Chapter 2

Sanzo lay, hand on the bruise of his stomach. His gun flicked from his grasp as well as his scripture. He looked up at Kougaiji in anger and frustration. Not only did the battle went on for more than thirty minutes, making Goku's position even worse than before, Kougaiji did not have much trouble defeating them. They worked in a team to defeat the enchanted prince, but even that did not work.

Sanzo looked up at Kougaiji as the youkai prince raised his claw to cast a fatal stroke to Sanzo. So fast that not even Sanzo had time to dodge away.

All was silent within the second that followed.

Sanzo closed his eyes as he waited for the fatal blow, hoping Hakkai and Gojyo would be able to cure 'the stupid monkey'.

"Nyoibo!" a voice rang throughout the silent valley of sand and sun. A long red rod hit Kougaiji, tossing him a several feet away from Sanzo. Sanzo only blinked, not quite believing that moments before that he would have lost his life to Kougaiji without the prince's intention. It took the monk several seconds to see that rod was really a nyoibo staff. His eyes widened then. They only person who could use that particular staff was Goku. He was standing at the spot where Sanzo was separated from him. "Stupid Monkey!" Sanzo muttered to himself, clutching his stomach.

"How could he stand in his condition?" grunted Dokugakuji. "I don't know but the poison will spread faster if he moves," replied Hakkai, staring at Goku with worry and... fear.

Goku stood. His face was calm, but Hakkai could feel his anger emitting from his small body in which scorpion poison was slowly, and possibly painfully, circulated through his body. The only thing that could match Goku's anger there and then was his counterpart, Seiten Taisei.

"Come on then!" Goku was growling, his staff at the fighting stance.

"He's not...?" said Hakkai. Gojyo cut him off, shouting to Goku, "Idiot, he'll kill you!"

"Don't interfere," gasped Sanzo. "But Sanzo..." Hakkai protested. The monk cut him off, "If the monkey wants to kill himself, let him be." To anyone else apart from Gojyo, Hakkai and Dokugakuji, they would have thought Sanzo as a heartless being at that very moment, and would add confusion to why the monk had released the boy from his imprisonment in the first place. They knew what he meant was, "If I can't do it, Goku's his only hope!"

Kougaiji fought Goku and tried to get the boy off guard, only to get kicked in the stomach by Goku. The youkai prince lay in the sand from the collision. Goku narrowed his golden eyes to the prince as if waiting for the next move.

He made a swift kick that brought Goku to the ground at least twenty feet away. Dusts formed between then as Kougaiji ran towards the boy. Goku picked himself up while Kougaiji drew near. At the point of collision, their eyes locked, gold and violet. Dust rose around them as their friends heard the sound of shattering glass.

Then, the dust cleared. They saw Goku sitting several feet from where he was standing holding Kougaiji over his lap with one arm and his staff in the other. There lines in the sand trailing his boots. Red crystals embedded the trails created by the boots turned into red foam in the desert sun. At the position they saw Goku, it was as if.... as if he was trying to prevent Kougaiji from falling head first into the sand. The prince was back to his normal state. Goku looked down at the red haired youkai prince with an unreadable expression on his face. "Kono baka..." he murmured, fainting; his arm still around the youkai prince.

Hakkai and Dokugakuji ran to them. Kougaiji was unconscious but unhurt; Goku otherwise was far worse than he was minutes before. "Thank him for me when he wakes up," said Dokugakuji, though he was unsure if Goku would ever wake up. "We will," said Hakkai, hoisting Goku gently.

Hakuryu flew over just then and convinced Hakkai he was strong enough to travel as a jeep. Goku did not look good. He won't die that easily, Hakkai thought to himself, I know he won't. He hoped he was right.

They reached the same desert inn. The innkeeper heard the jeep rush and instantly ran outside. He took one look at Goku and gathered the boy in his arms. "He needs an immediate treatment, and lots of water, as do you three."

"Thank you," Hakkai murmured. "The boy's not out of the storm yet," said the innkeeper, "It'll be a long night, if he survives it..."

Not one of the three men left Goku's side that long, long, night. It was not just the poison that was ailing him. He had desert fever and was dehydrated. What made it worse was the fevered dreams that had attacked him. His body writhed and twitched with pain. The keep hearing Goku shouting and finding himself in the stone cage again. Gojyo could feel his own tears forming as he held Goku, keeping his arms from flailing. He had never seen the boy so vulnerable and angry. Very much like a sick animal.

"Agh!" Goku yelled for the umpteenth time that night. "Get some pain killers," Gojyo ordered. Hakkai hesitated only for a moment when he realised how bad off Goku was. As he hurried, he thought about the danger Goku was facing now. That yell was evident enough to tell him that Goku was not just suffering from the effects of scorpion poison, or even dehydration and desert fever combined. The boy was going through some sort of pain that attacked his mind. Now that I think about it, Hakkai thought, retrieving the pain killers and rushing back to the room, how long has this pain been attacking Goku?

