Legacy

Summary: Plans for an experiment with Gojyo as the ideal test subject have surfaced, and the group is pulled into a world of deceit and emotion as Gojyo uncovers his roots and finds out who his family truly is. [eventual slash – you have been warned]

Disclaimer: Not mine. Only the random townsfolk and villains. It'd be quite obvious if the four belonged to me – Goku would wear something better, Gojyo would have nicer pants and Sanzo would wear that skintight top all the time.

Chapter One [in which the villains are revealed *thank them for they are the unwitting matchmakers* and in which the weather plays a nice healthy role]

Sanzo didn't like rain. His master had been killed during a storm, it had rained throughout his entire journey down the mountain from the monastery and he was quite sure it had rained the night he found Goku. Rain did not symbolise good things for him.

Hakkai didn't like rain. He had crawled his way up to the castle of the Thousand-Eyed Demon in the rain and had watched his lover kill herself while the rain pounded outside. He had been rescued by a red-haired man in a rainstorm while wishing for death to claim him and had been reborn as who he currently was as rain poured outside. Rain, to him, meant death and fear.

Gojyo didn't like rain. Rain was water, and, coupled with the stormy grey of the clouds, reminded him forcefully of the beautiful grey eyes of his mother tearing up and weeping each time she looked at him. It reminded him of the day his brother had killed the only woman in their young lives, and walked out and got drenched and got lost to him forever. Rain reminded him of family he never had and family he lost.

Goku… didn't like rain. And so he announced this one stormy night as lightning flashed and thunder crashed outside the cozy little inn.

"I don't like rain, Sanzo." They were in a room, the smaller of the two curled up on a bed and the other one sitting on a chair beside the window, puffing away on a dying cigarette. He didn't respond.

"You know why?" Goku hugged a pillow to his chest, waiting for Sanzo to reply. He didn't. "When it rains, there are so many clouds… and… it's so dark. " Softly, he added, almost as an afterthought, "The sun isn't around."

This line snapped Sanzo out of whatever thoughts there were in his mind. A voice, both masculine and feminine at the same time, rang in his head, and a vision… no, a memory… clouded his sight. He had experienced this just before he rescued Goku from Homura that fateful day. "…can you be the sun to this boy?…" Sanzo looked at Goku, who was picking at a scab on his knee.

"Stupid monkey…" he murmured. "Yours is."

~

Somewhere in the storm, a pair of eyes watched a warmly lit building. It watched four people in the inn. It concentrated on a particular figure, prone on a bed. The figure with hair the colour of fire spilling over his shoulders, with eyes the colour of the finest wine staring at the ceiling.

Sha Gojyo.

"Sir." The owner of the watching pair of eyes was joined by another person with bulging muscles and short hair. "Everything is in place. We just need a test subject."

The first man turned slightly, pointed ears showing under thick black hair. "I have the perfect one. It's just a matter of time…"

~

Gojyo was woken by a strangled yell. For a wild moment, he thought he was back home, eight years old once more, and his mother was holding that axe high above him, ready to strike… but then his mind came back to him and he turned towards the other bed.

Hakkai was curled up, sheets twisted around him, hands clutching his stomach. His eyes were wide open but unseeing… or rather, seeing something not there. Gojyo knelt beside the bed.

"Hakkai, wake up."

One of Hakkai's hands came flying out and lashed Gojyo on the cheek. It stung, but Gojyo didn't care – Hakkai would hurt himself if he didn't wake up soon. Gojyo sighed and slapped his friend hard. "Wake up!"

The demon gasped and tensed, then realised where he was and relaxed. He grabbed the nearest object – Gojyo's hand, in this case – and held on, murmuring over and over again, "Kanan… no… don't do this…"

Gojyo furrowed his brow. What had provoked Hakkai into a nightmare involving his late lover? It wasn't the rain – there had been many storms the past few weeks, but Hakkai had slept well. Gojyo thought about it… then remembered the way Hakkai has dropped that day's newspaper in horror, staring at the date.

June the fifth.

Five years before, on the exact same day and in the exact same weather, a redheaded half-demon had almost stepped on a bleeding man dying on the forest floor. For reasons made known later, the redhead had carried the injured guy home and taken care of him until a blonde monk and his pet monkey came for a not-so-friendly visit.

Five years before, Hakkai had killed a thousand demons and turned into one himself. Five years before… Kanan had died.

Gojyo half-heartedly tried to pull his hand away, but he knew it was useless – Hakkai could be very strong. Sighing, Gojyo pushed his hair out of the way, settled into a slightly more comfortable position on the floor and fell into an uneasy sleep.

~

The next day dawned bright and sunny, not at all suited to any of their moods. Sanzo was tired and irritable, Goku spent most of breakfast giving Sanzo confused looks, Hakkai had dark circles under his pretty green eyes and Gojyo was finding it very hard to sit down, having spent the whole night on a hard, damp floor.

"Let's go." Sanzo stalked out of the inn, not sparing any of them a glance. Goku went to bid farewell to the Ouras before following, and Hakkai and Gojyo trailed after them slowly. It looked like it was going to be a long day.

…to be continued