Disclaimer: I own nothing except that which I own. You figure it out.
PART SIX
Come Hell or High Water
-
Jiroushin knocked warily next to the little hanging sign that read 'Goddess of Mercy's room: KEEP OUT.'
Someone inside yelped, cursed. Rustling noises ensued. Then came Kanzeon's voice, muffled and irate, "WHAT, dammit?!"
Very much hating his job, Jiroushin announced in a flat monotone that the battle was finished and Gyumaoh about to fall, and reminded his mistress also that Kanzeon had asked him to come tell hir when this occurred.
".....they're finished already?" Even filtered through the door, the surprise coloring the bodhisattiva's voice was obvious.
"Uh, yes."
More cursing and rustling. Then the door crashed open (and Jiroushin leaped back just in time to avoid being slammed against the wall with it) and Kanzeon swept out, impeccably groomed somehow and looking not at all like someone who'd just been....
Jiroushin halted that thought before he threw up or got a nosebleed.
"They're way ahead of schedule," Kanzeon was muttering to hirself, summoning a lengthy scroll to hir hand and leaning in to examine it closely. The end trailed halfway across the room, following hir as se paced like a ridiculous train. "Way, way ahead of schedule. The zombies were supposed to keep them occupied for at least another …oh, fuck it. Someone screwed up somewhere."
"Screwed what huh?" mumbled a very exhausting looking (and still slightly drunk, to be honest) ghost, dragging himself to the doorway and listing there in nothing but a sheet.
Kanzeon glared at him. "Have you been cheating?" se demanded.
The ghost blinked owlishly. "On you?"
Jiroushin suffered a sudden choking fit.
"No, you twit, I already know you're doing that. On the Design."
"Uh. No! Not on that. I don't think." He swayed a little, catching himself with one hand against the wall. A frown marred his forehead as he recited, apparently from memory, "No interference after the beginning of the Journey, unless first receiving your personal approval, so as not to mess up the Karmic Design and ruin all your careful planning. Failure to comply will be met summarily with Nasty Bad Things otherwise known as dire consequences."
"So glad you remember my exact wording. Now, when was your last official bout of meddling?"
"Homura," Jiroushin supplied sourly. He knew because he'd been in charge of the huge bitch pile of paperwork it had generated.
The ghost coughed. "Well actually there was that one time at Houtou Castle…"
Kanzeon waved him silent. "Already on record, and doesn't count. No direct interaction with Konzen's group." Se pursed her lips together and scanned another section of the scroll, quietly fuming. "This doesn't make sense. Even if it wasn't you, something had to have altered the flow of events."
The ghost hiccupped into the sudden silence, then grinned stupidly as Kanzeon shot him an annoyed Look.
"We'll just have to stall them," the bodhisattiva announced, briskly rolling up the scrolling and shoving it at Jiroushin, who se'd force later to examine the thing line by line until the offending detail was discovered. "There's still paperwork and ceremonies and other such bullshit pending with the lifting of your sentence, not to mention all the red tape we're going to run into over Nataku."
Jiroushin and the ghost both stared. "You haven't started any of that yet?" the ghost accused, suddenly sounding a lot less inebriated. "You've had nearly six hundred years!"
"You try running Heaven and Earth, asshole. See how much free time you have left over."
The ghost ignored hir acid tone, instead looking alarmingly enthused. "Can I really? Try running Heaven and Earth, I mean?"
"NO," said Jiroushin and Kanzeon together.
"Aw."
"Anyway," said Jiroushin, attempting to shift focus back to the point, "how exactly are we supposed to stall the Seiten Taisei?"
"Hm. I suppose ordering Konzen to take care of it is a little unfair. In that case….soldier!"
The ghost straightened up ridiculously and saluted, nearly poking himself in the eye doing so. "Yes ma'am sir! Wait, I quit the army."
"Then consider this your official reinstatement. Get yourself dressed, detoxed, and down to Earth to handle the hell monkey until I've got things in order. Keep him from killing anything."
"Cripes, again?"
The Merciful Goddess glared. "Unless you'd rather spend another millennia sealed at the bottom of a river."
"Uh, no, ma'am sir. Off to Earth I go." The ghost paused, uncertain. "Am I allowed to explain anything while I'm down there?"
"No, child," Kanzeon said with remarkable gentleness, answering the question he wasn't asking aloud. "Not yet. They don't remember you anyway, so they won't understand."
"Ah."
"And take Homura's sword with you. The Seiten Taisei will gnaw through that flimsy piece of earthly metal you call a blade in no time."
