Chapter 4

They all sat around the table as Kaguya served them each tea and made sure the plate of biscuits and bowl of fruit preserves were refilled. In the brightly lit room, her skin didn't glow as noticeably. Goku ate as ravenously as usual, yet was somehow able to keep an eye on her the entire time.

"So your father tells us you believe you came from the moon," Hakkai said, accepting another cupful of tea.

"I don't just believe," she answered in a soft voice with a slight, unrecognizable accent. "It is where I'm from."

"But how?" Gojyo interjected. "I mean you were just a baby when you were found, right?"

"I came here in the form of an infant, but I still remember my life on the moon. I remember everything." She paused a moment, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Everything but the reason I was banished." Without further explanation, she returned to the kitchen with Goku following close behind. They sat together on the edge of the dock with their legs dangling in the water.

"I'm going to bed," Sanzo announced suddenly. The other two gave each other a look of understanding.

"I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure he's still your pet." The click of Sanzo's gun didn't even make Gojyo wince. He lit a fresh cigarette and blew out a long stream of smoke before casually pushing the barrel away from his face. "Come on, Sanzo. You've been the center of Goku's universe for years now. It's only natural to feel jealous when you've been replaced. But I can't picture him ever turning his back on you for good."

"Just think of him as a rebellious teenager," Hakkai added. "He may only have eyes for the girl right now, but he'd never forget his family. Give him a little time and let him experience independence for a bit. It seems pretty safe here, and Hakuryuu could use a break. We all could."

Sanzo sighed and stowed his gun back inside his robe. "Fine. Let the monkey have his tryst while Kougaiji resurrects Gyumaoh and unleashes chaos on the world. At least I can get away from you three for a while." Just as Sanzo reached the door, a tremble ran through the ground, shaking the cottage. The precarious stacks of gifts toppled and dishes crashed to the floor.

"What the hell?" Gojyo yelled, dodging a box of China teacups. "Let's get outta here before the whole place comes down on us!" They made their way shakily to the back door and out to the dock just as pieces of the roof fell in crumbles behind them.

"What the hell?" Sanzo echoed at the sight of Goku and Kaguya kissing in a tight embrace, oblivious to the shaking ground. At the monk's shout, the two broke apart with identical guilty expressions. Immediately, the trembling stopped.

"Oh, hey, Sanzo," Goku said, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh. He then noticed the pieces of missing roof and the crack running across the wall of the cottage. "What happened to the house? Did Gojyo lose his cool and punch the wall or something?"

"Goku, are you telling me you didn't just feel the ground shake?" Hakkai asked.

Goku blushed and grinned. "Hakkai! Don't make a guy kiss and tell!"

"He doesn't mean from the smooch, stupid," Gojyo said, giving Goku a playful swat in the head. "He means the earthquake."

"Earthquake?"

"You mean you really didn't feel the ground shaking at all?" Hakkai asked.

"I'm saying I have no idea what you guys are talking about!"

"Hakkai, I know that look," Gojyo said. "You have at least an idea of what's going on don't you?"

"I have a theory," he admitted.

"So by all means keep us in the dark," Sanzo muttered sarcastically.

"By what Miyatsuko believes, Kaguya is a child of the moon. Goku was born from the earth. These two heavenly bodies are attracted to each other...the moon circling the earth in a constant and predictable path. But the moon also has an effect on the earth. The tides, for instance, are controlled by the pull of the moon."

Hakkai paused, waiting to see if anyone else made it to the same conclusion he had. Everyone just stared blankly at him.

"I have no idea what you're saying," Goku admitted.

"Yeah," Gojyo added. "What kind of fairy tale book have you been reading? Sounds like a load of bull to me."

"I'm serious," Hakkai said. "Scientist and philosophers from all over have been proving this fact."

"So you're saying Goku and Kaguya are attracted to each other? Doesn't take a philosopher to figure that one out." Sanzo sighed.

"I'm saying," Hakkai continued patiently, "that Goku and Kaguya are naturally drawn to each other just as the earth and moon are drawn to each other. Goku wasn't just hypnotised by her song like the other men. He was experiencing physical signs before she even showed herself. He practically vibrated with energy. The problem is that the earth and moon were never meant to meet. To do so would be catastrophic."

