Disclaimer: They're cool, but not mine. Here's the next part!

II. Surprises

Hakkai woke to the sound of arguing. Goku and Gojyo were at it again, screaming and swearing like siblings; almost as though they really were family, almost as though they were really there. These were the dreams that Hakkai hated most. For a brief moment, it would seem like everything was back to normal, but then reality would flood him, he'd realize he was dreaming, and he would truly wake to the cold, cold truth and have to face the morose world their lives had become. Even as conscious took a stronger hold of him, the healer waited for reality to come crushing in to destroy the warmth that the familiar sound was bringing him. This was the most vivid his dream had ever been. He slowly opened his eyes waiting to see how far this farce would go when he was suddenly being smothered by a lap full of saru.

"HAKKAI! You're awake!" Goku had engulfed him in a crushing hug. The groaning of his bones told him that this most definitely was not a dream. "I'm so glad you're ok!" the youth said pulling back to look Hakkai in the face. "I thought that I had been too late and that you were gonna die and even though I got here in time to fight off Kougaiji you guys were really messed up and it was so hot and I was so worried and Sanzo still hasn't woken up and I don't know what I'll do if—" The flow of words were halted by a finger to the youth's mouth.

"Goku," Hakkai said in wonder. "How…when…" He was at a loss for words. This was impossible. "I thought the gods had taken you back."

"They had, but—"

"'But' my ass!" Gojyo said tackling the youth in a head lock from behind. "You've probably been frolicking around in Tenkai stuffing your face this whole time, asshole! I wasn't done yellin' at you, where do you get off ignoring me!"

Hakkai took a moment to appreciate the look and feel of the two males wrestling with each other on his bed and could not help the genuine smile that broke across his face.

"Neither of you are in a condition where you should be wrestling like that." He admonished. It was strange the warm feeling that the moment brought him. He hadn't been able to scold anyone like this in some time, and it felt strangely good to be able to half jokingly and half seriously tell the two squabbling males what to do. "Gojyo, you're still injured, and I'm sure Goku must be exhausted and starving after his ordeal." As if emphasizing the healer's words, Goku's stomach gave a mighty rumble and both he and Gojyo froze at the sound.

"Alright saru, we're going next door to get some grub." Gojyo said grabbing Goku by the collar. "We'll leave Hakkai here to check in with the half-dead prince over there." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the other bed in the room where Sanzo lay unmoving.

"Hey wait!" Goku protested as he was dragged towards the door leading to the adjoining room. "I wanna stay with Sanzo!" Hakkai had been anticipating this reaction, but he really did need some time alone with Sanzo to be sure the other man was alright. He didn't want Goku around if things turned out to be worse than they thought. He was preparing to give their youngest companion further encouragement, but Gojyo beat him to it.

"Really?" he said looking over at Goku with a calculating stare from the corner of his eye. "I hear this place has killer meat buns." That definitely caught the youth's attention. It could be assumed that in the three weeks he had been gone, Goku's access to any kind of food had been nonexistent. At the mention of one of his favorite dishes, his mouth began to water. There was still however, a clear struggle being waged within him between his need for food and his need to make sure that Sanzo was alright.

"You'll want to be at full strength when Sanzo wakes, Goku." Hakkai said reasonably. "You'll just be next door and I'll be with him. There isn't much you can do here right now anyway." Goku struggled with himself a moment more before giving in.

"Alright," he said, "but I'm coming back as soon as I'm done eating. You'll need to get some food too Hakkai." And with that, Goku dashed off to find someone to take their food order. Hakkai turned his gaze towards Gojyo who shrugged.

"He seems alright." Gojyo commented.

"We still don't know what's happened though." Was Hakkai's response

"We'll find out when droopy eyes wakes up." Gojyo sighed. "No point in having him repeat the story fifty times. I'd better go make sure he doesn't order the entire menu." And Gojyo exited as well.

Hakkai, left alone in the room with Sanzo sat in silence for a time adjusting to the change that had taken place within their group already. The effect of Goku's presence was immediate and wonderful, but also terrifying. Somehow Hakkai knew that things were not settled yet; Goku's reappearance had been way too easy. But that was a worry for another day. For now, he had to deal with the issue at hand.

He tested his own body before rising; standing slowly to gauge his body's reaction. He felt a little dehydrated and a bit sore, but for the most part, he knew that his strength had recovered. Sighing and stretching, Hakkai walked across the room to check on Sanzo. The priest would definitely be in for quite a surprise when he woke.

o—o—o—o

"I heard your voice…I couldn't help but hear." There was the scent of burning tobacco on the wind.

