NEVER TOO LATE

Disclaimer : Saiyuki belongs to Minekura Kazuya, the genius we all love :)

Summary : One wouldn't understand how regret feels...until it's too late. For once, Genjo Sanzo isn't going to forgive himself, especially with his charge's voice splitting his head every five minutes. Non yaoi.

A/N: First, I would like to thank you all for your patience in putting up with my slow update. Having faithful readers is one of few things that kept me writing; it is priceless. I dedicate this chapter to all my readers, those with or without reviews, you guys make me happy. But for now... happy reading! :)

CHAPTER SIX

Blood

Previously on Never Too Late:

"Oh yes, I wish you could've seen it...when I carved this."

"Homura...don't tell me you're...!"

"When our blood are to unite with this symbol as a medium...Son Goku will comply to everything I say..."

"N-No! Damn it!"

"Including...if I tell him to kill you, Konzen."

"NO!"

Chapter starts

Homura's word repeatedly echoed in his mind like a church bell. Sanzo clenched his fists, watching hopelessly through the bars of the impenetrable flame as Goku writhed and screamed about in pain. It was excruciating, to only be able to bear witness while the other suffered so much. But of course, it was exactly what Homura after. Or at least, part of this wicked scheme of his.

"AAGH! IT BURNS! AAAAAAAAH!"

"Delightful, isn't it?" The War Prince purred, his face was a mask of pure insanity. "He sure is doing it better than last night. Consider yourself lucky, Konzen."

"BASTARD!" Sanzo roared, having losing his mind completely. "You fucking leave him alone!"

Homura smirked wider, a smirk filled with insanity as he observed the screaming boy. "Now that's more like it, Konzen." He licked his lips, expression like that of a predator upon its prey. "Show me your anger, your agony...when you lose everything."

In one swift movement, Homura cut the ropes restraining Goku, letting the heretic fell down onto the granite floor, writhing around for a while before going completely motionless.

"Bas...!" It's Gojyo's turn to completely lost it as he shot the War Prince his furious blood red glare. "You...till when are you gonna screw with us till you satisfy your fucking sick mind, bastard?" The half-breed growled in rage.

Straightening himself with such composure which only served to further provocate the trio, Homura turned to face the ikkou, still trapped behind the fire pillars.

"How rude. Calling me sick as I merely have a slightly different...ah, taste." the creepy smirk grew wider, exposing the psychopatic look hidden beneath the Toushin's handsome exterior. "Now, I would gladly announce that the foreplay is over. Time for the real fun. I apologize to keep the three of you waiting. Feel free to join the fun."

With a flick of his fingers, the flames disappeared, leaving Sanzo, Gojyo, and Hakkai once again standing in the middle of the room, fully exposed to the three treacherous gods. Hakkai immediately entered a fully alert stance, hands ready to fire his ki balls. Gojyo held his shakujo so tightly his fingers turned white. Sanzo made no visible movement, but his two companions were aware it would take the gun-wielding monk less than half a second to draw his weapon from somewhere inside his robes. Things went static for a couple of seconds, before the chaos erupted.

Gojyo threw his shakujo, letting the crescent blade soar through the room, cutting the pillars off their bases before aiming for Zenon's neck, only to be stopped by Shien's whips. As Zenon started firing his machine gun, Hakkai joined the commotion by firing ki balls, making the scene a deadly mixture of stray weapons and explosions.

Yet, Sanzo somehow made his way out from this chaos to make an direct attack to Homura, his mind and rage directed to him alone. He fired a full round of banishing bullets which the War Prince effortlessly rendered completely ineffective as they were all disintegrated upon reaching his aura. Cursing, Sanzo quickly emptied his slots as he reloaded his ammunity as fast as he could. Homura watched him, hint of amusement were visible upon his golden-blue eyes as he commented.

"It's no use, Konzen."

"Shut the fuck up." Sanzo glared, having finished his job in less than two seconds and already pointed his banishing gun at the War Prince, who smirked as if he was merely getting rid of mosquitos.

"You couldn't even touch me."

