A/N: A little twist to how Gonou and Gojyo meet, please let me know if you want more...
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and it's wonderful characters are not mine.
__________________________
"Gonou, I'm sorry. It's too late for me. How can I live with this child growing inside of me? I'm so sorry my love, my brother."
The blood drenched young man screamed and clawed frantically at the bars as the one person who mattered more than anything else calmly slit her throat with a blade that he had used to murder an entire clan of demons with. Bright red blood sprayed the cell, and he watched as his twin, his love, his other half, slump with hideous grace to the floor. "Kanan! Kanan! Kanan, NO!"
"Well, well. How very interesting. You doing the honorable thing to rescue your love, she doing the honorable thing and preventing the birth of an abomination. Not that it was necessary, Father would have eaten her long before she gave birth. But you killed Father, didn't you? You killed them all."
Gonou whipped around to see a finely dressed demon walk towards him, gently clapping its delicately clawed hands in obscene approval. "How did a stripling like you do all this? I really am curious." The demon continued to talk, it seemed very fond of it's voice, but Gonou wasn't listening anymore. Instead the voice inside him, the one that had guided his steps through his vengeful rampage, telling him how to silence the guards, penetrate the defenses and trap the demons, was whispering again. *Watch his hands, that yammering idiot is about to try something here.*
The blue-haired demon struck, but Gonou was ready, and he twisted out of the reach of the talons digging for his stomach. Gonou's own hand lashed out, nails slashing at the narrow face, finding purchase, and the demon shrieked as his eye was ripped from him, blood pouring over Gonou's hand. The demon fell back as Gonou convulsed, the blood of one thousand demons transforming him from something that was never quite entirely human into every demon's childhood nightmare. The final living member of Hyakugan Maoh's clan attempted to flee, but only got two steps before being pulled down, and then pulled apart. Chin Yisou's final thought as he watched his arm being ripped from his body was, *So I was right. I was number one thousand, and the legend is true.*
Cho Gonou did not need to look for the cell key, instead he simply ripped the hinges off the door, and crumpled down next to the body of his sister. He stared at his new claws, dripping red onto the floor, stared disbelievingly at the delicate green vines tracing a pattern of beauty across his palms. "What's happened to me Kanan?" He whispered brokenly. "What kind of nightmare is this? What have I done?" Slowly he reached out, and turned Kanan's body over, exposing the gaping wound that no longer bled, showing him her empty eyes. Dead. The only one who had ever loved him, the only one he had ever loved. The grief he had been pushing away since the moment she had been taken rushed forward, and the newborn demon cradled his lost love to him and he wept, clean clear tears washing the blood away.
*****
Somehow he had found his way out, Kanan's body wrapped in sheets that he had dragged out of one of the rooms. He would not leave her here, and as much as he wished to tear his own throat out and join her in death, Gonou was determined to bury his sister first. Someplace where she would be at peace, removed from the horrors of these last few months. His newly heightened senses twitched as he carried her into the forest, the smell of fresh water leading him to the brook. A small clearing provided the perfect spot, and his new strength enabled him to prize a perfect river stone out of the bed for a grave marker. Even with only his hands to dig, it did not take him long.
Gonou had just lowered her body into the grave, and begun the process of refilling it, when he heard the hunters. They were still a ways off, but their shouts carried through to him quite clearly. He could not make out the words yet, but he could tell they were chasing something. Twice, gunshots were heard as he continued his careful work. Whatever was going on had nothing to do with him, for as soon as he was done with this task, he was planning on joining his beloved.
He had just replaced the final scoops of earth when the chase drew near. Snarling softly in irritation, Gonou threw himself into the trees with newfound ease, disappearing into the canopy. He wanted no audience for this, let them continue and leave him be. A red haired man burst from the tree line, not twenty yards from Kanan's grave, and where Gonou was hidden. He was clutching a bleeding shoulder, and stumbled badly as he hit the water. By the time he had managed to struggle to his feet, his pursuers were on him. Five men, one armed with the rifle Gonou had heard earlier surrounded the man. One stepped up and slammed a heavy club into their quarry's wounded shoulder, causing the man to drop to his knees, biting back a shriek.