"I was rather annoyed, so I simply took you with me."

Sanzo was dreaming. He was sharing a moment with his master as only he could in dreams. It had been a crisp autumn day when he had come across his master smoking under a tree.

"Maybe you'll hear it someday too…a voice I mean." Komyou Sanzo said.

"If someone did that to me," Sanzo replied, "I'd find him no matter what. And then I'd tell him to shut up and pop him in the head."

Sanzo had meant it then, and had followed through, but he too had taken the person calling to him along on his journeys. He thought that he would never again hear that voice; it had come and gone. But he could feel something from beyond his dream…

Someone was calling him.

"Goku." Sanzo opened his eyes as the name left his lips. He didn't know how he knew, but he did know that the saru was near-by. It was not Goku who answered him however. There was a rustling from beside him and he looked over to find Gojyo sitting in a chair beside his bed reading a newspaper.

"The saru's next door." He said simply. "Hakkai's with him. Something's wrong with him, but we can't figure out what."

"What are you babbling about?" Sanzo asked struggling up-right.

"Look," Gojyo said putting the paper aside. "We don't have details or anything like that. All we've got at this point is that three days ago, we were getting our asses kicked and Goku suddenly popped out of nowhere. Everything seemed alright until he tried to eat. He couldn't hold anything down. We didn't think much of it at first, but things have pretty much been going down hill since then."

Bracing himself, Sanzo pushed his bedcovers aside, swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He wavered slightly as the room tilted around him. He wasn't fully recovered yet after all. He still had healing wounds across his torso, he'd apparently been unconscious for three days, and he was still feeling the lingering effects of the scorpion venom in his system. That combined with the nasty sunburn on his face left Sanzo feeling generally shitty. He pushed all of that aside right now though.

"Where is he?" He asked, and Gojyo lead the way to the door that lead to the other room. Before opening the door, Gojyo turned back to Sanzo with a strange look in his eye that Sanzo did not recognize.

"It's only fair that I warn you, the saru ain't lookin' so good these days." Sanzo responded with a grunt and pushed past Gojyo to open the door. As the door swung opened, they were greeted with the sound of retching and coughing. Sanzo looked into the room to see Goku heaving over a basin, Hakkai holding his frame to support him while setting aside a glass of water.

"Hakkai, I can't," his voice rasped out after he'd caught his breath again. "This ain't gonna work." Sanzo was frozen in the doorway. The world seemed to be swaying once again. The figure that he saw before him cradling his head and leaning against Hakkai for support was alien to him. Goku sat on one of the beds in the room quivering in the other man's arms. He was wearing his night clothes. Even after he had vanished, they held on to his things unable and unwilling to discard them. The clothes hung limply from his now tiny form. His bones showed painfully through skin that looked like it was pulled too tightly over his frame. His once sun-warmed skin was ashen and fever bright. He looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Sanzo realized that he very well may not have eaten in weeks, but Goku had never looked starved. He'd gone 500 years with nothing and come out perfectly healthy in body. This was a shock he was not prepared for.

He must have made some sound because suddenly, Hakkai and Goku both looked up to stare at where he and Gojyo stood. Goku's face lit up when he saw the monk, but the effect was spoiled by the wan, gaunt, sunken appearance of his eyes and skin.

"What the hell is going on?" Sanzo moved across the room to his charge noting that his diadem was still absent. "What's wrong with you, baka?" The words, while harsh on the surface, were laced with an undercurrent of concern. Sanzo knelt in front of Goku and reached out a hand to push back the mess of hair that covered the saru's face so that he could get a better look, and he was greeted by his third shock in as many minutes. The moment his skin came in contact with the saru's, there was a sudden jolt of energy and Goku was on the ground twitching and gasping for air. His eyes were wide and blood shot and he looked as though he would shudder apart at any moment. Hakkai went immediately to his side, but he didn't know how to help. Sanzo and Gojyo both stayed back to give the kid some air, but Sanzo thought he noticed a mark emblazoned on the saru's forehead; he couldn't see clearly enough to identify what it could be.

The fit passed, and Goku lay very still breathing heavily. His eyes were red as though they wanted to cry but had no tears for it. A tense silence had fallen over the room.

