Disclaimer: Saiyuki?...Hm….checks files Nope not mine really but I will keep on writing fanfiction for it…oh, yess indeedy
A worryful little thing it seems……
Introducing:
Saiyuki- The Demons Within
Chapter Two : Worry and Sloth
Sanzo turned to look at his broken companions, his brow creased slightly with agitation. Agitation because of the absolute defeat they had been served and agitation as to having to think of what to do now. After a smoke, he set up the camp himself and bandaged them the best he could despite Hakuryuu kyuuing at him when he tightened the bandages too much. Hakkai was the first to regain consciousness. Using his ki power, he healed Gojyo's wounds and waited for the other two to come around. The afternoon slipped by in an icy silence and soon Hakkai heated a meal. The other two had since awakened but were silent, lost in their own wonderings, mulling over the defeat. The veil of silence was broken by Hakkai inquiring about the stranger. That is when Sanzo told them about what the man had said.
"He called them 'sins'?" Gokuu asked quietly.
"Yes." Sanzo raised an eyebrow at the look of deep thought that was crossing Gokuu's face, "Something important about it?"
"'Sins'?" Gojyo repeated then he flopped down on the ground to sit, "What a dumb name for something."
"Ah, but it could be a reference to the Seven Deadly Sins." Hakkai mentioned.
"Seven Sins?" Gojyo lay back on the ground with his arms crossed behind his head as a pillow, "What's this load of crap about?"
"The Seven Deadly Sins." Gokuu looked thoughtful for a moment, "They are the seven sins that are said to lead a soul directly to eternal damnation by making a person's life seemingly better on earth but instead consuming the person's every thought resulting in a living hell. It is said that there are supposed to be seven true demons that specialize in those very sins and are sent out by the king of hell to tempt the minds of mortals but a human may only be possessed by one sin at a time."
Gojyo looked mildly surprised and twisted his face up into a funny expression, "Was that really you monkey? Where did you get that from?"
"Eh…" Gokuu closed his eyes and put a hand to the back of his head, "Well, it was on a flyer left at the ramen store. It was talking about something weird."
"Same ol' monkey." Gojyo laughed, "Ramen store…please."
"Wanna make something of it?" Gokuu growled flashing barred teeth in a threatening manner.
"Urasei!" Sanzo brandished his paper fan and struck with accuracy.
"My, my." Hakkai held out his hands in an attempt to pacify them. Seeing the tension, he attempted to continue the previous topic, "So, what are the seven sins?"
"Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Avarice." Sanzo stopped to think, "Pride."
Gojyo shrugged, "Don't look at me; I commit them daily but hell if I know their names."
"Lust." Sanzo shot Gojyo an annoyed glare.
"That's six." Hakkai smiled trying to calm everyone down.
"What? Can't remember the last one? What kind of monk are you anyway." Gojyo grinned.
"Do you want me to put a hole in that head of yours to let out all the hot air!" Sanzo brandished his Smith and Wesson.
"Wrath perhaps." Hakkai offered, "If you think about the images they took, perhaps they were attempting a representation of the sin that each demon is."
"Doesn't matter. They're all annoying." Sanzo spoke up then he took out a cigarette.
"Ah, dinner is ready now." Hakkai motioned to the steaming stew.
Sanzo sat down across the fire from Hakkai. When he looked up, he saw it again. The blood smeared pointy-eared face, the insanity filled eyes, and the crooked wicked grin on a killing machine ready to leap across the fire at his and tear his throat out. The memory of a gunshot echoed through his head. Sanzo nearly jumped as a hand landed heavily on his shoulder. He looked up to see Gokuu frowning down at him.
"A word, Sanzo?"
With an irritated growl, Sanzo got to his feet. He was actually rather glad to be pulled out of his deviating mind. He followed Gokuu into the forest and out of earshot of the other two. Finally, Gokuu turned and watched Sanzo in silence. They stayed that way for several moments before Sanzo became irritable. His brow creased.
