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 4
I Can Leave
The next day Sanzo made Gojyo cook breakfast and the three of them sat at the bar-like counter in his apartment eating. He made a plate for Goku, but he didn't come down stairs.
"He's probably only ever had food brought to him," Hakkai explained when Gojyo looked slightly offended that he hadn't come down. "I mean, we don't really know what his life has been like up until now. For all we know he could have been stuck fighting for months maybe even years. If that's the case it's logical to expect that his view of common things like coming downstairs for breakfast might be skewed."
"Well, let's take him up something to eat and get to know the little brat," Gojyo said grabbing the plate he had made him.
Hakkai and Gojyo started heading upstairs but Sanzo hadn't moved.
"You to Priest," Gojyo growled clearly annoyed.
"That's alright, you two go ahead," Sanzo said waving dismissively.
"Hell no, he seems to have a soft spot for you, so get your ass up and come with us! Besides weren't you going to help him get home?" Gojyo grabbed his arm practically pulling him from his seat. "Now up you go."
"I have more important things to do than—"
"Than taking care of an injured and abused kid that you saved? Yeah, how very priestly of you..."
His frowned deepened and grabbed the plate from him roughly before heading upstairs.
Hakkai knocked on the door, "Goku can we come in?"
Their was no answer.
"It's my house, of course I can come in!" Sanzo snapped lightly pushing Hakkai aside he opened the door.
The room was still a mess from yesterday. The plate of food Gojyo had brought him the night before was upside down on the carpet. Goku was wrapped up in the bed covers but he wasn't on the bed. He was sleeping on the floor in the corner near the bathroom.
"Uh, Goku," Hakkai took a few steps toward him. "Goku it's time to wake up."
He finally opened his eyes and groggily pulled himself into a sitting position. "Hi."
"Hello," Hakkai answered. "We brought you some food."
"Yea!" he perked up at that.
Sanzo handed him the plate. The first thing he picked up was the fork and bit onto it. "Ow!"
Gojyo covered his mouth laughing, "He did that yesterday too."
Goku smelled the fork and after deciding this must not be food he threw it to the side and started eating with his hands. Sanzo looked absolutely disgusted by his actions. Deciding to not wait for him to finish eating he spoke up, "Alright kid, where are you from? I'll take you back to your family?"
"Family?" Goku repeated. "What's that?"
Hakkai frowned. "You don't know what a family is?"
"Take me back..." Goku repeated that part as though thinking. "You mean where I was before with Master Soshin?"
"What? No!" Sanzo answered looking confused. "No way in hell you're going back there."
"Goku," Hakkai sat down on the floor in front of him. He knew this was a good technique with children. To get down to their level. It made you appear less threatening and thus allowed the child to feel they could open up more. Goku wasn't exactly a kid, but he also wasn't eighteen either. "A family usually consists of parents and siblings. Do you know who your parents are?"
"I don't have anything like that," Goku admitted still slightly confused on what a parent was. "What do they do?"
"Parents?" Hakkai frowned. "Well they are responsible for giving life to you, and they take care of you when your sick or injured, and they teach you things."
"Oh, I see. I do have that!" he said happily.
"Great now we're getting somewhere, do you know their address?" Sanzo asked.
"Address?" Goku looked confused again.
"I think we should take this a little slower," Hakkai said. "Let's start with who his parents are. Goku, what are your parents names?"
"Names..."
"Jesus, kid. Don't tell me you don't know what a name is!"
"I know what a name is!" Goku snapped defiantly. "I just, don't think she has one. But you guys all call her Earth, so I guess that's her name."
"Earth?" Gojyo frowned. "Your Mother's name is Earth. Maybe she's the product of hippies..."
"Okay fine, her name is Earth. Where does she live?" Sanzo was growing more and more impatient.
"Where does she? She lives everywhere, duh," Goku returned to his food acting as though he thought they were being kind of stupid.
Hakkai frowned. "Do you perhaps recall a phone number where your Mother could be reached?"
Goku looked up, he had some crumbs stuck to his face and he looked confused again, and suddenly Hakkai realized. "You don't know what a phone is do you..."
"Guy's you're asking all the wrong questions," Gojyo explained walking forward he sat down next to Hakkai. "Goku, how long were you kidnapped by Soshin?"
"Kidnapped?"
"God this kids stupid," Gojyo frowned. "Okay, um... How long have you been in that cellar cage that Soshin kept you in?"
