Tottering friendship.
By vermillian.
Summary: The one, who was behind this 'meeting', was Kanzeon Bosatsu. The new task was revealed in this chapter.
Notes: Thanks for all reviews. And I'm extremely sorry for the late chapter and any possible grammatical error. Lots of mistake and I hope I already correct all of them. -_-" Please read and review.
Disclaimer: I do not own saiyuki. I own only its DVD.
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Chapter Three: - Here, the new task we got.
"May you please explain what the hell of this thing?" asked Sanzo, in fully sarcasm term.
Kanzeon Bosatsu laughed as to make the bigger size of vein that was popping up on Sanzo's forehead. "Hey, don't look at me like that. I really have a work for you all to do." She continued without any glance at the golden-eyed youkai. "And I really do need you to give a hand on it, Goku."
"Me?"
The goddess smirked as usual. "But someone would be better than me to explain it."
"You finally admit it," murmured the monk. As the result, he got the glare because of it.
"You're better to show yourself by now, Kougaiji."
That name caused the widening of golden eyes. Their owner understood in the next minute when he saw his friend. He murmured, "you knew it."
"Dokugaku. What are you doing here?" asked Gojyo, surprisingly.
"Well. I'd like to say 'hi'," replied Dokugakuji.
"Hey! You didn't answer my question."
With some surprise, the one who replied was Goku. "In the case that you want my opinion, I guess that they KNEW this meeting and they KEPT all of this as a secret from us."
"Really?" mumbled Hakkai. Some thought showed in his eyes.
The crimson hair youkai slowly understood it in the next minute. "I see." He had a sound of gritting teeth as the sound effect.
"I hope you have a good explanation," suggested Sanzo, with the absolutely cold voice.
The one, who became the center of attention, sighed and finally said. "However, I don't think that this is the good place for explanation." He mentioned the crowd that was increasing around them.
As the youkai prince finished his sentence, the other could finally see the people around them.
"So what will you do?" asked Sanzo. "I think that you have a plan for this possibility."
Kougaiji nodded. "Follow me."
**********
Along the way to Kougaiji's place, Goku became the most popular guy in the group. Each in the group, that was the ever-being-Sanzo-ikkou, tried to nearby him and gave him many questions.
Kanzeon Bosatsu made the surprise from walking, instead of disappearing, with the other.
There were two guys, who took the first place of being the most quiet guys, Sanzo and Kougaiji. The first guy just remained silence and kept listening. Another one just kept quiet as his usual habit.
The other guy, who took the second place, was Goku. He answered only the question by question. It seemed he didn't want to speak more than that and tried not to take any glance at his old master.
The question that he was asked was the generous one, mostly about his health and his increasing height. It might be his luck that let him not to answer more questions when Dokugakuji, Ririn and Yaone joined the conversation.
The rest of the way, there was only Goku who could kept silence. It was because whenever he wanted to get near to Kougaiji, for asking or any other possible action, he would be interrupted by the goddess and her follower, and talked to the young (?) prince themselves.
They reached Kougaiji's place in a few minutes later. It was a middle size house in the suburb region of the town.
"Come in," invited the youkai prince. He led the rest to the main room
Sanzo's patience reached its end. "Would you please start by now?" He said with the fake politeness. "What the hell is this damn task?"
The goddess smirked. "Well, if you really need the information," she turned to the youkai prince, "it's your finding."
Kougaijii sighed. "Are you ready to know? Don't you want to have a break before?"
Dokugakuji, who kept quiet for a while, finally said. "Let say it, Kou. In the case that you do not notice, 'those guys' really WANT to do 'something' to manage their anger, or else they might eat you instead." What he meant was the 'target' for dead glares of Sanzo-ikkou were already changed.
"You knew it," stated Gojyo, sarcastically. Dokugakuji received the dead glare from his brother instead of Kougaiji.
"I start to wonder what the task is," added Hakkai. He smiled, but, well, it was REALLY looked scary in Ririn's opinion.
"O… Onii-chan," cried the young princess. She ran and was hiding behind her brother.
However, Hakkai's smile was not the scariest thing. Sanzo also joined smiling. The smile, which could make every single hair of whoever saw it, stood on its end. "It would be better for you to start it by now."
