A Stranger Within Me
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Saiyuki characters. The proper credits for those boys go to Kazuya Minekura. Any characters not in the anime, however, are all mine.
Author's Note: This will be my first story I write here. Let me in on what you guys think! Above all I hope that you all enjoy the plot that unwraps from my mind (hehehe...)
Prologue
The afternoon sun set on a group of young men traveling in a jeep. There was one blonde, sitting with an erect posture in the front passenger seat, caught up in his newspaper. Another red-head with long flowing hair was sleeping lazily in the back with another boyish teenager opposite him, also sleeping. Both boys seemed to be in a combat for the loudest snore. In the driver's seat was a gentle-looking man with dark auburn hair. Out of the entire group, he seemed the most amicable. It was odd for the traveling troupe to be this quiet. Usually, the red-head would be at the throat of the boy opposite him, while the blonde would be the noisiest of them all, demanding they all shut up.
"That last trip must have spent the two boys, huh, Sanzo?" smiled the brown haired driver to the blonde. "Yeah, surprising, I know." He replied with not as much enthusiasm in his voice. He was too busy burying his head in his paper even care that it was actually serene for the first time. He glanced up from his paper, "Oi, Hakkai, how long 'till we arrive at the next village?" "It shouldn't take much longer than an hour now." replied the driver. "My God, this peace is all-too-soon over." Hakkai chuckled at the comment.
Indeed, they had arrived at next village before long. The two boys in the back were already eager to arrive. Gojyo, the red-head was eager to examine the fine feminine specimine of this town. Goku, the hyperactive youth, cared only for the delecacies of the place. "Wow! Hey, Sanzo! Let's stop by this restaurant!" he would suggest. "Oh, the candy store, we HAVE to stop by here, please, Sanzo? Huh?" He begged and each pleading cry was followed by, "Shut up, you stupid monkey," under the priest's breath. Gojyo had already strayed from them, eyeing his next victim.
It took some time to find the local inn, as the village was a very busy place, people cluttering the streets like ants in an ant hill, but they came upon one that seemed cheap enough to afford, and not too shabby. That night, they all met and had dinner while Goku had about three to four. Gojyo, of course, was fighting for every piece of meat along the way with Goku. Afterwards, they all went and took a nice soak in a public bath and went to bed.
During the middle of that night...
Hakkai felt restless for some reason and was unable to sleep. He tried counting sheep, and looking at the ceiling, but nothing would put his mind to rest. Finally, he decided a good walk outside might tire him enough to go to bed. He briefly changed into some comfortable clothes and went outside.
As he explored the place (quite different, now that the village wasn't overrun by pedestrians), he felt a disturbing power pulsating somewhere near him. He decided to look around the place to find if any demon had come to terrorize the hamlet. No, no demons. As he turned on one of the streets, he noticed a boy, about Goku's age, beaten, bruised, and a bloody mess. Hakkai immediately rushed to his side to aid him. As he checked his breathing and pulse, he found it irregular and very rapid. This boy was about to die!
This concludes my first chapter. So what do you think? Let me know if you think the story has hope, need improvements or whatever. This is only a prologue so it was cut very short. I don't expect too much really atm, but it would still encourage me to continue this series with some feedback.