Author Notes: My first attempt at 1st person, I think. Goku may seem
a bit off, but this is the story the song painted for me. Second in
the Lion King series.
Have one more story to go, but it's turned
into a Kougaiji/Yaone fic. Not sure how, but it's
done it. After
this, I'm going after Brother Bear. And the next parts of my other
two fics-in-progress.
Circle of Life
~/From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There's more to be seen than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done/~
I don't remember what it was like when I was really young, when I
looked the same age that I really am. That's something that I don't
have in common with the others. They remember growing up, even
though I know they want to forget sometimes.
But I do remember when I was born again.
The sun reached down and pulled me out of a cold, cold place. Then I
stood there, blinking away tears as true sunlight hit me for the
first time in too long. The one who pulled me out only gave me a few
minutes to adjust, then he was urging me down the
mountain.
That's how I met Sanzo.
It took a few weeks, but he finally took us back to his home. A
temple, full of people. I had never seen that many bodies in one
place at once, not even when we were in the towns. Just the smell of
them made me dizzy. The buzz of their voices filled my ears as I
followed the boy to Sanzo's rooms. My guide wasn't much older than
me, just someone Sanzo had grabbed to lead me so he could report in
to his bosses. He kept peeking back, as curious about me as I was
about… Well, everything. I had forgotten so much, and everything was
new to me.
He wasn't the only one, either. People stopped what they were doing
and were just staring at me. When I think about it, I guess I can't
blame them. Long hair, gold diadem, and wrapped up in a muddy
traveling cloak. I must have stood out.
The voices got louder after we passed. The questions were already
starting.
My first real memory of the temple, the one that stands out the
most, is of someone's voice. It was louder than the others, and it
hit me the hardest.
"Why did Sanzo-sama bring back a muddy
street rat?"
~/Some say eat or be eaten
Some say live and let live
But all are agreed as they join the stampede
You should never take more than you give/~
That question was repeated lots of times. Sanzo would glare every
time he heard it, but that didn't stop it from being asked. When he
went away on one of his missions, the questions got louder. And
meaner.
But it doesn't matter. They never realized that Sanzo and I need
each other. We complement the other. Sanzo's quiet, I'm noisy. He's
calm and controlled. He does things completely, even if he does get
sidetrack sometimes. If he wants to protect you, he'll protect you.
If he really wants to kill you, you are going to die. `Kill to live'
seems to be his motto. That's why I know we're going to find the
sutra someday. Even if we do get sidetracked an awful lot.
Me, I'm easily distracted. I'll admit it. I fidget and bounce. I
like to fight, but I'm more likely to let someone go than Sanzo. I
try to see the best in people, even annoying ero kappas. Killing
bothers me sometimes, so I'd rather just drive someone off. If
everyone gets to live another day, I'm happy.
Unless they hurt Sanzo.
~/In the Circle of Life
It's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle, the Circle of Life/~
Sanzo doesn't believe in the gods. He believes only in himself.
I believe in Sanzo, too.
~/Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with the scars/~
If there are gods, I don't think that I like them very much. I'm 500
and something years old, and I only really have memories from the
last ten. Maybe that's why I seem so immature to the others. At
least that's the way they act a lot of times.
If there are gods, why did that happen to me? Did they do it? Why?
Sanzo told me I looked eight or nine when he found me, so we stuck
with that age. Why would anyone need to lock a child in a prison
like that? Even if I do go insane when I lose my limiter, couldn't a
god stop me?
And that's not even the reason I don't like the gods if they do
exist.
They hurt all of us.
Sanzo, Gojyo, Hakkai, and me. All of us. We were just kids, and I
know that bad things happened to all of us. Really bad.
Things that
shouldn't happen to kids. Hakkai and Gojyo have the most obvious
scars, but we all have them.
But they say karma is part of our lives. Maybe we got the bad stuff
first, because we have the good stuff now. If being stuck in a cave
for 500 years was what I had to do to meet Sanzo and the others,
then it was worth it.
~/There's far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps the great and small on the endless round/~
I remember the first time Sanzo kissed me. He was so angry at me; I
could see it in his eyes.
It had been after another fight, only this time it hadn't been a
demon. Just some lousy drunk. He saw my diadem and
wanted to steal
it, I think. All I know is that he jumped at me. Sanzo had his gun
out almost faster than I could react, so I did something kinda
stupid.
I smacked Sanzo's arm up.
It was just that I didn't want him to kill some human who couldn't
have really hurt us. Doing that left me a little distracted, and it
did give the guy a chance to stab at me the second before the gun
went off. The bullet didn't hurt anyone, but it scared the guy off.
The knife had barely scratched me, but Sanzo snapped. He yelled at
me, telling me that I was too soft hearted sometimes. What if that
guy had gotten a better shot? What if he really been an assassin,
trying to kill us?
Sanzo's anger made me smile. He only got mad because he cared. Then
I told him that if the guy had tried to really hurt me, I knew that
Sanzo would protect me.
Then hands grabbed my face and Sanzo was kissing me. Something out
of a bad tale, I know, but it really happened.
And it was wonderful.
When he let go, he told me not to do something so stupid again, or
he would make me share a room with Gojyo. Without supper.
~/In the Circle of Life
It's the wheel of fortune
It's the leap of faith
It's the band of hope
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle, the Circle of Life/~
So we travel. With Hakkai and Gojyo, we head west. Sometimes our
pasts come back to haunt us, and sometimes things get bad. But we
are together, all four of us. It seems familiar, but I don't care to
know why. All I need to know is that we found each other, and are
there to support each other when things get really bad. Even
if we
do fight a lot.
But I do know something else.
~/On the path unwinding
In the Circle, the Circle of Life./~
I love Sanzo.
And he loves me.
He has pulled me into the light, and I've pulled him from darkness.
Amazing how things can come together, isn't it?