This, Hakkai admitted to himself, was more than a bit nerve-racking. If it wasn't bad enough that he was bound quite tightly to a stone wall, it also turned out that most of the people who might have helped him loose were also chained. And those who weren't had the honor of probably being in even more trouble. But that wasn't what had Hakkai's nerves on the edge of fraying, though.

It was Goku's growling.

Goku never growled. He mocked, he made snarked, he snarled. He did not growl. Even as Seiten Taisen, he did not growl. Snarl and laugh insanely, yes. Once again, he did not growl.

At least the sound was enough to take Hakkai's mind off the way they were chained up. A collar around the neck, and manacles around both wrists and ankles. Chains too short for much movement at all. It was a miracle that none of them had strangled to death while they were unconscious. Before Goku had woken up, Hakkai had counted off his companions. Doku, Yaone, Gojyo, Goku, and himself were all present. Kougaiji and Sanzo were gone without a trace, and he hadn't any idea where they might have been taken. It was the same with Lirin.

"San-zo," Goku rasped out, his voice even deeper. This was truly beginning to bother Hakkai. It was rather dark, and he was having a hard time getting a proper angle to see Goku. If the boy lost his limiter, they were all helpless, and there was no way to tell if it was cracking.

It was risky, but Hakkai had to get Goku to focus on him. "Goku?" A few moments passed, and there was no response from the brunette. Hakkai tried again. "Goku, look at me." It was his best 'I'm the teacher and you will listen' voice.

And it worked.

Gold eyes slowly focused on him, and Hakkai felt his unease rise. There was something in Goku's expression that seemed off somehow. A vague reminder of his demon form.

Shaking off the chill that thought brought, Hakkai worked at bringing something of the normal, sane, Goku back. The almost dead look in the boy's eyes reminded Hakkai of his own, so many years ago. "Goku, what's wrong?"

There was a small change. Goku seemed to focus, and Hakkai realized that the dead look was an internal focus rather than a lack of emotion. Goku had his attention fixed on something only he could sense. "Sanzo." This was more of a whine than a growl.

Then Goku flinched, as if someone had just slapped him. He panted, hanging limply from his chains, and Hakkai began to worry. What if something was seriously wrong with the boy?

Shaking his head, Goku looked at Hakkai once again. Hakkai stared in shock as a deep bruise began to form on Goku's cheek. It hadn't been there just a few seconds ago. Even as he watched, the bruise darkened, becoming more pronounced by the second.

"Sanzo," howled Goku. He once again focused on the door and lunged as far as his chains allowed. Unable to go more than a few inches, Goku set himself and began to pull. Hakkai could see the muscles in his companion's arms and shoulders straining, since all Goku now wore was his shirt and jeans.

"Goku, stop," he shouted, not wanting the boy to get hurt trying the impossible. Then his voice died as the faint screech of metal leaving stone was heard. The sound seemed to encourage Goku, who flung himself even harder.

With a spine-chilling screech and the clatter of chains, Goku tumbled forward, free of the wall. A second passed as he staggered to his feet, then he grabbed the dangling chain attached to his left arm and twisted it off the shackle. The other chains quickly followed, and he took a step towards the door.

"Goku."

The sound of his name made him freeze once again, and Hakkai found himself caught in golden eyes. Goku paused, torn between moving out of the door, and seeing what Hakkai wanted. Outside, Hakkai could hear the guards yelling at each other, no doubt drawn by the noise of Goku's current escape.

Ignoring that danger for the moment, Hakkai focused on Goku. "Goku, I know you want to go after Sanzo, but we'd all have a better chance if we went together." He shifted, jingling the chains that held him. "You're the only one who can get us out. Please, Goku."

As if caught in a state of half sleep, Goku took a step forward. He flinched again, a snarl escaping him. "Sanzo hurts." Those words escaped through developing fangs. The eyes that looked at Hakkai were golden cat's eyes. Another step brought Goku into close enough range that Hakkai could see the crack running a good way through the middle of the gold diadem. Then slim fingers were wrapped around the collar he wore.

With a single twist, Goku tore the metal apart like paper. From that close, Hakkai could see the feral anger and protectiveness that seemed odd on Goku's face. One or the other, he could understand. Seiten Taisen was nothing but anger, while Goku was protective of the things he loved, foremost of those being Sanzo. But to see both of them at the same time....

