It was just like any other scorching day for the Sanzo party: Hakkai gets lost, they come across a forsaken town, absolutely no population, and it smells of new death. They drive around, survey the setting and try to find any source of life.
"Sanzo?"
"Mm?"
Goku gazed at the monk with large eyes as the jeep went slowly along the town's dirt road. The town was quite large, possibly a city. The buildings, painted with a beige and yellow color, stood menacingly above the puny jeep compared to the city's majestic bearing. The roofs, all the same, were a rich orange-red, which contrasted harmoniously with the yellow paint. It was deathly quiet, expect for the relaxing sounds of a nearby river and birds that flown in and out of gold plated windows of a large bell tower. Every few minutes, the doors of certain buildings (every door was ajar) revealed a horrifying scene of mangled and twisted corpses, all in the moment of a last and fatal scream. This city was a ruined paradise, a dead Eden. The oddest thing about the city was that everything, from the aerial buildings and towers to the tranquil forest surrounding the breached walls, was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Not a spot on city, just the bodies that lay inside the always open structures.
"Something's not kosher. I mean, its really weird. Everyone's dead, but, no scent of any demons."
The jeep stopped abruptly as Hakkai gazed back with a confused and concerned look planted on his ever-smiling face.
"What--?"
"Death smells like it came from a human's hand! "
Gojyo ran hand through his thick and luxurious red hair.
"No sign, huh?"
Hakkai frowned.
"This isn't something funny, Gojyo. One demon couldn't take down a town this large by himself, and not leave a trace besides bodies. And if anything else could, that would mean we are in much trouble to be entering this town."
Sanzo whipped out a cigarette and lit it.
"I don't like this it all. No human could have done this much carnage."
"Maybe." said Goku quietly.
"And what do you mean that, monkey?" spoke Gojyo, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, it smells like a human's hand."
"What?!" yelped Gojyo, "It couldn't be!"
"And what else is rather disturbing, is that it would seem this corpses are new. The smell freshly murdered. Everyone in this city was killed recently at the same time."
Gojyo shuddered.
"Please, can we jut go? This place is freaking me out. No women."
"So the kappa's scared." smirked Sanzo.
"Sanzo," started Hakkai, "Your comments have no place in this time of action."
"So what do you propose we do, your greatness?" scowled Gojyo.
Sanzo opened his eyes lethargically.
"We stay," he said matter-of-factly. "I like the silence."
"Sanzo, this place is so quiet I can hear my own breath!" said Gojyo angrily.
"I'm tired. And if Goku said what is true, about the new corpses and such, then that would mean inn's would have beds ready and the food hasn't spoiled."
"Sanzo..." said Goku pleadingly, "My nose is never wrong. This town, well, city, is screwed up and we should leave!"
"No."
Hakkai sighed and turned the jeep on. It hummed loudly and stopped. The jeep made a nasty sound, like someone had turned a chain saw, and then stopped. The wheel jerked out of Hakkai's hand as he screamed, "Hakuryuu! Are you all right? Everyone, get out of the jeep!"
The party stepped out of the beaten green vehicle as it slowly transformed back into Hakkai's beloved dragon. Hakuryuu was laying on the ground, silently breathing, silently sickening. The blazingly white dragon looked dirty, un-pure compared to the perfect road. Hakkai quickly scooped the pathetic thing into his arms, nestling the dragon with all of his heart, even if Hakkai's heart was full of charred holes.
"It would seem the city would like us to stay for a visit," whispered Hakkai.
Sanzo gazed at the towers that decorated the city.
"The city is quite pleasant. I like the atmosphere." said Sanzo.
There is a girl with midnight sky colored hair, a painful black, short and cropped. She sits on the edge of large fountain, shaded by the bamboo trees. To her side there stands a large canvas, with but a few strokes dashed upon it. She sits there, gazing at the canvas, as one small tear runs down her cheek. The laughter of children is heard in the distance of the city, as the smiles are accompanied by the sweet melodies of the song birds. The scene is like a happy painting, spoiled by the tearful face of the sitting girl. Happy painting no longer. All is disrupted as a young man with midnight sky colored hair walks slowly to the artist. He sits by her, and gazes foully at the almost-blank painting.
"Well?"
The girl's face jerked up from the painting to the young man. His face was in an ugly glare, a sickening stare. The girl opened her cherry red lips to speak, but no sound was born.
"What do you paint?"
The girl glanced at the softly pouring water of the fountain.
"Everything."
The man's eyes thinned into a look of suspicion.
"Everything? Can you paint perfection?"
The girl shut her eyes.
"This city is perfection, and I can paint this city."
"Show me." said the man, placing a hand on the now-dried canvas. "Paint for me this perfect city. If you can succeed, I will show you more perfection."
So the girl did.
"Well?"
