AN: Wahee! I didn't expect so much feedback. Domo Arigatou gozaimasu! ::bows repeatedly until topples over:: Anyway, thanks for all your suggestions, however, right after I posted, my muse, who is wearing a sushi-pattern Toga pats her head gave me a wonderful idea for who the lead singer will be. So just know now-it's not Sanzo and not an OC :D If you can guess who it is, um.. well, err, kudos?

And yeah, OK, by request and well, my dire obsession with romance, there's going to be yaoi. Yey! Typical 39, 58 pairing.

Note: The songs used in this fic will most likely be from the Saiyuki Anime or even the image songs because I am really lazy and don't feel like writing up my own songs. I've not written songs in over a decade. -; So I'll put song credits at the end, just so you know.

Disclaimer: ::pops chibi and rants:: IdontownitIwishIdidwahhh! ::cough:: I'm over it.

-

Music to my Ears

Song One - A Deeper Look

Hakkai paused for a moment to make sure their equipment was properly turned off before walking over to Sanzo's desk. "Saa, Sanzo. Do you want anything? I'm going to make some dinner."

"Iie. I'm fine." Sanzo replied, pushing his glasses up.

"Very well. Thank you for putting up with our music today." Hakkai replied, walking out of the studio back into the living quarters.

"Che." Sanzo replied softly. As soon as the room was clear and he knew no one was coming back, he pulled out a paper under the stacks and took out his ink pen. Tapping his chin in thought, Sanzo pondered the next line of the song he was working on.

-

Gojyo stepped into the local bar, hands in his pockets, head lowered, glow of a cigarette visible in the dim light of the pub. Pushing back crimson locks of silky soft hair, (Thank God for Herbal Essences), he raised his eyes to see who was in the bar. Not noticing any familiar faces he walked up to the counter and sat down on one of the stools, tapping the countertop. "Bartender. Beer."

Two words. And one of them was one of Gojyo's favourite words. Here's a hint. It had nothing to do with a fat man in uniform serving drinks either. A mug was passed his way and Gojyo immediately indulged in the wonderful taste of the sweet substance of inebriation. Meaning he planned on getting drunk off his ass. It was one of the two solutions to forgetting about his problems.

The other was his music.

However, tonight it was different because the object of his frustrations was playing right beside him, oblivious to his feelings. It irritate Gojyo. He wasn't sure just what he was feeling but lately he had been frustrated when it came to his best friend. Hakkai had done nothing wrong, which infuriated him more only because it ruled out one more thing for the reasons behind his current emotions.

Sighing, he chugged the rest of his beer, wiped the foam from his mouth and demanded another. Damn Hakkai. Damn his smiling persona, his polite manner and the way he seemed to make you feel special.

Maybe that was it. Sha Gojyo was no one special. Except maybe when it came to the ladies. And lo and behold, as soon as that thought echoed across his mind two slender arms wrapped around his shoulders. "Gojyo-san!"

Gojyo put on a charming smile, craning his neck to see one of the local ladies, bossom pressed intimately against his back, smiling down at him. "Why, hello, Sarah. You do look lovely tonight."

The girl giggled, squeezing his shoulders. "How goes your band practice?" She inquired, purring into his ear. Immediately, he was reminded of his best friend and his mood dropped even lower.

"Wonderful. However, I must be going. Please excuse me, Sarah, love." He murmured, paying for his drink and walking out, leaving the young blonde blinking with confusion.

OK, so getting drunk didn't work. Maybe he should try something useful, like getting a job.

Haha, yeah, right.

-

Hakkai threw on a T-shirt, pulling it down over his body. Already in sweatpants, he walked across his room, sitting down on the edge of his bed. The sheets, hardly a crinkle in them, pulled as he sat down, arousing the small dragon curled up at the foot of his bed. Crossing the gap between himself and his master, Hakuryuu eagerly showered attention on his owner in hopes of getting just as much attention back. Of course, Hakkai obliged, scratching under the small beast's chin who nearly purred in delight.

Hakkai sighed softly, absent-mindedly patting the small head of his faithful pet. He had sensed the uneasy tension between himself and his best friend these past few days. He tried to recall any time he might have offended Gojyo, but no instances came to mind. Turning to take off his monocle and set it on his nightstand, Hakkai's eyes softened. Maybe this had something to do with how he had been feeling. He hadn't told anyone but perhaps Gojyo had found out.

