Ha ha. Got super motivated and churned this baby out! I've got my full length Saiyuki fic to work on again! Cheers! Thanks to everyone who made suggestions, but Nimblnymph's plot bunny won hands down and this baby was born. So thank her for the inspiration. Until then, thanks for reading, reviewing and being the all around awesome readers you are! Enjoy Sans.


Sans

Chapter 1

It was yet another hot steamy day across the large country known as China as the famous Sanzo Party of four traveled onward within the comfort of their trusty Jeep. They had been on their journey for over a year now and were currently trying to avoid meeting up with a certain blue-eyed priest and his massive body guard. It looked like they were finally having some luck as they hadn't seen said annoyance in a week or two. However, this left them with another problem all together that was probably just as annoying.

"If we're lost, Hakkai, just say so."

"I beg your pardon, Sanzo, but we're not lost."

"Than where are we?"

"In a location not covered on my map."

Sanzo smacked his head and sunk into his seat at the other man chuckled brightly at their predictable predicament. They had been driving around this wooded wilderness for a day and a half now and there was no sign of a town, shed, cabin or any form of civilization. The driving demon's only saving grace was the fact they had stocked up heavily on cigarettes at the last town. The priest blew a sliver of blonde hair out of his face and turned to look out the window and the lush greenery that surrounded them. He would have been more aggravated about the whole endeavor, but the fact the two morons in the back were fast asleep and quiet made up for their lack of direction.

Hakkai in the meantime, pat Jeep's wheel in a comforting manor as they drove onward through the foliage. It was getting denser as they went, which tipped Hakkai off that they might be heading in the wrong direction. They were by no means lost mind you, just going the wrong way. Hakkai really needed to get a more encompassing map. Though, at the sound of Gojyo mumbling in the back and kicking his seat in his sleep, Hakkai smiled. Sanzo wasn't the only one who appreciated their quiet moments.

Sadly though, it was not meant to last as Goku twitched awake much like a puppy and rubbed his eyes childishly. He shoved one of Gojyo's long legs off of his knee before leaning up next to Sanzo's seat. Thankfully the stupid water sprite stayed asleep. Goku yawned and shoved the heel of his hand into his eye to rub it awake while he questioned his favorite priest. "Hey Sanzo, what's for breakfast?"

Sanzo rolled his eyes and silently mourned the death of his silence. If the monkey knew what was good for him, he'd keep his annoyance levels down to a a minimum while the other animal slept. "Nothing. We're still driving and it's the afternoon."

Goku's eyes widened as he slowly became more fully awake. He was serious in his horror when he realized what that statement had meant. "You mean we missed lunch?"

"I'm sorry, Goku." Hakkai looked in his rear view mirror to the panicked look on their youngest companion's face. "But you and Gojyo were dead asleep so Sanzo and I voted to continue driving instead of waking you."

"But when are we going to stop to eat? I'm starving." Goku whined over top of his growling stomach. It had woken up on cue to make its presence known. They surly had to stop to eat now that he was awake and hungry. Right? Right?

"We'll stop once we find a convenient stop, Goku."

Sanzo rapped his knuckles onto Goku's forehead with a frustrated growl. "Stop crowding me, Monkey and sit in the back. We'll eat eventually."

"But eventually is too far away!" Goku rubbed his forehead after plopping back into the plush cushion of the back seat. Sanzo didn't have to hit him. "I'll be wasted away by then!"

"Will you shut up about food already?" Gojyo snarled as he pushed himself into a straighter sitting position. "Guy can't get any sleep around here with all this wailing about food."

"Just perfect." Sanzo muttered and reached for a cigarette. Nicotine truly was his only friend.

Hakkai bit his lip to keep his smile from spreading too wide at the blonde sitting next to him slinking farther into his seat. "Come now, Gojyo. To be fair, Goku has been rather quiet all things considered."

"Yeah, sure." Gojyo yawned into his hand. The heat combined with hunger was leaving him rather drained. "Where are we anyway?"

"In the woods?"

"I can see that, Hakkai."

"It's his way of saying we're lost." Sanzo blew smoke out of his mouth. "What else is new?"

"Lost!" Goku pounced back in between the two front seats to look straight into Sanzo's violet eyes. Eye contact would mean Sanzo took him more seriously! "If we're lost than how are we gonna' get food?"

