A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys:) Getting ready for company for the week (and they're still here) has all but killed this household. But nevertheless, my dumb butt managed to get remember to post a new chapter! (laugh) I mentioned getting a Live Journal in Goku's Firsts and, well, I did. You can find the address in my profile. Feel free to add, though I haven't really put much up at this point. Too busy with work/guests/wanting to sleep. heh. If you do add me, be sure to comment and let me know who you are. Now you can see me bitch and moan about my writer's block and give me instant smacks upside the head! Yay! (cacklesnort)

Chapter Three: Victory

Moments come and go, many to be forgotten as new memories and events overrule their predecessors' importance. But drastic moments are different. Time comes to a near standstill; movements seem painfully slow allowing all who witness them to capture every essence, every detail of that moment. And they are burned forever in the mind, never to be forgotten.

Such it was for Sha Gojyo as he was spared his stepmother's wrath when his half-brother, Doku, killed her for his little brother's sake.

Such it was for Cho Hakkai as he witnessed the suicide of his sister and love, Kanan, after killing an entire clan of demons to save her.

Such it was for Genjo Sanzo as he watched his master; Koumyu Sanzo, cruelly struck down by a group of demons.

Such it was for them all as Goku's limp body sailed through the air, landing with an unceremonious crack against a nearby tree.

Until that moment arrived, the fight had been pitifully one-sided. Even without Goku's vibrant energy to aid them, the three men had nearly wiped the entire horde out in the first ten minutes.

Stress can be a wonderful thing. Or releasing it can be, at any rate.

Goku, for his part, had managed to pick off the few demons that had come his way; though to say it was easy would have been a palpable lie. He felt like fainting. Sleep deprivation was slowly eating away at his body. Dizziness had swept over him the first few moments after getting out of the Jeep, and only his staff had kept him upright. Goku knew he wouldn't be of any help to his companions in this state and had wisely (everyone has their moments…) choose to back away from the fight a bit, watching over his friends and lending what help he could to them. A few demons had managed to come his direction, slipping through the barrier set up by the other three fighters when they finally remembered Goku behind them. If they had descended in more numbers they could have beaten him down.

And that realization of weakness had served to piss Goku off, successfully bringing with it a new wave of power.

So when the young monkey king had seen the rogue demon quickly closing in on Sanzo from behind, all thought flew from his head as fast as he flew to Sanzo's aid. Whoever the demon was, he was powerful. Goku could feel that. He knew trying to block the incoming blow in his weakened state with his staff would be fruitless. So he used the only shield left to use.

His own body.

This body was now flying almost lifelessly through the air. This same body nearly snapped a tree in two with the force of its landing. And burned a horrible image into the minds of his three companions.

"GOKU!"

Having cleared the remaining three demons before him with a chi blast, Hakkai immediately rushed to his young companion's side. He was shocked to find the boy still awake, much less alive. But before he could even begin to see what injuries Goku had suffered, Hakkai felt a clawed hand grip his shoulder tightly.

He was promptly launched into the air.

Gojyo, having decided to occupy his attention on the demon bastard that had hit Goku and let Hakkai do what he could for the boy, didn't see the healer's body flying straight towards him until it was too late. Gojyo silently cursed the fast moving asshole that had managed to throw Hakkai at him before the air was knocked from him in a sudden whoosh.

Goku had only registered pain. A white-hot burning pain that shot first across his face, then his chest, his head and ended with his wrist. He couldn't believe the power that had just slammed into him.

'Thank Gods it was me.' He thought. 'Me…and not Sanzo.'

Tough as nails as the priest was, a combination hit like that would surely have killed the human monk. But something felt off. That feeling from last night was back again, much more potent than before. Goku gripped at it tightly, sensing it all around him. His eyes drew in and out of focus and he struggled to see the feeling. He knew it was there, he knew it was close. If he could only see it he knew he would never forget it again…

Sanzo wasn't quite sure what had just happened. One moment things had been going fine. They were nearly out of demons to kill (pity), and Goku was holding his own despite his weariness. So how exactly, he wondered, did Goku end up in a bloody mass against a tree while an unconscious Hakkai lay atop a breathe-stricken Gojyo? Then his violet eyes met yellow eyes and he realized that though he had witnessed the entire thing as if it were in slow motion, his brain could not relay information that fast. He doubted anyone's could.

Indeed the entire scene had taken less than five seconds to happen.

Sanzo stared down the yellow-eyed demon in front of him. They were at even heights and body mass it seemed, but there was an obvious build-up of tension and power in that lithe body. The demon had long silver white hair tied back in a ponytail behind him. He wore no decorations save a golden band across his right upper arm. With his v-cut sleeveless black t-shirt and ripped up faded jeans he could have passed for a human. Except of course for the obvious: elongated ears, teeth, claws and the over-whelming aura of destruction that radiated from the beast.

'No.' Sanzo thought suddenly. 'Not destruction, something else…'

He abandoned his thoughts as the demon before him gave a cat-like grin, his eyes darting from Sanzo to the still unmoving mass known as Goku nearby.

"What the fuck do you want?" Sanzo hissed out, his banishing gun pointed squarely between the creature's eyes. He was trying desperately not to look at the still body nearby.

The answer he had expected, "The scripture, of course." did not come.

And Sanzo could not stop his eyes from widening as the demon spoke, its yellow eyes now firmly set on Goku's silent form.

"My challenger."

(-to be continued-)