Found out that he wasn't so sure he could continue playing in the band.

Laying down on his bed and continuing to scratch under Hakuryuu's chin, he sighed to himself, emerald eyes glistening with some unspoken emotion. Sadness? Perhaps.

Tapping the touch-lamp beside his bed he enshrouded himself in darkness, welcoming the pitch black with a small smile and the closing of his eyes.

-

"Mm...leftover pizza."

Goku sat in front of the refrigerator. Yes, sat. He had pulled up a chair and was sitting in front of the icebox with the door open, a fork in one hand and a box of leftover takeout pizza in his lap. Actually, we aren't sure why he had the fork, since Son Goku had not used it in the 18 years he had been alive. Except that one time at band camp but for the sake of the readers we won't get into that.

Grinning as he pulled the slice away from his mouth, a large chunk missing we might add, he leaned back in his chair, balancing it on two legs. Ah, the wonders of Papa John's. And just as he was about to take another bite of his savored late night snack, a ghostly hand reached out from the shadows behind him.

And smacked him with enough force to send him, his chair, and the box of pizza crashing to the floor while his fork landed in Hakkai's fake fruit basket on the counter, successfully skewering the banana.

Sanzo glared down at the monkey-boy who was staring up at him with a blank look. It took him a moment to realize what had happened and that his pizza was now covering his shirt instead of in his tummy. Pouting, he squirmed into a sitting position, glaring up at Sanzo. "YOU MEANIE! I was going to eat that!"

"What time is it, saru?"

"Um... 12:30. Why?"

"I told you that while you were staying with me, you'd have your damn monkey ass in bed by midnight on weekdays."

"But! But! Food!"

"Bed. Now."

Goku sulked, standing up, as pizza slices hit the floor with soft splats. He winced. Hungry as he was, he'd learned his lesson from eating off the floor. Sighing, he started for the door when Sanzo's grunt made him stop. Turning, his face fell when Sanzo was holding out the cleaning supplies.

"Aww, Sanzo!"

-

Nearly an hour later, Goku collapsed onto his bed, now sporting a clean t-shirt and boxers. Fluffing up his pillow, he reached over and switched on his stereo. Pulling the large, old 80's style headphones over his ears and grinning, he closed his eyes. He couldn't sleep without his music. It must be some sort of security thing. Or at least, that's what he seemed to think.

As he relaxed and allowed himself to start drifting to sleep, his mind wandered to Sanzo. And as soon as it did his eyes snapped open. He had to put up with the ill-behaved manager almost every day. Why was he thinking about him now? Irritated at the way his brain seemed to work, simple-minded or not, he turned onto his side and buried himself in the covers, muttering something akeen to "stupid blonde babysitter." And as soon as the words left his mouth he gave a muffled cry of frustration. He didn't need a babysitter!

Aforementioned "ill-behaved manager" was in his room, sitting at the window. A notepad was in his lap, a cigarette between his fingers and a puff of smoke was exiting his lips as he pondered on the next line of his song.

'When you can't make progress neither forward nor back
Just leave yourselves standing in confusion
If the many stars
Can hold us like this'

He paused, eyes narrowing, before he scribbled messily underneath, "The dawnless night should just as well disappear far away."

The chorus had been easy-that's what had inspired the rest of the song. A kanjii or two was scribbled at the top; the name for the unfinished song, "Blow Winds."

Sighing to himself, the violet-eyed man glanced out the window. Goku's light had just gone out a short while ago, which pretty much confirmed the young man was asleep. Good; he was so hard to get up in the mornings.

Sanzo pondered his position with the other three men. It was Goku who had convinced him to become their manager, since he was fresh out of college and needed a job. Sanzo originally turned the young man down but Goku had been persistent. Something he secretly admired about the boy. He was definitely hard-headed, strong-willed and never, ever left Sanzo alone.

Sanzo shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his thin lips. As the boy's keeper, Sanzo had reluctantly grown fond of him. And this wasn't good. But it was something he couldn't help. Here, the cold-hearted loner who only took Goku in after two weeks of begging from the saru, was becoming soft. It simply wouldn't do.

