Student of the Teacher
Summary: The Sanzo group has been traveling for only a short while, but suddenly they come upon a figure from Hakkai's past—a young girl of about twenty, who apparently knows more about Cho Gonou then most. Who is she? Why is she here? And….why is Gojyo acting so strangely all of a sudden? Time is shortly after Yaone.
Pairings: whatever. you tell me what you want; i'll try to use them. it all depends, though, on if its gunna work with the story….
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Notes: Everyone, the whole blood thing shall be explained later. For now, enjoy the story, 'kay? Oh, and it will get odd towards the end, but if you can survive that part, you can survive the whole story (since, as far as I know, that's the only time something odd's that going to happen).
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((authoress talking))
"character talking"
'character thinking'
flashback scene
"chanting"
writing
singing
"telepathy"
Blood of the Youkai Goddess
"I am going to kill you," Yaiba said icily as she looked Raido in the eye. Gojyo was staring at her from behind, somehow realizing that she was off. An odd aura of some sort had begun surrounding her, slowly becoming more visible as she stood with her legs spread apart and her arms hanging loosely at her sides (1).
"Y-Yaiba?" Gojyo asked softly. Suddenly, a searing pain spread through his body, starting at his arm and flowing around from there. He screamed and Raido stared, but Yaiba didn't even move from her spot.
"Yaiba-chibi-chan?" Raido asked nervously, summoning what looked like two oversized shuriken to his hands (2).
Yaiba watched him with one eye, the other covered by her hair. He noticed she was staring at him with an odd gleam in her eye (or was it the sun reflecting off her sunglasses?). It was impossible to tell if she was smirking or smiling, for she had tipped her head so that her hair also covered her mouth. Gojyo screamed in pain again, and he dimly wondered if whatever Yaiba had done had gone wrong and was going to kill him.
"Bastard," Yaiba growled in a deeper version of her voice. She slowly tipped her head forward, and her sunglasses slid down a fraction. Raido fell backwards (almost impaling himself with his shuriken in the process), landing hard on his ass.
"Yaiba," he pleaded as Yaiba slowly started walking forward, "please control yourself! Y-you don't know what you're doing!.!" He watched with horror as her sunglasses slipped down farther. Gojyo breifly wondered what he was so upset about when another wave of pain shot through him, causing him to clutch his head as he went into a featle position.
"YAIBA!.!.!" Raido shouted, throwing one of his shuriken at her. He hit her in her left arm, but she didn't even flinch as she continued her advance. Raido tried his best to scramble back, eyes wide as her sunglasses completely fell off, one lense cracking as it hit the ground.
"Die," Yaiba hissed as she held up her right hand. Suddenly, thorned vines grabbed him and raised him up into the air, causing him to yelp.
"Yaiba, you're losing yourself! Don't let it take over! I KNOW YOU CAN HOLD IT BACK!.!.!.!!"
"I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago, you son of a bitch," Yaiba spat, stopping right in front of him as she turned her hand (and thus him) upsidedown so that his eyes were level with hers.
"I-I'll give you back Getsuei, Yaiba," Raido suddenly stammered as his hair fell down towards the ground, revealing pointed ears with long earings that went down to the same spot as the bottom of his hair.
Gojyo's eyes widened as the pain started to receade, leaving him to breathe heavily. Yaiba's left arm twitched like she wanted to grab something, but she didn't seem to notice.
"I don't want that weakling," Yaiba hissed out, apparently appauled. Gojyo's jaw dropped, as she had spoken about Getsuei so fondly when she had told him about her deal. "I want Shuei."
"Sh-Shuei?" Raido whimpered as Yaiba started to fist up her right hand, causing the vines to tighten and Raido to scream. The pain had left Gojyo by then, but he didn't get up as he stared at the scene before him in shock (and horror) as he reconized the name.
"Yes. I want Shuei." Yaiba tilted her head the other way as she straitened her hand again, and Raido breathed in air greedily. "You know. My real brother, not that weak bastard-faker."
Gojyo froze, but Raido just narrowed his eyes a little.
"I-I need to get down there," he said pointedly. Yaiba's left arm (which Gojyo dimmly noticed was still impaled with the shuriken) twitched again, and Riado quickly continued, suddenly nervous. "I mean, if you let me go tell The Demon, I'm sure he'll send Shuei back from your world!.!"
"You lying bastard," Yaiba said with a smirk in her voice. "You'll run away from me. I know you can contact that asshole from here." Her voice dropped the smirk and instead filled with the promise of death. "Do it."
"I-I honestly can't, Yaiba!"