Goku was the last one who tried to scare his friend. "Agree. Moreover, you owe me the explanation. So it would be better for you to tell us whatever the task will be. Then you will have our private time to tell me about it."
"Okay, if you want to," Kougaiji admitted easily. Then his mind was no longer in the room. It was in somewhere far away. "It started two months ago."
-Flashback-
After the Houto castle was destroyed and youkais were no longer berserk, Kougaiji and his followers traveled around Togenkyo to check whether something was still wrong due to the ever existing experiment or not.
There was one time that the youkai prince ever told Goku for the reason behind his action. He always thought that it was also his fault for letting his stepmother doing the unforgivable sin by making the minus wave and turning almost all youkais in Togenkyo to be berserk. He felt guilty because he knew it, but he still did nothing. He let it happen because of his own sake, his selfish and the attempt for reviving his mother. When everything was over, he made up his mind that he would do everything as much as he could to eliminate the madness that was still on.
After that, he and his subordinates went to many places that the chaos was still occured. They tried to solve those troubles as much as they could. They always did, until they reached a castle two months ago.
"Is this castle that you told me the last day?" asked Kougaiji.
Dokugakuji nodded. " Our agents reported that there are something wrong in this castle. About two or three years ago, this clan was only a small one. But because of some reason, it was growing so much within a year."
The youkai prince didn't suddenly reply. He kept thinking for a while. "So both of you think that they might do something to enlarge their clan, right?"
"Hai, Kougaiji-sama," replied Yaone, "moreover, we also heard some interested news about this clan and its leader." She started reporting her master what she was told. After she finished explaining, Kougaiji's face became darker and more serious.
"Is that true?" murmured the youkai prince.
It was the tallest guy in that place who answered. "I also didn't believe him the first time I heard it. But that guy had many evidences supporting him. So I think that it might be better for us to prove it by ourselves. What do you think, Kou?"
Kougaiji raised his brows in surprise. "You brought me to this place and still asked me that question? Iku zo!"
About ten minutes or so after the discussion, Kougaiji and his followers were in front of the castle of suspected clan. They hadn't had to keep waiting for a long time. It seemed that Kao, the king of Fumei clan, knew that they would come and prepared some of his people to invite the guests. Even Kougaiji was not a prince in any longer due to the ruin of Houto Castle and the death of the Bull Demon, many youkais were still honoring him as their prince and their only leader. This was because of the same reason that Sanzo-ikkou already knew when the first time they met each other.*
*(A/N: In the case that any of you couldn't remember, the time that I meant for is within chapter 8 (drug and booze)-9 (charismatic) in the manga version and for animation, it is within episode 5 (a beautiful assassin))
And because of the same reason, any youkais needed to think twice if they didn't want to be the enemy of Kougaiji and his people, which could say that they were almost all of the existent youkais. Kao was not an exception. He didn't want to test his luck. Moreover, his men reported that the prince had some relation with the itan, who was born from the rock of earth and was the only man who could win over Gyumaoh. As a result, he thought that it would be better if he tried to keep Kougaiji in the same site with him.
The youkai, who was sent for Kougaiji-tachi, led the guests to the main hall to meet his master, Kao, who was waiting in that room.
"Welcome to my place. I'm really glad to invite you to my castle," said the leader of Fumei clan.
Kougaiji nodded. "You might already know my purpose." It seemed he didn't want to waste his time.
As a result, Kao laughed for this straightforwardness. He excused when he noticed the coldness in his guest. "I'm sorry. I just never thought that there would be someone who was absolutely straightforward like you."
"I think so," agreed Ririn. She nodded seriously.
Dokugakuji thought that this sister of his young master was really brave. Even he and Yaone still needed to hold their smiles as much as they could.
The young prince just rolled his eyes. He turned his attention back to Kao, who was only able to hold a laugh - not a smile.
The head of the clan suddenly changed his mood and said, "You wonder why my clan is glowing very fast, right?" When he realized that Kougaiji would say nothing, he continued. "It is because of my luck," he paused, "and my son." As he ended his words, he turned to the other youkais in that hall and told them to lead 'Hikage' into this room.
A few minutes later, there was a golden-eyed boy with dark blue hair waking in the room. "He's my son, Hikage," introduced Kao.
