Series: Saiyuki
Author: Zelgadis55
Rating: PG13 or T for mild language and violence
Disclaimer: Almost none of the characters belong to me (cries to self) with the exception of the main villains in the story (all except one yet to appear).
Summary: Monkey and Saiyuki are based on the same legend. What happens when the Sanzo-ikkou meet a group somehow so familiar and yet so different? Not shounen ai. Please Read & Review :)
Distorted Mirror
Pt 2
At the same moment in which the fight the Tripitaka-ikkou were the focus of was breaking out, the Sanzo-ikkou were travelling along silently in their Jeep. Gojyo and Goku were both uncharacteristically silent. Neither seemed too thrilled, as both were sitting as far from each other as possible in order to avoid any physical contact that could and would, lead to arguments.
Sanzo was still in a foul mood and it showed on his face and in his body language. He had his eyes closed as if asleep but the occasional twitch put to rest any misconceptions that the other three might have had.
Hakkai as usual, had what appeared to be a happy, peaceful smile over his features and to tell the truth, he truly was enjoying the peace, even if it seemed a little forced. 'Enough of this.' he eventually thought to himself, his smile growing ever so slightly, 'Let's test the waters.'
Hakkai gave a happy sounding sigh, "Isn't this such lovely weather?" he asked.
'More twitching from Sanzo,' he noted silently to himself, 'not a good time to break the peace.' Hakkai shook silently in laughter, making sure that it was not audible. He then looked in the rear vision mirror to check on Goku who appeared to be sulking. The young monkey boy, who wasn't actually as young as he appeared and acted, had been utterly silent since they had left the inn about an hour and a half ago. The only noise he had made was his stomach grumbling. Sanzo had really laid into him with his fan for that. As a result, Goku hadn't even thought of mentioning how hungry he was. It really had to be putting a strain on the normally talkative boy.
Hakkai then shifted his gaze slightly and his smile grew warm as he met Gojyo's eyes in the mirror. The hanyou kappa had been trying hard all morning to keep quiet, not for Sanzo but because it had been Hakkai himself that asked him to do so. A responding smile crossed Gojyo's face and he leaned forward in his seat to speak quietly into Hakkai's ear.
"Hakkai…" Gojyo began but unfortunately got no further when he suddenly felt Sanzo's gun pressed hard against his nose. Frustrated, Gojyo slowly sank back into his seat and in so doing, Sanzo's arm and gun retracted. Other than that small movement, Sanzo had barely moved or spoken.
The smile dropped from Hakkai's face and he continued driving, though he looked back often to meet Gojyo's eyes.
It was not long afterwards, that while Hakkai was glancing back, he noticed Goku had suddenly become alert, all traces of his earlier sulking disappearing.
"Look!" Goku suddenly shouted, standing up in his seat and pointing over to the left at the rocky bottom of the hill.
Sanzo's banishing gun once again made an appearance, the deadly barrel pointing at Goku. "Do you really want to die?" Sanzo asked in a furious tone.
Goku emphatically shook his head even though Sanzo couldn't see him. "Look, there's something strange in the sky. It feels weird." he shuddered physically.
Sanzo growled and turned around in his seat to aim better at the teen seated directly behind him.
"Sanzo…" Goku whined. "Please just look."
Hakkai brought the Jeep to a halt at Goku's warning and he and Gojyo both looked in the direction that Goku indicated. They watched in amazement as what looked like a bright, purple electrified rip in the sky stretched, distorted and then spewed five tumbling figures from within. The apparition then retracted in size and disappeared.
Hakkai and Gojyo practically vaulted from the Jeep and ran down the otherwise impassable rocky hillside towards where the five people lay in a tangled heap.
Sanzo suddenly realised what Hakkai and Gojyo were doing, "Where the hell do you think you're going. Get back here. We can't stop for every inconsequential thing!" he yelled angrily, his attention diverting from Goku.
Goku gratefully took the offered opportunity to jump from the Jeep and he ran after his two friends excitedly.
Sanzo glared after his charge, then turned in the seat so that he was sitting normally once more, refusing to follow the three youkai. With his arms crossed in front of him, he ignored the anxious cries of Hakuryu. Finally, Hakuryu stopped crying out and just transformed, from Jeep to small, white dragon. He immediately flew after Hakkai, who had almost reached his destination. Sanzo found himself unceremoniously dumped on the ground as a result. It didn't add anything to help his current good mood.
Sanzo muttered, "I'll kill him!" He picked himself angrily up off the ground and gave chase to the little dragon.
Meanwhile, Hakkai and Gojyo arrived with Goku close behind them, to find five sets of tangled limbs. They heard quite a bit of moaning and grumbling coming from the five strangers along with a few varied comments like "Get off me you breathing roast pork!" and "Tell Moonface to get his head out of my backside!" Hakkai noticed that only one member of the tangled group was not making a fuss, even though he seemed to be suffering more than any one else.
Hakkai moved in close, to help the fallen group untangle themselves and to get them back onto their feet. When Gojyo didn't immediately help, Hakkai looked at him with one of his, 'I mean business' smiles. "Gojyo-san," he said slowly, "could you please also help these people up?" His voice never lost its polite easygoing tone.
