Disclaimer: Gensomaden Saiyuki is copyright Minekura Kazuya, Studio Pierrot, and, in America, Tokyopop. No infringement or disrespect is intended by this non-profit work of fan fiction. This is a work of noncommercial amateur fan fiction; it is not published for profit or material gain. The author and the posters have no intent to infringe any intellectual property rights held by the owners of existing copyrights in Gensomaden Saiyuki or its derivative works. The author retains copyright to this work.
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Ｉｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎ
When people said "I don't know how it came to this," it was often because they were just stupid, or unobservant, or didn't want to admit that they had ignored the signs because it was easier that way .
This, however. There had been signs, certainly. Large, multi-colored neon signs, flashing their message with all the force of an earthquake. How it had come to this was obvious and traceable, like the trail of an elephant through a desert.
Why it had come to this was a bit harder to answer. The word implied a logical reason for why a man who had helped save the world had been broken down. Why he had been shattered, and left for emotionally dead on the dank and dirty floor of his own mind. Camels never asked for the final straw. The man, however, had accepted his burden, had carried it dutifully to the west with only occasional argument. Only to have a 4-ton beam fall from the roof of the stable in which he'd stop to rest after dropping off the load.
Wrong place. Wrong time. Everything was wrong. Period.