Sorry everyone that it took so long! I've been going through some school problems at da moment and so I was too angry to write anything...but I'm alright now!


Everyone was screaming in pain, the rays of fire that the assassin was hitting them brutally. Their clothes were burning too, leaving their bare skin exposed to the heat. In the midst of the chaos, Nataku fell into a deep concentration. He clenched his teeth to hold in the pain as he gathered his strength. Then suddenly, he broke out of his silence with a loud, intense yell and ran through the fire towards the assassin. Nataku head butted the assassin in his stomach, pushing him of balance.

His rays of fire were disrupted, but he still had a hold of Sanzo and Gojyo. Goku, Hakkai and the Nerneks dropped to the floor, after being burnt violently; they had lost a lot of strength trying to keep themselves alive. Though they were quick to recover. As soon as Goku could stand, he ran with all the strength he had towards Sanzo, pushing him away from the fire. Hakkai made an energy shield that blocked off the rays at Gojyo, and also protecting everyone else.

The assassin stopped his rays feeling a little disappointed.
"It would have been fun to watch you all burn, but it had to turn out like this." The assassin could see the fighting spirit that was raging in everyone's eyes, he knew that they were serious now and didn't want to risk it. He closed his eyes and sighed, "well...its never fair fighting eight people by myself. Consider yourselves lucky, but we will meet again."

As he transported himself away, Goku fell to his knees.
"Ah...I'm so hungry!" Gojyo and Hakkai looked at him and managed to smile even though their skin was stinging with burns. Nataku stood up, but found it hard to stay balanced after the blow he gave the assassin. "Nataku...are you ok?"
"Don't worry Goku, this is nothing." In fact it wasn't. Nataku had a concussion, and his eye was bleeding. He had only gained a little strength; he hadn't fully recovered after his awakening, it was dangerous for him to use too much power, as his body couldn't handle it all.


The image of the assassin smirking was burned into the back of Goku's head, and his eerie laugh wouldn't stop. Goku couldn't sleep at all. He lay in bed on his side, hugging his pillow hard as he looked over to Nataku who was sleeping with bandages covering his body, stained with blood. Sanzo was on a separate bed on the other side of Goku, he couldn't sleep knowing that Goku was still awake.
Goku got out of bed and walked out to the balcony, sat down on the floor and hugged his knees as he looked out to the night sky.
"Ch..." Sanzo couldn't take it anymore; he got out of bed too and leaned on the side of the doorway.

"Konzen...what's going on? I have this huge gap in me and I feel so alone." "Why do you call me Konzen?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"That's not my name."
"I don't understand...none of this makes any sense! Why do things have to be so hard?!" Tears fell down Goku's cheek and he hid his face, as he didn't want to show Sanzo.
"I don't understand either, it might be hard but just deal with it."
"Why have things changed so much? Before, we were fine...we lived happily together with kenii-chan...and Ten-chan...and Nataku was so cheerful...what happened?" Sanzo walked up to him, kneed down and placed his hand on Goku's head.

"Baka, don't think to much, its too complicated for a simple minded saru like you." Sanzo expected him to argue against that, but he didn't. Goku still had his face buried in his arms. Sanzo didn't care enough to stay with him, he walked slowly back to the room but then saw Nataku standing in front of him. "Maybe you can do something about it." He walked out to see Goku crouched in a small ball on the floor and knew what he meant.

"Can't you sleep?" No response. "Goku...you need to get some rest, we had a hard battle today and he could be coming back anytime soon."
"But..."
"What?"
"Why...why do we have to fight so much?!" Nataku sat next to him and hugged him with one arm then threw him a peach.
"Goku...." Goku stopped crying and looked up at Nataku as he ate the peach. "Goku...it's been 500 years since we have last seen each other."
"Huh?" "You were caged in the mountain for years, but someone called Genjo Sanzo freed you. That man is him." Nataku pointed towards Sanzo who was finally sleeping.
"W...wha...?"
"Goku, before you were caged...something happened...and Heaven sealed your memories." Nataku stopped for a moment and smiled. "Ah, this is going to be so hard to explain..."
"I don't get it..." Goku looked really confused and innocent and Nataku couldn't help but laugh.

"Goku, you're missing a big part of your memory. When all this is done, we'll find a way to set things straight again. So I'm asking you to deal with this for a little longer ok?" Goku looked at Nataku who had the moon shining in his golden eyes. He wiped away his tears, nodded and smiled feeling better. "Goku, the fight coming up is going to be big, you need to be prepared for it."
"What about you? You used to be so strong, what happened?"
"Don't worry about me, just fight for yourself and your memories, they've been tampered with enough."
"Mm..." Goku started to tear again, he tried wiping them away but they wouldn't stop falling. "Why am I crying so much? I can't stop...I feel so..."
"Goku...you want things back to how they were right?" Goku nodded and listened to him. "Then don't give up until they are." Goku looked up wide-eyed at Nataku, he was determined to make it happen, no matter what.

== In Heaven ==

"You disappoint me..."
"It doesn't matter, I'll make up for it in the attack. I'll fight with the army."
"Hmm...don't let me down again, or you'll have to face the consequences."
"Don't underestimate me."
"Well I overestimated you last time, I'm wondering if you can succeed at all." The assassin scorned the commander and left. Soon two soldiers from the army came up to the commander.
"Is the plan proceeding as usual?"
"Yes, tomorrow evening we attack, full force and without mercy, but remember! I want Nataku Taishi alive!"


I hope that was good enough, if you think im slipping please say so and review me so then I know that im gonna hafta work harder. If im doing fine, then I know I aint disappointing you all! Arigatou, minna! Hey, could I ask a favor from you all to help me write a better summary...coz looking at it, it sucks --