The blonde stared across the table at the young woman seated there. Although her face was marked and red from her mother's hand and her own screaming, he was mildly surprised to find that she wasn't crying. Except for the few short moments after Anni left the room, she hadn't shed a single tear throughout the entire incident.

Almost as if she was used to it.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he had to suppress the rage boiling up inside him. To think that she had been forced to endure this kind of treatment after he left was almost too much for even him to bear.

Tapping out his cigarette, he watched as the youngest sister brought a cup and set it in front of the woman. The pig-tailed girl smiled sadly.

"Here Raynie….Ina said it'll help your throat….."

The young woman nodded slowly and leaned forward, wrapping her delicate fingers around the mug. She stared into the light brown liquid and sighed softly. "Thanks, Jana."

The younger girl smiled, apparently happy that her act of kindness had worked. She retreated back to her seat beside Goku, who was showing her how to make a duck out of a napkin. Satisfied that both the girl and the monkey were properly occupied, the monk turned his attention back to the raven-haired girl. She delicately sipped at the tea, her attention riveted to the center of the table. Sighing, he was in the middle of lighting another cigarette when the middle sister descended from the stairs, where she apparently had confronted their mother. However, instead of checking on her sibling, she strode over to Sanzo and gazed down at his lanky form. Forgoing the cigarette, he turned his gaze up to meet hers.

"What is it?"

The girl bowed her head and fiddled with the bottom of her shirt. Apparently she was having a bit of difficulty with what she came to tell him.

"Please, Sanzo; my……Anni wants a word with you…"

Quickly she waved her hands for him to stop as he rose from the chair. "No, no, no, you don't have to go talk to her. She's drunk, she'll probably just pass out soon and then—"

The monk held up a hand, causing her to halt in mid-sentence. He shook his head once; he glanced over at Rayne, would was still staring into the depths of her tea mug.

"No, I want to talk to the woman." He brushed past her and started up the stairs.

"There are a few things that we need to discuss."

Enoki whirled around and watched him with a worried look. As he disappeared upstairs, she sank into his chair and covered her face with her hands. Worried, Gojyo crossed the floor and bent down in front of her.

"Hey beautiful. What's going on?"

He laid a reassuring hand on her leg and spoke softly. He knew the woman was upset over her sister's treatment. Hell, he had half a mind to storm upstairs and give the mother a thing or two. However, he felt that his and Hakkai's assistance was needed down in the dining room. His gut feeling was confirmed when the woman in front of him lowered her hands to reveal the tears streaming down her face.

"He's going to kill her. He's going to kill her, Gojyo."

Taking her by the hand, he helped her up and led her into the living room. There, he stood in front of her and sighed.

"Noki, what exactly do you mean? I know that he's angry, but—"

She gulped a breath and began sobbing. Without a second thought, he pulled her to him. "Noki…"

"I…I h—hate her for wh—wha—what she did t-t-t-to Rayne b-b-but…she's my m-m-mo-mother…"

Unable to continue talking, she simply sobbed into his shoulder. He rubbed her shoulders, sighing. How could she know that he knew exactly what she meant? His mother…..his stepmother, Jien's mother. She had hated him, beat him, and spurned him. But still, he still felt deep down that somehow it was his fault; that she would have loved him it he hadn't been a horrible kid. And he endured it, endured all of the pain and hate until that day. Until Jien stopped it all. He had endured it.

Because she was his mother.

Because even after all the beatings, he still wanted to believe that she loved him. He knew the pain and suffering of the girl in his arms. Because it was his suffering too. Biting back his own tears, he concentrated on comforting her; knowing that Enoki's claim of Sanzo murdering their mother might be the truth.

As soon as the door to the mother's room shut behind him, Sanzo was plunged into darkness. Standing stock still, he blinked until his eyes adjusted. Finally he was able to make out two things; a fireplace was burning across from him, detracting from the darkness he originally thought to be in. And two, the room was somewhat smaller than he imagined a bedroom would be. Stepping forward, he surveyed the room as he went. Nothing unusual on the wall, just normal pictures; family vacations, the girls when they were younger. Continuing forward, he eventually reached the fireplace and the mantle above it. There, he let is eyes roam across the mantle, uninterested. So he didn't immediately notice the picture.

The picture!