The ghost stilled utterly in the process of hunting for his boots, golden eyes gone haunted and completely sober as he met Kanzeon's gaze.
"I will not bear that weapon," he said softly, implacably. "I am no longer Heaven's executioner."
Kanzeon eyed him keenly. "Or Heaven's justice?"
"I was never Heaven's justice. I was young and stupid and trying to change an unchangeable world. I've since learned better."
"Hmph. I think you just gave up."
He gave hir an ironic bow. "I regret not being up to the task, as your nephew and the others proved to be after I left, but I'm afraid the corruption here runs too deep for it to ever be cut completely free. Even by the sword of a toushin taishi." His tone grew faintly bitter. "My honorable father would be most disappointed in my lack of success, I am sure."
Se gave him a stern glance. "Or perhaps you just found something better to devote yourself to."
The ghost looked briefly startled, then guilty. "Devil's advocate," he accused, stung.
"You were wallowing. I don't associate with people who indulge in self pity over their own past choices," se informed him with a superior expression.
"Fine, whatever." He settled the gray traveller's cloak over his shoulders. "I'll go say hi to the monkey, then. You guys want coffee or something while I'm down there?"
"Get out, you ingrate," Kanzeon ordered.
He saluted (the bastard), and was gone.
Jiroushin stole a glance at his mistress. "Was that really a good idea?"
"Of course not. That's why I did it."
"But, but he'll open his mouth and say something and…"
"..and give me some entertaining chaos to watch while you sort out the problem," Kanzeon finished for him, heading out to the lotus pond. "Grab me some of that leftover popcorn, would you? It's on the table next to the bed."
Jiroushin looked decidedly nauseous at the thought, and then annoyed at the request. "I was not trained as a butler, you know," he huffed, eyeing the door to the bodhisattiva's Dreaded Bedroom/Lair of Doom warily.
Kanzeon gave him a nasty, nasty smile. "Don't worry, you're a natural. Now fetch, boy, fetch."
-
Five Hours (and Two Popcorn Buckets) Later
"I found the problem," Jiroushin announced wearily, pushing up his reading spectacles.
Kanzeon lifted a brow over her tea 'n popcorn. "Oh?"
"This. Right here. 'Use of magical device to negate youkai zombies: one Pagan Necklace Charm……thing.' Konzen's current reincarnation was able to capture and seal the loose souls with it."
"I don't recall putting any swishy twink necklaces at his disposal. Where the rolling fuck did my nephew get ahold of something like that?"
Jiroushin scanned back. "It was at the scene, apparently. Stolen by …um, stolen by Gyokumen's people nearly five weeks ago, brought to Houtou Castle and used to successfully revive Gyumaoh."
"Stolen from whom?"
Jiroushin scanned back more. "One pagan by the name of Hazel Glosse. Supposed to have been shot dead quite a while ago, but for some reason he keeps showing up in the entries....oh, here, there's an additional notation concerning him, explaining that...."
"…..you know what, just give it to me, I'll find the answers faster reading it myself." Kanzeon snatched the scroll away, and Jiroushin happily let hir have the damn thing.
Kanzeon scanned. Kanzeon scanned more. Kanzeon nearly spit out hir tea when se found the aforementioned notation.
"Since when is my nephew in love?!"
-
Meanwhile
"So, your Highnessness, what will you be doing with your crumbled kingdom now?" asked Gojyo of a certain youkai prince, eyeing the wrecked remains of Houtou Castle. No one seemed to be making any particular effort to put out the fires.
"Technically my mother is still Empress. I was never formally inaugurated to the throne," Kougaiji answered. He was watching the Seiten Taisei continue to smack Gyumaoh around. Gojyo had already made several lewd observations about the stamina of the saru, aimed in the direction of Sanzo, who twitched dangerously and leveled the halfbreed with his best Eat Shit and Die glare.
The crash from earlier had been a false alarm. Gyumaoh had merely tripped, not fallen down dead.
Unfortunately.
Gojyo persisted. "Yeah, but doesn't authority default to you, as the heir, if the Emperor dies?"
Kougaiji shrugged.
"You seem to be taking the succession rather casually," Hakkai noted.
"I'm of the opinion that people should be happy with their rulers. I've just spent the last five years parading around as a spokesperson for Gyokumen Kyushu, telling everyone to follow her psychotic plans. Do you honestly think anyone is going to want to see me in power?"
Hakkai and Gojyo both had to admit that was a valid point. "Don't worry, Red Boy," drawled the halfbreed, throwing an arm over Kougaiji's shoulder. "We still love you, even if your subjects want you drawn and quartered for the shitty PR work."
