Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Gensomaden Saiyuki. They honorably belong to Minekura-san Sensei.
Ayie: For those who reviewed my fic, thanks a lot. I appreciated your reviews, it helped me to make my fic better and your reviews did encourage me to keep on writing. Arigatou minna-san…. Do tell me if the fic bored you and help me to make it more interesting…. ^c^
Gojyo: You mentioned about having another plan for Sanzo…. What was that?
Ayie: Hai ?….dazed Hai! Hai!….chuckled nervously. Gomen….I forgot. Actually it's not in this chapter….But it will come for sure…
Sanzo: Don't you dare…. Shi---ne!! whacked Ayie severely
Hakkai, Goku, Gojyo and Kazo: * grabbed Sanzo and kept him away from Ayie
Ayie: Wails sadly Wargh!!….. hu…hu…I'll make you pay for this..clutched head
Aiko: Na…na….ayie-san…hush now…gave Ayie a peck on the cheek
Ayie: * continued sobbing*
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Chapter 6 – The Mission
Aiko looked at her roommates. Every one of them seemed to be tensed, except for Goku and Kazo, who are now watching the baby adoringly. The baby is still sleeping after Aiko tucked him to bed moments ago. Aiko sighed deeply and shook her head. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Why would she abandon her baby like this?" Aiko just couldn't take it. Hakkai explained to her that the baby was found in front of their door without any signs of his mother around. It was absurd, judging on how the mother protected her baby before. Even Hakkai seemed to be having doubt about the idea that the mother abandoned her baby for no reason. "I mean, when we met her on the street, she's willing to be kicked off just to get some food for the baby" Aiko rubbed her aching temple. Thinking made her head ached.
"Matte, are you saying you've actually meet the mother and know how she looks like?" Asked Gojyo. Aiko and Hakkai nodded. "What are we waiting for? Let's go and find her, we'll give the baby back to her" Gojyo rose up from the floor, which had been his resting place since the last time he let go off Sanzo.
Hakkai and Sanzo stood up, ready to go. "Can you stay here with them?" asked Hakkai, looking toward Aiko. Aiko glanced at Goku, Kazo and the baby. She smiled and turned her gaze to Hakkai. Hakkai quickly understood the meaning of that smile.
"How can we recognize her?" Sanzo asked coldly. He headed toward the door and turned the knob. He was not eager of having another little brat with them in that room for tonight since he already got caught in with two of them.
"Well, she's beautiful…. Fair skin… Lips with the color of deep rose…" Aiko is recalling what was left in her mind on the figure of the lady mentioned. She is trying hard to recall something obvious about the woman, something that might help them to recognize her even better. 'Well, it's rare for a female human to have golden hair…Golden hair?'. "Ah! She has marvelous long golden hair" Aiko snapped out.
Gojyo stood dazed at the last words uttered by her. 'Golden hair?'. "Does she has bruises all over her face?" Gojyo stared at Aiko. He waited for her answer with his heart pounding hastily. He felt as if his chest is going to blow up any second now.
"Hai!" Aiko agreed. "She was totally battered up" she recalled something. The woman looked terribly frightened. Her face clearly showed the look of dread. "May be she's in danger? So, in order to save her baby, she left him to us" Aiko made a wild guess.
"Who cares?" Sanzo wasn't in the mood for silly guesses. "I just want to get rid of him as soon as possible" he pulled the door opened. He looked at Gojyo as the red haired lazily leaned his back to the wall.
Gojyo descended back on the floor. He felt sudden feeling of fear and guilt in his heart. Now, he remembered the look of terror in the woman's eyes as the man with the gray hair is locking lips with her. Everything was made clearer to him now. Now, he realized that the crystal like fluid that streamed down on the woman's cheeks were tears. Now, he realized that the gray haired man wore a chain-like yoryuku limiter at his neck. What a fool of him not to realize all of that sooner.
"Gojyo..? Doujibou desu ka?" Hakkai asked out of concern. A moment ago Gojyo was the one to get too energized about finding that woman, now he's the one to get so downcast.
Gojyo shrugged. "We're not going to find her" he said it under his breath. "She was captived by a youkai a moment ago" Gojyo explained, making his companions stammered in shocked.
"Youkai…? You saw her and yet didn't do anything?" Goku fumed. He was not fond of hearing about someone being in trouble. He stood in front of Gojyo and hit that man hard on the head. Gojyo leaped forward and strangled that young heretic.
