And once again the Sirens raised there voices together, carried by the wind, their luring call was heard wide and far. Its haunting echo warming the hearts of those they called to their deaths, they cared little as they drowned in the waves or fell from the cliffs into the sea far below.
And come they did! Many men, human and demon felt the pull of the Siren and none could stop themselves from following that call.
The wind swirled around the three women, their arms raised along with their voices, it pulled at the flimsy lace that covered their supple, fine bodies before moving on. It danced over the sea, over the bones of those that had fallen willingly to their deaths leaving the waves as the only marker for there watery graves. Lifting higher, the wind carried the sweet call up and away, over the cliffs and into the forest along its edge.
And as the Sirens themselves sensed the people travelling near by, they again raised there voices stronger still, pouring all their desire and longing into that cry; as around them the sea whipped and lashed at the rock they stood on, seeming itself to be roused by the call.
In the forest along the edge of the cliff, the Sirens sensed one man and two demons, all seeming to be getting ready for the night... Looking to one another, beautiful faces twisted with wicked smiles they looked back at the cliffs, raising their arms as they took deep breaths...
"Hey, did any of you guys hear that?" Asked Goyjo as he looked up from the camp fire and out into the forest around them. Hakkai and Sanzo looked up from what they had been doing, pausing to strain there hearing as far as it could go, but hearing nothing more than the whistling of the wind in the forest, carrying the noise of the sea.
"I'm sorry Goyjo, I can't hear anything. Do you think it was Goku maybe?" Replied Hakkai as he returned his attention to the meagre cheese and bread meal that he was preparing for everyone that night. It would make little difference to Sanzo, a mused with a frown, that man ate less than a sick child but he guessed that came from being around Goku all the time, Sanzo couldn't help but give his share to the loud young man. Now Goyjo and Goku would most definitely complain at the almost bite sized portion they would all be getting tonight.
"I'm not sure," replied Goyjo slowly, looking around him still, "were is that loud mouthed monkey anyway? He's been gone ages!"
"He's supposed to be getting water for the soup I want to make," answered Hakkai, now getting a little worried and looking in the direction the younger member of the group had taken almost an hour ago, "if he takes much longer I'll have to save if for tomorrow. I'm not sure when we'll next reach a town and I want to make sure the supplies last."
"Yeah, the last thing we need is a hungry monkey," smirked Goyjo, "I'll go look for him, make sure he's not got lost." And with that the red haired half demon got up, lighting a cigarette as he moved away from the fire and into the darkening woods, his mind wandering aimlessly as he looked around. Mostly it was wandering about forest green eyes but he kept brushing it aside as he started to call out.
Ten minutes later found Goyjo standing over a happy Goku, who was chattering on about the berries he'd found on the way back from the stream. He continued on that he'd been good and not eaten more than a few to check them before starting to pick them for everyone else but there had been more than he'd originally realized and he didn't want to let any go to waste because he knew the supplies were low and on and on he went. Until Goyjo sighed and playfully kicked him over and started to help the younger man pick at the juicy red berries.
"What took you so long?" Grumbled Sanzo gruffly from around the cigarette in his mouth, looking up from his newspaper as Goyjo and Goku finally made it back to the little camp sight after ten minutes of berry picking. They were both hauling a large sack each and grinned despite the seemingly angry priest in the corner.
"We hit the jackpot!" Grinned Goku, dashing over to the crouching man. "Look what we found Hakkai!"
"Yeah, sorry we took so long," shrugged Goyjo, putting his sack down with the small bundle of supplies before coming back to stand near the fire. "We found this whole bush and there was no way-" He froze mid sentence, staring at nothing.
"Goyjo? What are you doing you idiot?" Asked Sanzo as Goku and Hakkai continued to chatter happily about the large sack of berries. Putting down his paper and getting to his feet, Sanzo stepped closer to the half demon, opening his mouth to begin the start of a long line of curses, he too froze.
This got Goku's attention faster than someone ringing a large bell in his ear, he stopped talking and looked up at the frozen pair of men, both of them now turning and looking in the direction of the sea, the wind gently pulling on there hair.
