az: '...Hohoho.... a sequel!!! And.. naa... I won't do pairings... as in shonen-ai/yaoi!!! But yes... there's a pairing for sure... a straight one... no hentai... I'd like to make a clean shot for this sequel.... but since... I don't want anybody to be disappointed or anything... maybe I'll have slight shonen-ai in several of my fics upcoming chapters.... just.... a little... at least as far as Sanzo would let me...'
Sanzo: '..No-uh... I won't let you.... not even if you go reporting to Homura or Shuda...'
az: 'Unh.. damn... anyway,... we've got GokuXSanzo(you)+Homura conflict planned... not sure if I could bring Zenon and Shien... I mean... what reason can I make to bring them back?... As in Homura.... I've got a plan ready....'
Disclaimer: I don't own Gensoumaden Saiyuki manga nor did I own Saiyuki Gaiden tankoubons, or even the anime. Characters and original excerpt from the fic are copyrights of Kazuya Minekura. And please... to those who are new to my fics.... read Old Nightmare first before proceeding to read... or else you wouldn't understand.... So R&R please..!!
Silent Soul
Prologue: The Next Town
Written by Azzie/Az @ Alienna Azuani
'..maa... what a wonderful day it is.. ne.. minna... eh..? Minna..?', said Hakkai suddenly as he noticed a strange silence that had enveloped the ikkou that morning.
Hakkai turned his head towards Sanzo and jumped in shock to find the monk staring back at him. Hakkai sweatdropped, and was about to glance at Gojyo before getting another shock when the red-head slammed his hands on his shoulder. A double sweatdrop has it coming!!
Hakkai let out a nervous laugh. '..hee..hee... Sanzo... Gojyo... wha... what is it with you two... I mean--'
'..Hakkai!! Stop the jeep.... NOW!!!!' Suddenly Sanzo shouted, and Hakkai immediately hit the brakes. The jeep stopped with a powerful force, but amazingly, nobody had been overthrown off. Guess everyone was almost prepared for this to happen.., thought Hakkai before turning to face Sanzo. But, before he could say anything, Sanzo had scrambled on his seats and started grabbing Goku by the shoulder; and apparently, shaking the young itan until his head almost fallen off. Well, that's what Hakkai had thought as Goku was forcefully shaken by the almost crazy monk.
'...OI!!! SARU!!! WAKE UP!!!! Oii!!! Bakasaru!!!!', shouted Sanzo again as the boy started to regain life back on that topaz eyes of his. Seeing that finally Goku had come to, Sanzo let the itan free and sat back on his seat as he prompted Hakkai to resume the journey. Hakkai smiled as he restarted the jeep and sped off. Meanwhile, Gojyo could barely stifled a laugh as he tried to ruffle Sanzo's hair. As a result, the hanyou got the first whack on the head with Sanzo's brand new harisen!!!
Still, though strangely today, the reply from Gojyo after being hit by the harisen was far out of ordinary as it fueled another bout of laughter from him. Amazed at what happened, Sanzo, Hakkai and Goku gave Gojyo a weird look as the kappa pressed his stomach hard to suppress the addictive laughter. Gojyo wiped the tears that had started to fall as a result of his laughter. '...hihihi... Sanzo... I never thought.... haha... you would act like that...hik..hik..hik.. I never thought... I'd be seeing the day... you'd miss the saru's voice....!', said Gojyo as he continued to laugh.
Sanzo glared annoyingly towards Gojyo before averting his gaze from the laughing maniac, while muttering curses under his breath. Hakkai smiled as he opened his mouth to utter his favorite quote of the day, but stopped himself as he felt someone's about to kill him with a deadly glare. Hakkai exchanged glances with the said monk as he giggled merrily at the scene.
'...Oh.. great... everyone's seemed to have gone crazy.. today...', intoned Sanzo in annoyance. Well, that understatement from him resulted in another guffaw from Gojyo and an uncontrollable giggle from Hakkai. Sanzo sighed in exasperation as he had lost his mind amidst the commotion...