Kougaiji was looking at the offending limb draped over him like it was a poisonous snake. Gojyo found himself leering, just a tad. Pretty piece of ass indeed, especially up close.
With identical long suffering/irritated expressions, Jien and Hakkai moved to separate them, one dragging back a slightly scandalized Prince and the other a protesting flirt. "Only sluts hit on strange youkai, Gojyo," Jien informed his half brother, conspicuously placing himself between Kougaiji and Gojyo's infamous wandering hands.
"He's not a strange youkai," Gojyo said indignantly, choosing to ignore Hakkai's Vaguely Ominous Polite Smile of Doom that was advising him to drop the subject. "I've known him plenty long enough to count as an acquaintance, and it's perfectly acceptable in social situations to hit on acquantances!"
Jien got a squinty sort of look around the eyes that Gojyo recognized from his youth as the Drop It Now Little Boy Or I'll Beat You Like the Redheaded Stepchild You Are silent vocalization. Between Hakkai and Sanzo, Gojyo was getting really good at this translating wordless communication thing.
"Geez, fine, chill," he muttered sulkily, palming a feel of Hakkai's pretty ass instead to make himself feel better. The healer would make him pay for it later, but later was later and not now. "I'm sure the gods will smite me for my impudence, divine retribution for disrespecting my elders, yadda yadda and all that. Why don't you just put up a damn 'No Trespassing' sign on your property, then, if you're going to freak out over such minor misunderstandings?"
"Property?" Kougaiji echoed only slightly ominously, darting a Look at Dokugakuji, who was in the process of turning very, very red.
Score for the cockroach, Gojyo thought, mentally tallying up the number of bets he'd just won. He knew there was something swishy about the Prince.
Well, good for his brother or something. Kougaiji was certainly easy on the eyes and despite all that pesky nobility and honor crap, probably a really hot lay. And there was always something to be said for sleeping one's way into a royal (read: rich) family….
The halfbreed couldn't help himself. "So, when Red Boy there takes the throne, will that make you Empress, nii-san?"
Ooh, that was the This Close To Losing It Look. He was definitely going to regret this in the morning when he woke up to broken bones.
The impending brawl between siblings was interrupted by the sudden inconvenience of having a body fall out of the sky and flatten Gojyo.
Everyone stared.
After a moment, Jien asked in shocked awe if that counted as divine retribution.
Hakkai added somewhat faintly that the most common example was the use of thunderbolts.
Kougaiji warily scanned the clear sky above them all. "Maybe they ran out," he said.
Sanzo was not smirking. He wasn't.
"Um, Gojyo…" Hakkai started forward, but the redhead was already stirring and groaned, opening his eyes to meet a pair of equally dazed bright gold ones.
"Note to self," the newcomer mumbled fuzzily, "next time aim for haystack or pillow factory." He blinked and tried to focus on the face not an inch from his. "Oh, hi, General."
"Hi yourself, crackhead. You always this direct about things, or were you even going to buy me a drink first?"
"Sorry about the landing…." The stranger's eyes suddenly widened and he yelped, rolling with Gojyo to the side as a massive piece of steel, following its master in his descent from Tenkai, abruptly bit into the earth where they'd both just been and stuck there, swaying gently.
Gojyo's eyes were a bit wild as he took in the sight of the quivering Buster Sword, a weapon taller than the damn monk was and with a foot wide blade. That might have done some major damage. "Um. That yours?"
The stranger was just as white faced. "Yes, but I'm considering disowning it now."
The distinct sound of someone clearing his throat snagged both their attention, and they looked up (and paled further) to see a very, very calm Hakkai very very calmly holding a chi ball between his hands. Gojyo realized he was still clutching the new guy and they were tangled together quite compromisingly. The new guy emitted a squeak and a babble of strung together words that sounded something like "OhbloodyfuckMarshalIcanexplainthisit'snotwhatitlookslike--" before Hakkai raised a single brow very calmly, and the man shut up as though a gag had been shoved in his mouth.
"Would you mind, sir," and Gojyo had never gotten chills from such a polite tone of voice before, "kindly removing yourself from my friend and telling us who you are?"
Hakkai was really close to losing it. Hakkai had just put up with a very trying day dealing with Sanzo and gunshot victims and bodhisattivas and zombies and he really. didn't. need. strange men crawling all over Gojyo to boot and Gojyo not making much effort to halt it.
