CHAPTER 1: NEW YET OLD FACES

"Good morning, sir."

To a normal person, he/she would've cheerfully replied "Good morning to you, too" or simply incline his head and nod. But Genjo Sanzo was not considered normal. In fact, he was far from it. He was not the type of person who could easily blend in with the crowd, because no matter how hard he tried, there was always this unknown factor that made him stand out. And he never had trouble making others know he didn't like it one bit.

"Tch", came his trademark expression as he ignored the employee who greeted him and stepped out of the elevator. With long, smooth strides he made his way toward his office, all too aware of the sneaking glances, whispers and drools that were directed at him. Automatically, he chose to ignore him. He always did. Well, maybe not always, for at certain occasions when they got very annoying or when he was in a bad mood, he would send his famous death glare that always made them shut up and cower in fear.

He finally reached the confinements of his office, the only thing that shielded him from everybody's view. But aside from the many books that lined the bookshelves, the different tools he uses, he was greeted by another sight, one so disgusting that made his insides churn and his violet eyes harden. His so-called aunt was sitting on his favorite burgundy armchair, relaxed, with an aura of grace and order.

"Hello, Konzen," Kanzeon greeted, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips, her eyes twinkling with amusement and mischief.

"What the hell are you doing here!" Sanzo exclaimed.

Above anything else, he hated her aunt. And that's saying something, since we're talking about hot headed Genjo Sanzo here. Kanzeon was so damn irritating, always putting him into very sticky and difficult situations just for her own entertainment, as if she wasn't contented with her soap operas. But most important of all, she was the reason why Sanzo was who he is now: a doctor. A highly respected, famous, stalked-by-many doctor.

"Why, Konzen, is that the proper way to treat your lovely aunt?" Kanzeon said in a voice too sweet for her. She crossed her legs and flipped her long ebony tresses tied by in a ponytail over her shoulder.

Sanzo glared at her. "Lovely?" he said, disgusted. "And stop calling me Konzen. You know very well my name's Sanzo." Apparently, he had the misfortune of having an aunt who called him "Konzen" ever since he could remember, even though he had argued about it for the millionth time.

But his aunt only said her usual reply, "You don't like to be called Konzen? But you must know…it suits you better, much better, Konzen Douji."

"Go away! And you haven't answered my question. I said earlier, what are you doing here!" Sanzo demanded, willing for this to be nothing but a nightmare as his aunt looked at him again with those very strange eyes. Sometimes, just sometimes, he would feel an odd sensation whenever she looked at him. It was as if she could see right through her soul, as if she held so much knowledge about him that no one else, even himself, knew. She was always like that, he guesed. She was often out of his sight, doing God knows what and when she did appear, just like now, she would do it in the most unexpected places and time, then later on just vanish like a bubble. If someone knew better, would've been mistaken for a ghost.

By now, Kanzeon had already risen from the chair and had sidled beside Sanzo, one arm draped over his shoulder, much to his annoyance.

Sanzo's eye twitched. "Get. Off. Me. Now," he said in his dangerously, low tone.

Kanzeon acted as though she didn't hear him. "Bored out of your wits, are you not, Konzen?" she half-whispered in his ear.

Sanzo gritted his teeth and chose not to reply but instead reached for his trusty Smith and Wesson gun. This was one of the other things that separated Sanzo from the rest. He was the only living doctor carrying a gun and using it at least ten times a day for threatening and personal purposes. "Shut up or I'll shoot your head off," he growled.

Kanzeon laughed and refrained from touching her dear niece. "You're awfully lucky your beautiful aunt here took some pity on you. Come with me. I'll show you something that would definitely take away your boredom," she told him and motioned for him to follow her out of his office.

Instead of shooting her, Sanzo grudgingly complied, only because he knew that if he refused, it would cause more troubles for him because Kanzeon would bug her to no end.

