I'm poor please don't sue, and I don't own it.

Sorry this took so long. But sometimes life gets in the way. I'm forgiven right? The snippet from the last chapter was from What a Girl Wants by Christina Aguilera.

K, And now for the explanations. LOL

goku's thought's in Sanzo's head.>

Growing Pains - After the Dream

Sanzo sat up, eyes automatically searching their camp for the disturbance. To one side of him Goyjo was waking and checking on Hakkai, who was also just waking up. However, on his other side lay a violently shaking figure. Sanzo got up and went to see what was wrong with the boy.

"Goku?" he said softly. Nothing. "Goku!" he shook the boy to no avail. "Hakkai."

It took them a heartbeat to get over to where the monkey lay, Hakkai's hands where already glowing green when he arrived. He put his hands over the boy, letting his ki soak into him. After a few long moments Hakkai raised his head.

"What's wrong with fucking Saru now?" Sanzo demanded. Hakkai shook his head, and shrugged.

"Nothing. Nothing is wrong with him. He just can't or won't wake up. I have no clue what's keeping him asleep. I. . ."

The rest of what Hakkai would have said was drowned out by a more important voice calling out to him.

Here.> It pleaded. Sanzo closed his eyes and concentrated on that think weak voice. If Goku could talk to him, there must be a way to talk back.

Help me.>

How? Sanzo thought back into a blank space in his mind.

Sanzo?> a pause that seemed to last a lifetime. Sanzo, come back.>

Dammit Saru! Where?

Here.>

Where is here, Goku? He demanded of the boy. It worked. He got an answer. It just wasn't the answer that he wanted.

I'm sorry. I liked kissing you. I'm sorry that I'm a boy and I'm sorry that the fact that I love you makes you unhappy.>

Goku? Goku!

Nothing. For the first time in a long time, there was little to no presence at the edge of his mind. He was finally alone in it. It wasn't what he thought it would be.

GOKU!

wvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvwvw

Sanzo bolted up right in his bed roll. He turned to see Hakkai awake and looking at him.

"Welcome back, Sanzo." Hakkai said a smile firmly in place.

"What happened?"

"I was hoping that you would be able to tell me the answer to that." Hakkai looked at him expectantly. Sanzo shook his head. He had never told them what had been driving him to find Goku. He always thought that it had sounded silly afterwards. Only crazy people heard voices. Then it started, a voice echoed in his head and repeated itself every five minutes.

Come back.>

Sanzo?>

I'm sorry.>

Why?.

It was a good enough reminder of why he had gone to find the person who had been calling him.

"Sanzo?" Hakkai called, waving a hand in front of the priest's face. "Are you feeling well?"Sanzo just stared at him. "You went deathly pale just now."

"Yea, you didn't even answer when we called." Goyjo threw in. Hakkai placed his hand in front of his lover's mouth.

"I think you should fill us in, Sanzo." Hakkai said softly. "It might help us wake Goku up."

I'm sorry.>

With that Sanzo's fuse ran out.

"Fine! Whatever! So long as he stops calling me!" Sanzo yelled.

"Nani!" Hakkai said, sure he had heard wrong.

What now, Kouryuu? Chided a voice.

come back> Goku was sounding weaker.

"Sanzo!" Goyjo yelled, shaking the priest. "Ouch!" he exclaimed rubbing the spot where Sanzo's fan had connected.

"Are you going to tell us?" Hakkai asked. He was working hard to speak softly. Sanzo was the only one who knew what was happing and yelling at the stubborn priest wasn't going to get them any where. Sanzo looked at him for a long time before he sighed, and proceeded to fill in the gaps he had left out before, after which, the priest had promptly passed out.

Wvwvwvwvwv

Hakkai sat staring at the fire, long after even Goyjo had fallen asleep. He looked at the boy, the monk and then back to the fire.

"Extraordinary." He murmured. "Impossible." Yet, he could see the proof right in front of him. Goku would have a violent attack and the priest would fold in on himself. "They're bound. Amazing."

Wvwvwvwvwv

Come back.>

Where? Sanzo asked again.

I'm sorry.>

For what?

Sanzo?>

Who else, Saru?

Why?>

Why what, Goku? Goku! The next part took a long time to come to him.

I'm scared.>

That was new. Some part of the monkey must still be there.

It'll be okay.

Wvwvwvwv

Goyjo put his hand on Hakkai's shoulder. The smaller youkai smiled up at him.

"Yes, Goyjo?"

"You've been like this for hours. What's wrong with you?" Goyjo asked. The worry in the back of his eyes not quite masked. Hakkai sighed, both from the question and the fact that he had made Goyjo worry. He waved a hand at the bodies on the other side of the fire.

"Remember what Sanzo told us? That Goku could talk into his head without meaning to, without even knowing that he was doing it?"

"Yea."

"And yesterday Goku even managed to force his feeling on him?"

"So?" Goyjo asked, not seeing it as important.

"Who's to say that Sanzo can't do the same back?"

Goyjo stared at him for several minutes.

"Ne, Hakkai? What would that do to them?"