The newcomer gulped and scrambled gracelessly to comply. One did not argue with Tenpou Gensui, in any incarnation, when the man took that particular tone. He backed off slowly, eyeing the chi ball (not that it would do him much harm, in this form) until the Death Comes Swiftly look in Hakkai's eyes lessened a bit. He liked Tenpou, really he did, but the guy could be such a psycho over the people he chose to love, including that poor doomed girl and Kenren and sometimes even Konzen. Gojyo. Kouryuu. Sanzo. Whatever their names were now.
Konzen-Kouryuu-Genjyo was staring suspiciously. The skydiving-without-benefit-of-a-parachute prone bastard looked human enough, slender and built like a martial artist, long chestnut hair braided into a tail (with the very tip dyed white? What the fuck?), clean cut features and wearing some sort of silly half armor so only one shoulder bore a metal plate. The gold eyes smacked of shiki, but the aura was wrong. Itan, then, like Homura and Goku. The weird, weird, triple petal marking on the forehead smacked of something Sanzo couldn't quite remember but was sure he didn't trust. And the dangly earrings looked extremely familiar….
"Um. Hi," said the itan, trying not to edge back further from Hakkai's still present chi ball. "This is going to sound very odd, but is Gyumaoh dead yet?"
Gojyo, having quickly scuttled to the least dangerous area, namely behind Hakkai, blinked. Gestured vaguely off in the distance. "What does it look like to you?"
"Oh good." The man looked relieved. "I've still got some time. Now then…"
"Who the hell are you?" Sanzo interrupted bluntly.
"Right, introductions. I'm.."
"Five hundred years late, you bastard," snarled Rasetsunyo, shoving her way past Sanzo and Hakkai to glare. Her earrings chimed with the lift of her head, and the stranger's matching ones echoed softly.
"Erk. Hi honey."
There was fire swirling around the edges of Rasetsunyo's fingers.
The man offered weakly, "Sorry I'm late?"
The furious Empress pounced.
-
Chen, Jien and Gojyo were back to playing poker, figuring the screeching was so loud they could eavesdrop just fine and catch the important bits. Everyone else was watching (and occasionally dodging) the (literal) fireworks.
"You. Insufferable. Prick!! How dare you disappear when Heaven declared war on us!!" Rasetsunyo screamed, hurling a fireball at the stranger, who was forced to block it with his massive sword. He peeked out from behind the smoking blade.
"It wasn't like I left you two alone on purpose!" he yelled back, somewhat singed. "They sealed me at the bottom of a river for all eternity!"
"You seem perfectly fine and capable of moving around now!" Another pyrokinetic attack.
"I agreed to serve Kanzeon for eternity instead if se would let me out! I was trying to get back to you!"
"Service Kanzeon, you mean, you slut!"
"Yeah, well, that too…"
"AAARGH!!"
Yaone edged over to her Prince. "Kougaiji-sama, who is that person?"
The redheaded youkai shook his head, as bewildered as everyone else. "I have no idea."
"He's got your earrings," Hakkai remarked with some astonishment. "…and I would say he knows your mother."
"Gee," Sanzo drawled with the highest degree of sarcasm he could muster. Everyone ducked an incoming fireball, which exploded rather spectacularly on impact with the ground and showered everyone in cinders instead. This was ridiculous, the monk decided, shaking ash out of his hair. Absofuckinglutely ridiculous.
"That's it. Hakkai, go break it up before they set anything else on fire."
Hakkai gave him a You Must Be Joking look. "Ahaha. I think the Empress might object to any interference."
Kougaiji wouldn't do it either, mama's boy that he was. Seething about having to do everything himself, Sanzo began the chant for The Double Kyoumon Bitchslap of Doom.
Yaone put a hand to her mouth and pointed with the other off to the side. "Look! I think Gyumaoh is finally going down!"
"He's WHAT?!" yelped the stranger, jerking his head in the direction of the Other Epic Battle currently raging. He paled. He took off running full speed towards it.
"I'm not finished with you! Get back here and die like a man!!" Rasetsunyo screamed after him. His reply floated back.
"Just a minute, dear--!"
Sanzo eyed Yaone with new respect. That had been smooth.
"Now then," Yaone said briskly, "we get some questions answered." She approached the still fuming Empress with a certain understandable caution. "Lady Rasetsunyo….?"
"Men," Rasetsunyo muttered as though the word was an epithet. She turned her irritated glance on the whole group of males currently in the area, and spoke with the self righteous indignation of a scorned woman to both Lirin and Yaone. "Men are useless, pathetic creatures. Never get involved with them."