"Shut up! There are more important things in life than food! Like booze and women!" Gojyo pulled the monkey back into the seat. "Now stop distracting, Hakkai. He needs all the concentration he can get."

"You pervert! Those things aren't more important than food!"

"Both of you shut up!"

Hakkai kept his mouth shut for a change as Sanzo shouted at the others in his usual fashion. Hakkai would have chimed in for sure if he wasn't still bristling from Gojyo's rude comment considering his driving. Granted, he didn't have long to dwell on those thoughts as their Jeep came upon what looked to be a dead end. Hakkai pressed the breaks suddenly and inwardly smirked as his companions were thrown forward in their seats. "Seems we've come to a breaking point."

"You bastard, Hakkai!" Gojyo shouted and threw his red hair out of his face. "Give us some warning when you're gonna' do that!"

"Sorry." Hakkai's chuckle clearly said that he wasn't.

Sanzo winced at the cigarette burn in his robe from dropping his stick. "One of these days, Hakkai..."

"Does this mean we can eat?" Goku perked up from the back. He really, really hated it when Hakkai did that, but now that they were stopped they might as well do something productive with their time! Like eating!

"Every time I think there might be something else in your head I'm proven wrong." Sanzo sighed and pushed open the side door of the Jeep to have a look around.

"What are you doing, Sanzo?" Hakkai asked from behind his monocle. The monk was shaking ashes off his robe and Hakkai signed inwardly knowing he'd have to wash out burn marks later. Ah well, things that couldn't be helped. "Why did you get out of the Jeep?"

Sanzo snorted; like the man had to ask what he was doing. It was plain as day to see that he was getting out of the car because they stopped. "What's it look like? We're here at a dead end so we might as well take a break." Plus, feeding the monkey meant he might be free of his whining for a few minutes.

"YEAH!" Goku jumped out of the car to follow the blonde. "Now we can eat!"

Hakkai waited for Gojyo to exit the Jeep, grumbling the whole time about noisy monkeys mind you, before the demon exited himself. He gave Jeep a pat before letting the dragon transform back into it's cute fluffy white ball of fur self. "Come, let's set up camp and get something to eat, shall we little one?"

Sanzo was all prepared to take a seat on a fallen log when he heard the monkey hailing him from a short distance away. He knew Goku had wandered off a bit to look around before rounding back for food, but he didn't expect him to be dumb enough to bother Sanzo with whatever he found. "What do you want, Monkey?"

Goku waved excitedly at Sanzo motioning for him to follow. It was just so cool! "Come look at this! It's a huge statue in front of a cave or something!"

"What are you blathering on about?" The priest had decided to go for the easier of two annoyances. He could either ignore the monkey and have to put up with his constant pestering, or he could just find out what was so exciting and get it over with. And it was too hot to put up with anything for long today – even with the shade the trees provided. Upon reaching the brush that Goku was pointing to, Sanzo decided that the monkey had turned off his brain. "It's a statue of Buddha. You see those all the time. What's so exciting about that?"

"There's a cave behind it!"

"What's your point?"

"We should go in and look around!"

"Why?" Sanzo groaned and rubbed his eyes. For all he could see it was just a dark cave that was giving off a weird vibe. He didn't like it one bit. "Let's just get back to the others and eat."

"Too late, the 'others' have come to see what you two are doin'." Gojyo snickered as he came up behind the monk and the monkey. "Hakkai says that all we've got are canned goods so you might as well come get 'um."

"I could have told them myself, Gojyo." Hakkai chuckled as he joined his three friends after setting Jeep down with a bowl of feed; the poor thing was exhausted from skipping their lunch break. The others seemed to have gathered around a rather large statue made of stone. It was covered in moss from head to toe and looked as if no one had gone there in a while.

Goku pointed to the dark opening behind the pudgy statue (For a guy who was supposed to be not greedy or gluttonous he sure was fat!). He was hungry, but if all they had was canned he could wait a little while longer. No problem. "We found a cave."

Hakkai looked up and down the opening and noticed the placed stones down toward the entrance. They looked to have been placed their by human (or possibly demon) hands which lead him to believe this was not completely a natural structure. "I don't think that's a cave, Goku. It might be an old shrine of some sort."

"Cool." Goku grinned and pushed some hanging moss away. At one point, he would have been scared to go into a cave; but with Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo there to support him he had nothing to be scared of. "Well, I'm going to go in and look around!"

