Hakkai fans (as opposed to, say, […x]Hakkai[x…] fans ;)), rejoice! This
fic is unadulterated Saiyuki/Hakkai fluff! It's based wholly on the anime,
since I have had no experience with the manga. I hope you enjoy it, and
please do R and R! I would greatly appreciate it! ^_^
Until Hakkai has grey hair, Goku stops eating and the REAL Pigsy Wu-Neng looks
like this delicious biseinen…Gensoumaden Saiyuki is not mine in any way.
Kanan's line about the three kids is from Roald Dahl's 'Danny" The Champion
of the World'. I only own a Saiyuki fanbook that is falling apart after only a
month—but I would love to invite Hakkai over for tea and instant noodles. ~__^
And just to clarify: "speech", _thoughts_ and the all-important flashbacks.
By UltraM2000
PART ONE
ARREST IN MELANCHOLINESS
Ushinawareta Warai
For some reason on the day it all started, the Sanzo-ikkou
was unusually tardy in resuming their journey to the west in the morning.
Although Cho Hakkai had, as was his habit, gotten up and cooked breakfast for
the other three in the group, he was unusually silent.
Not that anyone noticed, since Son Goku and Sha Gojyo were
engaged in yet another round of their usual breakfast banter.
"Kono ero kappa! That was the last gyoza!
It's mine!"
"No way, bakazaru, I don't see your name on it,"
grinned the crimson-haired, crimson-eyed human-youkai hybrid,
swallowing the last of the fried dumpling. Brown-haired, gold-eyed Son Goku
fumed visibly.
"But I'm a growing boy!"
"After 518 years?! Your brain must not have caught on to the fact."
"Give it back! Aha!"
"HEY! My meat dumpling!"
"Didn't see your name on it. Bleeeah!"
"Why you little…!"
Hakkai, who had been calmly nursing a cup of coffee all this while, suddenly
slammed it down on the table. A little brown drop or two flew into the air to
land on the monk Genjo Sanzo's newspaper.
"Gojyo, Goku, please! We're late as it is! If you two would just please stop
fighting this one time, maybe we might make some progress!" the emerald-eyed
demon-convert snapped abruptly and left the table and the room. Sanzo didn't
look up from his papers, but he regarded Hakkai's actions with veiled, violet
eye.
Wasn't like Hakkai to be grumpy. That was Sanzo's department.
Goku instinctively cringed at the expression on Hakkai's face. Usually, said
face was adorned with a sunny smile that brought out a glow in the jade eyes.
Even the monocle that hid the wounds over his right eye had a jaunty little
angle to it. Neither glow nor jaunty angle were present today, and neither was
the smile that, in all of Goku's memory, had rarely left his friend's face
for long. Gojyo was a little taken aback himself, and muttered 'Oh, have the
damn nikuman' before leaving the table.
Hakkai was leaning on the wall outside the dining room, one hand spread across
the upper half of his face*. He really didn't have his usual calm, resigned
expression; rather, he looked deadly exasperated. Gojyo strode up to him and
placed one hand on his shoulder in a comradely fashion.
"Hey, sorry, buddy, but I thought you'd be used to the breakfast symphony by now."
Silence. Hakkai regarded Gojyo out of the corner of his eye.
"You all right? I know the monk isn't a morning person…or any-other-type-of-day person…but for you to snap at the monkey…"
"I'm fine, Gojyo," said Hakkai shortly in way of reply, "Really, I am. I just need you all to leave me alone for a while."
"Hmm. Suit yourself." Gojyo gave him a pat or two on the shoulder and went back in.
"Ke'…no good. Can't get the reason out of him," grumbled Gojyo, plonking his (often-kicked) butt onto his chair and wrapping one leg several times round the other.
