As was said before, I don't own Saiyuki. Period. End of story. If you expected any different then I'm sorry to have disappointed you.

Prologue… Just a Part of the Story Too

She came like many others. I had to wonder if she loved the one who stole her life? Both the father and the son, one or the other? Or did she hate them both? But despite it all, I wanted to be her, but maybe only because I knew I never could be.

Chapter 2: Shouldn't Explanations be Forthright?

"Land of…" Goku started.

"… the dead?" Goyjo finished. "The fuck?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sanzo grunted. The other 'demons' eyes all widened then narrowed at the younger Sanzo's lack of proper respect.

Seidaku simply chuckled, seeming not offended, but also amused by Sanzo's attitude.

"I see you're exactly how I expected you to be," he said lightly. "Refreshing, if not foreseen. But ah, we do what we can."

"What the heck is he going on about?" Gojyo whispered to Kitai.

"I'm not entirely sure," she confessed. "His methods are usually very straightforward, but he can be obscure at times."

"Kitai," the elderly monk said suddenly. "I want to thank you for bringing our guests. Please, if you could see to arranging rooms for them?"

"Yes, of course," she said, breaking away from the group and bowing deeply to him, a smile on her face. "Right away Master Sanzo. I'll take care of it immediately."

She ran off up the stairs, the group's eyes following her retreating form become enveloped in the shadows.

"Kitai said you were expecting us," Sanzo growled out. "What do you want?"

"Explanations will come shortly," the elderly gentlemen replied. "But such matters should not be discussed in such an uncomfortable manner such as standing in the main chamber. My bones ache, so if you do not mind…"

The Scripture-less Sanzo did not wait for an answer, but simply ascended the stairs for the group to follow. They did after only a moment's hesitation and a soft "See ya later then," from Uru.

The stairs all had candles on the walls, though only enough to just barely see by, leaving the area surrounding them mostly darkness. Only the creaking of the wood made any noise as they walked up to the second floor, which the group saw had many corridors and lush curtains hanging from the walls. However, the Seidaku walked past it all and up to the other set of stairs.

"It's further up," he explained without any of them asking.

"How far are we going?" Hakkai asked. "This temple seems quite large."

"It was built that way, for the one who lived in it loved his space to play," Seidaku explained.

"Play?" Goku asked. "You mean like hide and go seek or something?"

"Stupid Monkey!" Sanzo yelled at him. "Shut up and keep walking!"

Seidaku chuckled.

"The top floor," he replied to Hakkai's earlier question. "There is something there to be witnessed for any of what I'll tell you to make sense."

Sanzo snorted and began following again, past the third floor which looked much like a large set of kitchens and pantries where many foods were being prepared by even more strange people that watched the Sanzo group curiously. Goku had to be grabbed by Gojyo to keep him from running off and was drug kicking and screaming up to the forth. It looked to be only a large room filled with many shelves and crates covered with junk and dust and nothing more. Honestly, the temple seemed the most normal out of any of the town.

It was the fifth floor that didn't seem proper. Instead of a doorframe like the other floors, the stairs ended at a large hatch about their heads. A strange smell was coming from the hatch, and Goku wrinkled his nose. Seidaku, lifting a wrinkled and fragile looking palm, pressed the heavy wood up seemingly without effort and continued along.

"Oh shit, that's blood," Goku muttered. It was faint, but they could all smell it too.

"Ah, not too worry, it's only my own," Seidaku replied as he walked up the rest of the way into the room and they came after him.

"What in the world?" Hakkai asked as he saw the fifth floor. The room was indeed caked in blood, leaving an unpleasant odor and sight. It was dried and peeling from the walls and everything else in the room. A throne, along with several types of furniture like tables, chairs, shelves and even small statues were knocked over or broken. In the middle of all the chaos two figures stood, or at least what was left of them. Two corpses that looked as if they had been decaying for a few weeks, yet still stood on their legs, and their arms inside each other's chests.

