Date finished: 04 November 2002

Title: Piece of Forbidden Heaven
Series: Gensomaden Saiyuki
Pairing: None at the moment, but would soon be Sanzo/Hakkai
Category: Angst, AU
Status: 1/?
Warnings: PG-13 for the angst, some language and bloody theme.
A/N: Oh no. I've made another fanfic series. I've been known to create one and leave it at that. At the most, I usually write the next part on a span of 3 weeks to several months, and so, I have 2 other series to finish in two different fandoms. Let's just hope this one won't suffer the same fate ne?

Archive: All my Sanzo/Hakkai fanfics would go to Taciturnity - http://taciturnity.fateback.com/ and the SanzoxHakkai ML - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sanzoxhakkai/

Standard disclaimers apply. There are two/more original characters here, meaning, you won't find them mentioned in any Saiyuki manga/series because I've made them up. Period.

"Piece of Forbidden Heaven"
by Fall

Part 1 [Prologue]: "Fatality"

Rain was never a welcome friend to him. All throughout his life, the thought that a rainy day could only mean disaster unto his life was strengthened by the various misfortunes too horrible for a child to experience. It was wrong of him to accuse the innocent element of nature, but what could he do? Bad things always happened to him when the sky was dark and crying.

Hakkai first thought that the voices were a part of his dream. He was in the middle of a nightmare, wherein he could see his father being slashed to death, and his mother receiving the blow that should have been for him. He saw his older sister being taken away by lecherous men, to a place he knew he couldn't reach. He stretched out his hands and tried to wave the attackers away, screaming and flailing his arms and legs at the man who have taken him prisoner. He saw a flash of crimson-colored hair and eyes as the scene blurred before him, adding more to the terror he was feeling.

"Father! Mother!" he screamed, warding off the hands that clamped tightly onto him. "Kanna!" He heard a soft voice calling out to him, "Hakkai, Hakkai, it's all right," but only became fully awake when he felt something wet fall onto his face. Suddenly, two beautiful emerald orbs snapped open to gaze at the tearful face of his mother. He noticed that his small hands were curled into fists, and his mother had several scratches on her arms. Realization dawning on him, he hurled himself onto his mother's neck and sobbed uncontrollably. "I dreamt about it again," he sobbed, tremors coursing through his delicate little body. His mother could only tighten her hold and throw a helpless gaze at her husband.

"Gono," The mother whispered to her husband, her voice broken as she fought to be composed for her son. "This is the fifth time ..." Her voice trailed off, as she watched her son falling back onto another slumber, his tender years enabling him to cope with his fears, feeling it abruptly and then forgetting it just as soon. She watched as her husband caressed the forehead of their little son, a frown marring his frail brows as he settled down to dream. Gono faced his wife and held her hands in his, trying to soothe the mother's heart that ached for her child. "Hush now, Miran, our child was only dreaming. He is as normal as the other children his age. A dream is just a dream, no matter how many times it repeats itself."

"But Gono," Miran whispered, faltering over the words she was to speak. "It was ... a prophecy ... in my family. Every generation ... a clairvoyant child is born ... with unknown powers ... fatality ensues ..." She finally succumbed to the raging emotions that was sweeping her, covering her face with her hands as she wailed. "My son, my dear little son ... he's too young for this burden ... my child."

Gono could only bite his lips fiercely and enclose his wife into a reassuring hold. He knew the prophecy when he married Miran, because the elder had warned them that their union was against the law of elemental forces, and would therefore produce an offspring to bear the burden of this sin. They had decided then to ignore the prophecy and live as husband and wife, happily living in their home situated in a protected valley by a strong fortress. When their first child, a beautiful baby girl they named Kanna, came, they felt their lives were almost complete. Kanna was perfect and resembled her mother, and she didn't show any signs of the prophecy. Three years later, the family's joy was completed when Miran gave birth to a gorgeous baby boy, with eyes that sparkled like emerald jewels. Kanna was overjoyed to have a brother, and desperately tried to master the art of speaking her brother's name correctly.

