Series: Saiyuki
Author: Zelgadis55
Character Chat: Diva Urd and Zelgadis55
Rating: R
Disclaimers: None of the characters or situations from Saiyuki belongs to me. They belong to she who must be worshiped. No! I do not mean Kanzeon Bosatsu… I meant Kazuya Minekura! The flashback is taken from the Saiyuki Reload manga chapter 5.5, the English edition from Singapore. (flashback written in solid paragraph italics)
Warning: Small amount of language. Best friends have become enemies due to the interference of a haggy succubus… oh yeah… and a little of Sanzo's generally bad attitude.
Sanzo: You do want to die, don't you? (eyebrow twitches)
Zell: Why do you ask?
Sanzo: (lights a cigarette) My attitude is none of your damn business.
Zell: I never said it was. I only made one teeny, tiny, innocent comment.
Sanzo: ...Which wasn't yours to make. Now shut up and get rid of that shitty succubus before I kill you.
Zell: (smiles sweetly) The comment came from my mouth, therefore mine to make. You shouldn't eavesdrop, that's rude you know and as for the succubus, not my job (shrugs). You can't kill me or you will be stuck with her for the rest of your lives, so chew on that.
Sanzo: (whips gun out and shoots, narrowly missing Zell's head three times)
Zell: (Ducks and screams) Bastard! Just wait till I get to the chapters I haven't even written yet! (Runs for life)
Sanzo: (raises eyebrow, then turns around and walks off)
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Gojyo and Mary-Sue
Pt 15
Goku and Sanzo stepped outside of the town hall building, clutching a list with almost twenty addresses of homes registered as running a bed and breakfast scrawled on it. The majority of these only took business during those times of the year when the town swelled in population but they were still worth checking out, just in case.
"Hakkai still isn't here yet." Goku exclaimed, looking anxiously in all directions.
"Hmmph! It's still a few minutes early." Sanzo replied dismissively. Someone had turned up at the building early and Sanzo had convinced him to let them in then and there. It hadn't taken very long to find the information they were after and it was still only about ten minutes before eight am.
"Even so," Sanzo added a moment later, "it's unlike Hakkai to not be here yet."
Goku looked around restlessly again, worry filling his golden eyes. "Then, what do we do now, Sanzo?"
Sanzo sighed in annoyance, he would rather send Goku ahead to each address while waiting here in peace for their companion to turn up but he still remembered the time when Hakuryu had gone missing one night.
Goku, Hakkai and Gojyo had just returned from their initial search for the missing dragon and Hakkai was anxious for news of his dear pet.
"Ah… Gojyo, Goku… Any luck on your side?" Their resident healer and dragon owner asked.
Gojyo shook his head, "Nope! We came up empty too."
"I've even tried asking around other inns!" Goku piped up anxiously. "Say sir… did you happen to see a strange jeep-shaped like creature that could've also looked sorta like a dragon?"
Gojyo face-faulted while Hakkai covered his face with a strained smile, "Uh… well… Perhaps the problem lies in the question, Goku." He had commented in disappointment.
Considering past experience, how could Sanzo trust Goku to ask the right questions in his search? "I'll give you half the list baka. Wait here for Hakkai then together, work through it. I will start on this half now. Meet back here when done."
Goku nodded, taking the half of the list that Sanzo handed him. "Alright. I hope he hurries though. I don't like waiting around, I'd rather be doing something to find the ero-kappa."
"Tch!" Was Sanzo's only reply as he walked away, unknowingly leaving his charge to wait for a friend who was not going to come.
- - -
The crescent blade of shakujou sliced through the air on a deadly intercept course with Hakkai, snapping the healer out of his surprised stare. He concentrated and threw his hands out in front of its path, forming his ki into a protective shield. The blade bounced off the shield with a muted clang, its flight interrupted and dying from the sudden blow.
As Gojyo retracted the blade, Hakkai released his concentration from the ki shield and turned his head slightly toward Hakuryu, addressing the small dragon while never removing his gaze from Gojyo and Sue. "Hakuryu, please fly someplace a little safer until I can finish this fight." He asked.
"Kyuu…" his pet replied mournfully as he took flight, jumping from his master's shoulder. He flew to safety as requested but refused to go very far. He managed to get out of the way just in time as Gojyo resumed his blank-eyed attack on his best friend.
Hakkai noticed two things during the ensuing fight. One, that Gojyo didn't appear to be fighting with all his usual skill, that was, as far as Hakkai was concerned, a very good thing and two, that Gojyo, as instructed by Sue, was really out for blood. Hakkai wasn't willing to oblige, not under these circumstances, not even if it was Gojyo.
The kappa appeared to be relying on shakujou for his attacks. There was no up close and personal in this fight but the twisting, winding, deadly arcs of shakujou were unrelenting and after some time of Hakkai dodging the glinting, razor edged blade, Gojyo was beginning to miss by narrower and narrower margins. Still, judging by the impassiveness of the hanyou's face, nothing about this seemed to be bothering him very much.