Gojyo grinned disarmingly back at his best friend, "I would love to help you," he drawled, "I just didn't want to get in the way."
"Of course." Hakkai smiled back, looking directly at Gojyo.
Despite a small amount of trouble untangling everyone, in particular the short male with the golden circlet around his head, Hakkai and Gojyo, with additional help from Goku, managed to help everyone to their feet. When they were all finally standing again, there was a loud "Kyuu" and Hakuryu landed on Hakkai's shoulder. He reached up to pat the little dragon's head.
"Thank you for your help." The delicate looking, young man dressed in yellow and white bowed.
'Hmm,' Hakkai thought, 'he looks like he might be a priest of some kind, though the style isn't quite right.' He closed his eyes and smiled, replying in a cheerful voice "You are very welcome."
At that point, Sanzo arrived, clearly angry. However, his anger grew to wonder as he took in the five strangers. His eyes stopped on one of them. The person in question being on the short side, quite hairy, dressed mainly in red and wearing a slim gold circlet on his head. The front of the circlet where it joined curled up and over but not quite back down to where it would meet itself again. Though they looked nothing alike and seemed to, as far as he could tell from these few seconds, have no major personality similarities, for some reason, this guy strongly reminded Sanzo of Son Goku.
The young man Hakkai thought of as a priest turned to his companions and anxiously asked, "Are you all okay?"
One of them nodded "I'm fine master, what about you?" He had a shoulder length bob cut and what was presumably a bald patch on the top of his head. Covering the bald patch, a thin metal plate, shaped to fit.
"I am fine Sandy." the possible priest replied gently. The young man then faced each of the others. "Monkey?" he asked.
Gojyo snickered to himself at the name and glanced at Goku who glared back.
Monkey grinned, "Other than having the swine land on top of me, I'm fine master."
The 'swine' as he had been called, turned indignantly "I didn't land on you, you landed on me you stupid hairy ape. I've got bruises all over me," he whined. "You may be small, but you're heavier than the rest of us stone head."
"What did you call me?" Monkey growled angrily
"You were born from a stone," he sneered, "so what else would you expect to be called?"
Monkey snapped pulling Pigsy up by his lapels, "At least I had a mother, you motherless swine."
Sanzo rolled his eyes, suddenly reminded of Goku and this time also of Gojyo yet again, when the other priest stepped in between Monkey and Pigsy, trying to push them apart. "Stop it!" he snapped, "Just stop your fighting, that's all you ever do. Why can't you two just get along?"
Sandy smiled disarmingly while attempting to pull Monkey away from Pigsy, "You know that's just how they show affection for each other, master."
Pigsy glared at Sandy "The only ones I'm interested in showing affection to, are the ladies."
"Especially when they don't want it, right? Lecherous swine!" Monkey retorted.
"Enough!" Tripitaka snapped in exasperation. The quarrelling twosome reluctantly pulled apart.
Sanzo rolled his eyes again, sighing to himself. 'Definitely like the saru and the kappa. Is there no end to these idiots?'
Tripitaka turned to the final member of his group, concerned, he asked "How about you Yuu-Loong, are you alright?"
Yuu-Loong whimpered, the sound something like a horse's whinny, "I think I hurt a fetlock…" He cradled his left wrist gingerly.
Hakkai stepped over to the dragon – turned – horse – turned human and reached out to Yuu-Loong's wrist "Please, let me take a look." He offered kindly.
Yuu-Loong looked into Hakkai's face in surprise and liking what he saw, he extended his arm. Hakkai examined it gently "It only appears to be a sprain." He noted aloud, allowing a small amount of glowing, green healing chi to wash over the injured wrist.
Monkey stared suspiciously at the energy emanating from Hakkai's hand. "What are you doing to him?" he demanded as Hakkai finished. It hadn't taken long.
Yuu-Loong stared in wonder and said happily, "Thank you, it doesn't hurt any more."
"You are welcome." Hakkai replied still smiling.
Yuu-Loong then turned to Monkey "He healed my fetlock Monkey, see?" he excitedly thrust his arm in front of Monkey's face.
Monkey pushed Yuu-Loong's arm away, "It's rude to stick things in people's faces, you know."
By this time, Sanzo had had enough. "Just who the hell are you people? Youkai?" he demanded to know, looking at Pigsy who was the most physically obvious. Sanzo had his suspicions about the other members of the Tripitaka-ikkou as well but even Pigsy looked a bit off from what the youkai norm was; the ears just weren't quite right. He glared at each of them in turn, finally settling his gaze on Tripitaka.
Tripitaka appeared slightly taken aback and Monkey stepped up, going into protective mode.
"You're being rude!" Monkey stated, "Isn't he being rude, Pigsy?"
Pigsy stepped up as well to stand beside Monkey and in front of Tripitaka, shifting his grip on his muck rake. "Yes, he is being rude!" Pigsy replied with a hard look, his voice much more serious and lower than usual.
"You should apologise, especially to the master." Monkey said to Sanzo in a demanding tone.