She led him to several corridors, muttering about the boring life "Konzen" led; checking patients all day long, lounging about in his office, researching on some antidote to various illnesses, scaring poor unfortunate people, when she stopped in front of a door and opened it.

The room was another one of the large hospital's one used for special patients. Amidst the dull, white walls and other furniture, there, lying and strapped on a bed, was a boy with unruly russet hair, sleeping peacefully like a baby.

"Isn't he so cute?" Kanzeon murmured, smiling.

"Why is he tied up like this, like an animal?" Sanzo hadn't really meant for him to ask that out loud. What he wanted to tell Kanzeon was that he would not take part in whatever thing she was planning to put him. Yet the words already escaped from his tongue. As he looked at the boy, he couldn't help but feel something. It was odder than the feeling he felt whenever around his aunt. There was this sense of familiarity that he couldn't quite put a finger on.

"He was found in some remote forest when he was young and was raised in the orphanage. There was no information about his parents or family. Then when he was ten, he did something unforgivable and was sent to the rehabilitation in Chicago," Kanzeon told him as she undid the cloth that tied the boy to the bed.

Sanzo raised a blond eyebrow. "The one in Chicago? The most popular and heavily guarded one around here? For what reason?" he asked.

"Yes, that's the one. Well, no one really wanted to talk about what happened, as it was too gruesome and frightening, and I'm not telling you either," Kanzeon smirked at the glare that Sanzo gave her and continued, "After a few months of staying, he broke free of the rehab. He was caught after several weeks and was eventually placed under a more imposing one and later on, here."

"So what has that got to do with me? I'm a doctor, not a psychiatrist," Sanzo snapped, although he couldn't help but wonder about the child's intriguing past.

Kanzeon smirked again. "Now here's the interesting bit, Konzen. You'll take care of this child from now on. You see, the poor guy has amnesia and its up to you to cure him," she said.

The weight of her words came crashing down on Sanzo. He couldn't believe the nerve of her aunt! Already his life had been full of crap and now she's adding some more of it! Sanzo tried his hardest not to ram his fist on his aunt's face and chop her into tiny pieces. "You old hag! I'm not doing you another favor! I have no business with this mad boy so take back your words before I shoot you!" he snarled, his eyes burning with anger.

"Well, sorry for you, Konzen. This is not a favor because you really don't have much of a choice, you know. You just go behave yourself and play keeper to this child, understand?" Kanzeon explained patiently, smiling.

Sanzo reached again for his gun from the pocket of his white coat and proceeded to use it on his aunt, but it was too late. She had already left, miraculously and the bulolets shot into the walls and the door instead.

Sanzo groaned. He could feel his migraine coming. He reminded himself to shoot his aunt first thing when he sees her again, and after he got rid of the child left under his care. No doubt, Kanzeon must've signed already all specific documents to prove this, he thought. And maybe she even forged his signature. That old hag.

Just then, the brown haired boy stirred. He might've awoken because of the noise his gun had produced.

Sanzo glanced at him just in time when the boy opened his eyes. The intensity of his big, bright golden eyes shocked him. And for a fleeting moment, when their eyes met, time froze.

It was the same eyes Sanzo had been seeing sometimes in his dreams, he was sure of it. At times, when he was alone in his room sipping coffee, with nothing to do, Sanzo's mind would just go over a vision of those eyes, staring at him with such innocence and trust like no other. How a pair of eyes brought sleepless nights on him, he could never understand.

Slowly, the boy stood up and touched his blond hair, while Sanzo was too busy thinking about his golden eyes. "Your hair…" he murmured. "It's like the sun."

Sanzo looked at him in disbelief. Somehow, somewhere, he had heard these lines before. What de javu! And it took a while before he recovered himself. "Shut up!" he growled and tried to break free from the boy's iron grip on his silky blond hair, but to no avail. "Ow! My hair! No! Don't pull it!"

With a final tug, Sanzo broke free and he smacked the boy with his fists.

The boy, in turn, retaliated by saying, "Ouch! That hurt! What'd you do that for?"

