Distant Echos
By: CairisRin
Disclaimer:
Don't own them...lalala...and apologies for any mistakes towards the Japanese, my sister's trying to teach me some, but I'm thick headed! :P Plus, I've only *seen* Saiyuki, I know next to nothing of the Manga.
Notes:
Non-yaoi. Some action, angst, the usual. Oh, and a few references towards adult situations, but no details, really. It's pure fanfic to me, meaning, I can think of a least two things that will be in this story that I doubt will ever be in Saiyuki...*shrugs* Plus, it's my first Saiyuki fic, and it's been a couple months since I wrote for any reason, so I'm feeling a bit rusty. Oh well, enjoy! :)
Notes: Addendum
Ack! I was spelling Mr. Worldly Monk's name wrong that whole time! Thanks for graciously correcting me, and I've got it all fixed now. :)
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Son Goku hung lazily over the side of the jeep staring idly at the passing flowers. They'd been on the road, for...he wasn't sure how long anymore, but it'd been three days since they'd passed through the last town. They were continuing their journey west, always to the west, at least this time the road actually went west. And it wasn't so hot anymore, he added ruefully, leaning a bit further out towards the larger patches of flowers that were passing by. His eyes were wide, his mouth watering, his stomach on the verge of growling it's discourse. Just a little further... right as his hand touched the green stemmed delights, he felt his balance shift and was in the next instant falling out of the swiftly moving jeep.
"Bakasaru!!" Sha Gojyo yelled even as his hand reached out to grab the younger boy's belt and pull him back to safety. Not like a fall would actually hurt him, Gojyo inwardly groused but demanded anyway. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Goku settled back with a triumphant smile, staring fixedly at the clutched clump of white-ended flowers in hand. "I'm hungry!" Goku simply told him, and not much to anyone's surprise devoured the newly acquired edibles. Well, edible to Goku.
Gojyo wanted to groan, but with a sudden thought, said instead, "You know Goku, those could have been poisonous!"
"Poisonous? Wha- Sanzo! Were they poisonous? Sanzo?"
Genjo Sanzo, a Buddhist monk unlike any other, sank lower in the front passenger seat he always occupied, determined not to look back at them. "Why are you asking me?"
Goku automatically looked to Cho Hakkai, the driver and only other member of the group, unless you counted Hakuryuu, the jeep itself. But before he could repeat his question Gojyo had interrupted him, the red haired man looking as serious as he could as he stated. "In fact Goku, I think those might have been the notorious Deadly Daisies." He made a show of looking over the edge of the still moving jeep before turning back to Goku. "Yep, they look like Daisies to me." He shook his head in pity.
"Wha- what do they do?" Goku asked suddenly feeling a little unsure as Gojyo leaned in looking him over as if he was looking for any signs of symptoms.
"Well, first, instead of filling you up, they make you feel even more hungry than before!" Goku's stomach grumbled in response and the youth suddenly got very worried. "Then come the chills, your body begins to feel a bit weak and your vision starts to go. Things start to look fuzzy and distorted," Gojyo leaned in closer, having fully captured the young monkey's imagination, for now Goku was shaking and his eyes blurring slightly from the closeness of Gojyo's face. "It's the last symptom that's the worst," Gojyo continued with all seriousness.
"What's that?" Goku whispered.
"You can feel it in your blood like ants crawling across your skin. One. By. One." Goku shivered. "Then, that's when you know the Deadly Daisies have done their job. That's when you know you're going to die!"
"I don't want to die!!" Goku cried out, his voice full of desperation.
The only response was a growl from Sanzo, and a fit of laughter from Gojyo, but it took Goku a few minutes to calm down enough to realize why. In the next moment he was on the red head screaming, "Gojyo! You ero-kappa! Why did you lie to me!"
Gojyo held his own, still laughing heartily. "Saru, you're so easy!"
"Don't call me monkey! And I'm not easy!" Goku retorted. "You're the one who'll pick up anyone he can!"
