Disclaimer: Saiyuki does not belong to me.

Final chapter for Doppelganger! I thought it was going to fit into just one chapter, but then I noticed it was just too big...so three parts it is!

Kugo and Tago: R&R and please enjoy!

See? You got more lines :D

Tago: This doesn't count!

Kugo: -.-


~Doppelganger Part 3~

Kugo sat at the edge of his bed where it met the corner of the room against the wall. His eyes were cold, dark, empty and forevermore emotionless. The door to his room was locked from the outside; Nii Jiyenii still had plans for his 'son'. Kougaji tried speaking to Kugo, but by that time, he had already been broken; he didn't respond to anything his master said. The last thing he remembers him say was:

"I will make this right…and that's not just a promise."

Promises… They're no good. The only thing a promise did for Kugo was get his twin killed. Another promise wouldn't make anything better nor will anything get worst.

Kugo wouldn't move…

He was being used for experiments; his 'father' being behind all of them. The only way he would move was by carrying him. Sometimes he wouldn't be returned to his room in days. By that point, all Kugo wanted was to be left alone in his room. But there's nothing more he wanted than for his sister to be returned to him.

Kugo wouldn't sleep…

He hasn't slept since he was told that his sister's death was his fault. He would occasionally collapse of exhaustion, but when he awoke, he wouldn't sleep for days, collapse again and the repetitive cycle would continue. In the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't his fault. If Tago were alive she would say the same thing. If she were alive…

'But the reason she's not alive now, is because I didn't follow orders. It's all my fault…'

Kugo wouldn't eat…

"Tsk. You're getting skinnier, Kugo."

No answer.

"If you don't eat soon, you're going to die."

Kugo's head slowly rose.

Die…

Die…

His head slowly turned to see a woman with dark colored hair, glasses, and a white lab coat, her hands in the pockets of the coat.

Food was placed in front of him, as he continued to stay crouched in his little corner. But hearing the word die was the only thing in a month that caught his total attention.

"Die.." he whispered.

His voice was raspy from not speaking in a month. The woman was a bit surprised to see him talking again.

"If you keep going like this, yes."

Kugo paused.

"Ah…" he replied.

…And that was the end of that. He went back to the state he's been in for the past month. The woman sighed. There's really no way to get him out of this, is there?


Rapid footsteps echoed through the empty halls of the castle. A door was then slammed open, the sound of that echoing as well.

"Kugo!"

Kougaji stared at the room that the young demon was kept in for the last several months. The walls that touched the bed and the bed itself had recent bloodstains that was turning brown.

It was true. Kougaji couldn't believe it…The rumors he heard were actually true. Kugo really tried to kill himself? Nii Jiyenii really took him away? Kougaji ran at full speed through the halls again and found Kugo's 'father'.

"Where is he?" he yelled.

"Where is who, young prince?"

The scientist sat in a wheeler chair, completely calm and collected. You could almost guess that he didn't even know that Kugo ever existed.

"You know who I'm talking about!"

Kougaji wasn't about to play games with him. There wasn't any patience, let alone time for games.

"He's not with us anymore." was all he was given as an answer, along with a smirk.

Kougaji let out a scoffed and ran to the experiment room in the blink of eye. All he found was empty lab tubes that were large enough to fit an adult human being. A single one of those lab tubes was occupied. He quickly spotted and sprinted towards it, to get a good look at who or what was in there and his heart sank.

"…You're making another one?"

Nii Jiyenii stood a couple few feet behind him with a sly smile.

"They're perfect this time."

Kougaji flared up, until he heard the sound of another experiment tube filling up. He spun around, watching it fill with green water and suddenly a small child dropped into the green water from the large tube connecting into it from the top.

This teen was curled up in a tight ball, eyes closed, like an infant who's still in its mother's womb. Long hair floated in the water; hair that looked like it would reach to below the waist. The same goes for the tube in which Kougaji looked into right before.

"This time…They will kill the Sanzo party." the scientist smiled.

"This must be the reason." Kougaji whispered to himself, then he turned to the scientist. "Where is he?"

"I told you: he's not with us anymore."

Kougaji growled. He understood what he was trying to say. But he knew he was lying. Kugo wasn't the type to just admit defeat and commit suicide or 'commit suicide'. He's wandering about somewhere…The question is, 'Where?'. But judging by the answer Jiyenii is giving him, the scientist doesn't have the slightest idea where his 'son' might be. So Kougaji gave up with the scientist and ran off to find his young brother himself.