"I'm sorry Gojyo, but we're staying, whether we like it our not. Hakuryuu can't transform, and this city's to big to get through in just one day." spoke Hakkai,
"So we're stuck here?" whined Goku.
"Afraid so." Hakkai laughed. "It can't be that bad? Right?"
Nobody was smiling, except for Sanzo who smirked.
"Right. Not bad at all." chuckled Sanzo. It was a well deserved laugh, even in times like this. Sanzo never laughs.
"Well done painter. Well done indeed," whispered the mysterious man as her surveyed the final product that flourished upon the canvas.
"I cannot believe..."sighed the girl as her eyes became wider. Like from a trance, she was shaken, surprised, and scared of her own masterpiece. The painted perfection.
"What can you not believe?"
"I could have never...painted such a thing without..."
The man laughed a horrible laugh that echoed from the depths of the fountain.
"Without me. I told you to paint perfection. And you did."
The girl nodded sadly. The man leaned in close to her face, and lifted a cascade of hair revealing he ear.
"I can give your perfection. I tell you to paint, and you will, because I am perfect. Anything I say will become reality through your paints. Gaze upon your beloved city. It has changed, and it is now your painting. The world is your canvas."
The girl wrenched at his hand away, and stared into his eyes. Like pools of clear gray water, they reflected her face.
"At what price?"
The man grinned cunningly, like a self satisfied jester.
"You will belong to me. Your paintings will be mine, and you my paintbrush."
The girl gasped and the man placed a pale hand on her cheek.
"Your skin...like porcelain, smooth as silk," he teased. He suddenly scratched her face. It burned like white hot metal as the girl gave a small scream.
"But not perfect." he scowled.
A small tear crept from the girl's eye from the pain.
"Your lips...like plump fruits, red in blossom." He cam in close and kissed her softly on the mouth. The man then placed a long finger on her closed lips.
"But not perfect," he whispered, "Be mine, and I'll make you perfect. You'll paint for yourself a new face, at my command. A new life, at my command. New everything."
She could take no more. The girl collapsed into his open arms, her hair tangling slightly into the fountain.
The perfect day ended and had grown into a perfect night. The stars shown as brightly as fireflies, and it lit the heavens into a firework show of a glowing sky. There were no clouds to be seen, no white puffs to spoil a night as grand and sublime as such. The Sanzo party found a small inn and decided to stay there. No invitation was needed, as both the keepers of the inn and those who stayed were gone. Destroyed. Dead and perfectly mangled. The Sanzo party was able to find food and Hakkai was able to cook it. A magnificent meal was placed at in the silent dining hall where they ate.
"So. We sleep here, leave in the morning?" asked Goku between bites of food.
"Hopefully. Hakuryuu might not be up for the trip." answered Hakkai.
Sanzo leaned back in his chair with a cigarette in his mouth.
"I love this place. Besides the corpses, everything's perfect."
"Don't say that word." said Gojyo quietly.
"What, perfect? What's wrong with that, kappa?"
"That's the reason my mother is dead and my brother is gone."
A silence like no other passed through the room.
"My mother tried to kill me...because I wasn't perfect. A half-breed. A burden."
"Or maybe," said Hakkai, trying to bring cheer back into the gloomy setting, "You were to perfect to cope with?"
Gojyo smiled a half smile.
"It's ok, Hakkai. Its in the past. The past is behind me."
Goku took a large gulp from the glass of water that sat on the table.
"Good food Hakkai, but I'll be off to bed now. Maybe the rooms won't have corpses."
"If we're lucky. Which we are rarely." said Sanzo.
Goku stretched and slumped over.
"Good night, don't let the corpses bite!"
"That's not funny!" yelled Gojyo.
There is a tower. In the tower there is a room, and it is dark. Enter a girl, with midnight sky colored hair. She sits upon a wooden stool in front of a milk white canvas. Her eyes are shut. A man has his long hands on her shoulder, his fingers dancing to the curve of her body. She opens her eyes and looks at the floor, away from the man, exposing her vulnerable neck to his chilling touch. He leans and kisses her once, twice, thrice on her neck and places an arm around her body.
"Welcome to my humble bell tower. It is perfect, unlike this animistic city. But that can be changed. This city will be cured of the sickness of impurity. But remember, girl, that you are mine forever, and no one elses," the man said with a steely tone.
He grabbed her neck and squeezed.
"But if you forget that, even if you paint for me, the art is mine and you belong to me. You are the paintbrush I wield, and you are mine to use and abuse at my liking, do you understand? Understand?" he hissed in a deathly whisper.
She nodded and tipped over slightly from the lose of air. He let go and walked to the window. The man gazed out upon the bustling city.
"So tell me. What is your name, girl?"
She turned to face him.
"It is Mitsuya."
"Mitsuya..." he mused, and shuddered. "I hate the way it dances upon my tongue. Your name will be Cornsilk. It's my favorable color."
