THE SHADOWS BEYOND

CHAPTER 16

Where three go forth.

"Well... Sanzo... you seem to have badly misused the time given to you."

He spun, scrabbling for the gun that wasn't there. "It's none of your business."

"Oh, but it is my business," Kanzeon replied lazily. "After all, the time was my gift to you, and it is my mission."

Sanzo sighed in annoyance. "I'm not in the mood to have this conversation again."

"But this is the hot topic of the week," the goddess mocked him. "Stop fighting with yourself, Sanzo. You know you want the sutras back."

"Really?"

"And they're not about to be handed to you on a silver platter, dear nephew. You have to go and get them back yourself."

"Or?"

"Or die trying," Kanzeon said, the smile disappearing from her face. "Remember your master's final request. He would be sorely disappointed if you went down to the likes of these. And now..." she glanced around. "I won't keep you."

To the likes of these...

To the likes of _these_...

...Shit!

The sense of unease that had been niggling at the back of his head exploded and in full-fledged danger signals. Sanzo turned; light caught the edge of a blade and sprang back, a warning.

"One assumes..." he ground out at the circling youkai, "That since you're just crawling around, that Isir has some important message to deliver."

He watched them out of the corner of his eye, watched one youkai blend seemlessly into another then splinter into two. Some fake, some false, some real.

"Astute, as always, Genjo Sanzo." Isir himself, or at least the very spitting image thereof, stepped out of the crowd. Sanzo could practically imagine the sunlight shining through the ghost.

"But you Evil overlord types always like to gloat," Sanzo pointed out.

"Charmed, I'm sure," Isir muttered. "But really, Sanzo, a good general never sends his troops out on foolhardy errands on their own."

A retort sprang to mind and was lost in the wake of the realization. What? Who? "I never sent anyone out."

"I believe the phrase was... 'Then be the brave fool and go and retrieve the damn sutra!'. Very forceful. You have the makings of a fine commander."

"The idiot went off on his own. I had nothing to do with it," Sanzo replied, but something in his stomach twisted.

"Of course, the term 'Acceptable losses' was coined for a reason, wasn't it?" Isir smiled. "Your instincts were correct. Your troops were loyal and highly devoted to you, to the extent where coercion or bribery was ineffective, forcing me to resort to other means. I must say, though, that you followed on spectacularly. All of you running off in different directions... like little bugs scattering. So easy to pick off. So easy to confuse. So--" and there was an unmistakable sneer here "--predictably human."

"Better human than youkai."

"Oh, really? At least I don't have a quarter of my forces in enemy custody. Two-fifths, if you count the dragon. Or perhaps... neither of them count at all? And I should relay it back to Tenjiku -- that the vaunted Sanzo-sama, the Great Enemy, the emissary of the gods... dances beautifully when you pull his strings."

There was a pause as Sanzo clenched and unclenched fists, fury battling with despair battling with panic. I screwed up. I screwed up royally...

"Of course, I won't kill him. Not immediately, at any rate. Not if you meet me on the road to my residence within the day. Where the road meets the river."

"I'd rather bite my tongue off and die."

"Sure you will, because there's very little else you can do. And without your escort, without your gun or your sutra, what can you do?" Isir's smile grew just a little wider. "You can choose evasion over confrontation... you can bolt and try to protect what you have left... but you can never--"

"--kisama!" there was a crack, a flash of movement, a flash of crimson and scarlet. There was a brief scream, and the illusions were wrenched apart, splintering. There was the sound of a body hitting the ground. Then there was a sudden stillness in the air, a sudden emptiness.

Goku stood in the middle of the street, Nyoibou still clutched in a double handed grip. At his feet lay a solitary youkai corpse. He glanced up. "Sanzo? You okay, Sanzo?"

...And try to protect what you have left...

"Sanzo?"

So what might have happened if I had handled it differently? I knew-- I've always known, that acting in anger is the fastest way to disaster. I've known that we could never afford to let our guard down, to let the enemy into our ranks, and damn it, that's exactly what happened. He allowed us to think that he'd gotten into our minds and he did exactly that when we were-- when I was--

"Sanzo!"

The bastard's been stringing us along all the time. From the very first ki blast. He's not trying to kill us. Perhaps they are right -- that if we banded together he would never be able to defeat us, but--

--but we played right into his hands. ...I played right into his hands.

"...Shit," he breathed, and the wind caught the word and twisted it away. "...Shit." Every suspicion, every flaw and weakness... I was never perfect; never claimed to be, but at the very least I thought... I thought...

A hand grabbed his own, and he wrenched back instinctively, glancing up. And saw gold.

"Sanzo," Goku said.

"What?!"

Golden eyes searched his face. "I heard you calling... I came as quickly as I could..."

"I never called anyone." He turned away. Damn it, damn it... what the hell do I do now? A quarter of my forces in enemy custody...

"It's the idiot's own fault," he muttered furiously. "I never asked him to help."

And Goku jumping across his path to stop the blast...

"Would you bear the responsibility of the entire world dying on your behalf?"

"So... predictably human."

"DAMN IT!" He struck out blindly, hitting the wall. Go after Hakkai and we'll be dancing to his tune again... as we've done all along. Leave Hakkai and we might as well abandon the mission. Leave Hakkai and...

"Your troops were loyal and highly devoted to you."

"I never asked them to follow me!"

"No. But we chose to."

Sanzo paused; he'd forgotten about Goku.

"We chose to follow you," Goku continued relentlessly, "Just as you chose to go on this journey. Face it -- Three Heads' orders or no, we could have been at home watching the world crumble. But we chose to be here instead."

"For the sake of saving the whole damn world?" Sanzo asked bitterly.

"No, because it's more fun here."

