Gensomaden Saiyuki Fan Fiction / Saiyuki Reload Fan Fiction / Saiyuki Reload Gunlock Fan Fiction ❯ Episode1: Truly,Madly,Deeply ❯ Pain ( Chapter 22 )

XXII. PAIN / SOMETHING SMASHED

 

In which the ikkou get more than they bargained for. No, not with the punishing red beads, but rather with Kami-sama's acid tongue. And so they run away, and find shelter at the owner's home. Sanzo displays his immense strength of will, but his weak body betrays him and collapses. Gojyo gently puts him back in bed and keeps vigil.

 

 

A.

 

“It's our duty to kill this fool,” Sanzo repeats coldly.

 

“O-Oi..”

 

“Yeah,” Hakkai challenges. “Who said we would just leave *this* to you?!”

 

“Right! Right!” chimes in the monkey.

 

Gojyo loses it. “Dammit, I won't be satisfied unless I wipe the smirk off that idiot's smiley face! I can't just say *excuse me* and leave!” Gojyo glowers. “Besides that, he's a goddamn liar!”

 

Sanzo raises his eyebrows.

 

“He IS!” the poor kappa insists desperately. “I told you, I'm *your* boytoy, yours alone!”

 

Sanzo sticks his pinky in his ear.

 

“Dammit, buttercup, are you *listening* to me?! OI!”

 

“Eh, let's hurry up and finish him off!” Goku cuts in. “You two can have your hot argument and even hotter make-up session later…”

 

Gojyo's jaw drops, then he hides his face in his hands… And then he grabs Goku in a necklock. “Who are you trying to be cool for, you little monkey?” Gojyo grins, mussing Goku's hair.

 

“Grrr… Urusei! Mustache kappa! Mustache cockroach! Mustache hero!” Goku struggles furiously.

 

“Wow, how cheerful the kid is…” Gojyo grins wider.

 

“Baka! I'm *serious*! You better shave that stubble off before you even *think* of going near Sanzo…”

 

“I know, I know! Who knows better than moi?” Gojyo slides passionate eyes to the still-frosty monk. “My baby is a delicate, sensitive creature…”

 

Twitch.

 

Hakkai shrugs. “That's the way it is…”

 

“Idiots!” Sanzo sniffs. “Imbeciles! Half-wits! Nincompoops…”

 

 

B.

 

Kami-sama laughs. And laughs. And laughs.

 

“What's so funny?” Sanzo glares.

 

“Oh, gomen…” Kami-sama clutches his stomach. “I was just remembering what *fun* the redheaded mister and I had, playing tag… he almost *caught* me a few times, you know…”

 

“OI!” Gojyo yells in denial.

 

Twitch.

 

“That golden man over there is Sanzo Houshi, isn't he?” Kami-sama smirks.

 

“Dakara nanda…” Sanzo growls.

 

“So the Rogue Priest doesn't *deserve* to have such a committed, passionate lover,” Kami-sama taunts.

 

“Wow, the wanted posters sure get around…” Goku whispers to Hakkai.

 

“Sou desu ne…”

 

“All you do is doubt him,” Kami-sama continues. “For a man of faith you sure have very *little* faith in your beau…”

 

BANG-BANG!

 

Kami-sama easily evades the bullets, and smiles mockingly. “Are you mad?” he raises his eyebrows. “Guess I'm right…”

 

“Dammit, who IS this guy?! Sigmund Freud?!” Sanzo curses.

 

“Hmm…” Hakkai muses. “Actually I'm getting flashes of a connection with a certain oily, stubbly, unkempt guy…” Hakkai shudders in revulsion. “Nasty…”

 

“Who do you mean, Hakkai?” Goku asks curiously.

 

“Just a repulsive, sneaky fellow I sometimes glimpse in the hallways when I visit Yaone… Somehow the malicious smile is the same…”

 

 

C.

 

Kami-sama sends the ikkou flying. They crash to the floor with multiple injuries, and blood everywhere. Kami-sama tosses and catches his `weapon'. “Cool, huh?” he brags. “It's my killing machine. My super-duper bead-blaster pretty-boy pulverizer!”

 

Kami-sama kneels beside Sanzo. “Ne, do you know `Emptiness'? I just borrowed it from my master…”

 

Sanzo's eyes grow blank and fog over.

 

“Baby, nooo….” Gojyo rasps weakly.

 

Kami-sama frowns at him. “Shush!” He continues with his psychobabble. “Kill Buddha when you meet him. Kill your ancestor when you meet him. Just live your life as you are.” Kami-sama gives a tinkling laugh. “Wakaru? It means *never* *be* *captured*.” Kami-sama bares his teeth. “You have become too obsessed with life and consecutive wins,” he spits. “You let yourself get foolishly, blindly attached to your `pumpkin pie',” Kami-sama says scathingly. “That's why you don't *deserve* to be called Sanzo Houshi!” Kami-sama roughly snatches away the sutra with a triumphant grin.

