Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki in any way shape or form. All I own is Gota-chan :3

Note: Notice how Gota refers to Sanzo as anything other than his name xD

Twins: Read and review, please! :D

Gota: Is that all we had to do?

Goku: ...I'm going to back to my dressing room -.-

~Realization; Gota's crush~

"Gota, wait up!"

Gota ran up the inn's stairs and into her and Goku's newly acquired room as Goku ran after her.

It's been a month since Gota's gotten comfortable to how the group works. She's even fostered a comfortable friendship with Gojyo.

~3 weeks ago; dinner~

"Hey, where did my fish sticks go?" Gota asked before turning to her brother.

"Umonno." Goku shrugged with his mouth full.

"C'mon, I had it next to my plate…" Gota pouted.

"Where could they have gone?" Gojyo said almost sarcastically, while chewing on a stick.

In the corner of her eyes, she saw Gojyo put another in his mouth.

"So it was you!" she abruptly stood up, pointing at him. "That's my fish stick!"

"What? It is not."

"It is so!"

"Then why is it in my mouth?"

"It'll be up somewhere else, unless you give me the last one!"

"Is that so?"

"Go ahead and try me!"

"You won't do anything."

"Give me the last one!"

"What last one?"

"Don't play dumb with me! It's right there!"

Gota made a grab for it, but Gojyo grabbed it before she got to it.

"Oh no, you don't! It's mine."

"I don't see your name on it."

"That's because it'll ruin it."

"Yeah, 'cuz it's not yours!"

In the end, Gota was able to get half of the fish stick, after Sanzo blew his top, that is.

~Present time~

She ran into the room and slammed the door closed. Goku paused in front of the closed door, then opened it and slowly walked in. He gently closed the door and walked closer to her.

"Gota-chan?"

Her back faced him, with Akiba sleeping next to her and Rin resting on her lap.

"What's wrong?" Goku asked.

"N-Nothing!" Gota answered, her voice sounding slightly panicked.

Unconvinced, Goku quickly walked in front of his twin to get a look of her face, which she tried to hide with her pillow.

"Why is your face all red?"

"M-My face isn't red!" she exclaimed.

"Fine then, why are your cheeks so red?"

"My cheeks aren't red either!" she pulled the pillow closer to her body and face.

'They are so red.' he thought giving her a dubious face.

"D-Don't look at me like that!"

"C'mon, Nee-chan, tell me!"

Gota only stared at him and then turned her head away meaning, 'No way!'.

"Please!" he begged.

Goku pouted and continued to look at her with a solicit face. Finally, she sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

Goku got excited and quickly sat on the bed, ready to listen.

"But you have ta promise me that you'll never tell anyone."

"I promise!"

Gota stared at him uncertainly. Goku nodded at her assuredly.

"Alright…it all started this mornin'…"

~Gota's POV~

"Sanzo?"

Goku's muffled voice was heard. A pause.

"Sanzo!"

"What do you want?"

"It's time to wake up, Gota-chan." I heard someone say after the sound of a door opening.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, adjusting to the light.

"Oh…Ohaiyo-gozaimasu, Hakkai-sama."

"Ohaiyo to you as well. Hurry and get ready, breakfast will be served soon."

Yes! Breakfast! "Hai!"

Hakkai-sama closed the door for my privacy and I quickly got out of bed, washed up, got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast. Nii-chan, Gojyo-san, Hakkai-sama and what's-his-face were already eating at the table.

"Good mornin', everyone!" I chirped walked up to them.

"Good mornin', Gota-chan. Did you sleep well?" Goku asked as I sat next to him.

I eyed Gojyo, my eyes locking onto his.

'Don't you even think about stealin' my food!' I thought.

'What are you gonna do about it?' his eyes said.

"Yeah," I answered Goku's question. "But the room felt lonely without you bein' there with me."

"Ah, you'll get used to it." Goku assured.

Almost finished with breakfast, Gojyo reached out for something near my plate and I almost bit his hand off!

"Youch!" he yelped. "What the hell are you trying to do?"

"Try that again, I dare you!" I said.

"You two are related!"

Goku and I laughed at that statement.

After breakfast, Hakkai-sama decided to go out and stock up on supplies. I decided to go along and so did everyone else, since they all needed to refill on something. Goku and I just went along for the ride, but Gojyo-san and the monk needed another pack of cigarettes and a new lighter. Ten minutes after they bought what they needed, I felt uneasy. I could tell Nii-chan felt it as well…youkai were very close by. After shopping, we went back to the inn.

I let myself fall on the bed. We decided that Nii-chan and I were going to share rooms again, because Gojyo-san and Mr. Highness couldn't handle sharing. Just as Nii-chan came into the room and put a briefcase on the bed, the feeling returned and was stronger than before. I looked over at Nii-chan, who was dead serious. He started towards the door and I followed him. We ran down the stairs and stopped at the entrance of the inn, where Hakkai-sama, Gojyo-san and the priest were waiting.