Closing his notepad, Sanzo crushed his cigarette in his ashtray, stood and walked the short distance to his bathroom where he proceeded to do his nightly routine of shower, dental hygeine and glaring at himself in the mirror for a few minutes.

Settling into his bed, Sanzo pushed all ideas of songs out of his mind and forced himself to focus on sleep-which never came easy for him. It wasn't long before he drifted into a light slumber, his mind full of images of the hyperactive drummer and his energetic aura.

-

Gojyo came in late. No, late would be 1 AM. Let's just say the red-head dragged his ass into the house at a whoppin' 4 AM, half awake, half drunk and half dressed. He had made a vow to never, ever sleep with a woman with nails that long again. Shuddering, he shut the door and locked it before turning around. He jumped at seeing a pair of green eyes watching him calmly from the sofa. The only light in the room was from the window, moonlight flowing in from the night sky. And that said moonlight made Hakkai look very eerie. Of course, so did those bright green eyes and that creepy smile.

Gojyo always knew when Hakkai was really smiling and when he wasn't. And he definitely wasn't right now. The smile was so fake it hurt. Literally. Gojyo ignored this, of course, and kicked off his shoes, shrugging his shirt back on his shoulder. "Yo. Can't sleep?"

"Iie. I've had a lot on my mind the past few days."

Gojyo inwardly cursed. Surely.. of course, how could he not have sensed how irritated he'd been. But Gojyo decided to play dumb. "Yeah? I guess with Sanzo's booking us a show we've really got our hands full."

"No, no. Not that. That pales to what I have on my mind right now." Hakkai replied softly, sniffing the air. Gojyo smelled heavy of alcohol, smoke and sex. Three things he wasn't particularly fond of. At least, strong alcohol, chain smoking and rutting. All three of which applied to Sha Gojyo.

Gojyo gulped, taking a seat in a chair a good distance away. "Well, spill. Or you not gonna tell me? Just like every other fuckin' time you got a problem?"

It was Hakkai's turn to start, but he quickly recovered. "Haha, I guess I deserved that one. Demo, don't you do the same?"

"Bite me, Hakkai."

"That would be most unpleasant, Gojyo."

The two knew exchanging insults and retorts like this wouldn't do any good.

"Look, I'm going to bed. We'll talk later." Gojyo muttered, standing. He walked past Hakkai when the other man's hand reached out, catching his wrist.

"What have I done to upset you, Gojyo?" Hakkai inquired, pensive green eyes gazing up at him. Gojyo swallowed, pressing his lips together in a thin line.

"When I figure that out, I'll let you know. 'Night, 'Kai." He replied, gently removing the man's hand from his wrist and walked off to his room.

Hakkai sighed softly before retiring to his own room once again.

-

8 AM.

Son Goku should be up now. At least, his alarm should be going off. Maybe it would have if he had remembered to set it. Even then, it would have to be significantly louder than the Dir en Grey CD blasting in his ears. And well, that would require an alarm that could be heard within a three mile radius.

So, there was the back-up plan. Which involved a grumpy manager with a coffee cup that read "Not a Morning Person". Genjo Sanzo glared down at the sleep form sprawled out in every which direction of his bed, one leg under the quilts, one over, and face showing complete relaxation. No one should be allowed to look that happy when sleeping. It was a sin or something.

Well, in Sanzo's book it was. Sanzo raised his harisen, (which he'd apparently pulled out of his morning robe, since there's no way it came from his coffee cup) when Goku murmured softly. Sanzo froze as his name left the youth's lips. HIS name.

"Sanzo..."

There it was again! He wasn't hearing things! He wasn't dellusional! He... needed a cigarette.

WHACK!

Sanzo brought 'el paper fano of doomo' (As Goku and Gojyo had dubbed it) down on the boy's head. The saru sprung to life, squeaking and jumping up into a seated position. "DON'T EAT ME!"

Sanzo arched a thin brow. "Don't eat you...?"

Goku paused, realized that he was awake and sighed. "Sorry. Was dreaming about Meat Bun-zilla."

"..."

Goku then stretched and yawned. "S'time for school already?"

"Yes." Sanzo replied simply, turning and walking out of his room.

Goku looked at the clock and blanched. "SANZO! IT'S EIGHT O'CLOCK! MY CLASS IS AT TEN! YOU BASTARD!"

