A/N: Hello again, everyone! I know, I know... took quite some time for me to type this. LOL. Gomen ne. Apparently, I got tons of major school project to be done and on this month's school-break, I need to revise on the up-coming first term exams cause my tests grades is... considered below average. My parents could really kill me if this goes on. I'm so upset when I heard the Animax channel in Singapore (Malaysia's neighboring country) is gonna air Saiyuki Reload on the 27th of this month. Dammit! I so wanted to hear the English-dubbed version! (cools down) Again, sorry for the super-late update.

RIGHT, one more note. On the 23rd of this March, to the creator of our favorite Sanzo-ikkou... the great KAZUYA MINEKURA-SENSEI! HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY! ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU FROM ALL OF US SAIYUKI FANS! (Ahem) Enjoy reading this!

Ice Queen: Yeah, the second chappie is long. (sighs) I like long chappies but... anyway, enjoy reading!

Madame Maya: Yeeh, I'm glad you like it! I didn't expect quite a number of reviewers on this chap... LOL. However, enjoy this chap, you'll need it. (smiles)

Azure'sLover: Gee, guess I can't get my insurance after all... (LOL and dodges your grip of death) These screwy ideas to torment the Sanzo-ikkou are all the 'great discoveries' of mine! WAHAHAHA! Especially to your Sanzo-sama, he gets the 'special torture' (grin), don't forget Gojyo. Maybe I should move to Goku or Hakkai next. LOL. Sorry for the confusing plots. (Bows in apology) Enjoy!

Languish-Dreams: Nah, I don't mind late reviews. It is I who should apologize for the LATE update. Hehe, Hakkai clad in tin armor like a real horse knight... (Uncontrollable laughter) Heheheh... I think 'The Fairly-Oddparents' cartoon is taking over my mind, maybe I should quit watching 'Spongebob Squarepants' too. Full Nickelodeon cartoon withdrawal? (thinks) NO! Can't live without the funny! LOL. Sure, let's over-react together! (Bounces around saru-style!) Lol. Hope ya enjoy this chap! Luv ya!

Hoshi: Hmm, there is another one similar to mine? Oh well, can't say I'm a copycat because I got this fanfic's plot outta my brain, after I'd re-watched this 'UraSai' segment from Saiyuki Reload. Non-workable pairings for Saiyuki? I prefer SanzoxGoku fluff. GojyoxHakkai is nice too. Hey, maybe I should type a fluff fanfic (grin). But I think I'll suck at it. LOL. Still, you'll see for yourself. (Evil grin) I'm ranting too! Gah!

Kanzeon Bosatsu: Thanks! Cause that's what Sanzo always did to him, only intentionally. Guess this one's an accidental-payback? LOL.

Disclaimer: If you had read my author notes, then you don't have to read this... The Sanzo-ikkou and other characters of Saiyuki belongs to Kazuya Minekura-sensei. Big applause for her! And I still want Sanzo's harisen...

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SWITCHED!

Chapter 3: A worse event to happen? (PART 1)

"O-OWCH!"

"Gojyo, if all it took were cuts and bruises to be rid of you, you wouldn't be here now. And I think you lack of vitamin C," the emerald-eyed adult with chestnut colored hair said, bandaging the redhead's left arm.

Then, a brunette teenager hopped to them, carrying many sticks of dead branches and twigs. "Ne, Hakkai. Where does these go again?" he asked pointing to the sticks and twigs.

"Ah, Goku. You're back. Place it into the stone circle in front of the tent," Hakkai replied while tending the wounds of his redhead friend.

Goku nodded and did as he said. Then, sensing the absence of someone, he asked again, "Eh? Where's Sanzo?"

Hakkai looked up to Goku in concern, "Which reminded me, right after you went off, Sanzo left without a word..."

"Oh. He's still angry about the incident 3 days ago, huh...?"

Hakkai's emerald eyes narrowed to Gojyo, "Apparently, anyone could end up the same..."

Gojyo cocked his eyebrow, "Hey! I'd said I'm sorry! Didn't expect how pissed off the monk could get!"

Goku glared at the redhead. "God dammit, ero kappa! Don't you remember how he'd reacted the last time when you 'accidentally' gave Sanzo's glasses to Lirin? Huh?"

Gojyo didn't take the brunette teen's fact seriously, but as much as he hated to admit, the saru's words are rising up his mind. Goku glanced at the ground, then walked away slowly. Hakkai saw his unusual gesture and stood up, "Goku?"

The brunette teen turned behind slightly, "I'm gonna look for Sanzo..." and ran off.

