A/N: This story contains context of a graphic and violent nature that some may find offensive. Also, this story contains a slash sub-story. If this offends you, along with extreme and detailed violence then please do not read my story. If you do like this kind of story, please read on!
I would like to ask that if you read and decide that this story is not up to your standards, please submit only CONSTRUCTIVE critisism.(Reviews drawing my attention to things like grammar/spelling or general Saiyuki mistakes). I will thank you for these reviews and correct the flaws immediatley. However flames are not welcome here. I never said that you had to like my story, if you do not and you have a nasty opinion about it please do me a favour and keep it to yourself.
HONESTLY I am not trying to be irritating. But if you read the story PLEASE review. I know that at least 12 people read it. Because 12 people have read chapter six. Please please please review.
DISCLAIMER: I do not (unfortunatley) own the Saiyuki boys or anything related to them. :Which is a shame really: Well, it's probabaly a good thing because I would deprive the world of them by keeping them in a box under my bed. As soon as I save up enough money I'll buy them and...ahem anyway. Please don't sue me, I have no money. ((Note to self: get a job and buy the Saiyuki boys then put them in a box under my bed))
ME: I have a headache
GOKU: Really? Cuz I think I had one once and-
ME: ITS NAME IS GOKU
GOKU: Weird coincidence..
-I roll my eyes-
GOJYO: Hey Sanzo, did you read the little dream Goku had about you? -gleeful-
SANZO: I will kill you (to both me and Gojyo)
ME: Sorry, I thought it would make for a good story
HAKKAI: You can't really say it is completely untrue Sanzo..
:gunshots:
-I drop the plastering kit-
ME: I give up
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Chapter seven: The water bottle smile
She took the leather tarnished thing
And placed with it a smile
A smile to outline gratitude
One for which he would run a mile
Hakkai lay on his side with his face resting on his arm. He watched the dancing embers against the oily colour of the sky. His eyes had become lazy due to fatigue of some particular. He looked over to Gojyo who was sitting against the big tree smoking a cigarette. "Having trouble sleeping?" Hakkai slumped down beside Gojyo who replied with a nod. "Guess not." Drowsy by the beer he had consumed, Gojyo turned to Hakkai with a grin.
"She's hot huh? If she had two eyes..." Hakkai smiled with difficulty and looked over Ebony's sleeping form. "She was dancing when I met her. Y'know. Exotic-like, it was great. Then she turned into a real bitch and tried to kill us all." His words were slurred. Gojyo was definatley drunk. Hakkai looked at him closely in concern and glanced at his hands. His knees bent and legs resting over one another. For a moment, Hakkai felt as though someone else was watching them. Blonde hair and scarlet twined together like two different parts of a same braid seemed to be a regular occurance in his dreams.
"Somethin' wrong?" Gojyo asked. Hakkai sighed "Not really...but Gojyo. Can I ask you something?" The other took a deep swig of his beer and nodded without looking back. "Why did you help me...that day that you found me?" Gojyo turned to Hakkai, a silence passed between the two. "I think I've answered this question before." Hakkai dropped his chin against his chest for a moment and then pushed one of his smiles to the surface. "I suppose." He replied quietly. Goku shifted in his sleep, drool dribbling down his chin.
Sanzo watched the golden light from the fire spill across the monkey's face. He knew that Hakkai and Gojyo were awake but there was no need for him to let them know that he was. The recent events kept entering his dreams. He repeatedly relived the moment that he "rescued" Goku from his little prison. And the thoughts of Goku's continuous faith in him never seemed to become forgotten in his mind. He watched through the veil of his blonde hair his little monkey "companion" as he slept. His carefree attitude conveyed in the manner in which he slept, (obsessivley) ate, walked, fought, spoke and laughed. The frightening thing was Sanzo could recall each of Goku's individual mannerisms with great detail. It didn't confuse him but it annoyed him. The monkey was in his head all of the time, even when he slept. He rolled over on his side and closed his eyes, the innocence of a golden smile radiated through the blackness of his mind.
