Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Gensoumaden Saiyuki or any of its characters, Kazuya Minekura does.

A/n: I have revised my spelling and grammar by transferring my documents over to Word. I would like to thank my reviewers; Rhine Thiev, altered carbon and GalaxticStarlight. P.s. Thanks altered carbon for mentioning the run-on sentences.

The Distance

In Shangri-La, four men were chosen by the Four Aspects of Buddha to cease the plans of the resurrection of an entity of evil. Gyumoah and his followers once held a regime of terror upon mortals and demons alike. These actions destroyed the balance that once existed between men and youkai causing mortals to fear the youkai race. Gyumoah's sins caused the armies in heaven to take action. A war was fought in which many lost their lives in the process of trying to rid themselves of Gyumoah's tyranny. The war prince Nataku was left in a permanent comatose state but he succeeded in capturing and imprisoning Gyumoah.

Five hundred years after Nataku's sacrifice Gyumoah's mistress, Gyoukumen Kousho, dedicated her energy to resurrect her lover. In these attempts she enslaves Rasetsunyo, Kougaiji's mother and uses this to manipulate Gyumoah's son to do her bidding. Three of the four chosen are demigods and one has the power creation. These men were abominations within society. They were an unlikely ragtag team of delinquents to have been chosen to endure a holy quest in the west. Alas these men became heroes after storming Gyumoah's castle, annihilating Gyoukumen Kousho and her plans to resurrect her once lover.

Gojyo: A while after we had left Gyumoah's castle we headed home. As expected we continued our lives with some changes. We drifted apart, each of us. We did however keep in touch. Goku ended up marrying Lirin, what a shock! Not really they both love food so I figured it would happen that way. Unfortunately now that I look back at it I should have gone. I didn't though since I thought that Sanzo and Hakkai were going to be there. Not that I have anything against Hakkai or Sanzo. It's just that I can't see them again. At least not yet I first have to resolve my own issues. Sanzo's actions were to be admonished. He went back to the monastery to tell them that they could fuck themselves. It was somewhat surprising to me since he grew up there. Although considering all the shit we went through shouldn't have surprised me. He actually decided to not live in the monastery. He of course went back to basically tell them to fuck off. Hakkai doesn't live too far from any of us, he of course still has Hakuryuu, and he got involved with Yaone. He's better off that way, as seeing that his last lover was also his sister. Kougaiji was pleased with Goku's marriage to his sister. Kougaiji has since then has taken it upon himself to reign over the youkai as a neutral force. He found ways to make both races happy after the Minus Wave's effect. I myself share a house with my brother Jien. I think he's confused about his identity at times though. It's entertaining to yell Jien or Dokugakuji sporadically and watch him look around. He reminds me of a dog every once in awhile. It's at times like those that I miss Goku. He was like a little brother to me.

Sanzo: We never really saw eye to eye, we all got into a lot of fights. I used to threaten to kill everyone but now that we're all separated I look back at our journey and wish things could have been different. We all drifted away from each other. Not that I should care right? I am the cold hearted bastard that Goku accused me of being. That night after the stopping Gyoukumen Kousho and releasing Rasetsunyo, Kougaiji's mother, I did a terrible thing. I turned my back on him. I told him to once and for all leave me alone. When he asked the reason why I was being so cold, I called him a moron. I also added a slur of different untactful names that were out of line. The words that left my mouth that night were like daggers to his heart. I was his friend and like a father to him. After my verbal assault he looked up at me with held back tears and gave me a large chunk of his mind. He was right; the only thing that Genjo, Sanzo cared about was Genjo, Sanzo. At least that was the case the majority of the time. I'm guessing that's the reason why I'm still alone. Not even the whores want to stick around for too long after they sober up...I guess that's why she left me so long ago. My mother must've seen what kind of monster I was going to be, so she got rid of me. Humph, my Master was an idiot he should have killed me while I was still young. Blind old bastard monks fear me with reason. Even the Gods feared me, but the reason as to why I will never know. I a pathetic excuse for a man...I am pathetic...

Hakkai: I would have never guessed when I first met her that I would end up loving her. Hell she even tried to kill me. I guess the way to a man's heart isn't through his stomach. Haha! Goku isn't a man then everything is through his stomach. At times I wondered about that, his stomach that is, it probably is a bottomless pit like Lirin says. I hated it after a while always being polite. Never did I let them see me for who I truly was. Then that day came and all of us were forced to see the other's true self. Sanzo isn't the stoic man we all thought him to be. Goku isn't as childish as he was thought to be. Gojyo does think of things besides beer, cigarettes and sex. Homura on the other hand was a desperate being not as sturdy per se. Zenon had his life but couldn't let the dead rest and Shien was just trying to make things right. You would not be able to tell by first glance but all of us had the same goal. We wanted change...

Alas change is something that is very hard to obtain without corrupting oneself. There are things in life that sometimes are better left alone. The journey we made to the west was to end the misery of others. Life is ironic. It shows we end the misery of others and in the process we were the ones to end up miserable. I have learned over the years that no matter how hard you try. You can never make everyone happy. It is not possible because in the process you only hurt yourself. How does that make everyone happy? Are you not part of everyone? Or does it say somewhere in the Gods' divine plan that those who are selfless must suffer.

Goku: Man am I hungry! I would love a meat bun right about now...or Lirin naked...I wonder how is Kougaiji? (Random thoughts bear with it) Hakkai was a great cook...Gojyo was good too...Sanzo... After we defeated Gyumoah things weren't the same. We all went our separate ways but I never expected for it to be that separate. We all live in the same province but in different towns. What is aggravating is that we see each other in the city all the fucken time but none of us has the balls to say anything to each other. I think that this is really immature on their part. As seeing that when I got married I did invite all of them but only Kougaiji, Hakkai and Yaone showed up. Fuck, I spent a long time with those asses fighting right along side them. Then my daughter Rei was born and when I mailed them about that. Guess what? Sanzo replies "Congrats, bakazaru!" Nice, so very polite coming from a monk. So I'm still the stupid monkey. Whatever I was the one who save your sorry ass. I risked my life just as much as they did their own. Does this matter to them though? Does the fact that I had to not only kill youkai but be berated as well matter? At some moment shortly after I felt that it was all for nothing. My participation in the Journey West was not futile. I can see it around me and I would not have it any other way. At least in this era my daughter can be accepted for who she is, not what she is. I would not be able to deal with it if my daughter was treated differently. Granted that after the Minus Wave people are still cautious of youkai but they are definitely not the way they where. Thankfully there are people who remember the behaviour of youkais before the Minus Wave and use reason instead of prejudice.

.To Be Continued

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Ja ne, Kurai!