King Rat, No Mercy

Author's Notes: I never thought I'd end up back here. No, really, I honestly never planned for a sequel to King Rat. I had hoped to close some of the things I'd left open in "Who Is King Rat?" but I was never satisfied with the way it came out when I tried to write it in that format. And then I had an idea. An awful idea. A wonderful, awful idea. And then this happened.

So, here we are. If you did not read King Rat, you may wish to do so before reading this. In spite of myself, I still think it's a pretty decently-written story. I do attempt to play catch-up in this chapter, but there are a few details in King Rat that are going to be important later. Yes, this story is still m-preg. (Sort of.)

I have considerably cut back on one of my more self-indulgent inclusions, the "Suggested Tracks." However, there are a few that will come up later. (Suggested Track indicates that I wrote a scene with a certain song in mind to go with it, like the score of a movie. I suggest finding the song on Youtube or the like, as I feel it adds some different depth to the scenes.)

Disclaimer: The characters of Saiyuki are not mine. The original characters and this particular scenario are.

1: An Unusual Anniversary

The weather in Western China on a certain summer day was perfect, the air clean and clear. Or, perhaps it would have been clean and clear, but at a certain shrine near the base of a mountain range, it was polluted by two cigarettes and an incense burner. Two men stood by the shrine, one folding his hands in prayer, the other shuffling his feet like a boy with stage fright. About ten meters away, their jeep was parked on a flat part of the path while their two companions waited for them. The mountains themselves were barren, devoid of trees and with only small, frail plants littering the rocky pathways, but this could only indicate that there were no ill spirits there to listen. Genjo Sanzo, the 31st of China, muttered a prayer, while his comrade and friend, Sha Gojyo stared around impatiently.

"... and on this, the anniversary of your birth, we offer this wish for your good fortune and health..." Sanzo sounded bored as he faced the shrine to Guan Yin, which was surrounded by old shoes and small packages of rice. Still he droned on, even as Gojyo sighed aloud.

"Is this really necessary?" He demanded wearily. Sanzo paused, giving him a withering glare. "No, really. It's not like they're here. It's not like they've aged on the Fragrant Mountain. They're not a year old yet, Kanzeon Bosatsu said they'd stay as old as they were the last time we saw them. What's the point?"

"It has been a year since their birth," Sanzo grumbled. "They may not have achieved a year yet, but the point remains."

"That's stupid. Leaving a message for a statue and hoping the goddess delivers it. Why can't we just eat a damn cake?" Gojyo glowered at Sanzo. "I've been asking for cake for days in anticipation, but there's no cake." Sanzo scoffed.

"Where are we going to get a cake? I don't have a cake. You don't have a cake. There's no cake for fifty kilometers. If you say cake one more time-"

"Shut up, I get it," Gojyo grumbled. He rubbed his head, groaning under his breath.

"Is something wrong?" Sanzo cocked his brow.

"I don't feel well. Head and stomach aching. Nothing important."

"Probably drank too much last night," Sanzo scoffed.

"Oi, are you guys done yet?" Goku yelled from the Jeep. "It's hot and I'm hungry!" Gojyo tossed Goku a glare, but turned back to the shrine.

"Do you have anything to add to the offering?" Sanzo asked.

"Yeah, sure," Gojyo sighed. He turned to the shrine of Guan Yin, glanced around at the litany of weather-beaten shoes left around it, and took a moment to reflect on the past year.

It had been a full year, hadn't it? It hardly seemed like three-hundred and sixty-five days had passed, and yet, throughout their travail through China, the days had added up. To him, it still seemed like barely a week had passed since he had made a certain agreement with Sanzo, and since Kanzeon Bosatsu decided to "bless" him with two children. Hardly a moment had passed since he laid out across a riverbank, with Sanzo holding him by the elbows and Hakkai at his heels, and he himself birthed them. (He barely understood it, and he'd been there.) And felt like it had been but a blink of the eye since Kanzeon Bosatsu spirited his boys away to the Fragrant Mountain, promising to return Sha Yohei and Sha Eiji when the party returned from India. And yet, the year had passed.

They'd kept busy, of course. There were youkai to attack, youkai to kill, youkai to run away from, youkai to run away from very quickly, and hundreds of miles of desert, forest, jungle, and plain across which to travel, upon which to get lost. There were rivers to ford and mountains to traverse. And there were friends.

Little had really changed between the four of them, at least not that he could tell. They were still the same men they had been when they had left. Only one bond had changed at all, and Gojyo could not honestly say it was for worse or better.

