So here is the continuation of the stuff that happened in Taming the Beast. This half seems like it's gonna be a lot darker with stronger language, so I decided to give it a stronger rating which is why it's a separate story. Things should be interesting from here on out. Enjoy!

Usual disclaimers apply. They're not mine; I just drool on them occasionally :) No sue.

I. Choices

So they had continued going west. It was definitely not the preferable option; they were one member short and the mood of the group was dismal in its best moments, but they did have a mission to accomplish that was greater than one young saru. So they continued. Their progress had slowed significantly, they fought each other almost constantly, and any warmth that might have once existed within the group seemed to have been stolen away along with Goku. That was the case after all. Goku's innocence and energy had kept them going through everything. Without him, the three remaining companions were lost to their own worlds of darkness and despair.

Hakkai lay in bed thinking on the events of the past several days with a heavy heart. Gojyo lay in the bed across from him filling the room with acrid cigarette smoke. Both Gojyo and Sanzo's cigarette habit had at least doubled. Hakkai had stopped requesting that they not smoke indoors; it usually just lead to more fighting. The smoking habit was the only thing the monk and kappa shared anymore these days. After Goku had been taken, a wall had formed between the two that could not be breeched by anything. Even in battle for their lives, the two fought alone leaving Hakkai to fight his own battle and watch both of their backs at the same time. It was no good, and sooner or later one of them would fall and the mission would be that much closer to failing. There had already been too many close calls.

"What are we going to do about this?" Hakkai asked into the night. He wasn't really expecting a response from his roommate. Gojyo had become more and more sullen as days went by. He never wanted to talk about what was going on inside of him, but Hakkai knew that the loss of Goku basically equated to the loss of yet another family, and that was something that was ripping him apart slowly from the inside.

"You wanna fuck?" The shocked silence that followed the question was due in part to the fact that Gojyo had responded at all and in part to how ludicrous the response had been.

"Dammit, Gojyo! What the hell is wrong with you?" Hakkai's temper was also much quicker to flare these days.

"What? I'm horny as hell but I don't feel like going out to find some cheep whore. I know I'm not usually into guys, but at this point, I'd stick it into anything warm and willing." Hakkai was seeing red now.

"Fine!" He rose from his bed and stormed off to the door. "You can keep shutting everyone out if you want to, but we still have a job to do and none of us will make it to the end acting like this. Sanzo's already been injured and he won't even let me treat the wound! How much farther do you think we'll make it at this rate? And if we all die, how are we supposed to help Goku in the end?" Gojyo actually began laughing at this.

"Gods, you are hopeless, Hakkai. You heard High Priest Ass-hole over there, there is no helping Goku. He's gone. You gotta stop living in denial." The words and laughter ripped at Hakkai's heart more than he was willing to admit and when he next spoke, the room seemed to chill with the intensity of his rage.

"I wish that I could so easily give up on the people I care about, but if there is even the slightest hope that we can do something to help him, I won't stop trying. I will never give up on Goku because he would have never given up on any of us!" Hakkai stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. Gojyo was still chuckling, but somehow, through the door, the laughter sounded more like sobbing.

Feeling a familiar hollow sadness inside, Hakkai walked down the hall to the room that Sanzo had to himself and let himself in. A billowing cloud of smoke poured into the hall as he opened the door and found Sanzo lying in bed smoking. With an irritated sigh, Hakkai walked across the room to open a window. Was the monk trying to kill himself? There had to be more smoke than air in the room.

"Will you let me check your wound now, Sanzo?" Hakkai asked for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. The expected response was given.

"Go the fuck away." That was that then. Hakkai was done. He had honestly tried, but if these two fools were determined to self-destruct, there was little he could do to stop them. Putting on his most brilliant smile, Hakkai faced the monk, a slight twitch in his closed eyes.

"If you won't let me heal the wound, then please be more careful during battles. There may not always be someone there to watch your back." And again, Hakkai exited a smoky room leaving an idiot behind. They were screwed. There was no way they'd make it to Gyumao's castle at this rate, and no way they would win even if they did. They might as well turn around and go home. Swearing quietly to himself, Hakkai moved off into the warm night to find jeepu. The dragon was the last comfort he had with this group.

o—o—o—o

The darkness had been maddening at first. The absolute darkness that kept him from being able to see and seek out a way to escape filled him with a choking frustration that was unbearable, but after a while, he'd gotten used to it. Then it was the quiet that had gotten to him the most. He was accustomed to there being people around and loud conversations, and explosions, or at the very least, the chirping of crickets, or the shifting of sand, or wind moving over stone, or something. He didn't like the quiet because without the distraction brought by sound, he was left with nothing but his thoughts and memories, and the images offered there were completely unacceptable, but he could have adjusted to that as well. Everything about his prison was miserable from the clammy cold of the air to the rough rock that gave no comfort, but now there was something that made all of these other discomforts seem petty and small.

