quantum asked about this (but i bet you're all wondering.) the title
actually comes from the verse that opens up the first chapter. it'll be
continued throughout the story, a verse at a time, just like the little
narrative blurbs. and hopefully they'll do something like express a theme.
in fact, the next verse comes...right now =)
......................................................................
But I must warn you well, my lad
This world holds more than merely charm
For hearts there are, as hard as stone
And if you leave, you'll come to harm
......................................................................
"I'm afraid you aren't ready to travel yet." He said the words as neutrally as possible, then pasted on his patience and waited.
"THE HELL I'M NOT!"
It would've been more effective, he thought in the private, amused corner of his mind, if Sanzo hadn't doubled into a coughing fit immediately afterwards. The man was, without a doubt, the worst patient he'd ever had. Maybe even the worst he'd ever seen.
He tried again, placatingly, "Please, be reasonable. You only woke up a few hours ago. There's only so much healing I can force in a day. It's only been three hours, how far can he have gone? The two of us will be able to find him just fine."
"Cyclops here is right, bouzu," Gojyo drawled. "You can barely walk, let alone fight. What're ya gonna do if we get ambushed, huh? Glare 'em to death?" He ducked and somewhere behind him, the wooden cup hit the wall with a loud hollow sound. He glanced at Hakkai. "See, I told ya it was a good idea to take his gun."
At that the wounded man actually staggered with rage. He advanced on them, the look on his face alarming even in the darkness of the room. Gojyo edged carefully towards the door.
He didn't budge. "For once, Gojyo is right. I must insist you stay. You are not made of steel, Sanzo, and if you continue to be reckless you'll endanger yourself and the quest." As he'd expected, Sanzo stopped.
They all knew that it was Sanzo's quest. He'd gotten the order from the Three Aspects. They also knew that calling a man the leader and following him were two different things. They'd chosen him, as he had chosen them. And one of the reasons was because he rarely lost his head. His temper, oh yes. Terrible tantrums. But never to the point where he could not listen.
He hoped the man was listening now. "Sanzo, stay here and rest. Or you'll undo everything I've done, and waste the sacrifice Goku made when he took that bullet for you." The monk hesitated, taking silent stock of his injuries, and he could see how much it was costing him to consider his own weakness.
More bitter than death was the pain of being helpless. The scar of it ran deep, ached like old bones when it rained. Just now, he knew, something more than reasoning was needed. There was no way now to drug the fuming invalid into insensibility. But perhaps there were other ways to soothe. He looked at Sanzo's mind, peeled back the layers.
Underneath them all, lay fear.
"If you stay... if you stay, I swear that I'll bring him back." He said the words slowly, like counting gold into a miser's hand, letting the other man weigh them. A soft murmur of surprise came from Gojyo. Sanzo looked at him for a moment in the low, flickering torchlight, searching his face, perhaps, for a hint of a smile. Then he turned and sat back on the bed, heavily, and steadied himself with one arm.
"Then go," Sanzo said finally. "But I want my gun back."
"And you shall have it," he said, pleasant once more. "After all, you may need to defend yourself while we're gone."
"Defend me from the idiots I travel with, that's all I ask," came from the darkness as the monk lay back down.
"There's a good boy," said the half-breed, emboldened once more. "We'll be back in no time, the monkey's got short legs." There was just time his eyebrows to raise in surprise at the lack of offense before Gojyo went on with a grin, "You could pray for our safety, if you think it would help."
"Don't push it. I won't be an invalid forever," was all he got in response.
They walked back out and shut the door, then looked at each other. "You really think that'll hold him?" Gojyo asked softly. He could only nod.
"What about the gun?"
"I'll have the innkeeper give it to him after we leave."
The redhead sounded dubious. "Is that safe? What if he nicks it or something?"
"Then we'll get it from him when we come back, and ask for an apology," he said mildly. Gojyo grinned, and they went back to their room. He bent down and nudged the small white mound at the foot of his bed gently. "I'm very sorry, Hakuryuu, but I'm afraid we need you." The small, triangular head emerged from under one wing, blinking sleepily at him. It beeped inquisitively.
"That's right," he said. "I'm sorry, it's just for tonight. We'll let you sleep late tomorrow." The dragon shook out his slender neck and yawned, then unfolded his wings with a snap. A short spring and a flap later it was seated on his shoulder, stiff white hairs tickling as it nuzzled into the warmth of his neck. "Ready?"
They made their way down to the yard, looking for the innkeeper. There was a slight commotion by the stables, and then the man walked out arguing with another guest, his manner distraught.
"Really, I'm sure there's been some mistake--We keep a stableboy on watch at all times--"
"Then where's this boy of yours, eh? Have you told him to run away with my horse? There's a man out there says he saw a boy on a horse two hours ago, heading for the road."
The innkeeper began to swell with indignation, eyes bulging in the torchlight. "Now, sir! Are you accusing me of having stolen your nag?"
"Nag?" the irate guest spluttered. "That's a right smart animal, he even knows his way home, and he's worth more than a racehorse anyday!"
"More than a race horse?" His voice had gone up another notch. "That slow old beast? I don't know where the wretched boy has gone,but I promise you that when I find him, he'll get a thrashing for his neglect, the lazy good- for-nothing!"
"I know just how he feels," muttered Gojyo beside him. "Hakkai, are you sure you want to give this man a gun?"
