Same as before, the bold and italicized lines are transitions between scenes. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Hope the story isn't dragging.
narrizan-san, thank you for your concern. I hope it doesn't come to the point that my writing interferes with my studying, too. Don't worry,I promised myself I'd finish this fic before things get busy.
Marron-chan1, thank you for the review. I'm glad you find the plot interesting.
To everyone who continues reading this story, thanks. To those who also read and reviewed "Radio", thank you, as well. At the risk of sounding pretentious or repetitive, I'd like to say that your kind words make me smile.
- Paris
Disclaimer: Saiyuki is not mine. The story is fictional and all similarities to people and events in real life are coincidences.
Those Beautiful Green Eyes
Chapter Five
"A Sanzo? Yes, a years ago one came this way with his companions," the waitress is still blushing lightly from the compliments I had earlier paid her. She is in her late twenties and really is not bad looking. I was sincere when I told her I wouldn't mind buying out the restaurant she worked at for the night if it meant that I could be with her even for a few hours.
But I was not flattering her as much as she thought I was. I'm a god. Money is no object to me. And there is no price too great to find a friend.
I would pay any price to find Tenpou.
The waitress is thoughtful. "I don't really remember how the Sanzo looked like. I was too young to be a waitress then and was on dishwashing duty," she tucks a strand of wavy black hair behind her ear. "But I do remember one of his companions. This brown haired man came into the kitchen and offered to help me with the dishes. We were severely understaffed then and the older staff members were exhausted from servicing them."
Oh...That would have been Hakkai. At least I know she really saw him. "Did he say anything to you?"
"Just that they were on a journey," she replies.
I know that much. I've been following the trail of Genjyo Sanzo and his troupe for six years and it took me a hell of a lot longer than that to find out which temple sent out Genjyo Sanzo. There is no news as to what happened to him and his companions.
Where was the Hag of Mercy through all this? Jiroushin had no idea the first fifty times I asked during the first few years of my quest and after a while, I stopped giving a shit.
I keep my composure. "Is that so?" I cock an eyebrow to appear intrigued. I hand the waitress the credit card Jiroushin had given me for this trip. "Well, you've been a lot of help, miss. But I really should be on my way."
She left me so she could settle my bill. I know she is disappointed that I am not spending the night, but I've already wasted enough time here. While she is away I review what information I have gathered.
Genjyo Sanzo went on a trip to stop the revival of Gyumaoh, the demon Nataku subdued a long time ago. With Sanzo were three companions: one Gojyo is my reincarnation; and one Hakkai I assume to be the reincarnated form of Tenpou; the third was Goku, the kid Konzen took care of in heaven. I know for a fact that Gojyo is dead, since I am back in my body. No one seems to know where Sanzo, Hakkai, and Goku are, but the fact that Goku is part of the company further convinces me that Hakkai is Tenpou's mortal form. Fate has a nasty way of twisting the life threads of people: gods, demons, and humans.
The moment I learned about their trip, I immediately went to the castle where Gyumaoh's revival was supposed to take place. Rumor has it that the revival was a success, but a mysterious group vanquished him. When I got to the castle, it was in ruins. There was no one there and no villages for miles around. There were a lot of skeletons scattered all over the place, but there was nothing too special about any of them. I couldn't even find the robe of the high ranking monk Genjyo Sanzo. When I found that the revival site was a dead end, I had decided to retrace the steps of the Sanzo-ikkou.
"Sir?" the waitress is back. "Here's your card, sir."
I give her my lady-killer smile as I stand up, "Thanks." I wave at her as I stroll out the restaurant, "I'll see you around."
"Where are you going, sir?" she pursued, searching for words that could make me stay even a little bit longer.
"Eastward," I answer simply as I near the door.
"But they were headed west, sir," the waitress calls out. "And they never came back."
I turn to her. "Is it possible that they passed another way?"
Of course, she wouldn't know. She's probably never even stepped out of this village. That's the way it is here in the mortal world. Most people are so content with their little cocoon villages that they never venture out; which is probably why Genjyo Sanzo's company was made up of characters with unhappy beginnings.
