DISCLAIMER: UltraM2000 owns no part of Saiyuki. Not even the naughty bits. ;)

Beware of the OOC erogappa. He's scary when he loses it.

PART ELEVEN
DEATH
Shi

Gojyo couldn't have known, but Sha Ren had used to buy Kouka a bouquet of white daisies weekly during their courtship. Their scarlet counterparts quickly awakened the pain and rage presumed dead since the piano lessons began. Alizarin eyes, crimson hair and scarlet flowers had proved to be too much red, too much blood for her long-buried beasts to ignore.

"Kaasan, look! The florist said to give these to you..." he beamed up at her.

"Hmm, yes…such a pretty colour of BLOOD," she snarled, scattering the red blooms to the winds with one furious swipe and seizing Gojyo by the hair. "Colour of blood! BLOOD! I wonder why I hate it? Perhaps it's because it's just like the blood that woman shed!" she raved, tears coursing down her cheeks as she pummeled him.

"Stop, wait...Kaasan, it HURTS!" Gojyo wailed, struggling to escape the unending blows. Back. Chest. Face. Head. "Kaasan, onegai, please don't...I...I love you!" he shouted with every fibre of his being. She froze mid-strike as a sudden sob escaped him. "I love you," he whispered brokenly.

Blink. For one fleeting moment, Kouka truly saw the face of a crying child who could not and would not hate her, no matter what she did. Blink again. Now only the hated crimson filled her line of sight...

"Don't touch me, you taboo child!" Kouka shrieked, tears flowing afresh. She struck and he jerked away from her, but her claws scored two deep furrows down his cheek and blood welled forth as he crashed into the wall and slid to the floor. She then grabbed the hatchet that lay behind the door and advanced towards Gojyo. He struggled to get up, but his legs wouldn't obey his brain. A whimper escaped his throat.

"Die," Kouka hissed coldly, and raised the axe as her tears continued to stream down. Hollow, broken thoughts echoed within him as Sha Gojyo thus surrendered to death, closed his eyes and awaited the blow.

_I'll die, if it makes you happy…just no more tears…please, kaasan…I love you…_

There was a sudden ripping sound that Gojyo expected was the axe embedding itself in his flesh. Blood sprinkled his face, and he involuntarily flinched. Could this be death? It was so painless...

Kouka slowly fell to the floor with a thud, cut down the back like a split-open fish. The axe spun through space and embedded itself in the boards. Gojyo started at the dull thud, looking up. Jien was standing over the two, panting heavily and still gripping a sabre dripping with blood: Kouka's blood, the blood of Jien's birth mother...but as the young man looked up at Gojyo, what shone in those tear-filled mahogany eyes was only relief. Only love.

"Aniki..." Gojyo whispered, and blacked out.

*

Half-demons are capable of many things.

Half-demons can roar like the thunder. Half-demons can jump like mad, soaring into the air like a mighty eagle to seize upon the target--in this case, a young brother--and shield them. Half-demons can take bullets like any other man, without a flinch. Half-demons can fall. Half-demons can bleed. Half-demons can die.

"Oniisan!"

"Lang Ying!" yelled Gojyo as the youth fell against the wall in a spray of bright blood. Before anyone could say anything, he was at the youth's side, propping him up. Ah Ying winced and started coughing badly, fresh gouts of liquid spurting from the wound on his left breast with every spasm. Thunder was rumbling somewhere faintly outside.

"Oi, Ah Ying, get a hold of yourself!" cursed Gojyo softly, bending over him. Chin Xi broke quickly away from Jouji and ran towards him, her dark eyes wide with shock and sorrow. The crowd close around her, blocking her way.

"Let me go!!!" she cried out.

"Poor girl..."

"Quite mad."

"What is there to love in a filthy half-demon?"

Ying stirred slowly, and he found himself looking into deep crimson ones very much like his own. "Warii," he whispered. "Never change, do they, Gojyo-han?"

"What are you talking about?" _Ch'...as if I didn't know..._

"Life shoved me onto a path...very much different from yours. You can put your trust in the comrades you travel with, but I trust no-one, for no-one can trust me. Until you came...'till you all came...no demon has ever been on my side except my old lady. No human has ever been on my side except for my father...and then Chin Xi..."