He didn't know how long he had been in the darkness by the time he was able to pull himself back together. All he knew was somewhere in there, he'd started feeling little pangs of something that he couldn't identify. He'd spent a lot of time focusing on how to escape, but even as he did, he noticed the odd pangs were increasing in strength and frequency and suddenly he realized what they were. He was feeling the emotions of his other companions. He'd always heard that when people die, if you think about them, they can hear your thoughts. Perhaps that was true in general of people who were no longer on the mortal plane.

After many attempts and considerable injuries, Goku concluded that his prison was sound and finally collapsed of sheer exhaustion. In his resting state, he was even more keenly aware of the pangs of sensation he was receiving. The feelings were becoming more and more intense, and he could tell that the others were not happy at all. He knew it the moment that Sanzo got hurt, he felt it every time they had an argument, and he could tell that his little family was slowly falling apart. His absence was throwing of the very precarious balance created by each of them and there was nothing he could do to stop it! Having to witness the steady deterioration of everything he held dear in the world was a torture that he could not endure.

His heart was torn in two directions. Part of him wanted to just block it all out so that he wouldn't have to feel it happening; he didn't want to feel them die, and he somehow knew that things were leading them down a path that led to almost certain death. But at the same time, he didn't want to cut himself off from them so completely. As painful as it was to feel them in pain, it would be far worse not to have them at all wouldn't it? He didn't know what to do, and this was an argument that he had with himself over and over again in his cold dark prison.

It was during one such argument that he felt the pang that he had been dreading. Something was going on in the mortal world, and his friends were in danger. Sanzo was dying, and the others had no conviction that they would survive. Goku wasn't sure he would survive their deaths again, but what was he supposed to do? He'd already tried everything in his power to get out. He'd already done everything he could to get away. How was he supposed to stop this!

An answer was whispered into his ear sending a trill of cold down his spine. The voice that had spoken belonged to his other. The beast that had once been held behind his limiter was contained now. Goku was in control, but the beast still lived within, and should he choose to, Goku could call the beast to his aid at any time. The creature could probably get them out. It was indiscriminate in the way it used his power and would be able to destroy this prison with ease, but Goku knew that if he made the choice to release the monster that he could become, there would be no turning back. The creature would destroy everything without remorse or regret and all he had gone through would have been for nothing. But what was the alternative? To sit here and do nothing? It was in his power to save the others, and there was a small possibility that he'd be able to take control of the creature again once it was released.

He was terrified. As he sat arguing with himself, he knew that his friends were running out of time. If he didn't do something soon, the decision would be made for him. He didn't know what to do. There was another stab of pain. He was pretty sure it had come from Gojyo. He was hurt; badly, but he was still fighting. How could Goku sit by while his friends were suffering like this? He couldn't do this. He couldn't take this, but suddenly there was searing pain in his eyes all else was temporarily driven from his mind.

After a few moments, Goku was able to figure out that the searing pain in his eyes was due to a sudden flare of light in his prison.

"Pathetic." The word was murmured like a curse and Goku would have wet himself in surprise had there been any fluids left in his body to excrete. There was someone here with him. When had that happened? He also realized that his eyes were shut tightly and his hands were covering his face trying to block out the light.

"Dumb beast," the voice continued. "Do you not recognize a mercy when it is presented to you, or perhaps you have no desire to look upon your current home?" Things were slowly sorting themselves out in Goku's mind. He recognized this voice from long, long ago, and he felt his blood chill as realization flooded him.

"How anyone ever thought that you could belong in Tenkai is beyond me." The voice sneered. "But no matter, I don't need your eyes on me to offer this proposition." Goku continued to hide his face as he slowly tried to get his eyes to adjust and also tried to control his fury. This was the kami who had destroyed his life. "As it seems that Kenren and the rest of your pathetic friends are too weak to continue their mission without you, their lap dog, at their beckon call, I have appeal to Tentei to allow an intervention."

"What the hell are you talking about? Say what you mean or get the hell out!" Goku was still struggling to adjust to the light. The kami scoffed in disgust.

"Very well. Let me put it in terms you can understand. You fight, they live."

"What!" Goku's eyes snapped open immediately to look at Li Touten for the first time, ignoring the pain that tore through his head as the dim light brought by the kami flooded his vision.

