To Serve Sanzo
By Shin Sankai
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It'd only just begun to rain, this meaning a certain golden haired man who already had a short fuse would currently be brooding, smoking and thinking of a bloody past he couldn't or wouldn't let go of.
Another man, demon more like it, was currently walking up the stairs of the inn he'd taken refuge in with his three companions and headed for a closed door to check on the "youngest" member. There inside, Goku slept soundly, sprawled on a single bed and drooling slightly from the corner of his mouth. Clicking the door closed the emerald-eyed brunette headed on his way to his own room. He wouldn't have to worry about the redhead in his group, as his friend Goyjo was currently pursuing the local ladies in a nearby bar he'd just left not too long ago.
Opening the door to his single room, he found it shrouded in darkness, the candle he lit earlier having blown out because the shutters were open and brought in the chilled breeze from this evening. Hakkai made his way to the single bed and placed down another candle on the bedside table leaving it there and moved on quiet feet to the opened window. Gazing out into the drizzle Hakkai knew that sleep would not come to him and instead leaned against the railing and gazed up into the evening sky watching sheet lightning flash through the clouds.
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It'd been quite sometime that he'd known his other companions, over three years in fact. Back then, Hakkai had a different name, a name that still haunted his dreams. Back then, he'd met a saviour of his, Goyjo, on one rainy evening, as he lay in the dirt, bloody and near death. He hadn't cared that evening if he would die or not, but somehow, somewhere there was something within him that told him it was not time to die just yet. Goyjo, the taboo creature of man and demon coming together to breed had brought him back to his home, nursed him, called a doctor and allowed him to recover in his house. The creature with hair as red as blood had saved his life.
Once he was heeled, he needed to leave, to go back and find his beloved, the one he'd loved no matter the consequences and had watched die before his eyes as he came to rescue her, murdering hundreds…thousands of demons as he did so.
Drenched in the blood of a thousand demons, one shall become a demon.
Ready to leave, needing to move on to try to find answers, to seek out more revenge on those that killed his lover, he unfortunately couldn't do such a thing as he'd been found. A man with golden hair, golden robes and an unruly attitude had knocked at Goyjo's door, looking for the murderer Cho Gonou.
A fight broke out, he barely dodging a young boy's attack, this boy known as Goku who was no regular human at all and ran away with the golden haired man's gun. Running through the forest he'd come across a member of the clan he'd murdered and it was no different as he too murdered that demon. More blood on his hands.
It came as a surprise when the small boy/demon known as Goku jumped upon him and stopped him from damaging his left eye like he did his right. As the demon belonging to Hyakugan Maoh lay dead on the forest floor, not only did Goyjo stand before him, but also the annoyed golden haired man who was known as Genjo Sanzo. This man was sent to bring back the murderer Cho Gonou to the Sanbutsushin who would decide upon his fate.
That evening after leaving Goyjo's home, the three males headed further into the village. Goyjo tried to talk Sanzo out of sending Cho Gonou to the slaughter, but the monk was hearing none of it. He was doing his job that was all. As the three of them walked together, Goku was talking a mile a minute about food while amethyst eyes remained narrowed and sternly on the quiet Cho Gonou who by now had a bandage over his injured eye.
Sanzo had gotten two rooms that evening, no inn's having three beds in one room. Therefore Goku had his own, for obvious reasons as Sanzo kept an eye on the extremely quiet Cho Gonou. Of course Sanzo liked his quiet but he didn't like not knowing what this murderer was thinking. Cho Gonou had come back into the room, after having told the monk to trust him not to run, for there was no need to run anymore, as he showered alone. Brunette hair dripped with excess water as the quiet man/demon entered the room and closed the door with a soft click.
Though Sanzo sat on the window seal, smoking his brand of cigarettes and gazing over at the horizon of the direction he needed to go in tomorrow morning with Cho Gonou, his eyes darted inside the room when he heard a crash. Dropping from his perch Sanzo walked over to the kneeling man whose hands were scratched and bleeding from the glass he'd just crushed within those hands that had murdered so many. Bringing over a basin with water, Sanzo crouched in front of the brunette and drew the bloody hands into the water, watching it turn colour.
'Though the image of all the blood that has been slain is still imprinted into your eyes, remember it can always be washed away with water.'
Sanzo didn't know why he had voiced that to this rather calm murderer who waited patiently for his fate as the both of them remained on the floorboards of their shared room in the inn. However, he watched as the brunette lifted his head, streaks of tears falling from his injured and uninjured eyes as he looked up at the man before him.
'Sanzo-san…' Had been the first words spoken from Cho Gonou and the way it was spoken, so soft, so melodious and full of regret didn't seem to fit this murderer. 'I'm sorry for troubling you…and thank you for praying for Kanan.'
That night Sanzo remained awake for a long time as he watched Cho Gonou twist and turn before falling off the single bed to remain quiet and lost in the darkest corner of the room, a place where he seemed to think he belonged.
The very next day, a bright sunshine day, almost too good for what was about to happen as Sanzo took Cho Gonou to the Sanbutsushin where he would receive his fate. With nothing much to say, bound in chains, Cho Gonou held a small smile as he waited for the news of what was to happen to him with a very displeased Genjo Sanzo at his side. It appeared this Genjo Sanzo didn't like the bonds around his wrists, but with a small smile on his voice Cho Gonou had said it was okay for this to happen. It was news to him that Sanzo too had lost a loved one and with that dark image in mind he watched in awe as the monk spoke up. The Sanbutsushin listened to what he had said and in the end…
Cho Gonou would be reborn into Cho Hakkai and would serve under Genjo Sanzo
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A crash of thunder broke Hakkai from his thoughts as he looked up at the sky again before lightning flashed once more and sent his eyes travelling to the lone figure who was perched on the window seal of his own room, his shoulder illuminated by the light. A pleasant smile broke onto Hakkai's lips as he moved back into his room, grabbed what he needed and left only to question the still awake man as to whether he'd like some company that too would not sleep like him on rainy days.