"Maybe Hakuryuu knows," suggested Goku, looking at Hakkai's little white dragon. Hakuryuu was a very special little beast, as it had the ability to transform into a rugged green jeep, their prime mode of transportation to the West. The dragon now squeaked his trademark 'kyuu-kyuu'—it sounded a little sad, he DID know why his master was off character—and fluttered to the calendar. He tore off yesterday's date and revealed a new one.
Gojyo's expression did a wonderful about face. Understanding had dawned. "Oh. That's today? Has it really been that long since…?"
Sanzo looked up from his newspaper long enough to swish off his reading glasses, squint at the date and swish them back on again. "He's probably just pissed with you lot," he grumbled. "I know I am. We're leaving in 10 minutes. No dawdling," he continued briskly and left the table.
Goku snorted softly under his breath and looked at the mug Hakkai had been nursing. "I've never seen Hakkai drink coffee before. Hey, Gojyo, what's going on?"
Surprisingly, Gojyo answered the question seriously. "Today was the day that
lady died," he replied, lighting a cigarette and blowing a smoke ring into the
air.
"Lady?"
Gojyo turned and said only one word. "Kanan."
--------------------
"Kanan! Ka-NAN!!!"
Cho Gonou ran down the labyrinthine corridors of the Hundred-Eyed Demon's dungeon. Corpses littered his way, broken and shattered by the longsword the man had sunk into every 999 of their festering bodies. It was then he happened upon the cell holding her prisoner—the pretty young lady in a yellow dress, hair in a braid, cross round her neck.
"Kanan!"
"Gonou?…Gonou! Gonou!" she called out to him.
Kanan's love ran towards her cell, dropping to his knees, clutching the bars and willing them to part before him. Tears of relief stung his eyes, threatening to overflow. "Thank goodness you're still alive. Forgive me for making you go through this. Let's go home, Kanan. I will protect you from now on…!"
Her utterances seemed reluctant, forced. "I can't, Gonou. It's too late for me." Her fingers touched his side so gently Gonou hated himself. It was much too late when he realised she had unsheathed from his knife—the sharp, sharp knife he had tucked into his belt.
"…Kanan, what…?"
"In my stomach…is the child of that monster," she admitted sadly as she stood up.
So, they had taken her from him in more ways then one.
_Somebody kill me,_ Gonou thought weakly, his mind numbed by the words she had just spoken. Kanan had the knife to her throat now, and although she was smiling at him, the smile was sad and the tears that flowed down her cheeks like the bitter rain outside showed she was far from happy.
"And so…goodbye, Gonou," Kanan said cheerfully, as if her actions would not separate the lovers for eternity, and drew the blade across her throat.
Gonou's vision blurred red with tears and blood. So much blood. His ears were deaf to his tortured screams.
"KANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!"
_Somebody PLEASE kill me…!_
"Isn't that good? Hasn't her pain ended?"
Gonou turned slowly to see a skinny young demon clad in fine robes looking at him. Slanted eyes narrowed to mere slits and long silver blue hair filled his field of sight. Gonou did not know him then, but Hakkai knew him now; Chin Isou, the son of the Hundred-Eyed Demon, whose men and whose soul he had just slashed to ribbons.
"Oh my, such a scary face," Isou purred. "You seem like…"
A choked gasp of pain escaped Gonou's lips as Isou slashed his abdomen open, left to right at a slight angle, and slammed him up against the wall.
"…you can't hold back the will to kill me! But isn't it amazing? You killed all the men in this castle all by yourself. I don't think that's a human's work. Yes, yes, I heard a good legend once…a human bathed in the blood of a 1000 demons can become a demon…wonderful isn't it?"
"Why you…!!!" Gonou snarled.
Isou didn't realize that a drop, just a drop of his own blood from a knuckle that had scraped against the wall, was falling into Gonou's wound and mixing with his own. Gonou didn't realize it was the blood of the thousandth demon until he felt the rage begin to pulse in him and a flash of green cross his vision. Before he knew what he was doing, he flung Isou aside, raised an arm and tore through the demon's chest in one swift, smooth movement.