Frowning, Hakkai got up, moving forwards and reaching out to touch them both, "Goyjo? Sanzo? What's wrong?" He looked from them and back to the worried golden gaze looking up at him, "I don't sense anything wrong with them, there's no demons near here except us."
"Then why do they look like they're listening to something?" Asked Goku, getting up and moving over to look up at the still slightly taller blond hair man that was his whole world. "Hakkai, what's going on with them?" But as he looked over at the bespectacled demon, even he too was now staring into the distance.
"What the hell is going on guys?!" Shouted Goku, starting to get very angry but mixed in with that anger, was fear. Balling his hands into fists, he opened his mouth to shout at the trio again when the wind blew again, more strongly than before and he could clearly hear the song carried on its gust.
It was the most beautiful song he'd ever heard, it called to him and spoke of comfort and love, it spoke of desire and passion and all the while it called. Whoever was singing to him wanted him to come to them, to find them and bring with him all the comfort and warmth he possessed; it was beautiful.
It put him in the mind of something... someone... someone that was more beautiful to him than the sun, someone that called to him in a different way... Purple eyes and golden hair flashed into his mind and suddenly Goku snapped back to himself!
And still the Sirens called, their song raised high with longing as they watched the top of the cliffs. They could sense the three they had enchanted, that they had captured with the lure of their voices, pulling them closer and closer to the sea. Soon they would see them near the cliff edge from there position on the rock that was surrounded by waves.
Steadily, the sound of their voices rising and falling with the waves, they pulled the men forwards and saw them as they stood on the edge of the cliff. And the Sirens did nearly falter in their singing as they saw the beauty of the men they had lured into their trap.
Looking to one another, they nodded and instead called the men to tread down the stairs cut into the cliff face. Feeling delight growing inside of them, they continued to sing as they moved to the edge of the rock, stepping to stand on the surface of the water itself as they moved forwards.
Slowly quietening there singing, they moved closer, arms now reaching out for the three men standing hypnotised before them, staring blankly into space. Long fingered hands reach out, bare moments from touching soft warm flesh when a bow staff swung down sharply!
Pulling back and faltering in there singing, they flinched and glared at a young man standing above them on the steps down the cliff, his golden eyes glaring hatred at the beautiful women.
"Keep away from them!" Shouted the golden eyed man but the Sirens chuckled as they sang and instead returned their attention to there captives, calling them to step into the water towards them.
The golden haired man stepped forwards, as did the others but the Sirens saw the hungry look in the young man standing with the bow staff. The nearest of the three women smiled and reached out, folding her arms around the golden haired man and resting her cheek on his shoulder even as she continued to sing.
"He is mine," she sang, modulating her haunting call to include words, "turn back now boy, you'll never save them now... He is mine..."
"No." Growled the young man, his glare almost cutting into the Sirens from there. He began to breath hard, pulling in faster and deeper breaths as his anger grew, almost becoming palpable as he growled out, "no, no. No. NO! NEVER!"
Shouting at the Sirens over and over, a golden aura seeming to dimly glow around his coronet, the young man launched himself forwards, his bow staff clattering loudly on the stone steps, forgotten. The first of the sisters screamed as long nailed fingers first grabbed her shoulder and then her throat! Ripping her from the golden haired man, she had time for one last scream before the angry young man broke her neck.
"He is mine!" Roared the enraged demon, eyes glowing as his finger nails grew but nothing else changed about him, his coronet remained in place and his ears didn't lengthen. The last two Sirens pulled back in fear and panic, raising there voices again, trying to get the newly enchanted men to help them.
The brown haired man and the red haired man turned, holding out there hands as if to try and ward off a demon but the angry man was fast now, he roared his rage as the Sirens backed onto their rock, the sea starting to lash up around them all, getting stronger as they sang.
"We are safe here boy," sang one, her hands balled into fists, "you may have killed our sister, but we are daughters of the Sea and she will not see us hurt." As if to emphasis that point a large wave crashed against the rock behind them, sending large waves over to the three men still standing froze in the sea.
