Disclaimer: I don't own Saiyuki in any way. I wish I did.
Hakkai usually is my favorite character, but Goku is so adorable.
Sanzo stared over the horizon, then looked back at his companions, Gojyo was argueing, as always, with Goku, Hakkai was feeding his pet dragon Hakuyro. He could care less what they were doing, he didn't choose to bring them along. The others did. Though they were good companions, he'd rather stop the Gomaoh revival in India himself. In the distance he could hear Goku's voice, " Gojyo! Stop smoking! It makes my lungs dry up! Before you know it you'll be dead!"
" Well, live with it!" Gojyo yelled back, " Why don't you go back to your little rock and stay there? I think you were much better there, then no one could hear about your cravings for food all the time, Monkey boy!"
Goku stared at him, Gojyo's face showed no lie, he really believed he really should do that. Gojyo's face showed hatred, no doubt about it. He didn't care, " What did you say?" He whispered.
" I said, you should go back to your dumb little Rock." Gojyo growled at him, his face an inch closer to Goku, " No one even likes you..." Gojyo, of course, didn't mean this, he was just angry. Sanzo said a lot of things to Goku he didn't mean, and Goku still liked him, so this was no different, was it?
What Goku did next shocked the rest of the group, he punched Gojyo right in the jaw and then slammed him to the ground. Gojyo looked up at Goku, who's face showed anger, anguish, and guilt at the same time. He turned to Hakkai, who's eyes were wide, and then to Sanzo, who sneered at him. Obviously Sanzo had heard what he said, but why does he care?
Goku took a deep breath, looked at his hands and saw that it was covered in blood, Gojyo's blood. He looked up at Sanzo, and Hakkai, " I'm s-sorry." He whispered, " I didn't mean it..." Then without saying another word, he ran off into the woods nearby.
Gojyo got up, and tried to go after Goku. " Goku! Come back!" He yelled, " Goku!" But nothing, he didn't come. Hakkai put Hakuyro down, " Calling him won't make him come back, Gojyo. Goku's too hurt to." Hakkai said softly, " You shouldn't of said that."
" I didn't mean it." Gojyo whispered, then highered his voice, " Sanzo says a lot of things Goku doesn't like, so why am I any different?"
" Because I don't bring up the past, pansy." Sanzo growled, " Goku was stuck in that mountain for 500 years. Don't you think that will scar him at the least?"
" Why do you care? You don't even like him." Gojyo shot back, " You're always hitting him with that stupid fan, why are you defending him when you hurt him yourself?"
" We have to find him." Hakkai said, while Hakuyro turned into a jeep, " There are Youkai out there. Goku would surely die if we don't do something about it. He's outnumbered."
Sanzo got in the passenger seat, while Hakkai was packing stuff fast. Gojyo walked up to him, " Why does Sanzo care so much?"
Hakkai looked at him, " Because Goku is his favourite, that boy has somehow found his way into the man's heart. He doesn't want to lose Goku anymore than I do. I don't know about you though."
Gojyo sighed, " Yeah, I guess you're right..."
He was alone, no one to hold him, but since when did anyone hold him? Sanzo? No, he'll just yell at him for even getting near him. Gojyo? No, not after what he did. Hakkai? Maybe, but then again. He had no one, he knew that since he was locked in the mountain for 500 years. Until Sanzo came and rescued him.
Sanzo, what did he think of this? Dissappointed, probably. Maybe he agreed with Gojyo, maybe they all did. They just thought he was a nuisence and he was nothing but a child to them. Why did Sanzo save me? Why didn't he just let me be? Why did I even go with them? all those ran through Goku's mind as he walked deep into the forest.
" Darn it, where could he be?" Sanzo thought to himself, " He couldn't have gone far on feet, he couldn't,"
" You really do care about him, don't you Sanzo?" Gojyo asked from the back seat, " I didn't think you did after all you do to him, calling him names..."
" I wouldn't be the one talking, Pansy. You're the one who made him run away." Sanzo growled, hitting him with a fan, " Now will you shut up? Or do you want me to make so that we lose another member of this Group?"