"Perhaps this is not the time," he agreed. "Though it's surprising there'd be a horse theft in these parts." It was close to harvest time, and the majority of the population was hard at work in the fields. There were few guests at the inn, besides themselves. It hardly seemed likely for the stableboy to have been the culprit. He had an impression of a round, dull- eyed face and a snub nose, gaping as they parked Jeep in the front. But if they had seen a boy on the horse...
In the back of his mind a possibility dropped, clanging with truth. His eyes widened with alarm. He whirled towards Gojyo. "Does Goku know how to ride?"
The halfbreed's mouth fell open. "You're joking," he said blankly. "You don't think...?"
Without another word, he dashed into the stables, Gojyo on his heels. The place was dark, lit only by a small oil lamp, and the smell of horse and moldy hay kicked at the nose. The occasional nicker or snort came from the stalls as they searched. Feverishly they kicked aside piles of straw, pails and old blankets. In the shadows of the last stall, they found the stableboy, half-hidden under an empty grain sack.
He scanned the boy anxiously for injuries. He seemed to be only sleeping. Gojyo seized the shirt of the short, stocky boy and began to shake him. "Oi! You! Wake up and tell us if you saw the monkey!" A small white object rolled out of one limp hand. Gojyo dropped the boy, who flopped back like a doll. "What's that?"
He picked it up. It was a meatbun, half-gnawed. But there was something in the middle that didn't look like quite like gristle--he peered at it in the dim light, and stifled a groan. He pulled it out and turned to Gojyo, whose face wrinkled with disgust.
"What the--"
"It's one of my opiates, the strongest I've got. After all, you couldn't have expected him to hurt the boy."
Gojyo's face mirrored the shock he felt inside, as he sat back on his heels. "Stop messin' with me. Are you sure we're talking about the monkey here? You're telling me that the idiot ape snuck into your room..."
Nod.
"...stole sleeping pills from your medicine chest..."
Nod.
"...tricked somebody and GAVE UP FOOD? Just so he could steal a horse he doesn't know how to ride? To go off after youkai in the middle of the night? Leaving his precious half-dead Sanzo behind?"
Nod nod.
They sat visualizing it for a few moments, until he spoke the words that were on both their minds. "If he could give up food, who knows what else he might do?"
They looked at each other, then scrambled to their feet, yelling almost in unison, "Innkeeper!!"
.........................................................
He'd seen people riding horses. It hadn't seemed that hard. You just sort of sat on them and they did the work, right? And he'd even thought of getting the boy to put the equipment on first, so there were ropes on the head so you could steer. And it had a seat. But there were things about riding horses which made them definitely different from and infinitely less preferable to riding Jeep. He wished he'd known about them in advance.
Nobody had said anything about how horses smelled. Up close, his sensitive nose had almost twitched with the desire to get away. They'd passed horses before, of course, and he'd smelled them in the fields of the more prosperous villages. But being on top of a big, rank, sweaty animal was like, well, being on top of a big rank sweaty animal. He wondered if he'd ever be able to smell food again.
And nobody had ever told him how TALL horses were. They looked ok from a distance, sure. Up close they looked like they could step on you, and pretty hard at that. It had taken him six or seven tries to even get on the thing, even with it just standing in its stall. Finally he'd cheated and used a crate. He'd wound up far higher off the ground than he'd liked.
The horse hadn't cooperated either. Even with the saddle on the seat was slippery, and the stupid animal just kept moving. Once he had pulled its hair hard, trying to stay on, and then it had turned its head and blew back its lips, revealing a whole mouthful of big white teeth. They weren't maybe the scariest teeth he'd ever seen--not pointed, or dripping blood-- but he didn't want them coming too close, for all of that. So he squeezed as much back as he could between his knees and clung for dear life.
The worst, though, had to be the bouncing. Once out of the stables, he hadn't been too sure how to make it go. To his short-lived relief, it had started for the road on its own, breaking into a bone-jarring trot. Soon the movement made him forget all about the smell.
After an hour it had felt like every part of him was bouncing against something else. His legs were thumping against the sides and his hips were thumping against the seat and his spine was jolting in his back. After two hours he wondered if his teeth were coming loose. His wound hurt so badly it felt like it was eating him.
Maybe the bouncing wasn't the worst. No, what was worst was how it had its own mind. Jeep had its own mind too but always went wherever you told it too. Horses, apparently, were different. It kept stopping to nibble off bits of green on the side of the road. It was almost insulting, the way it could eat when he couldn't. He tried to pull the ropes to keep it going forward, but didn't dare to pull or kick hard, in case it got mad. Unlike Jeep, the horse didn't have a brake pedal.
He gritted his teeth as they clopped on. It had been a stupid idea to start with, even if he had made better time than he could've on his own. And anyhow, he'd gone far enough on the road. The others would have noticed that he was gone by now, and were probably on his trail. He didn't have much time left to find the youkai and make his point.
He was strong enough to protect Sanzo, even with the limiter. He was never going to let Sanzo need to be rescued again. He knew he could do it, as long as--
As long as Sanzo didn't leave him behind.
There was a silent rush of air, and for an instant an owl ghosted against the moon, talons clutched. He wished that he, too, had perfect night vision. The night was far from silent; there were rustles and chirps and croaks that had him constantly on edge. His mind told him that hardly anyone would set an ambush on the road at a time when everyone was sure to be in bed. But his eyes seemed to make out flickering shadows and lurking shapes everywhere.
