TITLE: Stigma
SUMMARY: As a Sanzo of the modern world, you basically just need to attend functions, be polite, and stay in your place to have a smooth life. But the latest Sanzo finds that hard when he soon acquires 3 demon roommates in a world where demons are discriminated against. Things get complicated when he begrudgingly becomes attached to a golden eyed brat who has no business caring about him.

PLEASE NOTE: This story is rated M. According to the FF site, that means it has to be appropriate for ages 16+ WITHOUT explicit content, which includes adult language, themes, and suggestions. This story meets those requirements. Their will be LOTS of cussing because, well... It's Saiyuki.


CHAPTER 2
Settling In


"But Master Sanzo," one of the priest sighed imploringly to him as he was having a cigarette outside his new apartment. The movers were bringing in expensive furniture. "A Sanzo priest is supposed to live modestly..."

"That's not a part of the rules," he answered.

"And they're not supposed to smoke!" he added a little more defiantly.

"Again, show me in the rules," he put out his cigarette on the railing just before the entrance and went inside tossing the butt onto the ground.

"And they're not supposed to litter!"

"I'm not repeating myself," he sighed opening his fridge he took out a beer. All that was in there at the moment was beer.

The priest had begun to open his mouth to mention the beer but decided against it. "Master Sanzo, now that you have the title of Sanzo, you are technically expected to behave with a certain—"

Sanzo reached in his jacket and pulled out a piece of paper which he set on the counter. As he headed into the living room he began reciting the words on the paper word for word, because he had it memorized.

"A Sanzo Priest is expected to attend a minimum of three church gatherings a month, he is expected to address the people upon major holidays and during times of crisis, he is expected to pray at the temple once a week for four hours straight. He is expected to be kind to Demons and Humans alike. He is expected to respect other members of the church even if they worship another religion. He is expected to not refuse blessings when requested. He is expected to have the scripture on his person at all times, as well as keep it safe. He is expected to maintain a visually respectable appearance. Any and all of which he does not have to abide by, provided that he is in the process of being on a holy quest..." he took a seat on his new plush sofa. "None of that says I can't have a nice apartment, drink or smoke."

"Yes, but those things go without saying..." the Priest sighed.

"Yeah well, put it in the contract next time..."

He took out a pair of glasses from his pocket and put them on before picking up the only thing on his coffee table, which was a news paper and started reading.


"Man, you look like shit…"

Hakkai was sitting at a bus stop starring at his shoes. He was still quite wet from the rain the night before. After disposing of his sister's body he had left the house and walked to this bus stop. He hadn't moved since then, but he looked up at the voice.

A halfer with long red hair was staring down at him frowning slightly, which deepened the moment their eyes met.

"You okay?"

"…"

"Hey… Wanna come home with me?" the man asked, and Hakkai just shook his head before continuing to stare at the ground.

"Sure you do," he reached out. "C'mon…"

Hakkai didn't argue, but let the stranger pull him to his feet. "Oh perfect timing, this is my bus."

The 12 bus had just pulled up and he helped Hakkai on and paid for both of them to ride.

They road in silence until about thirty minutes later they stopped in a slummy part of town and the man took him up to an apartment in a run down building. "Welcome to La Casa de Gojyo."

Hakkai didn't really seem to care where they were but he stepped inside and took a seat on Gojyo's couch, and he began to stare at his feet the same way he had been when at the bus stop.

"So…" Gojyo said awkwardly. "Wanna eat something?"

Gojyo hurried over to his fridge, "I got pickles, some questionable sandwich meat, and… lumpy milk."

Hakkai didn't answer him.

"Okay, maybe I'll bring home some take out," he started heading towards the door and stopped before leaving it. "Clearly something bad has happened to you, and I want to help. If you're here when I get back. I'll take that as a sign that you want my help. If you're not, I won't bother you again, even if I do see you."

With that he disappeared around the corner. Hakkai only barely registered his words.


Soshin owned a rather nice manor on his just out side the bustle of the city. It was close enough that if you wanted to head to town it wouldn't be that long of a drive, but just far enough you didn't get all the traffic noise and crime. He had a great view of the city lights from his living room though, and it was this window he liked to look out most.

"You called Sir?" one of his servants had entered.

"Set up as many fights as you can this month Yaone," he demanded.

"Sir, I believe you have a number of parties this month," she explained meekly. "Demon fights aren't legal if one of your reputable guests found out…"

"They won't," he answered. "But I'm planning on selling Goku, at the end of the month and I want to get as much use out of him as possible before I do."

"You're selling Goku…" she looked quite surprised.