Goku stared dumbfounded at his elders as he slowly scrambled towards Sanzo and put his hands on his shoulder; while resting his head near Sanzo's. '..Gomen...', squeaked Goku timidly as the sound of Gojyo's laughter gradually dissipated. The trio glanced towards Gojyo and Hakkai laughed, as they saw that Gojyo had fallen asleep from all the laughter he has made.
Sanzo rolled his eyes at the kappa as he averted his glance towards Goku. '..oi.. why are you so quiet all of a sudden...? Not hungry?', asked Sanzo as Hakkai also glanced at Goku. Goku ignored the question bluntly as he leant on Sanzo's shoulder. '...I can't sleep... kept seeing that scene all over... kowaii ne... Sanzo..!!', said Goku as his voice shook slightly. Sanzo hit the boy in the head, not so hard like usual as he started to scold him. '..What do you mean..? It's been two weeks now.... what do you mean you're afraid of it now..?' Goku tightened his hold on Sanzo's shoulder as he tried to explain. '...I've been dreaming about Seiten Taisei-san... of how... he killed all those shikigamis... it's so scary...'
Hakkai looked at Goku sympathetically as he too thought about his other self; the other self that had occasionally showed itself the moment he removed his three youryoku limiters. He stopped the jeep again and got out, as he rummaged their backpacks for some sleeping pills. Sanzo and Goku glanced towards Hakkai with puzzlement, as the man pour out some water from a flask and went to their side.
'..Here Goku... I think these could help you to sleep... I've been keeping these for Sanzo, in case his migraines gets too unbearable... but I think, I'll give some for you... since...'
'..yadda!! I don't want...', said Goku in protest before Sanzo got up and restrained him. Goku glanced towards his keeper as Sanzo patted his head. '..It's okay...', said the blond monk as he asked Hakkai to help him with the medicine. '...I understand that you're afraid... but that doesn't mean you have to force yourself awake!! Bakagaki omae ga... don't you ever think that you'll get sick if you do that... ch...', he scolded the young boy as he made him swallow the pills.
'..demo Sanzo.. ore..'
Goku instantly falls asleep on Sanzo's embrace as the pills took affect. Hakkai gasped in relief as he woke Gojyo up and got back into the driver's seat. Gojyo woke up groggily as Sanzo placed Goku in his charge.
'...hey... what the...'
CLICK!! Gojyo swallowed hard as Sanzo put away his gun and settled himself to his seat; while Hakkai resumed driving. Before Gojyo had time to register what is it that had happened, Hakkai spoke. '..Gojyo... we'll explain to you later... for now... please watch Goku...'
Gojyo blinked at his friend as he gazed to the sleeping Goku. '..Ch... why did I have to bother myself with...', Gojyo held out his hand to try pinching Goku's nose and without moments to lose; the click of the shoureiju was heard, stopping him again.
'...If you dare wake him... you'll be dead meat!!!', snarled Sanzo as Gojyo nervously nodded. '..Okay... but tell me... why must I follow your orders.. huh? ..Namaguza bouzu?'
'..Goku had some trouble... sleeping... Gojyo...', said Hakkai as Sanzo had retired himself to sleep.
'...and apparently... our Sanzo-sama too....', commented Gojyo.
'..Urusai!!!...Useless kappa who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut...', mumbled Sanzo between his clenched teeth. '...Gojyo... don't tease... Goku's having trouble to forget the events before...', scolded Hakkai as Gojyo took a minute to think over Hakkai's words...
'...You mean... the double ambush we got two weeks ago..?', asked Gojyo.
Hakkai shook his head, '...No... it's how Seiten Taisei had finished the enemies for us...'
'...Oooh... whoa... Oi.. bouzu... is this the reason why you're so uptight about him being too quiet, hmm?', gasped Gojyo as he tried to tease Sanzo again.
Sanzo kept very quiet to himself as if not hearing Gojyo's questions...
'...maa... Sanzo... please not do it again...', pleaded Hakkai as Sanzo still refused to respond.