As the time the boy walked in, Kougaiji couldn't help but widened his eyes. 'Could it be?'
The time was walking very fast. After they exchanged their opinion about many general topics, Fumei's leader asked his guests for a dinner and one night resting.
Kougaiji accepted the invitation with some surprise of his followers and happy of his sister.
"Yuppy!"
After the dinner was over for an hour, Ririn finally fell asleep.
The young prince looked at his sister for a few seconds and was back to his subordinates. "Let's start our work."
No one got his purpose soon enough. He added, "checking the castle for any possible suspicion and get a truth."
"Hai!" answered Dokugakuji/Yaone.
They walked quietly around the castle and found nothing interested. Kougaiji was about to cancel this spying when he accidentally walked pass that room. What he heard was changing his mind.
"Master, what will we do with Kougaiji?" asked a youkai, who was with Kao all the time that Kougaiji took a visit.
"Nothing," replied Kao, coldly.
"Will we ask him to join our plan?"
The master smirked. "Might be. Do you think that he will join our plan, Rei?"
The guy, who was called 'Rei', replied. "He will be the most stupid youkai if he don't join our plan and have a possibility to get a part of Tenkai as the present."
"You're right," said Kao. "But it might be better if we won't have the other to share our part. When we already have an itan boy to let our wish come true."
As Fumei's leader finished his word, Kougaiji, who was already stunned as he heard 'itan', showed the signal and led the other back to their room.
He was not lucky enough. The guard accidentally saw the shadow. "Who's there?"
The guard saw no one. When he was about to check for any living thing, the door was suddenly opened.
"What's going on?" asked Rei.
"Rei-sama!" The guard started reporting what he saw. When he finished, 'Rei' remained silence for a few seconds. "Okay. Let's continue your work."
"But Rei-sama," protested the guard.
Rei just waved his hand. "The thieves might go too far to catch. Moreover, there's nothing to steal in this castle. You don't have to worry."
"Hai, Rei-sama," replied the guard and went back to his old position.
When Rei was back to the room, he reported what happened outside to his master.
"Kougaiji?" asked Kao.
"I think so," replied Rei. "What will we do?"
"Let them go," stated the leader. "There will be a lot of fun."
"Hai, Kao-sama."
Meanwhile, Kougaiji-tachi was already in their room. They didn't hear the conversation after they decided to leave the room. At the room, three adults were discussing about the situation and decided to leave this castle.
Yaone woke the little princess.
"Hmm? Is it the breakfast time?" asked Ririn as she rubbed her eyes.
"Sorry, Ririn-sama."
"Let get out of here," said Kougaiji.
-End Flashback-
"At that time, we got a good luck for not being caught that we were sneaking. However, we couldn't be at ease. Even though they had no evidence to accuse us, they still have many reasons to suspect us. We had even been sure that they tried to keep us in that castle," said Kougaiji.
"But they might not be," hinted Gojyo.
"That's why I say it in the past tense," replied Dokugakuji. "However, they still didn't trust us at the first place, and they won't."
"As Kougaiji-sama already said, after we were back to our section, we discussed and decided to leave the castle that night," continued Yaone.
"And you all accomplished it," said Goku, wonderingly. He knitted his eyebrows tightly.
Kougaiji nodded. He understood what his friend hinted about. "Without attacking with any guards. They let us go so easily, like nothing happened."
"They might be afraid of my utter power," assumed Ririn. However, there was no one listening to her.
Goku took a glance at the youkai prince before spoke. "Or it might be because of the same reason that they let all of you in their place."
Gojyo shammed to exclaim. "Oh! It seems you have a good year for developing your brain, Saru!"
Goku ignored it and caused the surprise on his old companions.
"That what we think," replied Dokugakuji.
"But it can't be that would be the only reason for letting all of you go," said Hakkai.
"Hai, Hakkai-san," replied Yaone, "but we still couldn't think of another reason."
Ririn was about to try to tell them her opinion, but she changed her mind as she realized that no one would listen to her. As a result, she went out of the room to find something to eat.
The silence was taking over that room. It would be continued if it was not because of Sanzo who finally spoke. "Kougaiji. Are you sure that the kid is itan?"
