He's heard those words before - the kind of thing you say to an opponent on the field. Next time I'll be serious, next time I'll kill you. That was something his prince said.

The tone that Gojyo uses... it's not like that at all. It's more like after the Seiten Taisei damn near killed his prince in the desert - that kind of deep-seated pain at losing someone. In Doku's case, the fear of it. In Gojyo's case now, the impression that he'd lost someone he never truly had. A loving mother. But Doku can't tell him that - that his entire reason for being pissed at Doku was about a romanticized hope, a parent that didn't exist.

So... all he could do was nod when Gojyo says that. Stay away. Yeah... he was going to have to do that now, wasn't he? He'd have to figure out some way to guarantee that gods came back as they were... or find some way to defend himself without hurting Gojyo too badly. Maybe knock him out like that time with Zakuro. Then go dropping him off with Sharak or Hakkai and explain things. Again.

But what did it say about them, about their pasts, that they'd gotten along better before Gojyo remembered anything? He'd known for awhile now that they'd have to live separate lives, but not like this. Not like this.