"So you're saying Goku and Kaguya are also never meant to be together?" Sanzo asked.

"I'm saying there is a definite possibility that their...attraction...could have a physical, adverse affect on the world as we know it."

"I'm still lost," Goku complained. "Can you talk so you make sense?"

"He's saying if you and Kaguya hook up, it could do more than just rock your worlds," Gojyo explained. "You two could possibly destroy the earth."

"And possibly the moon as well," Hakkai added. "If my theory holds true, I'm sure there was also a reaction there as well."

"Then my moon parents would also know," Kaguya said, a panicked look in her eyes. She clutched at Goku's arm. "They will come for me. They will take me away from you."

"Oh, no they won't!" Goku promised. "They'll have to go through me first. And I won't let anyone take anything away from me."

"You idiot monkey! Are you really going to fight her parents?" Sanzo snapped.

"If they banished her, they shouldn't have any more claim to her," Goku replied.

"Just hang on, now. Why would your moon family come for you now after all this time?" Gojyo asked.

Kaguya looked up at the moon shining high overhead. "I may not remember why I was banished, but I've been pleading in song during every full moon to be allowed to return home. And at the end of every song I received the same reply, 'We have not heard your heart.' If we have affected the moon in this way," she added with a wave toward the broken cottage, "they have heard me. They will come, and now I don't want to return."

Goku wrapped his arms securely around her tiny frame. "If you want to stay, I'll make sure you do. No matter what," he promised.

"Then you must leave," Miyatsuko announced. He turned to Sanzo with tears in his eyes. "Please take her with you. Take her far away from here where they can't find her. I know you could keep her safe. I'd give everything I have if she could stay on earth and be happy with Goku. It's all I ever wanted for her."

"It wouldn't matter where she went," Sanzo said. "The moon is everywhere. If they wanted to find her, they would. It's not worth the trouble, especially if they're eventually going to destroy the world anyway."

"Wow. That's cold, Sanzo," Gojyo said. "Just because you're not interested in women doesn't mean they're not important to the rest of us. Don't you have at least one romantic bone in your body? We could at least give it a try."

Hakkai laid a hand on Gojyo's shoulder. "I agree with Sanzo. Running won't help the situation. The best we can do is wait and see if the moon people show up at all. Then we should try negotiating with them first," he added with a pointed look at Goku. "Maybe we can talk them into letting her stay. They may even know a way for the two of them to safely be together."

"I guess that makes sense," Gojyo replied. "So what should we do while we wait?"

"I have a feeling we'll be busy enough," Sanzo said, drawing his gun. Hakkai and Gojyo soon noticed the approaching horde of demons as well. "I'm not sure what's been keeping the demons from this human buffet until now, but obviously something's changed."

"Those men out there are sitting ducks," Gojyo said, conjuring his metal shakujo.

Hakkai handed Hakuryuu to Goku. "Stay with Kaguya and her father. We should be able to handle this."

The men on the outskirts of the clearing heard the crashing through the underbrush of the forest before they saw the red eyes glowing in the darkness. In a panic, they left their campsites and ran down toward the center of the valley, knocking others out of their way and trampling over those who had fallen.

"Head to the lake," Gojyo and Hakkai called out over the crowd as they helped as many men to their feet as they could while struggling through the oncoming throng.

"Gojyo, take the left side. Hakkai, go right," Sanzo ordered.

"Will they be safe?" Kaguya asked Goku from where she hid behind him.

"They'll be fine," he reassured her as the fight began with a flurry of slashes, blasts, and gunshots. "We've been surrounded by a bigger group of demons than this."

Suddenly, Hakuryuu began to thrash in Goku's arms. "Hey! Settle down, Hakuryuu! What's the matter?" The dragon's movements dislodged the makeshift blindfold and he broke free of Goku's grasp. Flapping his wings erratically in panic, he barely made it over the group of frightened men before crashing to the ground where he instantly turned into his jeep form and sped off into the forest.

"That was weird. I wonder what made him…" Goku froze as a bright, sparkling, silver shaft of light appeared at the end of the dock. They watched, breathless, as cloudy figures descended the beam of light, taking the solid shapes of people as their feet touched the worn wood.

"They have come!" Kaguya whispered in fear and clutched Goku's arm tighter.