"What the hell is this shit?" Goku asked. "Who are those guys?"

"One of them is me," Seidaku replied, somehow sounding too cheerful of the fact. "You'll have to forgive me though, I can't remember which one that is. It's been a long time since it all happened."

"Okay, pops, you are seriously freaking me out," Gojyo snapped. "Just what the hell is this all about?"

"Oh ho ho ho. Yes, yes. My apologies," the old man laughed. "I sometimes forget my thoughts, old age and all that. Thank goodness I can't get any worse."

He turned to them.

"You see, I came to this place long ago, to fight a demon by the name of Kumo. He was… the strangest thing I had ever come across. A child apparently born of a demon and a god, at least that's what he boasted. Seemed there was some grain of truth to it at least, since he had the oddest ability to create... or recreate really."

"Recreate?" Sanzo asked. "You mean, this… Land of the Dead?"

"I do," he answered. "And all the ones who live here. He took them all, stole away the life then breathed new life into them after changing their bodies into images that amused him. Their minds were wiped, giving them no memories of who they even were on the outside. They are not truly demons, nor are they human in any means. They are… what they are I suppose. No word was given to them by their creator, aside from toys. He was a cruel ruler of his little playground, and gave his creations little love. Everything had to abide by his rules, his curse that he placed upon them and this land."

"Curse. You mean the fact no one can leave?" Hakkai inquired. "It stayed in place after he died?"

"I sometimes have to wonder if he did really die," Seidaku replied honestly, his grin fading for a moment. "We are still all here, even myself whose corpse has been rotting for seems like forever. There is no concept of time here. Kumo wrote the rules, and the adjustment of time was one of them. He created it to last all eternity, much like the Heavens, which I'm sure was the point. This could have all happened days ago, or a millennia. No one can ever tell for sure, and even a poor ghost like me is unable to escape."

He gave a fake little weeping noise, though didn't seem all that concerned about his predicament. In fact, he was still smiling.

"Kitai said you were expecting us," Sanzo suddenly growled out. "What the hell do you want from us?"

"Escape of course," Seidaku replied. "Kitai is a wandering soul who was unfortunate enough to be trapped here, but no power is absolute. No trap is perfect. Kumo did not create her, nor was she killed by him and now is only a spirit to wander the halls. She alone could escape… though she stopped looking along ago."

"If she stopped looking then how are we supposed to affect anything? You're telling us that you did all this for that line of bullshit?"

"Well, I like her more since I don't even know you," he replied, chuckling. "And I figure you'll all want to leave just as much. Besides, I only foresaw you entering this place, and Kitai meeting you. Whether or not you got out on time, was hardly at my discretion. If you had, well so be it. As it is, she may be motivated by your little scavenger hunt."

Sanzo's fist's clenched. This was too much like being ordered around by the gods.

"You old bastard. Want to see if you can die twice?"

"Wait Sanzo," Hakkai interjected. "Look, I agree this isn't the greatest of circumstances, but we can get past it. Why don't we just relax this evening and set on getting out of here tomorrow? It's not like he's trying to hold us here."

Goku and Gojyo both watched him curiously before he growled and turned his back on the old man.

"Just where are these rooms for us?"

"The second floor. Kitai should be finished picking them out by now."

Sanzo strode past his demon companions, anger on his face. With a sigh, Hakkai trailed after him, then Gojyo and Goku. Once they were on the stairs, the hatch closed over their heads, leaving Seidaku inside.

"Fucking creepy, man," Goku muttered. "Hey Sanzo, you think we'll really be stuck here like everyone else? I mean, there's got to be a way to escape, right?"

"You think I'm going to spend all eternity with you pansies than you just need to die right now," Sanzo bit out as he descended the stairs. "It was made by a stupid demon whose only thing going for him was his ego. Just 'cause the morons here can't figure it out doesn't mean shit."

