Every day for the past 70 years, Goku had been collecting all the meaningless things he could find. No one, not even Goku, understood why he found useless things so interesting. Some of his items were cooking utensils, or gardening tools, even construction paraphernalia – Goku had it all. And he figured that as Sanzo's time in this world was coming to a close, so was Goku's at Chouan Temple. He had always felt that he was a burden to the monks, but Sanzo refused to let him move out. Goku figured that if he stayed at the temple after Sanzo died not only would he be an annoyance, but also a mooch. He had gone into town that morning and gotten some boxes and had begun to pack up his room. Goku knew that he couldn't stand to stay in this town after Sanzo died – there would just be too many memories. He figured he would do just the same things as Hakkai did when Gojyo died, which was travel. It's not like Goku had any real family to go stay with. While packing up his room, Goku had decided to make two piles out of his things: "keep" and "sell". When his traveling began, he would unfortunately not have Sanzo's Gold Card and would actually have to pay for everything himself. Finally, all of Goku's useless stuff had a purpose.

            Goku had been cleaning for most of the day, and a majority of that was spent creating the "sell" pile. He was working on the second-to-last shelf he had in his room, and was feeling pretty proud of himself for his efficiency when he stumbled across the most nostalgic thing any one would ever own: Goku's old diadem.

            When Goku changed from a diadem to the gauntlet, every one told him he didn't look as cool, but he figured they should be thanking him. On more that several occasions, both while going west and in Chouan Temple, Goku had awoken feeling very much in control of himself, but having an incredible bloodlust. The cause? A nearly fallen off diadem. Goku, like most people, rolled around a lot in his sleep and in the process his diadem would move around and sometimes, nearly come off. Goku decided that for the safety of every one around him, he needed to change his Youki Limiter. While the gauntlet would provide Goku with horrible tan line, it would be far better than having a piece of metal wrapped around your head. No one at all realized how uncomfortable it was and how impossible it was to get to sleep.

            And now that Goku was holding the most uncomfortable and unpractical Youki Limited ever created in his hand, all he could think about was the estranged God, Homura and his two lackeys, Shien and Zenon. Of all the people Goku had fought in his lifetime, Homura was the second strongest, right after the Demon Ox King. Every time he fought against Homura, Goku would be sore for days, but he had to deal with it, cause everyday they were being attacked by Homura, Kougaiji or random youkai that just wanted to eat Sanzo.

            When Homura had taken Goku from the fight in his own tower to use Seiten Taisei Son Goku's power to create his own world, it was the one time Goku remembered something while he was in that form. When Goku was lying on the floor, his own power being sucked out of him, he looked and saw the sun. Not his sun, but the sun. Goku had never really cared about the real sun before, but when he looked up and saw the glowing golden orb, he knew what it was. And its beauty amazed him. But after just a few moments of the sun, everything went black, the Seiten Taisei Son Goku was in control and doing what he always did – fight. And the next thing Goku could see was his sun. Shining hair, violet eyes, pale complexion – Genjo Sanzo.

            And Goku remember deciding to himself that while the sun was beautiful, his was better. The real sun was hot and if you looked at it too long, you got a headache. Goku's sun you could touch, you might get hit or shot at, but you could touch it.

            Goku stood up from his spot on the floor and carefully placed his old diadem in his backpack.

            Over the years of living by himself, Hakkai had become a monster for tradition and regularity. And while what he was doing was not regular, it was quite traditional. Goku had told him that Sanzo's illness had not been announced to the public, so Hakkai figured he would go say his final "goodbye" to Genjo Sanzo before the rest of the town was heading to Chouan Temple to do the same thing. So, Cho Hakkai was standing in front of the huge gates of Chouan Temple, holding a most beautiful, and expensive, bouquet, waiting for the monks to open the mighty gates. Hakkai had decided a long time ago that all monks, including Genjo Sanzo were paranoid. And the fact that some of the most famous temples were in the middle of no where, didn't really help them.

            Hakkai disliked going to the temple, it reminded him too much of his life as Cho Gonou. So of course, when he did go, it took the monks a short lifetime to realize that he wasn't going to kill them all. It was times like these that he envied Goku – not only was known at the temple (and therefore not a threat) but if the monks were taking a long time, he could just scale the wall. Hakkai had a bit too much self-respect to do that. And after the gates were opened, he had to be escorted into the temple to Sanzo's room. He figured he would just have to follow the frightened faces.