"Quit talking and save your strength. You're losing a lot of blood."

"Pretty obvious." He looked at one of his bloody hands, trying to move it and finding he could not. "Ma's gonna have a hard time getting these stains out. I wanted to be buried in this suit of clothes."

"Hey, no joking around here! You're not going to die," Gojyo said with a weak chuckle. "You're still a youngster. There are things you have to live for. One of 'em's Chin Xi. Don't forget that brat of a brother."

"That is so...No one should ever be alone, not even the likes of us. I would like to try, but everything is sort of going fuzzy before me," murmured Ying, wincing. "Gojyo-han... Tell Ji to be strong for ah ma and ah ba. Tell Seiko I...I love her. Thank you for coming this far w' me. For everything. You were the only person I could truly call friend in this world. One kindred spirit, I guess. Don't be offended...me callin' you that." He looked up at Gojyo with the dull, scarred left eye. The half-demon was shaking his head silently, half-smiling. He matched the expression. "Silly...such a silly way to die," he coughed weakly and said no more. One last spasm of pain, and he was gone.

The sound of falling rain suddenly seemed unbearably loud.

"Ying? Ying! Ah Ying, oi, Hong Lang Ying! Wake up, you blooming idiot!" yelled Gojyo, shaking the limp body. "At least die in the arms of a woman, will ya?!" Something was seizing up his throat, making his voice hoarse and broken. Something was stinging at his eyes, blurring his vision. "You still owe me for that maotai incident, damn you! WAKE UP, AH YING!"

_It's happening again. I thought I'd found someone like me...and he's gone. Shit._

"So, another one leaves the gene pool," murmured a cold voice behind him. Gojyo froze. It was Jouji. He looked even more displeased than usual as he locked gaze with the half-demon. "I never expected YOU to betray the side of the humans," he continued.

The muscles under Gojyo's eyes twitched as his gorge rose abruptly. Jouji's gun was still smoking, hanging limply at the man's side. There were spots of blood on his pristine blue jacket.

"Well, mister, maybe it's because the only f***in'--" Some ladies of more delicate dispositions swooned dramatically-- "side I'm on is my own!"

"Excuse me?" snorted You derisively. "There are no shades of grey in this world nowadays, Gojyo. Black or white. Dark or light. Demon or human. If you are not on our side, Then on whose? And what's the meaning of all this?"

Wordlessly, Gojyo put a hand to his raven-dyed hair and swiped it down quickly. His palm came away splotched with black, and a crimson blaze of colour sprang from the patch he had pulled on. A babble of noise began to rise afresh from the churchgoers.

"Crimson eyes. Crimson hair. Even a dumbass like you can put two and two together, can't ya?" Gojyo was smiling dangerously, all tooth and no humour. "Y'know, for a *pureblooded human*, you sure are filthy-hearted. How about I see whether your blood really is as black as I think it is?" he deadpanned as he summoned his shakujou. He could swear the cold steel upon his palm had never felt more delicious.

"Guards! Seize him!" Jouji shrieked. If one didn't know better, one would think he was panicking.

"Let them go, You-sama. They've done no wrong!" thundered a voice behind him. It was Sen Aseki, trying to calm the crowd seething and yelling behind him.

"They are demons! They must die!"

"What crime have they committed against us?" Aseki pulled himself up to his full height and raised his voice. "They are innocent in this matter! If anyone has committed a crime, it is you, who have killed a young man without any provocation, and we the citizens of Weishan, who stood back and watched! You were but a boy when your father turned Minghu into Weishan and drove out the people who built the city on their shoulders! You did not see how human and demon lived together in perfect harmony until you exiled the so-called sympathisers, and now here you are, killing a youth no older than you just because he loved your woman, and she did not love you! Step down now, or you will find my soldiers in front of you, not at your back. I used to be a resident of Minghu, remember that. And I daresay this is not an improvement on it. Ever."

