Disclaimer: Saiyuki belongs to Kazuya Minekura and NOT me. If it were then it wouldn't be here anyway.
Warnings: Seinen-ai and Shoujo-ai are VERY clear throughout the whole fic. Most likely the Shoujo-ai will progress to Yuri since that will be the main romantic pairing in the fic besides a straight pairing that won't end happily.
Special Thanks To: Ameko, my beta-reader and editor, who supported this idea first and made the beta copy, turn from mediocre (in my opinion) to wonderful. My two buddies in 25, Wren and Jerlyn, for challenging me with the question "Why not write Yuri?" and all those in the Sanzo/Hakkai ML who have supported this original idea.
Let the games begin!
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Prologue: Law And Learning"Ne, Sanzo…"
"Doushite, Hakkai?"
Cho Hakkai looked up at the stars that shined upon them as all attempts to sleep in the Jeep failed him. He sighed and shook his head...
"I think you might find my question useless…"
"Why do you think that?"
"Because... Because I want to know, have you ever felt that a part of you was a woman, screaming to get out?" Hakkai looked at Sanzo who sat silently, thinking about what answer he should give. After a few moments of silence, Hakkai gave the reason for his previous question. "...Because that's how I feel when I'm with you."
Sanzo smirked. "Well then, I guess you do love me." He looked at Hakkai and, almost surprisingly, kissed the taller man without hesitation. As he broke away he whispered, "I also feel the same way about you..."
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Gensai Sanako was part of the Gensai, Kazefumi & Kazefumi Firm. The other two lawyers with her were Kazefumi Juri, a female lawyer who was sixteen years older than Sanako, and Kazefumi Daisuke, Juri's husband who was younger than her by three years.
Sanako wasn't really a Gensai by blood. The man who founded the firm, Gensai Komyou, took her in.
Gensai Komyou was a good, kind, and wise lawyer. He found Sanako in an orphanage after a flood back when she was only three years old. Unfortunately for her, she had encountered all sorts of ordeals that involved water during her previous years. As a result, she developed a hatred for any body of water that didn't come through artificial pathways. These ordeals included a scene wherein her drunken boyfriend tried to drown her in the nearby lake during an argument between them. Fortunately, Komyou was there to save Sanako from drowning. The damned guy was sentenced to rehab after a court trial for acting under the influence of alcohol. That incident was only part of the horde of nightmares that haunted her sleep. If there was one thing that was engraved in her mind concerning that ordeal, it was the color of her boyfriend's eyes: a sharp green color that was wild with a drunken hysteria.
Another memory that haunted her at night was Komyou's death. Most people said that if Komyou tried to keep his collection of sutras, he'd end up being killed just for the amount of money those old scrolls would bring. He refused to listen, defying them by holding on to his collection. However, the people who were after the sutras didn't cause his death; it was because of an assassin who became hysterical after his mother was given the death penalty. Komyou was the lawyer who had defended the victim of the assassin's mother: a childhood enemy who had bullied her son and made his early years a living hell. The bully became the victim of the mother's vengeance.
Back then; Sanako was a law student studying in a boarding school. The night Komyou was assassinated, Juri informed her about the trial to bring the assassin to justice. Like his mother, the assassin was given the death penalty for murder in the first degree. However, there was one more mystery that was left unsolved. One of Komyou's beloved sutras had never been found.
Back in the present, the firm was quiet in comparison to the past days. The only sound that could be heard by Sanako was the muffled argument of a couple who wanted a divorce from the direction of Juri's office, and the gurgle of the coffee maker brewing her favorite blend.
"All sleep and no work makes a good blonde like me prop her feet up on the desk..." Sanako murmured, and proceeded to do so.
"Ne, Sanako-chan…"
"Nani yo, Daisuke-san?"
"Don't put your feet up like that, it drives away clients," Daisuke called from the doorway after sighing helplessly. The firm had a very respectable atmosphere with its modern glass walls and expensive security gadgets. The only thing that spoiled it was the sight of Sanako lazing around with her bare feet on her desk.
"Anyway, whether there is work to do or none, could you at least keep your feet on the ground?" Daisuke continued. "It makes this little firm look strict."
"And it is... it is..." Sanako sighed as she put her feet down.
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The school bells rang in Ginkokawa Academy as students made their way to their respective classrooms. A girl with wine-red, shoulder length hair entered the classroom of section 2-A. It was a week before the exams, and she had spent the whole night reading an entire chapter of Japanese Literature.