Lirin nodded, wide eyed. Yaone smiled blankly, trying very hard not to laugh at her Prince's sudden stricken look. "Lady, can you tell us who that man is?"
"Unfortunately." Rasetsunyo sniffed. "His name is Ko Shuyin. Heretic, and former War Prince of Heaven."
Sanzo was drawing a blank in his memorized list of important historical deities. "Before Homura?"
"Before Nataku. Who is Homura?"
"Long story.
"Ah."
Kougaiji wanted to know how his mother knew a former toushin taishi.
"That's the long story. His father was a soldier from the Heavenly army, and deserted after he fell in love and had a child with a mortal woman. He was murdered for it when they were discovered, and the woman and all her bloodline cursed, and Shuyin taken back to Heaven for trial. Instead of executing him, they made him toushin taishi." She tossed a glare in the direction the man in question had disappeared. "He quickly won the title of worst War Prince ever employed, being spectacularly unreliable and rebellious, so I don't know how he managed to keep the post for several hundred years. Kept running off to Earth to look after the extended mortal family he'd left behind. That was how I met him, the first time. I was born as one of the last three children of the line."
Silence.
"But….aren't you a youkai?" It was the first inane thing that popped out of Sanzo's mouth.
Rasetsunyo fussed with her sleeves. "One of his relatives accidentally did that blood of a thousand youkai thing."
"Murderer?" That from Hakkai, looking pale.
"Surgeon, actually, if you can believe it."
"Oh."
At that point a series of crashes heralded the re-appearance of one former War Prince, an unconscious and re-crowned Son Goku tossed over his shoulder and a blood covered Gyumaoh hot on his heels.
"Rasetsu, dearest, would you please stop explaining things?" Shuyin panted as he came up to them. "They aren't supposed to know about any of that, Heaven's orders."
"You have a responsibility to tell them the truth!" Rasetsunyo flared.
"I most certainly do not ….oh hell." Gyumaoh was upon them.
"Here, take your pet, nikkou." Shuyin handed Goku off to Sanzo, who stiffened at the nickname (now why did that sound so familiar?). A roar split the air, and everyone except Shuyin abruptly scattered as Gyumaoh, sword raised overhead, brought it crashing down in a vast overhand blow.
There came the clarion sound of steel against steel, and a brilliant shower of sparks poured out over the ground. Those who'd expected to be flattened in the next few seconds opened their eyes at the noise and general lack of pancake state, and looked up to incredulously behold Gyumaoh, straining to complete the strike, with his weapon caught and stopped by Shuyin's. The Buster Sword was held easily above the man's head with one of his hands around the hilt and the other on the flat of the blade.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's impolite to interrupt someone else's conversation?" Shuyin queried, his earrings chiming softly. For all the demon king's efforts, Gyumaoh couldn't seem to move the press even a millimeter further. A scary, absent sort of smile appeared on the former War Prince's face (reminding everyone irresistibly of Homura, out of those who had met Lord Flame) as he paused for an answer and, upon receiving none, continued conversationally, "No? How careless of her."
Everyone prudently edged away. They'd all been around long enough to recognize Shit About To Go Down and knew they wanted to be well out of the line of fire when it did.
Gyumaoh roared in frustration. Shuyin didn't appear to notice. If anything, the nonchalance of the man's tone only increased when he spoke again. "Well, I suppose the learning process must begin somewhere." Then the Buster Sword was suddenly not underneath Gyumaoh's anymore to hold it back, and the towering youkai stumbled clumsily forward.
"Now siddown." And Shuyin knocked the demon king flat on his back with roaring of summoned energy, blueblack where Homura's sword dragon had been bright crimson. The earth shook as the youkai impacted, and the enormous dust cloud thrown up blotted out the sun.
Gyumaoh did not get back up.
A convenient gust of wind swirled the choking dust out of Shuyin's path as though he'd bid it part. There was an uncharacteristically sober expression on his face as he slid the Buster Sword home into its sheath on his back, and for the first time, standing there with braid, sash, and cloak flagged in the stiff breeze, the chestnut haired man actually looked the part of Divine Wrath of Heaven.
Everyone appeared suitably impressed except for Goku, who was unconscious in Sanzo's arms, and Rasetsunyo, who looked merely disgruntled and muttered, "Showoff."
Shuyin ruined the entire illusion by grinning cheesily at her.
"There," he said briskly, brushing his hands together. "Ugly shouldn't be up for another two hours or thereabouts. Maybe less. He's all juiced up from the loose souls flying around. Good luck trying to damage him enough to get it past simple unconsciousness."
