A/N: Hello my lovely little readers! This is my first Saiyuki fic, and I only deemed it worthy of being on here because it's not too badly written. Still, I'm not completely pleased with how it turned out :/
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Saiyuki or any of it's affiliates.
When he opened his eyes for the first time, it was to find himself trapped.
He didn't know where he was, or why. All he knew was his name, and that he was stuck in a cage, chained.
To begin with, it wasn't too bad. He spent a while just investigating the small cavern and the chains, getting to know the layout by heart. But he soon grew bored of that, and found himself sitting in the same place and same position, day after day.
He tried keeping count at first. Watching the days go by, seeing the sun travel across the sky, counting clouds and stars depending on the time of day. He slept, too, sometimes; though, he didn't really have need of it.
But after a while, it wasn't enough. He was lonely, he was cold, he was...scared. He didn't understand why he was here. He didn't understand why he couldn't leave. And he didn't understand why he never saw anyone else.
When he dreamt, he felt like there was another part of him, a part he couldn't grasp. He had vivid dreams, of beautiful cherry blossoms and bright, faceless figures; yet one of them was brighter than the rest, as bright as the sun.
But whenever he woke up, the dreams would fade; no matter how he grabbed at them, they would slip out of his reach and leave him more broken than before. He cried out sometimes, wishing someone would hear him, his pained and anguished pleas. To be released, to have someone else, to not be lonely anymore.
They were never answered.
He wasn't sure how long he had been stuck in the cage when he got a small, feathery visitor. The little bird hopped into his cage, and he was filled with both relief and jealousy. The bird could fly away. The bird could slip out. He couldn't. He wasn't free like the bird.
Still, the bird chose to remain with him, playing and giving him company. Years passed, and eventually the bird stopped coming. It confused him, and hurt him, and at some point he realised it must have died.
The thought that his close friend was dead was...painful. Ridiculously so. It filled him with a pain beyond anything he had ever imagined before.
And he had even more vivid dreams that night.
He went back to his seclusion, staring listlessly from between his bars, aching but empty at the same time. He was slowly slipping, unable to survive alone.
Another little visitor. Another bird. He happily reached out for the companionship, automatically trying to steel himself for when it eventually left him as well.
Yet that one morning when it didn't arrive, and the day after, and the day after, it still ripped through him like a painful knife had been stabbed into his heart. He cried out, begging someone to help him, but nobody did.
He was always alone.
More days, weeks, months, maybe even years passed. Another little visitor. Another little visitor dead. More pain, more hurt, more screaming.
He couldn't handle it.
However long it had been, he didn't know. But whenever he got a little visitor, he scared it off. He couldn't deal with being hurt like that again.
Vivid dreams. Faceless people. And that bright, beautiful person who shone like the brightest sun on a cloudless day.
How long had he been in this cage? How long had he been staring out at the sky, wishing to be let free? Was he to be trapped in here for eternity?
Slowly, he was dying within himself, his soul curling up into a tight ball of loneliness and pain.
There were days he could handle it. The days where there was so much life around him, the sun shone brightly, occasionally even lighting it's rays into his little cage and allowing him to bask in it's warmth. He could smile those days, laugh and think happily.
But then there were the days when everything was silent, cold, dark, and white. Nothing moved, nothing came, there was no sound and no sun. Only him, trapped in his little prison; those were the days when the dark thoughts came, the days when he wished he could just die rather than endure this.
He was still silently begging within himself, calling out for someone to help. But nobody could. Nobody came, nobody freed him, and his pleas were once again ignored.
He didn't know how many years it had been. But he woke up one morning, gazing out of his cage, and he saw someone. He didn't know who, and they didn't stay long, and he wasn't even sure if they were there. But he felt, within him, that they were trying to answer his cries in the only way they could.
It wasn't enough, though. It still hurt, and it was still lonely, and it was still dark and cold and empty. He was fading into that pit that was his entire being.
But one night, he had the vivid dreams again, with the beautiful man like the sun. And though he sat up, and he was already forgetting, he saw movement. A man was walking up to him, and as soon as he stood infront of him, he could only stare. This man glowed, shining like the brighest sun on the clearest day.
Was this who he had been dreaming of?
"Oi, stop yelling. I'm here already," the man said grumpily, but it could do nothing to make him seem any less...heavenly.
"I'll let you out, alright? Just stop shouting already."
He nodded dumbly, and the man extended his hand. He reached out for it, taking it, feeling another person. He couldn't help a happy grin even as his bonds snapped and he was set free from the horrible prison.
His shining person had saved him. He didn't need to be alone anymore.
A/N: So, how was that? Probably there's loads of variations of this, and I know the anime and manga touches upon it quite frequently and in great depth, but I figured I'd try my hand at it.
Review?