The young man dodged the waves and stood on the beach, no longer roaring but now smirking and showing his fanged teeth, golden eyes still filled with hatred. Instead of attacking he raised his arms, lifted back his head and opened his hands; the ground beneath them all began to shake! The two Sirens screamed in panic, their song faltering and stopping altogether for a moment as the rock under there feet started to move.
Starting to sing as strongly as before, they sent the enchanted men forwards to grab at this strange young man but even as they did it had little effect on the enraged youth. The rock reached the beach and sank down into the earth as the young man shrugged off the others like one shakes off a shawl.
Turning golden eyes on the two Sirens standing before them, one of them faltered in her song again and gasped, "I know you," she whispered, her voice still containing a longing melody even as she spoke. "You are Seiten Taisei! The Great Sage! The child of Earth!"
Sanzo closed his eyes and frowned as a headache pounded between his eyes. He could hear the sea around him, feel it even, it was soaking him up to his knees! His jeans and robes were drenched and as he opened his eyes he was met with the sight of it lapping around him.
A strange singing was still echoing around him but with the pounding in his head he hated it more with each passing moment. Raising his gaze from his feet, still feeling a little fuzzy-headed he saw Goku standing there, lifting a strange woman by the neck as he smiled that smile he'd seen only a few times before and each time it chilled his blood the same way it did now.
Sieten Taisei!
Panic flooded through Sanzo and he felt himself reaching for his gun even as his eyes searched for -and found- the golden band still around the young man's head. Frowning as he watched on in confusion, Goku chuckled as the woman in his grip choked, gasping.
"He should belong to us!" She panted before Goku snarled and threw her over his shoulder and into the cliff wall, breaking her neck and causing her to land in a graceless head on the floor. The last Siren continued to sing on even as she backed away into the water, with a panicked look pointed at Hakkai and Goyjo, still enchanted by the faltering and stumbling song. The two began to slowly move towards the deeper water, it was already up to there knees but each step slowly took them deeper.
As the fog finally lifted from his mind, Sanzo felt his life long anger rush back into him but this time it was added to. They had hurt his companions, tried to claim them all as some sort of prize and nearly released Goku's bound form onto the world by pissing him off. Lifting his arm, he didn't say anything as he aimed his gun and still said nothing as he fired a single shot and caught the woman through the heart.
She died in a scream, her music echoing emptily back from the cliff wall.
Goku looked up from where he had been advancing on the woman, he saw Sanzo standing there with his gun raised and that same calm, cold expression on his face. In a blink, Goku was in front of Sanzo, glowing golden eyes staring into angry purple but with that same quiet smirk on his lips making Sanzo unable to breath as he stared back, his heart pounding in his chest.
"Mine..." Breathed Goku, licking his lips and stroking Sanzo's cheek before stepping back and watching the blond priest, his gaze softening until he stood there, himself once more. Goku took a deep breath and relaxed, the tension leaving his body as he breathed out; he then looked up at Sanzo and smiled that same carefree smile he always did.
"You okay now Sanzo?" He asked as innocently as ever.
"What the hell just happened?" Asked Sanzo in his rough voice, worried for a moment that his voice would fail him as he could still feel his heart pounding in his chest. He watched Goku carefully, as the monkey lifted his arms to rest his hands behind his head casually. Goku shrugged and looked out where Hakkai and Goyjo were waist deep in the water, still slowly walking forwards.
"They were Siren's, they called men to them and they would either fall to their deaths or drown." Replied Goku, still watching his two friends, "those two will be alright in a minute, the sea will wake them up defiantly!"
"How the hell do you know?" Snapped Sanzo, moving towards the beach as if he too had just realized he was standing knee deep in cold water. "What happened before? Tell me now!"
Goku visible flinched and turned away from Sanzo as he spoke, "well I know because Seiten Taisei told me. I got angry about what the stupid woman was saying... well we both got angry really and he just helped me along a little."
"You can talk to your true form?" Asked Sanzo incredulously, staring in almost disbelief at what the youngest member of the group was saying. Goku just answered with another shrug, golden eyes still focused on the other two as the waves lapped at there chests and they faltered at last.
"Talk to me you stupid monkey!" Growled Sanzo, slapping Goku on the back of of the head in anger. "Don't just shrug! Explain what you mean!"