Yaiba flexed her right hand (Raido screamed loudly as the thorny vines impaled him and pulled back) before snapping it into a fist. Raido yelled out in pain, and then he seemed to explode with the pressure into a fountain of blood (3). Yaiba dropped her arm and laughed harshly as she was splattered, blocking Gojyo from the majority of it since she had somehow moved in front of him.
Gojyo struggled up (the pain had disappeared as mysteriously as it had come) and took a single step foreward. Yaiba's head straitened suddenly as both of her hands balled into fists.
"Y-Yaiba?" Gojyo asked softly, reaching out to touch her shoulder. She rounded on him and he gasped loudly.
Her bangs had grown out to her waist, still completely red, and her ears (which had been covered by her hair in the back) had become very fox-like, with the tips red and the rest black even though they were where her ears had been instead of on top of her head (4). Her nails had become even more pointed then usual and were now a deep green color (although they were still serraded), and a red chakra could be seen up towards the middle of her hairline. The most shocking change, however, was in her eyes. The irises had turned golden while her pupils had disappeared, but what is normally the whites of her eyes were totally bloodshot so that they were pure red.
"Gojyo," Yaiba said in her slightly-deeper voice with a smirk, revealing long fangs that would have impressed even someone like Kougaiji. "You all better now? I got rid of him for us."
"'Us'?" Gojyo repeated despite himself as Yaiba stepped closer, her smirk becoming a flirtatious smile.
"Yes, Gojyo. For us." She was now not even an inch away and she tried to grab Gojyo's hand. He pulled it away and Yaiba frowned.
"Gojyo?" she asked with a blink. Gojyo shook his head and instead grabbed her shoulders.
"Yaiba, what in the hell happened to you?.!" he asked loudly. Yaiba blinked again before her smirk returned.
"Oh, I'm not Yaiba," she said with a small, slightly harsh laugh as she put her small hands on his shoulders, careful not to hurt him with her claws. "I'm Akki-Kon." (5) "I've been watching you for a while, Gojyo-sama, and I have decided I like you." (6)
"You….what?"
"I think you'd make a wonderful leader, Gojyo-sama. So much better then that asshole Sanzo. Wouldn't you agree?"
Gojyo shrugged off her grip (Akki-Kon appeared confused) and instead grabbed her shoulders. "Yaiba, this is not you," Gojyo said harshly. "This is some sort of mistake. Do you have amnesia or somethin'?"
Akki-Kon laughed again before she put a hand on his waist. Gojyo shuddered slightly despite himself.
"I told you already, Gojyo-sama, I'm Akki-Kon. You see, this body has two souls. One from this world….and another from a different one."
"Two souls?" Gojyo repeated. "A different world? What in the hell are you talking about?.!"
"Oh, Yaiba never told you, did she?" Akki-Kon asked with another harsh laugh. She smiled flirtatiously up at Gojyo as he flinched away, taking his hands from her shoulders. "Her world is known as Sousui. Its like this one, only without youkai and infested with girl-destroying diseases. Hardly any women survived, and those who did died during childbirth more often then not. She traded her freedom to Raido to bring herself and her brother here so that she could be safe. As you have probably guessed, that's Shuei-kun, Sanzo-asshole's old friend.
"I was an innocent Demi-Goddess up in heaven, working for Bosatsu-sama, when she did it. Bosatsu did her best to try to find Yaiba and Shuei sutable bodies; ones that wouldn't be killed easily. Of course, I was chosen for Yaiba, since we looked relatively alike when I surpressed my powers. And Shuei….well, he gained the body of a previously-decessed charm master from at least one hundred years before, for the same reasons."
Gojyo was silent as he listened to this, completely shocked by the time that was over. Akki-Kon, however, wasn't finished.
"She, of course, brought with her powers, which only appeared once every two thousand years. Here, that is. There, it's maybe half a generation. So, both have been here for that long, pretty much stopped in time," Akki-Kon finished with a shrug. Her flirty-smile returned and she attempted to grab Gojyo again (he moved out of the way just in time). "But that's not important now, Gojyo-sama. She surpressed me as best as she could whenever she could, but in times of extreme rage, she allows me out. However, I'm not an easy beast to cage. I'll stay here until I decide to let her come back, Gojyo-sama."
"Y-you….what ARE you?" Gojyo asked, breathing heavily as he stumbled back from her. Akki-Kon narrowed her eyes.
"You don't except me as I am? Will you except HER now that you know the truth, Gojyo-sama? Hmm?"
Gojyo paused for a moment before his gaze hardened.
"Yes," he said determendly. "Yaiba is now part of this team. I don't give a blue fuck about those other guys, but I won't let a pretty girl go off on her own without protection." He smirked. "Even if she is a hard bastard to kill."
