Part II

Chapter 3

Needing rest and not knowing whether they would be able to resume driving or would have to continue walking, carrying Sanzo, they had spent the dark hours of night in the grove of evergreens in which they had sought cover. Gojyo had volunteered for first watch, and Hakkai had drained himself enough that he had slept soundly at least for the first few hours.

Although the thick carpet of pine needles offered more comfort than many of their previous camps, Goku had slept hardly at all. His ears were constantly tuned to the sounds in the forest—alert for anything out of the ordinary—as well as to the minute variations in the breathing of the man beside whom he had made his bed. Gojyo had seen him sit up to check on Sanzo at least two dozen times in three or four hours.

Now, in the tree-dappled early morning light streaming into the jeep, with Sanzo's head and shoulders cradled in his lap, he dozed on and off, slipping between half-dreams and half-awake musings, much as he had the day before.

He and Gojyo and Hakkai had agreed that none of them should go more than a few yards from the others by themselves. As soon as the first light of day grayed the sky, the elder two had hiked back to the road to check its status, leaving Goku to pack their things and guard Sanzo. As Hakkai had surmised, the road had been blocked to delay their travel and ensure they got trapped in the ravines, tired and with their guard lowered from long hours of walking. Past the trap, however, the road was clear, and within a few miles the forest began to thin out again.

Gojyo and Hakkai had argued about who should drive, the redhead insisting that Hakkai was still too exhausted and shouldn't strain his shoulder, the brunette angry that Gojyo had stayed up most of the night on watch and hadn't woken him to take a shift. In the end they had agreed to share the duty, and Gojyo had taken the wheel until he had become too tired to keep his eyes open.

Sanzo had briefly regained consciousness when they had carried him to the jeep, using the blankets and two saplings for a makeshift litter. Now he slept restlessly, at the edge of awareness, a moan occasionally escaping his lips when he was jostled by the jeep bumping over a rough section of road. Goku was sure he was dreaming sometimes, his eyelids fluttering. Not good dreams, if his creased brow and the twitching of his body were any indications.

Goku thought back to his own nightmares a few days ago. He remembered how often Sanzo, after rescuing him, had spent middle-of-the-night hours comforting him and listening to him babble about those kinds of dreams, or cry with the terror of being left alone again. By day, the monk had always lost patience with him easily, resenting his loss of privacy, and had reprimanded him constantly with fan in hand; but by night he had shown patience and care that few who knew him would have expected.

Slowly Goku's mind had been eased, and he had learned that no matter how irritated Sanzo acted towards him, it was only his way of teaching him lessons; he would not abandon him, in spite of threats to the contrary—and he had not begun making those, Goku suddenly realized, until Goku had grown confident enough not to take them seriously.

The questions that Yanane's conversation with him had raised about his relationship with Sanzo drifted through his mind again. Were he and Sanzo friends? Did he feel the same way about Sanzo that he did about Hakkai and Gojyo? Did Sanzo feel that way about him?

He studied the troubled face in his lap, wanting to ask those questions of this hard, golden man. A lump thickened in his throat, and his chest tightened, as he considered the possibility that Sanzo might not make it through this journey if things kept going as they were. You just better not leave me alone, Sanzo, he directed vehement thoughts to the monk. Because I'll follow you and drag your sorry ass back, damn it! I don't care whether or not you would tell Yanane that Hakkai and Gojyo and I are your friends. I KNOW we are. Why else do we all look out for each other? You couldn't do this stupid mission without us, and you know it! And I KNOW you care about us! Sometimes you hit me with that stupid fan so much I almost believe you really don't like me. But then why am I still with you? I know you care about me even if you don't want to. And I KNOW I care about you. . . even when you're pompous and stubborn and stupid and in a bad mood. So you just better not cop out and die, you stupid monk! You hear me?

Goku was jolted from his one-sided mental discussion by the jeep lurching as Hakkai steered clear of a pothole that had appeared just over a rise in the road. Sanzo's eyes flew open, and he tried to sit up, disoriented. He hissed in pain and coughed, traces of blood mixed with the phlegm that came up with the spasm.

"Sorry," called Hakkai.