"I see that got the beast's attention." The kami was smugger than ever in this new found power.

"You're gonna let me go?" Goku asked. He was appalled at how raspy his voice had become from lack of use.

"You would like that wouldn't you?" Li Touten smiled mirthlessly and reached down to grab Goku's chin and hold his face in place. Goku tried to slap the hand away, but the seals in this place had drained him and the kami was still at his full strength, a fact that served only to further incite the saru's rage. Just seeing the man was filling Goku with a hatred more potent than anything he had ever experienced. He knew that there would be a price for allowing him to help his friends and that the price would serve the kami's own ambitions, but Goku also didn't see any other alternative that would guarantee the survival of his friends. He struggled against the kami's hold for a bit more before giving in. That was what this game was really about after all. Li Touten thrived on dominating others, making them submit to his will.

"That's more like it. Behave or I'll leave you and let your friends die." It took every ounce of control for Goku to keep from lashing out at the man.

"So here is the arrangement," the kami began in a malicious, self-satisfied tone. "I will let you save your friends under one condition." He spoke quietly, deliberately pausing before naming his price. Goku felt as though his heart would burst from helplessness. "You will belong to me."

Part of him had known the moment that Li Touten had begun speaking that his would be the end result, but hearing the words was still a heavy punch in the gut. Goku knew what this would mean. He saw in his mind as though the events had already come to pass what his future would hold at the hands of this man. Nataku still sat sleeping, and Tenkai was without a war prince. It didn't take a genius to see where this was going. His vision was temporarily flooded with blood, and he felt his heart clench as he realized that there was no other option. If saving the others meant that he would become this man's new killing machine, then so be it.

Goku looked into the face of the single person he despised more than any other in all of existence and agreed to submit his freedom into the kami's hands.

"I'm glad that we understand each other." The triumph in the man's eyes was disgusting.

"Then let me out of here." Goku was anxious to get to the others, he could tell that time was running out.

"One final detail before this arrangement is complete." The kami, still holding Goku's upturned face in his had lifted his other hand and placed two fingers to the youth's forehead. "By this contract you pledge yourself to me and my line, to obey, and defend, and forsake not this oath. Do you agree?"

"I already said I do, so let me—"

"'I pledge to submit my all' is the proper response," he drawled smugly. Goku would have rather bit out his own tongue and bled to death at that moment, but he knew that every moment he wasted was a moment he was not there to help the others, so he swallowed his rage and gave the man what he wanted.

"I pledge to submit my all." As the words left his mouth, a searing paid lanced through his head where the kami touched him. He cried out as the pain seemed to fuse itself with his being, and suddenly he was engulfed in burning heat. He looked up to find Gojyo before him, battling Kougaiji. Hakkai lay unconscious near an unmoving Sanzo in the distance. He was free!

o—o—o—o

He was never sure when he had started depending on the saru to watch his back, all he knew was that one day some punk youkai had gotten in a cheap shot when he left an opening in his guard, and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out how it had happened…that is of course until he began thinking that it wouldn't have happened if Goku had been there.

Now that was a smack in the face.

Sanzo was experiencing an internal struggle that he never thought he would have to face. He had sworn never to let anyone become close to him again…never to rely on anyone but himself because the pain of losing someone close to you is very near unbearable. He had no desire to experience that kind of pain again…but Goku had been different. He had let the kid's near invulnerability break past something without even realizing it. In his mind, he knew that there was no force in the world that could do to Goku what those youkai had done to his master all those years ago, and that knowledge had lulled him into a sense of false security.

It would take the gods themselves to take Goku away from him, and damn it all if the gods hadn't done just that! The one thing in his life that he was sure he could rely on was the stupidity of that damned ape, but somehow the idiot had gone and screwed that up too!

He had wanted to believe that none of this mattered. He had wanted to believe that they could continue on their journey and sort out the rest in the end. He had wanted to believe that things would settle down after the first few days for the saru's absence, but he couldn't deny the foolishness of such beliefs. It was obvious from the start that they were heading down a path to destruction as soon as they set back on the road one member short. After traveling so long with this group it had become quite apparent that the four of them were balancing on a needle's tip and the loss of any one of them would have thrown everything to hell. It seemed fitting that this place where it would all come to an end was as close to hell as the world could offer.

It had started with a lead to the possible whereabouts of another sutra, and ended with some psycho, Sanzo-eating scorpion bitch pumping him full of venom. He was glad that he had kicked the shit out of her before she'd managed to take her final shot. If it hadn't been for Hakkai, they'd all be buried under the desert sand right now, but it seemed that it wouldn't have mattered much either way.