The asked one winked before nodded and replied. "I'm sure. That kid, Hikage, has a pair of golden eyes just like Goku, and they are not a fake."
"But they should not be the other itans apart from Goku and Nataku," contradicted the monk.
The one, who said it, didn't noticed that his words caused the widened of golden eyes. He shouldn't notice because that pair of golden orbs was back to normal in the next second. He wouldn't if he didn't keep an eye on the itan, who was the one of those who he mentioned about. However, there were two persons who saw it. The first one was Kanzeon Bosatsu. This was another one that no one would notice a small smile, which was gone in the next second, if they didn't keep an eye on her. And no one did. The second one was Hakkai. He stared at Goku and then changed his target to Sanzo, and kept wondering.
"Your source might be long. I heard Kao said it himself," replied Kougaiji.
"And it makes him didn't care when we sneak out of the castle," added Dokugakuji. "Because he already have the individual, who has a incredible power, in his hand."
"So the only way to destroy his ambitious is to separate the kid from him," concluded Yaone.
"Why didn't you do it yourself? Just pick him out of that place," said Gojyo.
It's Dokugakuji who answered his brother. "We CAN'T, Gojyo."
"Huh?"
"The kid is itan. Our power won't be match to him," revealed Kougaiji.
"Hikage is controlled by Kao," added Yaone, "I don't know how he controls that kid but it's possible that it might be because of drugs."
"Because of it, the only way to bring the kid out is to using force," said Dokugakuji. "That's why we need your helps." He said as his eyes were at Goku.
Both Sanzo and Hakkai saw that sight, but they said nothing and let it to be Gojyo's business, the one, who also saw the sight and had more possibility to be an indiscreet talker, asked it. "Why didn't you just ask the saru for helping you instead of calling all of us?"
As the blonde-haired and dark-haired guys thought, the golden eyes were changing a bit due to some emotional change and went back to normal in the next second. The only thing that was left behind was only the question in each mind of Goku's old companions. 'Why?'
As to answer the half-breed's question, the young prince shook his head. "This trouble is more than what you think," he said, "Only Goku's power is not enough. We also need all of yours." Before there would be anyone asking about it, he cut it short. "I can't told you the reason by now, but you will realize it in soon."
Gojyo just kept staring and murmured. "I should know it."
"I have another questions," started Hakkai, "why do you need to bring the kid from that guy yourself?" He meant for Kao. "If he really want to takeover Tenkai, why won't you just leave it as Tenkai's business? You have another reason, right?"
Kougaiji took a small glance at his best friend and sighed. "The kid reminded me to someone I was told to."
Before there would be more questions raising up, Goku finally spoke. "You afraid that Hikage will be used and controlled by the bad guy without his true permission, and become a killing puppet in finally. Correct?" Ending the sentence, he still kept his eyes from the other. His mind was deepened in thought. 'Killing puppet? At 'that' time, I didn't even know what it meant. I never knew what 'he' felt. Even though I finally understand the meaning, what does it for?' He shook his head, absentmindedly. 'No. I have to stop thinking about it. The only thing that I can do by now is to prevent that possibility and not let it happen again.'
As he thought, he didn't even realize that he was the target for the many couples of considering eyes. Some were with understanding. Some were with wondering. And some… was with the question, 'why did he say it? Is it only the coincidence? Or else, he remembers?'
Again, there were some sights that were able to detect that question, and became more wondering.
Kougaiji slowly nodded. "You're right."
"Killing puppet?" murmured Gojyo. 'Where the hell did I hear those words?'
"So," Kanzeon Bosatsu finally spoke, "it will be better for you all to start this task as soon as possible." She took a silence glance on her nephew and continued. "Actually, I want to give you another new companion to help your work, but he's busy by now. So I suppose that he will join you after two or three weeks." Her thought about her little (?) nephew was never wrong. 'It seems that this time will be a lot of fun.' She tried her best not to smirk… but it's not going to work.
The vein started to pop up on Sanzo's forehead since he heard the words 'another new companion', and it was going to be worst when he saw that smirk. The event after that caused a lot of surprise on his old companions for not seeing the monk began shouting. They thought that it was nearly a miracle. When Sanzo thought that he could hold his temple, he started speaking. "New companion?" He repeated and… more 'X' marks on his head. Whatever Ririn saw at the first place was scary, but there was nothing could compare with this time. "Just forget it."