"A fine speech, Aseki," Jouji said calmly, even clapping a few times. "What spurred the change?"

Aseki pointed. "Sha Gojyo, right? I thought your name sounded familiar. Fifteen and more years ago, you and your brother disappeared from Minghu. They all said you were dead, but I knew better of you. That is why I stayed--I knew someday I would need a chance to apologise."

"...Do I know you, ojisan?" Gojyo asked dryly.

"A fine objective, Aseki, a fine one indeed...however, 'tis not good enough to convince me my actions were nothing but right." He raised his gun again and pulled the trigger, hitting Aseki in the leg. Another report rang out, and the general fell, shot in the kneecaps and screaming in agony. The soldiers were horrified at what they saw.

"What...what was that for?!" Goku gawped.

"He was in the way of my bullet," You shrugged nonchalantly.

A wild sick wrenched the youth's inner workings. "Temee! What's the matter with you, fella? What's wrong with being a youkai? If humans were all like you, then it's a much better option to stay as we are!"

"...You are demons, all of you?" The Weishan mayor stiffened.

"I am a human, thank you very much," snapped Sanzo.

You was shaking violently all over. "I have dined...from the same plates...as demons...?"

"Oh, you think you're disgusted?" retched Goku, not bothering to hide his fury anymore.

"So now I suppose your assumptions have changed, eh, You?" Sanzo deadpanned, admiring the shocked horror of Jouji's expression. "I have said to my companions before--we are not defenders of justice. Our mission is merely to stop the revival of Gyuumaou, for better or worse. However, you have severely delayed us in that aspect, and I do not like being delayed." With one quick movement, he shot the gun out of Jouji's hand, and it went spinning across the floor.

"GUARDS!!! SEIZE THEM!!!" roared Jouji once again.

"You...will...leave them alone..." Aseki ground out.

"BE SILENT, FOOL!"

"I cannot stop my men, for You is above me. However, fellows, if you love life, if you will please remember one innocent man, half-demon or no, just died under an unprovocated attack..." He pointed towards Seiko sobbing broken-heartedly over Ying's corpse, a sight to melt any heart. "...If you will please remember that it is now more than ever one must understand what has driven the demons mad, as these four gentlemen are attempting to find out--then step aside."

The soldiers shuffled about uncomfortably, then they began, deliberately and slowly and one by one, to step backwards and away from Jouji. The mayor looked around in bewilderment. Anything short of undying loyalty from his subordinates was new to him.

"People of Weishan!" Jouji appealed to them, raising his voice. It echoed around the walls of the church. "I now appeal to you to remedy this gross miscarriage of justice! Seize the demons, and let us slay them for the good of Weishan!"

"You would slay the four people who may end the carnage once and for all?" Hakkai asked quietly.

"Would you perhaps prefer we unleash some more?" Sanzo helpfully added, locking his gun.

The people stared at him in horror. Whispers began to filter through the crowd. "He has a gun, hasn't he? I saw a gun. He's a Sanzo! He's not real, he can't be a Sanzo if he has a gun! A fake! Murderer! Demon! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!" The crowd literally stampeded.

"Oi! Cowards! COME BACK 'ERE!"

"Leave them, Goku! They're not who I'm after. He's right over there." One quick flick of the shakujou, and the chain went flying over their heads, straight through a stained glass window. Shards of brilliant colour rained down upon the melee, and the rain swept in furiously. It spattered the immaculate floor, and leached the dye from Gojyo's hair in fat, black droplets. Now he fixed You Jouji with a murderous gaze and charged with a furious cry.

The crimson was beginning to feel like the colour of blood again.

"ORRRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Jouji staggered, just barely dodging the blow. He was alone now, alone and unsupported and showing his weakest but truest side. Gojyo pinned him against a wall with his shakujou and slugged him in the gut. The man crumpled like a soda can, like a child, like a weak little...human. Gojyo swung the shakujou's body down, laying him a great blow across the back. Jouji again literally folded under the strike and fell to the floor. The treatment continued as the furious half-demon laid into him with fists, staff and blade alike. Jouji screamed and wailed, trying to shield himself from the onslaught, but to no avail.