Think of something else, he urged himself. It wasn't hard. One thing was uppermost on his mind: Sanzo was going to be mad. He squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. Sanzo was definitely going to be mad. He'd lied to them, and drugged the boy, and stolen a horse, and gone off on his own. Maybe if he found and killed all the youkai--
Sanzo would still be mad. Maybe he would be even madder. He groaned. He could almost hear it now. Stupid ape, he would say. Waste of time. The bandage was starting to clump. He was definitely bleeding again. So Hakkai would probably be mad, too.
No matter. He was already here, wasn't he? He'd do what he'd come to do first. Everything else would come later, if he was lucky.
The road was starting to narrow, and he raised his head. Sure enough, he caught the faintest whiff of pine, and felt a small sense of relief. He'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to find the place; by moonlight everything looked distorted and unfamiliar, even after his eyes adjusted to the dark.
But he was positive they'd been attacked in the middle of a grove of pines, near the water. He remembered running over the dried needles that carpeted the ground. He remembered being scratched by the short, thin trees that clustered around the rough trunks of the larger ones as he'd crashed through them, seeking to draw out the attackers. Only to realize that there were none.
They'd all been after Sanzo.
And he'd nearly been too late, almost hadn't found him in time. His mouth went dry at the thought and he swallowed, made himself think of Sanzo back at the inn, bandaged and resting and safe. Safe. Just find the running water, he told himself, and you'll be close.
He wished Hakkai hadn't sent someone to pick up the caltrops. That would've made finding the right stretch of road easy. Then again...
Just in case they'd missed one, he swung one leg over and slid awkwardly off the horse, wincing as the movement stretched the wound. He landed in the dirt road and stumbling forward, gasping with pain as a thousand needles seemed to stab into his legs. His back felt numb, and his feet refused to listen. The horse, noticing that it had lost its rider, turned around and whuffed. The noise made him feel suddenly exposed. He backed away unsteadily from the hooves and teeth, hands up.
"Good horse...good horse," he said desperately. "Now, go back. Tell Laifu- kun I'm sorry, ok? I didn't want to have to trick him or anything." He couldn't tell if it understood or not, but after it circled him once it began to crop the grass at the side of the road. He began to feel desperate. "Go back, ok? Otherwise he might get into trouble, even if it wasn't his fault." He sidled closer and slapped the horse lightly on its rump.
The beast lifted its head and gave him a look, deep-eyed and slow. Turning, almost as if deliberately, and trotted back in the direction they had come. He heaved a sigh of relief and massaged his back, wincing. The sound of hooves on packed earth faded with surprising speed, and soon all he could hear was the self-important croaking of frogs. He took a deep breath, pulling Nyoibu out from the strap on his back, stamping his feet in an attempt to restart circulation
On either side of him lay deep woods. Yesterday, he'd gone to the right, and had crossed back when things had started to feel wrong. Sanzo had been surprised by an attack on the far side of the creek, which meant that the youkai had been stationed on that side of the road. It was too bad they hadn't taken any prisoners. He'd smelled blood, but found no bodies, which meant that the wounded had escaped.
Not that they had bothered to give chase. Everything seemed to have gone at triple speeds after he'd come up the bank and seen the two of them, the youkai getting ready to fire. He'd slammed into Sanzo and then felt, faintly, that second impact. When he'd scrambled to his feet the shaku-jou was snaking around the attacker's neck, and Hakkai was putting his hands together. It ended so quickly that it was a shock to find out they'd still been late.
The ride back in Jeep was a blur of anxiety. Gojyo had to have been at the wheel, because there had been Hakkai's voice frantically telling him to put pressure on his side while pouring a flow of energy into Sanzo's arm. The entire sleeve had been soaked with blood, the gash oozing angrily even as it was being healed.
The worry had filled his mind, wondering if a man could live with that much blood gone into the dirt, his sleeve, pooling on the floor of Jeep. He'd struggled to sit up, twisting his neck to look at Sanzo even as Hakkai ripped away his shirt. The last thing he remembered was seeing was Hakkai's blood-speckled monocle as it loomed over him, hearing faintly "Thank gods, it missed the liver," and then feeling slippery fingers reach into his left side.
The mass of agony in his midsection seemed to flare up at the recollection. He shook his head angrily. That was yesterday. This was today and he was fine now. Hakkai worried too much. He'd been hurt before. He would live. But first, he'd find them. They couldn't be far, not with wounded. He'd find them, somewhere downstream.
He clenched his fists, and stepped off the road.
..................................................................
Jeep grumbled as it rolled along the road, its lights a narrow beam that divided the darkness. It seemed insufficient to illuminate, yet blinded them to everything outside of it. He drove steadily, counting miles in his head, the night breeze cool and slightly damp against his cheek.
Beside him Gojyo stretched out. "Hells, I never get to ride shotgun. We should ditch the monk more often."
He couldn't find anything to reply and for a while they drove in silence. Then,
"Think he's gonna be okay?"
Which one, he nearly asked, then rearranged his mind like Gojyo's. "If we don't take too long finding him, yes."
Gojyo clasped his arms behind his back and stared at the narrowing slice of moon. "And if we do?"
"Well, he could get lost, or start bleeding heavily, fall off and cause an internal hemorrhage, assuming he's still on the horse...supposedly these parts aren't too wild, but I suppose he could even get attacked by wolves."
His friend lost composure. "Shit! All that and you promised Sanzo we'd bring him back all safe?"
"I said we'd bring him back," he said tersely. "I didn't say he'd be all safe."
