Title: Distorted Mirror
Author: Zelgadis55
Fandom: Saiyuki and Monkey
Disclaimer: Nobody in this fic from the cast of Saiyuki or Monkey belong to me. They all belong to their respective owners. Only King Slaard, Slintha and her brother belong to me and they may not be used without prior permission.
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Language and a small amount of Gojyo crudeness. Also a voice that makes Cacofonix sound like a veritable angel (even if the forest creatures don't run for their lives :-P )
Pairings: None. Only hinted at from time to time.
Distorted Mirror
Pt 12
"Any other kappa would have succumbed to my electrical attacks much sooner," he poked his foot into the unconscious Gojyo's side, none too gently, "I wonder why this one was able to withstand my attack for so long without quite losing consciousness. It's just not normal.
Slintha stared down at Gojyo for a moment, "You're right, that is unusual." She said as she bent down and licked Gojyo's cheek. Suddenly she looked up at her brother, eyes wide with a delighted surprise. Slintha then grinned. "He isn't a full blooded kappa, I also taste human within his skin. A most unusual combination that should prove to be an interesting meal."
"Eating an ero-kappa like that, you'll only end up with food poisoning," Sanzo said savagely, "or at the very least, indigestion!"
Slintha only laughed as Sanzo added in disgust, "Why am I insulting him at a time like this? At least that kappa doesn't have a bondage fetish… that I know of."
It was as Sanzo began speaking that Tripitaka began to wake. "Bon… dage fetish?" the priest asked slowly, an expression of horror covering his features.
"Yes!" Sanzo growled as he yanked furiously at the short chains holding him against the cave wall. Tripitaka also gave a small futile struggle against his bonds, before quickly giving up and plastering a peaceful expression over his face. Sanzo briefly glanced at the other priest and muttered "Weak!" before continuing his struggle.
Tripitaka looked calmly at Sanzo, "If it is the Buddha's will, we will be freed. You are also a Buddhist priest, you shouldn't be afraid."
"Who the hell ever said I was afraid!" Sanzo snapped angrily, "I'm pissed off at all the incompetent morons!" The fuming monk tried to kick out at Gojyo but luckily for the unconscious kappa, he was out of Sanzo's reach. Sanzo ceased his futile struggle and turned a death glare onto the sibling eel monsters before starting to verbally abuse them. Slintha looked mildly amused but her more impatient, irritable brother was getting ever more annoyed with each word out of the irate monk's mouth. Finally he snapped and launched a savage electrified punch at Sanzo's unprotected face.
"Brother!" Slintha yelled in admonishment. "Stop!"
Her brother wasn't able to pull back on the punch in time but he did manage to scale down the current contained within his fist before he connected it with Sanzo's face. The punch actually succeeded in shutting the monk up, for all of thirty seconds that is.
Slintha turned to her brother, concealing her fury within a calm tone, "Brother, do not strike him again lest we lose our heads also."
Her twin hesitated, matching Sanzo's fierce glare with one of his own before reluctantly facing her, "I cannot tolerate this disgusting human's insolence much more sister."
"Then leave," she replied smoothly, "I can easily keep an eye on them. After all, they aren't going anywhere are they?"
She glanced at Sanzo and Tripitaka, laughing lightly before adding with a happy smile, "At least they wont be going anywhere before daybreak!"
As her brother left, Slintha started going through the stores they had found belonging to the previous occupant of the cave, gathering what she needed for use in preparing the next day's meal. As she worked, she began to hum happily, tuning out Sanzo's furious voice.
Hakkai pulled the jeep to a stop just outside of a densely wooded forest. He sighed, "Difficult…" He turned to his passengers and explained. "We can't drive any further, we'll have to continue on foot. From what I saw, the lightening was somewhere in this direction but since I don't know the exact location I suggest that we split into pairs to search." The other three nodded in agreement. "If you find any sign of our friends, find a way to signal from the sky. I will send up a small ball of ki if Goku and I find anything."
