Saiyuki 3

The child was always with him ever since. It was like an odd sort of magnetism or gravitation or just some freaky kind of force that he couldn't decipher. And he was always with the child. It's a cycle, you see.

The young heretic and the goddamned bastard of a god were tied together with an invisible chain that seemed as if it could never be broken. It did break—once—but it was brought together again, stronger than ever.

And that royally pissed Homura off.


Oh, it seemed like a normal day for the sanzo-ikkou. They were, after all, still headed to the west, riding a jeep that crooned "kyuu" again and again, and going about their own business, waiting cheerfully for any demon that decided to try and kill the illusive sanzo-ikkou. So, yes, it was pretty normal—to the untrained eye at least.

But Sanzo's eyes were nothing if not trained. He knew something was different that day. He could feel it. Heck, he could see it. Sure, it was natural that he, Hakkai, and Gojyo were on guard ever since the Homura incident but why was the saru all paranoid as well?

"Goku," he said to the surprise of his three companions. "What's the matter with you?"

Goku gaped. Hakkai smiled. Gojyo smirked. And Sanzo very nearly growled. Was it that weird to worry about the little people badgering him on his annoying mission?

"Nothing," Goku answered when he was done blushing, gaping, and glaring at Gojyo, who kept right on snickering.

Sanzo was skeptical but he didn't ask. Why would he ask? Goku's paranoia was none of his concern. But still, he couldn't help but wonder.


What is that smell? Goku crinkled his nose.


"You warned the monk?" Kougaiji asked in disbelief.

Homura nodded.

"Why?"

Homura sighed. Did the demon have to be so suspicious? "It wouldn't be as fun if Konzen isn't all nervous."

"What if we can't pull it off because of Sanzo's interference?"

Homura rolled his eyes. "We'll be able to trick him long enough to finish what we have to do. Also, he's so prideful that it'd take a while for him to finally use his brain. You'll see."

Kougaiji nodded. "We'll see."


Blood was everywhere. Oh sure, that wasn't such a strange sight to the sanzo-ikkou since they killed quite a few now and then (how about tons everyday?) but really, was it possible for something to bleed without a body?

"Do you think they're invisible?" Hakkai asked, looking for at least one source of blood. "What do you think Sanzo?"

The monk shrugged. "Why are you asking me?"

"Because the great Sanzo-sama knows and can do everything," Gojyo answered for his lover. He then looked at Goku and winked at Sanzo. "Almost everything."

Sanzo swore that he would kill the redhead someday.

Goku couldn't understand how the three older men could joke about it when there was something definitely wrong with what they were seeing. Really wrong. It was like some sort of déjà vu or a memory perhaps.


"Ne, Konzen, wake up! Why aren't you waking up? Ten-chan? Ken-niichan, why don't you all want to wake up? Ne? Ne?" asked the child.

But his questions were heard only by deaf ears for the cord, called life, which bonded all of them together, had been severed by nothing but his own hands.

There were four bodies. Four bleeding bodies.

"Four bleeding bodies," Goku said in his dreamlike state. "Four bleeding bodies. Four. They were just three, why four? It was only supposed to be one, why four?"

Gojyo, who was the first one to notice Goku's detached state, started shaking the said boy to no avail. Goku simply refused to return to normal.

"Oi Hakkai! Sanzo! Goku's . . ." Gojyo trailed off, not knowing how to describe what was happening to the boy. He felt helpless, not knowing what to do. He can handle cuts and bruises just fine but when it came to the mental state of his comrade, Hakkai and Sanzo were the experts. "Hakkai! Sanzo!"

Goku, contrary to being petrified just moments before, started convulsing, writhing on the ground, crying like nothing neither of the three had seen before. "Konzen!" he screamed out and then promptly fainted.

Hakkai ran to the Goku's side, doing a full body check-up on the boy before proclaiming that the only thing wrong with Goku was that he had a slight fever. Everything's just fine, he told them with a faltering smile on his face.

It took all of Sanzo's control to keep him from gathering his charge's body into his arms. Sadly, his control couldn't keep the worry and the shock engulfing his paled face. Why in the world did Goku scream the name that Homura constantly called him? And what in the world was happening to Goku?

"Sanzo," Hakkai said as he carried the boy's light frame and deposited it on the back of the jeep. "Gojyo heard Goku say something."

Sanzo looked at the redhead, who was looking oddly at the invisible bleeding bodies. "Oi, kappa," the monk called out. Gojyo turned and looked at him. "What did Goku say?"

Gojyo looked at the invisible bleeding bodies and then back at Sanzo. "How many are they?"

"Are what?"

Gojyo gestured to the invisible bleeding bodies [a/n: gods, I'm tired of using the phrase "invisible bleeding bodies" but I can't think of any synonyms.]. "Them. How many are they?"