"Ohayou, Rieko-chan!" Matt Watsuri and Hanagami Mizuki greeted their stressed-out seatmate. After returning the greeting, Rieko plopped into her seat and watched as their adviser got up and greeted the class.
"Ohayou, Hatsue-sensei…" The class greeted sleepily.
"Maa, maa… It seems that almost all of you here are still asleep. Anyway, rise and shine! I have no reminders to give you today so, please get ready for your next subject." Ms. Choshu Hatsue smiled at her class. Among all the teachers in Ginkokawa, Hatsue was one of those few who rarely scolded her students. Section 2-A was lucky that the kind-hearted, green-eyed teacher was their adviser.
Rieko tried her best to keep her eyes open. Being the daughter of two lawyers was stressful, since they both pressed her to study harder. Her parents weren't used to failure, nor wasn't there a day without a case for them to handle. Even if only one of them had a case, both would help each other and work it out. As a result of their working schedules and habits, Rieko was left at home in the house most of the time. Fortunately, Hatsue-sensei was kind to her and let her rest a bit during the morning advisory sessions.
Hatsue exited the room and made her way to her next class, her short brown hair fluttering about in the windy hall.
"Ohayou, Gojyo-kun!" Hatsue smiled as her fellow teacher passed by.
Sasagawa Gojyo was Hatsue's childhood friend since elementary. The two were thought to be lovers until rumors that until rumors that Hatsue was actually a lesbian started to spread. This was all because of the way she seemed to sigh when she saw that blonde upper-class student taking up law. For a certain reason, she was attracted to that serious blonde with majestic yet sorrowful purple eyes. During their college days, Gojyo would usually shrug his shoulders whenever the blonde came their way, saying stuff like "Why do you like her? You don't even know her name…" or "I bet she's one of those rich preps with a boyfriend." Hatsue, on the other hand, would calmly reply with the words, "I don't know… I don't care. It's just that something in my heart reacts to her as if she was someone close to me."
"Ohayou, Hatsue." Gojyo smiled back, "How's your class?"
"Kazefumi Rieko's tired as always. The rest of the class is just perfectly normal." The brunette smiled, "I wonder whatever keeps her like that…"
"Must be those lawyer parents of hers. You know how they are, making their daughter perform to the best of her abilities."
"Aa. Anyway, I'll have to get to my class now. Matta ne, Gojyo-kun."
"Matta ne, Hatsue…"
Meanwhile, during a class discussion, section 2-A's Social Studies teacher relayed to them the latest news.
"They say that there is a madman killing people in dark alleyways after raping them. Reporters said last night that he claimed his tenth victim." The teacher said, "So class, just for your own safety, stay in your houses at nighttime. We wouldn't want any of you to get raped or killed."
"But ma'am," A student in the right side of the classroom asked, "How come they haven't caught him yet?"
"The authorities only reached the crime scene to find a raped body chopped up into pieces. They have found no fingerprints on the body or traces of any type of body excretions from the rape. They say that perhaps he wore gloves and used either a condom or an alternative to rape the victims."
The little controversial news was talked about until the bell rang. It was time for lunch.
"If I were the authorities, I'd look for a strand of loose hair." Matt said as he walked alongside Rieko, both going down to the cafeteria where the rest of the gang was waiting.
"But according to the reporters, they didn't find anything. No blood, no hair, no excretions, no fingerprints. It's almost impossible to trace the criminal without them. And the rapes were done to random people, so they can't trace the reason for all this madness." Rieko sighed. "According to my parents, there were are no recent jailbreaks. Therefore, this is a new criminal we're dealing with."
"Anyway, whaddya think he'll do next?" Matt said as he put his bag upon the table at the cafeteria, "Hey, Hoshi!" he said, talking to a guy a few inches taller than him with eccentric orange highlights in his peanut butter brown hair who was chatting with a semi-plump guy with a skinhead hairstyle. The skinhead guy was Jun, RPG gamer and big-time show-off.
"Hey!" Hoshi greeted Matt before going back to his conversation with Jun about an RPG he recently played.
"Yo! What are you guys talking about?" asked a girl with her navy blue hair tied back in a ponytail, as she put her bag down beside Matt and Rieko's.
"Hey, Michi. We were talking about that madman on the news…" Rieko said.
"Him? I think the authorities are dealing with a first-class madman here," Michi began, "I really think everyone should stay at home in the evening. The thought of that damned bastard scares me."
"I hear the guy's only stalking the red-light area." Hoshi chimed in, "Perhaps he lives in the area around there."
"Good point there…" Rieko smiled, "Well then, me and Michi will go grab some chow. Matta ne, minna…"
"Matta ne…" Matt smiled back.