"Hey," Sanzo started but it was too late. Goku had already dashed off into the dark cave without a light. That boys senses were definitely from an animal of some sort if he could find his way around in there. Holding up his lighter, Sanzo reluctantly followed to drag the idiot back out by the tail. He was definitely getting bad vibes from this place.

"Sanzo? You don't seem one to be up for an adventure." Hakkai chuckled as he followed the other man. It was always fun to tease them an when he was perturbed.

"I'm not. I'm dragging the monkey's ass back out."

"Well, I definitely gotta' see that!" Gojyo snickered around a newly placed cigarette. Watching the monkey get beat by his owner was way too much fun. "Wait up for me!"

Goku could feel the grin stretching on his face when he realized the other three were following behind him. It was hard to see in the dark, but Goku was determined to find out just what was hidden down here. As he got deeper in though, and as Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo caught up with him, he noticed that it was much brighter the farther in they got to the cave. Finally, after traveling the increasingly steep tunnel, the four found themselves staring into a large, open room.

"What'da know? They've got lights on down here." Gojyo whistled as he looked up. There were torches along all of the walls that were currently lit and burning brightly enough to make it look like daylight in the otherwise dark tunnel. The room was mostly open save for some weird statues up at the front and a mural of some sort. Though, the lights rounding the walls were far more interesting to look at. "Wonder what's keeping those lit?"

"It'd almost be best not to dwell on that." Hakkai came close to mumbling from his distraction. Sanzo had tensed up and had an almost frighteningly sober look on his face. "Is something the matter, Sanzo?"

"No, it's nothing." Sanzo shook his head out and looked towards the front of the room where Goku was inspecting the three stone statues lined up neatly. That bad feeling in his gut had yet to diminish, but it wasn't anything specific yet. He didn't need Hakkai mothering them any more than necessary with worry. Still, best not to linger in places that could be sacred. "Monkey, you've seen now move your ass."

"What's with the funny looking monkeys?" Goku stared at the three statues sitting by themselves up front. The three monkeys was each posed differently: the first had it's hands covering it's eyes, the second covering it's ears and the third was holding its long spidery fingers over its mouth. On the back wall there was a mural of a fourth monkey covering its stomach made out of tiny tiles; Goku thought it looked hungry. He instinctively found his own hands covering his gut in response.

"Ah, did the monkey find some friends?" Gojyo smirked and walked up to look at the monkey in the middle covering its ears. He could feel Sanzo and Hakkai join him. Hakkai seemed to be interested in the stonework on the monkey covering its mouth, while the monk was glaring at the shy one. "Though, they do look familiar."

"They should, Gojyo." Hakkai chuckled as he knelt down in front of the silent monkey. The carving work on the statue was impressive; it had to have been done by hand with very precise instruments. The monkey almost looked alive with each individual hair carved; though it was very much made from stone. "It is a pretty famous saying."

"What is it, Hakkai?" Goku stepped back a few paces to get a better look at the bigger monkey on the wall since his friends were occupied with the statues. Something about stone monkeys made him uneasy.

"I'm surprised Sanzo hadn't brought it up at some point. It did come from Buddhist teachings originally." Hakkai smiled softly. "See no evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil."

"Huh?" Goku turned down to the brunette and cocked his head to the side. The words rattled around in his head, but there were too many possibilities. It was safest just to ask. "What does that mean?"

Sanzo sighed hard enough to blow his hair out of his face. They needed to leave, not get caught up in a morality lesson. "It means a lot of things, but the three monkeys each represent on of the three points."

"But there are four monkeys." Goku tilted his head back and was tempted to kick the water sprite for snickering at him. It wasn't his fault he hadn't heard about this before!

"That's because there's often a fourth point tacked onto the list that says 'Do no Evil.' It's just the popular phrase leaves off the last little tidbit of advice." Hakkai stood up and sat a hand to pet the top of the monkey's head. "Essentially the phrase means that if one abstains from seeing, hearing, or speaking evil things that evil will not be reflected in your own actions. It's mostly a warning not to take part in bad things, which is why they're often referred to as the 'Three Wise Monkeys.'"

"Ha! Wise Monkeys." Goku smirked and pointed at the water sprite. "Think of that every time you call me a stupid monkey!"

