Part III

Chapter 2

Goku was nauseous when he came to on the ground, hands and feet bound, the darkness around him deep enough that he could barely make out a few silhouettes—wavering double images—standing over him. He vaguely recalled one of the voices as being the same he had heard when he realized he was surrounded a few blocks from the inn. He remembered calling forth Nyoibou and shouting for Sanzo, then blackness. He couldn't remember what had happened after that, but the jarring pain in his head and the haze clouding his vision made it pretty clear.

He tried to turn his head to get a better look at the blurry images above him, and bit back a cry as the back of his head connected with a stone, sending a stab of pain through his skull so sharp that his vision blackened again and his stomach roiled. He gritted his teeth and drew a deep breath, swallowing the sour bile threatening to choke him, and tried to quell his rising panic. When the nausea passed, he lay still on his side, testing his bonds. His wrists chafed in the tight ropes, but with all the strength he could summon, he could feel no give. He struggled to break free, was overcome again by the nausea, and couldn't stifle the next choking cough when he tried to swallow back the rising contents of his stomach.

"Hey, looks like he's coming to."

Goku felt rough hands behind him, checking the knots in the ropes that bound his hands, while a shadow further darkened his vision and a booted foot kicked him in the stomach. He doubled over, unable to swallow the vomit this time, and nearly lost consciousness again. He couldn't open his eyes, and points of stabbing light pierced his internal vision; but the sound of voices came to him, muffled, as though from far away.

"Don't worry. He won't be able to break those bonds. I don't know what gods Gyokumen and Nii have on their side, but those ropes are enchanted. Even this youkai can't escape them. Be careful of that crown, though. Don't want to let him lose that. You remember what Doku said when he brought Kougaiji back."

"Take care not to damage him any more, either. Better if he's alert and relatively unharmed when the rest of them get here. He's our bargaining chip, remember. You can do what you want with him after we've got what we came for."

Goku tried to make sense of the jumble of words; knew, somehow, that his being here would put Sanzo in danger. Sanzo. Sanzo would kill him for going off alone. He tried to remember what had made him angry enough to walk out; couldn't recall the anger, only the tightness in his chest and the fire in his veins when Sanzo stood over him. His chest tightened again now. He was sure Sanzo would come for him, had to warn him away.

* * *

Sanzo, Hakkai, and Gojyo had been searching for Goku for a quarter hour, the direction he had gone unclear, when Hakuryuu reappeared and changed to his jeep form. The dragon had flown ahead, circling the area, and had brought back a piece of Goku's shirt, torn and bloody. He signaled them with flashing lights to get in so he could take them to the narrow street at the edge of town, where Goku had been assaulted.

During that time Sanzo had heard no further call from Goku, had no sense of whether he was dead or alive. The signs of the scuffle were clear, and the number of footprints in the dirt trail that led from the end of the street toward the forest told them that even Goku would have been overwhelmed, especially if he had not had warning. As if that were not enough to raise their anxiety, they found Nyoibou abandoned at the fight scene. None of them could recall Goku ever having lost his weapon in a battle.

Sanzo's expression was dark, his mouth a thin, tight line.

"I think he's alive, Sanzo," said Hakkai, "else why would they have taken him? They were clearly waiting for him—or any one of us—to come out alone where they could grab him. This is certainly a trap, their intention for us to follow."

"Fucking monkey," said Gojyo. "Hasn't let me so much as smoke a cigarette by myself for over a week, and then he goes off by himself in the dark. Asshole." He paused, his fear for Goku clear under the surface of his anger. "And you, stupid monk, what the hell did you do now to drive him off?"

Sanzo was silent, the line of his mouth so taut it almost disappeared. He looked into the blackness of the forest into which the path led, then turned his narrow gaze on Hakkai. The healer met his glance squarely, his expression equally grim, then nodded his head as though agreeing with what he read in the monk's eyes. Without explanation, Sanzo turned back toward the town and stalked in the direction of the inn.

"Hey! Where the hell are you going? What about Goku? What the hell—"

Hakkai put a hand on Gojyo's arm to still his protests. "He's right, Gojyo. They're waiting for us, and we're only three." He glanced to Gojyo's still-bandaged arm. "And not yet whole. If Goku can be helped, it won't be by our walking into a trap unprepared."