He first recognized there was any change at all only a few days after saying farewell to Yohei and Eiji. They had stopped at another inn after a few days of travel, and after dinner and a few drinks, Hakkai took out the playing cards to draw for roommates. "No need," Sanzo had muttered. He got to his feet and glowered down at Gojyo. "I'm going to bed." With that, he swept off, his robes fluttering behind him. Goku seemed to ignore him, continuing to eat, as Gojyo glanced at Hakkai.

"Does that mean...?"

"I think it does," Hakkai affirmed brightly. "My, how charming."

"Charming ain't the word for it. It's weird." Gojyo narrowed his eyes and tented his fingers in thought. "I thought if I ever got a steady girl, she'd be sweet and smiley and cute. Make me breakfast wearing nothing but an apron, stuff like that. I didn't think he'd keep glaring and sneering at me. But I guess I can't expect him to change."

"Certainly you have some expectations of him," Hakkai suggested.

"No, not really. All he said was that he would be there for me. I'm not asking him to love me, or even to like me."

"But if you two are going to act together for your boys, shouldn't you want him to like you?" Hakkai leaned forward curiously. Gojyo shrugged, cracking another beer can open.

"Like I said. I can't expect him to change. I don't think he likes anything." He began to gulp the can.

"He liked Yohei and Eiji," Hakkai replied. Gojyo frowned.

"You could tell?"

"He was affectionate, in his way. I think he almost smiled once. And I'm almost certain I heard him humming to them."

"Humming?" Gojyo leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Humming what?" Hakkai grinned slowly.

"I think it was 'You Are My Sunshine.'" Gojyo swallowed a laugh.

He found Sanzo in one room with both of their belongings. There were two futons, and Sanzo was already stretched out across one, his robe halfway-off, with the newspaper in his lap. Gojyo stripped himself down, laid on the other one, and stared at the ceiling. Sanzo folded down the newspaper. He stared over at Gojyo for a moment, and finally sighed heavily. This got Gojyo's attention.

"Yes?"

"Yes, yourself. Were you expecting something from me?"

"What, you mean, a good something? Like, the good something we used to do?" Sanzo didn't reply, which led Gojyo to assume the affirmative. "I can't. Hakkai told me that if I planned on doing it, I should wait six weeks to fully heal."

"I see. That's fine. Whatever you want." Sanzo picked his paper up again. Gojyo quickly turned over to look at him again.

"Sanzo?" Sanzo folded down the corner of the newspaper. "Uh, is there something else I should call you? I thought Sanzo was just your title, not your name."

"There is nothing else you can call me. If you don't like that, then call me nothing at all."

"Sure thing, Mr. Nothing-At-All," Gojyo joked, until the familiar harisen flew from Sanzo's free hand at his forehead. Gojyo swatted the paper fan away, laughing, and lay flat on his back, staring back at the ceiling with a grin. "At least you're dependable."

Six weeks later, Sanzo did make good on his offer of "whatever you want." It was late in the night, and they were forced to split two beds between four men. Hakkai and Sanzo had won the beds, and Goku had fallen asleep on the floor. Gojyo was awake, smoking a cigarette out the window, when he felt a brief tap on his shoulder. Sanzo was stripped down to his pants, and he held out a cigarette as well. They touched the tips together, and Sanzo's flared to life. They were quiet together for a minute, and Gojyo let a slow smile creep across his face. Something felt good about simply being beside him like that. He turned his head and pressed his lips against Sanzo's bare collarbone. Sanzo turned his lazy eyes towards him. Gojyo smirked. "Would you like some privacy?"

He didn't have to say anything. He laid his free hand over Gojyo's, and gripped it tight. He quietly led him from the room, down the corridor, and into the tavern's bath. They didn't have to say anything, to make any arrangements, even to negotiate position. Gojyo had realized a long time ago that things often worked better with Sanzo if he didn't talk. He pressed his palms the wall and leaned his body forward, Sanzo turned the water on and wrapped his arms around his waist, and they enjoyed twenty minutes of sheer bliss. Gojyo's few moans were muffled by the sound of the shower, and Sanzo bit his grunts of effort into Gojyo's shoulder. As they separated their bodies, Gojyo's weak knees nearly gave out from under him, and Sanzo caught him around the navel, cradling his body close and keeping him upright. Gojyo managed to turn around and hug onto Sanzo's waist. Sanzo managed to stay upright, running his hands through Gojyo's hair and grabbing at his scalp. Finally, Sanzo's knees gave out as well, and Gojyo wrapped his arms around him. They were quiet, and Gojyo managed to lift his head and kiss Sanzo's cheek. Sanzo pressed his cheek to Gojyo's and said nothing.

They didn't need to say anything.