So that was why even the Seiten Taisei hadn't been able to fell the beast yet. Sanzo eyed the unconscious goliath. "Any particular reason you're leaving the honors to us, instead of finishing him off yourself since you're obviously capable?"
"Oh believe me, I'd love to, but I'm not allowed," Shuyin answered cheerily. "It's not my place to be the one that kills him. Nor," and he glanced at Rasetsunyo, sneaking up on her fallen husband with a fireball only partially hidden behind her back, "is it the place of anyone else here, save the Seiten Taisei. Put it away, Rasetsu."
She did so, grumbling sulkily.
Kougaiji took a step forward, fists clenched and grimly ready to challenge anyone who dared order his lady mother around, even if that someone in question was a god or…whatever. At the approach Shuyin looked at him in some surprise, and then in out and out shock. He shot a stricken glance at Rasetsunyo.
Her tone in response was venomously honeyed. "It's been over five hundred years. He grew up. Not that you were ever around to notice."
"I told you that wasn't my fault!"
"Oh, of course. The untamable Shuyin, breaker of every rule laid down by Heaven, followed orders only when it came to someone commanding you to throw your own family to the wolves."
Kougaiji looked absolutely confused, gaze going back and forth between itan and Empress.
Sick of all the crypticism, Sanzo demanded to know just what the fuck was going on.
"Don't you dare," Shuyin grated, looking hard at the youkai woman who wore a suspiciously pleasant expression. Rasetsunyo ignored him, brushing back a strand of scarlet hair.
"Kougaiji, darling, I'd like you to meet your father."
Jaws dropped all around. Kougaiji froze. One could almost see his poor abused brain trying and failing to process the utter illogic of that statement. "Um," he said intelligently, looking quite like he'd been hit over the head with a board. "Um, what?"
Shuyin sighed and stared accusingly at Rasetsunyo. "Now you've done it."
She smiled sweetly.
-
(Bonus Side Quest: Revelation Backstory! Skip if you'd rather get back to the relevant part of the plot kthx.)
There was really no sense in refusing to give further explanation, since Rasetsunyo had already dropped the bomb. The rest of the story was as complicated as the beginning had been. Shuyin's 'looking after' his family included allowing them to summon divine aid (namely himself) as a last resort in emergencies. A fifteen year old Rasetsunyo had done this after being stood up by a date.
("What?" she demanded defensively when everyone looked at her. "I was fifteen. I thought it qualified as an emergency at the time.")
Thus had begun the only long running relationship Shuyin had maintained with any of his relatives since the time when he'd had a nuclear family, as for the most part he tried to stay out of direct contact for fear of harm coming to them. He had many enemies in Heaven, and not all of them were above taking out their displeasure on mortal targets when the toushin taishi himself was untouchable. Rasetsunyo however, unimpressed by her 'savior' but wholly impressed with (and amused by) his speed and consistency in appearing at her side whenever she used the summon charm, refused to leave him alone until he finally put her on magical block.
("It was terrible. I couldn't even get a full night's sleep without her calling at 3 am saying she needed an escort home from some party because she was too drunk to remember the way in the dark, or that she'd locked herself out of the house again or even that she didn't want to get up and feed the cat so could I please do it instead." Shuyin sighed morosely, remembering. Kougaiji was staring at his mother in vague horror, having never heard any of these stories of misspent youth.)
And then Gyumaoh, after a long and very, very bloody war, had won possession of and united under an iron fist a kingdom long torn by civil strife. When such a powerful figure asked for the hand of a woman reknowned for her beauty and intelligence, Rasetsunyo could find no reason to disagree. It was a joyless and loveless match, but accompanied by the golden opportunity to, as Empress, rebuild her shattered land and people. Which she devoted herself to passionately.
("I ran that kingdom more than my so-called husband did. He spent all of time off fighting or doing whatever there was to be done away from the castle. Lazy good for nothing barbarian, neglecting administration," she growled, tossing her head. Everyone present had to wonder if Gyumaoh had kept away from the castle to avoid bureaucratic duties or rather to avoid his obviously strong willed and difficult to manage wife.)
Then, disaster. Rasetsunyo received news that her two cousins had died, leaving her alone in the world save for those of her relatives only related through marriage and not by genetics. The curse that had been laid on her blood was designed to slowly strangle the line by making it exceedingly difficult for any children to be born, as well as shortening the lives of the carriers and bringing them to tragic ends. Shuyin had done what he could to counteract its effects, but he couldn't be everywhere at once. As the last of the bloodline, the curse became concentrated fully and Rasetsunyo was faced with the prospect of magically enforced barrenness.