"Sanzo!"

"Hakkai-sama!"

"Something's coming." Gojyo stated.

"We noticed." Goku and I said simultaneously.

We stood there for a little while longer. My guard started to lower.

"Nothin's happenin', but I still feel it." I whispered to Goku.

"I have a feelin' who it is." Goku whispered back.

"Who—?"

As second later it hit. When the dust cleared, I was sitting on the ground, speechless and looking directly in front of me.

"Gota-chan, are you alright?" Goku asked.

"B-B-Boulder?" I tried to yell, but my voice cracked, while I pointed at it. "Why—How did—Where did that come from?"

"Found you, Baldy!"

'Baldy?' I thought.

On top of the boulder, was a youkai girl with orange, shoulder length hair that she wore in a pony-tail and pointy ears. She wore a long sleeved yellow shirt and light purple pants, one of its sleeves missing.

The group now seemed unconvinced and unenthusiastic. I got up, brushed myself off and leaned toward my brother.

"Nii-chan, who's that?"

"Look out, Baldy, I'm comin' for ya!" the youkai girl pointed at Sanzo.

With that, she jumped off the boulder and turned at blondy. A second before she hit him, he was able to settle her down. She sat next to his glum face, happily eating a meat bun. Goku-chan looked at the piece of food hungrily, while I looked back and forth from the food to him.

"For how long had he been hidin' that?" I asked myself out loud.

"It seems Sanzo hasn't lost his touch with children." Hakkai chuckled.

"That's unfair! How come she gets one?" Goku whined. "Sanzo, gimme one. I want one, too!"

"Will you shuddup? Take it!" Sanzo exploded and shoved one in his mouth.

"Hey! I want one, too!" I jogged over to him.

"Not you, too!" Sanzo whined, a throbbing vein on his temple.

Gojyo and Hakkai laughed at the scene.

"Lirin!"

I saw the youkai girl pout.

"Aw! Onii-san is here." she whined.

"Lady Lirin, you know you're not supposed to sneak out of the castle."

"Yeah, Yeah, I know."

"So that's her name" I said chewing on the meat bun.

"Yup. An' that," Goku pointed out to the woman with long purple hair Lirin was talking to. "Is Yeone."

"Ohh...Who's that?" I pointed to a youkai man, who had jumped over the boulder.

He had long red hair and two red marks on his right cheek, pointy ears and long pointed finger nails.

"That's Kougaji." he smirked.

I could see he got excited

"Is he strong?"

"Oh, yeah!"

He was ready to fight. I smiled. If he's as strong as he says he is

"Genjo Sanzo, we've come for the scrip—"

Kougaji interrupted himself and looked down at me when I tugged at his shirt. I smiled up at him, which he returned with a raised eyebrow and a confused look in his eyes.

'Then I want to fight him too!' I thought.

"Hi!" I finally greeted.

"You look a lot like" he paused first and then trailed off.

He looked up from me and looked at the rest of the group. The first person he eyed was Goku, then he looked back down to me.

"Who are you? What's your name?"

"My name's Gota. That's my Nii-chan over there." I pointed to Goku.

"I thought as much. You're the twin I've been hearing about."

I blinked confusingly at him.

"I'm here to claim that scripture, Priest Sanzo."

"Just try it." Sanzo dared taking out his gun.

"Hold on," I stood between the two, facing Kougaji, arms out. "Nii-chan said you were strong. I wanna see for myself." I smiled sweetly at him.

"I don't have time for this. Get out of the way." Kougaji tried to push me away.

"He's not your opponent at the moment." I jumped in front of him again. "Nii-chan and I are."

I smirked now along with Nii-chan, who had his hands behind his head. Kougaji smirked, taking some interest.

"You want to see how strong I can be?"

I nodded still holding onto my smirk.

"I'd only be wasting my energy on you!" he jumped over me and lunged himself at the monk.

Simultaneously with that action came Hakkai-sama and Gojyo-san. Hakkai-sama started fighting Yeone. That is so weird! Who smiles sweetly and then invites your opponent for a fight. Those two make this whole thing sound like they're about to dance with each other! To the far left of me, I heard two weapons greet each other.

"We meet again."

"You just can't seem to stay away." Gojyo stated.

'Who's that?' I thought.

"Can't bare to be separated from your dear ol' brother?" Gojyo asked with a smirk.

'So they're brothers?'

The moment Kougaji was anywhere close to the monk, Goku blocked his attack and pushed him away. Once he was close enough to me, I swung my weapon at him and he lunged out of its path, moving farther away.

"Just like I said," I reminded him summoning my weapon.

"We're your opponents!" Goku-chan finished and ran at him.

