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lightrobberTitle: Every Step We Take (tentative) / Chapter 1
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None apply (yet)
Word count: 8467
Teh List: Prologue
Every Step We Take
Part 1 – Misused Mistakes
"Do you even know where this road will take us?" Gojyo shook off the ashes from his cigarette, watching how they fell over the cliffside. The path they were following was difficult, full of rocks, almost overtaken by bushes, and to top it all off, it was running on the very verge of the cliff. It was practically invisible, barely any trace left of a former road. If he bothered to lean over the side of the jeep, he could clearly see the river raging below. However, the first time he did so and realized how high up in the mountains they still were, and how deep down below the river was, an overwhelming wave of nausea hit him. The redhead never dared a second look.
"No, but at least we're moving onwards. Would you rather me turn back to the village we left three days ago and look for a detour?" Hakkai inquired.
"No, not really." The redhead had to agree. No matter what the road, at least they were moving in the direction they needed to. Perhaps more to the north than necessary, but at least they were having some sort of progress.
"I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry, you stupid chimp."
"Don't call me a chimp, you perverted water imp!" Goku shot back, feeling aggravated from the lack of food, the unintended rhyme slipping past his own, but not Sanzo's ears.
"What did ya call me just now?" Gojyo grabbed the teen in a headlock, none too gently driving a fist in his skull.
"Lemme go, you cockroach!" Goku flailed and swatted at him, and managed to hit the cigarette out of the redhead's mouth.
"My smoke!" He watched with horror as it flew through the air before falling towards the rumbling water below. "That's it! Now you're gonna get it!"
"Shut up you idiots!" Sanzo drew his fan on them, dealing quick, well-aimed hits around the back seat. The jeep jerked and swerved from all the commotion and almost skidded off the cliff and into the river below. After seconds filled with panic, the vehicle had regained stable contact with the ground and they could continue with the journey.
"Are you all right, Hakuryuu?" Concern was evident in Hakkai's voice when he addressed the dragon. It would have been quite troublesome if jeep had not been able to keep to the track and they would have ended falling into the water below.
"Kyuu!" came the muffled reply.
"Ah, I'm glad." Hakkai smiled with relief before turning to his three passengers. "I have to ask for all of you to behave or I'll personally throw you off of this cliff."
"Chill, Hakkai. Nothing happened." Gojyo shifted in his seat uncomfortably. The smile that had accompanied this kindly worded request was one of the smiles that he had dubbed as "freaky". To top it all off, the redhead was not a big fan of water when it came to rivers like the one below, and he knew Hakkai well enough to take his words into consideration. The brunette was not joking about it.
"But he started it!" Goku complained. "Why do I get blamed for everything the stupid water sprite does?"
"Who's stupid, you stupid?" The redhead gave him another nudge in the head.
"See? He hit me!" And Goku did not quite hesitate to return the favour.
"Why you!"
Two bullets zoomed through the air, flying right past their heads. "Shut up!"
Both culprits covered instantly, and peace was momentarily established.
The driver chuckled with badly masked amusement. "My, my, Sanzo. Perhaps next time you could watch where you're shooting. One of those bullets might have harmed Hakuryuu."
"It didn't." Of course, Hakuryuu's safety and wellbeing had been the last two things Sanzo had thought of when firing back over his shoulder.
"Whaa?" Gojyo stared at the blonde head in the front seat. "You mean you weren't even looking where you aimed?!"
"Ch." Sanzo put his trusted Smith and Wesson away, and reached for a cigarette. He could not be bothered to respond to such an obvious question.
The night before, they had stopped somewhere on the narrow mountain pass to get at least a little bit of rest even if the seats of the Jeep were not the most comfortable places for that purpose. There simply had not been enough space for setting up anything that remotely resembled a camp. Goku had been the most aggravated since they had gone to sleep with a very poor meal, cooking being out of question in a situation like that. Now the youth was sighing occasionally, trying to distract himself from the annoying feeling of emptiness in his stomach. After all, five hundred years without feeling anything had to leave some sort of consequences. His perpetual hunger was just one of those said 'consequences'.
To tell the truth, each of the four was suffering in his own way, Hakkai being the only one not to show anything. Sanzo was going on his third cigarette that day, Gojyo was trying to sleep in his seat to subdue the craving for nicotine, and Goku's sighs had become quite pitiable by now. Even Sanzo did not feel like yelling at the kid to keep it down. At least there was some sort of silence for the time being.
"When will we be there?" Goku whined to Hakkai. "I'm starving. I'll starve to death before we get there."
"Will be where, chimp?" Gojyo snorted. "I'll eat my headband if Hakkai knows where we're going. And besides, it's impossible for you to die of starvation."
"You wanna bet that, you redroach imp?"
"Well, technically we're going West." Hakkai smiled at them in the rear view mirror, making sure he cut off another fight before it could start properly. Sanzo was in a really foul mood, and he just knew that this time it would end with real injuries.
"That's not what I meant!"
Hakkai shrugged. "Well, it's not like this road is on the map. But if we follow the river, we should come across another bridge at some point." This certainly was not the first time they had to take a detour or when the map failed them, and most definitely would not be the last. Towns that were on the map, but not there in the real life, remains of old avalanches blocking the mountain paths which they had to climb over to continue with their way, distractions in almost every town, youkai attacks at random, and illnesses. Following an unknown road to who knows where was certainly nothing out of the ordinary. "Of course, you are always welcome to jump out and swim across to the other side. Jeep will have lesser luggage to carry. Ne, Hakuryuu?"
"Kyuu!"
Goku lightly kicked the vehicle. "Traitor," he muttered low enough for Hakkai to not overhear, but he did anyway.
It turned out that they were making more progress than Hakkai could have hoped for. Late afternoon they finally reached low land and could proudly say that one more row of mountains had been left behind. The river was still a few steps away, and within one more hour they finally came to stop in front of a rafts' crossing.
"What is that?" Goku rose to his feet to better see the construction that was connecting both banks of the river. Large wood poles as thick as his middle, thick ropes the size of his wrist, and a massive raft, standing idle on the same side they were at the moment, people busily running about and fastening things to anything stable.
"It's a raft, you idiot monkey, what do you think?" Gojyo could not even spill the full amount of his annoyance, his spirits lightened by the sight of humanity.
One of the men working on the raft rushed over to greet them. "Want to cross the river? You come just in time! Had you arrived a few minutes later, you'd have to camp on this bank tonight."
"Camp on this side? Why so?" Goku wondered.
"With all the youkai running around amok, we try to cross the river before the twilight hours." He swiped a mess of dark brown hair away from his face, revealing warm brown eyes. "Your car won't be allowed on, though. We're already overloaded as it is. So you might just have to camp here, anyway."
"That won't be a problem," Hakkai assured, and all four men got out of the jeep, Gojyo already working on removing their belongings from it. Moments later, the vehicle transformed back into its natural form.
"Oh." The male blinked surprised, and smiled even wider. "A dragon. My sister's got one, too." He reached out to pet the white dragon that had approached him, acknowledging the foreign male as a friendly person. "Only it's a tad bit bigger, black as ink, and shares my sister's bad temper. But enough of that. It's time to leave."
Sanzo felt his headache worsening from all the useless babbling. He hated noisy people. Hakkai chuckled weakly at the glare the priest was giving to the young and energetic male. He didn't really care about that, wondering more about Hakuryuu. The dragon rarely approached strangers this friendly. Perhaps he had sensed the other dragon on the raftsman.
"My name's Ranmaru, by the way," the said raftsman introduced himself. "We don't get too many outsiders passing through our town as of late. In fact, you are the first in about three months."
"Is there a town nearby?" Goku jumped in the one-sided conversation. "And a restaurant?"
"Of course there is!" Ranmaru grinned. "Just head down the main street and look for a big red sign on the right side of the marketplace."
"And what about an inn?" Hakkai questioned, falling back into the role of a mother hen of the group. "We would need a place to spend the night."
"Well, that we don't have." The raftsman confessed after a moment of awkward silence. But before any of the four travellers could get too aggravated about it, he was already rambling on. "But you're always welcome to stay at our shrine! That's basically where all the travellers go if they need a place to stay for the night. It belongs to our family, the Hitotsuboshi shrine, I mean. You'll have to be approved by my older sister though, as she is the unofficial head of the shrine. Grandpa's still official, but he's too old for…"
At this point, the remaining part of the foursome shut Ranmaru out of their attention like Sanzo had done almost from the very beginning. Gojyo was already plotting away to find a store that sold his brand of cigarettes and buying at least a month's worth supply of them. Sake would also be a very welcome purchase. After those two problems got fixed, he would definitely go looking for some cute enough girl to spend the night with. Right next to the redhead, Goku was muttering away about all the food he could and would eat at the restaurant, managing to anger Sanzo and earn a few good smacks with the harisen. Some of those were dealt out to Gojyo too for 'good measure', as Sanzo put it, even though the redhead had stayed silent. Hakkai laughed it off, pretending to take part in Ranmaru's ramblings, and before they knew it, they had reached the other bank.
Ranmaru waved at the retreating foursome with one hand, the other holding on to one thick rope while his comrades secured the raft. "Don't forget to ask someone at the inn to take you to the Shrine! It's up there in those mountains ahead. Oh, and you might want to get there before nightfall, 'cause they ain't letting in anyone after dusk has fallen. And try not to miss the third toll or you'll get stuck outside the town's gates. Have a nice stay!"
Those words made them turn back around to stare at the all-too-happy male. Hakkai glanced at his comrades before addressing Ranmaru. "How far exactly is it to the Shrine?"
"Well," the male frowned, "it takes a while. It's over there!" And he pointed in the distance, right past the guardian tower of the town's walls. "If you squint, you can even see the prayer tower."
The Sanzo party glanced in the distance, flinching away from the slowly dimming sunlight, and tried to spot the shrine among the lush crowns of trees. Hakkai's expression hardened upon realizing how far exactly it was, and he turned to Goku, an apologetic smile plastered on his face. "I'm afraid we won't have any time for eating if we want to make it to the shrine before nightfall. I'm sorry, Goku."
"No!" Goku wailed. "It's not fair! I'm starving!"
"Now, now, Goku. I'm sure we'll get something to eat at the shrine."
"Damn. And here I thought I'd get some action tonight." Gojyo kicked a rock that lay in his path, hands raised behind his head. He gestured with his chin at the rather prominent walls in the distance. "We'll skip this town, won't we?"
"Ee. That seems to be the case." Hakkai closed his eyes for a moment to evade the bright light while Hakuryuu transformed back into the jeep. Accompanied by Goku's and Gojyo's occasional whining about the things they would miss in the town, they drove onwards and arrived at the gates when two tolls had already sounded. Upon learning that the gates were about to be locked and no foreigners were let into the town after the second bell, Hakkai hastened to ask for a guide to the shrine.
