Disclaimer: Wish I own. But I don't. This fic takes place after the final battle. Warning: grammar mistakes. Spell check and grammar check just can't catch everything. Too bad, ne? Rewrote little bits of it, fixing grammar issues, etc...hopefully, it reads a lot smoother.
Parting is such sweet sorrow
"Goku, move!"
A shove.
Darkness.
Chapter 1
The smoke that drifted into the air from his cigarette made Choji Shin almost nostalgic as he stared up at the moon. From his position, lying on his back on top of a restaurant somewhere in China, he had a perfect, unobstructed view of all the stars.
Pity.
In a few hundred years, the place where he was resting will become a huge, chaotic mess of factories and real estates filled with the fumes of cars and traffic. It was best to breathe in the fresh, sweet air of the country side while he still can. It had nothing to do with getting away from all the paper work he had waiting. None at all.
Shin snorted.
His shoulders sagged languidly and he offered the distant stars an amused grin, watching as the smoke his from cigarette wisp off into nothing. The smile slipped off his face a moment later when he heard the frantic screams coming from below. Sitting up, Shin watched with an almost disinterested face as three youkai turned rampant on the streets. Women screamed as they ran. Children cried. Men were being torn limb from limb.
Shin took another drag. He heard the 'pop' of some of his colleagues as they arrived. From their respected rooftops they watched the carnage as well. Each pair of eyes were blank. By the time the youkai moved on, thirty dead bodies were left lying in pools of blood.
"Show time," he flicked away the butt of the cigarette and leapt to the ground below. He could feel the presence of the other shinigamis around him as they tried to control the mass of terrified spirits. Shin was already exhausted. Gathering them quickly, they were dispatched to the place of judgment. All but one.
"Yo, Onee-chan," Shin ambled over to a pretty brunette who sat on the cold, hard ground, staring at her dead body with fascination. She looked up.
"Is that me?" She reached out with a trembling hand and touched the cheek of her corpse. "I'm still warm."
Gently, Shin grabbed her elbow and helped her to her feet.
"I'm three months pregnant," she continued. Her face fell. "I never told my husband."
"Nothing you can do about that now, Onee-chan," he gently touched her forehead and sent her on her way. The last look she gave him was filled with so much regret and sorrow that it stayed with him long after the spirit had vanished.
Shin's hand twitched. He could use a smoke about now, but he had just used up his last pack right before the mission. He cursed as he made a mental note to pick up some on the way home.
"That's the last of them?" Pein asked. The dark hair, dark-eyed shinigami glanced around, searching. With all the spirits gone, there was no noise left in the village except for the chirping crickets.
"Yeah, all done," Shin threw an arm around Pein's shoulders and wagged an eyebrow. He enjoyed the flush that appeared on the normally stoic face. "Wanna go out for a drink?"
Pein frown slightly."You have another assignment."
Shin groaned as he was handed another dispatched scroll. He grumbled. The afterlife had him working like a pack mule. He gave the scroll a glare, hoping that it would miraculously catch on fire.
No luck.
"Aren't you going to read it?" Pein asked. The Shinigami crossed his arms and gave Shin a disapproving look.
Shin gave a dismissive nod at the nagging. He resisted the urge to tease. Lee Pein, when he was still alive, had been a fame scholar working under a small magistrate during the Tang Dynasty. Apparently, his need for organization and following the rules still carried on through death, something Shin took great pleasure in constantly teasing him about. Knowing the other Shingami wouldn't leave him alone, Shin did have a habit of ditching missions, he unrolled the scroll and read.
Shin stopped in the middle of his tracks.
"Genjo Sanzo? Didn't I just bring a Sanzo to judgment?"
"That was Koumyou Sanzo and that was years ago," Pein rubbed his temple as if in great pain.
Suddenly, Shin remember. The weird priest with the long hair.
"Ah, him. Nice guy," Shin nodded. "Another Sanzo, huh. They're falling like flies."
"Yes, they're going to be an extinct species pretty soon," Pein glanced up at the dark sky.
The clouds hid the moon and Shin found himself standing in the dark. Even the crickets grew quiet.
"Onward then," Shin finally said. He made a move forward.
"Wait," Pein stopped him. "The boss wants you to take good care of this spirit. Apparently, he use to be a god in heaven."
"Really?" Shin grew interested. He never had a chance to cross a god over before. "Will do."
With a pop, Shin vanished as the moon began to peek around the clouds again.
When he reappeared at his destination point, he raised an eyebrow at the settling dust of a dilapidated castle that was crumbling with every passing moment.
"You got to be kidding," he deadpan. No wonder he got the job. No other Shinigami in their right mind would accept an assignment that had them scouring around through an unstable, tittering, highly questionable, mess of stones rocks.
Some, Shin eyed warily, that looks as if it was going to come tumbling down at the slightest shift of wind. He couldn't die a second time, sure, but the pain receptors were still there and Shin liked his body the way gods like their pride. Intact.
He grimaced when he stepped in youkai goo. That's when he noticed all the dead bodies, mostly youkai, that was buried beneath the rubble. Something big. Something nasty happened here. He frowned as he stepped over a stripped arm. Carefully, he began to pick his way through the ruins. Shouldering a rock, that was in his path, to the side, Shin glanced around and wondered how the hell was he suppose to find Genjo Sanzo in this mess.