Goku pushed Sanzo back down with a firm but gentle hand on his shoulder, and wiped the spittle from his mouth. After his fierce internal conversation, he had to struggle to keep his voice normal. "Stay still, Sanzo. Your rib has punctured your lung." He picked the canteen up from the seat and raised the monk's head enough for him to drink, holding the canteen to his lips.

"How long?" Sanzo whispered hoarsely. It was always his first question when he woke from unconsciousness.

"Only since last night. You've been in and out once or twice this morning."

"Hakkai?" He found it painful to talk, but Goku anticipated his questions.

"Driving. He has a hurt shoulder, but he's mostly fine. Gojyo's okay, too. We're all tired and a little beat up."

"Except you," Gojyo put in, hanging over the front seat. "As usual, you've managed to outdo us by a wide margin."

Sanzo managed a brief scowl before his eyes closed and he slipped under again.

"That seems a good sign," said Gojyo.

"Mmm," agreed their driver. "Any sign of fever or more difficulty breathing, Goku?"

"About the same as when we left this morning. He's still really pale and warmer than usual, but not as clammy as he was last night. He coughed up some blood, though, Hakkai."

"That's to be expected. It's fever and increased discomfort or more difficulty breathing that we need to watch for right now. I'll feel happier when we can get a proper doctor to examine him."

"Hakkai?" Goku changed the subject after a brief silence.

"Hmmm?"

"You said once that we all have ki, and you thought maybe you could teach us something about how to use ours to heal the way you do." He paused, unsure how to continue.

"I think we all have some amount of ability, Goku," Hakkai responded thoughtfully. "But it varies from person to person, and even if someone has the gift for it, he would also need the knowledge to use it effectively. And it takes a great deal of focus and concentration."

"I want to learn, Hakkai… in case you're not around when one of us needs healing, or for when you need it. I didn't used to be very good at concentrating on things," Goku rushed on, worried that Hakkai might say no. "But I think I'm getting a lot better at that. And I'm a slow learner at some things—like writing. I still have trouble with that. But this is really important. I really want to learn how to do this, Hakkai. Will you teach me?"

Hakkai was struck by Goku's earnestness. "I'll do my best, Goku," he promised. "But I want you to know that even if we find that you don't have the gift for healing with ki, you really are a very good pupil, and you've already learned quite a lot about healing. You can help tremendously just by knowing how to take care of wounds or treat a fever or relieve pain, and you're already doing some of that. I was too tired to help Sanzo as much as he needed last night. I couldn't have done it without your help. And Sanzo is better off today because you were his healer, too."

Hakkai's praise made Goku glow with satisfaction and warm with determination to learn more. Gojyo smiled to himself, seeing it in the kid's face, but his thoughts were of the man whose words had put it there. As Hakkai was continually impressed with Goku's sincerity, Gojyo was impressed with Hakkai's patience and intelligence, as well as his sensitivity to what each of them needed and the care he took to give it.

Gojyo's arm had been stretched across the back of the front seat, his hand resting behind Hakkai's head and shoulders. Longing to do more, he couldn't stop himself from dropping his hand to the healer's shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.

Hakkai glanced at him. "What?" he asked.

Gojyo smiled affectionately. "Nothing, really. Just… you are a really nice guy sometimes, you know that?"

"Only sometimes?" Hakkai chuckled. But Gojyo was dismayed to see that beneath the light laughter was one of Hakkai's empty smiles, his eyes shadowed with thoughts of when he wasn't a nice guy. Gojyo's own expression darkened.

From his place behind the healer, Goku watched the brief exchange, totally in agreement with Gojyo's remark, but suspecting that the half-youkai was somehow trying to tell Hakkai much more than what his simple words suggested.

* * *

By the time they reached the town, around noon, Sanzo's condition was giving the rest of his companions more to worry about. The twitching that Goku had noticed while the monk was dreaming had turned to near-constant shivering, although perspiration was beading on his face and neck, and his hair clung damply to his forehead. He no longer dreamed, having fallen more deeply into unconsciousness. His breathing had become far more labored, the wheezing more noticeable than during the night, and no matter how rapidly he drew breath, he seemed unable to get enough air into his lungs. His brow creased with pain with every breath.

Goku repeatedly poured water from the canteen onto a cloth and used it to bathe Sanzo's forehead and neck, as much because he had to keep doing something to suppress his panic as because he hoped it would help Sanzo.

