suddenly, a gentle laugh wafted through the room. "no, no. i wasn't going to ask something so futile. i was going to say: was i fair?"

"clarify."

"sanzo..."

"fine."

sanzo already knew what he was talking about. the way hakkai had defeated shien...his gentle voice whipping out taunt after taunt until the god's concentration was broken, a whip snapping from too much pull. hakkai was never one for psychological warfare...exploiting on the weakness of the enemy's mind because he knew his own mind was still in shambles.

dishonorable, to say the least. but not something sanzo wouldn't do.

"take out anybody in our way, hakkai. shien's no different from the rest."

but somehow he was. they all were. homura, shien, and zenon.

"but what they wanted wasn't necessarily bad, was it? a better heaven..."

"what the hell was wrong with the first one?" sanzo spat out.

"that is something i would like to know..."

"well you don't know and i don't know, so stop pushing it."

their adventures with homura were a touchy subject for the priest. enemies who were enemies, but not really. otherwise, why would goku have mourned homura's death? why was sanzo content in letting homura have the death he wanted? their demeanor...their passion for this new heaven...and they made it feel so justified.

and they made it seem that something was truly wrong with the gods. not just the ones forsaken by heaven, but all of them. which meant things were wrong with everything. sanzo worked for the gods. this entire journey was ordered by the gods. all for what? to save the world? yes, fine. who else? heaven? perhaps. and gods who couldn't give a damn what happened down here as long as gyuumao wasn't alive to threaten that world up there.

"maybe..." sanzo started, startling hakkai who expected the man not to go any further with the subject. "it was just too boring."

he smiled. "good reasoning. definitely your reasoning."

"hakkai."

"yes, sanzo?" hakkai replied...or thought he replied.

"go to sleep. you're forgetting your company."