Seconds later, Hakkai was free, skin chafed, but otherwise unharmed. And Goku turned back towards the door. This time nobody stopped him. With a roar, the half-wild Goku slammed against the door, knocking it down.

Closing one eye against the sounds of a slaughter, Hakkai turned towards the others and smiled. "So, anyone else like down?"

Gojyo looked at his friend with a stunned expression. "Talk about sticking your head in the lion's mouth," he finally said. "And I would greatly appreciate it if you'd get us loose before monkey-boy there decides to lose it completely."

Beside Gojyo was his brother, who nodded. Hakkai's lips tightened as he saw the black bruise that decorated Doku's jaw, possibly indicating a broken jaw. Or at least one that was bone bruised. Still further down the wall was Yaone. Her expression was serious, and she kept darting glances towards the door.

"Yes, please, Hakkai-san. We've kept a record of all your fights, and I will say that the ones involving Goku in his demon form are especially terrifying. As it appears he is working up to that point...."

"Ah," Hakkai nodded. "Excellent motivation, Yaone-san. If you will all hold on just a moment." With that, Hakkai stepped up to Gojyo.

A few minutes and several carefully controlled ki-balls later, the others were free. Doku's jaw had been broken, but Hakkai had taken a moment to heal it enough that the taller demon would be able to move without pain. Looking at everyone, he came to a decision.

"I know that we've spent most of the last few years fighting, in our own way, so this may sound rather odd, but what if we join forces?" Hakkai bumped Gojyo with his shoulder as the redhead opened his mouth. Most likely to discourage the idea. But it was the best option they had. "Look at it this way. We are going after our respective leaders, and while Gojyo and I do not know the lay of the castle, we can hold our own in a fight."

Yaone nodded slowly, then looked at Doku. He shrugged, then waved at her. It seemed to be an acceptable answer, because Yaone looked at Hakkai again. "You told me what Kougaiji-sama had suggested just before you were captured. This is nothing less than what he wanted."

She sketched a quick bow. "If you will follow me, I can lead you to where they normally hold the prisoners belongings." A swirl of power showed her than neither Gojyo nor Doku actually needed to be near their things to call their weapons. "Ah. Well, I still need my pouches, since those contain most of my explosives and chemicals, and it would not be safe for them to be mishandled."

Gojyo made his way towards the door. Peering out, he whistled. "At least we won't have a hard time tracking down the saru. All we'll have to do is follow the bodies."

"Ah, then we should hurry. No use in sending Goku so far ahead of us," Hakkai said cheerfully, then gestured Yaone to the front. "We follow you to your supplies, then onto battle, I suppose."

"Let's go already," muttered Gojyo, and the newly allied group left their cell.

///

Kougaiji was a warrior. No stranger to blood and death, he was expected to help slay the enemies of his home.

But nothing had prepared him for what was happening before him.

Gyokumen stood before him in all her finely polished and primped glory. With her had come a large number of guards, several of which were holding Sanzo tightly. A few others were around Kougaiji, in case he 'tried' anything, the redhead assumed.

In the concubine's hands was one of the sutras. Which one, Kougaiji neither knew nor cared. All he saw was that evil bitch using it to torture Sanzo.

He would be the first to admit that he and Sanzo were not friends. Enemies out for each others blood was a better example (at least in theory), but Kougaiji wouldn't have wished this kind of torture on anyone.

Somehow, Gyokumen was able to pull power from the sutra, using it to both strengthen her own strikes, or manipulating the power until it managed to damage the human. Bruises and cuts littered the pale skin, and the smell of blood clung strongly to the inside of Kougaiji's nose. The ground was splattered in red, as was the guards, the walls, and Gyokumen herself. Even Kougaiji had the fine spray of red decorating him. How a human could lose that much and not be at least unconscious was a mystery to him.

But, then, he had noticed that Sanzo was failing to react to the various pokes and prods the woman seemed to enjoy giving. She had also noticed, but had not wanted to give up her newfound sport of 'hurt the monk.' Finally, though, Gyokumen began to pout. It was obvious that Sanzo was awake, but not at all aware of his surroundings.

