A/N: Hiyo everyone! Tis SheepiChan, finally writing a Saiyuki fic! This is just a little side fic for me to work on while I'm doing my BIG fic project. (Kwaah… it's taking a lot out of me…)
Anyhoos, just as the title says, it's the first Christmas with everyone together… and it just wouldn't be the same without Hakuryuu around! Just a mini fic (no more than three chapters) for the holidays!
Please, don't take this fic TOO seriously; it's just meant to bring a smile to your faces!
And no… this has nothing to do with the Jiipu/Hakuryuu side story featured in Zero Sum Saiyuki… I came up with the idea BEFORE reading that…
Rating: PG (for some swearing; and little hints of shounen-ai; if requested, I'll heighten the rating)
Setting: Pre-Gensoumaden Saiyuki (approximately a few months)
Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Saiyuki whatsoever. Those belong to Ms. Kazuya Minekura… unless she allows me to borrow them… Pwease? …Pretty pwease? …Oh…Fine…
Hakuryuu's First Christmas
The ground outside was covered in white powder, which was slowly getting deeper. The air was freezing, and the wind howled mercilessly. Most individuals, demonic or otherwise, were inside of their homes, snug in their warm, squishy beds, awaiting the arrival of a big fat man in a red, fuzzy suit. Everyone was smiling, laughing, eating and just having a grand old time.For it was Christmas eve, and everyone was feeling the joyful spirit.
…Well… almost everyone.
"BAKAZARU! This is all YOUR fault!" Gojyo roared, the red-headed half demon's face was inches away from Goku's, his scarlet eyes flashing.
"No it isn't, YOU ERO KAPPA!" Goku defended himself, his golden eyes flashed as well, blinding a sparrow that had been trying to sleep, but couldn't due to the ruckus that the small group had been making. The bird had gotten out of his tree, to politely tell the group to just shut the hell up, when Goku's eyes flashed, and… well… you can read, so you know very well what happened.
"Both of you… just SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ah! It would seem that Sanzo had done the bird's job for him! It's so nice to see cooperation between two of the same species. Even though it was only in his past life that Sanzo was a bird. That was him…right…?
"Maa maa minna… we'll find him soon… I hope." Hakkai, playing the consoler, tried to calm the group down. Although, he himself was very worried. After all, it is his pet dragon that's missing. During this harsh winter night, Hakuryuu had suddenly disappeared, and now the group of four (more or less) men was outside searching.
Why is Hakuryuu gone? Well, that is what I'm here to tell you.
At first, the night was supposed to be spent separate from each other. Gojyo and Hakkai were to spend the holiday inside of their home, along with Hakuryuu, while Sanzo and Goku "celebrated" at the Chang'an temple. Why is celebrated in quotations you ask? Well, this "celebration" usually consisted of Goku eating just about everything in sight, as only Goku could, while Sanzo threatened to kill him, as only Sanzo could. Oh! There was a tree too! Just not a very big one… that also happened to be in the corner… wilting away… with very little decorations, save for a little angel that Goku lovingly drew on the back of Sanzo's paperwork, using his feet of course. After all, if you have a talent, might as well use it! Although, Sanzo didn't find this talent very appealing, as that was very important paperwork that Goku had drawn on, and used the rest of the paper that Goku was planning on using to construct more paper angels (with his feet) to create an even bigger paper fan. Yes! This was the birth of the upgrade to Sanzo's "Giant Fan" to Sanzo's "Uber I'm-Going-to-Kick-Your-Ass-Till-Kingdom-Come-Fan". Sadly, this fan had a very short lifespan of fifteen minutes, as Sanzo proceeded to beat the living crap out of Goku for drawing (with his feet) on his very important paperwork.
But I digress.
The reason why everyone was together for this occasion was due to a very conveniently timed assignment, combined with a very conveniently timed blizzard, at a very convenient location. (This narration seems to have a rather large amount of "verys" doesn't it?) Sanzo and Goku were assigned what was supposed to be a short mission. In fact, this very assignment was …assigned… a few moments after Sanzo had proceeded to beat the living crap out of Goku for a full fifteen minutes. Goku, being the rechargeable monkey that he is, was able to regain consciousness, recover from multiple concussions, a broken leg, arm, foot and nose, a ruptured lung, internal bleeding and still have time to make himself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was just when Goku had finished said sandwich that Sanzo received the new mission.
