Imaginator: *scribbling down notes of what seems to be the next random scene. Or a recipe for chili sauce.*

YunCyn: *scribbling what seems to be another random scene. Or ten good reasons why she hates math*

Muse #1: *looking over current Random Scene*... saru... spelling mistake there, Muse #2...

Muse #2: *scribbles* Nyoibou... *looks at authoresses in confusion* You SURE you wanna put this up?

Muse #1: Yeah. Come to think of it, it's not your usual style.

Imaginator: *without looking up* Have you finished reading it yet?

Muse #2: No, not really...

YunCyn: *also not looking up* Then read it and you'll get what we mean.

Moments later...

Muses: WHAT THE-?!

Imaginator: *grins* Is it our style yet?

Muses: *weakly* Haaai... *glares at plot bunnies who twitch noses innocently* Stupid bunnies...!

YunCyn: ^__^ *high fives Imaginator*

****

By the way, to all our readers who would like to see a more personal glimpse of us (yeah, right), we are proud to announce that, yes, we, our favorite authors have a BLOG!!!!!

Muses: NOOOOOO!.......

YunCynImaginator:YESSSSSS!!!!!.....

Muses: NOOOOOOOOO!!....

YunCynImaginator: YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muses: NOOOOOOOO-

YuncynImaginator: *Calmly beans their muses*

Anyway, go check it out. If you enjoy these pre-chapter convos of ours, you're probably going to enjoy those...sage words of ours.

Go read. This is a command, not a request.

(Police comes in. YuncynImaginator ducks behind bush)

OK, OK! So it's not a command!!!But just check it out pretty please? (And leave reviews there too.*grin*)

Disclaimer: We no own Saiyuki, senoritas and senors... ^__^

****

For The Love Of What?

By: YunCynImaginator

How far would you go to protect the one you loved?

Just how deep would you fall to make sure nothing hurt the one your heart kept as its flame?

Exactly how much were you willing to give, to see a smile on their faces?

Those were the questions one named Son Goku would have to face.

And to answer them wrongly, would have the direst of consequences.

*****

Quietly determined golden eyes met red ones as fiery as the spirit of its owner.

"It doesn't have to come to this, saru." Said Gojyo in a leveled tone of voice.

He didn't bother replying and quietly made his request. "Move aside, Gojyo."

The shakujou he had seen too much and knew too well flashed in the sunlight. "Don't make me do this. Don't make me fight you, Goku."

Goku made his nyoibou materialize and gripped it tightly. "Ero kappa, move aside!"

Hidden regret and sorrow flashed through his inevitable opponent's blood red eyes. "Goku… you're really going to fight me. Seriously…?"

Goku gritted his teeth and looked away, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. There was no other way, no other choice.

Would he choose the elder comrade who had gone through thick, thin and even medium with him?

Or his one true love?

Gojyo looked at him, half hoping it would not come to his worst fear. He gripped hold of his staff willing Goku not to continue.

"Yes."

Gojyo closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. A sigh that he hope released all the fondness he had accumulated for the noisy brat who kept arguing with him in the Jeep's back seat. He reopened his eyelids, the deep red coloured eyes seemingly boring straight into Goku's very soul.

"Let's go, saru! One last time!"

******

The battle lasted for as long as Gojyo could stand. And then…

Goku ran on, his light brown hair flying behind him. Nyoibou in hand, he fiercely disallowed himself to look back.

To remember what he had just done to a good friend and a great comrade.

There could be no regrets. No other thoughts.

The boy continued running, his conscience and mind pushing other matters away as he continued heading to where he was needed. To where his first love waited for him.

No...

That was the first word that came into Goku's mind as his steps halted and his eyes stared at the man facing him.

"Konnichiwa, Goku." Came the cheerful, calm voice of Cho Hakkai. Although, his voice seemed to strain at the edges, his countenance was still gentle and smiling.

No. Not Hakkai. Gojyo was hard enough but... no!

"Are you alright, Goku?"

"Hakkai… doushite…"

Hakkai's gentle smile waned. He stared gravely and straight into Goku's golden eyes. "I have to stop you, Goku. For your own sake, you must not go any further."

"I can't!!" Goku desperately replied. "Why can't you guys just let me go?!"

Hakkai's eyes were sorrowful. "We can't just let you destroy yourself, Goku. We've all known you far too long to let you do that." The green-eyed healer stood tall and firm. He would not move, Goku realized.

He stared pleadingly at Hakkai. Why couldn't they see? Why couldn't they let him run his own course? Why did they keep trying to drive him back?

"You don't understand! I need to go! Stop standing in my way!!"

"Yamete kudasai….Goku."

Goku gripped the Nyoibou for comfort though he found none. As his knuckles turned white, Goku bowed his head.

"......I cannot. I can't just turn around. Not after what I've done."

Hakkai showed no sign of shock or disgust. "You defeated Gojyo, didn't you?"

Goku jerked his head back up, his eyes full of ferocity Hakkai had only seen once or twice. "Let. Me. GO!"

Never in his wildest imaginations had Hakkai ever even thought that that ferocity would be aimed at him. The one who had patiently taught Goku part of all he knew, he who had been Goku's comforter in times when Sanzo was injured and the man who had seen Goku mature in few years did his best not to cry out in frustration.

His voice remained soft and calm. "…you would fight even me?"

Goku bit back the part of him that shouted out no. "Even you."

Hakkai's heart sank. And he gathered his hands to where a bright green glow emerged.

"I won't hold back then."

Goku, trying not to weep, let loose with a scream and charged.