"But… what do you mean 'if?' I'm not letting those bastards get away with this! If you and Sanzo aren't going after him, I am." Gojyo pulled his arm away from Hakkai and turned toward the forest.

"Gojyo." The redhead had only to meet Hakkai's eyes to know that he couldn't go alone. "We will get him back."

Gojyo reluctantly followed Hakkai after Sanzo's retreating back.

* * *

"As fast as you can, Hakuryuu. And try not to be seen," Hakkai told the dragon as he released him into the moonless night outside their window. On returning to their room, he had asked the small creature to do what they could not have done unobserved: follow Goku's attackers and find out what they were up against.

Five minutes passed.

Sanzo paced the width of the room repeatedly, the knuckles of his fist white as he clenched the crude note that had been slipped under their door while they were out. "We want the monk, with the sutra. Alone. At the abandoned mill. The youkai lives. But not for long."

The innkeeper had told them that what remained of the old grist mill was only a mile away, less than a quarter of a mile into the forest that had encroached on it over the years. A dangerous place, he had said, haunted by spirits and with its old stone walls crumbling and caving in on themselves.

Ten minutes.

"I'm going," the monk told the others.

"Wait for Hakuryuu, Sanzo. We'll at least get some idea of their numbers and the best way to approach."

They had already discussed their slim chances of getting the element of surprise on their side. While Sanzo paced, Hakkai and Gojyo changed into their darkest clothing and blackened their faces. Hakkai helped Gojyo hide his hair under a black bandanna, then convinced Sanzo to shed his white robes and camouflage himself similarly.

Fifteen minutes.

Sanzo lit a cigarette, crushed it almost immediately, unsmoked, with the recollection of the anger and frustration in Goku's eyes during their stand-off. Seconds later he lit another, and this time took a single drag. He absently rubbed his wrist, still sore from the pressure of Goku's grasp, and felt again his pulse throbbing against Goku's palm, Goku's heat melting his rage. He crushed the second cigarette under his sandal.

The monk reached the window for at least the sixteenth time in his trek back and forth across the room. He stopped there and willed himself still, listening again for Goku. He could sense the boy again in his mind now—not calling, but pushing him away as he had during his nightmares. Don't, Sanzo. Don't come. Hakkai would not have been able to stop him from going this time if Hakuryuu had not returned.

"Goku?" Hakkai asked the dragon.

Hakuryuu dropped his head and blinked his eyes.

"Alive?" asked Hakkai.

Hakuryuu nodded.

"Hurt?"

Another nod, and a forlorn mew.

Sanzo stiffened, his fists clenched.

"Are they in the old mill, Hakuryuu?"

The small creature first nodded affirmatively, then tilted his head to one side.

"Are they not all together? Are some standing guard outside?"

Hakuryuu left the brunette's hand and flew in a tight circle around the center of the room, then flapped in place, looking to his master for understanding.

"The mill?" asked Hakkai.

The dragon nodded, then traced a larger circle around the room, pausing three or four times to flap in place.

"They have guards stationed at points around the mill?" Hakkai asked.

Hakuryuu nodded, then flew straight across the room in the orientation of the path into the woods, pausing once to flap in place.

"And some waiting on the path?"

The dragon nodded again.

"How many, Hakuryuu, all together?

 The small dragon squawked fearfully.

"Many?" asked Hakkai. "More than twenty?"

Hakuryuu nodded, his eyes wide.

"Thirty?"

Another nod, eyes wider still.

"Forty?"

The dragon tilted his head and mewed, then alighted on the healer's shoulder.

"Not quite that many, then," Hakkai interpreted. Hakuryuu rubbed his head against the man's cheek. Feeling the small creature's shudder of fear and worry, the healer took the dragon onto his arm, stroking his back and head with his free hand to calm him. "It's to our advantage that they've divided their forces," he said to the others.

Sanzo nodded agreement. "If we can take out the guard groups without giving away our presence…" He looked to Hakkai and to Gojyo in turn. "It means not using my pistol until we're there."

