Title: Distorted Mirror

Author: Zelgadis55

Series: Saiyuki and Monkey

Rating: PG13

Disclaimer: The character from Saiyuki and Monkey do not belong to me, a fact that will haunt me to my dying days… well, maybe about Saiyuki anyway, Monkey I enjoy and have a good laugh at the dubs but I'm not so worried about that :-P Slaard, Slintha and her brother do belong to me however and any use of these characters needs permission.

Pairings: None, while this story may have hintings, it is not a yaoi or shounen ai fic.

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my mum, who gave me an idea almost 20 years before I even thought of writing this story. I bet she never would have realized that I would take to heart a line of bull she once told me to satisfy my little 6 – 8 year old questioning and remember it to this day. :-)

Distorted Mirror

Pt 13

Outside in the forest, Goku was hesitating at the edge of a riverbank. He just wasn't sure which way to go anymore. His hesitation gave Hakkai a much-needed breather, he had used too much energy over the last couple of days and he hadn't had a real chance to replenish any of it. Frankly, Hakkai was tired.

"Don't try to think about which way to go Goku, which way feels right?"

"Umm, I don't know Hakkai, maybe you should choose. I haven't done a very good job of finding Sanzo." Goku replied hanging his head in misery.

Hakkai closed his eyes before smiling reassuringly towards his younger friend. "You're doing fine, Goku. Just close your eyes."

Goku suddenly raised his head, looking at Hakkai in surprise, "Close my eyes? Why?"

"You trust me, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Just close them, relax and think of Sanzo." Hakkai waited a few moments, opening his eyes to watch Goku. Goku finally seemed to relax slightly. "Now Goku, which way?"

Goku's eyes snapped open and he pointed, "That way!" he said confidently and the two of them ran in the direction that the youth indicated.

- - -

Slintha had talked her brother into watching Sanzo, Tripitaka and Gojyo so she could go raid the town for the ingredients that she needed and was now currently running through the forest. As she ran, she suddenly ran into something moving in the opposite direction to her.

"Taitaitaitaitai! That hurt!" Monkey swore. He looked at what or rather who he had just crashed into, "You!" he accused, jumping back and into a defensive stance as he did.

"Eeep!" Slintha exclaimed, almost mocking in her response. "This isn't good. Fighting you will make me late in getting our meal ready. Do you know how long a good meal takes to prepare, especially when the ingredients are fresh? Do you mind skipping the obligatory fight? I still need to obtain a couple of things." The eel woman tried to run around the monkey king but as she did, he reached out and grabbed the collar of her dress. Slintha struggled a little and managed to slip out of Monkey's grasp rather easily.

"Excuse me!" she called cheerfully and began her race towards town once more. She skidded to a sudden stop after only a few meters when she realized that she was about to run into something, or rather someone else, judging by the great hulking shape that stepped swiftly in front of her.

"Not so fast!" Pigsy said with a kind of menace within his voice as he brandished his muck rake threateningly. "We have a few questions that we want to beat out of you."

Slintha stepped back half a step, fighting back a sigh of annoyance that she didn't want seen or heard.

Then Pigsy grinned in sudden recognition, sniffing the air with delight. "Oh! That wonderful smell of laydyyyy!" he cried in a singsong tone.

"Oi! Stupid pig! She's the enemy, not someone to grope and slobber over!" Monkey called out in annoyance over his friend's antics.

"I do not slobber!" Pigsy retorted, "But, I wouldn't mind a kiss." he added lecherously.

To Slintha's amusement, Monkey made a disgusted noise. 'I could take advantage of this.' She thought with a silent laugh. "Well, handsome, I wouldn't mind a kiss either. You'll find my kisses to be rather… electrifying." Slintha advanced on Pigsy seductively.

"Ooh! Monkey, did you hear that? She said handsome." Pigsy exclaimed excitedly, reaching out for Slintha and taking her into his arms.

"Back away from the swine and face me." Monkey demanded with a growl, but Pigsy and Slintha were already kissing, their bodies aglow in the dark of the night time forest.

After several seconds of ecstasy, Pigsy slid to the ground unconscious but with a happy smile plastered on his face. Slintha purred to Monkey, "How about it, little monkey king? Would you also like a kiss? Your friend here," she gestured to Pigsy, "can certainly vouch for the fact that it is a wonderful way to go down."