"Oh, so you admit you're a monkey then?" Gojyo laughed before taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

"I'm not a monkey!" Goku shouted and stomped his foot onto the ground, though instead of the thud he was expected he heard a rather loud 'click.' "What?"

As all the lights in the room flipped off, Sanzo cursed himself for not pulling all of them out of the room sooner. He really needed to learn to listen to his intuition; he was the most holy monk in the faith; if he couldn't trust his instincts than what good were they? He reached his hand out to grip the monkey statue in front of him as a brace. "Shit."

"Hey, uh guys."

"Gojyo?" Hakkai turned to where he heard his red-headed friend stutter out the tiny phrase. It wasn't like him to sound scared. "What's wrong?"

"The monkeys' eyes are glowing." Gojyo pointed (not that anyone could really see it) towards the now creepy looking statues. "Is it just me or is that really freaky?"

"Yes, perhaps we should leave." Hakkai carefully took a few steps back, but was hindered when he heard yet another click and something snapped around his ankles. He nearly stumbled and fell, but caught his balance before the braces could get the better of him. He heard Gojyo let out a 'SHIT' and heard a thud meaning that his friend too must have been caught up in something. "Are you alright, Gojyo?"

"Did I sound alright to you?" Gojyo growled and held his nose; at least it wasn't bleeding. "What about you over there monk? Did you get attacked by something around the ankles, too?"

"Shut up." Sanzo pulled up at his feet, but it was no good. The restraints were latched tight. "What the hell did you do, monkey?"

"I don't know." Goku stuttered. His vision was hindered because of the sudden darkness, but he red light from the eyes gave him just enough to go by. All three of his friends were standing in front of the three statues and strapped to the ground by something. His first instinct was to head to Sanzo and help him first. "I'm coming to help!"

"Stay where you are, monkey." Sanzo shouted. "We don't know if there's anything left to trigger in here."

"Right." Goku hated this waiting around stuff. He never knew what to do; things were just so much easier when you could sense your enemy and beat the shit out of it than waiting for something to come at you. "What are we going to do?"

"First of all, I think we should stay calm." Hakkai crossed his arms and looked at the statue. "We need to figure out why there were traps in here to begin with."

"Maybe there's a treasure or something?" Gojyo started before smacking his head. "I'm such an idiot." The half-breed pulled out his lighter and clicked it on to produce a tiny light. "It's not much, but it's better than total darkness, right?"

Sanzo followed suit and clicked on his own lighter for the second time. Holding it up higher he turned to look at the larger monkey on the wall. There was something up with that one; why was 'Do no Evil' in such a high spot? "Hey, Goku. Can you read what's on the wall?" Sanzo would do it himself, but he regretfully could not make out the words that lined the top of the monkey mural even with the extra bit of light.

"Yeah, I think so." Goku trotted up closer in between his two friends to get a closer look. It was times like this he was thankful for his extra keen senses. "It says 'To those who want peace a sacrifice must be made.' Wonder what that means?"

"I sure hope sacrifice doesn't mean us." Gojyo suddenly really wanted these shackles to come off his legs. "So help me if a pendulum with a blade on it pops out of no where and we die I'm haunting your ass, monkey!"

"Hey! It's not my fault! Hakkai tripped the cuffs!"

"But it's your fault the light is out!"

"How could I have known about that!"

"Than it's your fault we're down here in the first place!"

"Both of you shut the hell up!" Sanzo yelled with enough force to put out his lighter. He huffed and tried to relight the thing but failed; it must be out of fluid. "Shit."

"Sorry, Sanzo." Goku frowned and ducked his head.

"Just, stop it and sit down." Sanzo took in a deep breath. As he heard the soft 'plop' on the stone he turned to where he thought Hakkai was latched. "Hakkai, try breaking these things with your chi. I'd shoot at it but it's a little dark."

"I'll try." Hakkai nodded and gathered a small ball of chi in his hands, but before he could bend down to the restraints the chi was sucked from his hand into the back wall in a whoosh of air that almost knocked him over. More energy was yanked from his body than he had wanted, but it eventually stopped as the monkey on the back wall started to glow with a faint green outline. "Well that was rude."

"Now what the hell's going on?" Gojyo muttered as he shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness in the room. "Some god or goddess up there must really be laughing it up at us right now."

(Actually, the one known as the Merciful Goddess was predisposed driving her favorite man servant out of his mind to be watching the four travelers who should have been driving by now, but we digress.)