"A guide?" One of the gate guardians raised his brows. "No person in their right mind would leave the safety of the town at this hour when there are youkai running amok."
"There is one," the other guard spoke slowly, obviously no more willing to talk about the subject than his comrade. "Deceased Shouka's kid. He's always running around here somewhere."
The first guard hummed thoughtfully before turning to one of the younger fellows who had come to help securing the gate. "Oi, Zhang Min. Get me Tao; the little runt will get a job."
The third toll sounded before Zhang Min could arrive, half-dragging the boy along with him. "The boy, sir," he reported, showing the boy forwards, making him stumble and almost fall.
There was a reason for the harsh handling, as his hair and eyes (as the Sanzo party found out the minute the boy regarded them with an evaluating gaze) were a bright crimson. His eyes stopped on Gojyo for a moment longer than it had on the others. There was a brief expression of surprise on the child's face, but it disappeared behind a mask of indifference rather quickly.
"Listen here, brat. You take these men to the Shrine or I'll tear your ears off," the gruffest of the guards threatened, but Tao was not listening to him. His attention was fully concentrated on the four strangers. "Let's go, men. We've stayed outside for far too long."
The gate was slammed closed, and the five people remained locked out of the safety of the town. Yet it did not matter since they were once again on the road, driving along the defence wall until they left the local humanity behind. Goku watched the red-haired, red-eyed child with certain interest. The boy was full of nervous energy, streaks of chattering exchanging with streaks of dead silence even as he explained the road to Hakkai. The boy spent most of the drive standing, using both front seats to hold himself straight, giving directions and warnings. The road was considerably better than the one Sanzo party had taken to get down the mountain, more used, and neither of the passengers had to worry about flying out of the vehicle any other moment even with the crazy driving.
"Step on it," Sanzo growled, watching the setting sun. They had to reach the shrine before the nightfall, Tao had confirmed Ranmaru's words – no one was allowed into the shrine after the dark.
Once the road disappeared in the woods, and dusk became twice as dark as it had been out in the open, the road slanted upwards, leading them higher up the mountain. Tao warned Hakkai about especially tricky turns in their path, but it was not really necessary, considering jeep's lights.
"It'd be much easier if you had a horse," the boy suddenly said out of the blue.
"Why's that?" Goku questioned, squinting at the silhouette of the boy.
"A horse can go up the stairs."
"Stairs?" Hakkai frowned. "Is there a stairway ahead?"
"Ee." Tao gave an approving nod. "Pretty long, too. Takes two hours to climb all the way up."
Sanzo glanced over at Hakkai. After an hour it would already be pitch dark, but they had planned to arrive while some of the dusk was still holding on the earth.
"We have gone down the stairs…" Hakkai started thoughtfully.
"Don't even think about it!" Sanzo growled dangerously, reaching for the Smith and Wesson and intending to use it.
They still ended up driving up the stairs at the same breakneck speed they had been at before, Hakkai stopping only outside the large torii that marked the entrance to the Shrine. All five got out of the jeep, and Tao ran inside with the four guests slowly trudging after him, still feeling a little shaken after the crazy ride. Sanzo was still seething about what the brunet had dared to pull off, Gojyo was not feeling very stable and chose to say nothing, and Goku was in a similar state, having only the voice to proclaim that some of his hunger had been lost along the way (though he still claimed to be able to devour a horse).
"One of these days you're gonna kill us, man." Gojyo, finally gotten some of his senses back, came up to Hakkai's side, the four of them trying to follow the distant light from the shrine and Tao's loud voice. It was strange that no one had come out to greet them yet, especially with all the things they had heard about youkai going around on a rampage (and having witnessed that in other towns). If the shrine was so well guarded, then where had all the guards gone to? Quite technically speaking, they had arrived before the nightfall, since a faint shade of grey was still present in their surroundings and the distant horizon still blazed golden.
"Saira! Saira! I brought guests!" Tao's shrill, childlike voice rang out through the darkness. "Saira-sama! Saira-SAMA~A!" The boy came to an abrupt halt as two figures stepped out of the darkness. Two lit lanterns emerged from beneath black cloaks and the Sanzo party was left blinded for a moment.
"You have brought guests indeed," one of the figures spoke, "but whether they are to stay or leave depends on Saira-sama alone."
"Please, follow us, and we will take you to her." The other man gestured to some place in the darkness.
They had no other option but to follow, Tao walking just a few steps ahead of them. After a while they felt completely lost – so many paths they had crossed and switched that it felt like walking around a labyrinth. The only thing they knew for sure was that it was pitch black when they reached their destination – a sturdy building among thickly growing trees.
"Saira-sama is inside the Prayer tower, please, show your respects and keep your voices low in this sacred place." Their guides bowed respectfully and pulled the door open, allowing them entrance, then closing it once they had stepped inside.
The inside of the building was almost as dark as the world outside it, dim light along with incense streaming through the curtain that separated the entrance from the main room. On both sides, they noticed stairs leading up to other levels of the building, while their new destination lay straight ahead.
Tao walked forth, pushing the curtain aside. The curtain clinked and rattled as it fell back into place, the intertwined bamboo rings creating a rather strange sound that complimented the shadowy room all too well. He motioned for the four travellers to come closer and the Sanzo party stepped through the curtain as well, finally being able to see the person who would decide on their stay in or departure from the shrine. White robes and long dark hair were the only discernible things, as Saira had her back turned on them, her attention directed on the altar in front of her.
"Strangers from a distant land," Saira spoke quietly and her voice echoed throughout the room. "You have travelled far. Why have you come here? What are you looking for? Peace? Salvation? Absolution? There is none of that here."
Gojyo felt his eyebrows elevating. Hearing that she was the head of the shrine and the tag "sama" getting attached at the end of her name had gotten him to believe that she was some old hag running the shrine since forever and a day, but the voice definitely belonged to a young female. It was certainly nice to be mistaken sometimes, especially if the 'mistake' was able to live up to his standards.
As irritating as it was for Sanzo to talk to another person's back, he did. "One night's stay. That's all."
Any other time Sanzo would have let Hakkai do the talking, but it felt for the entire ikkou that this was not a place for a youkai to request anything, no matter his descent.
In the dancing shadows the group could see how Saira clasped her hands together before laying her palms down on the table and bowed to a wood-carved figurine of some god, resting her forehead on the low table and spreading her arms out before straightening herself up.
"One night's stay?" Her voice was full of wonder. Amused, she turned around and walked towards the waiting group. "You are the first ones in years to request so little. Which means that, upon your leaving, you will take more with you than we are willing to give."
Sanzo needed a smoke. Badly. "We don't need anything you could give us."
"But what about food, Sanzo? I'm starving! And we had no time to buy anything in the town because..." A loud smack with the fan interrupted Goku's monologue.
Upon hearing the name of Sanzo, Saira had jerked her head up. Now, standing in front of the group, she tightened her lips and attempted a disapproving look in the monk's direction. "You are inside a shrine. Cease all violence immediately."
Saira calmly evaluated the people standing in front of her, finally being close enough for them to make out her appearance. White baggy pants – the type women usually wore under their robes –, a long white tunic falling down to her knees, and dark hair pulled back with a few unruly curls weaving along the side of her face. The Sanzo party all but froze. Now that the woman was only a few steps away from them, they could make out her features in the dim candlelight. She was an almost exact copy of the female demon they had seen the other day. Checking her appearance for anything that could resemble a limiter, they found none.
After a tense moment of silence which Saira ignored, as she regarded each of the four travellers individually and acknowledged them with a curt nod, she announced her decision. "The three of you," she indicated Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku, "can stay. But you," she turned to Sanzo, "are not welcome here."
Sanzo's eyes narrowed dangerously. It was a rare occasion when he was not a welcome person, especially in places like shrines and monasteries, but it had happened a few times during their journey.
Saira met the borderline annoyed gaze Sanzo was giving her unflinching and kept on talking. "However. You passed through the gate right just as it was closing and while you were making your way to here, they were sealed shut until sunrise. I am forced to extend the invitation to you as well. The four of you can have a room to rest and food to silence your hunger, but you will leave at sunrise."
Sanzo scraped together enough manners to thank her, although he made sure the annoyance in his voice was unmistakable.
Tao silently picked up a lantern and handed it to Saira. He could not wait to get outside of the building because, as he had learned during his first visit to the shrine, Saira was not to be talked to inside this building. The only exceptions were cases of the highest urgency, like it had been right now. Saira thanked him with a curt nod and took the lantern, motioning for the travellers to leave the building. They were almost out the door when a quick breeze rushed through the room extinguishing the candles. As the travellers looked back to see what was going on, there was only Saira, closing the door of the shrine. The guards that had brought them here were nowhere to be seen, but they had left behind their lanterns to cast a warm golden light on the entrance of the shrine.
Saira had barely turned around to face them again when Tao already exploded in a flurry of excited words and flailing of his arms to further emphasise himself. "Saira-sama! You should come down and see what's going on in the town now! We've been building defences and I can say "we" because I helped too! Have you ever carried rocks? It's not too hard, but I felt too tired by the evening and thought my arms'll fall off the next day. They didn't, see?" He flailed them to demonstrate it without even stopping to ramble on. "And now we've got the cannon. It's huge! Huger than the Prayer tower and Li Shung En says if we aim it right, we could collapse it, the Prayer Tower, I mean, but they won't 'cause it's yours and the shrine is yours and it's important. And then people started evacuating to the sealed caves and only half the boats are usable because they're old and damaged. Just the other day one woman thought she'd seen a water demon in the river and panicked and tipped the boat and all fell in. Seven died. Mairi died too. Do you know Mairi? She was a funny girl – lived across the street from my house and we always went to play in the square together. Her mom was nice, but her papa was not and..." Here, Tao stopped to draw breath.
Saira took the chance to speak up. "Are the people treating you well?"
Tao thought about it for a while, then shrugged. "Some are. Some aren't. Guards aren't that nice, but they never hit me; just pull my ears and shove around. Most people pretend I'm not there. That's kinda worse, though."
"Can the cannon be easily destroyed?"
"Why'd you want it destroyed? Uncle says that the crazy youkai can come by a thousand now. We'll just blow them away with the cannon!"
"In case the part of the town with the cannon gets raided by youkai and they take over the cannon, where do you think they'll aim first of all?"
Head curiously cocked, Tao thought about this for a while. Then his eyes widened and he looked up at Saira in alarm. "Here?"
Saira nodded. "Yes. That's why I want to know if it can be destroyed. Just in case."
"I dunno. You'd have to ask Sung Wa."