"I don't want your KISSES!!!" Monkey roared in fury as he rushed the eel woman, magic wishing staff held high in an attack pose.

Slintha giggled, "Well then, it looks as though I have no choice." She drew out a long metal fighting staff from seemingly nowhere and electrified it. Slintha then met Monkey head on, using her staff to defend against Monkey's crashing blows.

Every time their weapons came into contact, electricity would course from the eel's staff to Monkey's, making the fight into a rather shocking experience. Monkey learnt quickly to avoid her charged weapon but that made it difficult for him to fight her seriously. He knew if he got shocked too many times or by anything large then he would be in trouble. Besides all that, he had had enough of being electrocuted in the last two days.

"Where are Tripitaka and Sanzo?" he demanded loudly in between dodging Slintha's attacks and trying to slip in a few of his own. "Tell me and I wont be forced to kill you!"

He managed to sweep his magic wishing staff in behind her knees, knocking her to the ground. She grinned up at him as she conducted electricity along his staff from the simple contact with her body. "That's circular logic little chimp. If I tell you what you want to know, you wont need me, if I don't tell you, then you will kill me. Please tell me, if you did kill me, then who would tell you what you need to know?" she asked in a merry voice, mocking him.

"Either way, you would probably still be too late to save Tripitaka or Sanzo. As for the little water sprite, well, yum, yum. I can hardly wait for my next meal." Slintha smacked her lips at the thought before suddenly looking worried, "But, without my final ingredient which I need from town, he wont turn out properly." She sighed.

"Unless you're going to tell me what I want to know, then be silent!" Monkey growled angrily.

She ignored his threat, continuing as if he had never spoken. "Have you ever tried water sprite?" Slintha asked curiously with a nasty grin. "It's quite delicious!"

"You sick and twisted light bulb!" Monkey yelled in disgust, dodging her as she jumped to her feet and attacked him.

Unfortunately, while Monkey was unnaturally fast, so was Slintha. All this dodging wasn't getting him anywhere, he had to think of something, fast! Monkey jumped backwards and reached into his tunic, wincing as he pulled a small clump of chest hair out. As he had numerous times before, he brought the hairs near his mouth and blew on them, performing a quick and simple spell. Like before, a small group of magical clone warriors sprung to life, six of them and as one, they moved in on Slintha to attack.

Slintha's eyes widened in fear as she realized the odds had changed and were no longer in her favour. However, she quickly discovered that the mini-monkeys were easy to dispatch, though her discovery was too late.

Monkey took advantage of her distraction and used the opportunity his body hair had been sacrificed to create. He was able to move in close enough to bring his magic wishing staff crashing down onto her head, knocking the woman unconscious. Monkey pulled out one more hair from within his clothing and used another, different transformation spell upon it. His chest hair became a decent length of rope, which he used to tie Slintha to a nearby tree with. "You just stay there, nice and safe till I come back firefly."

The monkey king then strolled over to where Pigsy lay and lightly kicked him. When the pig spirit didn't stir, Monkey kicked him again, harder but Pigsy still wouldn't awaken. "Lazy swine!" Monkey swore to himself. He then turned and continued along the route that he had seen Slintha come from, reasoning that it would lead him to where his master and the others were being held.

- - -

Sandy, riding Yuu-Loong, reached the edge of the forest. The fish spirit was fidgeting and beginning to freak out at the thought of entering that dark forest and possibly running into that which he hated more than anything else, eels. "Lets go back! I don't want to go in there," he wailed, "there are eels in that forest!"

Yuu-Loong snorted in annoyance, he was afraid too but he wasn't going to let his fear stop him from doing what he needed to do. Tripitaka was his first priority after all.

"Stop!" Sandy cried out, "Please…"

Yuu-Loong shook his head, his mane flying and continued his gallop into the woods.

- - -

Back in the cave, Sanzo was extremely pissed off and taking it out on Slintha's brother. The eel was having an exceptionally hard time trying to hold his temper to avoid lashing out back at the monk.

"You bottom dwelling scum sucker!" Sanzo sneered furiously. "You're a coward who can only effectively deal with an enemy by trickery! It's no wonder that you hide behind your twisted sister's skirt!" he added in disgust.