Hakkai's heart lurched, lose another member, they lost Goku already?, he looked up in the sky, 'Goku, please be alright...for Sanzo's sake at least..." The kept on driving until they hit the forest.
Goku stopped and leaned against a tree, he saw a squirell that ran up by his legs. Another group of them soon followed, he smiled, " Hello there, you having fun? I'm not, my friends hate me now..."
" Hate you? If we hated you, you would be dead by now." A voice said from behind, Goku turned to face Sanzo, who was leaning against a tree behind him. Goku looked the other way. " Now, are you gonna come with us or not?"
" I can't go back...master Sanzo, Gojyo won't talk to me again." Goku said softly, " I won't...am I even worth saving? I'm nothing but a mere boy to anyone. One that gets on everybody's nerves."
" You don't get on Hakkai's nerves, just mine..." Sanzo said, his voice becoming a little bit more soft, " Gojyo didn't mean what he said. Now stop being stupid, and let's go."
" There you go with the stupid monkey thing again..." Goku muttered, " I can't help it if I don't know much stuff. I never had a father, or a mother. I just had myself all those years in the cell. At least you had you're master to look up to."
" Goku, I..." Sanzo started, but Goku interrupted him, " No, none of that. I hate being treated like a child! Just leave me alone..." Sanzo still didn't leave. Why isn't he leaving?
" I'm not leaving until you come with us, I can't leave you..." Sanzo said, his voice still soft, " I don't want to leave you behind..."
He really cares? Or is he just saying that? " Why don't you? It would make everyone's lives better. I think that's why they locked me up, to make their lives better. I don't even know what crime I committed." Goku said putting his head on his knees, " I wish I could know..."
" I told you kid, I'm not leaving you..." Sanzo said, his voice becoming more soft, " Hakkai sent me to find you, and I seem to be the only one who could hear you crying in the forest."
Goku looked up, Sanzo always heard him, he was the only one who did. He remembered that very day.
" So, you're the one who's been calling me, huh?" Sanzo said, standing infront of Goku who was in chains.
" What? I haven't been calling anyone." Goku replied, looking up at the man.
" Don't lie, I heard you. And cut the act, it's gettting annoying. After all, you're going to be staying with me for awhile, not that I have any choice, that is." Sanzo said reaching out his hand, Goku gratefully took it.
Sanzo was the one to reach out to him first, the one who actually cared. He knew why Sanzo acted the way he did, it was because his master, and that after he died Sanzo could trust no one.
" Are you coming or not?" Sanzo's voice cut in to his train of thoughts, " It's getting cold, and I'd like to find an Inn or something to stay in tonight." He reached his hand out to Goku, and smiled a little at him.
Goku smiled and took the older man's hand as he pulled him up off the ground. " Thanks..." Goku said, but Sanzo started walking away, " Hey, wait for me!"
" You're too slow, monkey." Sanzo said, his voice had a little humor in it, but Goku couldn't really tell.
The two walked until they finally met up with Hakkai and Gojyo, " Oh, you found him Sanzo." Hakkai said with a smile, he walked up to Goku, " You scared me a little there, kiddo."
Goku smiled, " Sorry about that."
" How come it's always Sanzo who finds him?" Gojyo asked, " I wanted to find the little monkey today."
Sanzo grunted, and walked towards the jeep. " Let's go." He said with a wave of his hand, " I'm getting sick of this place."
Hakkai nodded, " Right..." And he got into the driver's seat, motioning Goku and Gojyo to follow them.
" Just a sec," Gojyo said putting his hand up, and turned to Goku, " So, you ok kid? I mean, I didn't mean what I said before. I was just angry, that's all."
" Yeah, I'm ok, and I'm sorry for hitting ya..." Goku said, and the red head smiled generously at him.
" It's ok, now let's go, before Sanzo gets mad at the both of us." Gojyo said putting his arm around Goku, " This time, no running away, ok?" Goku nodded, and they headed for the jeep.
That was short, but deal with it.