"What is it?" Sanzo demanded angrily, "Why are you just staring at me like that?"
"That's what Hakkai wants to know." Gokuu started quietly, "You're starting to freak him out. He thinks you're mad at him and it worries him. I can smell the tension so much that I could not smell the enemy over it today."
"What do you know you stupid monkey." Sanzo looked furious.
"Sanzo, I know that you're still upset about that whole incident but you're going to have to let it go. You're scaring Hakkai." He added quieter, "You're worrying me."
"It's none of your damn business!" Sanzo snapped. He turned to leave but a very strong hand caught his shoulder stopping him forcefully.
"Sanzo…you're sad aren't you? You still haven't forgiven yourself for killing him have you? Please listen to me. Hakkai's already forgiven you; I know that he understands that you had to do it. If not, he would be the one bearing the guilt of your death. Forgive yourself. If you have to, tell him you're sorry and let him forgive you himself. Sanzo please…" Gokuu let go of his shoulder and looked listlessly to the ground. On some level, he felt as if he was taking authority in a way that he had no right to.
After a few moments, Sanzo replied, "I'll consider it." Then he walked off.
Gokuu sighed and followed him back to camp. Hakkai was relived to see that they both returned unharmed while Gojyo made a dirty comment about how long they had been gone which resulted with him being whacked over the head with the fan of death and ordered to shut his damn mouth. In the end, Sanzo did not say a word to Hakkai about it. It actually bothered him how intelligent and logical Gokuu had been. It was not right. That monkey was supposed to be and idiot. He lay down to sleep letting the night air rush over him like the cold regret trapped in his soul. He could remember youkai Hakkai's face so clearly when he shot him. Then the look of pain that swept the emerald eyes at the moment when he was Hakkai again just before death took him. That look haunted him. He was close to Gokuu but the monocle wearing man was the closest thing that he had to a close friend. Sanzo lay awake staring into the midnight sky with his thoughts.
Morning came all too soon and the bright light was greeted with a curse from the violet-eyed insomniac. Sanzo sat up to see Hakkai leaning over the fire cooking. Yawning, Gokuu was sitting by the fire trying to piece his broken armor back together. The magic blast had shattered it into useless fragments. Had it actually struck him full on, Gokuu was sure that it would have broken several of his bones.
"You're up early Gokuu." Hakkai smiled.
What had that incantation been? It made his skin crawl all the time like there was something under his flesh. What was that spell supposed to do and most importantly, what was that bastard trying to do to Sanzo? Gokuu ground slowly in his thoughts when Hakkai's voice startled him. He looked up quickly with a confused face, "Heeeh?"
Hakkai chuckled at the awkwardness of the confused expression, "I said, 'You're up early'. It seems a bit too early for you. Breakfast won't be ready for some time now. You should go back to sleep. I'll wake you in a little bit."
"That's ok. I'm fine." Gokuu smiled then he thought carefully for a moment, "Hakkai, did you know that Sanzo-- waahh!" A hand wielding the dreaded fan flew out of nowhere and descended upon him over and over again. Gokuu put a hand over his wounded cranium and cast a resentful look at Sanzo who was glaring down at him, "That hurt, Sanzo."
"You want to die?" Sanzo glared then turned away from him.
"It something wrong?" Hakkai looked worried.
"Nothing important." Sanzo sat down by the fire. Stupid monkey. No one spoke his mind for him.
"Good morning, Sanzo-sama." An arm snaked it's way around Sanzo's shoulders as the red haired man came to sit beside him.
Sanzo knocked Gojyo's arm off his shoulders and glared, "You want to die too?"
"So cold." Gojyo made a mock hurt sound then got up and moved to sit beside Gokuu, "Can't believe you are awake before breakfast, gaki-saru."
Sanzo tuned out the resulting bickering and started to read his newspaper that he had pulled out of his sleeve along with his glasses. Idiots, both of them.