Hakkai watched Goku's figure disappeared deeper into the woods and sighed, "I hope they'll come back before dinner."

"A-ah, don't mind it. Goku will console the monk and he wouldn't miss dinner no matter what," Gojyo smirked, took out a cigarette and lit it.

Hakkai shot a cold glare at him, but then his expression softened and smiled lightly. "He really is worry about him..." His smile grew wider. He headed into the tent and came out holding a bottle of iodine and a roll of bandages.

Gojyo looked up at Hakkai's ever-smiling face, "Yeah?"

Hakkai kneeled down beside the redhead, and screwed the bottle open, "I'm not done applying the iodine yet and there's a few more cuts on you. Or didn't you notice that?" Then, unexpectedly, a white dragon came up to Hakkai, grappling a pack of cotton buds in it's mouth. The green eyed adult glanced in surprise at it. He smile warmly and gently stroked it on the head. He took the packet in appreciation. "Arigatou, Hakuryuu."

"Kyuu!" The white dragon squealed happily.

"What a loyal little pet you are," Gojyo commented and petted Hakuryuu's head lightly. Then, he grinned, "Just like the saru and his keeper... Owh!"

Gojyo suddenly yelped at the sharp pain of iodine applied to his wound, which is still kind of raw even after 3 full days.

"Very sensitive pain receptors, hm?" the green-eyed adult laughed.

It seems Hakkai had found Sanzo and Gojyo 3 days back, after the blonde monk dangerously let out a hail of chi balls at Gojyo whilst chasing after him too. He had a hard time advising Sanzo from inflicting more damage to Gojyo and the almost-bare forest. The redhead wasn't badly injured from the Hail-O-Chi-Balls attack but it terribly shocked him. Although the blonde monk, like expected turned very moody, he hadn't taken out the harisen on anyone nor his always-so-traditional way to shut anyone up by yelling scathing remarks.

Yes, Sanzo almost snapped to insanity (HUH?). Well, maybe not... but who knows?

It was obvious for Goku to worry about him.

It was also obvious for Gojyo and Hakkai to be all alone after the brunette teen went...-hold on a sec... Where the heck is this turning to? REVERSE BACK TO TRACK!

Okay... back to the right plot...

Let's see how is our favorite saru's doing...

The brunette teen traveled further into the woods. Pausing once between every trail of distance, he turned to make a few glances before proceeding.

Without much luck, the first few stops aren't what he'd expected. Then, he came into contact with an almost-flattened out cigarette butt laying on the grass below. His face brightened slightly with hope, and ran farther.

Soon, he picked up a slight scent of burning cigarette, "He should be somewhere near."

With more running, the burning scent turned heavier. Suddenly, when he was about to make a leap over some bushes. An obstacle appeared and caused him to tumble, falling on it.

Goku got up and groaned at the pain on his head while clutching it lightly. He heard a light groan from somewhere and thus, looked up at what had made the accident.

"Sanzo!" Goku exclaimed in surprise. His golden eyes locked on the blonde standing in front.

"Sanzo! I'm so glad you're alright! Why did you went out here without telling? Is something wrong? Huh, Sanzo?" Numerous questions flew out from the teen, but the blonde monk returned only an icy glare.

"What are you doing here...?" Sanzo finally said, but kept the cold tone on.

Goku blinked a few times, "Looking for you, Sanzo. What else then?"

"Can't you mind your business, just once?" the blonde sharply replied.

Upon hearing that line, Goku stood still in silence. Slowly, his head was angled towards the ground and he stepped up nearer to the blonde. Sanzo stared at the saru in bewilderment, puzzled by his actions.

Goku came to a stop a few inches away from Sanzo. He mumbled a line under his breathe before he hacked Sanzo on the shins. The blonde back-stepped to avoid part of it's hit. He gritted his teeth and cursed under the striking pain. Eventually, he pulled out his harisen and smacked him upside the head.

Twice.

"Kono bakasaru! What damn reason did you do THAT for?" The blonde monk's anger was triggered really high. He continued with another series of paper fan thwacking, although he didn't know why is he doing this. Split reflexes for not using the harisen in a period too long, he presumed.

"Itei..." With his head topped up with much pain, Goku could've get a major headache. He clutched his head while in a crouching position, hoping the pain will subside faster. His golden eyes then looked up. Standing there was an angered blonde with a throbbing vein on his forehead and a paper fan in hand. His old-time trick had worked again. Noticing Sanzo hadn't use his harisen on him for the past few days until now. The teen grinned inwardly and chuckled.