Hakkai inquired at the first inn they came to as to the whereabouts of a good surgeon. He was grateful that the town was a larger, more bustling community than they had expected given its remote location, boasting several trained doctors. The innkeeper directed him to one who specialized in injuries—"although he's been pretty busy lately with all the attacks from the crazy youkai around here," the man noted.

When the physician saw Sanzo's condition, he immediately ushered the small group into a well-equipped treatment room and asked his assistant to continue with the handful of more routine patients waiting for him. It didn't take long for him to confirm Hakkai's suspicion that at least the lower part of Sanzo's lung had collapsed from the pressure of the air and fluid that had accumulated between his lung and chest wall since the night before. When an x-ray confirmed that his rib had splintered and a piece was lodged in the lung tissue, the doctor agreed to perform the necessary surgery to repair the damage.

* * *

Goku stood up, sat down, stood up again, and paced the short length of the room in which they waited so many times that Gojyo got dizzy watching him.

"Sit down already, bakazaru!" Gojyo loomed over Goku, pushing down on his shoulders until he folded into a chair. Then he flopped down beside the younger man and handed him a sandwich. "Here. Eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"Of course you're hungry. You're always hungry."

"Leave me alone, cockroach. I said I'm not hungry." He started to stand up again. Gojyo pressed him back down.

"Goku," Hakkai said soothingly, "I believe Sanzo is in good hands. We were lucky this didn't happen until we had almost arrived here. And also that this town has good doctors. Sanzo is not one to be kept down long by a little hole in his lung… any of us could live with that if it's not too big and doesn't get infected. This doctor's work will insure that. Sanzo has come through worse than this. He'll be fine."

The mention of worse encounters reminded all three of them of the poisoned wound that had nearly killed Sanzo in the desert only a few months ago, and more recently, the near-fatal injuries Kami-sama had inflicted on him before they had figured out how to defeat the insane monk.

Goku tried to sit still. "I know. But I don't like him being alone all these hours. And I don't like it that we can't be with him and we don't know what's happening."

Before either of the older men could respond, the surgeon entered the room, his surgical coat still on. "Your friend is resting as comfortably as I could make him," he informed them. "I can't say how long it might be before he regains consciousness, but his breathing is easier and his fever is coming down. With the hole mended and rib repaired, his lung should be able to rejoin the chest wall and re-inflate as it heals. But it will take several weeks for him to fully recover, and it will continue to be painful for him to breathe or exert himself for some days."

The doctor's voice became grave. "He seems to have sustained very many serious injuries in a short space of time, and by your account he lost a great deal of blood yesterday. His body is seriously traumatized. Whatever your goals, I believe you will have to insure that he rests and avoids further injury anytime soon if you don't want his life endangered."

The monk's three companions exchanged worried but knowing glances. If they bound Sanzo and locked him into a windowless room, they might be able to curb his activity for perhaps a week beyond whatever time he remained in a coma. They each had the thought that he had better stay unconscious for a while.

The surgeon continued, "He's a smoker, yes?" They nodded. "He cannot smoke before his lung is fully healed. And none of you should smoke near him or in any room he occupies." He looked pointedly at Gojyo, who had hastily extinguished a cigarette when the doctor entered the waiting room, adding it to a half-dozen already accumulated in the ashtray on the table.

The surgeon turned to Hakkai.  "You are the ki healer who mended the serious wounds in your friend's back and kidney?"

Hakkai nodded.

"Your work is very good. You are a gifted healer. Undoubtedly you are responsible for his living as long as he has."

The healer accepted the compliment with a simple thanks. Gojyo and Goku grinned broadly with pride for their friend.

* * *

The travelers spent their first night in town in the clinic, Hakkai sleeping on the extra bed in the room Sanzo had been given, Gojyo on a cot that had been brought in. Goku could not be convinced to sleep. He kept vigil all night in a chair by Sanzo's bed. When the other two woke to the morning sun, they found him asleep in his chair, his head on his arms on the edge of Sanzo's bed, his left hand covering Sanzo's right.

Gojyo looked from Goku to Hakkai, a question in his expression.

"Let him sleep," responded the healer. "I don't think he has, much, for three or four nights now."

In the late afternoon, they found two adjacent rooms for rent by the week in a quiet inn on the edge of town. They moved Sanzo to the smaller room, and Goku kept watch over him while Gojyo and Hakkai shopped for food and supplies for the week.