After breakfast, Gojyo took out his cigarette pack and began to smoke. The problem with Sanzo and Hakkai had not been completely overlooked by him. He just did not want to risk his skin by confronting either one about it. Things like this were best left alone to work themselves out. Interfering from his part would only make matters worse. He had many jokes inside of his head about it. However, a jokester he may be and the devil of irritation, getting on Sanzo's 'To Kill' list was just not one of his favorite things to do. Putting his two-cents in was a sure fire way to get killed. He would just coast it out safely on the sidelines and watch as the story unfolded itself. Let the monkey play with fire if he was willing to get burned. Soon after, he finished two of his cigarettes; they were off on the road again in Hakuryuu.
The day was uneventful and eerily quiet at first. Sanzo was lost in thought, Gokuu was sulking, and Hakkai was depressed. Gojyo, though staying contentedly out of everything, was beginning to wonder if he was the only stable one here. He smoked through his pack then turned to trying to provoke Gokuu and bring back some hint of normalcy. Besides, it was funny to watch the little youkai's face light up with embarrassment not that he had more or less an understanding of Gojyo's jokes.
"So, chibi-saru, how many hot chicks have you seen on your travels, eh?" Gojyo goaded with a grin after a long patch of silence.
"Shut up, ero-kappa!" Gokuu snapped at him.
Aw, come on, you can't tell me that you haven't seen any. You know; nice looking girls with long legs, lush perfect bodies, fine slim features, and especially--" Gojyo was grinning ear to ear.
"ERO-KAPPA!" Gokuu yelled, his face red, "You pervert! I don't want to hear about your life!"
"It's more interesting than yours, you monk wanna-be." Gojyo gave a sly grin, "And apparently much more exciting."
"Pervert! Pervert!" Gokuu shouted then he stood up and pointed an accusing finger, "You dirty perverted cockroach! I don't want to sit by you anymore!"
"Aw, if the little monkey's shy I can introduce you to some lovely ladies who know exactly what to do for you." Gojyo started laughing at Gokuu's color changing face, as it paled then turned red again.
"You are sick and wrong!" The finger of accusation pointed again, "SICK AND WRONG!"
Gojyo stood up, "You got a problem with it, you baka-saru!" Gojyo grabbed Gokuu by the hair and slammed his face into the seat cushions as if to smother him, "It's rude to point at handsome men you know!"
Sanzo twitched, unable to take it anymore, "URASEI!" He held up the Smith and Wesson and leveled it at them. All bickering stopped….for the next ten minuets.
The day's travel had ushered them into a thick forest. The road through it was very old and weeds had started growing along the side. Soon the sun set in the far horizon leaving a musky flower and pine scented breeze to blow coolly through the dark velvet of night. They decided to camp in the road for the sides of the forest held a very foreboding look and it felt as if something were watching them. Hakkai started up supper.
"Hey, monkey. You smell anything out there? This forest is giving me the hee-bee-gee-bees." Gojyo cast a glance into the forest's dark endlessness.
"I smell something but I can't make out what it is. There's too much interference." Gokuu cast a glance at Sanzo. Seeing Gojyo's questioning look, he waved at the fire, "Smoke. The pine is burning badly."
"Ah." Gojyo did not believe that excuse at all. He figured that the earth youkai could smell the tension just as well as he could read it, "Eh, don't trouble yourself over it. I'm sure that I'm probably just being paranoid after yesterday and all." He patted Gokuu on the head, earning himself a scowl. Gojyo laughed and sat down by the fire.
Sanzo himself had buried himself back into his newspaper, which he never seemed to be able to finish as he tried to forget things. If he tried hard enough to forget, then there was no need to seek penance. He would bury that memory where he had buried the memory of Koumyo Sanzo's death. That thought, however, only served to resurface that memory. People died, it was a fact, but…why did the living have to hurt for it. He turned his eyes back to concentration on the words before him only to realize that he had yet to actually read a sentence.