 

Sanzo lies with a stricken, dull, empty expression on his pale face.

 

“Baby, NOOOO!!!!”

 

 

D.

 

“Sayonara, Sanzo Houshi.” Kami-sama lifts up a daintily sandaled foot over Sanzo's apathetic face.

 

Jakujou sings, coiling around Kami-sama and sending him crashing through the wall. Gojyo follows, staggering and clutching his shoulder, wincing in pure, white-hot pain. But his red eyes burn with a dangerous, murderous look.

 

“Dammit, you FOOL!!!” the kappa hisses. “You dare say such desperate lies?! You dare poison my baby against me?!”

 

“I'm keeping it *real*, baka,” Kami-sama chides. “Why should I suffer the vows of chastity alone? How come he gets to enjoy himself with such a hot stud like yourself? Isn't it enough that he's prettier than me?!” Kami-sama screams. “Why should he have his cupcake and eat it, too!!!”

 

“You don't get it,” Gojyo says, shaking his head desperately. “We're *in love*…”

 

“Well, how *sweet*,” Kami-sama sneers. “That's just great. So he's found true love as well, on top of *everything* else!” Kami-sama shudders with rage. “Okay, then how about I take away the one thing dearest to Sanzo-sama, huh? I was on the right track all along… You will be MY toy!!!” Kami-sama walks over to Gojyo. “I'll punish the bad boy…”

 

“KYU!” Hakuryu claws Kami-sama's eyes out, and then transforms. Kami-sama watches, too entranced at the moment to think clearly. “Where did you guys get such a cool toy…” he breathes, distracted. “I want one! I want one!”

 

Gojyo carefully places Sanzo in the front seat, then dumps Hakkai and Goku in the back. Kami-sama finally comes out of his daze. “OI! What are you doing?!”

 

“URUSEI!” Gojyo spins the steering wheel, giving poor Hakuryu a stiff neck. “We're running away, dammit!”

 

 

E.

 

Town, at the owner's house.

 

“Thanks a lot, sir,” Gojyo says sincerely. “I'm sorry for all the trouble. I just couldn't think of anywhere to go last night.”

 

“Well, I was shocked to see you all covered in blood,” the owner answers frankly. “From the way you and the golden-haired man were acting the other night, I thought for *sure* it was a pretty *nasty* lover's quarrel…”

 

“You don't know the half of it,” Gojyo mutters glumly. “Anyway, I sure appreciate it.”

 

“Stay as long as you want.” The owner smiles kindly. “But the monk in the next room is in really bad shape, though…” The owner shakes his head. “We've had the best psychologists in to see him, but he doesn't respond to treatment. He just lies there, catatonic. For four days now, in fact. The doctors say tonight will be critical.”

 

Hakkai's eyes fly open in shock. “Sou ka…”

 

“Hai,” Gojyo sniffs. “For once this is something your chi can't heal, Hakkai.”

 

“Gomen nasai, Gojyo,” Hakkai murmurs. “What about Goku?”

 

“He won't let anyone near him. Hasn't spoken or eaten a single bite. Can you believe it? That ravenous monkey?”

 

“A wounded animal, huh?” Hakkai pets Hakuryu gently. “It's the first time he's tasted absolute loss…”

 

“Absolute, huh?”

 

“We lost, didn't we?”

 

“Yeah…” Gojyo sighs. “And perhaps *my* loss is the heaviest…”

 

 

F.

 

Creak.

 

Sanzo weakly staggers to his feet. Gojyo looks over. “Oi, what are you doing, angel?” he asks gently.

 

“I'm going. That belongs to me,” Sanzo says firmly, his eyes steely. But his breath comes in harsh gasps.

 

“But I'm right here, sweetie-pie. Kami-sama doesn't have me,” Gojyo teases soothingly. “He never will. I belong to you.”

 

Sanzo ignores him, taking stumbling steps, until he crashes to the floor. He sets his teeth and crawls doggedly, dragging his body along inch by agonizing inch. He collapses.

 

Gojyo exhales, cursing softly, then tenderly helps Sanzo back to bed, gently depositing him down. “We'll get the sutra back when you're better, baby. Just rest, okay? For me?” He leans down to plant a soft kiss on his beloved's forehead, but Sanzo's words halt him, and break his heart.

 

“Arigatou, Gojyo,” Sanzo sighs. “You're such a good *friend*…”

 

Gojyo slides down against the bed, hiding his face in his hands. “Dammit…” he curses softly. “*Please*…” he begs in a broken voice.