"Ow!" Complained Goku, rubbing the back of his head and avoiding Sanzo's eyes still, "well, over the last few months, with the few times Seiten Taisei has gotten loose because of other people, we've been able to start to talk to one another. He's really smart and knew what those ladies were straight away and then when one of them said that you were hers... well..." he faltered off and Sanzo felt his eyebrows go from frowning to nearly disappearing into his hair as he saw Goku's ears go red from blushing.
Blinking in almost dumbfound shock he reacted on default and pulled his cigarettes out of his sleeve, lit one up and took a drag before replying, "since when have I been yours?" He asked in that sharp biting tone as his eyes now avoided the younger man and instead looked at Hakkai and Goyjo turning around and shouting, starting to come back to the beach.
Goku dropped his arms and looked at the sand and stones under his boots, biting back the tears that he could feel in his throat. "I don't know... for a while I guess..." He mumbled in a small voice, "I thought it would be obvious but I guess you don't really look at it that way huh?"
"We'll discuss this later," he replied curtly as Hakkai and Goyjo finally made it back to the beach, swearing and complaining, soaked threw and asking the other two what had happened.
Clothes lay drying around another fire as Goyjo and Hakkai huddled under a blanket together, everyone was chattering happily and the berries were going down well as everyone warmed up. Sanzo remained his usual quiet self, instead he watched Goku as the young man chattered animatedly, running around and doing all the little things Hakkai and Goyjo asked him too, like passing them more water or berries, or Goyjo's cigarettes before Hakkai firmly told him not to until he was dressed again.
Slowly eating the plate of berries, cheese and bread Goku had wordlessly handed him earlier, his mind wandered aimlessly over the events of the last day, then the last week, then the last couple of weeks. Finally it came to a halt as it roamed into the last couple of months, bringing to mind all the glances, looks, little touches and strange words that Goku had been throwing his way when the occasion let him get away with it.
The biggest one was when they had been forced to share a room with two double beds, he'd point blank refused to sleep in the same bed as Goyjo and Hakkai, and nastily declined sharing a bed with Goku, so before he could object, the sleeping arrangements had been made. That morning he'd awoken to see Hakkai and Goyjo already gone for breakfast and looking down he'd found a softly smiling Goku wrapped tightly around him, head resting on his shoulder, arms around his waist and legs mixed with his own. A few moments of fidgeting had quickly told him that he wasn't getting loose until Goku woke up; which had left him time to muse on how strong and grown up his once small charge had become.
It had left him with some strange notions in his mind and once the monkey had woken up, sleepily pulling himself off of his human cuddly toy, Sanzo had shot out the room and avoided saying anything to him for three whole days. Goku had apologised to him of course, assuming that he must have hurt Sanzo or woken him up in the night with his fidgeting, he'd just ruffled his hair and told him to forget about it, pushing it from his mind in the process.
Now, as he watched Goku gently feeding Hakuryu he wandered how bad it would be... to belong to that idiot monkey... At least... mutually...
"Look Sanzo, I'm sorry you had to find out that way. If it makes things easier you can just pretend it never happened okay? I don't mind, really."
"..."
"Look, will you just answer me? Please?"
"Stupid monkey."
"With something other than that! Its just about everyone's answer to everything! Its annoying."
"I know but its true. And I won't forget about what you said."
"Aw, Sanzo, just give me a break okay? You've been acting funny for two days now. Can we just go back to before?"
"Nope."
"Aw, why not? You didn't act so weird before."
"I'm acting weird because I've decided to take you up on your offer."
"Wha-? What offer?"
"The one you made on the beach you stupid monkey. Did you forget already?"
"Bu- I... I didn't- Wait... hang on..."
"..."
"Don't just blow smoke rings in my face! What do you mean?"
"..."
"Hey! I asked you-"
The delicate sounds of a kiss filled the silence as the talking stopped, and as they broke apart, it was followed by the sounds of a gasp.
"Does that clear it up?"
"Yeah..."
"Now we're taking this slow."
"Okay Sanzo, I won't push you."
"..."
"..."
"Not that slow you idiot monkey, kiss me again!"
"Sure thing!"
