Disclaimer: I do not own any characters of Gensomaden Saiyuki. They honorably belong to Minekura-san Sensei.
Ayie: Wargh!! Goku's never a baby before? 'thanks Az-san and Crissania-san for telling me that'. How sad, he would be sooo cute when he's a baby…Looked at Goku with sorry look. Never mind, you will always be our baby…. Right minna-san? hugged sobbing Goku and glanced toward Gojyo, Hakkai and Sanzo
Hakkai: Baby? I'm not ready to be a father….but he is my lil bro…Chuckled merrily
Gojyo: What baby? How can I have a saru for my baby?
Sanzo: Ch!
Ayie: My…my…that's a rude thing to say Gojyo! rolled a magazine and whacked Gojyo's head Goku: Ho….ho…ho…
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Chapter 8 – The Surprise Assault
(At Baron's mansion)
Two dark figures entered the hall and walked toward the throne. As they reached in front of the gray haired man, they kneeled and bowed their heads slightly. They looked up and faced Baron.
"You summoned for us? Baron-sama?" one of the figures rose up. He steeped into the light. Tall, handsome figured and blue haired. His hazel eyes gleamed in the faint light that penetrated through an opening on top of the dome. He wore silver body armor and a sword trusted out from his leather belt. A lock of blue hair swayed aimlessly on his face as a breeze blew on him from nowhere.
Baron, the gray haired guy grunted and nodded slightly. "The baby was with Sanzo-ikkou and they are on their way here to save the mother" He explained. Baron looked down to his first disciple who has led his youkai army during the first battle at the earlier stage of the minus wave. "Lexus, take your army with you and retrieved the baby!" he gave out his order.
Lexus bowed and retreated a few steps before he walked out of the hall.
Baron looked at the other figure in the dark. "And what my task would be Baron-sama?" a husky voice escaped from between the grinning lips of the figure. Baron smirked. He stared to the bowing man as the man rose up and walked into the light. A man with a well-built body stood in front of him. He has white hair that he tied back into a ponytail. The long black suit he wore swayed to one side as he walked handsomely toward his leader.
Baron's lips curled slightly. He leaned to his throne on one side and anchored his chin on one hand. "You know your job…Xiang" he uttered with a smirk on his face.
The man named Xiang bowed his head slightly and looked up to Baron with a grin. "I guess you know Lexus would never complete his task don't you?" he sneered.
"Lexus? He's just an amateur and you know that" Baron giggled nastily. "I can't depend on him to protect me" Baron sat upright. He stood up and walked down from his throne.
"Looks like you sent Lexus to his death penalty" Xiang sighed deeply and smiled.
"Something like that" Baron turned to his resting chamber. "You're dismissed" he made a gesture on his hand, signaling the other man to go away.
Xiang bowed his head to his master's back and retreated into the dark.
"And Xiang…" Baron's voice from the chamber put Xiang into a halt. "Be prepared to meet your old friend" his master finished his last word as he closed the door behind him.
Xiang smirked devilishly. "I'm waiting for that time"
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"Yare…yare desune…doesn't it sound too quiet today?" Hakkai chirped, hearing no sound from the backseat since they were back on board of the jeep. They were back on road as soon as they finished their lunch, heading to the end of the woods. Since the engine being turned on, Hakkai hadn't heard the usual sound. No bickering between Goku and Gojyo, no Goku's whines for food, no playful screams emerged from Kazo and Goku, no whacking sound of Sanzo's harisen and no gun blast. No sound at all.
Hakkai was not used to that kind of silence. It gave him the creep. Too much silence could kill him.
"They had fallen asleep" came a simple yet meaningful answer from the only conscious figure from the backseat. Hakkai turned his gaze to the rear-view mirror and found of the image of smiling Aiko. That girl was holding Dai in her arms and letting her lap to be Kazo's pillow and her shoulder to be Goku's. Gojyo on the other hand was snoring aloud to the sky, his mouth wide opened.
"Hai hai!" Hakkai shook his head once he turned his gaze back on the road. He laughed slightly as his gaze met Nimmiku, perching on the hood. The she-dragon's wings flailed freely as the wind blew. 'They are indeed a happy couple'
"Naa…Sanzo, you'd finally have the silence you've been longing for" Hakkai said as he waited for the reply. But he got neither a sigh nor a curse, which are the usual responds from Sanzo. He glanced to his side.
