If you read my fics up to this one, you should know Goku is my beloved! This one is my first attempt to write a long story. The story took place after Sanzo had freed Goku, so NO Gojyo and Hakkai at all.
Diabolic Innocent
"Plunder?" Sanzo raised an eyebrow as a reflex to the unexpected report.
"Yes," the old monk who was the chief of the temple answered in a low frightened voice. "In these few early months, there were several temples attacked by robbers, they killed many monks and robbed the precious sacred treasures. Nobody knows who they're. Last night, a neighborhood temple in the northern forest was just attacked, its treasure, the holy beads were stolen. Therefore, we fear that our temple'll be the next target of those robbers."
"Is there any survivor?" Sanzo asked seriously. He had his own reason to be interested in this situation.
"Nobody survives. The only survivor died of injuries this dawn after fleeing to our temple and informing us."
Sanzo closed his eyes, considering the situation carefully. He had traveled town to town for many years in order to find Seiten Sutra-the momento of his master which had been stolen since that rainy night. He always hoped to find any traces but never expected to find them in such a suddenness like this. He was not sure if he was ready in his condition right now-with that irritating burden. Anyhow, he would not ignore these traces.
"I'll go to that temple."
"But, Sanzo-sama, it's dangerous. You're the holder of the holy scripture. Those robbers may attack you." The old monk said in panic.
"That's what I want." He grinned terribly.
"Sanzo-sama!" A new coming monk rushed in with gasping. "Please do something about the kid coming with you-he's breaking our ritual."
Sanzo clenched his fists, taking a deep breath in. "I'll kill that monkey first." He murmured in a low terrible voice. He went along with a monk to the ritual's ground. Nearing to the ritual's ground, he could hear the rampant noises-yelling, shouting, growling and one shrill laughing voice.
"Catch him!"
"Freeze!"
"Don't touch that!"
The riot appeared to his sight. The little monkey wearing trousers and a wide T-shirt skipped around and laughed joyfully with a half-biting peach in his left hand. There were many peaches scattered on the ground. Five monks ran after him, one threw himself into the monkey to catch him but missed and fell on the ground. Two slipped with peaches and fell down too. The others followed him closely and nearly to catch him. Suddenly, Goku snatched an incense burner and threw it into the monks chasing him. Ashes of incense rose in the air. Those monks choked.
Goku laughed and ran past the new comers seen faintly in the midst of ashes ,then a hand reached snatching his long brown hair bound into a long tail. Goku fell on his buttocks.
"Hey, it hurts!" The boy cried indignantly. "Who's that?"
Then, a paper fan coming off ashes whacked his head exactly.
"Stupid monkey!!"
"Ow! What'd you do that for?" Goku said in outrage with hands holding his head.
"Shut up, what the hell are you doing?!" Sanzo yelled at him.
"I'm very hungry," the boy whined. "They have many peaches but they don't let me eat any so I'm just getting some to eat, otherwise I'll starve to die."
"Those peaches are sacrificial offerings." A monk said. "He broke our worship."
Goku picked up another peach from the ground. Sanzo turned back and started walking. He had no time to waste with this nonsense because there was something he had to investigate, something that might give him important clues of Seiten Sutra.
"Sanzo?" Goku stopped eating.
"Where're you going?" The little monkey followed him quickly.
"Just stay here and eat anything you like." Sanzo kept walking without glancing at Goku. "I've something to do."
"Well, I'll go with you."
"No way," Sanzo said flatly, "Whatever I do is none of your business."
Goku ran surpassing Sanzo and turned to balk in front of him with both thin arms stretching to both sides. Sanzo frowned at him.
"Get out of my way," he said firmly, giving him a furious gaze.
"No." Goku shouted, staring back at Sanzo solemnly. "I won't let you go without me."
Sanzo stood glaring at the boy for a while and then went aside passing him abruptly. He had no need to argue with this brat, not this time. Goku started, he turned toward Sanzo's back and was about to run after him, but he stumbled and fell on the ground.
