[Gojyo's terrified. Ken's terrified. Even Chikusa: Hakkai's chest aches as though he's been stabbed, sharp and overwhelming, and he tries to breathe, once, then twice, before sitting abruptly down on the couch next to Gojyo's legs and rubbing a hand hard across his face.

Next time, next time. How many losses can they all bear before it's too many?

It's true, what the monks say: attachment leads to suffering. And yet, to be wholly detached, he thinks, is to be as good as dead already.]

I don't want to deal with the old gods, unless it's the worst case. There are people I will protect from them....

[His gaze sweeps the room. Gojyo, Goku, Chikusa and Ken. All of the people he'd go to war with the Heavens over, anymore, are sitting in this room.]

... but I don't think negotiating with them will do any good, and I don't think we can beat them, yet.