"A long time," Goku answered.
"Okaaay," Gojyo was starting to look impatient now. "How long is a long time?"
Goku frowned, "I don't know... maybe this long."
He actually held out his arms as though indicating the physical length of something.
"Fuck Goku, stop skating around our questions and just answer us! We're trying to help you get home."
"..." he blinked at him. They were clearly getting nowhere.
"Oh I think I know," Hakkai said. "Goku what were you doing the day Soshin took you and put you in that cellar?"
"Soshin didn't put me there..." Goku answered. "Álvares put me there."
"Uh, who is Álvares?"
"He showed up on a big boat," Goku explained. "He brought lots of other people, and they were noisy and they started building stuff. It was really loud even at night. I couldn't sleep, but everyone has a right to build nests so I let it slide. But after a while he started hunting my friends and I was really mad. So I went to kill him but I got caught instead and I got put in a cage outside. Until they made the underground cage and then they put me down there."
"What? You mean they built that old barn recently," Gojyo frowned looking confused. "But it looked like it was 60 years old at least..."
"Wait a minute Goku..." Hakkai looked like the realization had hit him like a ton of bricks. "Was his name Mateo Álvares?"
"I don't know, everyone always just called him Álvares."
"Was his boat made of wood?" Hakkai asked a bit more concerned now.
"What else would you make a boat out of?" Goku frowned.
Hakkai took out his cell phone and started looking something up.
"No one sails wooden boats anymore you dummy..." Gojyo explained.
"Mateo Álvares did," Hakkai told them. "He was a Spanish settler, he came to China to seek his fortune and established rather successful gambling ring in which he would have animals fight. Challengers would bet for their beast's success against his. They say he had had a fearsome and unbeatable creature who never lost unless told to. Goku, were you that creature?"
"Uh... I guess so. I did fight a lot for him..."
Gojyo looked over at Sanzo. "That was 500 years ago..."
"Ugh, damn it kid. Stop lying! That would make you over 500 years old!" Gojyo snapped. "Tell us the truth!"
"..." He looked confused again. "Truth?"
"Damn kid! C'mon, truth and lies. You can't tell me that you don't even know what—"
"Lies," Goku frowned. "I know about lies. Humans lie all the time."
"What he knows and doesn't know is so sporadic..." Sanzo frowned.
"Well, from what I'm gathering, Goku must not have known how to speak when he was first taken, so all the language he knows he picked up after being kidnapped, which means he only understands what he picked up from passerby and when he was taken out to fight. He probably knows what a parent is and what truth is, he just never heard the terms for them."
"Their is no way he's 500 years old," Sanzo pointed out. "He has to be lying. Probably because he doesn't want to go home."
"Sanzo, I really doubt that's the case. How would he know about Álvares then. That's not exactly common knowledge history, and the only reason I remembered the name is because I was taking a history class that focused on this city."
Goku didn't understand most of the words Hakkai was saying so he turned back to the last bit of food on his plate and stuffed it in his mouth before he tilted the plate up munching the rest of the food down.
"How is lifting your arms that high not killing you?" Gojyo asked. "Your ribs are broken after all..."
"Huh? Oh, that's all better now."
"Wait what?"
Hakkai and Sanzo stopped arguing for a moment and they turned at that. "What do you mean it's all better now?"
Goku smiled, "It's all better. She took care of me," he hit his rib hard enough for them to hear the sound when it made contact. That wasn't a lot of force, but it would have keeled him over if his ribs had still been broken. "She always heals me. She gave life to me, and she takes care of me. So she's my parent. Right?"
He was attempting to use the new word he had learned, but he wanted confirmation that he was using it right.
"You mean this Earth chick?" Gojyo actually looked around the room as though expecting to see a woman standing in the corner.
"Gojyo, I think... he means the actual Earth," Hakkai couldn't believe how fascinating this was. Here was a kid born over 500 years ago. It was too bad he spent the majority of his life in a cage underground. He would probably have some amazing stories to tell otherwise.
"Bullshit! Their is no way this kid's Mother is the Earth!"
"Is Mother another word for Parent?" Goku asked Hakkai.
"Mother is a female specific term for parent," Hakkai explained. He frowned slightly.
"Alright enough of this," Sanzo turned back to face him. "Where do you want to go. If you don't have a home then I'll take you anywhere. So just name it."