"Go-no," Her father gently repeated the name slowly in syllables. He has named his son as his heir, and so it is only fitting to give his own name too. He was smiling the proud smile of a father as he lifted Kanna to let her see the sleeping baby. "Nono," Kanna cheerfully announced as she touched her brother's small fist.

"No dear, it's Gono," Miran smiled, as she let Kanna sit on her lap. "Same as your father's name."

Kanna frowned. As far as she knows, she's speaking her brother's name perfectly. "Nono!" She exclaimed, pressing a kiss onto the baby's cheek.

"Hush, my sweet angel, you'd wake him up," Her mother gently reprimanded her. Miran looked up at her husband and smiled. "Hai, Gono it is, but I would still want to call him 'Hakkai'."

"As you wish love," Gono said gently, for he knew that his wife still sorely miss the brother that willingly died for his sister. And may his good soul rest in peace, he added silently. The wife mutely thanked the husband with her eyes until the silence was broken by a little voice.

"Hakkai! Hakkai!"

Little Kanna was giggling as she played with her baby brother who was by now awake and gurgling happily at her. "Hai, his name is Cho Gono but he shall be called Hakkai when we're alone." The father said, as he watched his two children, thinking that the prophecy was a farce, and their life was perfect. Or so he thought.

***

Miran had counted the recurring dream to be at its fifth. And so on the next night that would make it to be the sixth time, she persuaded her husband to let their son sleep with them. He wouldn't agree no matter how much she begged, saying that at seven, little Hakkai should be taught to be brave and therefore should sleep on his own, nightmares or none. He was only able to assuage Miran's fears when he promised that they would stand vigil tonight and run to their son's bedchamber as soon as the nightmare starts.

At half past midnight, the terrible screams began, and the anxiety that the parents felt for their child was indescribable. They held the child and tried to soothe his wails, but still, the screams won't stop. It was as if he was trapped in a more vivid vision, crying and screaming things that a child shouldn't be seeing. Gono could only stare at his son as he staggered weakly, falling to his knees beside the bed. The full impact of what his son is going through sliced through his heart like a knife. He was pounding the floor angrily when his daughter appeared at the door.

"Father, Mother, what's happening to Hakkai?" Kanna was in tears, but surprisingly for her years, she knew when she should hold her emotions in check. Her little brother had been telling her for months now about how he could guess the events for this and that day. She tried to push away the nonsense until the day that Hakkai told her he'd dreamt of the stables being hit by lightning and would therefore burn to the ground. It came to pass three days later. She was on the verge of telling her father about Hakkai's dream when she'd accidentally overheard some of her father's soldiers discussing the prophecy and its significance to her brother. Kanna decided on the spot not to add to her parent's worries by telling them of the incident.

"Father," Kanna whispered, kneeling beside her father. She didn't like to see him look so weak and helpless; her father was known to be both an honorable man and a fierce warrior. It scared her to see him like this.

"Gono, this is the sixth night," Miran whispered, as her son's screams subsided into whimpers. She wanted to weep and wail, but for the sake of her daughter, she appeared to be strong. She knew Kanna was already scared and she didn't want to add to her child's worries.

"My sweet angel," Gono scooped his daughter into his arms and held her there. "You should be in bed sleeping. Go on, go now."

"But father --" Kanna was cut off by her mother's gentle, "Do as your father says." She sighed and wiggled out of her father's hold as she scrambled to her feet and padded out to the door. "Is Hakkai okay?" She asked, twisting her little fingers together.

"Hai, my dear angel," Gono assured his daughter. After listening to the fading echo of her footsteps, he turned onto his wife. Sighing, he caressed the forehead of his son and faced his wife's piercing gaze.

"We shall leave the day after tomorrow."

***

Bad things always happened to him when the sky was dark and crying.

Alas, the father made the biggest mistake of his life. Their castle was attacked the next day at midnight. Being an honorable man, he could not and would not escape the call for battle despite the wails of his wife and daughter. Little Hakkai was still in bed, undisturbed by the shouts that could be heard from the outside. When his mother and sister came to get him, the castle was already in fire and the bastards had infiltrated the place. Kanna would never forget that day. Even as they were captured by the enemy, she held her head high and did not shed a single tear. She had her father's sense of pride in her and did not wish to shame him by showing her weakness to the enemy.