One had to laugh at that, or at least restrain the laugh. "Fun? We're here because it's fun?"

"No. We're here because we chose to be. Do the reasons really matter?"

He turned back, and found only complete seriousness staring back him. It is as they say -- that he doesn't think, just acts on instinct, just acts as he feels is right...

"Comeon, Sanzo. Let's go."

Use the eyes of your heart to ascertain what is necessary now, and what you should believe in ...

Something so fleeting that it might have been a scowl or a smile or neither raced across Sanzo's face.

And then when you take all those thoughts and decisions and distill them, boil them down, draw out the essence...

...There is only I want. The reasons... completely cease to matter.

I want to be here.

I want the sutras back.

I want to go after Isir and wring his scrawny neck.

So, therefore, this is how I choose...

"Go," Sanzo ordered. "Get Gojyo and look for Hakkai. He'll be at the bridge on the way to Isir's castle."

"Look for Hakkai? Is something wrong?" Goku asked.

"It seems that we are in grave danger. Hakkai, at least, may already be in trouble."

"What about you? Are you coming with us?"

"There are things that I need to do."

"But Isir may go after you!"

Sanzo smiled bitterly. "He won't, because he is a fool. Let us hope that he remains a fool for a little longer. Buy me some time, Goku. Now go."

I choose...

***

"And so they fall... one by one," Isir mused. "And so the cracks begin to show..." He squinted along the path.

"Will Sanzo come after his companion?" Chiro asked.

"Oh, he will. The man fears sacrifice and loss. It is oh-so-obvious that he fears to hold on because he fears to lose, and thus he pushes away. But when he has already -- unconsciously -- held on..."

"Nevertheless, with all due respect, I believe that we should apprehend and disable the group as soon as possible. They do pose a threat."

"Of course," Isir nodded. "In due time. Meanwhile, we wait for them to step into the trap... ah, here comes the first one."

"Surprise," Chiro said grimly. "Here comes not one, but three."

"Surprise indeed," Isir nodded. "What they fail to release, however, is that there is no safety in numbers. Rather, it simply makes things easier for us..."

***

"Hakkai!"

Gojyo? Hakkai spun at the sound of two people approaching at a run.

"Thank goodness you're safe! Sanzo said you might be in danger!"

Goku? "Sanzo said that?"

"Yeah." Goku drew level with him. "We kinda quarrelled ... and Sanzo walked out, into a youkai ambush. I found him talking to Isir through one of the guy's minions, then he told me to look for you. Said I'd find you near the bridge."

Hakkai glanced out. The bridge in question was just ahead, spanning the river which later ran into forest. Here it was a narrow but rapid stream, running cold and fresh from its source in the nearby mountains.

"These are Gojyo and Goku, aren't they?" Hakkai murmured to Hakuryuu. The dragon nodded and squeaked his assent. Wait... "Sanzo said you'd find me near the bridge?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"How did Sanzo know?"

"He musta have been talking to Isir or something, maybe Isir told him."

Maybe Isir told him--

They paused. For a moment, there is no sound save the gurgle of the river's passage.

"You know," Gojyo said slowly. "...We might be in deep shit."

"Eh? Why do you say that?" Goku asked.

"Stupid ape... if Isir told Sanzo that he'd find Hakkai near the bridge, it means that Isir expected to find Hakkai near the bridge..."

"...and Sanzo mentioned that I might be in danger," Hakkai finished slowly.

Goku gulped. "Oops."

The sound of applause split the air. There was a shimmer of distorted light, and suddenly, without apparently movement, Isir was standing across the bridge. Chiro stood by his side, and several other youkai ranged behind them. "Well thought out," the youkai leader called. "Of course, knowing it now is too late. Or will you turn tail and run?"

Hakkai carefully dusted his hands off. "It's a nice day for a chat, don't you think?" he replied, a small smile stitched in place. "Very fine weather."

"Indeed."

"So... shall we do this in a civilized fashion? You have something of ours in your possession. We would be grateful if you could return it."

"Ah," Isir replied with a lazy grin.

"Seeing, however, that you are unlikely to comply, shall we thus resort to a traditional duel? The winner takes the sutras and the exorcism gun, of course."

"Of course, of course. However, it would be terribly unfair if we simply held one-on-one confrontation. As Son Goku, arguably the strongest of all of you, can attest... he alone cannot defeat me." Isir nodded companionably at Goku, who glared back. "Naturally, this can be attributed to your voluntary handicap..."

"Wearing a limiter isn't a handicap!" Goku snapped.

"Ah, but listen to yourself. It's very name... 'limiter'. To limit, to restrain, to hinder... is that not a handicap?"

"Well, but if you want a three-against-one fight, that's perfectly fine by us," Gojyo shrugged. "Less work too, so we can get back to the stuff that's really important."

"Such as chasing pretty women?"

"Hit it right on the head, man! Don't forget the drink and the booze too..."

"Of course not. So, shall we proceed?" He glanced at Hakkai. "The dragon is free to choose sides as well, of course."

Hakkai leaned closer to Gojyo. "He is up to something," he told his companion softly. "Isir would never... voluntarily handicap himself either."

"Maybe he doesn't trust the rest of us not to get involved? You know, have all your enemies in front of you at the same time kind of thing... you never really expected him to take you up on his offer, did you?"

"No, I did not. However, knowing Isir, there is something more to this. Keep a very close eye on him."

"So let's bring it on!" Gojyo raised his voice.

"Yeah!" Goku seconded, as he summoned Nyoibou. The staff shimmered into existence, and he locked his hands around it.

"Indeed." Isir nodded. "Let it begin."

***

To be continued.

***

Estimated length to completion : 2 chapters, 5,000 words.