At the time, there were reports of a strange man in the forest located pretty close to Gojyo's and Hakkai's humble abode. This man seemed to be affiliated with a horde of 9 demons, one of which had a hideous power. This power included the glowing of a large red orb, which would create a large red beacon of potentially hazardous energy. It would be Sanzo's job, along with Goku, to bring this man and his demonic gang to trial for a heinous crime- sneaking into houses on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve! Of all nights to do something so horrible!
Their first stop was the small cottage in the woods. In order to subdue this criminal, they will need all the help they can get, and since Goku had blackmail pictures from the last mission, which just happened to involve a bath house, both Gojyo and Hakkai were pretty much bound to help. Or face the consequence that is known as the fan-girl. You may shudder at the thought. Alright, now pull yourself together! C'mon, you can do it! Good!
The woods were dark and deep, however the home that belonged to Gojyo and Hakkai was indeed extremely easy to find. It may have to do with the fact that Hakkai had decorated the bite sized house to no end. Cheery little icicle lights blinked from the roof, and were laced around the windows. Animatronic reindeer bobbed their heads and twinkled. Giant spotlights shone from the backyard and into the night sky, practically screaming "COME HERE!".
"Woooah! Sanzo! Look at the lights! They're so pretty!" Goku's eyes shone as he bounced up and down like a hyper schoolgirl. Goku was chock full of the holiday spirit.
Sanzo on the other hand felt so sick to his stomach, that he couldn't muster up a reply.
The scene that awaited him and his charge as they opened the door to the home would only prove to make his holiday-cuteness-induced nausea worse.
"Oh God… please… help me!" Gojyo was shrieking throughout the household, and with good reason. Hakkai seemed to think it would be cute to have Gojyo dress up as a reindeer. Ribbons, bells and all. Gojyo resisted of course, and was running around trying to avoid his holiday brainwashed comrade.
"Aww, Gojyo, I made it just for you," Hakkai ran after Gojyo, right on his little reindeer tail. This should be taken quite literally as they both crashed to the floor. Gojyo had twisted as he fell, and was flat on his back. Hakkai had thrown out his hands in front of him in order to break what would have been a nasty fall. These very hands wound up on either side of Gojyo's shoulders, Hakkai's body in a very precarious position. At least something like this would only stay in the house, where nobody could see them.
Yeah, like I would let something like that happen with it going unnoticed.
"Hey Hakkai! Gojyo! Whatcha doin'?" a certain cheery five hundred and eighteen year old saru greeted as he threw open the door. His eyes resting on the… er… "questionable" scene in front of him.
"Hakuryuu! Quickly! Shield his eyes!" Hakkai yelled out to his faithful pet, still in his awkward stance over Gojyo.
"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu complied, and zoomed straight to Goku, using his wings to cover up the monkey's face. At this time, Gojyo tried to roll away from underneath Hakkai. However, rolling away only proved to make things worse, as this caused Hakkai to lose his balance and fall. This time on top of Gojyo's back.
"ACK! Hakuryuu! GET OFF!" Goku started to flail his arms madly. One of his hands hit Hakuryuu, who was sent flying off to some room, while the other hand went straight for Sanzo, who had been standing at the doorway through this whole incident. Seeing the monkey's fist heading straight to his face, Sanzo fluidly stepped aside. The momentum that Goku's swing had gathered carried the poor monkey right out the door and face first into the snow.
Sanzo took the opportunity to step inside, and lock the door behind him, leaving Goku outside in the snow.
Goku jumped up and started to pound the door, "SANZO!" he shrieked, "SAAANZO! LET ME IN! IT'S COLD OUT HERE! SAANZO!"
Sanzo calmly removed his sandals, and walked over to Hakkai and Gojyo. "Get up within the next three seconds or I'll kill you." Classic line. Oh joy.
They were up in one.
A sweet aroma permeated from the kitchen to the other rooms of the house. Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai were sitting around the tiny table, each with a mug full of hot chocolate, or coffee in Sanzo's case, in front of them. Hakuryuu, having recovered from his close encounter of the Goku Kind, was curled up on Hakkai's lap, purring softly. You almost couldn't hear the muffled cries from outside.
"SAAANZO! The snow's up to my waist! SANZO! HEY! DON'T CLOSE THAT CURTAIN! SANZO!"
I said almost.