"So confident, I'm sure we'll be out and on our way in no time," Hakkai said with a smile. "But in the mean time, I see no reason not to join the festivities. Why not see what this festival thing is all about after we see our rooms?"

"Wonder if the dead can make good food?" Goku pondered aloud.

"Okay man, that is just sick," Gojyo snapped at him. "Seriously, you really need to shut the hell up ya goddamn monkey."

Goku was about to throw an insult back at him, but stopped suddenly and grinned. He'd nearly forgotten there was food on the third floor, but now that they were almost there, he could smell it again.

"Oooh, that smells delicious!" he cried out and suddenly ran down the stairs.

"Hey! Come back here!" Gojyo yelled and went after him.

"Hey," Goku said as he ran into the kitchen area up to the first person he saw. "Can I have some food? Just a bite, please?"

The man he addressed turned and looked at him. Dressed in a tunic and pants, his skin looked a like a black leather and Goku was slightly unnerved to see he had no face or mouth to answer back.

"Uh… I…" he stuttered before the man shrugged and reached out for something on the counter. He tossed an apple to him then turned back to his work.

"Kage, don't do that. You'll spoil hi… Oh! You're not Urufu."

The person talking approached and looked at the monkey demon in surprise. Or at least he could only guess it would have been surprise. The woman creaked as she moved and he saw wood instead of flesh and roughly cut joints. Her head was the strangest of all, which looked like a white mask with red cheeks and lips, along with black lines for eyelashes painted on it. She had no hair and the back of it suddenly spun around to show a common looking fool's mask, a dopey expression on the orange face. She bowed, several times then scratched the back of her neck with a nervous sort of laughter that did not move her O-shaped lips.

"So sorry. So sorry. My mistake. You'll have to forgive me, I'm just a dummy."

Several groans came from the comment.

"That joke was never funny Nijuu. Just get back to work."

"Ah! Right away, right away!" She looked back to Goku and her head spun back to its proper place. "If you like young sir, the banquet will be held shortly. I don't know who you are, but you're welcome to join us. For now, you need to stay out of the kitchens. The area is dangerous with all the cooking happening."

Goku nodded. The second he thought this place couldn't get any weirder, something else showed up. But everyone seemed so friendly…

"Goku!" Gojyo yelled as he grabbed him. "Come on, let's go! I want to get to my room pronto!"

"Ow! Hey, don't be such a dickweed!" he yelled as he was dragged down the second flight of stairs. Sanzo did nothing to help him, and Hakkai only chuckled at the money's predicament.

"I was about to come and get you," Kitai said as they reached the foot of the stair on the second floor. "Your rooms are ready. I wasn't sure if you wanted any food or not, but since the feast is in only an hour or so-"

"They're separate, right?" Sanzo snapped, cutting her off.

"Uh… yes. They're in the same hall, two on each side, across from each other. We have plenty of space here, since Master Sanzo and I are the only ones who live here. I'll take you to them. They're nearby."

She turned and led them to the far left side of the building before pushing away a lush red curtain to one of the entrances, showing them the hall. It was a straight shot from the stairs, and convenient too. There were so many halls; it would have annoyed Sanzo to be led all the way to the back and getting lost.

"And where do you sleep?" Gojyo purred.

Sanzo shoved roughly past Kitai before she could answer and went to the first room on the left hand side.

"First person to bother me is dead, you all got that?" he growled and slid the door shut with a loud snap.

"Oh dear," Hakkai said. "You'll have to forgive him. He's not in the greatest mood right now."

"It's because of what Master Sanzo did, isn't it?" she asked, looking a little depressed and sheepish at the same time. "I was suspicious at first, but I never would have thought he'd willingly let a person become trapped here."

"He said it's because you won't try to get out yourself," Goku replied between bites on his apple.

