The Taste of Crimson
Chapter Thirteen
Disclaimer: Saiyuki and all associated characters were created by Minekura Kazuya. I am making no money from this and am merely using the characters and setting for storytelling purposes.
Author's Note: Yume means dream in Japanese. For those who don't remember Shihi, she was the young woman in chapter nine who realized the boys were the Sanzo Party and ran off to tell some others.
Everything spins crazily as he falls through the sky of his mental world, his form changing from adult to child as he hurtles down toward the pond under the sakura tree. He hits the water with a sound like breaking glass, and something within him shatters into countless jagged shards.
He falls up through the air on the other side of the pond, strange images filling his mind as he drowns in someone else's life. He sees Hakkai and Sanzo, their hair long, and their clothing strange. He sees Goku, younger and in chains.
He argues with men he's never spoken too. Makes love to women he's never touched. Has deathless battles with beings he's never fought.
He tries to deny the things he sees, fighting to hold on to his existence as everything that makes him Sha Gojyo is overwhelmed. He's never really liked who he is, but his identity is all he has, and he struggles fiercely to hold on to it.
Something grabs him, stopping his upward plummet, and the foreign memories abruptly withdraw. Everything continues to spin in a blurry spiral as strong arms surround him, pulling him against a warm body.
"It's okay, kid, I've got you," his own voice says softly. Then a hand is pressed against his forehead and everything fades away….
Sanyin moved casually through the halls of the fortress, a human-shaped, shadow-wrapped bundle floating horizontally behind her. It wasn't unusual for members of her clan to bring prey back with them, either as a snack for later or as a gift to their leader, Kagemaoh.
She quietly slipped into the unused library that had become her informal base since discovering Heniao's activities. Once she closed the door, her shadow distorted slightly, the half-breeds she had captured rising up from it and then settling on the floor. Unlike the disturbance caused by using the Shadowed Ways, storing and retrieving things from one's own shadow couldn't be sensed by others of her kind.
Sanyin kept the half-breeds tranced long enough to leave the library, releasing her hold on their minds as she sealed the door with a thin layer of shadow. Then she made her way to the upper levels of the fortress, the shadow-wrapped bundle still floating behind her.
Kagemaoh met with the other high-level clan members every morning, usually leaving two men to guard his door. Sanyin's steps became hesitant as she approached them, and she carefully lowered her gaze.
"What do you want?" one of the guards asked.
"I-I have a gift for Kagemaoh," Sanyin stuttered softly. She licked her lips, adding to the illusion of nervousness. "I…want it to be waiting for him when he returns, as a surprise."
The other guard snorted. "And no doubt, you want to be there when he discovers the surprise, so he'll know who's responsible." He snorted again as Sanyin ducked her head and fidgeted. "Let's see this surprise."
He approached the bundle, and Sanyin removed enough of the shadow for him to see her captive's head. The guard whistled appreciatively. "That's definitely a pretty one. Go on in."
Idiots, Sanyin thought in contempt as the first guard opened the door and let her in. She would have them replaced with more competent men once she ruled.
She found Kagemoah's bedroom easily enough, most of it taken up by a large bed with a black canopy and white sheets. She dissipated most of the shadow wrapping and efficiently stripped her captive down to his underwear before settling him into the bed, fanning his scarlet hair across one white silk pillow.
She lightly trailed her fingers across his cheek, wondering what exactly had happened. He had been injured at some point the day before, but it shouldn't have caused the problems she'd had controlling him. Only sharp, sudden pain interfered with the trance state, and his injuries certainly didn't explain why he was unconscious.
The only thing she could think of was that she must have commanded him to do something that went so completely against his nature that it had broken his mind, causing him to retreat from reality. It happened sometimes with stronger willed prey. In the long run, it didn't really matter. Food didn't require a functioning mind to be delectable, after all.
She walked to the back corner of the room and sat down. She wouldn't have long to wait.
Kagemaoh yawned as he headed toward his rooms, one pair of guards walking in front of him while another pair walked behind. With the other local youkai no longer getting in the way, his clan was able to feed well, but it also left them bored and prone to fighting amongst themselves. The daily meetings were exhausting, but had become necessary to remind the others of his power so they wouldn't challenge him.
He approached his rooms with a grateful sigh, barely noticing the familiar sight of his door guards bowing to him.
"Lord Kagemaoh," one of them said as he reached for the knob. "A lower-level woman brought you a gift. She's waiting inside with it."
An arrogant, lazy smile spread across Kagemaoh's face. "Is it a nice gift?"
"Quite," the guard assured him.
The leader of the clan chuckled softly. "In that case, perhaps I'll let the woman live. After punishing her for daring to enter my quarters uninvited, of course."
He slipped inside, leaving all of his guards outside the door, and immediately looked around. His guest wasn't in the main living area, and he doubted she would be waiting for him in his small library or the bathing chamber. The bedroom then.
The arrogant smile appeared again as he crossed the living area and flung open the door to his bedroom, a sheer layer of shadow covering him to protect him from any attacks. The woman in the corner prostrated before him, not making a sound as he casually tethered her in place with a cord of twined shadows.
Still standing in the doorway, he studied the gift she had brought. At first, the vibrant red hair made him think it was a child of taboo, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Everyone knew half-breed blood had the worst qualities of both human and youkai. No one would be foolish enough to bring him one.
He walked toward the bed and his gift, unaware of the fine filaments of shadow that rose up from the carpet with each step, merging with his protective shield. He barely noticed at first as the shield slowly grew tighter and tighter.
When he did notice, he began to scream, shrieks of agony that went unheard beyond the room and soon died away, leaving the silvery peals of Sanyin's delighted laughter as the only sound.
Meihan sat against one book-lined wall, hugging her knees tightly to her chest while hazy images flickered through her mind.