"Kono baka saru!!" Gojyo shook Goku hard. Meanwhile Goku kept on pounding the man's head.
Hakkai and Aiko sweat dropped. The two never failed to make matter worse.
"Urusei!" Sanzo's paper fan landed on the bishounens' head. The latter two clutched their heads in agony.
"You know where he took her to?" Hakkai inquired. He looked at Gojyo with a pathetic smile. He knew how Gojyo felt, now that he was not able to help someone in trouble when he actually has the chance to do it. Especially if that someone was a woman.
"How the hell I would know if I don't even realized that she's in trouble?" Gojyo took Hakkai's question as a silly remark and yelled back at him. Hakkai smiled. Now, he knew Gojyo was really depressed with his inability to help the woman.
"Yare…yare…" Hakkai sighed.
"Gomen…" Gojyo almost got choked down with the word as he gazed at Hakkai, who stood smiling at him.
Sanzo shrugged. "Ikuzo!" he ordered. "You said you've meet them a moment ago, they couldn't have gone far" Sanzo stepped out of the room. Hakkai looked at Gojyo with a sorry look.
"You may not be able to help the mother, but if you hurry up you might be able to help the baby" Hakkai exclaimed before he followed Sanzo's pace. Aiko glanced at Hakkai and smiled a ghostly smile.
Gojyo glanced at the sleeping baby. "Help the baby huh?". He slowly rose up to his feet and headed toward the door. "You guys take care of the baby. And saru…stay out of trouble" Gojyo dashed out of the room and joined Hakkai, who is waiting for him at the stairs.
"I thought you're not coming?" Hakkai sneered with a thin smile on his face.
"Who said anything about going with you?" Gojyo crossed his arms behind his neck and walked toward the stairs. "I just want to get some fresh air…the noise in the room made my chest ached" he looked back to the door. Goku is looking at their way.
"Ja na saru!" he yelled as he walked down the stairs. Hakkai followed from behind.
"Kono ero kappa!" Goku lurched to the aisle and swung his fist in the air. But then he smiled slightly. He retreated into the room and slowly pulled the door behind him and walked toward the bed. He joined Kazo, laying on the bed with the baby in between them and looked at him adoringly.
Aiko smiled. Not only because she's witnessing the cutest sight she ever saw right in front her now but also because of the latter event, the event that involved the elder bishounens. 'This people have their own way of worrying about somebody'.
Aiko stared blankly at the wall. The woman's innocent and fragile face appeared on that wall. The woman with the golden hair is shedding tears of fear. The image from her disturbed mind suddenly changed into an image of another woman, an image of a female youkai with tears falling down on her cheek. Aiko shrugged and took a deep breath.
'Please be safe'. Aiko quietly prayed for the young mother's safety.
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Goku has been staring at the sleeping baby for over an hour now. He didn't seem to get bored with the task Aiko had appointed to him; taking care of the baby. A moment ago, Kazo and him lay together on the bed by the babies' side and adored the cute face of his. Now, he's the only one left to adore at the little guy's chubby face when Kazo fell asleep a little while before.
"You're not going to sleep?" Aiko asked with a motherly tone. She just came back from the kitchen to get some milk for the baby, in case he might wakes up hungry in the middle of the night. She's not going to take the risk of getting Sanzo to his nerve again when the baby disturbed his sleep with a loud wail. At least a bottle of milk would help to shut up the chibi's mouth in case that ever to happen.
"Aiko" Goku called out softly, fearing that a loud voice would wake the baby from his sleep.
Aiko looked at Goku. A pair of round golden eyes shone brightly, displaying the look of innocence on the owner's face, looked up to her face. "Nanda?" Aiko walked gracefully toward the bed and settled herself at the edge of the bed, facing Goku face to face. She stared down to Goku, now sitting cross-legged on the bed. The sleeping dragons at his feet stirred a little as his foot accidentally nudged them. Goku quickly drew his foot away.
"Were all of us was once a baby?" he asked as he lifted his face and looked at Aiko's face, waiting for a sincere reply.
Aiko nodded. "Hai! You, me, everyone" she answered back. 'There's something bothering the kid's mind, but what?'. Aiko couldn't seem to understand why that question popped out of the boy's mouth.