"Oh that," Kitai replied. "I guess that's true. When I first got here, I was desperate to leave, but… Well, I'm sure I don't have to explain after a while the situation just seems hopeless. I don't even know how long I've been here honestly. I think it's been a couple years, but I really don't know. This festival is actually sort of in celebration that I've decided to stay. We don't really have holidays to celebrate or anything."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it too much," Hakkai replied with a smile. "I understand that that Sanzo of yours had your interests at heart. Besides, delays are routine for us, as much as that might seem like a bit of a paradox. We'll be fine, and then you can decide if you want to stay here or not."

Kitai smiled.

"You're all very kind," she said. "I'll come and get you when the preparations are complete. If nothing else, I hope you enjoy your rooms. They're all pretty large, and the ones on the left have windows with excellent views."

"I'm sure they're more than adequate," Hakkai said, giving a bow before going to one of the rooms on the right. "Come on Hakaru. What do you say I draw you a bath? You must be sore considering all the rocky terrain."

"I call the room on the left!" Goku cried out and nearly trampled the wooden floor into breaking as he ran to his own. They saw his eyes widening before he jumped in the room and the sudden sound of bouncing was heard.

"I hope Kumo made the furniture strong," Hakkai chuckled. "Well, I'll be turning in. See you all at dinner."

He politely closed the door of Goku's room before disappearing into his own.

"I should get going," Kitai said to Gojyo and made to leave, only to be caught around the arm gently.

"Don't go," he replied. "I'd like the company."

She blushed.

"I already told you-"

"You're not interested," he finished for her. "S'okay. I just want to talk, really. Besides, you think I'm gonna treat the girl who has a dead Sanzo on her side roughly? Come on, give me some credit."

"I suppose," she replied slowly then nodded. "All right. I guess I can."

Gojyo let her go and went to the one room left, hearing the soft clunking of her boots following him. Granted, he would have been more than happy to hear she was interested in a little fling, but he knew not to push too hard. Despite what other guys might think about the opposite sex, Gojyo himself knew that no meant no.

The room was nice he had to admit. Large enough that all of the Sanzo party could have fit in, and the bed had a sheer, white silk canopy and sheets. There was also a low table with pillows around it, a closet, short dresser, and a doorway that he could see a bathing area through. There was even a little coal furnace to keep the room warm.

"This is pretty comfy," he admitted as he sat down on the bed, kicking his boots off. "Are all the rooms like this?"

"Most of them, some of them are bare though," she answered as she settled down on one of the pillows. "It just looks big because there's a lot of space. Mine filled up pretty quickly actually."

"You think we're going to be staying a long time, don't you?" Gojyo asked casually. "No, you don't think we'll get out at all."

"No," she replied softly. "I don't. I never did after all."

"Did you ever really want to leave though?"

Confused, she looked up at him.

"What do you mean?"

Gojyo sighed and smiled softly.

"And here I thought I was good with explaining the obvious to a pretty face," he replied then moved to sit down next to her. He moved a single hand out to her face, making her nearly back away before trailing his finger though her hair. "This… it gave you a lot of problems, didn't it? But I'm guessing no one around here minds. Heck, would they even know how… taboo we supposedly are? They only know as much about the outside world that they're told from outsiders, aren't they?"

"I…" she shook her head. "I'm leaving."

"Why?" he asked as he took her hands in his.

"Stop it," she snapped and pushed him away, only there was much too much force from it to have really been from her. She gasped as he was thrown against the wall. "Gojyo! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

"Ow," he groaned. "What…"

"I'm sorry!" she cried as she stood and hurried to his side. "I… don't have a great time controlling my abilities when I get upset. Nana always said it was my worst quality. And she had plenty of them listed for me."

"Nana?" he asked as she helped him straighten out into a sitting position.