It was too much for the eel, he had been listening to Sanzo's verbal barrage for close to half an hour now, trembling with the effort to remember that he wasn't supposed to do anything to either priest. Now though, he couldn't take any more, no matter how much Slintha had warned him when he took over watching the captives. "That's it! I've had enough of your mouth!" He yelled angrily, the fury twisting his features. "How dare you insult my precious sister, she's worth a hundred of the likes of you!" He gave in to his desire and let fly with an electrified punch towards Sanzo. It never connected however because he was suddenly doubled up in agony and falling to the floor moaning.

Tripitaka was appalled, "How… could you Sanzo?" He asked in shock, though considering events in the last couple of days, the priest shouldn't really have been surprised. "You're supposed to be a holy priest, priests do not use violence! How could you just kick him like that? Aren't you ashamed?"

"Not really." Sanzo answered easily, an unpleasant look distorting his face.

"You're… you're… oh, words do not begin to cover it! You are one of the highest-ranking priests there is… and you're behaviour! It's disgusting!" Tripitaka snapped. "I've seen you! You're supposed to be this world's version of me and yet you're… you… you commit so many sins, unforgivable ones. You're violent and you kill! Priests do not kill, ever!"

"This one does." Sanzo replied simply with an icy calm that belied his earlier disposition.

If it were possible, Tripitaka would have looked even more horrified than before. "Your violent nature makes Monkey look like a saint in comparison! How could you behave this way?"

"At least," Sanzo now was scowling due to Tripitaka's continued accusations, "I am who I am. I don't pretend to be someone or something that I'm not!"

"Wha… what is that supposed to mean?" Tripitaka asked defensively, somewhat taken aback by Sanzo's sudden switch in the argument.

Neither of them noticed Gojyo beginning to stir, so intent were they on their argument. They also didn't notice that the eel had managed to crawl out of Sanzo's range and though he was unable to pull himself to his feet, he was however casting a murderous glare in Sanzo's direction.

"As if you don't know. I was under the impression that in your time, female priest were forbidden. Women not even allowed to stay in the temples." Sanzo's scowl deepened, "And yet, here you are, pretending to be a man."

Gojyo's eyes snapped wide in shock.

"Don't… don't be ridiculous!" Tripitaka tersely denied. "What in the seven hells makes you think I am a woman?"

"I wonder!" Sanzo replied sarcastically. "Maybe it's the way you walk, talk, act and of course the way you look."

Sanzo paused as Tripitaka drew back a little, obviously trying to find the words to deny his accusation. Sanzo smiled slightly, an act that did nothing to reassure his fellow captives, "You weren't exactly worried about the possibility of Monkey changing you into a woman, you only worried about the hair. Why should you worry when it is already a fact!"

"Tripitaka is a… woman." Gojyo muttered weakly. "How could I have missed that one? But, it explains a lot."

Tripitaka opened her mouth to protest and then sighed in defeat. "You are right Sanzo, I am a woman." She said softly. "The deception wasn't my doing though, not at first. The pretense began when the abbot at my temple found me floating abandoned in a river. If… if he didn't take me in, I would not have survived. The only way he could take me in was by telling all the others in the temple that the child he found was male. He… over the years, it became impossible to admit the truth. However, not long after I left the temple to find my birth mother, the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan-Yin, chose me to go on the journey to fetch the scriptures from India. She appeared to me in male manifestation and obviously did not care what I was. I was who she desired for the quest."

Tripitaka paused, looked at Sanzo and the still bugged out Gojyo and said sadly, "The others, they do not know the truth, they cannot know the truth. If Pigsy found out, he would never leave me alone."

Sanzo snorted, "It's probably best that they don't know but I wouldn't be surprised if Monkey knows. He doesn't seem to miss much, unlike Goku. Why else would he offer to 'change' you?"

Tripitaka smiled, "You are probably correct about Monkey. He is the type who would find hinting at the truth to be funny." Her expression turned imploring as she looked from Sanzo to Gojyo, "Please! Don't tell anyone my secret. If it got out, many would suffer, they would not let me help them."

Sanzo shrugged, now beginning to look bored, "It's not my business anyway."

Gojyo also shrugged but with a painful wince, "As far as I'm concerned, all this is just a bad dream brought on by shock therapy. I'm not in the habit of letting people know about my dreams."