They nodded, knowing the task of eliminating the youkai they encountered on the way would fall primarily to them.

"At least we have the cover of darkness tonight," Gojyo observed. They were all glad for the clouds and lack of moonlight.

Hakkai continued petting the dragon, nestling now in the crook of his arm, against his abdomen. "Thank you for your help, Hakuryuu. One more question. Can you lead us to the mill by another way besides the path?"

The dragon nodded his head once, deeply, and mewed his assurance.

Hakkai looked to Sanzo. "You're sure about this?"

"I see no other way."

The three men climbed the stairs to the attic, and then to the inn's roof. The innkeeper had told them they could find a way into the side alley from the building three doors down, accessible across the roofs, away from prying eyes. Hakuryuu followed them out of  town through shadowed alleys, then led them into the forest some distance from the path that led to the clearing.

* * *

Goku was fighting not to lose consciousness again when two large youkai came to haul him to his feet. Ignoring the pain in his head, he rolled to his back as the two demons approached, and drew his legs up against his stomach. He thrust his feet as hard as he could into the groin of the first creature that got close enough, then kicked him again in the head and shoulders as he doubled over, knocking him out.

As the other youkai raised his hand to strike Goku into submission, the fighter rolled out of his reach and onto his knees, his arms still tied behind his back. He shook the dizzy blur from his vision and growled in defiance as the youkai struck again. But before he felt the blow, his breath was crushed out of him and he was knocked onto his face by a hard kick in his back.

Goku refused to give in to the blackness that threatened to close in on him again, and he fought hard as the youkai dragged him to his feet. It took four demons to subdue him, and more than one of them bore the marks of his teeth on their arms by the time they reached their leader, inside the roofless ruins of the mill.

"Quite a feisty little bastard, aren't you? I understand you've taken quite a handy number of us out in recent fights. Now I see why the monk keeps a runt like you with him." This youkai was smaller than the others, dark and slender, with fine features, but a voice cold and hard.

"What do you want us to do with him, Flame?"

"Make him comfortable there." He gestured to several thick iron rings mounted in the crumbling mortar in a nearby wall.

Not wanting to free his hands, Goku's captors first tied one of his wrists to one ring with another length of the charmed rope. When they undid the rope tying his hands together, he managed to strike two of the youkai unconscious with his free fist before they managed to bind his other wrist to the next ring. Hanging from the two widespread rings, he could barely put his feet on the ground; his back and shoulders ached with the strain of his weight pulling him downward. Before the last of the four youkai let go of him, he gathered his strength to pull his feet up, and kicked hard again, his heels slamming into the head of one creature, smashing his face.

"Enough!" barked the leader. He flung his hand across Goku's face with the same steel strength that Goku had heard in his voice. The youth's head struck the stone wall, and his body went slack as he dropped again into blackness.

* * *

From their perch above the ruined walls, Goku's three companions could not see him strung from the wall immediately under them, but the conversation they overheard and the focus of the guards opposite them told them where he was. This had been the back wall of the mill. It served as a retaining wall as well, the mill having been built into the side of a hill where the ground and the adjacent stream suddenly dropped off, creating the waterfall that had powered the mill's large water wheel. In the gloomy darkness, the heavy growth of trees and brush atop the hill backing the wall hid the silent Sanzo-ikkou from the assailants below.

The three fighters estimated the number of assassins they still had to face, thankful for the ease with which they had been able to remove the six who had guarded the track that led here, plus two pair that had blocked their way to this vantage point. Few more than two dozen were here, if Hakuryuu's estimate was correct. But the viciousness of the leader's voice warned them not to be overconfident.

They signaled their intentions to each other, then Sanzo withdrew from the hillside and made his way soundlessly to an opening in the mill's side wall, pressing himself against the outer wall beside the opening, his gun in hand and cocked. Hakkai and Gojyo took places near either end of the retaining wall above, the healer already focusing his energy in his palms, the half-youkai poised to swing his shakujou. The light from the three torches the youkai had used to illuminate their hideout was dim, but cast enough of a glow that Sanzo could see Hakkai's nod of readiness as he burst through the narrow entryway. The monk smashed the head of the guard there as he entered, then leveled his pistol at the youkai he knew to be their leader.