That was simply the way it was. If one wanted the other, he was simply there. There was no talk of love, no talk of 'relationship,' no talk of 'us,' and somehow, Gojyo was okay with that. They had sex when they wanted it, and nothing else changed. They argued, they nagged at each other, they were simply the worst of friends. Just like Gojyo had said, he couldn't ask Sanzo to be anything but what he was. The only thing they agreed to cooperate on were two distant children. It happened to be Sanzo's second-favorite ammunition to tame a drunken hanyou, ranking only just below Magnum rounds:

"Are you going to act like this around your sons?"

Turnabout was, of course, fair play:

"Hey, man, you gonna act this cold to your kids?"

After insults like this were thrown, they would sometimes avoid talking to each other for a few hours, but they never apologized, or even felt the need to. Everything fell into place, and things simply were the way they were.

Today, things were just a little more obvious than usual, as he and Sanzo stood side-by-side, a united front. Gojyo took a step forward to have his say. "Hey, Goddess." Gojyo got down on his knee in front of the shrine. "Look, we really just want you to tell our kids we..." He winced, as he felt a strange, pinching pain in his gut. "We love 'em. I love 'em like hell, and I miss 'em. We're pushing for the India border as fast as we can. We..." His other knee buckled, as he felt a strange pressure on his heart. "I want you to be strong. We'll be home soon." His voice cracked. "H-happy birthday, kids." Sanzo stared down at Gojyo curiously, as Gojyo fell to his palms, shaking.

"If you're going to be ill, could you do it elsewhere?"

"I can't move," Gojyo whispered. The pain in his gut had suddenly become more severe, and unpleasantly familiar. Sanzo got down next to him, and gripped his chin.

"What the hell is going on?" Gojyo tried to answer as Sanzo's lazy purple eyes bored into his red. No words came out, and Sanzo quickly turned around. "Hakkai." He spoke louder, and Hakkai looked up from his newspaper. His forehead creased, and he approached the pair. He knelt down next to Gojyo and put his index and middle finger over his wrist.

"Your heart is racing. Your skin is clammy. Come on." He wrapped an arm under Gojyo's shoulders and lifted him. Gojyo couldn't find the strength to lift himself, and could only let himself be dead weight against Hakkai. The trio rejoined Goku at the car, and Hakkai dumped Gojyo into the back seat.

"Have you ever heard of Delhi belly?" Goku asked with a wide grin. Gojyo took a few deep breaths, but he couldn't get enough oxygen. "We're almost in India, you must have it!"

"The fuck is a Delhi?" Gojyo finally managed to protest, as Hakkai put the jeep into gear and began to drive onward down the mountain. His heart still raced, his stomach still twisted, and he felt chills all down his body. Sanzo's fists were clenched on his knees, and he slowly turned around to glare down at Gojyo.

"You're not having a repeat of last year's incident, are you?"

"No, no way," Gojyo breathed weakly. He shook his head. "It's impossible."

"Fine." Sanzo turned back around, fixing his gaze on the road.

"I saw a town a few kilometers away, we should be able to find an apothecary there," Hakkai suggested in his usual chipper way. Gojyo said nothing, instead tilting his head back and turning to look at the shrine fading in the distance.

"Bye, guys," he muttered weakly. "Happy birthday."

"Absolutely nothing physically wrong with him," Hakkai sighed to himself as they exited the apothecary. Gojyo was leaned over Goku's shoulder now, still too weak to move under his own power. "At least nothing that he can tell." Sanzo was still visibly angry.

"We ought to find some sort of other option. Are there any other apothecaries in this town?" He glanced around at the dusty town that sat at the foot of the mountain. It was incredibly small, with only a few streets and byways, thatched huts for houses, and a two-room inn. It seemed terribly underdeveloped, considering the visible ruins of some considerable buildings they had passed only an hour prior.

"It's a small town," Hakkai shrugged.

"Have you found out how far the next town is?"

"Five days by horse, so probably three by jeep." Hakkai smiled slyly. "But not to worry, I know just the thing to cheer you up." He pulled a small white package out from inside his shirt.

"Did you... steal that?" Sanzo cocked his brow curiously.

"Would you have preferred I pay for it and explain why, exactly, four men, one of whom is ostensibly a man of the cloth, needed a pregnancy test?"

"Hmph." Sanzo said nothing, and Hakkai slipped the box back into his sash. Goku glanced up at Gojyo as he followed the two adults.

"You really think there's something wrong again?"

"No way. It's probably something I ate," Gojyo muttered.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the inn and Hakkai dragged Gojyo to the outhouse. Five minutes later, the party gathered around the white stick, which had been precariously smuggled back into the inn's bedroom.