"Dammit." Goku rasped out. His voice was little more than a whisper. "He knows…he's probably watching us right now." His eyes turned to Sanzo. "I wanted to be sure you were alright, but I've stayed too long. He's—" Goku cried out as another shock of pain coursed through his body. The other men stood by watching, yet again unable to do anything to help their friend. He lay curled into himself trying to breathe once again, the small breath he could get shuddering from his lungs. Silence filled the room yet again which was the only reason the group heard the youth's last words. "Gotta go." He gasped, barely recognizable as speech. And then he was gone, vanishing just as suddenly as he had before. The three men stared at each other in the following silence once again helpless and confused.

o—o—o—o

Goku didn't know how he knew where to go, but he somehow intuitively knew how to find his master. At the moment, he didn't really care how he knew where to go, he just wanted the pain to stop. His entire body ached. In the three days that had passed in the world, he had known a hunger more keen than anything he had ever experienced before, but no matter how hard he tried to eat, he could not hold anything down. The desert heat had left him parched and thirsty, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hold in any liquids either. He was exhausted beyond description, but when he lay to rest, he could not get comfortable and he could not sleep.

By all logic, be probably should have died of starvation, dehydration, and sleep deprivation about half-way through the second day. His increased strength and metabolism meant that he needed to replenish his energy more often than other people and because of that, he could burn out faster than other people. The fire that burned within him needed to be fed almost constantly, and if that meant that it had to feed off of his body itself, then it would, and for the past three days, it had. The problem was that the energy that could eat away at his physical self was the same energy that would keep him alive through it. He could suffer all the failings and malfunctions of his body, but as long as there was anything left of him for his energy to feed off of, he would not die.

He lay now at the feet of Li Touten understanding for the first time what it was to be bound to this being. His master could inflict pain at will, and the pain came from within, using Goku's own strength against him. Goku was apparently not able to replenish his energy if he was away from his master which meant that he would have to be in near constant contact with the kami. He could literally not be away from Li Touten for too long, and even if he did choose to escape rather than live as a slave to the kami's every wish, it would be a long and torturous road for him that would lead to a slow and lingering death. And there was nothing he could do to break this contract because he had entered it willingly.

Goku wanted to tremble, or be angry, or do something to help release the horror that had just clenched his heart, but he was too tired, and in too much pain.

"I suppose now you finally understand what it is to belong to me. I hope that this is a lesson that you won't soon forget." Goku could only shift his eyes to glare at the kami with absolute loathing. Li Touten's response was a sneer. He flicked a hand calling servants in. "Get it out of my sight; Nataku's rooms have been prepared. And get it some proper clothing. If this creature is going to serve me, it should at least appear civilized."

Gentle hands lifted Goku's aching body and carried him away. He tried to stay awake to find out where he was being taken, but fatigue won out now that he was actually able to rest. He was asleep before they had left the chamber.

When Goku woke some time later, he found that he had been bathed and clothed in rich silken robes, part of his mind was alarmed by the fact that he had been able to sleep through it all while part of him was confused by the luxury surrounding him. Setting those thoughts aside for later contemplation, Goku took a moment to take inventory of his condition. Having finally been able to rest and probably just being where he was had given him back much of his strength. He was still starving and thirsty, but it wasn't nearly the desperate need for food and drink that he had experienced before. There was a pitcher of water beside his bed, and ignoring the cup placed beside the pitcher, he lifted the pitcher to his mouth and emptied its contents. He wiped his mouth when he was done and waited for a moment. Satisfied that he would not puke up the water this time, he pushed back the blankets determined to find some food in this place.

Before he had managed to stand however, the door to his room opened and two servants entered pushing a large cart covered in steaming dishes. His stomach gave a painful stab as the servants silently placed the food on a table across the room from him along with another pitcher of water, then bowed and exited.

Goku rose slowly from his bed confused. He had not anticipated this kind of treatment and it made him suspicious. He sat down at the table and stared at the food. It would make no sense for the Li Touten to try to poison him, but it also made no sense for the kami to lavish Goku with so much…stuff. He didn't get it. Goku tried to consider the matter further, but he was starving, and the food smelled really good, and before he even realized it, he was shoving meat buns and noodles down his throat. For now, he would focus on getting his strength back. He'd think about the harder stuff later. With that decided, the saru set into his meal, pushing all other thoughts aside.

o—o—o—o

Author's Notes:

So here we have the next chapter. YAY! I'm still debating on how far I should push this cruelty thing for Goku. I'll probably stick to emotional trauma more than anything else 'cause I'm mean like that. I'd love to hear what you guys think, though. Keep the reviews coming!