"Damn monks and their training," scowled the woman. Allowing the sutra to return to its scroll form, she motioned for the guards to let the blond go. Sanzo hit the ground without a sound.

"Kougaiji."

Fighting down the urge to snarl at her, Kougaiji answered with a quiet "what?" He did not need to piss her off at this moment, when his resources were not at their best.

"Make sure our guest is cleaned up and bandaged. It will be no fun if he dies at this point and time. I'll have one of the guards fetch you supplies."

With that, the blue-haired woman began to stroll towards the doors. On the threshold, she paused, then looked over her shoulder. "Soon, Kougaiji, soon. Your father will be with us once more in just a few hours." She smiled a dark, predatory smile. "I do hope you're ready." Then she vanished out of the room.

Waiting until she was gone, Kougaiji moved forward and knelt next to Sanzo. The human looked a mess. For some reason, though, Gyokumen had mostly avoided his face, leaving only a faint bruise on his cheek. But that hadn't protected most of his body. The traditional robes of a Sanzo-priest were gone, leaving Sanzo in just jeans, his shirt, and the arm warmers he was so fond of. And there wasn't much of the shirt left, and the jeans had large rents torn into them. All of the clothes were stained with blood.

After the guard brought water and bandages, Kougaiji began to work on his patient. One did not live for as long as he had without picking up some type of first aid. As he began to clean off the blood, Kougaiji also began to cheerfully call Sanzo every name under the sun, plus a few more.

"Come on, you damn lousy monk. I am not taking care of you for the fun of it. Wake your ass up and help get us out of this disaster."

///

Sanzo threw his cup at the wall. It shattered with a very satisfying spray of porcelain and tea, pieces going everywhere. Almost instantly, there was another cup to be thrown, which Sanzo did.

He did not have these fits of rampant destruction very often, but it felt very therapeutic to hear the bitter cracking of something going all to pieces. And there was the additional benefit that this was all in his mind, so there would be no messy cleanup later. That was good, because this was a very nice room.

This room was the same one Kougaiji and his mother had just been in. Sanzo had gotten tired of their noise, which had been nattering about in the back of his mind as that woman had begun his torture, so he had shoved them here. It was basically a soundproof room, leaving him free to concentrate on more important matters.

He was rather proud of this room, since it required an incredible amount of mental practice and discipline to maintain it.

Cherry wood lined the walls, with the various animals of mythology set in them in a lighter oak. Bamboo had help provide the various decorations around the room, including a dragon that curled up in one corner and a phoenix in the other. In the center was a simple table with a tea set on it made of fine porcelain, with the same theme of mythical creatures painted on it in blue.

Another toss and the cracking noise of a breaking cup. Sanzo tried to remember the last time he had simply destroyed a large number of dishes. It had been a while, and it had been the result of a slavers incident. That had been an unusual one in that Goku had also joined in.

Goku.

As if the name was an invitation, the mental presence that was Goku flooded into Sanzo's mind. He had been blocking the link, had started it when Goku had pulled some of his pain away. Since the bakasaru would keep doing it as long as Sanzo let him, Sanzo had simply blocked the link to the best of his ability. It wasn't the greatest, since no matter what he did, Goku could slip through. But it had been enough for him to concentrate on the simple meditation that let him flee the pain, and thus appear here.

Now the monkey was in his head again, and Sanzo paused. There was something very off about the whole attitude he could 'hear.' The voice was off, and the emotions that were tied to it were also haywire. It took only a few minutes for Sanzo to realize that the limiter was failing, and Seiten Taisen was coming towards the surface. Which meant that he was going to have to wake up.

On the tail of that discovery, Sanzo made a second one. There was another voice echoing behind Goku's. It was fainter, but it was familiar. It was also cussing Sanzo out. With a growl, Sanzo pulled himself inwards, then flew out, back to his physical body.

///

As he bandaged the damaged ribs, Kougaiji felt Sanzo shift. Looking up, he watched as the empty eyes filled once more. They closed, then opened again, staring straight at him.

"Noisy," hissed Sanzo. "Why am I stuck with such noisy idiots?"

Kougaiji had nothing to tell him. Not that it would have mattered much. Muttering a quiet 'ch', Sanzo slid into true unconsciousness.

"Well," Kougaiji said simply. "Fuck."

TBC...