A/N: Okay, I KNOW that we've all wondered this: just where the heck does that damn paper fan come from?! Even when he's shirtless, Sanzo somehow seems to pull it out of nowhere and bam! So I decided that this would be a pretty interesting take on just how the fan came into being XD Hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: Saiyuki and its characters and the like do not belong to me. They belong to the wonderful Minekura Kazuya.

Just as a head's up: This might not make sense for those who haven't read the Petit Burial chapter in Reload. If you haven't, do so now!!

The Secret of the Fan

Sanzo cursed as he scoured the shelves of the treasure storage room, wondering why he had to be subject to this little chore when he had the entirety of the temple at his beck and call. He supposed that in order to do something right, he would have to do it himself, but all the same he felt ire in the back of his mind at having to push aside heavy statues and the like to find what he wanted. One of the elderly monks had mentioned an old scroll locked away somewhere in the temple that would have been an interesting read, and even though Sanzo's life had just recently been busy with handling a certain small monkey, he still hunted around for things to occupy his time. He figured here would be as good a place as any to begin his search, even though he would be pretty embarrassed if one of the monks or the monkey managed to find him here, bent at the waist and head-first into some dark, dusty shelf that held objects of worth he did not know of nor cared.

He accidentally inhaled some of the dust and had to back up quickly, coughing and sputtering curses at nothing in particular. His movements caused more dust to rise and get into his mouth and eyes, and in a moment of blindness he stumbled back and hit the row of shelves behind him, his breath hitching when he felt something wobble and then crash onto the floor by his feet.

"Shit!" He blinked watery, dust-filled eyes and watched in trepidation as a fat, brown jar flew into pieces, a shimmering ball of white light rising from the debris. It twirled a bit in the air, as if undecided about where to go, before driving straight towards Sanzo. He brought his arm up to shield his eyes at the sudden bright flare that erupted around him, dying down in only a second. He lowered his arm and blinked a few times, wondering what the hell had just happened.

They're not going to be too happy to find this, he thought sourly as he eyed the pieces of the jar. It was beyond fixable. Sighing, he bent and gathered up all the pieces, stuffing them back into the farthest reaches of the shelf, hoping that no one would come snooping in here any time soon.

He left the storage room and brushed himself off of the remaining dust, still thinking about that odd light and where it had gone. His ruminations were cut off, however, when Goku came tearing around the corner and stumbled to a halt before him, his usual wide-eyed, grinning expression in place.

"Hey, Sanzo, where did you go? Why didn't you tell me before you left? Why d'you smell funny?" The small boy sniffed at Sanzo's robes, his nose wrinkling. "You smell all old an' dusty."

Sanzo could feel his eye twitch in irritation. The monkey was annoying on good days. Today, however, he had been particularly clingy, trailing after him as if he didn't have the whole temple to go and destroy or muddy up.

"Can I have somethin' to eat? Huh? Huh, Sanzo? I'm reaaally hungry!" Goku whined when Sanzo did not answer his previous question, tugging on Sanzo's sleeve even though the high priest had told him time and time again that he didn't like his personal space invaded.

"You ate just an hour ago," Sanzo growled out.

"I know, but . . . an hour's a long time!"

Sanzo snorted softly and started the trek to his rooms, Goku bouncing along beside him.

"Sanzo! Saaaanzo! Saaaannnzzzzoooooooo!"

That was all he could take. Without quite realizing he was doing it, Sanzo turned and raised his hand as if to deliver a blow to the boy, but instead a white paper fan descended on Goku's head with a sharp thwack! that made Sanzo blink and Goku yelp in pain.

"What is that?!" Goku rubbed the top of his head, a small tear at the corner of his eye. He was watching the strange fan with a mixture of wariness and awe.

Sanzo wanted to know the same thing. He looked over the fan, finding nothing too strange about it, but wondering all the same where it had come from. It had just—appeared in his hand. He thought back to the broken jar in the storage room and jerked a little in surprise when he realized that there had been a seal on that jar. Apparently this was some sort of . . . of . . . magical object. He stared long and hard at it, asking himself why someone would bother to seal up a fan of all things.

"That really, really hurt!" Goku whimpered.

"Tch. Bakasaru; you probably deserved it." He moved to store the fan in his robes but froze when he felt it disappear as soon as he put his hand into his sleeve, confirming his suspicions that this was an object of magical properties. Sanzo shrugged a little and decided for the time being that it was nothing to worry over; apparently the worse it could do was slap someone silly, so he felt no real danger towards this new weapon that only he could summon from who-knew-where.

"Since when have you had that fan? I don't remember you havin' one before!"

Sanzo sighed, tired of having to deal with this all day, every day. "I'll get you some food, if it'll shut you up."

The monkey's face immediately brightened. He started yammering at Sanzo and tugging at his sleeve, the two of them walking down the hall and leaving the room full of strange wonders behind them.

A/N: So I'm pretty sure that Sanzo didn't use the fan on Goku during the Burial chapters, (even though he does in the OVAs), but if he did and I have forgotten, then completely disregard that fact