The Sanzo ikkou had been listening closely to their conversation, learning more from the boy's rambling about the true situation in town than they would have ever had a chance of finding out had they stopped in one of the small local bars. All reasons to leave this place as quickly as possible only added up. They had youkai chasing them and this town was a few days away from a youkai attack of its own, and having those two things collide would make for a 'between a rock and a hard place' situation.
Suddenly, Goku paused in his steps and looked around, trying to find the source of something that had agitated him in the shadows of the partially illuminated garden. "Sanzo, I smell blood."
No sooner had those words left his lips, another voice cut through the night.
"Step away from them, Saira. Now."
It came from their left, accompanied by a gentle tingle of chains. Everyone turned to look. Even though the figure was shielded by darkness, the four travellers had little trouble recognising the same assassin they had seen up in the mountains with the scripture. Without much thought, Sanzo pulled out his banishing gun and took aim.
Saira frowned. "Taura?"
"Step away form them, Saira, I warn you," Taura repeated her words with more force than before, and rearranged her chain whips for a more effective strike. She smirked at the armed priest and stepped forwards into the light of a garden lamp, favouring her right leg as she moved. One hand came up to press to her left shoulder, and she slightly bowed her head with mocked politeness. "I must commend you on the aim, priest. No one else has managed to land a hit on me before."
Saira drew in a harsh breath through her nose, before grounding out in an ice-cold voice, "You're bleeding and you're limping. What have you done this time?"
"Well, let me tell you something, Sister Obvious. The bottom of the goddamn river is not covered with rocks. It's fucking littered with boulders."
"The bottom of... What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into this time?" Angered, Saira stepped forwards, coming between the Sanzo priest and her own sister. The foursome said nothing to prevent it, remaining mute spectators to the unfolding family drama. It wasn't really surprising for a family to have twin children; the surprising part was that one of them was a youkai, and neither was a half-breed.
"It's nothing."
"Right, right. And these people got riled up for that nothing that you most certainly haven't done." The reply was cynical enough to make Taura grind her teeth.
"Your brother's shit," came the disgusted reply after a small moment of silence. "Ask him."
"Shin?"
"Catching up."
Saira snorted irritably. She was not forgetting about the four guests that were still there, forced to listen to every word the sisters exchanged, but it was already too late to take this conversation to a quieter place. "Ever since he took the vows, he's my brother all of a sudden."
"He's been your brother ever since I became this way." Those few words were spoken with bitterness and scorn. "Now get the hell out of the way or you're gonna be killed."
"Don't you dare threaten me. Limiter or no limiter, I can still take you on." The ice that had evaporated from Saira's voice just seconds ago, returned with double the force.
Taura hesitated for just a moment. She was clearly at a disadvantage. If she made a move, there would be the four strangers, as well as her own sister.
"Now then. Where exactly does Shin fit into this?"
There was a pause as Taura struggled with herself. Eventually she muttered something disdainful under her breath and straightened her shoulders, finally making a choice. "Shinseki Sanzo Houshi-sama wanted me to run a little errand for him." Not a single droplet of sarcasm and hatred faltered in intensity as she practically spat out the name as if it was poison. "Here, you can hand it to him yourself."
Taura threw something at Saira, but the latter did not move a muscle to either avoid it or catch it. The item fell on the ground and rolled around before hitting her foot and stopping. Once a ray of light from the lantern fell on it, the Sanzo party recognized a rolled-up scripture, much like the one draped on Sanzo's shoulders.
"I am not your messenger," Saira stated coldly and kicked the scroll out of the way. "If you have any business with Shin, then sort it out with him instead of crawling to me, whimpering and licking your wounds. And now get out of here. I won't allow a single drop of blood get spilled on this ground. Your presence always invokes bloodshed."
Taura just stared at her sister like she would be seeing her for the first time in her life. "You're kicking me out of our house?"
"You said it first, make sure to remember that. And keep in mind that it was your own decision. Now leave." The resolve is Saira's voice was unmistakable. She had merely wanted for Taura to leave the site, to go to her room and stay out of the sight for as long as these new guests would be around, but since she had chosen to leave the Shrine, she was not going to get in her sister's way. Saira jerked her head in the general direction of the gates. "The exit is that way."
Silence followed.
"You bitch." Taura spat on the ground, not daring to aim directly at her sister: that much dignity she still had. She was slightly shaking, and it was hard to tell whether it was from the anger or the injuries that she had sustained. "You bitch. I thought... I thought what we've gone through together..."
"I don't care for the past, Taura. And even less for the future. Now leave."
The Sanzo party watched in silence as the youkai female struggled with herself, wanting to strike her sister with the chain whip and at the same time unable to do harm to her twin reflection. She raised one hand, chains clinking, and Sanzo aimed around Saira just waiting for her to move. Taura let out a strangled snarl of rage, spun around and disappeared in the darkness of the garden.
"Tao."
The redheaded boy froze mid-motion, as he had leaned down to pick up the discarded scroll.
Saira's eyes locked on him. "Leave it."
"But..." he protested, frowning and not understanding the disrespect for an item that seemed to be of great importance. Especially if it was meant for a Sanzo priest.
"I said, leave it," Saira repeated in annoyance. "Leave that trash where it belongs – in the dirt."
"But... But it's for Shinseki Houshi-sama." Red eyes blinked up, completely confused now. "What if it's something important?"
"If it is important, Shinseki Houshi," Saira mocked the two words of choice, "is certainly old enough to pick it up himself." The female spun around and came eye to eye with Genjo Sanzo. She blinked in confusion, having forgotten about their presence for a brief second. Such loss of control irritated her even more. "What are you still standing around here for?" She waved her unoccupied hand half exasperatedly, half dismissively. "Get inside the house and take a seat wherever until your rooms get prepared."
No matter what the situation was, Hakkai reverted to good manners and his own nice self in a flash. "We truly wouldn't want to trouble you, and..."
"But you already have," Saira cut him off and in a few quick strides crossed the lawn. "Not like I care about those who come here, but once you're inside the gates, why not come inside the house as well?"
The Sanzo party did not need to be told twice, so they ignored her sarcasm and followed her into the large building. The room they entered looked fitting for anything but a shrine. A long table was occupying one third of the rather large room, several chairs crowding around the far end of it; a closet was showed in a corner only a few steps away from the table, and the corner closest to the doorway was separated from the room with a white bamboo and rice paper screen, depicting dancing cranes and pine trees. There was a one-legged writing plate with a slightly slanted surface set only a few steps away from it. Black robe was carelessly thrown over the screen, and the writing table was littered with slips of white paper, a young male standing in front of it. The room was definitely not an embodiment of order and hospitality; perhaps a little bit too private for visitors to feel comfortable.
The male turned, smiled, and set down the ink-coated brush he had been working with. He had heard every word that had been spoken outside in the garden. "Way to go, little one! That's quite some reputation you're giving our family and the shrine there," he teased, albeit good-naturedly.
"Shut up, you!" Saira snorted and stormed past him, disappearing deeper inside the building.
The male's lips twitched, pale blue eyes following her for a second before concentrating only on the guests. He bowed, welcoming them in deeper. "Your presence is honour for our Shrine, please come in and feel at home. My name is Hara no Kenjiro, and I am the head of the family. And it seems that you already know my sister Saira, who is not present here at the moment." His lips twitched some more at the mention of his sister. "Please, take seats. I'm sure Saira is already taking care of rooms and meals."
As if to correspond with his words, a loud noise came from somewhere deeper inside and Saira's voice rang out loud and annoyed.
Pretending not to have heard any of that, Hakkai smiled pleasantly and thanked Kenjiro while the rest of their group sat down around the far end of the table.
"He said something about a meal, didn't he? I'm starving!" Goku slumped in his seat, looking over at Sanzo with big hopeful golden eyes.
Sanzo did not answer him, having too many thoughts on his mind.
Gojyo, however, did. "Stupid bottomless ape."
"But we ate ages ago!" Goku whined. "And there were only five meatbuns!"
Kenjiro, having overheard every word, laughed softly and turned to Tao. "Could you do me a little favour?"
The red-haired boy, feeling neglected and useless before, brightened instantly and nodded his head vigorously, with eagerness awaiting each and every word that came from the man.
"Could you run down to the kitchen to see if Czen Mao has already started on preparing a meal? And check on Saira too, to see what's taking her so long."
One quick nod and Tao was gone, his footsteps echoing down the hallway and disappearing when a door slammed shut. After that, Kenjiro went right back to writing symbols, signs and words on the paper slips in front of him, the brush dancing over the whiteness and travelling to dip into the tray of ink every so often.
For the time being neglected, the Sanzo party sat around the table until Hakkai chose to interrupt the silence.
"This seems to be a very peaceful place," he started cautiously. No matter where they stopped to rest, if there were people around, they always gathered as much information about the area as possible.
Kenjiro lifted his eyes from his work and looked at Hakkai thoughtfully. A light smile curved up his lips as he answered, "Things are not always what they seem to be."
"Oh." Green eyes flickered with subdued interest. It was no secret to the Sanzo party that the town they had gone through was inhabited not only by humans, but youkai also, though all of them still wore their power limiters. From what they had seen, they managed to coexist with little problems, and even halfbloods were not as hated as they were in other towns. Here no one had paid much attention to Gojyo's hair and eye colouring even though in many other places they had drawn a lot of attention and sometimes – even loathing. "Has anything strange been happening lately?"
"It's none of our problems, Hakkai," Sanzo hissed silently. It was low enough only for the four of them to hear, considering the rather small distance separating them from their host.
"I'm just making sure our presence doesn't endanger these people." The group's driver and mother figure tried to reason with their easily angered leader.
"Give it up, Hakkai." Gojyo stretched out his legs and leaned back in the chair, hands behind his head. He wanted a smoke, but, seeing how Sanzo was refraining from it, figured it would be smarter to wait until they got to their rooms. "It's inevitable, one way or the other."
Caught up in their little dispute, they almost missed Kenjiro's answer.
"Strange things happen daily here." Kenjiro reached for a new handful of white paper slips as he eyed the guests. It was not everyday they had them, especially ever since the day something began to affect all the demons, making them go berserk. A strange smile tugged at his lips as he continued the previous thought, "Especially after Saira became the head of the Hitotsuboshi Shrine."
"The head? But you said..." Goku blinked in confusion, and looked over at Sanzo for an explanation even though the monk could not give him one.
Kenjiro schooled his face to an expression of indifference before answering this. " I am the head of the clan. Our father's will was for Saira to be the head of the Shrine."
Before he could say anything else, another loud noise echoed throughout the building, making the walls tremble. Saira's loud voice followed only seconds after, snapping commands at someone. Kenjiro made a grimace of disapproval and shot an apologetic look at the guests, but they were not paying any attention to him anymore.
