Series: Saiyuki

Title: To Walk a Thousand Miles

Author: Zelgadis55

Rated: T

Warnings: Enthusiastic and younger sisters can be dangerous to your health.

Disclaimer: Not mine, I'm just playing. Gensoumaden Saiyuki, Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock belong to Kazuya Minekura and the respective copyright owners.

Author's notes: I'm sorry for not having updated in so long. Unfortunately, due to a combination of writer's block and personal stuff in real life, I have had a hard time continuing to write. However, I have not forgotten this story and as long as it remains on this site, I won't forget it. Since I have a couple completed chapters sitting on my computer and Cesmith has been reminding me to post at various times, I thought I better post this chapter.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. I've appreciated your thoughts and will do my best to take them into consideration.

To Walk a Thousand Miles

pt 3

For a moment, Dokugakuji stared at the man he was holding up as if he had suddenly grown an extra head, before smiling sympathetically, "Actually, you're the one who hit his head but that still doesn't answer my question, why are you out of bed?"

Goku glanced over at the bedside table guiltily, "I um… was thirsty but I knocked the glass over an' as I went to clean it up, I saw Lirin so I decided to ask what she was doing here." When he finished his explanation, Goku looked back to Dokugakuji who was still holding him steady and frowned in confusion. "Can I ask you something now? How come you're suddenly not as tall as normal?"

"Maybe it's the shoes I'm wearing. Come on; let me help you back to bed." Dokugakuji replied.

Goku nodded slowly. The way his head and body hurt and the way his balance seemed to be so far out of whack, he hadn't heard or thought of a better idea since he woke up in this strange room. They turned and Goku felt a faint sensation suspiciously like a long ponytail swishing gently against his back. 'But, I haven't had long hair for a couple of years.' He thought, instantly dismissing the feeling.

Once he was back in bed, Goku suddenly remembered, "Oh, the water! I'm really sorry but I spilled it." He moved to get back out of bed again, "I'll clean it up."

"No you won't Kou, don't worry about it. Just rest! Yaone wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I let you do it in your condition."

Goku turned confused eyes on Gojyo's older brother, "Why do you keep calling me that?"

Dokugakuji looked a little taken aback, "You never minded before but I'll stop if you want me to, Kougaiji."

"No! I mean, I already told you, I'm Goku, not Kougaiji." Goku insisted, "Don't you recognize me?"

A worry that even Goku could not miss, filled Dokugakuji's eyes, though he tried to keep up a reassuring smile, "Of course I recognize you."

"Then why call me that? Why am I here? Where's here and where's Sanzo?" Goku's volume started to rise with his frustration. "An' how long have I been here anyway?" he added remembering the vastly increased length of his nails.

Dokugakuji appeared to regard Goku seriously, "You really mean it, don't you?" he asked softly. "You really think you are Goku."

"That's 'cause I am."

Lirin began to stir again and Dokugakuji glanced in her direction. He leaned forward, close to Goku and spoke quietly, "Do us all a favour Kou… uh, Goku. Don't tell anyone you think you're Goku."

Frustrated further, Goku opened his mouth to protest but Dokugakuji shushed him by continuing to talk.

"Don't tell Lirin, don't tell anyone. The last thing any of us needs, especially you, is to give Ni Jenyi an excuse to get his hands on you again."

"Again? Who is Ni Jen…"

"We'll talk about it later," Dokugakuji said while glancing in Lirin's direction again, "when Yaone wakes, we'll all sort this out altogether, okay?"

"'kay…" Goku agreed reluctantly, realising that he didn't have much choice.

"Good, now how about I get you some more water? When I get back, I'll mop up the water that spilt."

Dokugakuji picked up the now empty glass and left, Goku staring mournfully after him, feeling lonelier than he had for quite some time. "But… where's Sanzo?"

- . - . -

Dokugakuji closed the door gently behind himself and sighed, leaning against it in sudden exhaustion. Despite his promise to Yaone to get some rest as well, he had not been able to sleep. He had lain there, tossing and turning for a few hours and had eventually given up, deciding instead to get up and check on Kougaiji. It was bad enough that Kou was hurt as badly as he was but to apparently lose his memory and even worse… to actually believe he was someone else? Dokugakuji had no idea what to do about that and wished that Yaone were awake now, even though he doubted she would have any answers either. 'At least she might have some idea though. Hopefully, Kou will come out of this soon.' He thought.

Dokugakuji pushed away from the door, heading off to get the water he had promised.