"Cornsilk..." she whispered. He walked toward her and waved his hand vis-à-vis the canvas.
"Let's start our little modifications with this city. You, after all, said it was perfect. This city is not perfect. It will never be unless my vision is painted. there are certain things to be tweaked, some things that clutter this city with a stench I truly dislike. So paint me a city in the fashion of thus: Make the walls cornsilk. Drown it in silence, saturate it in a flavor of peace and tranquillity. Make the roofs orange, and paint a forest as green as the sea. Make the forest surround the city, and make a wall only breached by the outside world. Make my city pulchritudinous, make it hurt the eyes to gaze upon. Paint it now, and paint it perfectly."
And it was done.
The night was subdued in a orchestra of languor, and the Sanzo party was in a deep slumber. Two of the party shared a room and the others shared a room parallel to the other door. Sanzo and Hakkai, opposite of Gojyo and Goku. Sanzo's wishes, of course. Sleeping with the monkey was painful. All he did was snore, snore, and possibly snore some more. That pissed Gojyo more than any of the ominous events that had taken place earlier that afternoon.
"Can you snore any louder, you friggin' monkey?!" yelled Gojyo during the night as he was humbly awaken by the jarring sound of Goku's exhalation.
Gojyo growled and grabbed a pillow. He stormed to Goku's bed and thwacked Goku on the forehead numerous times. With Goku having no reaction of discomfort whatsoever, Gojyo crawled into the blankets and sweet sleep collected his mind once more.
Sanzo and Hakkai were not sleeping, even in the depth of a night so tiring as such. Sanzo drew his shoureiju and placed three bullets into the cylinder.
"Sanzo...is this wise?" muttered Hakkai, as he gazed at the poor frame of Hakuryuu on resting on the night table.
"Yes. Goku's nose is never wrong, though not always right. If the carnage was done by a human hand, and Goku smelled the scent of human within the city, then he must be here still."
"And possibly waiting for us. Sanzo, this could be dangerous."
"And more if you were sleeping."
Hakkai sighed and wiped his brow with his shirt sleeve.
"I guess we come across a lot of dangerous things."
"It would only seem."
In the gloomy bell tower above the city, Cornsilk watched the children, small dots from the height of the tower. Cornsilk smiled shyly at the children dancing to the gypsy music in the street and she placed a clammy hand to the sun-bathed window.Savouring the moment, she gazed happily and remembered those faraway memories of when she too, danced as a small girl to gypsy music. The magnitude was shattered as the man walked into the room and slammed the door. He had a terrible expression on his face, one twisted with anger and passion and fury, one that could stir terror into the bravest of souls. A pure devil, that face.
"What are you doing?!" he screeched wildly, dashing toward Cornsilk, as the room seemed to darken and dim according to his steps. The man grabbed her hair and wrenched Cornsilk closer to him. Her smile faded rapidly into a melancholic frown.
"You were smiling. Why? Why do you poison your face in a sick contraction as such of only from the pleasure of the smallest and pathetic little balls of slime? Why?!"
"Please, they were dancing--"
"ARRGH!"
The man pushed Cornsilk against the wooden wall, making it creak to movement of their parallel bodies.
"You will paint me a city with no children! NO CHILDREN! NO small beings of sickening delight." he yelled with a fiery passion. Cornsilk slowly crumbled to his feet.
"If you ever smile again, I will kill you." the man spoke as he thrusted his foot into her belly. Cornsilk grasped her stomach and coughed a small amount of blood onto the floor. The man scrutinized the blood stains and bellowed,
"AND DON'T STAIN MY PERFECT FLOOR!" With that, he left with a quick and angry stride. Cornsilk quickly mopped the blood with her sleeve before falling into a deepening and murky coma...
She awoke to fine the man sitting at the wooden stool, lowering above her.
"Fool," he hissed, "Now get up. Stand like the human being you aren't, not like a waste of human life and labor. We have much work to complete, and not the time fall,"
Cornsilk heavily stood, ignoring the searing throb in her abdomen. The man roughly pulled her between his open legs. Cornsilk placed her hands on his shoulders and around his neck for the support. Grinning maliciously, tracing a finger down the curve of her neck and her breasts, he taunted, "You are forever mine...My own to keep, to use and abuse at my liking," The man laughed like a madman, "And if you forget it, I will cut you and slice you into 1000 pieces!"
Cornsilk bit her bottom lip to stop the tears from falling as the man jaunted patronizingly and screamed. A true phantom he was, a masterful devil.
"Now paint." he said abruptly in a harsh and scratchy voice, stepping out of the stool and pushing Cornsilk on the cushion.
"Destroy the children," he croaked. Cornsilk wept as she grabbed her paint brush with a shaking hand and dipped it into a blood red paint below the canvas...