"So. We are leaving tomorrow, right?" Gojyo glanced at Sanzo's sagging shoulders, daring nothing more than a brief gaze. It was a surprise the monk had not blown off some steam yet, considering how deep was the wrinkle between his eyebrows and how tightly his lips were pressing together. He looked to the redhead slightly sick. The headache, he figured and diverted his attention elsewhere.
"Well, if nothing keeps us from it." Hakkai had noticed the same thing as his friend. Perhaps the fever Sanzo had had a few weeks ago had not been fully healed. Sometimes the monk pushed them too hard, but never as hard as he pushed himself. The three of them were always given a choice to either stay behind or follow. Of course, they always chose to follow, having nothing better and more important to do at the time. But sometimes even a person like Sanzo had to break. The brunet sighed. Perhaps he worried too much and it was just one of those migraines that usually disappeared after Sanzo had had a peaceful night's rest. Hakkai hoped it was just that.
Goku looked up at the door, listening to the approaching footsteps. "I hope it's food coming," he sighed to himself. If Sanzo was not feeling too well, the youth was not so fond of being cheerful either. There were, of course, exceptions, but this was not one of those. A few seconds, and he lost the hope to see food arriving.
"I'd gladly kill the goddamn idiot who was smart enough to let one of those wandering ghosts inside the Shrine," Saira stated from the doorstep, then stormed across the room to the black robe on the screen to rummage through it for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
Kenjiro shot her a mildly interested look. "Ghosts? So that was the noise from before?"
"That, and a certain Sanzo priest-sama whining about his meditation getting interrupted. Like I give a damn care." Saira went over to the other end of the table and pulled a short and narrow bench out from under it before sitting down and extracting an ashtray out of nowhere to position it close to her arm. Her right hand held up the lighter, the motion revealing a black fingerless glove with straps around her wrist. Her other hand was bare, only a leather cord tied around the wrist. "Oh Kami, I wish he'd just get jumped by a pack of youkai and torn to pieces. But, of course, His Cowardliness won't show his face outside the Shrine, anxious to keep his worthless life intact."
Kenjiro frowned at his sister's back. "Hanging around with all those youkai certainly has affected your personality and language. And not for the better." He paused, waiting for a response of any kind, but it did not follow. "And you already know what I think of your smoking, Saira."
"After all the shit that's been going on for the past few months, this," she waved her hand with the burning cigarette, "is the only thing keeping me sane."
"Just because you took father's place as the head of the shrine doesn't mean that you had to acquire all of his habits too." He paused, searching the straight back for an answer. "At least try to mask it. Grandmother's already getting suspicious."
Slowly, Saira turned around, grey eyes devoid of emotion. "Do I look like I care?" Faced with the cold stare, she snorted silently and turned back around, reaching for the incense tray and flicking her lighter to life one more time, making sure half of the incense sticks burned down before she blew the flames out. "Happy now, Mom?"
"Saira..." Kenjiro stopped and sighed. He racked his mind for something to say, but could not find the necessary willpower for the words he wanted to say. Not with the four travellers present. He had thought it would give him the courage he needed to confront his sister, but it turned out quite the opposite, and he felt pressured and uneasy. "You've been born in the wrong gender," he concluded.
Saira exhaled a puff of smoke and watched it lazily drift about for a while. "Father used to say the same."
Before Kenjiro could reply, one of the cloaked Shrine guards appeared on the doorstep and cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "Saira-sama, you have a visitor."
She frowned at he elderly man. "Who?"
"One of the youkai, Saira-sama. His name might have been Xiao. He said it was urgent."
A heartbeat's worth of silence.
"Let him in."
"Saira," Kenjiro started in a low voice. "You're giving an invite to a youkai? Are you insane? The shield around the shrine..."
"I know about the damn shield. I reinforce it every day." Saira reached out to crush the remainder of the cigarette and pushed the ashtray to the other side of the table. "You can't deny that something is brewing outside and I want to know what exactly."
The Sanzo party had felt it even near the town: a powerful demonic aura moving nearby. Still, it was more of a distant echo than a direct threat, but it was not a reason to shrug it off.
Seconds later a black-haired male demon stepped through the door. He still had his limiter on and looked presentable enough despite the worn-out clothing and although he carried a short sword at his side, he did not look threatening. His breathing was erratic: either because of the high climb up the stairs, or as a sign of him only barely holding on to his sanity. He bowed towards Saira and shot a mildly interested look at the four strangers, taking a while to gather his breath for what he needed to say and started off quite nonsensically.
"Heard a Sanzo priest was killed recently. Thought was your brother."
Saira allowed herself a small smirk. "I'd be ecstatic if it were so, Xiao. However, that's not why you're here."
"True. We have a problem. A big one." He exhaled loudly. "The beacons are lit."
Saira tensed and her face paled slightly. Xiao could not have brought worse news. "How many?"
The youkai shifted slightly and eyed the foreign humans who were gazing at him with a hint of mistrust. "Do you have a map at hand? It's easier to show than tell."
In the time it took him to blink, Saira had gotten up to her feet, crossed the room, pulled out a map from the closet, and returned to the table, spreading it out over one end.
Xiao leaned over it to indicate several spots. "Along this side of the mountains the entire line is alight. We seem to have lost three posts there though, because they're black among the others burning. Guards there are either dead or fighting for their life." He looked up at the female. "It's starting, Saira."
She did not respond straight away. Her lips had knitted together in a narrow line and brows furrowed together. "How many?"
"What?"
"Their count, Xiao. How many?"
Xiao hesitated. "It's rounding out to ten thousand, but there are no reports to confirm that. It's all rumours and all-too-brief observations. But the entire west side of the mountains is overrun by them."
Saira choked back a bitter laugh. "Ten thousand? The town will fall then. We have two thousand people, and only one third is capable of fighting."
"I've already given orders to take all the women and children to the river along with fifty men to guard them. They'll be safe in the sealed caves, though not all women left. Some stayed behind to fight alongside us."
"Then they'll die alongside us," Saira stated and straightened. "How much time do we have until they reach the town?"
"A few days. They have horse riders and those animals can't handle mountains well. We destroyed all the mountain passages so they'll have to figure a way around that."
"Saira." Kenjiro's gaze had been travelling between his sister and the demon she was conversing with. "You can't go out there to fight."
"You won't decide that, human!" Xiao spat back without hesitation, his gaze flaring up with something close to insanity as his hand gripped the handle of his sword.
"And neither will you," Saira cut in before any more arguing could arise. The last thing she needed was bloodshed in the shrine. "I'm needed out on the battlefield, and that's exactly where I'll be." Her eyes bore into those of her brother's. "So don't waste your breath."
"I forbid you to leave the shrine, Saira," someone stated in a calm, dispassionate voice.
Saira spun around just as everyone else turned to regard the newcomer. A Sanzo priest in full regal clothing, including a scripture draped over his shoulders, was standing in the doorway both Saira and Tao had previously gone through. "You will stay here," he repeated. "And a message will be sent to Ranmaru ordering his return to the shrine."
------------>>>Placeholder for future chapter links
Fandom: Saiyuki
Pairings: None apply (yet)
Word count: 8467
Teh List: Prologue
Part 1 – Misused Mistakes
"Do you even know where this road will take us?" Gojyo shook off the ashes from his cigarette, watching how they fell over the cliffside. The path they were following was difficult, full of rocks, almost overtaken by bushes, and to top it all off, it was running on the very verge of the cliff. It was practically invisible, barely any trace left of a former road. If he bothered to lean over the side of the jeep, he could clearly see the river raging below. However, the first time he did so and realized how high up in the mountains they still were, and how deep down below the river was, an overwhelming wave of nausea hit him. The redhead never dared a second look.
"No, but at least we're moving onwards. Would you rather me turn back to the village we left three days ago and look for a detour?" Hakkai inquired.
"No, not really." The redhead had to agree. No matter what the road, at least they were moving in the direction they needed to. Perhaps more to the north than necessary, but at least they were having some sort of progress.
"I'm hungry!"
"You're always hungry, you stupid chimp."
"Don't call me a chimp, you perverted water imp!" Goku shot back, feeling aggravated from the lack of food, the unintended rhyme slipping past his own, but not Sanzo's ears.
"What did ya call me just now?" Gojyo grabbed the teen in a headlock, none too gently driving a fist in his skull.
"Lemme go, you cockroach!" Goku flailed and swatted at him, and managed to hit the cigarette out of the redhead's mouth.
"My smoke!" He watched with horror as it flew through the air before falling towards the rumbling water below. "That's it! Now you're gonna get it!"
"Shut up you idiots!" Sanzo drew his fan on them, dealing quick, well-aimed hits around the back seat. The jeep jerked and swerved from all the commotion and almost skidded off the cliff and into the river below. After seconds filled with panic, the vehicle had regained stable contact with the ground and they could continue with the journey.
"Are you all right, Hakuryuu?" Concern was evident in Hakkai's voice when he addressed the dragon. It would have been quite troublesome if jeep had not been able to keep to the track and they would have ended falling into the water below.
"Kyuu!" came the muffled reply.
"Ah, I'm glad." Hakkai smiled with relief before turning to his three passengers. "I have to ask for all of you to behave or I'll personally throw you off of this cliff."
"Chill, Hakkai. Nothing happened." Gojyo shifted in his seat uncomfortably. The smile that had accompanied this kindly worded request was one of the smiles that he had dubbed as "freaky". To top it all off, the redhead was not a big fan of water when it came to rivers like the one below, and he knew Hakkai well enough to take his words into consideration. The brunette was not joking about it.
"But he started it!" Goku complained. "Why do I get blamed for everything the stupid water sprite does?"
"Who's stupid, you stupid?" The redhead gave him another nudge in the head.
"See? He hit me!" And Goku did not quite hesitate to return the favour.
"Why you!"
Two bullets zoomed through the air, flying right past their heads. "Shut up!"
Both culprits covered instantly, and peace was momentarily established.
The driver chuckled with badly masked amusement. "My, my, Sanzo. Perhaps next time you could watch where you're shooting. One of those bullets might have harmed Hakuryuu."
"It didn't." Of course, Hakuryuu's safety and wellbeing had been the last two things Sanzo had thought of when firing back over his shoulder.
"Whaa?" Gojyo stared at the blonde head in the front seat. "You mean you weren't even looking where you aimed?!"
"Ch." Sanzo put his trusted Smith and Wesson away, and reached for a cigarette. He could not be bothered to respond to such an obvious question.
