Standard disclaimers apply desu! Title literally means "empathy" in Japanese.
Onna: Warning! This fic will have the pairing Hakkai x Yaone appear in future chapters. If you don't like the pairing, I suggest you do not read further. Unlike what Toothy Girl was saying in my first Saiyuki fic, I am not out to convince anyone to love the pairing. You have your own opinions. I have mine.
Bluejay: Can we get on with the fic?
Onna: Would you rather have people flame us in reviews because they dislike the pairing? That one wasn't even a flame, but you don't wanna have a review that's not positive.
Bluejay: Fine fine. *hugs Sanzo*
BANG BANG BANG!
Onna: SANZO! That was the third wall you ruined today!
Sanzo: Hn.
Hakkai: Yare yare desu ne.
Yaone: ... *sweatdrops*
*****
"They're very…interesting," Facheung murmured as he watched the infamous Sanzo-ikkou casually enter the village. In his mind's eye, he saw the strength the four of them exuded, strength that rivalled those of many of his kin. In a different way of course. "Even the lone human among them is powerful."
"Perhaps as befits a monk of the highest rank," Ching Hao offered from the window beside him. "I hear his dharmic powers are the reason why he is so respected."
Facheung hummed in agreement. "If many of the tales about them were true, I wouldn't be surprised." But he is only a human.
A human seemingly without weakness, Ching Hao corrected.
Still a human, nonetheless.
I do not know why you worry, Fa. They may be strong but their strength does not threaten us.
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Life has a way of… He trailed off and leaned forward, intently gazing at something below them.
A way of what? Is something-?
Facheung held up a hand for silence. He had seen something change in the Sanzo-ikkou. Something…
One of their younger kin ran past the window, mind-voice shouting for her playmate.
He watched the monk give a start as he followed the girl with a surprised look in his pale face. He had…changed, in the way that only they of the kin could see.
Ching Hao gasped as soon as he saw it, his fingers gripping the sill tightly. "K-Kami-sama…"
Facheung nodded. "Life indeed, has a way of throwing surprises in our path."
But he is grown! We cannot-
"All the more reason for us to take him." Facheung withdrew from the window. "If he has lived this long then his power must be incredible. Left undeveloped, it may bring disaster to us." He gestured for Ching Hao to move away. "Refrain from speaking with your other voice. He is beginning to look this way."
Ching Hao's eyes widened. "Does he know-?"
"No, and that is good." Facheung said as he left the room with his mind shielded, deep in thought. "Tell the others."
Sanzo did not like the village. Ever since he stepped past the first few houses he's been hearing these…voices in his head. And there isn't even a river nearby. He wasn't insane, of course. But right now, it felt like he was. And he wasn't about to tell anything to the three idiots. Knowing them, they'll only say he's got a screw loose in his head which is something he just could not tolerate.
Damn, but he hated travelling with those three.
So, left with no other option, Sanzo ignored the voices as best he could. He even managed to refrain from clapping his hands to his ears when that gaki ran past him. Her high-pitched voice was something he could also do without, especially when he already had one whining into his ears all the time.
But he is grown! We cannot-
Sanzo glanced up, trying to trace the source of the voice. It had come clear to him, that statement, before it fell back into a distant murmur like the rest. He looked at the windows above him, searching…
"Na, Sanzo, something wrong?" the whiny voice came to his ear again. "What are you looking for?"
"It's…nothing," he replied, not finding anything more than a shadowed face peering out through a glass window. He had only had a glimpse of it before it quickly drew back as if afraid to be caught.
"This looks like as good an inn as any." Hakkai gestured at a building to their right. "I'll see to getting us rooms ne, Sanzo?"
"Do as you like." He answered absently, eyes still trained on that now empty window. Whoever that shadowed face was, he didn't like it either.
*****
Bluj: Whee! Sanzo-sama!
Onna: Frakit! *bonks Bluj*
Bluj: *out cold*