Silence hung between them. Gojyo was the first to break it. He usually was.
"What was he thinking, that idiot ape, pulling a crazy stunt like this? What's he trying to do, MAKE Sanzo kill him?"
"I rather think it's something like the opposite." A fat moth batted into the windshield and crumpled off. The night was full of insect life, and the creatures that lived off of it, and the creatures who lived off of them. And somewhere in it all was a boy on a horse, looking for his enemies.
Gojyo stared at him incredulously. "Not even the ape's that dumb. He had to have known this would drive Sanzo nuts, him going off like this. I mean, hell, forget Sanzo, when we find him the first thing I'm gonna do is take a crack at that thick head."
He smiled. "You would, wouldn't you? And yet...here you are."
"Here I am," the halfbreed agreed morosely. He pulled his feet off the dashboard. "Look at us. By all rights we should be drinking or sleeping by now, and instead we're out here. I bet you're still wiped out from healing the pair of 'em."
He shrugged philosophically. "It's hard on all of us to do extra miles, even Jeep." Smiling, he added, "Perhaps we all should have stolen horses," and received a look from his companion questioning his sanity.
"All I know is, I could really use a beer." Gojyo eyed him again, this time thoughtfully. A note of pleading crept into his voice. "Or, at least, a cigarette."
"No."
"Why not?" The pleading was elbowed aside by outrage.
"You've already had your ten for today," he said, brimming with equanimity.
"You're a sadistic, stingy bastard, you know that?" Gojyo flopped back and pulled his headband over his eyes.
"Oh, yes," he said cheerily. "Aren't you glad I'm not your wife?" The redhead was silent, refusing to rise to the bait, then lurched forward as the vehicle suddenly slowed.
"What the--what was that for?"
Turning off the engine, he put a finger to his lips. Gojyo took the hint and sat up. They both listened intently. A noise was approaching.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
"It's him!" Gojyo squinted ahead, straining to make out a shape in the gloom.
"Or someone else out for night air," he murmured. The hoofbeats came closer. Then it emerged from around a bend, and for a moment the moonlight fell clearly on the broad back of a rather shaggy horse.
It was riderless.
A number of scenarios, none of them pleasant, floated through his head on a wash of fear. He looked at Gojyo, who had clearly registered the implications himself. We're too late again, aren't we, said his closed eyes and clenched jaw.
As the horse came closer he stared back at the bend in the road, which stayed stubbornly empty, and the words came unbidden to his lips. "...oh dear."
The animal picked its way towards them, unaware of their panic. Relief trickled through him when he saw that it looked completely calm, unlathered. It didn't look as if its rider had been picked off in ambush, or as if it had been anywhere near a melee. It plodded past them, only lifting its muzzle to sniff briefly at them before moving on. They stood, immobilized by conjecture.
He started. Gojyo had placed a hand on his arm. In the moonlight his eyes and hair looked almost black; his face seemed almost unfamiliar. "C'mon, let's go find him."
He turned the key, and jammed down the pedal. The sudden roar cut off the sounds of the night, sweeping away everything but the two of them, and the road.
................................................
In the darkness of his room, Genjyo Sanzo stayed, as he had been told. But it could not have been said, with any degree of honesty, that he rested.
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urk. another chapter, another tortuous lack of plot development... -_- incandescens, is there TOO much dialogue??
anyhow...
hallo minna!!!
i would really like to thank all my reviewers for chapter three. seriously, you guys make my day. a lot of you are writers as well and know what it feels like to check your e-mail fifty times the day after you post *grin* so, here we go:
UltraM2000: actually, Hakkai does use "Sanzo-san" somewhere in the manga! XD darned if i can remember where, but i only have 5-9 so it's somewhere in those--maybe in a flashback? prolly before all the boys got comfy with each other... anyhow, sf picked up on it too, so i'll be sure not to do it again.
thank you, quantum, for your strong positive encouragement (you are spot on about the typos, i read them now and cringe. it's because i've started using wordpad, to avoid the annoying red squigglies i get under every name and japanese word. 'long day' was actually written on notepad *grin* i appreciate the detail of your feedback as much as its candor and warmth =) always glad of a fellow pratchett fan.
Neko-Megami-sama, again, always nice to hear from you =) i liked this chapter too. surprisingly, it seems to have the best flow. of course, give me a few days and i'll pick all to pieces *laugh* but for now i'm happy.
domo arigatou, gallatica, konzen and seacmber =) to the last, it's been a bloody long time since my first saiyuki post, so it's no wonder you haven't heard of me!
and krimson, thanks for appreciating my prose! XD i can't believe something i wrote is getting read aloud to someone's co-worker...now that is true fame...seriously, that made me feel good. frankly, i like the ghost line too. (is it too shameless of me to say that?)
K. Firefly, Goku has indeed "run away." sorry if that seemed confusing =) Sanzo was half-asleep when he came, and drugged out too (for the pain), so it was all a bit hazy to him.
and MWAH!!!!!!! thank you a thousand times for reading 'power'!!!!! i am soooooooooooo grateful!!! =) i just needed someone to check and tell me that it wasn't total trash. and for your reference, the canon pairing is akaiwa x kotori, but it's painfully obvious that his hot-tempered best friend chikage is in love with kotori as well. (poor chikage--he's also pissed because his younger bro has just fallen for his friend shinobu, a total loser!)
sorry if the updates don't come too quickly =( i've got to get ready to go back to school... however *brightens* a show of interest always speeds them, yes indeed *totally shameless* ^_~ ta, then!