Yes, they were supposed to be out on a mission, but the snowing outside had increased not only in quantity, but in quality. The winds had picked up speed, and the snow was quickly getting deeper. The visibility was near zero, making it nearly impossible to find the path back to the temple, let alone find the demon group lurking in the woods. Sanzo rationalized that there was no way in hell he and Goku were going to leave the immediate area, and accepted Hakkai's hospitality.
"SANZO! I SMELL HOT CHOCOLATE!" Goku pounded a fist against the window that peered into the kitchen. A sound that Sanzo briefly acknowledged with a sharp glare, before turning back to the conversation at hand.
After a few minutes of shouting at the back of his keeper's head, Goku gave up and waddled through the snow to the other side of the house. Looking around, he saw the window that led to one of the bedrooms. Gazing inside and noting the impeccable neatness, his little monkey eyes worked together with his little monkey brain and told him that this room belonged to Hakkai. Hakkai won't mind if I damage his window just a bit… something in the back of his mind told him that this little thought couldn't be more wrong, but there was hot chocolate in there, dammit! Goku put that little voice aside, and proceeded in punching out the window, a huge CRASH radiating through the air.
At the same time of the crash, there was a particularly large gust of wind. The loud moan drowned out the shattering window, making what would have been something obvious into something… not… so… obvious. Yes, I'm at a loss of vocabulary. Wanna make something of it?
Goku scrambled through the window and landed onto Hakkai's soft bed. Bouncing lightly off, he looked over, his nose smelling food from a wayward bag of groceries at the far end of the room. Once again pushing away the little voice that told him that groceries in a bedroom was just a little bit odd, he scampered through the door and into the kitchen.
"Hey everyone!" the cheerful saru grinned madly from the doorway to the kitchen.
"How the hell did you get in here?" Sanzo and Gojyo chorused together. They then gave each other an almost identical look of disgust at realizing they just shared the same thought pattern.
"Ahehe… don't sweat the small details," Goku's face flushed a bit, "all that matters is that we're all together, right?"
"No. All that matters is that you tell me how the hell you got in here." Sanzo's droopy, amethyst eyes glared into Goku's.
"Well…uh…er…"
"Now, now… Goku's right," Hakkai intervened, sensing an uncomfortable aura around the monkey, "Come sit down, and I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate." He motioned a spare seat to Goku, who took the seat graciously.
Hakkai got up and went over to pour a mug of the sweet drink, "Oh! It looks like we're out of marshmallows," smiling that trademark Hakkai smile, he looked to Hakuryuu, who had perched on his shoulder when he got up, "Hakuryuu, would you mind going to my room and getting a bag from the groceries in there?"
"Kyuu!" Hakuryuu rose from Hakkai's shoulder and floated over to the room. Finding the bag, he gently tugged at the marshmallows. They didn't budge. Getting a determined look in his beady red eyes, Hakuryuu tugged harder, falling back as the marshmallow bag came tumbling out. Thankful that there was a breeze to help him up into the air, Hakuryuu prepared to carry the heavy bag.
Wait… a breeze? Hakkai's window wasn't open before…
Hakuryuu realized the smashed open window too late, as another, more powerful breeze slammed the door shut. The resulting click told Hakuryuu that he was locked in. Oh no! the little dragon thought to himself as he fought a losing battle with the door handle. Maybe I can go around from outside. They should let me in! Hakuryuu glided through the window. Flapping his wings hard against the merciless wind, he finally reached the same window Goku had pounded on only moments ago. He rapped gently with his snout, hoping that his master would hear him.
But Hakkai would not hear the little dragon's gentle, yet still distressed tapping. He was too busy trying to calm the group down. Goku was too busy sobbing as Sanzo beat him with his giant fan, and Gojyo was too busy laughing at the sight, before being hit himself. They were all too busy to notice the tiny dragon, desperately fighting against the wind, trying to get inside. They were too busy for Hakuryuu in general. Maybe, they'd be better off without him.
These were Hakuryuu's thoughts exactly as he flew off into the woods, warm tears brimming his eyes.
A/N: And that's it for now! (2000 words?! Mini-fic my arse!)
Oh! I was wondering something about Sanzo's name, is it "Genjyo" or "Genjo(u)"? (xx; The translations I find keep on switching back and forth between the two!)
I'll try to make the rest of the fic's chapters shorter!
Critique is most welcome! (And if I made any mistakes whatsoever, don't hesitate to tell me so I can fix them!)
SheepiChan