What happened to faith?

Raven

I don't own Saiyuki, otherwise it would probably wind up being a yaoi NC-17 anime that ADV studios did with the original voice cast (English) still, and I'd kill the animators if they didn't make it look like KazuyaMinekura did it herself. The manga can't get any better than it is! I'd also make them just a tad bit more angsty, cuz I'm depressing and sadistic. Oh, I'd also make Goku 4 inches taller.

Kougaiji had somehow managed to get back to the castle without breaking down. He managed to enter his mother's prison-like room without letting a single tear slide away. He stared at the empty space where his loving mother had once been frozen. Hot salt water screamed for release behind his eyes, but he clung to them, forced them to stay back, if only for a little while.

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Somewhere between lunch and dinner (as was the time system for Goku) they stopped in a dumpy little town that didn't have- well… anything. They stopped in the middle of the street where Hakkai promptly opened the map, and after gazing at it for a while, flipped it over. Everyone was staring at Hakkai, who was peacefully oblivious (or so he seemed), and after what seemed like an eternity, he flipped the map again and said: "According to this map it will be another week before we hit another town. We'll have to ask one of the villagers if we can stay with them." A small smile pressed his strained lips and he fooled no one. Seeing the expressions on everyone else's face, he let out a sigh and in a rather tired voice managed "let's get to it, shall we?" before getting out of jeep with another small sound of exasperation.

Unusual was one way to put it, but this newfound tension was here to stay, and they all knew it. Uncomfortably permanent would be the proper term for it. Unusual was what they saw next. A young girl around ten was kicking a crumpled form on the ground, which twitched sporadically every once in a while, making animalistic sounds similar to death. Gojyo, whose curiosity got the better of him, strided towards the young girl and peered over her shoulder.

Enthralled with her beating, the girl didn't even notice until a hand rested on her shoulder. "Hey kid, what are you--?" His mouth twitched and his cigarette dropped to the street, as red stained the ground, as well as the young girls boots, dress, and hands. She glared at Gojyo with eyes that were ageless, crisp black slicing through the sunset- before she turned on her heel and simply walked off.

Gojyo turned back to the bloody object on the street, and realized that in was a child. He tried not to gasp as he knelt down beside the crumpled body. "Kid, are you okay?" Gojyo grasped a torn shoulder and pulled over the child, whose blue sweater hood slid off of crimson hair.

cliff hanger! Ok, maybe not...

The child opened a bruised red eye and stared, just stared, at Gojyo. He opened his mouth, throat contracting painfully. "Its okay kid, don't say anything…" The child must have been about 8, his tiny hands ragged, cloth missing from his clothing, and pieces of dirty flesh literally torn away from his tiny body. Blood pooled around him like a dove in a lake. A knife was embedded in his chest mere millimeters away from his heart, and his eyes screaming with pure, unscathed emotion. "HAKKAI!"

Hakkai had been standing near him, mouth slightly open in shocked horror. At hearing his own name, he snapped out of his trance and knelt down beside Gojyo, reaching out towards the boy. His hand was nearly there, before in a slightly forced breath he said "We need to clean his wounds or they might get infected."

"So get some god damned water!" Hakkai visibly flinched at this, opening his mouth to retort with what would have either been a scream or a rational comment, but was stopped as Goku wordlessly poured water over the young child's wounds, a blank expression on his face. Sanzo was nowhere to be seen.

After Hakkai had closed the wound, his words were barely above a murmur. "He's alive, but barely. He's lost so much blood; it would be a miracle if he woke up. Ever." Goku's look was just as blank as before, but he looked up as Sanzo came practically sprinting towards them.

"No one will take him, or even look at him."

"So then what the fuck are we supposed to do!" Gojyo shouted in a half panic, eyes wild, almost dilated as he turned his head in vain hope that someone would magically appear and agree to take the mostly-dead child.

There was silence. "We take him with us." The silence turned stunned.

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Dokugakuji flung the door open hard enough for the knobs to break the plaster as it made contact with the wall it joined. "Kou!"

Kougaiji turned, blank pain searing through his empty eyes. He looked at Dokugaku, who nearly collapsed on the floor in a mixture of relief and anger. "What the fuck's going on!" Dokugakuji practically screamed, moving swiftly to try and literally shake some sense into Kougaiji. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a giant empty space where Kougaiji's mother was once sealed. He abruptly stopped shaking his emotionless master and fell down to his knees. "So that's it then? Yaone… Lirin…"

"They're gone now." Kougaiji's blank façade was quickly dissolving and his voice was near breaking. "Stand up." Dokugakuji didn't hesitate to stand up and regain his composure- although his heart was ripping. Again, it was ripping. Always. He was always in a situation like this, why did it have to be this way? Why was h-

"Please, call your weapon." A second later and a sword was there, a living tool of destruction used to preserve life. Ironic isn't it? "Get ready." Slightly puzzled but unwilling to question, he assumed an offensive stance and faced the door. "That's not what I meant."

"Wha!-" Kougaiji was now on one knee, holding Dokugaiji's sword to his own thoat. "What the fuck are you doing! Kou! Kou!" Dokugaku couldn't move, one wrong twitch and he would see his best friends head rolling down the floor- but that look… Kougaiji's eyes were pleading for death, for pain to erase pain, they were begging for mercy that only violence could bring.

"There's nothing left." That was it. Dokugaku did the only thing he could do. With a rough kick, Kougaiji's body landed a few feet away, blood ripping sickeningly from his throat, tears finally released in rivers of indescribable emotion.

Heh heh, NOW for the cliff hanger! I honestly almost discontinued this story, I must have had the worst writers block that I've ever had! And of course lack of encouragement hint hint didn't help anything. Those of you that did review though, Thank you SO much. It's nice to know that there are at least a couple of people who like it. And so we're now reaching the good part (soon at least). Yes, I'm not afraid of killing off the characters, though if you are a Kougaiji-ikkou fan I wouldn't bite my head off just yet! Keep reading! But I'm not saying he's alive either. And I know it seems as if I have slightly screwed over their personalities, but there are many things I have yet to reveal, including their abnormal behavior. I must also appologize because I keep thinking I've posted a chapter, but then when I happen to finish off another one I'm like: Hey, what about the last chapter? and of course, it's because I didn't upload it like I was supposed to. Gomen!Now, please review before I steal all of your Saiyuki stuff.