Hakkai smiled.
"Guess my recipe today filled everyone" Hakkai said in glee.
The high-ranked monk was dozed off, sleeping with his head bowing slightly and his arms crossed upon his chest. Low snores emerged from under his breath. 'Everyone was tired from last night event'.
"You are not going to sleep?" asked Hakkai as he glanced from the corner of his eyes to the girl at the back. Aiko was staring at nothing.
"Nanda..?" Aiko seemed to be off track, recalling the question from the brunette driving the jeep. She giggled nervously, one hand scratching her head. "Sumimasen… what's the question? I wasn't listening"
"Gomen…I'm just asking whether you are not going to sleep?" Hakkai repeated his last question. "Am I disturbing your attempt to sleep?" Hakkai's face displayed flickers of guilt.
"Iya!" Aiko laughed slightly. "I was just wondering about nothing, I'm not going to sleep" she explained.
"Arara…nothing ne?" Hakkai seemed to understand. "It's really hard to sleep when there are so much you're trying to forget" He tried to bait the fish out of the water.
Aiko startled at that remark. 'Nothing?'. Aiko smiled faintly, trying in vain to let the guy in the driver's seat thinks that she was all right. Her effort didn't work very well as the man smiled quietly.
"So, you're going to the west in order to stop the revival of Gyumao by the summon of Sanbutusin?" Aiko tried to change the subject to avoid any unexpected question from Hakkai.
"Hai!" Hakkai replied. "They summoned Sanzo and ordered him to bring us in this journey" He could still pictured in his mind, how it all started. It began three years ago. The journey to the west might have started three months before, but the journey to their new life and friendships started long before that. "It's more like a picnic on a jeep" Hakkai continued.
"Kyu…" Harkuryu cooed as he heard the word jeep mentioned from his master.
Aiko chuckled but suddenly she fell silent. Aiko looked around. Hakkai too was silent. He looked from the corner of his emerald eyes into the woods alongside the road.
"Nap time is over ne Hakkai?" Aiko asked with an amused tone.
"Yare…yare…I'm afraid you're right" Hakkai stepped on the brake and put the jeep into a sudden halt, sending everyone on board to jerk forward.
Sanzo moved in time to avoid his head from dashing onto the dashboard, which might cost him to have severe headache. Goku, Kazo and Gojyo stumbled down on the floor. Aiko on the other hand, jerked forward to the front seat, in between Hakkai and Sanzo. Her cheek met Hakkai's. Both brunettes blush, their face flushed the color of their blood.
"Sumimasen!" Hakkai and Aiko apologized to each other at the same time, making them even more embarrassed. Aiko quickly retreated to her seat.
"Oi Hakkai! Do you want to get us killed?" Gojyo cursed out loud as he rubbed his sore head, result from him stumbling to the floor.
"Naaa… Hakkai what happened? Are you avoiding a cat crossing the road again?" Goku yawned.
"Ittai!" Kazo sat up and looked at Hakkai.
"Urusei!" Sanzo yelled out loud. He held out his shoureiju.
"Ma…ma Sanzo" Hakkai sweat dropped. His eyes turned to scanned the area around them. "Save your bullet for our uninvited guests" Hakkai said calmly.
"Nani?" Goku was astounded. He looked around and his smelling sense caught the smell of a yuki. "Youkai!" he exclaimed.
"Nyoibou!" Goku summoned for his staff and soon was holding it in his hands. Sanzo pointed his gun around, ready to pull the trigger toward any moving thing. Gojyo summoned for his shaku jou and stood in a fighting mode. They were all standing in an alert position, ready for a counter attack.
Out of the blue, a large ki-ball came dashing toward them. Unlucky for them, Hakkai hadn't had the time to form an energy barrier.
"Abandon the jeep!" Sanzo cried in alarm. He leaped out of the jeep followed by his companions, right before the ki-ball hit the ground the jeep once parked. Harkuryu managed to changed to his dragon form and flew away just in time before the ki-ball hit him. Loud explosion occurred at the spot.
Along with that explosion, an army of youkai, probably consisted of two hundreds men, appeared from behind the smoke. The army was ready to attack each one of them, now separated from each other as a result from the enemies' first blow
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Sanzo blasted off another bullet while evading a blow from a youkai's sword. His bullet hit his assailant and turned the latter into dust.