"End of the line scum," the club-wielder hissed, kicking the red-haired man in the face, and pinning the damaged shoulder under his boot. The red-haired man twisted wildly, still fighting for his life, but the other four joined in, kicking and stamping until the struggling stopped. The five hunters were laughing at the crumpled form, and Gonou watched in sick fascination as two of them urinated on their prey. They were enjoying it. Gonou may have slaughtered his way into damnation, but this kind of casual brutality horrified him. *How can they debase themselves like that? Just kill him and be done with it! Do it and go!*
"Hey, the half-breed's still breathing!" one of the hunter's said, causing Gonou to start in shock. Half-breed? Half what? The human with the rifle began to sight down on the unmoving head, when the club wielder suddenly pointed at the water. "Let's drown him like he should have been at birth!"
This caused the other four to burst out into coarse laughter, and they dragged the unconscious man to the streambed, and pushed his head under the water. "Die abomination! Die and take your demon taint with you! Your mother should have killed herself rather than let something unclean like you be born!"
Time stopped for Cho Gonou at those final words. These men and their hateful words, the words and the mindset that had influenced Kanan to kill herself, to die honorably rather than give birth to a child. An abomination like the man they were slowly killing, an abomination like Gonou himself had become. Even if he had rescued Kanan, men like this would have sought her death, would have killed her anyways. the monsters...
The terrible scream alerted the five hunters, but none of them had time to react as a nightmare of blood and earth descended from the trees and launched itself at them in a killing fury. Claws tore them to shreds, blood spilling into the stream, the water churning with mud and blood, and then it cleared, sweeping the destruction and corpses away, and Gonou was left alone with the limp half-breed. *Funny how the water cleans it all away,* Gonou mused, lifting the battered body clear of the water. Rolling the man to his side, Gonou carefully cleared the man's lungs of water, and with a choking gasp, the red head began to breathe again. One eye cracked open feebly, and for one brief moment red locked with startled green before sliding closed again.
*He looked at me. and it was if he laughed at me too.*
Oblivion was going to have to wait. There was a life in his hands, a life that depended on him, and Cho Gonou was not going to fail again.
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and it's wonderful characters are not mine.
__________________________
"Gonou, I'm sorry. It's too late for me. How can I live with this child growing inside of me? I'm so sorry my love, my brother."
The blood drenched young man screamed and clawed frantically at the bars as the one person who mattered more than anything else calmly slit her throat with a blade that he had used to murder an entire clan of demons with. Bright red blood sprayed the cell, and he watched as his twin, his love, his other half, slump with hideous grace to the floor. "Kanan! Kanan! Kanan, NO!"
"Well, well. How very interesting. You doing the honorable thing to rescue your love, she doing the honorable thing and preventing the birth of an abomination. Not that it was necessary, Father would have eaten her long before she gave birth. But you killed Father, didn't you? You killed them all."
Gonou whipped around to see a finely dressed demon walk towards him, gently clapping its delicately clawed hands in obscene approval. "How did a stripling like you do all this? I really am curious." The demon continued to talk, it seemed very fond of it's voice, but Gonou wasn't listening anymore. Instead the voice inside him, the one that had guided his steps through his vengeful rampage, telling him how to silence the guards, penetrate the defenses and trap the demons, was whispering again. *Watch his hands, that yammering idiot is about to try something here.*
The blue-haired demon struck, but Gonou was ready, and he twisted out of the reach of the talons digging for his stomach. Gonou's own hand lashed out, nails slashing at the narrow face, finding purchase, and the demon shrieked as his eye was ripped from him, blood pouring over Gonou's hand. The demon fell back as Gonou convulsed, the blood of one thousand demons transforming him from something that was never quite entirely human into every demon's childhood nightmare. The final living member of Hyakugan Maoh's clan attempted to flee, but only got two steps before being pulled down, and then pulled apart. Chin Yisou's final thought as he watched his arm being ripped from his body was, *So I was right. I was number one thousand, and the legend is true.*
Cho Gonou did not need to look for the cell key, instead he simply ripped the hinges off the door, and crumpled down next to the body of his sister. He stared at his new claws, dripping red onto the floor, stared disbelievingly at the delicate green vines tracing a pattern of beauty across his palms. "What's happened to me Kanan?" He whispered brokenly. "What kind of nightmare is this? What have I done?" Slowly he reached out, and turned Kanan's body over, exposing the gaping wound that no longer bled, showing him her empty eyes. Dead. The only one who had ever loved him, the only one he had ever loved. The grief he had been pushing away since the moment she had been taken rushed forward, and the newborn demon cradled his lost love to him and he wept, clean clear tears washing the blood away.