The black tendrils hold her still as the silver-haired woman approaches. The youkai kneels beside her and pushes her hair away from her neck. Then the woman leans close and….
Meihan barely held back a startled shriek as someone gently grabbed her shoulder.
"Ssh, it's okay," the half-breed woman who had also been captured said quietly, sitting down next to Meihan. "I was able to get the little ones to sleep. If we get a chance to escape later, it'd be best if they were rested."
Meihan glanced at the group of children curled up on the floor at the other side of the room. "Poor things will probably have nightmares," she muttered, shuddering slightly. At least most of them were too young to fully understand what had happened.
"No, they'll have good dreams," the woman said with quiet confidence. "I may not have the power to put fully active people to sleep and craft elaborate dream worlds for them, but I'm dream weaver enough to help tired children go to sleep and set the tone of their dreams."
"That's pretty cool. All I can seem to do is hit things," Meihan said, looking down at her gauntleted hands and flexing her fingers. She knew youkai could make their weapons vanish, but she had no idea how to do it. She didn't even really know how she'd made the gauntlets appear in the first place.
"Well, I, for one, am glad you can hit things. If you hadn't hit that man, I would have been killed. Thank you for that, Meihan." She smiled slightly at the girl's startled look. "You're the most recent teenager brought to the village. That makes it easy to know and remember your name. I'm Yume."
Meihan gave her an incredulous look, and Yume laughed. "Yes, I know. A half dream weaver named Yume isn't very original. Reishu gave me that name. She didn't think my original one suited me."
"What was your original name?" Meihan asked, careful to keep the disgust out of her voice. Ugh. That certainly sounds like something Reishu would do. She thinks she's so high and mighty that she can just toss away other people's names. She probably had a really pretty na-
"Trash," Yume said softly, breaking into Meihan's thoughts.
"Wha?" Meihan blinked at the woman stupidly, wondering what trash had to do with anything. Was she remembering some chore left undone or something?
"My mother thought I was trash, so that's what she named me. Lady Menyou found me when I was twelve and brought me to the village. Reishu was seventeen at the time and took me under her wing." She smiled faintly then patted Meihan on the shoulder. "You should try to get some sleep too. I know Reishu will come for us, and we need to be ready to escape.
Takaharu sat on a large rock, studying his maps and eating the rice balls his daughter had prepared while the men traveling with him took a much deserved lunch break. His girl, Shihi, had been disappointed to stay behind, but a journey to help the Sanzo Party destroy a murderous group of stinking youkai was no place for a young lady. She'd done well enough by telling them the monk and his devoted followers were on their way to the mountains.
They had made pretty good timing, setting out only six hours after Shihi had given them the news and riding fast donkeys along the local game trails. If they kept to their current pace, they'd reach the fortress of the shadow youkai by nightfall.
Everything slowly comes back into focus, clear and no longer spinning. He's in a sakura tree, sitting on someone's lap with his head resting against the person's chest. He stays that way for a moment, listening to the soothing beat of a heart, before reluctantly pushing away and taking a look at his savior.
It's the dark-haired man from the other side of the pond. The one with his face. He shivers, remembering the feel of something breaking inside as he plunged through the pond.
"What happened?" he asks.
"That silver-haired bitch broke your mind. I fixed the damage, but there's nothing I can do about that," the man says, looking down at the pond. "You broke through the barrier, kid."
He looks down and sees a jagged…blackness in the middle of the pond. The tranquil water gently laps at the edges but doesn't spill over.
"What… what was the barrier for?" he asks, almost afraid to find out.
"It separated my life from yours," the man says quietly. "If I hadn't stopped it, they would have merged, and you wouldn't exist anymore. There will be consequences for breaking the barrier, but you won't lose yourself."
"Who are you?"
The man flashes him an eerily familiar grin. It's the same one he sees sometimes in the mirror. "I'm Kenren."
He frowns. He knows that name. It's what the god Homura and his lackeys had called him. "You're me?"
"Nope. I'm not you; you're me," Kenren says, lightly tapping him on the nose. "You don't remember it, but you lived my life. I know everything that's happened in yours, but I didn't experience it."
Before he can even begin to process the man's words, Kenren gently grabs a lock of his hair and studies it, smiling faintly. "The color of wine and a woman's cheeks when she blushes." He sighs and releases the soft strands. "Red was always my favorite color, and I've always adored women. If figures both would be used to punish me."
He looks away and ducks his head, hiding behind his bangs. "Why am I always a kid in my head?" he mutters, trying to change the subject.
"Because no matter how tough they try to be, broken children can't grow up until someone fixes them," Kenren says, lifting his chin and forcing him to look into dark purple-black eyes filled with acceptance and rough sympathy.
He looks away. He wants to deny that he's broken, but he can't bring himself to lie. "I'm tired," he says instead. "So fuckin' tired."
"Your mind is still a little fragile right now," Kenren says quietly. "You should sleep for a bit."
"Can't," he mumbles, shaking his head. It's hazy, but he remembers something about children being in danger. He has to help them.
"Don't worry, kid, I can handle things for you for about an hour or so."
"But-"
"Sshh. It's okay. Sleep now," Kenren says.
He's unable to fight the weariness any longer and slumps against the man, drifting off into a deep, healing sleep.
The man in the bed began to stir, slowly opening purple eyes that were so dark they almost looked black. He got up and stepped over a crushed…thing on the floor.
Poor bastard, he thought, shuddering in disgust. Then he looked down at himself and noticed his clothing, or rather, his lack thereof.
"Okay, Gojyo's got bitchin' taste in underwear, but there's no way in hell I'm pulling off a rescue in nothing but a thong," Kenren muttered. He smirked and cracked his knuckles. "The general does his ass kicking in leather."