-

Hakkai sat at the table, a bagel in one hand and a list of songs in the other. "Saa, Sanzo, how many songs are we limited to?"

Sanzo looked up from his newspaper. "3-5 depending on their length."

"Sou ka..."

Sanzo then tossed an envelope his way. "Another song for you idiots was found today."

Hakkai blinked, opening the manila envelope and pulled out the typed document. He scanned the sheet music and the lyrics. "Wow... our secret song-writer has made another excellent piece of music."

"Hmph," was Sanzo's intelligent reply.

-

Despite having two hours, Goku found himself running late. Bounding up the steps at the university, two at a time, he skittered into the building, looking for his english class. He knew he should have gone to orientation! He just knew it!

He turned the corner, chocolate strands of silk flowing behind him when he crashed into someone. Yelping, the young boy fell back, landing on his rear. Wincing, he looked over to see who he had ran into but his apology died on his lips when he found himself staring into another set of gold eyes.

End of Song One.

-

AN: Aiyaa! Sorry it took so long! Was on vacation! And well, my betaing muse is gonna kill me but I lost the proof-read version of this so any mistakes are mine and not hers. And I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations. It's kinda hard switching from a prologue to a first chapter while adding in hints of romance and keeping with the story. Xx;

The Song "Blow Winds" is a song from Saiyuki. Those are the translations from . Song's not mine, obviously.

OK, to answer reviewer questions:

Alpha Draconis1: It's easier to use Sanzo than Korryuu because I cannot, for the life of me, picture the others calling Sanzo "Koryuu" or "Genjo-san." So for the sake of my laziness and sanity, he's just called Sanzo. :D

Emerald Phoenix524: Now, now now! If I explained everything right away that would spoil the fun! Just know it's not a completely realistic setting, as you can obviously see, seeing that Hakuryuu is around. Glad I didn't take up my muse's suggestion of making him a cat. O.o;

And to all of you who are wondering who the opposing group is: I'm not telling! But it's not that hard to guess!

So, A BIG GLOMPIE THANKS TO:

RubyKit: I certainly pondered making Sanzo the singer, but I think he's got his hands full with writing the songs. ;) Thanks for the review!

Sussi: Is this chappie long enough? :D Thanks for the review!

Ranechi: Ah, but some of the high school fics can be fun if done right, ne? Thanks for your comments!

keistje: ::spaz:: I'm a big fan of your works, even if you've only wrote one so far. I was so excited when you reviewed my little ficcie. It maketh me feel speshul. Thanks for the critique!

Kyone: ::blush:: That's so sweet of you! When I got your review I actually squee'd outloud!

Merf: ::giggles at your penname:: Aa! I could just picture each of the men with their corresponding instruments! And yes, Sanzo being the singer would definitely be stereotypical, and well, that just doesn't fit Sanzo! Thanks for your comments!

Akako: Ee! Thank you for your ideas. Much appreciated, yup yup!

KokkoryuhaFox: HAHA! What a novel idea. If Sanzo were the lead, I would have so used that! Thanks for your comments!

Emerald Phoenix524: Yeah, I just listened to Hakkai's image song and I kept picturing him as Barry White. Is that wrong of me? O.o;

Alpha Draconis1: Although I'm a fan of well-thought-out OC's, I decided against adding one in because I really don't think many people in this section enjoy OC's. However, I appreciate your critique. You might actually push me into writing another fic that may involve one or two non-MS OC's. :D

sanzos dragon: Haha, Kou's group should win? Whoa, playing the antagonist aren't we? ;) Nah, that's an interesting idea. We'll just see who wins, ne? Thanks for your review!

MoMo-kun: Thanks for your comment! I would add in Homura, but I know very little about him except what I've read online since I've not gotten that far into the manga yet. ;.;

Sorchafyre: Aiya! I'm so glad you gave my fic a chance! Your critique is muchly appreciated! I certainly hope this chapter lives up to your standards!

moronicus: I thank you for your ideas! Though, not all OC's are bad, but we're entitled to our own opinions, ne? Thanks for your lovely review!

If I skipped anyone, I am so terribly sorry!

And a thanks to all who read!

Now make teh Phoe happy and review!

-ignore the grammar, i do-

Phoe-chan