"No cigarettes," Hakkai said flatly, returning them to the shelf when Gojyo tossed a carton into the basket he carried.

"I am not going cold turkey for the goddamn monk," Gojyo protested. "I'll smoke outside."

"Don't plan on leaving the inn alone even to smoke, Gojyo. I think Goku's right that the youkai being sent as assassins are more determined and may be looking to split us up—although it seems they are after the sutra, and it may be primarily Sanzo they are aiming for. But we're certainly being watched if they're anticipating our route and setting traps. Regardless of what we've had to deal with on the road, we generally haven't had to expect attacks when we've stopped in towns. I don't think that's necessarily true any more."

"Agreed," said the other. "So I guess you'll just have to accompany me for some fresh air a few times a day, Hakkai. Because I am not gonna not smoke for a month!"

"But you'll limit yourself, right? Half a carton, then." Hakkai put a half-carton in their basket and continued shopping before Gojyo could respond. "This is the perfect opportunity you've been looking for to cut back," he commented cheerfully when Gojyo caught up with him, swearing.

"Whoever said I was looking for an opportunity to cut back, asshole?"

Hakkai hummed softly to himself as he looked over fresh fruits and vegetables, apparently oblivious to his companion's further protests.

"Okay. Have it your way. You'll be sorry soon enough. I won't be pleasant."

When they returned to the inn, Hakkai cooked a meal for them on the larger room's two-burner stove, Gojyo assisting with the tasks Hakkai's shoulder prevented him from doing comfortably. "You'd better let me take a look at that and change the bandages after dinner," the taller man told his friend.

"It's not too bad," said Hakkai. "And I had plenty of time to rest today. I think you'll find it's healing well."

"How's our patient, Goku?" Hakkai asked as the three sat around the room's small square table and relaxed into a more normal pattern for the first time in several days.

"No change yet." Goku glanced through the open door between the two rooms to Sanzo's still form on the bed. "His fever seems to be staying down. And he's not wheezing the way he was before the surgery. But he still is having trouble breathing. He's still awfully pale, and his face looks like he's hurting a lot."

"You heard what the doctor said. A collapsed lung is quite painful, Goku. And the wounds I closed the night before last are only partially healed. The doctor gave us some medicines to help with the pain. We can give him another dose in a few hours."

Goku nodded, helping himself to another serving of noodles. "These are good, Hakkai."

"Yeah, so leave some for me, you greedy ape," complained Gojyo, slipping his chopsticks under Goku's and pushing them away before Goku could add more to his plate.

"You're the greedy one, stupid kappa. You have plenty on your plate still."

"Now, now," said Hakkai. "Be nice." But he smiled to himself, satisfied to hear some of the usual banter between the two.

* * *

"Hey, stupid monkey, are you gonna sit in that chair all night again tonight?" Gojyo asked when he and Hakkai came in from a cigarette break later in the evening to find Goku on watch again beside Sanzo's bed.

"Goku, you're not helping him any by letting yourself get overtired," said Hakkai. "He just needs to rest for a few days, now. And so do you. I don't think you slept well any of the nights we spent in the village, and certainly not the last two. I'll keep watch on Sanzo for a while, and I'll sleep here so I'll be nearby if any problems arise during the night. Why don't you go to bed in the other room and sleep for a change?"

Goku tried to protest, but a deep yawn betrayed him. Hakkai gave him a gentle push out of his chair. "Go."

It was Hakkai's I-won't-brook-any-argument tone, and even Sanzo generally gave in when their healer assumed authority with that air. Goku was too tired to argue. He slipped out of his unbuttoned shirt and jeans and flopped onto one of the beds in the other room.

"And don't keep me awake with your snoring, baka."

"You either, stupid kappa," he returned to Gojyo. It was their usual way of telling each other "good night."

***TBC***

Welcome Hikari-neko, M Li, and Hellcat, and welcome back everyone else. Continued thanks for all your reviews and compliments!

Don't worry, Hellcat, this story WILL be finished. There are about ten or twelve more chapters, and all but the very last chapter are already completed… they just await final editing by my beta reader, and decisions on where to break them apart before I can post. I expect to be posting about two chapters per week for the next few weeks. I hope you all continue to enjoy this!