CHAPTER 3
Where a plot starts appearing.
Goku blinked.
Slowly, the brown blur in front of his eyes became the beams of a wooden ceiling. He blinked again, attempting and failing to recall where he was or how he'd gotten there.
"Since no one's trying to kill me, it can't be all that bad..." he muttered. Besides, there were more important things to attend to. Like the fact that he hadn't eaten since goodness knew when...
It was evening. The reddish-gold light of the setting sun filtered in through a circular window. Through grills, he could just make out a small garden. The place reminded him of Chou'An Temple.
He sat up, allowing his gaze to travel around the room. There was no sense of youryoku whatsoever, which boded well. Unfortunately, there wasn't be any sign of his companions either. Another bed stood against the far end of the room, and it looked as if it might even have been slept in, but it was empty.
Empty...
Panic hit his gut like ice. "Sanzo?" he asked. "Hakkai? Gojyo?" He swung himself out of bed. "Anyone?"
The door opened easily, and he strayed out into an empty coridor. Just a long corridor with closed doors all the way down. No sign of any living objects what so ever. "Hello?"
He strained his memory, and caught flashes -- Sanzo falling down the mountain side, a fight with youkai, dirt and earth rushing past his head... and nothing. Had Sanzo been hurt? Dimly, he thought he remembered jumping down after the priest. He couldn't actually remember having found him.
Unless Sanzo had left him behind.
More recollections -- a long trek through the night, hurrying after the priest who didn't wait, didn't look back...
He wouldn't have... would he?
He leaned against the wall, suddenly dizzy. His head was throbbing madly, and nausea rolled in his gut. Musta hit my head... real hard... He took a tentative step, then his legs gave way altogether. Shit.
Through the sudden ringing in his ears, he thought he heard footsteps echoing down the corridor. Sanzo...?
***
"He is a youkai."
"He is Sanzo's companion."
"Companion or prisoner, it does not matter. He is a youkai. Therefore, he must die."
***
Elsewhere
Sanzo reined in and took one last scan around the area. His horse, a black gelding, snorted and chaffed, impatient to return by sundown.
Might as well head back. No sign of Hakkai or Gojyo at all.
He had ridden out early in the afternoon, in an attempt to find his companions. It had been almost impossible to get the horse through the mountainous terrain and back to the pass where they had been attacked, but it would have taken longer to walk the distance from the temple to the mountain on foot. Thank goodness the temple is practically at the foot of these mountains...
Involuntarily, his mind wandered back to the afternoon.
He had awoken with the afternoon sun in his face, still exhausted from the sleepless night. In the next bed, Goku was totally oblivious to the world.
That wound must be more serious than I thought, to knock him out for so long. He rolled over, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. His brain, however, refused to let him rest.
Have to find the two morons...
Groaning, he dragged himself out of bed.
The monks hadn't been too pleased when they heard that he was leaving.
"But Sanzo-sama, the Elder wishes to see you!"
"Sanzo-sama, we can't let you go out into those mountains alone! They're fraught with youkai!"
"Sanzo-sama..."
Ignoring their protests, he'd saddled the first available horse and ridden out like thunder. Looking at their dumbstruck expressions, he felt a tinge of perverse amusement. Reciting sutras never saved any body. Unless, of course, you have the right sutras...
But he might as well have gone back to sleep. Hours of searching and he hadn't found so much as a track in the dirt. If Hakkai were in the area, he'd trust that he'd either hear Jiipu trundling along, or see the dragon sailing in the sky. But the mountains had been quiet, and there wasn't even a bird in sight. Annoyed, he turned and headed for home.
The sun was just a red glow on the horizon by the time he returned to temple grounds. As he dismounted, a strange stab of worry and a sense of wrongness hit him. Frowning, he hastened his footsteps, heading back to his room with all speed.
***
Huh?!
Some instinct made Goku roll away from the dagger thrust that would have ended his life. What the---
He attempted to struggle to his feet, and made it to a crouch as the attacker struck once more.
One moment he'd been alone in the corridor, the next there'd been a slither of motion and a streak of silver where his neck had been. Then there was a masked human in front of him, a dagger in each hand....
"Who are you?!" Goku demanded.
One dagger stabbed into the wall beside his head. Goku dodged and summoned his staff. Nyoibou blazed into existence in a flash of light, momentarily confusing his attacker. He swung, misjudged his strength, and the end of the staff hit the ground clumsily. Not good, not good at all...
The world started spinning again as the adrenaline hit his blood stream. A dagger flashed towards his face; he leapt out of the way in the nick of time.
Then all balance deserted him. His vision pulsed black white black and the next moment he had crashed heavily to the floor, Nyoibou clattering down beside him. He couldn't seem to catch his breath. Dimly, he could sense the assassin closing for the kill. Shit, I can't move in time...
A gun shot stabbed through the air. The assassin's upraised dagger shattered into a thousand pieces.
Goku tried to focus blurry eyes. "...Sanzo?"
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" the priest's familiar voice called out.
"...Wasn't doing anything..." Goku mumbled.
"I wasn't talking to you, idiot." Sanzo was standing in the middle of the corridor, his gun trained unerringly on the assassin's forehead.