Sanzo turned around and fired his Smith and Wesson toward another youkai who darted furiously to his way. The youkai shattered into dust and vaporized into thin air.
"Where are the others?" Sanzo was getting a bit worried. He looked around while keeping himself busies dodging at continuous assaults from the youkais. No sign of his comrades anywhere around him. That's mean they were somewhere else or he would have heard Goku yelping in glee during his battle, Gojyo showing off his skill with the shaku jou and Hakkai uttering the word "What a peaceful day" while blasting his opponents with his ki-explosions.
"K'so!" Sanzo muttered under his breath. 'They know how to take care of themselves'. He shot another youkai to dust. Ten down, fifty to go. "Ch!" Sanzo grunted. He didn't even have the time to reload his shoureiju. Now he only got one bullet left.
"Run out of bullets, bouzu?" One of the youkai sneered at him.
Sanzo's vein popped out on his forehead, as he felt rather insulted by the remark. He shot the mentioned youkai with his last bullet, but it was much to his delight. "Not until I shot you right on the head" he replied. Yet, he cannot ignore the fact that he'd waste the last bullet on that worthless youkai when there's still an army of youkai surrounded him with deadly intention.
"No use beautiful monk, hand us the baby and we'll spare you" one of the youkai reassured with an amused tone.
Sanzo smirked. "Thanks but I don't need that". He reloaded his gun in a swift movement, but the task left him unaware for a moment, giving away for another attack he wasn't able to evade. The youkai's sword slashed his side opened. Sanzo flinched at the sudden throbbing pain in his waist but immediately shot a pair of youkai.
Sanzo gripped his side, now pouring crimson liquid. The liquid streamed down fast, soaking one side of his robe wet and red. Sanzo's grip got firmer as he tried in vain to slow down the stream of blood while shooting another youkai. The youkai took the chance of his slow movement to attack him continuously.
Sanzo gritted his teeth, trying to chase away the stabbing pain. His act made way for a youkai to give him the last blow that will cost him his life. The youkai tossed a spear toward Sanzo, and 'darn' he didn't have the time to dodge it as the spear penetrated the air and darted toward him with great speed.
Sanzo eyes blinked as another figure darted toward him and stood in front of him, in the way of the spear. Sanzo heard a low moan from the figure in front of him. Sanzo stared at the figure standing before him and gawked once he recognized the figure.
"Goku!" Sanzo cried out. There was the spear, stuck in that boy's chest. Goku was staggering on his feet, he leaned on his nyoibou for support. He pulled the spear from his chest and cried with agony. He turned around and faced Sanzo.
"Doujibou desuka Sanzo?" Goku asked, followed by soft hiss. His breathing is getting shallow and faint. Hi gripped his wounded chest tightly.
Sanzo stared in disbelief, crimson liquid poured heavily from Goku's fresh wound and soaking his upper body. 'He was badly wounded, yet he wanted to know if I'm all right?'
"K'so, stop it kono baka saru!" scolded Sanzo, more of worries than anger. He held Goku's shoulders. 'The wound was terribly serious, he's loosing a lot of blood and the wound might involved his internal organs too'. Sanzo grunted. Goku can never survive until the fight is over. 'Where's Hakkai when you need him?'. All of a sudden, an image from his past haunted his mind. The sight of his mentor, Komyou Sanzo, stood before him, blocking him from a youkai's assault. Blood was everywhere and it wasn't his blood, Komyou Sanzo's blood.
'I can't lose him!'. Sanzo clamped when Goku stumbled on him, unconscious. "Oi Goku! Hang on" Sanzo got panic. Sanzo pulled Goku close to him as he shot another youkai.
'The kyumou!' Sanzo suddenly remembered. But then, he stopped. 'I can't use the maten kyumou with Goku's around'. He just realized that he never used the maten kyumou when Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo were in close distance. He always avoided using the sutra, fearing that he would end up hurting or killing his own companions.
"K'so!" Sanzo looked around. The youkai had already surrounded them. 'No way to escape'. Suddenly, all youkai attacked them at the same time but spontaneously being jerked back by some kind of force on top of Sanzo and Goku.
Sanzo startled, there was a large energy barrier surrounding him and Goku. It doesn't belong to Hakkai. At sudden, a figure lurched into the energy barrier and stood right in front of them. The energy barrier vanished and the youkai army started attacking once again.
