Bluj: Ah, heck, you know what goes in here!

Onna: FRAKIT! YOU FINALLY WAKE UP!

*****

Sanzo bolted to a sitting position in bed, right into darkness. His breath came in ragged gasps, stifled by the white sheet that clung to his sweating skin. Moonlight shone through the window and gave light to the strangely large room. For a moment, it all felt...familiar.

Where-?

There was a brush of cloth beside him before a gentle weight settled around his shoulders. "Another nightmare, Kouryuu?"

He jerked to face whoever it was at his side, not daring to believe - to hope... But there it was, the soft brown eyes and the comforting smile, the tender voice that he remembered. "Oshou-sama..."

"What happened in this one? Kouryuu?"

He blinked at the pair of brown eyes, not understanding-

But all at once it came to him. He, as Kouryuu, had been having a nightmare for several nights. Images of blood-spattered walls and a floor drenched in the crimson liquid. He couldn't understand what happened; why there was the glint of bestial eyes or blood-red claws in the shadows.

And then there was the broken body on the floor.

The gentle weight quickly shifted to encircle him in its protective warmth. Smoke still clung to the silken robe, mingling with the tangy smell of sake.

And all the while a whispered voice soothed him...

Sanzo floated awake. There was no longer the familiar room of his childhood when he opened his eyes but one engulfed in darkness.

The presence at his side was not the gentle one he had grown to expect but a stiff one that seemed to hold its anticipation in check.

"Had a nice dream, Sanzo-sama?" Facheung's voice broke the silence.

Sanzo didn't answer. He couldn't; not when his head felt so fuzzy. What had they given him?

"It'll pass in a while, the dizziness. You'll grow used to it."

"How...?" Shit, his voice sounded weak.

"Comes with being who we are. Including you."

"What...the fuck," he moistened his lips. "Do you mean...?"

"Maybe this will help,"

A curtain lifted in his mind, drawn by someone else. The voices that had been plaguing him had returned but at a more subdued volume.

...going for a walk...can't let them find me! When will he be back? Oniichan?

...you see?

Sanzo turned to face Facheung, trying to keep his face from paling. He didn't hear the last one with his ears. Instead, the words came unbidden to his mind, charged with an energy that resembled Facheung.

You are very attached to your companions, Sanzo-sama. Even more your master.

Urusai. Get out of my head.

Your companions are youkai, are they not? Why do you protect those that killed your master?

It's none of your business! Get out of my head!

Ah Sanzo-sama, you are kin to us. And we protect one of our own.

Whatever protest he tried to make was lost in the sudden surge of memories that flooded him. He watched his family slaughtered right in front of him; watched his master die all over again; watched youkais' bodies burst inwards with his anger; watched the shadows step into the light with their bestial eyes trained on him and his master's blood still dripping from their claws. In both memories he recognized the same youkai and his mind railed in disbelief. But the memories were too strong, too vivid.

He backed away from the images. The youkais' gazes followed him and he had no choice but to stare back at the cat-like slits in inhuman red or green eyes - or even the no-longer-innocent golden.

Goku-!

Goku froze in mid-step, forcing Gojyo to crash into him with a curse. "Bakasaru! What the f-"

"Sanzo."

The taller man blinked as Goku shook his head. He had expected the boy to retaliate with an insult or two, instead of getting this concentrated frown or calling out for the monk. "Oi."

"What's wrong?" Hakkai finally caught up with them, white sash fluttering about his legs. They were almost to the house Sanzo had been staring at that morning, the one with the arching roof and the aged walls; the one with the shadowed windows that hid everything inside. Goku could almost feel the same compulsion to approach it. But he kept himself from taking a step closer, straining instead to catch that fleeting voice that whispered past him.

"Goku?"

He turned to look into Hakkai's concerned green eyes and explained, "I thought I heard Sanzo."

*****

Bluj: Well, I finally managed to get this done despite my condition *glares at Onna, still holding the ice pack to her head*

Onna: You were wailing non-stop! What was I supposed to do?

Bluj: Something else other than giving me this cannonball of a headache, that's what.

Sanzo: *death glare, similarly holding head* And I can't have a say about mine?!

Hakkai and Yaone: *massive sweatdrops*