We Love Mary Sanzo: Chapter One
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Author's note: If there's anyone who enjoys reading this and wouldn't mind becoming a beta reader, it'd be very much appreciated. I can use spell-check and have pretty good grammar (this chapter was done without a beta, as an example), but it'd be nice to have someone to help me make sure that the story isn't falling into unintentional clichés that I'm having too much fun writing to notice. Other than that, please read for yourself, and I hope you enjoy this fanfic!
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Chapter 1:
God dammit, what was wrong with that kappa?
That wasn't to say that having to share the only room available was exactly making Sanzo's day. To the contrary, he was rather pissed off considering that the bed had ended up with Hakkai—again. Whoever the hell kept suggesting a hand of poker to determine that sort of thing deserved to be shot, and priest Genjyo Sanzo the thirty-first couldn't think of a single reason why he shouldn't be the one to do the honors.
But god dammit, with his constant twitching, Gojyo was only making matters worse. The golden-haired man finally found himself growling out at the half-demon sitting next to him in the group's mahjong game, "Forget we were playing? Either pay attention or leave the goddamn game."
Rather than snapping back some traditionally idiotic retort, or even glaring at him competitively, Gojyo just shrugged, still staring out the window. "Sorry, man. Just had something on my mind."
"Would you care to enlighten us?" asked Hakkai, who was also tiring of the kappa's inattention to the game. Normally he would have stayed out of the argument altogether, but seeing his fiercely competitive friend so lethargic, except for the bouts of obsessive hair-brushing and jumpy stares around the room, had truly piqued his curiosity.
"It's really none of your business, but I saw a chick. Just wondering what she's up to now." The kappa gave a shrug, staring more intently out the window as though he expected the girl herself to be walking outside nearby. He knew it was more that he hoped for it than that he expected it, but still... Oh god, she had been beautiful, and after even their short talk, he found himself, for once in a long while, wishing to be near a woman for something other than sex. After meeting her, though, Gojyo wondered if it might be time to finally settle down and quit his womanizing. After all, there was no one else in the world that could compare to her...
Sanzo was entirely unsympathetic towards him and his lovesick looks, and was preparing to say a few choice words (and maybe a few more, if those didn't make the point well enough) when his red-haired companion opened his mouth again. "Think she's even a Sanzo. There's nothing that she can't do..."
If jaws could literally drop, hit the floor as hard as anvils, and then go scuttling across the room like some sort of horrible, fleshy crabs, it was safe to say that they would have. In one voice, Sanzo, Hakkai, and Goku all burst out asking "Whaaaat!" Goku's eyes in particular had expanded and bugged out to the point where he was, for a moment, almost indistinguishable from some crazed extraterrestrial life-form as thought after thought raced through his mind. Were women even allowed to be Sanzos? How come, this far west, she still had her scripture? Why hadn't they heard she was in this town?
Their own Sanzo stared for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "I want to meet her", he hissed, "and she had better damn well be what she claims she is."
Gojyo gave a smile entirely unlike him—it was far too full of pure joy and a gentle innocence which, if he had it before, he had been careful to never reveal to them. "I know she wouldn't lie. Not ever."
Now Hakkai was starting to worry about his friend, not to mention a faint worry that the man would go ballistic if Sanzo showed the slightest sign of disbelief in the claims of this "Lady Sanzo". For that reason, he gave an apologetic smile and tried to help smooth things out before they got worse. "How about I go with Gojyo to find and bring her back here? You can continue the game while we're gone." Yes—keeping an eye on Gojyo and getting to judge this woman for himself sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan.
"Feh. Do what you want." Yet despite the priest's emotionless words, Hakkai was certain that he was just as glad to not be coming with. This way, there was still the chance that it'd turn out to be all a joke... If it was, it would certainly make things easier for all of them.
However, Goku had to put in his word as well. "You know we can't play with two people, so why bother acting like it's not so?" Hakkai realized that all the boy really wanted was to come with, after all he was probably as curious as any of them. Still...
"Don't worry, we'll be bringing her back to meet you soon enough," the green-eyed man responded with his typical smile. It'd be easier to find out from Gojyo what was really going on without the monkey distracting him. "Tata now." With a cheery wave, he left with the kappa. "So, where exactly is this girl?"
His promiscuous companion blinked to attention upon realizing he was being talked to. "Huh? Oh, I'll show you. But her eyes, oh god Hakkai, her eyes... I've never seen anything like them. I didn't want to tell Sanzo, but I think she's half-youkai, just like me. But her eyes... I didn't think there could even be a difference, but with her there is. They're not the color of blood, they're... they're rubies, goddamn rubies. Shining and bright and beautiful, like everything good in the world."
Smile and nod, Hakkai thought to himself as they left and moved further away from the inn. Just smile and nod.
"You wouldn't believe it, but that's one girl who looks just soo hot in black and—shit! There she is!" Immediately he took off at breakneck pace (that is to say that necks would certainly have been broken if Hakkai had even attempted to follow him at the same speed through the throngs of people roaming across the streets like mindless cattle), and it was only after a few moments of searching that the demon managed to find him again. Find him... and her.
Apples. Red delicious apples, that could be baked into apple pies or cut and cooked with cinnamon, or even just eaten plain, enjoying the naturally sweet taste. That was his first thought upon seeing the short hair, not even touching her shoulders but still fluffing out around her face and looking so soft that not being able to reach out and stroke it was unbearable agony. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Hakkai numbly acknowledged Gojyo pointing to him, and the girl turning, allowing him to admire yet more of her incredible beauty. Her white kimono hung open, the scriptures hanging loosely across her shoulders, and besides the kimono everything she wore was black. There was the black miniskirt that so perfectly accented her slim hips and showed off a few inches of delightfully pale and well-shaped legs before fashionable black lace-up boots with soles a few inches thick themselves stole everything from slightly above her knees away from his longing eyes. Above that skirt was a midriff that her tiny black tank top did nothing to hide, not it in all its perfectly-formed loveliness or the ebony belly-button ring which Hakkai was starting to feel fiercely jealous of. It was just a ring. What gave it the right to be attached to that midriff for even a moment while he, a human, a being far superior to a simple piece of metal, couldn't even touch the place which, he had no doubt, that black thing took for granted? He turned his gaze further up again, to try to distract himself from wishing that he could ever so gently remove the ring so as to not hurt the girl—and then chi-blast it to the point where, metal or not, it burned.
Hakkai blushed, something extremely rare for him, as he noticed her well-endowed chest, and quickly moved to concentrating on the simple black prayer beads that served as a choker on her delicate neck. Her earrings were made from the ends of peacock feathers, with the green edges rimming their sapphire-blue centers painted black. The make-up on that lovely, soft-skinned face was perfect-and from eye shadow to lipstick, all darkly wonderful. Despite the boost from the boots, he still found himself having to look down into those eyes that Gojyo had described as rubies. The man had lied; they were so much more than that. As he continued to stare at her, the beauty opened those oh-so-luscious lips and began to speak in a voice that was silky, not that polyester that looked like silk but was really fake and not worth much at all, light, cute, and incredibly sexy, all at the same time.
"Oh em gee! It is sooo nice to meet you! My name's Mary Sanzo!"
