"Do you know why a Sanzo priest wears his sutra on his shoulders? It expresses his will to carry the burden of his karma. Watch, Kouryuu. As long as you don't lose sight of yourself you can accept even that weight. Forgive me for being so brief, but the rest is up to you Genjyo Sanzo." my master said on that stormy night as he was torn to pieces by the youkai who had come for the Seiten scripture. I couldn't move; I could barely breathe. The slashes, the blood, and the tears pouring from my eyes distorted the once smiling face of the only man I could call father.
For the longest time, I wondered why the youkai left me alive. It may have been Master Komyo's doing somehow. Or they might not have seen me. There was no way I survived the encounter because of mercy; beings that cruel don't understand the word. Other than that, I'll never know. But I don't know how many times I wished that I was a pile of human flesh on the floor instead of existing as I do now.
The loop that my nightmares were usually on was thrown off this night. Instead of replaying the horrible scene a hundred times, it flicked forward to after I was crowned Genjyo Sanzo. Lei was waiting outside for me, as she was not allowed to watch the proceedings.
"What happened Kouryuu?" She asked, falling in step with me as I made my way to meet one of the monks.
I pulled the crown out from my robe and the scripture that I was given. "I am no longer Kouryuu. My name is Genjyo Sanzo, the thirty-first of China."
The youkai girl had been living at the temple for a three years but she still didn't get the meaning of my new responsibility. "What does all that mean? You'll always be Kouryuu to me, no matter what a bunch of stuck up old geezers say."
"Do you know what this is?" I asked, pulling my bangs up and revealing the chakra on my forehead.
"Oh," Lei nodded, "That is the same red dot that Master Komyo has…had on his forehead." She made her perfect poker face at the thought of my dead master. He had taken care of her as he did me, so the youkai girl regarded him as much of a father as I had. Lei had been the first person to arrive at the tragedy. The bloody scene had made her gasp in shock, but she dragged me out of the room and into her arms before she broke down. We had stood in silence for what seemed like eternity, tears pouring down both of our faces. I snapped back to the present as Lei shook me. "Kouryuu, are you okay?"
I didn't respond. The question was a stupid one. "Do you get it now? I am taking Master's place as a Sanzo." I didn't wait for her answer. There was nothing more I could say if she did not.
We continued walking until we met the old monk outside a shed that I had never bothered to explore. "Come here, Kouryuu. I mean, Master Sanzo." He beckoned, opening the ancient door with a rusty creak. "I know that Buddhism does not approve of causing harm to another creature, but you no longer have that option. Take your pick." The entire structure was filled with every weapon imaginable. Spears the size of tree saplings lined the walls and swords glittered in the light seeping through the door. All of them looked too heavy and flashy. It took me but a moment to catch sight of a small bundle in the back of the room.
Underneath the blanket was a Smith and Wesson revolver. It was a little heavier than it looked, but would be much easier for me to handle and master than the others. I grabbed it, some bullets, and the cleaning gear I would need. "Good choice." The old monk said.
"Why do you need a gun?" Lei asked as I exited the shed.
Frankly, I was getting quite tired of her constant questions. "I'm going after the scripture the youkai stole." I twisted and turned the weapon in my hand experimentally, trying to get a feel for it. My life depended on my mastery of the killing device in my hand.
"Okay, when do we leave?" I turned to see yellow eyes hard with determination.
"What do you mean 'we'? You aren't coming. You're staying…" And I received a sharp crack on the back of the head. "Hey!"
Lei had her arms crossed and shook her head like she would to a petulant child. "There is no way I'm letting you go off on your own after a band of youkai! What kind of friend would I be if I let you do something so reckless? And I don't give a damn about your Buddhist BS; I want revenge for what they have taken from us." Her claws seemed that much sharper and fangs that much longer as she voiced what had been on her mind. Sometimes I forget that my best and only friend was a dangerous youkai who could tear my throat out in a heartbeat.
I had never been able to change her mind before. There wasn't any way I'd be able to do it now. And honestly, I was glad that I wouldn't be going alone. A demon, despite the fact that she was a young girl, would help immensely in my search. "Okay, go grab your stuff. We have to leave now."
In a matter of minutes Lei was out and ready. She changed into the purple kimono that Master and I had gotten for her birthday that past year. "She isn't a Buddhist," Master had said when I questioned the present, "Lei is just a poor orphaned girl. She deserves something pretty." She had cried and squeezed both of us half to death, swearing to treasure it forever. The only other things she had with her was a pair of sturdy shoes, a heavy gray raincoat and a burlap sack.
We stopped by the kitchen and filled it and my own pack with as much food and money as we could. "Come quickly!" One of the monks yelled, pulling us out of the building and rushing us to a side path. "You need to get out of here before the bandits close off the pass. Hurry!"
The two of us started running up the small deer path as fast as we could. Lei had to slow down to let me keep up with her inhuman speed. We broke through a clearing in the trees and saw Kinzan temple up in flames. "Kouryuu, we have to keep moving."
Ten minutes later, the youkai girl stopped in her tracks. I ran right into her back and almost fell over. "Do you hear that?" Her ears pricked up and twitched slightly, trying to catch some noise too quiet for me to detect.
I shook my head. "There it goes again. Someone is after us. A group of someone's, actually. Crap!" She pushed me into a bush unceremoniously and jumped down beside me.
Eight men appeared a couple hundred feet down the path. And at the head of the little pack was a very familiar face. "Father!" Lei hissed, digging her claws into my arm. It was him indeed. He was soaked from head to toe in human blood.
"We have to kill that little brat and grab the other scripture. There are a lot of powerful people, human and youkai alike, that would pay a good amount of money to get a hold of it. And we are going to get the lion's share of that cash." The other seven youkai cheered, waving axes and knives in the air.
They started coming our way, and it would be just a matter of seconds before they caught our scent. "Kouryuu, you are going to have to do something for me." Lei whispered frantically, grasping my hands in both of hers. "You have to make a run for it. Those seven idiots will be no problem for me to handle, but my father is another matter. I don't have full control of my powers. He does. I can't have you anywhere in the area just in case I lose it." I tried to protest, but she clasped a hand over my mouth.
"Please, Kouryuu, do this for me. He killed my mother, Master Komyo, and left me for dead. I can't let him get away with it. And I won't let him hurt you. Ever." The sheer resolve that shone in her eyes told me that she would have it no other way.
I looked down at my wrist and saw the matching red prayer bead bracelet that I had given to Shuei just days earlier. Quickly, I took it off and thrust it into her hands. "You had better give this back to me. I'll never forgive you if you don't."
Lei smiled and slipped it over her hand. "I promise." She swiftly pulled me into a hug and then thrust me out of the bush towards the path. "Now hurry! Don't wait for me. I'll try to catch up." She paused for a moment, as if trying to find the words. "You had better live, Kouryuu."
I ran as fast and hard as I possibly could. If I were caught, Lei's plan would all be for nothing. Someone behind me yelled, "Did you hear that? Over th…Ack!" A blood-curdling scream cut it off. I allowed myself to look back once to see two youkai on the ground in a pool of their own blood. The other five surrounded Lei and were closing in. I almost pulled out my gun when a wind started whipping about her and there was a flash. Her attackers had been burned out of existence.
The last thing I saw was Mr. Liu summoning a crackling energy around him and Lei rushing forward almost too fast for the human eye. Then the trees engulfed me whole.
