I own nothing!! This is fiction!!

If there was one thing Sanzo couldn't stand it was someone trying to protect him. It had a tendency of making him feel weak, inadequate. And God Dammit, that seemed to be a lot of what was happening today.
"Sanzo, get down!!"

Ah, prime example.

The priest suddenly found himself flat on his back in the desert with dusty, sweaty Goku on top of him.

"You have a little less than three seconds to get off of me…" the blond growled, cocking his Smith Wesson threateningly.

"God, you're such a jerk sometimes Sanzo." The boy retorted, jumping up to fend off another attack. "See if I ever save you again." The insult, however, was light-hearted and lacked any malice.

"Sanzo! Goku! Are you two alright?" Hakkai shouted from a few yards away.

Sanzo grumbled his response, getting to his feet just in time to shoot a charging youkai between the eyes. " Never better…"

Today had been a crappy day to put it excruciatingly lightly. Between the thunderstorm the night before, the constant stream of pissed off youkai, and running out of cigarettes, today was shaping up to be just fucking peachy. And God help the next person who asked for his sutra.

"Hey priest! How's about you handing over that sutra and I let you keep your pretty violet eyes in your head, huh?" A rather ugly youkai smirked, twirling and even uglier weapon between his fingers.

The blond's lips twitched in a hateful smile. "God help you." He muttered, firing point blank.

He glanced around cautiously, watching his fellow travelers. Gojyo and Hakkai were about 2 yards away, back to back and seemed to be holding their own against the dwindling army that had tried to ambush them. Goku managed a solid blow a few feet away, smiling cockily at his victory.

Sanzo watched him a few seconds longer than he intended to and angrily snapped himself back to reality. He's noticed irritably that he'd been watching the boy more and more frequently during their battles, his sharp gaze occasionally shooting over to check on him as things got serious.

Gojyo and Hakkai's established relationship had caused them to stay closer during the youkai attacks to watch one another's back, leaving the other two somewhat exposed. (Partially because Sanzo wouldn't willingly protect anyone and admit it -.-;)

So, every once in a while, Sanzo would find himself watching Goku just to make sure the kid could handle himself and not get stuck in deep shit.

While lost in his reverie, the priest suddenly found himself knocked to ground rather painfully and a pistol being shoved in his face.

"Hand over the sutra, asshole." The youkai above him growled, cocking the gun and taking careful aim.

Sanzo smirked, gritting his teeth. " Go ahead and shoot me, dickhead. Make my day."

His assailant looked temporarily stunned but quickly recovered, anger flashing in his eyes. " Alright prick, I'll start with you legs and work my way up, huh? How's that sound?" he growled, firing into the blonds thigh to initiate his point.

Sanzo bit back a cry. The bullet hadn't gone all the way in but had gone deep enough to bleed freely and hurt like a bitch.

"One down." The demon smirked, aiming at his other leg.

"Sanzo!!"

The priest looked up to see Goku running towards him, anger evident in his face.

" Oh my, it seems that I've found the pet. How wonderful…"

Sanzo saw the deadly smile form on the youkai's face and felt his stomach drop. " Goku! Stop!"

But his warning came too late. A bullet hit dead-center in Goku's forehead, throwing him backwards violently into the sand.

A cold pain shot through Sanzo as he stared blankly at Goku's motionless form. He wasn't aware of rising to his feet and reloading his gun. He felt absolutely nothing.

"Goku…" the broken whisper passed his lips without his consent, his eyes still glued on the lifeless figure in the sand.

"Hn. Alright monk, time to hand over that sutr-."

A bullet ricocheting in the back of his throat prevented the youkai from continuing. He gagged, his body convulsing brokenly as he fell to his knees and crumbled to the ground, laying still.

"Burn in hell, asshole." Sanzo snarled, his eyes cast down.

Anger, guilt and something else washed over him as he stared blankly into the hot sand. He had failed again. He had failed to protect Goku from the bullet meant for him. He had failed just as he'd failed his master-

"Ngh…I knew this thing was good for something…"

Sanzo froze at the voice behind him. He whipped around to see Goku sit up and deftly adjust his limiter, rubbing the sore spot on his forehead.

"Good thing they make these things so hard, huh?" he grinned, laughing and knocking on the metal band.

Immense relief flooded through Sanzo's sense and he wasn't sure whether he wanted to hug Goku or beat the living crap out of him.

"Goku…"

"Huh? Sanzo, you okay? You look kinda pale." The boy asked, looking up at him worriedly.

He chose the latter.

"You stupid monkey!!" The fan came down swiftly and multiple times.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey! What the hell is your problem?!" Goku cried, holding his now (even more) aching head. " I just asked if you were alright!"

Sanzo crossed his arms in response. "Get your ass up so we can catch up with the others."

"Alright, alright. Sheesh. I was just worried about you, God…" Realization seemed to hit like a brick and Goku laughed lightly. "Hey Sanzo, you weren't worried about me back there were you?"

" Get Up Monkey!!"

" Ow! Ow! Alright!! Enough with the damn fan!!"

Aww, Sanzo cares…kinda…a little…Tell me what you think, it gets much better!!