......................................................................
But I must warn you well, my lad
This world holds more than merely charm
For hearts there are, as hard as stone
And if you leave, you'll come to harm
......................................................................
"I'm afraid you aren't ready to travel yet." He said the words as neutrally as possible, then pasted on his patience and waited.
"THE HELL I'M NOT!"
It would've been more effective, he thought in the private, amused corner of his mind, if Sanzo hadn't doubled into a coughing fit immediately afterwards. The man was, without a doubt, the worst patient he'd ever had. Maybe even the worst he'd ever seen.
He tried again, placatingly, "Please, be reasonable. You only woke up a few hours ago. There's only so much healing I can force in a day. It's only been three hours, how far can he have gone? The two of us will be able to find him just fine."
"Cyclops here is right, bouzu," Gojyo drawled. "You can barely walk, let alone fight. What're ya gonna do if we get ambushed, huh? Glare 'em to death?" He ducked and somewhere behind him, the wooden cup hit the wall with a loud hollow sound. He glanced at Hakkai. "See, I told ya it was a good idea to take his gun."
At that the wounded man actually staggered with rage. He advanced on them, the look on his face alarming even in the darkness of the room. Gojyo edged carefully towards the door.
He didn't budge. "For once, Gojyo is right. I must insist you stay. You are not made of steel, Sanzo, and if you continue to be reckless you'll endanger yourself and the quest." As he'd expected, Sanzo stopped.
They all knew that it was Sanzo's quest. He'd gotten the order from the Three Aspects. They also knew that calling a man the leader and following him were two different things. They'd chosen him, as he had chosen them. And one of the reasons was because he rarely lost his head. His temper, oh yes. Terrible tantrums. But never to the point where he could not listen.
He hoped the man was listening now. "Sanzo, stay here and rest. Or you'll undo everything I've done, and waste the sacrifice Goku made when he took that bullet for you." The monk hesitated, taking silent stock of his injuries, and he could see how much it was costing him to consider his own weakness.
More bitter than death was the pain of being helpless. The scar of it ran deep, ached like old bones when it rained. Just now, he knew, something more than reasoning was needed. There was no way now to drug the fuming invalid into insensibility. But perhaps there were other ways to soothe. He looked at Sanzo's mind, peeled back the layers.
Underneath them all, lay fear.
"If you stay... if you stay, I swear that I'll bring him back." He said the words slowly, like counting gold into a miser's hand, letting the other man weigh them. A soft murmur of surprise came from Gojyo. Sanzo looked at him for a moment in the low, flickering torchlight, searching his face, perhaps, for a hint of a smile. Then he turned and sat back on the bed, heavily, and steadied himself with one arm.
"Then go," Sanzo said finally. "But I want my gun back."
"And you shall have it," he said, pleasant once more. "After all, you may need to defend yourself while we're gone."
"Defend me from the idiots I travel with, that's all I ask," came from the darkness as the monk lay back down.
"There's a good boy," said the half-breed, emboldened once more. "We'll be back in no time, the monkey's got short legs." There was just time his eyebrows to raise in surprise at the lack of offense before Gojyo went on with a grin, "You could pray for our safety, if you think it would help."
"Don't push it. I won't be an invalid forever," was all he got in response.
They walked back out and shut the door, then looked at each other. "You really think that'll hold him?" Gojyo asked softly. He could only nod.
"What about the gun?"
"I'll have the innkeeper give it to him after we leave."
The redhead sounded dubious. "Is that safe? What if he nicks it or something?"
"Then we'll get it from him when we come back, and ask for an apology," he said mildly. Gojyo grinned, and they went back to their room. He bent down and nudged the small white mound at the foot of his bed gently. "I'm very sorry, Hakuryuu, but I'm afraid we need you." The small, triangular head emerged from under one wing, blinking sleepily at him. It beeped inquisitively.
"That's right," he said. "I'm sorry, it's just for tonight. We'll let you sleep late tomorrow." The dragon shook out his slender neck and yawned, then unfolded his wings with a snap. A short spring and a flap later it was seated on his shoulder, stiff white hairs tickling as it nuzzled into the warmth of his neck. "Ready?"
They made their way down to the yard, looking for the innkeeper. There was a slight commotion by the stables, and then the man walked out arguing with another guest, his manner distraught.
"Really, I'm sure there's been some mistake--We keep a stableboy on watch at all times--"
"Then where's this boy of yours, eh? Have you told him to run away with my horse? There's a man out there says he saw a boy on a horse two hours ago, heading for the road."
The innkeeper began to swell with indignation, eyes bulging in the torchlight. "Now, sir! Are you accusing me of having stolen your nag?"
"Nag?" the irate guest spluttered. "That's a right smart animal, he even knows his way home, and he's worth more than a racehorse anyday!"
"More than a race horse?" His voice had gone up another notch. "That slow old beast? I don't know where the wretched boy has gone,but I promise you that when I find him, he'll get a thrashing for his neglect, the lazy good- for-nothing!"
"I know just how he feels," muttered Gojyo beside him. "Hakkai, are you sure you want to give this man a gun?"
"Perhaps this is not the time," he agreed. "Though it's surprising there'd be a horse theft in these parts." It was close to harvest time, and the majority of the population was hard at work in the fields. There were few guests at the inn, besides themselves. It hardly seemed likely for the stableboy to have been the culprit. He had an impression of a round, dull- eyed face and a snub nose, gaping as they parked Jeep in the front. But if they had seen a boy on the horse...
