Disclaimer: once again…I don't own Saiyuki!

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers: cherry fantasy, DarkWingedAngelMairiel, jarm, MrsJenKenobi394, AngeloflLight, ALCHEMIST ANGEL 2000, akai no tsuki, Lilie, Suki, Koto Juri, and InsaneBlackHeart

Reviews: -smiles and jumps around happily-

Flames: -sharpens axe-

Chapter 3

The dark figure kept advancing towards Goku, and, because of his injured ankle, he could not move. The only thing he could think to do was cry for help.

"Ahh! Help!" he screamed, watching as the person stepped into the moonlight.

It was Kami-sama. (A/N: If you haven't read the books, this is the guy they lost a battle thingy to, but this is based before they finally did defeat him)

'Ah, shit.' Goku thought. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked Kami-sama.

"I was just looking for a new toy. It looks like I've found one!" he said with a chuckle. He came towards Goku, mumbling something under his breath. Suddenly, Goku went rigid. He couldn't move a muscle. Kami-sama had paralyzed him with a spell.

"I've been needing a new toy for such a long time!" said Kami-sama, "I wonder if your friends will come looking for you. Do they still think they can beat me?" he laughed while picking up the paralyzed Goku and headed towards the woods where his palace was.

"I just can't wait to meet your friends again. Especially that Sanzo…no offense to your friend but he's not worthy of the title" as much as this pissed Goku off, and as much as he wanted to smack Kami-sama right in the face, he was still unable to move.

They entered the forest. Kami-sama then put a barrier around the entrance, just as he had done the day Sanzo, Goku, and Hakkai had come looking for Gojyo when he had run off. "We'll have lots of fun…you'll become my new favorite toy!" Kami-sama told Goku as they began climbing the endless flight of stairs that led to his palace. It wasn't long before they reached the top, since Kami-sama did have freakish powers that made it possible for him to get up a three hour long staircase in a little under three minutes.

Kami-sama opened a door that led to a huge room with toys covering the floor. He dumped Goku on the ground.

"It looks like I'll have to lock you in here for a while. At least until your friends get here, if they can get through my barrier!" he then left the room, locking the giant door.

As soon as the click of the lock was heard, Goku could move again. He got up and surveyed his surroundings. Toys were everywhere…dolls, teddy bears, cars, stuffed animals, every kind of toy there was. 'What the hell is this place?' Goku thought. He looked at the door. 'Bet I could break through that.'

He ran at the door, sure that he could get through. He slammed against it, but fell to the floor.

"Ah, shit!" Goku shouted, his shoulder filled with pain. 'Sanzo, where are you?' he thought, as he sank to his knees amongst all the toys.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"Hey, Sanzo…are you sure it's really necessary to go looking for Goku?" Gojyo asked the grumpy monk. "The stupid monkey is probably off hiding, waiting for us to come looking for him so that he can get a good laugh at how worried we would get."

Sanzo raised his loaded Smith & Wesson and pointed it in the redheads face.

"Would you like me to pull the trigger?" he said in a dangerous tone.

"Err…no thanks." said Gojyo, holding his hands up in an 'I surrender' sign.

"Somehow, Gojyo, I don't think Goku would do something like that. He likes to play jokes sometimes but I don't think he'd do something like that. Besides, he probably knows that if he were to play something like that on us, Sanzo wouldn't be too happy" said Hakkai in his always-calm voice.

"He's probably gone to some food place that's open 24 hours. Ch, stupid saru. Just wait till I get my hands on him…he's gonna pay for making us get up and look for him at two in the morning" Gojyo said, while sitting back and lighting a cigarette.

All the while, Sanzo hardly heard a word the two other men had said. He was lost in his own private thoughts, wondering what was happening to Goku. He knows that Goku called him, for it was Goku's cry for help that had woken Sanzo up. 'Shit, Goku. What the hell is happening to you?' he thought. Sanzo wasn't used to being worried about anyone, so this was all new to him. He didn't know where to start looking; he didn't know what could have happened or where Goku could be. The memory of what he had said to Goku at the inn played through his mind. 'I'm such an asshole' thought the priest.

Hakkai stopped the car and turned to Sanzo.

"Sanzo," he said. "We need to stop and think this over. What if Gojyo is right and Goku went to get some food, or perhaps he was in the bathroom and is back in his hotel room fast asleep. Gojyo and I don't know…but we do know that there's more to this than Goku just running off. What happened?"

Suddenly, Sanzo remembered. He remembered hitting kicking Goku and watching him run out the door.

"I hit him." Sanzo said, turning his head the other way so that he didn't have to look Hakkai in the eye.

"What?" Gojyo and Hakkai said in unison. Sanzo lost his temper. He stood up and started yelling in the other's faces.

"I hit the little bastard! I got drunk, hit him, then kicked his ass while he was lying there on the floor! Then he just got up and ran out! I don't know where he is…all I know is that I fell asleep and heard his voice crying for help in my head! There! Ya happy? It's my fault the stupid chimp left! Now you two are going to help me look for his ass even if it takes all night! So just shut up and drive, Hakkai and don't stop until I tell you to!"

Sanzo screamed all of this without taking a breath. Hakkai and Gojyo just stared at him as he had finished.

"DID YOU HEAR ME! I SAID DRIVE!" Sanzo shouted at Hakkai, firing his gun in the air. Usually, Hakkai would still try to talk to Sanzo about something that had happened, but the explosion of the blonde monk left both him and Gojyo shaken. So, he cranked the engine, and turned to Sanzo once more.

"Which way should I go, Sanzo?" he asked.

Sanzo thought a moment. Like he said, he didn't know where Goku could be. 'Could a band of youkai have captured Goku?' he thought to himself. 'No, Goku could beat demons down in his sleep. If Goku had been captured by someone or something, what could it be? What could possibly be too strong for Goku to defeat?' Sanzo then froze, his heart feeling like it had stopped. 'Wait a second…' he thought.

"Go up the mountain, towards the woods where Gojyo ran off to when he left us that day not too long ago." Sanzo said.

"Is it just me or are you actually worried about the monkey?" Gojyo asked Sanzo, hoping that he wouldn't piss off the monk.

Sanzo didn't say anything. He just kept his head down.

"Me too" Gojyo said.

They continued towards the mountain, all lost in their own thoughts. All wondering what could have happened to their team-mate.

-TBC-

A/N: Hope ya'll are still liking the story! Okay, so this chapter wasn't exactly as long as I thought it would turn out to be, but it's late and I'm all out of ideas! I'm still working on getting the slashy stuff in and all that, so please, bear with me!

-guitargurl227-