The Man From Yesterday
Chapter 2:
There was a happy looking family standing in front of a run down old house, and there stood Gojyo standing in front of them. He was smaller though... and weaker. He was a child again.
Was this a memory? If so why couldn't he remember?
Infront of the young Gojyo stood a family too large for the shack they stood infront of. It consisted of a mother, a father, and three children. The little ones hair and eyes shone in the light. Bright red.
It didn't really surprise Gojyo to see him there. The oldest child. Kuroryu. He looked much happier back then. It was odd, though, he looked so poor and yet he smiled as if he owned the world.
Kuroryu played with his younger brother and sister in their front yard. His sister looking no older then eight and his brother still being a toddler. They were all beautiful children, just like their mother.
Their mother.
She was the youkai, a tengu. She passed on the scarlet features that made her kids resemble Gojyo. They were all half-breeds. A common ground for the children.
Suddenly Gojyo saw himself run into the group of children and join in thier playing. They happily accepted him. Gojyo tried to make it stop, he tried to ask questions, but it wasn't like a dream.
It was a memory.
Suddenly this memory faded into a different scene.
He could hear the parents arguing. It was loud and relentless, ringing through the house and even outside. The old walls couldn't hold the sounds in, it couldn't keep a secret.
In the children's bedroom the two youngest were crying and clinging to Kuroryu, who was doing everything to make them happy again. He offered them games and toys. He offered to take them for a walk by the stream to skip rocks. He sang softly to them, trying to calm their screams and tears.
"Look what you're doing to the kids, Hiroshi!!" The loud bellowing voice of the mother yelled out. "You're gambling their food away!"
"I was trying to double the money! I was trying to make us rich!" the father yelled back.
"That's why you came back with nothing?!" the mother cried out.
A loud crash was heard from the room they were in. The mother was so angry she lost her composure and she couldn't stop crying.
Hiroshi stepped out for a walk.
Kuroryu wiped his own tears away before speaking to his siblings.
"I promise you both! I will find us a home. I will get a job and we will be wealthy. I promise you both!! I will take you away from here and everything will be better. We will be happy. Hear you me."
Gojyo stood, a child, completely horrified in the children's room. He wanted to help but he didn't know what to say.
Suddenly Gojyo heard someone calling his name. He blinked a few times and shook his head. Then everything went blank. He could hear screaming in his ears.
Gojyo jumped from his bed, yanked from his dreams. Now the only thing he could hear was Goku singing about breakfast.
If you dared to call THAT singing.
"Damn! Who's killing the monkey?!" Gojyo yelled rubbing his eyes.
His skin was burning and everything was spinning around him. He could hear his steady quickened hearbeat in his head.
"It's not my fault you have a hangover!!" Goku yelled back, though he himself looked sick.
I bet he's thrown up already.. damn.. I missed his first hangover. Gojyo thought.
"Well, one good thing came from your childish acts yesterday Gojyo"Hakkai said, making breakfast in the kitchen. "Goku will never drink again."
Gojyo kept his eyes squinted. The light was too bright for his liking. Slowly he made his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge. He was looking for alocohol. Usually the hotels have atleast one bottle for their guests, but it was no where to be found.
"Where's the booze?" Gojyo asked, trying to block out the light with his hand. "How th' hell am I supposd to get rid of a hangover if I don't have somthing to drink?" He made his way over to the table and slumped down into his chair. He laid his face on the cool surface and closed his eyes tight.
Sanzo sat across from him, drinking coffee and reading the paper. Hakkai silently continued making the food.
"So..." Goku said as he joined everyone else in the kitchen. "Do you remember anything about that Kuroryu guy from yesterday?" he asked in his usual joking voice
"What a pain." Gojyo growled. He didn't want to get nagged that early in the morning, and besides, talking made his head throb. "His name is Kuroryu Sashin. He's half-youkai. His mother was a tengu. He had a little sister and brother and the whole family was poor becaue their good for nothing father gambled every penny they had."
"I suppose he got his lust for games from his 'good for nothing' father." Hakkai said, passing out plates for breakfast.
"A tengu, huh?" Sanzo said, hardly taken from his paper. "What was her name?"
"I don-" Gojyo stopped himself. A name popped into his head. Maybe he was starting to remember things. "Yayoi.. her name was Yayoi." he paused for a moment. "The father was Hiroshi. The boy's name was Solo and the girl's name was Aurora, and Kuroryu was the oldest of the children." The memories were definatly starting to come back now. It made his head hurt.
"So, how'd you know them?" Goku asked already with a mouth full of food.
"Hell if I know!" Gojyo said quietly, trying to keep from hurting his head anymore then it already was.