- . - . -

Once Dokugakuji had left the room, Goku lifted his hands in front of his face to stare at them again. Not only were his nails so much longer than he remembered and his skin tone a little darker but his hands looked a bigger too. He turned them over. Thanks to the cast partially covering one hand, he couldn't see it properly but his other hand was still uncovered. The calluses he had built up from handling nyoi-bou were missing. Puzzled, he turned his attention from his hands to look down…

"Onii-chan! You're awake!" An excited voice cried. The owner of it, Lirin, jumped on the bed, wrapping him within a fierce hug.

Goku gasped in pain. Lirin hadn't meant to hurt him, he knew that, but still, her hug seemed to target nearly every bruise, cut and injury on his body. "Let go, Lirin," he asked with a slight whine in his voice, "I'm not…" Goku closed his mouth, suddenly remembering Dokugakuji's request.

Lirin pulled away from him slightly, though she refused to let go, "You're not what, onii-chan?"

Goku shook his head slowly. Even carefully, it was still a mistake. "Doesn't matter."

Lirin looked at him a moment longer before beaming and hugging him tightly again, "You have no idea how scared I was! When you fell down that hole I thought I was going to lo…"

"Lirin!" Dokugakuji said in a slightly sharper tone than he would have preferred as he re-entered the bedroom. "Your brother is injured, remember?"

Lirin let go and pulled back, looking embarrassed as she did so. "I'm sorry, onii-chan," she said in a muted tone, "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Goku smiled at her, "Nuh, not too badly. I'll live." He felt really weird allowing her to believe he was her brother but Dokugakuji had sounded so serious when asking him to keep it a secret. He hated secrets but it was a reasonable request to wait at least until Yaone was around. He could deal with it until then.

"Here you are, Kou." Dokugakuji handed Goku the glass he was carrying. Goku took it gratefully, almost succeeding in dropping it. The taller youkai helped him steady the glass while Lirin looked on from where she knelt anxiously beside him on the bed.

"I'm sorry." Goku apologised. He felt helpless, awful. Sure, he knew his injuries would affect him but… it was almost more as if he was having trouble controlling his body properly than any lingering effects from his injuries. His limbs felt odd and he was, in some distant way, reminded of a newborn foal, trying to balance on legs that were almost too long. Goku didn't understand any of this and he was discovering he hated this feeling almost as much as he hated being alone.

"Don't worry about it. Just give yourself some time to recover and you'll be back to normal before you know it." Dokugakuji reassured him.

Somehow though, Goku didn't feel very comforted by those words.

- . - . -

Kougaiji opened his eyes again, this time feeling a lot less disoriented and somewhat better than he had earlier. Other than the still open sky above, this time the sun a lot higher in the sky than before, the first thing he noticed was how incredibly hungry he felt. Slowly, he moved his hand to his stomach but failed to quell the loud rumble of hunger from within. A familiar face swam into view, Gojyo. The hanyou grinned down at him in a way that Kougaiji could have sworn said 'welcome back'.

Gojyo turned his head away and called, "Oi bouzu, your monkey's awake!"

Kougaiji blinked back his surprise as he heard the almost snarled response, "He is not my damn monkey, cockroach!"

Gojyo, who had already turned back to face Kougaiji once more, rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, corrupt monk! The rest of us know better, even if you won't admit it."

"Do you really want to die? We only need one idiot." Sanzo threatened flatly as Kougaiji heard the sound of the safety mechanism on a gun released.

Gojyo ignored him for once and spoke to Kougaiji instead, "Hey, welcome back to the living. How're you feeling?"

Kougaiji frowned, he didn't know why one of his enemies was standing over him and greeting him instead of Yaone or Dokugakuji. A moment passed before it hit him that Gojyo was expecting an answer. Instinct warned him against addressing his real concerns so instead he answered with the next thing that came to mind, "Hungry, really hungry."

The redhead above him grinned with relief, "Typical, always with the food. You're gonna have to wait until Hakkai gets back though; he's just gone with Hakuryu to get some fresh water; we're almost out."

"Okay." Kougaiji answered simply. Despite the gnawing hollow feeling within his stomach, he was fine with waiting. While he knew these people would not mistreat him, he didn't think he should take food or anything else from them; after all, they were still his enemies.