I followed directly after Nii-chan, following his moves accurately. If Kougaji made to hit Nii-chan, he would block and I would immediately follow in and attempt to strike, but I would miss and vise-versa. Neither Kougaji nor us actually hit each other. The closest we're gotten was just nearly getting one of our limbs ripped off. We've been fighting for a while now; over 20 minutes, I'm guessing. After a while longer, Nii-chan lost his footing for a split second. In that second, Kougaji almost got control of the fight, but I interrupted him and was very close to getting him. Finally we leaped away and stared at each other. Kougaji completely lowered his guard and let go of his fighting stance. He seemed like he was in thought.

"What was your name again?" he asked his eyes locking onto mine.

"Gota!" I cheerfully replied.

He slightly smiled and seemed to be thinking to himself again. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion on the other out-skirts of town. Everyone froze and stared towards the explosion. Our group had the same worried question:

"What was that?" I cried.

"Lady Lirin, it's time to go." Yeone called.

"Aw! But I want to hang out with Baldy some more."

"Lirin! Let's go." Kougaji called.

He had already started walking toward the direction of the explosion. Lirin pouted, but jogged over to her companions anyway.

"Wha? Why are they leavin' so suddenly?" I asked myself.

I caught Kougaji as he looked at me over his shoulder and, I'm not quite sure but I think he smiled at me. One thing I know for certain, his eyes were strangely soft. We saw them leave, but I stared towards their direction for a minute longer than the others. I snapped out of it, and turned to regroup with Nii-chan and the others.

"Nee-chan?" Goku-chan called as I walked closer to them. "You okay?"

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I was just askin'." he shrugged. "You looked kinda sad for a minute..."

"Nah, I'm all right. Thanks for worryin', though!" I glomped him, hugging him.

We returned to the inn, Nii-chan and I went to our room and returned to putting his stuff in place. I lay on the bed and comfortably eased into my own little world

"Oi, Gota!"

I snapped out of it and turned my head to meet Goku-chan sitting on the bed next to me.

"Huh?" was my answer.

"I asked you a question...and I called you like six times!"

"Oh...gomen no sai..."

I sat up, then Kougaji's soft expression flashed in my mind.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm positive!" I grinned.

He eyed me uncertainly.

"You heard that explosion earlier, didn't you?" I changed the subject while I pet Akiba as he lay next to me.

"Yeah."

"What do you think it was?"

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out later."

Someone knocked on the door and then opened revealing Hakkai-sama. He carefully closed the door and sat on the bed next to us. He stayed silent for a moment with a neutral face. Then, he smiled at us when we made to talk. For some reason, I don't think that smile was meant as good thing

"Sanzo doesn't know yet, does he?" he asked petting Akiba.

We tensed up, afraid to answer. Sensing that, Rin flew up and landed on Nii-chan's head, squeaking at Hakkai-sama. He gave it a reassuring smile.

"I'm not going to do anything, I promise."

We relaxed a little at the sound of that.

"I can't promise for Sanzo, however."

Goku-chan tensed up again and remembered what I said when I got Akiba.

'I'll tell Sanzo it's not your fault.'

"Th' monk won't do anythin' to Goku-chan." I said as Hakkai-sama's eyes warned me about how I talk about him.

I tried to relax under the gaze.

"Nii-chan tried to warn me, but I got Akiba anyway" I stood up. "I'm gonna go tell him about him."

Goku hesitated as I lead him by the hand and carried Akiba downstairs to see the priest.

"S-Sanzo?" Goku hesitated.

"What do you want?" he answered not bothering to look up from his newspaper.

"I got somethin' for ya~" I sang a bit.

When he put his reading material down, all he found was a big ball of fur with a long, red tongue. He stared at it, a still burning cigarette in his mouth. Then, he brought his newspaper back up, as if ignoring everything. We only stared as Akiba seemed to be whining.

"Put it back." he said after a moment of silence.

"Back where?" I asked.

"Where you found it."

"It's too late for that."

He lowered his newspaper again, eying us.

"We don't have time for mutts. Put it back where you found it."

"Don't call Akiba a mutt! Second, we didn't find him, we bought him; he's not an 'it'. And third of all, Hakkai-sama let us keep him."

"An' we got him a few towns back. We came down here to show you."

He glared at us, his glare specifying on me.

"Don't let it near me." he warned a pint of poison showing in his voice.

With that, we walked away and back up the stairs. When we were out of sight, Sanzo put a hand over his mouth.

'She hasn't changed a bit'

Hakkai-sama waited for us in our room. When we entered, his eyes asked us what happened.

"He didn't like him very much." Goku explained.

I lay back down on the bed, with Akiba and Rin beside me.

"He was against us having Akiba completely."

"What was it he said exactly?" Hakkai-sama asked.

"He said 'We don't have time for mutts'." I answered with a little anger showing in my voice.

