Disclaimer: If I owned Saiyuki, I'd doubt Sanzo would let me live for very long. And Goku and Lirin would be together.

-

"What are they doing?"

"We've prohibited them from fighting each other, so they're finding different ways to compete for meat buns."

"…Holding their breath?"

"I guess it was the best they could come up with."

"Whatever."

The redhead glanced over at the two currently holding the competition and rolled his eyes.

-

Lirin would not lose! She wanted, no, she needed that last meat bun! It was a matter of honor, a matter of pride, a matter of-

She heard another rumble coming from her stomach.

It was a matter of life and death! Either she got that meat bun and lived, or she lost and died of starvation.

She needed to win!

But Goku would not give up either, that she knew. He had to be the toughest opponent she had ever faced. She had even beaten Kougaiji at breath holding. And the fact that she tickled him had nothing to do with it! But the monkey was every bit as desperate as she was, and that was a disadvantage.

She glanced over at him again, only to find him staring intently at her, cheeks still puffed and breathing still stopped.

He didn't look the least bit blue in the face! And she was starting to get lightheaded already!

There was no way she could beat him. She needed a plan.

She thought for a second, and then it hit her. Though it wasn't a totally honest way to win, it was the only way. But she would endure the pain of being stripped of her pride if it got her that last precious meat bun!

She glanced at Goku one more time, but he still looked the same. Not at all in a hurry.

With his face imprinted in her mind, she rolled her eyes back and lurched forward. She hoped he would catch her, because she wasn't yet desperate enough to eat grass. If he didn't, he would pay dearly. She was also sure her plan would work.

After all, one of the Sanzo group's greatest weaknesses was a damsel in distress, right?

And caught her he did. One look at her eyes rolling back, and he leaned forward as fast as he could and let her fall against his chest. What the heck was going on?

He cradled her head against his chest and shook her gently, all thoughts of breath holding and meat buns far from his mind. Well, holding his breath anyway.

"Lirin. Hey, Lirin, wake up! This isn't funny, get up!"

He laid her on the grass and felt her breath. Wait a sec… she wasn't breathing! He began to panic, when he remembered something Hakkai had taught him a while back.

CPR.

Why did Hakkai teach him CPR? In case he happened to strangle Gojyo while Hakkai and Sanzo were not around, and it somehow stopped Gojyo's breathing. Or maybe he just wanted to see the look on Goku's face when they got to the mouth-to-mouth part of CPR.

He cringed and prayed to whatever Gods were up in the sky that Lirin would wake up slowly. If she didn't, he'd be at the receiving end of one of her punches. And those things hurt! The thought of getting Hakkai, Sanzo or Gojyo hadn't even crossed his mind. The poor thing was much too worried to think clearly.

Goku leaned over Lirin, swallowing hard and blushing slightly.

"Okay Goku, now's not the time to be nervous or shy. Lirin's life is at stake!" he thought to himself.

He tilted her head up and plugged her nose, making sure her mouth was open.

If he had been paying any attention at all, he would have seen Lirin's eyes crack open and been able to feel her pulse quicken.

"Oh crap! Is he going to do CPR on me!" One half of Lirin mentally squealed and blushed, whilst the other half of her tried to drag her away from Goku. Needless to say, half number one won the battle.

But only because she needed that meat bun!

She felt him press his lips against hers, and all thoughts of winning the meat bun ran far away.

The jerk was stealing her first kiss! And without her permission!

Goku felt the youkai girl beneath him tense, and his golden eyes shot open.

Only to meet a pair of bright green eyes.

"L-Lirin! I-it's not what it looks like! You collapsed and I was trying to give you CP-"

He never finished the sentence.

Lirin shoved him off of her, and slammed her fist in his face.

"YOU PERVERT! HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME! HOW DARE YOU STEAL MY FIRST KISS! YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

She was now straddling his waist and attempting to beat his face into the ground. But sadly, most of her punches were not connecting with their target. Darn that Goku for being so fast!

When one particularly hard punch nearly collided with his nose, Goku grabbed Lirin's wrists to stop her from sending him into a coma.

"Hey, stop already! I told you that you had collapsed and you weren't breathing, so I was trying to give you CPR!"

Lirin tried to jerk her hands away from Goku, but to no avail. She was so going to kill him.

"You idiot! I was faking it! I knew you were going to win that meat bun, and I need it!"

Goku grip slackened in surprise, and the girl snatched her hands away.

"You faked it! You nearly gave me a heart attack just to get a meat bun!"

Lirin blushed slightly. Was he really that worried about her?

"Don't give me that! You would have probably done the same thing too!"

Remembering a similar incident, Goku blushed and scratched his head.

"Ehehehe… Maybe I would. But still! You scared me! I thought you were dying or something!"

Lirin pouted and crossed her arms. Goku had to hold back a laugh. She looked like a cute little child that was getting reprimanded for doing something wrong. But in a way, she was.

"But I won, didn't I? I held my breath longer than you did."

"B-but you cheated! That's not fair!"

Lirin grinned, reaching over and plucking the meat bun from the napkin that was lying next to them. She took a bite out of it and began chewing slowly, watching Goku's expression carefully.

Goku watched as she ate the last meat bun, and sighed.

"Fine, a bet is a bet. Go ahead and eat."

Lirin smirked in triumph, and was about to take another bite when she looked at Goku's face.

She froze.

He had such a wistful and beaten puppy look, that she almost reached out to give him a pet on the head. He really did look like a cute furry animal of some sort.

She sighed and held the meat bun in front of his mouth. At his questioning glance, she said,

"We can share it. You take a bite, and then I'll take one. After all, it wasn't nice of me to scare you like that."

She lowered her head, while her eyes peered through her bangs and looked directly into his.

"I'm sorry for lying to you like that. I shouldn't have. And you even kept your promise after I cheated like that. I feel bad…"

She looked up in surprise when she felt him patting her bare leg.

"It's okay! I'm not mad at all!"

He smiled and took a bite out of the delicious morsel in front of his mouth. Lirin noticed he took his bite right where she had taken hers.

She took another bite over his, and then held out the rest.

"Thank you. You can have the rest of it."

She giggled when his eyes grew and lit up.

"Really? Thank you! And I mean it!"

He leaned forward again and took the last part of the meat bun into his mouth. After he swallowed, his tongue darted out to lick off a tiny bit of the bun from Lirin's fingers. He then smiled sweetly and said,

"Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Umm, sure?"

"Could you please get off my stomach? It's not like you're heavy or anything, but I need to get up now…"

Lirin flushed and jumped off of him.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention."

She held out her hand, which he took, and she pulled him up.

"It's fine. Like I said, it's not like you're heavy enough to bother me or anything like that."

Lirin glared playfully at him.

"Are you calling me a shrimp?"

"Maybe."

"Oh, you are so going to eat those words- Hey! Where're you going? Get back here!"

With a quick glance at the finger Goku had licked, she was off and running, out for blood.

-

-The End-

-

Author's Ramblings: Meh, my first Saiyuki ficcy. I don't really like it too much, but this idea was about to drive me insane, so I had to write it. I'm sorry for any mistakes that might be in my fic. I did proofread it at least three times, but I always miss stuff. Feel free to tell me if I made a mistake.

Comments and criticisms are beyond welcome. After all, I love getting better. Flame if you want, but flames will just be used to warm Goku and Lirin's meat buns.

And about the whole CPR thing, feel free to tell me if I made a mistake. I haven't had a CPR course in over a year, so I've forgotten some of it.

Goku and Lirin forever!

Peace out, ya'll.