The fight began for real at that point, exchanging blows, verbal and physical, as the jeep continued on it's never ending route west. Sanzo allowed it to continue for a few more minutes, his scowl deepening further with each round, till finally his fan came out and beat the two back passengers into silence. "URUSAI!!!"
Massaging the sting in his head, Goku automatically complained, "But Sanzo!" Only the monk had that look on his face, and Goku knew what would come next if he persisted. So did Gojyo, for they both settled back down without another word.
A minute later Gojyo grumbled, "It's your fault bakasaru! Eating flowers!"
Goku wanted to protest, his stomach beating him to it, but still feeling the fan's sting asked instead. "Hakkai! How much longer?"
Hakkai didn't answer. Which took them all by surprise, for the expected response would have been a far too cheerful, 'there's a town just up ahead.' Yet Hakkai said nothing, he wasn't moving, he wasn't even smiling, which was odd.
He was just driving.
Worried and curious, all three passengers leaned in closer around the peaceable man. "Hakkai?" Gojyo questioned hesitantly. No response. That's when they realized the man's eyes were closed, and his breath rhythmic.
"He's asleep," Sanzo stated startled.
"And driving," Gojyo added in wonder.
"Is this good?" Goku questioned.
Gojyo nudged and shook Hakkai from behind calling out, "Hakkai! Wake up! Hakkai!" But the sleeping man barely stirred, and the only change was that his grip had lessened enough on the wheel that it started a gradual turn from it's arrow straight coarse. Hakuryuu let out a small concerned squeal, it's trilling like sound emanating from the engine of the jeep.
To everyone's surprise Sanzo did something he rarely did to Hakkai. He hit him on the head with the fan.
"Wha-?!" Hakkai came awake instantly, but to their much chagrin responded as one might if being woken before an impending accident. The jeep swiveled sharply right, straight towards the lining cliff face. Hakuryuu squealed even harder and before anyone could prevent the collision of jeep on rock, the jeep quite simply vanished in a flash of light and the occupants went rolling out. Goku, the lightest of them all flew the farthest and hit the wall of rock with an audible thud.
It was a moment before the group could regain any composure, Hakuryuu hovering anxiously above their heads, no longer a jeep but a small little white dragon.
"Hakkai!" Gojyo complained loudly, brushing off tuffs of torn grass from his clothes.
The previously sleeping man looked about himself with odd expression on his face and a little more cautiously than the rest got back up to his feet. Smiling sheepishly, he replied, "I guess I dozed off."
"Dozed isn't quite the right word." Sanzo growled, but then loosing his disconcerted look questioned. "Have you not been sleeping?"
"I have. But I've been having odd dreams, and I'm waking up tired," he admitted.
Sanzo seemed to think about this for a minute than decisively stated. "Gojyo, you drive!"
"Me? What about Goku?" The words were out of the kappa's mouth before he'd put any thought to them, and the look on Sanzo's face only helped to hone in just how serious a mistake it had been.
Goku's golden eyes lit up like a neon sign in the middle of Vegas. "I want to drive! Sanzo! Can I drive? Please?!"
"You're too young."
"No I'm not! Besides, it's Hakuryuu!" The dragon made a noise that wasn't quite a protest, but not quite an agreement either.
"I can drive," Hakkai put in, wanting to stave off any further arguing, but his words didn't have quite the effect he wanted as they were punctuated by a large yawn.
Gojyo threw an arm around his friend's shoulders and smirked. "Ya, right!"
Goku was practically hanging off the monk's sleeve in his vigor of pleading. "Sanzo! Please! I can drive! Sanzo!"
The monk turned murderous eyes on the kappa. "I'm going to kill you!"
Gojyo just shrugged. "Not if the ape does first. Beside, how bad could it be? The road's straight from here to the next town, isn't it Hakkai?"
"Ah..." He smiled hesitantly. "Hai."
Sanzo growled out one last comment, but finally relented and no longer trying to dislodge the monkey, had him by the scruff. "You will pay attention to the road, Goku!"
"Hai, hai, Sanzo!"