"I told you to shut the fuck up," Sanzo hissed through gritted teeth, fully aware of his situation and deep down frustrated at his disadvantage. Why does this bastard have to be a fucking bullet-resistant god? That's obviously cheating!

But before he could voice his thought, Homura did something that left him astonished; he distinguised his flame sword and raise his hands in the air as if surrendering. Wait...surrendering?

"I'm afraid that you choose the wrong opponent, Konzen" Homura stated calmly, hands still firmly raised in the air. Sanzo raised one curious blond eyebrow, anger hadn't fully subsided.

"What are you playing at, bastard?"

Homura's smirk only grew creepier, as he took a step back and, to Sanzo's horror, a step closer to the the fallen Goku. Sanzo's eyes widened as he realized he had let his fury consumed him far too much to actually forget the very reason they crashed here in the first place.

"Goku...!"

"Son Goku, I, Homura, as the owner of the blood oath engraved in your body, now command you to...get up."

The War Prince ordered, his voice was barely above a whisper and yet the impact it caused was beyond Sanzo's worst nightmare. Goku twitched a little, before lifting his small body off the floor to a kneeling position in a swift, soundless movement. He raised his head a bit, letting the violet eyes to stare directly into the expressionless amber eyes.

Sanzo felt himself numb, unable to react as the empty eyes bore through him, betraying no emotions whatsoever, even as the boy got to his feet slowly. Or worse, the boy before him had been made to discard all emotions.

"Fu..." He hissed, a new wave of anger filling his veins.

"Annihilate them, Son Goku. Start with him." Not even letting his adversary to finish his profanity, Homura issued his final order, a winning smirk upon his face.

"Fuck...!" the swear barely left Sanzo's lips as Goku lunged at him like a hungry cheetah upon its prey, fist drew back in an attempt to crush the monk's head. Sanzo barely avoided the punch in a mere millimeter; he could still feel it dangerously grazing his blond hair. But in less than a moment Goku spun and attempted to kick him, one which he had no choice but to block, resulting in an immediate numbness on his whole right arm. His gun hit the floor with a loud 'clang' as he was pushed on his knees a few feet back by the impact.

Dam...

Before he could even finish the thought, a fist connected to his chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He flew a few more feet back, this time landing on the floor on his back with a sickening loud 'crack'. This, apparently, got Gojyo and Hakkai's attention as he could hear them shouting his name.

"Sanzo!"

"Stupid monk, can't you even take care of yourself?"

"It can't be...Goku did...?"

Heh. Took them long enough to figure out the situation, these slow bastards.

Sanzo muttered in his mind as he tried to clear his vision, still somewhat cloudy from the impact. He could swear he saw tiny stars making stupid circles around his head, each of them smirking smugly like a certain war prince bastard.

"Sanzo! Look out!"

Even without Hakkai's warning, Sanzo could tell that Goku was currently charging at him, with another deadly fist or worse, his nyoi-bo ready. He could only see a faint blur of brown and gold and let out a 'tch'. He wouldn't make it...

CLANG!

Sanzo had to narrow his already narrow-sighted eyes to properly see the metal bar situated just a few inches above his head, the one that just prevented the red-and-gold staff from turning his head into mashed potato. Gojyo's shakujo.

"You ungrateful monkey!" Gojyo roared, looked certainly upset for some reason, one of them probably because the impact had made one obvious dent on his precious and only weapon.

"We're here to save your sorry ass and what did you do in turn? First calling us idiots, and now you work for these psychos for free, huh? Make sure you treat us to a nice hotel with lots of babes when we get out of here then I'll forgive you, stupid monkey! And you!" he turned to Sanzo, still sprawling over the floor, his fiery hair flipping wildly on his face, "Snap out of it! Aren't you his fucking guardian? I thought you said you can do this creepy telephaty thing, well, bark some sense into him!"

"I've been trying that for the last two hours, damn kappa!" Sanzo grumbled as he stood, dusting dirt from his robes out of habit. "Don't you go ordering me around while you still have enemies on your tail!"

"Hey, I'm saving your sorry ass here! You can at least thank me or something!"

"No way in hell. I didn't ask for your help anyway."