"Here." Hakkai said sitting a plate of food in front of Gojyo. "Eat, you'll fell better."
Gojyo glared at the plate for a long moment. It was a mental battle. If he ate he might throw up, but he was starving.
The food won the war. He started eating.
Goku quickly finished his food, and he took a long drink from his orange juice before he spoke.
"I think I know how you met Kuroryu!" he said with a smile.
Gojyo didn't reply, so Hakkai humored him.
"Oh? How's that Goku?"
"I bet Kuroryu beat Gojyo up for hitting on his sister!" Goku laughed.
"NO!" Gojyo exclaimed. "She was hitting on me." It seemed Hakkai was right, as always. The food was making him feel better.
"Ew! You were flirting with a little girl?!" Goku asked, his dispostion changed.
"No! Geez! I was a kid too you little freak."
"So they were your childhood friends." Sanzo said sternly. Like it was a fact.
Gojyo opened his mouth to reply but he was interupted by a loud shattering noise. When they looked over their window was all over the floor and a youkai stood with a toothy grin. The four of them stood to fight.
"Hand it over Genjyo Sanzo." the creature growled holding firmly to a spear.
"Who do you think you're dealing with here?" Goku laughed at the youkai. "Come on, we have killed thousands of youkai, why would you try to fight us alone? Are you slow?"
"Hand over the sutra Genjyo Sanzo!!" the youkai said, ignoring Goku. The smile not leaving his face.
"Come and take it from me." Sanzo growled back, pointing the banishing gun at his target. "Ass hole."
The youkai laughed loudly. It cut the air. "Very well then." he said in a growling voice. "In the name of Kuroryu!"
The youkai moved so fast it was like he dissapeared. Goku hardly ahd the chance to pull out his nyoi-bo before the youkai was in front of him. Their weapons met, and all Goku could do was hold him back. He wasn't in the right stance to fight. The creature took advantage of this fact and kicked Goku back, knocking him over the kitchen table and onto his back.
Gojyo took his turn. He flipped the weapon quickly, but beacuse they were in such a small room there wasn't much he could do.
But one bad move on the youkai's side and Gojyo's blade cought his face, but the youkai didn't miss a beat. Without reacting to the gash on his face the youkai swung his spear and tore a hole in Gojyo's jacket, almost catching the kappa's skin.
Sanzo looked annoyed, and took aim and fired. The sound was loud and merciless, tearing through the air. Being only a few foot away from the youkai Sanzo didn't miss. It peirced it's chest and went through to the other side.
The youkai took a long, deep breath before grabbing his chest. He glared up at Sanzo, but attacked the one closest to him. Hakkai.
"How the hell is he still going?!" Goku asked. He extended his nyoi-bo and knocked the creature away from his friend.
Hakkai didn't waste any time. While the youkai was on the ground he put his hand over it's face and shot chi through his palm, viciously smashing the youkai into the ground.
Finally he stopped moving.
"Wow Hakkai..." Goku said, starring at the charred body. "Overkill don't chu think?" He walked over and examined the body.
"It seemed to be the only way to stop him." Hakkai replied. He knelt down and wiped his hand on the youkai's shirt. He felt something in the man's pocket. Knowing the youkai wouldn't need it anymore Hakkai pulled the peice of paper from his pocket and examined it. It was a letter adressed to Sanzo
"Sanzo.. it seems you have a love letter." Hakkai said, handing the letter over to the preist.
He opened the letter and began to read it outloud.
"Congratulations Sanzo party, you've defeated the weakest minion I have. Please, expect strongerones to greet you. So say your prayers Oh gun weilding preist, and pray that you'lldie soon. My men have made their bets, you see, and they think that if I get my hands on you there will be nothing left to bury. How does that make you feel Genjyo Sanzo? Do you finally realize that our lives are nothing but games. And too bad for you that all the bets are on me." Sanzo stopped reading. He looked very annoyed as he read the rest of the letter.Suddenly he threw the paper at Gojyo.
"The rest is for you and Goku." He crossed his arms and waited for one of them to read it aloud. Goku picked up the paper and handed it to Gojyo. He began to read.
"Now, if you would hand the letter off to Gojyo and Goku for me Sanzo. -- Gojyo, I have a proposition for you boys. Why don't you two come and join us? We are powerful! Far more powerful them the humans. Leave your weak human crutches and come to us. Gojyo, my old friend, you know there is always a spot for you on my team. Oh, and please tell your brother he is welcome as well.
Farewell,
Kuroryu
p.s.
Banri says hello."
There was silence for a moment. The air was thick and tense.