Knocking on the door, a grunt was all that was heard from the other side and Hakkai let himself in. The blonde still remained where he was with a cigarette between his lips and head now turned to see whom the "intruder" was.
"Konbanwa Sanzo…" Hakkai voiced as he moved further into the room and sat down in a chair at the small table. Hakkai never expected a reply from the unruly monk and instead remained quiet just glad to be in the company of the uncouth man.
"Where are the other two morons?" A gruff voice questioned, it belonging to Sanzo.
"Goku is sleeping in his room and I left Goyjo back at the bar since he decided to continue on with flirting with the local women."
"Che, and you didn't join him?" A perplexed look crossed Hakkai's features at the sudden interest his latest activities were to his 'master'. "You were gaining more attention then the ero kappa was by those whores." Hakkai had to suppress a smirk at Sanzo's scathing words as he looked back out into the raining evening.
"I will never love another woman the way I did Kanan, therefore I believe it is pointless to sleep with someone if I don't have feelings for them. I would only be using them and that I do not like."
"A modest demon, well that is something new." The smile that usually remained on Hakkai's facial features dropped slightly at that uncalled for comment.
"Being a demon doesn't make me incapable of emotions Sanzo, I was a human once too." The room fell quiet as Hakkai let off a sigh before standing up from the seat, hands resting on the tabletop. "It is clear to me that my demon company is not needed, goodnight Sanzo."
"Drink with me." Came the almost command from the blonde who was now standing at the table looking over at Hakkai who's hand was poised on the door knob. Peering his emerald orbs back at the monk who was dressed casually in blue jeans and his black ensemble, Hakkai quietly padded back over to take up the seat once more. Beer was pulled out from nowhere and the two of them began to drink can after can.
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Time slipped by, moving to the early hours of the morning as empty beer cans scattered the ingle room. Most were on the tabletop, a few on the ground, but it wasn't all covered because Hakkai's legs rested their, one ankle over the other. Sanzo was lying face down on his single bed, seemingly out cold, but shuffling from that direction made Hakkai turn from looking out the window to see Sanzo had rolled onto his back, head hanging off the bed and blurry eyes looking over at him.
"How'd I get over here?" Sanzo slurred slightly while his hand was out silently demanding Hakkai throw him another can of beer.
"No more beer Sanzo, we drank them all. And you dragged yourself to the bed saying we needed to sleep now."
"So why are you still here?"
"Well as much as you might dislike this demon's company…or any company Sanzo, I happen to like yours very much, even if you are in a comatose state."
"Shut up!" Sanzo snapped, his hand dropping from the air to plonk onto the floorboards below his head which was still hanging over the bed. "Why'd you go to the bar with the cockroach?" Hakkai had not been expecting this question, since Sanzo never bothered to ask anything of what he did, but he was intoxicated so maybe this was an exception.
"You never asked me to stay with you Sanzo."
"Why are you on this mission?"
"Because I want to be here." Hakkai commented as he sat up straight and placed down the last beer can onto the table as he'd just finished it off.
"That's not good enough!" Sanzo grumbled out and jerked slightly as he felt a hand take his own while another moved to the back of his neck to lift him up and lie him properly onto the bed.
"You need to sleep Sanzo. We've got to continue to the west tomorrow morning and the rain has stopped in case you hadn't realised either." Needing to get some sleep of his own Hakkai stood slightly away from Sanzo but couldn't move as a fisted hand was clenched in his black undershirt.
"Not good enough…" Sanzo spoke once more, alcohol thick on his breath as it fanned over Hakkai's face as he wouldn't allow the brunette to go unless he answered him the answer he always gave when Sanzo questioned him in his drunken state.
"To allow me to be reborn as Cho Hakkai, I'm meant to serve you Sanzo and go where you go."
"For how long?"
"Sanzo…" Hakkai sighed knowing this would happen again.
"How long?" The fingers clenched tighter into his shirt and Hakkai yielded to the blonde, if only just for this evening as he placed his hand over the fisted one at his chest.
"That all depends Sanzo. Either until this mission is over, until the Sanbutsushin decide I don't need to serve you any longer or until you don't need me anymore." Hakkai finally dropped his eyes down to Sanzo only to find the monk asleep once more. His head was slightly tilted, hand loosening from his shirt and cheeks giving off a pale pink flush because of the alcohol.
"No matter what happens Sanzo, I won't leave you until that very order falls from your lips." Hakkai murmured as he threw a blanket over the oblivious comatose Sanzo and graced the sleeping man with a caress of lips to his chakra…just like always.
Hakkai left the room as though he hadn't been there to begin with and entered his own to sit on the single bed. There he remained, sleep not coming to him, for one such as he never could drink himself into oblivion and therefore could only think over a past long gone but never to be forgotten. He too would think of an uncertain future where his time at remaining by the side of the man who helped bring about his new fate and name of Cho Hakkai would come crashing to an end.
An end he didn't want to face at all.
Xx The End xXAuthors Notes: Um, I've no idea why I wrote this. It makes no sense to me and is probably a piece of proverbial crap. Oops… Oh well… I really need to find some more inspiration from somewhere to help me write again.