The boy calmed down as soon as Sanzo injected the pain killer. Getting off the boy, Gojyo sighed out of exhaustion. This had been one of the numbered attacks that night and Goku was even worse than before. Now tears came from his eyes as he tossed and turned feverishly. "Father..." he mumbled, "I'm sorry... I...I... can't..." Sanzo narrowed his eyes. "Goku?" he murmured, gently shaking the boy's shoulder, "I'll... t...try to... be strong..." Goku gasped, "I... pro...mise..." He became silent then. It was evident to them that Goku had fallen into a deep slumber, which hopefully will let him sleep peacefully for a few hours.

"What the heck was that about?" Sanzo wondered aloud. No one answered, no one understood. But they now know why Goku was acting differently. His dreams were haunting him. How long has he been hiding it?

()()()()

What Goku was seeing moments before was bloodied bodies, familiar faces, voices and names rising and fading from his memory again and again. Haunted voices saying, "Murderer... murderer... murderer..." shot through his mind several times. Goku ran, trying to get away from the screaming and the haunting voices. He felt his insides screaming with haunted fear, loss and anger until two warm arms surrounded him. They pulled him into a loving embrace, and held him close. One hand, stroked his hair soothingly, making him feel safe.

A voice similar to Sanzo's reached his ears. "We'll be together again someday, I promise. Be string..." Goku remembered the hands that had held him so protectively. His heart screamed with the pain of loss as images of three men entered his mind. One with kind green eyes and shoulder length black hair, another with red eyes and hair, and the last with long blond hair and amethyst eyes.

"Be strong, my son," the man with long blond hair repeated. Tears came from Goku's eyes as he opened them. With a heavy hand, he roughly, and weakly, rubbed the tears away from his eyes. "Tch... baka; I'm not strong, father," he said aloud. "One thing's for certain, kiddo," came Gojyo's voice, "you're not weak either, and I'd kill you before you're dead."

A shadow loomed over the boy before he could speak. He blinked his eyes again and was greeted by a pair of soft green eyes. Hakkai's eyes.

Hakkai was putting a cold cloth on Goku's head. "How do you feel?" the healer asked gently as he sat down. Goku knew the healer was far from calm, he knew Hakkai was worried. Goku could not bring himself to look at them. "Pathetic," Goku muttered. "You're starting to sound like your owner," said Gojyo. Goku decided to ignore that. "How long was I out?" he asked, finally turning towards Hakkai, "About four days," Hakkai replied, "You took a lethal dose and moved so much, it's a miracle the poison or even the desert fever didn't kill you."

"Either you're too stubborn to give in or you're just too stupid to die," chuckled Gojyo. "Gojyo," chided Hakkai. Goku turned his back towards them. "I'd say it's the latter," he muttered. The statement surprised both men. Goku was admitting that he was an idiot? "Why do you say that?" asked Hakkai. " 'Cause I'm a 'stupid chimp' remember?" Goku replied through clenched teeth. "Come on, Goku," Gojyo urged, "there's has to be a different reason..." Goku turned back towards them. His golden eyes glazed with depression.

"Everything went blank," he murmured. Gojyo looked at Hakkai, confused. Hakkai shrugged because he did not understand either, "Clarify that a bit, please," said Gojyo, temper rising. "When I saw Sanzo turn around everything went blank, all sorts of ideas started spinning in my head, like it did when Sanzo got stabbed, and the next thing I knew, I was stabbed and poisoned and... Kougaiji was fighting. Somehow I... you'll laugh, 'cause it's silly, I thought I heard him calling out to someone, anyone to be free. It's as if he was forced into that forbidden experiment." Hakkai ruffled Goku's hair and said, "No Goku, it's not silly," Gojyo considered it for a moment, then said, "Hakkai's right kiddo, it's not."

Unknown to them, Sanzo stood outside the room, listening. He clenched his teeth. His charge was obviously in more pain than he would let out. He went back to the other room which he was sharing with Gojyo and started smoking. Thinking about what he had heard moments before... Ideas spinning around his head? Blank state? Bull!There was something bothering Goku and he knew it. It was an hour later when Hakkai and Gojyo came to join him.

"How is he?" asked Sanzo as they entered the room. "He's asleep. The scorpion poison is no longer a threat, but his fever has not subsided," Hakkai answered, surprised by the question, "He's won't be well enough to travel for at least a week, even if I made his position comfortable." Silence rang in the room.

"It's going to disturb our journey," said Sanzo, looking out the window. "We can't leave him here!" Gojyo protested. "I wasn't even implying that, water sprite," snapped Sanzo. "So what should we do?" asked Hakkai tactfully, trying to calm the atmosphere between the smokers. It took Sanzo awhile before he could answer. Sanzo knew the bond between Goku and Hakkai was somewhere parent-child and best friend; to Gojyo, Goku was a younger brother. To Sanzo, Goku was... something that could never be replaced. Sanzo would never be above admitting that he loved Goku like a son, but sooner or later, they probably had to know. "We'll have to take the chance," said Sanzo, "What else?"