The night before, they had stopped somewhere on the narrow mountain pass to get at least a little bit of rest even if the seats of the Jeep were not the most comfortable places for that purpose. There simply had not been enough space for setting up anything that remotely resembled a camp. Goku had been the most aggravated since they had gone to sleep with a very poor meal, cooking being out of question in a situation like that. Now the youth was sighing occasionally, trying to distract himself from the annoying feeling of emptiness in his stomach. After all, five hundred years without feeling anything had to leave some sort of consequences. His perpetual hunger was just one of those said 'consequences'.
To tell the truth, each of the four was suffering in his own way, Hakkai being the only one not to show anything. Sanzo was going on his third cigarette that day, Gojyo was trying to sleep in his seat to subdue the craving for nicotine, and Goku's sighs had become quite pitiable by now. Even Sanzo did not feel like yelling at the kid to keep it down. At least there was some sort of silence for the time being.
"When will we be there?" Goku whined to Hakkai. "I'm starving. I'll starve to death before we get there."
"Will be where, chimp?" Gojyo snorted. "I'll eat my headband if Hakkai knows where we're going. And besides, it's impossible for you to die of starvation."
"You wanna bet that, you redroach imp?"
"Well, technically we're going West." Hakkai smiled at them in the rear view mirror, making sure he cut off another fight before it could start properly. Sanzo was in a really foul mood, and he just knew that this time it would end with real injuries.
"That's not what I meant!"
Hakkai shrugged. "Well, it's not like this road is on the map. But if we follow the river, we should come across another bridge at some point." This certainly was not the first time they had to take a detour or when the map failed them, and most definitely would not be the last. Towns that were on the map, but not there in the real life, remains of old avalanches blocking the mountain paths which they had to climb over to continue with their way, distractions in almost every town, youkai attacks at random, and illnesses. Following an unknown road to who knows where was certainly nothing out of the ordinary. "Of course, you are always welcome to jump out and swim across to the other side. Jeep will have lesser luggage to carry. Ne, Hakuryuu?"
"Kyuu!"
Goku lightly kicked the vehicle. "Traitor," he muttered low enough for Hakkai to not overhear, but he did anyway.
It turned out that they were making more progress than Hakkai could have hoped for. Late afternoon they finally reached low land and could proudly say that one more row of mountains had been left behind. The river was still a few steps away, and within one more hour they finally came to stop in front of a rafts' crossing.
"What is that?" Goku rose to his feet to better see the construction that was connecting both banks of the river. Large wood poles as thick as his middle, thick ropes the size of his wrist, and a massive raft, standing idle on the same side they were at the moment, people busily running about and fastening things to anything stable.
"It's a raft, you idiot monkey, what do you think?" Gojyo could not even spill the full amount of his annoyance, his spirits lightened by the sight of humanity.
One of the men working on the raft rushed over to greet them. "Want to cross the river? You come just in time! Had you arrived a few minutes later, you'd have to camp on this bank tonight."
"Camp on this side? Why so?" Goku wondered.
"With all the youkai running around amok, we try to cross the river before the twilight hours." He swiped a mess of dark brown hair away from his face, revealing warm brown eyes. "Your car won't be allowed on, though. We're already overloaded as it is. So you might just have to camp here, anyway."
"That won't be a problem," Hakkai assured, and all four men got out of the jeep, Gojyo already working on removing their belongings from it. Moments later, the vehicle transformed back into its natural form.
"Oh." The male blinked surprised, and smiled even wider. "A dragon. My sister's got one, too." He reached out to pet the white dragon that had approached him, acknowledging the foreign male as a friendly person. "Only it's a tad bit bigger, black as ink, and shares my sister's bad temper. But enough of that. It's time to leave."
Sanzo felt his headache worsening from all the useless babbling. He hated noisy people. Hakkai chuckled weakly at the glare the priest was giving to the young and energetic male. He didn't really care about that, wondering more about Hakuryuu. The dragon rarely approached strangers this friendly. Perhaps he had sensed the other dragon on the raftsman.
"My name's Ranmaru, by the way," the said raftsman introduced himself. "We don't get too many outsiders passing through our town as of late. In fact, you are the first in about three months."
"Is there a town nearby?" Goku jumped in the one-sided conversation. "And a restaurant?"
"Of course there is!" Ranmaru grinned. "Just head down the main street and look for a big red sign on the right side of the marketplace."
"And what about an inn?" Hakkai questioned, falling back into the role of a mother hen of the group. "We would need a place to spend the night."
"Well, that we don't have." The raftsman confessed after a moment of awkward silence. But before any of the four travellers could get too aggravated about it, he was already rambling on. "But you're always welcome to stay at our shrine! That's basically where all the travellers go if they need a place to stay for the night. It belongs to our family, the Hitotsuboshi shrine, I mean. You'll have to be approved by my older sister though, as she is the unofficial head of the shrine. Grandpa's still official, but he's too old for…"
At this point, the remaining part of the foursome shut Ranmaru out of their attention like Sanzo had done almost from the very beginning. Gojyo was already plotting away to find a store that sold his brand of cigarettes and buying at least a month's worth supply of them. Sake would also be a very welcome purchase. After those two problems got fixed, he would definitely go looking for some cute enough girl to spend the night with. Right next to the redhead, Goku was muttering away about all the food he could and would eat at the restaurant, managing to anger Sanzo and earn a few good smacks with the harisen. Some of those were dealt out to Gojyo too for 'good measure', as Sanzo put it, even though the redhead had stayed silent. Hakkai laughed it off, pretending to take part in Ranmaru's ramblings, and before they knew it, they had reached the other bank.
Ranmaru waved at the retreating foursome with one hand, the other holding on to one thick rope while his comrades secured the raft. "Don't forget to ask someone at the inn to take you to the Shrine! It's up there in those mountains ahead. Oh, and you might want to get there before nightfall, 'cause they ain't letting in anyone after dusk has fallen. And try not to miss the third toll or you'll get stuck outside the town's gates. Have a nice stay!"
Those words made them turn back around to stare at the all-too-happy male. Hakkai glanced at his comrades before addressing Ranmaru. "How far exactly is it to the Shrine?"
"Well," the male frowned, "it takes a while. It's over there!" And he pointed in the distance, right past the guardian tower of the town's walls. "If you squint, you can even see the prayer tower."
The Sanzo party glanced in the distance, flinching away from the slowly dimming sunlight, and tried to spot the shrine among the lush crowns of trees. Hakkai's expression hardened upon realizing how far exactly it was, and he turned to Goku, an apologetic smile plastered on his face. "I'm afraid we won't have any time for eating if we want to make it to the shrine before nightfall. I'm sorry, Goku."
"No!" Goku wailed. "It's not fair! I'm starving!"
"Now, now, Goku. I'm sure we'll get something to eat at the shrine."
"Damn. And here I thought I'd get some action tonight." Gojyo kicked a rock that lay in his path, hands raised behind his head. He gestured with his chin at the rather prominent walls in the distance. "We'll skip this town, won't we?"
"Ee. That seems to be the case." Hakkai closed his eyes for a moment to evade the bright light while Hakuryuu transformed back into the jeep. Accompanied by Goku's and Gojyo's occasional whining about the things they would miss in the town, they drove onwards and arrived at the gates when two tolls had already sounded. Upon learning that the gates were about to be locked and no foreigners were let into the town after the second bell, Hakkai hastened to ask for a guide to the shrine.
"A guide?" One of the gate guardians raised his brows. "No person in their right mind would leave the safety of the town at this hour when there are youkai running amok."
"There is one," the other guard spoke slowly, obviously no more willing to talk about the subject than his comrade. "Deceased Shouka's kid. He's always running around here somewhere."
The first guard hummed thoughtfully before turning to one of the younger fellows who had come to help securing the gate. "Oi, Zhang Min. Get me Tao; the little runt will get a job."
The third toll sounded before Zhang Min could arrive, half-dragging the boy along with him. "The boy, sir," he reported, showing the boy forwards, making him stumble and almost fall.
There was a reason for the harsh handling, as his hair and eyes (as the Sanzo party found out the minute the boy regarded them with an evaluating gaze) were a bright crimson. His eyes stopped on Gojyo for a moment longer than it had on the others. There was a brief expression of surprise on the child's face, but it disappeared behind a mask of indifference rather quickly.
"Listen here, brat. You take these men to the Shrine or I'll tear your ears off," the gruffest of the guards threatened, but Tao was not listening to him. His attention was fully concentrated on the four strangers. "Let's go, men. We've stayed outside for far too long."
The gate was slammed closed, and the five people remained locked out of the safety of the town. Yet it did not matter since they were once again on the road, driving along the defence wall until they left the local humanity behind. Goku watched the red-haired, red-eyed child with certain interest. The boy was full of nervous energy, streaks of chattering exchanging with streaks of dead silence even as he explained the road to Hakkai. The boy spent most of the drive standing, using both front seats to hold himself straight, giving directions and warnings. The road was considerably better than the one Sanzo party had taken to get down the mountain, more used, and neither of the passengers had to worry about flying out of the vehicle any other moment even with the crazy driving.
"Step on it," Sanzo growled, watching the setting sun. They had to reach the shrine before the nightfall, Tao had confirmed Ranmaru's words – no one was allowed into the shrine after the dark.
Once the road disappeared in the woods, and dusk became twice as dark as it had been out in the open, the road slanted upwards, leading them higher up the mountain. Tao warned Hakkai about especially tricky turns in their path, but it was not really necessary, considering jeep's lights.
"It'd be much easier if you had a horse," the boy suddenly said out of the blue.
"Why's that?" Goku questioned, squinting at the silhouette of the boy.
"A horse can go up the stairs."
"Stairs?" Hakkai frowned. "Is there a stairway ahead?"
"Ee." Tao gave an approving nod. "Pretty long, too. Takes two hours to climb all the way up."
Sanzo glanced over at Hakkai. After an hour it would already be pitch dark, but they had planned to arrive while some of the dusk was still holding on the earth.
"We have gone down the stairs…" Hakkai started thoughtfully.
"Don't even think about it!" Sanzo growled dangerously, reaching for the Smith and Wesson and intending to use it.
They still ended up driving up the stairs at the same breakneck speed they had been at before, Hakkai stopping only outside the large torii that marked the entrance to the Shrine. All five got out of the jeep, and Tao ran inside with the four guests slowly trudging after him, still feeling a little shaken after the crazy ride. Sanzo was still seething about what the brunet had dared to pull off, Gojyo was not feeling very stable and chose to say nothing, and Goku was in a similar state, having only the voice to proclaim that some of his hunger had been lost along the way (though he still claimed to be able to devour a horse).
"One of these days you're gonna kill us, man." Gojyo, finally gotten some of his senses back, came up to Hakkai's side, the four of them trying to follow the distant light from the shrine and Tao's loud voice. It was strange that no one had come out to greet them yet, especially with all the things they had heard about youkai going around on a rampage (and having witnessed that in other towns). If the shrine was so well guarded, then where had all the guards gone to? Quite technically speaking, they had arrived before the nightfall, since a faint shade of grey was still present in their surroundings and the distant horizon still blazed golden.