Hakkai was quiet for so long that Goyjo had to make sure that he was still awake. Hakkai was looking at the fire. The red of it caught in his green eyes, like a forest was smothering a fire.

"Ne, Hakkai?"

"They'd be bonded."

"What's wrong with that?"

"They would be . . . an . . . I don't know . . . a mated pair, each depending on the other's constant presence to survive."

"So. . . . what happens if Goku doesn't wake up?" Goyjo asked finally understanding the implications of such a thing.

"I really don't know."

Hakkai seemed even more troubled by that. It was his job to heal the group after all and here was a problem that he couldn't fix. He knew Hakkai genuinely like the Saru, and tried to help him if he could. Hakkai sighed.

"Hakkai?" Goyjo asked. He really wanted Hakkai to say that he was all right.

"Goku could die, he could just wake up or. . . . " Hakkai let his next thought trail off. Goyjo was getting the definite impression that he didn't want Hakkai to finish that thought that. But . . . he didn't want Hakkai to suffer alone.

"Or what?" Goyjo prompted

"Or they could both die."

Wvwvwvwvwv

Konzen?>

There was that name again. Only the three gods had called him that, but from this voice it sounded right.

Sanzo. My name is Sanzo.

Sanzo? Come back.>

Where?

Here.>

Gods Dammit Goku!

I didn't think there was anyone left in the world, till you came and freed me. I was sure no one was left alive to hear me. I thought that I would be stuck I that cave all alone till the sun burned out, but, then you were walking toward me as the sun rose. You brought me back to your home and reintroduced me to everyone;

Tenpou-Hakkai,

Kenren-Goyjo

Konzen and you.

I wanted to say, Thank you . . . Just incase I hadn't yet.>

Wvwvwvwv

They bolted up right at the same moment, as they did Hakkai moved to see to Goku. Goyjo looked over at the priest. Sanzo just nodded to him. Then a voice rang out.

"Konzen!" The monkey avoided Hakkai's attempt to hold him dashing over to Sanzo. "Sanzo! You didn't put me back. You didn't leave me there. I'm so glad. So very, very glad." The poor little monkey broke down crying after that. Sanzo just looked down at him for a long time. Slowly his arms went around the boy, almost against his will.

"Goku?" the priest inquired, wanting to know that the monkey was back.

"I'm dreaming. Please Sanzo, don't let me wake up! Please, let me stay here with all of you. Please . . . please . . . please . . . " the boy trailed off repeating the word "please" over and over.

"GOKU!" Sanzo snapped. The boy in his lap slowly raised a tear streaked face to his.

"H-hai?"

"What did you dream?"

"That you left me! Left me all alone, back at that cave!" he stopped and slowly drew in a breath. "To wait till the next time you come back." The monkey shrugged. "Maybe the others will be there again too."

Sanzo looked to Hakkai and Goyjo, and they stared back. Their faces said plainly. "We don't know."

"Goku?" the boy hugged him again. "What do we have to do to convice you that your not dreaming?"

The next words out of the boy's mouth were so broken that it hurt to hear them.

"I don't think I'll ever be fully convinced. Deep inside some part of me will always be afraid that I'm going to wake up."

Hakkai knelt down so he was level with the boy.

"We always worry about that. Deep down everyone wonders if what they see is a dream. We have to learn to believe the people around us when they tell us that, we're here, we're real." He ruffled the boy's hair. "That's what we're tell you."

"Oi! Dumb-ass! Can't you even tell if you're awake or not?"

Goku jumped up to argue with the redhead.

"I'm not some dumb-ass. You're the dumb-ass."

"No it you."

"No you."

"Nope you, Saru."

"Mai. Mai . . . " Hakkai started, only to be cut short by Sanzo's fan finding two targets.

"Ouch, shit. What was that for?"

"Ssaannzzoo!" Goku whined.

"Shut up both of you! Before you force me to kill you."

"Ne? Sanzo?"

"What now, Saru?"

"I'm really hungry. Can we travel at night . . . just this once?" they all looked at the boy. Hakuryuu made the decision for them by transforming into Jipu.

"Kyu!"

By the time Sanzo had finished sighing, everyone was packed and ready to go.

"Sanzo! Hurry up!" Goku yelled.

"Yea, yea." Sanzo muttered as he climbed in.

XxXxXxXxX

This is NOT the end. But it may take me awhile to put the next part up. I have mid terms coming up soon and final projects to finish. (Start) so, please R&R and I'll post ASAP. K? Thanks a lot.

Booklover9- you are becoming my favorite person! Thank you so much for reviewing every chapter. It means that someone is watching it progress, which makes your reviews that much more important cause you have been following at each step. I hope that you will like this one. I'm making them longer. So that you don't have to click so much. LOL. I hope that you will continue to review.

FallenTruth- Thank you very much. I wanted to show what they were afraid of. And the dreams come into play in little pieces throughout the story. You see. It's tossed in there very well, without me having to be blunt about it. I also wanted to show what they had to over come in their relationships. I hope that I did. Thank you for your review. I hope you will review this chapter also.