"Hmph," Sanzo said grumpily. "I can't believe that old hag tricked me into babysitting you."

The boy's face lightened as he realized what those words meant. "You mean, you're going to take care of me? I'm not going back to that old freaky place any longer? Really really really?" He looked like a bird who have been set free from its cage.

"Do I have any other choice? But if you pull my hair again, I'll shoot you, you stupid monkey!" Sanzo said angrily. Briefly, he wondered why the hell he called him a monkey. Why did he feel as though it was the perfect name to call him? When did he go calling people nicknames anyway?

"Hey! Don't call me a monkey! My name's Goku!" the boy replied, pouting. "You're so mean!"

Sanzo looked at him. "Goku?" he repeated. Meaning, the ability to see invisible things, he thought. He was pretty sure he's the first Goku he'd met in his life, but there was his instinct, telling him there was something he should remember, something important with the word "Goku".

"Yes, Goku!" Goku said, happy that he was being called by his right name and not "Idiot" "Devil" or some other cruel names the people from the rehab and orphanage used to call him. "What's your name, mister?"

Sanzo didn't even glance at him. "Sanzo. Genjo Sanzo," he said stonily.

The boy grinned. "That's a nice name!" he said too cheerfully for Sanzo's taste. Then, a frown crept to his face as he looked over Sanzo's clothes. "Ne, Sanzo?"

"What?" Sanzo snapped.

"Your clothes…You're-you're one of them too, aren't you?" Goku asked, hiding the slight tremor in his voice, but Sanzo heard it anyway.

Sanzo gritted his teeth. In barely a few minutes, this boy had already irritated him. If Goku couldn't be careful, he might just replace Kanzeon at the top of Sanzo's "Kill List". Talk about a record-breaker. "I don't know what your talking about," he told him.

Goku shiften uncomfortably in his seat, eyes still trained on Sanzo. "You're a doctor, right? Like those people in that horrible place who do all sorts of experiments on me, right?" he said silently.

Sanzo wanted to tell him the difference between a doctor and a psychiatrists, but figured the boy wouldn't understand a thing he'd say, seeing as right now he couldn't understand that Sanzo didn't want him in his presence. "And if I say I am?" he asked coolly.

For a moment, Goku was silent. He was contemplating on what to say. Finally, he grinned. "Well, I don't care. At least, not anymore. Maybe you are like them, but to me you're not. Besides, you freed me, right? So there's no point in complaining," he said.

This struck Sanzo like a bolt of lightning. How can a kid be completely naïve and wise at the same time? How can someone like him be so dangerous as to be placed in such a dreadful place, where the doctors there are as mad as their patients?

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a loud, rumbling noise. Sanzo looked at Goku who was rubbing his stomach.

"Ne, Sanzo, I'm really hungry! Can we go eat?" he whined, looking imploringly at him.

A vein throbbed on Sanzo's head and he instinctively smacked Goku. "Shut up!" he exclaimed.

"Come on! You're taking care of me! And that means you have to feed me, or else I'll die of hunger!" Goku wailed.

"I said shut up! You're too loud, kid!" Sanzo screeched.

"Hey!" Goku protested. "I'm not a kid! If you don't know, I'm eighteen!"

Sanzo gaped at him. His eyes must be playing tricks on him. No way could this too-energetic kid be as old as eighteen, he thought incredulously. It was too impossible.

"Sanzo! Sanzo! Sanzo!" Goku griped, sending him pleading looks. "Let's go eaaaaatt!"

Feeling very annoyed at the situation at hand, Sanzo finally nodded, but only to save himself the torture of listening to Goku's wails. "Fine, but if you do anything unnecessary, I'll kill you," he said grumpily.

"Yay! We're eating!" Goku cheered, bouncing up and down like a ball.

Oh, all must pray for Genjo Sanzo, for he is about to learn and discover the greatest natural calamity known to all mankind, one that surpasses tsunamis, floods and earthquakes: Goku's appetite.