"Sanzo!" Goku called him in a loud voice as he raise his head. Sanzo stopped. He could feel Goku's begging stare behind him as he was down on his knees. The monk closed his eyes and sighed impatiently. "What a bother?" He murmured and said without turning his head to see Goku. "Come here." Goku blinked in surprise, he did not take any motion.
"If you don't move your ass, I'll leave you here!" Sanzo growled. After a moment, he heard the sound of running steps and Goku charged him fiercely causing him to take a step forward. The monk turned and looked down to see the little monkey holding his waist tightly with his thin arms and snuggling his face into his chest.
"Let go, idiot." Sanzo thumped the monkey's head with his fist.
"Ow!" Goku cried but when the boy raised his head, his golden eyes were brilliant. "Ok, go-let's go."
__________
Sanzo and Goku walked through the forest in the afternoon. Goku was happy walking, running and skipping along the way. Sanzo watched his companion and asked himself in wonder. 'Why'd I pick him up?' He had released this youkai from his jail three months earlier because he had been unbearable to the voice calling him all the time. Later, he found his living changed into chaos since this little youkai had come into his life. He did not like the way Goku attached to him. He would not let anything attach to him nor let himself attach to-
Goku stopped abruptly. "I smell blood, lots of blood."
Sanzo turned his eyes to the direction Goku looked. Not too far away, the monk saw the entrance gate of the temple. The gate was opened, showing long stone staircases upward the mountain. They passed the gate and went up staircases. Each step he went, Sanzo felt his heartbeat became louder. His face was stiff with tension. There was a pull at his left sleeve causing him to pause. Goku pulled his sleeve with his right hand. The boy looked up at him with worries shown in his eyes. Sanzo was quite embarrassed realizing that he was in bad condition that Goku had to worry about him. He put his left hand on Goku's head.
"I'm ok," he said.
Then, there was a wind blowing from the upper reeking of blood smell. Sanzo pulled himself together. 'Whatever above there're traces I've been looking for, aren't they?' He resumed going up with Goku following him. Up there, it was a ruin of a temple with corpses of monks scattered around. Sanzo kept his mind calm and observed those corpses. Those monks had died of wounds from weapons, some were slashed with sabers, some were stabbed with knife and-the monk frowned as he just noticed some died strangely. Several monks had not died from weapons, but manipulation. Some were neck-broken, some were ribs-broken and some were skull-broken as if they had been crushed by someone's powerful hands. He could not figure out whether this massacre related to his master's dead or not. Anyway, he could make a surmise from these traces he found. The robbers killing in such a violent and cruel way should be-
"Youkai…" He murmured.
"No."
Sanzo turned his eyes to stare at Goku in surprise. Goku showed him his rarely serious face. The boy was not in a usual funny mood. Maybe, he did not like blood and dead or maybe, blood and dead reminded him some feelings that he could remember faintly.
"What'd you say?" Sanzo asked.
"It's not youkai," Goku replied. "I don't feel any youki. If youkais did these violent killings, there should be any youki left in the atmosphere."
Sanzo closed his eyes and concentrated his mind. He could not feel any youki, either. He opened his eyes again. "You mean…human?" He asked solemnly.
Immediately, a huge wave of youki hit their senses. They felt that youki was hungry, greedy and restless. They turned to gaze at the direction which youki came from. Many youkais rushed into the temple's boundary. Those youkais said in roaring voices.
"Food, food, plenty of food."
"I'm gonna eat all, I'm very hungry."
"Hey, those're living."
"Oh good, I prefer living flesh rather than dead flesh."
"That man's my dinner!"
Some youkais ran into Sanzo and Goku. Before two youkais could reach for him, Sanzo had raised his left hand holding the gun and shot twice. Those youkais fell dead.
"Witless," he sneered with horrible grinning. "Who's your fucking dinner?"
Other two youkais attacking Goku were knocked out rapidly. Goku gave one his right elbow as he twisted to kick another. The rest of youkais snarled and crowded surrounding them.
"Sanzo," Goku said with worry in his voice. "How should we do?"
"They're too many." Sanzo said irritably. "My bullets're insufficient."
"I like food," Goku started whining. "But, I don't like being food myself."