"Saira! Saira! I brought guests!" Tao's shrill, childlike voice rang out through the darkness. "Saira-sama! Saira-SAMA~A!" The boy came to an abrupt halt as two figures stepped out of the darkness. Two lit lanterns emerged from beneath black cloaks and the Sanzo party was left blinded for a moment.
"You have brought guests indeed," one of the figures spoke, "but whether they are to stay or leave depends on Saira-sama alone."
"Please, follow us, and we will take you to her." The other man gestured to some place in the darkness.
They had no other option but to follow, Tao walking just a few steps ahead of them. After a while they felt completely lost – so many paths they had crossed and switched that it felt like walking around a labyrinth. The only thing they knew for sure was that it was pitch black when they reached their destination – a sturdy building among thickly growing trees.
"Saira-sama is inside the Prayer tower, please, show your respects and keep your voices low in this sacred place." Their guides bowed respectfully and pulled the door open, allowing them entrance, then closing it once they had stepped inside.
The inside of the building was almost as dark as the world outside it, dim light along with incense streaming through the curtain that separated the entrance from the main room. On both sides, they noticed stairs leading up to other levels of the building, while their new destination lay straight ahead.
Tao walked forth, pushing the curtain aside. The curtain clinked and rattled as it fell back into place, the intertwined bamboo rings creating a rather strange sound that complimented the shadowy room all too well. He motioned for the four travellers to come closer and the Sanzo party stepped through the curtain as well, finally being able to see the person who would decide on their stay in or departure from the shrine. White robes and long dark hair were the only discernible things, as Saira had her back turned on them, her attention directed on the altar in front of her.
"Strangers from a distant land," Saira spoke quietly and her voice echoed throughout the room. "You have travelled far. Why have you come here? What are you looking for? Peace? Salvation? Absolution? There is none of that here."
Gojyo felt his eyebrows elevating. Hearing that she was the head of the shrine and the tag "sama" getting attached at the end of her name had gotten him to believe that she was some old hag running the shrine since forever and a day, but the voice definitely belonged to a young female. It was certainly nice to be mistaken sometimes, especially if the 'mistake' was able to live up to his standards.
As irritating as it was for Sanzo to talk to another person's back, he did. "One night's stay. That's all."
Any other time Sanzo would have let Hakkai do the talking, but it felt for the entire ikkou that this was not a place for a youkai to request anything, no matter his descent.
In the dancing shadows the group could see how Saira clasped her hands together before laying her palms down on the table and bowed to a wood-carved figurine of some god, resting her forehead on the low table and spreading her arms out before straightening herself up.
"One night's stay?" Her voice was full of wonder. Amused, she turned around and walked towards the waiting group. "You are the first ones in years to request so little. Which means that, upon your leaving, you will take more with you than we are willing to give."
Sanzo needed a smoke. Badly. "We don't need anything you could give us."
"But what about food, Sanzo? I'm starving! And we had no time to buy anything in the town because..." A loud smack with the fan interrupted Goku's monologue.
Upon hearing the name of Sanzo, Saira had jerked her head up. Now, standing in front of the group, she tightened her lips and attempted a disapproving look in the monk's direction. "You are inside a shrine. Cease all violence immediately."
Saira calmly evaluated the people standing in front of her, finally being close enough for them to make out her appearance. White baggy pants – the type women usually wore under their robes –, a long white tunic falling down to her knees, and dark hair pulled back with a few unruly curls weaving along the side of her face. The Sanzo party all but froze. Now that the woman was only a few steps away from them, they could make out her features in the dim candlelight. She was an almost exact copy of the female demon they had seen the other day. Checking her appearance for anything that could resemble a limiter, they found none.
After a tense moment of silence which Saira ignored, as she regarded each of the four travellers individually and acknowledged them with a curt nod, she announced her decision. "The three of you," she indicated Hakkai, Gojyo, and Goku, "can stay. But you," she turned to Sanzo, "are not welcome here."
Sanzo's eyes narrowed dangerously. It was a rare occasion when he was not a welcome person, especially in places like shrines and monasteries, but it had happened a few times during their journey.
Saira met the borderline annoyed gaze Sanzo was giving her unflinching and kept on talking. "However. You passed through the gate right just as it was closing and while you were making your way to here, they were sealed shut until sunrise. I am forced to extend the invitation to you as well. The four of you can have a room to rest and food to silence your hunger, but you will leave at sunrise."
Sanzo scraped together enough manners to thank her, although he made sure the annoyance in his voice was unmistakable.
Tao silently picked up a lantern and handed it to Saira. He could not wait to get outside of the building because, as he had learned during his first visit to the shrine, Saira was not to be talked to inside this building. The only exceptions were cases of the highest urgency, like it had been right now. Saira thanked him with a curt nod and took the lantern, motioning for the travellers to leave the building. They were almost out the door when a quick breeze rushed through the room extinguishing the candles. As the travellers looked back to see what was going on, there was only Saira, closing the door of the shrine. The guards that had brought them here were nowhere to be seen, but they had left behind their lanterns to cast a warm golden light on the entrance of the shrine.
Saira had barely turned around to face them again when Tao already exploded in a flurry of excited words and flailing of his arms to further emphasise himself. "Saira-sama! You should come down and see what's going on in the town now! We've been building defences and I can say "we" because I helped too! Have you ever carried rocks? It's not too hard, but I felt too tired by the evening and thought my arms'll fall off the next day. They didn't, see?" He flailed them to demonstrate it without even stopping to ramble on. "And now we've got the cannon. It's huge! Huger than the Prayer tower and Li Shung En says if we aim it right, we could collapse it, the Prayer Tower, I mean, but they won't 'cause it's yours and the shrine is yours and it's important. And then people started evacuating to the sealed caves and only half the boats are usable because they're old and damaged. Just the other day one woman thought she'd seen a water demon in the river and panicked and tipped the boat and all fell in. Seven died. Mairi died too. Do you know Mairi? She was a funny girl – lived across the street from my house and we always went to play in the square together. Her mom was nice, but her papa was not and..." Here, Tao stopped to draw breath.
Saira took the chance to speak up. "Are the people treating you well?"
Tao thought about it for a while, then shrugged. "Some are. Some aren't. Guards aren't that nice, but they never hit me; just pull my ears and shove around. Most people pretend I'm not there. That's kinda worse, though."
"Can the cannon be easily destroyed?"
"Why'd you want it destroyed? Uncle says that the crazy youkai can come by a thousand now. We'll just blow them away with the cannon!"
"In case the part of the town with the cannon gets raided by youkai and they take over the cannon, where do you think they'll aim first of all?"
Head curiously cocked, Tao thought about this for a while. Then his eyes widened and he looked up at Saira in alarm. "Here?"
Saira nodded. "Yes. That's why I want to know if it can be destroyed. Just in case."
"I dunno. You'd have to ask Sung Wa."
The Sanzo ikkou had been listening closely to their conversation, learning more from the boy's rambling about the true situation in town than they would have ever had a chance of finding out had they stopped in one of the small local bars. All reasons to leave this place as quickly as possible only added up. They had youkai chasing them and this town was a few days away from a youkai attack of its own, and having those two things collide would make for a 'between a rock and a hard place' situation.
Suddenly, Goku paused in his steps and looked around, trying to find the source of something that had agitated him in the shadows of the partially illuminated garden. "Sanzo, I smell blood."
No sooner had those words left his lips, another voice cut through the night.
"Step away from them, Saira. Now."
It came from their left, accompanied by a gentle tingle of chains. Everyone turned to look. Even though the figure was shielded by darkness, the four travellers had little trouble recognising the same assassin they had seen up in the mountains with the scripture. Without much thought, Sanzo pulled out his banishing gun and took aim.
Saira frowned. "Taura?"
"Step away form them, Saira, I warn you," Taura repeated her words with more force than before, and rearranged her chain whips for a more effective strike. She smirked at the armed priest and stepped forwards into the light of a garden lamp, favouring her right leg as she moved. One hand came up to press to her left shoulder, and she slightly bowed her head with mocked politeness. "I must commend you on the aim, priest. No one else has managed to land a hit on me before."
Saira drew in a harsh breath through her nose, before grounding out in an ice-cold voice, "You're bleeding and you're limping. What have you done this time?"
"Well, let me tell you something, Sister Obvious. The bottom of the goddamn river is not covered with rocks. It's fucking littered with boulders."
"The bottom of... What kind of mess have you gotten yourself into this time?" Angered, Saira stepped forwards, coming between the Sanzo priest and her own sister. The foursome said nothing to prevent it, remaining mute spectators to the unfolding family drama. It wasn't really surprising for a family to have twin children; the surprising part was that one of them was a youkai, and neither was a half-breed.
"It's nothing."
"Right, right. And these people got riled up for that nothing that you most certainly haven't done." The reply was cynical enough to make Taura grind her teeth.
"Your brother's shit," came the disgusted reply after a small moment of silence. "Ask him."
"Shin?"
"Catching up."
Saira snorted irritably. She was not forgetting about the four guests that were still there, forced to listen to every word the sisters exchanged, but it was already too late to take this conversation to a quieter place. "Ever since he took the vows, he's my brother all of a sudden."
"He's been your brother ever since I became this way." Those few words were spoken with bitterness and scorn. "Now get the hell out of the way or you're gonna be killed."
"Don't you dare threaten me. Limiter or no limiter, I can still take you on." The ice that had evaporated from Saira's voice just seconds ago, returned with double the force.
Taura hesitated for just a moment. She was clearly at a disadvantage. If she made a move, there would be the four strangers, as well as her own sister.
"Now then. Where exactly does Shin fit into this?"
There was a pause as Taura struggled with herself. Eventually she muttered something disdainful under her breath and straightened her shoulders, finally making a choice. "Shinseki Sanzo Houshi-sama wanted me to run a little errand for him." Not a single droplet of sarcasm and hatred faltered in intensity as she practically spat out the name as if it was poison. "Here, you can hand it to him yourself."
Taura threw something at Saira, but the latter did not move a muscle to either avoid it or catch it. The item fell on the ground and rolled around before hitting her foot and stopping. Once a ray of light from the lantern fell on it, the Sanzo party recognized a rolled-up scripture, much like the one draped on Sanzo's shoulders.
"I am not your messenger," Saira stated coldly and kicked the scroll out of the way. "If you have any business with Shin, then sort it out with him instead of crawling to me, whimpering and licking your wounds. And now get out of here. I won't allow a single drop of blood get spilled on this ground. Your presence always invokes bloodshed."