It didn't take long for Isou's bluster to melt and die. "You…*gurgle* you really became a demon…?!" he spluttered, mouth filling with black blood.
The answer came as Gonou withdrew his arm and slammed it straight back into his target's gut. The scream that rang out even overcame the thunderous rain outside.
Chin Isou fell, with what looked like small white tiles clattering from his sleeves and splashing into the ever-growing puddle of viscera and blood. Slowly, Gonou's bloodlust ebbed and died. He looked around and at his bloodied hands, stunned at what had just happened.
_Saints above…what have I done? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!_
Even as he thought this, Gonou's malachite eyes looked wildly round the area. In no way did he want to remain a demon, to remain as one of those who savaged his Kanan.
Hello, what was that demon clutching in his hand?
Almost mechanically, Gonou pried the stiff, cold digits apart to reveal three little tiny metal clips. Youryoku limiters? Couldn't be anything else. They would do. They had to! He slipped them onto his own left ear, and much to his relief, the claws shrank away, the discoloration of the complexion faded, and the adrenaline coursing through his system dipped.
That was the last time he was taking favors from a demon! He ran as fast as he could from the scene of carnage, but the ever-increasing pain in his abdomen, his blurring vision and the faint feeling of blood coursing down his clothes into places where there should never be blood told him there was no use in the struggle. Gonou stumbled and fell, and knew no more...
--------------------
_And then Gojyo saved my life, and I took and continue to take favours
from demons, and then I met Sanzo and Goku and my name changed to Cho Hakkai and
we are all here as one jumbled up quartet today…_
Hakkai sighed softly, lowering himself onto the bed and clasping his head in
his hands. He had promised Kanan he wasn't touching cigarettes—didn't see
their appeal—but was now wondering if one of Gojyo's two-toned sticks would
calm his nerves a little. It had been five years to the day since that awful
night when Kanan took her own life, and a part of his own with him. The youryoku
(demon strength) limiters on his ear seemed to shine extra-brightly in the
mirror, as if smiling at his sins.
_Sometimes I wish that Gojyo had NOT saved me. My life is the only price I can give to atone for her death..._ He closed his eyes again and thought of what Kanan had said to him a few days before the happening, the last time they had come together.
"We'll have lots of children, Gonou, at least three. A son for you, a daughter for me, and another one to even things up."
"Your math was never very good," he had chuckled. Kanan had responded with her own silvery laugh.
"True, teacher. I can't even count how many kisses I have left to give you," she had further added, subtracting one from the total by placing it on the nape of his neck.
_I wonder what would have happened had she not died. She was with child. One who would be about six now…_**
Just then, the bedroom door swung open. Sanzo's indifferent expression and dull amethyst eyes seemed to bore into his own. He looked like he wanted an explanation.
Much to Hakkai's relief, he asked no questions, and in his usual straightforward, curt way he said just two sentences.
"What are you waiting for? I'm not letting either of those two idiots in the driver's seat."
--------------------
* Think of that scene in the credits during 'Alone'.
** If they're still going West, then it will be about six years on June 13th.
That's when Tragic Revenge (Warau Shinigami) aired.
Japanese notes
Anime = Short for animation. Pronounced ah-nee-may.
Manga = Comic
Bakazaru = Idiot monkey.
Biseinen = An older bishounen. Bishounen = pretty boy, biseinen = pretty
youth/pretty man ;P
Erokappa = Horny (erotic) kappa. A kappa, if you didn't know, is a Japanese
demon that looks like a frog on two legs with a duck's head, balancing a
saucer on its head. Hence, Gojyo is a horny water demon.
Hyakugan Maou = Hundred-Eyed Demon
Ikkou = (Sanzo's) party. 'One going'.
Nikuman = Meat dumpling. What we Chinese call…CHAR SIEW PAU!!! A steamed bun
containing, what else, barbecued pork.
Youkai = Demon