When Goku came to again, it was to the sounds of commotion and yelling and to a sense that Sanzo was very near. He took a deep breath and forced himself into alertness, willing the blackness out of his vision and trying to comprehend what was happening. It wasn't until he turned his head to search for the monk's white robes and blond head that he felt the nick of a spear point in the depression at the base of his throat, and the prick of a sword tip in his side.

"I wouldn't shoot if this monkey's life matters to you." The youkai leader stared fearlessly into the barrel of Sanzo's pistol, his voice like ice. He shook his head slightly in warning to his gang to hold back their attack, suspecting that the monk had not come alone.

Sanzo's eyes narrowed to match his adversary's, and he increased the pressure on the pistol's trigger.

"Perhaps a demonstration is needed," the youkai said evenly. When he nodded slightly to the demons holding Goku hostage, the spear point drew blood as it pressed a hair deeper into Goku's throat. The tip of the sword cut a line diagonally from Goku's shoulder, across his bare chest, to the opposite side of his stomach, leaving a trail of blood. Goku flinched and squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his teeth to avoid crying out, when the tip of the sword just punctured his side.

"I see you've left your priestly accoutrements behind, Genjo Sanzo," the head youkai crooned. "Undoubtedly you believe that helped you get past my guards unscathed. It wasn't necessary, I assure you. I hadn't intended for you to be hurt before you arrived with the sutra. I will get so much more pleasure from encouraging you to give it to me of your own free will. You did bring the sutra with you, did you not?"

With Sanzo's gun closely trained on him, he slowly but confidently moved closer to Goku. "Ah, but this young hero has been wounded. Perhaps we should cauterize his injury." He raised his hand to Goku's chest, an orange glow growing under his fingers, as Hakkai's ki glowed green. He passed the burning glow over Goku's slashed skin, and the youth did cry out this time as his flesh burned along the cut, blistering and scorching. The tip of the sword gouged more deeply into his side as he writhed from the pain.

Flame stepped back from Goku and smiled. "The sutra, Genjo Sanzo?" At his brief nod, a dozen youkai stationed around the inside walls began to close in toward Sanzo.

"You'll not have the sutra before you free him," said Sanzo, equally fearless. Forgive me, Goku, he thought, his expression hard as he waited for the right moment. He willed Hakkai and Gojyo to wait for his signal so they would have the best chance of catching the mob off guard.

"Ah-h. But will you give it to me then? I think not. Perhaps a more convincing demonstration is needed." The glow in the youkai's hand burst into a small flame, which he held beneath the tail of Goku's open shirt until the fabric caught fire. A slow flame crept toward Goku's upper body.

A round of satisfied sighs and evil chuckles rose from the enclave of youkai.

*** TBC ***

First off, thanks and welcome to new readers/reviewers as of last chapter: Siki, Kittyvet, Keistje, Nozomi Anshin, and Merf. Keistje, I'm glad you feel that if Goku can take it, you can, because I'm afraid I am doing a job on him right now. (Sorry, Goku.)

K.Firefly: Was not trying to mislead you. First Kiss: Sanzo is the title of Part III, not just chapter 1 of III…. Patience. It took eight chapters for Gojyo to get his kiss! 'Twon't be quite so many for the monk. But you didn't expect me to get to it that quickly, did you? And I'm not saying who will be doing the kissing, of course.  ^_~

Bakasaru Boi, Mabaroshi, Me-Nuriko, Gallatica, and Nozomi Anshin, I'm glad you liked the Sanzo/Goku argument and Sanzo's internal battle—it's one of my favorite parts, and one of the scenes I was sure I wanted to write into this story right from the start (although my original conception of it changed some along the way and far more than I had originally intended happened in between).

I'm glad so many of you continue to enjoy the maturing Goku—Kazuya Minekura herself really got that process going in the manga Kami-Sama arc. I've tried hard to keep him in character while continuing to grow him up here. I'm glad some of you, at least, think I'm succeeding in that. Continued comments—as well as critiques—are always welcome. Thanks!   — Stitcher2ficcer