"It took Hakkai's chi for something. Whatever it was, we turned something on." Sanzo licked his lips as that bad feeling increased by about ten fold. The restraints and the lights were just some booby trap; this, this was something else. Something dangerous. "You still alive over there, Hakkai?"

"Drained, but I'm fine." Hakkai looked down at the monkey dead in front of him. The glowing red eyes seemed to be taunting him where the mouth could not. "I wonder if the monkeys are the key to getting out?"

"You want me to smash them?" Goku piped up from the floor. That usually worked with most things.

"Just hold your horses." Gojyo turned back. "That could make the big one up there angry or something."

Sanzo in the meantime, ignored his companions to look up at the text on the wall. To those who want peace, a sacrifice must be made. That was the key to this; it had to be. Though, now that the monkey was glowing he could see the word lit up along the bottom of the monkey. Sanzo found himself reading it out loud before he could stop himself. "Sans."

At the rumbling of the cavern, Sanzo decided that saying that word out loud at been very, very, stupid. "Damn."

"What did you do, monk?" Gojyo latched onto the deaf monkey to keep himself from falling. He could hear Goku crawling to his feet in the back. Though, before he could yell out his frustrations, Gojyo found himself paying attention to the voice coming from the front of the room.

"To the one who has seen evil."

Sanzo clutched at his arms as a chill engulfed his body and constricted his breathing. He saw crimson blood covering the walls. Sanzo could feel Goku pulling at his sleeves and wailing at him with flurries of 'Sanzo!', but it was only a blur at the side of his mind. A torn limb flung carelessly to rest on soft tatami mats. A discarded crown stained in red; blonde hairs strung in knots; gleaming teeth that gnashed; a strong white back rendered to shreds. Vision upon vision of never ending memories. Sanzo found his hands gripping his cheeks as the tears poured down his face before he could stop them.

"To the one that has heard evil."

Gojyo had wondered what was causing the monk to freak out, but he found out soon enough as old familiar sounds started to linger in his ears. Sounds he never wanted to hear again; sounds that drove him to smoke. "Shut up!" A creaking mattress that could be heard through thin walls. "Shut up!" The lustful moans of the woman he called 'Mother.' "Please, shut up!" The pained grunts of his brother thrusting and even louder creaks and wails of 'Dear!' "Oh God, please make it stop!" Gojyo fell to his knees covering his ears willing the sounds of his childhood to go away and be forgotten where they belonged. His crimson hair covered his eyes, but the thin locks did nothing to help shield his ears.

"To the one who has spoken evil."

Hakkai saw each of his friends drop one by one and figured sooner or later it would be his turn. All he wanted to do was run to his tormented friends sides to comfort them with soft words, but he soon had his own troubles as he suddenly could hear his own voice filling his head. I love you. "What?" Let's go home, okay? "What is this?" I'll promise I'll protect you. "How was that evil? I meant those words! They were truth!" One of you? Hakkai soon found himself repeating Gojyo's current mantra. "Shut up!" I think I still hate demons. "Be quiet! What are you trying to prove?" Hakkai could feel the anger at his words taken out of their context. What evil was there to be found? "They weren't wrong, were they?"

Goku had been practically screaming to get Sanzo to snap out of it; but the blonde had been reduced to his knees and was still crying his eyes out and clutching at his face in a painful grip; he could see the red welts forming where his nails were digging in. But more importantly: Sanzo was crying. "Sanzo! Please!" However, Sanzo was unable to hear his pleas and Goku was unable to assist any further when he was blown back into the middle of the room by a strong force from the back wall. He looked up in time to watch his dearest friends be hit by three beams of light from the back wall. Goku had to cover his own eyes before watching his three friends drop to the ground and the lights flicker back on.

"I release thee."

Ignoring the final exclamation of the fourth monkey, Goku ran to Sanzo's side as soon as he could get up to find him passed out. He cradled the man's head in his lap before turning to the others. Gojyo was moaning and holding his head while Hakkai was inspecting his ankle; the restraints had released them at some point during the last flash of light. Sanzo remained unconscious for the moment. "Are you guys okay?"

Hakkai opened his mouth to reply to Goku, but he found no words coming out. His hand instantly found itself on his own throat as he tried desperately to gasp out a sound; not even a rasp came out. Hakkai couldn't talk; he couldn't even make a peep. He started motioning towards Gojyo to get the man's attention; Goku was clearly preoccupied with Sanzo at the moment. But the red-head had his own issues it seemed. Gojyo was knocking the side of his head like he was trying to knock water out of them.