"How do you read these stupid things?" Goku whined.

"You know what these things are?" Hakkai furrowed his brow curiously.

"Well, no, but you all seem to be staring at it like you're reading it," Goku pointed out.

"It's the same way you read anything else- interpret the symbols." Hakkai pointed at the paper on the end of the stick. "See? Those two stripes mean 'no.' Goku, at this time, you will have no further little cousins." Sanzo and Gojyo both immediately reached into their respective pockets for cigarettes.

"See? I told you," Gojyo sighed, though his free hand absentmindedly rubbed his stomach. "It hurts like hell, but there's nothing in here that ain't supposed to be."

"Then what is wrong with you?" Hakkai wondered. "Do you mind if I read your chi? Perhaps there is some unusual ebb in its flow that may indicate an issue."

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Gojyo sighed. He popped his cigarette in his mouth and lazily flopped out one wrist, and Sanzo tossed the lighter at it. He lit his cigarette as Hakkai took hold of his wrist and focused for a moment. His brow furrowed, and Gojyo felt relaxed for a moment; his heart calmed, and he felt less dizzy. He took a deep drag off of his cigarette and looked to Hakkai to thank him, but stopped when he saw Hakkai's eyes wide open. Hakkai let go of Gojyo's hand, and then stared between his own in confusion.

"This is going to sound unusual, but I have found our problem." He looked at Gojyo, and his usual blithe smile crept back onto his face. "It is nothing within you. It's something else entirely. I can only describe it as part of your chi creeping off of you and moving elsewhere, as though it's being lured away."

"That's weird." Gojyo sat up.

"Ah, you're feeling better!" Hakkai smiled a bit brighter.

"Sure, yeah, thanks to you."

"No, no." Hakkai shook his head. "I didn't do anything." He sat upright suddenly. "Come on, come with me." He strode out of their room, breaking the test stick to splinters and discarding it into the wastebasket as he did. Sanzo followed him, and Goku and Gojyo followed suit. Gojyo was surprised that his legs suddenly worked again. Hakkai opened his satchel, and Hakuryu joined the party. "I know it's strange, but there's no time to argue. You can sense something wrong here too, right?" Hakuryu cooed, and became the jeep again. Hakkai jumped in, and didn't even leave enough time for everyone to put their seat belts on before putting the jeep into high gear and speeding back the way they'd come. Hakkai halfway turned to glance at Gojyo in the back seat. "Let me know when you start feeling sick again." He thought a moment, and didn't even turn back to add, "No- tell me when you feel as bad as you did before."

Almost as soon as they reached the town limits, Gojyo felt his head spin. He slumped down in the seat and tried to breathe the air in the car as much as he could, but the smell of the dust was still making him nauseous. As they passed the ruins again, he felt a huge weight on his chest, and managed to reach up and tap Hakkai on the shoulder. The jeep skidded to a halt in front of the ruins and Gojyo quickly pushed the door open to lean out. His stomach threw itself into his throat, and he heaved, but nothing came out. Hakkai patted Gojyo on the back as he continued to gag, as Sanzo got out himself and stared around.

The ruins sprawled a long way, with remnants of stone walls sticking out of the ground in patterns. The stones were smooth around the edges, crumbling away in places, and despite the age of the ruins, there was no plant life at all. Sanzo lit another cigarette as he walked forward.

"There's nothing here. Let's go."

"Something feels off about this place," Goku mumbled, looking unusually pensive.

"You're right. Gojyo, I can feel your chi being pulled off of you. There's something here taking it." Hakkai stood upright, and Gojyo looked up as well.

"It's weird. It feels familiar," he said, and Hakkai helped him to his feet.

"We passed here an hour ago. It's familiar enough for that," Sanzo grumbled. "We don't have time for this. If the air here is making him sick, why are we hanging around?"

"Call it curiosity," Hakkai shrugged.

"What if it happens again?" Gojyo rubbed his head. "What if something is following us and fucking with me? If there is, I want to deal with it here and now." He shivered hard and forced himself upright. He took a few shuddering steps forward. "Hey! Asshole! If you're here, come at me!" He glared around angrily, his face getting hot. "I'm in no mood to fuck around!" He stumbled and fell face-first, coughing as he hit the ground. Sanzo grabbed Gojyo by the elbow.

"You're clearly in no shape for this," he growled.