"Shut up!" Sanzo snapped. "Quit whining, otherwise I'll shoot you first!"
Sanzo lowered his left arm. The monk made a decision, he ordered Goku.
"Goku."
"Eh?"
"Buy me a little time, I'm gonna use Maten Sutra."
"Er….ok." Goku knew that the scroll spreading over Sanzo's shoulders was the holy scripture, but never saw it in use. Anyhow, he was willing to risk with Sanzo's order. The boy threw himself into the youkais and then a scuffling fight broke. Meanwhile, Sanzo closed his eyes and pressed his hands together at his chest. The monk recited the Sutra in a low voice. Then, his eyes were opened as he finished reciting.
"MA KAI TEN JA!!"
The scroll extended spreading all the directions. Goku started. He never saw the scroll in that shape, but his instinct warned him that it was dangerous. Goku stayed away from its range. The youkais were eliminated with it. They howled. Goku saw the scroll stretching to him rapidly, the boy kept his eyes shut in real fear.
Nothing happened. After a while, Goku slowly opened his eyes. He saw Sanzo standing in front of him with his gaze fixing on him. The holy scripture returned to its regular form, spreading over Sanzo's shoulders. Goku was stunned momentarily as many feelings mixed together-pique, anger and fear. The boy opened his mouth, but he could say nothing.
"What?" Sanzo's voice awaked him.
"You almost killed me!" Goku cried.
"I don't mind killing an idiot." Sanzo turned his eyes on corpses of youkais on the ground, ignoring Goku's indignation. The monk did not express his doubt about Goku's circlet. The boy seemed to know nothing what had happened before. His gold circlet had had a reflex to Maten Sutra, it had glared a golden ray for a while. Did this control device have any connection to divinities?-the monk stopped his thinking and paid attention to the youkais' corpses.
"These idiots aren't likely to be murderers." Sanzo said.
"These youkais followed the smell of blood." Goku came to Sanzo's side, he still was a little monkey devoting to his owner. "They wanted to eat corpses only."
"Hmm…." Sanzo considered the situation. All traces he found here did not help so much. The only way to know the truth was to meet the robbers face to face. He had to wait for their next plunder.
"Let's go." He started walking to the staircases to go down. He looked back at Goku. The boy stood looking around.
"What's wrong, Goku?"
"I feel like…" He sounded hesitatingly, "-someone's watching us."
"Nonsense." Sanzo went down the staircases.
"Wait for me, Sanzo!" Goku ran after the monk quickly, leaving the temple behind.
The temple's boundary was in dead silence again, except that there was a living in the forest next to the temple's ground. Someone stood on a tree's branch watching all happenings in attention.
__________
In the forest, there was a caravan camp. Four men enjoyed eating roasted deer meat. Then, a new comer jumped down from a tree near the camp. He went to the group.
"Did you get anything more?" One in the group asked the new comer.
"His hands're empty," the second guy laughed. "I've said that temple has nothing precious besides the holy beads."
"Fucking holy beads," the third guy picked the jadeite beads out of his leather bag. "We had to kill those fucking monks for these beads. I hope we should sell these jadeite beads at a high price."
"Boss," the new comer said to the third guy. "I think we should delay the next plunder."
"What?" Everyone looked at him in curiousity.
"Sanzohoshi arrived this town and now stay at our target temple."
"Sanzohoshi?" The robbers' boss started to laugh. "A monk, we killed countless numbers of monks and now you're scared of a monk?! HAHAHA!!"
"I've just seen that Sanzohoshi," he said seriously. "He went to that temple. I saw him killed many youkais with a scroll on his shoulders in one hit. He's damn terrible!"
The boss stopped laughing, his face was stiff. "I gotta fear that fucking monk because he has a damn scroll, huh?!" He snarled.
"Whatever that scroll is," the fourth guy said his first line. " It works with youkai, not human." He held a thick deer's leg bone in one fist and clenched. The bone was broken in his fist. "That Sanzohoshi's mine. I'll get him neck-broken."
The boss looked at the anxious guy. "Look," he said. "That Sanzohoshi's just a human, don't be coward!"