"Am I a baby once?" Goku's next question made Aiko stunned. 'Why he even thinks of that question?'. Aiko looked at Goku, whose head hung so low. He is staring at nothing on the white bedsheet.
"Why you'd asked that?" Aiko tried to get the thing clearer for her.
"Well, I was locked up in a cave on top of Gogyo mountain for over five hundreds years with no memories of my past" Goku replied with a sad tone. Aiko was astounded. "Sanzo found me and picked me up"
"I was ten year old when he found me… But what makes me wondered was that my figure never change during that five hundreds years of captivity" Goku started to sob. His voice was faint and sad, as if he is feeling a great pain in his chest when he's retelling his past.
Aiko is going to ask more question to the boy in front of him when her inner voice said 'No, let him finish. You are not here to revealed his past, you're here because he wants you to listen'
"So, I wondered if, instead of being born as a baby, I was actually born with the body of a ten year old boy" Goku's shoulder trembled. He looked down to his feet. Goku lifted his knees and hugged them in front of his chest. Locks of hair covered his face when he nudged his face onto his knees. But Aiko knew well that the boy is crying.
Aiko felt a sharp blow in her heart, realizing that the kid is crying for his terrible past. 'Whatever this kid did in his past, it's not worth of five hundreds years of being locked up alone. He was still just a kid in him'. Aiko stroked the boy's hair, trying to reassure him. 'Whoever locked him up must had used the frozen spell to freeze his age and body from getting older'
"You know what Goku? I think you were once a cute baby" Aiko mentioned softly. Her voice was so tender and so motherly like that Goku's sobs ceased a bit.
"Nani?" Goku lifted his face and looked up to Aiko. He wiped his tears away with the back of his hand.
"You don't remember anything about things which happened before you're being locked up in that cave don't you?" Aiko gently wiped the tears on the boy's cheeks with her fingers.
Goku shook his head.
"Then, how would you know if you are never a baby before?" Aiko winked at him. "Even I don't remember anything of my own babyhood" She's trying to be logic.
"Honto ni?" Goku started to feel contented.
"Who ever locked you up must have cast a frozen spell upon you to stop the time around you" explained Aiko even though she knew well the boy would never understand her explanation at all. Amazingly, Goku just sat listening to her remarks. "They made the time stopped so you will never grow up"
"But why?"Goku couldn't help himself from asking. It was his nature.
"Hm…" Aiko raised a finger and tapped her temple several times, before she snapped the finger. "May be they didn't want you to get very old, with white beard so long it reached your knees, with wrinkles that make you looked like a piece of cloth or with a bump on your back that makes you looked like a hunchback when you're walking" she took a deep breath after that. She grinned a devilish grin.
Goku's eyes widened with fear. "You mean, I'll be like that by the time Sanzo found me if they didn't cast that…that…fr.." Goku had forgotten the name of the spell. He scratched his head disappointedly.
"Hai!" Aiko nodded eagerly. Finally,her explanation helped the boy the figure out the logic behind it. "So, instead of being the grandfather for Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo, you could be the youngest of them all" She thought she was right although she never knew what actually happened.
Goku laughed slightly. He felt a little bit relief. "You really think I was cute?" He asked.
"Hai! Soooo cute that I wanted to kiss you" Aiko kidded around. Goku smiled shamefully at her compliment. "Sleep now" Aiko ordered as she pushed the boy gently to bed and tucked him with a blanket. She stroked the boy's hair gently until the latter fell asleep.
Aiko smiled. She never thought that behind that genki behavior of him, Goku was actually lonely. She never thought someone with the face of such innocence suffered a terrible past that even a normal human adult could never endured.
Aiko gave Goku a peck on the cheek and did the same to Kazo, who's now snoring soundly.
"They're just kids, but why they have to endure such a horrible past?" Aiko asked, most likely to herself.
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Aiko rested her chin on her cupped hands. She stared out of the window and gazed at the stars. She counted the stars even though she was well aware that it was an absurd act. Someone once told her that when a person died, his spirit will float on the sky and turned into stars. The stars were actually the soul of their loved ones, looking down at them from the highest place.
Aiko smiled. She grew up believing that story. When she grew older, she found out that it's only a fairy tale that adults used to tell their kids to put them to sleep. But Aiko never let the story fade from her mind, instead she kept it firmly in her heart, just the way she held the one who told her the story, close to her heart.