Hakkai reached back, his hands curling into a circle with a large gap of air between them. A pinprick of light formed in the centre and the healer concentrated, the pinprick swelling until it became a large glowing ball of destructive light, which Hakkai then unleashed, throwing it toward his friend. It missed! Or rather, the ball of energy hit exactly where the healer hoped, right at Gojyo's feet. It created a small crater in the ground, knocking the kappa completely off his feet and causing him to hit his head as he fell.
As Gojyo lay sprawled on the ground, the healer turned his gaze towards the succubus, forming another ki ball as he faced her.
She sneered at him, "Do you think that type of attack would even possibly harm me?"
Hakkai paused and asked curiously, "What do you mean?"
She snorted, her facade now completely dropped. Gojyo was hers now, it no longer mattered how she acted in front of him. "You know what I am. I thrive on life energy so if you use your ki on me," she smirked, "you'll only be feeding me."
The healer winced. He really should have realized that himself, it was that obvious. However, while the healer hesitated, Gojyo regained his feet. The first Hakkai knew of this was when shakujou's chain began to encircle him. As the realization hit, the healer jumped but the links tightened too quickly for him to escape their embrace and Hakkai was pulled back, only to slam face down onto the ground.
As Hakkai lay there, temporarily winded, he heard a fearful, worried cry from Hakuryu. "N… no, Hakuryu!" he yelled, breathlessly at first. "Stay away! I'll be fine."
"No, you won't," Sue said, a nasty smile filling her otherwise pretty face, "you'll be dead. Kill him now, Gojyo!"
Gojyo nodded trance-like and moved towards his fallen friend. As he reached the healer, Gojyo looked down to see Hakkai looking up at him with a slight smile and with one bright and one slightly dimmed emerald coloured eye. There was something about the way the healer was laying there, that struck a chord deep within the kappa and he stared down, unsure of just what it was that was beginning to bother him.
"Gojyo," Hakkai said softly, trying to hide a sense of urgency, "don't you think it would be a bit impolite of you to kill me now? After taking me in over three years ago?" He closed his eyes, smiling up at the man he loved and trusting in Gojyo to do as he saw fit.
The kappa raised the staff part of shakujou in preparation to plunge it through the healer's body and kill him as he had been commanded to do but again, he found himself hesitating. Something was really starting to feel wrong here. Gojyo closed his eyes in frustration and shook his head in an effort to clear it.
Hakkai opened his eyes again to look up at Gojyo. He clearly saw the evidence of the war raging within the kappa's mind written all over his features and softly began to speak again. "Gojyo…"
"Gojyo!" Sue screeched angrily, "What the hell do you think you are doing? Kill that bastard, damn you!"
The kappa turned to Sue in confusion, "But," he said hesitantly, "it's Hakkai…"
She glared at him in disbelief. "I don't care who it is! Actually, that's a lie, I do care and that's why I want him dead! He's dangerous. That bastard and his bratty friend have been trying to do everything they could to break us up. Do you really want that, dear Gojyo?"
"No…" Gojyo replied, staring at her. He then turned back to face the healer, the staff of shakujou back high in the air, "I don't but… that's Hakkai you're asking me to kill. I… can't." Gojyo turned to face Sue desperately, lowering his weapon again.
"Can't we just leave him here, wrapped in shakujou's chain? I can summon it back when we're far enough away. That way, Hakkai won't be able to come between us any more." Gojyo took a deep breath, his argument becoming stronger as he spoke, as the fog in his mind lifted a little. "Either way, I can't kill my best friend."
A familiar stubbornness had begun to creep back into Gojyo's voice, much to the relief of Hakkai. However, the healer was still worried that he would be left here, unable to follow while the other two ran off. He surreptitiously began trying to wriggle free from the chains.
Sue meanwhile, looked furious and she stormed over from where she was standing a good fifteen meters away. Once she reached Gojyo's side, she leaned forward until she was nose to nose with the hanyou and breathed deeply, evenly, "I told you to kill him. Now!" Sue snarled within Gojyo's face.
This close to the succubus, with her pheromones filling his nostrils yet again, Gojyo's eyes began to glaze over once more. "I don't…"
Gojyo wobbled slightly as Sue reached her hands up to either side of his face and almost savagely kissed the lecherous kappa. "Kill him now." She repeated softly moments later, still holding his face against hers.
"Anything for you, Sue. Anything." Gojyo replied, eager to please her once more as he turned back to Hakkai.
- - -
Meanwhile, Sanzo had reached the third address on his half of the list when he discovered the house his missing teammate and the slut from hell had spent the previous night in. The young woman who answered the door looked as though she was suffering from a hangover but upon hearing whom Sanzo was looking for, she brightened and was more than willing to talk all about him.