In the back of his mind a possibility dropped, clanging with truth. His eyes widened with alarm. He whirled towards Gojyo. "Does Goku know how to ride?"
The halfbreed's mouth fell open. "You're joking," he said blankly. "You don't think...?"
Without another word, he dashed into the stables, Gojyo on his heels. The place was dark, lit only by a small oil lamp, and the smell of horse and moldy hay kicked at the nose. The occasional nicker or snort came from the stalls as they searched. Feverishly they kicked aside piles of straw, pails and old blankets. In the shadows of the last stall, they found the stableboy, half-hidden under an empty grain sack.
He scanned the boy anxiously for injuries. He seemed to be only sleeping. Gojyo seized the shirt of the short, stocky boy and began to shake him. "Oi! You! Wake up and tell us if you saw the monkey!" A small white object rolled out of one limp hand. Gojyo dropped the boy, who flopped back like a doll. "What's that?"
He picked it up. It was a meatbun, half-gnawed. But there was something in the middle that didn't look like quite like gristle--he peered at it in the dim light, and stifled a groan. He pulled it out and turned to Gojyo, whose face wrinkled with disgust.
"What the--"
"It's one of my opiates, the strongest I've got. After all, you couldn't have expected him to hurt the boy."
Gojyo's face mirrored the shock he felt inside, as he sat back on his heels. "Stop messin' with me. Are you sure we're talking about the monkey here? You're telling me that the idiot ape snuck into your room..."
Nod.
"...stole sleeping pills from your medicine chest..."
Nod.
"...tricked somebody and GAVE UP FOOD? Just so he could steal a horse he doesn't know how to ride? To go off after youkai in the middle of the night? Leaving his precious half-dead Sanzo behind?"
Nod nod.
They sat visualizing it for a few moments, until he spoke the words that were on both their minds. "If he could give up food, who knows what else he might do?"
They looked at each other, then scrambled to their feet, yelling almost in unison, "Innkeeper!!"
.........................................................
He'd seen people riding horses. It hadn't seemed that hard. You just sort of sat on them and they did the work, right? And he'd even thought of getting the boy to put the equipment on first, so there were ropes on the head so you could steer. And it had a seat. But there were things about riding horses which made them definitely different from and infinitely less preferable to riding Jeep. He wished he'd known about them in advance.
Nobody had said anything about how horses smelled. Up close, his sensitive nose had almost twitched with the desire to get away. They'd passed horses before, of course, and he'd smelled them in the fields of the more prosperous villages. But being on top of a big, rank, sweaty animal was like, well, being on top of a big rank sweaty animal. He wondered if he'd ever be able to smell food again.
And nobody had ever told him how TALL horses were. They looked ok from a distance, sure. Up close they looked like they could step on you, and pretty hard at that. It had taken him six or seven tries to even get on the thing, even with it just standing in its stall. Finally he'd cheated and used a crate. He'd wound up far higher off the ground than he'd liked.
The horse hadn't cooperated either. Even with the saddle on the seat was slippery, and the stupid animal just kept moving. Once he had pulled its hair hard, trying to stay on, and then it had turned its head and blew back its lips, revealing a whole mouthful of big white teeth. They weren't maybe the scariest teeth he'd ever seen--not pointed, or dripping blood-- but he didn't want them coming too close, for all of that. So he squeezed as much back as he could between his knees and clung for dear life.
The worst, though, had to be the bouncing. Once out of the stables, he hadn't been too sure how to make it go. To his short-lived relief, it had started for the road on its own, breaking into a bone-jarring trot. Soon the movement made him forget all about the smell.
After an hour it had felt like every part of him was bouncing against something else. His legs were thumping against the sides and his hips were thumping against the seat and his spine was jolting in his back. After two hours he wondered if his teeth were coming loose. His wound hurt so badly it felt like it was eating him.
Maybe the bouncing wasn't the worst. No, what was worst was how it had its own mind. Jeep had its own mind too but always went wherever you told it too. Horses, apparently, were different. It kept stopping to nibble off bits of green on the side of the road. It was almost insulting, the way it could eat when he couldn't. He tried to pull the ropes to keep it going forward, but didn't dare to pull or kick hard, in case it got mad. Unlike Jeep, the horse didn't have a brake pedal.
He gritted his teeth as they clopped on. It had been a stupid idea to start with, even if he had made better time than he could've on his own. And anyhow, he'd gone far enough on the road. The others would have noticed that he was gone by now, and were probably on his trail. He didn't have much time left to find the youkai and make his point.
He was strong enough to protect Sanzo, even with the limiter. He was never going to let Sanzo need to be rescued again. He knew he could do it, as long as--
As long as Sanzo didn't leave him behind.
There was a silent rush of air, and for an instant an owl ghosted against the moon, talons clutched. He wished that he, too, had perfect night vision. The night was far from silent; there were rustles and chirps and croaks that had him constantly on edge. His mind told him that hardly anyone would set an ambush on the road at a time when everyone was sure to be in bed. But his eyes seemed to make out flickering shadows and lurking shapes everywhere.