"In other words, he agreed with me. Of course, it's a bit too late to take him back." Hakkai-sama pet him again, then stood up. "We'll be leaving either tomorrow or the day after. So don't unpack everything." he reminded me.

Especially since the last time I unpacked, it took me longer than usual to pack it up again. I nodded and he left the room. Later on, Nii-chan and I decided to go downstairs to grab a snack. Downstairs, Mr. Highness was still in the waiting room, now only smoking and looking out the window, completely ignoring us. In the next room over, was Gojyo-san, flirting...again. Hmm...

"Say, Nii-chan."

"Yeah?" he asked closing the refrigerator and passing me my snack.

"I just remembered, I still don't understand what 'flirting' means." I said loud enough for Gojyo-san to hear.

Which he did, since he slightly paused for a about a second.

"Why don't you ask Gojyo? He's right over there."

He smirked, understanding what I was aiming for.

I appeared at the door frame as Gojyo spotted me, only glancing at me. With Nii-chan following, I jogging over to Gojyo-san and the two ladies.

"'Uncle' Gojyo-san!" I called cutely.

He slightly sighed, trying to hide it from the women around him. I glanced at them, then my attention completely at him.

"Gojyo-san, can you explain to me what 'flirting' means now?"

He tensed up. You little brat, why do you come an' ask me that now? He glanced at the priest who continued to ignore us.

"Flirting?" one of the women bent down to our level. "Where in the world did you hear that word?"

"From Gojyo-san." Nii-chan and I simultaneously chimed.

Come to think of it, we used to do that all the time...The women seemed unimpressed, but stayed by Gojyo-san's side.

"'Flirting' is when you want to get the opposite sex's attention, whether you're fond of them or are just attracted to them...right?" Goku-chan asked Gojyo, repeating what Hakkai-sama had said before.

"But we already went through this!" I whined.

"You don't flirt with your brother" the priest walked toward us.

It almost seemed as if he was joining in on the mischief.

"But..."

"Do you understand what mating is?" the monk interrupted.

"Uh..."

He closed in until he directly loomed over me. Gojyo suggested he and the ladies chat some place else and walked out of the room. I stared up at him at the monk, but his gaze was making me uncomfortable. He slightly bent over, waiting for an answer. He repeated himself and paused, waiting. Too uncomfortable to speak, I just nodded. He slightly bent over a little more, his face inching closer to mine. He was making sure I wasn't lying and making sure I did know, but I still felt my cheeks heat up...I wonder what that means

"What is it?" he continued to ask.

"It's to be with someone you like a lot or love like a husband or a boyfriend..."

"No."

I continued to look at him, my face still feeling hot. He pulled himself away from me before pulling out another cigarette and lighting it. I wonder if he always smoked this much when I wasn't around. I noticed he had few left, but didn't he buy that cigarette pack this morning?

"Mating is something you do with someone else. Having a mate is being with someone." he explained. "Understand now, Monkey?"

"Who are you callin' a monkey?!" I cried.

"The only monkey around at the moment. YOU."

His face is a bit too close for my comfort. I felt my heat up again.

"I-I'm not a monkey!" I stammered.

"Goku is a monkey, therefore so are you!"

His face got even closer; I could feel his breath...My whole face is burning! My heart is pounding, if I stay where I am he'll hear it soon...

"Get away from me!" I tore my feet from where I stood and ran up the stairs loudly.

"Gota-chan?" Goku-chan poked his head out from the other room just in time to see me disappear up the stairs. "Gota, wait up!"

I heard footsteps running after me, but they stopped after I slammed the door shut.

~End POV~

"That's when you found me here." Gota finished explaining.

"Matin'?" Goku slightly cocked his head to the side.

"I guess it's like flirtin', but a step higher."

Goku nodded, agreeing with his twin.

Hakkai watched as Goku ran after his sibling, hearing a door slam before he got to it. Hakkai walked into the room over where Sanzo stood smoking his cigarette. Gojyo walked up from behind Sanzo, seeing as the ladies had to get back to work.

"What was that about?" Hakkai asked Sanzo.

Sanzo continued to smoke in silence for a minute and blew out the smoke, before answering:

"Hell should I know."

Gota: There ya have it; chapter 8! I hope everyone is happy now.

Hakkai: Yourui-chan forgot all about this chapter, which is why it took so long for her to put it up.

Goku: She's having writer's block, that's why she's not posting up stories as quickly as she used to...

Gota: Goku-chan! She didn't want them to know that!

Gojyo: Who knew the monk had a way with the ladies...

Sanzo: ...

Gota: Huh? What are you talking about?

Gojyo: Well, he got you blushing like crazy, didn't he?

Gota: What? o/o H-How did you know that? Goku-chan, you promised you wouldn't tell!

Goku: Oh! Look at the that, it's the end of the chapter! Well, it's time for me to go now! See you all later!