"He is a youkai," the man replied with equal calm. "All youkai must die. It has been declared."
"By whom, may I ask?"
"By his Holiness, the temple abbott."
"The Elder, hm? I'm overriding his authority. This youkai is under my protection. If any of you touches one hair of his head... we're see about death proclaimations. Rest assured that I'm far more efficient at dispatching my targets."
"With all due respect, Sanzo-sama, I would watch my back," the assassin shrugged eloquently.
"Behind you--!" Goku called in warning.
There was the sound of safeties being clicked off. Sanzo spun, coming face to face with three guards, carrying armed and loaded rifles. "What the Hell is this?"
"Sanzo-sama, the Elder has requested an audience with you."
"I'm busy. Tell him to go--"
"I'm tried that he was quite insistent," the guard's tone was patently polite; his stance and the rifle indicated that impoliteness was an option.
Sanzo's eyes narrowed. He paused, evidently considering his options.
"Sanzo, if you--" Goku began, when the priest waved a hand to cut him off. "Get back to bed."
"But..."
Sanzo stabbed a finger at one of the guards. "You. Get him food. And if I return to find that any harm has been visited upon his person..."
"There will be no such occasion. We apologize profusely. Evidently, there was some breakdown in communication."
"So the Temple authorized this attack?"
"We are not in a position to comment, Sanzo-sama. However, the Elder may be able to answer your questions."
"He had better." Sanzo strode off, leaving the guards to clatter after him.
***
"We are honored by your presence, Sanzo-sama." The Elder rose from his chair, bowing. "Please, take a seat."
Sanzo remained standing. "You might as well drop the courtesies. What do you want?"
"Really, Sanzo--"
There was a glint as Sanzo retrieved the Smith and Wesson from his sleeve pocket. "I'm afraid that I'm weary and have no wish to tally, your Holiness."
The Elder chuckled. "Well, well. Allow me to apologize for the method of invitation. However, I felt the compelling need to impress upon you that you cannot simply leave the temple ground without an escort. The surrounding areas are too dangerous for you travel alone in."
"I came here through these 'surrounding areas'. Allow me to reassure you that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Incidently," and his tone, already cold, grew frigid, "There is the little matter of sanctioned attempted murder on temple grounds."
"Again, my humble apologies. You must realize that the Minus Wave has driven most of the youkai of the region insane. We have a standing order that all youkai must be killed on sight; we did not have time to issue an exception on behalf of your companion. The matter has been remedied. We will not make this mistake again."
"This mistake?" Sanzo scoffed quietly.
"Incidently..."
Sanzo narrowed his eyes. "If you're asking for any teachings--"
"--nothing so trivial, Sanzo-sama. Rather, we rather your expertise in the field of youkai extermination."
"I'm not--"
"--allow me to explain. There is a tribe of marauding youkai in these hills. They have been pillaging and destroying human settlements for miles around without remorse, slaying innocents by the hundreds. To stop them, we have been forced to turn our temple into a fortress, and to organize some form of defense. After many months of work, we finally have the forces and the resources to launch a counter-attack on the enemy. Our scouts have reported the position of their base."
"This has nothing to do with me."
"We have heard of your impressive track record. The number of youkai which have perished at your hands is probably more than all our soldiers' kills combined. We would be honored if you could join us on this assault. We leave at dawn tomorrow." He paused. "Your companion will not be fit to travel for many days. In the meantime... consider it a favor in return for our care of him."
Something flashed in Sanzo's eyes. "You don't require my assistance. If you've been planning this attack for as long as you say you have, you don't need me to get involved."
"We would appreciate... nay, we require as much assistance as possible. We do not know the full extent of the enemy's forces. We need every advantage we can muster."
"The answer is no."
"If your companion were to leave now, he would not survive until the next city, which is weeks of travel away. And I'm afraid that we will require all our medicine and accomodation for our own wounded. We really have to no reason to be housing him."
"Are you threatening me?" Sanzo asked softly.
"As I said, consider it a fair exchange. After all, you can scarcely leave now. Moreover, your companion is a youkai, Sanzo-sama. The complaints have been numerous. His presence is breeding dissent and confusion amongst the ranks."
Sanzo snorted, and turned away. The three guards behind raised their weapons.
"Am I to take that as your consent?" the Elder called after him.
"So. Now it's a matter of joining you or dying?" Sanzo sneered.
"If you put it that way, yes."
There was a long, long silence.
"I will ride with you," Sanzo ground out at last, through clenched teeth.
"One last thing, Sanzo-sama."
Sanzo half-turned back, but did not respond.
"We require that you hand over your weapon. We will return it tomorrow. This is a precaution. No outsider is allowed to carry weapons on temple grounds."
The fury in Sanzo's eyes could have struck the Elder dead. "Enough is enough," Sanzo snapped.
"What do you require will you require a gun for, between today and tomorrow?" the Elder asked. "Unless you were planning on murdering someone... or reneging on your promise?"
"On the condition that no harm comes to my companion, and absolutely no need for a weapon arises during the time it is out of my hands."
"Very well."
By all the gods, I will kill him when this is over. Swiftly, Sanzo drew the exorcism gun, dropped it on the floor, and left. The guards did not stop him.
***
Archived :
Original :
May 10 2003