Hakkai could only stare when he saw the crimson-haired youkai plunge a sword through his father's heart. His emerald eyes burned with hatred as he struggled to be released from his bonds, knowing what would happen next. He would have been the next one to die if only his mother didn't catch the attention of the foul crimson-haired youkai. He didn't cry when he saw the loving look in his mother's eyes as she fell, whispering, "Live for us, my son." He didn't cry when the bastard turned his gaze onto his sister, tracing Kanna's face with his fingers, a look of lust lighting his features. "You're a pretty little girl," He said, cupping Kanna's face. He studied her, letting his hands roam all over her. "You'd grow up to be a pleasing woman." He shoved her to a loyal follower, instructing him to drag the girl back to their estate. Kanna never uttered a scream, nor did she look frightened in the least. She knew one thing that the bastards did not. This thought alone made her accept her fate, even if it only meant knowing her little brother would be safe. With this in mind, she closed her eyes and did not struggle out of her captive's bonds.

Her brother couldn't believe his eyes. In his dreams, Kanna was struggling and screaming for him, her large brown eyes filled with pain and tears. Now all he could see were the bloody corpse of his parents, his sister being taken to become a whore, and the stinking crimson-haired youkai facing him. He felt hatred such as he'd never known, coursing through his veins; deep and burning.

"Ah, and so this is the young Gono," The youkai remarked, studying the green depths with which the boy dared to glare at him. "And I've heard rumors he was a clairvoyant," He said dryly to his audience. "Look boy, you as good killed them yourself, knowing this would happen and letting it." He kicked the lifeless body of the boy's father. "So I don't believe a word said about you."

Hakkai spit at him, his emerald eyes dangerously bright and seething with rage. The youkai was aghast to see such a look from a boy of seven years. As much as he hated to admit, the boy was making him tremble from such a fright he's never felt in his life. Overcome with frenzy from such a weakness he'd never admit, he sent the boy plunging to the ground with a swipe. He smiled darkly when he saw the boy cringing in pain. He kicked and ordered the boy to look up at him, wanting to see the emerald eyes clouded with pain. He staggered backward when he discovered the chilling emotion flashing still in the boy's eyes.

The sight was making him mad. He fled from the castle, ordering his troops to kill the child. He couldn't stand to let the child live, for he was sure that what he saw was deep loathing for him. He knew that if he let the child survive, he was giving him a chance to grow up and sought revenge.

The rest of the youkais left to kill Hakkai would willingly butcher a helpless child. They would have succeeded, if Hakkai had been a normal little boy. But alas, he wasn't. The drawbridge to the fortress closed on its own, trapping countless youkais into the fort. A terrible storm was lashing out its rage outside the gray stone foundation, the powerful sounds of thunder and howling winds mingling with another unearthly sound. Lightning struck a part of the castle, masking the blinding light that destroyed all within its range of fury. The next morning, the crimson-haired youkai received the news that escalated his own rage into fury.

The castle he laid siege upon was destroyed, and a thousand of the troops he left there were all dead. And the boy he wanted to be killed had escaped into the shadows, alive.

But that wasn't the news that made him roar. He was so angry he killed the soldier, from whose lips flowed the words that he never forgot throughout the years he lived.

"He's alive, my lord, and they say he's now a youkai like us..."

~ TBC

Further A/N: Why did I write such a long prologue? Simple. The story just flowed right out of my fingertips and I let it be. I didn't name the foul crimson-haired youkai because that would be a crucial point of this series. I was thinking of a little guessing for the rest of this fic here and there, to liven up things.

Wondering how a seven-year-old Hakkai could kill a thousand youkais? It's part of the mystery that surrounds his character. When would Sanzo appear, you ask. Soon.

If you ask me, I rather like this idea. But the big question would be whether I would finish this as soon as possible or not. Now I have my third unfinished series up my sleeve.

Constructive comments and criticisms are welcome.