(She paused. They waited. She glared. "As Empress, I was obligated to give my lord an heir to succeed the throne. Succession squabbles start wars." All the males went "Ohhhh," now getting why it was such a big deal.)
This particular succession squabble seemed poised to start up the nasty civil war that Gyumaoh had ended with his ascension to power, as none of the factions had ever forgiven his victory and looked always for the first opportunity to bring him down. Faced with watching a repeat of the slaughter, Rasetsunyo appealed to Shuyin, who in turn appealed to the one being he trusted in Heaven. Ko Hiten, Shuyin's father, had been murdered by a consortium of high ranking military officers (none of whom were any longer among the living, thanks to the son's wrath), leaving Shuyin with a fierce hatred of all things corrupt in the military (read: the entire damn thing) and an equally fierce resentment of the Jade Emperor (head of said corrupt military) and his bureaucrat dogs who had allowed the crime to both occur and go unpunished. So for everything except his official marching orders, Shuyin went instead to Kanzeon Bosatsu, as se had been one of the few figures in a Heaven full of divine sinners that the unlucky Hiten had mentioned as being trustworthy (the others were Goujuun, Dragon King of the Western Sea, and his brothers). Tentei eventually found it easier to let Kanzeon handle the difficult War Prince, which was inconvenient for him but not nearly as inconvenient as losing the services of the strongest toushin taishi they'd had for a millennia.
(Gojyo inserted a question here, directed at Rasetsunyo. "I thought you said he was the worse War Prince ever employed." Shuyin spluttered indignantly and Rasetsunyo, ignoring him, answered the halfbreed, "He was the worst in terms of following orders and maintaining an obedient attitude. Lack of skill wasn't the issue. I suppose he was competent, or something." Shuyin fumed and grumbled, "….no need to lay it on thick with the praise there, dearheart. You'll make me blush." Rasetsunyo merely gave him a disdainful Look.)
Except Kanzeon had no solutions this time, only a dangerous tidbit of information. Heaven would almost certainly mobilize to put down another civil war in volatile Tenjiku, and had been eying the arrogant and powerful Gyumaoh as a candidate for subjugation for some time now. All they needed was the excuse. If Shuyin didn't want to be ordered to march on Houtou Castle, he had better find a way to get around the curse. Moreover, a son of Rasetsunyo's could be their best hope for a lasting peace in the West, negating succession disputes and trained by his mother to rule justly when Gyumaoh the dictator finally kicked it. Without much other choice, Shuyin took it upon himself to break a curse sanctioned by the gods, giving Rasetsunyo her heir, but at the same time making himself now eligible for dismissal and imprisonment/execution as a criminal. Before this could happen, Shuyin threw his resignation as toushin taishi (something Not Done and with Dire Ramifications, as the service of the toushin taishi was lifelong) in the Jade Emperor's face and vanished. This was why there was no mention on him in ecclesiastical history, as Tentei in a rage had ordered all records of Shuyin's rebellious existence erased.
(Silence. Dokugakuji said it first for all of them, expression horrified/scandalized. "You slept with your own….own…." "Great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandaughter of my youngest half brother?" Shuyin supplied, eyes narrowing. "Yeah. I did. Get over it. You're the last person who should be pointing fingers, Sha Jien." Doku erked and wisely shut up.)
The next decade or so Shuyin spent on the run, alternating between hiding out from Heavenly pursuers and violently putting down any arguments the warring factions of Tenjiku chose to bring up when an heir miraculously appeared after years of Gyumaoh's apparent impotence/Rasetsunyo's apparent barrenness. He gave the new mother a firmly maintained peace of the realm to raise her son in, and only after things had reluctantly settled did he return to her. A certain 'Ko-san', first name unknown, was hired as captain of the Empress' guard and after proving himself without equal in battle, personally undertook the heir's combat training.
(Kougaiji was staring now at the itan. "I don't remember any of that." Shuyin sighed and explained that he'd been under a glamour at the time and looked like a youkai. "No," Kougaiji repeated blankly, "I don't mean I don't remember seeing you. I mean I don't remember any of that. I had my own combat instructor when I was that young?" Shuyin facepalmed, muttering something about wasted effort and alcoholic mothers producing brain damaged children. Rasetsunyo patted her son's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, darling. He's rather forgettable." She caught Shuyin's eye and retorted, "Especially when it comes to matters involving physical activity.")