"Four," Hakkai informed them. "At least, I think it's four. The blood is all mixed up."

Gojyo nodded an affirmative. "Four. Goku was mumbling something about four bleeding bodies and why there are four when there are only three and there's only supposed to be one."

Sanzo clutched his precious gun. He was going to shoot, oh yes, he's going to shoot the miserable red-eyed being talking nonsense in front of him. "What are you talking about baka?"

"I'm just telling you what your beloved saru was saying," Gojyo retorted, feeling slightly nervous over Sanzo's gun. "Put that thing away. It scares me."

"Why should I?"

"Sanzo, Gojyo's merely informing us of what he heard Goku say. It's not his fault that we can't understand it. Also, we have to get Goku into an inn so that he could get well and to do that, you two will have to stop arguing. Or do you want Goku's condition to worsen? We'll investigate this later on." Hakkai smiled at them. He always has a smile although the smile that he was currently wearing was borderline exasperated.

Sanzo "ch'd" and settled himself on the spot that Gojyo usually occupied, next to Goku. "I'll take care of him. Sit in front kappa."

Gojyo smirked despite his worry of Goku. "Hai."


"Did the illusion have the desired effect?" Zeon asked his liege.

"Aa," Homura answered. "Soon, Son Goku will be mine."


"Konzen . . . Ten-chan . . . Ken-niichan . . ." Goku said, turning his body about for the nth time during the course of his sleep.

Sure, they were in an inn, the best one they could find, and sure there was a ton of food on the table just in case Goku wakes up and gets hungry but that's where the good things come to an end. Goku was still unconscious and feverish, murmuring incoherent things in his sleep. For some reason, Hakkai's healing powers didn't seem to work and there was nothing for all of them to do but wait . . . and smoke.

"Who are Konzen, Ten-chan, and Ken-niichan?" Gojyo asked wonderingly to no one in particular.

Sanzo shrugged and kept watch on Goku.

"Koibito," Hakkai called out to Gojyo. He simply didn't care if he called Gojyo his lover in front of Sanzo. He needed comfort. Sanzo didn't seem to care either. "Give me a cigar."

Gojyo looked at Hakkai doubtfully. "You don't smoke."

Hakkai sighed, holding out his hand to get the cigar Gojyo was hesitantly passing him. He lit it and smoked and felt slightly calmer. "I need relief," he explained to his worried lover. "And for some reason, smoking doesn't seem that unnatural to me."

"You used to smoke a lot as Gensui Tenpou," said the woman who had appeared suddenly in front of them. It was Kanzeon-Bosatsu in all her shining glory. "Hi!" she greeted them cheerfully.

Hakkai bowed in respect for the goddess while the other two ignored her. "Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama, what a pleasure to see you again."

Kanzeon laughed. "I doubt it."

"Can you fix him?" Sanzo asked the goddess bluntly. "If you can't, go away."

Kanzeon laughed again. "There's nothing anyone can do to heal Son Goku at the moment. His fever comes from his mind not from anything else. He's been having the dream of a most horrifying experience again and again."

"We noticed," Gojyo responed dryly, pointing to the boy on the bed. "He keeps on calling on these three guys . . ."

The goddess of mercy nodded. "Konzen, Ten-chan, and Ken-niichan. Who else would he call?"

Sanzo glared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you get it yet?" Kanzeon sighed, exasperated. How could these three idiots be so smart at everything else but be so dumb about this? "You're Konzen," she pointed at Sanzo, "Ten-chan," she pointed at Hakkai, "and Ken-niichan," she pointed at Gojyo. "Homura's been calling you those names ever since you met him."

"I don't acknowledge the name of Konzen," Sanzo informed her. "Go away Kuso Baba."

Kanzeon smiled. "Konzen used to call me that a lot."

"Smart man."

"Well of course he's a smart man," the goddess said haughtily. "He's my nephew after all."

Gojyo grinned at the monk, who was staring at the goddess in shock. "You're related to a goddess Sanzo-sama."

"Urusai!"

Kanzeon ignored the obvious insult meant by Gojyo and remained speaking to the only one who actually listened to her. "Hakkai, when Son Goku wakes up, he won't remember anything that he dreamed but he will remember those three names. I want you and those two," she pointed to Sanzo and Gojyo, who were still arguing, "to act as if you don't know who they are. It'll be better if he doesn't know of the truth yet."

Hakkai nodded. "Kanzeon Bosatsu-sama, if you don't mind, can you tell us how our past lives are connected to Goku?"

At Hakkai's question, Sanzo stopped trying to shoot Gojyo and looked intently at the goddess. "Is it truly just a coincidence that I'm stuck with these idiots or is there a story to it?"

