SailorStar9: This is Chapter 3 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, will it kill you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny and the pairings.

Chapter 3: Rescue

"That's Yaone's…" Kougaiji recognized the smoke.

"So, it's no use after all." Yaone noted.

"I'm gonna burst it down, no matter what." Goku swore, summoning his pole-arm.

"Is that stick really going to do the trick?" Lirin pointed out.

"It's spirit." Goku insisted.

"Spirit?" Lirin echoed. "If it's spirit then I got it too."

"Hold on a second." Dokugakuji voiced. "I understand how you feel, but…"

"What are you doing?" Kougaiji inquired. "What happened?" he noticed Goku was without his companions. "A blissful village that lives with a demon who extracts painful memories, huh?" he mused. "I've heard rumors of this as well, but…"

"Is there something?" Tokusa asked.

"No, it may not be what I think it is." Kougaiji stopped himself. "Anyway, this means if their memories aren't recovered, those guys can't go back to being themselves. This is an unusual type of barrier." He remarked, testing the shield. "Do you know how she put it up?"

"It was probably an incarnation." Tokusa replied. "But I remember they were singing."

"I see." Kougaiji stated. "Sound, huh? I'll break through it with my summoned fiend."

"Why…" Goku started.

"Don't I just take the Scripture?" Kougaiji finished. "This is definitely my chance, but…"

"We owe you one." Tokusa noted, pulling Goku off to take cover.

"Cover your ears." Kougaiji advised.

"I sure hope they have insurance." Tokusa joked, seeing Kougaiji's fiery beast level the village.

"Sanzo!" Goku hurried in.

"Looks like it's not going to be so simple." Tokusa stopped in her tracks, the villagers crawling out from the debris.

"Are they being controlled?" Goku cursed.

"I'll put them to sleep." Yaone stepped up. "What?" she gasped, her sleeping powder having no effect. "They won't fall asleep."

"As I suspected," Kougaiji remarked. "Those guys are human and not yet human anymore. Yaone's story about the demon is over 100 years old. The bodies of these villagers have probably already died."

"Move it!" Goku fought his way through the zombies. "This is endless!"

"Goku, I'll stop them in their tracks for just an instant." Kougaiji promised. "Take that opening and go! Dokugakuji, take care of things a bit."

"Roger." The swordsman covered his master.

"Go!" Kougaiji instructed, having tunneled a way through with his fiend.

"Goku." Tokusa nodded her thanks and the pair headed straight for the mansion.

"Sanzo!" Goku burst in through the door. "Gojyo!" the pair searching room by room. "Hakkai! Where are they?"

"Hakuryu!" Tokusa let her mate's dragon land on her shoulder. "That way?" she blinked, the dragon tugging her dress.

With Hakuryu leading the way, the pair entered the room where the guys' memories were kept in a silken cocoon.

"Sanzo as a kid?" Goku blinked, the younger Sanzo sealed in the shell. "What is this stuff?" he cursed, trying to pull the strands off. "He disappeared?" Goku gaped, the younger Sanzo vanishing in a bright burst of light.

"The younger Gojyo…" Tokusa hovered a hand over kid Gojyo. "And Hakkai before he became a demon… could it be… these are the extracted memories?"

"I wonder if everyone's back to the way they were." Goku mused, the trio having worked to return the gang's memories.

"If you haven't meddled, you could've avoided this fate." Suika chided, catching the two demons in her threads.

"You're the one who's meddling." Tokusa glared. "Hakuryu!" she gasped, the dragon caught in the web.

"What mean children you are." Suika scolded. "I did what I did for the sake of their happiness."

"What you did is wrong!" Goku shouted, Suika's threads tightening around them. "Sanzo and the others would never be happy with what you did!"

"Do you think that's what they're thinking even now?" Suika taunted. "Even now when they've had a taste of serenity of being freed form their pained pasts?"

"What do you mean?" Tokusa barked.

"It a painful thing to reaccept sorrowful memories." Suika explained. "Every last person has asked me to let them forget once again. Poor things. They must be in pain right now. Or perhaps they're running desperately from their memories."

"Sanzo and the other won't run away!" Tokusa was certain.

"The pain of being held captive by sorrowful memories, I'll let you experience what it is like." Suika approached her captives. "You will be there forever." She trapped the two in their memories. "And you will have the same dream over and over again. Your memories have been restored and you must be in pain." She addressed the trio. "It's all right. I'll put them to sleep once again. Don't worry… why?" she stopped in her tracks when Sanzo cocked his gun at her. "You were happy, weren't you? You were at peace, weren't you?"

"I remember." Gojyo admitted. "It felt like I was having a pleasant dream."

"But a dream is still a dream." Hakkai added.

"Such stupid children." Suika hissed.

Sanzo fired his shot before she could react.

"Such stupid children…" Suika muttered.

"Same goes for you." Sanzo retorted.

With the dream demon gone, the effects of her power vanished, causing the zombies to disappear.

"Sanzo!" Goku exclaimed, awakening.

"If you're awake, hurry up and get to your feet." Sanzo scolded.

"You can put me down now, dear." Tokusa chided.

"Good morning." Hakkai beamed at his mate in his arms.

"Oh yeah, that demon!" Goku recalled.

"That was already taken care of." Hakkai assured.

"While you two were sleeping." Gojyo added.

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.