He kept on his silence again and pretended that he had already asleep. Gojyo frowned.'...it's no use Hakkai... bouzu's was in his usual secretive attitude again....', said Gojyo as Hakkai let out a sigh. '...saa... na....'
Sanzo glanced wearily towards Hakkai as he closed his eyes to sleep. Oh dear... why on earth, things kept coming on our way like this.... and Goku... don't be afraid.... whatever happens.... I'll be there to protect you...
I'll protect you.... for sure....
**
The monotonous sound of the jeep speeding ahead towards the now approaching town, filled the silence between the ikkou as Hakkai and Gojyo remained awake while the other two were still asleep. Seeing that they were nearing their destination as well as the absence of Sanzo's probable intervention, Gojyo chanced himself to talk to Hakkai about the previous incident.
'...Oi Hakkai... I don't quite understand... why would saru be afraid of his other self? I mean... that time... he had managed to keep his mind sane to help us... So, as far as we are concerned... we can have some relief about it... can we? The kid must have gone stronger... to have been able to control himself that time.... so what's the problem?'
Hakkai gave a stern glance at Gojyo via the mirror before sighing in respond. '...well... I guessed, you of all the people here won't understand... You as one... is a half-breed, so you won't have to wear a limiter...and I guess.... it made you less powerful than us....'
'..So.. you were saying..?'
Hakkai scratched his head for some ways to explain, 'Umm...let's see if I could explain more.... emm... Gojyo... last time when Goku had removed his limiter to fight Kougaiji... what do you feel to see Goku like that?'
'...Scared.. the kid's so powerful that he's uncontrollable... wait, you mean... right now... Goku's worried if...'
Hakkai nodded. '..ooh... geez... that kid should not have to be bothered that much... I hate him for that.... like when I said it's his fault that I got three broken ribs .. he got too serious for my liking... stupid kid...', said Gojyo angrily as Hakkai sped into the town gates.
'Well... I can understand how Goku must have felt... I mean... unlike myself... Zenon, Shien or Homura... we could still keep our minds when we removed our limiter... even if... we can't control our powers...', Hakkai sighed as he stopped the jeep in front of an inn.
'...Ooh... so that's why you had asked us to leave you alone to deal with the undead small fries... you worried that you'd kill us... isn't it?...ch..'
Hakkai scowled at Gojyo as he got out from the jeep. '...I'm sorry... if you feel yourself downgraded for this... I for one... can't trust myself to be near to you guys with my limiters off...', said the emerald-eyed youkai as he proceeded to wake Sanzo up.
Gojyo also got off, carrying Goku in his arm as Hakuryuu transformed into a dragon and hovered around Hakkai. Sanzo immediately got inside the inn to check in. Hakkai and Gojyo followed behind as Goku slowly woke up and dashed towards Sanzo's side.
The two friends smiled as they saw that Goku's back into being his genki self again, hovering around Sanzo as he talked to the receptionist for their rooms. The red-head slapped his hand on Hakkai's shoulder as the brunette jumped.
Gojyo smiled at him in reassurance. '..Hakkai.. regardless of whatever's to happen in the future... I will always have my trust on you....;
'...Arigato... Gojyo...'
[TBC]
gaki = youth
harisen = duh!! paper fan... lah!!! How can ppl not know this... geesh...
az: '..O...kay... finish.... well... I'll cross my fingers now.... I don't know if I could update all my fics so frequently... so... I'll try my best to comply....'
Homura: 'Well... as long as az's at home before getting to the university... she'll be keeping up with her works.. don't worry...'
Hakkai: '..Eh... Homura... where's the others? I don't see them until just now... why are you here... reporting....'
Homura: '...az had sent Sanzo and Goku to go to out to find some more ideas for the fic... and Gojyo...? She locked him in the toilet..'
Hakkai: '...Whoa.... she's cruel....'
Homura: '...Well... she did that to keep him away from her.... you know... that red-head's been trying to get her to write yaoi or shonen-ai... but you know her....'
Hakkai: '...yup... I guess so.... means I have to let him out after az's finished typing.... ^_^...'
~Owari~