The goddess pretended to widen her eyes. "But 'he' can really do help your work." She exclaimed. More fun or happiness she had, more veins (both in quantity and quality) her nephew had.
"Kanzeon Bosatsu," cried Jiroshin.
"I. DON'T. NEED. GODDAMN. HELP. FROM. YOU." You-know-who said.
But Kanzeon Bosatsu was seemed not to care. She waved her hand and concluded. "I won't change my mind. It'll be better to have someone to help your work." Without waiting for any arguments or something else, she and her follower disappear. However, it's not before the rest could hear the laugh and her last sentence. "And it will surely make a lot of fun for me."
The room was no sound left. It was silence like a hell. Every couple of eyes stared at the monk. He finally had a reaction. He gritted his teeth, NOT in a low voice, and… er… said. "KUSO BABA!"
Kougaiji, who saw the situation that became worse because of the goddess, tried to sneak out of the room, for the safety reason. However, he was not lucky enough.
Hakkai could notice the movement and feigned to hint in a loud voice. "You are going in the wrong direction, Kougaiji." Every single pairs of eyes, with various feeling, caught at the youkai prince. "I meant in the case that you want to leave this room."
Although the green-eyed youkai was smiling as he said, Kougaiji was still… er… afraid that he was about to be killed. He should have that feeling. Why not? When he was the target for glaring of Goku and Sanzo. "Er… no. I just wanted to have some movement."
"Oh, really?" murmur Goku as he still glared at the youkai prince.
For the unknown reason, Hakkai decided to help Kougaiji by asking the question. "By the way, do you know the guy whom Kanzeon Bosatsu meant for?"
Kougaiji kept winking before answered. "No, she didn't tell me."
"She said that if she told Kou about it, he might be forced to tell you," explained Dokugakuji.
Yaone hesitated for a while and added. "She also said that it will be no surprise if you know her decided companion."
No wonder, you-know-who muttered something about 'kill' and 'god'.
"And for the other detail or the question that you might have, Kanzeon Bosatsu will be back tomorrow before your journey will begin," stated Kougaiji. "You might need some rest." He turned to Yaone and, without saying anything, she understood.
"I will lead you to your rooms," said the violet hair girl.
Sanzo-ikkou followed their guide to the rooms. The only one who was still in the room was Goku. The guy patted his hand on the young prince's shoulder and said, with the voice that intended to scare his friend. "So you have a free time."
Kougaiji sighed. He took a glance at Dokugakuji. But before he could say anything, his left follower stated. "Yaone, wait. I think I'd better go with you."
"Hey," the red hair guy tried to protest when he realized that his follower didn't want to help him, or shared Goku's foot with him.
"Kougaiji," called the golden-eyed boy.
"er…" the one, who was called, sighed before accepted fate. "Okay. I'm ready."
**********
In another side of hall, after Kougaiji's follower showed the rest of Sanzo-ikkou the rooms, Hakkai asked his companion to have some discussion about what happened to them within the time that they didn't see each other. Dokugakuji understood, so he asked Yaone to find Ririn and escaped the room.
When the Sanzo-ikkou was alone, the green-eyed youkai turned to his friends to find that each of them already suit themselves, with chairs, lots of beers and cigarettes.
"Did the year I didn't see you change you into a heavy smoker?" asked Hakkai as a smile on his face. His eyes were at Sanzo.
"Damn. No. It's because of that kuso baba," replied the monk as he took his 'next' cigarette from his pocket.
Gojyo laughed and said. "So I saved your life for giving my lighter, right?"
"Shit."
Even none of two would admit it, but Hakkai knew that they, including himself, were glad that they were reunited in finally.
They exchanged their years of not seeing each other. When each of them finished it, the silence was taking the place.
Gojyo broke the silence. "If we were together, we might already know the saru's place for a long time."
"Why did you say so?" asked Hakkai.
Even Sanzo also sent the question mark in his eyes.
"I already told you. My brother kept visiting me for several times. If both of you were with me, we might already force, or make, him told us where the saru was," revealed Gojyo
"So why didn't you do it?" asked the monk as he wanted to tease his friend.