On the other side of the fire, Hakkai was almost finished cooking the meal. He had wanted to ask for forgiveness from Sanzo for the incident. If only he had stayed in control, then Sanzo would not be so angry with him now. He did not say a word for he was afraid of being snapped at. He sighed depressed then took out four bowls and divided the meal between them. Everyone sat in silence when suddenly Hakkai's sixth sense went to alert. He took an immediate scan of the area only to have his eyes land on Gokuu. The other two were watching him as well. The youkai was deathly still as if in a trance and his normally golden eyes were…green? What was this? The earth youkai's teeth barred slowly as Hakkai watched him tense up. He did not look to be all there in his mental capacities and his eyes were focused on something where Hakkai saw nothing.
Without warning, a whirlwind force of air slammed though the campsite, knocking out the fire and covering everything in pitch-black darkness. Hakkai felt something snake around his arms then pull then out painfully before he could react. He strained against it but it was far too strong. He heard curses from Gojyo and Sanzo when suddenly a sickly pale green light illuminated the area.
Hakkai saw that Sanzo and Gokuu had been captured just as he had. What surprised him the most was to see what was holding them there. It was the trees themselves. Their branches waved in the air angrily and several had been twined around their limbs as if they were giant kraken. Gojyo was bound in a cocoon of branches instead of hanging. Hakkai supposed that was to keep the demi-god from breaking out with strength alone. Gokuu was the only one not struggling. Something was very, very wrong. As Hakkai stared at the greened eyes, he felt like they were an empty void waiting to be filled with something. They were definitely not Gokuu's own. Hakkai struggled a bit more but stopped as the branches constricted more.
"Damn it! What the hell is this!" Gojyo yelled in anger.
"Ah, yesss. Hell, indeed. Which one you mean, perhaps, near mortal one? Silly little mortals." A voice came echoing in the darkness. That is when the most hideous creature that Sanzo had ever laid eyes upon was carried into the light on a pyre that was strapped to the backs of four enormous deer. The animals looked possessed and half-dead. Their eyes were empty sockets of eyeballs removed and their ribs nearly jutted out of the flesh that was pulled taunt at their sides. Their smell alone was of rotting flesh. The creature itself was gruesome beyond any conceivable comparison. Around four feet tall with a slight human appearance, just enough to add insult to the mortal race, its wormish body lay stretched along the pyre. Its skin was a sickly pale green and its very bone structure was apparent as layers of loose flesh hung down it in large wrinkles. Every motion it took, and every word it spoke was performed in a slow careless manner.
"What the hell is that!"
The creature ignored Gojyo's question and was taken up to each of them in turn only to stop in front of Sanzo. It seemed to be considering them all very thoughtfully. Staring at Sanzo, it spoke to no one in particular.
"Azreth, Azreth. You've made a mistake, oh, what a mistake. You said that it would be done but it is not so. The Master said that it would be the pretty one, the blond one, but you've gotten the Taisei instead. Nasty little creature. Oh, dear. How are you going to fix this? Master cannot use the brown haired one, oh no. We cannot control it, little beast. No, not that one. Dear Azreth what a mistake." The slow muttering voice slid in its own musing.
"What have you done to Gokuu?" Sanzo narrowed his eyes angrily.
"What is it that you want from us?" Hakkai asked.
"From you, dear mortal? No, no. It is what you want from Sloth. I have come to let you have it. Sloth is the first. The honor is mine." The oily voice came.
"We don't want anything from you." Hakkai tried to reason.
It was ignoring him again and now staring at Gokuu, "Murderous thing, come and take what you are wanting."
It waved its hand and the branched holding Gokuu released him. The youkai landed with a snarl and in a brief flash of motion, Sloth as it had called itself was lying on the ground in a pool of blood as Gokuu tore into it viciously. Flesh flew through the air in a sick display. Hakkai turned his face from the terrible scene. Sloth let out one last gasp of breath then died. The deer then decayed into piles of rotten ash. The tree branches released them reverting back into normal seeming trees as if nothing had happened.