Whack. Whump. Thud. Smash. Blood. Spit. Guts. Gore.

"I...have...just...about...had...enough...of...being...f---ed with!" Gojyo punctuated his words with blows upon You's frame.

"Gojyo...is kinda scary sometimes, isn't he," Goku remarked, seeing him lay into Jouji. "He's not holding back, but he's not enjoying it either. You can tell. There's no emotion in him."

"There is no more left in him, Goku. Either that, or he's afraid to let it out," Hakkai replied. He had to do something quickly. Striding over to his friend, he placed a gentle hand on the broad, blood-splattered shoulder.

"Gojyo...that's enough. Either finish him off, or leave some for us."

The words had a curious effect on the half-demon. He turned to look at Hakkai for a long, unforgiving minute, and the demon unwittingly sucked in his breath. Goku was right--Gojyo's eyes were dull, like uncut red opal, and not a flicker of emotion was in them. No anger, no hate--just a simple will to kill that Hakkai could recognise all too well. Gonou's eyes that looked at him in the mirror, after his nightmares, shared the same dull sheen.

"Gojyo..."

The han'you seemed to come back to the world of the living, and looked down at the shuddering, broken body before him. His eyes lit with rage now, pure, unadulterated rage, and he raised his shakujou to bring it down upon the man, smash his head in and end his life as cruelly as he had ended Ying's...

...And in the end, he kicked him over onto his back with a grunt, flipped his weapon over so the crescent blade faced downwards, and carved a character upon his forehead.

妖

You, 'demon'. The character used within the Mark of Black Blood.

"I bestow upon you, the Mark of Black Blood," Gojyo intoned, as if he knew the whole drill. "Long may it stay, and long may it burn to remind you of the consequences of having chosen the wrong path for your heart." He then kicked You, making him open his eyes. They were wide and scared and Gojyo had to resist the urge to spit in them.

"Now that you know how it feels, get out of my sight, and out of this town, before I really do something drastic," he growled quietly.

You didn't move, so Sanzo turned to a soldier standing against the wall, clutching it as if willing himself to melt into it. "Oi, you. Get this guy to some medical facilities or something." The soldier nodded shakily, and hauling You Jouji to his feet, he half-supported, half-dragged the mayor away.

"How is Aseki?" Gojyo asked, straightening up.

Hakkai checked the man's pulse. "Injured badly, but he will live." He sent a glowing pulse of ki into the old soldier, and he slipped into a blissfully deep sleep. "He needs a lot of rest to heal."

A soldier stepped up--the very same burly one that had insulted Hakkai during the shopping. "Let me take care of that," he said, hoisting the man up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Any special care?"

"Other than no walking for a month or so, and plenty of sleep, no, nothing special."

"I see. I thank you."

"You're welcome."

Ah well, it was a start.

Gojyo turned from the scene. Everything was over.

Half-demons are indeed capable of many things. Half-demons can feel. Half-demons can rage. Half-demons can fight like wildcats for their views, given half a chance. Half-demons can mourn. Half-demons can cry, but only in the rain, where the tears will never be seen.

*

One more chap to go. And now, review thanks:

ayie@Hairi-- As you can see, the ending is kind of sad. Ying is no more, thanks to baka Jouji! I don't think it's too mean, I hate the guy's guts. Thank you for your kind words--you must continue Brotherly Love! Viva Gojyo fluff!
Gojyo: Now I really DO feel ill...*turns green*

real-circus-- Believe it or not, I was SERIOUSLY considering an idea like yours in an earlier stage. However, it's kind of hard to bathe him in the blood of a thousand youkai when he gets others to do the grunt work for him. *sigh*
Hakkai: Yay, real-circus-san! Please, go ahead and do it again!
M2000: O.o;;; It's official. Hakkai's cruel streak has surfaced.

Firnheledien -- Argh...why must you reveal my real name? Sorry Sanzo's OOC. We'll talk it over in school, ne? ;)

Ashura Akuma -- I update. BTW...where'd u get the music? I've been looking for the Henry Mancini version for YONKS! ;P