*******

Sanzo's hair gleamed in the light. Casually flicking his cigarette stub to the ground and stamping it out with his foot, his ears heard the sound of running footsteps.

He hoped that for once, the gods wouldn't be sadistic. He hoped that for ONCE in his 23 years of life, he was wrong.

He hoped that he would not have to pull out the silver gun.

But mostly everyone knew that the gods in Tenkai were not so forgiving, that Sanzo was never wrong when it came to matters such as these and that Sanzo always used the silver shourejyu.

The footsteps stopped. Sanzo sensed regret and sorrow. He felt the dismay and fear of the unavoidable. The monk's eyelids closed as he reached into his robe and gripped the handle of the Smith & Wessons.

"Sanzo…"

"You sure took your time, bakasaru." He whirled around, the gun clearly gripped in his hand. He met the fearful stare of his ward. The saru's breath was ragged and uneven. Goku's hair was disheveled and his cape ripped to shreds.

"…I see Gojyo and Hakkai didn't fight to the best of their capabilities."

Goku continued to stare at Sanzo, speechless. The purple eyes gazed calmly back at him. "Well, saru. You know what I'll do. So stop being stupid for once and knock all this nonsense off. It's damn annoying."

He finally found his voice. "Sanzo… I… I can't!"

Sanzo didn't bother to find out just what Goku couldn't do. "If you can't, then stop."

"No, I…" Goku's fingers tightened round the faithful staff he had carried since they started on the journey. Sanzo's eyes flicked a glance at it and a slight wonder of what it was like to have that go through you flitted through the back of his mind. He had little doubt he would find out.

He clicked the safety off. "I've said it before. If I need to, I WILL kill you. It doesn't matter whether you're insane or not. And if you take one more step," Sanzo held up the gun. "Your name is mud."

Horror struck, Goku's eyes traveled to the shourejyu, remembering just how many times Sanzo had shot at them, trying to get him and Gojyo to shut up.

Gojyo...

Hakkai...

No. I can't. I CAN'T fight Sanzo! Not him!

Then what happens to the one you've fought Hakkai and Gojyo to get to?

Are you just going to let it go? Just like that?

…NO.

Goku raised his staff slightly and stared at the ground. "I WILL NOT stop here!"

"Oh?" replied Sanzo with an eyebrow raised. "And when will you stop? After you have attained what you fought me for? After what you've defeated Hakkai and Gojyo for? Let me ask you then, saru. When will you stop? It will never end. You'll start wanting for more, and more and more. Until you finally run out and you slowly die and rot away."

Goku's eyes widened in shock. That was a lie. It had to be.

But yet…

Deep inside, he knew well the hunger would never end. It wouldn't stop until it had consumed him. Only after he had wasted away, searching for what was unattainable, would the hunger stop and laugh. Laugh at what a fool he was to let himself be driven by it. By the first love he had ever had.

Goku fists seemed to be causing dents in his staff at the rate he was gripping them so tightly.

But there was no way he could let go of what he had come so far for. There wasn't any other choice! He had fought the only family he'd ever had just to get here. He had driven back and hurt what he deemed brothers. Wasn't he weak if he stopped now? Wasn't he the lowest of the low if he just halted right here?

"…no."

Sanzo said nothing as an inner war raged within Goku's mind. Never had the boy thought this hard in his entire life.

He wouldn't be the lowest of the low. He would NOT be called weak! Simply because he wouldn't allow himself to receive such names, he would NOT be a weakling for stopping here. Was it better to let a mindless craving rule his thoughts and actions instead of his own mind? Instead of his own spirit?

Instead of him?

Sanzo watched the Nyoibou fall to the ground and Goku drop to his knees. The monk let out a large sigh. Taking a few steps closer to his charge, Sanzo lay a pale hand on Goku's head. There was no reassurance that Goku had done the right thing neither was there a comfort that Gojyo and Hakkai wouldn't blame him. Sanzo didn't know whether those were true. And Sanzo hated lying.

But Sanzo did know that the trial Goku had gone through just made the saru stronger.

Lifting his hand, Sanzo reached into his robe and started to pull out what had driven Goku to wrestle with Gojyo for three hours and a half till the kappa was driven to the point where he couldn't even sit up without resting for a half hour or so. It was also what had made Goku kick Hakkai in the stomach and tie his hands up with rope, along the way being very apologetic. In fact the monk saw both of them coming up the hill now.

Sanzo raised an eyebrow at them both. "What did he do to the two of you?"

Holding his stomach, Hakkai grinned weakly. "Ahaha…"

Gojyo slumped to the ground, panting. "Shit… that… saru… packs… a… punch…!!"

Sanzo rolled his eyes and drew out the cause of all their problems.

In the background, he heard Hakkai softly pat Goku on the shoulder.

"You're doing the right thing, Goku. One more of those and you would definitely have spent three days in bed for indigestion. It's just not normal for you to eat so many for breakfast."

The blubbering that followed made Gojyo look wearily at Sanzo.

"Just THROW the damn thing away, will you?"

Without another word, Sanzo reared back and flung the nikuman as far as he could.

The End.

********

Imaginator: *laughs* What? You thought this was serious?!

YunCyn: *howls in laughter* Woo!

Muse #1: You girls are sick. You know that? SICK!

YunCyn: *exchanges glances with Imaginator* Muse punishment time?

Imaginator: Tis' way overdue. *hefts baseball bat*

Muse #2: Oh, you HAD to open your big mouth didn't you?!

Muse #1: Quit complaining and RUN!