Akki-Kon was quiet for a moment as she allowed her bangs to hide her face. Then she looked up with narrowed, hateful eyes.
"Then you die," she hissed, starting to raise her right arm. Suddenly, a girly scream worked its way from her throat, and she fell, clutching her head in pain.
"I won't let you hurt him!" Yaiba's voice screeched.
"Too damn bad!" Akki-Kon's voice shouted back.
"Gojyo is—"
"A bastard! He doesn't love me, nor you for that matter!"
"You lie," Yaiba's voice hissed. "I heard it as well as you did, you asshole. NOW LET ME BACK!.!.!"
"NO!.!.!.!"
"AAAAAAAHHH!.!.!.!!!" both voices screamed in unision, a cracking sound breaking through the air. Suddenly, a band of golden light flew down like it had when Goku's power limiter broke. It snapped around her neck and became a thin golden chain with a claw hanging off of it. Yaiba returned in a second, and she became woozy as she fell onto her knees.
"Yaiba!" Gojyo shouted, rushing forward and catching her before she fell (7).
Yaiba raised her head to look up at Gojyo weakly, reaveling for the first time her orange, pupilless eyes.
"Gojyo," she said in a raspy voice as if she hadn't had water for days. Gojyo slowly shushed her.
"I'm here," he said in a soothing voice. Yaiba smiled weakly and her head fell. "Yaiba!"
"She's fine," a familiar voice said behind Gojyo. His head whipped around and he saw Bosatsu standing behind him with a smirk.
"Yo," she said, raising a hand in greeting as Jiroshin came up behind her. Gojyo stared at her for a second before his eyes traveled back to Yaiba's face.
"Yaiba," he said softly. Bosatsu sighed and walked forward, stopping right next to him and crouching down.
"Don't worry," she said confortingly, "she'll be fine. She's just tired—emotionally and physically."
Gojyo gently pulled Yaiba into his arms and stood up with Bosatsu. He turned to her grimly.
"What is she?" he asked. Bosatsu sighed again.
"She is a woman," she said after a small pause, "with a very complicated life. Everything you heard was true, including the promise that Akki-Kon will attempt to kill you. She is a persistant bastard, that much I know for a fact." Jiroshin nodded behind her, still as silent as when he arrived.
"Akki-Kon is a….problem," Bosatsu continued in the same grim voice. "She had attempted to kill people many times when in Heaven, but I had hoped having Yaiba there to surpress her would help. But, apparently, it's just made her worse." Bosatsu tenderly wiped some blood splatter from Yaiba's pale cheek, very careful so as not to wake the sleeping woman. "Yaiba is a strong girl; she just needs a little bit of help at times."
"I thought nothing was impossible for you," Gojyo said steelily. "Can't you just separate them?"
"If you want both to die," Bosatsu said with an arched eyebrow.
Gojyo gulped.
"They are connected at a subatomic level. It's like if she had three arms instead of two. The extra one would be a part of her, like it or not. And due to the amount of blood that would come from the wound, she would likely die of blood loss."
"COULDN'T YOU JUST DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU DID FOR SANZO?.!.?" Gojyo asked angerily. "I'd give her as much blood as she needed—and willingly this time!"
"Um, the blood and such was a metaphore," Bosatsu said with a sweat-drop. "There wouldn't be blood—just such a large drop in their life force that would cause both to pretty much shrivil up before our eyes and die, for lack of a better word."
Gojyo was quiet for a moment, and Jiroshin apparently knew what he was thinking.
"And its very complicated to do a life-force-transfer," Jiroshin quickly said before Gojyo could even ask.
"I'll do it," Gojyo said softly, glancing down at Yaiba's peaceful face. Bosatsu exchanged a look with Jiroshin, but then she shrugged.
"Sure, why not?" she said uncaringly.
"B-BOSATSU-SAMA!.!.!" Jiroshin shouted in shock. "What if he doesn't have the correct life force?.!"
Bosatsu thought for a second before smirking at Jiroshin, who froze.
"Um, K-Konzeon Bosatsu?" he asked nervously, watching as Bosatsu started to laugh evilly as she advanced on him. "BOSATSU-SAMA!.!.!! AAAAAAHHH!.!.!.!!!"
Gojyo sweat-dropped as he watched Bosatsu wrestle Jiroshin up against a building. "Damn," he said in disbeleif. Then he shook his head. "What the hell is my life coming to…."
"Aha!" Bosatsu shouted as she reached right into Jiroshin's chest. Jiroshin froze in his freaked-out/struggling position. Gojyo watched in a mixture of horror and wonder as Bosatsu started moving her hand around in his chest before her face lit up.
