Saiyuki: Blood red snow
By: LunarEnvy999
Hanataro looked up from her bare feet. There was still nothing but endless snow. A sea of white, powdery flakes. She started walking again, knowing that if she would have to walk for one more day by herself, she would definitely go crazy. She was not cold, but she knew the weather had to be at least twenty degrees below zero. If it was not for her ability to change her body temperature when she found herself to hot or cold, she'd be dead. Frozen solid, forgotten in the dessert of snow. She sighed, knowing that it was inevitable that she would die from hunger, or thirst…
The snow kept landing on her in the form of rain. Hot water dripped all over her. Her crimson hair was now matted to her forehead, and she couldn't see very well through it. For the millionth time, she pushed it out of the way. She had no memory of why she was out here. She did know that she was the only one of her family left.
Vivid images of her past, that not so long ago night where her entire clan had gone mad, killing the humans that they had so successfully co-existed with. The noble's of her clan were unaffected, but they lost their lives fighting off the youkai. She had managed to get away, but was not sure why she still had her sanity.
She walked for hours, and finally stopped, dropping to her knees. A warm puddle of water gathered around her knees. She started crying, and moaning, wanting to go back to her parents, to her family, to her home. "WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS, GOD?" she moaned and the collapsed. Her head was now in water. She wished she could drown in the small puddle around her body.
Hanataro woke up in a daze. She was in a warm bed, not a warm puddle. A man with brown hair noticed she was up. He turned, and smiled a warm, friendly smile. Across from him was a man with crimson hair, like hers. But unlike her his eyes were also a deep crimson. She thought of him as pretty, and handsome.
"I see you're finally awake. You gave us all a good scare." The man with brown hair said in a soft voice. Hanataro rose slowly. She looked at the foot of her bed, and saw a small, white dragon asleep at her feet.
"Hey sweetie. Got a name? A name?" the man with crimson hair procrastinated.
"It's uh…Chi Hanataro…" she stuttered, dumbfounded by the intense beauty of the two men smiling at her.
"We have similar names. I'm Cho Hakkai." Hakkai said smiling at her.
"Sha Gojyo." The man with crimson hair said, proudly, and then added, "It's nice to meet such a pretty girl with such a pretty name." This made Hanataro blush and she quickly looked away, embarrassed. "Aww, she's blushing…" Gojyo said, laughing.
"Now, now, she is not in any condition to get made fun of, Gojyo." Hakkai said, smiling at her. Hanataro blushed more, and then heard her stomach growl. "Are you hungry?" Hakkai asked, concerned.
"Yes...I am very hungry, but…I don't want to impose." Hanataro stated, looking back at the sleeping dragon at her feet.
"You aren't imposing babe, trust me." Gojyo said, rising to his feet, abandoning the card game he and Hakkai were playing. He ambled to her, smiling and sat next to her. She looked at him, meeting his eyes for only a second, and then looked away.
"Behave, Gojyo. Hanataro, do you mind waiting for our friends to get back with the food?" Hakkai asked, shifting his position in his seat. She nodded, and just then, the door opened, and a blonde haired priest walked in with a light brown haired boy.
"Oh, mighty Sanzo, please tell me you come with cigarettes." Gojyo said to the blonde man.
"Get bent." Sanzo retorted as the brown haired boy set down the two grocery bags he was holding. Sanzo held a small one and took out a pack of cigarettes and threw the bag at Gojyo.
"Thank you." Gojyo said lovingly. Suddenly, the brown haired boy was behind Hanataro. She jumped.
"You're awake! That's good, I was getting worried! I hoped you were ok! Are you ok?" he queried.
"Get the hell away from her, you stupid chimp." Gojyo demanded.
"You aint the boss of me, you stupid kappa!" the boy shot back.
"Goku, she's still recovering. We don't want to make her worse, do we?" Hakkai asked, smiling. Goku frowned. "But you can get her something to eat." Hakkai said, smiling.
"Oh yeah," Goku started, running to the grocery bags. "I bought this for me and her to share!" He pulled out two shiskabobs with sushi and meat and peppers on it. He handed one to her and then savigagly started ripping apart his. She looked at it and started eating, piece by piece, gaining speed each time when going back for more. Goku, unsatisfied when he finished his, went back to the bags to find more. Once Hanataro finished, Sanzo spoke for the first time to her.
"Where are you from?" He asked her, not looking at her, but rather reading a news paper.
She timidly answered, "From northern Shangrila."
"Why were you out there in the snow, by yourself?"
"I don't know…I have no more family, because they're all dead, or they went mad…but that's all I know…I don't know how I ended up in that desolate place…"
"Why haven't you gone mad?" Sanzo put down his paper and looked at her.
"I don't know, I-." Suddenly, the window closest to Hanataro shattered, and Gojyo picked her up, and she scooped the little dragon up with her. Three men climbed in the room, all laughing.
"We found you…SANZO PARTY!"