"..." he looked down at the empty plate. He wanted to go outside. But from past experience he knew asking to go outside was not a good thing. So he settled for... "I don't have anywhere I want to go..."
"Well think it over, because if you're healed now then their is no reason for you to be here any more," Sanzo pointed out before leaving the room.
Goku watched him leave actually looking slightly sad at that, he turned to Hakkai after he left. "I'm confused, didn't that Sanzo guy buy me?"
"Buy you? No, he saved you."
"But... Master Soshin was planning on selling me..." Goku frowned. "I guess if Sanzo doesn't want me here then I should go to whoever bought me."
"Like hell you are!" Gojyo sounded rather angry so much so that Goku actually jumped a bit. "Goku buying and selling people isn't okay! It's wrong! Besides knowing Soshin, whoever he sold you to is probably just as terrible of a person as he was!"
"All people are terrible," Goku explained bluntly. "So why does it matter who I belong to?"
"It matters! The only person you should belong to is you," Gojyo snapped looking rather angry. "And this person who bought you is probably just gonna use you to fight just like Soshin did! Do you really want that?"
"I don't mind fighting. I like it when my opponent is strong. I just don't like fighting creatures that are small and frail..." he looked upset as though remembering something sad.
"Goku, I think you should think about what you want," Hakkai explained. "Think about what would make you happy. Let us know when you've decided and we'll do our best to make it happen. Okay."
He picked up Goku's food plate and grabbed the one from yesterday as well. "Let's let him think it over, c'mon Gojyo."
They left the room and Hakkai closed the door softly behind them.
They went downstairs where they saw Sanzo sitting at the counter his fingers interlaced in thought. He hadn't even resumed reading his paper. Hakkai put the plates in the sink and turned to the other two.
"You don't really think that kid is actually 500 years old do you?" Gojyo asked.
"It's pretty convincing. How else would he know about Álvares?"
"Ugh I don't know..." Gojyo frowned. "What do you think Master Sanzo?"
He said the Master Sanzo with the same cockiness from the other day, but Sanzo didn't even bother to look annoyed at that.
"15 years old or 500 years old, it makes no difference. He needs to figure out where he wants to go from here. That's all their is to it..." Sanzo was sounding unusually cold even for Sanzo.
"What about the guy who purchased him? I'd imagine Soshin probably sold him for a shit load of money. So whoever it was is going to come looking for him eventually..."
"I'd imagine so," Hakkai responded frowning.
"Doesn't matter to me," Sanzo got to his feet. "All of you should be out of here in a week regardless."
With that he headed to his room.
"Gee how generous of our mighty Priest," Gojyo frowned. "What an ass..."
The next day was a school day for Hakkai so he had left quite early. Gojyo had clearly lost his most recent job so he was loafing around the house all day, which was annoying Sanzo greatly.
"Go find a job already!" Sanzo snapped after Gojyo asked him for the hundredth time what he wanted to do.
"Look that's easier said than done," Gojyo explained frowning. "Not a lot of people are willing to hire half demons, and even if that weren't an issue. It's slim pickings as it is. The economy sucks..."
"I don't care, you're driving me crazy!"
Gojyo sat up and glanced towards the stairwell. "The kid hasn't come down yet."
"Don't change the subject!" Sanzo snapped.
"Maybe you should go talk to him, he seems to like you best," Gojyo urged.
"He'll come down eventually."
"Why don't you just let him live here, I mean. It seems like he has no where else, and it's not like you can't afford to take care of him."
"Shut up," Sanzo growled before lighting a cigarette.
"Are priest supposed to smoke?"
"I said shut up..."
"I mean, I guess they can if it's part of a ritual or something, but I doubt cigarettes are—"
Sanzo got to his feet and started heading towards the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"To talk to the kid, anythings better than staying down here with just you."
Gojyo got to his feet and followed Sanzo upstairs looking annoyed.
Sanzo opened the door to find Goku in the same corner he had been in the night before. He had the blanket wrapped around him and he was staring up at the ceiling.
"Shit kid, aren't you bored?" Gojyo asked but then again he probably didn't know what the word bored meant.
"Alright," Sanzo said. "Have you decided where you want to go?"
"..."
"Damn it kid, you can't just sit there for the rest of your life," Sanzo sighed.
"But I like it here," Goku answered. "I got warm fluffy stuff to wrap up in, and this is the biggest cage I've ever had!"
Gojyo and Sanzo exchanged looks before Sanzo turned back to him. "Goku, this isn't a cage."