"Banri?" Gojyo broke the silence in an angry voice. "That dumb mother fucker left me for dead and joined a G-d damn gang?!" Gojyo crumpled the letter and threw it to the floor. "Fucking jerkoff."
"Well.. Gojyo, Banri wasn't exactly a loyal person.. or friend." Hakkai said being the only other person in the house who even knew who Banri was, and it didn't help that he hated him with every ounce of his being.
Gojyo leaned against the wall and scowled, pissed off at the world. "What a shitty day." he said to himself.
"No need to pout about it." Goku said. "If he left you for dead then you shouldn't worry about him anyway."
Gojyo glared at him and continued to scowl.
"Goku, don't worry about it... that is a ten year grudge." Hakkai said saving Goku the trouble.
"Then why the hell were they friends?" Goku asked, confused.
"Shut up you ape." Gojyo said.
"Screw you ass Kappa!"
"Get over it!" Sanzo scolded them both. "There are bigger better things to get pissed about rather then some ppissant friend of yours."
"You mean like getting out of this room with the smashed dead body?" Hakkai asked while putting his cloak on.
Everyone quickly grabbed their cloaks and glasses and followed Hakkai out of the hotel, except Hakuryu. he went out the window and transformed into a jeep so they could make a quicker escape.
Gone in thirty seconds.
"New Record!!" Goku said happily, now riding in the back of the jeep, celibrating.
"Yes, it seems we are getting quite good at running away."Hakkai said quickly stearing his way through town.
"Jeez, when you say it that way." Gojyo said, frowning.
"Man what a buzzkill." Goku added in a whining voice.
Sanzo immediatly looked like he had a headache, and he left his newspaper at the hotel. Now how was he supposed to drown them out?
Everyone's minds were on something else and for the first time in history it was quiet in the jeep. Goku didn't like it. He glanced from side to side watching everyone closely. Nothing. It was killing him.
"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm hungry!!" he yelled as loud as he could.
"You're always hungry, brat!" Gojyo yelled backat him, shocked by the sudden yelling.
"You just ate breakfast, Goku." Hakkai added in his motherly tone of voice.
"But I didn't get to enjoy it! Some asshole had to bust in and ruin it!"
"Nothing stops you from eating, monkey. You would eat in the faces of starving orphans if you decided you were hungry!" Gojyo said.
Goku starred at him blankly. Then he threw himself halfway into the front seat and spoke into Hakkai and Sanzo's ears.
"I think I have a plan to make Kuroryu go away!" he said in and enthusiastic voice.
"Oh? And how's that?" Hakkai asked, trying to keep his eyes in front of him.
"We can give him Gojyo!! They seem to like eachother." He smiled widely, always willing to make a joke at Gojyo's expecne.
Gojyo punched him in the back of the head.
"Well that would certantly chase him off." Hakkai said with a smile on his face. As long as he kept Goku amused and making fun of Gojyo he wasn't complaing about food.
Gojyo and goku argued the rest of the way out of the town. After they were far enough away that they wouldn't be noticed by anyone Sanzo threatened them of their lives and they calmed down.
Gojyo glared at Goku before stripping his cloak and glasses off and throwing them to the floor board.
"It's too damn hot for those." he said.
Goku nodde dhis head in agreement and he too stripped his cloak off, but when Goku had his in the air the wind caught it and it whipped around, catching Sanzo freshly lit lighter. When the material started to smoke Goku paniced and threw it in Gojyo's lap.
"Don't throw it at me, ass!" Gojyo yelled, throwing it into the front of the jeep. The wind blew it into Hakkai's face.
Hakkai slammed on the brakes and almost flipped the car over. He threw the cloak out of the car and onto the ground. He jumped out of the jeep and started stepping on the cloak to put it out. Goku jumped out to help him.
"Damn it! I like that cloak!" he exclaimed.
Slowly Sanzo and Gojyo stepped out of the car. Sanzo bent down and took his lighter from the still smoldering cloak and lifted it to the cigarette hanging from his mouth and lit it. Goku starred at them both.
"Why did you both get out? I could have gotten the lighter for you." Goku said wondering why no one was punching him and telling him that he was a moron.
Sanzo took a hit off of his cigarette and let the cloud of smoke blow into the wind.
"We have company." The Preist said in a bored voice.
Goku turned and saw Gojyo standing with his weapon and Hakkai standing on defense, but all he saw was empty space and a few trees.
Suddenly youkai started jumping from the trees all around them, and Goku readied his nyoi-bo.
A large youkai spoke loudly. "Give us your sutra Genjyo Sanzo! We want your sutra!"
Sanzo let out a small laugh and turned to face the group of creatures. He dropped his cigarette on the groud and stomped it out.
"Tell me something I don't know."
Chapter 2: end