high tides. But Earth.. Earth was a delicate web of forces, each part connected to and affecting the next.

It was a miracle the Limiter had stifled his connection as long as it had.

It was strange… when he connected with it… it was like looking at something your mind didn't understand, but was on the verge of grasping. Your eyes relayed what they saw, but until your mind deciphered it, you felt almost blind…

It was the same with this force.. he could feel it, he knew it was there, but he couldn't seem to grasp it. He could hear its voice, but he couldn't make out what it was saying.

It was frustrating.

This was the last piece of his training. Akyla and Grandpa had taught him many things. Different ways to fight, different ways to defend. To fly, to swim for longer without any air, how to combat the consuming flame and resist the draining cold.

But once he could fully control and be at peace with his element, then he could take off the limiter without fear for his friends' safety. Then he could protect Sanzo from anything and everything.

He'd do anything to protect Sanzo.

Anything.

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In the darkness, silver shone softly.

"Must I?"

The darkness stirred, wrapping tighter around the fragile light.

"Yes. Do this, and I shall give you that which I promised."

Sapphire eyes shone hopefully.

"Goku?"

Red eyes gleamed in satisfaction.

"Yes."

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Chapter One, done at last.

I just want to repeat what is mentioned on my Bio page;

I don't do Mary-Sues. This new character is female, yes. But so was Akyla, and she certainly didn't turn into a MS… right?

Oh, and there will be no pairings in this story… Feel free to suggest things you'd like to see, though. If I can fit them in, I'll try..