"Righto!" Monkey acknowledged, happy to finally be doing something other than just sitting in the jeep again. "Let's go pig!"
"You're being rude again!" Pigsy wailed, fading as he ran after Monkey.
"Which way do we go now?" Goku asked Hakkai in a subdued tone.
The healer smiled kindly down at his younger friend, "I think we should go in whichever direction you feel is right Goku."
"R… really?" Goku asked incredulously, staring up at Hakkai in concern that maybe the healer had lost his mind.
"Yes," Hakkai confirmed, "which way do you think we should go."
"Uhm…" Goku looked uncertainly at the surrounding trees ahead of the pair before finally coming to a sudden decision. "How about this way?" he asked, pointing slightly to the left.
"This way it is then." Hakkai replied in relief as he ran after the swiftly moving youth with Hakuryu flying just behind him. Hakkai knew that sometimes Sanzo could 'hear' Goku within his mind and was hoping that Goku would be able to use that connection to home in on Sanzo. However, he also realized that if he explained his idea to Goku then the boy would be so hesitant in trying to 'pick up' on his mentor that it probably wouldn't work.
Back in town, Sandy was feeling very ashamed of himself. Monkey's cries of "coward" and "sissy" were echoing through his head and Sandy could no longer block them out. 'If I go,' Sandy thought miserably, 'I'll be completely useless to my brothers. They just don't know the true terror of eels. Eels aren't even people! They love to hurt others and cause pain…'
'And as for their favourite food?' Sandy shivered in fear, 'There is nothing I can do to help. But… but the master needs me. No! Monkey is enough, after all, he always comes to the rescue.'
The fish spirit sighed to himself, pacing around the room that he and Pigsy had been sharing, agonizing over the choice he was trying to make. Finally, he reached his decision and ran outside to saddle up Yuu-Loong. "Lets go, Yuu-Loong before I loose my nerve. If I change my mind, please don't let us turn back."
Yuu-Loong answered with a nod and a soft whinny as he galloped in the direction that Hakkai had driven off in three quarters of an hour previously.
Sometime later, Gojyo woke up groggily to a stinking headache. "Man… what was I drinking last night? Feels like I've been run over by Hakuryu." He was so bruised and stiff from pain that he didn't even try to move yet. He didn't even seem to realize that he was in a sitting position, let alone chained to a rock face.
"You baka!" Sanzo snapped, "Wake up properly! What the hell kind of a rescue was this anyway?"
"Huh?" Gojyo, with much effort, managed to turn his head to look through blurred eyes at Sanzo. He then realized he was sitting up, hands above his head as he tried to move, "What the…" Gojyo looked up at the extremely short chains binding him and groaned.
"Oh no! Now I remember, two of those youkai sneak attacked us."
Sanzo rolled his eyes, "Nice to see a brilliant mind isn't lost on you, isn't it?" he asked sarcastically.
The kappa winced at the raised voice and ignored Sanzo's remark. "I came to before anyone else and noticed the two of you were missing so I ran outside to find you. I saw the two youkai running out of town carrying you both and so I followed."
"Who asked you to rescue us?" Sanzo sneered.
"Oh, I figured maybe Tripitaka would appreciate the help, god knows you wouldn't!"
"Some help!" Sanzo snorted derisively, his hands twitching in response to his desperate need to hit the stupid kappa.
"I don't see you doing much better Sanzo-sama." Gojyo replied smoothly.
Sanzo was beginning to twitch more when Tripitaka cried out, pleading, "Please, stop fighting you two!"
Sanzo and Gojyo were quiet for a moment as Gojyo backed down and Sanzo glared at Tripitaka. Then Gojyo continued, his expression shifting and becoming worried. "I lost sight of the youkai in the forest but managed to eventually find them again. Well, it turns out one of them found me first... I just hope Hakkai and the others are okay."
"Of course they are. I'd be more worried about yourself if I were you!" Sanzo retorted sourly.
"Besides being chained to a rock face, why?" Gojyo asked lightly, his tone entirely put on.