"Ah, here it is!" she said with a smile as she pulled out a large ball of bright yellow energy. Jiroshin's body fell to the ground, limp and apparently lifeless. Bosatsu didn't seem to notice as she stared at the ball, focasing for a moment before turning her gaze to Gojyo.
"Um…." Gojyo started, sweating. "I-I think I changed my mind."
"Too late!" Bosatsu announced, smiling as she took Yaiba out of his arms and put her down on the ground. She reached this time into Gojyo's chest, pulling out a ball of red energy.
Gojyo fell to the ground in relatively the same position as Jiroshin as Bosatsu looked at both balls, focasing on them with her tounge between her teeth as the little strands of light flowed out of them and into Yaiba's own chest. Slowly, she appeared to separate into two spirits; one was purely Akki-Kon's scowling face while the other was Yaiba's sleeping one, and Akki-Kon yelped in protest when she realized what was happening. Bosatsu ignored her and just kept on focasing as the two spririts became two separate people. Yaiba was purple, peaceful and sleeping while standing up but Akki-Kon was black, growling with her arms crossed as she apparently leaned against an invisible wall.
"Now then, Akki-Kon, you're going to leave Yaiba alone," Bosatsu comanded.
"No," Akki-Kon's spirit said shortly, looking away. Bosatsu sighed as she threw Jiroshin's spirit back into its body. Jiroshin woke up almost imidiately, and he was gasping in breath as he scrambled up.
"Jiroshin, the Soul Hinote." (8)
Jiroshin paused for a moment before reaching into his pocket and drawing out a handful of bright blue flames. He walked up to her and handed it to Bosatsu, who took it and looked right at Akki-Kon.
"Spirit, be gone!" she shouted. Akki-Kon screamed in protest as she was miniturized and drawn into the flames. Bosatsu handed the now-black flame to Jiroshin before turning to 'Yaiba', who woke up with a start.
"Yaiba, she's gone for now," Bosatsu said softly as Yaiba looked around the area. Everyone was still frozen except for them, and her gaze fell on Gojyo (who was on the ground, his eyes hollow without his soul). She yelped and Bosatsu rolled her eyes. "He's fine. I borrowed his soul for a moment. He offered. Probably took about five years off his life in the process, too. If he doesn't die in battle, that is."
After a moment, Yaiba smiled softly. "It's how he would love to die," she said with a soft laugh. Bosatsu bursted out into laughter as Jiroshin pocketed Akki-Kon. Quickly, though, both became serious.
"Yaiba, you know that you still have her Demi-Goddess form inside you, correct?"
"Yes."
"I gave you a power limiter, designed much like Goku's. If you happen to take it off for more then a certain amount of time, Akki-Kon will be released and you will lose control of your body. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Well then," Bosatsu siad with a smirk, "my work is done. You may return to your body."
"Yes."
"You're going to just keep saying that to piss me off, aren't you?"
"Yes," Yaiba said with a catty grin. Bosatsu laughed as she turned.
"Bosatsu-sama," Jiroshin said, pointing to Gojyo's spirit.
"Oh yeah," Bosatsu said with a quick laugh she gave Yaiba's spirit Gojyo's. "You can keep it, or give it back. Whatever."
"BOSATSU-SAMA!.!.! THAT WOULD GIVE HER IMMORTALITY IN HER WORLD!.!.!.!" Jiroshin quickly realized what he had said and shut his mouth as Bosatsu arched an eyebrow at him.
"As she probably has realized, now that you've said that. Idiot."
"Immortality?" Yaiba asked in awe. That was exactly what she needed if she went back to Shuei, exactly what would allow her to survive with her brother as long as she could. "Will….will it work?"
"Yes," Bosatsu said, her eyes blocking out emotion. "You can do what you wish."
And with that, Bosatsu and Jiroshin disappeared.
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(1): Like Gaara from Naruto stands when he gets confused and tries to kill people.
(2): Idea from Yuffie's shuriken of Final Fantasy VII (and KH and KH2). So yeah.
(3): Like when Gaara (Naruto) kills with his Sand Coffin/Sand Burrial combo. HE'S SO HOT!.!.!! leaves to glomp gaara
(4): If you've ever read/seen Hyper Police, it's like Sakura's (not from Naruto) ears.
(5): Akki-Kon is 'Demon Soul'. See how it fits?
(6)?-sama means someone is a lord/comander/leader (so she's saying 'Lord Gojyo'; what idiot would call Gojyo their lord? Wait, wait. Never mind.).
(7): Exactly like when he fell after giving blood (unwillingly) to Sanzo.
(8): Hinote means fire, so it's a 'Soul Fire'.