"You ungrateful mo-"

"Gojyo! Look out!" Hakkai shouted a warning as loud as he could while trying to maintain his chi barrier against Shien and Zenon's assault.

Gojyo didn't have the chance to react as Goku's fist connected with his cheekbone, sending him flying a few metres before slammed to the ground, successfully making a small crater on the granite floor.

"Oww...Jien, what are you doing circling around my head?" the red head groaned, blood trickling out his nose. Apparently Goku hit him hard enough to damage his brain.

"Goj...UGH!" Hakkai yelped as Shien's whip finally breached his shield and hit him squarely on his chest, slamming him onto the nearest wall. He slumped against the wall, clutching his chest and coughing blood.

"Tch!" Sanzo cursed inwardly as he saw both of his companions-no, helpers-were barely conscious from the corner of his eye. Not that his condition was any better though; he could end up like them anytime soon.

CRACK!

Sanzo dodged yet another deadly punch aimed to his face, causing it to hit the pillar behind him instead. What made him last this long was probably his years of living with Goku had had him memorized the boy's fighting patterns by heart. And yet, he had almost no chance to counterattack. It's only a matter of time before he...

"GUHH!"

After a fierce struggling, the fist finally hit its target. Sanzo's eyes widened as he felt the air being forced out of his lungs from the impact and worse, exactly on the spot where Homura had slashed him.

"D-Dammit..." he grunted as he slumped against the pillar, feeling the tangy taste of blood filling his mouth. He spitted the blood, clutching his chest. His wound had opened up, making his dark shirt even darker.

In front of him, Goku stood, his empty golden eyes bore through him. Behind the boy, he could see Homura smirking, knowing full well that with just one simple order, he could end this vurnerable human's life. Sanzo gritted his teeth. That coward excuse of a War God sure doesn't have enough guts to finish him off personally without having to brainwash his monkey with the blood-oath...wait...blood?

"Son Goku. Kill him. In one strike."

The order was barely above a whisper, but more than enough to surge energy through the emotionless boy, causing him to charge with his materialized weapon raised, ready to deliver the final blow.

Sanzo narrowed his eyes, bracing himself.

This better works or else...I'm toast.

In a split second, Sanzo moved to the side, missing the attack by a millimeter. Goku's expression didn't even change even as his weapon was stuck in the pillar, rendering it unusable for the moment. Sanzo took this opportunity to finally counterattack. He slammed the hilt of his gun to Goku's chest, reopening the pentacle-shaped wound. The heretic staggered, shock flashed for a brief moment in his expressionless face. Wasting no time, Sanzo yanked the weaponless heretic by the arm, before pulling Goku's chest against his own.

Goku's eyes widened as he stared at the blood dripping between their bodies, mixing with one another. He gripped Sanzo's shoulders, attempting to break free, but the monk held firm. The young heretic shuddered as the symbol on his chest glowed red, and then, the same like when he was first controlled, opened his mouth and let out a scream.

The only way to undo the blood oath...is by another blood

Sanzo held the boy firm until the scream died out, staggering a little as Goku finally collapsed on him. The heretic's eyes was closed, but Sanzo could tell he was free from Homura's control. He let out a sigh as he slumped against the pillar, feeling the aches from the fight coming back.

"Stupid monkey...bringing nothing but trouble..." he groaned, unconsciously petting his charge's brown hair. As much as he hated to admit it, he really felt at ease the most when he had his charge close; on the note that he's not being controlled by some bastard.

Speaking of some bastard...

"Good job for forgetting my existence, Konzen." Homura smirked as he pressed his flame sword against Sanzo's neck, his usually collected expression was laced with suppressed anger. Despite his predicament, Sanzo couldn't help but smirked back. Looks like even the great War Prince failed to predict this turn of events.

"Well, sorry for ruining you half-assed plan," he sneered.

Homura's smirk vanished and this time, his true emotions surfaced. Sanzo could swear he felt Homura's blade grew hotter as the War Prince declared, voice dripping with venom;

"Die, Konzen."

-tbc

A/N: Good news, I only need one or two more chapters to finish this, then I can go back to wrap up Never Let Go. Please let me know if you enjoyed this chapter :)