"You shouldn't worry too much, little water sprite." A sweet voice interrupted merrily, "You are going to be a very important guest at tomorrow, or rather today's main meal." Slintha laughed happily and started singing in a slightly off key voice.
"Water sprite, oh water sprite, Delicious little water sprite, How shall I cook you, cook you shall I how? Cutlets? Sashimi? Itty, bitty pieces? So many choices, so many ways. Water sprite, oh water sprite, Delicious little water sprite."
"Water sprite, oh water sprite, Yummy little water sprite, How shall I marinate? What kind of sauce? Ginger or garlic, maybe even chocolate? Water sprite, oh, water sprite, Yummy little water sprite."
"Water sprite, oh water sprite, Luscious little water sprite, How shall we eat you? How shall I serve you? Buffet? Platter? Maybe with chips! Water sprite, oh, water sprite, Luscious little water sprite."
In between the verses of her song, Slintha snuck a look at her captive audience and was delighted to see their reactions to her singing. Tripitaka, their true target and the reason for their presence in this strange world, was looking sick as if he might throw up at any time. The other priest, the one who had the bad attitude and foul mouth that even sailors would probably be ashamed of looked a little shocked, though he was obviously trying to hide his reaction. In her opinion, he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Slintha looked a little more closely at the blonde, 'Strange,' she thought, 'he seems to have developed some kind of twitch. I do hope its not some kind of allergic reaction or disease, that could put a crimp in the King's future dinner plans.' Finally, she turned her glance onto the red eyed, red haired kappa, deliberately making it obvious that she was watching him as she sang the second verse to her song. His jaw hung low and his eyes seemed to be bulging but he wasn't moving a muscle, he barely even seemed to be breathing. In fact, her next meal was so still that if she hadn't known better, Slintha might have thought he had fainted with his eyes still open. However under her direct scrutiny, he seemed to almost be gathering his wits again. Within her head, Slintha laughed, turning to continue with what she had been doing before Gojyo had woken up as she started singing the third verse.
As the song finished, the three captives heard a giggle come from the eel woman. That sound was the one that finally broke Gojyo from his stupor and despite the lingering stiffness and pain from his last battle, he started struggling violently against the chains holding him in place.
Slintha smiled to herself as she heard the rattling from the chains and started humming her tune over. Loudly!
Gojyo shot an almost terrified look at Sanzo, "This woman is out of her fucking mind! We have to get out of here. Now! She can't even sing in tune!"
Slintha laughed with delight, how she loved tormenting her dinner. For some reason, fear seemed to bring the flavour out more, plus it was fun. She walked over to him slowly, enjoying every moment of her approach. Standing beside him where he would have trouble kicking at her, she bent down and cupped his jaw, turning his head from side to side. Slintha noted with amusement how he fought against her, trying to keep his head facing directly forward. "Well, well! It seems as though dinner is a little stiff, maybe some tenderizing is in order." She smiled broadly as she placed her hands on his arm and leg at just the right spot. Gojyo cried out in pain as she sent a jolt of electricity through his muscles before moving her hands elsewhere on his body and repeating the process.
Tripitaka finally found his voice. He had had enough! He looked at Slintha with anger and disgust, "Leave Gojyo alone!" he demanded. "He has done nothing to deserve this kind of torture. If you so feel the need to treat someone with this kind of cruelty, then use me to vent your frustration on!" To Tripitaka's surprise, Slintha backed away from Gojyo, obviously upset.
"Now you've done it!" she wailed, "You… you… horrible priest you!"
Gojyo breathed in silent relief as it finally registered that Slintha had stopped 'tenderizing' him. 'Kuso!' he thought painfully, 'this woman is unstable!'
"Why did you have to go and do that?" Slintha demanded, tears in her eyes.
"Snap at you for hurting Gojyo?" Tripitaka asked puzzled. "Why do you think?"
"NO! Not that! Why did you have to go and give him a name?" she asked mournfully, "My brother says once they have a name, they become a pet! You can't eat pets!"