Taura just stared at her sister like she would be seeing her for the first time in her life. "You're kicking me out of our house?"
"You said it first, make sure to remember that. And keep in mind that it was your own decision. Now leave." The resolve is Saira's voice was unmistakable. She had merely wanted for Taura to leave the site, to go to her room and stay out of the sight for as long as these new guests would be around, but since she had chosen to leave the Shrine, she was not going to get in her sister's way. Saira jerked her head in the general direction of the gates. "The exit is that way."
Silence followed.
"You bitch." Taura spat on the ground, not daring to aim directly at her sister: that much dignity she still had. She was slightly shaking, and it was hard to tell whether it was from the anger or the injuries that she had sustained. "You bitch. I thought... I thought what we've gone through together..."
"I don't care for the past, Taura. And even less for the future. Now leave."
The Sanzo party watched in silence as the youkai female struggled with herself, wanting to strike her sister with the chain whip and at the same time unable to do harm to her twin reflection. She raised one hand, chains clinking, and Sanzo aimed around Saira just waiting for her to move. Taura let out a strangled snarl of rage, spun around and disappeared in the darkness of the garden.
"Tao."
The redheaded boy froze mid-motion, as he had leaned down to pick up the discarded scroll.
Saira's eyes locked on him. "Leave it."
"But..." he protested, frowning and not understanding the disrespect for an item that seemed to be of great importance. Especially if it was meant for a Sanzo priest.
"I said, leave it," Saira repeated in annoyance. "Leave that trash where it belongs – in the dirt."
"But... But it's for Shinseki Houshi-sama." Red eyes blinked up, completely confused now. "What if it's something important?"
"If it is important, Shinseki Houshi," Saira mocked the two words of choice, "is certainly old enough to pick it up himself." The female spun around and came eye to eye with Genjo Sanzo. She blinked in confusion, having forgotten about their presence for a brief second. Such loss of control irritated her even more. "What are you still standing around here for?" She waved her unoccupied hand half exasperatedly, half dismissively. "Get inside the house and take a seat wherever until your rooms get prepared."
No matter what the situation was, Hakkai reverted to good manners and his own nice self in a flash. "We truly wouldn't want to trouble you, and..."
"But you already have," Saira cut him off and in a few quick strides crossed the lawn. "Not like I care about those who come here, but once you're inside the gates, why not come inside the house as well?"
The Sanzo party did not need to be told twice, so they ignored her sarcasm and followed her into the large building. The room they entered looked fitting for anything but a shrine. A long table was occupying one third of the rather large room, several chairs crowding around the far end of it; a closet was showed in a corner only a few steps away from the table, and the corner closest to the doorway was separated from the room with a white bamboo and rice paper screen, depicting dancing cranes and pine trees. There was a one-legged writing plate with a slightly slanted surface set only a few steps away from it. Black robe was carelessly thrown over the screen, and the writing table was littered with slips of white paper, a young male standing in front of it. The room was definitely not an embodiment of order and hospitality; perhaps a little bit too private for visitors to feel comfortable.
The male turned, smiled, and set down the ink-coated brush he had been working with. He had heard every word that had been spoken outside in the garden. "Way to go, little one! That's quite some reputation you're giving our family and the shrine there," he teased, albeit good-naturedly.
"Shut up, you!" Saira snorted and stormed past him, disappearing deeper inside the building.
The male's lips twitched, pale blue eyes following her for a second before concentrating only on the guests. He bowed, welcoming them in deeper. "Your presence is honour for our Shrine, please come in and feel at home. My name is Hara no Kenjiro, and I am the head of the family. And it seems that you already know my sister Saira, who is not present here at the moment." His lips twitched some more at the mention of his sister. "Please, take seats. I'm sure Saira is already taking care of rooms and meals."
As if to correspond with his words, a loud noise came from somewhere deeper inside and Saira's voice rang out loud and annoyed.
Pretending not to have heard any of that, Hakkai smiled pleasantly and thanked Kenjiro while the rest of their group sat down around the far end of the table.
"He said something about a meal, didn't he? I'm starving!" Goku slumped in his seat, looking over at Sanzo with big hopeful golden eyes.
Sanzo did not answer him, having too many thoughts on his mind.
Gojyo, however, did. "Stupid bottomless ape."
"But we ate ages ago!" Goku whined. "And there were only five meatbuns!"
Kenjiro, having overheard every word, laughed softly and turned to Tao. "Could you do me a little favour?"
The red-haired boy, feeling neglected and useless before, brightened instantly and nodded his head vigorously, with eagerness awaiting each and every word that came from the man.
"Could you run down to the kitchen to see if Czen Mao has already started on preparing a meal? And check on Saira too, to see what's taking her so long."
One quick nod and Tao was gone, his footsteps echoing down the hallway and disappearing when a door slammed shut. After that, Kenjiro went right back to writing symbols, signs and words on the paper slips in front of him, the brush dancing over the whiteness and travelling to dip into the tray of ink every so often.
For the time being neglected, the Sanzo party sat around the table until Hakkai chose to interrupt the silence.
"This seems to be a very peaceful place," he started cautiously. No matter where they stopped to rest, if there were people around, they always gathered as much information about the area as possible.
Kenjiro lifted his eyes from his work and looked at Hakkai thoughtfully. A light smile curved up his lips as he answered, "Things are not always what they seem to be."
"Oh." Green eyes flickered with subdued interest. It was no secret to the Sanzo party that the town they had gone through was inhabited not only by humans, but youkai also, though all of them still wore their power limiters. From what they had seen, they managed to coexist with little problems, and even halfbloods were not as hated as they were in other towns. Here no one had paid much attention to Gojyo's hair and eye colouring even though in many other places they had drawn a lot of attention and sometimes – even loathing. "Has anything strange been happening lately?"
"It's none of our problems, Hakkai," Sanzo hissed silently. It was low enough only for the four of them to hear, considering the rather small distance separating them from their host.
"I'm just making sure our presence doesn't endanger these people." The group's driver and mother figure tried to reason with their easily angered leader.
"Give it up, Hakkai." Gojyo stretched out his legs and leaned back in the chair, hands behind his head. He wanted a smoke, but, seeing how Sanzo was refraining from it, figured it would be smarter to wait until they got to their rooms. "It's inevitable, one way or the other."
Caught up in their little dispute, they almost missed Kenjiro's answer.
"Strange things happen daily here." Kenjiro reached for a new handful of white paper slips as he eyed the guests. It was not everyday they had them, especially ever since the day something began to affect all the demons, making them go berserk. A strange smile tugged at his lips as he continued the previous thought, "Especially after Saira became the head of the Hitotsuboshi Shrine."
"The head? But you said..." Goku blinked in confusion, and looked over at Sanzo for an explanation even though the monk could not give him one.
Kenjiro schooled his face to an expression of indifference before answering this. " I am the head of the clan. Our father's will was for Saira to be the head of the Shrine."
Before he could say anything else, another loud noise echoed throughout the building, making the walls tremble. Saira's loud voice followed only seconds after, snapping commands at someone. Kenjiro made a grimace of disapproval and shot an apologetic look at the guests, but they were not paying any attention to him anymore.
"So. We are leaving tomorrow, right?" Gojyo glanced at Sanzo's sagging shoulders, daring nothing more than a brief gaze. It was a surprise the monk had not blown off some steam yet, considering how deep was the wrinkle between his eyebrows and how tightly his lips were pressing together. He looked to the redhead slightly sick. The headache, he figured and diverted his attention elsewhere.
"Well, if nothing keeps us from it." Hakkai had noticed the same thing as his friend. Perhaps the fever Sanzo had had a few weeks ago had not been fully healed. Sometimes the monk pushed them too hard, but never as hard as he pushed himself. The three of them were always given a choice to either stay behind or follow. Of course, they always chose to follow, having nothing better and more important to do at the time. But sometimes even a person like Sanzo had to break. The brunet sighed. Perhaps he worried too much and it was just one of those migraines that usually disappeared after Sanzo had had a peaceful night's rest. Hakkai hoped it was just that.
Goku looked up at the door, listening to the approaching footsteps. "I hope it's food coming," he sighed to himself. If Sanzo was not feeling too well, the youth was not so fond of being cheerful either. There were, of course, exceptions, but this was not one of those. A few seconds, and he lost the hope to see food arriving.
"I'd gladly kill the goddamn idiot who was smart enough to let one of those wandering ghosts inside the Shrine," Saira stated from the doorstep, then stormed across the room to the black robe on the screen to rummage through it for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
Kenjiro shot her a mildly interested look. "Ghosts? So that was the noise from before?"
"That, and a certain Sanzo priest-sama whining about his meditation getting interrupted. Like I give a damn care." Saira went over to the other end of the table and pulled a short and narrow bench out from under it before sitting down and extracting an ashtray out of nowhere to position it close to her arm. Her right hand held up the lighter, the motion revealing a black fingerless glove with straps around her wrist. Her other hand was bare, only a leather cord tied around the wrist. "Oh Kami, I wish he'd just get jumped by a pack of youkai and torn to pieces. But, of course, His Cowardliness won't show his face outside the Shrine, anxious to keep his worthless life intact."
Kenjiro frowned at his sister's back. "Hanging around with all those youkai certainly has affected your personality and language. And not for the better." He paused, waiting for a response of any kind, but it did not follow. "And you already know what I think of your smoking, Saira."
"After all the shit that's been going on for the past few months, this," she waved her hand with the burning cigarette, "is the only thing keeping me sane."
"Just because you took father's place as the head of the shrine doesn't mean that you had to acquire all of his habits too." He paused, searching the straight back for an answer. "At least try to mask it. Grandmother's already getting suspicious."
Slowly, Saira turned around, grey eyes devoid of emotion. "Do I look like I care?" Faced with the cold stare, she snorted silently and turned back around, reaching for the incense tray and flicking her lighter to life one more time, making sure half of the incense sticks burned down before she blew the flames out. "Happy now, Mom?"
"Saira..." Kenjiro stopped and sighed. He racked his mind for something to say, but could not find the necessary willpower for the words he wanted to say. Not with the four travellers present. He had thought it would give him the courage he needed to confront his sister, but it turned out quite the opposite, and he felt pressured and uneasy. "You've been born in the wrong gender," he concluded.
Saira exhaled a puff of smoke and watched it lazily drift about for a while. "Father used to say the same."
Before Kenjiro could reply, one of the cloaked Shrine guards appeared on the doorstep and cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "Saira-sama, you have a visitor."
She frowned at he elderly man. "Who?"
"One of the youkai, Saira-sama. His name might have been Xiao. He said it was urgent."
A heartbeat's worth of silence.
"Let him in."
"Saira," Kenjiro started in a low voice. "You're giving an invite to a youkai? Are you insane? The shield around the shrine..."