The eerily peaceful domesticity fell through quickly, however, once Kougaiji was older, as Gyumaoh for some inexplicable reason developed a taste for human flesh and tendency towards tyrannical behavior. The conflicts that Shuyin and Rasetsunyo had worked tirelessly to keep lids on reared once more, ignited, and spread uncontrollably like the most volatile of oil based wildfires. (All these things might have made more sense if they'd known the state of Heaven at the time, where a petty bureaucrat named Litouten, who had laid the groundworks for sweeping war and general Hell on Earth in order to push his 'son,' Nataku and therefore himself into power, offered Tentei the services of another heretic to deal with the chaos if the Jade Emperor would but name the boy toushin taishi. Tentei did. Nataku's existence of misery as a killing puppet began. Thus were set into motion events which would culminate in the deaths of three rebel gods and one dragon, and the imprisonment of one Seiten Tasei Son Goku.) Shuyin didn't tell the Sanzo-ikkou any of that, and Rasetsunyo didn't know about it, so she couldn't. Kanzeon's orders on keeping that hidden were very explicit.
(Sanzo knew what was coming. Hakkai did too, both of them being historically knowledgeable, and Chen and the Kougaiji-tachi had all heard the story in some version or another. "What did you..." Hakkai began, and halted before saying anything else. Obviously Shuyin hadn't been able to keep the attack from occurring. Obviously Kougaiji and Rasetsunyo had both been sealed. Had he fought Nataku, and lost?)
("I never saw him," Shuyin admitted. "I ..uh. I got there too late to do anything." He shifted his weight uncomfortably.)
(Rasetsunyo eyed the father of her child and asked him point blank if he was lying.)
(".....yes." He held up his hands in entreaty, forestalling her anger. "Let it go, alright? I can't tell you anything more. Stuff ..happened. I tried, believe me I tried, but everything ...everything fell apart. It wasn't the ending I wanted for you two.")
("I should hope not," Kougaiji muttered, and Shuyin flinched, looking guilty. He deserved that, he supposed.)
("I did...a stupid thing," the ex-toushin taishi said finally. "A very stupid thing. But it was the only option left to me, and that's all I can say in my defense. There was no other way." He shut up, obviously not going to tell any more of the story.)
("Fine then. You weren't around when we needed you, and things turned out the way they did. What have you been doing for five hundred years since then?" Rasetsunyo asked, unsatisfied with the evasion. Shuyin's smile turned bitterly painful, and he looked up to meet a cool violet gaze before answering.)
("Drowning.")
fear of deep water, nikkou
For some inexplicable reason the image of a black sea came to mind, and a chill ran shuddering down Sanzo's back.
-
END Part Six
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OUTTAKES
(Scene: KANZEON bossing JIROUSHIN around)
JIROUSHIN: Do I fucking look like Alfred the butler?
-
(Scene: JIROUSHIN and KANZEON pour over the Magic Scroll (Log) of Past Events)
JIROUSHIN: I found the problem.
KANZEON: Oh?
JIROUSHIN: This. Right here. 'Use of magical twink device to negate zombies.'
KANZEON: .....damn Key of the Twilight. AURA! QUIT DROPPING YOUR STUPID TRINKETS IN OTHER REALITIES!
AURA: (from somewhere far away) Not my fault! My floaty robe/dress thing doesn't have pockets!
-
(Scene: HAKKAI, GOJYO, and KOUGAIJI discuss the succession)
HAKKAI: You seem to be taking all this rather casually.
KOUGAIJI: I just spent the last five years parading around as spokesperson for Gyokumen Kyushu, telling people to follow her psychotic plans. Do you honestly think anyone is going to want to see me in power?
GOJYO: Better you than Bush.
-
(Scene: A BODY falls out of the clear sky and flattens GOJYO)
EVERYONE: (stare)
SANZO: .....didn't that happen in Con Air?
HAKKAI: ..and in Dogma.
GOJYO: (smushed) Cancel that woman's goddamned cable. No more movie scene cameos.
-
(Scene: SHUYIN and GOJYO narrowly avoid impalement by the Buster Sword)
CLOUD: (from Highwind overhead) Sorry, sorry, my bad! It slipped out of my hand!
-
(Scene: RASETSUNYO fights with SHUYIN)
SHUYIN: It wasn't like I left you two alone on purpose!
RASETSUNYO: Tell it to the judge. You owe me five hundred fucking years of child support.
-
(Scene: KOUGAIJI finds out about his heritage)
SHUYIN: (can't resist) Luuuuuuke, I am your father...
KOU: ......you slept with this retard?
RASETSUNYO: (pointed look at Gyuu-zilla) ..and my other options were...what?
KOU: ...um. Point.