"Sanzohoshi's not alone." The guy still worried. "He has a youkai following him. That little youkai's very strong though he's in human form."
"It's a piece of cake." The boss grinned hideously. "No matter how strong that youkai is, I'll get him with these 'holy beads',HAHAHA!!" He laughed horridly with his eyes fixing on the beads in his hand.
__________
Sanzo and Goku returned to the temple they had stopped at this morning. Sanzo decided to stay at this temple temporarily with hope to face the robbers. He guessed that those robbers would attack this temple to rob its treasure-the gold statuette of Buddha. He waited patiently one day, two days-until four days passed, but nothing happened. A thing that became a provoking problem to him was the stupid monkey. Goku destroyed the peaceful calmness of the temple with his naughty play. Sanzo was annoyed when the resident monks reported him damages caused by Goku. He hit the little monkey so many times which seemed to be useless since Goku still continued making other troubles. Those monks were disgusted of Goku.
In the early evening of the fifth day, Goku made another trouble again. He disturbed some monks writing a copy of religious scripture.
"Sanzo-sama!" A monk rushed to report Sanzo, his robe was stained with Chinese ink.
"That brat?" Sanzo asked irritably. "Where?"
"He's in the literary room."
Sanzo came to that room. He saw Goku writing something on a monk's face with a writing brush in his hand. The room was messy and dirty. Many pieces of paper were scattered in an untidy way. At the corner of the room, there was a bucket of water the monks used in rubbing ink sticks. The boy was dirty from head to toe. His clothes were stained with Chinese ink as well as his face and his hands.
"Stupid monkey!!" Sanzo hit Goku's head with his paper fan. A writing brush fell off Goku's hand.
"It hurts!" Goku cried. Then, a bucket of water splashed over him exactly.
"Hey!" Goku shouted. "It's cold!"
"I'm gonna kill you!" Sanzo growled.
Suddenly, there was a scream. Everyone winced.
"What's up?!" Everybody rushed into the corridor. There was a monk running along the corridor, he yelled. "Robbers!" Abruptly, he started and fell dead on the floor with bleeding from the slash across his back. Five guys came in slowly. One held a knife. One held a saber. Two guys held swords. Sanzo noticed one guy who was bare-handed. The guy with a big saber came ahead. He grinned hideously.
"Kill them all!" He ordered the others.
"Help!" The monks fled in panic.
The guy holding a knife threw himself into the riot with a crazy laughter. He was about to stab a monk when the shot was fired. That guy fell dead on the floor. Sanzo turned his gun to point at the guy with a big saber.
"You're the next." He said slowly, but firmly.
"What a fucking monk?" The robbers' boss exclaimed without panic. "I've never seen a monk shooting man."
"Now, you're seeing." Sanzo gave him an emotionless stare.
"He's Sanzohoshi!" The guy with a sword said in alarm. The bare-handed guy stirred. Sanzo quickly turned his left hand holding the gun toward him. At the same time, another guy with a sword charged Sanzo. The monk dodged. Goku abruptly shielded Sanzo. The boy made a jump kick at the guy's hand. That guy howled, his sword was blown away. Sanzo turned to glance for the bare-handed guy, but could not catch a sight of him. Immediately, the bare-handed guy coming from Sanzo's left chopped the monk's left wrist with his hand. The gun fell off Sanzo's hand.
"I'm gonna get him myself." The bare-handed guy said seriously.
Sanzo grimaced. This guy was so powerful. He thought of those monks died of broken bones. "Just try it." He challenged.
The guy losing his sword growled in fury and ran into Goku. He gave a punch to Goku's face. The boy lowered his head and moved forwards giving a counter-punch at his chin. That guy was knocked down.
"Sanzo, that's funny." Goku said lively.
The boss looked at Goku in a little surprise. "Who the hell is this brat?"
"He's a youkai following Sanzohoshi." The guy with a sword said in a low voice.
"I can't believe this brat's a youkai." The boss said. "Anyway, get him."
