Disclaimer: it is as obvious that I own Saiyuki as much as it is true that cows fly…donkeys talk & that Santa Clause can really come down all those tight narrow chimneys without getting stuck in each and every one of them.

CHAPTER 3

Maybe there was no final answer …no solution to the puzzle….impossible….they all felt it…this weird tie that had suddenly created itself between them.  It was as if destiny had willed them to birth and purposely brought them together for the sole purpose of doing something…the four of them…no one could be spared…they all had to be there.  They where all aware of this, in some way or another and yet none of them breathed a word of it to the other.

The months continued to roll by but nothing extraordinary seemed to happen: Takeo kept on munching and saying stupid things as was usual, Shigeru just couldn't get tired of running after the girls, Rei's time was split between studying and playing peace-maker with his friends and Kai persisted on pursuing his taciturn methods.  Yet this bond between them was getting stronger…stronger than any other bond every one of them had ever had and the wheel of destiny, which had been dormant for a long time awaiting the right hour, slowly started turning until…

            One day it finally happened….ancient memories buried deep with them re-awakened and it all became clear then…what is was that they had to do…

            Archeological findings had been lately discovered in the area and Rei managed to drag the rest of the gang to the museum.

            "Nothing much to see here" complained Shigeru "No nice sexy single girls around anyway"

            "Kai?..."

            He seemed more strange…he had been absorbed deep in thought ever since they had set foot in the place…he was too pensive and taciturn, even for his usual self.

            "Kai?!!!..."

            Jerked back to reality, Kai looked around to find himself facing Takeo's big golden eyes…eyes he had looked into so many times before…eyes that said so much…eyes that had changed him…now…and before?

            "Kai…you look funny…feeling sick or anything?! Hey, if you want I can buy you a cheese burger or chips…maybe you haven't eaten enough…"

            "Shut up!" Kai hit Takeo on the head with a rolled up leaflet he had been handed earlier.

"Ouch! That hurt!"

"You're distracting me!...I'm trying to remember something…it's so close…I've almost got it all cleared up in my mind…but it doesn't make any sense…"

Takeo looked at him confused "Had that funny feeling too….Wonder where Rei and Shigeru are?"

Rei and Shigeru had gone though the most unbelievable experience….flashes of themselves in another time…in another life…and in a life before that too….flashes of themselves dying…not once…but twice…blood chilling memories….of losing someone you love….of never being loved…feelings…anger…despair…failure…they understood everything now as they stared wide-eyed at a glass show case containing the fossilized remains of a miniature dragon.

"Hakuryu…" for the first time Rei was not smiling, his eyes reddened "He wasn't brought back like the rest of us….Thanks for what you've done for us before…my friend"  His emerald eyes then turned to Shigeru "I see time hasn't really changed you…Sha Gojyo"

""Nor has it wiped that distasteful grin of your face, eh Rei? Or should I say Cho Hakkai?"

"Hey! There they are!" Takeo made a move towards Rei and Shigeru but Kai, grasping his hand, stopped him.

"What's wrong, Kai?"

"I feel sick" Kai leaned against the wall. He felt all his strength draining away from him and there he was again…dressed in the monk's clothes…chanting…he felt his eyes fill with tears…no…he must pretend to be  strong…for a while longer ….he had failed…failed in every way…Gyumaho had been resurrected and he had let himself get entangled in a network of ties…he had friends he cared for: Gojyo, Hakkai…and Gokuh…he had grown too attached to Gokuh for his own good…too attached…so that it was impossible not to feel the tears stinging his eyes or the pain that he should have spared himself from…when he saw him there…lying on the floor next to him…dead…He knew he would pay a high price for this mistake but he couldn't care less…knowing them was worth it!  But now, it was all over…they had been taken away from him…now he had no ties and he was free to do what he should have done all along.

"Prepare to die, Genjo Sanzo!" these words echoed in the darkness.

"I will die" his voice was barely more then a whisper, "But you're coming to hell with me Gyumaho!"

Chanting filled the air…Sanzo felt his energy slipping away from him as he recited his sutra accompanied by a thousand curses from Gyumaho who felt the fear of entrapment once again move closer to him.

"It's nearly over…" he thought still chanting "…nearly…"

"This is not over yet!!!" the demon screeched as his body defragmented and his essence sealed into the deepest pit of Hell.

"No…it's not over …yet…" he fell to the ground drained of every ounce of energy…"Master Komyou….I failed you" he closed his amethyst-coloured eyes and never opened them again…..

Kai, still sick and weak, opened his eyes to find another pair…golden in colour…looking worriedly at him

"Sanzo...are you OK?"

"You….you remember?"

The other nodded in reply, his eyes shinning with joy at seeing that his beloved Sanzo again.  "I remember…" then his eyes lost their spark "…we failed…and you….everyone…you all died"

"Dead your idiotic empty saru head! As far as I can see we're all alive and ready to kick some serious bad-guy ass!!!"

Gokuh turned to face the owner of the voice, "Gojyo! Hakkai!"

"Welcome back!" said Hakkai as adjusted his pair of glasses.

Sanzo:(murmuring) ok….calm down…don't kill the girl… take a cig…inhale deeply…exhale slowly…

Kenren T: Sanzo….you're freaking me out…what's wrong with you?

Sanzo: What's wrong with me?!!! What's wrong with you?!!!! You bring me back to life…no worries…no cares…no responsibilities…a convertible…loaded with cash…and you go and spoil it all by bringing the three stooges back into my life…and to top it all I just had to remember both my Gaiden life and the other life too!!! Not to mention discovering a major A+ failure and that I have to do this stupid mission all over again!!!

Kenren T: (evil grin) Consider it the icing on the cake, my pretty monk!!!  ☺