Sanzo assumed there isn't an option for laughter to brew, "What are you laughing at...?"

Goku couldn't stop chuckling until the blonde shot a glare. Then, he stood up and smiled at him, "Welcome back, Sanzo."

The blonde stared at the smiling teen with a cocked eyebrow. Within seconds, he'd finally understood by what Goku had meant and why is the paper fan in his clutches now, although he still refused to admit how a simple kick on the shins could've awaken him from deep sulk for the second time. A smirk formed as he replaced it and marched past the brunette teen.

"Sanzo?"

The blonde snorted, "You don't prefer to stay back, right?"

Goku smiled and ran up to Sanzo. Somehow, he thought his eyes are playing with his mind as he saw Sanzo's smirk curved into a smile. Pondering on the unusual gesture of the blonde, he questioned.

"Sanzo... are you sure you're fine?"

"Yes, I am. So move your legs, not your mouth." Sanzo said as his cold expression retracted back.

That leaves Goku to more pondering on Sanzo but knew the subject was deemed close.

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Goku and Sanzo did showed up before night strides over the sky, much to Hakkai's relief. Just a tiny aspect that Gojyo didn't know Sanzo was back to his normal self. More childish quarrels for uncertain reasons during dinner time, leads to more harisen thwacking and 'Urusei!' from the blonde. Being sarcastic, it's such a peaceful dinner to spend. Stillness was held in the air for a few moments after the square meal, Sanzo was definitely enjoying this quiet ambience as it was rare to come.

Finding this sudden stillness disturbing, the redhead thought he should liven things up with a little 'bickering'. His first victim, Goku of course. "Oi, saru. So how did you managed to bring Mr. Corrupted Monk back, eh? Hope I didn't miss anything good that happened to you both."

Goku paused in his mid-snacking and glared at a grinning Gojyo, and retorted, "Well, nothing happened! And who's the monkey?"

"Try not to reason with lousy excuses, little-saru."

The brunette teen tried pummeling at Gojyo with a punch but the redhead's long arm stopped him from even touching. "Why you... I'm not reasoning, you wounded-gokiburi!" So he reached out and pulled the redhead's hair antennas instead.

"Argh! Bakasaru! Get your damn little hand off my hair! Yeowch!" the redhead started to struggle on Goku's grip.

Stillness is shattering, and Sanzo wasn't pleased with this. Their bickering lasted long as their voices rang through the night. Hakkai put an effort to calm the two down before Sanzo was ready to burst in anger but in vain. So lastly...

"CUT THE CRAP AND SHUT UP!" followed by two loud thwacks. Then silence stood still for the whole night.

The next morning, after a short breakfast. They hit the road again...

Before you go any further, think a band of demons showed up a while after the jeeps four occupants got in.

Somehow they're starting to get bored out of their wits. It's always the same old procedure, when they're on trail, demons appear and they fight, again and again. Gojyo rolled his eyes to Sanzo, "Oi, Sanzo. Why don't you take care of these bunch today?"

Sanzo simply threw back a question, "And why should I?"

"Then why was it US doing the work while you just sit here and watch as entertainment?"

Goku suddenly popped into their conversation, also siding the redhead, "Yeah, the kappa's right! Why was it always us?"

Hakkai chuckled lightly before topping his opinion, "Well, it's just a small group," Sanzo was silent and he knew they'd out numbered him. He tried opening his mouth to retort his companions, but nothing came out. Self-note to himself when he gets back the Smith and Wesson, blast a full round of bullets on each of them, seriously.

The blonde sighed and stood up. "Ch." He charged a chi ball and simply threw it at the approaching group of demon. Before any of the opponents could react, the chi ball blasted in an explosion.

KA-BOOM!

The 3 companions sat in the jeep while looking at the situation happen before them. In fact they're very amazed. After the cloud of sand caused from the blast subsided, a dark, shallow hole emerged on the ground where the attackers once stood.

"Done, let's go," Sanzo stated as he sits back with arms crossed under his robes sleeves. Hakkai sweat dropped and nodded, something told him it'd be safer to obey the monk.

Even the always-bragging Gojyo kept silence, and Goku was wise enough to shut his mouth.

Genjo Sanzo, was indeed a fearful person.

The jeep moved fast on the road they're taking. It zoomed past the little hills as the environment started to form like a desert. Blazing sun, a few bare trees and nothing interesting. While they're passing through a trench lined with high cliffs on both sides... the jeep stopped in a sudden, and it almost threw all occupants off their seats.

