"—Gojyo's gone?"

"Just in case, what should we do right now?"

"I told you already last night, I'm sick of being stopped over things that didn't concern us—"

"—if he still left despite that, that's his personal decision..."

Sanzo sneaked a few glances towards Goku as the small monkey made some uncomfortable noises by himself—despite having the whole space at the back of the jeep to himself. He understood why Goku complained even more about being hungry now compared to before. It was because it was too quiet without that overgrown cockroach with them. He knew that... even as he cut Goku's words before the kid could finish talking.

A part of him did feel slightly guilty for being harsh on Goku considering that he wasn't actually angry at the boy. Because he was frustrated at the situation. And he was frustrated about that stupid cockroach! Just when... he thought that he might actually get along with the guy. Or not.

Not that he couldn't understand the reason Gojyo left. But he had a very bad feeling about that so-called Kami-sama. That guy was bad news... and he could tell that the guy could be troublesome for them. Still, between dealing with that guy and their primary mission, it should be clear which one should be their priority, right? As if they don't already have enough trouble with the number of assassins that come their way day-in-day-out. They could always deal with that weird Sanzo wannabe once they're done with their mission, right?

Stupid idiotic cockroach of a kappa...

xxx

It felt... lacking when Gojyo wasn't around with them. While it was good that there was no need for him to fight over food when there was no kappa to steal his food from him, it was awkward. Since usually Hakkai and Sanzo don't talk too much when they ate. And the few instances when Sanzo would get loud during lunch or dinner would be when he tried to stop either of them from making such a big ruckus at the restaurant. So when their dinner ends up going so peaceful, well—

So he started talking about Kougaiji—because it HAD been a while since they last saw them—and that led them to talk about the other Sanzo priests that should be around somewhere...

...and somehow Sanzo looked as if he was thinking about something deeply.

"Sanzo? Are you alright?" Hakkai asked suddenly as Sanzo snapped out of his daze.

"Unh... what? It's nothing."

Sanzo took out a cigarette as he started to fumble over something.

"...lighter—!"

Goku and Hakkai smiled helplessly at the man as Sanzo angrily stormed off from the table.

Goku just eyed his guardian quietly before sighing.

"Sanzo seemed to be bothered about something..."

"I know... right?" Goku turned towards Hakkai as the other man just sighed to himself.

"All of us weren't being too honest about our true feelings."

.

It started when Hakkai was trying to discuss how to go about their trip to the west without mentioning Gojyo even once. And since that's not something he could take part in, he thought he could play with Hakuryuu to while the time away. But that didn't work.

"Don't you think you've been smoking too much lately? I could barely see anything over all this smoke—"

"—just open the windows then."

Goku flinched as he tried to ignore the commotion behind him as he tried to get Hakuryuu to play with him. But he didn't know why the small dragon started to bite his fingers.

"Ouch! What's that for—?"

"What did you do, Goku—?"

.

Goku grabbed a pillow from beside him and hugged it tightly.

"It's different." Goku glanced at Sanzo as he warily tried to breach the topic. "Sanzo, I really think—"

"—Be quiet. If you say anything pointless, I'll kill you—"

Goku pouted to himself. "But it got so spacious on the jeep, yet it feels uncomfortable!"

Sanso frowned at him.

"What're you trying to say, I can't understand—"

"I'm saying—!"

"Now, now... Goku, calm down—Sanzo, stop taking it out on Goku...!"

.

Perhaps he shouldn't have started the argument, since now Hakkai began to argue with Sanzo because of him. And they kept on raising their voices higher and higher... that it got scary! It made him remember how scary Hakkai had been when he took off his limiter and Goku didn't like it. And it wasn't as if he minded being scolded by Sanzo—and Sanzo and Hakkai rarely ever fought with each other!

"STOP IT, YOU TWO!" he exclaimed as Sanzo turned his head at Goku. "That's why I told you! If we just go back to find Gojyo, none of this would have to happe—"

"DON'T MENTION THAT BASTARD'S NAME, YOU IDIOT MONKE—"

"LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYIN—!"

It only dawned on his mind once the deed was done, because Goku seriously didn't remember grabbing the pillow and hitting Sanzo's face with it. But when he saw Sanzo's face afterwards, he immediately felt bad about it—I mean, even back in Keiun Goku and Sanzo never fought like this or even got into a pillow fight...

...and then the assassins just chose that moment to barge in.

xxx

Goku's arms had snaked around his neck before he felt Goku's face pressing against his head from behind him. He could see some telltale signs that Hakkai was trying to not burst out laughing again as he ignored the man.

"Sorry... did I hurt you earlier?"

Sanzo just sighed exasperatedly. Whenever Goku was acting like this it was so hard to keep getting angry at the kid. Sanzo lifted his hand to pat the small head that was currently clinging to the side of his shoulder gently.

"It's fine... I'm more surprised at what you did earlier rather than feeling any pain—"

"—I wasn't planning to hit your face with the pillow. But when I thought about Gojyo, I just wanna hit that guy so much—"

"I know... I know..."

Hakkai suddenly laughed as Goku and Sanzo turned their heads at him.

"I guess aside from beating Gojyo into pulps, we really do need to have a proper pillow fight with that guy."

"Oh! That sounds fun! Sanzo, you're gonna join in too, right?"

Sanzo just rolled his eyes at them. Him, getting into some pillow fights for fun? Like some brats who have nothing else to do?

He just nodded. "Sure. As long as you'd hit him harder than how you did to me."

"YES! Gojyo wouldn't know what hit him!" exclaimed Goku again as Hakkai laughed heartily.

Because nothing else could brighten his day now than to see some oversized cockroach being beaten into scrap.