Hakkai ran to Gokuu's side where the earth youkai was knelt on the ground by the corpse of Sloth that was fading into thin air. Gokuu was shaking his head violently side to side with his ears covered as if he heard something painful. Due to such movement, the blood that covered his hands was now smeared across his face and hair.
"Gokuu! Gokuu!" Hakkai grabbed the youkai about the shoulders, "What is it? Gokuu, please stop!" Hakkai looked over as he heard someone kneel beside him to see Sanzo.
"Stop this shit you stupid monkey!"
Gokuu stiffened up for a moment and screamed as if he were in pain then passed out. Hakkai caught the youkai as he fell then cradled him as if he were a child and looked down at him.
"Hakkai?" Gojyo's inquiry was filled with his own confusion and worry. He wandered over.
"I don't know what happened." Hakkai checked Gokuu for injury and was relieved to find none.
"What did that bastard do to him?" Sanzo's face was filled with anger. Anger at his confusion, anger at his helplessness, and anger on Gokuu's behalf.
"It was just like the insanity that he used to get back when he broke his limiter." Hakkai looked to Gojyo.
The demi-god shrugged, "Kanzeon said that it would never happen again now that he's back whole again. Those creeps must have done something."
"…socar holocaustum…gratia…erus…"
What the hell?" Gojyo raised an eyebrow then looked down at Gokuu who was speaking the awkward words from unconsciousness.
"It's Latin." Hakkai was also watching mildly surprised.
"Isn't that some kind of written language or something stupid?" Gojyo made a face, "What's he saying anyway?"
"Expecto…continuo…famular…"
"I'm sorry, but I do not understand Latin." Hakkai looked to Sanzo.
"Urasei." Sanzo put a hand on Gokuu's forehead and as soon as his fingers touched the youkai's skin, he stopped muttering. Sanzo stared tight-lipped for a moment, "He's got a fever."
Hakkai checked, "You're right. Sanzo please relight the fire. Gojyo, get some water from Hakuryuu."
Sanzo looked down at Gokuu who was lying beside the fire now. Hakkai had gotten his fever to go down some but he had said that it would be best not to move him tonight. Sanzo had sent the healer to go get some rest. He was taking first watch for intruders and in his own way to look after Gokuu. He frowned. What exactly had happened? He gathered that from the fight with Azreth earlier he was supposed to have been hit with the incantation. What was it for? As for the broken Latin, Sanzo had pieced it together as best he could. It was just words not even sentences but he did the best he could to put them together. 'Sloth sacrifices for the sake of the Master. To await…to join together…to be a servant…' Yeah, whatever it meant, it did not sound good. There were many indications in that Latin that he did not like. Azreth was behind this. Next time Sanzo saw that man… Hearing a small sigh, Sanzo was brought out of his murderous thoughts. He looked over to see tired golden orbs reveal themselves.
"Sanzo…?"
"Baka-saru!" Sanzo smacked him upside the head with his fan. There was not the normal force behind it, "What happened with you?"
"Happened?" Gokuu looked confused.
"With that creature."
"What creature?"
"You don't remember?" Sanzo looked to be thinking again.
"I remember my head hurting while I was eating then...I woke up just now. Did I fall asleep?" The youkai yawned then pulled his blanket closer, "I don't feel well."
"Go back to sleep you idiot." Sanzo waited for the eyes to shut themselves once more then he tucked the blanket around the youkai's shoulders and wandered off to his place to keep watch.
End Chapter 2
Next time on: Baking With Saiyuki--
Will they ever buy enough flour?
Where did they get those frilly aprons and most importantly what is Gojyo doing with all that cooking oil?
Nah, but seriously:
Chapter Three: Sickness, Wrath, and Envy
In which, Sanzo gets into an argument with Gokuu and temporarily possessed tries to kill him, many things are brought to light, dreams of the future are had, and they get an invitation.