Goku was… Goku was strange. He wasn't really human, but he wasn't really a demon either. She had only seen Goku a hand full of times since she was brought to this manor as a little girl. The first time was when she was eight, and the last time she had seen him was just about a month ago, she was a full grown woman now. But Goku, he hadn't aged a day since she had seen him as a child. He was in the body of a teenager, but she knew he was much older. The other servants used to talk about how Goku was passed down through the family. Which ever family member inherited the mansion they also got Goku with it. Rumors from the servants said that Goku had belonged to this family for well over five hundred years. Demons aged slightly slower compared to humans, but not nearly that much. By all accounts Goku should have grown old and died long ago.

"Why the surprise."

"He's been apart of your family for so long, I just…"

"Demon fights don't win us as much as they used to. I'm going to get ten times as much selling him in a month than I would having him participate in fights for the rest of my life. But that doesn't mean I don't want to win as much as I can until then…"

"I see…"

"Go schedule them then, as many as possible."

"Yes Sir," she turned leaving the room. She felt bad for Goku. This was the only home Goku had ever known. While he wasn't exactly treated well here, he wouldn't understand being violently thrown into a new life with an owner who in all likelihood would not be kind. Her master Soshin didn't exactly know kind people. She wondered if she should explain to him what was happening. She doubt anyone else had.

So that evening when her chores were done she snuck down to Goku's cage. He was sitting against the wall staring at his feet.

Kneeling down beside him she held out a small loaf of bread. "Here you go Goku…"

He looked up at her and smiled, "Hi Yaone."

He took the roll from her, "Thank you."

"Goku," she frowned. "Has anyone told you what's going to be happening in a month?"

"What's a month?" he asked taking a bite of the bread.

"Oh… um… It's a period of time… Anyway, Master Soshin is going to be selling you."

He stopped eating for a second looking up at her. He knew what selling meant.

"I see, no one did tell you…" she sighed.

"Well, think of it this way, you'll have a new owner and a new home. Hopefully a better one than here…"

"Does that mean I'll go outside?" he asked.

"Most likely," Yaone answered.

Goku leaned back smiling, "I haven't seen the sun since I was a kid."

"A kid…" Yaone decided to ask now. If she didn't she might never get the chance to. "Goku, do you age?"

"Huh? What a silly question of course I age."

"Well, you just… You've had the body of a teenager since I've known you."

"I age slowly, like the earth. The earth ages slowly too," Goku explained. "But it'll grow old and die eventually, just like me."

You know when little kids say something unexpectedly morbid? That's how this moment felt to Yaone and she decided to just blow past his response then it would be awkward to talk about further.

"Well, Goku… I don't think I'll see you again," she said softly. "So I wish you a good life."

"You too Yaone," Goku grinned in an effort to keep her spirits up. She looked like she wanted to cry. With that she left, and Goku listened to her heels clatter all the way down the hall until the sound of the heavy steel door opened and closed behind her.

He leaned back. He didn't particularly care that he was being sold. But he was hoping that this time he could be put in a cage where he could see the sun. He remembered the sun, he remembered the last time had had seen it. He remembered the carriages and the horses and the laborers building a large building. He remembered the large dresses the women used to wear. He had gotten in trouble once because he had been trying to run away from someone and had chosen one of the girl's skirts to hide under. He had gotten a good beating for that, though he wasn't quite sure why.

What he remembered more clearly than anything was looking up at the sun and watching it disappear behind the edge of the cellar roof as he was brought inside. The door closed behind them and he hadn't seen the sun since.

Every now and then his owner would come in and introduce a son or daughter and tell Goku that he belonged to them now. Then that son or daughter would grow up and introduce their son or daughter and tell Goku that he belonged to them now. On and on that would go. Soshin was his most recent owner, but he supposed he didn't have any children otherwise, why else would he sell him…

Of all the people there though, he liked Yaone the least. Because she was nice. You can't trust nice people. Because they always ended up being bad people eventually. They always hurt you in the end which was more painful than if they had just hurt you from the beginning. But bad people, the kind of people mean to you right from the get go. At least they were honest, and you never had to worry about when they might decide to change because they never did.


It sucked buying food for people you don't really know. He wasn't sure what that guy liked or didn't like. He wasn't sure if he was allergic to anything. So he just got some generic fast food burgers from the nearest place and started heading back.

He knew something really bad had happened to that guy? Why else would he have looked up with such pleading eyes. The sort of eyes that ask you to kill them. What could have happened that was so horrific that he would just up and want to die?

Gojyo hadn't had the best of childhoods, heck according to some people he had probably had one of the worst. But still, he didn't want to die. Too many pretty ladies in the world would have their hearts crushed if he did after all. He grinned at his own amusing thought. He just needed to find this guy something worth living for, that's all…

Gojyo opened the door to his apartment and found the stranger asleep on his couch. He smiled, part of him honestly hadn't expected him to stay…


Chapter Two, hope you enjoyed!