Hakuryuu changed back and they piled in, with Goku at the wheel, much to the unease of the rest.
"Now saru, the pedal on the left is the brake and the one on the right is the gas," Gojyo told him, leaning over from the back to stare at Goku's feet. At least his legs were long enough, the red head thought ruefully.
Goku made a face and shoved Gojyo back. "Hai, hai Gojyo. I got it!" And before any more instruction could take place his foot pressed down on the gas and the jeep surged forward. Much to their surprise, it didn't lurch from place to place but had settled on the straight coarse the road laid out, if just a bit faster than normal. "See! Sanzo, Gojyo, Hakkai, I'm driving!" Then he turned to Gojyo to smirk. "Told you I could!"
"Baka! Eyes on the road!" Sanzo snapped out as the car turned with Goku's line of sight. He quickly righted it, and on threat of being forced to pull over and relinquish control, Goku managed to keep his comments to himself and his eyes forward.
After several minutes of anticipating doom, the group finally began to relax. Hakkai, feeling a bit guilty and more than a bit awkward settled down into the unaccustomed position of the back. Yet as much as he didn't want to admit it, his eyelids felt heavy, and he didn't think he'd be able to stay awake much longer. If he could just get a bit more sleep, than he'd be fine. He really didn't understand why he was so tired lately, he'd gone days without sleep before and never had a problem. But he had gotten sleep, hadn't he? His thoughts drowsily started to slide away when he realized someone was calling his name.
Forcing himself back to awareness he met the worried gaze of Gojyo. "Nani?"
"Ne, Hakkai, just how tired are you?!" Gojyo quietly exclaimed, and continued when Hakkai didn't answer. "What are your dreams about?"
Hakkai thought for a second before replying. "They're memories."
"From...?" Gojyo asked trailing off, not really wanting to say it, but Hakkai knew what he was referring to and shook his head.
"From before then." He smiled. "Not unpleasant memories...just odd." He laid his head back, feeling the comforting rhythm of the jeep as it lulled him back to sleep.
Gojyo was about to shake the man awake again, but Sanzo stopped him, saying simply, "Let him sleep."
The next hour was abnormally quiet for the occupants of the jeep. Every time Goku would turn slightly to say something Sanzo's fan would remind him of the direction they were going in, and even Gojyo had refrained from pestering the boy, for fear of his own life no doubt.
Suddenly a familiar smell caught Goku's attention. His nose rose unbidden to sniff at the air.
The action had instantly attracted Sanzo's attention and the monk quickly questioned, expecting trouble, "Goku, what is it?"
But it wasn't the kind of trouble he thought it was.
"FOOD!!"
Goku didn't wait, lead by a far greater instinct than that of self-preservation, he sharply turned the jeep with an alarmed call from Hakuryuu and drove them straight into the thick of the forest that banked the other side.
"BAKASARU!!!"
Even Hakkai woke from the sudden change in environment. "What's going on?"
"That idiot ape is taking us on a detour!" Gojyo answered trying to protect his friend from the whipping tree branches but it was difficult to do anything as the jeep threw its passengers to and fro, collecting leaves by the mouthful as they went.
Sanzo was still trying to wrestle the wheel from Goku when the jeep suddenly vacated the forest and the group all at once found themselves airborne, the reflective shimmer of a small lake glistening below them. Like deja vu, Hakuryuu let out a strangled cheep and vanished in a burst of light to reappear as his normal dragon self. The rest plunged downward, landing in a splash at the bottom.
Yes indeed, this wasn't the first time this had happened to them, although perhaps not by such means exactly, Hakkai thought to himself, the cold water bringing him to his senses faster than anything else. He barely broke the surface when he was suddenly plunged under again as a frantic Gojyo clung to his back. The poor kappa couldn't swim. Sputtering water, Hakkai pushed them towards the shore, and smiling informed Gojyo that he could get off now.
Gojyo did so, like the fall of a rock, but the water wasn't high enough anymore to be a danger, and the kappa growled out, "Idiot monkey! How hard is it to stay on the road!"