"Let me go," Gojyo snapped back, pressing his hand into the ground. "There's something here." He began to push back the thin, dry dirt and dust under his hands to find a sharp corner on something large, black, and solid. Against the plain white and gray rocks, it was very distinctly out-of-place, something that had been left there. Sanzo's eyes widened, and he got on his knees beside Gojyo to push the sand out of the way. Goku and Hakkai quickly joined them, and in a matter of minutes, they had uncovered what appeared to be an obsidian door. The text on it was as clean and easily legible as if it had been laid down only an hour before. Gojyo felt his heart pounding through his ribcage, ready to jump from his chest. "What the hell is this?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Hakkai remarked, running his fingers over it. "This language is entirely foreign to me." Gojyo curiously set his hand in the center of a large, empty circle engraved in the slate, and discovered that it was still perfectly smooth, as though polished.

"I may have seen something akin to this written in one of the older texts," Sanzo remarked softly. "An ancient form of a sealing spell." He began to trace some of the symbols with his fingers. "Yes. Most certainly. Something has been sealed here." He looked up to survey the ruins around them. "Surely, that was what demolished this place."

"Just how old do you think it is?" Hakkai wondered.

"I can't quite fathom it. I don't think anything like this has been used for a long time. But some of these symbols are still used in creating youkai limiters," Sanzo explained coolly. "That's probably what he's feeling. You and Goku already wear limiters, but since he has youkai blood, the presence of this tablet is weakening him. As I've been saying, let's leave."

"That ain't it," Gojyo muttered, as he tried to get up. He stumbled again, and realized he couldn't move his fingers from the circle on the slab. "What the f-"

"Hey!" Goku gasped when he saw that Gojyo was stuck. Gojyo cried out in surprise as his hand sunk into the solid stone.

"Pull him back!" Hakkai grabbed onto both of Gojyo's shoulders. Sanzo hooked his elbow around Gojyo's, and Goku grabbed onto Hakkai's shirt and Sanzo's robe. There was a terrible groaning noise emanating from the ground. Gojyo grabbed his quickly sinking right hand with his left, trying to pull himself back, but as the stone swallowed more of him, he was jerked forward. The groan turned into a roar, and the dust around them began to rise in a tornado and swallow them. Hakuryu cried out, turning into his dragon form and circling over them, whistling and chattering excitedly at Hakkai. Hakkai, Sanzo, and Goku tried to pull Gojyo out, but the stone was clearly pulling back as Gojyo's entire right arm and part of his left were pulled in. He looked back at Sanzo in a panic, but Sanzo's face was blank as usual. His nostrils flared, and Gojyo turned back around to the stone slab. It kept sucking him forward, finally grabbing onto his chest. Sanzo was now sinking into it as well.

"Let go of me!" Gojyo roared over the uproar.

"I can't," Sanzo replied, a cool anger infiltrating his usual monotone. "We will not get to India if you're stuck here."

"I'm telling you to leave me here!" Gojyo replied back, but it was too late. With a sound like a bellowing bull, the entire party was pulled into the void of the stone.

They were falling through a dusty grey sky that was not their own, and none of them could see the ground below them. Sanzo was still holding onto Gojyo's elbow, Hakkai tried to grab Goku's hand while still holding Gojyo's collar, and Goku clung onto Sanzo. "Stay together, everyone!" Hakkai called to the others, but the sound of the rushing wind was too much for the others to hear it.

Gojyo's arm slipped from Sanzo's grasp, and Sanzo gripped his wrist. "Don't let go of me," he yelled anxiously, as he tried to grab onto Sanzo. Sanzo said something in response, but Gojyo couldn't make it out. Instead, he shouted back, "I swear, if you let me go-" A terrible gust of wind burst from below, and Gojyo's shirt tore out of Hakkai's grasp. The jerk of Gojyo falling just a little faster was enough to loosen Sanzo's grasp on his wrist, and he fell away. Sanzo tried to grab at Gojyo again as the wind carried him off. Gojyo threw his arms out, desperately trying to grab back, but it was no use.

"Gojyo!" Both Hakkai and Goku cried out, and Sanzo could only stare, wide-eyed, as Gojyo vanished into the brown clouds.

"We'll find him. Whatever this place is, I'll turn it upside down before leaving without him," Sanzo growled. In the howling wind, his words and sentiment were lost. He simply tightened his grip on the two companions he had left as they plummeted towards the distant ground.

Final Notes: Oh Gojyo, why do I love hurting you so much?

By the by, I did check. Delhi did exist back when the original "Journey to the West" was written. No word on whether or not "Delhi belly" did, but that's more of a euphemism for getting yourself sick off drinking foreign water.

I hope to update with new chapters weekly or biweekly, depending on how fast I can get this written.

Any thoughts? Review.

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Any critiques? Review!

Nothing to say? Review anyway!

Until next week!