Warnings:
Contains spoilers for Saiyuki manga up to volume 3 (and all that has been hinted at up to then).
Define Immortality
..
.
Sanzo will never die -- that is what they all think, deep down, just because. The gun skill and sutra-works certainly help, but it's just too fitting an image to dismiss: a sulking Sanzo, old and gray, hunched on a porch and still puffing on a cigarette, with a harisen close by to whack noisy children.
Besides, the monk was sent on the mission by the three whatchamacallit heavenly gods, so some sort of divine protection must be in place, if only to prove that Good, questionable as it may be, will prevail. Even Kanzeon Bosatsu hirself once made a trip down for him, see.
Sanzo will never die, or so they assume, though they never really think about it, because, who has time to worry about the future when already the past is heavy and the present keeps their hands full?
After all, ever since they followed him, their lives and near-deaths have always been their own making, and so far, they've been winning. It never occurs to them that they, being half-youkais, ought to have a higher chance at immortality than a "normal" human like Sanzo.
Sanzo will never die, at least until they reach that end of the West; and so they won't need to worry about directions or traveling fees (surely the heavens will void the mission and the golden card once Sanzo is gone). They don't have to think of how to restrain Goku when the limiter breaks for probably the final time.
The last time that happened, inbetween Sanzo's fading consciousness had been vague recollections of himself in another body looking at that same terrifying form; and while this tells him he did die before, it also tells him he's been carrying on this one existence forever.
Sanzo will never die, so Gojyo curses the long days he has to put up with the monk, and Goku laughs and pouts and keeps feeling hungry.
Yet Genjyo Sanzo knows death much too well, having faced Koumyou Sanzo's broad back on that cursed night, having dealt it to numerous deserving creatures since.
Sanzo will never die, so Genjyo Sanzo is well-prepared -- at the end of the mission The Three Aspects are most likely going to offer him a position in the rank of gods, which means, true immortality.
And he will stand firm on his refusal.
.
..
Author's Note:
This is an attempt at exploring the many sides of defining immortality: the physical aspect, the spiritual aspect (rebirths) and the social aspect (continuation of roles).