Think of something else, he urged himself. It wasn't hard. One thing was uppermost on his mind: Sanzo was going to be mad. He squeezed his eyes shut at the thought. Sanzo was definitely going to be mad. He'd lied to them, and drugged the boy, and stolen a horse, and gone off on his own. Maybe if he found and killed all the youkai--
Sanzo would still be mad. Maybe he would be even madder. He groaned. He could almost hear it now. Stupid ape, he would say. Waste of time. The bandage was starting to clump. He was definitely bleeding again. So Hakkai would probably be mad, too.
No matter. He was already here, wasn't he? He'd do what he'd come to do first. Everything else would come later, if he was lucky.
The road was starting to narrow, and he raised his head. Sure enough, he caught the faintest whiff of pine, and felt a small sense of relief. He'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to find the place; by moonlight everything looked distorted and unfamiliar, even after his eyes adjusted to the dark.
But he was positive they'd been attacked in the middle of a grove of pines, near the water. He remembered running over the dried needles that carpeted the ground. He remembered being scratched by the short, thin trees that clustered around the rough trunks of the larger ones as he'd crashed through them, seeking to draw out the attackers. Only to realize that there were none.
They'd all been after Sanzo.
And he'd nearly been too late, almost hadn't found him in time. His mouth went dry at the thought and he swallowed, made himself think of Sanzo back at the inn, bandaged and resting and safe. Safe. Just find the running water, he told himself, and you'll be close.
He wished Hakkai hadn't sent someone to pick up the caltrops. That would've made finding the right stretch of road easy. Then again...
Just in case they'd missed one, he swung one leg over and slid awkwardly off the horse, wincing as the movement stretched the wound. He landed in the dirt road and stumbling forward, gasping with pain as a thousand needles seemed to stab into his legs. His back felt numb, and his feet refused to listen. The horse, noticing that it had lost its rider, turned around and whuffed. The noise made him feel suddenly exposed. He backed away unsteadily from the hooves and teeth, hands up.
"Good horse...good horse," he said desperately. "Now, go back. Tell Laifu- kun I'm sorry, ok? I didn't want to have to trick him or anything." He couldn't tell if it understood or not, but after it circled him once it began to crop the grass at the side of the road. He began to feel desperate. "Go back, ok? Otherwise he might get into trouble, even if it wasn't his fault." He sidled closer and slapped the horse lightly on its rump.
The beast lifted its head and gave him a look, deep-eyed and slow. Turning, almost as if deliberately, and trotted back in the direction they had come. He heaved a sigh of relief and massaged his back, wincing. The sound of hooves on packed earth faded with surprising speed, and soon all he could hear was the self-important croaking of frogs. He took a deep breath, pulling Nyoibu out from the strap on his back, stamping his feet in an attempt to restart circulation
On either side of him lay deep woods. Yesterday, he'd gone to the right, and had crossed back when things had started to feel wrong. Sanzo had been surprised by an attack on the far side of the creek, which meant that the youkai had been stationed on that side of the road. It was too bad they hadn't taken any prisoners. He'd smelled blood, but found no bodies, which meant that the wounded had escaped.
Not that they had bothered to give chase. Everything seemed to have gone at triple speeds after he'd come up the bank and seen the two of them, the youkai getting ready to fire. He'd slammed into Sanzo and then felt, faintly, that second impact. When he'd scrambled to his feet the shaku-jou was snaking around the attacker's neck, and Hakkai was putting his hands together. It ended so quickly that it was a shock to find out they'd still been late.
The ride back in Jeep was a blur of anxiety. Gojyo had to have been at the wheel, because there had been Hakkai's voice frantically telling him to put pressure on his side while pouring a flow of energy into Sanzo's arm. The entire sleeve had been soaked with blood, the gash oozing angrily even as it was being healed.
The worry had filled his mind, wondering if a man could live with that much blood gone into the dirt, his sleeve, pooling on the floor of Jeep. He'd struggled to sit up, twisting his neck to look at Sanzo even as Hakkai ripped away his shirt. The last thing he remembered was seeing was Hakkai's blood-speckled monocle as it loomed over him, hearing faintly "Thank gods, it missed the liver," and then feeling slippery fingers reach into his left side.
The mass of agony in his midsection seemed to flare up at the recollection. He shook his head angrily. That was yesterday. This was today and he was fine now. Hakkai worried too much. He'd been hurt before. He would live. But first, he'd find them. They couldn't be far, not with wounded. He'd find them, somewhere downstream.
He clenched his fists, and stepped off the road.
..................................................................
Jeep grumbled as it rolled along the road, its lights a narrow beam that divided the darkness. It seemed insufficient to illuminate, yet blinded them to everything outside of it. He drove steadily, counting miles in his head, the night breeze cool and slightly damp against his cheek.
Beside him Gojyo stretched out. "Hells, I never get to ride shotgun. We should ditch the monk more often."
He couldn't find anything to reply and for a while they drove in silence. Then,
"Think he's gonna be okay?"
Which one, he nearly asked, then rearranged his mind like Gojyo's. "If we don't take too long finding him, yes."
Gojyo clasped his arms behind his back and stared at the narrowing slice of moon. "And if we do?"
"Well, he could get lost, or start bleeding heavily, fall off and cause an internal hemorrhage, assuming he's still on the horse...supposedly these parts aren't too wild, but I suppose he could even get attacked by wolves."
His friend lost composure. "Shit! All that and you promised Sanzo we'd bring him back all safe?"
"I said we'd bring him back," he said tersely. "I didn't say he'd be all safe."
Silence hung between them. Gojyo was the first to break it. He usually was.