Unhappy beginnings...
In my almost twenty years of searching for Tenpou, I had regained most of my memories as Gojyo. I know about Cho Hakkai's painful past as Cho Gono, I am now aware of Genjyo Sanzo's losses as a young boy and how Goku came to be Genjyo Sanzo's ward. I even remember some of Sha Gojyo's experiences as a child.
Yeah, these people had unhappy beginnings. I'm not surprised that they had little qualms about leaving their homes.
"Maybe I can help you," a dark-haired man in his mid forties offers, diverting my thoughts. He has limiters, which means he's a demon, but I don't feel any malicious intent. He then names the price for his help, "But you have to tell me why you're so interested in the Sanzo-ikkou."
I scrutinize him for a moment. He looks familiar. "I'm looking for an old friend. The Sanzo-ikkou might know something about him." Not a lie. I don't like lying, but I can talk for ages and not really say anything. Of course, Tenpou is much better at that art than I am, he can make his empty words sound meaningful.
The man has a peculiar expression on his face. It is sad and searching. "I knew them once," he finally tells me.
We're now outside the restaurant, drinking. He looks like a man who had been haunted one too many times by bad memories. He doesn't even face me when he asks, "Why are you here?"
I take a sip of my sake, "Why do you ask?"
"You have a chakra, the symbol of the gods," he points out. I really should cover that up.
"So?" I refill his fast emptying cup. Damn, this sake is good.
He tips his cup a bit as a sign of gratitude, but doesn't find the strength to smile. "If you're after the Heaven and Earth opening sutras, I already destroyed them."
The graveness of his character really should bother me, but for some reason I feel as though I'm supposed to be comfortable with him. Funny thing is I actually am.
I lie back on the ground. "Sorry to disappoint you, but you can't destroy those sutras. " I tell him. I dig into my pocket for a smoke. "It doesn't matter anyway, since I'm not after them. I really am just looking for a friend." Damn tight pants may be good for catching girls' attentions, but they're no fucking good for keeping cigarettes. I finally produce a stick, but it's squashed. "Crap." I usually place my cigs in my coat, what possessed me to put them in my pants pocket this time?
"Here," the dark-haired stranger hands me a good stick. I notice that it's my favorite brand.
"Thanks," I take out my lighter and light my cigarette. "You don't strike me as the smoking type."
"I don't." He watches me with interest, "This was my brother's favorite brand."
"Was?" I take a few test puffs. It's good. "Did he quit?"
"He's dead."
Dead? Now, how do you respond to that? I mean, I'm a god, death is alien to me. I take a long drag as I search for words and, at the risk of sounding like an idiot; I say the first thing that comes to mind. "Kenren."
"What?" he looks confused.
I sit back up so we're eye to eye. I'd extend my hand out in a friendly handshake, but that really isn't my thing, so I settle for terse but relatively polite introductions. "My name is Kenren. I figured if we're going to talk any more than we already have, we should at least know each other's name."
He nods in understanding, a smile on his lips. "I am Sha Jien."
Aniki?
Where are you, Aniki? It hurts.
I hit the floor with a dull thud. "I'm sorry, mother," I manage to choke out without sobbing. She's crying again. I hate seeing her cry, because I always know she's crying because of me. She picks up a broom and starts swatting me with it as if I were a rat or mouse or...
...A cockroach.
She's looking at me as if I were a cockroach: small, insignificant, a pest with no purpose on this world other than to annoy and bring sickness. My eyes widen. She's now seeing blood. My hair, my eyes, the blood of my dead birth mother...
"Such beautiful hair, Gojyo," she sings as she bends over me, long knifelike nails drawn. "I wonder if your blood is the same color." She picks up my hand by the wrist and stares at it almost lustily.
Aniki, it hurts.
She slices through the skin of my wrist with her nails. "Such beautiful blood, Gojyo! Show me more!" she laughs.
She's laughing now, but tears still run down her face. Well, at least she's laughing. I want her to smile because of me, and now she's laughing. I got what I wanted and now, I want to keep it that way. I feel the blood drain from my face and my vision becomes blurry. Mother becomes mesmerized by the blood seeping out of my torn flesh.