From her endless rambling on, Sanzo discovered that this was the woman Hakkai had spoken to the night before. He also learnt about the way the damn kappa and succubus were behaving that morning, including that Gojyo had not seemed well in the slightest, not that Sanzo cared about the cockroach anyway and he also found out how much this girl disliked Sue. The feeling was mutual but since Sanzo was never in a conversational mood at the best of times, he declined to comment. As the young woman went on, Sanzo slowly, or rather quite quickly became more pissed off with each passing word. The girl just wouldn't shut up, nor would she say what he really wanted, rather needed to know. All he really wanted was to be alone, undisturbed and to not have to baby-sit his companions for once.
His patience spent, Sanzo then scowled. "All I asked was if you had seen the cockroach and where he then went! I don't have time to hear about your love life or lack-there-of and if I did have time, I certainly would not be wasting it by listening to your babbling!"
Her eyes filled with tears and Sanzo was relieved to note that she then actually became helpful. While she didn't know exactly where that damn kappa and his leash holder were, she was able to tell him that they were going back to someplace they had been the day before.
As Sanzo left with the intention of heading back to where he arranged to meet Goku and Hakkai, he heard the door slam behind him, along with several screams of fury that faded as he walked away. The monk put as much of the annoying encounter out of his mind as he was able and hoped that Goku and Hakkai would not take too long to return, after all, the saru was the only one who knew exactly where the cockroach and the black widow had been during much of the previous day.
Not long afterwards, Sanzo saw the town hall building and Goku still sitting outside, fidgeting and looking bored. Suddenly his charge turned his head, looking straight at him and grinning. Goku jumped to his feet and ran to the monk, waving excitedly.
"Sanzo!" he yelled, "You're back!"
"Brilliant deduction! You should use that steel trap mind of yours for trivia nights or quizzes." Sanzo replied, his voice thick with sarcasm. "I see Hakkai didn't turn up."
Goku shook his head, his messy brown hair moving with the action. "I was getting bored as well as worried." His gold eyes met Sanzo's violet ones, communicating concern for not just one but now two of his friends. "Do you think Hakkai is alright or maybe he found Gojyo already?"
"Hnn, I don't know. Was that river the only place you went with the kappa and that succubus yesterday?"
Goku thought a moment, "Yeah, other than a bit of wandering around the town."
"They wont be in town. They went somewhere to be alone. Lets go, you lead the way and don't get us lost!"
Nodding in acknowledgement, Goku began quickly walking while asking, "Where? To the river?"
Sanzo rolled his eyes in annoyance. "No, back to Chang'an."
Goku faltered, "That's a long was to walk and what about India?"
The monk grit his teeth, resisting the urge to pull out his harisen. "Just lead the way to the river bakazaru!" he snapped.
Goku nodded, picking up speed as he led the way.
To be continued
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Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. :-)
ZL: (Grins) Yeah, cliffhangers can be annoying when you are on the wrong end of them but so much fun to use.
Ouatic7: Poor Hakkai is right. Yeah, everyone knows Sue can't win… after all, that's what the challenge stipulated… (pouts) I many have had more fun otherwise. (laughs) Nuh, I would never let her win, regardless of challenge or otherwise.
Tora Macaw: I wouldn't be entirely too quick to blame your computer this time… After all, FFNet has been horrible to try to get on this last week. As I type these responses up, I am wondering if I will even be able to load up the chapter any time soon… (smiles) I'm glad you liked the way the chapter turned out. That was a little different for me and kinda fun to start and finish the chapter the same way.
C.T Saiyukily Twisted: I'm trying to update on a more or less weekly basis. At the moment, I really have no excuse not to, considering I have written about 4 chapters ahead of where I have posted too. Well, I had certain plans for the story but they keep drifting away from what I originally wanted to do, so yeah, it wrote itself. Actually, I think its turned out better as a result than if I stubbornly stuck to what I was going to write. (whimpers) I'm sorry for torturing Hakkai, honestly, he is one of my fave characters.
Diva Urd: Thanks. I'm glad you didn't think the scene with Sanzo soaking Goku was too out. Thing is, if in the right situation, I could see him doing something like that. He may not show it much but he does have a twisted sense of humour (which being a Sanzo fanatic you would well know). And yeah… Gojyo is fighting Hakkai in the nude. He's out of it, under Sue's control and therefore would not have thought to have put his clothes back on… Really, I personally think that is best left to peoples imaginations though in a later chapter there is going to be a brief mention of that fact. I will kill her, I promise! Just not yet.
Lillith( ): Thank you (smiles happily) and you're welcome. I love writing Saiyuki and I'm glad that some people get some enjoyment out of reading my fan fics. It's no bother to get reviews from people, in fact, it quite helps to inspire more. I mean, I write for myself more than anyone else (which is why I don't continually ask people to review) but getting comments really is a huge boost. Thanks. :-)