*****
Somehow he had found his way out, Kanan's body wrapped in sheets that he had dragged out of one of the rooms. He would not leave her here, and as much as he wished to tear his own throat out and join her in death, Gonou was determined to bury his sister first. Someplace where she would be at peace, removed from the horrors of these last few months. His newly heightened senses twitched as he carried her into the forest, the smell of fresh water leading him to the brook. A small clearing provided the perfect spot, and his new strength enabled him to prize a perfect river stone out of the bed for a grave marker. Even with only his hands to dig, it did not take him long.
Gonou had just lowered her body into the grave, and begun the process of refilling it, when he heard the hunters. They were still a ways off, but their shouts carried through to him quite clearly. He could not make out the words yet, but he could tell they were chasing something. Twice, gunshots were heard as he continued his careful work. Whatever was going on had nothing to do with him, for as soon as he was done with this task, he was planning on joining his beloved.
He had just replaced the final scoops of earth when the chase drew near. Snarling softly in irritation, Gonou threw himself into the trees with newfound ease, disappearing into the canopy. He wanted no audience for this, let them continue and leave him be. A red haired man burst from the tree line, not twenty yards from Kanan's grave, and where Gonou was hidden. He was clutching a bleeding shoulder, and stumbled badly as he hit the water. By the time he had managed to struggle to his feet, his pursuers were on him. Five men, one armed with the rifle Gonou had heard earlier surrounded the man. One stepped up and slammed a heavy club into their quarry's wounded shoulder, causing the man to drop to his knees, biting back a shriek.
"End of the line scum," the club-wielder hissed, kicking the red-haired man in the face, and pinning the damaged shoulder under his boot. The red-haired man twisted wildly, still fighting for his life, but the other four joined in, kicking and stamping until the struggling stopped. The five hunters were laughing at the crumpled form, and Gonou watched in sick fascination as two of them urinated on their prey. They were enjoying it. Gonou may have slaughtered his way into damnation, but this kind of casual brutality horrified him. *How can they debase themselves like that? Just kill him and be done with it! Do it and go!*
"Hey, the half-breed's still breathing!" one of the hunter's said, causing Gonou to start in shock. Half-breed? Half what? The human with the rifle began to sight down on the unmoving head, when the club wielder suddenly pointed at the water. "Let's drown him like he should have been at birth!"
This caused the other four to burst out into coarse laughter, and they dragged the unconscious man to the streambed, and pushed his head under the water. "Die abomination! Die and take your demon taint with you! Your mother should have killed herself rather than let something unclean like you be born!"
Time stopped for Cho Gonou at those final words. These men and their hateful words, the words and the mindset that had influenced Kanan to kill herself, to die honorably rather than give birth to a child. An abomination like the man they were slowly killing, an abomination like Gonou himself had become. Even if he had rescued Kanan, men like this would have sought her death, would have killed her anyways. the monsters...
The terrible scream alerted the five hunters, but none of them had time to react as a nightmare of blood and earth descended from the trees and launched itself at them in a killing fury. Claws tore them to shreds, blood spilling into the stream, the water churning with mud and blood, and then it cleared, sweeping the destruction and corpses away, and Gonou was left alone with the limp half-breed. *Funny how the water cleans it all away,* Gonou mused, lifting the battered body clear of the water. Rolling the man to his side, Gonou carefully cleared the man's lungs of water, and with a choking gasp, the red head began to breathe again. One eye cracked open feebly, and for one brief moment red locked with startled green before sliding closed again.
*He looked at me. and it was if he laughed at me too.*
Oblivion was going to have to wait. There was a life in his hands, a life that depended on him, and Cho Gonou was not going to fail again.