"Thank you." Tripitaka said gratefully, much relief filling her voice.

"Who cares?" Slintha's brother snarled, "All three of you will soon be dead anyway. The kappa, I leave for my sweet sister, Tripitaka for my king and since he is really a she, King Slaard may even have a little fun with her before killing her but you, you I will take pleasure in breaking!"

The blonde monk looked at the eel with complete disdain, "I thought you had slithered back to your hole." His expression hardened, "You should have!"

- - -

Goku and Hakkai had been running for some time now when Goku suddenly cried out, "Hakkai! Look!" He pointed excitedly towards a recently fallen tree. The stump was clearly charred, even in the dark.

Hakkai felt his heart beat faster with sudden excitement as he realized that there had been a fight here. He created a small ki energy ball for light when he reached the tree so that he could take a closer look. His heart leapt into his throat at the sight. "Goku!" Hakkai pointed, "Gojyo has been here." He picked up Gojyo's fallen shakujou.

Goku came closer, "He wouldn't leave shakujou laying around, do you think he's alright?"

The healer looked around the area intently, "Well, there is no body, so I hope so."

Goku watched Hakkai for a moment before further looking around. Nearby, he saw a small dark opening leading into some rocks and breathed. "I bet Sanzo is in there."

Hakkai looked in the direction that Goku indicated, "I agree," He answered, much more calmly than he felt, "lets check it out." He concentrated slightly and sent his ki ball high into the air to show his and Goku's location to the other two.

Neither Hakkai nor Goku worried about being too careful as they ran for the cave entrance. Most of the night had passed during their search and they both knew that if their friends were still alive, they probably wouldn't be for much longer.

"Sanzouuu!" Goku called at the top of his voice, "Where are you?"

Hakkai didn't bother admonishing the youth because he himself understood just how the little monkey-like boy felt. Sanzo had saved Goku just a few years ago from a lonely existence shut way and isolated within a mountain and Goku, as a result, couldn't stand being parted from Sanzo for too long. They had a connection that ran beyond words, even if the ill-tempered monk wasn't willing to admit it. In many ways, Hakkai felt similarly toward the hanyou water sprite.

Hakkai's sister and his love, had killed herself when he tried rescuing her from a clan of youkai. Hakkai had mercilessly slaughtered a thousand of them in his rescue attempt but all his efforts had failed. In return for his misdeeds, he had become a youkai and had been badly injured in the process. Wanting nothing more than to die, Hakkai had wandered till he fell, till he had been found by a certain red haired kappa, unconscious in the rain. Gojyo had taken him in and looked after his injuries, both physical and mental. It had taken a long time to recover but without Gojyo's support Hakkai knew that he wouldn't still have been in this world. So yes, he could definitely understand how Goku felt.

As the two companions reached the cave's entrance, a bolt of electrical energy flew their way. So sudden was the blast that they barely avoided fatal injury. 'This is definitely the place.' Hakkai thought elated.

"Sumimasen," Hakkai called in a cheery sounding voice, "we are looking for some friend's of ours. Is it possible that you could help us?"

"Yes, its possible that I could help you, to the other world that is!" Out into the open stepped a figure, wrapped in the shadows of the early morning. "I am King Slaard and it is my decree that you will both die for daring to protect that holy fool Tripitaka! I went easy on you all before but you didn't take your final chance at life so now you shall forfeit it!"

Hakkai raised his eyebrows and smiled at Goku, "Well, this youkai appears to be quite pompous, wouldn't you agree?" Without waiting for Goku's reply, he continued, "He should be pretty easy to deal with in that case. Goku?"

"Yeah?"

"He's all yours. Try to distract him while Hakuryu and I get inside the cave."

A flurry of emotions crossed the youth's face. He was excited at the prospect of battle, especially against one who had dared take Sanzo but he was also worried and wanted nothing more than to get past Slaard to help search for his sun.

"Alright." He answered, a trace of dejection within his voice. Goku then turned and summoned nyoi-bo as Hakkai and Hakuryu disappeared to slip around the edge of the battlefield and into the cave. The boy ran at Slaard only be intercepted by an oncoming energy bolt. Even though it hurt like hell and threw him to the ground, Goku didn't care, he just shrugged it off, jumped back to his feet and restarted his attack.