"Things would be better if you never came, Gojyo," she says my name with such spite. "So just die."
I see her walk away.
It's strange. My body feels cold, but my shirt is warm with my own blood. I hear mother busying herself with housework. Later, she will throw me out like the cockroach that I am.
This is the way things should be, right?
The door opens.
"Gojyo!" I hear Aniki throws away his work gear and runs to my side. "Hold on, Gojyo!"
"Aniki, is that you?" I try to smile at him, but I can't find him. "I finally made mother smile. She even laughed!" I murmur.
I feel pressure on my torn wrist, but I'm too dizzy to figure out what it is.
"Don't worry. It's going to be alright."
Jien is talking. The onslaught of memories die away and I take another sip of sake to extinguish it completely. "Are you telling me it'll be all right, or are you telling yourself?" I ask him.
He grins, but somehow the melancholy in his eyes deepens. "I think I'm telling myself."
"Your brother," I venture. "He was Sha Gojyo, wasn't he?"
"Aa," Jien replies affirmatively, fingering his limiter absent-mindedly. "You? Why are you looking for the Sanzo-ikkou?"
I had neglected Jien's cigarette and it's burned more than halfway. I tap the burnt portion off and take a long drag, finishing the stick completely. I blow out slowly, relishing the taste of the smoke and the relaxing sensation it gives me. "I told you. I'm looking for a friend and they might know where to find him."
"Well, I guess you're out of luck," Jien stretches out lazily. He stares at the dark infinity ahead of us and I see the prayer in his eyes that asks that he be wrong. "I told you. Gojyo is dead. So is the rest of the Sanzo-ikkou."
Now, isn't that convenient?
With Jien's revelation that all of the Sanzo-ikkou was dead, Hakkai included, I am sent back to square one. I'll be spending the rest of eternity looking for a pair of beautiful green eyes. It's not like I can send out a memo to the world asking every person with green eyes to line up in front of me so I can stare into them. And even if they did, what guarantee do I have that Tenpou's new body would have green eyes?
"How did they die?" I am rather curious. I really don't remember.
Jien sighs; this whole encounter is exhausting to him. "Fighting," he answers simply. He stares at his cup of sake, which is almost empty. This guy gives a whole new meaning to the words 'searching for answers at the bottom of the bottle'. After a while, he continues, "I never really saw them die, but I saw the building they were in collapse on them. I had to get my... boss out of there and..."
He is confused.
"...no one could have survived that," I finish for him.
He is in pain, but he nods. "It was a battle no one was going to win."
No shit.
"Jien!" we turn when a woman screams out Jien's name. "Demons aren't allowed here!"
"Oops, looks like I've worn out my welcome," Jien stands up and brushes off his clothes. He turns to me. "You're a god, right? Look down at me from heaven every once in a while."
I sense a lot of people hiding in the darkness. They're ready to attack Jien. "Oi," I call out a warning.
Both of us are unarmed. Jien frowns, realizing our predicament. Judging by his movements, he just wants to run and hurt as little people as possible. He scratches his head sheepishly. "I used to be the one bailing my brother out of messes like this," he points out the irony.
Well, let's see if I can bail you out of this one.
I search for a suitable exit. Then, I feel someone behind me. I turn to find myself lost in a pair of green eyes. A small bag made of what seemed loosely woven cloth filled with powder and small pebbles is pressed into my hand. "Throw this to the ground and run," a female voice hisses to me. "Then take Jien-san to the cave at the northern outskirts of the city."
"Oi, wait...!" I try to go after the girl, but the pair of green eyes is gone. She melted back into the shadows unseen by anyone, but me.
I hear a cry from the people: an agreement that matters should be taken into their hands. I run to Jien's side just as the people close in around him. "Let's go, Jien!" I shout over the angry mob then I throw the bag to the ground. It explodes and a cloud of smoke envelops us.
Jien laughs as he runs to safety, pulling me along. "I see you've met Karin."