"Sanzo, get ready to use the sutra" Aiko snapped immediately as she released a ki-blast toward a group of youkai, shattering them into dust. She avoided another attack by jumping high in the air and kicked his opponent's face. She evaded another assault by blocking it with an energy barrier. Aiko fought using the same kind of martial art as Hakkai's, the Xi gong.
Aiko turned around to find Sanzo shooting a youkai to dust. "Sanzo?" Aiko tried to remind him about using the sutra.
Sanzo turned around to face Aiko. "I can't use the sutra with Goku's around" Sanzo blasted another youkai. "It might endangers him" he fired his gun to a youkai lurching toward Goku.
Aiko looked at Goku while she blasted another ki-ball. She quickly understood. Aiko kicked his opponent which caused him to jerk back, wincing at the throbbing pain in his gut. Aiko fired a ki-ball and without waiting for it to turn into dust, she lurched toward Goku. She formed an energy barrier upon Goku, protecting the little guy in it.
Sanzo quickly makes his move. He put his hands together in a praying mode and started chanting. The sutra on his shoulders started to float on the air, glowing with a purple light. Sanzo kept on chanting as Aiko shielded him with her ki-blasts.
"Purify the evil!" he shouted and pointed his hand to the youkais. Along with that, the sutra slid to every direction and wiped the youkai. The army of youkai shattered into dust. With that, the sutra slid back onto Sanzo's shoulders as a simple scroll with simple writing on it.
Aiko looked around, no single youkai was left on the carnage. She sighed with relief and looked at Sanzo, now stumbling down on earth, gripping to his wounded side.
Aiko cupped Goku in her arms and hurried toward Sanzo. She held Sanzo's shoulder. "Doujibou ka Sanzo?" she asked, worriedly.
"Doujibou" came the answer. Sanzo gritted his teeth and let out a soft moan. He could not hold it any longer and looked up to Aiko. His vision started to blur. He blanked off.
"Sanzo!!" Aiko screamed in fear.
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Hakkai released a ki-ball toward his opponent, vanishing the latter into dust. That was his last opponent after he blasted off around 30 youkais on his own. He looked around, Gojyo was still dealing with his last opponent.
"Hakkai! Watch out!" Suddenly Kazo darted toward him and jumped over his head, kicking a youkai to dust. He landed on the ground behind Hakkai and turned around to face the brunette.
Hakkai blinked in awe. Kazo's movement was so fast that even he could not caught a glimpse of his act.
"Doujibou desu ka Hakkai?" Kazo looked up to him with a flicker or concern on his face.
"Hai! Hai!" Hakkai giggled edgily as he was not used to receive worried glances from others. Usually he was the one being so concern to keep on asking his companions the same question over and over.
"You're good kiddo!" Gojyo appeared from behind them after he triumphed his own battle.
"I'm not a kiddo!" Kazo protested, showing his fist to Gojyo. Gojyo stuck out his tongue to Kazo, causing the younger half-breed to lurch forward and jumped onto Gojyo's head. He tugged at the older's hair and bit his ear.
"Argh! Get off me, kono gaki!" Gojyo cursed, trying to shove Kazo away from his head.
Hakkai laughed slightly. Gojyo never failed to start a fight with any of the kids, make it Kazo or Goku. But Hakkai had to admit that Gojyo was right. Kazo was indeed a good fighter. He fought together with them and killed more than twenty youkais, all on his own, with his bare hands.
Kazo looked around, to his right and then to his left. He searched for something.
"Where's the other?" Kazo asked, observing the area from the top of Gojyo's head. "I don't see Goku, Sanzo and Aiko anywhere since the fight started"
Gojyo sweat dropped. Now he felt like a firehouse. A vein popped out on Gojyo's forehead. "Get down of my head!!" Gojyo shouted as he tried desperately to pull Kazo away from his head. He pulled Kazo's legs, now embracing his neck, causing him to choke.
Hakkai sighed. "They must have got separated from us when the explosion occurred" he guessed. He looked around, no signs of their companions. He's starting to get worried, especially when he thinks of Aiko who had the baby with her. Her risk of getting badly injured was high, since the youkai were coming after the baby. He knew Aiko had the ability of forming ki-balls, but does she knew how to use it in order to protect herself?
"Oi Hakkai!" gojyo patted Hakkai's shoulder. He had already stopped bickering with Kazo once he realized his friend fell silent at sudden. "Don't worry too much, they will be fine" he said, reassuringly.