A cloaked Kugo stood on the roof of a building that over looked a bazaar market. He searched for a specific person who wore green and had brown hair. He knew this person went out because he "accidentally" heard a conversation earlier that day. He sat on that rooftop for nearly the whole day; the sky was starting to turn orange as sun down came near. Finally spotting who he was looking for, he put his hood over his head and jumped down the roof, landing in an alley-way below and began his pursuit.

It's been a few minutes since Hakkai entered the bazaar that he noticed a cloaked figure has been following him. At first, he thought they were just headed in the same direction as some of the people around him, but then it became suspicious. He continued to act like he didn't notice for another minute, until he spotted an alley and decided to confront him there. He swiftly slipped in and just as he thought, the figure followed him.

"Who are you?" Hakkai immediately asked him, ready to fight if necessary.

If this person was just a regular demon he probably would of attacked him already. Either that, or he's about to…

Kugo put his hands up in defense.

"I didn't follow ya ta fight."

"Explain."

"My name is Nos Kugo. You may not know me, but I know you."

Hakkai's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what he meant. He couldn't see his face due to his hood. He didn't think he recognized his voice…although it did sound a bit familiar…Reading his eyes, Kugo pulled down his hood, revealing long, chocolate brown hair and deep, golden eyes. Hakkai stared in surprise. Such a resemblance to—

"Whatever you're thinkin' about," Kugo spoke with an emotionless face. "You're right."


Kugo ate carefully, never looking Hakkai in the eyes since he met with him. Hakkai stared at him from across the table, then took a deep breath, taking in what Kugo told him so far.

"So you're really—?"

"Really Goku? Yes." Kugo interrupted him. "Tago and I were both artificially grown in large test tubes; large enough for you to fit in. We were created from blood, skin and hair samples that were left behind. Tago was born first."

"Tago?"

"You've figured out my name" Kugo played with his food. "You can figure out Tago's."

Hakkai took a minute to think about it. If Kugo is Goku, then Tago is Hakkai's eyes slightly widened.

"Gota" he said to himself.

Kugo's eyes narrowed at the mention of the name. He couldn't stand the smell of the food in front of him; he scrunched up his nose and pushed it away from him, then continued.

"But they somehow fucked it up." Kugo became angry. "She was 'born' with heart problems. I on the other hand was luckyMy heart problem wasn't nearly as bad."

Hakkai paid close attention to what he was saying.

"It's as we used to say...bad things happen when we're apart." he clenched his teeth as his fist trembled in anger.

There's only one question that stuck out in Hakkai's head. They finished eating and stepped outside to part ways.

"I wish to join you." Kugo said. "But I have some unfinished business to take care of first."

Hakkai nodded, understanding where he's coming from.

"What did you mean by 'bad things happen when we're apart'?"

Kugo gave him an empty smile.

"Why don't you ask Sanzo? Ask him next time you see 'im. Besides he probably knows how to explain it better than I can." Kugo paused. "I'll take my leave. Don't wanna waste any more of your time."

"It's fine." Hakkai smiled.

Kugo turned to walk away.

"But why tell me this?"

Kugo didn't turn to face him.

"Why go through the trouble to tell me?"

"Isn't it obvious, Hakkai? It's a warnin'." Kugo continued to stare forward.

A warning? That took Hakkai by surprise.

"You're fatherin' Gota, so you're th' one who has ta look out for her." Kugo continued. "The only reason why Tago's heart condition was so bad was because Gota has a weak heart."

Hakkai was in shock. What? Gota would say something about something that important...would she?

"Sanzo didn't tell you, did he?" Kugo looked over his shoulder. "I think you should have a talk with 'im as soon as you can. If you don't, you'll miss your chance."

Hakkai walked back to the inn in deep thought. What Kugo said rang in his ears:

'Sanzo didn't tell you, did he? Because Gota has a weak heart...I think you should have a talk with 'im...If you don't you'll miss your chance'

But the thing that stood out the most was: Gota has a weak heart.

Suddenly, he heard a few knocks on a door.

"Ah, Hakkai-sama"

"Hey, Hakkai! What's up?"

The voices beyond the door brought him back to reality. From what he saw in front of him, he must have knocked on the twins' room door while his mind was out and Gota answered. Goku was lying down in bed; the second voice. Hakkai didn't in the slightest know what to say to them. He walked all the way to their room in a daydream.

"Uh..."