"What the hell was that shit?" Gojyo spoke, or he thought he did. It was damn quiet in this room and he couldn't hear a thing. Hakkai was moving his mouth and waving at him, but it was no good. "Can't hear you, Hakkai. You gotta' speak up."

Hakkai would have spoken up if he could, but that seemed to be impossible. Well isn't this nice?

Goku looked up from Sanzo to the water sprite; he was acting kinda funny. "Hey, Gojyo!" No response; Goku tried again. "Gojyo! Gojyo! Hey you stupid water sprite! Stop ignoring me!"

As Goku got angrier from being ignored, Hakkai noticed something very wrong with Gojyo. Gojyo was too childish to ignore taunting; surly he would have fired something back if he had heard the boy...Hakkai turned his head so fast to the front of the room his neck almost snapped. Hear no evil. The statue in front of Gojyo represented the phrase 'hear no evil' so now Gojyo was deaf? Hakkai turned to his own statue. Speak no evil. Well, considering Hakkai was no supposedly mute that made sense. But what about Sanzo?

The blonde monk groaned as he put his hand over his eyes. He had a migraine headache larger than the continent of China. He swatted Goku's hands away as the boy started to coddle him when he showed signs of life and rolled over on his side away from the meddling hands. He blinked his eyes open and stared out into the dark room. "God dammit' couldn't they at least turn the lights back on?"

"Uh, Sanzo." Goku started slowly as he stared at the man's back. He gulped when the man tensed. "The lights are on."

"What?" Sanzo reached his hand up in front of his face and was met with only darkness. He touched his fingers to his face and confirmed that his eyes were open. "But it's pitch black..."

"Sanzo?" Goku turned the man's shoulder around so that he was facing the boy and Goku let out a stunned gasp. Where there should have been beautiful violet eyes, were milky white eyes with small gray lines outlining the now sickeningly pale pupils. Goku found his fingers reaching out to touch around the corners of his face of their own volition. "What happened to your eyes?"

The monk flinched when he felt the warm fingers on his face. He hadn't seen Goku's fingers coming towards his face. He couldn't see. See no evil. Sanzo smacked Goku's hands away with as much force as he could muster, but almost missed them. This wasn't happening. "Don't touch me."

"But Sanzo."

"Just don't touch me!" Sanzo yelled and wiped his cheeks. The stains from his crying were still there and they disgusted him.

Goku stood up slowly and looked at the other two. Hakkai had walked over and had a morose look on his face as he watched the display. The frown on his face spoke volumes more than if he had said something. Gojyo was looking at them too, but with a more frustrated look was displayed across his face. Like he was concentrating really hard on something. "Are you guys okay? Some thing's wrong with Sanzo!"

"Sorry, monkey." Gojyo growled at his inability to hear. Goku was talking to him and Sanzo was shouting, but all he heard was nada. Not even a buzzing noise or that weird tone you hear when your ears ring. "Can't hear you."

"Hakkai?" Goku looked up hopelessly to the most mature one of their group. The brunette merely shook his head and patted his throat. Goku found himself gulping and turning back to his master.

Sanzo sat thoughtfully as he stared straight forward. He would never admit it, but he wished Goku was still touching him; at least then he'd know where someone was. Sanzo could hear the others, but he couldn't see their faces to read what was really going on in their heads or know what they were doing. It was disturbing on a level far more dangerous than just a lack of vision. At least he knew whatever happened, occurred with the other two as well. "So Gojyo can't hear and Hakkai can't speak." Sanzo guessed on that last one; it only made sense if he was the one that couldn't see.

Goku nodded before remembering that Sanzo couldn't see him. "Yeah." Hakkai had taken a seat on the ground next to Gojyo and had started rubbing his hand. Those two had always had a way of communicating without talking, so he figured they'd be okay. But what could Goku do for Sanzo? He hated being touched and he was always angry when Goku was loud. Granted, that was stuff Goku had no problem dealing with. It was those chalky eyes were really starting to unnerve the boy. It was like they were dead; Goku didn't like associating Death with Sanzo in any way. "What are we going to do now?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" Sanzo blinked and rubbed at his eyes but he was still met with nothing but darkness. He tried not to be scared.