"I know Sanzo and Goku would be, but I don't know about Aiko" Hakkai still has the flicker of concern upon his face. Now, even Gojyo was worried. 'She has the baby with her'.
"She'll be fine!" Kazo jumped from Gojyo's head onto the ground. "You might know nothing about her, but I knew her very well" he said it with calm voice. Nimmiku suddenly flew out from nowhere and perched on his shoulder, he patted his sister's pet as the dragon cooed softly. 'I know you missed her, me too'.
Harkuryu, appearing with Nimmiku, perched on Hakkai's shoulder. He licked his master's cheek affectionately as if trying to console the latter. Hakkai smiled endlessly. He's still worried.
Suddenly, Kazo held his hand. Hakkai looked down to Kazo, who was looking at him worriedly. "Don't worry Hakkai, Aiko knew how to take care of herself and judging from the way you two fought just now, I bet Goku and Sanzo were one hell of a fighter too" the kid gave the elder bishounens an innocent smile. His smile succeed in gaining the elders' confidence that everything will be fine.
"If your sister heard what you'd just say, she would surely got pretty mad" Hakkai reminded Kazo about the language he'd just used. Kazo shut his mouth with his palm, realizing his mistake. 'Hakkai was right, he was lucky that Aiko wasn't here with them or else he would surely gained a bump on the head'. Hakkai chuckled in glee.
"Baka!" Gojyo ruffled the young half-breed hair. 'He's only a kid, but still he had the courage to stay calm'. Kazo's hands swayed aimlessly as he tried to smack Gojyo's hands from his hair.
Hakkai shook his head. "I guess we better start searching for them right away" Hakkai looked around. "Harkuryu, can you please…" Hakkai hadn't finished his last word when Harkuryu flew onto the ground and transformed himself into a jeep.
Kazo and Gojyo stopped bickering. They halted at their recent position. Each one of them were tugging at each other's hair. "Ano?" They looked puzzled. Kazo accidentally pulled out a strand of hair from the kappa's head, making the latter yelped with agony.
"Kono baka gaki!" Gojyo bobbed Kazo's head, and the fight continued. Nimmiku cooed endlessly.
"Which way we should start searching?" Hakkai analyzed the route they should begin with. He looked at Gojyo and Kazo, hoping for answers.
"Eh?!" Gojyo and Kazo startled. They blinked at pointed their fingers into different directions. Gojyo to the west and Kazo to the south.
Hakkai slapped his forehead. 'Why did he even asked?'
"Ikimaska?" Hakkai decided he should lead the way. It will be a waste of time if he was to ask his two red haired companions.
"Hai!" agreed the red haired couple as they let go off each other. They went to the jeep and hopped in. Gojyo sat beside Hakkai. They both knew very well that Hakkai was not even sure about where to start as he just followed his own instinct.
"Are you sure about this?" Kazo glanced at Gojyo and Hakkai.
"It's worth to try since we've got no choice" Hakkai explained. Gojyo looked at Hakkai. Hakkai always had the definite sense when it came to direction matters and he's a good gambler after all. He knew what Hakkai had in mind. He was concerned about Sanzo and Goku, realizing the fact that the two were injuries prone. Not mentioning Aiko and Dai, two of the most fragile beings on earth.
Gojyo shook his head. 'Sanzo, Goku, Aiko, you guys better be all right'. Gojyo wouldn't admit it but he felt rather worried himself. His face told everything in his mind and Kazo realized that.
Kazo looked at Gojyo, the older red haired feel silent at sudden. The flicker of concern was clearly shown on his face. Kazo felt rather guilty. He didn't know why. He's not good at saying nice words. Aiko could have done it better.
'Aiko, where are you?'. Kazo surely hoped his sister was there to comfort Hakkai and Gojyo, and perhaps himself. Kazo stood dumbfound, as the jeep started moving into the woods.
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Lexus drew his binocular down. He looked down to the woods at the foothill. 'So, they managed to escape eh?'.
Lexus turned around to face his remaining army. A whole new army of youkai.
"Get ready for phase two" he said calmly. The youkai soldiers bowed.
"We'll see if you'll survive this time Sanzo-ikkou" Lexus grinned.
To be continue….
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Ayie: Please don't kill me if the fighting scene was boring ^o^". I was not good at it.
Sanzo: May be you should take tae-kwondo lessons, then you'll know how to fight….
Ayie: -__-``