The accused muttered something in his throat and said. "I told you. He didn't want to answer me and I couldn't open his mouth about it. How could I do? He's my brother anyway."
Before the thing could be going worse, the peacemaker decided to make it short. "It's a past anyway. We have nothing to do with it." He didn't let anyone to interrupt him. He turned to the monk. "Moreover, I have a question."
"And I'm not in any mood to answer any question," replied Sanzo, carelessly.
As a result, the half-breed couldn't hold himself from laughing in any longer. "Well. It really sounds like you. I thought I would not heard something like that again."
"But you're wrong," added Hakkai, smiling. Although he didn't got the answer he wanted, he still couldn't keep his smile. Actually, he wanted to laugh. But for his own sake, and his safety, he thought that it would be better to stop at smiling.
He was right.
The famous big 'X' mark appeared on Sanzo's forehead. "Do you want to die so badly?" He didn't only say it, but also showed his famous Smith and Wesson.
Gojyo's face became pale. "No, thank."
"I'd rather to say 'no'," replied Hakkai, still kept his smiling trademark.
After the monk finished showing his dead glare, he kept his gun with sigh in relieve of his new-companion-to-be. "Shit."
In relief, the red-eyed youkai admitted, only to himself, 'I really do miss that damn gun.' As he thought, his usual smirk also appeared on his face. And it sent another series of his 'another missing thing'. *smack* *smack* *smack*
"What the hell did you do?" yelled Gojyo as he grabbed his head, at the 'region' he was 'hit' by the famous paper fan.
The accused calmly kept his paper fan. "You deserved it."
As Gojyo gritted his teeth, it seemed the peacemaker wanted to change his alias. He laughed and it changed the target of glaring to be himself.
"Sorry. I just think that it's really good to see this scene again," admitted Hakkai.
The half-breed pretended to angry, even he couldn't lie to anyone. "Do you think it's really good to see Mr. Worldly Monk hit me with that stupid paper fan?"
The guy, who spoke before thought, was pale when he saw his 'Mr. Worldly Monk' showing the famous paper fan with the considering eyes and changed the target back to himself.
Hakkai finally accepted his about-to-change-alias. "However, it is a time for dinner. Don't you think it would be better to find the other and finish this meal?"
Gojyo didn't want to test his luck. He hastily replied. "Yes. You're right. Or else Mr. I'm-hungry-all-the-time saru will eat everything."
In this time, the luck was by his side when Dokugakuji knocked the door to ask them for the dinner.
Gojyo suddenly opened the door and walked with his brother, for his safety.
This was another time that the half-breed 'spoke before thought'. The monk's face was pale for a second before back to normal.
Hakkai, who was more tender, could notice it. He took some distance from the brotherly couple and asked. "Are you alright?"
Sanzo blinked before got the question. "I'm alright."
"But?"
The monk sighed. "Won't you stop before having the proper answer?" He didn't wait for the reply. "It's Goku."
Hakkai could easily understand. "It's because Goku was seemed he wanted not to near you, right?"
Sanzo gazed amazingly at his friend and stated. "I will call you Mr. Hundred Eyes."
The accused just laughed and was back to the old topic. "However, for your doubt, 'he' might be shame."
"But he acted the same with you and Gojyo."
Hakkai didn't surrender. "It might be because he didn't care me or Gojyo like he did care you." When he realized that he wouldn't get the answer from his friend, he sighed. "If you still want the answer, you might ask him after the meal." Actually he should feel sorry when he saw the evil smile on Sanzo's face, but he didn't.
"You're right," replied Sanzo, "and for his own sake, I hope he has a proper answer."
As he finished his sentence, he walked faster and joined Gojyo.
Back to the one, who was left behind, he looked at both of his friends, mainly at the monk, and slowly showed the smile, which was more evil than Sanzo was. "Yes, he should and you will be in the next turn."
Because Gojyo was listening to the talk of his brother and the monk, so he didn't clearly hear the words of his another friend. He turned back. "Did you say something?"
His sentence called the attention from another taking couple to turn to the green-eyed youkai.
Hakkai just smiled as his trademark. "It's nothing. Let's join the other."
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Finish! Thanks for reading and sorry for this late and long chapter. Please review.