Aiko gazed upon the stars. Among zillions of the stars, there were eight stars that shone so bright that they seemed to emerge magnificently among the rest. Aiko smiled. A thought crossed her mind. The stars must be the souls of her loved ones, staring down at her with their fondest love. 'Ah! What a nice thing to think of'. Aiko shrugged and returned to the chair.
As soon as she reached the chair, the door cracked open. Three men stood outside the room with a shabby look. Sanzo, Gojyo and Hakkai. All of them looked so worn out and weary. They looked like they could collapse anytime now.
Aiko darted toward them. "Doujibou desu ka, minna-san?" she asked worriedly.
Hakkai smiled. "Doujibou, we're just a little bit tired" Hakkai replied with a faint smile. They had spent almost three quarter of the night for a wild goose chase. "We couldn't find her" He said at the lowest point of his voice. Hakkai sunk himself into a chair and cupped his face with both hands. Sanzo settled down beside him.
Aiko looked at them with sympathy. She knew the guys were terribly tired and disappointed. He looked at Gojyo. That man was even worse. He looked sad, tired and weary. He collapsed on one of the futons and covered his face with a pillow. A low sad sigh emerged from beneath the pillow.
Sanzo looked terribly awful. There was a flicker of rage in his eyes and sense of disgust on his face. But the feelings melted away as he gazed upon the sleeping kids. 'World without worries'. It always helped to calm him down by staring at sleeping Goku before. His noisy slumber always managed to cheer his inner self.
"But we did get some information about her" Hakkai exclaimed. "The woman got married with a kami a year ago but the kami was killed during a battle against youkai when the minus wave hit the town" He lifted his face and stared what was outside the window.
'That's explain why the baby has one blue eye and the other was gold'. Aiko glanced at the sleeping baby.
"But then, Baron, the youkai leader, in revenge for his brother's death at the hand of the kami, wanted to kill his descendant, the baby, and make the woman his" Hakkai did all the explanation as the two were not in a mood to start doing one.
"No wonder, she's beautiful" Aiko agreed.
"It's more than that" Hakkai voice was rather faint due to the fatigue that had overtook him. "The youkai leader once fell in love with the lady, but the lady refused as she'd already in a relationship with the kami". 'Some love stories never end huh?'
"The gray haired man was indeed Baron" Hakkai finished his task. He sighed.
"Do you get anything about how to find Baron?" Aiko turned to Sanzo. 'Enough for Hakkai'
"In a mansion at the end of the forest, she might be there" Sanzo replied frigidly. "It takes a whole day to get there and the youkai leader was a day ahead of us" He took off his sutra and his outfit, leaving him wearing the jean and the black suit. 'Tomorrow we rescue her, and that's it… bye bye baby blues'.
"I guess we rest for tonight and think about the problem tomorrow" Aiko suggested. "It might saved us our energy for any unexpected things" She closed all the windows, except for the one near to her futon. She wanted to sleep with the sky above her. Just to watch the stars.
"You are going with us?" Hakkai asked confusedly.
"Hai! You don't want to handle the baby by yourself don't you?" She made a point there. Hakkai smiled. He was sure of the answers. None of them could handle the baby. Judge it from the way they got panic when he wailed crazily.
"Ch!" Sanzo retreated to his futon. It has been a long night and he was tired all over. He laid on the futon and closed his eyes.
Hakkai locked the door and laid himself on his futon, in between Gojyo and Sanzo. Gojyo is still hiding his face under the pillow. But Hakkai was aware the red haired already fell asleep a long time ago.
"Oyasumi nasai" he greeted both of his friends and Aiko who is blowing off the candle.
"Oyasumi nasai…minna san" replied Aiko as she laid herself on her futon, pulling the blanket over her. But then, she remembered something. She rose up and lifted the baby from the bed and put him beside her. 'Goku and Kazo might as well pin him down if I let him sleep on the bed'.
Aiko lay on her side, facing the baby. 'Poor little guy'. She let her hand wrapped around the little guy's waist and closed her eyes.
To be continue…..
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Ayie: Quite mushy in here….Actually I was wondering the same thing as Goku did. Was he ever a baby before?
Goku: I am…I am…jumping frantically in front of Ayie
Ayie: Hai! Hai! giggled nervously