Gojyo was the first to complain, "Why in the world do you always do that? Hakkai!"

Hakkai smile apologetically, "Sumimasen, but it's a red light ahead," and pointed a finger straight in front.

The other 3 looked up and gasped lightly. A few meters away, stood a girl around Goku's age, carrot-colored hair ponytail with chiming mini-bells.

"Hi! Sanzo-ikkou!" the demon girl gleefully said. All four stared at Lirin as if the sky was about to fall.

Sanzo sighed in frustration, "Not that annoying, bratty girl again..."

Before anyone could notice, Lirin jumped and sat around Sanzo's shoulder, with her two hands drumming on his head. "Baldie Sanzo! I'm here to play with ya!"

The blonde's eyebrow twitched, "Get off me or else-huh?" A meat bun landed on his lap. Lirin and Goku's eyes caught sight of the delicious meat bun.

"Oi, is that a meat bun? Or am I seeing things?" Gojyo said as he locked his vision on the meat bun sitting nicely on the blonde's lap.

"MEAT BUN!" they exclaimed in unison as they hesitantly reached out towards it. In a split second, Sanzo grabbed and held the meat bun away from the two little monkeys.

"Baldie Sanzo! Give it back! Meat bun!" Lirin's eyes gleaming in an urge for food.

Goku tried to sneak his arm out for the meat bun without Sanzo's notice, and success. "YEAH! MINE!" And the he gobbled it down in two bites.

"Bakasaru!" THWACK. Harisen appeared.

Lirin, who's still on Sanzo's shoulders, pouted, "Ceh, it's gone."

"Itei... eh..? Why... so... woozy...?" Goku said as he saw the world turned around him. His head felt, somewhat heavy. His eyes are starting to close itself. Then he fell back on the seat and snored.

Gojyo began to panic a little, "Saru. Oi, saru! What's wrong?" he shook the brunette teen's shoulder. Still, the peaceful snoring didn't stop.

The emerald-eyed adult sweat dropped, "I think that meat bun was drugged."

Out of the area, laughter are echoing around the trench. More like a fake-off evil cackle. Pretty stupid. The remaining three was alerted, as they cautiously survey the area in case the unknown-opposing-being cast an ambush. The carrot-haired girl glanced around the cliffs above them, she was familiar with the voices and was certain she heard it before.

The 'so-evil' laughter stopped, as another voices yelled, "Gotta love those meat buns, right? Lirin!"

All of them sweat dropped at their incredibly-insensible sentence. Lirin had many question marks flying around her head, like what does she have anything to do with these people?

"How's our special-poisoned meat bun then? Delicious, no?" A different voice said as three figures, silhouetted in the sunlight, revealed themselves above one of the cliffs.

Gojyo squinted his eyes to get a better view at the intruders before his cigarette dropped out of his mouth. Sanzo's really annoyed at the so many incidents and event that happened in this day. Hakkai looked at 'them' wide-eyed and his jaws are about to drop open too.

Lirin could see the shape of the figure properly, her clear-green eyes flicked wider in surprise and disbelief as she pointed at the figures above.

"You guys...!" she exclaimed.

Chapter Three- END

EXTRAS: Saiyuki Trivia!

1) Didja know the 23rd of March is Minekura-sensei's birthday? I did mentioned it already, right?

2) Didja know that when Minekura-sensei first created Saiyuki, as a doujinshi in 1995, she originally had Sanzo in the driver's seat for the journey West? (Between that and a sketchbook piece she did for a fan in June 1995, maybe in that embryonic stage she was considering giving Sanzo the relationship with Jeep that ultimately went to Hakkai...?)

All Saiyuki Trivia listed was taken from www(dot)madkukkii(dot)com(slash)saiyuuki

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A/N: Hehehehe, a cliffie! (Real evil laughter) Oh right, hope any of you reading the start of this chappie didn't have a fluff innuendo coming into your minds! Yes, yes, this chapter is crappy, I know. Cause my mom banned me from using the laptop for ONE FREAKING WEEK! I had to wake up at 3am to type this, so my way of thinking must be affected by lack of sleep. Ahem, if you wanna guess who's the 'mysterious-three', feel free to review and placed your guess or answers, maybe you'll get cookies, LOL! Lirin-chan so rocks too!

Okay, you know what to do now, right? Review and tell me how was this chap, of course! Constructive criticism are welcomed too! But I think you don't wanna know at what I'll do to flames, I'm not sure too... (lol) Blah, but I'll really appreciate positive reviews!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU GUYS! XD