            When the screen to Sanzo's room was opened, the monk was already looking at Hakkai frowning.

"Now that you're here, we won't need to tell everyone I had a stroke. They'll all say, 'Oh, if Hakkai is going there, some one important must be dying!'."

            Hakkai laughed as he closed the door and sat down.

"You're so depressing, Hakkai. You brought flowers."

Hakkai was confused by Sanzo's behavior, and he'd been in the room for less than a minute, "What are you talking about, Sanzo?"

"You take flowers to Gojyo. You should have been something to eat. Comfort food."

            A monk came in with a small cup of tea for Hakkai, and also took the flowers to put them in a vase for Sanzo.

"I'm sure you know I talked to Goku."

"And I'm sure you know that Goku is avoiding me."

Once again perplexed, Hakkai just made a little grumbly noise.

Sanzo sighed, "He's either shut up in his room or out on a day long walk. It's like what you did after Gojyo died, but on a smaller scale."

Hakkai wanted to smack Sanzo for that, but he didn't, "Goku has never really had to deal with the death of some one as close to him as you are. He probably isn't sure of what he's supposed to do. Honesty, I'm not sure if I would know either."

"Youkai," Sanzo rolled his eyes, "You know how on the journey west, Goku was always so… clingy? 'Sanzo wait for me!', 'Sanzo, can I come?', stuff like that, you know?"

"Yes."

"I figured he'd do something like that. It just seemed appropriate to me for that to happen."

"Sanzo, if you don't mind my asking…. What has happened between you Goku? It doesn't seem as much of his life is about you anymore."

            Sanzo stood up and went to his bookshelf and picked out a small, brightly colored book and then sat back down.

"Sanzo?"

"Just listen for a minute, Hakkai… When I first brought Goku to this temple after I saved him from Mt. Gogyo, he was so clueless. If he'd ever learned anything, he couldn't remember it for the life of him. I remember when I asked him what his name was…. It took him nearly an hour to remember. He'd been in there for so long…." Sanzo opened the book and flipped through a few of the pages, "He pretty much had to learn to read and write again. I had to dig up my old books that my master given to me when I was young. I was surprised I even still had them. He'd been here maybe…. Two weeks, shit, probably not even that long, and he drew this."

            Sanzo pulled out a small sheet of paper and handed it to Hakkai. It was obviously a child's picture. Stick figures, smiling sun in the corner – things like that. In the picture there were to figures, Sanzo and Goku respectively. Goku was hugging Sanzo tightly around the waist and smiling, complete with long brown hair and daidem. Sanzo's eyes were red, but then colored over with purple, so they looked a little more evil than they should have. And Sanzo's face was definitely one of anger. There were flowers on the ground blooming, cloudless sky, shining sun – and Sanzo was pissed.

"When Goku drew that," Sanzo's sudden speech startled Hakkai, "I wasn't sure whether I should strangle him or go get smashed in a bar. He actually thought I hated him, or something to that effect. I know I'm not the nicest person, big deal, but …. For a kid to portray you like that, it's just depressing."

Hakkai handed Sanzo the picture, "What exactly is your point?"

"I think that from the moment Goku gave me that picture, we've started drifting apart." Sanzo put the picture back in the book, "Not very fast at first mind you. Before I met you or Gojyo and I had paperwork to do, Goku would sit behind my desk with me and just talk. I wouldn't pay attention, but I never told him that. When I had to go on a trip and Goku would say here, I'd come home and he would be waiting right by the gate for me. After the four of us killed the Demon Ox King," Sanzo tugged lightly on his sutra, "I've felt so tired. I don't have any energy. I'm too exhausted every day to argue my way out of doing something I hate. I'm just so tired, Hakkai. I'm going to die soon, very soon."

            Hakkai was starting to feel a little awkward.

"I'm dying and where the hell is my monkey?"

If Hakkai had been eating something, he would have choked and died right there, "your monkey?"

"I saved his life how many times? I think it's pretty fair to say that his life," Sanzo pointed to himself, "is mine."

            Hakkai was trying to find a way out of the room before something else was bizarre escaped the old monk's mouth.

Sanzo noticed this and smiled, "So, Hakkai, how have you been?"