Slaard didn't notice that Goku had gotten back on his feet. After all, who else would have gotten up after a vicious attack like the one he had just used on the boy. Besides, he had noticed that Hakkai and the little flying dragon were trying to sneak behind him and into the caves he and his two subjects had taken over. The eel king sneered and was about to unleash yet another electrical attack, this time on the two that thought they could get by him when he heard Goku yelling behind him. Slaard turned in surprise only to have Goku's nyoi-bo slam into him and to find himself eating dirt. Hakkai gratefully smiled at his friend and disappeared into the cave, Hakuryu close behind.

The eel king snarled, revealing sharp, pointy teeth and tried to bite the teen when he got too close. Luckily, Goku noticed and was able get out the way, avoiding the attack.

"If you're hungry, why are you fighting me? Besides, biting in a fight? That's just not right. Only losers use dirty moves like that!" Goku admonished in irritation.

"You dare call King Slaard a loser, you pathetic little chimp?" Slaard snarled, annoyed at the fact that Goku was talking back to him.

"Don't you mean, King Mud, ruler of Muddy Acres?" Monkey's voice called from right behind Goku, a cheeky grin on his face.

Goku beamed in delight as Monkey joined him, "Where's Pigsy?"

Monkey snorted, exasperation filling his voice. "That swine fell victim to his own lust, again! He's sleeping it off."

Goku paused in his battle to stare at Monkey, which only resulted in Slaard managing to strike Goku with a charged kick, only just missing his groin. Goku recovered quickly and snapped, "You just can't play nice can you? Well, neither will I then!" He relentlessly struck out at Slaard with a flurry of attacks using nyoi-bo, only to have Monkey interrupt.

"Don't kill him or we'll never find our way home." Monkey said hurriedly.

Goku paused once more, caught between his desire to get back at Slaard for everything he had done and leaving him in one piece. After a brief moment in which he got his battle lust back under control, Goku sighed. "You deal with him then. This jerk makes me sick with the way he fights."

Monkey grinned and cracked his knuckles in anticipation, "Oh, I'll deal with him alright." Then he yelled in anger, "Instead of killing him, I'll make him wish I had killed him!"

Goku blinked, sure, he liked to fight and while he didn't enjoy killing he would kill when he needed to but making someone suffer? Deliberately? Well, that was a prospect he didn't like the sound of, at least not when he was in control of himself. He had heard from Gojyo on previous occasions that while he was in his true form, Seiten Taisei, he seemed to enjoy hurting people, even his friends. Goku couldn't really understand that feeling though since he didn't normally feel that way and he certainly never remembered what happened when he went ape. He had seen the results of his rampages at different times and he hated it. "Don't hurt him to the point where you end up feeling bad about it. Trust me," Goku added in small voice, "it's not worth it Monkey."

Monkey glanced at Goku for a moment before grinning at the youth. "Get in there, I'll follow shortly.

Goku looked gratefully back at Monkey and nodded, happy to be able to go find his sun and then he ran inside shouting Sanzo's name repeatedly.

To be continued

A/N

Sumimasen – Excuse me or sorry

Thank goodness, no longer have to concentrate on making sure I refer to Tripitaka as he instead of she… Heh! Well, Tripitaka is not female in 'Monkey' cannon but you will have to excuse me for that since the reason she gave Sanzo for her deception is one I have believed for most of my life. (grins) Thank you mum! It is true however, that the role of Tripitaka or rather Sanzo in the Japanese version, was played by a woman. In the dub, Tripitaka's voice is unmistakably female and in certain scenes where Tripitaka is tied up and on her back… well, you can certainly see that she is female. In the original legend, she is definitely a he. It is interesting to note however, that since 'Monkey', (I don't know what the original Japanese name for this series is…) the role of Sanzo has traditionally been played by a woman. That is something that 'Love Hina' fans will know from one episode of that series.

While I do not have an exact chapter count as yet, from what is left of my handwritten draft, there will only be another 2 probably 3 chapters till the end.

Thank you to those who reviewed

Diva-Urd: Thank you :-) The 'she can't even sing in tune' part of that line was a last minute add in (grins)

Me-Nuriko: Nuh, I can't see Sanzo saying that while Gojyo was conscious. That would probably be too close to admitting feelings of friendship for our twisted priest's own comfort.