At first glance, it seemed like every other photo in the room; a group shot, with plenty of smiling faces. However, this photo had no frame to display it; instead, it simply leaned against its fellow frame, seemingly lost among them. It was older than the rest, worn and dog-eared. Sanzo let his eyes and mind drift over the photo, taking no real interest in it until the flames in the fireplace grew, casting the photo into a brighter and harsh light; allowing him to see the picture's occupants.

There were four people in the picture; two men and two children. Studying the photograph, he knew the two men as Koumyou Sanzo, his master and father figure; and Shuei, his old friend who lost his soul to a cursed talisman. Glancing further down, he easily recognized one of the children himself; when he was a young boy and still went by the name Kouryou, or River Rat. Almost as afraid, he let his eyes slide over to the other child; a little girl.

Rayne.

There she stood, the girl from his flashbacks and nightmares. The girl who had grown into the tormented, broken woman who was seated in the dining room below. She was dressed in a robe similar to his in the picture; her hair held away from her face by a simple cherry blossom behind one ear. A large, garish collar adorned her neck; with a large silver ring on which he knew a chain was once attached. Her eyes, a brilliant cobalt blue, stared at him from within the photo; almost boring through him as he stumbled back, his mind racing. His vision swam; forcing him to recall everything that had happened.

The day he left.

Waking in the morning. Sneaking out of the bed and dressing swiftly; glancing over at her sleeping form before he left the room. Packing as quietly as possible. Realizing even as he picked the bag up and opened the door that he had made a mistake; trying to sneak past her, her of all people! She was the most powerful priestess he had ever known; her who awoke from a dead sleep as soon as his body heat dissolved beside her. He fled, leaving the door wide open as he heard the noise he feared; her footsteps; the sounds of her dainty feet pounding down the hallway overhand; paired with her sleep-laced and melodious voice.

"Kouryou. Kouryou! Come back!"

Out of the house she ran, clad in only a scant nightgown which barely skimmed her knees; a gown he remember buying her on a shopping spree which seemed small and distant now. She spun violently around in circles, in vain; searching her surroundings for some sign of him; her hair, so short then, she had cut it boyishly short in order to pass for the monk the villagers took her to be; her hair flew into her eyes and she brushed it, scratched at it furiously to clear her line of vision. She stood; stock still, staring at the horizon; she sunk to her knees, grasping the grass in both hands and whispering his name over and over again. "Kouryou, kouryou, kouryou..." She fell into silent crying; her body heaving. And he; he had watched all of this from the tree on the hill behind the house; his fist shoved in his mouth; sobbing. He had thought himself grown even then; but yet when he cared for nothing else, not simple pleasures nor food nor wine nor women; he sobbed like a little boy for this creature; this girl who was a woman but yet a child, who loved him entirely and wholly so that when he left, her soul was ripped apart.

Shaking his head, he stared at the photo; delirious.

"I know who you are."

He jumped; whirling to face the source of the voice. He blinked as the old woman arose from her chair in the shadows. Perturbed that she had spooked him, he spoke as calmly as possible. "Lots of people know that, Grandma; lots of people know who I am. Besides, I think we already established that downstairs. What I want to know is: who the hell do you think you are?"

She simply folded her arms.

"You are Kouryou, the star pupil and adoptive son of Koumyou Sanzo. You are the boy who became his successor. You are the boy that survived the massacre at the temple. And you are the boy who grew into the man who broke my daughter's heart."

He stepped away from the mantle and towards her, causing her to take step back.

"Is that what you're angry at? What, do you take out your anger at me on her? On all of those girls?"

She shook head and laughed bitterly. "You wouldn't understand. You of all people. You left her to rot, to die here, in this place. You left her here with me, knowing full well that I didn't want her. Nobody wants her, don't you get it! Even you don't want her, why would you leave her then, leave her when you promised to stay, for her to follow and go, to—"

She was cut off by the slap of his hand across her face.

"You listen to me, you old hag. I may have left her here with you. Forgive me for feeling that she would be safe with her own mother. But I didn't abandon her, no matter what you think. And I don't believe she feels like I did. And know this: I'm not about to make the same mistake again."

Not waiting for an answer, he turned and left the room, leaving the older woman alone in the dark, as she had been ever since her daughter came home.

BH: Sorry for not updating sooner! I've got four stories running at one time (two here and two on so I've been busy. Maybe I'll get all of them finished one of these days...