He lay now on the burning sand, feeling the poison course through his body, listening to the sounds of battle around him. It was just their luck that Kougaiji had also heard about the sutra buried here. Gojyo had apparently finally gotten over his bitchy mood and decided that he cared whether they all lived or died and was fighting the prince for rights to one of his flying dragons. Sanzo suspected that it was more for Hakkai's sake than his, but that didn't matter either. Gojyo was not fairing well. They'd all probably die here, and Genjo Sanzo found himself thinking continually about the boy who had called out to him so long ago and had become a regular, comforting annoyance in his life, and how the same boy had been so abruptly snatched from him.

Allowing unconsciousness to take him, Sanzo turned his head one last time to watch the hopeless battle and breathed a sigh of self deprecating laughter. He knew that he must be very far gone because just before the world faded to black, he could have sworn that he saw the form of a small saru appear just beyond the place where Gojyo and Kougaiji were battling.

o—o—o—o

"NYOIBOU!" Goku called his staff and willed it to stretch long enough to knock the youkai prince away from his friend. "Touch him again and die!" He registered the shock on everyone's face as he made his appearance, but also recognized the defiance born of determination within Kougaiji. Goku honestly did not want to kill the prince, but he would if Kougaiji kept pushing his hand. Instinctively, Goku's body began to move. He could feel energy gathering inside of him awaiting release. Before he fully realized what was going on, his hand had risen toward Kougaiji and a concussive blast of power was released at him. The prince was knocked several yards back, and his clothes were singed and tattered when he tried to rise again. "You won't get another warning." Goku could tell that his point had gotten across, and thus, he proceeded to ignore the prince and his companion to focus on his injured friends.

"What the hell took you so long?" Gojyo croaked out as he collapsed to the sand. Those were the last words he spoke before losing consciousness. Goku fell to his friend's side feeling the significantly weakened pulse of life there. He also ran to where Hakkai and Sanzo lay. He had to pause at that. Seeing Sanzo like this was calling back memories that he didn't want to think about right now. Memories of what had happened so long ago that set him on his quest for control, and what had happened in Tenkai even longer before because of Li Touten's deceit. The thought sent his head throbbing in anger, but he also knew that he couldn't dwell on his hatred of the kami. He had to get his friends to safety soon.

He found Hakuryuu collapsed near Hakkai, presumably exhausted by the sun. Kougaiji and Dokugakuji were long gone. He had no way to transport them. He had made it in time to help them fight, but they were miles from the nearest town. How was he supposed to get them to people who could help them? He didn't know any of Hakkai's healing techniques, and it looked like they all needed something like that right now. Goku was really beginning to panic when Kanzeon Bosatsu decided to make hir appearance.

"What are you doing idiot? They're gonna be sun dried by the time you move 'em." Goku looked up startled, then 500 year old memory kicked in to connect the face to his past.

"Kannon! You're the goddess of mercy right! You've gotta help me! I don't know how to get them to help!"

"Baka, you work for Tenkai now right? There are some perks that come with the job." The goddess snapped hir fingers and they were suddenly on the outskirts of a town. Goku blinked around himself in confusion for a moment then spotted someone in the distance.

"There's someone over there! They'll know where to find the nearest healer!" Goku moved to go towards the person but was stopped short by the goddess.

"Whoa there kid. You gotta get back to your boss before…"

"I'm not leaving until I know they're okay," the youth said in defiance.

"I don't think you understand," the kami tried to explain

"What I do understand is that you've stood by and watched as Li Touten has done whatever the hell he wants for a very long time. If you're not going to help me, then get out of my way." With that, the youth charged off to flag down the townsfolk in the distance.

"I tried to warn you kid." The goddess spoke to Goku's back. "You'll just have to learn the hard way." The goddess of mercy vanished from the desert heat.

o—o—o—o

AN:

Ok…so I'm not sure, but I feel like I might have gone overboard with reactions in this story…everyone's acting pretty out of character, but that seemed appropriate somehow. I don't want it to be like Goku was the only thing keeping the group together, cause that's definitely not the case, but I also know that if any one of them were to be subtracted from the equation, things would sort of spiral out of control. Each of them plays a very important role in the group's dynamic. That's was I was trying to get across at least, but I don't know how successful I was. Gojyo in particular was really OOC.

Thanks to everyone for the reviews! I came home everyday with a new email poking at me to keep writing…and so I did! Keep 'em coming folks! I love to hear what everyone thinks. Comments and critiques make me very happy. You all rock!