His voice caught in his throat. Gota never so much as give him a hint of her condition. How is he supposed to protect her if she doesn't talk to him about something so important?

Gota stared at him in confusion when he didn't answer. She turned to her brother, who shrugged in response. Goku jumped off the bed to join his sister.

"I've never seen 'im like this." Goku stated.

"Uhh..." Gota looked up at her master. "Hakkai-sama...Hakkai-sama!"

That snapped him out of it.

"We need to have a discussion." he finally replied.

"'Bout what?" Goku asked.

"Not yet." Hakkai looked towards Sanzo's room, which was on the other side of the hall. "Is Sanzo in his room?"

"How are we supposed ta know?" the twins said in unison.

Hakkai mentioned to follow him and walked to priest's room, the twins following close behind. He knocked and within seconds a voice without emotion replied:

"Who is it?"

"Me." Hakkai replied. "May I come in?"

Without waiting for an answer, he opened the door, finding Sanzo sitting on the edge of his bed and smoking a cigarette. Hakkai stepped aside, mentioning for the twins to enter first, then stepped in and closed the door behind him, all in silence. Sanzo gave him a hard stare.

"I didn't invite them." he said.

"Yes, but what I'm about to say involves them."

"But what are we goin' ta talk about?" Goku asked.

"You."

The blunt answer slightly surprised them. Sanzo put out his cigarette.

"Talk."

"I ran into someone who knew something about Gota that I was surprised never came up between us. I was wondering if it was true." Hakkai started. "Gota, do you physically have a weak heart?" he turned to the younger twin.

Sanzo's mouth thinned, as the twins seemed taken back.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Hakkai took their reactions as a yes.

"Who told you about that?" Sanzo asked, his voice seeming irritated.

"Wait a minute!" the twins cried in unison.

Suddenly the door opened revealing Gojyo.

"Yo!" he said. "Did someone call me?"

"Ta answer both your questions"

Everyone whipped their heads to see Kugo comfortably sitting on Sanzo's windowsill.

"I did."

Sanzo whipped out his gun, pointing it at the unexpected guest.

"Hey, you're—"

"Kugo" Hakkai interrupted Gojyo.

"Who?" the twins asked.

"You know him?" Sanzo asked.

"He told me about Gota." Hakkai answered.

"He told me to come here." Gojyo added closing the door.

"Get out!" Sanzo pointed the gun now at Gojyo, who rose his hands up defensively.

"You should be careful with that" Kugo stepped off the windowsill.

"You too!" he pointed it back to Kugo. "This doesn't involve you!"

Everyone spoke immediately after the other.

"On th' contrary." Kugo took a few steps forward. "This has my name written all over it."

Sanzo cocked the gun. Kugo gave him an empty smile, before running at the twins, grabbing Gota—who let out a small noise—quickly released her, then stood against the door and slid down to comfortably sit against it. In the meantime, Sanzo fired his pistol, nearly killed Gojyo, who summoned his weapon as the bullet fly right above his shoulder. Hakkai nearly threw a chi ball at Kugo, and Goku took out his weapon when Kugo grabbed his sister. Now all four men stood in their attack stances, facing Kugo as Gota felt something in her hand that wasn't there seconds ago. She opened her hand to look at the new item she now held.

"That'll help you when your chest starts ta hurt." Kugo explained the vial she was holding.

Sanzo narrowed his eyes at him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"The name's Nos Kugo. Let's see how long it takes you figure out my name."

The answer confused everyone, except Hakkai. Seconds passed before Sanzo and Gojyo held surprised expressions in their eyes. The reaction made Kugo smile.

"That almost took ya as long as Hakkai." he said.

"Someone wanna fill me in?" Gojyo piped up.

"Nii Jiyenii." was Kugo's answer.

The group seemed to recognize the name, almost glaring at the young demon, like as if he was Jiyenii himself.

"He was th' one who used ta order me. But I never listened to 'im, so he killed my sister, Tago. Ya still followin' me?"

Everyone seemed to get it.

"That," he mentioned to the full vial in Gota's hand. "Used ta belong ta her...'til she was murdered."

He paused to look at the group's expression, then he stood and looked at Hakkai.

"Goku nor Gota herself knew 'bout this condition, but Sanzo. Gota never experienced any kind of symptoms, so Sanzo kind of threw th' thought away. Goku lost his memories, Sanzo never told a soul. I know about it, because my sister used ta have frequent chest pains. I'm right so far?" he turned to Sanzo.