Sanzo and Goku were still out in the middle of the lake, but without the solid footing the miniature war that raged was more like watching two ducks in a cat fight...with much splashing and garbled, water choked remarks like "Bakasaru!" and "But I'm hungry!"
"I hope they don't kill each other," Hakkai murmured, although not sounding too concerned about it.
Gojyo just laughed. "Serves them right if they do!" His laughter was joined by another.
Deja vu indeed! Both men turned to see a young woman half bent to fill a bucket with water and chuckling at their companion's misfortune. She had the grace to blush and quickly apologized. "I'm sorry. We don't get many visitors, less from over the cliff." And she chuckled again glancing up its sizable height and the visible hole their exodus had created in the trees.
Both men smiled, though for different reasons, and Hakkai replied in turn, "Our own apologies if we have caused any-" He broke off, the smile fading as he realized she was staring at him, her face draining of color. That's when he noticed that the odd feeling of deja vu hadn't fully passed yet.
"Cho Gonou?" The woman whispered, her voice full of fear and anxiety. It shot through all his guarding barriers like burning iron.
"I'm sorry, but-" He hesitantly began, and was gratefully cut off as Goku and Sanzo finally breached the shore, interrupting them.
"Eh Hakkai! Who's this?!" Goku unabashedly inquired.
The woman, startled, broke off her gaze with Hakkai and blushed once more, murmuring, "My apologies, I was mistaken." But then she smiled again, the moment passed, and answered Goku's question. "I'm Rinai."
Hakkai inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and courteously introduced them all. Barely a second later, Goku was once again exclaiming with delight, "I smell food!" And would have run after his nose if Sanzo hadn't whacked him good and hard with a soaking wet fan, which to Goku's demise hurt twice as bad as a dry one. Sanzo yelled at the saru to sit still, but the woman, Rinai, just laughed and told them, "The town is having its usual gathering at market today. Everyone always brings something to share."
"Umum! It smells delicious!" Goku agreed and turned pleading eyes on the wet monk. "Sanzo, can we go? Please? Sanzo!"
The glower on the disgruntled monk had darkened, reminding everyone too much of a cat who'd just been forced to take a bath, but Sanzo didn't get a chance to immediately reply.
"Rinai!" A voice called down, the figure breaking through the trees at a run, only slowing when he was sure she was in no immediate trouble. "Rinai! What are you doing? Who are you people?" He demanded, eyes thinning in suspicion.
Rinai's smile broadened and she met the man with half a hug in greeting. "It's alright Ookami, they're travelers, from the road."
"The road!" He exclaimed his suspicion washing away in his surprise as he involuntarily looked up the cliff to the line of trees above, then viewed each of the soaked companions with sudden acute interest. He grunted and gruffly stated, "You all might as well come up to the town, at least until you dry off."
Hakuryuu trilled out to them, deeming himself now safe from reprise, and at last settled upon Hakkai's shoulder. Hakkai absently reached up and stroked the little dragon, his thoughts a disturbed mess for all he was smiling pleasantly enough. "We don't want to cause you any trouble."
Ookami snorted. "No trouble." He picked up the forgotten bucket, his other hand in Rinai's, and started back up the small path ahead of them, gruffly stating, "We don't get many visitors."
Rinai just smiled at them, saying reassuringly, "Come, the town will be glad for company! And there's plenty to eat!"
Goku once again turned pleading eyes on the monk. But it was agreed and the small wet group followed.
Dropping a pace behind, Hakkai finally relaxed, his mind felt furry and the cold of his wet clothes combined with his apparent exhaustion was taking its toll. He quietly noted as the red haired child of taboo also dropped back matching his pace.
"Do you know her?" Gojyo asked, keeping his voice low.
"I'm not sure. Maybe," Hakkai told him honestly. "If so, it was a long time ago." That much he was sure of. The sense of deja vu he'd been having told him that. They were old memories, just like the dreams.
"Even so, she knew who you were," Gojyo persisted, the caution evident.
"Hai."
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