The relief that had been showing on Gojyo's face seemed to turn into concern again at the reply given and Kougaiji wondered why briefly before dismissing it as unimportant. He struggled to sit up, taking a look around the campsite when he finally succeeded. No sign of his sister or his friends. Why would they have left him behind? What could have come up so important that they would do such a thing? Had he been hurt so badly that they just could not have risked moving him? How much time had passed since… since… that was right, since he and Goku had fought - the ground weakening so much from their battle that it had simply opened up beneath and allowed them to fall through. Judging by how hungry he felt, it must have been days ago. But…

… but thanks to the intelligence reports he often received, he knew quite a lot about the Sanzo-ikkou, certainly more than personal experience alone would have told him. The monk did not like to stop, for whatever reason. He would fight against stopping when one of his own group, even himself, was hurt, so why would they stop now for an enemy - especially one who kept trying to take that which Sanzo protected?

Kougaiji's eyes flicked in the direction of the hole; it was only about a hundred meters away from where the camp was. They had not moved away at all. Kougaiji frowned, besides not seeing any sign at all of his family, he had not seen Goku either. Maybe he was still down in the underground somewhere and Yaone, Dokugaku and Lirin were still looking for him. 'That doesn't make any sense though.' He mused. He could see the possibility of a mixed party down there searching but he could not see only his own people having gone down, especially Lirin, if it meant leaving him behind when he was hurt.

What was going on?

Kougaiji took a deep breath and turned his gaze back to the camp. Gojyo and Sanzo were both seated, the former lighting a cigarette and the latter actively smoking. Sanzo was pointedly ignoring him. Catching him watching them, especially Sanzo, Gojyo spoke up.

"Do you want a drink or something?"

"Idiot!" Sanzo snapped, "Define 'or something?' That bakazaru might think you meant one of your warm beers."

Gojyo's ire rose and so did he, "Do you really think I would be stupid enough to offer the chimp beer? In his condition? Hakkai'd kill me."

'Chimp? Bakazaru? They're calling me that?'

Sanzo sneered, staying seated and refusing to give Gojyo the satisfaction of looking at him. "It wouldn't surprise me." His physical attitude clearly stated, 'you aren't worth my time'.

Before the escalating argument could get any worse, a loud 'kyuu' interrupted them as Hakuryu suddenly flew in between the two. Hakkai was close behind.

"Please refrain from shouting in front of our patient. He is not feeling very well as it is and you both adding to his headache will not help." Hakkai stated calmly but firmly.

When the arguing pair separated, or rather when Sanzo turned his head to look further in the opposite direction and Gojyo stalked to the other side of the camp, Hakkai turned to Kougaiji. "I am sorry about that, Goku. How are you feeling now? Hopefully better than when you woke earlier." As he spoke Hakkai reached a hand to touch Kougaiji's forehead.

Unable to help himself, Kougaiji flinched slightly at the contact. "Are you talking to me?" he asked in confusion.

Hakkai smiled gently at him, though obvious worry filled his eyes. "Yes, of course I am. How much do you remember of what happened?"

"Not much," Kougaiji answered cautiously, "the fight and then falling."

"You don't remember waking several hours ago?"

"No." Kougaiji answered immediately and then, hesitatingly added, "Actually, I am not sure. Maybe. It's very hazy."

Hakkai nodded, "I'm not surprised, you had quite a fever at that point." His eyes searched Kougaiji's. "It has come down a lot since then, thank goodness."

Kougaiji wasn't quite certain what to say to that but before he could reply, he heard his stomach rumble loudly again. Hakkai chuckled at his embarrassment.

"You must be quite hungry by now. I'll go fix you something." he offered.

"Thank you but you don't need to." Kougaiji said. "Can I ask you something though?"

"You just did but yes, go ahead Goku." Hakkai responded, his tone sounding amused to Kougaiji's ears.

"How long has it been since the accident?"

"Hmm, I would say about three hours short of a day."

"And I'm this hungry?" Kougaiji could not help bursting out. It felt more like he had not eaten in a week. Though he would never admit to it, he felt hungry enough to eat one of the hiryu.

Hakkai laughed, Gojyo snorted and Sanzo simply exclaimed, "Baka!"

As Hakkai turned to go and prepare something for Kougaiji, the prince said, "Wait, I need to ask you something else." Hakkai turned to face him again questioningly and Kougaiji continued, "Where are Lirin and the others? Yaone and Dokugaku?"

Hakkai smiled gently, "They helped us to rescue you and Kougaiji. After we treated the injuries you both sustained, they took Kougaiji home."

"How could they have? I'm he..." Kougaiji clammed up. The Sanzo-ikkou really seemed convinced that he was Goku and although he had no idea why, he knew one thing for certain - he had been left alone with three of his enemies and while he was this weak, he could not risk them finding out the truth

- . - . -

To be continued