Sanzo sat up and left the little group and ignored Hakkai when he asked if he was alright. He snapped the little match from its case and tore it across the rough, black pad provided. Immediate fire bobbed on the end of the little tooth-pick like stick. He held the flame to the end of his cigarette and relished in the sophisticated kind of scent that rose as a result. The cool breeze seemed to weave in and out between the fat green leaves of the trees. It whistled, almost sounded like an unknown requiem for the bitter memories eminated deep within those still suffering. Sanzo felt the pain of loss so deeply every day when he killed Youkai it was the pent up anger boiling just beneath his cool exterior residing within the bullet, which tore through their unworthy flesh.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head sharply, Goku was smiling at him. More like a beaming grin his golden eyes glinting in the darkness like a cat's might do. The gold seemed to absorb the moonlight and shine brightly. So brightly Sanzo winced with an unguarded expression across his face. "Hey Sanzo, shouldn't you be sleeping?" The priest didn't answer, crossed his arms over his chest with his cigarette perched between his lips. Goku's face fell, he bit his lip. Sanzo turned to him, glowing end reflected in his iris. "Sanzo...I-" He walked from Goku, returned to the little group of youkai who haunted him during his travels west.
And the woman.
The one missing an eye.
The one who pissed him off.
She was no different to anybody else that he travelled with.
He lay back on the ground still smoking his cigarette and closed his eyes. The monkey invaded his dreams.
Ebony lay there in her nightmarish state covered in a cold sweat. Her hand outstreatched to the little boy, his fingers slippery with blood. He was missing his left eye and his tongue had been torn out. But for god's sake, he was still alive! Ebony desperatley reached out to him, tears running down her face. He mouthed words but nothing came out. She was on horseback, he was on another. A black steed with a proud master. The Youkai shooting sly grins at her from beneath their black hoods. Meniachal laughter and the grim realization that she could not win struck like a bolt of lightning. The boy's blood splattered across her face, she could taste it on her trembling lips.
Her brother died every time she closed her eyes.
But she didn't panic every time she woku up. She became feverish and sometimes vomited but she no longer screamed or wailed or cried. She didn't think it was possible that she could cry any longer. Lazy eyes slipped over from her isolation to the huddled group not far from her. Gojyo was speaking quietly with Hakkai and the other two weren't speaking at all. They seemed to share some kind of mutual understanding. None of them looked at one another, just stared into the depths of the fire, as if they were trying to find something within the dancing flame.
She appreciated their allowance of her tagging along on the mission. She needed her revenge. It didn't matter to her anymore that she would eventually die as a result. She stopped caring when she lost her family. She touched fingertips to the leather eye patch and closed her eye. A breath of pain on the back of her neck, always alone. Always alone.
She curled into a little ball and held herself a little more tightly. She almost moaned in the midst of her sadness but compressed the depression enough to numb the pain.
Goku was kneeling behind her "Hey, are you ok?" He asked. She replied "Yes" without looking at him. She heard him shuffling around behind her. "What are you doing" She demanded. He handed her a flask of water and beamed at her. "You look hot so you can have my water." She reluctantly took it from him, looked up at the youkai and smiled. The first real smile in a long time that she had delivered was over something as simple as water. Thank heavens he didn't realize this and just rejoined the group. She sat there with Goku's water and opened the cap.
Suddenly she was torn from sight, clamy cold hands on her face. She heard the voices of the others getting weaker and weaker until they were barely sounds.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT" Gojyo staggered to his feet. The others became alert. "Whatever it was, it took the woman." Sanzo said, taking the hand gun from his robes and directing it to the rustling darkness of the trees. Hakkai glanced at Sanzo and then to Gojyo, who now seemed to ignore the effects of the alcohol and try his hardest to maintain an alert position. Goku walked over to where she had been sitting, the water making mud puddles on the ground.
He picked it up and looked at the others. "What do you think it was?" Asked Goku solemly. "What do you think you stupid monkey? It was a youkai." Gojyo retorted angrily.
---
"Why do they want you" The voice demanded. "Want me...?" "Yes, want you. Would they surrender the scriptua in order to get you back" "I don't think so." There were claws at her throat.
"Then what good are you"
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Thankyou for taking time to read chapter seven. Constructive critisism and supportive reviews are most welcome! Wow, I had a real bad case of writer's block for this chapter. I hope it was ok.