Sanzo sent him a death glare.

"But what does this have ta do with me?" Gota piped up.

"Yeah, I don't get it either." Goku added.

Sanzo and Hakkai sighed, knowing they weren't going to get it.

"Are you serious?" Gojyo couldn't keep quiet.

Kugo gave the twins a caring smile, knowing exactly what that feels like.

"You are my sister, Gota. You're goin' ta need that medicine."

Kugo approached Goku, who was a couple of inches shorter, and handed him a needle.

"When th' chest pains happen, use this ta give her the medicine." he turned to Gota. "Don't drink it. It needs ta travel through your blood stream ta get ta your heart. Plus it doesn't taste very good." he smiled.

Then he walked between them, putting a hand of reassurance on each of their shoulders and climbed onto the windowsill.

"Think about what I said siblings...And use th' medicine when th' chest pain starts, remember you have ta do it, Goku." he smiled. "Now, I'll take my leave."

"Wait." Hakkai stopped him.

Kugo looked at him, giving him his full attention.

"Earlier, when you said your heart wasn't as bad—"

"Heh..." Kugo interrupted him with an empty chuckle. "I didn't know I had a heart problem until Tago died."

Hakkai slightly gasped, as Kugo smiled at him and then cast himself backwards out the window. The twins and Gojyo gathered around the window, but there was no trace of Kugo.


Early morning the next day, Kougaji rode a dragon to Kugo's location, once he found out where he was. He landed the dragon, as soon as he saw the younger demon leaned up against a tree, sleeping. Kugo's instincts alerted him, waking him up as Kougaji closed in. Kugo didn't move nor opened his eyes to fool his enemy, but then recognized his former master's aura.

"I nearly killed ya." Kugo stated and opened his eyes as Kougaji stood a few feet away from him.

"So this is where you've been?" the question came out as a statement.

"Tago's dead, Kougaji." Kugo's eyes were emotionless.

Kougaji's eyes showed a bit of surprise. Kugo never called him by name; it was always 'Nii-sama' and sometimes—but rarely—'Prince'.

"I'm sorry," Kougaji sincerely apologized. "I tried my best, I really did. When I got there, she had already received the poison"

Kugo scoffed at his attempt to apologize. Kougaji couldn't believe this this. He never behaved like this, and to Kougaji no less!

"'Father' planned this all along. We were but prototypes." Kugo spilled venom at the word 'father'.

"You?"

"Yeah. I saw them. They're just about ta be 'born', too." Kugo paused.

Kougaji was speechless. What do you say to that? 'Yes, you and your sister were only a test. Here comes the real you?' He could only imagine what the younger demon must feel like

"Ya know how even twins have twins?" Kugo's voice was empty. "Th' 'bad' twins are usually th' one who's supposed ta die off...I've...never thought that I was a bad apple...Was I, Kougaji?"

"No, you weren't, Kugo. Both of you were the good twins."

"Then why are they killing us off?" Kugo's eyes filling with anger.

There was nothing Kougaji could say to that. There was no way he was going to try and defend those in the castle, but he couldn't give him a good answer either.

"I've decided on protecting Gota." Kugo said bluntly after a moment of silence.

Kougaji was surprised, but at the same time he saw this coming.

"You're allying with the Sanzo Party?"

"Well...I'm pretty much Goku, aren't I?"

Kougaji sighed. He knew something like this was going to happen, whether it be now or later.

"I've made sure that an extra amount of Tago's medicine was produced. You can use it to how you see fit."

For the first time in a long time, Kougaji saw a real happy expression on Kugo's face and in his eyes.

"Thank you, Kougaji-sama. You've been like a brother ta me."

"Never forget that." Kougaji smiled.

Small, but still a smile.

"I would hug ya, but that'd be gay and I'm not gay."

Kougaji stifled a laugh and Kugo laughed a bit himself.

"We'll see each other again?"

"If you're working with the Sanzo Party."

Kugo stood up and hopped onto a dragon that he had stolen the last time he visited the castle, when it grew bigger. He looked back at his former master and before flying away, said:

"See ya then."

And that was the last time he had seen Kugo.


WOOT! HURRAY FOR CHAPTER 12! I have absolutely NO idea what the next episode will be like and/or about. Although, I do have an idea...

Tago: *still complaining about more lines*

Alright, alright already! You'll get more lines!

Kugo and Tago: Really?

Yes! Now be quiet! Geez...

Kugo: Hope ya all liked it! Until next time...