"The woman who took me in," she replied. "I was born in this little mountain town and my parents both were gone before I could remember them. She was the midwife in town, well, more along the local witch than anything. She never told me what happened to them, said I didn't need to know, and just that I should work hard as her apprentice. Nana was pretty harsh, but as none of the villagers would even talk to me, I didn't really have much choice to stay with her. She trained me to use some magic, nothing spectacular, just little spells and so forth. She told me I had power but no talent, and eventually told me to just leave."

"What did you do after that?" he asked.

"Wandered," she replied with a shrug. "I was an adult at that point, tried to set up shop a few times, but it never worked for this reason or that. I eventually came across this mountain and saw this place. I had no idea what it even was when I came in."

"And over time, you decided to stay?" he asked, but more to move the story along than to clarify anything.

"You were right," she replied. "They accepted me right away, everyone, and Master Sanzo acted like a grandfather I never had. Why leave, when I'd just been looking for a place to belong?"

"But he wants you to go?" he inquired. "Why?"

"This is the Land of the Dead," she replied. "I'm alive, maybe the only one truly alive here. I could stay here forever, but he doesn't think it's good for me. He thinks I should go, and have a normal life, instead of the self-declared attendant to a ghost in world that is morbid and will never change."

Gojyo nodded. He certainly understood how she felt, and yet how the others would as well. It certainly wasn't really that odd of a situation, despite all the creepy undead shit involved. He guessed if he'd found this place when he was alone and younger, he would have been pretty content with it too.

"What are you doing here anyway?" she asked suddenly. "Hardly anyone comes through this mountains. It's so far away from anything. I only came across it because I was lost."

"Not much of a choice," he replied. "We got lost too. We're on our way West, because of the calamity that's been happening."

"Calamity?" she asked, a confused look in her eyes.

"Oh right," he chuckled. "You don't know. Honestly, it doesn't all make a lot of scene to me, but someone out there is trying to resurrect some demon that was sealed away a long time ago for eating humans. Whoever's trying to pull it off created something called the Minus Wave through their mixing of science and magic or some crap like that. It's making all the demons go loco and we gotta stop it."

"You weren't affected then? Because of…"

"Because I'm human too, yeah."

Kitai looked away.

"I really should go," she said softly. "I'm sorry again about earlier."

"Ah, don't worry about it," he replied with a grin. "And here I thought I knew what no meant. I pushed too hard. Not your fault."

She gave a soft smile at him before standing.

"I guess I'll see you at the banquet," she said before leaving the room.

Gojyo sighed and fished out a cigarette, placing it in his mouth and lighting it. Shit, well that could have gone better.

Oh well. At least she hadn't started crying.

---------

'Minus Wave? A calamity?' Kitai thought as she made her way back down stairs. 'Just what is happening in Shangri-La? And if I never knew anything about it… I wonder how long I've really been in here? Maybe I should have asked how long it had been going on. I wonder if Master Sanzo knew anything about it.'

She paused at the room holding the man who also called himself Sanzo. For a holy man, he certainly was different than what she was use to. Crude and rough around the edges, he was nothing like the man who had been taking care of her since she'd gotten here. He was like the opposite side to the same coin.

She wanted a reason to go in, wracking her brains for even the smallest excuse, but none came to mind. And really, even if she had one, what would she say? He'd made it more than obvious he had no wish to be bothered, and she would only be doing that if she tried to intrude on him right now.

'Curiosity killed the cat after all,' she reminded herself. 'It's just best if you get back to work. There are a lot of things that still need to be checked on, and I have no idea where Master Sanzo wandered off too. I wonder if he's still upstairs on the fifth floor?'

She sighed and shook her head. Master Sanzo would come when he was needed. No need to try and find him. No, she could just go and check how things were going in the kitchens she supposed.

---End of Chapter Two---

Okay, second chapter done. Again, reviews are appreciated, and the favor will be returned. Like bore, all criticism is welcome as well.

One thing I would like some feedback on is my characterization on everyone, especially Sanzo. I want to know I'm doing them justice. Suggestions are more then welcome if you saw something you didn't agree with.