Sanzo continued to glare; a twitch beginning to show on his features as Hakkai stepped in once more, attempting to restore the peace.
"Maa… maa!" he placated with a smile, "There's no need for all this hostility, though it would be nice if we all knew who each other is." Hakkai motioned to each of his friends as he introduced them. "This is Genjyo Sanzo Houshi, Sha Gojyo, Son Goku and I am Cho Hakkai."
Tripitaka smiled, introducing his disciples and himself, "This is Monkey, Sandy, Pigsy, Yuu-Loong and I am Tripitaka. We are on a holy mission for the Buddha to fetch scriptures from India. The scriptures will save many people, both those living and those poor souls who have already passed on." He explained.
"Huh?" Goku blinked in confusion, "But… Why would you need to fetch them? Ahh! Do you mean the ones that have been stolen?" Goku paused, suddenly even more confused. "But why you, when Sanzo and the rest of us are the ones that have been ordered to go to India?"
Almost everyone in both groups looked at each other in confusion. Except Sanzo, he just watched Tripitaka, with a hard, unrelenting expression.
"What do you mean by that, Son Goku?" Tripitaka asked gently. "When did some of the scriptures get stolen? I'm surprised the Merciful Goddess didn't tell us if they were stolen."
Monkey snorted derisively "He never likes to give information to anyone in a straight manner."
Tripitaka gave a slight nod of acknowledgement. "Goku, how do you know that only some of the Holy Scriptures have been stolen?"
Goku gave a laugh, "That's easy!" he said happily.
"Goku, shut up!" Sanzo interrupted from behind.
However, Goku kept on talking; he had been quiet for way too long for one day and he could no longer contain himself. "Because Sanzo is wearing his." He explained happily, pointing out the parchment around the monk's shoulders. The Tripitaka-ikkou all looked where Goku was pointing.
"Bakazaru!" Sanzo snapped, whacking him over the head with his fan. "I told you to be quiet."
"Oww!" Goku yelped, holding his head.
Tripitaka's eyes widened in wonder, "Is that really one of the Holy Scriptures?" he asked incredulously. Even though he asked, the priest already knew the true answer. He reached out his hand in awe and could feel the comforting power of the Buddha emanating from within the parchment.
Sanzo glared at the hand reaching out to the Maten Kyoumon and knocked it away. Amazingly, there was no violence in his protection of his inheritance but Monkey did not see it that way.
Monkey brandished his wishing staff as he stepped protectively in front of Tripitaka. "If you want to raise your hand to our master, you go through me first." He threatened.
"That's fine by me." Sanzo replied coldly.
"Monkey, I am alright." Tripitaka said quickly. "Sanzo, if I offended you, I am sorry but could you please tell me how you got that scripture?"
Sanzo narrowed his eyes as he looked at the other priest. "I inherited the Maten Kyoumon and one other from my master and predecessor. The Seiten Kyoumon was stolen by the group of youkai who murdered Koumyou Sanzo." The monk's voice was like ice.
Pigsy frowned, stepping over to nudge Monkey, "Hey, do you think we arrived in India already?"
"Don't be stupid!" Monkey snorted, "I don't know where we ended up but everything looks almost the same as it did before we were attacked."
"Hey Monkey," Sandy called curiously, "Say the pigs right, what if we are in India. I mean, maybe we were closer than we thought."
Tripitaka answered softly, "It's not that long since we found out we were only halfway."
"Besides," Monkey added, "I've flown through India on my cloud. I would recognise it."
"Master?" Sandy asked, "We have been fooled before, do you think that really is one of the scriptures?"
Tripitaka nodded, "I can feel the power of the Buddha emanating through it, even from here."
"Which means, they must be bandits. We have all spoken to the Merciful Goddess, we were the ones placed on this mission." Monkey stated, his eyes narrowed in distrust. He looked threateningly at Sanzo. "Unless you want to be hurt, hand over the scripture, thief! Tripitaka was the one sent to fetch the scriptures and you are just a nasty liar!"
"Monkey!" Tripitaka admonished in shock.
Sanzo twitched as Monkey launched himself in attack at the monk.
To be continued
- . - . -
A/N:
In one particular episode of Monkey (I think it may have been Truth and the Grey Gloves Devil), Monkey is upset over the fact that he doesn't (and never has had) a mother. Tripitaka explains to him that he does have one and that she is always with him. His mother is the earth itself :-)
In the English version of Monkey (I only have access to one ep in Japanese, though that is slowly changing as I buy the DVDs from the UK), Sanzo is known as Tripitaka and Goku is Monkey. The other two characters I find amusing… Gojyo is known as Sandy and Hakkai is known as Pigsy. The reason I find them amusing is that, as you will notice as 'Distorted Mirror' continues, is that the personalities have been basically switched for the Saiyuki version of Gojyo and Hakkai. It's just so hard to reconcile some of the characters as they are so different but that is what makes it so much fun. In fact, I only started watching Saiyuki because I like checking out different versions of the legend. I grew up watching Monkey.
In Monkey, the Merciful Goddess appears in male manifestation… while the Buddha appears in female manifestation.