Goku blinked up at him.
"It's not a cage. We've never once locked you in here. You've been free."
"I can leave..."
"Uh yeah," Gojyo looked rather concerned. Had he really thought he hadn't been allowed to leave all this time?
"I can leave now?"
"Of course," Gojyo answered.
Goku got to his feet. The blanket he had been wrapped up in fell to the floor and walked over to the door. It had been left open but he still stopped at the exit hesitantly and then turned back to Sanzo as though asking for permission.
"Well go on," Sanzo urged seemingly slightly annoyed.
Goku took one step out the door and his face split into a wide grin and he took off down the stairs. Gojyo hurried after him but Sanzo followed at a slow pace, trying to give off the appearance of not caring but the truth was Goku's happiness was infectious. Like when you see an injured animal get released back into the wild after months of rehab. Sanzo had the slightest of grins on his face but he was being overly careful to not let anyone see it.
Goku ran around the living room looking in awe at all the furniture there, but it wasn't long before he was drawn to the glass wall that led to the back yard. At first he tried to run out there but ran face first into the glass. "Ow!" he frowned but he jumped right back up placing his hands on the glass he stared outside. A sliding glass door blocked his being able to leave, but he didn't open it because he obviously didn't know what a sliding glass door was. Though he stared outside as though the most wonderful of wonderful things was out there and he couldn't quite reach it.
Gojyo walked over grabbing the door handle he slid the glass door open, "There you go kid, go have fun."
Goku walked over to where he had opened the wall and actually reached his hand out as though making sure he could indeed go through it. Then he rushed out staring around Sanzo's rather large yard. It was surrounded by a large wall to block out city noise and lights. Their were trees a small pond and bushes with varying flowers. Gojyo and Sanzo sat out on the deck watching him explore.
"He sure seems happy now," Gojyo took out his own cigarette.
"I guess," Sanzo hid his small grin from Gojyo by propping his arm on his knee and resting his chin on his hand.
Then they both gasped simultaneously. Goku had jumped into the air, but it was no normal jump. The next thing they realized he was on top of the wall that surrounded Sanzo's yard staring out towards the city.
"Shit," Sanzo cursed hurrying over. "Goku get down before you hurt yourself!"
"How the hell did he do that?" Gojyo had rushed over as well but he seemed to be looking at just how far he had jumped.
Goku looked down at them looking rather sad, he jumped down landing in a crouched position before rising to full height again.
"What happened?"
"To what?" Sanzo raised an eyebrow wondering what he was talking about.
"The Forrest is gone," Goku pointed out. "Where do all the animals live?"
"Zoos," Gojyo answered a little too honestly, and Sanzo hit him none too gently with a fan he kept in his robe.
"Uh, the animals still live in the Forrest, they're fine," Sanzo explained. "The Forrest is just a good forty miles from here..."
"Forty miles?" he frowned. "How many sun shines is that?"
"Sun shines?" Gojyo snickered. "Do you mean days?"
"In a car, it's not far at all," Sanzo pointed out. "I'll take you there tomorrow if you want to go."
"The Forrest used to cover everything," Goku demanded, clearly wanting an explanation.
"Well they had to clear a lot of it away to build homes and shops and stuff," Gojyo tried to be helpful but Goku just looked more confused.
"But the animals. If the Forrest was cleared out then they had to leave their nests right. What if—"
"Jeez Goku, they're just a bunch of animals..."
"So are you," Goku glared at him fiercely. "Would you want someone to make you leave your nest when you had no where else to go?"
Gojyo frowned thinking about when he came home to find the eviction notice on his apartment. "Well, yeah that sucks. But that's life..."
"Look," Sanzo sighed. "I told you that the animals were fine. Alright. Do you think I would lie to you?"
"Yes." Their was no hesitation in his response. No moment of consideration. Even Sanzo looked a bit put off by that. "You're human, so yes you would lie to me..."
"Pffftt!" Gojyo started laughing. "Damn, I like you kid. Anyone who can make Sanzo's face look like that is okay in my book. C'mon, we'll visit the animals tomorrow, for now let's go make some food. You're hungry right?"
"Yeah!" Goku answered seemingly cheerful again, he followed Gojyo inside. Sanzo frowned, cheeky little shit, he thought feeling rather annoyed. He glanced back up at the wall. Seriously, how the hell had he jumped up there...
Hope you all liked this chapter!