"I know about the damn shield. I reinforce it every day." Saira reached out to crush the remainder of the cigarette and pushed the ashtray to the other side of the table. "You can't deny that something is brewing outside and I want to know what exactly."
The Sanzo party had felt it even near the town: a powerful demonic aura moving nearby. Still, it was more of a distant echo than a direct threat, but it was not a reason to shrug it off.
Seconds later a black-haired male demon stepped through the door. He still had his limiter on and looked presentable enough despite the worn-out clothing and although he carried a short sword at his side, he did not look threatening. His breathing was erratic: either because of the high climb up the stairs, or as a sign of him only barely holding on to his sanity. He bowed towards Saira and shot a mildly interested look at the four strangers, taking a while to gather his breath for what he needed to say and started off quite nonsensically.
"Heard a Sanzo priest was killed recently. Thought was your brother."
Saira allowed herself a small smirk. "I'd be ecstatic if it were so, Xiao. However, that's not why you're here."
"True. We have a problem. A big one." He exhaled loudly. "The beacons are lit."
Saira tensed and her face paled slightly. Xiao could not have brought worse news. "How many?"
The youkai shifted slightly and eyed the foreign humans who were gazing at him with a hint of mistrust. "Do you have a map at hand? It's easier to show than tell."
In the time it took him to blink, Saira had gotten up to her feet, crossed the room, pulled out a map from the closet, and returned to the table, spreading it out over one end.
Xiao leaned over it to indicate several spots. "Along this side of the mountains the entire line is alight. We seem to have lost three posts there though, because they're black among the others burning. Guards there are either dead or fighting for their life." He looked up at the female. "It's starting, Saira."
She did not respond straight away. Her lips had knitted together in a narrow line and brows furrowed together. "How many?"
"What?"
"Their count, Xiao. How many?"
Xiao hesitated. "It's rounding out to ten thousand, but there are no reports to confirm that. It's all rumours and all-too-brief observations. But the entire west side of the mountains is overrun by them."
Saira choked back a bitter laugh. "Ten thousand? The town will fall then. We have two thousand people, and only one third is capable of fighting."
"I've already given orders to take all the women and children to the river along with fifty men to guard them. They'll be safe in the sealed caves, though not all women left. Some stayed behind to fight alongside us."
"Then they'll die alongside us," Saira stated and straightened. "How much time do we have until they reach the town?"
"A few days. They have horse riders and those animals can't handle mountains well. We destroyed all the mountain passages so they'll have to figure a way around that."
"Saira." Kenjiro's gaze had been travelling between his sister and the demon she was conversing with. "You can't go out there to fight."
"You won't decide that, human!" Xiao spat back without hesitation, his gaze flaring up with something close to insanity as his hand gripped the handle of his sword.
"And neither will you," Saira cut in before any more arguing could arise. The last thing she needed was bloodshed in the shrine. "I'm needed out on the battlefield, and that's exactly where I'll be." Her eyes bore into those of her brother's. "So don't waste your breath."
"I forbid you to leave the shrine, Saira," someone stated in a calm, dispassionate voice.
Saira spun around just as everyone else turned to regard the newcomer. A Sanzo priest in full regal clothing, including a scripture draped over his shoulders, was standing in the doorway both Saira and Tao had previously gone through. "You will stay here," he repeated. "And a message will be sent to Ranmaru ordering his return to the shrine."
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![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2008-09-29 07:43 pm (UTC)"But what about food, Sanzo? I'm starving! And we had not time to buy anything in the town because..."
About halfway through the chapter. It seems a little too propper for him. Particularly the "we had not time..." bit. Just sayin'.
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Date: 2008-09-29 07:52 pm (UTC)Ah, that bit. I know how that got in: It's from the part I was stuck on and once I got inspiration to finish, I typed without looking back. Would you believe me if I said that this chapter has been only partially proofread? (And while you caught only that one little thing, I caught a handful of them. HTML formatting can be a bitch like that.)
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:03 pm (UTC)I believe it. ;) Don't feel bad. I hate proofreading. You can only read the same thing so many times before you're sick of it. Especially if the chapter is as monstrous as this one.
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-29 08:10 pm (UTC)Karma. She's a bitch.
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:14 pm (UTC)Indeed. I'd kill her if I could catch her.
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:23 pm (UTC)Now now, that's not very charitable of you. She can be rather amusing when she's taking a shot at someone else.
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:28 pm (UTC)Honey, she's karma. She's got a million lives under her little finger alone. Kill her once or two thousand times in a row - she won't even feel the difference. That's another thing I like about that bitch.
You know how there are books that you just can't put down until you've gotten to the last page?
I've been told before that my fiction is addicting. I must agree. I started proofreading this chapter and ended up reading it.
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Date: 2008-09-29 08:37 pm (UTC)I get the distinct feeling that I will never win an argument/discussion/debate with you. Evar!
It's a good thing I don't love you for your modesty. ;)
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From:New thread. Old one was WAAAAAAY smooshed.
Date: 2008-10-01 07:27 pm (UTC)I know what you mean. People don't always get my particular brand of sarcasm, either. They'll take me seriously and I'll stare at them as if they're the biggest fucking morons on the planet. Le sigh. And while I liked Twilight, I started to hate the books (I've read the first 3) as I read 2 and 3. I flat out refused to read 4, and I'm glad I didn't. My friend Amie read it and gave me the Cliff's Notes version, and all I could do was drop my jaw and sputter in indignation. Made no sense, and she shit all over my favorite character. The one person in the series who was worth liking. And do you know who they have playing him in the movie? Fucking Sharkboy!?! Pisses me off. And while I don't necessarily disagree with any particular Mormon (everyone has a right to believe what they want), their beliefs are dagerously close to the cult line for me. I don't agree with it, but I ain't gonna tell 'em they're wrong.
I feel the same way about the Eragon books. I love them, but it pisses me off that the dude is my age and 1,000 times richer (at least) than I can ever hope to be. Best of luck with NaNoWriMo. I lack the discipline to participate.
Alas, I'm one of those people with the horribly long memories. It's both a blessing and a curse. And I'm sure there are numerous entries on the web with my mistakes on them. And the thought alone keeps me up at night.
Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 07:38 pm (UTC)I'm still iffy about reading them. I know I couldn't stomach much of the Edward's (was it Edward?) point of view. While it didn't make me retch like badfic does, it came damned close to boring me to death.
I tried participating last year and failed quite spectacularly with my word count never rising above "0". Well, actually, it did. I had something like 400 words worth of nothing and I just couldn't bring myself to upload that. =/
I sometimes find that my memory can be pretty nasty at just the worst moments (worst for other people, not myself) and then I start bringing up nasty facts to hit people while they're still down. I'm quite horrible when I'm vengeful. =|
Poor you. Would you like some cookies of consolation?
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 07:54 pm (UTC)Read them if you have time to kill/anger to misplace. It was indeed Edward. I didn't even bother trying to participate in last year's NaNo. I'm lazy like that. I know myself, and my limitations. Besides, I've always hated deadlines. I think if it as my way of rebelling.You and me both, sister. I always manage to throw people's words back in their face. And oh, is the feeling ever so sweet when they hear it. They were hoping I'd have forgotten about it. Nope. People say forgive and forget. I'm mostly okay with the forgiving part. But not the forgetting. That's just stupid. But since you mentioned cookies, can I have some?
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 07:58 pm (UTC)Maybe I will resist the temptation. I mean, writing a Twilight parody is kinda pointless, as it's already been done with splendid results. I should rather concentrate on something original. Without vampires. But maybe with werewolves. And witches. And demons. Hmm.....All you can wish for, bb~
I stole them anyway, so.
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 08:13 pm (UTC)If only MST3K were still around to spoof the movie. But hey, a girl can dreamm can't she? Can you maye talk to Gin Yisou-sama, see if there's anything he can do? I'm all for the werewolves and demons idea.Yay! Cookies. Lords know I need the sugar. I'm crashing here. So where did you pifer them from?
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 08:17 pm (UTC)There's this thing called Xlormp, if I'm not horribly mistaken, that is an ongoing book parody of the show. Gin Yisou sama doesn't like to involve himself with mortals of such caliber, but I'll see if I can't... persuade him somehow. They're so underappreciated, aren't they?It is my secret.
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 08:34 pm (UTC)But I want the show to parody the movie. I miss Crooooooow. I appreciate you taking the time to speak to Gin Yisou-sama about this. I'd ask Aizen-sama, but I think he could care less.You're no fun. :P
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 08:42 pm (UTC)I'm drawing a blank here. Really.I'm not being paid to be fun.
Re: Agreed.
Date: 2008-10-01 08:52 pm (UTC)Becuase we've exhausted our conversational skills (becuaus if it is that one, me too) or because you've never heard of Mystery Science Theater 3000?Who's paying?
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Date: 2008-10-01 07:40 pm (UTC)and vote for 4 icons? I need a tiebreaker. =/
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 07:47 pm (UTC)Let's just say that Seiran was my fave, and the Emperor could rot in hell for all I cared.
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 07:52 pm (UTC)I'm stuck on Season 2 Episode 6. I liked the flirty guy (Gojyo much?), the one who got lost, and Seiran was pretty damn kickass.
The emperor was kinda cute as a kid though. That's all I'm saying. :x
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 08:01 pm (UTC)Flirty guy is the guy in green with the perpetual stubble, you're talking about right? 'Cause I can't for the life of me think who else he would be. I love the perpetually lost guy, though. He started yelling and freaking out in one episode and I jumped out of my chair and yelled THAT'S IKKAKU!!! Christina (friend who was watching it with me) looked at me like I was nuts, so we went online, and I was indeed right. Go me. Of course, she says that it's weird and unusual that I should recognize his voice and jokingly calls me a stalker. I just say I'm that good.
And the emperor was a cute kid. Damn shame he still acts like one. Pansy ass bastard.
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 08:12 pm (UTC)(Just let me warn you beforehand: My gratitude is a bitch.)
Nope, not him. The oldest brother of the eccentric guy. The womanizer of the series.
It's not the Emperor's fault. It's all Shuurei. She made him that way. Fucking bitch needs to die. =/
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 08:17 pm (UTC)Oooooooh, that guy. I'd forgotten all about him. Yeah, he's all kinda of fun, too. Everyone is but the emperor.
Just let me hate him in peace. And he was like that before she met him. Although she is 9,000 different kinds of annoying. We're agreed that she needs to die.
Re: ETA:
Date: 2008-10-01 08:21 pm (UTC)I like the emperor when he's drunk and/or sick. He's out of the way, then. (But he's still damned pretty. =/)
A whiny bitchfit that is so speshul awesum? What does that remind me of? It was something horribly familiar... Like headache.
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