The guy with a sword was reluctant charging Goku. He slashed Goku with his sword, but missed. Goku made a high jump and kicked the guy at his temple exactly. That guy fell down. The boss was stunned seeing his men were knocked down by a kid, but could collect himself rapidly.
"You're terrible," he said. "Buy, I can get you. Cum' on fucking brat." He put his hand into his leather bag.
"Yeah!" Goku quickly ran into him. The boss picked something out of his bag and threw into Goku. The beads went flying and fell on Goku. The boy now had the jadeite beads around his neck. Those beads glowed a green light. Goku felt the horrible heat from those beads as if he was burnt by them. The boy shrieked in agony.
"Goku?!" Sanzo started and glanced at Goku. Then, a powerful hand reached for his neck.
"Agh!!" Sanzo held that forearm with both hands, but could not do anything to get his neck out of that hand.
"I got him." The guy said in satisfaction.
"Great," the boss grinned. "Break his neck, hurry. We've the gold statuette to get." He sneered at Goku downing on knees and palms. "Hey, how're you, youkai?"
"Boss," the guy called him. "Do you want this damn scroll? It's a holy thing too."
"Scroll?" The boss laughed. "A piece of paper, it's worthless. I don't care how holy it is. I don't want that fucking scroll!"
Sanzo realized in a moment that these robbers had no connection to the youkai killing his master at all. But, the guy's squeeze became harder and Sanzo could not breathe any more. He was going to lose his consciousness.
"Hey," the boss looked at Goku's forehead. "This circlet's gold. Damn lucky!" He took off Goku's circlet.
Abruptly, to everyone's astonishment, Goku winced and howled fiercely. There was a cracking sound, the holy beads broke into pieces.
"What?!" The boss retreated a few steps.
"It's a control device. He's transforming into his natural form!" The guy said in outrage. He loosed his squeeze in amazement. Sanzo pushed that hand away, he choked and panted. The monk looked at Goku. The boy jerked. A piece of cloth binding his hair tore, his long brown hair was unbound. His ears turned edging and his nails grew long and sharp.
"I won't let him finish transforming!" The boss held the saber both hands and then charged at Goku who was still downing on his knees. He raised his hands to slash Goku. Then, he was pierced immediately at his chest with Goku's sharp claws. He gave a little hiccup and fell dead as Goku withdrew his right hand.
"Boss!!"
Sanzo stared aghast at the youkai now rose to stand on his feet. The transformation was finished. His golden eyes were bright strangely. The smile on his face was not that of the naughty boy, but the evil youkai. Sanzo realized that he was facing Goku who was not Goku he had known for three months.
"Youkai!"
"That kid's a youkai!" All monks were frightened.
The guy yelled in fury and threw himself to the youkai, but when he reached, the youkai disappeared. Then, he felt someone was behind him and something like a hammer pounded on his back heavily. He spat blood and fell face-down on the floor. The youkai trod one foot on the guy's shoulder and stooped down to pick up his arm, then ripped it off sharply. The guy howled whiled the youkai laughed crazily.
"Stop it, stupid monkey!"
The youkai halted and turned to see Sanzo. His face was stiff. There was a dissatisfaction look in his eyes. Sanzo knew he had to keep Goku under control before he would go killing everyone within the area. He could see clearly that Goku had lost his senses completely and could kill everyone, even him. Now, he became the extreme danger himself. Sanzo was not sure that he could stop Goku. However, he was the one releasing this youkai from his jail so he was responsible to stop, or even get rid of him if it was necessary.
"Come on. I'm gonna get you beaten." Sanzo challenged.
The youkai rushed to him. Sanzo stood waiting for the youkai calmly. The youkai reached in front of him quickly and made a high jump. Sanzo immediately raised his right hand holding a gun and pulled the trigger. The shot was fired directly to the youkai's head, but missed. The youkai slanted his head aside. The bullet scraped his left cheek, shedding a little blood. Then, he gave Sanzo a side kick sending the monk down on his back. He raised his right hand to stab Sanzo with his claws. Abruptly, Maten Sutra on Sanzo's shoulder had a reflex to the youkai's motion. It spread stretching toward him. The youkai winced in alarm.