"What was he thinking, that idiot ape, pulling a crazy stunt like this? What's he trying to do, MAKE Sanzo kill him?"
"I rather think it's something like the opposite." A fat moth batted into the windshield and crumpled off. The night was full of insect life, and the creatures that lived off of it, and the creatures who lived off of them. And somewhere in it all was a boy on a horse, looking for his enemies.
Gojyo stared at him incredulously. "Not even the ape's that dumb. He had to have known this would drive Sanzo nuts, him going off like this. I mean, hell, forget Sanzo, when we find him the first thing I'm gonna do is take a crack at that thick head."
He smiled. "You would, wouldn't you? And yet...here you are."
"Here I am," the halfbreed agreed morosely. He pulled his feet off the dashboard. "Look at us. By all rights we should be drinking or sleeping by now, and instead we're out here. I bet you're still wiped out from healing the pair of 'em."
He shrugged philosophically. "It's hard on all of us to do extra miles, even Jeep." Smiling, he added, "Perhaps we all should have stolen horses," and received a look from his companion questioning his sanity.
"All I know is, I could really use a beer." Gojyo eyed him again, this time thoughtfully. A note of pleading crept into his voice. "Or, at least, a cigarette."
"No."
"Why not?" The pleading was elbowed aside by outrage.
"You've already had your ten for today," he said, brimming with equanimity.
"You're a sadistic, stingy bastard, you know that?" Gojyo flopped back and pulled his headband over his eyes.
"Oh, yes," he said cheerily. "Aren't you glad I'm not your wife?" The redhead was silent, refusing to rise to the bait, then lurched forward as the vehicle suddenly slowed.
"What the--what was that for?"
Turning off the engine, he put a finger to his lips. Gojyo took the hint and sat up. They both listened intently. A noise was approaching.
Clip-clop, clip-clop...
"It's him!" Gojyo squinted ahead, straining to make out a shape in the gloom.
"Or someone else out for night air," he murmured. The hoofbeats came closer. Then it emerged from around a bend, and for a moment the moonlight fell clearly on the broad back of a rather shaggy horse.
It was riderless.
A number of scenarios, none of them pleasant, floated through his head on a wash of fear. He looked at Gojyo, who had clearly registered the implications himself. We're too late again, aren't we, said his closed eyes and clenched jaw.
As the horse came closer he stared back at the bend in the road, which stayed stubbornly empty, and the words came unbidden to his lips. "...oh dear."
The animal picked its way towards them, unaware of their panic. Relief trickled through him when he saw that it looked completely calm, unlathered. It didn't look as if its rider had been picked off in ambush, or as if it had been anywhere near a melee. It plodded past them, only lifting its muzzle to sniff briefly at them before moving on. They stood, immobilized by conjecture.
He started. Gojyo had placed a hand on his arm. In the moonlight his eyes and hair looked almost black; his face seemed almost unfamiliar. "C'mon, let's go find him."
He turned the key, and jammed down the pedal. The sudden roar cut off the sounds of the night, sweeping away everything but the two of them, and the road.
................................................
In the darkness of his room, Genjyo Sanzo stayed, as he had been told. But it could not have been said, with any degree of honesty, that he rested.
................................................
urk. another chapter, another tortuous lack of plot development... -_- incandescens, is there TOO much dialogue??
anyhow...
hallo minna!!!
i would really like to thank all my reviewers for chapter three. seriously, you guys make my day. a lot of you are writers as well and know what it feels like to check your e-mail fifty times the day after you post *grin* so, here we go:
UltraM2000: actually, Hakkai does use "Sanzo-san" somewhere in the manga! XD darned if i can remember where, but i only have 5-9 so it's somewhere in those--maybe in a flashback? prolly before all the boys got comfy with each other... anyhow, sf picked up on it too, so i'll be sure not to do it again.
thank you, quantum, for your strong positive encouragement (you are spot on about the typos, i read them now and cringe. it's because i've started using wordpad, to avoid the annoying red squigglies i get under every name and japanese word. 'long day' was actually written on notepad *grin* i appreciate the detail of your feedback as much as its candor and warmth =) always glad of a fellow pratchett fan.
Neko-Megami-sama, again, always nice to hear from you =) i liked this chapter too. surprisingly, it seems to have the best flow. of course, give me a few days and i'll pick all to pieces *laugh* but for now i'm happy.
domo arigatou, gallatica, konzen and seacmber =) to the last, it's been a bloody long time since my first saiyuki post, so it's no wonder you haven't heard of me!
and krimson, thanks for appreciating my prose! XD i can't believe something i wrote is getting read aloud to someone's co-worker...now that is true fame...seriously, that made me feel good. frankly, i like the ghost line too. (is it too shameless of me to say that?)
K. Firefly, Goku has indeed "run away." sorry if that seemed confusing =) Sanzo was half-asleep when he came, and drugged out too (for the pain), so it was all a bit hazy to him.
and MWAH!!!!!!! thank you a thousand times for reading 'power'!!!!! i am soooooooooooo grateful!!! =) i just needed someone to check and tell me that it wasn't total trash. and for your reference, the canon pairing is akaiwa x kotori, but it's painfully obvious that his hot-tempered best friend chikage is in love with kotori as well. (poor chikage--he's also pissed because his younger bro has just fallen for his friend shinobu, a total loser!)
sorry if the updates don't come too quickly =( i've got to get ready to go back to school... however *brightens* a show of interest always speeds them, yes indeed *totally shameless* ^_~ ta, then!