"Sanzo!"
Lucky break.
Following the cries lead him all the way through to what looked to be the main throne room. From an opening, he watched as a young boy tearfully cradled the dead body of a priest. Every second the boy's cry seemed to get louder and more anguished.
"Shut up, Bakasaru!" The spirit of the Genjo Sanzo stood behind the boy, looking annoyed and pissed.
Shin took that as his cue to appear. "He can't hear you, you know."
Genjo looked up and glared. The heated look almost made Shin step back.
"Maa, you could kill someone with that look," he joked. He held up his hands in a mock surrender as he stepped forward.
"Who the fuck are you?" Genjo growled. The growing red tick at the priest's temple meant that he was loosing his temper.
Shin frowned. "Gees, what a mouth! Are you sure you're a Sanzo?" A growl was his answer. "Alright. Alright." Shin's eyes closed as he smiled. "Choji Shin. Shinigami. Here to escort you to (hell, probably, but he kept that thought to himself) the afterlife."
The tick was scaled down a few notches as Genjo took in what he had been told.
"I'm dead," he said a matter of factly.
"Bit the dust," Shin nodded. He noticed the sizeable hole on the man's corpse. "Not in a good way, either."
"There's a good way?"
Shin nodded. "Had to escort this guy once. He died in the middle of two very loving twins, if you get what I mean," Shin allowed a small leer to fall on his lips. Genjo ignored his suggestive tone. Instead, the blond chose to watch the young, still living, boy intently.
"Brother?"
"Ward."
There was a little something odd in Genjo's voice. There was probably a whole history there. Time was running out, though, and so was Shin's tolerance for the spirit in front of him.
"Alright. Time to go," Shin cracked his knuckles.
"Where?" Genjo's eyes never looked up. The boy who had been carrying on had now slumped over the body in dry sobs.
"Judgment."
Shin reached over ready to teleport them when his hand was violently smacked away.
"Don't touch me," Genjo hissed. His violet eyes were narrowed. "I'm not going anywhere."
Shin felt his own temper give way. " You don't have much of a choice," he said to Genjo. His voice growled in warning. "You need to go to judgment. Who knows. You might get reincarnated." (hopefully as a pile of dung heap, but again Shin kept that thought to himself.)
He reached out again. He saw stars floating in front of his eyes when something hard connected with his head.
"Shit!" He looked up and snarled when he saw what was the cause of his headache. A large, white paper fan. Somehow, Genjo was able to manifest the weapon using his own spirit energy. Go figure. It was probably another reason why they shoved this job on him. Everyone must have know what an ass Genjo Sanzo was and didn't want to bother.
"I'm not going anywhere," Genjo snarled. His eyes seem to soften when they landed on his ward. If Shin hadn't seen it, he wouldn't have believed a man like Genjo Sanzo could have an expression like that. One that made Genjo Sanzo look like all the other lonely, depressed spirits he had crossed over.
Looking himself, Shin saw that the boy had cried himself out and had collapsed. Even in slumber, the boy never let go of the body.
"Poor kid," the mumble came out without meaning to.
"He's a bakasaru," Genjo said. The words seemed harsh, but it lacked the heat that would have made it an insult. Instead, it sound more like an endearment or a pet name.
Shin groaned.
Great. Not only was he dealing with a loony, short-tempered Sanzo. He was dealing with a love-struck, loony, short-tempered Sanzo.
"I'm not leaving yet."
"Why not?" Shin asked. Inwardly, he was rightly pissed and thinking on what he could have done while living to deserved getting all the crap cases. The afterlife was not fair at all.
"Not until I know he's ok."
"He'll be fine," Shin rubbed his head. "Can't say the same for my head, though. Shit. You got some aim, you know that? I feel a lump. A lump!"
A loud groan of pain coming from across the room stopped any retort he would have gotten. Two guys, one with flowing crimson hair and another dark hair one wearing green, came tumbling through the rubble, supporting each other. They stopped short.
"Gojyo!"
"I see them," the pair hobbled over as fast as they could. Reaching down, the man dressed in green seemed relieved. "Goku seems fine."
"Wish I can say the same for the monk," the one named Gojyo closed his eyes as the one in green reached down to check.
"He's gone, Hakkai," no other words were exchange afterward. Instead, Hakkai gently removed the Maten scripture and placed it in his jacket before taking Genjo's arm and crossing them over the chest. At least the body looked more presentable, instead of looking like a mangled doll.
"You have good friends," Shin remarked. Genjo humph. Together, they watched as Gojyo pried the 'bakasaru' away and lifted the boy into his arms.
"Hakuryuu," a small white dragon shot off a ball of fire. Hakkai whispered a prayer as the body went up in flame.
Shin watched as the four took off in a jeep. Wait. Four? Shin watched with a sigh when he saw Genjo's spirit sitting in the front passenger seat as if it was meant for him all along.
"Goddamn bother!"
"Now, now," a silky voice whispered into his ear, "is that anyway for a Shinigami to talk?"
Shin jumped a foot in the air. Turning, he hastily fell to one knee much to the amusement of the Goddess of Mercy.
"I have a favor to ask," she said. A long tapered red finger nail reached out and played with his hair.
Shin gulped.
He looked up briefly at the sky. Yep. The afterlife was definitely not fair at all.