Gojyo looked up at Slintha, feeling heavily insulted, "I am nobody's pet!" he snapped angrily. Vaguely he realized how Goku must feel whenever he referred to the saru as being Sanzo's pet. "I'm a person you slimy eel!" unconsciously, he echoed Sandy's feelings towards the creatures.
Slintha just stared at her victim for a moment and a smile slowly spread across her face. "Good thing I am not my brother then, isn't it? Pets mean nothing to me." She laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound and then, to Gojyo's horror, she started singing again.
"I'm going to eat you little kappa, I'm going to eat you little kappa, 'Cause I like eating kappa!"
The said kappa retorted, "While I have never minded the thought of being eaten, I never meant it quite so literally!"
Slintha kept smiling as she circled him, singing the song over once again, sparks flying towards him from her body. When she finished singing, her smile dropped from her face and she snarled, "This is for the slimy remark!" The sparks became an arc and shot out at Gojyo. For a brief time, he screamed and writhed. Tripitaka averted his eyes, he just couldn't watch anymore of this. Gojyo finally fell silent as he lost consciousness once more.
"I will kill you for that!" Sanzo promised in a low, flat voice.
Slintha laughed, "I highly doubt that little priest. Now, where was I? Oh yes. I was trying to find the last ingredient that I need for my culinary specialty, 'Kappa Delight'. Only there appears to be no garlic here. Our former host doesn't seem to have kept a very well stocked larder. Oh well, at least he was delicious, even if he wasn't kappa."
Tripitaka was sick. "You… you're disgusting!" he choked out.
"Thank you priest. Your words of praise make me very happy. Oh, by the way," Slintha looked hard at Sanzo, "any more words out of you will mean trouble for my 'pet'. I may not be allowed to harm the two of you but I can make up for it on dear Gojyo. Now to find that useless brother of mine so that he can watch you while I raid the town for some fresh garlic."
"Just wonderful!" Sanzo said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "We get to exchange one sadistic, psychotic hag for her sadistic, psychotic hentai brother!"
Slintha glared daggers at Sanzo, "Just wait till my pet wakes again. I know his pain threshold now, he wont go to sleep quite so easily next time." She laughed as she walked out of the cave chamber singing her songs again.
To be continued
A/N:Sorry this chapter is a little shorter but I thought I had better break at this point since after this it would have been hard to find a good breaking point :-) That and I was tired, heck, still am. I was typing this up till almost one in the morning and didn't go to bed till 2.30am when I had to be up at 5.15...
That first song is meant to be really bad, not that I could write any decent song lyrics if my life depended on it anyway :-)
The second song is actually a slightly reworded song from a Red Dwarf episode (GrantNaylor please forgive me for butchering Cat's song)
ARRGH! I tried to put each line of the songs on a new line without starting a new paragraph for it and stupid, stupid quick edit would go and put them back together again everytime... I even tried the simple html that the document manager mentioned and still the same thing so please exceuse me while I scream a little in frustration... AARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!
Now that my venting frustration is over, (breathes deeply)
Thank you to everyone who reviewed :-) I really appreciate it
OptiMoose: Thanks :-) You can ask that question if you like, I don't mind but it ain't gonna happen, after all, this fic is only a PG13 rating :-) Sorry!
Me-Nuriko: The boys in chain are just what? Hmm? (grins) Well, I think Slintha is planning on giving eating Gojyo a very good try somehow.
Koinu-Chan: Thanks for both the comment and the cookie! Now I just gotta stop Pigsy from trying to eat it first… Will try and update a little sooner next time, I just ran into some… technical difficulties this time…
Diva-Urd: Sorry for not getting this up last night like I said I would but I had computer problems and by the time it was all sorted out it was almost midnight and just too late. I'm glad you are enjoying it though :-)
Tora Macaw: Ah yes, the rallying cry of the villagers after Monkey's blood! :-P I so love that episode. If you remember the rough version of this, then I'm sure you can see the difference, even though I know you only read bits and pieces before… and so long ago too… you have a better memory than me.