Sanzo recited the Sutra and then there was a glowing golden ring encircling the youkai's head and transforming into a solid gold circlet fitting on his head as Sanzo finished reciting. The youkai shrieked and fell on Sanzo. The monk looked down at the body held in his left arm. Goku showed him his innocent sleeping face as usual. Sanzo exhaled a long sigh in exhaustion.
"Damn, stupid monkey." He said in a low voice.
__________
Goku slept unconscious all the night. Meanwhile, there were damages that Sanzo and other monks had to deal with. The gold statuette of Buddha was saved as well as most of the monks, except five monks killed by the robbers. And three robbers died-the guy Sanzo shot, the boss and the bare-handed guy. The others were captured.
The chaotic night passed and the new day came. Now, the time was nearly to 11 am. Sanzo came to see Goku sleeping in the room. The resident monks were afraid of Goku very much. They stayed away from this room, leaving the room silent. Sanzo came into the room and sat down on a chair with his face toward the bed's side. He watched Goku's sleeping face with doubts in his mind. Was there any connection between this little youkai and his Sutra? Maten Sutra which had the power to destroy the evil, was not able to get rid of him yet. How much was his real power? If he grew up to adulthood, he would be an invincible youkai. Nobody would be able to stop him, and what would happen?
Sanzo felt his heart froze as he imagined of the youkai at his maturity. He would cause a great disaster. It should be saved getting rid of him right now. Sanzo stood up and came closer to the bed's side with his eyes fixing on Goku's sleeping face. He leaned over the bed and held Goku's thin neck with both hands. His face was stiff.
'Just press your hands and it'll be over.' A voice rang in his ears.
'No. Don't do that, you won't do it!' Another voice yelled inside Sanzo.
'You won't do it because he's your…'
Then, there was a stir and a muffled voice as Goku slowly opened his eyes. Goku's golden eyes looked straight into Sanzo's. There was a feeling attacking Sanzo's heart heavily that he loosed his hold in shock and sat down wearily on the bed.
'What am I going to do?'
"Sanzo!" Goku abruptly sat up and hugged him tightly, snuggling his face into his chest.
"You're alright?" He raised his head to look up at Sanzo's face and asked him in perplexity because Sanzo's face was pale. Sanzo pulled himself together.
"Did I do something wrong?" Goku asked and then could remember what had happened to him.
"Where're the others? The robbers? Those monks? Did I kill them all?" The last question was in a whisper.
"Don't you remember what happened?" Sanzo asked in surprise.
"I-I" Goku stuttered. "I can remember up to when those beads burned me only and I felt that someone took off my circlet." He let go of Sanzo and raised one hand to touch the circlet on his forehead.
"How'd you get your circlet?" Sanzo asked.
"I don't know." Goku drooped. "I've it on my head since the first day I was in that jail. I know only that it's necessary to have it on my head, otherwise I may do something horrible."
"You killed two robbers, the others're unharmed." Sanzo told him. He could saw Goku's shoulders shook a little.
"Are you the one who stopped me?" Goku asked, still hung his head.
"Yes."
"Sanzo," Goku pulled Sanzo's sleeve with his hand and raised his head looking up at the monk. "One day, if I'm in that condition again, will you help stop me?" He asked solemnly.
"I'm not your stopper." Sanzo replied flatly. "I won't stop you, but kill you."
Goku smiled in relief and hugged him again. The boy snuggled his face into Sanzo's chest and said in a muffled voice. "Thank you, Sanzo."
Sanzo felt as if his heart was cut by Goku's line. Oh hell, the little monkey appreciated him, even he might be killed by him. Why did he pay this absolute devotion to him? Sanzo always avoided every kind of attachment, but right now he found himself was binding into a kind of deep attachment that he could not bring himself out of it. Sanzo put his right arm around Goku's shoulders and felt like he was holding a bomb that would explode some days. As he felt this, another warm feeling touched his heart softly and drove all worries and doubts out of his mind. He knew ,somehow, that he could keep this dangerous innocent in his hold regardless of whatever that would happen in the future.
__________
March 2001
yoong'