"A story?" Kanzeon smiled at her nephew. "Funny you should mention that. It's a very interesting story that would take a long time to tell. You'll regain memories of it soon, so I won't say much for now. I'll tell you about your past selves instead. Cho Hakkai, you were a Marshall, and Sha Gojyo was under you as a general. You two were called husband and wife in heaven."

"We were meant to be together Hakkai," Gojyo smirked at his lover.

The goddess rolled her eyes. "And Genjo Sanzo, you were Son Goku's keeper."

Sanzo glared at her. "Keeper?"

Kanzeon smirked. "Aa. I made you his keeper although I never thought that you would be that intimate."

Sanzo glared and almost blushed. "Intimate?"

"Ja!" the goddess said, leaving Sanzo as irate as he was when she came.


Silence reigned between the three of them for five seconds until Gojyo felt that he couldn't keep shut anymore. "You and Goku were intimate!" he cried out, laughing. He looked at the boy sleeping on the bed and smirked. "Intimate! I wonder how intimate you were."

Hakkai couldn't help but smile.

"Urusai," said Sanzo, trying to keep himself from shooting the kappa lest he might injure Goku in the process since Gojyo was sitting on a chair in front of the bed.

"He's in denial," Gojyo whispered to his lover. Hakkai nodded.


Goku rubbed his eyes, opening them from the long sleep he had taken. Why was it so dark? Wasn't it morning? "Sanzo?" he asked the darkness, hoping for an answer so that he could be reassured that he was still alive. "Sanzo?"

In the same darkness, he could hear movement and hushed whispers. "Keep sleeping. He's dreaming again." "But he called for Sanzo, not Konzen." "You're right. Oi saru? Are you awake?"

Goku smiled in relief. It was Hakkai and Gojyo. They were almost as reassuring as Sanzo. "Hai. Why is it so dark?"

Gojyo groaned. "You chose midnight to wake up. Hakkai, where are those candles?"

Hakkai lit one and looked at the boy. "Goku, daijobu?"

"I'm fine. Where's Sanzo?"

Gojyo snorted. "Of course he's the one you ask about first. Typical. If you must know, the monk is off being stupid and walking about the unknown village alone. Not that he has anything to be afraid of, he's the most dangerous one out there."

Hakkai elbowed his lover. "He'll be back soon. He just needed some fresh air. How are you feeling? Can you remember anything?"

Goku looked at his friend oddly. "I'm perfectly fine. Why?"

Hakkai smiled. "It's nothing. You fainted back there with the invisible bleeding bodies [a/n: goddamned invisble bleeding bodies], you know."

"Oh." Suddenly, the memory started rushing back in. "Ne, Hakkai, do you know who Konzen? Isn't that what Homura calls Sanzo?"

The man looked uneasy. "Aa. I don't know who is though."

"Why don't you ask Sanzo?" Gojyo suggested.

"Hai." With that, Goku went off to look for Sanzo.


Really, what is with everybody badgering my relationship with Goku. First, the two idiots, next, Homura, then, the kuso baba, and now, him. What is with everyone? Sanzo glared at the demon blocking his way.

"What is Goku to you?" Kougaiji asked for the nth time.

"A nuisance."

The demon raised an eyebrow. "Really? So, you wouldn't mind it if you lost him."

"Why would I lose him?"

Before Kougaiji could answer, however, Goku's voice calling out Sanzo's name was heard. Upon hearing it, Kougaiji disappeared, leaving Sanzo to handle the object of their discussion.

"Ne Sanzo," Goku finally came into view and went to his master. "What are you doing out here?"

"It's none of your business," was Sanzo's harsh answer.

Goku looked hurt for a while but decided that he should've known Sanzo wouldn't give him a good answer and that he was stupid for asking. "Sanzo," he said, remembering what he came for, "do you know who Konzen is?"

Sanzo froze. Damned goddess of mercy, damned kappa, it was their fault, he thought. "No. Go back to the inn and sleep. You're still sick."

"I'm not!" the boy argued indignantly before fainting into Sanzo's waiting arms.

"Baka," Sanzo whispered to his charge and carried him back to the inn.

A/N: To all those nice people who reviewed this fic: thanks. I reread the previous chapter and you're right. I think I mixed the titles of Nataku, Goku, and Homura. Sorry 'bout that.

I know. I write horribly. No need to point that out, thank you. Or at least, this chapter's horrible. So, make me feel better by reviewing.

Also, Kaldea: Anna K said that she will kill you.

Finally, to the HomuraXGoku practitioners out there: I'm sorry. I am a die-hard SanzoXGoku fan. This will end up as a SanzoXGoku fic unless I decide to kill either one of them off. But, not to worry. There's the raping bit and the other fun parts to look out for. The same goes for those who want Goku with Kougaiji.